Middle Demons (Angels and Demons Book 2) (13 page)

CHAPTER 25

Murmur pulled the knife from his belt and handed it to Aim.

“Cut Jess free and run. I’ll hold her off.”

Astaroth erupted in a fit of laughter.

“Dial the drama back a few notches, big guy. I’m just here to talk. The only reason I subdued your pretty friend here is because she tried to attack me. Quite a feisty girl, aren’t you?”

Aim looked at Murmur again as if to confirm his orders. He nodded in Jess’s direction indicating that he still wanted her cut loose. Murmur pulled the mallets from his back, swung them around in the air a few times, and pointed one at Astaroth.

“If you want to talk, then talk. I doubt you’ll hold it against me if I prepare to leave with my companions. I trust you about as much as I trust Nightmare.”

“You know, I should be angry with you slugger. You just downed a minor demon descended from very noble stock. Reno got offers not too long after the trials. You never did.”

“I guess that shows you there’s a flaw in the trials because he’s pretty fucking dead out there. I punted his head into the woods.”

“I’m not too mad about that. We do have a problem though. You were trying to steal from me.”

Murmur turned to Aim and Jess. Jess had been cut loose and she had retrieved her staff from the floor. Aim had pulled his crossbow from his back and paired it with a pistol, aiming both weapons at Astaroth’s head.

“Get the souls and get out of here. I can probably hold her off for about a minute or so.”

“So brave. It’s a shame that you’re so ready to die. I’ll say it again; I’m just here to talk.”

“Then speak, Snake Queen. I’m listening.”

“I’m willing to give you these souls to return to Tannin, but I want something in return.”

“I’m not going back to Lucian’s army. I’m not jumping ship to yours either. Bringing back those souls earns me a minor demon spot in Tannin’s army and I’ll either go there or swiftly to my death.”

“You young demons have no fucking manners. Stop assuming you know what I’m proposing and let me finish.”

Murmur attached his mallets to his back and crossed his arms. He raised both eyebrows, silently asking the major demon to continue.

“Leviathan will die shortly. This is beyond your control. We only wanted Cain and Baal, but Leviathan chose to side with them instead of us. The wound he currently suffers from isn’t life threatening, but his army doesn’t know that. They’ll blame that wound as the cause of his death when, in reality, I snuck into his tent last night and poisoned him.”

Murmur had an overwhelming urge to attack Astaroth, but he knew Aim and Jess wouldn’t flee like he had asked them to. He remained silent.

“The only possible successors to Leviathan are Tannin or Belial. I don’t really care which one it is, I simply ask that you gift them these souls as a peace offering from me. If the department of jealousy fights on our side, we can bring down Baal quickly and Cain’s army is scattered and weak following Cain’s death. We can bring this war to a swift close. Will you deliver my message and my gift?”

“I will. If you require that I persuade them to join you, however, the deal is off. I’m fine with delivering a message in exchange for the souls I need to gain a minor demon spot, but I won’t convince Tannin to fight against Shadow. Shadow is… almost like a friend.”

“There are a lot of assumptions in your world view. You believe that Tannin will defeat Belial for Leviathan’s throne? If I were a betting girl, I would put my money on Belial. He’s a frightening sorcerer. Also, no one has heard from Shadow in a long time. He’s likely dead. Why do you believe he’s still alive and that he can unite Cain’s armies?”

“My answer is simple. I know Shadow and Tannin better than you do. They will become major demons. If Tannin asks it of me, I will kill Belial myself.”

Astaroth chuckled at Murmur’s blind faith.

“Such confidence in their abilities and in yours. Amusing. Are you sure I can’t recruit you to join my army?”

“Positive.”

“Well your terms are accepted. Simply deliver my message, with my gift, and your minor demon position in the department of jealousy is secured.”

“And you need to apologize to Jess for attacking her with a magic, green snake.”

Astaroth raised an eyebrow at Murmur like he was insane. He shrugged in response.

“It was worth a shot. I’ve never seen a major demon apologize before.”

“You’ve probably never seen a major demon kill three demons-in-training with a single well-aimed strike, so don’t fuck around with me… unless that’s something you’d like to see.”

“Not really. We’ll be leaving now.”

Murmur looked over to Jess and Aim and nodded towards the door. They each grabbed a handle on the side of the massive chest of souls and followed Murmur out of the building.

The return trip to Hell was mostly uneventful. Jess and Murmur had to endure Aim’s endless babbling about how skilled he was at shooting and he almost tried to recount the entire battle to them but Jess reminded her brother that they were both there and at no time did they see him shoot a demon’s nose off or pierce a demon cleanly through both ears. When they found Tannin’s army, Murmur sent a messenger ahead to announce their return to Tannin. Tannin left his tent grinning widely at the arrival of the three demons-in-training.

“Success, Murmur?”

“We succeeded, Lord Tannin, but our success came with a price. I need to speak with you in private about how we pulled this off.”

“Fine, but before we get into any of that…”

Tannin snapped his fingers at two small demons and pointed at the chest of souls. They retrieved it from Aim and Jess. Tannin looked at them with a serious expression.

“Ration this out. That does not mean eat however much you want and
then
ration it out. It means ration the entire damn thing out. We need this to last. If I find that either of you took more than anyone else got, I will cut each of you into three pieces and feed you to Cerberus.”

“Yes, Lord Tannin. Understood.”

The two small demons ran off with the chest of souls, looking somewhat shaken at Tannin’s threat.

“Murmur, follow me into my tent. I’ll hear your report now.”

Murmur started towards Tannin’s tent with Jess and Aim following. Tannin raised an arm into the air without turning around to look at them.

“Just Murmur.”

Murmur turned to his two companions.

“It’s alright guys. I’ll give both of you the credit you deserve.”

Jess looked at the ground.

“I knew this deal was too good to be true. Lord Tannin never really thought much of either of us.”

“He will after I’m done with my report. Self-interest, remember? I’m more powerful when the two of you fight with me. That means I have a vested interest in keeping you around. Don’t worry.”

Murmur followed Tannin into his tent while Jess sat in the sand and practiced spells on a passing beetle and Aim entertained himself by spinning his rifle with both hands.

When they were inside his tent, Tannin removed his helmet and placed it on a table. His entire armor was coated in streams of demon blood.

“How’s the war going?”

“A lot better now that you arrived with those souls. I would have been happy if just
you
had returned with that treasure chest but you were able to keep those idiots alive too. Very impressive, Murmur.”

Murmur briefly considered taking all of the credit, but what he had told Jess and Aim before was true. He was more powerful when they fought by his side.

“They’ve been training and I think both of them have potential. I wasn’t the only one who killed demons to secure that reward. They’re both worthy of becoming minor demons.”

“Murmur, I lost thousands of demons today. I honestly don’t care all that much if they’re skilled or not. I’ll promote the three of you to minor demons immediately and you can distribute these to your team.”

Tannin handed Murmur three power rings.

“The grey one has minor camouflage capabilities. Assuming he can finally shoot worth shit, that should help Aim blend into his surroundings better. The red one will boost the power of any spell Jess casts, assuming she can cast more than one now. The blue one is yours. It’s a minor version of my speed ring. It should help you out when you’re fighting smaller, quick opponents. Your strength mixed with a bit more speed is a deadly weapon we could sorely use on the battlefield right now.”

“Thank you, Lord Tannin.”

Pleased with his success and his long-awaited promotion to minor demon, Murmur turned and made it to the door of the tent before he remembered the conditions Astaroth has placed on her “gift.” He stopped and turned back around.

“Before I go celebrate, I need to fill you in on the details of our mission.”

Tannin didn’t look up. He continued to stare down at the map on his table.

“Oh go celebrate, Murmur. You succeeded. The details aren’t important.”

“Once we had defeated the guards, Astaroth appeared.”

Tannin looked up from his map.

“What did you say?”

“Astaroth asked me to give you those souls as a ‘gift.’ She told us that General Leviathan will shortly be dead, poisoned by her hand. I was to relay the message to you that she would like either you or Belial to join her, along with Lucian and Vixen, in destroying Baal after Leviathan’s death. She wants to kill Shadow as well.”

“You’re in command until I return. I’ll ride to see General Leviathan immediately. If he dies, it’s likely Belial and I will go to war for control of the department.”

CHAPTER 26

Gangrene stayed up late into the night thinking over his options. It was Shadow that had promoted him to minor demon and given him the opportunity to prove himself as a commander of a small army. He owed Shadow his loyalty. On the other hand, he had no idea if Shadow was still alive and he would always play second favorite to Muan. Muan was better at recruiting an army and, if he was honest with himself, a better fighter. Leech had offered him the chance to be second-in-command the way Muan was to Shadow. However, he couldn’t forget that Leech had just announced to the army a chain-of-command that caused nearly half of them to commit suicide. This had woken Gangrene up to the fact that he would have to challenge Leech’s orders on occasion when he did something stupid or was about to do something stupid. He didn’t have to worry about such things with Shadow as his commander.

Gangrene closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. The events of the day had left him with a massive headache.

“You look like you’re thinking too hard.”

Gangrene had his spear in hand within seconds and thrust it in the direction of the intruder. He stopped the attack just before it pierced Raven’s throat.

“Oh it’s just you. What do you want?”

“I’d like to not be impaled by a spear for starters.”

Gangrene tossed his spear aside and sat back down.

“Fine. I didn’t impale you. Now leave.”

Instead of leaving, Raven sat next to Gangrene on his bed.

“Maybe you should trust Leech and accept his offer. He can’t do this without you.”

“Oh so you’re a part of their PR team now, huh? You haven’t done enough for Lilith lately so she sent you in here to convince me? Seduce me? Kill me?”

Raven slapped Gangrene hard across his face. He lunged to grab his spear, but she kicked at his legs and tripped him. She had his hands and feet tied up within seconds.

“So the answer is kill me. Well, hurry it up.”

“You make too many assumptions. I wanted to talk to you. It has nothing to do with Lilith or Leech. I figured you’d want someone to listen, someone that you could bounce ideas off of to weigh your options. I’d like to be that someone. If you just want to whine like a little bitch and make accusations, I’m happy to just keep you tied up in here for a while until you cool off.”

Raven sat on Gangrene’s back and started filing her nails.

“You’re kidding me. You’re just going to sit there until I’m ready to talk to you?”

“Yup.”

“So killing me isn’t an option?”

“Nope.”

“Can it be?”

“Nope.”

“Please?”

Raven let out an exasperated huff.

“I like you, Gangrene, but I’m tired of watching you screw up over and over. You’re in a bad situation with such a small army but you have the potential to do great things with Leech and possibly become a middle demon if Leech ever takes over for General Baal.”

Gangrene stopped struggling to get Raven off of his back and thought for a moment.

“I hadn’t considered that.”

“See? You should listen to the hot chick that tied you up. Good things will happen to you.”

Gangrene snorted to conceal a laugh but Raven looked down and saw him grinning.

“Are you ready to talk now? Should I untie you?”

“Fine. Maybe you aren’t the airhead I thought you were, so I guess I can let you listen to both sides and help me weigh my options.”

Raven untied Gangrene. After he stood and cracked his back, he continued.

“And your fat ass was crushing my spine.”

“Fuck you, Gangrene. My ass was perfectly sculpted by the gods.”

“If you say so.”

“You’re just mad that a girl tied you up and made you do what she wanted… and I think that’s the first time anyone has said those words in that order… ever.”

“Alright, fat ass… have a seat. Let’s chat.”

Gangrene sat down on his bed and patted the spot next to him. Raven looked at him menacingly but then sat down.

“I guess it really just comes down to the fact that life was easier working for Shadow. I didn’t have to think much or make decisions. I went out to recruit an army, occasionally ran a few personal missions on the side, and was generally respected despite my low birth. With Leech, I’d constantly have to be looking out for him and making sure he wasn’t about to do something incredibly stupid.”

“So you don’t want the challenge? Living as a minor demon in Shadow’s army is easy, so it’s the right thing to do?”

“See you
were
sent here to convince me to follow Leech.”

Raven looked at him like she was going to hit him again, but tried another approach instead.

“No. I want to hear both sides. I assume you have reasons that you’re considering Leech’s offer or you wouldn’t have had that constipated overthinking look on your face when I entered. Why are you thinking about leaving the easy life?”

“Shadow is always ten steps ahead of me. When I went to avenge my sister’s murder, he knew I was out doing it. When I reported back, he knew about how many demons I’d recruited each time. He plans out every move like a chess master. That’s why I think he’s still alive right now.”

“But?”

“But he’s always going to have Muan and so he doesn’t really need me. Leech needs me pretty badly right now. I’m happy being a minor demon, but when Shadow takes over for General Cain it will be Muan who takes his middle demon position. I don’t really want to wait around and watch that. Once I became a minor demon, I realized I wanted to move up again. I have… an ambition that I didn’t realize was there until I tasted power for the first time.”

“Interesting stuff. So you don’t think Shadow would make you a middle demon at the same time that he makes Muan a middle demon? Also… how is that little cutie a better fighter than you? I’m pretty sure
I
could kill Muan by stepping on him.”

“Long range attacks. His little poison dart throwing attack usually gives him the advantage. When we spar to get in some practice fighting, I always win if I can bring the fight in close and make it my spear against his bone daggers but he’s been getting faster lately. That means he can get away from a close fight and spam me with darts until one of them hits. He’s winning now more often than I am. As far as Shadow making me a middle demon, I’m sure he would eventually but he wouldn’t rely on me to command his largest army. That army would go to Muan.”

“Doesn’t it bother you that Leech barely has an army? I mean…
you
had a larger army when you came to help him than he has right now.”

Gangrene realized that Raven actually
was
helping him think through all of his options, including questioning whether joining Leech was actually a good choice.

“I think General Baal may give him a larger army soon now that he’s proven himself against two middle demons. It would be pretty exciting to march on Vixen and be part of the force that takes and kills her.”

“Yeah that would be exciting. I’m hoping Lilith has what it takes to go all the way because I’m kind of stuck as a demon-in-training until she becomes a middle demon. It’s pretty obvious Leech won’t give me a minor demon position in his army, so I just have to trust that Lilith can actually
win
this fight against Vixen. I wish
I
was in the position you’re in.”

“Chafing on the wrists and ankles from rope burn?”

Raven shot him a sarcastic smile.

“So what you’re basically saying, Raven, is that our fates are kind of intertwined. If I help Leech and he
does
get a larger army from General Baal, you might end up getting promoted out of it. If I turn my back on Leech right now, you’re stuck.”

“Not really. Of course we have a much greater chance of success if you stay, but you can leave and I won’t try to stop you. I’ll still fight alongside Leech and Lilith to overthrow the queen bitch. However, I will admit that…”

Raven hooked her arm in Gangrene’s, rested her chin on his shoulder, and looked up at his eyes. He turned slightly to meet her gaze as if drawn in by gravitational force.

“…I want you to come with us.”

Gangrene leaned in and Raven closed her eyes. Instead of going in for a kiss like Raven was expecting, Gangrene moved in closer to whisper in her ear.

“So you decided to switch over to seducing me instead?”

Raven opened her eyes and moved slightly back.

“You were actually being somewhat helpful, Raven, until you revealed the reason you came here to talk to me. You aren’t here to help me weigh my options. You’re here to seal the deal for Leech and Lilith so that
you
can get a minor demon spot. Well I’m going to accept Leech’s offer. Our odds of killing Vixen are still fucking terrible but at least you’ll get your way and that’s all you whores in the department of lust care about, right?”

Raven stood and attempted to backhand Gangrene across the face. He was ready for it and he caught her hand. She jerked it away from him and stomped to the entrance of his tent. She paused briefly before she exited.

“You know, Leech isn’t the stupid one around here. You are, Gangrene. At least when my sister showed interest in him, he didn’t suspect some ulterior motive. He didn’t throw up walls on the off chance that he would eventually get hurt.”

“So what’s your motive, Raven? Why did you want me to kiss you just now?”

Raven looked away briefly and allowed a tear to fall from each eye before she looked back at Gangrene.

“Because I like you, you fucking moron!”

With that she turned and exited Gangrene’s tent.