by Michael Todd
“Can all demons do this or just powerful ones like you?”
Pandora cocked her head. “Well, I suppose they all can do it to a certain extent, but usually when they are less powerful you get that weird-demon-with-the-droopy-human-suit thing going on. Then they vanish, and just the human is left. She and I, on the other hand, are tied together, and I am capable of completely transforming into myself. I have to admit, I’ve never done anything like it before. We didn’t even know if it would work, but I think it’s because Katie is special as much as because I’m powerful. This just might be a really good alternative to fighting, at least some of the time. We will have to wait and see how Katie’s human body takes it.”
“So if you’re here, where is Katie?”
“Same place I usually am, I suppose.”
“Can Katie come back out whenever she wants?”
“No.” Pandora shook her head. “It’s all based on trust now, little priest. She gave me permission and opened herself up for me to take her. For her to come back I have to will it so. But don’t worry, I have every intention of bringing her back. This is a little uncomfortable. Now, there are a shit-ton of demon mercs in that hotel who are currently spreading out and hiding in all the nooks and crannies.” Her eyes flashed and her lips curved into a luscious hungry smile. “Let’s go hunting.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Pandora and Damian left the woodshed and made their way to the front door of the hotel. Damian shielded her from those in the woods, hoping like hell none of them noticed the change.
From a distance Pandora looked enough like Katie to pass for her, but up close everyone would know it wasn’t her.
Pandora sniffed the air outside the door and nodded.
“They have all hidden from me.” Pandora smirked. “I have always liked a good game of hide-and-seek. Inside this door, you are going to find a group of humans tied together with explosive rope with a wireless trigger device. Get them untied and send them out toward the soldiers. I’m going to hunt those little fuckers down.”
Damian stared at her for a moment, blinking hard. He still couldn’t believe he was standing next to Katie’s demon. She snapped her fingers in front of his face and patted him on the arm.
“Come on, priesty, stay with me,” she urged. “I know it’s a lot to take in, but you can stare later.”
“Right. He shook his head. “Untie the humans and get them out of here. Got it.”
Pandora pushed the door open and put her hand on Damian’s chest, holding him back for a moment. She slowly pulled the short sword from her back and shoved it through the door, then snickered as a man gave a surprised grunt of pain.
She pulled her bloody sword back out and put it back into its sheath, stepping over the body on the floor as she entered.
Damian lifted one eyebrow and shook his head, then followed her into the foyer. He went to work untying the humans while Pandora wandered off into the rest of the hotel.
She crept down a hallway with a smirk on her face. She passed a closed door, then stopped and turned back sharply, whipping her hair over her shoulder. She walked into the room and kicked the door closed behind her, catching a demon merc by the neck as he charged her. Slowly she lifted his body from the floor, tilting her head from side to side.
“You humans turn the funniest shade of blue,” she told him as both man and demon struggled.
The demon screamed in the man’s mind.
She squeezed her hand tighter until the popping of bones in the merc’s neck was audible, then his body went limp and the air left his lungs. She dropped him to the floor and rubbed her palms together.
“Who’s next?”
Pandora left the room and headed for the ballroom at the end of the hall, where she could smell more nasty little demons inside.
As she walked in one of the demons lunged and jabbed a knife into her side, then slowly backed up a look of victory on his face. She yawned as she pulled the knife from her side and the merc stared at the wound as it quickly closed, leaving no marks behind.
“That wasn’t very nice,” she told him as she grabbed him by the neck and jammed his knife into his abdomen.
His eyes went wide and she smiled as she pulled the knife up through his belly. He groaned once before going limp and falling to the floor. She looked at the blood on her hand and grimaced, wiping it on Katie’s now-stretched-out shirt.
Three more mercs came out from the back of the room, two holding swords and the other a knife. Their eyes glowed red.
Pandora sighed and pulled the two halves of Katie’s quarterstaff from the holsters on her legs.
“How about this?” Pandora told them, stepping forward and looking each one in the eyes. “I’ll make it fair. I won’t even put the blades out.”
Pandora gripped the wooden poles tightly in her hands and flipped herself into the air, spinning her body so that her legs kicked outward. She caught the first merc in the head, almost knocking it off his shoulders. The other two watched as he dropped, dead before his face hit the cold tile.
His knife bounced across the floor and Pandora shook her head.
“Holy shit, Burt!” The middle guy coughed before looking back up at Pandora.
He failed to realize that his demon was trying to hide.
Pandora smirked. “You shouldn’t bring a knife to a... Well, really you should have just run.”
She whipped her body around again, striking the second merc in the neck and knocking him to his knees.
She handed him her poles, and in his messed-up state he just accepted them without question.
“Here, hold these,” she said grabbing his head and twisting hard. The snap of his neck was loud in the quiet of the room. “Thank you.”
She picked the poles up off the ground and clicked the button, watching the shiny knives sprang from the ends.
The last merc narrowed his eyes and squatted with his sword in front of him. His demon wasn’t trying to hide. It figured the best chance was fighting.
“Bring it, bitch.” He spat to the side. “I’ll ream your ass with your own poles.”
“Kinky!” Pandora laughed. “I might like it. Saves me the worry of you using your pencil dick.” She ran toward him and jumped over his outstretched hand and sword to land behind him. The merc pivoted, bringing his sword with him in an arc and barely missing her stomach.
“You almost tore my shirt,” she growled.
She swung the pole, clipping his sword, and they fought back and forth as if they were dueling. After about thirty seconds Pandora grew tired of the game and swiped the knives low, cutting the merc across the abdomen. He groaned and dropped his sword, grabbing his stomach instead.
“At least you don’t have a headache,” she said as he looked up at her pleadingly.
She laid down one of her poles and picked up his sword, then shrugged and slammed the blade into his neck, severing his head. As it rolled across the floor she tossed the sword to the side and picked up her staff, then put the two pieces back into their holsters.
As she looked up and down the hall six more mercs made a break for it, sprinting out the front door into the courtyard. They were met with gunfire and returned fire into the tree line, unable to see exactly where the shots were coming from.
---
The mercs were firing randomly, but everyone’s chances suck at the best of times when lead flies. A bullet struck one of the soldiers next to Ambrose in the head, killing him instantly.
Ambrose growled and stepped forward, firing his weapon over and over. One of the mercs went down, shot in the leg. Ambrose strode over to him and shot him in the forehead.
Another shot rang out and a second went down, dead before he hit the ground. Ambrose spun at the sound of a loud crackle.
He shielded his eyes as lights flashed and sparked and the four remaining mercs disappeared into thin air.
Moloch paced the floor, growling loudly, watching the fight through his magical third eye. The bitch demon was
marching through the hotel and taking down man after man. He recognized her right away, and there was nothing he could do to stop her.
He closed his eyes and sent a message to Trenton, who was one of the remaining six.
“Go to the courtyard now! I’ll get you out,” he commanded.
Trenton nodded and pulled the other mercs toward the door. They sprinted into the courtyard, where they were met with gunfire. Moloch rubbed his hands together and put them out in front of him, creating a portal in the courtyard. When two of his soldiers went down, Trenton grabbed the remaining three and tossed them head-first into the portal. He growled angrily, wanting to turn back and fight them, but knowing that he would lose. There were much bigger battles to be won in the future.
He glanced at the window in the hotel and the demon bitch was looking back at him. She smiled and waved patronizingly.
He turned and dove into the portal and it slammed shut behind him.
She had won this time, but next time he would make sure she wasn’t so lucky. He had lost all but three of his men, and he was sure Moloch would not be pleased.
Where that demon had come from and how she had taken over a body like that he had no idea, but he did know that her face was forever burned into his memory.
One day when she was least expecting it, he would find her and sever that pretty little head from her body.
She was obviously powerful, but what he couldn’t figure out was why she was fighting for the wrong side.
If she was that strong, she could have easily taken over her human and demolished those troops.
But she hadn’t.
Instead she used her power to kill her own, smiling into their faces as they took their last breaths. She was a traitor, and he knew exactly what the demons did to traitors.
This loss would not go unavenged.
Korbin stood there gaping, actually listening to the battle radios at the base. The hacker had cracked their system and found the frequency they were broadcasting on.
Ops groups used specially-equipped comms that scrambled the signals so they couldn’t be tapped, but somehow, some way, Timothy had managed to tap into the band and was playing it for the whole team.
Korbin had been shocked by Timothy’s talent, and he was going to work like hell to keep the man.
There was a ton of screaming coming from inside of the hotel, sometimes recognizable, other times not.
Stephanie clung to Korbin’s arm with a worried look on her face. Calvin stood next to Eric listening intently, almost jealous that he hadn’t been able to go out there with them. They hadn’t been on a call in a while, and all of them were starting to ache for battle.
Another scream rang out and Stephanie shook her head. “Nope, that doesn’t sound like Katie.”
“Or Damian,” Korbin added.
“Another one bites the dust,” Calvin exclaimed excitedly. “They are kicking some major demon-merc ass right now.”
Suddenly a maniacal laugh echoed across the comm, quieting everyone in the room. Calvin looked at the others, wondering if they had recognized that laugh. It seemed he was the only one, but he wasn’t about to say a thing—not with Korbin being so far in the dark with Katie’s abilities.
“Oh shit,” Eric said. “That isn’t Katie’s voice either.”
“Interesting,” Korbin remarked, turning up the volume.
The team counted the deaths as they occurred over the comm. After the sixth one, though, everything got quiet for several moments.
Suddenly there was a barrage of gunfire and no one could figure out what the hell was going on. They waited with bated breath, trying to figure out who was shooting and who was being shot.
After two more shots the comm screeched and wailed, and there was a loud bang in the background. Everyone covered their ears until the noises stopped and all that was left was some static.
“What happened?” Eric asked.
Timothy turned the knobs and stared at the screen, then turned to Korbin and shook his head. “That’s strange,” he said.
“What?” Korbin asked worriedly.
“There must have been a huge energy blast. Not a bomb, but something from fuck-all-if-I-know,” he said. “It must have knocked out the comms. I have to be honest: I’ve never seen anything like that spike in my life.”
“Let’s just hope that everyone else is okay,” Korbin said, hugging Stephanie tightly to his side. “Katie and Damian are professionals, and it would take a lot more than a little energy to knock them off their feet.”
A little energy? Timothy thought. What is major energy?
Korbin sounded sure on the outside, but he didn’t know what to expect.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Are you all right?” Damian called as he ran into the ballroom.
“Right as rain,” Pandora called back, looking around. “But I’m afraid my clock has struck midnight.” She looked Damian in the eyes. “Take care of Katie. I’m sure we will talk soon.”
“Pandora!” Damian grabbed her arm. “Thank you.”
“No problem, priesty.” She winked. “Imagine that—a priesty and a demon being best buds.”
Damian smiled as Pandora closed her eyes and a big surge of energy surrounded her body.
The change from Pandora back to Katie wasn’t quite as freaky as the one that had brought Pandora out.
Instead, Katie’s body floated into the air and basked in the bright light, and then carefully and slowly descended.
Damian waited for all of the energy to dissipate before running to Katie’s side.
He looked down at her familiar face; everything was back to the way it should be. Damian sighed in relief and knelt next to her as she opened her eyes and slowly sat up.
“Oh, my head,” she cried, grabbing her forehead. “Did we get them?”
“You don’t remember any of it?” Damian asked.
“No.” Katie sighed. “I don’t remember anything after ducking into that old woodshed out front. What happened when Pandora took over?”
“You were gone,” Damian told her. “Your whole body was different, your face was different, and your voice wasn’t the same. You were completely a different person. Pandora took over, but it wasn’t like when other demons take over and practically shred the human they are in. She morphed into herself with you sleeping—or something close to it—on the inside.”
“Really?” she exclaimed, looking down at her now-baggy top. “Man, her tits stretched out my shirt.”
Sorry, Pandora whispered.
Pandora, are you okay?
A little weak, she admitted. But okay.
Damian watched Katie’s face, noticing that she had tranced out. It was obvious that she was talking to Pandora.
Damian didn’t want to interrupt, so he waited impatiently for her to be done. He wanted to know how she felt, and how the whole thing had affected both of them.
Katie looked great. Rosy cheeks, bright eyes—almost like she had woken up from a really good nap.
“Is she okay?” Damian asked, finally too worried to hold back.
“Yeah,” Katie answered. “She says she’s weak, but that’s it.”
“She really saved a lot of lives today.” Damian shrugged. “She is one hell of a fighter.”
Likewise, bestie, Pandora replied.
“She said ‘Likewise, bestie.’” Katie raised an eyebrow. “You’ve replaced me already?”
“No.” Damian laughed. “She was just really great, that’s all. She killed six of the demon mercs inside the hotel. You killed two in the woods, and the soldiers took down two more.”
“Nice.” Katie smiled. “What about the other four?”
“They disappeared into a portal of some kind,” Damian replied. “We don’t really know what happened with that. All we know is that they are gone. Pissed, but gone.”
“Well, I’m glad that Pandora was here. Those demon mercs are a pain in the ass.” Katie cricked her neck after Damian helped her to her feet.
“I want to ask you something,” Damian began carefully. “Allowing your demon to take you over like that takes a lot of trust. She could have run off with your body in two seconds. You trust her that much?”
“Of course I trust her!” Katie exclaimed. “I wouldn’t have okayed this if I didn’t. I trust her with my life. Pandora is my sister. My friend, even; one of the very few people who have been there for me from the beginning.”
“She’s a demon,” Damian replied, looking at Katie curiously. “She is a body-snatching human-eating demon.”
Katie pursed her lips and ran her hand over Damian’s cheek. She understood his concerns; she did. She even understood his hatred toward the whole demon race, but Pandora was different. Finally she cracked a smile.
“Damian,” she whispered. “Aren’t we all a little bit demon?”
General Brushwood looked down at the hotel as the chopper flew over, seeing the soldiers standing out in the courtyard.
There was a row of stretchers with white sheets covering the deceased.
The first in the line of bodies stood out—the one military casualty that they had taken. The soldiers had lowered the American flag that still flew from the hotel’s flagpole and draped it carefully over the soldier’s body.
The general felt a knot in his stomach. He hated to see his men perish at the hands of such evil.
One dead soldier was one too many, and that went for their allies as well as civilians.
The helicopter lowered to the ground and Colonel Ambrose ran up and opened the door, then stepped to the side and saluted the general. He returned the salute and the two men ducked away from the chopper. They walked down the side of the hill and into the courtyard where the remaining soldiers stood at attention.
“At ease,” the general ordered. “It is I who should be standing at attention for you. You held the line against one of the greatest threats to mankind that we have found on this Earth. You singlehandedly took out eight of the fourteen demon mercs who were here today. That is something to be extremely proud of.”