A towering forest of people behind us, a sea and the enemy before us. It reminded me of the time I got bored and took up pirating. Just a couple of decades, but it was fun while it lasted. Sadly, for some reason traffic stopped flowing past my territory and they got better and better at running when I traveled outside of it.
Xen, his presence bothered me. The other two were familiar. If they were with Xen, they were probably in my main unit. The incubus by the captain acted like he was in charge, typical of the breed. Since I didn’t like them, I wouldn’t have let one stay in the unit for long. He might have been a new recruit as I was moving out. The behemoth hybrid was just hanging there. We had a few in the unit, so that one didn’t stick out. Behemoth halves were usually just short of brain dead, but it also depends on what the other parent was.
“Aena.” I whispered. “Grackle wasn’t alone.” The pirate ship would soon be in range.
Her eyes dilated, narrowing in on the three. Little things added up. The biggest, glaring flag, was the fact that it was daylight. I will admit my case was more…severe…than others, but even for those used to walking in the light, there’s always a look to them. …though I had heard that second-hand. Even with the heat resistance I gained from eating the weird rock, I couldn’t see color in the light. Some brats couldn’t see at all if it was bright enough.
None of them looked uncomfortable.
“Hmm.” Aena thought. “What do you want to do?”
Her eyes gave me no clue what the right answer was. If it was before her, I would have killed them for existing, but considering she had one growing, that wasn’t going to be a possible answer. Kill them for trying to kill us? First of all, they couldn’t even if they had a hundred years to prep. And second, I’m sure they count as kids.
“…beat them up and teach them manners?” I wagered hesitantly as the hooks from both sides launched, preparing for boarding.
“Good.” She nodded with approval, patting her stomach comfortingly. “Manners are very important.”
“Not too hard.” I grabbed that errant hand of hers.
“…Alright I know how I know, how do you know?” She scowled at me, a rare case of her dropping the smile.
“I’m a doctor.” I lied as I passed over her cloak from before.
“We are not done talking about this.” She murmured as she pulled a javelin out of somewhere and put on the cloak.
I shrugged and pulled a sword out of my space. She’d done a wonderful job of replicating the blade based on my descriptions of my old one. Sadly, there wasn’t really a way to replicate the curse the old one had. Not without a lot of souls and blood.
Boney went in with the crew, cutting neatly while avoiding vitals, leaving the wolves behind her to finish the job. Some had reverted to their original forms, the hybrids had a fin or scaled patch peaking through the dense fur.
Watching the behemoth brat, I trusted Aena to deal with the other two if they caused problems.
“Rotting Doom! Proceed with Plan M!” The incubus shouted from his place behind 15 pirates and the captain.
“I remember now! You’re Matt!” Aena yelled with delight from her latest victim.
“No! I am Withering Death! I am DEATH!!!” He shrieked, popping out from behind his meat shields to yell back at her. A distance voice from above muttered “I thought it was Writhing Death”
“Hi Matt,” Aena cheerfully replied “your mother’s been worried sick since you wandered off! How dare you worry her like that you brat?!” Her face twisted but she kept her smile in place. Then she threw a shoe, not hers, at his head.
While she was having fun, I shadowed Doom, which was his real name, to find out what Plan M was. The brat used his arms to dangle-creep along the paneling on the ships, keeping him out of sight of the preoccupied wolves. He sniffed the air and went in one of the cannon openings which were now abandoned since the boarding had started. I glanced back at her briefly before following him down.
Plan M, lead us to med bay. Dr. Wrisly was prepping for the inevitable swarm of injured patients, unaware that a half-blood was about to rip his head off.
“Doom, long time no see.” I calmly announced our presence.
“Haha ha” The doctor laughed dryly as he turned and froze when he realized I wasn’t talking to him.
“General.” Doom nodded, lowering his hands. “You’re helping too?”
“Maybe, what was Plan M again?” His name wasn’t unique, but this one was once my favorite Behemoth meat shield. But that was over a thousand years ago, and I had killed him myself. You always remember your first.
“Steal medicine for Decayed corpse or whatever Matt calls Xen.” He faithfully replied, undead are ultimately loyal to their creator, even if their creator forgot about their existence and let them wander around for a few, hundred centuries.
“And what is the overall goal?” I asked, since he was the first sentient undead I made, I was honestly surprised he was still running.
“End the truce and let the war start anew. Demons do not lose. We do not lose.” His eyes glowed, a trick I had spent ages perfecting, as he walked towards me. “Isn’t that what you taught me? General?” He grinned. I did not put that many teeth in his skull. What the hell was with all these teethy creatures lately?
“We didn’t lose, we all quit.” I didn’t weigh in on the truce. Half of me thought the brat thought of the truce as an excuse to get rid of me.
“We don’t quit, no one quits. Wasn’t that what you said?” Doom tilted his head at me. He was well within striking range.
I did tell him that, when he was alive. Right before I killed him.
“General, sir, I just wanted to go home.” He said softly, as he plunged my old sword into my chest.
