Chapter 11
Both of Collodi's legs were pinned by Key's shoulders as he continued to move into her. She tried to keep hold of his shoulders, but sweat kept her grip unstable. His black mohawk was pulled every which way in their fucking and Collodi couldn't help but admire the tattoos running down the left side of Key's body. She was feeling her new body as a vivid playground of sensations and finally felt in sync with it which was impressive in just over thirty minutes of inhabiting it. What the fuck are we doing? Collodi asked herself in her head.
I think maybe that bullet knocked something loose, or it's my body making you act like this, Pheobe speculated. Collodi could feel Pheobe clearly enjoying the scene as she and absently played with a nipple in her mind's eye.
I can't stop, I just want him closer, Collodi panted as they shifted to a sitting position and faced each other. Key kissed her and she eagerly kissed him back. Her legs were wrapped around him and he had both his hands cradling her curvaceous ass.
You were shot in the head, that's awesome, like superhuman. I'd say you should count your blessings. Pheobe's voice felt like a chirp in Collodi's thoughts.
Collodi lost his train of thought as Key gently bit her neck. He's doing things to me, she thought unintentionally.
Oh yeah, I can feel it too. He's good at this, Pheobe moaned just out of synch enough for Collodi to make the distinction between her moans and Pheobe's.
How did you stop that bullet? Pheobe asked.
What? Collodi answered.
It should've blown your head off, Pheobe mused. Collodi didn't want to think about that moment or any that proceeded it. She wanted Key, the demon hunter.
She answered back, telekinesis, to shut her up so she could enjoy what was happening. "You're driving me crazy," Collodi said into the world.
You could do that the whole time? Pheobe asked far too chipper.
"Shut up!" Collodi felt herself say out loud to Pheobe in her head. Key stopped and looked at her suspiciously. "Please don't stop," she pleaded, but it was too late the spell was broken and Key pushed away from her.
Key felt the itching in his brain and understood suddenly what was happening. Collodi found a way and was somehow using this young body. He missed it. He felt something in the pit of his stomach and for a brief moment heard his grandfather in his thoughts sitting in the back of his head like a homonculus. This is evil. It was just that one phrase, but it was enough for Key to react.
Key's epiphany was cut short as the room was swept up in Hotspur's rage. He burst forth with a howl as he pulled Key off of Collodi. She sat up on the bed on her knees and lowered her head as she watched Hotspur pin Key against the wall. Key looked from Hotspur to the girl as the fog of sex hovered. In a panic Collodi tried to dig deeper into Key's mind but felt Jolene clawing towards her psyche. Key felt the pangs of lust receding almost instantly as the air left his lungs.
It was likely Hotspur was trying to snarl, but his lips were gone as was most of the flesh on his face so it just came out as a hiss.
"Saint Michael the Archangel defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil," Key muttered as Hotspur held him against the wall with one hand. The prayer was for protection and Key sped through the words in a quick deluge. His mind was still buzzing from sex, but in all the scenarios he ran through of his final encounter with the demon he never in a million years thought he would fight him naked in a brothel. I should be dead, he thought. Hotspur had his head raised to the ceiling and his other hand was raised to the sky as he reveled in the moment. Hotspur pulled him off the wall with one hand in order to build momentum to shove him through the same wall. Luckily it was only sheet rock, but Key still yelped as he felt a rib break making his breathing even more labored. "defend us in battle," he wheezed as his hand massaged his throat and he forced himself to his feet. Key managed to break into a limping run. "May God rebuke him, we humbly pray and do thou, Oh prince of heavenly host, by the power of God cast into Hell Satan and all the evil spirits who wander through the world seeking the ruin of souls," Hotspur was far faster than Key and took barely two strides before grabbing the back of Key's neck and tossing him back towards the room.
Collodi watched the fight from the bed. Help him, Pheobe pleaded.
No, Collodi spat back.
Remember what he did to us, remember that pleasure. Collodi fought Pheobe's words, but was assaulted by sensual flashbacks of their too brief coupling. She shivered at the memory. She wished Hotspur would've waited just a bit longer before stopping them. Key was so good and Pheobe was adding fuel to the fire. Collodi wanted to resist the warm butterflies fluttering in her stomach, but Pheobe wasn't wrong. She looked over at the gun and the railroad spike barely visible under their discarded clothes. Against her instincts she lifted the spike and moved for the hallway.
Collodi stepped through the doorway. "Amen," Key said as he looked up at her smiling down at him.
Collodi dropped the enchanted railroad spike in front of him. "Consider it a tip."
Key grabbed the railroad spike as Hotspur broke the distance between them. He pulled Key instantly to his feet as he shunted the anointed spike into Hotspur's clavicle. He let out a sound like metal on metal as putrid blue energy poured from the wound. He tossed Key to the side back into the bedroom and grabbed the spike. The flesh of his hand sizzled and burned as he pulled it out and dropped it to the ground. Even without muscles and flesh on his face Collodi could tell Hotspur's anger at her interference. She was assaulted with a single image of her impaled from her sex to her mouth with a red hot metal stake. Half a breath later she felt the stake sear through her body and convulsed on the ground.
Key pulled his pants on and grabbed the gun as he heard Collodi scream in pain. He saw the spike on the ground just below the monster. "Hey Cody!" He yelled and fired a shot at the beast's head. The shot hit solid and went clean through his skull. He squeezed the trigger as Hotspur turned and ran at him. After five explosive shots to his chest he dropped. Key was operating on pure adrenaline as he scooped up the rail spike and ran down the hallway over Collodi's prone body.
The pain coursing through Collodi's body subsided and she opened her eyes to see Key run past. A few brief seconds later Hotspur was up again and sniffing the air. She didn't move from the ground and instead let her body come down from the excruciating pain. Hotspur for his part ignored her and went off to finish Key.
Key pushed through a fire door to a big open room. The rotting smell of death hit him like a physical thing as he entered. In the center of the room was a makeshift altar made from two giant slabs of concrete about five feet high together. The biker, Collodi's former bodyguard, was placed at the center with his body opened up. His arms were spread out and his rib cage split open. The flaps of skin and pectoral muscle were pinned to the concrete with four rusty pieces of rebar. Below the biker's body Key recognized the circle scrawled in blood. He saw it when he first encountered Hotspur.
He checked the gun and found only two bullets left. He scanned the big room and grunted in frustration that there was nothing workable in the room. A bang at the fire door told him Hotspur was just outside. The door behind him was the only exit. This was it, the last stand.
* * *
Belinda had the peddle mashed to the floorboard as she blasted down the highway. Jesse's truck was impressively fast for all its bulk. She thought back to the scene in the backroom of the bar and winced. She wasn't some action hero, she left that to Key and maybe Alexis. As her mind conjured the visage of Alexis she felt a ghost walk across her grave and shook his image from her mind. Her thoughts were interrupted by Elise moaning softly next to her. She took a quick look and saw the young girl had her hand stuffed down her pants. "What the hell?"
Elise looked over at Belinda, "I can't help it, I was just thinking about Jesse and Cody," her cheeks were flushed red with embarrassment.
Belinda shook her head and hit the brake hard as she nearly ran a red light. She knew the girl was drugged and altered by Jesse and that old haggard bartender, but it was still a nuisance. The dirty thoughts were so loud and copious that it was affecting Belinda. The light turned green and she rolled forward. The spirits were leading her into an industrial area near the university. She had already spotted her destination a mile back as she watched the spirits twist and cavort like a ethereal tornado. After a mile she pulled up in front of a series of connected warehouses with a dead body laying in front. "They laid out the red carpet."
"Cody!" Elise screamed and blasted from the truck before Belinda had the chance to fully stop.
"Damn it!" Belinda hit the steering wheel and threw the truck into park with a violent flourish. She tried to keep up with the girl, but she had already disappeared into the convoluted corridors. She could feel Key inside and something else, something she had been looking for. She followed the sensation and heard the demon scream, howl, bellow, and grunt. Then she saw her there on the floor. "You."
Collodi looked up at the woman who appeared. She wanted to speak, but her tongue still felt like a cinder in her mouth. She reached out to the woman's mind and felt Belinda staring back at her. "Who are you?" her voice came out in a croak.
"Oh sugar, if you think real hard I bet you'll remember."
