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

by J. D. Stonebridge

  “Ariel…” He whispered the name. Then, the darkness returned, and Caelum found himself out of the shadows and in the open. A blond angel noticed him and took a swing at him. Caelum dodged the blade, then ducked as another came, aimed at his head. Two angels attacked him simultaneously, and Caelum kicked his leg upward to hit the first one in the stomach. The blonde angel crouched forward, allowing Caelum to reach for the sword in his hand and stab it into the other angel beside him. The angel screamed, the white blade buried in his leg.

  Caelum rolled to the side, holding the white blade firmly in his hand. He got up and felt a movement behind him. He ducked again to evade one more angel swinging a blade across. He pivoted to bring the blade towards the angel, but she blocked him with her own. Caelum pushed his blade down to counter hers, but his hand shook. With one push up, the angel had Caelum stepping back. He took advantage of the shadows behind him and blended in, leaving the angel striking the wall as he had already shifted his location.

  Caelum moved through the shadows again but lost sight of Azrael. A tightening in his chest and the heaviness of his limbs made him cautious. He was weakening again, and there were no sources of energy for him to consume. Hell has completely cut me off, he thought. Being a demon, he still relied on Hell for energy, even while he walked in the mortal world. And he could imagine the leader, Azazel, being able to manipulate the distribution of the energies amongst the demons. And he’s being very stingy on me.

  Something bright caught his eyes, and from afar, he saw light coming from the ceiling. Caelum moved away from the light, having less shadows to camouflage himself with. Then his eyes found Azrael, bound and defeated. The thought of hiding escaped him, and Caelum rushed forward in an attempt to save the Angel of Death. Not again, he thought, avoiding the numerous angels who blocked his way. Before he could reach Azrael, an angel pushed him aside, knocking him to the ground as a flash of light enveloped her. When the light disappeared, so had the Angel of Death.

  Chapter Eleven: Setting the Traps

  Heat embraced her as she entered the battlefield. The message she’d meant to deliver was forgotten at the sight of an angel driving a silver blade through a vampire's back. The pale-faced creature screeched as the silver burned its skin, pleading for mercy. Its skin turned black where the silver touched it, until the monster's screams were nothing but a lingering echo in the darkness.

  The young witch stifled a scream, but the angel caught sight of her anyway. Mikaela turned to run, her mind desperately seeking a spell that would hide her from the massacre. But panic drove all the information stored in her mind away. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and Mikaela ducked forward just as a blade flew in her direction. The silver weapon sped above her head, slicing a few strands of her dyed red hair. Her green eyes watched the strands slowly fall to the ground beneath her, the faint bronze tips barely visible.

  Caelum! She spun around, waving her hand to throw aside the angel that ran at her. The force threw the angel against the wall, knocking him out. Her objective in coming to this place came to her. In the chaos of monsters and angels, her eyes scanned for the familiar figure of the lone demon she sought.

  Caelum stood, shocked by their great defeat. With the monsters fallen and the angel that led them bound and gone, the allies he’d hoped for were now shattered by the hands of Heaven. The image of Azrael’s captivity brought him back to the cemetery where the angel he desired to free was also taken. Now alone with blades pointed at him, Caelum’s bravado faltered. But he did not wish to give up.

  Angels glared down at their natural enemy, holding their swords to his throat as Caelum slowly got to his feet. Daniel walked towards him with purpose, the familiar Zound dangling by his side.

  “Demon,” Daniel greeted him grimly.

  Caelum forced a smile. “And here I thought we were on a first name basis. Fortunate for me that we aren’t, though, since I cannot recall yours.”

  "Nor do I wish for you to, "Daniel claimed.” I regret the day I placed my trust in a demon. Now I see that you have only assisted us to save your own skin, then joined this pitiful rebellion that hoped to wage war against Heaven."

  "When you go around smiting their people for no good reason, did you really expect them to just bow down to you and shower you gifts?" Caelum challenged him.

  "We were not the first to strike," Daniel said. "And you know that. I was there, watching you when the shifter devised a trap for Ariel. The angel you took."

  Caelum's jaws were set tight. "I did not take Ariel. She was taken right in front of me."

  "Lies. You traded our sister for what?"

  "I did not take her, I'm trying to save her!" Caelum blurted out. "She was taken to Lucifer's cage and I am doing what I can to get her out before your boss uses her to free him!"

  Shock spread across the angels' faces but disappeared quickly. Daniel remained unfazed by his words. "And a demon lies again," he announced. "Lucifer will not be freed from the cage that God Himself created. And your accusation against Heaven will be the death of you, demon."

  “And your ignorance will be the death of everyone!" Caelum argued. "Lucifer will start the end of everything. It will be chaos when your archangels free him!"

  "Enough!" Daniel screamed at him. He lifted his sword at Caelum, his eyes threatening the demon. "I had intended to capture you, to extract the information from you and rescue our sister. But I doubt you will be cooperative."

  "Well, you doubt correctly," Caelum commented. ”Though you are mistaken if you believe you can capture me—"

  A familiar voice filled the area. Caelum's chest burned with anger as the owner of the voice appeared, flanked by two angels. She thrashed around, forcing her arms free, but a glint of gold caught Caelum's eyes. Wrapped around her neck was a golden chain. The demon didn't need to see the engravings on the chain to know that it bound the witch's magic.

  "Let her go," Caelum warned them, glaring at the two who dared to have their hands on his daughter. Mikaela met his eyes, alarmed by the anger in his eyes. She had never seen such an expression on his face; it scared her.

  "Another ally?" Daniel asked him.

  "His daughter," one of the angels that captured her informed him.

  Daniel looked to Caelum. "A demon showing concern for his offspring? How very odd." The angel walked over to Caelum, who did not move, unsure of what actions he could take without risking a blade going through either his or Mikaela's throat. Daniel stood before him, stern and mighty in his stature despite being a few inches shorter than the demon. "Perhaps now there is a chance for cooperation?"

  Caelum looked to him, piercing daggers through his eyes. He kept his lips pursed tight and his fists balled at his sides. His eyes looked down at the shadow cast by Daniel's body. The angel caught the movement of his eyes too late, and before he could react, Caelum stepped forward and sunk into the ground as if it were water. Daniel turned to see the demon appear behind one of the angels that held Mikaela.

  Caelum drew back his arm and elbowed the angel in the temple, knocking him out. He reached forward and grabbed Mikaela's arm, pulling her to him. But the other angels had taken notice, and the second angel holding Mikaela pulled out his sword and sliced it at them. Caelum wrapped an arm around Mikaela's shoulder, and forced her to duck. He drove his fist against the angel, then grabbed the weapon in his hand. Caelum threw the stolen Zound across the room, hitting an angel who was running toward them.

  "Take them!" Daniel ordered the army. The angels rushed to capture them, and Caelum tried to pull Mikaela away, but he could not move her.

  "It's the chain!" she warned him breathlessly. Caelum reached to remove it, but the material burned his hand when he touched it. A flash of light blinded them suddenly. Caelum covered Mikaela as the angels called on light to destroy the shadows at every corner. Mikaela stifled a scream, feeling the heat of the light. Caelum’s back burned against the holy light of the angels and he heard scuffles from afar. He tried to pull Mikaela agai
n, but she remained in place, the gold chain around her neck glowing brighter in his attempt, marking the fair skin around her neck.

  The noise was growing louder. Caelum could imagine what the angels might do when they reach him and Mikaela, and he began to lose all hope. Then, his ears heard a different sound. Grunts and clashing blades. He dared to look at what was happening, but all he could see was a large black shape blocking the light. It reached all around them, then darkness surrounded them.

  The pulling sensation of going through dimensions tugged at them. They looked up to find themselves encompassed by the black thing. Then, everything shifted, and the cloudy night sky appeared above them. Caelum looked around to see a railroad track stretched beneath them. He looked to Mikaela, who seemed to be as confused as he was.

  "Been a while," a voice greeted him. "Looks like you haven't been listening to my advice about staying away from those winged bastards.”

  Caelum turned to find a familiar blonde woman with her arms crossed over her chest. He breathed a sigh of relief. "Lili."

  "Hey, sweetie. That's how many times I've saved your sorry ass, now?" Lili teased him, but the effect on him was not one she expected.

  "What are you doing here?" Caelum moved to place himself between her and Mikaela, who still could not pick herself up from her knees, the chain imprisoning her.

  The female demon feigned a hurt look at his hostility. "And here I thought you actually missed me."

  "Lili." Caelum shot her a warning look. "What do you want?"

  Lili's expression turned serious, her eyes narrowing. Her silence fed on Caelum's doubts, and his eyes scanned the area to find an escape route for him and Mikaela in case Lili turned on him. Then, a smile spread across her face, sweet and playful as always.

  "Oh, Caelum dear. Are you really questioning my affection for you?"

  "In case you haven't noticed, things have turned around the past few days," Caelum said. "Can't trust anyone much when all the worlds are after your head."

  "Well, that's one thing we have in common," Lili claimed, confusing Caelum. She walked towards them, alarming him. Her blue eyes fixed on something above his head, but Caelum dared not to take a look in case she was merely distracting him. Instead, it was Mikaela who warned him.

  “They’re coming!” Mikaela choked. Caelum glanced behind him and saw figures flying across the sky, blocking the moonlight.

  Angels, Caelum thought. He turned back to Lili and found her tossing a weapon in his direction. Caelum caught it in midair and found a strange looking dagger in his hands. It had a golden hilt with a black blade.

  “Take that chain off of her if you want to save her,” Lili ordered him. “I can’t take her far with that.”

  Caelum’s eyes looked to the dagger, then Lili, and then the angels behind them. He gritted his teeth, his decision making time shortened by the approaching danger. One party wanted his head on a spike, and the other had the potential to as well. He looked into his daughter’s eyes, and she gave him a nod. Lesser of two evils, I guess, Caelum concluded, though finding it ironic that the lesser evil was a manipulative demon. He bent down to Mikaela and stuck the blade between her skin and the chain. With one flick of his hand, the chain snapped apart, freeing his daughter.

  “Come on!” Lili rushed towards them, but Mikaela moved faster. As soon as the chain was broken, Mikaela jumped to her feet, grabbing for Caelum’s wrist and reaching out for Lili’s before the female demon could call on her shadows. With one last glimpse at the angel-infested sky, the scene melted away around them and Caelum felt himself spinning through the dimensions yet again.

  The witch’s means of transportation was less than comfortable, as if Mikaela had rearranged their very molecular structure to pass through the dimensions until they reached her home. Caelum opened his eyes and was relieved to see the familiar, dimly lit living room of Mikaela’s house.

  Mikaela immediately pulled Caelum off the carpeted floor, kicked the carpet out of the way to reveal a painting beneath it, broken by scratches on the wooden floor. With a stomp of her foot, the scratches mended together, recreating the lines drawn on it.

  “What the—?” Lili looked around, then groaned. “Devil’s trap?”

  Caelum turned to his daughter. “You had a Devil’s trap made here?”

  The witch gave a weak shrug. “Yeah. Always knew it would be handy someday.”

  “Ha ha. Funny.” Lili glared at Caelum. “Let me out of here.”

  “No. Not until I know what you want. And what you know,” Caelum demanded of her.

  Lili let out a laugh. “You think I know something important to you? Sure, I’ve heard what you’ve been doing, sweetie. Trying to rescue that angel Azazel has under his finger, huh? You always had a knack for being different.”

  “Get to the point, Lili. What is Azazel planning?” Caelum asked.

  “How should I know? The bastard tried to kill me.” Lili crossed her arms over her chest.

  “What?” Caelum had his brows furrowed.

  “Yep. Just like you, buddy. The big boss-man wants me six million feet under,” Lili declared, sitting down on the sofa and swinging her legs on the coffee table.

  Caelum glanced at Mikaela, who frowned at the behavior of the female demon, but kept her silence. He turned back to Lili. “What do you mean?”

  “Azazel wants me dead,” Lili answered simply. “Guess he couldn’t stand my nosey-ness.’

  “What did you do now?”

  Lili looked up to him, slight annoyance in her eyes. She huffed a breath and confessed. “He gave me a job. Offered me something big in return. He wanted me to find this jar with weird writings on it. I didn’t know what it was then, he just gave me the description and the location where to find it. I got it for him, delivered it, and couldn’t stop myself from opening my mouth. I wanted to know what it was, and why it’s so important to him. I did a bit of poking around to learn what got Azazel into pottery. Then, I got caught and Azazel put a target on my back.” She ended the story with a childish smile.

  Mikaela and Caelum looked at each other, their thoughts racing with her story. Mikaela was the one to ask a question. “Did you find out what it was for?”

  Lili lifted her eyes to the red-headed witch. “Yes. But why should I tell you?”

  “Because you’re here for a reason. You saved us back there because you need us,” Caelum answered her question. “If you’re telling the truth, that we’re buddies on Hell’s Most Wanted, that means you need us as allies. Two and a Half Outlaws from Hell,” he joked. Mikaela shot him a glare for the ‘half’ comment.

  “Fine.” Lili leaned forward, taking her legs off the coffee table. “It was a Soul Keeper. For some reason, a demon who never gets his lazy ass out of that high tower of his, brimming with energy from the souls that are cooking in the pit, wants a jar that can store a soul.”

  The demon and the witch looked at each other, knowing what the other was thinking. The item sounded far too familiar to them, their thoughts returning to the last time they’d been in the cemetery in Kansas. Mikaela had used a similar item to capture the wraith, who they’d used to summon the reaper.

  A memory hit Mikaela. She tugged on Caelum’s sleeve. “Come with me.” Caelum looked to Lili, who waved them off. Caelum followed Mikaela to the kitchen, where she turned to him and explained in a hushed voice, “I have a theory on how Ariel will be used to free Lucifer. And based on what your friend there just said, I think it’s very likely I’m right.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Back in David’s house, he found this book that explained how the angels were created,” Mikaela began. “So it talks about Lucifer and Michael being the first angels God created, right? It goes on to say that all the other angels were actually created from those two. Meaning that the other angels are pretty much clones of Lucifer and Michael.

  “Honestly, I wasn’t really sure about this idea until she said something about the Soul Keeper. If by chance Ariel is one of
the angels created from Lucifer, that means she’s a part of him. What if they intend for Lucifer to use Ariel as his vessel to escape? The cage is only meant for him anyway. But if he removed Ariel’s soul, just like how I did with the wraith, and stored it in the Soul Keeper, her vessel is open for him to invade. Using her as his vessel, he can walk out, right?”

  Caelum was silent. His eyes were bewildered and his thoughts were wild. “So…you’re saying that Lucifer wants to use Ariel as a suit to walk out of his cage?”

  “Yes.” Mikaela said slowly, as if waiting for her answer to sink in him.

  His thoughts filled with the image of Ariel, trapped in the icy cage with Lucifer. With Lili delivering the Soul Keeper to Azazel, there was a chance that the plan for Lucifer to walk out of Hell was nearing. Ariel’s soul would be extracted from her, trapped inside the jar, while Lucifer wore her vessel to let him pass through the cage. His throat ran dry; the possibility was indeed likely. And if that was truly the case, he was clearly running out of time.

  He tightened his fists at his side and noticed the dagger from Lili that he was still clutching. He stared at the black blade, reminding him of what Azrael told him moments before the angels had invaded. How fateful it was that he’d crossed paths with the female demon again, just as he had lost his most formidable ally. Caelum turned, marching back to the living room and alerting Lili to sit up from the couch.

  “Do you know how to get inside Lucifer’s cage?” he asked.

  “Yeah…” Lili answered, her eyes suspicious. “Why?”

  “Because I need to go there. Soon,” Caelum announced, gripping the dagger in his hand. “We’re gonna stop the greatest prison break in history.”

  Bound by the engravings on the ropes tied to her hands, Azrael still kept her head high and her eyes straight. Angels flocked around them as she was ushered towards the doors to Raphael’s tower, to be judged for her so-called crimes. She did not wish to show any sign of weakness to her brothers and sisters, knowing that she had done what was right.