"I can't believe that you dedicated most of your life to reading this ancient dribble. There is so much more you could have done. You could've been a pilot, an engineer, or a horticulturist. Even a mortician would be more interesting than a researching priest." Lucifer paced behind the priest who had his nose in a book. They had found themselves in a dark old library deep in the Vatican, surrounded by a plethora of ancient books and one shelf filled with scrolls. Just one of the many library's in the Roman city. that had been around for over a thousand years. "I never understood why anyone would be interested in primeval history. You humans, always looking backwards into the past. The only thing these books contain is an interpretation of the deranged beliefs of unstable men. Or at least what they want to be true. Not unlike yourself." Lucifer stopped in front of a bookshelf, pulled out a leather-bound book and carelessly flipped through the papyrus pages. "Nothing but a bunch of gobbledygook half the time."
"This documentation is how we now understand the world as we know it came to be. Without this history, we wouldn't have the advance knowledge to make informed decisions about the future." Father Kinley casually threw the words over his shoulder to the Devil as he continued his examination of the book in front of him. "This gobbledygook," the priest mocked the nonsensical word, "is what led me to the prophecy in the first place. What led me to you. A prophecy which turned out to be true." The priest looked over at the Devil with a smug look on his face.
"Hmph." Lucifer huffed as he haphazardly placed the book back on the shelf. "And how did that work out for you?" His hands found his pockets as he glided across the floor and sat on the edge of the desk, looking down at the priest with a disdainful smile. "A little warmer than you expected? Hmm? Or did you imagine that you would be rewarded by the Almighty?" His eyes quickly glanced toward the heavens.
"Everything I did on Earth was to stop the prophecy from happening. To stop evil from being released into the world. I glad to see that I succeeded." Kinley flashed a weak smile towards the Devil. "For that, I am willing to pay the price to save the world."
"What makes you think you actually succeeded?" The Devil scoffed with amusement; his arms folded across his chest.
"You are back in Hell where you belong, are you not? What happens to me is not important. The world is safe. That's all that matters." The priest's voice was surprisingly steady as his eyes glanced back down at the book in front of him.
"Careful, priest. Or did you forget who you are dealing with?" Lucifer growled as he stood up, his piercing eyes looking down on the old man. "The world would've been safe if you had just kept your large nose out of business that didn't concern you. Meddling in Celestial affairs. Ruining everything with…" He couldn't stop picturing his Detective being surrounded by his own demons. The thought that they would have harmed her if he hadn't stepped up to be the King, the monster that he hated. Lucifer quickly grabbed the priest's collar and roughly pulled him off the chair. "Because of you, the demons ran wild in Los Angeles. Hundreds of innocent people died because of your little crusade. That is all on you. And you alone." The Devil's eyes flashed red with fury before he let go of the old man and shoved him. Kinley fell backwards into the chair. "Now, you'd better help me fix our little problem before they decided to return. Time is wasting."
Kinley looked up at the Devil, scorned like a small child. "Yes, my Lord," he replied, bile building up in his mouth as he spoke the words of reverence to the one being he had loathed all his life.
"Good! When I return, you'd better have found something of value," Lucifer snarled, and then he stormed towards the door.
Lucifer stood outside of the old priest's cell. He glanced around cautiously, eyeing the corridor for any potential spies. Paranoia crept in. Wondering who would be lurking around the corner, looking for ways to sabotage his plans. Not knowing who to trust. Always on edge, knowing that his once loyal army of soulless cretins were seeking retribution.
The Devil quickly turned on the balls of his feet to face the door he had just stepped out of. He pulled chains the out of the wall on either side of the door. He did this twice more, until there were three chain links on each side. He gathered the iron in his hands, created a web across the door, and locked them all together. This would ensure that he would be the only one with the ability to enter. There was no way he would allow his demons to enter the cell to torture the priest, in order to seek information about his plan.
On high alert, Lucifer walked the corridors. The tormented screams of the damned echoed in the halls, taunting him with their endless suffering. He dreaded that this would be his life now. That his life on Earth would just be a distant memory. A blip in his never-ending existence. The fear of being forever lost in this abyssal life without her fully consumed him. He no longer wanted to exist if she couldn't be in his life. He had to find a way. He needed to be with her.
"Lucifer!"
"What now, Mazikeen?" The Devil stopped when he heard her call out from behind him, but he refused to turn around.
"I wanted you to know that it is done." The demon's voice trembled. There was not much that could frighten the woman, but being on the Devil's bad side wasn't something she was willing to do again, even if hurt her. Lucifer was generally easygoing for most part, but the events that had unfolded on Earth proved to her that she should've known better than to stand between the Devil and his only desire. Maze knew what he was truly capable of, and that he would stop at nothing to be with Chloe Decker. No matter who stood in the way.
"Lovely," Lucifer hissed, his jaw clenched with distrust. "Is that all?" The Devil turned his head over his shoulder, but not enough to look at her straight in the eye.
"Did you talk to him?" she asked.
He could tell that she'd moved closer behind him and was only a few feet away. "That is none of your business," he spat, with a swift turn on his heels he faced the woman. "Even if I had, why would you care?"
"He weaseled his way inside my head, and I don't want him to do the same to you. He's just not worth it." Maze looked up at her lord with a sincere expression in her eyes.
"Well now, I'm curious. What did he say to you?" Lucifer sauntered around the woman. "It's not like the Maze I know to let a common soul get to her. What was it about? Me?"
"It's not important." Maze's voice was barely over a whisper. She had seen Lucifer in some of his darkest moments, but recently the malice in his voice made her skin crawl.
"I will decide what is important or not," the Devil barked. He glared down at the demon, waiting for her to respond. However, she remained silent, not daring to look up at him. "Fine," he spat after a few moments. "If you won't tell me, I will go and find out for myself." He purposely brushed past the woman to stride off.
"Please listen to me, Lucifer!" Maze pleaded but she was ignored. "Please don't go to see him. He is not worth your time," she hollered as he turned the corner.
Lucifer despised being told what or what not to do. So, she didn't want him to pay a visit to Cain; therefore, he found himself in front of the man's cell. There was a part of him that wondered if this was a terrible idea, to enter the cell of the first human he had ever murdered. Stubbornness got the best of him. He slowly opened the door and peered inside.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of Your Highness' presence?" Cain stood in darkness; what little light from the outside of his cell shone across half his face. Lucifer waved his hand and an industrial dome pendant lamp appeared in the middle of the small bare room, right above the man's head. It gave the room an interrogation-room kind of vibe. Not the cheery type that he was used to with the Detective at the precinct, but more similar to the scenes from the Bodybag movies: dark and intimating. Lucifer smiled with satisfaction.
"You were always a smug bastard, weren't you?" Lucifer's slow foot falls echoed as he moved into the room, and the door slammed behind him. The light above swayed from the wind of the door shutting. "I believe you have been wanting to see me. Though I'm not entirely sure why you would want to see me. What do you have hiding up your sleeve?" The Devil circled around the first murderer, who just stood still.
"Do I need a reason to speak to the man who murdered me?" Cain's eyes followed Lucifer as he paced.
"We are going there, are we?" Lucifer let out a huff of air that turned into a chuckle of disbelief. He stopped in front of the man, hands interlocked behind his back. "Fine. I killed you and I liked it." The Devil snarled. "Isn't this what you wanted all the whole time? To die?" Lucifer flashed a cheeky smile. "You should be thanking me. Not only did I end your misery, but I gave you a nice warm room to stay in. Generous, is it not?"
"A real saint," Cain mocked, as he glanced around the room. "Leaving me in my torment of nothingness. Just darkness."
"I find it quite fitting. Nothing else seems to scare you more than being alone. You've witnessed all sorts of horrors, except complete isolation." Lucifer smiled, but it didn't last long before Cain broke out into hysterical laughter. "I see that madness has truly taken over, as I suspect it would. Why did you want to speak with me?" he demanded from the condemned soul.
"I heard you were back, so I had to see for myself to believe it. You were so dead set against coming back here, if I recall correctly. Why sudden change of heart?" Cain's muscular arms folded across his chest. "Did you finally realize that it would never work between you and Decker?"
"Who told you…?" He stopped for a moment, digesting the last thing that man had said. "What would never work?" Lucifer scoffed. His hands found his pockets again.
"Always in denial, I see. I was there, once upon I time, before I realized the hard truth." Cain smiled to himself.
"What on Earth are you talking about?" A quizzical look formed on the Devil's face.
"Chloe is going to grow old and die sooner or later. Trixie too. Everyone that you care about on Earth is going to perish, as if they never existed, but you will remain the same. It's how this whole immortality curse works." Cain smiled when he saw a shadow cross the Devil's face. "That's why I stayed alone for so long. Everyone I cared about died. So, it was better not to care at all." They stood in a heavy silence for a few minutes. "You should just let her go. Let her live her life. She will forget you eventually; she might even find someone to grow old with. Someone that has a simple life, and not tied down with the baggage of Hell or being the disowned son of God." Cain felt an unbridled satisfaction when he noticed the anger build up in the Devil with each word that he spoke. "You are just making her life complicated. If you really did care about her, you would let her live her life in peace without you ruining every aspect of it. She would be happier without you in her life."
In a fit of rage, Lucifer grabbed hold of the man's throat with one hand and lifted him off his feet. Cain's hands wrapped around Lucifer's wrist, and a sinister smile grew on his face, even though he was gasping for air. Lucifer's red eyes flashed and before he knew it, the flesh of his arm turned into the red leathery skin, and the rest of his body transformed immediately afterward. Lucifer easily threw the man across the room. Cain's body crashed into the wall and dropped down to the floor.
"Deep down, you know I'm right." Cain pushed himself off the ground and stood up. He watched the Devil under the spotlight, trembling in his monstrous form. Lucifer stared down at his hands and clenched his fists. Cain continued implacably, "How could she love you like that?"
Slowly, Lucifer glanced up and saw Cain's figure in the shadows, his words having slapped him across the face. His heart was pounding against his Devil-form rib cage. He wanted nothing more than to murder the man in front of him over and over again, but he knew that it wouldn't make a difference. He would still be there. But he didn't have to. With a thunderous expression, Lucifer stormed out of the prison and slammed the door behind him.
Blinded by rage, Lucifer ripped a chunk of the already crumbling obsidian wall and threw the boulder across the hall. The boulder smashed into many pieces that went flying everywhere, leaving behind a dent in the wall. A roar of anguish left his lips as he repeated this action over and over again until he fell onto his knees. Exhausted. Frustrated. Every fiber of his being on fire, matching his current form. Slowly he looked up when he realized there was a presence watching him.
A single tear rolled down Mazikeen's face. It was almost unbearable for her to see him like this. He looked completely unhinged. In that moment, she recognized that this wasn't the Devil she knew. Hell was gradually consuming him. Normally, she would have rubbed in his face the fact that she'd been right about his going to see Cain, but she couldn't do that to him now. Not when he was losing control.
"What is happening to me?" Lucifer growled, but underneath that deep husky voice was the sound of a broken man.
Note: Chapter was Beta read by SailorChronos1! Thank You!