Divine Dora

by Claire Chilton

  “A loyal puppy!” Pooey interrupted. “I like this game. Who’s next?”

  Kieron narrowed his eyes, scanning the crowds. “Okay, what about her?” He pointed to a woman who was giving clothes out to the poor.

  “Free marketing, she’s making a name for herself. Those t-shirts have her logo on them.” Pooey nodded at the golden t-shirts she was handing out.

  Kieron scanned the crowds, trying not to see selfish motivation behind all the good deeds, but unable to see anything else now he was looking through Lucian’s and Pooey’s skeptical eyes. “You’re wrong. There is good in the universe, the unselfish kind. It’s just not here right now.”

  “Okay, let’s take you somewhere else then. Do you want to see the Sinner’s Quarter?” Lucian asked.

  “Oh yay, I love the Sinners Quarter in Hell.” Pooey excitedly clapped his hands.

  “I wonder if they have blood cotton candy here too.” Kieron smiled. “Yes, let’s go there.”

  “Follow me, and keep your mouths shut.” Lucian shook his head as he led them out of the alley.

  Kieron’s mouth dropped open in shock as he stared at the Sinners Quarter. It was a large square with a maze of streets winding off it. The center of the square was busy with crowds, who were all watching the activities on the center stage.

  Over the heads of golden-haloed angels and past the occasional flash of white feathered wings, he saw five angels bound to racks, on display like animals. The angels tied to the racks were beaten and bruised. One had had its wings ripped off, which were lying in a bloody pile at its feet. The white feathers were stained pink with the creature’s blood.

  Kieron averted his eyes to the next victim, who appeared to have been flayed recently.

  Looking down to avoid seeing the destruction of such magnificent beings, his eyes fell upon Pooey, who was staring wide-eyed at the golden armored angel who was torturing the other angels.

  “What the fuck are they doing?” Pooey muttered in a hushed voice. “What the hell is wrong with them?” He pointed to the crowds that were staring in silence at the torture with placid smiles on their faces.

  “Welcome to Heaven, where disobeying an order leads to having your entrails ripped out,” Lucian said in a dry voice.

  Kieron looked up as the armored torturer’s hand exploded with a white glow of fire.

  “Oh fun, angel fire,” Lucian muttered.

  Kieron watched the torturer shoot a fireball at the third angel, who exploded into flames, his skin burning off as he screamed in agony.

  “What do those uniforms mean?” He pointed to the golden armored angel who was torturing the others.

  “Those are the Angel Guard, angel warriors who act as the police and army here. Apparently, they keep order.” Lucian rolled his eyes.

  “Are they reasonable?” Kieron asked.

  Lucian stared at him as if he was insane.

  “It’s just, one of them is coming over here,” Kieron added, nodding at the hulking beast of an angel who was stomping through the crowds toward them.

  “Shit. Keep your mouths shut!” Lucian visibly blanched before he straightened his shoulders and turned to face the guard.

  “Good morrow, citizen,” The angel’s muscles tensed beneath his armor as he glared at Lucian.

  “Hello there. What can I do for you?” Lucian asked, offering a helpful smile. It was an expression that Kieron had never seen on his face before.

  “What manner of creature doest thou harbor?” The guard nodded at Pooey.

  “Oh that, that’s my dog.” Lucian reached down and ruffled Pooey’s fur. “He’s cute, don’t you think?”

  Judging by the guard’s disgusted expression, he did not think that Pooey was cute.

  Kieron’s pulse raced as the guard’s hand rested on the hilt of his sword.

  Shit, he’s not buying it. We’re screwed.

  Pooey stared up at the guard, displaying his biggest, saddest eyes. “Woof,” he said.

  The guard frowned. Then he shook his head. He turned back to face Lucian. “Good day, citizen.” He nodded before turning on his heel and walking away.

  “Good work,” Lucian muttered. “Now let’s get the fuck out of here.” He guided them out of the quarter.

  “What the fuck was with the Shakespearean-speak?” Pooey mumbled out of the side of his mouth.

  “When their minds get wiped, they get uploaded with the memories of the original angels. I guess he got one from the Golden Age.” Lucian glanced back over his shoulder as they hurried down a dark street.

  “What, like recycling?” Pooey asked.

  “More like brainwashing.”

  Five

  Holy Mind-Fuck

  Dora stared at the solid white door ahead of her as she plucked a shiny topaz pebble out of the bowl on the table beside her bed. She threw the pebble, trying to make it bounce off the door. Unfortunately—because she was becoming increasingly frustrated by being locked into a boring white room—she threw it a bit too hard, and it embedded into the wall instead.

  Inclining her head sideways at the wall, she plucked another pebble out of the bowl. She threw a second pebble with all her might, smiling when it too embedded into the wall, creating the beginning of a shiny blue pattern on it.

  “At least I can redecorate,” she muttered to herself.

  She’d been scared when the angels had first brought her here and locked her in the room. She’d been told it was a prison, and in some ways, it was. The door was always locked. She couldn’t get out. She’d tried everything she could think of. After being in here for what felt like days, her fear had turned into boredom.

  The bed was white. The room was white. Everything was white except for the little blue pebbles. A little machine in the corner delivered fresh bedding and meals at regular intervals, requesting her old bedding and dirty dishes at the same time in a metallic voice.

  She had a bed and a bathroom, but nothing else. Without interaction, books, a world to look at, it was the most boring place in the universe.

  Occasionally, she started to lose it, freaking out that they were locking her in here forever, but even fear got boring after a while.

  Narrowing her eyes, she stared at the door. The never-ending silence was beginning to drive her crazy.

  Is that what this is? Are they trying to drive me nuts?

  The frustrating part of this was that she didn’t know what they wanted. If this was their master plan for making her into a good little angel, then they must be expecting to bore her into submission.

  She jumped off the bed and stood up.

  Enough of this bullshit. There has to be a way out of here.

  She turned around, scanning the room. The walls were smooth. There wasn’t a scratch on them. Well, there was now. Her mouth turned up at the corners as she admired her pebbles that had wedged into the perfect surface, leaving cracks and chipped plaster around them.

  She exhaled a sigh. She knew that her quest for a way out was a pointless act. She’d already searched the room a hundred times. But with nothing else to do, she decided to try again.

  Scanning the room, she studied the locked door, the blank walls and the impenetrable floor, looking for any possible way out but finding none.

  Expelling a sigh over her stupid optimism about getting out of here, she froze when her gaze traveled up the wall to the ceiling.

  Frowning, she tilted her head as she stared at the white ceiling. She’d studied it many times, never once seeing a flaw or anything in the flat white surface. But from this angle, she could see fine black lines.

  Walking over to the wall, she looked up, keeping her eyes locked on the lines as they widened the closer she stepped toward them.

  She hitched her breath as she stood directly under them. It was a grate, similar to an air vent. It was well disguised because the bars on it were angled. From her bed, the view of it was camouflaged. While standing beneath it, she could see that it was large enough for her to get through.

&n
bsp; It’s a way out!

  Smiling, she hurried over to the bed. Getting out of here had just become a possibility.

  She gripped the end of the single bed, dragging it with her as she backed up toward the grate.

  She winced as the bed’s legs scraped across the white tiles, emitting a painful screech that echoed through the silent room. Trying to ignore the sound that was grating on her last nerve, she breathed a sigh when she dropped the end of the bed under the grate, and the noise stopped.

  Glancing back at the closed door, she listened for sounds of guards. The corridor outside was silent.

  Fighting to contain her excitement, she climbed up onto the bed and reached up for the grate, breathing a sigh when she discovered that she could touch the ceiling.

  I‘m so getting the hell out of here, right now!

  She pushed her palms against the grate, smiling when it easily lifted to reveal an air vent. The hole was just big enough for her to fit through.

  “Please submit your soiled dishes.”

  Dora yelped as the metallic voice from the vending machine echoed in the room, causing her to stumble. Losing her balance, she waved her hands in the air behind her for a few seconds before falling back off the bed. Her breath exploded out of her as she landed on her back on the floor.

  Groaning, she arched her back, feeling pain in her hips and shoulders. She rolled over onto her side and glared at the machine, which was emanating a flashing red light because it wanted her dirty dishes.

  Pushing herself up off the floor, she stood up and rubbed her backside while scowling at the machine.

  Bending, she scooped up her plate and hurried over to the machine, dropping the dish into the compartment with narrowed eyes. “Clean that, you fu—”

  “Thank you.” The machine interrupted. “Please take your bedding and nourishment.” A white plastic tray with pre-prepared food shot out of the top slot as a bundle of folded blankets and sheets dropped into the laundry bag that was hooked to the base of the machine.

  “Go fuck yourself,” Dora muttered. She frowned down at the bedding and food. Why were they giving angels food anyway? Everyone knew that only new recruits needed it because they had yet to break their old human habits.

  Her stomach rumbled. In her case, that might not be true. She wasn’t sure if she was a demon, an angel or still a human.

  She widened her eyes. If she was going to escape, she was going to need these things. She pulled the laundry bag that contained the clean bedding off the machine. Then she snatched up the food tray, dropping that into the bag.

  “Thanks for the supplies,” she said to the machine as she threw the bag over her shoulder and turned back to face the bed.

  “You are welcome,” the machine said as she climbed up and pushed open the grate before boosting herself up into the ventilation system.

  Scurrying through the vent was slow going because Dora had to keep stopping to adjust her bag. Wincing at the clunks and echoes as she made her way through the dusty tunnel, her heart pounded at the idea of being caught.

  Come on, just a little bit further.

  Peering down through the grates at the other rooms as she passed them, she knew she was passing over a line of identical cells. Some of the cells were inhabited by silent angels and others were empty.

  A shiver shot down her spine every time she passed a cell with a blank-faced angel inside it. They were all the same, wearing white jumpsuits and staring blankly at the walls.

  What the fuck’s wrong with them?

  She breathed a sigh when she peered down through a grate to find a laboratory. It was empty, but at least it wasn’t home to an empty-eyed angel.

  Slowly exhaling to shake off the feeling of impending doom, she continued down the tunnel, hoping that it would lead to a way out.

  As she neared the next grate, she could hear shouting. Frowning she scurried toward it, peering down through the slats beneath her.

  She widened her eyes at the angel below. He was young and handsome, but his face was contorted with anger as he shouted at the angels surrounding him. His arms and white-feathered wings were strapped down to a table, which he struggled against.

  “Let me go, you fucking weirdos!” he cried.

  “Joseph, you will feel better soon. Calm yourself.” One of the other angels told him.

  “Fuck you, Dr. Braindead. I know what you’re doing. You’re going to destroy me!” The bound angel cried. “He’ll find out when he returns. He’ll stop you.”

  The older angel, who was wearing a white coat and carrying a clipboard, shook his head. “Poor, Joseph. We’re doing God’s work. You’ll understand soon enough.” He expelled a sigh and then nodded to the technician beside him, who pulled a lever.

  Blue light shot from one of the machines and into Joseph’s chest, causing him to scream in agony before he slumped back onto the gurney.

  “You’re just working for the corporation. You don’t even remember who God was,” Joseph muttered as his eyelids fluttered before closing.

  “God is the corporation,” the man with the clipboard said.

  Dora frowned.

  What are they doing to him, and what the hell is that supposed to mean?

  After a few minutes of blue light floating into Joseph’s chest, the technician pulled the lever, turning it off.

  The man with the clipboard hovered over Joseph as he opened his eyes.

  “How are you feeling?” The man with the clipboard asked.

  Joseph turned to stare blankly at him. “I do not feel, major.”

  The man with the clipboard smiled. “And where is your God?”

  “God is everywhere. He is the corporation.” Joseph’s voice held no emotion as he spoke, and his blank stare was freaking Dora out.

  The man with the clipboard nodded to the technician. “This one’s rehabilitated. Who’s next on our list?”

  Dora widened her eyes.

  Oh, fuck no. That is not my destiny.

  She hurried down the tunnel, her heart pounding. She felt sorry for Joseph, but like hell her fate was going to be a mind wipe.

  Who are the corporation? Since when was God corporate?

  Shaking her head, she scurried on her hands and knees toward the grate at the end of the tunnel, focusing on the dim glow of light emitting through its slats.

  Please let this be a way out…

  She reached the grate and tried to see through it, but it was hard to see through the mesh. Gritting her teeth, she swung around and kicked out at it, knocking out the screws that were holding it in place after a few kicks.

  She peered down through the open hole.

  The glow was coming from the perimeter fence. On one side was the training ground of Camp Angel. On the other side was the wasteland.

  Her pulse raced as she heard alarm bells ringing behind her. Gripping her bag, she jumped down, dropping past the fence and into the wasteland. Then she ran as far away from Camp Angel as she could.

  Six

  The Librarians

  Kieron held up his candle and scanned the dark room, the candlelight wavering as a breeze wafted through the ornate open doorway behind him. He sucked in his breath at the sight of the main hall in the Library of Enlightenment. What he could make out in the dim lighting was a palatial room with stained glass windows and intricate carvings in the high ceiling. The mosaics on the floor were tinted with gold and pearl, and the long lines of shelves appeared to be hand-carved with marble posts dotted around the perimeter.

  He jumped when he heard footsteps behind him, spinning around to see Lucian lounging in the doorway with his arms folded.

  “Don’t just stand there. Start looking. If Dora’s still in this realm, the records about her location will be in here.”

  “What is this place?” Kieron ran his hand over one of the shelves, brushing his fingers over the spines of the books on it.

  “It’s just the main library.” Lucian shrugged. “The archives are over here.” He pointed to the
back of the room and then gestured for Kieron to follow him.

  “Why did we have to break in through a fucking sewer then?” Pooey asked as he wandered into the room, brushing dirt off his fluffy arms.

  “Keep your voice down.” Lucian spun around. “The last thing we want to do is wake the fucking librarians up!”

  Kieron and Pooey both glanced at each other with questioning expressions.

  “Since when are librarians scary?” Kieron asked.

  Lucian shook his head. “This isn’t Earth. The rules are different here. I’d have thought demons would fucking realize that given the fucked up dimension you come from,” Lucian muttered.

  “Yeah, but. They’re just librarians.” Pooey shrugged. “What are they gonna do, take away my library card?”

  Lucian pointed up to the ceiling. “Look up, and embrace enlightenment, little ball of fluffiness.”

  Kieron and Pooey both looked up at the same time. Kieron hitched his breath. He’d missed it when he first scanned the ceiling, but there were angels hanging upside down from it like vampires, their white wings wrapped around them like cocoons, their eyes closed as they slept above, guarding the books beneath them.

  “That’s just fucking creepy,” Pooey whispered. “What happens if they wake up?”

  “You’ll get to experience having your ass handed to you in a very uncomfortable manner,” Lucian replied in a quiet voice. “Let’s just find the information we need and get the hell out of here, okay?”

  Kieron and Pooey both nodded.

  Lucian turned on his heel and hurried down the aisle between a line of reading desks and a line of towering shelves.

  Kieron swallowed, trying to shake off the feeling of doom as he followed the fallen angel. He couldn’t help but glance up to stare at the silent sentries above him. Their hands were folded across their chests. The only thing that moved was their hair wafting in the breeze as it hung down off their heads, trailing in the air.

  He peered at Pooey, who was also staring up at the ceiling as he tiptoed through the room. The little bear shuddered before glancing at him.