Angel versus Demon

I suppose there are worse things out there than being a Vessel, the human habitat of a Demon. At least until I die or it finds someone better. Yeah, it's a messed up situation. However, at the moment I can't think of anything worse than my predicament. Right now, I am in an old warehouse and it's surrounded on all sides by the Nephilim, these earthbound Angels brandishing divine weapons. They all want me dead. All because I've been immolating their sorry asses. Sorry, folks. Had to be done. It's war, you know.

Some of my fellow Demons betrayed me, setting me up for a fall. I don't know why that surprised me. They're Demons, duh. I guess I've worn out my welcome in the town of Dedham, Massachusetts. My name is Calvin Stephens, and this is the story of how I escaped the bonds of slavery in colonial America, only to fall into even greater darkness. I'm now one of the Lords of Hell. Heaven's goons are after me, and some of Hell's foot soldiers want my head on a platter too. I guess I messed up. I gave the middle finger to both sides and declared myself the man.

Regardless of what you are or what you do, crossing both your friends and your enemies without a concrete plan is not a good idea. However, I have reached a point where I really don't care. I've done so much. Seen so much. I just want this to end, you know. I've lived so long. I just want peace. and if this is the way I will find it, then so be it. I've been fighting my whole life. Maybe it's time for the madness to end, you know?

I was born in the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1689. An African slave attached to the Saint Bridget Plantation. I won't bore you with the details. You have an imagination. Just multiply your worst thoughts by ten and you will have some idea of what I went through. Twenty three years after my birth, I ran into a handsome, charismatic young man named Wilson. This lad was visiting the farm and was courting Miss Margaret, the first daughter of Sir William, the owner of the Saint Bridget Plantation.

I don't know why, but I was drawn to this gorgeous young man like a moth to a flame. Wilson had a certain quality about him. I simply couldn't put my finger on it. I had known and bedded handsome men and beautiful women before. Wilson was in a category by himself. He was almost ethereally beautiful. With his six-foot-two-inch, lean and muscular frame and his long red hair and pale green eyes, he looked like an Angel. I had no idea that he was the exact opposite.

Later, I would find out some rather disturbing things about him. Wilson had been alive since 800 A.D. and he was the Vessel of a Demon lord named Belphegor. We became secret lovers. He got me my freedom, and we lived in a woodland house together. He forgot to mention to me the part about him selling his soul to the devil and became the Vessel for something unholy. You see, Angels and Demons have been waging a war on earth for thousands of years. The Demons are bodiless entities. They're immortal, and have vast supernatural powers. But without a Vessel body to inhabit, they're pretty much useless.

Wilson chose me to become the Vessel of his Demon because he was dying. Even the power of a Demon can only keep a human body alive for so long. To be honest, when I found that out, I was thoroughly creeped out. Wilson knocked me out, then allowed his Demon to infest me. When I came to, he was dead and his Demon now lived inside me. I was the new Vessel of Demon lord Belphegor. How cool was that? From that day until I drew my last breath, I would be bound to the Demon and he would be bound to me. Living in terms of great intimacy than most could imagine. The Demon saw practically my every thought and I saw his.

The first thing I did when I came to my senses the morning after Wilson infested me was to burn his corpse. After hacking it to pieces. The bastard had betrayed me and sold me out to the Demon. Being sold to a Demon can cut a lot of ties really fast. It really puts things into perspective. You won't believe how hard I tried to get rid of the Demon. I tried everything. I even went to a priest. Bad experience. I highly discourage it. Many of them don't know jack about exorcism. Besides, Belphegor was one of the Lords of Hell, not some random Demon. He was a member of Lucifer's Elite, sent to Earth to fight the lonely war against the earth-dwelling Angels.

When most people think of Angels and Demons, they imagined beautiful winged creatures living in Heaven or ugly, horned and monstrous creatures dwelling in a dark and sulphurous underworld. What most human beings don't realize is that Angels and Demons live among them. Angels and Demons are your next-door neighbours, your co-workers and sometimes your friends and lovers. They hold jobs. They own property. They pay taxes. They're everywhere. And in a million years you will never see them coming.

How do I know this? I'm one of them. I've killed many Angels in my day. And a few Demons too. Yes, pretty much anything that lives on the planet earth can be killed. A long time ago, during the last cosmic war, Pagan gods and goddesses were wiped out, in spite of their claims to supremacy and immortality. Everything in the cosmos has an expiration date. In Heaven and Hell, Angels and Demons are immortal. On Earth, they're hard to kill, but not invincible. Of course, when you kill an Angel or a Demon, it automatically returns to the ether and shall eventually return to earth in another body.

Let me recap a bit. After I got rid of Wilson's body, I had a tough time. I didn't know who I was, or what I was. The Demon lord inside me had been damaged in its last confrontation with a rather powerful Angel. And oh yeah, I was also a towering, burly black man in times filled with racial intolerance, to say the least. I was determined to make my way into the world. And the discovery of my Demonic powers did help a lot.

The Demon inside me had transformed my body. My physical strength was greatly augmented. I have the strength of ten sturdy and stalwart men. I can also run really fast, faster than any human, though I can't outrun a cheetah or a racehorse. My body heals quickly, due to my regenerative powers, though I am not indestructible. I can move objects with my mind if I focus hard enough and I can also make myself look like virtually anyone, for short periods of time. Telekinesis is a useful ability but Shape-shifting can be a lot more fun. That's just the physical stuff, folks. I can also manipulate the weather and sometimes affect and control the minds of animals as well as weak-willed human beings. Telepathy is a useful tool. Mentally as well as physically, I was supernaturally gifted.

For a time, I thought I was alone in the world. Belphegor's mind was fuddled and he didn't remember half of his own life. However, we both received a new injection of life when we first came across an Angel. The Angel in question was one of the earthbound beings known as the Nephilim. Many people think the Nephilim are the offspring of fallen Angels and mortal women. They're wrong. Those are the Half-Breeds. The Nephilim are a host of Angels whom the Lord Yahweh ordered to watch over the world of man and combat the Demons who sought dominion over it. Belphegor's befuddled mind cleared right up when the Angel came after us.

The Angel which we first encountered moved around in the body of a tall, slim, good-looking young Caucasian woman with long black hair and pale green eyes. Its name was Dariel. I still remember that day. It was in February 1713. I was living in the woods near the town of Harmony, in the state of Maine, making a living as a tinsmith and trading with the local trappers. Dariel had been hunting Demons for quite some time. I had seen her dispatch several of my kind. The moment she laid eyes on me, she knew what I was. Actually, not only did she know what I was but she also knew the name of the Demon lord who resided inside of me. And she came after us brandishing a sword made of fire.

My first reaction was to run. However, Belphegor took control. He assured me that the situation didn't look as bleak as I thought. Then he summoned a weapon out of the ether. Lightning struck overhead, then seemed to land in the palm of his hands. He hurled the energy blasts at Dariel. The Angelic woman screamed in rage and turned the blasts away using her blade of fire. Then she was upon us.

Belphegor lashed out, using my hands and feet. He moved with inhuman speed, as did our opponent. The Angel Dariel was a fierce fighter. One of the best among the Nephilim. However, she was a mundane Angel while Belphegor was one of the Lords of Hell. Still, she managed to burn us several times. The wounds would heal, Belphegor assured me. I couldn't believe what I was saying. It was like an out of body experience. The kind of fight artists like MichelAngelo would have found inspiring. However, I was only trying to survive and that meant surrendering to the Demon. Completely. Not that I had any choice.

In the end, the Demon lord prevailed. He tore the Angel Dariel's body to pieces. Then he set it on fire, the only way to truly remove an Angelic or Demonic essence from a human body. We stood over the young woman's body. I wondered what kind of life she led before she became the Vessel of an Angel. Had she been someone's daughter or wife? Was she a teacher, a merchant, a farm worker? I had no idea. One thing for sure, judging by the fancy clothes she wore, she came from money. I took two gold nuggets from her pockets, and went on my way.

I was a little rattled by what I've seen, done and felt, but Belphegor was feeling something akin to joy right now. He was a Demon lord who had just bested an Angel. Of course he felt good. I saw glimpses of his life in his mind. He had lived inside many Vessels. Men and women whose bodies he used to move about while on Earth. He had also lived in many lands. I saw him as a knight in Medieval Europe, a witch doctor in Babylon, a prince in Assyria and a warlord in ancient Egypt. He had also been a soldier in ancient Rome and a conquistador in Latin America. Nice life.

In his mind, I saw that he was looking for something. The Demons who roamed the world were all looking for something. No Demon could stay on Earth permanently without losing most of his or her power, including immortality. Not even Lucifer Morningstar himself. However, there was a powerful artifact known as the Transformer. No, not a fancy toy, mechanical part or comic strip. I'm talking about a magical object which would grant great power to the one who has it.

Any Demon who got his or her hands on the Transformer would gain the ability to remain in Demonic form while on Earth. The awesome powers wielded by the Demon lord Belphegor were only a fraction of the might that was his while in his true form. Unfortunately, he couldn't appear on earth wearing his true features without the Transformer. A Demon lord endowed with the Transformer could easily wipe out the Nephilim and take over the planet. Turn it into a Demonic paradise by unlocking the Gates of Hell. This was what Belphegor was after. And together we looked for it.

For centuries we searched the world for the Transformer. It was being kept in a secret location by a high-ranking Angel whom all others would die to protect. Belphegor and I found Angel after Angel, but none of these divine men and women were willing to give it up, not even after being tortured. During that time, Belphegor and I bonded. It turns out that the two of us had a lot in common. We shared a love of sex, power and wealth. And we amassed a lot of power and wealth in our day. My inner passenger and I have been a pirate captain on the high seas, as well as a trapper and gold miner. And we took many handsome young men and pretty young women to our bed. Life was fun. It's always fun when you and your partner understand each other. Belphegor and I understood each other completely.

Time passed. We have been through it all. The American Revolution. The War of Independence. The French and Indian War. We saw it all. American men and women taking up weapons to fight in the name of freedom as well as the name of greed and viciousness. I joined the Abolitionists and proved to be an indefatigable fighter and infiltrator for the cause. I wanted freedom for my fellow African-American men and women. In the end, they won it. Though what they've done with it since is debatable. The centuries were kind to Belphegor and I. All around us, many Demons and Angels perished. We endured hell on earth and we survived.

Belphegor and I had a mutual understanding deeper than that shared by many husbands and wives. We both agreed that the game had to change. Demons and Angels slaughtering each other for all eternity was a pretty useless stalemate. Instead of focusing on the Holy Grail of Demon-kind, the legendary Transformer, we flipped the game. Belphegor gathered an army of Demons and organized them. We began hunting the Nephilim in packs. And we were successful. We slaughtered thousands of them. I personally dispatched hundreds of Angels to the next world. Heaven was pissed off. And Hell was both thrilled and wary. Some of the Lords of Hell thought I was too successful. Lucifer himself thought I was a little bit too good at running things here on Earth. So he sent one of his lieutenants to remind me who's boss, or else.

Lucifer's lieutenant was none other than the Fallen Archangel Gabriel, whom Lucifer had reconstituted after he perished in some devastating otherworldly conflict and aligned with Hell. Belphegor was one of Hell's most powerful Fallen Angels. In Hell, he was a Prince. Yet he seemed all too willing to kowtow to Gabriel just because the bastard had a big name. I wasn't buying it and voiced my concerns and rather strong disagreement. There was no way this punk was going to come to my territory and tell me to bow down to some absentee boss.

So, Belphegor and I told both Gabriel and Lucifer to go screw themselves. I told them that I ran things on Earth, not them. Pissing off the Boss will get you in trouble no matter who or what you are. Not the best idea I've had, but whatever. We gathered the Demons loyal to us, and continued to hunt Angels and look for supernatural objects of power. As was our mission statement. In the end, having both Heaven and Hell after us proved to be our undoing.

And this is how I found myself in a burning warehouse in Dedham, Massachusetts. My troops have abandoned me. And outside the building, well-armed Angels are ready to dispatch me. They have done a Binding Spell. I cannot teleport away. And it seems that this won't just be the end of me. It might mean the end of Belphegor too. Oh, he will live. He's immortal, after all. Once I am gone, he will return to the ether and then wait for the next available human body. These are my last moments on Earth, folks. How will I spend them? Hmm, let's see. I came into this world bloody as well as kicking and screaming. I think I'll leave it the exact same way.

I grab two swords, and step outside the warehouse. A barrage of angelic magic holds me in place while they cut me down with blades of fire. I strike them again and again. Here and there, I cut off a head, an arm or a leg. I do my best. But there are too many of them. They just keep on coming. A mighty Angel steps forward and those who surround me move aside to let him through. He is wearing the Seal of Heaven and bearing a magnificent tunic of angelic armor. He will be the death of me. As he reaches for my neck and burns me with angelic fire, I spit on his face. Surprise, mother-fuckers!