Amduscias just gave a curt nod.
“Very well. Proceed.”
It was like this light switch of gore and mayhem went off. These tree demons didn’t care about who they got blood on. Have you ever seen a shifter ripped apart by tree roots? It’s about as graphic as a fire dragon exploding someone from inside their stomach. You just don’t get as much burned bits on your hair.
I wiped the blood off my face.
“Seriously?”
“Thanks for the snack,” Roman said, licking his lips. “The shifter is not half bad.”
Skoll just groaned.
“Only you would try to eat blood spatter.”
“What? It was just going to go to waste.”
“Enough,” Vagolin said. “Now, Finn. You were lying when you said this was just a job to you. What did you mean?”
“I didn’t take this job for the money. I never do. I was told I was helping overthrow a corrupt monarchy, but the more I met with Zepar, the less I thought he should take over. Gusion offered an alternative and seemed like a better option until I realized he sent us here, not caring what would happen to us or the trees. I’m sure he was hoping we would kill the tree demons for him.”
Well, maybe I was glad I didn’t set him on fire now if he wasn’t lying. The roots holding him disappeared into the earth. They gently lowered Finn to the ground. He had been held in the air and stretched within an inch of his life for who knows how long. He collapsed as soon as his feet hit the ground.
Charley rushed to a fellow warlock and started to heal him with her magic. Every eye was on him.
“We spared your life because we sensed you were different. That can change at any minute. We are in the middle of a rebellion here. We aren’t going to pay you a fucking dime. Will you help us end this, then get the fuck out of Hell?” Amduscias asked.
Finn just gave us all this painful grin as Charley continued to try to heal him.
“Are you kidding? I was lied to by two different demons. My kill record is spotless. There isn’t a single innocent person on it. I take a lot of fucking pride in that. I’d be happy to help you take him out and leave here with no money.”
Amduscias clapped his hands.
“Good. Then I don’t have to kill you. We’ve dallied here long enough. I need to check in, then we join the fight.”
Chapter 30
Serafina
I
had never been in a war before. Fuck, I tried to avoid fistfights in public because I didn’t want attention to be brought to me and my activities. I watched too much television for a simple battery charge to link me to arson and murder. I wasn’t counting on the fucking warden of Scorchwood framing me so she could get me pregnant. I wasn’t counting on Zepar and all these Dukes being power-hungry life ruiners who were going to lead me to this point in my life.
Amduscias was on the phone with Bael trying to get an update. Thankfully, he’d finally figured out the wonders of speakerphone, so we didn’t have to stand around trying to figure out what the fuck was going on.
“I knew you could handle it, Amduscias. Agares surrendered once his legions turned on him. I still don’t know why Saleos is a part of this, but he agreed to surrender only if he could have an audience with the entire court to say his peace before he gets his punishment. I’ve granted him that. Gusion is the last problem to deal with.”
“Well, all his assassins are dead except the one that turned on him. Surely, he’ll go quietly when he realizes this mission of his is doomed.”
“You know he won’t. Gusion knows he’s going to die. He’s never been the kind of demon to admit his mistakes. Gusion is going to force our hand and try to take as many people with him as he can on the way out. He’s holed up in his dungeon, and he’s already brought his baboon out.”
“What’s so scary about a monkey?” I asked.
“You won’t be so cavalier when you see his teeth and he flings feces at you,” Bael said.
“Ew. Why is a Duke of Hell flinging shit at people?”
“Because he has to get people confused before he can have the upper hand with the demonic form he was dealt and there’s no better way to do that than a face full of shit. I used to have a pet monkey. She had to be trained not to do that,” Bael said.
Skoll was pretty grumpy. Getting objectified by a bunch of trees had its limits when we were all covered in blood and gore. Skoll was always extremely clean. I used to think he took so many showers in Scorchwood because he enjoyed showing off naked, but that was just him. He showered several times a day in Hell and loved soaking in the bathtub. It was rather nice to take a bath with him.
“Tell us how to kill him before we get shit on us. I’m already covered in blood. I have to draw the line somewhere.”
“I can get him with an arrow,” Fergus said.
“I can just shoot him in the head,” Finn said.
“I can fling a spell at him to immobilize him,” Charley said.
Well, fuck. Everyone had a way to kill him but me. My fire wouldn’t work on him, and that had never happened to me before. I never learned to shoot a gun because I didn’t need to. Fuck, I had a fire dragon and could set things on fire with my mind, and that was useless right now. How did that manage to happen?
“What is the layout of his dungeon?” I asked.
“Dungeons are private,” Amduscias said. “I haven’t been to every dungeon in Hell.”
“I haven’t seen his dungeon since the last time he upgraded,” Bael said. “There’s no telling what kind of weapons he may have stockpiled down there. We shouldn’t portal in. We’ll have to go through the front door,” Bael said.
Hell torture dungeons had front doors? We’d portalled in every time we’d visited one. I was starting to think that was the only way in. I had a feeling they were underground, but I never actually saw a door to any of these things before. I thought the location was this big secret, and you only wanted a personal invitation to watch the torture or play in the bedroom portion of one.
I raised my hand like I was back in class with the nuns. I had a question, but I didn’t really want to speak because I had a feeling the question would get me some dirty looks. I didn’t think anyone in Hell would judge me, but I didn’t think they wanted me knowing all the ins and outs of their torture dungeons.
“Won’t he be guarding the door? I didn’t even know dungeons had doors. If it’s not safe to portal, won’t it be just as unsafe to go through the front door? How do we know he doesn’t have some secret sniper down there with him? He already snuck seven of them in.”
“The elemental is right,” Finn said. “Is there a way for me to get a vantage point in there?”
“We design hell dungeons to be secure. The only way in is by portal or the access code on the front door—Scratch that. We can’t use the front door. Everyone is supposed to report their codes to the kings in case we need to get in there, but Gusion will count on us knowing it and will have changed it. We have no choice but to portal in.”
“Some other guys brought tear gas, but no masks. They intended to throw it into the fight and pick people off. I don’t kill that way, but if you have a mask, I could gas him, then get him out,” Finn said.
Charley was eyeing Finn like she wanted to rip his clothes off and fuck him. Finn was showing off for her. I knew he was helping us because of some assassin’s honor code, but he was trying to impress Charley. Good for them. Was our little witch friend going to find love? If not, was she at least going to have some hot sex?
“We have no such thing here,” Bael said. “I have three heads in my demonic form, and I can’t be killed unless you kill all three. The portal will be hazy when I step through. I’ll go first. I want Finn behind me with his gun and Fergus with his arrows. If you see him before he sees us, shoot to kill. We don’t need some lengthy torture sessions and public execution. I can just put his head on a pike in the town square. He’s the last hold out in his rebellion, and I want him dead.”
Fergus and Finn were all ready to charge through that portal and take out an errant Duke, but why did it have to be Fergus? He didn’t have three heads. If Gusion shot him, he would bleed out or die. I liked nothing about this plan, but I knew better than to say anything.
Fergus was a warrior and a Fae hero. I wouldn’t have wanted anyone telling me they didn’t want me to fight, and I wouldn’t do that to Fergus either. I also knew better than to say to him I wanted to be there standing right next to him when the portal opened. I wasn’t stupid.
Fergus and I always fought together. From the moment he let himself be known to me, we’d always taken the bad guys out as a team. My greatest weapon was gone. I didn’t think a terrible attitude and Krav Maga would beat a gun if Gusion had one.
I wasn’t even sure if it would beat a demonic baboon.
Chapter 31
Fergus
I
used to live for the heat of battle. I was young and stupid. I died before I could outgrow that. When I was younger, I would have been foolish enough to be excited about portalling into the unknown. Everyone knew it was dangerous. The older, smarter Fae knew not to do it unless you absolutely had to. The younger Fae would have done it for a thrill.
I wasn’t nineteen anymore. This wasn’t exciting. I had someone I wanted to come home to now and everything to lose if this went wrong. Still, I was a soldier and a guardian. I’d been on the front lines before, and this was no different. I fought for my king before. I fought for my Ena now, and I would do everything in my power to kill Gusion and live through this.
When Bael brought out his demonic form, I was a little less worried about standing behind him with my arrows. I guess he didn’t get to be king of Hell for nothing. Especially when he said one of his demonic powers was to make us all invisible. Couldn’t he have said all that before? He dropped it in passing like he was talking about the weather. Having that power might seem minor to him, but it was quite significant to me. It would keep my Ena safe.
Bael mutated and got even more prominent when he changed to his demonic form. The face I knew and had been talking to this entire time was still there, but he had a colossal toad head on one shoulder and a black cat with red eyes on the other. He was much bigger than I was, and I was reasonably large for a Fae.
I couldn’t feel it when he did it. I didn’t even know it happened. I could still see everyone in our party clear as day.
Bael just clapped his hands.
“Is everyone ready to go through the portal and end this?”
My Ena questioned him. She questioned everything and for a good reason. It kept her alive this long. It kept her out of prison until she managed to get under Warden Skinner's radar. She just asked what we were all thinking.
“Um, not to question your demonic powers, your holiness, but I can still see all of us.”
All three of Bael’s heads started laughing.
“I like your woman, Amduscias. Of course, you can all see each other. If you couldn’t, you could kill each other. That’s the beauty of it. You can see each other, but no one else can see you.”
Serafina just narrowed her eyes at him.
“I’m only trusting that because you’re the king of Hell, and you’ve been on our side this far. I usually trust my eyes. I’m not used to demon powers.”
“If he has a gun, he can still hit someone. He’ll be firing blindly. He knows this is one of my powers, but I doubt he thinks I would have come myself. It would be best to keep moving once the portal opens. Spread out and get a vantage point to attack. In fact, you should probably duck as soon as the portal opens. We don’t normally fight with guns down here, but we also don’t start rebellions to overthrow the monarchy, so expect anything.”
When Bael said expect anything, I thought I was prepared when the portal opened. Nothing prepared me for a demonic baboon holding an AR-15. I didn’t even let my arrow fly. I grabbed Serafina and hit the floor. Gusion was like a madman.
“So, it’s you, Bael. I thought you didn’t do your own dirty work!” Gusion yelled.
I looked around. We were all hiding behind some implement of torture, and Gusion had no idea where we were. He was looking around wildly, but he wasn’t shooting. He was trying to save bullets.
“Why do this, Gusion? Hell would never follow you. Hell would never have followed any of you in this plot.”
Gusion raised his gun in the air and fired it like some drunk redneck at a barbeque.
“Because I’m fucking bored! We all had our reasons, but you fucked me over. You kept denying my request to live topside. I’m a Duke. I should be able to do what I want and go where I want.”
I had my arrow aimed right at his left eye. I had a shot, and Serafina was safe. I could see Finn had a chance too. Were we really going to let them have a conversation while we sat down here in a torture dungeon with a baboon with an assault rifle? What was the protocol here? Was this a Kanye West thing, and we were supposed to let him finish?
Finn knew the score. He met my eye from behind his metal gurney. The longer Bael talked, the sooner Gusion could pinpoint a location from his voice. One of us would have to take a shot. Finn gave me a nod, and he didn’t have to say a word. Gusion could have his Kanye West moment, but he wasn’t getting that gun while he did it.
I changed my aim from his eye to his hand. He still had the gun on his hip with one hand holding it upwards like some movie poster. Gusion howled, and the weapon clattered to the floor when my arrow buried itself in his hand. Roman used his Vampire speed to grab the gun, but that wasn’t exactly the standard model when Roman was last topside. He held it by his pointer finger and thumb like he didn’t want to touch it and just brought it to Finn to deal with it.
Gusion was still holding his hand and cursing. There wasn’t much civil conversation to be had with an arrow sticking out of his hand, but we could have all been shot if we let Bael and Gusion work this out with his gun.
Apparently, Bael had heard enough too and had just been waiting for us.
“His hand? Someone get him in the head and end this. Fergus, you should know better.”
I should know better? He was the demon trying to talk to a baboon with an assault rifle. How was I supposed to know he didn’t really want to have that conversation?
Finn was trying to aim as Gusion crashed around the room, holding his hand. He couldn’t get a clear headshot because Gusion’s head was bowed over his hand. I couldn’t get an arrow in his chest either because of how he was cradling his hands and hopping around the room.
Finn just stood.
“Let’s light him up. Eventually, he’ll die.”
I jumped to my feet. I was a quick shot. I was taught archery by the best. I got five arrows in him, and Finn shot him countless times before he finally fell over dead. Bael stepped over the corpse and kicked it.
Was that it? Was this finally over, and could we start making a home down here? Apparently not.
“Two Dukes down. We still have two more Dukes to deal with. Right this way. I don’t want to dally.”
Two more seemed like a lifetime.
Chapter 32
Amduscias
W
hat an utterly petty reason for joining Zepar. As far as temper tantrums went, Gusion’s was the most extreme I’d seen in Hell. Zepar was greedy. He really intended to take over Hell. I still had no idea what had gotten into Saleos and Agares, but Gusion was just bored and looking to cause trouble because he wasn’t getting his way. What a stupid reason to die. He was older than I was. Did he just tire of everything and decide to go out with a bang?
I guess we would never know. Gusion was dead, just like he wanted. Could he just not bring himself to pull the trigger on his own if he really did have nothing left to live for, or did he just want to fuck everyone else over on the way out? He accomplished one thing. His name would always be remembered. Not in a good way, but people would talk about Gusion for centuries.
Bael wanted this to be over just as much as we
did. He opened up a portal to his sitting room and starting barking orders into his cell phone. Portals started opening everywhere as the rest of the demon court started coming in. No one looked ruffled or bloodied. None of the legions put up much of a fight. Saleos and Agares surrendered. Gusion was the only one who wanted to take as many people out with him as he could.
The seven kings all took their thrones in Bael’s court. The thrones were up on a high platform so they could look down on us. There was a slightly lower platform with benches for the Dukes. The accused would have to stand below us, and there were seats for witnesses and audience members. As much as I wanted them with me, everyone I claimed would have to sit in the audience.
I squeezed Serafina’s hand and touched Roman’s shoulder.
“Take a seat on the front row. I’ll be up there with the other Dukes. Hopefully, this will be over soon.”
“What are we doing?” Serafina asked.
“Holding a trial. We all know they are guilty, but this needs to happen. It would give us all clarification if we knew why they did this. Gusion and Zepar would have been given public trials after we had time to torture information out of them, but they made it, so that wasn’t a possibility.”
“Is it going to be long and drawn out like topside trials?”
I smiled at her.
“Not unless something has changed since I’ve been away.”
I took my seat. I was hoping they brought Saleos out first. I didn’t take him for joining a rebellion at all. We were never close, but it was always because I was never serious enough for him. Saleos took his role as part of Hell’s monarchy quite seriously and tried to get involved in all the decision making.
Most of the other Dukes didn’t. We were spoiled and only did the bare minimum. We fought when asked and did the duties assigned to us, but never anything more. Maybe more than just me realized the only reason we had our positions and cushy lifestyles was that we happened to be spat from the fires of Hell. I went through a point in my life where I didn’t take my Dukedom seriously because the only reason I had it was because of how I was born. Saleos was never like that, and he thought I should be a lot more serious about it.
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