87| The Mark of Cain

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Crowley and I were staring at Cain in bewilderment.

"'Gone'?" Crowley repeated. "What do you mean, 'gone'? How? The spell brought us here to you, so it has to be here."

"Your spell brought you to the source of the Blade's power. Me."

Pulling up his sleeve, Cain showed off a mark burned into his arm. It looked kind of like a seven with two pointed circle-ish things beside it. Crowley shrunk back and made the sign of a cross over his heart.

"Really? Now?" I shot at him.

"It's the bloody Mark of Cain," Crowley defended himself.

"From Lucifer himself," Cain nodded. "The Mark and the Blade work together. Without the Mark, the Blade is useless. It's just an old bone."

"A bone?" Crowley asked, confused.

"The jawbone of an animal," I realized. "The jawbone you used to kill Abel because he was God's favorite."

"Abel wasn't talking to God. He was talking to Lucifer. Lucifer was gonna make my brother into his pet. I couldn't bear to watch him be corrupted, so I offered a deal- Abel's soul in Heaven for my soul in Hell. Lucifer accepted... as long as I was the one who sent Abel to Heaven. So, I killed him. Became a soldier of Hell- a Knight."

"And Lucifer ordered you to make more," I assumed.

"My Knights and I, we did horrible things- for centuries," Cain sighed. "Bringers of chaos and darkness."

"Then you met Collette."

"She knew who I was... and what I was. She loved me unconditionally. She forgave me. She only asked for one thing."

"To stop," Crowley breathed.

"When the Knights found out, they took retribution. They took Collette, so I picked the First Blade back up, and it felt so good to have it in my hands again, and I slaughtered the Knights of Hell."

"Not all of them," I pointed out.

"No. Abaddon possessed her, and when I moved to stab her Abaddon left her, so all I ended up doing was kill my wife. So I buried her, and I walked away."

"Well, I'm sorry- truly," I told him. "But I have to stop Abaddon. So, where is the Blade?"

"No," Cain shook his head, walking away.

"Hey!" I chased after him. "Listen, you son of a bitch. You may be done killing, but I'm not."

Cain turned back to me with sad eyes.

"You never give up on anything, do you?"

"Never."

"Well, I do."

With that, Cain disappeared.

"Cain? Cain?!"

There were noises outside, and Crowley and I looked out to see more demons preparing an attack.

"Well, I'll stay as long as I can," Crowley told me.

"Aren't you a peach?"

I looked back as Cain reappeared in the room, looking over at the picture of Collette.

"What the hell, man? You in or out? I'm getting head spins."

"I can give you the Mark, Eleanor, if that is what you truly want."

"What are you talking about?"

"The Mark can be transferred to someone who's worthy."

"You mean a killer like you," I translated.

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