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  The demon read it over and sighed, not impressed by her choice of restaurant. He made a mental note to make her do some research next time before taking him out to a place to eat. He didn’t need food to survive, but she did, so he picked the most appetizing thing—to him—on the menu.

  Order two eggs, sunny-side up, an English muffin, lightly toasted, and a hot cup of coffee, he told her.

  She did so and then sat there in a light trance, folding her napkin neatly in her lap and placing her hands on top. The waitress looked at her strangely, but shrugged and kept going. Bridgett stared at the table as she waited for the demon to speak. She had wanted this for so long, but it didn’t seem to be anything like she thought a possession would be.

  I am here looking for the Damned. The Killers, to be precise, the demon told her. I need someone who may be willing to strike a deal.

  Someone to make a deal with the Devil? she clarified, surprised.

  Precisely, he agreed. Have you heard of them? They haven’t been so quiet recently with their attempts to take down the demon race.

  I know of them, she qualified, thinking this through. I try to stay away from them for safety reasons. I’ve known one of them for a while.

  A coven head and a Damned know each other, the demon mused. Interesting. Go on.

  He doesn’t know that I’m in a coven. If he ever found out, I would be dead in a heartbeat. I know him, he knows me, but we aren’t more than passing acquaintances. For good reasons, I have kept him at arm’s length.

  No matter. You know who he is, he knows who you are—that is perfect, the demon snarled.

  She thought about their options. I also know he hates to be anything less than Number One. He is constantly racing toward the future, trying to get ahead. Sometimes he seems almost obsessed with the idea of perfection.

  He sounds like the perfect candidate, the demon replied, wondering why he never got those kinds of humans to possess.

  I bet he would like to know what you are offering, Bridgett said. And maybe we can get him to see the opportunity as a positive thing. It’s important to keep him or speak to him away from the others, though. Something secretive will grab his attention. I will have to be quick, though. He will know I am infected the moment he sees my eyes, and I really would like to keep my head on my shoulders.

  The demon waited a minute before speaking again. Hmmm. You may be right. Maybe you will be more useful than I originally had considered. She perked up a touch with his compliment. I am sure I can protect you from whatever you are afraid of, which in this case seems to be death. Humans are so interesting; so curious, when it comes to things like that. Death should be the least of your worries. This world is full of despicable and disgusting people. I know, because I used to frequent their bodies.

  Bridgett opened her mouth to say something, but he didn’t feel like hearing her philosophy on death so he cut her short.

  She closed her mouth and pouted. He controlled the way she moved her mouth. She must have looked insane sitting there fighting to get her mouth open; fighting to do anything other than stare. Finally the waitress came back with her food, and smiled down at her. She forced a smile in return and picked up her coffee.

  Bridgett sighed. Okay, I’ll be quiet. Jesus!

  Eat your breakfast. We have a plan to hatch, and for fuck’s sake—never say that name!

  Korbin looked at each team lead to make sure that their faces were resolute.

  He hated questioning his own family but these days he had to be more careful than usual.

  Many people had been betrayed in the previous year, so he was making damn sure he and his team wouldn’t become the next victims.

  These were the most upstanding leaders of the teams, and he would need their help keeping the weaponry a secret from the government. The smaller teams would get the new weapons too, but the main hubs were his focus. It was vital that they be brought in before they started to ask more questions.

  He unlocked the door and led them across the room to the massive metal safe against the back wall. It looked like the old-time vaults; the ones that had rolled to be into banks before they built the secure rooms.

  However, this one’s door was completely up to date on all security protocols.

  He pushed in the code to the finger pad, pressed his thumb to the scanner, leaned down for an eye scan, and when it clicked, turned the knob, opening the door wide to reveal the weapons the company created for them.

  They shimmered and sparkled in their display case, and Korbin could almost feel the power radiating through them. There were twelve weapons, enough for each team lead to take home three. The team leads gaped at the bright weapons. They weren’t sure what was so special about them, but they too could feel the otherworldly presence pulsing from their long, sharp blades.

  “Who is going to be tested first?” Korbin asked with a straight face.

  The leads looked at him, and then each other. They had no idea what he meant by “tested first,” and they couldn’t seem to keep their eyes off the weapons.

  Korbin smirked as he stared at the four of them, his arms crossed over his chest. After several moments of silence Amy stepped forward, rolling her eyes and throwing her hands in the air.

  Korbin had figured she would probably go first, since she was the bravest of them all. She was small and had just a small touch of the Napoleon complex, but she had been his favorite of the leaders for a long time.

  “Bunch of rabbits,” she grumbled, looking at the men in annoyance as she stepped forward. “Korbin isn’t going to hurt us.”

  She shook her head as Korbin took her hand and grabbed a small knife from the vault. Before she could even look back at Korbin, he pricked the tip of her finger and let go.

  She looked at him strangely for a fraction of a moment before pulling her hand up to her chest, her eyes opening wide in surprise. Sweat beaded on her forehead and her face went pale as she worked to stop any noise from escaping her lips.

  Her eyes declared their intent to plug Korbin full of laser holes if she could just shoot them from those orbs.

  “FUUUUCK!,” she finally groaned. “What the holy hell did you just do to me? Goddamn, it feels like fucking fire!”

  She put her finger into her mouth and closed her eyes. Korbin could remember how strong that feeling had been when he was pricked for the first time. He had kept his composure better than Amy, though.

  When the pain subsided, she hopped back to the others and pushed John forward.

  “You’re up!” She looked at John, her lips smiling but her eyes promising pain.

  “Great.” John stepped forward. “Just what I was looking forward to this morning—a stabbing.”

  One by one the leaders stepped up to the front, allowing Korbin to prick their fingers. All four of them had a bad reaction, cursing and growling at the full effect of the knives.

  They were not happy to have been wounded like that, but it had definitely intrigued them.

  “What is this?” John asked. “Where did you find it?”

  “Well, we met a young man at a weapons fair we attended,” Korbin explained. “He’d inherited a centuries-old skill, and it was the breakthrough we needed. We knew as soon as the metal was near us that it was something special. I am a minority owner in the company, Katie being the main stockholder, and a few others taking board seats with small shares of the company. The young man originally running it was orphaned at a young age and was living in his van. He was traveling around making these weapons, but never really selling them. It is a very well-hidden centuries-old secret, used long ago to defeat an incursion of demons and now in our hands. We felt we needed to move on it quickly.”

  “I would tend to agree,” Amy exclaimed, examining a sword “This might have something to do with why the demons attacked the base. These would not go over well in the demon community. I suppose these are what you used when you were defeating those guys?”

  “It was, and I agree,” Korbin told her. “Our tea
m heavy found him tucked away at the event, bought the company right there, and brought him back with us. It’s just him, so it took a while to build up enough of a supply to give you guys some. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision that has since saved our lives more than once.”

  “I would like to meet your team heavy,” John said, looking at the sword. “She seems to have an eye for weaponry.”

  “And everything else.” Amy scoffed. “She is the one who created our team-wide creed. She was apparently small and quiet at first, but I’ve heard she is definitely on warrior status now.”

  “She is quite the Killer.” Korbin chuckled. “She was found in an abandoned parking garage, tied to a pole and newly infected. I didn’t have high hopes for her longevity, but she has become one of my best fighters—though sometimes she can get carried away.”

  “It seems it pays off, though,” Amy countered. “Those demons she kills are pretty hefty.”

  “That they are. She wanted to meet you as well, but unfortunately she couldn’t be here for this meeting,” Korbin said. “Next time we get together, she will be there.”

  “Good,” John exclaimed.

  John was experienced, more because of the sheer number of demons that hit the New York area than the years under his belt.

  Korbin had never really liked him that much. He was pushy and competitive, and out of all the team leads he was the last one that he would trust with Katie’s secret.

  He couldn’t be sure John wouldn’t have her transferred to his team by the higher-ups—or even worse, be the one to drive a sword through her heart.

  Now that everyone was there with Korbin, he had started to realize just how important it was to keep her abilities a secret. Much like the swords, she was a precious weapon; poised and ready for battle, never letting the team down.

  Her safety had just become his primary focus. Unfortunately, needs must when the Devil drove.

  4

  The car slowly came to a stop in front of the fancy hotel Damian had booked for them. It went up eight stories, the grey stone etched by history even as a fresh coat of paint tried to liven it up a touch.

  They went inside, checked in, and put their stuff in their rooms. As usual they had adjoining rooms, since Damian was constantly worried that Katie would be attacked.

  He was the only one who knew T’Chezz was Pandora’s brother, and he was aware of the animosity between the two.

  Katie was between the fighting siblings.

  Their rooms were huge, with sleek eclectic furniture, huge jetted tubs, marble everywhere, and comfortable, inviting beds. It was tempting to stay in and sleep their mini-vacation away, and Katie mentioned that fact.

  Damian sighed. “That’s not going to happen.”

  Katie was excited to be a tourist for a little while in the city, especially since the last time she had been there with Calvin the two of them nearly died. She wanted to walk around the town like a normal person, taking pictures at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, walking on the stars, and shaking Spiderman’s hand. She knew it was stupid, but she wasn’t about to let something like that pass her by.

  She was not used to seeing other places, and she wanted to take full advantage of it while she could.

  When everything was put away in their rooms, Katie met Damian in the hall so they could explore Hollywood.

  She was as excited as if it were Christmas morning. Damian just laughed and shook his head.

  “All right!” She grinned. “We can go on a tour of the stars’ homes, eat amazing sushi, take a picture of the Hollywood sign, and get an autograph from someone famous. My list went goes on and on!”

  And not one spa day here?

  Trust me. Katie snickered. Even you wouldn’t like spa days in this area.

  Why? All gay men?

  No, very little food, and what food they have is nasty. Nothing but pain in order to force you to look pretty by taking away anything you might enjoy.

  What are these people, assholes? Pandora asked.

  Well, the rumor is if they weren’t before they start their spa day, they are by the end. Then, the next day they brag to their friends like they just raced in the Iditarod in Alaska. Then that friend goes through hell…oh.

  She wasn’t sure she would have enough time there to get through her list, but she was hell-bent on giving it a try.

  “So, what do you want for lunch?” Damian asked. “Donuts?”

  “She isn’t asking for donuts, oddly enough,” Katie told him. “I thought it was just her being stubborn at first over the potato ones.”

  “That’s a good thing, though, right?” Damian asked as they made their way through the hotel and outside past the hotel’s doorman.

  “You would think,” Katie replied absently as she looked both left and right before heading left. “But silence usually means something else is up. I just don’t know what it is…yet.”

  “Maybe she is just being nice,” Damian suggested with a smile.

  “Yeah, right.” She scoffed.

  BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA, silly priest. Pandora stopped. Oooh, look, the stars!

  Katie looked down at the stars as they walked over them. There were many of them; some she recognized, and some she didn’t. She wondered what the appeal of having your name on a star was, but then she was not fond of being the center of attention.

  That was one of the few reasons she didn’t like volleyball; when you made a good play or saved the game, everyone wanted to pat you on the back.

  It had occasionally made her want to hide.

  Hmm, Desi Arnaz. Pandora pointed out. From I Love Lucy. He had a serious obsession with Lucy. He used to chase her around wearing her robe and slippers, singing at the top of his lungs. It was a big scandal, but they covered it up.

  Uhm, I don’t think… Katie stopped as Pandora started again.

  Oh, Eve Arden! What a dear. Pandora sighed. She was fabulous in everything she did, but she seriously hated the bigger stars. She was tired of getting supporting actress awards. I heard that she only won the best actress because she threatened the lives of everyone on the board for the Oscars. She had a real serious dark side to her. I am pretty sure she went to my house when she died. And here—the famous Joan Collins, who, by the way, has a seriously loud and obnoxious demon inside her.

  As much as I want to admit that may be true for Joan Collins, I am pretty sure you just made the rest of that shit up. Katie chuckled. Though the vision of Desi Arnaz in Lucy’s robe is pretty entertaining.

  Fine, Pandora grumped. So I lied. Whatever. What does it matter? They are stupid star-shaped stones on the ground. My stories were funny, weren’t they? And probably a hell of a lot more entertaining than their real stick-in-the-mud lives anyway. She paused for a moment. If I was lying.

  You are too much. Katie laughed. Maybe you should write my eulogy when I die. I will either be a psycho, or the most amazing woman who ever lived. Either way, it will be entertaining.

  I would, but when you die I am back in my hellhole…or worse, Pandora griped.

  Oh, yeah. Katie smirked.

  “Oh!” Katie exclaimed, startling Damian. “I know where I want to eat! The Hard Rock Café.”

  Damian looked at her. “Haven’t you been to the one in Las Vegas?”

  “Yeah, but I’ve heard it’s not as cool as this one.” Katie put her hands together in supplication. “Pleeeeease?”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Damian laughed, pulling up the map app on his phone to work out which way they needed to walk. “Hard Rock it is.”

  “Yay.” Katie almost skipped along.

  While Katie and Damian made their way to the restaurant, talking animatedly about the stars and the sights, a couple of cops were walking toward them, discussing past night shifts they had been on.

  The two were on patrol, and it had been relatively quiet up to that point—which was strange for Hollywood. They went through things on-shift that happened nowhere else in the country, except maybe Vegas…or New York. There was a lot of cra
zy shit in Vegas twenty-four hours a day, and New York was just a clusterfuck of crazy crammed onto a small island.

  “Yeah, so I arrested this chick. Total freak,” the cop on the left explained. “She was in the back of the squad car screaming out lyrics to some old-ass AC/DC song, totally topless.”

  “This place gets weirder and weirder,” the other cop replied, shaking his head. “What did you pick her up for?”

  “That’s the fucking kicker,” he commented, and dipped his hat to a young boy who was pointing at the officer. “I picked her up for spray-painting a sign over on Fifth. She was completely clothed when she got in the car, then started doing Girls Gone Wild. I don’t even know how she got her top open, to be honest.”

  “At least she wasn’t the crazy fat lady from that Halloween bust.” His partner laughed. “Holy shit, that was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  “Hey, look! Isn’t that….” The cop pointed toward Katie and Damian.

  “Part of the D squad,” his partner whispered. “No fucking way.”

  “This is Officer Chavez,” the first officer murmured quietly into his radio.

  “Go ahead,” the operator replied.

  “I just wanted to know if there was anything strange going down,” he asked. “I just spotted part of the D squad roaming around here in Hollywood.”

  “That’s a negative, Chavez,” the operator told him. “They are just there to enjoy themselves. Out.”

  Chavez shrugged. “Well, I guess everyone needs a bit of a vacation from time to time.”

  As they passed Katie and Damian, a call came over their system. They unintentionally stopped just a few feet away to listen to the voice on the other end. It was a serious call, and not a welcome one.

  “All available units to First Republic Bank. We have a 444 and a 211S in progress,” the operator advised.

  “Chavez and Simon, following up,” Chavez informed Central.

  “Copy that,” the operator acknowledged. “Be advised that the suspects are armed, and very dangerous. Do not provoke.”

  “Copy,” Chavez said, signing off and popping Simon on his shoulder. “It’s time to get our jog on.”