by M. K. Gibson
“I thought your kind had all but withdrawn to the waste and frontiers.”
“We had,” Vali said, staring at the demon. His men were ready to engage again. Dantalion’s had weapons raised and only waited for a command.
“What happened? What brought you back?”
“Your kind attacked us. We came to even the score,” Vali said. I could tell he was about to engage. The warriors already began picking their targets and clearing their line of fire.
“And did you?” Dantalion asked. The demon stopped walking a few inches short of a Midehiem soldier’s weapon barrel and began to examine it as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. He placed one foot in front of the other with his wings wrapped around him. Then he looked at Vali. “Hmm?”
“Some. We struck back at this one.”
Ricky stood from his pile of bodies. “Hey. Danny Boy. You going to get to your point anytime soon?” Ricky continued to puff on his cigar and walked over to check on T and his prisoner.
“Ahh. Rictus, is it now?” the demon asked, never looking up from his examination. Ricky nodded when Dantalion cocked his head to one side to look at him. “My point, Rictus, is why did these Anjelichon attack poor Abraxas when he was not the one who attacked their little outer town?”
“You know who did, don’t you?” I asked.
“Of course. I sent the assault force.”
Oh shit. This was about to get real bad.
“YOU! You sent the assault force on our home?!” Vali yelled, raising his collapsed bow.
“Of course. And do not threaten me with your weapon, Ajelchion. My men will slaughter you and your soldiers in seconds.”
“Why?” asked Grimm. “Why did you send the assault force to Midheim?”
Dantalion turned sharply toward Grimm and walked like a predator toward him. Grimm stood his ground and didn’t move. I think it kind of pissed Dantalion off. The archduke didn’t stop until his nose touched Grimm’s cheek. The mad demon moved like a snake, breathing in Grimm’s scent. The air around them shimmered. Something of Grimm’s power mingled with Dantalion’s.
Damn, he was still full of power.
“Because, mage, I was under orders,” the demon said, his breath hot on Grimm’s ear. “I also ordered the attack on your home outside of the city. All those homeless urchins who lived on your land, burned alive. The fire lasted for days, I was told. I am no expert, but my advisors assure me the mixture of weaponized anthracite and thermite is quite thorough.”
I could see the restraint Grimm was showing. The nimbus energy around them was now crackling. It was similar to the battle of wills Grimm had had with Abraxas, but now ol’ Grimm was pissed. Dantalion had hit his rawest nerve. The building energy had darkened the room.
“Ooh. Is interesting now,” T noted.
Dantalion took a step back with a surprised look on his face. Grimm stood stock still, turning only his head to look the archduke dead in the eyes.
“Oooh. There it is.” Dantalion’s voice was almost sing-song melodic. There was a moment of tension. Only Grimm’s will prevented him from lashing out. Dantalion suddenly walked away, bored, like a child who had found a new toy when it was obvious nothing was going to happen. The demon lord casually walked across the room and shot a wink to Ricky. He lazily stepped his way to me.
“That, dear boy, is the denying of potential.”
“I see,” I said. “So you’re basically a professional douchebag.”
Dantalion moved away, ignoring me. “Abraxas, Abraxas.” He addressed the struggling archduke. “Did you think the princes would not find out about your technology? Did you think they would allow you to keep it for yourself? Frankly, I am amazed that you managed to keep as quiet as you did for as long as you did. The blood orgies were not very subtle, by the way.”
“The princes,” Abraxas spat while he maintained his struggle with T. “They would take it and use it for themselves, and leave nothing but scraps for us.”
“It is our way. You follow the hierarchy orders unless you are prepared to take your better’s place through direct or indirect means. When the princes were informed of the smuggler and the mage, I was ordered to ferret them out. And I did. You eventually became aware of them. Painfully slowly, I might add. It was not until their own friends betrayed them. You have been disrespectful and traitorous. Worse, you have been sloppy. That we cannot abide. You are over now. Thank you for the technology, though. We will enjoy having our full power back.”
“Yeah, that isn’t gonna happen,” I said, lighting up a synth smoke.
“Excuse me?” Dantalion rasped, turning fully to address me. I had finally gotten the prick’s attention.
“The soul-sucking tech. You’re not gonna get it.”
“And why is that, little smuggler?”
“You know, I am getting real sick of that,” I said, breathing out smoke. “Man, I hate these,” I added, addressing the synth smoke. I stared at the cig for a moment or two longer than I needed to. Just to complete the nonchalant badass look. “I am not some common smuggler. I am a lightrunner. Han Solo was a smuggler and I could kick his ass. Plus, this lightrunner has your soul tech-wired and ready to blow with a touch of a button. If I am right, the blast will take out the top thirty floors of this building. And gravity, being the bitch that it is, will take this citadel down with it. Top that, Han. So, back to the original fucking point. You are here to deal with me. Correct?”
Dantalion made a move toward me, probably to do the stupid slither-come-hither he had done to Grimm. I drew my pistol and aimed at his head. In a blink he stopped, and then almost every weapon his men had was drawn to me.
“Salem,” I heard all my friends say at once.
Heh. Friends.
People who actually cared about me. That was going to take a while to get used to.
I kept my weapon trained on Dantalion. “Everyone, shut up! You! Dantalion! You came here because I sent for you. You came because you were, what was the word, intrigued? I am here right now to make a deal with you. So no more distractions, no more lessons in demon prowess, and for fuck sake, no more sashaying around the place. Are you still intrigued?”
“Even more so now. What is your proposal?”
“All the people of Midheim will be relocated to New Golgotha. The land I occupy is mine by pre-armistice rights. I will be granted the title of Land Baron, and all tithes and dues will be paid to the appropriate archduke. Provided it isn’t this piece of shit.” I nodded my head to Abraxas.
“What is to stop me from just killing you and all your friends right here and now?”
“You read minds. You tell me.”
“There is too much . . . noise in your mind. I can no longer read it clearly,” Dantalion said. He voice was aroused. He was enjoying this in an odd way. I looked to Grimm, who nodded. The demon was telling the truth. The Collective must have found a way to jam him, but it was giving me a throbbing headache.
“What’s stopping you is the Archduke Lady Bathin.”
“Bathin? She rules the South. Ars Amadel. Lowest of the order. How could she stop me?”
“Maz. Would you be so kind?” I asked my friend. The tall demon nodded and stepped forward.
“Archduke, forgive me, but I wasn’t completely truthful. Before I came to you with my information concerning Lightrunner Salem’s request, I first approached the Lady Archduke Bathin in the South. How else could I have gained an audience with you on such short notice? I provided her with copies of the digital recordings from Midheim. The recordings clearly show your forces being destroyed by the human outer town. Lady Bathin has agreed to keep the recordings to herself, provided she is awarded the Ars Goetia middle kingdom for her silence. As well, I will be named her new archbishop.”
“Thank you, Maz. You see, Danny Boy, I have you by the short and curlies.”
“I do not possess pubic hair,” Dantalion responded, and all his men advanced two exact steps without any verbal command, weapons still draw
n on me. “Do you believe a little blackmail is going to save you?”
Dantalion’s eyes flashed quiet danger. Humans were not meant to question their lords and masters. Humans were meant to be supplicant. A passage came to me, a quote from Charles Baudelaire: “The finest trick of the devil is to persuade you that he does not exist.” Demons eat, breathe, and shit tricks and deception.
As I stared at the archduke down the barrel of my pistol, my plan began to crystallize. I took in everything through my peripheral vision. The dead. The living. Human and demon blood. This is what it had always been about. The demons were out of power. Or nearly. A few smart ones horded theirs. But the reality was they had been running on empty ever since the second Demon War.
“Not really,” I answered the archduke. “What is going to save me is your fear. You and all your kind.” I shot Maz a glance. He gave me a “What the fuck are you doing?” look. Sorry, Maz. I was going off script. If he had known what I intended all along, he might not have gone along with it.
“My fear?” Dantalion asked, with a sense of a chuckle in his androgynous voice.
“Yeah, fear. You see, I am not a regular guy. I fought your kind in both wars. I saw what you could do then. What I don’t see now is your kind performing too many grand feats of power. Truth is, your kind is empty. Truth is, your kind couldn’t survive a third war. Truth is, if a copy of that video was to leak onto the Ultra Net, it could inspire mankind once again,” I said. I found myself snarling and getting angry. I felt so goddamn righteous I crossed the space between us, drew my second pistol, and had both pistols on Dantalion’s forehead before he could move and before his troops could react. When I saw the demon’s eyes dilate a fraction, I knew he took me seriously.
Fuck it. In for a penny, in for a pound. I continued my rant.
“This dull gray prison you and your kind have built keeps the people living in it placid and controllable. Humans do all the technical work you can’t, and the crap jobs you won’t. But if people knew they could stand up to you, if they knew there were others out there who were not going to settle simply for existence . . . well, then you would soon have a planet full of pissed-off humans whose souls would come back to them, recharged and ready for some creative demon murder.
“A third war is inevitable. And when it happens, you may not lose, but you aren’t going to win either. There won’t be enough humans left to do the jobs that keep you fat, happy, and warm. You will die out, gone forever.” I gave Dantalion a hard shove against his forehead with both barrels, pushing him back. “And in case you have forgotten, this place is wired to blow. And I have ZERO! FUCKING! RESERVATIONS about taking us all out if it means taking two archdukes out just to show mankind it’s time to cowboy the fuck up!”
I stared hard at Dantalion, reading his eyes. At that moment, even I didn’t know if I was bluffing or not. It was obvious, neither did he.
I forced myself to calm down. “So, you gonna give me my land, or is it war? Regardless of your answer, I am pushing this button and destroying this place and the unholy technology below. The question is, are you and your cronies going to be safely airborne when it happens?”
The archduke considered me for a moment. “You know, that technology will not be lost to us forever,” he said threateningly.
“Yeah. I know. I saw the ARCTech logo on the machinery. But let’s see how long you can keep it for, fucker.”
Tension filled the room. Val, Vidar, and the warriors of Midheim had their weapons ready to go. Ricky was rolling his shoulders, loosening back up, and getting his punch daggers ready. Grimm’s fingers twitched in seemingly random patterns. Even Maz began to slowly move away toward cover.
Dantalion smiled. “You do realize that a communication jammer has been installed outside. You destroyed some, but not all of them. All wireless signals are blocked. There is no way for you to trigger the explosion from here.”
The smug demon thought he had me. And it was a long shot, but I knew this place was crawling with CCTV cameras. I also knew there was one crazy bitch below who could not resist snooping around.
“Cat. You hearing this bullshit?” I said aloud. I heard the click of the intercom system.
“Heard it and watching it in ultra-def. You looked kinda sexy delivering that little speech. Kinda made wanna go another round with you, then I remembered you’re terrible in bed,” Caitlin Spinoli said over the hidden loudspeakers. “But if that prick thinks he’s walking out of here, then think again, jack-hole. I will blow this place before you take your third step toward the door, with a clear conscience, my middle finger out and a little dew in my panties.” Cat couldn’t resist adding, “Motherfucker!”
Ahh, Cat. Homicidal poet and threat artist.
“Hey Cat, I thought I told you to get you and the survivors out of here?”
“Sorry, I couldn’t make that out. It sounded like you were gobbling a cock.”
I’m serious; she is a poet.
“I knew you couldn’t leave me, babe.”
“Yeah yeah. Most of them are safe, a few stayed behind to watch my behind.”
“You’re wearing a thong, can’t say as I blame them.” I faced Dantalion, holstered my pistols and extended my hand. “So anyway, Danny, are we in agreement?”
Dantalion took a breath. After several long seconds he spoke. “Agreed.” He shook my hand.
“NOOO!” Abraxas roared. He utilized some of his remaining power in an explosive burst, freeing himself from T’s grasp. “My throne will not be usurped! Not by you and not while I am held impotent!”
“Heh. Impotent.” T laughed as he regained his feet. Abraxas regained his massive inferium warblade and began swinging it in wild arcs around him. Every sane person got the hell out of the way. Several of Dantalion’s men, who had not been given orders to move, stood still with their weapons aimed and were hacked to bloody chunks. The archduke slammed his weapon into the ground and energy seemed to pour from him.
Aww hell. I’ve seen this before. Around him, corpses of foe and ally alike began to rise, all under the command of their creator.
Freaking undead. Damn it. I mentally kicked myself in the nuts for thinking it was cool when Grimm did it and demons were on the receiving end.
“Baron Salem, I decree this is your first issue to deal with.”
“Mine?!”
“Yes, yours. Under Demonic Law, you must defeat your better. If you wish this succession to occur, then Abraxas is your problem. I will take my leave now. If you survive, then our accord stands. Send an emissary and the proper documentation will be drafted. Know this, though—should you survive, you will be a marked man. The princes will turn their eye toward you. In the times to come, you will wish you died here.”
Dantalion turned and flitted out the door at incredible speed. The remainder of Dantalion’s men and retainers slung their rifles, turned toward the great doors leading to the landing pad, and hoofed it out of the great hall at double-time speed. They didn’t bother with the palanquin.
Grimm, Ricky, T, and I moved to the center of the room with Vidar, Vali, and the rest of the Midheim warriors. Just as Grimm raised his arms, preparing to put up his energy dome, a single shot rang out.
From behind us.
A bullet ripped through Grimm’s head, exiting above his right eye. Pieces of skull and brain splattered my face.
Father Grimm fell.
First to his knees and then into my arms before he hit the ground.
Dantalion stood by the massive doors leading out, an ancient original Colt Peacemaker in his hand, the barrel smoking.
“You did not think it was going to be that easy, did you?”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Lazarus’s Dead Dick
“Grimm!” I shouted, as if he were alive and could hear me. I could have yelled until my throat bled but it wouldn’t have mattered because remnants of his face and skull were in my mouth and smeared on my chest.
Dead was dead.
Dantalion laugh
ed as he turned and left for the landing platform before I could take a shot at him. I could hear the roar of the hover skiffs powering up, preparing for takeoff.
All around us the dead were rising, even the bodies which were not whole. They began to creep toward us, moving upright. The Midheim warriors had placed their remaining portable energy shields up, forming a beachhead. Abraxas looked a little woozy as he pulled his warblade from the ground. He had channeled what he had left into animating the zombies. From here on out, it was a straight-up fight.
Fine with me.
I held Grimm. I wanted to scream, but my throat was closed. I had no more tears left. Not now. Not after everything we had been through. And I was not going to die here. The people of Midheim needed a home, and these demon fucks needed to know that mankind still had fight left in them.
I was suddenly shoved aside.
“Move!” Ricky ordered me, and I felt oddly compelled to obey.
He took Grimm from me and held him in one arm while he wafted at the air with the other. I heard him mutter, “No, you don’t, get your narrow ass back here.” Ricky’s glasses slipped a little and I saw something. Something really fucking weird.
Instead of eyes, he had orbs of pure white light. Ricky turned his head toward me, looked at me, and smiled. He turned his head back to the corpse of Grimm, and the white orbs began to glow brighter.
Pure liquid light rolled languidly down from Ricky’s eyes along his arms and settled on Grimm. Grimm’s corpse began to glow. “I need time, Salem,” Ricky said.
“For what?”
“Time, damn it!”
“All right!” I yelled back. The undead were coming now, from all directions. They pulled and dragged and walked their way toward us. Without Grimm’s shield, this was going to be hard. Abraxas also made his way toward us, his wings extended. He looked pissed and he was babbling something in Denochian. All I could make out was something about pulling my heart and intestines through my anus while he made angry love to my empty eye sockets. Usual demon crap.
