INTERLUDE

  19 Years ago

  Oklahoma Indian Territory

  1.

  Sitting in a rented Greyhound bus heading through the desert landscapes of Indian Territory, a platoon of hunters sat together comparing war stories, weapons, and other wares. Bruce Longdren had worked with most of these men before. Fought with Tyler Droman and Edgar Valeno in the Millennium battle, but there was one new face here, a toned man with a black leather coat and a black spear laying on the seat next to him.

  “Never worked a job with you, Bruce Longdren, nice to meet you,” Bruce smiled as he held his hand out to the man.

  “Joseph Cosgrove,” the man in black smiled, reaching out and returning the handshake, “I’m new to these parts, been working in the California circuit, but my agent told me that the Order was putting together a raid, said they needed the best, and I’m the best,” he smiled.

  “Nice spear, that Damascus weaved with Iron?” Longdren asked, admiring his weapon.

  “That with a little bit of silver actually, it gets the job done, then some,” Joseph said, standing up and grabbing the bus's handrail, “Longdren, yeah, the Longdren family, I’ve heard of you. Everyone on the West Coast says we need someone like you, hey aren’t you a -”

  “Seventh Son?” Bruce smiled, “Yeah, and I got six boys, Cecil, Cameron, Colin, Cedrick, Christopher, Curtis, pride of my life, all of them, and I just found out I got another one on the way, you better have my back, I got a wife and a farm to go home to,” he said.

  “Yeah, I’ll have your back, so this bun in your wife’s oven, you know if it’s a boy yet?” he asked.

  “Do I have proof, no” Bruce smiled and shook his head, “But I know, I mean, I think I know, I have another boy he’ll be the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, my boys have already made me prouder than I could ever describe. But if I have a seventh, I know he’s going to do amazing things,” Bruce said, “What about you, married? Kids?” he asked.

  “Marriage? Me?” Joseph laughed, “No, that’s not for me, wife, kids, forget that. I’m having too much fun slaying and laying, I’m living the California dream, Killing and sun, and women and fun, be a shame to settle down now,” he said.

  “You’d be surprised, Bachelor life is fine and dandy for a young man, but if you really want to up your hunting game, nothing does that for you like a wife, nothing makes you stronger than knowing you’ve got someone to fight for,” he said.

  “I’ll just take your word for it for now,” Joseph said, then turned to look out the window, “Man, there is nothing out here,” he said.

  “We’re meeting the Shamans of the Mowak tribe, old breed Hunters, they’ve been fighting the demons on this content for almost a thousand years, the Order has been working with them since our people first came to this land. Their messages speak of more than demons work, they say there’s a gate opening, and we’re going on a raid,” Longdren looked to Joseph, “We’re about to raid hell, the first raid in almost fifty years, I hope that the west coast sent their best for this,” he said.

  “Raid of hell, that’s the kind of thing legends are born in,” Joseph smiled, “Yeah, they sent their best,” Joseph said, “You watch my back and I’ll watch yours you get out of this alive and you can see your son, I get out of this alive and I get a load of coin.”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “A Demon Hunter should fight for more than coin, the Mortal World doesn’t know it, but they depend on us to keep the darkness at bay-”

  “Don’t go into the oath, I’ve said the oath just as many times as you,” Joseph said, rolling his eyes, “So on this raid, we get to keep whatever we can pull out right, if I get my hands on something the Coin for it is mine?” he asked.

  “That is tradition, but we’re not raiding to simply earn money, a Raid of Hell is a solemn duty, a great calling that demands only the finest Hunters, coin is secondary to our true purpose. Every raid of Hell has a goal of advancing our knowledge, our capabilities, and bringing this war one step closer to being over,” Bruce said, then turned and looked out the window at the endless stretch of desert, cacti, and tumbleweeds rolling past them.

  Joseph leaned against the wall of the bus, looking out the window, “You think this war can ever be over, my family are all scholars, me choosing the Hunter life kind of makes me a black sheep, my parents thought I should follow their lead, but my talents are killing demons, not studying them,”

  “Wait,” Bruce smiled, “I knew I heard that name before, you’re from the Cosgrove Scholars, your uncle just published a paper, it was in the reading material for this mission, an analysis of this gate and the possible locations it may lead too, you know they say we’ll be fighting Cerberus,” he said.

  Joseph laughed, “Wait, you actually read all that extra stuff from the dossiers, I gave up reading those, easily by my third hunt,” he said.

  “Dossiers provide invaluable information, if you go into a hunt, much less a raid, without knowing what you’re up against you can get killed,” Bruce said.

  “Maybe other hunters need them, but I’ve been doing fine enough,” Joseph took his spear and spun it around, checking its tip, he turned to Bruce and smiled, “I got what you call Devil’s luck,” he said.

  “Devil's luck is a myth,” Bruce said.

  “Myth or not it’s done fine enough by me, but go on, enlighten me, are we taking on the hound?”

  “The hound? You mean Cerberus?” Bruce said, “Yes according to all information, and theories the scholars have about the layout of the below compared to previous gates discovered, we could be closer to the great city of Pandemonium than any raid in history,” Bruce said, taking a deep breath, “Read the Dossier. I’m lead on this Hunt and that’s an order. I got six boys to take care of and one on the way, the men fighting behind me better be ready for anything, anything,” Bruce said.

  Joseph smiled, he met many hunters like this mighty Seventh Son Bruce Longdren, Hunters who for some reason found more blessing in rank and prestige than coin, “I know what’s going on here, “You’re taking this seriously, why? We go down into hell, kill some demons, get some knick-knacks, bring it back get paid, but you think there’s something more here, don’t you?” he asked.

  “I take every hunt seriously,” Bruce said, “Every hunt, from a lowly monster in the wilds to a raid of hell itself, every hunt brings us one step closer to the end, to a world where our children can be safe,” he said.

  Joseph rolled his eyes, “I think, that you think, we might have a shot at the big guy,” Joseph raised an eyebrow, “Go on, you think there’s a chance we’ll be facing the head honcho?”

  “He’s not the Head Honcho,” Bruce said, “He is the fallen one, the father of lies, the Morning Star,” Bruce took a deep breath, “There may be a play for him. If we could slay him, and end his rule, this could potentially be the greatest victory we’ve ever seen. With the Morning Star fallen, the demonic without leadership, the war could be over in mere years,” Bruce looked to his ally.

  “You’re saying exactly what every other Hunter about to make a raid has said. Even if you find him, even if you beat him, he’s just going to turn into a snake and slither away. That’s what happened in the second raid, the third, every one of them. Even in the first raid, when the savior himself sieged hell over those insane three days he was in the tomb behind the bolder, even he couldn’t put an end to him. You can’t kill him you can just stop him for a few years, a decade at most” Joseph said.

  “He hasn’t seen me, he hasn’t seen a man of my blood,” Bruce said.

  “He’s seen men like you countless times, if we get a shot at him I’ll join you, we can go for it, but I’m not making any promises that we’ll be able to take him out,” Joseph said, “Don’t think you can go and end the war on your own, you can’t,”he said, looking back out the window at the endless desert of the Oklahoma countryside, “Nothing can end this war,” he said.