"Here's your food, sir. And, for you," Amrita said, placing the two plates down before the customers. They couldn't be more different. The shorter had ordered a bacon cheeseburger, while the giant of a man ordered a grilled chicken salad. But, hey, whatever floats their boat. As she walked away, she heard cheeseburger guy remark, "Really, Sam? Rabbit food?" She held in her giggle.
Something about hunters coming through always made her feel simultaneously safer and uncomfortable. It was an odd mix: one that most people never understood, especially the first. Why should the daughter of Kali feel comfortable around monster hunters? She shouldn't. She looked at the clock on the wall, It was 11:00pm a little late for dinner but a customer is a customer.
"Hey, sweetheart?"
Amrita rolled her eyes. The wee hunter was calling for her, so she returned to the table, order pad in hand.
"Excuse him," the Sam said softly. Amrita barely caught the 'are you fucking kidding me?' look Sam received from his companion.
"Not a problem. What can I get you?"
The shorter man cleared his throat. "How about a slice of that pie over there, hmm, sweetheart?"
"Sure thing," Amrita responded with a sarcastically charming smile. She turned on her heel, tossing her long, black ponytail over her shoulder.
Just as she had cut the pie and served a piece onto one of the decorative dessert plates, the bell over the door chimed. As usual, she halfheartedly glanced up at the visitors and then back down to what she was doing; however, something made her look back.
Two big, body-builder types had walked into the bar. Well, that's what they wanted the humans to believe. Where most people would be confronted with two very mean, perhaps somewhat handsome faces, Amrita was stuck staring into a half rotten skull with beady, black eyes.
"Can I help you?" Amrita roughly demanded, scrutinizing the demons with an intimidation stare her mother would applaud.
"Yes, we're looking for a girl," the bigger of the two demons responded.
"Aren't we all?" A voice asked from behind him. The demon turned to look for the source of the inquiry only to be unexpectedly punched in the face by the owner of the question.
Amrita glanced back and forth from the scuffle that broke out before her and looked to her leather coat hung behind the bar. Under the pretense of pouring a beer, she managed to slip her hand into the inside pocket of her jacket and retrieve her prized (and most effective) weapon: an archangel's blade. She gave a sharp whistle and attracted the demons' attention. "Your beer, boys?" she asked, thunking two pints down on the counter.
The fight stopped as abruptly as it started. The man went and sat back down and the demons lumbered over, one of them taking a bottle and removing the bottle cap with his bare hands. He place a hand on the table and proceeded to take a swig. Before either of the two demons could react she quickly brought up the blade and slammed it down in the middle of his hand. He screamed and attempted to pull his hand away but was unable to. The blade had not only gone through his hand but also a few inches into the counter. Amrita smirked she was not a very small girl but compared to the strength and size of the monsters she fought, she may as well be; however she was much stronger than she looked.
"Listen up, dickheads. This is my bar. My territory, are we clear?" Amrita shouted, twisting the angel blade around in the demon's hand. "Now tell me, what are you after?"
Before the demon had a chance to respond, the veins in his face flashed a glowing orange-red and an electric sound emitted from him. A jagged knife protruded from his chest for a moment before being pulled away. The two demons dropped to the ground to reveal the shorter of the two hunters.
"Are you fucking kidding me? I was kinda in the middle of something."
"Deal with it, sister. We gotta get out of here before his friends show," the hunter snapped.
Amrita rolled her eyes before turning to grab her jacket. "Come out the back. If there's a hoard coming, it will be less obvious."
She didn't bother to check to see if they were coming or not. If she was completely honest, she didn't give a damn. She was getting the hell out of there. Their decision to follow was on their own heads.
"Okay, first of all, what the hell are you?" the shorter hunter demanded as soon as they had gotten a good ways away from the building.
"My name is Amrita." There was a sharp note of defensiveness in her voice.
"I don't give a flying fuck what your name is. What are you? 'Cause you sure as hell ain't human."
"Dean," the taller hunter said, warningly.
"Hunters, I swear. Somebody is nice enough to help them, and they threaten to remove her head from her body."
The taller of the two hunters snapped his attention to Amrita. "How'd you know we're hunters?"
"Takes one to know one. Only I'm a hell of a lot nicer than your friend there." Amerita said while jabbing a finger at the shorter hunter.
"Excuse him. He's pretty...wary...of new people."
Amrita rolled her eyes. "Typical. Life would go a lot easier for you people if you'd loosen up and accept the help of your equals. Now, we can't stand around talking. The demons'll be on us in a few minutes."
She turned and took off running again, slowly navigating her way back to the restaurant. They'd managed to hide out under an awning at the Starbucks across the road.
"Why'd you lead us back here?" Dean demanded.
"One, you need your car. Two, I want my bike. Now, who's first?"
Dean shot her an incredulous look. "You actually want us to go back in there?"
"Do you want your car or not? Because I've had several run ins with demon hoards like this one. They tend to nuke the building on their way out."
"Fine, fine. I'm going. Sammy, don't let her outta your sight 'til I get back."
"Sure," Sam responded after a sigh.
Dean cast a worried glance across the street before ducking his head and bolting across as if he were running through a rain storm.
"So, you're a hunter?" Sammy asked.
"Among other things," Amrita responded, mysteriously. "Your partner's got a temper on him."
"My brother," Sammy responded. "I'm Sam, and that would be Dean. And yes, he can be difficult."
"Brothers? Never worked with brothers before," Amrita mused.
"So...Amrita. Interesting name." Sam said after an uncomfortable moment of silence.
"My mom was from India. It's a Sanskrit name meaning immortality. You can just call me Rita, if you'd like."
"Was?"
"Well…yeah. She's kind of why I'm a hunter. She and my dad were killed by an angel."
"That explains the blade," Sam mused. "And I understand. Angels are dicks."
"Not all of them. I've met a few who were...kinder. After they all fell I traveled with some of the angels who rebelled against heaven and decided to remain here and live out their lives as productive members of humanity."
Sam looked at her, surprised. "Fair enough."
They were interrupted by the rumble of the Impala's engine as Dean pulled up to the curb. "Get in, Sammy."
"Hey, hey," Amrita said, catching the taller brother's attention. "Don't stick around. Meet me at the library across town in an hour. If I don't show, assume I'm dead."
Sam gave a single nod before getting in the passenger seat of the Impala. She saw the bigger man turn to talk to his brother, who responded by shaking his head as he shifted and pulled away from the curb.
Amrita took a slow breath before starting across the street. Unlike Dean, she walked with her back straight, shoulders back, and chin up. Whatever she was walking into, she'd walk into it with dignity. What were a few lowly demons to the daughter of a goddess?
The boys may think she's just going after her bike, but she had a whole other objective in mind. Demons nuke the place? Not likely. However, the daughter of Kali nuke the demons? Was it really so bad if the building went up with them?
"Going somewhere, sexy?" a voice demanded from her left.
Amrita slowly turned her whole body towards the source of the voice and came face to face with a pair of beady black eyes staring out from under melted flesh and a cracked skull. "You know, calling a girl 'sexy,' in such a condescending tone is considered harassment, right?" She took a few slow steps toward the demon, letting the angel blade slip down her sleeve.
"That's cute, coming from a demigod. Aren't you known for being disrespectful?"
Amrita shrugged. "We try not to cross each other's paths. Now, enough small talk. If you were after demigods, you wouldn't be wasting your time here when there's six of them in the nearest city. So what, exactly, are you dick heads looking for?"
"I don't think that's any of your business, sweetheart," the demon responded.
Amrita launched forward, burying the angel blade in the demon's stomach. "I'll be the judge of that," she murmured, pulling the blade roughly from his flesh and allowing the demon to collapse to the ground. She wiped the blood from her blade on her green diner apron and turned to address the group of demons that had inevitably gathered to watch. "So," she started with a sadistic grin and a light bounce of the blade off the palm of her hand. "Who's next?"
A smaller, seemingly less experienced demon launched toward her, only to be tripped and tossed to the ground with a blade stabbed into the back of his neck. Almost instantly, another demon broke from the mob and ran toward Amrita. She simply stood there, awaiting the attack, and lifted her blade at the last moment.
"See, this is just suicide," she commented, pulling her blade from the demon's chest. "I mean, one at a time? Really? You could at least make this a little challenging."
None of the demons moved. They could tell a trick when they heard one but they were also mad at her for killing some of their own. Sensing this, Amrita bent down and wiped the blood off of her blade onto the coat of the young demon. She was going to fight them even if they did not want to.
"Look boys. Not so sure you know who I am, but I know who you are. This can be done the easy way or the hard way. Tell me what I need to know, or you all die. Slowly. One by one. And you," she turned on her heel and pointed with her blade at a tall, thin man in a tailored, black suit. "You can watch them all die. And you don't want to know what I'll do to you when I run out of these lowlives."
"You're mad if you think we're going to tell you what we're after, godspawn," the head demon replied as if he actually thought it was an insult.
Amrita smirked. "Well, you're half-right. I am mad. In fact, I'm quite angry. I'm angry because no one will tell me what the HELL IS GOING ON HERE!" Her voice grew louder and louder as she spoke, her deep brown eyes brightening to pure fire and her hair flew back in a nonexistent gust of wind. At the end of the sentence, she flung her arm out in no general direction, causing one of the demons to spontaneously combust.
"You can destroy them all you want, godspawn. There are thousands more where they came from."
"Oh, but there's only one of you. What's going to happen when you suddenly become...unavailable?"
The demon had no comment. Rather, he shifted uncomfortably, adjusting the cuffs of his suit jacket.
"That's what I thought." Amrita tossed her angel blade, lightly, into the air and caught it again. "So what's it gonna be? One at a time? Two?" Her eyes were gleaming dangerously as she rounded on a slim blonde woman - demon. "You're a little out of place amongst these goons, aren't you?"
The blonde cocked her head to one side. "So what if I am?"
Amrita looked between the demon in the pristine black suit, and the blonde who happened to be wearing a pair of ripped skinny jeans, studded boots, and a cropped off t shirt that barely covered her breasts. "Oh, I get it. You're the one who's actually in charge here, hmm? One of that stupid "king of hell's" little crossroads minions, no doubt. That settles that." Amrita cast her hands out to either side, casting a wave of fire in all directions that burnt through the demons, leaving them trapped inside lifeless bodies. Now, only the blonde and the suited man remained standing with Amrita between them.
"You see," she started, slowly turning with an angel blade and a demon blade pointed at the two. "I have ways of hurting your people you never would have thought of. Don't worry. Your lowly demon pets aren't dead - yet. They're merely trapped inside the bodies of these, well, husks. The humans they were possessing have been burned. There isn't enough functioning tissue left for your little friends to find them useful. Though, I've a feeling most of these humans were dead a long, long time ago."
"Oh please," the blonde started in a Russian accent. "You actually expect me to believe you trapped them inside these bodies? That is not possible."
Amrita returned a sick smile. "Oh, I assure you, it is. You see, you've no idea what I'm capable of. I know how to do things you never even IMAGINED were options. Now. Which one of you is going to tell me what you're after?"
The suited man cleared his throat. "What's in it for us?" he demanded.
Amrita slowly walked towards him, head held high as if daring him to try something. She stopped when she was inches from his face. "I don't know. Your life, perhaps? The lives of your minions...if I'm feeling generous."
The suited demon slowly glanced down to see that Amrita was now holding the angel blade to his stomach.
"So," she started, winding her way around behind the suited demon and readjusting the blade to his throat. "What's it gonna be?"
"You must be kidding yourself if you really think this stunt is going to make us talk," the blonde snapped.
"Says the demon possessing a blonde, Russian porn star. Real convincing, Katya, but you know better than that. Now, tell me. What are you after?"
"My name is not Katya," she snapped. "Not that it matters. And I will not tell you."
"Suit yourself." Amrita pushed the blade into the suited demon's throat just enough to draw blood.
"Alright, alright," he squawled, putting his hands up in surrender. "I'll tell you."
Amrita smirked. "About time somebody got some common sense around here. Talk."
"Angel spawn."
"NO!" the blonde interrupted.
"We're looking for the children of angels."
Amrita snorted. "Now was that so hard?" She pulled her wrist away, slitting the demon's throat in the process.
"You will not get away with this," the blonde insisted, tilting her head back in an attempt to release herself from the human body she possessed.
"Oh, I think I just might. Look where you are." Amrita had burned a devil's trap into the ground in a ten foot circle around them with the same blast that had knocked out the majority of the demon horde.
"You cu-"
"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus," Amrita began, cutting off the demon's rude remark.
The blonde began screaming in agony as the demon was ripped from her body, expelled in a black smoke that wound it's way in fantastical swirls into the sky, then plummeted through the center of the devil's trap.
