Devil Ash Disarray (Devil Ash Saga Book 3) (27 page)

Chapter Twenty: Secret Mission Go!

Later that same night Ash awoke in his bed drenched in cold sweat. He sat up and faced the window, his face twisted in fright.

“Relax,” said Shiva. She sat on the floor across the room with her back against the wall. “They won’t get you here.”

Ash eased with relief. Knowing he had Shiva watching out for him made everything somehow…
better
.

“Where’s everyone else?” he asked.

“The idiot took the orphans back home,” Shiva replied. “We considered the possibility that your attackers might come back and target them. That’s why Draxler insisted on escorting them himself.”

Ash relaxed and sunk back in his bed. He felt a sting of guilt at having dragged Uverstarr into a deadly dispute with greater demons. More than that though, he was grateful the boy showed up when he did. If Uverstarr hadn’t intervened, Ash would have been a goner. He decided then that he’d protect the boy no matter what.

Ash felt a slight discomfort underneath his sheets. He lifted the blanket to get a look at whatever it was that felt off to him. What he saw made his eyes go wide.

“Hey Shiva,” Ash said. “Why am I
totally naked
below the waist?”

“You passed out on the trip back home,” Shiva replied, shifting uncomfortably. “Your pants were…
unclean
.”

“Hey, I’m
sick
!” Ash replied, turning red. “I can’t be expected to control
all
of my various bodily fluids
exactly
one hundred percent of the time!”

Shiva climbed to her feet, choosing not to respond to the boy’s embarrassed ramblings. Instead she turned to face the door.

“Put some clothes on. Maybe grab a quick
shower
… then come downstairs. Goddard’s on his way over. Use this time to collect your thoughts. You can tell us everything when he gets here.”

Shiva left the room. Ash waited only a minute, testing his joints and muscles to determine how achy he was going to feel as soon as he stepped foot outside his bed. He got up and put clothes on without feeling too crappy. His muscles seemed to be back to normal, but his head was still pounding. Organizing his thoughts was not going to be easy.

Ash left his bedroom and joined Shiva downstairs. To his surprise, he found the girl in the kitchen. She had her back turned to him as she stood at the stove. She grabbed a large pot off the burner and turned to grab a cup. That’s when she noticed Ash standing in the kitchen entrance. She ignored the boy as she poured some steaming hot coffee into a big mug.

“
Here
,” she said. She picked up the mug and held it out for Ash. “Coffee.
Drink
.”

Ash graciously accepted the gift, perplexed as he was. “Thanks. Did you make this
just
for me?” he asked her.

Shiva looked away. “Yeah, so what?” she replied. “I just don’t want you giving us a half-assed report because you’re too sick and tired. So wake the heck up and get ready to spill every little tedious detail!”

Shiva hung upside-down from a bar on the wall doing sit-ups while Ash laid motionless on the couch waiting for Goddard. After long Aura came home. He walked straight into the living room and sat down on his favorite chair, right next to the couch.

“I
hate
greater demons,” said Aura. The boy normally spoke with a non-threatening, playful tone. Not this time. “They’ve already taken
so much
from us. And now they’re back to do it all again. You said they were greater demons, right?”

Ash finished sipping slowly on his coffee before answering. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “Definitely.”

Aura remained quiet for the rest of their waiting period, fuming silently to himself. Shiva continued her workout regiment, preparing for the inevitable battle to come. Ash replayed the scene over and over in his head, recalling every agonizing detail of what happened. By the time Goddard showed up he was ready to stop thinking about it altogether.

“Where is he?” Goddard asked Shiva as he barged into their house without even knocking, collapsing his black umbrella he used to block the extra sunlight. Shiva paused hanging upside-down, pointed to the living room. Goddard spotted Ash on the couch and moved in to examine the boy at once.

“Report time,” he said. The Royal Advisor started blurting out questions faster than Ash could even provide the answers. “First, let’s start with how you’re
currently
feeling. Is anything swollen? Are you experiencing headaches, nausea, or heart burn? How about vomiting or diarrhea? How many fingers am I holding up? Have you had any suicidal thoughts, insomnia, or depression? Any unusual
discharges
? What
color
was the discharge?”

The mad scientist descended upon the seated boy, much to his discomfort. Goddard poked and prodded the boy in his initial examinations, already prioritizing his studies.

“
Goddard
,” Ash said, cutting him off. “I’m fine. Let’s just get this over with already and let me tell my story.”

Ten action-packed minutes later
…

“…And the last thing I remember before passing out was a warm sensation spreading across my legs,” Ash said. His friends stared at him blankly, unsure of what to tell him. That’s when Ash realized exactly what the sensation he described was. “You know what? Let’s just go ahead and strike that last detail off the official record.”

“
Done
,” Goddard remarked, crossing out the last line of notes he’d been taking in his notepad. “So… greater demons. I don’t think I have to explain to you all how bad this situation is.”

Goddard put his notepad down and turned to Ash. “You did a good job to get all the information you could. Because of you, we know there are at least five greater demons in hiding. We know their targets; you and Aura. I think it’s safe to assume anyone bearing the family name ‘Satan’ will also be a target. Furthermore, I’ve just solved the mystery of the sudden flood of disappearing persons reports. But more reports are going to keep coming in unless we stop the demons,” he said.

“
Awww yeah
,” Shiva said, grinning like a fool. “It’s a good old fashioned
demon
hunt
! I’m going to get my brother and an entire platoon of Royal Guards and form a posse!”

“Shiva, use your brain,” said Goddard, staring coldly at the girl. “You know what would happen if word got out that five greater demons were already inside the kingdom walls, lurking in the shadows and picking off unsuspecting citizens? It would be
pandemonium
. People would begin to accuse each other of being demons in disguise. Crimes would break out all across the kingdom. And guess who gets to clean up the mess:
us
. Honestly, they’re probably counting on us to report them. Broadcast far and wide that ‘the demons are here, everyone panic!’ Let’s try to avoid causing kingdomwide hysteria instead.”

“So we hunt’em down in secret,” said Shiva. “Fine by me.”

“That would be best,” Goddard replied. “If you don’t find them, I’m sure they’ll find you. Just try to keep the collateral damage to a minimum this time, okay? And try not to challenge them in crowded areas. Remember: it’s a
secret
mission.”

“I’m worried about Uverstarr and Aralia,” said Ash. “Like it or not, those two are probably already on the demon’s radar too. Uverstarr especially pissed off their leader,
Demon
Prince
Otozek.”

“Just what we needed,” said Aura. “
Another
psychopathic prince.”

“That’s another thing that’s been troubling me,” said Goddard. “Prince Otozek said his father, Demon Lord Jirosek, is still alive. That beast must be
ancient
by now.”

“Who is Demon Lord Jirosek and why would he want to eat me?” Ash asked.

Aura surprised everyone by answering before Goddard. “Jirosek led the demons to war against the devils back when Wilhelm was a young King. The great hero Aster kicked all their assess though. As far as his obsession with eating you goes, your guess is as good as mine. Demons just love the taste of exotic flesh, I guess.”

“If the Demon Lord is still alive and gathering his forces, we could see another full-scale war with the demons in our lifetime,” said Goddard. “They must be gathering intelligence on us and gauging our current strength. They could pick off our best fighters one by one, then bring in an army and overpower us. This is exactly why its so dangerous when greater demons actually work together.”

“I think you’re forgetting about your secret weapon,” said Aura. “
This guy
. With my power I’ll mop the kingdom floor with those demons. No way I’m letting them feed my friend to their wrinkly old King!”

“I’m looking forward to testing my strength against a greater demon,” said Shiva. “You know, since I missed that first one…”

“What am I supposed to do though?” said Ash, looking forlorn. “I can’t even move when I’m around them. It’s like I’m gripped by sickness. How can I fight? I’ll just be a burden to you all.”

“That might not have to be the case,” said Goddard. He pulled a small tin case out of his pocket and tossed it to Ash. “I saved the best news for last. I told you I’d come up with something to help you. Well, here it is.”

Ash opened the tin box to find it full of small, black ovular pellets. He picked one up and squeezed it between his fingers, feeling the rubbery texture.

“This is
medicine
?” Ash asked. “Where I come from, medicine isn’t usually
black
. What’s in it?”

“Ash, you and I both know that you know you don’t want to know the answer to that question. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“I, uhh, yeah,” Ash replied, still partially thinking it through. “Yeah, good call. Thanks.”

“Bear in mind it’s my own formula and has never been tested before, but I have no reason to believe it
won’t
work,” Goddard said, somewhat reassuringly. “Please, go ahead and take one now. I want to see if it helps.”

Ash held the tiny black pellet between his forefinger and thumb contemplating his options. After coming to the conclusion that he didn’t really have any, he shrugged and popped the pill into his mouth. He didn’t wait to taste it. He just swallowed it in one quick gulp.

“Kind of sweet, actually,” he said as he felt the pill dissolve in his throat, leaving behind a decent after-taste.

“Well?” Goddard asked. “Feel anything yet?”

“Yeah, I’m feeling something,” Ash replied.

“Well what is it!”

“I’m feeling the overpowering realization that I’m going to be
demon food
.”

“Anything
else
?”

“Uh. I guess my headache has cleared up a bit too.”

“Excellent,” Goddard replied smugly. “I knew it’d help. I’ll work on making you a more powerful stash, but for right now don’t go through those too quickly. I have no idea if you can overdose and
die
on them.”

Any momentary relief Ash felt slowly slipped away.

“I have learned at least one crucial piece of information from my studies on your condition. It seems your body is breaking down in the presence of the greater demons. It may have something to do with how I created you. You know, consuming devil’s blood and all that. It may have messed up your body more than I initially estimated… It could be that in doing so you’ve acquired some sort of allergen to the greater demons. Your symptoms started after you encountered your first, and persist each time you’ve met them since. So for you, avoiding them is probably your best option.”

“Gee,
you think
?”

“We could use that to your advantage,” said Shiva. “Ash can be our ‘demon detector’. Whenever he feels like he’s dying, we’ll know a demons nearby.”

“Sounds like a lot of fun for me,” Ash replied, rolling his eyes.

Goddard crossed the living room and made for the entryway to leave, preparing his black umbrella.

“I have to return to the castle now,” the Royal Advisor said. “I’ve got a lot of work to do securing the place. I’m leaving you three in charge of tracking the demons and exterminating them discreetly. Guys, this is your most crucial mission yet. Failure is not an option here. Work together. If Ash still can’t fight, I want you both giving him the backup he needs. Keep him alive and out of the demon’s hands at all costs!

“And one more thing… those two orphans you’ve befriended. They may be swept up in all of this as well. If the demons decide to take vengeance upon that boy, I expect you to use that to your advantage. Remember; your priority is not the
protection
of those children, but the
destruction
of the demons. Do I make myself clear?”