Ethereal - Part One

Chapter 11 - Demon Hunt

Thoren was an idiot. Seriously, he was. Either he had an extreme dislike for me than ran deep, or he just didn’t give a fuck that I basically knew nothing about boxing. He took advantage every time I was hit down to the floor, not caring one bit to pity me by giving me a chance to strike back.

I hadn’t learnt anything since we started. Oh right, of course I learnt something. I learnt that this fallen had some serious anger issues. Maybe worse than what Azriel did. Actually, maybe Azriel was Thoren’s biological brother and not Kazier, yeah, that made more sense to be honest.

Right now, Thoren had me crouching in a headlock down on the ground, and I was gasping for air. “I…can’t…breathe…” I choked out, while trying to hit him with my gloved fists. “You are weak!” He spat out and tumbled me over so that I was flat down on the ground. I used my elbows to knock him in his ribs and simultaneously pushed my ass up to try and get him off me.

I didn’t succeed in getting him off me, but at least my throat was no longer constricted. I threw off the one glove and wrapped my hand protectively around my throat. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” I yelled at him, after removing my mouth guard.

Thoren rolled his eyes and then took off his gloves and helmet as well as his mouth guard. “You are being dramatic”. I scoffed out loud, my mouth falling slightly agar. “Dramatic? You think I’m being dramatic?”. “That is what I said, is it not?” He said and started packing the boxing equipment away.

“What is your issue with me? I haven’t done anything to upset you”. Thoren didn’t answer me, instead he took off his t-shirt and headed for the nearby showers. I frowned at his behaviour and then decided to head back to my room.

……………………………

The three of us stayed out until nightfall. The city was less busy at this time as the night activities around town was further away from where we currently were. After Ryelen found that female’s chopped finger, we searched a bit in the area and found a few flesh remains of the victim, unfortunately the remnants were unidentifiable and honestly, we would be wasting our time if we decided to puzzle piece her body back together.

What we did find that proved useful was the injured demon that Zeir had probably wounded yesterday. He was lying behind a dumpster in a nearby alley from where we had started our search. He was blending in well with the red brick wall behind him and covered by a few scatterings of rubbish.

The demon was dark red – brown in colour, had short curved ears and a ghastly scarred face. His tail was shorter than most other demons and was curled around his hind legs.  His stomach was swollen full with the women he had consumed and thus he was unable to make an escape.

He screeched when I neared him and cried out even louder when I stabbed him with my dagger. I pulled a face at the thick black slime that exploded from him and wiped the sprays that decorated my face. I sighed unhappily at the kill. It was too simple and did not make me feel fulfilled as a soldier. 

I heard Kazier yell out my name and I turned around swiftly. Nearing both Kazier and Ryelen were a swarm of a least twelve demons. I ran as fast as I could, gripping onto my weapon. When I reached my leader and Kazier, the three of us formed a triangle, facing our backs to each other. The first demon flew towards Ryelen and he struck the creature once when it flew pass.

Another two came my way and I unfurled my wings, rising a few feet off the ground to attack the demons. A few strokes against them and soon their black blood started spraying everywhere. I grunted in annoyance and hit them both with a final blow to the chests.

I then glanced over at Kazier, who was struggling to fight off four of them at a time. I distracted two of them away from Kazier and he yelled out his gratitude. “Ryelen, behind you!” I heard Kazier yell and Ryelen ducked just in time from an impending attack from another three. Kazier then killed off the ones that were bothering him and joined Ryelen.

I focused on the two in front of me and noticed something rather odd. While the demons under Belphegor’s control were dark red and brown in colour, with short curved ears and scarred faces, the demons in front of me were pitch black, had lengthy ears and scales covering their bodies.

These two specific demons were not Belphegor’s, instead they belonged to Sathanas, the greater demon that housed the sin of wrath. I immediately took flight, knowing that these demons would follow me as if I was their prey. “What are you doing!? Stay close!” I heard Ryelen yell out, but I ignored him, stretching my wings, I flew higher.

I grabbed the demon’s attention and when they snarled at me, I threw my one dagger at the demon. Unfortunately, the demon’s companion threw me off balance and the dagger fell through the air, rendering the creature uninjured.

I reached for my back up dagger that was strapped to my other thigh and chased behind the one demon. As soon as I was close enough, I reached out for him and wrapped my legs tightly around his neck. Using my stronger hand, I stabbed him in the head and the creature shortly started falling for Earth.

The other demon caught me off guard and attacked from behind, but I turned speedily and plunged the weapon into his eye. The vile being cried out in agony and headbutted me, his claws scratching the side of my face. I gritted out in pain and anger and used my dagger to slit the demon’s throat. A guttural moan along with blood gurgling was heard from the animal and then it went still.

I tossed it over my back, between my wings and then flew down to where Ryelen and Kazier were finishing off the last creature together. “Ryelen, we have a problem” I announced and placed the carcass down in front of my feet. “What do you mean?” He asked with a frown. “This demon is one of Sathanas, the others that were attacking you and Kazier are Belphegor’s”.

“What? They are working together?” Kazier asked incredulously. “Never in Hell would those two greater demons work together” I muttered, nodded in agreement with Kazier. “You know what this means?” Ryelen asked us, turning to glance at me. I sighed and then continued to nod my head, giving Ryelen my answer. “Lucifer knows about Mira”.