Clipped (The Clipped Saga, 1) by Devon McCormack (24 page)

Jesus! I’m having a baby. Will someone just get me to a doctor?!”

“She’s right,” Veylo said. “We real y should be off now.”

“If you think,” Dedrus said, “we’re just gonna let you prance

out of here with the Antichrist, you’re dead wrong.”

Veylo looked up to the Morarke. “Hoddy, kill these

disgusting creatures.”

Deter and Mika tossed Dedrus on top of the swords. Craetis

pushed Kinzer on top of him and joined his fal en al ies as they ushered Maggie to the stairwel door. Veylo fol owed behind.

Kinzer and Dedrus slipped their swords off the floor, leapt

to their feet, and hurried to the stairwel .

One of Hoddy’s tentacles rushed in front of them,

projecting them across the parking garage. Dedrus slammed into a fire extinguisher box mounted to a support beam. Kinzer hit the

concrete wal , his sword rattling as it hit the floor.

“Fuck!” he cried. He dropped, his arms smashing against the

227 Devon McCormack
concrete.

Hoddy paced toward them.

“Shit,” Dedrus said. In a moment, he was back on his feet,

holding his sword out before him.

Kinzer spotted another stairwel on the other side of the

garage. “Folow me,” he said. He limped alongside the wal. Dedrus hurried behind.

CLIPPED 228

Kid tailed behind Treycore, through a hal way. What few working

fluorescent lights were on flickered sporadical y.

Lero had dropped Kid and Treycore off outside an

abandoned hospital and pointed them toward where he’d felt Vera’s teleportation. As they’d entered the hospital, they’d heard moaning and fol owed the sound.

Treycore peered into a security mirror.

Through it, Craetis hauled Maggie’s pregnant ass into a

room at the end of the hal . Veylo fol owed and shut the door

behind them.

“I’m gonna take these douches out,” Treycore said. “You

hide somewhere and just stay safe. Got it?”

“I wanna help.”

“You’l help by staying out of my way. I can take these

assholes. I’ve taken on worse. The whole battle between Heaven and

229 Devon McCormack
Hel , remember?”

Kid nodded. He was disappointed, but he knew there was

no way he could help Treycore fight immortals. If anything, he

would be an inconvenience, like he felt he’d been al along.

Treycore grabbed Kid’s arm and pul ed him close. He kissed

him softer than he’d ever kissed him before. Kid savored his sweet, immortal taste.

As Treycore pul ed back, he returned for another kiss, long,

passionate, deep. He pul ed away again and looked into Kid’s eyes.

It was that same, soul-piercing gaze—the one that made Kid feel so naked, so vulnerable.

“I won’t let anything bad happen to you,” Treycore said.

Kid smiled. It sounded like something someone would say

to someone they loved. He wanted to tel Treycore how he felt. He wanted to say that he loved him. But that was ridiculous. They’d known each other for such a short time.

He clenched his teeth and headed down the hal , taking

sanctuary in a nearby restroom.

~

Treycore glanced around, making sure the coast was clear. He darted down the hal , readying his sword.

Maggie’s labor screams echoed al around him.

Approaching the door at the end, he set his hand on the

knob.

CLIPPED 230

Bunch of fal ens
, he thought with disgust.
No sweat
.

He turned the knob and burst in.

Maggie lay on the hospital bed, her soaked hair shining

under the lights. She clasped onto the sheets, tensing her grip.

“I need a fucking epidural!” she wailed, hissing breaths,

sweat dripping off her bangs.

Veylo and Craetis’s attention jerked to Treycore.

Veylo whipped out his sword and lunged at him.

Treycore sliced into Veylo’s thumb, forcing his sword to the

floor.

“Fuck!” Veylo said, massaging his wound. Craetis barrel ed

at Treycore.

Treycore sliced his sword through the air. Craetis halted just

before its tip.

“Just a little further,” Treycore mocked.

“If you didn’t have your sword,” Craetis snarled, “I’d fucking

tear you in two.”

“If you think,” Veylo began, his fresh blood spewing onto

the floor, “you’re walking out of here with that baby—”

“I don’t
think
,” Treycore replied. “I
am
.”

“Fuck no!” Maggie shrieked. “I am not fucking going

anywhere! I am having this baby. Ah! Pain! Fucking pain! Someone get me an epidural
right now
!”

“Everybody back the fuck off!” Treycore ordered.

Craetis didn’t move.

Treycore stared him down. “Today is not the day to test

231 Devon McCormack
me.”

Craetis and Veylo retreated into the far corner.

Treycore maneuvered around the bed, holding his sword

out.

“Now,” Treycore said. “We’re al going to get through this

nice and—”

Something pushed him into the wal .

“Fuck!” he cal ed out.

While he’d been fixated on Veylo and Craetis, Deter had

snuck behind him and tackled him.

Deter grabbed Treycore’s wrist and rammed it against the

wal . Treycore’s hand froze up, and his sword slipped free. Bouncing off the linoleum floor, it landed a few feet away from him.

Craetis leapt over the bed. Treycore elbowed Deter in the

face and threw himself at his sword. Just as his finger grazed the tip, Craetis landed with one foot on the sword’s hilt.

“Fuck no,” Craetis said, looking down at the now-helpless

Treycore.“Hey!” a voice came from the hal.

Al eyes turned to Mika, who had Kid by the arm, a dagger

to his throat. “Look what I found in the restroom.”

Treycore’s face went white.

“Now,” Veylo said. “What to do with you, Treycore?”

~

CLIPPED 232

Kinzer plowed through the stairwel door. Dedrus was right behind.

They skipped, practical y threw themselves, down a set of

concrete steps.

What sounded like an explosion came from behind as the

monster’s tentacles shredded the stairwel entrance apart like it was made of cardboard.

“Just like old times,” Kinzer said, hopping on the platform

of the second floor.

“You know what that means,” Dedrus said.

“I’l distract, and you kill the motherfucker.”

Three tentacles wrapped over the rails above them.

As they reached the bottom of the first floor, Kinzer pushed

through the door. He raced across the asphalt.

Dedrus’s wings sliced like knives through the back of his

shirt. He bounded into the air and flapped to the top of a

neighboring building.

The Morarke’s tentacles ripped through the garage’s brick

wal . Its razor teeth crushed bricks and pipes into dust.

Kinzer waved his sword about.

“Come here, you fucking dick!”

The creature shrilled as it stomped toward him, leaving a

trail of prints in its path.

Dedrus dive-bombed off the roof, tucking his wings close,

pointing his sword out, aimed at the eye-slit above Hoddy’s razor-mouth. One of Hoddy’s tentacles went right for Kinzer. He leapt

233 Devon McCormack
over it. He thought he’d cleared it when five mini-tentacles shot through the side of the main one and grabbed him by the ankle.

Fucking hurry
, he thought.

Dedrus was less than a foot from the monster’s eye-slit. He

maneuvered his wing ever so slightly. The tip of his sword was

almost there.

A tentacle came from his side, wrapped around his waist,

and barrel ed him to the ground.

“Fuck!” he cried.

The tentacles around Kinzer released him.

Oh no
, Kinzer thought.
It picked Dedrus. Why? It total y had
me.

A realization struck him. He didn’t have his wings...or

powers. Dedrus must have been giving off a stronger immortal scent than he was.

Shit. I’m gonna have to take it out myself. Without anything.

~

Is this how I’m gonna die?
Kid wondered.

Mika tightened the tip of his dagger against his neck.

“Move it!” Craetis barked as he kicked through a door,

holding Treycore in a headlock.

He tossed Treycore on the floor and kicked him in the

stomach.

“Aw, fuck!” Treycore groaned.

CLIPPED 234

Craetis kicked him again. “Bet that turns you on, doesn’t it?”

The room they were in was just a few hal s from Maggie’s, as

made apparent by the still-audible screams that reached it. With a clean, black desk, black leather chair, and shelves still stocked with medical books, at some point, this room must’ve been one of the

hospital doctor’s offices. Judging by the room’s pristine appearance and perfectly functional fluorescent lights, one wouldn’t have even known that they were still in the abandoned hospital.

Craetis hopped on top of Treycore, pinning his arms to the

floor.

“What do you say we have a little fun time, just you and

me?” He licked Treycore’s cheek. Treycore turned his head and bit into Craetis’s tongue til it bled. Craetis snapped back, letting the blood drip onto Treycore’s cheek.

“You always did like it kinky, didn’t you?” he said with a

wink. He released one of Treycore’s hands and slapped him across the face.Mika puled Kid around Craetis and stepped into the

adjacent corner.

Deter entered and closed the door behind him.

“I think I would like to get a little something in,” Craetis

said. He flipped Treycore on his stomach and sat on his hamstrings.

Treycore reared back, his fists slamming into Craetis’s arms in vain.

Craetis yanked his jeans down, revealing his naked cheeks.

Kid’s chest tightened. He wanted to tear Craetis’s face off.

“Leave him alone!” he shouted.

235 Devon McCormack
Mika slammed Kid’s head into the wal . “Shut your fucking

trap.” “Damn! Mika,” Craetis said. “Look at that ass! Been a long time since I’ve had a higherling.”

As Mika watched with eager eyes, he stroked his hand up

and down Kid’s chest.

It reminded Kid of so many other hands that had violated

him and of the only hand that he wanted to touch him that way.

“Get on the floor,” Mika whispered into Kid’s ear.

Kid did as he was told and sprawled out on the floor. Mika

pressed his dagger against the back of Kid’s neck as he unzipped his suit pants.

Being that Mika was immortal, Kid knew it was going to

hurt, but he was determined to take it without showing weakness.

“Wel , wel ,” said a familiar voice.

Al eyes went to the desk.

“If it isn't my dear, sweet love.”

The chair behind it swirled around.

Vera's hair was straightened, except for the ends, which

curled at her shoulders. A sleeveless, white dress molded against her immortal, modelesque figure, complimenting her cum-white flesh.

Her eyes met Treycore's.

“So glad to see you made it to our little event,” she hissed.

Through a slot under the desk, Kid watched as she tapped a

five-inch gray heel on the tile floor.

She rose. The leather on her chair squeaked. Her heels

CLIPPED 236

clicked as she came around the desk.

Maggie’s cries grew louder in the hal .

By the sound of it, Kid thought she might be going into

labor...or being violently tortured.

Vera didn't seem to notice. She rested her hip against the

edge of the desk.

“You're not going to win,” Treycore said.

Craetis grabbed him by the hair and smashed his forehead

into the floor.

Vera smiled. “Oh, Treycore. Can't you see?”

Maggie cried out again.

“We already have.”

Craetis twisted his arm. Treycore's face turned red. He

grunted.

“Cut it out!” Kid cried.

“Shut up, faggot,” Treycore barked.

Kid was shocked by Treycore's severity. Why was he being

mean to him? Weren't they in this together?

“That's so cute,” Vera said. “I think the mortal’s developing

a little crush.”

Treycore stared at her, expressionless.

Her thin lips curled into a smirk. “You seem different,

Treycore. You seem...troubled.”

She stepped toward him and knelt till her face was just

above his, her eyes piercing into his pupils, as if trying to illustrate her superiority through their positions.

237 Devon McCormack

“What's wrong?” she asked. “You used to be so open with

me. It doesn't matter. You, Kinzer, and Dedrus have failed. We have the mortal woman, and we have the child. Mika, release the mortal.