Read Online 2 Minutes to Midnight by Steve Lang - Free Book Online

unsheathing Daisy as
Baphomet buzzed him, scratching his face with the sharpened claws
of his right hand. The Phantom Lord shot another bolt of white hot
fire toward Cedric, and the Demon Slayer parried with Daisy,
sending the bolt right. It struck Baphomet in his left wing,
sending the demon spiraling out of control and into a tall pine.
Cedric raced to his guitar case and retrieved Vlad.
He nocked a bolt and turned to face Baphomet, but the demon was
gone. With Daisy in one hand, and Vlad in the other, Cedric crept
forward eyes on treetops. Deafening silence surrounded Cedric as he
walked. With sudden ferocity, Baphomet swooped out of the trees
like a rifle shot pointed straight for Cedric, but the demon slayer
was prepared for him and ducked. As Baphomet flew by Cedric thrust
upward and cut the demons left wing off. Baphomet screamed in agony
while Cedric rolled over and fired a bolt sure and true into the
Phantom Lord's right but cheek. Baphomet writhed for another moment
and vanished in a puff of smoke.
"Back to Hell, lackey!" Cedric screamed.
Cedric ran forward, no time to spare, locating the cave entrance
not far from his skirmish with Baphomet. He sheathed Daisy, nocked
a bolt in Vlad, and mounted his tactical flashlight to the front.
The odor of sulfur wafted out of the entrance like slow death,
irritating his nostrils. Cedric walked in and was confronted by a
two-headed dog seething molten acid from his mouth.
"Hi big fella'? You want something to chew on?" Cedric asked.
The dog attacked, Cedric squeezed the trigger, the bolt went wide,
and in an instant the animal was on top of him. Before the
hellhound could drip acid on his face Cedric rolled back into a
ball and kicked it off with both feet. When the hound slammed
against a rock outcropping, stunning him for a moment, Cedric slid
another bolt into Vlad and fired again. This time the shot hit the
hound in his shoulder, the dog howled, burst into flames, and blew
away on a wind of ashes. Cedric rose to his feet and dashed through
a maze of tunnels where sulfur was strongest as demons began to
sense his presence and give chase. Just as Cedric was about to turn
and fight he stumbled into a large open cavern alight with many
torches. Sitting on the far side of this cavern, intent on a
crossword puzzle was Lucifer.
"Lucifer! We need to talk, please." Cedric yelled.
Lucifer looked up, adjusted his reading glasses and looked
surprised to see Cedric in his winter retreat.
"Cedric the Demon Slayer! What a surprise. How Can I help you?"
Lucifer smiled.
"Call off your dogs, for starters."
"Boys, leave Cedric alone. If he had wanted to harm you, you all
would have been back in Hell by now." Lucifer said.
Lucifer's demons faded into darkness as Cedric walked toward the
ruler of Hell.
"I'm here on behalf of all mankind, and the demons of Hell to ask
you to return to work."
"Ha ha. You came all the way out here for that? I'm done. Go away.
Before you do though, what's a six letter word for live
undead?"
"Zombie. Look, my girlfriend Angeline was setup by Azriel to make
her death look like a suicide. He did it to blackmail me into
coming here, and he promised to return her alive if I help him get
you back. Also, and more important, the Angels have no idea you
ditched your post, but when they find out the final battle may
begin." Cedric said.
"Oh, I don't know." Lucifer sighed. "We're full, and I get no help
from Him, just more souls to damn. I'm burned out. I either release
some souls, which is definitely against the rules, or we create
more space, and I have none." Lucifer said.
"Open a portal to the chaos dimension. Take the worst of the worst,
and send them there. There's no escape from the chaos dimension,
and you can empty out half of Hell in the process." Cedric
said.
"Do you know how much paperwork that's going to be? The bureaucracy
in Hell is overwhelming, and ordering the transport of hundreds of
billions of souls will take forever," Lucifer said.
"I can't believe I'm