War of the Damned Boxed Set

by Michael Todd

  Motherfucker! Pandora yelled as she tried to take over. It was futile; neither of them was in control of Katie’s body at the moment.

  The two guys discreetly carried her from the bar, telling the bouncer she was their friend and needed help to get home safely when he stopped them at the door. Chris made a show of cradling her in his arms as they walked down the block.

  Katie would have gagged on the smell of him if she’d been able. All she could do was rage silently until they rounded the corner and stopped at a black van with tinted windows. Chris laid her in the back and climbed in beside her and Chase closed the door behind them.

  Katie heard the driver’s side door slam and the engine sputtered to life a moment later. She stared at the roof, unable to move a muscle.

  What the hell do I do? I can’t move anything. These motherfuckers!

  Maybe if we give it a few minutes to wear off I can take over.

  Katie was nervous. Do you think this is Moloch’s doing?

  I don’t know. It could very well be.

  Chapter Three

  “Wh... Wh...r...you,” Katie forced the words out one syllable at a time. “I sh…ware...”

  The guy glanced down at her for a second and clenched his jaw before resuming his examination of the panel between them and the driver. The van shook like crazy, and she was bounced around without mercy on the hard floor. She could barely move her lips much less make a face, but she could feel the pain in her head from knocking against the metal every time the van hit a bump. Her speech was slurred and her body wasn’t her own right now, but she couldn’t just lie back and let them get away with it.

  “You don’t...know who...you’re messing…with,” she managed. “As soon…as I...can move my legs... I’m gonna fuck you up.”

  Chris looked nervous but kept his eyes glued to the panel. It was obvious he knew who Katie was. This wasn’t just some random kidnapping. Katie let out a shallow breath as Pandora attempted to remove the poisons from her body. She slowly wiggled her pinky, but that was it. Everything else felt like a ton of lead.

  “Just... let me... go!”

  Chris looked down at her and leaned forward to whisper menacingly, “Just lay still and shut the fuck up. We’ll be at our destination soon enough.”

  How’s it coming? Katie asked Pandora. I don’t know where they’re taking me, but I can smell demon all over them.

  Hold your horses, just keep him distracted. If he knows you’re a demon and who you are, he will be looking for signs that I am working my magic.

  I can barely move my fucking lips.

  The more you talk, the stronger you will get.

  Katie rolled her eyes and shifted them to stare angrily at the guy. She couldn’t believe that after all the training and everything she had been through, she hadn’t seen these assholes coming.

  She’d allowed the bastard to stick a needle in her neck in the middle of a crowded bar and hadn’t even put up a fight. Paralyzed from the face down had not been what she’d had in mind when she’d thought about relaxation.

  “Hey... you... t-shirt boy...,” she slurred. “You know who... I am, don’t you?”

  He glanced down again at her but didn’t say a word.

  “If you do...then you know...I am not the bitch to be messing with.”

  She could control her mouth better now so the slurring was starting to go away. She wasn’t the only one who noticed, though. Chris knocked on the panel and Chase opened the window between them and looked in through the rearview mirror.

  “What?”

  “Are we almost there? This chick is starting to come out of it.”

  “Impossible, we gave her enough to tranquilize a horse. You’re just nervous.”

  “You would be too if you were stuck back here with some super-human and Lucifer’s wife. They come to, and I’m fucking roadkill back here.”

  “Relax, we’re almost there. If it makes you feel any safer, tie her hands and feet up.”

  Chase closed the window between them, and Chris looked around the van for something to bind Katie’s hands with. He spotted a toolbox mounted on the right-hand side and looked cautiously down at Katie.

  He reached over to tentatively pick up her arm and let it drop. Satisfied that she wasn’t going anywhere for now, he dragged the toolbox over and opened it. He braced himself to avoid being thrown by the motion of the van as he rummaged through it and pulled out a couple of zip ties. He started to take her arms but hesitated with his hands hovering over her. He swallowed hard, not wanting to touch her. He was clearly afraid she was going to spring at him like something from a horror movie.

  Chris shook his head and laughed at himself. “Come on, man, it’s not some scary fucking movie. Just tie her up and be the fuck done with it. You’re almost there.”

  “That’s a cute...pep talk, asshole,” Katie slurred. Was that too much?

  Just right. He’s buying it.

  “Shut it,” Chris growled and pulled her wrists roughly toward him. He looked at her feet after he’d tightened the zip ties around her wrists and shrugged, figuring it wasn’t like she was gonna jump up and run out of there.

  “Hey... I have a secret to...tell you...”

  “Oh, yeah, what’s that?”

  “Well, it’s...it’s more of a question.”

  Now would be the perfect time, Katie hissed at Pandora.

  She shifted her eyes to his face. “It’s really a...common...question.”

  “Spit it the fuck out,” he snapped, looking at her suspiciously before glancing at the front of the van again.

  “What do you want on your headstone, fuckface?”

  Chris’ attention snapped right back to her, but Katie was gone. Instead, Pandora lay on the floor, grinning wickedly.

  He stood up in surprise, but hit his head on the roof and fell back down on his ass. She snapped the zip ties and sat up, punching as hard and fast as she could right through his chest. She grabbed his heart and ripped it out, holding it in her hands and lifting her eyebrows.

  “You won’t be needing this anymore.”

  Just then Chase opened the sliding window, and his eyes grew wide when he saw Pandora holding Chris’ heart in her hands. She turned her head toward Chase, flooding the front of the van with the bright glow of her eyes as she glared at him.

  He freaked out.

  He swerved to pull the van to the side of the road and jumped out, and horns blared around them as Chase ran for his life. Pandora stood up and cracked her neck before channeling her rage into a kick that smashed the van’s doors off their hinges and sent them flying to bounce off the hoods of nearby cars. She put both hands on the edge of the van and looked out. Chase was running toward an alley.

  “Aw, where’re ya going?” she called, jumping onto the street. One of the drivers stopped honking as he saw her red eyes. “We haven’t even started to have fun yet!”

  Chase ran down the dark alley and slipped on some wet trash as he looked wildly behind him for any sign of the woman.

  He had never seen anyone like her before; not anyone on Earth, at least. He was breathing heavily as he ducked behind a dumpster. He pulled out his phone, his hands shaking so badly that he fumbled the security, typing the wrong code in at least five times. Finally, he got it open and pressed the Call button to connect to the last number.

  “Report,” the person on the other end ordered.

  “The drugs didn’t work,” he cried, then lowered his voice and peeked over the dumpster. “She’s going to find me any minute now. What are my orders?”

  There was silence for a moment, but he could hear whispering in the background. He peeked back around the dumpster, but the alley was still empty. He pressed his back against the cold metal box and waited, and finally the person came back on the line.

  “Yeah,” the person began. “Uh, order is...don’t die.”

  Chase slowly pulled the phone away from his ear with a look of terror on his face. He clicked off the phone and shoved
it into his pocket, closing his eyes for a moment while he gathered his nerves.

  He stood up and scanned the area for any sign of the woman and a large scaly hand curled over Chase’s shoulder and wrapped around his throat. He whipped around, terrified, but his shoulders relaxed as he stared up at Moloch.

  “You scared the hell out of me. I’m sorry, sir. Chris is dead. She wouldn’t come quietly.”

  Moloch nodded, fondling the long strand of black hair growing from his demon chin. “Who expected her to come quietly? I just wanted to have a conversation, but apparently she didn’t get the message. All you can do now is head back to base. They are on the loose, and if they catch you? You’re a dead man.”

  Chase had half-expected to be a dead man already, and he was surprised his leader was letting him go unscathed. He had fucked up, and he didn’t have the girl; most men wouldn’t keep their heads.

  He wasn’t going to question it, though, since he didn’t want to push his luck. He nodded as Moloch opened a portal and disappeared into the darkness. Chase closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh of relief, although he knew Katie was still out there.

  He wasn’t in the clear just yet.

  He glanced at the empty alley, catching a movement out of the corner of his eye. A black cat ran across the pavement and into the shadows and he shook his head and set off walking, his only goal to get out of there as fast as he could.

  He was pretty sure he could double back on the sidewalk and get to the van. It might be late, but he couldn’t imagine a mercenary would rip out his heart in public. As he got closer to the end of the alley a bright light flashed, and Chase put up his arms in defense.

  Pandora sniffed for Chase’s smell as she ran along the alleys between the buildings. She ran in heels like Katie ran in tennis shoes, and Katie told her how impressed she was.

  How far could this asshole have gotten? He messed up my evening, and by the time we get back to the hotel fucking Room Service is going to be closed.

  Is my body almost back to full speed?

  Almost. Just a few more minutes. There was a lot of that stuff in that syringe.

  Pandora put up her arm to protect her eyes from the flash of light emanating from an alley ahead and took off in that direction, scaring a black cat half to death when she turned the corner sharply. Pandora slowed her steps as they approached the dumpster where Moloch had appeared. She put her hand on the dumpster and closed her eyes, sniffing the air.

  It’s garbage, Pandora. I know the smell is hard to separate from the demons.

  Pandora grimaced, ignoring the joke. Damn it! Moloch was here just moments ago. I knew he had something to do with this. Fucking asshole.

  Pandora picked up a separate scent, one she had smelled in the bar. It belonged to Chase, so she knew he had come that way, but if Moloch had been there, there was no telling what had happened to him. She followed his olfactory trail, carefully avoiding the bags of trash on the ground, then narrowed her eyes and squinted toward the end of the alley. Chase’s smell got stronger the closer she got.

  Pandora growled and ran straight toward the figure of a man against the wall of the alley. It was Chase, and Pandora spun him around to face her.

  His body tore away from the hook on the wall with a wet rip and fell to the ground, his filmy eyes frozen open in eternal shock. She looked askance at the rusty hook Chase had been hanging from. It swung back and forth, painting the side of the building with splashes of blood. She bent down and touched two fingers to his neck to check if he still had a pulse, but there was no doubt the guy was dead. She grunted as she rolled him onto his back, wincing at his dead face.

  Pandora chuckled. He’s still hot when he’s dead. Weird.

  That’s fucking disgusting. What happened to him?

  I don’t know, let me look.

  Pandora eyed his body, checking his legs and stomach for any marks. When she got to his chest she saw the hole burned through his blue plaid shirt, so she unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it open. There was a neat cauterized hole in his chest right over his heart. The skin smelled of burnt flesh and demon and Pandora wrinkled her nose. She knew this wound, and she knew it well.

  It was kind of that entity’s calling card.

  Fucking hell, this is even worse. This wasn’t Moloch.

  Katie felt the last of the poisons leave her body and took back control from Pandora. My turn.

  She rolled her neck and arched her back after her body transformed, then adjusted her dress.

  And this is why we go with spandex. She snickered as she pulled the dress back down from where it had ridden up over Pandora’s bountiful hips. She felt the soreness of her feet from Pandora taking off like a hellion in the heels.

  Katie was just glad Pandora hadn’t broken her ankle or anything.

  The switch had gotten easier each time, and with practice she was now able to see everything from the inside, just as Pandora did with her. They could also communicate, which was helpful since Katie had to report on any incursion she was a part of. It was hard to report on an op when she’d been in blackout mode the entire time.

  She crouched again to take a closer look at the wound. She’d never seen anything like it before. It looked like someone had shoved a red-hot poker into his chest and then slowly pulled it back out. The smell was rancid; like burning hair but worse.

  She stood back up and brushed her hands off, looking up and down the alley to make sure no one had seen them. The last thing she needed was to be caught and charged with murder. It would take a lot to get her out of that one.

  If it wasn’t Moloch, who did this?

  No, he was here, but his scent ends over by those dumpsters. He’s gone back to hell. This was another entity, far worse than Moloch.

  How much worse can they get?

  Pretty bad, she responded.

  Who killed him, then?

  Pandora said nothing, lost in her thoughts. Katie didn’t push her to answer any more questions. She knew that when Pandora got like that, it was better to just leave her alone. She would talk when she was ready, and Katie had this body to deal with. Information could wait.

  She left the alley and looked at the street signs, pulling out her phone to dial the LAPD.

  “This is Katie of Katie’s Killers. I need to speak to Captain Ashmore of the LAPDF, please. Ring him at home if you have to.”

  Katie was put on hold and she scanned the street while she waited, grateful that almost everyone was already in bed for the night. The last thing she wanted was for some innocent bystander to get injured. She leaned against the brick wall and rolled her ankle, feeling the pressure begin to dissipate.

  “Katie! I wasn’t expecting to hear from you.”

  “Sorry to disturb you so late, Captain. I need your boys to pick up a body. It’s in the alley halfway down Piedmont, near Twelfth Street. He was killed by a demon and was infected himself. Oh, and there’s another in a nearby abandoned blacked-out van. That one’s heart was ripped from his chest. We are still working on finding the demon that killed the first guy. His heart is missing too, and the wound has been cauterized. ”

  “All right, thanks for calling. I’ll send a unit over there to pick the bodies up. You need a lift back to your hotel?”

  “No, sir, thank you. I’ll grab a cab.”

  She hung up and glanced at the body one last time, shaking her head as she left the scene. His demon must have been weak, since when they completely possessed a person they typically turned to dust when killed.

  This one had changed back fully to the human host and the demon had been sent back to the depths of hell, if it hadn’t been completely eradicated by whoever had killed the host.

  Katie still didn’t know how that worked—completely killing a demon—but she assumed that as time passed she would learn more about it than she would ever wish to find out.

  Katie strolled down the block, heading for a busy street to hail a cab. She caught a glimpse of the clouds passing overhead, illuminated
by the soft moon-glow. She hadn’t ever just been in LA before. All her other trips here had been filled with explosions, giant demons in cemeteries, and rescuing her teammates. Things like that definitely had a way of taking the magic out of a vacation, that was for sure.

  Katie tugged on her dress, frustrated that she had been forced to take to the streets to chase down a demon wearing the four-hundred-dollar dress and her even more expensive shoes. They were tainted at that point though, forever the drugged-out barfly outfit.

  They had played her, and that in itself pissed her off. She should have been able to just flirt with a guy without him getting all needle-happy with her neck.

  It was obvious that the two guys had been sent there by Moloch—and whoever the demon was that shut Pandora up in a heartbeat. She could have been wearing a clown costume and they still would have drugged her and put her in the back of a van.

  Katie hadn’t known she could be incapacitated by something like that. She had a tendency to think of her body as indestructible and invulnerable, but tonight was a good reminder that she was still human, even with Pandora able to take over. Her body was just as fragile as it had always been.

  Sirens behind her let her know that the Los Angeles Paranormal Defense Force had arrived to collect the body. She was looking forward to getting back to the hotel and taking a shower—if her ankles hung on long enough to let her get back there. She hadn’t brought any extra clothes to the bar and she couldn’t get out of that dress soon enough. She wanted to be comfortable, especially if Moloch sent more goons after her.

  She couldn’t really kick a demon’s ass in a tight black mini, not without showing everyone the goods.

  True, Pandora purred. But they are very good goods.

  Chapter Four

  Katie took her heels off to walk the last block to the hotel, hooking her fingers through the straps and let them dangle loosely from her hand as she stepped carefully along the sidewalk.