Sorry for the long wait, life is hectic…
I will try and post again as soon as possible.
Lucifer felt her pain. It shot through him like it was his own. He looked up from the map.
"What is it?" Beelzebub asked, slightly flustered that his explanation was being interrupted. His finger still hovered over the pins placed across the world map.
"Astoreth," Lucifer growled. He paced across the bar, his wings twitching against his back. Another shot of pain, this one was stronger and threatened to pull Astoreth into the void. "Fuck!"
Lucifer turned his face up and allowed the bar to melt around him. Beelzebub's annoyed grumble echoed even as the street materialized around him.
Astoreth was choking in Dean's grip, the knife an inch deep in her stomach. A bolt light ran through her darkened frame as the blade slid deeper. Dean was snarling as he saw her grip begin to falter.
Another stream of light shot through Astoreth from head to toe. Dean's eyes followed. Interesting. Lucifer wondered how Dean was able to see the light or if by some coincidence his eyes followed something he couldn't actually see.
Astoreth's grip was slipping quickly. She gasped and held on to Dean's wrist. Lucifer slid his arm around her shoulders, just under Dean's arm. Their skin brushed and Lucifer felt fire consume his arm, it was a familiar but overwhelming sensation. There was a pull, an attraction, a need.
Lucifer jerked Astoreth back and Dean's grip slipped from her throat. Lucifer placed a hand over the wound but didn't heal it. Astoreth whimpered against his chest.
"Sam?" The name electrified the air.
"Sam is dead." Everything went silent, as if mourning this fact.
"No." The knife clattered on the pavement. And sorrow gripped Lucifer for an instant.
Lucifer shook off the feeling. Confusion was not something he should experience. The belief that was so ingrained in those green eyes made him stumble over his words.
"I killed him." Astoreth faltered against his arms, leaning on his support. "It wasn't difficult really." Lucifer removed his hand slowly. Astoreth calmed. The wound was gone.
"Sam!"
Lucifer shuddered. He couldn't repress the physical response to Dean's call. Lucifer's blood red eyes faltered. He felt the hazel return before he could stop it. He stepped back and blinked.
"Until next time Brother." The street melted, but Lucifer couldn't erase the image of Dean's face.
The shabby walls reformed around him, as Lucifer let go of Astoreth. She stumbled away from him. His right hand met her jaw in a deafening smack.
The bar went silent as a crack rang out over the noise. Black eyes turned from their weapons and maps to the center of the bar.
Lucifer unfurled his black wings in the rundown room; it made him seem even larger. They arched backwards, making demons dart out of the way. Lucifer stared at Astoreth with vehemence as she cowered from his first blow.
"What were you thinking?" Lucifer's words were calm but there was thunder in his voice.
"What else was I supposed to do? He was already-"
Another crack echoed across the room. Lucifer backhanded Astoreth's face with such force that it sent her reeling against the bar. Lucifer could feel the back of his hand tingling painlessly from the contact, so much more in tune with Sam's body than before.
"I told you to kill his son. An eleven year old boy." Sam had a nephew? Lucifer brushed the thought aside. "I didn't tell you to confront him outright, you imbecile," Lucifer's voice was low.
"He was already there. He wasn't going to let me anywhere near that boy," Astoreth's voice rose.
"Are you not intelligent enough to find a way around him? You ignored my one warning," Lucifer stepped forward. He grabbed Astoreth's chin and made her look him in the eyes. "I told you not to fight him."
"I-"
A shiver ran through his mind. "You would have died." Lucifer's hand rested over the hole in Astoreth's shirt. Lightning shot through her and she gasped. Astoreth's dark blue eyes were locked with Lucifer's. The shock ran through him as well. "I would be without a general." The lightning cracked again and she cringed. Lucifer swallowed. "Start following my orders or next time I will let you die on the end of his knife," he whispered harshly in Astoreth's ear.
Sam's boots echoed across the sawdust covered floor as Lucifer walked. He stopped a few steps away to turn back to Astoreth. "Do you understand me?"
"Yes." Astoreth clutched at her stomach but there was no wound under her shirt.
Lucifer's wings settled and curled around his back. Their weight hung comfortably from his shoulders. "Beelzebub!"
The man was snickering over one of the maps. "Yes, Lucifer."
"Continue!"
"Of course." Beelzebub couldn't keep the smile off his face. "I have aligned your forces in position to take DC, London, Paris, Berlin, and nearly every other capital in the world. They have their assignments. Infiltration first, open war second. We will have every world leader working for us." Beelzebub turned to the map. "Once we have political position we will be able to wipe out the entire human population. There will be no resistance."
"Humans have become indifferent. They won't fight back unless a gun is waved in their face. They won't even know what is happening until it's too late," Astoreth stated as she leaned over the map.
Lucifer nodded to her. Concern and relief flooded him, but he didn't let the emotions show. It unsettled him to feel like this. "Proceed," he commanded Beelzebub. "Astoreth I want you to oversee this operation." Both generals scowled at each other.
"Of course," Astoreth mumbled as she shot Beelzebub an evil grin. He ground his teeth and looked back at the map.
"You will know when to commence the attack?"
"When the light of dawn dies," Beelzebub began.
"The reign of Hell begins," Astoreth finished. Her smile grew as her eyes darkened.
"Right we have some time before the sun rises. Nothing can truly happen until then. Enjoy this. We have waited too long not to have some fun," Lucifer ordered with a smile.
Astoreth's grin faltered. "Where are you going?" She moved toward him. As if she could stop him.
Lucifer grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the bar. He stopped just out of earshot.
He turned suddenly. "To do what you could not. I don't want him interfering."
"He won't interfere. The end of times will be well on the way before he fights back. By then he won't be able to do anything."
"He is not every other human. He will not sit by until it affects him. It already has. He lost his brother and he stands to lose his son. He will be more deadly to our cause if we do nothing."
Astoreth scowled. "He is driving somewhere, right? Kansas. He will be plenty busy for awhile."
"He will arrive just after dawn."
"Then he will be too late," she argued. "Come with us. Revel in the fruitions of our plans. Leave him for a night."
"I can't," Lucifer growled.
"Why not," she muttered through clenched teeth.
"Because he is dangerous," Lucifer looked into the night, avoiding her eyes.
Astoreth laughed, the noise was short and harsh. "That isn't the reason. I can tell when you are hiding something. Millennia have given me that."
"We can't have him causing more problems."
Throwing her hands in the air, Astoreth sighed. "You can't hide things from me, Lucifer. You want to see him. You… You regret something," she stuttered in surprise, completely confident that she was right.
"I should have killed him in the convent." In reality, Lucifer wasn't sure why he hadn't ended all his problems right then and there. Something had held him back.
As if she read his mind, Astoreth rested a hand on his chest and whispered, "Why didn't you?"
He faltered.
"You could have killed him." She could see the scene playing out in his eyes. "He was in your grasp. You wounded him when you tore through his chest… And yet you allowed him to be healed and become the problem that he is. Why?"
"Do not question my decisions." Lucifer grabbed her wrist and pulled it back. Astoreth's skin left a burning sensation running up his arm and across his chest. He let the lot dissolve around him.
The shore front was deserted, and the snow glowed blue in the moon light. Soft waves crashed noisily below and the foam shimmered on the dark waters. A hint of predawn light was killing the serenity of the landscape.
He stared at the world without his enhanced sight, through Sam's eyes. His Father's creation really was beautiful. But the end was here. The world had to burn; it had to die. He made a sudden promise to no one at all.
Lucifer would rebuild the beauty and surround himself with life.
The sun moved quickly toward the dawn, as if it suspected someone was waiting for it. But he still had some time.
His wings expanded to take him into the sky. Lucifer skimmed the water with his hand and ice shot up Sam's arm as the nerves tingled with the sensation. He swooped below the surface. Cold pressed against him.
Lucifer rose up into the sky, water dripping from his body. He stared at the still-dark sky longingly. The sun would rise soon.
He let his wings take him higher in the sky, their rhythmic beat counting the moments of freedom. He hovered above the clouds. His lungs burned but they weren't necessary. A tingle ran down his skin.
Slow soft movements kept him hovering, gently bobbing in the sky. The first of the sun's rays shot across his face. Peaceful. They way he had intended them to be. He didn't want to hide the glory shining down on him.
The light warmed the frozen water on his skin drying his body. More rays consumed the sky and he was submerged in their warmth. He trailed his hands through them; they ran between his fingers like water.
The sun crested. A fiery arc of power. A single tear slid down Lucifer's cheek. Why would he cry?
Such human emotions were weak, useless. Sam was right; he didn't know how to feel… And he preferred it that way.
The sun was beautiful and full of energy. So much power in the light. Only one could burn that bright.
Sam!
Lucifer dropped a few feet. Dean's cry rang out in his mind again. Prolonged and pleading, the voice sent heat across his skin. A burning figure flashed in his memory. The voice made him want to shiver. He shook his head and the sound faded, but the bright image of Dean held for a moment longer.
He rose back up and stared at the sun. Lucifer's hands balled into fists as he glared at the burning light. He felt it flare. He felt something fight him; it nearly won. He felt the light flicker and then…
It was gone.
The light had winked out. The sky was consumed by darkness once more. The power was infinitely unsettling. It flowed within him in a great torrent of anger. Sam's skin was ready to burst with the energy jumping off it. For a moment Lucifer let the power run its course sending his muscles twitching.
He took in a breath and the morning smelled like heaven; it felt like grace. Lucifer caught himself longing for his brethren.
No.
Lucifer was here to bring about the end of the world. He was here to prove that he was right and God was wrong. With that hateful thought the sparks of energy running rampant through his flesh focused. It ran like a river through him, a torrent of feeling. Lucifer focused. He slid beneath the clouds. He heard the laughter for miles; it came to his ears in a menacing chuckle. He smiled a little.
His revenge had begun.
Lucifer watched from above as demons flooded the ground. His heightened sight let him view the horrors below. Pitch black, they were scars moving across the ground.
The end of time was here.
He swooped down over Astoreth and Beelzebub running with the demons. Beelzebub's awkward gait barely kept pace with Astoreth's fluid steps. Her cry pierced the air when she heard his wings. It was joyous and terrifying.
Lucifer pulled up sharply, laughing with his generals as he watched them black out the ground.
The noise echoed even after he disappeared. The street was dark as the Impala rumbled into the drive way. The For Sale sign fluttered in the wind. Lucifer glanced at the house. It was lifeless.
An instinctual shiver ran down his spine.
Home.
He felt Dean turn his head. Instantly Lucifer disappeared. The house materialized across the street. Dean stared directly at where he had been a moment before.
A woman, Lisa his mind provided, climbed out of the back seat with a boy asleep on her shoulder. He was Dean's son. It was clear from boy's features. And if he were Dean's son, the boy could be a vessel, like Sam; it ran deep in the blood of this family.
Lucifer's brother appeared next to Dean and scanned the neighborhood. Castiel could not see him in the dark. Lucifer stared through the vessel his sibling was wearing. Castiel had not changed over the millennia. He was still timid and thoughtful. He could fight though and was not to be underestimated.
They walked up to the house quietly. Castiel vanished again and the door opened from the inside. Though they disappeared when they entered the house Lucifer watched their movements carefully still knowing where they were.
Castiel did not need to sleep but Dean had just driven for hours.
He needed rest.