Chapter 4: The Lesser of Two Evils
Valla and Kormac tried to steady themselves. Valla's left arm was broken, but still she tried to raise her remaining arm and get a clear shot on the demon encroaching on her.
Kormac was no better for wear. His armour was dented and stiff. The demon had shorn deep gashes in the metal, which was now cutting into his flesh like razors with every painful movement. His shield was too far away for him to grab in time, so he stood protectively in front of his comrade. Trying to shield her from the monstrosity that was coming for them. The beast would not touch the Nephalem as long as he drew breath.
Valla shot her crossbow over Kormac's shoulder once, twice, but the bolts did almost nothing to the creature. It was too little too late.
It loomed over them, raising its mighty claws to finish off its foolish prey. A look of satisfaction was present on its face, a gleam of intelligence in its eye. "Pathetic mortals." It hissed in a deep, raspy voice. Kormac braced for the blow. Glancing one last time at his comrade protected behind him. "With my last breath…" He whispered and closed his eyes.
His final act of martyrdom was cut short, however, as a keening screech echoed through the cavern.
Caught by surprise, the demon turned to look towards the source of the sound… just in time to get a face full of razor sharp claws.
Very few thoughts ran through Leah's mind as she attacked the larger demon. A red haze had fallen over her vision as her focus narrowed in the heat of battle. Protect friends… Kill, KILL! With each repetition, her frenzy grew and attacks increased in ferocity.
The terror demon recovered from its initial surprise quickly. Even under the barrage of strikes to its face, it managed to grab Leah by the arm and throw her across the room. The demoness forcefully crashed straight through a stalagmite in a rain of dust and rocks, shaking the cavern in the impact.
Most people would have been killed from such a strike, but Leah wasn't most people. She shook off the rubble from the crash, got up, and charged again.
She made a move towards the demon's torso, planning another deadly swipe with her claws. The demon read her moves and deftly sidestepped out of the way of the strike. Reacting quickly to her opponent's movements, Leah lashed out at its legs and knocked the demon off balance. The demon stumbled back slightly, and she managed to drag the spikes of her tail across its torso as she turned around, leaving long bloody gashes. The Terror demon may have been big, but she was fast.
The bloodied demon screamed in rage. With a powerful kick, it launched itself at its foe, quickly closing the distance between it and its female opponent. Leah tried to step out of its reach, but its reach was too wide. It grabbed her in its massive arms and shoved her into a wall, pinning her there.
"Traitorous scum." The demon hissed, "You would attack your own kind? Your own flesh! After we have been dealt a humiliating blow from the mortal gnats? The Prime Evils will flay you alive for this."
Leah clawed helplessly at her opponent's arms, trying to free herself from his grasp. The initial impact had knocked the wind out of her, and Leah gasped to regain her breath. The sudden shock of being thrown and trapped against a wall snapped her back to her senses.
Pure hatred flowed through Leah as she regarded the creature holding her against the wall. A fiery intensity shone in her eyes, glowing with the brilliance of a searing flame. The glow cast her features in a light that accentuated the lines of anger on her face, turning her normally kind face into a truly intimidating visage.
In her rage, a raspy undertone of something dark and not of this realm laced her voice.
"You, and the Prime Evils, can rot in hell!"
Leah mustered up all her strength and kicked the larger demon in the legs, causing it to stumble backwards. It loosened its grip slightly, but it was all the opportunity that she needed. Leah quickly wriggling out of its grasp and regained her footing. Finally free from its hold, she wasted no time taking the opportunity to make another attack.
Launching herself off the wall that had pinned her only moments ago, she funnelled all the demonic energy she could muster into a fist and struck the larger demon midair. The fiery punch connected with the side of the demon's face in a burst of energy, and the resulting blast of power knocked it to the ground.
The demon now lay prone on its back before her, but Leah's rage only intensified. Jumping onto its torso, she ripped relentlessly into the fiend with her claws.
"You are filth!"
She struck at its exposed chest, ripping strips of thick scaled hide from the stunned creature.
"You are a blight!"
She dug her claws deeper, now ripping steaming chunks of red flesh from the monster.
"And you will NOT. HURT. MY. FRIENDS!"
She dug her claws deep into the monster's torso, finally fully ripping through the thick hide and scales, exposing the vulnerable tissue underneath.
The larger demon let out a gurgle of a roar. It had never been injured so badly. But surprise only lasted so long. It snapped out of its daze. Seemingly unaffected by the pain of Leah's attack, and utilizing speed it hadn't shown before, it seized the smaller demoness' neck in a single monstrous hand.
Leah gasped for breath, struggling to free herself from its grasp as the demon started to rise to a standing position. As it rose, it tightened its grip, slowly crushing Leah's throat in an agonising turn of fate.
Leah's lungs burned for air as darkness started to intrude on the edges of her vision, her brain losing the ability to function as its cells died one by one.
The demon appeared to grin at her, savouring every moment that it tormented its victim. Relishing a sick pleasure that only a true evil of the burning hells could feel. The demon looked so smug, so sure of itself. It had won this battle and the little demoness that had caused it so much trouble was finally at its mercy.
It let out a menacing laugh, raising the smaller demon above its head, preparing to smash her skull in on the floor… right before a giant mace hit it in the back of the head.
Kormac withdrew his mace and struck the beast again and again, knocking it down to a kneeling position. Under the barrage from the templar, the demon dropped Leah. She gasped for the air now finally available to her lungs, relishing every sweet breath as she lay on the floor.
The demon reeled on Kormac, but the mighty templar finally had his shield. The mighty barrier allowed him to hold off the demon as it struck repeatedly. It dented the heavily armoured warrior's shield, but did not break his guard.
Seeing that its opponent would not be beaten with normal attacks, the demon raised both arms in preparation for a devastating double handed overhead blow. A foolish move, as it left an opening for the third attacker. With a click of a trigger and a whoosh, a crossbow bolt buried itself in the demon's bloody and vulnerable chest.
It was a clean shot to the heart. One that made use of the exposed soft flesh where Leah had ripped the scales away. The demon roared in anger and tried to grab at the bolt now protruding from its chest. Its dark blood flowed from the wound onto the cave floor, creating a slick surface on the hard stone. In its struggle with the projectile, the demon slipped, falling backwards onto the cavern floor, writhing in agony as its lifeblood drained from its wound.
It writhed in agony for what felt like ages, until finally with one last twitch, the monstrosity went limp.
Its body started to crumble to ash. Slowly disintegrating and lifted as if on an unfelt breeze. With hatred burning in its eyes, it turned its head to look straight at Leah, crouched a few metres away. She saw her reflection in the monster's eyes. A bloodied and vicious demon, eyes burning with hatred stared back at her. It was almost as if she was not looking at her reflection at all, but the image of a terrifying monster straight out of the burning hells.
The demon took a wracked breath. "You will pay for your treachery." It whispered, the last remnants of it's essence fading into dust.
"The prime evils… live…"
The light faded from the creature's eyes, and the last of its broken body crumbled into oblivion.
#
The battle finally over, Leah leaned forward on her hands and tried to catch her breath. Placing a hand over her chest, it took a few minutes before she felt the frantic thudding of her heart finally start to slow as the adrenaline of battle began to wear off.
She let out a low chuckle. They had done it! They were alive!
Leah was about to relax, until she heard the click of a crossbow being primed. Fearing the worst, Leah turned around slowly towards the origin of the sound.
It was as bad as she had feared. Valla, one of her best friends, was pointing her weapon at her. A sinking feeling grabbed Leah. She tried to read her friend's guarded expression.
She saw anger, betrayal, but also, hesitation. The demon huntress was unsure of what to do with the demon in front of her. The conflicting emotions played across her features in a way that was quite obvious. The only indication of the war of thoughts playing out in her mind.
Kormac also stood defensively, equally unsure of how to handle the situation. He stood with his shield raised defensively, protecting Valla from her, but the templar's mace was hanging at his side.
Suddenly feeling very self-conscious under her friend's scrutinising glares, Leah looked down at herself.
Her clothes were still intact, if torn here and there. Her shoes were all but ruined, the soles almost ripped clean off from both her clawed feet suddenly emerging and the battle that happened afterwards. Spikes stuck out of newly ripped holes on her pants and shirt, effectively ruining any hope that she had to ever wear this outfit again. All in all, she looked like she had been through a saw mill, but at least she was decent.
Looking back at her friends, a fresh wave of fear coursed through her. She managed to take down the demon, saved her friends and her assistant, only to be left with the very real possibility of friendly fire.
The trio stood in silence, eyeing each other wearily for what seemed like ages. As the minutes dragged on, Leah found herself getting more anxious and annoyed. Finally, she decided to take the first action. Rolling over and sitting on the ground, Leah leaned back on a stalagmite and exasperatingly complained. "Can we not?"
She asked as more of a plea than a request, but it got the message got across.
At first alerted by her movement, Kormac and Valla had tensed, fearing an attack, but after hearing their friend's exasperated request, they relaxed a bit. Valla lowered her weapon, and Kormac let his shield hang by his side, showing that they too did not want to fight.
Feeling relieved at her friend's reaction, and that she wasn't in immediate danger anymore, Leah pulled her legs up to her chest and buried her face in her arms, curling in on herself. It was all just too much. This shouldn't be happening… She took deep breaths, trying to block out the world for just a moment, grasping onto any good thoughts or memories that she could think of to dull the anxiety and stress that she felt right then.
She felt a hand on her arm, a comforting and gentle touch, and she deliberately looked up very slowly.
It was Kormac, still wary, and still in a defensive posture, but at least he was reaching out. Leah turned the sides of her mouth upwards in a slight smile, but it felt forced.
Kormac looked like he was trying to find the right words to say. He struggled for a few moments, a variety of expressions crossing his face as he weighed his options. Finally giving up he settled for a simple "Hey." And with that he sat down opposite her, trying to wrap his head around the new development.
Valla stood back from the other two, conflicting thoughts running through her head like a storm. A demon! But she saved us. It's a trick! She's your friend. She's a different person now! You know that's not true. She is demon spawn! ... You already knew that, idiot.
That's when it struck her. That's right, she did know that already. Ever since Adria's betrayal, she had known that her best friend was the spawn of the Lord of Terror. It had been troublesome yes, but it hadn't tarnished her view of her friend then.
What changed? Her appearance for one. And the demonic presence, and the dark magic… But still, her playful banter, her optimism, her ready laugh and sense of humour, it was all there. Nothing about her friend's demeanor had alerted her in any way that something had been wrong. Quite the opposite if she was being honest. Leah's personality and presence had lit up her day in ways that she hadn't experienced in over a year. And yes, even the solemn demon hunter had missed that from her life.
She made eye contact with the demon sitting in front of her, trying to see her friend. The deep glow of demonic eyes stared back at her, but there was a softness to them. The intensity of battle had been replaced by the tired worry that was now apparent. Leah looked back at her friend, but quickly broke her gaze out of shame, burying her head in her arms again.
Valla cautiously walked over to her friend. Her training and conditioning screaming at her to shoot the demon when it was vulnerable, but her conscience telling her to comfort her friend.
Valla too, stood in front of Leah, trying as the templar had done before her to find the right words to say. She had a similar degree of success.
"Well. You're a demon." She said matter-of-factly.
It wasn't an accusation, merely a statement. As neutral of a statement as the demon huntress could think of.
Leah visibly pouted and retreated further into herself. "Yeah thanks for noticing. It's not like it's my choice." She mumbled into her arms. She immediately regretted the sarcasm, quickly glancing up at her friend. "Sorry… I didn't mean that." She muttered.
Leah tucked her tail around her feet and hugged herself even tighter. The uncomfortableness of the situation crushing her.
Valla stood in silence for a few moments before letting out an exasperated sigh. "Well, I think we should get your friend back to the inn about now." She said motioning to the dazed man lying against the wall.
Apparently, Jason had seen everything. The stunned man just opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water, looking like he was trying to form words and making gagging noises, before his eyes finally rolled back into his head and he passed out.
Leah quickly got up and rushed to his side. "Jason!" She called out, concerned. Valla and Kormac tensed for a second as Leah dashed across the room, but seeing that she was just checking on her friend, they relaxed again.
Leah checked for a pulse, and was relieved to find that Jason was alive. "Probably fainted from fright and low blood pressure." She diagnosed to her friends. Her voice had returned to normal now that she wasn't enraged anymore.
Ignoring the man being tended to, Valla turned back to Kormac. "Can you walk?"
Kormac had managed to get his torn pieces of armour off so that they were no longer causing him further injury, but he was still covered in cuts and bleeding from multiple wounds. With a groan, he got to his feet. The heavy man stumbled for a moment before regaining his balance. "I think I can manage."
Valla motioned back to the injured assistant lying against the wall, and the concerned demoness fussing over him. "So who's going to carry the guy?"
