Chapter 16
So, Kali and I started training. Each day we would spar against each other. I shared my knowledge of what I had learned so far, and as the days passed, she grew stronger, faster, and deadlier.
Now we looked like sisters, with the same clothes and attitudes to pull off the look. Every time we sparred, I would push her harder, like Chax pushed me. I did the same, bringing out her born Fallen. She had reached a point where her scream even breaks the glass in our room, and I in return learned to take it, my eardrums growing accustomed to it. The first time it happened, Draco shifted in to see what was up. The moment he landed he shifted out, unable to take it. He never asked what happened, just gave us both a look.
My nights out were still on Ballen’s entertainment list, and some nights I would take on up to fifteen demons. Some nights there were none, because they were all too scared. We moved from one club to another, and in many cases, the humans in the clubs would speak another language, giving away yet another country. The more I ended up in the clubs, the more humans would be attending. I never saw Chax again. I always looked for him or someone in the crowd, but nothing. I came to the conclusion that he believed that I wanted to stay, by continuing on with Draco. It hurt a little, but who gave a damn.
Tonight, Kali and I were getting ready for the night. Last night, I made it clear to Draco that she would be accompanying me on my nights out. If he didn’t like it, I would stay or even go further and attack Ballen. After a long while of thinking it over, he agreed, returning to place cuffs on her wrists. I talked to her about them, to assure her that the cuffs could come off. So she stood her ground and allowed them to be put on. I also got him to give her the two swords I used when I started out on this insane mission, and he complied, knowing they couldn’t kill him. When he brought them, I took them from him, and found Ballen’s power on them. Now the mute guy shifted in, offering both his hands for us. I looked at Kali. “You ready for this?” I asked, making sure the old Kali was still there.
She turned and looked at me. “Oh yeah, let’s dance,” she replied, a wicked smile on her face.
Our plan was simple: find any weapon and we would work together to steal it to get the cuffs off. No matter what, we would get out of here. During the last fight some of them were armed, but the moment the weapons hit the floor, they would be swooped away from me, Ballen directing them to him. I had to give it to him; he wasn’t stupid. But still, with two around, he wouldn’t be able to move fast enough.
Taking his hands, we were shifted to a club I knew was in Russia somewhere. Couldn’t make out a word they said, so I brought home a word and asked Kali, who could speak five languages. She told me the meaning and explained that it was Russian. The more words I brought to the room, the more I could start identifying the clubs and in which country we were in. Just in case we got lucky. It had to be tonight.
Ballen had been taking a bigger interest in me. He even tried to touch me last night, and I almost took off his hand when I got hold of him. Instead of backing down, he was more eager and excited to try me, the damn freak. It wouldn’t be long now, and I would end up with one hell of a problem, and this time I’d puke all over the place.
The mute guy gestured for us to follow. Unlike the other clubs, this one had a spot reserved on the first floor for Ballen. We walked behind the guy, and found Draco and Ballen with their choice of girls for the night. We took a stand a few steps from them, both folding our arms in front of our chests. Yeah, from not so best pals, to twins. Together, we made one hell of a sight. Draco and Ballen looked at us, Draco’s face serious, Ballen’s almost ecstatic. Oh, gross.
“Welcome, come take a seat and enjoy the night.” Ballen gestured for us to sit across from him on a couch. We just stood there looking at him, and I’m sure both our faces said the same thing, “F-You”, so he just smiled, looking at us. Something else I noticed was that Draco was starting to take a protective stand when it came to me. Last night he moved in between Ballen and me, shifting me back. Don’t know what’s up with that, and I don’t freaking care.
“I think I’ll go see if we can pick a fight tonight. Seeing that we are two now, the game just might bring some more fun to it,” I stated and turned around, walking back to the crowd. Kali followed me, the mute guy behind her. He became my watchdog. If I took walks like these, he would follow at a safe space and keep an eye on me. Well, tonight he had two to babysit. I gave Kali a look that by now she knew just what I wanted her to do: check for weapons and get her hands on them. The crowd came into view and the moment they saw us, they started to clear up. Kali took the left and me the right.
Walking around, watching everyone, I looked over at Kali just to make sure no one tried anything. They knew me, but not her. I found that she was having no problems. Just like they parted for me, they were doing the same for her, probably because she was glaring at them with deadly intent. Reaching the middle of the club, I stopped and perused the crowd, looking for weapons under clothes and stuff, but like always, I found nothing.
I started walking again, all the while searching. I looked back and found the mute guy standing at the split point, having trouble keeping his eyes on both of us. Yeah, this is working. I walked around on my side, Kali looking on hers, both of us trying our best to find something, when all of a sudden a huge fight came crashing through the club’s doors. I turned around to see what was up, and just like that, Kali was standing next to me.
The crowd parted, and I could see two human guys being pushed and shoved into the club, covered in blood. The demons doing the shoving were herding them to the dance floor, locking them in the middle. Finding this interesting, I followed and took a front seat, the crowd watching Kali and me to make sure we didn’t try anything. The humans in front of us were being circled by demons. I stopped and kept my eyes on the scene.
“Are they human?” Kali asked beside me, her voice so low that only I could hear her. We had practiced a lot for this.
“I believe so. Wonder what they did to end up in the middle of what looks like dinner?” I replied, my eyes still on them.
The human guys were back to back, standing their ground. A demon moved in and one of them kicked him back out. Then two more were on them and the humans were giving them a fight. I must admit, for humans they were doing pretty good. Just like Kali and me, they were fighting to survive this; they used each other to punch and kick. But being human in this world had its limitations. One of them was struck by a demon’s claw and was kneeling on the floor from the punch, the other trying to protect him from the blows that followed. Something stirred in me when the second one also ended up badly clawed. Now, with both of them down, the demons moved in for the kill. “So, humans, you still think you can take us on?” one asked them.
The guy with black hair looked up and replied, “Till the very end, demon.” And then he tried to get in a punch and failed.
I gave Kali a look and we moved into the fight, transforming on the first step. The first two demons in front of me didn’t know what hit them, their heads falling to the ground quickly followed by their bodies. Kali and I took a protective stand, the humans behind us. “Hellhound!” Ballen yelled from the crowd, and they parted for him. He walked up to us and stood in front of me. “What are you doing?” he asked, pissed off for the first time. Draco and the bouncers flanked his sides.
“Picking a fight, of course. The winner gets the humans,” I replied, giving him a wicked smile. He looked at us for a while, thinking it over.
“And what would you do with them if you win?” he asked, looking back at me.
Damn, that is a good question. I didn’t think that far ahead. Okay, what will we do? If I said let them go free, I knew they wouldn’t reach the door alive. No, I had to think of something else. I looked at Kali, asking without a word for some help. She looked at me, then down at the one she was protecting. She looked back at me, a wicked smile on her face, even more wicked than usual. Oh crap, here we go. She looked at Ballen.
“We a
re women, you know; we do like to have fun,” she replied, and I almost had a heart attack. What the hell?! Shocked, I looked at her. I asked for help, not for her to make it even worse. What the hell made her say that?
Ah hell, it was already done, so I composed myself and looked at Ballen, who was smiling like a freaking schoolboy. “Yes, harpy, I remember you liked to have fun,” he said and at that both Kali and I made a step towards him. Draco and the others took a stand in front of him. We stopped, and I looked at Kali to see if she was okay. The face looking at Ballen said that I had just lost a fine trophy. This one is Kali’s, and she is going to make him suffer.
“Then so be it. If you two win, they are yours, for pets,” he announced, and the demons surrounding us started to attack. We stepped back to the humans, making sure they stayed between us, and together Kali and I started swiping away demon heads. It felt like hundreds storming at us, but we kept our stand, making sure the humans stayed untouched. I was crouching down to take out a big demon’s legs, to get to its head, when my human asked me, “Why are you doing this, demon? We will never be your pets.”
Keeping my eyes on the big demon, which was falling to the ground, I replied, “I am not a demon; I’m a Fallen taken prisoner by them.” I swiped my blade, taking the head off the big demon, his body falling to the ground. I kicked it back as hard as I could and sent it flying into the demons attacking behind him, taking a few with it.
“You look like one,” the guy threw back, a rich Russian accent to top it off.
“Have you ever heard the term “fight fire with fire?” We are God’s solution to the demon problem,” I retorted and ducked from a sword coming my way. Taking the demons head, I kept my eyes on the sword. The moment it hit the ground, it was swooped away. “Damn!” I yelled, pissed off that I couldn’t reach a weapon to take off the cuffs. I quickly looked at Kali.
“Any luck on your side?” I asked her, turning my head to take on another demon on my left.
“No, they’re taken away too fast. I can’t get my hands on one,” she replied, taking out a demon in front of her. Our training did her good; she was giving them hell and taking heads like a pro. I returned my attention to the ones attacking from the front.
“What are you looking for?” I heard the guy ask, now standing at my back. So he got back up. Good, he can help.
“I need a weapon from someone else to remove the cuffs on my wrists. Without them, we can get the hell out of here,” I replied, my eyes on the demons. I took two more heads, but demons just kept on coming from somewhere. I looked past two of them and saw three more shifting in. So, Ballen had made this an all-out game. Fine, we will kill them all.
I was about to swipe another head when my arm was grabbed from behind. Turning to kill, I stopped myself just in time. The human had a weapon in his hand and was sticking it under my cuff to cut it off. Adrenalin pumped into me at the sight, and I killed two in front of me with one swipe. The moment I felt the cuff fall, I quickly changed hands and the human got to work on the other one.
When the last one fell I yelled to him, “Get hers too, now!” Now going full force and delighted that I was so out of here in a few seconds, I started killing everything that was coming at me.
I just took off a female demon’s head when Kali yelled, “Now, the Hellhouse lobby!” And at that, I turned and grabbed the human behind me as she was grabbing hers. With the lobby of The Hellhouse in my mind I tried to shift, but nothing happened. I looked up at her, shocked to the core; her face said the same. We were so screwed. I felt a blade pierce my wing, and then my side. I screamed, biting down the pain. Kali reached for me, and the moment she touched me we shifted out and landed in a dark street, the demon with his sword still in me.
Kali moved quickly and took his head, leaving the blade inside of me. The two humans backed away from us, standing at a safe distance, not trusting us. I looked down at the blade. “Ah, damn, this hurts like hell,” I said, trying to pull the blade out but I couldn’t. It was agony pulling on it because my wing was locked between it and my body. Kali came to my side and crouched beside me.
“Oh damn. Kas, what do I do?” she asked, looking at the blade sticking out of my side.
“Step aside,” one of the humans demanded, and the one with black hair took her place. It was night time where we landed, so I couldn’t make out a lot of him when he looked down at the blade. He lifted his head and I started to see his face, still covered in blood. “This will be quick, but is going to hurt,” he said, looking at me. I started laughing.
“No, really?” I replied, pissed off that the first shift didn’t work. What the hell happened? Why can’t we shift to The Hellhouse? He smiled at me and grabbed the blade at my back. With one yank, it was out, and blood spurted out of the wound. Biting down a scream, I tried moving my wing away but failed. He pressed his hands on the wound and looked at the other guy.
“Call for help, now,” he said, and the other guy pulled out a cell phone, calling someone. He had dark brown hair, and it looked like his eyes were brown too, but young, too young for this. Yeah, I was only what, eighteen, I think, but at least I had a Fallen body to give me an edge, whereas this guy just had a human one.
I looked back at the black haired guy and found him looking at me strangely. Oh damn, I was still transformed! So I went back to my human form, pain shooting through me. I kept my eyes on him. I could see the doubt in his eyes. Yeah, seeing something like this and believing I’m not a demon is testing your faith. He had blue eyes, and I must say a very nice face, strong cheekbones, and a nice mouth to go with it. Crap, I obviously still have my teen hormones and need to lose them fast.
“So, while we wait for our pickup, want to explain to me what’s going on?” he asked, looking at me, and then at Kali, who had also returned to normal.
“It’s a long story,” Kali replied, and came to my other side, crouching down next to me. “We did it, Kas. We made it out,” she said and smiled at me. Only then did it sink in. Oh my soul, we escaped! Relieved, and a little happier, I looked at her.
“Yeah, and we made it look good while at it,” I responded, smiling at her. My eyelids grew heavy and I was having trouble keeping them open.
“Kas! You’ve got to stay awake!” she yelled at me. I was not healing fast enough to stop the blood loss and her concerned face was slowly being replaced by darkness.
The black haired guy yelling at his friend. “Where are they!” was the last thing I heard before darkness claimed me.