As Jesse lay in the bed in Todreel's makeshift home, the young man drifted in and out of consciousness. His demon powers had been pushed to the limit, and without Lucifer's influence in the world to power him, Jesse was now dying. As it stood, even with the angel Todreel's ability to heal, Jesse only had less than two hours left to live. The Anti-Christ moaned while tossing and turning, his demonic side slowly destroying his body. The pain was unbearable and felt like his insides were melting.
It wasn't long before Jesse had fallen back into unconsciousness from the pain, this time finding himself standing in the middle of what looked like a smoking wasteland. There was decay, ruin, and skeletons everywhere, of human, angels, and demons. There was barely any color, as everything looked gray.
"This is new," Jesse said as he looked around, not even caring that he was still naked. At least no one was around to see him like this.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"
"Who's there?" Jesse asked as he quickly covered his lower region with both hands as he tried to see through the smoke.
A figure started coming through the dense smoke, the first thing being noticeable were his glowing red eyes.
"Hello, Jesse," Lucifer said with a devilish grin. The man spoke in a calming tone as he came into full view. "It's so good to finally meet the boy I've heard so much about. We have a lot to discuss."
Wayward Sons #22
"Graceland, Part Four"
"Die, traitor!" Todreel shouted as he flew toward Alfie with his angel blade drawn. Just as he was mere inches from the former angel, Connor tackled Todreel to the ground.
"Vampire scum!" Todreel shouted as he backhanded Connor, sending him flying back and crashing the vampire into a tree, where the teenager made an imprint in the wood. Todreel stood up, grabbing his angel blade.
"Todreel," Alfie said. "It's been a while."
"You betrayed me. You locked me away, destroyed my chances to be loyal to Lucifer."
"Lucifer is evil, he would destroy you the second you were of no use to him."
"Better the devil himself than the father who abandoned his children."
"Ooh, someone's got daddy issues," Asher said with a slight laugh.
"God had his reasons for leaving," Alfie told Todreel. "I believe he still loves us. All of us. Just as you once loved me."
"Don't," Todreel said angrily as he held his blade out. "Don't you dare speak of what we shared."
Connor was holding his sore back as he walked toward them, looking between the two. "Uhhh... is there more to this story than what we were told, Alfie?"
"Go ahead, Samandriel, tell them of the forbidden love we shared," Todreel said bitterly as Asher held up a finger to try to take this all in.
"Alfie... what the * ?"
"Yeah, dude," Connor said as he tried to understand what was going on. "I thought you were straight."
"Angels do not possess human traits such as gender, or genitals," Alfie explained. "Only when we possess human vessels do we obtain such things. Todreel and I were... lovers in Heaven when I was a cupid and he was serving under Raphael. It was forbidden for any angel to be in such a relationship, so we kept it hidden for centuries."
"Then the whole Lucifer thing messed everything up," Asher realized.
"Yes, Todreel broke what I guess you'd call my heart by siding with Lucifer. I was afraid he'd be banished to Hell, or worse, killed for treason, so I made sure he wasn't around when Lucifer was banished. It was one of my first act when God promoted me from cupid to angel."
"I broke your heart?" Todreel asked bitterly. "We could have served under Lucifer together, Samandriel. We could have been free to openly express our love instead of hiding from everyone. But you decided you were too good to leave Heaven."
"I had just been promoted to being an angel," Alfie said. "While Todreel had been locked away, Lucifer had gone too far and created the first demon, spreading his evil on Earth, resulting in his being locked in the Cage until a few years ago."
"Lucifer was misunderstood," Todreel said. "He created demons out of loneliness because of the father who wouldn't love him."
"Asher, go, continue your search for Jesse," Alfie told him. "I must talk to Todreel, perhaps I can reach him."
"Reach this," Todreel said as he backhanded Alfie, sending him flying back several dozen feet. As he flew past Asher, the young hunter was knocked unconscious, falling behind a tree.
"Lucifer," Jesse whispered in fear as he tried to back away, but fell backward as he tripped on a skull, falling onto his back. The young Anti-Christ tried to crawl backward, but he was up against a large rock.
"Jesse, you don't need to fear me," Lucifer said softly as he walked calmly toward the young man. "I want to be your friend. I know you're dying, and I want to save you."
"You were going to have me destroy everything in Heaven," Jesse said, not wanting to die like this.
"You must be so cold like this," Lucifer said as he kneeled down to look at Jesse. He waved his hand, giving Jesse a pair of boots, blue jeans, and a t-shirt. "You think I care about the angels? Destroying Heaven is so... beneath me. Trust me, I could care less what those beaurocratic douchebags do. They can't do anything to me, they're ants, meaningless in the grand scheme."
"Then what did you want with me when I was little?"
"I wanted to give a lonely child a home," Lucifer said. "I wanted to teach a frightened little boy how to use those powers, and maybe even one day he'd call me 'Dad' and we'd be a family. But then you just vanished off of the face of the Earth. I sent everyone I could to find you. Where did you go?"
"I- I hid in a pocket universe," Jesse whispered as he stared down. Lucifer just put his hand under the young man's chin to raise his head and stare into his eyes.
"Poor little lost boy," Lucifer said as he placed his hand on Jesse's chest. "You don't have long to live, and I can only do so much for you while I'm trapped in this... place. But there is one chance for you."
"What's that?"
Lucifer just smiled at him, whispering into Jesse's ear what he needed to do to save his life. "I can give you a temporary power boost to do what you need to do, but you'll only have 30 minutes when you wake up. When that half hour runs out, you will die."
"And I suppose you want a favor in return?"
"It'll take time for you to become healthy again, all I ask is that once you're back to full strength, just open the door for me. Can you do that, Jesse? Can you open the door so I can come home? So that I can get to know you?"
"The time is near," Dawn said. "Once the Anti-Christ is found and killed, I can take this show on the road. We'll go from town to town, putting everyone under my power."
The nameless boy just stood nearby, staring down at the ground.
"And what's wrong with you?"
"I don't want to do this anymore," the boy said in a low whisper.
"Excuse me?" Dawn asked as she slammed the boy against the wall. "Looks like my reprogramming didn't take. Maybe I'll just have to dig deeper into that head of yours to get you to play the game."
"I don't want to hurt anyone," the boy pleaded with tears in his eyes. "People get sad when I leave them. They try to hurt themselves."
"You listen to me, brat, I own you now," Dawn told him. "You are mine to command, and I say we're not going to stop until everyone on Earth is under Lucifer's command. You're going to make him very happy, and you will be rewarded greatly for serving him. So shut up and do as you're told."
"Do you think that kid is really Adam's son?" Mike asked as he waited for Ben to come out of the bathroom with the clothes he'd picked out.
"No way, Adam's only ever slept with one girl from what he told me," Ben said as he stepped out of the bathroom in a new outfit, his other clothes having been stolen by Connor. "And she dumped him the morning after his prom."
"Well, the age would match up if she got pregnant that night," Mike said, doing the math in his head. "Maybe she was a demon or something."
"No, Adam's luck isn't that bad," Ben told him. "One boyfriend who got ripped to pieces and a demon girlfriend? It's a good thing he's with Matt now, that guy seems like he's relatively normal."
"Do you think we should call Adam and tell him?" Mike asked.
"Tell him what, that his kid is here with the demon holding his contract?" Ben asked with a laugh, then stopped. "Wait, why aren't WE trying to kill said demon? As a matter of fact, how did we get here? Is it me, or are the last few hours starting to be a major blur?"
"It's not just you. I remember walking to town with you, then something about Adam having a son," Mike said, scratching his head as he thought about what he just said. "Ben... I think something really messed up is going on here."
"I'll say, I need a drink," Ben told him. "Let's go get a couple of beers. And something for you if you're thirsty."
Alfie landed in the grass as Todreel appeared in front of him.
"This has been a long time coming," Todreel said as he stepped on Alfie's arm, snapping the bone. Alfie screamed in pain as Todreel kicked him hard enough to send him flying, but as Alfie went through the air, he ended up going through an invisible force field that was hiding something. "Oh, fu-"
Not too far away, Connor was about to rush to help Alfie when he saw a black cloud appearing over the forest. The townspeople were continuing their search for Jesse when the cloud started breaking apart, with black smoke funneling into the mouths of everyone in view. Connor ducked for cover as everyone was quickly possessed by the demon army Dawn had sent for.
"Asher," Connor whispered as he found Asher laying unconscious. "Asher, wake up. We've got trouble. Well, more trouble."
Connor still saw black smoke everywhere, looking for a host. Dragging Asher to an open tree trunk, Connor stashed his friend there, covering it with tree branches.
"There, now you should be-," Connor turned and saw all of the black-eyed townspeople staring at him. "Aw, crap."
Prometheus, Lucas, and Ritchie returned to Todreel's hidden home to find Jesse, only to find the bed empty.
"He was right here," Prometheus said. "He was dying, how could he-?"
"Maybe he got better," Lucas said as he saw shoe prints leading out of the door.
"There was something else here," Ritchie said as he looked at the bed. "Your friend might be in trouble. Guys, I think there's only one person who can help us, and that's Missouri. We have to find her."
"But wouldn't that mean having to go back into town?" Lucas asked with a slight laugh. "Where that demon is in control of everyone?"
"Missouri's the only one powerful enough to put Dawn in her place," Ritchie told them. "We just have to get to her and help her prepare for a fight."
"The kid's not in control of his powers," Ben said as he slid a drink across the bar to Mike. "I think Dawn's making him do this."
"Doesn't explain why it's wearing off," Mike said.
"Maybe it is him, trying to set us free for some reason. But if it's not him, it's... someone else," Ben told him. "Ever since we got here, there's been this... voice in my head. A woman, and she says she's trying to help."
"So, where's this woman at? Why isn't she here actually doing something?" Mike asked.
"I think she is here," Ben said. "We've just got to find her."
"And what about the others?" Mike asked as he drank his beer. "Ben, my kid brother's wrapped up in this now. What if he gets hurt?"
"Mike, Asher's a big boy, he can handle himself," Ben reminded him. "He's a hunter. You've got to trust him. I have a feeling if we find this woman, we'll have a way of stopping Dawn permanently."
"That's not the Anti-Christ," Dawn said as she saw the townspeople dragging Connor back, heavily chained so he could barely move. "You people are useless, even when you're possessed! I've had enough of these games, kill the vampire, then go back out and find the Anti-Christ before he starts any trouble!"
"Asher? Wake up, buddy," a voice said as a hand slapped the young hunter across the face. Asher sat up, holding his head.
"Where am I?"
"You were mind wiped, but I fixed it, now let's go get our boys,"
Asher looked up and saw Jesse standing there, his shirt drenched with blood. "Jesse? Why are you-?"
"Long story, pal," Jesse said as he helped Asher up. "But for right now, let's go tear that bitch apart and free our buddies."
As they walked back to town, they passed a pile of leaves on the ground, with a bloody hand sticking out from underneath.
Alfie picked himself up from the grass, holding his broken arm. Before he could take a step, Todreel punched his kneecap, shattering it. Alfie screamed as he fell back onto the grass, trying to crawl away.
"I loved you, Samandriel," Todreel told him. "We could have served under Lucifer together. We could have been one, helping turn this world into something better."
"This world can be something better, but not under Lucifer," Alfie said as he tried to crawl toward a small lake not too far ahead. "We have the chance to make it better for them, not for Lucifer."
"You can't get away, Samandriel," Todreel told him. "This is where you die. You'll never make it."
Alfie tossed his angel blade at Todreel, hitting him in the shoulder. Todreel screamed as he tried to pull it out, but just as he got it out of his shoulder and tossed it to the ground, Alfie managed to roll himself into the river.
"NO!" Todreel shouted as Alfie fell through the illusion of water. A bright light started to shine, with energy crackling as Alfie started rising out of the water, his eyes glowing a bright white. A pair of large red wings expanded behind him as Samandriel regained his grace and angel status, before landing back in the grass with his body healed.
"If you wish to continue this fight, then let's do it fairly," Samandriel told him as he looked down at his renewed angel form, which now included a Wiener Hut uniform and hat. "Oh, COME ON!"
TO BE CONTINUED...
