The Damned(41)

"He, of mere flesh and bones, did this with a pure heart, and the dark side snatched his soul in wrongful treachery. We want it back. Along with all the others."

"He cannot be damned."

"Your desire for worldly things allowed you to relapse."

"You were not careful in what you had prayed for!"

"Your soul desire for your old existence attracted that energy to you while the portals were opened and darkness was afoot. Your soul mate warned you. The female Neteru knew."

"Your Guardian brothers warned you."

"A vampire even warned you - a friend."

"You did not listen, and opened your delicate transition to a choice border that had been breached in Philadelphia."

"Breached again by the infection."

"Until we saw you fight the hunger, we could not be sure whether the darkness had taken root."

"Lust for power, lust - period - has always been your issue."

"The female Neteru's body shuns yours, because your soul has been tainted."

"Her spirit is drawn to the Light within."

"It is dimmer now than when you were dead!"

"But I was saved," Carlos argued, feeling rage at the injustice of being relentlessly tested beginning to form within him.

A silvery blade of lightning lit in the sky.

"Yes!"

"From that point of your salvation and rebirth, your debts had been wiped clean!"

"Your seven-year sentence erased!"

"Your burden lifted!"

"You had but to hold the line."

"Seven years had been collapsed to seven months!"

"The Neteru preparers showed you the Arc of the Covenant梑ut that was not enough!"

"You were given the weapon of Heru!"

"You were marked by Ausar!"

"You were being refined."

"Honed!"

"Patience was lacking!"

"Your faith in our methods was weak!"

"Spiritual armor was nonexistent! Ego ruled - fallen from potential grace like the first angel for the same offense! This is how you were infected, and your debt began to spiral once more!"