by Jack Crosby
“Jacar, where are you?”
I heard a few coughs and then his voice. “I am over here! The damn worm cut my leg as it came through the ground.”
Leviathan was out, ready for the worm’s next pass. Following the sound of his voice, I found him slumped over, his leg cut pretty deep. Watching out for the worm, I ripped a piece of his pant off to give the wound air. “We’ll need to wrap this soon.”
He looked down. “If given time, the wound will close on its own.”
“Time isn’t something we have.”
I stood there beside him, wondering why the worm hadn’t returned. Then, just in the nick of time did I feel the ground rumble. Grabbing Jacar, I dove out of the way, just missing getting swept up in the insect-like mandibles of the hell worm. With Leviathan’s reach, I clipped the large predator with the blade, cutting off one of its front legs. It couldn’t dig a new hole and fell hard on the black ground.
The creature wasn’t injured, shaken up, or even concussed. No, it was pissed. The large head turned towards me, all eight eyes focused on a single target. Poison dripped from those awful mandibles and it roared in anger. “Jacar, I think we might be needing to run.”
“I cannot Master Death, not yet.”
Like a large freight train, it pressed forward building up speed to attack me. “Ahh shit!”
I picked up the injured Pride demon and took off out of the way. The only saving grace was the worm was too large to turn. With a head start, I kept running north.
Jacar was heavy. I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up this pace. “Look for a place for us to hide!”
The worm let out its battle cry and I knew it was on our tail now. I kept running, but I was getting winded. The air in Hell seemed to thicken up the harder I pushed it.
“Master Death, to your left!”
My head was on a swivel and I looked over. Jutting out of the ground was a small cave like opening. With no other option and the worm gaining speed, I turned on the fly and made a beeline for the opening. It was small, but there was enough room to throw Jacar down and then jump in myself. I made it just in time too as the large mouth just missed my feet as I dove head first.
Without its front legs, the worm couldn’t dig an opening to chase us, not on this hard ground. “Not that I’m complaining, but something seems off here.”
I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned around. Behind me was Jacar who seemed to be looking on at something. With the light off Leviathan to show me, I saw a mass of demons huddled just beyond us. One at the front pointed at me. “Can it be possible?”
“Ummm hello?”
They shrank back away from me. The one who pointed spoke, but barely audible. “He’s sent Death to kill us.”
I wasn’t here to kill anyone. “Sorry, I think you got the wrong guy. I didn’t even know you guys were here.”
“Lies! The Horseman is here to end our fucking existence!”
I didn’t see who yelled, but it was obvious all of these guys and gals were scared out of their mind. “Seriously, I’m not here to kill you. Jacar and I were just trying to escape a hell worm.”
The eyes of the fifty or so demons left me and went on to Jacar. “The one who betrayed Baal…”
“If it makes you all feel better, I’ll put the scythe away. We just need some light.”
I heard a snap and globes of hellfire lit the cave. It was a lot deeper than I thought and my previous estimate of fifty demons was now doubled to nearly one hundred. Leviathan shrunk and I put it in my pocket. “Listen, can someone tell me what’s going on here?”
The leader, who looked like a Greed demon, moved forward. “We are all that is left from the resistance against Yezial.”
Great, I found a bunker fool of demons who were fighting a war. “So you’re hiding out here?”
“This is our last bastion. Once he finds us and wipes us out, he will have no one left to oppose him.”
I looked on further and for the first time in a long time I actually pitied demons. Most here looked beaten, dirty, and on the brink of death. “As much as that sucks, Jacar and I gotta go. We have important stuff to do.”
But my former demon general friend put his hand on my chest. “I cannot allow my kind to be treated in such a manner.”
Smiling in spite of what I was feeling, “We got to get to you know where to get you know what…”
“Master Death,” this time it was a Lust demon. She looked almost exactly like Roxanne, except for red hair and leathery wings. “You do not understand. If Yezial is successful, his plan will not stop with just Astaroth’s territory, he will invade Pandemonium itself and start a war with Lucifer.”
Shit. Shit, shit, shit. An all-out war in Hell would have ramifications on just about every plane possible. “One Pride demon wouldn’t stand a chance against Lucifer.”
She then dropped the biggest bomb of my miserable day. “He does because he has the Morningstar Blade.”
“Fucking A.”
Chapter 8 – A Rebellion is Born
The demons we stumbled across took really good care of Jacar, helping heal his leg from the hell worm attack. While that was going on, I met the trio of demons who were leading this force; Lyzelle (a Greed demon), Terrek (a Wrath demon), and Jecella (a Lust demon). Their former leader was one of Astaroth’s generals, Rzeem (a Pride demon). Rzeem was killed in battle by Yezial.
Little did these guys know, but I killed the other general in Astaroth’s army, the douche bag Envy demon Fultzam. I didn’t feel it was relevant, so I just kept that fact to myself. Besides, at this point in time, they seemed to have a lot of other issues.
Lyzelle seemed to be in charge. “After the lady angel ended Astaroth’s life in mortal combat, the realm did not take the path Beelzebub’s did after you slayed him. Instead of unity, chaos broke out with each general wanting to assume the mantle of leadership.”
“Didn’t Lucifer step in and stop this?”
Jecella’s voice was filled with sultry sexiness. “Our realm has been declared closed once Yezial stole the Morningstar Blade. We are just waiting for the moment the Prince comes himself and destroys us all.”
“If he was going to do that, he would have by now you dumb bitch!”
Jecella turned to the Wrath demon with her claws out. “Terrek, you have done nothing for this cause you fucking impotent miscreant!”
Name calling and petty arguments weren’t going to solve this issue any sooner. “Shut the fuck up, all of you.” Their hateful glances stopped, looking at me with renewed fear. “So it seems we got a problem and no way to solve it, which is to kill Yezial.”
Something they all could agree on, hurray! “In simplistic terms, that is the problem.”
“Lyzelle, where exactly in this wretched place does this Pride demon general make his base of operations?”
The demon began to crudely carve a map on the stone wall of the room we were in, off the main cavern. “We are here, to the north, close to the border of Pandemonium. Yezial’s base is in the old ruins to the far south, almost to the Edge of Despair.”
Hey Derrick, what’s the Edge of Despair? It’s the one place in all the planes that no one knows where it goes or what happens inside. And to be honest, with a name like that, I have no intentions of finding out. Plus, it might’ve been the place Michael was talking about, feeding off negative emotions. Listen don’t say he was right, not right now anyway. I have work to do.
Back to the action, “So he’s not even using Astaroth’s old palace?”
“No, in fact he burned it to the ground, signifying a new regiment had taken over.” For effect Lyzelle scratched an X where Astaroth lived, right smack dab in the middle of his territory.
Jacar and I spotted the Pride demon when we entered the realm. He was heading back south with his army. “Was he patrolling out here looking for you guys?”
“Yes, that wretched pussy continues to hunt us with his army instead of fighting one on one just like in the olden days.”
Jecella motioned at the angry Wrath demon with an offhand motion. “Pay no mind to Terrek. He is too stuck in the ways of the past to know how warfare works these days.”
Before any more fights could continue, Jacar entered the chamber looking a lot better. “Thank you all for your help and healing.”
Lyzelle bowed to the Pride demon. “It is us who should thank you General.”
“I am no longer a general in Baal’s army.”
“No, but you and Death are now the leaders of our rebellion force. You have earned back the mantle of General.”
Hang on a cotton pickin’ minute. “When did I say I was leading this rebellion?”
“Without the two of you,” the Greed demon placed a hand on both me and Jacar, “this fails. Could you really let war break out in Hell if you can stop it Horseman?”
Technically yes I could, but seeing as how the Morningstar Blade was in the possession of this idiot demon, I really had no choice. “If Jacar and I are to be your generals, you’ll have to agree to do whatever it is we ask.”
All three seemed mostly agreeable to this. The look in Terrek’s eyes bugged me, but it seemed we both needed each other for the time being. Jacar clapped his hands together, pleased with the turn out. “Excellent. We need to start planning our assault on Yezial’s fortress.”
“With what army? We just can’t assault his fortress with what rag-tag demons these guys currently have.”
Lyzelle shockingly agreed with me. “Death is right Jacar, we do not have the force or the skill left to attack Yezial head on. Our best bet will be a small infiltration group and assassinate him.”
Did someone say assassinate? I might not have War’s overall bully skill set, but I can work the shadows with the best of them. “In that case, I should lead the force. Shadows and working in them are sorta my thing.”
“I accept, but I would like two of my people to go.” Lyzelle pointed at the Wrath demon and the Lust demon. “Even though they do not work well together, both are excellent warriors.”
Jacar also chimed in. “As a Pride demon, I would do well if a confrontation proves unavoidable.”
“Fine, I can work with this. I’m pretty tired from the dealings with the hell worm. You got a good place to take a nap?”
Jecella got up. “I will show you to the resting quarters. No one will disturb you.”
“That sounds good. We’ll meet one more time before we get this shit show on the road.” I signaled my departure to the rest of them and followed the Roxanne look-alike out. As we weaved through the complex cavern system, I saw just how bad of shape these demons were in. This had basically become a refugee camp.
The Lust demon noticed my observations. “We were a proud group at the start of this. Rzeem had the respect of all of us with the promise of building this realm back up to its glory. I know as a Horseman you don’t understand our peril, but Yezial is a thousand times worse with his intentions.”
I didn’t say anything, my opinions still rather up in the air. She opened a wooden door and there was a small, closet like space that was almost cool and dark. A small cot took up all the space. “This is as quiet as it comes down here. Rest well.”
I hoped I would. This blasted trip was already taking twists that I wasn’t happy about or expecting. I closed the door and my eyes. It didn’t take long for sleep to find me.
My dreams were pleasant. I was back on the beach with Astrid. She had a few beers for us and steak was cooking on our makeshift barbeque. The sound of the ocean was nice and soon we were naked and molesting each other. I forgot just how much I missed her body, the feeling of her skin against mine.
As the intimate actions brought me close to an orgasm, I woke up only to see two red eyes looking back at me. Jecella’s ruby red lips were on my member, slowing sucking up and down on me. It was too late, I was already so close that I grabbed on to the bed and began pumping her mouth. Just as she lightly ran her teeth along me, I filled her mouth with everything I had.
The room was so small that my movement was impaired by the position she had me in. Wearing no pants, she slid my dick into her awaiting demon slit. She began moving up and down at a rapid pace, bringing me to attention rather quickly. As her hairy lady parts hit me, I bit own hard, trying to keep myself from orgasming again. It was all for naught as I once again exploded, this time inside her. Her eyes blazed to life as shuddered with each stream I sent in.
When she finished, she got off of me and gave me one last lick and a wink before leaving the room and me in total darkness. I laid there, in total shock over what just happened, finally falling back to sleep. This time it was neither peaceful nor restful.
Chapter 9 – The Trek South
A knock on the door woke me up. Feeling like total poo I laid there a bit longer. The second knock eventually came and this time it was louder. Opening the door, Jacar was standing there. “You do not look all that well.”
I wasn’t about to tell him what happened. “I guess Hell takes it out of you.”
He reached in and gave me a hand up. I was still in my shorts and t-shirt. “Will you continue to dress as a human?”
No, I wasn’t. I clapped my hands together and my power resonated around us. Gone were the shorts and t-shirt, replaced with my black cloak and mesh underlay. My sneakers formed into the battle hardened boots of a great many battles. Leviathan no longer was hidden, the giant scythe over my shoulder. “Better?”
A quick look of fear told me my powers were still respected. “Yes, I would say so.”
“Come, let’s go get our traveling companions and get this over with.”
Jacar informed me they were waiting towards the front of the cave, back at the entrance to the planes. We made our way through the makeshift camp and the refugee demons to the meeting point. Lyzelle, Jecella, and Terrek were waiting there. I don’t think they were expecting me to go all Death on them, as they shared the same fear Jacar had previously.
Lyzelle quickly composed himself. “The journey south is not going to be easy. As you know hell worms litter the terrain as do the fire stallions, and a most vicious pack of purebred werewolves. You’ll be directly going through their territory.”
“That sounds fucking fantastic. Do you have any more good news for us?”
“Yes Death, I do.” He glared at me as if to say shut up. He was too scared though to actually say it. “Once you get to the fallen ruins, Yezial has a guard of at least one hundred Wrath demons. You will need to use stealth to get by them.”
I expected nothing less. “With that information we take our leave. I’m sure Jecella and Terrek will be able to get us their relatively safely.”
I left the cave and my group followed. There was no sign of the hell worm, so we set out, returning south, away from Pandemonium.
It was about a half hour or so (time’s impossible to tell down here) and I pulled Jecella back, out of ear shot of the other two. “You ever pull a stunt like that again, I will kill you.”
She licked her red lips again. “I might believe you if you didn’t enjoy my pussy so much. I can still feel your juices flowing in me.”
I didn’t want to draw attention to a possible quarrel in the group already. “Mark my words, try it again and this scythe will be the last thing you see.”
Her fear of me was being drowned out by her true nature. If she took my threat seriously, it didn’t show. Instead she wiggled her ass in front of me, which in her thigh high leather boots looked amazing. I cursed at myself for even noticing.
“Hell worms should no longer be a threat once we cross that ridge off in the distance, but at that point we’ll be on werewolf ground.” The mention of the werewolves brought a sense of joy to the miserable Wrath demon. “Lyzelle may be afraid of the giants bags of fur, but my sword will be the last thing any of them taste.”
Let’s go over the weaponry of these demons shall we? Jacar got a long, thin sword from Lyzelle apparently, Terrek carried a giant oversized butcher’s knif
e looking thing, and Jecella carried a whip with an iron tip that looked like a scorpion’s stinger. Hopefully these three were as good in a fight as they boasted to be.
We were about to find out. The hell worm I’d pissed off flanked us out of nowhere. The large creature spotted the group and turned its large body to head us off before we could make the ridge.
“Damnit people, look alive! That thing is bent on revenge!”
The legs digging into the ground made a weird crunching noise as the worm picked up steam towards us. The four of us readied our weapons and spread out far enough where only one of us could be targeted at a time. The worm must have a good working memory because it didn’t pay attention to anyone but me.
My celestial fire burned and the silver chains wrapped around my arms. With the scythe cocked over my shoulder, I readied myself for my first attack.
Before I even had a chance, that idiot Terrek jumped on the back of the worm and dug his sword into the tough hide. “No one ignores Terrek the Mighty!”
The worm stopped and began to buck, trying to get the Wrath demon off its back. “Damnit he’s an idiot!”
“I know, but we got to do something!”
Jecella was right. “Jacar, get up there and help him with whatever he’s trying to do! Jecella, you’re with me.”
Jacar took two steps and jumped up. With the creature trying to reach them with its head, Jecella and I ran towards the underbelly of the beast. It was a bit on the pink side, which told me it was more tender and easy to cut. Pointing to a section pretty close to neck joint, “Start whipping the shit out of that area! I’m going to see if I can carve out some of these legs!”
With no hesitation, Jecella began working the whip, the sharp tip burying itself into the skin. The creature started flailing which made my job even harder. Jumping up and hacking with my scythe, I detached another leg. One by one, I kept going down until the creature began to lose its balance and fall forward. Preparing to be crushed, I raised the point of Leviathan just in time as the underside fell.
