Chapter Four: Forget Him
Elizabeth was now 22. The letters had stopped coming in for about a year now, and everyone had assumed the worst. "He's most likely gotten himself killed," Frances Middleford, Elizabeth's mother, had coldly stated at one point. She stared blankly at her daughter, who only gazed at all the past telegrams sent from him. Frances placed a tender hand on Elizabeth's shoulder and forced a crooked smile. "On the bright side, you won't have that weak boy dragging you down anymore." When there was no reply from the stubborn girl, she grunted and swiftly turned on her heel to exit. There was no point in staying if there was no conversation. Before she left, she stopped at the doorway and smiled back at her daughter. "You and Lucifer make a beautiful couple," She complimented, finally leaving the room.
The young woman sat alone by her large pile of letters, wondering if she would ever get a new one. She regretted ditching Ciel for a stranger. She couldn't even talk to him about it. While he was out risking his life to save everyone from a cold blooded serial killer, Elizabeth was out flirting with a man Ciel had never even heard of. She couldn't keep her promise about staying true to her fiancée. Elizabeth buried her face in her hands, but she wouldn't cry. She couldn't anymore. She loved that Lucifer of hers. He was sweet and gave her all the love that Ciel had always held back so roughly. Lucifer was gentle and understanding. He was everything that the girl could ever want in a man, and now she could finally have him. It was so pitiful for Elizabeth to leave her fiancée, but he was probably dead or not even concerned about her well-being anymore. Yes. That was it. He didn't even care about his fiancée anymore. That's why the letters stopped, because he didn't care.
Elizabeth leaned back in her chair and sighed. The idea of him not caring seemed like a whole better reason to leave Ciel for the newcomer, and she decided to gladly accept it. No more guilt. She stood up from her seat and left her letters on the table. She was never going to go through them again, for whenever she did, she thought of Ciel and became doleful. That man had associated with demons and foul creatures, and there was no way Elizabeth wanted to marry a strange person like that. It was only for the best that Ciel went away anyway.
The young woman galloped to the door. She was expecting Lucifer to arrive at any minute. The two were going out on a date for the third time of the week. It seemed like they nearly spent every moment with each other, unlike how she had with Ciel back as children. There was a sudden knock, and Elizabeth rushed to answer if before her butler could. She smiled up at the prim and well-dressed character, who smiled back down at her. "Hello, Lizzie," the charming gentleman greeted as he moved aside for her to step out. She grabbed his arm and he escorted her to their patiently standing horses where they would begin their day.
The two rode their stallions out in the woods. They had been on a hunting spree, since Elizabeth always took great pride in the sport because she was so skilled at it. The two had spent most of their day fooling around and shooting their guns at every little thing that moved, but always shot off to the side so they wouldn't harm it. Now unless a deer was spotted, they would aim the barrel directly at it and pop it right through the skull, letting the untamed creature's blood explode onto the wild grass. They'd cheer at what they did and trotted to the dead animal. There, Lucifer would tie the lifeless being to the back of his horse behind himself and carry it throughout their journey. They now had three deer piled up on top of each other, and his horse was beginning to fall behind Elizabeth's from the weight. He patted the steed's mane and looked over to the young lady, who had been watching him. "Perhaps we should turn back and call it day? It's almost sunset, after all." Elizabeth offered with a joyful curve of her lips, knowing that was what Lucifer wanted.
He nodded in agreement, and the two turned their stallions around and began to make way to the carriage. Unfortunately, they had no idea of their location but chose not to admit it assuming the other knew the way back home. The sky was now a violet color, and it would soon fall into a dark and deep indigo blue. Elizabeth huffed and looked at her partner; he immediately turned to lock eyes with her. They both seemed horribly distasteful with each other at the moment. "I thought you knew the way!" Elizabeth pouted, stopping her horse.
Lucifer grunted and halted his steed as well, whipping his long bangs from his eyes. "I was following you, young lady," he mocked. They were silent for a moment, and the crickets began to chirp. Lucifer lightly kicked his horse and began to move again.
"You don't even know where you're going and you dare to leave!" The stubborn girl cried, now following him again.
He deeply sighed at her spicy attitude and sped up a little to keep away from her. "Well, we surely can't stay here! A bear might smell the dead deer's scents and come to attack us. We have to keep moving at all times-"
"I'm tired! I want to stay here!" Elizabeth childishly bickered. Before the man could retort, she gestured a yawn with her hand and jumped down from the massive animal. She began to take her satchel and set it on the ground. She was making a pillow of the thing. Lucifer made snobby comments that the girl refused to listen to, and she set her head down on her manmade bed and attempted to fall asleep. The man scratched the back of his head and groaned, getting off of his horse as well. There was no use in traveling at night anyway if they couldn't see. He leaned against a tree and sat fairly far away from Elizabeth, being sure to hold a gun in his lap. The young lady frowned at what he was carrying. "What do you plan to do with that?"
Lucifer stared at her a moment before scornfully answering. "You don't want to get mauled, do you? I'm going to stay awake and shoot at whatever threat comes near."
Elizabeth moaned. She lifted her head from her satchel and suddenly stood up. "No, you're not! You're going to be blasting that thing off all night on purpose so I won't have a wink of sleep!" She marched over to her companion's spot and tore the weapon from his weak grip.
Lucifer was baffled at her unladylike actions. "Will you stop?! I'm trying to protect us," he growled. The man then got on his feet and stole the gun away from her again, but she only took hold of it once more. They both refused to let go. "Quit being such an ignorant little hussy and let me do my job!" Lucifer insulted while gritting his teeth. They held on for a moment, but Elizabeth let go of the gun and clenched her fists. She suddenly punched him in the throat, causing him to choke and drop his weapon. She then snatched it from the floor and stomped back to her spot, flopping down into her makeshift bed with her back turned to him.
Lucifer rubbed his neck and disdainfully glared at that ignorant woman. He slid down his tree again and leaned against it, suddenly chuckling. "My, you sure can pack a punch," he complimented, trying to lighten the mood. All he got in return was a 'hmp,' and he brought forth another attempt. "Who taught you to hit like that?"
There was a quiet grumble and Elizabeth barely shifted her position. "My mother," she coldly answered. Now getting uncomfortable with the way she laid, she turned and lied on her back to gaze at the stars. An awkward smirk crossed her lips and she started to nervously fiddle with her thumbs. "She said that… you and I are beautiful together." The girl's face began to fall into a deep red.
"Now, are we?" Lucifer breathed, grinning to himself. His stomach suddenly growled, and Elizabeth's echoed off of his, ruining their small moment. They both sighed and stared at the dead deer on the horse's back. They were covered in flies, but the two were so hungry. The man forced himself up and made his way towards the precious meat to cut them down. "We won't be able to get anything until morning, so we might as well build a fire and blaze one of these up."
All of a sudden, there was a low growl in the distance. The horses neighed and became uneasy as they whipped their heads around. Elizabeth sat up and looked in the direction the noise came from. Lucifer also turned. The young girl shivered and grasped the gun as tightly as she could. "Was that a bear?" Her voice was trembling. Her eyes shifted from the bushes to her friend, who was unaware that he was still gripping onto the ropes.
"No," he whispered, his hand slipping from the rope. Another growl was heard to their left, and then a bark to their right. "… It's a pack of wild dogs." He whipped his head to look at the quivering girl who was dazed as she stared off into the distance. "Elizabeth! Snap out of it! Position the rifle and protect yourse-" Before he could finish, a frenzied beast burst from the bushes and ran for her. The frightened girl immediately pulled the trigger and the dog fell right onto its side. It bled out onto the grass. They were both relieved that that one had died so quickly. Suddenly, another dog came from the distance and sped for Lucifer. It latched onto his arm with its fangs. He went to grab for the gun normally mounted at his side, but it was in the girl's hands. He began to panic. "Shoot it! Get it off!"
Elizabeth jumped and turned to face her lover. She was so frightened that she would accidentally shoot him, and she was by no means prepared to make him bleed. Lucifer told her to shoot again, and she lifted the gun. Her fingers shook as she took hold of the trigger. More and more of the wild beasts began to close in on the fighting man, now starting to tear at his clothes. "Hurry!" He ordered. Elizabeth gasped and rapidly pulled the trigger without a second thought. A doglike shriek was heard from that direction. "Good! Again!" Lucifer cheered, now putting good faith in her. Elizabeth carefully aimed the weapon and shot again, hitting one of the dogs in the cranium. The overconfident woman hastily pulled the trigger once more, but this time accidentally shot Lucifer in the leg from firing too quickly. He let out an awful cry, and Elizabeth screamed at what she had done. She couldn't get up and help him until the beasts had fled. The girl stood up now and aimed the gun again, shooting and shooting at all of the terrifying animals. One by one, they either ran after being wounded or died until they were all eventually gone.
The frantic woman scurried to his side and looked over his leg. "Lucifer! I'm so sorry for hitting you! I didn't mean to!" She whimpered as she examined all of the other rips on his clothes.
"What? You didn't hit me." He said. They looked into each other's eyes, and Elizabeth's eyebrows creased into confusion.
"You screamed! I must have hit you. I saw the bullet go right into your leg!" Her voice rose, although she didn't want to get angry after what they had just witnessed.
"No, you hit the dogs," he defended, but she didn't hear him. She searched all around his body for injuries again and noticed he wasn't bleeding anywhere. A small hole where the bullet had hit was pierced in his slacks, but there wasn't a scratch on him. Elizabeth began to breathe heavily. She looked up into the man's eyes, and noticed that they were slightly glowing red, like they had since they first met. Lucifer always said it was an unfortunate condition, but the girl didn't seem to believe him anymore at that moment. Even in the dark of the night they glowed, which was extremely unnatural even for just a genetic mutation. She began to think of the red eyes Sebastian and Ciel had, and wondered if this man she had grown so close to was a demon too. "What's wrong," he asked, noticing the worried facial expressions. The man's entire face suddenly began to glow with a strange yellowish orange color. Elizabeth's heart raced.
"Hey, you guys a'right?" A man asked. They jumped and looked back at a strange figure that was holding a lantern. That must have been what made Lucifer's eyes glow so bright- the lantern's light. Elizabeth sighed, deciding again that her friend was indeed human. "I heard some gunshots and some screams and decided ta check it out… You two lost?" He asked again. The couple nodded. "Wella… I can escort you fellers outta here."
Lucifer stood at Elizabeth's doorstep as they said good night to each other. It was extremely late by the time they returned to the Middleford manner. They had discarded the deer in the woods, deciding it would be better that the wild animals had the flesh instead. All of their hard work was wasted on demented creatures, but it couldn't be helped.
"I still think you should come inside and let me bandage up your wounds," Elizabeth offered, feeling bad about all that they had gone through. She still insisted that she shot him and wanted to make up for it, but she didn't let on, since Lucifer argued that she didn't hurt him.
The man shook his head. "I'll dress my own wounds," he said flatly. He turned as if he was about to walk away, but he didn't leave the steps. "Thank you for saving my life tonight."
Elizabeth warmly smiled. "Thank you for being the bait."
They both lightly chucked, although they were still shaken up from the incident. They said their goodbyes and he walked to the carriage to leave, not to be seen again for a couple days.
Elizabeth went back inside and leaned on the closed door. If it wasn't for him, she would have died. She could have sat there and held the gun like an idiot and got mauled by all of those vicious beasts. He didn't even run away. He stayed to make sure that she was safe. Ciel would most often make the butler carry her to safety. That wasn't noble- that was cowardly. She was right. That boy had never cared for her, not the way Lucifer did. Ciel only stuck to her side because he had to, but when it came down to it in the very end, he only cared for himself. Elizabeth sighed. It was definitely the time to forget all about him and move on to Lucifer. "Lucifer," she repeated out lout, shutting her eyes and smiling. Yes, Lucifer was a wonderful choice.