Hotel of the Dammed

CHAPTER 10

The Reaper kept his standing spot by the entrance to the dinning room, Kay had just left to go on her own investigation. He shouldn't have let her go alone, but what trouble could she get into with a hotel full of ghosts? The attack in their room still left a bad taste in his mouth, there was more to this than they suspected, it always ended like that, at least so far.

He looked around the room, Janice smiled back at him, there was something off about that one, Mark's own instincts were never wrong. It was the way she smiled at him, no fear, no curiosity, just a plain happy smile. There was something very wrong about her.

He watched her intently as she got up from her stool and walked around the bar, reaching behind the counter and pulling out a cold beer. She walked back around the bar and came up towards him, still with that smile on her face.

"You look thirsty." Janice tried to hand him the beer, but Mark didn't move.

"No, not thirsty at all." Mark replied, he could tell she wasn't giving anything off about herself, there was no aura around her…even ghosts have auras.

"Oh…I saw you drink at dinner, I'm sure you would like another one." She raised the beer up and tried to tantalize him with it by moving the bottle back and forth before his eyes.

But his eyes never left hers, there was something sinister that was with held within.

"No, why don't you go back to your seat?" Mark growled.

A frown appeared on her lips, "I was just trying to be nice. A handsome gentleman like yourself should always have a lady at his side…"

"I do. Now fuck off." Mark replied in his Reaper tone, but the woman didn't budge, her grey eyes starring into his…

Was he starting to feel a little light headed? Mark would only get that feeling after finishing off nine cases of beer and two 66ers of rye in five hours, Kane had timed him once for fun, they were bored. But this was a different feeling, as if a cloud was trying to cover his mind…only things as powerful or more than a Reaper could play such tricks on him. Or was it that Kay had him frightfully worried? He didn't like her being stuck in this hotel, and to know that a murderer could still be here didn't make it better. Ghost or not, it could still put her in danger.

"If I was your woman, I would never leave your side…" Her voice was warm, almost melting…bringing his thoughts back to her…she was moving closer to him.

"You're not my woman…" He tried to sound dark…but it only came out as a whisper as he tried to move his eyes from hers, but he couldn't.

"I could be…" Her lips seemed tantalizing to him, he was beginning to loose himself as she moved closer to his lips.

MARK!

His mind jolted back to life as Kayla's scared voice came into his mind, breaking the spell this creature was casting on him. He slammed his hands against the woman's chest, throwing her across the room. She rolled with the throw and stood up, her smile had become more sinister, her eyes had flames flickering within the black orbs.

"A fucken succubus…" Mark growled, "I should have known…"

The demoness laughed, "I guess life in this world had made you soft, Reaper. You would not have fallen for me if you were in your own plane of existence."

"That's not the first time I've heard that, and I'm getting sick of hearing it, Bitch!"

Mark extended his arm towards the creature, a bolt of lightning shot out of his palm and at the demon. He had to get rid of her fast, anything dead he could handle, demons from the Abyss were another thing all together. He had fought them before, the Reapers hated them in their space, the demons would try to gain entry into the real world from there, it was where the veil was the thinnest. But the Reapers were very territorial, as soon as one was sensed in their domain, more than one would go on instinct and destroy the intruder.

Mark had destroyed his fare share of them, but then he had his brothers at his side. Now he was one on one with a demoness, they would be equal in strength and power.

The succubus moved with inhuman speed out of the way of his anger, she knew he could damage her with his power. The anger she saw within the Deadman made her a little intimidated, but the risk was worth the reward!

"If I were you, Reaper," She hissed, "I would just walk away from this, I am not alone. You are outnumbered for once, just leave and I will let you go in peace."

"And leave the witch here at your dark mercy? Darling, you're more fucken in the head than I thought." Mark threw another bolt at her, she almost didn't make it as she flew over the bar and hid behind it.

"She's just another human! You can to back out and get another one! What is she to you?" He heard from behind the bar.

"You don't get us Reapers, we like to keep what we have. She's mine! And I don't share!" Mark shouted as the third bolt of lightning destroyed the wooden bar into little fragments, he could see the demoness in her true form now.

Her skin was red as blood, her lips and long hair black as night. Her long black claws extending outward in a dangerous curve, her long forked tail flickering behind around those bat like wings attached to her back. Her clothes were just rags that left almost nothing to the imagination, and yes, there was that unnatural beauty of hers that would trap any man…it almost trapped him.

She screeched and threw two fire balls from her hand, Mark raised his hand higher, placing a shield between him and the balls. These balls were not the same spell that Kayla and her Covent would cast, these fire balls were made from the fire of Hell, it was ten times as powerful as what Kayla could do at the moment.

The shield took the blast, but it moved Mark a few steps back as the force of the explosion was terribly powerful. But he wouldn't back down, Kayla was in trouble again, this time Mark didn't know if he could save her. He threw the devastating thought away, there was no time to think like that. Kayla needed him, demons wanted her, he wasn't going to let them have her!

The fire clear, Mark jumped back as the demoness leaded for a physical attack at the Reaper, she landed close enough to him to throw a punch as his chest. He jumped back in time and landed a hard right across her face, she didn't have time to recover as a hard left connected with the other side of her face. Mark grinned, now she wanted to get into his element…spending almost twenty years in the wrestling industry was about to come in handy.

The famous boot to the head knocked her back, he smiled as she realized that unlike his brothers in the Astral Plane, he knew how to fight hand to hand. She lunged again, this time in desperation, she had to stop the Reaper from discovering their plan, they had waited many years to be stopped now. She and her brother were so close now to their task's end. She couldn't let him stop them.

But Mark was ready as he caught her in mind flight and slammed her body on the floor so hard that the wood underneath splintered in her form. Mark raised himself up from his attack and stomped as hard as he could at her head with his foot, there was no way she was getting up anytime soon. The demoness laid in the shattered floor as Mark grinned, he was going to enjoy ripping her flesh apart now.

MARK! ANYTIME SOON WOULD BE GREAT!!

Kayla's voice still sounded scared despite the humour she was implying, Mark kicked the demoness' head once more for good measure before disappearing from sight to find Kayla, before the other demon found her.

To be continued.