The Last Guardian

Chapter_55: Azazel and the Demonic System

Lisa drove to the city hospital as quickly as she could, she was tired as hell but she really wanted to know if Johnathan was well. She was fifteen minutes away from the hospital.

Meanwhile Johnathan was collapsing into coma. Raven and Farid stood outside his cabin while the doctors tried to bring him back- little that they knew that it was not a physical or a medical problem- it was spiritual. The demon blood was fighting for space inside his body and his positive energy was pushing it back. The struggle was raising Johnathan’s heart beat and he was on the verge of going into a stoke or a cardiac arrest. Farid watched from outside with nervous anticipation and began to pray. He had an idea- if he could enter Johnathan’s psyche and calm him down then maybe he could be saved.

Little did he know that Azazel was creating havoc inside Johnathan’s mind-

It was pitch black inside Johnathan’s mind. He was lying on the cold ground unconscious. Azazel kicked him and woke him up and laughed in amusement-

“What? Where am I? Who are you?” asked Johnathan.

“I’m the one they call The Prince of Darkness- Azazel and we’re- inside your head-ah! A little more renovation and you’d make the perfect Demon- Sheesh! The baggage that humans carry- betrayal, sadness, guilt, anger, fear, lust-no wonder it’s so easy to possess them-” said Azazel walking around Johnathan with his hands in his pockets.

Johnathan looked at him closely, this was the first time he was seeing Azazel. But prince of darkness? He wondered if he were a high ranking demon. Now he understood clearly how he was able to defeat the witch with such brutality; Azazel took control and super charged him. He wondered how he was able to have a conversation with him and that too inside his own mind? Was he dreaming? He saw him walking around gallantly, barefoot but dressed in a white coat and trousers. He had dark hair and was slim and strong. His eyes glowed red from time to time, indicating the surge of demonic powers inside his body.

“What are you doing inside my head? Get out!” cried Johnathan standing up.

“What am I doing? You drank the blood- you invited me in and now believe it or not, we are stuck together- Oh! The fun we’d have together- all the slaughtering and killing- It would make me so strong!” replied Azazel.

“No! This is a bad dream- I only need to wake up- that blood – no- it was Billy who forced me to drink- he wanted to save my life!” said Johnathan refusing to believe the truth.

“Regardless- you still have my blood running through your veins and it means that you will always have me- In- your-head-” grinned Azazel, “and Billy saved your life? No- he gave you the blood so that he could save himself by turning you into a walking time bomb!” replied Azazel.

“A time bomb? What?” asked Johnathan in confusion.

“Ok- sit down- I’ll explain you everything from the beginning- don’t worry, time runs differently in here- in the outside world, the doctors are trying to bring you back to life, your body is collapsing. But an hour over here is like a second outside, so we have time- sit- sit-”said Azazel in a friendly manner.

Johnathan crushed his teeth in anger-the audacity of the demon was making him mad. He was in his head and ordering him around. He wondered if he could defeat him in here- after all it was his own mind. He rushed at Azazel in anger clenching his fist. Azazel shook his head in frustration. In a blink of an eye he caught Johnathan by his collar and pinned him down on the ground with enormous strength. Johnathan fell down with a thud and the ground cracked around him- he was unable to move for a few seconds.

“Don’t underestimate my strength- just because this is your mind doesn’t make you it’s master-I own this place now-I own you-so do as I tell you and listen to me or else I’ll make you suffer!” said Azazel holding him by his throat.

He then let him go and dusted off his coat. Johnathan gasped for air and tried to get up. He realized now that defeating him was not an easy task- forget about exorcising him out of his body. So he sat down and listened to what Azazel had to say.

“You thought you could defeat me? Boy you’ve no idea what I can do-even if it were the real world, I’d have crushed you. Don’t take me for those lowly demons that you beat earlier- I’m nothing like them-”

“There are four kinds of demons- the first is the Pure blood that have no proper shape and form and roam about in the underworld, they have no interest in this world of humans neither do they have any consciousness. All they do is torture and devour souls in hell. They do not die and are the true spawn of the Darkness...”

“The second is the Half blood-the workers who obey instructions and do the bidding of their superiors-they are born from cursed souls of humans who are meant to suffer in hell but they strike a deal with the darkness and start working for them. The ones who possess humans and the ones you defeated were of this kind...”

“The third are the Beta Demons-the ones turned by the half bloods by injecting them with their own blood. These are mindless animals-zombies-they do the hard work for the half bloods and they die in a few days. They’re generally unsuspecting innocent people- kidnapped and forcefully fed with demon blood. Their bodies cannot bear the blood and eventually collapse...”

“The Fourth are the Fallen Ones- like me. The bosses of all the demons. You might have heard of Lucifer- the one they call Satan, well I’m one of them. We used to be seven brothers that fell to the earth millions of years ago and Lucifer was our leader but Alas! I’m the only one who remains standing- the others are locked up somewhere in some other realms. And frankly I’m glad that they are- that makes me the king of hell for now...”

“I was here for thousands of years and I saw all of my brothers being trapped and locked up throughout the ages by God and his angels- Ugh! Those pompous, self righteous, winged bastards! But I survived till the end, until one day God sent someone stronger and he defeated me and locked my body up! But I was smart. Before he could lock me up, I kept a drop of my blood in a vial and handed it to a priest for safe keeping, telling him that if I were trapped or killed, he should find a perfect vessel for me- one that could hold my consciousness in his body...”

“For thousands of years I’ve waited for the priest to find me my vessel and look at me now- I’ve found the perfect vessel- You! You have the strength and the courage and you’re a Guardian too- We would make a great team- I’d use your meat suit and rule over this earth! Ah! What a great day for me...and after I’ve found my original body- I will release you- well after I’m done turning this world into a hell hole of course-”

Johnathan was listening patiently till now but he snapped when he heard that Azazel planned to use him merely as his vessel. He stood up and said-

“Hmh! All that strength and power and still you’re nothing without me- what if I don’t let you take over- like ever?”

“Really? You wanna go there boy? I’ll make you suffer like hell- I’ll break every bone in your body until you’re nothing more than a useless bag of bones!” threatened Azazel.

“Yeah-yeah- I’ve heard that before- you do what you want with me- torture, m**m or go ahead and kill me- but remember, you have me as your vessel- the perfect vessel that you’ve found after thousands of years- what guarantee do you have that you will find another soon? So go ahead and do as you please, I’m still not letting you take over and you can’t force me, I still have my inner Chi to support me so you can’t force your consciousness upon me-” replied Johnathan.

Azazel was silent for a minute. He realized that Johnathan was smart and wouldn’t give up so easily. And it was indeed true to find another vessel like him. So he tried to find a weakness and tempt him-

“What if we make a deal? Huh? What do you say?”

“What kind of deal?” asked Johnathan.

“You can keep your consciousness and your mind- and your body and I won’t try to take over. But in return you let me out whenever I ask you to- that is whenever there’s another from of darkness around. I will destroy it and consume it’s powers and the more I consume the stronger my original body becomes. And one day I’ll be strong enough to get back to my original body and release myself and you’ll be free-”

“What if you’re lying?” asked Johnathan.

“Don’t insult me- I’m a higher creature- lying is for mortals, once I give you my word, I can’t take it back- shake my hand and the deal is done, you can return back to normal- your body will recover too and what’s more, you will be twice as strong!”

Johnathan thought for a moment, the deal was not bad but was he willing to take the risk of making a deal with the prince of darkness itself?

“Don’t waste your time- think how powerful you can become. You can defeat any demon and monster on this earth with my help. Ah! Is that Lisa’s voice I hear? She’s here to see you- don’t you want to wake up?” tempted Azazel stretching out his hand.

“Eh! What the hell-” said Johnathan and went and shook his hand.

“The deal is done- remember the terms!” said Azazel and disappeared.

Johnathan saw the whole place crumbling and shaking like there had been a violent earthquake. The place was breaking apart!

“Clear! One- Two- Three- again! Clear- One- Two- Three!” the doctors were trying to bring back Johnathan with shock pedals. Suddenly he took a long gasp of air in. He was back. The nurses stabilized him with injections and let him rest.

Lisa had just arrived and was watching from Johnathan from the outside. She was relieved when the doctors said that Johnathan was safe now and only needs some rest. His wounds were also healing fast. Lisa thanked the almighty.

Brother Farid also took a sigh of relief when he heard the news. But he also had this strange feeling in the back of his head that something was not quite all right. Earlier, he was meditating and trying to penetrate Johnathan’s mind telepathically. But a strong barrier was blocking him from entering. All he could hear were whispers. Johnathan was talking to someone. He heard strange words like – demons, half bloods, fallen, deal.

He wondered what it was all about. Had Azazel taken over Johnathan’s body? What was all the chatter he was hearing about? He could only eves drop on Johnathan’s mind- it was like trying to listen through a brick wall. But the words he had heard were quite alarming. Nevertheless, Johnny was alive and was recovering and that was enough for now. He saw Lisa sitting down with her eyes closed and hands clasped together- she was praying. Brother Farid smiled and realized something -

“The power of love! Ah! As long as this woman is around, Johnny can never go to the dark side- she would always bring him back.” he said to himself and walked up to her to introduce himself.

It was mid day now. The hot summer sun shone brightly over the blue sky. Johnathan was still asleep while Lisa waited patiently for him to wake up. Neither of them knew that they were meant to be together.