Chapter 1

Hell, 1690

When Daniel regained his consciousness he was in a strange place and he was alone.The air was thick with smoke as the smell of burning flesh rose into the air. Daniel tried to hold his breath but the longer he went without breathing the thicker the smoke became. He was tired, it seemed like he had gone days without sleeping and his body was exhausted. He closed his eyes for a moment, only to be jolted awake by the pain of a blade slicing through his rib cage. The searing pain was too much for Daniel to bear and he began screaming out for help. 

 "HELP, PLEASE SOMEONE, ANYONE JUST MAKE IT STOP!" He screamed. No one came. Then the blade came again, and again. Daniel began crying. He did not understand why this was happening to him. 

Then he met him, the one they warned against, the one he prayed for deliverance from, the one who created this place of pain and suffering. Lucifer. 

"Hello, Daniel." He said calmly. 

"Why? Why is this happening? Why am I here?" Daniel asked, confused. 

Lucifer chuckled "This is your destiny, Danny my boy. You are meant to be here. Everything you have done, everyone you have trusted with your secrets and your demons have condemned you here. I have plans for you. Should you agree to my terms? I don't ask for much, but what I do ask for will be too much for you."

"What do you mean? What do you ask? What plans? I have done nothing to deserve to go to hell. I have been faithful to my God and have repented for my sins. How is this my destiny?" Daniel cried.

“Oh my dear boy, you are going to lead my army. You will be the one who brings this world to its knees.” Lucifer answered.  Daniel was confused. He had no idea what Lucifer was talking about. He didn’t even belong in Hell. 

Then suddenly the white, searing pain of his death hit him. He was burned alive for witchcraft. An offense he was more than sure he didn’t commit. 

Then Louise came into view and Daniel knew what happened and he began to cry. Lucifer saw Daniel start to put the pieces together, and smiled. 

“ See, this beautiful young woman here,” Lucifer said, pointing at Louise. “ Is Lust she is one of my many angels, but she is special, she is one of the seven mostly deadly sins you could ever commit. Daniel meet Lust.” He finished trying to stop himself from laughing. 

“How could you? I loved you. You said you would marry me.” Daniel weeped. 

“Sorry, hunny. You were just a name on a list. You were an excellent lay though. But it was just a job.” Lust answered. 

“Oh, and you getting caught in the middle of drinking from her by the preacher was no accident either.” Lucifer explained. “ He is also one of my angels.” Just then Preacher Garland walked up dressed like the preacher. “Daniel meet Greed, another one of the seven most deadly sins.” Lucifer continued.  Daniel was in utter shock. 

“You have been there my entire life. You watched me and my brother grow.” Daniel cried. 

“I know, I was supposed to. It was my job to ensure the prophecy was fulfilled.” Greed replied. 

“Prophecy?” Daniel asked

“Yes. You and your brother had to die by fire. But you will learn more about that later.” 

“Why me?” 

“ Because we needed You, you have one of the purest souls that I ever seen and I needed a pure soul to break and bend to my will. Only a soul that has been forsaken by God, I mean truly forsaken, can lead my army of souls against Heaven. But first I need you to go back to Earth and collect a few more souls for me.”

“You mean,do to others what has been done to me?” Daniel asked “Never, Do what you must to me. But I will never send others to be in this place.” 

Daniel knew he would have to endure a lot of pain for what he had just said. He was willing to, he was strong-willed and stubborn. So when Lucifer smiled, and flames started to cover Daniel’s body again he was not surprised. The pain was blinding. Daniel screamed as Lucifer turned and walked away, Lust and Greed in tow. 

The fire never stopped. The pain never stopped. Daniel’s throat was so raw he couldn’t scream any more. He just stood there, let the fire consume him, and tried so hard not to move. 

Daniel spent years getting whipped and beaten. His hands were chained to bolts that seemed to be welded onto the ground. He had no choice but to stand there. His skin  was cut up so severely that it practically slid off of his bones. Still he continued to deny Lucifer.  

Daniel would stand there as various demons took turns breaking his bones with axes and sledgehammers.They laughed at and spit on him while his body slowly succumbed to the pain. Tears fell silently from his eyes, he would not let them see him break. 

When the physical torment didn’t seem to convince Daniel to change his mind, Lucifer began torturing him mentallly. Daniel was forced to relive his own death,not the pain of being burned alive, but the look of utter desperation in his mother’s eyes. He was forced to watch his twin brother die over and over and over again. 

The only relief Daniel received was when the torture was done for the day, allowing him to heal for the next. An angel with silver hair and iridescent purple eyes would come to clean his wounds and bring him water. 

One day when the torture was so horrendous it left him reduced to nothing more than a crumpled mass in the middle of his chains, he spoke to his angel. 

“Please, please may I have more water?” He begged

“I’m sorry, but father said to only give you this amount.” She started. “ I’m not supposed to be talking to the tortured.” 

“I’m Daniel. Now you know me and I’m not just one of the ‘tortured’.” Daniel replied

“I’m Elizabeth,” She said smiling. “I won’t tell if you won’t.” That day Daniel got extra water, her name, and a sliver of hope that Hell wasn’t that bad.

Daniel began daydreaming about her. He thought about the way her skin glowed, and how he could barely see the lavender wing that protruded from her back. How her eyes looked worried for him on days that were especially bad. He knew she could be a demon. Someone so kind didn’t belong here, no way was Lucifer her father. 

That night when Elizabeth came to clean Daniels wounds he asked her. 

“Is Lucifer really your father?” 

“Yes.” She answered flatly.

“But you're not a demon?”

“Well I guess you’re right, I am an angel. My father is Lucifer and my mother is Kesabel. They are both Fallen so I think I am too.” 

“You're very pretty.” Daniel blurted out, shocking Elizabeth. but making her blush and smile at the same time.

“That’s the first time anyone has ever said anything nice to me. Thank you Daniel.” She said, still smiling as she walked away. Daniel liked making her smile. Her eyes lit it, and it made him want to smile too.  

Daniel tried to make her smile everyday after that. He noticed she would spend extra time cleaning his wounds than the others. She would even bring him extra water. What seemed like weeks passed by and Daniel’s recovery time improved immensely. 

All that time with Elizabeth was healing his soul from all the damage Lucifer was trying to inflict. 

One day while Daniel was watching Elizabeth dip her rag in the bucket of water he asked her a strange question. 

“Can I kiss you?” He asked

“Uhmm I don't think you can.” She answered 

“Why not?” 

“Because you are supposed to tormented, and tortured. Not kissing angels.” She answered

“Please?” 

“No.”

“Okay. Well at least I…..” Daniel started, but was interrupted when Elizabeth’s lips crashed onto his. He suddenly felt a bolt of energy course through his body. All his wounds were healed instantly. 

Images of a little blonde boy with purple eyes played in his mind. He was beautiful. Suddenly Elizabeth pulled away. 

“What was that?” They both asked at the same time. Neither one of them knew the answer, they just stared at each other. 

“I have to go.” Elizabeth said, as she turned to walk away. Daniel pulled at his chains, wanting to be free so he could hold her. Whatever that was, it was messing with the both of them. 

It was a while before Elizabeth returned to care for Daniel. That was the worse torture Daniel had ever exprienced. It felt as if his heart had been ripped out and set on fire, then stomped on. He became physically ill. His wounds would not heal. The demons would break his bones and slice up his body only to return the next day and find him still broken. 

When Elizabeth did return she would not look at him. She didn’t bring him any extra water, and she spent no extra time talking to him. Daniel’s soul was aching for her smile. 

“Please, look at me Elizabeth.” Daniel begged, his voice barely a whisper. “Please.” He reached his hand out trying to get it close enough to touch her. But his chains stopped him. He winced. He could hide the tears from the demons and the people in charge of his torment, but not her. HIs tears came out violently, he could not take this type of pain. 

“Tell you father,” He whispered. “I will do it. If you won’t look at me anymore, and you won’t speak to me anymore. I will do it. Whatever he wants.” His tears never stopped falling. Then he said the three words Elizabeth had never heard in her life.

“Just know, I love you.” 

“I won’t tell him. I won’t. You don’t want to do whatever he wants.” Elizabeth finally spoke. “You just don’t want to see me everyday, you want to get away from me because it hurts. Ever since that kiss.”

“NO!” Daniel screamed, his voice slowly coming back. “I don’t want to get away from you, but you are right it does hurt. It hurts more than all of my bones being broken at once, it hurts more than getting my skin sliced off. You not being around me, it hurts more than the look on my mothers face when I died.” 

“Daniel I…”

“Please, if you don't feel the same just go. I have been in love with the wrong person before and it was the reason I ended up here. So…..”

Her lips interrupted him again. This time the images that played behind his eyelids were of her naked body on top of his. She was straddling him the same way it happened last time, she was moaning and rocking back and forth. 

When they finally broke the kiss they were both out of breath. Elizabeth looked at Daniel like she wanted the images to be true. Then she looked at his chains, disappointedly. 

“I’ll be right back.” She said, as she gathered up her bucket and rag. Elizabeth ran so fast she flew. Only minutes had passed before she returned. Daniel had his eyes closed reliving the kiss and rewatching the images, when he felt his chains drop from his wrist his eyes shot open. 

When he saw her, he pulled her close to his body and wrapped his arms around her. It felt as if she belonged there. She looked up at him and he kissed her again. This time the images had become reality. 

The only problem, they were not alone. Pride and Vanity were watching. Unknown to Daniel and Elizabeth, Vanity had a thing for Daniel, and Lust had mentioned that he was “well off” where it mattered. When Daniel and Elizabeth had finished, they quickly ran off to tell Lucifer what they had witnessed. 

Daniel was holding Elizabeth on his chest when Lucifer came storming to where they were. 

“What the fuck did you do!!!!!” He screamed at Elizabeth, grabbing her hair and dragging her off of Daniel naked. 

“STOP!” Daniel demanded, and Lucifer dropped her. She quickly crawled behind Daniel as he got up off the ground.

“Oh so you think now because you are unchained you can do anything you want, including fucking my daughter!” 

“No, but you don’t get to treat her like that.”

“Or what little puritan forsaken boy? Pride take that whore of a daughter of mine and get her cleaned up. Then lock her up in the castle dungeon.” Lucifer said

Pride tried to quickly grab Elizabeth, but Daniel stopped him. He looked back at his beautiful angel, knowing this would be the last time he would see her, he helped her to her feet, pulled her close to him and kissed her. 

“I love you, I love you more than life itself.” He told her and handed her hand to Pride making sure he would not hurt her. 

“How sweet.” Lucifer said, gagging at what he just witnessed. 

“Do whatever to me, I don’t care.” Daniel started. But Lucifer had other plans. 

“No, I won’t do anything to you. You will stay chained, and no one will touch you. Instead they will all be torturing and tormenting Elizabeth.”

“What?” Daniel started. “Your own daughter. You would torture your own daughter? What kind of father are you?” 

“I am Lucifer.” Was his answer. Daniel had no choice. He loved Elizabeth and would do anything to keep her safe. So he did the one thing he swore he would never do. He conceited.

“I’ll do it.” He said flatly.

“Do what, Danny. I’m afraid you’ll have to be more specific.” Lucifer replied. 

“I’ll bring you more souls, just don’t hurt her.” Daniel put his head down, knowing he just gave Lucifer the exact thing he wanted. Someone to lead his army. 

“I won’t hurt her, as long as you continue to collect souls. The minute the souls stop coming in, I will torment her far worse than I ever had you tormented. It doesn’t matter if she is my daughter.” Lucifer replied. He smiled as Daniel was lifted in the air. He screamed as wings the color of midnight sprang from his back. When his eyes turned the same color, the ground caught fire. 

The scared little puritan boy who had come to Hell thinking it was a mistake, was gone. He was now an Angel of the Damned and he was coming for souls.

They say the eyes are the window to the soul. Daniel took that to heart. Looking into the eyes of his victims until their soul was charred past repair. He would leave them living, well kind of. After meeting him they were changed, lost, and without hope. Daniel didn’t care. Once their soul was damaged it belonged to Lucifer and that meant that Elizabeth was safe for the time being.