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Shadow Demon is my original story. I wanted to create a hero that strikes fear into her enemies and is an urban legend in the minds of criminals similar to Batman. This series will be violent and descriptive. I plan for the timeline to be linear, but the perspective will change from the main character to side characters in each part; I like to do this, as it gives the perspective of the terrified (sometimes perverted) henchman. Currently, the sexual content and peril in the series is light, but I'll try to include teasers in each part to keep the reader sedated until I get the ball rolling. Personally, I like a lot of character development in erotic fiction, but that means I can't just jump into it, as that would put the character in the wrong mental place I want her in for later parts. I may do perilous one-off side stories later with the character just for quick peril and sexual content, if I get freetime. Anyway, here it is, part one of the shadow demon.
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Shadow Demon
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Shadow Demon
Part 1
Frank hated this. Watching the shipments was a complete boring waste of time. No-one would bother hitting Crackles shipment of angst tonight, let alone know about it. Besides Frank there were five other guys at the warehouse, each of them carrying the same automatic rifle as him with two extra clips on their person.
Frank took another drag of his cigarette looking out into the night. It wasn’t a bad night, wasn’t a hot night but it wasn’t too cold like most nights. The humidity felt good on his lungs, reminding him that at the rate he was going on this pack of cigarettes, he’d be coughing himself awake when he got home in the morning. The thought prompted him to finish the one he was on and move the pack to a different pocket, a passive aggressive way to remind himself that he was done smoking for tonight.
“Where the fuck are they?” frank mumbled to himself. It’s not like it takes this long to move one stash from the east side to the north side of the city.
They weren’t moving much angst yet. The drug was still new to the streets and few people knew about it. It was a new hallucinogen that made people shit bricks in fear of even a squeaky floor board. They were selling small amounts to high school and college kids. The only people after it was the fear junkies that need their horror films to feel a bit more real. A bit might be an understatement. Last week one of the kids he sold angst to ended up cutting up a movie attended when she asked him for his ticket. The kid stated that the attendant had a gun on him under the counter, but she obviously didn’t, he just took the stuff to early and got paranoid enough to attack someone. Luckily, everyone thought he had a mental breakdown after getting kicked off his sports team. Cops won’t have any idea that angst even exists till Crackle’s operation is well established.
Frank checked his watch. 11:54pm. The shipment is 14 minutes late.
Frank sighed and looked to the guy standing next to him. Oreo had the same bored look as frank while twirling his long white and black hair between his fingers.
“Stop doing that! Makes you look like a school girl.” Frank said while batting Oreo’s hand from his hair.
“Sorry, force of habit since I started growing it out. Never had long hair before.” Stated Oreo. He then forced his hands into his pocket to stop his hand from going to his hair.
Frank looked around for the other three guys positions in search of someone else to pick on. He froze. One of the other guy’s automatics was lying next to a chair in a dark puddle, which he assumed was blood or hopefully coffee.
“Where the fuck is everyone?” Frank said in to no-one in particular. Oreo turned to look in the direction of frank’s gaze.
“They go to take a pis-” dumbly questioned Oreo before he cut himself off at the sound of a distant man’s whimper. The whimper was followed by the sickening sound of what sounded like 30 pounds of meat dumping across the ground.
“Against the crate. Now!” Frank forcefully whispered to Oreo while pointing to a dark corner they could hide behind. Both Frank and Oreo quickly moved behind the crate, raising their guns in the direction of the noise. Frank strained his eyes trying to see on the other side of warehouse, beyond the light of the single lamp hanging from the ceiling. He could tell there was something over there, but it seemed that in a spot a car’s length wide it was darker than it should be. Then a humanoid figure moved in the darkness. Like an animal raising its head from a kill, the figure hung its head as if listening. The figure then turned its head to the crate Frank and Oreo were behind and opened a pair of snake-like crimson eyes. Frank heard a distorted feminine chuckle as if the figure’s lungs were filled with smoke. The area around the creature darkened a shade, then lightened to match the surrounding area, taking the shape of the figure with it.
“Is it gone?” asked Frank watching the area where the creature was crouching.
“Mhhh!” whimpered Oreo. Frank looked to Oreo seeing the man’s panicked eyes and a hand of black mist over his mouth and neck. He could see the creature’s face over Oreo’s shoulder looking at him. The creature had a lean build and was made complete out of black swirling mist, except for the pair of snake-like crimson eyes frank saw on the other side of the warehouse. It had a reptilian-like tail flicking back and forth like a cat. Frank could see the shape of a sly smile in the mist of the creature’s face, mocking him. Suddenly, Oreo’s head was whipped to the side with the sickening crunch of the man’s neck snapping.
“Wha! Nooo!” Frank screamed. He frantically staggered back from the creature falling on his back. Frank continued to shuffle back toward the center of the warehouse in a pathetic attempt to put as much distance between himself and the creature. The creature stood up from Oreo’s body and walked with slow confidence towards Frank, its hips seductively swaying. Frank made it to the center of the room, underneath the only source of light in the room. The creature continued to walk towards him, then stopped just at the edge of shadows untouched by the glow of the lamp. The creature then placed one foot forward into the light. The black mist surrounding the foot was peeled back as it entered the light, revealing the heeled black leather thigh-high boot of a woman. The figure confidently continued into the light and walked towards Frank as it had before. The black mist peeling away from the figure to revealing a stunning woman with long black hair and blue eyes emphasized by black eyeliner. She was clad in a black leather catsuit tailored to the exact shape of her body. Frank guessed the suit was armored lightly, based on the repeated hexagonal texture faintly visible on the surface. From the neck to just below the navel ran a metal zipper that was pulled down between her breasts to reveal her cleavage. She wore a black mask that attractively outlined her eyes, seemingly to be more of an aesthetic then to conceal her identity. The gloves she wore ran up to her elbow and had what looked like painted black metal claws at the finger tips, while the knuckles were protected by metal pieces of the same colored metal.
“Few people are lucky enough to see me outside of the shadows” she spoke. The woman finished walking up to Frank and crouched before him to meet him at eye level. She placed a gloved hand lightly on his cheek. “It’s a shame that you won’t be able to tell anyone about it” she said as she ran her clawed finger down his check and across his chest, just lightly enough to not break the skin. “Although, even in death you can still leave a message for me” her finger started tracing the outline of his chest through his shirt. “What if I told you that I would let you live if you tell me what the black stuff was in the truck I stumbled across?”.
“I... umm…” shuddered Frank. His heart was racing, making it hard to say any thing without choking up. Tears started to weep from his eyes, he was terrified. He never really liked Oreo or the other guys, but he would never wish them dead. The way she looked at him as she snapped Oreo’s neck, like she was showing him that necks were supposed to do that. He couldn’t meet her eyes and he stared down at his pants. “It’s drugs” he managed to mutter.
“Funny, it looked like black tar.” She said with zero humor in her voice. “What are the drugs called, hot stuff”. Her hand no longer tracing his chest and moving to his neck.
“Angst. It’s… it’s a hallucinogen” Frank choked out.
“I see. Who makes angst?” she said, her hand starting to tighten around his throat.
“Crackle! That’s all I know him as, I don’t know his real name” Frank wheezed.
“Ha, your quick to dish out info on your boss. Where might I find him? “the woman asked.
“He owns the bar on 1st, The wolf’s den” Frank barely managing to get the words out as he started to see stars in his eyes.
“Well then, me and Crackle are going to have a little visit later.” The woman said as she released Franks throat and slowly stood up. Frank started coughing at the sudden release of pressure from his throat. The woman turned and started walking towards the shadows, her hips swaying back and forth, granting Frank a view of her shapely ass that was clearly defined through her suit.
“I swear I won’t tell anyone about this, Crackle will never know your coming” Franked called after the woman as she stepped into the shadows, once again becoming swallowed by a cloud of black mist, with the reptilian tail reforming. The woman chuckled, her voice noticeably muffled and distant now that she was covered in the mist. She looked over her shoulder towards Frank, snake-like red eyes staring at him.
“I don’t doubt you, not that I was actually going to give you a chance to warn him.” the woman said. Like before, the area around her darkened then lightened to the shade it was supposed to be. Seeing that she had gone, Frank begins to hang his head, only to lift it back up again when he hears something above him snap. The light goes out and the lamp falls to the floor, glass shattering. The area around him darkens and the woman’s smoky hand is suddenly holding him by the throat. She raises him off the floor by his neck bringing him to eye level.
“You have been so helpful handsome. It would be cruel of me to leave without giving you a good-bye kiss” she said, her voice distorted by the smoke. She moved her lips to his. Frank could feel her lips touching his own, but they weren’t completely solid, as if he was kissing condensed smoke swirling over his lips. Frank could see out of his peripheral the smoke surrounding her starting to incase him as well. Everything was becoming darker till Frank couldn’t see his own nose. The woman’s lips became more solid and real. Frank could feel her tongue exploring his own. She moved her hand to the back of his neck, while the other hand grabbed his shoulder, pulling herself against him. Frank started giving into the kiss. He moved one of his hands to the back of her head, while the other grabbed her ass through the leather suit. Their tongues were dancing in synchronization, each smoothly fighting for their favorite spot. Frank moved his hand down her ass to her thigh, suddenly pulling it up around him. She moaned, surprised by his initiative. He started to feel the warmth of her pussy against his hip through her catsuit. The woman’s breathing quickened, their kiss still ongoing.
“Enough!” a deep voice spoke from behind Frank. The woman stopped, stepping back from Frank and wiping some saliva from the side of her lip.
“That was… Impressive. You kiss as good as you look, handsome.” the woman said winking, then turned her head to look behind Frank.
“Need you do that to all the males before I consume them?” Said the deep voice to the woman.
She smirked. “Only the ones I find attractive. It’s not like I’ll have a chance after your done with them.”
The voice snorted.
Frank began to turn in the direction of the voice. It was just then that he noticed that he wasn’t in the warehouse anymore. He was in a dark study, with the walls covered in books with odd sigils and runes. The carpet was a shade of deep red. An extremely large desk was on one side of the room, its legs shaped into claws gripping the floor, while hands were shaped to hold up the top of the desk. The chair of the desk was also very large in the shape of a bowl, the wood work was of people agonizingly stacked up on top of each other surrounding the padded crimson leather of the cushion. Frank continued turning till he wished he hadn’t. Before Frank stood a serpent-like creature twice his size, it stood erect like a cobra staring down at him. The creature had long thin arms that came into clawed hands the length of Frank’s torso. The face had the same crimson eyes the woman had when she was covered in smoke, but also had a wide mouth full of multiple rows of pointed teeth. The creature was covered a thin layer of swirling black mist like how the woman was now.
“Your just in time for supper mortal.” Said the creature.
It then lunged its hand forward into Frank’s chest. Frank tried to scream, but his body would only inhale. Frank looked down at the hand that penetrated his chest. Black mist was creeping from the wound over the rest of his body till it completely encased him. His skin started to burn. He could smell the stench of his burning flesh in his nose. Frank then felt as if he was being pulled towards the hand of the creature, yet his body never moved.
Then everything was still. Frank was adrift, floating in swirling darkness. He couldn’t think of why or how he got here, only that he was terrified of something.
Shadow Demon
Part 1
Frank hated this. Watching the shipments was a complete boring waste of time. No-one would bother hitting Crackles shipment of angst tonight, let alone know about it. Besides Frank there were five other guys at the warehouse, each of them carrying the same automatic rifle as him with two extra clips on their person.
Frank took another drag of his cigarette looking out into the night. It wasn’t a bad night, wasn’t a hot night but it wasn’t too cold like most nights. The humidity felt good on his lungs, reminding him that at the rate he was going on this pack of cigarettes, he’d be coughing himself awake when he got home in the morning. The thought prompted him to finish the one he was on and move the pack to a different pocket, a passive aggressive way to remind himself that he was done smoking for tonight.
“Where the fuck are they?” frank mumbled to himself. It’s not like it takes this long to move one stash from the east side to the north side of the city.
They weren’t moving much angst yet. The drug was still new to the streets and few people knew about it. It was a new hallucinogen that made people shit bricks in fear of even a squeaky floor board. They were selling small amounts to high school and college kids. The only people after it was the fear junkies that need their horror films to feel a bit more real. A bit might be an understatement. Last week one of the kids he sold angst to ended up cutting up a movie attended when she asked him for his ticket. The kid stated that the attendant had a gun on him under the counter, but she obviously didn’t, he just took the stuff to early and got paranoid enough to attack someone. Luckily, everyone thought he had a mental breakdown after getting kicked off his sports team. Cops won’t have any idea that angst even exists till Crackle’s operation is well established.
Frank checked his watch. 11:54pm. The shipment is 14 minutes late.
Frank sighed and looked to the guy standing next to him. Oreo had the same bored look as frank while twirling his long white and black hair between his fingers.
“Stop doing that! Makes you look like a school girl.” Frank said while batting Oreo’s hand from his hair.
“Sorry, force of habit since I started growing it out. Never had long hair before.” Stated Oreo. He then forced his hands into his pocket to stop his hand from going to his hair.
Frank looked around for the other three guys positions in search of someone else to pick on. He froze. One of the other guy’s automatics was lying next to a chair in a dark puddle, which he assumed was blood or hopefully coffee.
“Where the fuck is everyone?” Frank said in to no-one in particular. Oreo turned to look in the direction of frank’s gaze.
“They go to take a pis-” dumbly questioned Oreo before he cut himself off at the sound of a distant man’s whimper. The whimper was followed by the sickening sound of what sounded like 30 pounds of meat dumping across the ground.
“Against the crate. Now!” Frank forcefully whispered to Oreo while pointing to a dark corner they could hide behind. Both Frank and Oreo quickly moved behind the crate, raising their guns in the direction of the noise. Frank strained his eyes trying to see on the other side of warehouse, beyond the light of the single lamp hanging from the ceiling. He could tell there was something over there, but it seemed that in a spot a car’s length wide it was darker than it should be. Then a humanoid figure moved in the darkness. Like an animal raising its head from a kill, the figure hung its head as if listening. The figure then turned its head to the crate Frank and Oreo were behind and opened a pair of snake-like crimson eyes. Frank heard a distorted feminine chuckle as if the figure’s lungs were filled with smoke. The area around the creature darkened a shade, then lightened to match the surrounding area, taking the shape of the figure with it.
“Is it gone?” asked Frank watching the area where the creature was crouching.
“Mhhh!” whimpered Oreo. Frank looked to Oreo seeing the man’s panicked eyes and a hand of black mist over his mouth and neck. He could see the creature’s face over Oreo’s shoulder looking at him. The creature had a lean build and was made complete out of black swirling mist, except for the pair of snake-like crimson eyes frank saw on the other side of the warehouse. It had a reptilian-like tail flicking back and forth like a cat. Frank could see the shape of a sly smile in the mist of the creature’s face, mocking him. Suddenly, Oreo’s head was whipped to the side with the sickening crunch of the man’s neck snapping.
“Wha! Nooo!” Frank screamed. He frantically staggered back from the creature falling on his back. Frank continued to shuffle back toward the center of the warehouse in a pathetic attempt to put as much distance between himself and the creature. The creature stood up from Oreo’s body and walked with slow confidence towards Frank, its hips seductively swaying. Frank made it to the center of the room, underneath the only source of light in the room. The creature continued to walk towards him, then stopped just at the edge of shadows untouched by the glow of the lamp. The creature then placed one foot forward into the light. The black mist surrounding the foot was peeled back as it entered the light, revealing the heeled black leather thigh-high boot of a woman. The figure confidently continued into the light and walked towards Frank as it had before. The black mist peeling away from the figure to revealing a stunning woman with long black hair and blue eyes emphasized by black eyeliner. She was clad in a black leather catsuit tailored to the exact shape of her body. Frank guessed the suit was armored lightly, based on the repeated hexagonal texture faintly visible on the surface. From the neck to just below the navel ran a metal zipper that was pulled down between her breasts to reveal her cleavage. She wore a black mask that attractively outlined her eyes, seemingly to be more of an aesthetic then to conceal her identity. The gloves she wore ran up to her elbow and had what looked like painted black metal claws at the finger tips, while the knuckles were protected by metal pieces of the same colored metal.
“Few people are lucky enough to see me outside of the shadows” she spoke. The woman finished walking up to Frank and crouched before him to meet him at eye level. She placed a gloved hand lightly on his cheek. “It’s a shame that you won’t be able to tell anyone about it” she said as she ran her clawed finger down his check and across his chest, just lightly enough to not break the skin. “Although, even in death you can still leave a message for me” her finger started tracing the outline of his chest through his shirt. “What if I told you that I would let you live if you tell me what the black stuff was in the truck I stumbled across?”.
“I... umm…” shuddered Frank. His heart was racing, making it hard to say any thing without choking up. Tears started to weep from his eyes, he was terrified. He never really liked Oreo or the other guys, but he would never wish them dead. The way she looked at him as she snapped Oreo’s neck, like she was showing him that necks were supposed to do that. He couldn’t meet her eyes and he stared down at his pants. “It’s drugs” he managed to mutter.
“Funny, it looked like black tar.” She said with zero humor in her voice. “What are the drugs called, hot stuff”. Her hand no longer tracing his chest and moving to his neck.
“Angst. It’s… it’s a hallucinogen” Frank choked out.
“I see. Who makes angst?” she said, her hand starting to tighten around his throat.
“Crackle! That’s all I know him as, I don’t know his real name” Frank wheezed.
“Ha, your quick to dish out info on your boss. Where might I find him? “the woman asked.
“He owns the bar on 1st, The wolf’s den” Frank barely managing to get the words out as he started to see stars in his eyes.
“Well then, me and Crackle are going to have a little visit later.” The woman said as she released Franks throat and slowly stood up. Frank started coughing at the sudden release of pressure from his throat. The woman turned and started walking towards the shadows, her hips swaying back and forth, granting Frank a view of her shapely ass that was clearly defined through her suit.
“I swear I won’t tell anyone about this, Crackle will never know your coming” Franked called after the woman as she stepped into the shadows, once again becoming swallowed by a cloud of black mist, with the reptilian tail reforming. The woman chuckled, her voice noticeably muffled and distant now that she was covered in the mist. She looked over her shoulder towards Frank, snake-like red eyes staring at him.
“I don’t doubt you, not that I was actually going to give you a chance to warn him.” the woman said. Like before, the area around her darkened then lightened to the shade it was supposed to be. Seeing that she had gone, Frank begins to hang his head, only to lift it back up again when he hears something above him snap. The light goes out and the lamp falls to the floor, glass shattering. The area around him darkens and the woman’s smoky hand is suddenly holding him by the throat. She raises him off the floor by his neck bringing him to eye level.
“You have been so helpful handsome. It would be cruel of me to leave without giving you a good-bye kiss” she said, her voice distorted by the smoke. She moved her lips to his. Frank could feel her lips touching his own, but they weren’t completely solid, as if he was kissing condensed smoke swirling over his lips. Frank could see out of his peripheral the smoke surrounding her starting to incase him as well. Everything was becoming darker till Frank couldn’t see his own nose. The woman’s lips became more solid and real. Frank could feel her tongue exploring his own. She moved her hand to the back of his neck, while the other hand grabbed his shoulder, pulling herself against him. Frank started giving into the kiss. He moved one of his hands to the back of her head, while the other grabbed her ass through the leather suit. Their tongues were dancing in synchronization, each smoothly fighting for their favorite spot. Frank moved his hand down her ass to her thigh, suddenly pulling it up around him. She moaned, surprised by his initiative. He started to feel the warmth of her pussy against his hip through her catsuit. The woman’s breathing quickened, their kiss still ongoing.
“Enough!” a deep voice spoke from behind Frank. The woman stopped, stepping back from Frank and wiping some saliva from the side of her lip.
“That was… Impressive. You kiss as good as you look, handsome.” the woman said winking, then turned her head to look behind Frank.
“Need you do that to all the males before I consume them?” Said the deep voice to the woman.
She smirked. “Only the ones I find attractive. It’s not like I’ll have a chance after your done with them.”
The voice snorted.
Frank began to turn in the direction of the voice. It was just then that he noticed that he wasn’t in the warehouse anymore. He was in a dark study, with the walls covered in books with odd sigils and runes. The carpet was a shade of deep red. An extremely large desk was on one side of the room, its legs shaped into claws gripping the floor, while hands were shaped to hold up the top of the desk. The chair of the desk was also very large in the shape of a bowl, the wood work was of people agonizingly stacked up on top of each other surrounding the padded crimson leather of the cushion. Frank continued turning till he wished he hadn’t. Before Frank stood a serpent-like creature twice his size, it stood erect like a cobra staring down at him. The creature had long thin arms that came into clawed hands the length of Frank’s torso. The face had the same crimson eyes the woman had when she was covered in smoke, but also had a wide mouth full of multiple rows of pointed teeth. The creature was covered a thin layer of swirling black mist like how the woman was now.
“Your just in time for supper mortal.” Said the creature.
It then lunged its hand forward into Frank’s chest. Frank tried to scream, but his body would only inhale. Frank looked down at the hand that penetrated his chest. Black mist was creeping from the wound over the rest of his body till it completely encased him. His skin started to burn. He could smell the stench of his burning flesh in his nose. Frank then felt as if he was being pulled towards the hand of the creature, yet his body never moved.
Then everything was still. Frank was adrift, floating in swirling darkness. He couldn’t think of why or how he got here, only that he was terrified of something.
Straight up murdering drug traffickers, without yet knowing what they're trafficking or who they work for, makes me think we're stretching the term 'hero' - I think rather than Batman the comparison is more with the Punisher or Rorschach. A hero that is also sort of a villain, and is scary not just in the abstract, but because they are literally coming to kill you (or take your soul?).
Either way, I think this is a really promising start to what could be a story I would love. Shadow Demon seems like a cool character, and the way her shtick with darkness seems to work here is pretty original and intriguing. That she seems to have some sort of demon living inside of her makes for a compelling conceit in the story, and just generally I think the ideas at work with her are great. I'd certainly like to see more, and the prospect of sexual peril down the road befalling this character, in this darker setting, absolutely turns on a light for me. Don't feel like you have to throw out sexual content for its own sake to keep the reader interested, though - I think simply knowing that it is coming is enough. I would strongly urge you to comb back through it for editing purposes, just to clean it up a little bit in places and ween out some typos (your vs you're type things) because I think it would do wonders for the story. I wouldn't bring it up if the writing and story weren't otherwise great.
I hope to see much more of the Shadow Demon!
Either way, I think this is a really promising start to what could be a story I would love. Shadow Demon seems like a cool character, and the way her shtick with darkness seems to work here is pretty original and intriguing. That she seems to have some sort of demon living inside of her makes for a compelling conceit in the story, and just generally I think the ideas at work with her are great. I'd certainly like to see more, and the prospect of sexual peril down the road befalling this character, in this darker setting, absolutely turns on a light for me. Don't feel like you have to throw out sexual content for its own sake to keep the reader interested, though - I think simply knowing that it is coming is enough. I would strongly urge you to comb back through it for editing purposes, just to clean it up a little bit in places and ween out some typos (your vs you're type things) because I think it would do wonders for the story. I wouldn't bring it up if the writing and story weren't otherwise great.
I hope to see much more of the Shadow Demon!
Lost in the night, and there is no morning.
Thank you for your feedback Void. It means a lot to have your input. I'm a big fan of your Pariah series. Your writing style played a big role in inspiring me to write shadow demon in the first place. The amount of detail, depth, and originality you put into your stories is something I hope to achieve in my own works. As for the grammar errors, I will definitely try to keep a closer eye on it. Thanks again.
This part of Shadow Demon is from the perception of Sarah Noir (the heroine) and focuses on the lore behind her power and the relationship she has with the demon that resided inside her. Currently, I have up to part 4 finished and am working on part 5 today. If you want to skip to part 4 feel free to visit my Deviant art page. I am going to trickle each part on this forum one month at a time, because I really want to get your feedback on what you like/dislike about the story. Looking for honest criticism, if you hate the story, let me know. I am very open to opinions and will not jump down your throat for shitting on my story, but your love for the story will definitely not go unnoticed 
.
Anyway here it is, Shadow Demon Part: 2
Shadow Demon
Part 2
Sarah stared down at the burning corpse of the man, his soul consumed by Endogrev. She remembered vomiting the first time she witnessed Endogrev take a soul. Even though the demon described it to her before he did it, she never imagined the smell that went along with the act.
Endogrev inhaled with pleasure upon finishing the soul, as he always did. He then reached for his chest, casually pulling open his sternum. With two fingers he plucked some of the oozing black liquid from within and closed his chest. He then held the liquid up to his eye, upon being satisfied by its size, held it out for Sarah to take.
Sarah put her finger to the liquid, opening her senses and willing to soul towards her. The liquid rolled down her finger and up her arm to her elbow. It shaped itself to outline the venation in her arm. Sarah focused on the soul fragment, willing it to become one with her own. The liquid changed to mist and ran down her arm towards her heart, vanishing.
Sarah inhaled sharply and staggered back. Binding souls to her own was always a bit of a shock, you always get flooded with the last emotion it hung on to. In this case, as with most consumed by Endogrev, the one she absorbed was filled with terror.
Sarah cleared her throat and collected herself, bringing herself back to her previously non-terrified state of mind.
Endogrev nodded in approval. “You didn’t scream this time. You’re getting better.”
“Ha. You seem to like giving me the scared ones.” Said Sarah.
“Perhaps.” said Endogrev with his devilish grin. “The night is still young. I take it you want to pay this Crackle a visit?” He asked.
Sarah nodded. Her contact got an open $150,000 contract for a discreet hit on someone named Crackle a few weeks ago. She didn’t know his real name, and the pay on the contract was relatively low, so she has ignored it. She was on a mission to destroy the organized crime in the cesspool of a city she called home. She didn’t always like it but accepting assassination contracts helped her meet that goal. Organized crime was so cutthroat in the city that crime bosses would pay for hitmen and assassins to kill other faction leaders. So, Sarah used the contracts to make extra money while she worked on her overall goal. The contracts also allowed her to gather information on how the factions were operating, when they were expanding, when new ones surfaced, and how to eventually destroy them.
Endogrev turned to smoke, along with the entire study around them. The smoke from the study dissipated into the darkness revealing the warehouse once again. Endogrev moved towards Sarah and entered inside her through her heart.
Sarah looked at her hand that was once again made of swirling smoke, then out around the warehouse. Sarah extended her senses into the darkness. She could hear and feel every insect and rat moving in the shadows.
In the dark, Sarah could feel, hear, and be anywhere untouched by light. It was her power now, with each soul she absorbed she grew stronger, able to extend herself further into the darkness. All the traits of a shadow demon.
It was all part of their pact. Endogrev turns her soul into a shadow demon, while he uses her as his “vessel”.
To Endogrev, a “vessel” is a person of his choosing to be his envoy and protect him during the day. Otherwise in the light, a shadow demon without a place to reside will lose their power and eventually die.
To an outsider they would say she was possessed by a demon, which technically wasn’t completely wrong, but Endo doesn’t take over her mind and make her do anything she didn’t want to. Endo even taught her how to fight, use her new power, and acquire her gear, granted it was for his own interests of making sure she would be harder to kill during the day, but she still appreciated it.
Sarah extended her senses and found the truck with drugs she trashed before coming to the warehouse. She willed herself to it. The bodies of the two thugs were still smoldering next to the dated pickup truck. Sarah Jumped onto the back and investigated the ornate chest on the flatbed. She opened it, the tar-like black liquid in ten plastic bags still inside.
“Why would someone sell souls as drugs” Sarah asked Endo.
“Perhaps like most humans they don’t know the soul’s true value.” Responded Endogrev from inside Sarah’s head. “Regardless of what they were for, I’m taking them as my own. Per our agreement you receive one.”
Sarah extended her hand towards the plastic bags. With the metal claw on her finger she slashed holes in the bags, then kept her hand outstretched. She could feel Endogrev’s presence in her hand, watching as the liquid moved out of the bags and up her arms. The liquid shuttered then turned to mist. The mist raced towards her heart and disappeared. A second later, Endo’s misty arm materialized from her forearm, dropping one of the souls he collected into her hand.
Sarah willed the soul to her own, like before, but regretted it immediately. Sarah let out a blood curdling scream and wrapped her arms and tail around her legs. Curled into a fetal position, she started whimpering and shaking.
It took a good minute before Sarah could collect her thoughts and think through the invasive emotion.
“What the fuck Endo!” Sarah yelled angrily. She slowly stood up, still a bit shaken.
“The emotion in that soul was more… intense than what your used too. It belonged to a demon” Said Endo.
“How would Crackle gain possession of demon souls?” Asked Sarah still angered by how the soul’s emotion made her lose control.
After a long pause Endo finally said: “That information is not for a mortal to know.”
“That bad, huh?” asked Sarah.
Endo said nothing.
“Fuck it, I’m tired. Let’s just get this contract out of the way and kill Crackle tonight.” Said Sarah.
“Id expect nothing less” said Endo.
Sarah extended her senses to the downtown area where the Wolf’s Den was located, then rapidly materialized in the alley adjacent from the entrance.
The club still had a lineup of people waiting to get in over a block long. A bright neon sign of a cartoon wolf in a top hat and blazer was on the side of the building along with the name of the club. Along the entire perimeter of the building pot lights lit the stone exterior of the building. Two bouncers the size of refrigerators stood on opposite sides of the door. A skinny kid in an oversized shirt attempted to dive between the two bouncers to get in the club. One of the bouncers quickly brought his foot down on the kid’s back as he was half way through, smashing the kid against the stone steps of the entrance. The bouncer grabbed the kid by his baggy shirt and threw him away from the door. The kid’s mouth was covered in blood, likely from smashing his face into the steps of the club.
Sarah extended her senses to the club looking for a way in. She could sense the colored lights randomly shining across the dance floor and bar on the main floor, leaving little options for solid shadows in which she could appear. As for the second floor of the club, she couldn’t sense any shadows at all. Sarah could cut the power to the building, but that would likely put Crackle on guard, not to mention raise panic in the club’s patrons. The contract was labeled as discrete, so the employer obviously didn’t want this to look like another attack from a rival gang, likely to prevent retaliation. Sarah also didn’t want anyone to see her and live to tell about it. She had no intentions of killing civilians or letting them talk to the press and making her the top news story. Even her employers haven’t met her. She hires agents to go to the meetings for her. All the employers need to do is pay her, they don’t need to know who she is or how she gets the job done.
Sarah decided on entering from the building’s roof top entrance.
She willed herself next to the door on the rooftop and tried the handle to the door. Locked. She wasn’t strong enough to just go ripping doors off their hinges, but she had an idea. Placing her hand on the handle, smoke from her hand began to incase it. Sarah then willed the handle to be next to her. With a clang, the handle fell next to her, leaving a hole in the door.
Sarah grinned, pulled open the door and descended the stairs of the entrance. The throbbing sounds of the club could faintly be heard in the top level of the club, but otherwise it was relatively quiet. Sarah continued down the stairs, staying alert, and careful to not make much noise. It was well lit inside, with shadows not large enough or connected for her to move in or extend her senses into. In the light she was just as human as anyone else.
Sarah wasn’t too worried. Endogrev taught her how to fight outside shadows and her suit was designed to protect her in these situations. The suit’s material was made from a leather and polymer mix that had Kevlar and steel threading woven into it, creating the suit’s barely visible hexagonal patterns. The suit was impenetrable to knifes and bullets, but bullets would still leave bruises from impact. As for Sarah’s gloves, they were her weapons. Each finger was tipped with a half inch steel claw, the knuckles were plated with steel, while the hand was reinforced with carbon fiber allowing Sarah to hit a brick wall and feel nothing. On the upper forearms of the gloves two-foot telescopic retractable blades were mounted onto the leather and ready at the flick of her wrist if she ever needed more reach in a fight. The only thing less practical about her costume was her thigh-high heeled leather boots, Sarah just liked how they completed the look.
Peering around the wall at the bottom of the stairs, Sarah realized why it was so well lit on the second floor.
The entire second floor was converted into a grow-op. Multiple rows of Marijuana plants were basking in overhead fluorescent lighting. The sound of trickling water echoed through the room as it passed over the roots of the plants in large aluminum channels. At the other end of the room, two casually dressed men stood over a more academically dressed man tied to a chair. One of them was a large Russian that wore a black t-shirt while carrying an automatic rifle, while the other man was of a smaller build and Irish, wearing a white tank top while holding the man tied to a chair by his tie.
“It’s been two months and your saying you still don’t even know what it is, let alone have any clue how to make more?” said the Irish man.
“It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen, it doesn’t react to any chemical it encounters, it doesn’t freeze, boil, or even have a polarity. It’s unearthly. For all I know this stuff must have come from another planet!” Stammered that man in the chair with an English accent.
“That’s your answer? We generously promised to pay for your services and your sister’s medical treatments and you’re going to tell me that in two months your exactly where you started?” Asked the Irish man.
“I need more time, better equipment, and a team to figure out how to create the substance. You people won’t event tell me where it comes from.” Hastily said the man in the chair.
“I think your some over privileged pretty boy that wasted enough of Crackle’s time and money.” Said the man in the tank top as he started to pull out his side arm.
Sarah wasn’t going to watch these thugs murder a civilian, but at this distance she couldn’t close in on them in time before they opened fire on her as well. Her suit was bullet proof, but she wasn’t going to risk them getting a head shot on her, not to mention the amount of pain she would be in by taking that many bullets in the suit.
Sarah sighed while grabbing the zipper of her catsuit.
. Anyway here it is, Shadow Demon Part: 2
Shadow Demon
Part 2
Sarah stared down at the burning corpse of the man, his soul consumed by Endogrev. She remembered vomiting the first time she witnessed Endogrev take a soul. Even though the demon described it to her before he did it, she never imagined the smell that went along with the act.
Endogrev inhaled with pleasure upon finishing the soul, as he always did. He then reached for his chest, casually pulling open his sternum. With two fingers he plucked some of the oozing black liquid from within and closed his chest. He then held the liquid up to his eye, upon being satisfied by its size, held it out for Sarah to take.
Sarah put her finger to the liquid, opening her senses and willing to soul towards her. The liquid rolled down her finger and up her arm to her elbow. It shaped itself to outline the venation in her arm. Sarah focused on the soul fragment, willing it to become one with her own. The liquid changed to mist and ran down her arm towards her heart, vanishing.
Sarah inhaled sharply and staggered back. Binding souls to her own was always a bit of a shock, you always get flooded with the last emotion it hung on to. In this case, as with most consumed by Endogrev, the one she absorbed was filled with terror.
Sarah cleared her throat and collected herself, bringing herself back to her previously non-terrified state of mind.
Endogrev nodded in approval. “You didn’t scream this time. You’re getting better.”
“Ha. You seem to like giving me the scared ones.” Said Sarah.
“Perhaps.” said Endogrev with his devilish grin. “The night is still young. I take it you want to pay this Crackle a visit?” He asked.
Sarah nodded. Her contact got an open $150,000 contract for a discreet hit on someone named Crackle a few weeks ago. She didn’t know his real name, and the pay on the contract was relatively low, so she has ignored it. She was on a mission to destroy the organized crime in the cesspool of a city she called home. She didn’t always like it but accepting assassination contracts helped her meet that goal. Organized crime was so cutthroat in the city that crime bosses would pay for hitmen and assassins to kill other faction leaders. So, Sarah used the contracts to make extra money while she worked on her overall goal. The contracts also allowed her to gather information on how the factions were operating, when they were expanding, when new ones surfaced, and how to eventually destroy them.
Endogrev turned to smoke, along with the entire study around them. The smoke from the study dissipated into the darkness revealing the warehouse once again. Endogrev moved towards Sarah and entered inside her through her heart.
Sarah looked at her hand that was once again made of swirling smoke, then out around the warehouse. Sarah extended her senses into the darkness. She could hear and feel every insect and rat moving in the shadows.
In the dark, Sarah could feel, hear, and be anywhere untouched by light. It was her power now, with each soul she absorbed she grew stronger, able to extend herself further into the darkness. All the traits of a shadow demon.
It was all part of their pact. Endogrev turns her soul into a shadow demon, while he uses her as his “vessel”.
To Endogrev, a “vessel” is a person of his choosing to be his envoy and protect him during the day. Otherwise in the light, a shadow demon without a place to reside will lose their power and eventually die.
To an outsider they would say she was possessed by a demon, which technically wasn’t completely wrong, but Endo doesn’t take over her mind and make her do anything she didn’t want to. Endo even taught her how to fight, use her new power, and acquire her gear, granted it was for his own interests of making sure she would be harder to kill during the day, but she still appreciated it.
Sarah extended her senses and found the truck with drugs she trashed before coming to the warehouse. She willed herself to it. The bodies of the two thugs were still smoldering next to the dated pickup truck. Sarah Jumped onto the back and investigated the ornate chest on the flatbed. She opened it, the tar-like black liquid in ten plastic bags still inside.
“Why would someone sell souls as drugs” Sarah asked Endo.
“Perhaps like most humans they don’t know the soul’s true value.” Responded Endogrev from inside Sarah’s head. “Regardless of what they were for, I’m taking them as my own. Per our agreement you receive one.”
Sarah extended her hand towards the plastic bags. With the metal claw on her finger she slashed holes in the bags, then kept her hand outstretched. She could feel Endogrev’s presence in her hand, watching as the liquid moved out of the bags and up her arms. The liquid shuttered then turned to mist. The mist raced towards her heart and disappeared. A second later, Endo’s misty arm materialized from her forearm, dropping one of the souls he collected into her hand.
Sarah willed the soul to her own, like before, but regretted it immediately. Sarah let out a blood curdling scream and wrapped her arms and tail around her legs. Curled into a fetal position, she started whimpering and shaking.
It took a good minute before Sarah could collect her thoughts and think through the invasive emotion.
“What the fuck Endo!” Sarah yelled angrily. She slowly stood up, still a bit shaken.
“The emotion in that soul was more… intense than what your used too. It belonged to a demon” Said Endo.
“How would Crackle gain possession of demon souls?” Asked Sarah still angered by how the soul’s emotion made her lose control.
After a long pause Endo finally said: “That information is not for a mortal to know.”
“That bad, huh?” asked Sarah.
Endo said nothing.
“Fuck it, I’m tired. Let’s just get this contract out of the way and kill Crackle tonight.” Said Sarah.
“Id expect nothing less” said Endo.
Sarah extended her senses to the downtown area where the Wolf’s Den was located, then rapidly materialized in the alley adjacent from the entrance.
The club still had a lineup of people waiting to get in over a block long. A bright neon sign of a cartoon wolf in a top hat and blazer was on the side of the building along with the name of the club. Along the entire perimeter of the building pot lights lit the stone exterior of the building. Two bouncers the size of refrigerators stood on opposite sides of the door. A skinny kid in an oversized shirt attempted to dive between the two bouncers to get in the club. One of the bouncers quickly brought his foot down on the kid’s back as he was half way through, smashing the kid against the stone steps of the entrance. The bouncer grabbed the kid by his baggy shirt and threw him away from the door. The kid’s mouth was covered in blood, likely from smashing his face into the steps of the club.
Sarah extended her senses to the club looking for a way in. She could sense the colored lights randomly shining across the dance floor and bar on the main floor, leaving little options for solid shadows in which she could appear. As for the second floor of the club, she couldn’t sense any shadows at all. Sarah could cut the power to the building, but that would likely put Crackle on guard, not to mention raise panic in the club’s patrons. The contract was labeled as discrete, so the employer obviously didn’t want this to look like another attack from a rival gang, likely to prevent retaliation. Sarah also didn’t want anyone to see her and live to tell about it. She had no intentions of killing civilians or letting them talk to the press and making her the top news story. Even her employers haven’t met her. She hires agents to go to the meetings for her. All the employers need to do is pay her, they don’t need to know who she is or how she gets the job done.
Sarah decided on entering from the building’s roof top entrance.
She willed herself next to the door on the rooftop and tried the handle to the door. Locked. She wasn’t strong enough to just go ripping doors off their hinges, but she had an idea. Placing her hand on the handle, smoke from her hand began to incase it. Sarah then willed the handle to be next to her. With a clang, the handle fell next to her, leaving a hole in the door.
Sarah grinned, pulled open the door and descended the stairs of the entrance. The throbbing sounds of the club could faintly be heard in the top level of the club, but otherwise it was relatively quiet. Sarah continued down the stairs, staying alert, and careful to not make much noise. It was well lit inside, with shadows not large enough or connected for her to move in or extend her senses into. In the light she was just as human as anyone else.
Sarah wasn’t too worried. Endogrev taught her how to fight outside shadows and her suit was designed to protect her in these situations. The suit’s material was made from a leather and polymer mix that had Kevlar and steel threading woven into it, creating the suit’s barely visible hexagonal patterns. The suit was impenetrable to knifes and bullets, but bullets would still leave bruises from impact. As for Sarah’s gloves, they were her weapons. Each finger was tipped with a half inch steel claw, the knuckles were plated with steel, while the hand was reinforced with carbon fiber allowing Sarah to hit a brick wall and feel nothing. On the upper forearms of the gloves two-foot telescopic retractable blades were mounted onto the leather and ready at the flick of her wrist if she ever needed more reach in a fight. The only thing less practical about her costume was her thigh-high heeled leather boots, Sarah just liked how they completed the look.
Peering around the wall at the bottom of the stairs, Sarah realized why it was so well lit on the second floor.
The entire second floor was converted into a grow-op. Multiple rows of Marijuana plants were basking in overhead fluorescent lighting. The sound of trickling water echoed through the room as it passed over the roots of the plants in large aluminum channels. At the other end of the room, two casually dressed men stood over a more academically dressed man tied to a chair. One of them was a large Russian that wore a black t-shirt while carrying an automatic rifle, while the other man was of a smaller build and Irish, wearing a white tank top while holding the man tied to a chair by his tie.
“It’s been two months and your saying you still don’t even know what it is, let alone have any clue how to make more?” said the Irish man.
“It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen, it doesn’t react to any chemical it encounters, it doesn’t freeze, boil, or even have a polarity. It’s unearthly. For all I know this stuff must have come from another planet!” Stammered that man in the chair with an English accent.
“That’s your answer? We generously promised to pay for your services and your sister’s medical treatments and you’re going to tell me that in two months your exactly where you started?” Asked the Irish man.
“I need more time, better equipment, and a team to figure out how to create the substance. You people won’t event tell me where it comes from.” Hastily said the man in the chair.
“I think your some over privileged pretty boy that wasted enough of Crackle’s time and money.” Said the man in the tank top as he started to pull out his side arm.
Sarah wasn’t going to watch these thugs murder a civilian, but at this distance she couldn’t close in on them in time before they opened fire on her as well. Her suit was bullet proof, but she wasn’t going to risk them getting a head shot on her, not to mention the amount of pain she would be in by taking that many bullets in the suit.
Sarah sighed while grabbing the zipper of her catsuit.
-
DrDominator9
- Emissary
- Posts: 2460
- Joined: 13 years ago
- Location: On the Border of the Neutral Zone
I finally got around to reading this after a very busy December. So glad that I did because it's straight out terrific! Superb descriptions of the Shadow Demon at work in the shadows from both a visual and auditory perspective. The silky movements, the misty feelings of dread -- they all coalesce into very dramatic scenes: really wonderful writing.
I commend your creativity here even down to the naming of the drug Angst. So good it deserves an initial cap letter!
It's telling of your skill at character development that even though Frank is a minor persona here I was sorry to see him go.
You've got me hooked. I'm keen to read more. Thanks for sharing your work here at the Forum.
I commend your creativity here even down to the naming of the drug Angst. So good it deserves an initial cap letter!
It's telling of your skill at character development that even though Frank is a minor persona here I was sorry to see him go.
You've got me hooked. I'm keen to read more. Thanks for sharing your work here at the Forum.
Part 3
Leo closed his eyes and looked away from the sight of the gun. His body started shaking. If only he had more time. Leo almost managed to break his restraints before Crackle’s goons started interrogating him. He never though this job would have gotten him into so much trouble. It was stupid of him to take it, but the thought of his sister succumbing to cancer weakened him. He was a renowned doctor for god’s sakes, he should have seen the signs of his sister’s illness before it spread. He needed more time to save her, he needed more time to save himself.
“Hey boys.” Said a smooth feminine voice.
Leo opened his eyes and looked up.
On the opposite side of the room a masked woman dressed in a catsuit and leather boots seductively swayed her hips walking towards them with her hands behind her back. Her red lips formed a playful smirk. To Leo’s astonishment the front of her catsuit was completely unzipped to where the zipper stopped below her naval. The opening in the catsuit formed a “V”, revealing her impressive cleavage that threatened to come free from beneath her suit.
“Who the fuck are you?” asked Boris as he raised his rifle towards the woman.
“Mr. Crackle sent me to congratulate you on your initiative you showed here today with this degenerate. Unfortunately, Mr. Crackle wants to discuss another matter with this man and would like to see him personally.” The woman explained.
“And your telling me that Crackle sent a stripper to do that?” Asked Oscar while still pointing his gun at Leo.
“Oh no, not a stripper. I prefer the term… escort.” The woman said in a playfully hurt tone. “I’m your reward for the services you’ve provided Mr. Crackle tonight. He is extremely apologetic for intervening in your task.”
Boris skeptically looked the woman up and down as she approached them. Leo could see the man’s shoulders relax slightly under his black shirt, as he appeared to be satisfied with what the woman said.
“Mr. Crackle does know how to make an apology.” Boris said as he licked his lips and lowered is rifle while moving towards the woman. As he approached the woman he slung his rifle over his shoulder and threw it to the floor. Boris then ran his hand down the woman’s arm, his gaze moving with his hand.
“Like what you see?” asked the woman her playful tone.
The gaze of Boris met the woman’s eyes. “Let’s find out.” He said smiling as he quickly grabbed the edges of the woman’s catsuit and pulled it open to expose her breasts.
The woman gasped in surprise, for half a second her playful expression changed to annoyance. She sighed while placing hand on Boris’s chest. “Ha, Easy their tiger, I think we may want to find a room more suitable for that kind of thing first.” She said with her playful tone once again.
Boris looked confused at the woman’s hand, then his eyes filled with rage. Boris snarled as he grabbed the woman by the wrist with one hand while using his free hand to backhand the woman across the face with such force that her mask flew from her face while spinning her into the hydroponics system behind her, her hands grabbed the aluminum trough to steady herself.
“You think you can tease me?! I’ll take what I want, when I want!” Boris said in anger.
The woman touched her split cheek and looked at the blood that transferred to her glove. “You just hit the wrong fucking woman, you son of a bitch.” The woman said as she balled up her fist. She quickly turned to Boris and did a shoulder roll. Halfway through the roll, she turned the maneuver into a hand spring with her feet kicking out. Her heeled boots connected with Boris’s chest while she grabbed fistfuls of his shirt with her hands to hold on as her momentum sent Boris to the ground. Boris landed on his back with the woman still crouching on his chest. The woman let go of Boris’s shirt and straddled his stomach. She raised her fist and hit Boris in the face three times. The first hit created a sickening crunch as Boris’s cheek bone shattered, the second broke the bone around his eye, and by the third Boris’s skin broke leaving blood drip from the woman’s
fist as she brought her fist up to keep going.
“Shit! Boris. Fuck get off him bitch!” Yelled Oscar as he only just realized that Boris wasn’t the one getting beaten on anymore. He trained the gun he had pointing at Leo towards the woman and fired two shots hastily at her. The first sparked off the concrete floor, while the second got the woman in the side of her ribs.
The woman yelped in pain, falling off Boris onto her back, her hands holding her injured ribs.
Oscar cautiously walked towards the woman with his gun trained on her as she laid on the ground.
Leo couldn’t help but watch the woman’s breasts rise and fall as she breathed pained yet heavy breaths.
Shaking his head, Leo realized that with Oscar’s back finally turned he now had a chance to break free. Leo started furiously rubbing his restraints against the sharp bolt sticking out of his chair.
“Boris! Boris! Are you alright mate?” Asked Oscar.
Boris remained silent and unmoving.
“You fucking bitch! Boris was my best mate, now you bashed in half his head.” Oscar said, his voice breaking as if he was about to cry, while jabbing his gun in the woman’s direction between each syllable.
“Your mate is nothing more then an abusive brute that needed to finally get his ass kicked by a woman.” Said the woman in a matter-of-fact tone.
“I make you pay you fucking bitch.” Oscar said. Tears now visibly welling in his eyes.
With a snap the zip tie holding Leo’s hands to the chair finally broke free.
“ha!” Leo unintentionally yelped in triumph.
Oscar’s head wiped around, his eyes focusing on Leo and his free hands.
“You little shit!” breathed Oscar.
Leo immediately got out of his chair, turned, and started running towards the door, trying to put as much distance between himself and Oscar.
BANG
Leo felt the hot pain of the bullet rip though his arm, he tripped and fell into the steel door. He looked over to his arm, where to his dismay found a red stain expanding over his shirt.
“You think you can run from me!?” yelled Oscar as he stormed over to Leo, his face cherry red with tears streaming down from his eyes. “You think our business is over? No! I’m not done with you yet.” Oscar grabbed Leo by the shirt, picking him up to eye level.
Leo could smell the pungent odor of Oscar’s breath as Leo was pulled within an inch of Oscar’s face.
“Please, I’m begging you. I’ll figure out what the substance is, just give me more time!” stammered Leo.
“No, it’s too late for that. I’m going to beat you and that bitch till both of you are dead.” Oscar said while jabbing his gun against the side of Leo’s head. “It will be in memory to Boris, he would have wanted it that way.”
Over Oscar’s shoulder Leo could see the woman stand up and start walking towards him and Oscar. She raised her right hand as she walked and made a fist with only her thumb, index finger, and middle finger; she then bent her wrist inward which caused a large blade to rapidly extend down her forearm. She placed her left hand on Oscar’s left shoulder and leaned in with her lips next to Oscar’s ear.
“Not if I kill you first.” The woman whispered. She then stabbed the blade through Oscar’s ribs.
Oscar’s face grimaced in shock, he dropped the gun, and crumped to the floor. The woman pulled the blade from his ribs as Oscar fell.
Leo also fell to the floor onto his ass, as Oscar no longer held him up by his neck.
The woman bent down to Oscar, grabbed his shirt and used it to wipe his blood clean of her blade. She then stood back up and walked over to Boris. With the claws on her hand she sliced a strip of Boris’s shirt of and walked back to Leo. The woman then bent down and looked into Leo’s eyes. “Are you alright?” The she asked, as she started to use the strip of Boris’s shirt to bandage Leo’s arm.
“I think I’ll be alright. Why did you help me?” Leo asked the woman, still trying to process everything he just saw.
The woman looked back into Leo’s eyes as she finished wrapping his wound. “I’m not like everyone else in this city.” The woman said as she stood up from Leo.
Leo’s watched as she stood up, but caught himself stealing another glace at her breasts, which were still unbound by her catsuit.
Leo’s quick glace didn’t go unnoticed as the woman furrowed her eyebrows in annoyance as she became aware that her catsuit was still open, causing her to reach for the zipper and pull it up till it resided between her breasts.
“Can you walk?” The woman asked sternly, obviously annoyed at Leo’s perversion.
“Yea. My arm is on fire and my head feels like it’s going to explode, but I can walk.” Leo stated. He groaned as he pushed himself up, using the door to brace himself.
“Good. Get to the roof and wait for me up there, the staircase is over there.” She said while pointing to the opposite end of the room.
The woman walked over to where her mask laid on the floor under one of the hydroponic systems. She bent down onto her hands and knees to reach for it, giving Leo a view of her clearly defined ass spreading wide in the catsuit. Leo watched as she stood back up and stuck the mask back onto her face, which was likely being held on by some sort of adhesive. She looked back at Leo in disbelief.
“What are you waiting for, go to the roof?!” she yelled.
Leo quickly started walking to the other side of the room, hoping that the woman assumed he was just slow to stand and not that he was watching her ass. Leo moved up the staircase to where a door was idly swinging in the wind.
“huh.” Leo voiced to himself in intrigue as he noticed the door had a piece missing out of it the size of his head. Leo pushed the door open and walked on the roof. He staggered as he stubbed his toe on a piece of metal, which he realized was the missing piece of the door. He continued walking towards the ledge, leaned over it and looked down onto the street below.
The bouncers of the club were herding out hundreds of confused patrons.
Leo looked at his watch, which read “1:00 AM”. Evidently the club was closing early tonight.
Leo closed his eyes and looked away from the sight of the gun. His body started shaking. If only he had more time. Leo almost managed to break his restraints before Crackle’s goons started interrogating him. He never though this job would have gotten him into so much trouble. It was stupid of him to take it, but the thought of his sister succumbing to cancer weakened him. He was a renowned doctor for god’s sakes, he should have seen the signs of his sister’s illness before it spread. He needed more time to save her, he needed more time to save himself.
“Hey boys.” Said a smooth feminine voice.
Leo opened his eyes and looked up.
On the opposite side of the room a masked woman dressed in a catsuit and leather boots seductively swayed her hips walking towards them with her hands behind her back. Her red lips formed a playful smirk. To Leo’s astonishment the front of her catsuit was completely unzipped to where the zipper stopped below her naval. The opening in the catsuit formed a “V”, revealing her impressive cleavage that threatened to come free from beneath her suit.
“Who the fuck are you?” asked Boris as he raised his rifle towards the woman.
“Mr. Crackle sent me to congratulate you on your initiative you showed here today with this degenerate. Unfortunately, Mr. Crackle wants to discuss another matter with this man and would like to see him personally.” The woman explained.
“And your telling me that Crackle sent a stripper to do that?” Asked Oscar while still pointing his gun at Leo.
“Oh no, not a stripper. I prefer the term… escort.” The woman said in a playfully hurt tone. “I’m your reward for the services you’ve provided Mr. Crackle tonight. He is extremely apologetic for intervening in your task.”
Boris skeptically looked the woman up and down as she approached them. Leo could see the man’s shoulders relax slightly under his black shirt, as he appeared to be satisfied with what the woman said.
“Mr. Crackle does know how to make an apology.” Boris said as he licked his lips and lowered is rifle while moving towards the woman. As he approached the woman he slung his rifle over his shoulder and threw it to the floor. Boris then ran his hand down the woman’s arm, his gaze moving with his hand.
“Like what you see?” asked the woman her playful tone.
The gaze of Boris met the woman’s eyes. “Let’s find out.” He said smiling as he quickly grabbed the edges of the woman’s catsuit and pulled it open to expose her breasts.
The woman gasped in surprise, for half a second her playful expression changed to annoyance. She sighed while placing hand on Boris’s chest. “Ha, Easy their tiger, I think we may want to find a room more suitable for that kind of thing first.” She said with her playful tone once again.
Boris looked confused at the woman’s hand, then his eyes filled with rage. Boris snarled as he grabbed the woman by the wrist with one hand while using his free hand to backhand the woman across the face with such force that her mask flew from her face while spinning her into the hydroponics system behind her, her hands grabbed the aluminum trough to steady herself.
“You think you can tease me?! I’ll take what I want, when I want!” Boris said in anger.
The woman touched her split cheek and looked at the blood that transferred to her glove. “You just hit the wrong fucking woman, you son of a bitch.” The woman said as she balled up her fist. She quickly turned to Boris and did a shoulder roll. Halfway through the roll, she turned the maneuver into a hand spring with her feet kicking out. Her heeled boots connected with Boris’s chest while she grabbed fistfuls of his shirt with her hands to hold on as her momentum sent Boris to the ground. Boris landed on his back with the woman still crouching on his chest. The woman let go of Boris’s shirt and straddled his stomach. She raised her fist and hit Boris in the face three times. The first hit created a sickening crunch as Boris’s cheek bone shattered, the second broke the bone around his eye, and by the third Boris’s skin broke leaving blood drip from the woman’s
fist as she brought her fist up to keep going.
“Shit! Boris. Fuck get off him bitch!” Yelled Oscar as he only just realized that Boris wasn’t the one getting beaten on anymore. He trained the gun he had pointing at Leo towards the woman and fired two shots hastily at her. The first sparked off the concrete floor, while the second got the woman in the side of her ribs.
The woman yelped in pain, falling off Boris onto her back, her hands holding her injured ribs.
Oscar cautiously walked towards the woman with his gun trained on her as she laid on the ground.
Leo couldn’t help but watch the woman’s breasts rise and fall as she breathed pained yet heavy breaths.
Shaking his head, Leo realized that with Oscar’s back finally turned he now had a chance to break free. Leo started furiously rubbing his restraints against the sharp bolt sticking out of his chair.
“Boris! Boris! Are you alright mate?” Asked Oscar.
Boris remained silent and unmoving.
“You fucking bitch! Boris was my best mate, now you bashed in half his head.” Oscar said, his voice breaking as if he was about to cry, while jabbing his gun in the woman’s direction between each syllable.
“Your mate is nothing more then an abusive brute that needed to finally get his ass kicked by a woman.” Said the woman in a matter-of-fact tone.
“I make you pay you fucking bitch.” Oscar said. Tears now visibly welling in his eyes.
With a snap the zip tie holding Leo’s hands to the chair finally broke free.
“ha!” Leo unintentionally yelped in triumph.
Oscar’s head wiped around, his eyes focusing on Leo and his free hands.
“You little shit!” breathed Oscar.
Leo immediately got out of his chair, turned, and started running towards the door, trying to put as much distance between himself and Oscar.
BANG
Leo felt the hot pain of the bullet rip though his arm, he tripped and fell into the steel door. He looked over to his arm, where to his dismay found a red stain expanding over his shirt.
“You think you can run from me!?” yelled Oscar as he stormed over to Leo, his face cherry red with tears streaming down from his eyes. “You think our business is over? No! I’m not done with you yet.” Oscar grabbed Leo by the shirt, picking him up to eye level.
Leo could smell the pungent odor of Oscar’s breath as Leo was pulled within an inch of Oscar’s face.
“Please, I’m begging you. I’ll figure out what the substance is, just give me more time!” stammered Leo.
“No, it’s too late for that. I’m going to beat you and that bitch till both of you are dead.” Oscar said while jabbing his gun against the side of Leo’s head. “It will be in memory to Boris, he would have wanted it that way.”
Over Oscar’s shoulder Leo could see the woman stand up and start walking towards him and Oscar. She raised her right hand as she walked and made a fist with only her thumb, index finger, and middle finger; she then bent her wrist inward which caused a large blade to rapidly extend down her forearm. She placed her left hand on Oscar’s left shoulder and leaned in with her lips next to Oscar’s ear.
“Not if I kill you first.” The woman whispered. She then stabbed the blade through Oscar’s ribs.
Oscar’s face grimaced in shock, he dropped the gun, and crumped to the floor. The woman pulled the blade from his ribs as Oscar fell.
Leo also fell to the floor onto his ass, as Oscar no longer held him up by his neck.
The woman bent down to Oscar, grabbed his shirt and used it to wipe his blood clean of her blade. She then stood back up and walked over to Boris. With the claws on her hand she sliced a strip of Boris’s shirt of and walked back to Leo. The woman then bent down and looked into Leo’s eyes. “Are you alright?” The she asked, as she started to use the strip of Boris’s shirt to bandage Leo’s arm.
“I think I’ll be alright. Why did you help me?” Leo asked the woman, still trying to process everything he just saw.
The woman looked back into Leo’s eyes as she finished wrapping his wound. “I’m not like everyone else in this city.” The woman said as she stood up from Leo.
Leo’s watched as she stood up, but caught himself stealing another glace at her breasts, which were still unbound by her catsuit.
Leo’s quick glace didn’t go unnoticed as the woman furrowed her eyebrows in annoyance as she became aware that her catsuit was still open, causing her to reach for the zipper and pull it up till it resided between her breasts.
“Can you walk?” The woman asked sternly, obviously annoyed at Leo’s perversion.
“Yea. My arm is on fire and my head feels like it’s going to explode, but I can walk.” Leo stated. He groaned as he pushed himself up, using the door to brace himself.
“Good. Get to the roof and wait for me up there, the staircase is over there.” She said while pointing to the opposite end of the room.
The woman walked over to where her mask laid on the floor under one of the hydroponic systems. She bent down onto her hands and knees to reach for it, giving Leo a view of her clearly defined ass spreading wide in the catsuit. Leo watched as she stood back up and stuck the mask back onto her face, which was likely being held on by some sort of adhesive. She looked back at Leo in disbelief.
“What are you waiting for, go to the roof?!” she yelled.
Leo quickly started walking to the other side of the room, hoping that the woman assumed he was just slow to stand and not that he was watching her ass. Leo moved up the staircase to where a door was idly swinging in the wind.
“huh.” Leo voiced to himself in intrigue as he noticed the door had a piece missing out of it the size of his head. Leo pushed the door open and walked on the roof. He staggered as he stubbed his toe on a piece of metal, which he realized was the missing piece of the door. He continued walking towards the ledge, leaned over it and looked down onto the street below.
The bouncers of the club were herding out hundreds of confused patrons.
Leo looked at his watch, which read “1:00 AM”. Evidently the club was closing early tonight.
I'm glad you (or possibly a mod?) consolidated the story into one thread. It hangs together much, much better to read them as chapters of the same story running into each other like this, rather than seeing each in isolation.
I love the ideas at play in this story, and the character design for Sarah, her powers, and her outfit is absolutely *great*. Her powers explore a pretty original space in a really interesting, flashy way, and it lines up well with potential weaknesses and issues down the road that would also be original. The potential here is very, very high, and I'm a tiny bit jealous that you made such a compelling character to play with. I'm a total sucker for everything about her, all the way down to her potentially very interesting relationship with Endograv - who himself could well be an incredibly interesting character. Their interactions with each other could be great fun to watch, and I look forward to seeing more of that, and just generally getting more insight into their history/relationship, and the setting around them.
The brief snippet of action we got was very well described, and I think you have a good knack for visualising the scene and giving the right details to bring it to life and give it movement. Your narrative voice is also very strong, and sets the tone really well between each perspective. Again, I think a quick editing session would do wonders for the story, weaning out little errors or awkward tense-shifts here or there, but either way I'm very much invested. This is all gravy to me, and I can't wait to see where you take it!
I love the ideas at play in this story, and the character design for Sarah, her powers, and her outfit is absolutely *great*. Her powers explore a pretty original space in a really interesting, flashy way, and it lines up well with potential weaknesses and issues down the road that would also be original. The potential here is very, very high, and I'm a tiny bit jealous that you made such a compelling character to play with. I'm a total sucker for everything about her, all the way down to her potentially very interesting relationship with Endograv - who himself could well be an incredibly interesting character. Their interactions with each other could be great fun to watch, and I look forward to seeing more of that, and just generally getting more insight into their history/relationship, and the setting around them.
The brief snippet of action we got was very well described, and I think you have a good knack for visualising the scene and giving the right details to bring it to life and give it movement. Your narrative voice is also very strong, and sets the tone really well between each perspective. Again, I think a quick editing session would do wonders for the story, weaning out little errors or awkward tense-shifts here or there, but either way I'm very much invested. This is all gravy to me, and I can't wait to see where you take it!
Lost in the night, and there is no morning.
For anyone that read ahead to part 4 on my deviant art your going to find the version here is very different in comparison. For some, this version might be what you've been waiting for. It's a bit longer then previous parts, so sit back and I hope you enjoy.
Shadow Demon
Part 4
“Men.” Sarah sighed while watching the academically dressed man hurry up the stairs. A moment ago, she literal caught the guy with his mouth open staring at her ass.
A smirk cross over Sarah’s face. She couldn’t really blame the guy for looking, it wasn’t an accident that her suit fit her body perfectly. It took a substantial amount of money to acquire the suit’s military grade materials and another small fortune to have it privately tailored for her into a catsuit. She worked hard to look the way she did, and she knew she looked incredible.
The academically dressed man wasn’t dressed half bad either. The cut of his shirt did highlight his toned chest and shoulders, and his dress pants were snug in just the right places. Not to mention the man had a gorgeous face, fair hair, and that British accent.
A thought of getting the man alone, then grabbing the man’s ass or running her hands over his chest made Sarah shudder in anticipation. She closed her eyes, her hand unconsciously drifting over her mound, and a couple of her fingers lightly ran over her sex. Her muscles tensed and her breath caught in her throat. She pressed her palm against her mound, feeling the heat beginning to radiate from between her legs through both her suit and her glove.
Sarah pulled her hand away, clenched it into a tightened fist, and let out a moan of frustration. The excitement of violence had a way of putting her in the mood, but now wasn’t the time. She closed her eyes and furrowed her brows in concentration. She inhaled, and exhaled sharply through her nose, attempting to clear her mind and center herself. She focused on her body, becoming aware of the pain in her ribs from the gun shot, the warmth generating from her pussy, and the throbbing in her cheek from the Russian’s backhand; She focused past it. It was as she centered her mind that she quickly became aware of the lack of dull booming music that could be heard earlier from the dance floor downstairs.
They were closing the club. They must know something went wrong up here, but how? Sarah thought to herself.
Sarah looked around the room. The music from downstairs and the thick steel door into the room should have muted the sounds of the fight and the gun shots.
Sarah continued to scan around the room, until she saw it. A small red light was blinking in the opposite corner of the room. A security camera. Sarah hadn’t noticed it because she was focused on the thugs.
“Fuck.” Sarah breathed. Whoever was watching that camera saw everything: her killing the thugs and her face without her mask. She couldn’t leave here tonight without deleting the footage and silencing whoever viewed the tape.
Sarah walked over to the Irishman’s body and picked up his handgun. She weighed in her hand a couple times, aimed down the sights, and fired at the camera. The camera exploded into pieces of plastic and wire.
“So much for the stealthy approach.” Sarah said to herself.
Multiple footsteps could be heard stomping up the stairs on the other side of the door.
Sarah sighed, dropped the gun, and casually walked over to a breaker box on the wall and started switching back the breakers. The fluorescent lights shining on the marijuana plants switched off in groups, until the whole room was completely dark. Black mist encased her body and formed a reptilian-like tail above her ass. Sarah opened her senses to the darkness feeling and hearing everything in and around the room.
“At least I don’t have to fight fair anymore.” Sarah said in a voice muffled by the mist.
The steel door was swung open.
Five armed men including the refrigerator sized bouncers from the front door stood peering into the dark room. One of the men reached his arm inside and ran it along the wall, feeling for a light switch.
Sarah grabbed his arm and pulled him into the room. She threw him to the floor and racked his torso with her claws, slicing through skin and muscle.
The man screamed in pain, flailing his arms and legs.
Sarah looked at the men in the doorway, allowing them to see her red eyes in the dark.
The men’s faces turned pale white, a few of them panicked and started firing their weapons in her direction, shooting the man she sat on, killing him and silencing his screams.
In her shadow form, the bullets passed freely through Sarah’s body, as if the men were shooting at clouds.
Sarah willed herself back beside the door in a crouch. The men still firing at her previous location.
Sarah pounced at one of the men and grabbed for his gun, the mist encasing her disappearing as she jumped into the light of the hallway.
The man she fought continued to fire his gun as she held it over her head, she tried to use that against him and make him hit the fluorescent light shining above them.
One of the other men trained his gun on her and fired a couple shots into her back from only a foot away.
Sarah screamed in pain but continued to wrestle with the man until finally a couple of his shots hit the light and placed both the hallway and staircase in darkness.
Sarah’s shadow form returned. She then smashed her hand through the man she was wrestling with, crushing his heart. He sputtered blood from his mouth and crumbled to the floor. Sarah then willed herself behind the remaining men. She grabbed one of them by the head and snapped his neck, he too crumbled to the floor.
The other two men started turning in her direction.
Sarah grabbed one of them and willed both herself and him towards the ceiling above the stairs. She floated there holding the man. She gave him a quick kiss on the lips, grinned, then let him go. He fell towards the stairs with a yelp. The man’s bones snapped and popped under his own weight, causing him to scream out in pain. He continued to bounce and roll down the staircase screaming, until him and his screaming died before reaching the bottom.
The last man swung his gun in Sarah’s direction and fired, but to no success, as she immediately disappeared from the ceiling and reappeared within inches of his face.
Sarah grabbed the man by the throat, lifted him up, and crushed his windpipe under her hand. She released him and let him fall to the floor. The man choked as he tried to inhale his last breath.
Sarah stood still, inhaled and exhaled. Re-centering herself, Sarah tried to extend her senses to the main floor of the club again, but could feel nothing, not even the random appearance and disappearance of shadows from the colored club lights she felt before. They must have turned on the overhead lights.
At the bottom of the stairs Sarah could see a door with the label “Basement: for employee use only”. The main power switch for the building was likely in the basement, if Sarah shut it down she could locate everyone in the building and neutralize them quickly.
Sarah willed herself to appear in the basement.
The basement was used as a storage room. Boxes and crates of alcohol where stacked on large metal racks throughout the room, along with miscellaneous gardening tools, which were likely used for the plants upstairs. On the far side of the room she saw the main power switch for the building, a dusty grey box with a large red leaver on the side. She pulled the red leaver down and continued to do so until the leaver made a metallic groan as it snapped completely off the box, preventing anyone from coming back and turning the power back on.
The entire club fell into darkness allowing Sarah to sense everything in and around the club, excluding a couple small spots where the battery-powered emergency lights activated.
Sarah extended her senses to the main floor of the club where she could feel men on the main floor scatter in response to the sudden lack of light. One of the men ran into an office, while two others covered him, flanked the office entrance, and closed the door. A third man jumped behind the bar with a shotgun, and crouched, likely attempting to position himself for an ambush when Sarah came to the main floor from the stairs.
“I need to speak with this Crackle.” Endogrev said from inside Sarah’s head.
Sarah frowned. “Your telling me this now?!” she whispered harshly.
“He or someone he knows learned to harvest a demon’s soul, I must find out how he learned to do this.” Said Endogrev.
“Again. Why did you wait till now to tell me this?” Said Sarah.
“I was thinking.” Said Endogrev.
“Vague as always.” Said Sarah with annoyance. “Go talk to him, but you’re on your own till I get there. I still have to deal with the rest of his hired hands.”
“That is acceptable.” Said Endogrev, exiting her body. He appeared as she did, made of black mist. As soon as he left her body, he vanished. She could feel him reappear in Crackle’s office.
Sarah willed herself behind the man crouching behind the bar with a shotgun. He remained completely unaware of her sudden appearance behind him. Sarah silently, yet quickly grabbed the man by the head and twisted, listening to that familiar popping sound as his neck snapped.
Since Endo would need some time with Crackle, Sarah decided to have a bit of fun with the remaining men. She jumped over the bar, much to the surprise of the guards as they expected her to appear at the stair’s entrance. As the men aimed their guns at Sarah, she casually noted her soundings.
The main floor of the club had multiple booths and tables surrounding the perimeter, and a large dance floor with raised DJ booth overlooking it. The air was musty and smelled of the spilled alcohol that was scattered randomly on the dance floor. Beside the office door, was an emergency exit with one of the emergency lights over it dimly adding a yellow light to the room. The light wasn’t strong enough to remove Sarah’s shadow form, provided she didn’t stand directly beneath it. Sarah could sense another such light hiding a small spot from her senses at the entrance to the club behind her.
She confidently swayed her hips as she slowly walked towards the guards. The guards opened fire at her, the bullets uselessly passed through her form. The bullets struck the bar behind her, causing bottles to explode in bits of sharp glass.
The guards started to panic, no longer firing controlled bursts, but now holding the triggers of their guns down in a desperate attempt to take Sarah down.
Sarah menacingly giggled.
One of the guards realized that his attempts were in vain, throwing down his gun and turning to run for the emergency exit. Sarah was close enough by now that she darted her tail for his ankle, coiling around it, and pulled.
The man tripped forward face first onto his nose, which emitted a crunching noise as it broke.
“Gahh!” The man on the floor gurgled as blood started pooling from his nose around him.
Sarah looked at the remaining guard, a bigger man then the one on the floor, with a square jaw and short hair that was cut in a military fashion. He threw down his gun, pulled a large combat knife, and tried to slice her throat.
“hmm. ex-military?” Sarah questioned to herself.
The knife harmlessly passed through Sarah’s neck.
Sarah laughed, raised her tail, then stabbed it through the heart of the man lying on the floor with the bleeding nose, finishing him off. He coughed painfully and shuddered.
The square-jawed guard stared at Sarah hard in the eyes with an expression of disgust, seemingly without fear of her, then made another attempt to slash her with the knife.
Sarah squinted her eyes and cocked her head with interest. She caught the guard’s wrist mid-swing and twisted, causing him to drop the knife on the floor. She couldn’t help but feel intrigued by the square jawed man. He continued to look at her with a disgusted expression, as if the very sight of her was an insult to him.
Sarah grabbed the square-jawed man’s throat and pinned him against the wall. The man was taller then her, so she didn’t have the leverage to lift him off his feet and create the intimidation of chocking him under his own weight that she had in her mind. She squeezed his throat to compensate while she studied the man. The man had a tattoo on his right arm half hidden under the sleeve of his T-shirt. Using her free hand, Sarah pulled up the sleeve of the T-shirt to reveal the rest of the tattoo. The tattoo was of a bright white sun with rays of light beaming down onto black fog. In Sarah’s peripheral, she noticed that the man’s right hand was in his pocket, his forearm flexing as he rummaged inside. From inside the pocket, Sarah could hear something made of glass break.
“Fuck you demon!” The square-jawed man chocked out as he pulled his hand out of his pocket and grabbed for her throat. His hand was revealed to be covered in bright white glowing paint.
Instead of passing harmlessly through Sarah, the man’s glowing hand wrapped around her throat, and caused the black mist encasing her to peel away around his hand. Sarah’s eyes widened in surprised panic and instinctively grabbed the man’s forearms, trying to pull his hands away from her. Without Sarah’s hand to pin the man against the wall, he immediately used his immense strength and weight to throw her on the floor under the emergency light. The light ripped away the remainder of Sarah’s shadow form. The man sat on her stomach, pinning her to the floor under the weight of his heavily muscled body, and continued to viciously strangle her.
Sarah’s face reddened and her eyes began to tear up as she choked for breath, still desperately trying to pull the man’s hands from her throat. She kicked the heels of her boots at the ground. Her boots uselessly slid along the floor with each pump of her legs during her vain attempt to get the traction to push away. Her vision reddened and wisps of stars zipped back and forth in the peripheral of her vision.
Trying something different before she passed out, Sarah let go of the man’s wrist with one hand and slashed at his face with her claws, leaving four scarlet gashes streak across his face.
“RAAHH!” Yelled the square-jawed man as he grabbed his face in pain and straightened his back up so that his height lifted his face from the reach of Sarah’s claws.
Sarah dry coughed at the sudden release of pressure from her throat and the tears from her watering eyes likely streaked her mascara. She pushed at the man’s chest attempting to get him off her but failed. The man was just too solid. She then grabbed the neck of the man’s T-shirt with both hands and pulled herself towards him.
Sarah pulled one arm back, making a fist, and punched the man in the temple as hard as she could. The shirt she held on to and her awkward position didn’t provide the angle she needed to render the man unconscious. He instead flinched back in reaction to the strike, his face then turned back towards her and stared at her with an expression of pure fury.
Sarah quickly attempted to hit the man again, but with quick reflexes, the man grabbed her wrist and pinned it above her head against the floor.
Sarah tried to slash at his throat with her other hand, but he caught that wrist as well, then pinned it to the floor just like the last.
Both Sarah and the square-jawed man stared hard at each other’s eyes with smoldering anger. Without someone else’s aid, the man couldn’t let go of Sarah’s wrists without her slashing or hitting him. So, they continued to stare hard at each other like that, their breathing labored and deep from their struggle.
“Last time I was in a position like this, neither me nor the other man had cloths on.” Sarah said, breaking the silence with a smirk. “You’ve got me, I’m not going anywhere. Why don’t you take advantage of the situation?” Sarah added, while subtly arching her back and beginning to gyrate her hips under the man.
The man’s expression changed to uncertainty. Sarah could see his Adam’s apple move up and down as he gulped. His eyes scanned the details of her face, likely just realizing how beautiful Sarah was. His eyes darted to her cleavage and back to her face, as he stole a glance at her breasts that were straining against the catsuit as she arched her back. Sarah could feel his cock voluntarily begin to stiffen against her stomach. The man turned his head, trying to look at something more interesting across the room.
“Don’t tempt me with flesh, demon. I am pure, and a faithful servant to the goddess of light. We are above petty temptations.” The square-jawed man said quietly.
“You sure about that? That’s not what he thinks.” Sarah said while indicating her eyes towards the square-jawed man’s crotch. She continued to gyrate her hips. “No-one has to find out. I can be your goddess tonight”. Sarah whispered seductively. She parted her lips slightly and started to softly pant as if the need for the man’s body was overwhelming her.
The square-jawed man’s gaze fell onto Sarah’s mouth then over her body hungrily, the pressure on her wrists lessened slightly. She could see the man shift his eyes from her and dart to random things on the floor as he likely considered the moral consequences of taking her right there.
“I… I can’t do that.” Said the man finally, his voice barely a whisper. The man’s face said something entirely different. Sarah could see the man’s vows or morals crumbling behind his face as his expression was changing to that of primal need and intention. Whatever mental war he fought against his libido, he lost it.
“Take me.” Sarah said in breath, while giving the man a lustfully heated stare. She then closed her eyes, tilted her head back slightly, and left her mouth parted.
Sarah felt his lips connect to hers. It began soft, but rapidly the adrenaline and hunger took over, causing the kiss became intense with desire and need. Even though Sarah was acting, she felt her own libido engage, clouding her mind, and causing her to meet his kiss with mutual intensity. The man never broke the kiss as he moved her hands together above her head, allowing him to pin both her wrists in one of his hands while freeing his other. The man started gyrating his own hips, grinding the budge in his pants against Sarah’s mound. She couldn’t help but moan in pleasure as he rubbed against her. The man’s free hand found her breast and squeezed it through the material of her suit, causing Sarah to gasp. Their hungry kiss never stopping.
The man’s hand roamed to the zipper of Sarah’s catsuit and immediately began slowing pulling it down. He broke the kiss and raised himself from her, allowing him to stare down with excitement as the zipper’s progress gradually revealed Sarah’s braless cleavage and smooth stomach. An action that left the only the man’s hand on Sarah’s wrists to pin her in place.
Sarah giggled with excitement and she tilted her head back, further arching her back as she relished in the electric feeling.
A distant thought in the back of Sarah’s mind was warning her that the situation was going too far and that she might miss an opportunity to do something. The man re-continued their feverish kissing while he ran an open hand up and down the exposed smooth skin of Sarah’s stomach, distracting Sarah from her thought. His hand paused for a second as he considered something, then continued to slide down her stomach past the zipper and under the material of her suit towards her mound. Two of the man’s fingers lightly touched the lips of her shaven sex.
Sarah’s body tensed at the touch of his hand, her breath catching in her throat. The man’s hand continued down till it cupped her sex, lightly squeezing it upon arrival. He then ran two of his fingers back up and massaged her pussy, lubricating her with her own gathering liquid. Sarah unconsciously gyrated her hips at a hastened rate, her body trying to obtain as much pleasure from his massaging hand as possible.
Without warning, the man pushed two of his fingers into her pussy with lubricated ease, causing Sarah to buck her hips against his hand in reaction and let out a staggered breath of pleasure. The man’s finger tips found Sarah’s g-spot, which sent electricity streaking through her. She curled her toes and tightened her fists as every muscle in her body tightened in response to the man’s touch.
The man started massaging Sarah’s g-spot with increasing intensity, while breaking off their kiss.
Sarah looked up at the man with pleasure glazed eyes, her breathing broken, shallow, and fast.
The man let go of her wrists with his other hand and caressed her cheek, brushing some of her hair from her face.
“Tonight, you are my goddess!” said the man with enthusiast conviction and a smile.
The guy’s enthusiasm seems a little melodramatic and intense, but Sarah couldn’t care less. She closed her eyes focusing on the electric pleasure coursing through her body. She could feel as she was about to hit her peak, the muscles in her body tensing even more.
Sarah lazily opened her pleasure glazed eyes to look at the man. She then widened her eyes in surprise and fear, as she saw the man holding his fallen combat knife over her and attempt to drive it into her heart. With practiced and quick reflexes, she defended herself by grabbing the man’s wrist with one hand, activating the telescopic blade in the other, and stabbing him through the neck with it. At the same time, she let out a deep throaty scream as the intense orgasm washed over her body like a tsunami.
The man rolled off her and put both hands to his neck trying to stop the flow of blood that was spurting out of him with each pulse of his heart. Meanwhile, Sarah curled up into a ball, squirming and twitching as the aftershocks of her orgasm randomly pulsed though her body.
“Fuck!” Sarah yelled as the aftershocks subsided, angry with herself for what had just happened. Her emotions were a mess, a confusing concoction of anger, fear, excitement, and hormones. She then rolled over, quickly crawled towards the man, and reeled her arm back to strike. He raised his hands towards her in a vain attempt to stop her from what she’d do next, releasing the pressure from his neck that was stopping the flow of blood.
“Stop!” the man choked out, coughing on his own blood.
“Rahhh!” Sarah roared in frustration while stabbing the man in the chest four times with her blade.
The square-jawed man coughed a couple more times, and he shivered or his muscles spasmed. Sarah wasn’t certain. His face relaxed, and his eyes stared off into nothing. The man was dead.
Sarah had thought she was playing him like a harp into letting his guard down, but in turn, he played her. If she’d been thinking, she’d have realized that it’s not often that a some on-a-mission-from-god solider would prioritize her pleasure over his own. If she hadn’t opened her eyes when she did, she’d be dead on the floor of a club, soaking in her own blood with her catsuit open for the cops to find.
Sarah let out another frustrated snarl and stabbed the dead man with her blade for the fifth time. She then sat on her ass, shifting over a couple feet so that she wasn’t in range of the creeping pool of blood, then put her hand to her throat. When she pulled it away, she saw that some of the white paint transferred to her glove. She rubbed the now tacky substance passively between her fingers, frowning at the sight. The glow of the paint seemed to have already dimmed significantly since she first saw it.
“What the fuck is this stuff?” Sarah asked to herself out loud. She then looked back to the square-jawed man “And who the hell were you?” she added.
The guy said he worshipped some kind of god, and the paint he had tore her shadow form right off. It was a terrifying thought that a substance like that even existed. As far as Sarah knew, she was invincible in the shadows, but this paint changed things. She shivered, feeling vulnerable and cold.
Sarah stood up and walked back into the shadows, only to find that the paint on her hand and neck still prevented some of her shadow form from completely encasing her. On the other side of the dance floor she could see the woman’s washroom. She walked over to it and opened the door.
The washroom was typical. A bunch of toilet stalls lining one side of the room and sinks with mirrors above them lining the other. It was difficult to see in the dark bathroom, and her ability to sense in the dark, although still present, was heavily impaired. She took her gloves off, turned on the tap at one of the sinks, and began washing the paint from her neck.
To Sarah’s relief, the paint was easily removed with water. She also washed the streaks of mascara from her face caused by her tears. Black mist already around her body was quickly reclaiming the territory lost to the paint. Sarah then washed the paint from her glove and placed both gloves back on her hands after drying herself with paper towel.
Sarah walked out of the bathroom and moved towards the office door, avoiding the large pool of blood spreading over the floor. The office door was made of black painted steel. In the center of the door, a plaque with gold lettering read “Manager”.
Sarah grabbed the door knob, turned it, and opened the door.
The office was expensively furnished with modern furniture made of stainless steel and glass. Two chairs padded with red velvet and repeating flame designs faced a large desk. On the wall behind the desk, nine security camera monitors were stacked up the wall. The monitors were off due to the lack of power in the building. A large office chair was on its side behind the desk. On the floor behind the desk sat what Sarah presumed to be Crackle, a man in his 30s. Crackle was skinny with a wiry build. He had spiked red hair and multiple track marks lining his arms from past drug use. The man wore a dark scarlet dress shirt decorated with black flames extending from the bottom. Crackle was slouched on the ground with wide eyes staring off into the distance. Endo was nowhere to be seen, but Sarah knew where he was. Endo was possessing Crackle’s body.
Shadow Demon
Part 4
“Men.” Sarah sighed while watching the academically dressed man hurry up the stairs. A moment ago, she literal caught the guy with his mouth open staring at her ass.
A smirk cross over Sarah’s face. She couldn’t really blame the guy for looking, it wasn’t an accident that her suit fit her body perfectly. It took a substantial amount of money to acquire the suit’s military grade materials and another small fortune to have it privately tailored for her into a catsuit. She worked hard to look the way she did, and she knew she looked incredible.
The academically dressed man wasn’t dressed half bad either. The cut of his shirt did highlight his toned chest and shoulders, and his dress pants were snug in just the right places. Not to mention the man had a gorgeous face, fair hair, and that British accent.
A thought of getting the man alone, then grabbing the man’s ass or running her hands over his chest made Sarah shudder in anticipation. She closed her eyes, her hand unconsciously drifting over her mound, and a couple of her fingers lightly ran over her sex. Her muscles tensed and her breath caught in her throat. She pressed her palm against her mound, feeling the heat beginning to radiate from between her legs through both her suit and her glove.
Sarah pulled her hand away, clenched it into a tightened fist, and let out a moan of frustration. The excitement of violence had a way of putting her in the mood, but now wasn’t the time. She closed her eyes and furrowed her brows in concentration. She inhaled, and exhaled sharply through her nose, attempting to clear her mind and center herself. She focused on her body, becoming aware of the pain in her ribs from the gun shot, the warmth generating from her pussy, and the throbbing in her cheek from the Russian’s backhand; She focused past it. It was as she centered her mind that she quickly became aware of the lack of dull booming music that could be heard earlier from the dance floor downstairs.
They were closing the club. They must know something went wrong up here, but how? Sarah thought to herself.
Sarah looked around the room. The music from downstairs and the thick steel door into the room should have muted the sounds of the fight and the gun shots.
Sarah continued to scan around the room, until she saw it. A small red light was blinking in the opposite corner of the room. A security camera. Sarah hadn’t noticed it because she was focused on the thugs.
“Fuck.” Sarah breathed. Whoever was watching that camera saw everything: her killing the thugs and her face without her mask. She couldn’t leave here tonight without deleting the footage and silencing whoever viewed the tape.
Sarah walked over to the Irishman’s body and picked up his handgun. She weighed in her hand a couple times, aimed down the sights, and fired at the camera. The camera exploded into pieces of plastic and wire.
“So much for the stealthy approach.” Sarah said to herself.
Multiple footsteps could be heard stomping up the stairs on the other side of the door.
Sarah sighed, dropped the gun, and casually walked over to a breaker box on the wall and started switching back the breakers. The fluorescent lights shining on the marijuana plants switched off in groups, until the whole room was completely dark. Black mist encased her body and formed a reptilian-like tail above her ass. Sarah opened her senses to the darkness feeling and hearing everything in and around the room.
“At least I don’t have to fight fair anymore.” Sarah said in a voice muffled by the mist.
The steel door was swung open.
Five armed men including the refrigerator sized bouncers from the front door stood peering into the dark room. One of the men reached his arm inside and ran it along the wall, feeling for a light switch.
Sarah grabbed his arm and pulled him into the room. She threw him to the floor and racked his torso with her claws, slicing through skin and muscle.
The man screamed in pain, flailing his arms and legs.
Sarah looked at the men in the doorway, allowing them to see her red eyes in the dark.
The men’s faces turned pale white, a few of them panicked and started firing their weapons in her direction, shooting the man she sat on, killing him and silencing his screams.
In her shadow form, the bullets passed freely through Sarah’s body, as if the men were shooting at clouds.
Sarah willed herself back beside the door in a crouch. The men still firing at her previous location.
Sarah pounced at one of the men and grabbed for his gun, the mist encasing her disappearing as she jumped into the light of the hallway.
The man she fought continued to fire his gun as she held it over her head, she tried to use that against him and make him hit the fluorescent light shining above them.
One of the other men trained his gun on her and fired a couple shots into her back from only a foot away.
Sarah screamed in pain but continued to wrestle with the man until finally a couple of his shots hit the light and placed both the hallway and staircase in darkness.
Sarah’s shadow form returned. She then smashed her hand through the man she was wrestling with, crushing his heart. He sputtered blood from his mouth and crumbled to the floor. Sarah then willed herself behind the remaining men. She grabbed one of them by the head and snapped his neck, he too crumbled to the floor.
The other two men started turning in her direction.
Sarah grabbed one of them and willed both herself and him towards the ceiling above the stairs. She floated there holding the man. She gave him a quick kiss on the lips, grinned, then let him go. He fell towards the stairs with a yelp. The man’s bones snapped and popped under his own weight, causing him to scream out in pain. He continued to bounce and roll down the staircase screaming, until him and his screaming died before reaching the bottom.
The last man swung his gun in Sarah’s direction and fired, but to no success, as she immediately disappeared from the ceiling and reappeared within inches of his face.
Sarah grabbed the man by the throat, lifted him up, and crushed his windpipe under her hand. She released him and let him fall to the floor. The man choked as he tried to inhale his last breath.
Sarah stood still, inhaled and exhaled. Re-centering herself, Sarah tried to extend her senses to the main floor of the club again, but could feel nothing, not even the random appearance and disappearance of shadows from the colored club lights she felt before. They must have turned on the overhead lights.
At the bottom of the stairs Sarah could see a door with the label “Basement: for employee use only”. The main power switch for the building was likely in the basement, if Sarah shut it down she could locate everyone in the building and neutralize them quickly.
Sarah willed herself to appear in the basement.
The basement was used as a storage room. Boxes and crates of alcohol where stacked on large metal racks throughout the room, along with miscellaneous gardening tools, which were likely used for the plants upstairs. On the far side of the room she saw the main power switch for the building, a dusty grey box with a large red leaver on the side. She pulled the red leaver down and continued to do so until the leaver made a metallic groan as it snapped completely off the box, preventing anyone from coming back and turning the power back on.
The entire club fell into darkness allowing Sarah to sense everything in and around the club, excluding a couple small spots where the battery-powered emergency lights activated.
Sarah extended her senses to the main floor of the club where she could feel men on the main floor scatter in response to the sudden lack of light. One of the men ran into an office, while two others covered him, flanked the office entrance, and closed the door. A third man jumped behind the bar with a shotgun, and crouched, likely attempting to position himself for an ambush when Sarah came to the main floor from the stairs.
“I need to speak with this Crackle.” Endogrev said from inside Sarah’s head.
Sarah frowned. “Your telling me this now?!” she whispered harshly.
“He or someone he knows learned to harvest a demon’s soul, I must find out how he learned to do this.” Said Endogrev.
“Again. Why did you wait till now to tell me this?” Said Sarah.
“I was thinking.” Said Endogrev.
“Vague as always.” Said Sarah with annoyance. “Go talk to him, but you’re on your own till I get there. I still have to deal with the rest of his hired hands.”
“That is acceptable.” Said Endogrev, exiting her body. He appeared as she did, made of black mist. As soon as he left her body, he vanished. She could feel him reappear in Crackle’s office.
Sarah willed herself behind the man crouching behind the bar with a shotgun. He remained completely unaware of her sudden appearance behind him. Sarah silently, yet quickly grabbed the man by the head and twisted, listening to that familiar popping sound as his neck snapped.
Since Endo would need some time with Crackle, Sarah decided to have a bit of fun with the remaining men. She jumped over the bar, much to the surprise of the guards as they expected her to appear at the stair’s entrance. As the men aimed their guns at Sarah, she casually noted her soundings.
The main floor of the club had multiple booths and tables surrounding the perimeter, and a large dance floor with raised DJ booth overlooking it. The air was musty and smelled of the spilled alcohol that was scattered randomly on the dance floor. Beside the office door, was an emergency exit with one of the emergency lights over it dimly adding a yellow light to the room. The light wasn’t strong enough to remove Sarah’s shadow form, provided she didn’t stand directly beneath it. Sarah could sense another such light hiding a small spot from her senses at the entrance to the club behind her.
She confidently swayed her hips as she slowly walked towards the guards. The guards opened fire at her, the bullets uselessly passed through her form. The bullets struck the bar behind her, causing bottles to explode in bits of sharp glass.
The guards started to panic, no longer firing controlled bursts, but now holding the triggers of their guns down in a desperate attempt to take Sarah down.
Sarah menacingly giggled.
One of the guards realized that his attempts were in vain, throwing down his gun and turning to run for the emergency exit. Sarah was close enough by now that she darted her tail for his ankle, coiling around it, and pulled.
The man tripped forward face first onto his nose, which emitted a crunching noise as it broke.
“Gahh!” The man on the floor gurgled as blood started pooling from his nose around him.
Sarah looked at the remaining guard, a bigger man then the one on the floor, with a square jaw and short hair that was cut in a military fashion. He threw down his gun, pulled a large combat knife, and tried to slice her throat.
“hmm. ex-military?” Sarah questioned to herself.
The knife harmlessly passed through Sarah’s neck.
Sarah laughed, raised her tail, then stabbed it through the heart of the man lying on the floor with the bleeding nose, finishing him off. He coughed painfully and shuddered.
The square-jawed guard stared at Sarah hard in the eyes with an expression of disgust, seemingly without fear of her, then made another attempt to slash her with the knife.
Sarah squinted her eyes and cocked her head with interest. She caught the guard’s wrist mid-swing and twisted, causing him to drop the knife on the floor. She couldn’t help but feel intrigued by the square jawed man. He continued to look at her with a disgusted expression, as if the very sight of her was an insult to him.
Sarah grabbed the square-jawed man’s throat and pinned him against the wall. The man was taller then her, so she didn’t have the leverage to lift him off his feet and create the intimidation of chocking him under his own weight that she had in her mind. She squeezed his throat to compensate while she studied the man. The man had a tattoo on his right arm half hidden under the sleeve of his T-shirt. Using her free hand, Sarah pulled up the sleeve of the T-shirt to reveal the rest of the tattoo. The tattoo was of a bright white sun with rays of light beaming down onto black fog. In Sarah’s peripheral, she noticed that the man’s right hand was in his pocket, his forearm flexing as he rummaged inside. From inside the pocket, Sarah could hear something made of glass break.
“Fuck you demon!” The square-jawed man chocked out as he pulled his hand out of his pocket and grabbed for her throat. His hand was revealed to be covered in bright white glowing paint.
Instead of passing harmlessly through Sarah, the man’s glowing hand wrapped around her throat, and caused the black mist encasing her to peel away around his hand. Sarah’s eyes widened in surprised panic and instinctively grabbed the man’s forearms, trying to pull his hands away from her. Without Sarah’s hand to pin the man against the wall, he immediately used his immense strength and weight to throw her on the floor under the emergency light. The light ripped away the remainder of Sarah’s shadow form. The man sat on her stomach, pinning her to the floor under the weight of his heavily muscled body, and continued to viciously strangle her.
Sarah’s face reddened and her eyes began to tear up as she choked for breath, still desperately trying to pull the man’s hands from her throat. She kicked the heels of her boots at the ground. Her boots uselessly slid along the floor with each pump of her legs during her vain attempt to get the traction to push away. Her vision reddened and wisps of stars zipped back and forth in the peripheral of her vision.
Trying something different before she passed out, Sarah let go of the man’s wrist with one hand and slashed at his face with her claws, leaving four scarlet gashes streak across his face.
“RAAHH!” Yelled the square-jawed man as he grabbed his face in pain and straightened his back up so that his height lifted his face from the reach of Sarah’s claws.
Sarah dry coughed at the sudden release of pressure from her throat and the tears from her watering eyes likely streaked her mascara. She pushed at the man’s chest attempting to get him off her but failed. The man was just too solid. She then grabbed the neck of the man’s T-shirt with both hands and pulled herself towards him.
Sarah pulled one arm back, making a fist, and punched the man in the temple as hard as she could. The shirt she held on to and her awkward position didn’t provide the angle she needed to render the man unconscious. He instead flinched back in reaction to the strike, his face then turned back towards her and stared at her with an expression of pure fury.
Sarah quickly attempted to hit the man again, but with quick reflexes, the man grabbed her wrist and pinned it above her head against the floor.
Sarah tried to slash at his throat with her other hand, but he caught that wrist as well, then pinned it to the floor just like the last.
Both Sarah and the square-jawed man stared hard at each other’s eyes with smoldering anger. Without someone else’s aid, the man couldn’t let go of Sarah’s wrists without her slashing or hitting him. So, they continued to stare hard at each other like that, their breathing labored and deep from their struggle.
“Last time I was in a position like this, neither me nor the other man had cloths on.” Sarah said, breaking the silence with a smirk. “You’ve got me, I’m not going anywhere. Why don’t you take advantage of the situation?” Sarah added, while subtly arching her back and beginning to gyrate her hips under the man.
The man’s expression changed to uncertainty. Sarah could see his Adam’s apple move up and down as he gulped. His eyes scanned the details of her face, likely just realizing how beautiful Sarah was. His eyes darted to her cleavage and back to her face, as he stole a glance at her breasts that were straining against the catsuit as she arched her back. Sarah could feel his cock voluntarily begin to stiffen against her stomach. The man turned his head, trying to look at something more interesting across the room.
“Don’t tempt me with flesh, demon. I am pure, and a faithful servant to the goddess of light. We are above petty temptations.” The square-jawed man said quietly.
“You sure about that? That’s not what he thinks.” Sarah said while indicating her eyes towards the square-jawed man’s crotch. She continued to gyrate her hips. “No-one has to find out. I can be your goddess tonight”. Sarah whispered seductively. She parted her lips slightly and started to softly pant as if the need for the man’s body was overwhelming her.
The square-jawed man’s gaze fell onto Sarah’s mouth then over her body hungrily, the pressure on her wrists lessened slightly. She could see the man shift his eyes from her and dart to random things on the floor as he likely considered the moral consequences of taking her right there.
“I… I can’t do that.” Said the man finally, his voice barely a whisper. The man’s face said something entirely different. Sarah could see the man’s vows or morals crumbling behind his face as his expression was changing to that of primal need and intention. Whatever mental war he fought against his libido, he lost it.
“Take me.” Sarah said in breath, while giving the man a lustfully heated stare. She then closed her eyes, tilted her head back slightly, and left her mouth parted.
Sarah felt his lips connect to hers. It began soft, but rapidly the adrenaline and hunger took over, causing the kiss became intense with desire and need. Even though Sarah was acting, she felt her own libido engage, clouding her mind, and causing her to meet his kiss with mutual intensity. The man never broke the kiss as he moved her hands together above her head, allowing him to pin both her wrists in one of his hands while freeing his other. The man started gyrating his own hips, grinding the budge in his pants against Sarah’s mound. She couldn’t help but moan in pleasure as he rubbed against her. The man’s free hand found her breast and squeezed it through the material of her suit, causing Sarah to gasp. Their hungry kiss never stopping.
The man’s hand roamed to the zipper of Sarah’s catsuit and immediately began slowing pulling it down. He broke the kiss and raised himself from her, allowing him to stare down with excitement as the zipper’s progress gradually revealed Sarah’s braless cleavage and smooth stomach. An action that left the only the man’s hand on Sarah’s wrists to pin her in place.
Sarah giggled with excitement and she tilted her head back, further arching her back as she relished in the electric feeling.
A distant thought in the back of Sarah’s mind was warning her that the situation was going too far and that she might miss an opportunity to do something. The man re-continued their feverish kissing while he ran an open hand up and down the exposed smooth skin of Sarah’s stomach, distracting Sarah from her thought. His hand paused for a second as he considered something, then continued to slide down her stomach past the zipper and under the material of her suit towards her mound. Two of the man’s fingers lightly touched the lips of her shaven sex.
Sarah’s body tensed at the touch of his hand, her breath catching in her throat. The man’s hand continued down till it cupped her sex, lightly squeezing it upon arrival. He then ran two of his fingers back up and massaged her pussy, lubricating her with her own gathering liquid. Sarah unconsciously gyrated her hips at a hastened rate, her body trying to obtain as much pleasure from his massaging hand as possible.
Without warning, the man pushed two of his fingers into her pussy with lubricated ease, causing Sarah to buck her hips against his hand in reaction and let out a staggered breath of pleasure. The man’s finger tips found Sarah’s g-spot, which sent electricity streaking through her. She curled her toes and tightened her fists as every muscle in her body tightened in response to the man’s touch.
The man started massaging Sarah’s g-spot with increasing intensity, while breaking off their kiss.
Sarah looked up at the man with pleasure glazed eyes, her breathing broken, shallow, and fast.
The man let go of her wrists with his other hand and caressed her cheek, brushing some of her hair from her face.
“Tonight, you are my goddess!” said the man with enthusiast conviction and a smile.
The guy’s enthusiasm seems a little melodramatic and intense, but Sarah couldn’t care less. She closed her eyes focusing on the electric pleasure coursing through her body. She could feel as she was about to hit her peak, the muscles in her body tensing even more.
Sarah lazily opened her pleasure glazed eyes to look at the man. She then widened her eyes in surprise and fear, as she saw the man holding his fallen combat knife over her and attempt to drive it into her heart. With practiced and quick reflexes, she defended herself by grabbing the man’s wrist with one hand, activating the telescopic blade in the other, and stabbing him through the neck with it. At the same time, she let out a deep throaty scream as the intense orgasm washed over her body like a tsunami.
The man rolled off her and put both hands to his neck trying to stop the flow of blood that was spurting out of him with each pulse of his heart. Meanwhile, Sarah curled up into a ball, squirming and twitching as the aftershocks of her orgasm randomly pulsed though her body.
“Fuck!” Sarah yelled as the aftershocks subsided, angry with herself for what had just happened. Her emotions were a mess, a confusing concoction of anger, fear, excitement, and hormones. She then rolled over, quickly crawled towards the man, and reeled her arm back to strike. He raised his hands towards her in a vain attempt to stop her from what she’d do next, releasing the pressure from his neck that was stopping the flow of blood.
“Stop!” the man choked out, coughing on his own blood.
“Rahhh!” Sarah roared in frustration while stabbing the man in the chest four times with her blade.
The square-jawed man coughed a couple more times, and he shivered or his muscles spasmed. Sarah wasn’t certain. His face relaxed, and his eyes stared off into nothing. The man was dead.
Sarah had thought she was playing him like a harp into letting his guard down, but in turn, he played her. If she’d been thinking, she’d have realized that it’s not often that a some on-a-mission-from-god solider would prioritize her pleasure over his own. If she hadn’t opened her eyes when she did, she’d be dead on the floor of a club, soaking in her own blood with her catsuit open for the cops to find.
Sarah let out another frustrated snarl and stabbed the dead man with her blade for the fifth time. She then sat on her ass, shifting over a couple feet so that she wasn’t in range of the creeping pool of blood, then put her hand to her throat. When she pulled it away, she saw that some of the white paint transferred to her glove. She rubbed the now tacky substance passively between her fingers, frowning at the sight. The glow of the paint seemed to have already dimmed significantly since she first saw it.
“What the fuck is this stuff?” Sarah asked to herself out loud. She then looked back to the square-jawed man “And who the hell were you?” she added.
The guy said he worshipped some kind of god, and the paint he had tore her shadow form right off. It was a terrifying thought that a substance like that even existed. As far as Sarah knew, she was invincible in the shadows, but this paint changed things. She shivered, feeling vulnerable and cold.
Sarah stood up and walked back into the shadows, only to find that the paint on her hand and neck still prevented some of her shadow form from completely encasing her. On the other side of the dance floor she could see the woman’s washroom. She walked over to it and opened the door.
The washroom was typical. A bunch of toilet stalls lining one side of the room and sinks with mirrors above them lining the other. It was difficult to see in the dark bathroom, and her ability to sense in the dark, although still present, was heavily impaired. She took her gloves off, turned on the tap at one of the sinks, and began washing the paint from her neck.
To Sarah’s relief, the paint was easily removed with water. She also washed the streaks of mascara from her face caused by her tears. Black mist already around her body was quickly reclaiming the territory lost to the paint. Sarah then washed the paint from her glove and placed both gloves back on her hands after drying herself with paper towel.
Sarah walked out of the bathroom and moved towards the office door, avoiding the large pool of blood spreading over the floor. The office door was made of black painted steel. In the center of the door, a plaque with gold lettering read “Manager”.
Sarah grabbed the door knob, turned it, and opened the door.
The office was expensively furnished with modern furniture made of stainless steel and glass. Two chairs padded with red velvet and repeating flame designs faced a large desk. On the wall behind the desk, nine security camera monitors were stacked up the wall. The monitors were off due to the lack of power in the building. A large office chair was on its side behind the desk. On the floor behind the desk sat what Sarah presumed to be Crackle, a man in his 30s. Crackle was skinny with a wiry build. He had spiked red hair and multiple track marks lining his arms from past drug use. The man wore a dark scarlet dress shirt decorated with black flames extending from the bottom. Crackle was slouched on the ground with wide eyes staring off into the distance. Endo was nowhere to be seen, but Sarah knew where he was. Endo was possessing Crackle’s body.
Last edited by SarahNoir 5 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
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DrDominator9
- Emissary
- Posts: 2460
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- Location: On the Border of the Neutral Zone
Fantastic chapter! Great logic on the glowing paint and the threat it represents for her. Exciting sex scene too. Finally, Sarah is a new and intriguing anti-hero.
Thanks Drdominator and Blx for the comments! As always, I appreciate all feedback. I was intending to release part 5 of shadow demon at the end of this month, but I need to work on world-building and lore within the story (I fully intend to adapt this into a novel one day). The plots are starting to get hinted at, and I have ideas on where I want them to go, but honestly haven't fully fleshed them out yet :( . So just a heads up, might not get the part out till next month. It is "done", but I need to keep reworking it.
Shadow Demon
Part 5
Sarah crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, watching Crackle.
When a demon is in possession of you, they see and hear everything that your thinking. The demon can’t see the person’s memories, but they can project dreams and suggestions on your mind to trick you into thinking about them.
Sarah waited a minute before deciding to break the silence. “Find anything?” She asked.
Crackle’s eyes eerily darted towards Sarah, his head unmoving.
“The demon souls we found were not originally Crackle’s. He stole them from other mortals.” Crackle said, speaking with both his own voice and Endo’s simultaneously.
“Did you find out where he got them or what he’s doing with them?” Asked Sarah.
“I have. Months ago, He and his men intercepted the souls from a group of civilians transporting them into the city. Crackle recognized a couple of the civilians as past business associates of his father’s. Believing his father to be covertly moving into the drug trade without him, Crackle mistook the souls to be a new street drug. He stole the souls from the civilians, named himself Crackle, and began selling the souls as Angst.” Said Crackle and Endo.
“Why would Crackle go to the trouble of giving himself an alias and selling the drugs himself?” Asked Sarah.
“I don’t know yet. It is becoming increasingly difficult to get him to focus. Before I found him, the mortal ingested a substantial quantity of MDMA. The effects of the drug are starting to influence his mind. His imagination is becoming difficult to control, it undermines the seriousness of the dreams I project.” Endo and Crackle said with some frustration. “I’ll need to push harder.”.
A moment later, Crackle’s face contorted in pain and a drop of blood trickled down one of his nostrils.
The human body is foreign to demons. When a demon possesses a living creature, it is almost never gentle.
People often take for granted the fact that they coordinate multiple sets of muscle fibers in unison to perform the simplest of tasks such as walking or eating. For demons, only the most intelligent and skilled of their kind can successfully pilot a human body. Even then, a person is often left bruised and permanently handicapped after a possession, as the demon tears muscles from bones and bends joints backwards attempting to pilot the body themselves.
Then there are emotions. Demons only understand self-preservation, and most can’t fully comprehend or exhibit human emotions. If a demon isn’t careful, the mental damage they inflict when projecting on someone’s mind can often drive the person into madness or even kill them. Thankfully, Sarah is an exception to the average possession. Endo attempts to preserve Sarah’s mental and physical health by allowing her to retain her free will, otherwise she would have been dead a long ago.
“Why sell Angst, why become Crackle?” Endo’s voice whispered in the room from no obvious source.
Crackle’s face contorted in anger and yelled “He wouldn’t take me seriously, he looks at me as if I’m a mistake. The old man will never let me take over the empire, but once I learn how to make Angst, I won’t need his empire. I’ll build my own empire, overthrow my father, and rule this city myself!”
Sarah considered Crackle’s answer. The man was a fool. If Crackle though he could overthrow even one of the seven crime empires in the city, he was in for a nasty surprise. Challenging a major crime faction with only a club, a handful of muscle, and a pile of drugs to his name was suicide. The guy probably didn’t realize that he was already dead with the bounty placed over his head. If it wasn’t Sarah, one of the other assassins in the city would make short work of him in a day or two.
“I want your name.” whispered Endo’s disembodied voice again.
Sarah suddenly tilted her head up, listening. She could feel the rolling of tires on asphalt, and the hum of muscle tension empowered with adrenaline. Multiple patrol cars and an armored van pulled up outside the club. Almost before the van finished coming to a stop, the van’s rear door burst open allowing multiple people to jump out. Sarah could smell the Kevlar body armor and metal combat-rifles carried by the people exiting the van. The city’s SWAT team was here. Someone from the street or a nearby apartment building must have reported the sound of gunfire coming from the club.
“Endo wrap it up, we’re about to be interrupted.” Said Sarah as she pushed herself off the wall and started looking around the office for the computer that was attached to all the security monitors.
“Take care of them, I need more time.” said Crackle, again with both his own and Endo’s voice.
“Not happening.” Sarah snapped. “Even if most of the cops in this city are either lazy or corrupt, I’m not going to start killing them indiscriminately.” She added while opening a cabinet against the wall containing a desktop computer.
Endo and Crackle simultaneously snarled in frustration.
“I SAID I WANT YOUR NAME!” Endo’s voice boomed and reverberated inside the office.
The sudden outburst from Endo made Sarah tense her shoulders. She looked back towards Crackle, who’s other nostril, and now his eyes were starting to bleed. At this rate, Endo would kill Crackle before he got what he wanted. Granted, she’d have to kill Crackle anyway to claim the contract, but she still felt slightly sorry for him. Almost any death is better than by possession.
Sarah felt the SWAT team outside move itself into a flanking position before the front entrance of the club and prepare to rush inside. The group of men exchanged hand signals, wordlessly planning on how to charge into the building.
Sarah pulled the computer out of the cabinet and tore the side panel off, revealing the hard drive.
“Vincent Ward is dead. I’m Crackle now, the spark that will grow into the inferno that claims this city!” Crackle yelled with his own voice.
Sarah smirked while grabbed the hard drive and tearing it out of the computer. She had an amusing hunch that Crackle probably recites that line to himself in front of the mirror every morning.
Sarah examined the hard drive, then smashed it over the desk in one hard strike. Chips of the golden wheel exploded out from within the metal box, scattering across the room. The evidence of her identity destroyed.
Endo’s large smoky body spilled out of Crackle’s mouth and looked down at the skinny man.
Crackle coughed and blinked. He raised a hand to his face, smearing the blood from his nose onto his hand. He looked at his blooded hand in confusion, then looked up to the towering form of Endo. “What the FUCK!” He screamed, the pitch of his voice elevating with the last word.
Endo grabbed Crackle by the throat and raised him to eye level.
“That answer will have to do. My time is not my own this night. You have only one more use for me.” Endo said as he stabbed his free hand into Crackle’s chest. “Don’t fear mortal, this won’t take long.” Endo added as the skin on Crackle’s chest surrounding Endo’s hand erupted in flame. The skin audibly hissed and popped under the flames.
Crackle screamed so shrill and high-pitched, that Sarah could only compare it to the sound of a squealing pig.
Crackle’s scream was obviously heard from outside, as Sarah felt the SWAT team to burst through the front door and start fanning out across the main floor in reaction. Their weapons and heads moving in unison as they searched for the source of the sound.
Crackle’s body was consumed by the flame in as little as five seconds. All that remained was a smoking husk skewered on Endo’s hand. Endo flicked Crackle’s body off his hand, which shattered into ash when it impacted the floor.
Endo tilled his head back and closed his eyes, inhaling with satisfaction, like he did with every soul.
Sarah crossed her arms and stared at Endo with an annoyed look as she tapped her foot with impatience. “We don’t have time for you to enjoy this.” she said.
Half the SWAT team was positioning themselves outside the office door, while the other was making their way upstairs. A few members broke off to check the bodies of the three thugs on the main floor for life signs.
Endo opened his eyes, looked at Sarah, then turned his head towards the closed office door, watching the SWAT team position themselves on the opposite side.
“We would have plenty of time if you had just killed them.” Said Endo.
Sarah closed her eyes and inhaled through her nose to calm herself. She sighed, looked up at Endo then said, “I said no, Endo.”.
“So be it.” Endo said. He then turned back to Sarah and rushed back inside her.
Sarah willed herself to the rooftop half a second before the SWAT team kicked in the office door and rushed in. She spotted what she was looking for on the roof right away. Leaning against the ledge, curled up in a ball was the academically dressed man. He must have fallen asleep or passed out.
Sarah walked over to him and patted him on the cheek to wake him.
He didn’t wake.
Sarah could sense the SWAT team moving through the grow-op, flashlights shining through the darkness.
“You saw my face Mr.-“ Sarah said, trailing off as she reached over him to reach her hand into his back pocket. She pulled out his wallet. Inside the wallet she found the academically dressed man’s driver’s license which read: Leonard Patterson, age 26, 1579 Breezemist Bvld. “-Patterson... Guess you’re leaving with me.” She continued.
Sarah could feel the SWAT team making their way up the stairs to the roof. She wrapped her arms around Leo in a hug, willing the mist around her to encase Leo as well. With an effort, Sarah willed both herself and Leo to the rooftop of an apartment building across the street.
Sarah looked over the ledge and watched as the SWAT team tactically spread out across the roof looking for the source of the carnage witnessed in the club below. She could hear one of the team members yell “CLEAR”, which prompted the whole party to relax slightly, and begin heading back towards the roof’s entrance.
Sarah turned away and sat down against the ledge of the rooftop with Leo’s head on her lap. She took a moment to watch the laundry on the apartment’s clothes lines flutter in the gentle breeze of the night. She looked down at Leo and ran a thumb over his cheek. In the two years she’s been doing this, not once has she been caught on camera, had her mask removed, or had a living witness. Evidently, there were a lot of firsts this evening.
Sarah ran the claw of her thumb over Leo’s throat, just lightly enough to not break the skin. She considered how easy it would be to just end Leo’s life tonight, thus tying up the last loose end.
Sarah rolled her head back and looked at the night sky. “Damn it” she breathed out.
Leo didn’t do anything, he was an innocent civilian. Sarah crossed many lines in the last couple years, but she didn’t harm the innocent. She couldn’t cross that line; It was the only thing separating her from the gang leaders… and Endo. Sarah didn’t have any delusions about herself. She knew she was corrupted. The thrill of violence and murder excited her, but she didn’t become a what she is to be the shinning white knight that saves the city. She became a demon so that the criminals would be afraid of the dark and think twice before ruining someone’s life, before ruining Beth’s life.
It hurt to even think about Beth.
Beth was the reason Sarah started her fight against the criminals of this city. It was the night that Beth died that Sarah met Endo and the night that Endo gave her the power to do something about it.
Sarah turned her head to the side and closed her eyes. She inhaled sharply, steeled herself from the old emotions, and repressed Beth’s memory.
Quickly, Sarah moved Leo off her, and stood up. She stretched her arms above her head and leaned side to side to loosen up her obliques.
Looking down at Leo, Sarah then bent down and put him over her shoulder. “Let’s go see your house Mr. Patterson. You owe me a drink.” she said in a cheerful tone while patting him on the ass a couple times.
Part 5
Sarah crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, watching Crackle.
When a demon is in possession of you, they see and hear everything that your thinking. The demon can’t see the person’s memories, but they can project dreams and suggestions on your mind to trick you into thinking about them.
Sarah waited a minute before deciding to break the silence. “Find anything?” She asked.
Crackle’s eyes eerily darted towards Sarah, his head unmoving.
“The demon souls we found were not originally Crackle’s. He stole them from other mortals.” Crackle said, speaking with both his own voice and Endo’s simultaneously.
“Did you find out where he got them or what he’s doing with them?” Asked Sarah.
“I have. Months ago, He and his men intercepted the souls from a group of civilians transporting them into the city. Crackle recognized a couple of the civilians as past business associates of his father’s. Believing his father to be covertly moving into the drug trade without him, Crackle mistook the souls to be a new street drug. He stole the souls from the civilians, named himself Crackle, and began selling the souls as Angst.” Said Crackle and Endo.
“Why would Crackle go to the trouble of giving himself an alias and selling the drugs himself?” Asked Sarah.
“I don’t know yet. It is becoming increasingly difficult to get him to focus. Before I found him, the mortal ingested a substantial quantity of MDMA. The effects of the drug are starting to influence his mind. His imagination is becoming difficult to control, it undermines the seriousness of the dreams I project.” Endo and Crackle said with some frustration. “I’ll need to push harder.”.
A moment later, Crackle’s face contorted in pain and a drop of blood trickled down one of his nostrils.
The human body is foreign to demons. When a demon possesses a living creature, it is almost never gentle.
People often take for granted the fact that they coordinate multiple sets of muscle fibers in unison to perform the simplest of tasks such as walking or eating. For demons, only the most intelligent and skilled of their kind can successfully pilot a human body. Even then, a person is often left bruised and permanently handicapped after a possession, as the demon tears muscles from bones and bends joints backwards attempting to pilot the body themselves.
Then there are emotions. Demons only understand self-preservation, and most can’t fully comprehend or exhibit human emotions. If a demon isn’t careful, the mental damage they inflict when projecting on someone’s mind can often drive the person into madness or even kill them. Thankfully, Sarah is an exception to the average possession. Endo attempts to preserve Sarah’s mental and physical health by allowing her to retain her free will, otherwise she would have been dead a long ago.
“Why sell Angst, why become Crackle?” Endo’s voice whispered in the room from no obvious source.
Crackle’s face contorted in anger and yelled “He wouldn’t take me seriously, he looks at me as if I’m a mistake. The old man will never let me take over the empire, but once I learn how to make Angst, I won’t need his empire. I’ll build my own empire, overthrow my father, and rule this city myself!”
Sarah considered Crackle’s answer. The man was a fool. If Crackle though he could overthrow even one of the seven crime empires in the city, he was in for a nasty surprise. Challenging a major crime faction with only a club, a handful of muscle, and a pile of drugs to his name was suicide. The guy probably didn’t realize that he was already dead with the bounty placed over his head. If it wasn’t Sarah, one of the other assassins in the city would make short work of him in a day or two.
“I want your name.” whispered Endo’s disembodied voice again.
Sarah suddenly tilted her head up, listening. She could feel the rolling of tires on asphalt, and the hum of muscle tension empowered with adrenaline. Multiple patrol cars and an armored van pulled up outside the club. Almost before the van finished coming to a stop, the van’s rear door burst open allowing multiple people to jump out. Sarah could smell the Kevlar body armor and metal combat-rifles carried by the people exiting the van. The city’s SWAT team was here. Someone from the street or a nearby apartment building must have reported the sound of gunfire coming from the club.
“Endo wrap it up, we’re about to be interrupted.” Said Sarah as she pushed herself off the wall and started looking around the office for the computer that was attached to all the security monitors.
“Take care of them, I need more time.” said Crackle, again with both his own and Endo’s voice.
“Not happening.” Sarah snapped. “Even if most of the cops in this city are either lazy or corrupt, I’m not going to start killing them indiscriminately.” She added while opening a cabinet against the wall containing a desktop computer.
Endo and Crackle simultaneously snarled in frustration.
“I SAID I WANT YOUR NAME!” Endo’s voice boomed and reverberated inside the office.
The sudden outburst from Endo made Sarah tense her shoulders. She looked back towards Crackle, who’s other nostril, and now his eyes were starting to bleed. At this rate, Endo would kill Crackle before he got what he wanted. Granted, she’d have to kill Crackle anyway to claim the contract, but she still felt slightly sorry for him. Almost any death is better than by possession.
Sarah felt the SWAT team outside move itself into a flanking position before the front entrance of the club and prepare to rush inside. The group of men exchanged hand signals, wordlessly planning on how to charge into the building.
Sarah pulled the computer out of the cabinet and tore the side panel off, revealing the hard drive.
“Vincent Ward is dead. I’m Crackle now, the spark that will grow into the inferno that claims this city!” Crackle yelled with his own voice.
Sarah smirked while grabbed the hard drive and tearing it out of the computer. She had an amusing hunch that Crackle probably recites that line to himself in front of the mirror every morning.
Sarah examined the hard drive, then smashed it over the desk in one hard strike. Chips of the golden wheel exploded out from within the metal box, scattering across the room. The evidence of her identity destroyed.
Endo’s large smoky body spilled out of Crackle’s mouth and looked down at the skinny man.
Crackle coughed and blinked. He raised a hand to his face, smearing the blood from his nose onto his hand. He looked at his blooded hand in confusion, then looked up to the towering form of Endo. “What the FUCK!” He screamed, the pitch of his voice elevating with the last word.
Endo grabbed Crackle by the throat and raised him to eye level.
“That answer will have to do. My time is not my own this night. You have only one more use for me.” Endo said as he stabbed his free hand into Crackle’s chest. “Don’t fear mortal, this won’t take long.” Endo added as the skin on Crackle’s chest surrounding Endo’s hand erupted in flame. The skin audibly hissed and popped under the flames.
Crackle screamed so shrill and high-pitched, that Sarah could only compare it to the sound of a squealing pig.
Crackle’s scream was obviously heard from outside, as Sarah felt the SWAT team to burst through the front door and start fanning out across the main floor in reaction. Their weapons and heads moving in unison as they searched for the source of the sound.
Crackle’s body was consumed by the flame in as little as five seconds. All that remained was a smoking husk skewered on Endo’s hand. Endo flicked Crackle’s body off his hand, which shattered into ash when it impacted the floor.
Endo tilled his head back and closed his eyes, inhaling with satisfaction, like he did with every soul.
Sarah crossed her arms and stared at Endo with an annoyed look as she tapped her foot with impatience. “We don’t have time for you to enjoy this.” she said.
Half the SWAT team was positioning themselves outside the office door, while the other was making their way upstairs. A few members broke off to check the bodies of the three thugs on the main floor for life signs.
Endo opened his eyes, looked at Sarah, then turned his head towards the closed office door, watching the SWAT team position themselves on the opposite side.
“We would have plenty of time if you had just killed them.” Said Endo.
Sarah closed her eyes and inhaled through her nose to calm herself. She sighed, looked up at Endo then said, “I said no, Endo.”.
“So be it.” Endo said. He then turned back to Sarah and rushed back inside her.
Sarah willed herself to the rooftop half a second before the SWAT team kicked in the office door and rushed in. She spotted what she was looking for on the roof right away. Leaning against the ledge, curled up in a ball was the academically dressed man. He must have fallen asleep or passed out.
Sarah walked over to him and patted him on the cheek to wake him.
He didn’t wake.
Sarah could sense the SWAT team moving through the grow-op, flashlights shining through the darkness.
“You saw my face Mr.-“ Sarah said, trailing off as she reached over him to reach her hand into his back pocket. She pulled out his wallet. Inside the wallet she found the academically dressed man’s driver’s license which read: Leonard Patterson, age 26, 1579 Breezemist Bvld. “-Patterson... Guess you’re leaving with me.” She continued.
Sarah could feel the SWAT team making their way up the stairs to the roof. She wrapped her arms around Leo in a hug, willing the mist around her to encase Leo as well. With an effort, Sarah willed both herself and Leo to the rooftop of an apartment building across the street.
Sarah looked over the ledge and watched as the SWAT team tactically spread out across the roof looking for the source of the carnage witnessed in the club below. She could hear one of the team members yell “CLEAR”, which prompted the whole party to relax slightly, and begin heading back towards the roof’s entrance.
Sarah turned away and sat down against the ledge of the rooftop with Leo’s head on her lap. She took a moment to watch the laundry on the apartment’s clothes lines flutter in the gentle breeze of the night. She looked down at Leo and ran a thumb over his cheek. In the two years she’s been doing this, not once has she been caught on camera, had her mask removed, or had a living witness. Evidently, there were a lot of firsts this evening.
Sarah ran the claw of her thumb over Leo’s throat, just lightly enough to not break the skin. She considered how easy it would be to just end Leo’s life tonight, thus tying up the last loose end.
Sarah rolled her head back and looked at the night sky. “Damn it” she breathed out.
Leo didn’t do anything, he was an innocent civilian. Sarah crossed many lines in the last couple years, but she didn’t harm the innocent. She couldn’t cross that line; It was the only thing separating her from the gang leaders… and Endo. Sarah didn’t have any delusions about herself. She knew she was corrupted. The thrill of violence and murder excited her, but she didn’t become a what she is to be the shinning white knight that saves the city. She became a demon so that the criminals would be afraid of the dark and think twice before ruining someone’s life, before ruining Beth’s life.
It hurt to even think about Beth.
Beth was the reason Sarah started her fight against the criminals of this city. It was the night that Beth died that Sarah met Endo and the night that Endo gave her the power to do something about it.
Sarah turned her head to the side and closed her eyes. She inhaled sharply, steeled herself from the old emotions, and repressed Beth’s memory.
Quickly, Sarah moved Leo off her, and stood up. She stretched her arms above her head and leaned side to side to loosen up her obliques.
Looking down at Leo, Sarah then bent down and put him over her shoulder. “Let’s go see your house Mr. Patterson. You owe me a drink.” she said in a cheerful tone while patting him on the ass a couple times.
Last edited by SarahNoir 5 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
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DrDominator9
- Emissary
- Posts: 2460
- Joined: 13 years ago
- Location: On the Border of the Neutral Zone
I'm enjoying the moral interactions between Sarah and her actual inner demon, Endo. You've developed a rich little world here quite quickly in this story. Kudos on the action too. I hope there's more to come.
I apologize for not posting recently, I know I said I'd aim for once a month, but summer is a busy time and I ended up rewriting part 6 from scratch a few times too. No guarantee that part 7 will come in on time either, but hang in there. I may not have as much time to work on the story, but I am still working on it. Thanks DrDominator again for your comments, I am always happy and encouraged to receive feedback. I'd like to also shout out to those that have commented on the Literotica postings of the story as well, thanks for the feedback and emails. Anyway without further delay, here is part 6.
Shadow Demon
Part 6
Leo gasped and opened his eyes, his nightmare waking him. The room’s light immediately assaulted his once sleeping eyes and forced him to squeeze them back shut. Shapes of green and orange lights danced on the back of his retinas.
Leo’s vivid nightmare replayed in his memory: Boris and Oscar attempting to kill him, the white-hot pain of a bullet tearing into his arm, and that woman… The stunning woman in the catsuit and heeled boots. Based on the woman, it may have been more a dream then a nightmare. It was odd just how vivid the dream was. Leo could almost perfectly recall every detail about the woman; The fluid movement of her hips, the husky seductiveness of her voice, the wild blue of her eyes, and the way that suit she wore hugged her body perfectly, accentuating those feminine curves.
Leo rubbed his face with his hand, which caused his bare arm to incidentally brush over the fabric of the blanket he laid on. There was a familiarity to the blanket’s fabric. This was his bed.
Leo focused on the ceiling, blinking his eyes multiple times, forcing them to adjust to the room’s light. He could see the layout of the room in his peripheral. This was certainly his room. He rolled over on his right arm to look at his alarm clock.
“Ack!” Leo breathed as the weight of his own body sent pain through his arm. He instinctively rolled on his back again to relieve the pressure, but still managed to get a glimpse at the clock, which read 2:56am. Looking at his now throbbing arm, Leo found it to be freshly bandaged. On closer inspection, a faint red circle could be seen through the top layers of the bandage. He continued to stare at the wound in confusion. Had he really been shot? What else from his dream truly happened?
Leo sat up in the bed and looked around his room. As his gaze moved to the corner of the room, he flinched. In the corner chair of his bedroom, sat the woman from his dream, dressed in the same catsuit, mask, and heeled boots. She sat there casually watching him, one of her legs was crossed over the other. She lightly sipped on a glass of white wine, then brought the glass to eye level and studied its contents.
“You have expensive taste Mr. Patterson.” The woman said swirling the wine in the glass. She then looked up at Leo. “I hope you don’t mind that I helped myself to your collection.”
“N-not at all.” Leo stammered, barely able to offer an intelligent response as his brain worked feverishly to understand what was going on.
The woman regarded him for a second, took another sip from the glass, then placed it on a table beside the chair. She uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, so that her forearms rested on her thighs and she could bridge her hands together. Her face turned serious as if she were about to say to him that he was late for work. “I know what happened tonight is a lot to take in, but I need to make something extremely clear. You will not speak of anything that you witnessed or heard tonight. You were never at the Wolf’s Den, you never talked to those thugs, and most importantly, you never saw me. If anyone asks, you came home straight from work and went to bed.” She said. The woman’s gaze fell open his arm and she said, “Can you treat that yourself?”
Leo examined at his bandaged arm. There was another red dot on the opposite side of the first. The bullet had gone clean through. Judging by the angle, it didn’t hit the bone, so it should heal alright.
“Um, yea, or yes. Yea, I should be able to take care of it.” Leo stammered.
“Good. You should also know that you are the only person to have seen me, and the only person that can place me at the club. Should you tell anyone about this, I will find out, and I will kill you.” The woman said coldly. She let her words sink in for a moment, watching Leo’s face. Seeing Leo’s likely wide-eyed expression, her face warmed to allow a slight smile. “Now try and get some sleep Mr. Patterson. You are wounded after all.” She added before standing up and walking towards the balcony doors of his room to leave.
Leo’s brain finally caught up and understood that everything that he dreamed was in fact very real. On top of that, Leo realized something about the woman, he knew her from somewhere. He saw her without her mask tonight, not that it really covered her face, but its removal made him certain that he knew her. Just as the woman’s back was turned to him and she grabbed the doorknob to the balcony, it hit him. Leo asked, “Your Sarah, Aren’t you?”.
The woman froze.
It was coming to Leo now. He remembered Sarah from high school. He didn’t know her personally, but he saw her. It wasn’t like someone could miss her back then. Her and Beth Lawson were the hottest girls in the school and made sure everyone knew it. The self-proclaimed queens of the school, dressed in variations of heavy makeup, crop-tops, heels, and the tightest low-cut jeans. Dressed like that, the two girls had every jock wrapped around their finger. Jocks that would forcefully remind Leo that if anyone had a chance, it wasn’t him.
Leo smiled.
After all this time, the hottest girl in Leo’s high school now stood in his bedroom, and the years since high school treated her well. If she was considered hot before, she presently was somewhere approaching the temperature of the sun. The once heavy makeup was now painted on her face as if by Leonardo da Vinci himself. As for her body, it had filled in with the strong feminine curves of a fitness model.
With Sarah’s back to Leo, his eyes couldn’t help but zero in on Sarah’s ass and marvel at how perfect that suit outlined it, how it dared to venture deep between her ass cheeks. In Leo’s opinion, this woman was a work of art and judging from the tent pole rising in his pants, so did his member.
Sarah turned her head to look over her shoulder.
Leo coughed and, in a panic, quickly grabbed a pillow from his bed and painfully slammed it over his crotch to hide his erection. Leo tried to maintain a blank but interested expression.
Sarah looked at him in a way that told Leo that she knew full well what was under the pillow and said, “Mr. Patterson, sparing your life was not a choice I took lightly. If you know me from somewhere, please burn that memory.”
“You-your right! I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pried.” Leo said quickly, trying to regain repour with the woman. His mouth went on autopilot, hoping that whatever he said would distract her from his obvious erection. “I-It’s just that. We knew each other, or at least saw each other during high school. That doesn’t mean anything, I know. B-but there’s a familiarity between us and you said that you were different from e-everyone else in the city. That means something. I-I should be different too. The streets are dangerous. I thought I was safe from it, but after tonight… I’m-I’m as vulnerable as anyone else. Maybe I could help you in some way?” Leo quickly blurted out.
Sarah let go of the doorknob and turned to face Leo. She cocked a hip and crossed her arms. A position that Leo noticed, caused a faint camel toe to be visible between the woman’s legs.
“Mr. Patterson, I fight and kill people every night, that on average, heavily outnumber me. Are you telling me you want to be an accomplice in that?” Sarah said dryly.
“N-NO! I could never kill anyone, and I don’t want to. It’s just that you saved me. I’d be dead tonight if it wasn’t for you. I owe you my life! I need to help you in some way.” Leo said, shifting his gaze away from Sarah to his feet.
“The best way for you to help me, is to forget what happened tonight.” Sarah said a bit more empathically.
Leo took in Sarah’s words for a moment. He didn’t mean to ask if he could help her, his mouth was just on autopilot. Maybe he should just act like this never happened. Although, after tonight, how does he act like tonight never happened? Even with all his past effort of staying out of the way of the city’s organized crime, Crackle still found him and bribed him into working on Angst.
Leo’s eyes widened in realization.
Without Crackle, Leo wouldn’t be able to afford his sister’s medical bills. They already spent all his family’s inheritance on the cancer treatments. Clara wouldn’t last more than a month off life support when the hospital kicked her out.
After a long moment, Leo concluded that he didn’t have the time to help Sarah, even if he wanted too. He needed to work more, make more money, and be with his sister. Leo said sorrowfully, “Your right, I’ll forget that tonight happened and move on”.
Leo looked back up at Sarah to see what might have been a disappointed expression under that mask. It was probably Leo’s imagination. She told him that she wanted him to act like tonight never happened, so if anything, she’s probably thrilled that he gave up arguing with her.
“That would be best.” Sarah said dropping her arms. She then turned towards the balcony door, opened it, and walked out onto the balcony.
Leo’s wounded arm itched under the bandage and he gave it a quick glance. When he looked back to Sarah, she was gone.
***
Sarah jumped off Leo’s balcony, her shadow form embracing her as she freefell towards the ground. Only a foot before hitting the ground, she willed herself home into her downtown penthouse suite. Upon arrival, she extended her senses throughout the penthouse looking for anyone trying to hide in the shadows, then further for anyone that may be watching outside the penthouse.
Confident that Sarah was alone and unwatched, she flicked on the lights.
Sarah’s shadow form was peeled off her body and the interior of the suite was bathed in warm light. The suite was spotlessly clean, modernly furnished, and freshly renovated; the walls painted in warm shades of yellow and orange. A look that put Sarah’s old apartment from last year to shame. Her old apartment was a dive to be modest, full of torn walls, shouting neighbors, and the ambiance of flickering lights. The state of her last apartment was entirely her fault. When her father died after high school, Sarah burned through the inheritance that he left her within a year and a half. She spent money like a teenager with a credit card, throwing money at things such as: parties, traveling, clothes, and poorly thought out business ventures. By the second year, Sarah had to forgo her family’s home to the bank and move into her shithole of an apartment. The only way Sarah managed to stay in college with Beth, was buy selling her evenings to an escort service. It was a job where she was paid a reasonable sum of money to look good hanging on the arms of rich businessmen during events to increase their status, and on occasion she was paid an even larger sums of money to let them have sex with her. Being an escort wasn’t a job she was proud of, and for the most part it was a secret only Beth knew, but a rumor did float around in small crowds that the spoiled Sarah Noir was prostituting herself for money and living in the city slums. Thankfully, those days were over. The money she got from being an assassin had allowed for some living upgrades, among other things. Her penthouse and the renovations were subsidized from her profits as an assassin, but most of the funding came from her position as partner and head of events at Lawson’s Urban Restoration and Designs. A company founded by her late friend’s Father, Henry Lawson, who started the company in Beth’s memory.
Sarah cleared her mind of Beth and thoughts of her old apartment, then strode purposefully through her suite into her kitchen, and pulled a bottle of iced wine out of the bar fridge. She poured herself a glass, then walked into her living room and sat horizontally along the couch with her back against the arm rest. She thought about Leo Patterson. The guy was a stuttering coward, but for a moment he was inspired to do something about the state of Winsome Bay. He wasn’t special, at some point everyone in Winsome Bay thinks they can do something about the despair lining the streets, but just like everyone else, it seems Leo Patterson thought it best to keep his head down. A part of Sarah had hoped that Leo would have proved to be different.
Sarah took off her gloves and mask, then placed them on the coffee table. Grabbing the back of her thigh and lifting her leg with one hand, she pulled the zipper of her boot up down its length. She pulled off the long boot to reveal her well-manicured foot, then did the same for the other boot.
Normally Sarah wouldn’t have any issues with heels, but the act of removing her boots tonight had an element of bliss to it. It had been a long night. Sarah took a sip of her wine then reached for the T.V. remote and clicked on the large flat screen mounted above the gas fireplace adjacent to her.
The television ran Winsome Bay’s 24-hour local news channel, WBNN.
A pretty news reporter labeled as Taylah Joyner by a blue banner at the bottom of the scene, stood in front of the Wolf’s Den. “As you can see Roy, the police have surrounded the popular downtown club and forensics are entering the building. There is still no word as to what happened inside, but residents of nearby apartment buildings have stated that several automatic gun shots could be heard just before police arrival on scene. We’ll keep you updated with the details as they become available. Back to you Ron.” Taylah Joyner said with the trademarked professional urgency of a journalist.
The screen switched to the news anchor, Roy Schofield.
“Looks like I caused quite a stir tonight.” Sarah said to herself, taking another sip of wine.
“Thanks, Taylah. In other news, the vigilante publicly known as Maximum Force has been found dead in a small convenience store on Lindhead Road. WBNN has obtained a copy of the store’s security footage. As a warning, the images you are about to see may be disturbing.” Said Roy Schofield.
The scene then cut to a black and white security footage of the store. The camera overlooked the store from behind the clerk. Nothing happened at first, it was just a scene of a regular convenience store. Rows of various snack packages in the center and glass door fridges lining the back wall. If it wasn’t for the horizontal bar of digital distortion slowly making its way down the screen, Sarah would have assumed she was looking at a still picture. Finally, there was movement as the front door opened. Three armed men walked into the store, two going to meet the store clerk, the other walked to the back of the store, looking for customers. The two gunmen with the clerk, pulled out their weapons and motioned for the clerk to open the till. The clerk hurriedly started pilling wads of cash onto the counter. A reflection on one of the glass doored fridges, revealed a white clad figure peeking through one of the widows off screen. The figure then stepped away from the window and out of the reflection. A moment later, the window nearest one of the gunmen by the till, exploded inwards with the white and blue spandex missile of Maximum Force. The hero’s body connected with one of the gunmen in a tackle, and the two flew into and through a rack of potato chips. The other gunmen whorled in the direction of the hero, and before either Maximum Force or the gunmen he tackled could get up, the gunmen fired his shotgun. The blast of the shotgun removed a chuck of flesh the size of a fist out of Maximum Force, between his ribs and hip. The gunmen holding the shotgun turned and, in a panic, grabbed the money from the counter and ran out of the store, a few bills flew out of his grasp and onto the floor as he left. The gunmen in the back of the store ran over to the one pinned under Maximum Force and pulled him out from under the bleeding hero. The two gunmen also ran out of the store, and the screen cut back to the grim face of Roy Schofield.
Sarah grabbed the remote and shut off the TV before the news Anchor could give his two cents.
“Idiots.” Sarah breathed to herself.
At least once a month some self-proclaimed hero would rise from nowhere, only to be found dead a couple weeks later. It was becoming recently more common in the city. As the public witnessed the police force become lazier, and willing to turn a blind eye to the corruption and crime in the city, citizens were taking it upon themselves to fix the city. Most of the city’s heroes were those that have lost so much to this city, that the noble allure of donning a cape and fighting crime seems like the only way to fix things. A few of the Heroes don’t even bother to wear masks, feeling that their reality was so awful that they had foregone their personal lives altogether.
Sarah guessed she was technically one of the “heroes” of the city, but she liked to think that she was smarter, less illusioned with how bad things really were, and not afraid to use the criminal’s weapon against them. To fight fear with fear.
Sarah looked and frowned at the clock. It was nearly 3:30am. Reluctantly, she got up from the couch, grabbed her boots, mask, and gloves, then walked through her bedroom and into her walk-in closet.
The closet was massive, and stocked entirely with expensive clothes, jewelry, and shoes. All of it neatly organized, as if a museum display. Although, for the massive size of the closet, anyone that would take a closer look at the suite’s original floor plans would realize that the closet could be twice as large. Part of Sarah’s recent renovations included the creation of a second room within the closet.
Sarah put the boots, mask, and gloves down, then unzipped her catsuit. She grabbed either side of the zipper and shrugged the top half of the suit off her shoulders. Pulling her arms out of the suit, the top half dropped around her hips. She then, placed her thumbs in the suit around her waist. She tugged and wiggled the suit off and out of her ass, then down her legs. A struggle that came with having the suit tailored to fit her body, perfectly. The suit pooled around her ankles and she stepped out of it, leaving her naked as the day she was born.
Walking up to the large ornately framed mirror on the opposite wall of the closet, Sarah admired her body. She was proud of the physique she accomplished through fighting and attending the gym, minus the bruises she acquired tonight. She turned so that she could see the damage to her back. She had two baseball-sized purple bruises on her back, one under the shoulder blade, the other at the bottom of her ribs. She hissed as she poked the purple bruise on her ribs. Thankfully the bruises should be mostly gone by the morning. Another perk to the whole demon thing was that her body healed abnormally fast while she slept.
Sarah slid her fingers behind the frame of the mirror and clicked the two release switches simultaneously. The mirror shifted away from the wall and then slid to the side, revealing a doorway to the once other half of the closet.
The secret room was dimly lit with a green glow emitting from the surface of a large glass table in the center, and a red glow emitting from the ceiling on the opposite side of the room. To Sarah’s left, a cylindrical glass doored chamber with a mannequin the size of a child was magnetically suspended within, as if levitating by magic. Beside the chamber was a weapons rack holding copies of Sarah’s gloves, sniper rifles, pistols, and several small gadgets. To Sarah’s right, was a clothing rack that held extra boots, trench coats, hooded robes, and a few latex catsuits she wore before she got her armored one. Beside the clothing rack, was a desk with a laptop and a couple cell phones on it.
Sarah picked up her costume, then walked into the room, the light was dim enough that her shadow form enveloped her as she stepped over the threshold. She put her boots and gloves in their separate racks, then opened the glass door that contained the small mannequin. Hanging the catsuit on the shoulders of the mannequin, caused the mannequin to activate, prompting the small mannequin’s limbs and body to stretch and grow, filling in the suit as if it were Sarah. She then closed the glass door and pressed a button on the panel. Jets lining the wall of the chamber started spraying the suit in a concoction of sanitizers, material preservatives, and hot water. The magnetically suspended mannequin slowly rotated during the process.
Sarah looked at her mask. That brute had slapped her mask off in a single strike tonight. She flexed the mask in her hands a couple times, considering it. Perhaps the plastic material of the mask was too rigid. A silicon version would form to her face better, and hopefully not fly off if someone struck it.
Sarah placed the mask in a drawer under the cloths rack, making a mental note to order a silicon version tomorrow. Then she grabbed one of the cellphones off the desk beside the clothes rack and dialed her agent.
When Sarah became aware of the Collective of Assassins, she decided it best to work through an agent instead of representing herself, personally.
The Collective was born from a need for immunity from the repercussions of successful assassinations. As crime became more cutthroat within Winsome Bay, the use of assassin’s and hitmen became the standard tools of crime lords. Soon an issue arose when successful assassinations made one or more factions angry and itching to retaliate. Although, if the faction did not want to risk a war with another faction, they instead focused their frustrations on the assassin responsible. Freelance assassins found that the risk for completing a job was becoming too high, so the top assassins, in a sense, unionized. Thus, the Collective of Assassins was born. The Collective offered unbiased acceptance of any assassination contract to the factions, and the promise of retaliation and protection for the assassins, if they should find themselves targeted by the factions.
The phone rang somewhere between four or six times before her agent, Isabel picked up.
“H-hello?” Isabel asked tentatively.
Isabel had a healthy fear of Sarah. Sure, Isabel was a smart girl and could be brave in the face of the crime lords and other assassins during contract negotiations, but what made Sarah scarier than everyone else, was the fact that Isabel had seen a glimpse of Sarah’s shadow form. It had been a slip up on Sarah’s part. During meetings with Isabel, Sarah would stay in her shadow form under a hooded robe. Her shadow form disguised her voice, and made sure Isobel had no means of discovering Sarah’s identity, but one night the wind caught her hood just right and blew the fabric from her face. When the fabric blew from Sarah’s face, Isabel got a glimpse of the glowing snake-like red eyes of Sarah’s shadow form. Isabel never mentioned it, but Sarah could tell that the sight spooked Isabel. Ever since then, the girl always had a bit of a quiver to her voice when she spoke to Sarah.
“Good morning Isabel. I am claiming the contract on Crackle. Let the contractor know and send the money to account 8273910.” Sarah said politely. Her voice likely sounded distorted and ominous to Isabel from the cell phone’s voice changer.
“Yes, Dabria. I will attend to it immediately.” Said Isabel quickly.
Dabria was the alias Sarah gave herself within the Collective. It didn’t necessarily sound very ominous, but Endo told her it was the name of the angel of death, which Sarah found fitting.
“Thank you, Isabel.” Sarah said, then ended the call.
Sarah put the phone back and walked out of the room, being sure to secure the mirrored entrance back in place behind her.
Showering for a solid twenty minutes, Sarah basked in the hot water. She was more than happy to finally rinse out the crusted blood and remanence of the white paint from her hair. After she finished, she dried herself, which seemed a chore, as the exhaustion in her body was starting to set in. When she opened the bathroom door the steam trapped inside with her rush out into the bedroom in a thick white cloud.
Sarah shut off all the lights, and jumped onto her bed, her face landing on a pillow that had a faint smell of lavender. The embrace of the comfy bed felt amazing; the blankets so soft. She put her hands under the pillow and prepared for sleep to take her, not bothering to cover her naked form that lay above the covers.
Shadow Demon
Part 6
Leo gasped and opened his eyes, his nightmare waking him. The room’s light immediately assaulted his once sleeping eyes and forced him to squeeze them back shut. Shapes of green and orange lights danced on the back of his retinas.
Leo’s vivid nightmare replayed in his memory: Boris and Oscar attempting to kill him, the white-hot pain of a bullet tearing into his arm, and that woman… The stunning woman in the catsuit and heeled boots. Based on the woman, it may have been more a dream then a nightmare. It was odd just how vivid the dream was. Leo could almost perfectly recall every detail about the woman; The fluid movement of her hips, the husky seductiveness of her voice, the wild blue of her eyes, and the way that suit she wore hugged her body perfectly, accentuating those feminine curves.
Leo rubbed his face with his hand, which caused his bare arm to incidentally brush over the fabric of the blanket he laid on. There was a familiarity to the blanket’s fabric. This was his bed.
Leo focused on the ceiling, blinking his eyes multiple times, forcing them to adjust to the room’s light. He could see the layout of the room in his peripheral. This was certainly his room. He rolled over on his right arm to look at his alarm clock.
“Ack!” Leo breathed as the weight of his own body sent pain through his arm. He instinctively rolled on his back again to relieve the pressure, but still managed to get a glimpse at the clock, which read 2:56am. Looking at his now throbbing arm, Leo found it to be freshly bandaged. On closer inspection, a faint red circle could be seen through the top layers of the bandage. He continued to stare at the wound in confusion. Had he really been shot? What else from his dream truly happened?
Leo sat up in the bed and looked around his room. As his gaze moved to the corner of the room, he flinched. In the corner chair of his bedroom, sat the woman from his dream, dressed in the same catsuit, mask, and heeled boots. She sat there casually watching him, one of her legs was crossed over the other. She lightly sipped on a glass of white wine, then brought the glass to eye level and studied its contents.
“You have expensive taste Mr. Patterson.” The woman said swirling the wine in the glass. She then looked up at Leo. “I hope you don’t mind that I helped myself to your collection.”
“N-not at all.” Leo stammered, barely able to offer an intelligent response as his brain worked feverishly to understand what was going on.
The woman regarded him for a second, took another sip from the glass, then placed it on a table beside the chair. She uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, so that her forearms rested on her thighs and she could bridge her hands together. Her face turned serious as if she were about to say to him that he was late for work. “I know what happened tonight is a lot to take in, but I need to make something extremely clear. You will not speak of anything that you witnessed or heard tonight. You were never at the Wolf’s Den, you never talked to those thugs, and most importantly, you never saw me. If anyone asks, you came home straight from work and went to bed.” She said. The woman’s gaze fell open his arm and she said, “Can you treat that yourself?”
Leo examined at his bandaged arm. There was another red dot on the opposite side of the first. The bullet had gone clean through. Judging by the angle, it didn’t hit the bone, so it should heal alright.
“Um, yea, or yes. Yea, I should be able to take care of it.” Leo stammered.
“Good. You should also know that you are the only person to have seen me, and the only person that can place me at the club. Should you tell anyone about this, I will find out, and I will kill you.” The woman said coldly. She let her words sink in for a moment, watching Leo’s face. Seeing Leo’s likely wide-eyed expression, her face warmed to allow a slight smile. “Now try and get some sleep Mr. Patterson. You are wounded after all.” She added before standing up and walking towards the balcony doors of his room to leave.
Leo’s brain finally caught up and understood that everything that he dreamed was in fact very real. On top of that, Leo realized something about the woman, he knew her from somewhere. He saw her without her mask tonight, not that it really covered her face, but its removal made him certain that he knew her. Just as the woman’s back was turned to him and she grabbed the doorknob to the balcony, it hit him. Leo asked, “Your Sarah, Aren’t you?”.
The woman froze.
It was coming to Leo now. He remembered Sarah from high school. He didn’t know her personally, but he saw her. It wasn’t like someone could miss her back then. Her and Beth Lawson were the hottest girls in the school and made sure everyone knew it. The self-proclaimed queens of the school, dressed in variations of heavy makeup, crop-tops, heels, and the tightest low-cut jeans. Dressed like that, the two girls had every jock wrapped around their finger. Jocks that would forcefully remind Leo that if anyone had a chance, it wasn’t him.
Leo smiled.
After all this time, the hottest girl in Leo’s high school now stood in his bedroom, and the years since high school treated her well. If she was considered hot before, she presently was somewhere approaching the temperature of the sun. The once heavy makeup was now painted on her face as if by Leonardo da Vinci himself. As for her body, it had filled in with the strong feminine curves of a fitness model.
With Sarah’s back to Leo, his eyes couldn’t help but zero in on Sarah’s ass and marvel at how perfect that suit outlined it, how it dared to venture deep between her ass cheeks. In Leo’s opinion, this woman was a work of art and judging from the tent pole rising in his pants, so did his member.
Sarah turned her head to look over her shoulder.
Leo coughed and, in a panic, quickly grabbed a pillow from his bed and painfully slammed it over his crotch to hide his erection. Leo tried to maintain a blank but interested expression.
Sarah looked at him in a way that told Leo that she knew full well what was under the pillow and said, “Mr. Patterson, sparing your life was not a choice I took lightly. If you know me from somewhere, please burn that memory.”
“You-your right! I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pried.” Leo said quickly, trying to regain repour with the woman. His mouth went on autopilot, hoping that whatever he said would distract her from his obvious erection. “I-It’s just that. We knew each other, or at least saw each other during high school. That doesn’t mean anything, I know. B-but there’s a familiarity between us and you said that you were different from e-everyone else in the city. That means something. I-I should be different too. The streets are dangerous. I thought I was safe from it, but after tonight… I’m-I’m as vulnerable as anyone else. Maybe I could help you in some way?” Leo quickly blurted out.
Sarah let go of the doorknob and turned to face Leo. She cocked a hip and crossed her arms. A position that Leo noticed, caused a faint camel toe to be visible between the woman’s legs.
“Mr. Patterson, I fight and kill people every night, that on average, heavily outnumber me. Are you telling me you want to be an accomplice in that?” Sarah said dryly.
“N-NO! I could never kill anyone, and I don’t want to. It’s just that you saved me. I’d be dead tonight if it wasn’t for you. I owe you my life! I need to help you in some way.” Leo said, shifting his gaze away from Sarah to his feet.
“The best way for you to help me, is to forget what happened tonight.” Sarah said a bit more empathically.
Leo took in Sarah’s words for a moment. He didn’t mean to ask if he could help her, his mouth was just on autopilot. Maybe he should just act like this never happened. Although, after tonight, how does he act like tonight never happened? Even with all his past effort of staying out of the way of the city’s organized crime, Crackle still found him and bribed him into working on Angst.
Leo’s eyes widened in realization.
Without Crackle, Leo wouldn’t be able to afford his sister’s medical bills. They already spent all his family’s inheritance on the cancer treatments. Clara wouldn’t last more than a month off life support when the hospital kicked her out.
After a long moment, Leo concluded that he didn’t have the time to help Sarah, even if he wanted too. He needed to work more, make more money, and be with his sister. Leo said sorrowfully, “Your right, I’ll forget that tonight happened and move on”.
Leo looked back up at Sarah to see what might have been a disappointed expression under that mask. It was probably Leo’s imagination. She told him that she wanted him to act like tonight never happened, so if anything, she’s probably thrilled that he gave up arguing with her.
“That would be best.” Sarah said dropping her arms. She then turned towards the balcony door, opened it, and walked out onto the balcony.
Leo’s wounded arm itched under the bandage and he gave it a quick glance. When he looked back to Sarah, she was gone.
***
Sarah jumped off Leo’s balcony, her shadow form embracing her as she freefell towards the ground. Only a foot before hitting the ground, she willed herself home into her downtown penthouse suite. Upon arrival, she extended her senses throughout the penthouse looking for anyone trying to hide in the shadows, then further for anyone that may be watching outside the penthouse.
Confident that Sarah was alone and unwatched, she flicked on the lights.
Sarah’s shadow form was peeled off her body and the interior of the suite was bathed in warm light. The suite was spotlessly clean, modernly furnished, and freshly renovated; the walls painted in warm shades of yellow and orange. A look that put Sarah’s old apartment from last year to shame. Her old apartment was a dive to be modest, full of torn walls, shouting neighbors, and the ambiance of flickering lights. The state of her last apartment was entirely her fault. When her father died after high school, Sarah burned through the inheritance that he left her within a year and a half. She spent money like a teenager with a credit card, throwing money at things such as: parties, traveling, clothes, and poorly thought out business ventures. By the second year, Sarah had to forgo her family’s home to the bank and move into her shithole of an apartment. The only way Sarah managed to stay in college with Beth, was buy selling her evenings to an escort service. It was a job where she was paid a reasonable sum of money to look good hanging on the arms of rich businessmen during events to increase their status, and on occasion she was paid an even larger sums of money to let them have sex with her. Being an escort wasn’t a job she was proud of, and for the most part it was a secret only Beth knew, but a rumor did float around in small crowds that the spoiled Sarah Noir was prostituting herself for money and living in the city slums. Thankfully, those days were over. The money she got from being an assassin had allowed for some living upgrades, among other things. Her penthouse and the renovations were subsidized from her profits as an assassin, but most of the funding came from her position as partner and head of events at Lawson’s Urban Restoration and Designs. A company founded by her late friend’s Father, Henry Lawson, who started the company in Beth’s memory.
Sarah cleared her mind of Beth and thoughts of her old apartment, then strode purposefully through her suite into her kitchen, and pulled a bottle of iced wine out of the bar fridge. She poured herself a glass, then walked into her living room and sat horizontally along the couch with her back against the arm rest. She thought about Leo Patterson. The guy was a stuttering coward, but for a moment he was inspired to do something about the state of Winsome Bay. He wasn’t special, at some point everyone in Winsome Bay thinks they can do something about the despair lining the streets, but just like everyone else, it seems Leo Patterson thought it best to keep his head down. A part of Sarah had hoped that Leo would have proved to be different.
Sarah took off her gloves and mask, then placed them on the coffee table. Grabbing the back of her thigh and lifting her leg with one hand, she pulled the zipper of her boot up down its length. She pulled off the long boot to reveal her well-manicured foot, then did the same for the other boot.
Normally Sarah wouldn’t have any issues with heels, but the act of removing her boots tonight had an element of bliss to it. It had been a long night. Sarah took a sip of her wine then reached for the T.V. remote and clicked on the large flat screen mounted above the gas fireplace adjacent to her.
The television ran Winsome Bay’s 24-hour local news channel, WBNN.
A pretty news reporter labeled as Taylah Joyner by a blue banner at the bottom of the scene, stood in front of the Wolf’s Den. “As you can see Roy, the police have surrounded the popular downtown club and forensics are entering the building. There is still no word as to what happened inside, but residents of nearby apartment buildings have stated that several automatic gun shots could be heard just before police arrival on scene. We’ll keep you updated with the details as they become available. Back to you Ron.” Taylah Joyner said with the trademarked professional urgency of a journalist.
The screen switched to the news anchor, Roy Schofield.
“Looks like I caused quite a stir tonight.” Sarah said to herself, taking another sip of wine.
“Thanks, Taylah. In other news, the vigilante publicly known as Maximum Force has been found dead in a small convenience store on Lindhead Road. WBNN has obtained a copy of the store’s security footage. As a warning, the images you are about to see may be disturbing.” Said Roy Schofield.
The scene then cut to a black and white security footage of the store. The camera overlooked the store from behind the clerk. Nothing happened at first, it was just a scene of a regular convenience store. Rows of various snack packages in the center and glass door fridges lining the back wall. If it wasn’t for the horizontal bar of digital distortion slowly making its way down the screen, Sarah would have assumed she was looking at a still picture. Finally, there was movement as the front door opened. Three armed men walked into the store, two going to meet the store clerk, the other walked to the back of the store, looking for customers. The two gunmen with the clerk, pulled out their weapons and motioned for the clerk to open the till. The clerk hurriedly started pilling wads of cash onto the counter. A reflection on one of the glass doored fridges, revealed a white clad figure peeking through one of the widows off screen. The figure then stepped away from the window and out of the reflection. A moment later, the window nearest one of the gunmen by the till, exploded inwards with the white and blue spandex missile of Maximum Force. The hero’s body connected with one of the gunmen in a tackle, and the two flew into and through a rack of potato chips. The other gunmen whorled in the direction of the hero, and before either Maximum Force or the gunmen he tackled could get up, the gunmen fired his shotgun. The blast of the shotgun removed a chuck of flesh the size of a fist out of Maximum Force, between his ribs and hip. The gunmen holding the shotgun turned and, in a panic, grabbed the money from the counter and ran out of the store, a few bills flew out of his grasp and onto the floor as he left. The gunmen in the back of the store ran over to the one pinned under Maximum Force and pulled him out from under the bleeding hero. The two gunmen also ran out of the store, and the screen cut back to the grim face of Roy Schofield.
Sarah grabbed the remote and shut off the TV before the news Anchor could give his two cents.
“Idiots.” Sarah breathed to herself.
At least once a month some self-proclaimed hero would rise from nowhere, only to be found dead a couple weeks later. It was becoming recently more common in the city. As the public witnessed the police force become lazier, and willing to turn a blind eye to the corruption and crime in the city, citizens were taking it upon themselves to fix the city. Most of the city’s heroes were those that have lost so much to this city, that the noble allure of donning a cape and fighting crime seems like the only way to fix things. A few of the Heroes don’t even bother to wear masks, feeling that their reality was so awful that they had foregone their personal lives altogether.
Sarah guessed she was technically one of the “heroes” of the city, but she liked to think that she was smarter, less illusioned with how bad things really were, and not afraid to use the criminal’s weapon against them. To fight fear with fear.
Sarah looked and frowned at the clock. It was nearly 3:30am. Reluctantly, she got up from the couch, grabbed her boots, mask, and gloves, then walked through her bedroom and into her walk-in closet.
The closet was massive, and stocked entirely with expensive clothes, jewelry, and shoes. All of it neatly organized, as if a museum display. Although, for the massive size of the closet, anyone that would take a closer look at the suite’s original floor plans would realize that the closet could be twice as large. Part of Sarah’s recent renovations included the creation of a second room within the closet.
Sarah put the boots, mask, and gloves down, then unzipped her catsuit. She grabbed either side of the zipper and shrugged the top half of the suit off her shoulders. Pulling her arms out of the suit, the top half dropped around her hips. She then, placed her thumbs in the suit around her waist. She tugged and wiggled the suit off and out of her ass, then down her legs. A struggle that came with having the suit tailored to fit her body, perfectly. The suit pooled around her ankles and she stepped out of it, leaving her naked as the day she was born.
Walking up to the large ornately framed mirror on the opposite wall of the closet, Sarah admired her body. She was proud of the physique she accomplished through fighting and attending the gym, minus the bruises she acquired tonight. She turned so that she could see the damage to her back. She had two baseball-sized purple bruises on her back, one under the shoulder blade, the other at the bottom of her ribs. She hissed as she poked the purple bruise on her ribs. Thankfully the bruises should be mostly gone by the morning. Another perk to the whole demon thing was that her body healed abnormally fast while she slept.
Sarah slid her fingers behind the frame of the mirror and clicked the two release switches simultaneously. The mirror shifted away from the wall and then slid to the side, revealing a doorway to the once other half of the closet.
The secret room was dimly lit with a green glow emitting from the surface of a large glass table in the center, and a red glow emitting from the ceiling on the opposite side of the room. To Sarah’s left, a cylindrical glass doored chamber with a mannequin the size of a child was magnetically suspended within, as if levitating by magic. Beside the chamber was a weapons rack holding copies of Sarah’s gloves, sniper rifles, pistols, and several small gadgets. To Sarah’s right, was a clothing rack that held extra boots, trench coats, hooded robes, and a few latex catsuits she wore before she got her armored one. Beside the clothing rack, was a desk with a laptop and a couple cell phones on it.
Sarah picked up her costume, then walked into the room, the light was dim enough that her shadow form enveloped her as she stepped over the threshold. She put her boots and gloves in their separate racks, then opened the glass door that contained the small mannequin. Hanging the catsuit on the shoulders of the mannequin, caused the mannequin to activate, prompting the small mannequin’s limbs and body to stretch and grow, filling in the suit as if it were Sarah. She then closed the glass door and pressed a button on the panel. Jets lining the wall of the chamber started spraying the suit in a concoction of sanitizers, material preservatives, and hot water. The magnetically suspended mannequin slowly rotated during the process.
Sarah looked at her mask. That brute had slapped her mask off in a single strike tonight. She flexed the mask in her hands a couple times, considering it. Perhaps the plastic material of the mask was too rigid. A silicon version would form to her face better, and hopefully not fly off if someone struck it.
Sarah placed the mask in a drawer under the cloths rack, making a mental note to order a silicon version tomorrow. Then she grabbed one of the cellphones off the desk beside the clothes rack and dialed her agent.
When Sarah became aware of the Collective of Assassins, she decided it best to work through an agent instead of representing herself, personally.
The Collective was born from a need for immunity from the repercussions of successful assassinations. As crime became more cutthroat within Winsome Bay, the use of assassin’s and hitmen became the standard tools of crime lords. Soon an issue arose when successful assassinations made one or more factions angry and itching to retaliate. Although, if the faction did not want to risk a war with another faction, they instead focused their frustrations on the assassin responsible. Freelance assassins found that the risk for completing a job was becoming too high, so the top assassins, in a sense, unionized. Thus, the Collective of Assassins was born. The Collective offered unbiased acceptance of any assassination contract to the factions, and the promise of retaliation and protection for the assassins, if they should find themselves targeted by the factions.
The phone rang somewhere between four or six times before her agent, Isabel picked up.
“H-hello?” Isabel asked tentatively.
Isabel had a healthy fear of Sarah. Sure, Isabel was a smart girl and could be brave in the face of the crime lords and other assassins during contract negotiations, but what made Sarah scarier than everyone else, was the fact that Isabel had seen a glimpse of Sarah’s shadow form. It had been a slip up on Sarah’s part. During meetings with Isabel, Sarah would stay in her shadow form under a hooded robe. Her shadow form disguised her voice, and made sure Isobel had no means of discovering Sarah’s identity, but one night the wind caught her hood just right and blew the fabric from her face. When the fabric blew from Sarah’s face, Isabel got a glimpse of the glowing snake-like red eyes of Sarah’s shadow form. Isabel never mentioned it, but Sarah could tell that the sight spooked Isabel. Ever since then, the girl always had a bit of a quiver to her voice when she spoke to Sarah.
“Good morning Isabel. I am claiming the contract on Crackle. Let the contractor know and send the money to account 8273910.” Sarah said politely. Her voice likely sounded distorted and ominous to Isabel from the cell phone’s voice changer.
“Yes, Dabria. I will attend to it immediately.” Said Isabel quickly.
Dabria was the alias Sarah gave herself within the Collective. It didn’t necessarily sound very ominous, but Endo told her it was the name of the angel of death, which Sarah found fitting.
“Thank you, Isabel.” Sarah said, then ended the call.
Sarah put the phone back and walked out of the room, being sure to secure the mirrored entrance back in place behind her.
Showering for a solid twenty minutes, Sarah basked in the hot water. She was more than happy to finally rinse out the crusted blood and remanence of the white paint from her hair. After she finished, she dried herself, which seemed a chore, as the exhaustion in her body was starting to set in. When she opened the bathroom door the steam trapped inside with her rush out into the bedroom in a thick white cloud.
Sarah shut off all the lights, and jumped onto her bed, her face landing on a pillow that had a faint smell of lavender. The embrace of the comfy bed felt amazing; the blankets so soft. She put her hands under the pillow and prepared for sleep to take her, not bothering to cover her naked form that lay above the covers.
-
DrDominator9
- Emissary
- Posts: 2460
- Joined: 13 years ago
- Location: On the Border of the Neutral Zone
Good backfilling and explanation of the protagonist's situation. Getting us more deeply involved with her as well as the conditions in the city she "protects."
More peril to come I'm sure, but this read cleanly and quickly. Thanks for sharing.
More peril to come I'm sure, but this read cleanly and quickly. Thanks for sharing.
Sorry it's been a while since I posted. It's been a busy summer/fall. Anyway, here is part 7, hope you enjoy it. As always, I love to get any feedback regarding the story.
Shadow Demon
Part 7:
Sarah stood naked in front of her bedroom window, watching the cars and trucks silently move through the streets of Winsome Bay. From this height, the cars appeared to have lost their individuality under the shroud of night, appearing as solid snakes of moving red and white light slithering in-between buildings. Even the buildings themselves had a slight bestial look to them; The random lights left illuminated in the windows of the concrete towers, were reminiscent of many yellow eyes watching her from the darkness.
A large masculine hand slid across Sarah’s exposed belly, and gently pulled her into contact with the man standing behind her, distracting her from her thoughts of the city. Sarah could feel the warm muscle of the man’s abs and chest against her back, accompanied by the heat of his manhood awakening to rest against her inner thigh. The man pecked at her neck with gentle kisses. Like a drug, the kisses seemed to melt the tension from Sarah’s body. She rolled her head back in response, exposing more of her neck to the man, and let out a husky laugh of relaxed pleasure.
Sarah turned to face the stranger, biting her lower lip as she drank in the sight.
The man was tall and handsome, with a strong jaw, sandy-blonde hair, and a calming smile that showed his polished white teeth. Between his legs was a cock that had an unspoken promise of being for Sarah and Sarah alone.
Sarah touched his face and leaned in to kiss his full lips. She needed to stand on her toes to reach his mouth. The kiss was soft at first, but she soon needed more. In her desire, Sarah pushed her tongue past his lips, and explored his mouth, eager for the man to respond in kind. His mouth tasted of tropical fruit, sweet and exotic. The size of the man’s mouth seemed odd though, like it was somehow larger than it should have been. Her tongue danced with the man’s, but she never touched his teeth, as if they were out of reach. When Sarah did manage to accidently brush against the man’s teeth, they were revealed to be razor sharp and immediately cut her.
Sarah yelped and pulled away from the man, putting her hand to her mouth. She could taste the coppery flavor of blood on her tongue.
Confused, Sarah looked up at the once handsome man to find Endo staring down at her, smiling wolfishly with his many rows of shark-like teeth.
“I apologize for the interruption, but I wanted to speak with you.” Endo said.
Sarah spit the blood from her mouth and looked around her, realizing that she now stood in Endo’s study. The blood she spat was almost invisible on the room’s crimson carpeting.
“What have I said about entering my dreams, Endo?” Sarah asked, frustrated that the outlet for her arousal had vanished. She wanted that man; she wanted him to fill her, and to ride him until she collapsed on top of him.
“You would have woken long before you had the chance to mount the male.” Endo stated.
“Something I’d prefer to experience for myself, thank you. At the very least, I would have liked the dream would have remained a dream, not some nightmare. You may think your beautiful, but you’re not on my to-do list.” said Sarah.
Endo chuckled. “I have pleasured mortals in ways you can’t even imagine, my Vessel. You should consider yourself too lucky to have such a resource at hand.” Endo said confidently.
“Thanks, but I think I’ll stick with my humans.” Sarah said with a tight smile. “It’s a whole different kink if I start fucking demons.”
“Suit yourself. I only make you aware of your… options.” Said Endo, slyly.
“Of course, my options.” Sarah said with a tight smile and an over-exaggerated nod. She shook her head, desperately wanting to change the topic. “Anyway, what’s so important that you felt the need to invade my dream?” she asked.
“Ah yes, I was considering the words of Vincent Ward. He spoke of recognizing the mortals he acquired the souls from as past business associates of his father’s. We should find out who sired Vincent Ward, and inquire who these business associates are from that man.” Said Endo.
Sarah walked around Endo and sat on the edge of his desk, crossing her legs. “Well, if he’s part of the Ward family I’m thinking of, we won’t have to look too hard. James Ward is one of the richest men in town, he owns and runs Ward Industries. Honestly, with that much power, it’s hard to imagine that he isn’t a crime leader.” Said Sarah
“If this man is one of the faction leaders, he is then your target?” asked Endo.
Sarah considered that. Endo was right, if James Ward was the leader of one of the criminal empires, he just made it to the top of Sarah’s hit-list.
“I think the CEO of Ward Industries is due for early retirement.” Said Sarah.
Endo teeth showed in a grin.
Sarah managed to eliminate one of the faction leaders before. Last year, Ewan Kemp was Winsome Bay’s biggest cocaine and sex trafficker. She got Kemp, but it was close, and nearly cost Sarah her life. She’d been reckless and cocky that night, and Kemp and his men took full advantage of it. Her assault was turned into an ambush. Kemp allowed himself to be cornered, while his men flanked Sarah and shot her from behind. They laughed at her as she lay wounded on the floor under them, and they would have done even more had Endo not intervened. She doesn’t remember much of what happened, but the screams of horror and agony still resonated with her. She would have died from her injuries that night, if Endo hadn’t taken her into the Void.
The Void was either a dimension where demons are from, or someplace they created. It is place of pure darkness, a paradise for demons, yet extremely dangerous. Although dangerous, the Void was the only place Endo could have taken Sarah to heal her injuries. Her demon side could heal cuts and bruises while she slept, but organ damage and bullet holes were something a nap couldn’t fix. Maybe it was the perfect darkness or some mystical energies of the Void, but the Void empowered the demon part of Sarah’s soul to heal her body’s wounds at incredible speeds; Provided, that she wasn’t eaten by another demon while being there. The demons of the Void constantly consumed one another for power. It was a never-ending struggle for power that Sarah noted, had many similarities to the criminal underworld of Winsome Bay.
It still took six days for Sarah to recover in the Void, and in that time, everything Sarah fought for by killing Kemp was undone. Someone had replaced Ewan Kemp and the cocaine and sex trade in Winsome Bay resumed. The new faction leader unknown.
Sarah wasn’t going to make the same mistakes with Ward. She wasn’t just going to just eliminate James Ward; she was going to destroy his entire empire, leaving only a smoking ruin behind, and destroy anyone who dared to dig in the ashes.
“Ward Industries was where we acquired the material for that outfit of yours. We’ve gotten in before, it should not prove difficult to infiltrate the building again.” Continued Endo, his gaze distancing and his hand going to his chin, as he likely pondered a scheme to attack the head of Ward Industries.
Sarah laughed. “That place was a fortress, with barely a sliver of shadow to move through, we only got in last time because I bribed a guard $500,000 to look the other way when I got spotted; Not to mention what I had to do to for the scientist.” said Sarah, exasperated.
“If you had just dispatched them as I suggested, we wouldn’t be having this argument.” Said Endo in a casual tone.
“The guards were innocent. We’ve been over this.” Said Sarah strictly.
Endo made a dismissive gesture with his hand and turned to the opposite end of the room, as if to walk away. “Irrelevant. Our plan will be to attack this James Ward at night and learn what he knows about his business associates.” Endo stated.
“Nope, I’ve got a gala tonight.” Sarah said, examining her fingernails.
Endo spun back to face her in an instant, his eyes dangerously narrowing. Sarah grinned mischievously, while not looking away from her nails.
“Don’t look at me like that, I’ve got a personal life you know.” Sarah said in a playfully hurt tone. “Besides, James Ward will be at the gala. It’s his daughter’s fundraiser after all. He’ll have to walk on stage and show everyone there how much money his big bad weapons company gives to charity.” She continued.
Endo relaxed a little, then smiled. “Your going to seduce him?” he asked.
“No, I’m not going to seduce him.” Sarah said giving Endo a hard look. “I’ve got better things to do then suck on old man balls. We’ll just grab him on his way out after the event, rough him up, then you can jump in his head and find out who made the souls. That way I still get a night off, you still get to play scary demon.” She continued.
“That plan is… acceptable.” Said Endo forcefully.
“Good, I’m glad you agree.” Sarah said cheerfully, jumping off the desk. She couldn’t let Endo or herself kill Ward yet. She needed time to find everyone involve with Ward and deconstruct his organization from the bottom up.
Sarah was about to walk away from Endo, when she remembered the paint from last night. She crossed her arms over herself and was starting to wish she had clothes on. The thought of having a weakness made her shiver. “Hey, Endo. One of the men last night got me with some kind of glowstick juice, it took my shadow form right off. Have you ever heard of anything like that?” She asked.
Endo appeared to think on it for a moment. “To my recent knowledge no mortal has employed the use of a chemical light against demon kind, although…”. Endo said, then broke off to move towards one of the bookshelves, pulling out a volume appearing to be written in ancient Greek or Roman, and began flipping through the pages.
Endo was a demon that, if what he says is true, has been alive since before humans ever walked the earth. To maintain a perfect recollection of all his knowledge, Endo created what some people would call a mind palace. Essentially, it’s an imaginary room in someone’s mind that people use to store information and memories. Although, Endo’s mind palace was far more real than a human could hope to accomplish. His mind palace was a literal place existing as a sort of pocket dimension in his head, one in which he transcribed all his memories into the seeming infinite texts lining the walls of his study.
“I witnessed a lesser demon destroyed by a variation of Greek fire during the twelfth century, soon after being exercised by the-” Endo suddenly looked up from the book at Sarah. The intensity of his gaze made her slightly uncomfortable, and she averted her eyes. Endo slithered over to her and grabbed her shoulders, his towering height of nine feet making Sarah feel small. He asked her “Did you recognize the man that attacked you last night?”.
Sarah pushed away from Endo, stepping back to distance herself from the demon. “No, I’ve never seen him before.” Sarah said.
Endo grabbed Sarah’s arm and pulled her back to him. “What was he wearing, did he have any scars?” he asked, the volume of his voice rising.
Sarah pulled her arm, trying to free herself from Endo’s leathery fingers. “Endo, let go!” She growled, anger touching her voice.
Endo’s grasp tightened. “Describe the man.” He said, his voice deafening.
“Fuck, Jesus Endo. He just looked like he was military or something.” Sarah said. She’d never seen Endo like this. He was always cold, calculating, and often arrogant. Most of the time she thought he was incapable of emotion, besides anger, but she assumed that he often faked the emotion, just to scare people.
“What of scars?” Endo said.
“Look, Endo. I didn’t strip the guy, he didn’t have any scars that I could see, just a tattoo. Now, let go of my arm.” Sarah said, tugging her arm in his grasp.
Endo looked at his hand holding her arm, then released her.
Sarah stepped away from Endo and rubbed at her arm. “Don’t ever touch me like that again.” Said Sarah, trying to put as much intimidation in her voice as possible. If she had any effect on him, it didn’t show. Endo was looking at the ground, ignoring her, his eyes shifting side to side as he was calculating something, then they narrowed.
Endo looked back to Sarah and said, “Tell me of the tattoo.”.
Sarah looked at him hard, debating as to whether she should just ignore his question. She hoped her face didn’t show any fear, but she was trembling. If Endo wanted to harm her, she’d be dead. It wasn’t super comforting, but at least it was a fact that reminded her that she wasn’t in any danger. She made a long, slightly shaken sigh and said, “Nothing crazy, just a sun overlooking a rain cloud, or maybe a puddle.”.
Endo turned and slithered over to his desk, opening a drawer and pulling out an ornate sword. He brought it to Sarah and showed her the hilt. “The symbol you described, was it this one?” He asked.
Sarah examined the hilt and saw the symbol she described engraved at both the top and bottom of the hilt. “Yea, that’s the one.” She said.
Endo inhaled deeply, then let out a low snarl. “It’s time we move to a new location. I suppose it’s only a matter of time before we run into the Order if they are stationed in this city.” Endo said.
“What!? We can’t leave Winsome Bay. I can’t leave Winsome Bay. Our whole contract is for you to help me fix this city.” Sarah stated. “What’s the Order and why would it matter if they’re in the city? I thought you were the big bad demon. Since when are you scared of mortals?” She asked, annoyed but also a little worried at Endo’s reaction.
“I do not fear mortals!” Endo shouted. His pride obviously poked by Sarah’s comment. He closed his eyes, thinking. “It is just in my better interest to operate beyond the proximity of the Order. They would prove to be an inconvenience.”
“Who are they?” Sarah asked, the memory of man with the tattoo playing in her mind. The man had specifically called her a demon. She thought it was intended as an insult, but if there was a faction that knew about demons and had developed weapons to combat them… It was a humbling thought. “You turned me into a demon, doesn’t that mean I have the right to know about some group that knows about demons and is trying to kill us?” she asked. “I mean, aren’t I supposed to protect you from threats during the day. It would make my job easier if I knew that I’d have to look out for some army guys intentionally trying to cover me in paint.”
“I suppose that as partially demon, you may be entitled to information regarding the Order.” Endo said slowly. Endo turned back to his desk and placed the sword back inside. He then reached for a large book forty feet above him on the bookshelf behind his desk. The shelf contained thousands of books and was easily five or eight stories tall. Although the book Endo reached for was beyond his reach, the volume jumped off the shelf and glided into Endo’s hand, as if an invisible librarian handed it to him. He placed the large book on his desk, sat down in his bowl-like chair, and began to flip through the book’s pages. “I will review my knowledge regarding the Order. If they are somehow related to the harvest of demon souls, it would be most troubling. In the meantime, I would suggest that you avoid army men with paint, as you called them. That will be all for now my Vessel.”
Sarah woke up to her face still partially buried in her pillow. When she opened her eyes, one of them was assaulted by a ray of morning sunlight stabbing at her eye through the window. She rolled her face back into her pillow to avoid it. “Well, this week just got busy.” She mumbled into her pillow.
Shadow Demon
Part 7:
Sarah stood naked in front of her bedroom window, watching the cars and trucks silently move through the streets of Winsome Bay. From this height, the cars appeared to have lost their individuality under the shroud of night, appearing as solid snakes of moving red and white light slithering in-between buildings. Even the buildings themselves had a slight bestial look to them; The random lights left illuminated in the windows of the concrete towers, were reminiscent of many yellow eyes watching her from the darkness.
A large masculine hand slid across Sarah’s exposed belly, and gently pulled her into contact with the man standing behind her, distracting her from her thoughts of the city. Sarah could feel the warm muscle of the man’s abs and chest against her back, accompanied by the heat of his manhood awakening to rest against her inner thigh. The man pecked at her neck with gentle kisses. Like a drug, the kisses seemed to melt the tension from Sarah’s body. She rolled her head back in response, exposing more of her neck to the man, and let out a husky laugh of relaxed pleasure.
Sarah turned to face the stranger, biting her lower lip as she drank in the sight.
The man was tall and handsome, with a strong jaw, sandy-blonde hair, and a calming smile that showed his polished white teeth. Between his legs was a cock that had an unspoken promise of being for Sarah and Sarah alone.
Sarah touched his face and leaned in to kiss his full lips. She needed to stand on her toes to reach his mouth. The kiss was soft at first, but she soon needed more. In her desire, Sarah pushed her tongue past his lips, and explored his mouth, eager for the man to respond in kind. His mouth tasted of tropical fruit, sweet and exotic. The size of the man’s mouth seemed odd though, like it was somehow larger than it should have been. Her tongue danced with the man’s, but she never touched his teeth, as if they were out of reach. When Sarah did manage to accidently brush against the man’s teeth, they were revealed to be razor sharp and immediately cut her.
Sarah yelped and pulled away from the man, putting her hand to her mouth. She could taste the coppery flavor of blood on her tongue.
Confused, Sarah looked up at the once handsome man to find Endo staring down at her, smiling wolfishly with his many rows of shark-like teeth.
“I apologize for the interruption, but I wanted to speak with you.” Endo said.
Sarah spit the blood from her mouth and looked around her, realizing that she now stood in Endo’s study. The blood she spat was almost invisible on the room’s crimson carpeting.
“What have I said about entering my dreams, Endo?” Sarah asked, frustrated that the outlet for her arousal had vanished. She wanted that man; she wanted him to fill her, and to ride him until she collapsed on top of him.
“You would have woken long before you had the chance to mount the male.” Endo stated.
“Something I’d prefer to experience for myself, thank you. At the very least, I would have liked the dream would have remained a dream, not some nightmare. You may think your beautiful, but you’re not on my to-do list.” said Sarah.
Endo chuckled. “I have pleasured mortals in ways you can’t even imagine, my Vessel. You should consider yourself too lucky to have such a resource at hand.” Endo said confidently.
“Thanks, but I think I’ll stick with my humans.” Sarah said with a tight smile. “It’s a whole different kink if I start fucking demons.”
“Suit yourself. I only make you aware of your… options.” Said Endo, slyly.
“Of course, my options.” Sarah said with a tight smile and an over-exaggerated nod. She shook her head, desperately wanting to change the topic. “Anyway, what’s so important that you felt the need to invade my dream?” she asked.
“Ah yes, I was considering the words of Vincent Ward. He spoke of recognizing the mortals he acquired the souls from as past business associates of his father’s. We should find out who sired Vincent Ward, and inquire who these business associates are from that man.” Said Endo.
Sarah walked around Endo and sat on the edge of his desk, crossing her legs. “Well, if he’s part of the Ward family I’m thinking of, we won’t have to look too hard. James Ward is one of the richest men in town, he owns and runs Ward Industries. Honestly, with that much power, it’s hard to imagine that he isn’t a crime leader.” Said Sarah
“If this man is one of the faction leaders, he is then your target?” asked Endo.
Sarah considered that. Endo was right, if James Ward was the leader of one of the criminal empires, he just made it to the top of Sarah’s hit-list.
“I think the CEO of Ward Industries is due for early retirement.” Said Sarah.
Endo teeth showed in a grin.
Sarah managed to eliminate one of the faction leaders before. Last year, Ewan Kemp was Winsome Bay’s biggest cocaine and sex trafficker. She got Kemp, but it was close, and nearly cost Sarah her life. She’d been reckless and cocky that night, and Kemp and his men took full advantage of it. Her assault was turned into an ambush. Kemp allowed himself to be cornered, while his men flanked Sarah and shot her from behind. They laughed at her as she lay wounded on the floor under them, and they would have done even more had Endo not intervened. She doesn’t remember much of what happened, but the screams of horror and agony still resonated with her. She would have died from her injuries that night, if Endo hadn’t taken her into the Void.
The Void was either a dimension where demons are from, or someplace they created. It is place of pure darkness, a paradise for demons, yet extremely dangerous. Although dangerous, the Void was the only place Endo could have taken Sarah to heal her injuries. Her demon side could heal cuts and bruises while she slept, but organ damage and bullet holes were something a nap couldn’t fix. Maybe it was the perfect darkness or some mystical energies of the Void, but the Void empowered the demon part of Sarah’s soul to heal her body’s wounds at incredible speeds; Provided, that she wasn’t eaten by another demon while being there. The demons of the Void constantly consumed one another for power. It was a never-ending struggle for power that Sarah noted, had many similarities to the criminal underworld of Winsome Bay.
It still took six days for Sarah to recover in the Void, and in that time, everything Sarah fought for by killing Kemp was undone. Someone had replaced Ewan Kemp and the cocaine and sex trade in Winsome Bay resumed. The new faction leader unknown.
Sarah wasn’t going to make the same mistakes with Ward. She wasn’t just going to just eliminate James Ward; she was going to destroy his entire empire, leaving only a smoking ruin behind, and destroy anyone who dared to dig in the ashes.
“Ward Industries was where we acquired the material for that outfit of yours. We’ve gotten in before, it should not prove difficult to infiltrate the building again.” Continued Endo, his gaze distancing and his hand going to his chin, as he likely pondered a scheme to attack the head of Ward Industries.
Sarah laughed. “That place was a fortress, with barely a sliver of shadow to move through, we only got in last time because I bribed a guard $500,000 to look the other way when I got spotted; Not to mention what I had to do to for the scientist.” said Sarah, exasperated.
“If you had just dispatched them as I suggested, we wouldn’t be having this argument.” Said Endo in a casual tone.
“The guards were innocent. We’ve been over this.” Said Sarah strictly.
Endo made a dismissive gesture with his hand and turned to the opposite end of the room, as if to walk away. “Irrelevant. Our plan will be to attack this James Ward at night and learn what he knows about his business associates.” Endo stated.
“Nope, I’ve got a gala tonight.” Sarah said, examining her fingernails.
Endo spun back to face her in an instant, his eyes dangerously narrowing. Sarah grinned mischievously, while not looking away from her nails.
“Don’t look at me like that, I’ve got a personal life you know.” Sarah said in a playfully hurt tone. “Besides, James Ward will be at the gala. It’s his daughter’s fundraiser after all. He’ll have to walk on stage and show everyone there how much money his big bad weapons company gives to charity.” She continued.
Endo relaxed a little, then smiled. “Your going to seduce him?” he asked.
“No, I’m not going to seduce him.” Sarah said giving Endo a hard look. “I’ve got better things to do then suck on old man balls. We’ll just grab him on his way out after the event, rough him up, then you can jump in his head and find out who made the souls. That way I still get a night off, you still get to play scary demon.” She continued.
“That plan is… acceptable.” Said Endo forcefully.
“Good, I’m glad you agree.” Sarah said cheerfully, jumping off the desk. She couldn’t let Endo or herself kill Ward yet. She needed time to find everyone involve with Ward and deconstruct his organization from the bottom up.
Sarah was about to walk away from Endo, when she remembered the paint from last night. She crossed her arms over herself and was starting to wish she had clothes on. The thought of having a weakness made her shiver. “Hey, Endo. One of the men last night got me with some kind of glowstick juice, it took my shadow form right off. Have you ever heard of anything like that?” She asked.
Endo appeared to think on it for a moment. “To my recent knowledge no mortal has employed the use of a chemical light against demon kind, although…”. Endo said, then broke off to move towards one of the bookshelves, pulling out a volume appearing to be written in ancient Greek or Roman, and began flipping through the pages.
Endo was a demon that, if what he says is true, has been alive since before humans ever walked the earth. To maintain a perfect recollection of all his knowledge, Endo created what some people would call a mind palace. Essentially, it’s an imaginary room in someone’s mind that people use to store information and memories. Although, Endo’s mind palace was far more real than a human could hope to accomplish. His mind palace was a literal place existing as a sort of pocket dimension in his head, one in which he transcribed all his memories into the seeming infinite texts lining the walls of his study.
“I witnessed a lesser demon destroyed by a variation of Greek fire during the twelfth century, soon after being exercised by the-” Endo suddenly looked up from the book at Sarah. The intensity of his gaze made her slightly uncomfortable, and she averted her eyes. Endo slithered over to her and grabbed her shoulders, his towering height of nine feet making Sarah feel small. He asked her “Did you recognize the man that attacked you last night?”.
Sarah pushed away from Endo, stepping back to distance herself from the demon. “No, I’ve never seen him before.” Sarah said.
Endo grabbed Sarah’s arm and pulled her back to him. “What was he wearing, did he have any scars?” he asked, the volume of his voice rising.
Sarah pulled her arm, trying to free herself from Endo’s leathery fingers. “Endo, let go!” She growled, anger touching her voice.
Endo’s grasp tightened. “Describe the man.” He said, his voice deafening.
“Fuck, Jesus Endo. He just looked like he was military or something.” Sarah said. She’d never seen Endo like this. He was always cold, calculating, and often arrogant. Most of the time she thought he was incapable of emotion, besides anger, but she assumed that he often faked the emotion, just to scare people.
“What of scars?” Endo said.
“Look, Endo. I didn’t strip the guy, he didn’t have any scars that I could see, just a tattoo. Now, let go of my arm.” Sarah said, tugging her arm in his grasp.
Endo looked at his hand holding her arm, then released her.
Sarah stepped away from Endo and rubbed at her arm. “Don’t ever touch me like that again.” Said Sarah, trying to put as much intimidation in her voice as possible. If she had any effect on him, it didn’t show. Endo was looking at the ground, ignoring her, his eyes shifting side to side as he was calculating something, then they narrowed.
Endo looked back to Sarah and said, “Tell me of the tattoo.”.
Sarah looked at him hard, debating as to whether she should just ignore his question. She hoped her face didn’t show any fear, but she was trembling. If Endo wanted to harm her, she’d be dead. It wasn’t super comforting, but at least it was a fact that reminded her that she wasn’t in any danger. She made a long, slightly shaken sigh and said, “Nothing crazy, just a sun overlooking a rain cloud, or maybe a puddle.”.
Endo turned and slithered over to his desk, opening a drawer and pulling out an ornate sword. He brought it to Sarah and showed her the hilt. “The symbol you described, was it this one?” He asked.
Sarah examined the hilt and saw the symbol she described engraved at both the top and bottom of the hilt. “Yea, that’s the one.” She said.
Endo inhaled deeply, then let out a low snarl. “It’s time we move to a new location. I suppose it’s only a matter of time before we run into the Order if they are stationed in this city.” Endo said.
“What!? We can’t leave Winsome Bay. I can’t leave Winsome Bay. Our whole contract is for you to help me fix this city.” Sarah stated. “What’s the Order and why would it matter if they’re in the city? I thought you were the big bad demon. Since when are you scared of mortals?” She asked, annoyed but also a little worried at Endo’s reaction.
“I do not fear mortals!” Endo shouted. His pride obviously poked by Sarah’s comment. He closed his eyes, thinking. “It is just in my better interest to operate beyond the proximity of the Order. They would prove to be an inconvenience.”
“Who are they?” Sarah asked, the memory of man with the tattoo playing in her mind. The man had specifically called her a demon. She thought it was intended as an insult, but if there was a faction that knew about demons and had developed weapons to combat them… It was a humbling thought. “You turned me into a demon, doesn’t that mean I have the right to know about some group that knows about demons and is trying to kill us?” she asked. “I mean, aren’t I supposed to protect you from threats during the day. It would make my job easier if I knew that I’d have to look out for some army guys intentionally trying to cover me in paint.”
“I suppose that as partially demon, you may be entitled to information regarding the Order.” Endo said slowly. Endo turned back to his desk and placed the sword back inside. He then reached for a large book forty feet above him on the bookshelf behind his desk. The shelf contained thousands of books and was easily five or eight stories tall. Although the book Endo reached for was beyond his reach, the volume jumped off the shelf and glided into Endo’s hand, as if an invisible librarian handed it to him. He placed the large book on his desk, sat down in his bowl-like chair, and began to flip through the book’s pages. “I will review my knowledge regarding the Order. If they are somehow related to the harvest of demon souls, it would be most troubling. In the meantime, I would suggest that you avoid army men with paint, as you called them. That will be all for now my Vessel.”
Sarah woke up to her face still partially buried in her pillow. When she opened her eyes, one of them was assaulted by a ray of morning sunlight stabbing at her eye through the window. She rolled her face back into her pillow to avoid it. “Well, this week just got busy.” She mumbled into her pillow.
Hope you like a bit of spice in your stories, because this chapter should definitely get your fire going. I'm quite proud of how the sex scene turned out in this one. Let me know what you think of it in the comments.
Shadow Demon
Part 8
The gala was hosted in the Grand Hughes hotel, an impressive building that was built over a hundred years ago. Even with its ago, the Grand Hughes maintained its status as Winsome Bay’s most luxurious hotel, and it wasn’t hard to understand why. The castle-like tower was surrounded by a vast botanical garden, housing trees older than the building itself. With both the large winding trees and the many exotic flowers, the hotel appeared to be surrounded by a forest that belonged in a fairytale. At the end of the lighted cobblestone path to the hotel, a waterfall poured in a perimeter around the front entrance. The water appeared to be made of liquid gold, colored in the night by the giant spotlights shining from the bottom. Like the breaking of a stage curtain, the great waterfall was parted down the center in the shape of an upside down “V”, allowing guests to enter the building untouched by the column of water.
Patrons of the gala, dressed in expensive evening wear, moved in pairs down the long walkway to the entrance, slowly funneling into the building.
At the beginning of the hotel’s walkway, Henry Lawson stepped out of his car, waved at the press cameras and then reached a hand back into the car. A feminine hand took Henry’s and was soon followed by a long graceful leg.
As Sarah stepped out of the car, she could see the mouths of photographers and journalists fall open as their gaze eventually fell upon her. She wore an evening dress of soft black fabric, with an exposed back, and a wide split on the side that ran up her leg, ending only just below her hip. On her neck, was a black velvet choker with a red ruby in the center. A few seconds passed before flashes of white light erupted from cameras, as the brains of the photographers eventually turned back on. Sarah smiled, took Henry’s arm, and they began walking to the hotel.
“You look absolutely stunning Ms. Noir. I feel like the luckiest man here.” Said Henry.
Sarah gave Henry a warm smile and chuckled. “Henry, I couldn’t let the CEO of our company come to this gala without a date, now could I?” Sarah asked playfully. She then bent to whisper in his ear, “Besides, with so many potential donors here, I want everyone’s eyes on us tonight.” She continued.
Henry looked at Sarah in surprise, then let out a warm belly laugh. “You’re as devious as you are beautiful, my dear. Those bristly crows and arrogant shits will be writing checks just to say they held your hand.” Henry said.
Sarah gave Henry a sly smile and a wink.
Inside the lobby of the hotel was a scene of warm gold and yellows. Above them was a magnificent chandelier of glass icicles and golden trim. To their right, was a large fireplace fueled by wood, surrounded by comfy loveseats and chairs occupied by well-dressed men sipping whiskey. Opposite Sarah and Henry was the large reception desk that sat between the twin staircase curving up to a single point on the second level.
The event hall of the Grand Hughes hotel made up the entirety of the second level. Double doors of carved white painted wood and gold trim were opened wide. To the right of the doors, a young man stood behind a podium. When Henry and Sarah reached him, the young man stared at Sarah, seemingly at a loss for words.
“Henry Lawson and guest.” Henry said.
The man looked at Henry as if he just spoke in a foreign language.
“The book, boy.” Said Henry, nodding to the ledger on the podium.
“Yes! Of course. Go ahead mister Lawson.” The young man said hastily.
Henry rolled his eyes and they went on through the entrance.
Sarah could almost feel the young man’s gaze on her as she walked past him, which was quickly confirmed by the sound of another guest snapping his fingers to get the young man’s attention again.
Inside the Hall, many round tables covered in white cloth surrounded a large raised stage against the opposite wall. On the stage, a carved stained oak podium sat in the center and a couple long tables also draped in white were placed behind it. Two permanent bars flanked the hall, manned by handsome men and women in red vests, each pouring drinks with professional urgency. Scattered around the room, patrons of the event stood in their own small circles, each likely talking and drinking to their personal successes, inflating the egos of themselves and each other.
Upon seeing Henry and Sarah enter, a relatively handsome man with short red hair broke off from his circle and came to greet them.
“Henry! It’s good to see you.” Said the man with over exaggerated enthusiasm.
“Mr. Miles. Always a pleasure. How’s the future coming?” Said Henry, who immediately straightened and put on his game face. It was time for money.
“Divergent Robotics is the future. In the next five years, I’ll have robot vehicles and servants in every major home in the United States.” Said Mr. Miles confidently.
“That’s a bold prediction.” Said Sarah.
Mr. Miles looked at Sarah, his eyes running up her leg before coming to her eyes. His chin tilled up slightly, and a creepy grin touched his face.
“I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure. Please, call me Shawn, Ms.-?” Shawn probed.
Sarah made a tight smile. “Ms. Noir.” She said, giving Shawn an unimpressed look.
“Well Ms. Noir, I’m a bold man, and I stand by my prediction. Five years.” Said Shawn.
Shawn reached for and grabbed Sarah’s hand. “As a bold man, I’d like to say that you’d look amazing on my yacht in the Caribbean next weekend. My treat. I’ll even throw in a little bikini for you.” Said Shawn, who then processed to kiss the back of Sarah’s hand.
Sarah gently pulled her hand away. “A tempting offer, I’ll have to check my schedule.” Said Sarah, forcing herself to give Shawn a nice smile.
A server came by with glasses of champagne, and Sarah happily took one and looked for something other than Shawn to stare at. She looked at her glass and imagined shoving it into Shawn’s eye. “If only.” She muttered to herself.
“Pardon?” asked Shawn.
Sarah looked into Shawn’s eyes and bit her lip. “Just thinking about yachts and bikinis.” Said Sarah in an innocent voice, while also giving Henry a subtle rib jab.
“Don’t think too long, my personal jet is leaving on Thursday. It would be a shame if you weren’t on it.” Said Shawn.
Henry tensed from the jab and understood Sarah’s desire to change the topic. “Mr. Miles, with such success coming your way, wouldn’t it do to strengthen your relationship with the public and get some limelight? With our shelter coming into fruition, it will need a name to go with it. I was thinking of calling it the Shawn Miles center for the less fortune.” Said Henry.
Shawn’s expression looked like his champagne just soured in his mouth. “Henry…” Shawn droned, disappointed by the mere mention of charity.
Sarah quickly jumped in. “For a company as big as yours, I’m sure you can spare a couple thousand each month. You’ll gain such a noble view in the public eye. We only ask for a mere 60% of the running costs. I’m sure a handsome man that travels to the Caribbean every few weeks spends less on your employee’s coffee machine.” Said Sarah.
Shawn’s eyes went back to Sarah, his gaze resting on her breasts for half a second before returning to her eyes. “You two make a valid point, my company is relatively unknown to the public, and those that do know us only see our weapons contract with the military. I’m sure we could use the PR. You’ll have your donation Henry, but I want that building to be on the front page of every paper for a week. Also, my name better be in the biggest letters you can find for that building.” Said Shawn, who then downed his champagne.
Henry barked out a throaty laugh, and vigorously shook Shawn Miles hand. “You’re a fine negotiator. I’ll make sure all the arrangements will be as you desire.” Henry said happily.
“
I’m sure you will.” Said Shawn. He looked back to Sarah with a hungry expression and said, “I’ll see you next week.”. He turned and departed towards the bar.
Sarah watched the red-haired man leave with contempt.
Henry took a swig of his champagne, then kept the glass to his mouth. “That slimy shit thinks you’re going to accept his offer now.” Said henry into his glass so that no-one could read his lips.
“I’m aware.” Said Sarah coldly.
“He may back out if you insult him.” Said Henry carefully.
“I know.” Said Sarah in a sigh.
Henry’s eyebrows furrowed. “I’ll find another donor. That arrogant ass can drink on his boat alone.” Said Henry, anger touching his voice.
“Henry, I can handle it.” Said Sarah. The thought of spending a weekend with that slimy excuse for a man sent shivers down her spine, but they’ve been having trouble finding a donor for the shelter for months. If Henry couldn’t find a donor in time, the whole project will fall flat on its face and blemish their reputation.
Henry looked at Sarah with concern. “I'd never ask you to do anything you weren’t comfortable with.” He said.
Sarah closed her eyes and smiled. Henry was the closest thing she had to a father figure in her life right now. He was probably the only person who truly cared about her wellbeing.
Another server went by, and Sarah grabbed a couple flutes of champagne and handed one to Henry. She forced a smile and said, “I’ll be fine. Just make sure he signs that contract before next Thursday. Now let’s get back to work.”.
The concern on Henry’s face remained, but he nodded.
For the next half hour to forty minutes. Sarah and Henry shook hands and made deals with Winsome Bay’s elite, securing almost 40% of the funding they needed for the central park restoration project.
Sarah and many of the other patrons turned to watch as Valery Ward walked onto the stage and tapped the microphone, making it cough.
“Welcome everyone to the Ward Foundation’s Annual WBPD gala. Please, take your seats.”. said Valery Ward in a cheerful tone.
Sarah and Henry found their seats at a table with the other board members of their company.
Valery Ward returned to the microphone and began speaking, “As you know, we are here tonight, to aid the brave men and women of the Winsome Bay’s Police Department in their fight against the violence that plagues our beautiful city. Last year, we were able to meet our goal of one million dollars in funding for our police department, and as promised, the Ward Foundation has agreed to match those donations. So, without further ado, here he is, the man of the hour and my father, James Ward!”
James Ward rose from his seat at one of the tables occupying the stage. He was a heavier set man in his late sixties, with a full head of salt and pepper hair. Even with his extra weight, the man still had a prominent jaw line that Sarah didn’t find completely unattractive.
“Thank you, Valery.” Said James Ward before clearing his throat. “Our police force struggles every day to prevent violence caused by organized crime in this city. I know we would like to look the other way and act as though is doesn’t happen, but people every day suffer from the scum in this city that constantly rears its ugly head. I believe that our issues are in part due to a criminal lack of funding for those who protect and serve.” James Ward said, then raised a piece a paper from his coat pocket. “I would like to personally do my part in fighting the violence in our city by giving this cheque to our dedicated chief of police, Jerry Porter.” He continued.
The chief of police, donned in his uniform, rose from a table and approached the stage. The chief of police was a hard-looking man and not well liked by those under him. He was one of the few police chiefs who’ve ever tried to fight the city’s the gangs. Granted, his good will was often thwarted, due to his staff often turning a blind eye to gang related crimes, but the man tried.
Chief Porter and James Ward shook hands while photos were taken of the chief accepting the cheque.
The Chief approached the microphone, said, “Thank you Mr. Ward.”, then promptly left to retake his seat.
Henry chuckled beside Sarah. “A man of few words. Oh, look at Ward’s face.” He said cheerfully.
Sarah could see that James Ward’s face was cherry red as he was embarrassingly left alone at the podium. She could faintly see the lines of his jaw as the cherry colored man ground his teeth. James Ward then raised a hand, palm up in surrender and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, Chief Porter!”, then too moved to retake his seat.
A panicked looking Valery Ward hastily rose to take the microphone of the now abandoned podium. “Thank you, father, for your generous donation! Um, we will now have a performance from the Winsome Bay symphony orchestra. I’d like to remind you that any of your donations tonight may be made at the desks on the west wing of the hall. Enjoy your night!” She said in a breathy voice.
At the foot of the stage, the orchestra began playing Für Elise by Beethoven.
Sarah watched as the insulted James Ward hurriedly left the stage, accompanied by his bodyguard. They pushed their way through the crowd of elite attempting the congratulate Ward on his charitable donation. Ward and his man ignored the crowd and aimed their way to the main doors.
Sarah pulled out the phone in her clutch, and typed, “He’s leaving.”, sent the message, then put the phone back. She then got up and grabbed a glass of red wine from the bar. Feeling the need to be alone and out of the noise, Sarah walked into the art gallery in the east wing of the hall.
The gallery was a literal maze of paintings and sculptures, and thankfully only a few couples moved around inside.
Sarah continued to walk deep into the maze until she was alone from even the few other guests in the gallery. She stood in front of a large painting of swirling red and black, and waited for the familiar vibration of a text message.
“There you are.” Said a familiar voice.
Sarah looked over her shoulder to find Shawn Miles. His complexion was sweaty, and the way he swayed was a dead giveaway to his overindulgence in alcohol tonight. She ignored him and went back to looking at the painting. She hadn’t heard him coming, but soon found his hands sliding under her arms and cupped her breasts.
“What the fuck.” Sarah said, looking down to see Shawn’s hands over her chest. She tried to turn around to face him, but he instead squeezed harder and pulled her against him. She could feel Shawn’s warm breath on her neck and smell the alcohol fuming from it as well.
“You better be on that yacht this weekend. If you're not, you can tell your boss that I no longer have interest in housing the city’s vermin.” Shawn slurred.
“Mr. Miles, I ah…” Sarah began, but gasped as Shawn abruptly pinched her nipples through the thin fabric of her evening gown.
“These are magnificent, I honestly didn’t think they were real.” Said Shawn, fondling Sarah. “You know, I don’t think I’ll wait till this weekend. I’ll take my taste of Henry’s whore right now.” Continued Shawn, who’s hand reached under the fabric covering Sarah’s chest.
Sarah shuttered as she felt the clamminess of his hand on the skin of her breast. She was about to break her wine glass into Shawn’s head when another voice called out, “Is that man bothering you?”.
Both Sarah and Shawn looked to find a handsome man in a tailored tux walking towards them.
“Mind your own business!” Shawn tried to yell but was cut off halfway in a choking cough. The man grabbed Shawn by the tie and threw him at the floor face first.
Shawn rolled over, has face livid. “You dare lay a hand on me?!” he snarled, while beginning to get back up.
“I’ll do as I please.” Said the man, kicking Shawn back down onto his ass. “Now, go find someone else to piss off.” continued the man.
Shawn starred hard at the man but flinched when the man raised his fist to strike Shawn.
“No, don’t!” Said Shawn in a shriek. He then rolled to his hands and knees, crawling to get distance from the man before getting up and turning around. Now thoroughly embarrassed, Shawn looked back, his face blotchy with tears in his eyes. “I’ll ruin you if you think you can bully me.” stammered Shawn, trying sound intimidating.
“You don’t what to find out what happens if you try.” Said then man, giving Shawn hard glare while taking a step forward.
Shawn backed up, then in whimper stumbled out of the gallery.
The man looked to Sarah. He had jet black hair and grey eyes. His suit drew attention to his wide shoulders, but they didn’t need too, Sarah could see that he was a heavily muscled man. The guy was hot.
“Are you alright?” the man asked.
Sarah took a sip of her wine. Then unashamed, she let her eyes wonder over him, noting where his suit hugged his body in just the right way. She raised her eyebrows, impressed. “My hero.” She said.
The man laughed, then looked to the hallway where Shawn escaped. “I’m sure he’s in a better condition than if I had left him with you.” He said, looking back at Sarah.
Sarah glanced at her glass with a devilish grin. “Perhaps.” She said.
The man held out his hand, and said, “Thomas.”.
Sarah shook his hand, and said, “Sarah. Pleasure to meet you.”.
“Likewise.” Said Thomas, smiling.
They held each other’s gaze for a long moment, before Thomas coughed, turning to look at the painting. “It’s a beautiful piece.” He said.
Sarah looked to the red and black painting, only just now taking the time to admire in the detail. It was a nice piece of art. It had a chaotic emotion to it yet maintained a balance of colors. Sarah found that it had a similar resemblance to a Yin and Yang symbol. It didn’t take long for her interest in Thomas to outweigh her interest in the painting and in the corner of her eye she could see that he felt the same way.
“I take it you’re not a fan of crowds?” asked Thomas.
“I can handle them fine, but I occasionally like to avoid attention.” Said Sarah.
Thomas laughed. “I can see how that’s working out for you.” He said.
Sarah rolled her eyes. “There’s always some assholes thinking they’re entitled to something at these things.” She said annoyed.
“I can go.” Said Thomas pointing over his shoulder to the exit.
Sarah eyed Thomas. “Feeling entitled?” she asked, a bit of playfulness in her voice.
Thomas moved close to Sarah and put a hand on the small of her back. Gently, Thomas took the wine glass from Sarah’s hand, drank it, then looked her in the eyes. “I don’t know, am I?” he asked, grinning.
Sarah smiled. “You could be.” She said, looking in Thomas’s eyes momentarily before she grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him into a kiss.
They kissed deeply. Sarah and Thomas pulled each other close, neither allowing space to form between them. Sarah’s hands went to his chest, loving how solid he was, then racked her nails over his tux, her body filling with need. The hand Thomas had placed on her bare back, slid down under her dress and pulled up on her thong, the garment pulling against her flushed sex.
Sarah gasped in reaction, then bit at Thomas’s ear.
In turn, Thomas pushed Sarah against the painting, his hands grabbed her hips and pulled hers against his own. She could feel his desire to take her right there, his manhood straining against the confines of his pants as it reached out for her.
Thomas’s hands cupped Sarah’s face and he looked into her eyes. Then their foreheads settled against one another as they breathed heavily.
“I have a room upstairs.” Thomas finally said.
Sarah kissed him again then asked, “Why are we standing here then?”.
Thomas smiled, then took Sarah’s hand and quickly walked out of the gallery, towards the hall exit. Sarah caught a glimpse of Shawn as they passed by, smiling as she saw his face flushing with anger at the site of her and Thomas.
When Sarah and Thomas reached the elevator, the doors opened to reveal an elderly man standing inside.
Thomas grabbed the hand of the man and ushered him out. “This is your floor.” He said.
“No, my floor is on…” the man protested, but was cut short as Thomas already hit the “close door” button.
The second the elevator doors closed, Thomas grabbed Sarah under the thighs and pressed her against the wall, causing the elevator to wobble a little. Sarah wrapped her legs around Thomas, and they resumed their fevered kissing. She grabbed Thomas by the hair and pressed her hips against him. The desire was killing her. She needed this man inside her.
Her clutch vibrated at some point, but Sarah couldn’t be bothered.
The elevator doors opened, and Thomas put Sarah down, only to smile and pick her back up, putting her over his shoulder. Sarah giggled as she hung upside down with her ass in the air.
Thomas quickly strode to his hotel room with Sarah over his shoulder, fumbling with the keys to his door with one hand, while his other hand slid between the split in Sarah dress to grope her ass.
When the door opened, Thomas didn’t even bother turning on the lights. He walked to the bed and threw Sarah down on top of it. Not a second was wasted before Thomas followed Sarah, jumping on the bed, straddling her. His hands pinned her own beside her head.
Sarah kissed Thomas hungrily, moaning as her sex brushed against the bulge in Thomas’s pants when she gyrated against him. It wasn’t long before she couldn’t take much more and rolled Thomas onto his back, allowing her to take top. She grabbed the bottom of her evening gown, pulled it over her head, and threw it to the floor. Her exposed breasts perfect in the moonlight. She smiled as Thomas’s hands immediately found her breasts, but soon Sarah slid down to work on Thomas’s belt, nearly ripping it from his pants; It too went flying off the bed. She bent down to kiss Thomas on the mouth again before she pulled his pants off, or tried too, his shoes prevented his pants from going any further.
Thomas laughed, quickly rolling Sarah back under him so he could kick off his shoes and pants. Sarah tried to retake the top, but Thomas pinned her under him. He smiled wolfishly before retreated between her legs.
Sarah all but screamed from the electric pleasure, as Thomas’s tongue slid over the damp lace of her thong. When he tried to come up, she reached down, grabbing Thomas by the hair, and pressed him back against her. She needed him there and she’d probably murder him if he tried to leave.
Thomas obliged without complaint, licking Sarah’s pussy through the lace of her thong. Sarah bucked her hips and gasped with nearly every movement of his tongue. She bunched up handfuls of the sheets in her hands and arched her back, her body going ridged.
With Sarah’s hands away from his head, Thomas surfaced from between her legs, evading her grasp as she tried to send him back down to her. He smiled while he grabbed the straps of her thong and began pulling the garment down her legs, torturously slow.
When Thomas moved to stand at the foot of the bed, Sarah refused to allow any space to be unoccupied between them. She moved to him on her knees and brought her lips to his, while her hands started working the tie and buttons of his shirt. As she undid his shirt, she watched with fascination, each button revealing more of his delicious skin to her in the moonlight. Thomas waited in silence as she pushed his shirt from his shoulders, allowing it to fall to the ground.
Thomas had the body of a Greek god, his chest and abs appearing to be meticulously chiseled from the finest marble. His arms were nearly as thick as Sarah’s thighs, with thick cords of muscle defined in the pale glow of the moon dancing over his skin.
Sarah kissed his chest, then again, then planted more kisses over his body as she moved lower; Each kiss bringing her closer to her destination. When she reached it, Sarah laid a final kiss on Thomas’s cock, his member straining against the soft silk of his briefs. Sarah slowly pulled the silk briefs down Thomas’s legs, waiting in anticipation for when his shaft was freed from its confines.
When free, Thomas’s cock sprang forth, tapping Sarah in the face. She smiled and kissed the tip of its head.
Thomas to groaned.
Sarah then slid her lips over his shaft, her tongue dancing over him, causing him the shutter in overwhelming pleasure. She placed her hands over his abs, enjoying the firmness of them.
Thomas slid his hands through Sarah’s long hair, appreciating everything about her.
Sarah repeatedly glided over Thomas’s shaft, the pleasant taste of him on her tongue.
Thomas pressed Sarah against him harder, and she was happy to give him what he wanted. She allowed the head of his cock to press against her throat and continue down further. When she pulled away, she let him to press her back onto him.
Eventually Sarah’s own desire could be ignored no longer, and she pulled away from Thomas’s member. She then wrapped her arms around Thomas’s neck and pulled him back onto the bed with her.
With Thomas on top of her, Sarah nipped at his ear while reaching for his manhood. She grabbed his shaft and guided him to her pussy, letting out a throaty moan as the tip of his member pressed into her folds, entering her.
Thomas bucked, causing the entirety of himself to be pushed into Sarah.
Sarah’s mouth opened wide, breathing in until her lungs were full, the sensation catching her breath.
With a primal urgency, Thomas began fucking Sarah, causing whimpers of pleasure to escape her lips.
It took only a short moment before both Sarah and Thomas were in perfect rhythm, each attempting to maximize the pleasure they received from one another.
When Sarah sensed Thomas’s pace begin to slow, she immediately rolled him underneath her, and began fucking him instead.
Thomas grabbed handfuls of Sarah’s ass.
Sarah screamed, while she hungrily increased their pace, the headboard of the bed tapping against the wall. She was getting so close.
Sarah’s scream must have ignited a fire in Thomas, as he too hollered and increased their rhythm more.
Eventually, a flood a pleasure washed through Sarah’s body, causing her to let out one more final scream. Every muscle in her body relaxed and she collapsed onto Thomas, who let out a groan. Sarah could feel the warmth of Thomas’s seed spread inside her. The aftershocks of her orgasms caused her body to shutter randomly. They both laid there breathing hard. Their bodies were smooth and slick with sweat. For an endless minute, neither Thomas, nor Sarah moved.
“Your incredible.” Said Thomas, breaking the silence. He affectionately brushed a stray hair out from Sarah’s face.
“You’re not so bad yourself, Hero.” Said Sarah, looking into Thomas’s eyes. She kissed him then slid beside him onto her side, draping one leg over both of his. She could feel Thomas’s now relaxing cock against the softness of her inner thigh, while she relished in the afterglow. She closed her eyes, let out a relaxed, “mhhhh”, then soon fell into a perfect sleep.
Shadow Demon
Part 8
The gala was hosted in the Grand Hughes hotel, an impressive building that was built over a hundred years ago. Even with its ago, the Grand Hughes maintained its status as Winsome Bay’s most luxurious hotel, and it wasn’t hard to understand why. The castle-like tower was surrounded by a vast botanical garden, housing trees older than the building itself. With both the large winding trees and the many exotic flowers, the hotel appeared to be surrounded by a forest that belonged in a fairytale. At the end of the lighted cobblestone path to the hotel, a waterfall poured in a perimeter around the front entrance. The water appeared to be made of liquid gold, colored in the night by the giant spotlights shining from the bottom. Like the breaking of a stage curtain, the great waterfall was parted down the center in the shape of an upside down “V”, allowing guests to enter the building untouched by the column of water.
Patrons of the gala, dressed in expensive evening wear, moved in pairs down the long walkway to the entrance, slowly funneling into the building.
At the beginning of the hotel’s walkway, Henry Lawson stepped out of his car, waved at the press cameras and then reached a hand back into the car. A feminine hand took Henry’s and was soon followed by a long graceful leg.
As Sarah stepped out of the car, she could see the mouths of photographers and journalists fall open as their gaze eventually fell upon her. She wore an evening dress of soft black fabric, with an exposed back, and a wide split on the side that ran up her leg, ending only just below her hip. On her neck, was a black velvet choker with a red ruby in the center. A few seconds passed before flashes of white light erupted from cameras, as the brains of the photographers eventually turned back on. Sarah smiled, took Henry’s arm, and they began walking to the hotel.
“You look absolutely stunning Ms. Noir. I feel like the luckiest man here.” Said Henry.
Sarah gave Henry a warm smile and chuckled. “Henry, I couldn’t let the CEO of our company come to this gala without a date, now could I?” Sarah asked playfully. She then bent to whisper in his ear, “Besides, with so many potential donors here, I want everyone’s eyes on us tonight.” She continued.
Henry looked at Sarah in surprise, then let out a warm belly laugh. “You’re as devious as you are beautiful, my dear. Those bristly crows and arrogant shits will be writing checks just to say they held your hand.” Henry said.
Sarah gave Henry a sly smile and a wink.
Inside the lobby of the hotel was a scene of warm gold and yellows. Above them was a magnificent chandelier of glass icicles and golden trim. To their right, was a large fireplace fueled by wood, surrounded by comfy loveseats and chairs occupied by well-dressed men sipping whiskey. Opposite Sarah and Henry was the large reception desk that sat between the twin staircase curving up to a single point on the second level.
The event hall of the Grand Hughes hotel made up the entirety of the second level. Double doors of carved white painted wood and gold trim were opened wide. To the right of the doors, a young man stood behind a podium. When Henry and Sarah reached him, the young man stared at Sarah, seemingly at a loss for words.
“Henry Lawson and guest.” Henry said.
The man looked at Henry as if he just spoke in a foreign language.
“The book, boy.” Said Henry, nodding to the ledger on the podium.
“Yes! Of course. Go ahead mister Lawson.” The young man said hastily.
Henry rolled his eyes and they went on through the entrance.
Sarah could almost feel the young man’s gaze on her as she walked past him, which was quickly confirmed by the sound of another guest snapping his fingers to get the young man’s attention again.
Inside the Hall, many round tables covered in white cloth surrounded a large raised stage against the opposite wall. On the stage, a carved stained oak podium sat in the center and a couple long tables also draped in white were placed behind it. Two permanent bars flanked the hall, manned by handsome men and women in red vests, each pouring drinks with professional urgency. Scattered around the room, patrons of the event stood in their own small circles, each likely talking and drinking to their personal successes, inflating the egos of themselves and each other.
Upon seeing Henry and Sarah enter, a relatively handsome man with short red hair broke off from his circle and came to greet them.
“Henry! It’s good to see you.” Said the man with over exaggerated enthusiasm.
“Mr. Miles. Always a pleasure. How’s the future coming?” Said Henry, who immediately straightened and put on his game face. It was time for money.
“Divergent Robotics is the future. In the next five years, I’ll have robot vehicles and servants in every major home in the United States.” Said Mr. Miles confidently.
“That’s a bold prediction.” Said Sarah.
Mr. Miles looked at Sarah, his eyes running up her leg before coming to her eyes. His chin tilled up slightly, and a creepy grin touched his face.
“I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure. Please, call me Shawn, Ms.-?” Shawn probed.
Sarah made a tight smile. “Ms. Noir.” She said, giving Shawn an unimpressed look.
“Well Ms. Noir, I’m a bold man, and I stand by my prediction. Five years.” Said Shawn.
Shawn reached for and grabbed Sarah’s hand. “As a bold man, I’d like to say that you’d look amazing on my yacht in the Caribbean next weekend. My treat. I’ll even throw in a little bikini for you.” Said Shawn, who then processed to kiss the back of Sarah’s hand.
Sarah gently pulled her hand away. “A tempting offer, I’ll have to check my schedule.” Said Sarah, forcing herself to give Shawn a nice smile.
A server came by with glasses of champagne, and Sarah happily took one and looked for something other than Shawn to stare at. She looked at her glass and imagined shoving it into Shawn’s eye. “If only.” She muttered to herself.
“Pardon?” asked Shawn.
Sarah looked into Shawn’s eyes and bit her lip. “Just thinking about yachts and bikinis.” Said Sarah in an innocent voice, while also giving Henry a subtle rib jab.
“Don’t think too long, my personal jet is leaving on Thursday. It would be a shame if you weren’t on it.” Said Shawn.
Henry tensed from the jab and understood Sarah’s desire to change the topic. “Mr. Miles, with such success coming your way, wouldn’t it do to strengthen your relationship with the public and get some limelight? With our shelter coming into fruition, it will need a name to go with it. I was thinking of calling it the Shawn Miles center for the less fortune.” Said Henry.
Shawn’s expression looked like his champagne just soured in his mouth. “Henry…” Shawn droned, disappointed by the mere mention of charity.
Sarah quickly jumped in. “For a company as big as yours, I’m sure you can spare a couple thousand each month. You’ll gain such a noble view in the public eye. We only ask for a mere 60% of the running costs. I’m sure a handsome man that travels to the Caribbean every few weeks spends less on your employee’s coffee machine.” Said Sarah.
Shawn’s eyes went back to Sarah, his gaze resting on her breasts for half a second before returning to her eyes. “You two make a valid point, my company is relatively unknown to the public, and those that do know us only see our weapons contract with the military. I’m sure we could use the PR. You’ll have your donation Henry, but I want that building to be on the front page of every paper for a week. Also, my name better be in the biggest letters you can find for that building.” Said Shawn, who then downed his champagne.
Henry barked out a throaty laugh, and vigorously shook Shawn Miles hand. “You’re a fine negotiator. I’ll make sure all the arrangements will be as you desire.” Henry said happily.
“
I’m sure you will.” Said Shawn. He looked back to Sarah with a hungry expression and said, “I’ll see you next week.”. He turned and departed towards the bar.
Sarah watched the red-haired man leave with contempt.
Henry took a swig of his champagne, then kept the glass to his mouth. “That slimy shit thinks you’re going to accept his offer now.” Said henry into his glass so that no-one could read his lips.
“I’m aware.” Said Sarah coldly.
“He may back out if you insult him.” Said Henry carefully.
“I know.” Said Sarah in a sigh.
Henry’s eyebrows furrowed. “I’ll find another donor. That arrogant ass can drink on his boat alone.” Said Henry, anger touching his voice.
“Henry, I can handle it.” Said Sarah. The thought of spending a weekend with that slimy excuse for a man sent shivers down her spine, but they’ve been having trouble finding a donor for the shelter for months. If Henry couldn’t find a donor in time, the whole project will fall flat on its face and blemish their reputation.
Henry looked at Sarah with concern. “I'd never ask you to do anything you weren’t comfortable with.” He said.
Sarah closed her eyes and smiled. Henry was the closest thing she had to a father figure in her life right now. He was probably the only person who truly cared about her wellbeing.
Another server went by, and Sarah grabbed a couple flutes of champagne and handed one to Henry. She forced a smile and said, “I’ll be fine. Just make sure he signs that contract before next Thursday. Now let’s get back to work.”.
The concern on Henry’s face remained, but he nodded.
For the next half hour to forty minutes. Sarah and Henry shook hands and made deals with Winsome Bay’s elite, securing almost 40% of the funding they needed for the central park restoration project.
Sarah and many of the other patrons turned to watch as Valery Ward walked onto the stage and tapped the microphone, making it cough.
“Welcome everyone to the Ward Foundation’s Annual WBPD gala. Please, take your seats.”. said Valery Ward in a cheerful tone.
Sarah and Henry found their seats at a table with the other board members of their company.
Valery Ward returned to the microphone and began speaking, “As you know, we are here tonight, to aid the brave men and women of the Winsome Bay’s Police Department in their fight against the violence that plagues our beautiful city. Last year, we were able to meet our goal of one million dollars in funding for our police department, and as promised, the Ward Foundation has agreed to match those donations. So, without further ado, here he is, the man of the hour and my father, James Ward!”
James Ward rose from his seat at one of the tables occupying the stage. He was a heavier set man in his late sixties, with a full head of salt and pepper hair. Even with his extra weight, the man still had a prominent jaw line that Sarah didn’t find completely unattractive.
“Thank you, Valery.” Said James Ward before clearing his throat. “Our police force struggles every day to prevent violence caused by organized crime in this city. I know we would like to look the other way and act as though is doesn’t happen, but people every day suffer from the scum in this city that constantly rears its ugly head. I believe that our issues are in part due to a criminal lack of funding for those who protect and serve.” James Ward said, then raised a piece a paper from his coat pocket. “I would like to personally do my part in fighting the violence in our city by giving this cheque to our dedicated chief of police, Jerry Porter.” He continued.
The chief of police, donned in his uniform, rose from a table and approached the stage. The chief of police was a hard-looking man and not well liked by those under him. He was one of the few police chiefs who’ve ever tried to fight the city’s the gangs. Granted, his good will was often thwarted, due to his staff often turning a blind eye to gang related crimes, but the man tried.
Chief Porter and James Ward shook hands while photos were taken of the chief accepting the cheque.
The Chief approached the microphone, said, “Thank you Mr. Ward.”, then promptly left to retake his seat.
Henry chuckled beside Sarah. “A man of few words. Oh, look at Ward’s face.” He said cheerfully.
Sarah could see that James Ward’s face was cherry red as he was embarrassingly left alone at the podium. She could faintly see the lines of his jaw as the cherry colored man ground his teeth. James Ward then raised a hand, palm up in surrender and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, Chief Porter!”, then too moved to retake his seat.
A panicked looking Valery Ward hastily rose to take the microphone of the now abandoned podium. “Thank you, father, for your generous donation! Um, we will now have a performance from the Winsome Bay symphony orchestra. I’d like to remind you that any of your donations tonight may be made at the desks on the west wing of the hall. Enjoy your night!” She said in a breathy voice.
At the foot of the stage, the orchestra began playing Für Elise by Beethoven.
Sarah watched as the insulted James Ward hurriedly left the stage, accompanied by his bodyguard. They pushed their way through the crowd of elite attempting the congratulate Ward on his charitable donation. Ward and his man ignored the crowd and aimed their way to the main doors.
Sarah pulled out the phone in her clutch, and typed, “He’s leaving.”, sent the message, then put the phone back. She then got up and grabbed a glass of red wine from the bar. Feeling the need to be alone and out of the noise, Sarah walked into the art gallery in the east wing of the hall.
The gallery was a literal maze of paintings and sculptures, and thankfully only a few couples moved around inside.
Sarah continued to walk deep into the maze until she was alone from even the few other guests in the gallery. She stood in front of a large painting of swirling red and black, and waited for the familiar vibration of a text message.
“There you are.” Said a familiar voice.
Sarah looked over her shoulder to find Shawn Miles. His complexion was sweaty, and the way he swayed was a dead giveaway to his overindulgence in alcohol tonight. She ignored him and went back to looking at the painting. She hadn’t heard him coming, but soon found his hands sliding under her arms and cupped her breasts.
“What the fuck.” Sarah said, looking down to see Shawn’s hands over her chest. She tried to turn around to face him, but he instead squeezed harder and pulled her against him. She could feel Shawn’s warm breath on her neck and smell the alcohol fuming from it as well.
“You better be on that yacht this weekend. If you're not, you can tell your boss that I no longer have interest in housing the city’s vermin.” Shawn slurred.
“Mr. Miles, I ah…” Sarah began, but gasped as Shawn abruptly pinched her nipples through the thin fabric of her evening gown.
“These are magnificent, I honestly didn’t think they were real.” Said Shawn, fondling Sarah. “You know, I don’t think I’ll wait till this weekend. I’ll take my taste of Henry’s whore right now.” Continued Shawn, who’s hand reached under the fabric covering Sarah’s chest.
Sarah shuttered as she felt the clamminess of his hand on the skin of her breast. She was about to break her wine glass into Shawn’s head when another voice called out, “Is that man bothering you?”.
Both Sarah and Shawn looked to find a handsome man in a tailored tux walking towards them.
“Mind your own business!” Shawn tried to yell but was cut off halfway in a choking cough. The man grabbed Shawn by the tie and threw him at the floor face first.
Shawn rolled over, has face livid. “You dare lay a hand on me?!” he snarled, while beginning to get back up.
“I’ll do as I please.” Said the man, kicking Shawn back down onto his ass. “Now, go find someone else to piss off.” continued the man.
Shawn starred hard at the man but flinched when the man raised his fist to strike Shawn.
“No, don’t!” Said Shawn in a shriek. He then rolled to his hands and knees, crawling to get distance from the man before getting up and turning around. Now thoroughly embarrassed, Shawn looked back, his face blotchy with tears in his eyes. “I’ll ruin you if you think you can bully me.” stammered Shawn, trying sound intimidating.
“You don’t what to find out what happens if you try.” Said then man, giving Shawn hard glare while taking a step forward.
Shawn backed up, then in whimper stumbled out of the gallery.
The man looked to Sarah. He had jet black hair and grey eyes. His suit drew attention to his wide shoulders, but they didn’t need too, Sarah could see that he was a heavily muscled man. The guy was hot.
“Are you alright?” the man asked.
Sarah took a sip of her wine. Then unashamed, she let her eyes wonder over him, noting where his suit hugged his body in just the right way. She raised her eyebrows, impressed. “My hero.” She said.
The man laughed, then looked to the hallway where Shawn escaped. “I’m sure he’s in a better condition than if I had left him with you.” He said, looking back at Sarah.
Sarah glanced at her glass with a devilish grin. “Perhaps.” She said.
The man held out his hand, and said, “Thomas.”.
Sarah shook his hand, and said, “Sarah. Pleasure to meet you.”.
“Likewise.” Said Thomas, smiling.
They held each other’s gaze for a long moment, before Thomas coughed, turning to look at the painting. “It’s a beautiful piece.” He said.
Sarah looked to the red and black painting, only just now taking the time to admire in the detail. It was a nice piece of art. It had a chaotic emotion to it yet maintained a balance of colors. Sarah found that it had a similar resemblance to a Yin and Yang symbol. It didn’t take long for her interest in Thomas to outweigh her interest in the painting and in the corner of her eye she could see that he felt the same way.
“I take it you’re not a fan of crowds?” asked Thomas.
“I can handle them fine, but I occasionally like to avoid attention.” Said Sarah.
Thomas laughed. “I can see how that’s working out for you.” He said.
Sarah rolled her eyes. “There’s always some assholes thinking they’re entitled to something at these things.” She said annoyed.
“I can go.” Said Thomas pointing over his shoulder to the exit.
Sarah eyed Thomas. “Feeling entitled?” she asked, a bit of playfulness in her voice.
Thomas moved close to Sarah and put a hand on the small of her back. Gently, Thomas took the wine glass from Sarah’s hand, drank it, then looked her in the eyes. “I don’t know, am I?” he asked, grinning.
Sarah smiled. “You could be.” She said, looking in Thomas’s eyes momentarily before she grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him into a kiss.
They kissed deeply. Sarah and Thomas pulled each other close, neither allowing space to form between them. Sarah’s hands went to his chest, loving how solid he was, then racked her nails over his tux, her body filling with need. The hand Thomas had placed on her bare back, slid down under her dress and pulled up on her thong, the garment pulling against her flushed sex.
Sarah gasped in reaction, then bit at Thomas’s ear.
In turn, Thomas pushed Sarah against the painting, his hands grabbed her hips and pulled hers against his own. She could feel his desire to take her right there, his manhood straining against the confines of his pants as it reached out for her.
Thomas’s hands cupped Sarah’s face and he looked into her eyes. Then their foreheads settled against one another as they breathed heavily.
“I have a room upstairs.” Thomas finally said.
Sarah kissed him again then asked, “Why are we standing here then?”.
Thomas smiled, then took Sarah’s hand and quickly walked out of the gallery, towards the hall exit. Sarah caught a glimpse of Shawn as they passed by, smiling as she saw his face flushing with anger at the site of her and Thomas.
When Sarah and Thomas reached the elevator, the doors opened to reveal an elderly man standing inside.
Thomas grabbed the hand of the man and ushered him out. “This is your floor.” He said.
“No, my floor is on…” the man protested, but was cut short as Thomas already hit the “close door” button.
The second the elevator doors closed, Thomas grabbed Sarah under the thighs and pressed her against the wall, causing the elevator to wobble a little. Sarah wrapped her legs around Thomas, and they resumed their fevered kissing. She grabbed Thomas by the hair and pressed her hips against him. The desire was killing her. She needed this man inside her.
Her clutch vibrated at some point, but Sarah couldn’t be bothered.
The elevator doors opened, and Thomas put Sarah down, only to smile and pick her back up, putting her over his shoulder. Sarah giggled as she hung upside down with her ass in the air.
Thomas quickly strode to his hotel room with Sarah over his shoulder, fumbling with the keys to his door with one hand, while his other hand slid between the split in Sarah dress to grope her ass.
When the door opened, Thomas didn’t even bother turning on the lights. He walked to the bed and threw Sarah down on top of it. Not a second was wasted before Thomas followed Sarah, jumping on the bed, straddling her. His hands pinned her own beside her head.
Sarah kissed Thomas hungrily, moaning as her sex brushed against the bulge in Thomas’s pants when she gyrated against him. It wasn’t long before she couldn’t take much more and rolled Thomas onto his back, allowing her to take top. She grabbed the bottom of her evening gown, pulled it over her head, and threw it to the floor. Her exposed breasts perfect in the moonlight. She smiled as Thomas’s hands immediately found her breasts, but soon Sarah slid down to work on Thomas’s belt, nearly ripping it from his pants; It too went flying off the bed. She bent down to kiss Thomas on the mouth again before she pulled his pants off, or tried too, his shoes prevented his pants from going any further.
Thomas laughed, quickly rolling Sarah back under him so he could kick off his shoes and pants. Sarah tried to retake the top, but Thomas pinned her under him. He smiled wolfishly before retreated between her legs.
Sarah all but screamed from the electric pleasure, as Thomas’s tongue slid over the damp lace of her thong. When he tried to come up, she reached down, grabbing Thomas by the hair, and pressed him back against her. She needed him there and she’d probably murder him if he tried to leave.
Thomas obliged without complaint, licking Sarah’s pussy through the lace of her thong. Sarah bucked her hips and gasped with nearly every movement of his tongue. She bunched up handfuls of the sheets in her hands and arched her back, her body going ridged.
With Sarah’s hands away from his head, Thomas surfaced from between her legs, evading her grasp as she tried to send him back down to her. He smiled while he grabbed the straps of her thong and began pulling the garment down her legs, torturously slow.
When Thomas moved to stand at the foot of the bed, Sarah refused to allow any space to be unoccupied between them. She moved to him on her knees and brought her lips to his, while her hands started working the tie and buttons of his shirt. As she undid his shirt, she watched with fascination, each button revealing more of his delicious skin to her in the moonlight. Thomas waited in silence as she pushed his shirt from his shoulders, allowing it to fall to the ground.
Thomas had the body of a Greek god, his chest and abs appearing to be meticulously chiseled from the finest marble. His arms were nearly as thick as Sarah’s thighs, with thick cords of muscle defined in the pale glow of the moon dancing over his skin.
Sarah kissed his chest, then again, then planted more kisses over his body as she moved lower; Each kiss bringing her closer to her destination. When she reached it, Sarah laid a final kiss on Thomas’s cock, his member straining against the soft silk of his briefs. Sarah slowly pulled the silk briefs down Thomas’s legs, waiting in anticipation for when his shaft was freed from its confines.
When free, Thomas’s cock sprang forth, tapping Sarah in the face. She smiled and kissed the tip of its head.
Thomas to groaned.
Sarah then slid her lips over his shaft, her tongue dancing over him, causing him the shutter in overwhelming pleasure. She placed her hands over his abs, enjoying the firmness of them.
Thomas slid his hands through Sarah’s long hair, appreciating everything about her.
Sarah repeatedly glided over Thomas’s shaft, the pleasant taste of him on her tongue.
Thomas pressed Sarah against him harder, and she was happy to give him what he wanted. She allowed the head of his cock to press against her throat and continue down further. When she pulled away, she let him to press her back onto him.
Eventually Sarah’s own desire could be ignored no longer, and she pulled away from Thomas’s member. She then wrapped her arms around Thomas’s neck and pulled him back onto the bed with her.
With Thomas on top of her, Sarah nipped at his ear while reaching for his manhood. She grabbed his shaft and guided him to her pussy, letting out a throaty moan as the tip of his member pressed into her folds, entering her.
Thomas bucked, causing the entirety of himself to be pushed into Sarah.
Sarah’s mouth opened wide, breathing in until her lungs were full, the sensation catching her breath.
With a primal urgency, Thomas began fucking Sarah, causing whimpers of pleasure to escape her lips.
It took only a short moment before both Sarah and Thomas were in perfect rhythm, each attempting to maximize the pleasure they received from one another.
When Sarah sensed Thomas’s pace begin to slow, she immediately rolled him underneath her, and began fucking him instead.
Thomas grabbed handfuls of Sarah’s ass.
Sarah screamed, while she hungrily increased their pace, the headboard of the bed tapping against the wall. She was getting so close.
Sarah’s scream must have ignited a fire in Thomas, as he too hollered and increased their rhythm more.
Eventually, a flood a pleasure washed through Sarah’s body, causing her to let out one more final scream. Every muscle in her body relaxed and she collapsed onto Thomas, who let out a groan. Sarah could feel the warmth of Thomas’s seed spread inside her. The aftershocks of her orgasms caused her body to shutter randomly. They both laid there breathing hard. Their bodies were smooth and slick with sweat. For an endless minute, neither Thomas, nor Sarah moved.
“Your incredible.” Said Thomas, breaking the silence. He affectionately brushed a stray hair out from Sarah’s face.
“You’re not so bad yourself, Hero.” Said Sarah, looking into Thomas’s eyes. She kissed him then slid beside him onto her side, draping one leg over both of his. She could feel Thomas’s now relaxing cock against the softness of her inner thigh, while she relished in the afterglow. She closed her eyes, let out a relaxed, “mhhhh”, then soon fell into a perfect sleep.
Shadow Demon Part: 9
Sarah was curled up on the couch in the hotel room suite. Sipping her coffee, she held the mug close to her so that she could enjoy the heat and aroma of the dark liquid. Her feet were a little cold, but that was to be expected when wearing only a dress shirt. She smiled; a hint of Thomas’s cologne drifted into her nose from the shirt. There was a note in the cologne that was Vanilla-like, whatever it was, it certainly complemented the coffee’s aroma.
The hotel coffee pot let out a gurgle behind Sarah, signaling that it was nearly complete in brewing a second cup. When it finished, Sarah got up from the couch to retrieve the second cup of coffee for Thomas.
When Sarah entered the bedroom, she found Thomas laying in the bed exactly where she’d left him. Her eyes drank in the sight of his muscular chest rising and falling with each breath.
Walking across the room, Sarah brought the second cup of coffee under Thomas’s nose and waited.
After a few seconds, a smirk touched Thomas’s face and he said, “That’s a fantastic smell to wake up too.” He reached out for his coffee, then partially propped himself against the headboard so he could take a sip and look at Sarah.
“I agree,” said Sarah, as she crawled onto the bed with Thomas, straddling his hips. She looked down at him as she took a sip of her coffee with both hands. There was something erotic about how there was nothing but a thin bedsheet between her and this man. “You know, you’re the only man I’ve done this for,” she said, considering the situation. It was true, she’s never stuck around to make a man coffee in the morning. Weird.
“Really?” said Thomas, who’s pelvis pitched towards Sarah, making the sheet rub gently under her vagina.
Sarah closed her eyes and let out a soft moan. The bastard did that on purpose.
Thomas put his coffee on the nightstand and said, “Well then, I guess I’m in your debt then.”
Thomas placed his large hands on Sarah’s hips, and continued, “So, how would you like me to make it up to you?”
Sarah put her coffee on the nightstand next to Thomas’s. “Oh, I can think of a few things,” she said, looking down at him with a wolfish smile. She put her hands on either side of his head, her hair creating a curtain around their faces. She looked down between their legs and pitched her hips to start rubbing herself against him. When she looked back up to him, she was satisfied to see the smile growing on his face.
Thomas’s manhood stirred from its slumber and began pressing against the sheet until it rested in cleft of Sarah’s ass.
Thomas’s hands pulled Sarah’s hips harder against him, causing her to gasp in excitement. She bent down to kiss him deeply.
A sudden high-pitched ringtone issued from Sarah’s discarded clothes on the floor.
“Fuckkk…” Sarah exhaled. She wanted to ignore it, but she didn’t have to pick it up to know that it was time to go. She clenched Thomas hard between her thighs, childishly wishing she didn’t have to let him go.
“Ignore it,” said Thomas, kissing Sarah’s neck.
Sarah moans, then lied, “It’s work, I can’t.”
“Call in sick,” Thomas insisted, between clenched teeth.
“Sorry handsome,” said Sarah as she reluctantly moved to get off Thomas.
Thomas pulled Sarah back to him. “I know you want to stay,” he said, his voice a warm rumble.
Sarah kissed Thomas, while simultaneously removing his hands from her hips. “Trust me, if I didn’t have to leave, I’d drag you back into bed myself," she said.
Thomas arched an eyebrow. “What makes you think I won’t do the same?” he asked with intrigue.
Sarah got off the bed walking to her discarded clothes. “Because I’m unique and I know you want to see where this goes,” she said casually. She unbuttoned Thomas’s shirt and let it fall to the floor at her feet, then gave Thomas a devilish grin over her shoulder.
Thomas took a sip of his coffee, his gaze rising from Sarah’s feet to her eyes, taking in her naked form. “Can’t argue there,” he said.
A buzzing emitted from Thomas’s pants on the floor.
Sarah put her evening gown over her head, then reached down to grab Thomas’s phone out of his discarded pants. “Your phone’s been vibrating all morning by the way,” she said.
Thomas frowned at that, then said, “Toss it here, probably my little sister.”
Sarah threw him the phone and began smoothing out her dress.
Thomas looked at the screen unsurprised. “I’m psychic,” he said, before thumbing it on. “How can I help my beloved sister this morning,” he answered into the device.
Immediately, a shrill female voice emitted from the phone, audibly questioning where Thomas had been. He pulled the phone from his ear in reaction, distancing himself from the voice. “Calm down, I’m just in my hotel room,” he said to the phone.
Sarah finished putting on her heels, then blew Thomas a kiss as she turned to leave.
Thomas winked, then continued listening to the indistinct sound of his sister’s long story. His brow furrowed as he concentrated on the conversation. “Wo, wo, wo, slow down. What do you mean? No, I left for my hotel room early last night,” He responded, the rest of the conversation cutting off as Sarah closed the hotel room’s door behind her.
Sarah walked down the hall to the elevator and thumbed the descend button. She chuckled as she reflected on the afterglow she could feel humming through her body. It was going to be a good day.
The elevator arrived and Sarah stepped inside and thumbed the button for the lobby.
Only two floors had ascended past the elevator before Sarah noticed in her peripheral, the state of her reflection on the mirrored wall. She was in a wrinkled evening gown, her hair was mused, and her makeup was damaged.
“Damn it,” Sarah muttered to herself. She was a hot mess that screamed walk-of-shame. She quickly thumbed the elevator to the next floor, got out, and heading for the stairs.
Sarah enjoyed being the center of attention, but on her own terms, and not when she looked like this.
Sarah normally would have taken the stairs in the first place, but it would appear that thoughts of Thomas’s naked body were distracting her.
Large, muscled, confident, and in sync with Sarah’s body right out of the gate. God, and the way the moonlight had highlighted his chest.
Sarah stopped and clenched her fists, forcing herself to push the images of Thomas out of her mind. “Okay Sarah, time to focus on the mission now. Quit thinking about the beautiful man you had sex with for ten seconds,” she muttered to herself, then resumed walking. She tried to think of breathing exercises Endo had taught her to focus her mind. Since she was descending the stairs at a regular pace, she started to breath in tune with every three steps she descended.
Three steps down, breath, another three steps, exhale, repeat.
Sarah exited the hotel through the fire escape and did a quick look up and down the alley for her driver. Not far away, she could see the headlight of a Rolls-Royce around the corner. That would be Caspian’s car.
Caspian was Sarah’s driver, but not exclusively. He ran a business as a kind of private taxi for Winsome Bay’s elite. Sarah had a long working relationship with Caspian. She originally sought him out years ago, due to his reputation as someone always on time, and able to keep his client’s identities and destinations confidential. As a bonus, Sarah grew to like his personality too. The guy was unwaveringly polite, and something about him suggested that he was seriously dangerous to cross, a trait in men that always got Sarah excited. Unfortunately, Sarah had a suspicion that Caspian was probably gay. He never looked at her inappropriately and that hungry desire, she regularly saw in men’s eyes was completely absent in Caspian’s.
Sarah slipped into the backseat of Caspian’s car. As always, the car smelled clean and the white leather upholstery was supple and spotless. Per her earlier request the day earlier, the seat beside Sarah had her overnight bag waiting for her.
“A pleasure to see you again Ms. Noir,” Said Caspian. “Where might we be going today?” he asked, looking at Sarah in the rear-view mirror over his thin glasses.
Caspian was African America in descent, in his late 40s, bald, and had cheek bones that could probably carve wood if they were any more pronounced. His eyes were kind, yet alert.
“3845 Mason’s road,” said Sarah as she reached for her overnight bag.
Caspian gave her a skeptical look, then asked, “The abandoned industrial district?”
“I’ve heard the sunrise is beautiful there this early in the morning,” said Sarah coyly.
Caspian raised an eyebrow and smiled. “I’m sure it is,” he said, equally as coyly.
The car pulled into traffic.
While they drove, Sarah slid her evening gown down her torso, then lifted her pelvis so that the gown could continue past her legs, leaving her dressed in only her thong and heels. She could see in the rear-view mirror as Caspian’s eyes glanced at her. Not gay? Maybe, but probably the glance was more in disapproval for Sarah’s lack of seatbelt.
Sarah put on the jeans, a white tank top, and sneakers from the overnight bag, then tied her hair back into a ponytail. She leaned forward between the two front seats and used the rearview mirror to redo her makeup.
From the corner of her eye Sarah could see a small frown on Caspian’s face in reaction to the obstruction Sarah was creating in his mirror. Sarah finished up and beamed a smile at him to show that she noticed.
Caspian smiled and let out a small snort.
It took roughly half an hour to reach their destination, a warehouse cladded in rusty steel sheeting, with most of the windows broken. Surprisingly, the sunrise in this area did have a beauty to it, provided you kept your eyes from the garbage ridden gravel around the place.
Sarah took out a hooded robe from inside the bag and put it on. She looked up at Caspian but found his expression not the least bit concerned. She wondered just what kind of clients he moved around to be unphased by a woman putting on a black hooded robe in the back of his car.
Caspian held out his hand.
Sarah reached into her clutch and pulled out two hundred dollars, placing the bills in Caspian’s hand.
Caspian counted his bills and said, “Always a pleasure Ms. Noir.”
Sarah took off her ruby choker, which was not entirely a fashion piece. It had strange rune engraved into the ruby, which she believed to be Norse in origin. To Sarah’s understanding, it was a kind of enchantment Endo constructed to prevent Sarah’s shadow form from appearing in the darkness. A trait essential for Sarah to be able to walk around in public now. Without her choker or something like it, people would likely run in fear at the site of Sarah’s eyes going red every time she stepped into a dimly lit room. With practice, she might learn to repress her shadow form on her own, but so far that involved too many headaches.
Sarah placed the choker in the bag and pulled out what resembled a plastic respirator with speakers. She put the device over her mouth and flicked a switch that activated the voice changer.
With a final nod to Caspian, Sarah pulled her hood up and got out of the car. She left her bag in the car, knowing Caspian would deliver it to her building when he got the chance. She then walked to the side entrance of the large warehouse.
The sound of tires crunching over gravel, informed Sarah that Caspian drove away.
The side door to the building was a large panel on tracks. With a bit of effort, Sarah slid the door open, the rusty guide wheels screeching.
Inside the warehouse, the sunlight beamed through the broken and dirty windows. The warehouse was massive and filled mostly with old shipping containers, each of them stacked on top of each other to create massive isles. The isles had a resemblance to that of a grocery store, if the patrons of the store were twenty feet tall.
When Sarah stepped inside, the familiar sound of a handgun cocking emitted from her right side. She turned her head to find Haider pointing his gun at her.
Upon recognizing her, he lowered his gun and went back to leaning against the wall.
Haider was of Mexican descent, somewhere in his 40s, and had tribal tattoo sleeves on his well-muscled arms. Arms that Sarah’s eyes couldn’t help but drift to every few second. The tattoos were of blocky swirls, in what Sarah believed to be a Mayan art style. He was sort of one of Sarah’s henchmen, at least part-time.
Sarah had three sort-of-henchmen, all black-ops veterans who had no intention of retiring from their service to become mall cops and bodyguards. They came from a career of violence and excitement, which made integrating into average civilian life, difficult. Sarah first found her henchmen working as lowly thugs for one of the minor gangs, their considerable talent appallingly unappreciated. Sarah knew them for what they were the first time she saw them, so she hires them from time to time. Her men were perfectly suited in their talents to, say, organized and kidnap one of Winsome Bay’s richest men.
“Where is he?” asked Sarah, her voice deep and distorted by the voice changer.
“Three isles down, in the blue container with Chinese lettering and the fish graphic on it. The others are with him,” said Haider, pointing down one of the isles.
Sarah nodded to him in appreciation, then began walking in the direction Haider had indicated. She snuck another glance at his muscled arms as she passed, her perversion conveniently hidden within the shadows of her hood.
Halfway down an aisle, Sarah walked through one of the thicker shadows cast by a stack of containers, causing her shadow form to wrap around her under her robe.
“I am not pleased with you,” said Endo the instant Sarah’s shadow form returned.
Sarah sighed. “What could possibly be displeasing you?” she asked in mild irritation.
“Ward has been here all night, yet it is apparent that my vessel’s appetite for pleasure takes precedence over this mission,” said Endo.
Sarah scoffed in offence. “Okay, fuck off. I told you I was going to do what I wanted last night. Besides, he hasn’t gone anywhere, and now we’re here. So, stop bitching,” she said.
Endo tried to argue with her, but Sarah’s stride continued out of the small shadow, effectively cutting off his ability to speak with her.
When Sarah arrived at the third isle, she found her other two henchmen, Miles and Connor. They were standing guard in front of the blue shipping container Haider described. When they saw Sarah approaching, both Miles and Connor straightened at the sight of her and their faces washed over into professional neutrality. Connor’s hand twitched, as he likely just suppressed the urge to salute Sarah out of habit.
Wordlessly, Miles reached over to the lever that opened the container. With a screech of unoiled hinges, the container doors opened to reveal the sleeping James Ward chained to a chair with a cloth gag in his mouth. The man was relatively unharmed, aside from a large gash on his right cheek, likely from when the boys grabbed him.
“I’ll take it from here,” said Sarah.
Connor and Miles nodded, then left the way Sarah came, leaving her alone with the CEO of Ward Industries.
Once her henchmen were out of sight, Sarah stepped into the container and untied Ward’s gag. She then pulled the door closed to cut out the light.
“Alright Endo,” Sarah called.
Endo immediately exited Sarah’s body in a smoky mist that congealed into his serpent-like form. He was too large for the container, so he had to curl his tail around Sarah to decrease his height.
“Don’t forget, I’m killing him after I find out everyone that’s working for him. I’m not making the same mistake as last time, so don’t fry his brain,” said Sarah.
Endo rolled his eyes, then quickly slithered into Ward’s mouth.
Ward abruptly jerked awake and made a long gasp for air. The muscles in his neck bulged out as his body went rigid. His eyes darted back and forth searching for the source of his pain. Then as rapidly as it had started, it was over. He relaxed back into a slump and his eyes glazed over, starring into nothing.
“I have him. I will find out what he knows about Angst, and everyone that is under his power,” said Endo and Ward simultaneously. “Care to join?” Endo asked.
Sarah shuddered. “I don’t need to see whatever nightmares your using to get Ward to talk. I’m perfectly fine out here,” she said.
Sarah watches as Ward’s face grimaced, twitched, and even smile as Endo mined the information he wanted from the man’s mind. After about ten minutes, a steady stream of blood was starting to flow out from the man’s nose and drip onto the floor.
“So?” Sarah asked, trying her best not to sound impatient.
Ward’s eyes flickered to her, then back to staring at nothing.
“Alright then,” Sarah said in a huff.
After another ten minutes, she would have sat down on the floor, if it wasn’t covered in what likely was old fish remains. The scent of the boney corpses still faintly lingered in the air, especially since she closed the door.
A burst of gun fire made Sarah’s head snap up in attention. There was still too much light outside the container for her to feel or hear what just happened, but she guessed it was her guys, it had been a controlled burst of fire. She opened the container door and stepped out to listen for something else.
“Contact! North West and closing! Get the boss!” Haider shouted from the direction Sarah had come in.
Another burst of gunfire issued, longer than the last. An explosion and a flash of blue-orange light issued from Haider’s direction.
“Shit.” Sarah hissed under her breath. Why do people always come charging through the door every time she and Endo try and interrogate someone. It’s rude.
“Endo, got what we need? I don’t have my gear, and someone is crashing our party,” said Sarah.
“Maybe if we weren’t mating all night, someone wouldn’t have had all morning to find the Ward’s location,” said Endo, venomously.
Sarah opened her mouth to speak but was taken aback from Endo’s insult. That… What an asshole.
Endo exited Ward’s body.
Ward blinked, then tried to scream when he saw Endo looming over him, but before any air could come out of the man’s mouth, Endo backhanded the man. Ward’s head snapped back, then fell limply forward.
“Did you just snap his neck?” Sarah asked, urgency and concern in her voice.
Endo looked at Ward, studying him for a few seconds, the said, “No.”
“I swear to god, if you killed him-” Sarah began.
Endo interrupted with indifference, “He will survive.”
“I’m going to get an exorcism on a sunny Mexican beach if your wrong,” said Sarah.
“Boss! We’ve got to go. Something’s coming this way. Haider and Miles are in tactical retreat,” said Connor between heavy breaths as he ran towards the container.
Before Connor got close enough to see inside, Endo rushed back into Sarah.
Sarah turned around to meet Connor as he came to the door. “Something? You don’t know what you’re running from?” asked Sarah, a bit annoyed. Her so called henchmen were supposed to be professionals, they should at least know what their shooting at.
More gunfire sounded, followed by a few flashes of that blue-orange light. One of Sarah’s men howled in pain, but she wasn’t sure which one got hit.
Connor looked in the direction of the sounds, then audibly gulped. “It’s a man I think, but our ammunition isn’t effecting him, he’s armored,” he said.
Before Sarah could respond, a beam of blue light stabbed through a shipping container down the aisle and continued through the next container.
Sarah and Connor flinched in reaction to the projectile.
The container effected, had a hole the size of Sarah’s fist, glowing with heat and dripping molten metal to the floor.
“I’ll cover your escape,” said Connor.
“No. You’re not equipped for this. You and the others scatter. I’ll take care of this,” Sarah said sternly.
“You can’t possibly-” Connor began.
“Don’t argue. Get going,” Sarah snapped. She had no intention of fighting whatever was attacking them in daylight, nor without her gear, but she also wasn’t going to send her henchmen to their deaths. They were expensive.
Connor looked like he was going to argue again, but apparently decided better of it and ran off behind Sarah.
At the end of the isle, a red figure came into view. The figure was wearing red combat armor, but to an extent that Sarah had never seen. The armor was broken into multiple plates that completely covered the figure’s body, in a fashion that mimicked a man’s musculature. His helmet was of the same red material, with a horizontal slit of black glass over were his eyes would be, giving the helmet a medieval knight’s look. He held two flintlock looking pistols in his hands, each of which had a ribbed tube attached that lead to the back of his armor.
The armored man pressed a button on his pistols that made them click. From each pistol, a piece of glowing metal ejected out of the side. The hot metal made sparks as it bounced across the littered ground. One of the glowing pieces landed on a slip of old paper, which then puffed into a flame and disappeared into floating pieces of ash.
The armored man raised a pistol towards Sarah.
Sarah wasn’t waiting to find out what happened if she got hit with that gun, so she immediately darted down the aisle away from the man while listening for his gun.
There was a hissing-bark from behind Sarah, which she used as her queue to roll to her left. Blue-orange light flashed from her right and a few pieces of molten concrete flew at her. The pieces hit her robe, burning holes in it and creating puffs of smoke.
Sarah rolled back into her run, stealing a glance over her shoulder at where the projectile had impacted. A smoking crater of charred concrete a foot wide was exactly where she would have been if she hadn’t rolled. “Guess we’re playing for keeps then,” Sarah said under her breath.
Another hissing-bark from the armored man's pistol sounded, and this time Sarah dived into a space between a couple containers. The dive wasn’t perfectly timed, so she ended up making a loud bang as her shoulder slammed into the metal door of a container. Pain bloomed from her shoulder, but it was probably less painful than if she got melted by that gun. Speaking of which, Sarah’s legs were getting uncomfortably warm.
Sarah looked down to her feet to find that a significant portion of her robe’s hem was on fire. She got back up and ran with a hop as she tried to bat the flames out of her robe. She ran into the adjacent isle, which at least put a couple shipping containers between her and the armored man. She guessed the armored man couldn’t see through walls, even if his projectiles passed through them like paper. Granted, it wouldn’t take him more than a few seconds run after her.
Sarah turned the corner at the end of the isle, running for the entrance she came in at. That pistol barked again and one of the blue-orange projectiles few past her head and to Sarah’s astonishment, the bolt of fiery light traveled diagonally to hit sideways into another container. Was he curving his shots? Well that wasn’t fair.
As Sarah neared the door, she realized with a sinking feeling that it was an open lot outside the warehouse. If she ran out that door now, she’d have one of those bolts hit her in the back for sure.
With that hissing bark, two bolts curved around Sarah to slam into the ground in front of her.
“Mother fuck!” Sarah yelped in surprise. She tried to correct her footing as she crossed the suddenly uneven terrain, but her shoe slipped in the now molten concrete, causing her to tumble into a less than graceful roll. She got back up, catching the fowl whiff of melted shoe. Sarah was thankful that just her shoe was melted and not her foot.
“Don’t move or the next one is going straight through your head,” said the armored man with a metallically distorted voice.
Seems Sarah wasn’t the only person to bring a voice changer today, although the armored man’s voice sounded clearer and more refined, than hers. Perhaps she needed to start investing in more expensive gadgets.
Sarah turned around to face the armored man. “I was beginning to think that you were the type to shoot first and ask questions later,” she said between heavy breaths. She was a bit anxious being cornered like this. The last time she got cornered at gun point, she nearly died at the hands of Ewan Kemp and his goons, and this time Endo wouldn’t be there to rescue her. At least this guy appeared to
be working alone.
“Where’s James Ward?” the armored man asked.
We’ll at least this guy was here for a reason. Sarah was scared the armored man was just some trigger-happy psycho that happened to walk in on Sarah and her men. Crazier things have happened in this city.
“He’s alive, for now,” Sarah said, while taking the time to look at this guy more closely. The guy was decked out in super armor and science fiction weapons, so he obviously had money.
“That’s not what I asked,” the armored man said, impatience evident in his electronic voice.
Sarah threw up her hands in surrender. “Alright. Alright. I’ll tell you, but if I do, what stops you from just shooting me?” she asked.
The armored man tilted his head up slightly in thought. “Fair point,” he said thoughtfully. He then grabbed a plate of his armor on his thigh, then pulled it open like a door. Inside, a pair of standard handcuffs were strapped to the plate. He grabbed the handcuffs and threw them to Sarah, which she caught after a second of hesitation. “Put those on. Would make me look bad as a hero if I shot an unarmed captive. How’s that for a reason to keep you alive?” he said.
Sarah didn’t say anything as she looked at the cuffs, her blood growing a little cold. She always assumed she’d die at the hands of some mobster, but the thought of being arrested by some hero never really occurred to her. She was supposed to be the hero. After everything she’s been through, to have to go through Winsome Bay’s corrupt justice system, to have her identity paraded all over the news for months and have her name dragged through the mud. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
“Come on, I don’t have all day. My trigger finger is getting tired of not shooting at things,” the armored man said.
Sarah attached the cuffs. Her body was trembling with annoyance, anger, and fear. Who was this guy to label her as the villain? She had James Ward kidnapped, not some schoolgirl. Ward was the bad guy, not her. Granted, this guy didn’t know who Ward was. Armored man didn’t know that he was rescuing one of Winsome Bay’s crime lords. “Ward’s not who you think he is,” Sarah said, looking at her cuffs.
Armored man was silent for a second before speaking. “James Ward makes significant contributions to the city police and humanitarian projects around the city. As far as I’m concerned, James Ward is the shining example of a philanthropist,” said armored man.
Sarah looked up at armored man, but her mouth hung open as she was about to speak. Behind the armored man, Connor was two isles down aiming his rifle for the armored man’s head. Connor’s gun fired and a burst of bullets hit the armored man in the back of his head. The bullets failed to pierce the armored man’s armor, ricocheting into an adjacent shipping container, and causing metallic pangs on impact.
The armored man whorled around to face Connor and immediately fired the flame gun at Sarah’s henchman.
Connor dived back behind the container he was besides, and narrowly missing a bolt of blue-orange light.
Sarah saw her opening and immediately ran down the aisle with the shadow in it. The shadow wouldn’t be connected to anything it wasn’t touching, but she could use it to get inside one of the containers that was casting the shadow. She could lay low in a container or maybe sneak to the opposite side of the warehouse and run as far away from armored man as possible.
“Stop!” the armored man shouted.
Sarah looked over her shoulder at the armored man to see him pointing that gun at her. Suddenly another burst of bullets bounced off the left side of the armored man’s helmet. The armored man flinched and began returning fire in Connor’s direction.
Sarah got to the shadow and immediately willed herself into the container that was casting it, relishing the awareness and feeling of freedom that came with being inside the dark. She spread her awareness, gauging the size of the shadow she was in. The darkness perforated through the interior of all the shipping containers stacked in this line but didn’t reach over into the containers on the opposite side of the aisle.
Sarah willed herself into one of the containers at the end of the aisle, opposite the armored man. She shoulder-checked the door of the container she materialized in, but it was locked from the outside. She quickly willed herself into the one above the last and shoulder checked that one as well. Once again, the door remained solid. Fuck. It was just her luck that as soon as she got into the containers, she wouldn’t find her way out. She tried again on the next one up with the same result, growling in frustration as she slammed into it again. She repeated the process for the next one up, which to her immense relief, did shift when she pushed it, although this one was thirty feet higher than she wanted.
Sarah looked down at the distant ground, trying to mentally calculate how not to break her legs doing this.
More gun fire sounded, followed by another barking-hiss from that flame gun.
Connor wouldn’t be able to kite the armored man forever. He came back to save Sarah. The least Sarah could do is not get caught herself.
Sarah jumped out of the container and landed in a roll, trying to redirect her momentum from the fall. Pain erupted from her ankle and calf, causing her to grunt in pain. As she rolled, her already injured shoulder bounced across some uneven concrete, then again as her roll continued into the wall of the warehouse, making the sheet metal rattle. If the armored man was confused as to where she went, he’d have a pretty good idea now. Sarah got up and tried to run for one of the warehouse’s exits, but her sprained ankle protested that motion, causing her to adopt a fast hobble instead.
When Sarah reached the exit, she scanned behind her for any sign of Connor or the armored man but couldn’t see them. She then turned and exited the warehouse with a limp.
Sarah was curled up on the couch in the hotel room suite. Sipping her coffee, she held the mug close to her so that she could enjoy the heat and aroma of the dark liquid. Her feet were a little cold, but that was to be expected when wearing only a dress shirt. She smiled; a hint of Thomas’s cologne drifted into her nose from the shirt. There was a note in the cologne that was Vanilla-like, whatever it was, it certainly complemented the coffee’s aroma.
The hotel coffee pot let out a gurgle behind Sarah, signaling that it was nearly complete in brewing a second cup. When it finished, Sarah got up from the couch to retrieve the second cup of coffee for Thomas.
When Sarah entered the bedroom, she found Thomas laying in the bed exactly where she’d left him. Her eyes drank in the sight of his muscular chest rising and falling with each breath.
Walking across the room, Sarah brought the second cup of coffee under Thomas’s nose and waited.
After a few seconds, a smirk touched Thomas’s face and he said, “That’s a fantastic smell to wake up too.” He reached out for his coffee, then partially propped himself against the headboard so he could take a sip and look at Sarah.
“I agree,” said Sarah, as she crawled onto the bed with Thomas, straddling his hips. She looked down at him as she took a sip of her coffee with both hands. There was something erotic about how there was nothing but a thin bedsheet between her and this man. “You know, you’re the only man I’ve done this for,” she said, considering the situation. It was true, she’s never stuck around to make a man coffee in the morning. Weird.
“Really?” said Thomas, who’s pelvis pitched towards Sarah, making the sheet rub gently under her vagina.
Sarah closed her eyes and let out a soft moan. The bastard did that on purpose.
Thomas put his coffee on the nightstand and said, “Well then, I guess I’m in your debt then.”
Thomas placed his large hands on Sarah’s hips, and continued, “So, how would you like me to make it up to you?”
Sarah put her coffee on the nightstand next to Thomas’s. “Oh, I can think of a few things,” she said, looking down at him with a wolfish smile. She put her hands on either side of his head, her hair creating a curtain around their faces. She looked down between their legs and pitched her hips to start rubbing herself against him. When she looked back up to him, she was satisfied to see the smile growing on his face.
Thomas’s manhood stirred from its slumber and began pressing against the sheet until it rested in cleft of Sarah’s ass.
Thomas’s hands pulled Sarah’s hips harder against him, causing her to gasp in excitement. She bent down to kiss him deeply.
A sudden high-pitched ringtone issued from Sarah’s discarded clothes on the floor.
“Fuckkk…” Sarah exhaled. She wanted to ignore it, but she didn’t have to pick it up to know that it was time to go. She clenched Thomas hard between her thighs, childishly wishing she didn’t have to let him go.
“Ignore it,” said Thomas, kissing Sarah’s neck.
Sarah moans, then lied, “It’s work, I can’t.”
“Call in sick,” Thomas insisted, between clenched teeth.
“Sorry handsome,” said Sarah as she reluctantly moved to get off Thomas.
Thomas pulled Sarah back to him. “I know you want to stay,” he said, his voice a warm rumble.
Sarah kissed Thomas, while simultaneously removing his hands from her hips. “Trust me, if I didn’t have to leave, I’d drag you back into bed myself," she said.
Thomas arched an eyebrow. “What makes you think I won’t do the same?” he asked with intrigue.
Sarah got off the bed walking to her discarded clothes. “Because I’m unique and I know you want to see where this goes,” she said casually. She unbuttoned Thomas’s shirt and let it fall to the floor at her feet, then gave Thomas a devilish grin over her shoulder.
Thomas took a sip of his coffee, his gaze rising from Sarah’s feet to her eyes, taking in her naked form. “Can’t argue there,” he said.
A buzzing emitted from Thomas’s pants on the floor.
Sarah put her evening gown over her head, then reached down to grab Thomas’s phone out of his discarded pants. “Your phone’s been vibrating all morning by the way,” she said.
Thomas frowned at that, then said, “Toss it here, probably my little sister.”
Sarah threw him the phone and began smoothing out her dress.
Thomas looked at the screen unsurprised. “I’m psychic,” he said, before thumbing it on. “How can I help my beloved sister this morning,” he answered into the device.
Immediately, a shrill female voice emitted from the phone, audibly questioning where Thomas had been. He pulled the phone from his ear in reaction, distancing himself from the voice. “Calm down, I’m just in my hotel room,” he said to the phone.
Sarah finished putting on her heels, then blew Thomas a kiss as she turned to leave.
Thomas winked, then continued listening to the indistinct sound of his sister’s long story. His brow furrowed as he concentrated on the conversation. “Wo, wo, wo, slow down. What do you mean? No, I left for my hotel room early last night,” He responded, the rest of the conversation cutting off as Sarah closed the hotel room’s door behind her.
Sarah walked down the hall to the elevator and thumbed the descend button. She chuckled as she reflected on the afterglow she could feel humming through her body. It was going to be a good day.
The elevator arrived and Sarah stepped inside and thumbed the button for the lobby.
Only two floors had ascended past the elevator before Sarah noticed in her peripheral, the state of her reflection on the mirrored wall. She was in a wrinkled evening gown, her hair was mused, and her makeup was damaged.
“Damn it,” Sarah muttered to herself. She was a hot mess that screamed walk-of-shame. She quickly thumbed the elevator to the next floor, got out, and heading for the stairs.
Sarah enjoyed being the center of attention, but on her own terms, and not when she looked like this.
Sarah normally would have taken the stairs in the first place, but it would appear that thoughts of Thomas’s naked body were distracting her.
Large, muscled, confident, and in sync with Sarah’s body right out of the gate. God, and the way the moonlight had highlighted his chest.
Sarah stopped and clenched her fists, forcing herself to push the images of Thomas out of her mind. “Okay Sarah, time to focus on the mission now. Quit thinking about the beautiful man you had sex with for ten seconds,” she muttered to herself, then resumed walking. She tried to think of breathing exercises Endo had taught her to focus her mind. Since she was descending the stairs at a regular pace, she started to breath in tune with every three steps she descended.
Three steps down, breath, another three steps, exhale, repeat.
Sarah exited the hotel through the fire escape and did a quick look up and down the alley for her driver. Not far away, she could see the headlight of a Rolls-Royce around the corner. That would be Caspian’s car.
Caspian was Sarah’s driver, but not exclusively. He ran a business as a kind of private taxi for Winsome Bay’s elite. Sarah had a long working relationship with Caspian. She originally sought him out years ago, due to his reputation as someone always on time, and able to keep his client’s identities and destinations confidential. As a bonus, Sarah grew to like his personality too. The guy was unwaveringly polite, and something about him suggested that he was seriously dangerous to cross, a trait in men that always got Sarah excited. Unfortunately, Sarah had a suspicion that Caspian was probably gay. He never looked at her inappropriately and that hungry desire, she regularly saw in men’s eyes was completely absent in Caspian’s.
Sarah slipped into the backseat of Caspian’s car. As always, the car smelled clean and the white leather upholstery was supple and spotless. Per her earlier request the day earlier, the seat beside Sarah had her overnight bag waiting for her.
“A pleasure to see you again Ms. Noir,” Said Caspian. “Where might we be going today?” he asked, looking at Sarah in the rear-view mirror over his thin glasses.
Caspian was African America in descent, in his late 40s, bald, and had cheek bones that could probably carve wood if they were any more pronounced. His eyes were kind, yet alert.
“3845 Mason’s road,” said Sarah as she reached for her overnight bag.
Caspian gave her a skeptical look, then asked, “The abandoned industrial district?”
“I’ve heard the sunrise is beautiful there this early in the morning,” said Sarah coyly.
Caspian raised an eyebrow and smiled. “I’m sure it is,” he said, equally as coyly.
The car pulled into traffic.
While they drove, Sarah slid her evening gown down her torso, then lifted her pelvis so that the gown could continue past her legs, leaving her dressed in only her thong and heels. She could see in the rear-view mirror as Caspian’s eyes glanced at her. Not gay? Maybe, but probably the glance was more in disapproval for Sarah’s lack of seatbelt.
Sarah put on the jeans, a white tank top, and sneakers from the overnight bag, then tied her hair back into a ponytail. She leaned forward between the two front seats and used the rearview mirror to redo her makeup.
From the corner of her eye Sarah could see a small frown on Caspian’s face in reaction to the obstruction Sarah was creating in his mirror. Sarah finished up and beamed a smile at him to show that she noticed.
Caspian smiled and let out a small snort.
It took roughly half an hour to reach their destination, a warehouse cladded in rusty steel sheeting, with most of the windows broken. Surprisingly, the sunrise in this area did have a beauty to it, provided you kept your eyes from the garbage ridden gravel around the place.
Sarah took out a hooded robe from inside the bag and put it on. She looked up at Caspian but found his expression not the least bit concerned. She wondered just what kind of clients he moved around to be unphased by a woman putting on a black hooded robe in the back of his car.
Caspian held out his hand.
Sarah reached into her clutch and pulled out two hundred dollars, placing the bills in Caspian’s hand.
Caspian counted his bills and said, “Always a pleasure Ms. Noir.”
Sarah took off her ruby choker, which was not entirely a fashion piece. It had strange rune engraved into the ruby, which she believed to be Norse in origin. To Sarah’s understanding, it was a kind of enchantment Endo constructed to prevent Sarah’s shadow form from appearing in the darkness. A trait essential for Sarah to be able to walk around in public now. Without her choker or something like it, people would likely run in fear at the site of Sarah’s eyes going red every time she stepped into a dimly lit room. With practice, she might learn to repress her shadow form on her own, but so far that involved too many headaches.
Sarah placed the choker in the bag and pulled out what resembled a plastic respirator with speakers. She put the device over her mouth and flicked a switch that activated the voice changer.
With a final nod to Caspian, Sarah pulled her hood up and got out of the car. She left her bag in the car, knowing Caspian would deliver it to her building when he got the chance. She then walked to the side entrance of the large warehouse.
The sound of tires crunching over gravel, informed Sarah that Caspian drove away.
The side door to the building was a large panel on tracks. With a bit of effort, Sarah slid the door open, the rusty guide wheels screeching.
Inside the warehouse, the sunlight beamed through the broken and dirty windows. The warehouse was massive and filled mostly with old shipping containers, each of them stacked on top of each other to create massive isles. The isles had a resemblance to that of a grocery store, if the patrons of the store were twenty feet tall.
When Sarah stepped inside, the familiar sound of a handgun cocking emitted from her right side. She turned her head to find Haider pointing his gun at her.
Upon recognizing her, he lowered his gun and went back to leaning against the wall.
Haider was of Mexican descent, somewhere in his 40s, and had tribal tattoo sleeves on his well-muscled arms. Arms that Sarah’s eyes couldn’t help but drift to every few second. The tattoos were of blocky swirls, in what Sarah believed to be a Mayan art style. He was sort of one of Sarah’s henchmen, at least part-time.
Sarah had three sort-of-henchmen, all black-ops veterans who had no intention of retiring from their service to become mall cops and bodyguards. They came from a career of violence and excitement, which made integrating into average civilian life, difficult. Sarah first found her henchmen working as lowly thugs for one of the minor gangs, their considerable talent appallingly unappreciated. Sarah knew them for what they were the first time she saw them, so she hires them from time to time. Her men were perfectly suited in their talents to, say, organized and kidnap one of Winsome Bay’s richest men.
“Where is he?” asked Sarah, her voice deep and distorted by the voice changer.
“Three isles down, in the blue container with Chinese lettering and the fish graphic on it. The others are with him,” said Haider, pointing down one of the isles.
Sarah nodded to him in appreciation, then began walking in the direction Haider had indicated. She snuck another glance at his muscled arms as she passed, her perversion conveniently hidden within the shadows of her hood.
Halfway down an aisle, Sarah walked through one of the thicker shadows cast by a stack of containers, causing her shadow form to wrap around her under her robe.
“I am not pleased with you,” said Endo the instant Sarah’s shadow form returned.
Sarah sighed. “What could possibly be displeasing you?” she asked in mild irritation.
“Ward has been here all night, yet it is apparent that my vessel’s appetite for pleasure takes precedence over this mission,” said Endo.
Sarah scoffed in offence. “Okay, fuck off. I told you I was going to do what I wanted last night. Besides, he hasn’t gone anywhere, and now we’re here. So, stop bitching,” she said.
Endo tried to argue with her, but Sarah’s stride continued out of the small shadow, effectively cutting off his ability to speak with her.
When Sarah arrived at the third isle, she found her other two henchmen, Miles and Connor. They were standing guard in front of the blue shipping container Haider described. When they saw Sarah approaching, both Miles and Connor straightened at the sight of her and their faces washed over into professional neutrality. Connor’s hand twitched, as he likely just suppressed the urge to salute Sarah out of habit.
Wordlessly, Miles reached over to the lever that opened the container. With a screech of unoiled hinges, the container doors opened to reveal the sleeping James Ward chained to a chair with a cloth gag in his mouth. The man was relatively unharmed, aside from a large gash on his right cheek, likely from when the boys grabbed him.
“I’ll take it from here,” said Sarah.
Connor and Miles nodded, then left the way Sarah came, leaving her alone with the CEO of Ward Industries.
Once her henchmen were out of sight, Sarah stepped into the container and untied Ward’s gag. She then pulled the door closed to cut out the light.
“Alright Endo,” Sarah called.
Endo immediately exited Sarah’s body in a smoky mist that congealed into his serpent-like form. He was too large for the container, so he had to curl his tail around Sarah to decrease his height.
“Don’t forget, I’m killing him after I find out everyone that’s working for him. I’m not making the same mistake as last time, so don’t fry his brain,” said Sarah.
Endo rolled his eyes, then quickly slithered into Ward’s mouth.
Ward abruptly jerked awake and made a long gasp for air. The muscles in his neck bulged out as his body went rigid. His eyes darted back and forth searching for the source of his pain. Then as rapidly as it had started, it was over. He relaxed back into a slump and his eyes glazed over, starring into nothing.
“I have him. I will find out what he knows about Angst, and everyone that is under his power,” said Endo and Ward simultaneously. “Care to join?” Endo asked.
Sarah shuddered. “I don’t need to see whatever nightmares your using to get Ward to talk. I’m perfectly fine out here,” she said.
Sarah watches as Ward’s face grimaced, twitched, and even smile as Endo mined the information he wanted from the man’s mind. After about ten minutes, a steady stream of blood was starting to flow out from the man’s nose and drip onto the floor.
“So?” Sarah asked, trying her best not to sound impatient.
Ward’s eyes flickered to her, then back to staring at nothing.
“Alright then,” Sarah said in a huff.
After another ten minutes, she would have sat down on the floor, if it wasn’t covered in what likely was old fish remains. The scent of the boney corpses still faintly lingered in the air, especially since she closed the door.
A burst of gun fire made Sarah’s head snap up in attention. There was still too much light outside the container for her to feel or hear what just happened, but she guessed it was her guys, it had been a controlled burst of fire. She opened the container door and stepped out to listen for something else.
“Contact! North West and closing! Get the boss!” Haider shouted from the direction Sarah had come in.
Another burst of gunfire issued, longer than the last. An explosion and a flash of blue-orange light issued from Haider’s direction.
“Shit.” Sarah hissed under her breath. Why do people always come charging through the door every time she and Endo try and interrogate someone. It’s rude.
“Endo, got what we need? I don’t have my gear, and someone is crashing our party,” said Sarah.
“Maybe if we weren’t mating all night, someone wouldn’t have had all morning to find the Ward’s location,” said Endo, venomously.
Sarah opened her mouth to speak but was taken aback from Endo’s insult. That… What an asshole.
Endo exited Ward’s body.
Ward blinked, then tried to scream when he saw Endo looming over him, but before any air could come out of the man’s mouth, Endo backhanded the man. Ward’s head snapped back, then fell limply forward.
“Did you just snap his neck?” Sarah asked, urgency and concern in her voice.
Endo looked at Ward, studying him for a few seconds, the said, “No.”
“I swear to god, if you killed him-” Sarah began.
Endo interrupted with indifference, “He will survive.”
“I’m going to get an exorcism on a sunny Mexican beach if your wrong,” said Sarah.
“Boss! We’ve got to go. Something’s coming this way. Haider and Miles are in tactical retreat,” said Connor between heavy breaths as he ran towards the container.
Before Connor got close enough to see inside, Endo rushed back into Sarah.
Sarah turned around to meet Connor as he came to the door. “Something? You don’t know what you’re running from?” asked Sarah, a bit annoyed. Her so called henchmen were supposed to be professionals, they should at least know what their shooting at.
More gunfire sounded, followed by a few flashes of that blue-orange light. One of Sarah’s men howled in pain, but she wasn’t sure which one got hit.
Connor looked in the direction of the sounds, then audibly gulped. “It’s a man I think, but our ammunition isn’t effecting him, he’s armored,” he said.
Before Sarah could respond, a beam of blue light stabbed through a shipping container down the aisle and continued through the next container.
Sarah and Connor flinched in reaction to the projectile.
The container effected, had a hole the size of Sarah’s fist, glowing with heat and dripping molten metal to the floor.
“I’ll cover your escape,” said Connor.
“No. You’re not equipped for this. You and the others scatter. I’ll take care of this,” Sarah said sternly.
“You can’t possibly-” Connor began.
“Don’t argue. Get going,” Sarah snapped. She had no intention of fighting whatever was attacking them in daylight, nor without her gear, but she also wasn’t going to send her henchmen to their deaths. They were expensive.
Connor looked like he was going to argue again, but apparently decided better of it and ran off behind Sarah.
At the end of the isle, a red figure came into view. The figure was wearing red combat armor, but to an extent that Sarah had never seen. The armor was broken into multiple plates that completely covered the figure’s body, in a fashion that mimicked a man’s musculature. His helmet was of the same red material, with a horizontal slit of black glass over were his eyes would be, giving the helmet a medieval knight’s look. He held two flintlock looking pistols in his hands, each of which had a ribbed tube attached that lead to the back of his armor.
The armored man pressed a button on his pistols that made them click. From each pistol, a piece of glowing metal ejected out of the side. The hot metal made sparks as it bounced across the littered ground. One of the glowing pieces landed on a slip of old paper, which then puffed into a flame and disappeared into floating pieces of ash.
The armored man raised a pistol towards Sarah.
Sarah wasn’t waiting to find out what happened if she got hit with that gun, so she immediately darted down the aisle away from the man while listening for his gun.
There was a hissing-bark from behind Sarah, which she used as her queue to roll to her left. Blue-orange light flashed from her right and a few pieces of molten concrete flew at her. The pieces hit her robe, burning holes in it and creating puffs of smoke.
Sarah rolled back into her run, stealing a glance over her shoulder at where the projectile had impacted. A smoking crater of charred concrete a foot wide was exactly where she would have been if she hadn’t rolled. “Guess we’re playing for keeps then,” Sarah said under her breath.
Another hissing-bark from the armored man's pistol sounded, and this time Sarah dived into a space between a couple containers. The dive wasn’t perfectly timed, so she ended up making a loud bang as her shoulder slammed into the metal door of a container. Pain bloomed from her shoulder, but it was probably less painful than if she got melted by that gun. Speaking of which, Sarah’s legs were getting uncomfortably warm.
Sarah looked down to her feet to find that a significant portion of her robe’s hem was on fire. She got back up and ran with a hop as she tried to bat the flames out of her robe. She ran into the adjacent isle, which at least put a couple shipping containers between her and the armored man. She guessed the armored man couldn’t see through walls, even if his projectiles passed through them like paper. Granted, it wouldn’t take him more than a few seconds run after her.
Sarah turned the corner at the end of the isle, running for the entrance she came in at. That pistol barked again and one of the blue-orange projectiles few past her head and to Sarah’s astonishment, the bolt of fiery light traveled diagonally to hit sideways into another container. Was he curving his shots? Well that wasn’t fair.
As Sarah neared the door, she realized with a sinking feeling that it was an open lot outside the warehouse. If she ran out that door now, she’d have one of those bolts hit her in the back for sure.
With that hissing bark, two bolts curved around Sarah to slam into the ground in front of her.
“Mother fuck!” Sarah yelped in surprise. She tried to correct her footing as she crossed the suddenly uneven terrain, but her shoe slipped in the now molten concrete, causing her to tumble into a less than graceful roll. She got back up, catching the fowl whiff of melted shoe. Sarah was thankful that just her shoe was melted and not her foot.
“Don’t move or the next one is going straight through your head,” said the armored man with a metallically distorted voice.
Seems Sarah wasn’t the only person to bring a voice changer today, although the armored man’s voice sounded clearer and more refined, than hers. Perhaps she needed to start investing in more expensive gadgets.
Sarah turned around to face the armored man. “I was beginning to think that you were the type to shoot first and ask questions later,” she said between heavy breaths. She was a bit anxious being cornered like this. The last time she got cornered at gun point, she nearly died at the hands of Ewan Kemp and his goons, and this time Endo wouldn’t be there to rescue her. At least this guy appeared to
be working alone.
“Where’s James Ward?” the armored man asked.
We’ll at least this guy was here for a reason. Sarah was scared the armored man was just some trigger-happy psycho that happened to walk in on Sarah and her men. Crazier things have happened in this city.
“He’s alive, for now,” Sarah said, while taking the time to look at this guy more closely. The guy was decked out in super armor and science fiction weapons, so he obviously had money.
“That’s not what I asked,” the armored man said, impatience evident in his electronic voice.
Sarah threw up her hands in surrender. “Alright. Alright. I’ll tell you, but if I do, what stops you from just shooting me?” she asked.
The armored man tilted his head up slightly in thought. “Fair point,” he said thoughtfully. He then grabbed a plate of his armor on his thigh, then pulled it open like a door. Inside, a pair of standard handcuffs were strapped to the plate. He grabbed the handcuffs and threw them to Sarah, which she caught after a second of hesitation. “Put those on. Would make me look bad as a hero if I shot an unarmed captive. How’s that for a reason to keep you alive?” he said.
Sarah didn’t say anything as she looked at the cuffs, her blood growing a little cold. She always assumed she’d die at the hands of some mobster, but the thought of being arrested by some hero never really occurred to her. She was supposed to be the hero. After everything she’s been through, to have to go through Winsome Bay’s corrupt justice system, to have her identity paraded all over the news for months and have her name dragged through the mud. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
“Come on, I don’t have all day. My trigger finger is getting tired of not shooting at things,” the armored man said.
Sarah attached the cuffs. Her body was trembling with annoyance, anger, and fear. Who was this guy to label her as the villain? She had James Ward kidnapped, not some schoolgirl. Ward was the bad guy, not her. Granted, this guy didn’t know who Ward was. Armored man didn’t know that he was rescuing one of Winsome Bay’s crime lords. “Ward’s not who you think he is,” Sarah said, looking at her cuffs.
Armored man was silent for a second before speaking. “James Ward makes significant contributions to the city police and humanitarian projects around the city. As far as I’m concerned, James Ward is the shining example of a philanthropist,” said armored man.
Sarah looked up at armored man, but her mouth hung open as she was about to speak. Behind the armored man, Connor was two isles down aiming his rifle for the armored man’s head. Connor’s gun fired and a burst of bullets hit the armored man in the back of his head. The bullets failed to pierce the armored man’s armor, ricocheting into an adjacent shipping container, and causing metallic pangs on impact.
The armored man whorled around to face Connor and immediately fired the flame gun at Sarah’s henchman.
Connor dived back behind the container he was besides, and narrowly missing a bolt of blue-orange light.
Sarah saw her opening and immediately ran down the aisle with the shadow in it. The shadow wouldn’t be connected to anything it wasn’t touching, but she could use it to get inside one of the containers that was casting the shadow. She could lay low in a container or maybe sneak to the opposite side of the warehouse and run as far away from armored man as possible.
“Stop!” the armored man shouted.
Sarah looked over her shoulder at the armored man to see him pointing that gun at her. Suddenly another burst of bullets bounced off the left side of the armored man’s helmet. The armored man flinched and began returning fire in Connor’s direction.
Sarah got to the shadow and immediately willed herself into the container that was casting it, relishing the awareness and feeling of freedom that came with being inside the dark. She spread her awareness, gauging the size of the shadow she was in. The darkness perforated through the interior of all the shipping containers stacked in this line but didn’t reach over into the containers on the opposite side of the aisle.
Sarah willed herself into one of the containers at the end of the aisle, opposite the armored man. She shoulder-checked the door of the container she materialized in, but it was locked from the outside. She quickly willed herself into the one above the last and shoulder checked that one as well. Once again, the door remained solid. Fuck. It was just her luck that as soon as she got into the containers, she wouldn’t find her way out. She tried again on the next one up with the same result, growling in frustration as she slammed into it again. She repeated the process for the next one up, which to her immense relief, did shift when she pushed it, although this one was thirty feet higher than she wanted.
Sarah looked down at the distant ground, trying to mentally calculate how not to break her legs doing this.
More gun fire sounded, followed by another barking-hiss from that flame gun.
Connor wouldn’t be able to kite the armored man forever. He came back to save Sarah. The least Sarah could do is not get caught herself.
Sarah jumped out of the container and landed in a roll, trying to redirect her momentum from the fall. Pain erupted from her ankle and calf, causing her to grunt in pain. As she rolled, her already injured shoulder bounced across some uneven concrete, then again as her roll continued into the wall of the warehouse, making the sheet metal rattle. If the armored man was confused as to where she went, he’d have a pretty good idea now. Sarah got up and tried to run for one of the warehouse’s exits, but her sprained ankle protested that motion, causing her to adopt a fast hobble instead.
When Sarah reached the exit, she scanned behind her for any sign of Connor or the armored man but couldn’t see them. She then turned and exited the warehouse with a limp.