Lucifer: More Than My Own Existence
Chapter 10
A Leap of Faith/They Are Real
Bursting out of the cabin's gloom and into the brilliant sunlight cause Sara to stumble slightly. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the change. Once adjusted, she was a little surprise to see that Roger had been telling the truth, there was a wooded area less than fifty yards from them.
Sara gripped Trixie's hand tight as they ran from the cabin. She glanced behind to see if Kenneth was pursuing them, and noticed a sign that read, 'Welcome to Leo Carrillo Campgrounds.' The side door let them out on the east side of the forest and for a moment Sara had been relieved for two reasons. One, because she hadn't seen Kenneth when she'd glanced back and two, the woods looked thick enough they could lose him in them, if they could just get there.
The first reason vanished when she felt a sharp burning sensation run across the outside of her upper thigh, which was followed by the echo of a gunshot. She heard Trixie shout and didn't have to look back to know that Kenneth was now pursuing them. The pain in her leg wasn't bad enough to keep her from running so she forced her legs to move faster. Trixie managed to keep the pace right along with her. They made it to the tree line and once under the cover of the trees Sara took a hard left. She needed Kenneth to think they had continued in a straight line. After running a few hundred yards she took a sharp right, continued another few yards and took a sharp left. She would have continued this zigzag pattern, but she felt Trixie's hand jerk out of hers and skidded to a halt.
When she turned around, Trixie was on all fours. Sara's heart sank as she watched her try and get back up, thinking she had been hit or something, and rushed to the girl's side. "Are you all right?" She looked her over but the only spots of blood she saw were from Trixie's palms and her right knee.
She nodded, "I tripped. Sorry." Sara helped her to stand, feeling instant relief that the girl hadn't fallen because of a gunshot. She held her fore finger to her own lips and listened for a moment.
Far off to the right she could hear Kenneth yelling and branches braking. Being incredibly careful of Trixie's scrapped up hands, Sara took her hand and motioned in front of them. There was a fallen tree with a hollowed-out space between it and two other trees it had fallen against. "We need to whisper now and when we walk, try really hard not to step on branches." Trixie nodded and they made their way to the hallowed-out trees with minimal noise.
The entrance was a tight fit but once inside it opened up and with all the forest debris that had fallen on the trees, unless you knew to look there, they were well hidden. Sara was able to take a closer look at Trixie's hands and knees, she also found the culprit at had caused Trixie to trip and fall, untied shoelaces. Sara wasn't worried, the wounds were superficial. She smiled to Trixie and the girl actually smiled back. Still neither of them made a sound. She then turned her attention to her own wound. There was a bloody tear in jeans, smack in the middle of her outer thigh. She grabbed the tear and pulled it, ripping her jeans to give her a bigger hole to see the wound. A sigh of relief escaped her lips, it was only a graze and it wasn't even bleeding now.
Sara looked up to see Trixie's eyes were wide. She shook her head and whispered, "It's fine. Just a graze." The two of them sat like that, listening as the sound of yelling grew fainter. At some point the sound vanished all together. The quiet gave Sara a moment to think about their next move. Ever since seeing Trixie being forced into that van, she had simply been reacting to everything thrown at her. Now that she had a moment to think she was drawing a blank on what to do.
"Okay," she said more to herself, "we are in the middle of the woods, a lunatic is hunting us. We have no way to call for help or know for sure if help is on the way. What do we do?" She looked outside the hallow log they were hiding in. The natural sounds of the forest were returning, telling her Kenneth was either moving away from them, or being really quiet himself. She would bet money on the latter, rather than the former.
Maze managed to get to the Carrillo Campgrounds in record time and even that had seemed too long for her. She left the car door open as she moved towards the one cabin untouched by fire and glanced around the campground. If you added dark skies, fallen ash and some tall stone monuments, the blackened fire damage reminded her a little of home. She stopped that thought in her tracks. No, Hell was not her home, she admitted to herself. Her home was with Lucifer and more importantly Trixie. And someone had the audacity to try and hurt her little human? She knew Lucifer would never kill a human and by proxy, she had always refrained from killing out of respect for him, but now. Maze was sure he would not bat an eye if some kind of agony were to befall whom ever had taken her friend, and she had so many painful ideas.
She walked around the perimeter of the cabin, twirling her hell forged blades while making sure there were no surprises. There was a side door standing wide open and checking the ground she was able to see three different sets of footprints. One set were definitely a child's size.
"Trixie."
All three sets were heading towards the wooded area, so she followed them. Less than ten yards in, two of the prints veered sharply to the left, while the bigger prints continued straight. There was a moment Maze's instinct told her to follow the larger set of prints, knowing they would lead her to the one who had taken Trixie and she would be able to punish them. A wicked grin spread across her face, imagining all the pain she would cause him. No, she told herself, finding Trixie was more important than punishing the guilty right now. Besides, she would have plenty of time once the little human was back in her mothers' arms to inflect unimaginable torments.
The grin never left her face as she started to follow the double set of prints deeper into the woods.
Chloe wanted to yell at Lucifer to go faster. She knew her daughter needed her, and she felt helpless not being there, but a quick glance at the speedometer let her know he was going well over the posted speed limit. It still felt as if they were traveling at a snail's pace. Since getting onto Lucifer's car, Chloe's hands hadn't sat still. They were either fidgeting in her lap, brushing back strands of hair that weren't there or fiddling with the bullet necklace. Currently they were split between fidgeting in her lap and the necklace.
Lucifer must had noticed and reached over the cover the hand fidgeting in her lap, "She will be fine Detective. We will find her, and she will be alright." Or so help them Dad, there will be a new definition of torture when I get through with them.
Chloe didn't miss how the corners of his mouth became tense. For the first time in their partnership she wished he really were the devil, then he could punish those who would dare try to harm her daughter. She just nodded, grateful for the reassurance.
Lucifer pulled up to an area that was burnt. The sign confirmed they were at the Leo Carrillo Campgrounds, and Chole could see that Maze had beaten them to the campgrounds, her car was sitting there with the door wide open. She was out of the car before Lucifer had put it in park. She was making her way to the cabin Maze had parked in front of when Lucifer took her wrist.
"This way Detective," he nodded towards Maze's footprints, which were visible in the dark softened dirt. He led her towards the side of the cabin, where they could see many other prints.
Chloe's detective skills kicked in, "It looks like Trixie and Sara were able to escape and ran for the woods, but if there were three abductors, why are there only one other set of prints following them into the woods?"
Lucifer had an idea why there was only one set. Obviously, the band of brother's loyalty had crumbled once it was realized they had the wrong child. In fact, it would not surprise him if later they found bodies in the cabin they were passing. "Let's be glad there is only one of those scoundrels following them, and even happier Maze is following him.
Chloe nodded, but did not smile. She upholstered her weapon as the two of them followed the trail.
Sara and Trixie sat quietly for a good fifteen minutes before she figured it was safe enough to move about. In that time, she had formulated a small plan. Get to the bluffs and follow the shoreline to help. It was a basic plan, but it would give them a goal to achieve.
She looked at Trixie and motioned for her to leave the tree. There was a moment she hesitated, but Sara smiled reassuringly and whispered, "The birds are making noises so that means there isn't anyone out there. It'll be alright."
Trixie shimmed out of the tree, and Sara followed. If it weren't for the fact that a deranged moron was hunting them, the forest would have been beautiful. But every shadow that moved and every rustle of the leaves caused her heart to flip in her chest.
"If Roger was telling the truth, the bluffs are this way," she motioned to her left. A quick glance towards the sky told her they were close to sunset but should have plenty of light left. She nodded towards the sun on the left and they headed off in that direction, taking extra care to be a quiet as possible. There was little to no talking and that made it easier for Sara to listen for any abnormal noises.
The walk wasn't hard, just tedious, as every step they took was carefully calculated to create the least amount of noise. The sun was just starting to dip below the horizon as the trees started to thin and suddenly, they were standing on the bluffs overlooking the ocean. The cliff dropped sharply to the sea below, but the sight of the sunset brought a smile to Sara and Trixie's face and for the first time in hours, Sara felt hopeful.
A loud crash broke the peaceful silence and as she was turning towards the sound, something hard and heavy collided with the side of her head. She could hear Trixie shouting her name. Before her vision could clear, she could feel hands at her throat. Looks like Kenneth had caught up to them. She started to blindly claw what she hoped was his face. It was enough to get him to release her. She felt the chain holding her mother's necklace snap off as she shoved away from him and fell to her side. When her vision finally cleared, she could see Kenneth had Trixie and was pulling her towards the bluffs edge.
Sara pushed herself onto her forearm's, her head still ringing from Kenneth's blow. There was blood running down the side of her face, but she couldn't think about that now. The man was still pulling Trixie towards the edge of the cliff, but the girl was fighting him tooth and nail. Her little fists and feet trying incredibly hard to pummel him, and Sara took a moment to realize Trixie had to have had some kind of training because the blows that landed seemed to actually hurt him. Sara could see her try and knee him in-between the legs but miss.
By the time Sara managed to get her feet under her and stand up, the two of them were only a few feet from the edge, the setting sun casting long shadows. Behind her Sara could hear an angry voice yelling Trixie's name, but she kept her focus was on the girl. "KENNETH!" she yelled and to her surprise Kenneth stopped moving. He held Trixie by her upper arms and was using her as a shield.
"You just don't know when to quit," his fingers were digging into her upper arms, and Sara could tell Trixie was biting back a cry.
"Let her go, Now!" She took a step towards them, a little surprised she didn't wobble, even though her legs felt like jelly. "There's nowhere to go." She gestured towards the ocean view and took another step closer. "Let her go."
A maniacal grin spread on his face, "No," he shook his head. "You took something of mine, now," he shook Trixie hard and Sara didn't miss there were tears in the girl's eyes, "I'm taking something from you."
Trixie's eyes went wide as she looked past Sara. "Maze!" she called out and tried again to break free.
Sara glanced behind her and saw a dark haired, dark skin woman, clad in leather, stalking towards them. In each hand she twirled two curved and extremely sharp looking blades, and murder in her eyes. Even Kenneth, in his manic state of mind, knew this woman was dangerous. He quickly started back peddling, pulling Trixie along with him.
Throwing out her arm to block the woman, Sara stopped her advanced. "Wait, he's too close to the edge."
Maze cast a glare at the offending arm, and Sara felt warm steel kissing her throat. "Stop me again," Maze moved her gaze to glare at Sara's face, "and it will end very badly for you." This was a real threat and she didn't doubt for a second this woman would slit her throat, but Sara was not going to back down.
"You charge him," she hissed, "and the bastard could fall off the edge, taking Trixie with him." There was a brief second as concern flashed across the woman's face and in that moment, Sara knew Maze care deeply for Trixie. "Let me get him away from the edge; then I don't care what you do to him."
There was a moment the blade pressed harder into her neck. "You've got thirty second," with a quick flick of her wrist, Maze removed the blade.
Sara returned her focus to Kenneth, who was now less than three feet from the edge. "If you hurt her, Kenneth, you're dead." She nodded towards Maze, "She'll see to that. You need to let her go. Now!"
Kenneth's gaze bounced back and forth between her and Maze. He seemed to be weighing the odds of him making it past Maze. If it had just been Sara, he might have chanced it, but with pain incarnate standing in from him? There was a moment it looked like he was going to release Trixie. Sara could see his fingers start to relax on the little girls' arms.
Two more figures came bursting through the brush on Sara's left side and she recognized them both. Trixie's mom, and Lucifer Morningstar. Chloe had her gun drawn, "TRIXIE!"
"MOMMY!"
Kenneth's eyes met Sara's and she knew what he was about to do. She sprinted at him, trying to get there before he did the unthinkable. Maze was faster and Sara was so sure she would get there in time to stop him. She saw the blade leave Maze's hand as Kenneth twisted Trixie to his left and over the edge of the cliff. The blade buried itself into the side of his neck right as Trixie's head fell below the edge of the cliff.
There were multiple shouts, some calling the little girl's name others simple shouted no, but Sara didn't stop to think about those voices. She saw Maze skid to a halt at the very edge of the cliff, but Sara kept running. Without thought and relaying on something other than self-preservation, Sara launched herself over the precipice, like a cliff diver.
A memory from when she was five came to her, the first time her wings had emerged. That time she had been falling feet first, and she had needed to stop the fall. This time she was headfirst and knew she needed to go faster. Her legs and ankles were locked together, arms stretched in front her, creating the least amount of drag as she reached for the falling girl.
She could hear Trixie screaming for her mother as she fell, the waves were not loud enough to block her out. Luck was on Sara's side, Trixie was falling with her back to the ground, creating enough drag Sara was able to get to her and wrap her own arms around the girl's waist. Pulling her into a tight embrace was surprisingly easy. The next part would not be.
It had been over two years since Sara had even tried to produce her wings. After being shot and then told the damage the bullet had done, she'd been terrified to try, scared that if she tried and couldn't, it would confirm the loss. At least that is what she told herself. Truthfully, her wings reminded her of her mom, and how even though she was Nephilim she had been unable to save her, both from dying and then again from going to Hell.
At this moment she knew none of that mattered. Trixie's life, as well as her own depended on her wings. She focused on the unused muscles at her back, knowing she had one shot at this. She willed them to expand as she rolled her shoulders back. Just like the first time, pain erupted from her back, but unlike last time it was not excruciating. It was pain from muscles that had not been used in over two years. She could feel her wings expand and curve, catching air to slow their decent. However, it would not be enough to stop them completely.
Sara gripped Trixie tighter, feeling the little girl's arms contract around her neck and her head bury into the crook of Sara neck. There was one more thing she could do. Contracting the muscles at the base of her wings and fully aware the rocks were coming up fast, she gave then a hard-downward thrust, feeling her wings, muscles and tendons strain and pull. It was enough to pull them out of the dive and carry them away from the rocks. They were defiantly going to hit the water and if she didn't change her trajectory, they would end up further out to sea and it would be harder be to get back to shore.
She dropped her right wing, allowing them to bank. The shore and water surface were approaching fast and Sara didn't think she would be able to right them for a smooth landing. With Trixie still clinging to her front, Sara made a final desperate maneuver. Thirty yards from the shoreline, while they were inches from the surface, Sara flipped onto her back and pulled her wings around them both as tight as she could make them
Hitting the water on her back wasn't too bad, almost like water skiing. It was once the water turned to sand, that it became agony. Skidding across the compacted, cold sand caused the top of Sara's wings to catch and spin them onto her side, so she tightened her grip on Trixie and felt the girl do the same. They didn't come to a full stop until Sara's back slammed into something hard and ungiving. Agonizing pain radiated from the point of impact, ending at the back of her head, causing her vision to go completely black.
Maze stood on the cliff, looking over the edge, completely uninterested in the commotion going on behind her. More officers had arrived and were speaking to everyone currently on the bluff. Well, all but herself. They all seemed to be avoiding her. At one-point Maze was sure she could hear Chloe crying, maybe even screaming, but she had her focus elsewhere. She was still astonished at what she had just witnessed, even as her brain tried to deny it.
She could tell the moment the human male had decided to throw her little human over the edge, she had seen it in his eyes. The female beside her must have seen it too, because the two of them bolted towards the man at the same time. Maze had let her knife fly, hoping to stop his action. It had hit its mark, but Trixie had still gone over the side. Since she was faster than the girl beside her, Maze reached the edge of the cliff first and had a split second to watch her little human fall to what Maze was sure would be her death. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the human female reach the edge and was sure she would skid to a stop as well. But she didn't.
Dumbfounded, Maze had watched the girl dive headfirst off the end of the cliff. She fell maybe fifteen feet before midnight black wings had erupted from her back. Maze watched the wings sore out to sea, before turning back towards the shore, but by then the sun had set completely and the light was gone. The color of the wings made it impossible for Maze to visually follow, even with her demonic eyesight. But one thing Maze was sure of, the girl had managed to get to Trixie.
She sensed Lucifer come up beside her and in an unusual show of support felt his hand on her shoulder, she glanced over at him. "Did you just see that?"
He was silent for a moment, then nodded solemnly. "The Detective, Ms. Lopez, Dan, and a few of the other officers are heading down there." He gave her shoulder a squeeze, "Do you… need anything?"
Maze shook her head, finally realizing he was not on the same page and had not seen the same thing she had. "No, I'm not talking about Trixie going over the side." She gestured over the edge, "I'm talking about how the girl who just dove off the cliff after her, has wings. Midnight black wings. And we both know who among your siblings has wings like that."
It took a moment before Lucifer understood what she was saying. It wasn't like there were a lot of options on what that meant. He looked over the edge himself, "That's not possible." With the light of day gone, the ocean waters looked black and it was impossible to see the bottom of the cliff. "Are you sure they were black?" Maze nodded her head, following his line of sight. "Impossible."
Next thing to register in Sara's train of thought, the cold seeping into her body and a sharp throbbing pain running the length of her back and wings; it took her a moment to remember what had happened. The jump off the cliff, the nosedive to save Trixie and the crash landing onto the beach. Every breath she took sent a sharp agonizing pain radiating from her neck to her back and all the way around to her ribs. She tried to move, to sit up or roll over, but the pain in her back and neck wouldn't let her. She opened her eyes surprised it was nightfall, with a crescent mooning giving off just enough light to see Trixie standing beside her.
"Trixie," she whispered and even that little bit sent a new wave of agony through her body.
"You have wings."
Sara grinned. Of course, those would be the first thing she thought about, not the death dive they had just survived. She could feel herself lying on her wings, so she knew they were still out. She would have to address that soon. "Are you hurt?"
There was a moment where Trixie seemed to think about it. "I…I don't think so." Her eyes never left the wings as she shook her head. She knelt beside Sara being incredibly careful of the wings laying in the sand. The left one was draped awkwardly over the rock they had crashed into, while the right one was folded beside her, but even it looked crooked with a few of the longer feather tips poking out. Trixie reached out a hand, then jerked it back to her chest. "Can I?"
Closing her eyes, trying to get the pain under control, Sara nodded reaching for her mothers' necklace but felt nothing. A vague memory of feeling it ripped off as she struggled with Kenneth came to her and she hoped she would be able to find it at the top of the cliff.
Extending her hand, Trixie gently brushed the closest feather, one of the bigger primary ones. It felt softer than the fluffiest towel she had ever felt. "Are you an Angel?"
This nearly made Sara laugh, "No Trixie. I'm not an angel." She forced herself to sit up, the pain in her back forcing her to lean back against the ice-cold stone. Once she was sitting up, she was able to assess the damage better. She could move her legs, so other than her back being hurt at least it didn't look or feel like anything was broke.
"Then what are you?" She was still petting Sara's wing, and to Sara it felt oddly soothing. Having not been out for over two years, they seemed a little more sensitive. "Because I'm pretty sure normal people don't have wings attached to their back."
"I'm Nephilim." Trixie gave her a confused look and Sara sighed. "My mother was human, my father is an angel."
The girl's eyes went wide, "Angels are real?"
She was more than willing to tell this little girl everything about her but there were more pressing matters. "When we get out of this, I'll tell you all about me. But for now," she pushed through the pain, rolled her shoulders forward contracting her back muscles and successfully, but painfully, pulled each of her wings back in. She rested her head against the stone. "We can't tell them how we survived a hundred- and fifty-foot fall."
Trixie opened her mouth to object but closed it quickly. They sat in silence for a moment, the crashing of the waves the only sound, while Trixie mulled over the situation. "My dad says that lying is bad."
"Your dad is right, but if we tell them about those," she motioned to where her wings had been, "let's just say it never ends well. You've seen E.T.?" Trixie nodded. Sara could feel her whole body starting to shiver. "Good." She closed her eyes, trying to think of a good cover story. She couldn't remember how close to the water the cliff was, and hopefully since she had landed, correction, crashed them onto the beach, maybe they could say the water had dampened the fall and they had swum back to shore?
"How about we tell them when we landed in the water you hit a rock? That would explain your back and why we're all wet." Trixie got to her feet, brushing the sand off her pants and for a moment it looked as if a light bulb had gone off in her head, as if she had pieced together something else. "Besides," she said with a smirk, "who would believe us if we did tell the truth." It was almost like Trixie had read her mind and it was a good idea.
Sara should have felt relief. She might be in a lot of pain, but they were alive, and it didn't take a Sherlock to know the calvary had to be on their way down. But it wasn't relief that was starting to flood her system. She could feel her heart starting to race, and her body was screaming at her to run. She was panicking and didn't know why. She just knew that something bad was coming.
Get Trixie somewhere safe. Sara glanced around the beach. They were smack in the middle between the shoreline and the cliff face. To her right and close to the cliff face, about ten yards from their current location, sat three large boulders. Large enough to hide Trixie. She nodded towards them. "Trixie you need to hide."
Trixie looked confused again but followed her line of sight. She had seen the relief replaced with fear and couldn't figure out why Sara would be scared. "What? Why?"
"Please Trixie, just trust me. Get behind those boulders now. And no matter what you see or hear, do not come out."
Sara's fear was catching and for a moment Trixie almost ran for the rocks but stopped. "Through all this, you never looked scared and now your look petrified. What is it?"
Even though she was freezing, she could feel sweat forming on her brow and her heartbeat was picking up. Her fight or flight response was gearing her up to run. "I don't know, but I am trusting my gut and it is screaming for you to hide. So, please," she again nodded towards the rocks.
Trixie waited for three heart beats then with a roll of her eyes and a sigh, wasted no time running across the sand and out of Sara's line of sight. Sara took a deep breath, hoping now that Trixie was relatively safe, the terror building up inside her would go away.
It didn't.
Trixie pulled her knees to her chest, trying to keep warm and make herself as small as possible as she hid behind the rocks. 'Angels are real,' she thought to herself. 'Since angels are real, then so are God and the Devil.' This had been the realization she'd come to. 'Lucifer really is the Devil.' Of course, it wasn't as if he had ever lied to her and told her he wasn't the devil. In fact, the first time she met him at school, he had told her flat out he was the Devil. 'I wonder if Mommy believes the truth about him?' she thought. Although she doubted it. Her Mom always required hard proof.
Ever since being grabbed, it had been a rollercoaster ride of emotions. The fear she had felt after being grabbed, the relief when Sara had said she knew her mom and Lucifer. The panic when Kenneth had started to drag her towards the edge of the cliff, the joy when she had seen Maze and then her mom and Lucifer. The terror of going over the edge of the cliff, the awe when she had seen Sara's wings and the feeling of being secured as they had flown out over the waters. Through it all Sara had been so brave, strong and had made her feel safe. The look on Sara's face when she told her to hide, there was no word Trixie could think of other than terrified. If whatever was coming was bad enough its scared Sara, Trixie wasn't going to chance it.
For a moment all she could hear were the waves crashing on the shoreline. It was soothing, but the sound didn't last long. A strong wind picked up and whipped her hair into her face. A thud, strong enough to vibrate through the sand, landed on the beach, and Trixie spun around to peek through a small opening between the rocks. From her vantage point she was able to see a dark figure moving to where Sara lay. The most prominent feature? Wings.
'An actual Angel,' she thought as the figure stood over Sara. In what little moonlight there was Trixie could see he was wearing armor and had blonde hair, and even though his wings were folded behind him they reminded Trixie of a barn owls. The middle were soft grey with it darkening to a muddy brown at the tips. A look of disgust cross the man's face.
"My sibling did a fine job hiding you little Nephilim," his voice boomed across the sand and if Trixie hadn't been so scared, she would have thought his voice sound sweet, like ringing church bells. "Who sired you?"
Trixie could tell Sara answered him, but her voice was too soft for her to hear what she said. Whatever it was, the winged man didn't like it. He knelt down, grabbed Sara's arm, and jerked her to her feet in one fluid movement. Trixie could hear her scream out for a second before Sara clamped her mouth shut.
"Let us re-establish our relationship. I ask you a question, you answer me."
Sara shook her head and Trixie could tell whatever she was telling this angel, it was the same response she would have given Kenneth. She was being a smart ass. This made the winged-man furious.
"By the time I am done with you Little Nephilim," he told her, giving her arm a hard shake, "you will be begging to tell me what I want to know."
Trixie watched in a mixture of terror and amazement as the man spread his wings wide and took off, taking Sara with him.
