by Michael Todd
She pulled her hand away and looked at the blood, curling her top lip. They watched in amazement as two of her fingers turned into long demon nails. When she dug into the wound everyone grimaced and turned their heads away. She groaned as she grasped the bullet, but pulled it out and dropped it on the cement floor at her feet. It bounced before rolling across and stopping just inches from the colonel’s regulation footwear.
“I thought these bullets... They were supposed to....”
“I’m not like other girls,” Pandora growled.
The general held back a grin as the wound began to close, the blood instantly clotting. Pandora was using her power to heal Katie’s body and it worked ten times as fast when she was in control. When the wound was fully closed she stood tall, rolling her shoulders and staring at the colonel.
Holy Fuck! Katie moaned. It fucking hurts to be shot.
No shit, Sherlock. Did you just now come to that conclusion?
I mean, I knew it sucked, but WOW! Good job healing this bitch so fast.
No, problem. I think maybe it’s about time you let me back in.
It’s either that or I take the colonel’s head right off his shoulders and roll it out of the bay like a fucking bowling bowl.
Uh, yeah, that probably wouldn’t go over very well, not even with the general.
Hey, it was worth suggesting. It’s not every day we take a bullet to the gut.
Hopefully, it’s no day ever again.
Agreed. That stung. Now let’s switch back.
Katie stepped forward and stared at the colonel furiously. He chuckled and put his hands up, beginning to back up.
The general grabbed his arm, and the colonel swallowed in fear.
“I guess we know who works for who here. The military isn’t what it used to be, that’s for damn sure. Our very own general is taking orders from a demon, it’s a damn shame. I probably should have aimed higher.” The colonel sneered.
Katie shook her head and looked around at the men who were all still frozen in place. At first it was due to the gunshot, then the shock of watching the demon claws pull the bullet from her stomach. After that, the fast healing wasn’t even all that impressive. Katie clapped her hands, pulling their attention away from her stomach.
She looked around, catching everyone’s attention before calling out, her voice reverberating off the metal walls. “I understand we have some demon’s asses to kick! LET’S DO THIS!”
The men cheered as they ran to their stations to prepare. Katie stepped over the puddle of blood and looked at the general. “Just tell me which bird to get on. I’m in.”
The general nodded. “I wish I could go with you.”
Katie let out a chuckle, winking at him. “You’re just jelly.”
The general immediately realized that Pandora was gone and Katie was back. He was glad to see that they had both survived the ordeal with minimal damage. He had hoped no one would take a bullet when he first arrived there, but it seemed that something drastic had to occur for him to get through to the colonel.
Maybe he was telling the truth—maybe the order did come from above him—but it had been a wrong order, and the colonel was too chickenshit to stand up and say something about it.
The general turned, looking at the colonel for a moment before rearing back and slugging the shit out of him with the butt of his own pistol. The colonel went down hard, hitting the ground completely unconscious.
The general whistled and shook the pain from his hand, surprised he still had it in him. He hadn’t hit anyone since the last bar fight he’d gotten into in the seventies. He had to admit to himself at least that it had felt damn good.
He held his hand and nodded to the comatose man on the ground. “Take this piece of trash to the brig.”
Several of the MPs grabbed the colonel under the arms and dragged him from the hangar bay. His head hung limp, still unconscious. Katie looked impressed as she walked over to the general.
“That was a good shot, sir.”
“This old man still has something in him.”
“I still can’t believe that asshole shot me with my own product. Talk about the irony! I am definitely putting him on the blocked list. He is never buying another round from me again. He can hold onto the one Pandora pulled out of my gut.” She looked to the ground. “I’m sure it’s around here somewhere.”
“You did good, Katie and Pandora.”
Katie returned to looking at him. “Thank you, sir, but we would have been screwed without you. Thank you for stepping in like that.”
“Of course! We take care of our own. Now, go get ready. You have some demons to pulverize.”
“That’s like music to my ears, general. I’m sure I’ll see you when this is all over with. We’ll need to get to the bottom of it.”
He nodded. “You can count on it.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Katie walked out of the hangar bay and pulled out her phone, looking down at the hole in her blood-soaked shirt. She shook her head as several soldiers ran by, fully stocked with ammo and weapons. She called the IT room, knowing that was exactly where the team would be.
“Wow, just wow!” Timothy answered. “You took a bullet right to the fuckin’ gut, and you look more fabulous than ever.”
She shook her head. “I knew you guys were watching me.”
“Uh, hello! Honey, of course we were. We had to see what was going to happen to Mama Hen. I was not looking forward to crowning Prince Calvin.”
“Give me the phone!” Calvin snatched it from Timothy. “Hello there, fearless leader. You think you can stop messing around at the base and do a little work?”
Katie laughed. “Yeah, I guess I can cancel my appointment at the spa and come out, but if I break a nail...”
“Seriously though, thank Pandora for me. She was a badass out there.”
“You just did,” she reminded him.
He closed his mouth a second. “Ok, yeah. Good, now I am assuming you are calling about the incursion. Damian and I are already suited up, and when I hang up we are jumping on the bird to meet you there.”
“I miss fighting with you guys. Anything I should know before I go running head-first into this thing?”
“Actually, yeah. There is a really large transfer gate, bigger even than the one during Incursion Day. Suffice it to say, we should be expecting a shit-ton of those scaly bastards.”
“Okay, good to know. Grab me some extra ammo, okay?”
“You got it, boss. See you there!”
“Wait, when did we get another…” Calvin was gone, and she just shook her head. She had other things to think about right now.
When Katie hung up, one of the soldiers from the hangar was standing next to her. She let out a deep breath, hoping someone else hadn’t jumped on the colonel’s looney train to the brig. He nodded and handed her some extra ammo.
“General said you need a bird to ride into the fight on. You can come with my platoon. We have an extra spot.”
“Perfect.” Katie smiled. “I really appreciate that.”
Katie followed the guy across the tarmac to the helo pads and onto the helicopter, where she sat against the wall and put her head back. The pilot wasted no time, already beginning to lift from the ground. She wasn’t looking forward to a massive invasion, since it always meant casualties and her team was already so small. Any more and it would be a team of one.
Did they say it’s a large transfer gate? Pandora asked.
Yeah. I have a question, though. Why in the world don’t they do that in a city? Their goal is to exact as much carnage and chaos as possible, so you would think they would go for the most crowded and easily accessible locations. If they have a mega-demon-portal, you would think they would use it there.
Uh...the cost of the gate is a power factor related to organic issues. I tend to do my magic from the gut, not from truly understanding what it is. Remember, I was human first, long before I became a demon.
I forget tha
t sometimes, but I suppose you’re right—unless of course we are looking for a way to stop it.
If that is the situation, I promise I will be there to help you figure it out. For now, just get your head in the game. This is gonna be one bitch of an incursion.
The chopper moved fast toward the site, but Katie stayed put on the floor, gathering herself after facing the colonel from inside her own body. The switch had taken a toll on her, but Pandora was working quickly to mend her and give that energy back. Katie shut her eyes and thought about the fight ahead of her and what she would have to face. Luckily she was going to have her boys by her side, and that knowledge struck a chord with her.
This would probably be the last incursion she ever fought alongside Damian. He had been there through everything, and she had a hard time imagining going through it without him. She would have to, though.
She respected what he wanted to do with his life. She respected the fact that he wanted to help and that he was devoted to his church the same way she was devoted to the team. She would do everything she could during that fight to make sure Damian got out safely, not that he wasn’t capable of taking care of himself.
As they approached the site, Katie got up on her knees and looked out over the scene. The gate was massive, sitting just atop the ridge. There were troops on the ground already with their weapons aimed at the opening, waiting for the demons to emerge. The chopper looped around and landed in the field and Katie rolled out with the rest of the soldiers, stopping and watching as the gate finally coalesced into existence. Droves of demons began pouring out, running straight into a hailstorm of bullets.
To Katie’s right was a row of Gatling guns firing live rounds, wasting the front row of beasts. Small arms fire infested the air, every soldier on the ground blasting their weapon at the emerging horde. An explosion rocked the ground beneath Katie’s feet and she ducked, looking to her right. A soldier stood with two others, reloading his rocket launcher to send out another deafening blast.
They were pulverizing the enemy, but not for long.
Two rockets shot out from behind the demon brood, flying over the heads of the soldiers and simultaneously striking two of the choppers in the air. They spun and the blades hit the ground and broke off as the choppers burst into flames. Katie dove forward, covering her head as a piece of the chopper blew past her, barely missing her skull. She pulled herself to her feet and stared in amazement at the demons. They had weapons—human weapons—and they were using them to strike at the military.
Katie hadn’t seen them use weapons before; not actual weapons. Lots of boulders had been thrown in the past, sure, but few guns and no rocket launchers. The demons were evolving, and though Katie knew that would happen eventually, she wasn’t so excited about it being that day and that fight.
Little bastards have gotten tricky. Just don’t get shot again, I can’t heal you as fast from in here, and man, I don’t know if I can do it twice.
I am not planning on getting shot.
Well, that’s refreshing, because if you were it would be slightly disturbing.
A demon raced toward Katie and she pulled out her pistol, casually shooting it in the head and looking for any sign of Damian and Calvin. It didn’t look like they had arrived yet, but there were a lot of soldiers out there—twice as many as she had seen at any previous incursion.
It was a shame they hadn’t had this many troops on Incursion Day. It might have saved a whole lot of lives. At the same time, that was the battle that started it all, and without it these soldiers wouldn’t be here.
Katie turned to her left, raised her pistol, and shot another demon in the head, then walked away before he had even turned to dust. The soldier across from her just stared, blinking rapidly, sweat pouring from his forehead.
She had done it so nonchalantly while he was over there pulling muscles and breaking his back to take one down.
“It takes time, kid. Keep practicing,” Katie told him, patting his shoulder as she walked past him.
Lilith, come talk to me. We can solve this like civilized demons.
Katie put her hand to her forehead, hearing the voice loud and clear. It was Moloch talking to Pandora, only this time she could hear it too. He was taunting her, trying to get her to come to him, but Katie didn’t understand what good he thought that would do. It was obvious that she and Katie wanted to see Moloch dead.
What does he want?
You heard that?
Yeah, clear as day.
I must have opened you up a lot more than I thought.
Katie walked through the crowd of demons, emptying her clip and taking down four of the beasts. She holstered her gun and pulled out her staff, twisting it in two and unlocking the blades. She swung her right arm hard, slamming the pole into a demon’s chest.
He can’t think that things would be peaceful between the two of you. I mean, come on!
She swung her left arm across her body, crisscrossing her arms and driving the other blade into the chest of another demon. They both groaned and burst into dust, releasing the poles. Katie stepped forward and thrust the blade outward, stabbing a beast between the eyes. She pulled the pole back out and stepped over the demon as it fell to the ground.
I don’t know. He either wants me to be a good little demon and kiss his ass or at least come back and stop being such a pain in the ass, neither of which I have any plans to do. I am afraid he is going to be one disappointed demon.
Katie shrugged and ran forward, kicking her foot hard into a demon’s face. He was bent over one of the soldiers’ bodies, ripping his entrails out. The demon flew back and landed on his butt with a thud. Katie marched over and motioned to her chin.
“You have a bit of pancreas on your chin.”
The demon looked at her confused as she reared back and drove her blade into the demon’s head. He grabbed the shaft of the pole and screamed before turning to dust. Katie put the poles back in their sheaths and pulled out a couple of her knives, then stomped through with the rest of the soldiers, taking no prisoners and driving the demons back to hell where they belonged.
Three demons spotted Katie and made a dash toward her. She slashed one demon across the neck and roundhouse-kicked the second, grabbing his arm before he could fall and stabbing her other knife up through his chin into his brain. The third demon growled as his comrades turned to dust and leapt at Katie.
She ducked and he flew over her, landing on his feet and snarling.
She wasn’t in the mood for games; she’d had a long day already. She put the knife back in her pocket and pulled her other pistol, firing two shots into his head.
Suddenly the ground started shaking again, but not because of explosions this time. She turned and looked, then looked a little higher. A fifteen-foot-tall demon strode towards the helicopters.
“Oh, hell no! Where you going, little buddy?” Katie called.
She took off across the grass, running after the demon. There was no way she could let him get to the helicopters.
This bitch was hers.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Calvin and Damian finally arrived at the site, putting the chopper down at the edge of the incursion after spotting several downed ones across the way. The smoke from the burning choppers billowed into the air. Damian jabbed Calvin in the ribs, nodding toward a fifteen-foot-tall demon bellowing as he strode through the field. Behind him was Katie, running as fast as she could to catch up with him. Damian raised his eyebrows.
“At least I know she will be fine without me.”
“I’m going left, you go right?” Calvin suggested.
“Sounds good to me.”
Damian jinked to the right, pulling out his pistol and firing into a large group of demons in front of him. Calvin ran to the left, dropping to the ground and sliding between the legs of a ten-foot-tall demon before coming up on the other side and firing three rounds into the back of its head. It teetered for a moment and began to fall toward Calvin. He scrambled to his f
eet and backed up as the demon hit the ground, his head at the tip of Calvin’s toes. The demon looked up at him, stunned.
“That was close, and you got my boots dirty,” Calvin growled, pulling the trigger. As the bullet penetrated its thick rough skin the demon burst into dust.
Soldiers and cops barreled across the battlefield, firing their weapons at every demon they could find.
---
A group of paratroopers showed up, led by Alex Rider, a three-time veteran of the Iraq war who had been looking for something interesting to hold his attention.
Fighting demons had definitely done that at first, but recently he had found himself rescuing his friends more often than killing the dirty little bastards from hell.
That moment was no exception. His buddy was down the field fighting off a pretty big demon. Rider stopped and watched as the demon swung wide, catching his buddy in the stomach and lifting him off his feet. The man flew through the air, hitting the ground and sliding to a stop. Alex gritted his teeth and took off toward his friend.
He wasn’t going to let him die there, not in that place surrounded by hell-beasts.
When he reached his friend he bent down beside him, looking him over for injuries but finding none. He tapped the guy’s cheeks, trying to get him to come to. Finally, the guy opened his eyes and shook his head to clear his vision. He smirked at Alex.
“How many times does that make now?”
“Twelve,” Rider responded. “I have come to your rescue twelve times.”
“You’re my hero.” He laughed, batting his eyelashes.
“Get up. There’s a medic tent near where we landed. Can you get there on your own and get checked out?”
“Yep, I got it.”
Alex helped his friend to his feet and patted him on the back, watching him make a run for it. He laughed to himself as he turned back around, to be greeted by the loud bang of a gun going off in front of him. He stopped in his tracks and the smile faded from his face as he looked down at his stomach. Blood had soaked through his uniform and there was a hole in the fabric. He put a hand over his wound and dropped to one knee. He looked up at the demon, who had a fallen soldier’s rifle in his hands.