*Authors note: Eternally Cursed is based on the Fallen novels by Lauren Kate. I am a huge fan of her work just as much as J. K. Rowling. I thought this novel would focus on the deadly attraction of Satan and Eve and how two children should not meet because of how close in the line between them lies. This is the first chapter where Evelyn Magnolia and Erin Rayburn meet for the first time.*
Chapter 1-The Funeral
Evelyn could feel his eyes staring into her neck. Her long black hair was pulled into a bun. She felt her pale skin burn under his gaze. Her mother sat in the chair closest to the preacher. Her blue veil hid her blank expression at her husband's funeral. The boy continued to stare into the blank skin of her back. She had to rub his gaze from the way her body felt like it was being burned alive. When she finally turned around, she held her breath at the boy who looked away. He was stunning, with his ashen colored hair cascading down over his right eye. His eyes soulless and pitch black. The one detail she remembers from that night was his red scar that was sliced onto the right of his neck.

"Evelyn, turn around you're embarrassing me," her mother hissed. Evelyn turned around and looked back at the coffin before her. Her father was consumed in a flash of light and bright orange flames began to emerge from his own body. Evelyn could smell the charred remains inches from her feet.

"He got what he deserved that demon," one woman whispered behind her. Evelyn looked back and noticed the woman staring at her. The lady kept quiet and then turned her attention to the priest. Evelyn was so confused why people were mentioning Lucifer and the archangels who supported his cause in wanting to defeat Heaven at its own game. To love a mortal woman was a curse upon your whole family, sometimes it could lead to the murder of the angel and their family that is if Lucifer's spies heard what happened.

"Lucifer only spared the child because she is the direct descendant of the daughter Eve," the other woman hissed. Evelyn's red hair was the one thing that many people in her little religious community saw as a symbol of Eve, the sin she committed when she ate the apple from the tree. Satan was smitten with Adam's love. Her hair flowing behind her like a cape hiding the true beauty of a woman, it was the one thing that caught Satan off guard. Eve's luminous body often shimmered in the moonlight, reflecting the glow and revealing the flawless beauty that is woman. Every night Satan would look at her from the tree in snake and in demon form. Every night Satan would watch Adam an Eve make love to each other. The color of her skin, the color of her hair, and the desire to have Eve was enough to drive Lucifer wild with passion. He decided at that time he would lure Eve to her sinful death, eating from the tree.

"Now let us begin the Lord's prayer," the Reverend said. He held the holy book in his hands. Evelyn could feel the burning searing pain of the boy behind her and the woman around her stare at her father's downfall. But what could a little nine year-old girl understand what her future held? Surely her mother kept secrets from her that she couldn't understand.

"Mom what does it mean when people call me the daughter of Eve?" Evelyn asked.

"Evelyn, be quiet," her mother said. Evelyn looked behind her and saw the boy looking into her eyes. His gaze was dark and his eyes almost looked like there was no color at all, just the black of his pupils. It was haunting and felt like she was being pulled forward. The boy's hair was black like a crow's feather with a little streak of dark blue near his left eye. It seemed as if his hair was two colors instead of one. Evelyn was pulled to face the front and given a stern warning of behaving herself by her mother. It seemed almost daunting to be at the funeral when there was no body to be buried. Her father's body turned to ash in the fire.

#

The funeral ended and her mother grabbed Evelyn by the arm. She was distraught that her own daughter wouldn't show any respect to the dead, let alone the dead father that bore her the child. Her mother didn't really have red hair, but she did have red streaks in her blonde hair. When Evelyn looked back at the coffin being placed in the ground, she saw the boy hold up a green apple and take one big bite into its flesh. He grinned in her direction and tossed the apple into the ground where the coffin was placed for it's final stage of it's cycle, decomposition.

"Hurry up Evelyn," her mother hissed. Evelyn ran to her mother and got inside the back seat of the car and grabbed her little handheld PAC-man game and played it on the ride home from the cemetery. As she looked outside the window, she caught a glimpse of a winged creature in the cypress tree near the pond. It was too big to be a crow, but it flew off with such speed. Evelyn looked back at her mother who watched the road with a solemn face.

"Is Uncle Lenny coming over for dinner?" Evelyn said. Her mother gave her the harshest look at the stop light. Evelyn was too young to know that the man she called Uncle Lenny was in fact Lucifer himself. She always liked him coming to the home, his wild brown eyes always held a shimmer. Uncle Lenny would come with presents and toys and every Christmas he would give her a special flower that died every first day of spring.

"Your uncle is busy with a meeting. He's finding another person to pick up your father's job," her mother said.

"But why can't Uncle Lenny come for dinner? He likes your cooking."

"Evelyn, he's busy, that is how he is."

"I want him to come over, mommy!"

"He's never coming over to our house again, do you hear me?!" Evelyn looked at her mother, her shimmering green eyes reflected in her mother's hazel eyes. Everyone who met Evelyn was either scared of her or just downright terrified that she could send them to the pits of Hell. Everyone cursed her and her family, but each day they wouldn't show up to school and everyone would look at Evelyn like she was the culprit to their sudden disappearance.

"Okay, mommy," Evelyn said. Her mother drove off when the light turned green to their home in a small mobile home park. Their home was a shamble of rusted metal roofing and shingles peeling from the lead paint. Her mother parked the car in the car port and then opened the driver's door to get Evelyn out of the backseat. When Evelyn was down on the ground she raced to the front porch to the bright yellow door. But there was someone at the front door. Her mother grabbed her hand and then took a steady walk up to the front door.

"Uncle Lenny, you came!" Evelyn said. She ran to her uncle and grabbed his leg. His smile and bright eyes was enough to make the sad parts of the day seem even better. Her mother was not happy to see her uncle, but she unlocked the door and let her uncle walk into the house with Evelyn never letting go of his leg.

"I thought you were busy?" Evelyn's mother said. The uncle laughed and then flashed his shimmering smile. Her mother stared right through the gaze like she saw it before.

"Well, we're taking a few days to look at some potential candidates before we head into the final decision," Lenny said. He scooped up Evelyn and gave her a big hug and kiss.

"Mommy said you shouldn't come here anymore," Evelyn said. Her uncle looked at the woman standing before her. Her mother was the top demon of the community, no one could disrespect her except the devil himself. When he saw his lieutenant and this woman get married without his permission to be at the wedding, he grew into a rage until Evelyn was born. Her red hair and bright green eyes reminded him of Eve, his old lover. It was painful to look at her, but she was just as lovely as the woman who died many centuries before. Lucifer could never find anyone else to replace her. Not even his little cousin who was the speckled image of Eve, minus the red hair.

"She did now did she?" Lenny said.

"She was upset that daddy was gone."

"I see. But did you want me to visit you from time to time?"

"I want you to stay with us because mommy will need help with the bills."

"I think that can be arranged."

"You don't have to help us, we're fine on our own," Evelyn's mother said.

"If you need financial help, just accept it. That's all I am going to do for you," Lenny said.

Evelyn's mother threw up her hands and then huffed into the kitchen. She started to scan through the fridge and the cupboard before coming back to the spot where Evelyn and Lenny were playing with her stuffed panda bear, Wang. It was big and soft and about the same height as her daughter. But that red hair was flying around and her daughter was smiling. At least that is what it means when her father, her real father, was spending time with his daughter.

"We're having spaghetti tonight. Is that okay with you?" Evelyn's mother said.

"I want spaghetti!" Evelyn said. Lenny shrugged and smiled at the woman who went back into the kitchen and begun to prepare the meal. He couldn't take his eyes off Evelyn and looked back at the empty entryway to the kitchen where her mother was silently working over the stove to make the spaghetti just right. Lucifer had always wanted a family after Eve left with Adam in the garden, but what made him smile was when Eve left the garden with his future heir to the throne of Hell. It would be a day that he would surely remember when Evelyn and his son would make their first meeting.