Nephilim Rising: The Complete Series, page 36
part #0 of Nephilim Rising Series
A black Labrador.
It was still a pup at just over six months old, once part of a large litter that had simply been abandoned by someone. The pup I was looking at was the last of the litter, but by no means the runt. He was big for his age, and thickly muscled. When he saw me coming, he immediately ran and jumped up to put his two front paws on the cage, his tail wagging furiously like he was out to impress. I broke into a wide smile as I crouched down to introduce myself. "Hey there, little one," I said, stroking his fur through the cage as he licked my hand.
"Well," the woman who worked there said. "What do you think?"
I stood and looked down at the dog. "I think he’ll be a worthy successor is what I think."
In the car, I put the pup on the floor of the passenger side, but he immediately jumped up onto the seat and sat like he had every right to be there. When I put my hand out to pet him, he gently started biting me.
"Those are some sharp teeth you have there. Maybe I should call you Fang. What do you think?"
The little dog yelped and bit my hand again, and I laughed. "Fang it is."
When I got Fang home, I found Frank sitting drinking on the back porch, the sun just beginning to sink behind the trees in front of him. He didn’t notice me at first as I came around the side, as he seemed to be too busy staring intently at nothing, his head full of dark thoughts no doubt. It was only when Fang barked that Frank looked around, a look that was part puzzlement and part delight coming over his face as he saw me holding Fang.
I put the pup down, and he immediately ran toward Frank, landing his front paws on Frank’s leg as he stared down at the pup slightly dumbfounded. "What is this?" he asked me.
"His name is Fang," I told him.
Frank put his drink on the ground and picked Fang up, holding him aloft as he examined him. "You got me a dog?"
"I figured it was the least I could do, considering what happened to Bane."
Frank placed Fang on his lap, a huge smile on his face now as he playfully ruffled Fang’s ears. When he finally looked at me again, I saw there was tears in his eyes. "Thank you."
I smiled back at him. "No," I said. "Thank you, Frank."
Frank held my gaze for another moment, then went back to playing with Fang.
As I walked away, I heard Frank say to Fang excitedly, "Hey, you like whiskey boy?"
I could only shake my head. At least he was happy.
A short while later, I decided to take a walk in the woods before darkness settled over everything. Not that I minded the dark, but the woods were nicer in daylight. I found calm amongst the gently swaying trees and the soft chorus of the birds.
I also sought the solitariness of the woods because I was trying to reconnect with my demon "sister", but for whatever reason, she was unreachable. I could still feel her presence in me, but it was faint, as if she were now lying dormant until the next time she was needed. To be honest, I sort of missed her. I missed being in that powerful body, and I missed the intermingling of light and dark power that formed the new power within me. I thought at the time that I would always have access to that new power, and to Demon Leia, but it was starting to seem more like a "pull in case of emergency" type deal, where I would only have access to my demon during a life or death situation. It was clear, after all, that Demon Leia was all about the violence and the bloodshed and the fighting. She was born out of a need for those things, so probably having her around all the time wouldn’t have been the best idea. At any rate, I was sure I would see her again soon enough, though perhaps not in this world, if things went the way I feared they would.
At that point, I began to think of my mother. The way I thought about her now was so different to how I used to think of her. Before, she was a virtual stranger to me, or at least the part of her that mattered. Now, after everything I’d been through and everything I’d done, I had a much better understanding of who she was. More importantly, I now better understood why she had to make certain difficult choices, such as selling her soul to save someone else. She just did what she had to do, and so did I. Because of this, I was becoming increasingly convinced that my mother had to be saved from Hell somehow, and that I and my demon sister were going to do it. I just didn’t know how yet, and I hoped as well that there was enough of her left to save after enduring the horrors of Hell for so long. Either way, I fully intended to find out one way or the other.
My thoughts became interrupted when I heard a branch snap nearby, as if someone had walked on it. My hand went immediately to my Watcher Knife, and I pulled it out of its sheath and spun around to face whoever was there.
I froze when I saw who it was.
"You…"
Mullin smiled as he stood with his hands clasped in front of him. "Hello, Leia," he said. "I’ve come to collect."
As Mullin’s smile widened, it became clear that I would perhaps be seeing my mother a little sooner than I thought.
Maybe a lot sooner.
In Hell.
**The story continues in the next book, Demon’s Legacy.**
BOOK TWO
DEMON’S LEGACY
"All hope abandon, ye who enter here."
Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
1
The trap was set, but there was still no sign of the beast. I sat crouched in the bushes as I looked around me in the woods, my senses peeled for signs of the creature that had been attacking cattle on the surrounding farm areas since it escaped through the Hell Gate Abigor had opened. I had yet to lay eyes on the creature, but according to Frank, it was known as a Demon Beast, just one of many types of beast born in the pits of Hell. The one witness to the beast’s carnage described it as a massive dog-like creature with two heads, and a body that looked like it was rotting to pieces. Upon hearing the description, I immediately thought of the Skyscreamer I had seen in Hell, its body appearing decayed in a similar way. I was just glad one of those dragon beasts hadn’t escaped as well. God knows how much a damage a thing like that could do in this world.
Frank was waiting about twenty yards away on the other side of the small clearing between us. When I heard he was heading out on the hunt, I immediately said I would go with him. He refused at first, saying it was too soon after everything that had happened. It had only been a day, and I needed time to recover, mentally as well as physically. He was probably right; and under ordinary circumstances, I probably would’ve heeded his advice.
But my circumstances were no longer ordinary, and hadn’t been since Mullin had shown up.
Leaning my shoulder against a tree, my mind inevitably drifted to the conversation between Mullin and myself—if you could call it a conversation. It felt more like Mullin was there to give me a subpoena, only instead of being summoned to court, I was being summoned to Hell.
"I didn’t expect you so soon," I said to Mullin when he appeared in the woods a little over three hours ago, dressed in an immaculate black suit, and still looking like a sleazy salesman.
"Yes, well," Mullin said as he came toward me with his hands in his pockets. "Circumstances have changed somewhat since we last spoke…in no small part due to you, my dear."
I shrugged. "Abigor fucked with the wrong Watchers."
Mullin smiled as if I was being modest. "Come now, there was more to it than that, wasn’t there? A little birdie told me you defied every natural law going, and somehow transformed yourself into a demon of all things. I wish I was there to see it, but I was taking care of other things in Hell at the time."
"What can I say? It just happened."
"Fortunately for you, I’d say."
I frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I mean you’ll be needing your new demon skin very soon."
"Why?"
He smiled. "You’re going on a great adventure, Leia, on my behalf."
I had to admit, he threw me somewhat. I had expected him to tell me that I was going straight to Hell for a few centuries of punishment and torment, but here he was telling me I’d be going on some adventure. Unless he was just fucking with me.
"An adventure? What does that even mean? Are you sending me to Hell or not?"
"Yes."
Despite already knowing what his answer would be, his reply was still like a bullet to the heart, for it was final confirmation of my inescapable fate.
"So where does the adventure part come in?" I asked him. "Or is that just a wildly inappropriate euphemism for my upcoming torment?"
"Torment?" He smiled. "There will be torment, yes. Of that I have no doubt, but maybe not in the way that you think."
Sighing at his continual cryptic replies, I shook my head. "Jesus, Mullin, just fucking say what it is you want me to do, assuming you are looking me to do something, other than just burn in Hell for the rest of eternity."
His eyes focused on me then as he came closer. "I’m here to offer you a chance to win your soul back. Is that clear enough for you?"
At first I thought he was just fucking with me, filling me with hope that he would soon pull out from under me again. But as I stared at him, I saw he was serious.
"Let me get this straight," I said. "You are offering me a chance to get my soul back, and to not spend eternity in Hell, is that it?"
"Exactly."
"So what would I have to do then, to 'win' my soul back?"
"I’m glad to see you are interested, not that you have much choice mind…"
I shook my head. "Not really."
Mullin reached into his jacket pocket and took out what looked like a joint, which he stuck between his lips and lit with a flame that came from his finger. As I stood frowning at him, he took a couple of deep drags, blowing the sweet smelling smoke in my direction before offering it to me. "I do enjoy a smoke now and again, don’t you?"
I hesitated a moment, but then took the joint from him. "I thought your lungs would be too hot already from breathing in all that hell fire."
Mullin shook his head. "You really have no idea what Hell is like, do you?"
"Why would I?"
"I suppose. You’ll find out soon enough, though."
I handed him back the joint after a taking a few puffs, it going someway toward calming my nerves. Though now that I was standing on the cusp of Hell, it was going to take a lot more than a joint to sooth my tormented nerves. "When?" It was a question I hated asking, but I had to know.
"Tomorrow…at midnight."
I just stared at him as the shock of the short timeline sunk in.
Jesus, that’s no more than twenty-six hours away…
"I can see you’re unsettled by the short window," he said. "Though perhaps if I tell you about your mission, you may feel less…distressed."
"My mission?"
"Yes…to kill the King of Hell."
I shook my head as if I hadn’t heard him clearly. "Excuse me?"
Mullin laughed to himself as if he was enjoying seeing me squirm. "Your mission will be to kill the King of Hell. Should you succeed in this mission, I will give you your soul back."
It was my turn to laugh. "You have to be fucking kidding me, right? I mean, kill the fucking King of Hell…I…" I shook my head as if I didn’t know what else to say.
"It’s not as impossible as it sounds," Mullin said after blowing out a long stream of smoke, then passing me the joint again.
"Impossible?" I toked on the joint, taking the smoke in deep as though it would do something to alleviate my shock. "So going to what amounts to a foreign land that I know nothing about to kill the fucking King of said land doesn’t sound impossible to you?" I laughed, long and hard, a laugh that was partly fueled by the weed making my head giddy, and partly by the sheer absurdity of my ever-changing circumstances.
Mullin waited patiently until I’d stopped laughing. "Believe me, Leia, if anyone can do this, it’s you."
"Oh, really? Why?"
He smiled then. "I’ll explain more tomorrow night when I return to take you to Hell. I suggest you get your affairs in order before then." His eyes gleamed wickedly in the moonlight. "You may be gone a while."
And with that, he just disappeared in that annoying way that demons do.
Now as I sat in a different woods with Frank across from me, I found it difficult to concentrate on what I was supposed to be doing, which was keeping an eye out for the Demon Beast. The bait was a large goat tethered to the center of the clearing. Frank had persuaded the owner of the land to hand the animal over, promising he would bring it back in one piece, though I don’t know how he could’ve made such a promise. There was every chance the goat would get killed by the Demon Beast if we didn’t stop it in time. Even the goat seemed to know this, as it nervously munched on the grass while looking fearfully around, as if it could sense a predator in the vicinity somewhere.
On the trip here, I said very little. Frank was respectful enough of my brooding silence in that he didn’t ask me too many questions. He obviously figured I was still dealing with what happened at the cemetery, which I was, at least until Mullin showed up. Now the events at the cemetery seemed like a distant memory. The only thing I could focus on now was the fact that I would be on my way to Hell in less than twenty-four hours, apparently to kill the reigning king there. I didn’t even know Hell had a fucking king, but I guess it made sense. Who better than to organize and oversee the torture of billions than a king? A demon king, at that.
"Jesus Christ," I whispered to myself, shaking my head for about the nth time since I’d settled in my hiding spot.
How the fuck was I supposed to kill a goddamn king of all people…or of all demons in this case. Kings in this realm have around-the-clock protection—layers of impenetrable security that makes them untouchable. I didn’t think it would be any different in Hell. Plus there was the added bonus of the King of Hell being a powerful demon himself. Maybe the most powerful, given the fact that he reigned over the rest.
Just what the hell makes Mullin think I would be suited to this mission? I wondered. He did say something about me being uniquely capable. Was he referring to Demon Leia when he said that? He had to have been; there was no other explanation as far as I was concerned. My demon other aside, I was just a rookie Watcher at the end of the day, and thus hardly suited to the job of assassinating the King of Hell.
Speaking of my demon other, it felt like she was gone. I couldn’t feel her presence in me at all now. It was like she had up and left, which wasn’t good news if Mullin was expecting me to transform into her for my upcoming mission.
As I was pondering the consequences of this, I suddenly became aware of a presence behind me, and I realized that my grace was on high alert. It was just that I was too wrapped up in my head to notice. By the time Frank shouted my name to warn me, it was too late.
I screamed as a massive set of jaws bit down on my shoulder, shredding flesh and crushing bone, forcing me to drop my Watcher Knife. As I looked to see what was biting me, I was confronted by the dark red eye of the Demon Beast, and then both of the eyes on its other head, which was snarling at me as thick saliva hung from its enormous pointed teeth.
As the Demon Beast continued to increase the pressure of its bite, further crushing the bones in my shoulder, my free hand went for the Glock 19 in my leg holster. But as I went to take it out, I heard something whizz past my head at the same time as I heard a gunshot, which was followed almost instantaneously by a sound similar to a hammer hitting a lump of meat as a bullet impacted the head of the Demon Beast.
The second the bullet hit, the Demon Beast let go of me, and I scrambled away as Frank kept firing. The bullets were engraved with runic glyphs specially designed to terminate most lower order demons. In this case, I’m glad to say the magic in the bullets did its job. The Demon Beast—which was maybe the size of a lion, but jet black and much bulkier— staggered back several feet as Frank kept firing, impacting its body with multiple bullets. By the time the great beast fell to the ground, the life fading from the eyes of first one head, and then the other, I almost felt sorry for the mutt. Though not quite, given the damage the bastard had done to my shoulder. When I looked, I was horrified at the angle my arm appeared to hanging at, not to mention the severe tissue damage.
"Jesus fuck!" I hissed.
"What the fuck was that?" Frank demanded when he reached me, both of his Berettas in hand.
I shook my head. "I’d probably shrug right now, but my shoulder is a little banged up as you can see."
Frank sighed as he put his guns away. "That thing could’ve killed you. You’re lucky I changed position, otherwise I wouldn’t have spotted it. Didn’t you hear it approach?"
"I was a little preoccupied. Sorry."
"Which is why I didn’t want you coming here tonight." He shook his head as he came over to inspect the damage to my shoulder.
"It’s just a scratch," I said, smiling despite myself.
"This is funny to you? Your damn arm is hanging off."
"Again, I’d shrug, but…"
Frank looked at me. "What’s going on, Leia? Why do I get the feeling there’s more to you being preoccupied than just Abigor?"
I looked away and said nothing as I stared over at the dead Demon Beast. "Where do you think it went?"
"What?"
"The mutt over there, where do you think it went?"
Frank looked at me like I was going insane. "What are you on about, Leia?"
"Well, it was sorta dead in the first place, right?"
"Yeah, and?"
"So how is it dead now?"
"The magic in the bullets killed it by counteracting the darkness that was keeping it alive."
"The darkness…right."
Frank once again stared at me like I’d completely lost it, which I sorta had, to be honest.
"Leia?" he said gently this time.
When I looked at him, I practically looked through him. "Yeah?"
"Let’s get you out of here. I’ll come back later and dispose of the mutt’s body."
