The Devil's son - 16. End of Days?

The sky above New York City was pitch black. According to the clock it was 5 pm but if people would have said it was the middle of the night Vanessa would have believed it too.

Vanessa still had trouble focusing. It was a couple of days now since she woke from her coma and everyone was amazed by her recovery. There were still a few things that didn’t work quite the way they used to but her doctor said she would make a full recovery.

“Mrs. Russo, to be honest I never expected you to wake up from that coma, ever. But since you managed to do that I see no reason why you couldn’t make a full recovery” the doctor said. “No idea how long it will take but I’m sure you will”.

Normally George would have been there with her but, according to that lovely nurse at the NICU, Rose, George had gone off the deep end. Losing a son and a daughter while risking his wife and his other son was more than George could take. Vanessa knew George would come around, in time. And she would be there waiting for him. But a part of her resented him for it as well.

“I’m also hurting!” she screamed to her counsellor. Bellevue offered her a grief counsellor who would help her to deal with the loss of two children and her own flirtation with death. “I’m also hurting and where is my husband? Why isn’t he here to support me? Why can’t we get through this together like we promised? “In good times and in bad”, rings a bell?”. Vanessa kept ranting while the tears were streaming down her face. She hated that even more than being there alone, without George. She was always strong and independent. According to some of her friends at NYU Vanessa was tough as a nail and, sometimes, just as sharp and warm as one. It had always been a mask but one that had become so comfortable that, in time, she adopted it as her own. And somehow that mask was gone since she woke up from her coma and she hated it.

As soon as she had been allowed she had left for the NICU, to see her son. While she had been there she had talked to George, on the phone. Although she heard he was thrilled she woke up he never mentioned about him coming to see her and their son. When she asked about him coming to Bellevue he had been evasive at best.

“There’s something I need to do, darling” George had said. “Something that is really important and can’t wait”.

“What is more important than being here with me and our son to celebrate we still have him although his brother and sister are gone?” Vanessa had asked. “If it’s a work thing I’m sure your captain will give you time off”.

“No, Vanessa, it’s not a work thing. I need to make sure other people won’t go through what we went through”.

“So, you’re going to medical school?” Vanessa asked, her old sarcasm thick in her voice. “There is nothing you can do, George. These things happen”.

“But this time it didn’t happen randomly and I’m going to make sure he never gets away with it ever again!”

“George, you’re scaring me” Vanessa said.

“Good, because you need to be scared, love” George had answered. “There are forces at work here you have no idea of”.

“George ….” Vanessa pleaded but she feared for his health, his mental health.

“Honey, let’s call out son Julian, shall we? After your brother?” George had said. Vanessa had had an older brother who died when he was 22 of leukaemia.

“Are you sure, George?” Vanessa asked, thinking it was stupid to talk about this over the phone. But somehow she felt if they didn’t discuss this over the phone they might not discuss it at all.

“Yes, let’s call him Julian so later we can tell him about his uncle and how brave he was” George had said. “Honey, I have to go. Something is happening here” and George hung up the phone. That was about two days ago and she hadn’t heard from him again. She had tried to call his cell a couple of times but it went straight to voicemail every time. She couldn’t reach her husband.

But her husband was not the only person Vanessa was looking for. She was also looking for that young doctor who she had seen when she woke up in the ICU. She could not get those emerald eyes of her mind. They stood so gentle in that strong face, surrounded by light brown curls. And, although she wasn’t sure it was because she had been in a coma or because of the light in the ICU but she could’ve sworn his skin had been glowing. As soon as he had noticed she was awake he had run and she hadn’t seen him again since. She didn’t asked anyone but every doctor she saw she looked straight in the eyes to see if she could find him. However, she didn’t she those sparkling green eyes anywhere in the ICU anymore and the next day she was transferred to a regular ward.

“Looking kind of gloomy outside, isn’t it?” Rose asked as Vanessa was feeding baby Julian. Vanessa and the middle-aged nurse were hitting it off quite nicely although Vanessa felt as if Rose kept a secret. Now Vanessa was fine with that because everyone needs some secrets. The good Lord knew she had a few of her own.

“Yes, it is. And it feels just off as well” Vanessa answered. “You know, if a demon would enter this room right now I wouldn’t even be surprised”.

Is only she knew how close her wish came to be.

At the corner of Wall Street and Broadway, in front of Trinity Church, an ancient spell had been activated as soon as the five Demon Lords were in position. Well, four Demon Lords and the Demon Prince, although the later wasn’t happy with it.

“Beelzebub, if you let me go I promise I won’t kill you” Jayden said but it was in vain. He already noticed Beelzebub or any of the Demon Lords couldn’t move either, just like him. He had been frozen the moment Beelzebub had put him here and the same had happened with the others as soon as they had taken their place on the five points of the pentagram. But the biggest surprise had been seeing one of the angels first hitting Michael (something Jayden had been wanting to do a few times himself) and than transforming into Abaddon. Now that was really bad news. Abaddon was a frequent visitor of Hell but somehow could come and go as he pleased. Now Jayden understood why. Abaddon had found another immortal to take his place in Hell, particularly in The Pit, creating a link so Abaddon could come and go as long as the other immortal, probably the angel he impersonated, remained there. That angel was probably imprisoned there with no chance to escape.

While the lines of the pentagram started to glow brighter and brighter Jayden thought about the history between him and Abaddon and it was not good. The two of them had taken an instant dislike in each other and they tried to outdo the other every possible time. It turned ugly pretty soon since Jayden was pretty much as strong as a kid as Abaddon was as fully grown demon and when Jayden turned 12 or 13 things went from ugly to disastrous. That was the first time Abaddon and Jayden had tried to kill each other but so far no good. This time, though, it might turn out differently. He had heard what Abaddon said to Beelzebub.

“When this is over I want the little shit dead! I will not be bossed around by some Demon Prince that is half human. Make sure he does not survive the ritual”. Beelzebub was also not happy with Jayden but to kill the Demon Prince ….

“Are you sure, Abaddon? You know how His Darkness will react. He loved Jayden more than any of his sons while his other sons had the potential to bring him a lot of souls.”

“Don’t question me, Beelzebub” Abaddon said. “While you were partying with His Darkness, his guests and now his new heir I was here, on earth, to make preparations. I am now the most important of the Demon Lords and I call the shots. At least, I will as soon as I corrected Satan’s mistake”.

The lines were now glowing a bright red and Jayden felt his arms rise. He tried to stop them for pointing at Rahab and Ereshkigal who were his counterparts in the pentagram but he couldn’t. It was almost like someone had taken control of his body. Jayden saw the other Demon Lords raising their arms, pointing their hands at their two counterparts in the pentagram. And before Jayden knew what happened two beams of bright red light shot from his hands, over the glowing lines of the pentagram on the ground. Jayden’s two red beams were captured by Rahad and Ereshkigal who both shot two red beams of light as well. One of each joined the red beams coming from Jayden while the other red beams were met by Beelzebub and Abaddon. And Beelzebub and Abaddon also connected to each other by ruby strings of energy. Soon as all the connections were made these second collections of strings of light also started to glow and shine. And, as if things weren’t bad enough New York was hit by an earthquake for the first time in the history of the city. But today was definitely a day of firsts and this day was long from over yet.

“We have to stop this” Ar’Thurian said but it was clear Michael didn’t think the same.

“We can’t, Ar’Thurian” Michael said. “As soon as the Demon Lords took their places the pentagram was activated. They are now protected by the same power they are using to break the final seal”.

“The power they use? Do you mean it’s not their own power?” Ar’Thurian asked.

“Have you ever been paying attention in the past, Ar’Thurian? Of course it’s not their own power. Demons can’t generate that amount of power, not even the Demon Lords”.

“So what it that power than and why did they need the Demon Lords to open the Gates of Hell?”

“I swear, sometimes I wonder why you were my second in command” Michael said. “They have accessed the residual power that was left at this place when the Gates of Hell were created by Him. As with everything else nature needed a balance here as well. In order to create the Gates of Hell to imprison Satan it was required there would also be a possibility to destroy the Gates of Hell, setting Satan free again. And they needed the strongest demons to tap into this power because it’s a lot of raw power to deal with. Lower level demons and even most upper level demons would burst into flame if they tried to channel that much power”.

“So if we somehow break their link or deplete that power we would be able to stop them, right?”

“Yes, but at a cost. Disrupting their link would kill all of them, including Jayden, and I have no idea how to do it. Depleting the energy is simpler but at greater expense”.

“How so?”

“The energy has mixed with the life force of the solar system. Depleting the energy will cause it to replenish itself with that life force, causing everything in this solar system to die.”

“Ok, we keep that as a backup plan” Ar’Thurian said.

“What do you mean? We can’t kill the entire solar system!” one of the angels said.

“The universe, let alone all of creation, is much more than just this solar system but it will all go to pieces if that last seal is broken. I’d prefer to do this without destroying anything but if it’s our only way to stop Satan to leave Hell we have no choice”.

“You do realize that will kill Jayden as well, right?” Michael said.

“Yes, your point?”

“If you had allowed me to take down Jayden we would not have to make this choice”.

“Are you going to throw that in my face all the time or are you going to try to help me finding a solution?” Ar’Thurian said, getting more and more annoyed with the Archangel. “If you try to discover how we can access that power I’m going to try to break their link” and with that Ar’Thurian took off.

It was only a couple of hundred meters Ar’Thurian had to fly and in seconds he landed next to Jayden.

“I don’t know if you can hear me, Jayden, but I need you to know how sorry I am” Ar’Thurian said. “I love you but I can’t allow your father to break free. I have to try to break your link with the power you’re channelling, even if that kills you. I love you”. And Ar’Thurian took out his sword.

Jayden heard everything Arthur said but he couldn’t answer. Jayden thought somehow the power that was being used came from within but it made sense. Although he never encountered the limits of his powers he understood he could never generate enough power to undo a divine spell. Unfortunately he didn’t think Arthur’s sword would get him anywhere either.

“I love you, Arthur. Please, be safe” Jayden said and he heard Abaddon smirking in his head.

“You are a disgrace to demonkind, Jayden” Abaddon sneered inside Jayden’s mind. “Wanting to fuck a guy like him I can imagine but falling in love with him … Even after you found out he was a warrior angel you still kept seeing him. Maybe your father will allow you to keep him as a pet but I hope he will execute you both”.

“And if he doesn’t you will, right? I heard you talking to Beelzebub, Abaddon” thought back towards Abaddon. Jayden was surprised to find the link worked both ways.

“Well, let’s say I intend to make sure Hell will remain a Demon Prince free zone” Abaddon laughed.

Jayden returned his attention to Arthur and saw him raise his sword in order to strike. But Arthur didn’t aim at Jayden but at the ruby beams of energy connecting him to Rahab and Ereshkigal. With all his strength Ar’Thurian let his sword come down on the magical energy. An explosion of light and sound happened next and when Jayden was able to see again Ar’Thurian was blown away dozens of meters, visibly confused by the blow he just got. Both the magical energy of the pentagram as Ar’Thurian’s sword was undamaged. This wasn’t the way creation would be saved.

It was pandemonium outside. Since earlier this afternoon calls came in from the Financial District about hideous creatures roaming the streets. Several of the callers called them demons, which made sure the calls were filed in the category “lunatics”. But when the sky above New York became darker and darker and the calls increased in both frequency and the seriousness of the claims the NYPD called in all available men to investigate.

“This guy claims he saw a demon rip a guy in half” one of the detectives said while another was talking to someone on the phone.

“How many heads did you say the creature had? And they were on his abdomen??”

And, of course, the movies started to flood the internet. Damn smart phones! The resolution of those movies left much to be desired so it was completely unclear who or what was slaughtering people at Wall Street. But it was clear it was a bloodbath and the screams of fear in the youtube movies was gruesome. No matter what went down there, it was bad.

“People, listen up!” the captain stated. “I just got of the phone with the chief-of-police who has been talking to the governor. The governor wants to bring in the National Guard to bring back order to the Financial District. Unfortunately that is not going to be easy. The Brooklyn-Battery tunnel cannot be used by military and both the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge, but especially the Brooklyn Bridge, was never designed for military equipment. So it will be several hours before the National Guard can take action”. A massive moan sounded from the floor.

“I have more bad news. Our “colleagues” at the FBI Field Office here in New York have no people to spare to help us and, as they stated, “unless we find evidence of religious inspired violence or terrorism it wouldn’t be their jurisdiction anyway”. So, until the National Guard arrives and relieves us it will be the good old NYPD who has to serve and protect”. In stead of the loud moan that sounded earlier now the captain was met with cheers and applause. These men and women were proud to be officers of the NYPD.

“So, these are our orders. The Chief-of-police wants a skeleton crew here at the precinct while the rest of us tries to gain access to Wall Street and surrounding area. Once there we’re supposed to maintain order there until the National Guard arrives. There will be no air support. Because of the strange weather conditions it’s been decided to keep the helicopters down on the ground. Several of our detectives were already on route to the Financial District when the first reports came in so they will serve as our eyes and ears until we arrive. Questions?” The room stayed quiet. “Ok, let’s move, people!”

One of the detectives on route was George Russo but there was no saying in when he would reach the Financial District. Because of the panic most people felt when blood started flowing they were on the run without thinking clearly. This, of course, had led to accidents, leading to traffic jams. George really wanted to be there before the rest of the NYPD was. From the beginning of today’s weird calls he was convinced this was why his son and daughter had had to die. That made it personal and he wanted to settle the score by killing the bastard who was responsible and, if fate was kind to him, the angel who had helped him as well. George felt that was the only way to pick up the pieces of his life again, glue them together and enjoy watching his son Julian grow up, together with Vanessa. But, in order to do so, he first had a job to do. Absentmindedly he stroked Angel’s Light. He could not wait to plunge in deep into that demon’s chest.

“Sir, the spell was activated and is increasing in power. I think it will be less than an hour before the final seal will break” Belial said to the dark figure in the shadows.

“Very good, my darling Belial” the dark figure responded. “That means we will succeed. With the Demon Lords in place and the spell activated there is nothing the Armies of Heaven can do anymore. I doubt even He can change what is coming. We need to go and take our final places, Belial”.

“Is that wise, sir? The Armies of Heaven might not be able to stop the breaking of the final seal but should they see us there they will slay us. Wouldn’t it be wiser to stay away from Wall Street till after the final seal is broken?”

“Maybe you’re right but if Satan doesn’t see us there when he emerges we might not get the reward we deserve”

“If he emerges” Belial thought to himself. “It would not be the first time a perfect plan fell apart at the last moment because of unforeseen events”. But in stead he said: “You might be right, sir, but our promised rewards will do us little good if we’re dead”.

“Always cautious, aren’t you, Belial?”

“That’s what allowed me to survive all these years, sir. That, and my immortality as an angel”.

“Very well, we’ll stay out of sight until the final seal is gone. After all, we can be there in the blink of an eye anyway”.

Belial and his temporary master looked at the sky, in the direction of Lower Manhattan. In less than an our their master and brother would be free once more.

“Ok, so an intervention from outside the pentagram didn’t work, but how about one from within?” Jayden thought. He had to be careful because the telepathic link that now existed between the Demon Lords. He had been trying to find out how it worked and had been “eavesdropping” on all four Demon Lords. He was able to hear their thoughts and feel their emotions but, when Rahab had noticed Jayden was snooping around he had slammed the proverbial door in Jayden’s face. All Jayden got from Rahab at that moment was buzzing noise, like thousands of bees were flying around in his mind. Well, in Rahab’s case Jayden wouldn’t be surprised. Rahab was powerful but he would never be the brains of any operation. Jayden was always surprised Rahab could walk without someone constantly telling him how. A conversation with Rahab was difficult. You could compare them with the dialogues from the old Incredible Hulk comics: “Hulk angry! Hulk smash!”. A sentence like that might be a little much for Rahab already.

Anyway, right now Jayden felt he was rather safe. The only thing he got from the other Demon Lords was a feeling of joy and happiness. The sensation coming from Ereshkigal could only be compared with an orgasm and why wouldn’t the Demon Lords be pleased with themselves? In a short while the final seal would give, the Gates of Hell would be opened permanently and Satan would be free. Disrupting the power connections between the Demon Lords hadn’t worked and, although Jayden wasn’t sure what the angels on top of the building across the street were doing, he didn’t have much faith in that either. Jayden only held one hope. This spell was designed to be used by five demons who all had the same objective: releasing Satan. But here was a Demon Lord who did not have the same agenda as the other four and he hoped he could use that to his advantage and disrupt the power from within the spell. In order to do than he tried to tap into his own power. It was a long shot since it hadn’t worked earlier when he tried to attack Beelzebub but he now found his personal energy levels were accessible to him. Apparently, he could not use his powers in an offensive way. So Jayden decided to do that and see what would happen if he added some of his own power to the power of the spell. Worst case scenario would be it would speed up the breaking of the seal and that would hardly make matters worse than they were already. So Jayden went ahead and added a little of his own power to the power of the spell. The effect was both surprising and immediate.

The look of bliss both Rahab and Ereshkigal had disappeared immediately and was replaced by one of surprise and discomfort. Jayden added some more power to the connection and now he saw definitely discomfort in both the Demon Lords’ faces.

“Jayden, what are you doing?” Ereshkigal demanded through the link, followed by a grunt from Rahab.

“I added a little of my own power to the connection, Ereshkigal” Jayden confessed, with a smirk on his face. Ereshkigal’s voice was not only demanding and full of authority but there was a hint of panic as well. And that was something Abaddon also noticed.

“Stop that, Jayden. You might disrupt the spell by doing so” Abaddon said.

“That was the general idea, Pit Lord” Jayden sent out while adding some more of his power to the connection. This time more changed than just the looks on Rahab’s and Ereshkigal’s faces. Their faces showed pain. The energy no longer flowed equally from Jayden, Rahab and Ereshkigal but the energy flow was pushed towards Rahab and Ereshkigal. On Abaddon’s face Jayden saw fear and anger.

“Rahab, Ereshkigal, send more power over to Beelzebub and me, hurry!” Abaddon thought through their link but the poor Demon Lords did not know how. They were only conduits for the power the spell required and they did not dare to tap into their own power. So they pleaded with Jayden to stop sending more power through the connection while they begged Abaddon to tell them how to redistribute the power through the connections. Jayden didn’t think Abaddon would know either but he couldn’t take that chance. So he started pouring in massive amounts of his power into the connection, shifting the balance in the energy flow almost completely towards Rahab and Ereshkigal, who were now screaming in pain.

“Jayden, please stop. You’re killing us!” Ereshkigal said. Rahab was no longer capable of coherent thoughts and all that came through the link were screams of pain. For two upper level demons who loved dealing out pain so much they sure couldn’t take much of it themselves. But Jayden encountered a small problem himself as well. He was reaching the end of his own powers and to throw the balance off completely he needed to push more and harder. Something Abaddon also noticed.

“What’s the matter, Demon Prince? Bit off more than you could chew?” and Abaddon started laughing. This was getting better and better. Oni gone, Rahab and Ereshkigal in pain and who knows what might happen. They could die as well. And Jayden, the Demon Prince, on the verge of exhaustion, making him no match for Abaddon. Yes, things were looking mighty well for Abaddon.

However, Abaddon’s belittling way of talking to Jayden got Jayden furious and in his anger he managed to draw power from the very depths of his being. He drew on every ounce of strength he had left and poured it into the connection. And just when he thought it was all in vain, when he felt he had no more power left and the contours of a large gate were starting to appear in the centre of the pentagram, he managed to shift the balance, causing Rahab and Ereshkigal to be unable to pour out power they received from the mystical source in his direction. He even managed to pour some of his own raw power into Rahab and Ereshkigal who started smoking. They were definitely overloading because not only did they receive more power for the spell than they could conduct but they even received raw power from Jayden as well. And, to make matters worse, they acted on instinct rather than rational thought and did what any demon would do when facing a threat; they tapped into their own powers to defend themselves. But, like Jayden, they could only tap into their raw power without really being able to do something with it so in stead of saving them their own power was instrumental to their doom. They started smoking more and more and, in their last effort to save their lives by sending their own raw power out towards Abaddon and Beelzebub, they overloaded. Rahab and Ereshkigal caught on fire and screams of pain were all that was left of them in the linked minds of the five Demon Lords.

“Commander, look over there” one of the warrior angels said to Michael. Michael had been busy with trying to find a way to tap into the power of the spell himself but hadn’t found a way yet. A few minutes earlier the same warrior angel pointed out the Gates of Hell started to appear in this world, estimating the time they had left was less than 30 minutes. So Michael was more than a little annoyed he was interrupted again.

“I told you not to interrupt me” he growled towards the young angel.

“Sir, I’m sure you want to see this, trust me” the young angel said. To his disgrace Michael had to admit he didn’t even know that young angel’s name and he didn’t care much about it either.

“I’m sure I don’t. In case you don’t know I have less then 30 minutes to drain the mystical spell of it’s energy and I have no idea how to do that yet so leave me alone!”

“But sir, you don’t need to anymore, I think. Rahab and Ereshkigal are on fire”

“On fire?” Michael shouted. “When did that happen?”

“Just a few minutes ago” the young warrior angel said. “Right after the flow of energy started to change”.

“And why didn’t I know the situation had changed down there had changed?”

“Because you didn’t want to be disturbed, sir”

Michael wanted to hit the young angel but the standards he demanded were nowhere near realistic. Michael kept comparing them to Ar’Thurian but with Ar’Thurian and he worked together for several millennia. It would take a lot of time to get used to his successor.

It was quite a sight, two Demon Lords on fire, while the other three were still locked in the pentagram. But this couldn’t last. Even demons are not that fireproof, especially when the fire was started magically, and with two loud explosions the universe said goodbye to Rahab and Ereshkigal.

As soon as Rahab and Ereshkigal exploded the ruby energy streams and the forming gate disappeared, releasing the remaining three Demon Lords. Jayden fell to his knees, completely exhausted. He couldn’t get up if his life depended on it and it just might. Abaddon was still there and even more out for Jayden’s blood than before. In three steps Abaddon was on top of Jayden, puling him up by grabbing his neck.

“I don’t know what would thrill me more, traitor prince, to choke you to death or to break your neck” Abaddon growled. Jayden couldn’t answer since Abaddon had his airway blocked.

“More than two thousand years I worked on releasing your father and in stead of fulfilling your birthright, to do what you were meant to, you choose to betray me, your father and our entire kind. What do you have to say for yourself?” Abaddon released his hold on Jayden’s neck a little so Jayden could breath enough to answer.

“Go to Hell, you son of a bitch!” Jayden said.

“Jayden Lutin, Son of the Morning Star, Demon Prince, you are hereby condemned as a traitor of the demonkind and sentenced to death. I’m going to tear you apart limb by limb” Abaddon said.

“I don’t think so, demon” Ar’Thurian said and with one swing of his sword he decapitated his second Demon Lord that day.

“The Demon Lords failed, sir” Belial said. “Somehow the spell backfired, killing two of them”.

“The spell couldn’t fail, Belial” the dark figure said. “The spell was foolproof and predesigned. As soon as five upper level demons, in this case the Demon Lords, took their place the spell would be activated and it would have broken the final seal. No, this is Jayden’s doing. I don’t know how but I’m sure Jayden had something to do with this”.

“I don’t think we’re going to get that reward anytime soon, do you?” Belial said.

“No, Belial, we won’t. If we’re lucky we won’t get killed in the process. I suggest you go and tie up all the lose ends and I will do the same. It’s best if we never see each other again”.

“I agree, “sir”. I can’t believe I ever worked with you on this” Belial said, with none of the respect he had before. Without looking back Belial whispered a spell and disappeared.

“Oh, my dear Belial” the dark figure said. “You will never know how much you’ve been played” and the dark figure walked away, fading away with each step.

Beelzebub saw everything he worked for go up in flames, literally. As soon as Rahab and Ereshkigal started burning Beelzebub knew it was all over. And then it got worse when he saw Abaddon being beheaded by Ar’Thurian because he threatened Jayden. No, it would be better to return to Hell and wait for another chance in a couple of millennia. Take your loss and deal with it. Not that he was anxious to tell Satan he lost four Demon Lords in one day and his son betrayed him. But it would beat getting stuck here when the Gates of Hell closed. Since the spell failed the Gates to Hell would not stay open for long anymore and any demon still on this side would remain on earth. So Beelzebub needed to hurry. But in order to get to where he wanted to go he first had a difficult task ahead: to slip past Jayden and Ar’Thurian to get close enough to where the centre of the pentagram had been so he could use the gate to get back to heaven. Ar’Thurian didn’t prove much of a threat since he was busy fussing over Jayden but Jayden was looking right where he was. Having no time to be cautious Beelzebub made a run for it.

“Beelzebub …” Jayden said hoarsely. It would be a while before he would be able to speak again. Abaddon did a real number on his throat.

“What is it, my love?” Arthur asked. “What are you trying to say?”

“Beelzebub … Gate ….” Jayden croaked.

“Yes, but you stopped the Demon Lords from opening the Gates of Hell, Jayden” Arthur said, thinking Jayden was delirious from exhaustion. “There’s nothing to be concerned about anymore”.

“Beelzebub is trying to get to the gate” Jayden tried to scream but it came as little more than a whisper. Fortunately, Ar’Thurian had pretty good ears. He turned his head and saw Beelzebub run to where the Gates of Hell would have appeared if the spell had been completed. Ar’Thurian could never get to Beelzebub in time so he did the next best thing. He took his bow and shot one of his arrows at Beelzebub, just as Beelzebub reached the former centre of the pentagram. Using the Gates of Hell Beelzebub disappeared but Ar’Thurian’s arrow disappeared with him. In the distance Ar’Thurian thought he heard a cry of pain but he would never know for sure if he had hit Beelzebub or not. Not that is was important. While other warrior angels were hunting down the lower level demons (the upper level demons somehow all managed to get to safety) Ar’Thurian lifted Jayden in his arms and spread his wings to fly to Jayden’s apartment.

“The Armies of Heaven can take care of any demon on the lose” Arthur thought. “I have my own demon to take care of”.