by Ryan Attard
I grinned.
“Okay, ugly,” I said, assuming a fighting stance. “Let’s see what you got.”
What he had was shit.
I blocked and severed one of his weapon arms. A low kick broke one of his hoofed legs and sent him down.
“Typical,” I said. “The cowardly general. You send your lackeys to do the dirty work and then just kill off the survivors.”
Paimon responded by lifting one of his trumpets. I bifurcated it before it reached his lips. The second one was met with the same fate. I kicked Paimon in the face, breaking the crown of thorns, and sent him skittering on the ground.
I laughed and turned to see what my allies were up to.
“NO!”
Astaroth’s scream came with fire. Not just flames—this was fire with a capital ‘F’. The fire to end all fires.
The demon exploded and flames covered everything. The roar of the blaze drowned out the cries of burning Asmodaii. Instantly, they were reduced to ash.
I don’t mean just burnt. They simply ceased to exist, a pile of ash in their place.
The only ones spared were myself, Gil, Mephisto, and Mammon.
Astaroth fell to his knees. In his hand, he held the black sock puppet.
A torn black sock puppet.
“Black,” he said. When he looked up, I saw tears in his eyes. “They killed Black.”
Chapter 26
Everyone stood still, stupefied by Astaroth’s sudden burst of power. We watched as he cradled his torn black sock and wept.
Calmly—too calm—he removed Orange from his other hand and placed both socks inside his lab coat pocket. Heat rolled out in waves. I struggled to breathe. From my peripheral vision, I saw Gil staggering backwards.
Mammon heaved and lay slumped against a wall. Clear burn marks on his hide indicated that whatever spell Gil used had been effective, if temporary. Still, I saw his beady eyes darting from one end of the room to the other. The guy was looking for an exit strategy.
Only Mephisto was unaffected by his brother’s outburst, and only just.
“Get out!” Astaroth spat. He dragged a sleeve across his eyes. “All of you! OUT! Get out!”
Heat and fire flared with every syllable. Astaroth’s gaze turned towards Mammon. Wordlessly, he raised his hand. Fire exploded from the palm of his hand and within seconds turned into a massive vortex that leapt towards Mammon.
The demon screamed something, his language a garble of demon and English.
“Oh, no you don’t.”
With his voice came a burst of power. Amaymon was suddenly in the middle of the room, shielding Mammon from the vortex. He was grinning.
Never a good sign.
The burst of power affected the walls of the room, not us. Suddenly there was no longer a room, no longer a ceiling and walls and floors.
We were standing in the middle of the volcanic wasteland that Astaroth called home.
Amaymon had dissolved the entire castle and reconfigured it into a massive wall. Erect before him, it took the brunt of the fire vortex and there was an explosion. Fire and stone rained down on us.
Astaroth looked at Amaymon and gasped. Amaymon chuckled, and gave Mammon a cursory glance.
“Do what we came here to do,” he told him, before looking back at Astaroth and cracking his knuckles. “I’m about to have me a family reunion.”
Mephisto stood next to Astaroth, and now the three demonic brothers were all looking at one another.
“Amaymon,” Gil said. She and I were a little off to the side. “Remember the agreement you and your brothers have. You cannot fight.”
I glanced at her. “Agreement? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Have you never asked why Mephisto and Amaymon never fought before?” she said. “Not the tussling we've seen them engage in, but real fighting.”
I shrugged. Truth be told, there were a million other things on my mind, starting from the shit-storm Lilith—who coincidentally was also the Sin of Lust—had brought with her five years ago, and going all the way to my current ghostly predicament.
“The four elemental brothers can reshape the world.” It was Mammon that answered—or rather Greede.
I turned to look at him; Mammon’s monstrous figure had shrunk down to merely seven feet, and he still retained his bulbous hide. But all other features were more or less human. I guessed that if he completely reverted to human, the atmosphere within Hell itself would kill him.
Which meant that he could not piggyback off of my sister’s teleportation spell.
Which also meant he was running out of juice, and fast.
Amaymon’s sudden psychotic burst of laughter killed any plan that was forming in my head. He never took his eyes off his siblings, but he addressed me.
“Don’t do it, Erik,” he said. “Can you believe it, Mephisto? Those two think they have a shot against a Sin.”
“I believe they may stand a chance, Amaymon,” Mephisto coolly replied. “Your new retainer seems to have drastically weakened.”
Amaymon gave him a look. “Retainer? Really? You think I’m serving that asswipe?”
“Your actions dictate so.”
Amaymon started backing off. When he crossed past me, he gave me a wink.
“Guess you ain’t seein’ the big picture just yet,” he said. He took his place before Greede. “But I guess I’m gonna have to protect this guy since he’s the one who can bring back dear old dad.”
I looked as both Mephisto and Astaroth stiffened.
“You wouldn’t dare,” Mephisto said.
“No, no, no,” Astaroth said. “Not him.” He seemed to forget his previous wrath and started shaking in fear. “Oh, no. I’ve been bad. He’ll punish me.”
“He will not be resurrected, brother.” Mephisto took a step forward. “Master Gil. I believe that Alan Greede and my turncoat brother intend on resurrecting the-”
“The Demon Emperor,” I supplied. Gil shot me a look. “That’s why Greede wants me. He wants Life magic.”
I could see Gil’s calculating expression, a look she assumed every time she put her feelings aside and focused only on the task at hand.
But like I said, feelings are the fuel of magic. And since she was in her super mode, I couldn’t let her lose that.
“I got that info out of the Necromancer before Luke pulled me out,” I told her. “I didn’t have time to tell you since-”
She held her hand up. The light around her flared stronger than before. “I understand,” she said. “It was a war zone, and we had to flee. I know now, and that’s all that matters. Mephisto, this is an order.”
Light exploded.
“Kill Alan Greede.”
The demon nodded. “Aye, Ma’am.”
Mephisto shot forwards into a gust of wind. Sand and gravel exploded to meet him as Amaymon met his assault head-on.
“Yeah!” Amaymon screeched. “Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about.”
Gil was suddenly in the air, floating like a helium balloon. Behind her, a series of sigils, each the size of a dinner plate, flared to life. Each sigil was a circle with several characters in Enochian glowing and rotating within.
Bolts of searing light rained down from each sigil, like a magical machine-gun.
Greede yelped as he dodged and cast his own defensive spell, but it was shattered with frightening ease. A pillar of earth shot into Gil, who was rescued by Mephisto’s sudden appearance. He pushed her to safety.
Amaymon spun in the air, lunging at my sister.
One of my blue swords pierced his side, and I used the other one and the cord chaining them together to whip him back toward the ground. Amaymon disappeared underground and shot up like a mole. I evaded and attacked.
Swords and claws interlocked.
“Why are you doing this?” I strained against the blade-lock. “We were friends. We were like brothers. I trusted you!”
Amaymon snarled and heaved. He threw me off.
“You
held me back!” A swipe of his claws shattered the energy swords I held in my hand. “You chained me!” A kick to my stomach. I doubled over. “You and your family are a blight on all demonkind.”
Amaymon grabbed me by the hair and heaved my head up, bringing me at eye level.
“I’m gonna fix all that.”
He headbutted me with enough force to make me careen in the air and land face first in the dirt.
Mephisto threw a blast of air into him, saving me from further punishment. I rolled onto my back. The pain was agonizing. Half my face was shattered, and it took a herculean effort to reconfigure it. Once I figured out I was a ghost made of energy and had some control over that energy, it was easy—in theory.
Not so easy after you had just had your ass kicked.
Rock shot into Mephisto. A bolt of black and purple lightning caught him in the back. Greede had his hand outstretched and was grinning.
“Don’t interfere,” Amaymon snapped. “My brothers are my problem.”
“No, demon,” Greede said. “They are my problem too, now.” He turned to look at Gil, who was in the process of picking herself up from the ground.
“Perhaps I shall start with her,” he said, approaching Gil.
I threw myself in between them. The single sword in my hands kept warbling, unstable and weak, but I had to protect my sister.
A wave of fire, orange and red, loomed from behind me and crashed into Greede, who stood stupefied with eyes wide open like a deer in headlights. Only Amaymon diving into him and pushing him out of the way saved his life.
The flame torrent condensed into Astaroth’s shape, and he stood in the middle of the battlefield. His face had turned feral. His hair and eyes blazed with flame. The ground cracked beneath him.
Astaroth glared at Mephisto. He cocked his head, and Mephisto exploded. Then he looked at us, and Gil threw herself in front of me. The shield of light she cast exploded as well, and she was thrown off her feet. Her body blasted into me, sending the both of us tumbling backwards.
Mephisto reformed behind us and helped us up. His suit was in ribbons. It was the first time I had seen him shirtless—grey fur poked out from his chest, like that of a wolf’s.
Astaroth turned to Amaymon next. The latter threw himself in a direct attack, fist cocked. Astaroth swiped his hand. A crescent streak of fire blasted into Amaymon, sending him crashing down.
A lightning bolt shot into Astaroth. Greede swiped his hands and muttered something glottal. The lightning forked and surrounded Astaroth before transforming into black water that still buzzed with lightning.
I was impressed. Even the most powerful wizards and Specialists cannot combine elements into a single spell that easily, and they could certainly not alter the properties of water to make it lightning-based, while still retaining its water qualities. Greede had essentially created a new element.
Astaroth took the hit. I saw the black liquid bounce around his body, tearing him up, until he casually plucked the spell from inside him and held it curiously in his hand. Then he swallowed it.
Fire turned blue and green, and spread out horizontally. Fire usually grows vertically, but it seemed that Astaroth too had altered the properties of his flames.
I glanced at Mephisto, trying to gauge his expression. The usually stoic demon was horrified.
“What is it?” I asked.
“His flames,” Mephisto answered, as if that was supposed to help.
“What about them?” I insisted.
“We cannot alter the properties of our elements, Master Erik,” Mephisto said. “We are the element. To change ourselves is akin to a human substituting his legs for a set of tires. It is most unnatural.”
He shook his head at Astaroth’s direction.
“Oh, brother,” he said again. “What manner of experiments have you abominated your existence with?”
Astaroth surrounded Greede with his new flames. Greede, for his part, had transformed into Mammon again—the sudden swelling and mass saved him.
Fire ate at his flesh and as Greede reverted back to human, he was only left with burns. His right arm was burnt to the bone.
Amaymon erupted from behind Astaroth and grabbed him in a chokehold. Astaroth turned to flame and reformed facing Amaymon.
Amaymon’s chest exploded into many bloody chunks, and Astaroth grabbed the demon by the neck, hoisting him up as Amaymon’s guts spilled.
Now I understood Mephisto’s trepidation. Amaymon, the second most powerful demon to ever exist, had just gotten his ass handed to him.
Astaroth snapped his fingers, setting his brother on fire, and tossed him away.
“This may prove troublesome,” Mephisto told us. “Astaroth was never this powerful. And he is clearly no longer sane enough to discern friend from foe.”
“All this over a sock puppet,” I muttered.
Just my luck. I was this close to being resurrected, and now I get destroyed because some crazy demon had his sock puppet torn.
Amaymon miraculously stood up. He grabbed Greede and channeled his power. At the same time, I felt Greede’s magic flare.
Twice.
Amaymon’s power made stone explode in front of his brother. Astaroth blasted them, but the debris created a smokescreen.
The first of Greede’s spells created a portal, and the two of them disappeared.
But why did I feel two spikes in power?
I looked around, and then it clicked.
My body. The vat had been miraculously spared in the battle and had been standing in the background all this time.
Except it wasn’t there anymore.
My body—Greede had taken my body.
With his enemies gone, the feral Astaroth turned to us.
All three of us backed away. The sheer power coming from him made my concern over Greede stealing my body momentarily fade into the back of my head.
“Master Gil,” Mephisto said. “I’ll hold him off while you create a portal. Make your escape.”
“Hold on,” I began.
“Master Erik, there is no time,” he insisted. “You must-”
“I said, hold on!” I shook my head. “A goddamn sock puppet. I’m not dying over a goddamn sock puppet.”
“Not much we can do, Erik,” Gil said.
An idea formed in my head.
I laughed.
“Oh yes there is.” I turned to Mephisto. “Take your shoes off.”
He cocked his head. “Master Erik this is hardly the time-”
Gil caught onto my plan. “Do it, Mephisto,” she snapped urgently.
Despite the oncoming threat, Mephisto kicked off his shoes.
“Gimme your socks,” I said.
Again, Mephisto shot me a look but complied. He handed me a pair of black socks, both in pristine condition despite the battle their bearer had been in.
I handed them to Gil. “Transmutation,” I said, shaking my head. “We’re making a fox.”
Gil took both socks, balling them together, and her magic flared.
The spike in magic triggered Astaroth’s attack. He roared and lunged at us, fire blazing from all directions.
I placed the vulpine sock puppet on my hand and held it towards the demon.
The flames died instantly. Astaroth sniffed the sock puppet and cocked his head at me.
It isn’t enough, I thought. He needs to reignite that particular split personality. I needed something unique, something only that personality would know.
Oh, fuck me sideways.
I closed my eyes and opened my mouth.
“You drive me crazy,” I began. “I just can’t sleep. I’m so excited, I’m in too deep.”
I opened my eyes to see Astaroth beaming, his eyes watery. I turned to look at Gil and Mephisto—they both wore the same incredulous expression.
Ah, well. In for a penny, right?
“Oh, oh, oh, crazy, but it feels alright,” I belted out. “Baby, thinking of you keeps me up all night!”
As
taroth’s lip trembled. He fell to his knees.
“Black?” he whimpered, as he reached out with his right hand.
As gently as I could, I took off the sock puppet and placed it on his hand.
“Sing to him,” I softly encouraged.
Astaroth sang, his voice slowly changing to Black’s baritone.
“…Baby, thinking of you keeps me up all night.” Astaroth danced happily, kicking up ash. “CRAAAZZYYYYY!”
I grinned at my sister and her familiar. “Score one for the power of music, I guess.”
Gil stifled a laugh. “That was… quite moving, brother.”
I ground my teeth. “This never leaves the three of us.”
“What happens in Hell stays in Hell,” she promised. Her grin was unmistakable.
“You’re telling everyone, aren’t you?”
“Oh, definitely.”
“Jesting aside,” Mephisto interjected. “We must make haste. Greede is now in possession of Master Erik’s body. We must assume he has all he requires for a summoning.”
Gil nodded. “Agreed. We have to return.” She looked at me. “Erik, you’ll be back to-”
“I know,” I said. “Back to being a ghost. I don’t care. I can inhabit my body now. Which means we need to get back right now.”
“Of course not.” Astaroth’s voice surprised me. I haft-expected the demon to still be singing and dancing.
Instead, he stood still and calm, and were it not for the sock puppets, he could have passed for… well, not normal. But at least sane.
“You need to leave,” he said. “I have to rebuild. Go on now.” He beamed and waved with the orange sock puppet. “But do come and visit me again. It was so much fun. I made so many new friends.”
Magic spiked, and suddenly I was overcome with the feeling of falling.
The portal spat us back inside the mansion, back inside the sub-basement where we had teleported from.
Only now it was dark, and there was blood everywhere. Bodies littered as far as the eye could see.
And lying unmoving on the ground were Abi and Jack.
Chapter 27
I rushed to them, skidding to my knees next to Abi. My hand reached out, but it was translucent—with a slight golden tinge—and I was a ghost, which meant I phased through her.
