Lorelei struggled to rise beside him. The succubus had landed on her back. As she tried to get up, a large, burned white foot slammed down on her chest from above. Harrow growled menacingly.
As before, Alex didn’t think; he just acted. The gladius was in his hands again, slashing at Harrow fiercely. The demon raised his hand as if to block it, but the blade bit deeply into his skin. He shrieked, jerking the limb back, then shrank back yet again as Alex swung and struck home at Harrow’s side, drawing more dark blood.
The demon’s foot came off of Lorelei, leaving her coughing and rolling to one side. Alex stepped over her, ready to swing at the thing again without understanding how he could possibly have hurt something so fearsome.
“This has entertained me,” said a voice like a dozen different animals all calling out in the night. The cacophony only barely made any sense to the ear. Alex risked a look over his shoulder to see eight feet of black, soot-covered horror with an iron crown standing over him. “I will allow you to leave my realm, mortal,” Baal sneered.
Alex kept his guard up. He tried to stay wary of Harrow, standing with the two demons to his either side and Lorelei at his feet. “Fine,” Alex said. His voice trembled, but he did his best to sound resolute. “We’ll be happy to leave.”
“Just you. The succubus stays. She is mine.”
“Fuck that noise.”
“Look around you, boy,” the demon lord rumbled. His voice put a tremble into the ground. “She is home here.” Baal gestured with his broad arms at their surroundings. The whole land was smoke and ash and glowing embers. The demon hordes watched hungrily, congregating in a ring ten or twenty yards in diameter and many demons deep at every direction. More appeared with every breath.
“That is your home,” Baal said. He pointed past Harrow. Alex risked a glance. The portal was suddenly at ground level. Molly and Onyx still stood in the hallway holding on to the portal’s edges. “Your friends hold the door for you. Take the opportunity to leave while I am still merciful. You cannot hope to prevail here.”
Lorelei coughed. She reached up to touch Alex’s hand. “Fear no evil,” she whispered hoarsely.
He opened his mouth to speak to Baal, but out of the corner of his eye he caught a flash of movement. Alex lashed out with his blade, striking Harrow’s huge tail as it snaked out to grab at Lorelei again. The tail jerked back, flinging blood everywhere as it withdrew.
He had hurt the monster again. Alex swallowed. “If I’m not a threat to you,” he ventured, trying hard to master his terror, “how come I’m not already dead?”
“You would question this charity?” Harrow hissed.
“From you guys?” Alex nodded. “Hell, yes.”
“This is your last chance,” Baal warned. “Leave my realm. Now.”
Lorelei’s hand squeezed his tightly. Alex turned his gaze directly toward the towering demon lord to his right. “Make me,” he said.
Baal’s eyes narrowed. “Harrow,” he began, but didn’t finish.
“Cuntface!” Rachel screamed, diving down on Harrow. Her sword hacked straight through his shoulder. The beast howled as his arm crumbled and fell away in flames, but Rachel had to commit so much to the blow that she left herself open for retaliation. Harrow caught her by the head with his remaining hand to slam her face first into the ground.
Alex was distracted only for a split second; his memories of so many battles over so many lives were still too clear to let much of an advantage slip. Baal rushed at him, fast enough to bowl him over. Alex had his weapon up. Ball carried the young man off his feet, but Alex’s sword was turned perfectly to meet him. The blade sank deeply into Baal’s gut, releasing soot and ash over Alex’s arms and chest.
Baal screamed as he heaved Alex up and slammed him down into the ground. Alex fought on. He slashed viciously with his sword, gripping it with both hands even as the demon pounded and clawed at him from above. Baal’s roars shook the land around them, announcing his fury and, tellingly, his pain.
Beyond them, Rachel recovered and pressed her foe. She swung left and right against Harrow, driving him back as he tried with his tail and remaining arm to fend her off. She feinted with another thrust and then drove her blade into his foot. With his backward momentum arrested by his impaled foot, Harrow fell onto his back. Rachel pressed in, yanking the sword out of his foot as she jumped onto his torso. She swung in a broad, circular arc. Harrow’s final howl was abruptly silenced.
Alex gasped for breath under Baal’s assault. He stabbed and kicked and tried to get free, but his efforts faltered as his body was thrown down against the ground time and again. Baal grabbed Alex’s wrist, slammed it down onto the ground, and then brought his other fist down upon the gladius. The blade snapped in two. Alex punched and struggled, only to be shoved down onto his back by the demon lord’s huge hand. Baal dragged his claws across the young man’s chest, scraping bone and drawing blood.
Then something hit the demon in the back. Alex saw taloned hands reach around Baal’s shoulders from behind, gouging his eyes and pulling him back. Lorelei tore and bit at Baal’s neck. Baal released Alex, reaching at his back to clutch at Lorelei.
Something large, white and frightful struck Baal’s chest. It knocked him backward, sending him tumbling to the ground. The object landed right next to Alex as the young man struggled to rise. It was Harrow’s head.
Rachel flew past Alex, charging Baal headlong with her sword raised, only to be brutally swatted back. She tumbled to the ground next to Alex, her sword falling from her grasp. She coughed and spit blood, trying to shake off her disorientation. Alex reached out toward her, trying to ignore his injuries. In a moment, he’d probably feel a lot worse, anyway.
Baal finally got his hands on Lorelei. He dragged her off of his back, holding her high as if to slam her head first onto the ground even as she fought to slash through his wrists. “No bitch could ever be worth this trouble,” Baal hissed, rearing back to cast her down. He almost didn’t hear himself speak over the howl of agony that came from the boy nearby, but Baal didn’t pay it any mind. He’d get to that in-
Unbearable pain in Baal’s chest interrupted his every thought. He looked down to see the angel’s flaming sword sunk to the hilt in the center of his chest. Alex let go of the blade as he fell to his knees, gasping and crying in pain as his hands burned. Baal’s grip faltered. Lorelei tumbled free, landing roughly next to her lover.
Baal staggered, choked out a cry of terrible fear, and finally fell onto his back. The impact shook the land all around. A heartbeat later, his body caught fire.
Alex stared down at his ruined, smoldering hands. Tears of pain ran freely from his eyes.
A hand grasped his shoulder. It trembled, holding onto him weakly, but it meant the world to him. Lorelei clung to him, facing him without the slightest illusion covering her bruises or her red, demonic features. She was battered, inhuman, and every bit as beautiful to him as she had ever been. It didn’t extinguish the pain, but she drew him back into the moment.
She wasn’t alone, either. Rachel stepped over to them, placing one hand protectively on Alex’s shoulder as the other snatched up her fallen blade. “We gotta get the fuck out, lover,” she warned. Her healing touch helped him cope with the pain. Alex saw the hordes of demons creeping closer. Their moves were tentative, threatening but also wary, as if each waited for another to make the first move.
Lorelei stopped them. “Baal is dead!” She called out. “Harrow is dead! Slain in their own realm, never to return! Do not make the same mistake they made!” The mob of vile creatures paused at her words, but didn’t look entirely put off.