Prey (24 page)

“It’s a trick!” he told the other demons. “Someone’s trying to give him a chance to finish the rest of you off! We’ll deal with them later. Let’s finish him…Now!”

The demons ready themselves to attack. Alex takes a defensive stance. Suddenly, the domineering voice yells out again.

“I SAID, LEAVE HIM!”

Agitated with the deliberate interruption, Zavior belligerently responds, “WHO DARES TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST ME?! SHOW YOURSELF!”

The voice doesn’t respond.

“DON’T MAKE ME DRAG YOU OUT AND EXPOSE YOU FOR THE COWARD YOU ARE!”

“COWARD?!” a voice repeated from the farmhouse.

Alex, Zavior, and the other three demons focus their eyes on the farmhouse and see nothing at first glance, but after a second of staring, they spot a man standing on top of its roof.

The gray skyline makes a perfect backdrop for outlining the demonic powerhouse that went on a rampage in Atlantic City thirty minutes prior.

“DID YOU CALL ME A COWARD, ZAVIOR?”

For the first time, a look of fear takes over Zavior’s grotesquely-altered face. “Zandor…I didn’t know it was you. I couldn’t make out the voice. I apologize for my ignorance.”

“You better,” Zandor growled.

Zandor leaps off the roof and comes to an agile landing on the grounds below. The force in which he lands stirs the dirt and vibrates the ground.

Zavior and the other three demons take their eyes off of Alex and direct their attention to Zandor, their mannerisms very submissive.

Zandor walks by the now docile demons and heads straight for Alex. “So I take it this is the angel that sent half of my hunters back to Hell.”

Zavior eagerly answers, “Yes. He’s the one who’s been harboring the girl.”

“I see.” Zandor maintains a steady course until a gap of mere inches is all that separates him and Alex. Once they’re standing face-to-face, Zandor greets Alex with smile, revealing a mouth full of sharp, yellowish-teeth. “Allow me to formally introduce myself. My name is Zandor. But I’m also your worst nightmare if you don’t tell me where the girl is within the next ten seconds. And before you lie to me, understand that I traced her scent here, so I know she’s on this land somewhere. I’ve traveled a long way to collect her and I’m not in the mood to play hide-and-seek.”

“Okay…” Alex said calmly. “How about a game of catch?!”

Alex places all of his strength behind a rapidly-thrown punch aimed at Zandor’s face. A deafening clap of skin resonates throughout the farmland when Zandor effortlessly catches Alex’s fist. Alex is mystified.

Smiling, Zandor says, “That was almost a good one. I almost didn’t catch it as fast as I wanted to. Tell you what, angel…Try it again.” Zandor releases Alex’s fist and crosses his arms behind his back and tightly closes his red eyes. “Go ahead, angel. Give me your best shot.”

Alex doesn’t think twice about Zandor’s unusual request. He throws another punch, focusing more on speed as opposed to power. Following this method makes his punch faster, but still ineffective. Zandor’s impressive speed is once again demonstrated as he catches Alex’s fist for the second time. The thudding impact of their hands meeting is just as loud as it was before.

Holding on to Alex’s fist, Zandor reopens his eyes. “Come on, Alex. I know you can do better than this.” Zandor lets go of Alex’s fist. “Okay, we’ll try this—I’ll put both of my hands behind my back and close my eyes again. I want you to come at me with everything you’ve got. Don’t just throw one punch. I want you to throw as many as you can, as fast as you can, okay? You ready?”

Alex is baffled, and slightly intimidated. Confused, Alex looks over at Zavior and the other demons. They are all laughing and smiling as they enjoy the mockery being put on by Zandor.

“Come on, Alex,” Zandor said to get Alex’s attention. “You ready?” Zandor crosses his arms behind his back and closes his eyes. “I’m ready whenever you are, Alex.”

Alex hesitates for a second. He doesn’t know if he’s being given a golden-opportunity or just being set up. With his options limited, Alex realizes that there’s no alternative course for him to take. Set up or not, he’s going to take his chances against a much faster Zandor.

Alex throws a series of punches at an amazing rate. His punches are being thrown so fast that his hands literally blur out of sight. Unfortunately, in spite of how fast Alex can move his hands—Zandor seems to be able to move his entire body even faster. With his eyes still shut and his hands still crossed behind his back, Zandor shows tremendous versatility, athleticism, and agility in addition to his superior level of speed.

The assault starts off with Alex backing Zandor up as the slippery demon ducks free of the flurry of punches, but the table turn when Zandor forces Alex to backpedal as he tries to maintain the pressure over the seemingly unhittable target.

After nearly a minute of avoiding Alex’s punches, Zandor decides to put an end to the charade and blindly catches Alex’s fist. Alex is exhausted and completely bamboozled by the demon’s tactical skills.

Zandor tightens his grip over Alex’s fist, sending an unbearable pain through his arm. Alex yells out in pain.

Zandor reopens his eyes. “Make no mistake about it, angel. Killing you would be as easy to me as stomping a cockroach. You may think you’re hot stuff because you’ve killed a few demons, but you better understand that you’ve been playing in a sandbox. You’ve been fighting creatures whose egos overshadow their underdeveloped talents. I’m the real deal.”

Zandor applies more pressure to Alex’s fist. Alex releases another hurt-filled scream before dropping to his knees.

Zandor turns Alex’s attention over to Zavior and the other demons. “You know they’re just itching to kill you, right? I can save you, angel. Just turn the girl over and I’ll let you walk. What do you say?”

Alex redirects all of his concentration and will power toward concealing the pain. He couldn’t fathom selling Jade out, especially to the likes of a monster like Zandor. Alex curls his lip at Zandor’s offer. Zandor is well aware of what Alex’s reaction means and grows upset.

“You fool!” Zandor said. “I tried to give you an easy way out and you spit it back in my damn face. I took pity on you because I admired your style. It’s not very often I get to meet an angel with such demonic tendencies. I told you before I didn’t have time to waste, and somehow that’s exactly what you made me do.” Zandor turns Alex’s hand loose. “I don’t need you to tell me where she is, Alex. I can find her a lot easier than you know. I only wanted to give you a chance to show some allegiance.”

Alex tucks his damaged hand underneath his other arm. “Show allegiance to who? Hell? That’ll never happen, demon.”

“Don’t tell me…You think you’re still doing Heaven’s work, don’t you?”

“I’m doing what’s right. There’s one person that I’m concerned about. She’s all that matters to me.”

Zandor laughs. “Oh, that’s right. You’re fighting for love. Well, lucky for you, when you cross over to our side you won’t have to worry about that useless emotion anymore.”

Alex rises up to his feet and stares directly into Zandor’s eyes. “You’re not hearing me, demon. I’ll never cross over to your side.”

“I think you’re a little confused, angel. You seem to be under the assumption that you have a choice on whether or not you go to Heaven or Hell. Allow me to fill you in…You don’t. Your ultimate destination for the afterlife is based on the decisions you make during the course of your life. You may have come back to this planet as an angel, but you’re definitely not leaving as one.”

Alex contemplates Zandor’s words. Although he doesn’t want to admit it, some of his words actually have merit.

“Is it sinking in yet, angel? You’ve been using your abilities for personal gain ever since you got here. You’ve attacked human beings to save your precious Jade. You’ve killed numerous times. It doesn’t matter if they were demons or not—a kill is a kill. You’ve been a deceiver. Remember that little incident with you and Drake?” Zandor asked, using quotation fingers as he said Drake’s name. “You even disobeyed a direct order to return to Heaven.”

Alex stands still and remains silent as Zandor’s words play on his mind. Zandor circles Alex as he reveals all of the key concepts Alex has been ignoring.

“Couldn’t you feel it, Alex?” Zandor asked. “Couldn’t you feel how easy killing was starting to come to you? Hell, you’ve killed more demons in the last two days than any other angel has for the last couple hundred years. That’s quite an extraordinary feat.”

“How do you know so much about me?” Alex asked Zandor.

“How else do you think, Alex? We’ve been watching you from the moment you got here. We always keep our eyes and ears open for promising prospects.”

“I’m no prospect for you,” Alex declared.

Zandor stops circling Alex and walks right up to him. “Do you actually think that with all you’ve done, Heaven is going to open its gates for you again? If you do, you’re even dumber than I thought, angel—whoops…My mistake. I should really stop referring to you as that. Technically, as long as stay alive you’re an angel. But the moment you die, you’ll be taking a trip to the dark side.”

“You’re lying!”

“Am I?” Zandor replies with a devilish grin. Zandor glances at Zavior and the other demons and then turns back to Alex. “Ask yourself this…How do you think they found you?”

“It’s because of Drake. He used his powers last night and they must’ve traced the signal here.”

Zandor begins to slowly circle around Alex again. “Yeah. Drake did use his powers last night, but he took off right afterward. So if it was Drake they were honing in on, they would’ve tailed him, don’t you think? But instead, they came here. Why?”

“I don’t know,” Alex answered, perplexed.

Standing behind Alex, Zandor places a hand on his shoulder. “Sure you do,” Zandor smiled. “They found you because it wasn’t Drake who led them here…It was you.”

“No, that’s not true!” Alex emphatically denied. “Demons can’t link up with angels.”

“Exactly!” Zandor excitedly responded. “You have more in common with us than you know, my friend. Allow me to be the first to welcome you to the family…Demon.”

Zandor’s cold words rip through Alex’s ears, tears through his heart, and sinks into his stomach like an anchor. Alex knows better than to believe the words of any demon. It’s in their nature to be perfect deceivers and ultimate liars, but for some reason Alex doesn’t feel like he’s being lied to.

“That can’t be right,” Alex said to himself.

Zandor removes his hand from Alex’s shoulder. “You’ll find out soon enough. Now, if you’ll be so kind as to excuse me. I have to go pick up my date.”

Zandor walks away from Alex and begins walking toward the back of the barn, where the tornado shelter is located. Alex stands frozen in shock as Zandor’s haunting implication creates a chain reaction of thoughts that rush through his mind like a wild river current. Alex manages to clear his mind long enough to comprehend Zandor’s last statement. When Alex sees Zandor heading for the shelter he becomes aware to the fact that Jade’s hiding space has been compromised.

Alex’s eyes ignite. He bolts after Zandor, trying to prevent him from reaching Jade, but his attempt fails when Zandor anticipates his interference.

Just as Alex nears Zandor, Zandor shows off his impressive ability to perfectly time an opponent and catches Alex by the throat. If Zandor was hideous before, his appearance now is ten times worse. He lifts Alex off of the ground, violently squeezing his airway close.

“Don’t test me, Alex! Don’t make the mistake in taking my kindness for weakness! Regardless of what you think, I’m still the meanest beast in the yard, and don’t you ever forget it! I’m here on orders that don’t involve you, but if you get in my way one more time I will kill you!”

Alex struggles to free himself from Zandor’s crushing grip.

Zandor cocks the arm that’s holding Alex and quickly snaps it forward, sending Alex rocketing through the air. Alex comes to a back-breaking landing nearly a hundred feet away.

Zandor turns to Zavior and the other demons. “Go hold him. I want him to see this.”

Smiling, Zavior happily obliges. He leads the other demons over to an unconscious Alex. Zavior orders two of the demons to pick Alex up by his arms and he orders the third demon to stand behind Alex as a safety precaution. Alex head hangs as the two entities hold his limp body up.

Grinning, Zavior says, “He said he wanted him to see this, so I guess we better wake him, huh?”

The three demons smile, having a good idea what’s about to occur. Zavior raises his open palm and in a quick swiping motion, slaps Alex across the face so hard an echo of the hit reverberates throughout the land.

“WAKE UP!” Zavior yelled. When Alex doesn’t respond quickly enough, Zavior strikes him again. “WAKE UP!”

This brutal display goes on for nearly a minute. And even when Alex is beginning to wake up, Zavior goes on to slap him again. Alex is groggy and his vision is blurry, but he’s partially coherent.

“There you go. Wake up, Alex.” said Zavior. “We got something we want you to see.”

Zavior grabs a hold of Alex’s hair while the others hold his arms. He aims Alex’s head in Zandor’s direction. Right on cue, Zandor walks over to the tornado shelter and tugs at one of its doors. He easily rips the locked door off of its hinges and discards it like a piece of trash, tossing the large wooden-door over his shoulder. He steps inside the shelter and out of view. The next sound Alex hears rips through his heart like a dagger. It’s the hair-raising screams of Jade.