The Adventures of Lazarus Gray by Barry Reese

unaffected by the horrors of her face –
though he remembered virtually nothing of his past before arriving
in Sovereign, he was somehow sure that he’d seen worse than this in
the past.
    "I’m going to tear your
heart out and rip it into chunks," the demon screamed.
    Gray realized that she was
unused to pain, having grown accustomed to inflicting it and not
receiving. He took a chance by releasing his hold on her shoulders
and instead grabbing her by the head. He drove his thumbs into her
eyes and she howled like a banshee, tossing him away.
    That gave Morgan his
opportunity. He raised his gun and fired, sending all of his
available shells into the demon’s body. She jerked repeatedly,
thrashing about as blood flowed from her wounds. She raked the air
with her claws and vanished, screaming inhuman obscenities at them
both.
    Morgan blinked. "Is she
dead?"
    "No. Something like her
can’t be killed, only driven from this plane. She’ll slink away to
heal her wounds." Gray examined Doris and frowned.
"Dead."
    Morgan knew there were few
things in the world that his employer hated more than failing to
save an innocent life. It didn’t matter that he’d had no inkling
that this girl was in danger. Gray would still beat himself up over
her demise.
    Gray looked about them, his
expression returning to its neutral state. "It looks like someone
was hoping to find those papers here. That’s a good sign. Means
they’re unaware that we have them."
    "So now what?"
    "We notify the authorities
and have them pick up this poor girl’s remains. Then we head back
to headquarters and plan our next move. With luck, Samantha and Eun
will be returning at the same time."
    Morgan placed his gun back
into its holster and lowered his voice. "Chief, what was that
thing?"
    "A blood demon. They exist
just outside our range of vision. There are only a dozen or so in
existence but they’re old, far older than Man." Gray’s expression
darkened. Morgan was certain he was mulling over the fact that he
would be able to recall such information while simultaneously being
unable to remember things about his own life.
    "Life just gets stranger,
doesn’t it?" Morgan whispered. Gray’s lips twisted in an
almost-grin but it vanished so quickly that Morgan wasn’t sure if
he had imagined seeing it.
    "That it does," was all
Lazarus said in reply.

Chapter III
    Houses of Death
     
    Eun crouched on a tree limb
overlooking Goodwill’s fenced property and he didn’t like what he
saw. He climbed down to where Samantha was waiting for him and she
could tell from the look on his face that something wasn’t
right.
    "Is Goodwill at home?" she
asked.
    "Didn’t see him. But there
are men walking around in the yard, guarding the estate. And I saw
several that were dressed as ninja."
    "I don’t have the foggiest
idea what that means," Samantha admitted.
    "No reason why you should.
Ninja were mercenaries back in feudal Japan. They specialized in
assassination, espionage and sabotage. I didn’t know anyone still
practiced their dark arts but with how strange Sovereign’s
becoming, nothing should surprise me."
    Samantha put her hands on
her hips and thought things over. They were in an expensive
neighborhood but in Sovereign that just meant the trash wore more
expensive clothing. Even so, it was a heavily patrolled area by the
police and despite the fact that all members of Assistance
Unlimited held special privileges with law enforcement, she was in
no hurry to attract any attention. "These ninja are deadly, I take
it?"
    "Assuming they’ve really
undergone ninja training? Yes. Quite."
    Samantha looked back at the
fence. It was about ten feet high and cobblestone, which actually
made climbing a bit easier. There were plenty of places for hands
and feet to find purchase. "I say we go inside," she said at
length.
    Eun grinned, admiring her
spirit. They were the two youngest members of Assistance Unlimited
but they rarely spent much time together. Eun was a private