Page 47 of Demon's Prey
Kurse burst through a large door at the end of the engine room. He saw himself cowering in a corner and rocking back and forth inside the room. There were two other men there, one with white-hot hair, the other sporting a regular ball cap. Both pointed guns his way.
“Back off fucker! He is coming back with us!” The man with the white hair declared.
Kurse chuckled, then wrapped his hand around the waist of the man with the hat. He tried shooting Kurse, but Kurse plucked the gun away, then placed the man’s head into his mouth. He bit down hard, shooting blood in fountains across the white haired man’s face.
He held the man’s head in his mouth briefly, rolling it around like a mentos. He then spat it out, landing wetly in front of the white haired man’s feet. His eyes were wide with horror.
The fake Kurse grunted in the corner. The white haired man pressed a button that electrocuted him, causing him to shake and tremor. The real Kurse roared and stepped toward the white haired man.
“STOP THAT! You will die now!”
The white haired man raised his weapon. It was bigger than all of the other men he had killed, with ice droplets circling the opening like a crown.
“Don’t come any closer!” The man yelled. “This is a nitrogen grenade launcher, and if you know what’s good for you, you won’t move!”
Kurse paused. The nitrogen was what severely damaged his skin a few days before, but he had time to turn away from it at the time. If multiple grenades were fired his way, he could be rendered useless right then and there. It could kill him if he wasn’t in the right position.
“You son of a bitch,” Kurse roared. “What do you want with him anyway? Your mission failed! You should give up now!”
The man backed up, never losing sight of the real Kurse. He moved slowly into the fake Kurse, grinning.
“He’s a loyal doppelgänger, something you wouldn’t know anything about. He’s incredibly useful to us at Gideon’s Brood. Now,” he reached over to the fake Kurse and began tugging at his collar. “We have somewhere to be. So fuck off.”
Kurse was getting angry, but he needed to think through that anger. The man began walking with the fake Kurse back up the stairs from the engine room, always pulling by the collar. The doppelgänger had his head pulled down like an abused animal.
“I know what you’re doing now. There’s no point in keeping him. Just let him go, and I won’t follow you.”
The man burst out laughing as they hit the top deck. He looked around at the blood and the dead bodies, feigning indifference.
“You may be big, Mr. Kurse,” he said while holding onto the fake Kurse and dialing a number on a radio. “But you are still an idiot.”
Kurse clenched his fists together. He saw that the fake Kurse was standing upright, slightly sloped down because of the man’s grip on his collar. Kurse also noticed that there was a long drop below them into the sea.
He had to do something, now or never.
“We’ll find out who the idiot is,” Kurse said through gritted teeth.
The white haired man looked up from his radio, just in time to see Kurse launching his body in his direction. He tried to raise his weapon to fire, but it was too late. Kurse had ripped his grip away from the collar with a gore to the gut of the doppelgänger, and they were both sailing into the ocean.
Kurse used his body as a shield as they fell and braced himself for the sensation of the nitrogen grenade. But only a few jolts of cold managed to hit him before smacking upon the water. The two demons fell like stones into the deep, which blinded their enemy to their whereabouts.
Kurse could see that his doppelgänger was beginning to panic underwater. Kurse grabbed him by the face—well, grabbed himself by the face—and planted his lips on his. It was a surprisingly pleasant sensation as he breathed air into his lungs.
When he pulled away, the doppelgänger was frowning. Kurse grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him to the surface. When they broke through, the two gasped simultaneously. Kurse was satisfied to see that they had swum far enough to be out of sight of the Brood’s yacht.
“What the fuck was that?” The doppelgänger screamed.
Kurse placed his hand over his mouth.
“Shh. We have to swim to another boat.”
The doppelgänger screamed again, irritating Kurse.
“I meant that kiss! Why did you kiss me?”
Kurse rolled his eyes, then flicked the doppelgänger on the forehead. He recoiled back, offended.
“I was giving you breath to save your life, you dolt. Also, we don’t feel ashamed here on earth.”
