Major Demons

by Randall Morris

  “That’s really dark for you.”

  Sarah frowned at him.

  “I like it.”

  Shadow leaned down and kissed Sarah. She shoved him away.

  “No. Being evil is not hot.”

  “Agree to disagree. I think it was pretty hot.”

  “So I can go with you to find Azazel?”

  “Sure.”

  “And then Abaddon?”

  “Why do you need to be there for that? It’s going to be terrible and I…”

  “What?”

  “I don’t want you caught in the crossfire! I can’t watch you die! I already lost Leech and I can’t lose you because…”

  “Because?”

  “Leech was like a brother to me. He always had my back.”

  “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “Because I have feelings for you. I don’t know for sure but I think they might even be…”

  “What?”

  “The beginning of love.”

  Sarah leaned in and kissed Shadow. He pushed her away.

  “No. Being good is not hot.”

  “Agree to disagree, Shadow. You used a word I never thought I’d hear you say.”

  “So did you.”

  Shadow grinned and Sarah laughed. Shadow decided then that he didn’t want her with him when he faced off against his father.

  CHAPTER 12

  “Alright so what do we need to plan for this week?”

  Jess stood and put her hands on the table.

  “First, I’d like to thank Murmur for allowing Aim to stay a middle demon even though he’s a dumbass.”

  Aim crossed his arms and frowned. Then he removed White Death from its holster on its back.

  “I still don’t give a fuck. I got my gun. I’ll pay Murmur back for the demons we lost.”

  Jess ignored him and continued.

  “Second, we need to figure out what cool thing I want and how we’re going to waste hundreds of demon lives to get it. In other words, Round 2 of the Aim Clusterfuck Campaign.”

  Murmur held up a hand and listened.

  “Do you guys hear that?”

  Jess and Aim listened and nodded. Dagon entered the room.

  “Murmur, there’s thousands of demons outside. They sent in someone named Vine to talk to you.”

  “Thanks, Dagon. Send him in and we’d like another round of ale. Looking at Aim the Demon Sacrificer is pissing me off again and I’d like to get wasted.”

  Jess giggled and Aim frowned while continuing to clean his rifle. Vine entered the room and bowed.

  “My name is Vine. I was a minor demon working for Leech. He was killed and now I command the armies of Leech and Lilith.”

  Murmur, Jess, and Aim all looked deeply disturbed.

  “Sit down. Tell us what happened.”

  “We were in the desert hunting nephilim and we were ambushed by Azazel, Scapegoat, and their nephilim army. We fought as hard as we could but eventually had to turn and run. Leech was killed by Azazel. Lilith abandoned us and took Gangrene and Raven with her. I decided we should return to Hell and offer our armies to General Murmur. Specifically, my armies would like to work for Lord Aim and Lilith’s former armies want to join Lady Jess’s forces. Is this acceptable to you, General Murmur?”

  “Lilith abandoned you guys? Leech took on Azazel alone?”

  “As horrible as it sounds, yes to both. We were shocked. We would gladly continue to serve General Leech if he was still alive but Lilith has abandoned her post as a major demon and her armies refuse to follow her any longer.”

  “Jess? Aim? Thoughts?”

  Aim stopped cleaning his gun and looked up.

  “Sounds like Vine made the best of a bad situation. I’ll let his demons fall in with my army.”

  Jess rolled her eyes.

  “You just need more demons to pay for the Clusterfuck Sniper Rifle of Asshood. I don’t really buy that Lilith abandoned her armies.”

  Vine had a ready response.

  “It may not be that simple, Lady Jess. She had just given birth not long before and may have fled to protect her child. Regardless, her armies no longer believe her fit to lead. You should have seen how crazy she was right before the kid was born. She’s insane. They can’t work for an insane demoness who ran at the first sign of trouble. Had she commanded her armies more efficiently, General Leech might still be alive.”

  “Murmur, I don’t like the way this guy speaks. I think his story is a little… off. What do you think, Murmur?”

  Murmur thought for a moment before giving his answer.

  “Well regardless of how it happened, it sounds like Leech and Lilith are gone for now. We could definitely use the power down here. That effectively turns the odds back in our favor in a war with Nightmare and Astaroth. I think you should each take the armies and proclaim yourself major demons. What happened to the scythes of Leech and Lilith?”

  Vine shrugged.

  “No idea. I imagine Lilith has both of them.”

  “Right. So Jess takes Lilith’s spot and Aim takes Leech’s. It’s the smart play to make right now. I don’t see another way around it. Oh and we could use the reinforcements to go get Jess her new magic wand or whatever she’s going to ask me for now that Aim got a new gun.”

  Jess’s eyebrows shot up.

  “Oh so it’s ok for Aim to waste our demons getting a new gun but Jess can just keep limping along with a splintering staff that she’s had for years.”

  Aim grinned.

  “Sounds good to me.”

  “If that’s how we’re going to play it, I want White Death. I earned it more than Aim did.”

  “Guys, we’re getting off topic. Do you both agree to take command of the armies?”

  Aim nodded eagerly. Jess sighed and then nodded.

  “Good. I seriously think it’s our only option. It’ll bring an uneasy stalemate between us and them. They won’t want to make a move if we have superior forces.”

  Jess shifted uncomfortably.

  “That’s fine for now but it’ll still cause some problems. What about when Shadow finds out? An angry Shadow scares the hell out of me. No offense, but I’m pretty sure he could kill everyone in this room… possibly at the same time.”

  “I’ll explain it to Shadow. We go way back. It won’t be a problem. If anyone ever finds Lilith, we can talk to her too. This doesn’t have to be permanent if circumstances change.”

  “Should we send someone up to Earth and confirm Vine’s story?”

  “Jess… I think Shadow or Lilith will contact us soon enough. I’m not sending anyone up there to be killed by nephilim. Shadow knew my position when he went up there. Contrary to what Aim believes, I don’t have demons to waste on pointless missions.”

  “You guys aren’t going to let it go… like ever. Are you?”

  “Maybe at some point… but not today, Aim.”

  Aim stood and started walking towards the door.

  “If that’s the case, I’m going to start putting a sniper team together. I have a lot of demons to go kill to pay for my new gun.”

  Jess stood as well.

  “I’m going to start looking in to the legendary sorceress staff I want us to go take from the Dragon’s collection. Don’t worry. My plan won’t lose us half of what Aim’s did. I’ll get back to you once I have everything ready to go and you can review it.”

  Murmur nodded and Jess left the room. Vine turned to leave as well.

  “Wait. Where was Shadow when all of this went down?”

  “We were on our way to meet him. I imagine he was close but he didn’t get there in time to help us. Would you like me to track him down?”

  “No. No point. Like I said, he’ll contact me when he’s ready. Go down to Aim and help him get his sniper team organized.”

  Vine bowed and left the room. Murmur sighed and shook his head.

  “Just come back down here, Shadow. Saving the humans was never our responsibility.”

  CHAP
TER 13

  Lilith could see Gangrene and Raven’s faces hovering over her. She saw their mouths moving but couldn’t understand what they were saying. She closed her eyes and tried to focus.

  “I think she’s waking up.”

  “Finally. Why did you have to hit her so hard?”

  “Leech told me to get her out of there. You know how stubborn she is. This was the only way.”

  Lilith opened her eyes again. She sat up in a panic.

  “The baby?”

  Raven held up baby Lucia, who was napping.

  “Ok. Then what happened? Where’s Leech?”

  Gangrene and Raven looked at each other with concern and sadness.

  “How much do you remember?”

  Lilith frowned.

  “I remember you clocking me in the head with a scythe.”

  “And right before that?”

  “Before that… Azazel appeared and…”

  An intense migraine overcame Lilith. She closed her eyes and rested her head in her hands.

  “Leech um…”

  She opened her eyes and tried to shake out the cobwebs in her head. It finally dawned on her.

  “Leech took on Azazel and his army alone. What happened to him?”

  Gangrene slowly exhaled.

  “I’m sorry, Lilith. Leech is dead. A day after we left, I circled back. Leech took out the nephilim army and injured Azazel but there’s some pretty clear evidence that…”

  “We have to go back. I want to see.”

  Raven shook her head.

  “It’s terrible, sis. You don’t want to see it.”

  “I need to. Everyone touch my shoulders and we’ll teleport back.”

  Gangrene and Raven did as requested. When they reached the spot, Lilith fell on her knees and started to cry. Raven nudged Gangrene and he ran towards the cross to retrieve Leech’s head. Raven put her free arm around Lilith.

  Gangrene grabbed a sack from his belt, knocked down the cross, and placed Leech’s head in the sack. The sack started to glow a light green. He also retrieved Leech’s guns and axe and returned everything to Lilith. Lilith opened the sack.

  “Why are his eyes still glowing?”

  “He drained an entire nephilim army before he exploded. I imagine there’s some residual power in there. I mean I know he had already given me my scythe, but I imagine he could have taken on Shadow or Abaddon shortly before he went nuclear.”

  Raven removed her arm from Lilith and elbowed Gangrene hard in the ribs.

  “Ow.”

  “Be sensitive. I don’t want to hear you say nuclear again.”

  Lilith attached Leech’s guns around her waist and his axe to her back. She took Lucia back from Raven.

  “We’re done. I’m not doing this anymore. We’re going back to Hell. Jess can help me see him again.”

  “The armies abandoned us, sis. We don’t have much say in Hell anymore.”

  Lilith held up her scythe.

  “I’ll trade this for one more chance to see Leech. After that… I want to go somewhere and die.”

  Raven started to cry and Gangrene shook his head.

  “It’ll pass, Lilith. Don’t say things like that.”

  “It hurts too much, Gangrene. I can’t do this anymore.”

  “Think of the baby. She needs you… and Leech gave his life to save the two of you.”

  “And what do I tell her when she grows up? That her father was killed and I know who did it but I’m too weak to avenge him? She’d be better off without me.”

  “Shadow will kill Azazel. Trust me. As soon as he finds out what happened to Leech, he’ll be all over it. He’ll cut Azazel into little, bite-sized pieces. I agree that we’re done up here though. Let’s get back to Hell.”

  Lilith reacted angrily to hearing Shadow’s name.

  “Where the hell was Shadow? Why didn’t he show up and save us? Why didn’t he try to warn Leech that he shouldn’t take on Azazel alone?”

  Gangrene shifted uncomfortably.

  “Lilith, I’ve known both Shadow and Leech for a while. I imagine they talked about what to do in case Azazel attacked. That’s why Leech knew to rig his scythe so Azazel couldn’t take it away from him. I don’t think Shadow intended that to be anything more than a way for Leech to keep his scythe though. Shadow wouldn’t have told Leech to take him on. Shadow would have told Leech to run away. Now that being the case, I also think I know how Leech would have taken that advice. He would have ignored it if he didn’t see a way out. He saw our armies turn and run and knew that eventually, no matter how fast all of us got away, Azazel would find us again and kill all of us. So he did what he could. He killed Azazel’s armies and injured him to the point that he can’t teleport all over looking for us. Honestly, I’d be surprised if that motherfucker Azazel isn’t dead. Leech was an absolute beast in the end. Every bit the powerful major demon I respected.”

  Lilith and Raven both started to cry. Gangrene started to regret his speech.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset either of you. I just… needed to say it for myself. I’ll never regret leaving Shadow to follow Leech. Leech was a badass to the very end. He had to fight for everything he was ever given and he deserved to be a major demon. I just wish he was still around to…”

  Gangrene trailed off. He fought hard to not let the tears flow. He needed to be strong for Raven and Lilith. Leech had entrusted their safety to him and he couldn’t break down. Raven put her head on his shoulder and gave him a hug.

  “Once we’re back in Hell, we need to contact Shadow and let him know what happened. If there’s someone on this Earth who can kill Azazel, it’s Shadow. We need to get to Hell first before any of that though. I promised Leech I would keep everyone safe and that’s what I’m going to do.”

  Lilith stood.

  “Alright. I’ll teleport all of us back to Hell. Grab my shoulders and we’ll get out of here.”

  Right as they were about to go, they saw a crow land at Lilith’s feet and change into Muan.

  “That actually saves us a lot of time. Muan, you need to let Shadow know that Leech is dead. He took on Azazel and…”

  “Oh… he knows. He’s furious.”

  Gangrene saw Shadow’s armies following Muan.

  “Shadow doesn’t want to be a major demon anymore. He turned his forces over to me. I’m taking them back to Hell to give command of his armies to Murmur. Then I’m coming back to help him. He’s going after Azazel and Abaddon. Actually, I saw you guys and I’m hoping you can do me a favor. I want to get back to Shadow. Only Sarah is with him right now. I’m afraid his anger is going to drive him to do something stupid and I need to make sure he has adequate backup. I don’t want his armies and I don’t want to be a major demon either.”

  Muan saw the scythe in Gangrene’s hand.

  “Leech named you as his successor?”

  “He did. Right before he…”

  Gangrene trailed off.

  “Then take command of Shadow’s armies. They know you and they respect you from back when you and I led them. Return to Hell as a major demon.”

  Gangrene nodded. He turned to Shadow’s former armies.

  “Muan needs to get back to Shadow. I will take command from this point on. Does anyone have a problem with that?”

  No one objected. They remembered Gangrene and were willing to fight for him.

  CHAPTER 14

  “So you never told me. How did Gabriel take it when you told him and the rest of the angels to take off and go back to Heaven?”

  “Not very well considering I was the one who convinced them to come down here in the first place.”

  “And we still have no idea where the other two Archangels are?”

  “I imagine they’ve went back to Heaven, too. If they heard that Gabriel left, I really doubt they would have been interested enough to stay down here.”

  “So before we go hunting Azazel and Abaddon, we need to learn to fight together. Which means we need to t
rust each other. I’m offering an answer to any of your questions. In return, I’d like the same. Then we hunt nephilim until our fighting styles merge. I won’t lie; I keep feeling like you should hang back and let me do the fighting and I know you don’t like that…”

  “I won’t accept it, either…”

  “…but it’s how I feel right now. I don’t want to watch you die. No more death while I’m up here. So I’m opening up my past. Now that I actually know all of it, I think you’re entitled to know anything about me you think could be helpful.”

  “And you want me to return the favor afterwards?”

  “Yes. That’s how we’ll trust each other.”

  Sarah thought for a moment and asked her first question.

  “I’ve always wondered how many powers you have. Will you list them for me?”

  “Well… there’s ice. That’s apparently inherited. I have limited mind reading and hallucination inducing abilities. Neither of them were strong enough to work on Bumalin, or that entire encounter would have gone a lot smoother. I can replicate myself and control the copies. I have lots of insignificant minor demon powers like the ability to counter the powers of other demons and some angels, the ability to see through fog, and so on. I can turn into a huge rage monster and consume other demons. I can teleport when I have Damnation with me. There are probably a few I’m forgetting. Some of them have started to merge and form new powers, but I haven’t fully figured that out. How about you?”

  “I can blind enemies by overexposure to light. Most demons that touch me will burn. I inherited frost and ice abilities from grandpa. I’m decent with a blade. Honestly, my list sounds kind of depressing next to yours.”

  “It’s not exactly a fair comparison. I’m a weird hybrid of angels and demons. I’ve found it’s a lot easier for me to acquire and keep powers.”

  “Ok. Next question. How do you feel about Cain’s betrayal?”