Silently cursing, Cassie couldn't believe that Bible—the enigmatic evil figure who trafficked young children across the world for the past few years—turned out to be her brother's ex-commanding officer and mentor, Colonel Robert Tag.
By now, she assumed her brother knew. She took a deep breath and looked to her right, where Charlie walked beside her, the young woman's eyes fixed straight ahead, likely plotting out how she would rescue Kevin.
Cassie gave her hand a firm squeeze, and Charlie offered a slight, trembling smile as she squeezed back before closing her eyes. There was the faintest shimmer of air, indicating that the princess was using her powers, and Cassie felt the familiar weight of her powder bag pressed against the inside of her camo top, with her com-piece fitting delicately into her ear. Though she'd experienced Charlie's precise teleportation of her items on the plane, it still amazed her. The two exchanged glances again, and Charlie winked. Worry clouded Cassie's face about what was about to happen, and the princess lowered her eyes, scared as well.
As they followed the soldier, anytime they came across a door or archway, Cassie would shift herself to walk against the wall. She'd pass the door before she padded back to the center of the hall next to her companion.
She hoped the GPS tag between her breasts worked correctly so Brute could mark the path they were on, including her erratic patterns, and see the structure's layout. She also hoped that one of these doors would lead to the lower level and provide him with a path to the children.
Since the soldier led them per the Bible's request and treated them more as guests than prisoners, he didn't notice her movements. That is, until one time she tripped over a loose stone in the floor and let out a quiet "shit!"
He turned, raised his rifle toward her. "What are you doing?"
Cassie shrugged. "Nothing."
Unfortunately, he didn't buy her answer. He jerked his rifle at them, motioned them in front of him, and took up position behind them. As they continued, anytime she tried to subtly move toward a door, he would poke her roughly with the barrel and order her back in line.
After a few taps of his gun, anger rose in Cassie. "What? I'm just curious. You got shit to hide here? Not like I can take anything."
"You're wasting time. Just keep moving straight ahead!" The soldier barked and motioned with his rifle.
Still miffed, Cassie decided to have some fun. She nudged Charlie and quipped loudly, with a nod toward the man. "Ya know, he's being a real jerk. You want a snack?"
Charlie grinned when she saw her look. She drew her claws from her fingertips and bared her sharp teeth, looked over her shoulder, and licked her lips at him. "I am rather famished."
"She eats humans?" His voice broke.
"Sometimes. But lucky for you, I'm on a diet." Charlie answered in her demon voice and saw the effect it was having on him. "I'd just have a taste. Maybe an ear? Or some fingers? I do like finger foods." She made a show of staring first into his eyes, then dropped hers so his followed. She focused on his crotch. "Or something smaller," she mocked.
Despite the severity of the moment, Cassie cupped a hand over her mouth to stifle a genuine laugh. Charlie had claws, both literally and figuratively. The soldier was so nervous around her that he didn't respond to the insult and simply said in a shaky voice, "Cut the crap! Just keep moving!"
They exchanged smirks at each other before they were instructed to turn left down a short hallway that ended at a pair of large wooden double doors, their red paint nearly all chipped away.
"He awaits you inside." The soldier pointed at the door and then took up position against the wall, remaining still and watchful.
Charlie's heart skipped a beat as she looked at the door, and her emotions flared, realizing that her lover was on the other side. "Kevin!"
Cassie grasped the vertical metal handles and pulled the doors open. As they swung wide, both women noticed a single light bulb that hung above and the flicker of a candle on an altar at the far end of the room.
A raspy voice greeted them. "Do come in, ladies."
Both stepped through the doors side by side. Cassie had to blink to adjust to the change in light, while Charlie's eyes took everything with ease. She saw Samedi behind the candle, a cold, broken-toothed grin plastered on his grim, blackened face.
"You." Charlie hissed at him, her voice filled with venom. They say there are only two certainties in life: Death and taxes. There was a third certainty now, and Charlie voiced it. "You're the one who killed that girl in the warehouse!"
"Indeed, and I saw how you mourned for her." He shook his head in amusement and continued. "I never thought I'd see the day a demon wept for a human. But she didn't go to waste. Chloe's blood was the key to calling Rygen up from Hell."
"Chloe," Charlie repeated her name, enshrined it in her heart, and reaffirmed her promise to avenge her. She cast her glare toward the very thing for which Chloe had died and hissed at the hellhound that sat in the corner, making it clear that she saw the beast.
Rygen stared back, his cold red eyes bored right through her, and hissed in return. She momentarily challenged his stare, but then her eyes drifted to what lay on the floor before him—the summoning circle Samedi had prepared just for her. Instinctively, with her anger wavering, she stepped back and brushed against Cassie.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Samedi drawled with a wicked chuckle. "It's made just for you, my demon princess."
Even as he spoke, muffled cries from Angel reached Charlie's ears. She spun around to find him hung in thick metal shackles on the far wall. The sight of his battered and broken body, his mouth taped shut, made her gasp. "Kevin!"
"Oh, yes. I'd almost forgotten. The prize you seek. To trade his freedom for yours, dear princess. I know he looks in bad shape…" Samedi began.
"Because he is." Rygen snarled from behind the circle.
"Quiet, pet!" He commanded his creature and resumed. "But he'll heal up in time. Though I'm tempted to invite Miss Collins to show me her incredible tricks and demonstrate her healing power for me."
Confusion drifted behind Cassie's eyes momentarily, unsure why Samedi would make such a statement. When Charlie shifted beside her, it dawned on her that Angel must have told them she was the one to heal him of his mortal wounds, to keep Charlie's powers a secret. Playing her role, she said through gritted teeth, "For his sake, I would. Let me go to him."
"Unfortunately," Samedi cracked his knuckles, "We don't have time for that. You can take him from here once the princess completes her part of the bargain." He directed his next words to Charlie, "Now, step into the circle next to Rygen, and you'll be trapped by its magic and ready to be bound to me. Miss Collins can then take Angel out of here."
Time was running out. Cassie had hoped the others would have triggered the distraction by now, but whatever was delaying them, she needed to stall. "How do I know I can trust you to keep your word?"
Samedi shrugged and repeated Bible's words as if they'd rehearsed these lines. "I will have my hellhound and the princess. Their combined power will be more than enough to eliminate Bible and take over his operations, and well beyond anything you or your brother could call up to challenge me. You're inconsequential. Besides…" He smiled. "Leaving you alive will be good insurance for the princess to obey my commands."
Charlie leaned in her with fearful eyes and whispered, "Cassie?" She too, wondered where the distraction was. They'd agreed to wait and not fight the two to free Angel, so that Bible wouldn't hurt the children.
"Be strong, sis." Cassie tried for another delay and continued. "Can she at least say goodbye to Angel?"
With a gesture toward the wall, Samedi nodded. "I'm about to control the most powerful demon aside from Lucifer himself. I'm in the mood to grant that small request." He directed his cruel face at Charlie. "By all means, dear princess, give Angel your love. You won't be seeing him ever again."
Charlie sneered at the Vodou priest and moved toward Angel, who started rattling his shackles and frantically mumbled through the tape, shaking his head at her. She suppressed a cry and began to run to him, but jerked to a sudden halt, as if pulled back by an invisible chain. She gasped, pain ripping through her, and looked down.
"So predictable," Samedi remarked. "The snare has caught the lioness."
Charlie spun around with wide, terrified eyes and took in the bloody circle and lines that formed on the floor, a series of symbols shimmering into existence beneath her feet. She looked sharply at him. "You said I could say goodbye!"
All traces of hospitality vanished, and Samedi sneered. "Only a fool takes the word of a monster."
"You son of a bitch!" Cassie cursed him.
"She was." Harsh laughter erupted from the priest. "But I don't need any distractions for the next part. Rygen?"
"Yes, my Master?"
Samedi pointed to Cassie and commanded. "Kill the witch."
"No!" Charlie tried to reach for her, but the power of the circle was too much.
Fear filled Cassie's soul as she took a few steps back. She had seen his claw work on her brother's back and now regretted not bringing along her own necklace like the one she had given him. However, the spell would have also affected Charlie, and she could not bear to risk her sister's life for her own.
Rygen rose to his feet, looked at her with his soulless eyes, and licked his lips. "I'm in the mood to play with my food." He chuckled as he clicked his sharp nails on the stone floor. "Let's play a human game. I believe you call it 'Hide and Seek'?" He mocked her, covered his eyes with one of his claws, and started to count. "One, two, three…"
"Cassie!" Charlie raised her hand and flicked her fingers. She felt the circle snap around her, causing sharp pain to surge up her legs, but she fought through it enough to summon her sister's Bō. As it materialized in front of her, she grabbed it, tossed it to Cassie, and cried out, "Run!"
"I'm sorry!" Cassie snatched the Bō and ran out of the room.
"Impressive." Samedi watched carefully, noting how the circle responded to her use of power and how she managed to fight it long enough to pull off her trick.
Yes, he thought, she's as powerful as I'd hoped.
The pair heard the soldier yell, "Hey! Stop!" followed by a dull thud, which suggested Cassie had used the staff to incapacitate him.
Charlie glared back at Rygen, who was counting with exaggerated sarcasm, and snarled. "Don't fucking hurt her, you miserable piece of dog shit!"
"Eleven…" Rygen stopped his count, dropped his paw, and glared at her. "One day, bitch, I'll lick that pretty skin off you and drink your royal blood." He stalked over while he gave the circle a wide berth and gave her a sadistic wink. "You made me lose count. I suppose I'll have to begin the game early."
"NO!" Charlie cried out, her pleas futile as he bounded through the doorway.
A split second later, the guard outside let out a Wilhelm scream, cut short. The sickening sound of tearing flesh followed. "Did you hear that, prey? You're next!" Rygen's gleeful voice shouted.
Charlie spun back toward Samedi and pleaded. "Please! Please call him back!"
"Oh, don't fret, princess. In a few moments, you'll get to play a game of your own."
Her lips trembled as she locked her eyes on Angel. She longed to embrace him, heal him, and protect him. He stared back at her, his bruised face and swollen eye displaying defeat. She shifted her focus back to Samedi, who stood just out of reach, clutched his beaded necklace, and she begged one last time. "Please." Her voice cracked. "Don't."
Samedi smiled darkly, pulled a vial from his pocket, and popped the cork. He poured crimson blood onto the circle and began to recite. "I, Ti Malice Samedi, call upon Hell itself to bring forth and to bind to thy will, the Daughter of Lucifer, Charlotte Morningstar, the Princess of Hell, to be my eternal slave and do all that I command of thee! Sit anima tua in aeternum pertinent ad me."
As the final words left his lips, the blood ignited, swiftly spread throughout the circle, and burst upward, enveloping Charlie in its immense power like a curtain. Excruciating pain shot through her veins and nerves, from the tips of her toes to the horns on her head, and she screamed as she felt herself ripped away, her free will shoved into a proverbial box and dropped somewhere in the pit of her soul.
From that deep pit inside her, something burst through a locked door, pushed that box aside, streamed up and outward to fill the empty shell of her body, like metaphysical black sludge.
Samedi watched with unbridled glee as her hair transformed into a rich obsidian shade, her horns twisted and expanded until they resembled a majestic ram's head. Her eyes nearly doubled in size, with pupils that vanished beneath waves of crimson that glowed and pulsed, bathing the room in an unsettling red light. Fangs elongated, slid down her lower lip, thinned to razor-sharp spikes. Her ears morphed to resemble those of a bat, while the split bones of her hooves pushed forward, grew larger, and tapered at the ends. Lastly, her tail erupted, divided at its base into two long, twisting strands, each adorned with a blade-like tip.
The spell did more than bind Charlie Morningstar; it mutated her into something more frightening than most could comprehend. What stood in the circle now was horror incarnate, the representation of humanity's vivid imagination of Hell: true evil in the flesh.
In the corner, Angel screamed into his taped-up mouth and watched the love of his life seemingly die right before his eyes, leaving behind a bastardized, twisted version of the princess.
As the fire of blood ebbed and snuffed out, the twisted monstrosity that was once Charlie Morningstar turned toward the Vodou priest. A hollow voice, as if it came from somewhere else, spoke. "Who dares summon me?"
Samedi grinned with a crooked smile and spread his arms in greeting. "I, Ti Malice Samedi, have summoned you. I am your new master, and you are Charlotte Morningstar, my demon slave."
"I am not the Morningstar." The entity swayed lightly in the circle and growled. "I am something much, much more."
"What are you, then?"
The creature looked down at its hands and replied. "That which was not ready to be born." It shook its head and looked at him. "You have invited your death willingly."
"Far from it. I seek power, and you will be my tool to achieve it."
The demon gazed at the circle and tested it with the tip of its cloven foot, causing a sharp crack of electrical energy to travel up its leg. It then stepped back, tilted its head with no indication it had felt the sharp sting. "Interesting. It seems you know the magic laws." It grinned at him mockingly and continued. "For now, perhaps, you will hold me. But do not get complacent…Master. Over time, I will become more powerful than you and break free from your control; at that point, I will rip out your throat for daring to bind me."
It might not be the same as Rygen, but it spewed the same old tired promises. "I'm used to those threats, and no demon has ever broken my bonds." Samedi waved them away like annoying flies and pressed on. "If you are not the Morningstar, then who are you, and how have you taken control of the princess's body?"
"How is beyond my ability to answer." It shrugged, uncaring. "But I suppose the closest name that fits what I am would be Seed."
"Seed?" Intrigued by what he'd pulled from the princess, Samedi asked, "And you have all the power and magic of the princess herself?"
"More so." Seed boasted. "What do you want with her?"
"To control the world."
Seed giggled in Charlie's voice, which was oddly disconcerting to him, and replied. "Children's wishes."
"What do you mean?"
Seed shrugged and tilted its head. "That matters not." It paused and added in a mocking voice. "You control me. Master. What shall you, with your simple mind, have me do for you?"
Samedi swallowed. This was not what he had expected. It was better! Whatever the princess had been hiding, he had brought that power out, and it possessed a strength greater than any demon he had ever known.
Still grinning with wicked ideas piled up, he turned toward Angel and pointed. "The first thing you will do is kill that human! Then I will have you kill Bible, and we will take over his operations and hold ultimate power!"
"Real power is something you'll never understand." Seed chortled, turned as directed, and eyed Angel in the corner. Out of sight of Samedi and beneath the flow of the demon's mass of tangled hair, Charlie's amulet sparked softly, and it spoke curiously. "You seem familiar, human; do I know you?"
"It doesn't matter. Kill him." Samedi snapped.
Seed looked down at the circle and observed. "In your haste, Master, you seem to have forgotten something."
Samedi waved his hand and spoke a few Latin words, then announced after a moment. "You are now free."
The demon stepped past the circle, a wicked grin spread over its maw. "This is better."
Seed then turned its focus back to Angel, who attempted to press further against the wall as it stepped closer to him. Clawed hooves clicked on the stone floor as it slowly approached the shackled human, licked its lips playfully in a taunting manner. "I will gorge myself in your suffering, human."
A sudden explosion rocked the room, and it lifted its face toward the ceiling, eyes glowed with frustration and curiosity at the disruption of its task.
"What the fuck!?" Samedi shouted.