“What the fuck?” one of the humans shouted. “Come on, Joe. Let’s get outta here.”
“Yeah, Joe,” Reidar muttered under his breath. “Listen to your buddy.”
Unfortunately Joe didn’t listen, but his friends had the sense to scatter. While Rinc and Zadok distracted the other three demons, Reidar chased after the female. Tossing up a barrier to keep both her and the human from straying any farther, he snagged one of his trusty push-daggers from its holster.
“He’s not much of a challenge,” Reidar told the female.
She offered a momentary glance in his direction. Enough time for him to shift the barrier between it and the human. He sent the command for the male to run. A second later, Joe’s Nikes were getting acquainted with the pavement, carrying his ass far, far away.
There was something off about this one. Reidar had encountered thousands of demons in his time, but this one wasn’t the average, everyday demon. Not animpietan, no. Something else.
“Well, I guess you’ll have to do,” the demon hissed, black eyes locking on him.
Finally a worthy opponent.
“Sorry, I’m already taken.”
Though demons generally only wore the skin of a human, this one seemed to have a human form. Sure, Reidar could see beneath to the hideous creature slithering inside that epidermis, vile and evil and reeking of death, but it seemed more animal than demon. Again, this one was unlike any he’d ever seen before.
When it lunged toward him, Reidar pivoted, drawing it closer.
A growl erupted from the thing.
“Here, Fido,” Reidar taunted. “What’re you waiting for?”
A snarl was the response, followed by a flash as the thing shifted into…
“Fucking hell,” he grumbled.
Before he could lunge at the beast, it returned to its human form, moving closer.
Never one to back down from a fight, Reidar headed right for it. Rather than collide, the instant it was within arm’s reach, he shot his fist forward, right into the chest, impaling it with the dagger he clenched in his fist. He waited for the flash, the tar-like sludge, the stench, but it never came.
Instead of blue light, the demon offered a sinister grin and a snarl.
“Uh, Reidar, my man, I think we’ve got a problem.”
No sooner were the words out of Zadok’s mouth than Reidar understood what he meant.
Rather than turn into sludge, the demon spawned another, the new one forming directly beside it, identical in appearance.
Son of a bitch.
He risked looking over to see the three demons Rinc and Zadok had set out to eliminate had pulled that multiplying shit. Now there were six swiftly circling the males. Reidar locked his sights on the two females, his brain skimming through history to come up with a plan to defeat these assholes.
“Fucking hell!” Zadok shouted. “They’re multiplying again.”
Of course it was never easy. Lucifer was always coming up with new ways to fuck them over, and it appeared the devil got the credit for creativity this go-round.
“How the fuck do we kill them?” Rinc shouted.
“Trial and error,” Reidar told them, conjuring one weapon after another in an attempt to waylay the demons, who were multiplying rapidly.
Didn’t seem to matter the weapon or the delivery, every attempt they made created a new one until they were surrounded.
“Now what?” Zadok asked, shifting so his back was to Reidar and Rinc.
“Fuck if I know,” Rinc muttered.
