Chapter 13
Lucifer's Pov
Carefully placing the detective down after I flew up to the next floor above, giving her a safe place to rest from the gunshot in her shoulder. Wrapping a long piece of clothing around her wound, I knew it was necessary but I hatred to be the one to cause her this kind of pain when tightening the clothing. Yet, I've done worse to the detective. After hearing her confession about her true feelings for me, I questioned myself, "How could I've been so blind?" The detective had feelings for me, yet I pushed her away, I tried to tell the detective how I really feel for her but I ended up hurting her more.
Now, the detective is safe, at least if I keep Pierce and his men away from her. I unfolded my wings out wide, took a step off form the upper floor and glided down fast to the ground. I felt the air tenderly pushed my wings back as I was aiming to land near two men, just before my feet touch the ground my wings swing forward and smacked the two men harshly to the ground. My wings powerfully blew some of my fallen, bloody feather off from the floor. When I landed perfectly, I raise up in almighty, unafraid of three men racing towards me, because a huge flap of my wings blow a hurricane at them, they all fall back over wooden boxes and hit themselves on metal columns.
In a spare second, my eyes caught Maze fighting and yelled, "Why are you here?"
Still fighting, Maze quickly replied with a roar, "Saving your ass! What the hell do you think?"
"And Trixie?" I questioned, as I was concern about the detective's offspring if she was in good hands.
"Safe with the babysitter" Maze answered, as she sliced her blades though the skins of the men's arms and legs.
I got caught with a guy with a bigger knife trying to cut through me, till I dodged his hands then twisted his hand so he accidentally swing his knife down to his knee. However, I wasn't done asking Maze, "How did you find me?"
"Some criminals I was tracking were gone, till I check their payments for stealing weapons or murder, and guess who pays them?" Maze hits her men and kicks them hard that one crashed into a wooden box, then she threw one of her blades at the chest of one of the men. She finally faced me for the answer, "Pierce."
Maze continued fighting more men, however my eyes darkly darted at the man who started it all. Pierce was hiding half of himself behind a stone column until his eyes meet mine. His sly hands load his gun and was ready to swing it up to aim it at me, similarly I was ready to used my wounded, bloody wings for protection.
"Lucifer!" another voice echoed from the exist door of another the staircase on the side of the room.
"Amenadiel?" I turned around and was deeply bewildered to see that my brother at the top of the floor, . I was going to asked why my brother was here at this wrong moment, until I spotted by the corner of my eye that Pierce shifted his target from me to Amenadiel. "Get out!" I screamed, and thankfully Amenadiel jumped back in the last second before getting shot.
Maze lunched at Pierce with her blades, so Pierce can focus on her instead of trying to kill Amenadiel. I highly doubt that fool mortal could defeat hell's greatest fighter, but I have to admit Pierce was a trained fighter. I looked across gazing at my brother, "What the hell are you doing here?"
"You texted me to come" Amenadiel answered, checking outside the exit door to see if Pierce has his gun out to target him.
Another man came to attack me from behind by the sound of his roaring, waiting for the right moment when he's close enough till I flapped my wings back which he would get hit one of them and fly backwards. I turned to face my brother again and my eyes went narrow in confusion, "What? No, I haven't done such thing since we last talk."
My brother grew the same puzzled look, "Then who sent me the text?" At that moment, I would've placed my bets on Pierce, I didn't what reasons he may have, I will soon enough.
Maze heard our small chat and I guess from her little, secretive feelings she may have for my brother, the bad demon began to attack animalisticallyat Pierce. Hitting harder like her fists were made of the Earth's weight. Knocking Pierce over to ground, meanwhile I still was dealing with a few more men while others were already knocked out or ran away in fear of my wings. Maze bended down near Pierce, her finger in the bottom hole of her blade swinging it around ready to torture Pierce. She revealed an evil grin grew on face, "You know, from before I have to kill you, but now I just want to."
"Okay, you could kill me, sure" Pierce snarled evilly, "But you would kill someone else on your behalf." the detective
Maze chuckled, "Liar. First you tried to kill Amenadiel, now you're threatening me for nothing."
"Then why not make a quick call and tell Trixie to look out her window" Pierce snarled.
"Trixie?" Maze's face frozen in fear.
Unforeseen for Maze and I, when Pierce pulled out the blade out from a man's chest and stab it in the side of her waist. Maze gasped in pain as Pierce twisted the blade slightly while still in the side of Maze's side, she angrily growled, "Now I'm really going kill you."
Pierce pulled the blade out and roughly kicked Maze back, the demon fell back with her hands covering over her deep wound. Pierce cowardly crawl back away with the help of his men to pull him up, then they quickly loaded their guns and aim it at Maze while she laid down dying.
"Maze!" Amenadiel cried, which caught my attention when I turned my head around noticing Maze laying down bleeding to death.
I watched my mortal brother raced across the room and cover over Maze, my eyes widen in horror knowing he would get killed by the thousands rains of fiery bullet fiery, and I knew that pain when those kind of bullet caused pain in my wings. Suddenly when the men all pulled the triggers at that very moment, flashed before my eyes as dark grey wings appeared out from Amenadiel's back. The bullets were biting hard through his wings, yet they never fired through. Thought of saving my brother from the pain, I walked over to a human hiding a stone column while he's shooting at Amenadiel. Gripped tight on the back of his shirt and pulled him out, his finger was still holding on to the trigger meaning he's still firing his bullet. I swing him facing his friends which made his gun target and shoot at his friends, unfortunately Pierce managed to slide himself out of the way.
Once all of the men are dead, I quickly knocked out the man I had in my grip and rushed over to Maze and Amenadiel. My face was painted in horror when I bended down and saw how bad Maze's wound was, my voice sounded broken and speechless, "Maze…"
"I did promise you… that I'll be there when you're in danger" Maze breathlessly replied, this reminded me of when Linda was in the hospital because I dragged her into a terrible situation. Maze continued, "Whether you see it or not… And, you know the best for it."
"You certainly are" I laughed shortly, then my voice slowly changed softly, "I'm just glad we haven't lost you."
"Aren't I a 'too' at the end though?" Maze wondered. Thinking back when I asked her to come night so I could apologise to her at that time I thought she was trying to manipulate me when actually she was framed. I told her I didn't want to take her back to Hell because I didn't want to lose her, but foolishly I describe her as a 'too' meaning I wanted her because I was losing the detective. Maze was right and I too stupid and too late to see that.
"No, the detective is fine for now. But, believe me Mazikeen, I wouldn't know what to do without you" I commented, I became happier when I watched a surprised yet grateful smile on Mazes' face.
"And your wings?" I turned my head to face up to my brother.
"I know" Amenadiel was speechless as I gazed back to his dark grey wings.
"Well, I officially say that our Fallen Angel has now been cancel" I joked, which made made my brother and Maze laugh quietly.
"I guess your theory is right" I commented.
"You think?" Amenadiel looked surprised to hear that I agreed with his theory, unlike before I said it was absolutely absurd.
I titled my head as a 'maybe' but Maze's wound caught my attention, "You need to take her to the hospital."
"What about you?" Amenadiel asked.
"I need to stay with the detective. Plus, I need to finish some business with Cain" the tone of my voice became darker at the end when I mentioned Pierce.
Amenadiel nodded in agreement, so he carefully scooped his arms underneath Maze's legs and back and lifted her up. Behind us were the wide stairs and by the sides of them were a wreak open space to outside cover with plastic warning tape spread across it. My brother walked over to the edge slowly with Maze in his arms, I felt a sense of anxious in my gut for Maze's safety but I could also see on Amenadiel's face because my brother he hasn't been flying for a long time. I pulled the plastic tape away and after taking a deep breathe Amenadiel squeezed himself with his wings through the large gap in the wall, leaped out and began gliding through the air. A cheerful grin grew on my face, knowing both of them will alright by the end of the night.
"I guess it's just you and me now" a dark voice broke the silence from behind.
I felt a flick of blood redness shined in the centre of my eyes, at the moment when I heard Pierce my rage viciously boiled in my veins. In a second, my quickly calm down and turned around facing him. I walked over to the centre of the room while I tucked my bloody wings away as it felt like hundreds of tiny, sharp pins pointy deeply within my back. Once we reached to short equal distance between us, slowly our feet began to circle around in the middle of the room.
"You're a right old, cocky, little bastard, you know that" I commented.
"I don't know whether to agree or say that you're just looking at a mirror" Pierce replied, I chuckled in a low tone.
"As much as I want to squeeze your skull and plunged it down to the centre of your body, there's one thing I need to know" I grinned with a threating tone, "Why did you invite my brother?"
Pierce took in a deep breathe in like he was ready to let out a lie to cover his tracks, but he knew as I knew that there was no point. Finally, he revealed "I wanted to kill Amenadiel"
"Why?" I questioned in puzzlement.
"God took my mark away. I thought killing his favorite son might bring it back" Pierce explained.
"Oh. Did you, now?" my questionable tone of rapidly changed to short laughter.
"It's the truth" Pierce raised his voice louder, "Your brother actually showed me something that I never knew."
"And what would that be" I asked with my dark eyes narrowed.
"That I don't want to die. And, Chloe made me realised that life is worth living, and I am willing to do whatever it takes to live" Pierce answered.
"But, I don't think killing my brother will help you" I replied.
"Why not?"
"Because earlier this evening my brother had this insane theory that we, angels, and possibly immortals" I pointed to Pierce, "That we all control of what happen to us."
"And, you actually believe Amenadiel's theory?" Pierce chuckled, thinking it was some kind of joke and I felt the same way when my brother first explained it to me.
"I didn't at first, but then it got me thinking back" I slow down my feet and stopped by a stone column and rested my back against it. Pierce stopped at the same time as he sat himself down on a wooden box, I started analysing, "You know, before I first landed in Hell, I led a rebellion against dear old Dad. I failed. Everyone hated me for it, myself included, I've come to realise. I felt like a monster. And then, when I looked at my reflection, there was my Devil face."
"Your Father's punishment" Pierce answered, yet I shocked my head and huffed.
"So, I thought, but after speaking with Amenadiel, facing the detective, and just witnessing my brother getting his wings. I figured his theory could be true, and I came to realised that maybe I felt like a monster before I became one" I continued to revealed the true answer at the end, "I think I gave myself that face
"Then, what about your wings? How did you get them?" Pierce tried to fail me out of the theory.
"Well, I'd just saved Mum, hadn't I? And I'd decided to tell the detective the truth. I felt better about myself than I had in well ever. Maybe so much so that, deep down, I felt like I wasn't a monster anymore" when I answered, a feeling of relief came to me for I. remember that I was glad to do all of those things.
"What does any of this have to do with me? My curse was lifted when Chloe fell in love with me" Pierce pointed with a small smile.
Surprisingly to Pierce, I chuckled a wider smile on my face, "Yeah. You see I don't think that's what happened. You were willing to sacrifice the one thing you wanted to protect someone else. For the first time in your miserable life, Cain, you were selfless. And maybe, deep down, you felt that you finally deserved the mortality that you so desperately desired." I leaned in forward loving the look in Pierce's eyes as he knew that I was right and somehow he knew along too, "You fell in love with the detective, Pierce, not the other way around. As, she never loved you."
In a second, Pierce jumped off the wooden box with his face framed in worriedness and anger. I lifted myself off the stoned column. I yelled encouragingly, "Oh go ahead! Hit me like you like! Let's see how it ends with a mortal against the Devil. Come on!"
Pierce swiftly stopped from rushing up to me as curiosity came up to him, "Then, answer me this. How does this link to your vulnerability?"
I paused silently because truthfully, I didn't have a single idea for his question, my voice reflected on how clueless I was, "Hum… Truthfully, I have no clue. Maybe it's because of my father, or maybe it is link to this theory, I just haven't figured it out yet."
"Either way, with Chloe around" Pierce's right hand reached down behind his hand, and revealed Maze's hell blade, "You are still very vulnerable."
"A fair fight it is, then, Cain" I grinned.
Pierce began the fight as he swings the blades out directly at me, back and forth, I went how strong and energic he was when I gripped his wrist then pulled back away. I brightly laughed, "Someone's been working out." I tucked in my sleeves before Pierce came and attacked me, but I quickly slide behind him. He tried to attack with his right arm from below but I grabbed his arm and swing him around by my other hand hitting across his face, however Pierce use this to his advantage as he spanned himself back around and cut right through my suit on the top side of my left arm. I felt my warm blood slight tripping out and some on the sharp edge of the blade. Another attack but Pierce swing his arm from above, I was fats enough to stop his arm and my left hand bend harshly his arm, then unexpectedly I flipped him over my back and roughly landed him on his back.
Yet, one rough flip didn't stop the world's first murder, as Pierce rushed himself back up and flew his right hand out directly at my chest. He skilfully missed my hands, but I managed to grabbed his wrist as the blade was close to my throat. I felt Pierce using with all of his strength to push that blade closer to me, and he was succeeding.
"No, I promised you that I would find a way to kill you" I whispered eerily to his face.
My words distracted him for a moment when I threw my right hand over to where my left was holding on to his wrist. Both hands together I painfully cracked his hand around, forcing the blade in his hand to face directing at his chest. My thoughts were on the detective, and how Pierce toyed with her, used her, and tried to kill her. Hold that rage and filled it in the muscles of my arms, as I stuck in one last gulp of air and pulled all of my strength together, before I pushed myself forwards with my hands on his hand to lunge the blade deep into his chest.
Pierce' dreadful gasp were music to my ears, knowing that he was falling down to his advantages. I allow him to fall passed me then he rested himself down on his back. I turned around facing down on him before blissfully cheered, "And, I am a Devil of my word!"
Pierce was breathing fast in for every air getting stuck in or blow out from his lungs could be his last. He thought of reaching for the blade to pull it out, but quickly remember he's mortal now and pulling it out will lead him bleeding to death. His feared eyes looked up to me, "Is Chloe okay?"
It came to my surprise at his dying time, now he was wondering for the detective. I answer, "She's fine. No thanks to you."
Pierce moaned in pain until his voice changes into small laughter and rested his head down on the floor, "Now, that I know I'm dying, I don't know what I was so afraid of. I'm going to Heaven."
I raised my eyebrow, and I asked in a fake-pity tone, "You really believe that."
"I told you, Lucifer, I don't regret anything I've done" Pierce replied strongly as he tried to lean forward.
Gradually, I lowed myself down, bend my knees as I locked my eyes on the dying man. I smile and reasonably pointed, "Yes, but that was before you tried to kill the detective."
Pierce shocked his head shortly and closed his eyes, "No. No, that was an accident."
"Well, you pulled the trigger. You might it for me. But, you could have ended her life. Or, before that, you dragged her into this situation with the priests" every reason I spoke only grew more regret, and Pierce knew it.
Not only do I like showing off people when they're wrong, but love to punish them for their deep, regretful mistakes. Pierce's growing pain and his regrets only entertains me to widen my wrongfully smile, "And deep down, you know you're a monster. And that you belong in Hell, where you will torture yourself with that truth for eternity."
My rage boiled hotter in my veins, yet unknowingly to me my eyes began glowing in blood red again but darker. Pierce continued whining in pain, but at one moment I spotted him widen his eyes in shock when he looked my face. The rage was flaming wildly throughout my body, I could even feel it on my face. I carried on torturing him by speaking my clear, truthful words through my wicked grin, "Cause no matter what you tell yourself, you can't outrun what you've done. What you truly are."
I decided his misery and sent him down to Hell, my hand slowly reached over his chest and was about to grab the blade until Pierce snatched his hand out and grabbed my wrist. I was surprise to see how much strength Pierce had in dying muscle, with enough strength he leaned forwards and growled, "And neither can you." His breathless voice started laughing with an eerily grin, even though he was coaching out his last amount of air he continued laughing. The more air he breathed out to laugh at my face, the further Pierce began to lean back. After five seconds, his wicked smile quickly faded away and he dropped his head down dead. Pierce had the last laugh after all, I hate to admit it but his short laugher gave cold chills down my spine. My rage was still rising high like lava in a volcano, yet now I feel different with this kind of rage. Whenever I grew angry, I revealed my eyes to glow red, or though now I started to show uncontrollably.
"Lucifer?" the detective kind voice echoed loud within the circular room.
I heard footsteps slowly tapping down the wide stairs, her voice sounded relief, "Lucifer, are you okay?"
My beating heart slowly calm down when I heard the detective's voice, and the finally steps she took off from the wide steps of stairs. Coolly, I was risen up in a straight position and turned around faced the detective with a wide grin, happy to see that's she still fine. I first spotted a small smile held on the detectives' face until it quickly vanished while she rushed back away from me. Her back hit the small, stone column on the edge of the wide stairs, but she locked on me as I watched fear quickly spread across her face. Something must have scared her.
"Detective?" I asked.
She didn't replied, all I could hear was her deep breathing and her heart pounding fast between her ribs. "Lucifer…" her dry mouth managed to shiver some words out, meanwhile her shaking hand point upwards to her head, "Your face."
I was confused by what the detective meant, until I reached one of hands up to touch my face and I felt it. The burned, red scars covered all over my hairless head, I used my other hand to touch the other side of my face. The results from my touch are all the same, my devil face has return. My eyes moved back to the detective and scanned the petrify fear in her eyes as it trembled down coldly through her entire body. I waited for her reaction patiently, but deep know I knew that she would scream at me and run away again like she did on the beach earlier tonight.
"Is this the… devil side of you?" she struggled for a second to find the right word to describe the other side of me. I figured it should have been bad, horrific, terror, monstrous even.
"Yes" I answered shortly, watching the detective to gulped silently in fear. Until, I added, "But, it's not all that I am. At least I hope not."
"But, it is still… you, isn't it?" the detective wondered in the sounds of hope.
"Same old me" I chuckled a tiny grin, but not for long, after my hopeless eyes shifted from her face foreshadowing her reaction.
After silent seconds I waited until I finally heard her response, "Okay."
That single, calm word made my heart skipped a beat, as my eye slowly raised up and meet hers again. Although, I could see the detective was still very afraid of my appearance, I noticed how she trying to calm down her breathing. Her left hand carefully held behind on the stone column to pushed herself up into a balanced standing position. The fear intoxicating in her mind was trying to persuade the detective to move her eyes off from my monstrous face. But, she continued to gaze at me and serenely nodded, "It's still you."
I was expecting the detective to run as fast as she could, never looking back at the monster, or scream and sob in fear of the what I could do. I didn't vision anything else of what she could do if she didn't do any of those things. Although the detective wasn't smiling, she didn't look happy, or she didn't even accept me with my devil face. I didn't care about that because I knew she wouldn't do those things straight away, but I was just please that she knows how I really am now and that she's was trying to look at me without fear.
There was no more boiling wrath for me to feel through my bloodstreams, meanwhile the detective raised her left hand to partly cover her mouth as sniffed to herself. I spotted a small smile started to gradually grew, which made me happily grin but it made me wonder what she was smiling at. The cool wind blew above my head, until I felt the wind traveling through my black hair. That moment, I realised that I unexpectedly changed back to my normal self. I was unsure why I didn't felt my transformation, until I theories that the detectives' safety and her trying to look at me without fear was the key to my satisfaction.
Unfortunately, the moment didn't last long with Father Kinley jumped from behind of the detective. A small, sharp knife was held in his hand as Father Kinley rushed up to the detective side and stab the knife in the far edge of her abdomen. "No!" I screamed in terror. Once the knife was out, the detective used her left hand to cover her larger wound while trembling backwards away from Father Kinley. I rushed over before the crazy priest would have another chance to strike again, luckily he didn't had the chance for a second row as I grip the back of his top and flew him backwards. I watched Father Kinley landed roughly on the ground and slide across the floor till her head hit the dead arm of Pierce. I looked back at the detective where she was tremble far behind closer to the wide, wrecked entrance through the wall to the outside. Her right arm tried to reach out to grab the plastic, warning tape to hold and pulled herself back, but the bullet wound in her right shoulder reduced the strength in her arms. It was only for a second before she quickly fell out through the entrance and vanished right out of my sight.
"Detective!" I ran up to the edge and my eyed darted down and saw the detective fall further and further down.
After I lean the tip of my toe on the sharp edge and take off, I unfolded my white, bloody wings out wide and pulled them closer my body, so I glide down through the nightly air. Felt like I was getting close to the detective yet she was still falling far beneath me. I could view on the detectives' face that her eyes were half close, the detective was trying to widen them but the pain from her shoulder and now from her belly is too painful for her to open.
"Detective!" I loudly cried, reaching my right hand down for her to reach. The pain in her body was making her unconscious, but fortunately the air she was flying through rush upwards making the detectives' arm to be lifted upwards. I called again, "Detective! Grab my hand!"
This reminded me of that horrible dream when the detective fell off from the balcony in my penthouse, and I couldn't save her. This was no dream, this was real. I tried to keep reaching down to grab her hand, but it only had to be inches away. My eyes were focused on the detective hand, I try not to gaze down at her unconscious eyes because sometimes I gaze passed her head and looked at how close to the ground we are falling to. I shocked my head slightly and focused back getting to the detective. I foreshadowed that if I was late to catch her, I would have to scoop the detective close to my body and turned around so I would fall to the ground first and the detective would fall on me safety.
Until that version quickly faded away when I felt a soft touch just by the tip of my fingers. Her fingers were touching mine, so I quickly reached my hand further down to fully grabbed hers. Pulled the detective up to my chest as I scooped my arms underneath her back and her knees. I widen my white wings out to reduce the speed of my falling, flapping them strongly against the rushing wind leaving us hanging in the nightly air even pains my wings from the centre of my back. Fortunately, I was flying in above a small town area with less street lights for humans to notice me. My wing flew me up above to the nearest building with a short height, I didn't landed perfectly for my back was aching awfully. I was on my knees as I carefully low the detective down with my left still holding her from behind her back.
"Detective, you're safe now" I cheered happily.
However, the detective didn't smiled back, her eyes were still half closed but she wasn't trying to open them. Luckily, she was breathing but the pain from the badly wound on her belly was infecting her breathing. I noticed how her weak hands were slipping away from her belly and not fully holding pressure on her wound. My hand swiped out my dark blue handkerchief and cover it over the detective's wound, I tried to put pressure on it deeply to stop more blood from flooding out. Meanwhile, I used my other hand to pull my phone out and quickly make a call to Detective Douche.
"Hey Lucifer…" Dan answered.
I cut in as soon how he spoke, "Daniel! The detective is with me"
"Wait… What?" Daniel was speechless.
"Get an ambulance! And fast!" I ordered.
"Wait! Where are you?" Daniel asked.
"We're on a roof, on a building, opposite to the abandon museum in Melrose Street" I ended the call so I could focus on the detective.
"Come on! Detective! Don't give up!" I growl in a breathless tone. Fearing the detective's life was tiptoeing close to the gates of Heaven. This reminded of Father Frank when he died in my arms from a gunshot wound. I shook my head thinking this is going to happen to the detective. That glued to my mind and made my heart was beating faster than normal. For a moment, I either imagine or saw the detective's chest stopped moving her chest, meaning her breathing was slowly down. My heart stopped, literally, I didn't know what else to do. I scanned around on her body then our surroundings trying to find something that would be useful. Until, my eyes caught my bloody wings behind and brainstormed an idea.
I took a deep breathe in before my fingers strongly hold on the end of one of my white fingers and quickly pulled it out. If I keep restoring my wings again and again, then hopefully my feathers could still have some healing powers. I pressured the big, bloody finger in between the damaged wound and beneath my hand, but nothing was happening. Her deep silence was tormenting me every second. My wet eyes gazed down at her beautiful face, praying that this would work. I whispered quietly with a single tear sliding down my eye, "Chloe. Please come back."
When all hope I held in my lonely soul was lost, a sparkle of light flatter by the corner of my eye, like a small star starting to glow in white light. I felt the warmth beneath my hand as the white, bloody feather was glowing brighter. I wish it didn't kept on glowing in case it will bring attention, until the detectives' chest began to move. Her breathing was music to my ears, I chuckled a small smile at first until it slowly widen. Finally, my feather was darkening it's white light, when I lift the feather off from her skin it quickly stopped glowing. The detective was breathing calmly down, making me to breathe calmer and slower.
My attention was draw back to the pain in my back as my large wings were aching from the gunfire, then the flying which made it worse. One at a time I tucked them in. Afterwards, I heard some police sirens alarming from below, knowing that Detective Douche has arrived with the police just at the right moment. I tried to stand up to warn Daniel of my whereabouts or to carry the detective down, but my back was aching painfully, so I stayed down on my knees. Hopefully, Detective Douche will use that phone tracking device to find me, while I wait. Happy to stay by the detectives' side.