Made in Hell 2 Chapter 6

The beings that had been in the marketplace scattered in all directions, but there weren’t as many piercing screams as I expected. The residents of the
Grimmway swiftly shut themselves up in their stone houses, wagons, and shops, and I heard the frenzied fluttering of fairy wings in the treetops while the rain continued to drip down from the boughs.

In under a dozen seconds, it was only the three of us demons and five Hellhounds out in the lanes, and everything seemed to stand still as the flaming demon came closer with his bright orange eyes glowing through the night.

He looked to be at least a head taller than myself, and his broad build was covered in a white shirt, brown pants, and dusty, black shoes. His human form came with short brown hair, but I wondered if that would singe to a crisp if he turned himself into an almighty fireball. Right now, his flames only coated his hands, but I recognized the power.

Infernal Blaze.

The demon had the ability to turn his entire body into a flaming ball of fire. Unlike my own hell power, which could only be inflicted through my hands, this demon’s hell power came from any region on his body, which was slightly concerning.

If he turned his full body into a hellish blaze, we wouldn’t be able to touch him.

Demon powers of any kind could harm us worse than any mortal weapon ever could.

The five Hellhounds snapped their jaws, and their pointed teeth dripped with a thick, clear drool which pooled on the ground. They were fucking huge, and came up the tamer’s waist. Their dark fur helped them to blend into the shadows, but their red eyes helped to emphasize how viscous they were. However, they were with a tamer, which made them slightly easier to defeat. A group of Hellhounds who wandered alone were far more dangerous and impulsive.

A rumbled bark fought to break free from the dog’s throats, almost like they were warning us not to try anything while in their presence. I was tempted to roll my eyes at the pack of fucking mutts, because I had experience with those beasts. I won last time, and I was going to win this time, but that didn’t mean they weren’t dangerous as hell.

Hellhound fangs had hellfire infused in them, so one bite was all it would take for them to deposit the flaming shit in our sinew. Once that happened, we’d instantly be syphoned straight back to the Hellscape and into the clutches of our Lord Captains and the Dark King.

Fortunately, I had Ashe on my side.

She used to be a tamer in the Hellscape, so she knew exactly how to handle these Hellhounds, but fury built in my chest just at the thought of losing her here tonight.

“Be careful with the teeth,” I whispered to Ashe while I had the chance. “The stakes are high, and I cannot risk losing you.”

Ashe gave me a sweet smile. “I’ve been around the hounds for ages in the Hellscape, and I’ve seen the danger their teeth hold, my love. My best advice would be to aim for the head and show no mercy. Do not waste your energy worrying for me.”

I nodded in agreement, but my tension didn’t let up.

This was the first time my demon lover wouldn’t be on the same side as the Hellhounds, but I tried not to let a scrap of concern show on my face while I stared down the incoming demon.

“I’ve been searching all day for you two.” The tamer smirked.

His bright orange eyes flashed with pure evil, and his demonic voice rang through the trees around him. Unlike us, he hadn’t decided on using his human pitch, so I decided to meet him halfway here, and I let the ashes of the Hellscape gurgle up in my throat.

“It’s a shame you didn’t continue looking,” I said as my demon voice smoldered through the air.

“What you’d want from a fucking place like this, I’ll never know,” the blazing demon snorted. “But don’t worry, you’ll be home soon.”

A cryptic chuckle built in my chest, and it echoed all around the silent lanes of the Grimmway.

The Port of Rengfri may not have been the best place on the surface world, especially with the damn Church infesting it, but it was ten times better than the Hellscape. Ashe and I were slaves down there, and the higher ups never let us forget it. Now, I’d tasted freedom for the first time in eons, and nothing would ever compare. I was my own master here, and I could hardly believe this fiery fuck actually wanted to return to his void this evening, but this just proved how different I was compared to the assholes in the hellish pits.

I was made for more.

“It’s a shame you won’t live long enough to drag us back with you,” Ashe snarled, and her demonic tone sent a pleasant shiver down my spine. “Then again, you could join us. It’s pretty fun here, y’know.”

I knew Ashe wasn’t serious with her offer, and it was fun to see the blazing tamer’s reaction to her sarcasm. We both enjoyed tormenting others, especially other demons, and the fury on his face caused the grin on my own to grow.

“Listen here, you little bitch,” the demon spat. “I’ve been sent here on a mission, and I won’t stop until I’ve completed it.”

“Been there, done that,” Ashe sighed as smoke puffed from her nostrils. “I don’t think you know what you’re up against, but you soon will.”

I dropped the legs of meat and the bottle of tonic to the ground and then slowly freed my sickle from the strap on my back. I hadn’t picked it for any specific reason when we left the manor, but now I was pleased that I hadn’t gone for something smaller. The blue tanzanites embedded into the sickle had the power to inherit my hell power, which meant every ounce of my inner tempest could be wielded through the curved blade.

Beside me, Ashe freed her arms from the new dresses she’d only just collected, and then she pulled out her own weapon, the sapphire sword. Her poisonous, silver talons sprung from the tips of her fingers, and she held the sword high in the air, just above her head.

We were more than prepared to kill this flaming bastard and the puppies alongside him, and nothing was going to stop us until we had them all torn, crushed, and lacerated all over this forest floor.

I couldn’t wait to witness that sight, but right now, the five Hellhounds stood at the ready, and they had burning hunger in their red eyes.

The demon held out a hand as his smoky chuckle echoed through the night, and with a turn of his wrist, the hellish dogs lunged toward us. Their tamer stood back to watch the onslaught, but I didn’t have time to focus on his evil sneer because the snarling and barking of his mutts filled the air.

Then they circled and closed in on me and Ashe.

I bashed the first dog away with my forearm, and as a crack of thunder shot through him, the massive hound stumbled on his four paws. My hit had thrown the drooling fucker off course slightly, but it wasn’t enough to fully get him off my tail.

I raised my sickle into the air while he howled and lunged at me again, and this time, I sliced my blade into the side of his neck. Dark red blood sprayed from the wound, and the Hellhound’s head dangled at an awkward angle. The sickle hadn’t completely disconnected the head from the neck, but one more hit was sure to do the job. I snarled and thrashed my blade once more, and the dog crumbled to the ground with it’s head two feet away from its oozing body.

Ashe and I were standing between two high walls, which affected our movements slightly, so as a second dog lunged, I leapt back, dodged it’s hellish fangs, sliced one of its front paws off with my sickle, and managed to make it the few feet back into the bizarre marketplace.

Ashe was just ahead and had two Hellhounds after her, and the final two were prowling toward me with one limping badly. Their red eyes burned with fury while their fangs flashed in the violet glow of my own irises, and I tightened my grip on my sickle while I prepared for them to pounce.

From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Ashe slashing one dog with her venomous claws, and she pierced her sword through the chest of the other with a demonic shriek. I went for the same technique and used my own hell power on the first dog to pounce by planting a thunderous fist in his sternum, and the other took my sickle to the neck a split second later.

This time, my weapon completed the job with the first hit, and the hellish dog’s head spun over the damp ground and thudded against a stall door.

Then the final Hellhound lunged at me. His eyes lit up the shadows around him, and his threatening fangs glistened with drool. I had to act fast in order to save myself and Ashe,from these vicious beasts, so I dropped the sickle to the ground to allow me the chance to use the best weapon I had on me.

My hell power.

With both hands free, I managed to snatch the hound by his broad neck and channel my full force of the Tempest into him, and lightning shot from my fingers and into his skin.

The dog twisted his head from side to side, and he snapped his jaws as he tried to grab any part of me that he could. The weight of the monstrous canine forced me to the ground, and now his hellish fangs were only inches away from my face. The tiniest nip of his teeth would deposit enough hellfire to send me straight back to the Hellscape, and I fury bloomed in every inch of my body at the thought.

I could smell the grotesque rot of the Hellhound’s breath, and I let out a terrifying roar as I tried to force the dark face away from me. I pushed against his thick body as I tightened my fingers around his neck even more, and his red eyes grew wide and bulged from their sockets. After that, all it took was for me to force my optimum energy through my hands, and the eyes spurted out of the mutt’s head as his brain exploded.

I was covered in a mess of blood and brain matter, but I’d crushed the dog’s skull so completely that his skin and fur hung from the rest of his body like an empty sack.

As soon as I kicked the dead Hellhound away from me, I snatched my sickle off the muddy ground so I could go help Ashe, but the snarling had died down out here.

That’s when I noticed that Ashe had finished with her two. They were still technically alive, but only barely.

Both Hellhounds had slices throughout their bodies from both her sword and her talons, and I knew the venom had already started to sink into the bloodstreams. The hounds shuddered as they attempted to stay on all four paws, but their eyes had already lost their red glow, and the beating of their hearts wouldn’t be far behind it.

“You’ll live to regret that,” the blazing demon roared through the darkness. He grabbed the first thing his hands could reach, a slim tree, and then ripped it straight from the roots and threw it across the open area.

“We only killed a couple of your mutts,” Ashe replied with an evil grin.

“Watch your tongue, bitch,” the demon spat and took a step closer.

“Better watch yours,” I chuckled. “My shirt will soon be painted with your own brain matter to go along with innards of your precious puppies.”

“That is, if you have a brain,” Ashe snorted.

“Of course, he doesn’t,” I replied. “No demon with a brain would even attempt to bring us back to the Hellscape.”

“Then again, those bitches are so whipped down there, that they’d do anything to receive the Dark King’s love and affection.” My demon lover shrugged.

Our opponent’s lips peeled back in a snarl, and a cloud of furious smoke billowed from behind his teeth as his flames spread up his forearms.

“Is that why you’re still sticking around?” I asked him rhetorically. “You’ve gotta know by now that you’re fighting a losing battle, man. But you’re after some Dark King love, am I right? Hoping to impress daddy?”

“Oh, no, you just know his cock springs to life as soon as the Dark King is involved,” Ashe winked with a playful smile on her face.

Her comment was the final straw, and as the demon growled and held up his hands, two balls of fire began to form in his palms. The center of the flame was dark blue, but the color lightened the further the fire spread until it reached the tips which were almost transparent.

The demon then spun his right hand, and the fireball continued to spiral the faster he turned his hand. And then, before Ashe and I had the chance to react, the tamer threw the ball directly at us. We just managed to dodge the flames, but it hit into the wheel of a wagon, and the wood instantly began to burn and crisp from the severity of the flames.

Then I lunged for the demon with my sickle raised, and with the demon’s orange eyes on me, Ashe swiftly circled around his back. My sickle pierced through the air, but before it could make a connection with the demon, a fireball came flying in my direction. I barely dodged the flame, and as it flew over my left shoulder, the smell of burning leather hit my nose as the fire brushed over my jacket. I watched the demon’s moves intently, and my eyes widened slightly as a new form of fire came from his hands.

Instead of the fireballs, streams of flames began to pour from his hands. They ran in thick rivers and scorched everything in sight. The demon aimed at my feet and my knees, but I welcomed the added distraction. The demon was focused solely on me, which gave Ashe the perfect chance to attack.

I watched with pride as Ashe leaped onto the back of the demon and attempted to slash him with her pointed claws. The stream of flames continued, though, and this time they were directed toward Ashe. She twisted her body as best she could to dodge the burning rivers, and I tried to use that to my own advantage and slice the sickle through the air, but the demon was just as fast. Whenever I took a swing, the demon would aim the fire at me. There appeared to be no way around it, but I had to look for a weak link, something about the demon that I could focus on and target.

Ashe hadn’t managed to get her claws in just yet, but she was wrestling her ass off while she dodged the demon’s flames. Then the fucker must have gotten tired of trying to aim at us both simultaneously, because smoke started to billow from every part of his body, and his skin glowed red as the blaze began to overtake his entire form.

Ashe let out an angry roar and jumped free from the fire just as the flames began to lick at her bare legs, and in seconds, the Infernal Blaze had engulfed the demon’s body.

“Fuck,” Ashe growled and circled back aaround, and the flaming bastard’s demonic chuckled echoed around the marketplace.

This demon appeared to be completely unstoppable, and with his body in flames, I couldn’t even get close to the fucker.

Then he snatched a hold of Ashe’s dress.

I lunged forward and brought my sickle down with all my force, but he leapt ten feet across the clearing with my beautiful fiend kicking and snarling in his hold.

Ashe was also slashing her talons at his face, though, and his screams rang out as she split his flesh open and left at least six trails of boiling venom oozing from his face.

The fiery bastard immediately let go of Ashe’s dress, but before her feet could touch the ground again, he slammed his arm into her stomach, and my huntress flew back and smashed into a stone stall.

The rocks crumbled from the impact as Ashe disappeared inside, and I could hear her wheezing while she struggled to recover.

“Ashe!” I roared.

“Your little girlfriend can’t help you now,” the demon mocked me, but he was twitching from the venom pouring into one of his orange eyes. “She’ll soon be back where she belongs, and don’t worry… we’ll take very, very good care of her pretty little ass for you.”

His move had pissed me off, even though I knew Ashe could take twice as hard of a hit as that, but his words were what sent a searing rage coursing through every scrap of my sinew.

I thought I’d felt anger before, but it was nothing compared to the feeling that raced deep into my bones at that exact moment. This demon could fuck with me, and he could tear the Grimmway to shreds if he wanted, but fucking with my woman was off limits.

“I’ll tear that filthy tongue right out of your mouth,” I growled as hellish ashes sifted from my throat.

“This tongue?” the demon snickered, and he made a hideous face as his flaming tongue waggled in his gaping mouth.

My entire body shook with a surge of my Infernal Tempest, and my fiery breath blew from my mouth as I decided what would be the most satisfying way to slaughter this bastard. At first I wanted him to feel a slow and painful death, but that idea soon vanished as my fury mounted. It no longer mattered how he died, just as long as I watched his blood soak the ground, and for the light to leave his eyes.

I lunged with no warning, and threw my hand around his neck, and I forced my hell power to pour from my fingers while the demon gurgled in my grasp.

My other arm was raised with my sickle ready to strike, but as fast as my lightning surged around his skin, so did his hellish fire.

Blue flames overtook his entire body in a flash and peeled over my hand, and the pain was twice as bad as the pain of removing my shackle.

I roared and released the fiery fucker, and he gargled through his half-crushed esophagus as he stumbled backward. Before he could recover, I struck out at his staggering, flaming legs with my sickle, and I managed to catch his kneecap before he could dodge the blow.

His blaze erupted outward as he roared in pain, and the blue fire engulfed my sickle and all the way up to my wrist in the blink of an eye.

“Fuck!” I hissed and dropped the flaming weapon, but my strike had injured the fiery asshole at least.

His flames abruptly ceased a second later, and thick, congealed demon blood oozed down his leg and soaked the material.

“Is that all you’ve got?” the demon let out a dark chuckle, but he could hardly get the words out of his crumpled throat, and he was hunched with most of his weight on one leg.

“I didn’t catch that,” I said with a devilish grin. “Come a little closer and try again.”

The demon’s lacerated face was boiling with venom now, and only one eye was still glowing orange, but he had a twisted smile on his lips. Then he snarled and raised a flaming hand to form another fireball, but I swiftly dove forward and planted the heel of my palm in the center of his chest. The thunderous power in my hand cracked with a deafening boom, and just as a fireball whizzed past my ear, the demon flew backward into a covered wagon.

I grimaced as the wood splintered apart, but there wasn’t much I could do about avoiding damaging the place. The demon was already crawling from the wreckage, and the pain in his leg didn’t seem to slow him down as much as I would have hoped.

The Lord Captains had clearly sent one of their best up here to get my ass, and this was turning out to be one of the toughest fights I’d had in a while.

The dark elves, the vampires, and even the Blessed appeared weak in comparison to this demon, and those fucking flames were making it hard to find a clear opening.

But I loved a deadly challenge, and the rage boiling in my gut brought a smile to my face.

The demon was already running at me again with only a slight limp in his gait, and as I grabbed my sickle from the ground, I caught a glimpse of Ashe’s pink eyes.

She was crouched in the rubble of the shop she’d been thrown into and smiling as she watched me work.

And I knew she was waiting for the perfect moment to pounce.

I chuckled and dodged my opponent’s flaming hands, and I swung my weapon around to take a slice out of the incoming demon’s gut. I got him just before he burst into flames and managed to avoid getting my shit burned again, but then he spun around on his feet and kicked me square in the stomach.

The strength behind the kick forced me back, and I smashed into the tree trunk behind me. It felt like the wood had broken and splintered from the impact, but I didn’t have the time to inspect the condition of a fucking tree.

The demon grabbed a hold of my ankle and dragged me back across the ground. He towered over me and he raised one hand as another fireball grew in his palm. I knew he was seconds away from hurling the blue ball at my skull, but Ashe’s pink eyes were looming behind him now.

The demon spread his fingers wider, and the ball began to lift from his hand while he cackled like a maniac. An evil smile split his face wide open, but my own grin matched his, and just before the fire could leave his hands, the demon was snatched by the back of his neck.

He shrieked as venomous claws penetrated his sinew, and his fireball erupted from the shock. The blue flame scattered through the air and rained down on the marketplace, and I winced through the pain as I watched the demon get wrenched off his feet.

Then Ashe slammed him so hard into the ground, the dirt cratered around him.

“Did you really think a simple hit to the stomach was going to stop my pretty little ass?” Ashe spat toward the wheezing piece of shit.

The demon coughed up blood and spluttered, but he couldn’t move. Every bone in his back had to be shattered, and his flames came in sporadic bursts across his skin.

I snickered as I jumped to my feet, and Ashe sent me a smoky smile and a little wave.

“Nice timing,” I panted.

“Well, I didn’t want to interrupt your fun…” the demon woman purred.

“Are you okay?” I checked.

Ashe arched a silver eyebrow, and I grinned.

“Yeah, alright, dumb question,” I laughed. “Let’s kill this motherfucker.”

I looked back at the spluttering demon that Ashe had planted in the ground, and I knew he was determined to regain his strength. Her venom had been deposited in his jugular, and he still couldn’t move properly yet, but his one orange eye burned with rage. Then he coughed up another splatter of congealed blood while Ashe and I smiled down at him, and he managed to prop himself up on one elbow.

I was about to order him to get off his ass and give us a decent fight when my gaze caught a flicker of movement in a window near us.

Two half-elves were crowded around behind the glass, and from the expression on their pale faces, I could tell that they’d watched the entire battle. A look of worry burned in their eyes, but I couldn’t decide if it was for our safety or theirs, or if it was just the current state of the marketplace.

Five dead Hellhounds were strewn around, and shattered stone, bark, and wood littered the ground along with all the blood.

I almost wished I had time to warn them it was about to get a whole lot worse out here, but I didn’t.

The weakened demon was slowly getting to his knees and straightening up, and he smiled while he twitched from the blistering venom in his blood.

Ashe offered him a slow clap.

“Well done,” she taunted. “Best to die on your feet than on your back, yes?”

“Fuck you, bitch!” the demon gargled, and blood spilled from his lips.

“Rude.” Ashe clicked her tongue. “My master will have to punish you for that.”

“Your master is the Dark King,” he snarled, and blue flames built on his arms once more. “You will cower at his feet when I’m done with this other fucker, and you will know the wrath of--”

“Holy hell, are you still talking?” Ashe scoffed.

“Yeah, we’re bored,” I chuckled. “Shut the fuck up.”

I lunged forward at the same time as my beautiful fiend, and excitement surged in my veins at the look of terror on the demon’s face.

This asshole’s death was finally within reach, and he knew it.

The anger that pulsed through me forced my infernal energy to tingle through the tips of my fingers, and I latched both hands onto his skull just as Ashe’s talons closed around his throat once more.

The demon screeched so loud, the leaves rattled in the trees around us, but he couldn’t even summon his flames with his brain frying in my grasp.

Then Ashe tore a few ligaments from his neck, unsheathed her sword, and pierced it though his shaking stomach. When she pulled the blade back out, she drove it through his already damaged knee next, and this combined with lightning that surged through his brain was enough to make the hulking demon collapse onto his knees.

His head rolled to the side as I released him, like he was spent and couldn’t go on much more.

But we could.

“Would you like to make the final swing, or should I?” I asked my beautiful fiend.

“Oh, he’s all yours, my love,” Ashe purred as she licked her lips with the tip of her tongue.

I snatched the fuckers hair to make sure he didn’t collapse, and I shook him until his one eye looked straight into mine. The orange light grew dimmer and dimmer with each second that passed, and an evil grin crossed my face as I raised my sickle.

I only waited for the tanzanite gems to shine with a surge of my powers, and then I sliced the blade through the air.

It connected with the demon’s shoulder, and the mixture of the blade, the enhanced tanzanites, and my strength was the concoction that finally gave the demon the ending that he deserved. His body almost split into two as my blade buried itself all the way into his pelvis, and thick, lava-like blood poured from his open chest and pooled around my feet.

The Lord Captains had chosen their weapon carefully, and they’d picked one of their more powerful minions this evening, but despite his Infernal Blaze, Ashe and I still came out as the victors in the end.

Now, I released the demon and let him collapse in his bloody heap, and I took in the glorious sight in front of me.

The five deceased Hellhounds were sprawled across the ground, and their blood ran in rivers and mixed with the constant rainfall. A couple of buildings had been hit in the fight, and two wagons had lost their wheels from the fireballs, but I had imagined much worse.

The black fairies had returned to their spots in the trees at some point, and I caught one of their proud smiles when I looked at their seats on the branches.

But the most exciting part of it all was the dead demon who lay in the center of the marketplace. He was on his back, which gave me the opportunity to look at his face without the need to touch him. As soon as a demon dies, they instantly return to their original form, and his one good eye was still orange, but it wasn’t as bright as before. His peasant garments had vanished, along with his short brown hair, and the demon lay naked, exposed, and with his large, curled horns on the side of his head.

None of the creatures in the Grimmway must have seen a demon in their natural form before, because a few brave onlookers actually crept closer to get a better look. It was no surprise to me that a banshee was one of them, and I spotted the hungry look in her gray eyes as she took in the sight of the dead demon, along with the beheaded hounds further in the distance. I was about to grin at the wicked banshee, but then an overpowering sensation forced its way through my body.

“Ahh, fuck!” I roared into the night sky.

My knees buckled, and I fell to the ground as the crippling pain raced through my veins. It was a pain like no other, and for a second I thought I was close to death.

“Atticus!” Ashe shrieked. “Atticus, what’s wrong?”

I could see that she’d dropped to the ground beside me, but the pain was so powerful that I couldn’t take in anything else she said. The feeling began at the tips of my fingers and toes and worked its way through my body until it reached the center of my chest. It felt like I was about to explode out of my own flesh, and the sensation increased in strength the further it travelled.

I’d experienced a pain similar only once before, but this was ten times worse.

And I had a feeling that I knew what was going on, but I didn’t think it was possible on the surface world.

There had been myths and legends about it, but Ashe and I were the only demons to have escaped the pits below, so I had no idea I could experience something like this still.

I squinted my eyes closed as I attempted to fight through the final bursts of pain, and while my skin burned as hot as it did in the Hellscape, I was finally able to draw a normal breath again. The torture eased up, and I no longer felt like I might tear my own skin open, but I was exhausted to my core.

“Oh, shit!” Ashe gasped suddenly. “Look at your hands!”

As soon as I found the strength to open my eyes and looked at my hands, I knew that my suspicions were correct, and the myths and legends were true.

The same halo of blue fire that I’d seen on the deceased demon now coated my hands, and they slowly worked their way up my arms.

I had inherited his hell power.

I now had the Infernal Blaze.