Page 74 of Falling for the Devil
“Lucifer!”
That voice again.
Squinting through the raining dirt, he pushed himself up to his knees, twisting around in search of the devious goddess. What would he do to her to punish her? Kill her, obviously. But he intended to draw out his vengeance in excruciating ways for as long as she could stand it.
Then, there she was... running toward him, dodging falling rocks and leaping over streams of lava. Blood spattered her face, her body, and what remained of that pitiful tunic. He could just make out the golden honey of her eyes, widened in clear horror.
Her eyes? Hadn’t they been glazed over with an opaque haze? Or had that been a trick, too?
He remained unmoving, watching her in fascination. Why would she run to him? Shouldn’t she be racing away instead?
A large boulder crashed down in front of her. Still, she didn’t falter in its path. Her hands were stretched out to him, her lips forming his name over and over.
Something cold as ice touched his heel, sending shivers throughout his body. Lucifer looked down to see the inky black from the pit pooling beneath his feet, then seeming to ensnare his ankles and climb up his calves, over his knees, and slither around his thighs. He couldn’t move. There was no escape.
The blackness continued to spread up and over his torso to encircle his throat, choking off his airway, Lucifer knew the frostiness of impending death. He wasn’t going to die in battle. The vastness of the universe was leaching his lifeforce not only from his physical vessel, but also from his eternal soul. Death would not come easy and final, for his spirit would forever be lost in the vast emptiness at the outer rims of the ever-expanding cosmos. All that was made clear in his mind as the very words of the Creator scorched into the far reaches of his thoughts.
My most beloved child, you have lost your way. Not as you feared in the arms of the woman you truly love. That was never your sin. True love is never a sin. The love of a parent for a child is perfection itself. The love of one’s soulmate is the epitome of divinity. These things have never been something to despise or fear.
Your love was pure, but you allowed it to be sullied and stained with sin with your actions and deeds. Your guilty thoughts dragged you into a pit of remorse and fear. They led you astray toward jealousy, impure thoughts, doubt, and wrath.
Your acts of love would not only have been forgiven, but I would also have rejoiced in your happiness.
But you lost faith with yourself, thus losing faith with me.
Love was never the sin. Angels are born beings of pure love. Why would I not wish them to experience love in all forms? It is lust, wrath, and rebellion that stained your love. A rebellion in spirit and now in body as you have transformed yourself from the Archangel of Light into a being of madness. You, my child, fell prey to the orchestrated sins of lust and wrath.
See before you the one you love. You lost faith in her just as easily as you lost faith in yourself. True love can never foster and grow if trust can be thrown away on a whim.
It is better for you to fall with love, then to fall from grace with vengeance in your heart.
Lucifer’s mouth opened and closed. He tried to speak in his defense, to beg for his father’s forgiveness, even though spoken words were never necessary. The Creator knew the deepest recesses of his mind, his heart, and his spirit. He could not deny the truth of the words despite feeling every syllable cutting through him.
Father, please... His soul screamed out for salvation.
Lucifer, I do not seek to punish you. Indeed, I seek to show you the true path, but it must be earned. Step by step. I offer you a life, a chance to discover the purity of love and of family. However, it is not something you can find sitting secluded in the heavens, cut off from these opportunities.
I offer you life... and love. Give Diana the same devotion you would to me. For every being is worthy of the same you have shown to me. Trust in that love, that bond. And then... one day, return to me when eternities have passed by, and tell me your stories. Tell me of the fruitfulness of your existence. And know that I rejoice in your happiness.
What? He didn’t understand. The iciness of his divinity being leached from his soul numbed him to the agonizing pain in his heart. His love for Diana had not been a sin, as he’d long believed. His father was casting him out of the heavens, out of his sight, anyway.
Why?
Go in peace and love, my son. For no matter where you are, I am with you still.
With that, his father’s voice was silenced like a thunderclap that interrupted the storm for a moment.
Diana was running for him, no closer than she’d been before, as if she’d been frozen in time while the cosmic abyss had rent him of spirit. But now, he saw her true visage. Tears streaked down her face. Terror widened her eyes. The shaken earth had stilled, no longer quaking and showering rocks from above. The ground sucked in the lava that had been flowing in a spiderweb pattern. All was crystal clear.
He leaped up and grabbed her into his arms, twirling her around until they were both inexplicably laughing. When they stopped, her feet dangled in the air like a ragdoll. Diana’s hand wiped at something on his face then rubbed the palm of her hand over his lips. A smile lit her face as she leaned in to press her lips to his.
“You are mine and I am yours,” Lucifer muttered before claiming a soul-searing kiss.
Chapter 35
The War is Won, But the Battle has Just Begun
My head is spinning... quite literally.
