Retribution, Devotion (19 page)

The Medusa's laughter trailed over him in the process. Dust with crumbled bricks covered Calvin. Each inhale he took had him coughing while he wiped at the sweat dripping into his eyes. He was getting tired. Conserving his power was necessary since he knew this chick was going to keep going until she could fight no more.

“Some crap from Winter?” Calvin grunted in question. Shards of rock attempted to cut into the palms of his hands while he pushed himself up. Debris fell from his broad shoulder. His power shunted itself with his will while he assessed the Medusa. Currents of fading Witch magic highlighted her fingertips while she tapped her nails against her ample hip.

“Yes. A nice spell she whipped up for me. I'll have to thank her later.” The Medusa's lush lips parted in a sneer. Her cocoa eyes locked on a screaming Pink's stripper; then she tilted her head to the side. Twin Cursed demons snatched at the woman who had come from behind the stage. Calvin moved to reach her, but the Medusa stepped in his way.

“No, see, if I can't get my main prize I'll definitely take a nice side piece. Although, I still intend to get my main piece,” she simple stated.

“Yeah, causality of war, right? Naw, shawty, not about to let that be the case,” Calvin retorted. But, it was too late. The woman was gone and the Medusa had disappeared to the back of the club. Sniffing her out was becoming easy for him strangely. She sat at the top of a stripper pole looking down at him. Her long braids fell like waves as she hoisted her body into a split then used her thighs to hold tight while she sent poison-tipped needles toward whatever object she wanted.

Electric currents flickered outward. Calvin's hand became the battery charge that lit the pole up. Screams from the Medusa made him grin as she disappeared. However, that was short-lived by the tap on his shoulder, which pissed him completely off. Today was not going to be a good day for him, he thought.

“You seriously think I didn't see that coming? So foolish,” the Medusa hissed against his ear. Her silky tongue traced its surface while a sultry moan escaped her lips. “By darkness, I enjoy playing with you.”

The slender throat of the Medusa filled his hands. He pulled then flipped her in front of him to hold her close. Eyes scanning the club, Calvin noticed the back of a well-dressed brother in black slacks, a pinstriped white and pink dress shirt, with black suspenders, disappearing behind the bar. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up and the light from the club glinted off his bald head. It had felt as if he was watching the whole time in amusement, but Calvin couldn't remember ever seeing him in the locked-down club at all. It was some crazy crap going on right now.

“You move quickly. I'm not impressed, shawty, but my thing is this: why?”

Her movements made him try to keep her restrained. But it was the heel of her shoe slamming into his foot then his shin then upward against his groin that had him almost snap her in half. Her body went stiff at the pressure on her throat. Her breathing stopped and as he looked down at her, her body compressed then constricted to allow her to slide from his embrace into a tuck, and roll away from him.

Calvin was straight-up shocked by that move.

Her wink then smile reflected the satisfaction of having gotten out of his hold before she spoke. “I do as I am commanded. But you, you I hunt because something about you makes me not gut you where you stay. I intend to make you my pet so come get me, big daddy.”

Jutting up, the Medusa moved to head to the back of the club, which he followed by snatching her by the nape of her neck. He lifted her and pushed her through the steel door. He was not about to make this easy for her at all.
So much for a decent night,
simmered in Calvin's mind. They had some business to get back to.

Calvin was hunting. Chasing after the broad that had come after his family and who was now trying to take down another innocent Nephilim. After he body snatched her out of the club, he stopped her before she could pump poison into Marco's Guide. He made sure to carry her across the parking lot to slam her to the ground.

Cursing as she somehow contorted her body to land a foot against his face, the taste of salty blood hit his palate. His head tilted to the side. He angrily narrowed his eyes at her and spit to the ground.

Her laughter sounded around him while she slid from his touch against the asphalt. Beckoning him to follow her. Anger had him punching his fist into the pavement. He lifted up then sprinted after her. Shawty played too many games. She had almost taken everything from him. He vowed that he would end his own life in order to take hers in the name of his family.

He ran head-on, jumping fences, blending into the streets of East St. Louis while he locked in on her form in the night skyline. He held two blades in his hands and they shone bright with Mystic magic. Her laughter clouded his mind making him curse aloud.

“Oooo, did you know that I almost came at the view of you? My foot against your face felt so damn good, bastard,” the Medusa crooned.

Ignoring her taunts, Calvin regarded the area to see how he could angle himself to cut her off from her chase. He jumped over train tracks. The Mississippi River was a marker of where he was during his sprint. Honing into the grid line of the city, Calvin deciphered faint spiritual shapes in the dirt, cement, and even the murky river water, which led him to an old, ruined church.

“Bitch, come play with this dick over here since ya so enthusiastic about it, ya heard?” Calvin mocked, leading her to chase him now.

He landed with a thud over the church wall, crouching low. His fingers splayed in front of him touching the floor of the ruins. Illuminated spiritual lines flowed under each digit of his fingertips. He almost innately connected to its source, something he needed to wait on to time it just right.

With a meticulous glance, he was blown away at what he saw. The church was spectacular. He never knew a structure such as this was even built on the east side of the Mississippi and still partially intact. Ivy curled around Masonic white-gray stone brick.

Scattered pieces of trash and broken glass lay among idle bricks nestled in overgrown grass. An inlaid work of Tiffany stained glass that appeared to possibly date back to the 1920s still adorned a central atrium archway perfectly. In its beauty, he understood why. Old world Angelic script glowed against the surface of the panels, hidden under ages of dirt, moss, and debris.

Calvin quickly scaled a fallen pillar to cross a ledge that housed the glass framing. Beams of light cascaded then kissed his face while he reached a hand out then felt the spiritual lines emit from the atrium's glass panel. The closer he got, the stronger his spirit sang causing him to lean forward to gain a better view. His pressed fingertips seemed to warm the moment they caressed the slick panel's surface.

Sparks of neglected power suddenly embraced him, but the insidious clicking sound of the Medusa snatched his attention away, reminding him of his objective. She was fast but he wasn't going to trip off of that. It just meant this fight was going to be a good one.

Observing from his perched view, he watched the Medusa drop in with a laugh.

“Oh, I hate to sound cliché but, come out come out wherever you are! Did you think hiding in an old church would stop me from snatching you from limb to limb?” She sauntered.

Stomping her heeled boots, she ran her talon nail over the sides of her thighs and her tail slowly snaked out. Each sharp tip raked over the barbwire that held the minuscule fabric of her pants together.

“This is dead land.” She looked around then spit on the Romanesque tiled floor. “Many innocents have died here and their blood has soaked through to the foundation. Mmm. I love the work we did and continue to do here in East St. Louis. Really, this should be murder capital of the nation.” The Medusa cackled.

In Calvin's mind, the light decibel of a familiar giggle seemed to be laced within in that evil laugh and it hit his mind hard. Flashes of his dream projected across his mind causing him to pound his fist against his temple to stop it.

“Calvinnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!” She sucked her teeth then gave off an annoying laugh, drawing his name out to tick him off. “Really. I enjoy how you are playing with me, but I don't have time for your asinine game of hide and seek. Let's get this over and let me kill you; then we can be done so that I can slice that bitch the Dark Prince was protecting. Oh, then later I can dismember him and eat him for my Dark Queen. Yes?”

The corners of Calvin's eyes twitched in constrained anger. He watched his prey circle the middle of the church, finally standing where he wanted her.

“Oh, and I do intend to heart snatch that little whore who tore my arm off. What was her name? Oh yes, Sanna. I do intend to return that sweet favor. Then you know, let you watch me fuck her because I believe she would taste so sweet as I give her the Dark Bite and turn her into a new toy, yes? Calvinnnnnnnn! Come out and play!” the Medusa screamed making the church rattle.

Fury lit Calvin up like a beacon. He slammed his hands together and channeled all of himself into restoring the barrier of the land. Pressing his hands flat against the glass, his head dropped back then his Mystic power fluxed backward. It pumped through him with an intense force before it expelled from him to light up the church.

He watched while his power restored the line into its old self. White and blue light washed over the church. A satisfactory smile fleetingly spread across his handsome face at the sound of the Medusa screaming. Sadly, it was short-lived. The sound of a slow clap then her jaded laughter of delight sharply drew his attention.

“Pretty,” she gleefully cajoled.

I can't believe this shit. That should have worked and usually would have. The hell is this?
ran through his mind. He stormed forward from his hiding place. Dropping his hands, Calvin landed against the Medusa. He propelled her to the ground with his gun cocked to the right side of her head, his knee resting on her throat. Sweat glistened on her body as he realized she was still alive but lethargic. A change in her eyes made Calvin pause, perplexed by what he saw in her aura.

“What the fuck are you? Huh, shawty? What exactly are you? You are supposed to be cinder and ash right now. This is ancient land, a church built to protect the humans on this side of the river as well as act as a safe house. These are old world lines more powerful than anything I've ever encountered and you are supposed to be dead! Bitch, who or what the fuck are you and why do you know my name?”

The Medusa looked around wide-eyed as fear ground into her stomach, something she hadn't felt in a long time. The need to stay in control made her laugh but everything about this made her want to scream in terror. He was right. She should have been dead. She shouldn't be lying here. Her mind ripped open with images from her dreams settling into her dark heart and peeling at her like an onion and an orange.

Tears fell for the first time in her long-lived life and did what only she knew how to do. She swung out and attempted to slice open her attacker with her claws and tail, but fell short due to her body feeling like a ton of weights. She felt him cause her tail to descend back into her body and shift his weight on her neck, knowing that if she moved again he would snap it with ease. In that same moment, she felt that horrid liquid spill from the corner of her eyes while the gun her attacker held tapped at her temple.

“Skip me with that extra drama, momma. Get to flapping ya gums and explain this shit because right now, you are at my mercy and I very much am enjoying fucking with you as you love to do me,” Calvin muttered while slowly standing. He moved away from her to circle his foe.

Pulses of power projected from his aura and he stared down in constrained anger. “Talk.”

The Medusa grimaced in anger. She stared him in his emerald irises, eyes she knew better then she knew herself suddenly. Eyes she remembered fighting for her life to keep her from becoming what she was, and hatred filled her heart again as she screamed in a blocked choke.

“Where were you!” she screamed.

Calvin frowned.
The hell is she talking about?
He glared down at the woman he knew as the Medusa. The way she pushed at him in anger then dropped her hands. The retraction of her nails had his eyes narrow.

However, it was how the light in the church casted her in a silhouette under him that had clarity sucker-punching him in the gut, causing his hands to suddenly shake. He eased back giving her the space to speak her mind but he kept the rest of his weight on her to keep her in place. Her features seemed to soften before him.

Eyes that typically burned a reptilian dark brown, almost black as soot, now began to glow with light, an ethereal radiance he was all too familiar with, since he also held a bit of that power whereas his cousin held the intensity of it, as did Eldress Neffer. However, crazy as it was for him right now, before him, the bitch he knew as the Medusa also carried that torch in her eyes and he almost fell backward.

La baise est-ce!
The fuck is this?
his mind shouted.

This chick could not be an oracle and still carry the power in her.
No fucking way.
But here she lay as she pushed up and lurched toward him. Her question blazed in his mind while he blocked hit after hit. Swing after swing. Abashment kept him from blowing her brains out while her body appeared to transform before him. The molasses-toned scales along her body seemed to slosh away. More human features stood out at him with each twist of her sensual body.

The Medusa popped up in front of him.

She projected her nails forward to stab him in his heart and stomach as she ducked from his swings. Her nails slashed at his shirt while he dogged her. He could suddenly hear her mind in his own screaming out. Where was he, when they found her again and killed her papa and momma? Where was he when the very people who were supposed to protect her from the enemy plucked her and handed her right to the Mad King? Where was he!

“Where were you, Kwame!” the Medusa screeched in anger.

Calvin was mind blown. Distracted by her questions he was rewarded by being slammed into a pillar. Reflex made him reach out to snatch the Medusa, flipping her over his shoulder to throw her through a wall. Crumbling mortar lay all around them in a cloud. The bright lights of the spiritual lines pulsated with its power around them.

He couldn't see through the fog, but ticked off that he was, he found himself yelling, “Hey! What did you call me, gal?”

Nydia held a hand to her heart. She pushed forward to empty her stomach on the patch of grass around her. Flowers seemed to suddenly bloom as if awakening from a long sleep while that wretched light her attacker had washed them with saturated the land. She was going crazy. She knew she had to be.

She had just called this man Kwame, the man from her dreams. His face, once clouded, now presented itself before her in blazing clarity and her mind ripped apart with unblocked knowledge. The tracking mechanism within her surged on. It caused her to gasp with the sensation of every single Nephilim within close proximity. Horror had her screaming while crawling to her knees then cradling her head. Her ability to track never worked like this.

Her gift to find Nephilim she understood came from her light past. She knew some of it stayed intact when she was given the Bite but in order for her to use it, she always had to rely on the touch of Reina or a hit of her blood. When her mind or senses opened, it gave her the knowledge of where to find her prey. Even though it only resulted in a hazy vision of where the Nephilim lived or the area they lived with their scent. Then from there she was able to locate them anywhere. Now, it was different, now she could feel the life force of them all. She knew innately if she wanted to pinpoint just one, all she had to do was hone in on the heartbeat of one, and she would see them clearly as day. This was pure insanity.

“No! No, no, no. What did you do to me? Huh? What in all that is hell did you do to me, son of a bitch!” Nydia shrieked. Her anger had her pushing up to propel poison blades at Calvin. She observed him evading each blade as his jade eyes wavered in plain perplexity. This was a torture worse than anything she had ever experienced at the hands of her kind. A supreme cruelty only her kind were known for and she couldn't help but be impressed.

“I hit you with Mystic power, shawty, you know that. You were supposed to be dead and . . . and now you sit here in front of me a different person, calling me a name no one knew except one person.” Calvin paced before her, seemingly just as affected as she was. “And you are asking me what the fuck I did? You must think I'm crazy, wodie.”

Something in the tone of his voice pissed her off to no end. It made her lunge at him again just because fighting him seemed to make her aware that her body was no longer in pain. Each punch she threw did not reverberate back in blinding, yet pleasurable, pain. No, this time, she fought in harmony and bliss. Pain free, tears fell again; this time they were of relief.

Which caused her to lash out: “You violated me! Y . . . you did! You used your repulsive white light and . . . and you tainted me! Bastard!”

Calvin stepped to the side and hooked his arm around the Medusa's waist. Her spinal protrusions, sharply pressed to his body, made him quickly flip her to pin her against a pillar. Water from the nearby fountain glowed with renewed life. She struggled the moment she saw him lean to the side, cupping his hands to gather some. Water sharply splashed over her. He callously poured the contents over her face then wiped her face clean with his large palm.