Middle Demons (Angels and Demons Book 2) Page 4
Leech frowned.
“What’s going on, Gangrene? Why are you here?”
“Well… with Shadow on the run we weren’t sure what to do. The other middle demons from the department of murder have marched with their armies to join in with General Baal and General Leviathan. I met with Muan and we decided to divide Shadow’s army. I brought half of his army here to help you attack Vixen and Muan is trying to get past the battle to join Lord Shadow with the other half of his army to aid him in whatever way they can.”
“I’m a middle demon, Gangrene. Are you willing to follow my orders?”
“Yes. Shadow told me a while ago that I’m to follow the two of you if he’s ever on the run or killed. He told Muan the same thing. Muan wouldn’t listen. That’s why he decided to find Lord Shadow. Honestly though, if Muan had decided to help the two of you… I would have gone to find Lord Shadow. We can’t leave him to die by the hands of Lucian’s assassins.”
“How many demons are under your command right now?”
“Several thousand. Lord Shadow’s army is quite large when compared with any middle demon’s army and…”
Gangrene looked briefly at Leech’s army. Leech knew what he was getting at. Gangrene commanded more demons than he did at the moment.
“Fine. Prepare your troops for battle. I need to finish the conversation I was having with Lilith.”
Gangrene smirked.
“Of course, Lord Leech. By all means finish your… conversation.”
Gangrene winked and then turned and walked away.
“Leech… we need to get going if we’re going to cut off my mother before she joins in with Lucian and Astaroth. There will be plenty of time for making out later.”
Leech laughed.
“That’s not at all what I had in mind. I just wanted to make this official. I got you a gift.”
Leech put two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly. A black horse with a mane of red and orange flames came running. Lilith looked at him like she couldn’t believe it and she burst into tears.
“I had an extra one.”
“Leech… you are the best boyfriend ever.”
Shadow could tell that his horse was getting tired. He had been fleeing from the legions sent by Lucian through several circles of Hell. When Shadow reached the outer ring of the seventh circle of Hell, he stopped his horse and hopped off. He needed to find a way across the river Phlegethon anyways; his horse was of limited use until he made it further in.
As Shadow led his horse and looked for a shallow part of the river, he heard a bowstring pull back. He immediately removed his scythes and looked around for the creature that was hunting him. His horse turned and ran, making his way back to the higher circles of Hell.
“Nessus, I know you’re here. I mean no harm to you or to the other centaurs. I mean no disrespect by entering your dominion. I simply need to cross the river Phlegethon to move beyond the reach of the demons pursuing me.”
An arrow whizzed at his head. Shadow spun and cut it in half with one of his scythes.
“This isn’t going to end well for you if you attack me. I’ll kill you and then I’ll kill the other centaurs. We can still end this peacefully if you come out from wherever you’re hiding. I just want to talk.”
Nessus stepped out of the shadows. He was followed by two centaurs with arrows trained on Shadow’s head.
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t put you down for good, Shadow, son of Abaddon.”
CHAPTER 7
Ose, the middle demon of fabrication, had relentlessly pursued Shadow at Lucian’s command through several circles of Hell. Lucian had put him in command of three legions of well-trained assassins and told him not to come back without Shadow’s head.
As they passed the fiery tombs of the sixth circle of Hell with the sounds of the heretics cries echoing off the walls, one of the assassins approached him.
“Lord Ose, three of our men are missing.”
Ose turned and signaled for his legions to stop.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“You mean to tell me that I have the three most brutal legions of demon assassins in all of Hell and three of them are just missing somehow?”
“We did a head count to double check. We came up three short.”
Ose grabbed the demon’s head with both hands and twisted it in the opposite direction until he heard a sickening crunch. He was dead before he fell to his knees.
“Spread out and find the missing three.”
Ose’s legions started off in all directions searching the sixth circle of Hell. One of the demons reported back to Ose half an hour later.
“We’ve lost dozens more and…”
The demon stopped talking and fell over on his face with a dart protruding from the back of his neck. As Ose looked around for the demon’s killer, he saw a short demon running away with a blowgun. Ose pursued but the little creature vanished into the seventh circle of Hell. A voice echoed from the place where the little demon had vanished.
“Turn around and leave if you value your life.”
Ose wasn’t intimidated. He gathered his forces and pursued the voice into the seventh circle of Hell.
“Nessus, the reason you should let me live is simple. You can’t kill me. The three of you combined won’t be able to overpower me. In addition to that, I’m about to become the major demon of murder. You’re welcome to tell them to shoot. I’m about to slaughter the three legions of assassins sent here by Lucian to kill me. Killing three centaurs before I move on to three legions would be like eating appetizers before the main course. I promise that I’m hungry enough to do it.”
“Return to your patrol.”
The two centaurs bowed and returned to the river.
“Chiron and Pholus rule this circle of Hell. They aren’t going to be happy that you came here spewing threats.”
“You tried to kill me.”
“Point taken. I can’t have a battle here though. It is our sworn duty to shoot the violent souls when they protrude too far out of the Phlegethon. I can’t allow anything to interrupt that. Our orders came directly from the Dragon at the very beginning of Hell.”
“I won’t let them push me back as far as the river. Your centaurs will have plenty of room to keep performing their duty.”
“Fine. I will tell Chiron and Pholus that you mean us no harm. See that you keep them away from the riverbanks.”
“I will. Thank you, Nessus.”
Nessus turned and ran back to the river. As Shadow turned to face the coming assassins, he saw Muan running towards him. When Muan saw Shadow, he bowed at his feet.
“Lord Shadow, please forgive me. I couldn’t…”
“I told you that if I’m ever presumed dead that you should fall in with Leech and Lilith. What the hell are you doing here?”
“I couldn’t leave you to die. I met with Gangrene and we divided your army between us. Gangrene went to aid Lord Leech the angel slayer and I brought half of your army here. I’m sure you would have been fine without us, but I needed to make sure.”
“First of all… wait a second… Lord Leech the what?”
Muan grinned.
“Lord Leech the angel slayer.”
“There is so much wrong with all of the titles attached to that name. He’s been spreading rumors again. He was promoted?”
“Yes, Lord Shadow. He’s the new middle demon of false gods. He replaced Lord Scox, who fell in battle. He has a small army of demon riders. A very small army. As in… Gangrene’s forces are probably ten times the number of demons that Leech has under his command right now. The other middle demons in the department of war joined in with General Baal and General Leviathan to take on the forces of Lucian and Astaroth. Lord Leech and Gangrene are going to take on Vixen.”
“And instead of helping them, you brought half of my army here?”
“Again please accept my apologies, Lord Shadow. Given the chance though, I would do it ag
ain. I will not leave you here to die alone in the seventh circle of Hell.”
Shadow laughed.
“Alright then, Muan. I’ll save your lecture for later. Who is leading the assassins?”
“I am.”
Shadow looked beyond Muan to see Ose approaching.
“Muan, get back to the army.”
Muan bowed, ran around Ose, and returned to the sixth circle of Hell. Ose tried to draw his weapon, but Muan had already passed him by the time he was able to remove his blade from his belt.
“There are a lot of really old assholes in Lucian’s department and I don’t make it a point to know of all of them so you’re going to have to introduce yourself.”
“Lord Ose. You’re right about my age too. In fact, I was one of the demons…”
“…that escorted my father to the lowest circle of Hell.”
Ose looked surprised but then realization dawned on him.
“So the rumors are true. You can read minds now like Malphas.”
“That’s definitely one of the powers I’ve acquired. I’m hoping you have a few of your own or this is going to be a very short conversation.”
“Unfortunately for you, my power gives me a crazy advantage over you.”
Ose removed the staff from his back and muttered a few words under his breath. A few seconds later, Ose was standing next to either a clone or an illusion that looked exactly like him. A few seconds later there were four and then eight. He continued to double himself over and over until Shadow was looking at an army of demons. One of them stepped forward and grinned at Shadow.
“You’re outnumbered. Thousands against one. So basically, you’ll beat me when Hell freezes over.”
Shadow laughed.
“I guess it’s a good thing I started stealing powers from the angels then.”
Shadow muttered a few words and then touched the floor of hell. His eyes turned from red to a pure white. The ground turned a whitish blue color when it came in contact with his fingers. From his handprint, the white color spread like veins carrying blood across the floor. When it reached the first Ose clone, it travelled up his feet. He tried to step out of the ice but it continued to climb up his legs. Two Ose clones removed the blades from their belts and approached the clone being engulfed in ice. They tried to hack away at the ice but the ice spread to their swords. They dropped the blades, but not before the ice had spread to their hands. It continued to creep up their arms.
Shadow removed his gauntlets and revealed that his hands were glowing with the same whitish blue color that was spreading across the floor. The Ose clones were retreating slowly from the encroaching ice but Shadow ran into their midst and started punching and hitting everything within his reach. The ice spread from his hands to everything that he touched.
When Shadow thought he had frozen all of them he noticed that one Ose had a circular fire around him that stopped the spread of the ice. He figured that must be the original. He brought both of his scythes down on the ground and the ice cracked and shattered all around.
“Hell froze over. The ice took your illusions with it. I guess that means I win?”
“While it’s amusing that you finally acquired a little bit of sorcery, you’re out of your league.”
Ose rose several feet into the air and levitated. His hands started to be engulfed with a dark flame. He took careful aim and started throwing fire at Shadow. Shadow dodged the approaching attacks and threw his scythe at Ose’s neck. The scythe decapitated Ose and his lifeless body fell to the ground. Shadow laughed.
“Why do they always say something stupid like ‘you’re out of your league’ right before they die?”
Shadow was about to turn into his rage monster form to take Ose’s powers but he saw Muan running towards him before he got the chance.
“They’re coming. The assassins are coming.”
“What? What happened to the army you brought with you?”
“Dead. They’re all dead.”
CHAPTER 8
“I’m going to call him Blaze.”
Leech looked at her like she was crazy.
“He’s a demon horse. Why do you need to call him anything other than a demon horse?”
“Because I think the name Blaze suits him.”
“There’s a reason almost no mythological horses have names. No one in their right mind actually cares what horses are named.”
Lilith looked at Leech like he had piqued her interest.
“Some of them do?”
“Yeah a few. What does it matter?”
Lilith dismounted and walked up to Leech. She placed both of her hands on his shoulders and stared at him intently.
“Tell me their names.”
“Um… I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be terrified or turned on right now.”
“You can be both. Which way it starts to go will depend on whether you answer my request or not.”
“Alright, Lily. I would tell you that this is really weird but I stopped trying to figure out what’s normal for you a long time ago. Let’s just go with it. Only two come to mind. The first one is Pegasus…”
“Ew. No. I’m not going to name my horse after a flying pony that belonged to Hercules. Next.”
“I thought you wanted to call him Blaze?”
“I changed my mind. Next.”
“Well the only other mythological horse that comes to mind is the demon horse, Keshi.”
Lilith’s eyes glowed with interest.
“Keshi the demon horse. I like it. Tell me the story.”
“Lily, we have a war to go fight… that we should be fighting right now. You want me to tell you the story of a demon horse instead so you can decide whether to name your horse after it?”
“Yes. That pretty much sums up our current situation.”
Leech sighed. Lilith leaned in and kissed him and then pulled his head back from her lips.
“I’m not riding into battle with a nameless horse. You have to do what I say now. I’m your girlfriend.”
“You better not pull this kind of shit on a regular basis. I’ll give you a quick paraphrased version and then we have to go. The story comes from Hindu mythology. Kamsa, the evil king of Mathura and the uncle of the god Krishna sent demon after demon at his nephew in an attempt to kill him. It had been foretold that Krishna would one day slay his uncle. Every demon sent by his uncle was put down by Krishna. One of the demons Kamsa sent was the horse demon, Keshi. Keshi was said to run at the speed of thought, trample the earth with his hooves, and scatter the clouds with his mane. The demon horse terrified the people and Krishna challenged him to a duel. Krishna punches Keshi’s teeth out and then expands his arm down the demon horse’s throat. Keshi eventually chokes to death on Krishna’s arm.”
“That story was beautiful!”
“Well I’m glad my hours of reading were good for something other than saving Shadow from mythological creatures in the labyrinth.”
“It’s decided then. I will call my horse Keshi the demon horse. Now what should we name your horse…”
Leech didn’t respond. He just got on his horse, kicked it, and rode off to gather his army. Lilith laughed and then whispered in Keshi’s ear. He started galloping off in the direction Leech’s horse had gone.
Leech rode to the front of his army and saw Gangrene waiting for him.
“That was a pretty long conversation. Is a little Leech going to arrive nine months from now?”
Gangrene winked. Leech tried to determine if he should be offended at what could almost be considered a disrespectful comment but he figured Gangrene was just trying to joke around.
“It wasn’t that kind of conversation. With Lily it’s more like twenty minutes of crazy earns you a kiss.”
Gangrene laughed.
“You’re a better demon that I am, Lord Leech. Having her sister in my camp for as long as I did was a complete disaster. My men couldn’t focus and she caused all sorts of craziness. She’s kind of cute though…”
“Raven?”
“Yup. Just don’t tell her I said anything. She’s pretty nuts and I don’t have time for any of that kind of nonsense.”
“Your secret’s safe with me, Gangrene.”
Leech secured his minotaur axe on his back and pulled his guns off his belt to give them a quick shine before they rode off into battle.
“Lord Leech?”
“Yeah?”
“I totally understand if it’s none of my business and it may be out of place to ask, but are those General Baal’s soul shooters?”
“Good eye. How’d you know?”
“I read about them. Before Lord Shadow promoted me, I was pretty sure I was going to be a demon-in-training for a long time. I’m kind of a nerd.”
Leech laughed.
“I guess Shady likes having book worm friends. I’m the same way. What can you tell me about Baal’s soul shooters?”
“They draw their ammunition from the shooter. I imagine they’re pretty powerful in your hands.”
“Why’s that?”
“Lord Shadow told me you have a parasitic touch. You steal pieces of other demons souls. It seems like an excellent compliment to your soul shooters. You can suck part of another demon’s soul and then shoot it back at them.”
“You’re right, but it’s supposed to be a secret. When we ride in against Vixen’s army, I plan on stealing the life force from everyone in the front lines and then I’m going to fire these things like crazy. I might be able to put their first wave down by myself.”
“That’s badass. I won’t say anything. I’ll let it be a surprise. Damn. You and Lord Shadow are awesome. I’m glad I joined the two of you when I did.”
“You would have been fine without us, Gangrene. I heard that you and Muan were responsible for nearly doubling Shadow’s forces since he told you recruiting demons from other departments was alright.”
“I’ll have to respectfully disagree. If Shadow didn’t kill Abigor and then put his trust in me, I would have remained a demon-in-training forever.”
“Don’t think like that. Have some confidence in your abilities. Lily and Raven are pretty much going to be wild cards in this battle so I need you to focus. Play the role of my general. We have the strength to do this. Now let’s go.”