The demon was hungry. Master would not let it return home, even though Master had not used it recently. Instead it kept this horrible human form, and had to walk among the humans it wanted to eat.
The demon was dressed as a security guard, and told to patrol the back alleys of Texitron, Inc., home of his Master and the Unnatural Mage. The demon walked alone in the back, where a fleet of dumpsters were up against the concrete wall. The demon hated human food, cooked and tasting like ash, but something could be alive in these dumpsters. A cat, or – there! A rat!
He dove for it, catching it easily. The rat squealed and tried to bite him, but he had the tough skin of the demon and nothing material could penetrate it. He raised the rat, aiming it head-down, and his mouth grew to an obscene size, almost as big as his head. He tilted his head back, and with both hands meant to shove the creature into his mouth.
Instead, demonfire spread down his throat.
He choked, dropping the rat, and spat out a bit of flame. He focused on a demon, a true-looking demon, with pinched face, long horns and red patchy skin, leathery wings folded against its back, and hooves for feet. It was a demon of the higher realms, higher ranking than himself. Its hands were on fire.
Higher rank or not, it didn’t need to shove fire down his throat. The hungry demon hissed at the other creature, who folded his arms across his chest and blew smoke out of its nose. The hungry demon looked down for the rat.
“Ja zahadvaju, biti dalje.”
He froze. Master spoke to him in that way. Master knew the words. But it was not Master’s voice. He raised his eyes as best as he could to see who spoke.
“I knew it,” said a gruff voice. The hungry demon could see only a man in black leather, with a light blue t-shirt on under a black trench coat. “Circle.”
“Et occidam,” said a gentle voice. “Et occidam eum.”
“In due time,” said the gruff voice. “Khod.”
He moved, and when he did, the gruff voice said, “Pokhazi!”
The hungry demon put his hands up, but that didn’t stop him from changing into his true form. A squat demon, more chest than torso, with huge arms that hung down to below his knees didn’t even stand up straight due to being so top-heavy. He was meant to be a brawler, a fighter, not like the creature in front of him that used fire and magic.
“The demon roared and dove at the man in black, who waved a hand at him, sending him flying into the dumpster wall, hard enough to dent one. Dazed momentarily, the demon couldn’t stop someone from grabbing him by the horns and lifting him. “Quaeso,” said the gentle voice. The demon looked up to see an angel holding him up by the horns.
“What say you, Adramalach?”
The demon with his hands on fire purred, “I agree with the angel.”
The man with the gruff voice tossed down a brass ring. It expanded to be about five feet in diameter. “Let’s go somewhere a little more quiet.”
“I can’t! Master won’t let me live.”
The man grinned. “A shame.” He nodded, and the angel dragged the demon to the ring. The demon tried to dig its hooves into the asphalt but the angel was far stronger. The angel tossed the demon over the edge of the ring. The demon screamed, and a huge tongue of flame came up out of the ring.
The man waved his hand forward, and the other demon stepped foot into the ring. The angel followed. Lastly was the man, pulling the hoop of brass behind him.
(The title is from a chess move, Queen takes the pawn at D 5, also known as the Scandinavian Defense.)