Chapter 20

Cam was on edge, last time this happened Lucifer had pulled Luce through the announcer, and she had almost drowned and froze to death. Scanning the area carefully, he saw that there was no one around, but the same fire Lucifer had used to connect to earth, was a foot ahead of them, crackling and spitting.

"Damn" Molly hissed.
"W-w-what? What is it?" Luce was worried, she didn't want to feel Lucifer's scalding heat on her skin again. However the sensation soon began to appear and Luce groaned, moving backwards so she was completely behind Cam's wings.

The area was completely silent, only broken by the crackle of the fire in front of them.

"Well well, you brought uninvited guests" A dark booming voice which Luce recognised echoed around them. Gasping, Luce saw the terrible creature uncover itself from behind the scorched tree. Cam's muscles tensed, and Molly was thinking quickly how to make their escape possible before anything happened, but soon drew blanks.

The creature strolled over to Cam and Molly, with fire in his eyes. He towered over them both and gave them deadly stares.
"What happened to you two, you chose my side and then disobey me!" Lucifer sounded angry, and Luce was instantly terrified. He was menacing at the best of times, Luce didn't want to see what he looked like angry.

"We did not agree for this to happen to Luce, and you know it" Cam responded bravely. 'How is he not scared?!' Luce thought.
"When you chose my side, you do whatever I ask!" The created shouted, causing Luce to cover her ears and lean into Cam's wings to feel safe. Cam felt her leaning into him and stood firm, making sure Luce understood Cam wouldn't be moving anywhere.
"We don't follow orders well, you know that" Molly butted in.

Lucifer smiled "Your attitudes suit my own. Yet I have something which might make Luce..." He peered over Cam's shoulders to see Luce "change her mind and come with me..."
With a snap of his claws, the tree which was behind him burst into flames, but then a figure started to walk out, walking towards them and whimpering.

Penn! She was bruised, and her eyes showed how frightened she was.
"Penn!" Luce shouted and started to run past everyone to get to her, but before she could Lucifer's claw grabbed her arm. She screamed in pain as the fire returned to her body. The heat was overwhelming, and Luce started to struggle to get out of his grip.

"Tut tut, you haven't heard my proposal yet" Lucifer said, venom in his voice. "I'll let Penn leave, unharmed and alive, if you agree to rule by my side".
Luce stopped struggling and stared up at the creature with hope in her eyes. There was a flicker of kindness in his eyes for a split second, before it returned to the deadly fire.
She turned to face Cam, his face was dark, and he shook his head in her direction. His muscles were tensed, waiting to move forward at any moment to save Luce from his grasp. While Molly was studying Penn from a distance, not looking at Luce, but with confusion on her face.

"Would you leave the other angels alone too?" Luce looked back up at Lucifer, who gave a deadly smile and nodded slowly.
"Well..."

"NO! Don't Luce, it's a trick! That's not Penn!" Molly blurted out.

Lucifer's smile faded quickly, and he glared at Molly before tightening his grip on Luce's arm. Luce cried out in pain, but before the grip could break her arm completely, Cam had swiftly grabbed one of the sticks on the ground and had stuck it deep in Lucifer's arm.

He released his grip on Luce, and Cam managed to pull Luce back into him. He felt her head and she was burning up quickly.
"We need to get out of here" Cam hissed at Molly.
"We need to make sure he goes back to hell first!" Molly replied.

Luce lifted her head and looked at Penn, indeed it was a trick. Penn flicked in and out of vision, almost like a holographic image.
Lucifer stood up to his full height once again intimidating. He pulled his arm up, ready to inflict a powerful blow against Cam, Molly and Luce, when something blue missed his face by inches.

Cam looked up to see Daniel, Ben and Arriane flying full speed, with Blue arrows in their hands, preparing to shoot them at Lucifer.
Lucifer growled before stepping into the fire and similar to last time, he was swallowed up by the flames. The fire shrunk in on itself before leaving with scorch marks on the floor. The only light left was from tree, which was still on fire on some branches.

"What happened?!" Daniel landed in front of Cam, and leant down to check Luce for any injuries.
"Get off her Grigori" Cam hissed "She's fine!"
Daniel noticed the bruises over her face and arms. "This is her looking fine?!" Daniel said through gritted teeth.
"Shhh Daniel, I am fine promise" Luce said in a shaky voice and gave a weak smile "Can we go back to the cave now though?". She was nervous Lucifer would return.

When they got back to the cave, Daniel asked to speak to Cam and Molly alone. They flew off to discuss what happened.
"Why weren't you more careful?! When I said train I didn't mean beat up!" Daniel scolded Molly for being rough with Luce in training today.
"Shut up Daniel, she improved, that's the main thing" Molly was obviously trying to change the subject.

"Have you guys found the orb?" Cam asked, and Molly glanced at him with a small 'thank you' smile.
"Actually yeah, we were returning for a few hours, before flying off to china to place it in the temple." Daniel let out a sigh. "Lucky we did turn up really isn't it?"

"It's not our fault Grigori! Lucifer can pull Luce into an announcer when she sleeps. All we can do is either never let her sleep again, or follow her through" Cam snapped.
Daniel sighed, he knew it wasn't Cam's fault, but jealousy was getting the best of him. "Your right. Let's get back before any possible outcasts see us out here". They all turned in the air and began to fly back towards the cave.

Ben was sitting near Luce, he had a cold damp cloth and was dabbing her forehead, and where Lucifer had gripped her arm, with it to cool her skin. Arriane was changing the cold water, and had already changed Luce into some fresh clothes, after they were dirty from today's training. The cold cloth was welcome and Luce closed her eyes.

"You sure your ok?" Ben asked for the thousands time.
"Yeah I'm sure, just can't believe it happened again. I don't know what to do" Luce dropped her head in her hands.
"Hey, look at me" He gripped her shoulders "This isn't your fault, and we're all in this together". He tilted her chin up so she had to stare at him. There were tears in her eyes but she refused to let them fall.
"What about Penn?" Luce asked.
"Lucifer's a trickster. He'll pretend to torture people you love and care about to get you to agree to things. Trust me, Penn's fine. If Lucifer began involving innocent humans, the throne would soon deal with it".
Luce gave him a small smile. It sounded like Lucifer would do that, trick people in horrible ways.

"Now, tell me about these" he stroked the bruise on her cheek "Who am I beating up?".
Luce couldn't help but smile at the thought of Molly against Ben. Ben was too kind, and Molly was violent.
"No one. It's from training today"
"Oh! Of course! No wonder you look tired" Ben started to use the cool cloth again "But I'm defiantly have a word with Cam and Molly before I go to be more careful".
"Before you go? Your leaving?! What if it happens again?!" Luce's eyes widened but Ben placed a hand on her shoulder.
"The others should have located the sceptre by now, I suspect they'll be back tomorrow, hopefully we will be too" Ben smiled again.

When Daniel, Molly and Cam returned, Luce gave Arriane, Ben and Daniel a quick hug, before they left to finish their journey. Cam took Luce's hand and guided her back to her bed.

"But if I sleep he'll come get me again!" Luce sat up instantly.
"Me and Molly will be here, I don't think he'll do it twice in one night, it uses his energy to come through the fire" Cam pushed her back down gently until she was lying.
Pulling the blanket up to her chin Luce soon drifted off into sleep. Tomorrow was going to be another long day, and they'd only have 3 days left before Lucifer arrived to pay Luce a visit for real.