We got lucky. The first people we went looking for found us. Harry sidled up to me as we were leaving the medical facilities the National Guard set up in the mall. “Captain, Jill and the other guys aren’t too far away. I was hoping we could have a talk with you. There’s things you should know about.”

  I nodded, a said quietly, “lead away.” So he did indeed lead us through an empty store that had only been partially converted to barracks. The rest of the squad that went with the injured that night were hanging out in the back of the store behind a couple thick rows of boxes piled all around some furniture. Most of the squad stayed out in the massive open walking spaces of the mall. If we all dipped into a store, it would look obvious. The mall was an indoor mall, so no concerns about being exposed to the August heat. Granted, it was still early in the day.

  Harry led me to a back room, even further removed from the front and prying eyes. Then Jack, Barney, and Jill followed behind me. I looked at each of them, not sure which one was going to go first. Jack ended the suspense, “Things are fucked up here.”

  “How so? That is a bit generic.”

  “There are lots of messed up things. The guys who went to finish off the orcs. They lost over 40 guys. The didn’t realize that the orcs would use cover as effectively. The shaman looking orc killed 15 of those guys before he escaped through the portal. It’s like they don’t think these things are tough, and then bam, a bunch of them die. They found a few people to steal abilities from the dead, but the people getting the abilities are typically officers high up the chain of command. It is sorta crazy how they rush men off to die when they don’t have to.”

  “Okay, so they are doing a piss poor job of getting abilities in the hands of soldiers that need them. They also clearly underestimate how durable the orcs are. Wait, did you say the orc shaman escaped through the portal?”

  “Yup. He was the only one alive, but the orcs started fighting towards the gate in Sunset hills at the same time a bunch of massive demons with ginormous horns came through the portals. It took rockets and heavy duty machine guns to take down the big guys coming through the gate. We could have lost control of the gate last night.”

  “Fuck. So, things are getting way more touch and go. It is why I am so glad that within a few days we will have everyone within the confines of Fenton. We can plan way better from there.”

  Jill jumped in, “Oh, we found out that all sorts of government agencies are vying for control, and a few of them really want to know what you have going on back in Fenton.”

  “The funny thing is that anyone could come and visit Fenton and see what we have going on at each place. I guess there is a certain amount of laziness.”

  “A Colonel Kent seemed to want to find out what you knew and what kinds of useful individuals you had been pulling together. But I only got that by overhearing some women that did not know I was in the bathroom.”

  “Anyone else out for me?” I expected Colonel Kent. That much didn’t surprise me.

  Barney spoke for only the second time I have witnessed. “There’s a Major Lorne. They are under Colonel Smolders, but I got the sense that they also report to someone in the intelligence community: NSA, DIA, or FBI. I’m just guessing at that point. I’m just not sure which one.”

  “Great. Thanks. I’m not surprised by that. Anyone get a read on Colonel Smolders.”

  Harry answered this time. “Smolders is good folk. He is a very straight shooter. He has been talking up how he wished every representative in their district doing what You was. That much is clear. He seems the only guy without an agenda. The one to watch out for though is this CIA lady that came in two days ago and has been bending the Colonel’s ear. Problem I have is I can’t concentrate around her. I either get aroused or muddled thoughts. It’s the damnedest thing.”

  “Fuck. That’s not good.” I had this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I had an idea of what we faced. I clearly wanted to be so very wrong.

  Jill spoke, “Yeah, I’m 100% straight, but the two times I got even a little bit close to her I wanted to either fuck her or lick her everywhere.”

  “Fuck! That confirms. It is some sort of Succubus.”

  “You mean some kind of sex demon?,” Barney blurted out.

  “I always thought they were more of like an sexual and emotional vampire, but in demon body,” Jack replied.

  I finished, “Demons of seduction. However, they have a history in most stories of draining men of all their sexual energy and vigor leaving them dull, witless versions of themselves. Seems this entirely off base.”

  “So how do we deal with it?,” Jill asked.

  “Sadly, this is not one of those G.I. Joe moments.” Was my response. Jill looked at me like I was talking crazy, so I responded. “In this instance, knowing isn’t half the battle. It is far less than half.” Jack and Harry both snickered for a second and mouthed, ‘G I Joe.’

  Barney eyes lit up, “What you need is to have a blessed weapon. I know there is a chaplain around this makeshift base somewhere.”

  Well, that’s an idea, blessings or holy water. I turned to Barney, “That’s not a bad plan.” With that said, we went back up front and out of the mostly empty store. I looked at Barney once we got back out into the mall-proper and he nodded his head to the left slightly so that is the direction I turned. Right as I could see the sign for the chapel ahead and to the left, I noticed two separate groups headed our way. The first was Natalie and Frank. She was talking to soldiers as she went, but she was subtly pushing towards us. The other trio of soldiers looked to be making a direct line for us from further in the base. They looked official.

  “Frank and Natalie, long time no see!” I said a little louder than intended. I made eye contact with Frank and raised an eyebrow. It was a very brief and somewhat subtle gesture that the official looking soldiers wouldn’t see with Frank and a whole bunch of other soldiers obscuring their line of sight. I went to hug Frank as he put Natalie’s video camera down. I whispered in his ear, “gun, now.” Shockingly, no one really noticed Frank slip me a 50 caliber desert eagle pistol. It is not a small handgun, but the opening of the pouch was just wide enough to angle the handgun into it.

  We broke our brief embrace and I then turned to hug Natalie like it was the most natural thing in the world. She whispered, “wtf.” As I pulled away I simply smiled. Maybe she noticed the gun exchange. At that moment the officials broke into our little friendly circle and the lead one said, “We are here to escort you to the Colonel. He is looking forward to having a conversation with you.” I smiled and saluted them, prompting them to salute back. I still couldn’t remember if we were supposed to salute indoors or not. I never got any kind of formal military protocol lessons.

  “My apologies gentlemen. I was simply on my way to pray at the chapel before meeting with the Colonel. I have been remiss over the last few days and have not been in a house of God to offer thanks and prayers, merely in the field doing God’s work against the demons.”

  The lead soldier stopped at this and looked first to his 2 fellow guards and then back to me. “That’s fine. But we will be waiting for you out here to escort you to the Colonel.”

  “Such an escort is hardly necessary, but I look forward to speaking with Colonel Smolders again. Just as soon I may offer prayers that is.” They had no clue if I was religious or not. I was banking on them not wanting to piss off a sincerely religious politician. They may be charmed, but I looked and sounded like they had not been magically dominated or mind controlled. That would have made this conversation much harder.

  If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  With that I stepped through the doors of chapel that had been converted from a mostly closed down Candle store. The priest had candles burning in spots all over the store. Fortunately, he had used the same or complimentary scents the whole time, or I might have thrown up. I passed by several rows of chairs and even some rough benches. They weren’t exactly pews, but they worked well enough. The man I was looking for was at the back behind the dais kneeling in front of a massive cross. He said nothing as I approached. As a standard precaution I used Assess.

  Human, War Priest of Christ, Level 4

  This guy was the real deal. He was an actual priest, and he had levels. Will wonders never cease. He was an older yet built black man, larger thank Hank or Ted, and as I got close enough he stood and turned to me. He was stacked like a damn body builder. “Morning, child. How may I assist your spiritual needs today.” The voice was deep and gravelly, yet it had a resolve to it that was full of conviction. My thought before that this guy was the real deal, felt like a bit of an understatement now.

  “Umm… Hi chaplain. I’m in a bit of a bind. I was hoping for God’s help with a demon problem.”

  He gave a half smile, “Is the problem on this base, or is it more in general?” Well, that was almost direct. I hoped this guy was on the level, as he exuded trust and piety.

  “It is most likely on this base, and it needs to be exorcised before it can cause further strife amongst humanity.” I reached into the pouch and carefully pulled out Frank’s pistol. “I was hoping you could give this the full blessings of Christ.”

  Still with the half smile he took the offered pistol and removed the clip. He dipped the tip of the barrel as well as the whole clip into a bowl of water. He prayed something barely audible. "But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." He then said many other things that I could not understand. I swear the man had to have been speaking in Aramaic. The water literally began to glow blue and then white and lastly blue again. This went on for several minutes.

  I decided to pray as well. I wasn’t a believer, but it never hurts to have a deity on your side. I said in my head only, ‘Jesus, if your listening. I really need to kill this demon creature affecting humans. Any assistance you can provide me to help me resist her temptations would be appreciated.’ I hadn’t prayed in several years. Not since the death of my twin sister. The thought hurt me. I promised myself then that I would no longer pray to a god, but circumstances have clearly changed. When I die, I will take up my displeasure over my twin’s death with him then. For now, I needed help.

  The war priest pulled the pistol and the clip all the way out of the water, and it gleamed in a soft bluish white light. Barely any water dripped off of either item. The glow stayed there for several minutes before finally fading. I ventured a single question, “Why do you trust me to do this?”

  He looked down at me. Though I was fairly tall, I was not as tall as he was. “Child. I knew your grandfather many years ago. I knew the man he was, so please have my condolences on the loss you have suffered. However, he had told me on two occasions that you were the best of his grandchildren. He had faith in you, despite you losing your way. Now, I shall place my faith in you as well. Go with God.” He said no more as he handed the pistol and the clip back over to me. They felt completely dry as I slid the clip back in place, cocked the gun, and hid it in my pouch once more. I hoped the guards outside didn’t hear me cocking a gun. I said nothing more to this man of God, as I was honestly clueless as what to say to him.

  I turned and left the chapel as quietly as I had tried to enter meeting the Colonel’s guards and my folks all at the same time. “Let’s go visit the Colonel.”

  The walk to the Colonel didn’t take long. He was standing in the offices of the Macy’s that bookended the mall. He had maps of the area spread out across a massive table and a woman in a dressy suit was off to his left. As soon as I entered the room by myself, as no one else was allowed entry, her aura hit me. It took every ounce of natural resistance to concentrate hard enough to use assess. Her sheer presence alone bent the mind. I wanted to dominate her, submit to her, and also simply ravish her all at the same damn time. She looked over to me and winked. She didn’t even have to utter a word and my thoughts felt less solid than they were before. I managed to read the assess results before focusing on resistance again.

  Elven Half-Fiend, Infiltrator, level 13

  I smiled at her as my mind worked to resist. I was failing. She was my friend. Why do I need to resist her friendship or her charms. She was such a giving person. She was always helpful. She was an ally and her words could be trusted. My brain hurt and felt wonderful at that same time. The concepts assaulted my mind. She wasn’t even doing this consciously to my knowledge. This was just her being her. Friendship is magic. Friendship is magic? What am in, some demented episode of My Little Pony?

  A single tiny kernel of truth pulsed in the back of my brain: SHE IS A HALF DEMON! It was shouting at me. I had never done this before, but I tried to find and channel my mana into that tiny idea shouting against the maelstrom of kindness and sympathy towards her. I saw on the upper left hand corner of my vision as my mana bottomed out. I somehow channeled 12 mana into something. A notification popped up with an exclamation point.

  Urgent Notification!

  Do you wish to spend some of your excess experience to gain the Tier 3 passive ability Charismatic Defiance? This will use one of your 4 remaining available slots for abilities. Press Yes or No.

  I didn’t care what it cost. I smashed the yes mentally while fighting the tidal wave of bliss and contentment. I would like to be her friend, but friendship with demons is not magic. Friendship with demons is heresy and must not be tolerated. I would not be her friend. Part of me wanted to bend this friend over the table and do all sorts of things to her, but she was not my friend. I really needed to get laid so that my libido wasn’t doing half the thinking.

  I smiled back to her and openly relaxed my shoulders as if I was acquiescing to her influence. I couldn’t let her know that under the surface I was fighting her aura. I was getting a migraine, but the new ability seemed strong enough to help me resist.

  Colonel Smolders looked up from the clutter of papers and maps on the large table, finally noticing me. “Captain Cassland. So nice of you to join us. I heard you got here over 30 minutes ago. I had hoped you would see me immediately.” His smile didn’t have the same spark of intelligence behind it that it did just a few days earlier. He was firmly under her influence.

  “Sorry, Colonel. I had to check on my folks in the infirmary and elsewhere before coming straight to you. I wanted to make sure they were all recovered after yesterday. It was our first air strike after all.”

  The Colonel held a bit of a bemused smile. “I understand, my boy, as that is the burden of command. Making sure those who report to you are being taken care of well is important.” He then gestured to the succubus next to him, “This is Miss Gostiva of the CIA. She is helping with intelligence efforts.”

  She gave a slight smile that suggested more than just a polite greeting, “Hello, Captain Cassland. I have heard great things about you.”

  “Only great things?” I said with a bit of hopefulness. I also smiled, trying to act a bit like I was falling for her. Her resulting smile felt like it almost hid a sneer. I walk around the table next to the Colonel. As I did that, the intensity of lust spiked upwards. I wanted her. Why did I need to kill her again? I need to get laid, not kill. I bit the inside of my cheek. Tears welled up in my eyes as I didn’t want to yelp in pain.

  The succubus looked confused, like I was so happy to see her that I had tears welling up in my eyes. “My my. Aren’t you just a barrel of emotions?”

  She didn’t seem to have any clue that it was all a self-inflicted injury. That’s the only thing that let me continue to chant mentally, ‘Kill the demon, kill the demon.’ I was fighting the thought of why kill the demon. I was at war with my own basic thoughts. Resisting mental influence downright sucked, but I was barely five feet away from her. As long as it stayed at this level, I could get through this.

  I pulled out a large, sheathed dagger from my pouch and put it onto the table directly in front of the Colonel, “This is for you, Sir. We have been killing a fair number of enemies, and this large magical dagger is for you.” He smiled at me, a really genuine smile. Perhaps when it isn’t directly about her that I can at least get some sort of realistic response from him.

  Her eyes got big, and she smiled as I seemed emotional and completely under her control. Thoughts of friendship got beaten down inside, while I still smiled on the outside. As I passed behind the Colonel to get closer to her, I slipped the big handgun out of my pouch. Reaching her side, she didn’t notice the gun yet, and that was all I needed. She started to face me, looking at my face to see what kind of tears I had. They looked like tears of Joy, or at least I still hoped they did. She must take me for a simpering fool. That is when the gun barrel slapped into her chest, and I pulled the trigger once.

  She looked at me and said, “How could you resist?”

  I pulled the trigger again.

  And again. I watched as she stumbled backwards, and she landed on her knees.

  I pulled the trigger a fourth time. This time in her face, the bullet ripping apart her perfect features. The illusion dropped at this point. A dead seven foot seven-foot-tall half-demon woman was sprawled on the ground. I finally spoke, “Because resistance is not futile.”