Major Demons (26 page)

CHAPTER 58

Shadow had landed some decent strikes with Damnation and his angel’s blade, but Abaddon was inside his head. He started to anticipate Shadow’s moves and didn’t seem to be in any pain from the blows Shadow had landed. Shadow cloned himself dozens of times. Abaddon ignored the copies and continued to come at Shadow. Shadow summoned ice and shot it at his father. Abaddon was able to counter with the exact same move and the ice shattered between the two. Shadow tried to get in Abaddon’s head and read his thoughts or make him hallucinate and he was swiftly rejected. Abaddon also seemed to have a lock on Shadow’s teleportation. Shadow found that he could only move short distances and not beyond the snowy crater. His teleports covered less and less distance as his energy started to fade.

Shadow covered the snowy crater in mist, hoping that it would impair Abaddon’s vision. He could see into the mist and knew that Abaddon was frantically searching for him. It was time. He couldn’t delay what he had to do any longer. Shadow pulled out the small bag of berserker drugs and snorted its entire contents. He could feel the adrenaline and rage kicking in. It only took seconds before he transformed into a rage monster and rushed Abaddon.

Shadow summoned ice around both of his fists and swung relentlessly at Abaddon’s face. He didn’t stop to check his work. He just kept pounding. He couldn’t hear the crunching of bones or the mushing of flesh. He saw everything tinted by a red glaze, until something struck him hard in the face. Shadow flipped over backwards and landed on his stomach. He was no longer a rage monster and could feel pain echoing through his head. There was a ringing in his ears. Abaddon’s laugh drowned it out briefly.

Shadow looked up and saw that Abaddon’s face was a twisted mess of bone fragments and hanging skin. Blood dripped from dozens of deep wounds. A green glow pulsed around his face and Shadow finally realized what was happening. Abaddon was healing.

“You didn’t really think you could turn berserker and kill me, did you? I’ve been raping the Earth of its power for months while you slowly made your way up here. I sent the Dragon running back to Hell with a major injury. Who the hell do you think you are?”

Shadow could feel blood running out of both of his nostrils and curving its way down a cut on his forehead. He wiped it away before it reached his eyes. He propped himself back up with Damnation and stood defiantly.

“Who the hell do I think
I
am? Who the fuck are
you
? Everyone has sucky lives. Everyone has been wronged. Nothing is fair. Yes… you’ve been fucked worse than others… but that doesn’t give you the right to come up here and kill everyone. Take it out on the Dragon. Go kill him. That’s fine. I’ll allow that… but I won’t let you suck the Earth dry and end humanity and the race of nephilim. My name is Shadow and I am a god. I’ve nearly killed you once and I’ll do it again. I’ll keep doing it until you go down.”

Abaddon closed the distance between them in seconds. He grabbed Shadow’s arm and twisted it back until it was on the verge of breaking. Shadow dropped Damnation, but brought his short blade up hard and shoved it through Abaddon’s shoulder. Abaddon cried out in pain and Shadow used the opportunity to break free from his grasp and teleport a short distance away.

Shadow tried to summon the rage he needed to turn into a rage monster again, but couldn’t find it. His berserker drugs were gone. Damnation lay on the ground in front of Abaddon and the crazy nephilim had pulled Michael’s short blade from his shoulder and was now wielding it. The wound was already starting to heal. Despite Shadow’s speech, he knew he was outmatched. He summoned ice in one hand, fire in the other, and prepared to die. As he attacked with both the fire and the ice, Abaddon broke through both. He jumped into the air and Shadow knew he would bring the blade down right into his skull. Shadow closed his eyes and waited.

Seconds passed and Shadow heard Abaddon cry out in pain. Shadow opened his eyes and saw Thanatos standing in front of him, wielding Damnation. He helped Shadow to his feet and then ran off to attack Abaddon. Shadow fell again, but was caught by Leech before he hit the ground.

“How dare you start this party without us, Shady. Of all the stupid shit you’ve pulled, this takes the cake. Hypnos and Weapon aren’t here, but the rest of us are. How do we kill him?”

“He’s drained the Earth of power for months. We can’t kill him.”

Lilith walked up to Shadow and slapped him hard across the face. Leech looked shocked and was about to shove her back.

“No. We don’t need the ‘I’m beaten and tired’ Shadow. We need the ‘Do what I say and we can kill this guy’ Shadow. You’ve always led us to victory. Wake the fuck up, Shadow. We’re here. We’re powerful. Tell us what to do.”

Lilith was right. Giving up wasn’t noble. It was the easy way out. Shadow got to his feet and shoved Leech away.

“Thanatos, toss me Damnation and start attacking with your axe.”

Thanatos tossed Shadow’s weapon back to him and started attacking with his axe. Steam looked at Shadow for directions.

“I need him distracted. Left side. You’re going to conjure water and steam and shoot it at his eyes. Just the eyes. Don’t aim it anywhere else because we’re launching a fire attack from another angle. Understood?”

Steam nodded and ran off to do as Shadow instructed.

“Lilith, Lucia’s going to play a role in this too. I know the two of you have been learning how to attack with fire. I don’t know how you’re going to get it through to your toddler, but both of you need to keep a steady stream of fire headed at his right arm. I don’t want him capable of swinging at us. Get that short blade away from him. Make him drop it. Clear?”

Lilith nodded and ran off with Lucia. She spoke softly to the little demonness and then the two of them attacked Abaddon’s arm with fire. Shadow turned to Leech.

“Get in close enough to drain touch him and then suck as much energy as you can. Don’t let him kill you. He’s going to think you’re the killing blow, but you’re just a distraction like everyone else. I need you to put your ego aside. Are you strong enough to do this?”

Leech’s eyes started to glow green.

“We can do this, Shadow. Just promise you’ll end it quickly.”

Shadow nodded and Leech ran off to play his role. He took a couple of shots with his guns and then was able to dodge in without getting hit by Abaddon’s random swinging fists. He grabbed the nephilim’s shin and started siphoning off as much energy as he could. Abaddon cried out.

“It’s not enough, Shadow. Your friends are all going to die.”

Shadow leapt into the air and watched as Abaddon gathered up all of his friends in his monstrous fists. He started to crush them. Shadow took careful aim as he fell back to the Earth and came down with all of his power at Abaddon’s head. He struck with Damnation over and over until he severed the nephilim’s head from his body. Abaddon’s lifeless form writhed on the ground until it finally stopped moving. His hands relaxed and everyone was able to break free. Lilith, Leech, and Steam looked hopefully optimistic, but Thanatos pointed above Abaddon’s remains.

“It wasn’t enough. His soul lives on and he’s going to finish what he started.”

Shadow saw a ghostly form of Abaddon slowly making his way back towards the center of the crater. He was about to start draining the Earth again. Shadow knew what he needed to do.

“Don’t ever tell anyone that I’m a hero. I’m not. Humanity can go fuck itself for all I care. What I’m about to do is for Leech. It’s for Lilith. It’s for Sarah… and it’s for…”

Shadow turned to Leech and handed over Damnation.

“Find Sarah. She’s pregnant. I can’t let my kid grow up without a father. Do me a favor? Be his dad for me. Will you do that, Leech?”

Leech let a tear roll down his face from each eye, but he wiped them away and nodded. Lilith started sobbing uncontrollably. She set Lucia on the ground and ran at Shadow.

“No! No!”

She clung to Shadow and wouldn’t let him move. Leech had to pull her back kicking and screaming. Shadow turned to Thanatos and Steam and put a hand on their shoulders.

“Be proud to be nephilim. You did a great thing here today. Protect my friends when I’m gone.”

They both nodded. Lilith continued to flail uncontrollably. Shadow signaled for Leech to let her go. She ran at him and he caught her by both shoulders and pressed her arms to her side so she wouldn’t latch on to him again.

“It has to be this way, Lilith. Please just give me a proper goodbye.”

Lilith calmed herself down and nodded. She hugged Shadow and kissed him on the cheek.

“Thank you, Shadow, for always watching out for me. I will never forget you. Never.”

Shadow smiled at her and started making his way towards Abaddon’s soul. He turned back one last time.

“Leech, I always wanted a brother. Thank you for being one to me.”

Shadow took Michael’s short blade in his right hand and cut open his own chest. His eyes glowed white before he stepped into Abaddon’s soul and took it into his body. He cried out in agony and then teleported away.

AFTERWORD

Leech, Lilith, Thanatos, and Steam were able to meet up with Hypnos and Weapon within a few days of the death of Abaddon. Hypnos told them what happened to Samael. Leech was planning on recruiting and training an army of nephilim, but he told Hypnos and Thanatos they should go after Uriel and take revenge. Leech was surprised when Lilith didn’t ask to go with them. She cried for several days when she found out about her father’s death, but knew that it was more important to focus on being a mother to Lucia. She had no doubt her brothers would take care of Uriel. Steam and Weapon joined Leech, Lilith, and Lucia as they tracked down Sarah. They found her a year later.

Sarah listened without any emotion as Leech told her how Shadow had ultimately taken down Abaddon. He told her the whole story, including the promise he made to Shadow to look after his child. Sarah handed a small sleeping nephilim over to Leech.

“His name is Shade. He’s Shadow’s son. Raise him until I return with Shadow.”

“Sarah… he’s either dead or he’s gone insane. Please don’t…”

Sarah pointed the berserker staff at Leech.

“I still have hope. You said you’d take care of him. Keep your promise until I return. I’m going to find Shade’s father and then we’ll be a family.”

Leech shook his head.

“You’re making a mistake, Sarah. Don’t…”

Sarah turned and ran away.

When the Dragon returned to Hell, Nightmare went insane from overexposure to the berserker powers in his scythe. When the Dragon sent part of his army to take Nightmare in, Nightmare drew Rage and no one was brave enough to attack him. He turned and fled. The demons did not pursue. They spread a lie that Nightmare was dead. The Dragon knew they were lying, since none of them brought Nightmare’s scythe back, but he let the lie spread because it restored order.

The berserkers in Nightmare’s army joined Muan’s forces and were trained by actual berserkers. With order restored, demons began to make their way back to the now recovering humans on Earth. The Dragon kept a much closer watch over the five new major demons and would no longer confine himself to the lowest circle of Hell.

Leech and Lilith took in Shade and raised him as their son. They also spent a considerable amount of time finding and recruiting nephilim. Leech had a permanent nephilim camp built on Earth and it became strong enough that angels and demons went out of their way not to pass by it. They kept an eye out for Shadow and there were occasional rumors that he had been spotted, but nothing was ever confirmed.

Thanks for reading Major Demons, the third book in my Angels and Demons series. Please consider leaving a review if you enjoyed it.

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