From Hell with Love (56 page)

“Hey, Nico.  Nice little spectacle up there. 
Definitely
didn’t expect you to bring Mammon to the party,” he said before nodding at the Hellborn.

“I’m going to kill you,” Niccolo said, staggering toward the traitor standing by the cliff, both of his legs hurting from the fall.

“Uh, I told you to deal with Mammon, first, Nico.  You have to finish your dinner before you can get to dessert,” Azazel said, admonishing him like a parent.  The Horseman squared up to the grey-skinned demon and breathed in deeply.

“He’s dealt with,” the leper said before bringing his sword to his right and holding it with both hands.  He was about to advance on the Devil’s murderer when he felt a sudden impact from his left side.  Caught completely flat-footed, Niccolo was propelled through the air and hit the ground hard, feeling his exposed skin tearing away after sliding past a rock on the floor.

“
Not so much
,” seven voices echoed.  Niccolo looked up to see the Hellborn advancing toward him, the smiles absent from its faces.  Niccolo could not look away even as Asmodeus and Beleth exchanged blows above them.

“Why can’t you just die?” Niccolo shouted, pushing himself up to his feet and realizing that his sword had been knocked away.  Cursing, he started to form another handle from his demonic arm, but Mammon was not playing around.  He covered the distance between them with one powerful leap, landing on top of Niccolo with his full weight.  The leper did not pass out from this strike, but when Mammon pushed his massive body off of him, Niccolo was not able to move immediately.  Just like in the Pits, Mammon grabbed him off the ground and dangled him over his seven mouths.

“This look familiar, Nico?  We’ll pick up where we left off,”
Mammon said before six faces broke into a smile.  The seventh head grew larger, its mouth becoming wide enough to accommodate the Horseman hanging above him, and Niccolo thought that this might actually be the end.

However, before Mammon could appreciate his meal, his body was struck by a large dose of electricity, shocking him into a muscle spasm and causing Mammon to throw Niccolo behind him.  The shock had been enough to stun Niccolo as well, but when he landed against the stone floor elbow-first, breaking it painfully, he still felt gratitude for whatever had happened. 

Niccolo looked over to see Amdusias flying toward them, hanging ten feet above the air, and thought that Mammon was done for.  Then Amdusias collapsed to the ground, blood leaking from the massive gash on his left side.  Niccolo had forgotten the wound Beleth had given the demon king and, now that he remembered, felt helpless.

“
Goddamnit
,
Frosty!”
Mammon screamed as he recovered, shaking off the electricity the demon king had run through his body.  The white-armored demon just laughed weakly as he looked from the Hellborn over to Niccolo, who was cradling his already-healing elbow.

“Best I can do, Niccolo,” he said before turning back to Mammon, who was now stalking toward him.  Niccolo looked from the demon king and back to his twin, who was still pummeling on Beleth in the crater they had made during their duel.  Then he turned his gaze toward Azazel, who was smiling softly in front of the flickering image.  Niccolo examined the portal and realized there were six points to the design, with just one empty point left to form.  As he realized that Azazel was about to reach his goal, Niccolo found that he had one last act of defiance in him.

“Mammon!” he shouted, his boots scraping against the stone floor as he struggled to his feet, cradling his right elbow.  The yellow demon stopped in his tracks, hearing his name, and Niccolo could tell that he was going through an internal struggle.  After a moment, however, the Hellborn turned to look at him with seven annoyed heads.

“
Wait your turn, Nico
,” Mammon said before starting to turn back to the wounded king.  Niccolo stopped cradling his arm and felt the bone already calcifying, cleared his throat and then stepped forward with his left foot.

“Mammon,” he said again, which caused the Hellborn’s seven heads to whip around.

“
Will you be quiet!  I’ll get to you in a moment!”
he said, but this time he did not turn back to Amdusias.  He saw that Niccolo was grabbing the gnarled bow from his back, the weapon magically stringing itself.

“Then I’ll just have to be content with making your ass a pincushion,” Niccolo said, raising his right arm, feeling a jolt of pain from the still-healing elbow, but he bent it in order to grab a single arrow from his quiver.  The action was enough from Mammon to turn entirely and face Niccolo, all seven sets of eyes glaring at him.

“
We can always make this more painful, Nico
,” he threatened, but Niccolo did not bother to care.  He just lowered his right hand and nocked the arrow against the string before holding out his bow in front of him, pulling back the arrow and trying to deny the pain aching through his right arm.

“You and me, Mammon.  That was how it was always supposed to be,” Niccolo said, feeling the strength leave his right arm and accidentally sending the arrow along its path.  It sank into the flesh of Mammon’s yellow arm, drawing a snarl from four heads and threats from the other three.

“
Oh, you’re going to regret that
,” Mammon said, starting forward, each heavy step accompanied by a strong vibration in the floor.  Niccolo mustered his nerve and reached behind him to grab another arrow, feeling no pain from his elbow this time.  Even then, he knew he should have felt scared, but strangely he felt completely calm.  The rage that burned in him was somehow controlled and there was only one thought in his mind.

If nothing else, he would face his own demon.

Niccolo nocked the arrow against the string of his black bow and drew it back, feeling not the slightest bit of pain from his recently-broken elbow.  He did not bother to think about why it was not hurting; he did not bother to think about how this yellow demon had bested him twice already.  Niccolo just aimed up at the Hellborn who was now standing just two yards away, lowering seven faces which smiled at him.

“
If Lucifer could see you now,
” Mammon teased, but before he could laugh, Mammon drew back in pain, a scythe buried deep into his yellow neck.  Cadmus strained to hold onto the handle as Mammon shook his body, but eventually the reaper was able to make eye contact with Niccolo.  When Niccolo looked into Cadmus’ grey eyes, he knew that he had the power to change this one thing, if nothing else.

“He can,” Niccolo said softly, opening his left eye for the first time in centuries.  A white light burst forth from the ruined eye, leaking out past the blighted skin and filling the room with radiance.  Niccolo felt the energy flowing through him and breathed out before letting his fingers slide off the string.

Before it even left Niccolo’s bow, the arrow broke the sound barrier and shook the very atmosphere around them, streaking toward Mammon’s chest covered in pure, white light.  Niccolo did not know why this was happening, he was not exactly sure where this power came from, but he was thankful that it had come to him in this moment.

He blinked and found that the Hellborn no longer had a torso, his monstrous flesh burned away by the power Niccolo had used against him.  What remained of Mammon collapsed to the ground, Cadmus on top of him, and it took a few moments for anyone to react. 

Cadmus was the first, drawing his scythe across Mammon’s heads so that he would never leave a soul, but eventually Azazel slowly turned his head toward Niccolo, who was still looking toward the Hellborn’s corpse.  Those still caught in the moment were brought out of their daze by a slow clap from the grey-skinned demon.

“That was…amazing, Nico,” Azazel said, laughing in shock before increasing the rate of his applause.  “Really.  I’m…stunned.  That you have been holding
that
back is pretty rude of you,” he said before stopping his clapping, placing his hands on his hips.  Their conversation was interrupted by Beleth’s body slamming onto the ground, followed swiftly by the flame-covered demon king who had beaten him into submission.

“Asmodeus, don’t!” Cadmus shouted, drawing a glare from the fallen angel’s burning eyes.  “Azazel only needs one more of the kings to die before the portal is open.”

“But he almost killed…” Asmodeus started, but Amdusias interrupted him with a weak cough.

“He’s right, brother,” the wounded demon said before coughing once more.  His twin’s statement was enough for Asmodeus to allow his flames to die down, cursing under his breath.  After he did, Asmodeus picked up the demon in the black armor, whose face was swollen and bruised, blood flowing from where his bones had been forced through the skin.  Still, Beleth breathed and was even able to look up at Azazel, who was still standing by the incomplete portal.  The broken king huffed once before nodding at the demonic mastermind.

“Yeah, Asmodeus.  He’s right,” Azazel said before cocking his head to the side and then flinging his left hand toward the dragon king, releasing the small dagger he had used to kill Belial and Lucifer.  Asmodeus saw the weapon gleaming in the air and threw out his right hand to catch it, but that was exactly what Azazel wanted.  Freed from the Asmodeus’ grasp, Beleth was able to form a five point seal which sent a massive blade surging forward, splitting the ground in its path and sending cascades of stone to each side.

With little warning, the entire chamber began to shake and the lava in the void started to bubble and burst, flowing up in molten arcs.  Niccolo tried to keep himself steady, but he looked to his left when he heard Asmodeus yelling in misery.  In his confusion, the Horseman looked back to the opposite side of the room and found that Beleth’s summoned blade had split Amdusias in two, ending the demon king’s life.  Niccolo turned to where Azazel had been standing, and realized they had failed.

“Thank you, my good brother!” Azazel shouted, laughing at the spectacle he had just witnessed.  He turned to face the newly-formed portal, the lush countryside of some place on Earth shimmering along its surface.  “I mean, wow!  After all this time, I get to go back!”

“Azazel!” Asmodeus screamed from his back, Beleth’s seal having thrown him backward, but the grey-skinned demon just looked over his shoulder and smiled, laughing as he turned around.  Asmodeus could not even react as Beleth used another seal to summon his grotesque horse from the air and rode toward the portal, rushing to meet his co-conspirator.

“Oh, don’t yell at me, brother!  You could have killed Beleth and then your twin would still be alive,” he said before sighing in content.  “Well,” he said before stepping backward, a smile stretched across his face.  “I guess I’ll just say my goodbyes.”

Azazel then bowed deeply, flourishing with his right hand as he did, and it was almost enough to drive Niccolo insane with rage.  The Horseman quickly brought up his bow, grabbed an arrow from his quiver and pulled it back.  When he sent the missile, he was surprised to see that holy light did not accompany it, but he still knew he had aimed correctly.  Before it reached its mark, however, Azazel’s hand somehow interrupted its path, his fingers curling around the shaft and stopping its flight.  The grey-skinned demon straightened back up and turned toward Niccolo, shaking his head.

“That was just unnecessary,” he said before tossing the arrow to the side and then turned to the portal.  Azazel placed his foot inside the shimmering portal and tested the ground on the other side, smiling as he felt his weight supported by the soft ground underfoot.  He then leisurely walked through the portal and disappeared from Hell forever, Beleth on horseback leaping after him.

“No,” Niccolo said, shaking with anger.  He would not let this happen.  He was not just going to let Lucifer’s killer get away with this and take the world for himself.  The Horseman ran toward the portal, leaping into the air and summoning the black horse covered in green lesions.

“Niccolo, stop!” Cadmus said behind him, but Niccolo was not listening.  All he wanted to do was follow Azazel to Earth and then bring back his head.  He could hear plenty of noise as Plague carried him to the portal, but it was all extraneous.

The only thing that mattered was his vengeance.

However, when they reached the portal, the shimmering image of the field was replaced by the image of an empty, barren plain.  Niccolo was unable to stop Plague and they leapt through the portal, the very act tearing Niccolo's mind from reality.

***

Niccolo came back to consciousness and gasped, his lungs unable to process the fresh air surrounding him.  He panicked, feeling the brittle grass between his fingers and wondering just where he was.  The last thing he remembered was Hell, the Overlook…

Azazel.

Niccolo turned over and found that he was lying in a barren field, quickly realizing that he was not alone.  His horse was lying on the ground just a few yards away, groaning as it stirred toward consciousness.

“Plague, are you alright?” he shouted, half crawling and half stumbling over to his horse.  Plague’s mind started to come back to him, the tether between them remaining strong, and soon the black horse was climbing to his feet.  Niccolo was about to feel relieved when he heard an impact behind him, finding that a cloaked man in leather armor and a pure white horse had crashed to the ground.

“Oh, shit, Cadmus,” Niccolo said before turning and walking toward his friend, leaving Plague to gain his own bearings.

“Yeah, little man, I’m fine,” Plague said with a note of resentment, but he sympathized with his master as he knelt beside the Pale Rider, who was a little more pale than usual. 

Soon after Niccolo slid to the ground next to the new arrivals, Cadmus coughed himself awake and turned to his side, curling into a fetal position.  Niccolo felt relieved to see any movement by the reaper and turned his attention to the world surrounding them.

Suspended about four feet in the air was the portal to Hell, a glimmering image of black rock and fire playing across its surface.  Niccolo was about to smile, realizing there was a way back, when the image dissolved and all that remained behind were grey clouds in the sky.  His heart sinking, Niccolo looked back down to the former gladiator curled up by his knees.  He had opened his eyes and was glaring at his friend.