Half-Demon's Revenge

by Lina J. Potter

  As soon as I was crowned, I had the privilege of being visited by Chartreuse, on the very first morning.

  “Your Majesty!”

  That was right after I had managed to kick out all the impudent valets and other rabble, who kept trying to pull stockings on me and help me sit on the chamber pot, and dress myself. The poor guys were grieving behind the door. Rudolph, of course, had been keen on such ceremonies, but I had no time for them.

  If any of you think that being a king is leisure, like Rudolph’s reign, think again. It’s a backbreaking job, thankless and hopeless. It’s being drowned in laws, reports, decrees, and the words of your subjects; it’s suffocating, unable to find the right solution, when people bow in your face and hiss and plot against you behind your back.

  And I still had so much to fix. I wanted to start with the army. I would hold a troop review and check the reports, starting with the regiments deployed near the capital. The others would have to wait. I would ride there myself. Rudolph had dropped the ball when he had been king; I had to clear up the resulting mess.

  Tommy hadn’t created a new guard yet, so Chartreuse was let into my chambers without issue.

  “Why are you shouting, marquis? Have you nipped something in the door?”

  Going by his bug eyes, yes, and a very sensitive spot.

  “Your Majesty, I’ve learned everything!”

  Really? What, for instance?

  “Your wife was a half-vampire!”

  Now it was me who pretended to be amazed.

  “How! But she was—”

  “Turns out, her real father was a demon summoned from the depths of the netherworld!”

  “The horror! But who summoned it?”

  “The duke!”

  “My father-in-law!”

  I clutched my head in shock.

  “How awful! To the temple, immediately!”

  “W-why, Your Majesty?”

  “To repent!”

  “Who? How? Why?”

  “I should go, and you, too, and the duke!”

  I grabbed Chartreuse and dragged him without letting him finish. How fortunate! That also allowed me to escape the court toadies who were going to intercept the king on the way to the throne room.

  They would have to make do without me.

  Inside, the temple was brightly lit and sunny. A servitor met us at the door. Had someone already warned them? Who could it have been?

  “What a nightmare,” I attacked right off the bat.

  “What is, Your Majesty?”

  “The marquis told me a horrible thing! Speak up, Marquis!”

  Gasping for air and struggling to speak, Chartreuse blurted out that we had barely avoided getting a half-vampire for a queen! Outrageous! The Duke of Rataver summoned a demon from the darkness of hell so it would lay with his wife and father an unholy child. Then that child was offered to Prince Andre and, well, me...

  I nodded.

  “So that’s why Andre was killed! He might have learned about... Oh, my poor cousin!”

  The servitor, thinking himself a smart one, agreed.

  “But...Your Majesty, aren’t you married to her?”

  “But I had no idea that she was a half-vampire! I will divorce her and...well...return her to her father immediately!”

  “Your Majesty, but how could you? The blasphemer needs to be burned!”

  That was what I had wanted. For an hour, the servitor urged me to burn Rataver. There is no other way! We burn even healers and herb doctors, and he’s so much worse!

  I was stubbornly refusing, saying that he wasn’t some commoner, he was a duke. If he could be burned at the stake, then who would follow? That just won’t do!

  And really, how could a half-vampire enter a temple? Now that was news to me! And here I thought it was a holy place...

  In the end, we called it a draw. We wouldn’t burn the duke, but we would execute him, and also excommunicate from the Church, absolutely. Oh, and I also said that Tevarr would have to pay me back for everything. In particular, as compensation for such a cowardly plot, I wanted the duchy of Rataver, the entirety of it!

  No, that wasn’t too much. I was going to have the Church deliver the ultimatum, plus relay our disapproval to the King of Tevarr. Really, shove a half-demon into a foreign prince’s bed? Of course we know that the best girls aren’t given out to strangers, but wasn’t that too much? You simply can’t do something like that in polite society!

  ***

  Duke Rataver was hung on the city square in two days. He was declared a warlock, and his daughter, the murderer of poor King Rudolph. Of course, that wasn’t proven, but who else could it be? And really, as soon as we catch her, we’ll prove everything! She’ll definitely confess! The Church will gently convince her to!

  We sent a letter to Mikael’s son in Tevarr, complaining that my royal counterpart had given me defective goods. Not just shelf-warmers, rotten since day one! And don’t even say that your father hadn’t known it. And now...such a blow! I’m positively shaken! The only way to ease my anguish was a big piece of land, and since my father-in-law was an unholy warlock, then Rataver could be a good way to compensate me for my torment. Either by the king’s will, or my own.

  I wasn’t laying the duke to rest. I had more important things to deal with: review the troops, hang six generals, two dozen colonels, and a countless number of lieutenants. Based on the results of the review, two men survived. The others, I had to hang. I would have hung those two as well, but they were quick enough to give up the stolen goods and repent. In less than ten days, the army got new uniforms, boots, carts, and horses.

  Just as I finished dealing with the army, the Tevarrians replied. King Kristof was declaring war.

  I wasn’t surprised at all. His Majesty couldn’t very well confess his guilt. That was tantamount to admitting that his kingdom was home to warlocks and opening its doors to a holy crusade. In short, accepting blame would make him a target of all interested parties.

  Naturally, I wrote to Riolon, inviting them to fight our common enemy together.

  Darius responded right away, promising that he would help as soon as he could. Nothing must be spared for our good neighbors! I hadn’t expected any real assistance anyway. He would wait until we and the Tevarrians tired each other out and then finish off the winners.

  I didn’t really need his help either. I was going to fight through other means.

  As for the army, well, this would be an excuse to march it, hang more lieutenants, inspect the troops once again...

  But in the meantime, who would rule Radenor?..

  ***

  “Alex, you cannot do that!”

  “Auntie, what do you have against the Morinars!”

  “Well...your uncle would have never done something like that...”

  “May he rest in peace,” I said, prudishly raising my eyes to the sky.

  The next day the army was going to march out. I had appointed Rene Morinar’s father, Henry Louis Morinar, as the regent during my absence. He swore he was going to conduct a thorough audit of the treasury, and after I was back—but please, Your Majesty, get back alive—would provide proscription lists.

  Abigail wasn’t excited by that decision. She clearly would have preferred that I appoint her father, or even herself, as the regent.

  I couldn’t appoint her, though. She was pregnant. And as for her father, he couldn’t be the regent either. He wasn’t my father-in-law, and really, pushing so much responsibility on an elderly man, who was a member...well, almost a member of the royal family!

  Abigail’s brother?

  He couldn’t even handle commanding the guards! I was almost killed on his watch! What would it look like, if he got rewarded with a promotion after a failure? No dice! I won’t agree to that! That could have serious consequences across the entire country! Every idiot would want to become the chancellor! Well, fine, Auntie, not every, but an idiot!

  Abigail winced, cursed, hissed, but to no avail. She c
ould try an ultimatum, but it wouldn’t work. I was no Rudolph. He had been content to let her family ride him to death, while if they attempted that with me, they would be left lying right on the spot where they tried to mount me.

  And thus, Auntie had to leave empty-handed. Angry, frustrated, but given all respect as I saw her off. We were a family, after all.

  I left Tommy at home that time. Rene was going to help his father. And I...I was preparing. My palace was my castle, and I was going to defend it. I populated it with ghosts, knowing for a fact that Abigail was going to scheme. I set traps, so nobody could get into the treasury or my chambers. Curses were a handy tool...

  And with me, I took the only things I really needed. A ritual dagger, black candles, and a summoning pentagram, pre-drawn on a big cloak.

  ***

  The army was marching along the roads.

  All thralls and servitors of the Bright Saint were blessing our holy war against the enemy. From the other side, Kristof was approaching the border with his soldiers.

  He hadn’t even tried to make peace, and I wouldn’t have agreed to it anyway. There was no point.

  Already en route, I received a letter from Rick. He told me that they loved me, sent their regards, Henry was happy for me and blessed my continued work, Martha said that my mother’s soul was rejoicing...

  Rene Ghirr wrote me as well. He was outraged with his sister-in-law’s actions and approved of my plan. He guaranteed that they would raise the child, and nobody would know anything. Cassie, according to him, had agreed to everything. Still, he wasn’t suggesting to bring Carlie to her senses. He simply said that sooner or later, I would get as lucky as he had. I would find my Cassie. Somewhere, she was waiting for me...

  I was thankful to my teacher for his sympathy, but the painful memories lingered. Would I ever be able to trust anyone?

  I doubted it.

  ***

  For the time being, my priority was reconnaissance, and it didn’t let me down.

  The Tevarrian force had set up camp two days’ journey ahead of us. More than twenty thousand people—infantry and cavalry—against our five thousand. I had refused to take more.

  That upset the people, which made sense; nobody wanted to die. I wasn’t trying to calm them, I just said that we would fight. We camped in a convenient location, of course. I wasn’t going to march forward and risk clashing with the enemy army at the time of their choosing. Let them come and attack, and we’ll face them.

  The generals, who had just been appointed and still were in shock at such a boon, all agreed, and my troops started to set up camp.

  I complained about a headache, ordered them not to disturb me and to dig fortifications, and retired to my tent...only to leave it ten minutes later.

  I only took the ritual tools. By the middle of the night, I had to reach the enemy army. Whom did I summon as my assistant? Ak-kvir, of course. The demon arrived almost immediately, forgetting that it was evening. His naked skull was laughing.

  “Glad to see you, necromancer.”

  “How about some work, beast?”

  He wasn’t really evil, but he wasn’t human either. Ak-kvir knew that I wasn’t trying to offend him and kept grinning. Then he swore an oath, without prompting, and I leaped onto his back. We headed to the Tevarrian camp.

  Inside, everything was quiet. Two days’ journey wasn’t a distance you could cover immediately and descend upon the enemy. Why not have some rest?

  Without taking much time to think, I picked a suitable clearing and laid my cloak onto the grass, fastening it to the ground with throwing knives so it wouldn’t crease, ruining the pattern. Then I set the black candles.

  All right. Now I had to deal with the least pleasant part.

  Some rituals required sacrifices. I would have to capture them. On the other hand, there were twenty thousand Tevarrians, and I only needed 5 people.

  I could handle it. Somebody would definitely go to relieve himself, or maybe I’d catch a few sentries...

  That was exactly what happened.

  Three soldiers who went to the bushes never even realized what had happened when I knocked them out. It didn’t take long; I simply hit them on the head, tied their hands and feet with a rope that I had had the foresight to prepare, loaded them onto Ak-kvir’s back...

  Noise? Who would hear a demon in the woods when twenty thousand people were camped nearby?

  Having completely lost any shame, I showed the sentries my real form.

  “Hi, guys!”

  One wave of the hand, and they all lost consciousness. You don’t believe me? All right, I was pulling your leg. I did help them a little bit, with Ak-kvir’s help, who tripped them, having come from behind, and when they turned back and saw that...well, that was how they fainted.

  When they woke up, we were already at the clearing. Fortunately, I had gagged them, or their screams would have been heard all the way to Riolon.

  And so, the pentagram was set, the candles were lit, five bodies were squirming in the corners, and I was standing in the center. What was my plan? Well, to summon Argadon with all his retinue, of course! He was my father, wasn’t he? I wasn’t asking him for love or money. I was just inviting him for a visit, to have some fun. And dinner.

  Why did I need a pentagram? Imagine that you’re going to release a swarm of demons and demonic creatures into the world, maybe just until dawn, but still… Who would they eat as an appetizer? The necromancer, obviously.

  To prevent that, I had to make myself safe, which is why I stood in a pentagram and slowly read a spell.

  “T’he araassha le dghraan...”

  The words fell from my lips, heavy and sluggish. Gods know I didn’t like that solution, but I had no other choice.

  Tendrils of smoke started to curl around the pentagram, dark, cold, unfeeling.

  Ak-kvir licked his teeth as he watched it, and his spit fell on the ground, leaving scorched patches in its wake. He wasn’t scared. They wouldn’t touch him. But me...

  Do demons eat half-demons? Of course they do. They eat everyone, with the exception of those who eat them.

  The men stopped twitching and stared at my movements as if mesmerized. I started to circle around the pentagram counter-sunwise.

  Five steps.

  Five people.

  Five slashes.

  I slit their throats, and blood splashed on the ground, scarlet, salty, warm blood of the innocents.

  As the blood poured out, Ak-kvir licked his chops, and the smoke thickened, before finally rolling up in a black loop...and opening up.

  Inside the black cloud, red fires lit up, and I called him with a soft voice,

  “Argadon! Your blood calls upon you...”

  I didn’t have to use a dagger for myself. I simply squeezed my grip, and my claws pierced my palm. I reached out to outside of the pentagram, and the blood dripped on the ground.

  That was enough.

  From the portal, as if woven from a myriad of dark currents, stepped Argadon.

  He was the first. I sensed there were a lot of other demons behind him on the other side, but they couldn’t go through yet, at least not while I was holding my power back, preventing it from being spilled into the gates. Before that, we had to talk.

  Argadon was in his war form, poison dripping from his barb, dark flames burning in his eyes, a whip in his hand...

  “Son?”

  I wasn’t exactly tempted to rush and embrace him, yelling “Papa!”. Instead, I asked, “Are you hungry today, perchance?”

  Argadon smirked.

  “Do you have something to offer?”

  I shrugged.

  “You must have recognized the spell. You’ll stay here until the morning, and there are people close by. Twenty thousand of them. Prey. Your prey.”

  Argadon grinned malevolently.

  “And who are they to you? Enemies?”

  I answered with a smile, baring all my fangs.

  “Do you really care? You won’t
make it to my people.”

  “What if I do?”

  “I summoned you, and I will banish you. I can close the gates myself.”

  “And then, your enemies will find you here, weak and powerless.”

  “Do you really think,” I chuckled, “that I don’t have a getaway route? I am your son.”

  I was exaggerating, of course. But I wasn’t going to feed my people to that beast. He would never get them.

  “Well,” Argadon said with a contemplative look, “let my posse in.”

  “An oath, Father,” I smirked. “Give me an oath.”

  The demon bared his teeth, but obediently repeated the words of the oath.

  Never harm, directly or indirectly, you and those under your protection, as well as your country. Destroy only your enemies.

  That included his retinue as well, and if any of them dared to break the oath, Argadon would punish them himself.

  His demons were his problem. As for the other demons, all responsibility fell on Argadon, and if he didn’t punish the transgressors, the broken oath would punish him. Argadon hissed, but repeated everything I said, and the demonic part of me sensed that the number of demons next to the portals considerably decreased.

  The others left, only those who served Argadon remained. Did he expect I would let him release all of the dark rabble?

  And only when I felt a cold shiver, signifying a taken oath, did I allow the gates to open wider, and Argadon’s posse to pass through.

  What were they like? In a word, creepy. Chimeras with flaming crests, human-headed snakes, odd-looking creatures like octopi bodies with jaws attached to them...

  There were many of them, and even I found it difficult to look at them.

  The demon seemed to grow even larger, and the fire inside him became more intense. He nodded in the direction of the Tevarrian camp.

  “Feed!”

  And the motley crew rushed where he had pointed.

  Argadon regarded me with his fiery eyes. “Thank you, son.”

  “You have until dawn,” I reminded him.

  The demon vanished.