“You still there?” Cain asked.
“Yes. Just thinking.”
“It’s a mind fuck, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, just a bit.” I said, my mind awash with the possibilities of my lover being the devil incarnate.
CHAPTER 100: LUCIAN
It was music to my ears to hear the rhythm of my child’s serene sighs. She gurgled as she woke, flickering her eyelashes as her eyes caught sight of my own for the very first time. She saw me as I saw her. Her lips creased, corners raised; a slight smile caressed her loving face. The light within her was magnificent. It bellowed from her core like the warming rays of the sun flowing from the sky. What I’d give to see another sunset, to feel its glow on my pale waning skin. Instead, the darkness we sat in chilled me to the bone. I’d failed as a fiancé, failed as a father, and sat there in the diminished gloom of an eternity in Hell. My baby girl was so pure and perfect, a tiny little mortal with so much love to give. I couldn’t give up on her. Those emerald green eyes and snowy white skin soothed my heart even as it ached. I missed my love, my Taylor. My daughter looked so like her; the same shaped nose, the dimples when she smiled. I couldn’t fail them both. There had to be a way out of here.
“So, baby girl, do you have any ideas how to get out of this horrible place?”
She gurgled in response. I smiled. “No, I guess not.” I said, bringing her onto my knee. My forehead scrunched up, eyes squinted... “You’ve grown so much already. How is that possible?” She gurgled again, smiling radiantly. “It must have only been hours since we left your mummy.” Her face changed, tears welled in her eyes. Could she understand me? “It’s okay, we’ll find her again, don’t cry.” She panted through her breath as tears fell, snuffling her nose as she inhaled. Lifting her up to my chest, she reached out and placed her hand on my forehead. Light resonated from her touch, eased my aching heart and slowed down the pain around me. “Thank you,” I said. I kissed her curled hair. How had she grown so much? It looked like months had passed and yet it must have only been hours. She’d not eaten or drank a thing. How was it possible she looked six months old? And how had she survived so long without food? It was hellishly crazy. She was mortal, well, she had the frame of one. But then, she was mine and Taylor’s baby girl, therefore she’d have gained part of both of us. If she’d gained Taylor’s light, then perhaps she’d used that to feed her body. Wow, a self-sufficient newborn was something I’d not foreseen. Taylor had spoken of dirty nappies, milk, mushed up food, and screaming through the night. There was none of that. She’d bypassed it all, sleeping soundly in my arms as we ran.
It hurt. though, knowing that Taylor had missed so much of her life already. One day she would have the chance to hold her baby girl again, I was sure of it.
“So where to now?” I asked. She giggled, touched my head and smacked it, giggling again. “You little monkey!” I exclaimed. She pushed up on her toes, with wobbly legs, and suckled my cheek dripping saliva everywhere. “Burgh, was that really necessary?” She giggled again, fell onto her bum, and rocked back and forth. “Do you want to go that way?” I asked, looking at the direction she was aiming for. “Okay, come on.” I picked her up, carried her as she sat on my forearm, and went down the dark tunnel she had leant towards.
She had to pick the darkest of the three, didn’t she? It was pitch black, no lanterns, no light, just a cloak of blackened pain, veiled against the hope of humanity. We felt our way through, taking each step one at a time, fearing the walls as they grabbed out to pull us in. Anything could be down there with us. Something big and nasty with sharpened teeth. I shuddered. Put that thought out of your head! It’ll be okay, it must be.
Stepping forward, we hit the end. Two paths, one to either side. One was lit by candlelight and one was lit by nothing. My baby girl urged to the left, the tunnel of negativity, as everything was smoked by black. “I can’t see down there, though.” She grinned, held out her hand, and conjured a ball of light that flowed forward lighting the way. “That’s amazing! Thank you, kiddo!”
Before us, a tragic disarray of brittle bones and saddened skulls cluttered the ground we walked on. Kicking our way through the skeletal remains, it appeared we had entered a feeding ground, or at least the remains of one, but a feeding ground all the same. The thought petrified me. It usually wouldn’t have. I’d have run to face the danger with open arms and a snarky grin. But now, holding her life in my hands, it scared me. I had to protect her, it wasn’t just me anymore. Damn. Taylor was hard enough to protect when we had first found each other, but a newborn baby girl? That was going to be even harder. Then again, she could sit by herself already, hold her head up high, and apparently conjure balls of light at a whim.
She gurgled, pulled herself in close to me, and closed her eyes. Her body stiffened; she sensed danger. She gripped my top with her miniature fingers and held on for dear life. If there was any time to run, now was that time. Footsteps pounded as I ran, matched by the noise of another. Something was behind us, but what? The ball of light fled forward, guiding the way. Tunnel after tunnel, darkness after darkness. Where were we going? Was it leading us out? Damn, I hoped so.
The deafening growl of something gigantic ignited my eardrums as I shuddered inside. Whatever it was, it wasn’t something I fancied meeting in a dark alley on a winter’s night. The ball of light screamed ahead, almost out of view, until it blasted through the end of the path with no other corridor attached to it. We were trapped alone and awaiting death as the monster gained on us. Where had the light gone? Reaching the end of the tunnel, I turned, ready to face the horror that befell us. But nothing came. No noise was apparent. Instead, a mirage of smoke signals danced around the darkness that shrouded us. Where would we go from here? How would we ever leave this forgotten place?
My baby girl giggled, yanked on my shirt, and leaned behind me to the wall, to the end of the road. “That’s all there is,” I said, “there’s no way out of here.” I grimaced. She giggled, leaning further to the wall. From her hand, the light of a thousand stars ignited the wall. The stars intertwined, hollowing out the stonework and blasting through to the real world behind. It was a portal. She’d found our way home, our way out of the darkness and back into the light. And as we stepped forward, I looked behind and a tear fell at the loss of my loved one I’d left to suffer in depths of Hell itself.
CHAPTER 101: CAIN
The sharpened bars of the steel-cut cage bled into me. God really was pissed, and hell if I knew why. It wasn’t like I’d been around much to bother his darling daughter. She'd changed when he’d come back on the scene. I'd like to say we were happy before, but shit, we never were. We liked each other, tolerated our whims, but love? Heck no. But then, what else you gonna do when there's only one woman on Earth? God was cruel to send her there. It had made her insane; the loneliness, the absence of civil conversation... and now look at her. She was as loopy as a clown on crack cocaine. What'd he do to her? Her need for love, her desire to never be alone again had made her nuts. I couldn't calm her. Shit, she wouldn't listen to me. I had seen it coming a millennium ago. Then he arrived.
Her daddy dearest, as she called him, came flooding into Enoch on a wave of darkness. He’d spoken to his daughter like nothing had ever happened. He’d embraced her, told her she was making him proud. The darkness in her grew and the light all but diminished. Her family was all that she cared for any more. And through the twisted words of the serpent’s tongue, she grew to loathe her mother, despise the very air she breathed. She began to hate humanity even more than she ever had. Every living being that contained any ounce of light was dead to her, me included. Heck, I was created by the almighty himself. Loved the guy, I did. But after I gave my brother to him, he never spoke to me the same again. Instead, he’d banished me to this godforsaken planet. That's when I met Lilith. Our vengeance had bought us together, as well as the fact that we were the only living creatures in that wasteland. We hated God, hated every damn thing about him. Then Eve create
d humanity; toys for us to play with. Well, that was how we had seen them. Then a whole lotta time after...and, well, here we were. I was stuck in a shitty cage and she was out gallivanting, destroying the world without me. Shit, I was bitter. That was what she'd turned me into.
She had better not touch my beloved, there would be a monstrosity of pain heading her way if she did. I had told my love what to do, I’d told her where to hide. Her fragrant body, her shimmering curls; she could light up the darkest of lives. If only Lilith knew I loved someone else, if only she knew I had a child with another. That's right... me, I was a father. I couldn't quite believe it either. I remembered when she’d told me. My jaw had quite literally hit the floor, with the rest of me following suit. Apparently, I'd fainted. What high immortal being faints? I blamed it on the heat; it was always so damn hot in that whorehouse. Yes, I know the tragedy of the situation. Okay... so I met my one true love in a whorehouse. It wasn’t the best place for a first date. But after whisking her out of there and providing a beautiful home in the city, we’d lived quite comfortably. I got to see my girl grow up, got to see her smiles, her giggles, and the sparkle in her eye. It was perfect, waking up in the arms of my beloved every morning. I was happy. But I could only ever stay a few months at a time.
It was lucky, really, that time was so different on Enoch. I'd be gone from Lilith for three days but spent the most magical three months with my mortal family. Time passed, my family grew older, and myself, much wiser. My beloved knew who I was; I’d told her of my travels and of the world unseen around us. I'd taught her to fight only when she could win. She'd never win against Lilith, I knew that, and it was my job to protect her. I screwed that one up, didn't I? I just hoped my daughter remembered some of my teachings. She was brilliant, she was. My girl was very powerful. She had both the light and dark within her, just as I had, but she could easily be swayed to the darkness with enough lure and temptation. Hell, I succumbed to the night, didn't I? But then, with her mother's guidance and my genes, I believed she'd be a force to be reckoned with. She'd give Lilith a run for her money, that was for sure.
I sighed, head hung low. My body ached from the chicken coop I lived in. "Damn, I miss them..."
"Miss who?" Eve asked. She must be back, Lilith must have caught up with her. I do hope she was okay. After all, she was my ticket out of there.
"My family."
"Who, Lilith?"
"No, my beloved, Aroelyn, and my daughter, Aria." I smiled, saying their names brought pleasure to my ears. I'd hidden them for so long, but I thought it was high time my family was reunited.
"Pretty names."
"Thank you." I smiled.
CHAPTER 102: TAYLOR
The shrill of wind blasted through the cavern freezing the flames of every lit candle with its icy caress. Shadows fled as darkness roamed; the room was silent. What was it? What could have caused such a blast of cool air? And who would have thought Hell could be so cold?
Goose pimples raised their weary heads over my skin. My muscles tightened, bones rigid, and my teeth chattered. I wondered if my dying body would ever feel the warmth of life again. How many times had I died here... once, twice? A thousand? Warped through the memory of a disillusioned past, I wept. Tears gritted my skin as they fell to the edge of the stone slab I lay on. The darkness had come, night time lasted forever. Would I ever see the light of day again? Was I to lie there, dying through an eternity of lives, as I longed to see the face of my lover? I needed him, had to be with him. Why the heck did I tell him to go? I knew why; the children. They were more important than any soul in the realm, mine included. But that didn’t mean I got to give up, lie there in hope that he had saved them. I needed to know, I needed to find out. Did he save her? My baby girl? Was that icy blast the release of my loved ones from Hell’s torment? I lay in hope that it was. But if that was the case, then where was my baby boy? My only son and the strongest human on the planet? Would he, did he, surrender to the darkest form of night? Did he welcome the serpent like a long-lost friend from centuries past? Would he know any different? He was barely a day old. He was vulnerable and easily manipulated. He wouldn’t know any better. My father had him, had taken him to the well of Hell’s own underground. What did that place offer? What could my father offer, that I could not? I didn’t think it was the case of who loved him the most, it was more of the problem of who could use him the most, and that was something I could never do. I just hoped that one day he would see the truth, open his eyes and see my face, my living, caring face that shone with the love of a mother for her children. If he saw the light behind it, perhaps he could find the light that was surely within him. He was part of both me and Lucian, so he was the perfect balance of us both. Light and dark and would value neither over the other. The perfect neutral.
There had to be a way out. Anyway, to push and free myself from the clutches of Hell. Looking around, I couldn’t make out much of the cavern I was in. But I knew, relatively well, that my mother hung, dripping the last of her blood, over in the corner on the far right. There was nothing in between, only stone-cold darkness and the misery of realisation that my life would be immortal here. I would be forever dying through the nightmare of the depths of Hell.
CHAPTER 103: ELISHA
Sitting on the edge of the plateau, the dewy grass soothed my heated skin. My heart waned. Had I found him? Was he the one? I looked at the hand that held my own, soft and supple on the back, rough and calloused on the palm. He wasn’t the type of man I’d ever have chosen for myself. He was idiotic, arrogant, and vain. Much like myself, I guessed, smirking.
“What’s so funny?” Harland asked as I turned to face him, gripping his hand tighter than before.
“This... this is funny, don’t you think?”
He laughed as he gazed down at our intertwined hands. “Yeah, it’s hot how much you want me.” He grinned.
I punched him.
“Woah, testy testy. Look, I know you can’t not like me, but there’s no need for the violent touch.”
I laughed. What an idiot. I punched him again.
“Oww, okay, fine... I’ll admit, I think you’re hot, too. Is that better?” I nodded, smirking. “Now, let’s work off that extra scoop of ice-cream you had, shall we?”
Bloody idiot. I went to punch him harder this time, but instead, he gripped my arm, yanked me forward, and kissed me hard. Damn, he was hot. Ripping off his shirt, his feral nature pulsed through, luring me in as our pheromones inter-wreathed together spelling out a hormonal concoction of lust, love, and libido.
Roses flooded the air as I pushed him down, ripping off my clothes and mounting him for pure pleasure. Sex wasn’t all about love and romance. It was about the necessary human interaction of two lustrous beings; carnivores that delighted in devouring each other for the natural need of it. Seconds lasted minutes and minutes lasted hours as we rolled over and over in the moist grass, satisfying our sexual urges. We pleasured each other every which way possible. He wasn’t just another one, he was ‘the’ one. I’d finally found my mate after years of searching. We connected through our desires, his feral nature fed my sexual hunger, and I urged for more, biting down on my lip as we exploded together one last time.
“Hot damn, that was something,” he exclaimed.
I laughed. It was something, alright. Something so hot we’d ripped each other’s clothes to bits in the process. “Err...” I said, holding up a pair of shredded pants.
“Hmm.” He grinned. “Looks like it’s a naked mad dash back to the room, princess.”
“Princess!” I said, throwing the remainder of my bra back over to him. “I’m nobody’s damn princess!”
He laughed, “Okay, honey.” He winked.
Honey I could do. We gathered up the shredded clothing and looked around the plateau for any sign of an audience. No, nothing. He grinned, I smirked, and we ran.
Dodging the angels was hard enough, but those damn fairies were too small to see from a distance. We’d been ca
ught naked by at least four of them as we ran off giggling, finally making it back to the room.
“Mission accomplished.” Harland said.
“That was a close one!” I laughed. I’m sure we’d be the talk of Elysium. Those little critters were gossip queens at heart.
I walked over to the closet. “Do you know, the one thing I love almost as much as sex...” He shrugged. “A closet full of stunning clothes.” I smiled. My heart fluttered as I saw a stack of striking dresses. “That is... it.... I am living in this closet from now on!” I stated, wrapping my arms around the luxurious fabrics.
Harland laughed as he pulled on a top and trousers from the pile of unwashed clothes in the corner.
“Seriously? They’re dirty,” I said.
“Oh, honey bun, are you worried I’ll out dress you?”
“Shut it, Harland. You could never look better than me.” I declared, flicking my hair and picking out an elegantly short, silver number.
“What, and you’re wearing that?” he asked.
“Err, yeah, and why not?”
“We aren’t going to the prom, love.”
“Yes, I’m quite aware you’ve never taken me to a prom. However, I can look simply stunning any day of the week, thank you.”
“Why, yes, of course.” He said, mimicking a bow while laughing.
“Oh, hush.” I smirked, putting on the short silver dress anyway.
“Well, you do look damn hot in that.”
“I know.” I flicked my hair and left the room. Harland followed.
As we entered the atrium, a raucous of tired voices, saddened souls, and diminished beauty entered the area. “What’s happened?” I asked, running over to one of the angels.
“Its Eve, she’s gone...” she cried, mourning her loss.
“What?” I demanded.
“Where is she?” Harland asked, shaking her.
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