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There was the sound of thunder when a demon stepped out of a shadow. He clapped his hands, looking Moxie over.
“Bravo. You were able to feel me. We are getting that much closer.”
All the blood drained from her face. This wasn’t the demon that owned her, the one she was running from. This was the demon who wanted to own her, the one who chased her from the first day he laid eyes on her.
“Botis,” she spit his name out like it was a curse.
“That’s master and lover to you. Soon you will be my queen ruling over all of this. I’ll place you high above the mere mortals, and you can have whoever you wish to worship you.”
“I’ll never call another male or demon master, and you’ll never be my lover.”
“You will give yourself to me if only because I have something you want.”
“We should give the hell beast something to do while we talk.” He lifted his hand, shooting a bolt of electricity at Rada that went through his body. He fell to the ground. “We wouldn’t want him changing into a nasty animal as he fought. Where’s the fairness in that?”
She almost choked on her tongue to hear a demon talk about fair play. Her Glock was in her hand before he could say another word. She took the shot aiming it at his head. He became one with the shadows at the last second before impact.
“You wish to play?” Two more beings appeared out of the shadows. These two were coming straight for her.
She knew better than to run. Two quick shots, one at each of them, would do the trick. She put a bullet square in their chests. She lowered the gun and turned to help Rada fighting the demons in his humanoid form.
Her eyes rounded as she watched him block a kick while tossing one over his head before grabbing the third low and flinging him into the first one who tried to kick him.
A sound behind her made her turn around. The two demons she just killed were standing with such grim smiles on their faces that her heart tried to escape her chest.
“I hate it when the dead don’t stay dead.” She lifted her gun, firing off another two shots. This time they stopped mid-air before falling to the ground.
In her professional opinion, that wasn’t good; she fired another two rounds off and then ran towards the parked cars. She hopped on the hood of one and slid over the roof to tumble behind it. A quick look told her they were coming for her. She crouched down and dodged between vehicles to put more room between them. Her Sig was in her other hand when she stood firing multiple times at the demons chasing her.
They not only stopped her bullets but turned them around to come at her. She dodged again, hearing the bullets hit the sides of the vehicles. She didn’t want to be around when the owners came out. She fired both guns until she was out of bullets and then pulled out the pistol at her back.
“How long can you keep this up?”
She looked over at Rada to find that one of his opponents was dead and wasting away in a black fog. She would keep it up as long as possible. She moved around until she was behind them. Then she picked up a discarded empty soda can. She threw it to the right. When they turned, she placed two of her special bullets in the back of their heads. She slumped against the fender of the nearest car in relief.
She glanced over at Rada, watching as his fingers became deadly claws. He tore apart one of the demons, gutting him. With his other hand, he tore out his heart. Her hand shot up to cover her mouth. Watching a wild animal kill like that was different than watching a male do it.
Laughter to the side caught her attention. She looked to watch the two demons she just killed stand up again. They weren’t going to stay dead like that.
She holstered her pistol. Her gun wasn’t going to kill them.
“Your guns and your pathetic human bullets can’t kill us.”
Moxie slipped the small purse hanging on her shoulder over her neck before opening it.
“You’re right; my gun and bullets won’t hurt you. At least, not for long.”
“It’s our turn now.”
“This is war; there are no turns. To the winner goes the spoils.” She ducked when they sent a barrage of black bullets at her. The kind that couldn’t be manufactured. She ran her fingers over the hollow-point bullets in her purse; they were made for an assassin without a gun. In other words, they were made especially for her, the lightest weight bullets in existence.
“I could give you a chance to leave before I blow you to small pieces. When I’m through, it will take centuries to put yourselves back together.”
They laughed, but she expected that. Refusing to think about what needed to be done, she stood and moved from behind the cars. Standing in the open put a target on her. It was the thing she needed.
The minute they aimed their arsenal at her, she imagined a shield one she could fire through. The bullets in her purse started rattling around until they floated up, circling her head like a halo. With one thought, she stuffed each hollow point with power sending them off as she worked hard to keep theirs away from her.
They slammed into the demons, not coming out on the other side but going through their bodies, spreading a light that tore them apart inside; their screams echoed off the cement walls until they disintegrated.
There was another slow clapping of hands and then she was flung across the parking lot to hit one of the cement walls. She crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut.
“Did you really think you could defeat me? Look at my special bullets and tremble.” He mocked her as he walked closer. “You are nothing but a child playing in my world.” He picked her up by her neck, choking her.
“Take one more step, dog, and I’ll break her neck. You belong to me.”
She wanted to look at Rada to make sure he was fine, but she dared not take her eyes from Botis.
“You’re coming with me.”
She’d rather die. Reaching inside of herself, she touched the white light that lit her up like a Christmas tree. Placing both her hands on the one choking her. She sent her light in, working its way through his thick skin. He dropped her, calling her all kinds of names. Then he kicked her, making sure that she knew what loss felt like.
“I’ll be back for you, but next time let’s make it interesting.” He held out a hand, and a boy scurried across the lot to kneel at his feet.
She squinted; she knew that boy. He was the poor mute child that they beat on and used as a servant. She tried more than once to make his life better, but if they caught her with him, he was the one who was beaten. She watched from a distance, unable to do anything for him.
“You know who he is.”
She bit her lip, not rising to take the bait. What was he going to do to the poor boy now, and where were his parents?
“You don’t know who he is. I cloaked him for that reason.” With a wave of his hand, darkness crawled away from the boy allowing her to see him as he really was.
A sob left her lips when he looked at her. Moxie’s heart stopped beating. It was the sound of Rada calling her name in the distance that started it. A pair of brown eyes the exact shade of hers looked back at her from a face framed with black hair.
“This is a trick,” she screamed even as her body tried to rise to go to him.
“Don’t make me kill him. The next time we meet, everything is on the line, and the winner takes the spoils. You lose, he dies; I win, he dies. Theres only one scenario where he gets to continue breathing, and we both know that won’t happen.” Darkness covered the boy, and he was gone.
Moxie laid on the concrete, defeated as she sobbed.
“Dog, you killed three of my soldiers. Your time is almost up; when it is, you will become part of my army and watch me rape my queen every night.” He stepped into the shadows disappearing.
Rada ran to Moxie, picking her up, when he found that she was unconscious.
_____
Moxie opened her eyes to find herself lying in bed. There was something warm on her side; her hand went to touch it.
“Don’t.” She turned to see Rada; he caught her hand, keeping her from finding out what was stinging her. “Silas put something he called a poultice on your side. When the demon kicked you, he passed along an infection. One that if allowed to grow, will weaken you. The only way to get it out is the old fashion way. It must be drawn out like poison. He’s already changed it twice.”
She deflated; this wasn’t the first time she’d seen something like that, but never as a patient.
“Those kinds of infections are nasty. It’s like evil is living inside of your body.”
“We got it in time.”
“Thank you.” She closed her eyes, knowing he would want to know about the boy. “I should tell you about the boy.”
“You don’t have to tell me. We’ll save him.”
“That’s why I have to tell you. They would send me on missions to kill people. It was like loosening my leash. That was the only time I was allowed away from the compound. I would go out, kill, then come back. There was one time I completed my mission early. I was in my early twenties, and I wanted to celebrate a job well done. I reasoned to myself that they wouldn’t know.” She remembered how happy she was. Now she was mortified to think of another life that she had snuffed out.
“I walked into this club; there was dancing, laughing, and drinking. The women were beautiful, and the men were nice-looking. I was kind of over and underwhelmed by what I saw. I made it to the bar to get a drink and then walked over to stand by a wall. This was my first time being in a bar, I wasn’t sure what to do. At a table, there was a man who had dark hair and green eyes. I guess you could say I have a type. He looked me in the eyes and smiled. When he pointed to the extra chair at his table, I took it.
“We talked a while. I gave him a false name because I knew I couldn’t stay. In the end, we went back to his place. He was about ten years older than me. It was my one chance at freedom.”
Could he understand what she was saying? Her life had been so regimented that to do what she wanted with who she wanted was a bubble of joy she couldn’t pass up.
“A month later, I didn’t have my period. I did everything I could do to get away, but I was caught and dragged back. When they discovered I was pregnant, they watched me day and night. When it was time to give birth, they brought in a midwife. They laid the most precious bundle I had ever seen in my arms. Then they took him. When they brought him back, he was dead.” Huge gasping sobs came from her.
Rada moved to the bed to hold her against his chest while she cried.
“I never strayed again. I couldn’t risk putting another child in danger.” She hiccupped through her words before the tears started again.