by Jack Crosby
With my free arm, I locked it around his leg and jerked. He hadn’t be able to get a good footing using me as a platform and he fell off to the side. He was closer to the Edge than I, so I got up quickly and dropped the elbow in between his chest plate and where the armor picked up again at his waist.
With anger in my eyes, I went to kick him off the side when he disappeared. I was about to go flying over the side when a hand grabbed me from behind and pulled me away. “You do not want to fall over that edge.”
“You saved me? Why?”
I’m pretty sure I was ready to have kicked him over the same edge, no care in the world. However, he stopped me from suffering the fate I was trying to send him to. “I was never in any real danger, despite what you may have thought. I am not foolish enough to believe this gesture will make us friends, but I hope you remember that you do not have an enemy in me, no matter what preconceptions you have.”
Again his behavior was not befitting of either his reputation or position. “Won’t your minions see this as a sign of weakness?”
“I believe the expression is screw them.” He cracked a smile. “None of them would be foolish enough to try anything.”
My eyes went back to the blade he held in his hand. “Does that mean you are giving me the sword?”
“Yes and no. What I will give you today is a way to call it to aid you when you need it.” He made a gesture at himself and his battle armor was gone. In its place was a black robe and behind him were a majestic pair of black wings, spread out far and wide. From within his robe he pulled out a small stone. “With this, you will be able to call the blade to you at your time of need, and not before. As soon as either you die or the task is complete, it will come back to me.”
I took the stone and looked at it. It was blood red and smooth. Placing it in my pocket, “So what now?”
“That is easy, we go back to my palace and I send you back to Earth. From there it will be up to you to end this.”
“By end this you’re not referring to Abaddon, are you?”
Not that he wasn’t always serious, but his expression went even more so. “The witch known as Sabrina cannot be allowed to live. I hold you to your word that once Abaddon is taken care of, she will join him on the other side.”
I wasn’t about to say no to him. “I’ll never stop until she’s six feet under.”
Chapter 21 – Ladies, Spread the Love
The three of us landed on a sandy, secluded beach in Mexico. I was home. Tiberius wasn’t with us anymore, as he was awarded some honor from Lucifer and sent back to his pack. I was going to miss the cranky dog. Good thing I was about to deal with two pregnant ladies that I knocked up meeting for the first time! Nothing says cranky quite like that.
“Umm, why don’t the two of you stay here for a few minutes? Let me try to soothe things over, you know?”
“Of course my love. If she rejects you, you will always have me.”
I don’t know if that made me feel better or worse about it all. I took a deep breath and started the long, lonely walk to the house. Should I open with ‘Hi hunny! I cheated on you with a Lust demon and knocked her up good!’ Even in my head that sounded terrible. As I rounded the corner, I saw a group of people hanging gout on my front porch. They hadn’t noticed me, as they were tightly grouped together.
As I got to the bottom step, I cleared my throat rather loudly. The little mass of people and a horse broke apart. Alongside Khloros were Astrid, Michael, and Roxanne. “I’m back everyone!” Wait a minute… “Roxanne?! Is that really you?”
Astrid and Roxanne broke away and tackled me into hugs. “Derrick! You’re back!”
“Yes, it is me! I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you sooner what happened.”
Under the mass of female attention, “Holy hell! I missed you Astrid so much!” Then blinking away my shock. “Roxanne, I thought you were dead! I personally reaped your soul!”
“That is where I come in Death.” Michael was standing over us. “I brought her soul to me so that she would be given a special task. She is your child’s guardian angel.”
That brought a lump up into my throat. “Astrid, I need to be completely honest with you…”
“You knocked up a Lust demon out of your misguided love for Roxanne?”
“Yeah, pretty much… wait how did you know that?! And why aren’t you killing me?”
The three of us got off the wooden deck, though each was still wearing quite the mischievous look. “Michael told me a few days ago when he came back to check on me. I punched him so hard in the face, so you should probably thank him.”
“Astrid packs quite the punch. However, once all the anger was cleared up, I explained to her your feelings for Roxanne, while not the same kind of love you share, was buried deep in you. Another presented herself to you and filled that void.”
Khloros, my best friend and oldest pal, was not pleased. “You are without me for a little over a week and you come back with a pregnant Lust demon? You are a train wreck, you know that right?”
Of course his sniffer picked up on them. Jacar and Jecella were walking slowly towards us. I waved for them to continue. Astrid must’ve remembered Jacar from before. Pointing at him, “Oh my, I forgot just how handsome he is!”
Roxanne agreed. “Pride demons aren’t my thing, but I wouldn’t have said no either.”
Then came the awkward meetings. Astrid looked Jecella up and down for a good five minutes before speaking a word to her. “I can’t say this is a good situation, but you are very pretty.”
“If it makes you feel better, Death spoke highly of you and I know he holds you in a special place in his heart.”
Even though they were being pleasant, I knew there would be much more to this later. That would have to wait though, as Michael broke up the little party. “Death, do you have the sword?”
“No, but I have this.” I pulled out the stone Lucifer gave me. “He said in my time of greatest need it would come. From there I can bestow it on the champion of my choice.”
He seemed satisfied with that. “Excellent, then it is time for you to make haste to Tartarus. The group is in much trouble.”
“I know. I came across Azrael in Limbo. He told me what happened before he moved on.”
“A great loss, but one we cannot mourn, not yet. Jacar, would you stay guard with Roxanne while Death is in Tartarus?”
He lowered his head. “It would be my honor to watch over the heirs of his house.”
“Very well. Death, Khloros is going with you. Roxanne and I will open the portal. Find the others and end this, please.”
It was my turn to show him my respect. “It is as you command Arch Angel. I will not fail.”
All of us walked out on to the beach. Before we went off on the most dangerous assignment yet, I wanted to make sure I said my goodbyes, just in case. “Jacar, you’ve been an excellent friend. Watch over those important to me until I return.”
“It is the highest honor I could have.” We shook hands and I moved on.
Jecella was next. “You took care of me at one of my weakest moments. Learn to trust Astrid and watch each other’s back. I would be devastated if anything happened to either of you.”
She gave me a deep, deep kiss. “You be careful out there as well. Get in, fuck them up good, and get home, got it?”
I slapped her on the ass before getting to Astrid. “I know we have a lot to talk about, but you’re always in my heart. You stayed with me through good times and bad. I made you immortal for a reason, remember?”
“I’m not mad at you anymore. Hell, I wasn’t all that mad at you to begin with. I’ll do my best to get to know Jecella and keep your house in order.”
I gave her a big kiss, one that I didn’t want to break, but did. “I’ll be back, I promise.”
The last person I needed to talk to was probably the most important. No one but me needed to know that. “I can’t believe you’re alive…”
“You did me a favor, tr
ust me. I wouldn’t have wanted to be stuck like that.”
“I’m sorry things didn’t work out the way they could’ve.”
Even no longer a Lust demon (come to think of it, was she really an angel?), that didn’t stop her from being Roxanne. “Don’t get all sappy on me you idiot! Just remember who loved you first and now has to watch over your growing harem!”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Just because you’re watching over them doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take care of yourself too. She’s still out there, biding her time.”
“If my daughter wishes to come play again, I’ve got a few new tricks up my sleeve. Survive and I might just show you.” She ended it with a wink.
Astrid and Jecella joined Roxanne. Together, the three of them looked unbeatable. “The three of you are stronger than me, so I got no worries.” Like a dork I gave them al a thumbs up.
“How did we all fall for him again?”
“It surely wasn’t his charm.”
“The sex is amazing, at least from what I know.”
“Oh the sex is great! Does he…”
I couldn’t take it anymore. “Okay okay, I’m leaving, just knock this off, it’s weird.”
I heard three distinct laughs as I joined Khloros in the middle of the circle. He wasn’t going to cut me any breaks. “I warned you decades ago your hedonistic behavior would lead you to a truly messed up scenario. Go ahead and say it.”
“Oh great Khloros, you were so right.” I want it noted just how scathing my tone was with him.
Roxanne and Michael began to open the portal. “Even with the sarcasm I’ll take it.”
As the portal swirled open, “You ready for this buddy?”
“I do not believe we have a choice.” Was that a hint of fear?
I hopped up on top and gave one last wave to everyone before we galloped into Tartarus.
Chapter 22 – Reunited and it Feels So Good
The awful red sky of Tartarus scorched my vision. Unlike the dark flame ridden atmosphere of Hell, Tartarus was just an awful place to be. Not that Hell was pleasant, because it’s not (be good kids and say your prayers daily), but Tartarus was the place monsters were born.
In case you forgot, this is the same place where the forest tried to kill me, we ran into Behemoth, and then ended up slaying the dire wolf king and queen. I had no fond memories of this place, except I guess that it caused me to reawaken my lost powers.
“So which way do we go navigator?”
I had no idea where we were and neither did Khloros. “The sprawling wasteland, this will be like finding a needle in the haystack.”
“I doubt we should just stay in one place. Almighty knows where Abaddon is.”
Not really sure where we were headed, we started going what I thought was south. Shit, that was just a guess. We could’ve been going northwest for all I knew. Plus I didn’t know just how long these guys had been stuck here. Time flowed so much differently.
“I smell smoke. Do you think that could be a group of survivors?”
“I don’t know, but we should check it out. Extreme caution in this situation?”
Slowly, we went towards the area the smell was coming from. In the middle of nowhere was a large, narrow black rock. It was like a middle finger, telling us to fuck off. Unfortunately that seemed to be the location of our mystery smoke.
“Anything could be hiding there. Do you think I should go it alone, with you a few yards behind?”
He didn’t like my idea, but he knew it was solid. “Yes. I will try to be as silent as possible.”
Being no dumby, I got Leviathan ready and took my time as to not make a mistake and give away my position to a possible enemy. I made it to the backside of the rock without detection. As I rounded the corner, I saw Famine alone. “Brother, is that you?”
Famine jumped from his seat, his hood falling off. His young, boyish face was just a front. Famine was a deadly warrior. “Death, you are here?”
As long as we’d been brothers, how deep and low his voice was never ceased to amaze me. “Yeah, lucky me. Where’s your horse? Where’s everyone else?”
“We’ve been scattered to the wind like leaves. After our initial confrontation with Abaddon, we all disbanded to get away.” His head hung in shame. “Azrael is dead.”
“I know, I ran into him in Limbo.” His eyebrow lifted. “Long story that’ll have to wait until later. So you have no clue where the rest of them are?”
“A large pack of Abaddon’s abominations chased me into this forsaken hinterland. It was only when I found this spire was I able to make a stand. I killed three and injured quite a few more. When they realized I would not be easy prey, they left.”
By this time Khloros joined us. “Where is Mavros Black Rider?”
“Alive I hope. We were split up during the assault. Last I saw, I waved him to follow War and Pyrrha.”
All the horses had a bond, so I know it upset Khloros that Mavros wasn’t here. They may not have gotten along all the time, but they were as much brothers as the Horsemen. “Listen, you’re no longer alone. We can get right back on the trail and go find everyone. I have the Morningstar Blade.”
This changed his outlook. “You do? Where is it?”
In an anticlimactic moment, I pulled out the stone Lucifer gave me. “With this, once we engage Abaddon again, it’ll come to me.”
He reached for the red stone and I dropped it in his hand. “The power in such a small object. This will stick out like a beacon in this desolate place. We should not stay in one spot long.”
“You know the area better than we do. Which way should we go?”
He pointed to the open area below us. “The others went the opposite was as I did. Before you found me, I was planning on making the trek back in the hopes to pick up their trail.”
I put my arm around his shoulder. “We do this together brother. We’ll find everyone including Mavros, okay?”
So began the long walk towards the last battle. Famine caught me up with everything that happened. They were in Tartarus for days before the came across their first sign of Abaddon and the Wild Hunt. “The creatures he has under his command are just as vile as the Fiend himself. I swear to you, they must be created from his own twisted mind.”
No one really understood the workings of Tartarus, so we just made educational guesses on how stuff came to be here. “That’s what this Dante’s expedition so dangerous. Lucifer said something that really stuck with me.”
“You talked to the Prince of Lies?”
“Yeah, we had an interesting conversation while we dueled for the right to the Morningstar Blade.”
It’s hard to impress Famine. “This is a story I must hear one day.”
“You will brother, but back to the point. He said that killing Abaddon was a bad idea. He believes that if we’re successful, something even more evil and dangerous will come to inhabit this place.”
He rubbed his chin, Lucifer’s words obviously striking a chord. “It is hard to imagine something even more unstoppable than the Arch-Fiend himself, I will admit that the lure of power in this place will bring out the shadiest of characters.”
I continued to listen to his tale. As a group they were able to overpower the carious creatures that attempted to kill them, but eventually they came face to face with Abaddon himself and his entire pack of killers. “Our previous success made us arrogant, especially War. Instead of attacking in a coordinated effort, most of our group did as they pleased. We fell right into his mercy.”
“I’m guessing it went poorly?”
“Even without his pack, we would have lost. Abaddon toyed with us, injuring Pyrrha when War tried to flank him. The red horse appeared okay, but I was knocked from Mavros just moments later. Azrael shouted for us all to flee as he charged Abaddon. Mavros and I were split up by two packs of abominations and I made a choice that still haunts me.”
“What about Conquest? Did he and Leukos escape as well?” I was concerned as Famine
hadn’t mentioned our other brother yet.
“Yes, he was a bit further off, trying to provide cover with his arrows. He escaped with the lady angel Veronica and Dante, while Mavros, War, and Pyrrha were chased another way.”
Our conversation sorta stopped there. What happened to them was what we were all afraid of. Now split up in a hostile place with Abaddon lurking just beyond the horizon, this was a terrible situation. Hopefully I wasn’t too late on my excursion to Hell.
The hike back to the scene of the battle took a very long time. There wasn’t much more talking, as Famine was prone to lapses of silence even on his best days. We broke to rest at various points, but never without being on guard. Finally, after unending amounts of time have passed did we catch our first sight of the battleground.
The rooting corpse of a half horse, half bear creature met us. “I don’t remember seeing anything like that when I was here with Conquest.”
A bad memory of the confrontation must’ve hit him. “This is not even the worst of the creatures, trust me when I say that.”
The closer to the center of the field we got, the more deranged and deformed corpses and skeletons I saw. I stopped trying to guess what they actually were supposed to be. My heart stopped when I saw though something I did recognize; Azrael’s body was impaled on a large spike. A wave of anger washed over me seeing him being used as some sort of sick trophy.
I walked right up to it and with my scythe cut him down. “Your embarrassment is over my friend.” Free of its bound, his body began to sparkle into tiny pieces and float upwards, disappearing after a few minutes.
“Abaddon has gone too far Death. I understand the risks we create by killing him, but this has to be the final straw.”
Now wasn’t the time to worry about future issues. “You’re right. Where do we go from here to find the others? We’ll need to be at full strength if we have any hopes of accomplishing his assassination.”
He pointed to what I guessed was the east. “Veronica and Conquest fled that way,” and then to the south, “and Mavros with War went that way.”