Major Demons (8 page)

CHAPTER 15

Aim led his new sniper team silently through the mountains. His new team had shown remarkable progress once he had adequate weapons to train them with and a larger number of demons to select from. They surrounded the small group of Nightmare’s demons and found hid behind rocks, desert plants, and whatever else they could find. Aim was eager to feel the true power of his new weapon. As Aim located the minor demon in charge, he placed his crosshairs on the demon’s head. He fired. Before the other demons could look for the sniper or react in any way, Aim’s team fired and took them out. Aim motioned for his sniper team to move in.

“How many did we get?”

“Seven, Lord Aim.”

Aim frowned.

“This is going to take forever.”

Jess teleported next to her brother.

“Seems like your new gun is working a lot better than the old one.”

“And?”

“And you owe me for helping you get it. I’m basically the
reason
you got it.”

Aim addressed at one of his snipers.

“Inventory the weapons and armor. Throw the corpses in the nearest river.”

His sniper nodded and went to inform the rest of the team. Aim turned back to Jess.

“And?”

“And I know you have a list of valuable weapons that the Dragon is protecting. I want to know what’s written on there as far as mage staffs.”

“Not sure. My memory has been pretty bad ever since the… what did you call it? The Aim Clusterfuck Campaign? Yeah… I don’t even know if there
are
any mage staffs on my list.”

“Come on. You owe me.”

“A debt I’d be happy to repay if you’d quit throwing my failure back in my face. I have a competent sniper team now and a much larger army. I’m also working off the death debt I owe to Murmur. Things have changed. Do we have a deal? My information for your word that you’ll stop?”

“Fine. It’s not really fun anymore anyways. I’ll leave you alone about it. What do you have for me?”

“There’s a magical staff on the list. Ruyi Jingu Bang… or the compliant golden-hooped rod. It was the magical staff of the immortal monkey king. The Dragon wanted it and took it from him. It was guarded by an army of giants that are supposedly immune to magic and very resistant to physical attacks… so I have no idea how in the Hell you’re going to get it. Most of the giants went with the Dragon to Earth. Only three remain at the moment according to my scouts. Good luck making a plan to get it.”

“I assume you’ll be going with me to retrieve it? You owe me for…”

“Yes, yes. Of course. For White Death. Once we get your magical monkey staff… that’s it. You’re paid back. Then we go our separate ways and become major demons.”

“Do you think the Dragon will ever make us major demons when he returns if he finds out we stole his legendary weapons?”

“Not a problem. We just have to hide them before we go down to the lowest circle of Hell and request to become major demons. He never has to know. We just can’t leave anyone alive to tell him. So ideally, you’ll need to kill the giants… not just find a way to walk past them and take the staff.”

“Any ideas?”

“I’m terrible at planning for this kind of stuff, remember?”

“Come on, Aim. Do you know anything else helpful?”

“Helpful? No. Amusing? Sort of. Apparently the giants stink from miles away. My scouts reported that they had to cover their noses for hours on their way and eventually could even track them purely by the smell. So… there’s that.”

Jess rolled her eyes.

“Great. Well… I’ll let you get back to your tracking and killing. I’ll let you know when I have a plan.”

Jess approached Murmur and Aim a few days later with a plan.

“So these giants are immune to my magic and extremely resistant to physical attacks. We have to approach it from a physical attack angle. There’s three of them. I imagine we only have one weapon that can hurt them.”

Murmur kicked his feet up on the table and leaned back in his chair.

“My scythe. So you want me to go in solo and kill all three of them? I’m beginning to sense a pattern. Neither of you want to get things on your own.”

“Well I thought about that and this is where I want to discuss our options. We need more scythes. Obviously Shadow’s is out. Nightmare and Astaroth won’t help us; they’d rather I didn’t have a new mage staff. So I think out only option is to look to Leech’s and Lilith’s scythes. We need to either make a deal and take them or get Lilith down here to help us.”

“You think Lilith is just going to hand over her scythe
after
losing her armies? I don’t think Lilith will be in a very helpful mood when she makes her way down here. She just lost Leech…”

“…and she just had a baby. I imagine she’s on her way back here already. We offer protection. Maybe I can offer her a position as a middle demon. Let’s face it, Lilith and Leech were catapulted up by the success of Shadow.”

Murmur shook his head.

“Aim has a point. She has no reason to hand over her scythe.”

“Then maybe we can ask her to come with us on the mission and kill one of the giants.”

Murmur held up a hand to end the conversation.

“I understand that we need scythes. It’s pretty useless to speculate how Lilith will react until she comes back down here. Why don’t we just wait until we see her and have this conversation with her?”

Aim nodded.

“Sounds like a plan… and I need to get back to tracking and killing demons. I’ll see you guys later.”

Aim got up and left the room. Jess shook her head.

“I hate even asking her, Murmur. What happened to her really sucks and any way I ask for her help is going to sound really selfish.”

“That’s what we do in the department of jealousy. We see things we want and we take them. You’ve never had a problem taking things from other demons or demonesses before.”

“It doesn’t normally bother me. Asking Lilith to give up her scythe is a lot.”

“She may be willing. Death of a loved one changes priorities.”

Lilith teleported into the room and grinned at the startled looks on Jess’s and Murmur’s faces.

“Hey guys. We need to talk.”

CHAPTER 16

Jess and Murmur each gave Lilith a hug and then they all sat down to talk.

“I teleported down here to save time. Gangrene is leading Shadow’s armies back to Hell. I’m guessing you guys heard about Leech?”

Murmur and Jess both nodded.

“I’m sorry, Lilith. If there’s anything we can do…”

“In your case, Jess, maybe there is. I don’t accept what happened and I want to undo it if possible.”

“Lilith, we’re demons. We don’t have resurrection powers…”

“I’m not entirely sure Leech is dead.”

Lilith put a sack on the table and opened it. Leech’s head rolled out on to the table. The eyes were still faintly glowing green.

“He absorbed the lives of a lot of nephilim before he exploded. I think their power has somehow kept him alive…”

Murmur shook his head.

“Lilith, he’s dead. Nothing lives after you cut off its head.”

“Normally I would agree with you, but I think Leech’s case is different. Jess, can you try to summon Leech’s spirit so I can talk to him? If you’re able to, I’ll give up my crazy idea. If not, I want to make a deal with you to try to bring him back.”

Jess looked uneasy before she got to her feet. She waved her staff. Nothing happened. She tried again with the same result. Murmur stroked his chin.

“Interesting. Maybe you’re right. Maybe the nephilim souls are keeping Leech alive. Jess, go ahead and tell her your plan and then we can work something out.”

“First, a little background info. We’re stealing the Dragon’s legendary weapons while he’s on Earth with the majority of his armies. Aim recently acquired White Death, the sniper rifle. I’m going after the compliant staff of the immortal monkey king. I’ll actually need its power to attempt to do
anything
to help Leech. His… condition… is beyond anything my current staff could help with.”

“Ok… what’s the problem?”

“The problem is that the staff is guarded by three giants that can apparently only be killed with scythes. Murmur has one. I need yours.”

Lilith slid her scythe across the table.

“Done. I don’t want it. My armies abandoned us when we ran into Azazel and the nephilim and I don’t want to be a major demon anymore.”

Murmur looked confused.

“Your army and Leech’s army made their way down here. They joined up with Aim’s and Jess’s forces claiming that
you
abandoned
them
.”

“Nope. They ran the second Azazel showed up with his nephilim. They’re cowards. You can have them. I just want to bring Leech back and raise my baby.”

Jess attached the scythe to her belt.

“Where is the baby? I wanted to hold her.”

“I left her with Raven. I figured this conversation would go faster without any crying. So we have a deal? You take my scythe, armies, and position and you’ll help me revive Leech?”

Jess nodded.

“Of course. Anything to help you bring Leech back. Any idea what happened to Leech’s scythe?”

“Gangrene has it. You’ll have to make a separate deal with him if you want his help. I’m sure there’s something you guys can work out. He should be back here soon. Let me know when you have your monkey staff thing and we’ll work on bringing Leech back.”

Lilith got up from the table, put Leech’s head back in the sack, attached the sack to her belt, and left.

Raven started whining again.

“Why can’t we just teleport down there?”

“I have an entire army to lead back to Hell, Raven. They can’t teleport. We need to walk to a place where all of us can go down.”

“What are we going to do when we get down there? Leech is gone and Lilith is done being a major demon. Are you going to take over for Leech with the new army Muan just gave you?”

“I guess it kind of depends. Who are you sticking with? Me or your sister?”

“Why not both?”

“Lilith is going to try to resurrect Leech. I don’t think it’s going to work. I also have a responsibility to Shadow’s forces. Shadow doesn’t want to lead them. Muan doesn’t want to lead them. They know me and I’m their last hope for a real leader. I have Leech’s scythe. I think it’s time for me to be the major demon of idolatry.”

Raven looked confused.

“This is Shadow’s army. Why wouldn’t you take over as the major demon of murder?”

“I worked for Leech. I have Leech’s scythe. I’m the successor to Leech. We’ll work something out when I get down there, but I want Leech’s position. It’s the only guaranteed spot right now. Lilith is still alive. Shadow is still alive. Leech isn’t. I’m going for that spot. I don’t want to start a civil war against Lilith or Shadow. That would be suicide. Which brings me back to my question…”

Raven thought for a moment.

“Well I want to help babysit my niece.”

“That’s fine assuming Lilith stays in Hell. What if she goes back to Earth?”

“You won’t follow her back to Earth?”

Gangrene shook his head.

“I’m done. Someone needs to have Murmur’s back down in Hell. That’s where I’m going and that’s where I’m staying. Once the Dragon returns, I’ll go to the lowest circle and ask that my position be made official.”

“If Lilith goes away, I won’t have a cute little baby to play with anymore.”

“Well there’s an obvious solution to that.”

Gangrene winked and Raven giggled.

“Fine. If she goes away, I’ll stay with you. I really hope she decides to just stay down in Hell though.”

“I don’t want to pressure you, Raven. You’re a pain in the ass. You’re welcome to go with your sister if that’s what you really want.”

“And you would find yourself another demoness?”

“Sure.”

Raven punched Gangrene in the face. His nose started bleeding. He pinched it and continued.

“It was a joke. In all seriousness, though, I don’t want to keep you from your family if that’s where you want to be.”

“I want to say something but it’s going to sound cheesy.”

Gangrene grinned.

“Go for it.”

“You’re the only family I need.”

Gangrene laughed.

“Wow. That was really cheesy.”

Raven knocked Gangrene’s hand away from his nose and kissed him. Blood started flowing from his nose again. Neither of them seemed to care.

CHAPTER 17

“He’s close.”

Shadow and Sarah had been tracking an injured nephilim, that they hoped was Azazel, for days. Shadow could vaguely sense him and they occasionally found spots of blood but the blood became more infrequent as they traveled. The nephilim was obviously healing, even at the high rate of speed he was traveling at.

They continued to practice sword-fighting at night when they assumed their prey was sleeping. Even Shadow had to admit that Sarah was becoming a pro. She was nearing the level of a true master.

“When we find him, I’m thinking we should attack with ice first. I don’t think Azazel has ice powers. He isn’t a descendant of any of the Archangels that I’m aware of. Even if it isn’t a nephilim, no demons have ice and very few angels do.”

“It’s a nephilim. I’m pretty certain… but I agree with your point. We’ll attack with ice first.”

As they started trudging through the hills again, a dagger flew through the air and cut Sarah’s arm. It wasn’t deep and she didn’t take time to worry about it. She looked at Shadow as if to say, “Let’s do this.” Shadow nodded.

Both Shadow and Sarah attacked with ice whenever they saw the creature moving in the shadows. He was quick and neither of them could hit him.

“Why don’t you come out?”

“And be attacked by both of you in the open? I don’t think so.”

It wasn’t Azazel’s voice, but Shadow felt that he recognized it. He couldn’t place it immediately.

“I’m fine with one-on-one against either one of us.”

Shadow looked at Sarah, wondering if she would be worried. She looked calm. Shadow realized that she also knew Azazel’s voice and knew that this nephilim wasn’t him. After Shadow’s promise, Scapegoat stepped out into the open. Shadow grinned. The creature was burned in several spots and Shadow could tell that the pain hadn’t fully subsided. Leech’s final play had kicked his ass along with Azazel’s.

“Fine. I choose the angel. Shadow teleports away and watches from a distance or we don’t have a deal.”

Shadow looked over at Sarah and she nodded. He teleported away and rested with Damnation in his hand. He was ready to teleport back if Sarah needed him. Scapegoat shook his head.

“That’s too close. I want you barely able to see us. I don’t trust you.”

Shadow teleported father away. He sat on a large hill and could still see Scapegoat and Sarah, but barely. Scapegoat nodded approval and drew his blade.

“This sword was crafted by Azazel when he resided in the Heavens and is superior to any weapon of the angels. I will make your death quick and clean and I will take your head to my master. Goodbye, granddaughter of the Archangels.”

Scapegoat attacked with speed but Sarah dodged the swipe and kicked at one of his legs. Scapegoat stumbled but was able to regain his footing and turned before Sarah could counter-attack.

“I will not be killed quickly or cleanly. If you’re able to kill me at all, you’ll die from your own wounds shortly after I do.”

Scapegoat angrily charged and Sarah readied herself. Scapegoat skidded to a stop shortly in front of Sarah and cut her arm before turning and running. The cut was shallow but it annoyed Sarah all the same. She pulled a dagger from her belt and threw it at Scapegoat. He knocked it away with his sword.

“Death by a thousand cuts. You have yet to draw blood from me.”

“Let’s change that then, nephilim.”

This time, Sarah charged. Scapegoat disappeared. Sarah didn’t want to be taken by surprise, so she froze the ground around her and started building up a wall of ice. She strengthened it on all sides until she was sitting in an icy prison. Sarah sat in the middle and waited. Scapegoat would not be given the element of surprise. If he wanted to attack, he’d have to break through the ice and warn Sarah.

Sarah smelled something burning and saw that her icy fortification was melting. Scapegoat had summoned fire to circle the icy walls and then retreated again. Sarah looked for Scapegoat through the ice but didn’t see him. She decided to use a technique Shadow had taught her. She stood, closed her eyes, and waited. Scapegoat attacked and stabbed at her back. Sarah spun, grabbed his sword hand, and began freezing it. Scapegoat cried out in pain and dropped his weapon. He stumbled back several steps, clutching his frozen hand. Sarah retrieved his sword.

“I guess it doesn’t matter if I drew blood because I have your weapon now.”

Scapegoat summoned flames in both hands.

“Nephilim are resourceful. I don’t need a sword to kill you.”

Sarah sheathed both blades on her belt and summoned ice in both hands. Scapegoat proceeded to throw fire and Sarah targeted it with precision, throwing ice to stop it. She became focused on the fire and Scapegoat thought she wouldn’t notice his attempt to sneak up on her. Scapegoat disappeared and charged again. He summoned fire and placed a burning hand on Sarah’s shoulder. Sarah cried out, but drew Scapegoat’s blade from her belt, spun, and stabbed Scapegoat through his right rib cage with his own blade. Scapegoat fell to his knees but quickly pulled his sword out and disappeared again. Sarah grinned.

“Was that enough blood for you?”

Scapegoat didn’t respond. He knew he was being taunted and didn’t want to give away his position. Sarah drew her sword and used her free hand to cool the burn on her shoulder. She continued to look for Scapegoat but saw no traces of where he had run until she noticed the blood in the grass. She started following the trail of blood until she found Scapegoat. He was shifting back and forth between being invisible and lying in a puddle of his own blood. Sarah stepped on his throat. Scapegoat pulled something out of his jacket and then died. A small circular object rolled out of his cold hand. Sarah saw it and started running. She only made it a few steps before the bomb exploded.