Devil Ash Disarray (Devil Ash Saga Book 3) (33 page)

The Commander gripped the horn and snapped it off with great ease, admiring it like a hard-earned trophy. All the while the docile demon stood motionless and silent, uninterested in it’s own emasculation.

“That’s… not even
possible
…” someone muttered, before the crowd burst into a wild applause. The Commander continued toying with the poor creature while Ash looked on, the only one aware of the true direness of the situation.

No
,
it’s
not
possible,
thought Ash.
Unless of course you’re a
demon
.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Victims

Hours Ago
…

Before the dawn’s first flames, when the kingdom was still ruled by darkness, one team of greater demons moved across enemy territory. Their tired host bodies looked ragged, even for devil standards. With the formation of the morning sun, Otozek and his team were forced to attempt blending in with the devil culture again. As it had been a simple job yesterday the team assumed it would be easy once again. What they hadn’t planned on was the intense strain they were putting on their host bodies by inhabiting them for so long.

“My host body is starting to smell…
unusual
,” the demon Moskazek said after sticking his nose in his armpit. “Perhaps it is time to take on new hosts, before we draw too much unwanted attention.”

“The human will be looking for these bodies anyway,” said the demon known as Orkazek. “Trading up now would be the
smart
thing to do.”

“Yes,” Prince Otozek replied, lost in thought. “Let’s hunt down a group of replacement host bodies.”

The Prince was sulking. He hated the way things ended with the human earlier that day. He
especially
didn’t like the foreign sensation of pain, inflicted by one seriously annoying devil child. He vowed he would eat the boy himself if he ever found the brat. Otozek fumed to himself in private, saying little to his team that night and well into the morning.

Their aimless wandering brought the demon team close to the Royal Castle.  Getting inside and locating the devil royalty was another top priority on the demon prince’s to-do list. So it was here they began their search for replacement host bodies. Ideally, Otozek wanted his team to possess Royal Guard soldiers to infiltrate their ranks and get inside the castle. They waited outside the heavily guarded castle gates, watching the various people come and go on their morning business.

After several hours wasted waiting for a group of five in vain, it was the demon Gnusek who first got bored enough to look up. High above the castle walls, flying through the air with their wings spread wide and in formation, went a group of five soldiers. Not being much of a talker, Gnusek settled for pointing to the group with both of his long, silly devil arms and started to grunt loudly.

This action succeeded in getting his companions attention. The group looked into the sky and saw exactly what Gnusek was grunting about.

“This host body has memories of that group,” said the demon Podavek. The others all nodded in agreement.

“Mine too,” replied Otozek. “We’ve found our next host bodies.”

The demon team tailed their devil targets to some sort of park in a South Hell neighborhood. There they kept a safe distance between themselves and the desired group. Otozek went over his host body’s memories of the men. They were easy to spot thanks to their very specific sets of armor. Otozek knew that if he could only possess the big black one he would gain all the knowledge on the devils that he needed.

They watched the group enter a small building, far away from where other devils were gathering. It was on the opposite side of the park, away from that day’s event: Bug Races. The demons ditched the bugs and followed their targets. They saw several devils exit the building just as the targets entered. Otozek signaled for them to move in. The closer they got to the building, the more clearly they could hear the conversations taking place inside through a small, cracked window.

“…assume you all got Goddard’s ‘urgent’
summons this morning?” the alpha male asked.

The others all resounded with the various forms of yes.

“Probably just wants to tell us all about the latest developments with his precious little team of rejects,” the alpha male said, making small laughing sounds when he was done.

“If I have to sit through another one of his so-called
urgent
meetings again, I might actually die of boredom!” said one of the others.

“That guy sure likes to hear himself talk!” said another.

“Shouldn’t we have gone to see him before coming out here?” asked another.

“If he’s making me sit through a boring ‘support our parks’ program
and
an urgent meeting in one day, I’m going to do it in the order
I
want,” the alpha male replied. The others all laughed.

There was a rattling of the doorknob. Seconds later, the locked door burst open. The devil men were in various states of undress, but all five were quick on their feet and ready to fight. A few of the men even held fireballs at the ready. Their guard dropped slightly at the sight of the tired, old baker and his four sons.

That was all it took for the demons. They stood in a row, lined up across from the other men. One by one, they opened their mouths wide. Their eyes rolled back in their sockets leaving only the bloodshot white parts exposed. Black amorphous appendages fired out of the devils mouths like the tongue of a frog picking off an insect.

Blocking did not work, though they tried. Dodging did not work, though they tried. Fleeing did not work, though they tried. Begging did not work, though they tried. In the end their various sounds all ceased, their voices choked out by the invading demons in their bodies. The previous hosts collapsed as the remaining demon matter left them and entered the new hosts entirely.

The team was getting better at adapting to the devil possessions. This time it took them only moments to regroup and check over their new bodies. Everyone went silent for a while as a wave of devil memories washed over them. These host bodies proved to be every bit as valuable as Prince Otozek had hoped. The demon prince was flooded with new information about the human and his most notorious exploits.

“
So much information it’s overwhelming
,” Prince Otozek said in a daze. Playing his new host body’s memories like a DVD, Otozek watched Ash’s fight with the empowered Apsat Glumb. He saw the battle at the Royal Castle with the rebels and learned how Ash had ended the conflict by defeating the rebel leader. Memories of the boy’s rivalry with the Royal Guards popped up, as well as all sorts of information on the Royal Satan family.

“I have everything I need now,” said Otozek, smiling. “The human, the death toucher, the Royal Family, I know it all!”

“The devil known as Goddard raises some concerns for my host body,” said Moskazek.

“He is the human boy’s
master
,” said Otozek. “We need to eliminate him too.”

“We should probably dress ourselves first.”

The demons struggled to quickly dress in the strange devil clothing. Most of the team settled for the special armor. Otozek, Podavek, Gnusek, and Moskazek all put their special soldier armor back on. The demon Orkazek had a different idea though, putting on the lighter clothing from inside an open locker instead.

“What are you doing?” asked Podavek, staring curiously at his teammate.

“It’s such a burden being confined to these frail devil bodies,” replied Orkazek, scoping out his reflection in the small mirror on the locker door. “It would be
stupid
to weigh myself down even more with that useless armor. I’m going to the beach, after all.”

“You’re going to miss out,” replied Podavek. “I can’t wait to take advantage of the authority that comes with this body. No one’s even going to recognize you in
that
.”

“Maybe my plan is just too
smart
for you to figure out, but I don’t want to be recognized,” Orkazek replied with a smug smirk.

“Orkazek, can you handle the death toucher?” Otozek asked.

“Yes, Master! Leave it to me!”

“Then I’ll trust Podavek to hunt down the Royal Princess.”

“Can do, Master!”

“I’ll track down the human again. This time, he will
not
escape.”

“I’ll accompany you to ensure-” Moskazek started to say.

“I have a different task for you and Gnusek,” Prince Otozek said, cutting his underling off.

“Yes, Master?”

“I’m sending you two back to the Royal Castle. Check up on Goddard, the King, and the Prince.”

“Understood Master,” Moskazek replied with a respectful bow.

Gnusek grunted enthusiastically, mimicking Moskazek’s gesture.

“We’ll split up then. Meet outside the castle by the day’s end. Our vacation will be ending soon, but first…
we eat
.”

The demon team, in their shiny new host bodies, then had breakfast with the old baker and his family.

Back to the Present
…

“
I’ve got to do something
,” said Ash.

The man in question stood boldly inside the bullpen of the demon rodeo. The wild unicorn demon that only minutes ago was tossing and bucking devils left and right was now dead silent. The creature even appeared to be trembling slightly as it stood in the presence of the man in the black armor. He reached out a steady hand and stroked the demon’s long muzzle, smiling gently at the beast.

Then he turned and looked straight at Ash and his smile disappeared. It lasted only seconds before the crowd could no longer contain their excitement. Cheers and applause erupted for the brave and capable Commander, Sepultura Stryd, the man with the surprising talent to tame feral demons.

Stryd turned to the ref, watching with bulging eyes. The Commander handed the demon’s unique horn over to the ref. “Do I win the competition?”

“You done more than win!” the ref said, admiring the demon’s horn in astonishment. “You set a new record I don’t think will soon be beat!”

Stryd smiled triumphantly as he glared at Ash.

“The Commander?” Aralia whispered, following Ash’s gaze. “You two enemies or something?”

“
Or something
,” Ash replied. He watched the Commander as a swarm of festival employees and Royal Guards moved in to collect the docile demon, leading it back to the waiting pen before it snapped and run amok again. Stryd broke eye contact with Ash and turned to leave.

A sudden wave of mild nausea swept over Ash. Just looking at the demon in disguise was making him ill again. This time, his hand hovered over the bulge in his pocket for only a second before the boy found himself unconsciously pulling the pillbox out and opening it. He took one of the tiny black pills out and popped it into his mouth, swallowing the bitter life-saver.

The pill helped, or maybe it was because the demon was moving away from him. Ash’s stomach settled and his head cleared. He watched Stryd cut a path straight through the jumble of people desperate to get close and congratulate the man. The demon ignored them all and kept going away from all the commotion.

It was obvious that Otozek wanted the boy to follow him. He’d likely lead the human straight into another trap, probably surround him with the other demons. They could already be watching him. He spun in place quickly to check, but no one seemed to be looking at him except for Aralia, still standing next to him with concern plastered across her face.

“I… have to go,” he said to the girl. He tried not to look her in the eyes. Instead, he focused on following Stryd. The Commander skirted around the edges of the crowd, making his way toward an avenue that moved away from the rodeo. If Ash wanted to catch up with him, it’d be now or never.

“Where?” asked Aralia. “I’ll come with you.”

“No,” Ash said. “I have to do this on my own.” He started to walk away, to leave the girl behind and follow danger.

“But I-”

“Please don’t follow me,” Ash said, spinning around for one last look at the girl. For all he knew it could be the last time he ever saw her. He broke it off quickly, for fear he might change his mind.