I hope you are all safe and well and keeping sane?
Sorry I have been away for far too long, the days have all sort of blurred together and weeks have just disappeared, I am not sure where the time has gone – I have been locked in for 23 weeks now!
Anyway back to it and I hope you enjoy, comments and suggestions are always welcome
Cassiel, Angel of the Lord finally had a purpose and that purpose was to kill the Devil, she smiled at that. The smile she now wore was not her own, it was a mask that had been thrust upon her, her rational true self suppressed and drowned out by the chanting running through her mind. Cassiel had become nothing more than a puppet, her strings being pulled by those who should hold kindness, forgiveness and virtue above all else but had turned their backs on those concepts all in favour of a misguided cause, a cause that now surged through her body, neither stopping or tiring in its goals to win out.
The mixture of drugs, ancient magic and good old fashion human brainwashing techniques had been more than a match for the young angel to be able to resist and had quickly overwhelmed her. With the exception of some mild teasing from her siblings about her lack of purpose whilst living within the Silver City and her brief stint on earth, she had no defence against the onslaught of abuse, both physical and mental that had fallen upon her at the hands of her captors, she was young, naive and so very innocent and nothing in her existence had prepared her for crazed but ingenious human zealots.
The priests had reached deep inside her and had ripped her very soul and her free will out without any care or concern for her and replaced it with a cold hateful purpose and desire to fulfil their mission and it was their mission or maybe it was hers, hers all along, why she had been created in the first place, it had all blurred into one and the same.
The very people who claimed to be trying to save the souls of the innocent had casually and worryingly easily thrown that ideal aside to accomplish their goals, what did one more soul mean to them in the grand plan? Turns out that wasn't even a hard question for them to answer, it meant nothing, what were a few more dammed souls if it meant saving them all?
The priests had broken her, not without some effort but they had broken her nevertheless, she had fought them with her very being and everything else she had but she lacked the tools, skills and experience to resist any longer and with that Cassiel's true self had vanished into the black, suppressed in the deepest parts of her mind, only to be replaced with this puppet wearing her skin.
Cassiel now strode through a deserted Lux with cold purpose, she was going to end the Devil and it was why she was here for after all, the voices said as much.
"This is insufferable!" Lucifer threw his hands up in the air, Ella just watched him pace back and forth, "How can I, I of all Devil's not be able to locate a group of misguided humans and a lost angel hmmm? Or Maze? I should go get the hounds!" Lucifer looked lost, he had called in favours, scouted the city and turned over every rock and priest he had come across, so far, nothing had led to any answers or even any possible leads. Maze, Chloe and Dan were still out in the field talking to their contacts and shaking every tree they could but again the news was bleak. No one seemed to have a clue about a crazy religious group and their plans, let alone their whereabouts.
"Lucifer, will you sit down!" Ella almost demanded, "I mean bro, you keep going, we're going to have to replace the marble!" Lucifer paused and looked down to the floor, this snapped him out of his current thought pattern. "We'll find Cass and bring her home, you have to have faith!" Lucifer looked at Ella rather sceptically with a raised eyebrow and a knowing smirk, "no I don't mean that kind of faith and what I mean is faith in us, faith in our family to solve this, we always do right?" Ella had started that point with strong conviction but also needed a little reassurance at the same time,
"Ah, Ella!" Lucifer's use of her first name caused he to smile, "you are right of course, we will find a way, I am just at a loose end and getting more frustrated as time goes on, as I am sure is everyone else!" Lucifer took a breath and finally sat down next to Ella, who immediately wrapped in a hug, one he appreciated and somewhat needed, "so TeamLucifer will keep on going till we find her?"
"We're going with TeamLucifer? I mean, I can see the hashtag appeal to that, but man, come on?" Ella was worried but also saw the need to lighten Lucifer's mood, even for a short time, the man looked exhausted,
"Well I did try Luci-fans, or Devil-bunnies a while ago but the Detective shot those down!" Lucifer huffed and shock his head but it did bring a little smile to his face,
"Devil-bunnies? You serious went with that? Ha, no wonder Chloe shot you down, Luci-fans, though," Ella pondered that one, rolling it over in her mind a few times, "I kinda like that one," she gave Lucifer a big smile, "though, that being said, I think we should just stick with family!" Once again she gave him a smile but this time tears were in her eyes, Lucifer embraced her tighter, he wasn't sure why but it seemed like the thing to do, Ella was scared and worried and all manner of other emotions which Lucifer didn't fully understand but he knew this was a small comfort he could provide and he needed it too.
The two were interrupted when the elevator dinged signalling the arrival of a visitor, what they hadn't expected was Cassiel to come striding into the room, Ella almost leapt from her position on the couch to go and hug the formally missing girl,
"You're back, you're back, how? Are you ok? Where have you been? We have been so worried! Are you really here and ok?" Ella just unloaded with the questions, even if Cassiel had the chance to answer any of them she was denied by the force of Ella's hug, Cassiel returned it but it lacked any real feeling or emotional connection, Ella realised this and broke apart quickly and took a step back, she stared at her friend and sister and couldn't see that young angel anywhere, the mask Cassiel was wearing was good, but Ella could see through it, "Something is very wrong here!" Ella took a further step back as Lucifer approached,
"Little one, as glad as I am that you are back, you do not seem like yourself! For one, I never felt you coming, which granted can be explained away as we have heard about what might have happened to you but you aren't in this room, you seem somewhat distant? What happened to you?" Lucifer had moved to within touching distance, "We can help! If you let us" Lucifer stressed,
"Oh brother, I finally found my purpose!" Cassiel stated in a flat tone, it sent a shiver down Ella's spine,
"And what would that be?" Lucifer asked, somehow not seeing the danger in front of him but cautiously happy his sister had returned unharmed.
"Well, obviously it is to end you!" Cassiel once again responded flatly,
"End m…." Cassiel struck hard and fast, she plunged a dagger into Lucifer's chest, he grasped at her hand with a look of shear panic, Chloe wasn't near, so this must be some sort of celestial blade as it tore into his heart. He could hear Ella's scream but that had faded into the background, his vision started to blur but the look on her face was one of satisfaction, but that look didn't belong to her, Lucifer gasped and then hit the floor.