The Apocalypse of the Damned

Chapter Twenty-Four: Demon Fire

Saleos was not violent. The demon guarded the most popular entrance, and exit, to Hell, while collecting souls from other demons. The job did require some violence, though the demon was well versed in taking down an opponent in the least violent way possible. Of course, that required him to know the most violent way possible.

The guard was an odd demon because of this. None of the other dukes or high-level demons seemed to like him. However, he did have two friends: Bethany and Zion. Bethany, of course, was his pet crocodile. She was very sweet, rarely biting people unless asked. Zion, on the other hand, was incredibly rude. Though it wasn't on purpose. The poor boy was hurt by the sudden loss of both of his parents and wished to be alone, acting violently whenever someone tried to talk to him. Saleos understood the boy's struggle, despite not having parents himself. But he understood his loneliness which led to them bonding.

Saleos was shocked to meet his friend's mate in person. The angel was small, gentle, and basically perfect. The angel was exactly how the humans pictured angels, except for his strength. How did such a tiny being deal with Zion?

"Saleos?" The angel called out. Ever since Lucifer introduced them, Saleos seemed to space out a lot. He wasn't sure how Saleos guarded anything if he slipped into his mind so easily.

The demon quickly snapped out of his wandering thoughts and apologized. "It is okay. I space out quite often as well. But do you mind if we go over the move again? I am not sure I feel any demonic presence within me," Malak said nervously.

After a lot of sparing with both Saleos and Lucifer, they thought it was time to teach him how to use his demonic abilities instead of just his angelic ones. Surprisingly, Malak learned quickly just from watching Lucifer and Saleos fight; however, summoning his supposed demonic abilities was something he had to learn from practice. It wasn't something he could simply watch and understand.

"Let us try a different way. Shall we?" Saleos sighed. "That feeling you get when you're around demons – the uneasiness and fear – try to feel it within you. The feeling is buried deep down inside you: you just have to find it."

Nervously, he bit his lip, trying to find what Saleos described. He was sure if he was doing it right. "How does one even search for something inside them?" Malak questioned. He figured it was similar to his other gift, which was also buried inside his soul. So, he tried to summon it like he would his powers. Calm and focused, he felt something in the pit of his stomach stir. The feeling wasn't almighty and powerful like he was used to. It was veil and unsettling.

The innocent angel shivered as the feeling became more powerful. It made him want to throw up and clean himself for days. It was as if he was rotting from the inside out. His instincts were going haywire, urging him to stop and run. His soul was being tainted by an evil darkness, but Malak stood strong. He needed to use everything he can to defeat the last horseman and save the world.

Then maybe he and Zion could live in peace.

Saleos caught the angel as he fell to the ground, weak from summoning his demonic abilities. Now, thankfully, they would reside on the surface, making it easier to summon them on a whim. "Are you okay, Malak?" The demon softly inquired. Zion would1 kill him if his mate ended up being hurt in Saleos' care.

"I-I think so, yes," he said, standing up despite his wobbly legs.

The demon smiled at the small angel, whose eyes were completely black.

***

"Here," a small voice said, handing Malak a clear drink. It was Seth, Lucifer's second mate.

Malak forced himself to sit up, despite his body's aching protests. He and Saleos worked for hours nonstop. He learned everything he could about being a demon, and some angel things. It was quite strange to Malak. He always thought he was a pure angel, not some strange hybrid. According to Saleos, there's never been a demon-angel hybrid before. The two beings simply couldn't stand each other, with the exception of Malak and Zion. However, Malak's parents weren't an angel-demon paring.

Both were pure demons from a inbreed family that at least a million years ago started with two fallen angels. Every spawn from the bloodline always had angel blood in them; however, it was recessive, and they were considered pure demons. Malak was the first to have dominant angel blood and recessive demon blood. He was incredibly special... and incredibly lonely.

All the information he gained, and practice he did, exhausted him to the brink of passing out. Still, it wasn't enough to fill the void missing in him. He longed to go to his mate, who would know how to cheer the angel up from his troubling thoughts. But he couldn't go yet. There was still so much to learn, and his body needed to recover fully. He wasn't a fool. He wouldn't rush back to his mate and risk all of them dying because he was too weak to fight. The young, lonely angel had to stay.

"Thank you," he replied in a meek voice.

Seth smiled at him, "You are very amazing. I could never fight like you, and I've been a demon my whole life."

"I do not like it," the angel sadly stated. "Violence is something I strongly dislike and try not to use; however, it seems God has different plans for me."

"I understand. I don't think I've ever fought back when someone attacked me," the demon responded. They smiled at each other before Malak took a drink. He hummed, delighted it was sweet, flavored water.

"How are you, Malak?" The demon kindly inquired after a few minutes of calms silence.

The angel decided to answer honestly, telling the demon about how overwhelmed and exhausted he felt. Too much was happening, and he didn't have his demon with him.

Seth listened as Malak unconsciously, and softly rambled on. The demon's heart ached for the poor angel. Being away from your mate was a terrible feeling. No one ever wanted to feel it, nor should they have to. But sadly the world isn't full of beings who respected others. There were too many beings who simply just wanted to cause chaos.

"I can't help you with most of your worries," the demon said carefully, making sure Malak actually wanted some advice. "However, you shouldn't worry about your mate wondering where you went. Hell is on a different time than Earth and Heaven. Our days are much shorter while Heaven's are longer. It's why Earth is used for a baseline for things like ages and what time we have to meet someone, not from Hell."

Though Malak was still struggling to cheer up, hearing this made Malak feel better. The angel could stay there for what feels like years and yet, only be gone for a couple of minutes. He would be able to come back before anything terrible happened.