I got a running start and launched myself at the creature that had enslaved my family, only to be swatted out of the air.

But I had already seen this trick, so I was ready for it. I flew back thirty feet or so, stopped myself with levitation, and charged his big purple ass again. I did the exact same jump again, so he would think I was going for his face, diverting at the last second to punch him in the stomach as his wide, slow swing went over my head.

You could tell it had been a while since anything had punched Baalphezar, and he had definitely never been punched by anything like me. He was too strong to fall down from one punch, but he staggered for a second and bent over, giving me time to shoot up, and catch him with a levitating uppercut.

Watching it in the mirror now, this was my first real Captain Cobalt punch, straight out of the cartoon. Launching myself straight up while the bad guy was bending over, hitting him in the jaw hard enough to rock his head back.

Baalphezar reached out and tried to grab me. My wards wouldn’t let his hand close, so he just swatted me again, sending me flying backwards into the street; but I’d spent hours learning to land and roll.

The key to a proper backwards roll is to never try and roll straight back, by the way. You’ve got to tilt your head left or right and roll on your shoulder, once your head is out of the way.

I hit the street pretty hard, but I had my wards up, so I was able to bounce, roll, and get back to my feet in one smooth motion. Then I cast Anson’s artillery spell as I was standing, amused that the bolt looked gold this time. That artillery spell usually took a lot out of me, but I was so charged up from Lydia’s kiss and my own pent-up anger, I just kept going, sending bolt after bolt crashing into him, smiling a little as I watched that health bar go down.

I was knocking him back, firing too fast for him to keep up, but not quite enough to make him fall. I had been striding toward him between bolts. In Azael’s mirror, it looks effortless, with golden bolts changing to white as I used up the power Lydia gave me and started drawing from my own.

Honestly, I don’t remember much of this. I was fighting in a kind of dreamlike state, using magic by instinct, amazed by how easy all this was, once I got my brain out of the way.

The bolts were doing better damage at close range, but I had gotten too close. Just as Baalphezar was reaching down to grab me, I heard two booming rifle shots, and watched part of his head fly away. Veazey had ignored my warnings, and finally taken his shot. The shots had thrown my rhythm off, but he was giving me an opening, and I had to take it.

I thought I had time to get a punch in, but my approach was sloppy, and Baalphezar recovered from the gunshots even faster than I was expecting. I was in easy striking range, and I had given him time to line up a punch. Baalphezar cocked his arm back and hit me with everything he had.

I staggered back two steps but did not fall. I just stood there for a moment looking up at him. “Is that really as hard as you can hit? Daddy hit me harder than that for burning toast!”

I watched myself break into a run and slide under Baalphezar’s legs. I sent an artillery spell straight up his black loincloth, listening to the roar of outrage far above as he bent over and tried to grab me again. But I had already come through the other side and jumped on his back, bracing myself on his shoulder as I punched him in the back of the head.

He picked me off and threw me away from him, of course, but I just rolled and came at him again. This time I focused on his legs, trying to punch hard enough to break something and see if I could get him off his feet. Human or demon, nothing can walk without knees.

Baalphezar dropped to one knee. Then I hit the other one, and I had him on the ground. Finally, I had this motherfucker at eye level, kneeling in front of me, obviously injured, with two massive dents in his skull. I grabbed one of his horns in each hand and prepared to detonate a double blast of artillery magic in the middle of his head.

Then I heard Veazey shouting curses in my ear, followed by a rapid series of pistol shots, as he unloaded on something a couple buildings over. Veazey had gotten his shots off, but now he had a whole pack of Hunters closing in on him, jumping from roof to roof like demonic greyhounds.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He had switched to a .45 for close combat, and had already killed three of them, but there were five more behind them, and each one was taking two bullets to kill.

I broke off from Baalphezar and ran to save my friend.

* * *

I weaved through shattered buildings, running as fast as I could toward the sound of gunfire, until I found Veazey. He had managed to kill another dog that was trying to jump on his roof, but four others were about to pounce.

I got around between him and the next building over and shouted, “Jump!”

Of course, he’d picked one of the tallest buildings left standing, and the next one was a good fifteen feet away. Anybody else would have hesitated and been torn apart, but Veazey immediately ran for the edge and jumped off the roof, with absolute faith that I would catch him.

I wrapped levitation around him and lifted him onto the next roof, then I drew my own pistol, and we finished them off together. I had one moment to enjoy the victory, then Baalphezar’s giant hand grabbed me from behind and threw me to the ground. The impact wasn’t enough to knock me out, but it was enough to fuck up my casting, and keep me from firing back.

Before I could throw my arms up, Baalphezar stomped on my chest with all his weight. My wards were still strong enough to keep him from crushing me outright, but I felt ribs crack, and there was obviously some terrible internal damage. I coughed explosively and spat blood on my shirt.

He had me pinned to the ground with one giant foot, so I did the only thing I could think of. I summoned Cecila’s knife and jammed it in his foot as hard as I could. The faerie blade apparently hurt like old silver.

Baalphezar howled and hopped backwards, giving me time to grab my spare holoprojector, and toss it like a baseball over his head.

The lidar identified the shape, centered itself above him, and shined another magic circle on the ground. I hit my button to randomize the symbols again, but the projector just went buzz and refused to do it, as my HUD threw up another fucking script error. It was just a normal circle now, and I didn’t have enough energy to cast the containment spell. I had to take my chances and hope it could still delay him long enough for me to make it to the rift.

The fortitude spell was the only thing keeping me up as I staggered down the street, two minutes to the eruption.

I barely had the presence of mind to yell, “Veazey, don’t shoot!” before he could get to his rifle. I was pretty sure a bullet crossing the circle would break containment. “Run, man! Please run! You’ve got to protect the guys if the demons get me! Run to the potion shop on Charles Street, find a witch named Denise Hardy and tell her you need sanctuary! Use that word! Sanctuary! And tell her, tell her I’m sorry I walked away from her.”

The portal to Hell was a garish red oval just outside the rift enclosure. Denise could have closed it, but I had never learned how.

I walked in through the ruined iron gate just as my counter hit zero, and a blue-white storm of alien fire erupted out of the ground.

I caught a flicker of movement and saw Lydia hovering there, watching me from the gray. I took a deep breath, clutched my cracked ribs, and threw myself into the rift.

* * *

The alien magic felt so cold now, now that I had Earth magic to compare it to. It felt cold but burned like fire, as I stood there in the middle of it, with my feet firmly planted on the ground. My thoughts were jumbled by fear and pain, so I had Jeeves pull up the healing spell instead of trying to cast it from memory.

I cast the first ten runes and poured power in, promising myself I would cast the whole extended thing later. Walking around on Earth, fear seemed to shut me down, but standing in the rift, fear seemed to facilitate the transfer somehow, driving coldfire magic deep into my bones. Is this why Evan deliberately scared people who sat in his chair? To make this fucked up alien magic work better?

It was hard to see through the fire, but I saw two vague demon shapes walk up and stop about twenty feet in front of me. The unmistakable shape of Baalphezar, and a freakishly thin figure that could only be his Inquisitor.

I couldn’t hear what they said while I was in the rift, but I can see and hear them clearly now in Azael’s mirror.

Baalphezar’s rumbling voice said, “What’s he doing?”

“You scared the magic out of him,” the Inquisitor said, “so he’s trying to drink the ocean.”

“This is foolish,” Baalphezar said. “Pull him out.”

The Inquisitor shook his head. “I’m sorry, Master. Whatever that energy is, it burns us. We’re already too close.”

Lydia popped into real space on the other side of the rift, weeping on her knees as she shouted, “Timothy, no! Don’t try this! It’s too much power, even for you! I love you so much,” she sobbed. “Please don’t burn yourself in front of me!”

Baalphezar ignored her and simply asked, “Will he die?”

“Perhaps,” the Inquisitor answered. “The fire is burning him, but he’s healing the damage as fast as it comes in. Don’t lower your guard, Master. If this works, he could emerge from that rift at full power, fully healed. But it will take precise timing, and he doesn’t… quite… have it.”

The eruption ended and I was standing in the center of the slab, surrounded by three demons. The healing had kept me alive, but my clothes and skin were horribly burned. I wobbled on my feet for a moment… and fell flat on my face.

“A valiant effort,” Baalphezar said, with a strange note of pride in his voice

I was expecting him to extract my soul, but Baalphezar grabbed me by one leg and physically dragged my body through the portal to Hell.

“What about her?” the Inquisitor asked, indicating Lydia, still sobbing a few feet away.

“Leave her,” Baalphezar said. “We’ll need someone to put him back together, after I show him who his Master is.”