From Hell with Love (14 page)

Cadmus was almost unable to react, sitting on Mercy in shock, but Niccolo slapped him on the arm and then nodded toward the confrontation.

“Look, it’s not a real lion, and Crocell’s already taking this seriously, we don’t need to wor-” he started, but then Valefor made his move.  The feral demon used its powerful hind legs to spring forward, swiping at the fallen with deadly claws.  Instead of shrugging off the blow or evading the strike, Crocell was hit with the full force of Valefor’s attack, only just able to hold his weapon in front of him.  The Horsemen watched as Crocell was hit off the ground and slammed into the buildings on the other side of the street.

“You were saying?” Cadmus asked as he shook himself out of his daze, urging Mercy forward.  They could not afford to leave Crocell to himself.  Niccolo cursed as he followed his friend, hoping they could make it to the fallen’s side before things got out of hand.

They watched as Crocell regained his senses and rolled underneath Valefor’s next strike, the wall behind him falling to pieces.  The slayer continued to run along the creature’s exposed stomach, wounding the lion as he went, but that only served to annoy the feral demon.  When Crocell was able to run past Valefor’s hind quarters and turn to face his enemy, he was met with a hoof to the face, which sent the dark demon sprawling through the air.  When his body landed, he rolled end over end across the avenue, his trident flying out of his hands.

“Shit, that’s not good,” Niccolo cursed as they rode toward the battle.  He had no idea what would happen if Crocell was killed in his struggle or if they could even help.  Valefor was known for his strength, and it was possible only the strongest of the Fallen could hope to kill the feral demon.  Niccolo urged Plague forward with the reins again, forgetting the horse’s annoyed comment, but he was not met with another threat.  Plague was just as preoccupied as his master.

Crocell tried to pick himself up quickly, knowing Valefor was turning to face him, but the dark demon was hurting.  Black blood seeped from his mouth and from the wounds caused by the feral demon’s claws.  He looked up in time to see the lion snarling at him with its humanoid face, rows of human and lion teeth dripping with demonic saliva.  When he heard the Horsemen approaching them, Crocell looked at them in anger.

“Stop!  Go back!” he shouted, pushing his body off the ground with his arms and flapping his wings in order to achieve balance once he got to his feet.  “He’s too dangerous!”

The fallen angel looked back at Valefor just in time, seeing the feral demon pouncing at him.  Crocell, looking worried for the first time in Cadmus’ memory, cursed before using his legs and wings in conjunction to leap high in the air.  The lion just barely missed, crashing into the wall of buildings behind him, but Crocell was not out of danger.  The slayer flapped his wings and started to gain in altitude, looking to the approaching Horsemen.

“Do you think I’m kidding? Go back, now!  Tell Ronové!” he shouted, the lightning flowing through him becoming bright in emphasis.

“We’re going to help!” Niccolo shouted back, which made Crocell look at them in anger.

“
Humans
… help me?  Who do you think-” he started to ask, but midway through the question he noticed the massive mouth coming into his periphery.  Crocell was only just able to react and turned to see rows of demonic teeth lining his vision, a dark maw threatening to swallow him whole.  He brought up his hands and slammed them into the top of Valefor’s mouth, impaling his hands on fangs, and forced his unprotected feet against the dangerous teeth rising up to kill him.

Cadmus shook in fear, but continued to ride toward the demons locked in mortal combat, holding his scythe downwards and to the right, the blade arcing toward the front.  As they fell to the street, Crocell doing his best to keep Valefor from biting him in half, the reaper tried to summon his willpower.  When Mercy was within a few yards of the combatants, Cadmus was able to achieve the pure concentration of a warrior, his mind falling back to his life as a gladiator.

Mercy leaped over the massive beast, seeming to fly over Valefor, but that was exactly what Cadmus wanted.  He dropped his scythe once his mount left the ground, dragging the blade against Valefor’s back and leaving a dark red wound in its wake.  The demon howled in pain, but Cadmus was no longer afraid. 

Mercy landed and kept running because of the momentum, but eventually the pair was able to turn and look back at the demons.  Valefor was furious, his human eyes narrowing, but Crocell was still held in the grip of his vise-like jaw.  It was as if Cadmus had barely scratched the demon, the reality of the situation shaking the reaper’s confidence.

“Run, you fools!  I’ll be fine; I’ll last.  Just go get Ronové!” Crocell shouted, still stubborn as death held him.  He was about to shout another command when Valefor’s tongue lashed out at his face, drawing blood from his blue cheek.  It seemed that Valefor had decided to take the sandpaper tongue of his feline inspiration, as well.

“There’s no time, Crocell!” Niccolo shouted as he circled around the feral demon, who was stalking toward Cadmus.  The leper grabbed three arrows from his quiver and held them between the fingers of his human hand while retrieving his black bow with his left.  With finesse the Horseman brought the two together and pulled back the string, which strained under the massive amount of tension.  Niccolo did not even have to tell Plague to run between the feral demon and his petrified friend; he and his horse were of the same mind.

The lion stopped in its tracks once Niccolo made his appearance, but was soon rewarded with three arrows which sank into the flesh of his face.  Valefor screamed at that, rearing back to his donkey legs and furiously shaking his head from side to side, which loosed the arrows from his skin.  In his reaction, Valefor forgot about the slayer between his teeth and opened his jaw, which allowed Crocell to “escape.”  In reality, the fallen was thrown out of Valefor’s jaws and crashed into the street, rolling to a stop near the rubble of the opposite building.

“No…” Crocell uttered, raising his head slightly, black blood pooling around him.  “Just… just go,” he urged, seeming to care what happened to the Horsemen for once.  “Another slayer will come, just go…”

“Too late for that,” Niccolo said, grabbing another arrow with a barbed head.  The point made him recall his former life, but he shook the thought from his head.  The first time he had to fight a feral elder demon was not the proper time to engage in nostalgia. 
Ready?
he thought, mentally telling his horse what he wanted.

You are insane, Nico.  But… yes
, the voice echoed in his head.  Plague broke into a gallop toward the feral demon, which had brought its legs back down and faced the new threat, his wings spanning the entire width of the avenue.  He roared again before leaping forward, set on a crash course with the relatively tiny Horseman.

“Cadmus, you know what to do!” he shouted, not yet putting his arrow to his string.  It caused the reaper behind him to come back to the present, suddenly wondering what his fellow Horseman was saying.  As Valefor opened his deadly mouth, Cadmus finally realized what Niccolo intended.

“You idiot,” he said in shock, spurring Mercy forward.  Niccolo and Plague were only a yard away from the approaching demon, but Cadmus knew what his friend intended.  Before the beast could react, Plague jumped toward its mouth and dissolved into green mist, causing the lion to choke and come to a halt, not realizing that something had landed on his face.  Valefor reared back on his legs once more, opening its eyes as it roared, but what it saw confused the beast.  Standing on his face was a small man, a barbed arrow aimed straight down.  The archer smiled before letting go of the arrow, which burst through Valefor’s unguarded eye.

Niccolo could not help himself from feeling joy when the demon screamed in pain, falling to the street as Niccolo held on to the creature’s head, shoving his demonic arm through its nostril and grabbing a handful of Valefor’s mane with his other hand.  In his efforts, his bow fell to the street, but Niccolo did not care.  He turned back to Cadmus, who was approaching with his scythe arm extended.

“Now!” he shouted, leaping toward the lion’s neck and grabbing hold of its mane with both arms, pulling back to help his fellow Horseman.  Valefor snarled at the pain, but with his feral mind he did not know what was about to occur.  Niccolo grunted as he pulled back with all his strength, making a clear line of sight with the reaper.

Cadmus breathed in deeply and tried to force all of his will into his right arm.  Reservoirs of energy pooled through his muscles, he could feel Räum’s strength added to his already formidable powers, and after just a moment he was ready.  When Niccolo pulled on the feral demon’s mane, he threw his arm forward with all of his might, sending his scythe in a wicked spin toward the enraged creature.  He almost despaired when the lion brought up his paw in front of his face, but the Pale Rider was amazed when his blade simply cut through the muscles, tendons and bones of the limb, slicing through like it was nothing.  It continued along its path and sank into the creature’s remaining eye, completely blinding Valefor as a result.

Mercy skidded to a stop, amazed at his master’s blow, but he was not the only one.  Both Cadmus and Niccolo were shaken by the act and watched as the demon’s paw fell to the street with a wet thump.  With horror, Cadmus realized that if his scythe had not encountered the resistance from Valefor’s paw, he very well could have killed his friend.  Niccolo let go of the demon’s mane and stood on its body, staring at his friend.

“Move!” Crocell yelled from his position, only now able to get to his feet with concerted effort.  The Horsemen looked at him, still in shock from Cadmus’ strike, but neither was able to interpret it in time.  Valefor roared in pain and Niccolo cursed as he realized that Cadmus’ scythe had not ended the demon’s life.  A powerful blow hit him in the back and set him sprawling on the street toward his friend, pain enveloping his senses.  The lion had used its wings to rid himself of the pest on his back and stood back up on its legs.  Although Valefor was blinded and still had Cadmus’ weapon buried in his eye, it was nowhere close to death.

“He’s one of the Fallen,” Crocell croaked, his right arm crossing his torso and holding onto his left side, clearly in pain.  “Blinding him is not enough.

“How do we kill him, then?” Cadmus asked, jumping off of his horse to help Niccolo up.  As he picked up his fellow Horseman, they saw Valefor thrashing around, looking for some invisible enemy.

“The heart or the brain,” he advised weakly, falling against the wall beside him, his shoulder meeting its surface.  “Anything else will just make him angry.”

“There’s a scythe in his
eye
!  Where the fuck is his brain, then?” Niccolo asked, shouting in his anger.  Crocell shook his head and swallowed down the blood filling his mouth.

“Valefor is a large demon.  His brain, not so much,” he said, the corner of his dark lips curling slightly.  The Horsemen were only just able to tell that the fallen angel was joking.  Niccolo was about to say something when Valefor roared again and jumped into the air, flapping his massive bat wings to rise higher.  They watched him pump his wings for a second before Cadmus broke them out of their stupor.

“I… I can’t fight him.  My weapon is in his eye…” he trailed off, but Niccolo was not concerned with his friend’s part in this fight.  He noticed that Valefor was sniffing, drawing in huge amounts of air with each breath.  Then it turned slightly, seeming to look straight at Crocell, who was staring at his brother solemnly.

“He smells Crocell’s blood!” he shouted before running forward, ignoring the pain raging through his back.  He jumped as high as he could and mentally shouted at Plague, who instantly understood what his master wanted.  Green mist formed out of the air and then solidified into black hair, rotting skin and powerful muscles.

“Nico, stop!” Cadmus tried to persuade him, but Niccolo was past convincing.  Plague galloped toward the wounded slayer who had given up on his own life.  Wind whipped through the Horseman’s black hair as Plague ran faster than Niccolo had ever experienced, but he did not care about his exposed blight or his own safety.  When Valefor started to swoop down toward Crocell, Niccolo’s only thoughts were about saving the fallen angel.

He was only just able to reach down and tuck his demonic arm underneath Crocell’s armpit, pulling him just outside the reach of Valefor’s deadly jaws.  Plague galloped away as the feral demon crashed into the ground, stones flying in all directions as the impact cracked the ground.

“You’re an idiot,” Crocell muttered, too weak to shout at his savior.

“You’re welcome,” Niccolo replied as they escaped from the roaring demon.  He could feel Crocell’s cool blood spreading through the tunic underneath his own armor and a plan formed in his mind.  When he set the fallen onto Plague’s back behind him, Crocell seemed to give up, reverting to his usual form.

“Leave me to die, human.  Just go get Ronové,” he whispered, his strength having left him.

“You know, you have no imagination.  That’s the only thing you’ve said since we got here,” Niccolo said with a smile.  In his thoughts, Niccolo whispered his intentions to his horse.

Are you serious?  I can’t
, Plague’s voice echoed through his mind, determined to argue, but Niccolo just shook his head.

Don’t worry; I got this,
he thought before making his horse come to a stop and leaping off to his right.  “Just go, I’ll be fine.”

“Niccolo, stop, you don’t know-” Crocell said from Plague’s back, but Niccolo just smiled before slapping his hand on Plague’s rear leg, which caused the horse to run away from the threat, his unwilling passenger shouting at him in defiance.  “Stop, you beast!”

The smile on Niccolo’s face disappeared as he turned to face Valefor.  The demon had recovered and was sniffing the air again, blindly turning toward Niccolo, who was standing in the middle of the street.  The Horseman shuddered in reaction as he realized his plan was already working; the demon smelled Crocell’s blood on his tunic.  When Valefor snarled and rose into the air, Niccolo hoped that he was doing the right thing.