Major Demons (7 page)

CHAPTER 13

Lilith could see Gangrene and Raven’s faces hovering over her. She saw their mouths moving but couldn’t understand what they were saying. She closed her eyes and tried to focus.

“I think she’s waking up.”

“Finally. Why did you have to hit her so hard?”

“Leech told me to get her out of there. You know how stubborn she is. This was the only way.”

Lilith opened her eyes again. She sat up in a panic.

“The baby?”

Raven held up baby Lucia, who was napping.

“Ok. Then what happened? Where’s Leech?”

Gangrene and Raven looked at each other with concern and sadness.

“How much do you remember?”

Lilith frowned.

“I remember you clocking me in the head with a scythe.”

“And right before that?”

“Before that… Azazel appeared and…”

An intense migraine overcame Lilith. She closed her eyes and rested her head in her hands.

“Leech um…”

She opened her eyes and tried to shake out the cobwebs in her head. It finally dawned on her.

“Leech took on Azazel and his army alone. What happened to him?”

Gangrene slowly exhaled.

“I’m sorry, Lilith. Leech is dead. A day after we left, I circled back. Leech took out the nephilim army and injured Azazel but there’s some pretty clear evidence that…”

“We have to go back. I want to see.”

Raven shook her head.

“It’s terrible, sis. You don’t want to see it.”

“I need to. Everyone touch my shoulders and we’ll teleport back.”

Gangrene and Raven did as requested. When they reached the spot, Lilith fell on her knees and started to cry. Raven nudged Gangrene and he ran towards the cross to retrieve Leech’s head. Raven put her free arm around Lilith.

Gangrene grabbed a sack from his belt, knocked down the cross, and placed Leech’s head in the sack. The sack started to glow a light green. He also retrieved Leech’s guns and axe and returned everything to Lilith. Lilith opened the sack.

“Why are his eyes still glowing?”

“He drained an entire nephilim army before he exploded. I imagine there’s some residual power in there. I mean I know he had already given me my scythe, but I imagine he could have taken on Shadow or Abaddon shortly before he went nuclear.”

Raven removed her arm from Lilith and elbowed Gangrene hard in the ribs.

“Ow.”

“Be sensitive. I don’t want to hear you say nuclear again.”

Lilith attached Leech’s guns around her waist and his axe to her back. She took Lucia back from Raven.

“We’re done. I’m not doing this anymore. We’re going back to Hell. Jess can help me see him again.”

“The armies abandoned us, sis. We don’t have much say in Hell anymore.”

Lilith held up her scythe.

“I’ll trade this for one more chance to see Leech. After that… I want to go somewhere and die.”

Raven started to cry and Gangrene shook his head.

“It’ll pass, Lilith. Don’t say things like that.”

“It hurts too much, Gangrene. I can’t do this anymore.”

“Think of the baby. She needs you… and Leech gave his life to save the two of you.”

“And what do I tell her when she grows up? That her father was killed and I know who did it but I’m too weak to avenge him? She’d be better off without me.”

“Shadow will kill Azazel. Trust me. As soon as he finds out what happened to Leech, he’ll be all over it. He’ll cut Azazel into little, bite-sized pieces. I agree that we’re done up here though. Let’s get back to Hell.”

Lilith reacted angrily to hearing Shadow’s name.

“Where the hell
was
Shadow? Why didn’t he show up and save us? Why didn’t he try to warn Leech that he shouldn’t take on Azazel alone?”

Gangrene shifted uncomfortably.

“Lilith, I’ve known both Shadow and Leech for a while. I imagine they talked about what to do in case Azazel attacked. That’s why Leech knew to rig his scythe so Azazel couldn’t take it away from him. I don’t think Shadow intended that to be anything more than a way for Leech to keep his scythe though. Shadow wouldn’t have told Leech to take him on. Shadow would have told Leech to run away. Now that being the case, I also think I know how Leech would have
taken
that advice. He would have ignored it if he didn’t see a way out. He saw our armies turn and run and knew that eventually, no matter how fast all of us got away, Azazel would find us again and kill all of us. So he did what he could. He killed Azazel’s armies and injured him to the point that he can’t teleport all over looking for us. Honestly, I’d be surprised if that motherfucker Azazel isn’t dead. Leech was an absolute beast in the end. Every bit the powerful major demon I respected.”

Lilith and Raven both started to cry. Gangrene started to regret his speech.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset either of you. I just… needed to say it for myself. I’ll never regret leaving Shadow to follow Leech. Leech was a badass to the very end. He had to fight for everything he was ever given and he deserved to be a major demon. I just wish he was still around to…”

Gangrene trailed off. He fought hard to not let the tears flow. He needed to be strong for Raven and Lilith. Leech had entrusted their safety to him and he couldn’t break down. Raven put her head on his shoulder and gave him a hug.

“Once we’re back in Hell, we need to contact Shadow and let him know what happened. If there’s someone on this Earth who can kill Azazel, it’s Shadow. We need to get to Hell first before any of that though. I promised Leech I would keep everyone safe and that’s what I’m going to do.”

Lilith stood.

“Alright. I’ll teleport all of us back to Hell. Grab my shoulders and we’ll get out of here.”

Right as they were about to go, they saw a crow land at Lilith’s feet and change into Muan.

“That actually saves us a lot of time. Muan, you need to let Shadow know that Leech is dead. He took on Azazel and…”

“Oh… he knows. He’s furious.”

Gangrene saw Shadow’s armies following Muan.

“Shadow doesn’t want to be a major demon anymore. He turned his forces over to me. I’m taking them back to Hell to give command of his armies to Murmur. Then I’m coming back to help him. He’s going after Azazel and Abaddon. Actually, I saw you guys and I’m hoping you can do me a favor. I want to get back to Shadow. Only Sarah is with him right now. I’m afraid his anger is going to drive him to do something stupid and I need to make sure he has adequate backup. I don’t want his armies and I don’t want to be a major demon either.”

Muan saw the scythe in Gangrene’s hand.

“Leech named you as his successor?”

“He did. Right before he…”

Gangrene trailed off.

“Then take command of Shadow’s armies. They know you and they respect you from back when you and I led them. Return to Hell as a major demon.”

Gangrene nodded. He turned to Shadow’s former armies.

“Muan needs to get back to Shadow. I will take command from this point on. Does anyone have a problem with that?”

No one objected. They remembered Gangrene and were willing to fight for him.

CHAPTER 14

“So you never told me. How did Gabriel take it when you told him and the rest of the angels to take off and go back to Heaven?”

“Not very well considering I was the one who convinced them to come down here in the first place.”

“And we still have no idea where the other two Archangels are?”

“I imagine they’ve went back to Heaven, too. If they heard that Gabriel left, I really doubt they would have been interested enough to stay down here.”

“So before we go hunting Azazel and Abaddon, we need to learn to fight together. Which means we need to trust each other. I’m offering an answer to any of your questions. In return, I’d like the same. Then we hunt nephilim until our fighting styles merge. I won’t lie; I keep feeling like you should hang back and let me do the fighting and I know you don’t like that…”

“I won’t accept it, either…”

“…but it’s how I feel right now. I don’t want to watch you die. No more death while I’m up here. So I’m opening up my past. Now that I actually
know
all of it, I think you’re entitled to know anything about me you think could be helpful.”

“And you want me to return the favor afterwards?”

“Yes. That’s how we’ll trust each other.”

Sarah thought for a moment and asked her first question.

“I’ve always wondered how many powers you have. Will you list them for me?”

“Well… there’s ice. That’s apparently inherited. I have limited mind reading and hallucination inducing abilities. Neither of them were strong enough to work on Bumalin, or that entire encounter would have gone a lot smoother. I can replicate myself and control the copies. I have lots of insignificant minor demon powers like the ability to counter the powers of other demons and some angels, the ability to see through fog, and so on. I can turn into a huge rage monster and consume other demons. I can teleport when I have Damnation with me. There are probably a few I’m forgetting. Some of them have started to merge and form new powers, but I haven’t fully figured that out. How about you?”

“I can blind enemies by overexposure to light. Most demons that touch me will burn. I inherited frost and ice abilities from grandpa. I’m decent with a blade. Honestly, my list sounds kind of depressing next to yours.”

“It’s not exactly a fair comparison. I’m a weird hybrid of angels and demons. I’ve found it’s a lot easier for me to acquire and keep powers.”

“Ok. Next question. How do you feel about Cain’s betrayal?”

“I’m angry.”

“Leech’s death?”

“I’m angry.”

“You don’t feel sad?”

“Not really. Being sad won’t bring them back.”

“Neither will being angry.”

“I don’t like this line of questioning and I don’t understand how it’s relevant. My turn. What do you think Gabriel told Bumalin? Does it bother you that he’s trying to hide something from you?”

“What makes you think he’s hiding something?”

“Bumalin’s response. ‘Does she know?’ He’s hiding something.”

“Well I don’t think he is… and I don’t like this line of questioning.”

“Fair enough. Let’s just move on. We both have ice powers. I can’t really control mine all that well because I’ve mostly just had to learn as I go. How about you?”

“It takes some getting used to for few angels that have the power. You have to have a need to slow things down. Make the molecules stop being so quick. Honestly, I have no idea how you’ve been pulling it off. You’re so hot-headed all the time.”

“Can you show me? I’ll help you hallucinate and then monitor your thoughts to see how you do it.”

“That sounds incredibly invasive.”

“This is about trust, right? I’d let you in my head but it’s just a bunch of angry thoughts and a hunger for more power. Oh and occasionally some thoughts about you that I think you would find invasive and inappropriate.”

Shadow grinned and Sarah punched him in the arm.

“Do we have a deal? I promise I’ll just be in there to see what you’re thinking and feeling when you conjure up the ice.”

“Fine. Let’s do it.”

Shadow placed his thumb on Sarah’s forehead and she immediately saw a large yeti running towards her. She initially panicked, but then focused on slowing the yeti’s approach. She pointed her hands and ice flew through her veins and out towards the approaching hallucination.

Shadow read her thoughts as this happened and then returned to his own mind.

“Interesting, but I don’t think it’ll help me. I’ve just been able to summon the ice when I need it.”

“Well I didn’t say my way was the only way, but now you know how I do it.”

“All the angels do it that way?”

“No. That’s just how I learned… and now it’s my turn.”

“Fine. What do you want to know about my fighting style?”

“I want to learn how to fight with a sword like I’ve seen you fight. I know you have Damnation now…”

“Sure. I can teach you. I’ll use Michael’s short blade and you use your sword.”

Shadow and Sarah drew their weapons. Shadow replicated himself three times and then backed away.

“My style of fighting involves being quick. I’m not there when their weapon is. I’m not in their line of sight when they expect to see me. Go ahead and put your sword away.”

“Then why did you tell me I could use it while you use Michael’s short blade?”

Shadow shrugged.

“I haven’t taught this stuff much before. Occasionally I’d teach Leech or Lilith a thing or two but never sword fighting. Are you annoyed?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Channel that. Not into blind attacks and frustration but into speed. Anddddddd…. Go!”

The three Shadow clones each attacked Sarah from a different angle. She ducked under the blades of the first two but the third scratched her on her arm.

“Get behind them. Get on their side. Find a blind spot. You have to be quick. Think of it like chess. You need to stay several moves ahead. You need to dodge the first attack but then be ready to be out of the way for the second and third as well. Ready?”

Sarah nodded. The three Shadow clones attacked again and she successfully evaded all three swords.

“Good. Now we’ll work on counter-attacking.”

Sarah went to draw her sword but Shadow shook his head.

“At what point in teaching me how to fight with a sword will you actually… you know… let me use a sword?”

“Counter attack with your fists and feet. Then we’ll work on adding the blade.”

The three Shadow clones attacked. Sarah evaded their attacks and countered when she could. She tripped one and punched out the other two. Shadow grinned.

“Fine. Now you can draw your sword.”

Sarah drew her sword and the Shadow clones disappeared. Sarah looked back at Shadow and saw him facing her with his angel’s short blade drawn.

“If you’re ready, let’s do this.”