25. Scarlet
Chapter 25
Scarlet
“ L ucifer, wait!” she called after him, ignoring the looks from the patrons who waited in the corridor between the private rooms.
She knocked her wing against someone in her rush, but she didn’t have time to apologise before Lucifer pushed himself through a door and into the night.
She could feel his rage pressing against her ribs, his mark pulsating violently. She’d never felt him so open before, his mood seeming to project his emotions. Following outside, she found him with his head tipped back, eyes to the stars. Thick onyx horns speared out from his dark hair, curving around his head and tipped with a sharp spike.
“Lucifer?”
He turned, the movement so fast she jumped.
“He’s a pathetic piece of shit,” he said, fury apparent in every harsh line of his body. “He was a weasel down below, so I should have known he’d be one up here too.”
“We can find others that will help.”
“What happens if we don’t?” He took a single step closer, and her hand itched to reach for the knife hidden beneath her skirt. “What happens if they’re all terrified? Because I fucking am.”
Scar’s heart ached at the vulnerability in his tone. “It’s going to be okay.”
His laugh was void of any humour. “Gideon’s cruelty was restrained by his limitations down in Hell, but up here he’s free without restrictions.” Black veins rippled beneath his skin. “If we don’t stop him, he will destroy everything. Everyone.”
“It’s going to be okay,” she repeated, closing their distance until she was forced to look up. He was even more intense up close, the red of his eyes glowing like embers.
“You need to step back, angel,” he growled, the sound a harsh rasp. “I’m not in control.”
Violence thickened the air, mixed with a pressure that only needed a single spark to ignite. She should be terrified at the raw power he exuded, at the intense rage that vibrated the space between them.
“You’re not going to hurt me,” she whispered, sure of it.
“So confident that I’m not a monster.”
His muscles were rigid, his breathing rapid. It was as if his entire body was bound so tight he was ready to explode. She needed a way to calm him down before he completely lost it.
“Kiss me.”
Lucifer let out a strangled sound. “You don’t know what you’re asking.” His expression was broken, raw as he closed their distance until only a breath separated them.
She knew exactly what she was asking, and still she wanted it. Wanted him, but only in that moment.
“Tell me to stop,” he whispered.
She should, her instincts screaming at her to get away from the predator. But she didn’t, wanting to see what he would actually do while at the edge of his control. “Don’t make me beg.”
His lips captured hers, her back slamming against the brick wall before she could even release a gasp. Her wings ached at the impact, but that was quickly forgotten with the way heat seared through her blood. It was like he was everywhere, his lips unapologetic as they took what he wanted.
She’d never reacted so viscerally to anyone else, and right then she didn’t care. She gladly embraced his anger, giving him a new focus other than violence and death. A way to escape both their purposes, even if it was just for that single moment.
His hand moved to her throat, tightening just enough to pin her in place. Scarlet moaned, and Lucifer responded with an animalistic growl from deep within his chest. The vibration travelled straight to the aching spot between her thighs.
Lucifer pulled back much to her frustration, only to look down at her with an expectation that had her blushing. Her lips felt swollen, almost bruised with how hard he’d kissed her. And yet all she wanted was to reach up and hook her hands on his horns, bringing his head back down to her height so she could repeat it.
So she did, forcing his lips back to hers. His horns were rock solid, rough beneath her palms but she loved the way she could angle his head. He growled into her mouth, his fingers tightening around her throat in a way that shouldn’t feel as good as it did. Lucifer needed control, and she would give it to him.
“Angel,” he whispered before his body went unnaturally still.
Scarlet frowned at the sudden change. “Lucifer? What’s…” but before she could finish, she heard it. A muffled scream barely carried by the wind.
“Please stop! No!”
There was no hesitation, Scarlet whipping to the side to try and follow the sound. “Go!” she said, knowing he could move much faster.
He disappeared, quickly followed by another scream, loud enough for Scarlet to track. It didn’t take her long to find the right alley, the tall buildings either side casting the entire space in shadows. There was very little light, the streetlamps smashed and the moon unable to penetrate that deep. The only illumination was from an exit sign, washing the pavement in a sickly green.
“Please,” a man whimpered. “Please stop.”
She found Lucifer holding a man by his throat, his legs swinging wildly while a woman lay on the floor beneath. Her skirt had been ripped, torn from her hips and left open. Her head was turned towards her, eyes beginning to swell shut, and her skin had already begun darkening into a bruise. Her lips trembled, followed by a shallow sound like she was sobbing.
Scarlet immediately dropped to her knees. “It’s okay,” she whispered when the woman flinched. “You’re okay.”
Keeping her touch featherlight, she found there was internal bruising, so Scarlet immediately forced the young girl’s body to heal itself. The man had been violent, blood fragrant even against the stench of rotting bins.
A strangled screech echoed behind her, Lucifer beating the man repeatedly in the face. Bone crunched, but he still didn’t stop. Not even when the man’s screams became nothing but wet gurgles.
“Stop!” she shouted, making sure the girl was as comfortable as possible before going over. “You’re going to kill him.”
Lucifer looked up, darkened eyes gleaming with malice.
“Stop,” she repeated. “You need to stop.”
There was no humour in his smile, nothing but pure rage as he lifted the man like he was a rag doll, and broke his neck. Scarlet recoiled, bone protruding through skin with how rough he’d been.
“I’m not some obedient dog,” he snarled, the fierceness of his tone startling. “No is a complete sentence, and she fucking screamed it.”
He dropped the body, not sparing it a single glance before he went over to the woman, who was thankfully in a healing sleep and didn’t witness anything.
“Do you think his death was warranted?” She turned with him, watching how gently he knelt to touch the woman’s abused face. “Shouldn’t he face justice?”
“Justice?” Lucifer growled, head jerking up to face her. “Justice is the fact he can never hurt anyone else again.”
“It should have been her decision,” Scarlet snapped, meeting his angry eyes without flinching. “She should have decided his fate, and you took that away from her when you killed him.”
The silence stretched, the heat of earlier lost to a sense of prickling frost. It froze the moment between them, undoing all their progress with a single, impulsive decision.
“What are you doing?” she asked, emotions clogging her throat when he reached down to lift the woman in his arms, his horns disappearing beneath his hairline.
“She needs the hospital.” His voice may be steady, but she could still see his fury in the set of his jaw.
“Lucifer…”
He met her gaze for the briefest second before disappearing, and Scarlet wanted to scream, just to release some of her excess frustration. She settled for kicking the dead man out of the way, but it wasn’t enough.
“Fuck,” she whispered, itching to take to the sky.
Lucifer was making it harder for her to remain detached, cold. He was getting under her skin, and she didn’t know how to fight the guilt. She’d never cared about Gideon, or his growing threat. She was only there because she was told to be, because her goal was, and will always remain the same. To help her brother.
Nothing else mattered, so why did she find herself heading back towards the club? It didn’t take her long to find Blaze, the Daemon having moved from the private room to a seat within one of the larger floors. He sat like a king in his throne, surrounded by a few other men.
“What the fuck do you want?” he snarled as soon as he’d spotted her.
She stopped just short of her boots touching his. “You’re going to tell me where we can find the others on that list.”
“Bitch, unless you’re here to bend over for me, you can fuck right off,” Blaze chuckled, which caused the others to laugh too.
Something dark and volatile burned in the pit of her stomach. “Why would I be interested in someone so weak?” She knew it would cause a reaction, the word chosen specifically.
Blaze’s skin flushed, darkening when his friends laughed harder. “Everyone leave,” he barked, shooting her a baleful scowl. “Now!”
It took a minute, but then they were alone in the darkened corner. Music reverberated in gentle waves, just loud enough to drown out the conversations and creating the feeling of an intimate bubble.
“Come closer and say that to my face,” Blaze warned, a smirk curving his upper lip. Widening his legs, he patted his thigh as if it was an invitation.
He really didn’t see her as a threat, which was fine. She preferred it when people underestimated her.
Scarlet made sure her smile was in place when she stepped into the space he’d created between his legs.
“What’s a pretty thing like you hanging around with a traitor like Lucifer?” Blaze leaned forward, any evidence of his earlier argument long gone.
Scarlet let him, her hand sinking beneath her skirt to the knife strapped to her upper thigh. Blaze’s attention dropped to the movement, but she wasn’t worried as she opened her wings up to block him from the room’s view.
“What makes him a traitor?”
Blaze chuckled, his grey tongue coming out to lick along his bottom lip. “Why don’t you come sit on my lap, and I can tell you all about it?”
He reached for her, but before he could touch she pressed the tip of her blade to the centre of his chest.
“If you scream, everyone will know how pathetic you are,” she whispered, her tone cold.
Blaze laughed, and she didn’t miss the small tick in his jaw. “Do you really think a small blade like that can hurt me?” His hand snapped out in a blur, reaching for her wrist. But she had anticipated it, having been studying the way Lucifer moved. So at the last second she aimed down, the knife cutting straight through his dick.
“I’m sorry, you were saying?”
Blaze gasped for breath, eyes bulging. “Fucking bitch,” he hissed out, his entire body tensing.
“Move, and I’ll cut it off. I wonder if it will grow back?”
“I’m going to kill you,” he sneered, his smile enraged. The edges of his body seemed to shimmer, as if he was trying to disappear, and failing.
She wiggled the blade, realising he couldn’t drift while impaled.
Interesting.
“What do you want?” he growled, blood beginning to pool. She didn’t have long before someone noticed, so she had to make the conversation quick.
“You’re going to tell me where we can find everyone else on that list.”
“Now why would I do that?” The colour leached from his face, his skin turning as grey as his tongue.
“Because I’m about to cut off your dick.” She wiggled the blade once more for good measure. “And because you’re more scared of Lucifer than you are of Gideon.”