Hell's Detective

Chapter Forty-two- War

Ingleseid dodged as a pale eyed possessed man lunged at a powerful looking angel, ducked a demon head as it was lobbed across the corridor. Everywhere he ran, demons, possessed people, and angels were fighting like dogs. It wasn't like he hadn't been expecting this. The Devil had informed all the demons of the Saviour's location, after all. But a little forewarning would have been nice.

No one noticed the two humans scampering through the chaos. Something flashed. Whistled past his ear. A sword. Black blood spurted across his face. A stray demon sank to the ground, the muscles in its chest torn apart and leaking miserably.

"Infirmary," Holly said, pointing to a broken door.

Ingleseid nodded, and they ducked inside. It looked like a bomb had gone off. The bed was overturned, various medical instruments littering the floor. Two bodies were slumped against the wall, a man and woman. Flesh pale and ghostly, eyes unseeing. Ingleseid knelt down. Sticky blood seeped through the blouse above the woman's chest. She'd been stabbed.

Holly leaned against the door, breathing hard. She'd seen bodies before, Ingleseid knew that much. But these were different. These were innocent.

"You okay?" he asked.

"No," she snapped.

The smallest of sounds came from the woman, almost like the peeps of a new born bird. Ingleseid peeled her back, and she slumped heavily on him. Cold blood soaked into his shirt. Nestled beneath, breathing softly, blinking big, teary eyes, was a baby.

"Hello," Ingleseid murmured, cradling him in his arms. Blood was splattered across his cheek, but it wasn't his. He was completely unharmed.

"I don't understand," Holly said quietly. She was pale, looked ready to be sick. "If the demons killed the parents, why'd they leave him behind? That's what this has all been about, hasn't it?"

Ingleseid tore his gaze from those piercing blue eyes and looked up at her. Or, what was behind her.

"Holly!" he screamed as a bald, pointy eared demon grabbed her. He threw her against the wall and lunged at Ingleseid, wrapping his arms around his neck. Holly leapt to her feet. Flames ignited in her hands, licked their way up her arms, crackling dangerously.

"If you don't want your boyfriend's head to go pop," the demon hissed. "I'd stay put."

Ingleseid didn't have any doubt that he wouldn't hesitate to act on that promise. Holly gave him a wary glance and backed down. The flames flickered and died. Reaching out a clawed hand, the demon cupped the shivering baby. It gave a little cry of protest as he scooped it out of Ingleseid's arms.

"It's okay," he sneered, manoeuvring his arm around Ingleseid's neck. "Stop crying, you little freak. Daddy's here. You're going to make me very famous, you are. The demon who killed the Saviour of the humanity. I'm gonna squish your tiny little head," he cooed. "Yes I am. Yes I am." He raised a claw. "Night-Night."

He plunged the claw down, and the baby squealed, and Holly screamed and-

His claw melted away into tiny grains of dust. But not just his claw. It spread up his hand, eating away at it, ripping through bone and muscle and flesh.

"What's-what's happening to me?" he whispered, eyes wide and wild. Dust spilled onto Ingleseid's jacket, tore into the Demon's torso. With one last scream that disintegrated on his lips, he dissolved completely, scattering across the floor and all over Ingleseid, which was, in retrospect, really, really gross.

Ingleseid squirmed out of what was left of the would-be-Saviour-killer, brushed himself off. He snatched up the baby, and it curled its head into the crook of his elbow and sniffled quietly.