The Demon Lord And His Hero

Sebastian hadn't really fainted. The mage was able to fight the sleep that Nurhia had cast upon them. Artemus on the other hand was already exhausted so the possibility that he had fallen asleep could not be discounted. Their third member, the fire mage, was an unpredictable one. Sebastian didn't even try to guess if he was really under the demoness' spell.

He cracked one eye open when Lucien began berating the hooded man. An emissary of the emperor? What was the redhead talking about? It seemed to have worked because the demonic servant had fallen to his knees and was begging Lucien to allow suicide.

How was the redhead able to scare the hooded man into such a mess? Sebastian wondered. But the redhead was getting even cockier and making suggestive threats at the statue of Nurhia - whose screaming was grating on Sebastian's nerves.

"Shut the fuck up!" He crankily shouted. Sebastian would have been content to stay on the ground, eavesdropping on the duo if Nurhia wasn't screaming like a demented banshee. He caught sight of Lucien's face and suddenly all that screaming took a back seat in the horse carriage that was rushing off a cliff.

"Ya look fuckin' creepy, Luci," he told the redhead while dusting off his pants. He could see Magnus propping his head up by the elbow and watching Lucien as well.

One side of Lucien had a horn growing out and his eye was entirely red as if his sclera was bleeding. The half-demon turned and smiled at Sebastian. The side smile was like fire burning across a sheet of paper.

"So, yer a demon too," Sebastian said to the redhead.

Nurhia, whose limbs were beginning to move in stuttering and rigid lurches, was ignored completely by the group.

"Always been, Sebbie. Do you hate me now?" Lucien asked the mage.

How could he? Sebastian had watched the child grow all those years. Lucien was like family to him.

"Why didn't ya tell me?"

A shriek sounded from the hooded man as blood began to exit his body. A large mass of floating red liquid coalesced into bloody javelins in the air.

"Because the secret wasn't mine alone to tell," Lucien replied. He directed the weaponised blood towards Nurhia, the bulky and inconvenient statue built for purposes that didn't include attacking or defending against other demons.

"This is about S'ryn then?" The mage asked. "He's also like you."

"Yeah."

Lucien's blood javelins exploded into droplets on the surface of the onyx statue. They reformed in the air and attacked again in a relentless cycle of explosion and reformation.

"Fuck.. All this time," Sebastian mumbled. "Does Artemus know?"

Syryn had told Lucien about the contract he made with Artemus. Of course, the anti-mage knew. The redhead delicately shrugged like he had no idea. The anti mage would have to deal with that on his own.

Nurhia's right arm had already fallen off from the repeated jackhammering to its joint. She wasn't a weak demoness by any means but her true form was not on this plane. The statue was a conduit, nothing but target practice for the redhead.

"Does Rowan know?" Sebastian suddenly blurted out. And then he rolled his eyes with irritation. "Of course, he knows. He has ta know. Magnus doesn't look surprised so he knows. Alka probably knows. Salem too. Somehow I suspect that Artemus also knows." He said this as he looked at the peacefully sleeping anti-mage. "Who else knows then? Am I the only one who has been kept in the dark about this secret?!"

Lucien thought about Salem. Did he know?

"I can't believe this. My life is a lie. Magnus where are ya goin'?"

The fire mage was dragging off a comatose person by the collar of his shirt. It was the human who had fainted in the cavern with them while in the midst of attempting to take Lucien away. From Magnus' face, nothing could be gleaned of what the fire mage intended for the unlucky man. But Sebastian knew. He knew that the man's minutes were numbered.

"Taking out the trash," Magnus casually replied. "I'll be back soon."

Artemus stirred awake right then, clutching his head as if he was suffering from a headache.

"You okay, sweetheart?" Sebastian asked the anti mage. "Yer lookin' like a mess today."

"I'm fine," Artemus responded.

Nurhia's psychic effects were being cancelled out by Lucien's aura so the demoness was helpless against the humans. The only weapon she had in her arsenal was nullified so she resorted to something that Lucien wasn't expecting.

A hell's gate, bigger than the one that Syryn had summoned appeared between the statue and Lucien.

"Back!" Lucien shouted to his companions. The redhead leapt backwards as a hand came out to swipe the air where he had been standing before.

Artemus and Sebastian weren't slouches this time. They knew what a hell's gate was capable of if it wasn't fed and closed quickly.

"The assholes who kidnapped us," Sebastian grimly told Artemus. "Throw them in."

Lucien had taken to the air on his wings. He watched the gate widen and shudder. Syryn's gate had been modest compared to the one that Nurhia had opened. Long hands were practically reaching higher and higher into the air, grasping hungrily at the redheaded demon.

There were several consequences to the gate not being fed. Nurhia would receive a backlash but the repercussions of it were worse for the humans. The gate could become independent and refuse to close till it ate everything in the vicinity.

Terrified screams sounded through the passageway that led from the main cave. Lucien turned to look as Sebastian appeared first, hauling a man who was begging for life. Lucien could see that the mage was unhappy about what he had to do but it was the only way to feed the gate.

With a powerful toss, the unlucky man was flipped into the air. A clawed hand swiftly snatched the screaming man from the air and when it did, he was squashed like a ripe fruit exploding all its juices. The hand went back inside the gate but there were more still waiting to be fed.

"Can't we just attack it?" Magnus asked as he tossed in a fully charred body.

"Doesn't work," Artemus replied. He was dragging a beheaded torso behind him while his other hand held the separated head by its hair.

Lucien had never seen them kill before and it was a revelation. His gentle Mu-mu could actually behead a person and handle the body parts so heartlessly. How it amazed him.