AN: My dear readers who review my story thank you so, so much. It is your reviews that motivate me and challenge me to keep writing more 'brutal' chapters! I am truly thankful for that. A hearty thank you to all my readers and those of you who are following my story, i wish i could send you all cookies with each chapter update. :)
So, here is the new chapter! Enjoy!
Chapter 7:
"God", his voice trembled not with fear but with hesitation. "It's me, Sam Winchester." He was on his knees, hands clasped, fingers curled tightly together, eyes closed as he prayed, something that he hadn't done in the past decade. "I don't know if you can hear me or if still want to, after everything I've done, but if you do, I only ask of one thing. Please keep Dean safe", he paused, forcing the lump down his throat as his eyes misted remembering the horrible feel of Dean's blood dripping on his scalp. It wasn't real. It wasn't real. "I don't care what the Devil does to me but Dean deserves better. I know he went against the will of your angels but he has so much good in him." Warm stream of tears slipped from his closed eyes and his voice cracked, word breaking as he incoherently mumbled, "But if it has offended you in any way, I apologize on his behalf. Punish me for mine and his sins but please let him be. Amen."
"You know, if you wanted to be punished, all you had to do was ask me." The honeyed voice had the man spinning on his knees, teary hazels locking with glacial blues. Maybe it wasn't too late to put a collar around Sam. He was already on his knees, surrender clear in his wet eyes and obedience discernible in his body language. Without another thought, the Winchester instantly rose to his feet, inhaling deeply, chest stretching like an untamed animal. Alpha once again. The collar would have to wait, then. "Never thought you would still be praying." Lucifer confessed and Sam shifted his weight unconsciously from one foot to another, "I mean, don't get me wrong but you know, you drank demon blood unwillingly at first I admit, but willingly the second and the third and several times after that."
He paused for a moment, watching his words getting to Sam faster than he had expected. After spending quite some time with him, the Devil knew all his tells. The nervous twitch at the corner of his lips spoke volumes of his unwilling acceptance of the bitter truths about himself. The negligible flare of his nose that hinted at his unruly temper breaths away from eruption. The clenching and unclenching of his fist as he tried to ease that temper. "I don't really see how that is godly and as if that wasn't enough you fornicated with that demon bitch. Or should I say you fu -"
"Enough!" Sam hollered, he didn't need the Devil reminding him of his sins.
Lucifer sneered, enjoying his frustration. "Touchy subject, I see." His forked tongue could taste the hot anger shooting from the man who was on his knees begging to God not moments ago. "Never mind, go on." Sam shifted his weight again putting himself away from the Devil. "Pray, Sam", Lucifer encouraged. "Don't mind me", he added, waving his hand at nothing.
Sam stayed frozen to his spot, not willing to obey Lucifer. Little did he know Lucifer didn't take disobedience very well amongst other things. "Pray!" Lucifer bellowed waving his hand in Sam's direction who was forced to his knees yelping as they hit the floor with a bone shattering crack, soft gasp of pain spilling from his lips.
Back on his knees just like Lucifer wanted, he waited for Sam to start praying. Lucifer's expression changed to fury and Sam knew any minute would his last. But that would be mercy on Satan's part; to give Sam a quick death. Sadly, Lucifer never knew what the word mercy meant. A part of Sam wondered if that was because the Morning Star himself was never shown one. Talk about Stockholm syndrome.
So when the anticipated killing blow didn't come, Sam glanced back at the Devil who looked pleasant enough to bring someone flowers and wish them 'Good day'. His mercurial persona was one of the things that Sam wasn't used to yet just like his uncanny ability to find humor even in grotesque situations. "Silly me", he knocked his temple with the heel of his palm; "You probably need a cross of some sorts."
With snap of his fingers a large wooden cross materialized next to Sam. The intimidating size of the cross broke goose bumps all over his body. "Now to get this thing upright." The Devil said stroking his chin shrewdly.
The cross vibrated as Lucifer willed it off the ground and then slammed it back to the surface cherishing the way Sam flinched away from something which represents protection from evil. "Something's not right", Lucifer said thoughtfully, eyes carefully studying the lain cross.
Lucifer vanished from Sam's view leaving him perplexed as he searched for the Devil. He materialized behind Sam's unsuspecting form, took aim and swung hard at the back of his head. "Ugh!" Sam grunted as the blow clouded his vision as black as night with stars and everything. It didn't render him unconscious but the pain distracted him enough for Lucifer to easily cradle him and drop him on an uneven surface: the cross, Sam realized.
Sam blinked his eyes rapidly to clear the darkness as he fought feebly against Lucifer's strong hold. He felt something tug at the front of his shirt, gentle yanks at his front that had his eyes flying open when he realized that Lucifer was taking his shirt off.
"Don't!" he slurred, still disoriented from the first blow when another one landed on his temple. Strong hand pulled at his shirt enough to haul him off the surface and in the next instance his shirt slid off his shoulder and down his arms. The undershirt came off quickly and Sam was released to fall back against the cold surface. He shivered both from fear and the cold.
"What are you doing?!" he panicked to which the Dark Prince laughed darkly. The eminent sound of his buckle coming off had Sam thrashing and kicking blindly hoping to hit a mark. The grunt from the Devil told him he hadn't missed but another blinding blow to his head slowed his defense.
Tears didn't help his already blurry vision. The button on his jeans was popped open. The scratchy sound of the zipper being pulled apart grated his eardrums. "Don't, please..." he fought but was no match to the archangel undressing him. His movements were too slow, too off the mark. The sobbing hunter swung weakly grabbing at Lucifer's lapel that quickly slipped off from his finger before he could tighten his hold on them.
The pulling at his jeans stopped, leaving them at his hips. Cold finger wrapped around his flaying wrists swiftly pinning them above his head. Lucifer's face came into his vision which cleared lazily. Sam twisted his wrists to free them from the iron grip and he wanted to haul the devil off of him but Lucifer's bone crushing hold kept them in place. "I have more ways to defile you other than just taking your clothes off. Keep fighting me and I'll give you the demo."
Sam squirmed under him at the threat. If Lucifer made true on his promise he would lose the one thing that kept him sane. "Please, Lucifer... don't do this." He begged, not caring how weak he sounded. He had to protect his dignity.
"Another word from that mouth and you'll see what else that mouth can do." Lucifer challenged. Sam quickly shut his mouth wishing he could stop the tears that fell ceaselessly from his eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut as Lucifer let go of his hands and went back to his hips. With quick tug he pulled his jeans down to the ankles sliding them off his bare feet.
Then came the part that Sam hated; the part that made him sick in the gut. He whimpered but didn't dare to speak his protest as Lucifer's thumbs hooked inside the waistband of his boxers and pulled them down at a deliberately slow pace relishing the man squirming and twisting under him. His cheeks were a warm shade of red; the humiliation so very evident.
"There is nothing I haven't seen before, Sam." It was true. This wasn't the first time Sam was naked as the day he was born. He had been bared before. But this was different because unlike all the other times he didn't directly wake up naked, strapped to a steel table or hung by wire, no, Lucifer was stripping him with his hands. It was humiliating and Sam could do nothing but lay still while he peeled his clothes off layer by layer.
Sam waited, his heart beating too fast, too hard, watching what the Devil was going to do next. Cold fingers latched on to his hips undesired, flexing and spreading over his Apollo's belt. He bucked wanting to shake them off but they held fast as Lucifer disapproved, "Tsk, tsk, tsk. None of that, Sam."
"This body was explicitly made for me." Lucifer said, eyes devouring every inch of Sam in a way that made him uneasy. Sam's breath hitched up not knowing for sure what he meant by that. The vulnerable state that he was in along with Lucifer's unreadable gaze wasn't helping him either. Slowly Lucifer withdrew his hands off Sam's body leaving the man baffled.
If Lucifer thought seeing the fear in Sam's hazel spheres was fun, seeing the puzzled shock was hilarious. The kid really thought Lucifer was going to tarnish him. As if, an archangel would want to defile someone as pathetic as a human. Lucifer had his pride after all. He didn't fall from the grace just to degrade himself like this. That was a new low even for the Dark Prince.
While Sam was too busy reveling in the relief for not having his dignity wrenched away, it didn't occur to him what Lucifer was doing with his hands until it was too late. They were stretched to his side, roped to the perpendicular arms of the cross. "What are you doing?" Sam asked in fear, pulling at his bound wrists. He twisted them, tugged at them but they stayed restrained. Lucifer ignored him, humming a familiar hymn whose words were lost in Sam's mouth.
Lucifer moved towards his feet and gripped his ankles killing any opportunity for Sam to kick at him as he bound them to the vertical beam of the cross. The all too familiar position gave away Lucifer's next form of torture: The Devil was going to crucify him.
"Once we are done, you can pray all you want, Sam." Lucifer cooed, his thumb stroking Sam's tear away as he mumbled a broken "N-no..."
"I know you believe so much in God, so let me help you." Lucifer offered, the amiable tone intimidating Sam. From somewhere that Sam couldn't see, Lucifer fabricated a five inch long nail with an inch wide head that tapered down to the needle point. Sam's eyes widened at the dimension of the object that he knew was going to pierce his body. His heart was pounding hard and fast. A thin sheen of sweat blanketed his body despite his nakedness in the frosty cage environment.
"Now, there is a general belief to pierce the nails through the wrists", Lucifer said tapping the pointy end to the ropes holding Sam's wrists to the cross. "But I'm a bit traditional so we'll go with the palm."
"No..." Sam pleaded, curling his fingers into a tight fist.
"How about you pray to Him and see if he tries protecting you from the pain?" Lucifer suggested in a perfectly smooth voice. "Show me how much does your God cares for you and how often He answers to your prayers."
Sam knew that Lucifer knew that there was no way God was coming down to save him. He was just playing with Sam's emotions, his beliefs and his faith. Lucifer reached for the white knuckled fingers closed in a tight fist. "No, Lucifer", Sam whimpered as Lucifer's fingers tried to find an opening to uncurl his fist but when Sam held fast he stopped picking at his fingers and instead pressed his claws into the soft flesh under the heel of the palm. The pain flared from the place where Lucifer's nails were sure to embed bloody half moons and spiked to the center of his palm, unfolding his fingers to loosen their grip. Lucifer dove at the small window of opportunity and flattened those slender fingers on the wood. He locked Sam's fingers under his booted foot and reached for the sledgehammer with his now free hand. Sam's eyes widened in fright, "Please, don't do this."
Lucifer trailed the sharp end across his open palm trying to find a soft spot on his work hardened hand. Locating the point at the centre of his palm, Lucifer placed the tip of the nail and raised the hammer high above his head.
"No, no, no, please don't, please ah-" Sam screamed as the tip pierced the thin skin easily. Tears filled Sam's wide eyes as the pain blossomed across his entire palm. "C'mon Sam, won't you pray?" Lucifer mocked raising the hammer once again. "God, pleas –ah!" The next blow drove the nail deeper in his palm cutting off Sam's litany as blood spilled from the torn flesh, warm and sticky. "Ugh!" He thrashed, the only thing holding him in place were the ropes around his wrists and ankles, while his chest was left free to arch and buck in agony. The third hit drove the nail through his hands breaking the bones as it went and hammered in to the wood underneath.
Sam was a sobbing, sniveling mess. His eyes were rolling deep in his brain and his body twitched in the after-shock of the ravaging pain.
Lucifer brought the hammer down the fourth time, the harsh blow embedding the nail another inch deeper, stretching the wound in its wake. Sam grunted in pain, tears burnt in the back of his eyes. The pain in his skewered palm was throbbing like a live wire.
"Maybe you didn't pray hard enough. Give it another try." Lucifer suggested as he rose to full height lifting his foot off his impaled palm. When Sam didn't obey because he was too lost in the pain, Lucifer nudged the nail drawing a throaty moan from the panting man. "Pray again, Sam", he emphasized. A gentle kick to the puncturing nail had Sam yelping and quickly following through Lucifer's order, "G-god, S-save me."
"Good boy", Lucifer praised bending down over Sam's face. Ruffling Sam's hair, he grabbed the chestnut locks tightly as he yanked his head hard so that his glassy gaze was one with his and said, "You better hope He answers your prayers before I drive the second nail into your other palm."
"Please don't, Lucifer, don't do it" Sam rambled, begging hard to Lucifer who walked around his head, stopping as he neared his other outstretched arm. Swiftly yet gracefully, he sat on his haunches as he playfully trailed Sam's veins that ran from his elbow to the base of his palm. Lucifer spread open his fingers one by one and Sam watched in grim spectacle as Lucifer set the pointed tip of the second nail in the middle of his palm and then struck the hammer on its head with precision. Sam cried a blood curdling scream at the force with which the nail tore his skin, blood quickly pooling at the wound.
"Oh! Sam, I don't think your God listening to you." he pitied, his tone true melancholy. Lucifer hadn't bothered to stamp on his palm this time because he knew all the physical fight had left Sam the moment the first nail had hit home. "But then again, he never did."
Glassy hazels focused briefly on Lucifer's face. "I mean, He didn't protect Mommy, Daddy, Dean or even sweet little Jess. They all died Sam and the God you prayed to did nothing but let it happen." Even after enduring so much pain, Lucifer was still surprised to see the fight in his eyes renew as they captured his own with a piercing gaze. Anger had taken refuge alongside pain in his dewy eyes and his body tensed as Lucifer continued to taunt him, "Even you died. Remember that drizzly night at Cold Oak? It wasn't God or even Dean that brought you back to life; it was one of my demons. This life isn't yours Sam; it never has been, not even before Cold Oak. You belong to me, you always have."
"No!" Sam didn't know where the courage came from but it was the only warm thing he felt in a very long time. "My family died because of you. Jessica died because of your Yellow eyed son of a bitch!"
"I'll admit that Azazel had Jessica killed but Sam, did you really think you were going to marry that pretty blonde thing when your true purpose was to be my vessel?" Anger slowly replaced the pain etched on Sam's pale face. "Azazel hit two targets in one blow that night. Killing Jessica didn't just divert you off the 'apple-pie normal' life but it led to deeper into the hunting world." Lucifer smiled cunningly as he voiced his next thought, "Exactly like it did John when Azazel killed Mary. Hmm, you are like John after all."
"My point still stands", Lucifer continued ignoring the waves of zesty anger rolling off from Sam, the hammer resting innocently on his shoulder, "God didn't eve raise His finger. Your God never cared about you." He pressed the embedding nail making the crucified man cry and shudder and slowly raised the hammer again. Sam's nimble fingers curled around the nail, and then fell away as the hammer hit the mark drawing loud and long screams as the nail shattered the bones in his palms.
"You were the Winchester that prayed and God never gave a damn about it. Why is that?" Lucifer struck the third time and he did it with such force that it drove the nail all the way through Sam's hand into the wooden frame. His body trembled with shock. Agony coursed through his entire being like his own blood. Both his wrists were on fire and his fingers no longer moved before throwing him into fits of throes. He watched as the dips in his palms were pooled with blood. The wood beneath nailed palms greedily drank from his wounds. "Maybe you're just not worthy of saving", Lucifer voiced his thought.
Lucifer's words weighed him down as Sam stayed like that, not like he could move at all with nails pinning his hands to the cross. His cold fingers twitched in pain and every small spasm that ran throughout his body welcomed more pain in his arms. With glazed eyes, he saw Lucifer who smiling down at him with sad eyes. "I feel for you Sam. I know what's it like to be abandoned by Him."
"Liar", Sam whispered. It was so quiet that a normal human being would have never registered it but he knew from the way Lucifer's shoulders stiffened and his grin dropped a little he had heard it crystal clear. "You feel nothing!"
"Of course, I do!" Lucifer gestured at Sam's tied up body. "This is why I'm doing this. So that God can see how much you're suffering and maybe, just maybe, he might hear your prayers."
"Why do you care?" Sam asked, but he was so tired already, the cruel torture had taken such toll on him.
"Because, then you'll believe me when I say that only I cared for you. Just me." With that, he rose once again and walked to where Sam's ankles were fastened to the wood. Sam managed to lift his head barely enough to see him untying his ankles as he went concentrating too hard trying to set the angle to nail his feet to the cross. Sam shuddered at the thought of awareness of where the bolts of pain were going to strike next.
Eventually, Lucifer settled on a position where his left foot was flat against the wooden beam, toes touching the small pedestal there and his right leg was slightly bent at the knee so his right foot overlapped his left. He stamped down on his ankles to hold them in place like he had done with his palm and materialized the third nail. Sam cried a sorrowful moan at the sight of the nail which was at least two inches larger than the ones nailing his hands. The tip settled on a spot a little above his third toe, marking the point where it would tear through his foot. Closing his watery eyes, Sam dropped his head back in defeat as he waited for the pain to strike.
His chest heaved and he screamed painfully when the nail stabbed his foot. Streams of hot tears ran unbridled down his face; his breath was coming short from spending too much air in to that thundering scream. He hiccupped fast and short. His body tensing, wanting to curl into himself but the nails brutally impaling him held it immobile.
The cries of anguish from the Winchester snapped Lucifer's electric eyes to Sam's tear sodden face. There was so much pain there, etched in the three folds on his forehead; so much sorrow swimming in the pool of his tears and so much fear on his quivering bottom lip as he begged beautifully, "Stop, please, please..."
"Pray to me, Sam", Lucifer commanded. Sam closed his eyes as defeat slithered in, his frown deepening as broken words cascaded to structure a prayer. The hopeless Winchester never got a chance to finish his appeal as torrents of screams spewed from his mouth when the hammer slammed hard and powerful on the head of the nail lodging it deeper in the top foot.
"Lucifer!" Eyes clenched shut in pain; Sam didn't see the hammer hitting the mark again shoving the nail through his right foot, effectively breaching the surface of the other foot underneath. He lifted his head and dropped it back on the wood again, the movement causing pain to flare and char his body with the tongues of agony that coursed through him. Lucifer spared no time for Sam to recoup between the strikes, not that there was any getting used to this pain. He brought the hammer down one more time easing another throat-ripping scream from the crucified man as the nail penetrated both his feet by several inches and nestled nice and snug in the beam. The nail heads -all three of them- rested like a diamonds on Sam's body. He nudged the recently pop in nail, eliciting sweet moans from Sam. Secured as desirable; they weren't getting loose anytime soon.
"Help me", he cried in breathless whispers, oblivious of what words he was babbling but aware enough to know that there was no one to coming to save him. His body and soul were forsaken to the Devil a long time ago.
Lucifer peered at Sam's twitching form as he bled sluggishly from his palms and his feet. His eyes kept rolling behind his eyelids as currents of pain ran through his body. Tiny whimpers filled the cold air around them as Sam sobbed quietly.
The way Sam was nailed to the cross, bare-skinned and helpless, on display for audience of one: Lucifer himself, his wounds bleeding, his face messy with drying streams of salty tears and hair sweat sodden, it reminded him of –
Lucifer went to squat next to Sam's face but the man was so lost in his suffering that he was no longer aware of his presence. As quietly as he could, he cut off the ropes binding Sam's wrists settled at his side. Lucifer carded his cold digits through his warm, wet hair raking his scalp enough to draw another whimper from his spit and blood soaked lips. "Shush, one last thing and we're done."
Sam felt the hand sliding under his head to the base of his neck and almost too gently his head was elevated. Between the slow blinks, he saw Lucifer's face closing in and he mewled as tried to pull away but the hand held him tight. Something sharp scraped the top his head burning long scratches in process as whatever it was was forced to his forehead.
Lucifer dropped Sam's head making the man moan as the new prop bit in to his skin. He stood and walked a few steps away from the hunter to get a good look at his handiwork. The thorn crown completed the visage perfectly. Sam was the best replica of Jesus Christ with his bare body crucified to the cross and his long mane adorning the prickly crown.
Lucifer knew he had pushed the nails tight enough but it was now time to test that theory. Sam willed his eyes open when he felt a sudden change in the air around him. His head was burning with pain after whatever Lucifer had slid down his head. Pressure pushed his body downward as the surface of the cross moved. Pretty hazels snapped opened when the cross was slowly lifted off the ground. The ceiling was coming closer as Lucifer continued to lift it.
Once the cross was air-born, with the flick of his hand Lucifer began to angle it upright. Fear constricted Sam's body like a boa at the consequences of having all his weight burdened on his impaled limbs. "Please please, please, ah, don't, please…" Sam begged vehemently but Lucifer didn't stop until the cross was hanging erect in the middle of the cage.
The moment the cross was vertical, Sam began panting as his chest expanded and his lungs worked overtime to draw full breaths. His entire body weight pulled at his arms effectively putting strain on his wounded palms. The brutal nail at his palms drew more blood from the tear and he tried fruitlessly to lift the pressure off his palms by putting some on his toe that was barely rested against the footrest. He cried out miserably when his toe skidded from the footrest that was slippery from his blood, adding more tension to the impaled points.
"Ahhhh", Sam cried as he watched through his fuzzy vision, trying to find an angle which wouldn't pull so viciously at his tortured limbs. Sadly, there was none. Every angle caused pained either in his palms or his feet and when by miracle he found one that eased off the pressure there, it only ended up in straining his breathing.
"Such an irony", Lucifer mused, "The brother that had so much faith in God and his angels ended up being my vessel and Dean, well Dean got to be the righteous one. What does this say Sam?"
Sam was exhausted. He was too occupied trying to hold himself up on the cross in a position that didn't tear at his wounds any more than they already were. His muscles cramped as if they were being wrung like a wet clothe, his whole body ached from merely existing, his breathing set his lungs on fire and Lucifer's words were like gasoline on his wounds. The condition that Sam was in made it next to impossible for him to speak.
Lucifer being aware of that answered his own question, "It is because you were always a monster, Sam. You were born with a black spot on your very soul, boy and that spot just kept growing bigger and bigger until your entire soul was consumed by its darkness. A ray of pitch black, buddy. That's how dark your soul is. That's the soul my vessel must possess and you, Sam, you are just that."
Sam wanted to deny Lucifer's every word. Tell the Devil how wrong he was, that he was good, that there was hope and people can change but his body kept betraying him as he choked on the words. Lucifer got a charge out of Sam's miserable attempts to ease his suffering. Poor boy, didn't even understand that with Lucifer in the same room there was no way for his ordeal to scale down even briefly. The man kept struggling weakly trying to find the equilibrium that didn't even exist, not for him, not with Lucifer in charge. The Dark Prince wondered what would steal Sam's life away: the hemorrhage, the asphyxiation or the exhaustion.
AN: Lucifer almost dropped the F bomb up there!
So what do you all think of this chapter? Anyone up for Chapter 8?
