Prayer For A Friends Success
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“I hope that we never have to face an army of the living dead again,” I said as we watched the last of them walk away into the forest. “It was too easy.”
“They weren’t all zombies, you know.”
That made me pause for a moment and look down at her. Her eyes were sad with a hint of guilt in them but also filled with relief at being alive. She wasn’t just thinking about herself now; she cared more for the people around her than anything else.
That’s why she had tried to warn us before our first run-in with the undead. They didn’t need to be mindless walking corpses to pose a real threat; there are many other ways to kill people or drive them mad if one wishes it badly enough. And even when they can no longer think for themselves, their bodies are still very much human.
But despite my reluctance to admit it, what she had done tonight would not have been possible without me and I was grateful for her actions.
“Yeah,” I sighed sadly, feeling the weight on my shoulders that had only recently left, “but they were mostly mindless and easily dealt with.” We watched the last of them disappear into the trees until we could see nothing but darkness between us.
My mind wandered back to the past few years and how quickly everything changed after I took over the role of Archdemon. It seemed like only yesterday when my life consisted of nothing more than playing video games, reading books, and going out with friends.
Then a girl came along who brought a whole new set of problems to me. The most prominent one was my brother, who wanted to use me for his own means. But he wouldn’t succeed in doing so because I would put this world right if I could. I just wished that it didn’t come at such a great cost…
I looked over at Ivy and smiled slightly. “Thank you.”
Her smile returned with equal intensity. She was happy to be alive but she couldn’t help wondering if she should have done more. If she’d gone further ahead to try and lure those things out of hiding and let them get hit by bullets, then they might have fallen before the others ever got close.
Or maybe she shouldn’t have used magic to make the arrows fly straighter. It hadn’t hurt anyone but the enemy, so what did that matter?
She knew deep down it wasn’t her fault, not really. It wasn’t fair to lay the blame upon her for someone else’s mistakes, but she couldn’t quite shake off the doubt. I reached over to take her hand in mine and squeezed softly.
“You saved my life,” I whispered, “and I owe you one.”
“So do I,” she replied in a low voice. “For everything. And thank you for saving mine tonight.”
Our hands slowly separated as we sat staring silently into the distance for a few moments. Our minds began wandering to different thoughts and feelings; Ivy pondered how much her brother had changed while I felt a pang of sorrow over the death of one of my oldest friends. Then my stomach growled and we both broke our silence in unison.
“Let’s go home,” Ivy suggested as she stood up from her seat.
I followed suit and helped her to her feet. The two of us walked side by side through the woods until we finally emerged onto the road leading towards Blackhall.
“What should we tell everyone?” I asked as we approached the gates of the mansion where I had lived for so long. There were three large wooden doors, each painted in a different color. Mine was dark red while Ivy’s was green.
“Well,” she mused thoughtfully, “there’s no way to hide all of the blood and guts that we’re covered in, not when there’s no way to wash clean.”
We stopped and looked down at our clothes, which were now caked with dried blood that smelled of iron. I shook my head and pulled out my phone. “Maybe I’ll just text everyone.”
The sound of a familiar ringtone cut off any further conversation and I pulled the device out of my pocket, flipping it open as it fell silent once more.
“Hello?” Ivy’s voice was faint but she spoke loud enough for me to hear clearly.
“Yes?” I answered in a hushed tone of voice.
“Hey, man,” my best friend greeted me enthusiastically, “you’ve been trying to call me!”
He sounded excited as though I had called him for no particular reason but we both knew otherwise. I’d actually been calling him because the Archdemon was looking for him and it needed his advice on something.
“Sorry, I forgot to mention anything,” I apologized. “It’s all right though. I have some news.”
“Oh yeah?” He paused and I could almost imagine he was taking a drag off his cigarette. “How bad is it this time?”
I laughed and nodded. “I’m afraid so. What do you think of a bunch of orcs attacking our front lawn?”
***
The phone dropped to the ground as I hung up the receiver and stared at Ivy in stunned shock.
“What the hell?” she exclaimed, looking around in confusion.
A horn blared outside and we turned to face the gate. The carriage was coming up the driveway towards us as two people dressed in black stepped out of the door behind the driver. Both had pale skin and sharp features; their eyes were a piercing silver and they both wore long coats lined with white fur.
They carried wicked-looking blades strapped across their backs and both looked completely focused on the task ahead. Ivy and I hurried to our feet as the driver pulled open the gate and let them inside the grounds.
As soon as the carriage pulled up near us, the two guards jumped down and moved to stand in front of us, blocking us from getting too close to the vehicle. Their weapons never left their sides, and neither did they look in our direction.
“Who are these people?” Ivy whispered as we tried to sneak a peek at the men.
They didn’t react as Ivy took a step forward but the taller of the two raised his hand in warning. I heard Ivy sigh in disappointment and she quickly turned back to stare at me.
“These must be the guys from yesterday,” Ivy muttered in disbelief, “they were here when we went to find the Archdemon.”
I shrugged helplessly, not wanting to make excuses or explain myself. If they wanted to talk then fine, if not then it really wouldn’t matter either way. I could see Ivy’s frustration building and decided I had better change the topic before we found ourselves locked away in the dungeon.
“What should we tell them about what happened today?”
This time she rolled her eyes at me. “Tell them whatever they want to know.”
The carriage door opened and the woman in charge climbed out. She stood facing us, arms folded, for several seconds while we waited nervously for her to speak. I couldn’t help thinking of the Archdemon as she studied us with cold eyes.
She glanced over both of us again, as if making sure we weren’t hiding anything from her. “Why haven’t you reported this to us sooner?” she demanded, her tone laced with barely restrained anger.
Neither of us answered right away, instead waiting for her to continue. When she seemed satisfied with our silence, Ivy spoke first, saying, “Because we’re not exactly sure who was responsible for killing those people. Not until this morning anyway.”
“So you admit your ignorance, then?” The Archdemon’s voice dripped with sarcasm.
There was a flash of irritation across Ivy’s face as she shot back, “No, I don’t admit ignorance, but I am willing to bet that whoever sent the orcs after us wasn’t the same person as the one that attacked us last night.”
“And how will you prove it?”
Ivy shrugged, turning to look at me and smiling. It made me feel embarrassed since there wasn’t much to smile about right now. “We’ll just have to figure it out somehow.”
“That will depend entirely upon whether you can convince me that the attack on this place by an army of orcs was orchestrated by someone other than a human wizard,” said the Archdemon, “or if we have to go ahead with our original plan.”
My jaw dropped open as she glared at Ivy, as though accusing her of being responsible for the orcs attacking us. Ivy frowned in response.
“If only you’d told me sooner…” Ivy trailed off as she turned to glare at me again.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “You know me too well.”
After Ivy calmed herself down, I added, “Look, Archdemon, we really aren’t going to lie or try and cover things up. We’ll come clean if we figure out that this is some kind of human conspiracy.”
At least, that’s what I meant to say. In reality, I wasn’t so sure that was the case anymore. I had seen firsthand how powerful vampires were. Even if it hadn’t been my own blood that I’d tasted, I would’ve believed it. The Archdemon didn’t seem to appreciate my reluctance.
Her eyebrows arched into a frown. “I see,” she replied dryly, “then why don’t we get started. Your friends will be arriving shortly.”
One of the guards stepped forward and gestured to the rear of the carriage where a large man and woman climbed down from the back seats. The taller of the two men was obviously a vampire, while his companion had dark curly hair and looked completely human.
A shiver ran down my spine at the thought of meeting such a powerful predator, even if he couldn’t possibly recognize me as a potential threat.
The Archdemon waved them forward and they walked slowly toward us, the man staring straight ahead and the woman moving her hands constantly as though she feared touching something dangerous. She was also very attractive, which seemed like a weird thing to think when you were talking about a deadly immortal monster.
The Archdemon stepped aside to give them room and watched as they stopped in front of us. As she stared at each of them, her eyes roamed over their faces without seeming to care about anything other than checking to see that they matched their descriptions from the papers she had shown us earlier.
Then, as quickly as she appeared curious, she dismissed the man as useless. He didn’t have the arrogance required for a good spy. The Archdemon fixed her attention on the woman instead.
“Kathy,” she stated, “do you understand what it means to work for me?”
A slight smile crossed Kathy’s lips as she bowed slightly to show respect. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Then let us begin.”
The End