Sandra “Slow Motion” Ve, now with all limbs unburdened and followed close behind by a crazy middle-aged, samurai sword-wielding ninja lady, moved with the speed of a cheetah to the conference room. She didn’t bother with her usual chit chat. “You find us okay” and “How’s the weather” didn’t feel like appropriate conversation starters with someone wearing giant swords.

Maygan 4 was thankful Sandra remained silent for her focus was elsewhere. During he quick trip through the main hallway, she took it all in. Most people would be mesmerized by the big loud posters that documented some prestigious achievements for Automatomics. A picture of a cute, round DustKrusher sucking up the earth accompanied the text “2070’s Best Suction for a Small Robot”.

But an uneasiness stirred within Maygan. There was a heaviness about her as she walked down the hallway, as if walking in a grim procession, a strange weight to the air. Her masters told her to listen to those sensations. And as a student, she was more in tune with this than her peers.

Above her in the air ducts her bionic hearing picked up the sounds of something moving in time with them. As if something watched.

There was a break in the solid white wall of the hallway, as it became a huge window. On the other side she saw a handful of employees. It was like gazing into a fish tank. Most did not notice the petite woman in the puffy dress move past the window, as they were engrossed in a conversation about the latest episode of I Guess You’ll Do. Maygan’s ears heard it all. But within the group there were two employees that suddenly stopped what they were doing to watch Maygan with burning eyes. Hateful eyes.

She’d had much to discuss with Mister McQuarry.

Sandra turned into a large room, its centerpiece a long white table with nearly thirty chairs assembled around it. Sandra motioned for Maygan to take a seat.

Maygan removed both Hon and Koga from her side and placed them on the table before sitting. Sandra made a face, like she was about to say something but thought better of it.

“May I get some water, please,” Maygan asked politely as she folded her hands neatly in front of her.

Sandra stared at the swords, but the question snapped her from her trance. She nodded and appeared a moment later with a chilled glass of water. She placed it on a coaster in front of Maygan. She cleared her throat, as if about to deliver a practiced speech. “Word of advice. Mister McQuarry loves this table perhaps more than his own children. You’d better keep that glass on the coaster, otherwise you might upset him. And the swords…”

“Noted,” Maygan interrupted. “Thank you for your kind hospitality, Sandra.”

Sandra smiled for an instant and then moved like lighting into the hallway in the direction of her desk. I Guess You’ll Do was not going to watch itself.

Maygan saw that Hank Steve wandered the hallway outside the conference room, trying not to look too conspicuous. Making sure that she wasn’t going to do anything too dangerous.

She sat there alone for some time, so long in fact that twice she had to stand up and take off her hat and wave it around to reactivate the automatic lighting, its sensors believing that the room was empty.

At last, McQuarry walked into the room, his shirt half tucked in, his eyes bloodshot, his brain sleep deprived and confused. He saw the strange lady at the desk and thought he must be having another episode.

Maygan stood to greet him, bowing slightly but also extending her hand for a handshake. “Maygan 4,” she said.

McQuarry gripped it, and she squeezed the blood from it. McQuarry didn’t even twitch he was so numbed by his medications.

“So how can I help you,” he asked, not bothering to sit down. “And please take those swords off the table. It’s probably worth more than your house.”

“Well, where to begin. Oh there is so much to say. What should I tell you.”

“Listen lady, I’m the CEO of a massive company, and in the thirty seconds I’ve been standing in this room, I’ve already earned more than you make all year. Let’s not waste any more of my time.” Bullying people made McQuarry puff up inside. It gave him energy.

“I see,” Maygan said slowly. She looked pensive for a moment. “I’ve only been in this building for 24 min and 22 seconds, but I can tell you already, that you have many, many problems that I can fix.

“Oh is that a fact,” McQuarry said, hardly believing the nerve of this lunatic.

“I have extensive training.”

“Are you looking for a job?” And then the open req for HR Lead popped into his brain. “Oh, are you here for the HR Lead role,” he asked.

“That’s what Sandra asked as well. The truth is-“ She held her finger to her lips, hushing him silent. She talked in a whisper voice. “Right now we’re being watched.” She pointed up to the ceiling. “Listen.”

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McQuarry’s eyes looked up and he listened. There wasn’t anything there at first, but the more he concentrated, he believed he did in fact hear something. Was it the chilled air moving through the ducts, or was it… breathing?

From her pocket, Maygan pulled out a black rectangular card decorated with strange inscriptions. She placed it on the table and uttered strange words over it. A brilliant yellow light illuminated the room accompanied by a subtle hum.

Above in the ceiling, there was a groan of something in pain.

Maygan reached for the sword Hon, and quietly slipped it from its scabbard. It was as if even the sword whispered sssssshhhhhiiiinnnnnggg when the blade was revealed. McQuarry’s eyes grew wide as he saw the color of the blade was red and it appeared to be glowing.

“Listen, I’m sure we can work something out. You seem highly qualified. Let me just go get-“

“The blade of reddish hue, demons walk with you,” she said in a hushed tone.

She leaped into the air, sword held skyward, piercing the ceiling with her blade. The soft ceiling tiles came crashing down upon the table in a plume of dust. A creature wriggled and squirmed in the center of the debris. It twisted itself upright, standing to confront Maygan. It looked like a head-sized eyeball partially hidden beneath a swarming tangle of tentacles. At the end of each of the tentacles was what looked like a human ear. It stood on two skinny chicken legs.

McQuarry pressed himself against the wall as tight as possible, butt flat, belly sucked in as much as possible. He tried to get flatter, to get as far away from this thing, but his abs were just too large he concluded.

The creature spoke. “Maygan 4, you and your weak magic,” it said to her in a gargle of a voice that reverberated around the room unnaturally. McQuarry wondered how it spoke it all since it had no mouth.

“Now it’s just us,” she said to the creature. “While this Silence Spell is active, you can’t communicate back to whatever filth commands you,” she said, motioning to card on the table.

“You love to pervert our magic with your human tongue. Our fight isn’t with you,” it said.

“I respectfully disagree, meatball,” Maygan said through gritted teeth.

“As you wish, toaster tits,” the tentacled meatball said to her.

“They are very much real,” Maygan said. She brought the sword down hard towards the squirming mass. But the creature rolled away and slid beneath the table, like a sentient plate of spaghetti. The sword sliced the table cleanly in two pieces, both halves falling to the floor. Koga and the Silence Spell slid off.

McQuarry let out a low dog-like whimper. “That’s expensive!”

Maygan vaulted over the remains of the table and closed the door to the interview room, slamming the solid metal door shut on the wide-eyed face of Hank Steve.

The demon balanced itself on the back of a seat on the opposite side of the room. “This is your final chance, Maygan 4. We’ll let you leave without a fight.”

“Oh how generous,” Maygan said while walking slowly around the remains of the table, both hands gripping the hilt of the sword.

“Yes, we respect you, Maygan 4 and would never wish you harm. But this one, now that’s he’s seen me, he’s got to die.”

“I won’t let that happen,” Maygan said.

“But we don’t want to upset the balance both sides have worked so hard to achieve this last century,” it said while hopping from seat back to seat back, keeping its distance from Maygan.

“Yes, we worked hard on that, did we not? But wouldn’t you say your presence here means that you’ve violated the agreement?”

“Details, details. It’s not like our Demon Lawyers can’t get us out of trouble.”

They circled the table, one holding a sword, the other hopping on the backs of chairs. Round and round they went.

“Have we reached a stalemate then,” the demon asked?

“Perhaps,” Maygan acknowledged.

“You are powerful. And I know your story. You are one of us already. Join us, become part of our team.”

“There is no eye in team,” Maygan said lifting Koga from the floor into the air with her foot. In a blur of motion, she sent the sheathed sword flying at the demon with a roundhouse kick. The sword struck it in the center of its wide eyeball, blinding it, sending it off balance. Maygan closed the distance between them and plunged Hon in the middle of the great, fat, eyeball. She yanked the sword out, releasing with no resistance. A geyser of purple filth erupted from the wound, releasing an impossible amount of liquid carnage around the room, spraying everywhere as the demon spun around in its death throes, clutching its eyeball. A fleshy sprinkler of gore.

It dropped to the floor, exploding into a shower of what looked like red silly string that stuck to all surfaces, including a paralyzed McQuarry, eyes shut tight, a grimace locked on his face. A golden light floated upward from where the demon once was. Maygan held Hon above her head, and the light moved to the naked blade, touched it, and disappeared.

McQuarry spit the goo from his mouth, wiping the goo from his eyes with a sleeve that was also saturated in goo. “What the FUCK. What the FUCK.”

Maygan wiped the blades of her swords clean with a white linen cloth. “That was an Awareness Demon.” She saw the words meant nothing to him. “Not terribly dangerous, but when you find one of those, you know a bigger, nastier demon is hiding somewhere.”

“Demons? I’m hallucinating. I need my pills. I need a doctor.” He swallowed hard, and moved toward the door in slow motion, watching the room as if it was about to attack him.

“Yes, you have many demons…I’ve got work to do.”

“I know. I know. I’ve been working on it. I’ve got some pills, and I’ve been talking to people. I’m only human. ”

Maygan 4 laughed out loud. “There are many to be sure.” She walked around the room surveying the carnage. “But your demons I can handle.”

“Okay, okay. I need my pills,” he said while turning the door handle, pushing hard again and again, forgetting that he actually need to pull.

Maygan was confused. “Does that mean you will allow me to rid you of your demon infestation?” She had the swords sheathed and at her hips again, hands interwoven and held in front of her.

A light knocking on the door made McQuarry jump off the floor. He looked at Maygan as if for approval before answering. She gave a single nod.

“Yes,” his voice squeaked.

“Mister McQuarry, it’s Scooter. Can I come in?”

McQuarry looked at Maygan again. “What did you say your name was,” he asked.

“Maygan 4. Demon Huntress.”

* * * *