Ladies of the Night Part 5
"Read them and weep, boys." Lu mocked his companions as he laid down another winning hand onto the dining table. A pair of kings flopped down, which was paired up perfectly with a pair of aces and a third king. His demonic cohorts and older angelic brother cursed under their breaths after tossing their cards away. Lu scooped up his large pile of multicolored poker chips, cackling like a mad hyena as he categorized them by their color and amount. The hands of fate were aiding the devil in this fortuitous night—or his slimy hands were cheating his way to victory.
Scrugs, serving as the evening's dealer, reshuffled the cards in his scaly hands. He cut them, decked them, and impressed the guests with his stellar card tricks before he finally dealt two pair to each player. After each player received a new hand he set out three cards: a red seven of hearts, a red six of diamonds, and a black jack of spades. A careful peek at their cards helped them strategize their next moves. Ghuul tossed out two white chips onto the table to start things off. Next Moloch tossed his chips in followed by the two heavenly brothers. Balthazar took one look at his hand and tossed them away into the discard pile, disgusted by what the bat-like creature gave him.
Balthazar then pulled out one of the cigars that the archangel gave the group and pointed it at the monstrous Moloch. With the press of his giant thumb, Moloch's fire magic lit it up. Balthazar proceeded to put the butt end of his cigar into his rotted mouth, inhaling the toxic tobacco content in, well aware that tar will never affect his lungs.
"So flyboy," He breathed with a puff of thick smoke spreading through the clean atmosphere. "I hear you got yourself a human girlfriend as well."
"Uh, yeah that's right." Mike cautiously replied.
"Heard she's Muslim too." Ghuul said after tossing in a couple more chips to the table.
Mike replied again. "Right."
"So tell me," The demon Balthazar interrogated. "Is it embarrassing when you two are going at it and she screams for your father?"
All the demons laughed, including the devil, at the lewd joke, yet Mike kept silent, wishing not to start any conflicts.
"Nah, nah, Balthazar," Ghuul interrupted. "She's more disappointed when she finds out that the scripture was right. There's no holy trinity below the belt."
The party laughs again, but Mike uncomfortably said. "Ha, ha, like every angel hasn't heard that joke before."
Despite the mockery from the demons, they continued to play on. Scrugs flipped over a card from the deck, a red ace of diamonds. From there the chips started to fly. Regan ran down the stairs to the kitchen to get herself and Slinky a little snack for their tea party. When she walked by her stepfather, he gave her a peek at his cards.
"Hey Lu," She innocently asked. "Is it a good thing to have all the cards the same color?"
"Regan!" Her stepfather gasped. "Naughty, naughty. Giving away my winning hand."
The demons hissed angrily, just about to discard their hands until Michael said. "Don't fall for it! He used to pull this stunt all the time. He's got nothing."
"Take the fun out of everything why don't ya?" His brother grimaced as he threw away his hand into the discard pile. Scrugs then drew the final card, a nine of spades. Upon that reveal Moloch shoved half his chips in like a snowplow pushing into a mountain of snow. The menacing minotaur demon then bellowed a most grueling laugh that sent chills around the dining area. Ghuul folded his hand but Mike called him out, shoving the same amount of chips the giant did before.
Moloch laughed again and set his cards out on the battle. A pair of sixes, one black of clubs and another red of hearts. "Three sixes." He grunted.
"Not bad," The archangel humbly stated. "but I think I got you beat."
Michael revealed his hand out for all to see. A pair of sevens that matched up with the sole seven on the table. The jaw of every demon in the household dropped at the sight of the angel's victorious set. Moloch, however, growled savagely, unimpressed by his opponent's victory.
"You. Me. Throwdown. Now!" He bellowed.
"For what?" The archangel demanded. "Winning?"
Lucifer stood up and tried to settle the tension. "Guys, you can't fight here!"
"Thanks Lu."
"That's why we're taking it outside!"
"Dammit Lu!"
Unlike Lu's poker party in the dining area, Rosemary's video game party was going much smoother. They felt lucky they could get Slinky to regurgitate the controllers before they've entered his digestive system. A quick, clean bleach bath later and they were ready to play. Dominic and Joshua were busy mowing down pixelated monsters in their ultra violent video game while Rosemary, Kayleigh, and Krystal rocked out to her metal band playlist that played over the speakers. Dominic was getting along perfectly with everyone and even learned some new things about his human friends, such as Joshua being lead soprano of his Sunday school choir and Krystal's mother owned several businesses in Brimstone. Yet the one person that was still a mystery to him was the quiet, red-headed Ashley DeMarco. He recalled that ever since she arrived she has never said one word to anybody. Other than the occasional wink, nod, shrug, or thumbs up she presented during some small talk, she said nothing the entire evening.
Then a odd odor tickled his slit nostrils. He sniffed the air and caught wind of a musty, metallic smell. He's familiar with this type of smell from the pits of the Inferno. Blood. Human blood.
"Is someone here hurt?" Dominic asked everybody in the basement, to which they all answered with a no.
He then heard the sound of a toilet being flushed from the bathroom down the corner, which was where the bloody smell was coming from. He dropped his controller and ran over to the bathroom door only to be met by Ashley, who exited the bathroom and wiped her cleaned hands on her shirt.
"Hey, are you hurt?" The young demon asked. "I smelled blood and thought someone was hurt. Are you okay?"
Ashley blankly stared at him, confused by what the young demon had to say. Dominic's ears lowered again in disappointment. He knew that he was never going to get an answer but he, and everyone else in the basement, did receive another response.
"Hey guys," Kayleigh shouted from the basement's window. "Something's going on outside."
All the kids ran up the stairs and onto the wood deck to bear witness a reenactment of an old battle between the forces of light and dark. Lu, Scrugs, Balthazar, and Ghuul were all stand out on the large deck and watched as the archangel Michael and the towering demon Moloch stared each other down in the backyard. Even Regan stood by the adults and watched the spectacle with Slinky coiled around her small shoulders.
"I'm not gonna fight him, Lu." Mike argued to his brother and company. "What's even the point of this.
"You better fight him, bro." Lu said. "Otherwise he will kill you."
"This is ridiculous! I won that hand. You think —"
A surprise attack from Moloch's giant fist into the right cheek silenced the angel. Another fist flew through Mike's other cheek, then finally being knocked down his feet with a swift upper cut. Moloch unleashed a carnivorous roar so loud the alarms of every car in the block squawked. The kids started chanting for the fight to continue joined in with the supernatural adults.
Moloch turned to the small cheering crowd and grinned. So confident that he was victorious this time that he never saw the archangel's electrified fist collide into his own cheek. The crowd flinched from the painful sucker punch but kept chanting and cheering. Moloch looked back to his opponent. Mike's eyes scorched bright as the sun and his golden wings were pulsing from his back. He then slugged two more jabs into the demon's stomach and then headbutted his enormous head.
Mike sprung into the air like locust and somersaulted over the giant demon. His large, energized wings snatched themselves around Moloch's large horns. The hot energy coiled around like chains around the ivory horns that were nearly as big as the demon himself. With the aid of his wings the archangel threw the demon into the wooden fence like a rag doll. The demon continued to fly until he crashed through into the neighbor's pool. Cool chlorine water spilled out all over the wiped Moloch.
The crowd gasped then cheered wildly for Mike's miraculous display. Though much to his chagrin even the holy archangel couldn't help himself but wave to his applauding fans. Moloch picked himself off the ground but felt something off inside his mouth. His tongue poked around the innards of his jaws until he found the distorted source. The demon spat out one of his sharp teeth into his gargantuan hand. He looked back at the angel and chuckled, impressed that anyone, little an angel, was able to do that.
"That all you got?" He then growled.
Michael smirked at the hellish brute. He then readied his fists for another assault and quipped. "Why don't you come and find out?"
And that the demon did. One booming roar later and he charged like a raging bull. Mike launched into the air with a thunderous fist prepped for battle. From there a battle of godly champions echoed into the coming night.