Excerpt Continued…

As she started her descent, the smell wafting above the glade almost knocked her over. Why hadn’t Nee noticed the horrible stench and run in the opposite direction?

She picked up speed and plummeted feet-first toward the Empousai. The monster glanced at her with jaws dripping bits of flesh and running with blood.

Maria slammed boots-first into the bitch’s side and knocked Mormo ass over teacup. The monster landed a good six-feet away from Nee.

Maria happily discovered that she was right—that because she hadn’t touched the demon’s skin she could still move. The information that the Empousai needed bare-skin contact to paralyze its intended victim was an important discovery.

Luke’s description—as detailed and disgusting as it was—fell far short of the impact of having the creature in front of her. Dealing with the reality of the ugly demon was something else. Maria stood in stupefied horror as the bitch lost her illusion of beauty and became the freak of nature she truly was.

The mind-boggling and writhing mass of snakes on the Emp’s head was repulsive. The hissing ash-gray vipers had a life of their own. Luke said an area of complete darkness would block the Empousai’s true facial features and just glowing eyes would be visible if you saw her in her true form. He was right.

He had speculated that Mormo’s face wasn’t just shrouded in darkness but was so horrible the mind blocked the reality of her from their brains. He also said other types of demons could see the face and the sight was so horrible it made them run from her in fear.

Well, Maria didn’t want to see if the face was worse than the rest of the body. She would be forever grateful that her mind blocked the ghoul from her feeble psyche. Jeez! What she could see was bad enough! The monster was covered in scales and had huge creepy bat wings that added to the apparition’s repulsive appearance.

The Emp’s hands ended in razor-tipped claws and she had a long, reptilian tail. This was one of the most hideous creatures on Earth.

“Butt-ugly creature,” Maria mumbled.

The Empousai had started menacingly in Maria’s direction, tramping toward her on two mismatched legs, when it evidently heard her halfhearted slur. It screamed as if in pain.

The shrill shriek brought Maria back to the task at hand—staying alive and getting rid of the flesh-eating monster so she could treat Nee’s wounds.

“You revoltingly grotesque, spindly-legged, metal gargoyle-hoofed bitch of an Empousai, you!” she yelled as she fished through her backpack. She felt ridiculous. But Luke said the only thing that would get rid of the Emp, was insults.

She wasn’t sure she trusted her vocabulary.

Pulling out her revolver, she turned and pointed it at Mormo. Maria wanted nothing more than to cover her ears in protection against the piercing screech. That, and to stop breathing the foul, disgusting odor.

Instead, she raised the gun and emptied the full clip of silver bullets into the beast’s chest.

Where the insulting words made Mormo stop in her tracks to scream, the bullets didn’t do a damn thing.

Oh, she was bleeding. She just didn’t seem to care.

“Fuck! You cesspool-smelling, garbage-breath, gross, cow-legged leviathan. How in the hell do I kill you?” she screamed as she threw her gun to the side and grabbed a handful of shurikens. The little metal stars probably wouldn’t do shit except make Maria feel better.

She didn’t wait for the freaking mutant to recover from her last stint of verbal abuse. She started throwing the discs at the head, the chest…the creature seemed to ignore them.

Until one hit and stuck in Mormo’s right foot. The Emp’s left leg looked like a donkey’s back leg. The right was similar, but instead of flesh and fur, it seemed to be made of brass. The silver throwing star was buried about a half-inch in, just above the brass-looking hoof.

Maria watched the result of the hit in amazement.

Now there was a reaction!

Blood spurted in a surging gush from the wound and the creature’s screams turned to panicked sobs as she danced around, trying to shake the embedded blade free.

The wound shouldn’t have earned such an extreme response, but Mormo seemed to forget all about Maria. Her entire concentration and distress centered on her injured foot.

Maria could hear the cavalry coming to the rescue. The sound of men crashing through bushes, music to her ears. Not wanting to lose her small advantage, she kept her eyes on the Empousai.

“Look, fungus hoof,” she started to say when a blast of fire shot out of the woods from Maria’s right.

She looked over to see Justin. Grim-faced and intent on blasting the Empousai with the flamethrower, he looked like an avenging angel. She glanced over her shoulder to see Brian on the phone, and Matt working to stop NeeKata’s bleeding. Good, her boys would take care of him.

When she turned around, the Empousai was gone, leaving behind scorched earth and smelly pools of demon blood. The minute the creature disappeared she could hear Nee’s sobbing explanation of what happened.

Another little fact to file-away—make the bad Emp disappear and her victims regained the ability to move and talk.

She would have been a lot happier about Mormo’s disappearance if Justin wasn’t headed in her direction in obvious rage. It didn’t take psychic skills to figure out he was pissed at her for fighting the Empousai alone.