by Michael Todd
Sit Down Shut Up and Pull The Trigger
Protected by the Damned, Book 4
Michael Todd
Michael Anderle
Laurie Starkey
Sit Down Shut Up and Pull The Trigger (this book) is a work of fiction.
All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.
Copyright © 2018 Michael Todd, Michael Anderle, and Laurie Starkey
Cover by Ryn Katryn Digital Art
Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing
LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
LMBPN Publishing
PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy
Las Vegas, NV 89109
First US edition, April 2018
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Author Notes - Michael Todd Anderle
Author Notes - Laurie Starkey
Connect with Michael Todd
Books by Michael Todd
Books written as Michael Anderle
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To Family, Friends and
Those Who Love
to Read.
May We All Enjoy Grace
to Live the Life We Are
Called.
1
The creature’s head almost rubbed the ceiling. Its claws flexed in agitation as it wandered back and forth in T’Chezz’s office, which was situated between the flowing lava and the pile of tortured bodies.
T’Chezz’s realm was unknown to man, but man was not unknown to him.
He had a plan; a plan that would destroy humanity at its core. But what he hadn’t expected was Korbin and his team of Killers, and the other teams T’Chezz had been fighting all over the world.
He’d win in two areas, then a major setback would come at the hands of the demon hunters. It was becoming difficult for T’Chezz to keep all the balls in the air simultaneously, so he was going to have to focus.
His eyes narrowed. T’Chezz had thought the invasion would be seamless and entertaining, but as Barro stood in front of him for the second time, he realized that he might have underestimated the power these Damned wielded on Earth.
T’Chezz plopped into the massive stone seat at the front of the room and tapped his claws against its carved arms. He stared at the demon, who was injured and obviously terrified of him.
T’Chezz could see that Barro had fought hard, and though he was livid that things weren’t progressing, getting rid of him just yet would be a mistake. It was hard to find loyal demons, especially in a place like hell—even when he had spent so much energy, effort, and trouble to find his ass once Barro had been killed…again.
If he hadn’t needed the information, Barro would have been lost.
“Tell me again how many there were?” T’Chezz asked calmly.
“At first there were two,” the demon began. “The black man and the girl, but then two more came, some freshly Damned male and a priest.”
T’Chezz rubbed his chin. “It seems as if they have formed some sort of group or gang that is hunting us specifically.”
“There is something else,” the demon said quietly. “The girl…her demon is familiar.”
“Familiar? How so?” T’Chezz asked.
“It’s your sister,” Barro admitted, putting his head down.
“So she has been up to no good.” T’Chezz chuckled, his laughter sounding like two chunks of basalt rubbing together. “But you’re telling me that she is helping these Damned? That’s too much for me to believe.”
“I know, but it’s true,” the demon told him. “She gave the human powers like her own during the fight: strength, agility, and healing ability. She screamed questions at me when I was dying, wanting to know your plans.”
“How could she help them?” T’Chezz growled. “I hate the bitch—don’t get me wrong—and would love nothing more than to watch her be buried on one of hell’s deepest levels, but I am aghast at the idea that she was fighting against us. Helping the human destroy us.”
“She helped the human fight me,” the demon corrected. “Talked shit to me during the process, too. Stood in the background as the human used the fucking cross to send me back to hell, though I am pretty sure they underestimated your ability to bring us back.”
T’Chezz stood up. “You were lucky I caught you before you plummeted farther down, or you would be picking hell’s core out of your teeth right now.”
“Well the weapons they have are no joke,” Barro told him. “And they hurt like a motherfucker.”
“A special cross?” T’Chezz shook his head. “How in the world did those dimwitted creatures become capable of creating a material like this?”
“I don’t know,” the demon admitted, “but it burned right through me and ultimately ended me.”
“And the Damned holding it was fine?”
“I would guess.”
“Interesting,” T’Chezz growled, looking across the hellish landscape. “It’s been centuries; possibly over a thousand years since anything like this has been spoken about. There have been rumors but no evidence—until now.”
“They have swords and knives as well.” He groaned. “My legs were cut to ribbons, and when I got slashed across the belly it felt like my body had been thrown into a volcano. It takes the wind out of you and drops you to your knees. If I had that reaction, I can only imagine what it would do to the smaller beasts out there.”
“It doesn’t instantly kill you, then?” T’Chezz asked.
“Not me, though I don’t know what eff
ect it would have on other demons,” he answered. “But it took quite a bit for the metal to penetrate my skin. Quicker than bullets, but not immediate. Still, it hurts like a sonofabitch, which puts us at a disadvantage when we are trying to focus on crushing those humans’ tiny little bones.”
“There hasn’t even been a whisper about a new weapon until now, and we have had our watchdogs out there searching,” T’Chezz said angrily. “Even a thousand years ago when it surfaced for the first time, it was only two swords—two swords that I was told were completely taken care of, with no trace for the humans to find. Those swords forced us into the darkness for a long time, fearful of what might happen if they surfaced once again after the Battle of Intaglio. However, after centuries of hiding, starving, and needing entertainment from the human creatures we have started to emerge again. Slowly at first, but now it has become a movement. The last thing I need is to have this kind of challenge following us around topside.”
“Do you think your sister had anything to do with it?” the demon asked.
“With the swords?” T’Chezz chuckled. “No, she is too stupid to understand something on that level. She is just a thorn in my side, nothing more. This human she has infected…she may be tough. She may be different, but she sure as hell can be taken out if necessary. She is human, with the frailty of a human’s body, the misguided tempers, and the emotional attachment to their human lives. She can be broken, and in due time I will make sure that she is. For now, though, I have larger issues to take care of—like this weapons problem. I don’t know who is behind this or where they got this knowledge or how many of these tools are out there, but I can promise I will find out.”
He stared out at the writhing bodies in the fires.
“Oh, yes.” He chuckled to himself, rubbing his hands together. “I will find them, and when I do it will be their end—their very unfortunate end.” He started out of his office, one particular figure catching his attention. “Right now we can get back to business, because I am in the mood for torture.”
Katie got up from the couch and stretched her arms high over her head, then straightened her t-shirt and yawned. She had just finished another episode of the soap opera, and though she felt like taking a nap, she had a meeting with the other owners of her company to attend.
She hoped they had some good news; that things were starting to shape up. She hadn’t really paid attention for the last few days, since she was still trying to fully recover from the battle with the demon.
Katie made her way down to the conference room to the left of Korbin’s office. When she arrived Korbin, Calvin, and Damian were already there, sitting around the table waiting for her. Damian smirked when she walked into the room yawning, a hand covering her mouth, and Korbin just shook his head. She smiled at Calvin, who was looking stronger and healthier every day, and took her seat.
Korbin chuckled. “Thank you so much for joining us.”
“Hey, I’m the owner of the company. It’s only right I nonchalantly stroll in late,” she argued, before another yawn destroyed her chance of sounding important.
“You aren’t Bruce Wayne,” Korbin sniped.
“No, but that would be awesome,” She nodded and sat down. “Sorry.”
“Anyway,” Korbin replied, shaking his head, “the weapons are starting to come along now. Joshua seems to have gotten his groove, and every time I turn around there is a new weapon on the table. Before much longer we are going to have a stockpile, which is obviously a good thing and a bad thing. What we need to figure out now is how to go to market with these weapons, but unfortunately this is not as simple as selling them on Amazon.”
“They should create an Amazon for us.” Katie smiled. “That would be awesome.”
“We could trade demons with other teams.” Calvin laughed.
Korbin sighed. “Can we at least attempt to stay on track here?”
“Yep.” Katie nodded and pretended to zip her lips closed.
“Okay, as far as the weapons are concerned, we knew from the beginning that we couldn’t hide them from the other teams forever,” Korbin said. “That being said, we will need enough for every team, or we will be risking way too much.”
“Okay.” Katie leaned forward. “So what does that mean? How many teams are there, and how many weapons do we give to each team?”
“Well, I was thinking we start by giving three to each team. If they want more, that is when the business side of things kicks in,” Korbin said. “There are seventeen teams, and every single one of them gets a weapons budget from the higher-ups. We do three free to show our solidarity in this war, then from there we negotiate. At three weapons per team we are looking at a minimum of fifty-one weapons, but I would say we’ll probably need closer to eighty in order to keep all the team leads happy enough to keep our secret.”
“I don’t understand why they wouldn’t,” Katie replied. “They would rather risk not having the weapons at all than buy however many more they want?”
“They would risk having to get them from the government, since they would get them for free, rather than caring about our company or our livelihoods outside the team’s work,” Korbin corrected. “We are all fighting for a single cause, sure, but each team generally fights alone, so there tends to be a separation emotionally between them. They are already going to be jealous that we have the best and newest weapons, and some won’t find that fair since we are not the busiest team—or at least we weren’t until recently.”
“That’s a shame,” Katie said. “That’s going to cost a hell of a lot of money.”
“True,” Damian said. “But with our increased kill rate, we are making some serious money right now.”
Katie nodded. “We are.”
“On top of that, Mamacita has gotten all our suppliers to agree to very favorable prices,” Damian said. “We are currently in the black—which is more than most new companies can say, especially since we currently have zero profit.”
“That’s nuts.” Katie stifled another yawn. “Damn! Sorry. I mean it’s awesome, don’t get me wrong. I just had no idea that Mamacita was as badass as she is.”
“Yeah.” Damian shook his head to stave off a sympathy yawn. “She is hardnosed and business-savvy. She has been running that house a long time, and has never had an issue. I think that compared to some of the clients over there, this is a walk in the park for her. Those suppliers? They run with their tails between their legs when she’s on the line. I listened to her the other day. She started out all sweet and kind, and when they thought they could fuck with her because she was a woman…oh man, they probably went home and called their mommas.”
Katie laughed. “That’s awesome. We should have had her from the beginning. Things would’ve started out a lot smoother for us.”
“Yeah.” Damian chuckled. “Not only did she straighten us out, but she went back and renegotiated the old contracts, because they had stolen from Joshua’s ancestors. Nobody even asked her to do it, either.”
“Good,” Katie said. “I have to admit that I have noticed I have money again. Talk about exciting, when I open up my hidden spot and moths don’t fly out.”
“Yes, yes.” Korbin rolled a finger in the air. “We are all impressed by Mamacita. Can we move on?”
Katie laughed. “Sheesh, Korbin, what flew up your behind today?”
“Nothing,” he snapped. “I just have a million things to do beyond this meeting, that’s all. The other teams want a conference call about LA, the higher-ups need reports, and we still have work to do on this company.”
“All right,” Katie said, putting her hands up in surrender. “What’s the next order of business?”
Katie sat back in the chair and let Korbin run the meeting. In reality she should have been running it, but she knew she was inexperienced.
She also had been completely out of the day-to-day of the business since LA, and really didn’t want to look like an idiot. She figured she could learn something from watching Korbin and
Damian, and even Calvin, because they had more experience than she did.
She wanted the company to be a success, but when it came down to it, she didn’t have the knowledge base she needed for the world she was living in to run the company the way it should be run.
She knew the other world—and how to market things—but not the secret world of demon slaying, the relationships, and apparently the fucking politics. She would get there eventually, but for the time being she would just sit back and let them work it.
They are pretty good at this shit, Pandora said.
Yeah. Katie scoffed. Way better than me.
You’ll get there, Pandora replied.
Aw, motivation, Katie cooed.
I just meant you’ll probably sell a blade or two before my brother rips your spine from your body, Pandora qualified.
Wow, Katie said. That… I just... Wow.
What? Just being honest, Pandora replied.
Yeah, keep that honesty to yourself for a while, okay? Katie replied. I need to focus on this meeting.
Meeting, shmeeting. Pandora scoffed. Once those babies are on the market, you are going to be set for life. We can eat all the food we want, buy whatever we want, and do whatever we want.
In case you hadn’t noticed, I can’t do whatever I want, Katie replied. I hunt your people—that’s what I do. It’s that, death, or research, remember?