They used our powers part 4

Chapter 4: True nature

‘’Ah! Here comes the young one!’’, a female voice was heard from the end of the empty, underground, parking lot, a location Till found idiotic for a mission meeting. He narrowed his eyes at the three other demon agents he was going to cooperate with.

‘’Evening Jess, Colt, Richard.’’, he spoke and they nodded one after another, noticing how the last person yet to arrive was Manny. Till observed the casual way the three people in front of him dressed, knowing well that they hid knives and guns under their jackets. Jess was a demon, nearing eighty years of age, with great experience and a love for nature and the less fortunate humans. No one messed with her, no one doubted her abilities. Her fierce brown eyes made her coworkers respect her, even the ones older than her. She had her obsidian hair tied up in a bun. The man to her right, Colt, with whom she discussed casually, making jokes to pass time, was her husband of nearly fifty years. Colt was an eight four year old demon, his shaved head and thick beard made him look like a constantly angry person, but he was way softer than his wife.

‘’Manny is always the last one to arrive.’’, Richard scoffed, the only one near Till’s age, a very tall and muscular male with a straightforward way of thinking. He was of African descent, with a very clean fade on his head and trimmed beard on his face. He liked his designer’s clothes and was secretly a geek, much like Till himself. His black eyes narrowed somewhere behind the shorter male and he turned around to face Manny, who wore an arrogant expression on his face.

‘’So let’s gets started, shall we?’’, he spoke as soon as he joined the rest of the agents and Till tried to hold back a chuckle at Jess’s eye roll.

‘’We all have the targets and this is a sweep up. Gerald has given us permission to approach this from any angle we see fit.’’, Colt commented, his words making the younger demon recall the number of locations they would have to visit and clean in the span of a week.

‘’We could split up for the most of it…’’, Richard shrugged his shoulders.

‘’Or all of it.’’, Manny interrupted. ‘’I have no interest of cooperating with anyone at this point.’’

‘’You never show interest in cooperation.’’, Jess told him and crossed her hands in front of her chest, making the middle aged male smirk. ‘’Very well. Let us split the areas. First we scout then we clean up. In case we need help we ask for assistance.’’, she added and no one objected to her plan. They had no choice, considering the sheer amount of locations.  

‘’It’s important to not be arrogant. Failure is not an option.’’, Jess pointed out after each person received their share of areas. ‘’Should you need help, ask for it.’’, she added and her eyes clearly remained on Manny, as he indifferently went through the papers in his hands.

After they separated, Till decided to return to his home and organize his targets according to the information provided about them. The first night of operations went smoothly and boosted Till’s confidence about completing his share of kills without asking for help. He managed to scout the first three groups and decided who to attack first. The people managing organ dealerships were mixed, some humans and very few demons, who were also leading the activities. The first three days went by smoothly and Till killed over a dozen enemies, four of them demons. He was surprised by the lack of experience the groups had and it only made him consider the possibility of something bigger hiding behind them. During the days of his missions he kept contact with Mia, as she completed her own assignments with ease. Since she was still a recent member of the agency, Gerald did not give her anything challenging and scouted her abilities to place her on the scale of power he kept in mind.

After the week was over, the time to meet again arrived. Till walked into an abandoned house they broke in for that specific meeting and sat around the fairly dusty table, his eyes scanning the people around the room. The only person looking as uncomfortable as ever was in fact Manny, a disgusted expression altered his features, his gaze shifting around the dirty and abandoned one room house.

‘’Do we really have to wait for Richard to arrive? We all have completed our missions. Can’t we just send our results to Gerald?’’, he whined and crossed his hands in front of his chest.

‘’No we cannot.’’, Colt pressed on, eyeing the younger male.

‘’Do we have information about the targets he had?’’, Till suddenly blurted out and all eyes focused on him, a mild shock showing in them.

‘’What’s on your mind?’’, Jess questioned him and the black haired demon let out a sigh.

‘’I must admit I had an easy time with my targets, but Gerald did mention that there are a few very tough demons amongst our enemies.’’, he began explaining and his gaze travelled from one set of eyes to another. ‘’How tough were the groups you fought?’’ When silence followed from all of them, his suspicions were confirmed.

‘’You are saying Richard might have been defeated…’’, Colt began and Till shrugged his shoulders.

‘’Or even died.’’, he interrupted him with a morbid scenario.

Manny chuckled.

‘’So we should pick up the garbage for him?’’

‘’Shut it Manny. Perhaps none of us could have done it alone.’’, Colt told him off.

‘’It doesn’t matter. Let’s not make assumptions here and finish the mission.’’, Jess said and stood up, a grave expression on her face. Manny was the only person groaning and rolling his eyes.

‘’I will not be running after Richard.’’, he spoke and walked near the window, waving his hand goodbye. ‘’I’m meeting up with Gerald.’’, were his final words before he jumped out the window, his scent disappearing soon after. Colt exhaled and rubbed his temples with his thick fingers.

‘’Forget about Manny. We have a mission to finish.’’, Jess announced and the three demons moved in unison, following the woman’s lead as they run through the back alleys of the targeted area, the night sky soaring above them. Since they had no idea where Richard had stopped his mission, they had to go through all the locations one after the other. In a few hours’ time, they entered location after location, finding nothing but dead bodies and abandoned warehouses and buildings. Till got progressively frustrated with the situation and considered Manny’s actions as a better option, until they run into a place that definitely wasn’t empty.

Jess lifted her hand to signal them to stop, as they jumped from the rooftop to the balcony of a building across an old warehouse, used for tiles and bathroom furniture. It was probably functional during the day, but under the dim lights of the street and the sound of silence, it seemed like a location perfect for a horror story. The male demon could smell the humans and demons in there and one of the scents was fairly familiar.

‘’There are about five demons in there.’’, Colt whispered, despite the fact that the enemy could probably smell them as well.

‘’At least Richard is alive.’’, Jess pointed out, but that specific detail was what weirded Till out the most, making him wonder why him, the one with the least experience, was the only one to think it.

‘’This means that we are stepping into a trap.’’

Both sets of eyes glanced back at him with shocked and concerned expressions. Jess nodded towards the warehouse and Till took a vial of essence from his jacket pocket, following the two other demons in his company as they downed a shot. As soon as the taste of blood coated his mouth, pleasure shot through his body, soon followed by a surge of power. They all took a leap and with their superhuman strength, landed on top of the warehouse roof. Stepping lightly on the concrete, they found an entrance. Till focused his attention on the scents below them as the demons and humans moved around the building.

As soon as they landed into the building, the male demon could smell everyone rapidly approaching and he hid behind a thick pillar, taking a dagger into each hand, preparing for contact. In a second, rapid fire of automated guns was heard behind him and he stood his ground as rubble and pieces of furniture flew all over the room. As long as he could smell the other two demons, he felt confident. The only part of his body he had to guard was his head after all. The mass of humans came closer and closer and with a single breath, Till got out of his hiding spot and immediately ducked, to avoid a rain of bullets, his first strike slicing a human’s neck.

He used his first victim as a shield, while trying to keep his hunger at bay, charging towards the rest, while throwing glances at Jess and Colt. He tossed the body onto the next human, immobilizing him and pierced his throat instantly.

In the midst of battle, humans fell one after another, but Till’s mind remained on the five demons who hid further into the room, sending their lackeys against them in hopes of tiring them out. The male felt no exhaustion, but hunger he did feel. Being a young demon made self-control and self-regulation tougher on him.

‘’We have to keep pressing on!’’, Colt yelled as his thick hands twisted off the head of a human. The three demons run up front, coming face to face with an iron double door, nothing but demons behind it, one of them being Richard. Jess charged, a long baton in her hands, opening the double doors with a thud. Till was ready to run forward when they were met with Richard, sitting on a chair in the middle of the well-lit room, leaning back nonchalantly. Around him, the five demons spread out, some of them on top of stacked boxes. Till frowned, having a bad feeling about the situation, as a smile crept on Richard’s face.

‘’What is going on?’’, Jess asked.

‘’Sorry guys, but Gerald is nothing but a fool. Not a leader worth following.’’, Richard began, raising even more questions in Till’s head.

‘’Explain yourself.’’, the female demon pressed on and her stance showed that she was ready to pounce on them. Richard lifted a brow and stood up, unfolding a butterfly knife and playing with in skillfully.

‘’Perhaps you are unaware, but I was the one who scouted out this particular mission for Gerald.’’, he began and Till’s eyes traveled from the dark skinned male to his lackeys around the room. ‘’I might as well come clean and tell you that I am behind this operation. You just got rid of my useless partners for me and possibly brought me new ones.’’

‘’What the hell are you talking about? What about the agency? What about those years you wasted working for Gerald?’’, Colt grunted at him and his gruff and deep voice matched the rage expressed on his face. Richard simply shrugged.

‘’I got tired of being a government dog. These dumb royals have forgotten who they are…’’

‘’Are you kidding me?’’, Till finally broke his silence and Richard’s smile disappeared as he focused on him. The younger male shook his head negatively in disbelief. ‘’You sold peace of mind for this? To consume human flesh?’’

‘’I thought you would understand.’’

‘’You thought I would join you. Because I am still young.’’, Till interrupted him and his words made Richard frown. ‘’My hunger may be high, but my mind is still working.’’

‘’I see there is nothing to discuss here.’’, the tall demon grunted through his teeth and held his butterfly knife still, eyeing at his lackeys around him. ‘’You are about to witness the power of well-fed demons.’’

He didn’t even manage to end his sentence and Jess was already charging against him, while the rest of the demons jumped for her. Till’s thoughts shut off as his battle instincts took over again. Jess’s move gave them the best possible scenario. The remaining demons going against her in order to protect their leader, gave Till and Colt the advantage. Till managed to stab through one’s scull and Colt grabbed the other one by the hair, forcing him to fall back before he stepped on his head, the sound of it being crushed open echoed disgustingly over the sounds of battle. The other three demons turned around to face the two males, leaving Jess to their boss, Richard.

Till’s heart beat fast as he tried to avoid a strike from one of them who held a long katana. He gritted his teeth when a sharp pain shot from his shoulder, where a deep cut let blood run out. His body reacted on its own when he grabbed the wrist of the male who had attacked him, bringing his body close to his, giving him no opportunity to move his weapon. He was very strong indeed, but he was probably too young and inexperienced to fight against agents. Till squeezed his hand, crushing the enemy’s wrist and drove his blade towards the head, piercing it between the eyes.

‘’Watch out!’’, Colt’s heavy voice echoed, but it was too late, as a drowning sensation rose from Till’s stomach, the taste of his own blood coating his tongue. He jumped to the front, feeling the blade that had gone through his back slide out and searched with his eyes to see only one demon standing, a female with dagger in one hand and a gun in the other. The male demon ducked as soon as he saw her aim at him with her gun, and charged forward, despite the gushing wound on his body. Shots were fired and a bullet grazed his leg before he managed to grab hold of the female, coming face to face with her bewildered, hungry expression, crimson eyes darting around in craze.

‘’You idiots! Richard is right! We need human flesh to survive!’’, she began yelling and fought with Till’s grip. ‘’Let me go! Traitors, trait…’’, her words were cut short when a dagger peeked through her eye from the back, where Colt had attacked her. The younger demon let her corpse fall, slowly realizing the wounds he had, as they healed on their own.

‘’He is gone…’’, Jess’s voice was heard and the younger male focused on her, blood splattered all over her clothes, blood that wasn’t her own. A pissed off expression decorated her face and her rage nearly colored the aura around her. Till was sure that she had a lot to say to Gerald.