Volume I: Forged

Chapter 6: In Exchange

"You want me to fight an Ancient, to defend your species?" Phil spoke the sentence as though he didn't understand its meaning, even though it sounded pretty cut and dry.

The demon messenger nodded nervously, hunched on his knees, black eyes flicking up to eye Phil's wings every few minutes. The adolescent appeared anxious and frightened, but was doing a rather good job of hiding of it. It must have been his first mission.

"What's in it for me? I retired long ago."

The demon swallowed hard. "A favor, owed to you by the Demon Mother herself."

Phil ticked up an eyebrow. That was a pretty hefty reward.

"The favor can be anything?"

"Yes, Angel. Anything you desire."

Phil smiled.

Well, that made a few certain things a whole lot easier.

...

Phil did what he was requested, and went to war with the Ancient that had deemed it necessary to wipe out the demon population altogether. He hid his wife and children away, trusting his wife and her powerful magic to protect his brood.

It was a hard battle, and just barely won at the cost of thousands, but won nonetheless.

His reputation preceded him, after all.

And now—Phil wanted what was his.

...

"I've come to collect."

Phil said the words with no fluctuations. No emotion slipped through, nothing got past his blank façade.

The Queen Mother of the Demons sneered in his face, eyes bloody red and teeth gleaming. This wasn't her true form, but it was violent and terrible enough to ward off the forest animals for miles around.

"You dare—"

"I saved your life, your castle, your entire species," Phil interrupted, head held high with perfect confidence. "You owe me."

The Demoness snarled, and a shiver ran up Phil's spine, but he doesn't let it show. There was nothing she could do. She owed him a debt—the lives of all her own, her own life, and by the laws of the Ancients, she had to give him what he desired.

"What do you want?"

Phil couldn't help but give a self-satisfied smile. "I want a child."

The Mother blinked her soulless eyes, Phil just catching a hint of fury bubbling up. "You want one of mine—?"

"You dare not deny me," Phil said quietly.

The Demoness waited another second before howling her rage to the heavens. Phil waited patiently as she vented her frustration on the forest surrounding them. Her magic flooded the clearing, so thick and ferocious Phil could taste it on his lips.

When she finally took the edge off her anger, and terrified every woodland creature for twenty miles, she opened a portal with the snap of her claw-like talons.

"Follow me."

Her tone was petulant, like a child that hadn't gotten its way.

Phil didn't care.

He'd had plenty of practice dealing with petulant children.

...

"These are our finest," the Demon Mother said carelessly, seated on her throne made of human bones. Phil gave a cursory glance at the sockets that had been filled with melted gold, hiding his disgust. Her throne room would have sent lesser men running with nightmares for the rest of their lives, but Phil was no lesser man.