Purgatorial

Cam's POV

Being bitten by a Cambion the second time around was worse than the first time, if you could believe that. It was like the venom was scratching at my insides faster. Tearing tissue apart like I downed a shot of sulfuric acid.

"Cameron."

"What?" I slurred. Wherever I'd woken up at, Lucifer and Etna were present and unsurprisingly, I wasn't in the mood to think about how I would be spending my last hours sprawled on the floor next to a formerly all-powerful Fallen Angel, a clinically insane person—Cain—and Etna.

"Can you move?" Could I? Yeah, if I enjoyed radiating pain. "You're not dead yet. Look alive and move your ass." Lucifer barked in a hiss. "I need you to tear this off—" Lucifer jerked his chin down twice. I saw the silver necklace chain glimmer around his neck.

"Having second thoughts about your… fashion choices?"

"Good to see you're functioning enough to joke around. Don't be an idiot. Serena enchanted this to cloak me. But I'm human now, so, if you take this off Virtues will pinpoint my location. Believe me when I say that Michael's paranoid enough to have told them to keep an eye out for me." It didn't mean Michael would haul ass wherever the fuck we were. "Cain's not strong enough to have cloaked this entire building. Not in the state he is in. If they're looking for me, they'll find us."

"Big if…" a cough cut me off. It was dry. Great, I had organ liquefying to look forward to.

"Just do it." He snapped jerking forward—chains clinked.

"Lucas…" Etna admonished. Were these two really Twin Flames? Geez. "He is hurting."

"And if he doesn't hurry up and get me un-cloaked he'll be dead. I'd say hurting is a good option, considering." A frown showed on my face. Or a grimace. Lucifer made it sound like he was worried over my health.

Heaving, I pushed myself into a sitting position—a shudder tore through me just as I maneuvered my body closer to my uncle's. I stopped to catch my breath. Was it shallower? Last time my lungs started giving in first… I leaned heavily on concrete pillar Lucifer was shackled against. By the time my fingers wrapped around the chain, they were trembling. It slipped away twice before I managed to tear it off. With a small chink it dropped to the floor. Too exhausted to go anywhere, I let myself slump, eyes closing.

"Nicely done, Cameron." Etna whispered. This… was my fault. I made this mess. I handed them on a silver plate to Cain. No second thoughts, no guilt trip. Karma really was a bitch. I smiled, and it must've looked like a deranged smile, I think Etna said I must be having delusions or something. "…can you do… to help…"

The fever was coming in strong. All I wanted was to sign off. Argh. I growled against the person gripping my hair. My eyes shot open to see the blurry Cambion bitch who'd sunk her teeth in me.

"…you're not my type." I spat out, failing at glaring. My Power got triggered and somehow, I sent a shock rippling through her. The Cambion yelped, releasing me. I hit the floor with a heavy thud, head hitting the floor, cracking.

"Looks like you are strong," she grunted. She gave her brunt hand a once over, then looked down at me with scorn. "Don't worry, our venom hasn't failed to kill a Nephilim. Still, being stronger only prolongs your suffering."

This time I didn't answer. Talking smack wasn't the best use of my energy. Or glaring. My eyes landed heavily on the floor. Nina wouldn't come this time. Phillip wouldn't make a deal to save me. You finally got your death wish, I heard Nina's snarky tone whisper in the corners of my mind. Having her in any way, even as a figment of my fucked up imagination… it almost made this bearable. My ears rung as my body arched forward—I broke into a coughing fit. Blood raced up, pooling in my mouth. I spat it over my shirt and floor.

I grimaced faintly. The second stage was kicking off. I coughed more—like something was stuck in the back of my throat. A sound like an animal being flayed alive stretched in my ears. The Cambion turned, sniggering, and started walking off…

"Has Cain figured out a way to open the Gates of Hell? Permanently?" Lucifer asked calmly above my wheezes. The Cambion's steps didn't halt. "He can search every nook and cranny on Hell and Earth. He's never going to find the ritual. I was the one who put together Covens and convinced them to sacrifice thousands for each Gate. Those Covens are dead—of course."

Cass or Cornelia—whatever her name was—stopped short.

"What are you saying?" her voice was sharp.

"I'm saying," Lucifer's voice held too much amusement. My stomach coiled as more tissue got hit with venom. "There was a manuscript with the ritual he needs."

"Was?"

"I burned it." He said flatly. "But, as luck would have it, I've cultivated quite the long-term memory."

Her silhouette—all I managed to see—turned, "Why are you telling me this?"

Wasn't it obvious? Lucifer wanted to bargain with Cain. In exchange for the ritual him and Etna walked while Cain got the ritual and a new set of Twin Flames—Nina and I. Tit for tat.

"I'll make Cain a deal." I thought I saw Lucifer slid his eyes to my spot on the floor, a heaving bloody mess. I saw the devilish smirk turning a corner of his lip. Then my uncle fixed his gray eyes on Cain's little lapdog. "I'll give him the ritual he needs to keep the Gates open."

"In exchange for what?"

A cold sweat set in.

"He'll give my nephew the cure to your bite." What… what was happening? My hearing was damaged. "Give him the cure and release him—unharmed. Cameron won't be a threat to Cain after today, will he? Unless Cain's obsession with Cameron is simply too strong." Lucifer chuckled like he'd been told a dirty joke. "It's simple, isn't it?"

The woman cocked her head at the Devil. Looking suspicious. Across from him, Etna blinked surprised. Her lips parted—then stopped, curving slightly.

"Well," the Cambion let out a dry laugh. "I didn't expect that."

I waited for Lucifer to burst out laughing, yelling 'psych'! Nothing. Nothing except… "You should hurry and fetch your King," the former Fallen openly mocked. "If Cameron dies I won't tell him zilch."

Bearing a growl, the female Cambion spun on her heel. I still couldn't think straight after the sound of her boots clicking on the floor faded. Lucifer was… saving me? No way. He wouldn't. He didn't care enough—no, he didn't care. Period.

"…what's… you're an-angle?" I choked out, pressing a hand to my chest. It felt like the air was thinning.

"Angle," Lucifer drawled out. Chains rattled as he moved. "How can you even think of angles when you're melting on the inside?" Was he trying to be funny? Had I died already and was being punished?

"You cannot blame him for being surprised. I was, too." Thank you, Etna.

"Thank you for the vote of confidence, sweetheart." I knocked my head back—resting it on the cool monolith. Blood trickled over my eyebrow, slipping across my left eye. Huh. "If you're wondering why I didn't use this information to get Etna and myself out of this frying pan, it's because Cain wouldn't have taken the bait. He doesn't have long. His body is desiccating too fast. Why would he let a perfectly good pair of Twin Flames go? He's minutes away from his grand ascension." Lucifer snorted. "I'm not doing this to atone, Cameron, I'm not searching for forgiveness. I regret nothing. Because if I'd chosen differently I never would've met Etna." I got the feeling Lucifer was fixated on Etna because her eyes were without a doubt glued on him. "I learned long ago that unnecessary death only leads to more pointless deeds. I caused a lot of pain and death for millennia, more than anyone can comprehend, and after years of it I grew bored. I learned that you should only kill when you have something to gain. Your death now is unnecessary. I won't gain anything from you dying and won't gain anything from you living." My eyes shut tightly against the incoming nausea. "But there are others who might. Do you understand?"

I… Wasn't sure.

Lucifer shifted to look at me, "Listen, Cameron. You're not blind or stupid. Cain sees himself as a twisted God of death. Soon, when he gains and immortal soul he will be comparable to a God. Comparable—but never a God. He has weaknesses God doesn't have. His biggest weakness is his boredom." Warm trickled out of my nose. "When people like Cain are interested in something or someone they don't show it in the traditional way, do you understand? They obsess about it. You're one of his obsessions, Cameron." I swallowed blood, nodding, unable to make sense of what Lucifer meant. "You have to open Purgatory—it's the only way. A ritual like that, though, it'll take hours or days to prepare and enact. Cain has to be kept busy or he'll track the Coven and stop you. You need to lure him away—distract him. Do you understand?" he repeated.

I think I did. I meant to nod, but all my head did was tip forward.

"I am proud of you." Etna whispered after silence. I couldn't make out shapes now. "I regret that you spent so long searching for me and that… we had so little time. But I would never trade our borrowed time for anything—not even the years I spent asleep inside that Ethereal crystal. Not if it meant having a life without you in it." She blinked.

"Don't cry, kitten."

I blinked, and my right eye cleared up. I saw Etna less like a blotch and more like a person.

"Can you…" two tears fell down her cheeks as she sniffed. She lifted her head, sobering. "Can you thank Nina for finding me? I cannot remember if I ever did…"

"Sure…" I forced, voice dragged out.

"And… tell her I would have liked to know her. More." Her voice broke. I dropped my eyes. Guilt tightly laced snared me like a monster. Shit. Shit… "I think I would have… liked her." I stayed silent. Coughing. But wordless. Cain was taking his sweet time. Not that I was in a hurry for them to be sacrificed for a lunatic's plan, it was just… All this… It was overbearing.

Lucifer didn't add to Etna's request list. I thought he might want to say… goodbye. To Michael. To Romeo. I was reading too much into his last gesture. I wanted to keep the hate burning, because of everything I'd yelled out before, but it was becoming hard. Probably the guilt and exhaustion talking.

"Cameron?" my uncle broke the silence we'd been submerged in for the last… Hell, for me it'd been decades. I gave a grunt in response. "Just checking if you'd died on us." Thanks, I thought with wry smirk. "Sweetheart, would it make you feel any better if I told you there's peace in death?" Lucifer started like he was conversing about the weather.

Etna hunched her shoulders. The chains around her wrists clinked together.

"How would you know that?"

"I know a great deal of many things. I was an Angel and Angels are privy to certain things. Mortal souls fade after a while, they linger in a place humans might describe as limbo or the in-between, until their energy runs out. A soul's particles are scattered in that astral plane and one day, they come together again, forming a new soul. That soul is split in two…"

"And make Twin Flames."

"Exactly," I could hear the smug smile. "Although, I was trying to point out that reincarnation exists."

Nina asked where mortal souls went when a body was too hurt or too old to contain it. I told her nothing happened to those souls because Raphael always danced around the subject.

"Raphael… never s-said… that…"

"Well, Angels aren't supposed to share this type of information with anyone. Not even Nephilims. But I'm no longer an Angel. Or a Fallen, for that matter." He paused. "Also, I was explaining it for Etna's sake." Excuse me for not being deaf, asshole.

My body jerked. I coughed nonstop. I fell over on my side, clutching at my abdomen. It felt like something… came loose. Blood splattered cement as my vision grew with more black spots than a leopard's fur, I tilted to the side and—choked. I clenched my eyes. A big chunk of… me?... had just come out. It was a reddish piece smaller than my palm. The thing looked like a steak I'd gotten bored with chewing and spat.

"Damn. Looks like you're coming apart, too. We could start a club." Argh. I hated a lot of sounds. Pop music. Screaming babies. But Cain's voice was at the top of my most hated list. "I think that's liver." I focused on breathing. Nice and slow. It was all I wanted to do, ignore Cain and get myself through the fire in my body. "Cassidy told me you want to make a deal with me. I give Cammy the cure and you give me the ritual I need to release Hell on Earth."

"Sounds like Cassidy's a good listener."

"Ah, she's good at a lot of things." Cain clicked his tongue. "Alright. I'll take your selfless deal. Honestly, I don't understand relationships, but aren't you supposed to save her life? Because he hates you." Cain nudged my leg. "Normal people confuse me."

I heard a sigh and chains being dropped to the ground. I dragged my head, managing to look at what was happening. Lucifer rolled his shoulders back and forth before handing his hand to Cain. They were going to seal the Deal. Once it was sealed it couldn't be broken. The one who broke it died.

"You first," Cain said. "I wouldn't want you to break our deal after I heal Cameron. It would kill you before I got the chance to sacrifice you and that just wouldn't be cool."

If Lucifer had planned on doing exactly that, it didn't show on his face. The chains wrapped him up again, dragging him snugly against the cement column. My eyes drifted shut while Lucifer passed on the information. Wetness trickled out of my left ear. I shifted, feeling hazy. A strange sound made it out of me. I pressed my forehead hard into the cool ground. I was half-way contorting in agony, ready to puke, when fingers grabbed my hair.

"Time for your medicine." Cassidy whispered viciously, plunging a needle into my damaged neck. The cure. "Now stay awake. Cain's just about to start his ritual." I didn't know how or when, but I got dragged about ten feet away from Etna and Lucas. Cain was drawing something on the ground around them—in blood. "You're going to witness the birth of a new God."

The antidote was already spreading. I could feel a difference. My Power was starting to go online. But I knew I wouldn't get a chance to stop this from happening. Short of Michael popping in, Cain would become immortal. Etna's eyes were grave and busy memorizing Lucifer's face. She was brave. Lucifer's shoulders were relaxed and his lips were smiling lazily at her. Peace in death, huh? Cain was the only thing wrong with the picture. He looked about to drop dead, not them.

The hearing in my left ear returned little by little and with it, I heard Cain's murmurs as he went along placing things—objects—along the blood painted circles. My eyelids faltered. Only for a few seconds. Or that's what it felt like.

What made me snap awake was, "Promise me you will find me again…" and "I will always find you, Etna." Right before a scream ripped through the air. Light shoved its way inside my eyes. Everything Cain had laid out was burning bright. Etna and Lucifer's bodies were arching away from the pillars, like something was being pulled out of them with invisible pincers. Their souls. I saw the light go out in their eyes—eyes that'd been keeping each other company until the very end. The only thing on my mind was how much I still wanted to share with Nina and how little they'd shared. I wanted to leave this hell hole and hold her. Kiss her lips. Fall asleep next to her and wake up to her smile. I couldn't imagine life without her because I couldn't live without her. Lucifer and Etna died together, they wouldn't have wanted to live without one another. They'd been so calm because it was better to die together than to live on, alone, knowing everything you were missing. I used to think that one-liner "dying of a broken heart" was shit. Now? Not so much. To lose the one person who'd seen me cry, made me smile so Goddamned much when I didn't feel worthy of happiness, the same person who forced me to fight against all my doubts…? There was no sense living without that one person.

Not when they were the other half of your soul.

A burst of heat swept over the room along with a raw yell. Cain's head was thrown back and his hands were channeling something I couldn't see. He'd merged their souls and was absorbing the energy it created, like a miniature big-bang. Reaching in, I coaxed my Power to the surface. I could feel the damaged organs healing, internal bleeding stopping. Cassidy was standing in front of me, awed at Cain's stupid immortality achieving ritual. I wanted to rip her apart. Maybe then her grin would vanish. A ginormous boom came from outside. The Cambion snapped towards the door. Somewhere in the building I caught wind of piercing screams. Screams of death. That… That Power signature—Michael, I thought bewildered, throwing a glance at Lucifer's slumped body.

Michael had come but his brother was already lost.

Cain's skin glowed red. The guy looked like he'd swallowed a radiation tank. I could see the outline of his bones and organs. The glow flickered in and out of existence. I threw up an arm, shielding my eyes. The metal doors shook. Cassidy got a move on—and I hated myself for thinking it—but her ability was dope. She walked through a freaking wall. Like a ghost. She didn't stand a chance against Michael. I whipped back towards Cain. The light show was over. Cain's head was bowed, his fists clenched. I saw dead patches of muscle, lacerations, missing skin—all of it—heal. Envy churned in my gut. What I wouldn't give to heal like that right about now.

He shook his body out. "Whew," Cain opened and closed both hands, looking himself over with an appreciating smirk. "What a trip! I can, huh, really feel Lucy's Power flowing now and wow. This… is a lot." He grinned like a five-year old eating the first scoop of ice-cream.

The doors shook again. I scrambled to one knee once his eyes slid to it.

"Where's Cassidy?" he asked. When no one answered, he turned an expectant glare my way. "I know that face. It's the face of someone who's going to try attacking me. You shouldn't." Cain lifted a hand toward the block of cement where Etna's lifeless body was strapped to. He breathed out and as he curled his fingers inward, I watched the thick concrete dissolve—top to bottom. It became dust. Etna's chains slid away and her body thumped. "This is what I can do now. You have no idea how it feels."

I was warded. A direct hit from Magic couldn't reach me. Those rules still applied.

"You have to let me walk out of here unharmed. It was part of your deal with Lucifer."

"That deal's over the minute you set foot outside this building." Cain said showing me his teeth, sweeping his tongue along them. A creepy-ass smile I could've lived on without seeing. "I know that Power. Michael's crashing the party too little too late. 'Cause, you know…" he trailed off. Cain curved a hand around his mouth, pointing down at their bodies. He whispered, "They're dead."

"You're one sick puppy."

He shrugged it off. Cain pulled something from his back pocket. A rock? Must be a stone with hidden mystical abilities only Magic could awaken. I rolled my eyes. Kick in whenever you're ready, I growled at my Power. I took my eyes off the psychopath for two seconds only to see him drag a cut across his wrist the moment I look back.

I doubled back, "What the actual fuck?"

Cain's blood poured on the floor. He had to keep the knife lodged into the skin or, my guess was, it would close. The blood! It… it was taking a shape. Like a serious human shape. Cain was chanting some crap I didn't give two cents about when I saw the stone radiate. More light bounced off walls. Felt like an eighties' disco. Holy fuck. No. With everything that happened I completely forgot why Cain took Etna in the first place. And if he was alright with sacrificing her… it meant he'd harnessed Heaven's holy energy—the energy only Etna drew on to redeem Fallens. Torn between attacking the eerie, bloody figure that was looking more and more like a second Cain, I raced as fast my Power allowed ready to grab the shining stone. Cain's eyes snapped to focus. He dropped the chanting, lifting the free hand. Chains wrapped around me making me crash into the floor—hard.

Cain's chanting picked up.

I strained my muscles against the metal. My Power juiced up my muscles, but it was a pitiful push. This time the doors came unhinged and the only boom they made was from falling on the floor. I didn't need to stretch my neck to see who walked through the doorless entry. A giant flame surged from Michael's body, crawling across the floor, walls and ceiling, all converging on Cain and his newborn abomination. Fire jumped ready to burn them to cinders. It bounced back. Like they were in a fire-proof Magic bubble. It didn't stop the flames from trying again and keep fighting the good fight. My eyes widened—Cain jerked his face away with a massive sneer. Some sparks made it through. Magic wasn't invincible. My smirk lasted less than a second because the fire licking along the floor was so hot—burning blue—that my chains were turning fucking incandescent, blistering my skin. I squirmed left and right, flipping myself like an about-to-turn-crispy pancake. I braced my forehead on the floor, getting to my knees. One big breath later, I swelled my muscles, pushing against the chains. Another breath. I clenched my teeth. I felt some links giveaway. Opening my eyes, panting, I saw Etna's paling face. Her dead gray eyes. With a yell I kicked my Power into gear—feeling unhealed wounds peeling open—and stretched my arms all the way. Breaking the chains.

Michael was busy trying to break through Cain's bubble. Fire was licking his feet now... There, beside Cain, was an exact carbon-copy of himself. Dude was naked, too. Ugh. Naked Cain was doing his best to ignore the flames licking at his reddening feet and ankles, opening... a Portal? That thing could use Magic like the original? Aw, fuck. Sure, go ahead, make this harder for us. Because beating the shit out of you was so easy when there was only one. Original Cain smirked, teasing Michael with a grin and waving the stone before he walked into the Portal. The clone closed it before the flames broke through—sinking into him. The yells were frenetic, lasting only seconds. With a twitch of his hand, Michael made the fire pull away. All that was left was a pool of steaming blood. So, good news: the clones didn't have Cain's innate way of not dropping dead. Yuppie.

Michael wheeled on me—fire vanishing into thin air—that I stumbled a step, foot catching on Lucifer's leg. I fell on my ass. Heaving long and hard, I kept fixed eyes on the Archangel. For the first time since meeting him, his face wasn't emotionless. Far from it. I knew those pesky emotions flickering past his gray eyes. Weeks ago, they'd flickered across my obsidian eyes. When I saw Phillip's unmoving body, held him in my arms, crying.