“I see you, Martial,” the head at the top, where a head should be, hissed. “I don’t know how you survived in Heaven, but today, you will die.”
Survived in heaven? Martial felt a chill up his spine as he stared at the face at the top. He shook his head. “No fucking way.”
“Yes. Fucking. Way. Alex.”
Martial stepped back, his feet unsteady. “What did you call me?”
The face smiled, showing teeth that were rotting. “I’m back.”
“Satan?”
“Damn fucking straight, motherfucker,” the beast said, all four heads laughing simultaneously.
Martial suddenly felt lightheaded. He pressed his sword against the ground to keep himself steady.
“In that?” he pointed at the beastly demon body towering above him. “Why would you want to be in that?”
“My form is a little off at the moment. I’m more uh, what’s the word? Fluid? This isn’t my final form. That’s still in the process of being made. In the meantime, I can drift between certain bodies.”
“Your choice has got to be seriously limited if that’s a form you’re willing to take,” Martial muttered.
“I’m just possessing this body, you cunt fuck,” the demon growled.
“Cunt fuck,” Martial repeated, suddenly exhausted. “That’s original. Probably unlike your plan, huh? World domination?”
“Yes, actually. Thanks to you and Lucifer, really. We killed God, killed his fucking Archangels. Now there is nothing to stop me from devouring every soul in this world.”
“Well, I mean… I wouldn’t say nothing.”
“What do you mean?” the beast asked, no trace of humour in its beastly growl of a voice.
“I think a mirror could stop you. I mean, have you seen yourself? Dude, you are ugly as fuck.”
“You’re going to die, Alex. And when you do, we both know where your soul is going. I can smell the guilt from here, surviving when all others, those that loved you, those that trusted you, believed in you, when they’re all dead?”
Martial stood straight and stretched. He had feared this moment was coming, that Satan had really returned. How that was possible, he had no idea. But it had happened. And talking to the beastly deformed creature in front of him, Martial knew it to be true.
Strangely enough, he felt calm.
“Let’s get this over with,” Martial said.
He charged at the beast, and skidding to the ground, he dove under the long claw-like arms and struck with his sword as he passed between the Soul Stealer’s legs.
As he came up behind the demon, Martial knew he had done little to hurt the beast. His sword had struck what felt like thick metal armour.
The Soul Stealer turned to face him, all four heads smiling. “You’re going to have to do a lot better than that.”
“I know,” Martial said.
He leapt up, jumping thirty feet into the air, he came down hard, aiming for the demon’s uppermost head. The beast twisted his neck, and Martial’s sword penetrated the soft flesh on the demon’s neck and drove all the way down until the hilt pressed against the collarbone.
And still, the demon did not fall.
No.
It smiled at him.
Martial’s face was inches away from the demon’s. He turned his head as the demon breathed and a wave of stench hovered around him.
“Third times the charm, right?” the beast growled.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Martial asked as he pressed his feet against the Soul Stealer’s chest and tugged at his sword, trying to break free.
“You’ve died twice before, haven’t you? Once when I killed you on earth. I imagine you died in Heaven too. You couldn’t have survived that, not when I didn’t, not when God or my sister didn’t. But you came back. Do you think you’ll come back another time?”
“I’d rather not find out,” Martial muttered, holding the handle of his sword with both hands now, tugging with all his strength, his sword jammed down the demon’s neck, he felt the collar bone begin to crack. Another pull, and he would have his sword.
But Martial didn’t get another chance to pull his sword out. The demon grabbed him with both his monstrous hands and threw him against the wall opposite.
Martial crashed into it like a test dummy would crash into the wall. If the test dummy was strapped to the front of the car, and not in the front seat, strapped to it with a belt, and protected with an air bag.
Despite his inhuman strength, Martial was still only human, as were all the Immortals and Legacies. There was only so much his body could take.
And now, it had reached its breaking point. As his body hit the ground, his eyes closed as darkness swirled around him.
Chapter 43
Cassie couldn’t believe how the tide had turned. When they first arrived on the street, it seemed hopeless. It was hopeless. Hundreds of demons and the most terrifying beast she had ever set eyes upon, one that had an even more terrifying purpose – to ensure every human, man, woman and even child would be condemned to eternal Hell.
But then, Michelle, the quiet girl that said little, and did even less without Cassie around, had somehow managed to rouse the terrified locals, roused them enough to come out with table legs to face demons that had crawled out of Hell.
Despite their relative weakness, aided by Michelle, the clever girl perched on rooftops, firing away arrows at demons, she knocked down enough for the first few humans to arm themselves with demon weapons.
Sure, they were a bit heavy, and these humans had little experience in wielding weapons, but it wasn’t rocket science.
After some initial hesitation, they charged like a mob would do. And it was effective. The demons fought back, but outnumbered, they began to fall.
As the demon numbers thinned, Cassie searched for Martial.
When she spotted him, she had to blink twice to make sure what she was seeing was accurate. Martial was hanging on to the Soul Stealer, his sword plunged down its neck, his feet pressed against the demon’s chest, he was stuck.
How the fuck had he gotten there in the first place?
And then, the beast grabbed him with both of his monstrous hands and threw him against the wall. It was a brutal throw. Martial’s body hit the ground, where it remained. Still. Blood trickled down his forehead.
The beast was down on his knees, also injured, a large chunk of chest flesh and bone hung loose from his arm. The demon tore the flesh off, screaming as he did, and climbed to his feet. As the demon walked towards Martial’s body, Cassie broke into a run.
She ducked under a demon’s sword, not wasting time to finish him off, she continued on, leaping over seven more demons, she landed behind the beast as it towered over Martial, a foot raised to crush the life out of him, if there was any left.
Cassie acted quickly and brought her sword down hard on the demon’s back.
Her sword bounced back, as if she had just struck a wall of metal. When the demon turned to look at her, Cassie felt all her confidence shrink.
She knew the beast was big, but standing so close to it, the thing was fucking enormous. The head in its stomach was above her own head. It stared at her, a twisted glint in its bulging eyes. But when the demon spoke, it was the head at the top, the one attached to the right end of the neck that moved its lips, that the growling sound came from.
“What have we here?” the beast asked, licking its lips with a purple tongue. “Are you a Demon Hunter?”
Demon Hunter? It wasn’t a term Cassie had heard before, though it did seem appropriate.
“I’m a Legacy,” she said to the demon, holding her sword before her, mustering her courage, trying to sound more confident than she was. “I’m going to kill you.”
The demon roared in laughter, all four heads. Blood poured down his neck, gurgling. “You’re going to kill me?” the demon asked, as it stepped towards her. “Do you know who I am?”
“You’re a Soul Stealer.”
; “Soul Stealer? I’m Satan, the fucking devil!”
“No,” Cassie shook her head.
“No?”
Cassie shook her head again. She didn’t believe it. Didn’t want to believe it. Because if it were true, if Satan really was standing before her, this would not end well for her. It would not end well for anyone in this town.
Or for any human on earth.
Satan had never left Hell before, at least, not for the past three hundred years.
“What… what… why are you here?” Cassie asked, her throat dry. “Is that… is that what you look like?”
“I’m here because of him,” the beast pointed back at Martial’s body. “And no, I don’t usually look like this. I’m actually quite handsome,” he winked, all four heads.
“For Martial?”
“That’s not his real name,” Satan said. “We go way back, me and him, a bit of history between us. Long story really. Don’t have the time. You’re hot, but unfortunately, on this occasion, I’m not really suited for fucking. I’ll have to kill you.”
It was a lot of information for Cassie to process, but she processed it quickly, focusing on the last part. He was going to kill her.
She readied herself for the onslaught.
But it did not come.
The Soul Stealer, the demon that was possessed by Satan, he moved slowly. His left shoulder was hunched, where Martial had stabbed him and torn out half his chest and some bone. His knee on the same side was bent from the injury.
He limped forward, not very fast for a demon, and definitely not fast for a Legacy.
Satan seemed to realise as much too. He stopped midway and turned. He began to walk back towards Martial, whose body still lay on the ground, not having moved an inch since he fell there.
Why was Satan going back towards Martial? Was there a chance her master was still alive?
Cassie had already attacked the Soul Stealer’s armoured body. It was impenetrable. It made sense now why Martial was hanging from the demon, his sword driven into what appeared to the soft skin around the neck.
Cassie leapt into the air and aimed for the demon’s exposed neck. She didn’t connect. Satan might have a sluggish body to control, but it seemed he had his own senses. His arm came around as she neared, and Cassie had to use her sword to block the strike.
Again, as they clashed, it was like hitting a fully solid metal arm.
Cassie landed on her feet and skidded sideways.
She didn’t pause to strategize, to catch her breath, she went at him again, striking at his enormous hide with speed and ferocity, skipping in and out between his long and thick legs. She managed to leave what amounted to scratch marks on his legs and back.
She also managed to distract him from squashing Martial. But it was all temporary. She didn’t know how long she would be able to keep this up. She’d been fighting for hours now, first at the wall, then against the demons in this street, and now, against this beast.
“You’re tired,” the Soul Stealer said. “But you won’t give up, will you?”
“Never,” Cassie replied, breathing heavily, she wiped the sweat away from her brow.
“He knows how to pick them doesn’t he? I actually admire that about him.”
“You seem to know him really well,” Cassie said, trying to keep the beast possessed by Satan distracted. She’d spotted Michelle a few roofs away, crawling towards them stealthily. Her arrows to the demon’s head would be a lot more effective. “You guys go way back, huh?”
“I wouldn’t say way back,” Satan replied. “I’ve been around since the beginning to time, almost. I’ve known Alex for about three hundred years, but yeah, he’s made an impression.”
“Alex?” Cassie repeated. Did he just say Alex? No… No. “Alex?”
“You didn’t know,” Satan said, his lips spreading into horrid smiles, all four faces. “Your little friend here is quite famous in the human world. Alex, the Immortal, as they call him,” Satan said, cackling out loud.
Cassie turned to look at the body of Martial, lying on the ground, still. Was he really Alex? She knew he was old, knew he had experience but… Could he be Alex? The Alex that fought against Satan, against God, the Alex that led them to victory in so many battles against the demons? The Alex that was one with Lucifer?
He was supposed to be dead. No one knew when or where he had died, which battle, but it happened shortly before the truce with the demons.
Except, apparently, it hadn’t happened.
“I killed him once you know. The fucker somehow came back to life. He died for the second time in Heaven. Somehow, he came back for the second time. But not today,” Satan said, as he turned the Soul Stealer’s body towards Martial. “Today, he dies. Today, I take his soul to torture for all eternity.”
Michelle was four roofs away, but seeing what was about to happen, she dropped to one knee, bow in hand, she nocked an arrow and let fly. Having spotted Cassie battling the beast, striking its tough exterior with her sharp blade and doing little damage, she aimed for the purple flesh around the beast’s neck.
It was a small target, but Michelle was an excellent archer.
She let another four arrows fly before the first one struck. They all hit their targets.
The Soul Stealer stopped in his tracks, a foot away from squashing Martial. There was a gurgling sound as the Soul Stealer took in deep breaths, as blood squirted out from the four holes in his neck.
Seeing an opportunity, seeing the Soul Stealer weakened, Cassie leapt onto its back and striking hard, she sliced off the uppermost head on the beast. As she flipped back and landed on her feet, the Soul Stealer fell back, finally hitting the ground in defeat.
Chapter 44
When Martial opened his eyes, he found two pretty faces staring down at him. He couldn’t remember where he was, or how he’d gotten there, but he smiled at them. The two girls stared at him with concern in their eyes.
It was always nice to have pretty girls concerned about him. It was one step away from taking off their clothes, as far as he was concerned.
And talking of clothes, the girls were barely wearing any. Metal bras held back their round breasts, and another bit of metal shaped like a thong barely did its job of covering their pussies.
“You’re alive,” the blond girl said. “Oh, thank god. We thought we’d lost you.”
Cassie.
The blond girl was Cassie.
That’s right.
He knew these girls.
“Fucks sake,” Martial muttered.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong. I’m still in this shithole of a world. I thought I’d died and gone some place pleasant.”
“Some place pleasant?” Michelle asked. “What of this place made you think it would be pleasant?”
Marital noticed her eyes moving around their surroundings, and he followed them. He saw what she meant. This place wasn’t pretty or pleasant at all. The street was littered with blood and bodies, human and demons.
“I didn’t see the bodies,” Martial muttered. “I woke up and saw your two faces and thought, well this is nice.” Now, all he could think about was, what the fuck happened here? So, he asked, “What the fuck happened here?”
The girls stared at him with worry.
“I’m fine,” Martial said, being able to read their minds. “Just a little bump on the head, temporary memory loss. Fill me in on what transpired here. Now.”
So, both girls told him what had happened, and as they spoke, Martial began to remember up until the point when the Soul Stealer had thrown him against the wall. He saw the body of the beast lying one head less on the ground ten feet away from him.
“You girls did good,” Martial said, when they finished telling him how they had killed the Soul Stealer and finished off the rest of the demons. After that, the humans armed themselves with the demon’s weapons and marched towards the town gates, no longer afraid. “We should probably head that way ourselves,
see what the fuck is going on.”
Martial climbed to his feet and stumbled back, about to hit the ground, the girls held him steady.
“Thanks,” Martial muttered. “I just need to get on my horse, and then I’ll be fine.”
It was then did he remember what had happened to his black stallion, the demon with the enormous horn ramming his horse. He looked around for the body of the horse, but amongst the pile of dead and mutilated bodies, amongst the rubble of broken walls and more, it wasn’t an easy find.
“Fuck,” Martial cursed. “I guess we’re walking.”
With an arm around each girl’s shoulder, Martial headed down the street. As they made it to the end, at the crossroad, an enormous Hell Horse dashed past them.
Michelle instantly nocked an arrow, but Martial placed a hand on it.
“I think we found our transport.”
Chapter 45
Thinks were much worse than Veronica had anticipated. In her travels around the country, she was seeing more and more demons pouring out from the ground. They were always small in number, manageable by the local towns and the Legacy in charge.
That was, until she arrived at Cornhill-on-tweed, the furthest town north of the country. The town had three Legacies, all apprentices to another master who had left town recently, heading towards Learmouth.
Veronica was on a mission from Immortal Queen Margaret, to round up as many Legacies as she could to prepare for war with the demons, to face the massive demon army that had amassed north of their border, ten miles from the Gilgic Passing, a passage two miles wide that cut through the mountains that separated the Demon Land and their own country.
She travelled alone, from town to town, sending Legacies by order of the Queen, to head to Newcastle, the capital.
And she had done that with every town she had passed.
Until she arrived at Cornhill-on-Tweed. It was a small town, fortunate enough to have even one Legacy, it had three. It was a valuable town, one that mined metals used to build weapons. And the town was mining hard.
It had good reason to.
Legacies Page 27