The Damned and The Pure Series: Books 1-4 (The Damned and The Pure Series Box Set)

by J. D. Stonebridge

  "I—"

  "Speak!" Ariel demanded him. Her grip on the Zound blade tightened, her hand shaking. "Tell me who gave you this weapon and what your group is trying to do! Making such claims against Heaven... I will not forgive such insolence!" She swung her arm and aimed the white blade at the doppelganger's throat. The monster looked at the tip of the blade, a bead of sweat trailing down the side of his cheek. But he still did not relent.

  "I won't say anything," he said weakly. "I'd rather you kill me now than let you win."

  "Let us win..." Ariel repeated the words through gritted teeth. "You say that as if Heaven has already waged war on your kind when you’re the ones instigating it! You attack an angel and accuse us of being the ones who are initiating the attack! Such low-lives as yourself are the curse to God's land, and yet you think of yourselves as the innocent ones when you survive out of the murder of those who are truly innocent! A speck of dirt like you should be eliminated before you can spread your disease, but Heaven has given mercy to your kind for centuries. And this is how you repay us!" She raised the sword as if to strike.

  "Ariel!" The sound of her name from Caelum's lips brought Ariel back to her senses. Anger had filled up inside her and she was beginning to lose control of her emotions. She lifted her eyes to his hazel ones. Concern filled those eyes, an emotion unusual to demons. When he spoke again, his voice was steady and his tone was familiar to the angel's ears. "Calm down. You will not get the information you desire in such a way."

  "I—" Ariel began, but brought down her eyes and said nothing further. She lowered her arm but her grip still shook.

  Caelum gave an exasperated sigh. "Very well." He loosened his hold on the doppelganger, and before Ariel could protest, he put his thumb against the monster's forehead. The doppelganger let out a short gasp before falling limp.

  "Wh-what did you do?" Ariel panicked.

  "I told you to calm down, didn't I?" Caelum said. "He's not dead. I just rendered him unconscious. Now that I've seen how untalented you are at interrogating, I must ask you to let me take over. What he was talking about also concerns Hell as well as Heaven, therefore, I am interested in listening. But keeping him here with only my hands to restrain him, hence restraining my hands just as much, may not get us any further information. So, will you trust me when I say that I will help you get the information we need?"

  Ariel studied him. His offer seemed genuine, however, she could never be sure. He might seem to have been helpful, saving her life even. But it didn't change the fact that Caelum was a demon and Ariel was an angel. They were of the opposite kinds, and Ariel knew demons to be untrustworthy. But she had no other options. Questioning the monster in Heaven was impossible, considering that she couldn’t take such an impure being through the gates. And if he is telling the truth... Ariel pushed away the idea as quickly as it had come. Faith was important to her, and her faith would always be with Heaven and God.

  But to become allies with a demon may be considered a betrayal of Heaven. Even if the purpose was to protect Heaven? Ariel questioned. She bit the inside of her cheeks, considering the few options she had. "What form of interrogation are you interested in doing? Torture?" she asked, disdain in her voice.

  "In a sense," Caelum admitted. He placed the doppelganger against a pillar and knelt down behind him. "But do not fret. My methods will not technically harm your prey. Not that much, anyway."

  Ariel looked at him quizzically and he returned her gaze with a knowing smile. He stood up from where he knelt, having created a binding spell on the doppelganger’s wrists. “Well, then. Shall I wake the beast?”

  “Do you not despise Hell as well?” she asked. “Why would you bother if you have no care for the world from which you came?”

  “Hell is not my home, sweet angel. Hell is the place that turned me into what I am now,” Caelum explained. “Like an ex-convict, Hell is my prison that damned me. But if you’re thinking that I’m doing this to protect my prison, you are mistaken.” He smiled. “I’m doing this just because it’s getting rather interesting.”

  Ariel was not pleased by his answer, but it was still a better, more truthful answer than she’d expected from him. She looked over at the monster, who was slowly shedding its disguise while it was unconscious. It had copied the prophet to lure them in and had sacrificed the lives of his comrades. Ariel remembered how it had screamed for the first beast she slayed.

  They fought for the wrong cause, Ariel thought. They should be stopped.

  The nameless monster slowly woke from his spell. His eyes had changed to their original white opaque color before reverting back to Maxwell Saunders’ eyes. He looked around to find Caelum sitting comfortably on a metal chair in front of him and the angel standing in the background. They’d transferred him to a lower floor where the room was near pitch black. But his eyes could still see his captors watching him. The doppelganger tried to move, but despite not feeling any binds around his limbs, his arms and wrists felt as though they were glued together.

  “How do you like it?” Caelum asked him, resting his chin on his interlocked fingers. The doppelganger frowned, clearly suspicious of him. But with the binding curse Caelum had placed on him, he doubted there was anything the monster could do to resist his company. They didn’t say anything just yet, only watched the monster squirm against his invisible bindings. The simple action of keeping their silence seemed to have a desirable effect on the prey who looked as though he might melt under Caelum’s eyes. The demon’s smile widened at the uneasiness of the monster who was desperate to regain control of the situation.

  “Is this your poor attempt at the good cop, bad cop scenario?” the doppelganger asked sarcastically.

  “What can I say, I am fond of those detective shows,” Caelum claimed. Neither Ariel nor the doppelganger was amused. The demon rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. “Although, considering what we are, we’re a whole new level of good cop and bad cop, don’t you think?”

  The doppelganger laughed. “The problem here is that neither of you are actually good. One is still pretending, though.”

  “Oh, please don’t mind her any longer,” Caelum said, taking a quick glance over to Ariel, who remained silent. “She has been having a rather tough visit here on the mortal land, and I can understand why she’s getting a bit short-tempered.”

  “A bit?” The doppelganger chuckled. “How odd is this that an angel angrily glares at me while a demon tries to compromise. This must be such a rare occurrence,” he said, then quickly corrected himself. “Ah, then again. You are conspiring with each other so I shouldn’t be all that surprised.”

  “Ah, about that,” Caelum began. “You keep saying something about Heaven and Hell plotting against Earth, correct? Could you enlighten me on what you know about this?”

  “Enlighten you?” the doppelganger repeated. “You’re still pretending you don’t know?”

  “Now, the problem here is that I actually do not know what you’re talking about,” Caelum admitted. “I am not saying you’re lying or anything like that. Perhaps I’ve just been out of the loop, given that I despise Hell so much that I took residence here on mortal land.”

  “You think I’ll believe that?” the doppelganger scoffed. “You’re a scheming demon. Like your girlfriend over there, you just want to find out what I know so you can use it against us.”

  “Hmm… I guess you’re right,” Caelum said. “Well, then. I guess I’ll have to change my approach, then. Care to give it a shot?”

  The monster recoiled but didn’t speak. Caelum took it as a yes and rubbed his chin with his thumb, smiling at him. Silence filled the room, the angel keeping quiet in the background like a mannequin. The doppelganger waited for something to happen, but when nothing did, he gave an exhausted smile and asked, “Was that a bluff?”

  “Isn’t it too dark in here?” Caelum returned with a question. The monster cocked his head to the side, wondering what he meant. The room was dark, only dimly lit by the mo
onlight coming from the cracked windows. Then, the doppelganger felt it. Something tickling his legs and fingertips. Something cold and smooth. The doppelganger struggled to look beneath him, and there he saw a black murky thing reaching up from the shadows on the floor.

  “What the—” The dark things crawled up his arms like large leeches coming from the floor. He pulled on the bindings on his arms, but it was impossible to break the seal. The dark things made his skin cold and muscles numb. He didn’t like it. He didn’t want to wait for it to reach his torso. But he couldn’t let the enemy win.

  The doppelganger released his hold on Maxwell Saunders’ image and reverted to his true form. White flesh, a lipless mouth, and a flat nose. Releasing the power he used to create the image, his body became stronger. But it was still not enough to break the binds.

  “Is this how you intend to convince me?” the doppelganger muttered with his lipless mouth. “I’m not afraid to die. I’ve said it before, I’d rather you kill me now than let you take over this world!”

  “Kill you?” Caelum said. “Oh, don’t worry. I don’t intend to kill you. Just… send you somewhere.”

  “What? What do you mean?” he asked. The dark things were reaching up his arms and waist now. He felt as if they were made out of fear. And fear was taking over him just as it was.

  “Do you know what happens to souls after they leave their physical body?” Caelum inquired curiously. The doppelganger looked up, biting down the fear taking over him. He couldn’t answer the demon’s question. Caelum explained like a professor to a slow pupil. “Contrary to popular belief, souls don’t just go to Heaven or Hell after their physical form cannot hold them any longer. There’s one more place they must pass through before they’re allowed to reach the gates. Purgatory.

  “Purgatory is where souls are judged whether they will enter Heaven or Hell for purification before being reincarnated.” Caelum held a finger up. “Yes, there’s that third part of the process. The souls have the option of being damned, being in paradise, or being recreated.”

  “Why are you telling me this?” the monster demanded. The dark things had reached up to his chest and his lungs felt cold. His breath came out shaky and rough.

  “Because yours will not go through the same process,” Caelum stated, catching the monster’s attention. “Those things that are swallowing you up are shadows from the very pit of Hell. Once they have gobbled you up, you will be trapped in eternal darkness. No Heaven, no Hell, no reincarnation. Your consciousness will be plunged into complete nothingness for all eternity, even after the worlds end.”

  “What—” The doppelganger whimpered. “You’re lying.”

  Caelum shrugged. “There is no pleasing you, is there? Well, suit yourself. Honestly, I’m not exactly sure what happens in that eternal darkness since I’ve never been there. So I guess you’ll just have to see for yourself.”

  “Enough of this,” Ariel finally spoke. She walked over behind Caelum and looked the monster in the eye. “I am an angel of God with the duty of protecting this mortal land. I have no love for mortals or for your kind, but my loyalty is with God who created us all. You accuse me of plotting to destroy God’s creation, but you are mistaken. Despite my hatred for these creatures that defiled God’s land, I will not lay a hand on them unless God Himself commands it. So, if you know something about a scheme that threatens His creations, speak now and I will put a stop to this.”

  The doppelganger gritted his sharp teeth. The shadows were nearing his neck; undoubtedly, they would choke him. He stared at the angel before him, anger and confusion fighting in his mind.

  Death was nothing he feared, but an eternal emptiness was different. An eternity of being lost in the darkness sent terror to his cold and tired bones as the shadows gripped at his neck. If he were to be devoured, he would have an eternity of nothing. Despite all his efforts, he would only be rewarded with torment. Death was a better alternative.

  “Better hurry now,” Caelum reminded him. The shadows scraped his cheek. His white skin was covered in the cold black shadow, and he would have shivered if he were allowed to move at all.

  “Tell us!” Ariel demanded again. “Tell us who gave you the blade and who gave you such information!”

  “A fallen angel!” the doppelganger yelled in desperation at the last moment before the shadows shut his lips. His eyes widened, begging for them to pull away the shadows. But the angel in front of him stood still with eyes as wide as his.

  Chapter Eleven: A Forsaken Affair

  Confusion dawned on the angel who demanded answers. As Caelum pulled away the shadows from the doppelganger’s body, Ariel was desperate to know more. She reached down and pulled on the collar of the monster’s shirt. Her grip was tight but shaky, and through gritted teeth, she asked, “What did you say?”

  The monster coughed. “A fallen angel gave me the blade,” he confessed again.

  “That’s impossible!” Ariel denied. “An angel stripped of his wings is still faithful to Heaven! How could one of us not only spread lies about Heaven’s intentions but even give away the one weapon that had the potential to kill us?”

  “I told you what I know,” the monster said. “Now release me!”

  “We never really made that kind of deal, you know?” Caelum said from behind, standing up with his hands in his pockets. “I did release you from the shadows, but you still owe us an explanation.”

  “What?”

  “Who is this angel you claim gave you the weapon?” Ariel demanded. “Give me a name!”

  “I don’t know his name! All I know is that he’s a fallen angel.”

  “Lies!” Ariel accused. “What are you really aiming for? What do you have to gain by instigating a war such as this?”

  “I have no intentions of that, you hypocrite,” the doppelganger said. “The world will come to an end as we know it soon; waging a war at this time is just meaningless.”

  “Then why!”

  “To hold you off!” The doppelganger screamed back. “It will be you and your kind who will bring this world to an end. But we won’t let you do that without a fight!”

  “You!”

  “For the sake of the world,” the doppelganger said. “I hope you two are speaking the truth that you have no idea about this; that there are no angels and demons plotting to destroy us here. But I won’t be waiting here to find out.”

  “Wait—”

  “I’ll be killed anyway. I rather it by my own hand,” the doppelganger announced. “At least I know where I’m going. And it’s not in an eternal darkness.”

  With a twist of his own neck and a loud crack, the monster broke his own neck, Ariel and Caelum too late to prevent the monster from taking his own life. The white bald head of the nameless monster hung awkwardly forward, unmoving.

  The angel stared with wide eyes at the limp body of the monster they’d interrogated. A haunted feeling overcame her, and she wasn’t certain if it was due to the death of the doppelganger or the possibility that he had told the truth. A fallen angel? A brother of ours who has been cast out of Heaven. Could it be possible? But why? As soon as she thought of the questions, the answer came to her. Revenge.

  “Well, that was rather anticlimactic,” Caelum sighed. “This building is about to be demolished anyway. We can just leave him here, and the humans can find the remains by themselves. I’m certain we will hear about it on the news in a few days.”

  “Do you believe him?” Ariel asked.

  Caelum looked at her with concern. The angel’s eyes were cast down, her face emotionless. But behind the facade, Caelum could tell the troubles in her mind. An angel questioning her faith is such a depressing sight, he thought.

  “I’m not really sure,” Caelum admitted. “I’d like to see what happens though. Whether he was lying or not, things are gonna get interesting eventually.”

  Ariel lifted her eyes to him. Her sapphire eyes seemed illuminated amidst the darkness. Sad, confused, doubting. Such a depressingly b
eautiful sight, indeed. Caelum stared back at her.

  When Ariel looked away first, she asked a question Caelum never thought she would. “Should I report this to Heaven?”

  Caelum’s jaw hung open, eyebrows raised high. “Wh— You’re asking me?”

  Ariel grunted. “Do not be so full of yourself, demon. I was merely speaking my thoughts aloud.”

  “Ah,” Caelum frowned. “And here I thought we were on a first name basis.”

  “Tell me,” Ariel said in a serious tone. “Did you really have anything to do with what happened to the prophet?”

  “Would you truly believe me if I answered that question?”

  The angel was silent for a few moments. The cold night wind whistled through the cracks of the windows all around them, and the lifeless form of the doppelganger added to the eerie atmosphere. Caelum waited for her, not wanting to interrupt whatever thoughts were running in her mind. He didn’t feel remorse for all he had done, but he did feel a growing concern for the angel beside him. And of course, the one I would be concerned about is my natural enemy. Caelum smiled to himself.

  “Are you acquainted with any other monsters?” Ariel asked him, glancing at the still figure.

  “Sadly, no,” Caelum answered. “I was actually only following this one because of the disguise he assumed. Oh,” Caelum suddenly remembered. “I do know one, but I have high doubts you’ll get any information out of her.”

  “Give me her location,” Ariel requested. “I will persuade her to speak.”

  “What I am saying is that I doubt she’d be involved in matters such as these. She’s a bit of a recluse, really,” Caelum explained.

  Ariel was quiet again for a few moments. She studied the blade she’d retrieved from the monster and thought of taking it to Heaven. Perhaps they would help her track down the fallen angel who’d originally owned the weapon.

  No, I cannot do that, Ariel concluded. “Alright, I will find my own way. I will bring this fallen angel to justice by myself.”