“What uh… what was that?” Michelle asked.
It happened again. Another tremor. This time, the horses noticed too, and they shuffled on the spot, Martial’s stallion neighed loudly.
“You don’t think it’s demons coming out of the ground to devour our souls because we said their lords name, do you?” Michelle asked.
Cassie thought it might be.
“No,” Martial said firmly.
And then, the ground began to shake violently. Before them, the golden fields of wheat began to burn. As smoke filled the air, the fields collapsed inwards and lava rose up. And riding on top of the lava were demons.
Their skin burning, they leapt off and rolled on the ground, amidst the fire, somehow, they managed to sooth the burns.
“Okay,” Martial began, “I just want to make clear that this is a coincidence. The demons just so happened to emerge from the ground at the same time we mentioned the name of the lord.”
Right, Cassie thought. “What shall we do?”
“We attack,” Martial said.
He drew his sword and pointed it towards the demons. The demons that were now running towards the village like crazed animals.
Martial led the charge, his black stallion stormed down the path and disappeared into the thick grey smoke.
Bringing up her courage, Cassie followed after him. The smoke was thick, and it burned her nostrils and stung her eyes. Around her, she could hear movement, of feet thumping against the ground, of beastly growling.
Cassie strained her ear.
Her eyes widened.
Those weren’t feet.
They were hooves.
She tapped her heel against her horse, urging it to run faster, to clear the mist.
As she emerged from the smoke, her eyes stinging, her throat burning, she spotted a black creature about the size of a horse running to her left.
But it wasn’t a horse.
For starters, the shape of the head, the snout, the teeth, it looked more reminiscent of the images she had seen of Hell Hounds.
Except, those images had left out one little detail.
They were drawn with the beast having a single head.
This one had three heads.
Three heads, six eyes, all that now stared at her.
The dog had been running alongside her when it suddenly turned and leapt towards her. Cassie reached for her sword and turning to face the beast, she tilted back. As the hound leapt over her, she slashed at its belly.
Blood covered her face, the dog howled a truly hellish scream as it hit the ground on unsteady feet.
Turning to look back at it, Cassie, her heart thumping, imagined that was the end of that. She expected to see the dog slowly dying, or at least, crawling to a halt to recover.
Except, it was doing the opposite.
The dog was running incredibly fast, catching up to her despite having suffered a deep cut. Its three mouths bared to show sharp canine teeth all across its mouth. As it came closer, catching up to her mare, it leapt up once more.
But this time, she wasn’t the target.
It was going to bite into the back of her horse, and definitely kill it.
Deciding that just wouldn’t do, Cassie leapt back, flying off her horse, she collided into the beast mid-air before hitting the ground, she rolled across the dirt. Cassie spat the dirt out of her mouth and jumped to her feet.
The beast had recovered too, and it stood before her, hind legs lowered, as if it were about to jump at her once more.
And then, it did.
Cassie held her sword by her side, ready to slash at the beast as it came within range, and simultaneously, move out of range of its sharp claws.
It seemed to happen in slow motion, the approach of the beast. Its three heads seemed to magnify; every terrifying aspect now shown in high definition. From the coldness in the black and yellow eyes, the fur that was more like little spikes, the teeth that were perfectly white and incredibly sharp, as if they had been filed and cleaned for this occasion.
As Cassie turned her chest to put a swing in her strike, suddenly, arrows flew past her shoulder. Time seemed to return to normality as the beast hit the ground with a thud, arrows buried in every head.
Cassie glanced back to see Michelle riding out of the smoke, her bow slinging off her shoulder now, she held a hand out. As she passed, Cassie took the hand and jumped onto Michelle’s horse, sitting behind her.
They rode fast, and as they approached her own horse, she jumped off Michelle’s saddle and onto her own. In front of them, the demons had already reached the village. There were screams of horror as the humans turned to flee, most going the other way, and not towards Cassie, Michelle, and the backdrop of burning fields.
Thankfully, Martial had arrived.
Both Cassie and Michelle watched, mesmerised by his skill. He leapt off his horse and flew over the demons that had gathered on the road, landing between them and the fleeing humans. Despite being drunk as fuck, he landed perfectly. His sword came out, and he stood with it by his side, his head lowered, his eyes closed.
Was he meditating, surrounded by demons?
But then, as the demons charged, Martial’s eyes flung open. Moving swiftly, he sliced through the first demons that dared to attack this magnificent human. His sword cut through the flesh and bones as if it were made of candy.
As Cassie’s horse finally entered the village, she leapt off her horse, her landing not as perfect as Martial’s, she rolled on the ground before shooting to her feet, her sword out, she drove it in the demon’s stomach. Pulling it out, she turned and stepped out of the way of an incoming blade as an arrow flew past her and dug into the skull of another demon.
They worked well together, Cassie and Michelle, and they made their way through the demons with relative ease. Cassie felt her confidence begin to rise as she killed two more demons.
The beasts were scary. They were strong and fast, but it turned out she was faster, and Michelle could hit an ant from twenty feet away, she was that good.
As she killed the last of the demons on the main road, she came before Martial. He was covered in blood, but she knew none of it was his own.
“You did good,” he said to her. “But it’s not over yet. There are more demons about. Follow the screams,” he told her.
As if on cue, multiple screams filled the evening light, coming from both her left and right. Martial took the right, Cassie the left, followed closely by Michelle, who was still on horseback, her bow knocked, watching and ready.
Cassie didn’t get far before the window to her left smashed and a demon charged out, headfirst, it collided into her waist, the horns on its head struck her metal armoured pants. Cassie swung her sword but missed completely as she hit the ground.
She turned her body so that she was on her back, the demon still had its head by her waist, its arms wrapped around her. Cassie brought her sword down onto the demon’s back, but it did little good against the heavy armour it wore. She slammed her knee up, hitting his chin. The demon loosened its grip and Cassie wiggled free. She scrambled to her feet and as the demon began to rise, she drove her sword down his neck.
As she pulled her sword out, another demon appeared from nowhere. Arrows flew past her and buried themselves in the demon’s head. As he fell to the ground, Michelle rode up to her.
“Are you okay?”
Breathing heavily, Cassie nodded.
Fighting was tiring, even for Legacies.
Both demons had appeared from the same house. Cassie kicked the door down and entered. She could hear whimpering coming from the door to her left. Stepping inside, she saw a girl huddled in the corner, her clothes torn off, her body shaking. Seeing them, she pointed at the opposite corner.
There was a demon there, a female.
She had black hair and blue skin. She was naked, save for the chain around her neck. Her features looked human, more like a girl painted blue rather than an actual demon. She didn’t even have an
y horns, and her teeth were normal too, though she did have yellow eyes.
Seeing them enter the room, the demon’s eyes fell on Cassie’s sword. She jumped to her feet and slammed headfirst into the window. Smashing through the glass, she landed on the street.
But she didn’t get far.
Michelle, who had been outside and, on her horse, rode past and knocked the demon to the ground as Cassie climbed out of the window.
The demon girl, now on the floor, turned onto her bottom and crawled back, coming up against the wall. She stared at them with fear in her eyes.
“What should we do with her?” Michelle asked.
“She’s a demon.”
“I know but… she doesn’t seem scary. She looks afraid.”
The demon girl did look afraid. Maybe she was just a coward and was afraid, knowing she was going to die. It made sense for some demons to be cowards too, right? They were living creatures, and every living creature wanted to continue to live, right?
“That girl inside the cottage was afraid of her,” Cassie said. “If we hadn’t walked in, who knew what she would have done to that poor girl.”
Cassie raised her sword in both hands and held it above her, ready to strike. The demon girl continued to stare up, eyes wide, body frozen in fear. The sword in Cassie’s hand wavered. It didn’t seem right, did it? Killing a defenceless demon, cowering naked on the ground?
But her resolve hardened as she remembered the refugees that had fled to Cornhill-on-Tweed. Many had lost their husbands, wives and children to the demons.
Cassie brought her sword down with force. But before it could strike the demon on the head, a rock slammed into the side. She missed the demon and instead hit the ground beside her. Panicking, thinking it was demons, Cassie raised her sword and swung again.
But this time, her blade clashed with another sword. A beautiful sword with a black handle, lines of gold swirling from the pommel to the guard. As she followed the sword and the hand that held it, she met Martial’s eyes.
“Don’t,” he warned.
Chapter 28
It turned out the village was fortunate in that the Legacies arrived at the right time. Aside from a few burnt houses and a few girls sexually assaulted, damage was minimal. There were no deaths. The fields that had burned as portals from Hell opened, that fire did not spread, but dissipated on its own.
The villagers were happy to see them, and terrified that demons could now apparently emerge from the ground at any time and point.
They converged around Martial as he sat in the local pub, the demon girl beside him, she sat on the floor, still naked, she huddled against his leg, much like a terrified dog would do.
The villagers weren’t happy with her presence, but after the first guy made the mistake of commenting on what needed to be done to the demon girl, and Martial promptly broke his front teeth with a slap – that’s right, with a fucking slap – no one else cared to express their opinions on the matter.
Martial spoke to the group in the pub, his voice loud and clear, he gave them their options. They could stay in the village and risk another demon attack. He didn’t know what the possibility was of the demons opening another portal in the exact same spot. Having examined the holes in the ground, they weren’t like the existing portals, the permanent portals that were large holes in the ground, devoid of light.
He understood the villagers had nowhere else to go, that their livelihoods were here, so he suggested the women and children head for Learmouth, where they would find security behind its walls, and comfort in the presence of its many Legacies.
The men can stay behind, if they must, to tend to their crops, complete the harvest. But they needed to arm themselves. He told them of Cornhill-on-Tweed, and of Martha, the Legacy in charge there. If anyone was interested, she would provide them with weapons and training.
When Martial was done talking, the crowd shouted over each other with numerous questions. Some wondered if he would stay in the village to protect them. They would pay handsomely. Others wondered why the portals were opening up around them. What was going on in Hell?
Martial answered as many as he could, his demeanour calm, he never answered the same question more than once, even though they kept coming around, sometimes phrased differently, sometimes said the exact same way.
Eventually, the crowd thinned, and the men left.
It was a silent supper for the three of them.
Four of them.
The demon girl was still sitting on the floor, naked aside from the chain around her neck, her shoulder rested against Martial’s leg. Again, much like a dog. She didn’t have that same fear in her eyes from earlier. In fact, she seemed remarkably calm considering she was a demon surrounded by humans, by Legacies.
Martial gave her food in a bowl placed before her. The girl ate with her hands. It was fascinating to watch, and confusing too.
“What are you going to do with her?” Cassie eventually worked up the courage to ask.
“Haven’t decided yet,” Martial replied. He reached down and stroke her hair. “What do you know about demons?”
“Evil,” Michelle replied instantly. “They devour human souls, torture them for eternity.”
Martial gave a shake of his head in a somewhat noncommittal way. “All demons aren’t evil. Their society is more like what ours was during the medieval period, or even what it’s like now. They have structures. The strong dominate the weak. They’re not evil per se. Especially the weaker demons, the poorer demons.”
Cassie glanced at the demon girl. She had finished eating, and she stared up at them, some of the fear of earlier returning as she listened to their conversation.
“What are you going to do to me?” the demon asked.
“I don’t know,” Martial said, sighing again.
Cassie noted he seemed to do that a lot, like he was tired of life in general, like he’d been around for a really long time and seen everything. Not for the first time, she wondered how old he really was, what generation Legacy he was.
“Will I be killed?”
Cassie raised an eyebrow at the question, and the calm manner it was asked in. She’d thought the girl to be a coward, but she was remarkably calm for someone who thought they might be killed.
“No. I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen to you.”
The rest of the meal finished in silence, and when they were done, they headed up the stairs to their room. Again, it was a small room with a double bed pressed against the wall by the window. Martial stripped his clothes off and collapsed on the bed, his arms stretched out.
The demon girl, after staring at the girls briefly, climbed onto the bed and settled down, curling up near Martial’s feet. She closed her eyes and was asleep soon. The same was true of Martial.
“What a day, huh?” Michelle asked.
“Nuts.”
“We killed demons.”
“That we did.”
“Apparently we adopted one too.”
Cassie’s eyes fell on the demon girl sleeping by Martial’s feet. Guess she wasn’t the only one that thought the demon behaved very much like a pet dog. “How do you think Martial knows so much about demon culture down in Hell? Do you think he’s been down there?”
“Been to Hell?” Michelle asked, as she pulled off her metal bra and massaged her boobs. “I don’t know of many Legacies that have been down there and back… I don’t think even many Immortals have done that.”
It was true.
They knew some humans had been down to Hell and lived to tell the tale. Alex, an Immortal, was one of those humans. But Alex was extraordinary as an Immortal, and he had the strength of Lucifer inside him.
It was doubtful Martial had been to Hell, but there was just something about him that, were he to say he’d been down there, Cassie would believe him, despite the fact that, sometimes, he did brag quite a lot.
She undressed, taking off the armour from her arms, her breasts, and finally, the armour around
her waist. With some caution, she pulled out the dildos that were attached to the armour and inserted in her pussy and cunt.
Now naked, she climbed onto the bed and rested her head on Martial’s chest, her hand stretched out over him. Michelle, sleeping on the other side of Martial, took her hand and placed it on her breast.
Cassie raised a head to look at her, and in response, Michelle smiled mischievously. Cassie squeezed her breast as she laid her head back. What the hell, she thought. She wasn’t getting any from Martial, despite sleeping next to him naked. She might as well get some from Michelle. The girl was good with her tongue.
It might even turn Martial on if he were to see two hot girls playing with each other. And with that thought in her head, she fell asleep on his chest.
Chapter 29
The following morning, after breakfast, they set off once more. This time, there were four of them. Martial asked the barmaid for clothes, and in order to please him, the poor girl stripped naked there and then, and gave her clothes to him.
Martial knew his aura was incredibly strong, to the point where he never needed to use it, to force his will upon others. It just happened. If a girl fancied him even a little, which pretty much all girls did based on his looks, and the fact they thought he was a Legacy, his aura did the rest and turned even that little want, that little need into desperation to please.
After all these years, he still found stuff like that amusing. The barmaid was cute, if a little on the skinny side. Not only did she take off her top and trousers, she even pulled off her bra and stood awkwardly, smiling at him, eyes glazed.
Martial felt obliged to touch them, give them a squeeze, leave the girl something to remember when she wonders why she took off her clothes.
The demon was named Kagnak, and once clothed, she rode behind him as they set off towards Learmouth.
Things were getting much worse much more quickly than Martial had anticipated. If demons could create portals and appear on earth anywhere they wanted to, and at any time they wanted to, the war was going to tip horribly in their favour. It was bad enough that Satan was back, but now, the fortifications along the borders would prove completely useless.
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