War and Peace and Pancakes

Hunted Torment

It had been mere hours into the weeklong mission that she realized that she was walking into a trap. Her prey had surrounded itself with hordes of lower demons to wear her down. The type that were mindless beasts that couldn't resist the pull of violence and blood lust, that never formed relationships other than hierarchies that decided who got to feed first.

The realm was a barren, rocky wasteland, though there were more civilized parts further afield that had been tormented by the waves of creatures that would appear out from the earth and destroy entire villages. Something had set these demons up here, something had made them strong and plentiful. And it had been tipping the scales of balance so sharply, so quickly, that she had gone where her dark Prince had commanded her to go to stop it. Granted she knew she should have brought one of her legions with her, or at least a team of fighters.

But she had been furious after her fall out with Baltha, about his insistence that he wasn't going to respect the sanctity of their unspoken rule that they didn't mess with one another's investments. That Baltha had insinuated that he would continue whatever his relationship was with Timothy and Samantha. She had nearly killed him when he told her he was going to teach Sam how to find her.

Urdu was pretty sure that message, at least, had gotten through.

And to stop herself from thinking about all the rest of it, the guilt, the confusion and that odd feeling she had never come across before, she had just gone hunting on her own. Lucifer was probably going to kill her when he found out that she had spent the last week wading through waves of demons on her own.

Striding through the last few feet of tunnels, into the underground lair where the rock demon was armed and waiting for her, she wasn't worried. She knew she could survive, it would just be a hell of a fight and recovery. But at least if she was too tired to wake up, she'd be too exhausted to continue thinking about all these things racing through her mind. Maybe Urdu would wake up and find she no longer felt that incessant desire to find her vampire and witch and ruin their lives with her preposterous demands.

Urdu filled the cave with her ward, cutting out any chance of them being interrupted, and judging by the growl from the demon who was striding towards her with a hammer and shield, he hadn't expected her to still be able to do this, "tell me who you're working for and I'll make this quick."

His laugh was like the rattle of a snake tail, long teeth dripping venom as he bared them at her. "Lucifer is so threatened by me that he sends his second in command?"

"You don't even warrant a second of worry on his majesty's mind." Urdu allowed him to pause for a moment, giving herself the chance to take a moment to brace for the battle. The venom wouldn't kill her, but it would be painful. She was immune to most types of poisons and venoms after such a long life of fighting.

But she wouldn't make the mistake of underestimating how much she didn't want to experience a bite from him. The ground heaved under her feet as his power rippled towards her and she used her stumble to launch herself into a running attack, "who are you working for?"

"I will dine on your choicest organs tonight." The demon growled back, meeting her attack with his shield and countering with a heavy swing of that massive hammer.

He was slow, if a little strong. Possibly would give Baltha a run for his money in the heavy blow department with that swing. But Urdu was quick, and relied far more on skill than she did on the prowess of her muscles.

***

Timmy had come home from the strip club even more upset than when he had left. I had hoped that he would find her and convince her to come home with him. I don't think he was very nice to Mr. Lucifer either, though neither him nor Mr. Alesky seemed to want to listen to me, and Timmy was being a meanie all night.