Middle Demons (Angels and Demons Book 2) (15 page)

CHAPTER 29

“I killed Agrat and Naamah with their entire armies. Give me more demons to command and I’ll assault Vixen where she lives and take her down as well.”

Baal gave Leech a skeptical look in response. Leech pressed his point.

“I took down two armies larger than mine. Now I’m out of demons in the home stretch. I can press in on Vixen and leave her with nothing to command. Then you can walk in with your scythe and cut off her head.”

Baal’s eyes looked far away as if he wasn’t listening.

“General Baal?”

“How the hell
did
you take down the armies of two middle demons with the small army I gave you? I was expecting you to return a long time ago with your entire army slaughtered and you barely clinging to life.”

“And the fact that I’m still alive and still in command of a small force bothers you?”

“Explain how it happened.”

“I’m a badass.”

“Leech… tell me what happened.”

Leech sighed.

“Gangrene joined his forces to mine. I’ve made him my lieutenant considering the possibility that Shadow is…”

Leech let his sentence trail off. Baal laughed.

“Shadow is fine. Stop playing the pity game with me. It won’t get you what you want.”

“How do you know that Shadow is fine?”

“I received a report from the Dragon earlier today. Shadow made it to the lowest circle of Hell and made a claim for Cain’s position. The spot is contested, because another middle demon from murder made it there before him, but Shadow carries Cain’s scythe. I imagine they will attempt to kill each other and then we’ll have a new major demon.”

“Who was the other demon?”

“No idea. It’s also not relevant to our current situation. The department of murder is useless to us until they figure out who their leader is, pull their heads out of their asses, and help us fight this war.”

“I’m on the verge of crushing Vixen, Baal. March with me and we can destroy her.”

“I can’t leave the battle we’re currently fighting. I wouldn’t expect a young, little demon like you to understand the complexities of running a war, but I don’t have any demons to give to you right now.”

“The demons-in-training.”

“What?”

“I’ll take command of the demons-in-training. I doubt they’re of much use to you here.”

“You want those idiots? You’re going up against Vixen and her final middle demon. Their army will
destroy
you.”

Gangrene entered Baal’s tent and bowed.

“Who is this?”

“My name is Gangrene, General Baal. I have a message for Leech.”

“He’s busy talking strategy with me. State your message.”

“I have decided to stay on as your lieutenant, Lord Leech, but…”

“See? We can win this, General Baal. Gangrene is a skilled fighter and with his army…”

“Lord Leech, I no longer have an army.”

“What the hell do you mean you no longer have an army?”

“News is spreading that Lord Shadow is alive and that he is returning as a newly appointed major demon. My army has left to rejoin him. I considered leaving as well, but I imagine you’re about to run off on a suicide mission. I figured I should watch your back for a little longer.”

Baal sighed.

“It’s a hopeless mission, Leech. Your cavalry has already joined back in with my armies and is fighting in the battle here. You should join in as well. I can give you a force to command
here
but I can’t give you demons to run off with.”

“General, I can make this work. I’ll trade my cavalry for all the demons-in-training in our department. It’s more than fair. My cavalry can join in here and fight. The demons-in-training are just sharpening weapons and playing squire. I am close to winning a third of this war on my own. Please trust me.”

“Gangrene, leave the tent.”

Gangrene bowed and exited.

“Leech, why are you so eager to cast your life away?”

“Oh so now you suddenly care? I thought I should have come crawling back inches from death with no army a long time ago.”

“All middle demons are tested for survivability. The force I sent you with was small and expendable. I just needed
you
to make it back. You proved yourself resourceful and came back with more demons than I expected. Now I need you to join in the fight.”

“With all due respect, General Baal, I will either take the demons-in-training and go after Vixen or I will find Shadow and convince him to help me finish her. She’s a problem that we will have to deal with eventually and I have her on the ropes.”

Leech expected a violent reaction from Baal and he braced himself. Baal looked thoughtful and then nodded.

“Take the demons-in-training then. When they’re dead and you have failed, try to stay alive. When you come back here, I’ll give you a sizable army and you’ll fight alongside your department.”

“Thank you, General Baal. I won’t disappoint you.”

“You can’t, Leech. I have no expectations of your suicide mission other than you returning alive. Once you’ve failed, we can move on from your nonsense. I’m only giving you this shot because you took down two armies more than I was expecting. Try to keep Gangrene alive too. We could use him here.”

As Leech exited Baal’s tent, Gangrene looked slightly hopeful.

“Do we have a new army?”

“Generally speaking, yes.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means Baal has given me command of the demons-in-training.”

“So, in other words, no. We don’t have an army.”

Gangrene shook his head sadly and walked away. Leech sighed and looked down at the sand. Something snapped right next to his ear and he jumped back. He saw Lilith smiling at him.

“Wanna have some fun?”

“Not now.”

Lilith gave him a pouting look.

“So the meeting with Baal didn’t go well?”

“Not really. All I could get was the demons-in-training.”

“That should be enough. I heard His High General Lord Shady of the East Winds of Hell is on his way back. We’ll bring him with us.”

“You’ll call him all of that and you won’t even call me Leech the angel slayer?”

Lilith giggled.

“Come with me and I’ll call you whatever you want.”

Leech tried to fight a smile, but he eventually broke down. Lilith got behind him and started pushing him towards her tent. He stepped to the side and she went sprawling forward. He caught her before she fell over, lifted her into the air, and carried her over his shoulder.

“Fine. We’ll go have some fun.”

CHAPTER 30

“So what do you know about Dante the psychotic demon?”

“He’s the middle demon of violent death. Lord Shadow, I think you should just let me fight him.”

“He’s the middle demon of violent death and
you
want to fight him? If he made it to the Dragon before us then he has to be pretty powerful. I’ll kill him.”

“He only made it there before us because you stopped to have that meeting with the major demons. He had a head start. I’ll fight him and you can give me his spot when I kill him.”

“Tell me about him before I decide anything.”

“He stalks his prey with the stealth of an assassin. He would be brilliant if he weren’t so obviously deranged. When he gets the chance to kill, he goes for overkill every time. Brutal murders from multiple stabbings, decapitations, and occasionally torture when he has the time. I’ve heard that his kill count is in the tens of thousands.”

“And you think you can kill him?”

“I know I can.”

They were interrupted as Gangrene’s army arrived. They bowed. Shadow lifted one of the demons into the air by his throat.

“Where is Gangrene?”

“With Leech, my lord. We came to rejoin you as the rumor has spread that you are now a major demon. Lord Dante met us on the way. He’s looking for you.”

Shadow set the demon back down and a short blade appeared from his throat. It then protruded from his stomach several times before the demon fell over. A demon dressed in rags was standing behind him. He was covered in blood and wore a psychotic grin. His hands trembled slightly as he placed his knife back on his belt.

“Always nice to get a fresh kill. It satisfies my thirst for blood for a time. I imagine I will be quite content for a long while after I kill you, Shadow.”

Shadow laughed.

“Dante the deranged, I presume? It’s laughable that you think you deserve my uncle’s throne. I will gladly rip you in half.”

Dante closed his eyes and smiled, as if imagining being ripped in half. Violence of any kind seemed to amuse him. Shadow wasn’t afraid in the slightest, but he noticed Muan’s hands shaking out of the corner of his eye.

“The middle demon of violent death, huh? Do I win a prize for brutally murdering you? What makes you think you have a claim to my uncle’s throne?”

“You should stop referring to it as your uncle’s throne, young demon. It was not his right. It is not something that can be passed down or inherited. I am the eldest middle demon in the department of murder and the Dragon has recognized my claim.”

“I just returned from the Dragon and he recognized my claim as well. What do you suppose we do about that, ancient assassin? I’ll gladly prove to you right now…”

Muan cut him off.

“Dante, I challenge you for your position as the middle demon of violent death.”

Dante laughed so hard that he fell over backwards in the sand. The sand clung to his blood-stained rags. When he got back to his feet, he was wiping away tears of laughter. Muan was not amused and his hands were no longer shaking. Anger held his clenched fists steady.

“Now I have to kill little midgets to earn a fight with Shadow?”

Shadow grinned.

“You’re simply not worth my time, Dante. If you kill Muan, you can have the major demon position. If Muan kills you, I guess we don’t have a contested spot anymore, do we?”

“And people call me insane? You realize how idiotic this is, right? I’ve been killing demons for thousands of years. I eat a demon larger than that little guy for breakfast every morning.”

Muan looked back at Shadow, also questioning his judgment. Shadow nodded at him reassuringly. Dante removed his cape and handed it to a demon in his army, which had just arrived. Shadow pulled Muan aside.

“With all due respect, Lord Shadow, are you insane?”

“They outnumber us. If I didn’t present a challenge that was a direct insult to his ego, we would have another civil war on our hands. I can’t afford to lose another army right when I’m about to become a major demon. Besides, you volunteered for this.”

“And you finally agree that I’ll win?”

“I didn’t say that. If he kills you, I’ll run in and cut him in half with my dual bladed scythe. Damnation will slice him clean through. I promised him the major demon spot; I never said how long he could keep it.”

“Thanks for the confidence boost, boss.”

“Hand me your weapons.”

Muan handed over his bone daggers, poisoned knives, and his blowgun. Shadow closed his eyes and muttered a few words over them. After his cursing, the weapons glowed a darker black.

“They are middle demon weapons now. If you win, you’re a middle demon. If you don’t, then I hope you find an entertaining way to die.”

Muan chuckled.

“Of course. Why die if you can’t have some fun with it?”

Muan clutched the amulet of Iktomi around his neck and went to meet Dante. Dante didn’t wait for any kind of official start; he pulled the crossbow from his back and shot Muan through his left leg. While the move surprised Muan and caused him pain, he countered by quickly removing his blowgun and firing off several darts. Dante was able to deflect them all with his knives.

Hoping his leg would hurt less as a bigger animal, he changed into a grizzly bear and lunged at Dante. Dante dodged the attack and laughed.

“No one told me I would be fighting Iktomi, Jr. No matter though. I’ve killed changlings before.”

The next time Muan lunged, Dante caught his arm and sliced one of the bear’s paws clean off. Shadow tightened his grip on Damnation.

Muan changed into a gorilla, but a bolt still protruded from his leg and he was still bleeding from the stump where his hand used to be. Dante turned to Shadow.

“I’ll spare the little guy’s life if you just declare him the looser. He’s got some fight in him and I don’t think your army can sustain any more losses.”

Muan approached Dante from behind, brought his large gorilla arms around him, lifted him into the air, and applied as much pressure as he could. Dante continued to laugh like a maniac, even as his eyes started to protrude from their sockets. He clicked his boots together and blades appeared out of the back of his shoes. He drove his feet backwards into Muan’s chest. Muan roared and then punched Dante, who sailed through the air laughing. Muan then fell to one knee, now bleeding from his chest in addition to all of his other wounds. Muan grabbed a small jar from his belt and opened it. He poured the liquid all over his injuries, reattached the jar to his belt, and then disappeared. Dante laughed again.

“It looks like your little mascot has run away, Shadow. Is that what your army specializes in? Running away and hiding?”

Dante started to laugh again but it was cut short, as he fell to his knees. Muan had snuck up behind him and stabbed each of his calves with poisonous darts. When he walked around to face Dante, his missing hand was back and the bolt in his leg was gone. Dante finally looked slightly afraid.

“What the hell?”

“A little healing potion on my injuries and then I turned into a lizard. Not sure if you know this, Dante, but lizards can regrow limbs. My potion accelerated the effect. The double dose of poison now travelling up your legs will paralyze you in a matter of minutes.”

The fear left Dante and he started laughing again. He got back on his feet and delivered an uppercut to Muan’s jaw. As Muan sailed backwards through the air, Dante threw several knives on paths to pierce him as he fell. Muan saw their approach and turned into an owl. As he flew higher, all of the knives sailed harmlessly through the air below him.

“I know who you are now, little one. You’re the son of the medic. That doesn’t alarm me though. I am immune to poison. I’ve built up a tolerance over the years. Demons more skilled than you have attempted to poison me in the past. None have succeeded.”