Major Demons (24 page)

CHAPTER 53

Samael, Weapon, and Hypnos hid on a rooftop and looked at the angels a block over. Weapon pointed at Cassiel.

“That’s him. He has nephilim heads attached to his belt. I think he’s one of Uriel’s middle angels tasked with killing nephilim. If we kill him, Uriel will come.”

Samael nodded.

“Good. I’ll go in first and…”

Weapon grinned and shook his head.

“Nope. Here’s how we play this. I’ll fire off a rocket from over there…”

Weapon pointed at a rooftop closer to the angels.

“… and then the two of you come in from behind and take them out when they’re chasing me.”

Hypnos slapped Weapon hard on the back.

“I like that plan. Never thought I’d see you volunteer to be the bait.”

“Well my plan has a rocket launcher in it. I haven’t actually
hit
anything with my rocket launcher in a while. Samael? What do you think?”

“It sounds like a good plan. We’ll wait in the bushes over there. I’ll signal you when I want you to fire the rocket.”

Weapon nodded and crawled down off the roof. He ran across the street and pulled a ladder out of his coat. He climbed the side of the house, put the ladder away, got his rocket launcher, and waited for Samael and Hypnos to get into position. Hypnos jumped head first into the bushes. Samael looked up at Weapon and nodded before hiding in the bushes himself. Weapon took careful aim and fired.

The rocket exploded in the middle of a large group of angels. Many of them were instantly incinerated and at least a dozen were seriously injured. The angels that weren’t seriously injured or that were far enough away from the blast radius looked for the source. Weapon put his rocket launcher away, grabbed a couple of pistols from his jacket, and jumped down into the street. An angel quickly spotted him and pointed, alerting the rest of the angels. Weapon turned and ran, occasionally firing over his shoulder. The angels followed Weapon and Hypnos followed the angels, throwing daggers and putting them to sleep as fast as he could.

Cassiel didn’t give chase. He looked around to see if any other nephilim were hiding in the area. As he turned towards the bushes, Samael jumped out and cut off his arms. He then kicked him in the midsection and Cassiel fell hard on the street. His wounds gushing blood, Cassiel looked up at his soon-to-be murderer.

“Samael. I never thought you’d show your cowardly face again.”

Samael didn’t speak. He brought his sword up with both hands, blade pointed squarely at Cassiel’s chest. Before he could strike, a sword pierced his heart quickly and then withdrew. He fell forward and a strong arm caught him, turning him around and placing him on his back. He looked up and saw his killer, Uriel the Archangel.

“I told you the day you were cast out that I would find you and kill you, Samael. You’ve brought several abominations into this world and justice will only be served when I kill them. Don’t worry, though. I
will
kill them. Hypnos, Thanatos, and Lilith. Still, justice won a small victory today with your death.”

Uriel closed his eyes and made the sign of a cross. Samael spit at him.

“Fuck you and fuck Heaven. I regret nothing.”

Uriel reached into Samael’s open mouth, pulled out his tongue, and slowly cut it while Samael screamed. When his tongue was completely removed, Uriel threw it on the ground and stomped on it.

“No more speeches from you, blasphemer. If you refuse to die quietly, I won’t give you the option.”

Uriel saw Cassiel bleeding out on the ground.

“You can still save me, Uriel. Please…”

Uriel stabbed Cassiel’s heart and he exhaled loudly, settling into death.

“I don’t heal, Cassiel. I enforce the laws of justice. Thank you for your sacrifice. Your death will be noted in the records of Heaven.”

Samael drew his sword and then threw it as far as he could with the last of his strength. He didn’t want Uriel to take it as a prize. As he watched it sail through the air, he closed his eyes and died.

Weapon and Hypnos finished killing off the small band of angels that had run after them, including the angels Hypnos had put to sleep.

“We made good time, but I would have thought more of them would have followed you. We need to get back and make sure we clear out a lot more before Uriel shows up.”

Weapon nodded.

“Let’s go then.”

It didn’t take long for the nephilim to make it back. They ran back up the street and saw Uriel standing over the corpses of Cassiel and Samael. Weapon put his pistols back in his coat and grabbed a machine gun. Hypnos continued to stand there and stare at his father’s body. Weapon grabbed his shoulder.

“I know it sucks, Hypnos, but we have to get out of here. We’re outnumbered.”

Hypnos turned his head and Weapon saw his pupilless eyes glowing white. He let go of Hypnos’s shoulder and continued to slowly back away. Hypnos held out his hands and a harp formed. He positioned it correctly and began to play. The approaching angels started moving slower. Several of them started dragging their feet and a few dropped their weapons. Slowly, the entire army of Uriel laid down on the street and fell asleep. Uriel watched in horror. Hypnos’s eyes turned red and he threw the harp on the ground. A smile crept its way up his face.

“You don’t fuck with the nephilim. We are a nightmare that you never wake up from.”

Hypnos held out his hands. Uriel could sense something creeping slowly towards him and he looked at his sleeping army. Blood. Blood slowly flowed out of angel eyes, angel nostrils, and angel ears. Hypnos put them to sleep and was now slowly killing them. When Uriel started to feel tired, he immediately drew his sword and teleported back to Heaven.

Weapon didn’t dare touch Hypnos again. He put the machine gun back in his coat, pulled out a lawn chair, sat down, and waited. When Hypnos finally put his hands down and turned back around, his eyes had returned to normal. Weapon slowly clapped.

“Ho… ly… shit.”

CHAPTER 54

Azazel had hidden himself very close to Abaddon, where earthquakes rattled the ground every few minutes, but he was still out of sight. Abaddon had grown even more terrifying and unpredictable and Azazel didn’t want to interact with him anymore after what Leech had done to his Nephilim army. His injuries had mostly healed since his last encounter with Leech and he was strong enough to sense that nephilim were approaching. Instead of running, he waited to see who it was. If it turned out to be Shadow, he could teleport away. Anyone else was worth killing or recruiting.

Leech walked fearlessly towards him. Lilith, Steam, and Thanatos stayed a considerable distance back at Leech’s request. Thanatos was having a hard time keeping Lucia happy, as the rumbling ground continually upset her. Steam summoned a levitating blanket of water for her to lay on and kept it a few feet off the ground so she wouldn’t feel the tremors.

Leech stopped about ten feet from Azazel and drew his guns.

“It’s time for Round 2, asshole.”

“How are you still alive? I watched you explode…”

“Does it matter?”

“What brought you back?”

Leech pointed his guns at Azazel and then felt his arms slowly being lowered. He could feel something inside him object to attacking Azazel. Azazel grinned.

“So you took on the power of the nephilim you consumed. Pretty stupid since they worked for me. So why don’t you turn around and start firing at your friends?”

Thanatos picked up Lucia from her levitating water blanket, handed her to Lilith, and got in front of them.

“Get out of here.”

Lilith shook her head.

“Leech won’t attack us. We’ll be ok.”

Leech turned and pointed his guns at Thanatos. Before he could fire, he threw them in the sand and drew his axe.

“Why don’t you all excuse me for a while? I need to deal with some internal issues.”

Leech drew a circle in the sand with his axe and a green circle appeared around him. He sat down, crossed his legs, and closed his eyes.

Thanatos looked menacingly at Azazel.

“Don’t go running off. If we have to find you again, I’m not deferring to Leech next time. I’ll kill you quickly and be done with it.”

Azazel laughed.

“First of all, better nephilim than you have tried to kill me already and I’m still here. I keep their souls in a box in my workshop. Second, why would I run? This only plays out one of two ways. Either Leech comes out of his trance and I get a one-on-one fight or he comes out of his trance and turns on you. I’m fine with either outcome. They both sound entertaining.”

Thanatos drove his axe into the ground and leaned on it.

“He’s right. Both sound entertaining. The problem is the waiting. That sounds boring as hell.”

Leech could feel himself being pulled into his subconscious and found that the imprisoned nephilim had gotten out of the pit somehow. They were working on breaking through the chains that bound them.

“Alright, guys. We need to come to some kind of agreement. Clearly keeping you all in a pit isn’t working.”

The nephilim continued to struggle, but one of them spoke.

“I am Sol, the nephilim of the sun. I could erupt in flames right now and free myself from these chains, but that would kill off the rest of my brothers and sisters. If you want to talk, show some goodwill. Free us. You have my word that we can discuss this without any of us attacking you.”

Leech nodded. He took his axe and hacked at the chains until they broke. Some of the nephilim looked like they wanted to attack, but Sol shook his head at them.

“We keep our word. You all agreed that I would speak for all of us.”

“And what if we no longer agree to that?”

“Then I’ll help Leech kill you. This is his mind and we’re never going to eliminate him entirely so we need to make some kind of deal.”

The nephilim that had spoken backed away and Sol summoned a fiery chair to sit on. He gestured towards a rock. Leech grinned.

“So you get a fire chair and I’m supposed to sit on a rock?”

“You threw us in a pit.”

“Fair point. Are you guys open to helping me kill Azazel?”

Sol stroked his chin and carefully chose his words before responding.

“Why would we do that? You’re a demon. You fight for the demons. We’re nephilim. We served Azazel and Abaddon in order to further the cause of nephilim.”

“You’ve been misinformed. I don’t fight for demons and I’m never going back to Hell. My best friend is a nephilim. The mother of my child is a nephilim. My daughter is a nephilim. With all of you assholes floating around in my head, I may as well be a nephilim, too… and in case you hadn’t noticed, I came here with nephilim. Azazel doesn’t fight for nephilim. He fights for himself. You heard what he said about storing nephilim souls in a box in his workshop.”

“I knew Shadow is a nephilim… but you’re claiming Lilith is as well?”

“She’s the daughter of Samael and Vixen. Hypnos and Thanatos are her half-brothers.”

“I’m still not sure if I believe you. Let’s concede the point for now. If we help you kill Azazel, how does that benefit us?”

“I’m not sure that anything can
really
benefit all of you directly anymore. You’re all kind of… non-existent. If I die, all of you are gone. You only exist as long as I do.”

“Then why should we grant you all of our powers?”

“Because we can actually build something here on Earth. The demons have Hell. The angels have Heaven. Why not make Earth the realm of the nephilim? We can recruit, build up an army, and all of you would play a part in helping me lead it. I don’t think you can hope for much more at this point.”

“And we can roam freely in your mind, unchained? Not discarded in a pit like garbage? You’ll listen to us when we need to speak to you?”

“Yes. We’re bound as long as I wear the legion ring. We’ll do what’s best for the advancement of nephilim. I’m clearly invested in this. I want to see my daughter succeed.”

Some of the nephilim looked skeptical, but Sol extended his hand.

“Alright then, Leech. We’ll give this a shot. Don’t think you can go back on this deal, though. You gave us your word.”

Leech shook Sol’s hand and immediately felt himself reentering his body on Earth. He retrieved his axe and guns before turning on Azazel. Lilith, Thanatos, and Steam watched with apprehension.

“The nephilim seem to like me better than you now. Ready to finish this?”

Azazel teleported in front of Leech and struck quickly with his sword. Leech could feel the blade touch his skin, but it didn’t hurt. He looked at his arms and could see that they had turned into a hard, rock-like substance.

“Cool. Apparently one of the nephilim in my head can turn into a rock. My turn?”

Leech could feel his hand erupting in flames and he grabbed the arm that held Azazel’s sword. Azazel dropped the sword and backed away. Before Leech could close the distance between them, Azazel teleported. Leech turned to look for him and saw him holding a knife to Lilith’s throat. Leech drew his axe.

“Well that’s an interesting turn of events that I wasn’t expecting. I’d like to leave now and I think I’ll take your pretty friend and daughter with me.”

Thanatos grabbed Azazel’s knife hand and twisted it back. There was a sickening crunch before Azazel dropped his knife. He fell to his knees and Thanatos motioned for everyone to get back. Leech charged and quickly drew a circle around Azazel. Within seconds, Azazel was enveloped in a green circle. Leech grinned.

“That’s it for you. There’s no clever way out of this.”

Azazel laughed. He teleported outside the green circle and drew another sword from his belt.

“You’re an idiot, Leech.”

Leech grinned back at Azazel and nodded at his hand. Azazel’s hand had converted into green energy and was slowly making its way towards Leech.

“No… there’s no way you’re…”

“That powerful? I’m a fucking legion of nephilim with demon powers. What the fuck did you think was going to happen when you teleported outside that circle? We’ll finish this battle in my mind… a place where you can’t teleport.”

Azazel could slowly see his arm disappearing and converting into green energy that sailed through the air towards Leech’s outstretched hand. Leech laughed.

“I’ll meet you in my subconscious. There are some nephilim in there that want to see you again.”