Chapter Text
Today was Extermination Day.
The day was akin to a holiday in the exorcist’s group. It was an event that was well planned for, yearly, and celebration with tales of the hard day shared. Then they all returned to the pearly gates with a vow of silence of what they had done.
Vaggie reached for her exorcist mask and pulled it down to cover her face. Lute had playfully bumped into Vaggie’s shoulder: “You’re going to have to try harder to beat my record this year.” She challenged before walking towards Adam. Lute and Vaggie had always had the highest kill counts of the group.
Vaggie didn’t let the sigh escape her mouth. It was a job. One ordered by Heaven, and who was she to deny that? If Heaven told her, then it must be the right thing to do. She’d wake up, kill, try to forget today for the rest of the 364 days, and do it all over again for the rest of eternity.
She cleared her throat before lifting a clipboard. Several names were listed on the paper and each were designated to sections of Hell. Vaggie walked around the group assigning angels to their districts.
This year she was assigned to the Cannibal District.
The Exorcists were rallied and restless as they awaited for the portal’s opening. Several war cries answered the divine call of duty and a particularly annoying voice rang loudest amongst all:
“Extermination day is here, bitches! Prepare to slaughter those little shits!” Adam announced with a vile grin. “Remember, each sinner you don’t kill wants to rise up against heaven.” He pointed towards the group.
“We are the only thing that is standing between Heaven and those damned monsters.” He growled.
The already restless group shouted in agreement and raised their angelic spears. They hardly needed inspiration to carry on the bloody tradition.
It seemed as if electricity began to charge the air and the wind began to pick up until it whistled in her ears. A red sky appeared before the sea of grinning masks. The portal slowly revealed more of the pride ring. A clock tower with the number 000 was shown.
“Fuck yeah!” Adam cheered before spreading open his wings and launching himself into the portal. The army quickly followed his lead.
Several exorcists passed Adam as he hovered in front of the portal. “Ugh, what a fucking hellhole.” He scowled at the city beneath him both literally and metaphorically. The last of the angels passed through the portal and with a snap of his fingers, Heaven disappeared from view.
The group dispersed to their assigned sections. Vaggie flew toward the cannibal district, the buildings inching closer. Upon sight of her first victim-a two headed owl like monster-Vaggie beat her wings harder to propel herself. Like an arrow that had been released from its string, she extended her spear into her target. Knocking the sinner to the ground, she pried her weapon back. Poor guy didn’t even see it coming. She always tried to make the exterminations as swift and painless as possible.
Adrenaline coursed through her body. She was in enemy territory. Demons had the worst reputations. They were sadistic and indulged in sin not only in their mortal life, but in their afterlife as well. In Hell, they were free to be as wretched as they desired. As long as she was here, a demon could try to get the best of her. It was either her or them, and only one of them was on a divine mission.
Springing immediately back into action, she spotted a horned cyclops. She sprinted towards him, and used her wings to propel herself into the sky once more. Swinging her spear, her blade was met by the handle of a large mallet. She flapped her wings harder to try to push him back. Creating about a foot of space, the cyclops swung to which she narrowly avoided. Wasting no more time, she stabbed him as he prepared another swing. Prying her weapon free, he fell to the ground with a thud.
She heard pawsteps racing towards her. Before she could turn around, she was knocked to the ground by the end of a flail. The wind escaped her lungs, but she had no time to recover. The demon’s eyes seemed to glow red, and wore a wolfish smile. He swung again, and she ducked. She swung the angelic spear at his feet, tainting her weapon with more blood. He yelped and stumbled backwards.
He then swung his flail, the chain rattling loudly. Vaggie aimed for the chain, catching it on the tip of her spear and yanked back. The metal ball clattered to the ground, and suddenly the wolf fell to the ground.
Vaggie’s eyes widened as another exorcist had plunged her spear into the wolf’s back. Vaggie breathed a sigh of relief, she could always count on her sisters during this time. Kicking the wolf’s weapon to the side, she took off again.
And the extermination continued. Her sisters fought around the city, screams filled the air. Some sinners ran, others fought back. Bodies littered the ground. Extermination minutes felt like years.
The day was coming to an end, a familiar electricity began to energize the air. A sense of relief tugged at her. Another extermination day was completed. That was until she heard boots tap in the alleyway next to her.
She turned towards the sound and chased after it.
She was on autopilot. If something moved, and did not don the outfit of her sisters, it was a target. She raced after the demon, until there was nowhere else to go and raised her spear above her head. Only at this moment did she truly see who she was chasing.
It was a demon child. One with void like eyes in a red suit with a bow tie. The demon cowered, sharp teeth shown in a terrified cry. Tears brimmed the voids. Her shadow encompassed the tiny demon.
Vaggie couldn’t. She couldn’t find one ounce of her that felt right swinging her weapon now.
Heaven couldn’t order this to be done against a child.
Fear had filled this child, and it was because of her. Only her. If anything, the exorcists had taken the role of the sadistic monsters. Vaggie’s face fell, and she lowered her weapon.
In a hushed tone, she whispered: “Go. Run now!” She eyed the exit, and the child didn’t have to be told twice to escape.
Another shadow-one with a halo-swallowed the alleyway. Someone forcefully grabbed her by the wrist and twisted her around.
A piercing pain ripped through her skull and she screamed. Her first reaction was that she was shot.
Her face was drenched suddenly and she fell to the floor in time to glimpse an eye and her weapon on the ground.
It all happened so quickly, she couldn’t put it together that her immediate loss of vision and the eye on the ground were connected. She saw familiar boots, and scooted back to get away from the danger.
A new pressure was applied to her head and she was held still. She didn’t recognize Lute by sight, but by her voice as she hissed out:
“Sinful filth like you have no place in Heaven.”
Another searing pain ripped down her back from the shoulder blades to the middle.
And again on the right side, and all she could do was scream.
Adam-when did he get here-tossed her halo to the side.
Within a few blinks they were gone.
She felt cold and wet. Gold ichor flowed freely from her face and back. Her thoughts were incoherent.
She shook… her wings lay on the ground… they… weren’t attached to her in any way.
She was too weak to panic about it for now. It was just a fact now. She didn’t have the arm strength to toss it away, so she merely kicked them under the bin next to her.
She wasn’t safe. She was in Hell.
The portal was closing, and she was Hell-bound.
The demons would find her soon. She slowly ripped off her exorcist uniform and tossed it into the bin. Much help was offered from the wall she leaned upon.
She tried to hide.
She stumbled down the alleyway, and did not make it very far. Eventually, she collapsed next to a garbage bin.
She truly knew what it felt like to be a demon on extermination day now. She sat helplessly, and tried to breathe. Her back throbbed and her eye socket burned. It would be no time before a sinner found her and finished the job. Hell, it might be perfect revenge for the deeds she had done today.
She felt heavy. She had done this to countless families on this anniversary. She also managed to betray Heaven to pile that on. She truly belonged here, next to the garbage.
A part of her is still shocked that Adam and Lute could throw her away as easily as trash. Years hunting for Heaven, and in less than a few minutes she was as despicable as the demons she had hunted.
She rested her skull against the cool metal and closed her eye.
She heard footsteps in the alley once more. They only grew in intensity. A demon was finally here to kill her for all the exterminations she had participated in.
“Oh! You poor thing!” The demon looked concerned.
The demon reached for something in her pocket and reached out toward her. Vaggie braced herself only to be met by bandages.
She squinted at the demon. She wore a red form fitting suit. She was pale with rosy cheeks and long blonde hair. She also looked so worried, which confused Vaggie.
“You’re still bleeding. Where else did they get you?” The question appeared rhetorical, as the demon had already begun her search for the other wounds. The demon gasped as she found the mangled flesh on her back.
Vaggie groaned, and willed herself to move. She didn’t need this demon’s help. or her kindness? As much as she willed, she simply couldn’t. She was too weak to stand.
“Go away.” Vaggie strained to say.
“No, I have something for this!” The demon determinedly announced as she opened her pouch. “I don’t think you’ll make it out of this alley without help.” The demon held some gauze in her hands and helped her lean forward.
The demon began to pack gauze into the wound. Vaggie sucked in air as cotton met raw flesh.
“Those exorcists really did a number on you. I hate how they can just do this to us.” The demon sighed as she applied pressure.”I’d hate to see the other guy though!” The demon tried to uplift the situation with a chuckle.
Vaggie looked away guiltily.
After a few more moments, the packing became frantic and the demon nervously laughed.
—Charlie POV—
Charlie kept wiping away at the wound. Yet, it was all golden. At first, she had assumed that the sinner found a way to harm one of the exorcists in what was obviously a ferocious battle.
She nervously laughed. Surely at some point she would see red blood instead of gold.
Her movements became frantic and she looked between the sinner? And the gauze.
“Wow! You…really… uhm!”
“Kicked exorcist ass!” Her breathing began to punctuate her words.
She was looking for any reason that this woman was one of her people.
But she couldn’t find any. The woman before her looked guilty, and was not making eye contact with her.
Charlie’s expression slowly fell.
She had never found a survivor in all of the Extermination Days. She had checked lifeless bodies and had to walk past them to get to the alleyway. She was glad she found someone who was alive.
And she was one of them.
Her horns grew beyond her hair and her tail flicked side to side. Claws replaced her fingertips. Although this angel did not seem like an immediate threat, what had she been doing just minutes before?
Charlie did not want her mind to wander.
Instead, she pinned the Exorcist to the garbage bin by her throat. She could feel the woman’s pulse under her hands unlike the dozen she had found earlier.
Not a further sinner soul would be taken today.