Middle Demons (Angels and Demons Book 2) (8 page)

CHAPTER 15

“Why do you look so happy, Azazel? It’s really creepy.”

“Do you know where we are, little dude? This is the middle ring of the seventh circle of Hell which means the bloody bushes talk and there are profligates being chased around by dogs.”

The barren desert was filled with thorny bushes covered in blood being fed on by harpies. Azazel ran up to the nearest bush and broke one of the branches off. The branch started reciting a story of suicide tied to depression and no one being there to help him. One of the harpies was alerted by the story and she flew to Azazel. Before he could speak, she slashed him across his face with her claw.

“You realize that many of the bushes are here because of you, don’t you? I know of Azazel the demon angel who talked so many soldiers into committing suicide rather than face the horrors of war. They had no idea they would end up here, but you didn’t tell them that, did you?”

“It’s not my job to explain that actions have consequences to everyone I have a conversation with. That seems like common sense, wouldn’t you agree? Do you wish to fight me?”

“Quite the contrary. These suicide bushes give us something to do. I would be rather bored if I couldn’t torment…”

Azazel pulled his sword from his belt and sliced the harpy’s head off. Shadow and Muan looked at him like he was insane.

“She was going to attack me. You guys heard her. She said something about wanting to kill all three of us.”

Shadow rested his hand just inches above one of his scythes, ready to grab it at a moment’s notice.

“Azazel, you’re insane. We were right here. She didn’t say anything like that.”

“Alright fine. I was bored. This is the seventh circle of Hell and it’s supposed to be full of violence but
nothing
has attacked us yet. What’s the point in taking a scenic walk through the circle of violence if nothing tries to fight us?”

Suddenly all eyes were on the three demons. The harpies began to swarm and the large dogs stopped chasing the damned to attack those who had intruded in their realm and killed a harpy. Azazel laughed.

“Looks like there’s going to be a bloodbath.”

“No there isn’t. We don’t have your back on this one, dumbass.”

Azazel looked surprised.

“You’re from the department of murder. I thought you were
the
middle demon of war. Why would you run from a fight?”

“A couple of reasons. First, I didn’t pick this fight. You did. Second, if we slaughter the tormenters of this circle, do you really think the Dragon is going to give me a promotion to major demon? He won’t. He’ll kill the three of us the second we enter the ninth circle. So maybe you should think a little harder before you do something idiotic like that again.”

By the time Shadow had finished chastising Azazel, they were surrounded. Azazel drew his swords and grinned. Shadow turned invisible, picked up Muan, and ran. After a couple of minutes, he was having a hard time keeping both of them covered with his power. He put Muan back down and reappeared. When they looked back, they didn’t see anything that resembled the slaughter that Azazel wanted. There were no dead harpies or dogs. They had all returned back to what they were doing before the demons had entered the middle ring of the seventh circle. Azazel was also gone.

“Maybe he took your advice and ran?”

“It doesn’t really matter. I was interested in his combination scythe but I’m starting to wonder if he ever stood a chance of creating such a thing. I believe that he was a great warrior but I’m not so sure of his abilities as a sorcerer or a blacksmith.”

As Shadow turned to head towards the exit of the middle ring, a large dog lunged at his face. Before Shadow was able to ready a counterattack, the dog slightly changed direction and flew past him on his left side. When he examined the dog, he saw a dart protruding from its neck. He pulled it out and returned it to Muan.

“Still trying to keep me alive?”

“Yup. I have a feeling that if you die, I would end up working for Lord Leech and I still don’t like him all that much. You’re welcome.”

Muan started on his way towards the exit and Shadow shook his head, grinned, and then followed. When they made it within a few feet of the large doors that led to the inner-circle, they were stopped. Several beautiful creatures with wings emerged from the shadows. Muan immediately felt his energy drain. Shadow quickly grabbed the hilt of his angel’s blade underneath his cloak before their magic had a chance to work on him.

“Move out of our way. We are travelling to the Dragon to claim what is rightfully mine.”

One of the beautiful creatures stepped forward and spoke in a very pleasant voice.

“What would you claim from the Dragon, Shadow, son of Abaddon?”

“My right to rule. I go to become the major demon of murder and one day I will return to free my father and Muan’s father from torture in the lowest circle of Hell.”

The beautiful creature smiled at them and gave them a sad sigh. Shadow noticed that Muan’s eyelids were beginning to droop and he was starting to feel tired as well.

“I am the Siren of Canosa. With my sisters, I serve Queen Persephone. Your grandmother has an offer for you, Shadow.”

Muan shook the sleep from his eyes and looked up at Shadow.

“It’s the sirens, Lord Shadow! We can’t let them…”

Before Muan could finish his thought, the Siren of Canosa sung a sweet four-line song.

“Sleep now, small warrior, why should you fight on?

Your eyelids grow heavy, my little Muan.

Your lord doesn’t need you, your father is gone.

Rest now from your cares, my brave, sweet Muan.”

Muan curled up in a ball and fell asleep on the ground. The song had made Shadow a little tired as well, but he yawned and tried to refocus his efforts on staying awake. The Siren of Canosa looked at the two demons with a sad smile. Shadow couldn’t help but wonder what had hurt them so badly. Their singing was beautiful, but it was mixed with such pain.

“What does Persephone want with me?”

“She wants you to give up this foolish quest that you’re on. She doesn’t want to see you die and your journey will inevitably end with your death.”

Shadow laughed.

“There are very few creatures alive that can kill me. I’ll be fine.”

“Queen Persephone asks that you meet with her briefly before you continue. She will convince you to stop pursuing the things that you are currently seeking.”

“And if I refuse?”

The Siren of Canosa gestured to Muan.

“We will do to you what we did to him and then deliver the two of you to Queen Persephone as she has commanded us.”

Shadow tried to grab his scythe and attack but all of the sirens started harmonizing and singing at once.

“Sad little Shadow, his father was dragged.

To the lowest of Hells when he was but a lad.

His uncle was strong, the Demon of Dead.

But was cut down by Lies, and lost his proud head.

Once gifted an army, Shadow lost them as well.

Cut down by assassins in a circle of Hell.

You’ve lost all that mattered, you’ve thought this before.

But sleep now can free you, so lay down on the floor.

We offer escape now from hurt and from pain.

Take your leave of this world where you’re barely still sane.”

Shadow fought their song and tried to stay awake, but as he felt the sirens dragging him away, he succumbed and fell prey to their chorus.

CHAPTER 16

As Murmur finished securing his new armor, he saw a demon and a demoness making their way towards him. They were each dragging a massive hammer through the sand. The demoness dropped hers in the sand, kicked it, and then cast a spell to make it levitate and follow her. The demon shook his head in annoyance but didn’t ask for help. He finished dragging the large hammer until he was standing next to the demoness and then he dropped it.

“Please tell me you’re Murmur. I can’t drag this thing any further.”

“You’re in the right place. I’m Murmur. I’m assuming you’re the other two General Leviathan is sending to Earth?”

“That’s right. My name is Aim and this is my sister, Jezebel. She goes by Jess.”

Murmur noticed that Jess was staring at him.

“You are
huge,
dude! You look like you’re about the same size as Nightmare!”

“I fought him in the first round of the death pit. I thought I had him too but I let down my guard after I hit him pretty good. I’ll bet I’d be a minor demon already if I had won that fight but at least Shadow arranged for me to have another chance.”

Jess waved her staff and the hammer sailed through the air until Murmur grabbed it. Aim tried to lift his hammer again but he couldn’t do it. He dropped it on his foot. Murmur lifted it off his foot after he heard the crunching noise and tried not to laugh. Jess decided to give her brother a hard time.

“That’s what you get for not learning sorcery!”

Aim brought his foot up in the air so he wouldn’t have to stand on it. He had a tear rolling down each eye but he hadn’t cried out yet. He was holding his breath, but he let it out slowly so he could speak.

“What good would we be as a pair if we were both sorcerers?”

“You’re just saying that because you know I would be better at it than you. At least you wouldn’t have a crushed foot!”

Murmur cut in.

“I think I’m missing something here. Why were the two of you dragging these hammers here? I’m guessing there for me but…”

“Lord Tannin sent them.”

“Ok next question. If your brother isn’t a sorcerer, what is he?”

Jess looked like the answer should be obvious.

“He’s a demon, Murmur. I thought you would recognize one of your own kind. I had heard you were strong but I guess intelligence didn’t come with it.”

Murmur closed his eyes and rubbed a spot on his forehead. He had a feeling he would be getting regular migraines with these two on his team.

“I know he’s a demon. What can he
do
?”

“Oh right. That makes a lot more sense. He’s a sniper.”

Aim was holding his breath again. He hopped on one foot until he had spun around and Murmur could see the rifle attached to his back. Once he figured Murmur had seen his gun, he finished hopping around until he completed his circle. He finally tried to put his foot down on the ground again. The pain was too much. He brought his foot back into the air.

Murmur finally realized how desperate Leviathan was. Even if Aim was a perfect shot, it was very unlikely he was able to wield the kind of gun that would do much damage in battle. He assumed Jess’ powers weren’t very useful yet either. Tannin and Leviathan were counting on him to deliver on the human souls.

“Alright guys… Aim put your damn foot down. You look like an idiot hopping around like that. Ok… Lord Tannin is sending us to take out one of Astaroth’s factions so we can steal all the human souls they’ve been hoarding. Scouting reports before the war put this small group at around ten minor demons. We’ll have the element of surprise and we’re going to need it to take them out.”

Jess saluted. Aim was still concentrating on not lifting his foot back into the air. He looked like he was still in a lot of pain. Murmur sighed once again at the two of them.

“Am I going to have to carry him? I will not be followed by a sniper that hops around on one foot. It looks ridiculous.”

“No, no. I’m good, Murmur. No more hopping. Promise. So… where are we going?”

“It’s in the Seattle area. Lord Tannin gave me a map. Apparently there’s a few large corporations up there and whenever once of the wealthy VPs dies, it’s a very corrupted soul. Asmodeus had a group collecting there for a long time and Astaroth simply took it over when she became a major demon. The intel we have is from before Asmodeus died, so there could be more demons or there could be less. Either way, failure is not an option.”

“Failure is not an option? Failure is
always
an option. Why do you think we’re here, Murmur? We’ve failed. Over and over. I just
barely
learned how to make things levitate. I don’t know how to do much else. Aim’s accuracy with a rifle is somewhere around 40%. That means he hits less than one in two. For us, failure has pretty much been the only option for a long time.”

“Well that changes today, Jess. Lord Tannin has a lot of faith in me and I trained with Lord Shadow for a long time before the trials. We can do this. I’ve been ready to become a minor demon for ages and I don’t care if we have to put down a hundred minor demons. Failure is not an option for us.”

Jess looked down at the ground and then shyly up at Murmur again.

“Do you think they’ll make us minor demons too? I mean… we’ll do our best and we’ll try to help out but I know most of the glory for this mission is going to end up with you.”

“Jess, when we succeed I’ll request that both of you become minor demons too.”

Jess looked so excited that Murmur couldn’t help but grin at her enthusiasm. She waved her staff and Aim rose up a foot off the ground. Aim also looked really excited but he was still sweating from holding in the pain in his foot.

“I’ll levitate him all the way to Seattle if I have to. Let’s do this!”

Murmur checked his pockets to make sure he still had the gold coins Tannin had given him to pay Charon for a ride to Earth. As he did this, he remembered that he had taken a dagger from Tannin’s portable armory. He checked the hidden pocket in his boot. It was still there. He briefly considered returning it, but then it dawned on him that he had a middle demon weapon. It wouldn’t be missed and it would definitely help if Astaroth had sent a middle demon to oversee their soul farming in Seattle. He moved the dagger to his belt and decided to keep it. Jess was quite a ways in front of Murmur. She turned and yelled back at him.

“Come on, Murmur. Charon’s ferry is this way!”

He couldn’t help but admire her sudden enthusiasm. Murmur grinned and followed. It was finally time to prove himself worthy of becoming a minor demon.