The Darkest Joy Read online

  Lucifer had already heard of Caim's plan to leave hell and how he had been stopped. He had heard the words directly from Belial's own mouth. Caim knew that Belial, being in the presence of the dark lord and telling him of how a fallen one had tried to escape his lair, must have almost wetted himself in glee. Lucifer did not feel it necessary to visit the scene on his own. It was minimal on his list of important things to do. Instead, he gave Belial new standing in hell, a sector to rule on his own with new demons under his command as a collector of souls. Lucifer had also given him a message to take back to Qemuel about Caim's punishment. He was to be given no reprieve, ultimate punishment until he became a demon. If he did not, he was to be cast into the fiery sea of perpetual agony for eternity. Belial had had no problem delivering the message. He teased Caim with it and boasted of his new position. I hope he chokes on his own filth, Caim thought miserably. He cried out in agony when felt a new lash across his belly. This time Qemuel's whip had barbs, thorns attached to the leather. At his feet, smaller carrion demons scratched at the skin. Their tiny tongues felt like scorpion stings against his torn flesh as they licked at his blood.

  "Ready to submit now?” Qemuel hissed. “Look at you. Pathetic. I don't know why they would want something weak like you as a demon. You and your kind lived up there for a reason, because you are weaklings!"

  "I am stronger than you because I will not ever become one of the demons that dwell here. You could as well throw me into the sea of fire.” Caim gasped in his pain.

  Another lash made him grit his teeth. This time the end of the whip caught his face and left a trail of blood running down his cheek. Qemuel's laughter echoed off the wall.

  "I fully intend to throw you there, Caim, after a little fun for me. The dark one did not tell me how long I had to try to break you. A few thousand years of you chained to my wall will entertain me for a while,” Qemuel replied with sadistic pleasure. “I'll heal you every time you become a bit too broken, and then we'll start all over again. How's that, hmm?"

  Caim did not reply because, even though the pain of his body was unbearable, the grief of not seeing Bliss again was agony in his soul. It was the end of him. He could feel it in his entire being. Knowing that he had nothing left to lose, Caim lifted his voice and cried out in hope that someone would hear him.

  "I have served my sentence, and I have been punished for my transgression! Should I have to die in this place?” He did not have to voice who he was speaking to. The hiss of the shackles was enough to let everyone know. Even thinking the name of the Almighty in hell caused everything to hiss and sizzle as if doused by holy water.

  "Don't say it! Don't say his name!” Qemuel screamed while he covered his ears with his hands.

  "My Father, my God! I found my love, the one who can free me. Give me the chance to have my soul's rest! Give me peace!” Caim begged.

  The carrion demons that were licking at the blood on his feet retched and vomited before their bodies curled and bubbled into putrid puddles. Qemuel was on his knees. His body contorted and burn blisters burst through the skin, as the name of the Almighty caused him insufferable pain. The walls of hell began to shake and tremble. Fissures and cracks formed along the rocky floor, breaking open and exposing the lava tubes underneath that pulsed under the rocks. From above, stalactites fell and crashed into the floor and crumbled to dust. Caim looked at the mayhem surrounding him with amazement, and a new sense of hope rose within him. Maybe his cries had been heard after all!

  As if to prove his words true, while the underworld shook and crumbled, the shackles forged in hellfire fell from his feet and his wrists and he fell to the floor. He turned just in time to see Qemuel fall into a crack that erupted under his body. He held on with talon claws in hope of keeping himself from falling, but as the earth shook ever harder, he fell into the lava beneath him and was destroyed before a scream could ever leave his lips.

  Caim was free, but weak. He took gasping breaths while he concentrated and tried to heal what he could in his condition. He pulled strength from deep inside him to phase out of this world and into his freedom. His maker had spoken, and now even the oldest of demons cowered under the invisible voice of the Almighty. Before he could leave, he felt two powerful hands wrap around his neck, and he was flung against the farthest wall of the cavern. Caim fell to the floor with a loud thud and looked up at his attacker. It was Samael, turned to complete demon with teeth like razors and ready to tear Caim limb from limb.

  "You will leave here in pieces!” he snarled before rushing at Caim.

  Bliss. With that one thought, Caim was on his feet in an instant and met the demon head on. He had been given a chance to be free, and he would fight to the death for it. The two met like two tanks hitting each other. Caim felt his ribs crack under the crushing blows of Samael. When the demon swung again, he dodged the fist and rolled away. He looked around quickly to the fallen implements of torture that once lined Qemuel's wall of pain. He moved lithely away from another attack from Samael, and his hands rested on a scythe. Caim knew to keep moving. Agility was the key against the bulky demon frame of his attacker and former boss. With each move, Samael's anger increased. His roar echoed along the still-crumbling walls. Caim saw his chance to strike as the demon charged forward. He rolled between the massive legs of Samael and came up behind him. With one swipe of the scythe, he took the demon's head completely off. Samael's heavy body dropped like granite to the floor, and his head rolled into the lava pits.

  Caim didn't wait to see who else was coming. He phased out of the underworld that was now in complete chaos. He went topside to find his Bliss and to leave immortality behind.

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  Chapter Eight

  Bliss stared at the monolith that rose up to the sky. It was the only thing that showed ornate craftsmanship in the middle of small-town Merry, North Carolina. The clock tower. It had been designed to look like Big Ben in London, except on a smaller scale. Now it stood white against the darkness of the sky, with its lighted clock and Roman numerals peering across the town square. And right now, it scared the hell out of Bliss because she knew it would be here either she would find her love and her forever with Caim, or she would be left alone and filled with grief at losing him. After Belial's impromptu visit, Bliss did not come unprepared. A golden cross now hung around her neck, and she held a plastic drinking bottle held water blessed by the chaplain of the church chapel. His eyes had held questions when she asked him to bless her drinking water, but she firmly kept her mouth shut. If she had opened up, she would have told him everything, and even though priests are supposed to keep confidence, she had no doubt he would have called someone to take her up to the psychiatric ward.

  "No use putting this off any longer,” she muttered as she crossed the street. A drizzle had begun while she pushed against the wooden door that led to the stairs of the tower. She had no doubt that she would not be caught going into the building. In Merry, by nine at night, the shop owners pulled in their sidewalk wares and went home for the night.

  The door creaked eerily as she slipped inside. It was warm inside the lower part of the tower. The smell of wood and furniture polish was a familiar comfort, yet it did nothing to abate the nervousness in the stomach. She had no doubt that Caim was what she wanted. The fear was that he would not be there and that she would be left with the knowledge that he was in hell being hurt and in pain forever. Her footsteps echoed hollowly on the varnished wooden staircase as she climbed to the top of the tower. When Bliss looked out to the horizon, she could see the boundary of where Merry ended and the lights of every home and business in the town. The rain was coming down now in a steady stream, and the clouds looked ominous and angry when a flash of lightning crossed the sky. Bliss stared out into the darkness and wrapped her hands around her body, hoping to keep some of the warmth inside her. She missed Caim so much. She wished she were wrapped in his arms in bed as they had been only a few hours ago. A crashing noise behind her caused her
to whirl around with frightened eyes. On the far side of the room, Caim lay on the floor. He had hit one of the low beams when he appeared, and Bliss could see instantly he was hurt.

  "Caim!” She rushed toward his unmoving body. She placed her hand on his back, and he flinched and groaned. When she moved her hand away, it was covered in blood. “Oh my God! Caim, what happened? Are you human already? Is that why you're bleeding?"

  "Bliss?” The one word was groaned, even though his face was buried in his hands.

  "Yes, darling, it's me!” Bliss could feel the tears falling down her face. “Please tell me the blood is because you are human.” He rolled over and reached up to caress her face. She could see the bloody, torn flesh at his wrists and knuckles. He was not human, just beaten, beaten badly. “Oh, baby, what did they do to you?"

  He tried to smile, but it came across as a grimace. “I told you nothing would keep me away, not even shackles made in hellfire.” He brushed the tears away from her cheeks.

  "Don't cry, my love. Everything will be fine from here on out. What time is it?"

  "Five minutes until midnight.” Bliss moaned softly as she looked at his wounds. “Oh Caim, oh honey."

  "It will be better, Bliss. These wounds mean nothing as long as I have you. My pain was the thought of never seeing you again."

  Bliss bent down and kissed his swollen lips over and over. “Mine, too. I couldn't stand the waiting."

  "Well, isn't this sweet, a reunion between the lovers."

  The snide remark and the hollow laugh that followed made Bliss's blood run cold.

  "Well, I couldn't let you go, Caim, without a proper farewell. You left hell in such an uproar that I just had to come find you.” Belial's sweet smile did nothing to mask the evil intent in his eyes.

  Bliss stood suddenly with her legs bent and ready to defend Caim if she had to. “Belial, leave him alone, you bastard. He is not yours anymore. I will kill you if I have to. You will not touch him!"

  "Bliss, no!” Caim pulled himself up to his knees. “Get out of the way. This is my fight!"

  Belial looked at Bliss with mild interest and put a finger to his lips. “Shh, patience, dear Bliss. I will deal with you later in very interesting ways. Right now I have to tell a friend good-bye."

  As Belial, his deadly intent clear, walked toward her, Bliss felt the terror in her heart escalate. Only a few minutes left before midnight. Caim's chances seemed slimmer with every tick of the clock.

  * * * *

  Will it ever end! Caim thought tiredly. He didn't want to fight anymore. He just wanted to live and love and be happy. He tried to move Bliss behind him so Belial could not soil her by touching her with his foul hands. She fumbled with the top of her water bottle before she threw it in Belial's face. His scream of pain was horrendous, and Caim could tell why when some of the water splattered on him. It was holy water, and while the droplets burned a small patch of skin on his arm, it was nothing compared to what it did to Belial's face. The skin melted off to show the true monster beneath. His once-handsome features were being eaten away by the blessed water. The lips that could have kissed any woman and make her sign away her soul hung loose and limp to one side. The water continued to melt the demon's flesh, down to the bone, amid his screeching. He looked at Bliss and Caim with one eye hanging from the socket and the other red, rimmed with anger. With an angry howl, he grabbed Bliss before Caim could stop him and sent her sliding across the floor with inhuman strength. The force of it sent her crashing into the wall, and she lay there, moaning softly.

  Seeing her lying on the ground like a rag doll sent rage unlike anything he had ever experienced flowing through Caim. With a renewed force, he went after Belial while the seconds that would seal his fate ticked down. He caught Belial around the waist and propelled him into the far wall. Belial turned to complete demon in his arms, and the point of his tail had a sharp barb that was like a spear. He whipped it around to swipe at Caim, who barely dodged it coming at his head. No longer was the sweet talker who wore a business suit in front of him. Belial had turned into a savage beast whose jaws were filled with canines trying to bite out Caim's jugular. Caim grabbed him in the throat before he could bite at his shoulder and slammed his head against the wall, and the plaster cracked with the force before Belial's tail took him off his feet. He hit the floor on his back, and the pain from his wounds shot through his body. He had to move quickly because Belial's tail was coming at him with the intent of going through his heart.

  "Caim, there is only one minute left!” Bliss screamed.

  She diverted his attention from the fight, and for that, the barbed tail of his demon nemesis cut a swath out of his shoulder. Bliss cried out when she saw the gush of blood from his wound.

  "Enough is enough!” Caim shouted. He caught Belial's tail in his hand and sent him crashing to the ground. “I am done with this. Go back to hell. No, better yet, how about you cease to exist!"

  He took the tail that he held on to and, turning it into his own weapon, sent it straight through the torso of Belial. That wouldn't kill him. Caim knew that as he looked around to find something to finish the job. The clock struck the first chime of midnight as Bliss called out to him.

  "Caim, use this!"

  Chime number two.

  Bliss ripped something from around her neck and threw it in his direction. Caim reached up and snatched it out of the sky. The instant it hit his palm, it burned his skin. He looked into his hand, and there sat a thick golden cross.

  Chime number three.

  Caim grabbed Belial's mouth and shoved the cross down his throat. He let out a gurgling squeal as the religious ornament burned its way down his esophagus. Bliss scrambled over to his side, and together they watched as Belial's head sank in on itself and his body shuddered in the throes of death.

  Chime number four.

  The sickening smell of sulfur and rotted flesh filled the air while Belial's body decomposed in front of them.

  Bliss shook Caim urgently as the clock chimed for the fifth time. “You got to do it now, baby. There is no more time!"

  Caim stood on shaky legs and caressed her face. “Thank you."

  "Don't thank me. Just love me for the rest of my life. Now go, my love. I will be there when you fall."

  The clocked chimed the sixth and seventh time while he bent to kiss her. If it didn't work, he wanted the last thing he ever remembered to be the taste of her lips. Her fingers were still twined with his when he pulled away and began to run for the edge of the clock tower. The chimes were at eight and nine when his wings broke free of his back and he looked over to see her standing with her hands over her mouth and tears streaming down her eyes. His feet hit the rail at the tenth chime, and he was soaring outward into the dark sky at the eleventh chime. The clock struck twelve when he was airborne. He closed his eyes and stretched his arms out at the rain beating down on his wings.

  The final chime seemed to echo through his soul before he felt the intense pain of a first heartbeat in his chest. A searing heat cut its way across his back as his wings were burned away by an invisible force. The fire seared through feathers to cartilage then to bone, and then he fell from the sky like a rock. He could no longer soar like the birds, and now, each heartbeat that beat in his chest brought the human fear of what was about to happen. His body hit the asphalt, and he, for the first time in his existence, he heard the sound of bones breaking and realized that they were his. The ground was wet under his cheek, and the pain in his body was excruciating.

  "Caim!” Bliss's voice reached him, and he felt her hands touch his back. He felt her move and heard her speaking. “I need an ambulance in Merry Square. A man fell from the clock tower! I think he has multiple fractures, and he is still breathing. Hurry!"

  "Bliss, my love,” Caim murmured. He wanted to reach up to touch her, but the pain was too great.

  "Help is coming, baby. Hold on!” she said, and he felt her hand comb though his hair.

  She kept talking to him, but
her voice seemed to be getting carried away in the fog. It kept getting farther away until he sank so far into the mist he could not hear her anymore.

  * * * *

  His eyes fluttered as bright lights seemed to whoosh past him while he was moving. For humans, they would be unconscious with this amount of trauma to their body. But not Caim, he had fallen from heaven and then from hell. He could feel and hear it all through the murky and gray of his subconscious.

  We need an IV in this arm now! Start a morphine-saline drip and get x-ray down here! Bliss, get out of the way. Your hands are shaking, and you can't help!

  A voice was shouting orders, and Caim could hardly understand what they were talking about. But they were shouting at his love, and he wanted to get up to defend her. His body would not even move. It felt heavy, and now the pain that was clouding his mind was becoming dull from something entering his veins. They slipped something into his throat, and soon he felt air pumping into his body. This was what it was like to be human and to have such a fragile body. His heart was beating, but then as suddenly as it had started when he fell from immortality, his injuries caused it to stop.

  "Paddles!” the voice yelled. The shock that entered his body caused him to arch off where he was lying.

  Bliss was crying softly in the background. “Caim, baby, I'm here. Fight. I love you. Just fight, damn it!"

  He would fight for her. He would try hard, but the mist seemed to be getting thicker. Another shock entered his body as they worked feverishly to try to start his heart up once more. A loud droning beep signaled his heart was still not beating. During their zealous work on his broken body, he felt himself being pulled somewhere else. This was a place he knew from long ago. The sense of serenity that filled him brought tears to his eyes. Home. The peace of the ever after surrounded him, but he could also tell he was outside the gates of heaven. Caim looked around and saw a figure walking out of the mist, tall and magnificent with wings unfurled and a golden armor across his chest. Caim dropped to his knee and bowed his head low to the new presence that stood before him.