Shedding the Demon

 

 

 

 

 

Raised by gang members on the
violent streets of a ruined city, Damon finds himself coerced into a secret
government program that molds him into a prototype super-assassin. Turned into
a walking arsenal and an unstoppable killing machine, he soon discovers reasons
to doubt his government-sponsored objectives and begins to see some ugly truths
behind the benevolent facade. Damon finds himself haunted by doubts—is he
somehow being used as a weapon in a covert bid to bring chaos the current
regime?

 

Gathering together his friends and
some unlikely allies, he must find a way to stop the usurper before the entire
human race falls victim to brutal tyranny.

Copyright © 2013 by
Bill Denise

 

All rights reserved.

 

No part of this
publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission
of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical
reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

 

Cover art ©
Jesse-lee Lang
|
Dreamstime.com

 

 

 

This book was written
using Scrivener for Windows:

And revised using the
Novel
Revision Database
from KnuckleHead Computers.

(see About the author . . .  for more information)

To be completely honest, I never would have finished this
novel without a whole lot of help from other people . . .

 

Almost two years ago, through a long series of events while
searching for strategy information on a popular MMO (thanks
Honorshammer
! – aka F. Ted Atchley),
I eventually found myself on the
Saucy Ink
website. There I learned about
NaNoWriMo
,
and the writing bug was kindled. Luckily, I also found Taven Moore’s excellent
NaNo
prep course
, and I followed every step of her plan or I would not be
writing this today.

 

When it came time for revision, I turned to Taven for help
again. She led me by the hand through the whole process, and her patience and
perseverance allowed me to finish the arduous task. Thanks Taven! You are
personally responsible for allowing me to create this novel and then also to
revise it properly.

 

I can’t thank my beta readers enough! I would like to thank
F. Ted Atchley
, Laura Floyd, and
Faith Williams
specifically for their help.

 

An extra note about Faith is needed here: she truly went
above and beyond with her efforts to fix my story. She not only read it
multiple times in line-edit detail, she also helped with its reorganization and
pacing. She graciously fielded
innumerable
questions from me about
specific parts of the story and really dug into the minutiae. Without her help,
this novel would not be anywhere near as polished as it is now.

 

My sister,
Kim Denise
,
deserves mention too, as she also answered questions and acted as a general sounding
board throughout the process.

 

And of course my mom, who encouraged me and always believes
that I can do anything, despite evidence to the contrary!

 

Finally, I have to thank my wonderful wife, Lynn, and kids,
Alyssa and Michael, for their unending support over the past two years while I
spent (far too many) hours glued to the keyboard pounding it out!

 

Thank YOU for reading—I hope you
enjoy the story!

 

Bill

Table of Contents

 

Damon looked down from the rooftop
into the alley below. Shadows were spreading over the ground as the sun fell
behind the tall buildings all around him. He listened intently; sure that he
had heard something unusual. This close to the City, its sounds drifted into
the Ruins in a never-ending hum, but he had trained his ears to ignore the
incessant droning and focus on particular sounds.
There—just around the
corner. Something is going down,
Damon thought as he tried to move quickly yet
quietly.

He threaded his way over the rooftop between piles of
garbage, broken down machines, discarded trash, and other detritus. Mindful of
his training, he could hear his mentor’s voice in his head:

 

 

Damon smiled as he thought of Andrea
and her oft-repeated admonishments. Nonetheless, he followed her advice to the
letter; eyes shifting, hearing focused, and the path he chose was winding
amongst the debris rather than the easier, and faster, straight-line path
across the roof. He came to the other side of the roof, squeezed between two
rusted-out hulking pieces of machinery and listened again.

He heard a shuffle of feet moving quickly, the metallic
crash of something falling to the ground, and there, hidden in the other
sounds, a muffled scream. Now he just had to take a look. Although there
shouldn’t be any Family members out here at this time of day, he was on patrol
and part of his duty was to investigate anything unusual.

 

 

Andrea’s voice resonated in his
mind, and comforted him. He enjoyed every minute spent with her, even if it was
only during training and sparring. Together, they made a deadly team. Her
quickness and agility were the perfect counterpoints to his size and strength,
although he could move with surprising grace for a man his size. It was this
combination of abilities that gave him the name “Demon” among his friends.

 Carefully peeking over the rubble of the rooftop, he took
in the scene below. Four men encircled a young girl who was lying face-down on
the pavement. She was bloodied and crying, but making no effort to stand.
Damon’s eyes narrowed and he felt heat rise up along his neck. He didn’t know
the circumstances and he didn’t care, because he was positive that four men
against a single girl was unfair in any situation.

He looked around to judge his surroundings, searching for
possible threats and a quick way down to the ground. Measuring time, distance,
and speed in his mind he decided he could climb down to an abandoned fire
escape and then jump from there.

He glanced around one more time as the men grabbed the girl and
lifted her up into a standing position. Taking a deep breath he swung his legs
over the edge, facing toward the building, hoping his plan would work.

His feet struck the windowsill below and he kept moving,
twisting his body to the side to reach and catch the edge of the next window as
he began a controlled fall. He swung his legs toward the fire escape, gaining
enough momentum to fly through the air and land as planned, more or less, on
the rusted metal framework. Taking three running steps that echoed loudly
through the alley and alerted his opponents, he jumped toward the group, hoping
to break his fall with one of them.

Unfortunately, they were able to dodge, causing Damon to
land too heavily on his feet. Pain shot up his legs but he rolled with his
forward motion, and plowed directly into one of the men holding the girl. Together
they smashed into a nearby wall, and the man's body took the full impact of Damon’s
heavy frame. Damon felt ribs break beneath his shoulder and the man immediately
went limp.

Ducking instinctively to the side, Damon narrowly avoided
the swing of a bat now being wielded by a long-haired assailant. He finished his
dodge by taking a few quick steps away to open up some space. He paused in a
half-crouch and quickly assessed the three remaining targets. There was the
long-haired bat-man; a scared-looking youngster clenching his fists but backing
away; and a tall, lean man with a messy shock of blond hair.

“Well, boys, what would you be doing here with this young
girl, hmmm?” Damon asked, exuding calm. He was not worried, he had faced worse
odds and tougher opponents many times before.

“Would you like to talk about this, or should we do it the
hard way?” Damon asked as he stood up out of his crouch, making a show of
stretching his back nonchalantly.

Bat-man snarled at his taunt, and Scared-boy backed away.
Blondie laughed and looked at his fingernails before speaking, “If you want a
turn with her, we can do that.”

“I don't take advantage of girls beaten into submission.
Usually they just fall for my good looks. Although I can see how that wouldn't
work for you boys.”

Damon started walking around the men to get to the girl, but
Bat-man stepped into his path. Damon lunged toward him making him swing the bat
prematurely and without much force. Damon easily grabbed the barrel of the bat
in one hand, and spinning his body in the opposite direction he pulled it from
the man's grip. He finished the move by continuing his turn all the way around
and catching the now-batless man in the temple with the handle of his own bat. Metal
cracked against bone and the man fell backward in heap.

Casually flipping the bat around to hold it by the handle,
Damon addressed the two remaining thugs.
Make that one,
he thought as he
caught sight of scared-boy running away.

Blondie laughed, a disconcerting sound given the current
state of affairs. When he spoke his voice was steady, “Now look, this started
with you trying to take my prize, but now you killed my rookies. I can't just let
that go.”

Blondie's attitude made Damon wonder what gave him such
confidence. “You can just give me the girl and go on your way, then nobody gets
hurt.”
Well, nobody else gets hurt,
Damon amended in his thoughts.

Again Blondie chuckled, and Damon's heart started beating
faster. As Blondie continued to laugh, Damon heard the sound of approaching
footsteps as three tough-looking guys come out of a nearby building. Four more
came out behind Blondie, and two came walking down the street from where
Scared-boy had disappeared.

Blondie drew two long knives and dropped into a fighter’s
stance. Keeping the bat in his left hand, Damon faced him since he was the only
one who appeared to be armed. The other nine formed a rough circle around them.

Blondie wasted no time and stepped in to thrust one blade at
Damon's face while swinging the other in a slashing motion at his bat-hand.
Ignoring the obvious feint, Damon drew back his hand but was surprised when the
blade moved even quicker and found purchase across his wrist. The wound was
superficial, but it shouldn’t have connected at all. In the split-second of
delay, Blondie brought the other blade in a pass across Damon's hip that he
couldn't quite avoid and more blood was drawn. Surprised again by the speed of
the attack, Damon hopped back a few steps to gain a short respite. The cut on
his hip was fairly deep and he felt the blood soaking his pant leg. He knew
that it would slow him down over time, and he needed to bring this to a quick
close.

Blondie bared his teeth in a predatory smile as he moved in
cautiously.

Damon regrouped mentally and rushed him, trying to close the
distance and mitigate the other's speed advantage. Blondie anticipated the move
and sidestepped easily, piercing Damon's right shoulder. Damon twisted away
from the blade, pulling it out before Blondie had a chance to cause more damage
to the muscle.

He realized he needed to change tactics—and fast. Pretending
to charge again, he pulled up short and started to swing the bat. Blondie’s
thrust missed this time, throwing him slightly off balance. The only opening
Damon needed. He adjusted the arc of the bat in flight to connect solidly on
Blondie’s outstretched hand, cracking bones and sending the knife skittering
across the ground. Blondie recovered quickly and parried Damon's next swing,
but now the big man was in close. Damon pressed his advantage relentlessly,
brushing aside the knife and plowing Blondie backward into the ground. Damon
grabbed him by the face with one huge hand and slammed his head into the
pavement, putting all of his weight behind the blow: once, twice, three times
in rapid succession. Blondie's eyes glazed over and he stopped struggling.

Unfortunately, the nine spectators did not wait long and
rushed in to beat and kick Damon before he could rise to his feet. Fighting to
match his “Demon” nickname, he managed to take out three of his assailants before
a blow to the head sent him reeling groggily and he was no longer able to
defend himself.

“I think I've seen enough, boys!” The deep feminine voice
traveled through the din of the fight and caught everyone’s attention. Damon saw
Andrea sauntering into the alley holding the stainless steel pipe she used as a
staff. She was tall and muscular, but her thin frame caused many to misjudge
her. Her long dark hair was tied back behind her head to keep it out her eyes.
At this time, in this situation, Damon thought she was the most beautiful thing
he’d ever seen.

She hesitated but another moment before launching herself
into the fray.

She ran forward and planted the end of the pipe in the
pavement to fly into the air and land in the middle of the small group of men.
Using the pipe as both a weapon and an acrobatic aid, she spun and danced
between them, striking unerringly with fist, boot, and staff. Even though he
was still groggy, Damon admired her grace as she eliminated all six men in a
matter of seconds, and he doubted that she’d taken even a single blow.

“I had it all under control,” Damon said, leaning over with
his hands on his knees and spitting blood, “all under control.” He laughed but
winced at a pain in his chest.

Andrea stepped forward and slapped him on the back of the
head, “Idiot! What were you thinking?”

Damon stopped smiling at her tone, “What?”

“Didn’t you listen to any of my training at all?”

“Well . . . I . . . but . . .”
Damon stammered, averting his eyes.

“I stuck my neck out to get you into a solo patrol, to get
you promoted to full-time, and this is how you repay me?” She glared at him,
her dark brown eyes burning with anger.

“If this was a solo patrol, then why are you here?” Damon
responded peevishly, straightening to his full height, half a head taller than
her.

Andrea paused, her eyes narrowing as she looked up at him. “You’d
be dead if not for me, and what good would that be for the Family?

“The Family?”

“Yes. The Family needs you, even if you are an idiot.”

“What about you?”

“Me, the Family, all of us, we
are
the Family.”

“Oh . . . argh!” Damon growled, unable to form
actual words.

She continued to glare at him, but he could not meet her
gaze. Neither one spoke again until they heard a small whimpering sound coming
from the forgotten young girl. Together they looked over at her huddled against
the wall of the building, rocking gently with her knees drawn up to her chest.

Andrea knelt in front of her, “It’s all right now, honey,
they’re gone.” The girl didn’t respond. “What’s your name, sweetie?”

Damon remained standing where he was, too angry and hurt to
care about the girl anymore. “I risked my life to save her, isn’t that worth
something?” he practically yelled at Andrea.

Andrea jumped up and stepped quickly toward him, her eyes burning.
Damon took an involuntary step back.

Jabbing a finger in his chest, she hissed “No, it’s not!
It’s not worth risking your life! Is she Family? No! What, then, does she mean
to you? Did you think you’d bring her back home and take her as your wife?”
Andrea laughed derisively, “I don’t think so! Look at her, a tiny wisp of a
thing, what good would she be? And you know darn well that we can’t bring in
anyone new. Not now, we simply can’t support any more.”

Andrea paused and put a fist to her forehead while closing
her eyes and looking tired.

“You were on patrol. What is the purpose of patrol?” her speech
took on the didactic tone he had heard so often.

“We patrol to ensure the safety and integrity of the
perimeter,” Damon answered by rote, almost involuntarily.

“What are the basic tenets of patrol?”

“Keep hidden, keep moving; stay quiet, stay alert.”

“Yes, and how would you evaluate your patrol tonight?”

Damon exhaled in disgust, still mad even though she was
right. He only now realized the extent of his failure. He had picked a fight
for no acceptable reason, made a lot of noise in the process, had been
stationary for far too long, and was not monitoring the perimeter. As far as
patrols go, this had to be one of the worst. He didn’t need to verbalize it.

“Exactly.” Andrea took a deep breath and continued, “Now
let’s go home and get you patched up. I’m not giving you any MedPacs from my
stash!” She was almost friendly again. Almost.

“What about her?” Damon asked quietly, gesturing at the
girl.