by Amy Starr
Ascended to Heaven
The Purgatorium Saga - Book 6
Amy Starr
Copyright © 2020 Amy Starr
All rights reserved
Contents
Ascended to Heaven
Copyright
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
The Next Adventure
Bleeding for Eternity
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Prologue
Below a full moon stood a gathering of people on a grassy knoll. They wore brown robes that draped over their bodies, concealing their faces. The group encircled a rounded flat stone, their heads hung low in silent prayer. The night air reeked of fresh blood and strange herbs.
Upon the stone lay the recently slain body of a buck, its eyes glassy and unmoving. Blood dripped from the slit across its neck and ran down the stone like condensation on a cool glass on water. The leader of the group was whispering a chant in a strange language of tongue clicks and foreign words.
One by one, the followers threw various items onto the stone and the dead deer. Cloves, bunches of red orchids, clear liquid that stunk of musk and golden coins. The leader’s chanting grew louder and more incoherent as more items were thrown onto the ritual stone.
There was a loud bang, like a crack of thunder that seemed to make the ground quake. The area around the group exploded into a white light. The cloaked cultists shielded their faces as a small perfume bottle began to float down onto the smooth rock.
Staggering forward, the leader of the cloaked figures fell onto their knees and held the bottle in their hands. “We have our Prince.” The gruff voice muttered. “He is with us now.”
The muffled sound of a trumpet echoed through the sky and the cult leader stood up quickly. “The Herald. We need to leave now.”
The cloaked people began to run down the hill. Some tripped over their cloaks and tumbled down the slope. Behind them, tall slithers of pure brightness began to descend onto the plain. The slithers transformed into vague human shapes with bird wings, each brandishing a sword and shield. They swooped the running people, causing all of them to fall flat on their faces.
The ceremony leader continued to sprint forward, holding the bottle protectively to their chest. They glanced over their shoulder and saw the shining beings tormenting their followers. Turning back, they stopped dead in their tracks. One of the creatures of pure light was standing right in front of them, towering over the small cloaked figure. Terrified for their life, they held the bottle out.
The being sheathed its sword and took the jar from the shaking figure. Giving it a small glance, the angelic force leapt into the air and disappeared into the sky. All its armed comrades followed it, shooting up into the sky like missiles aiming for space.
Still shivering, the ceremony leader pulled a walkie-talkie out of their cloak and pressed a button on it.
“We were compromised. Switch to our backup plan.”
They smirked from under their cloak hood.
“Mama always said I’d never go to Heaven; I can’t wait to prove that old cow wrong.”
Chapter One
After everything they had been through, it almost felt unusual to Hudson that they were just sitting on a train. It was such a pedestrian thing to do. To any stranger, the three of them would just look like a group of friends off to a party. Well, maybe a party where they were going to fool around with an Ouija board and watch terrible horror movies.
To his left was his sister, Emma-Lee, wearing short ripped jeans and a sleeveless orange turtleneck. She was holding the Demotome tightly in her arms, as if she were protecting her diary from any prying eyes. On his right was Poppy, the woman who he had literally gone to hell and back with. She was leaning against his shoulder, her eyes shut and her purple hair falling over her face.
He smiled at her, watching her sleep peacefully against his side. They had not had much time to sleep whilst they had been researching at the fortress. Once Emma-Lee was certain she knew the location of the final lesser demon, they had exited the fortress and found themselves opening a metal door in a tiny alleyway. Bizarrely enough, it led them to the city where they all lived. Not only that, it was a street away from where Hudson had been shot dead.
Upon questioning Sugrat, they discovered that the fortress had been built by the original demon hunters many years ago when the city had first been constructed. He explained that many of them and their families had resided in this small unassuming city as it was a huge gathering place for demon worshippers. Over the years, many of these demon hunting families died out, essentially leaving Hudson’s family as the last bloodline.
Hud was still mystified about why his family stopped demon hunting, and Sugrat was just as confused as he was. He figured he’d have to ask Harkness and see if his grandmother had stopped so suddenly. He suspected it may have been due to her dementia, or perhaps something before even that. Had she been influenced or possessed by something?
After buying changes of clothes and gathering knapsacks filled with salt, medical supplies, goggles, earmuffs, along with bolas and daggers from the fortress, they boarded the train and began riding to their destination.
Hud glanced out the window, watching as they sped past station after station. The location that Emma-Lee had discovered was in a small country town a couple of hours away from the main city. Apparently, it had been the main worshipping grounds for Asmodeus for many years.
Tugging at the gloves that hid his scabbed hands, Hudson found himself glancing around the train car. He almost felt envious of all the people going about their business. They could go to work and they go home and sleep peacefully surrounded by their loved ones. They had no idea about all the demons that were hanging around them, or the freaky demon worshippers for that matter. He never asked to get caught up in all of this. He had saved his sister, why was he still doing all of this?
His mind wandered to Harkness, and the revelation that the reaper was made of the souls of his grandmother and Poppy’s granny combined into one body. His fists clenched ever so slightly. His Grandmother had been eccentric, but at some point in her life she had been a demon hunter.
Hudson’s thoughts were interrupted when he noticed something odd moving in his vision. A few seats away from them sat a man wearing a grey hoodie. The man had sunglasses on, but he was glaring directly at Hud and the girls. The first time Hudson noticed it; he had averted his gaze. Even from the corner of his eye, he could tell the man was staring at him. It made him feel a great sense of uneasiness.
“Don’t look, but there’s someone watching us.” Hudson muttered to Emma-Lee.
His sister gave a small nod in acknowledgement as she stared straight ahead. “Okay, well we’re nearly at the stop. We’ll get out and leave quickly.”
Hudson gently nudged Poppy awake. She grunted and woke up, rubbing her eyes. “Mmh, are we there?” She asked, blinking the sleep out of her eyes.
Hud quietly explained to the psychic what he had seen, and she stiffened slightly.
Once the train came to a stop, the three of them stood and left the train, trying to act as casual as possible. They looked straight ahead, not daring to turn their necks to look behind them. Hudson could not handle it. Even as they left the station and began walking beside the grassy paddocks of the countryside, he could tell someone was right behind them. After half an hour of this, he was at his limit. He could practical
ly feel the man breathing down his neck.
“I can’t take this.” He hissed. “I’m going to look.”
“Hudson!” Poppy whispered under her breath in a desperate tone.
Ignoring her, he turned his head, his hand going into his back to grab a canister of salt. He saw the man with the sunglasses walking a few feet behind them. The man was staring straight ahead and holding a white and red cane, which he tapped along the cracked pavement as he slowly made his way forward. Poppy let out a small sigh of relief and Emma-Lee shook her head. Hud turned and sheepishly began shuffling down the path
“How was I supposed to know he was blind!” Hud muttered under his breath.
“You’re getting paranoid.” Poppy mumbled. “Surely, they can’t know where we are all the time.”
He let out a nervous chuckle and rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, of course.”
A chilling thought suddenly entered his head and he gazed at Emma-Lee.
“What?”
He pointed to the tome she was holding. “Whatever happened to that stone?”
“What stone?” Emma-Lee asked as Poppy let out a small moan.
“Fuck, the stone.” Poppy growled. “They took it back after we defeated Beezlebub.”
“We sure did.”
The trio stopped dead in their tracks. Standing in front of them was a black-haired woman wearing a skin-tight black body suit. She smiled at them with scarred ruby red lips. She held out the Seeing Stone to them, a small chuckle escaping from her throat.
“My, my…it’s been a long time.” Jezebel cooed, stuffing the stone into her pocket.
She pointed to Emma-Lee. “And look at that, you’ve expanded your ranks. It is such a shame that it all ends here. Douglas, get the book. Don’t be afraid to use force.”
Before Hudson could react, he felt the base of a stick slam down into the back of his head. Hud saw stars in his vision as he fell to the ground.
Chapter Two
Poppy moved quickly into action the moment she saw Hudson go down. She grabbed a bolas from her bag and threw it at the man behind them. The ropes tangled his legs up and he fell backwards onto the concrete with a thud. She heard a scream and turned her head.
Jezebel was trying to wrench the Demotome out of Emma-Lee’s hands. The book was glowing lightly.
The psychic reached into her bag to grab a canister of salt out. The black-haired woman must have seen what she was doing and threw Hudson’s sister to the ground. Jezebel tackled Poppy, causing her to drop the salt canister. The large shaker burst open, sending salt scattering along the path. The two women struggled against each other.
“You stupid girl, do you really think you can stop me?” Jezebel hissed, her eyes starting to glow a deep red.
The black-haired woman let out a shocked cry as she suddenly lost her footing. Poppy stumbled back and watched as Hudson got back to his feet, glaring down at Jezebel before he grabbed a salt vial from his bag. He raced around her, surrounding the woman in a ring of salt. Jezebel let out a string of swears as she slammed her body against the invisible walls that surrounded her on all sides.
“Hud! Poppy!”
Poppy swung her head around and watched as Douglas, now out of the bolas, wrenched the Demotome out of Emma-Lee’s hands. He let out a triumphant laugh and glanced down at the book. Poppy and Hud ran at him, the psychic swinging her heavy bag directly at the man’s head. It hit him in the side of his face, causing him to stagger back slightly.
Hudson went to snatch the book back but was met with a punch to the face which sent him crumpling to the ground. Poppy went over to help him.
“Don’t worry about me, get the book!” Hud shouted, wiping his bloodied nose with the side of his arm.
She glanced up just in time to see a red Chevy pull up to the side of the path. Douglas and Jezebel, who had been freed by her companion, raced into the back of the car with the book and with a screaming Emma-Lee in their grasp. Before they could do anything, the car sped away down the road, leaving a trail of dust.
Hudson shot up. Seeing how far away their enemies were, he kicked a rock on the side of the road and let out an angry cry. “Why did you let them get away?” He growled.
Poppy gave him an annoyed look. “I was trying to help you!”
Hudson glanced around, taking in panicked breaths as he brought his hands to his head. “Are they heading in the direction of the mines?”
Poppy squinted her eyes and gave a small nod. “I think so.”
After quickly checking their supplies, the two of them began to sprint past seemingly endless fields of grassy slopes and grazing animals. Poppy could tell that Hudson was getting more and more agitated, and with good reason. Not only did the demon worshippers have the book, they had the blood of a demon hunter in the form of his younger sister. She wanted to comfort him, but she knew that it would do no good right now. He had that determined look in his eyes that would only be satisfied once he had found his sister.
After a while, they found the farmland dissolving into desolate landscape covered in boulders and broken rocks. Every time Poppy saw a random grassy plant growing from the soil, the psychic wondered how anything could grow around this part. Poppy spotted the red Chevy and pointed it out to Hudson.
“Look, it’s right next to a shaft.” He muttered, racing over to the car.
Poppy followed him and peeped into the car. It was completely spotless inside. There were no signs of Emma-Lee or the Demotome.
Hudson stared down the mine shaft and Poppy soon joined him. It was large enough to fit a single person down it and it seemed to spiral into endless darkness. Attached to the side of the shaft was a ladder that extended so far down that Poppy could not see where it ended.
“Hud…” Poppy murmured nervously. She was having flashbacks to the horrifying ordeal they had experienced when they had to cross between the two towers when they were confronting Mammon.
Hudson gave her a sympathetic look and petted her on the back.
“We have to. Look, I’ll go first down the ladder and you can follow after me, alright? I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Poppy gave a defeated nod and she watched as Hudson approached the ladder and grabbed it in his hands. Slowly, he began to descend the rickety wooden ladder. The psychic winced every time she heard one of the rungs creak under the weight of Hudson’s foot. It seemed as though it would break at the slightest gust of wind.
She took a deep breath and sighed softly. She walked over to the ladder and pressed her foot on the first rung. With deliberate movements, she began to move down the ladder. Every time she moved down a rung, Hud would move down one as well. She got a slow pattern going, and eventually she felt comfortable in her movements.
That is, until it became so dark that they could no longer see the light from above them. Poppy wished they had brought along mining helmets with them. At least that would have given them some source of light.
“Hud, do you see anything down there?” Poppy whispered, trying to control any shaking in her voice.
“Nothing.” He replied.
They continued to descend further into the earth. Poppy could feel her hands becoming sore from gripping the ladder rungs tightly and from splinters piercing her hands and fingers. To make matters worse, her anxiety about the unknown they were descending into was making her palms sweaty. She continued to grip onto each rung for dear life, ignoring the pain caused by the aging wood.
At one point, Poppy went to lower herself but found that Hudson was in the way.
“Hud, what’s wrong?” Poppy hissed.
She could tell from his long pause and panting that something was making him nervous. Poppy could feel her heart beginning to thump harder and faster in her chest.
“Hud?” She asked, feeling her voice crack slightly.
“I don’t feel another rung.” He said in a soft voice.
“What?”
“No rung and no floor. I think we’re going to have to jump do
wn.”
Poppy gazed down into the darkness and shook her head profusely. “We could break our fucking legs, Hud. What good would we be to Emma-Lee then?”
“What choice do we have?” Hudson growled back up to her.
Poppy gritted her teeth and let out a hiss of a sigh. “Can you throw something down to check?”
She heard Hudson pull something out of his bag and drop it. It fell for a couple of seconds before clattering onto a hard-sounding floor. It was not too far down, but it still seemed like an ankle breaking height.
“Okay, here we go.”
She heard Hudson scrape the ladder as he fell. As Hudson landed with a thud, she heard him let out a pained cry. “Fuck…I think I twisted my ankle.”
Poppy wanted to slam her head into the ladder.
“Okay, just…just wait and don’t move. I’m going to come down now.”
She heard Hudson shuffling and cursing underneath her.
“Hold on, I’ll catch you!”
After a few moments of movement, Poppy closed her eyes and released herself from the ladder. She fell into Hudson’s arms and she could hear him let out a pained wheeze.
“Here, let me have a look.”
“I’m fine.” Hudson replied, wincing in a way that the psychic could tell he was not okay.
She crouched down and lifted the jean leg of his sore ankle. Using the light of her phone, she saw the purple bruise around the bottom of his calf and breathed in through her teeth. “Yeah, that uh, that doesn’t look good.”
“I said I’ll be fine.” He mumbled, shuffling towards open mine shaft in front of them. Poppy walked beside him. The long tunnel was held up by thick planks of wood that seemed too old to be load bearing. It was lit up by flames that seemed to be magical in nature. There was an odd scent in the air that reminded Poppy of chai tea and blood simultaneously.
Eventually, they came to a small cave at the end of the shaft. From the stench of blood in the air and the circles drawn in chalk, Poppy could tell this was a place of worship and sacrifice for the demon worshippers. She crouched down to inspect the chalk, touching it with her hand. Without warning, the chalk lit up in a flash of bright light.