Minor Demons (17 page)

Leech stopped short and stared. They had reached their destination. A dark hooded figure with a massive scythe stared at the three demons. Shadow recognized the boatman as Charon. Charon held out a skeletal hand to them. Shadow opened his money bag and gave them each a gold coin.

“Pay him his fare.”

Lilith and Leech both cringed as they placed the coins in his hand. Charon said nothing, but turned and pointed to his boat. They boarded.

Shadow, Lilith, and Leech found seats towards the back of the boat. Nightmare, Valefor, and Andras boarded and found them towards the rear of the boat. Shadow spit in front of them.

“What a coincidence. We were just talking about what it would be like to be the three dumbest demons in all of Hell and Nightmare and his goons show up to explain to us what it feels like. Have a seat.”

“We’re not here for you or your pet monkey, Shadow. We came to talk to the chick.”

A ghostly wolf head emerged from Andras’ chest and howled at Lilith. She didn’t look impressed. Andras winked at her anyways. Nightmare continued.

“We figured you wanted to join a winning team, babe. You don’t have to be stuck with these losers anymore. Join the three of us. I’ll talk things over with Vixen and everything will be fine.”

Lilith spit in front of them and hit nearly the same spot Shadow had. She put her arms around Leech and Shadow.

“Actually, I like these two. I like them a lot more than your wolf-boy and the squirt over there. Why don’t the three of you turn around and leave?”

Valefor and Andras did as they were commanded but Nightmare remained where he was and grinned. He stroked Lilith’s chin with two of his fingers and Leech had to stop her from grabbing her whip and attacking Nightmare’s face. He finally turned and left. Leech looked at Shadow to verify. He nodded. Nightmare had one of the same power-countering rings that he did. Lilith decided to ask for more of an explanation.

“It doesn’t make sense. He never had my ring.”

“You have the same ring that all of your minor demon sisters have. I’m pretty sure Nightmare has hooked up with at least a few of them.”

Lilith laughed. Shadow raised an eyebrow at her.

“What’s so funny?”

“If you needed my ring earlier, that means
you
never hooked up with any of my sisters.”

“That’s because Vixen gave birth to a bunch of whores.”

Leech laughed. Lilith looked infuriated.

“Don’t you lump me in with them
ever
again. I’ll command Leech to jump into the river Styx.”

Leech stopped laughing. Shadow grinned at her.

“You had that one right on the tip of your tongue. I’m guessing you’ve already thought about doing it.”

“Maybe she has thought about doing it. I’ll bet she’s thought about doing a lot of things to me.”

Leech paused to wink at Lilith. She giggled and then he continued.

“What you’re doing right now is stalling, Shady. We want to hear the story behind your minor demon rings. I can be annoying as hell until you tell us...”

Shadow sighed.

“Fine.”

He looked around to make sure no one was listening and then he told his story.

––––––––

1
5 years earlier

Shadow and the demons that trained with him frequently enjoyed training themselves in the fifth circle of Hell, the wrath found within the swampy river Styx. Their trainers thought it would be good for the young demons to prove their own wrath superior to the human souls that dwelled in the circle of anger.

Shadow and Murmur stood on the banks and enjoyed tormenting the souls in the river by throwing rocks and occasionally wading out into the water to hit, punch, kick, and further torment the damned. This continued for several hours until both demons decided to head home. Murmur punched Shadow hard in the arm.

“I’m going to get you next time in practice. Speed can’t beat strength every time.”

Shadow punched him back.

“I agree that speed can’t beat strength every time but I can
definitely
defeat you every time.”

Murmur laughed.

“Implying that you have something beyond speed. That’s funny, Shadow.”

“It’s another ‘s word’ like speed and strength. It’s called having skill, Murmur. I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”

“The only ‘s word’ that applies to you other than speed is shit.”

Shadow put his arm out and Murmur stopped in front of it. Their path was blocked by two minor demons that were grinning down at them.

“So it’s the Abaddon runt and some overweight ox. What are the two of you doing out here? You don’t have permission to be out in the river.”

“Actually we do. I’m General Cain’s nephew and Murmur trains with the same instructors that I do. We’re out here all the time. Do you have a problem?”

“You’re the one with the problem. We won’t be spoken down to by a traitor’s son.”

Murmur stepped forward as if he was going to attack the two on his own. Shadow held him back.

“No, Murmur. I’ll deal with this. Go get my uncle.”

Murmur ran off to get General Cain as Shadow attacked. His first two swings at the minor demons missed. They laughed at him, but Murmur had gotten through. He just had to stall until Cain arrived.

The first minor demon attempted a punch. Shadow dodged the blow and took a quick jab at his jaw that connected. The second minor demon used the opportunity to kick Shadow hard in the side. He followed it up with a punch to Shadow’s face. Shadow saw stars as he went down. The two minor demons proceeded to kick at him over and over. Shadow eventually mustered the strength to roll out of the way but he was very badly bruised. As the two minor demons moved in to continue their assault, a tremor shook the ground. General Cain had arrived.

“Ooh the big, bad brother of the traitor. Are we supposed to be scared?”

Cain grinned.

“Yes, you should be. Never turn your back on my nephew.”

Shadow swept the legs out from both of them and they fell to the ground. He jumped over them and went to meet his uncle.

“No, Shadow. Get back down there and kill them.”

“Uncle, they kind of beat the shit out of me while Murmur ran to get you. I don’t think I have enough left in me to take a two on one fight right now...”

“I don’t accept that. I pay good money for your combat training and I want to see what it’s done for you. Get down there and kill them.”

“We were tormenting the souls in the river Styx. I don’t have my armor and I only have a couple of knives on me. My gear is back at the house. You want me to kill two minor demons with a couple of knives?”

Cain nodded. Shadow sighed and walked back down to face his smiling tormenters, who had gotten back up from the ground. Shadow removed the two knives from his belt and winced at the pain in his side. The minor demons laughed at him. One of them decided to lunge with a roundhouse kick. Shadow ducked under the his leg, kicked his other leg out from under him, and stabbed him repeatedly with one of his knives as he fell to the ground. The other minor demon capitalized on the fact that Shadow was distracted and kicked the other knife out of his hand. He punched him hard and Shadow went down.

Murmur attempted to go down and help but General Cain held up one hand to keep him away. Cain looked angry.

“Shadow, get up.”

The minor demon continued his assault on Shadow, who was curled up in a ball and trying to take the punishment as best as he could. Cain yelled again.

“SHADOW, GET UP!”

As the minor demon threw a punch at Shadow’s head, Shadow caught him by the wrist and twisted it. The demon’s look of anger faded from his face and one of fear took its place. He attempted to change forms but Shadow quickly removed the dark blue ring from his hand and placed it on his own finger. With all the rage and pain Shadow had held on to as he fought two-on-one, the transformation from demon to a raging shadow monster only took a few seconds. The minor demon ran but Shadow picked him up in the air. He hit him against the ground again and again and again until the minor demon stopped moving. A thick dark liquid covered his remains. Shadow pounded him with his massive fist like he was killing a fly with a newspaper. The demon’s blood slowly leaked out of him as Shadow applied more and more pressure. As a final insult, the rage creature that Shadow had become lifted the minor demon and threw him in the river Styx.

Cain grinned. He kept right on grinning as he started with a slow applause.

“No one insults out family. Take the other ring and get yourself home.”

Cain turned and disappeared in black fire. Shadow collapsed and then took several minutes to get up after he refused Murmur’s help. He removed the ring with a grey gem from the other minor demon’s finger and hobbled home.

“W
ow. That’s some crazy shit. I guess I always figured your life was a lot easier. I guess your uncle demanded a lot more of you than I realized.”

“No shit, Leech, but I didn’t tell you the story to earn your pity. I told you the story because we’re about to reach Earth and I can’t have the two of you annoying me to no end while I’m trying to work.”

“Did you find out what department the minor demons were in?”

“Inaction and laziness. They worked for Asmodeus.”

“Does he know what you did?”

“Nope. I threw both of their remains in the river Styx. If he ever does find out, I obviously can’t count on my uncle to step in to save me so I hope the two of you are ready for a three-on-one fight against a major demon.”

Lilith smiled and put her hand on his shoulder.

“I’m always ready to take down Asmodeus. You just let us know when and where and we’ll be there.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

––––––––

S
hadow, Leech, and Lilith passed the remaining time after Shadow’s story by preparing. Shadow speculated on what their orders would be while forming several plans. He had a piece of parchment that he occasionally scribbled a few notes on. Leech removed the minotaur axe from his back and sharpened both sides. Lilith mostly slept or looked bored. She occasionally touched Leech so she could send a shock through her system. Leech was annoyed by this at first but he eventually just smiled, remembering that Lilith was a little more sick and twisted than the other demons he was used to. When the boat made it to the shore, Malcontent appeared at the front of the boat.

“I am here to turn all of you loose on the world. Come here and get your orders from your department.”

Nightmare and his posse stepped forward and Malcontent handed them a scroll. Nightmare looked like he wanted to continue the fight that he had started before Baal stepped in, but remembered that Charon was looking on and decided against it. He shook his head very slightly at Andras and Valefor. They stepped off the boat and ran off to start tempting and torturing.

As Shadow stepped forward, Malcontent handed him a scroll with his orders from General Cain. Malcontent briefly rested his hand on Leech’s shoulder and smiled.

“Watch Shadow’s back, son.”

Lilith walked forward and touched Malcontent’s hand. Nothing happened. She left the boat pouting. Malcontent looked at his son with a confused expression.

“She’s a weird one, Dad. Don’t worry about it.”

As Leech left the boat to tell Lilith off for her behavior, Shadow stayed back a moment longer. Malcontent stopped grabbing scrolls from his bag.

“Can I help you, Shadow?”

“I just wanted to say that I won’t forget what you did... for me or my father. You deserve your new position, Malcontent.”

Shadow left the boat and walked towards a quarreling Leech and Lilith.

“I figured that he would have a parasitic touch too.”

“Why? Why would my dad have a parasitic touch? What the hell is wrong with you, Lily? The fact that you need to shock yourself on a regular basis is
really weird
.”

“I get bored easily.”

Shadow cut in.

“You guys need to focus. Stop fighting over the damn minor powers or I’ll take both of your rings away from you. I’m really getting sick of this. Let’s take a look at our orders and get going.”

Shadow unrolled the piece of parchment and looked it over for a few minutes.

“Carlos Romero. He works construction. His wife died in childbirth and now his son is sick. The level of care that he can afford isn’t finding the problem. We’re going to convince him to... step slightly outside the law to obtain the money he needs to save his son’s life. We’ll start small.”

Leech nodded.

“Drugs?”

“I’m going to turn the time over to Leech. He’s not only a coveting money minor demon, he’s also a book nerd.”

Lilith cut in. She grabbed Leech’s face with one of her hands and gave him a command.

“Hop on one foot while you explain our drug strategy.”

Leech began to hop on one foot. He also flipped off Lilith.

“I’m not doing this until she stops being an annoying bitch.”

“Touch my cheek and I’ll let you stop.”

“Again with the shock addiction. You realize I’m draining part of you every time I do that, right?”

Lilith shrugged.

“I don’t really care. I like it.”

Leech looked to Shadow for help as he continued to hop on one leg.

“Lilith, Leech is right. You have to stop or I’ll take your ring away. This is your last warning. I’m getting tired of this too.”

Lilith started to pout, but she looked at Leech and told him to stop hopping on one foot. She then crossed her arms and looked away, clearly mad that she didn’t get her way. Leech was about to continue but Shadow cleared his throat to get his attention. He nodded in Lilith’s direction. Leech sighed, walked up to Lilith, and touched her face with one of his hands for around ten seconds. When he let go, she fell over.

“Wow.”

Leech tried to start his drug presentation once again but Lilith raised her hand.

“How can you already have a question? I haven’t even said anything...”

“It’s an important question, I promise.”

“Alright, fine. What is it?”

Lilith took out a cigarette, lit it, took a long drag, and blew out a puff of smoke.