“Close your eyes.”
“Really? You still won’t show me how to get into the secret room with all the cool weapons and stuff?”
“No. Close your eyes.”
Shade closed his eyes. When he opened them, the opening to Leech’s storage was open.
“Take Damnation and take Cerberus. If it gets to be too much, withdraw. You promised me you would come back.”
Shade retrieved Damnation and felt the familiar power running through his veins. He turned to leave, but stopped a few steps from the door.
“Just in case I don’t make it back… I want you to know that I couldn’t have asked for a better mother. Vixen was an idiot for abandoning you. If she wasn’t already dead, I would kill her too.”
“Don’t think of Sarah like that. She’s trying to get Shadow back so you can all be a family. It’s just taken her much longer than she thought it would.”
“When Leech wakes up, tell him that I’m in awe of what he did. He deserves the title ‘Angel Slayer.’ He finally proved that Archangels fall just like everything else.”
“I’ll let him know. Remember your promise, Shade.”
“I’ll come back. Don’t worry.”
Shade jogged back to his house and saw Backlash practicing new spells outside.
“I checked in on my parents. They’re injured pretty badly, but they understand why we’re going. What did Leech and Lilith say?”
“Leech is in a coma. Lilith made it an official mission. We bring back Muan’s head and we become middle nephilim.”
“Sorry to hear about Leech. It makes sense, though. He killed Raphael. I’m surprised he’s still alive. Are you ok?”
“I will be.”
Shade whistled and Cerberus came barreling out of the front door.
“Let’s get Nissa and hunt some berserkers.”
CHAPTER 62
Coconut wandered to the gates of Necropolis drunk and yelled up at the gatekeepers.
“Lemme out!”
The gatekeepers looked at each other, wondering if they should report this.
“It’s late. Why would you want to leave the city?”
“I’m angry! I’m gonna kill some angels!”
“You’re very drunk. Why don’t you go sleep it off?”
Coconut pointed up at the gatekeepers and yelled.
“You’re sleep! You go drink it off!”
“We’re not opening the gate for you.”
Coconut pulled a pistol from his belt and aimed it at the gatekeeper.
“Lemme out or I’m gonna shoot you!”
One gatekeeper nodded at the other.
“We’re not paid to play babysitter. Let’s let him go.”
“But Bumalin…”
“Is asleep. He’s also a guest here… just like the demon pointing a gun at you.”
“Good point. They can come and go as they please.”
The gatekeepers opened the gate to Necropolis and Coconut stumbled out the front. He pulled a map from his jacket and blew his nose on it before realizing it was a map. He tried to remove as much of the snot as he could and then he spread it out on the ground.
“I’m here at the city of Necro… fish sticks.”
He pointed at a spot on the map that was nowhere near Necropolis.
“It looks like I need to head southwest to find some angels to kill.”
Coconut ran his finger northeast along the map before rolling it up. He blew his nose on it once more before putting it back in his jacket. He pulled the two pistols from his belt and started stumbling west.
“This is for you… Monkey. I’m gonna kill ‘em all until they’re dead.”
Coconut tripped and fell over several times before he finally reached a stream where angels were camping for the night. An angel saw him approaching and pointed a spear at him. Another angel told him to lower it.
“That’s Coconut. He works for Bumalin. We should probably leave him alone. We don’t want Bumalin to…”
Coconut took aim and shot both angels. They fell to the ground bleeding. The angels attacked. Coconut had three spears, a sword, and two arrows lodged in his chest before the angels he shot had died. He fell on the ground and bled out.
Bumalin woke up early the following morning and went for a jog. He liked to do a few laps around the city of Necropolis, but would always stay well within range of the arches and snipers on the wall. This morning, he saw a body outside the front gates. He jogged to it and nearly vomited when he recognized it as Coconut. There was a note attached to his chest.
This demon wandered into our camp drunk and shot two of our soldiers. We regret the fact that we had to kill him. Please do not retaliate.
-The Nameless Angels
Bumalin ran back inside Necropolis and the gatekeeper nephilim closed the gate behind him. Bumalin looked up at them.
“Did Coconut leave here last night? Was he drunk?”
One of the gatekeepers waved Bumalin’s questions away dismissively with his hand.
“We’re not that demon’s babysitters.”
Bumalin looked the gatekeeper in the eyes. A drop of blood rolled from each of Bumalin’s ears as he focused his powers.
“Jump off the wall.”
The gatekeeper hesitated briefly before stepping up to the wall and hopping over it. He landed with a thud on the ground. Bumalin directed his attention at the other gatekeeper.
“Answer my fucking questions.”
The gatekeeper nodded.
“Coconut left here last night. He was very drunk. I tried to tell him to sleep it off, but he pointed a gun at me.”
“Did you even try to keep him in the city?”
“I did, sir. I promise.”
“But you were more afraid of a drunk demon shooting you… from down here… when you’re up there on the wall.”
“Please… sir…”
“Are you afraid of being shot now?”
The gatekeeper didn’t answer.
“Pull the gun from your belt, point it at your head, and pull the trigger.”
The gatekeeper removed the gun from his belt and shot himself in the head. Bumalin wiped the blood from his ears and made his way to the nearest bar. When inside, he tossed a small sack of coins on the counter.
“Is this enough to get me drunk?”
The bartender dumped the coins on the counter and counted them.
“How drunk do you wanna get?”
“Enough that I make bad decisions, but not enough that I do anything really stupid.”
“I have an aged hedge fund manager in a bottle. Not cheap, but not high quality either. Should get you where you wanna go.”
“Done. Pour me a glass and leave the bottle.”
Bumalin stumbled into the brothel and then focused as hard as he could on walking normally. He made his way to the receptionist.
“I’m here for Ariel. She told me I could come back whenever I wanted to.”
“One moment please.”
The receptionist walked upstairs and returned a minute later.
“She’s getting ready. She’ll see you in her room in five minutes.”
“Great.”
Bumalin waited five minutes and then headed upstairs. His mind took longer than normal to remember her room number. This normally would have bothered him, but he was too drunk to care. He knocked and then entered.
“Hey, Bumalin. Here to take me up on my offer?”
“Yes. Free sex. Let’s do it.”
Bumalin walked over to Ariel and leaned in. She held out her hand to stop him.
“You’re drunk. Are you sure this is what you want?”
“Another one of my friends died. If you’re not into this, I can go find a regular demon brothel. Even when I’m drunk, I’m smarter than everyone in this city…”
Bumalin vomited on the floor. Ariel grinned.
“…and I’m perfectly capable of making informed decisions.”
“Fine. I did tell you I’d give you a freebie. I’m on b
irth control so there won’t be any… complications.”
“Good. Let’s do this.”
CHAPTER 63
Muan’s forces started killing off the remnants of Raphael’s army of angels and then Muan started spreading that he killed Raphael. The berserkers in his army knew it wasn’t true and many of them were even more afraid of Leech than they were before. After a long day of hunting down small bands of angels, Muan called his middle demons in to report.
“How many angels did we get today?”
A middle demon checked his numbers and quickly added them.
“Fifty-seven.”
“And our losses? I want every middle demon to tell me how many berserkers he or she lost so that we can fill their armies with the right amount of new recruits.”
“Five.”
“Two.”
“Three.”
“Four.”
“So… fourteen. That was only four responses. Who are we missing?”
Muan looked around his tent.
“Where’s Tabasco?”
“He didn’t return with the rest of us. Maybe he’s still out there hunting down stragglers.”
Muan was slightly uneasy about the news that Tabasco hadn’t returned.
“Deathclaw, take a dozen berserkers and go find him.”
Deathclaw nodded and left the tent.
“We’re training tomorrow. Grab enough demons-in-training to replace your losses and get them started. We need more berserkers. If we’re running short on demons-in-training, let me know and I’ll put in a request to the Dragon.”
The middle demons nodded and left the tent. Muan kicked his feet up on his desk while he enjoyed a brisk drink.
A few days later, Muan was relaxing after another day of slaughtering the remnants of Raphael’s forces on Earth. One of his middle demons, Firefangs, entered the tent.
“General Muan, we have a problem. Tabasco hasn’t returned and now Deathclaw is missing with the berserkers he took to search for them. The rest of Deathclaw’s army wants to go looking for them.”
“You lead the expedition. Take your entire army and Deathclaw’s berserkers and go find Tabasco and Deathclaw. We can’t afford to lose Tabasco’s entire army and I can’t afford to lose two middle demons. You think you can find them?”
“Shouldn’t be a problem. We haven’t found anything to indicate they were attacked. Maybe they’re just in pursuit of some angels. Maybe Deathclaw is still looking for Tabasco and doesn’t want to come back without him. It could be just about anything at this point. They’ve only been gone for a few days.”
“Bring them back, Firefangs. We’ve almost put down the last few angels that served Raphael. I want them here for this. Check in every day until you find them. I don’t want you to go missing as well.”
Firefangs bowed and left the tent.
When Firefangs, Deathclaw, and Tabasco failed to return by the end of the next day, Muan called Siren and Fallout into his tent.
“I think something happened to the rest of the berserkers. Get your armies ready. I’ll lead you out there. We’ll kill any angels we find and we’ll keep going until Firefangs, Deathclaw, and Tabasco rejoin us with their forces. I want to move out within the hour.”
Siren and Fallout bowed and left the tent. Muan set his scythe down on his desk and started pacing. He hadn’t been this worried since he became a major demon.
Shade had successfully lured Tabasco further and further from Muan’s camp. He would occasionally summon small demon animals, coat them in ice, and send them back towards Tabasco and his demons to cause problems. Backlash and Nissa had been keeping tracking his pursuers. A demon panther ran to the rock Shade was hiding behind and dropped a scroll at his feet.
Shade,
Firefangs and Deathclaw were sent out to find Tabasco. Nissa and I killed Deathclaw and the dozen demons he brought with him. Firefangs is a day or two behind Tabasco with his full army and the rest of Deathclaw’s army. Muan has started to move with his two remaining middle demons and their armies. Have Cerberus leave a trail and circle back. This is going to be one of our best chances to take down Muan.
-Backlash
Shade tried to cast a fire spell to burn the scroll. When he was unsuccessful after three attempts, he frowned and tore the scroll into tiny pieces. He had been riding Cerberus and the demons had been tracking the three-headed dog’s footprints. Cerberus was asleep next to him. He patted the center head and the other two heads woke up, insistent on not being denied equal head pats.
“I need you to run home. Can you do that for me?”
Cerberus barked and then waited for Shade to get on his back. Shade attached a note to his center collar and then stepped back.
“I’m not going with you. I need you to lead the demons back to Necropolis and give Leech a message.”
All three heads tilted to the side. Cerberus didn’t understand.
“There’s food back at Leech’s house.”
Cerberus barked and then panted excitedly.
“Run to Leech, Cerberus. Run to Leech.”
The three-headed dog took off running. Shade circled back to where he planned on meeting Backlash and Nissa, careful to cover his tracks. When he arrived, he saw Backlash attempting to heal a deep gash in his arm. Nissa kissed Shade when she saw him and then pulled a head from one of the inner pockets of her trench coat. She tossed it at his feet.
“Deathclaw. Nice. You guys didn’t have any issues?”
“Besides that middle demon bastard slicing my arm open? No. We took them by surprise. They didn’t even really have a chance to get their rage building. Deathclaw was the only one who was difficult to take down.”
“Any idea how many berserker demons are with Muan right now?”
“A lot, but three-fifths of his forces are following Cerberus back to Necropolis. This is the best we can do.”
Shade nodded.
“Then we isolate him as best we can and take our shot. This is it, Nissa. We’re going to kill him or die trying.”
Nissa retrieved Deathclaw’s head and put it back in her pocket.
“Let’s aim for the first option. There’s a lot of things I’d like to do to you before we die.”
CHAPTER 64
Ariel waited until Bumalin had fallen asleep before she slipped her clothes back on and hurried out the back of the brothel. She made her way quickly to Lilith’s house and knocked. Lilith came to the door. When she saw Ariel, she looked around and then waved for her to come inside.
“I told you not to come here unless…”
“I seduced him.”
“You said he wasn’t interested.”
“He was drunk and the angels killed Coconut. He changed his mind.”
“Alright then.”
Lilith reached into her pocket and brought out a small sack of coins. She handed it to Ariel. Ariel tossed it in the air a couple of times and frowned.
“The first payment, as agreed. The next two payments will be much larger if he actually did get you pregnant and you have the baby.”
“I told him I was on birth control. This whole thing doesn’t feel right.”
“It’s for the good of the nephilim. We’re fine with letting Bumalin and his demons stay here. I’m even fine with angels staying here in my brothel. Your child will have powers beyond most of the nephilim. Bumalin is a one of a kind demon and your angelic powers are going to enhance it.”
“Why should I care about the good of the nephilim?”
Lilith crossed her arms and started speaking in a harsh tone.
“Because we’re the only thing standing between you and the angels. Would you like me to toss you back out there to fend for yourself?”
“I just like Bumalin and I don’t feel good about doing this to him.”
Lilith’s facial expression relaxed and she let her arms fall to her side. She sighed.
“I don’t feel good about it either, but we need to make some difficult decisions if we’re going t
o survive. Leech killed Raphael. Even if we get Shadow back at some point, we’re going to need to put in place some long term plans that will ultimately keep the angels and demons away from this city. We’ll protect you. We’ll protect Bumalin. You can even try to convince him to start a family if that’s what you want. I’ll tear up your contract if you have Bumalin’s child. We’re eventually going to need a nephilim with Bumalin’s mind powers, though. Bumalin is old and he’s watched his almost all of his friends die. Razorburn abandoned him. He’s alone. I don’t know how much longer he’s going to be around.”
Ariel wore a pained look on her face as Lilith described Bumalin’s situation.
“I don’t want him to die like that. Maybe I can try to make him happy.”
“If that’s what you want to do, go for it. He’s a longtime friend and a very powerful demon. You would have my blessing and the nephilim council would have no problem with it.”
“Do you think he would even want me? I’m a whore.”
“You’re also going to be the mother of his child. I think Bumalin will be able to focus on that. You did a good thing tonight and probably ensured we don’t all get slaughtered. Thank you, Ariel.”
Ariel nodded and left. Lilith made her way to the bedroom to check on a comatose Leech.
“I really hope I’ve been making the right decisions. I don’t have you right now and Steam and Selene are still recovering. You need to wake up before the Archangels and the major demons come after us.”
Leech didn’t respond. A shadowy creature hopped in through the window and ran to stand in front of Lilith. It was a demon monkey and it was carrying a letter.
Mom,
Reaper told me he would have a letter delivered to you after we found out what happened. We heard about Dad killing Raphael. I hope he’s ok. Muan is in the area and we saw Shade and his friends going after him. Reaper and I decided to help if we can. We’ve killed off a few berserkers without being seen. I hope you’re doing alright. I love you. Please tell Dad I love him if he makes it through this.
-Lucia
Lilith cried when she finished reading the letter. It finally dawned on her how alone she was and how everyone she loved could be gone in a very short amount of time. Leech was in a coma. She already lost Shadow. Shade and Lucia were about to pick a fight with a major demon. Steam and Selene had some nasty injuries. She hadn’t heard from Hypnos or Thanatos in a long time. All she could do to keep her sanity was focus on running the city. Necropolis needed her. The demon monkey poked her with its tail and then handed her a blank sheet of paper. Lilith grabbed a pen.
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