Gods From the Machine (19 page)

These beasts looked absolutely disgusting.
Three times bigger than normal hounds, roughly equivalent to the size of a car, their fur coats appeared as if they had been eaten alive, like rotten corpses. Overly grown fangs protruded from their mouths. Their eyes were red, mirroring his own as a demon. He could see by the way their mouths were dripping with saliva that they were thirsty. What could he do? Calling for help was out of the question. Judging from their expressions, they were keen to strike at any given moment. He knew what he had to do.

“
Over here!” Nick waved his hands, trying to draw their attention. But it was of no avail. They were too fixated on the grand feast of screaming people up and down the street to bother with him. Maybe there was a way around that. Quinn and the others were far enough away to see him now and with the ensuing mayhem keeping everyone busy he was free to become what he was meant to be. He lit his hands into flames, and immediately reunited with Agrian. With a demon back in the driver’s seat he could cut loose and make short work of these beasts.

As soon as he transformed
, the hounds stopped their assault on the humans, and tilted their heads at Nick, looking at him with an odd curiosity. Have they never seen the Inferno Bearer before? Perhaps his status as one of the Crowned Princes of demons meant he had some control over these mutts.

Wishful thinking. A
s soon as the thought entered his mind they snarled and snapped at him. Several long and black, spiderlike tendrils emerged from their backs, making them look even more monstrous. The tendrils whipped the air antagonistically. A confrontation was imminent.

It was time to show what hours and practice controlling his fire abilities in the training room could do in a life or death situation. From getting started to using them efficiently, they were all linked to his current state of mind. He had to produce the negative emotion
of rage and use it as fuel for powering Agrian. It made sense when he figured it out, considering his title was the Lord of Rage. However, to keep things in control, he started off small. Minor spurts of anger or annoyances were the stepping points he used before they snowballed into stronger feelings of frustration, which eventually made him resentful, which in turn created a festering ball of fury. He kept this frame of thought and built on these emotions until it reached its peak and evolved into the strongest negative feeling of all, the uninhibited animalistic desire for destruction.

It worked like a charm.

The pack flew at him, but the distance between them gave him more than enough time to react. He caught the leader of the pack by the jaws and flung him into a vacant car. Two others darted at him on both sides, but he dove forward into a somersault, narrowly escaping getting ripped in half by their sharp jaws. But he was careless, and ended up in range of another dog. It took a huge bite into his arm, gnawing deep as Nick spun to shake him off, slamming it into another hound.

His right sleeve was torn, revealing his bleeding arm. Rookie mistake. A real knight would never have been so easily thrown off guard. A real knight would be able to tear through these beasts with his sword
, like scissors cutting paper. He didn’t have a sword, but he was a knight and now was time to prove it. He baited them to come at him in a group before igniting a flaming wall, which burned the eager two to ashes. Three to go. He leapt through the fire and caught one of the dogs by the neck. The tendrils from its body whipped at him, but wilted after Nick snapped its neck in his arms. The cracking sound of bones alerted the remaining two who were hesitant now, whimpering in fear. Perhaps if he wasn’t so enraged, he’d have shown some mercy. But Nick was so far away from mercy now. He punched one of them as hard as he could with a flaming knuckle, sending its burning carcass down the street. The leader of the pack and last one remaining, pounced at him, but he dodged and grabbed the creature from behind. The tendrils latched around his neck, attempting to choke him, but one swift fiery punch to the side of the animal forced it to relinquish its grip. The Hellbeast staggered a few steps before it toppled over, blood escaping from its torso. It finally died with a raspy gurgle.

Behind him the fire wall he c
reated still roared with life, but with his powers he extinguished the flames as fast as he created them. The training he had paid off, and he was pleased with how much control he had developed just a few short months. However, it was too soon to be counting his progress as he still had other duties to fulfill. Like where were the other five of the pack?

As Nick walked around the aba
ndoned shopping center, his priority was looking for any survivors left behind. He didn’t want to leave anything to chance. He cleared out every store, finding either nothing or the bodies of the already deceased. Eventually he stumbled upon an old mom and pop establishment that had its windows shattered. He walked in, the bell chime sounding his arrival. Nick heard someone groaning and walked to the counter.

The shopkeeper, an eld
erly gentleman with glasses lay motionless, giant horizontal slash wounds across his chest. They appeared to be four fingered claw marks, with a width much wider than the wolves.

“
Sir, let me get you to a hospital,” Nick said.

When Nick knelt
to help him up, the man groaned. “Get out here, kid…”

Upon closer inspection of the man
’s body, his dark red stained clothes indicated he had suffered much blood loss. It was sending him into a state of shock. He had to take the man to the hospital quickly, but judging by how long much time had elapsed, the man was almost out of time.

The man was growing
paler and shaking as he looked at Nick, pointing behind him and muttering nonsensically. Whatever did this to him broke him beyond mental repair. Nick lifted the man’s shirt to inspect the wound. The Hellbeasts in this area couldn’t have delivered such a clean slash; there would be signs of smaller claw marks or bite wounds. The thing that did this was very precise and had claws that were much larger.

Nick waited with the man for
the few minutes he had left to live. Having Hellbeasts so close to their headquarters was a bad sign. Doctor Numerous and Bergice were in Fyria, which meant that they were definitely out of the question. So then, what else could have gotten through?

He
stood up, pulled out his communicator, and dialed Matt. He didn’t care if he would get into trouble for leaving, this required immediate answer from someone with more experience. As the communicator rang once, the wall closest to him crashed down. Before he could react, a giant black claw lurched through, grabbed him by the throat and jerked him through to the other side. At some point, Nick dropped his device.

Now in
the back alleyway, he came face to face with a large humanoid demon. It pulled him against his nose, mouth inches away. Its foul breath almost made Nick vomit. The creature took a few long sniffs then tossed Nick to the floor.

“
I thought I recognized this scent…but this—this cannot be!” the demon exclaimed. “This is the scent of the traitor, Lord Agrian!”

Nick wip
ed the dirt off his jacket and stood up. The demon was at least twice his size. Its entire body was pitch black, and had a gooey texture, as if it dripping with wet paint. It had two curved horns that protruded out of its head with a menacingly large mouth with rows and rows of razor sharp teeth. Instantly Nick recognized him.

“
You must be Astaroth.”

He
chuckled. “It seems you’ve stumbled upon our little raid. How long have you known?”

“
That depends. How did you manage to break through the Holy Shield?” Nick said.

“
A gift from Doctor Numerous.”

“
All those people…dead,” Nick muttered.

“
Vermin compared to us. What a surprise, I had come to this city under the orders of Doctor Numerous. Little did I know, I would end up meeting the infamous Inferno Bearer. It is high time you’ve rejoined our cause, my lord.”

“
If I refuse?” Nick gauged his foe, trying to find any discernible weakness or any advantage he could press.

“
The humans pushed us out into the wilderness. They’ve treated us like animals! Twice now we had to suffer the humiliation of being crushed by their kind. It is time we rise again!” Astaroth snarled.

“
I am a knight of the Garrison. It is my sworn duty to protect the people of this city.”

“
Then the rumors are true, you are no Lord of Rage, but merely a pathetic mortal with his power,” Astaroth said.

“
It’s best not insult me, I’m not exactly the most forgiving person. But I’ll take the highroad and let you off easy this time if you give me a clue as to what Doctor Numerous has in store.”

Astaroth laughed.
“What makes you think I’ll obey such a demand?”

“
This.”

Nick threw a fireball at the beh
emoth, blasting him backwards. He recoiled in pain. Nick jumped up to strike with a blazed punch only to be caught within one of Astaroth’s tendrils. Some more coiled around his arms and legs, snaring him in place.

“
Too easy.” Astaroth laughed. “You are no Inferno Bearer, you are nothing. Now go to the eternal sleep!” he hissed, as he brought down his claws for a full swipe.

Nick ignited his arms
, tearing through the tendrils. He flung them off and tackled the dazed Astaroth into the open streets. It’d be easier this way. More room to move.

“
For that, I will drink your blood!” Astaroth hissed.

Astaroth wasn
’t going down easily. He was already on his feet once more. He anticipated Nick’s plans and outstretched his tendrils into long ropes. The tips shaped themselves into blades. He swung them at Nick, keeping him at bay and forcing him on the defensive.

“
You cannot hit me if you cannot reach me!” Astaroth jeered.

With the blades moving so quickly, cutting up chunks of cement, Nick knew they would shred him to pieces. Close combat would be impossible now. However, Astaroth didn
’t know he was holding back. Nick summoned a wall of fire from behind the demon. His entire backside caught the force of the blaze and the demon screeched in pain. Astaroth retracted his tendrils in an attempt to extinguish the fire, but it only fanned the flames more brightly.  Nick used Astaroth’s distraction to his advantage to move up the side of the building. Then he leapt over Astaroth, stamping him square on the back of the head with both feet. The momentum shoved him forward and slammed his face into the concrete. Nick took this opportunity to send a fiery blow straight through his back, tearing through the soft flesh into the other side. The pain forced him to return to his human form. He was naked, vulnerable like the day he was born.

“
It can’t be…” Blood dripped from Astaroth’s lips. “You were supposed to be weak! How could you have beaten me?”

“
Easily. Quite easily. Think of it as payback for the old man you murdered.”

“
You dare mock me! I am Astaroth the Annihilator!”

Nick stepped hard on
the hole in his back. Astaroth screeched in pain. “I disagree. From up here it’s pretty clear you’re dead.”

“
You think you’ve won? You have no idea what we have in store for you. Doctor Numerous has a plan and now the Crowned Princes have returned, whether you fools like it or not! This city will be the first sacrificial lamb in the name of all demons!” Astaroth said.

Nick grabbed him by the head,
pulling his face from the ground. He stared the demon in the eyes. “Tell me what Doctor Numerous is planning or I swear I’ll—”

“
You’ll what, kill me? I’m already dead!” Astaroth laughed.

Nick shook his head.
“No, not yet.”

He flipped him o
ver to face him and pummeled him repeatedly in the face and into the ground. Specks of dirt and stone bounced around as he was mashed deeper and deeper. It wasn’t until there was a hole about a foot deep where Astaroth’s head used to be before he stopped.

He reverted b
ack to his full human form and returned to the car, feeling satisfied with his victory. This feeling was short lived when he found that Quinn was gone! The passenger door hung wide open. He looked around in a panic, but before he could imagine all the terrible situations, he found her emerging from one of the abandoned stores.

“
Why did you leave? You could have been killed!” Nick said.

“
Relax, Emberson. I helped some old folks out of the buildings, there wasn’t any sign of trouble at all,” Quinn said.

“
We better leave soon. I’m sure everyone has evacuated by now but at least five Hellbeasts got away.”

“
They’re dead,” she said.

“
How can you sure?” Nick asked.

“
Follow me,” Quinn said.

T
hey walked to the border of the city and forest area where the demons must have broken in. There was a distinguishable break in the shield at this area. Several paw tracks marked the ground. At the entrance there was a pile of five other hounds. “I saw them running this way. I figured they were retreating so I went back to find you. I think someone must be helping us.”