Shadow Demon

Sarah was curled up on the couch in the hotel room suite. Sipping her coffee, she held the mug close to her so that she could enjoy the heat and aroma of the dark liquid. Her feet were a little cold, but that was to be expected when wearing only a dress shirt. She smiled; a hint of Thomas's cologne drifted into her nose from the shirt. There was a note in the cologne that was Vanilla-like, whatever it was, it certainly complemented the coffee's aroma.

The hotel coffee pot let out a gurgle behind Sarah, signaling that it was nearly complete in brewing a second cup. When it finished, Sarah got up from the couch to retrieve the second cup of coffee for Thomas.

When Sarah entered the bedroom, she found Thomas laying in the bed exactly where she'd left him. Her eyes drank in the sight of his muscular chest rising and falling with each breath.

Walking across the room, Sarah brought the second cup of coffee under Thomas's nose and waited.

After a few seconds, a smirk touched Thomas's face and he said, "That's a fantastic smell to wake up too." He reached out for his coffee, then partially propped himself against the headboard so he could take a sip and look at Sarah.

"I agree," said Sarah, as she crawled onto the bed with Thomas, straddling his hips. She looked down at him as she took a sip of her coffee with both hands. There was something erotic about how there was nothing but a thin bedsheet between her and this man. "You know, you're the only man I've done this for," she said, considering the situation. It was true, she's never stuck around to make a man coffee in the morning. Weird.

"Really?" said Thomas, who's pelvis pitched towards Sarah, making the sheet rub gently under her vagina.

Sarah closed her eyes and let out a soft moan. The bastard did that on purpose.

Thomas put his coffee on the nightstand and said, "Well then, I guess I'm in your debt then."

Thomas placed his large hands on Sarah's hips, and continued, "So, how would you like me to make it up to you?"

Sarah put her coffee on the nightstand next to Thomas's. "Oh, I can think of a few things," she said, looking down at him with a wolfish smile. She put her hands on either side of his head, her hair creating a curtain around their faces. She looked down between their legs and pitched her hips to start rubbing herself against him. When she looked back up to him, she was satisfied to see the smile growing on his face.

Thomas's manhood stirred from its slumber and began pressing against the sheet until it rested in cleft of Sarah's ass.

Thomas's hands pulled Sarah's hips harder against him, causing her to gasp in excitement. She bent down to kiss him deeply.

A sudden high-pitched ringtone issued from Sarah's discarded clothes on the floor.

"Fuckkk..." Sarah exhaled. She wanted to ignore it, but she didn't have to pick it up to know that it was time to go. She clenched Thomas hard between her thighs, childishly wishing she didn't have to let him go.

"Ignore it," said Thomas, kissing Sarah's neck.

Sarah moans, then lied, "It's work, I can't."

"Call in sick," Thomas insisted, between clenched teeth.

"Sorry handsome," said Sarah as she reluctantly moved to get off Thomas.

Thomas pulled Sarah back to him. "I know you want to stay," he said, his voice a warm rumble.

Sarah kissed Thomas, while simultaneously removing his hands from her hips. "Trust me, if I didn't have to leave, I'd drag you back into bed myself," she said.

Thomas arched an eyebrow. "What makes you think I won't do the same?" he asked with intrigue.

Sarah got off the bed walking to her discarded clothes. "Because I'm unique and I know you want to see where this goes," she said casually. She unbuttoned Thomas's shirt and let it fall to the floor at her feet, then gave Thomas a devilish grin over her shoulder.

Thomas took a sip of his coffee, his gaze rising from Sarah's feet to her eyes, taking in her naked form. "Can't argue there," he said.

A buzzing emitted from Thomas's pants on the floor.

Sarah put her evening gown over her head, then reached down to grab Thomas's phone out of his discarded pants. "Your phone's been vibrating all morning by the way," she said.

Thomas frowned at that, then said, "Toss it here, probably my little sister."

Sarah threw him the phone and began smoothing out her dress.

Thomas looked at the screen unsurprised. "I'm psychic," he said, before thumbing it on. "How can I help my beloved sister this morning," he answered into the device.

Immediately, a shrill female voice emitted from the phone, audibly questioning where Thomas had been. He pulled the phone from his ear in reaction, distancing himself from the voice. "Calm down, I'm just in my hotel room," he said to the phone.

Sarah finished putting on her heels, then blew Thomas a kiss as she turned to leave.

Thomas winked, then continued listening to the indistinct sound of his sister's long story. His brow furrowed as he concentrated on the conversation. "Wo, wo, wo, slow down. What do you mean? No, I left for my hotel room early last night," He responded, the rest of the conversation cutting off as Sarah closed the hotel room's door behind her.

Sarah walked down the hall to the elevator and thumbed the descend button. She chuckled as she reflected on the afterglow she could feel humming through her body. It was going to be a good day.

The elevator arrived and Sarah stepped inside and thumbed the button for the lobby.

Only two floors had ascended past the elevator before Sarah noticed in her peripheral, the state of her reflection on the mirrored wall. She was in a wrinkled evening gown, her hair was mused, and her makeup was damaged.

"Damn it," Sarah muttered to herself. She was a hot mess that screamed walk-of-shame. She quickly thumbed the elevator to the next floor, got out, and heading for the stairs.

Sarah enjoyed being the center of attention, but on her own terms, and not when she looked like this.

Sarah normally would have taken the stairs in the first place, but it would appear that thoughts of Thomas's naked body were distracting her.

Large, muscled, confident, and in sync with Sarah's body right out of the gate. God, and the way the moonlight had highlighted his chest.

Sarah stopped and clenched her fists, forcing herself to push the images of Thomas out of her mind. "Okay Sarah, time to focus on the mission now. Quit thinking about the beautiful man you had sex with for ten seconds," she muttered to herself, then resumed walking. She tried to think of breathing exercises Endo had taught her to focus her mind. Since she was descending the stairs at a regular pace, she started to breath in tune with every three steps she descended.

Three steps down, breath, another three steps, exhale, repeat.

Sarah exited the hotel through the fire escape and did a quick look up and down the alley for her driver. Not far away, she could see the headlight of a Rolls-Royce around the corner. That would be Caspian's car.

Caspian was Sarah's driver, but not exclusively. He ran a business as a kind of private taxi for Winsome Bay's elite. Sarah had a long working relationship with Caspian. She originally sought him out years ago, due to his reputation as someone always on time, and able to keep his client's identities and destinations confidential. As a bonus, Sarah grew to like his personality too. The guy was unwaveringly polite, and something about him suggested that he was seriously dangerous to cross, a trait in men that always got Sarah excited. Unfortunately, Sarah had a suspicion that Caspian was probably gay. He never looked at her inappropriately and that hungry desire, she regularly saw in men's eyes was completely absent in Caspian's.

Sarah slipped into the backseat of Caspian's car. As always, the car smelled clean and the white leather upholstery was supple and spotless. Per her earlier request the day earlier, the seat beside Sarah had her overnight bag waiting for her.

"A pleasure to see you again Ms. Noir," Said Caspian. "Where might we be going today?" he asked, looking at Sarah in the rear-view mirror over his thin glasses.

Caspian was African America in descent, in his late 40s, bald, and had cheek bones that could probably carve wood if they were any more pronounced. His eyes were kind, yet alert.

"3845 Mason's road," said Sarah as she reached for her overnight bag.

Caspian gave her a skeptical look, then asked, "The abandoned industrial district?"

"I've heard the sunrise is beautiful there this early in the morning," said Sarah coyly.

Caspian raised an eyebrow and smiled. "I'm sure it is," he said, equally as coyly.

The car pulled into traffic.

While they drove, Sarah slid her evening gown down her torso, then lifted her pelvis so that the gown could continue past her legs, leaving her dressed in only her thong and heels. She could see in the rear-view mirror as Caspian's eyes glanced at her. Not gay? Maybe, but probably the glance was more in disapproval for Sarah's lack of seatbelt.

Sarah put on the jeans, a white tank top, and sneakers from the overnight bag, then tied her hair back into a ponytail. She leaned forward between the two front seats and used the rearview mirror to redo her makeup.

From the corner of her eye Sarah could see a small frown on Caspian's face in reaction to the obstruction Sarah was creating in his mirror. Sarah finished up and beamed a smile at him to show that she noticed.

Caspian smiled and let out a small snort.

It took roughly half an hour to reach their destination, a warehouse cladded in rusty steel sheeting, with most of the windows broken. Surprisingly, the sunrise in this area did have a beauty to it, provided you kept your eyes from the garbage ridden gravel around the place.

Sarah took out a hooded robe from inside the bag and put it on. She looked up at Caspian but found his expression not the least bit concerned. She wondered just what kind of clients he moved around to be unphased by a woman putting on a black hooded robe in the back of his car.

Caspian held out his hand.

Sarah reached into her clutch and pulled out two hundred dollars, placing the bills in Caspian's hand.

Caspian counted his bills and said, "Always a pleasure Ms. Noir."

Sarah took off her ruby choker, which was not entirely a fashion piece. It had strange rune engraved into the ruby, which she believed to be Norse in origin. To Sarah's understanding, it was a kind of enchantment Endo constructed to prevent Sarah's shadow form from appearing in the darkness. A trait essential for Sarah to be able to walk around in public now. Without her choker or something like it, people would likely run in fear at the site of Sarah's eyes going red every time she stepped into a dimly lit room. With practice, she might learn to repress her shadow form on her own, but so far that involved too many headaches.

Sarah placed the choker in the bag and pulled out what resembled a plastic respirator with speakers. She put the device over her mouth and flicked a switch that activated the voice changer.

With a final nod to Caspian, Sarah pulled her hood up and got out of the car. She left her bag in the car, knowing Caspian would deliver it to her building when he got the chance. She then walked to the side entrance of the large warehouse.

The sound of tires crunching over gravel, informed Sarah that Caspian drove away.

The side door to the building was a large panel on tracks. With a bit of effort, Sarah slid the door open, the rusty guide wheels screeching.

Inside the warehouse, the sunlight beamed through the broken and dirty windows. The warehouse was massive and filled mostly with old shipping containers, each of them stacked on top of each other to create massive isles. The isles had a resemblance to that of a grocery store, if the patrons of the store were twenty feet tall.

When Sarah stepped inside, the familiar sound of a handgun cocking emitted from her right side. She turned her head to find Haider pointing his gun at her.

Upon recognizing her, he lowered his gun and went back to leaning against the wall.

Haider was of Mexican descent, somewhere in his 40s, and had tribal tattoo sleeves on his well-muscled arms. Arms that Sarah's eyes couldn't help but drift to every few second. The tattoos were of blocky swirls, in what Sarah believed to be a Mayan art style. He was sort of one of Sarah's henchmen, at least part-time.

Sarah had three sort-of-henchmen, all black-ops veterans who had no intention of retiring from their service to become mall cops and bodyguards. They came from a career of violence and excitement, which made integrating into average civilian life, difficult. Sarah first found her henchmen working as lowly thugs for one of the minor gangs, their considerable talent appallingly unappreciated. Sarah knew them for what they were the first time she saw them, so she hires them from time to time. Her men were perfectly suited in their talents to, say, organized and kidnap one of Winsome Bay's richest men.

"Where is he?" asked Sarah, her voice deep and distorted by the voice changer.

"Three isles down, in the blue container with Chinese lettering and the fish graphic on it. The others are with him," said Haider, pointing down one of the isles.

Sarah nodded to him in appreciation, then began walking in the direction Haider had indicated. She snuck another glance at his muscled arms as she passed, her perversion conveniently hidden within the shadows of her hood.

Halfway down an aisle, Sarah walked through one of the thicker shadows cast by a stack of containers, causing her shadow form to wrap around her under her robe.

"I am not pleased with you," said Endo the instant Sarah's shadow form returned.

Sarah sighed. "What could possibly be displeasing you?" she asked in mild irritation.

"Ward has been here all night, yet it is apparent that my vessel's appetite for pleasure takes precedence over this mission," said Endo.

Sarah scoffed in offence. "Okay, fuck off. I told you I was going to do what I wanted last night. Besides, he hasn't gone anywhere, and now we're here. So, stop bitching," she said.

Endo tried to argue with her, but Sarah's stride continued out of the small shadow, effectively cutting off his ability to speak with her.

When Sarah arrived at the third isle, she found her other two henchmen, Miles and Connor. They were standing guard in front of the blue shipping container Haider described. When they saw Sarah approaching, both Miles and Connor straightened at the sight of her and their faces washed over into professional neutrality. Connor's hand twitched, as he likely just suppressed the urge to salute Sarah out of habit.

Wordlessly, Miles reached over to the lever that opened the container. With a screech of unoiled hinges, the container doors opened to reveal the sleeping James Ward chained to a chair with a cloth gag in his mouth. The man was relatively unharmed, aside from a large gash on his right cheek, likely from when the boys grabbed him.

"I'll take it from here," said Sarah.

Connor and Miles nodded, then left the way Sarah came, leaving her alone with the CEO of Ward Industries.

Once her henchmen were out of sight, Sarah stepped into the container and untied Ward's gag. She then pulled the door closed to cut out the light.

"Alright Endo," Sarah called.

Endo immediately exited Sarah's body in a smoky mist that congealed into his serpent-like form. He was too large for the container, so he had to curl his tail around Sarah to decrease his height.

"Don't forget, I'm killing him after I find out everyone that's working for him. I'm not making the same mistake as last time, so don't fry his brain," said Sarah.

Endo rolled his eyes, then quickly slithered into Ward's mouth.

Ward abruptly jerked awake and made a long gasp for air. The muscles in his neck bulged out as his body went rigid. His eyes darted back and forth searching for the source of his pain. Then as rapidly as it had started, it was over. He relaxed back into a slump and his eyes glazed over, starring into nothing.

"I have him. I will find out what he knows about Angst, and everyone that is under his power," said Endo and Ward simultaneously. "Care to join?" Endo asked.

Sarah shuddered. "I don't need to see whatever nightmares your using to get Ward to talk. I'm perfectly fine out here," she said.

Sarah watches as Ward's face grimaced, twitched, and even smile as Endo mined the information he wanted from the man's mind. After about ten minutes, a steady stream of blood was starting to flow out from the man's nose and drip onto the floor.

"So?" Sarah asked, trying her best not to sound impatient.

Ward's eyes flickered to her, then back to staring at nothing.

"Alright then," Sarah said in a huff.

After another ten minutes, she would have sat down on the floor, if it wasn't covered in what likely was old fish remains. The scent of the boney corpses still faintly lingered in the air, especially since she closed the door.

A burst of gun fire made Sarah's head snap up in attention. There was still too much light outside the container for her to feel or hear what just happened, but she guessed it was her guys, it had been a controlled burst of fire. She opened the container door and stepped out to listen for something else.

"Contact! North West and closing! Get the boss!" Haider shouted from the direction Sarah had come in.

Another burst of gunfire issued, longer than the last. An explosion and a flash of blue-orange light issued from Haider's direction.

"Shit." Sarah hissed under her breath. Why do people always come charging through the door every time she and Endo try and interrogate someone. It's rude.

"Endo, got what we need? I don't have my gear, and someone is crashing our party," said Sarah.

"Maybe if we weren't mating all night, someone wouldn't have had all morning to find the Ward's location," said Endo, venomously.

Sarah opened her mouth to speak but was taken aback from Endo's insult. That... What an asshole.

Endo exited Ward's body.

Ward blinked, then tried to scream when he saw Endo looming over him, but before any air could come out of the man's mouth, Endo backhanded the man. Ward's head snapped back, then fell limply forward.

"Did you just snap his neck?" Sarah asked, urgency and concern in her voice.

Endo looked at Ward, studying him for a few seconds, the said, "No."

"I swear to god, if you killed him-" Sarah began.

Endo interrupted with indifference, "He will survive."

"I'm going to get an exorcism on a sunny Mexican beach if your wrong," said Sarah.

"Boss! We've got to go. Something's coming this way. Haider and Miles are in tactical retreat," said Connor between heavy breaths as he ran towards the container.

Before Connor got close enough to see inside, Endo rushed back into Sarah.

Sarah turned around to meet Connor as he came to the door. "Something? You don't know what you're running from?" asked Sarah, a bit annoyed. Her so called henchmen were supposed to be professionals, they should at least know what their shooting at.

More gunfire sounded, followed by a few flashes of that blue-orange light. One of Sarah's men howled in pain, but she wasn't sure which one got hit.

Connor looked in the direction of the sounds, then audibly gulped. "It's a man I think, but our ammunition isn't effecting him, he's armored," he said.

Before Sarah could respond, a beam of blue light stabbed through a shipping container down the aisle and continued through the next container.

Sarah and Connor flinched in reaction to the projectile.

The container effected, had a hole the size of Sarah's fist, glowing with heat and dripping molten metal to the floor.