A Little Piece Of Heaven

Arin walked quickly through the smoking ruins that had once been the châteaux where he and Mikey had taken up residence and had to choke down his fear. The problem with time locks was that they tended to be unstable. The single hour he had spent inside with the prisoners and his Master had transcribed to two weeks in real time, something that he had thought Mikey would have been prepared for. Instead Arin had found destruction and urgent messages asking why the Nazi high command was losing soldiers in high numbers in a supposedly safe area. Those few survivors he had found spoke of devils and angels descending to massacre them, all the time looking for the major.
Arin knew exactly who and why and it made the current mission into a suicide run. He had anticipated making a deal while the reapers were still in disarray with Gates still wounded. To know that the death count had risen drastically in one week and hear several men whimpering about the smiling demon told him that his former lover was back on his feet. For a precious moment he considered going back to consult with the Master but he feared the painful punishment for failing. Arin had seen the last demon that displeased him die messily.
So he trudged on, picking up several soldiers and barking orders at them as they pulled together weapons and some semblance of a plan. They would start at the site of the latest massacre and see what clues that could be found. It was fairly clear that they were hunting for him and Arin hoped that the soldiers would provide enough of a distraction to keep Gates busy long enough to reason with the rest.
“The Major is busy, he should be able to leave you to carry out orders without seeing this pathetic display!”
The men shuffled and looked at the floor, none of them would have taken such a berating from this man if they didn’t fear what the Major would do. They had survived and wanted that to continue and the thought of once again going out into the field where the dead were hunting was enough to make cowardice a good idea.
“The high command has sent in the SS sir, we have been ordered to stay here.”
Arin rounded on the young Captain, neither willing to back down.
“Your orders have been revoked, we move out now.”
“I need to talk to the Major.”
Arin smiled and picked the boy up with one hand around his throat, the other men shying back and a ripple of fear going through them. They had all heard the rumours, shared them around in fact and added to the massacres this made an atmosphere of near hysteria roll in waves around the shattered brick ruins. Arin smiled pleasantly.
“He. Is. Busy. Now move…”
The Captain was dumped to the floor coughing and one glance sent the rest of the men scrambling to gather weapons and packs. Within an hour they were marching west, a company of men who would rather be in a battle than face what possible horrors lurked among the damp woods and open fields. They lost two to a firefight with partisans, the relief at realising they were facing flesh and blood made them all somewhat sloppy and when Arin called a halt to talk to a miller on the banks of a fast flowing river they were all grateful. The millwheel turning lazily in the current was too tranquil to allow for fear and the cold fresh water made a welcome relief from the lukewarm metallic liquid they were used to from flasks.
Arin knew the miller was one of his own, a retired chaos demon who had no interest in the current games being played and was happy to tell him that the reapers were on the rampage. Several demons had died because of it, some who would have known Arin’s whereabouts and some who wouldn’t.
“You really managed to start a war. There is a bounty on your head.”
Arin tried not to let the fear show on his face. It was rare in their world for one to anger another immortal enough for the placing of a bounty. A smart move on the part of Jimmy and his friends, it would make the Major’s plan a little more difficult if such attention was drawn to them. He eyed the older man and lifted his chin.
“Cowards, the dispute was between us. No need to bring the universe into it.”
“Taking others hostage is rarely anything less than an act of war.”
The old demon was amused, there had been no such declaration as the reapers wanted the pleasure of the kill, merely letting those inhuman in the area know not to interfere and to spread the same story. The millar had no intention of messing with this Major, the universe could tell when something powerful walked among it, or messing with the reapers for that matter although watching them kill humans was never less than entertaining.
“A war others should stay out of.”
Arin looked back over at the soldiers by the bank and wondered if they would be enough of a shield. It would be better to consult the master although the connection in his head was being blocked, clearly Mikey was busy. He contented himself with accepting a glass of cold beer from the miller and sat on the bank to try and figure out his next move. Maybe he could persuade his master to let him bring one of the girls into the open to tempt the reapers out, if he had a hostage they were less likely to rip his face off. A shadow fell across him and Arin looked up grumpily, his train of thought did not need interrupting.
“Well now, about time you showed your face.”
Arin squeaked and tried to get up, Gates was not showing a trace of humanity. The eyes were black and his smile extremely unpleasant. Power radiated from the man, no sign now of the terrible injuries that had been so visible the last time the two men had met. The miller nervously looked at Matt as Syn dragged Arin to his feet. The soldiers had already scattered, Claire and Raven in pursuit as Dani cast concealment spells over the area. They had been able to silence the enemies magic over the last three miles and knew that Arin was now completely alone.
“Not here, you said my place would be unharmed.”
Jimmy smiled, his eyes drawn to where Syn was repeatedly punching the now screaming Arin before he looked back at the old man.
“We’re leaving, you did us a favour. Lay low Simon, this is going to get rough I think.”
Simon grinned, he and Jimmy went back a long way.
“You gonna show these mortals what a war means ?”
Jimmy smiled, the piercing blue eyes promising destruction on a biblical scale. He tipped his head at Zacky, it really wouldn’t do for Syn to kill Arin before they had chance to find out where the girls were. There would be pain but it needed to be controlled. Zacky rolled his eyes and grabbed Johnny, it would take both of them to pull Syn off. Jimmy returned his attention to Simon.
“We just want Lilith and Stefanie back. Whatever this Major wants can be addressed after that.”
They shook hands, Matt returning from following the girls with blood spattered up his face. He looked grim, none of them had been happy at the length of time that had passed and now they were finally getting somewhere. One by one the reapers returned, Claire the last back into the clearing. She stared at the unconscious man at Syn’s feet before fixing him with a stare.
“You feel better for that ?”
Syn looked up from inspecting his bruised knuckles. It had taken a week before he could move at all and he had not yet regained full speed or mobility from the injuries. Worse was the damage to his mind, the need and fear for Lilith echoed in his head and now there was nothing about him that screamed sanity. Even his friends had become wary, Syn was unpredictable and not above lashing out.
“Not nearly as much as when I kill him.”
“As soon as we have Stef and Lilith back you can butcher him.”
Arin stirred, the pain in his body less than the fear in his head. He lunged at Matt, grabbing onto his legs in desperation as Johnny went to grab his hair. The kid looked up pleadingly, hoping that the big man would at least be the voice of reason. He was met with a cold stare.
“A meeting ! I have been told by the Major to arrange a meeting so we can come to an agreement about the ladies.”
Zacky pulled him to his feet and Arin found himself encircled. None of them looked like they wanted to listen, even the normally friendly Dani looked ready to pull him apart. Syn stood a little way off, not trusting himself to remain focused.
“A meeting ? We want the girls back now before we even think about not killing your Major.”
“A meeting. You should hear him out before you make threats.”
Matt lashed out without thinking, the crack of breaking bone was sweet as Arin hit the floor hard. Again Zacky picked him up, this time holding on so that Arin remained on his feet.
“Not a threat. A promise.”
The smaller man looked around him blearily, the cold flash of teleportation felt good on his burning bruised skin but the realisation that they were now in a dank cellar was less so. His back hit the wall hard as Claire and Dani started arranging tools and implements along a rough wooden bench. Jimmy removed his jacket, his arm around Johnny’s shoulder.
“You best start talking Arin. My boy Johnny here has been studying some really interesting torture techniques and he’s just itching to try them out.”
“Kill me and you’ll never find them.”
Johnny didn’t wait, his smile at Raven meant that Arin found himself skewered through the stomach to the wall, his scream dying in his throat as he stared at the wicked blade weeping blood down his shirt. Jimmy sat down, his fingers playing with Syn’s hair. He was now the only one who could calm the pretty man and he enjoyed the way Syn arched under his fingers. They both had a look of savage enjoyment on their faces.
“We could kill you and resurrect you for however long it takes. What does that Major want with Stefanie and Lilith ? We’re guessing some kind of machine ?”
There was a scream as Raven twisted the blade, Arin’s words gasped out.
“Yes, a machine. He will let them go if you help.”
“He will let them go anyway when we find him.”
Blood tricked from Arin’s mouth as his lips turned up into a pained smile.
“You have no power over him, he could crush you.”
“Of course he could but he hasn’t and he wants something from us.”
Matt was thoughtful, not liking the confidence in the boy despite his situation. Raven twisted the blade a little more and Claire ignited the blue fire in her hand causing Arin to hastily raise a warning hand.
“I swear they are both unhurt and will remain so, we just want them to help us with the raising..”
Arin stopped and paled. His master had warned against telling Jimmy anything that pertained to bringing their god back from hell. All eyes were back on him and he hesitate before Jimmy looked at Syn and pointed.
“Think he wants to tell us.”
“Certain of it. Anything Lilith could help in raising won’t be good.”
Syn stood up, his face fixed in a deadpan gaze that caused Arin to burble promises and apologies, twisting on the knife until blood was freely running onto the floor. Claire kept his body alive with magic, the fire in her hand flowing over his body and adding to the pain as Syn broke his fingers one by one.
“Patollo !! Mikey is going to raise Patollo !!”
Arin thankfully passed out, Raven removing the knife and letting him drop to the floor as they gathered around to plot the next move. Matt, Johnny and Syn were for a full frontal assault, make Arin take them to where this Mikey was and get the girls back by force. Claire again pointed out that they had no real knowledge of how powerful this creature would be and the others tended to agree. Again Jimmy pondered, knowing there wasn’t much choice.
“We agree to a meeting. We make Arin take us to where the girls are and see exactly what we’re dealing with here. A Norse war god is no picnic and we’re all out to tea and biscuits.”

Notes