by Michael Todd
Pandora stood up amongst the gunfire and explosions and clapped slowly.
“Congratulations, brother. Not only was your demon army a complete failure, you also came up here talking a big game only for the real military to blow your head clean off your shoulders. You really should get a new hobby, because world domination seems to be just a little bit beyond your capabilities. Maybe you could take up knitting? I’m sure my husband would love a handmade afghan for his fire couch at home. Then again, you would probably fail at that too and end up knitting him a cross or something equally ridiculous. You should probably just let them kill you. Oh wait, you don’t have a choice anymore, do you?”
She laughed, ducking back behind the stones to watch as the red flickered in T’Chezz’s eyes. The bullets tore through his last layer of skin and his head fell from his body and rolled to a bumpy stop farther down the street. T’Chezz was gone, and after all that time fretting, it had been easier than she had thought it would be.
Pandora stood up again and, hands on her hips, gave her body back to Katie.
Katie laughed. That’s a really big fucking head.
I heard he overcompensated.
The Army moved forward, the soldiers attacking the demons’ flanks to force them into the center of the town. Gunfire raged as the soldiers advanced, intent on taking down as many of the demons as they could in a short period of time. After T’Chezz was killed the soldiers had gotten their mojo back. Morale boosted, they found the strength to push through and take out every last demon in the entire town. The demons didn’t know which way to turn, and left with no option, they went to ground—which for them meant straight back to hell.
They needed to hide from the destruction the Army was bringing down on them. There was no more standing around at the perimeter. The soldiers meant business. Strykers rumbled through the streets as helicopters decimated buildings from the sky, taking out droves of demons with a single strike. The mercs sat watching from the hill above, their end of things done. The town might not have been saved, but some of the people had—which made it all worthwhile to them.
The teams knew that sending a demon back to hell didn’t mean you would never see it again, but they were doing the best they could with what they had been given. The attack had come out of nowhere, an offensive by the demons’ upper echelon to get a foothold on Earth and humanity. From the soldiers and mercenaries to the reporters and bystanders, no one had been willing to stand by and allow that to happen. Not to their planet, and especially not to their people.
Ella leaned her head against Katie’s shoulder and yawned. Katie chuckled, exhausted from letting Pandora take over. Ella looked at the chipped polish on her nails.
“I think I’m gonna start fighting in gloves.”
“Like white-gentleman gloves, or like winter gloves? Because it would be funny as hell if you slapped a demon with one of your white gloves.”
“A duel!” Ella raised her fist into the air, laughing.
Katie patted her on the leg and returned to watching the town. The Humvees and Strykers had backed the last remaining demons into the town square and the soldiers surrounded them, pausing for a moment before they unleashed their weapons. The screeches of the final ten demons echoed briefly before cutting out as the demons turned to dust.
Then there was silence.
No birds chirped, no demons or humans screamed. The guns were at rest in the soldier’s hands. All of the humans silently processed their losses, and the teams bowed their heads, thinking of the innocents who lost their lives.
The fight had been a long one, starting with a crash and ending with almost total destruction. Katie had heard that the soldiers had at first talked about dropping bombs on the place, but as her gaze roved across the townspeople they’d saved Katie was really glad that movement hadn’t been authorized.
Calvin walked over and nodded to Katie as he sat down beside her. “You know, there was a point during this fight where I thought we were gonna lose.”
Katie looked at Calvin. “There’s a moment in every battle where that thought crosses our minds. It almost poisons us while we fight for our freedom and the lives of every innocent person out there. But what is most important is that we don’t buckle under that fear. We don’t let it get to us so badly that it ends up being the last fight.”
“Thank Pandora for us for taking out T’Chezz. I know he was one of your biggest threats, and from how big he got we were lucky he decided to show up here. I don’t know if we would have been able to control him.”
You are welcome, big man.
“She says you’re welcome,” Katie smiled as the exhaustion flooded her body. “We are both a bit tired from what happened.”
“Did you remember anything this time?” Damian asked. He was sitting on the other side of Calvin.
“Yeah, actually I saw the whole thing through Pandora’s eyes. I couldn’t control anything, but I saw it. Oddly enough, it wasn’t even the most terrifying part of the day. We lost so many innocents. But now the demons know that fucking with us can only end one way.”
24
On the hills above the small Wyoming town, the stains left by the wounded and dead dulled the rippling green grasses. Anchors were still stuck in the ground where the mobile command post had stood, and the tires on the large military machines ravaged the virgin grasses as they moved slowly back to the C-17s parked in the fields beyond. The cries of the wounded could be heard all over, and the walls of the white med tent were spattered with blood.
The blood of the wounded, the blood of the dead, and the blood of those who wished they had died.
The town was empty, covered in dust, soot, and blood and stained by the echoes of the screams that had filled the streets just hours before. All along the roads, bits and pieces of bodies lay where they’d been dropped.
A crumpled cell phone lay on the sidewalk, the screen frozen forever on its final call to 911. A boy’s body lay askew beside it, his dark hair fluttering in the breeze as one hand reached out for the phone.
The fountain in the center of the town was blocked, the basin filled with effluvia from the bodies dropped into the water by the demons. A thick layer of demon dust coated the steps to the town hall, now silent and empty.
The abandoned buildings were left open and unlocked, the bulbs flickering in their fixtures. The houses should have been full of life and laughter, yet there were no families smiling and laughing over dinner, no children playing in their front yards, and no animals roaming the lush pastures. The church bell lay on its side in the street beside a huge piece of paving its impact uprooted when it fell from the steeple. There was no joyous praise to God coming from that stained-glass building on that day.
Maybe not on any other day after this, either.
The survivors were already talking about leaving. No amount of bleach and scrubbing could purge the memories from their heads. Many had watched the people they loved die and they were confused as to why they were still alive—and confused as to why the demons had chosen their town to wreak their havoc. They were simple people; never loud, never flashy and always community-minded.
Even with their town half-destroyed and covered in demon dust, the people checked on their neighbors—their neighbors being the ones in the cot or gurney next to them.
The playground was silent, the swings gently blowing in the breeze. There were no children near to use it. The school had been evacuated, leaving papers in the halls, basketballs on the gym floor, and the television still playing in the history classroom where they watched the news every afternoon.
On the screen were pictures of the vacant town. The newscaster looked sorrowful as she asked viewers where they would hide when the horror finally made it to their town. The ticker running along at the bottom of the screen read, “Incursion day: the start of the War of the Damned.”
Those from that small Wyoming town knew the war had already begun, leaving a hole in their town and in their lives. They’d had a gruesome ta
ste of what hell could unleash in the war to come.
Even beyond the town limits, the impact of the demon incursion could be felt. Lives had been taken, souls had been touched, and the children of that town would never again be innocent.
Death changed everything, and it had changed the survivors from the moment the first life had been taken. The memory of the fallen would forever rest in the grasses and gravel of the town’s quiet little streets.
Brock sat on the grass on top of the hill, as far from the cordoned area where his mother was that he could get. He already knew that being Damned meant he would never see her again, but he didn’t know the extent of it until Calvin walked over. He sat down next to the rock star and let out a long deep breath.
“You doing all right?”
“Yeah. No... I guess I’m just waiting for someone to explain to me what all of this means.”
Calvin chuckled and looked out over the silent town. “Being Damned is an interesting experience. Some love it, some hate it, and some just live their lives the best that they can.”
“Can I tell people?”
“No. In fact, from today forward everyone will think that you died. Your ashes will be presented to your family, and an excuse will be made for what happened to you. You will be declared legally dead, so you won’t have a license, bank account, or anything else that could attach you to this world. We will give you a chance to take care of your finances, move money, and take money out before it is announced, but after that...” He mimed the action with his hand. “Poof.”
“No more band. No more traveling, no more chicks, no more rock and roll.”
“I’m afraid not.” Calvin shrugged. “The Straights will need a new lead singer, my friend.”
“Then what? If I’m dead, what can I do?”
“You have three choices as a Damned. You can become research, you can die for real, or you can join us and fight. We are an elite force of mercenaries. We live on a base outside Las Vegas, train, laugh, do things as a family, and fight the demons that attack.”
“That may be my only option. I definitely don’t want to be a human pin cushion, and I’m not ready to die.” He shrugged. “I guess if you guys can do it, I can too.”
“I’m sorry this life chose you, man, but you will find good people. And you will have a life. It’ll just be different than you imagined.”
“Can I trade demons?”
Calvin lifted an eyebrow and looked at him. “Trade? You mean like get an upgrade? No.”
“Fuck,” he mumbled. “My demon is a succubus and I’m a straight guy. A very straight guy.”
Calvin covered his mouth to hide a chuckle.
“It’s really not funny! This thing constantly wants men. She never talks about anything else.”
“I’m not laughing at you, it’s just comical to me because our tech guy is a gay male who has an incubus who’s constantly trying to get him to sleep with women. If you could trade it would actually be perfect, but you can’t, sooo...”
“So become gay or live with the horror in my head?”
Calvin struggled to hold back his laughter back and make the guy feel better, but it was really hard. “Most of the time your demon can be controlled. Sometimes they will begin to work with you instead of against you, and sometimes they can just be straight suppressed. Try not to think about it too much, and when we get you back to base we can have Katie and Pandora do a once-over on your demon.”
“I know who Katie is, but who is Pandora?”
“Pandora is Katie’s demon.”
“Wait, so the chick who fought the big fucker—she is the same chick as Katie?”
“Yeah.” Calvin smiled. “I know, it’s confusing. It’s confusing to us, too. We don’t have the powers Katie and Pandora have. They are two very badass women, and they know it.”
“All this is so weird.” Brock lay back in the grass and rubbed his face. “It’s like going to sleep and waking up the next day to find out Twilight and sparkling vampires are real. It just sounds so crazy, but here I am—and I know my demon is real. She doesn’t know when to shut the hell up most of the time. Oddly, she is pretty quiet right now.”
“You’ll find that most demons tend to hide when Katie comes around. There is something about Pandora that none of them wants to face.”
Korbin and Stephanie hung out together on the hill while the rest of the team relaxed and recouped. Korbin had his arm wrapped around Stephanie’s shoulders and they had a blanket from the med tent pulled up over their laps. Katie watched from a distance as Stephanie tilted her head toward Korbin’s, closing her eyes as he kissed her softly. An aura of love surrounded the two of them.
Katie smiled. They were off in their own little world for the moment.
Katie couldn’t shake her anger. She hated that their moment would be over too soon, and she was pissed at everything she had been forced to put off for so long. Everyone was just stuck in their lives, stopped in time by an accident or fluke event. The whole team had lost their futures, and while everyone sort of felt that way after an event like this, the Damned were the ones who had to slink back into the shadows and hope to survive another day.
It was frustrating to Katie because there wasn’t a thing she could do to change it.
Damian walked up to Katie and followed her eyes to where Korbin and Stephanie snuggled together in the grass. ‘Shame we can’t...”
Damian watched as Katie’s eyes narrowed, flashes of red coming from them. She looked at him for a moment. “Sometimes Damian, choices about what is right or wrong are taken from you.”
She started to walk across the grass toward Korbin and Stephanie, Damian shaking his head and calling out as he trailed behind her. “Katie, what are you going to do?”
Katie smiled and kept going, ignoring his question. She was going to do something good for people she loved.
Because she couldn’t keep waiting; couldn’t spend her life afraid that one of them wouldn’t make it home after a battle like today’s. They had something very few Damned had ever tasted, and that was love.
She wasn’t going to let them waste it in the shadows.
Korbin and Stephanie looked up at Katie with a smile. “You okay?” Korbin asked.
Katie nodded. “Let me ask you a question. Would you two like to enjoy your life together?” Katie opened her hands wide and looked around them. “Get married? Live…without all of this?”
Stephanie lifted her head from Korbin’s chest. “Of course.”
Korbin smiled and kissed the top of her head. “Without a doubt.”
Neither of them saw through the question or realized what Katie was asking them. For that reason alone, Katie knew it was the right choice. They had just given her permission to pull their demons out of them.
Katie looked behind her as Damian motioned for the others. They walked up behind Katie as she said her final words to Stephanie and Korbin.
“I love you both. Live happily ever after for me, okay?”
Before they could respond Katie bent down and Pandora pulled the demons out of them both at the exact same time. Their demons hissed and growled impotently as Pandora cast them back to the depths of hell. Both Korbin and Stephanie passed out, falling into each other. The team cheered and Calvin and Damian came to stand beside Katie and pat her on the shoulder. They all loved those two so much that they were willing to let them go so they could have a future.
“I am gonna leave the rest up to you, Damian.”
“I can handle that.”
Calvin hugged Katie tightly. “You know he’d have kicked your ass if he’d understood what you were about to do, right?”
“I’m not letting true love die because of this war, Calvin.”
Calvin smiled and put his arm around her shoulder as they walked away, leaving Damian with their former teammates. “Hey, I agree, and for what it’s worth I’m voting for what you did.”
“I guess it’s a good thing he won’t remember,” she replied as Calvi
n chuckled. They looked at the two of them one last time. “I’m just glad I will. Those two made a huge impression on my life, and right or wrong I will miss the hell out of them.”
25
The general stared across at the table at Katie. They had been brought back to the base for a debriefing, and to give Eric the best care he could get. It wasn’t home, but they were getting closer. Though they had only been gone for a couple of days, Katie really missed the base and the quiet of her mountainside workout space.
“Katie, first I want to say that I think what you did for Korbin and Stephanie was really good of you. We will make sure they get set up and want for nothing.”
“Thank you, General.”
“As far as the rest of it, I wish I could tell you what to expect. We are now at war—not that we haven’t been for a long time, but now it’s official. This war will change the rules. It will push humanity to its limits, and force us to make decisions that would otherwise seem completely out of the question. In reality I have no idea what it will all mean for us, but we are working hard to avoid any more major surprises.”
Katie chuckled. “Good luck with that.”
The general gave her a wry smile. “I suspect the demons will wait a bit before opening a portal of that size again, but the politics of it all are going to start heating up. I don’t even know what to expect here from my position. What I do know is that you are not in the safest position. None of the Damned mercenaries are. I want you and your team, and the other teams for that matter, to stay as hidden as you can for now. I want there to be a long and prosperous future between us, and I promise that includes your business.”
Katie let out her breath and smiled at the general. “Thank you, General. I appreciate your concern. We have definitely come a long way since the first time I contacted you, that’s for sure. I never thought I would be fighting alongside the military, but I have to admit your men were invaluable to us during the fight. They really held their own, and I want to say that we all mourn the loss of the police officers and soldiers who were killed in the battle.”