“It’s almost time,” Izzy said. “We should get changed.”
Saleena licked her lips. “Do we have time to test the flesh?” she purred girlishly.
Izzy held her by the face and gently kissed her on the cheek with a deliberateness that signaled a level of intimacy not at all possible in such a simple act. “I would love to see what it feels like, but we’ll have plenty of time for that after we finish this first job.
Saleena ran her fingers through his hair and exhaled as a tingling sensation swept over her body. It was a joyous sensation—a mixture of the desire she reveled in for Izzy and the potential chaos she was sure to partake in before the night was over. She imagined the blissful life in the flesh that awaited her. She would have the best of both worlds: Izzy would answer the call of the powerful yearning that resided in her new flesh, and her feud with Simon would quench the thirst for chaos that held together the very fabric of her demonic essence. “Life here is going to be so perfect,” she thought aloud.
They dressed into the mercenary outfits and strapped their guns into holsters on their waists and under their arms and then finished by draping a belt full of extra clips across their chests. They looked like they were ready for war.
“Remember,” Izzy said, clipping four flash grenades to his waist. “Aim for the head, and don’t get shot in the head. Other shots will hurt, but you’ll heal quickly.”
Saleena clipped the other four flash grenades to her waist and nodded. “I’m ready.”
Chapter Four
It was two in the morning and all was quiet on the waterfront in downtown Rochester. A large manufacturing company and all of the neighboring businesses were closed. Well, all but one. A one-story warehouse was bustling with activity inside. The sign hanging outside the warehouse announced that it specialized in the import and export of exotic animal skins, but there was a lot more to the warehouse than that. Just inside the entrance was a small office where five men stood brandishing automatic machine guns. At first glance it appeared the armed men guarded the rows of inventory boxes that filled the warehouse, but on the other side of that inventory was a door to a large room where eight more men counted over a million dollars with money counting machines and packaged thousands of ecstasy and Viagra pills.
A short, fat, sharply dressed, balding man entered the warehouse, and the five guards nodded to him in respect. It was the same fat guy Lamont had staked-out four years earlier.
“Good evening Mr. Kenny,” one of the guards greeted.
Charles Kenny eyed his Rolex. “More like morning.”
Charles was one of Simon’s top lieutenants. He had been brought from hell to serve one function, and he did it very well. “Time to get to work,” Charles said before heading to the back room.
The eight men in the room didn’t stop working when Charles walked in. They nodded at him and continued their tasks. Charles walked over to a lamp mounted on the wall in the back of the room. He turned the lamp, and a secret door opened in the wall to the left of the lamp, revealing a dark stairwell that led to some kind of basement. He stepped into the stairwell and one of the men turned the lamp back, closing the secret door behind him.
Charles made his way down to the pitch-black basement with no problem. He had personally designed the makeshift dungeon and had visited every night for over a decade. There was the sound of growling as he stopped and reached for a string that hung from a lamp on the ceiling. He pulled the string and the basement lit up, revealing that he stood between two cells with small barred windows built into eight-inch thick steel enforced doors. There was scratching and clawing at the door to Charles’ left. He smiled while removing a key from his pocket and then unlocked the door. The moment he opened the door, two huge Rottweilers with flaming red eyes and extremely long fangs jumped on him.
“Down,” Charles said calmly, and the dogs stopped jumping on him.
Charles opened the other door and walked in with the dogs barking ferociously at his sides. In front of him was a naked beautiful goddess of a woman with her wrists and ankles chained to the wall, giving her barely enough slack to take a step forward. Her cream-colored skin was flawless and her long black hair was silky smooth. She locked her emerald eyes onto Charles and her piercing gaze nearly made him shiver.
Charles taunted, “Did you miss me, Tess?”
Tess smiled. “You’re going to beg for the devil’s wrath when I get free,” she threatened.
Charles laughed. “You’re never getting free. Simon’s going to keep you here forever. The powerless demon trapped on earth that can’t die even if she wanted too. A lost soul.”
“Come on and get it over with,” she snapped through clenched teeth.
“That’s one wish I’m more than happy to fulfill.” He patted the dogs on their heads and told them, “Feed.”
The dogs hurried at Tess and jumped on her, biting at her face and breasts. Tess screamed and yelled as the dogs ripped into her skin and snatched away chunks of her flesh.
***
Upstairs in the warehouse, the five guards sat in the office playing cards when two flash grenades crashed through one of the front windows. One of the flash grenades landed right in front of their office.
“No!” the guards yelled in unison when they spotted the flash grenades.
The guard tried to scramble out the way, but it was too late. The grenades exploded, leaving the guards dazed and confused. Within the next second, Izzy and Saleena smashed through the warehouse’s front entrance aiming their AR-15s. One of the guards stumbled out the office and Izzy promptly fired a shot directly into the center of his forehead, dropping him dead.
Saleena eyed the dead guard and said, “They’re human.”
Izzy rushed into the office to engage the remaining guards. Meanwhile, the other eight men stormed from the back room brandishing handguns. One of them spotted Saleena and fired at her. She fired back and ducked for cover behind a stack of boxes. The eight men spread out among the inventory boxes—four to the left and four to the right.
Inside the guards’ office, Izzy worked quickly on the four remaining guards. The shock of the flash grenade had them too disoriented to realize that they were under fire. Izzy nonchalantly mowed them down at the knees and then sent a barrage of bullets into each of their faces. Izzy’s attention was then drawn by the sound of gunfire.
“You all right?” he called out to Saleena as he emerged from the office.
“Yeah,” she answered, peeking at Izzy from behind the stack of boxes. “It’s eight of them. They split up. Four went left and the others went right.”
Izzy reloaded his AR-15. “I’ll take the right and make my way to the basement. Meet me there.”
“Okay,” Saleena nodded.
“Have fun,” Izzy encouraged.
Izzy crouched down and aimed his assault rifle like a seasoned professional. He inched his way along a row of inventory boxes. A goon appeared in front of him to his left, and he quickly shot the goon in the head, killing him. Another goon appeared and fired at Izzy from his right. Izzy took a shot in his left arm before he shot the goon in the leg. The goon fell to one knee and Izzy emptied his assault rifle into his chest and face.
“Damn!” Izzy yelped in pain as he touched his wounded arm.
Another goon popped up in front of Izzy with his gun drawn. Izzy tried to fire the assault rifle, but the clip was empty. The goon fired, hitting Izzy in the left thigh and right shoulder. Izzy dropped to the floor and grunted in pain. The goon then slowly approached Izzy, keeping his gun aimed at Izzy’s head.
“Do you know whose place this is?” the goon asked Izzy, standing over him.
“Simon’s,” Izzy stated.
“You’re a dead man, and your soul is toast,” the goon taunted.
“I could say the same for you,” Saleena told the goon from about ten feet behind him.
The goon never had a chance. Saleena fire
d four shots into his head. She then rushed over to Izzy and knelt at his side. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, it just stings like hell,” he confessed.
“Can you get up?” she asked.
Izzy nodded and stood. “Yeah, really, I’m fine.” He put his finger through one of the bullet holes in his shirt and showed her that his flesh had healed back to normal. “I just have to get used to this whole flesh thing. The shock of the hit knocked me down.”
“Don’t worry—” Saleena started, but stopped when she spotted the remaining five goons approaching from opposite directions—three in front and two behind. They had Saleena and Izzy in a cross fire. Saleena dropped her assault rifle while simultaneously pulling the two Glocks from her waist. Izzy pulled his two Glocks too. Saleena and Izzy stood back to back. The goons opened fire and Saleena and Izzy did the same, but the goons had the advantage. Izzy took another shot in the arm while Saleena took two shots to her vest. Saleena shot one of the goons in the head, causing the two goons with him to step back, but not before one of them fired a shot aimed at her head.
Time seemed to stand still as the bullet made its way to Saleena’s forehead. It was destined to be a definite kill shot. She imagined being thrust back to hell. That’s what the rules demanded. She had gone through all that trouble to be with Izzy, to experience life on earth, and it was about to end before it even began.
“No,” she whispered defiantly.
The bullet disintegrated a fraction of a second before it touched her skin. The goon rapidly fired several more shots at her face, and each bullet disintegrated before it made contact. Saleena realized that it was her skin that disintegrated the bullets.
“Get down,” she yelled to Izzy.
Izzy dropped to his knees and Saleena turned sideways and stretched her arms to her full wing span, aiming her guns at both sets of goons. The goons fired and their bullets disintegrated several feet away from Izzy and Saleena, as if they had hit some sort of force field. The goons stopped firing and lowered their guns in shock.
“My turn,” Saleena warned and fired at the goons, killing each of them with head shots.
Izzy stood and brushed himself off. “What just happened?”
“At first the bullets couldn’t penetrate my skin, but then I realized that I could feel the bullets’ heat. I manipulated the heat like I do back home,” she explained.
“I’ll figure out what that means later,” Izzy said. “Let’s hurry up and get Tess out of here before more goons show up.”
***
The dogs were doing a serious number on Tess. It was a gruesome scene. There was barely anything left of her. Charles stood there smiling. He enjoyed watching the hell hounds rip Tess’ body to shreds, but he got more enjoyment out of watching her flesh regenerate.
“Down,” he commanded the dogs.
The dogs returned to his side, leaving Tess’ skinless body hanging from the chains. Only a few strings of skin remained on her bloody limbs. Her jaw and cheek bones were exposed, as were parts of her other bones. The dogs had bitten deep.
“Hurry up and grow that skin back so we can finish,” Charles teased.
Tess grimaced and replied, “Remove these damn chains and I will really finish this.” Charles shook his head. “No, no, no. Simon personally imported those chains from hell.
They’re the only chains on earth strong enough to constrain you.” He admired her body from a distance as her flesh and skin slowly regenerated back to normal, displaying her flawless beauty. “Here we go.”
Tess barked, “What are you waiting for?”
Charles scanned her body with lust in his eyes. “Relax. You know I like to admire your beauty. I’m just waiting for the day that Simon rethinks his order that no man or demon in human flesh should touch you.”
“Yeah, me too,” she said coldly.
The dogs suddenly turned to the door and barked like they were preparing to attack something.
“What is it?” Charles asked the dogs.
The dogs backed away from the door, still barking. Saleena stepped into the doorway holding a Glock with Izzy behind her brandishing two Glocks.
Charles squinted as he looked at Saleena. “Saleena?” he asked, unsure of the answer.
“In the flesh,” Saleena replied.
Charles frowned. “What are you doing here?”
Saleena motioned to Tess. “I came for her”
“But your brother—” Charles started.
“Is about to be overthrown,” Saleena declared.
“Feed!” Charles yelled to the dogs.
The dogs snarled and jumped at Saleena. She dropped her gun and caught the dogs by their necks, one in each hand. “Bad puppies,” she told them. She squeezed their necks and her hands turned lava red, igniting the dogs into flames before they disintegrated.
Charles’ eyes grew wide with shock and he tried to force his way past Saleena to get out the cell, but she grabbed him by the neck with one hand, lifted him off the floor, and rammed him into the wall to the left where she held him up and choked him.
“Sic your dogs on me, huh?” she muttered.
“I’m sorry Princess Saleena,” Charles pleaded.
“Not yet, but you will be,” Saleena threatened.
Saleena’s hands turned lava red and Charles’ clothes burst into flames and disintegrated followed by all of his skin. Then his flesh slowly melted away. He yelled in pain and kicked and wiggled to shake free, but Saleena held her grip firm.
Tess yelled, “Don’t kill him, he’s mine!”
Saleena dropped Charles and he crawled into a corner and winced as he balled up into the fetal position. Saleena walked over to Tess and pulled the summoning blade from her waist.
Tess eyed the blade. “I can’t be sent back,” she said with a defeated tone.
Saleena replied, “I’m not so sure about that, but I came here for an alliance.”
Tess raised a brow. “Alliance?”
Saleena explained, “Izzy and I plan on staying here, and we plan on knocking off my brother’s organization.”
Tess sighed, “I tried that before.”
“Yeah,” Saleena nodded. “But you didn’t have the devil’s daughter and a reaper on your side.”
Tess eyed Izzy skeptically. “Izzy the reaper, the collector of dammed souls?”
“Hey,” Izzy greeted with a wave, taking in her beauty. “We never really met, but your reputation precedes you.”
Saleena turned to Izzy and rolled her eyes. “What?”
Izzy shrugged. “I mean the whole seductress thing.”
“Whatever,” Saleena said and turned back to Tess. “This is your chance to pay my brother back.”
“The temptress and the seductress, huh?” Tess muttered. “We might pull it off. Release me.”
Saleena placed the knife’s blade flat against one of the steel constraints on Tess’ wrists and all four constraints opened, releasing her.
Tess rubbed her wrists and turned to Charles, whose charred body still lay balled up in the corner. “He’s not healing,” she pointed out.
Izzy said, “It has something to do with Saleena.”
Tess laughed. “I had planned on sending Charles back to hell in a very painful way, but it seems more fitting to leave him here like this.”
Saleena added, “Yeah, it’ll send my brother a message.”
“That we mean business,” Tess giggled.
Izzy said, “Let’s get out of here.” Then he looked at Tess. “I’m sure you want to get in some clothes.”
“Clothes?” Tess mocked. “I could barely keep my skin on down here, of course I want some clothes.”
Saleena said, “We got some of your clothes in the truck.”
Izzy scanned Tess’ body and motioned to the door. “After you.”
Tess smiled and then strutted her thick but firm frame ou
t the cell, drawing Izzy’s attention to her healthy curves. Izzy’s eyes dropped to Tess’ backside and Saleena playfully smacked him on the back of the head.
Saleena told Izzy, “Not even two days in the flesh, and you’re already looking at every woman you see.”
“That’s no woman, and many men and demons have killed for a moment with that,” he reminded.
“Kill for?” she asked rhetorically. “How about sold their souls for?”
Tess yelled from outside the cell, “You two coming or what?”
Izzy and Saleena snickered as they walked out the cell, leaving Charles’ charred, fleshy-looking body balled up in the corner. Tess got dressed into the clothes Lamont had purchased for her years ago while Izzy and Saleena gathered all the money the goons had been counting in the back room and loaded it into the truck.
***
Izzy pulled the Escalade onto the red-brick driveway of a two-story, six bedroom, Victorian style mansion in the suburbs of Rochester known as Pittsford. Tess eyed the landscaped six acres that surrounded the mansion from the back seat.
“This is nice,” Tess said. “Who lives here?”
Saleena turned to Tess from the front passenger seat. “We do.”
“Oh, okay,” Tess nodded. “From these outdated clothes ya’ll gave me, I thought we were starting from the bottom. I mean, you could’ve gotten me something in season.”
Izzy parked and cut off the ignition. “Actually, we have a couple of houses spread out across the country,” he bragged.
“Yeah,” Tess said. “Well, Simon owns consulting firms, security firms, import/export companies, hotels, factories, casinos, and night clubs all over the world. And they’re all a front for his underground empire. He has his hands in everything from drugs, to sex slaves, to gambling, to assassinations, to blackmail.”
Tess got out the truck and Izzy and Saleena followed. As soon as they stepped in the house, Tess plopped down on the couch and said, “I need time to think and clear my head. We’ll talk in the morning.”