HOME | DD

Description
The Human Soul
Chapter 1
Hotel Roof
Under the Sign
1:30 PM
December 28, 2019
3 days before The Cleanse

The annual extermination will soon be upon the people of Hell.
All demons from every corner of the Pentagram were preparing their homes, places of work, and other areas that could keep them hidden. Nobody dared go out and fight the Exorcists. Even some of the Pride Ring’s most powerful Overlords ran to hide wherever possible to avoid being targeted. Angels had one mission, and they wouldn’t stop until it was completed. Occasionally one demon who thought they’d stand a chance would try and stand their ground only to realize too late that those created to hunt them down had both numbers, powers, and the means to override their healing abilities.
Charlotte “Charlie” Magne, Daughter of Lucifer, Princess of Hell, watched with pain in her soul as everyone went about their day, knowing that most of those faces would not be around after the new year.
How many souls will be taken this year? How long must this slaughter of souls go on for?

The Hotel she stood on once belonged to her family. Charlie could make a guess on what this hotel was used for just by the name itself. After being abandoned many years ago, it had been left in a really bad state with dust and cobwebs filling the place up, a lot of stains—both blood and other… things that she didn’t want to think about—and furniture that had been broken and torn up beyond normal repair...
But thanks to her and lover, Vaggie, who at the moment was standing right next to her as they looked out over the city, they managed to clean the place up a bit. It still wasn’t as clean or fixed up as Charlie had dreamed, but it was good progress.
She’s had the hotel for a little over 3 months now. The first month was basically checking over every room in the hotel and fixing everything.
Well…fixing it as best as they could, which was mostly simpler things such as putting the furniture back in the right spot, cleaning the rooms, replacing any fabrics that were ripped or needed to be cleaned. All of that was the easy part.
The hard part would be checking the water, heat, AC, and electricity; they’d need to find a professional for all those things. Without proper maintenance from someone who knew what they were doing, this whole place—and thus her whole operation—could end up in smoke.
The reason Charlie was doing all this for the hotel was to save as many souls as she could, and aimed to redeem the sinners and send them to Heaven via rehabilitation, thereby curbing Hell’s ongoing overpopulation problem without the bloodshed of the exterminations every year.
Charlie thought she could save at least one soul before the end of the year, even going to the local mall and setting up a booth handing out flyers to passing demons. She and Vaggie even put them on every street corner in the city to spread the message about what she was trying to do.
But it all ended the same way: getting laughed, mocked and ridiculed by every demon in Hell. After all, why would someone who did so little to avoid ending up in Hell work so hard to get out?
But by far the worst offender was her own father, Lucifer. He laughed at the idea, but his words cut through her soul even worse than anybody else’s.
Her mother believed in her, so… why not her father?
The worst was when she was told she was a failure and a disgrace to the family.
Vaggie could see the pain in her eyes. “Charlie… are you okay?” she asked with concern.
“… No… I'm not,” she responded sadly. The truth was, Charlie was stressed out, tired, and frustrated. “I couldn't save one.”
“Honey, don’t worry; after the extermination you will get on the news and broadcast your message across the city, and then people will start showing up.”
“But what if they don’t?” She started to have doubts. “I'm a failure, Vaggie.”
Vaggie jumped in front of Charlie. “Woah, woah, woah, where is this coming from? You're never usually like this.” She looked into her eyes with concern.
“I’ve just been thinking about what everyone was saying about this hotel, this plan… and me… including my dad.” her eyes looked away.

“Oh, forget about that asshole and everyone else!” she yelled as she grabbed her girlfriend’s shoulders. “We will make this work, I promise you.” Vaggie said gently before releasing Charlie.
Charlie walked away to stand in the middle of the roof. She stood still despite the late December chill mixing with the breeze and almost going through her sweater, as every word from every demon and her father bounced around in her mind. The insults and laughter bounced around in her head, as well as her father’s harsh words and lectures.
The sounds of her mother and Vaggie tried to push back, but the voices of reassurance, motivation, and happiness were drowned out by everything else. Soon, all that remained in her mind was the laughter and her father’s words.
They cut deep into her soul, so much so that her form was changing without her knowing. The air around her changed as she did, her hair began to wave on its own, her nails and teeth became sharp claws and fangs, and her horns started growing, pushing through the skin of her forehead. Finally, her eyes changed from white with black pupils to red with yellow slits.
Her father and the laughter grew louder as her transformation came to its end, tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes as she clutched her head with her fists. When she was completely in her demon form, the laughter stopped… and her father said the one thing that pushed her over the edge:
“You’re a failure, and a disgrace to this family.”
…
…
…
Like glass shattering in pieces, her sorrow turned into hatred and rage. She growled as she began speaking in a demonic dialect. Red demonic symbols floated around her as she continued ranting and snarling at everything, cursing all the demons who mocked her, and her father.
A large circular symbol formed around her and started rotating. Another one formed inside of the larger one and started rotating the other way. A pentagram slowly formed on top of them rotating in the same direction as the middle one. Then in an instant she was surrounded by giant flames of fire, though no harm came to her as it danced around her and the circle.
All this time she was still ranting, unaware of the magic she was using. She was in her own little world as hot tears continued running down her face.
It was not until Vaggie screamed at the top of her lungs, “Charlie, calm down!” which brought her out of her rage. “Everything is going to be alright!” she shouted from the other side of the flames. A small section of the flames in front of Charlie lowered slightly, allowing her to see Vaggie very worried about her current state and actions.
Charlie looked at her with a disappointed look and sighed as her anger started to boil over again... “No, Vaggie… everything's not alright” Charlie then growled as she looked at her. “Everything I do, I do for them; my people, my home! Yet, no matter what I do, it all gets spit back into my face!'' She yelled back and closed her eyes. Tears started flowing down her face again.
“I am the Princess of Hell; I want to help my people, and end these yearly massacres, but what is the point if no one will accept the help I'm giving?! Why can’t my people see the way out?!”
She opened her eyes and looked at Vaggie again. “Why can’t my father accept me for who I am and what I want to do?! Why can’t he see that what I'm trying to do is going to help our people?!”
Unknown to Charlie, the symbols on the ground and in the air around her had started to glow brighter and brighter with each new word.
“I'm tired of this; I'm tired of the laughing, the insults, and being called a failure”
The symbols turned from red to white. This got the attention of Vaggie, who was backing away slowly. “Um, Charlie?” she said with concern, but her comment fell on deaf ears.
“I just need a little more help. I need some more people to help with this; more pushing in the right direction. Something until this plan gets in motion.” Charlie whispered to herself like the calm before the storm.
She looked up towards the pentagram in the red sky and faintly saw Heaven up above on a white cloud with a halo. She closed her eyes and, with what energy she had left, let loose one final scream. “I just wish I had more goddamn help and hope!!!” Charlie emphasized her request with a stomp of her right foot on the ground, and all the fire and symbols shot up towards the sky. They disappeared. making it seem as if nothing was there to begin with and leaving Charlie breathing deeply in an attempt to calm herself down.
It didn’t work, her rage subsided, her face slowly began to relax, until she collapsed on her hands and knees and began crying again.
“Oh, honey,” Vaggie said softly. She walked over to her and wrapped her arms around her. Charlie then did the same. Vaggie slowly rubbed her back as she let Charlie cry into her shoulder, wetting the fabric of her hoodie she’d chosen to wear that day. “It’s going to be alright, hon. No matter what happens, I will be by your side until the end of time. We will pull through, and I will make your dreams come true… even if it’s the last thing I do.”
Charlie pulled away and looked at Vaggie, wiping away her tears and sniffling. “You…really mean that?” she asked as she slowly smiled back. Vaggie was a good girlfriend, but even she had some doubts about Charlie’s plan. She was still her greatest supporter.
At least she was much more reserved in her criticism, and she still wanted to help in any way she could.
“Always,” Vaggie replied and kissed her on the lips, Charlie returning with the same level of passion. They stayed together like that for a minute before separating, arms still around one another. “Whatever comes our way, we will handle it, together…”
“Thanks, Vaggie,” Charlie replied.
“Feeling better now? Got everything out of your system?” she asked with a soft smile.
Charlie’s bubbly attitude came back. She took a deep breath and released it. “YES! Much better.” She stood up with a new smile to go with her confidence and turned to look out at the city.
Surprisingly, the area around the hotel was cleared. Unknown to the two on the roof, any demons that had been walking or driving around had immediately booked it out of there when they realized the normally calm and collected Princess of Hell had been accidentally releasing her magic. No one knew if she was aware, and they sure as fuck weren’t going to be around and get caught in any potential blasts or misfires.
“I will prove them wrong; we will make this work, and then we will see who will be laughing at whom,” Charlie said as she turned back to Vaggie. “No matter what life throws at us, we will prevail,” She turned back to look over Pentagram City. Her arms stretched out to her sides.
“Come on, Hell, show me what you got!”

BOOM
The Sound of Thunder
“…”
Charlie and Vaggie’s smiles and cheery attitudes gave way to shock and silence as something happened above them.
“… Uh… What was that?” Vaggie asked with concern
They both looked up in time to see dark clouds formed above the Hotel. They swirled around as they grew in size and darkened further, almost as if they were rain clouds.
“Charlie… What’s happening?”
“I don’t know…I-I have never seen something like this before.”
All of a sudden, a red portal appeared above the roof, maybe 15-20 feet above it. The wind was picking up more than it already had. Charlie and Vaggie hugged themselves and stood closer to stay warm.
“What is going on?! What could have caused this? This isn’t normal!” Charlie asked. She had to speak up due to the wind developing a low howl.
“I think it’s a summoning portal!” Vaggie responded, but she wasn’t too sure of herself.
“What?!” She called back. “But we didn’t—” Charlie stopped; her eyes widened in realization. The fire, the symbols; it was not just her rage, but her magic. She caused this. She lost control. and summoned some kind of wind storm.
“I did this!!”
“What?!!” Vaggie screamed.
“Somehow… I did this… But it makes no sense; there should be candles, skulls, the symbol has to be drawn out, and the words must be read from a book. How is this possible?”
They looked back up as something came through…slowly. It wasn’t a being of Hell, nor anyone arriving from Earth…
It was… a part of a house? A single room with a door that allowed the girls to see a little bit of the inside.
Once it fully emerged from the portal, the clouds, wind, and the red vortex stopped and disappeared, sending the room down to the ground.
More specifically, down on top of them.
“LOOK OUT!!” Vaggie yelled as she tackled Charlie to the ground and out of the structure’s path, using her body to protect her.
The room crashed on top of the hotel roof sending nails and bits and pieces of the walls and wood around the area like some sort of housing grenade. Once the dust settled, Vaggie and Charlie stood up and looked at the building and noticed a demonic symbol appear on the door before quickly disappearing.
“What have I done?” Charlie quietly asked herself.
Vaggie walked over to the door, her spear materializing in hand as she opened the door. Charlie followed right behind her.
The door opened half way before something heavy stopped it from being pushed open completely.
Charlie gasped as she looked down through the opening they could create.
A body was on the ground in the room, but it wasn’t a demonic one.
It was a human body. An actual, uncorrupted human from Earth.
A young white male who looked to be in his early to mid-20’s, and wearing black hoodie and black sweatpants. He was lying face down, as a small amount of blood leaked out of his forehead and formed a small pool next to his head.
There was one more major thing that caught the eyes of the two girls.
A demonic symbol on the back of his right hand, similar to the ones Charlie had when she used her magic It took a more personal level with Charlie when she realized it was the same symbol her family used for their crest.
That couldn’t have been a good sign at all.

END OF CHAPTER 1
Author notes:
Original date of posted chapter (Jan 2, 2020)
Rewrite Done (Nov 30, 2021)
Please leave a review.
I would love to give a huge shoutout to Garr44 for being my Co-Creator/Beta Reader.
Thank you for helping me.

Description
The Human Soul
Chapter 1
Hotel Roof
Under the Sign
1:30 PM
December 28, 2019
3 days before The Cleanse

The annual extermination will soon be upon the people of Hell.
All demons from every corner of the Pentagram were preparing their homes, places of work, and other areas that could keep them hidden. Nobody dared go out and fight the Exorcists. Even some of the Pride Ring’s most powerful Overlords ran to hide wherever possible to avoid being targeted. Angels had one mission, and they wouldn’t stop until it was completed. Occasionally one demon who thought they’d stand a chance would try and stand their ground only to realize too late that those created to hunt them down had both numbers, powers, and the means to override their healing abilities.
Charlotte “Charlie” Magne, Daughter of Lucifer, Princess of Hell, watched with pain in her soul as everyone went about their day, knowing that most of those faces would not be around after the new year.
How many souls will be taken this year? How long must this slaughter of souls go on for?

The Hotel she stood on once belonged to her family. Charlie could make a guess on what this hotel was used for just by the name itself. After being abandoned many years ago, it had been left in a really bad state with dust and cobwebs filling the place up, a lot of stains—both blood and other… things that she didn’t want to think about—and furniture that had been broken and torn up beyond normal repair...
But thanks to her and lover, Vaggie, who at the moment was standing right next to her as they looked out over the city, they managed to clean the place up a bit. It still wasn’t as clean or fixed up as Charlie had dreamed, but it was good progress.
She’s had the hotel for a little over 3 months now. The first month was basically checking over every room in the hotel and fixing everything.
Well…fixing it as best as they could, which was mostly simpler things such as putting the furniture back in the right spot, cleaning the rooms, replacing any fabrics that were ripped or needed to be cleaned. All of that was the easy part.
The hard part would be checking the water, heat, AC, and electricity; they’d need to find a professional for all those things. Without proper maintenance from someone who knew what they were doing, this whole place—and thus her whole operation—could end up in smoke.
The reason Charlie was doing all this for the hotel was to save as many souls as she could, and aimed to redeem the sinners and send them to Heaven via rehabilitation, thereby curbing Hell’s ongoing overpopulation problem without the bloodshed of the exterminations every year.
Charlie thought she could save at least one soul before the end of the year, even going to the local mall and setting up a booth handing out flyers to passing demons. She and Vaggie even put them on every street corner in the city to spread the message about what she was trying to do.
But it all ended the same way: getting laughed, mocked and ridiculed by every demon in Hell. After all, why would someone who did so little to avoid ending up in Hell work so hard to get out?
But by far the worst offender was her own father, Lucifer. He laughed at the idea, but his words cut through her soul even worse than anybody else’s.
Her mother believed in her, so… why not her father?
The worst was when she was told she was a failure and a disgrace to the family.
Vaggie could see the pain in her eyes. “Charlie… are you okay?” she asked with concern.
“… No… I'm not,” she responded sadly. The truth was, Charlie was stressed out, tired, and frustrated. “I couldn't save one.”
“Honey, don’t worry; after the extermination you will get on the news and broadcast your message across the city, and then people will start showing up.”
“But what if they don’t?” She started to have doubts. “I'm a failure, Vaggie.”
Vaggie jumped in front of Charlie. “Woah, woah, woah, where is this coming from? You're never usually like this.” She looked into her eyes with concern.
“I’ve just been thinking about what everyone was saying about this hotel, this plan… and me… including my dad.” her eyes looked away.

“Oh, forget about that asshole and everyone else!” she yelled as she grabbed her girlfriend’s shoulders. “We will make this work, I promise you.” Vaggie said gently before releasing Charlie.
Charlie walked away to stand in the middle of the roof. She stood still despite the late December chill mixing with the breeze and almost going through her sweater, as every word from every demon and her father bounced around in her mind. The insults and laughter bounced around in her head, as well as her father’s harsh words and lectures.
The sounds of her mother and Vaggie tried to push back, but the voices of reassurance, motivation, and happiness were drowned out by everything else. Soon, all that remained in her mind was the laughter and her father’s words.
They cut deep into her soul, so much so that her form was changing without her knowing. The air around her changed as she did, her hair began to wave on its own, her nails and teeth became sharp claws and fangs, and her horns started growing, pushing through the skin of her forehead. Finally, her eyes changed from white with black pupils to red with yellow slits.
Her father and the laughter grew louder as her transformation came to its end, tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes as she clutched her head with her fists. When she was completely in her demon form, the laughter stopped… and her father said the one thing that pushed her over the edge:
“You’re a failure, and a disgrace to this family.”
…
…
…
Like glass shattering in pieces, her sorrow turned into hatred and rage. She growled as she began speaking in a demonic dialect. Red demonic symbols floated around her as she continued ranting and snarling at everything, cursing all the demons who mocked her, and her father.
A large circular symbol formed around her and started rotating. Another one formed inside of the larger one and started rotating the other way. A pentagram slowly formed on top of them rotating in the same direction as the middle one. Then in an instant she was surrounded by giant flames of fire, though no harm came to her as it danced around her and the circle.
All this time she was still ranting, unaware of the magic she was using. She was in her own little world as hot tears continued running down her face.
It was not until Vaggie screamed at the top of her lungs, “Charlie, calm down!” which brought her out of her rage. “Everything is going to be alright!” she shouted from the other side of the flames. A small section of the flames in front of Charlie lowered slightly, allowing her to see Vaggie very worried about her current state and actions.
Charlie looked at her with a disappointed look and sighed as her anger started to boil over again... “No, Vaggie… everything's not alright” Charlie then growled as she looked at her. “Everything I do, I do for them; my people, my home! Yet, no matter what I do, it all gets spit back into my face!'' She yelled back and closed her eyes. Tears started flowing down her face again.
“I am the Princess of Hell; I want to help my people, and end these yearly massacres, but what is the point if no one will accept the help I'm giving?! Why can’t my people see the way out?!”
She opened her eyes and looked at Vaggie again. “Why can’t my father accept me for who I am and what I want to do?! Why can’t he see that what I'm trying to do is going to help our people?!”
Unknown to Charlie, the symbols on the ground and in the air around her had started to glow brighter and brighter with each new word.
“I'm tired of this; I'm tired of the laughing, the insults, and being called a failure”
The symbols turned from red to white. This got the attention of Vaggie, who was backing away slowly. “Um, Charlie?” she said with concern, but her comment fell on deaf ears.
“I just need a little more help. I need some more people to help with this; more pushing in the right direction. Something until this plan gets in motion.” Charlie whispered to herself like the calm before the storm.
She looked up towards the pentagram in the red sky and faintly saw Heaven up above on a white cloud with a halo. She closed her eyes and, with what energy she had left, let loose one final scream. “I just wish I had more goddamn help and hope!!!” Charlie emphasized her request with a stomp of her right foot on the ground, and all the fire and symbols shot up towards the sky. They disappeared. making it seem as if nothing was there to begin with and leaving Charlie breathing deeply in an attempt to calm herself down.
It didn’t work, her rage subsided, her face slowly began to relax, until she collapsed on her hands and knees and began crying again.
“Oh, honey,” Vaggie said softly. She walked over to her and wrapped her arms around her. Charlie then did the same. Vaggie slowly rubbed her back as she let Charlie cry into her shoulder, wetting the fabric of her hoodie she’d chosen to wear that day. “It’s going to be alright, hon. No matter what happens, I will be by your side until the end of time. We will pull through, and I will make your dreams come true… even if it’s the last thing I do.”
Charlie pulled away and looked at Vaggie, wiping away her tears and sniffling. “You…really mean that?” she asked as she slowly smiled back. Vaggie was a good girlfriend, but even she had some doubts about Charlie’s plan. She was still her greatest supporter.
At least she was much more reserved in her criticism, and she still wanted to help in any way she could.
“Always,” Vaggie replied and kissed her on the lips, Charlie returning with the same level of passion. They stayed together like that for a minute before separating, arms still around one another. “Whatever comes our way, we will handle it, together…”
“Thanks, Vaggie,” Charlie replied.
“Feeling better now? Got everything out of your system?” she asked with a soft smile.
Charlie’s bubbly attitude came back. She took a deep breath and released it. “YES! Much better.” She stood up with a new smile to go with her confidence and turned to look out at the city.
Surprisingly, the area around the hotel was cleared. Unknown to the two on the roof, any demons that had been walking or driving around had immediately booked it out of there when they realized the normally calm and collected Princess of Hell had been accidentally releasing her magic. No one knew if she was aware, and they sure as fuck weren’t going to be around and get caught in any potential blasts or misfires.
“I will prove them wrong; we will make this work, and then we will see who will be laughing at whom,” Charlie said as she turned back to Vaggie. “No matter what life throws at us, we will prevail,” She turned back to look over Pentagram City. Her arms stretched out to her sides.
“Come on, Hell, show me what you got!”

BOOM
The Sound of Thunder
“…”
Charlie and Vaggie’s smiles and cheery attitudes gave way to shock and silence as something happened above them.
“… Uh… What was that?” Vaggie asked with concern
They both looked up in time to see dark clouds formed above the Hotel. They swirled around as they grew in size and darkened further, almost as if they were rain clouds.
“Charlie… What’s happening?”
“I don’t know…I-I have never seen something like this before.”
All of a sudden, a red portal appeared above the roof, maybe 15-20 feet above it. The wind was picking up more than it already had. Charlie and Vaggie hugged themselves and stood closer to stay warm.
“What is going on?! What could have caused this? This isn’t normal!” Charlie asked. She had to speak up due to the wind developing a low howl.
“I think it’s a summoning portal!” Vaggie responded, but she wasn’t too sure of herself.
“What?!” She called back. “But we didn’t—” Charlie stopped; her eyes widened in realization. The fire, the symbols; it was not just her rage, but her magic. She caused this. She lost control. and summoned some kind of wind storm.
“I did this!!”
“What?!!” Vaggie screamed.
“Somehow… I did this… But it makes no sense; there should be candles, skulls, the symbol has to be drawn out, and the words must be read from a book. How is this possible?”
They looked back up as something came through…slowly. It wasn’t a being of Hell, nor anyone arriving from Earth…
It was… a part of a house? A single room with a door that allowed the girls to see a little bit of the inside.
Once it fully emerged from the portal, the clouds, wind, and the red vortex stopped and disappeared, sending the room down to the ground.
More specifically, down on top of them.
“LOOK OUT!!” Vaggie yelled as she tackled Charlie to the ground and out of the structure’s path, using her body to protect her.
The room crashed on top of the hotel roof sending nails and bits and pieces of the walls and wood around the area like some sort of housing grenade. Once the dust settled, Vaggie and Charlie stood up and looked at the building and noticed a demonic symbol appear on the door before quickly disappearing.
“What have I done?” Charlie quietly asked herself.
Vaggie walked over to the door, her spear materializing in hand as she opened the door. Charlie followed right behind her.
The door opened half way before something heavy stopped it from being pushed open completely.
Charlie gasped as she looked down through the opening they could create.
A body was on the ground in the room, but it wasn’t a demonic one.
It was a human body. An actual, uncorrupted human from Earth.
A young white male who looked to be in his early to mid-20’s, and wearing black hoodie and black sweatpants. He was lying face down, as a small amount of blood leaked out of his forehead and formed a small pool next to his head.
There was one more major thing that caught the eyes of the two girls.
A demonic symbol on the back of his right hand, similar to the ones Charlie had when she used her magic It took a more personal level with Charlie when she realized it was the same symbol her family used for their crest.
That couldn’t have been a good sign at all.

END OF CHAPTER 1
Author notes:
Original date of posted chapter (Jan 2, 2020)
Rewrite Done (Nov 30, 2021)
Please leave a review.
I would love to give a huge shoutout to Garr44 for being my Co-Creator/Beta Reader.
Thank you for helping me.