Existence: A Dark Paranormal Fantasy (The Devilgod Series Book 1)

by S. C. Lewis

  “Take Sophia out of here, Seth!” Ramiel ordered.

  “No!” The figure screamed, edging towards me; but Ramiel caught him by the throat. Amael fought himself free and threw himself against Ramiel.

  I obeyed the order given, and raced down the passageway with Sophia in my arms. She was barely conscious as we escaped through the corridor’s exit and into the antechamber. The bouncers immediately came to my side scattering through patrons. I pushed through them as they stumbled to help me.

  I rushed up the grand staircase into my office to lay Sophia on the table, which was still set up in my office from the meeting earlier. I leaned over Sophia concerned for her well-being. I would not lose her.

  21

  Resin

  Ramiel

  “You can’t stop me.”

  “Poison, that’s what you’ve become. An abomination of your own creation,” Ramiel hissed.

  Amael growled eerily, and dashed through the arched window with Ramiel in his grasp, launching them both into the sky. The two fought in the air, many feet from the ground below.

  “Stay out of my way!”

  “I can’t!” Ramiel roared.

  “Have you’ve forgotten who I am, Ramiel? Let me quickly remind you!”

  At once, Amael swung his arm over; an arched fingernail sliced Ramiel’s throat. Ramiel grabbed at his neck as Amael flung him down to the ground like a rag doll. Ramiel hit the side of the Cathedral back first, landing against the sharp peaks of the smaller towers. He groaned, painfully pulling at the peaks, fighting to jerk himself free from the structure, but losing his grip. He dangled helplessly, held in place and suspended over the street below.

  His body bent over backwards. The pain was excruciating, but he had felt worse than this. Again, he struggled, pulling himself carefully free, feeling the skin and flesh tearing inside as he moved the spike from inside him. Too weak, he fell to the ground, unable to stop himself, and onto the roof of a parked vehicle down below. In a roaring crash, his body hit the top of the car and shattered its window shield. The whole incident had taken too much from him, and he lay motionless on the vehicle’s roof.

  A crowd gathered around the car; whispers spread among the curious spectators, evincing grave doubts that he was still alive. Someone yelled in the distance, “Call 911!”

  But no one seemed to move. The bouncers rushed to the car as the sirens in the distance grew louder.

  Slowly, Ramiel opened his eyes. He didn’t sit up right away; aware he had been seen by a thousand spectators. The bouncers moved the crowd back.

  Ramiel sat up; gasps of disbelief rose from some of the spectators standing in the distance. He climbed down the roof of the car; stumbling slightly at first, he quickly regained his balance. Ralph immediately raced to his side, but it seemed Ramiel needed no help. He pushed his way from them, unhurt.

  Though there was a large bloody hole ripped through his jacket, he moved without trouble. Covered in blood, he glanced about, looking for Amael, before he tended to his wounds. However, there was no sign of him. The sky was dark and clear, with stars sparkling down at him.

  “Should we call someone?” Ralph asked, examining his boss curiously with a perplexed look across his face. The other bouncers gathered behind him, examining the remains of the parked vehicle.

  “No need for anything, gentlemen. Business as usual, no reason to get alarmed,” Ramiel reassured them, gingerly dusting the remains of his jacket and addressing his audience.

  “It’s alright, everyone. I’m just fine, as you can see. That was just a reckless stunt. I hope nobody was frightened by it.”

  The crowd hesitated, and then finally gave Ramiel a round of applause. The bouncers kept looking up at the sky, wondering how he had pulled the stunt off.

  “Mr. DeStefano, how did you do that?” Ralph, the head of security, asked with a quizzical look upon his face.

  “Now, Ralph, I can’t tell you that. If I tell you, I’m gonna have to kill you.”

  Ralph gave a hesitated smile, but the look on the owner’s face seemed very much serious.

  Ramiel walked back into the Cathedral, and glanced down at the large hole in his suit. He pulled apart the fabric and examined his gaping flesh; the huge hole in his stomach began to close, finally disappearing, as if it had never been there.

  “Bastard ruined my suit,” Ramiel uttered; even when in trouble, he still had his sense of humor. He’d need it, considering what was eventually going to occur.

  22

  I put a Spell on You

  Seth

  Man is a selfish creature. Everything in life is a selfish act. Man is not concerned with helping others, yet he wants others to believe he is.

  “Sophia? Wake up! Are you alright?” Ramiel cried, lifting Sophia tenderly.

  “Amael?” Sophia mumbled, opening her eyes; then she gazed up at Ramiel before she fell unconscious again.

  Ramiel slammed his fist on the table. He noticed the wound on her neck was gone; just like his own wounds, they had vanished. But the harm had been done, and that’s what he feared.

  “What does she mean, ‘Amael’?” I uneasily asked. A stir of worry fluttered deep in my gut. I leaned against the side of the table and reached over to tenderly touch Sophia’s face. The idea of what could have happened if I hadn’t come along looking for her was something I didn’t want to consider it. That bastard had gone too far attacking her. I wasn’t even sure what he had done to her.

  “She means the DevilGod,” Ramiel mumbled under his breath, removing his jacket.

  His shirt was torn to pieces, so he pulled on a new, black, collarless shirt Ralph had brought into the office minutes after the battle.

  He moved over to my side and instructed me to remove my own coat. I did as he asked and unbuttoned my bloodstained shirt.

  “Let’s have a look at those wounds.”

  “DevilGod?” I spoke the name Sophia had mumbled, pulling up the shirt as Ramiel bent over to examine the cuts on my bare chest. Ramiel nodded, placing his hand over each individual wound. I closed my eyes. I could still feel the pain as the intruder’s claws pressed against my flesh.

  “Relax, this won’t hurt a bit,” Ramiel sighed, noticing the expression on my face.

  “How do you explain his uncanny resemblance to me?” I asked, opening my eyes and looking straight into the white-haired owner’s gray ones.

  “It’s a trick,” Ramiel was quick to answer, saying nothing more.

  I didn’t like it, but I tried to accept his answer. It made him nervous to think an evil thing like what I’d encountered could look like me, in any way. I hadn’t noticed any familiarly to the thing before, and I knew it had not looked like that days ago. Was it changing in order to resemble me each time we met? If so, why?

  “Forget about it,” Ramiel softly hissed, obviously reading my thoughts.

  “Well, what the hell is it? What happened out there, Ramiel? That bastard did something to her. Didn’t he?”

  “She’ll be okay. He’s stronger than I thought, though, too soon. That’s the only thing that makes me nervous.”

  “What does that mean? Can’t you stop him?” I nervously asked examining the expression on his face. If he was worried it troubled me far more.

  “Of course, I can,” he blankly mumbled, glancing back.

  Ramiel moved his hand away from my chest and backed off to give me room. Stepping away from the table, I examined my chest in a decorative mirror by the shelf. I was dumbfounded with the way the wounds had slowly sealed until they had completely vanished.

  “How did you do that?” I breathlessly asked, shocked. “Is this some kind of illusion? It can’t be. The pain is gone. Did you heal me? How?”

  Ramiel didn’t say a word as stepped over to Sophia.

  “You have to stay alive, and keep your strength up. Right now, you have the upper hand. Amael has no body. Well, at least not a good body to sustain his existence, but that doesn’t mean he can’t kill you.”


  “Not if I kill him first,” I was quick to answer, still trying to make sense of what had recently occurred. I touched my bare chest, trying to find the wounds any way I could, doubting whether they had really vanished, as I had seen them do.

  “Don’t be stupid, Seth. He can hurt you, even kill you.”

  “He won’t touch me as long as you protect me, right?” I asked.

  He hesitated momentarily, and it worried me that he had to think about it before answering. He blinked back. “That might be so, but he’s powerful and growing stronger by the minute. I don’t know how long I can protect you. You must stay close to me.”

  Again, Sophia stirred. I quickly leaned over and kissed her lips as Ramiel watched me with a vacant stare. I curiously gazed back at Ramiel, “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” Ramiel answered, putting his hand on my shoulder. “It’s just I haven’t noticed before how perfect you two look together. It reminds me of the first time I saw you both.” Ramiel became silent, unable to avoid the questions of the past in my thoughts and eyes.

  “What happened? Why did I lose her?” I asked gravely, struggling to find the answers on my own.

  Ramiel looked back, his face bore a history I could only wonder about, a worry and pain I could only assume haunted his ghostly face. Even something such as that had never diminished his heart, no matter what had transpired. He had lived in a time beyond this, seen things I could only imagine. Sophia had always saw the stories he told me as he tucked me into bed as just that, mere stories and fantasies, but I knew better. He was preparing me for this very moment. He smiled as though he could see into my thoughts. The question was, was I ready for all this?

  “Yes,” he answered. “you are far more than ready. “You will remember with time, my friend, on your own. You’ve come a long way from that timid boy.” Ramiel stared over at me, my memory hadn’t returned completely. “I know she loves you, and you two belong together. Of that I can assure you.”

  I dropped my head sadly and walked to the door. “I only wish Sophia would believe that. I wish she loved me as I love her.”

  “She will come around, Seth. It’s hard to accept, because you’re her son. That’s the wicked disguise. A method of confusion Amael has used to pervert the truth of your great love for each other. But we’ll make her come to understand. Won’t we?”

  “I’d die for her,” I declared softly, looking back at Sophia’s figure on the table.

  “I know,” Ramiel whispered as a small grin appeared across his wrinkled face.

  I examined Sophia, desiring her even as I stood only a step or two away. I could feel my heart beating uncontrollably. My emotions began to stir, and I could feel the lump of my arousal pushing through the fabric of my trousers. I wanted to feel her soft body against mine. The taste of her was still in my mouth; I wanted to force her to accept me. She would have no choice; the shame would be so great that she would have to love me. Once Nathan discovered the truth, she would have no choice.

  I was sure Ramiel was aware of those thoughts as well as my desires within those moments. “You have to give her time. Don’t push it. Don’t force this upon her. She needs time.”

  “I want her by my side,” I uttered again. I wanted to justify my actions to Ramiel, who I noticed was keen to every single thought coursing through my mind. “But the feelings were too strong. I feel shame almost for admitting this,” I continued.

  “What are you talking about, Seth?”

  “I’m saying I forced myself upon her,” I confessed angrily. Although I already suspected he knew this. Of course, he knew.

  He didn’t seem surprised, but was definitely disappointed. He took a breath moving around the office like a man on fire.

  “That night, when he came. He stopped me. If he hadn’t…” I continued, he spun back to face me, his face filled with rage.

  Sophia began to stir at the loud sound of my voice.

  “That was you.” He said but its wasn’t a question. I suspected he knew. “You attacked her.”

  “I wanted her. And he stopped me.” I paused; I thought about that night again. Remembering the heated look of raw anger on the figure’s face. The way the nostrils flared, and the eyebrows curved wickedly over his oval, white, evil eyes. Eyes that were glowing with white light, dancing with malice and eagerness and with some great urgency flowing from them. I wasn’t looking at my own face, but one nearly and neatly identical to it. He far more divine, mature and wise, with a beauty even lovelier.

  “He was afraid. I threw him out the window, but the bastard didn’t die!”

  “Seth…”

  I glared back at Ramiel wickedly; the thoughts of that night were still running up and down my mind like the scratches on a spinning record.

  “Why are you surprised?” I hissed, walking past him over to Sophia, who was lying on the table.

  I touched her cold face with my warm hand, and kissed her. Again, I began to drift. My feelings were getting harder to resist as the scent of her perfume glided into my nostrils. I would have made love to her that very moment if Ramiel weren’t there to watch me kiss her open mouth.

  “I tried to resist, sitting back and allowing that bastard to touch her. But how can I when she’s rightfully mine? If she’s mine, what difference does it make?” I snapped, pulling away from Sophia, and trying to fight my desires.

  It was obviously hard for me as I struggled to face Ramiel, who was bent over the table. I balanced myself, taking a deep breath, and then looked up. The desire was glowing on my face; every breath seemed my last.

  Ramiel could see the heaving in my chest, the parting of my lips, and the gasping of my breath as I panted and exhaled in musical delight.

  “It makes a whole lot of difference! She must love you…willingly!” Ramiel snapped, storming to the window.

  “You mean, give in?” I beamed my black eyes straight at him, licking my mouth hungrily as the words left my dryly blistered lips.

  Ramiel turned back around, his eyes disappeared beneath his thick eyebrows as he frowned. His wise and wrinkled face smoothed out, and suddenly became blank.

  “No, she must accept you. Only then can she be yours,” he hissed, letting his pointy canines emerge from behind the curve of his lips.

  I rushed at Ramiel to face his already enormous height angrily. “Don’t raise your voice at me. I’m not a child. Remember to whom you’re talking!”

  “Seth, I’m not your enemy. I’m trying to help you. Didn’t you see the look on her face? She was terrified. Don’t you care that you scared her?” Ramiel answered in a calm tone.

  “Of course, I care!” I scolded and backed away, wandering to Sophia’s side again, caressing her soft cheek.

  “She’s all I live for, but she hates me. How can I do anything without having her reject me? I hunger for her each day and night.”

  “You could have told me your plans before you acted on them.”

  “What for? So, you could lecture me as you are now? Perhaps rehearse some of your mystical mumbo jumbo? So far, your ways have miserably failed me.”

  “Have patience,” Ramiel hissed, wrinkling a brow.

  “There’s no time for patience. Look at what happened today! Besides, I told Sophia the truth. That’s what I did,” I admitted, he didn’t seem prepared for that news from the expression on his face. A smile beamed across my handsome face.

  “You did what? Don’t you see if you move too fast, you may lose her forever?”

  “If I wait, I might lose her anyway. That bastard isn’t playing fair. I won’t lose her, not again,” I hesitated, realizing my words and at the same time knowing that perhaps I had recalled some of the events of my past. But had the words seemed justified by Ramiel’s own knowledge of the past, or my own recollection? I could not answer that.

  “You remember?” Ramiel asked, his doubt seeming to slowly wither at the realization of my words. He gazed at me with a meager shred of excitement, yet my own expression seemed doubtful.
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br />   “I see only bits and pieces of something I used to know. She’s there with me, and she loved me. The visions are only images of a long-forgotten past. The feelings are not.”

  “You can always count on your feelings. That is always your greatest power, Seth. Use it as I have taught you. Recall your greatest strength. It might be your only power now, but it’s the greatest thing you can possess.”

  I fell silent and gazed down at my hands, as though something had been given to me by the words spoken so cautiously by Ramiel, who was older and supposedly wiser than me.

  “Well, how did she take it?” Ramiel asked again, breaking the silence.

  “How do you think?” I snapped, lowering my hands and crossing them. “She rejected me, of course.” I furrowed my eyebrow slightly. “She despises me. I sicken her,” I murmured again.

  “What exactly did you tell her?” Ramiel asked, hovering closely to me.

  I knew Ramiel had always considered me something of a student. I could sense it the way he cared and catered to my needs. But the studies here were not math, languages, the sciences, or anything like the classes in human schools. Though they were historical in a way, it was nothing like what teachers in regular classes taught their students. No, this was deep magic; this was the knowledge, the key to the throne of the greatest kingdom in the universe. And Ramiel felt privileged to teach me everything that he knew.

  Although it nearly broke them, it was nevertheless within the rules of the realm that I would succeed. I would have the upper hand.

  “I told her that we were meant to be together,” I whispered softly.

  “Why did you tell her that?”

  “Isn’t it the truth?” I remarked, flaring my eyes at Ramiel as he bit down on his lip. “But he wants to stop me. They both do,” I said again, under my breath.

  “Who else do you mean?”

  “Nathan! My bastard of a father. The illusion of a father set up to stop me. He’s standing in my way. Sophia loves him more than she loves me. I can’t compete with him. We must get rid of him. He’ll return soon. My chance to pursue Sophia will be ruined if he’s around to interfere.”