by Eric Vall
Within a moment, Aruna was within striking distance. She spun her body around and released her chakram directly at her fleeing targets.
“That thing is getting really fucking annoying,” I growled as I reached out with a glowing green hand. A portal appeared in front of the spinning projectile, and it harmlessly passed through and reappeared in front of the assassin.
That’s when Aruna really changed up the game. She sidestepped the incoming attack, reached out, and caught it, and then flung it into the crowd of panicking bystanders.
“Fuck!” I exclaimed and summoned purple flames into my hands.
Seconds before it sliced through a man filming in a gray suit, the chakram bounced off the violet barrier and ricocheted upward. I caught the weapon with my telekinetic fire, but I held off on throwing it back at Aruna. Instead, I moved it over and set it down on one of the catwalks on the ceiling.
“We can’t strike from above,” I warned Libidine. “There are too many people. Somebody could get caught in the crossfire.”
“Then we’ll have to get in closer,” Cupi said with a little too much glee in her voice. “Todd, have you ever wanted to base jump?”
“Have I ever!” the imp exclaimed. “Get me down there, blondie.”
Cupi and Liby both changed their trajectory downward, and we dive-bombed the assassin, who was now running toward her targets. Todd moved into position, shook his rear in preparation, and then leapt off Cupi. He fell for a few feet, went spread eagle, and then landed directly on the back of Aruna.
The sudden impact from the imp’s landing knocked Aruna off balance, and the woman fell and skidded across the floor. She agilely jumped back to her feet and began to claw at the literal monkey on her back.
Meanwhile, Cupi, Liby, Jane, and I landed a few feet away from the struggling assassin.
“Remember,” I warned my friends. “Don’t let your attacks get away from you. There are still too many innocent people around.”
The citizens in business attire were scrambling for the exits, but the sheer number of people trying to escape caused gridlock on a massive scale. Screams of panic echoed through the space, and I noticed some people were still on their phones, assumedly filming the altercation.
We were definitely going to have to do some mind-wiping when all was said and done.
Aruna grabbed Todd by his tiny arms and flung him off into the crowd. Meanwhile, Cupi shot a blast of blue Hellfire at the assassin, but she rolled out of the way. Instead, it struck an innocent bystander and caused him to tense up in place.
“Sorry!” the blonde apologized and released her spell.
Jane, Liby, and I were all charging at Aruna, but she was already back on the hunt.
“She really doesn’t give a fuck about us, does she?” I mused as we tried to push through the crowd.
“The Rakshasa are the deadliest assassins in the whole universe,” Liby sighed. “Once she zeroes in on her target, nothing can get in her way.”
“That’s what she thinks,” I retorted.
Gula and Tris looked panicked and horrified when they saw Aruna approaching, and Gula, the evil redhead, shot down a massive ball of red Hellfire at the charging assassin.
“What the fuck is she doing?” I screamed and threw up a purple shield. “She’s going to hurt those people.”
“It’s not her fault,” Libidine explained. “Gula is the Sister of Gluttony. All of her attacks are horrifically over-the-top, that’s why Azazel gave her that nickname.”
The evil redhead’s attack struck my barrier and spread outward, scorching the walls of the convention center. Aruna saw that as an opening, and she leapt up onto the wall of fire. A handful of yellow daggers from Jane and Liby shot past her as she flipped, and a split second later, Aruna propelled herself off the purple flames and rocketed toward Tris.
The tall brunette succubus let out a wail of pain as Aruna’s claws struck her in the left wing. Then Tris spun away from her assailant and began to tailspin out of control.
“Sister!” Gula exclaimed and swooped down to catch the falling succubus.
Aruna took her chance to pounce at the redhead from above. Before she could hit her target, the assassin was caught by Cupi’s blue Hellfire.
Tris and Gula landed somewhere off in the chaos, out of sight, as Cupiditas made her way into the air, Aruna held tightly in her time-freezing spell. The succubus floated downward, the assassin in tow, until they were both safely on the ground.
“Okay, Cupi,” I said. “Let her head out of stasis so she can hear this.”
As I commanded, Cupi released her spell around the assassin’s face with a wave of her hand.
“Alright, now you’re going to talk,” I demanded as I walked up closer to Aruna. “Who do you work for, and why are you trying to kill Gula and Tris?”
“I’m shocked you of all people would care what happens to Azazel’s followers,” Aruna spat. “Then again, you have made it a habit of stealing his succubi, haven’t you? What’s the matter, Jacob? Afraid those two will die before you get to fuck them?”
“So you do know who I am.” I nodded and completely ignored her taunt.
“Who in the world of the occult hasn’t heard of Jacob Ralston?” she said with a roll of her brown eyes. “The mortal who defeated Azazel. Everybody either wants to be you or wants to kill you.”
“That still doesn’t answer my question,” I sneered. “Who do you follow?”
“The Rakshasa are warriors for hire, Jacob,” Cupi explained. “They follow whoever pays them the most. That’s what makes them so dangerous and unpredictable. They serve no one master.”
“Very good, succubus,” Aruna mused. “Though I am surprised you can talk with this mortal’s cock jammed so far down your throat all the time.”
Todd let out a snicker. “I kinda like this one, Jakey,” he admitted. “She’s got sass.”
“Please,” the assassin laughed, “you’re no different, imp. At least the blonde here doesn’t deny her love for the mortal. The closet can only get so full, you know.”
“Okay,” Todd summoned red Hellfire into his hands. “I changed my mind. This chick is toast, bro.”
“You’ve caused me a great deal of trouble, mortal,” Aruna hissed. “My targets are fleeing as we speak.”
I shrugged. I already knew where to find Tris and Gula, anyway.
“Well, I guess today’s just your unlucky day, isn’t it?” I snarked. “Now the only question is what are we gonna do with--”
Before I could finish my sentence, Aruna’s eyes flared with black energy as ectoplasm flooded across her body. Before any of us could so much as raise a hand, the black goo snuffed Cupi’s blue Hellfire, and the Raksashi was already springing backward with feline grace.
“Shit,” I growled as I readied a gout of red Hellfire to turn the assassin to ash, but before I could get a clear shot, Aruna had already backflipped into the midst of the crowd of gawking bystanders.
“Don’t shoot,” I commanded to my friends who were a hair behind my reflexes. “Those morons aren’t gonna get out of the way.”
“Hey, internet video revenue is no joke,” Todd argued with a raised finger.
As we began to rush forward to try to pursue her through the crowd, black ectoplasm encased Aruna’s body as she took on another form. This time, she didn’t turn into any beast or animal. Instead, she now looked like a completely different woman, complete with a pinstripe pantsuit. She gave me a little salute before she slunk back into the crowd.
I didn’t even bother to chase her any further. Aruna was clearly a smart operator, and so she would have shapeshifted at least two or three more times by the time we even began to sift through the crowd.
“Dammit!” Jane hissed.
I put my hand on the brunette’s shoulders to comfort her.
“It’s okay, Jane,” I reassured her. “Despite what it looks like, we won this round. Aruna retreated, and Gula and Tris are going to live to fight another day.”
“We also know where to find them next,” Libidine added.
“I still wish we hadn’t let that bitch get away,” Cupi growled. “I wanted to take her out myself.”
“Eh, I’m sure we’ll see her again.” Todd shrugged. “Even if she didn’t have a contract to kill the ladies we’re trying to get our hands on, she’s clearly got the hots for Jakey. Something tells me she’s going to be boinking him before all’s said and done.”
“I dunno about that,” I mused. “She seemed pretty dead-set on turning me into mincemeat. I think maybe she just gets off on men trying to kill her.”
“Sounds like my ex.” Todd clicked his tongue. “Only, instead of ‘men trying to kill her,’ she got off on ‘other men sticking their dicks in her.’”
“Awww,” Liby pouted. “I’m sorry, Todd, I didn’t--”
“Sometimes all at once,” the imp continued. “I tell ya, that was not something I was expecting to walk in on after my twentieth birthday party.”
“Uh--” the curvy succubus continued. “I’m … I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Eh.” Todd shrugged. “It’s all water under the bridge. Just like the little bridge over the Rio Grande. It’s where we had our first date. We shared ham sandwiches, smoked some blunts, and enjoyed the beautiful view.”
Todd hung his head and buried his face in his hands.
“God, I miss her!” he said as he hugged Jane’s leg.
Jane looked like she was frozen with panic, and she just patted the imp awkwardly on the head.
I motioned to the people who were still trying to force themselves out of the convention center like lemmings. “We need to wipe their minds,” I said to Liby. “Do you think you can make that happen?”
“Of course,” the dark-haired succubus nodded. “I will just need their attention.”
“I can do that,” I confirmed.
There was a flash of purple as Libidine’s wings sprouted from her back. The succubus slowly floated up into the air until she was above the heads of all the terrified people.
I reached down into the deepest pits of my being and thought about the succubi. I thought about all the times we’d made love, the beautiful looks of passion they shot me while our bodies were intertwined, and, of course, their greatest assets.
My entire body was overcome with a warm, tingling sensation. I opened my eyes and blasted a quick spray of brilliant red Hellfire into the air.
The screams of terror subsided for a moment as the crowd turned to see the brilliant display of power.
Libidine’s eyes began to glow a deep purple. “Attention, my friends,” she explained. “What you saw here today was nothing out of the ordinary. There was a miniature earthquake that caused some structural damage here in the convention center, but nobody was injured. You may delete any and all pictures or videos from today off your phones because you are perfectly safe. Please, and thank you.”
Liby lowered herself down to the ground, and I cut off the geyser of fire.
The people around us calmed down. There were no more panicked screams or people trying to push each other over as they ran for the exit. Many of the citizens tapped away at their phones as they deleted the videos they had taken of the incident.
“What--what did I miss?” Oliver panted.
The white-haired man was all sweaty and out of breath. He bent over and placed his hands on his knees as he tried to reclaim the air in his lungs.
For a minute, I was afraid he was going to have a heart attack.
“They got away,” I explained and held up one of Tris and Gulas’ party fliers, “but we’re all still in one piece, and we know where they’re headed next.”
“Excellent!” Oliver mused. “We’d best be on our way, then.”
“We need to regroup back at the mansion,” I corrected the cultist. “Sia and Ira should both be back from their own duties, so we can touch base with them and see where we go from here.”
“And then what?” the white-haired man asked.
“Then?” I smiled. “Then comes the best part. We go back home, rest, and then we get to go party in Nevada.”
Chapter 7
“I can’t believe we met an honest-to-God Rakshasa, bro,” Todd pondered as we drove down the highway. “Even will all this shit with Heaven and Hell going on around us, I didn’t think those were real.”
“Rakshasi,” Cupi corrected from the back. “Female Rakshasa are called Rakshasi.”
“Potato, potato,” Todd said, and he made no effort to make the words sound any different. “Either way, she was such a badass. Living the bounty hunter life, holding her own against multiple demons, hopping around with that sweet-ass deadly donut … ”
“I thought you were supposed to be on my side?” I joked as I turned Shadow off onto our exit.
“I still am, bro,” Todd swore. “You’re still the PB to my J. The fish to my chips. The better home to my garden.”
“Good to know.” I chuckled and turned back to Cupi. “So what is a--”
“But Aruna was sooooo badass,” Todd interrupted. “This is the first time I think I’m actually rooting for you to add another member to our band of Merry Men. As long as I get to still be Little John, of course.”
“Of course, Todd,” I promised. “You’ll always--”
“Actually, I’m not sure I like ‘Little John,’” the imp pondered. “That makes it sound like I’ve got a small dick. I’d much rather be called ‘Giant Dick.’”
“You’ll hear no argument from me,” Oliver muttered under his breath.
“So …” I tried to steer the conversation back onto its original trajectory. “What is a Rakshasa, exactly? Aruna said she wasn’t a demon, but she sure as fuck wasn’t human.”
“The Rakshasa are one of those ‘neutral parties’ in the world of the paranormal Raphael has been talking about,” Cupi explained. “Just like the Skinwalkers were.”
“Uh, those things tried to rip us apart,” I reminded the fit succubus. “I wouldn’t go as far as calling them ‘neutral.’”
“That was only because Lucifer’s forces got to them first,” Cupi protested. “It didn’t help that we set up camp directly in their territory.”
“Well, if what happened at the convention center is any indication,” I argued, “it looks like the Demonic got to the Rakshasa first, too.”
“Not necessarily,” Jane spoke up. “While Liby and I were fighting Tris and Gula, they kept indicating they thought we were assassins, too.”
“Okay, so Aruna doesn’t work for Azazel,” I sighed. “That’s good, at least.”
“Bro, I just had a crazy thought.” Todd jumped up on the passenger seat. “Hear me out. What if Aruna was hired by the Divine?”
“Why would they do that?” I asked. “They’ve already got a Demonic bounty hunter with me. Killing Tris and Gula would do nothing but stop me from getting stronger. Besides, if she was working for the Divine, why would she turn on us like that? I doubt the Divine would want one of their biggest assets taken out of the equation.”
“Biggest asset?” Cupi giggled. “That’s true in more ways than you could possibly know.”
“Killing Jacob does sound somewhat counter-productive,” Oliver thought aloud. “Could she be working for another one of Lucifer’s minions? I know from my experience as a cult leader that demons are always trying to sabotage each other.”
“They are petty like that,” Libidine added, “especially the Demon Lords.”
“But who?” I questioned. “The Seventy-Two Servants are all but dead.”
“Precisely,” Oliver shot back. “That means Azazel is weak, and all the other demons know it. Now would be the perfect time to strike. At least, that’s what I would do, kick him while he’s down.”
“That’s why I pay you the big bucks.” I smiled at the white-haired man.
Finally, we pulled up to the Tuscan-style mansion we called home. Once Shadow was safely parked in the attached garage, the six of us slip
ped out of the vehicle and made our way inside.
“I don’t know who Aruna is working for,” I sighed as we passed through the side hallway and into the marble-floored entryway, “but we’re definitely going to get another chance to find out. There’s about a zero percent chance she doesn’t show up to Gula and Tris’ party later tonight.”
“What’s this about a party?” Ira’s voice called out excitedly from the living room. “I adorrree parties. They’re an easy way to gain voters!”
“Unless you get blackout drunk and accidentally admit you wet the bed until you were fourteen,” Todd shuddered as we entered the room. “You’ll never live that shit down.”
Sia and Ira were both sitting on the black leather chairs in the living room, and I assumed they were chatting it up before we arrived. On the coffee table in front of Sia sat what looked like an explosion of papers filled with scribbles about finances and building codes and the like. Meanwhile, Ira had a fancy brown briefcase that sat on the ground beside her chair.
“How did everything go?” Sia asked perkily. “If you’re talking about going to an afterparty, it must have gone fairly well.”
“Oh, it certainly went … ” I sighed.
I spent the next few minutes explaining to the succubi what happened down at the convention center. How Gula and Tris were trying to bleed us dry of followers, how Aruna attacked, and our theories as to who she was working for.
The entire time, Sia wore a large frown. “That sly demon,” the madame scoffed. “Sending the two laziest succubi back to Earth to do the one thing they’ve always enjoyed doing, having a good time. It’s ingenious, actually.”
“Ingenious, or absolutely idiotic?” Ira interrupted. “Tris and Gula might be all about doing the least amount of work possible, but think about just how much is going to go into these recruiting parties. I’ve been to fundraiser after fundraiser while I was the ‘wife’ of Marvin Franklin, and if there’s one thing I learned from my time in politics, it’s these things are a bitch to put together.”
“It’s just planning a party,” Oliver snorted. “The Cult of Azazel had get-togethers all the time, and they were never that difficult.”