Deathstalker 06 - Deathstalker Legacy

then he reached out, grabbed Angelo by the shoulder, and hauled him inside the Cathedral.
    At least it was dry inside, though the rain hammered loudly on the roof. The Church was really only a Cathedral in name, barely big enough to hold two hundred worshippers on basic, unpadded wooden pews. The priests and nuns were sitting together on one pew, looking hopefully at Angelo. One of the priests had bruises on his face, and a split lip. Two more devils were standing guard over their hostages with drawn disrupters. Both of them teenagers. Angelo looked them over coolly, and then gave all his attention to the man lying face down in the central aisle. He'd been shot through the chest, leaving a wide hole in his back. From the scorch marks on his coat, it had been set on fire by the blast and allowed to burn itself out. Angelo wondered what Hendricks had done wrong, what badly chosen words had led to his death.
    "Hey man, I'm talking to you!" The devil's voice was high and strained, on the border of panic.
    "I'm sorry," Angelo said immediately. "Tell me what you want."
    "Open your freaking coat while I check you for weapons!"
    Angelo held open his coat, while the devil frisked him in a very unprofessional way. He did get the force shield bracelet. He pulled it awkwardly off Angelo's wrist, threw it on the floor, and stamped on it. He sneered triumphantly at Angelo, who kept his face impassive. Like stamping on a force shield bracelet
    was going to damage it. He allowed the devil to usher him towards the other two.
    They were all dressed in black leotards, with black capes. With their cheap makeovers, they looked almost comical. Almost. One was seriously overweight, and the third was only a dark pink in color, as though the dye job had gone wrong. The devils struck poses before Angelo, trying to look tough. He could smell the fear on them. That was what made them dangerous. Frightened people were capable of anything.
    "I'm Angelo Bellini," he said, his voice calm and soothing. "I'm here to help. Tell me how I can help you."
    "We want safe passage," said the pink devil. "And no one follows us. And ... we want a million credits!
    In gold!"
    "What?" said the fat devil.
    "We've got to make them take us seriously, man," said the pink devil. "Show them we mean business!"
    "You any idea how much a million credits in gold will weigh?" said the goateed devil. "It'd only slow us down. Concentrate on what matters. We can't let them take us."
    "Right," moaned the fat devil. "My dad would kill me."
    "Screw that," said the pink devil. "I'm not going to jail! Not over this! What did you have to kill him for?"
    "It was a mistake, all right?" said the fat devil, stamping his cloven hoof. "I thought he had a gun!"
    "We should never have brought guns," said the pink devil. "I said we shouldn't mess about with guns!"
    "What kind of Hellfire Club would we be without guns?" said the goateed devil. "Now shut up! Stick with what matters. We've got another hostage now; one who's got the clout to get us out of here. Isn't that right, peacekeeper?"
    "I'm here to negotiate for the hostages' release," said Angelo. "To make a deal that will get everyone here out alive. Why don't you start by telling me your names?"
    "No real names!" the goateed devil said immediately. "I'm Belial. That's Moloch, and the trigger-happy fat boy is Damien."
    "You never meant for any of this to happen, did you?" said Angelo. "My information is you're not even real Hellfire Club."
    "We're real enough!" said Belial. "You take us seriously, man!"
    "Oh I do," said Angelo. "But you didn't come here intending to kill anyone, did you?"
    "Hell no," said Moloch. "It was just supposed to be a laugh. A bit of fun. Something to get us noticed, get our friends to take us seriously. We were supposed to be long gone before anyone turned up. Then those bastard priests appeared, and when we tried to run, there was a cop outside."
    'And you didn't mean to kill Hendricks? That was just an accident?"
    "I thought he had a gun," said Damien, looking at the floor.
    "Then why don't you all just put down your guns, and walk out of here with me?" said Angelo. "No one else has to die. I'll talk to the officer in charge out there. I know the man. He's reasonable . . ."
    "No!" Belial said immediately. "I told you; I'm not going to jail! Not over this! I've got my whole life ahead of me, and I'm not being cheated out of it just because of an accident! We're getting out of here, or people are going to