Leon Pride: A World of Demons

Chapter 8 - Extermination

Leon sat across the helicopter from Carny who they'd bound with a strange set of handcuffs along with a strange blue collar around his neck. Lauren looked back at the two of them wondering just why Leon was willing to risk all of their safety to bring this demon with them. The very same demon that'd gone on a short lived yet very brutal rampage throughout Washington. Carny himself was still unconscious but that alone didn't serve to make Lauren feel at all better about having him be so close to her especially now that Leon was hurt as badly as he was.

The once tan explorer's uniform that she'd thought was such a stupid thing to wear was now dyed an ugly shade of red because of the amounts of blood that Leon had lost during the fight with Carny. He'd promised that he was fine and from the looks of it most of his wounds were all but closed now, yet she couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't as okay as he said he was. Even Nick who'd no doubt seen Leon participate in some brutal fights seemed unsure of his adoptive brother's condition as they flew back to Cleveland with all hast.

No words were shared between any of them as much as Lauren wanted to ask Leon is he was alright for what would have been the fifth time since they bound Carny and taken off, she also didn't want to be the one that broke the tense silence. She was already the one that made them run out on their contract to go deal with a demon that as far as Lauren could tell was easily on Leon's level of strength; she didn't want to be the one who fussed over him as well. Certainly not when she was almost certain he was still upset about her bringing his family into the matter, something that she found was not something that should ever be done.

So to help take her mind off of Leon and her guilt for more or less being the reason he got those wounds of his she began listening to the radio through her headphones. It sounded like something big was happening though she couldn't really make out just what it was that was being said so she adjusted the frequency until the voices cleared up. It was a man's voice that she heard saying something about the Head moving back to the Chain. She pieced together that the Head was referring to Typhon who held the title of Demon Head or president of the Devil's Chain but she'd come in too late to understand why he'd be going back to the Chain when he was supposed to be here conducting business with the United States president who also happened to be a demon.

"Hey Nick?" Lauren asked speaking into the microphone of her headphones prompting the younger demon to look over at her. "What's this about Typhon going back?"

Leon turned his head slightly at the mention of Typhon though he didn't speak it was clear that he was interested in what they were saying. "Some trouble out on the Chain." Nick replied flipping a few switches before the helicopter slowly began to descend until it was just above the tree line while the city of Cleveland had just come into sight. "They won't say what it is over the radio but it must've been pretty important for him to rush back home. Seems like we might be heading home after this Leon."

"Yippie." Leon said drolly as he slunk down even further into his seat which made Lauren look back at him. If Leon was in pain he was doing a damn good job of hiding it, but he couldn't hide the blood that had begun to seep through his clothes. He caught Lauren looking and he quickly moved his hand to cover the growing splotch on his clothes before he sat up straight and spoke into his headset. "Does it look like they started without us?"

Nick looked down at something on his half of the cockpit that Lauren couldn't see before he answered. "There's definitely some movement down there tough to say what it could be though."

"Okay then," Lauren looked over her shoulder to find Leon standing at the edge of the cab as if he were about to jump. "Make sure you set up the cage when you get to the city Nick. Cause there's a little herd following us right now."

Lauren unbuckled herself and moved to look outside with Leon as well. What she saw took her by surprise though she knew that it shouldn’t have but it did regardless. Below them, barely hidden by thick cover of the trees she saw what looked like a stampede of demons running along with them. She was about to ask what kind they were when Leon shoved her backward and a large demon flew out from the trees. Its head was silver and looked almost like an owl's face but the twisted features of its body resembled some kind of cats with black spikes sticking out from every patch of visible skin. Lauren hit her head hard on the metal frame that separated the cab from the cockpit, tears formed in her eyes as her hand darted to the spot that'd connected with the frame but her attention wasn't on that for very long. For when she looked up to yell at Leon she found that he was nowhere to be seen and she raced over to the edge of the cab to see the wickedly sharp edge of the demon that'd leapt up at them disappear within the trees.