Chapter Nineteen: A Deeper Plot and a Steeper Spot

"Are you sure this is the right spot? This doesn't look like the safe house of a trio as organized as they are." Lysander said. He was looking at a junky looking warehouse. Evan shrugged. This had to be the place. It was exactly the address they had given to him. Or they had been lying. Either way, he had to take the chance and go in. He typed in the code to the door. The password to the outside door was 'Sah Mile'. Evan had a bad feeling about this. But he went into the room, feeling around the wall for a light, finally finding a switch and turning it on, seeing hooks all around the room.

Each hook had a flash drive on it that was dated with six month periods. They were nothing if not exquisitely organized. He took the flash drives down and put them into bags. The flash drives seemed to run for years. But some had weird letters on them that didn't correspond to months, days or dates. One symbol seemed especially disturbing. Evan didn't remember where he'd seen it, though he knew he had. He would have to do some research on it once he got back to the manor. For now, he just loaded all of the drives into bags and took the books that were there and flipped through them.

Unfortunately, one of the books had a destruction sigil on it and it started beeping. Evan tensed up, taking a deep breath and looking at the sigil, which was now glowing. He recognized this sigil, but it was of a much older art than he was used to using. This sigil would destroy not only the entire warehouse, but everyone within 300 feet of it. It really was that powerful.

"Get me a knife… Never mind." Evan said, biting his hand and drawing a generous amount of blood, squeezing it down onto his finger, drawing the sigil used to cancel the other one.

He sighed as the beeping stopped. The book was scaldingly hot now, but he put it in a sleeve and carried it, along with the other books, one by one to the van. He checked each book before taking it out of the warehouse and had to counter a number of different sigils designed to do everything from destroy the warehouse to vaporize the one holding the book. This was a strange situation. The sigils suggested that they were either far more powerful than they seemed, or that they worked for someone far more powerful and far more ancient than they. Either way, Evan had a lot of research to do when he got back.

Evan would gladly have stayed longer and searched more rooms and gathered more evidence. But he was concerned that the next glyph, he wouldn't be able to counter. So as he left, he called Lucifer.

"Father? May we speak briefly? I'm at the warehouse of the men who raped Charlie." Evan said.

"What? You captured them? I want to face them. I want them to face me." Lucifer said. Evan chuckled.

"Sorry. Charlie has already executed all three of them with a large caliber gunshot to their heads." Lucifer seemed surprised by this, but didn't say anything. That was a conversation for another time.

"So what brings this call?" Lucifer asked.

"Well, the warehouse itself is odd. It has… Some books with unusual defensive glyphs in them. There were explosive glyphs, disintegration glyphs, freezing glyphs, fire glyphs. All of them were exceptionally powerful. And frankly, I doubt three Demons of their caliber would even know, much less be able to use these glyphs. I wish I had thought to interrogate them before Charlie killed them. But you know… Hindsight and all that." Evan said, shrugging.

"Anyway, these glyphs are far more powerful and far more ancient than even I'm used to seeing. I figured you might know more about them. The books were heavily secured from common Demons trying to bring them out of the warehouse. It seemed suspicious that the warehouse had a security lock as simple as the one it did. It was just password protected. There was no magic on it whatsoever." Evan said, rambling a bit now in his confusion and anxiety about the matter.

"I see. Well, bring the books and anything else you think relevant to the palace." Lucifer said.

"I and my research assistants will aid you in discovering as much about them as we can. My investigative and magic countering assistants will go down to the warehouse and get out as much evidence as they can. And you and I will hopefully be able to uncover what exactly is going on. You know, I hoped for many centuries that you and I would be able to work together like this, Son. While we may not agree sometimes, we really are very much alike. More so than you likely wish to admit." Lucifer said calmly. Evan sighed. He knew that he was more like his father than he wished he was.

That didn't mean that he liked his father. Even if he respected the man for his ability to rule Hell with an iron fist when necessary and with a velvet gloved fist when a lighter touch was needed, he still didn't approve of many of the things Lucifer did and believed. He remembered the fight Charlie and their father got into over her breaking up with Seviathan. While Sev may have been a Chad jerk, he was a member of a high ranking noble family who would have made an excellent marriage partner and would have produced fine, powerful children with Charlie… According to Lucifer anyway.

Charlie had been having problems with Sev for over a year though. His jerkiness was becoming more and more obvious and his insecurities to boot, especially when Charlie let slip that there was a girl she'd become fond of. She hadn't been cheating on him or even considering cheating. But nobody was perfect and Charlie was bisexual. So it stood to reason that she could like a boy and/or a girl. But that wasn't good enough for Sev that she was with him. He wanted her to only have eyes for him.

That was the main thing that caused them, sooner rather than later to break up. He was still claiming that he broke up with her, though everyone who knew them well enough and remembered the fights they were having knew that she broke up with him and it was obvious that he was still more than a little bitter about it. He was married now to Asmodeus's daughter. Her name was Lizarvoh, and as far as Evan knew, they were relatively happy together. So all was well that ended well, he guessed.

He had the van go up to Lucifer's palace, checking in at the gate and bringing the research materials up to the palace. Numerous guards met them up there and helped him take the supplies in, setting them down in Lucifer's study. Few if any were allowed to actually work with Lucifer in his study. But today, there were several of Lucifer's closest magical and alchemical research assistants there. Multiple books on ancient sigils were taken down from the restricted section of the Royal Library and Lucifer seemed ready to spend as long as it took to get to the bottom of whatever this was.

-0-

"I-I'm… I'm a murderer…" Charlie breathed. It had taken almost an hour. They had taken her up to a bed, let her lie down so she could calm down. She was still panting, her heart racing, her eyes wide.

"Monster… I-I'm a monster…" Charlie whispered. Vaggie, who was lying down with her, cuddled her closer.

"No, mi amor. Eres una mujer marvillosa y Hermosa." Vaggie cooed in her home tongue. Charlie shivered happily. She loved when Vaggie spoke Spanish.

But somehow, it didn't make her feel better for long. She sank back into her depression as she came down from the shock, tears filling her eyes.

"I murdered them. I promised myself that I would give every Demon a chance to redeem themselves and instead I committed murder." Charlie breathed. Vaggie held Charlie close.

"No, carina. They couldn't have changed. And you know, as much as I know you want to help Demons change, not everyone has earned that chance.

"If anyone hasn't earned the chance, it was them." Vaggie said gently, stroking Charlie's hair, kissing her, cooing lightly to her in Spanish. She knew that Charlie loved it when she spoke Spanish to her. She'd spent about six months teaching Charlie to speak the language fluently. Now, Charlie was as fluent in various dialects of Spanish and in Portuguese. Vaggie wasn't as fluent in Portuguese as she was in Spanish, both Salvadoran, Guatemalan and Mexican. Because of her travels as a member of the guerilla militia, she spoke a number of Spanish dialects and was able to imitate the accents well enough.

So she had taken the time to teach Charlie all three dialects and the accents even. It was more a matter of bonding as partners than that Charlie really needed to know even one dialect of Spanish, much less three. But they became close quickly. Now, Vaggie was cashing in on that closeness, working hard to calm Charlie down, using all she knew about the princess and how to reach her. Slowly but surely, Charlie seemed to be calming down, even if she was still distressed about what she had done. Charlie finally leaned into Vaggie's touch, sighing in relief as she relaxed.

"I-I didn't know if I would be able to kill them. I-I fantasized about it. I had dreams where they were kneeling in front of me, begging for mercy. I dreamt that they were literally kissing my feet, groveling and praying. I felt powerful again, looking down on them. Their lives were in my hands. I killed them in my dreams and they thanked me. They thanked me for not doing worse." Charlie said. Vaggie nodded. Charlie had some dark fantasies when she was truly angry. Vaggie had never seen that side of her. Even in the television studio when she was fighting with Katie Killjoy.

Even then, Charlie was angry, but she wasn't truly vengeful. She didn't have true revenge in her heart like Vaggie had seen a short while ago. This side of Charlie sort of scared her. She could tell Charlie was traumatized and scared of her own darker impulses. She was pretty sure that this wouldn't be typical of Charlie, that even though Charlie had killed now, and in some abstract way, enjoyed it, that she wouldn't kill again if she could avoid it… Or maybe that was just hopeful thinking on her part. Was Charlie corrupted now? Was she going to lose the beautiful, pure angel that she knew?

Vaggie held Charlie closer to her, kissing her and stroking her hair.

"It's okay. I've had those impulses before myself. You know, I was a guerilla soldier when I was a human. A Salvadoran guerilla. I committed a lot of murders. Some of the people I killed deserved it. Some didn't. I realized that I wasn't the hero that I believed myself to be though. I saw myself as protecting my country from its enemies in any way necessary. But really, I was protecting the drug cartels against those who would shut them down.

"I-I realized that I was just as big a monster as the drug lords th-that hurt the people of my country. I had been working for them. I should have known. And… I went and I got revenge on them. I killed the drug lords. I killed their wives. I killed their children. But the drug lord that I went to kill last was prepared for me. He stabbed me. So yeah… I killed him… I think. But he also killed me. Revenge doesn't get you anywhere. Even if you're not physically hurt. Even if nobody seeks revenge back on you, you still hurt yourself. I hurt myself. I got sent to Hell… Though, maybe I would have anyway.

"Regardless of what I thought I was doing, what I was actually doing was being a murderer."

Charlie stared at Vaggie for a painfully long moment, completely silent.

"Do you regret coming to Hell?" Charlie asked, a little bit hurt.

"Well… I mean… Nobody wants to go to Hell… But… Maybe my life got better in Hell. I did meet you. You're better to me than anyone was in my human life. The only people who I truly loved and who truly loved me were my children. I-I hope that they're doing alright.

"Before I died, I tried to get them a way to get to America. I have a distant relative in America. I think they lived in Ohio. I only met them once when they came to visit my father. She was like his second cousin or some shit like that. I wish there was a way to find out how they're doing." Vaggie said. She'd gone on a bit of a tangent. But Charlie was relieved. She liked hearing Vaggie talk about herself. She loved learning more about Vaggie, about her hopes and dreams, whether in Hell or for the people she left behind.

-0-

"Okay… Let's see… This is an ancient Alchemical symbol." Lucifer said calmly. He himself couldn't use this kind of alchemy. It was Infernal Alchemy. As corrupted as Lucifer was, he was still an Angel. He was corrupted enough that he could be hurt by Celestial Alchemy, but not a Demon, so he couldn't use Infernal Alchemy. He had used his connections and brilliance and power to create a sort of combination style of alchemy he called Fell Alchemy. It wasn't quite Celestial Alchemy, but it wasn't quite Infernal Alchemy. This was Ancient Infernal Alchemy. He was reminded once again.

He had always been a little bit envious of Evan's ability to use Celestial, Infernal and Fell Alchemy. Evan was truly powerful and diverse in his abilities. Even though his natural abilities mainly related to various kinds of fire, he had been able to learn various kinds of magic and alchemy that even Lucifer wasn't able to learn. That meant that much of what Evan learned, he had to learn himself, since Lucifer couldn't teach it to him. But Lilith, who was a powerful mage herself was able to help Evan learn the arts.

Lucifer and Lilith were an interesting couple. Lilith focused on magic and alchemy, while Lucifer had been one of God's foremost warriors. He knew magic, but he was also brilliant with a sword. He still had his angelic weapons. They tried to take his weapons away from him. But he still had his sword and shield. The sword could cut through and kill Demons easily, while the shield could block almost any attack, including powerful Demonic attacks. He also had an angelic spear. He planned to pass them onto Evan when and if he died as the regalia of the ruler of Hell.

"Hmmm… This symbol. I saw this symbol as well." Evan said. It was the symbol of Wrath, but slightly different. Lucifer looked at the symbol.

"This is the symbol of Satan. This is interesting. Satan and I were both powerful angels before we were banished from Heaven. Samael was the Archangel of Vengeance. He was banished for turning his wrath upon God himself. I was the Archangel of Light. I knew more than I let on though. I believed that Man should have True Wisdom. Man may have been intelligent and technically free-willed.

"And God assuaged himself by saying that meant that they truly chose to worship Him. But I countered Him by saying that if they didn't understand the true nature of their choice, that they had no choice. Because they lacked the Knowledge that they would get from the 'Fruit', they could not make an informed decision. I was banished because I taught them that information. I gave them the knowledge that they needed to make an informed decision. The fruit on the Tree of Wisdom was just a metaphor for the knowledge of the difference between good and evil, the knowledge of the world.

"Man was banished from God's sight. He turned His back on them. The Garden of Eden was also a metaphor for the naiveté that God wanted Man to have to remain in His favor. Once they were no longer ignorant, God no longer favored them. I spoke out against God, compounding the supposed crimes I had already committed, calling Him a hypocrite for saying He wanted Man to have knowledge, to be able to choose whether to worship Him or not. God banished me as a result. However, Samael and I have always had something of an antagonistic relationship.

"I was God's favorite and Samael claimed that his victories against the ancient beings from Below should have made him God's favorite. God rebuffed him and Samael believed that He was unfairly favoring me. So when I fell, Samael, who now called himself Satan sought the first opportunity to kill me. I was more powerful, if only slightly. So I banished him to a prison within the Wrath Ring. Where as far as I know, he's been ever since. But cults to him have popped up over the millennia. I have people who worship me and Satan has people who worship him.

"Perhaps these three Demons who raped Charlie are secretly or perhaps not so secretly cultists of Satan. Some of these sigils are concerning. They look like attempts to create a ritual to release him from his prison." Lucifer said. Lucifer sighed. This was hard to say. He admired Charlie's optimism.

"You're getting closer to Charlie again, aren't you?" Lucifer asked.

"Yes. She's doing well. Her hotel is doing well. Nobody has been redeemed yet, but everyone seems happy." Evan said, proud of Charlie for her successes.

"I… I know this is hard to accept, but… She's not going to succeed. God doesn't forgive so easily. He doesn't just let people leave Hell. Those who have been eternally punished with Hell don't get to leave. They could turn into posthumous saints. And that's great that they're doing that. But they're not getting out of Hell. Charlie listens to you. She admires you. She respects you. Maybe you could talk to her and try to get her to understand that her sinners, best intentions aside, aren't going anywhere." Lucifer said softly. He and Charlie had a bit of a falling out when he tried to tell her that.

And though she still loved her father. But she was hurt that he didn't support her. He felt that maybe if he had been more involved in her life when she was younger, she would take what he said more seriously. But alas, he was God's favorite for a long, long time. He knew what he was talking about. There was nobody better to tell her how Heaven worked than him. In a way, he knew that this would be a valuable lesson, that sometimes, people can't be saved, as much as you might want to.

But on the other hand, he didn't want her to be hurt. He didn't want her allies to abandon her when they realized she couldn't save them. Lucifer was nothing if not a student of the human or in this case Demon mind. He knew that Demons especially didn't forgive. Even if Charlie had the best intentions in mind, Lucifer knew that forgiveness wasn't something that came naturally to Demons, especially those who had been promised everything and ended up getting nothing. Evan sighed. He closed his eyes, calming himself down. Unfortunately, he had a strong feeling that this was the case.

He had a strong feeling that redemption wasn't possible, even if they did everything right in Hell.

"I'll… I'll try." Evan said. But I'm not going to let her be hurt." Evan said sadly. He wanted her to be happy. He wanted her dreams to come true. But he also didn't want her to go chasing impossible dreams and be always trying to save them but always being disappointed. Because he knew if that happened, she would blame herself. That she would believe that she'd done something wrong. Unlike Lucifer, he'd seen the other guests at the hotel in more than a passing sense.

He knew that none of them would blame Charlie. That they would all understand that this had been an experiment and that she wasn't at fault if it didn't work how she thought it would. After all, she had still made their lives monumentally better. In Stand's and Pen's case, she reunited a family. In Angel's case, she saved him from an abusive master whom he felt safe in assuming would eventually end up killing Angel. Alastor had been fine before he came to the Hotel, but Evan could tell that Alastor was happy at the hotel. He was hardly a saint now. But Evan could tell that Alastor was starting to improve.

"I found something, Father. These symbols represent each of the sins and there's a description of an object and a location written by each of the symbols. I think they're looking for these objects. It says the objects are vital. A gold lion for Pride, a silver coin for Greed, a stone heart for Lust, a binoculars for Envy, a spoon for Gluttony, a sword for Wrath, a blanket or pillow for Sloth. It sounds like some kind of ritual to summon something…" Evan said.

"Or someone." Lucifer said.