by Michael Todd
After several pushes, an ass-grab where she put the guy on the ground, and a drink spill she managed to dodge, the woman made it to the other side of the club.
Two guards stood in front of a large ornate door. The woman stretched up and whispered into one of their ears, and the guy—about a foot taller and a hundred pounds heavier—nodded and stepped to the side, opening the door. The woman smiled and nodded as she stepped through the doorway into a nicely decorated room that looked like it belonged in an Asian mob house.
Not in the back of a skanky club.
As soon as the door was shut behind her, the music faded and she was able to hear herself think again.
She pulled on the edge of her skirt and took a deep breath, feeling a little out of it after running down the street and then fighting through the mob of desperate clubgoers. When she had straightened herself out, the woman looked up at another guy, who held open a curtain and welcomed her into the next room. The woman smiled and followed him through the curtain to where an Asian woman in a very pretty green dress was waiting for her.
She smiled at the Asian woman, thinking how elegant she looked in that dress and how her hair reminded her of the fifties, or at least movies about the fifties.
She was too young to remember anything other than the nineties. The woman stood up and held out her hand, offering the seat across from her. She nodded and took the seat.
“Miss…”
“Just call me Mia,” the Asian woman said.
“’Mia,’” the woman said. “Thank you for seeing me. I am sorry I am late. Business was…busier than normal.”
“Not a problem.” She smiled and nodded to the table in front of her. “Tea?”
“Oh, yes please,” the woman said, turning over her cup.
Mia served the tea with an air of confidence. She passed the sugar and cream and sat back in the chair, crossing her legs. The woman smiled, feeling the confidence in the woman and knowing she thought she was in complete control of the situation.
“Your club is…nice,” the woman began.
“Thank you,” Mia replied. “I have owned it for ten years. The secret to it is having security you can trust, employees you can trust, and police you can trust.” She winked. “It’s really all about trust.”
“It’s just a front though, right?” the woman asked.
“You are a smart woman.” Mia laughed. “Most clubs are a front for something or other, whether its simple tax evasion or mobster activity. I can promise, though, that we are neither. You know what service I provide, so I suppose I would need a front for that. It’s not the most legal matter.”
“Of course not,” the woman said. She leaned forward, took off her sunglasses, and flashed her eyes.
Mia’s smile faded and she shook, spilling some of her tea on the saucer. She stared at the woman, realizing that she was no longer in charge. In fact, she was no longer in a situation she was comfortable being in.
She looked around for her security.
“They won’t be needed.” The woman reclined in her seat, taking the cup with her. “I am not here for you, just the service you provide.”
“Of course,” Mia said, bowing her head. “I am honored to have someone of your stature here with me tonight. Had I known you were coming—or that it was you that was coming—I would have made sure to have you escorted back.”
“That would have been nice.” The woman stared at her.
“Right,” Mia said. “Let me just get the documents.”
Mia stood up and walked over to a small stand with a large wooden box sitting on top. She slowly opened the lid and retrieved a leather satchel from inside.
She hurried back to the table and looked to the side, nodding at her service staff. The girl rushed over and took the tea and tray from the table before disappearing into the back room. The woman smiled at the fear in everyone’s eyes.
Mia pulled a stack of paper from the satchel. “Here are the documents for your new identity: your birth certificate, Social Security card, driver’s license with a number that is attached to the DMV in case you get pulled over, a passport where you just need to add the picture, and the credit card you requested in your new identity.”
“Thank you.” The woman checked each piece carefully before looking up. “And none of these will fail me?”
“No, they are all registered to the correct places,” Mia explained. “That is why we charge what we do. They are not fake ID documents, they are legitimate identities.”
The woman smiled. “Wonderful. Will I need anything else?”
“No. Now that you have all of it you will be able to get a replacement license, buy a home, go to Brazil—whatever you wish to do,” Mia told her. “Of course, we ask that you promise anonymity if for any reason you are caught.”
“Of course,” the woman assured her. “My lips are sealed.”
The woman stood up and opened her purse, pulling out a large envelope and laying it on the table. Mia shook her head and piled the documents back into the leather satchel, which she handed to her. The woman bowed slightly and smiled.
“Fifty thousand, right?” she confirmed
“Yes, thank you.” Mia bowed her head.
“It was a pleasure having tea with you,” the woman said. “May I ask what kind of tea that is?”
“It is a family blend,” Mia answered. “A mix of greens and herbals—something my mother used to make to calm us and get us to bed at night. I find that it helps relax two strangers when they are meeting for the first time.”
“I can see where that might be useful.” The woman smiled. “I love tea. All kinds, really, but mostly I drink Chai or English Breakfast.”
“Chai is one of my favorites.” Mia smiled nervously. “Though I must confess, I don’t like making it, since it’s very time-consuming.”
“Yes,” the woman agreed. “Well, thank you.”
“May I just ask one question?” Mia inquired, stopping the woman.
“Yes?” She kept her face toward the door.
“Why did you want a new identity?”
A smile moved over her face as she turned around and looked Mia in the eyes.
“I want a damned car of my own,” Katie said with a wink before placing her sunglasses back on her face.
Sit Down Shut Up and Pull The Trigger
Protected by the Damned, Book 4
Chapter 1
The creature’s head almost rubbed the ceiling. Its claws flexed in agitation as it wandered back and forth in T’Chezz’s office, which was situated between the flowing lava and the pile of tortured bodies.
T’Chezz’s realm was unknown to man, but man was not unknown to him.
He had a plan; a plan that would destroy humanity at its core. But what he hadn’t expected was Korbin and his team of Killers, and the other teams T’Chezz had been fighting all over the world.
He’d win in two areas, then a major setback would come at the hands of the demon hunters. It was becoming difficult for T’Chezz to keep all the balls in the air simultaneously, so he was going to have to focus.
His eyes narrowed. T’Chezz had thought the invasion would be seamless and entertaining, but as Barro stood in front of him for the second time, he realized that he might have underestimated the power these Damned wielded on Earth.
T’Chezz plopped into the massive stone seat at the front of the room and tapped his claws against its carved arms. He stared at the demon, who was injured and obviously terrified of him.
T’Chezz could see that Barro had fought hard, and though he was livid that things weren’t progressing, getting rid of him just yet would be a mistake. It was hard to find loyal demons, especially in a place like hell—even when he had spent so much energy, effort, and trouble to find his ass once Barro had been killed…again.
If he hadn’t needed the information, Barro would have been lost.
“Tell me again how many there were?” T’Chezz asked calmly.
“At first there were
two,” the demon began. “The black man and the girl, but then two more came, some freshly Damned male and a priest.”
T’Chezz rubbed his chin. “It seems as if they have formed some sort of group or gang that is hunting us specifically.”
“There is something else,” the demon said quietly. “The girl…her demon is familiar.”
“Familiar? How so?” T’Chezz asked.
“It’s your sister,” Barro admitted, putting his head down.
“So she has been up to no good.” T’Chezz chuckled, his laughter sounding like two chunks of basalt rubbing together. “But you’re telling me that she is helping these Damned? That’s too much for me to believe.”
“I know, but it’s true,” the demon told him. “She gave the human powers like her own during the fight: strength, agility, and healing ability. She screamed questions at me when I was dying, wanting to know your plans.”
“How could she help them?” T’Chezz growled. “I hate the bitch—don’t get me wrong—and would love nothing more than to watch her be buried on one of hell’s deepest levels, but I am aghast at the idea that she was fighting against us. Helping the human destroy us.”
“She helped the human fight me,” the demon corrected. “Talked shit to me during the process, too. Stood in the background as the human used the fucking cross to send me back to hell, though I am pretty sure they underestimated your ability to bring us back.”
T’Chezz stood up. “You were lucky I caught you before you plummeted farther down, or you would be picking hell’s core out of your teeth right now.”
“Well the weapons they have are no joke,” Barro told him. “And they hurt like a motherfucker.”
“A special cross?” T’Chezz shook his head. “How in the world did those dimwitted creatures become capable of creating a material like this?”
“I don’t know,” the demon admitted, “but it burned right through me and ultimately ended me.”
“And the Damned holding it was fine?”
“I would guess.”
“Interesting,” T’Chezz growled, looking across the hellish landscape. “It’s been centuries; possibly over a thousand years since anything like this has been spoken about. There have been rumors but no evidence—until now.”
“They have swords and knives as well.” He groaned. “My legs were cut to ribbons, and when I got slashed across the belly it felt like my body had been thrown into a volcano. It takes the wind out of you and drops you to your knees. If I had that reaction, I can only imagine what it would do to the smaller beasts out there.”
“It doesn’t instantly kill you, then?” T’Chezz asked.
“Not me, though I don’t know what effect it would have on other demons,” he answered. “But it took quite a bit for the metal to penetrate my skin. Quicker than bullets, but not immediate. Still, it hurts like a sonofabitch, which puts us at a disadvantage when we are trying to focus on crushing those humans’ tiny little bones.”
“There hasn’t even been a whisper about a new weapon until now, and we have had our watchdogs out there searching,” T’Chezz said angrily. “Even a thousand years ago when it surfaced for the first time, it was only two swords—two swords that I was told were completely taken care of, with no trace for the humans to find. Those swords forced us into the darkness for a long time, fearful of what might happen if they surfaced once again after the Battle of Intaglio. However, after centuries of hiding, starving, and needing entertainment from the human creatures we have started to emerge again. Slowly at first, but now it has become a movement. The last thing I need is to have this kind of challenge following us around topside.”
“Do you think your sister had anything to do with it?” the demon asked.
“With the swords?” T’Chezz chuckled. “No, she is too stupid to understand something on that level. She is just a thorn in my side, nothing more. This human she has infected…she may be tough. She may be different, but she sure as hell can be taken out if necessary. She is human, with the frailty of a human’s body, the misguided tempers, and the emotional attachment to their human lives. She can be broken, and in due time I will make sure that she is. For now, though, I have larger issues to take care of—like this weapons problem. I don’t know who is behind this or where they got this knowledge or how many of these tools are out there, but I can promise I will find out.”
He stared out at the writhing bodies in the fires.
“Oh, yes.” He chuckled to himself, rubbing his hands together. “I will find them, and when I do it will be their end—their very unfortunate end.” He started out of his office, one particular figure catching his attention. “Right now we can get back to business, because I am in the mood for torture.”
Katie got up from the couch and stretched her arms high over her head, then straightened her t-shirt and yawned. She had just finished another episode of the soap opera, and though she felt like taking a nap, she had a meeting with the other owners of her company to attend.
She hoped they had some good news; that things were starting to shape up. She hadn’t really paid attention for the last few days, since she was still trying to fully recover from the battle with the demon.
Katie made her way down to the conference room to the left of Korbin’s office. When she arrived Korbin, Calvin, and Damian were already there, sitting around the table waiting for her. Damian smirked when she walked into the room yawning, a hand covering her mouth, and Korbin just shook his head. She smiled at Calvin, who was looking stronger and healthier every day, and took her seat.
Korbin chuckled. “Thank you so much for joining us.”
“Hey, I’m the owner of the company. It’s only right I nonchalantly stroll in late,” she argued, before another yawn destroyed her chance of sounding important.
“You aren’t Bruce Wayne,” Korbin sniped.
“No, but that would be awesome,” She nodded and sat down. “Sorry.”
“Anyway,” Korbin replied, shaking his head, “the weapons are starting to come along now. Joshua seems to have gotten his groove, and every time I turn around there is a new weapon on the table. Before much longer we are going to have a stockpile, which is obviously a good thing and a bad thing. What we need to figure out now is how to go to market with these weapons, but unfortunately this is not as simple as selling them on Amazon.”
“They should create an Amazon for us.” Katie smiled. “That would be awesome.”
“We could trade demons with other teams.” Calvin laughed.
Korbin sighed. “Can we at least attempt to stay on track here?”
“Yep.” Katie nodded and pretended to zip her lips closed.
“Okay, as far as the weapons are concerned, we knew from the beginning that we couldn’t hide them from the other teams forever,” Korbin said. “That being said, we will need enough for every team, or we will be risking way too much.”
“Okay.” Katie leaned forward. “So what does that mean? How many teams are there, and how many weapons do we give to each team?”
“Well, I was thinking we start by giving three to each team. If they want more, that is when the business side of things kicks in,” Korbin said. “There are seventeen teams, and every single one of them gets a weapons budget from the higher-ups. We do three free to show our solidarity in this war, then from there we negotiate. At three weapons per team we are looking at a minimum of fifty-one weapons, but I would say we’ll probably need closer to eighty in order to keep all the team leads happy enough to keep our secret.”
“I don’t understand why they wouldn’t,” Katie replied. “They would rather risk not having the weapons at all than buy however many more they want?”
“They would risk having to get them from the government, since they would get them for free, rather than caring about our company or our livelihoods outside the team’s work,” Korbin corrected. “We are all fighting for a single cause, sure, but each team generally fights alone, so there tends to be a separation emotionally be
tween them. They are already going to be jealous that we have the best and newest weapons, and some won’t find that fair since we are not the busiest team—or at least we weren’t until recently.”
“That’s a shame,” Katie said. “That’s going to cost a hell of a lot of money.”
“True,” Damian said. “But with our increased kill rate, we are making some serious money right now.”
Katie nodded. “We are.”
“On top of that, Mamacita has gotten all our suppliers to agree to very favorable prices,” Damian said. “We are currently in the black—which is more than most new companies can say, especially since we currently have zero profit.”
“That’s nuts.” Katie stifled another yawn. “Damn! Sorry. I mean it’s awesome, don’t get me wrong. I just had no idea that Mamacita was as badass as she is.”
“Yeah.” Damian shook his head to stave off a sympathy yawn. “She is hardnosed and business-savvy. She has been running that house a long time, and has never had an issue. I think that compared to some of the clients over there, this is a walk in the park for her. Those suppliers? They run with their tails between their legs when she’s on the line. I listened to her the other day. She started out all sweet and kind, and when they thought they could fuck with her because she was a woman…oh man, they probably went home and called their mommas.”
Katie laughed. “That’s awesome. We should have had her from the beginning. Things would’ve started out a lot smoother for us.”
“Yeah.” Damian chuckled. “Not only did she straighten us out, but she went back and renegotiated the old contracts, because they had stolen from Joshua’s ancestors. Nobody even asked her to do it, either.”
“Good,” Katie said. “I have to admit that I have noticed I have money again. Talk about exciting, when I open up my hidden spot and moths don’t fly out.”
“Yes, yes.” Korbin rolled a finger in the air. “We are all impressed by Mamacita. Can we move on?”
Katie laughed. “Sheesh, Korbin, what flew up your behind today?”