Excerpt: Dark Blood

“Why are you doing this?” I whimpered, pulling myself to my knees.

“Lucifer wants out of Hell, and I will see to it that he remains there for what he did to me.” The demon seethed.

“I don’t understand. What does any of this have to do with Lilith?”

“Are you so daft? Lilith was just a means to an end. Getting you here was all that mattered. Your little demon general means so much to you, I knew you would do what you could to save her. So much like your pathetic mother.”

I tried not to ask another question, I hurt something bad, and all I could think of was lying down and going to sleep. “What did Lucifer do to you that you want revenge on him?”

“Ah, there we go, you aren’t so stupid after all.” He seemed proud that I figured it out. “He stole what was mine and I will take out his precious little daughter and his way to freedom to exact my revenge.”

I was royally screwed. My death was impossible to escape. If it wasn’t this lunatic trying to kill me, it would be Michael hunting me down and killing me. What a perfect life. I was going to spend the remainder of my life – what little of that I might have – in hiding. No more of this bullshit. No more near deaths, or comas, no more falling into Hell or people’s minds. Two months of being a demon and already I was ready to give up and hide.

As I pulled myself to my knees, I was immediately bombarded with spell after spell, knocking me back down. He was not going to let us, I realized. This was how I was going to die. In the mind of a demon being slowly burned by magic I had no idea how to control or stop. As green flames seared my skin, I screamed. My flesh bubbled and blistered, charred black from the flames that ate away at the bits of me it covered.

Whimpering, I tried to concentrate enough so I could stop it. Astaroth had shown me once that I could stop magic that was not my own, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember how. I could hardly breath as the flames bit deeper, melting my skin off. In my agony, I closed my eyes, and felt at peace. How the hell did that work? I’ve no idea, but my screams stopped, and for a moment I thought I was dead. But no, I was in my own head, but not really. I was still in Kylie’s, I could hear her yelling at me to wake up. Could hear him laughing as my body slowly died. Yet, all I could see was the soft golden light coming closer to me. This time, a face formed. Was this God?
“You are more than just another demon, child. God does not abandon his children so easily. He is watching you, waiting for you to make a choice.” The voice spoke softly, a joyful smile on her face.

“What sort of choice?” I asked, what the hell was going on.

“That I cannot tell you. You alone are the only one who can answer that. God is with you, always. Remember that.”

“How do I remember that when Lucifer is my father?” I called as she faded away and I was left in my agony again.

I could feel nothing of my body as I lay there staring up at the vast ceiling that was Kylie’s mind, but then, I couldn’t move either. Slowly, I tried moving my lips. They worked. Then I tried talking, my voice came in raspy croaks, nothing at all like my voice. The Angel had told me God had not abandoned me. That was a plus, would he see me in paradise then, my end was near, I was sure of that. Or would I find myself by Lucifer’s side?

Closing my eyes, I felt my tears sizzle away on my scorched cheeks and I began to pray. Words flowed from my lips that I had never once in my life spoken, and worse, they were in a language I had no right knowing. A warmth, like perfect bathwater, caressed my body, soothing my pain and healing my burns. I could move again, and I forced myself to my knees. Praying always seemed like the right thing to do in a time of dire need. If God truly still believed in me, then he would see me through this. I would not fail Kylie.

Golden light filled my hands, and as I opened my eyes, the glorious light shimmered through and around me. I felt like the Angel who had just spoken to me. I was part Angel was I not? My words became power that I could use, and I stood. The light formed in an orb, like all my magic did, and I threw it at the demon. At first I thought nothing had happened. He stood there glowering at me, yet, slowly I watched as the light ate away at him, destroying him or perhaps, simply returning him to his body and out of Kylie’s.

When the light finally died down, I dropped to my knees and sobbed. The cave vanished around us, and Kylie seemed at ease again. A glorious jungle expanded as far as the eye could see around us, with colourful flowers and birds swooping around our heads.