PANDORA

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PANDORA Page 277

by Rebecca Hamilton


  Esais shook his head. “It seems we’ve walked in on a powder keg.”

  Wonderful. No experience with demons or lycanthropes, which meant these children had no weapons. I needed to start with the basics. Ose could mop the floor with us with one pinky of the body he inhabited if we faced him now. In my five hundred years, I’d never fought a devil, the angels who fell from heaven, on my own. I’d only killed their offspring, the demons. I needed to rethink my strategy and pick up some more firepower.

  “If you can’t kill this hellhound, what use are you?” Adrian asked.

  I cut my gaze to him and gritted my teeth. “I can get an alchemical compound that will take care of the issue. I’m meeting with a contact of mine John Roda, tomorrow to get more information on Ose and his setup.”

  Esias cleared his throat. “I’d like to come along.”

  “Not alone with her.” Adrian crossed his arms.

  “I’m a grown man. You and Tres need to set up the house anyway.” He waved his hand dismissively.

  “Fine, I will meet you at Rickie’s tomorrow at nine o’clock.” I wrote the address on a slip of paper for him.

  Esais gave me a small bow. “Goodnight then, Miss Di Luca.”

  Tres bowed as well on his way out the door. Adrian left with the barest of nods. I shut the door and leaned against it, closing my eyes. Tonight had gone well, despite the nasty surprise, but we had a lot ahead of us. I needed sleep for the battles to come.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The sheets clung to my back as I sat up. I sucked down the cool night air for several moments as I took in my surroundings. Murmurs from the program on the television competed with the buzz of the air conditioner. The light played over the bed and table. Right, this was my hotel room.

  I shivered as my feet touched the floor and the cool air blew across my bare legs. Water would be best to clear the scratchiness in my throat. The faucet hissed as the water filled the cup. I wiped my cheeks and stared at the wetness on my fingertips. I’d been crying in my sleep again. Strange, after five centuries, the dream could still do this to me.

  I stared in the mirror with my aura sight at the figure behind me. It floated inches above the floor with thick black chains with red cracks covering it from head to toe. It writhed and twisted, trying to break free of the chains and, every so often, a flash of white light leaked out from behind its bindings. A length of chain extended from the figure to a collar around my neck. No, the Van Helsings weren’t the only ones touched by a spirit. Mine had to pay the price of my curse.

  “I’ll free us both,” I said. “I’ll kill the demon bitch that has us.”

  Allegra. My reason for existence. She’d taken my husband, my son, my life and left me with nothing. I remained alive as part of her punishment while she stayed beyond my grasp.

  I gulped the water down and crushed the plastic cup in my hand. Little pricks of pain flared behind my eyes, and my heart pounded in my ears. It looked to be another sleepless night. The hellhound had run back to his masters. I could spend the time tracking him down or stay here and brood.

  I pulled on my clothes and lifted the hood of my jacket over my head. My hand ran over the hilt of my sword. I unsheathed it, letting the light glint off the two feet of sinuous blade. It was called a sundang and was made of iron, good for cutting the connection between the spiritual and material world. Its creators had not stopped there. Kali, the Hindu goddess, blessed certain families with the power and weapons to slay demons. They had died out, but their weapons remained, like this one. My hand ran over the flat from the wide base to the rounded point. It wouldn’t pierce, but the blade would cut through flesh like butter.

  I set out with the sword strapped across my back and a butterfly knife fitted in a sheath on the inside of my pants. Laughter and music coming from the rooms facing the road broke the silence that should have pervaded the motel. A row of motorcycles was parked outside. They must have come in the middle of the night. The occasional headlights of cars from the highway broke the darkness as I walked. The parking lots of the two restaurants and the jewelry shop lay bare. The world slept while I was denied rest.

  A star shot across the sky, fallen from its place in the heavens. It had a long journey ahead of it. Everything it knew would be gone. Did stars feel the burden of eternity in the deep black? Did they yearn for warmth besides their own burning intensity?

  I rubbed my arms and continued on to the bar. Lights flashed ahead of me. The bar had not drifted off to sleep like the rest. A crowd gathered around one police car and an ambulance. The demon had lost his temper and hurt someone. Merda, the last thing I needed was the police sniffing around. I slipped into the empty lot next to the bar and lay on my stomach, hidden by the high grass. The blades tickled my face as I crawled forward on my elbows and knees. I stopped when I reached twenty feet away and poked my head up, making sure I remained out of the light.

  Two officers, a man and a woman, were talking to the large man the hellhound had thrown. He waved his left hand in the air while talking. He would have used both, but his right was bound in a sling.

  Damn, there’d be no tracking the hellhound with this crowd. Still, I needed to check for others.

  I closed my eyes, and something in my head shifted, like a joint popping into place. The colors surrounding the crowd pulsed with anger and excitement. They hadn’t had this much fun in months. Behind them, a different demon looked on with its arms crossed. Barely anything about this creature resembled a human or animal. Two large, bat-like wings grew out of his back. Its head had an acorn shape with its snout extending to a point several inches past its jaw, and two spikes protruded down from the sides of the head. A hard carapace covered his body, with horns protruding from the joints.

  I shivered and closed my eyes, but the image remained burned in my mind. I needed to see what human this thing paraded around in. Six feet of biker leaned against a motorcycle not unlike the ones parked outside of my hotel. Tribal tattoos covered his shaven head, surrounding his right eye, and traveled down his neck to disappear under his leather jacket.

  Two in one night. Lucky me, though he was neither Ose nor the fortune-teller, since she preferred women. So where did this one fit in? The muscles in my arm cramped as I lay there, waiting. It didn’t take long for the police to finish their questioning.

  “Go home and sleep it off!” The police woman waved off the crowd. “We’ll handle this.”

  A few of the men shouted and whistled, but they still made their way to their cars. Tattoo climbed on his bike and drove off with the rest. I remained still. I knew where he would end up.

  The patrol car exited last, following the ambulance. Finally. I stood up, stretching my arms out and rotating my shoulders. A short jog had me back at the hotel in minutes, and I paused in between two trucks to catch my breath. Warmth spread to my fingers from where the cracked asphalt had baked in the sun. The night had done nothing to cool the air. Nor did it lessen the stench of oil and hot rubber that surrounded me. The demon’s motorcycle rested among the others, just as I thought.

  Ten of them. How many were demons? It looked like I’d spend the night scouting a different group than the one I planned on.

  A truck door slammed and a woman marched to the biker’s door with a shotgun in her hand. Her blonde hair bounced against her shoulders with each step. She would have been pretty if not for the scowl she wore. She paused at the first of the bikers’ doors, taking a deep breath, and widened her legs in a taekwondo stance. The door gave way with a crack from the kick she delivered to it. My jaw hung open as the woman stepped inside.

  Her Cajun accent traveled clear on the night air. “All right you sons of bitches, I have some questions that need answers.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Shouts and curses followed the woman’s words, and the curtains in the window ruffled. She had to be a scorned lover of one of the bikers. The roar of the shotgun echoed across the parking lot. She had plenty of fury, but was no match for the demo
ns, even with the shotgun.

  We didn’t have much time until the police showed up. I tapped my foot on the ground and stared at the doorway and the window. I’d just go in, assess the numbers, and get the woman out, unless she was one of them. I slipped a black ski mask over my head and pulled the hood of my jacket back up. They didn’t need to see my face until I chose to strike.

  I drew my weapons as I walked towards the door. The window exploded outward, and a bloodied biker landed a few feet from me. He groaned, struggling to get up as he favored his left arm. She wasn’t doing too bad for herself.

  I pulled my knife and paused just inside the doorway. Every piece of furniture, from the bed to the table and chairs, had been knocked over. Actually, it looked as if someone had thrown the chairs. The woman stood with her back to the bathroom on the far side of the room. Two bikers picked themselves off of the floor while a third leaned against the wall, holding his abdomen.

  My vision blurred as my second sight kicked in. The reddish black lines of corruption extended from every aura in the room, including the woman’s. This taint on the soul was different from demonic possession. A human could gain power without actually letting a demon ride them, and most of them did this by making contacts and selling their souls.

  “How do you like the iron, asshole? Bet you want to jump out of that body now!” She reloaded the gun and aimed at one of the others.

  “That’s not a demon,” I said.

  The woman swung her gun in my direction with a glare. One of the bikers took a chance and lunged at her. She smashed him in the face with the butt. He staggered back, holding his face with a groan. I stepped back on to the porch. The door to the next room slammed open and four more bikers boiled out like angry ants. Tattoo came last. His gaze traveled from my feet to my head, and he sneered at me.

  “Come to rob me?” he asked in a Cajun accent.

  I unsheathed my sundang as a grin came to my face. Fortune stayed with me tonight. He was the only demon. The rest were human lackeys who sold themselves for power. I could use a little exorcise to help me sleep.

  “Oh, you’re one of them ninjas.”

  “No, I am death wrapped in a small package.” I swung my sword at the others. “The rest of you should pray to God for forgiveness. You still have time.”

  His friends hooted as they fanned out around me. They cracked their knuckles and made kissing noises. They thought I’d be easy. No one respected swords anymore, but after I finished with them, they would. The woman’s shouts carried from the room, followed by the sound of flesh hitting flesh. She seemed capable on her own. The potbellied one on the end bent his knees and kept his arms loose at his sides. He planned to rush me. If I positioned it right, I could send him tumbling into the two who would try to rush me when I dealt with him. That would leave Tattoo and the pock-faced biker playing bodyguard.

  Potbelly rushed me. I pivoted forward in my stance and slid my blade across the back of his leg to slice through his hamstring. His momentum carried him into the other two. Down they went. The pock-faced boy raised a handgun at me with shaking hands. Tattoo’s sneer traveled from the tangled mass of his minions to me.

  “I suppose you’d be the bitch following us since N’awlins. What the hell you want?”

  “Oh, hell no.” The woman stomped from the room. “Some crazy burglar isn’t gonna claim my kill.”

  Tattoo threw his head back, his laughter echoing through the parking lot. “You girls are pretty tough to take down my boys.”

  He dug a cigarette out of a wrinkled pack. The lighter clinked open and made several click sounds before a flame flared to life. The world around me dimmed. Tendrils of darkness stretched out from his shadow, consuming all other light.

  “I hope you don't sleep with the night light on,” he said.

  “What the fuck?” the woman said.

  “Stay where you are,” I called to her.

  “I can smell the rage on both of you.” Tattoo’s voice floated around me. “I think I’ll be taking an added bonus home.”

  I froze, trying to pinpoint him, but it proved impossible to do through all the yells of the bikers and the scrambling. The crack of a gunshot blared ahead of me. The flash of light lasted less than a second before the dark swallowed it. The wind ruffled my hair as the bullet passed close to me. I jerked back, and my hand brushed against leather behind me. Damn, he moved fast. I leapt forward and stumbled over a body on the ground. My knee jarred as it caught the brunt of my fall.

  Tendrils, colder than ice, wrapped around my ankles and wrists. The weapons slipped from my numb fingers, but I didn’t hear them hit the ground. The bonds lifted me into the air and threw my back against the wall of the motel. My arms were pulled above my head, yanking the right one out of its socket. I screamed as pain raced through my shoulder. I twisted my other arm, trying to slip it free, but the bonds held me tight.

  My heart sped up, and my throat began to close, making my breath come in small gasps. I had to calm down. I stilled and closed my eyes. What good were they at the moment? I inhaled, counting to ten before releasing, and rubbed my fingers together, relieved when they began to tingle.

  Tattoo’s body pressed against mine. His hot breath on my face reeked of tobacco and just a hint of sulfur. Most people missed the sulfur, but I’d been in this position before. This is where they became cocky.

  “So, sweetness, Why are you hunting us?” he asked. “And what are you gonna do to make up for it?”

  Sirens wailed in the distance, cutting through the panicked voices. The blackness faded, and the night returned to normal. Tattoo stood a few feet in front of me, inhaling the last few drags of his cigarette as he stared off in the direction of the sirens. He blew the fumes into my face, and I coughed, squeezing my eyes shut for a second. I started when he stumbled into me. He staggered back with a moan, his hand going to his lower back, and he spun to the mystery woman behind him. The woman stepped back in a fighting stance with a smirk.

  “Don’t forget about me, asshat,” she said.

  “Bitch!” Tattoo said. “You’ll pay for that.”

  “You gonna make me ugly?” Mystery Woman asked.

  A growl rolled out of the Tattoo’s throat and he lunged at her. The woman moved to the side and held her foot out. Her leg came up in an axe kick that hit the back of the demon's head as he bumbled forward. My bonds disappeared and I dropped to the ground. I landed on my feet, swallowing a whimper as I jarred my shoulder.

  Tattoo backed away from both of us with a scowl on his face. “This isn’t over.”

  He ran for his bike with his lackeys bumbling after him, at least the ones who could move. I gathered my weapons, fumbling with one arm as I tried to sheathe them. The woman chased after the bikers but stopped short when pock face raised the gun at her. He held her there until Tattoo disappeared down the road in the opposite direction of the sirens.

  “Do you even know how to use that?” I moved up behind the woman, holding my useless arm to my body.

  “S-stay where you are,” he said.

  The woman moved, but I grabbed her arm. She swung her head in my direction with her eyes narrowed. Pock-face hopped on his bike and started it up.

  “He’s not the demon, and a rather pathetic biker,” I said. “Too easy for you.”

  “And I’m supposed to listen to the masked avenger because?”

  I blinked for a moment at her odd comment. “Do you wish to get arrested?”

  She mumbled.

  “Grab your gun, and let’s go.”

  I led her through a hall that cut between the front of the motel and the back. No one followed us. The bikers were too busy trying to get themselves out of this mess, and the other guests didn’t want to get involved. The door to my room clicked shut behind her and I flattened her against the door with my knife to her throat.

  “If you move anything but your mouth, I will bury my blade in your neck,” I said. “Who do you serve?”

  CHAPTER FIVE


  The woman’s hands twitched and I pressed the knife into her flesh. She glared at me.

  “Did Ose send you after that gang?” I asked.

  “Who the fuck is Ose?” Her brows drew closer together. “I don’t serve any demon.”

  My vision blurred as I concentrated on her aura. She was a study in reds. The deep, clear reds of her strong will and passionate nature were muddied by the rage she carried with her. Blackish-red lines encroached inward from her outer aura. Other colors pulsed and shifted, but no deceptive ones. She spoke the truth.

  I stepped back and slid my knife into my belt. I pulled off my mask and used it to fan my burning face. She stood upright, craning her neck from side to side. She kept her gaze on me the whole time.

  “Your salt line’s screwed to hell,” she said.

  “Gabriella Di Luca.” I held my hand out to her, which she just stared at until I dropped it.

  “The hunter?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “As usual, my reputation precedes me.”

  “Yeah, you’re supposed to be this big bad demon hunter. Didn’t see much of that tonight.”

  The more this woman spoke, the more the ache in my temples overcame the throbbing in my shoulder. I touched the side of my forehead and closed my eyes, taking a deep breath.

  “And you are?” I asked.

  “Marguerite Devereux.”

  She lifted her chin to look down her nose at me and I chuckled. For having such a foul mouth, she acted like she was nobility. Still, something about her reminded me of stories I’d heard. Blonde hair, bad disposition.

  “I remember something about a new hunter in New Orleans. Nice work on that fake medium,” I said.

  She shrugged again as she moved the salt back into a sort of straight line by the door. I pulled my right wrist to my stomach, squeezing my eyes shut. I gritted my teeth as I inched the arm out to the side. My arm resisted the movement, and my joints begged me to stop, but I kept going.

 

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