Chapter 16 - Owen - Purge With My Demons

PART TWO: THE VALIDATION

I pulled into the alley and shut off my bike, staring into the darkness that would take me to the Gates. I called Tristan when I left Eleanor’s, and he filled me in on what Amon needed. Amon had a demon ready for me.

I scratched The Void behind the ears. Taking a deep breath, I mentally prepared myself for what I was about to walk into. I had no idea what it was going to look like down there.

Walking down the Hallways, I tried my best to brace myself for whatever was about to be unleashed from within me when I walked into the dungeon. I approached the door and took a deep, steadying breath before pushing it open.

The concrete room was set up exactly as it always was. A table of tools and some piece of shit that needed to be questioned sitting slumped in a chair in the middle of the room.

I shut the door with intention, slamming it, hoping it would wake this guy up. He groaned at the noise and picked his head up, blinking his eyes quickly, trying to adjust to the light.

While he took the time to adjust, I wandered over to the table, grabbing the piece of folded paper.

Amon’s scratchy, bloody handwriting adorned the page.

This is Julian. He claims to know things about the new queen. More so than the last one. Get the info. He doesn’t walk out, Alastor.

-A

I turned and took another look at Julian. He looked to be in his mid-30s. His dark blonde hair was caked to his dark green, scaly forehead with sweat. I heard a low groan as his head swayed; he was in pain, but I didn’t see any immediate signs of injury. I slowly circled the chair he was tied to, and that’s when I saw it, a small gash on the back of his head behind his right ear. I fucking hated when they were knocked out before I got down here. Half the time, when they woke up, they were incoherent. Unaware of anything, so beyond confused it wasn’t even worth anyone’s time. I knew for a fact it was one of Amon’s idiots who did this. Probably Brad, if I had to guess. If Ashton or Finn got this guy, they wouldn’t have injured him like this before bringing him down.

I walked back to the table of knives and grabbed a six-inch hunting blade. This blade was iridescent black, Noxen charmed. It would be perfect for getting information from this guy. I tossed the blade between my hands, rolled my shoulders back before taking a deep, cleansing breath.

Let’s get this over with.

When I fully took in what was before me, I saw how my smoke was reacting to the knife. The smoke that enveloped me began to shine, taking on the same iridescent appearance as the Noxen charmed blades. As I manipulated the smokey tendrils with my other hand, I could feel the wisps between my fingers. My smoke had started to become part of who I was more than ever before.

I walked back behind Julian and took a closer look at the gash on his head. It was bad, but not bad enough. I took my pointer finger and dug into the nearly three-inch wound, and it didn't take long to feel bone. It took even less time for Julian to begin screaming.

Removing my finger, I leaned down next to his ear and in a low voice I whispered, “Hello, Julian.”

He jumped as far as he could, considering he was tied to a chair that was bolted to a concrete floor.

“What the fuck?!” Julian looked around frantically. “Where am I?”

I remained behind him, just out of his peripheral vision, even as he’s turning his head to try and see. “Welcome to Hell, Julian. Quite literally.”

He began shaking, fighting his restraints. He looked down at his hands and saw that he was in his demon form, green scales where skin would have been. He screamed, “HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME!”

I chuckled softly and slowly walked around to stand directly in front of him.

He looked at me, and I was able to see color drain from his face. “No,” he said so softly, I almost didn't hear him.

“Yes, Julian. You can scream all you want, but I can promise you, even if someone does hear you, no one will come for you. And if you keep screaming, it’s just going to annoy me, and trust me when I say you don’t want to see me annoyed.” I squatted in front of him with my forearms on my thighs, holding the hunting knife loosely in my hand. He clearly caught sight of it and saw the black iridescence, marking it as charmed for killing demons. His eyes widened, and I tilted my head to the side.

“You see, Julian, you and I wouldn’t be here for no reason. So, let’s save us both some time, and why don’t you just share what you know?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His defiance was clear by the look in his eyes.

I stood and took a few steps back from him, arms spread wide. “You know who I am, though,” I stated.

“Of fucking course, I do.”

“Say it then.” I refused to look away from him.

“Fuck you.” He spat at me. Literally spat at me and it took every bit of willpower I had to not snap this asshole’s neck on the spot.

I walked over to the table and exchanged my knife for one that wasn’t Noxen charmed. “See, Julian, this could have been simple. Relatively pain free on your end, but you’re deciding to be difficult. Frankly, I won’t argue; it’s more fun for me this way. But for you…not so much.”

Once I was standing in front of him again, he was looking at me from hooded eyes, a deep scowl lining his forehead. I took the blunt end of the knife and pushed it to his forehead.

“Scowling like that will give you wrinkles. Not a good look for an essentially immortal being. Immortal unless I decide to use one of those Noxen charmed weapons while we are playing today.”

“Just fucking kill me, Alastor, we both know that’s how this is going to end.”

“Oh. You do know how I am.” I saw a muscle feather in his jaw as he clenched his teeth. “No smart retort, Julian? You’re going to have to share some information here before anything happens, and I don’t have all day.”

“I don’t know anything worth sharing with scum.”

“Scum? Ha! That’s a new one. Well, see, I was told different. Does our new queen ring any bells?”

As soon as I mention the new queen, I see the subtle tense in his muscles. If I were anyone else, I wouldn’t have noticed. But I’m not anyone else, I’m Owen Fucking Alastor.

Speaking much quicker now, Julian nearly stuttered, “Why, why would I know anything about that?”

“I have no idea, Julian. But I need to know what you know.” My arms caged him in, settling on the armrests of the chair.

As I stared him down, he rolled his lips between his teeth. I refused to have a silent stare down with this guy; it would get us nowhere.

“Okay,” I said, breaking the silence and pushing off the chair. “We are going to do this my way. I’m not giving you another option.”

In one long stride, I was in front of him again, and the knife was in his thigh. He let out a loud yowl, and I slapped my hand over his mouth.

“Listen, Julian. That knife stays in your thigh. When I remove my hand, you’re going to tell me what you know. Understand?”

He tried to speak. But eventually just nodded his head. I took my hand off his mouth and put it on the knife handle, ready to twist if he didn't share what I wanted to hear.

“Fine! The new queen is a woman.”

I looked at him expectantly, but he just shrugged. I clenched my teeth and twisted the knife in his thigh. When my hollow eye sockets took in the gash in his leg, the blood coming from it was black. The inky hue slowly seeped away from the cut. Double-checking the knife I had definitely wasn’t Noxen charmed, as this shouldn’t be happening.

“AHH!” He screamed.

“You’re going to have to do a lot better than that, Julian. And quick.”

I walked over to the table, grabbing another knife that wasn’t charmed. Standing behind him, I held it to his throat. A low whisper came from deep within, and my madness began to stir. “What information do you have, Julian?”

He shuddered, and I pushed my finger into the slash in his head once again. Blackness was curling across his skin from this injury now too.

What was going on?

With a pained voice, he finally spoke up. “I don’t know if what I know is accurate or not.”

I shoved a second finger in the wound and he jerked, making his thigh gush black blood around the blade still stuck there. “That’s not for you to decide.”

“All I’ve heard is that she’s a human who frequents that bar Purge.”

“What?” Everything around me started to slow. It couldn’t be.

“That’s what I heard!” I shoved a third finger into the gash, and I felt my madness boiling over, needing to be unleashed. I also needed him to shut the fuck up so I could think. Could Eleanor be the new Queen of Hell? It would explain a few things.

I removed my fingers from the wound on his head; it was bleeding much worse now. Black blood dripped down the side of his head. As I went to remove the blade from his neck, I made a quick but shallow slice, and he jumped, screaming as the wound in his thigh gushed blood once again. Black tendrils were dancing away from the small cut on his neck, and I knew for a fact that this blade was not charmed.

I slowly walked toward the table, my mind racing. But the sounds of Julian’s struggle were like music to my ears. The madness in me wanted it to last forever. But I had too many questions that needed answers to wait any longer.

A mumble from behind caught my attention. When I turned my head, I saw that Julian was staring at me. Deciding to dismiss all the weapons on the table, the knuckles in my fingers popped as I rolled them together.

Once I finally turned around, Julian was still staring at me. “Do you plan on trying to burn a hole into me by staring that hard?”

No response.

“Are we playing the quiet game now?”

No response.

“Oh, goody.” I began circling his chair, and he just stared blankly ahead. “Julian, clearly you know you aren’t walking out of here. So, tell me what else you know.”

His face was unmoving. A mask of pure hatred, a nonverbal refusal to share any more information.

“This is still going my way, no other option.” Squatting down in front of him, I used the knife still in his thigh that was surrounded by necrotic flesh to steady my way down. A putrid stench had begun filling the air from his dying flesh. He let out a pained hiss, which elicited a devious smile from me.

Through clenched teeth, Julian mumbled, “I don’t know anything else.” Finally, he looked me in my hollow eye socket, and I could tell he was telling the truth.

“Okay fine. But, just for good measure, you’re absolutely sure?” I yanked the blade from his thigh and held it at his shoulder, right at the joint where I know it will slide in easily and painfully.

He said nothing. I began shoving the knife into his shoulder slowly, savoring how his thick, scaly skin popped when the knife broke through the muscle and sinew. Julian screamed, loudly. I stopped the blade about halfway into his flesh. “I’m waiting.”

Once he stopped screaming, Julian was breathing heavily, black blood pooling from his shoulder in a slow, steady stream. He struggled to get his next sentence out, and I struggled to hear him clearly as he spoke through deep breaths. “I don’t…think she has…any clue…who she…actually is.”

“So, she doesn’t know that she’s destined to be the Queen of Hell?” I asked this, not expecting an answer, it was more rhetorical.

“I don’t know for sure.” Julian took a deep breath. “But, from what I heard” —another deep breath— “it seems like she’s pretty naive to our world.”

I was caught off guard by this information. According to the stories, she was supposed to start gaining her powers from Lucifer when he determined it was the right time. Knowing that Lucifer’s power was draining, clearly the right time was now. I knew that’s why Amon had been so keen on figuring out who she was. He must plan on either trying to sway her to his side so he can manipulate her in some way, or even worse, killing her.

Once I finally gathered my thoughts, I shoved the blade to the hilt into Julian’s shoulder. Another pained scream fills the room. I yanked the knife out and wiped it off on a clean part of Julian’s shirt. The madness had reached my chest at this point, and I knew if I didn’t let it out soon, it would be too late.

Tears streamed down his face now. I sat in front of him and immediately saw plumes of dark, black smoke begin to spill from my fingertips. I closed my eyes and willed that madness into Julian. His screams were otherworldly, but they fueled the madness. I’d always contemplated whether or not the madness in me was actually a part of me or if it was something else. Something that I needed to eventually fully set free. Over 600 years, and I still didn’t know the full extent of what it was.

When I was finally able to open my eyes, Julian was seizing, bleeding from his eyes and ears. I could see smoke pouring out of my chest to him. That had never happened before, a physical manifestation of my madness from my chest.

I stared at Julian, still a bit stunned and unsure of what just happened. My thoughts were still racing as I stood and walked over to the table to leave my message for Amon.

Doing my best to recall the information Julian shared with me, I make note of what Julian shared, leaving out some key details. Now I had to leave and sit with the information that my powers may be changing too after over 600 years. Not only that, but was Eleanor our new queen, and she had no idea?

As I pulled out onto the road to head back home, I wished I had flown here instead. Needing time to process everything, I make a left and ride away from the city to get on the interstate. Cool, crisp air hit my neck between my helmet and hoodie as a heavy metal playlist blasted from the speakers. There was very little traffic tonight, which was ideal, so I picked up speed and let my thoughts wander.