No Quarter: A Supernatural Action Adventure Opera (War of the Damned Book 2)

by Michael Todd

  Calvin gave her a smile, touched that something as ordinary as homework meant so much to her. It was obvious she hadn’t been made for the life he’d rescued her from. She’d just gotten caught up in something beyond her power to get out of.

  She closed her bag and put her head back, wiping her tears. “I met Manuel while I was here on vacation. He seemed like such a sweet guy. He showered me with gifts, doted on me, and told me how much he loved me. I eventually found out about his wife, but it didn’t matter because I believed he loved me. Eventually, though, things changed, and I discovered he wasn’t the man I thought he was. I became a golden girl to him, someone to put on a pedestal. If I did anything that didn’t fit his image of me he would get mad, and if I argued back he would hit me.”

  “Well, you are out of that life now.” Calvin kept a lid on the anger bubbling inside of him. “I will do my damnedest to make sure you get to safety.”

  Calvin hated to see her cry, and he hated her story. He hated the fact that some man had treated her like a possession. Hers was a story like something he’d see on television, not something he’d thought actually occurred. He’d been so absorbed with hunting demons that he’d forgotten humans were evil too. Bastards like Manuel lurked in the shadows, preying on the weak and the innocent and hurting women like Sofia.

  She wasn’t the only one out there, but she was the only one Calvin could help at that moment—and that was exactly what he was going to do.

  16

  “I want you to head toward Todos Santos,” Calvin told the driver.

  “But that wasn’t the plan,” Sofia protested. She scowled at Calvin. “I thought we were going to the airport to fly out of here. We need to get to the US as fast as we possibly can. What if they’re tracking us?”

  “It’s likely they are, which is why the airport is a bad idea,” Calvin whispered to Sofia, not wanting the cab driver to hear. He didn’t know who he could trust anymore, so he wanted to keep everything between the two of them for now.

  Her scowl deepened. “Then we go there and wait until we know it’s safe. We can’t just drive thirteen hundred miles with someone we don’t know, and then what? Stand at the border?”

  Calvin shrugged. “Our only choices are to either rent a car and go for the border or jump on a plane. We have our passports, so we should be able to drive right over. If we try to get on a plane, we’ll have to be prepared for them to find us at the airport. Right now we’re moving without them knowing where we are, but soon they’ll figure it out. Don’t you think the airport will be one of the first places they check? You know your sugar daddy better than me, but I can assume that if he’s a drug lord, he’ll have eyes all over that airport looking for you. He won’t even have to take the trip out to get you. He’ll just have his goons bring you to him.”

  Sofia sighed, then looked out the window and rubbed her face, considering the truth of Calvin’s words. She wanted to take the least dangerous way back to the States, but the idea of driving thirteen hundred miles to get there was terrifying in its uncertainty. Anything could happen on the way there, and Manuel wasn’t just powerful in Cabo. He was known all over Mexico. However, he would definitely have sent people to the airport, and a small chance of getting caught was preferable to a certain one. Finally convinced that Calvin was right, she looked at him and nodded.

  “I guess disappearing over the border might be the better choice. He doesn’t know about you yet, or at least I don’t think he does, and he won’t expect me to be able to go all the way up there. He covers everything and gives me no money.”

  “Right, so even if they find out, we have a head start. We‘ll find a car rental place, get something fast and gas efficient, and make a run for the border. Once we’re close, they aren’t going to be able to get there in time, no matter how fast Mr. Drug Lord’s private planes are.”

  “Yeah.” Sofia nodded. She wanted to feel certain about their plan, but she knew Manuel, so she knew escaping his clutches wouldn’t be easy. He hated to lose, and he would be furious to be bested by some woman, and his mistress at that.

  Sofia wrapped her arms around herself and pressed her head against the window. The driver drove in silence, stopping only for gas on the way to the small town. The scenery flew past Sofia’s window, making her think of home, her family, and how she had worked so hard to get into a good school in the US—for what? So she could turn around and blow it all for a man who saw her as something to be owned? She had been dumb enough to believe he loved her. She couldn’t help but beat herself up for allowing herself to be tricked into his gilded cage. A shudder passed through her as she realized what a lucky escape she’d had.

  Calvin noticed her shivers, and he pulled a hoodie out of her bag and handed it to her. “Get dressed. I brought some clothes. I’ll turn away.”

  She held the sweatshirt to her face and smiled. “This is the only thing I have that isn’t a bathing suit or barely clothes. I’ll have to wait until we get to the next town. Maybe they’ll have something for me to wear there.”

  Calvin nodded, looking away as she pulled the sweatshirt over her head and stuck her hands in the front pocket. He felt for her. She knew she’d made a mistake, and now she had to pay for that. It wasn’t fair. Love wasn’t supposed to suck that badly.

  When they finally made it to the town, the cab dropped them off with all their bags at the car rental place. Calvin rented the car and Sofia climbed in, tossing her bag in the back. He started to head out of town, but spotted a Walmart and pulled into the parking lot.

  “Stay here. I’m going to grab you some stuff. What size do you wear?”

  She lifted an eyebrow and smirked. “Five in shorts, small in shirts.”

  He nodded. “Got it.”

  Calvin ran into Walmart, grabbed a bunch of clothes, and threw them into a cart. He walked through the toiletries section and threw a few things in from there as well, including a box of hair dye. He grabbed a pair of scissors to cut the tags and went to the checkout line. When he got back to the car, Sofia was curled in the front seat, staring out the window.

  Calvin climbed into the driver’s seat and passed her the bags. “I’m sorry it’s not high fashion, but they’re clothes.”

  She smiled as she looked through the bags. “This is great, honestly. It’ll be nice to wear something he didn’t pick out. Can we go to that gas station? I’ll change in the bathroom.”

  “Sure.”

  Sofia went into the small outside bathroom and selected a pair of jeans shorts, a white tank top, and a plaid button-up shirt from the bag. She looked at the hat he’d bought and chuckled at the picture of the Mexican flag on the front. She reached deeper into the bag and pulled out the scissors, then stared at herself in the mirror. She shrugged and grabbed a chunk of her long hair, cutting it up to her chin. She then pulled down some in the front and sliced across, cutting blunt bangs. She pulled the box of dark auburn dye from the bag and went to work, giving herself a quick color change.

  While she waited to rinse the dye off, she read through a magazine Calvin had thrown in the bag. It was a women’s magazine, but it wasn’t high fashion or how to please your man. It was about independence and taking control of your life. When the time was up, she washed the dye from her hair and flipped the hand dryer upside down to dry her hair as best she could. When she was done, she fluffed her bangs. She’d almost forgotten that in real life she actually had straight hair. She had only spent hours making it curly because that was what Manuel liked.

  She tossed the hair in the trash and pulled the ball cap down over her eyes, nodding determinedly at her reflection in the mirror before she left. When she got back out to the car Calvin just blinked at her, not even recognizing her for a moment.

  “Wow, I like that. You look…more yourself, I think.”

  “Yeah.” She scoffed. “Well, it’s time I became a different me. Otherwise, I might die.”

  “That’s very true.”

  “Uh, you might want to get on the
road, though.”

  “Why?” Calvin sat up, on alert as he looked around the parking lot.

  She waved him off. “No, it’s not that. I kind of made a mess in the bathroom. I’m not used to having such a small space, and the coloring kind of went all over the place, I won’t lie. At first glance, it looks like someone was brutally murdered in there.”

  She held up her red-stained palms and shrugged innocently. Calvin leaned his head back and laughed loudly as he put the car in reverse. They pulled out of the gas station parking lot and turned on the GPS, setting their sights on the United States border. Calvin had already gassed up at the last place they’d gone, so he didn’t have to stop for a while.

  He glanced at Sofia, who, for the first time since he’d met her, actually looked like a normal person. She didn’t look all glitzed and glammed, she wasn’t draped in diamonds, and she didn’t seem to have an issue with self-esteem. It was crazy how she was more her, more confident, and a lot more beautiful in just some shorts, a tank top and shirt, and a ball cap. Calvin had been right about her from the beginning. Sofia didn’t belong in that world. She was just a young woman who had been pulled in over her head. She needed to get back to California and the life she had started for herself.

  Katie sat at the kitchen table in her hotel room with her feet up on another chair and took a bite of her reheated donut. Pandora wasn’t playing. She hadn’t allowed Katie to even get close to ten in the morning before waking her up demanding her rotund confections. This time Katie didn’t complain; she just got up and did it.

  Part of the joy of waking you up is the bitchfest, but all I’m getting this morning is silence. What’s with that?

  I dunno. Katie shrugged. I’ve just got a lot of new things going on.

  So you’re as excited as a disgusting child at Christmas.

  I wouldn’t say excited. I still have no idea what I’ll be doing, but I guess I’m ready to move forward. It’s time to explore. There’s a whole new world of opportunities. Spread my wings. I may have a demon inside me, but I have something that most other people don’t, and that’s the funds and connections to accomplish whatever I want.

  Within reason. You’re still part of the hated.

  Meh, who cares what other people think? A year ago, I was facing an uncertain future. I had no idea what to expect after college, except a life with no money. The only example of adulthood I had was my mother’s struggle to take care of me. More money than I knew what to do with was something I didn’t even fantasize about. After you came along, my future became one of being locked in the basement, stuck fighting demons until one took me out. Now, the sky is the limit. It’s intriguing, to say the least.

  Pandora faked gagging. How romantic.

  Don’t worry, you’ll be along for the ride. Maybe one day we’ll buy a Krispy Kreme franchise, and you can have all the donuts your little heart desires.

  Now, that is the kind of plan I can get behind.

  Just then there was a knock on the door. Katie groaned and took her feet off the chair. She went to let Angie in with a donut in her hand. Angie looked surprised that Katie was up but didn’t say a word, just followed her inside and sat down.

  “You want a donut and some milk?”

  “Sure.” Angie smiled, reaching into the box and taking a donut.

  Katie passed her a bottle of milk and finished the last bite of her own. “Once we settle on the condo and get the decorator in we can get all moved in there, not that either of us has much to move.”

  “Yeah.” Angie chuckled.

  “Then you can get set up in the office, and we can start building a business or five.”

  Angie laughed. “I love the way you’re so motivated, even though you don’t know what you’re motivated about.”

  “We’ll find something to put all my energy into.”

  How about another donut? Pandora supplied.

  Katie grabbed her wallet from the table and pulled out a hundred bucks. She put it down and slid it over to Angie.

  “What’s this for?” she asked through a mouthful of donut. “You can’t just keep giving me money.”

  “It isn’t a gift, it’s so I can contact you. If you insist I’ll take it out of your salary, just as soon as I figure out how much that will be.”

  Angie nodded. “Okay, I understand. What is our first venture going to be?”

  Katie leaned back in her chair and looked at the ceiling. That was a really, really good question. Whatever it was, it should be easier than her experience of building the ammunition and weapons factory with Korbin and the team. All the people who’d helped with that venture came flooding through her mind, and she realized that she was going to need some sort of staff support for whatever it would be. That made Katie mentally roll her eyes. She never was very good at the whole staff thing.

  Ha! Maybe you are in farther over your head than you thought.

  No, I just need to take it one step at a time. Like, what will we call my corporation? If I have one of those, I can make as many businesses under it that I want.

  How about Lilith Enterprises?

  No.

  Fine. How about Affliction Inc or Limbo LLC?

  No and no. That’s just asking for trouble.

  All right, how about Rogue Nation?

  Again with the demon references.

  Well, you are part demon, and this is the time of the red-eye.

  How about Angelic Inc or Seraph Corp? Something with my other side in it.

  Pandora made horrible gagging noises.

  Katie chuckled. How about we wait on the name until later?

  Kajesus, please do. You are making me nauseous.

  Katie looked up at Angie, remembering she’d asked her a question. “Oh, uh, sorry, zoned out. I don’t know what I want to do. I guess it will come to me. I’ll be back in a few. I’m gonna get dressed.”

  Angie nodded and returned to the donuts. Katie disappeared into her room for about twenty minutes, and when she heard boots clicking against the floors, she wiped her hands and turned around in her chair.

  Angie’s jaw dropped at the sight of Katie entering the room wearing her leather ensemble. Her eyes widened further at the weapons strapped around her body. Her gaze went to Katie’s legs. “What are those for?”

  Katie winked at her and patted her pistols. “They’re my big-ass pistols for killing big-ass demons. If they knock? The demons always listen.”

  Katie pulled on a large knee-length black coat that covered the majority of her arsenal. Somehow, even with all that gear and that big heavy coat when it was not cold outside, Katie still looked feminine and chic. She ran her hands over the white faux-fur collar and grinned.

  “The fur collar always gets them. They never assume I have guns underneath a coat with a fur collar. Okay, I have to get going. You get the designers’ quotes by the end of the day, get yourself a phone, and see if you can find out where all the donut shops are within a five-mile radius of the new place. You know it will be an issue if I don’t find out.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Angie nodded.

  They walked out, and Angie saluted her and turned to go to her room while Katie took the elevator down to the lobby.

  Katie was on a mission. She was going to not only make the world a better place, but she was also going to make some serious cash while she did it. She walked out to the curb and got in the back of one of the taxis parked out front. The guy looked askance at her in the mirror, wondering why she was wearing such a heavy coat.

  “Where to?”

  “Uh, not really sure. I need you to just drive straight. I’ll tell you where to stop.”

  The cabbie lifted an unconcerned shoulder. “All right then, lady. Your dime.”

  Katie paid close attention to where they were going as the cab moved through the city. He stopped at a traffic light, and the burning sensation in her chest began. It was light, so she knew they were getting close, but they weren’t there yet. The cabbie drove four more blocks, and
Katie rubbed her chest, feeling the pulsing.

  “Take a right at this next light and stop. I’ll get out there.”

  The cabbie looked up at the road and back at her, slowing the cab down. “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah.”

  This is bullshit. I don’t feel a damn thing. This has to be your angelic powers. I bet you that bastard Gabriel is somewhere around here being Creepy Stalker, just like before. Whenever he shows up, we end up doing some weird fucking shit.

  Relax.

  Relax? Fuck, no! I want to use your eyes to look around.

  The cabbie made a right and pulled to the curb. Katie ignored Pandora and handed the cabbie the fare and tip, then got out of the cab and paused as the driver rolled the window down.

  “Are you sure you want to be out here on your own? This is a bad place to be for someone as pretty as you.”

  “Aw, thanks for caring about me.” Katie smiled and slipped him another ten. “But yeah, I’ve got this.”

  Katie walked away before he could protest further, rubbing her hand across her chest as the energy pulsed again. She entered the first building, but felt no surge. She left the building and continued her search, going from one messed-up run-down building to the next, seeking the disturbance she had felt before. She knew there was trouble nearby. It was calling to her.

  The crazy thing was, she could no longer tell whether she would be facing a demon or just an evil human. Her new powers were a little confusing, but she knew that whatever was happening to her, there was a reason behind it.

  17

  Katie focused her senses as she passed building after building looking for the cause of the burning in her chest.

  As she walked deeper into the neighborhood, the ambiance began to change. She heard languages other than English and a tang of spice lingered in the air, making her mouth water. She’d entered the part of town where the Middle Eastern community was situated. Those who acknowledged her as she passed were courteous and kind. It was actually a lot more comfortable than the gang area, but she knew something was creeping up on her.