Major Demons (14 page)

CHAPTER 29

Lilith had been trying to figure out how the angel’s hand had burst into flames for days. She still had no clue how it happened. As she returned from a small town, having collected a soul from a recently departed lawyer, she felt something warm on the back of her neck. She carried Lucia in a backpack, so she was immediately worried. She took the backpack off and saw that Lucia’s hands were on fire. The baby didn’t appear to be in pain and was actually giggling. Lilith clapped the fire out with an old rag and Lucia started crying. Lilith finally figured it out.

“Can you make fire without a spell?”

Lucia looked up at her mother. Lilith put the rag away. Lucia held out her hands and both of them erupted in white flames. She started giggling again.

“Well I guess you can start the fire at night from now on.”

Lucia clapped and the fire went away. She looked like she was about to cry but Lilith loaded the human soul into a bottle and gave it to Lucia. Lucia sucked contentedly on her lunch.

“Damn. Didn’t know she could do that. That’s really cool.”

Lilith had been following a feeling for days that a nephilim was nearby. She hoped it was Shadow but was prepared to be wrong. She had been brushing up on her attack skills and minor spells from the book Jess had given her. At this point, she knew she was close and could reach the nephilim within a day.

That night, before she went to sleep, Lilith saw something glowing in the moonlight. As she looked closer, she realized it was a set of eyes and they were moving closer. She reached for her whip but then she saw another pair of eyes and then another.

She grabbed Lucia, hopped on Keshi and rode as fast as she could away from the spot. The ground rattled, Keshi stumbled, and Lilith and the baby went flying into the air. Lilith was able to land with Lilith on her feet, but Keshi rolled before lying still on the ground.

“What kind of coward attacks a mother and her child at night?”

“Normally, I would be glad to kill you in the daylight. We’re pressed for time.”

Lucia lit a fire in her hands and Lilith recognized the Archangel, Uriel.

“I see. The angel kind of coward. Makes sense. A demon would at least have the balls to challenge me to a fair fight.”

“You know that’s a lie. A demon would have stabbed you in your sleep.”

“And you were about to…?”

Uriel laughed.

“Fair point. We don’t deal fairly with nephilim. You’re part of a plague that needs to be wiped from this Earth. My scout told me we were close. I’m glad I finally caught up to you.”

Lilith glanced at Keshi. The horse was still down. Uriel wasted no time. He drew his sword and moved in quickly for the kill. Lilith shielded her daughter and waited for the end. When Uriel struck, his blade was met by another blade. Something around the same size as Uriel struck at him and shoved him back. Lilith could also hear the angel army running around in panic. She saw what was happening, but didn’t quite understand it.

She recognized the two creatures attacking the angels but couldn’t remember their names or where she had seen them before. One of them was putting angels to sleep. The other was raising sleeping angels from their sleep and turning them against their fellow angels. A majority of the army turned and ran. Uriel saw his army retreating and gritted his teeth. He pointed his sword at the creature that had saved Lilith’s life.

“This isn’t over, Samael. We haven’t forgotten your treachery.”

Uriel disappeared. Samael helped Lilith to her feet.

“Are you ok?”

Lilith just stared at him.

“We’re not here to hurt you. In fact I’m…”

“You’re my father.”

Samael looked surprised.

“I was going to say I’m familiar with nephilim. I was going to wait until you knew me a little better before revealing that I was your father. How did you find out?”

“Does it matter? I know. You let my mother take me back to Hell and I had a slight angelic tint to my countenance so she threw me out. I was raised by a minor demon named Panic. I would say thanks for saving me, but I feel it’s you’re still in my debt, not the other way around.”

“I would agree… and I would like to make up for it. I’ve wanted to come meet you many times but being tied to me would only make you more of a target. I know you were looking for nephilim and I believe you were drawn towards my sons. They’re your half-brothers. Lilith, meet Hypnos and Thanatos.”

“Right. Now I remember. They saved me and said they were doing it as a favor to Shadow. I’m…”

Lilith looked at Thanatos.

“Maybe I took a hit to the head… but I’m pretty sure Leech killed you.”

Thanatos laughed.

“The nephilim of death does not die. I laugh in the face of death.”

Thanatos pulled out a mirror and laughed at his own reflection. Lilith noticed Lucia yawn loudly. Hypnos nodded.

“I apologize. That was probably my fault. She’s just a baby nephilim and I tend to have that effect on lesser creatures. I’m Hypnos, the nephilim of sleep. In the past, I have pursued angels and demons that were pursuing you and your friends and put them down long enough for all of you to escape. You were even unaware that some of them were pursuing you.”

“Wrong. Shadow is aware of everything that’s going on.”

“I stand corrected. I don’t really understand the limits of Shadow’s powers. I’m not even sure that he does.”

Lilith looked back at Samael.

“Hypnos I’m ok with. He’s polite. Thanatos is weird and I don’t like you either.”

Hypnos tapped Lilith on her shoulder.

“Might I hold the young one? I don’t have any nieces… or I didn’t. I didn’t really have any nieces before… just now.”

“Alright, but just you. I don’t want the ‘whatever the hell of death’ over there touching her.”

Thanatos was oblivious. He was still holding a mirror in front of his face and chuckling at his reflection. Lilith handed Lucia over to Hypnos and she promptly fell asleep in his arms. He rocked her back and forth.

“Uncle Hypnos. So cool. Thanatos, can you believe we’re uncles?”

Thanatos looked over at Hypnos and put the mirror away.

“I want to hold her next.”

Lilith shook her head.

“Nope. Not happening. Now someone explain to me what’s going on here.”

Samael sighed.

“I’m sorry we had to finally meet like this… but we’re here to help. Not only you… but your friends as well. I believe in what Leech and Shadow were doing to put an end to Abaddon’s chaos.”

It dawned on Lilith that Samael was probably a powerful fallen angel. She removed Leech’s head from the sack and held it out to him.

“I imagine you’re very powerful. I need someone powerful to help me bring Leech back. I don’t know where Shadow is. Can you help me?”

Samael grabbed the head with one of his large hands. He fell to one knee as the head started to drain his strength. A ghostly body appeared under Leech’s head and Lilith clapped her hands and jumped up and down with joy. Her joy was short-lived. Samael dropped Leech’s head and it rolled on the ground. The body disappeared. When Samael got back to his feet, he was breathing heavily.

“I’m… sorry, Lilith. I don’t… seem to have the strength… I had when I was… younger.”

Lilith retrieved the head and put it back in the sack.

“It was a long shot. I just figured it was worth a try. That’s why I’m trying to find Shadow. He can bring Leech back.”

“We’re here to help you. We can track Shadow and take you to him.”

Lilith turned to go, but Samael placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Before we do that… can I hold my granddaughter? I promise I’ll be very careful.”

Lilith looked at him skeptically.

“You can trust me. I tried to bring Leech back. We stopped the angels from killing you. I promise you that we’re here to help.”

Lilith considered her father’s words briefly, then took Lucia and placed her in Samael’s arms. Samael looked tried to stop the grin from spreading across his face, but he couldn’t.

CHAPTER 30

Aim and his snipers had been watching Gangrene in shifts. They had a few false alarms where they thought Gangrene was on his way to Earth but he always returned before leaving Hell. Aim started to wonder if Gangrene knew that they were watching him. Gangrene was acting suspicious this morning. He stepped outside of his tent and put on a hooded cloak. He immediately started making his way towards one of the portals to Earth.

Aim had considered killing Gangrene and taking his scythe. He could make up a story and convince Murmur and Jess that it was necessary. As long as he could hide the truth, no one would be the wiser. With Gangrene’s forces added to his own, Aim would command an army larger than any in Hell apart from the Dragon’s forces.

“Follow him. If he even gets close to the portal this time, we’re surrounding him and taking him down. I’m tired of allowing him such a long leash. He’s clearly planning to go to Earth.”

Aim’s sniper team nodded and started packing up their gear. They were ready to go in less than a minute. Aim mounted a horse and took off. His snipers followed.

Gangrene had known that he was being watched since his last meeting with Murmur and Jess. He had even spotted his tail on several occasions and was convinced that he had lost them completely at least twice. Gangrene was convinced that he knew a lot more ways to get to Earth than Aim, Jess, or Murmur did. He had considered making a run for the surface, but he couldn’t sneak his army up there. Last night he had come up with a plan to deal with his tail permanently. He hoped it was just one of the three. He didn’t want to deal with Aim, Jess, and Murmur simultaneously, but he figured he wouldn’t have to. One of them had to be preparing for war with Nightmare and Astaroth.

As Gangrene approached the portal, Aim stepped out from the shadows and blocked his path. He pointed his gun at Gangrene’s face.

“Good morning, Aim. Just you following me? Your sister and the big guy busy with other things?”

Aim was unsure how to respond. Playing mind games was not one of his skills.

“I don’t need them to deal with you. You’re making a run for Earth. I was told I could take you out if you tried.”

“I don’t believe that. I’ve tested you a few times. You’ve never stepped out and confronted me. Thanks for confirming it’s just you though. That makes me a lot more confident in my response.”

Aim felt a slight tinge of fear creep up his spine, but he held his hand steady on the trigger.

“You don’t have a response. I caught you by surprise.”

Gangrene laughed and drew his scythe.

“Wow. I thought you were better than that. I guess your team never told you that they completely lost me at least twice. They were probably scared to report it. I’ve known you were following me… and you know what else? I hope you try to kill me. I’m capturing your sister as we speak.”

“You’re a liar. Jess is fine.”

“Is she? Doesn’t it bother you that my army hasn’t intervened and tried to cut you off?”

“We caught you by surprise. You aren’t going to talk your way out of this.”

“Then take your shot. Make it a good one, though. I trained under both Shadow and Leech. If you miss, I will kill you.”

Gangrene adopted a defensive position and hoped that Raven could deliver on her promise to capture Jess. There was no other way to diffuse the situation without death.

Gangrene had given Raven the sword he took from Scapegoat and told her to lead his armies towards Jess. The plan was to capture her and take her alive to the portal Gangrene would be slowly approaching. She was nervous. Gangrene could be dead or in serious trouble by the time she made it back. She could fail at capturing Jess. Jess could kill her. Above all, she missed Lilith and her niece.

“So… I don’t really have a great plan. I’m going to try to talk Jess down and get her to come with us willingly. She let Lilith escape from us a while back and I think she’s still feeling guilty. We’re only going to attack if she makes the first move. Gangrene will be alright until we get back.”

One of Gangrene’s soldiers stepped forward and bowed his head briefly in Raven’s direction.

“All due respect, is that really our best plan? It would be easier to take her by surprise and bind her. Take her staff. Run her back to Gangrene. Gangrene can only last so long against a group of snipers trained by Aim. Aim isn’t running around with a broken rifle now, he has White Death from the Dragon’s personal collection.”

“What’s your name again?”

“Adder, my lady.”

Raven noticed that some of the demons had nodded as Adder was speaking. She was slightly concerned.

“We’ll go with my plan, Adder. You’ll march at the back of the army.”

“But…”

“Back of the army. Now.”

Adder started to draw his sword but saw Raven’s blade start to glow a red-orange. He took his hand off his weapon and let it fall back into its hilt. He started stomping towards the back of the army, grumbling.

“Any other problems?”

Raven’s question was met with silence.

“Good. We’re almost there. Let’s get this done and get back to Gangrene.”