49. Lucifer
Chapter 49
Lucifer
I t was good to be back. Rubbing his hands together dramatically, he made sure his grin was just on the edge of feral.
“You alright, mate?” he asked, enjoying Cassiel’s eyes widen once he stepped into view. “I bet you didn’t expect to see me, did ya?”
Cassiel tried to wriggle, but the celestrial with the red wings simply tightened the ropes. “Release me!” he snarled, the words aimed at the other celestrial, the one with the pretty brown wings with flecks of orange. Like a butterfly, not that he appreciated the compliment. He’d simply crossed his arms with a sneer.
Seriously, men needed to stop feeling emasculated when compared to pretty things.
“Oh, you’ll be pleased to know you were right, Gideon went pop.” Lucifer rolled his shoulders, releasing some of the tension. “Bit cheeky for you to hide in Aetherna though. I thought you were friends?”
It had taken five weeks since he’d woken to hunt Cassiel down, the officers finding him quivering like a pathetic cunt in the other realm. Lucifer would’ve found him sooner if his priorities hadn’t been to his mate first.
“Lucifer, I think you’ve made your point.” Cassiel strained, the ropes tied around his middle immobilising his arms. Honestly, it was a little amusing to see the great Archangel tied up with something so simple as rope.
But it wasn’t like he could use metal, not when the prick could manipulate it.
“And what point would that be?” Grabbing one of the hooks, obsidian, carved specifically by Jax himself for this exact situation, he shoved it through Cassiel’s left wing. He purposely hit bone, wriggling it a little before forcing it through the muscle and out the other side.
Cassiel screamed, his body sagging once Lucifer stepped back.
Taking a moment to admire his work, Lucifer grabbed the rope attached to the cool pulley system. Chuckling to himself, he yanked, amused with how the hook forced Cassiel’s wing up like a morbid marionette puppet.
“You’ve been a naughty boy, fuckface. Killing all those celestrials, and harvesting their parts for your freaky experiments.” Lucifer clicked his tongue. “Trust me, I didn’t have that on my bingo card this year.”
“What do you want?” Cassiel sneered, wincing when Lucifer repeated the process with his right wing.
“Hmm, what do I want?” Lucifer pouted, jiggling the ropes so Cassiel’s wings flapped. He looked ridiculous. “For you not to encourage a homicidal psychopath, but that’s a little late, isn’t it?”
Letting the ropes go he allowed the wings to sag. Blood was soaking into the copper of Cassiel’s feathers, slowly moving down to drip on to the concrete in a gentle pitter patter.
“Did you know a chi can scream? Okay, okay, it doesn’t technically scream. It just feels like it when completely destroyed by a blast of pure energy.”
The pain had lasted a split second, but even that second he remembered in vivid detail.
Ouch. 0/10, would not recommend.
Cassiel flinched when Lucifer grinned. “Maybe if I burn off all your skin at once, you might be able to understand.”
He knew he shouldn’t have survived, even with the distance he managed to drift before Gideon burst. His aura had been destroyed, and his body damaged.
He should be dead. Obliterated into stardust.
But he was rather glad he wasn’t.
For once Lucifer was thankful he’d been forced through the Rite. It was something he’d always resented, believing he was a parasite that survived on the death of others. He’d been tortured and corrupted, his soul twisted with the decisions he’d made to survive, but that same black magic had helped him live.
It had taken four weeks for him to fully recover, and he owed it all to Scarlet. Her soul had kept him alive long enough for her to restart his heart, their connection sustaining him while his chi recuperated. Without her, even with all the black magic, he wouldn’t be here to humble Archangel Cassiel in an abandoned barn in the middle of nowhere.
Warmth swelled beneath his ribs, spreading until it covered his entire chi. Her soul was exactly where it was supposed to be, and he was never letting it go.
“Lucifer…”
Lucy crossed the space, gripping Cassiel by the chin. “Don’t fucking interrupt me, I’m not finished,” he growled, savouring the fear of the once powerful Archangel. “You asked me what I want, and I’m telling you.”
“Lucifer, I’ll give you anything,” he begged. “Just let me go.”
He squeezed before finally releasing his grip. “I want a gift for my mate.”
“Mate?” Cassiel asked, eyes flicking to the other celestrials. “Wait, Scarlet?”
Lucifer’s knuckles hit Cassiel’s cheek, snapping his head to the side with a crack.
Cassiel groaned, skin already darkening with a bruise.
“Sorry about that,” Lucifer chuckled. “Lost my temper a little bit there. Now, where were we?” Reaching for the ropes, he leaned his entire weight on them. It pulled Cassiel’s wings, the hooks beginning to rip through his skin. “Oh yeah, I want a gift.”
“Please… please. If you release me I’ll put her brother to rest,” Cassiel said, proving that impending mortality made even the most level headed cunts panic.
“I’m listening,” Lucifer said, knowing he had no intention of letting Cassiel go. He didn’t need Silas’s eye anymore, not when he’d spent the last few weeks working with Kyra on how to put his soul to rest when stuck in the Null.
A black witch and a Daemon.
Absolute fucking dream team.
“My son was lying, he kept a trophy this entire time. I can take you to it!”
“Hmm…” Lucifer leaned even more weight onto the ropes, Cassiel’s wing ripping with a screech before the hooks caught on a bone. “Sorry fuckface, I don’t believe you. But don’t worry, I think we can work something out.”
The wings sagged, then were pulled taut once more.
“I want you to tell me everything you did to her while she worked for you.”
Red wing hit him when he hesitated, and Cassiel’s face glowed red, creased with lines of anger and panic. “Let’s make a deal,” he said, spitting out blood.
“Nope, that’s not how this is going to work.”
Brown wing stepped forward, and Cassiel screamed as three of his fingers and part of his hand toppled to the floor with a thud.
Lucifer watched with a sick sense of delight.
Payback was a bitch.
“So, fun fact. We found everything stored in your strange freezer room. Every organ. Every feather. Every fucking body, and your officers here aren’t happy. You may have tortured and mutilated one or two of their friends, which is not cool, by the way,” Lucifer chuckled. “And I thought I was unhinged.”
Another finger was sliced, Cassiel weeping and fighting the ropes.
“Seriously, you just can’t get the staff these days, can you?” Lucifer knelt, making sure their heads were level. “So you’re going to tell me everything I want to know, and I won’t let your officers slice you piece by piece. Deal?”
Cassiel nodded his head, his words coming out stuttered.
Lucifer listened, his muscles aching with how tight he held himself. A dark haze threatened his vision, but he kept it suppressed. He didn’t want to spoil it for everyone because he couldn’t keep his darker instincts in check.
“Anything else?” he asked, his voice lethally calm.
“Her medical knowledge was superior, so she became an investment in my research. I’d never risk that when her memories are far too important, so I gave her nothing that would affect her long term. Not even your vile mark harmed her, I know, I made sure.”
“Okay,” Lucifer said, his tone dropping dangerously low. “Now, tell me why you removed her implant?”
Brown wing tensed, sharing a look with red wing.
Cassiel’s face paled, his lips opening to explain, but Lucifer found his patience had met its limit. Anger twisted against his blackened soul, calling for him to kill.
He didn’t need a confession, he could guess why the Archangel had removed it. So instead he yanked on the ropes, so hard the hooks sliced clean through Cassiel’s wings. Lucifer revelled in the screams, right until he cut out his tongue.
If you’d asked him fifty years ago that he would mate, he’d have laughed and said you were crazy. Now, he was pretty sure he was the smuggest bastard in the entire world. If not realms.
Scarlet lay on her side, eyes closed with exhaustion. She didn’t murmur when he slipped into bed behind her, his chest pressing against the fresh scars on her back.
She’d never complained about her lack of wings, losing both her ability to fly as well as her healing abilities when she’d become Fallen. But he knew she felt the loss.
Placing a kiss to her shoulder, she sighed, rolling onto her back.
It gave him the perfect view of her breasts, his lips reaching down to brush the top of their curves before moving down her stomach to between her hips.
Resting his cheek there, he closed his eyes, able to feel the life inside his mate if he really concentrated. She was still early, at around seven to eight weeks, but Lucy knew the little peanut was going to be a hellion.
To say Scarlet was confused was an understatement, which only energised Lucy’s hunt for Cassiel. He’d wanted to give her answers, closure.
He didn’t care that the kid could never be his, he’d love it regardless.
“Right, I need you not to make your Mamma puke,” he whispered to her stomach. “If you do this for me, I’ll feed you whatever you want, okay? You let Mamma know the craving, and I will get it. Scouts honour.”
Placing a kiss to just below her belly button, he moved down.
“Lucifer?” Scarlet murmured, trying to sit up, only for him to clamp his hand on her thighs, settling himself further down the bed.
“Morning, my love.”
“What are you doing?” She blinked before frowning. “And why are you covered in blood?”
“Firstly, I’m trying to greet your pretty pussy like a gentleman. Secondly, your celestrial friends found Cassiel.”
“Wait, he’s dead?”
He hummed a yes, nibbling at her inner thigh. “Yep, and sang like a canary by the way. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Scarlet relaxed, relieved that whatever Cassiel had done to her, wasn’t going to hurt her long term, or the baby.
“Which is why I’m celebrating,” he continued, using the flat of his tongue to lick the crease between her thigh and cunt. “Have you missed me?”
“Lucifer!”
“Shh, I’m talking to her .” He nodded to Scar’s pussy. “Now don’t be rude, me and your cunt have a lot of catching up to do.”