Demon Hunters (38 page)

Felix was standing nearby clenching his
hands together in some kind of fit of childlike exuberance. He
either wasn’t aware of the gravity of his actions, or didn’t care.
He just stood there, drooling at the growing chaos.

He said Hither had given him a gift, but I
doubt she had intended him to use it on the scale that he had. I
wasn’t even sure she even intended him to use it at all. It was
probably some half thought out token of trust she tossed him to get
what she needed. Whatever the case was, it was a situation that
demanded attention.

“Why did you do this?” I asked.

“They will take Heaven back. They will
punish the ones who deserve it.”

“You brought everyone who has died back to
life.”

“It’s only right. They were forced out of
Heaven the same as I was. They have a right to take their pound of
flesh. We, the wrongfully damned, deserve this!” The urge to lay
another ten pounds of fist into Felix’s face was overpowering, but
the zombies were closing in on us. I saw a pack of long eared imps
sprinting by. Each one had a large battle-axe strapped to their
backs. I reached down and quickly grabbed a couple. I handed one to
Ivar and it was just in time too. A zombie dog had broken from the
pack and was leaping up to bite his neck, but as he grabbed the
axe, he pivoted around and cut Fido into two.

“Hold the line here as long as you can. I’m
going back in!” I called out and I raced back through the gates. A
solid wall of demon flesh hit me immediately.

Heaven had become a battlefield the likes of
which I had only seen in classic portraits. Demons and Angels were
swarming around the ground and air, with the echo of swords and
axes landing upon shields and bone. Amazingly, I was able to pick
Hither out of the chaos. She was still locked in battle with
Lethar. I took a breath and dove into the battling swarm. I hacked
ferociously into the mass of weapons and monsters. Before I knew
it, I was lost in my reverie. Most of the demons didn’t even pay me
mind. They must have smelled the stink of demon on me and thought I
was one of their own. Which made it easier for me to slice them to
ribbons.

Soon, I was lost in a sea of unspeakable
horrors, but I didn’t care. I hacked at any creature that was
within my sphere and it felt great. It was wonderful to finally let
go and not care about harming any innocent party. I was free to
give in to the darker urges that I had spent most of my life
keeping at bay. I looked around for a moment to get my bearings.
There was nothing familiar anymore. All the homes were demolished
and every pristine tree along the lane was bursting with flames.
The sky over us was dark with ribbons of flame spiraling up and
falling back to the ground. I looked up and saw Hither and Lethar
still fighting high above us. I fought my way closer to them. For
as much fun as I was having, I knew this had to end. I could see
the zombies breaching the walls. It was only a matter of time
before we passed the point of no return.

I fell out of the main fight and tumbled
down to the ground. As I got up, I noticed that my clothes were
torn and ripped. I was coated in blood. Some mine, some not mine. I
could feel the cuts in my arms and legs and my muscles felt like
rubber. I searched for the demon. I was oddly confused as to why I
hadn’t been sensing it. I could feel it was still within me, but it
was strangely quiet. Probably in shock, I thought.

My attention came back to reality as Hither
and Lethar crashed back down to the ground with a hard bang. When
the dust settled, I saw them with their swords locked together just
as they were in the air. Hither’s wings were stretched out and her
eyes were gleaming. Lethar was harder to read since his face was
covered with the bandages. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do,
but that didn’t worry me. Most of my cases involved a lot of
on-the-job training. I decided I had to do something, so I charged
forward and swung my axe. I clipped Lethar in his leg, right across
his calf muscle. I took note that it barely made a scratch against
his flesh. I suddenly felt a jerk from behind and I hit the
ground.

I looked up to see Vyra and Pyre standing
over me. They had both fully regressed into their true forms. Pyre
was riddled with fiery craters all over his body and Vyra was a
sickly figure. Her skin was seeping and gross and the rotting stink
was unmistakable. I rolled away quickly, holding up my axe and
ready to cut into them.

“Look at him, Vyra. I heard some mortals
were jumpy. I just had no idea.” Pyre said.

“Doesn’t surprise me. I could tell he was
low-end trash the moment I laid eyes on him.” Vyra said. I stood
fast and ready. I blocked out their meaningless banter. I could
feel something was coming. The war raged on around us, but the two
demons in front of me seemed oblivious to it.

“Put the axe away, man. If we wanted to kill
you, you’d be dead by now,” Pyre said. I ignored his words. “Okay.
Just stand there. Suits us just fine.”

“Why aren’t you fighting?” I asked.

“Why should we? Look around! It’s all
happening just as we planned.”

“You planned all of this?”

“Well, not exactly like this, but we knew
Heaven would come calling sooner or later. We just convinced
Bertram this whole thing was going to last forever, but you just
wave a dollar in front of him and he’ll believe anything.”

“This was all in your plan?” I looked around
at the sea of madness crashing all around us and I found it hard to
believe anyone would have wanted it.

“Of course. When we overtake Heaven’s
forces, it will be ours forever and our expansion can begin in
earnest.” I felt a slight ding of enlightenment at that moment.

“I see,” I set my axe aside. “This whole
scam of yours is contingent on winning this battle?”

“Yes.”

“I feel a bit dubious about that. I can see
Hell’s side of this fight is weakening already while Heaven’s just
getting its second wind. I don’t see any angel corpses on the
ground. Not a fallen feather in sight.”

“Of course not. You don’t think we thought
those mongrels out there would win the day, did you? This whole
thing is all about that.” Vyra said as she indicated to Hither and
Lethar still deep in battle. “The only way we can lose is if Hither
destroys Lethar, and that will never happen.”

“She looks pretty primed to kill to me.”

“Maybe, but her connection to Lethar is so
deep, so intrinsic, no matter how much her mind may want her to,
her heart will never allow her to strike him dead. It wasn’t by
chance we selected Lethar. He and Hither are Heaven’s fiercest
warriors, and both completely unable to destroy the other.”

“Then how do you win? If she can’t kill him
and he can’t kill her, sounds like a draw to me.”

“He doesn’t have to kill her. She just has
to fail to stop him, and that is already done. It’s just a matter
of waiting for her to figure it out.” Pyre said. I looked on at
Hither’s fight. She was clearly tired. Most of her armor had been
broken away and her muscles were pulsating. Sweat was dripping from
her body in a steady stream. I could barely see her face through
her helmet, but what I could see was the look of someone whose
heart had been broken completely. Lethar was on his knees, keeping
her blade in check with his own. I could see the tension in her
body easing away. I had seen defeat before. I had seen the fighting
spirit give way to the release of surrender. The end of the fight
and I was seeing it happen again right in front of me. I looked to
Pyre and Vyra. They looked on at both warriors with sick
satisfaction. Their victory was mere seconds away.

I grabbed my axe from the ground and with
one great swing; I sliced them both in half at their waists. Their
parts fell to the ground in spasms of blood and pus. I bolted
forward with my bloodstained axe towards Lethar. Hither was just
stepping away and he was standing back up. I remembered how my
weapon barely had any effect on him, so I tossed it. I leapt
forward and grabbed his sword and forced it from his grip. Hither
had a look of shock on her face. For the split second our eyes met,
I held her gaze.

“I’m sorry.” I said. I know she heard me.
Her teary eyes granted me her absolution. I turned to Lethar and as
I gripped the sword’s hilt in my hand, I felt the demon within me
return with fiery zeal. The power coursed through my veins like
acid in my blood. I raised the sword above my head and suddenly
brought it down. Lethar twisted slightly and I cut into the base of
his left wing. The force of my swing was so great; I cut through
half way into the bones. Blood began to gush from the wound and he
shrieked in agony. The entire battle around us stopped for that
moment in time. His eye met mine and I did what came naturally. I
pushed the blade down harder. I could feel it snap and his wing
fell free of his body. He toppled to the ground, landing on his
back. I stood over him with his sword decorated with his own blood.
Roars were coming from everywhere at once, but I heard Hither’s
above all others. I looked around and saw the zombies had broken
the wall and were storming in.

An orgy of gore and blood followed. The
angels continued fighting the demons and the zombies just fought
whatever was within their reach. The world began to shudder and
lights appeared in the air everywhere and they were drifting down
like snow. I could hear the demon in me screaming. Tears Of The
Universe. I had heard that once before, a long time ago. I was told
that just before the end of everything, the universe would cry out
of mourning. A final testament to the love it held for all life. I
never thought I’d see them for myself.

“Jake,” A weak voice called. I looked down
to Lethar. He was broken and bloody beneath me. He lay in a pool of
blood that was growing wider underneath him. His eye caught mine.
“Please,” He begged. I looked out at the insanity that had
unleashed around me. I thought of Gwen. I hadn’t even gotten a
chance to say goodbye. No time for a last kiss. I saw Ivar stuck in
the maelstrom, besieged by an ocean of monsters. His face was
stricken with fear and rage. He then fell into the swarm of bodies
and was lost forever. I held up Lethar’s sword and I could swear I
heard his voice telling me something. It was all just buzzing at
the time, but it translated slowly. “No one dies in Heaven, Jake.
No evil can survive here. Let it go. Let me go.” I looked down at
him. I nodded to him and as he shut his eye, I leapt up and drove
his blade into his chest, being sure to pierce his heart. A torrent
of power rushed up at me as his flesh tore open. I forced the
demon’s strength to help me drive his sword deeper. I pushed as
hard as I could and it slid down easier as I got deeper in. I could
see that Lethar was pulling the blade down with his own hands. All
the storm and noise around us grew louder and suddenly there was a
light. A bright, white light that filled everything.

When the light faded, Hither, Ivar, Felix
and I were standing in an open field. The sky was clear and blue as
ever. A small flock of birds flew by suddenly and I could see the
faint sign of traffic on the freeway miles away.

“What happened?” I looked down and Lethar
was gone. No trace was left of him. I examined myself and noticed I
was restored as well. My clothes were put together and I felt like
I could run three marathons. Ivar looked no worse for wear and just
as confused as I was. Felix stood furthest from us, standing in
total disbelief. I turned to Hither who no longer had her armor,
but was still reeling from the battle.

“You released him,” She said through tears.
“The second you drove his sword through him and killed him, he was
released and so was Heaven. It’s now back where it belongs, as are
all the souls that lived there.”

“And the zombies? The demons?”

“All sent back from where they came.”

“This is all wrong! This is wrong!” Felix
whined.

“You.” Hither lunged forward and tackled
Felix to the ground. I pulled her off of him and kept her in
check.

“Look, not that I blame you, but you need to
calm down.”

“I gave you that gift to be used with
discretion! Do you realize what you could have done!?”

“I did what I had to do! And I’m not done!
I’m going to make them pay! I don’t care if Heaven is back; I am
going to make everyone who ever made me suffer pay!”

“Will you shut up? You got what you wanted.
Heaven is back so now you can go onto your reward.”

“Not quite, Mr. Corba.” A familiar voice
said. We all turned to see Aldo Rex appear out of thin air.

“What do you mean, Aldo?” Felix asked as he
raced to Aldo’s side, but Aldo quickly pushed him away.

“It seems that your case is being
re-examined at this time.” He said with a cool demeanor.

“Re-examined? Why?”

“You did very bad things, Felix. In my
professional opinion, I don’t think you’ll be seeing the other side
of those pearly gates for some time.”

“No! You can’t be serious.”

“I’m afraid I am. Raising the dead is not an
act that is looked at with too much favor where I come from.
Disturbance of the dead is a big no-no in the eyes of the higher
ups.”

“You mean, after all that? After everything?
I’m still going to Hell?”

“Don’t be too depressed. You’ve been there.
You know what’s in store for you. No surprises.”

“That’s the problem! I do know what’s down
there! I can’t go back! I can’t! You have to get me out! Please!
Aldo!”

“I’ll see what I can do about an appeal, but
I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.” Aldo said. Suddenly, two
large shadows crawled out from behind Felix and quickly latched
onto his arms. They began to pull at him, but he fought. He
struggled and powered against their force, but he couldn’t hold out
against them. They finally managed to drag him down into the ground
and all we heard was the faint echoes of his screams.