The Seven Princess and The Gates of Hell

by Steve Wharton

CHAPTER FOUR

  “The site of the ancient city of Babylon is now known as Hilliah in what we now call Iraq. There isn’t really a lot of the old city left, wars throughout the century’s have destroyed most of what was there. What do you think we can find there?” Asked Maria.

  “I’m not really sure but all the information we have says that Lilith was prominent in this area. It says she was all but a god in Babylon, There has to still be some reference about her.”

  When Ryan and Maria arrived at the ruins of the old city of Babylon they were surprised to see just how little of the city remained. They spoke with some of the locals and they told them that the site of what was the summer palace of the president is where the old temple use to be. The palace was now open to the public for tours, an old man told them for a few Dinar he would show them a tunnel that led to the remains of the old temple. Ryan pulled a Twenty dollar bill out and handed it to the old man and he took them to a spot about a quarter mile from the old palace. There he showed them a small cave and he went into the cave followed by Maria and Ryan.

  The cave was dark and damp and Ryan took the small penlight he carried and turned it on. Inside the cave there were many drawings on the walls, Ryan was surprised that archeologists were not swarming the cave. The old man told them that the locals kept this place from the government to preserve their history. The went deeper into the cave and came to a tunnel that was smooth walled and looked like it had not been used in hundreds of years. They followed the tunnel for what seemed like miles and it finally opened up into a large cavern. The walls of the cavern again were covered with drawings and as Ryan and Maria were looking over the drawings when Ryan found some drawings that were about a woman. He called Maria and the old man over and he asked the man about the drawings. In broken English the man told them about the Queen that lived in the temple, her name was Lilith. The old man told them legend said she was an evil Queen that had many men to help her have many children.

  Ryan listened intently as the man continued telling about Queen Lilith. After about an hour of the history lesson the old man showed them the entrance to the temple remains. The old man told them he would not go into the temple and he would leave them here. Ryan took out another two twenty dollar bills and handed them to the man. The old man thanked him and turned and left back the way they had came.

  The entrance to the temple was an old stone door that had not been opened in a very long time. Ryan was surprised at how easy the door opened, Maria and Ryan moved thru the door and into another tunnel that again was smoothed walled but was void of any kind of markings. They followed the tunnel for several hundred feet and it opened into a large room filled with old pottery that was still intact. There was a set of stairs carved into the rock that led up, they climbed the stairs that seemed to rise about fifty feet and they entered into what appeared to be sleeping quarters. All of the furniture was in pristine condition and the bed looked like it had been recently used. The hairs on the back of Ryan’s neck stood up indicating that there was someone there that was either a demon or a fallen.

  “Ryan whispered to Maria “we are not alone, I can’t tell if it is a fallen or demon yet.”

  They quietly moved closer to the opening that entered into the sleeping quarters, standing there was a female fallen and a male demon. They were discussing some list of names. The female was demanding who else had the list. Almost everyone on the list she said had been killed. There were a few names that had not been located yet. The female was threatening to kill the demon if he continued to lie to her. The demon pulled out some papers and handed them to the female. “One of the people on this list is the slayer. We just have not been able to find him as yet. We think he is somewhere in this area. The name on the list is Ryan Simpson, also I have provided a copy of this list to Mehen he has had his minions tracking down everyone on the list and killing them knowing that one is the slayer.”

  Hearing the term slayer and then his name made Ryan listen more closely hoping to find out who the two were.

  Cimeries said, “my Queen Lilith, I have not lied to you, you never said I could not provide this list to another and Mehen has done you a favor by killing most on the list. He has made it easy for you leaving just a few names left alive. Killing the slayer should be easy now.”

  “Cimeries do not toy with me, if the slayer is not on your list then I will do to you what I would do to the slayer.”

  “I understand my Queen, I am sure that the slayer is on this list and that he is here in this area.”

  “Then I will call my minions to finish off this slayer. Now go and let me take care of my business.

  Cimeries left Lilith and when he was gone Lilith headed deeper into the temple and entered into what looked like the throne room followed by Ryan and Maria. Ryan and Maria stopped just short of entering the throne room and found that they had a excellent hiding place that gave them a clear view and allowed them to hear every word that Lilith spoke.

  Lilith summoned her head demon and dispatched him to contact Regina, Amy, Enepsigos, Marchosias, Naamah and Vepar and to have them come to her temple right away. She would pass the information that she had received from Cimeries about the slayer. Together they would combine their minions and kill the slayer. When all of the summoned female fallen angels arrived at Lilith’s temple they convened a meeting in the throne room and Lilith was the first to speak.

  “My sisters I have called you all together to lay out a plan to kill the slayer. Cimeries gathered a list of names that would contain the slayer, he also provided the list to Mehen who has killed all but five of the names on the list. Based on the information I believe the slay is one named Ryan Simpson. I also believe that he is here looking for another fallen to kill. I would suggest to you all that he is here to kill Mehen who was known to have a temple in this area. Killing the slayer would go a long way to all of us advancing in the realm of Hell. Lucifer would be indebted to us and would give us anything we asked for.”

  “How can we hope to stop the slayer seeing what he has done to some of our male counterparts and their minions?” Amy asked.

  “That is simple my sister, the slayer won’t suspect that we females are attacking him. He would suspect the minions of Mehen, leaving us with the effect of surprise of the attack.”

  “My Queen how many of our minions do you think we will need?” Asked Marchosias.

  “If each of us committed five legions that should be more than enough to find him and kill him.”

  The female fallen Angels all nodded in agreement, the combined forces would easily find and destroy the slayer. Lilith instructed the other fallen to have their legions arrive tomorrow and they would be assigned to a search area. Once the slayer was located they would sent word for all the other legions to join them and attack all together. No human could withstand a total almost one hundred thousand demons.

  Ryan and Maria looked at each other and frowned. Ryan motioned to head for the door that they had entered and they slowly made their way out of the temple. Once outside of the temple and stared at each other, Maria finally broke the silence between them.

  “What do we do now? There is no way we can stand against a force that big.” Maria said.

  “I’m at a loss right now, we can’t go back to the hotel and try to plan, the other demons know about it and we can’t stay here and try to plan anything. We need to find some place safe.”

  “Where would that be?”

  “Right now I don’t know but we have to find somewhere.”

  The two of them followed the cave back out to the desert surrounding old city of Babylon. The old man that showed them the cave was wandering around the cave entrance and he walked up to Ryan and Maria.

  “Did you find what you were looking for?” The old man asked.

  “You could say we did.” Ryan responded.

  “So you found the entrance to the ancient temple then?”

  “Yes we did. Is there another entrance to the temple?” Ryan asked.

/>   Yes but it is hard to get into the temple from it, it is always guarded by the Queens men.”

  “How many guards there?” Ryan asked the old man,

  “There are usually 4 but sometimes there are six.”

  “Would you show us the way there?”

  “Follow me I will take you to the base of the of the mountain, from there you are on your own.”

  The old man started out walking towards the low mountain range that Ryan saw off in the distance. They covered almost three miles when the old man stopped and pointed to the small mountain, really more of a large hill.

  “The entrance is between the two points. You can see the entrance from either one without being seen.”

  Ryan dug into his pocket and handed the old man a five hundred Dinar bill and thanked him. Ryan looked at the two hills and picked the southern one and motioned for Maria to follow him. They climbed almost half way when Ryan spotted two demons guarding what looked like the entrance to an old house built into the side of the hill. He pointed at them and made sure that Maria saw them.

  “I have an idea, I think we can blow the entrance here after I take out the guards.”

  “I only see two guards, the old man said there were usually four.”

  “We will have to get a little closer and see what is there.”

  Ryan slowly started to move closer to the two guards and had covered a hundred feet when he spotted the two other guards. He motioned for Maria to stop and take cover in the brush that was on the hill. Ryan removed the Marlin from case and set it up where he had a clear view of all four of the guards. He sighted the Marlin in on the farthest guard. Ryan checked the distance and wind and rechecked the sight. Ryan placed the cross hairs of the sight on the demons head and squeezed the trigger of the Marlin.

  Ryan watched thru the scope as the bullet traveled the distance to the first demon. The bullet hit the demon and its head exploded. Ryan shifted his aim to the next demon and repeated the process again. As soon as he fired he shifted his aim to the third demon. Just as he squeezed the trigger again the sound from the first round being fired reached the remaining demons. The third demon looked in horror as the first two demons fell to the ground and burst into flames.

  The bullet struck the third demon and Ryan shifted his aim to the fourth demon and he squeezed the trigger again. The last demon tried to take cover but was not fast enough as the bullet struck it in the chest and the last two remaining demons burst into flames. Ryan watched thru the scope to see if any more demons would come outside because of the sound of the rifle. Satisfied that no other demons were coming out Ryan told Maria to stay hid and he grabbed the pack of C-4 explosive and the detonators and started for the entrance to the temple.

  Once he reached the entrance Ryan started to place the charges around the entrance and the surrounding rock of the hill protecting the entrance. Once he completed the task of placing the charges he armed the detonators and headed back to where Maria was waiting for him. Half way back he stopped and pulled out the radio transmitter from his pack and set off the charges. The explosion from the charges rocked the area around the hills protecting the temple entrance and rock started to fall burying the entrance to the temple.

  Ryan turned and made it the rest of the way back to Maria. When he reached her he turned and looked for the entrance of the temple and all he could see was rock covering the entire area where the entrance was. He looked at Maria and smiled and said, “I don’t think they will be using that entrance for a while. Now I think the next step is to go back to the cave find Lilith and then set charges inside the temple and blow it then blow the entrance to the cave as well.”

  Ryan went to the back of the Hummer and pulled out two of the nine millimeter pistols and some extra clips for the guns. He packed the small backpack with C-4 and the detonators for the plastic explosive. Once he had everything he would need he headed for the cave entrance.

  “Maria I would like for you to stay here and guard the Hummer and all of our gear in it. I don’t want anyone from the village thinking we just left it and then take everything.”

  “I’ll guard it with my life.”

  Ryan made his way back to the cave entrance and crawled back inside and reached the entrance to the temple. He quietly and quickly entered the temple and soon found himself back in the sleeping quarters, he searched the bedroom looking for any clues or items that may be of use in the future.

  Finding nothing that he felt could be of use to him he slowly made his way deeper into the temple. He searched each room in the temple in a couple of the rooms he found demons waiting for orders and he quickly dispatched of them with his pistol. Ryan was glad he had put the silencer on each of his pistols before he left the Hummer.

  Ryan found a set of stairs that went down and deeper into the temple, Ryan followed the stairs down and they ended in another room that had an altar located at the front of the room. The altar was blood stained from years of use, Ryan suspected that they made sacrifices on the altar. Ryan spotted the hall behinds a curtain at the front of the room and started to follow it, he was about half way thru the hall when he heard voices and they were all female. It sounded like at least seven different females and they were all arguing about how to stop the slayer.

  Ryan moved closer to the other end of the hall and he was surprised not to find any demons guarding the entrance into the room. Ryan kept close to the wall of the hall a when he reached the end of the hall he peeked his head around and counted seven females seated around a table and they were definitely discussing what to do about him. He heard them say they were going to commit five legions of demons each in an effort to find him. They were also discussing the explosion that had occurred a little while ago. They were sure the slayer was there.