Lucifer (Book 3, The Redemption Series) (8 page)

“
Nervous?” Malcolm asks him in a mocking tone.

Lucifer stops pacing and looks over at Malcolm. It’s obvious from the expression on his face that he thought he was alone.

Lucifer turns to face Malcolm.

“
I’m wondering why I agreed to do this,” Lucifer confesses.

“
So am I,” Malcolm admits. “I didn’t think you loved her this much, if you want to know the truth of the matter.”

“
I love her more than a mangy little mongrel like you could ever understand, Malcolm. Why are you here anyway? Amalie knows we hate each other. I don’t think she expects you to be here to show your approval.”

“
I don’t approve,” Malcolm says with a shrug. “But that doesn’t really seem to matter to her. I’m here in case you chicken out, and I need to help her pick up the pieces when you abandon her.”

“
I won’t abandon her,” Lucifer says stridently. “I wouldn’t do that to her. She means everything to me.”

“
So you say,” Malcolm says, sounding unconvinced, “but when it comes down to it, I know you’ll end up disappointing her. If not today, some other day. It’s only a matter of time, Lucifer. And when it happens, I’ll help her through it.”

“
Why? Are you in love with her too?”

“
No, but I do love her,” Malcolm says. “She’s my friend, and I’m always loyal to my friends, even when I think they’re making a monumental mistake. I doubt that’s something you can understand. You’re too selfish and self-centered to sacrifice a little bit of yourself for someone you love.”

“
Don’t stand there and pontificate to me, Malcolm. You have no idea what I would give for Amalie. But then again, our father hasn’t seen fit to provide you with a soulmate yet, has he? Oh wait…you thought it was Lilly at one time. You were wrong about that, and you’re wrong about Amalie and me. I think you’re just jealous that you haven’t been able to experience a love like ours. Is that the real reason you’re against us doing this today? Is your jealousy eating you alive?”

“
Don’t transpose your own feelings onto me, Lucifer. You and I are nothing alike.”

“
We’re probably more alike than either one of us would want to admit,” Lucifer says. “We’re both stubborn to a fault when we think we’re right.”

“
I don’t think I’m right,” Malcolm says. “I know I am. I’ll make a promise to you though, even if you don’t deserve it. When you break her heart, and I know you will, I’ll help her through it as much as I can.”

“
It won’t happen,” Lucifer says, but his voice lacks conviction. It’s almost like he knows what Malcolm has said will happen one day, and he won’t be able to stop his nature from preventing it.

“
When it does,” Malcolm says, no hate in his voice just resignation, “I will be there for her.”

The doors to the little chapel open and my mother walks in
dressed in a simple white dress.

Malcolm phases
as if he doesn’t want her to know he was there at all.

I’m not sure she would have noticed him if he had stayed. All of her attention it focused on Lucifer. Her face lights up with joy when she sees him and her unadulterated happiness fills the little chapel to bursting. She walks up the short aisle to stand with the man she loves.

“Are you ready?” She asks, taking his hands into her own.

“
Do we have to do it like this?” Lucifer asks, and I can tell it’s not the first time he’s asked this particular question.

“
It’s what I’ve always wanted,” my mother says. “I won’t feel like its real unless we do it this way.”

Lucifer sighs heavily.
“Only for you would I agree to do this.”

My mother smiles because she knows she’s won. I see her close her eyes. A few seconds later, God appears next to them.

God looks from my mother to Lucifer.

“
It’s been a long time, my son,” God says to him.

“
Yes,” Lucifer says, reluctantly acknowledging his father’s presence. “A long time.”

“
Thank you for coming,” my mother tells God.

“
I will come whenever you ask, Amalie,” God replies, smiling at her. “Are you ready to get married?”

My mother nods her head and looks back at Lucifer.
“I’ve been ready since the moment I saw him.”

Lucifer can’t prevent himself from smiling back at my mother in her moment of joy.

“Then let’s begin,” God says.

The scene freezes like someone pressed pause. I look back at Lucifer and see him staring at his memory
like he’s frozen in time too.

“
Tragic, isn’t it?” A woman with a throaty voice says.

I look past Lucifer and see a slender woman
in her mid-twenties standing in the shadows with a fully-grown hellhound standing close to her side. Her wavy, long blonde hair is parted to the right, and she’s wearing a red sequined, spaghetti strapped dress. She stares at me with eyes the same pale blue color as Lucifer’s. I feel my heart grow cold simply by her presence. Her perfectly shaped scarlet lips stretch into an awkward smile to show whiter than white teeth. She looks picture-perfect in every way, which instantly tells me she isn’t real. No one can look as flawless as she does.

“
Who are you?” I ask.

“
I am no one,” she answers, slowly walking forward with the hellhound matching each of her measured steps.

“
Then, what are you?”

“
Ahh,” she says with a tilt of her head, exposing the lily-white flesh of her neck. “Now that’s a smarter question to ask, Anna.”

“
Do you plan to answer it?” I ask, as she comes to stand directly behind Lucifer.

The woman looks down at Lucifer
in revulsion.

“
Look at him,” she says in disgust. “How the mighty have fallen. He was once one of the most powerful creatures in all of existence. But, now his power has been weakened to a point where he’s almost useless to me now and all because of a woman.”

Her gaze turns to me, devouring me with her eyes with an almost lustful quality.

“But you my dear,” she croons, slinking around the bench towards me. “You are a creature worthy of my attention.”

“
Are you Hell?” I ask her, having no other conclusion to draw from her words and actions.

She walks around me, looking me up and down in such a
n appraising way that I’m not sure if she wants to eat me or kiss me.

“
Yes,” she answers, coming to a stop barely a foot away from me. “I thought it might be easier for me to speak with you in this form.”

“
What do you hope to gain from this conversation?”

“
Nothing,” she says with a shrug. “I simply wanted to meet you, Anna. I suspect you and I will be spending quite a lot of time with one another in the future.”

“
Why would you think that?”

The physical manifestation of Hell smiles at me.

“Oh, don’t you feel it, dear one? The power of the seals has already taken root inside your soul. It’s only a matter of time before it consumes you all together. When it does, I’ll be waiting for you with open arms. Just think of all the chaos we can cause if we pool our resources together. We could bring down both Earth and Heaven in one fell swoop.”

“
I have no intention of helping you do anything,” I tell her.

“
Oh, but you won’t have much say in the matter after you collect all the seals. The person you are now won’t exist anymore. Pity that,” she says, looking me up and down again, “I do like you the way you are now. But, I can’t have it both ways, can I? Plus, the creature you will become will be the closest thing to a god I’ve ever had the pleasure of serving.”

“
That won’t happen to me,” I tell her, though my statement doesn't sound very convincing even to myself.

The woman laughs.
“Oh, Anna, you are quite amusing in your naiveté. You actually seem to think you’ll have a choice in the matter. You won’t in the end, you know. There will be so little of you left by that time that this righteous conscience you possess now won’t even exist anymore. And when that time comes, I’ll be waiting here for you.”

“
You’ll have a long wait,” I tell her.

The
manifestation of Hell smiles at me.

“
Since we will soon be so close, you can call me Helena, Anna. It might be easier for you accept me if I have a human name. And if you ever have need of me, simply say my name, and I will come to you.”

“
You can leave this place?”

She shakes her head.
“No, that I can’t do. But when you come back here, I can be by your side at a moment’s notice.”

“
How do you know I’ll come back?”

“
Oh, you won’t have much choice. You’ll feel the draw to me like a child to its mother. In time, you won’t want leave the warmth of my bosom, Anna. I will never judge you or tell you that you have to be something you aren’t. You can be as terrible as you want to be here and receive my undying loyalty. The more powerful you become the more turmoil you’ll cause. All of it will make me stronger.”

Helena looks over at Lucifer again.

“He has given me all he can, but you,” she says, looking back at me with a wicked possessiveness, “you, my dear, are untapped power. In a very short while, you will become master of this domain, master of me. Don’t you want that?”

Helena reaches one of her pale white hands
out like she’s about to touch me, but I back away before she can. My soul is sending out a blaring warning that if I allow her to touch me I will be lost forever.

Helena smiles and drops her hand back to her side.

“Until we meet again, Anna. I have to confess. I’m very much looking forward to it.”

Helena lays her hand on the hellhound at her side and vanishes
in a wisp of black smoke.

“
Anna?”

I look at Lucifer and see that he’s no longer frozen.

“What are you doing here?”

“
I came to see you,” I tell him. “I needed to know you were all right.”

Lucifer looks confused by my concern.
“Why? What made you think I wasn’t?”

“
My mother said you were in a great deal of pain. I came to see if I could help you.”

“
You saw Amalie?” Lucifer says in a whisper.

“
Yes, I just came from her.” I walk over to Lucifer and kneel down on one knee in front of him. “Lucifer you have to know that the connection between your souls is still there.”

“
Of course I know that,” Lucifer says. “I just thought she wouldn’t be able to feel me while I was in Hell.”

“
She can feel it wherever you are,” I tell him. “Wouldn't you rather be with her again instead of simply reliving these old memories?”

“
I would give anything to be with her again.”

“
Then you know what you have to do.”

“
You make it sound so simple, Anna. But to receive true forgiveness, you have to mean it. You can’t exactly fool God.”

“
Why is asking for forgiveness so hard for you to do? Why do you continue to hold a grudge against God?”

“
Because I still think humans are just little monkeys he loves more than his angels. Even if I told him otherwise, he would know it was a lie.”

“
After all this time, you still hate humanity?”

“
Yes.”

“
God doesn’t love humans more than angels,” I tell him. “He loves us all equally. Why can’t you see that?”

“
Because it’s not true. Why can’t
you
see
that
?” Lucifer counters.

“
You’re smart, but completely blind,” I tell him. “Why do you think he sent my mother to you?”

“
So I would have to live the rest of my days in this torture.”

“
And why do you think he sent me here?”

“
To rub salt in an already open wound and make me pay for the things that I’ve done.”

“
You’re so wrong on so many levels,” I say. “Can’t you see that everything he’s done has been to bring you back to Him? My mother was meant to show you the beauty in humanity. You can’t sit there and tell me she didn’t mean the world to you. Would you call her a monkey? Does she deserve to be called an animal? Do you think of me as a monkey too?”

“
You’re different,” he defends. “You’re my daughter and a descendant of Michael. You’re not completely human, Anna. Neither was your mother.”