‹ Prequel: Ethereal

Purgatorial

Chapter 10 - Beauty And The Tragedy

Nina's POV

Wheezing was my world's soundtrack. Somewhere far, deep in a tunnel, a sound like firecrackers played. Hotness swamped my body in a not so pleasant way and there was... more. Something kept telling me to move. I didn't get how, my body was exhausted, like I'd used up every last energy resource. My throat was raw, with every swallow I felt like someone had cut into me, replacing my squishy insides with sandpaper. But then... The strangest thing happened or maybe I finally faded away and went wherever mortal souls went. Because the heat decreased, seconds later, it vanished completely.

I slipped open both eyes, seeing everything fogged up. There were nothing but muddled dark shapes, until a force kicked the roots. They crumbled into ashes, covering me from head to toe, leaving me to sneeze and cough violently. A few got through my cracked lips. Hands dragged me from the cage. They were hard clutching my arms, but the touch itself felt careful as if there was no intent of harming me. I saw a human shape through watery eyes. There was no making out his identity—the person had man hands, though.

I was lowered on hard ground, still coughing up a lung. My airways were so raw that I tasted blood on my tongue. Rolling over, I laid my head on the ground but the smell of burned grass didn't ease my body's strain. I couldn't care less as I laid there hacking, trying to reduce violent shivers into small shudders. Colors and shapes flashed by too fast for them to make sense, voices were like static noise from a TV with no signal. An overwhelming amount of Power came from all sides, it wasn't just one trace. I could feel many, all great in size, all different in feel. But one among them I knew like the back of my hand.

I think a name might've dropped from my lips, but I couldn't be completely sure because when I cocked my head, the whole world swirled out of orbit and I crashed into a sky of blackness.

Cam's POV

Pain was easy. I knew pain. I'd known it well for the last eleven years. The physical kind, the emotional kind. I thought nothing would hurt like watching my mother's heart get torn from her chest, or worse, carrying the burden of having killed my father. The guilt from taking him away from my brother.

I was wrong.

Watching Nina almost burn to death... Yeah, that topped everything. Even finding her at the hospital after the car accident. It was worse because this time I was here. Present. Body and soul. And I hadn't been able to do a thing. My heart was beating too damn fast. Was it possible for a Nephilim's heart to burst? Like a serious heart attack or something? The weirdest thing was, I wasn't sure what I was more stunned over.

Nina was alive. She wasn't dead. She's not dead, the words resounded time after time, just to keep me breathing. She was alive, no thanks to Phillip. My brother he... he would've killed her. Nina. He would've killed her if it weren't for a strange interference. Because God be damned, he was the last person I expected to pop up. Actually, I hadn't expected anyone to show up because of the cloaking spells on us.

Raphael was here. But he wasn't alone and he wasn't the guy I was eying like a bug-eyed creature.

He looked exactly like Uriel's earlier model, the one she'd made from dirt. He was tall, dark brown hair with a pair of gun-metal eyes and a dragon tattoo. Its head was on his left cheek, the body went down his neck and disappeared under the white shirt. Two great wings spread behind him, the exact color of his hair.

"Michael," Uriel spoke my uncle's name in a sneer. There was a lick of fear in her voice. Normally, it would've made me smirk but Phillip's hand was clamping heavily on the torn shoulder tissue.

And Nina... The second Michael and Raphael showed up, all bright lights, the fire was extinguished. Michael hadn't even glanced its way—but I knew it'd been him. Raphael had then proceeded to kick the roots and pulling her out, lying her on the ground, making sure she was alive and breathing. Tilting my head, I felt an urge to cause Phillip some major internal bleeding. Nina was passed out. Her skin was covered in soot, her apple-red lips looked pale and every two minutes she broke into an awful cough.

Knowing she could heal did zero to nothing to calm me.

Michael's gray eyes moved from the brunt cage to the Angel-bitch. There was a second when my whole body froze and I swear Phillip's hand stiffened, loosening. Breathing deeply, I channeled the last strength I had to my knees and legs, pushing from the ground. My brother was caught of guard, stumbling back a step. Rounding up, I smashed my good elbow into his face, sending him down. Uriel was farther than before. Wise fear crossing her face.

"You've made quite the mess here, Uriel."

"You never come down to clean messes." She shot at Michael, edging backwards, getting closer to the circle of trees. "How did you even find them? They're cloaked."

Raphael was the one to answer, standing his ground next to Nina's prone form, "Cloaking is only effective if one doesn't take off the enchanted item. She's not wearing it." My eyes darted to Nina's neck. The star necklace was missing. "We caught a lucky opening."

Phillip picked his brainwashed-ass off the ground, wiping a lip corner. If looks could decapitate, my head would've rolled right off my shoulders. Pain sliced me deep, like an ax laced with Cambion poison. Hate burned inside him, brighter than his weird glowing blues. The urge to knock him into next month dissipated, leaving a lost, hollow piece somewhere in my heart.

My brother... hated me. He'd tried killing me. He'd called me a...

I didn't even realize I was shaking my head, eyebrows drawn together before I spoke.

"Phillip...?" My voice was lost in Michael and Uriel's conversation.

"What have you done to my nephew, Uriel?"

"Which one?" I could hear the snickering smile.

"Don't play dumb with me." Michael's voice boomed around us, delivering a chilling vibe of authority. "Phillip's eyes are glowing. You've fed him something of ours, even though you know the consequences it has on mortals."

"I think it's time to bow out. Haven Hills was starting to bore me, anyway."

"You can't leave. Cain put a boundary spell over Haven Hills—"

She smirked, "I've told you. Cain left two days ago. The spell's been lifted." Fuck. "Did you think I'd come here without the possibility of leaving?"

Uriel slunk into the shadows quickly, her skin, hair and clothes fitting in with the darkness the stormy clouds above provided.

Phillip sneered one last time before following suit. I took a step to follow, but ended up stumbling, falling on one knee. Lancinating pain bit deep, starting at my mangled left hand, shooting up my arm and ending on the left shoulder blade, where darn tissue and muscle had been ripped in two. At least that pain kept me from feeling the lasting bruises my brother added in several places.

There was moving behind me, then I heard Michael, "Stay with them." And a gust of air blew past me.

I didn't need to twist around to see Raphael. He came over, crouching in front of me. His hair was annoyingly tidy and blond, as usual. His eyebrows pulled together, creating a deep V and his bright eyes searched mine.

"What?" I gritted. I'd seen him wear this expression more times than I could count. I could bet Raphael was going to let out a...

He exhaled deeply.

...sigh.

I smirked in my head.

"I wish you could stay out of trouble."

I rolled my eyes.

"Trouble finds me." I muttered. Breathing a curse, I shifted some weight, trying to get up and not look pathetic. Another flare of pain paralyzed me.

Raphael looked like he wanted to lecture me on... Heck, he always found something to criticized me over. Guy was picky as hell. Anyway, he kept his tongue on a leash and reached for my broken hand. My first impulse was to pull back, but a warm sensation—kinda like sunshine—hit my left hand. Broken bones rearranged themselves, mending at an accelerated pace.

I closed my good hand into a fist. Healing wasn't painless. That bitch crushed some bones to dust. I wasn't even sure if... If I could've healed from it without Raph's help.

"Is she okay?" I asked, distracting myself from the healing process or from thinking about the last time I'd seen Raphael. This wasn't the time to be pissed and hail a bolt on his ass.

Raphael's eyes dragged from my hand to Nina. He nodded.

"She's alive." I knew that. I would know if she wasn't. She can heal now, the thought gave me some peace, but I knew Nina's healing was limited. It took her hours to heal bruises. She could never survive severe injuries, like, a broken neck. "She inhaled smoke, the fire didn't touch her. Her airways are probably swelled and it must hurt when she breathes, but nothing she can't survive."

I arched an eyebrow at Raphael's attempt of reassuring me. Champagne eyes ducked mine. Weird.

"I owe you an apology," he said, after my thumb snapped into the right angle. I winced. "I was tricked by Uriel. She created a fake-Michael—"

"She told us."

Raphael paused, lifting his shimmering hand from my newly healed one. I curled my fingers, stopping. They were still too sore to move. When Raph moved to my shoulder, the flaming presence from minutes ago showed up very close.

Michael and Lucifer were both intimidating. They were identical. Aside from the dragon tat on Michael. They're Power signatures couldn't be more different, though. And the glare in their eyes. Michael's were mirror-like. As if my emotions stared back at me when I stared into them.

"Did you lose them?" Raphael asked, beginning to heal my shoulder blade.

"Yes," Michael's tone was murmured as he stared at me for the first time since arriving. Or the first time ever. Before today, I'd never met the dude. "Uriel was smart, fleeing into the forest. It's her playground."

And if what Uriel said was true, she was long gone. So was Phillip.

Michael walked past us, in a slow stride, and my whole being tensed. Hairs stood on the back of my neck.

"She's alright," Raphael answered promptly, as if guessing Michael's thoughts. "Have you been staying at the barn?" Raph almost never changed his voice tone. He hadn't when we'd been ten and Phill decided to jump off the roof, breaking almost every bone from the waist down and twisted an arm. So, it came as a surprise that he'd hush his voice to ask that.

"Yeah," I hid a shallow breath as tissue pulled together. "After Phillip killed that Angel the ground stopped being sacred." The man who raised me nodded, deep in concentration.

"Who's Cain?"

Michael was standing in front of me again. Talking to me. For the first time. To me, it was like talking to the boogeyman. A little while earlier, I believed he'd wanted me dead or Trialed or whatever.

I stared at him with bewilderment, distrust and unease.

"Cameron," Raphael chided.

Right. Cain.

"He's a guy." Michael tilted his head and I felt stupid. "He's a really weird, disturbing guy. He showed up at school the morning after we got back from Devil's Cove."

"Disturbing how?"

"He's a psychopath."

Raph admonished, "Cam..."

"No, really. I'm not using the term loosely. He's the real deal."

"Alright," said Michael, passive. "He's a Warlock? You mentioned a spell."

"No. Yes. I mean, I don't know. He's... He has both things. He has Power and he can do Magic." Now, Raph pulled off a look that read crazy. My temper flared at his disbelieve. "It's true."

"I've never heard of anyone with both Power and Magic, I'm not even sure it's..."

"It's true," I urged, using the hurt to fuel anger. "Look, I don't know how it's possible or what he is. Here's what I do know: he's spent a lot of time in Hell. There, he's the leader of the Rebels. He ordered the attack on my family and on Nina's. He even got people who were loyal to Lucifer to work for him—and since Lucifer's been gone from Hell, he's been conquering it."

"He's gotten people to betray Lucifer? That's... worrisome." Raphael stated.

I kept glancing Michael's way, trying to guess his thoughts. Wondering if hearing Lucifer's name would pop a blood vessel or make him lay waste to Haven Hills' entire forest. He was statue still and quiet, eyes hooded.

"Do you know more?" he queried softly. Or what passed for soft when his voice was so damn loud.

I didn't need to rack my brain too hard, before I remembered something important, to show that the guy was a loony.

"He killed his entire family."

Michael didn't show surprise, "Anything else?"

Yeah, there was more. I could tell him about Cain's plan. What I knew of it, anyways. But that involved telling Michael about Cain needing Etna and... She was Nina's last blood relative. Michael already wanted the girl dead, why give him more reasons?

"No," I lied easily. "Unless you haven't figured out that Uriel has an alliance with him. They're helping each other out. That's how she found out I..." I stopped myself. Phillip's words from before swooped in, raging.

You murdered our father, bastard.

I shuddered.

"He cast a boundary spell to keep you inside," I nodded, suddenly numb and cold. "Which means he wanted something from you. What was it?"

"He..." I pushed on, getting a grip. "He just wanted to know where Lucifer was."

"And why would he want to know that?"

"Because he wants to kill him." I kept an unblinking stare as I fed another lie to my uncle.

Michael's lips curved. I almost fell over. Maybe the pain in my shoulder had become blinding, making me hallucinate. Was Michael smiling?

"If I had a dollar for each time I heard someone wanted to kill my brother, I would be swimming in money." Okay. I had no idea what to say to that. "Nevertheless, this Cain person is dangerous. If he has both Magic and Power, there's no telling what he might do. The limits of Magic are few and Power might serve as an amplifier for his endurance."

Michael's speech didn't register. I knew Cain was bad news, but right this sec, I was more worried about getting Nina home and get rid of Michael and Raph. The real Michael might not have sent Raphael and a small army after me, to Trial me, but it didn't mean I was off the hook. I didn't care that Raphael was being the closest thing to nice in his vocabulary. I trusted Angels as far as I... Well, as far as Nina could throw them.

Feeling the tissue lightly stitched together and the muscle pulling tautly to start healing, I jerked from Raph's healing hand without warning. He stared mutely as I forced myself to stand, repressing a groan when my left shoulder twitched. I wouldn't be waving that arm around for at least another couple of hours.

"Your muscle hasn't began healing yet, the tissue's only healed superficially, if you force it..."

"It'll tear. Got it. Thanks for the tip, though." Averting Michael, I stepped in Nina's direction. Her yellow top was ruined, dirt and soot clung to it, not even the washer could fix it. Her leggings were torn at the knees. Bending down was no good. I had to kneel, slowly, slipping my right arm underneath her mid-section.

Nina wasn't heavy, but my body was tucked out and hoisting her onto my shoulder made me heave. I had to channel Power to my legs just to stand. Michael was right there in my face once I did, though. I cursed under my breath, almost tumbling.

I thought he was going to bring up the fat, pink elephant in the room. Me killing my father. He stayed silent, dangling Nina's necklace for me to see. He stepped around me, hooking the necklace around her neck. Hmm, should I thank him?

"We're leaving now. If you come into contact with Cain, Uriel or your brother, be sure to inform us." Michael began walking towards Raphael, whose wings were already spread behind him.

"Wait," it slipped suddenly. Michael halted, glaring over a shoulder. Impatience colored his face. "You said Uriel fed something to Phillip? Do you know what she did to him? How can I fix it?"

Silvery eyes lingered for a heartbeat on the destroyed roots, before cutting me a serious look. It scared the crap out of me.

"There are some fruits in Heaven that aren't meant for mortals to taste. Those fruits were eaten by Angels after being born. They give us vast knowledge, things mortals can't understand. They shows us things mortals aren't meant to see or experience. Our souls are emotionally ready to handle those fruits. When a mortal eats it, it confuses the soul, affecting the person's emotions on a drastic level. The mortal becomes its exact opposite. In Phillip's case, his compassion became animosity, his selflessness was twisted into selfishness. Love became hatred."

Basically, Phillip was now Reverse-Phillip. Groovy.

"How do I fix him?"

A pause ticked away seconds that felt like an eternity. Michael shook his head.

"I'm not sure you can."

I opened my mouth, twisting all the way around, aware of Nina's head limply hitting my back. Dark wings, large as life, erupted from his shoulder blades, arcing. Then, a show of intense light started, leaving me blinded.

When I could finally open my eyes, without seeing spots everywhere I looked, they were gone.

Nina's POV

My eyes twitched gingerly. A slow burn seared my esophagus. I gasped for breath and felt facial muscles contort through pain.

"Easy lovebird, take it easy. You're safe," Cam's velvet voice coaxed. Big hands framed mine, clasping them with urgency. "Hey you." He used our little greeting, when blinking golden eyes rested on him. Cam was dirty; his face had traces of dried mud here and there, the dark hair was covered in a fine layer of dust, lacking its usual glossy appearance.

He caressed my cheek with the back of his hand. Even worn and disoriented, I found myself painfully aware of Cameron's state of mind. He was sitting on his side of bed, shoulders hunched, eyelids heavy with sleep and the white of his eyes... they were tinged red.

"Hey you," I rasped in a whisper. I heaved a cough and wished I'd kept quiet.

"Don't talk, Nina. The smoke burned your airways and lungs pretty bad. They'll heal, little bird, but try giving them some rest." Since not breathing wasn't an option, I was stuck with being silent.

Only I had to know how...

"I'm alive,"

He scowled tiredly down at me, before nodding.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you tomorrow, okay?" Cam's fingers ran through the short locks of hair. My gaze darted to the hand he was using. The left one. "I had some help healing, my shoulder's still hurting some. Nothing a couple more hours won't fix."

Help healing? I was dying to ask. Cameron's lids drooped, he quickly opened them, staring at my face intently. I saw bruises on his neck, angry purple marks peeking on his arms and the places where Phillip had kicked and punched. His Power was working slow. That's because he's using Power to stay awake, a little worrisome voice told me.

Looking down at myself, I saw I was in different clothes and cleaner than expected. Cameron had played a hand in this. He was still wearing the tattered wife beater and slacks. There were no words to describe what I felt when Cam showed his affection for me, but I wished he'd taken care of himself, too. Instead, he'd kept watch over me while I slept, making sure I was alright, not even sparing two minutes to wash his face or change.

Stretching my fingers, I touched his hip.

"Mmm?"

"You need sleep," my raw throat protested, but I pushed on. "You're still... hurt. Healing... slowly..."

A gentle smile touched his lips. Cam bent his head, minding the bad shoulder, and kissed the top of my head. Saying nothing, he walked to the bathroom. There was no door and I could see him reaching for scissors cutting his wife beater. Smart choice, otherwise he would've torn the healing in his tissue and muscle. Next, he shimmied off the pants and boxers, climbing into the shower. My eyes followed him. I could see him through the multi-colored wall, for long minutes, he just stood under a torrent of water, letting it wash grim away. There was no doubt in my mind this would've been much more sexy if I weren't feeling like a furnace on the inside, and Cam didn't look half-dead.

Somewhere between him washing his privates and hair, my eyes wavered closed. It didn't last, because the compelling tingles tugged me awake. Cameron sat down, now wearing flannel bottoms and nothing else. More bruising was visible now, there was even discolored skin where his muscles had suffered tearing. I knew those marks would be gone next day, but they bothered me deeply.

Phillip had made most of them. His brother.

Cameron laid on his right side, facing me. He scooted closer, pulling the covers up to our necks. He smelled good, his hair was still a teeny bit wet. It brought back a memory. The night we'd spent in a Inn, in Hell. The night Cameron came clean about his past.

That's when I found glazed obsidian eyes, read them like an open book. Everything in Cameron screamed he wanted to disconnect from the world. Cease to exist. To think. To feel.

This had been Phillip. His words and actions. Cameron blamed himself, but hearing Phillip saying those things it... it broke some part of his heart. I wasn't sure where to start fixing the damage, or even if it could be fixed. All I knew was that he needed me, even if he never asked, I knew what he needed.

And I gave it to him, no matter how much it hurt to speak and breathe. My pain was a tiny little ball compared to Cameron's.

"You're not a monster," I turned, slipping a leg against his. Cameron shut his eyes. I grabbed hold of his chin, "Look at me, darling. I want you to know this. You need to know those things aren't true. I need..."

Cam's eyes slipped open when my voice broke into a cough, sounding raspier. Great, I thought watching guilt wallow inside his black-diamond eyes, instead of making him feel better, I'm making it worse.

"Don't talk. It hurts you, I don't want you to hurt. More. Because of me." He whispered softly, slipping so close our chests were touching. "Don't make me the cause of your hurt, Nina, I can't... I can't take that."

Cameron dipped his head, hiding it in the crook of my neck. My hand shot up, fingers sifting through soft hair. He stayed that way for a long time, we fell asleep like that. But before that, I felt wetness damp my skin, where Cam's face was pressed against.

My heart fell to my feet breaking in a trillion pieces.

"You're not a monster, darling." I said in a thick voice, feeling myself choke up for other reasons than smoke inhalation. "You're Cameron. You're... Cam." I kissed his temple as he buried closer, clinging for dear life. "You're Cam."
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I really couldn't have written this chappy without having Cam's POV, I hope you guys enjoyed it! First glimpse at Michael! What did you think? Please let me know your thoughts so far :)