Chapter 16

Luce's whole body went stiff. She couldn't help but hold her breath, worried the slightest movement would make him attack.
Here, standing a few inches in front of her was Lucifer. The ruler of Hell. That would explain the sweltering heat piercing her skin. But that wasn't the worst part of all of this, this wasn't a dream!

Luce began to panic, moving away slightly, but the heat coming off him intensified. Luce could imagine her skin blistering from the heat.
Staring closely at the man...Lucifer, his appearance began to change before Luce's eyes.
His blonde hair grew slightly longer, untamed, and turned jet black. His frame broadened and grew taller, towering over Luce, even more than before. She could smell something disgusting, almost like sulphur, coming from the pores on his body, and his hands were turning into giant claws, while a tail began to form behind him, whipping round his feet.

Luce started to edge towards the icy water, desperate for the cooling sensation, with each transformation of Lucifer the heat around him grew. The fire crackled and spat, as if reacting with Lucifer's change.
"Haha, you really think you can escape?" Lucifer's voice was deeper than before and loud, hurting Luce's ears.

Luce willed herself to scream but nothing could come out.
Lucifer bent down and using one huge claw gripped Luce's shoulder, stopped her from moving backwards anymore.
"I've been waiting longer then you can imagine to make you mine again" Lucifer's hot breath burnt Luce's skin, making her cry out in pain.
Lucifer gripped Luce's shoulder tighter, until there was a sickening pop as her shoulder dislocated and Luce moaned at the pain, causing Lucifer to draw a deadly smile.

Just as Luce thought she was about to pass out, there was a loud thump and Luce collapsed to her knees as Lucifer's hand released her.
Looking up to where Lucifer had been, she saw all the angels backs surrounding her, wings out, poised to attack. Cam had slammed into the side of Lucifer knocking him over completely. Cam quickly stood back up and stood with the rest of the angels.

"You really think you can defeat me" Lucifer boomed, anger in his voice, as he raise to his feet.
"We KNOW we can defeat you" Cam scoffed, a slight smirk on his lips.
Luce looked around, desperate to cool down from the blistering heat she could still feel, she noticed the sea water nearby. Slowly she crawled on her hands and knees towards the edge of water, careful not to put weight on her bad shoulder.

Cam glared at Lucifer, who gave one more booming laugh, before diving straight into the fire. It licked around him and he began to flicker out of vision. With one last roar the fire sprawled out, the shrunk in on itself. Leaving nothing but scorch marks on the floor beneath the melted snow.

"Well that was..." Cam stopped midsentence noticing Luce wasn't behind Daniel. Looking around frantically he saw she was about to plunge into the icy waters of the sea. "LUCE NO!" Cam shouted, as he saw her slip into the black water silently.

All the angels flew over instantly, and Cam threw his arms into the icy cold water. Luce had been completely under, and Cam was worried she'd drown. Reaching down further he felt Luce's shoulder's and quickly pulled her out. She took a gasp of air and Cam sat on the snow with her sitting in his lap, hugging her tightly, not caring about getting his own clothes wet.

"Jeez why Luce?! Why would you be so stupid!" Cam sighed, frustrated she did such a stupid act, but relived he got there before she drowned.
"I was too hot" Luce mumbled quietly into his chest.

Cam looked at her face carefully. She was paler than usual, and her lips had begun to turn a light blue. Her eyes didn't focus on him, and she was suffering from obvious shock while shaking violently. Pulling off his hoodie he wrapped it round her shoulders until she gave a small cry of pain.

Cam looked up at the others who were standing around with worry on their faces.
Roland leant down next to Cam and examined her shoulder gently. Prodding it slightly Luce hissed in pain. "That needs to be popped back in" Roland said calmly.

Cam sighed "Go on then". He readjusted his grip on her, making sure she would stay still and not cause any more damage to herself.
With a quick pop Luce squeezed her eyes shut and gripped Cam tightly with her good arm.
"Shhh, it's ok" Cam said in a soothing voice, stroking her hair. She soon relaxed in his arms again, resting her head against his chest
"We should get her back before she gets sick" Daniel said in a comforting voice placing a hand on Cams shoulder.

Holding onto her tightly he lifted her up, and carried her back to the tent. She put her head on his shoulder and shut her eyes, feeling him draw soothing circles on her back.
Daniel came up beside her face and studied her features. He felt guilty, why hadn't he felt her wake up and leave?

After Gabbe and Arriane had changed a half awake, shivering Luce out of her soaking wet clothes and into some new ones from the bag, Cam came back inside the tent. He pulled the blanket up over her and scooted in next to her. Slowly she rolled over half asleep and nuzzled into his side. Cam held his breath as she got comfortable and drifted back into sleep.
The other angels soon entered, trying to ignore Luce curled up near Cam. Daniel gritted his teeth and ran a hand through his hair in frustration at the sight.

"So what was that about?" Arriane asked in a quiet voice, making sure she didn't wake Luce.
"I have no idea, I thought he wasn't getting here till 5 days time" Roland stated.
"Didn't you see it? He left through the fire. He wasn't here completely and couldn't leave the fire side. He was probably just trying to scare her" Molly explained.

"Well I think he succeeded" Daniel said while glancing down at Luce.
"How did she get out? Any of you hear her?" Gabbe asked.
"I have no idea. Me and Cam were next to her, its surprising neither of us felt her move" Daniels face was scrunched up in concentration, trying to understand what must have happened.
"Well we can't tie her up every night to make sure she doesn't wonder off" Roland shuffled underneath his own blankets ready to lie down.
"I suppose we need to hear Luce's side of the story, like why she decided to wonder off" Cam spoke quietly, desperate not to wake Luce up.
"Your right. We can't do anything till the morning" Gabbe was also getting under her blankets.
"So where shall we fly tomorrow?" Molly asked.
"Somewhere warm, a particular location isn't essential, Sarah and Ben will find us wherever we go" Daniel got close to Luce. He felt that she had warmed up and was breathing steadily, and the colour was slowly returning to her face. They've managed to avoid any major disasters. This time.