The Complete Protected by the Damned Series

by Michael Todd

  “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 vo
ice 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 25

  “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.”

  “Sir, if I may?” the colonel asked. “We have to give credit where credit is due. Katie took out eight of the ten dead demon mercs tonight.”

  “But where would we have been without you there backing us up?” Katie asked in return, joining the colonel and the general.

  “Katie!” The general smiled as he shook her hand. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine, although flipping roles from businesswoman to demon hunter is a bit exhausting,” she replied. Damian chuckled in the background.

  “Thank you for your service.” The colonel saluted Katie.

  She looked at the soldiers who were listening in and they all bounced to attention and saluted her as well, warming her heart. She knew exactly how special that was, and she was glad she had been there to save some lives.

  They’re saluting you, Pandora, Katie said, smiling to the men.

  Pandora sniffled. Mmmhmm.

  Are you getting emotional?

  No, she growled. I have demon-merc cooties in my eye, that’s all.

  Oh, okay. Katie snickered.

  After the moment had passed Katie moved back and stood next to Damian. He put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed her tightly as they listened to the
general address his troops.

  While it was a celebration, it was nowhere near being the end of the story.

  “We have recently received a bit more information from an FBI effort that has been in the works,” Brushwood told them. “It seems likely that there will soon be about a hundred and twenty demon mercs in this group. We don’t know how many separate groups there will be, if any; that’s all we have. From what I’ve been told, one of those bodies over there is one of the leaders of the group. Now, we aren’t sure if he was the top man, but everyone counts. Research is getting better every day, especially with the addition of a new IT tech at the Korbin’s Killers’ base. He has jumped on the bandwagon and already made his mark. I don’t want anyone to be down after today. It’s true, we lost another one of our men and that is tragic in many ways, but we are going to bag these assholes. That is a promise that I will stand here and make to you today. There will be no more surprises, no more anger, and no more crossing lines. We will be ready for them if it’s the last thing I ever do.”

  The alarm blared loudly echoing through the bus.

  Brock groaned and leaned over to silence it, knocking an empty bottle of Jack onto the floor before pounding his hand on the button. He laid back down and stretched his arms over his head, yawning.

  He opened his eyes, and next to him were three stark-naked busty blondes sprawled across the bed. He smiled and rubbed his hand down the closest one’s back.

  She moaned slightly and opened her eyes, blinking at Brock.

  “I thought it was a dream.” She yawned as she looked at the other two girls.

  “It was a dream,” he agreed, and kissed her. “But dreams come true.”

  The other girls began to stir, climbing up the bed and wrapping themselves around him. All three started to kiss his skin, forcing him to take a deep breath and put his arms in the air. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the time for another go, nor did he really think he had the energy.