Anna (Book 2, The Redemption Series)

by S. J. West

“How do you trap their souls inside the bodies they inhabit?” I ask.

  “It's my gift. I can do many things with a soul.”

  I hesitate for a moment, wondering if this is the right moment to ask him for a favor. Our relationship with one another is just beginning, yet, I have to ask him for the one thing only he can fix.

  “Would you do something for me?”

  Lucifer leans his back fully against the bench and crosses his arms over his chest with a stern expression on his face as he looks at me.

  “What exactly do you want?”

  “I want you to revoke your curse on Malcolm.”

  Lucifer lifts a dubious eyebrow at me. “And why, pray tell, would I want to do that? It gives me an immense amount of pleasure to know he's in so much pain because of me.”

  “He's the man I love, and I don't want him in pain anymore. Hasn't he been through enough without you continuing to torture him?”

  “Not nearly enough, if you’re actually asking me that question and not simply being rhetorical. If I could double the pain he's in, it would make me exceedingly happy and probably leave you a virgin for a while longer. Or, at least until you found someone more worthy to bed. Just the thought of that mongrel pawing at your flesh turns my stomach, Anna.”

  “How do you know I'm still a virgin?” I ask him, not understanding how he could know such a thing about me.

  “When you've been involved in as many virgin sacrifices as I have, you tend to develop a sixth sense about that sort of thing,” he says in a way that almost sounds like he's making a joke. “You're still as pure as the day I held you in my arms after you were born.”

  “Wait...,” I say, taking in what he just told me. “You were at my birth? But Jered said you refused to see my mother while she was pregnant.”

  Lucifer doesn't make a response for a long time. Finally he says, “I couldn't let her leave this world thinking I was mad at her.”

  “Is that when she asked you to raise me?”

  “No. She asked me a hundred times before then, but that was the last time.”

  “What did she say when you told her no?”

  “I didn't tell her no,” Lucifer admits. “I promised her I would before she died.”

  “You lied to my mother on her death bed?” I ask, not sure why I'm shocked that the devil would lie, but considering the relationship he and my mother shared, I have to admit that I am.

  “I thought it would ease her mind in those last few moments we had left together. Otherwise, she would have just kept begging me to do it.”

  “Jered said you didn't want to take me because you were afraid I would become just as jaded as you are. Is that true?”

  “Well if Jered said so, it must be true,” Lucifer says sarcastically.

  “Well is it?” I ask, pressing for the truth.

  “Does it matter?” Lucifer asks, fidgeting in his seat like he's getting agitated by my questioning.

  “It matters to me,” I say, realizing it's the truth. For some reason, I want to know that what he did was for my benefit and not just his own. There's a small part of me which yearns to know for a fact that my father didn't abandon me because he hated me.

  “Having Andre raise you was the best thing for everyone involved,” Lucifer replies. “He was a far better father to you than I ever could have been.”

  “Do you know where Levi is keeping him?” I ask, a desperate plea in my voice. “Can you help me get my papa back?”

  Lucifer glances over at me but makes no reply. Instead, he bends over to the side of the bench and grabs something off the ground. I know then he has no intention of responding to my heartfelt request.

  When he turns back to face me, I see a medium size brown wicker basket in his right hand now. He sets it on his lap.

  “I brought you something,” he tells me, looking uncertain at how I will react to his unexpected gift.

  “What is it?” I ask, staring at the basket’s closed lid.

  “Levi told me he killed your pet,” Lucifer says. “I'm sorry he put you through that, but you can rest assured he paid the price for such an act. I uh...thought you might like this.”

  He sets the basket between us on the bench.

  I lift the lid on one side of the basket and gasp at what is laying inside.

  “A hellhound puppy?” I ask, closing the lid gently so as not to wake it. “I can't have something like that around Lucas. What if it bit him?”

  “Hellhounds aren't born evil,” Lucifer tells me. “They’re just like any other pet. As long as you treat it with love and respect, it will grow up to be extremely loyal to you and protect those you love. If you treat it with cruelty, it will become vicious and act only in its best interest.”

  “Why are you giving this to me?” I ask.

  Lucifer shrugs his shoulders. “I just thought it might help ease the pain over losing your pet. I know she meant a great deal to you.”

  Lucifer suddenly stands up from the bench.

  “I would advise you to do what I've said, daughter,” Lucifer tells me. “Stay away from my brothers and live out your life in peace. Don't pick a fight with them. It's not worth the price you would have to pay to succeed.”

  “And what would be the price?” I ask, feeling as though Lucifer is warning me about something dire.

  Lucifer shakes his head. “You don’t want to have to pay it. Trust my words to you, Anna, and leave things alone.”

  I feel as though Lucifer is just about to phase. So, I grab his hand before he can.

  He looks down at our joined hands, and I see a fleeting moment of confusion pass across his features.

  “Thank you,” I tell him.

  Lucifer meets my eyes and looks at me in surprise, like he wasn't expecting a thank you from me. Then again, I doubt he’s done much in his life to be thanked for.

  “You're... welcome,” he replies, and I can tell by the hesitancy in his voice that he isn't used to saying those two words very often. He gently extricates his hand from mine and phases.

  I sigh, feeling slightly disappointed that he didn't stay a little while longer. I have so many questions about my mother, and I feel like he could give me the answers that I need.

  “I see you've been given a new friend,” I hear God say beside me. “And I think you may have already made an unexpected one.”

  I look over at God. He's sitting in Lucifer's spot now with a pleased grin on his face.

  “Lucifer confuses me,” I admit to God. “I don't understand him at all.”

  God nods his head, sympathizing with my plight. “Lucifer has a way of doing that to people. Not many people take the time or care enough to understand him. I think your mother and Jess were the only two people who ever got close to discovering the real him.”

  I look down at the basket and shake my head in dismay at Lucifer's present.

  “Malcolm's going to hate it,” I say with absolute certainty.

  “You could have refused to accept his gift,” God reminds me gently.

  “Refuse the first gift my biological father gives me?” I say, finding the notion an impossible one. “If I had, he might have taken it the wrong way. I think this might be an attempt on his part to connect with me on some level.”

  “I would have to agree,” God says, sounding pleased with my conclusion. “I think he yearns to know you better. Lucifer has always had a hard time opening up to people. Even when he was in Heaven he tended to use his power to keep his brothers at arm's length. I suppose I shouldn't have made him quite so headstrong.”

  “He really loved my mother, didn't he?” I ask, but seeking a direct answer to my question isn't really what I'm after. God seems to understand that.

  “Lucifer can love just as strongly as he can hate. But his anger towards things and people can cloud his judgment and push him to act out in terrible ways. The line between right and wrong has become blurred to him over the years. I think he simply needs to care about someone more than he does himself to clear hi
s mind and make him want to find himself again.”

  “Are you hoping I'll be that person for him?”

  “Yes,” God admits freely. “If he can forge a bond with you, I think he will be able to find the good inside himself again.” God looks down at the basket. “And I think this small token of affection might just be the start of his evolution.”

  I sigh heavily, not knowing if a relationship with Lucifer is what I need at the moment. It could complicate things with Malcolm.

  “Will I have to kill him to retrieve his seal?” I ask God, needing to know if that will be the end result of my relationship with Lucifer.

  “It depends.”

  “Depends on what?” I ask, filled with a newfound hope by his answer.

  “It depends on Lucifer, and that's all I'm going to say on the matter, Anna. If I divulge too much information to you, all might be lost, and I don’t think that’s what either of us want.”

  I feel frustrated by God’s reply but keep my mouth shut. It's obvious he has no intention of telling me more. But, his words give me hope that executing Lucifer won't be something that I have to do. Obviously, there’s another way. A way I intend to figure out.

  “When will I get my papa back?”

  “In time.”

  I sigh in disappointment at another non-answer.

  “Can you at least tell me if he’s all right? Is he hurt? Is Levi torturing him?”

  “He’s perfectly safe, Anna. Levi hasn’t laid a hand on him. I think he might be scared he’ll go too far and accidentally kill Andre in one of his fits of anger. Stop worrying about your father and keep your mind focused on what you need to do. Enjoy the time you’ll have here. Andre would want you to do that. Don’t spend your energy worrying over him when he’s perfectly fine.”

  I feel a sense of relief with God’s words but I know I won’t be able to stop worrying about my papa. At least not until he’s back with me and my family is made whole again.

  Chapter 13

  After God leaves, I phase back to Malcolm’s bedroom. He’s still peacefully asleep, and I find myself grateful for that small fact. I still haven't decided how to tell Malcolm about Lucifer's first gift to me yet. I’m not sure how I'll explain that it was a present I couldn’t possibly refuse to accept.

  I walk over to the chair near my side of the bed and sit while placing the basket down on the floor at my feet. I lift the right side of the lid and just stare at the hellhound pup for a minute, studying the way the phantom yellow-orange flames illuminate its coat which helps perpetuate the illusion that the tufts of white hair are moving against an unseen wind. Tentatively, I reach out to stroke the fur on top of its head. Its hair is softer than anything I’ve ever felt before and makes me involuntarily sigh in contentment. I reach down with my other hand and gently lift the pup out of the basket and lay it on my lap.

  The movement wakes the pup, and it lifts its head to look up at me. The hellhound’s eyes are a dazzling aquamarine color which takes me by surprise. I remember the hellhounds Malcolm and I fought at the beach house and their eyes were a soulless black, like pieces of marble, cold and hard. If the eyes truly were the windows to the soul, this animal’s inner spirit was beautiful. It made me wonder exactly what Lucifer and his brothers must have done to the other hellhounds to extinguish such a brilliant light.

  The pup opens its mouth, curling out a little pink tongue while yawning and rolling over onto its back to expose a soft, lily white belly to me. It's completely vulnerable in such a position and looks up at me expectantly, waiting for me to pet it. I immediately see that it’s a girl pup as I reach down and gently stroke the tender flesh of its abdomen. It’s as if the hellhound is asking me in action form whether or not I accept my newly given role as her master, and after proving that I do consent to the responsibility, she promptly goes back to sleep on my lap.

  I continue to stroke her little belly until I feel certain she has fallen back into a deep slumber. I cradle her in my arms and walk over to the bed, gently laying her down on top of my pillow. I take off my jacket and crawl onto the bed to lie down beside Malcolm. It feels a little strange to be lying sideways on a bed, but I don’t care. I wrap an arm around Malcolm's torso and breathe in his fresh, clean scent.

  He smells like freshly ground cinnamon mixed with vanilla and some other spices I can’t readily recognize. I know it’s from his shampoo, but for me, the smell of cinnamon from that moment on will forever be linked with Malcolm. It adds to the natural sense of being home when I’m around him and the aroma will always remind me of the man I love.

  I snuggle in as close as I can get to Malcolm and rest my head on his shoulder. Just before falling asleep, I feel my new little friend find a spot at the base of my back to nestle up against.

  In the world of dreams, I soon find myself standing inside Malcolm’s workshop in Lakewood. Malcolm is steadily working on the large birdhouse he was making for Lucas in the real world. When I enter his dream, he doesn’t seem to notice me right away. It gives me a moment to secretly watch him as he concentrates on nailing a section of the roof onto the structure. I smile to myself and my heart lurches slightly inside my chest at the sight of him. Every time I look at Malcolm, complete happiness touches my soul, slowly filling it with quiet moments like this that I will never forget.

  After he finishes his task, he looks up at me in surprise and smiles.

  “Hey,” he says. His smile is so bright I know for a fact that my presence affects him in the same way his does me. “I was wondering if you would come.”

  “Will we always be sharing dreams like this?”

  “I honestly don’t know,” Malcolm says with a confused look on his face, making him look irresistibly adorable to me. “I never thought to ask Lilly if she always shared Brand’s dreams when they slept together.”

  I walk over to Malcolm on the other side of the work table. He puts the hammer in his hand down and instantly brings me in close to his body. I wrap my arms around his waist and lay my head against his chest, just enjoying the dream world feel of him.

  After a little bit, I pull back and look up at his face. With the mention of Lilly, it brings to mind a question.

  “You know you asked me what Auggie would think of us together, but I haven't asked you what Lilly would say about us being in love.”

  “She’s happy for us,” he says, like it’s a point of fact and not just conjecture.

  “How do you know that with so much certainty?” I ask.

  “Because she told me so.”

  I pull back even further from Malcolm.

  “She came to see you?” I ask. Malcolm nods. “When?”

  “The night you said you were letting me go,” he tells me. “I walked over to her old family home on the lake afterwards, and she found me.”

  And then the rest of the events from that night immediately begin to fall into place for me.

  “She’s the reason why you came back to me, isn’t she?”

  “Yes,” he says. “Lilly was never shy about telling me when I was doing something stupid, and pushing you away was one of the most foolish things I’ve ever tried to do. She made me realize that the love I feel for you isn’t something I should walk away from but run towards.”

  “I want you to know that I don’t expect you to ever stop loving her,” I tell him, truly meaning every word. “I’m ok with sharing your heart with Lilly. If there’s one thing I learned from your memories of her, it’s that she helped you realize what a wonderful person you could be and made you believe in yourself again. I would never ask you to love me more than her.”

  Malcolm shakes his head at me like he can’t believe what I just said.

  “My love for you is so different from the love I have for her,” Malcolm tells me. He raises a hand and places it behind my neck, almost like he wants to make sure I keep looking into his eyes as he continues. “I won’t lie and say I didn’t love her very deeply. You know I did, but my love for you goes beyond anything I’ve e
ver felt for anyone in my life, Anna. Every time I look at you or even think about you, my heart fills with so much love I’m surprised it doesn’t burst at the seams inside my chest. You alone hold my heart Anna Greco. I think you have for a very long time, even before you were sent to Earth. I simply didn’t know it until I saw you for the first time. Please, never doubt in my love for you and forgive me for trying to push you away. I thought you deserved someone better than me to give your heart to.”

  “Deserved someone better than you?” I ask, completely sure I misheard what he said. When he continues to look at me and not say a word, I can tell by the strained expression on his face that it’s what he truly thought, and it brings to mind what he said in his letter to me. “That has to be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard, Malcolm! Why would you even think something like that? It’s like you don’t even realize how wonderful you are.”

  “I don’t understand how you can say that after the way I treated you, Anna. I can’t tell you how much I regret being such an ass to you all that time.”

  “I knew you were trying to push me away,” I tell him. “I just assumed it was because of Lilly.”

  “It was partially,” he admits. “But, mostly I just didn’t feel worthy to be the soul mate of someone so perfect.”

  I let out a half laugh. “I am far from perfect.”

  “Name a fault then,” he challenges, like he's sure I'll fail at the task.

  “I’m stubborn and opinionated.”

  “I wouldn’t want to be with a woman who didn’t know what she wanted.”

  “I’m hot-headed.”

  “So am I,” he says with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. “Next?”

  “I’m impatient.”

  “Patience is overrated. Next?”

  “I have a feeling whatever personal fault I admit to you would find a way to make it a positive,” I tease.

  Malcolm smiles. “There’s just nothing you could say that would make me think any less of you, Anna. You need to know that. I'm all in, for better or for worse.”

  I wrap my arms around Malcolm’s neck and kiss him thoroughly. Just like before, it’s pleasant enough but not nearly as satisfying as kissing him in the real world. When I pull away, I let out a deep, frustrated sigh.