Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Lucifer the TV show; I'm just borrowing them for a while.
A/N: Asherah finally shows up to punish Lucifer for locking her away in hell. It seems that she has developed feelings for the fallen angel that she finds troubling. But that doesn't stop her from punishing him—good.
Learning that God gave Lucifer his wings back makes her so mad that she wants to rip them off of his back with her bare hands. She effectively neutralizes Lucifer and his wings in a matter of minutes during her opening attack. After that, it's a downhill slide for Lucifer as he realizes that he hasn't a chance in hell against her goddess's powers.
Amenadiel and Maze are MIA for most of the chapter, leaving poor Lucifer to fend for himself.
Asherah is pretty rough on Lucifer, mentally and physically. He's in pretty bad shape at the end.
This chapter was a real roller coaster ride to write. As always, your feedback and reviews are much appreciated.
Chapter 10: Lucifer's Day of Reckoning
The Last Idol
Late in the afternoon, when the shadows began to lengthen and the rain had stopped, the sound of thunder rolled in the distance. A long, low, rumble, builds in sound and intensity as one of the sundecks at the corner of the building quakes.
Tiles crack, and cement crumbles, as dirt and rock erupt. Through the cloud of dust still suspended in midair, something emerges from the hole just caved.
From out of nowhere, an ancient Cypress tree had just sprung through the roof. The huge tree is so tall that it seems to touch the very sky. There's something nurturing about its broad limbs, shouldered from a trunk of wide girth, reaching out in an embrace, like great welcoming arms.
The tree, which looked oddly out of place on a roof top garden in LA, would have seemed more at home on the cliffs of Big Sur, or along the hilltops of ancient Israel—or up in heaven.
Such trees are long-lived; some have existed for millennia. This particular tree dates back to when Asherah had been worshiped and revered. From time immemorial, the idols carved on its trunk: the serpent, the Tree of Life, and the lion, have been the enduring emblems of the mother goddess.
Against all odds, this last idol, had endured the scourge of the zealous revisionist editors of the early bible. Those ancient authors had called for the utter destruction of Asherah's idols throughout the land, in all of the temples, and most of all, beside the altars devoted to the worship of Yahweh. To this day, no others have survived because they were all burned to ash…
Hidden away on an inaccessible mountainside in the hinterlands beyond ancient Jerusalem, lies a secret grove whose location is known only to Asherah. It was there that she planted a sapling upon whose trunk she had carved her idols. The now majestic tree, gracefully bent by the trade winds blowing towards the distant Mediterranean Sea, has endured the rugged desolation of this forlorn place for nearly an eternity.
The goddess did not choose to preserve a wooden artifact—one of her "Asherah Poles." Instead, she chose a living, breathing, entity, that came from nature, to immortalize her idol.
Asherah Makes Her Entrance
Shafts of bright light shine through the highest branches of the tree's canopy, casting an otherworldly luminance upon the rubble below. This is no ordinary tree, it inspires feelings of awe and apprehension—it resonates with mystical, enigmatic power.
Down below, at the tree's base, darker emotions haunt; the feeling of being watched, triggers fear.
A pair of fire-tinged, reptilian eyes peer from behind the depths of its foliage, looking down with fanged mouth opened wide, the sound of loud hissing sends chills down the spine. There, at the very top of the tree, wrapped up in its highest branches, a huge serpent has ensconced itself. Closest to the cerulean sky above, the loftiest limbs bend under its weight, soft needled green leaves reminiscent of lace, caress its hard ridged scales.
Gripping the gnarled tree, the serpent undulates down along its bole to the ground, where it steals its way in through the broken windows of the penthouse.
Silently slithering over the shattered, glass-littered, floor; the scent of prey drives the prehistoric viper to its surreptitious destination. Black as the night, with terrifying blood red eyes, the sinister serpent crawls up the stairs to Lucifer's bedroom, where it silently coils in a dark corner—ready to pounce.
The serpent instantly dissolves and morphs into a beautiful woman.
Asherah had made her entrance...
Still soundly asleep, Lucifer is unaware of her presence. He does not yet know that which he has feared and fretted over the last few days—is finally here.
She lingers in the dark for quite a while, taking her time to carefully study the body of her son in all of his naked-as-the-day-he-was-created beauty. Moving into the light, she plants herself at the foot of his bed so that she might breathe in a great gulp of him. With her eyes closed, she murmurs, "mmm…you smell of crushed pine boughs, your scent is still absolutely intoxicating—son."
The Scent of an Angel
The scent of him causes Asherah's memories to flood back in…
On that day, at the temple of Babylon, when he'd strutted in with those magnificent wings of his—he'd taken my breath away. Beautiful, prideful, powerful, carnal and infernal, he was the original bad boy.
I'd wanted him since the day I first laid eyes on him.
Yes, I was still married to God then, but I could not help myself—I wanted to taste him. I knew he was but a guilty pleasure—one that I could never, ever, have. But I could still fantasize about him.
His resemblance to his Father was uncanny—he was the spitting image of my husband when we were still together.
It was rather…disconcerting.
Yes, I'd lost my temper on that day at the temple; Lucifer had turned me down—no one had ever turned me down. I became blind with rage, I let my temper get the best of me, and took him forcibly. But the revenge was so sweet—especially because I knew God was watching all the while, as I ravished his favorite son.
What sweet delight he gave up to me. At first, I felt his terror and anguish, but then, he could no longer resist, and he abandoned himself to our pleasure. Oh, the feel of him inside me, meeting my gyrations with forceful thrusts, panting and moaning. I can still see his face glistening with sweat—he was enraptured.
Yes, he was broken after it was all over, but during—his true desires played through.
Later on, that fateful day, when I'd found him dying from an overdose of snake venom—my venom. I cradled him in my arms. And then it happened: all of those feelings—confusing feelings—welled up inside of me. Long forgotten feelings of loving and caring that I'd thought I was no longer capable of.
Why did I even care what happened to him? He had already served his purpose. I didn't need him—so why save him? Somehow, he'd wormed his way in, I couldn't help myself: I had feelings for him.
I couldn't let him die, so I saved his life.
Feelings make you weak—look at what happened to me because I loved and trusted.
I can't let any messy feelings I may still have for him get in the way of my plan.
I won't let anything get in the way of my ultimate revenge.
No more distractions…
I will take my vengeance on you, son. I cannot forget, nor can I forgive you, for all of those thousands of years I spent locked in hell at your hands. Feelings or no feelings, I still have to punish you Lucifer, and punish you, I will—thoroughly.
I have absolutely no intention of returning to hell; I still have unfinished business to attend to…
Payback's a bitch
Continuing her exploration of him, she allows herself to linger over his youthful face. When she'd last seen him, he wore his black curling hair in flowing locks that came down past his shoulders and he sported a short jaw-defining beard. Now his modern look; the short cropped hair cut and the five o'clock shadow, exposed more of the handsome features of his face.
While allowing herself one last stolen breath of him, she picks up a scent that is foreign to the fallen angel—weakness with a delicious undertone of fear—one of her favorite combinations!
What could have possibly made the strong and powerful devil as weak as a baby? Asherah could sense that his energy was barely there. She was mystified as to how this condition had come about since the devil that she knew could not get sick. Shifting her focus from him, she noticed the piles of bloody towels and sheets strewn around the bed.
She knew all of the blood in the room was Lucifer's, but what could have caused him to lose so much of it? Asherah sensed that something divine had happened to Lucifer here.
Easy enough to find out…
Closing her eyes, she places her hands a few inches above his body to feel his aura. Her hands are immediately drawn over to his back. Asherah sees the newly nascent wings beneath their invisible earthly shield.
"Oh! What have we here? She coos. Aren't they just the cutest?"
"Well, well, getting soft in your old age?" she says looking up at the sky. "I know you restored all of his angelic powers my sweet, and that's really such a lovely gesture on your part. But wings or no wings, he will be no match for me, and you know it. You are leading him to slaughter. Have you such little regard for him that you'd throw him away?"
Looking back up at Lucifer from the foot of the bed, she could sense that he was waking.
He sneezes, once, twice, and a third time…
That scent, that awful fragrance; an affront to his nose—frankincense and myrrh—reek of the old Babylonian temple: the stench of sacrifice.
He knew before he opened his eyes—Asherah is here.
Lucifer's black eyes blink open and widen with terror, as he fully focuses upon the living nightmare that has manifested itself at the foot of his bed.
"Hello Mum," he spits out, his voice dripping with acrimony. "So very nice to see you again, he says coldly."
"Now Lucifer, is that any way to speak to your mother? She teases. I've missed my baby boy so terribly over the years. I've dreamt of the day when I would see you again for thousands of years."
"Now that day is upon us," she hisses.
"Go to hell!" He spits out
"You too—son, "she laughs, "you too!"
"Touché—mother."
"You know as well as I do, that you are not my mother and I am not your son. Father created me as I am now and he did the same to you. Neither of us had a mother. Father created me to serve him and he created you to be his wife. Too bad we both failed so miserably at our intended purposes."
Infuriated, Asherah reacts with lightning quick reflexes by sucker-punching Lucifer in the nose with such force that he sees stars.
"How dare you talk to me in that manner—angel. Remember your place, I am still a goddess, and I am above your rank in power and divinity. Just as Father made you the brightest and most beautiful of all the angels, he made me the most powerful of all the gods and goddesses he'd created.
I never did anything but love, honor and obey your Father, but the bastard threw me away, He cast me out from my home and my family. He thought I'd go gently into the night and do as I was told. Well, we all know how that turned out. Don't we son?"
"I know you hate me Lucifer, but you needn't worry, because I hate you too and I've broken out of hell to show you just how much."
"By the way, where did you pick up that accent?"
Blood trickling from his nose and split lip, Lucifer glares at Asherah with fiery crimson eyes; "where did you pick up that bloody right hook?"
Asherah, who has barely aged, is as beautiful as she was all of those millennia ago when they'd met up at the temple. Exuding sexuality, her energy crackles and sparkles around her.
For today's activities, she has dressed herself up as a very elegant dominatrix. Outfitted in a dark plum leather bustier with a matching short, tight, leather, skirt, and thigh-high, black, spike-heeled boots—she certainly looks the part.
She plans on thoroughly disciplining Lucifer for cramming her into that hell hole and throwing away the key.
Asherah is the feminine version of Lucifer, and like him, she oozes of carnality. They both look to be about the same age, though Lucifer is the most ancient of the two. The family resemblance is undeniable; they could pass as siblings.
The benefits of being a goddess, give Asherah a much greater range of powers than Lucifer. Like him, she has the ability to draw out the deepest desires from most anyone. But, her full range of powers, which are second only to God, include omniscience, teleportation, and telekinesis. Other powers in her arsenal include: the power to read minds by invading people's heads, and mind control, where she can force them to do her bidding.
Engaging the goddess in any kind of conflict would most likely end in defeat, or quite possibly in death if her notorious temper was ever ignited.
The only way Lucifer could gain the upper hand on her would be to rely on his abilities of cunning, and agility, and especially, on the element of surprise. Strength in numbers is another one of her weaknesses—she can be worn down.
Standing at the foot of Lucifer's bed, Asherah eyes her quarry.
Searching her face, a wide-eyed Lucifer whispers, "Asherah please—don't." Swallowing hard, he knows she will show him no mercy.
He decides to make a run for it. Leaping out of the bed he runs towards the shattered windows and tries to unfurl his wings to fly away.
Unfortunately, he is still too weak to accomplish his escape. He falls to the ground, just short of the windows. His wings were not quite able to fly—just yet. Lying face first on the floor, wings splayed out, Lucifer tries to crawl away from the goddess.
Scowling at his desperate attempt to flee, Asherah anticipates how she will break Lucifer before he knows what hit him. Unbeknownst to him, while she was still the Heavenly Mother, she'd honed some unique skill sets involving the care, or—destruction—of an angel's wings.
No one understands angel anatomy better than me, after all, I spent eons as nursemaid to all of Yahweh's angel sons. I was the one who tended to their sprains, bruises and breaks from fights and battles they'd taken part in. I know that an angel's wings are intrinsic to their well-being and conversely, I also know what a liability they can be if they are injured badly enough.
An angel's equilibrium is dependent upon the health and function of their wings. A serious wing injury could render an angel defenseless. A severe injury could be totally debilitating, leaving them crippled. Unfortunately, if both wings are involved, the results could be fatal.
If Lucifer thinks he will have some kind of advantage over me now that he has his wings back, he is mistaken. He's about to find out first-hand, how I will be able to incapacitate him in a matter of seconds. I know exactly where to grab at his wings and how to inflict the maximum damage in the minimum amount of time.
Those newly restored wings of his have barely hardened yet, while they are still tender, perhaps I might tear them off with my bare hands…
"Just where do you think you are going?" the goddess chuckles as she prepares to punish Lucifer.
Asherah opens her attack by grabbing Lucifer's right wing and uses it to pull him up off of the floor. She expertly yanks on the newly nascent wing with such force, that she nearly pulls it off of his back, causing his old wound to rip open. Blood spurts from the gash and bleeds out all over his wings.
Screaming in agony, Lucifer is brought to his knees. The white hot pain sears from the old scar on his back. Looking over his shoulder at his wing, he is sickened to the pit of his gut when he sees that it is sagging lifelessly from him and that it's pearlescent glow has faded.
Asherah enraged that her ex-husband restored Lucifer's wings, sets out to destroy them. She grabs the other wing with both hands, and twists it apart, until an awful bone crunching sound reverberates through the air, leaving the wing hanging limply, at an off angle.
Lucifer's screams contort into an unworldly howl echoed in the cement canyon beyond the broken windows. Racked with waves of pain, disorientation, and nausea, he crumples to the floor.
Raising himself to his knees, his shoulders curled over his chest, Lucifer tries to grab at his wings, but he can only get a glimpse of the damage. His magnificent wings, now drooping, dulled and bloodied, suffer involuntary spasms that cause them to flail.
The devil hadn't anticipated that in Asherah's opening attack, she would mercilessly neutralize his wings so easily. He'd already lost so much blood while his wings regenerated and he was in such a weakened state, that he was not prepared to engage the goddess in any kind of conflict.
Lucifer quickly surmises that he hasn't a chance in hell against the goddess's powers.
He prays to Amenadiel to come and help him, "brother, she's here!"
Kneeling before Asherah, with his arms crossed over his stomach, he clutched himself as if they would hold him together. Panting from the pain, Lucifer looks up at her pleadingly, with tears behind his eyelids
The goddess, standing straight above, glares down at him with gray eyes now cold and dark as the stormy sea. Her beautiful face twisted into a sneer that grows into ugly laughter as she mocks him.
"Thinking we're all done son? I'm just getting started." Without lifting a finger, Asherah effortlessly throws him up against a stone wall with such force that he almost crashes through it.
Shaking his head, Lucifer emerges unsteadily, lurching forward, his balance severely compromised; he takes an empty swing at Asherah—and misses.
Still, he tries to escape from her clutches by attempting to stagger away…
Spinning him around to face her, Asherah backs Lucifer up against the wall, where she delivers another powerful right hook that breaks his jaw. She lays into him with a barrage of blows to his chest and gut. The sound of breaking bones and cracking ribs continues until she delivers a punch to his head that nearly knocks him out.
Wavering, but still standing, Lucifer has trouble focusing, he feels light headed and weak from bleeding. Holding on to the wall, he tries to steady himself and stay conscious. He prays to Amenadiel once again.
"Amenadiel, please…I don't have a chance without you—please, help me!"
On the ropes now, things aren't boding well for the fallen angel. He's lost his equilibrium and can't keep his balance. All he can do, to endure this beating of a lifetime, is to get through it—somehow.
Growing more desperate by the minute, Lucifer calls upon Amenadiel—again.
"Brother, where the hell are you? Please…help me… she's too powerful… I'm not going to make it…"
Lucifer is so distraught with pain that he can no longer think straight. It saddens him that Amenadiel has apparently abandoned him at the very time when he needs him the most.
Why hasn't he come? I guess he's not going to. Is this his way of getting me back to hell? Because if she kills me, that's exactly where I will go. If I don't bring her back with me, Father won't be returning me back up here anytime soon. Well played brother—well played. I'll stop bothering you.
Steeling himself against his pain and fear, Lucifer finds the resolve to stand up straight and walk calmly over to face his punisher.
Asherah watches him intently, as he closes in with his palms up, signaling surrender.
"Have we had enough—son…well, too bad, because I'm not finished with you—yet."
Lions, and Vipers, and Trees, Oh, My!
Inflicting Lucifer's tentative gaze with her bone-chilling glare, the goddess raises her hand with the palm facing out and uses her telekinetic powers to throw him outside and onto the terrace, a distance of nearly forty feet.
Lucifer smashes through the window, sending shards of glass showering onto the terrace. He ends up slammed against a tree, with such force, that it knocks the wind out of him.
Sitting at the bottom of this great tree, Lucifer gradually opens his eyes. He'd hit the back of his head on the tree trunk hard enough for a lump to be felt. Holding his hand to his forehead, he tried to get his bearings. Everything hurt, his entire body was tormented with pain. Leaning his head back against the tree, Lucifer, closes his eyes while his body shudders and his breath saws.
Then it hit him—tree? What tree? Looking up into the crown of this old Cypress, Lucifer squints when he gazes at the bright columns of light filtering down on him. For the first time, he notices that he's actually sprawled out over a pile of rubble.
Where did this come from and why is it here? Wait, what are those carvings…oh, this tree belongs to Asherah. It looks like one of her idols, but I thought they'd all been destroyed.
She's laid claim to me…
The energy coming off the tree was palpable. Lucifer let his head rest up against its gnarled trunk while he tried to catch his breath. It was at that moment, that he felt as if he was being watched…
And then he heard it—loud hissing right next to his left ear. Lucifer opens his eyes and spies a large black viper with blood red eyes and huge fangs just inches from his face. The serpent had noiselessly crawled down the tree trunk and coiled around it. The viper whose mouth hinged wide open, with fangs hanging, was positioned to pounce.
Frozen with fear, Lucifer's eyes reflect the sheer terror that's racing through him. Before he can move a muscle, the serpent sinks its fangs down into him brutally, biting him on his chest.
The bite, sunk down into his chest so deeply, that he feels as if he'd just been stabbed through the heart by a dagger, up to its hilt. A mix of blood and venom ooze from the two puncture wounds, as the poison begins to spread throughout his body. Searching for the serpent, Lucifer finds that it has disappeared as suddenly as it had materialized.
Clutching his chest, Lucifer steadies himself against the tree and tries to walk back into the penthouse. He knew he only had a few minutes before the venom would begin to paralyze him.
Asherah was nowhere to be found.
He'd lurched forward only a few steps, when he heard a loud roar coming from very close by. Without turning to see how close, his flight instinct takes hold, with his adrenaline pumping, he launches himself toward the penthouse, running and stumbling as fast as he could.
With the roaring lion nipping at his heels, Lucifer is able to make it inside and to slide the glass door shut in the beast's face. His entire body shaking from the effort, Lucifer breathes a sigh of relief. But, it is short-lived.
Pay The Piper
Hit by a wave of excruciating pain from all of his wounds, the loss of blood coming from his wounded wing is catching up with him. He can no longer support his own weight, dropping down to his knees, his shoulders curl over his chest and he crumples to the ground.
Suddenly, he sees the pointed toes of Asherah's spike-heeled boots in his field of vision.
She's glaring down at him with disdain. The viper and the lion are gone—but she is there, like an apparition, standing right in front of him.
Unceremoniously, she kicks him over, pushing him down on his back with her foot. Lucifer finds himself splayed out on the shard-lined floor with her spike heeled boot on his neck. His limbs are beginning to feel heavy as the venom begins to take hold. Panting heavily, he offers no resistance.
Removing her boot from his neck, the goddess straddles him before kneeling down on his chest.
Lucifer screams in pain as the pressure of her crouching on his broken ribs feels like he's being stabbed with a knife. He tries to push her off, but he finds his arms are too weak.
"Look at me," Asherah commands, but when he defiantly turns his head away from her, she punches him in the face repeatedly until he turns his head back to her. "I said, look at me!" She screams. His eyes are so swollen, that he can barely open them, but he tries. "That's better my dove," she smiles.
Grabbing his hands and holding them down above his head, Asherah gets face to face with Lucifer, their eyes lock: black to gray, searching each other. Then her eyes change color from the calm blue-green-gray of the sea to flaming crimson—blood red—just like his.
Her beautiful form morphs into that of a hell demon.
Her hands turn to claws and her skin melts into purple and red blisters. Her flowing hair has burned off, leaving a few straggly wisps on her mostly bald head, her mouth stretches out into a toothy maw, and her nose is nearly burnt off.
Stunned, Lucifer stares back at her, he hadn't known that she'd suffered such a torment. I didn't deliver that punishment; I wonder who did?
"Yes, I know it wasn't you who'd punished me. I'll tell you who did punish me in this way—it was your Father. During my fall from heaven, he burned me—like he did to you. How do you think I survived all of those thousands of years in hell—in my celestial form? No, Yahweh thinks of everything, he'd already burned me into this."
Despite all of the pain he was in, Lucifer looked so sad to see what his Father had done to Asherah when he cast her out of heaven. She was an innocent then, she hadn't done anything wrong, yet he still inflicted such a cruel punishment on her. Perhaps her rage wasn't entirely misplaced.
Noticing his softened gaze, she scowls at him, "I don't need or want your pity."
Lucifer's head flops back, his limbs are too heavy to move, his breaths are hard and raspy, but the pain in all of its intensity, remains—the venom is doing its job.
"One last thing," she purrs, her burning red hot eyes sear into his, while she forcibly attempts to enter his mind. "What are your deepest and darkest desires my son?"
Lucifer summons up all of the power he has left to keep her out. Asherah becomes infuriated by his attempt to block her. "Impudent child, you will not disobey me. I will not be turned away." She grabs his neck and chokes him until he loses consciousness for a few seconds. That's all the time she needs. Not waiting for a response, Asherah enters Lucifer's heart and mind with searing pain and rips out his deepest desires.
Now that she's gotten what she wanted from deep inside of him, she smacked him back to consciousness.
Trailing her claw along his chin, she grins wickedly, "well, well, so, you've fallen prey to a mortal woman and her spawn, and you think you can protect them from me. Good luck with that Lucifer. With a big smile opening on her face, Asherah goes in for the final barb:
"And—you are finding yourself inexplicably enthralled by me, apparently sex with me is all-consuming—I'm like heroin to you—you are finding yourself addicted to me. Hmm, isn't that your line?"
"This is only the beginning my son. I'm never going back to hell. I'm going to wipe you off of the face of the earth. I will take away everyone and everything that you have come to hold dear during your oh so very short time on the earthly plane. And when I'm done, I will extinguish you and delight in watching the light drain from your eyes as I rip your heart out."
Looking up at the sky, Asherah chirps "Ok honey? How's it going up there, in heaven? Good, good. Oh, and sweetheart, just to let you know, in case you weren't listening in on my earlier conversation with Lucifer. I plan on obliterating your precious son from your almighty universe. I will squelch this brief flirtation with humanity that he is currently engaged in and sink any hopes he may harbor of divine redemption.
Unless, you should change your mind, and decide to take him back up there with you…Oh, right, I remember now, God never, ever, apologizes or changes his mind. How's that working out for you…Honey?" She smiles and blows him a kiss…
In the meantime, the goddess hadn't noticed Amenadiel and Maze standing at the entrance to the bedroom. The angel and the demon were both stunned at her hellish appearance, but they quickly regained their composure.
Amenadiel ran over and pushed Asherah off of Lucifer. "Are you completely mad? Look at what you've done to him! Get out—get out now! He screamed.
Asherah cackles madly and disappears into thin air.
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Lucifer who is now almost completely paralyzed from the venom had gathered himself into a curled up fetal positon. Barely breathing, his eyes are wild and unfocused. He is utterly broken and lost. He wishes Asherah had killed him just now and gotten it over with.
He cannot focus because his mind is but a burning jumble after Asherah forced her way in and ripped out his innermost thoughts and desires. His heart is in pieces. Right now, he wishes he had never existed—on any plane, earthly or otherwise.
One of his wings was unfurled and sticking out at an odd angle, it looked like it might be broken. The other wing appeared to have been yanked so hard, that it hung lifelessly by a thread, from the ripped up old scar on his back: he was bleeding out. Now completely paralyzed by the venom, Lucifer couldn't keep his eyes open, and he could barely speak audibly.
Amenadiel picks up his battered brother from the floor and carries him back to his bed. Lucifer fell limp in his arms, barely conscious, he looks up at the angel, and mouths his words scarcely above a whisper:
"Amenadiel…why? Why did you not come and help me? Do you hate me that much? You left me alone to face her…"
Lucifer's words stab at Amenadiel, tearing up, he blurts out, "I did not recognize your prayer brother, it was too weak, too faint for me to hear. I thought it was just the same angel chat that goes on in the background our minds. I should have known. I should have come back. I really never should have left you alone in the first place."
Looking down at his brother who looked as white as a sheet, his face was so beaten up and swollen that he was unrecognizable. His body was covered in scratches and bruises. His breathing was ragged, shallow, and dangerously faint.
Holding Lucifer's hand over his chest, Amenadiel began to sob. "I'm so selfish—may God help me."
Delirious with pain, Lucifer shudders and convulses, uttering strangling sounds from his throat, he whispers, "I'm so cold."
His eyes dart around the room and fix on Amenadiel. At first, they flash angry red at him, then they retreat to impenetrable black pools of sadness and hurt.
"Amenadiel…she has destroyed me…I was not prepared…"
Panting, he lets out a moan and passes out.
Maze looked up at Amenadiel with a look of panic—he's dying! She's beaten him so badly that he might die of internal injuries or of all this blood he's lost.
His wings are unfurled, so we can't take him to the hospital…what about your brothers…can't Raphael do something for him?
"Unfortunately, Michael won't let Raphael even attempt to heal Lucifer, he hates him so much, that he'd rather see him die—the more painful the death, the better."
"I have an idea," Maze speaks up, "but before you shoot it down, I think it is our last, best, resort."
"What do you have in mind?" the angel says shakily, "if we don't do something soon, we are going to lose him."
"I know of a doctor…"
"Oh, and I suppose he's an angelologist."
"Look, do you want your brother to die? This doctor is supposed to be brilliant …"
"Uh, huh, and how do we explain those," pointing at Lucifer's mutilated wings…
"He's discrete and holds doctor-patient confidentiality sacred. Besides, this doctor is the only one in all of LA, who makes house calls for any kind of treatment"
"Amenadiel, we don't have time to think on this, we've got to hurry, we've got to save Lucifer."
Not waiting for an answer from the angel, Maze cries out, "You just keep on thinking…I'll be right back; I'm going to make a phone call…"
Lucifer lay in a halo of his blood, spreading on the mattress, his bloodied wings hung lifeless behind him. He could barely breathe from the sharp pain coming from his chest.
He knew he was dying, he hadn't expected that. He thought he was preparing for battle. But that was never the case. Asherah did not want a war, she wanted to annihilate the one—him. He never had a chance against her. How could his Father send him into this knowing she would utterly destroy him—again!
He was ready to go—to be ended, to be sent off into oblivion. The way he felt right now: it was welcome.
His breath fading…Lucifer was slipping away…