by Michael Todd
A few moments later, Baal walked through the door, whistling gleefully. He stopped dead in his tracks and sniffed, snarling his lip. “It smells like fucking Christmas in here. That’s disgusting.”
“Tell me about it,” Moloch growled from across the room.
Baal looked at him, and his eyes grew wide. There were scratches down Moloch’s legs and several twigs he’d missed still stuck in his scaly back. “What the hell happened to you?”
Moloch waved the question away and plopped down in a chair by the fire. “I spoke to Juntto about our problem. I told him I needed him to start assembling his armies again.”
Baal’s mouth fell open, and he carefully sat down in the chair across from Moloch. “You woke that ass up? I thought you said you’d never deal with him again after the last debacle?”
Moloch groaned and leaned his head back. “I know, dammit. I don’t have a lot of choice at this point. I need his armies. You know how good he is at taking over countries. He’s already set his sights on Europe, especially Switzerland. He can move among the humans without being noticed. No red eyes, no scales. He looks like one of them and can fit in if he really wants to.
Baal scoffed. “That’s the key—if he really wants to.”
Moloch looked at Baal. “Don’t underestimate him. Remember, he’s taken over countries before. He has led great armies. He may be an idiot with a temper, but he gets shit done when it needs to happen.”
“What if his armies get too big?”
Moloch shook his head. “You know Lucifer won’t let that happen. If he gets too big for his britches, then we’ll have to take him down a peg or two. He may have powerful armies, but we will always be able to keep him in check.”
Baal wasn’t completely convinced. He stared at the souls writhing in the fireplace. “I don’t know about this. It seems so risky.”
Moloch stood up and waved his hands at Baal. “Trust me. We’ll just have to figure out a way to kill him when we no longer need him.”
Baal sighed and tilted his head to the side. “That will be two hundred years from now. Perhaps the humans will do it anyway. They got Tiamat.”
Moloch cut him off before he could finish, turning quickly toward him. “Only because she was leaving hell. On top of that, she was beaten to shit. If she had left here healthy, they would all be dead by now. We were done with her, and that’s the point. She needed to be exterminated, and we made sure to let that happen. We kept our promise and released her and took care of loose ends at the same time.”
Baal took a step back and decided not to mention Tiamat again. “What’s Juntto doing now?”
Moloch poured himself a pint of Scotsman’s blood and took a long sip. “He’s out doing what he does, conquering. He’s going to build a new country for himself, starting with Switzerland.”
“He always did like those blondes.”
Moloch snorted and finished his drink, holding a glass up to Baal as an offer. Baal shook his head, and Moloch poured himself another glass, taking his seat again. He stretched his feet toward the fire, getting rid of any last feelings of cold. “Have you seen Pandora lately?”
Baal waved his head back and forth. “No, thank Lucifer.”
Moloch sneered slightly, smelling the aroma of his drink and staring into the flames in front of him. “I wonder what that bitch is up to. She’s been quiet for too long. That only means one thing, she’s planning something evil and twisted. Normally, I would applaud it, but considering she’s on the other team, it doesn’t bode well for me.”
Baal cleared his throat, trying to hide his worry. “Nah. She’s probably nursing her wounds. Her little pet was hurting pretty badly.”
Both Baal and Moloch turned their heads when one of the servants came through the door. “I have your dinner, most terrible Moloch.”
Moloch stood and motioned to Baal. “Excellent. What are we eating tonight?”
The staff came in after the servant, setting a large platter down in the center of the table and two small ones at both the seats. The staff grunted as they lifted the lid off the large platter. The head servant bowed. “The main course is baby elephant, plucked from its mother just two days before. It’s not sedated or anything.”
The baby elephant tried to scramble off the table, but its legs were tied. The servant pulled the covers off the other two platters. “On the side is a young dove medley and a fried pear stuffed with hamsters.”
Both of the demons clapped excitedly. Moloch looked at the servant and he snapped his fingers, sending a younger demon scrambling to set another platter down at the end of the table. The head servant pulled the lid off. “For dessert, you will have Jell-O-encased human brains with spinal fluid and fresh blood sauce, flambéed in a sugar crust.”
Moloch nodded his head. “Very good. No servants will be tortured tonight.”
Everyone scrambled quickly from the room, hoping he didn’t change his mind. Moloch and Baal sat down at the table and stared across at each other as they began dinner. Moloch lifted his glass into the air. “To us, Baal. I think Juntto will play perfectly into our hands. We’re geniuses, and we deserve every bit of terror we can have on our new planet. Here’s to the future of Earth!”
Chapter Sixteen
The helicopter’s whir echoed through the mountain. The pilot was trying to keep a safe distance from the slope, wanting to scope out the area while avoiding an avalanche. The chopper was an unmarked military unit with three men inside. First Lieutenant Andrews curved the chopper toward the mountain and hovered over the slope.
He pulled his microphone down. “That’s where the portal appeared. It happened long after the avalanche.”
Second Lieutenant Troughtman craned his neck to look at the slope. “I don’t get it. Why in the hell would a portal open way up here? No one is ever out here, and it’s colder than Alaskan poontang. As far as I know, demons like warm weather.”
First Lieutenant Andrews yelled into his microphone, “That’s not all. The first portal opened here, and the second was way down the mountain. One after the other, too. The intervening time wasn’t long enough to take the hiking trails down.”
The staff sergeant in the plane piped up, “What, like he fell?”
First Lieutenant Andrews grinned. “That would be the quickest way down.”
“A big ass demon tumbling head over foot down the mountain would be funny as hell to watch.”
“Fall makes sense. I don’t really see these things having the stamina or desire to go on a climb like this. Patience doesn’t seem to be their strong suit.”
Lieutenant Troughtman waved a hand to get their attention. “Are those footprints I see walking down to the left?”
Everyone shifted their focus, trying to see what he was talking about. Andrews clicked his headset as a call came in. “Give me a second.” He spoke quickly, but none of the others could hear his conversation.
The sergeant narrowed his eyes. “So there were two? One went tumbling down the mountain, and the other took a walk…barefoot through the snow? What kind of shit is this? You would think there would be no survivors. I don’t know demon anatomy that well, though.”
Lieutenant Andrews clicked on his mic. “Uh-oh, boys, I’ve got an alert. We have two dead bodies.”
Lieutenant Troughtman searched the tree line. “Where? On the mountain?”
The pilot turned the chopper and started following the path that led down the mountain. “In the direction of those footsteps.”
The chopper swooped down the mountain, following the path. It didn’t take long before they saw the flashing lights of emergency rescue vehicles. Another chopper was hovering over the group of vehicles as two bodies were being airlifted up.
The sergeant’s face went white. “How likely is it this is all connected?”
Lieutenant Troughtman shot the sergeant a look. “Well, two portals, two dead bodies, and no demons. I would have to say if it isn’t connected, it’s the biggest coincidence I’ve ever seen. Loo
ks like these hikers picked the wrong day to go for the summit.”
Lieutenant Andrews clicked his mic back on. “Come on, let’s head back to base. We don’t want to get in their way. There’s something seriously strange going on here, and I don’t think it has anything to do with the avalanche.”
The sergeant looked out his window at the mass of fallen ice below. “How much you want to bet that avalanche was just a side effect of demon activity? We need to report this ASAP. Things are getting worse as the minutes pass.”
Brock sat back in one of the empty rooms, holding court. He put his feet up on the old desk. “A monkey tried to kill me.” Turner chuckled as he said it. Brock’s entire team was there, listening to him relate their adventures to Katie.
“All the animals were infected?” Katie asked. She sounded skeptical.
Brock nodded his head. “Sure as hell, they were. Every now and then we’d come up on some big-ass demon and have to blow his nuts off, but usually, it was the animals.”
Katie shook her head. “I’ve only seen that once. It was an animal near the old base. I think it was a coyote. Had to put her out of her misery. I know they don’t have as much control of animals. They must have been desperate out there.”
Brock nodded thoughtfully. Suddenly he started laughing and sat forward. “So one time, we all went out, and Turner and I were in the front.”
Turner groaned and rolled his eyes. “Do you always have to tell this story? Doesn’t it get old?”
Brock pointed at him. “No, dude, it will never get old. Anyway, we were humping along. Turner had my flank. We were bullshitting, and he turns to check his six. I nearly shit myself. On his back was this huge, hairy tarantula. I’m talking big as my head. So I stopped the team and told Turner to stay really still, but I don’t tell him why. I’ve got my M16 on him, sort of pointed sideways at the spider. I didn’t want to shoot him, but this motherfucker had red eyes and fangs.”
The tattooed soldier giggled uncontrollably. “I told him to let loose. Fuck it. Maybe he takes out Turner, but at least he gets the spider.
Brock chuckled. “So he’s standing really still, no idea what is going on. And this thing puts two hairy legs on his shoulder, climbs up and looks him right in the face. You could hear his scream for miles.”
Turner slapped his hands on the desk. “It was the biggest spider on Earth. No lie.”
“Our commander called in and asked if we had encountered any civilians because they had heard a little girl screaming from miles away.”
Turner shook his head. “Thing came close enough to kiss me.”
Brock looked wistfully into the distance. “I killed it, but it was beautiful.”
The soldiers laughed. Katie wiped tears from the corners of her eyes and held up her hand. “Okay, no more. No more.”
The loudspeaker over their heads crackled and shrieked, grabbing their attention. “All hands, R&D arriving on the tarmac.”
Katie sniffed once and got herself together. “That’s our cue. Gotta go meet the brains of this operation.”
The team headed out of the building. Once outside, they saw workers reinforcing the walls yet again. Metal armor was bolted over metal armor. Brock frowned. “How many layers do we need?”
Katie shrugged. “That’s the thing—we don’t know. They want to make sure the walls will hold in any demons that get out of the portal. That way, they can be killed easier and don’t go rampaging through the base. It’s just precautionary, but we have a feeling there are beasts in hell we haven’t seen yet. Who knows what they’re like?”
Brock huffed. “Great.”
As Katie and Brock walked out to the runway, the military prop plane came to a stop. The crew hurried around, readying the staircase and the door. When the doors opened, a tall red-headed scientist came tripping out, followed by a young female assistant. He looked like he was surprised to be back on the ground, while she was trying to keep up with him. Her hands were full of bags and a box of strange-looking equipment. She struggled under the weight of it all and barely made it to the ground without taking a tumble.
Katie put her hand out to Dr. Thorough. “I’m Katie. So good to meet my R&D team.”
Thorough shook his head and looked around wildly. “Yes, yes. Who is unloading? Because they need to be very careful with these instruments.”
Alice juggled her load and reached out to shake Katie’s hand. “Sorry. I’m Alice, the doctor’s assistant. Don’t worry about him. He doesn’t watch television.”
Just then, the doctor snapped his fingers and pointed at Katie with excited eyes. “Oh, yes. Specimen 182!”
Katie’s eyes instantly narrowed. They glowed red, and the doctor took a step backward. He pushed up his glasses and looked her over. “Did I say something wrong?”
Alice sighed and rolled her eyes. Brock clenched his teeth and stepped into the doctor’s personal space, staring him blankly in the eyes. The doctor leaned back a bit and looked him up and down nervously. Brock cleared his throat. “Katie is not a specimen.”
Dr. Thorough stepped back, looking from Katie to Brock and back. He shook his head, realizing how rude he had just been. “Oh, I’m so sorry! They never provided a name for you in the reports, only the…uh…182 designation. It’s done that way on purpose.”
He reached out, and Katie eyed him for a moment before shaking his hand. “Try ‘Katie’ on for size before I’m tempted to leave you behind in hell.”
Dr. Thorough grimaced at her grip and pulled his hand back, shaking it out. “No need to be ugly. I’m not the one making the rules.”
Alice slapped her hand to her forehead. “Sometimes he numbers me too. He really is harmless. I guess he can be a bit clueless as well.”
The doctor looked from Alice to Katie. He seemed to understand something then. He cleared his throat and stood up straight. “Shall I try that again? My name is Doctor Cleary Thorough, Research and Development and a ready participant in your mission. I have brought the best instruments that I could bring. I’ve also brought my assistant, Alice here, who is almost as knowledgeable as I am.”
“Sometimes more,” Alice whispered, making Katie smile. Katie took a bag from Alice to lighten her load.
The whole group loosened up except Brock. He made it his mission to stare the doctor down. Dr. Thorough tried to ignore him, but he was pretty good at making his point.
Katie chuckled and patted Brock on the chest. “Down, boy. He’s harmless.”
“Rude,” Brock grumbled, but stepped back.
Turner put his hand on Brock’s shoulder and whispered to him. “I think Katie can protect herself against a nerdy fire-headed scientist like that guy. She’s faced demons bigger than him before. He doesn’t seem too interested in dragging her back for experimentation at the moment.”
Brock glanced over his shoulder. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Those freaks at R&D have been dying to run tests on Katie. They all know they’ll never get close enough to even take a vial of her blood, much less chain her down for research. She’s half angel and half demon, the strongest weapon we have against the demon race. They would pull some crazy cloning shit on her in a heartbeat if they could.”
Turner squeezed his shoulder. “Yeah, but can you imagine it? Not a single one of them would have their balls left. They would be hooking up probes and shit to her and then walking around with stitches, emasculated. You know Pandora would be wearing that shit around her neck like a tribal warrior.”
Pandora snickered inside Katie’s head, hearing the whole conversation even if Katie was focused elsewhere. Damn, I like that idea.
Katie put a smile on the outside, confused on the inside. Huh? What idea?
Wearing my enemies’ balls on a rope around my neck. I could eventually make a suit out of it. People would think it’s all cool until they realized my jacket was made of foreskin.
That’s freaking disgusting, Pandora. Get your head back in the game.
Pandora mumbled to herself. I’ll g
et someone’s head back in the game.
Katie looked at the doctor. “They will carefully unload your gear. You don’t have to worry. They’re professionals. Why don’t we go into one of the meeting rooms and we can talk about the mission?”
The doctor looked at her for a moment and then nodded. He clutched his bag to his chest and followed her across the landing strip to the main building. He stared around at the old building as they descended into the underground section, leaving the construction noise behind.
Alice glanced into one of the empty rooms. “Dang. This place is old.”
Katie chuckled. “It’s seen its day, that’s for sure, but we’re preparing the main hanger for the mission. Trust me, it will hold up under scrutiny.”
She showed them to the meeting area, and everyone took a seat. Katie leaned back in one of the creaky chairs. “Do you think you brought everything necessary to successfully take the readings you’ll need?”
The doctor muttered to himself and examined the equipment Alice had been carrying. “Everything that we have invented so far. We’ll have to assemble some of it, but my question is, what can we bring? What sort of secondary team will I have? Can we transfer larger equipment?”
Katie glanced at Alice and back to the doctor before leaning forward. “I want you to fully understand what we’re doing here. We’re walking into hell. There are no reinforcements on the other side, no one who’s cleared the area beforehand. We walk into whatever is waiting over there. You want my opinion? You bring whatever you can carry and no more. Understand that we might have to move fast and work under combat type scenarios.”
The doctor pulled out a notebook and began writing feverishly in it. “All right, anything we can carry. Got it. That rules out quite a bit of the equipment, but I suppose in the future, we may be able to go back with more time. Has anyone taken any temperature readings in there?”
Katie chortled. “Not that I know of. I can promise you, it’s fucking hot. The unprotected human body alone won’t be able to survive for more than a few minutes. I’ve been told, though, that’s one of the problems that you’ve been working on.”
