Dark Is The Night: A Supernatural Action Adventure Opera (War of the Damned Book 3)

by Michael Todd

  Angie looked down at the ground in the video. Just in the corner of the shot she could see a dozen men crouched, their guns at the ready. She recognized one of them as the man who had stood in the center of the terrace in front of the cathedral during the initial footage, one of the special-ops team. She squinted, trying to see the guy since he looked rather familiar, but she couldn’t make him out. The footage was shaking too much, and the men were blurry.

  She shrugged and looked back up at Katie, who was now on top of the demon, holding on to his giant pointy earlobe as she rode him like a horse around the cathedral square. The camera zoomed in just enough to see a flash of Katie’s red eyes and Angie chuckled, recognizing that mischievous smirk on her lips. She wasn’t scared at all. In fact, she looked like she was having the time of her life. Angie knew it would only be a matter of minutes before she sprang into action, and she couldn’t wait.

  Brock gathered his team. “Look, guys, we need to get close enough to take him out at the knees. There is no way the rope trick will work on this one. It’s obvious that he’s too smart for that.”

  “So what’s the plan?”

  Brock turned toward the demon and scanned the grounds. “Our best bet is to move in across the courtyard to that pile of stone and rubble in the corner. Once we are there, we can get a much better shot at his knees. If we can manage to blow out a knee he will fall to one side, and then we focus on the other. Immobilizing him is the only way that we will be able to attack and not be completely squashed when we attempt to take him out. I’m thinking enough shots to the head and eventually he will die.”

  “You think?” One of the soldiers chuckled. “I’m sorry, but this might take a bit more tactics then guessing.”

  “What would you suggest, huh? We are stuck out here, no more heavy artillery, and we have to get this demon down if we want to have any hope of entering the cathedral and closing the portals before another one makes its way through.”

  Just then the sound of choppers overhead vibrated the crumbling walls of the cathedral. The soldiers watched as three choppers approached, opening fire on the demon. They held onto their helmets and ducked, trying not to catch the gunfire. When the shells stopped falling like rain, they looked up to see a fighter plane with the Stars and Stripes painted on the side. The choppers moved to make room and the plane hovered over the demon. The plane opened and a woman swan-dived from it onto the demon’s back.

  The whole team erupted in cheers, as did several people on the ground. “It’s about damn time! The mercenaries are here! Well, at least one of them.”

  Brock narrowed his eyes and looked at the woman, a smile moving over his lips. He turned to the others in excitement, his adrenaline restored and his confidence renewed. He had known he would see her again, and he knew that with the work he was doing they would end up on the same side. “I know her! That’s Katie, the merc who helped save my town during Incursion Day!!”

  Another guy stood up and put his hands on his hips, nodding. “Holy lips and tits, we just might have a chance at taking this bastard down after all. Is she the only one, or are there more?”

  “From what I know she is the only one that can dive out of an aircraft like that, but I’m sure she has backup. Hell, she could be on her own, but she has the power and fighting ability of about thirty men.”

  “All wrapped up in that sexy little package.”

  Brock’s demon whistled wildly. Hot damn! The real players are finally arriving. Seriously, I was wondering what the fuck was taking them so long.

  Are you really in any shape to complain? I don’t see you out there hanging from a demon’s earlobe, laughing for the entire ride.

  War never really suited me, but then again, neither do you, so I guess I have to make some changes.

  That’s what I’m talking about.

  Well, don’t just stand there, go help her. She may be a tough one, but she could definitely use some help down there.

  That is the smartest thing I think you’ve said since we met.

  Yeah, yeah...

  “Well, what are we waiting for?” Brock yelled. He jumped to his feet and took off at a sprint toward the demon. “Come on, you fools, get your asses up!”

  The guys looked at each other for a minute and back at Brock, who had stopped and opened fire on the demon to try to weaken it. He looked back at the others and laughed loudly.

  “Get your motherfucking asses out here! You’ll never be able to die for a hotter, more badass woman than this one.”

  The soldiers rallied and screamed a battle cry as they ran with Brock, opening up with their weapons and letting the demon have it. High above them Katie grunted, gripping the demon tightly. The sound of gunfire was music to her ears, but Pandora was more amused by the commentary.

  It’s amazing how in the midst of war, men still think about their dicks.

  Katie groaned and dug her feet in. If their dicks are what’s pushing them to suck it up and give this demon what he deserves, then they can think with them as much as they want.

  Hey, it just goes to show you that your looks are working more than just for roving eyes. Those tits just might have saved your ass today, although we’ll never know.

  Fantastic, but if I could shoot bullets out of them right now that would be even better.

  Bazooka boobies. Now isn’t that just the thought.

  Oh, God, Katie griped. I better not wake up looking like a fucking robot tomorrow. I was completely joking. The last thing I want is guns in my boobs. That would not only chafe terribly, but would go nicely with my vagina of death. Just another way for me to take out any possible lovers.

  Ugh, maybe you’re right. I don’t want to hear your whining when you accidentally blow some guy’s head off during sex with your deathtrap body.

  I really am enjoying this conversation where you berate me and belittle me based on nothing but my body and my outward appearance, but if you could, I would really like to get this demon taken care of before he gets loose in the rest of the city. For some reason, I don’t think he’s the only one here.

  Oh, yeah. That might be an idea. What’s the plan?

  The cameraman watched in shock as the dozen or so special-ops soldiers ran out and sprayed the demon with bullets as he struggled with Katie. The demon’s eyes glowed brighter the more injured he became and the reporter took a step back, knowing that if the thing got free there was no stopping him from completely demolishing everything around him. He was in a prime position to be hit by another Volkswagen or possibly even the tour bus on the street below.

  Katie wasn’t planning on letting the demon go, though. She held on for dear life with one hand and both feet while she pulled her weapons and prepared herself for one hell of a fight. The demon wasn’t anyone special, but she had the burning sensation in her stomach that whoever was running this wasn’t far away. She knew she wasn’t ready to take on Moloch just yet, but she couldn’t help but hope he stuck his grubby little nose out of the portal just so she could cut it off to spite his face.

  22

  Baal waited just on the other side of the portals as the hordes of demons marched through and into the cathedral. He yawned, putting his large talons up to his mouth and rolling his eyes. He’d thought the job would be more entertaining, but all he had to do was grab any coward demons who attempted to come back through the portal and toss them head over feet back through. He didn’t even know how many were supposed to go, but the line of hell’s soldiers seemed endless.

  “Moloch really outdid himself,” he remarked admiringly. “I always wanted to visit France and have some French cuisine, like the men who run the government over there. They might be a bit gamey, but they would be a delicacy.”

  Baal laughed and patted his ample belly, then shouted to the demons to get a move on. He groaned and got up from his throne made of skulls, walked over to the food table, and popped a gerbil in his mouth. The thing scrabbled inside his mouth, its long tail hanging out. Finally, after giggling at
the tickling of the gerbil’s claws, Baal crunched and swallowed, smiling as he turned toward the portals.

  Suddenly, however, he stopped, rubbing his chest. He felt a tingle of warmth inside. He swept his hand over the air in front of him and looked into a mirror, only the front showed him Earth, not a reflection of himself. He could see the demon thrashing around up on the surface, where several military humans fired their silly weapons at it. At first it didn’t concern him, since he wasn’t convinced of their ability to take down demons of this size. However, as the beast turned, Baal’s mouth flew open and his eyebrows pulled together in a frown.

  “Lilith,” he whispered, balling up his fists. “I don’t understand why this bitch can’t leave well enough alone.”

  He stood up and clenched his fists, knowing that Moloch would not be happy to know that KatieDora had shown up on the scene. She was supposed to be halfway around the world, taking care of distractions in Mexico. How she had gotten there so fast was beyond him. Then again, he knew that the humans had really amped up their technological prowess since the last time he had been to Earth, and assumed there was some special plane that had gotten her there that fast.

  He sighed and turned to look at the rows of demons preparing to enter the portals. It didn’t matter how she had gotten there, he just had to make sure she didn’t cause complete chaos. He had no idea if there were other mercs on the scene, but Katie was his biggest focus. Baal made sure there was nothing else that he had to do there and leaned over, picking up his long, twisted staff and the battle helmet that he had worn years before when they had attacked Germany in the same manner.

  He looked like a giant demon war commander. The only thing missing were medals pinned to his scaly skin. They didn’t give two shits about things like that down in hell. They only cared about results. His reward would be more than sufficient when he made the incursion a success, but in order to do that he would have to get Lilith and her meatsack out of the picture, and fast. Baal did not want to deal with Moloch throwing a temper tantrum over the whole thing.

  He walked forward and stepped through one of the portals, finding himself in a dingy wet tunnel. He ran his claws over the walls, and his eyes lit the area around him. Embedded in cement and stone were human skulls for as far as the eye could see. He smirked and nodded, thinking about redecorating his office when he got back. Human skulls would be a wonderful addition to his lair, and he was sure he could put out a good enough reward for the demons to start flooding him with trinkets and human heads.

  However, this was not the time. He needed to keep his mind on the game plan. He banged his staff on the ground, and the large red stone on top glowed brightly. The ground shook with each contact, and the portal behind him began to spark and swirl. Two large demons that looked more like snakes than trolls slithered through the portal and wrapped themselves around Baal’s feet.

  One of them looked up, its tongue flickering. “Yesss, massster?”

  Baal kicked the beasts off his legs and cleared his throat, grimacing at the disgustingness of the creatures. They were a special kind of demon, those who had been around since the beginning of time. They had crept through the Garden of Eden and wreaked havoc among the very first humans, weaving their seeds of discord throughout humanity from then on. These beasts were some of the worst demons they could muster, and though they lacked the size of the most demons, they held some of the most concentrated evil Baal knew of.

  “There is a mercenary up there, one with a demon you may just recognize.”

  The other demon slithered over. “Lilithhhh.”

  “Exactly. She is spoiling our plan to take over the island, and I need you to dispose of her immediately.”

  “Yesss, massster,” they hissed.

  Baal waved his staff and a stream of red fog floated down over the beasts, coating them. As the fog dissipated the demons slowly disappeared, the spell cloaking them from the view of anyone who was near. It was one of Baal’s best tricks: invisibility. He figured you couldn’t fight what you couldn’t see. Baal chuckled, running his hand over one of the demons as it slithered off down through the dark hallway. He turned and stepped back through the portal, slamming it shut behind him.

  He looked around at all the demons preparing for a fight and rubbed his hands together, setting his staff next to his throne. T’Chezz had tried, Moloch had improved, and now Baal was putting his best foot forward to try to destroy the humans and take over everything they could get their claws into. It had been a very long time since he had gotten involved in a battle, but he was pleased with how easily the whole thing came back to him.

  Those demons would definitely give Katie and Pandora a run for their money, and when they were done with her, they could move on to the soldiers standing in between them and the rest of the world.

  Baal’s eyes flashed bright red and he took a seat, clutching the arms of the chair tightly. He didn’t lose—it wasn’t in his nature—but on that day he couldn’t even think about the possibility. Moloch would expect big things, and Baal was ready to show him how it was done.

  Katie growled, finding it hard to get anything done while she was being thrown around on the demon’s shoulders. She couldn’t get it to stand still even for a moment. She looked down at the soldiers who had come out of hiding to blow holes into the demon with their weapons. She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes, looking at the one who appeared to be the leader.

  He looks familiar, she told Pandora.

  Pandora sniffed the air. Ha! What do you know? It’s fucking Brock! The bastard is actually still alive, and from the looks of things he has gotten pretty good at his job.

  Well, shit. I figured he would have run off by now and started another demon boy-band. I guess people still can surprise me.

  He’s pretty hot too, Pandora purred. Check out the size of the muscles on his arms and the tattoos. Oh, yeah.

  You like guys with tattoos?

  Hell, yeah, I do. They are sexy as hell. In fact, I was thinking about coercing you into getting a couple. Some of the most badass chicks in the movies have fucking awesome tattoos.

  Uh, yeah, we’ll have to talk about that, but not now. This motherfucking demon is getting on my last nerve.

  Katie ducked the demon’s arm as he barely missed his attempt to claw her from his body. She jumped off the demon, and her landing dented the concrete beneath her. She looked down at the crack and lifted an eyebrow.

  Maybe I need to cut back on the donuts.

  Nonsense. That is pure fucking muscle right there, bitch.

  Right. Katie laughed as she pulled her gun and started firing up at the beast.

  She ran over to Brock, who grinned stupidly at her as she approached but didn’t stop firing. “I thought that was you. How are things going?”

  Brock chuckled and took another shot. “Oh, you know. It’s been pretty quiet. Nothing much to talk about here.”

  Katie laughed. “I can see that. I’m glad to know that you are still alive and kicking some major ass. Now, tell me, where are the rest of you?”

  “We’re it, except for the French troops on the sidelines. They don’t know how to battle demons, and they don’t have the special ammo. We’re a special-ops team that was sent out to the Paris invasion, and we were choppered over here when they heard that we had been duped.”

  Katie grimaced. “Yeah, motherfuckers pulled a fast one. So, how about we take down this motherfucker, because there are a lot of demons still chillin’ inside that cathedral. This one is big, but it’s dumb as a box of rocks.”

  Brock chuckled. “I think we should. There were a couple of large ones at the last battle, and we were able to tangle their feet and pull them down before killing them.”

  “Huh,” Katie marveled. “Like Star Wars.”

  “Yeah, just like that.” Brock smiled as he watched her walking over to the demon’s side.

  Uh oh, looks like you are in love, Brock’s demon teased.

  She’s hotter than hell, badass
as fuck, and knows Star Wars. Of fucking course I’m in love. We all are.

  Okay, Romeo, calm your tits and take down this demon, then you can go back to drooling.

  Brock brought his attention back just as the demon swiped his arm low, almost taking him down. Katie looked over and raised her eyebrows, laughing as he stood back up, wiping the sweat from his forehead. He chuckled and ran forward, pulling out his larger gun and blasting bullets into the demon’s stomach.

  Katie looked around her, trying to figure out a way to really get the demon going. She holstered her guns and pulled her staff out, twisting the two pieces together. She pressed the button to release the blades, and the sharp shiny metal popped out from the tips. She smiled and winked at Brock and made her move.

  Brock watched as she crouched, and then sprang high into the air, sweeping the staff in a wide arc and slamming it into the demon’s chest. She tore his flesh enough for him to notice, but not enough to cause any real damage.

  The demon roared in anger and pain swiping at Katie with the back of his hand. She yanked out her staff and dropped to the ground, doing a backflip to get away from his stomping feet. The last thing she wanted to do was come all the way to France just to get stomped on. That would be a very anti-climactic ending to her legend. She stuck the staff through a strap, grabbed two of her short swords from their sheaths, and stabbed upward at the demon’s crotch. The beast yelled and all the guys on the ground cringed, feeling the demon’s pain.

  The beast screeched loudly, pulling the swords out and slamming them onto the ground. Katie grimaced and gave a big fake smile, putting her hands up and backing away.

  The demon reached down, snarling, and grabbed Katie around the waist, picking her up to his face. He showed his teeth as he looked at her.