The Department of Hate - A Love Story by Anthony O'connor

defences. But this time they’ve broken through the outer shield. They’re over the city. They might even land here. We never thought this was even possible.” Jarrod still didn’t understand any of it
    “What do they want?” Abaddon replied
    “Who knows, my Lord? What does any God want? They seem to like killing us.” Jarrod had no idea what they were meant to do about it. He held Cassandra’s hand.
    “Are we in any danger?” Abaddon replied quickly
    “I don’t think so my Lord, there are only a few of them and this far in they have to be quite weak even if they have penetrated the shield. Most of the second legion is up there already. We can send in the fourth and the fifth if we need to.” The fire fight above continued. They watched with morbid fascination. Jarrod couldn’t count the number of demons flying about. But there seemed to be only four of the Nordic Gods and they appeared to be invincible. For every moment they watched some demon was successfully targeted, burst into flame and fell from the sky screaming. Abaddon was furious
    “They’ve killed five hundred so far, my Lord.” Cassandra burst in
    “But they’re demons, how can they die?” Abaddon ignored her and kept watching the sky. Jarrod spoke to Abaddon
    “Answer her.” Abaddon turned back towards them, furious at Cassandra but as always fearful of the Lord Beelzebub and deferential to a fault.
    “My Lord, once they’re here humans can’t die. Well, not again. Even by a God. Their souls are immortal. And most of them spend eternity here, rotting in the Pit.”  He said this smugly, glancing at Cassandra. “Demons can’t kill each other, but they can be killed by a God. The real death. We cease to exist.”  He shrugged. “No one wants that.”
    Cassandra looked back at him harshly and with some menace
    “Well, that’s good to know.” Abaddon could barely contain his rage. This insolent little bitch was going to pay, so badly. He would rip her to pieces slowly and enjoy every moment of it. But she belonged to the Master. For now he could say or do nothing. This would change soon enough, the Master never kept them for very long.
     
    There was a deafening sound from above and one of the Gods came crashing down into the ground just in front of them. They all stepped back as he hit with considerable force. He didn’t appear to be dead, just dazed. He looked completely human: very tall, dark blonde hair, thick but cut short, blue eyes, bulging muscles and the facial demeanour of a hardened warrior. Five demons landed next to him and surrounded him. One of them, as quickly as he could, swung his axe and cut off the God’s head. He grabbed the head and held it up for all to see. He was exultant, almost delirious
    “It’s that motherfucker Thor. Look, it’s Thor. I killed him. I killed him.” The other demons surrounding the body were similarly ecstatic. Abaddon quickly strode over to them. He barked an order.
    “If you want him to stay dead, you had better get him into the Pit before he regenerates. Do it quickly.” The demon holding the head instantly turned and ran for the pit. The other soldiers picked up the headless body and followed him as fast as they could. Abaddon walked back to Jarrod and Cassandra shaking his head
    “Morons.” But he was pleased with them. It wasn’t often that they got to take down a God. In fact it had never been done before. Times were certainly changing.
     
    In the sky above reinforcements had arrived and the other Nordic Gods seemed to be being beaten back by sheer force of numbers. In a few more minutes it was over. No more fighting. Just silence. The Gods had departed.  Squads of Demons would continue to patrol the sky, but nothing would happen for the rest of the day. Abaddon barked an order at the guards surrounding Jarrod and Cassandra. They saluted, turned and marched off. Things seemed to be returning to normal - whatever that was. Abaddon seemed relieved. He spoke to