{"sf1_id":696207,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Love Is Hell: Ghosts From the Past","author":"ArcticWolf451","words":4359,"posted_at":"2014-04-23T03:32:00.000Z","tags":["Demon","Guns","M/F","Red Panda","Sci-Fi","Violence (not In Yiff)","Wolf"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/696207-love-is-hell-ghosts-from-the-past","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/696207","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=696207\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Limbo\"K-Katie? What in the heck\nare you doing here?\" Elsie asked in disbelief as she turned to see the wolfess\nstep out from the shadows.Katie smirked and ignored\nthe question. \"Nice to see you remember me after all this time.\"\"How could I forget, especially\nafter our last encounter?\"Elsie was of course\nreferring to a deadly plane crash that Katie had been involved in. It was\nsupposed to be a short trip from Miami back to Atlanta after a two week mission\ntrip in Panama, but shortly after takeoff her plane suffered severe structural\nfailure and the cabin explosively depressurized. The entire plane broke apart\nat 20,000 feet above sea level, killing everyone onboard in seconds as they\nfroze to death from the lack of atmosphere. Naturally, Elsie arrived to collect\nthe souls of the dead. She was incredibly punctual, having shown up before the\nfirst piece of debris even struck the ground. What she didn't count on was\nKatie putting up a fight, even though in the end it was a futile one. \"Katie...how did you get here?\" Elsie asked once\nmore. \"I-I killed you!\"\"Like how you killed Kyle?\"\nKatie smirked while also revealing that she was not merely a ghost but rather a\nflesh and blood mortal like her brother.Elsie bit her lip and\nballed up her fists. \"No...no no no no! You can't be alive!\"\"And yet here I am. I guess\nthis ruins your little plan of having me vouch for your father's entrance into\nHeaven, huh?\"\"Katie...are you actually\nenjoying my misery?\"\"A little.\"Elsie took a step back and\nstudied the white wolfess before her. Something wasn't right here.\"Katie...you're still mortal.\nHow did you end up here?\"\"Remember when we were\ndueling it out in the sky? In your panic you used the wrong magic on me.\nInstead of sending me where I belonged you sent me into the Styx where I was\nplunged hundreds of years into the future...\"Los Angeles - July 15th 2195 Katie groaned as she felt\nsolid ground beneath her once more. Seconds earlier she had been standing in\nthe still falling wreckage of a Boeing 757 just off the Florida coast while\ndueling Elsie with one of her own sickle blades. It hadn't been an easy fight\nto be sure, but Elsie's overconfidence had allowed Katie the chance to disarm\nher opponent, leaving Elsie with just her scythe and dark magic. Katie hadn't\neven considered the consequences of killing Elsie and taking on her curse; all\nshe wanted was revenge for Kyle's death. Then, just as she had been about to\nstrike a killing blow, Elsie shoved her back with an invisible force that\ntossed her into pure darkness. Katie had wanted to scream but nothing came from\nher lips as she watched the swirling void engulf her. Suddenly she felt a paw\ngrasp her wrist. Startled, she glanced to see Kyle floating along with her\nthrough whatever hell Elsie had cast them into. Strangely, Kyle didn't seem to\nrecognize her as he mouthed words at her.Who are you?Are you okay? Don't let go! And then, without warning\nground came up beneath them. Shivering with fear, Katie pushed her hair out of\nher eyes and realized that she was completely naked...and so was the wolf next to\nher. It became instantly apparent that despite looking like Kyle in every way,\nshape, and form...this wolf was someone else altogether. His voice was deeper,\nand instead of Kyle's Georgia twang his accent was more akin to that of\nVirginia. \"Aww, god...where the hell am\nI?\" he groaned before looking over at Katie. \"Oh, sorry!\" Quickly he averted his gaze\nand tried to shield his own nudity from her. \"Wh-what just happened?\"\nKatie stuttered. \"Who are you? You're not Kyle...\"\"Kyle? Kyle who?\"\"Blackmon.\"The wolf's eyes locked on\nto hers as she uttered that name. \"No...no I'm not. My name's George, but usually\nI go by Clark. It feels a little less antiquated.\" She nodded. \"Katie. My\nname's Katie.\"\"Nice to meet you, I\nthink.\"\"So...Clark...what just\nhappened? Where did you come from?\"\"Last thing I remember I\nwas in the car with my wife and son when this car came out of nowhere and\nslammed right into us head on,\" Clark recounted while rubbing his forehead.\n\"Then...oh fuck I can't believe it...I think I literally fought Death incarnate.\"\"Heh...same,\" Katie admitted\nwith a slight chuckle. \"So I'm not crazy then?\"\nClark asked.\"No more than I am,\" Katie\nreplied while looking about to gauge their surroundings. \"Man, where are we?\"\"Looks like an office\nbuilding of some sort. C'mon, let's see if we can find some curtains or spare\nclothes lying around.\"\"Who keeps a spare change\nof clothes in an office?\" Katie wondered aloud as she stood up to follow Clark.Ignoring her question, he\nlead the way down the hall into a large room filled with cubicles and offices\nlining the walls. Strangely, none of the lights in the building were on, yet\nall of the neighboring sky scrapers were brightly lit and thankfully provided\nenough illumination through the windows to allow her and Clark to see. \"We're definitely not in\nAtlanta anymore,\" Katie mused.\"Or Norfolk, in my case,\"\nClark commented. \"Norfolk eh? My dad and his\nbest friend used to live there back in the early nineties when they were in the\nArmy.\"\"What are you talking\nabout? It's 1992.\"\"No...it's 2016,\" Katie\ncorrected him. \"Just look at the computers on the desks. Do these look like\nanything from 1992?\"Clark's mouth hung open as\nhe noticed the lack of bulky, off white CRT monitors adorning the desks.\nInstead, most of the workstations contained slim all in one PCs, or in some\ncases a razor thin screen connected to a more traditional tower, but even then\nthey were clearly not from his time.\"Then again...this doesn't\nexactly look like 2016 either...\" Katie observed as she saw holographic\nprojectors playing advertisements on billboards from across the street.\"Katie,\" Clark interrupted.\n\"What was your dad's name?\"\"John. Why?\" Katie asked.\"And your mom's name was\nEllen, right?\"\"How did you...\" Katie paused\nas she suddenly remembered that fateful day when she and Kyle had caught in bed\ntogether by her father. The anger, the shouting, and then the awkward\nrevelation in the living room...\"Your father's name was George Clark, Kyle. He died\nshortly after you were born.\"\"OH MY GOD!\" Katie shrieked\nin a mix of jubilee and terror. \"You're Kyle's dad! That's why you look just\nlike him!\"\"I guess it would...but isn't\nhe dead?\"\"No! He survived that car\nwreck and my dad adopted him...\"\"John took him in?\"\"Yeah!\" Katie exclaimed.\n\"We grew up together with him as my big brother. We didn't find out he was\nadopted till he was seventeen.\"\"Why'd John wait so long to\ntell you guys that?\" Clark wondered.\"Uh...it's a long story. Come\non, let's try to find a way out of here.\"CRASH! BANG! \"AAAARRRGGHHH!\"\"What the hell was that?\"\nClark jumped as he looked away from the window towards the ceiling behind him.\n\"That sounded like it came from upstairs.\"Suddenly a staccato of\ngunshots erupted one floor below them. \"What's going on?\" Katie\nasked as she backed against wall, her eyes scanning every inch of the room for\ndanger. Just then a clap of thunder\nerupted and a bright orange light filled the building as balls of lightning\nseemed to burst all across the room. Men could be heard shouting in the floors\nabove and below them; more gunshots echoed while strange, feral noises and\ngrunts hauntingly sounded nearby. \"I don't know what in God's\nname is going on, I just know we need to leave now,\" Clark said as he took Katie's\nwrist and lead her towards the emergency stairs. As they entered they found\na trio of police officers decked out in full SWAT gear lying dead at their\nfeet. Their corpses were mangled and missing chunks of flesh; body armor lay\ntorn in curled ribbons of Kevlar or broken shards of composite carbon fiber. Clark\nnearly slipped as he accidently stepped in a puddle of their blood that was\nstill freshly dripping down the stairs. Katie was speechless, her\nmouth hung open as she tried to scream only to be stopped by her throat\nclenching into a strong gag. Clark quickly pulled her with him and lead the way\ndown the stairs. A sign showed they were just passing through the fourteenth\nfloor down to the thirteenth, but as they rounded the corner they could immediately\nsee something was wrong. A river of blood seemed to be flowing out from under\nthe stairwell door while severed limbs and detached eyeballs and teeth floated\ndaintily in the murk. \"Dead God...what the hell is\nthis place?\" Clark wondered before jumping at a deep, throaty growl coming up\nthe stairwell.Looking down, he and Katie\nwere greeted by the sight of a massive, bull-like creature making its way up\nthe stairs. Its flesh was pale with pink burns staining its complexion; its\neyes glowed yellow through the dark, highlighting its angered face and the rows\nof razor sharp ivory fangs adorning its gaping maw. Upon seeing the two wolves,\nthe bull that could only be described as a pure blooded demon roared with\nhunger and charged up after them. Clark wasted no time shoving the door open\nand rushing with Katie into whatever hell awaited them on the building's\nthirteenth floor. Sure enough, the floor was\nsoaked with blood. Dead bodies of civilian and policeman alike coated the floor\nwhile smaller, humanoid demons with rows of beady white eyes hunkered over the\ncorpses and consumed their freshly slain victims. Many of the walls on the\nfloor had been blown to bits, leaving only concrete beams and twisted steel\nrebar behind. Fires burned everywhere as stacks of paper to even the carpet\nsmoldered with orange tongues of flame, their light shimmering off of a sea of\nspent shell casings littering the floor near each of the dead SWAT officers. And\nyet despite the death and destruction that surrounded them, it all paled in\ncomparison to the monstrosity standing at the center of the floor.A slim, oval shaped cloud\nframed in orange lightning hovered in the center of the room. A hideous red\nmist crept out of it and covered the floor nearby, only to condense into\ndroplets of blood that added to the deluge already drenching the room. \"Ho-Ly FAWK!\" Clark gasped.\"Clark!\" Katie shouted as\nshe tried to back out into the stairwell only to find that they were now both\ncornered by the pink bull as it came crashing through the door after them. Before Clark could react he\nfelt himself struck from behind as the bull head butted him square in the back.\nThe next thing he knew his body was rolling limply across the floor with Katie\nfollowing suit as she slipped and slid through the blood. Her white fur became\nstained and matted as she shrieked in terror while desperately scrambling to\nescape. Suddenly one of the smaller demons took notice and pounced upon her,\npinning her to the floor and pressing its long, needle like claws against her face\nas it held her against the floor.\"NOOOO! NOOO!!!\" she wailed\nas she looked up and watched it open its mouth; its acidic drool singeing her\nflesh as it lowered itself to take a bite. \"Oh god...\"\"ENOUGH!\" shouted a voice\nthat seemed to emanate from every corner of the room at once.The demon stopped and\nturned its attention towards the portal. It hissed, but relaxed its grip on\nKatie enough to allow her to turn and see for herself just what was going on.\nClark, meanwhile, was still stunned and could barely move. Out of the corner of\nhis eye he saw a massive black figure step out from the cloud and walk towards\nthe two of them. Standing before them was a\ncreature Clark had never seen before, but for Katie she remembered his kind all\ntoo well from her last incursion to the Great Beyond. He stood nearly twelve\nfeet tall, with hooved feet and legs covered in shaggy black fur. His torso\nrippled with muscles carved out of gray, metallic flesh that highlighted a\nbright red pentagram tattoo over his heart. He did not have hands so much as\nclaws, with each finger narrowing into an almost avian like talon. What was\nmost striking though was his face; being a minotaur it resembled that of a\nbull, only his horns were even larger than those of his brethren. But even that\ndetail seemed miniscule compared to the scar upon his forehead where a black\nswastika had been carved into his flesh. \"What. Have. We. Here,\" the\nminotaur verbally strutted as he approached and lorded over Katie's cowering\nfigure. \"You seem frightened, my dear.\"  Katie nodded, her face\nfrozen into a stiff, unblinking gaze that never left the minotaur's face. \"Tell me, will God save you\nfrom this bit of trouble like He has so much in the past?\" he taunted while\npicking a loose piece of flesh from one of his claws. \"Or are you just another\nwhore of Babylon sent to be fed to my minions?\"Katie shook fiercely as she\nnoticed the demon atop of her open its maw again, evidently perceiving its\nmaster had given him permission to start his meal. The minotaur only chuckled. \"You may not know me little\nwolfess, but I know you. You, and that troublesome brother of yours. You both\nescaped once before, but you won't this time. If you won't ever bother coming\nto us, then we'll come to you. Your little friend Elsie has given me the key to\nunlock the gate that separates my world from yours, and soon it won't be long\nbefore we consume your entire world like locusts upon fields of grain.\"He paused to gauge Katie's\nreaction. Her eyes reflected nothing but pure fear.\"I could finish you off\nnow, but after all the trouble you've caused my kind I think I have a far\ngreater use for you,\" he grinned evilly before looking at the demon crouched\nover her. \"Bring her, we're leaving now.\"\"But what of the other\nwolf?\" hissed a third demon lurking in the shadows by Clark.\"Leave him as bait. His son\nshould be reappearing in this world soon, and when he does we'll make our\nmove.\"And with that, the minotaur\nstrode off into the red mist from when he came, his minions quickly following\nhim and dragging Katie along as she screamed for help while digging her claws\ninto the floor, ripping up shreds of carpet as she went until disappearing\nwithout a trace into the cloud.\"What the hell just...fuck!\"\nClark swore as he looked around the room and tried to mentally process what had\njust taken place. \"Breaching!\" yelled a voice\nfrom around the corner. Clark watched as a door\nfrom the central hallway was kicked in and a squad of black armored soldiers\ncharged inside, weapons at the ready. They moved quickly and with precision,\ntheir tactical lights shining blinding white beams through the murky darkness left\nin the wake of the demons' exit. \"Jesus sir, it's a\nbloodbath in here,\" one of the men quipped. \"Any sign of survivors?\" \"OVER HERE!\" Clark yelled.In seconds he was\nsurrounded, the soldiers quickly taking him into custody and escorting him\ndownstairs to the police and paramedics waiting on the street. He felt\nrelieved, knowing that for now the nightmare he had just witnessed was over.\nPart of him even wondered if it was all just a dream and that he would wake up\nin a few minutes. But deep in the back of his mind, he knew this was only the\nbeginning, and all he thought about that night was the echoing screams of\nKatie's voice. **********\"Dear god Katie...what did\nthey do to you?\" Elsie wondered aloud as Katie finished her explanation.\"To me? Nothing, nothing at\nall.\" she said before the whites of her eyes suddenly glowed orange and her\nlips curled into a sickening grin. \"The Baron just happened to find a new home\nfor me is all.\"Elsie scowled as she\nrecognized the ghostly demoness's voice. \"She did nothing to deserve being\npossessed, Jezebel, leave her out of this.\"The demoness flaunted\nKatie's hair as her eyes returned to normal. \"It's not my place to decide what\nhappens to her, although I must say I did forget how good it feels to be mortal\nagain. Being a spirit just isn't the same, you know?\"Elsie didn't respond to\nthat. \"You still haven't told me why you're here.\"\"We-e-e-l-l-l-l-l-l,\"\nJezebel said drawing out the word while twirling Katie's hair between her\nfingers, \"For starters you've been trying to weasel out of your little bargain.\nWhat was again? You give us your sickle blade, we give you back your father?\"\"The Baron still has it,\ndoesn't he?\" \"Oh of course he does! But\nit seems you've enlisted your little boyfriend there to try and steal it back.\nThat's very fair, is it?\" Jezebel smirked.\"I have no idea what you're\ntalking about,\" Elsie flatly denied.\"Don't be coy Elsie, it's\nbeneath you. I saw your little fuck fest there with him, I heard everything you\ntwo are scheming,\" Jezebel sternly retorted. \"Naturally we expected you to pull\nsome sort of stunt, but we'd never have expected your boyfriend from 200 years\nago to show up.\"\"He's not my boyfriend.\"\"Fuck buddy then. Really, I\ndon't care what he is, I just know that ever since The Baron found out Kyle's\nstill alive and kicking he's the only thing on his mind. That's why I've come\nhere to renegotiate our little deal.\"\"Oh?\" Elsie cocked her\nhead.\"You give us Kyle, and in\nreturn we don't repossess your daddy's soul,\" Jezebel wickedly grinned. \"What? If you think you can\njust walk in here and take him away from me you're...\"Jezebel suddenly lifted her\npaw and snapped her fingers, causing a wall of flames to erupt behind her. The\nsudden burst of illumination revealed dozens of her demonic minions poised in\nthe shadows of the dead forest behind her. Some were pink bulls with razor\nsharp fangs, while others were the more common imps with thirteen beady white\neyes and needle like claws. There were even some new varieties with mandible like\njaws and scythe like hands, or one monstrosity that was nothing more than a\nfloating ball of boil covered flesh with a single eye, horns, and a massive\nmouth drooling blue slime over its massive teeth. \"You see Elsie, even if my\npets can't hurt you, we can still hurt your father. And you know as well as I\ndo that there's no way you can kill all of us before we get to him.\"Elsie gritted her teeth as\nshe clutched her scythe with a white knuckle grip. She knew Jezebel was right.\nSighing in defeat, she lowered her head and nodded.\"Fine. But what do you want\nwith Kyle?\"\"He escaped Hell once\nbefore. He shan't do so a second time,\" Jezebel explained while waving her paw\nin the air to kill the flames behind her and plunging the forest back into\ndarkness. \"He trusts you, or at least doesn't suspect you of wanting to bring\nany harm to him. So tell me, where did he go?\"Elsie took a deep breath\nand tried to think of anything that wasn't the truth, but her mind only drew a\nblank. \"He's...he's looking for his\nfather.\"\"Ah, of course,\" Jezebel\nsaid while scratching under her chin. \"That's too perfect. They'll both be\ntrapped on that little moon base with nowhere to go or hide.\"\"As will you, bitch,\" Elsie\nretorted. \"Aw, don't be like that\nElsie. After all, you've wanted revenge on him your whole life, and now you'll\nfinally get it,\" Jezebel cackled as she strode back into the forest. \"We'll be\nin touch Elsie, but for now...I'd get back to reaping a few souls if I were you.\nMy pets are growing hungry, and  you\nwouldn't like them when their dinner is running late.\"With that, Jezebel\ndisappeared back into the darkness as mysteriously as she arrived. Elsie just\nshook her head and looked at the ground.What the hell did I just do? Looking up, she saw her\nfather standing in the doorway of her hut, scowling and shaking his head.\"Daddy? What?\"\"Am I really worth more to\nyou than the last living friend you have, Elsie?\"\"Kyle's not my friend...at\nleast, not anymore. I made sure of that,\" she solemnly frowned.\"If that's true, then why\nis he willing to free you from this curse once this is all over?\"  Elsie looked at the ground\nand said nothing. \"I know he made some\nmistakes, Elsie. God knows I've made plenty of my own. But the difference\nbetween him and me is that he owned up to his faults and tried to redeem\nhimself. I've just been running from them ever since, but that ends now.\"\"Dad...what are you saying?\"\"Do you really think that\nwhen those bastards take everything they want they'll be content to let me stay\nwith you for all eternity? They'll consume every living soul they can sink\ntheir fangs into, and we both know I'm 'living' on borrowed time down here.\"Elsie blinked as her father\nstepped out and rested a paw on her shoulder. \"I'm not gonna just lay down and\nlet them take you...you know that right?\"\"I know kiddo, I didn't\nraise you to be a pushover. But I didn't raise you to be a traitor either. You\ncan stop them before they get to Kyle and his friends...\"Elsie looked past her\nfather back into the hut. \"Speaking of which...where'd they go? They were inside\njust a minute ago.\"\"Kyle already opened a\nportal for the three of them and headed off to Europa.\"\"He knows how to do that?\"\nElsie gasped. \"Apparently,\" Baker\nshrugged. \"Should he not?\"\"No...it's just that the more\nof my curse and powers he takes on, the weaker I become until my curse fully\nshifts to him.\"Baker raised an eyebrow.\n\"What would happen to the Baron's sickle then?\"\"He'd lose it, provided\nKyle freed my soul by slaying me. Otherwise the power provided by my weapons is\njust divided between the three of us.\"Baker nodded and folded his\narms across his chest. \"Well then you better get to making sure Kyle makes it\nout of there alive.\"\"I just...\" Elsie's lips\nquivered as she looked at the sky and winced. \"What's he going to do when he\nfinds out what happened to Katie? That's my fault.\"\"It wasn't your intent to\ngive her to them Elsie, you couldn't have known...\"\"I could have left her out\nof this!\" Elsie screamed at herself. \"He's never going to forgive me for what\nI've done!\"Baker's expression softened\nas he saw tears beginning to cloud Elsie's eyes. \"Elsie, c'mon baby girl, you\ndon't know that for sure.\"Elsie stifled her sobs as\nthe familiar pain of utter helplessness set in. \"And if he won't forgive me...why\nshould I forgive him?\"\"Elsie!\" Baker said as he\nrushed towards her to comfort her, only for his daughter to strike him in the\nchest and knock him on his butt. \"Shit...Elsie, please...just calm down and listen\nto me.\"Elsie ignored him and\nstarted walking towards the river, with Baker staggering to his feet desperate\nto stop her.\"I'll kill him and his slut\nof a sister,\" Elsie growled to herself as she summoned her scythe and prepared\nto open a gate back to the land of the living. \"I'll kill that demonic wretch,\nI'll kill his bitch, I'll kill his pets, I'll fucking kill them all!\" Turning around to face her\nfather one last time, Elsie held her scythe above her and screamed, \"Do you\nhear me daddy?! I'm gonna kill every last one of them! If Heaven won't open its\ngates for you, then you can climb over on the mountain of bodies I'm about to\nbuild.\"Pulling up her hood,\nElsie's face was once again shrouded in black shadow as all semblances of flesh\ndisappeared from her limbs and her fingers resembled polished bone. Holding her\nskeletal digits before her, she motioned for the river Styx's waters to part as\nshe stepped into their murky depths and made her way to the UAC Europa\nfacility. All the while, Baker just stood and watched.\"My god Elsie...what happened\nto the little girl I used to know?\" Solemnly, he walked back\ninto the hovel and locked the door behind him before collapsing on the bed. His\nmind felt numb, as did the rest of him. Part of him wished he could just sleep,\nbut not being alive anymore negated his ability to lose consciousness. The only\nthing left to do was let his mind drift over the memories of his past life,\nalong with the many regrets that came with it. Pondering what he could have\ndone differently, he realized he never spent as much time as he would have liked\nwith her. All those days working for the CIA, the many weeks or even months\nspent abroad in foreign lands trying to keep the world safe for Elsie...and in\nthe end he'd never taken the time to appreciate the very thing he'd spent his\nlife trying to protect. \"God, I don't know if you\ncan hear me,\" he muttered aloud, \"I don't give a crap what you do to me, but if\nyou're as kind and benevolent as they say you are, then you'll send someone to\nsave my daughter.\"Just then there was a knock\nat the door. Baker sat up and looked around for something to use as a weapon,\nwhen a female voice huskily purred from the other side.\"If I wanted to kill you,\nDarrel, I'd have already.\"Baker relaxed a bit and\ncautiously opened the door to find a white furred wolfess in a flowing blue\nknee high tunic. She was nearly as tall as he was, and even more striking was\nthe pair of white feathered wings folded behind her back. \"If you're not here to kill\nme then what's your business?\"\"You asked for a little\nhelp with Elsie, didn't you?\" she coyly asked with a smile. \"Yeah...like ten seconds\nago.\"\"Shoot, that means I'm late\nby five,\" she grinned. \"Who...who are you?\" Baker\nasked in disbelief.\"You can call me Remy,\" the\nwolfess said while warmly extending a paw. "}