Purgatorial

Even after numbness claimed my vocal chords, I screamed. There was nothing more horrifying than seeing the person you loved, the person you'd die for, in pain. It had to hurt, Cam twisted and tensed, did all those things so he wouldn't make a sound. He wouldn't give Uriel, the crazy-ass Archangel, the sweet satisfaction.

I was left to watch helplessly from behind improvised bars. They formed a circular cage, knotting above me. The roots were thicker than my scrawny arms, maybe as thick as Cameron's. To top it off, they had spikes—sharp, wooden thorns Uriel willed to grow.

Finally, after what felt like a decade of torture, Uriel lifted her foot off Cam's hand. She'd already forced his thumb to break by bending backwards, now she'd probably broken every little bone in his left hand. As she backed up one step, no finger twitched. Cam's hand laid on the grass, unmoving. He could move his arm, but didn't. I bit my lip, forcing myself from our bond, dialing down his emotions so I could think straight. There had to be something I could do, someway I could break free...

"You wouldn't have guessed how I found you in a million years." Uriel waved a hand causing the ground to shake. I carefully gripped the roots where spikes didn't pop out, so I wouldn't be thrown against death. Cam barely kept himself on his knees, hunching a bit, cursing. Behind Uriel, the grass parted in tufts. More roots came, engorging, but these ones didn't form a cage. They twisted together in complicated, intricate knots, forming a seat and then a back.

The tremors stopped once what looked like an office chair, made by nature, was shaped. Uriel took a seat crossing a leg.

"I think you've met Cain?" I paled at the name. "I know you have. He told me. Since you fools didn't seem to know where Lucifer took that abomination of his, you stopped being of use to him."

"Cain," Cameron heaved, taking a quick breather. "You're working with him?"

"I wouldn't call it that. It's more like, I scratch his back, he scratches mine. Cain didn't need you anymore, he's been gone for two days now. Why? Because I told him where Lucifer and the Nephilim are. How do I know?" Uriel lifted a hand. "It's easy. He can't go back to Hell without being trapped—again. So where is a safe place on Earth? How about a city that's veiled? Any supernatural creature inside such city goes unnoticed."

Her eyes turned shades of brown, skipping to me as a startling realization struck me.

"Let's add another rule," I seethed as she smirked cruelly. "I'm going to ask you questions and if your answers are wrong, he'll pay for it. Sounds interesting, doesn't it?"

"No," I hurried to say, heart squeezing tightly. I grabbed the roots tighter, wishing the new amount of Power had developed into super-strength, not a healing factor. "No, don't do that."

But Uriel could care less about my pleads.

"What city am I talking about?"

Okay, easy one. There was only one city I knew of with that particular safety-net, I felt stupid for not thinking of it before. Especially since Lucas ordered a Witch to put up a veil for my family's sake.

"San Diego."

Cam looked over a shoulder, his skin looked stretched too thin over his bones, like at any given moment it would crack. His eyes sought mine, holding on, drawing all the comfort and solace I could offer.

"Right," she said, but we remained looking at each other. "Why is Heaven after him?"

A frown shaped my face. Was she giving me a warm up? Like she'd done with Cam?

"Because somehow you found out he accidentally killed his father." I stamped the word for good measure and didn't miss the small, sad smile fleeing across Cam's lips. "You told Michael, and I guess he's as heartless as you are."

The smile gripping Uriel's lips was too wide, unless she was taking pride in what she'd done, turning Michael and the entire Angel army on Cameron's ass. A finger lifted, swaying side-to-side as a tsking sound left her.

"Wrong," she sung and Cameron's good arm—hand—shot to his left shoulder, pressing it tightly. He doubled over, gritting his teeth. Confusion took up residence in me. "Forcing muscle to tear is always so much more..." I shuddered, closing my eyes tightly. Cam screamed—yelled, really. It was a deep, wounded sound. "Fun."

Cameron's lower legs moved, she was no longer keeping their muscles from obeying him. He used them to roll onto his right side, holding his left shoulder. I got a good look at his hand and it... it looked deformed, broken bones were poking at the wrong places. Leftovers of lunch swam uneasily in my stomach, I smacked a hand over my mouth.

"Please..." I began wobbly. Uriel talked over me, still sitting on her earthly throne.

"I didn't even finish tearing the tissue, there's still a little left untouched." She informed, pensive.

Pulling eyes on her, I said shakily, "My answer was right. Raphael came with others, he said—"

"Yes, yes. That was true. But here's the fun part, little dear," she linked her fingers, beaming. "He was tricked into coming here, into bringing an army and delivering a message from Michael. Because this..." her fingers waved and dirt floated from the ground. Soil formed a small tornado, then the particles came together, filling in spaces, compacting. "This was the Michael he saw."

I'd heard stories from the Bible, how God allegedly created Adam, the first human, from "dust of the ground" but I'd never believed it. Of course, back then, I never dreamed Angels were real, either. But this... Yeah, this ranked high on the 'things that blow my mind' list.

Before us, was an identical copy of Lucas. Well, almost. This version had a tattoo spreading from his chest to the right cheek. It was a dragon. Its scales varied between blue and gold. The dragon's head and long neck began on the right cheek, stretching down the front of his neck and going lower. Its belly was visible, as was a wing etched on Michael's peck.

"Life comes from the earth, and I control it, so I can create whatever I see fit. Of course this—" She pointed at fake Michael who hadn't moved. His eyes were silvery, like his brother's, and his hair deep brown. "This is a puppet without a soul. It can't move on its own, I have to control it. Luckily, I've spent enough centuries with Michael. I know his voice, his gestures. It was quite easy fooling Raphael."

"I... I don't understand."

Uriel closed her fist viciously. Michael's look-alike cracked, crumbling into dust and dirt. She leaned towards Cam.

"It's staring you in the face!" She hissed, throwing up her hands. "Michael—the real one—never ordered Raphael to chain you and drag you to Trial. When I told him what I'd learned—that you'd killed Gabriel—he didn't care. He said accidents happened and sometimes they were tragic. After I left him, I came up with a plan. I created a copy of him, like you just saw, and found Raphael. That copy gave out the order."

My thoughts mimicked Cameron's early words. I didn't understand. Heaven... Michael hadn't sentenced Cameron to a mortal Trial? Raphael had been... fooled? This made no sense.

"Why?" I asked.

Uriel glanced at me as if I were dumber than a sack of potatoes.

"Why? Well, for starters, I was angry. Lucifer nearly tore off my wing. Do you know how long it takes for them to heal?" she scoffed, reclining in her made-up throne. "And because Cain needed you to find Etna. He needed you to be off the Virtues' radar. Because if you weren't, Michael would've come and tried to stop you. And not because of Lucifer getting his whore back, no. Etna can do more than redeem Fallens, Michael knows it. Cain knows it. It's why he didn't want her walking around. Michael knows what might happen if Etna falls into the wrong hands."

She wet her lips.

"When Raphael returned to Heaven with the remaining Angels, he went to see Michael. Imagine Michael's surprise when Raphael told him what he'd been sent to do—and who'd sent him." She threw her head back in a laugh. "After that, I had to leave. They put two and two together."

"You set us up." Cam growled, breathing harshly.

"Yes, I did. But that's not all." Her attention shifted one-hundred percent to Cameron. I took the chance to slide the Azure Dagger from my boot, getting an idea. It was hard but... I could try cutting through the roots. "When you got to Etna, Michael was able to locate you thanks to that Warlock. There was no cloaking spell on him. The Virtues tracked your location and he was about to reach you, but you ran. You shouldn't have. He wanted to warn you about what I'd done, that I was a wild card in the wind."

Hope drained somewhere inside me. For days, Cameron and I had been pining, clinging to the thought of Phillip and Serena escaping Michael and... and we should've been hoping he'd found them.

"Your brother actually saw him. But he was so certain Michael wanted you dead... He fought past your uncle. He and the Witch got out, I can't say they were luckier for it, though."

I stopped sawing the bottom of one of the roots, blood chilled. Uriel groped a jean pocket, retrieving a dark pendant that I quickly recognized as Serena's. No. Oh, no. I didn't know Serena that well, the time we'd spent together had been focused on stopping a Succubus and fixing the soul switching trouble, but she'd also saved my life. She was strong and compassionate. She made Phillip happy. For all those things, she couldn't be dead. I didn't... I wouldn't accept it.

The talisman was tossed to the ground, landing close to my cell. Minding a sharp spike, I managed to slide my fingers out, grabbing the chain. I stuffed it in a pocket.

"If you touched my brother, I swear I'll—"

"Oh, I touched him." The way she said it made it sound dirty. Ew. I hoped she didn't mean she'd actually touched him. "This has dragged on long enough, I even lost sight of my game." A pout echoed in her voice.

I expected her to get up, march over to Cam and do some serious damage until he bled out. She didn't. Uriel continued sitting comfortably.

"Are you going to glare me to death?"

Cam's quip earned him an icy smirk. When I prepared for another ear-splitting cry, an all too familiar presence entered the clearing. I was taken back to my first school days, when the temperature rose for no apparent reason. Only there had been a reason.

Phillip.

He was like an apparition. Wearing a linen white shirt, designer jeans and brown boots. His hair was shorter than Cam's, messed up in every direction imaginable. The earring in Phill's ear glinted, my eyes shifted towards that gleam and halted on something that stole my breath in one swoop.

His eyes.

They'd always been vivid blue, like a powerful electrical current surged his corneas. This... It wasn't human. Phillip's eyes were incandescent. Just like... Just as they'd been in my dream.

Shocked, I barely saw I hadn't been the only one noticing Phillip's arrival. Cameron struggled to look over the good shoulder. A kaleidoscope of emotions filtered past midnight eyes, until only stupefaction remained. His gaze was plastered on his twin's unnaturally glowing eyes.

"Hello, brother." A smirk twisted half of his mouth.

Cameron blinked furiously, then started pushing himself onto his knees only to be kicked in the back. Phillip pressed down a heavy foot, causing Cam to crash on the muddy ground.

"Don't bother getting up," a grunt of pain dropped from the older twin's lips as Phillip braced his weight on the foot still stapled to the middle of Cam's back. "Our reunion won't last long. Just the time it'll take me to decide how to kill you."

Oh God. I covered my mouth in horror. No, this wasn't happening. It couldn't be. It was a sick joke.

Uriel began stirring. After short seconds a clack of laughter filled the woods.

"If only you could see your faces... They're priceless."

"Maybe I should burn you. It wouldn't be the fastest way, but then again, you need to suffer."

Curling his fists uselessly, Cam gritted his teeth while craning his neck in a vain attempt to see his brother's face. Phill's foot moved from side-to-side, like he was putting out a cigarette, digging further in.

"Phillip... what the hell?" he heaved in a growl.

"What the hell?" Phillip repeated, matching Cam's pissed off, confused tone. He was mocking him. "What the hell?" this time he yelled it loudly, a nuclear bomb going off.

Phillip lifted the foot trapping Cameron but quickly bent down, grabbing his twin by the shoulders, turning him over in an angry fit. Next, his fingers were curled on the wife-beater's collar. Phillip's blue-burning eyes drilled into his twin's.

"How can you even ask? You should know. You should be haunted by what you did—but you have to ask." He shook him hard, the Tee started ripping where Phill's fingers were grasping it. "You murdered our father, bastard."

He shoved Cameron onto the ground, hard. Cam's body bounced from the severe impact. He smacked right off the ground. Solid, hard ground. Searing pain jumped across Cameron's face as he tried to put weight on the right shoulder. His left shoulder blade... the muscle was torn, the hand—Jesus. I shivered feeling a lick of his pain and fear.

"You're a monster. Monsters have to be dealt with." Phill's hand swooped down, curling on the shirt's front anew.

Something worse than shock rippled across Cameron's face. Deeper than hurt. Betrayal. In a show of formidable Power, the sky darkened and the starts of a lightning storm began overhead. Phillip managed to break the self-control Cam had been honing for the last few days. A pure shock of energy surged from within Cameron's body, bashing Phillip straight in the chest. Cam fell to the ground as Phillip went flying, landing inches from my cell. On instinct, I slid the Dagger into its hiding place.

"I don't know what you did to him," Cam said, rolling onto his good side and lifting himself off the ground. His white sleeveless shirt had dirt patches. "But using my brother against me? That's a sure death sentence."

Uriel got up and behind her, the makeshift throne unfurled in wild roots. Suddenly, they stopped thrashing in the air and stood still, like sentinels, gunning for Cameron. His left arm and hand hung limply and the roots lunged for his weak spot, commanded by the Archangel. A bolt wailed down in the roots' path, sparking a fire to life. Soon, the fire stretched along their whole width causing them to flay before collapsing on soil, burning grass.

I shifted to the side, hearing Phill stir from his momentarily shock-therapy. I got as close as possible to the wooden bars, face melting into a mix of confusion and plight.

"Phillip," I whispered urgently. "Phillip, whatever she did to you, whatever happened, you have to fight it. This isn't you."

Phillip cocked his head, glowing eyes imprinted on me. On both knees, he leaned close to the roots. The shirt sported holes, blood splotches from closing wounds on his chest.

"The real you wouldn't say those things..."

I jolted backward when a strong hand came through, ignoring the spikes cutting along his skin, he grasped my neck.

"You don't understand. You can't see. I couldn't see for a long time, but that's over."

"Phillip, you're hurting me..."

His face stayed impervious as a thumb dug into the hollow of my neck, hooking on my necklace's chain.

"Now I see everything clearly," his voice sounded detached. "You're like him. A murderer. All of your family is dead because you couldn't save them." I tried shaking my head, but in the tight grip was impossible. "Not just them. You saw other deaths, you could've deciphered them, but you ignored it and allowed death to come."

"No... That wasn't..." He nodded blatantly. "This... isn't you."

"It is. It's the better version of me." He pulled his hand from my neck. A sharp pain hit the back of my neck, an audible metal click reached me and I watched the star necklace being torn and flung away as a result of his brusqueness.

Phillip was up on his feet quick as ever, his eyes were drawn to the spreading fire on the ground. Close, Cameron was making an attempt of dodging Uriel as she made several advances. A smile that had destruction written all over, shaped Phill's lips. The fire grew twice in height and spread at a quicker pace, like someone had thrown gasoline and it... It was coming for me. Slithering its way to the cage.

My scream for Phillip was lost as he zoomed up to the ongoing fight. I screamed for Cameron but it was too late. Phillip grabbed the arm with the torn tissue, yanking it. An animalistic scream pierced the air. The clouds above were darkened, making it seem like night had fallen. Forked bolts rained down, one narrowly missed Uriel. Phillip spun his older twin, kneeing his kidneys. Cam ended on his knees, facing me. I saw his pants abruptly stop when he saw... When he saw the fire lick just outside the roots.

I scooted away, bumping into sharpness.

"Nina," at first Cam breathed my name. "Nina!" Then it turned into a desperate yell and it broke my heart in a million pieces. Because he knew, I knew, I couldn't run from this. I was trapped.

Cameron shrugged Phillip's grasp, but a solid hand clamped on his left shoulder delivering paralyzing pain. Smoke wafted inside the small cell, I coughed harshly, eyes watering. A memory knocked into me as the fire clung, rising along the roots, burning wood, consuming it. My mother... I'd seen her die, seen light drained from her eyes. She'd been dead before the flames reached her, she'd died of smoke inhalation.

Would the same happen to me?

I protected my nose with the crook of my arm, blinking several times.

"Phillip, don't! Don't kill her. Not her, don't kill her..." Tears pooled in my eyes and coughing was inevitable. I couldn't believe this was how it ended. It couldn't be. I didn't want it to be. "Nina...! Nina!"

I wasn't going to die without a fight. Twisting in the confined space, I laid on my elbows, drew in my legs and smacked the roots that were, just now, catching a first lick of flames. I kicked them again. And again. Sweat gathered along my hairline, dripping, mixing with sooth and tears. I did it again and felt a spike nick my legs. Energy running low, I wished for something sugar loaded, like a Kit Kat. Although it would probably melt in this inferno.

A giggle bust out of me. Smoke was definitely getting to me.

Screams came from outside, but I couldn't see past the flames and the sounds were muddled, drowned by the dizzying sensations. For the second time today, my lungs burned, only now, it was twenty times worse. Hot smoke crept inside with each breath I took, causing thermal damage, pulmonary irritation and swelling... I knew this because of bio, and what caused it was... chemicals. Like...

Kick one more time, just one more. I wanted to stay awake badly. I wanted to say... things. Many, many things. I wanted to see Henry and Jade. I wanted... to find... Serena.

"Nina!" I wanted to... tell him I loved him. Everyday. Or just one more time, it... What were the chemicals...? "Phillip... stop... I'm begging you. To. Stop."

If I could... remember the chemicals, if I could keep awake for one more try. I needed...