Total pages in book: 45
Estimated words: 40901 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40901 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
We are going to play for his soul, it seems. The devil will call, and I will call, and we will see who Starlight comes to.
It turns out that is not the game after all. While Starlight stares at me, the devil walks up behind him, aims a gun, and pulls the trigger.
Starlight collapses in a spray of blood.
It all happens so quickly I barely have time to scream, so I don’t bother. Instead I rush to Starlight’s side, putting pressure on what should, could, and may still be a fatal wound to the back, right up near the shoulder. He is not moving. He may already be gone.
“The fuck!” I curse up at the embodiment of all evil.
“I didn’t do anything he didn’t do,” the devil says. “I did exactly what he did, actually. Very poetic. I love it when I can be poetic.”
My men are landing. Running toward us over the rubble. The area is now swarming with angelic strength, for I have shared my gifts with them in the technology they carry.
“This is no place for the devil,” I tell him. “And I will never serve you.”
“No,” the devil sighs. “Perhaps not today. But you have suffered, and justice has been done to this peon of mine. So. Oh well. Can’t win them all.” He grins broadly, proudly, then turns and walks away. The money it took to build this place means nothing to him, nor does the man who served him. In the eyes of the devil, Starlight was never anything but a sinner to be punished.
I finally scream. “MEDIC!”
8
Katie
Starlight wakes up mid-flight to Germany. We are on my private plane, which is a luxury I have very much missed. The organization I head, Fleisch, is a multinational gene tech corporation. I have the kind of money even the devil would be jealous of. And that means I also had the money to get Doctor Champion out from under the rubble of the prison and have him tend to Starlight’s wounds. The nurses were not so lucky. It has been a brutal day of cruelty, the devil’s climax interrupted but not entirely foiled.
Champion was fortunate enough to be trapped in a pocket of rubble. He is essentially entirely unharmed. It is a miracle. I have learned to look upon miracles with some measure of suspicion.
“Am I dead?”
Starlight asks the question in a delightfully doped up way. He is laid out between two of the armchairs on a medical structure, a drip in his arm and a decent wound where the devil’s bullet penetrated his shoulder.
“You’re not dead, Starlight. You might wish you were.”
He looks over at me. I give him a little wave with the very tips of my fingers. I have had the opportunity to clean myself and put on a travel jumpsuit I keep aboard the plane. I am far from back to normal, but I do have a flute of champagne in my left hand, and a sense of self-satisfaction that rivals any I have felt before.
“Katie,” he grits out. “Katie. The man in black is the actual devil.”
“Yes,” I smile. “I know.”
“He’s going to be loopy for some time,” Doctor Champion says. “I can sedate him more if you’d like him to be quiet.”
“No. No. Not at all. I’d like to enjoy the victory.” I sit back and watch Starlight with half-closed eyes. He is having some trouble orienting himself.
A thin medical blanket covers his body. We’ve removed most of his clothing, stripping him to his boxers. I ensured all his special little bits and pieces are tucked away safely.
“Run. Katie. Run. He wants to get you for himself. Fly away.” Starlight tries to sit up and warn me. Champion puts a hand on his chest, pushing him back down again.
“I’m going to have to sedate him,” Champion says. “I don’t want him thrashing those sutures open.”
“Very well,” I agree with a sigh. I was hoping to gloat, but I suppose I can always do that later when he is able to comprehend the magnitude of his fall. For now, I’ll content myself with enjoying myself, being free of my hunter, and being free in general for the first time in a long time.
It takes quite a while for Starlight to recover enough to be talked to. By the time he is able to hold a proper conversation without needing to be drugged into submission or re-sewn from general flailing, we are back at my headquarters in Europe. They’ve been moved, of course, since the last time he ran rampant through my facility. This location will remain secret to everyone but those who absolutely have to know.
He spends a week or two being looked after in the medical facility. I do not visit him during this time. I am busy, and he has been a very bad boy. Eventually, however, I cannot help myself. I am told that he has been an amenable prisoner, which surprises me somewhat. I thought he’d rage against the same captivity he imposed on me. But maybe, just maybe, he has learned his lesson.