Page 41 of Anarchy
At that point, most sane people would back down and beg for forgiveness, but that wasn’t anyone in this room. The Hellhounds fell to the floor and covered their heads, and all the demons started flinging magic at us. It was ruining my clothes, but it was barely a tickle on my flesh. All the furniture and plaster in the room were taking more damage than Lilith and me.
That was when I felt her. I could pick out my witch in the middle of a room full of demons flinging magic everywhere. She joined the fight. I’d be honored to fight any battle beside her, but these demons were willing to attack their creator. They didn’t care what I would do to them if they hurt my witch.
I just really needed her to stay out of this and let Lilith and I handle this.
“Oh, fuck no. Youdo notthrow shit at my god,” Ripley snarled.
Ripley flung magic at the demons. It hit one of them right in the chest. Her body went rigid, and her flesh turned black. She fell over dead, and now all eyes were on my witch. It warmed my heart that she killed to defend me, but these demons were seriously unfocused.
I thought they came to avenge Akul, but they seemed to operate on some kind of hive mind. They didn’t attack us until Lilith shut Vegran up. They saw they couldn’t hurt us, but now that Ripley had killed one of them, it was like Lilith and I didn’t exist. They were solely focused on my witch now.
They were evil demons, but they certainly weren’t very smart or organized. Felix yanked Ripley out of the way, and everyone standing behind her dove out of the line of fire when every single demon flung something at my witch.
I was about to end this nonsense, but Bram and all eleven Hellhounds shifted, with Bram taking point. I noticed their magic kept bouncing off of Bram, and I remembered he was covered in tattoos. If demon magic came from sigils and could be tattooed on and Talvath intended Bram to free the Hellhounds, I was betting Talvath wrote some sigils for Bram to make him immune from assassination attacks.
Lilith seemed to hold back and letting this play out. She made those demons. She could easily blink and unmake them, but she wasn’t. I was holding back because this was her realm and her creations, but I was about to blast these demons across Hell because Bram was mine too. Lilith put her hand on my arm when I raised it.
“Wait for it.”
Wait for what? We were past the point of waiting here. The Hellhounds on the floor who ducked when magic started flying realized Bram was immune to their magic and led eleven Hellhounds. He was taking the brunt of the magic for them and just kept going.
The demon women were now focused on Bram and the Hellhounds charging towards them. They weren’t even paying attention to the ones on the floor, but the Hellhounds were certainly watching Bram. They got to their hands and knees and shifted.
I got it now, but I didn’t like Lilith using Bram like that. It wasn’t enough to just swoop in and free the Hellhounds. Not when they’d been beaten down for so long. They needed to be given their power back. They needed to know they were just as powerful as demons because that was how Lilith created them.
And the complacent demons who abused them needed a little fear in their life. Vegran and her friends weren’t afraid of Lilith and me, but they were certainly shrieking in terror when they got mobbed by Hellhounds.
That was certainly… graphic. I understood the Hellhounds had a lot of pent-up rage, but a flying decapitated head nearly struck me in the face and got bits on my shirt. The shirt was already destroyed, but I really hated getting blood on me.
I felt a small hand slip into mine. I didn’t have to look to know it was Ripley. I could pick Bram out of all the Hellhounds. They were all built similarly, but they had distinctive faces. Bram let out a growl and took off running. Did we miss one?
Oh, yeah. I released his rapey brother, and he hadn’t been in the room. I had killed no one yet, and I owed that Hellhound. Maybe Bram wanted to kill him? Oscar wasn’t my brother. Maybe Bram wouldn’t mind if I helped and only killed him a little.
I kissed Ripley on the forehead.
“Oscar is still out there.”
We could hear the growls and snarls of a Hellhound fight in the next room. There was a yelp and then silence. That had better have been Oscar that died. Bram was mine. I kissed him and marked him so. It would devastate Ripley. We would all feel that loss.
Gabriel had introduced me to action movies. I was quite fond of the genre. Most of the walls had holes blasted through them. There was smoke everywhere from plaster debris and little fires burning everywhere. I could see a hulking shadow coming through the door.
Bram was covered in blood and ash, but that was a movie star entrance right there. He stalked through the smoke like the victor he was. He marched straight up to Ripley and pulled her into a kiss. I started clapping. Everyone at the library kept telling me not to clap at the TV because it wasn’t like live theatre, and they couldn’t hear me.
This deserved a clap. Bram was pretty badass, and every Hellhound here deserved it. They didn’t need us gods. They did this by themselves. We were basically just here for support. This was all Bram.
Lilith joined me, and so did everyone from the library. Ripley would have clapped too, but she had her tongue down Bram’s throat. All those Hellhounds who rallied behind Bram seemed a little scandalized he was kissing a witch. Lilith caught on to that quickly.
“Demons and Hellhounds used to marry each other,” she said. “You were never meant to only mate when the females are fertile and never see that person again. I created you to find love with whoever you wanted, even witches. Honestly, you’re compatible with any creature on Earth.
“This place isn’t habitable, and if you don’t live here, I don’t really want you going back home somewhere these women’s husbands will abuse you for their mistakes. I have plenty of room at my place for you to stay while I get things changed for good.
“I only ask one thing in return. You won’t be asked to wait on me hand and foot. You won’t be asked to do anything at all at my house. I have paid demon servants who will take care of your needs. All I ask is that you speak the truth when asked. If called upon to tell your story, be honest about how you were treated, what you witnessed in your homes, and what happened here today.”
The Hellhounds were all nodding and murmuring in agreement. Ripley looked at Ravyn. They’d always been able to communicate wordlessly. They snapped their fingers, and everyone had clothes on. Much better clothes than the ones they had come here in. I waved my hand and cleaned the blood and dirt off of them. I noticed Ripley left Bram naked because she was probably enjoying the view just as much as I was.
“We should leave before this place collapses,” Lilith said, creating another door. “We need to interrogate Dorian and Akul so I can find out exactly who has those sigils now.”
We all stepped through. I wanted a shower and some time alone with my people, but I hoped Lilith would let me in on the interrogation. Dorian had been a massive pain in my ass, and I had a lot of opinions on Akul and his wife.
