Minor Demons

by Randall J. Morris

  Lilith stood up and turned around to see Shadow grinning at her. She readied her whip and turned to face Nightmare as Shadow walked up next to her and slowly drew his swords from his belt.

  “What’s it going to be, Nightmare? You seem to think the three of you picking on Lilith is a fair fight. What are you going to do now that the tables have turned?”

  “I won’t forget this, Shadow. You killed Valefor and you’re going to suffer the cons...”

  “So run back to Hell and tattle on me. In the mean time, understand this. If I ever catch you attacking Leech or Lilith again, I won’t hesitate to kill you. Valefor’s death today could have just as easily been yours. This is your only warning.”

  Nightmare looked like he might attack even though he was outnumbered, but he was able to contain his rage. He picked up Andras, placed him on his shoulder, and ran away.

  Lilith turned and punched Shadow in the face. He stumbled backwards and fell over. She stood over him, breathing heavily and Shadow wondered if she was going to continue to attack him.

  “You know what bothers me the most about this entire situation, Shadow? It wasn’t the fight I was almost drawn into. It took me a minute to remember my ring, but I could have had both of Nightmare’s minions turn on him. It was the fact that even though I’ve proven that I’ll fight all of your enemies with you, you sent me off here alone with a task that I doubt is related to your plan. So explain to me what the hell you were thinking or I’m just going to turn and walk away.”

  Her voice broke towards the end of her speech and Shadow saw tears starting to form in her eyes. Shadow felt his nose and drew back a hand with blood on it. Lilith definitely packed a mean punch when she was angry.

  “Lilith, I don’t know how to lead you because I have no idea where we stand. You seem to enjoy picking on Leech, annoying me, and doing everything possible to entertain yourself. You’re not the same girl I fought in the death pit who was filled with ambition and ready to do anything to get ahead.”

  “Did it occur to you that I’m trying to change so that people don’t just hang around me because of what I look like? My ambition never went away. I’m a minor demon, same as you. I allow you to lead us. I’m alright with taking the back seat. It’s clear you don’t trust me though and you’re willing to do terrifying, horrible things to me. You turned into that horrible creature in the death pit and there was simply NO REASON. You still would have become a minor demon if you had taken second place or third place. So I’m left to just think it was vain, selfish ambition. Ambition that you can’t control.”

  “It wasn’t.”

  “Your ego...”

  “My ego had nothing to do with the decision. It wasn’t about simply becoming a minor demon or a need to take first place. I was literally terrified of coming in second.”

  “Why? You uncle was going to recruit you no matter what.”

  “No he wasn’t.”

  “You’re being evasive again, Shadow. Why can’t you just trust me?”

  Shadow realized that while Lilith’s voice was steady, she had let two tears roll down her face. He also realized that she was right. Even though he recruited her after Leech and he didn’t fully understand her motivations, he knew he needed to trust her. She at least deserved an explanation of why he had to win.

  “If I didn’t take first place...”

  “Yes?”

  “If I didn’t take first place, my uncle was going to kill me.”

  Lilith’s jaw dropped and she just stared at him. Shadow continued.

  “He told me a long time ago that if I didn’t leave the trials in first place not only would he not recruit me, he would kill me. His image means a lot to him. My mother thinks family is first for Cain, because he tried to save my father. I think she’s full of shit. My uncle watches out for me to the extent that it makes him look good. That’s the way it has always been and that’s the way it will always be. I received other minor demon offers after the trials but I didn’t make any of them public. My uncle would have killed me. If I had lost to you or Nightmare in the death pit, he would have killed me. I’m honestly amazed he didn’t consider killing me since it came down to a tie breaking vote. So if you want me to trust you, there you go. That’s one of my big secrets. I didn’t want to torment you in the death pit, but I didn’t want to die either.”

  “I saw General Cain carry you out of the death pit and then he had the medic heal you.”

  “I was in first place when he did that. I was bloody and broken, but he knew that defeating Nightmare put me in first. He did it for show and he had what he wanted at that moment.”

  Lilith looked at him for a long time. She finally decided she could believe what he had told her.

  “Why didn’t you just tell me all of that when you were trying to recruit me?”

  “Would you have believed it? I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t even believe me right now.”

  “Alright then. I can believe your story. Was prostitution even going to play a role in your plan? Why did you send me off on my own?”

  “I made a mistake. Leech pointed that out shortly after you left.”

  “You let Leech talk to you like that?”

  “He was right. I made a mistake. Thank the Dragon I made it here when I did.”

  “I already told you I would have been fine.”

  Shadow grinned at her mischievously.

  “Oh I have no doubt that you would have been fine. That’s not what I meant. I’ve wanted to kill Valefor since he ran off with my sword in the death pit and made me look like an idiot. I’m just glad the opportunity finally presented itself.”

  Lilith laughed and then reached up and gave Shadow a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

  “You know if you and Leech continue to think I’m alright with hugs, people will start to wonder if we’re really demons or not.”

  “You worry too much, Shady.”

  “Well I’ve told you what’s going on in my head. I need you to answer a few questions for me now.”

  “Shoot.”

  “Why do you want to work with Leech and me? I don’t really understand your motivation...”

  “I was raised by my dad and he’s been all I’ve ever really had since the beginning. Of course I could have guys whenever I wanted, but it really always came down to the fact that I was alone. My dad couldn’t afford the combat training you’ve had, so I practiced on my own. I knew who my mother was, I knew she had abandoned me, and I wanted to kill her. I know accepting a minor demon role in her department doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I figured that would at least expose her. While she only admitted to us that she’s my mother, the other demons are going to wonder now that I’m officially in working for her. I’m still going to kill her some day. She doesn’t deserve what she has.”

  “That doesn’t really answer my question.”

  Lilith looked at Shadow like she was going to hit him again.

  “It’s fine. Just keep going with your story. We have time.”

  “It’s not all that complicated. I got sick of being alone. After the trials, I thought I might end up killing you. When you presented another option, I thought it might be fun to work with you guys instead.”

  “So you were going to kill me and then you just... changed your mind?”

  Lilith giggled.

  “I’m a girl. I change my mind all the time. Don’t feel bad though, I’ll probably decide to kill you again at some point.”

  Shadow laughed.

  “I’d welcome the challenge, Lily. Of course that would leave Leech as your bodyguard so...”

  “So I clearly haven’t thought this through yet. Maybe that means I should let you live. I certainly can’t have Leech following me around like a lost, little puppy.”

  CHAPTER 24

  As Leech approached the house of Carlos, he felt nervous. He double checked all of his weapons and tightened his armor. Finally, he breathed in and exhaled deeply. It was time to start doing what he had trained
for. As he stepped through the closed front door, he noticed that there was very little inside this house that was worth more than a few dollars. The furniture looked like it was hand made from wood or whatever else they could find laying around. The walls hadn’t been painted in years and, while the house looked clean, Leech could tell that the only reason it stayed clean was because of an effort to keep it clean. These people were very poor.

  Leech grinned at the situation. He figured Carlos would be an even easier target than he had hoped. If he still had something left to sell, he wouldn’t be at the point of desperation yet. Leech could hear a soccer game blaring in the living room. He slowly made his way towards the noise. As he was about to enter the room, a quick glance towards the chair Carlos was sitting in caused him to quickly jump back a few steps and hide. He then slowly peeked around the corner. There in a beat up armchair was Carlos, smoking a cigarette and watching a soccer game on a tube TV. He looked like he was at an all-time low. Two angels were on either side of him, comforting him. They only radiated a small amount of light, so Leech assumed they were either minor angels or still in-training.

  While Leech briefly considered waiting for Shadow and Lilith to return, he dismissed the thought. It would look a lot better if they returned to Leech standing over two dead angels. Leech quietly removed the battleaxe from his back and his daggers from belt. He rushed into the room and threw his daggers at the angels. One pierced the angel through the throat and the other was deflected by the other angel’s blade. He grabbed his battleaxe with both hands and jumped, hoping to come down on his enemy with a life-ending blow. His swing was met by the angel’s blade and both weapons flew out of their hands. Instead of trying to retrieve his weapon, Leech struck with two quick jabs to the face of his opponent and then landed an uppercut. The angel flew backwards through the air and landed on the floor, unconscious. A light flashed around her as she hit the floor. Leech smiled at his work and then retrieved his axe to kill the unconscious angel. As he brought the axe down with full force, the blade hit something hard a few inches from the angel’s body. He swung again without making contact. He tried to stomp on her face, with the same result. His foot was pushed back before it came in contact with her face. It was like this angel had some sort of light shield deflecting his attempt to end its life.

  As he looked at the angel, he realized that its hood had flown off when he knocked it out. The angel had long white hair, even though she was quite young, and Leech could see a ring with a white stone on her hand. She must have been someone special to have a minor power that protected her from death. The ring must have activated after he knocked her out. Her companion wasn’t so lucky. As Leech examined the dead angel, he didn’t find a ring. He found some crude weapons but that was pretty much all he had on him. He removed the dagger from the angel’s throat and returned his daggers to his belt.

  Leech noticed that without the angels, Carlos had started to cry. No one was there to comfort him. While Leech wanted to take the opportunity to convince him to ask his cousin for a job as a drug dealer, he couldn’t just leave an unconscious angel there on the floor. He decided to wait until Shadow and Lilith got back.

  When Shadow and Lilith reached the house, they noticed the same things Leech did. Shadow assumed convincing Carlos to turn drug dealer was a pretty easy task considering the fact that he had clearly run out of money a while ago. As they entered the living room, both were surprised at the sight that met their eyes. Leech was standing over a dead angel and an unconscious angel and Carlos was lightly crying in his armchair.

  “What... the hell... happened here?”

  “Oh hey, Shadow. So um... we underestimated this Carlos guy. He’s been praying and God sent some angels. The blonde guy over there is dead. This knocked out bitch won’t die. I’ve tried to kill her several times now and everything I try to stab her with gets blocked before it can kill her.”

  Leech demonstrated what he was talking about by removing a dagger from his belt and stabbing downwards. The blade met a light substance a few inches from the angel’s skin. The conversation had finally woken the unconscious angel and her eyelids fluttered open.

  “Where am I?”

  Leech looked back at Lilith.

  “Thoughts?”

  “Yes, I have one. She is not prettier than me.”

  “No one said she was, Lily. Shadow, any useful thoughts?”

  Shadow looked uncertain if he should reveal what he was thinking. He looked nervously at Lilith. She crossed her arms and raised both eyebrows.

  “I thought we got over this, Shadow. Any plans or ideas you have are fine. I trust you. I was under the impression that you trusted me now too.”

  “This is a whole new level of trust. If I explain what I’m thinking and you decide to run off to Satan...”

  “I won’t. Stop being a nervous little bitch and let’s hear your idea already.”

  Shadow reached into his cloak and pulled out his angel’s short blade. Lilith’s jaw dropped. She looked at Leech. He nodded, confirming that he already knew.

  “So Abaddon... really did work with the angels?”

  “It’s not that simple. He wasn’t a traitor.”

  “Can I... see it?”

  Shadow handed the angel blade to Lilith. She smiled as the warmth spread through her body.

  “It’s a beautiful blade. Leech?”

  “Yes?”

  “I want you to remove Shadow’s power countering ring.”

  This was a reaction Shadow was not expecting. She hadn’t looked directly at Leech, as she was still staring at the short blade, so he continued to stand there, looking confused. Shadow started to worry that Lilith was going to attack him and then run back to Hell to turn him in.

  “Why did you ask him to do that, Lilith?”

  “Because I want to keep this sword for myself. I like how it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. I can’t make you give it to me unless Leech takes away your ring.”

  “So you admit that you can’t take it away from me yourself?”

  “I’m busy holding the angel’s blade.”

  Shadow and Leech both laughed. Lilith hugged the angel blade. When Shadow finally stopped laughing, he explained his idea.

  “I’m betting that demon weapons can’t hurt her when she has that ring on, but angels are also naïve. I doubt the ring protects against angelic weapons. I should be able to kill her with my short blade.”

  “I’m not giving it back.”

  “Lilith...”

  “No.”

  Shadow looked at Leech and nodded in Lilith’s direction. Leech sighed. He then walked up to Lilith and grabbed her face. As his parasitic touch shocked her, she dropped the blade. Shadow retrieved it. As Shadow went to slay the angel with his short blade, she sat up and looked at him, still dazed and confused.

  “Abaddon?”

  Shadow stopped.

  “What did you say?”

  The angel stood and looked him over.

  “No. You’re not Abaddon, you’re...”

  Her eyes opened wide as realization set in.

  “You’re Abaddon’s son, Shadow. Did the Dragon kill your father?”

  “No, not as far as I know. How do you know my father?”

  “He is one of us.”

  Shadow pressed the blade to her throat. His idea of the angel’s blade being able to penetrate her shield was correct.

  “Don’t say that. My father was not a traitor. He was a demon and he never betrayed the Dark One.”

  The angel smiled at Shadow, used her hand to gently remove the blade from her throat, and then leaned in and kissed him. Leech and Lilith looked on in shock. Lilith reacted first. She grabbed her whip and struck at the angel’s face. She stepped back several paces out of surprise, even though her shield had deflected the strike. Shadow lost his balance and fell over backwards. Leech was there in time to catch him.

  “Why the hell did you do that? He clearly hadn’t decided to kill you! Maybe he was going to le
t you go! You stupid angelic bitch!”

  “It’s Leech, right? He’s not going to die.”

  “Of course he is. If an angel kisses a demon, he dies. We can’t handle that much light.”

  “Shadow isn’t a demon.”

  Leech removed the angel’s short blade from Shadow’s hands and handed it to Lilith.

  “Vengeance, Lily. Kill the bitch that killed our leader.”

  Lilith smiled mischievously at the angel.

  “With pleasure. Ready to die angel whore?”

  The angel started looking concerned and drew her blade.

  “He isn’t going to die. If that’s Shadow, the son of Abaddon, then he isn’t really a demon.”

  Leech looked again at his friend, who was losing consciousness in his arms. A tear rolled down Leech’s cheek as he realized there was nothing he could do to save him. He turned to Lilith again.

  “Kill her. What are you waiting for?”

  “Leech, angels don’t lie.”

  “What do you mean angels don’t lie? Shadow is dying! Angels definitely lie!”

  “No, they don’t. She actually has a reason to believe that Shadow isn’t really a...”

  Shadow interrupted her by coughing. Leech dropped his head on the floor and scurried away from him like he had the plague. Shadow rubbed his head.

  “Leech, you asshole. Why did you drop my head on the floor?”

  “I... I... what the hell is going on? Why aren’t you dead?”

  “That’s a good question.”

  Shadow sat up and looked at the angel.

  “How am I still alive?”

  “You’re the grandson of Michael the Archangel.”

  Shadow, Leech, and Lilith all fell into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. Lilith fell on the floor laughing. When Shadow was finally able to stop, he looked at the angel who was frowning back at him.

  “What makes you think a crazy thing like that?”

  “My father is an archangel, too.”

  Leech and Lilith stopped laughing. The angel saw that she finally had their attention and continued.

  “My name is Sarah and I’m the granddaughter of the Archangel Gabriel.”