Chapter 10-A Demon's Miracle

He tried to avoid her. He was half tempted to release Cassie from their bargain, but he knew he couldn't. Indecision, Pearly knew, was weakness, so he resolved the girl should stay. It didn't matter if she was there or not, the idea of losing her pained him beyond measure. But why he didn't, couldn't understand.

But this particular day was one of the worst to be him. It wasn't issues with the Short Tails or his internal conflict about Cassiel. It wasn't even the fact that somehow he'd lost track of that treacherous rat Peter Lake. No, far from it…

Birthdays were typically days for celebration. Not his. Reanne Soames had died the day he was born. It was a painful reminder that he'd come into the world hated, scorned, and unloved. It once pained him to know that. But now it was that exact pain that empowered him.

Pearly saddled up Malikai then looked toward the house. Though it was early in the morning, Cassie's light was on. The black horse snorted and pushed his master forward as if telling him to ask the girl to come along. Pearly looked at the animal curiously. He knew Andras had a connection with him, though what precisely it was he didn't know. Pearly narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"Ya want 'er to come along, don't ya?" he asked.

But he knew deep down it wasn't just what Malikai wanted. Usually Pearly did this alone, but now this year he didn't have to. He tried to find some reason to object to it, but honestly couldn't find one. Andras, out of respect for the day and the way it impacted his human wouldn't say a word today. The demon was silent, leaving the man alone with his thoughts. Rolling his eyes he looked at Malikai again.

"Fine, but only because ya want 'er to".

The black horse shook his head as if to call his master a liar, which Pearly couldn't deny that yeah, he was. Telling Malikai to stay, he made his way back to the house, where he found the girl in her room reading at the foot of her bed. She was so wrapped up in her book she didn't even notice he'd come up the stairs. A part of him didn't want to interrupt, as she was in deep thought and focus on the story in her hands. So he took a moment to just admire the serenity of the moment, just the air of calm the girl had about herself. She was always focused he noticed, she was always concentrating, her mind never truly stopped working. Cassie lived by the saying 'I think therefore I am'.

He wished he had her concentration, her focus. But with him it was more of a practiced art than a virtue. While all her energy centered around on the thing she was currently thinking of, Pearly's mind went a million miles a minute. Focus was remarkably difficult, his thoughts all molding together at once, as if his mind wasn't a complex place enough as it was.

At long last, she looked up at him with those hazel eyes and smiled pleasantly. "Did you need something?"
"I was actually wonderin' if maybe ya wanted ta maybe…well see there's this thing…" he didn't know how to phrase it, "I'm headin' into the city. Was wonderin' if ya wanted to come".

Cassie looked at him surprised and got up. "You mean…you trust me, to not run away from you?"
"Oh I never said that. But ya try, and rest assured I'll find you again. I'll always find you. And if I don't well, all bets are off. Bargains broken, and yer pop and brother are mine. So…what's it gonna be?"
"I'd actually love to go. Just let me get changed first and I'll meet you downstairs".

He nodded and walked away, closing the door behind him. Cassie was quick to change from her nightdress to a dress of deep emerald green. Though she loved blue, she was growing a fondness for green, as it brought out the hazel of her eyes. It wasn't too bright or stand outish, but she loved it regardless. She changed speedily, brushed her hair and made her way downstairs. He was waiting for her, as she'd hoped, and Cassie slowed her steps.

He looked up at her as she made her way down the stairs. He smirked, knowing she was eager to see him again, and was struggling to keep calm, and of course graceful. Pearly almost laughed at her efforts, but kept it back. He held out a hand for her to take.

"Ready?"
"When you are" Cassie smiled and looked down feeling a little shy all of a sudden.

She was a little more used to heights now thankfully. Her riding lessons had helped her out greatly. But something was wrong. Her companion seemed almost troubled. There was just something sad in his demeanor, sadder than normal. Usually she would've tried to get him to tell her what was wrong, but Cassie didn't want to pry or risk upsetting him further. She'd know the reason for Pearly's melancholy soon enough…

Cassie was glad to be back in the city. It'd been too long and it just felt more like home to her than anything else. It was still early, so the streets weren't too busy. They rode to the outskirts of the city, to a small cemetery. Cassie couldn't help but wonder what in the world would be here that he needed? Pearly dismounted and helped Cassiel off shortly after. She couldn't help it anymore.

"Okay, what is it?" she asked.
"What?"
"We're at a cemetery and you look miserable. Why?"
Pearly looked beyond the opened iron gates at the rows of graves then back at her. "It's just a little somethin' I do every year. Doesn't go back to the boys though, they don't need to know".

It slowly dawned on her as to why they were here now. Her eyes watered and she felt a stab of pity at her heart. At the same time, she was touched that he cared for someone he never knew.

"Your mother….you come here to honor her" she gasped, "It's your birthday isn't it?"
"Her death day. Birthday's are for celebratin', but not mine. I never have nor will I ever celebrate it".
"She wouldn't want you living in the past. It wasn't your fault, what happened to her I mean".
"The past is all I got, Cassie. I don't expect ya to understand. Not completely. So…shall we head in?"

Cassie nodded, feeling more curious as she took his hand again. He led her through the rows of graves until finally they found a simple marker with the name Reanna Soames written on it. They both kneeled down together, in deep reflection, their thoughts entirely their own. Silence reigned, unnerving the young woman. She felt a need to comfort the man that she supposed made her life hell at times, but she also cared for. Cassie put her hand over his. They didn't glance at each other, which was fine.

"Reanna…I like that name" she said.
"I always kinda liked it".
"Do you know anything about her?"
"Besides the facts that she was forced into marriage with my father and that he treated her like shit, not much. But I think…I think I got her eyes".
"You've never seen her? Not even a picture?"
"Nope".
"That's wrong!"
"They never loved each other, so what was the point in keepin' 'em if they ever had pictures? But anyway, no, Alistair had…" he hesitated for a moment, "Hazel eyes".
"Oh" Cassie looked down, "I'm sorry-"
"They weren't nothin' like yers. His were lifeless. Soulless. Just empty tunnels, mixed with that weird mix of green and brown…hated the man 'til the day he died".
"How exactly…did he die?" Cassie asked, unsure if she wanted to know the details.

That was how he'd gotten Andras. His father had beaten him so hard at one point, the man thought the boy was dead. Pearly was left in an alley pretty much to die. All the while, somehow he'd gotten a severe head injury that blurred his sight to a point where he couldn't see colors. Yeah, Pearly Soames was, believe it or not, color blind. He dreaded it, hated it more than anything. The boy, coming back to himself, was scared out of his mind, struggling to find a way out of that black, white, and gray world. The demon found him then, offered him a chance for revenge, and it all just fell into place. Pearly and Andras targeted all of Alistair Soames' friends first, saving his abuser for last to make the man suffer psychologically just as he had. The look of terror on his tormentor's face was more than satisfying in the end. Andras made sure he died in the most brutal way Pearly thought imaginable. Using the knife that was used to give him the scar, the owl demon had made small slits all over the man's body, making sure he stayed conscious long enough to feel every last cut. Finally the man slowly, but very surely bled to death. Vengeance was dealt and served its purpose, and that was when Pearly became one of Lucifer's Black Knights. He'd gotten his vengeance but at the cost of his soul.

"He was killed…Probably by some gang member or other" he pretended not to really know, knowing the truth would possibly frighten her.
"Well, good riddance to bad trash is all I can say".

Pearly looked at the grave marker and went solemn again. He didn't understand why at times he did this. He never knew the woman, so how could he feel loss over something or someone that was never truly his? He supposed it was because she too was a victim, just as he was. She was an innocent, forced into a life she abhorred, then eventually saved from it by one she would've hated just as much were she still on earth. Regardless, if there ever was an innocent whose soul he never wanted to darken, it was that of Reanna Soames, the woman who gave everything so he could live.

He never dwelt on what could've been. But now he wondered how exactly he would've turned out if she'd lived. He probably wouldn't be in this position now. Eventually Alistair probably would've killed both of them, and, strangely worst of all, he never would've met Cassiel Wright. For that at least Pearly was in his late mother's debt. He put a hand gingerly to the stone, his eyes stinging.

Cassie saw this, and could almost feel his appreciation. But there was a deep seated sadness behind it. This man had grown up without someone to love him, to show him how to love. In her mind it wasn't fair. He deserved better, but what was done was done. There was nothing Cassie could do about it. At least now they weren't alone, they had each other. She was bent on making sure Pearly wouldn't be alone. She closed her eyes and hugged her friend from behind, her slender arms locking around his waist. Cassie put her head against his shoulder blade, her breathing mingling with his. In that moment, just for a moment they were one.

Then, he felt it. The girl had moved herself a little so she was just between his shoulder and neck. He almost didn't feel it, it was so light. But there, right between his shoulder and neck, Cassiel Wright kissed him. It was just a feather light kiss, but it was one regardless. It was meant to comfort, but it drove his heart wild. Pearly turned his head to face her and she pulled back, putting her head again on his shoulder blade. The area where her lips touched burned a little, but it didn't entirely hurt. The burn was a gentle one, a spark merely. He remembered what Andras had told him before, about true love being the girl's miracle.

It couldn't be for him…could it? Demons weren't meant for miracles, for happy endings. But her kiss, just the light touch of her lips, made him feel things he'd never felt, which were the very things he sought to destroy. Her kiss was that of true love, even if she didn't realize it yet. As for her miracle, as unbelievable as it was, was meant for him. A demon's miracle…who would've ever guessed it? Now just wrapped up in each other, they spent the rest of their time there in comforting silence. Inside he mourned, outside she comforted him in any way she could.

"It's not working!" Jagara paced Lucifer's lair like a caged big cat, "I can't even squeeze the damn thing!"

Lucifer watched the Punisher Queen pace with a contemplative look. She was frustrated, almost lost. The Fallen Angel rolled his eyes irritated now.

"It means he's found her" he said.
"What?! How can that be?! Master…he couldn't have!".
"The Other Side has its way of working things…they're wanting him to get his soul back".
"But why? If she honestly believed she could save a soul as putrid as his, she's sorely mistaken. Why can't I hurt her? Why can't I read or hear her thoughts? And she can't hear me either".

Lucifer took a place next to her and petted the jaguar demoness, trying to soothe her.

"He made her a promise years ago…a promise to keep it safe".
"But she didn't mean literally, right? I mean there's no way-What good is a heart if it cannot be controlled?!"
"It could've been taken as literally. Since we are using her heart literally to keep her in line. And his promise obviously still stands even for her reincarnation. The heart holds the most precious memories, but you know that. The object of those memories makes it near impossible to crush. And the heart never, ever forgets its first love".

Jagara opened the silver box and took out what appeared to be a human heart. It beat quiet, but strong in her hand. She tried to squeeze it, but the heart appeared to be hard as a rock, though it was still flesh.

"It makes no sense! What good is it-"
"Patience, kitty cat, we'll figure it out. He promised to keep it safe, but when she's alone, utterly alone, she's vulnerable. All we have to do is wait, then she's at our command again. Keep it with you. You'll know if she's alone, trust me".
"Master-".
"Jagara, do as your told. If worse comes to worst, I'll intervene…just like I had to all those years ago…"

Author's note: Oh my god I'm tired! It's near midnight as I type this. I really loved this chapter, I think it's my favorite one to type so far. Sorry I didn't update last night guys I was so tired and I'm more so now, but I'm pulling through for you. As always please review, it's much appreciated. Thanks