Frankenstein was waiting for us inside. He was sitting on one his couches, watching the six of us calmly, a smile never leaving his face. He must know that my friends and I were packing some serious fire-power, what with two goddesses and one of Hell's finest with us, but he doesn't look worried in the slightest.

“Welcome.” Frankenstein greeted, “I see you've enjoyed the welcoming committee.”

“Where's Mike?” I said, my voice even.

“Don't worry about him. He's safe and sound, for now. But I must say, you saved me a lot of trouble outside.” He continued, smiling even wider, “It made for a very good blood sacrifice.”

With a clap of his hands, a huge surge of energy exploded outwards; more than I've ever seen in one place. The floor around Frankenstein's feet started to glow and smoulder – no, it was more like the ground everywhere was burning with raw energy. That's when I realized what he was doing. Holy shit, he's made a summoning circle out of his whole manor, and we've provided him with all the fuel he'll need.

Lilith was the first to act. The second she saw the energy flare up, she must have realized what Frankenstein was up to, and rushed the man with inhuman speed. Frankenstein chuckled, and didn't bother to even more. He didn't need to. Under his feet was a smaller circle of power, a very crude and simple design made to keep outside forces out, but with so much power fuelling the thing, it made it impossible to come anywhere close to the man himself.

“Well I think my friends are here.” He said as the energy in the room approached its climax, “And I think they're old friends of yours as well, Mark.”

The raw energy present surged once more, then faded as fast as it came. Minor demons of all shapes and sizes started popping out of existence, encircling us. But the minor demons weren't the real problem. Because showing up standing next to Frankenstein was two figures that I wouldn't forget any time soon.

“Sathanus.” I growled, “Baal. How nice to see you two again.”

“Oh, it's a pleasure, I'm sure.” Sathanus answered, that same sadistic smerk still on his face, “We left on an awkward note last time, so I thought I'd make it up to you by bringing an friend. You remember Baal, right? Because he sure remembers you.”

Before I could come up with a witty response, Lilith shoved me aside and said, “I I know I still remember you, Baal. Or at least the embarrassment. Still having those performance issues? You know, I've been with quite a few demons over the years, but I'm not kidding when I say that you were the most disappointing.”

Baal snarled, “You bitch! You should have stayed in Hell! You will regret ever crossing me!”

“I regret trying to screw you, that's for sure.” She faked a sigh, “I couldn't even tell if it was in or not. I've had imps with bigger-.”

“You die!”

“Now now, Baal.” Sathanus chimed in before Baal would do something inevitably stupid. “We'll have all the time in the world to work out old grudges.”

“You two and the goons won't stop us.” I said, “We have two fucking goddesses here, and I've learned a thing or two over the last few days.”

“Oh, Barbas. Poor ignorant Barbas.” Sathanus shook his head, “Did you honestly think that we would be the the only ones here? No, my good friend, we're just the first ones to arrive. The good Andrew Stein's saving up more power for the next batch of summonings, and the batch after that. Why, the more of my minions you slaughter, the faster things will go. I don't even have to do anything, but don't you worry, I will once you're nice and tired.”

He smiled, “Now then, my minor demons, shall we get this party started?”

And that's when the tidal wave of minor demons rushed us.

Well shit. This is not looking good. I knew that Frankenstein had a trap ready for us, but this is seriously overkill. Even with two goddesses on our side, with this many minor demons in the way, it was next to impossible to get to Frankenstein and stop the reinforcements. That's assuming we can make it past the two demon princes at his side, and penetrate his barrier.

I grabbed a thin demon by the neck and burned his head off with a tiny coil of Hellfire, but as he fell three more joined his place. I lashed out at the two furthest ones with a wave of heat, and smashed the nearest one's head in. The three fell in the span of a few breaths, but more demons came to replace the fallen, and more were being summoned by the second.

Even now I could feel the ambient energy increase as more and more minor demons fell between the six of us. Soon, there'll be enough energy to summon another army of minor demons, and a few more Princes to boot.

“Guys. This ain't looking good.” I muttered, throwing another ball of fire at the nearest foe.

A centaur looking thing came rushing madly at me with a spear, but I brandished my sword and cleaved his head off.

“Is not good at all.” Grunted Alexei in reply.

Two of the headless centaur's buddies noticed his demise, and threw their spears at me. I willed a wall of Hellfire around me, and their spears were incinerated the second they touched my barrier. With another thought, the barrier exploded outwards, and the pleasant sound of screams told me that those two were joining their buddy back in Hell.

“Got a plan?” I added.

I threw out another fireball. It missed my target, but smashed into a couple demons in the back. Well, with so many targets, I don't have to really worry about aim.

“Escape?” Cait chimed in.

I ducked right, and with a sweep of my blade two heads rolled on the floor.

“We'll never make it with two princes blocking the way.” Irina replied.

A jolt of pain hit my side, and I grunted as I pulled a dull crossbow bolt out of my stomach, and forced my flesh to knit together.

“Then we fight, and we die.” Alexei said solemnly.

I found the asshole who shot me, and threw the bolt back at him. I missed, but the fireball I sent after didn't.

“No, husband.” Irina said as she decapitated a few more imps, “We can still make it out of here.”

Irina was cleaving demons apart by the dozen, which was impressive, if not scary. The ease in which she handled her prey was even scarier though. Now I knew why she wore the pants in her relationship.

“Yeah, care to share?” Lilith said. “I love a good slaughter, but even I can't keep this up forever.”

Cait sighed, “Only my idiot son could have gotten into a mess this big.” To be fair, Mike's mom was putting in work as well. The few times I spared glancing her way, I saw the woman literally ripping limbs off of demons twice her size. One poor Minotaur was beaten to death by his own arm.

Lilith was also holding her own, her claws were red with blood, and she was doing her fair share of disembowelling. But combat was never her strongest suit, and I could see her slow down every so slightly.

Irina stunned another batch of demons with a wave of her hand, and Alexei quickly dispatched the dazed enemies,

“Between the five of us, not including Mark, do you think we can keep two Demon princes and an army of demons at bay?”

I noticed a humanoid creature rushing Cait in her blind spot. I sent a wave of hellfire her way, and saw the demon dropped on the ground before he could reach her, its head now melted to a grotesque puddle.

“What do you mean not including me, Irina?”

She gave me one of her signature icy stares in response.

“Shouldn't be a problem.” Hel answered, still sounding like her normal self even though she's taken out more demons than the rest of us combined.

“Then Alexei and I will take care of the adds, while Lilith, Hel and Cait occupy the Demon Princes' time.”

“Adds?” Cait asked, obviously confused.

Irina blushed, “The minor demons. Sorry, it's a gaming term.”

I gave Irina an inquisitive glance, “You play MMO's? Really? I can't see you as a level 80 Night Elf or something.”

“I play Paladin, but is this really the right time to ask that?”

“Good point.” I grunted, dislodging another imp trying to bite off my shoulders “What's my role in this, by the way? Tank? DPS?”

Irina rolled her eyes, “You use that time to get Mike, and use Frankenstein's machine to get to Sara. You know the layout of Frankenstein's manor better than anyone, so you go while we distract the rest. The demons can't stay if Sara's gone, right?”

More and more demons were streaming towards us, but so far we were able to cover for each other. There's no way that we can last much longer, and the second the demon army overwhelms our position here, we'd be done for. With me gone, it'd be an even harder struggle.

I voiced my concern, “I don't even know where Mike is, or how to stop Sara on the other side, or if we can even get to the other side. Hell, I don't even know if Frankenstein's machine actually works. Are you sure that's the only plan?”

Irina gave me an irritated look, “Does it look like we have another choice?”

I looked at my friends then, and saw the determination on each of their faces. They were willing to face destruction here, each and every one of them. Heck, Alexei and Irina were risking their lives for me, Lilith wouldn't die but she'd probably want to after Baal's done with her, and although I'm not sure what happens to goddesses when their physical bodies are destroyed, I don't think that it's a concept that anyone wants to test out.

Well, I guess if they trust me this much, then there really isn't a choice.

“No, I don't suppose we do.” I muttered, “Just... don't do anything stupid.”

“When am I ever doing anything stupid, my friend?” Alexei boomed, his classic smile making a return. “It is generally you who are in the stupid situations!”

Alexei always knew how to cheer me up, and I couldn't help but laugh, “Good point.” I focused my energy and strengthened my body with Heaven's fire, “Guys, give me an opening. I'll rush the doors going to the basement.”

“Got it.” Cait answered, “One opening, coming right up!”

Cait started to mutter something, and Sathanus and Baal must have noticed something was going on. They left Frankenstein's side, and rushed towards the chanting woman. Alexei nodded at Lilith to cover him, and made a mad rush to meet the two head on, hoping to give Cait enough time to finish whatever it is she was planning on.

My friend managed to buy Cait the precious few moments she needed, but he paid a hefty price. Sathanus had his claws buried into Alexei's stomach, and Baal managed to break Alexei's arm in too many places to count. Yet Alexei held steady, never giving an inch. His smile still plastered on his bloodstained face.

He didn't have to hold on for much longer, thankfully, because whatever spell Cait was casting went off. The light grew dim, the air frosty, and every single demon in that room crawled to a still, as if time itself was slowed down for them. Cait looked exhausted, but I didn't have time to worry about her or Alexei. This was the chance they've given me, and I wasn't going to waste it.

I made a mad dash towards the basement, and with every step I took I noticed that the other demons were already getting better. Whatever Cait did, it would only hold for a few moments. The princes were the first to recover, but they were met by Lilith and Hel. It gave me just enough time to bolt into the basement, and after I made sure that nobody was following me, I threw a fistful of banefire into the ceiling, and forced the room above me to come crashing down. With the entrance blocked off by a few thousand pounds of earth, no minor demon should be able to get inside without considerable effort. I just hope it buys me enough time to do what I need to do.