The Demon's Game

by Oxford, Rain

  My brother was the clever one. I usually just made threats and intimidated people to get my way. The gods couldn’t be intimidated by me. If it meant calling upon my nephew to fight my battle for me, it would mortally ruin my ego, but I would do it to save these people. There was just one thing I could try first.

  “Vretial!”

  “You don’t have to yell,” the god said, appearing sitting cross-legged to my side. “Nice place.”

  I took a breath to steady my nerves, for I had faced this god as an enemy before. “Erono wants me to kill a population of innocent women and children.”

  “Then obey your god.”

  “I will not kill anyone who is innocent. Dylan said you could be trusted now.”

  He grinned at me. “Your nephew is a brave one. Why don’t you just call him to change Erono’s mind?”

  “Because they deserve better than a half-life on a world whose god ordered their death. I know you need people for Raktusha. These people are survivors of a very difficult life and there are only women and girls left. You can give them a home and a male population to keep their race alive.”

  “So could you,” he smirked.

  “Not hardly. Dylan warned me you were a bit crass.”

  He laughed. “Raktusha is not ready for people yet. I figure it should take another ten Duran years. If your women can survive for that time here, I will give them a home and the men they need. For now, I’ll convince Erono to foster them until Raktusha is ready for immigrants. Knowing him, he would demand they stay in seclusion, though, so I won’t bother my brother if you can’t guarantee me they are at least very likely to survive.”

  “What about Avoli? Will his world be ready sooner?”

  “It will be, but he has decided he wants to make his own race instead of importing. He gets like this sometimes. He wouldn’t accept the refugees if he thinks he can do better.”

  “I will give the Erame the promise of a better land if they can---”

  “The Erame?” Vretial interrupted. “The Erame are mine. I created them for Mreje. Unfortunately, the men became weak. The women, however… If your refugees are pure Erame women, they will survive and thrive until Raktusha is ready.”

  “How did you know about them and not that they are Erame?”

  “They have the magic to hide their tribes. That was my gift to them, and I guess I was a little too accommodating. The Erame were sort of a project of mine; the perfect fae species. Don’t touch their wings unless you want to end up mated to them. The fae pair up for life. In fact, stay away from them when their wings are iridescent or red. White means the fae is pure and silver means they are mated.”

  “Was their species wiped out during the Dayo Blood Cleansing?”

  “When those who feared magic committed genocide? Yes. Some of the most beautiful creations of the gods were destroyed by fear. Mreje could have stopped them. I tried so hard to fix my brothers’ mistakes. To find out some made it… I’m very pleased, and I will welcome them on Raktusha. If you find any other refugees, don’t even bother Erono; call for me. Raktusha will be a world of peace.”

  “A world of misfits and outsiders? Sounds like fun.”

  * * *

  After Vretial assured me the Erame would be safe, he flashed me to right outside the forest. Luckily, nobody was around to see the event. I rented a room at an inn near the shore, because I certainly wasn’t going to sleep in the sand while I waited for a boat.

  The inn was run by an old couple hell-bent on being the nicest people in existence, who kept offering me a free dinner and medical supplies when the saw that I was limping. I did accept bandages.

  I had just blown out the candle to go to sleep when I felt the summoning of one of the gods. I was sure it was Erono calling me to berate and punish me, until I opened my eyes in Divina’s cabin. We were not really at the cabin, obviously, but the spectral illusion was comfortable compared to the meeting places that most of the other gods preferred.

  “What happened to your leg?” Divina asked.

  I turned around to see her only a few feet away from me. I glanced down at my leg, but it wasn’t bleeding through the cloth of my pants. Only then did it occur to me that she could see through my clothes. “Erono sent me to the Aradlin forest without allowing me to get any supplies.”

  She sighed. “Well, you have obviously made it out alive. Do you feel up to another assignment?”

  “That depends. Is it for Erono or for you?”

  “It’s for Dylan, really.”

  “Then yes, I’ll do it.”

  “Rilryn went to Dylan asking for permission to find a weapon on Earth. I spoke to Mreje, but he doesn’t know what his Guardian is up to. Rilryn believes this is a weapon from the war of the Iadnah and that it can kill one of us.”

  “And Dylan said no?”

  “He said yes, because if it can destroy a god, it can destroy one of the Ancients. It turns out that the demons are trying to form an army against him, led by a female Ancient and possibly Nila’s father.”

  “Nila’s father is dead.”

  “So is Ronez. Death doesn’t seem to mean what it used to mean. Anyway, Rilryn hasn’t updated us, so I want to send you to him to help him. Whether or not this weapon is useful to us, we don’t want the enemy to have it.”

  “If he hasn’t contacted you, he could be in trouble.”

  “That is possible. Can you handle it?”

  “Yes. Do I have time to run home real quick and get---” the cabin around me disappeared, leaving me in an odd predicament.

  I was facing three large men, dressed in black leather and jeans, with guns aimed at me. I felt a familiar presence at my back and didn’t bother to turn.

  “Hello, Kiro,” Rilryn said from behind me.

  “Hey, Ry. Still getting into trouble I see.” My opponents didn’t seem startled by the sudden appearance of a stranger, and since I could feel that this was Earth, they should have.

  Rilryn scoffed. “It was your brother who always got me in trouble.” He backed up until we were nearly back-to-back. “There are four more behind you, but they have knives. There’s a door to your left and that’s the only exit unless you want to go out the window. We’re on the third floor and the entire building if crawling with henchmen.”

  “So, just like last time.”

  “No, they don’t have tech weapons.”

  “One of these days, I’m not going to bail you and my brother out of your messes,” I said. I had made the threat a thousand times, so it didn’t occur to me until I had already said it. Ronez was dead. Fortunately, Rilryn didn’t comment. “Alright. Let’s get this over with.”

  The battle was fast. Ronez had taught Rilryn how to fight when the younger Guardian was just a child, so I could predict his moves as he could mine. Because of this, we mowed through the club in a matter of minutes. It wasn’t easy by any means, so my adrenaline was pumping, but that had the added benefit of taking my mind off my leg.

  We made it outside, narrowly evading bullets, and ran for the nearest car. The club let out into an alley in which the streetlight had been shot out. To either end of the alley was a deserted street. It was raining and cold, but I would take the discomfort over being riddled with bullet holes.

  There were two cars on the street, both empty and cold on the hoods. The decision of which one to take was made easier when Rilryn pointed out the flat tire on one. Still trying to avoid being shot, as the men were shooting from the windows, I couldn’t help but wonder why they didn’t follow us outside.

  I felt like we were in one of the old movies Ronez used to love as we searched for a rock to break the window with. Finally, Rilryn found one just as it occurred to me what kind of neighborhood we were in. “Wait,” I said, stopping his raised fist. I reached around him and pulled the car handle. It wasn’t locked.

  We both ducked down as the club doors burst open. With a deafening blast, a hole appeared in the brick wall beside my head… right through the car. They hadn’t
followed because they were getting bigger guns.

  My magic was greatly weakened on Earth, so putting up any sort of defense would have done more damage than good. “What have you got for us?” I whispered to Rilryn.

  Dayo was a world that despised magic and was primitive to Earth in many ways, so Rilryn tried to spend as little time there as possible. This resulted in Rilryn spending a lot of his time with my brother, which always led to pranks. Fortunately for both of them Rirlyn had an inborn advantage in dealing with my brother’s antics; Rilryn was the perfect escape artist. He wasn’t as reliant on his magic as the rest of the Guardians, and he could hide his tricks better than anyone.

  “I think we should pray.”

  “For a painless death?” I asked.

  He opened his mouth to respond when a car pulled up on the main street to our left and honked their horn. Rilryn ran for it before I could say anything, so I had little choice but to follow. Miraculously, I made it to the car without getting hit. Rilryn had already gotten the back door open and was inside. I dived in after him and the car was moving before I could slam the door shut.

  The driver was a young man I didn’t recognize. I also felt no power from him, so I knew immediately that he wasn’t a wizard. Normally, the sudden arrival of a getaway car would have been suspicious, but before I could question the stranger, the woman in the passenger seat twisted around to grin at me.

  “Fancy meeting you here!”

  “Abby! How did you…”

  “I called her,” Rilryn said. “I didn’t expect you to show up.”

  I couldn’t fault him for calling in backup. However, Abigial Harland was the last woman I expected him to call. She was a witch, complete with her own coven, so one would think she was open-minded. On the contrary, she was quite stubborn and judgmental.

  “Alright. Time to explain everything,” I told the young Guardian.

  He sighed. “I just jumped to the wrong conclusion and ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Actually, I got out of the ties just fine on my own. So who sent you to hunt me down?”

  “Tiamat. She asked me to help you find what you’re looking for.”

  “What is it we’re looking for?” Abby asked.

  “A vintage Star Wars lamp,” Rilryn lied. “Drop us off here.”

  “No way. You called me to help you and I’m damn well going to do it,” the witch argued.

  “Seriously, Abby, I’m going to call your mother if you don’t---” He was cut off as the driver slammed on the breaks.

  “What are you doing?!” Abby screeched at the man.

  “I’m not getting in trouble with your mother, woman. The last guy you ran off with ended up a voodoo zombie!”

  “Those were just rumors spread by her luncheon friends. Rilryn! Get back here!”

  She was still yelling when I shut the door behind me. I followed the younger Guardian in silence through many neighborhoods until we reached an abandoned warehouse. It was a one-story warehouse full of empty boxes and trash leftover from illegal parties. Behind a wall of boxes, Rilryn had laid out a blanket on the floor.

  “Have you been sleeping here?”

  “I haven’t been sleeping anywhere.”

  Unlike Ronez, Rilryn was a man of few words. “Why is it so important for you to find the weapon?”

  He sat and stared at me for a minute until I sat across from him. “How much do you know about it?” he asked.

  “I know it can kill a god or an Ancient. How did you find out about it?”

  “From Nano.”

  “And he told you where it is?”

  “No.”

  “Rilryn, don’t play games with me. I’m going to help you, but you’re just wasting my time now. I have important things to do.”

  He sighed. “I have a book that talks about it. It can lead me to the weapon, I just have to be able to use it.” He was clearly reluctant as he stood and reached into one of the boxes. The book he pulled out was undeniably powerful. “This drives the vermin away, but that has been about all the good I could get out of it.”

  The book was large and bound in black dyed skin. He set it in front of me and I opened it. It was a handwritten grimoire and journal written in at least three different languages. I read the words I could and discovered it made absolutely no sense.

  “This is gibberish. I mean, whoever wrote this was crazier than I am.”

  Rilryn snapped the book closed and took it back. “Then don’t read it.”

  “Have you been trying to use this to find the weapon? It’s sending you on a wild goose chase.”

  “I can handle it just fine,” he snapped. Rilryn was not a hot-tempered man, so his ire was strange to me.

  “When was the last time you slept?” I asked. He stared at the book in his lap and shrugged. “When was the last time you ate something?” He shrugged again. “I’m going to find a grocery store. I’ll be back soon. Try to get some sleep, okay? In the morning, we’ll work it out together and you’ll be able to think better.”

  He still wouldn’t look at me. I was hesitant to leave, but Rilryn obviously wasn’t ready to talk. He didn’t seem to be in his right mind.

  I stepped outside and took a deep breath. My brother could have gotten through to him, but I wasn’t a people person. I made it to the end of the street before the rain started falling hard. Something told me to stop; my instincts were telling me to turn back.

  I studied the warehouse for a minute before I returned and opened the door. It was dark inside, so it took me a moment to realize that Rilryn was gone.

  Chapter 7

  Ron

  The phone rang as I flipped pancakes. It was my dad’s cell phone, so I knew it was either the hospital or the school. Since neither was worth bothering Dad, I tried to ignore it, but the phone just kept going. With an irritated sigh, I answered it.

  “Hello, Mainstream Extreme Chinese Takeout. You bring dog, you get discount. Will this be order in or carry out?” I asked. I tried to hold a straight face because I couldn’t maintain the bad Chinese accent while laughing.

  “Um… this is Principal Wilhite. Is Dylan Yatunus there?” At this point, Hail walked in. To my shock, he was dressed in a decent blue shirt and jeans. He even had shoes on.

  “He in surgery. Bad accident with mafia. Blood everywhere, good food.” My brother came forward. “Oh, here he now.”

  Hail took the phone. “This is Dylan,” he said with a nearly perfect imitation of Dad’s voice. This game just became a lot more fun. After all, the principal suspended us, so he should be messed with for sure. He nodded to me, putting the phone on speaker. “Sorry about that, my cousin is a taxidermist and he’s just a little excited.”

  “I thought you were at the hospital…”

  “I am. He is the morgue’s best taxidermist. I’m a bit busy at work, what with the Chinese mafia hit man on the loose.”

  “The what?” I could practically hear the principal pale on the other end.

  “I know, it’s weird; I’ve never seen so many dogs and cats disappear. Don’t worry about the boys; they’ve been put to work. They’re working labor at the hospital and I’m sending them to their aunt’s place in Alaska for the summer. They can work landmines for getting suspended.”

  “Not the right kind of mines,” I corrected him. He shrugged.

  “I don’t think that is quite necessary…” the principal hesitated, probably worried for our safety. “I was just calling to suggest they return to school.”

  “What do you think?” Hail asked.

  “I thought we were going swimming today.”

  “Mordon will take us afterwards.”

  “Let’s go. We can get into more trouble there than here.”

  “Great! Let me mop them up and they’ll be there on time… or else.” He hung up and looked at me for approval. “I think that was weird even for this family.”

  “No, now he’ll never doubt you’re Dad if you have to do it again. We’ll just rehearse it a litt
le bit next time.”

  “I don’t know, I think you went a little too far with the hospital having a taxidermist.” We both turned to see Dad standing in the doorway.

  Hail instantly sagged his body in a “pity me” way. “We were just playing,” he moped.

  “Just get ready for school. And Ron, no curses.”

  “He---”

  “I know, but don’t do it anyway.”

  * * *

  Since we were returning, Stacy agreed to take Drake back. An hour after the phone call, we were back at the middle school. We had “breakfast pizza,” which was truly disgusting, before heading to the gym. Other students milled about as they waited for the bell to ring.

  “Are you really sure you don’t want me to transfer to PE?” Hail asked.

  “I’m sure. I think you’ll like wrestling,” I insisted. To that, he pouted. Still, I knew what was best for him and I wanted him to be happy. While it meant we couldn’t have more than one class together, we were only one room apart. There was actually a huge window dividing the wrestling room and gym.

  I heavy hand came down on my shoulder and I startled, reaching inside for the power that was always ready to be unleashed.

  “Whoa, there little buddy. It’s just me.”

  I couldn’t hide my surprise when I turned to see Xul standing behind me. The demon was dressed in black, as usual, but the metal chains and leather collar were absent. Instead, he wore a black satin, button-up shirt and black dress pants. His hair was even combed.

  “What are you doing here?” Hail asked. Hail, unlike our uncle, never held a grudge unless someone attacked me. Even though this demon had tried to possess Hail and destroy his soul, my brother could forgive the creature.

  “Well, I needed a job, and you needed someone to watch over you while your father was at work. It just so happens that your P.E. teacher needed a vacation.”

  “Did you hurt him?”