The final angelic visitation had them turning right onto a dirt road that led to a little building that might once have been a church, with its sweet stained glass windows. As Lilly peered in through the window though, there was nothing holy or comforting about it. The shallow concrete pool at the back, once used for adult baptism, had been repurposed as a fire pit and thick black smoke rose from it accompanied by a terrible stench. Her eyes started to water but whether from the smell or the sight even she couldn’t be sure.

Abraxas, still in his suit with his jacket discarded in a corner and his expensive shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, tended the fire with a long cast iron poker. A pastel yellow bundle of rags stirred fitfully in an old apple crate on the floor.

John looked at Lilly seriously. “Get the baby.” He said firmly. “Whatever happens you grab her and you run, okay?”

She opened her mouth to object but Cain and Tom both put their hands on her arm. “We’ll be right behind you,” Cain assured her.

“Just grab her,” Tom said. “Get to the car and drive. We’ll catch up.”

They each kissed her hair quickly and then guided her towards the side door. “Is he alone?” she mumbled to herself.

“He won’t be for long,” John moved in front of her. His shoulders bunched and grew, and on his back, the stumps of his ruined wings punched through the skin. Cain and Tom changed too, though far less impressively with their fiery eyes and burnished skin. “Smart money says the first thing he does is summon up a small legion to make sure this shit goes smoothly.”

“He can do that?” She hissed.

John shrugged, “He’s a general, they didn’t just pick a random word. The longer we leave him in there the more time he’ll have to summon up fiends.” He held his hand out in front of him and flexed it. The flaming sword grew from his flesh and sizzled in the rapidly cooling air. Lilly’s eyes widened as she stared at the sword and then she sniffed sadly.

“I love you guys…” She whispered.

John leaned forward and kissed her cheek. Cain grinned broadly, which made him look maniacal with his flaming eyes, burnished skin and pointed teeth. Tom blew her a kiss. “We love you too, babe,” he nudged her behind him. “Move fast, yeah?”

Inside, the baby started to cry and Lilly’s horrified gasp spurred John to act. He flexed his hand on the hilt of his sword and booted the left side of the double doors off the hinges so it fell inwards. Abraxas had the baby in one arm while the other was held out towards the great fire pit at the rear of the church.

“He’s making a gate,” Tom yelled as he and his brother moved to the sides to try to flank Abraxas.

“Oh no, he’s not,” John ground between clenched teeth. He roared and charged up the centre, straight at the shocked demon general.

Both Tom and Cain charged too. Being lighter and faster, Tom pulled ahead and was able to dive across in front of John when, in horror at the furious charging beast before him, Abraxas did the first thing that popped into his head. He threw the baby at John. Lilly sobbed and hurried around the wall towards Tom while Cain and John continued the charge. With an expression of desperation, Abraxas raised his arms above his head and barked a command in Latin.

The fire pit changed colour from the familiar reds and yellows to unhealthy purples and blues. From its depths, which now seemed impossibly far away, flew four winged imps. Each had burnished skin like Tom and Cain, but could never have been mistaken for men. Their bodies were broad and misshapen, and their features looked like melted wax.

They fanned out, each seemed to drip molten flesh, which dropped to the carpet and sizzled and stank. Lilly screamed and Tom shoved the baby at her.

"Run" he ordered and turned to defend them.

The imps didn't speak but snarled and snapped. Cain and John had to abandon their wild charge as three of the imps moved to stop them. Johns's flaming sword slashed at the first and it bounced back.

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"Little fucker," John hissed.

Cain had no weapon, so when one of the imps made a lunge for him he grabbed its wrists and wrenched them as far apart as he could. It screamed in pain as its shoulders dislocated, but momentum carried it forward and it continued to try to bite Cain's neck.

Two of the little beasts were dancing around John. He tracked them warily with his eyes and flicked his sword out as they attempted to maneuver such that one could get behind him. All the while, Abraxas made his way around the wall towards Tom and Lilly, his eyes intent upon the baby.

"Lil, I need you to run!" Tom hissed as he ducked the swat of a large, clawed hand.

She took a shaky step back, but then her eyes met Abraxas' and she gasped.

"You're never leaving this place," the general whispered, and somehow the voice was clearly audible to her, though his lips barely moved.

Behind her, Lilly heard a strange crashing sound and when she glanced over her shoulder her stomach dropped. The door John had kicked in was back in place and barred with a massive plank. She looked back at Abraxas with tears in her eyes and continued to back away.

Tom was no match for the imp, he was too small and it was so heavily muscled that a single strike would be enough to take Tom's head off. All he could do was annoy it and force it to chase him around.

A vicious and painful howl filled the smokey church when John finally managed to cut one of the imps in half. It fell in two charred, stinking pieces to the floor. The things heart took several beats to accept its demise and the blood it pumped out in spurts into the carpet was thick and tar-like. Abraxas made his way past where Tom and the imp played a dangerous game of keep away. He had eyes only for Lilly and the baby she held.

"Oh God..." she whimpered. In her arms, the baby wailed inconsolably and Lilly jiggled it unconsciously to try to calm her. She glanced down at the scrunched little face. "Please..." she looked up again, past Abraxas, to the stained glass window at the rear of the church. There was no light outside anymore to illuminate the image, but Lilly could make out angels perched on clouds watching over the world. "Please, help us."

John mistimed a slash with his sword and caught a clawed hand across the inside of his left arm. He roared in pain and rage. Beside him, Cain still struggled with the maimed imp. Though both of its shoulders were loose from their sockets it didn't slow and showed little concern for pain.

"Where's Lilly?" Cain called, unable to maneuver himself around to look for her.

Abraxas closed on her. His eyes were made of fire and it seemed that the beginnings of horns were trying to sprout from his forehead. "Give her to me."

Lilly shook her head and took another step back.

"Give her to me, and you won't feel anything..." He loomed before her until she could see nothing else. "Make me work for it, and you'll scream in agony for a hundred years before I let you die."

With an inhuman effort, Cain wrestled his imp down. He kept his grip tight on its wrists and managed to get a foot on its neck. He grunted once as he stomped and crushed its throat. Blood gushed from its mouth and covered his foot and shin with the thick, stinking tar. He shook his foot for a moment to get the gunk off and then turned to see his brother dart under the claw of the imp that chased him.

“Oy!” Cain barked.

Tom glanced at him and jumped a pew to run right past his brother. The imp was so focused on him that it barrelled after and never even saw the danger. As it passed, Cain reached out and hooked an arm around its neck. The momentum spun it and it crashed over the pew and fell back first against Cain’s chest. With a sickening crack, Cain snapped its neck and dropped it at his feet.

The last remaining imp backed up nervously. Its black eyes darted around looking for an escape, but its master had no interest in it and it was slowly steered into a corner. With calm, deliberate slowness, John ran it through with his burning sword.

Behind Abraxas, bright light flooded in through the stained glass windows. For a dizzying instant, Lilly thought he might burn up in it, but the light didn't affect him at all. It dazzled her though and the tinted colours made her blink to clear her vision. Abraxas lunged for them. Until that moment Lilly hadn't been aware of the knife. She'd been unable to focus on much of anything, but somehow as he lunged she perceived it perfectly. He was trying to kill the baby. so Lilly closed her eyes tight and spun on the spot. She hunched her body around the baby girl and didn't make a sound as the knife plunged into her back.

She coughed blood as the knife pierced her heart and it spattered against the baby’s yellow blanket. When she looked up the doors to the church had ceased to exist. Standing in the doorway was Telemachus, glowing and resplendent in a polished silver breastplate and holding a sword of light. Everything slowed down, her own quivering heart paused in its desperate struggle and Telemachus smiled gently at her.

“Thank you,” she heard him say quite clearly.

Without making a sound, Lilly sank slowly to her knees, then down to the floor, the baby still snuggled against her body.