“Are you coming?” Lilian called to Benny.
“Yes, sorry.” Benny replied, breaking out of her fugue state.
Lilian ushered her through the building, until they reached a large dining room table. Around the table sat a motley collection of four men and a woman of varying age. Lilian sat in a chair next to the head of the table, and patted the seat in the head position.
Benny sat in the chair, and Lilian cleared her throat as the assembled humans directed a hostile glare toward Benny. “Starting on the left we have Jeremiah Finch, the town council president.” Jeremiah Finch was an elderly man in his seventies with a full head of white hair. Despite his age, his posture was straight, with sharp blue eyes.
“Next to him, we have John Carlisle, the council secretary.”
John was a middle-aged man with coal-black hair, and thick glasses.
“After him, we have Eli Ellison, the vice president.”
Eli was also a middle-aged man. Blonde hair streaked with gray framed cocoa brown eyes.
“Next is Betsy Leigh, the treasurer.”
Betsy was somewhere between middle-aged and elderly. Perhaps somewhere in her sixties; she had curly white hair, and glasses over shockingly green eyes. The beginnings of wrinkles were made more prominent by the hostile frown on her face.
“Finally, we have George Barley, head of public relations.”
George was easily the youngest man on the council; clearly in his early thirties. He was an ebony-skinned man with bright green eyes that created an attractive contrast with the darkness of his skin. His dark brown hair was cut short, just slightly too long to be a buzz cut. Just looking at him, Benny could tell why he was in charge of public relations, as he was easily one of the most handsome men she had ever seen.
“Why are we here?” Jeremiah Finch interjected before Lilian could continue. The crackling timbre of his voice made Benny want to cough as she turned to Lilian.
“You didn’t tell them?” Benny asked Lilian accusingly.
Lilian shrugged in response. “No one gave me much direction on this, so I did what I felt like. It’s not like I know very much about human culture.”
“Why Azel trusts you so much is beyond me.” Benny grumbled at Lilian. She turned to the assembled council. “The reason you’re all here is that Azel-”
“Demon Lord Azel.” Lilian interejected.
Benny glanced at Lilian, decided to roll with it, and turned back to the others. “Demon Lord Azel wants to establish good relations, so I’ve been assigned to help you police the town. I’m also here to listen to your needs, and help you with them.”
“Why should we work with a traitor? How many of our children died so you could sit here and kill us slowly?”
Benny sighed. “If Azel-”
“Demon Lord Azel.” Lilian interjected again.
Benny glared agast at Lilian, who smirked in response. Benny sighed, and turned back to the table. “If Demon Lord Azel wanted to kill you, he would have. As far as I know, he doesn’t want to murder indiscriminately, he wants to rule. I won’t deny that he’s ruthless, and he’ll cut down anyone who gets in his path; but that’s all the more reason to not get in his way.”
“I don’t care about my life. I’ll resist until the day I die! My wife died in the crossfire of your invasion. I have nothing left to live for but stopping your schemes.” Jeremiah screamed at the top of his lungs.
“What about your children? Your grandchildren? With words like that, do you not fear what comes next?” Lilian asked cooly.
“You. Leave the room.” Benny said in demon tongue, pointing at Lilian.
“But Verilien-”
“No. That’s a direct order. Go stand in the hallway. Think of it as guard duty if you need to, but go.”
Lilian huffed, but obeyed; closing the door behind her with a slam.
Feeling dirty, Benny activated her suggestion power for the first time in hopes of resetting the conversation. The lack of feedback from the power as she spoke made it difficult to measure how much effect it added to her words. “I’m sorry about her. She doesn’t understand what you’re going through. Look, I’m sorry about what happened during the invasion, but I can’t do anything about that. I can only try to help the survivors. Trust me, I don’t want to be here any more than you.”
“She’s a harlot. A consort of the Demons. Don’t trust anything she says.” Jeremiah grumbled. Despite his attitude, the others at the table seemed more concerned than angry.
“What can you do for us?” Eli Ellison, the vice president, asked.
Lilian had used the walk to the meeting to brief her on her duties, so Benny spoke confidently.“Food, clothing, the minor necessities of life. I’ll also be around to act as a judge if there are disputes. If anyone needs a job, we have positions open to help the supply side of the army. You’ll even get paid in the holy kingdom’s currency. Is there anything else you want to add to that? Let me know, and I can try to get it for you.”
Three of the councilors had calculating looks. Jeremiah of course was urging his fellows not to listen, but they didn’t seem to be paying any attention to him. The treasurer, Betsy Leigh, raised her hand.
Benny nodded at her. “You don’t have to raise your hand, you can just talk.”
“One of the Demons… took advantage of my daughter during the invasion. If you can get him publicly punished, I’ll side with you. I’m not talking about a slap on the wrist either. I want real vengeance for my daughter.”
Benny considered this for a moment before replying. “I’ll go even farther than that. If you can draw up a list of everyone who suffered a major crime like rape, or murder of someone who wasn’t resisting, I’ll ask Azel to punish all of them according to their crimes. For what it’s worth, Azel isn’t the type to look the other way if his people commit crimes, so I think he’ll agree.”
Benny could tell a moment later that nearly the entire room had shifted her direction. She wondered idly if her manipulation power had hidden benefits, but the thought was interrupted by Jeremiah.
“Traitors! Fiends! You will all burn!”
Jeremiah continued to shout insults at the group as Betsy, finding herself unable to speak over Jeremiah, switched to Lilians seat.
“I’m sorry about him. He took the loss of his wife really hard. I can’t exactly blame him for that, but he’s always been a self-obsessed man. I don’t think he sees or cares about anyone else’s suffering. At least, not enough to let go of his vengeance on behalf of the survivors.”
Benny nodded. “I’ve known my share of people like that. He’s probably only going to get worse.”
A shout came from the hallway as they commiserated, followed by Lilian stumbling into the room. Lilian quickly barricaded the door with her own body. A loud thunk made the door vibrate a moment later.
“Verilien, your instincts in assigning me to guard the hallway were marvelous. We’re under attack.”
Benny blinked in surprise, but allowed her training to cut through the shock. “Who, and how many?”
“Hard to say on the numbers, but they’re armed humans. They mostly have longswords. I don’t think they’ve realized their swords are too long to use indoors, but I still didn’t want to face so many by myself.” Another thunk echoed through the room.
Benny nodded. “After the next impact, open the door. I’ll deal with this.”
“Yes Verilien.” Lilian replied, voice uncharacteristically snark-free as Benny drew the knife from her leg holster.
A moment later, the door vibrated,and Lilian quickly opened it. Benny charged into a very surprised looking young man, slamming her knife into his throat before he could react. He flailed in pain as she kicked him into the man behind him. The invaders had incautiously assembled in a straight line in front of the door, and the impact of their compatriot’s body sewed chaos. As the second man in line stumbled back from the collision, Benny rushed forward; her knife expertly jamming into the back of his neck.
&nbs
p; His corpse slumped to the side as the third man attempted to stab her with an awkward thrust of his long sword. She flattened herself against the wall as the sword point passed her, and grabbed the man’s arm before he could recover. Pulling on him hard, she disrupted his balance. With a frightened scream, he fell forward. Almost casually she placed her knife into his path, causing his forehead to impact it with a sickening crunch. He didn’t move again, and she kicked his corpse out of her path.
The next man in line learned from his forebears, holding her at bay with short thrusts; not overextending himself, nor letting her close the distance with her knife. Narrowing her eyes, Benny grabbed the corpse of the third man, ducking several thrusts in the process. Using the corpse like a shield, Benny charged into the fourth man. Panicked, the man frantically struck at her; but the sword stuck into the corpse, catching on the rib bones. Benny wrenched hard with the corpse, pulling the swordsman off balance. Before he could recover, she was on him, knife punching through the side of his throat, and out the other side. With a casual kick to the kneecap, she broke his knee for good measure.
He collapsed with a gurgle; the pain immobilizing him. She looked for her next target, and found the mob of people were fleeing. Training kicking in, she decided she needed to catch one alive. Before the last man could escape, she threw her knife; immobilizing the calf of the man who would have been next in line. With a shout of agony, he face-planted, the impact with the floor knocking him unconscious. Benny sighed as she walked up to him, and reclaimed her knife. Dragging the unconscious man back with her into the meeting room, she dropped him unceremoniously against one of the walls.
“Lilian, go check the entrance. I want to know if they retreated fully, or only left the building.” Benny said brusquely.
“As you say Verilien.” Lilian acknowledged, with a serious tone to her voice.
Without a sound, she disappeared through the door. Benny slumped against the wall as soon as she left. Noticing her bloody knife, Benny wiped it against the unconscious body next to her.
Lilian reentered the room a moment later. “Verilien, we have a problem.”
Chapter 17
Benny looked out from an upstairs window at a milling crowd of around thirty people; all armed with some form of weapon. She had already checked the backyard of the house, and a similar crowd of approximately equal numbers stood there as well. Benny, Lillian, and the town council were effectively trapped in the house. Benny saw a sudden movement, and dropped as one of the townspeople fired a pistol. She crawled under the window-frame as the shot went wide, and thunked against the wall. While she didn’t think it was likely that the townspeople would have the accuracy to hit her, she took no chances; crouching until she made it out the doors, and back to the second-story hallway. Closing the door, she stood. Lilian waited for her, nonchalantly leaning against the wall.
“Where are our reinforcements? You’d think Azel would have mobilized a regiment of soldiers to put down what looks like an organized revolt in the streets.” Benny remarked.
Lilian’s face took on a troubled expression. “Agreed; it is odd. Perhaps there is some kind of issue with communications. If someone killed the messengers before they could warn the upper ranks, it might take some time for reinforcements to be mobilized. Even so, we should be seeing the lower-rank officers dispatching forces to harass the mob. This is a prime opportunity for enterprising Demons to increase their accomplishments, so it is very strange. The only other possibility I can think of is that a larger force has occupied the attention of the defenders, and this group is taking advantage of that.”
Benny nodded. “I think it’s probably the second option. We need to move. I don’t think we’re going to get help before they realize I’m not immune to guns. Next time we’re bringing Noraz and Lorbin as backup.”
Lilian had explained while they were walking to the meeting that Noraz and Lorbin had been left behind to prevent any tampering with her room. As such, Lilian was serving the role of bodyguard for this venture. At the time, Benny had agreed with her logic, but she definitely regretted that now.
“Agreed Verilien. Honestly, I think we need Azel to assign us more personnel. Your security needs are ever-expanding.”
“No shit.” Benny muttered, glancing back at the door to the room she had been scouting from a moment before.
“How are the council holding up?” Benny asked Lilian as they entered the stairwell, moving back to the meeting hall.
“Confused, and worried. I do not think they know what to make of the situation.”
“I can definitely understand why.” Benny acknowledged. “On an unrelated note, I have an idea for how we can get out of here.”
“Oh?” Lilian said monosyllabically.
“Yep.” Benny countered.
…………
“Alright, ready?” Benny asked Lillian. The Demoness nodded as the pair approached the window. Benny had gambled that the mob wouldn’t hurt the council, and had sent them out the front door with a white flag. She had been right, and the council had been accepted by the mob with open arms. Despite receiving their leaders amicably, the mob didn’t disperse; suggesting to Benny that they were more interested in her than they had been in the council.
“On three. One. Two. Three!” Lilian and Benny heaved the dining table through the window, which led to the backyard. As she lifted, Benny activated the time sigil drawn into the table, which in this case acted as a timer for the next sigil.
The pair rushed downstairs, arriving at the bottom of the landing just in time to hear a loud boom which shook the walls. Lilian was knocked off balance as they ran, but recovered without losing much momentum. A moment later, they emerged from the hallway to find a significant hole in the wall. Outside, the yard was chaos. Stunned or dead people were everywhere, and Benny nearly tripped on a detached leg which had been blown into the room. Luckily, she managed to step over it just in time; maintaining her velocity at a sprint.
As they reached the halfway point on their break to freedom, Benny spotted a handful of survivors getting to their feet with a dazed look. She groaned internally as eight townspeople regained enough consciousness to box her in. Lilian came to a stop next to Benny, who had bent over one of the corpses. Grabbing a sword, Benny shoved it into Lilian’s hands.
“Take this, and don’t die.” Benny growled at her.
Lilian nodded, and reached down her own shirt; coming back with a knife that Benny strongly suspected had been hidden in her cleavage. “I am with you.” Lilian said simply.
Benny nodded, and stalked forward. Seven of the townspeople held melee weapons; five swords, and two makeshift spears, but one held a bolt-action rifle.
“We kill the guy with the gun, and then run. The people on the other side of the house will be here any second to investigate the explosion.”
“As you command.” Lilian agreed.
Benny decided she liked this new side of Lilian as they began jogging toward the man with the gun. Panicking, the man fired, but Lilian threw herself into the path of the bullet. She grunted as the bullet bounced off her tough hide, and Benny sent silent thanks to Orion that the bullet hadn’t been blessed. Before the gunman could reload, Benny’s knife devastated his chest in a maneuver that was half clothesline, half stab. With a grunt of effort, she retrieved it from where it had lodged against a bone, and turned to run.
Lilian tackled her just in time as another shot rang through the yard. Benny could hear the ricochet as it impacted Lilian and she muttered thanks as she turned around. The man with the pistol from earlier, along with ten more townspeople had come from the front yard to investigate, and he seemed to have drastically improved his aim as he unloaded the full clip into Lilian.
“Gah, that stings.” Lilian muttered once his ammo had run dry.
“It could be worse.” Benny muttered back at her as the pair stood up.
“Oh?” Lilian asked, reclaiming the weapons she had dropped when she clotheslined Benny.
“You could’ve had a two hundred pound Demoness on top of you.” Benny elaborated, grabbing her own weapons.
“I’ll have you know I’m very soft. Azel quite likes when I’m on top.” Lilian retorted disdainfully as she turned to run.
“I really didn’t need to know that.” Benny groused as she took aim at the frantically reloading pistoleer. With an audible “thwip” sound, she threw her knife as hard as she could; burying it to the hilt in the man’s forehead. Benny launched herself into a full sprint, soon joined by Lilian.
“Don’t start a fight if you’re not prepared to follow through.” Lilian retorted.
“Duly noted.” Benny ground out, realizing she needed to save as much oxygen as she could to fuel her muscles.
The next several minutes were spent at a frantic pace. Somehow, bands of men with weapons were everywhere, and not a Demon in sight. That was until they stumbled over the corpses of a Demon patrol.
“I recognize them. Some of these soldiers were under my command before I was demoted.” Lilian said sadly.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Benny replied, scrounging up several swords. She handed one to Lilian, who affixed the sheath to her belt; dropping the inferior sword she had taken from the mob. Benny did the same with her own looted sword.
“What now, Verilien? What is our plan?” Lilian asked, as the pair ducked into an empty building.
“We need to reach the keep. Even if some patrols got taken out, it would take an army to capture that. I’m sure Azel is working on retaking the city from there.”
“The real question is where all these people are coming from. Some of them are definitely locals, but the last patrol we spotted was dressed in the uniform of your church. I really do not understand how soldiers could have infiltrated the city so easily without Demonic help though.” Lilian’s brow furrowed in confusion as she spoke.
When Hell Froze Page 11