The Demon Beside Me

by Nelson, Christopher

  I covered my face with one hand. “So we just sprung a trap and we don’t have any way of telling anyone about it?”

  “And since the screaming from outside has stopped, I assume that the angels will be sieging this church shortly,” Tink said. “This was brilliant, Caleb. Absolutely the best idea you’ve ever had. Couldn’t you have spent the ten extra seconds to let us know that we might need to bring a couple hundred demons with us, not just a couple dozen? I’d expect this sort of insane shit from the demon here, not you.”

  “Language,” Jase murmured.

  “Sorry. So now what do we do?”

  “My Prince, assuming they made a clean sweep of Kalil’s platoons, how long will it take for someone to notice we’re missing and haven’t checked in?”

  Opheran shrugged and reached into a pocket. “No real need.” He pulled out his phone and smiled. “While it might take some time to bring together the forces we need, they will arrive. All we need to do is hold out.”

  “And how long can we hold out against a Choir siege?” I asked.

  Caleb shook his head. “The sanctuary won’t last long against an agent of Internal Security. I’m sorry, Zay. I underestimated Victor.”

  “We all have. Now, we need some sort of defensive position,” I said. “I assume you want to make your stand here?”

  “If there wasn’t a side door,” Caleb said. “Unfortunately, there are two entrances to most of the rooms here. Those that are defensible are too small, or too vulnerable to the outside, like the kitchen.”

  “Multiple entrances don’t exactly matter if they decide to make their own entrances,” I pointed out.

  “They won’t be able to do that very easily,” Caleb said. “Breaking the spiritual aspect of the sanctuary is one thing, but the building itself has been strengthened by strong, honest faith for a long time.”

  “So if we can block the side door here, we have a fairly defensible room,” I said.

  “The main entrance is too large, but it may be the best we can do,” Caleb said. “But can we seal the side door and the kitchen exit?”

  “I can seal them,” Hikari said. “And I can introduce some severe consequences for breaking the seal. I’d ask Anna to help, but I’m sure you have some different ideas for the use of her magic, don’t you, dear?”

  “Just seal the doors, starting from the outside first,” I said.

  “Of course,” Hikari said, bowing her head slightly. She started unwinding the bandage around her wounded hand as she strode smoothly toward the kitchen. I watched until the door closed behind her and let out a long sigh. Tink chuckled harshly and punched my shoulder.

  “I’m missing something here,” Caleb said. “She seems unnaturally cooperative. Are you two not fighting for once?”

  “Worse,” I said. “She just found out that Tink and I have a new contract.”

  “You do?”

  “He started it this time,” Tink said. “I didn’t even have to stab him.”

  “I’m sure you were very disappointed,” Caleb said.

  “Isaiah, you shouldn’t keep things like that from her,” Jase said. “Honesty is important in a relationship. Honesty and trust.”

  “This isn’t the time to critique my relationship,” I said. “If none of you noticed, there’s a large group of very pissed off angels out there who plan on coming in here and killing every last one of us.”

  “Now, Isaiah,” Opheran said. “We have at least five minutes before the sanctuary is breached. That is plenty of time to discuss your shortcomings.”

  “No, it isn’t,” Tink said.

  I threw my hands up in the air. “I give up. Go on. I already know what Tink thinks, considering she and Hikari just tried to kill each other an hour ago.”

  “A shame you didn’t succeed, Anna,” Opheran said. I glared at him and he simply smirked.

  “He got in the way,” Tink said. “We were having a good old fashioned mage’s duel and he went all demon on us. Picked her up and nearly tossed her out the window. Think she almost had a catastrophic bladder control incident, as he’s put it before. You know, demon, I’m surprised she didn’t kick your ass. She’s faced down much more powerful demons, like that fucker Azriphel. Sorry, Jase.”

  “Having met him before his untimely passing, I am hard pressed to disagree with you, Anna.” Jase cleared his throat and stepped down from his place behind the altar. “Isaiah, you do need to be more careful where Hikari is concerned. She is a young woman with both power and pride.”

  “Or you should have just let Anna kill her,” Opheran said.

  “That isn’t what I meant,” Jase said.

  I looked to Caleb, trying to find some way out of this conversation. The swarthy angel simply grinned at me. Some help he was. “So what is our plan of defense here?” I asked.

  “Jase stays up behind the altar,” Caleb said. “The rest of us take out anyone else who comes into the room.”

  “You make it sound so simple.”

  “You want to make it complicated?”

  “Of course he does,” Tink said. “Demons love making things complicated. For example, our previous topic. First, he hides the fact from me that our contract had expired. Second, he hides the fact from her that we have a new contract. Why don’t you just talk to people, demon?”

  “Well, when it comes to you, I get stabbed.” I sighed and sat on one of the front row pews. “Look, can we forget about this and get on with the defense plans?”

  “I thought we already covered those?” Caleb said.

  “We did, and he’s trying to change the topic.”

  “You know what would be a much better idea?” I jumped to my feet and pointed at Tink, who scowled at me. “You should be taking care of that spell that’s keeping me from converting my blood to ichor.”

  “The diagnostic will take some time,” she said. “Probably more time than we have. The only one who can remove it quickly is the one who cast it.”

  I looked toward the kitchen. “I suppose I should ask.”

  The door opened and Hikari walked back into the sanctuary, her hands streaked with blood. “The outer door is sealed. I’ll do this one now.” She paused and looked at me. “What?”

  “Actually, if you could remove that spell on me instead, I’d appreciate it,” I said.

  “What about the door?”

  “Can you do it, Tink?”

  She shrugged. “Shouldn’t be a problem. I don’t know all the tricks and traps Hikari-chan does, but I can take a stab at it.”

  Hikari’s lips twitched in what might be called a smile, if I was feeling charitable. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  I stood up as she approached me and stepped away from the pew. She knelt, traced a quick circle around my feet, and inscribed a series of runes along the periphery. “I’m sorry,” I said quietly as she worked.

  “For?”

  “A lot of things.”

  “So am I,” she said. “We’re going to need to have a long talk once this is all over.”

  “The last time you said that, I was looking forward to it,” I said. “Not this time.”

  “You shouldn’t,” she said. “There. It should be gone within the next couple of minutes. You’ll be able to convert freely again.”

  “That quickly? I wish you had done this weeks ago.”

  “We couldn’t risk losing you at that point,” she said.

  “Can I step out of the circle yet?”

  “Sure.” She stood up and looked up at me, then shook her head and turned toward the door that Tink was busy sealing. “I should make sure her seal doesn’t kill us all when they trigger it.”

  “Make sure she doesn’t kill you, either.”

  She looked over her shoulder and smiled. “It’s nice to know you still care.”

  “Better hurry up on that seal,” Opheran growled. “I think they’re about to break through the outer doors.”

  “That was fast,” Caleb said. His sword and shield shimme
red into place at the same time Opheran shifted back to his demonic form. I started my own transformation as well, but held off on the external features. “Jase, take what cover you can. Zay, Anna, Hikari, cover him at the altar. Prince Opheran, you and I at the front line?”

  “Of course. It amuses me to fight alongside one of your infamy,” Opheran said.

  “Here’s hoping we’ll live long enough to trade stories,” Caleb said. A crash from the church foyer echoed throughout the sanctuary. “Sounds like it’s time to fight.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  * * *

  The doors to the sanctuary were large, heavy wood, wide enough for three or four people to step through side by side. Angelic swords pierced that wood as if it was paper. The entire frame quivered and then the hinges shrieked, snapped, and collapsed. The foyer beyond was filled with white and silver and steel.

  One angel, braver than his fellows, leapt ahead with his sword held high. Caleb stepped forward and simply pointed his sword at the man. The Internal Security angel didn’t stop, and Caleb didn’t pull the point of his sword away. With a crunch of bone, the angel impaled himself.

  I couldn’t see the look on Caleb’s face. I didn’t want to. I knew my friend avoided killing other angels, even when they tried to kill him. He couldn’t cross that line so easily. The crowd of angels in the foyer didn’t move, not even when Caleb slowly pushed the body back off his sword to crumple lifelessly on the ground. “What was his name?” Caleb asked, his voice just loud enough for me to hear. No one responded. “His name?” Caleb repeated, his voice deeper, angrier.

  “His name was Arthur,” called a voice from the back of the pack.

  “Arthur,” Caleb said. He swung his sword in a short, snapping arc. Purity sprayed from the blade. “I’ll remember his name. I will lay his body at your feet, Victor. I’ll carve his name on your tombstone, if I even deign to make one for you. Your life is forfeit, this I swear upon my blade.”

  “Kill them,” Victor shouted. “Demons, humans, traitors, and heretics, kill all of them!”

  The angels charged the doorway, swords flashing. Caleb’s sword flashed in return and Opheran’s claws sparked with hellfire. “So I’ve been wondering about this for years,” Tink said as we watched the first wave splash against them. “Why do all of you idiots stick to hand to hand combat? Aside from that time back at your apartment, and when you throw hellfire, it’s all about the stabbing.”

  “I would have thought you’d approve of that,” I said.

  “I only do that when it’s appropriate to the situation.”

  Hikari coughed in a manner that sounded suspiciously like “bullshit”. I ignored her and shrugged. “I suppose it’s simply traditional. We’ve never had the societal pressure to learn how to kill each other more effectively since we’re so good at it already. Plus, the Celestial War meant we couldn’t spare anyone for weapons research.”

  “I asked Caleb about it as well,” Jase spoke up. “It was quite some time ago, but his opinion was similar. He did say that it was also a way of reducing losses. The Celestial War nearly took both races below sustainable numbers. Weapons that were more efficient may have caused either or both race to die out completely. Neither side wanted to risk that.”

  “I’ve never done any studies of the matter,” I said. “I’d suggest asking Prince Opheran if you’re really curious. When he’s not busy, of course.”

  The aforementioned Prince was quite busy at the moment. As we watched, he met a charging angel with nothing but claws and a grin. Seconds later, the angel was staggering away, disarmed both literally and figuratively. Opheran flicked a spark of hellfire to finish the job and met the next angel head on. At his side, Caleb was fighting defensively, using his shield to bash the unwary and send them sprawling back. Even after Victor’s proclamation, he seemed to be holding back from killing them if possible. I winced as one of the angels seemed to get under his guard, only to take a shield blow to the face and a boot to the ribs. He wasn’t holding back from causing them some serious pain.

  “Heads up,” Hikari said. “Looks like they’re going to try something.”

  The angels had drawn back for a moment before bull rushing both Opheran and Caleb. Once the two of them had fallen back a step, other angels attempted to move through the gap between them. Caleb tripped one, Opheran torched another, but two of them made it through. “Ladies, I believe this is our turn,” I said.

  Before I even finished speaking, both of the angels were down. Tink nailed the frontrunner with simple force spells, but she had deliberately aimed at sensitive portions of his anatomy. That angel might not be dead, but I suspected he wanted to be. Hikari, on the other hand, had chosen to be a little more creative. Her force vectors sent the angel’s legs flying in different directions as he tried to take a step. The wrenching of his legs must have torn tendons and ligaments and he went sprawling, his face screwed up in pain. Hikari jerked her hands upwards and the angel flew back toward the main entrance, his body tumbling as he hit the floor just in front of the doors. Tink sent her target flying in that same general direction a few seconds later.

  With that, the angels drew back for a moment. Some sort of conversation seemed to be taking place in the rear of their lines. Caleb and Opheran took that time to catch their breath. “Invigorating little fight,” Opheran said loudly enough for all of us to hear. “Choir Internal Security isn’t as well-trained as I had been led to believe.”

  “Remember that this is Victor’s doing,” Caleb said. “He’ll gladly sacrifice his underperformers just to tire us out.” Several of the angels in the front line stepped back at that. I grinned.

  “Zay, they’re working on the side door,” Hikari said.

  “No surprise,” I said. “Are they close to getting through?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s surprising.”

  “All talk and theory,” Tink said. “But when the chips come down, she starts flubbing her runes and patterns.”

  “I don’t want to hear it, Tinkerbell,” Hikari said.

  “I’m so terribly sorry to upset you, Hikari-chan.”

  I rubbed the bridge of my nose. “While listening to the two of you try to make the other seem as small as possible is great entertainment, do remember that we’re in a bit of a sticky situation here.”

  “It’s not hard to make her seem small,” Hikari pointed out.

  “Bitch, I will cut you. Again.”

  “Anna,” Jase said.

  “Sorry.”

  A shouted command from the back brought all of our heads up. Opheran flexed and brought his hands up. Caleb stopped leaning on his sword and hefted his shield in front of him. The angels faced off against the two of them, and at another shouted command, started marching forward. Each of them brought a large shield up in front of them, then materialized a short spear in their main hand.

  Caleb and Opheran exchanged glances and I muttered something foul in demonic under my breath. “This seems to be a problem.”

  “Why’s that?” Tink asked.

  “Don’t you know anything about primitive tactics?” Hikari broke in before I could answer. “Look at how they’re moving in. They’re making a shield wall to push Opheran and Caleb back from the door. It’s like a porcupine. Once they get those two out of the doorway, they’ll be able to flank them and come after us.”

  “It’s pretty smart,” I said.

  Tink stretched and yawned. “They’re forgetting something.”

  The shield wall was succeeding for the moment. Opheran and Caleb gave up ground, step by step. Neither of them had been touched yet, but they hadn’t taken any pieces of the wall down either. When the angels had forced them a full step back into the sanctuary, Tink walked to one of the front row pews, tore it from the ground, and lofted it toward the shield wall. I could see heads crane as the heavy dark wood floated serenely through the air, then come to a stop directly over the shield wall.

  There was a certain degree of consternation am
ong the angels at that point. Either they could lift their shields in an attempt to protect themselves from that impact, in which case Caleb and Opheran would have a field day, or they could keep the shields low and hope that the pew didn’t hit them directly. Even without any magical assistance, the drop would flatten their wall. If Tink added some more force vectors, it would be like a wooden bomb going off in the midst of their line.

  She did neither. The pew simply hung above the line. A second line of angels rushed forward, lifting their shields overhead to cushion against the potential impact. As the last one of them locked into position, Tink finally dropped the pew. It crashed down on top of the shield wall, hanging absurdly on top of a few shields, but finally stable. The shield wall lurched forward and the pew fell back behind them.

  “So what was the point of that?” I asked.

  Tink looked over her shoulder and grinned. She held a hand up, an unfamiliar rune scribed on her palm. When she clenched her fist, the pew exploded. The dense, thick wood blew outwards in splinters, a wooden claymore that shredded the rear line of the angelic shield wall. Angelic skin was as tough as demonic skin, but that explosion could have torn through steel. Purity sprayed from thousands of slices as splinters tore through angelic flesh.

  The rear line was gone, dead or incapacitated. The concussion and impact hit the shield wall from behind, staggering several, knocking them out of position. The angelic forces in the church foyer had taken a chunk of the burst as well, keeping them from coming to the aid of the suddenly broken wall. Opheran and Caleb wasted no time, tearing into the weak parts of the wall.

  “Withdraw!” shouted a voice from the back and the shield wall wasted no time doing so, dragging bodies back with them.

  “They’ve broken through my wards,” Hikari said quietly. “I don’t think they’ll get through Anna’s in time. She doesn’t have as many, but hers are substantially more dangerous to attempt.”

  “You mages are substantially more dangerous than they thought,” I said, lifting my chin toward the entrance to the sanctuary. Dark splinters littered the ground and pocked the walls, purity glistening from many of them. “Even after those other attacks, they still don’t take you seriously.”