Chapter 20: Part-Time Slayer

Natalie walked tall in the rain. She didn't even feel the droplets that pelted against her skin. All of her focus was on the abomination before her. It was with a familiar morbid fascination that she watch the thing feed on the soul of its latest victim.

The tumbling mass of ghastly pale skin shuddered in pleasure as its five arms pinned the human in place. In the place of the soul it devoured, some of its own energy poured back into the now empty vessel. In a week's time, it would rise as a thrall. If left unchecked, one lunar year would turn a thrall into a new Pale One.

As the rain blanketed this section of the city, Lucifer began to see a strange creature in the rain. Within a couple minutes, the monster was revealed to him. He took a step back as he watched the thing rip apart and devour the human's soul.

Without a word, Natalie lifted the great-sword. Her left hand gripped the handle close to the blade, the right rested lightly on the pommel. Using the freshly slicked ground beneath her, she spun on her heel, and flung the blade into the writhing back of the strange creature. Once it was impaled to the wall, it loosed another scream.

While Lucifer watched in frozen shock, Natalie rushed forward. The Pale One used three of its arms to push off the wall, its body still pieced by the blade. With a leap, Natalie slammed her boot into the pommel, forcing the blade back into the wall and re-pinning it.

"Yeah, bet your collective mind remembers that, doesn't it." The sneer in her voice carried clearly through the rain. "This sword hurts. But a deal is a deal. This is my region, and I told you that any branches you try to start here will be slaughtered."

She paused to withdraw the blade, allowing the creature to slump down before turning to face its attacker. The mass that was its head had no features other than a single flaming eye that shined with the same fire that the body in the morgue had. Her assumptions confirmed, she dropped into a defensive stance.

"I will devour your soul, return to Hell, and take back that which is MINE!" Without a mouth, its thoughts seemed to echo through the streets.

Lucifer dropped to his knees and clasped his hands over his ears. It wasn't quite as loud as hearing his Father, but it held a similar mass.

"Struggle! Struggle for thousands of years, for an era! I care not!" It screeched before it launched at Natalie.

The Pale One's five arms moved through its body as though there were no joints to hold them in place. Like an injured spider, it bumbled forward, crossing the space in the span of a breath. Natalie met its initial attack with a downward swing that severed one the limbs off. She carried her momentum, and circled the blade back around to slice through the center mass of the monster. Her follow up attack came up short as it jumped back and out of the way.

Natalie smirked as she shifted her weight and positioned the blade into an overhead guard. Sure, Pale Ones were dangerous, but she couldn't deny the thrill of it either. Adrenaline pounded in her ears as her focus narrowed completely on the creature before her. Its pale body twitched, giving away the beginning of the next assault. With only four limbs left, it reeled back on two, and lashed out two attacks. Natalie dodged the first, deflected the second, and twirled back into the center to cleave down the main mass of the beast.

The split eye flickered a moment, before it gave out a hiss of rage and faded. Natalie watched with heaving breathes as the creature dissolved away. She rested the tip of the great-sword against the road and leaned onto the cross guard. As the adrenaline faded, and reality set back in, Natalie tilted back her head to let the rain wash away her thoughts of what could have been had an attack failed, or a dodge come up short.

The rain began to ease and it was in the following silence that she heard the labored breathing of someone else. Her eyes snapped open and she turned in a flush of panic.

Lucifer leaned against his car door, hands held to his head, and tried to see through the headache the voice had caused. The sounds of combat had stopped, and he was unsure of what had happened, the confusion only added to his pounding head.

He almost jumped when a hand softly touch his shoulder, "What are you doing here?" he heard her ask.

His headache was suddenly magnified as a stronger than usual sense of alarm shot through him. He gasped out before slumping to the ground.

Natalie stared down in shock. He had reacted as though he had heard the voice of the Pale One's consciousness. She brushed away the questions from her mind. Instead, she hauled the soaked club owner into the passenger seat of his car. With a quick check over the vehicle, she began a careful drive to Lux.

Of course before Natalie went to Lux, she made a small detour at her apartment. As she put the great-sword away, she considered keeping Mr. Morningstar here. However the thought of dealing with Evan after the fact quickly shot down that idea. With a call to Maze, that went to voicemail, and an update left, Natalie returned to the car to finish the trip to Lux.

Natalie was capable of driving, however her skill was laughable. Her nerves were frazzled by the time she pulled into Lux's parking lot. With use of her work key, Natalie made her way in the back door, and into the elevator to the penthouse with the unconscious owner in tow. After setting him on the couch, she tracked down a stack of fluffy towels in the bathroom. The next step gave her pause.

Then, with a determined nod, she undid the button of the suit jacket and removed it. Unfortunately the shirt underneath was soaked as well. So with a wild blush, Natalie carefully unbuttoned and removed the dress shirt. She tried very hard to not focus on the planes of tone muscle. With the first towel, she leaned him slightly forward, so that he rested against her shoulder, and began drying his hair and back.

It was with her hands buried in his hair through the towel that Lucifer woke up. Since her arms were mostly wrapped around him to dry his hair, he lifted his own and wrapped them around her soaking waist.

Natalie paused, feeling the head on her shoulder turn to nuzzle into her neck. She swallowed hard, as she continued drying his hair. A low grumble of pleasure came from the partially dried man as he slowly tightened his arms and pulled her into his lap.

"Mr. Morningstar, do you remember anything from this evening, before you passed out?" She asked softly, to remind herself that he was just attacked.

Lucifer frowned at the unpleasant memory that threatened to return his headache in its wake. He breathed deep to focus himself, basking in the scent of her rain-kissed skin.

He eventually grumbled out an answer, "I remember that you wield a great-sword remarkably well for an informant."

A frown set into his face when she stiffened in his arms. His intent was only to playfully tease. He followed her hands when they dropped the towel and lifted his face for her to see him.

"Did you see what I was fighting?" She asked a little louder, her face set in a carefully neutral mask.

"I assume it was the Pale One Maze says you told her of." When her expression shifted to shock, he continued talking, "A strange, soul-sucking creature that can be seen in the rain. Of which, how did you make it rain?"