Kyoko M.

Take this message to your people, you obsequious little worm,_ I murmured. __nyone who lays a hand on Jordan Amador will have to answer to me. Now do me a favor and go to hell.__ removed my sword from his hand and then decapitated him. His severed head tumbled across the floor like a wayward bowling ball. Good riddance.I set my sword aside, found a stool in the corner, and climbed up in front of Jordan. Her handcuffs were attached to a huge meat hook bolted into the ceiling. I lifted her off of it with great care, unsure if she had the strength to stand. As soon as her arms were free, she looped them around my shoulders and pressed her face against my neck. She was trembling, but not crying. I sank to the floor and cradled her in my lap, breathing out the last of my anger now that she was safe. ___ sorry,_ she mumbled in a small voice. ____ so sorry, Michael.__ snorted. __hat the hell do you have to apologize for? You got kidnapped. Pretty sure that__ not your fault.__he shook her head, her words partially muffled as she pressed her face against my shirt. __hould__e been stronger. I could__e gotten you killed.___y Heckle and Jeckle here? Not likely.__ shaky laugh rattled through her. She slid her fingers into the hairs along the nape of my neck and hugged me tighter. I knew from experience she didn__ want me to see her face because she knew she was only seconds away from breaking down. No one would ever accuse Jordan Amador of being a crybaby, not if she could help it. It was a ridiculous notion at best, but I indulged her anyway. __hank you.___ust doing my job. But you__e welcome.__ smoothed the sweaty hairs away from her forehead enough to kiss it. She didn__ move away. We stayed there for a while without speaking, just clinging to each other until we felt strong enough to separate.

Listen and listen good, shitbrain. If you ever touch someone I love again, I will shove this cross down your throat and watch you choke on it. You want to know why a Prince of Hell wanted me so bad? Now you do. I__ not a nice girl. I__ a Seer. It is my job to save the people of the world from vultures like you. Now you take that back to whoever your boss is and let him come find me, if he__ stupid enough. I__l bury you all if I have to.

Dying's a bitch, and I would know.

Jack coughed slightly and offered his hand. __i, uh. I__ Jack.__im took it. __ack what?___uh?___our last name, silly.___ackson.__he blinked at him. __our name is Jack Jackson?__e blushed. __o, uh, my first name__ Rhett, but I hate it, so_ He gestured to the chair and she sat. Her dress rode up several inches, exposing pleasing long lines of creamy skin. __ell, Jack, what__ your field of study?___iological Engineering, Genetics, and Microbiology. Post-doc. I__ working on a research project at the institute.___eally? Oh, uh, my apple martini__ getting a little low._____e got that, one second._ He scurried to the bar and bought her a fresh one. She sipped and managed to make it look not only seductive but graceful as well. __hat do you want to do after you__e done with the project?_ Kim continued.__epends on what I find.__he sent him a simmering smile. __hat are you looking for?_ Immediately, Jack__ eyes lit up and his posture straightened. __ started the project with the intention of learning how to increase the reproduction of certain endangered species. I had interest in the idea of cloning, but it proved too difficult based on the research I compiled, so I went into animal genetics and cellular biology. It turns out the animals with the best potential to combine genes were reptiles because their ability to lay eggs was a smoother transition into combining the cells to create a new species, or one with a similar ancestry that could hopefully lead to rebuilding extinct animals via surrogate birth or in-vitro fertilization. We__e on the edge of breaking that code, and if we do, it would mean that we could engineer all kinds of life and reverse what damage we__e done to the planet__ ecosystem.__im stared. __ight. Would you excuse me for a second?__he wiggled off back to her pack of friends by the bar. Judging by the sniggering and the disgusted glances he was getting, she wasn__ coming back. Jack sighed and finished off his beer, massaging his forehead. __es, brilliant move. You blinded her with science. Genius, Jack.__e ordered a second one and finished it before he felt smallish hands on his shoulders and a pair of soft lips on his cheek. He turned to find Kamala had returned, her smile unnaturally bright in the black lights glowing over the room. __o_how did it go with Kim?__e shot her a flat look. __ou notice the chair is empty.__amala groaned. __ou talked about the research project, didn__ you?___o!_ She glared at him.__maybe___ou__e so useless, Jack._ She paused and then tousled his hair a bit. __heer up. The night__ still young. I__ not giving up on you.__e smiled in spite of himself. __et.__er brown eyes flashed. __ever.

Honest to God, I hadn__ meant to start a bar fight.__o. You__e the famous Jordan Amador._ The demon sitting in front of me looked like someone filled a pig bladder with rotten cottage cheese. He overflowed the bar stool with his gelatinous stomach, just barely contained by a white dress shirt and an oversized leather jacket. Acid-washed jeans clung to his stumpy legs and his boots were at least twice the size of mine. His beady black eyes started at my ankles and dragged upward, past my dark jeans, across my black turtleneck sweater, and over the grey duster around me that was two sizes too big. He finally met my gaze and snorted before continuing. __ was expecting something different. Certainly not a black girl. What__ with the name, girlie?__ shrugged. __y mother was a religious woman.___learly,_ the demon said, tucking a fat cigar in one corner of his mouth. He stood up and walked over to the pool table beside him where he and five of his lackeys had gathered. Each of them was over six feet tall and were all muscle where he was all fat. __ could start to examine the literary significance of your name, or I could ask what the hell you__e doing in my bar,_ he said after knocking one of the balls into the left corner pocket. __ust here to ask a question, that__ all. I don__ want trouble.__gain, he snorted, but this time smoke shot from his nostrils, which made him look like an albino dragon. __y ass you don__. This place is for fallen angels only, sweetheart. And we know your reputation.__ held up my hands in supplication. __onest Abe. Just one question and I__ out of your hair forever.__y gaze lifted to the bald spot at the top of his head surrounded by peroxide blonde locks. __hat__ left of it, anyway.__e glared at me. I smiled, batting my eyelashes. He tapped his fingers against the pool cue and then shrugged one shoulder.__ine. What__ your question?___now anybody by the name of Matthias Gruber?__e didn__ even blink. __o.___h. I see. Sorry to have wasted your time.__ turned around, walking back through the bar. I kept a quick, confident stride as I went, ignoring the whispers of the fallen angels in my wake. A couple called out to me, asking if I__ let them have a taste, but I didn__ spare them a glance. Instead, I headed to the ladies_ room. Thankfully, it was empty, so I whipped out my phone and dialed the first number in my Recent Call list.__ey. He__ here. Yeah, I__ sure it__ him. They__e lousy liars when they__e drunk. Uh-huh. Okay, see you in five.__ hung up and let out a slow breath. Only a couple things left to do. I gathered my shoulder-length black hair into a high ponytail. I looped the loose curls around into a messy bun and made sure they wouldn__ tumble free if I shook my head too hard. I took the leather gloves in the pocket of my duster out and pulled them on. Then, I walked out of the bathroom and back to the front entrance.The coat-check girl gave me a second unfriendly look as I returned with my ticket stub to retrieve my things__hree vials of holy water, a black rosary with the beads made of onyx and the cross made of wood, a Smith & Wesson .9mm Glock complete with a full magazine of blessed bullets and a silencer, and a worn out page of the Bible. I held out my hands for the items and she dropped them on the counter with an unapologetic, __ops.___hanks,_ I said with a roll of my eyes. I put the Glock back in the hip holster at my side and tucked the rest of the items in the pockets of my duster. The brunette demon crossed her arms under her hilariously oversized fake breasts and sent me a vicious sneer. __he door is that way, Seer. Don__ let it hit you on the way out.__ smiled back. __od bless you.__he let out an ugly hiss between her pearly white teeth. I blew her a kiss and walked out the door. The parking lot was packed outside now that it was half-past midnight. Demons thrived in darkness, so I wasn__ surprised. In fact, I__ been counting on it.

So,_ Lauren said. __ou help ghosts with unfulfilled wishes cross over to the astral plane for judgment.___es.___nd you hunt demons.___es.___nd you__e married to an angel.___es.__he paused. __so basically, you__e Dean Winchester.__ made an exasperated sound. __ am NOT.__he smirked. __eah, sure.

Where are we heading?___he closest wooded area to here is Kenwood Academy__ estate. Good place to hide, especially at night.___f we__e going into the woods, I definitely need to change.__ glanced back at her as we returned to the curb where the cab had dropped us off. __r you could just go home.__he crossed her arms and avoided my gaze, scowling. __ou__e sick of me already? That must be a record.__ lifted my eyes to the heavens. Women. __his creature tore out a woman__ throat and busted her chest cavity open like a piñata. I don__ like the thought of it being anywhere near you.___id it ever occur to you that I feel the same way?__urprise flooded over me. __o, it_actually didn__.___ know I__ not as strong or as smart as you are, but that doesn__ mean I can__ help. We__e partners, aren__ we?___eah,_ I said, and couldn__ stop the smile creeping across my lips. __ guess we are._ She tossed a quick look at me and frowned. __uit it.___hat?___ hate it when you do that.___ou hate it when I smile?___o, when you make that, __w, she does have a heart_ face. You look like a Disney prince.__ laughed. __y bad. I__l work on that.

Look, Jordan, you__e not alone any more. It__ my job to protect you while I__ here and I can__ do that if you keep pushing me away.___hat__ the problem, Michael,_ I shot back. __ou have more responsibilities to your boss than you do to me. You taught me how to defend myself, how to heal myself, and that should be good enough. You can__ keep babysitting one little human when you have an entire cosmos to worry about._ He faced me again, those green eyes boring into mine as if he could see straight through me. __re you saying you want me to leave?__y chest tightened. I hadn__ expected him to say that. I bit my bottom lip, glancing away. __hat__ not what I mean.___hen what do you mean?_ __ince when have I ever known what the hell I mean?_ He touched my right cheek, making me face him. __ou do when it counts.__taring up at him, shirtless, vulnerable, and wounded, I felt like I couldn__ breathe. He had a knack for picking my walls apart brick by brick. It bothered me. He took a step closer, casting a shadow over me. __top,_ I mumbled, fixing my eyes on the floor. He brushed a lock of hair behind my ear, sliding his warm hand to lift my chin so I__ have to look at him. __top what?_ he murmured. __ooking at me.___hy?___hat__ how Terrell used to look at me before we kissed.__is lips parted to say something but I pushed past him, gathering up my duster from where it lay on the bed next to the dress. __et dressed. We have more ghosts to help.

As we strolled into the hospital, I couldn__ help thinking about Maroon 5__ __arder to Breathe_ because I was having a difficult time staying calm. I had been kidnapped and beaten senseless by an agent of Lucifer, and yet the white coats the doctors wore scared me just as badly. The men who had taken me from my mother wore those same damned lab coats. Every time I saw one, it awakened a dormant fear inside me__ear that I__ be dragged away from someone I loved again, fear that I__ be placed into the waiting hands of another horrible person. It would never truly go away.Michael__ shoulder bumped mine, which shook me out of my thoughts. I glanced at him. __hat?___ou__e frowning.___m I supposed to be smiling right now?__e faced forward, looking at our reflection in the elevator doors. __o, but you look like you__e about to bolt at any second.__ watched the digital numbers change one by one as we rose up to the right floor, fiddling with the rosary in the pocket of my leather jacket. Somehow, the beads had a calming effect on me. ____ fine.___ard ass.__ tiny smirk touched my lips. __top thinking about my butt. You__e an archangel.__e grinned, but didn__ reply.

Do you really think I__e been murdered?_ Michael__ voice was soft, but I still heard it from across the bedroom. He stood in the doorway with a rather solemn expression. Words failed me. Would he really want to hear the answer? If it were me, would I want to know if someone killed me? Maybe. I took a deep breath. ____l be honest with you. It doesn__ look good. The fact that no one knows you__e dead yet makes me worry that your death might have been intentional.__ stepped closer to him, staring all the way up into his face. __ut if you want the truth, I don__ think the reason you died was your fault. You__e a pain in the ass, but you__e a good guy. I__ sorry this happened to you.__e gazed at me for a handful of seconds before nodding and his hair slid forward into his eyes. For some reason, it was the first time Michael seemed human. He was always so amiable and confident that seeing him be vulnerable felt odd. __hank you.___ome on. Let__ go find some answers.

The hit-woman opened the door. No dead body on the floor. Thank God.I heard an unearthly roar and then Jordan charged Liz from where she__ been hiding beside the door. She tackled her to the floor and stabbed her through the wrist with a small switchblade. The hit-woman shrieked and let go of the gun, allowing Jordan precious seconds to bat it across the room. She landed a couple hard punches to the assassin__ nose, bloodying it, before the other woman got the upper hand.She grabbed a handful of Jordan__ ponytail and slammed her head into the edge of the coffee table. Jordan cried out, but didn__ let go of the knife. She withdrew it and held it against the assassin__ throat, shouting, __ove again and I__l kill you, puta!__iz panted madly, but stayed put. Jordan glanced up at me. __ou okay?___live,_ I said through a grimace. __ot okay.___ood enough._ She returned her gaze to the woman pinned beneath her and glared. __he police are on their way. And not the nice, human police. Angels. Get any ideas about trying to kill me again and you won__ even get to deal with them._____e been in jail before,_ Liz said, attempting to recapture her former arrogance. ____l get over it.__ordan leaned down a few inches, lowering her voice. __eally? How__ you like to return without your tongue?__iz__ eyes went wide, as did mine. __ou wouldn__ dare.___ou shot my best friend. Multiple times. Lex talionis.___ou can__ kill me. You__e not a policewoman. You__e just a girl.___o. I__ a Seer. You and the rest of your friends had better learn the difference between a sheep and a wolf in sheep__ clothing. Until then__he lifted her fist and punched Liz hard in the temple. The assassin went out like a light. __aya con dios, bitch.

I swear to Vishnu, if this doesn__ work, I__ going to stab you in the throat with a Pipette.