Middle Demons (Angels and Demons Book 2) (16 page)

CHAPTER 31

Tannin started the duel by throwing the glowing stone Murmur had given him at Belial. It struck Belial right where his forehead should have been and he cried out in pain. The mists around him began to vanish and a skull, lit on fire, appeared wearing Cain’s armor. Tannin rushed in with incredible speed but Belial swung his staff and Tannin flew backwards with a large amount of sand, rock, and ash. Belial tried the same attack again but Tannin blocked the magic and incoming debris with Dragonscale.

Tannin tried to switch to throwing knives but a sorcerer in Belial’s army levitated several small stones and sent them on a collision path with Tannin’s knives. Murmur looked at Jess and Aim and then nodded in the sorcerer’s direction. Aim lined up his crossbow and pierced the demon through his throat, silencing any potential noise. Jess hit her staff against the ground and a mound of sand fell over the recently killed sorcerer, burying him.

As Tannin tried to rush Belial again but his speed was significantly decreased. He was breathing heavy and Belial took notice. Belial summoned a tornado and sent it spiraling towards Tannin. Tannin dodged out of the way but Belial was waiting for him and he clubbed Tannin with his staff. Tannin stumbled backwards several steps and Belial used his advantage to wave his staff again. The knives on Tannin’s belt levitated in the air. Tannin removed his swords from their sheathes and charged again but lacked his usual attack speed. Before Belial could raise his staff and attack, Tannin struck and severed Belial’s hand at the wrist. While clearly in pain, Belial didn’t cry out. He simply raised his other hand and finished his curse. Tannin’s levitating knives screeched through the air and pierced the back of Tannin’s neck. Tannin looked back at Murmur and tried to speak but blood spilled out of his mouth. As Belial picked up his staff with his remaining hand, Murmur retrieved Dragonscale. Belial cast a spell and lifted Tannin into the air and Murmur called out to him.

“Put him down! Now!”

Belial grinned mischievously.

“Fine.”

He waved his staff and Tannin exploded in the air. Little pieces of him fell all over the floor of Hell. Murmur didn’t waste time grieving.

“Kill them!”

Tannin’s army was shocked at the death of their leader, but they sprung into battle when they saw Jess and Aim start attacking. Belial shot a lightning bolt at Murmur but he blocked it with Dragonscale. Murmur closed the short distance between them and grabbed Belial by the throat. Just as he was about to break his neck, dark mists started swirling around Belial. Murmur’s hand burned until he finally had to release Belial. Belial fell to the ground, holding Leviathan’s scythe. He swung the scythe over his head and disappeared in smoke and mist.

“Everyone stop fighting!”

Murmur’s voice echoed over the battlefield and everyone stopped, afraid of the large demon who had claimed Dragonscale. Jess and Aim made their way to Murmur.

“Why did you stop the battle?”

“Belial is gone. He’s on his way to the Dragon to claim the department. There’s no point in destroying each other. Get Tannin’s weapons and armor and bring them to me.”

Aim looked like he was going to protest being bossed around but Jess elbowed him in the ribs and shook her head. They sent some demons-in-training to gather Tannin’s gear.

“I am the new middle demon of coveting. All of you will follow me from now on.”

None of the minor demons or demons-in-training dared say anything. Murmur’s words were met with complete silence. He took this as their acceptance. He allowed the corners of his mouth to creep up into a grin.

“I killed Tannin and I will kill Belial. This department is mine.”

Aim looked confusedly at Murmur.

“Uh… we just watched Belial kill Tannin. You sure you’re feeling alright Mur… uh… Lord Murmur?”

Murmur nodded.

“I’m fine. Tannin humiliated me in a duel a while back. I imagine most of you saw it. He kicked my ass with a shield. While I fell in line so that I could become a minor demon, I never forgot what he did to me. When he went to fight Belial, I gave him an angel’s stone. I had grown immune to the stone’s light a long time ago, but it drained Tannin of some of his speed. Without his speed, he lost his advantage in battle and Belial was able to kill him. Not only did I get my revenge on Tannin, I told him to touch Belial with the stone as well. Belial is trying to make it to the lowest circle of Hell drained of much of his power and missing a hand. We will follow him and we will butcher him. At that point, I will take command of this department. Any minor demon, middle demon, or demon-in-training who opposes me will be put to death. Now all of you bow and swear your allegiance!”

There was some light grumbling as the armies discussed the use of the angel’s stone but they all bowed except for Aim and Jess. Jess approached Murmur cautiously.

“Where did you get an angel’s stone?”

“I’m not a traitor, Jess.”

“I didn’t say that you were. Ok forget where you got it. Why did you use it?”

“To get ahead. I should have been a minor demon after the trials but I got cocky in a fight with Nightmare. I’m making up for lost time. It worked out for the two of you as well. Once Belial is dead, you will take his place as a middle demon and Aim will take my place when I become a major demon. I won’t forget what the two of you have done for me.”

Aim tapped his sister’s shoulder. She looked at him. He grinned and then nodded. Jess grinned back at him. The brother and sister looked at Murmur and bowed.

CHAPTER 32

Raven leaned over and whispered in Lilith’s ear.

“That little munchkin is
so
adorable.”

They looked at each other and giggled. They had finally tracked down Shadow and could see Muan fighting another demon in the distance. Leech and Gangrene rode up next to the half-sisters on their horses.

“I’m riding ahead with Gangrene to meet with Shady.”

Lilith leaned over on her horse and kissed Leech on the cheek. Raven turned her head away and refused to acknowledge Gangrene. He sighed.

“So you’re giving me the silent treatment now, huh?”

Without looking at him, Raven flipped Gangrene off. Leech chuckled.

“Wow. What did you do to her?”

“Pissed her off. If I had known that making her angry would get her to finally shut up, I would have done it a long time ago.”

Gangrene rode off ahead of their army and Leech followed. When they made it to Shadow, they dismounted. Gangrene bowed at Shadow’s feet while Leech just grinned at him.

“So Shady is still alive. I had a feeling. How you been bro?”

“It’ll be
General
Shady here in a few minutes. Also… I told your dumb ass to not call me Shady ever again.”

“Well I’m a middle demon. Lord Leech the angel slayer. We’re colleagues now.”

Shadow laughed.

“You’ve killed one angel, Leech. One.”

“Two and one of them was a middle angel.”

“You killed him with my short sword. I told you a long time ago that if you use my weapon, it counts as my kill.”

“Whatever, Shady. Everyone else calls me Leech the angel slayer now.”

“I doubt Lilith does.”

Leech looked at Gangrene, who was still bowing.

“Gangrene, get up off the ground.”

Gangrene stood and Shadow placed a hand on each of their shoulders.

“It’s good to see you both.”

Gangrene finally ventured a question.

“Lord Shadow, who is Muan fighting?”

“Dante.”

Leech looked worried.

“Shady, you realize that Dante is the middle demon of violent death, right? Why the hell are you letting that little imp fight him? You should be out there.”

“I couldn’t stop him.
He
challenged Dante to a duel. If he loses, I’ll kill Dante. I was kind of stuck after Muan issued the challenge though. Dante’s army is much larger than what I have available to me. Speaking of armies…”

Shadow looked behind Leech and Gangrene and saw Lilith approaching with a large number of demons-in-training.

“Leech… you aren’t really a middle demon, are you?”

“I really am. Baal promoted me.”

“Then why is your army a bunch of demons-in-training? That really doesn’t help us… at all.”

“I’ve been… well… it’s a long story. It ends with Gangrene working for me now.”

Gangrene shifted uncomfortably. Shadow looked like he was about to address Leech’s last comment but Lilith ran up and jumped on him. Shadow nearly fell over. He eventually patted her on the back, hoping that some form of returning her hug would get her to stop.

“I knew you weren’t dead, Shadypants! I just
knew
it!”

“That’s great, Lilith. Leech, please get your girlfriend off of me.”

Lilith climbed down off of him and Shadow pulled her in for another hug. She kissed him on the cheek and started to cry. Leech pulled her away.

“Damn it, Lily! I told you he was alive! You don’t need to get all emotional! Get ahold of yourself!”

Leech carried Lilith away as she began to sob uncontrollably. Gangrene noticed Raven standing there.

“Lord Shadow, this is Raven. She’s…”

Raven looked hungrily at Shadow. She walked up to him and kissed him deeply on the lips. Gangrene’s jaw dropped. When she finished, Raven grinned slyly at Shadow, walked up to Gangrene and closed his mouth with her hand, and then walked away. Shadow laughed.

“That must be one of Lilith’s sisters.”

Shadow wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and laughed some more.

Muan saw Leech, Lilith, and the others approach but he mostly ignored their presence. His fight with Dante wasn’t going very well. He had turned into an elephant, an anaconda, and several other threatening animals. Dante countered all of his attacks like some kind of insane zookeeper. As he turned into an owl and flew back into the air, he heard Gangrene shouting at him from the ground.

“You’re letting the fight get too close! You need to attack from a distance!”

Muan knew Gangrene was right. He was lousy at close combat whether it was fighting with daggers or swiping with animal claws. It would be difficult, however, to attack Dante at a distance because Dante was quick to close the gap between them whenever he was on the ground. The only respite he had found so far had been when he took to the air.

Dante continued to throw and shoot various things into the air but they all either fell short or it was very easy for Muan to dodge them. Muan had worked with various spellcaster demons prior to this fight to produce a bomb that could potentially help him ensnare Dante and he shook a few of them loose from a pack on his belt and caught them in his talons. He circled around Dante in the air for a while. When he thought that Dante had lost track of him for a moment, he dropped the bombs.

When the bombs hit the ground, the exploded and a dark blue smoke erupted from them. As the smoke closed in on Dante, he laughed maniacally. The smoke turned into hands that pulled Dante to the ground and held him there. He continued to laugh.

Muan flew to the sport directly above Dante and turned into a hippo. When he hit the ground, pieces of Dante flew in every direction. After he squashed Dante into jelly, Muan turned back into himself. He wiped Dante’s remains off of him and then started to do a little dance.

“I’m a middle demon! I’m a middle demon! I won!”

Muan didn’t realize that he was being surrounded by Dante’s former army. Shadow and Leech ran to him and brought up their weapons before they could get too close.

“I am the new undisputed commander of this department. You will not kill Muan and you will not attack us unless you would like to die a death more gruesome than the one Dante just suffered.”

One of the demons in Dante’s army stepped forward.

“Guys, we really shouldn’t fight this. We can’t kill General Shadow
or
his friend Leech the angel slayer.”

Leech looked over at Shadow and pointed at the demon who was speaking. Shadow laughed.

“Also, Dante was insane. He killed us on a regular basis for no reason. I understand enjoying a good kill but only against demons in
other
departments. Not killing off our own armies. I’m done fighting the other demons of murder. I give my allegiance willingly to General Shadow!”

Shadow stepped forward, holding Damnation in the air.

“Will you join us or be slaughtered?”

Dante’s army bowed to Shadow.

“Good. Your new commander is Lord Muan, the demon that removed you from the rule of that old cackling idiot, Dante.”

Muan approached the demon that convinced the army to join with Shadow.

“What’s your name?”

“Botis, Lord Muan. I’m glad to serve under your command.”

Botis stood at least a head taller than any other demon in the army but also looked to be as ill-equipped as the rest of them. After Muan took Dante’s daggers for himself, he told Botis to take Dante’s armor that was hidden underneath the bloody rags that he wore.

“It’ll be slightly crushed by hippo ass, but it should still work.”

“Are you sure, Lord Muan? You deserve the armor.”

“It’s too big for me.”

Botis grinned but stopped when he realized that it may not be appropriate. He nodded at Muan and retrieved the armor.

Shadow pulled Leech aside.

“So why do you think you get to take Gangrene away from my army?”

“I had an army, Shadow. Between my army and Gangrene’s, we took down two of Lily’s middle demon sisters and their armies. Vixen only has one army guarding her at her palace. You have Muan and I need a second-in-command.”

“Take someone else. Gangrene is one of my best fighters.”

“Come on, Shadow. You can call the rest of the department of murder to you now.”

“They’re fighting alongside Baal right. I can’t really pull them away from that. We haven’t contributed enough to this war as it is.”

“Shadow, I need him. I need him more than you do right now. I command an army of untrained dumbasses and if I get surrounded in the battle with Vixen, Gangrene may be able to keep me alive.”

“Lilith can keep you alive.”

“Lilith gets distracted by shiny objects and staring at herself in the mirror.”

Shadow grinned.

“I’m going to tell her you said that.”

“Don’t. I’m too young and talented to die.”

“There’s an easy solution to this.”

Shadow called Gangrene over.

“Gangrene, Muan just became a middle demon. I just became a major demon. My old spot as middle demon of war is yours if you want it.”

“Thank you, General Shadow, but I would prefer to fight in Lord Leech’s army. I made a promise to him and to General Baal.”

Shadow looked mildly annoyed.

“You could be the same rank as Leech
right now
.”

“Without someone to watch his back, he will die. He almost died several times on the way here. He’s kind of an incompetent idiot sometimes.”

Leech laughed.

“That’s the same argument I just made! Well… minus the incompetent idiot part.”

Shadow shook his head.

“You’re sure, Gangrene?”

“Yes, sir. I imagine you want to keep him around. I’m not really sure I understand why, but I will sacrifice a promotion to keep him alive.”

Shadow called a demon-in-training to him.

“I want you to draft transfer paperwork. Gangrene will be transferring to the department of idolatry under Lord Leech’s command. Bring it to me when it’s ready to be signed.”

The demon-in-training bowed and ran away. Muan overheard the instruction.

“You’re leaving us, Gangrene? Was following in my shadow finally not enough for you?”

Gangrene chuckled.

“No. I just can’t be in a department that would have
you
as a middle demon.”

Muan laughed and punched Gangrene hard in the arm.

“Whatever. Let’s go get a drink and celebrate my promotion.”