Demon Hunters (37 page)

“I want Heaven returned to its rightful
place right now.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“I think it will. I’m trying to do this
nicely. There’s no reason it has to get nasty.”

“We can handle it if it does.” Jeff said and
suddenly he and Melissa began to shift and change. All the work
Belgard had put into them melted away as though it were never
there. A metal plate covered Pyre’s face and two large wounds
opened up on his shoulders and began spewing fire. Vyra’s skin went
from a creamy pale peach color to a sickly green hue. Her face
twisted and contorted into a nightmarish appearance. Her fingers
grew longer and narrower with claws in place of nails.

“As you can imagine, Pyre and I have spent
many years planning this operation.” Vyra’s voice was no longer
sweet, but rather it was acrid and raspy.

“Two demons planning a real estate scam?
Seems like a waste of power.”

“This is just the beginning. Bertram can
sell his homes to his heart’s content. We don’t care about that,
just as long as he gets them in here. As the population of Heaven
grows, so does the land. We projected in five years; Heaven will
grow to roughly the size of the western hemisphere. Ten years from
now, it will completely take over.”

“With you in charge.”

“That’s right. We shall build a new kingdom
of Hell here on Earth, and the best part is that we’ll use Heaven
as its seed. And from there, we can keep expanding! Soon, Hell will
grow to the size of the universe itself!” Pyre said, his flames
burning brighter as his ambition grew.

“Sounds like a great plan, but I happen to
know there is a mess of pissed off angels overhead ready to come
down here and slice your heads off.” I noticed that the news took
them off guard. Vyra looked to Pyre and her eyes, as angry and
glowing as they appeared, seemed slightly worried. “You can give up
now and maybe we can work out a deal with them. You might just get
community service.”

“Or we can just send them your head to show
how serious we are.” Pyre said as he lunged for me. He grabbed my
neck in his fist and Vyra pounced on me. Ivar advanced in an
attempt to save me, but Vyra belched out a cloud of green gas from
her mouth and as it passed over Ivar, he fell to the floor,
choking. She then ran her blade-like fingernail across my neck,
pushing it into my skin. Her face was overtaken by a look of
surprise and she stepped back.

“He’s one of our kind.”

“Impossible! He’s mortal.”

“I sense one of ours within him. It is
strong. Powerful. Perhaps we do not have to sacrifice him? He could
be of use to our cause.” Vyra suggested.

“A mutt. A filthy, mortal mutt. We’ll do our
brother a service by freeing him from this bag of excrement.” Pyre
said. Vyra looked at me and thought for a moment.

“You’re right.” She began to push her claw
deeper into my body. Suddenly I heard a loud bang and one whole
side of the room disappeared. I looked over and saw Hither above me
with her sword drawn.

“Release him now!” She called out. Pyre’s
grip relaxed and I fell to the floor. I scrambled to my feet and
she landed softly before us. “Do not worry. My host is still
holding back. I just sensed you needed help.”

“Thanks,” I said as I got my breath back. I
saw Vyra and Pyre shrinking back away from us. “What do we do
now?”

“We take Heaven back.”

“Okay. How do we do that?”

“We liberate the anchor.” Ivar said as he
steadied himself up off the floor.

We all looked to Vyra and Pyre. Hither held
her sword at Vyra’s head but instead of cowering at the threat, she
smiled a sick, satisfied smile and turned to Pyre, who I could only
assume was smiling similarly back at her.

“You have him, don’t you?” Hither said. Vyra
just spat at Hither’s feet. “Where is he!?” She bellowed. I could
see a little extra pep in her step as she held her sword to Vyra’s
throat. “Tell me where you’ve put him, demon bitch!”

“He belongs to us now.” She said through her
clenched teeth.

“Whoa! Him? Him who? What are you talking
about?” I asked. I saw something that appeared to be a tear tracing
down Hither’s cheek.

“I wasn’t sure until your friend said
anything, but now I realize what has happened. These fiends are
responsible for the disappearance of one of our finest warriors.”
She said. I looked to Ivar and he seemed to be deep in thought. I
poked him slightly and as he looked to me.

“An angel,” He said. “That must be the
anchor.” Suddenly the ground began to shake and a giant explosion
roared through our ears. I ran outside to see what had happened and
I saw a large figure standing up from an even larger crater that
had not been there before. There were large chunks of dirt and rock
all over the place. The figure rose to its full height, which had
to have been ten or fifteen feet, and two large wings stretched out
from its back. The feathers on his wings looked weathered and were
tinted black.

As it turned, I saw that it was a male
angel. His head was covered in old bandages, except for his left
eye, which was wide and burned with energy. In his hand he held a
large sword. The hilt was large and ornate, decorated with jewels
and gold and silver. I felt Hither come up behind me. I sensed her
awe was as sincere as mine.

“Lethar.”

“Who?”

“Lethar. The One Eyed Angel. One of the
host’s finest warriors. And my soul mate.”

“You believe in soul mates?” I asked with
some amusement. Ivar slipped up behind me.

“Soul Mates in Heaven mean something a
little more different than here. Two angels who are Soul Mates are
connected on a level that no word in any recorded language can
accurately describe. It’s as though every part of their bodies and
minds are connected on the most basic level.”

“He disappeared years ago and for so long I
have searched,” Hither continued. “I have been from one end of
creation to the other and everywhere in between looking for
him.”

“You knew they had your little friend there
this whole time? You knew and you never felt compelled to share?” I
asked.

“I was not certain. I had heard a rumor that
Lethar had been taken by demons, but I could never imagine anything
like this. I had no idea they could use him like this. I did not
think it could be true of Lethar. He’s too great a warrior to be
overtaken by demons such as these. Clearly, he has been corrupted.
Hurt. I can feel it. I can feel...” Suddenly, Hither jumped back
and fell to the ground in agony. Ivar and I ran to her.

“She was trying to feel his mind. Must have
been some feedback.”

“There is a part of his mind that he blocks
from me,” Hither said as she struggled up. “This can’t be possible!
Lethar! Let me in! Share with me your pain! I can help you!” She
shrieked. Lethar then raised his sword up, blocking out the sun,
and then brought it down sending a shock wave through the ground
beneath us. We fell back and watched as Lethar began to soar into
the sky. Soon, he was little more than a dot against the blue sky.
He floated down and he appeared normal, or at least as normal as a
man with black wings coming out of his back could look. He walked
up to us, his sword still at the ready. He held his free arm out to
Hither who took it quickly. He pulled her up to meet his eye. They
just stared at each other quietly.

“Lethar. I know it’s been a long time and
it’s clear you’ve been through a lot, but I’m here now. I can help
you. Tell me what has happened to you.”

“What has happened is that he’s found a
better way of life.” Vyra said as she and Pyre appeared behind
us.

“You’ve tortured him! Corrupted him! I’ll
kill you!” Hither said as she lunged for Vyra and Pyre, but just as
her sword was about to split their skulls, Lethar moved like
lightning and was able to slide his blade in, blocking Hither’s.
She stood back in disbelief. “You would protect them? Your captors?
They have destroyed who you are! They have stolen Heaven! Does any
of that mean anything to you anymore?” Lethar stepped forward and
lowered his sword. He looked one way and then the other and then
back at Hither. His only response to her was a slight shake of his
head. He then raised his sword above his head and brought it down
toward her. She lunged back, missing the blade by mere inches.

“He’s ours now!” Pyre said happily. “Our
watchdog. Now, watchdog, these people are trespassing. We want you
to get rid of them. Now!” Hither stood firm across from Lethar. She
pulled out her sword and stared him down.

“I don’t want to do this, but you give me
little choice. The only way to free Heaven from these demons is to
destroy you. It is not a price I savor paying, but I will if I
must. I hope you can forgive me.” And with that final thought,
Hither leapt up into the air. Lethar was quick to follow and the
sound of their blades striking against each other sang through the
air like galactic chimes. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see
the dark mass of angels begin to move. I checked my watch and it
had just passed the hour mark.

“Shit,” I said to myself. I looked over to
Pyre and Vyra, who were more focused on the fight going on above
our heads than the fast approaching Host. “You guys wanted a fight?
You got one!” I said, pointing toward the airborne army barreling
down on us. With no words at all, they ran off but I wasn’t really
too concerned about them because an all out war with angels and
demons was quickly escalating and that was taking up most of my
attention. I looked to Ivar and the blank expression on his face
failed to assure me of anything. My first thought was that we were
in no position to take part in such a fight and the battleground of
angels was no place for mortals. I grabbed Ivar’s arm and pulled
him along with me and we quickly dove into the car.

We sped off and as we weaved through the
streets, I could hear the hard crashes all around us as angels from
above hit the ground like guided missiles. I looked up and saw the
sky growing dark. Black clouds swirled ominously over us and bright
red flecks of flame shimmered against the murky sky.

As the sky was enveloped in darkness, the
ground below us began to shudder violently. Huge cracks broke
through the sidewalks and asphalt and suddenly legions of monsters
began to crawl up from the Earth. There were gangly arms with claw
tipped fingers struggling from under the ground. Unearthly hissing
filled my ears and I could see glowing eyes burning through the
darkness as the armies of Hell broke loose.

The car suddenly spun out and fell into a
newly created ditch. Ivar and I were both thrown from the car as it
ripped into two. I landed face first into the asphalt. I looked up
and saw that the once beautiful street had quickly become a bloody
and fire drenched battle zone. Ivar grabbed my arm and dragged me
along.

“The demon’s gone quiet.”

“No wonder. This is no longer Heaven.” Ivar
said as he pulled me over the burning ground.

“Of course it is. It’s had better days, but
it’s still Heaven.”

“No. Heaven is spilling into Hell and Hell
is spilling into Heaven.” Ivar explained. I looked around and felt
hard pressed to argue the point. There were amorphous creatures
leaping out of the shadows and weapon wielding monsters fretting
around as angels swept through the sky swinging their swords and
brandishing their shields. I could see the gates ahead of us. They
began to open and I felt a wave of relief, until I saw Felix coming
toward us, smiling.

“Get out of here!” I shouted.

“And miss this? Look at the beauty! Such
majesty!” He said as he looked upon a scene of angels battling
demons that were crawling up out of Hell itself. We could hear the
sound of swords cutting flesh and saw blood pouring down on the
ground like rain.

“You do realize you will be destroyed when
this is all said and done, right?”

“No. I took care of that. Hither not only
let me come back to Earth, but she gave me a gift.”

“What gift?”

“I called them. They will help.”

“Who? Who did you call?” I urged. I grabbed
Felix by his arms and forced his eyes to mine. “What did you do?”
He only smiled and looked over his shoulder. I followed his stare.
There was nothing really to speak of. There was a large mountain
range that sat around the general area. It served as a natural
borderline for the county. I watched more closely and I could see
some people at the top of the mountain. They were shambling along
oddly and soon they were joined by others. It became an endless
stream of people from seemingly nowhere. Some were climbing down;
others were just tumbling down easily.

“I called everyone.” Felix said oddly.

“My god.” I said as I watched the hills
disappear under a mob of zombies. It just never stopped. A few
hundred grew to thousands, and then hundreds of thousands and soon
it was millions. Billions. I could hear the groans of the dead as
they got closer. The scent of rotted flesh carried along the wind
and burned inside my nose.

“Every single person who has ever died is
coming back to return Heaven.”

Zombies, Demons And Angels? Oh My!

An army of zombies, at least a billion
strong, was making its way toward Heaven. I hated zombies. I’ve
always hated zombies more than anything. Their insatiable hunger.
The way they just refused to die, no matter how long you took in
putting them down. It’s not like it’s out of some inner
determination or anything like that. They’re just rock stupid and
don’t know when they’re beat, and I could see a flock of ‘em coming
toward us.

My original plan had been to make a hasty
retreat before things got too deep. Ivar and I were in no way
prepared to take on an army of angels, demons and zombies, but as
we were blocked by all three, there didn’t seem to be a choice
anymore.