by Logan Jacobs
The ripe scent of his human filth almost overpowered the scent of his holy evil.
His glowing golden eyes stared right into mine, too, as he raised a fist like he was about to punch straight through my skull to the cobblestones beneath me.
The static sensation of my hell power had been building in my arm all this time, though.
I raised my fist faster and smashed it through the fucker’s jaw, and he wheezed from the shock, but I already had his throat in my hand, so the sound cut off immediately. Then I added my other hand to the back of his neck, and his face turned blue just before I felt the satisfying crack as his neck shattered from my surge of thunderous energy.
I chuckled as he went lifeless in my grip, but then I shifted, planted my boots under his gut, and propelled his body straight off me and into the asshole with the baton.
Both bodies crashed backward through the alley as the baton went flying, and I jumped up, grabbed the wooden rod, and swung it as hard as I could at another man’s skull. He swiftly moved his head out of position for a split second, but I flipped the baton around and slammed the other end into his face before he could dodge me again. Bright gold blood splattered from the baton as an impressively gory wound split across the center of his forehead.
I still grabbed a hold of the man’s neck since he was technically alive, and I continued to beat the shit out of him with the baton until his bones cracked under the pressure, and his golden eyes stopped glowing.
Then I left him in a heap and tightened my grip on the bloody baton so I could move on to the next.
Ashe had clearly continued to swipe her claws at any piece of available flesh she saw, and she had her own pile of bodies around her. Some of them had boiling, oozing gouges where their eyes and lips should have been, but others had their entrails spilling from their stomachs.
Now, Ashe’s entire body shook with the need to get the last of these kills under her belt, and watching the fiend tear into the jugular of another burly Blessed fucker sent lust coursing through my veins. The way her venomous claws sliced so easily through our enemies’ tissue was beyond satisfying to witness, but she did it all in her blue, corseted dress while gold blood dripped down her skirts.
Ashe was quickly becoming the most incredible demon I’d ever had join me on a killing spree, but knowing she belonged to me now only made it more enjoyable to see her doing what she loved best.
I’d certainly have to reward the little fiend for today’s work just as soon as we killed off the last of these Blessed assholes.
Once Ashe’s clawed victim dropped into a wailing death scene at her feet, we had five of the Blessed left, but it appeared as though they had stayed back for a reason. The five men at the mouth of the alleyway looked far stronger than the dead men at our feet, and the leader was among them. Still, I figured if we both took two each, then it should have been a walk in the park before picking him off.
One of them pulled a holy sword from his belt, and I hit the wooden baton against my palm in a clapping motion as I waited for him to make the first move. I could barely control the adrenaline that coursed through my veins, and the potent scent of the Blessed seeped into my nose until the stench seemed to burn in my mind. I was starving for vengeance against these holy fuckers who had ambushed us, and the smell of their fresh blood splattered on me brought a greedy grin to my face.
Smoke billowed from my mouth as the man with the sword dove at me, but when Ashe jumped over to cut him off, I snatched her arm, shoved her back, and let the fucker come at me.
This one was mine.
His holy sword slashed for my gut first, but I ducked and cracked my baton against his knee. He was as strong as me, but he didn’t seem to be as fast, and when he recovered and whipped around to try and slice my head from my shoulders, I was already gone.
Two seconds later, he whipped back around the other direction to find me grinning like a fucking heathen through the violet smoke between us, and I snatched his skull in one hand.
He convulsed from the shock of my Infernal Tempest pulsing through his brain, but then I lifted him clear off the ground and threw him into the brick wall behind me.
His entire skull shattered in an explosion of brain matter and gold blood, and a satisfied growl rippled from my chest as I turned to the final four.
Another of the Blessed had stepped forward with his own sword aimed at Ashe, but my fiendish lover just urged him on with a playfully wicked smile. As soon as he lunged, she jumped aside and swung her venomous claws at his face, but he dodged the blow before the silver weapons could make contact with his flesh.
I caught a hint of fear wafting from the fucker as he stumbled back to his leader’s side, and Ashe cackled as her own hellish smoke seeped from her mouth.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make it a slow and painful death,” Ashe purred. “I swear on the name of the Holy King…”
I was tempted to stand back and watch as Ashe toyed with her kill, but I was having too much fun, and slaughtering with her was becoming a new favorite pastime of mine. Angel magic or not, I now knew these guys were fucked once the two of us got a hold of them, and I was eager to send the Church a valuable message.
They could create an army of these Blessed bastards, but Ashe and I would still leave them dead in a pool of their cursed blood.
“Would you care to do the honors?” I asked Ashe with a polite bow of my head.
“Oh, no, I think our holy guests deserve the very best treatment, don’t you?” Ashe responded in the same sarcastic and demonic tone. “I insist you do the honors.”
“Come now, we may be heathens, but I’m sure we can manage to share,” I tossed back.
“You’re right, let’s not be absolute cretins about this,” Ashe snickered lightly. “You can paralyze them, and I’ll slice their holy testicles open with my pretty nails.”
“Lovely,” I snarled through my grin.
Then the two of us turned our glowing eyes on our four enemies, and our combined hunger brought a pair of demonic growls from our smoky throats.
The Blessed leader surveyed the scene before him for a moment, and I could tell he was thinking twice now. His golden eyes roved over the bloody, crushed, and boiled remains of his comrades, and I knew he wasn’t up for meeting his death just yet.
I waited him out while a hint of fear kept wafting from a couple of his sidekicks, and I tried to decide what exactly I’d do with the baton in my hand. Maybe I would pierce the wood through one of their eyes until it protruded from the back of their skull. I could turn one of their heads into the tasty lumps of meat we’d enjoyed eating and use the baton as the handle, or I could just play fair, hold them in place with my paralyzing hell power, and let Ashe shred their throats with her claws for an hour or so.
My mouth began to salivate at the thought of watching my demon lover have her fun, but the little fiend was getting impatient waiting for the Blessed leader to recover his holy balls for this fight.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Ashe sighed when they refused to step forward. “Fine, we’ll come to you, but don’t say we weren’t trying to be polite.”
We moved as one to lunge forward, and I took a hold of one man’s jacket before he could dodge. My fingertips squeezed around the leather, and the man tried to pull away, but I was stronger and quicker than these assholes. I had the baton firmly in my spare hand and tasted revenge on my tongue as I planned on slicing the baton through the man’s head.
But before I could put my skull-piercing plan into action, a wall of golden smoke billowed up in front of us.
It expanded out around our holy opponents, and it was so thick and blindingly bright that I couldn’t even see the Blessed through it.
Then the smoke shot forward and engulfed us, and I hacked, spluttered, and wheezed through deep, painful coughs as the holy shield scalded my already heated throat.
It felt like needles stabbing the tender tissue of my innards, and I fumbled to find Ashe in the haze and drag her back with me
. I cupped my free hand over my mouth and nose to stop the toxic, holy fumes from destroying my lungs, but before I could decide what the hell to do, the smoke suddenly started to clear.
I could see the stone buildings on either side of us again, but when the end of the alley came into view, the Blessed had vanished.
“Fuuuck!” I roared and hurled the baton against the wall.
The wood splintered into a million pieces, and I cursed a dozen more times as stones crumbled onto the alley’s ground.
“What the fuck was that angel smoke?” Ashe seethed as she stormed forward and looked all up and down the next street.
“I don’t know,” I growled. “I’ve never seen the Blessed pull that shit before, but as far as I know, their kind aren’t supposed to flee like fucking cowards, either.”
“Those bastards took the easy way out!” Ashe chuckled.
“I knew they were a pack of bitches the second I saw them,” I laughed alongside her.
I tore the cudgel free from the dead man’s chest and then let the dead Blessed crunch under my boots on my way to Ashe. If anyone else had approached us at that moment, I wouldn’t have hesitated to tear them limb from limb, no matter who they were.
“Fucking shit,” I laughed once more and rifled my long, sweaty hair out of my face.
“What do we do?” Ashe sighed. “I want to kill more of them. Should we try to hunt them down?”
“We should reposition,” I replied. “It’s best if they can’t recall our location. We’ll gather our things and find a new place to sleep for the night.”
“But what about the Blessed?” She frowned as she motioned toward all the dead bodies that lined the tight space.
“I’m sure someone can clear the mess up for us.” I smirked. “Anyway, the fuckers shouldn’t have ambushed us in the first place if they didn’t want to be left in the street to rot.”
The demon woman let out another evil chuckle as we turned away from the alley, and in a matter of minutes, we’d sprinted down the grassy hill, beyond the beacons of flames, and into the Grimmway. We returned to our room to grab our belongings while we had the chance, and once everything had been collected, Ashe and I left the dwarf’s inn and began to run through the dark streets of the Grimmway and in the direction of the outer Shadow Quarters.
We peered down every alley and side street as we passed them to make sure no glowing golden eyes were lurking around, but then we continued to run when we saw our path was clear. Nowhere seemed safe right now, but we couldn’t stay directly where the Blessed had found us tonight.
The outer marketplace near the rusty entrance of the Shadow Quarters was deserted, and the only thing that gave the place life were a few lanterns burning in the windows of the buildings. I wasn’t quite sure where to go, but I knew Ashe was depending on me to find us a place for the night, and I couldn’t let her down. She deserved somewhere soft and warm to sleep, especially after fighting so hard beside me tonight, and I wasn’t going to stop looking before we had that place in our possession.
I was about to suggest we buy a room in the inn the half-orc owned, but then I noticed someone emerging from a darkened shop up the street. This man was tall, with blond hair that flowed neatly down the black jacket he wore. His pants were also black, and his dark shoes shone in the moonlight. His skin was pale, and when he shifted some of his hair back from his face, I noticed the point at the tip of his ear.
It wasn’t until he turned away from the door he was locking that I recognized the half-elf’s face. It was the same one who had sold me the weapons on my first day here.
“Hello,” I said to him.
The half-elf stopped in his tracks and peered over at Ashe and I warily. He didn’t sprint away, but he didn’t seem eager to stick around, either, and he kept his gaze directed at the shadowy ground when he finally responded.
“Hello,” the half-elf copied in a smooth voice.
“You helped me on my first day here,” I explained to him. “You told me about the inn I could stay at.”
“Yes, I remember.” He nodded. “What is it?”
“Do you know of anywhere else to stay around here?” I asked. “Somewhere off the main paths? We’ve had to escape our home suddenly, and we don’t know where to go at this hour.”
Ashe kept quiet beside me, but I glanced over to see her sending the half-elf an innocent look that made her eyes seem much less intimidating.
“Did you get caught in the raid earlier?” the half-elf asked. “I know it has affected quite a few.”
“Yes,” I replied, and I decided this was only a partial lie. We’d just been raided by the Blessed instead of the fucking king’s guard, but we were screwed as much as the others. “I paid for a few of our allies to get a room at the inn, but we need somewhere more secluded for ourselves, as I said.”
I hoped my elaboration would help the half-elf decide upon an answer. I saw in his face that he was thinking something over, and he pondered silently for a short while before he came up with a decision.
“There is… there is a spare flat attached to my home,” he said quietly. “It has been abandoned for many years, but if I can trust you with it, then you can stay there for now. Just until you find another place to go. Things will calm down after the banquet.”
“Thank you,” I replied with deep relief. “You won’t regret this decision, and we’ll pay you for the loan of your home.”
The half-elf closed his eyes and nodded his head slowly. Then he waved his hand to have us follow him, and Ashe and I walked behind the elf as he took us through the small streets of the Shadow Quarters.
It was several minutes before he stopped outside a tall stone building with a small patch of grass on one side. This half-elf must have been decently wealthy in order to own a private patch of grass with his home, and right beside the house, made from the same old bricks, was a smaller home with a set of stairs that led up one side. I assumed this was the flat he spoke about, and I was pleased to see none of the windows in it were broken.
“Wait here, I will get the key for the flat,” the half-elf said calmly before he walked away.
A various number of conversations were faintly heard as he entered his house, and I guessed he had a large family that all lived there with him. Candlelight lit up the glass windows of the tall home, and it was the first time since I had arrived on the surface world that a place had seemed warm and inviting in this city. I could only try to imagine the more carefree life they must lead in this house, and I doubted they had any trouble with possessed holy fuckers like we did.
“We’ll leave this place as soon as we’re able,” I muttered to Ashe. “I’d rather not put a target on their backs.”
“I agree,” she replied with a nod.
The half-elf appeared shortly after, and he had an old brass key in his hand. I rummaged around my pants pockets and brought out two handfuls of pieces, and I gave him the wares in exchange for the key.
“Thank you again,” Ashe said quietly.
“Thank you,” the half-elf replied as he accepted the gold coins. “I’ll bring a few buckets of water to the door for you in a moment. The bed in there should be made up, and I can find you some firewood tomorrow.”
“I appreciate it,” I replied.
He couldn’t meet our gazes, and his tense posture made it clear he didn’t like the idea of us staying in the flat beside him, but he hadn’t changed his mind yet. I wasn’t sure whether it was the money, or how I had said I’d helped the others find somewhere to stay after the raid, but I was relieved his good nature held out despite our obviously questionable appearances and the stench of evil about us.
I led Ashe up the stairs on the side of the next building and unlocked the door using the brass key provided. The first thing I noticed was the small table and chairs placed beside one of the windows, and there was a fireplace in the center of the back wall with a mottled mirror above it. The flat felt cold and airy, but it didn’t make much difference to a pair o
f demons.
Opposite the fireplace was a large bed like the one we had slept in at the inn, and then another door led into a much smaller room. The only thing in that room was a slab of wood that had a hole carved out in the middle of it. A bucket had been placed underneath the slab of wood for waste.
Outside of that small room I noticed a bathing tub like we had had in the dwarf’s inn. I couldn’t wait to once again feel the cold water over my bare skin, and for Ashe to accompany me just like she had done last time.
Tonight, I was exhausted, though, and after we had inspected the flat, I piled my weapons and remaining pieces on the table near the window.
The half-elf knocked lightly at the door to deliver two buckets of fresh water, soap, and three towels we could use for washing up, and he assured me he’d work out enough water for us to bathe properly tomorrow. I thanked him again before he left, and then I returned inside and readied myself for bed.
I still had residual adrenaline powering through my bones, and the fury from the fight with the Blessed was still too clear. There was much to address, and I had no idea how little time I’d have to handle it all, but I couldn’t deny, this day hadn’t really gone all to hell.
We’d learned a lot with regards to our own endeavors here, and even though the holy hunters had gotten the jump on us, we’d more than held our own. We’d also seen they could be rattled into fleeing with the proper amount of force applied, and the thought sent a trickle of satisfaction through me.
Then I remembered how fantastic Ashe had looked slicing through our victims with just her claws alone, and when I glanced over my shoulder, the view I found caused that sensation to grow.
I watched hungrily as Ashe slowly slipped out of her blue dress and untied the laces of her boots. She must have known I was admiring every inch of her, because she took her time revealing herself. Eventually, her pale, naked skin was fully illuminated in the dappled moonlight from the window, and I suddenly had the urge to brush my fingers across her collarbone and down the soft skin of her arm.
