10.

  Joseph left Xisira behind, with nothing more than all the cash he had, and promise she and their coming child would be taken care of. Joseph had saved a great deal of wealth as a nest egg and invested the money he earned through his career heavily, with paper stocks, paper stocks in a safety deposit box whose key he had left with the mother of his child. He sped from the motel in the convertible and made his way to downtown Omaha with nothing but his spear, and what was left of the vial of demon blood Xisira had given him.

  He kept the radio turned to keep up to date on the rampage Xisira’s father was getting up too, dozens were dying by the hour. The incident was getting so out of control he had no idea how the Hunter Order was going to cover this one up as he made his way there.

  The police had blocked off the area of the rampage, Joseph didn’t give a damn about their authority and rammed through the blockade. The buildings around had windows blown out, most were on fire, and there were dead bodies everywhere. Joseph looked up and saw the demon. That horrible insect flying around, breathing fire, and swooping down to collect screaming bodies and lift them into the air just to drop them to their deaths on the ground. Joseph got out of his car, and summoned his spear to his hand, “Hey Dad!” he called out to the demon flying through the air.

  The monster floated down to the ground, “You, you who brought me to this world, have you come to join my works?” he asked, “Are you truly the Betrayer?” he asked.

  “Xisira said you wanted out, she didn’t know you wanted this,” Joseph said, holding true to his spear.

  “Xisira is a foolish child, I needed her, I knew she had her charms and would find a weak man such as you,” it said.

  “You don’t know anything about her, she’s your own daughter, and you don’t know anything about her,” Joseph gritted his teeth, “I’m here to kill you,” Joseph said, “So I hope you’re ready to throw down,” he said.

  “A challenge, I have fought many hunters, for hundreds of years I have seen your kind, come at me, hunter,” the monster threw it’s body forward and Joseph thrust his spear, blocking the monster’s every attack, he spun and threw his spear across impacting on the shell of the beast and getting a cut in.

  “You cannot kill a demon of my age, better hunters have tried,” it said as the wound began to weave together and heal.

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  “Maybe my weapon won’t work on you, but I have this,” Joseph reached into his pocket and pulled out a vial of the demon’s own blood, “Courtesy of your daughter, the most amazing woman I’ve ever met, not that you realize that,” he said as he drew a line of blood up his arm.

  “Come, boy, don’t be foolish,” the demon said, backing away, and if a demon could feel fear, it certainly sounded like he was.

  Joseph began to draw a most complex symbol up his arm. A large cross, three X’s a circle with a dash through it, “This is the blood of your blood, this can kill you,” he said, “You should have never lied to your daughter. If what she told me was true, I would have helped you escape the below and live a quiet life, I was actually looking forward to it, didn’t know my own dad that well myself,” he said.

  “Blood sorcery this powerful, you will die, let me continue my works, be with my daughter, I give no care as to her actions now that I am free,” he said, backing away.

  “You know, I would have let you walk her down the aisle, this could have been so easy, for all of us,” Joseph said, “But if you’re up here just to make this world as awful as the one I let you claw your way out of, I won’t let that happen, die, knowing you will never see your grandchild,” Joseph said as a great ball of demonic fire began to grow in his palm. Joseph felt his legs buckle and fell to his knees. The Sorcery he was summoning began to drain from his own life force. He looked at his arm and saw his veins glowing as the life drained from him, pushing into the great ball of fire.

  “You don’t even care do you,” Joseph said, “You’re a demon, a creature of hate, you can’t feel love. She’s your own daughter and you lied to her without a care. You have no idea, that your daughter has found love, she’s not like your ilk, she’s unlike any of your kind, she can love, she can be loved, despite all the evil she’s grown up in, she has the divine spark,” he said, “I love your daughter, I love Xisira, that’s why I’m doing this,” he said.

  “We can make a pact, I can give you everything,” the demon said.

  “I already have everything, I have a child, a child you will never meet, you will never see,” Joseph said, “I’m sending you back to the below, I’m sending you back to hell,” the ball of demonic energy grew even larger in his hand, Joseph fell to one knee, felt all his life force building up in this great attack. “I don’t know if the sins I’ve committed are going to damn me down below as well, but I guess I’ll find out,” he gritted his teeth, “And if I do end up down there, I’m going to spend every waking moment I have there fighting against your kind,” Joseph said.

  “If you do this, you won’t see her either,” the demon said.

  “Her?” Joseph thought for a second, was he really going to have a daughter? Never mind that “All that matters is she lives in a safe world, where your kind can’t destroy it, now burn you son of a bitch,” Joseph released the ball of energy, and the demon tried to fly away, but was gravitated to it, being sucked in its energy, and causing a great explosion, a shockwave that rocked the ruins of the industrial district they were in.

  All that was left was Joseph’s body, his left arm blackened and damn near destroyed, his body dead and lifeless. But there was a smile on his face, the smile of a man who made the world safer for his child.