I was sitting down in the helicopter, feeling a sense of deja-vu as we flew to our new mission. My emotions were currently a mess, though I was doing my best to keep control of them and not let anyone see what I was feeling. I didn’t think I was fooling my sisters though as Rebecca and Nicole had both given me looks of sympathy and concern.

I thought about my last mission and just how terrifying that rat demon had been. I cringed at the memory of the way it had been eating on those people, just as I winced every time I remembered how I’d froze. I was determined not to do that again.

There were other things going on in my head as well, thoughts and feelings that swirled around while I waited. Four normal soldiers were riding with Angel Squad, including Pete and Jimmy. I avoided looking at any of them for too long, blushing a bit whenever I caught myself doing so.

Ever since I’d realized that I was now attracted to guys, I found myself looking at nearly every guy I saw and trying to decide whether he was attractive or not. It was strange, not knowing exactly what I liked and didn’t like, not knowing my own tastes and interests. I knew that I liked guys, but not much more than that, which left me feeling confused and uncertain about my own sexuality. It was like being thirteen again and trying to figure out which girls I liked and why.

Dani gave me a look of annoyance that was half joking, then she gave one to Jimmy that was anything but a joke. Last night, Dani had gone to the poker game with her friends, which included Pete and Jimmy, and she’d brought me along. As the newcomer to the group, they all assumed that I’d be bad and would quickly lose my money. In fact, I was pretty sure that they were counting on it. But by the time the game was over, Jimmy and I split the pot and walked away with everyone’s money.

“I’m getting my money back next week,” Dani told Jimmy, who just grinned.

“You’re welcome to try,” Jimmy responded with a chuckle. “But if I remember right, most of that money used to be mine.”

Dani snorted at that, then turned to me. “You were supposed to be my good luck charm.”

“I don’t know,” I said, giving my best innocent look. “I thought I was pretty lucky.”

“She’s got you there,” Rebecca told Dani with a chuckle.

“I want another chance to get my money back too,” Pete said, looking to Jimmy and me. “But at least you broke Dani’s streak.”

This talk about the poker game helped to distract me from my concerns, and before I knew it, we were landing at our destination. Everyone immediately began climbing out of the helicopter and getting ready. I put on my pack of medical supplies and made sure my weapon was ready. Then I waited until we were ready to move.

“The demon is currently located within an apartment complex,” Captain Brooks announced over the radio, repeating what we’d already been told in our earlier briefing. However, I was sure that this was mostly to let us know that the demon was still there and hadn’t left. “Local law enforcement has been sealing off the area. A lot of residents have locked themselves inside their apartments so be careful about stray shots.”

“At least this time we know who the demon used to be,” Rebecca said grimly. “The CDC will be able to investigate the chain of infection.”

In spite of her words, I knew that Rebecca probably wished that she didn’t know who the demon had once been. Knowing that meant dealing with the fact that it had once been a human being. It was easier to fight a demon when you could forget that and just think of it as being a monster that needed to be destroyed.

A few seconds later, everyone scattered to take their positions. Soldiers from the other helicopters surrounded the apartment complex to keep the demon or infected survivors from escaping. Other soldiers began moving into the apartment building while Angel Squad took the lead.

Finding the demon was easy since we could hear the sound of things being smashed and merely had to follow the noise to an apartment door that had obviously been forced open. The door itself was caved in with the door frame being half torn out. The sounds of snarling and crashing could still be heart from within.

Rebecca stopped at the doorway, holding her hand up for us to wait. Suddenly, the demon flew through the doorway and slammed into Rebecca, sending her flying back. Then the demon snarled and jumped back to its feet, giving me a good look at her.

The demon had obviously been a woman and a rather attractive one at that. She still looked mostly human and was even still wearing a skirt and blouse, though they were stretched, torn, and covered with blood. Her muscles were swollen and bulged, stretching her clothes to the limits but looking unnatural and malformed. Her hair had begun falling out in large clumps and she stared at us through solid black eyes. There was no hint of intelligence in her face, merely the rage of a rabid animal. I suddenly felt like I was caught in some kind of zombie movie.

“I’ve got her,” I exclaimed, trying to make up for my mistake during the last mission.

But as I was about to shoot, the demon lunged at Nicole and I couldn’t hit her without possibly hitting my sister as well. The demon slashed out with her still human hands, trying to use them as claws against Nicole though they couldn’t do anything to against her armor. The demon slashed out several more times until Nicole punched her, sending her flying back. Then demon hit the ground, and before Nicole could open fire, the demon leapt at her again. This time, the demon picked Nicole up and threw her.

“Gotcha,” I exclaimed, taking advantage of the opportunity now that the demon was in the open and firing a single shot.

The demon moved faster than I’d expected, and instead of catching her in the center of the chest, I merely grazed her arm. Though from the way her arm was bleeding and hanging limp, that grazed shot had still done some good damage. But before I could fire another shot, the demon ran back into the apartment, then jumped out the window.

“She’s getting away,” Dani called out.

“No she isn’t,” Nicole responded grimly.

With that, Dani and Nicole ran around to try catching the demon outside while Rebecca and I followed her through the apartment and out the window. We were only on the second floor so the drop wasn’t any worse than what we commonly dealt with on our obstacle course.

“There she is,” Rebecca announced, aiming her rifle at the demon who was running across the parking lot.

A moment later, there was a gun shot and a large hole appeared through the demon’s torso. She immediately came to a stop and fell face first onto the ground. I looked to Rebecca and realized that she hadn’t been the one to fire the shot. Someone else had beaten her to it. A quick look revealed that the shooter was Reese, who stood a good distance away. He gave us a wave and Rebecca waved back.

“The demon is down,” Rebecca announced over the radio. “We need to check and make sure there aren’t any other demons…or infected survivors.”

We went over to the demon which was now sprawled out on the ground, no longer moving. Right then, she looked almost human again and I couldn’t help but feeling guilty over her death. I had to remind myself that we didn’t just shoot a sick person who might be cured someday. If anything, we’d been doing her a favor and ending a miserable and monstrous existence.

Suddenly, the demon jerked and began to sit up. I let out a squeal of surprise while simultaneously firing a shot right at her head. The demon collapsed to the ground again, this time for good.

Rebecca put a hand on my shoulder and gave me a faint smile. “Good job.”

“The local police just passed on a report of a possible infection,” Captain Brooks said over the radio. “They just received a 911 call from a man complaining of intense pain and demanding an ambulance. He’s the boyfriend of our demon.”

“Oh shit,” Dani exclaimed. “If he’s showing symptoms, he’s probably ready to turn demon…”

“Let’s just hope it’s just the flu,” Rebecca added grimly.

Captain Brooks had already arranged for the local police to give us a ride to the boyfriend’s home, so we took off while the cleanup operations began at the apartment complex. It wasn’t the first time I’d ever ridden in the back of a police car, though at least this time I wasn’t going to jail. In fact, it was actually kind of exciting since we had the sirens going, though the reason for the ride robbed it of any pleasure. Fortunately, it didn’t take long for us to arrive at the condo where the boyfriend lived.

After we got out of the police car, Nicole gestured to an ambulance that was parked halfway down the street. They’d arrived before we had but were hanging back until we could confirm whether or not this was a demon issue.

Nicole gave me a wry smile and asked, “Bring back memories?”

“A few,” I admitted, though I was trying not to think about it.

The cop who’d given us a ride stood next to his car, looking nervous but determined to do his job. I handed him a pair of silicone gloves from my pack, the kind I should have been wearing when I helped save Nicole. They wouldn’t do much against a demon attack, but we were here to deal with that. The gloves were mostly to give him a little more confidence.

“Stay back,” Rebecca told the cop. “Just in case.”

“You’ve got it, ma’am,” he said. “But I’m here if you need me.” However, he glanced to our weapons and I see him blushing with the realization that if we couldn’t handle this, he certainly wouldn’t be able to.

Rebecca went to the front door and knocked while the rest of us held back a little. “Ben Howard,” she called out. “We’re here with the ambulance.”

The door opened a moment later and a young man in his early twenties stood there, though he looked horrible. His eyes were bloodshot and his skin was pale and clammy looking. His whole body was shaking and it was clear from his body language that he was in a lot of pain.

“I’m an EMT,” I said, stepping forward. I took off my helmet so that I wasn’t quite so intimidating. “Can you tell me what your symptoms are?”

Ben glared at me with a hostile look and I could see Rebecca’s expression turn grim. “I fucking hurt like hell,” Ben snarled at me, seeming to grow even angrier with every moment. “Do you think I fucking called for an ambulance because I feel good?” He was now staring at me with a look of burning fury and I took a step back, preparing to defend myself from his attack.

“Oh shit,” Dani muttered.

Ben suddenly charged at me, but I easily dodged to the side, knocking him to the ground. He snarled, drool coming from his mouth like he was some kind of rabid dog. Then he started screaming, a scream that was filled with rage and agony. And as it continued, the tone changed, becoming something that sent chills down my spine.

“He’s going demon,” Nicole called out unnecessarily. I glanced to the cop, who was now crouched down behind his car so he could use it for cover.

As I watched, his muscles all began to tense up and swell, though at the same time, his skin took on a slick look, almost as though he was covered with a thin layer of oil. I gasped, stunned that the harkon virus could change a human body that quickly. It seemed almost impossible, even after everything else I’d seen. Then Ben looked up at me and I saw no intelligence left in his eyes. All that was left was a rabid animal…a demon.

Ben…the demon snarled and leapt at me, but Nicole immediately shot him. “I’m so sorry,” Nicole whispered sadly.

“Thank you,” I told her, staring down at the dead demon and feeling nothing but sadness.

We’d stopped this demon before he had a chance to harm a single person, and that would normally be considered a huge success. However, this didn’t feel like a success to me. In fact, it felt a lot like a failure, and I could see that my sisters felt the same way.