Demon Hunters

by JKMelby74

  “Lethar. I know it’s been a long time and it’s clear you’ve been through a lot, but I’m here now. I can help you. Tell me what has happened to you.”

  “What has happened is that he’s found a better way of life.” Vyra said as she and Pyre appeared behind us.

  “You’ve tortured him! Corrupted him! I’ll kill you!” Hither said as she lunged for Vyra and Pyre, but just as her sword was about to split their skulls, Lethar moved like lightning and was able to slide his blade in, blocking Hither’s. She stood back in disbelief. “You would protect them? Your captors? They have destroyed who you are! They have stolen Heaven! Does any of that mean anything to you anymore?” Lethar stepped forward and lowered his sword. He looked one way and then the other and then back at Hither. His only response to her was a slight shake of his head. He then raised his sword above his head and brought it down toward her. She lunged back, missing the blade by mere inches.

  “He’s ours now!” Pyre said happily. “Our watchdog. Now, watchdog, these people are trespassing. We want you to get rid of them. Now!” Hither stood firm across from Lethar. She pulled out her sword and stared him down.

  “I don’t want to do this, but you give me little choice. The only way to free Heaven from these demons is to destroy you. It is not a price I savor paying, but I will if I must. I hope you can forgive me.” And with that final thought, Hither leapt up into the air. Lethar was quick to follow and the sound of their blades striking against each other sang through the air like galactic chimes. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the dark mass of angels begin to move. I checked my watch and it had just passed the hour mark.

  “Shit,” I said to myself. I looked over to Pyre and Vyra, who were more focused on the fight going on above our heads than the fast approaching Host. “You guys wanted a fight? You got one!” I said, pointing toward the airborne army barreling down on us. With no words at all, they ran off but I wasn’t really too concerned about them because an all out war with angels and demons was quickly escalating and that was taking up most of my attention. I looked to Ivar and the blank expression on his face failed to assure me of anything. My first thought was that we were in no position to take part in such a fight and the battleground of angels was no place for mortals. I grabbed Ivar’s arm and pulled him along with me and we quickly dove into the car.

  We sped off and as we weaved through the streets, I could hear the hard crashes all around us as angels from above hit the ground like guided missiles. I looked up and saw the sky growing dark. Black clouds swirled ominously over us and bright red flecks of flame shimmered against the murky sky.

  As the sky was enveloped in darkness, the ground below us began to shudder violently. Huge cracks broke through the sidewalks and asphalt and suddenly legions of monsters began to crawl up from the Earth. There were gangly arms with claw tipped fingers struggling from under the ground. Unearthly hissing filled my ears and I could see glowing eyes burning through the darkness as the armies of Hell broke loose.

  The car suddenly spun out and fell into a newly created ditch. Ivar and I were both thrown from the car as it ripped into two. I landed face first into the asphalt. I looked up and saw that the once beautiful street had quickly become a bloody and fire drenched battle zone. Ivar grabbed my arm and dragged me along.

  “The demon’s gone quiet.”

  “No wonder. This is no longer Heaven.” Ivar said as he pulled me over the burning ground.

  “Of course it is. It’s had better days, but it’s still Heaven.”

  “No. Heaven is spilling into Hell and Hell is spilling into Heaven.” Ivar explained. I looked around and felt hard pressed to argue the point. There were amorphous creatures leaping out of the shadows and weapon wielding monsters fretting around as angels swept through the sky swinging their swords and brandishing their shields. I could see the gates ahead of us. They began to open and I felt a wave of relief, until I saw Felix coming toward us, smiling.

  “Get out of here!” I shouted.

  “And miss this? Look at the beauty! Such majesty!” He said as he looked upon a scene of angels battling demons that were crawling up out of Hell itself. We could hear the sound of swords cutting flesh and saw blood pouring down on the ground like rain.

  “You do realize you will be destroyed when this is all said and done, right?”

  “No. I took care of that. Hither not only let me come back to Earth, but she gave me a gift.”

  “What gift?”

  “I called them. They will help.”

  “Who? Who did you call?” I urged. I grabbed Felix by his arms and forced his eyes to mine. “What did you do?” He only smiled and looked over his shoulder. I followed his stare. There was nothing really to speak of. There was a large mountain range that sat around the general area. It served as a natural borderline for the county. I watched more closely and I could see some people at the top of the mountain. They were shambling along oddly and soon they were joined by others. It became an endless stream of people from seemingly nowhere. Some were climbing down; others were just tumbling down easily.

  “I called everyone.” Felix said oddly.

  “My god.” I said as I watched the hills disappear under a mob of zombies. It just never stopped. A few hundred grew to thousands, and then hundreds of thousands and soon it was millions. Billions. I could hear the groans of the dead as they got closer. The scent of rotted flesh carried along the wind and burned inside my nose.

  “Every single person who has ever died is coming back to return Heaven.”

  Chapter 45

  Zombies, Demons And Angels? Oh My!

  An army of zombies, at least a billion strong, was making its way toward Heaven. I hated zombies. I’ve always hated zombies more than anything. Their insatiable hunger. The way they just refused to die, no matter how long you took in putting them down. It’s not like it’s out of some inner determination or anything like that. They’re just rock stupid and don’t know when they’re beat, and I could see a flock of ‘em coming toward us.

  My original plan had been to make a hasty retreat before things got too deep. Ivar and I were in no way prepared to take on an army of angels, demons and zombies, but as we were blocked by all three, there didn’t seem to be a choice anymore.

  Felix was standing nearby clenching his hands together in some kind of fit of childlike exuberance. He either wasn’t aware of the gravity of his actions, or didn’t care. He just stood there, drooling at the growing chaos.

  He said Hither had given him a gift, but I doubt she had intended him to use it on the scale that he had. I wasn’t even sure she even intended him to use it at all. It was probably some half thought out token of trust she tossed him to get what she needed. Whatever the case was, it was a situation that demanded attention.

  “Why did you do this?” I asked.

  “They will take Heaven back. They will punish the ones who deserve it.”

  “You brought everyone who has died back to life.”

  “It’s only right. They were forced out of Heaven the same as I was. They have a right to take their pound of flesh. We, the wrongfully damned, deserve this!” The urge to lay another ten pounds of fist into Felix’s face was overpowering, but the zombies were closing in on us. I saw a pack of long eared imps sprinting by. Each one had a large battle-axe strapped to their backs. I reached down and quickly grabbed a couple. I handed one to Ivar and it was just in time too. A zombie dog had broken from the pack and was leaping up to bite his neck, but as he grabbed the axe, he pivoted around and cut Fido into two.

  “Hold the line here as long as you can. I’m going back in!” I called out and I raced back through the gates. A solid wall of demon flesh hit me immediately.

  Heaven had become a battlefield the likes of which I had only seen in classic portraits. Demons and Angels were swarming around the ground and air, with the echo of swords and axes landing upon shields and bone. Amazingly, I was able to pick Hither out of the chaos. She was still locked in ba
ttle with Lethar. I took a breath and dove into the battling swarm. I hacked ferociously into the mass of weapons and monsters. Before I knew it, I was lost in my reverie. Most of the demons didn’t even pay me mind. They must have smelled the stink of demon on me and thought I was one of their own. Which made it easier for me to slice them to ribbons.

  Soon, I was lost in a sea of unspeakable horrors, but I didn’t care. I hacked at any creature that was within my sphere and it felt great. It was wonderful to finally let go and not care about harming any innocent party. I was free to give in to the darker urges that I had spent most of my life keeping at bay. I looked around for a moment to get my bearings. There was nothing familiar anymore. All the homes were demolished and every pristine tree along the lane was bursting with flames. The sky over us was dark with ribbons of flame spiraling up and falling back to the ground. I looked up and saw Hither and Lethar still fighting high above us. I fought my way closer to them. For as much fun as I was having, I knew this had to end. I could see the zombies breaching the walls. It was only a matter of time before we passed the point of no return.

  I fell out of the main fight and tumbled down to the ground. As I got up, I noticed that my clothes were torn and ripped. I was coated in blood. Some mine, some not mine. I could feel the cuts in my arms and legs and my muscles felt like rubber. I searched for the demon. I was oddly confused as to why I hadn’t been sensing it. I could feel it was still within me, but it was strangely quiet. Probably in shock, I thought.

  My attention came back to reality as Hither and Lethar crashed back down to the ground with a hard bang. When the dust settled, I saw them with their swords locked together just as they were in the air. Hither’s wings were stretched out and her eyes were gleaming. Lethar was harder to read since his face was covered with the bandages. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do, but that didn’t worry me. Most of my cases involved a lot of on-the-job training. I decided I had to do something, so I charged forward and swung my axe. I clipped Lethar in his leg, right across his calf muscle. I took note that it barely made a scratch against his flesh. I suddenly felt a jerk from behind and I hit the ground.

  I looked up to see Vyra and Pyre standing over me. They had both fully regressed into their true forms. Pyre was riddled with fiery craters all over his body and Vyra was a sickly figure. Her skin was seeping and gross and the rotting stink was unmistakable. I rolled away quickly, holding up my axe and ready to cut into them.

  “Look at him, Vyra. I heard some mortals were jumpy. I just had no idea.” Pyre said.

  “Doesn’t surprise me. I could tell he was low-end trash the moment I laid eyes on him.” Vyra said. I stood fast and ready. I blocked out their meaningless banter. I could feel something was coming. The war raged on around us, but the two demons in front of me seemed oblivious to it.

  “Put the axe away, man. If we wanted to kill you, you’d be dead by now,” Pyre said. I ignored his words. “Okay. Just stand there. Suits us just fine.”

  “Why aren’t you fighting?” I asked.

  “Why should we? Look around! It’s all happening just as we planned.”

  “You planned all of this?”

  “Well, not exactly like this, but we knew Heaven would come calling sooner or later. We just convinced Bertram this whole thing was going to last forever, but you just wave a dollar in front of him and he’ll believe anything.”

  “This was all in your plan?” I looked around at the sea of madness crashing all around us and I found it hard to believe anyone would have wanted it.

  “Of course. When we overtake Heaven’s forces, it will be ours forever and our expansion can begin in earnest.” I felt a slight ding of enlightenment at that moment.

  “I see,” I set my axe aside. “This whole scam of yours is contingent on winning this battle?”

  “Yes.”

  “I feel a bit dubious about that. I can see Hell’s side of this fight is weakening already while Heaven’s just getting its second wind. I don’t see any angel corpses on the ground. Not a fallen feather in sight.”

  “Of course not. You don’t think we thought those mongrels out there would win the day, did you? This whole thing is all about that.” Vyra said as she indicated to Hither and Lethar still deep in battle. “The only way we can lose is if Hither destroys Lethar, and that will never happen.”

  “She looks pretty primed to kill to me.”

  “Maybe, but her connection to Lethar is so deep, so intrinsic, no matter how much her mind may want her to, her heart will never allow her to strike him dead. It wasn’t by chance we selected Lethar. He and Hither are Heaven’s fiercest warriors, and both completely unable to destroy the other.”

  “Then how do you win? If she can’t kill him and he can’t kill her, sounds like a draw to me.”

  “He doesn’t have to kill her. She just has to fail to stop him, and that is already done. It’s just a matter of waiting for her to figure it out.” Pyre said. I looked on at Hither’s fight. She was clearly tired. Most of her armor had been broken away and her muscles were pulsating. Sweat was dripping from her body in a steady stream. I could barely see her face through her helmet, but what I could see was the look of someone whose heart had been broken completely. Lethar was on his knees, keeping her blade in check with his own. I could see the tension in her body easing away. I had seen defeat before. I had seen the fighting spirit give way to the release of surrender. The end of the fight and I was seeing it happen again right in front of me. I looked to Pyre and Vyra. They looked on at both warriors with sick satisfaction. Their victory was mere seconds away.

  I grabbed my axe from the ground and with one great swing; I sliced them both in half at their waists. Their parts fell to the ground in spasms of blood and pus. I bolted forward with my bloodstained axe towards Lethar. Hither was just stepping away and he was standing back up. I remembered how my weapon barely had any effect on him, so I tossed it. I leapt forward and grabbed his sword and forced it from his grip. Hither had a look of shock on her face. For the split second our eyes met, I held her gaze.

  “I’m sorry.” I said. I know she heard me. Her teary eyes granted me her absolution. I turned to Lethar and as I gripped the sword’s hilt in my hand, I felt the demon within me return with fiery zeal. The power coursed through my veins like acid in my blood. I raised the sword above my head and suddenly brought it down. Lethar twisted slightly and I cut into the base of his left wing. The force of my swing was so great; I cut through half way into the bones. Blood began to gush from the wound and he shrieked in agony. The entire battle around us stopped for that moment in time. His eye met mine and I did what came naturally. I pushed the blade down harder. I could feel it snap and his wing fell free of his body. He toppled to the ground, landing on his back. I stood over him with his sword decorated with his own blood. Roars were coming from everywhere at once, but I heard Hither’s above all others. I looked around and saw the zombies had broken the wall and were storming in.

  An orgy of gore and blood followed. The angels continued fighting the demons and the zombies just fought whatever was within their reach. The world began to shudder and lights appeared in the air everywhere and they were drifting down like snow. I could hear the demon in me screaming. Tears Of The Universe. I had heard that once before, a long time ago. I was told that just before the end of everything, the universe would cry out of mourning. A final testament to the love it held for all life. I never thought I’d see them for myself.

  “Jake,” A weak voice called. I looked down to Lethar. He was broken and bloody beneath me. He lay in a pool of blood that was growing wider underneath him. His eye caught mine. “Please,” He begged. I looked out at the insanity that had unleashed around me. I thought of Gwen. I hadn’t even gotten a chance to say goodbye. No time for a last kiss. I saw Ivar stuck in the maelstrom, besieged by an ocean of monsters. His face was stricken with fear and rage. He then fell into the swarm of bodies and was lost forever. I held up Lethar’s sword and I could swear I
heard his voice telling me something. It was all just buzzing at the time, but it translated slowly. “No one dies in Heaven, Jake. No evil can survive here. Let it go. Let me go.” I looked down at him. I nodded to him and as he shut his eye, I leapt up and drove his blade into his chest, being sure to pierce his heart. A torrent of power rushed up at me as his flesh tore open. I forced the demon’s strength to help me drive his sword deeper. I pushed as hard as I could and it slid down easier as I got deeper in. I could see that Lethar was pulling the blade down with his own hands. All the storm and noise around us grew louder and suddenly there was a light. A bright, white light that filled everything.

  When the light faded, Hither, Ivar, Felix and I were standing in an open field. The sky was clear and blue as ever. A small flock of birds flew by suddenly and I could see the faint sign of traffic on the freeway miles away.

  “What happened?” I looked down and Lethar was gone. No trace was left of him. I examined myself and noticed I was restored as well. My clothes were put together and I felt like I could run three marathons. Ivar looked no worse for wear and just as confused as I was. Felix stood furthest from us, standing in total disbelief. I turned to Hither who no longer had her armor, but was still reeling from the battle.

  “You released him,” She said through tears. “The second you drove his sword through him and killed him, he was released and so was Heaven. It’s now back where it belongs, as are all the souls that lived there.”