by Michael Todd
“Well, sir, I have to say I am incredibly impressed by your demeanor and thoughts on the whole process,” the reporter said, putting his notes in his briefcase. “Thank you for taking time from your busy schedule for us.”
“Absolutely.” The politician smiled, watching as the reporter stood up and walked out of the room.
As soon as he was out and the doors were shut, his smile faded. He pulled at his necktie, shaking his head. The driver, who also happened to be his righthand man, made his way to his boss and handed him a bottle of water.
“That went well.” He chuckled.
He opened the water with a twist and took a swallow. “I hate fucking reporters,” the politician growled. “But as it happens, I have a silent interest in the companies that will be bidding on this project if it goes through, so I’ll make out on the end.”
“What happens if you lose, sir?”
“I don’t give a fuck.” He shrugged. “I threw the dogs a bone. If I lose the bone, no skin off my back, right?”
“Absolutely.” His driver laughed.
“Things didn’t go as they were supposed to,” a voice inside the politician’s head spat.
The politician doubled over and grabbed his head, groaning slightly as he slid off the chair and onto his knees. Sweat dripped copiously from his forehead onto the floor as he shook wildly. He groaned at the pain of T’Chezz coming through mentally. His human body had a very hard time making connections like this.
“T’Chezz.” The politician spoke out loud. “What can I do for my prince?”
We will try this again, he snarled. And if he fails, so do you.
His failure was not my fault, The politician wiped at the blood dripping from his nose. I did everything you asked me to.
Do it again, T’Chezz shouted.
“Yes,” he said aloud, with fear in his voice. “Right away.”
Good, T’Chezz growled, and cut off the communication.
The politician screamed and fell onto his butt on the floor. His driver rushed over, grabbing him under the arms and lifting him into the chair. He kept his eyes closed and breathed deeply, waiting for the ringing to leave his ears. His driver patted the blood from under his nose and held out the water bottle. The politician opened his eyes and nodded at the driver, then took the water and sipped it.
“Where is the document?” the politician barked.
“Here, sir,” the driver said, handing it over.
“We have to do an operation tonight,” he said, snatching the sheet from the driver’s hand and unfolding it. “I just have to find a suitable location to let loose a small nuclear demon.”
“May I suggest Inglewood?” the driver suggested. “Those bleeding-heart liberals could do with a little more bleeding.”
“While I’m always happy to barbeque a few dozen Republicans, I suppose sometimes our people have to take one for the team,” the politician said, leaning back and smiling. “I wouldn’t be a man of the people if I was picky, would I now?”
“My apologies,” the driver said, slightly nervous. “I didn’t realize that you were a Democrat. I thought it was all for show, given the companies that you do business with. Of course, these days who can tell, in politics? We have a president who was a Democrat until he ran, and is now a staunch Republican. I never did understand politics. I think that’s why I just stayed the muscle of the group.”
“You are too softhearted for politics, my friend.” The politician smiled. “And that’s a good thing. The rest of us make deals with the devil, literally. No, I’m not really a Democrat, just on paper. Both those groups will kiss my ring right after I’ve shoved my hands up their asses.”
The driver laughed along with the politician, not fully understanding what he meant.
“It’s a shame we don’t have any real Republican areas in Los Angeles.” The politician sighed. “I could definitely sit back and sip a beer to the harmonious sounds of demons crunching on Republican leg bones and the underlying symphony of their screams. It definitely isn’t like it used to be. Don’t get me wrong—it’s not that I love Democrats. I just hate Republicans more. I guess you could call me a moderate. As in, I moderate which one I hate more at any given moment.”
The politician laughed loudly as he folded up the sheet of paper and handed it back to the driver. He stood up and fixed his sweaty hair, wiping his hands on the towel the driver handed him and tossing it on the table in front of him. He had fire in his eyes, and he knew that no matter how much he wanted to be done with the whole mess, he had to live up to his end of the bargain. He would never get what had been promised if he didn’t.
“Come on, we have a demon to open a door for,” he said, walking off.
Katie leaned forward. “Hey, take this next exit. I want to check out that gun store on the signs. There were some self-loading ammunition pieces that I wanted to see, and I’m sure a place like that would have the information I am looking for.”
“All right,” Calvin agreed enthusiastically. “I like to see you curious about weapons.”
When they pulled up, there was a sign on the door prohibiting the carrying of firearms in the establishment. Katie sighed and pulled off her vest, gently laying it in the back and running her hand over her knives. She didn’t like leaving them anywhere they could be found, and she definitely didn’t like walking around without a weapon. Calvin looked at her as he took his guns out and set them in their cases behind his seat. He could tell she was nervous about going in unarmed.
He chuckled. “Don’t worry, it’s a lot easier to not be carrying when everyone in there has a gun. If you need one, just take one of theirs—although I don’t see us having any issues in this tiny bit of time. You will be fine. Just think of it as walking in like any normal person.”
“I feel naked,” she grumped. “This is not what I wanted to do—be unarmed in this city while we were here.”
“You’ll be fine,” Calvin told her as he shut the car door.
The two walked into the shop, and immediately Katie was drawn to the first case. They had anything and everything that she would ever need to arm herself—minus her special weapons, of course. Calvin and Katie proceeded from case to case, oohing and aahing at everything they saw. There were Berettas, Grubers, and special barely legal sawed-off shotguns with holster hooks built in so you could carry it on your belt without a long leather case. On the wall was every kind of crossbow she could imagine.
You are the only girlie in here, Pandora cooed. The others don’t seem to be paying you any mind, though. Maybe those curves are essential after all.
Shhh, Katie hissed. I’m busy here.
Katie glanced at the other five guys in the shop, but as Pandora had stated, they weren’t paying her any attention at all. She liked the fact that she was like anyone else in there, but it seemed like Pandora had been hoping for more.
She couldn’t take her anywhere without her making some snide comment about the men, not even into a gun store.
Well, fuck, Pandora groused. I guess that really was a gun in his pocket and he wasn’t excited to see me in the least.
Katie ignored Pandora’s constant bitching about her lack of sexual attention and continued shopping. It took everything in her not to purchase something, but she didn’t have an ID, and knew there was no way she could get anything there without one. She was turning to talk to the guy behind the counter when the alarm connected to the front door’s metal detectors sounded. Two young thugs raced into the building, their pistols drawn. Katie straightened up, lifted her eyebrows, and stared at them like they were idiots.
“Everyone needs to…needs to…” The perps stopped in their tracks and glanced at each other.
Katie leaned against the nearest case and looked at the guys in the store. All five of them had drawn their pistols and pointed them at the perps. She chuckled and looked at the guy behind the counter, who had a sawed-off pointing in their direction. Slowly the two thugs lowered their pistols and tossed them on the
floor, put their hands behind their heads, and spread their legs. They knew they had lost before they had even gotten started.
“So much for not bringing in weapons,” Katie whispered.
“No. You see, all five of those guys are cops.” Calvin chuckled. “They are allowed to carry anywhere. This has to be the worst place that you could ever try and hold up.”
Bwahahaahaha, Pandora roared. Humans are so goddamned stupid! Of all the motherfucking places to try to rob, these two fucking morons walked straight into a gun shop full of cops. Bwahahahaha! They deserve to be shot. Seriously, natural selection was never more perfect than in this case. There was a slight pause before she continued, Where are the bangs? Fuck me, I wish I had popcorn… Oh, come on! Where the hell are the flying body parts? Well, shit. This just went PG-13.
Katie shook her head and turned back to the counter, waiting for the guy behind it to put away his gun. She smirked as he rolled his eyes and shook his head, placing his shotgun out of sight under the counter and turning to Katie.
She shook her head and laughed.
“What can I do for you today?” he asked. “Now that the morons are taken care of.”
“I wanted to know what it would take to run my own ammunition with special metals, and no, I don’t know the metal’s specs,” she began.
“Hmm,” he replied, rubbing his chin. “Something like that would take a specialist, and you won’t find one anywhere around Inglewood. Where do you live?”
“Las Vegas.”
“Uhmmm. The closest one to here would be a place in Las Vegas. Let me get you their information. They will be able to answer your questions better than I would.”
“Thank you.” She smiled as he pulled out his book and wrote down the information on a piece of paper. “You all be safe out there. It must be a full moon.”
“You too.” Katie laughed, nodded at Calvin, and walked out of the store.
Katie watched as the cops pushed the handcuffed idiots into the back of a patrol car. As the man shut the door one of the perps looked at Katie and smirked, his eyes flashing red. She grabbed Calvin’s arm, nodding at the perp. The two cops standing closest to them were whispering and looking at Katie.
“What?” she asked, turning around and staring at them.
“Sorry,” one of them said. “Not trying to be rude.”
“It’s just that, well, we were wondering,” the other cop began in a nervous tone. “Are you guys the D Squad? You match the descriptions a couple of colleagues from San Diego gave us.”
“Man,” Katie snapped, shaking her head and looking at Calvin. “You can’t keep someone’s mouth shut to save your life.”
“I knew that threat wouldn’t work,” Calvin growled.
“You know what?” Katie smirked. “I think this time it just might work out in our favor.”
“What do you mean?” Calvin asked.
Katie nodded at the two cops and smiled, then wandered over to the cop car and looked through the window at the perps. The one with the flashing red eyes snarled and growled through the glass for a moment, then his face went straight. It was obvious that he could sense Pandora inside her, and, well, none of the demons wanted to fuck with her—not even a little bit. Katie tapped on the glass and waved her fingers, and looked at one of the cops.
“Do me a favor,” she requested. “I want you to take this fool out of the car, but leave the other one inside.”
“Are you sure?” he asked. “That perp is a little squirrelly. He tried to bite my partner when he put him in there.”
She nodded. “I’m sure he did. Just stay behind my partner. I got your back.”
“All right,” the cop said, opening the door and grabbing the guy by the collar. “You didn’t want to go in there, and now you don’t want to come out. Now stay right-fucking-there like a good boy and talk to the nice lady.”
“Hi there.” Katie smirked, rubbing her hands together and flashing her eyes. “Let’s have a little fun.”
17
Can you do it? Katie asked Pandora. Can you do it right here in the parking lot without me being tied down?
I can get it out, Pandora assured her. But killing it before it takes anyone else? Well, that’s going to be a little messy, I won’t fucking lie.
Meh, a little mess never hurt anyone, she replied. What do you need?
I need you in a chair, and I need a trash can. A metal one, she instructed.
“All right, boys,” Katie said, looking at the cops. “I need a chair and a metal trashcan, stat.”
Calvin nodded and went to grab a metal folding chair from inside the store while one of the cops grabbed a metal trashcan from behind the building. Katie sat down in the chair and cracked her neck, then stretched her arms way out in front of her. She looked up at the cops, who had all started to circle around her.
She reached up and grabbed the perp, pulling his face down close to hers.
“How you feeling, buddy?” Her smile didn’t make him feel any better at all.
“No!” He shook his head, sweating. “Please, no.”
“Come on over here,” she said, standing up and pointed downward. “And have a seat in this chair for me. This is gonna hurt a lot, I’m not gonna lie to ya.”
“The rest of you need to spread out,” Calvin said. “Keep a nice wide-open space here. You don’t want to be close when she pulls that demon out—not unless you want to join our team. You will be able to see everything just fine from about five paces back farther than you already are. Okay?”
The cops talked amongst themselves, the whispers going in one of Katie’s ears and out the other. At that moment she was in the zone, being pulled into and released from Pandora’s control like a wave. She gripped the perp tightly, watching his eyes flash red like hers.
“My mistress,” the guy’s voice hissed, his head tilted downward. “I didn’t know it was you or I would have never come here. Please accept my most humble apologies. There wasn’t anything else to do and we heard about San Diego, so we figured it was time to get some of our own—at least until the master returns.”
“Quiet, you fucking fool,” Pandora barked in Katie’s voice. “I’m goddamned tired of having to fool with absolute MORONS like you. You are here for one reason and one only, but still, you can’t help yourself. You go jumping around town, flashing guns to cops and getting yourself locked up. You are a DISGRACE to the demon race, and you make me want to vomit all the fuck over you. What is your name?”
The demon whimpered.
“What IS IT?” she screamed.
On the outside she looked and acted like Katie, but the voice that came from her mouth was different.
It was a mixture of both their voices, melodic in tone but monstrous and fear-inducing at the same time. The cops stood around watching silently, with the hair on their arms standing straight up in the air. It was like a possession, only there was something about it that made everyone stand still. The other cop returned from around back and stopped, his eyes growing big.
Slowly he walked forward and set the metal trash can down next to her.
Katie glanced at it, nervous. She wasn’t fully aware of what was about to happen, but she knew she was already far enough in that she couldn’t turn back.
There was a demon in that kid’s body, one that was controlling him. It was her duty to try to save him by getting that demon the hell off this plane of existence, but she didn’t want it to leave the kid and go into one of the cops. She knew the only way to avoid that was to follow Pandora’s lead.
Make sure it is unable to move when it’s in the trashcan, then light that motherfucker on fire, Pandora told Katie.
Right, Katie said, and turned to Calvin. “A lighter… I need a lighter, too. Not matches, a good solid reliable lighter.”
“Right.” Calvin nodded, looking at the cops. “Does anyone smoke?”
The cops shook their head, their hands on their pistols but their eyes glued to Katie/Pandora. The demon whimpered l
ouder, shaking in his human capsule.
He knew what was coming, but then maybe he should have thought about that before rolling up on that gun shop like a complete moron. Calvin ran into the store again and grabbed a lighter from the owner, jogging back out and sliding it into Katie’s front pocket.
“Good to go.” He nodded at her in assurance and stepped back with the others trying to keep them as far away from her as possible.
He didn’t know what to expect, since he hadn’t been there when Garrett had been exorcised. That was different, though. In that one, there hadn’t been five vulnerable bodies standing around for that demon to jump into.
All right, bitch, hold onto your panties, Pandora said.
Katie held the kid firmly as Pandora reached through her, grabbing the demon from inside of him. She let the kid go as his body fell back into the chair, unconscious. Katie’s eyes grew wider when she focused on the demon hanging in the air in front of her, Pandora’s gnarled claws holding tightly to its flesh.
This motherfucker is heavy, Pandora snarled. Why can’t they just come easy?
Too many donuts? Katie asked.
Keep going. Pandora snickered. I’ll let him come in here with me.
No, the demon growled, with fear in its eyes.
Everyone stood silently as the demon’s body began to solidify. His skin cracked and tore as the spirit part of him morphed into a solid being. Katie’d had no idea that could happen, and judging by the surprise emanating from Pandora, it wasn’t quite what she had been thinking either.
All right, on the count of three, grab him and shove him in that trash can. I can’t keep my arms outside your body for long. Ready? One, two, three!
Katie reached forward without another thought and grabbed the demon, flipping it over and slamming it headfirst into the trashcan, which vibrated from the demon’s flailing. She stood steadily as Pandora pulled herself back inside, then looked up at Calvin for a moment and grimaced while she reached in and twisted as hard as she could to break the beast’s neck.