Chained in the Demon's Lair (Hellfire Circus) Read Online Free Page A

couple of
mortal ladies. You might have gotten stronger but you’re still just
as dumb as you ever were.”
    “CUNT!” Mephistopheles snarled with a voice
that no longer contained one single iota of human affect.
    He fired a blast of lightning at the trio.
Between them, Baptiste and Samuel were able to mount an instant
defense and deflect it into the sky. Now at last, they had him on
the run.
     
    ***
     
    “I’m going to do what I should have done two
hundred years ago,” Samuel said, “I’m going to wipe you off the
face of this earth and make sure you never come back.”
    The two men sent a double blast of energy at
the demon and this time it did knock him off his feet. Now the
expression twisting his face wasn’t contempt or anger. It was
fear.
    “Bastards!” he hissed, fighting his way back
to his feet.
    The magicians knocked him down again with a
quick blast of power. Behind them Julie whooped with delight.
    Samuel and Baptiste approached the demon,
bearing down like muscular jungle lions closing in on what had once
been a particularly challenging foe but was now little more than a
nutritious meal to be devoured.
    “Do you really think we can destroy him for
good?” Baptiste whispered to his friend as they approached.
    “I don’t know,” Samuel replied, “but I
certainly intend to try.”
    They came to where the demon lay on the sand,
trying to back away from them in jerky, panicked motions.
    “Please,” he begged, “fellas, let’s not be so
hasty. Think about what we could achieve together. Me with the
whole forces of Hell behind me and you with all that sexy style and
panache. We could rule the world.”
    “ Ha,” Samuel snorted, “but you don’t really have the forces of Hell behind
you, do you Mephistopheles? Come on, tell the truth for once in
your diseased existence. You fell out of the unholy graces of Hell
a long time ago, didn’t you? Isn’t that why you spend so much time
walking the earth? You’re just as much a fugitive as I ever was,
the only difference is that I’m finally facing up to my pursuer. I
wonder what will happen if we make you face up to
yours?”
    By the look on the demon’s face Samuel knew
he’d struck a chord.
    “Samuel, please,” Mephistopheles begged,
“think about all I’ve done for you. Without me you’d have died more
than two hundred years ago, a poor street-rat never rising above
the scum-line of poverty. Everything you’ve done since, everything
you’ve gained, you owe it all to me.”
    “I owe you something,” Samuel said, “you’re
right about that. And now I’m going to give it to you.”
    In his pocket the radio transmitter switched
on and Francois’s crackly voice emerged.
    “Master,” he called, “can you hear me? We
can’t disable the bombs, the system is too complicated. They’re set
to go off in thirty seconds, can you mount some kind of force-field
up there?”
    For just a second Samuel closed his eyes in
what was only mourning, a very weary sadness, before he opened them
again and his expression returned to one of rigid
determination.
    “Yes Francois,” he said, “we will do our
best. You have been a true and honored friend for all these years.
I know we will meet again in some distant realm.”
    The radio returned only the crackle of white
noise, whether Francois had heard him or not was impossible to
tell.
    Samuel glanced at Baptiste and smiled. “Are
you thinking what I’m thinking?” he said.
    Baptiste narrowed his eyes in a way that told
his friend he was thinking exactly what he was thinking.
    “Guys,” Mephistopheles began, “guys,
wait…”
    A flash of bright white light lit up the
whole desert sky.
     
    ***
     
    Mephistopheles opened his eyes and for just a
moment he could not remember where he was or what was going on. And
then as he looked around himself he realized that he was no longer
where he had been just a moment earlier. Up on the surface of the
desert with those two ungrateful Charlatans.
    No, now