Theme Prompt - In Battle, Side by Side

“This is it,” Ruby said, her lips pulling back from bloodstained teeth in a parody of a pleased grin. “Home stretch.”

“This is it,” Alistair agreed, blinking away thin runnels of blood that dripped into his eyes. “You ready, my dear?”

They were crouched in a blasted, hulking ruin. Screams of the maimed and dying blended with the animalistic cries of the hunters seeking prey. Triumphant jeers rose above the din every time a hunter found the prey they were seeking. Demons were dying here today, dying as completely as they had when they were mortal.

Alistair and Ruby had fought their way through the horde, knowing the prize that waited on the other end. A chance to serve their master, their creator, their father in the most important mission in the entirety of time. The winners, or survivors depending on how you looked at it, would help Lilith bring about the Apocalypse and free Lucifer. And be treated to all the pleasures and debaucheries they could imagine once the archangel was free and Hell reigned on Earth.

Shuffling footsteps caught Ruby’s attention. She shifted to the side just enough to be able to glance out the ruined doorway. A demon was sneaking up to the building, fear and determination in his coal-black eyes in equal measure. Whether he knew they were there or was just seeking a safe haven for a short breathing space was immaterial. If he came in, he would see them. He wouldn’t survive that.

Ruby held a finger up to her lips when Alistair looked at her questioningly. She gathered her legs under her, balanced on the balls of her feet. If the demon outside came in, she’d be ready to spring and kill him. There was another reason for the danger of true death for all the demons. Lilith wanted to keep this mission as secret as possible. Anyone who failed would not be able to spread tales about what she was doing. No hunters topside or, worse, angels would be able to stop them.

The demon outside studied the building for a pair of heartbeats, had they any hearts. It seemed safe and he started creeping inside. As soon as he cleared the doorway, Ruby pounced. She slapped a hand over his mouth to stifle any screams and slammed the knife she was carrying home in the side of his neck. The demon struggled for a moment, trying to bite her fingers. He succeeded in nipping at her index finger, blood spurting into his mouth. But it wasn’t enough. Slowly, he slumped down and orange flashed in his coal-black eyes. Then he was gone.

“Ouch, fucker,” Ruby hissed, pulling her knife out of his neck and studying her finger. Even though it had been a quick nip, his sharp teeth had managed to bite through to bone. “That hurts.”

“Let me see,” Alistair said, grabbing Ruby’s hand. He guided her finger to his mouth, laving his tongue over the bite and sucking away the blood. Ruby’s breath came quicker as she watched, a bolt of lust bursting in her belly. But now wasn’t the time. She throttled down the lust, promising to slake it when she and Alistair won. With a final lick, Alistair let her finger slip from his mouth.

“No more blood,” Ruby said, turning her finger this way and that. It wasn’t healed but it wasn’t bleeding anymore. It wouldn’t drip and give away where she’d been and where she was going. “Did you enjoy the taste?”

“I always enjoy your blood, my dearest,” Alistair leered. “Among other tastes. And now, we’ve rested long enough. Time to move.”

Ruby nodded and took a deep breath. She hefted her knife, checking the balance automatically in her palm. Then, moving as one, she and Alistair darted out of their temporary shelter and into the melee. They fought side by side, Ruby twisting and turning, all but dancing as her knife flashed out in bloody streaks and Alistair bulling his way ahead and ripping out throats whenever any came in reach. Before they’d gone a hundred steps, both were covered with blood and gore.

Together, they became a whirling dervish of death. Some demons threw themselves at the pair, trying to bring them down through sheer numbers. Others tried attacking from a distance while a dedicated few used magic. Those were taken down quickly though; any demon who could use magic was much more dangerous and their fellows wouldn’t stand for the competition.

Ruby led the way as they marched step through bloody step through the wasteland of the corner of Hell Lilith had led them all to. It was slippery and slimy, covered in blood and gore and other unmentionable things. Here and there, pieces of demon appeared, still perfect despite the wreckage around them. A hand rested on top of a pile of offal, the fingers gently curled up. There, an eyeball rolled through the wreckage, still whole. It’s iris was a deep blue-gray.

“We’re almost there, love,” Ruby called over her shoulder to Alistair. She saw him tear another throat out, this one a demon she’d known. There was no remorse, no mourning, though. It was her and Alistair or them. “Just a little longer.”

“Good,” Alistair huffed out, wiping blood out of his eyes. “The last of them are grouping for a charge. Be ready, my dear.”

Ruby nodded and caught sight of Lilith watching. The demon was wearing a young woman’s form, her eyes pure white. She was wearing a dress that was as white as her eyes, even as she moved through pools of blood. They were almost there. The prize was in hand.

“Die, bitch!” a sudden scream came from Ruby’s right. A demon materialized out of the darkness, his red eyes shining. He came too quickly for her to get her knife up and Ruby barely dodged out of the way.

“No!” Alistair roared, dispatching a last demon who’d come too close. He turned on the red-eyed demon, hands flashing and his fingers curled into claws. The demon fell back, sudden fear in his eyes. But he managed to evade all of Alistair’s attacks and the fear started to fade. Until Ruby, who’d used the distraction Alistair’s attack had provided to sneak around the demon, reared up behind him and plunged her knife deep into the base of his skull. The demon dropped without a sound.

There was silence then, broken only by Ruby and Alistair’s heaving breaths. They leaned against each other while keeping a wary eye out. But there were no more demons on the battlefield, no movement in the slick red. Ruby turned to Alistair then and pulled his head down for a searing, bruising kiss. The taste of blood mingled on their lips.

“Well done,” Lilith said, coming down onto the field. She smiled, something that sent a chill down Ruby’s spine. But they had done it. They would be part of freeing their father, their archangel. Their Lucifer. “Here’s what you need to do.”