Asmodeus(30)

Duty first.



As he struggled with the Neph, Michael's order tormented him.



The fallen watchers have created a new race of creatures whose only purpose is to feed from humans to live. The responsibility now lies with the fallen to eliminate these abominations.



All of the deaths and the sorrow concerning these creatures rested on his decision to fall. He deserved to go back to the Abyss. He deserved punishment. He had created this evil.



Choking the Neph with his left hand, he tried reaching for his sword with his right, his fingers digging into the dirt seeking leverage he couldn't attain. As he did, the Neph's grip on his throat went limp as it screeched. It fell off him and he was able to wrap his palm around the hilt of his sword.



Raum stood over the Neph, delivering the death blow.



Glancing to his left he saw the disembodied arm of the Neph where Raum had severed it with his sword.



He barely managed to get to his feet, feeling shaken to the core.



"Damn, Asmoday, I wasn't thinking. I forgot you haven't killed a Neph since…"



Asmodeus turned away, taking in much-needed air. The scene before him brought clarity back to a night in which he tried so hard to forget. Love had been torn from him, ripped away by his own goddamned hand. How fucking ironic. And heartbreaking. To know you were the one forced to end the life of your own flesh and blood was a pain that never went away.



How had Raum and Naberius let go of that night? Had they?



He de-materialized his sword, turning to face Raum. "That will not happen again." He could have endangered Raum with his inadequacy.



Raum looked stricken. "It happened to all of us in the beginning. It was hard to see… It was difficult not to see our own children."



Asmodeus waved his hand in the direction of the Neph's body without looking at it, and it disappeared. He did the same to the arm. So dismissive. This had been someone's child, and yet there would be no body with which to mourn. No questions answered. Where did the souls of his children go? Would he ever know? Were his sons suffering the sins of their father?



Naberius walked into the clearing. Asmodeus collected himself as best he could. Remnants of memories filtered through his mind, and he damned them all.



"You find it?"



Raum nodded. "We should call it a night."



"Let's finish our round at Hickory Park. Asmodeus is going to have to get used to this shit."



Asmodeus rolled his shoulders. He couldn't agree with Naberius more, and the fact that Naberius wasn't feeling sorry for him right now made the situation easier to bear. "I'm ready, but for one thing. Is there a way we can locate the parents of the Neph?"



At their looks of disbelief he held his hands out. "I know the demon who sired the child is likely serving his sentence in the Abyss, but surely one of you can talk to the Powers and gain the mother's location."

Naberius's eyebrows came together. "We've never done that before."



Well, he would ensure they do it from now on. The mother of the fallen child deserved more than nights filled with questions, of birthdays gone by with no answers. "It's just a small courtesy I would have wanted, were that my child."



Raum nodded in understanding. "I'll take care of it."



As they walked back to Naberius's vehicle he finally felt as though he had done something right. Something good.



It was something he wanted to feel more of.





Standing in the middle of the woods at ten o'clock at night was not the smartest thing Brianna had ever done. Arriving just after sunset, she'd jogged around the trails, her mind coming up with terrible images of what a Nephilim might actually look like. She kept close to the parking lot, waiting to see a car full of demons pull in.



Yep, really smart.



To top it off there was no sign of life around the park at all. She hadn't even heard a bird chirping. Eerie silence and shadows cast by the trees and shrubs were all that surrounded her.



Where were they? Darkness had set in hours ago. They were supposed to be here by now, weren't they?



Learning what she had about Asmodeus thanks to Google—you really could find anything on the internet—probably caused some of her anxiety. She found out he had fallen out of lust for human females, which wasn't a surprise, but the fact he had instigated it all was more than a little daunting. According to Wikipedia, Asmodeus was a demon characterized by carnal desire, considered by some to be the Demon of Lust.



Holy crap.



Looking back, it wasn't so surprising he had asked her to join him in the shower so quickly after she had summoned him.



Now that she thought about it, he hadn't made a play on her since then. Plain old Brianna. No wonder. She couldn't even make the Demon of Lust desire her.