Major Demons (18 page)

CHAPTER 38

The nephilim slowly made their way towards the plane crash. Hypnos and Thanatos carried their father on a stretcher Lilith had conjured from a spell in her book. Lilith carried Lucia and Steam formed water into different balloon animal-like formations to keep the infant entertained. Lucia smiled and tried to grab at the water animals.

As the group made their way towards the fallen plane, a large explosion sent them all flying backwards into the air. Lucia went sailing out of her mother’s arms, but Steam caught her. She started to cry and Steam attempted to calm her. Lilith got to her feet, drew her whip, and lit it on fire.

“Who’s there?”

A demon stepped into view. He wore a black hat that was tilted down to hide his face, a black trench coat, and held what appeared to be a rocket launcher over his shoulder.

“These are my souls. You guys can find somewhere else to scavenge.”

Lilith shook her head.

“Steam brought down the plane. These are our souls. My father is injured and my daughter is hungry. You have one chance to leave.”

“You don’t know who I am, do ya?”

“No. I don’t much care, either. I’ve killed too many demons to remember all of their names. That’s a ‘no’ to my offer to walk away then?”

“I ain’t a demon, lady. Well… not all demon. I got a little angel in me. That’s how I’m able to make my trench coat do this…”

The stranger tucked the rocket launcher in his trench coat. The weapon disappeared inside and seemed to no longer exist. He pulled two swords out of his trench coat.

“I’m known as Weapon. I collect a lot of things. I store them all in my coat. Most of my collection is weapons. For instance, I’ll add your whip to my collection after I kill you. It looks like it’s made of sturdy stuff.”

“I’m Lilith, the daughter of Samael and Vixen. You don’t want to piss me off. I’m friends with Shadow.”

The stranger waved one of his swords around, pointing at the other nephilim.

“Which one of them is Shadow? I’ll kill him, too.”

“You’ve seriously never heard of Shadow?”

“No. I’m starting to think I know your little friend over there, though.”

Weapon pointed one of his blades at Steam.

“He’s run off with a couple of my scores before. I hate thieves. I’ll be adding his head to my collection.”

Hypnos was checking Samael for any further injuries from the explosion. Thanatos was focused on Weapon. He ran at Weapon, ducked under the blades as he swung them, and placed his palm on Weapon’s forehead. Weapon staggered backwards a few steps and then fell to the ground. Thanatos picked up one of Weapon’s blades and brought it up to kill him.

“No!”

Thanatos looked at his half-sister with a confused expression.

“We shouldn’t go around killing nephilim if we can help it.”

Thanatos threw the sword hard into the ground near Weapon’s head and stomped off. Hypnos cautiously approached his sister.

“Honestly, I’m really surprised Thanatos listened to you. You may want to be a little less forceful with him. I know he’s strange, but he’s also very powerful.”

Lilith raised both eyebrows.

“So you were fine with what he was about to do?”

“Yes. We don’t know this guy and he attacked us. I’d say that’s enough to justify putting someone down for good. Explain to me why you don’t agree.”

“Shadow is going to need help. This war is a problem for all of us. Angels, demons, nephilim, and humans. We didn’t kill Steam and he’s been alright so far. We need the nephilim on our side. We never should have hunted them.”

“
We
never did, Lilith.
You
did.”

Lilith looked at the ground.

“I know. I regret it. I’m trying to make up for it. Shadow needs all the help he can get.”

“You can start by treating Thanatos like you treat me. I know. He has no idea how to do things properly. He’s odd… but that doesn’t mean you can just keep treating him like that. Why do you keep doing that?”

“Because I’m afraid of him. I don’t know how to…”

“Lilith, do you trust me?”

“Of course, Hypnos. I just can’t…”

“Take my word for it. He wants to protect you. He wants you to be safe. You have
no reason
to fear him. I know he was probably… off… when he was sent to bring you to us. There was no good way to approach that situation, though. We weren’t sure if we could trust Leech. From what you tell me about him, we should have. It would have saved us a lot of time and a bunch of problems.”

“Fine. I’ll try.”

Lilith went to Steam and took Lucia from his arms. She walked in the direction she had seen Thanatos going.

Thanatos was sitting on a rock. He had no idea how he had messed up this time, but it had clearly pissed off his sister. He searched his brain for how he could have done it differently. The search came up empty. He had killed before and Lilith had never objected. He pulled a mirror out from his cloak and looked at his reflection, but couldn’t bring himself to laugh.

“Thanatos?”

Thanatos looked up. Lilith was standing there with his niece. He looked back down.

“We should have killed that guy. I don’t want him to hurt the baby.”

“Do you want to hold her?”

Thanatos gave her an awestruck look. He excitedly shook his head yes. Lilith cautiously placed Lucia in Thanatos’s arms. He gently rocked her back and forth.

“Do you think she’ll like my mirror?”

Thanatos shifted Lucia into his left arm and looked in his mirror. He laughed at his reflection and then handed it to Lucia. She looked at herself and giggled. Lilith couldn’t help but smile.

CHAPTER 39

Gangrene’s mind quickly reviewed all of the exits he had seen on his way up. He kept his scythe pointed at Astaroth and White Death pointed at Nightmare.

“We can still walk away from this. No one has done anything that we can’t overlook yet. I’m leaving. We can resume discussions at some other time. I won’t keep going after…”

Nightmare continued to slowly walk towards Gangrene with a smile on his face. It made him uneasy and he moved White Death up so it was pointed at Nightmare’s head.

“Stop moving. I can kill you if I have to.”

Nightmare laughed.

“I doubt it. Regardless, you can’t kill both of us. We need your army, Gangrene.”

“I guess it’s a good thing I brought them with me then. They’re surrounding this place as we speak.”

Nightmare laughed again.

“No they aren’t. Who do you think you’re trying to lie to? I’m the major demon of lies.”

Astaroth slowly pulled back her scythe and moved it over her shoulder with both hands, readying a strike. Gangrene saw the move out of the corner of his eye.

“None of that. I’m serious. I’ll kill you.”

Astaroth swung her scythe. Gangrene reacted instantly. He fired White Death right as Nightmare started running towards him and then brought his scythe up to block Astaroth’s attack. He then aimed White Death at Astaroth, praying he had hit Nightmare and stopped him in his tracks.

“Well I guess we’re past any point of reconciliation. So…”

Gangrene fired White Death at Astaroth’s head. She threw a glass bottle in the path of the bullet. The bottle shattered and smoke started to flow into the room. Within seconds, Gangrene was having trouble seeing anything more than a few feet in front of him. He scanned his surroundings, but saw no trace of Nightmare or Astaroth. He kept White Death and his scythe ready.

“That was very s-s-s-stupid.”

Astaroth hissed out the final word. Gangrene saw a dark, snake-like form slither in front of him. He took a shot with White Death, but the shadow was already gone.

“Have you ever been hunted by a s-s-s-snake before?”

Gangrene could sense Astaroth slithering behind him. He turned and swung with his scythe. Nothing was there.

“S-s-s-silly little demon.”

“Show yourself. You’re fighting like a coward.”

“Are you s-s-s-scared?”

Nightmare jumped out from the smoke and swung at Gangrene. Gangrene blocked the attack with the barrel of White Death, but Nightmare kicked him hard. Gangrene flew backwards across the room and dropped his weapons when he hit the wall. Astaroth sprung out from the smoke, lunging at Gangrene’s neck with her fangs. Gangrene scrambled for his weapons. His hand locked onto something and he swung it hard at the springing snake. He didn’t score a perfect hit, but his scythe’s blade lodged in Astaroth’s neck. Gangrene could feel White Death with his left foot. He put his foot under the gun, kicked it into the air, and grabbed it. Before Astaroth could struggle free from his scythe, Gangrene fired White Death and blew off her head. Nightmare emerged from the smoke and saw Astaroth’s headless corpse. His scythe and eyes started glowing red.

“What did you do?”

Gangrene attempted to ready his weapons to keep Nightmare back, but Nightmare punched him hard in the face. Gangrene could hear his nose break and warm blood came gushing out of his nostrils. Nightmare struck again with his fist. Gangrene blocked the attack, but Nightmare followed it up with a swing from the butt of his scythe to Gangrene’s chin. Gangrene knew Nightmare’s scythe had been fused with the berserker staff and he knew that Nightmare was angry enough that he would continue to fight, even past death, until Gangrene was put down. He knew he had no other option. He had to run. Nightmare attacked again. Gangrene brought White Death up and fired. He didn’t wait to see the aftermath. He turned and ran. Nightmare followed.

“Gangrene doesn’t leave this place! Capture him and bring him back here!”

Gangrene was nearly to the entrance when he felt something wrap around his leg. He turned and saw a demon sorcerer and the chain he had conjured. It was slowly winding its way up Gangrene’s leg and had reached his knee. Gangrene turned and fired White Death. The shot missed, but it distracted the sorcerer. Gangrene hacked at the chain with his scythe. The scythe cut cleanly through the chain. He ran out the entrance.

When Gangrene made it outside, he almost wished he was back inside. He was staring at the combined forces of Nightmare and Astaroth. This was a no-win situation. He knew he was going to die. He wiped the blood from under his nose with his sleeve and readied his weapons to face them. Gangrene was going to go down fighting.

“That’s what happens when you stick your nose in where it doesn’t belong.”

Gangrene turned and saw Raven grinning at him. She handed him a piece of cloth, which he tore, rolled up, and stuck up his nostrils to stop the bleeding.

“So you couldn’t just let me come here and die, huh? You’re getting way too attached, babe. I’m not sure if I’m ok with this.”

Raven punched him playfully in the shoulder and then walked past him. Gangrene saw that she had brought his entire army with her.

“I don’t really care what you’re ok with. I wanted you and now you’re mine. Deal with it.”

Raven pointed at the combined armies of Nightmare and Astaroth.

“Kill the motherfuckers who injured your general!”

Gangrene’s army charged. Raven and Gangrene charged with them. Nightmare ran out of his headquarters with an enraged look on his face.

“Kill Gangrene! He doesn’t leave this place alive!”

One of the demons in Astaroth’s army looked confused.

“Where is General Astaroth?”

Nightmare pulled a knife from his belt and threw it. It landed in the demon’s throat. He fell over and bled into the sand. Nightmare didn’t wait for anyone else to question his commands. He ran at Gangrene and attacked.

CHAPTER 40

Shadow sat straight up and held out his hand, willing Damnation to fly into his open palm. He heard something moving around in the sand next to him. He looked down and saw his scythe with all of his armor. He was in no immediate danger. When he laid back down, he realized what a terrible headache he had.

Sarah entered the tent and saw Shadow with his hand over his forehead.

“Didn’t know it was possible for you to get your ass kicked.”

“It isn’t. The guy had my armor and tried to take my weapon. I was basically fighting a less powerful version of myself after wasting a significant amount of energy on beating up the rest of you.”

“So it’s a loss with an asterisk next to it in the record book? A loss is a loss, Shadow.”

“Did I… what happened when…”

Shadow closed his eyes, hoping that he could form the question he needed to ask.

“What did I do when I became a rage monster?”

“You don’t remember?”

“Only bits and pieces.”

“Well… you attacked everyone. You nearly killed me. It was pretty terrifying.”

“Adrenaline has a new berserker staff. I’m guessing no one outside of this group knows it exists. We need to take it so that…”

“You seem to have enough power when you’re angry. That thing turns you into a kamikaze weapon. I think you’ll do just fine without it.”

“My father is the son of the Archangel Michael. Do you think it’s going to be easy to put him down? I mean… I’ll completely ignore the fact that he’s my father. I can do that. I know I mean nothing to him and it’s easy for him to mean nothing to me. I’m just talking about the sheer amount of power that he has available to him here on Earth.”

“After seeing what you did, I’m not going to let you have the berserker staff.”

Shadow grinned.

“You’re going to stop me?”

“I don’t want you to die. So yes. I’ll stop you.”

“I can’t be stopped. I always…”

“Win? No you don’t. In fact, I think I’ll go ahead and take your armor. You aren’t using it and…”

Shadow jumped out of the bed and grabbed Sarah’s wrist. She pushed him away.

“It was a joke. It wouldn’t even fit me. It’s way too big.”

“This is important. Not just for me, but for everyone. I already sacrificed Leech to this stupid mission and I won’t let anyone else take the same risk. I need to guarantee that Abaddon goes down for good.”

“Why? Why is this your responsibility?”

“It isn’t. It’s Michael’s responsibility. It’s Persephone’s responsibility. It’s the Dragon’s responsibility. The only problem is I don’t trust any of them to actually
do
anything about it. I can’t live in a world where…”

Shadow’s head started to throb and he laid back down.

“I can’t let anything happen to Lilith. I can’t let anything happen to Leech’s kid. I can’t let anything happen to Muan… but most importantly, I can’t let anything happen to you.”

Sarah sat down on the bed next to him.

“Most importantly? Why am I the most important?”

“You just are. Stop pushing it.”

“Why can’t you just say it?”

“Because I’m a demon. Demons don’t say things like that.”

“Wrong. You’re a nephilim, not a demon, and I heard Leech say things like that to Lilith all the time.”

“Leech is fucking dead now. That’s what being soft got him.”

Sarah waited a few moments before responding.

“You don’t mean that.”

“I mean it. I never took all of this seriously because I knew I had my friends with me. Well no one is going to be there with me when I face off with Abaddon. I won’t sacrifice anyone else to this bullshit. I’ll face him alone, I’ll go berserk, and I’ll end him. That’s all there is to it.”

“Nope. I’ll be there.”

“No you won’t.”

“I don’t like it when you go off on tangents. It’s very sad that Leech died. That doesn’t mean he was soft. Why am I the most important?”

“Because I fucking love you, you asshole!”

Sarah tried to prevent the onslaught of laughter she felt creeping up her face. Shadow saw her reaction.

“Oh wonderful! I say the stupid shit you want me to and you’re ready to laugh at me! Why don’t you just get the fuck out of here?”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because I fucking love you too, you asshole!”

Shadow tried hard to suppress the laughter. Neither of them lasted very long. They both started laughing. Shadow ended it abruptly by sitting up and kissing her. Sarah got into the bed with Shadow, got on top of him, and took off her clothes.

Sarah waited for the fall of night before she slipped her robes and armor back on. Shadow was sleeping peacefully next to her. She was nearly tempted to abandon her plan and couldn’t help but feel bad about what she knew she had to do. She needed to keep Shadow alive. She couldn’t let him attack his father with suicide being his way to guarantee victory.

Sarah slipped out of the tent and made her way to the small cave where she suspected Adrenaline was keeping the berserker staff. She snorted a small amount of the drugs from her pouch and waited for the effect to hit her. It didn’t take long.

Sarah took down the guards watching the cave entrance without any issues. She saw the berserker staff briefly before something hit her hard on the right side of her face. She felt blood streaming out of her ear. When she looked up, she saw Adrenaline standing over her.

“This isn’t yours. This is our gift to Shadow.”

“I don’t have time to discuss this with you.”

Sarah drove her sword into the ground and whispered a prayer. Her sword started to glow and became brighter and brighter until Adrenaline could no longer see. Sarah used the distraction to slip past him, grab the berserker staff, and run. By the time Adrenaline could see again, Sarah was gone.