She Belongs To The Devil

"At the cost of his own life!" The Goddess screamed at her husband in disbelief. "How can you be so indifferent when you already know how it's going to go down?"     

"He made that choice on his own. No one forced him to do it. So I don't see why I should interfere with the law of nature and create an imbalance," He replied in a monotone and looked away from his wife.     

The Goddess closed her eyes and held her head. She couldn't believe her ears!     

She swallowed again and asked in a voice that gave a hint of controlled rage, "How can a father be so cruel? The stupid law of nature is made by you… and you're telling me that you will stick with your rigid rule at the expense of your son's life?"     

God looked into the burning eyes of his wife and replied in an unfazed tone, "Exactly."     

"I thought you had started to change… I thought your family was now more important to you than your rules. I…" she took a deep breath in and gulped her tears.     

And she said in a broken voice, "…am so done with you and your ego which is larger than the universe."     

She swiftly turned around with the intention to travel to Earth. But before she could do anything, she saw several lightning bolts flickering all around her.     

"Asherah!" He raised his voice in an attempt to stop his wife. His voice sounded even more dangerous when it was accompanied by the thunderclaps. "Don't you dare leave for Earth! I will not tolerate you openly breaking the very rules which are there to uphold the balance in this universe."     

"And I will not tolerate you openly declaring that you would rather let your son die than make an exception to your lousy rules," The Goddess turned her head and shouted back in an equally dramatic voice accompanied by another series of lightning and thunder.     

"You left me no choice," God released a very bright light from his body.     

The light traveled faster than the speed of light and closed the portal that connected Earth and Heaven so that no one would be able to cross it until he was to say otherwise.     

The Goddess shook her head disapprovingly and gave a mocking smile. "You outdid yourself, dear husband. Keep this attitude and one day this heaven will be full of all kinds of being but your family."     

She swiftly turned around and before vanishing from his sight, she said, "And congratulations! Our son will die soon but it doesn't matter. At least nobody will break your rules. You won. Go ahead and celebrate."     

---     

The aura around Azriel and Adeline's bodies was glowing brighter and brighter. Their aurae now looked like bubbles with them inside.     

Adeline's body slowly lifted up in the air.     

Azriel also started to lift in the air.     

But Theodore kept on pulling Azriel down. And he pleaded to Azriel, "Please, brother, take your spell back. I will figure something out. I will ask father… or mother for a favor."     

Drops of tears rolled down Theodore's eyes. Theodore held Azriel by his shoulders and asked him, "So, please… just break this spell already! It's not too late for that."     

But Azriel gave a sad smile to Theodore and said, "Theo, I have lived my life already. It was too long and too lonely. And it became a curse rather than a blessing. So, you don't have to feel bad for me."     

"I…" Theodore wrapped his arms around his brother's neck and begged again, "You have us now, don't you? You won't be lonely. I will make sure of it. So, please brother, please stop this madness."     

Azriel also put his arms around his brother. But he wasn't going to change his mind. Or to be precise, he could not. He didn't regret his decision though. He was happy, both for his brother and for himself. He couldn't think of a better way to end his life other than being embraced by his pampered brother.     

Azriel blinked several times to contain his tears. And then he said to Theodore in a hoarse and broken voice, "Goodbye, baby brother. And say goodbye to Adeline, and everyone else."     

"No…"     

Before Theodore could protest any further, Azriel pressed his fingers on the pressure points on Theodore's neck and made him fall unconscious.     

Azriel carefully lay his brother down on the floor and the moment he did that, he floated in the air.     

He noticed Arion staring at him with watery eyes. He gave a soft smile to Arion and said, "I hope you can forgive me now, Arion. Take care of your masters."     

Arion bowed to Azriel and replied, "I will. And I am sorry that I was so rude to you."     

"It's okay."     

Azriel took one last look at his brother and at Adeline. And then he closed his eyes so that the ritual would start.     

He also hovered in the air horizontally like Adeline.     

And in the very next moment, the aura from Azriel's bubble started to get transferred to Adeline's aura bubble creating an infinity loop.     

Agnes and Arion watched the transfer with mixed feelings in their hearts. They didn't know whether to be happy that Adeline's life was going to be saved or whether to be sad that they were going to lose Azriel.     

After around half an hour, Theodore finally came back to his senses.     

He grunted with pain in his neck and his chest. The pain in his chest felt familiar. It was Adeline's pain.     

Theodore swiftly jumped up and looked at Adeline. The wound in her chest was still there but she was breathing again.     

Theodore couldn't celebrate though. He glanced at Azriel. He inhaled sharply upon seeing how Azriel's appearance had changed to that of a middle-aged man.     

Almost half of Azriel's golden hair had now turned grey. His skin had wrinkles. And he looked so different. It was evident that Azriel's life force was being transferred to Adeline. And it was also clear that Azriel would grow old and feeble in no time and would eventually take his last breath.     

Theodore had a sliver of hope that their father would save his brother. But seeing how he wasn't doing anything until now, his hope died.     

He held his brother's hand and whispered, "Az… I'm sorry I made such a selfish wish that it took your life." Tears rolled down Theodore's cheeks uncontrollably. He was not ready to lose any more members of his family. But it was now already too late to change anything.     

Suddenly, Theodore was furious beyond control. He was furious at that bloody Vampire who was the root cause of all unfortunate events and untimely deaths that were happening around him lately.     

Theodore took a few steps back from his brother and transformed into his Devil form. His eyes and horns were flaming. His claws and feathers were sharpened. And his heart was filled with utmost hatred and anger.     

"I'm going to kill that bastard."     

Theodore held out his palm and summoned his flaming sword.     

And he screamed, sending tremors all over his cave, "I'm going to kill them all."