Minor Nephilim

by Randall Morris

  It was Nissa who spotted it first. A faceless horror in a dark cloak and hood was making its way towards them. It was wielding Damnation, the dual-bladed scythe of Shadow. Nissa tapped Backlash on the shoulder and pointed. He turned and pointed his staff at the approaching creature.

  “Fuck.”

  CHAPTER 37

  Shade pointed Damnation at Backlash and summoned ice in his other hand, which he then pointed at Nissa. He had considered speaking and even thought about changing his voice but he ultimately thought it could give him away. He had tried to trick Nissa in the past. It had rarely worked. She almost always recognized him. By the expression on her face, he was pretty sure she didn’t know who he was yet. Backlash summoned fire on the tip of his staff.

  “I don’t know who you are or what you want, but you need to get out of our way. We really don’t have time for this right now.”

  Shade shook his head.

  “Last warning. Move.”

  Shade shook his head again. Backlash attacked. The fireball sailed towards Shade and Shade considered using his ice powers but went with Damnation instead. He spun Damnation and the fire dissipated in front of the weapon. Backlash looked at Nissa with concern.

  “You have any bright ideas? He basically just brushed my powers aside.”

  Nissa looked at the hooded figure of Shade.

  “Who are you?”

  Shade said nothing. Nissa pulled the rocket launcher out of her trench coat and took careful aim. The second she fired, Shade shot as much ice as he could at the rocket. The rocket froze in the air. Before they could respond, Shade threw Damnation. It hit the rocket and the rocket exploded, knocking Nissa and Backlash back into the air. They landed hard on the ground. Shade started walking towards them. Nissa scrambled to her feet and helped Backlash up.

  “We can’t do this, Backlash. Whatever that thing is, it’s too powerful.”

  “We won’t get another shot at this. We have to take it down.”

  “What if it’s Shadow? You think we can stop Shadow?”

  “Why do you think it’s…? Oh. Ice powers. Damnation. Shit. Why would Shadow be here?”

  “No fucking idea. Maybe he’s after Leech. Maybe he just wants to fuck things up. Do you want to wait around and find out?”

  Nissa turned and ran. Backlash looked painfully at the walls of the prison one last time before turning and running after Nissa. Shade sighed with relief before retrieving Damnation and attaching it to his back.

  True to his word, Shade had a quick lunch and then made his way to Leech’s and Lilith’s house. Lilith opened the door before he knocked.

  “Certainly took your time. I was beginning to wonder if you were going to bring it back at all.”

  “I promised by the afternoon. It’s still the afternoon. I was just hungry. I stopped and had lunch.”

  “Just like Shadow. You’re addicted to the power flowing through that weapon. Well you know where it goes. Let’s go put it back where it belongs.”

  Shade followed Lilith and returned Damnation to the spot he had taken it from.

  “Did you stop the great tragedy only you could stop?”

  “Don’t mock me. I took care of it.”

  “Anyone injured?”

  “Nothing serious. No one died.”

  “Good.”

  “Did you tell Leech?”

  “No. I’ll cover for you this one time, but you’re not getting Damnation again until Leech decides you’re ready for it. Deal?”

  Shade nodded reluctantly. When he put the weapon back, it had felt like giving up a piece of himself.

  “Thanks, Lilith. You’re alright sometimes.”

  “Well you’re nothing but a pain in the ass, Shade! It doesn’t matter though. I love you anyways.”

  Lilith kissed Shade on the cheek.

  “We have to try again!”

  “Backlash, the trial is later today. We don’t have another chance. That… thing… ruined it for us.”

  Shade saw Nissa and Backlash talking on Nissa’s porch and joined them.

  “Did you two pull it off? You’re both alive so I’m assuming you didn’t.”

  Nissa looked Shade up and down like she was analyzing him.

  “Do you need to assume? I’m pretty sure you were there, Shade.”

  “I told you guys it was stupid and I wasn’t going to go. Why do you think I was there?”

  Backlash looked suspiciously at Shade and frowned.

  “It could have been you. We ran into a creature with ice powers and Damnation.”

  “Just one problem with that, Backlash. I don’t have Damnation. Leech does. I’m not even sure if I can touch the thing.”

  Nissa seemed convinced and Shade felt relieved. Backlash was still staring at him, getting angrier by the second.

  “You could have stopped that thing, Shade! I just needed your help! Why didn’t you help me?”

  Backlash summoned fire in both of his hands and smoke started pouring out of his ears. Shade held up two hands in surrender.

  “Calm down, bro. I told you why we shouldn’t be going after him like that. If the council doesn’t kill him, we can figure something out later.”

  “This was my one shot, Shade! My one shot!”

  Backlash threw fire from both hands at Shade. Shade took the hit and fell to the ground. Nissa pulled a knife from her trench coat and held it up to Backlash’s throat.

  “Calm down. Stop attacking him.”

  Backlash turned his gaze on Nissa and summoned fire in his hands again. Shade quickly got to his feet and aimed carefully. He froze both of Backlash’s hands. Backlash started running towards Shade and Shade froze his feet to the ground.

  “Go ahead! Finish me off!”

  “You’re my friend, Backlash. I don’t want to hurt you. I just need you to cool off a little. That was my whole point. Your plan was going to get you hurt or killed and I didn’t want to support that.”

  “You’re a fucking coward! You’re a reject that nobody wanted! Not even your own parents! Finish me off, you mutant freak!”

  Shade used all of his energy to stay calm.

  “No.”

  Backlash melted the ice on his hands and feet. Nissa and Shade both prepared for another attack, but they saw the tears streaming down Backlash’s face. He fell on his knees.

  “I just… I just want my brother back. He didn’t deserve to die.”

  Nissa put her arm on his shoulder.

  “We won’t let his death mean nothing. Reaper will pay for what he did to your brother and for what he did to you.”

  Shade nodded.

  “This time, we wait and see what the council does. If they don’t give you the justice you need, we’ll hunt him down. I promise.”

  Backlash looked at Shade and then at Nissa.

  “Thank you.”

  CHAPTER 38

  Coconut was tempted to start stealing again as soon as they made it back to where Razorburn and Monkey were. Bumalin pulled a gold cup from a sack on his belt.

  “Monkey found this. It keeps refilling itself with wine. I took it from him. If you do as I tell you and stop stealing things until we leave Heaven, you can have it.”

  Coconut briefly weighed his options.

  “Do you think Monkey will be pissed?”

  “I’m pretty sure he will be.”

  “Cool. I’m in. What do we need to do?”

  “Put this rope around your neck and chain your hands together.”

  Coconut raised one eyebrow.

  “You’re going to be a prisoner. I’m going to be an angel. We’re going to get close enough to another angel so I can touch him and get him over here. We need some angels to guard these sleeping idiots. Unless you’d prefer I leave them here unguarded?”

  “Nope. I want Monkey to live. I want to see his face when he realizes that his refilling wine cup is mine. Let’s do it.”

  Coconut did as Bumalin asked and Bumalin grabbed the rope. He waved his flaming angel sword at
the first angel they spotted. The angel sailed down and walked towards them.

  “How can I help you, brother? Is this prisoner giving you…”

  Bumalin dropped the sword and the rope. He ran at the angel and touched his forehead.

  “You will come with us and guard our friends. They are sleeping prophets. Anyone who tries to attack them is a demon. You must protect them.”

  The angel nodded, a blank expression on his face. Bumalin picked up his angel sword and led the angel back to Razorburn and Monkey.

  “These are the prophets. Guard them with your life.”

  The angel nodded and started hovering over the sleeping demons. He rotated slowly in the air so he could keep watch.

  “How many more times do we need to do that?”

  “I’m guessing at least a few more. I have no idea how many angels travel in groups but four or five should be able to repel a small group. Right?”

  Coconut shook his head.

  “No idea, boss. This one’s on you.”

  “Four more times. We’ll leave them with a patrol of five angels.”

  Bumalin and Coconut repeated the process three more times without any issues. When they attempted to find a fifth, an angel approached them from behind.

  “You lost? You’re way far away from the prison.”

  Bumalin turned and looked into the face of a middle angel commander. The angel drew his sword.

  “What sorcery is this? How did demons get into the heavens? Why does one of you have angelic armor and weapons?”

  Bumalin tried to think of a clever excuse.

  “Do not speak, demon! My questions are rhetorical. It won’t matter once you’re both dead.”

  Bumalin turned to Coconut.

  “Get yourself out of those chains and help me.”

  “Sure thing, boss. It’ll take a few minutes though. You can take him for a few minutes, right?”

  “I guess we’ll find out.”

  The middle angel lunged and brought his sword clean through Bumalin’s neck. He saw no blood and Bumalin’s expression didn’t change in any way. The middle angel realized that this was a hallucination.

  “I play mind tricks. It’s what I’m known for. Not only that, I’m currently blackmailing nearly half of the angels in heaven. Give me your name and I can tell you if I have any dirt on you.”

  “How did you make me see that?”

  “Some of my weaker powers work from a distance.”

  The angel looked around and saw himself surrounded by Bumalin hallucinations.

  “Hurry the fuck up, Coconut.”

  The middle angel began chopping away at the demons and they disappeared one by one. When he finally got it down to a single Bumalin, he swung hard in a downward chop with his blade. Bumalin blocked with his sword, but the middle angel was stronger. The middle angel’s sword crept slowly closer to Bumalin’s throat.

  “Coconut…”

  Coconut hopped on the middle angel’s back and wrapped his chains around his neck. The angel jerked back and tried to flip Coconut off of him. Bumalin acted quickly. He was back in his feet in seconds and he touched the middle angel’s head.

  “You are the commander of a small group of angels. Your mission is to protect two sleeping prophets. Anyone who attacks them is a demon. You will defend them at all costs, up to and including giving your own life.”

  The middle angel nodded.

  “What is your name?”

  “Hanniel.”

  “Follow us, Hanniel.”

  Bumalin led Hanniel to the small group of angels.

  “This is your new commander. Follow his orders to keep the prophets safe.”

  The group of angels nodded. Bumalin laughed.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “I told Hanniel I probably had something to blackmail him with. I was actually right. One of Hanniel’s daughters frequents the whore house run by Lilith. His daughter is a ‘fallen angel.’ We could have avoided that entire fight if he simply would have told me his name.”

  “It must be pretty crazy inside your head, boss.”

  “You have no idea, Coconut. Well that’s a group of five with a middle angel commander. Now all we need to do is find Gabriel and have a… painful conversation.”

  Coconut winced.

  “Painful for us or painful for them?”

  “I’m not sure yet. When I tell Gabriel what I know, he will either give in to whatever I ask or he will kill us. Our odds are basically a coin flip right now.”

  CHAPTER 39

  Leech, Lilith, Steam, and Selene sat around the Nephilim council hall’s large circular table. Leech knew that this was going to be a difficult day and hoped they could get through it as quickly as possible.

  “Before we bring in the accused, we need to deal with some other issues. First, who will fill Weapon’s seat on the council? We need a fifth member in case the vote is split on any other issues. None of us have had time to give this much thought with all the other issues we’ve been facing lately. I think we should appoint a temporary council member to serve for this meeting and we can appoint a permanent council member at the next council meeting, once we’ve all had adequate time to think on the matter.”

  Selene looked at her husband and then at Leech and Lilith.

  “You think we’re going to split on how to deal with Reaper. Maybe you’re right. Who do you think should be the temporary replacement?”

  “Nissa.”

  Steam shook his head.

  “She’s too young. She just barely became a minor nephilim when…”

  “It’s only for one meeting, my friend. Her father held the seat before Muan killed him. She should get to exercise the power once in her father’s memory. If we’re being honest, we probably aren’t too many years from one of us dying and Nissa gaining a permanent seat on the council.”

  Lilith frowned at Leech.

  “Not a pleasant thought, but I agree with my husband. I second the nomination. She’s the least likely to be biased in these matters. She rarely interacts with Reaper at all.”

  Leech looked at Steam and Selene.

  “Are we in agreement?”

  Steam and Selene looked at each other before nodding.

  “Good.”

  Leech called a messenger nephilim and sent them to go find Nissa before resuming his command of council business.

  “We don’t need her here to decide the other issues. We’ll just have her sit in and vote after Reaper’s trial. The next thing we need to decide concerns this report.”

  Leech pulled a piece of paper from inside his cloak and placed it on the table. Lilith tried to grab it, but Leech shook his head.

  “I’m not sure if it should be allowed as evidence for or against Reaper. Bumalin read Reaper’s mind. He’s going to be tried for anything he did to cause Fade’s death, but also for any crimes he committed against his brothers and against this city. Bumalin had no reason to write down anything other than the truth."

  Steam looked amused.

  “We’re trying nephilim for thought crimes now, Leech? You can’t seriously be considering this.”

  Lilith nodded.

  “She’s right. This sets a very dangerous precedent. If we let this in, how much easier will it be to convict someone the next time using Bumalin’s powers. That gives Bumalin, a demon, too much power over the nephilim justice system.”

  Selene shook her head.

  “We can allow it this time and then never again. These are special circumstances. I had no idea Reaper was abusing my sons and I want to know what was going on in his mind. We all need to consider it. Have you read it, Leech?”

  “I haven’t. I thought the council should decide on its admissibility. Let’s vote. Those in favor of using it for Reaper’s trial?”

  Leech and Selene both raised their hands.

  “And those against it?”

  Steam and Lilith raised their hands.

  “I guess we’re tabling the issue until Niss
a gets here.”

  The council doors opened and Nissa entered.

  “Good timing. Have a seat.”

  “What is this about?”

  Nissa looked nervously at the nephilim council, worried they might have found out that she had attempted to break into the prison with Backlash. Leech held out his hand at Weapon’s council chair.

  “You’re sitting in your father’s place for one council meeting. We voted you in as his temporary replacement. We’ll find someone to permanently replace him at the next council meeting, but decided you should fill in on short notice.”

  Nissa nodded.

  “Fine. What are we talking about?”

  Steam rolled his eyes.

  “Leech had Bumalin read Reaper’s mind and write a report. We’re deciding whether the report should be admissible as evidence for or against Reaper. We just voted and we’re split. It’s clearly an insane approach to…”

  Leech held up his hand and cut Steam off.

  “Your vote is controlling on this issue, Nissa. What do you think?”

  Nissa thought about the issue briefly.

  “Did Bumalin have guidelines? Was he given free reign inside Reaper’s head or was he looking for something specific?”

  “I told him to look for anything tied to his abuse of his brothers and the death of Fade.”

  “I think we should hear it, but only consider it to the extent that Reaper actually acted on any of those thoughts. It’s clearly relevant, but Reaper should only be punished for things he actually did, not things that he thought.”

  Leech nodded.

  “So we’ll hear it.”

  Leech read the paper aloud.

  Reaper has abused his brothers on numerous occasions and then taken steps to hide it from everyone. He threatened both Backlash and Fade that they would get worse if they ever told. Reaper was not directly involved in Fade’s death. Another group of rogue nephilim killed Fade after demanding a ransom. Reaper joined with the demon Nightmare and hunted them down. He helped Nightmare regain his scythe. I unlocked a memory Reaper was trying hard to suppress. He often thinks about marrying Lucia and becoming the next king of the nephilim. Coupled with this memory is the idea that he will have to kill Shade at some point. He doesn’t see a future where Shade won’t challenge him for power.