Visions of clawing her eyes out danced through my head.
“She does,” he agreed as he stepped back to look at me. “So young and naïve, so full of love.” He chuckled. “There comes a time when we all learn that love is a farce.”
“You might want to rethink this course, brother,” Caim said in a low voice. “This could do far more damage than you expect.”
Lucifer shrugged. “So be it.”
“This could kill her.”
“In all the thousands of years of our children walking Earth, none have been as strong as her. She will survive this.”
“You cannot be certain.”
Lucifer whirled and stalked toward him. Caim took a step back, his head bowing as Lucifer’s wings swung out. The silver-tipped points clicked against the ground on either side of Caim. Fury etched Lucifer’s features as he leaned toward Caim, who turned his head away.
“Why are you being so difficult about this?” Lucifer spat.
“I am not being difficult, brother.” Caim didn’t meet Lucifer’s eyes as he spoke. “I am simply pointing out the truth. We could take her to Earth now. She may be able to get you back into Heaven, but if you do this, you could destroy her and forever end your chances of such a thing.”
Did Caim say that because he had turned against Lucifer and was trying to save me from whatever Lucifer planned? Or did Caim want to return to Heaven too and believed I could help him? Maybe it was both.
“Perhaps, but she’s not getting me back into Heaven,” Lucifer said.
Caim chanced a glance at Lucifer before bowing his head again. His actions reminded me of a beaten animal, broken down by its master, but I knew this animal might still have some bite, or at least some nibbling left in him.
“I see,” Caim murmured.
“Do you?” Lucifer inquired as he leaned closer. Caim didn’t say another word. Lucifer pulled his wings back and tucked them away. “At least she’s not getting me into Heaven without an army behind me. There are troops on the surface now, waiting for me, but we all know the best ones remain locked away. The ones, Ireallywant.”
My stomach sank and an awful suspicion grew in the back of my mind as I tried and failed to take in more of my surroundings. I didn’t have the strength to turn my head to look behind me, and the wraiths blocked my view of everything else. Lucifer clasped his hands behind his back as he strolled toward me once more with an odd little skip to his step.
“And if she can open a gateway into Heaven…” His head tilted back as his voice trailed off. He looked to me again. “I know how I opened the gateway into Hell; I might be able to use you to get me back into Heaven. Oh, the looks on those bastards’ faces when they see me again.” He laughed as he clapped his hands. “That is, of course, before my army and I destroy them all.”
“You’re insane!” I blurted before I could stop myself.
“Tsk, tsk, that’s not very nice. You should show more respect to those who are better than you. To those you should be bowing before, and believe me, when this is all over, child or not, I will have you begging for mercy. I will make you repent for everything you have said or done, or I will cut out your tongue and feed it to you.”
I pressed my lips together when he squeezed my cheeks. Two of him swam before my eyes as starbursts erupted across my brain. Lucifer’s power washed over me before a wraith brushed against my skin, cutting off the flow. It was then that I realized the malevolent spirits also churned in a thick wave behind me. They stopped me from drawing power from what I feared was a seal behind my back.
“Demons are lower than us, and humans are evenlower. You may not be entirely either one of them, but you’re no better than refuse beneath my feet,” he said as his fingers bit into my skin.
“You would know… about refuse,” I panted out.
He had to kill me,hehadto. I couldn’t let him use me to open more seals. I didn’t know if he could use me for such a thing, but I wasn’t willing to take the chance he could. I would not be what my father had been for him: a tool to destroy everything and everyone I loved.
“The angels threw you out of Heaven after all.TheMorning Star tossed aside like garbage. The supposedly favored son sentenced to death amongsthumans!”
Caim stared at me as if I’d lost my mind. Perhaps I had; my life hadn’t exactly been sanity inducing lately. Onoskelis stepped toward us, her sword lifting off her shoulder as murder burned within her eyes. Lucifer gazed at me like I was a specimen he was about to pick apart.
Get it over with and kill me!
“You turned out to be nothing to them, Lucifer, and you’re still nothing.” The wraiths crowded closer as my heart jackhammered with every word I spoke. “Kobal is superior to you in every way, and you know it!”
Instead of plucking me apart, Lucifer chuckled. He brushed the backs of his fingers across my cheek as he stepped closer to me. “You aresomuch like me. I see what you’re trying to do, but I’m not going to kill you. Despite Caim’s concerns, I will not allow you to die during this. You’re far too precious to me for that.”
He patted my cheek. “Do you know what makes you my most precious acquisition, daughter?”
I tried to keep my mouth shut, to not give in and ask him. As he continued to stroke my face, I found myself unable to resist questioning him, if it would just make himstoptouching me. “What?”
