by Riley London
“Are you his girlfriend?” the woman asked, a smile still plastered across her expression. “And let me guess. These are his pals from school?”
“Guilty as charged,” Zachary offered.
“Yes, we’ve come to know Charlie quite well over the years,” Benjamin nodded, settling into place beside Zachary.
“Well, you’re in luck. I think his meeting is almost over.” The woman’s smile became so wide that it looked as if it might’ve pained her to keep it on her face. “He’ll be with you shortly.”
“Charlie?” I didn’t know why I felt the need to clarify, but the longer I was around that woman, the more uncomfortable I became. “You mean Charlie will be with us shortly?”
The woman laughed in response but it sounded more like a bark, more like a twisted cackle that she couldn’t get out of her throat.
“He’ll be with you shortly,” the woman repeated her phrase, looking between us, something gleaming in her eyes. And then, she turned and walked away.
“That was so fucking weird.” The words came out under my breath. “Did anyone else think that was way too fucking weird?”
“Maybe, but I didn’t get the sense that she was a demon or anything.” Zachary shrugged. “Maybe she’s just a weirdo.”
“I’m unable to sense any demonic energy in this building at all,” Benjamin said. “But isn’t that what you wanted, Celeste? For Charlie to be safe in his meeting?”
“Safe…” I glanced around the room, peeking in through the glass windows, my heart rapidly starting to sink to the bottom of my chest. “Shit. Shit!”
“What’s wrong, Celeste?”
“We have to get to Charlie!” I began to run towards the meeting room that Charlie was in, no longer caring about being discreet.
“Celeste?! What the hell are you doing?” Zachary followed behind me as we ran through the hall. “What’s up with you?”
“Celeste, please reconsider! Barging in on Charlie’s meeting without any evidence that his safety is in danger will reflect poorly on his chances with the investor!”
“Don’t you get it?” I replied. “Don’t you think it’s weird that you can’t sense any demonic energy, at all? Don’t you think it’s weird that all of the meeting rooms are see-through too? It’s almost like someone wanted this place to make us feel so safe, that we let down our guard. It’s—”
My words were cut off by me slamming headfirst into the man in the suit, the same one who’d been having a meeting with Charlie. He must’ve came out of the room, but I was moving way too fast to slow myself down.
“Sorry.” I apologized out of habit, not because I meant it. I suspected that the man standing before me was a demon of some sort, and if so, he didn’t deserve an apology from me.
He deserved to be sent right back to Hell.
“You dropped your sword.” The man’s words dripped from his lips like honey as he pointed towards my weapon on the floor. “It’s glowing.”
“Sure is.” I grabbed for the hilt of my sword before I regained my balance.
“That’s a neat trick.” The man smiled. “How much do you want for it?”
“What?”
“How much would it cost for me to buy it off you?” The man continued, “I’m a bit of a weapons collector, but only the truly unique ones. The daggers that killed Caesar. The stone that Cain used to kill his brother.”
The man then took another step closer to me, his expression turning into a grin. “I would love to have the sword of the Daughter of Lilith and Lucifer. I can see your family emblem on its hilt, the one you keep hidden with your palm. The snake twisting itself between an angel’s wings…do you think it represents your mother and father?”
“Who the fuck are you?”
“They call me Mammon.”
“Mammon…” I murmured. “The Prince of Material Wealth. One of the Princes of Hell.”
“One and the same.” He chuckled, folding his arms against his chest. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Celeste. You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting.”
“Yeah? Too bad it’s going to be a short meeting.” I ran towards Mammon again, my sword firmly in my hand.
But he held out one of his palms before giving me a confused look. “I am not your enemy.”
“Really? Then what the hell did you want with Charlie?” I pressed the tip of my sword up against Mammon’s neck.
“I simply came to offer him a deal,” Mammon replied. “If he agreed to side with us, then we would give him anything he wanted on the surface.”
“Side with you?” I asked. “I thought the war was called off. Didn’t my parents already give Abaddon the throne? Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“I’m not speaking of war.” Mammon smiled. “I’m speaking of us coming to the surface, taking back what is ours.”
“You don’t belong on the surface.” I shook my head. “Haven’t you learned your lesson by now?”
“We belong wherever we choose to belong.” Mammon’s words came out quiet. “And Charlie is more like us than he is like you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“When he dies, when you die, Charlie will not be joining you in the afterlife,” Mammon continued. “His soul is damned.”
“Damned to Hell?”
“No. Damned to nothingness.” Mammon chuckled. “Whatever you did, whatever unholy magic you cast on his soul, made it so neither Heaven nor Hell knows what to do with him. However, if he sides with us, I can assure him a place when he passes, somewhere safe and free from curious eyes.”
“You’re lying,” I said, quick as fire. “Charlie and I are soul-bonded. Wherever I go, he goes too.”
“Would you like to put your little theory to the test?” Mammon’s hand suddenly grabbed onto my blade, his palm slicing right open. I watched in horror as his blood dripped onto the floor below. “Is this how you’d like to meet your end, Daughter of Lilith and Lucifer?”
“Stop.” It was Charlie’s voice, coming from somewhere behind Mammon.
“As you wish, Charlie Collins.” Mammon obeyed Charlie, pulling his hand away from my sword. “I was never going to harm her. I just tend to react poorly when I feel…threatened.”
“Charlie?” I wanted to drop my weapon and run over to him, but it felt like such a bad idea. Instead, I stayed in place with my feet planted on the floor below. “Charlie? What’s going on? Please don’t tell me that you took their deal—”
“I did.”
“Charlie…” Tears sprang to my eyes, threatening to fall down my cheeks. “Charlie, no. Why would you do something like that? Why would you ever do something like that? Charlie—”
“Can I have a minute or two to say goodbye?” Charlie directed his question to Mammon.
Mammon silently nodded in response, before walking away from us both.
“Charlie, no. You don’t have to do this.” I dropped my weapon, letting it clang against the floor. “You don’t have to do this. I’m sorry I didn’t realize what this was sooner. I should’ve known it was a set-up. I’m sorry I didn’t know it was a set-up—”
“Shh. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Charlie smiled back at me, before he pulled me into his arms. “Celeste, I need you to listen to me, okay?”
“Charlie, please—”
“Celeste. We don’t have much time,” Charlie warned. “Are you listening to me?”
“…Yes,” I replied, even as tears made their way down my skin. “Yes, I’m listening to you.”
“Take them down,” Charlie whispered. “Take each and every single one of these fuckers down, or the world is going to fucking end.”
“I don’t care if the world ends. I just want you—”
“Celeste. This is bigger than both of us.” Charlie used his hand to wipe away a few of my tears, with a smile still on his face. “I love you. And if we both make it to the end, you’ll see that I did this for you. For us. For everybody.”
“Fuck everybody!” My crying turned into sobbing as
I rested my head against Charlie’s shoulder. “Charlie, please. Don’t go. Please. I don’t think I can do this without you. I’ve already lost you once.”
“You’re not losing me,” Charlie insisted. “I promise you, Celeste. You can’t get rid of me that easily, even if you tried.”
“Charlie—”
“We need to go,” Mammon interrupted our parting conversation. “We won’t be able to shield the demonic activity for much longer.”
“I’m coming.” Charlie nodded towards him, before gently pushing me away from his frame. “I’ll see you later, Celeste.”
“Stop! Stop!” I felt like I was losing my mind. I picked my sword back up from the floor and quickly held it up towards Charlie’s chest. “Stop or I’ll make you stop.”
“I’ll see you later, Celeste,” Charlie said his words over again, before walking up to Mammon’s side, the pair of them soon disappearing down the long hall.
No.
I dropped to my knees, the air feeling like it was going right out of my lungs. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. The first man I ever loved had just walked right out of my life. My best friend. My favorite roommate. My Charlie.
And I had no idea if I was ever going to see him again.
I couldn’t do this.
I couldn’t live with this much pain. In fact, the more I thought about losing Charlie, the more it felt like there was a gaping hole that’d just opened in the center of my chest, threatening to expand until I was nothing, until there was nothing left around me either.
I cried out, desperate for something, anything to make the pain go away.
“Celeste? Celeste!” I heard Benjamin’s voice at my side. “Celeste, I’m sorry we couldn’t get here sooner. There were these demons. They came out of nowhere, but they disappeared as soon as Charlie disappeared too. It was almost as if they only materialized to keep us busy, to keep us away from you.”
“What the fuck happened with Charlie anyway?” Zachary grimaced. “Did that asshole leave with a demon?”
“Not a demon. A Prince of Hell,” Benjamin corrected.
“Oh. That’s great. Just. Fucking. Great.” Zachary groaned. “So, what? Now, he’s working for them or something? Why the fuck would Charlie ever team up with—Shit. Celeste? Celeste! What’s wrong with your hands?”
My hands?
My mind caught onto Zachary’s words, and I looked down at my palms. They were glowing, but not with their usual, angelic glow.
No.
My palms were filled with darkness, a pitch-black smoke that reminded me of being choked by Belphegor, the way his demonic energy filled the room.
Wait. Was this the same thing?
Was I emitting demonic energy from my hands?
“I don’t understand.” I shook my head in confusion. “Why’d the color change? I thought I could only call on angelic energy. But this is—”
“Demonic.” Benjamin’s eyes went wide. “You’re calling on demonic energy. Does it feel any different than when you call for angelic energy to come over your hands?”
“It makes my pain go away,” I replied, turning my hands over and over, watching as the smoke wrapped around my fingertips and danced along my skin. “I think…I think this is my pain made real.”
“Can you turn it off? No offense, but it’s starting to creep me out,” Zachary replied.
And in response, I closed my eyes, trying my best to think about something that didn’t hurt, something other than having to watch Charlie walk beside Mammon, something other than Charlie leaving me like it was nothing to him.
How could he have ever left me that way?
“Nope. Can’t turn it off,” I answered, rising to my feet. “But maybe I can get rid of it. You two should leave the building.”
“Celeste, no. We’re not leaving you—”
“Leave!” I screamed, holding my palms toward Benjamin and Zachary. The smoke seemed to send them flying backwards, not stopping until their feet were in front of the elevator, which soon opened just like clockwork. Afterwards, the smoke continued to send them on their way, with the elevator doors closing, even as they screamed my name.
Destruction.
It was something I’d never craved before, but now it was all I was able to think about. I was so used to angelic energy, so sure that I’d never have to feel the opposite of it, that I’d never even prepared myself for the possibility. I thought back to my sister’s words, the way she’d described what it felt like to be filled with demonic energy like this.
It’s inside of me, pulsing through my heart, turning it an even darker shade of black.
That was exactly how I’d felt, too, like my heart was filled with the same smoke as my fingers, like it was creeping underneath my bones, dyeing my soul the exact same shade. And the scariest part of all was that I didn’t hate the feeling. It almost seemed like putting on an old glove, something that I hadn’t worn in awhile but still managed to fit over my skin.
But of course, it did.
I was part demon, after all. This must’ve been how it felt for Trinity all the time, inheriting so much of our mother’s blood. And since I was still the Daughter of Lilith too, I had a claim to this kind of energy, this kind of dark magic.
Without wasting another moment, I held my palms up towards the ceiling and watched as it began to crumble all around me. I tore away at the boards, the lights, the wiring, until I was able to see the sky, the sun shining its face on me. And then, I pointed my hands towards the ground, waiting for the rubble to fall out from under my feet.
Eventually, it did just that, and I began my descent towards the ground floor of the building, even as it continued to fall to pieces all around me.
When all was said and done, when the last pieces of misplaced wood and concrete were lying at my feet, when I was covered in the smoky debris of a destroyed building, I stood tall in the middle of what I’d accomplished. The building was left in pieces around me, and I couldn’t help the smile that broke across my features.
Whatever had craved destruction inside of me had finally gotten its fill and the smoke around my fingers dissipated into the afternoon air.
“…Celeste?” Benjamin spoke my name in a nervous tone.
I turned to face him, the smile still on my face. “Yes?”
“Jesus Christ.” Zachary looked absolutely horrified. “I take back what I said about you almost being an angel. I don’t know what the hell you are anymore.”
“I’m just me.” I kept my response short, walking away from the broken building. “Come on. We should head back to the academy before anyone starts to ask any questions.”
“Sure thing.” Zachary sounded unsure, but he still followed behind me anyway.
I could hear Benjamin’s footsteps falling in line too, even though he seemed to be purposely walking a few paces behind.
Chapter 4
“Okay, so this is supposed to be the best veggie pizza in the state.” Charlie grinned, taking a big bite out of his slice. “But you let me know what you think, all right?”
“Did you bring a backup pizza? What happens if it’s gross?”
“No backup pizza. If it’s gross, you’ll just have to choke it down.” Charlie laughed. “I offer no excuses and no apologies.”
I groaned, before taking a bite of the slice in my hand. Thankfully, the pizza didn’t taste too bad and I took another small bite out of its form. “This is…totally fine. Thank you for picking up dinner, Charlie.”
“You’re welcome.” Charlie beamed. “I would’ve cooked, but they don’t really have any student kitchens here, and when I asked the cafeteria if I could borrow their kitchen for a minute, they looked at me like I was insane. I guess angels don’t cook their own food, huh?”
“Just cake.” I chuckled at my own joke, taking another slice of pizza. “Why’d you venture out into the world to grab us a pizza, anyway? It’s not my birthday or anything.”
“Ehh. I think I just missed the old days.”
Charlie sighed. “When everything felt so simple. When our biggest problem was what we were going to watch on TV for the night and not demons and Princes of Hell and Lilith and Satan, amulets and you being the key to saving the whole world.”
“I’m sorry I brought you into this.”
“Not your fault.” Charlie shifted closer to me on the bed. “And don’t you ever apologize for hitching my trailer to your wagon, Celeste. I love you. Never forget that. But sometimes, I just get tired of knowing that one day, you’ll have to be this big hero, and it probably means that I’m never going to see you again.”
“That’s never going to happen, Charlie. I’m never going to leave you,” I promised, taking the final bite of my slice. “I couldn’t leave you, even if I wanted to. I love you too much.”
“I love you too much, too.” Charlie smirked. “But I still know that one day you’re going to have to make a choice. And I hope you choose the world.”
“Over you? Never.”
“You have to be able to see past me, Celeste. Past everyone you love,” Charlie continued. “Do you think Michael wanted to sacrifice his life on the surface for the sake of humanity? Fuck no. He probably loved Mrs. Deveraux just as much as I love you, just as much as we love each other. But in the end, he still had to do the right thing.”
“Yeah, he gave up everything he loved and it looks like the demons still got the fuck out anyway. So, what was the point?” I scoffed. “What kind of lesson is that supposed to be?”
“Maybe things are happening just the way they’re supposed to. Maybe Michael was never meant to be the final angel to bind the demons. Maybe that was always supposed to be you,” Charlie suggested. “What if Michael was just meant to slow them down? But you’re meant to take care of them for good?”
I shrugged. “Maybe so. Or maybe there’s no defeating the Princes of Hell, and we’re all just wasting our time trying to in the first place.”
“You don’t believe that.”
“No, I don’t, but I also don’t believe that I have to sacrifice everything I have just to be some kind of savior,” I replied. “If I end up saving the world but I lose you, Charlie Collins, then what the hell is the point in the first place?”