“As we walk among these shadows, in these streets, these fields of battle,
Take it up, we wear the medal, raise your hands with burning candles.
Hear us whisper in the dark, in the rain you see the spark.
Feel the beating of our hearts, fleeting hope as we depart.”
Chapter Twenty Two - “Young”
BALT
No-one knew where to go, or where to start. We were in No Man's Land, in a bar that was quite far from where the warehouse was at, waiting for Henry. Where the fuck was he? He was meant to be here a few minutes ago but still hadn't arrived. I'd told him it was an emergency and to bring his goons but no. Still late, as per usual. You would have thought he'd listen to me, seeming as I was more powerful and higher ranked than he was.
“He's not going to come. This was a useless idea.” Blondie snapped. I rolled my eyes at her. Unfortunately, Emily or Harmony couldn't have come. Harmony had said that she needed to look after Emily and so I was to be lumped with Blondie and Gustav. Bernadette and Marcus had stayed hidden, incase any problems showed themselves. Saria still hadn't shown up and our suspicions (not that we weren't unsure of Saria's motives) were confirmed. She'd definitely had something to do with Immi missing. The problem was that because us demons had never shared secrets, no-one knew who she'd taken her to or what they were doing. We were only guessing that Saria had taken Immi to Dimtri's crew because Bernadette was absolutely sure of it.
“He will. You don't know the rat like I do.” I was confident that Henry would show up. He'd either be too late or on the odd, and very rare, occasion too early. He would never not show up, it would be disrespectful seeming as he was practically the runt of demons, and if he needed a favour... well. If he needed a favour, he'd better show up. If he knew what was good for him, then he would.
“Ugh. Why do I have to be here? It's not like I'm needed and I don't fancy stinking like a serial killer.” She whined. Rolling my eyes, I looked at the door. Other demons were coming through, but he wasn't.
“Suck it up, princess.” I snapped at her, before she could complain any more. Not that I had already enjoyed the past half an hour of complaints. “You want to save Immi? This is what you'll do. You'll sit here, and you'll shut up. Capiche?”
Blondie was silent and I took that as an agreement. I wasn't in the mood for her complaints and high-pitched whining. Dealing with it around everyone was one thing, when I was on my own? It was a completely different situation and I wasn't going to put up with her shit. No way! They could get stuffed if they thought otherwise.
The door chimed and I could practically feel Blondie stiffen. If we were in here for a different reason, I probably would have laughed. But it wasn't the right time. Immi was in serious danger out there and we had no idea how much time she had left. Bernadette said that they preferred to toy with the angels before attempting to even the possession or whatever they were calling it.
A wry smile appeared on my face as the rat walked in, followed by three of his goons. So, he'd finally shown up. Still looking as dishevelled as ever. His small, bony body quickly scrambled over to us. Considering his appearance it wasn't a shocker that Blondie was scared of him. His face was practically swollen and different shades of blue. Cuts covered his face and he did walk with an ugly limp. All in all, Henry was not a pretty sight to look at.
“Balthazar.” He nodded. I nodded back before answering his confused gaze.
“I made a... deal with the angels. One of theirs has been kidnapped and we're helping.” I informed him, making sure he understood that he was to be involved – and he wasn't getting out of it. The damn rat knew people. One good thing about him was that he could uncover information that no-one else had seen. No demon knew how Henry did it, but he did it and it was good enough. I didn't care who he had to kill to get the information, didn't care who got tortured. As long as we had the information, that was all that mattered.
“So why am I involved?” He asked, dumbfounded. I resisted the need to smack him senseless. Somehow, he always got the information. Even if he was as dumb as a rock. Sometimes it actually amazed me at how a pathetic demon like himself could get so much useful information. He could be extremely sly though.
“Because you, my dear friend," I used the words 'dear' and 'friend' sarcastically, "are going to get some information. And fast.” I smiled at him, one that was loaded with warning. I was basically telling him to do this, or die. I knew he'd pick the former. A rat like him always thought of their life before others. It was a surprise that he hadn't actually betrayed anyone, well, not that I knew of or had heard of.
“No.” He growled. I smirked at him. Did he really expect a choice in the matter? If I had to, I'd beat him into doing a contract to do it. He wasn't getting away with not doing this. I needed him to do it and he was the fastest person.
“No?” I chuckled lightly.
“I'm not working with them. Not unless I get some of their blood.” Henry smiled at me and attempted bargaining, thinking that I'd accept his deal. I rose my eyebrows, he was acting brave which I had to admire. It wasn't every day that a weak demon challenged a stronger one. Won't be thinking like that for very long, Henry.
Grabbing the front of his manky shirt, I dragged him towards me. Fear completely took over his face. Ha! Bet he wasn't expecting that. I kept a cool, calm, neutral mask on as I told him exactly what I wanted him to do. And how.
“I want you to find information on Saria and who she's been contacting for the past six months. You're going to get that information in a maximum of two hours. If you're not here in two hours, I'm going to tear you limb from limb.” I threatened, watching as his face paled.
“S-sure, Balt. Whatever you say.” He quickly stumbled out. Lucifer! He really was a pathetic excuse. Letting go of his shirt and roughly pushing him down on the table, I glared at the back of his scrawny head.
“Don't let anyone, and I mean anyone, find out what you're doing. You do that, and you'll be burning alongside the humans, got it?” I hissed. He responded by nodding meekly. “You've got two hours, starting now. Not a minute later, got it?”
He gave a final nod before scampering off, running with his tail behind his legs. My eyes were still narrowed. We only had limited time before Immi was in more danger than she already was. Shax wasn't merciful, he'd attack anyone he liked and whenever he liked. There was a chance she was with Shax, or with someone worse. She might even be with Ipos, although I highly doubted it. He was probably still trying to round up more angels, or ambush them. Just like he had with Immi.
“So that's it? I had to sit in here for nothing?” And so the whines started. Could she get any more annoying? How did Immi stand it, listening to her whine and complain about anything “ungodly”. She blatantly wasn't the type to come down to Earth and be innocent. Hell, I'd seen her wasted on the first night I met her!
“You sat in here for a purpose. Now shut the hell up. We've got some exploring to do.” I angrily shouted at her.
“You can't tell me what to do! He can't, can he Gustav?” Oh great. Now she was getting Mr. I'm-A-Healer-Oh-Look-At-Me! to back up her up. Isn't that just dandy?
“I'm sure Balt wouldn't drag you in here for no reason.” He told her. Damn right I wouldn't. Couldn't stand a second with the angel on a normal occasion, so how could I stand a second on my own with her?
I noticed that some of the demons turned with disgusted looks on their faces. Mostly aimed at me. I growled at them, making them turn their heads back to whatever they were doing before. This wasn't any of their business, and if they had a problem they could talk to my fists about it. I wasn't going to deal with their shit today.
“Look, I don't care what your problem is Blondie but I've got bigger issues to deal with. You want Immi back but you aren't doing anything towards it except fucking complain. All I hear is blah, blah, blah." I imitated her annoyingly, high and whiny voice. "And do you know what? I don't care. I'm getting Immi back, and if you get in my way-” Gustav cut my rant off. My very angry rant which could have turned violent... not towards her, hopefully. Immi would probably hurt me (somehow) if I harmed Blondie. No idea why though. She should have been thanking me.
“Balt, you should quieten down. You're attracting attention.” Gustav warned. I didn't really care–they were used to this crap. I sighed and rubbed my temples. If I got too angry, I might have spilled what was happening. I wasn't risking it. In these places, who knew who was here? If they were one of Dimtri's few followers, we'd be screwed. Whoever was in charge of Immi might move the possession up. I wasn't risking it.
“Fine. But we need to leave. I'll be back in two hours with Marcus. Then I won't have to deal with a whiny bitch.” I growled before storming out. My mood was official ruined until Immi was back.