“Let’s leave the angels here,” he said, deciding if any harm came to them, they deserved it. “We should get them home,” he pointed at the two naked demon girls.
The two demon girls lived in the opposite direction to the town square. Melissa volunteered to take them home. Alex thought it was a good idea. Clearly traumatised, the two girls were still visibly shaking. Melissa was better off making sure the girls made it home safely. She wouldn’t be of much use where they were going.
Alex watched them leave and as they were about to turn the corner and disappear from sight, his eyes briefly rested on the two girl’s naked figures. Demons were strange. The men were mostly hideous. They had oddly shaped horns protruding from various points on their heads. Their skin was rough and sometimes scaly. Their hair was thick, like spikes. The teeth were the worst. Some had rows of teeth, each looking like it had been filed to look as sharp as possible.
The demon girls on the other hand, a lot of them looked very much human, apart from the colour of the skin. Some were red, some blue, some green.
Karen took Alex’s hand in hers and led him in the opposite direction. Neither of them needed to know Ignis Estate too well to know where the town square was. All they had to do was follow the rising smoke.
“You’ve gotten better with a sword,” Karen said.
“You’re a lot braver,” Alex commented.
“I was always brave,” Karen said sharply. “But after seeing Satan in the flesh, I think I care less about the rules.” Karen’s fingers tightened around his. “You have gotten so much better though,” she murmured.
Alex nodded silently. It was true. Not only was he much better with the sword, he was confident. He felt comfortable wielding the heavy sword and it turned out having Lucifer asleep was a good thing. He could tap into the power of the first being on earth without having to listen to the backchat.
Hand in hand, Alex and Karen continued walking down the identical streets with the terraced houses of red or yellow bricks and red tiled roofs. Most front lawns were full of weed; some even came through the cracks in the sidewalk. Every house had black plastic bags full of rubbish resting beside the overflowing wheelie bins. A stench of rotting flesh hung in the air as flies hovered about. There were few cars on the side of the road, and pretty much all of them were old cheap models.
Ignis Estate was poor even in comparison to other council estates around the country.
They were still a few blocks away from the town square when they began to hear the noises. It was the horribly familiar sound of a mixture of wailing, screaming and roaring. They grew louder with every step taken. Karen and Alex picked up the pace until they broke into a run.
The town square came into view, and again, it was another moment of déjà vu. Hundreds, if not thousands of demons had been shepherded into the circular space. Where in the past, the demons watched at what lay in front of them, now they were forced into the square by angels.
Dozens of angels stood guard at the entrances. They all carried the glowing rods in their hands. Past them, the demons mostly stared into the square. But some looked back at the angels with a mixture of fear and loathing. Others stared down the road longingly.
Alex had sheathed his sword, but at the sight of the angels, he reached back but Karen shook her head. The angels leaned against the brick walls in small groups, talking amongst each other. They hadn’t even noticed Alex and Karen, or if they had, they just didn’t care.
Alex turned his eyes back on the demons packed into the square. All of a sudden. A young demon ran out from the crowd. He made it all of twenty feet before an angel flapped its wings and flew over the demon, grabbed it by the scruff of its neck and threw him back towards the square and the crowd of demons.
The young demon hit the tarmac hard. Badly hurt, it struggled to climb to its feet. With effort, it just about managed to hobble back towards the demons.
“Fucking assholes,” Alex growled.
He was about to grab for his sword again, but this time Karen held him by the wrist and shook her head. Her eyes drifted towards the group of angels.
“We can’t beat them all,” she said.
Alex wasn’t so sure that she was right. The angels were bullies, and deep down, every bully was a coward. He reckoned he could knock of a few of the glorified pigeons out cold before they even know what was going on. The rest would then just fuck off, wouldn’t they? It had happened once already.
But Karen had her eyes on the demons, and she tugged his hand insistently. “Let’s at least see what’s going on in the centre before we get into a fight out here.”
Scowling at the angels like an angry kid, Alex reluctantly let Karen lead him down the road and towards the demons. As they passed the angels, one stared at him lazily. As they entered the demon crowd, Alex expected some hostility. Demons hated Demon Hunters. So, when he was paid no attention, negative or positive, he was surprised.
Turned out the one thing he had in common with pretty much every demon here was their shared hatred for the angels.
Alex and Karen waded their way through the crowd to reach the front. The town square had a fountain in the middle. A demon made of black stone stood five meters tall. It had four arms and each were held out with the palm facing down. Crystal clear water gushed down into the basin from each palm.
Standing beside the fountain was an angel. At eight feet, he was tall even for an angel. His wings were white, but the tips were silvery and sparkled like diamonds under bright light. Even his shoulder length black hair sparkled. Alex’s mouth hung open as he stared in amazement.
He’d never seen anything so damned beautiful and sparkly. He wasn’t even into sparkly shit, but this was just something else. So taken was he by the angel’s divinity, he didn’t even notice the demons on their knees lined in a row, their hands bound behind them. He didn’t notice the line of kneeling demons end and the line of dead demons begin. They lay on the ground surrounded by pools of blood. Some of the demons had been decapitated.
Nor did he notice the other hundreds of angels that stood as a barrier to keep any demon from trying to attack. He didn’t spot the Demon Hunters either. They stood to his left amongst the crowd of demons, not separate from them.
“He’s beautiful,” Alex murmured.
“Yeah… but he’s an asshole,” Karen whispered.
Alex turned to look at her. Karen stared at the angel too, but he realised her mouth wasn’t hung open like his. Alex closed his mouth, then swallowed uncomfortably. “Who is he?”
“It’s one of the archangels,” Karen replied as she continued to stare ahead. “They’re much stronger and more powerful than the normal angels. If an archangel’s here, this isn’t some rogue angel party attacking the demons. This could be the start of a war.”
The severity of what Karen had just said seemed to break the trance Alex was in. Whilst still looking divine, the angel no longer held his undivided attention. Alex took in his surroundings and his blood began to boil as he realised just what was going on.
The archangel had lined up demons and was executing them one at a time whilst his angels stood by to keep the remaining demons at bay.
There were a dozen Demon Hunters amongst the crowd of demons. They stood watching impassively. Veronica was amongst them. Spotting him, the purple-haired Demon Hunter broke away from the others and came to stand beside him.
“What the hell’s going on here?” Alex asked her.
“An angel was murdered last night. Michael over there,” she nodded at the archangel, “has been here since morning. They’ve been rounding up demons all night and day. Michael’s going to kill a demon every hour until the angel killer gives himself up.”
Alex’s teeth gritted. This was cruel. “Isn’t anyone going to stop him?” he asked as his hands curled into fists.
Veronica raised an eyebrow. “He’s Michael, the archangel…”
Alex reached behind for his sword and pulled it out of the scabbard. Karen grabbed hi
m by the collar of his t-shirt. “Don’t, Alex,” she pleaded. “Attacking an archangel… you can’t defeat him.”
“I defeated Satan,” Alex growled.
Karen nodded diplomatically. “You defeated Satan when he was at his weakest. You’re going up against an archangel at his fullest strength. There is a difference.”
Alex wondered if there was a difference. Hadn’t Lucifer already defeated an archangel before? It was a memory Lucifer had shown him. When God killed the first human and watched the soul rise, moments later, the sky filled with bright lights and angels shot down to earth.
When Lucifer rebelled against God’s violence, Gabriel was commanded to kill him. But it was the archangel that was sliced to near death by the sword in Alex’s hand.
“Can we take him?” Alex asked Lucifer.
There was silence. Lucifer was apparently still in a deep sleep. Alex supposed it didn’t matter in the end. Michael might be an archangel, but he was more than an asshole. He was an evil fucking cunt. With his long sword drawn, Alex stepped forward.
A female angel with long flowy red hair was closest to him.
Seeing him step out with sword drawn, she stood directly in his path, her lightning rod held diagonally across her body. She glanced back at Michael. The archangel wore an amused grin on his beautiful face. He indicated with his hand to let Alex through and the angel stepped aside.
Alex felt all eyes on him as he marched towards the archangel. Despite the comforting presence of his sword, Alex did feel his nerves begin to rise. The closer he moved to the archangel, the more he began to feel Michael’s power. It radiated out from him, like the heat from a blazing fire. Alex continued though until he was only meters away.
“Leave the demons alone,” he said, his voice low but angry.
Michael smiled, showing pearly white teeth. “You’re one of those… what are you called?” he paused to think. His smile widened. “Satani’s whores?”
Alex let out a genuine laugh. “Was that supposed to piss me off?” he asked. “Don’t worry, I’m already as pissed as I can possibly be thanks to you glorified pigeons.”
The mention of the common bird wiped the smile off Michael’s face. His piercing green eyes hardened, as did his face. He’d been leaning against the fountain wall, but now he stood straight.
“You’re going to die, Demon Hunter,” he said.
Alex grinned widely. “Demon Hunter? Wasn’t I Satani’s whore just a second ago?”
Michael was done talking. He charged at Alex, but not with glowing rods of lightning. It was his fists that had turned into balls of white light. The archangel came for Alex’s face. He was prepared and his reflexes did enough. Alex stepped back, tilted his head to the side, then spun around and came up behind the angel. Energy flowed from his body into the longsword. The dull grey blade burned red as it slashed at the angel’s back.
Michael’s wings came up and circled around him. Alex expected his sword to dig into the feathers, flesh and bone the angel was made of, but that didn’t happen. The wings didn’t appear to be made of organic material. Alex’s blade should have dented even metal, but they did nothing to the wings. There wasn’t even a scratch.
Michael uncurled his wings and turned to look at Alex. He wore a grin. His green eyes no longer wore the boredom of earlier, though there was still that evil glint in them. But so was there a touch of intrigue.
“Well look at that,” Michael said. “One of Satani’s whores isn’t completely useless. Any last words?”
Alex knew the threat implied in that. Michael was going to kill him. Naturally, the archangel was going to actually try this time. He was going to be so much faster, strong and probably reveal some serious super powers or something.
“Yeah,” Alex said. “Your teeth are too white, dude. Seriously man. It’s probably better for my eyes to stare at the sun then see those. Can you talk less please, or just cover your mouth when you do?”
“I guess it’s better than begging for your life,” Michael said.
He spread his wings and flapped them. His feet rose off the ground as he continued to rise. Once twenty feet in the air, his wings stopped moving and he remained there, floating perfectly.
Great, Alex thought. Another fucking coward. He glanced around, scanning for any items he could chuck at the big bird. As he did that, he also raised a hand to shield himself from the crystals of light that shone from the tips of the angel’s wings.
“What the fuck??” Lucifer said. “I sleep for two minutes and you pick a fight with a fucking archangel? Move, you dumbass, unless you want to fucking die. He’s going to shoot shit at you from his wings.”
Alex moved his hand away from his eyes. Lucifer was right. Sharp sparkly spikes were shooting towards him and they were only inches away from impacting across his entire body. Alex reacted quickly. He turned sideways to make his body narrower. At the same time, he held his sword down from his shoulder and ducked his head. There was a clatter as the sharp objects slammed into his sword.
There was a brief respite as Michael stared at Alex in surprise. It wore off quickly. The angel flapped his wings once more. This time, paying attention, Alex saw it happen. The sharp silvery spikes came from the archangel’s wings. They slid out of the tips of the white feathers. But they came at him like bullets leaving the barrel of a gun.
Alex turned and ran at the fountain. Pressing his feet against the wall of the basin, he leapt over the black demon head. Doing a flip in the air, he landed on his feet in the water and pressed his body against the fountain wall. The spikes splattered the black demon and chipped away at the stone.
Alex heard the magnificent wings of the angel flutter above as it circled around. The water in the fountain was littered with the spikes, but they were no longer silvery and sparkling. They were a simple dull metal, but the tips were still sharp. Alex grabbed a couple and rising to his feet, he threw them at the angel with all his might.
Michal didn’t bother trying to move out of the way, or even to wrap his wings around him to protect himself. He let the sharp objects strike him. Alex’s aim was good, and both struck the archangel on the face. But they did no harm at all.
“Power move,” Lucifer said. “He didn’t even bother trying to deflect or dodge your attack because he’s that fucking strong.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Alex muttered.
“Pussy ass. Why would you throw his own weapons back at him?”
Pussy ass? Alex wondered. He’d never heard that one before. “You got anything helpful to say?” he asked as he warily stepped out of the water basin of the fountain and onto the cobbled path around it.
“Yes. Don’t throw little bits of metal at an archangel. Throw a fucking mountain at him.”
Alex raised an eyebrow. Throw a mountain? “How the fuck am I supposed to do that?”
“Easy, fucker. Just connect with mother earth, bitch. Make her your bitch.”
Alex was about to ask Lucifer what the hell he was talking about when he realised Michael was no longer hovering in the sky. The archangel was on the ground. He held his hands out, but instead of two metal rods appearing in both, he held two magnificent swords.
The grip was golden and covered with red jewels. The guard was black but with lines of white diamond encrusted within it. The blade itself was of a silvery colour. It wasn’t any material Alex recognised from earth but he knew one thing for sure. It was sharp.
“You know how to use that?” Michael asked, nodding at the sword in Alex’s hand.
“No. It’s actually my grandads. I just carry it around to show off to the girls,” he replied sarcastically.
Angels had eyebrows, and Michael’s furrowed together as his lips tightened. He charged at Alex with his swords. The angel’s wings didn’t act at all as a barrier. He moved with insane speed. Alex’s sword came up just in time to block the strikes. Sparks flew as his dull blade clashed with the silvery steel.
His blade was dull.
“What the hell ma
n? Where are you?” Alex asked. “Why haven't you filled my sword with that heat you bring?”
“Your sword?” came Lucifer’s response.
Their swords still pressed against each other; Michael pushed Alex back. The angel was stronger and Alex felt his feet sliding back against the cobbled ground. It wasn’t long before he was pressed against the wall of the fountain basin. Michael’s swords continued to press down against his longsword and with each second, they came closer to his chest.
“Some help, asshole!” Alex muttered.
“The sword isn’t yours,” Lucifer replied.
“What?”
“I said the sword isn’t yours. It’s my sword.”
“Oh, for fucks sake, you’re an asshole. Fine. I’m sorry I said it was my sword. Can you fucking help now?”
“Sure,” Lucifer said. “You could have done it yourself, but I guess you’re a lazy shit.”
Alex didn’t respond to that comment. Lucifer had always been a bit of a dick. But he was behaving a little strange even for himself. Thankfully, Alex felt the sudden surge of heat in his chest. From there, it spread through his body and transferred over to his sword. The blade began to flame red. It caught Michael by surprise, and that combined with Alex’s new found strength, he managed to push the angel back a few steps. Alex pulled his sword back and struck.
Michael blocked it.
They began to duel.
Alex fought like he was possessed, which was about accurate. Lucifer had literally thousands of years of battle experience, and Alex thought he could feel some of it coming through like old memories. There was also the increased speed and strength. Lucifer had mentioned how he was better connected to Alex’s body than he had been to any other body before, and Alex was really feeling it.
Michael was equal to his strikes and he parried the blows, then came with his own attacks. Alex blocked them, then seeing an opportunity, he went for the kill. He thrust his longsword straight, arm stretched out, aiming for the angel’s chest. It extended his reach, but left him open to the counter attack. The sword missed Michael by an inch as he tilted back. He then swerved right and struck with both his swords, aiming for Alex’s neck and his legs. Alex managed to move back just in time, though he felt a slight stinging sensation just below his knee.
The Devil's Apprentice: Book 2: Descent to Hell Page 4
