by Dahlia Lu
“You want us to get rid of the woman, correct?" Arvin asked.
They all nodded.
"There is no greater sin than taking a demon’s blood. Her soul cannot be forgiven by Heaven or Hell. Even the realm of the dead would reject her. Once she dies, her soul splits into millions of pieces and is scattered throughout the mortal world,” Acelin explained.
"She had taken a demon’s blood. Her life span is as long as the demon from which she drank. We cannot harm Lord Lucifer.”
"Of course not,” Acelin dismissed the option entirely. "Have you forgotten already Arvin? The humans can only remain immortal if they are bound to the demon.”
"I almost forgot,” Arvin admitted. "If we separate Lord Lucifer from her long enough, she will surely die.”
"That part is simple. We will use the poison from Blackthorns to put Lord Lucifer in a forced sleep,” Acelin suggested. “It will only put him out briefly, but long enough for our plan to work.”
"That...might not be possible,” one of the demons said. "Lord Lucifer had been pricked by the Blackthorns before. His body must have already developed immunity toward it.”
Arvin sighed. "This is much more complicated than I thought.”
"Wait,” Acelin said. "What is the one place that could tie Lord Lucifer down long enough for our plan to work?"
"There is no such place,” Arvin answered, then it came to him, "unless we manipulate the angels to imprison him in Heaven.”
"Exactly,” Acelin confirmed. “However, we must see the situation for ourselves before considering that option. I doubt Lord Lucifer would be too happy with us afterward. He’ll get over it eventually, but he does hold a long grudge.”
†††††
Kali opened her eyes and found Lucifer staring at her. He gave her a gentle kiss on the lips and then nibbled on her left ear. She flinched.
"It tickles so much, stop it!" She yelled out as she drowned in her own laughter. He used his tongue to lick her ear. "Lucifer, please! It tickles so much!
"I'm going to take a shower, want to join me?” he asked as he left the bed. She brightly blushed.
"Are you still shy?” he chuckled.
She nodded.
He came to the bed and lifted her up in his arms with miraculous ease. "I'm not asking you this time. Take a shower with me.”
Lucifer glanced out of the window for a quick second. It was not safe to leave Kali alone, he concluded.
The two demon lords watched Lucifer and Kali from a tree branch. Arvin was stunned. He clenched his hands into fists as anger swirled in his brilliant grey eyes.
“So it’s true. Even if we can't see her clearly…” he said in a grave voice. “He’s in love with a human!!!”
“Arvin, calm down,” Acelin grabbed his shoulder. “Do not be rash. He knows we are here. He will come to find us sooner or later. Be patient.”
“Nine thousand years of sleep and I wake up to find myself in a tank,” Arvin growled. “Six hundred years later I wake up to this? These humans are so troublesome.”
“I don’t see why we have to do this,” Acelin sighed. “He will eventually get tired of her. Give him a decade or two, a hundred years even. Just go back to sleep, Arvin.”
“I cannot stand it!” Arvin folded his arms on front of him. “We were created in the first orders of angel at about the same time. We’re like brothers! We followed him from heaven to the depths of Hell! I will not let him turn his back on us even for a second!”
“What are you going to do? He does as he wishes and that’s how it ought to be. I don’t think we should interfere with his affairs. You may be his brother, but tell him that when he’s angry.”
“Soren is dead.”
“Impossible!” Acelin denied it. The news came as a shock to him. “No one has that power.”
“Except for our master,” Arvin corrected him.
“Are telling me that Lord Lucifer killed Soren? That cannot be! Lucifer would never turn his sword against his own brother.”
Realization was slowly dawning.
“That woman!” Arvin said through clenched teeth. “That despicable woman! She’s brainwashing him! She’s splitting us, Acelin!”
“Soren must have done something unforgivable,” Acelin tried to make sense of it all. “Lucifer would never…he…”
Arvin shook Acelin abruptly by the shoulders. “Why won’t you admit that it’s that woman’s fault?”
“If that is the case, then what makes you think Lord Lucifer will not do the same thing to us?” Acelin asked. “Leave them alone, Arvin. He will find his way back to us in good time.”
“I don’t care if he kills me,” Arvin said bitterly. “I will not allow anyone to split our bond, especially a mortal woman!”
“She bore him a son.”
Arvin’s eyes widened. “What!?”
“She bore him a son, Arvin. I heard it from the other demons. They were trying to hide it from us. If you kill the woman, the Prince will definitely come after you. We can harm neither Lord Lucifer nor his blood. Could you stand it, Arvin? If you kill the woman, could you stand the look in the prince’s eyes? Can you looked into the eyes of Lucifer’s son and tell him you killed his mother?”
Arvin hesitated.
“Think very carefully, Arvin.”
“I must see him,” Arvin said. “I must see Lucifer’s son.”
Chapter 21: Ephemeral Bliss
They couldn’t tear their eyes from him. The spectators were awed. The young, the old, the men, and the women, they all stared at him. They were made speechless by such a beautiful man. He had platinum hair that was as brilliant as silver and a pair of cold blue eyes that could bend the heavens to his will. He was walking hand in hand with a pretty young girl and a child on his shoulders. The child had the same color hair and enchanting blue eyes.
“What beautiful siblings,” an old woman said as they walked passed her.
“We are not siblings,” Trent corrected her. “They are my parents.”
“Oh my!” the old woman couldn’t believe it. The man didn’t look much older than twenty. The girl next to him was sixteen at most. “What young parents.”
“Trent,” Lucifer said to him. “You are not obligated to tell them anything.”
“But we are not siblings!” Trent argued.
“It is fine for now,” Lucifer continued, “but when you grow up, no one would believe you. They will not be able to understand that we cannot age. They will be frightened of us.”
“Why will they be frightened of us?” Trent asked innocently. “We are not the ones terrorizing them.”
“It is in their nature to be afraid of the unknown. They need to test the water many times before they are sure. Their own instincts keep them safe.” Lucifer explained.
“Then why don’t we explain to them, Father?” Trent asked curiosity. “Would they still be afraid of us then?”
“Their life span is a meager century or less, Trent. Compared to ours… that is nothing more than a blink of an eye. Why would you want to explain yourself, and if you choose to do so, how many times must you explain yourself? Aside from our unending life span, everything about us is threatening to them. Even if they know what we are, they cannot live with the knowledge of something so powerful and dangerous living so close to them. They will set out to destroy us, but little do they know that they will only be destroying themselves. Even a small portion of our strength can take their lives effortlessly. That is why I asked you not to get too close to the other children.”
Kali tugged on Lucifer’s hand. “Lucifer…” she shook her head. “Trent is too young for your lessons.”
"You have highly underestimated your son's capacity for learning.”
“I will make them understand,” the boy said.
“We’re here,” Kali smiled when they reached preschool. The teachers were standing on front of the entrance, welcoming the students. Lucifer picked up the boy from his shoulders and placed him firmly on his fee
t.
“Be a good boy, Trent,” Kali bent forward and gave him a kiss on the forehead.
He nodded obediently.
The female teacher approached them, clearly cautious. She offered a handshake, which Lucifer ignored. Kali quickly grabbed the teacher’s hand with a smile and gave her a solid shake. She shot a warning look at Lucifer, whose face remained expressionless.
“I know this is something reserved for parents-teachers night, but as Trent’s teacher, I feel concern. The sooner we address this, the better.”
“What’s the matter, Miss Lela?” Kali asked as she pulled Trent closer and wrapped him within the ring of her arms.
“Well,” the woman tried to find words that would best describe the situation, but came up blank. “Your son certainly does not act like a five-years-old. He behaves himself too well, I’m afraid.”
“What do you mean?” Kali asked, puzzled by the teacher’s description. “Isn’t that a good thing?”
“Your son is a loner, Kali,” she said straightforwardly. “He avoids playtime with the other children and prefers to be by himself. For a child, he rarely smiles. Even though your husband is a doctor, I must ask, are there any conflicts at home we should know about?”
The question was full of suspicion.
“Your concerns are unappreciated, teacher,” the boy replied before his mother could.
“Trent!” she knelt down to his level. “How could you be so rude to your teacher?”
“I do not like the tone you used or the accusations you throw at my mother,” his eyes hadn’t left the teacher. “If you’ve found faults in me, I wish that you would have addressed me directly.”
“Do you see what I mean?” Miss Lela pointed out as she rested her hands on her hips. “Is that the diction of a five-years-old?”
Lucifer placed a hand on the boy’s head and he lowered his lids over his keen eyes. His attention was distracted by a familiar laughter some twenty feet away. His mother had also heard it. She slowly stood up and gasped at the sight of him. He stood in front of her with brilliant golden eyes that couldn’t belong to anyone else. He gave her a soft smile when he saw he had her full attention.
“Kali,” he called out her name.
Kali brought her hands to her mouth in astonishment. She couldn’t believe he was standing in front of her. The same face, the same eyes, the same smile. It was him! She didn’t spare a moment before jumping into his open arms.
Tears spilled onto her cheeks. She held him tightly as if he was going to evaporate. “Chevalier! It is really you, Chevalier?”
Chevalier wrapped his arms around her small body. “It’s me.”
“Where have you been, Chevalier?” she cried. “You have no idea how much I missed you.”
“Who is he?” Trent asked his father when he saw Kali run into the arms of a strange man.
Lucifer did not reply.
Slowly, Kali lets go of Chevalier. She wiped her tears away quickly and then waved to Trent. “Come here, Trent, there is someone I want you to meet.”
Trent came to his mother’s side. Chevalier knelt down, looking Trent in the eyes. “You have grown a lot.”
Trent moved forward and wrapped his arms around Chevalier’s neck. There was so much familiarity and warmth in that man's voice. He had heard it once before, somewhere in his memories.
Chevalier hugged Trent and then kissed his forehead. “You remember me, don’t you?”
"I know you,” Trent said. "I have heard your voice many times before.”
The little girl with Chevalier was staring at them.
“Who is she, Chevalier?” Kali asked curiously.
“It’s a long story,” Chevalier said. “To make the story short, I adopted her after her parents abandoned her,” he chuckled. “I’ve been trying to get her to call me ‘father’ but she kept on calling me by my name.”
“She’s so pretty,” Kali praised. “What is your name?”
“Cerabi,” the girl answered.
“She prefers to be called Bi,” Chevalier said to Kali.
“Bi…I like that,” Kali said. “Bi, this is Trent.”
Bi’s large hazel eyes stared into Trent’s blue ones. With a spark of curiosity, the little girl smiled.
†††††
They sat at a nearby café. Even though he could sense Lucifer's hostility, Chevalier calmly stirred his coffee.
“Chevalier, you should put some sugar in your coffee,” she offered him a cup filled with sugar cubes.
“I take it black now,” he said.
Kali made a ‘bleh’ expression with her face as if she was the one who tasted the bitter coffee.
“What’s this I heard about you being a doctor?" Chevalier took a sip from his cup. "How is that profession to your liking? Are you best friends with Death now?"
"It keeps the days interesting.”
"It’s surprising,” Chevalier added a comment.
‘Why did you come back?’ Lucifer said to Chevalier through telepathy.
‘Jealous?’ Chevalier asked. He chuckled. ‘She seems very happy. I’m glad.’
‘Answer my question.’
‘I sense a strong concentration of demons in this city. I am worried about her. They are after her, aren’t they?’
‘I dismissed them once before. However, this time they may have awakened some old friends.’
‘That is why I came back. I can’t stay away knowing she’s in danger. I sense a strong protection circle around her. You are worried too. Thank you for taking care of her.’
‘It has nothing to do with you.’
‘Am I not allowed to see her?’ Chevalier asked almost too innocently.
‘It’s annoying enough that she loves the boy so much.’ Lucifer looked to Kali, who was drinking her soymilk through a straw.
‘You’re an amazingly complicated demon, Lucifer.’ Chevalier raised his left brow in puzzlement.
“It’s rude to exclude us from your conversation,” Trent said to the men. He sat next to the little girl, who was poking his face much to his annoyance.
“Chevalier,” Kali looked up. “Since you’re back, won’t you stay at our house?”
‘Decline,’ Lucifer warned Chevalier.
“I would love to!” Chevalier exclaimed excitingly.
†††††
When nightfall came, Kali returned to their bedroom after she tucked Trent in. Lucifer was lying on the bed with a stiff expression on his face.
“What’s wrong, Lucifer?” Kali asked. “You haven’t said a word since this morning.”
She brings a man home and then she asks me what’s wrong, Lucifer thought. He got off of the bed and came to her side. Kali blinked. He cornered her against the wall. His pale blue eyes were staring into hers. “You’re so cruel, Kali, for making me feel like this all the time.”
“Like what?” Kali asked in a soft voice.
“Like I can’t relax, like I can’t keep my eyes off you for just one second, like…” he kissed her. He broke the kiss before she ran out of breath and then lowered his head to kiss her neck. His breath was warm against her skin. His hands explored her familiar body. Her flesh became numb wherever he touched. “Tell me, Kali, how can I get rid of this feeling of wanting so much from you?”
“Lucifer…”
There was a knocking on the door.
Not again. Lucifer sighed.
Kali fixed her shirt and opened the door. Chevalier stood smiling. “Do you have a towel I could use to take a shower?”
Kali nodded. She went to the closet and took out a white towel. She handed it to Chevalier.
‘What the hell do you want?’ Lucifer asked, extremely agitated.
‘Just want to ruin your fun.’
‘Do you want me to kill you a second time?’
‘Kali would be very sad if you do.’
‘She won’t be your shield forever.’
“Good night, Kali,” Chevalier gave her a kiss on the cheek.
&nb
sp; “Good night,” Kali responded. She closed the door when Chevalier turned away. Lucifer retreated to his bed and rested his head on his elbow. He seemed upset.
“Lucifer?”
“What’s wrong, Chevalier?” Bi asked once he returned to their room to sit by her side. Chevalier looked extremely sad.
Then he suddenly started to laugh.
"Why are you crying?" Bi asked.
"Can't you see that I'm laughing?" Chevalier asked. He laughed even harder.
Bi wiped the tears from his eyes and showed it to him "See? You're crying.”
Chapter 22: All for Brotherhood
Acelin placed a hand on Arvin’s shoulder and pointed at the five-year-old with the platinum hair playing alone in the sandbox. His pale blue eyes resembled Lucifer’s. The two demon lords approached the boy, who already knew they were there.
“He’s definitely Lucifer’s son,” Arvin said. “I feel a strong bond with him already.”
Acelin nodded in agreement. “It’s in our blood, Arvin.”
“I want to speak to him.”
“He has a strong protection spell on him. You should be careful.”
Arvin walked toward the boy and knelt down to his level. The boy only glanced at him then ignored him completely.
“What is your name?” Arvin asked the boy.
“If I tell you, would you leave me alone?” The boy asked as he carefully removed the plastic bucket from the wet sand. His sand castle was perfectly molded.
“We’re not here to hurt you,” Acelin assured him.
“I know,” the boy replied. “You came for my mother. That is the only reason you’re here.”
“We also came to see you. You are starting to sound like your father already,” Arvin said in a soft tone. Arvin had a sudden urge to pat the boy’s head. He slowly reached out his hand.
“Arvin, stop!” Acelin warned. “The protection spell...”
Arvin patted the boy gently. The protection spell was starting to damage his body. He managed to smile at the boy.
