Death Among Us

by Jack Crosby

  “I don’t think any can blame me for asking.”

  He patted me on the back. “She did save your life from Darius. I would have expected a demon to leave you to suffer, running to save their own skin. But that one risked her own skin for you. I think she could have been given the benefit of the doubt.”

  “Since when did you become the scion for demons?”

  “We do not choose what we are, we choose what we become.

  I fell back on the couch. He was right of course, but it still pissed me off. Plus, I was really pissed at myself, chasing off my closest ally.

  When Conquest realized I was brooding, “I will be back in the morning with Dante. Take tonight to get yourself prepared, as if you go in like this, you will not survive.”

  He left me alone to my thoughts. My first one was to go out back and apologize to Roxanne, but when I walked at the back, she was gone. I couldn’t blame her; I’d judged her on what she is and not who she’s been.

  I heard a pop, like a bubble bursting coming from inside the house. I grabbed Leviathan and walked back in. There was no smells, either good or bad. I walked the entire house and didn’t see anything. Maybe I was losing my mind.

  “No Derrick, you aren’t losing your mind.”

  A chill ran down my back, “Maggie?”

  “Yep, it’s just little old me, no one else.”

  The voice was close, so carefully, I turned around. No longer wearing the oversized hooded robe, Maggie was standing in the living room in leather pants, high heels, and a very tight, low cut shirt.

  “I wish I could say I’m happy to see you, but considering all that’s changed; I think it’s best if we keep our distance.”

  She flashed me a smile, “Aww don’t be such a pussy Derrick! I’d never thought big, bad Death would be scared of me.”

  “I’m very sorry for what’s happened. This is my fault.”

  A wave of anger came off her. The power was tangible, filled with so much hate. “Yes it is. Darius told me that you would try to kill me to right the wrong, but I told that fuck face he was wrong. You’d never kill me.”

  She was unarmed, and no one else was here. This would be the perfect opportunity. “You’re right. I won’t kill you, I can’t.”

  She walked up closer to me. “I can’t stay too mad at you; a brand new world has been opened to me. As the anchor to Beelzebub, I see everything he sees and know everything he knows.”

  I was getting nervous. “Why are you here?”

  That’s an easy one. We are connected Derrick, even deeper than Darius and I. At the pit, his emotions were dominating mine, but once his rage washed away, I could see my own true feelings.”

  Her hand expertly went for my pants, snapping the button right off my jeans. With strength I never knew she had, she ripped the jeans right off. “Maggie, I don’t think this is a good idea.”

  “When will you see I am the one who should be with you, not the whore demon! I saw her abandon you tonight, leaving you at your weakest, most vulnerable.”

  “It was my fault she left.”

  She slapped me. “Don’t be such a fucking wimp! You are Death, you take what you want. Now take me!”

  It felt so wrong, yet I almost seemed powerless. My hands moved on their own accord, taking her pants off and sliding her underwear with them. We fell to the floor, entangled in each other with her guiding me towards the place I’d been before yet was now so foreign.

  Greedily I stared, the moment on anticipation building as I was about to enter her. The only thing that stopped me was a sharp whack to the back of my head.

  I fell forward, underwear around my ankles, and landed on top of Maggie. She threw me off and jumped up to look at the attacker. “You whore!”

  With my senses clear, I smelled the familiar scent of brimstone and saw one angry demon lady. “How dare you try to enchant my master you bitch!”

  Roxanne and Maggie were in a good old fashioned stare down. I was completely confused as to what was going on, but something in the back of my mind told me the Lust demon just saved my life.

  “We were friends once Maggie, but you have been corrupted by Darius. Coming here was a mistake!”

  She already had her pants up and there was a whip in her hand. Where the hell did that come from? “The only mistake was interfering with me demon! I was going to grant Derrick leniency but you ruined it!”

  “You may be stronger than you were, but you’re still human. To take up arms against me will be your death!”

  By now I had my boxers in place and was back to my feet. “Maggie, what’s the meaning of this?”

  “Darius has ordered your destruction. I was here to save you from that.”

  She must’ve been using Lust demon magic. The last time my head felt like that was my first encounter with Roxanne. “The Pride demon will never be able to destroy me. In the interest of our former friendship and your current dilemma being my fault, I suggest you leave.”

  She gave us both a glance that screamed ‘Fuck You!’ and vanished in a red cloud.

  “He will come next. You should’ve let me kill her.”

  I turned to Roxanne. “Thanks for saving me.”

  “It needed to be done. If you died, my life with be much less joyful.”

  “So you’re not mad at me?” I looked at her with I hoped was a very apologetic face.

  She sighed, “No, I forgive you. All men are assholes, even ones who are immortal.”

  I took her hand. “I shouldn’t have said what I did. You’ve been a great ally to me and more importantly a good friend.”

  She winked at me. “We’ve got a big day tomorrow. Let’s at least enjoy the night since you are already at attention.”

  For the second time tonight a woman was ripping clothing off my body. This time, I enjoyed it a whole lot more.

  Chapter 24 – Tartarus, the Final Frontier

  We were out front when Conquest pulled up to the house. I felt a thousand times better, especially since I wouldn’t be going on this trip alone. Roxanne was to my left and Khloros, in pale horse form, was to my right.

  “It feels so good to be in my true state again.”

  I rubbed his neck. “I hope this trip doesn’t take long to accomplish our goals, but I knew we will be safe on top of you.”

  “Do we have any specific goals while we are in that infernal realm?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “We will find out soon enough. Conquest approaches.”

  The white rider was dressed in his Horseman garb. No longer wearing jeans and a t-shirt, he was in his white armor and cloak. His bow and a quiver full of arrows were strapped to his back.

  I too had given up my Earthly clothing. My pale armor was adorned with my grey cloak over top. Leviathan was hanging by my belt, in its dormant state. Roxanne was in leather armor that was a bit more revealing than practical, but she also let her more demonly side show. Wings, a tail, and fangs were now visible making her look like a vixen of death. Hey I like the sounds of that!

  “Death, Khloros, daughter of Lilith, are you ready for your journey?” The three of us nodded in agreement. “Very well, Dante will be here momentarily.”

  As if on cue, a bright white light engulfed the front yard and when it disappeared, a very stern looking angel was standing there. This was Dante and his reputation was not one of being all that helpful.

  He walked right up to us. “I will be short with my explanation. Tartarus will help you rediscover your immense power and to complete the task in order, you will need it.”

  “What task is that?”

  Dante pulled a piece of paper out of his suit jacket. “The almighty is disturbed with Abaddon’s recent activity. Tartarus is supposed to be a prison, but with no one to keep him in check, he is running wild. We need you to take out a lair of the dire wolves. This will be a great help when we invade Tartarus after this situation with Beelzebub is resolved.”

  Invade Tartarus, were the angels crazy? “What good can come from
invading Tartarus?”

  “Abaddon’s strength grows. One day the barrier will not hold him and we need to make sure he is never a problem again. Your only concern is making sure that lair is destroyed. With no Alpha wolves to reproduce, that will be one less hurdle for us.”

  Khloros addressed the daunting angel. “How will you know if and when we are successful?”

  “An event like that will ripple through the Heavens. Conquest and I will do our best to make sure we have the fire to bring you back should you finish early. I cannot guarantee we will, so your survival is dependent upon your skills.”

  “One last question, what if we run into Abaddon himself?” His face told the story. “Very well, we will do our best to avoid him.”

  “Wise decision Horseman. If there is nothing else, then the sooner this fool’s errand begins, the sooner it comes to a close.”

  With those comforting parting words, we were ready. Conquest and Dante put their hands together and for a few moments, it was eerily silent. Without warning, a gust of wind swept across the front yard followed by the rift to Tartarus.

  “May the Almighty be with your Horseman and your team. God speed to you!”

  I could barely hear Dante over the wind, but with one last glance, the three of us went through. The wind from the rift kept pushing us back, so it was an almost impossible walk through. Finally it relented and the three of us were in Tartarus. The red sky was harsh on the eyes.

  “It looks like we are here.”

  Leafless trees and scrub littered the dark, cracked ground. “It appears so.” Khloros didn’t seem to have much enthusiasm.

  “Which way do we go Master?”

  Roxanne asked a very good question. I had no idea which way we were heading, that is until a loud howl broke across the terrain. The loud sound had come from the west. “Well, call me Captain Obvious, but I think we should go that way.”

  Khloros bent down, “The two of you get on me. We will travel much faster like this.”

  I couldn’t argue with him and so I helped Roxanne up and then took my position. “From here on out, we’ll need to stay as quiet as possible. The last thing we need to do is get Abaddon on our tracks.”

  And with that, Khloros took off, heading west. Nothing of great interest happened for the first stretch of our trip. The terrain never really changed, almost like going across a great desert. There was nothing in the sky to use as a position marker, so I hoped we were headed the right way.

  As we continued, eventually we found the outer edge of a large forest. I pulled Khloros in and he slowed down, eventually coming to a stop.

  Whispering, “Nothing good is going to be in those woods. I think we should dismount and take our time.”

  “Master, are you feeling your powers return yet?”

  I closed my eyes to see if I could sense my celestial fire. “Not yet Roxanne I’m sorry to report.”

  “In a place like this, nothing is free. Your powers will only be rediscovered through trials.”

  “You’re one smart horse, you know that?”

  He snorted at me. “Time is wasting, we should continue forward.”

  The ominous forest was like a great barrier. There was only one way and that was through it. The three of us gathered ourselves and started walking.

  “Does anyone get the feeling we are being watched?”

  I stopped. “What do you mean Roxanne?”

  “It’s like this wretched place is alive. I can’t see anything, but I get the feeling things can see us.”

  My vigilance was already at a ten, so I cranked it up to a twenty. From what I remembered on my only visit here, this place could mess with your senses if you allowed it to.

  I slowed our pace down, making sure not to walk into an obvious trap. The problem was, we weren’t walking into a trap; we were in one giant one.

  The movement was subtle, but I still caught it. I tackled Roxanne to the ground just as one of the trees came slamming down where she’d been standing. Khloros was on the move too, avoiding another attack.

  “The trees?!” Roxanne was shrieking in my ear. “This is fucking insane!”

  There was no time to respond, with her still under me, I rolled us out of the way of another tree coming down. I looked up and saw Khloros running full speed towards us. I picked up Roxanne and tried to jump towards him, but I was intercepted by a tree that treated me like a slow pitched softball.

  I landed hard on the forest floor, and Roxanne rolled away from me. The closest tree decided she was a better target and its needle like branches shot straight for her prone body.

  Chapter 25 – Out of the Frying Pan…

  “NO!!” I yelled it as loud as I could. In hindsight, not the smartest move when you’re trying to stay under wraps, but I wasn’t thinking straight.

  Without thinking, I conjured my celestial fire chain and wrapped it around the tree. With all the power I could muster, I started pulling backwards. “Roxanne, get the hell outta there!”

  My yelling brought her back to reality and seeing my struggle, got out of the way. With her safe, the chain vanished and the tree was free.

  “Get on, now Death!”

  I turned around and saw Khloros was coming up beside me. Roxanne flapped with her wings and landed on the horse. She reached out with her hand and yanked me up. Trees were still flailing at us as Khloros was running at full speed. It only came to an end when we found an opening in the woods. As soon as we entered, the trees became still.

  “Holy shit!” I dropped off my horse buddy and hit the ground. “I don’t remember nature being that evil.”

  “If we had any doubt about us going the right way, that has been put to rest. It is almost like the forest knows what our task is.” Khloros was out of breath and I couldn’t blame my buddy for that.

  Another terrible howl ripped throughout the air. It sounded a hell of a lot closer than the first time. “I guess the only good thing is we’re heading the right direction.”

  “Master, you saved my life again!” Roxanne jumped on top of me. “Your powers are returning!”

  As much as I would’ve been up for dirty Tartarus sex, we had other things to do. “Yeah, but only for a moment.”

  “If not for that moment, I would be dead.” She wrapped her arms around me again. Man her breasts felt nice…

  Wait, no time, right. “Let’s take a rest here for awhile. I think we all need it.”

  Roxanne figured out I wasn’t going to give in, not here at least and rolled off me. “We must return to the forest, correct?”

  There was no denying that. “Yeah, unfortunately it seems that is our destiny.” I chuckled at the ‘our destiny’ line. “This time we will be much better prepared.”

  I looked over at Khloros who had his eyes closed. We were going to need him for the second part of the ass kicking journey. When I looked back at Roxanne, her eyes were also closed. I found this strange because as a demon, she really didn’t need sleep. She liked it a lot, but I figured she would’ve been on high alert after the forest incident.

  “Shit.” My eyes started feeling heavy; we’d fallen into another trap. Damnit all to hell, those were my last thoughts as I dozed off.

  ****

  “The Reaper is waking.”

  It was a very gravelly voice that was also way too close to my ear. Opening my eyes, “Oh damnit, not you people.”

  Four little gremlins were looking at me. Khloros, Roxanne, and I were all tied up. The little bastards had done their best to make sure we weren’t going anywhere.

  The little gremlin with the longest beard poked me with his spear. Get your mind out of the gutter, a real live spear. “Reaper, we told you that one day you’d get yours. Today is that day.”

  “What the hell do you little freak shows want?”

  “Payment!” The little one with the spear roared the answer. “We enchanted your scythe for you and you left us to die!”

  “Ohhh, that…”

  So in my only ot
her trip to Tartarus, I came across the gremlins currently holding us captive. I discovered they had magic that could enchant items and make them smaller. In return for enchanting Leviathan, I was supposed to kill the demon that terrorized them. As you can see, I didn’t hold up my end of the bargain.

  “You left us to die! The creature has nearly wiped us out because of you!”

  Roxanne and Khloros were coming to as well. “Listen, I’m sorry that I bailed, but I had other things to do. I forgot.”

  Khloros realized exactly what was going on. “I told you this would come back to haunt us.”

  “You certainly didn’t say anything before we came to this damn realm!”

  He blew up a ton of dust. “It is not my job to remember all those you have pissed off.”

  “Excuse me,” everyone looked at Roxanne, “but can someone fill me in please?”

  “Most certainly demon.” The lead gremlin poked me again. “This vile creature did not hold us his end of the bargain with us. The monster that hunts us still lives no thanks to the Reaper.”

  She seemed genuinely curious. “What creature is that?”

  “One so foul that Abaddon does not even try to tame it. It is close, as it hunts and eats us.”

  Oh great, like this trip couldn’t get any worse. “How close is it?”

  “The Behemoth comes Reaper. It is time for you to honor your bargain or die.”

  Just as the gremlin finished, the ground shook; the Behemoth was here. “Quick, untie us!”

  The leader nodded to the other three gremlins and they undid our restraints. The three of them then took off into the forest. I noticed the trees didn’t attack the little shits.

  Leviathan sprang to life in my hands. I pointed the scythe of the gremlin still here. “Know this creature; if I survive this, you best pray to the Almighty that you never see me again.”

  “I know of your deeds Reaper. This will be our last encounter, one way or another.” And with that, he joined his little friends in the woods. Even though it was pointless, I still flipped them off.

  Another earth shaking step. “What’s the plan Death?”