As Samedi ground coarse sea salt with a stone pestle into the bloodstained mortar filled with various herbs, he reached for a smaller bowl and took a generous pinch of blue powder, adding it to the mixture. Every now and then, he'd glance over at his captive, shackled to the far wall, and a wicked smile would spread across the Vodou priest's face. He was eagerly anticipating the moment his new demon would tear Angel apart and help him take over Bible's empire.
With the concoction prepared, he set the pestle aside, grasped his necklace, and began reciting an ancient spell, one that would help him better control the princess in her new, more violent form.
He had barely started when he sensed a strong presence behind him. Pausing his incantation, Samedi turned toward the entrance and saw Seed stumble in, appearing intoxicated. The creature's face had returned to that of the princess, blood splattered across her features. She was slowly licking her lips, humming softly, her eyes half-closed in a state of bliss.
"You've returned sooner than I expected." Samedi's eager smile took in the demon from head to toe. "Have you killed all of Angel's associates?"
"One has fallen." The demon's voice echoed from Charlie's mouth as it turned to him. "I was driven off by another who could have injured me. Despite what I am, in this realm, this body is mortal."
In the depths of their shared minds, Charlie struggled to keep Seed from remembering what had happened when she was able to take control just long enough to sedate Shrapnel with one of her darts. Somehow, she managed to plant an image in their mind that it had ripped out the man's throat instead. Now, to prevent it from realizing her trick, she had to let it focus on Angel as it continued to gloat.
"But the message I sent was clear. The fear of me will spread, and soon I will hunt the others when and where I choose." Seed's eyes bore down on Angel. "For now, I shall show the princess's lover the blood of his friend, so he knows what awaits him."
"You are truly evil, princess. By all means, torment him before you kill him." The Vodou priest smirked. "After you finish him off, forget the orders about the others. Instead, you will eliminate Bible for me."
"Sure." Seed shrugged absentmindedly. Its attention was far too focused on Angel. The creature stepped closer, head slowly swinging, as if listening to a silent song.
Fear tightening his features, Angel shrank against the wall, the shackles digging into his wrists. Seed stalked forward, clicking its nails on the stone floor, black hair flowing freely in the air, occasionally obscuring Charlie's face as it approached.
With malice, Seed spoke in Charlie's human voice, "Oh, Kevin. My sweet-sweet Kevin. Look at you. Look at how pathetic you are. All pouty cause you killed a few innocent little kids." It giggled in her voice, too. Then, its voice turned cold as it continued to mock him, "But then, you find me and pretend to love me so that you can fuck me? Control me like a lap dog? Be your little bitch? I'm going to rip your guts out for the way you treated me!"
In their shared mind, Charlie saw the despair on her lover's face, and her heart shattered. The strength to fight back against Seed was fading fast, as was any hope of saving him.
"Charlie!" Angel pleaded. "I know you're in there! Fight this! Fight Seed!"
Seed guffawed loudly, taunting him. "Oh, my dearest Angel, I adore how you scream and cry. Do it some more for me, please?"
Sneering at Seed, he snapped, "Let her go!"
"Aw." Seed pouted. "I guess playtime's over." Opening its clawed hand wide, it reared back to strike.
With every fiber of her being, Charlie pushed herself up past Seed's metaphysical restraints and screamed with such force that Seed's lips parted, and her voice rang out: "NOOO!"
Suddenly, a dazzling light burst behind Seed's eyes, momentarily blinding it. As it stumbled back, it instinctively reached up to touch the amulet around its neck, only now aware of what hung there. "What is this?" Clutching it with the intent to rip it away, a searing heat burned its palm as if the amulet was defending itself. Seed snarled silently, What have you done to me, child?
At the altar, Samedi's view was blocked by the mass of the princess's flowing hair. All he could observe was his pet hesitating to finish the kill. "What are you waiting for, bitch? Kill Angel now!"
The command sparked the flame of the binding spell. It was enough for Seed to overpower both the amulet's defense and Charlie's interference.
Seed laughed as it felt its control return: "Thank you, master," it acknowledged him. Directing its thoughts at Charlie again, Seed made a promise, an evil one: After I kill your lover, child, Samedi will get rid of this thing. Then, nothing will stop me from locking you away and taking on your appearance. Once I kill the master, I'll return to Hell and take my place as the Princess of Hell.
Fuck you! Charlie hissed internally.
The demon chuckled, enjoying the princess's misery. Focusing on Angel once again, it announced: "No more delays, human. It's time for you to die." Moving in for the kill, the power of Samedi's binding drowned out Charlie's screams, and all she could do was watch.
"CHARLIE! STOP!"
Seed paused. The command hadn't come from Samedi, but nevertheless, there was power in the words, compelling it to hold. Curiously, it turned toward the voice. Seeing Cassie propped against the door frame, bloodied and broken, it snarked, "Ah, the witch. Come to watch your brother die?"
Samedi whirled around and shouted in fury. "How!? Where's Rygen!?"
Matching the fire in his eyes, Cassie hissed with satisfaction, "Sent your bitch pup back to Hell where he belongs."
"Worthless hellhound," the Vodou priest growled. "I'll finish you off, myself."
Raising his right hand while clutching his necklace with the left, he began to chant. Before he could complete a phrase, shock filled his expression as he witnessed the witch's eyes ignite with a burst of radiant green energy.
His hesitation was all Cassie needed. Extending her right arm toward him, she made a quick dismissive gesture, releasing a surge of power that struck him with enough force to hurl him against the distant wall. Upon impact, Samedi groaned and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Turning her head swiftly, Cassie noticed that Charlie's monstrous figure was bearing down on Angel, its interest lost in the trivial fight between its master and the witch.
"Charlie, fight it!"
"She can't," it chuckled, tapping its forehead. "She is lost to you, witch. Lost to her memories, her identity, and her future. The demon princess will never again be who she once was."
Cassie trembled at its declaration. Searching inside herself, she called upon the mystical forces to help her once more, and they responded, erupting upward from the center of her soul like a volcano. While the sensations had felt strange and foreign during her battle with Rygen, this time, they felt distinctly familiar. The power carried an aura she recognized and a flavor she could physically taste on her tongue. It was Charlie's aura.
Clinging to it, she directed her newfound power to merge with the powder contained in the vial attached to Charlie's amulet. Invisible energy throbbed outward from her chest, shooting like a thin beam aimed squarely at the jewel and vial.
Shouting with all the strength she had left, Cassie Collins begged her sister, "Remember who you are, Charlie Morningstar! You are Lucifer's daughter, princess, and heir to the throne of Hell!" Then, she uttered the breaking spell she'd prepared for the powder contained in the vial hanging from the amulet, "Remitto te, Charlotte Morningstar, ex ligatura Samedi!"
The command, the spell, and the magic combined as one. The amulet's jewel flared, erupting in a blinding radiance, and sent a surge of crackling electricity down into the vial below. Inside, the dark orange powder ignited. Red and gold waves spread outward, wrapping around Charlie's body like a sheer nightgown.
For an instant, the power pulsed around the demon princess, flickering like dozens of fireflies on her skin. Then Seed/Charlie screamed as the power exploded outward, bathing the room in waves of mystical power. The first wave tore through Samedi's altar, nearly obliterating it, knocking over his cabinets and shelves, spilling their contents all over the ground. The next wave surged against the walls and ceiling, and when it reached the secret camera, the lens shattered. Yet, when each wave swept over Angel and Cassie, they remained unaffected.
Samedi's summoning spell snapped like a wishbone. Seed screamed in outrage as it was swallowed back into the deep recesses of Charlie's soul. There, it thrashed wildly before being imprisoned behind a symbolic black door that slammed shut with conviction, vanishing into oblivion.
As Seed was cast away, Charlie collapsed. Steam rose off her body as if she'd stepped out of a scalding shower, yet she trembled as though caught in a raging snowstorm.
The room grew deathly quiet. Cassie crumbled against the wall, depleted of all her magic and overwhelmed by the searing pain in her leg and shoulder.
Lowering her head, she whispered a desperate plea. "Please come back to us, Charlie."
Slowly opening his eyes, Angel blinked quickly to regain focus. Spotting Charlie on the ground feet away, still enveloped in Seed's grotesque demonic shape, he swallowed hard. The same dread he experienced the first night he'd witnessed her transformation surged within him.
He pushed it away. Slowly, gently, he whispered, "Charlie? Are—are you okay?"
Stillness met his question. The only sounds taking center stage were the traces of ripped pages fluttering to the ground from destroyed spell books, the clinking of vials strewn about, and the hiss of a gas line nearby that had cracked under the magic's spell.
That, and two siblings' shaking breaths, waiting for her answer.
There was a subtle movement from her as her body shifted ever so slightly. Then, her fingers uncurled and lay flat against the stone floor. Shoulders tensed, arms straightened, and she rose into a shaky hands-and-knees position. Her head was bowed with her blackened hair, messy, tangled, and covered in dust, masking her face.
Shakily, he pressed again, "Charlie, are you in there?"
Her head slowly lifted, and when Angel saw her face, he inhaled sharply, stunned into silence. Her eyes were vacant—no pupils, no irises—just pure white light. Light that seemed somehow to focus on him, as if those eyes were staring straight into his soul. Then, she began to crawl slowly toward him, her movements jerking spasmodically, like a marionette operated by an amateur puppeteer.
As she approached him, claws loud on the stones, her body began to change. Her ram-like horns shrank, transforming into the familiar shape he knew. Her two tails intertwined, becoming one again, with the spade tip taking shape at the end, adorned with her heart-shaped birthmark.
The last to transform was her hair, which shimmered into beautiful blonde strands as she reached him, the tresses dancing in the air before settling to surround them, shrouding them from the outside world.
It felt as if they were alone in a magical forest. Angel drank in her face—the soft, alabaster skin and rosy cheeks he knew so well now returned to her. The white glow in her eyes faded, revealing gentle red pupils nestled in golden pools.
Then, he felt her cheek press against his, gentle and intimate, as she hummed a whisper in his ear. "My knight." He sensed her lips lightly touch his cheek in a gentle kiss. "It's me. I'm free. I promise."
Angel wept as an incredible sense of alleviation washed over him, so intense that he felt he could drown in it. "My princess," he whispered back, feeling her hot tears mesh with his as they pressed their faces together, all else forgotten in the moment of their reunion. "I thought I'd lost you."
She drew her lips along his cheek, inhaling his scent, and sniffed, "I thought I'd lost myself."
From the corner where he had fallen, Samedi stirred and rose. Rage filled his voice as he stalked toward them, shaking his fist at the princess. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU FUCKING BITCH!? DO AS YOU'RE TOLD. KILL HIM!"
Angel sensed Charlie's body stiffen against him. She pulled back enough for him to see her eyes change first, pulsing a crimson red, her pupils slimming into snake-like slits. Her voice trembled with growing rage, and through parted lips, she whispered, "Forgive me, my knight, but I need to keep another promise."
A small nod from him was all she needed.
One corner of her upper lip curled in a snarl as her canine teeth lengthened into pointed tips. A growl began in the pit of her stomach, rumbling upward through her chest into her esophagus, culminating in a roar of that promise. The promise she'd made that fateful night in the warehouse, when she'd found the poor girl's body.
Rising to her feet, Charlie spun with incredible speed toward Samedi and shouted at him, "THIS IS FOR CHLOE!"
As she turned on him, her right arm transformed, enlarging. Taking on a maroon hue, crimson lines—like cracks in lava pools—spiraled from her shoulder to her wrist, and her fingernails extended outward into hawk-like talons. With a banshee-like roar and a mighty swipe, Charlie Morningstar tore through the Vodou priest's neck, severing it just above the shoulders.
The siblings watched, stunned, as Samedi's head flew fast and smashed into the far wall, where it burst apart, sending clumps of brain matter and skull fragments scattering across the dusty floor with an audible splat. His headless body stood for a moment, as if held up by wires, before it crumbled to the ground in a bloody pile, with his necklace falling to the side, severed in two.
"Holy shit!" Cassie whispered from the doorway. "Way to go, girl!"
Standing above the Vodou priest's body, Charlie stood firm and felt no remorse for her actions. Instead, she glanced upward and acknowledged an oath fulfilled. Be at peace, Chloe.
Turning her gaze to appreciate her transformed arm, she flexed her talons and reflected, Dad never told me I could do this.
Focusing intently, she relaxed her muscles and let the power fade away, observing the transformation with keen interest as her arm and fingers reverted to their usual alabaster-white hue. She wiggled her fingers, intrigued.
Behind her, Angel's sudden coughing caught her attention.
"Hold on, my love!" Flicking her fingers, she sent a blast of demonic fire that snapped the chains securing him to the wall. With no strength left in him, Angel fell forward heavily.
Charlie caught him and eased him down to the ground. "I got you!" she whispered as she cradled him. Brushing his dirty, blood-crusted hair so she could see him clearly, she pressed, "Are you okay?"
"I am now." He smiled up at Charlie.
"I'm so-so sorry, Kevin. I should have been with you in the shop! I'm supposed to be your armor!"
"My armor?" He winced in pain as he tried to sit up against the wall.
She blushed. "Something I sang about. That I would always be there to protect you, yet all I ever seem to do is fail."
"You've never failed me, princess. You've done so much and saved so many lives." Kevin caressed her cheek, pulling her close. "And you saved me tonight. You are my armor. And more than anything, I love you, Charlie Morningstar."
"I love you, too, Kevin!" Charlie cried and fell into his arms, kissing him with fervent passion. She broke away when she heard him wince in pain. "Shit! I'm sorry."
"It's okay." He assured her, "I'm just a hell of a mess, here."
"We all are," Cassie, using her staff, hobbled over to them.
Leaning against the wall beside Kevin, she touched his shoulder, grateful to have her brother back. Then, she turned toward Charlie, "I'm not so stubborn this time. Got anything left for us?"
"More than enough." Charlie assisted her in kneeling beside her brother.
The siblings observed as her body radiated brightly, her wings spreading from her back to surround them as she called on her inner power, enveloping all three in a soft, white, nurturing light.
Opening her eyes as the energies swirled around them, she mused, "I really don't know how I can do this. I never could back home."
Cassie looked at her. "Sis?"
"I remember!" Charlie breathed, "I don't know how or why, but I have my memories back. I remember my father and my mother, Lilith. It was her power I felt inside me when I sang on the roof. I remember my friends. I remember the life I had there. I remember everything."
"Snapping Samedi's spell must have also broken whatever was holding your memories back." Cassie ventured.
"It seems so!" She hummed happily, then tilted her head at Cassie, a curious expression on her face. "How did you free me?"
Cassie motioned for Charlie to bring out her amulet. She complied, and Cassie took it in the palm of her hand. "I didn't explain everything to you the day I gifted this to you. That was on purpose, so if you were bound, you couldn't tell your master. But the crystal did absorb some of your chakra, as I mentioned it would, collecting a part of you for safekeeping. It was meant to help you keep some semblance of control should you be bound."
"It did. Without it, I couldn't have resisted. Seed seized control of my body, confining me to the depths of my mind. The amulet flickered a few times, cracking his hold over me, allowing me to combat him from within."
"While I didn't expect there to be something else inside you, the amulet still worked exactly as I hoped it would," Cassie fingered the vial, continuing her explanation. "What I chose not to tell you about was the powder. It's one of my rarest and untested, imbued with one of my most powerful spells, designed to weaken other spells. Basically, it's a counterspell. When I used the breaking incantation, combined with the moonstone's collected power from you, the powder erupted and severed Samedi's control over you."
"Sounds easy enough." Kevin sighed with relief.
"Not that easy." Cassie shook her head. "Charlie may have wanted to be free, but Seed knew the consequences. It desperately fought the spell."
"Why? All it would serve is to keep Seed under Samedi's spell."
"Under his control, but still in control of me," Charlie answered, shivering slightly at the memory. "Seed wanted to bide his time. It figured it would eventually break free and kill Samedi. Then it could return to Hell, using me as a puppet, biding time until it could assume the throne in my image."
"Jesus Christ," Kevin whispered. He quickly understood the ramifications if Hell were to rise under the control of such a force.
Cassie cleared her throat, "I have to ask. Are we at risk of Seed getting free, again?"
"No." Charlie shook her head. "It's secure. I promise you. The only reason it got free was because I wasn't complete. Now that I am aware of it, I can keep it at bay. But at some point, I'll have to reach out to my father; see what he knows and find a way to destroy it." She traced a finger along Kevin's cheek, "Because I want to be free to live my life with you, Kevin."
Kevin touched her cheek, "Are you sure, Charlie? Now that you remember your life in Hell, are you sure you want to stay here?"
The princess nodded. "It's going to be complicated, but I have nothing for me back in Hell. Not for centuries to come, at least. Everything I want is here."
He would no longer question his lover's desires. Instead, Kevin knew that before they could get on with their lives, they had one more task to complete. Adopting his military persona for the mission ahead, Angel gave Charlie a half smile and asked, "So, Your Majesty, any other tricks you have up your sleeves?"
"Well," Charlie gave him a wink. "I think I've gotten the hang of chess."
"Then, let's go have that debriefing with the Colonel I meant to have all those years ago." Angel declared.
"Before we do," Cassie motioned at Charlie's neck, "Let me do something for you."
Nodding once, Charlie raised her amulet above her head and handed it to her sister. Curiously, she watched her sister wrap her fingers around it. A vibrant green pulse ignited around the witch's eyes, and in her palm, the amulet pulsed three times. After the third pulse faded, Cassie returned it to her.
Yellow eyes radiating, a slow smile crept across Charlie's lips as she wrapped it around her neck. "Ooh, I can feel the magic, sis. It's amazing!"
"This will keep you from—" Cassie paused and lifted her head, eyes distant, as if she heard something off in the distance.
Kevin looked concerned. "Sis?"
"I feel the others. I feel them through the Ley Lines."
"How?"
"I'm not sure how to explain it. Something sparked in me when I fought Rygen, and now I can feel the lines as if they're a part of me." Cassie spoke softly as she traced her fingers along the dusty floor.
Charlie laid her hand on Cassie's shoulder. "What do you sense?"
Closing her eyes, she absorbed the energy of the lines, then reported, "I sense elation, and many souls free of fear." She opened her eyes, which sparkled with relief, "Brute and the others freed the kids!"
Intense relief washed over Angel's face. Voice firm, he prompted, "Go to them!"
Cassie nodded as Charlie folded her wings away so they could rise.
As they got to their feet, Angel pondered, "Am I correct to assume Brute flew everyone here?"
"Yes. The plane's at the Benina airport; it's an hour from here."
Angel ran a hand through his hair, his voice thick with gratitude. "I owe them everything."
Laying her hand on his shoulder, Cassie assured him, "And they'll never ask for anything." She stepped back, looking toward the door. "I'll find them and arrange our escape." Then she looked back, her lips set firm, and she gave her brother a command, "Meanwhile, you two go and 'relieve' Colonel Tag of duty, once and for all."
"Oh, we will." Angel nodded and looked at Charlie. "Are you ready for this?"
"Yes," Charlie affirmed with a confident smile. "And I have a plan!"