Page 24 of Sin of the Saints

“Then I will be He who sits on high! It will be mine, and then I will claim her for myself!” Hillel raises his fists and his white aura darkens as his wrath wells up within him.

A tempestuous wind spins Hillel around, and he struggles against it, seeking purchase. Heavy clouds, grey and dark, cover the land, and lightning strikes Hillel, and he plummets into the endless abyss.

“How dare you defile my creation with the impurity you have brought upon me? Banished, banished, banished art thou!” Thunderclaps fire off one after the other, drowning out the curses rained upon Hillel by the Creator. “I cast you out, damned one!”

As he falls, Hillel raises his hand and flips his middle finger at everything he’d ever believed in.

“We’ll see about that,” he swears, driven by the purpose of fulfilling his heart’s only desire.

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!

How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven,

I will exalt my throne above the stars of God:

I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit3.

I feel suffocated, stifled and I don’t know why, but I decide to step out onto the front porch of the cabin. The sounds Belle is making are undoing me, and I know I have to get a grip on the filthy thoughts rising up in my mind.

I open the door, the old wood creaks. The light of the sun floods me, and I shut my eyes tight at the unbearable burning sensation. I can’t bear the light, and it likes me even less. I blink to take control of my overwhelmed senses, and accept that the light has turned its back on me forever. Never again will it return to me, as I have embraced the darkness. Now the darkness is not just within me, it is all I have left.

“Let there be darkness, and there was darkness.” I lean against the doorjamb.

Chapter Fourteen

Bartimaeus

Ismell her as she walks into the living room. She’s all charcoal and living flame.

“I think Valentina’s been here too,” she approaches the couch where I sit helplessly. “I found clothes in the closet I’m sure were meant for her.”

“Uh-huh,” I nod, yearning to see what she looks like.

“So what’s the plan, Bar?” she asks, receiving no response. I close my eyes and open them again; her scarlet aura mesmerizes me. “What’s up?” She gently puts her hand on me, and I’m forced to take a deep breath to keep from bursting. Her touch is enough to excite my inner flame. She notices my reaction and pulls her hand away. “Is it me?” her voice cracks.

“No,” I force myself to answer.

“Then what is it? Tell me, because I really don’t get it. After everything that’s happened… I guess I just imagined it all differently.”

I hear the pounding of her heart. A living, breathing winged demoness. A fact I haven’t yet processed in all the chaos of the past day. I feel my heartbeat jumpstart to life around her.

I avoid her question. “We have to find a way to get that collar off you, Belle. I have no idea how demons got their hands on such a sacred item.”

“I think there are many things we don’t have a clue about.”

I nod and am satisfied that she drops the subject. “So let’s start from the beginning. What happened the day we were separated?”

“I thought I’d done the unforgivable,” she wipes her nose. “And then Libretto found me in that field, he put a curse on you. I tried to help you, I really did—”

“A curse?”

“I don’t know what it is, no one told me anything when Libretto locked me up in the castle dungeon.” I close my eyes and let out a sharp breath.The curse. The curse the Pope had spoken of. Was that not God’s punishment for my sins? Was it actually Libretto’s doing?

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