The Devil's Lover: The Resurrection

by Dahlia Lu

  “Their sufferings are real!”

  “So is yours!” he shot back. “You may have once been human, but you are no longer one of them. Let me rephrase that, you were never one of them. Why you care so much about them is beyond my comprehension. Their sufferings may be real, but so are yours. You may see them as human beings, but through our eyes, they are no more important than the cattle grazing in the field. You asked Lucifer to save those parasitic creatures, who are inferior to us in every conceivable way. The demons’ sufferings are real too!”

  “He could have refused me!”

  The demon’s gaze suddenly turned icy cold. His eyes became neither fully green nor fully blue. “That is where you are wrong. He cannot refuse you.”

  “Why?” she asked with a coarse voice. “If he can’t do it, then he should have told me!”

  “I did not say he cannot do it,” the demon corrected her. “And you ask me why? That is the question you should ask yourself. The answer has always been staring you in the face.”

  “That can’t possibly be true…” she said under her breath.

  “Why can’t it possibly be true?” he inquired. “I can forgive that you do not know the way we think, but even from a human’s stand point, it should be clear enough.”

  “He didn’t do this for me,” she denied, “he’s doing this to punish me.”

  “Are you that afraid of being loved?” he sighed and then helped her up to her feet. “If Lucifer ever had a weakness, it would be you. If only you had more confidence and strength in yourself, he would not be so vulnerable. I will help you find him, Kali. Sort this out before you lose everything.”

  Leaving her with much to think about, he summoned a portal and guided her toward it. She turned back to look at him. “I never said thank you last time,” she said to him. “I didn’t even ask for your name.”

  “Gabriel,” he decided to tell her. His eight snow white wings majestically spread behind his back. When he saw a puzzled look on her face and anticipated her question, he replied.

  “We may share different views and allegiances, but that does not mean I cannot care for him. Be good to him, that headstrong brother of mine.”

  Chapter 24: Sacred Laws

  The portal led her into the deep blue water then vanished. She sucked in an alarmed breath and tried to reach to the surface, but quickly remembered the experiment in the lab where they had placed her in the enclosed tank. She remembered trying to hold her breath, as she did now for a minute or two before she realized there was no feeling of discomfort in her lungs. She quickly dismissed any thoughts of surfacing and tried to figure out why Gabriel had transported her here. She asked to be led to Lucifer, and if Gabriel had been telling the truth, this was the place she could find him. She looked up to see how far she was from the surface, but could only see endless navy blue. She taste the saltiness of the water, and decided that she was somewhere in the heart of the ocean. She looked down to the bottom and saw endless white sand and greyish brown coral stretching as far as she could see, and it was not very far away. The water was unusually cold, the pressure heavy, but like her lack of oxygen, didn’t cause her any discomfort.

  She panicked when something large swam passed her waist. From the look of the tail and fins, it looked very much like a shark. If this was a normal day, she would have fainted and it would have had her for dinner. Not today, she thought to herself, and tried to swim deeper to the bottom. If the shark came back, she would have to brawl with it with her demon strength. From what she’d seen from the other demons, she may not come out the loser.

  She wanted to find Lucifer quickly, but she didn’t know where to start. She could only see several meters away and she was in shark-infested water. She flinched again when a school of fish swam past her from the same direction as the shark. Little crustaceans on the bottom of the sea floor followed them. It was her first clue that they were running away from something. Animals avoided Lucifer like the plague, feared him, and ran away from him on sight. There were never any animals around their house. Dogs that happened to stumble by would drag their owners across the pavement as they scampered off. Animals, she’d been told, instinctively feared predators.

  She decided to swim in the opposite direction as the marine life. She was never a good swimmer and she struggled quite a bit to even move a few feet. She wiggled out of her shoes for better movement. She figured it would be better if she could walk on the white sand, but that was a problem all on its own. She was awkward and her feet never seem to fully touch the bottom, but they managed to find a sand-covered path. She followed the path and discovered it led to a giant underwater ruin. The structure was tall and wide, made of grey stones and covered in coral. There were doors and balconies on almost every level, although some doors just led to empty water.

  She entered the large front gate connected to the pathway, and found herself suddenly walking backwards as several spearheads pointed at her. They walked out of the shadows of the ruin and into clear view. Large, pitch black eyes were staring at her with full suspicion. Their bodies were almost human, but were scaled from head to tail. Kali’s eyes trailed down to their grey scaly fish tails with wonder.

  “Identify yourself,” their voices echoed off the hollows of the ruins. “Or perish.”

  Her eyes squinted when she did not see their pale, hard lips move. She waved her hands in front of her, trying to communicate with them through made-up sign language. They didn’t understand what she was trying to say, and quickly lost patience with her. They pulled their spears back to add momentum before they launched them in her direction.

  “No!” she screamed out, and realized the voice came from her mouth. They paused for a moment to let her answer their question. “I came to find Lucifer,” she stammered. Her voice was muffled and no air bubbles floated from her mouth.

  “The Mistress asked him to come alone,” she heard one of them say as they rested the spears at their sides. “If you are his servant, then you must wait outside.”

  “I must see him about a matter of great importance,” she replied, and then added, “and urgency.”

  “You must wait.” Their voice was firm.

  “I cannot wait,” she replied. “It cannot wait. Please, you must let me in.”

  “You are an exceptionally humble demon,” one of them commented. “We haven’t met one that begs, ever. Normally, they would force their way in.”

  “I am not a demon,” she said shyly, knowing it sounded like a lie. “I am his wife, and I must see him.”

  They looked to each other then turned back to her with what she assumed were amused smiles. “So you are the girl. Come in,” they invited with the gestures of their fins-like arms, “the Mistress would like to meet you.”

  She entered the gate, which stretched like a tunnel to the other side. With much guidance through the ruins, they reached a large double door. They stopped, opened the door, and gestured for her to go in alone. She entered trembling, but her face showed perfect composure. She flinched when the doors closed behind her. She turned back, ready for whatever awaited her.

  A lock of his platinum hair caught her attention almost immediately. It was in the hand of a giant woman made of water, yet not of the water. The woman was exactly like the beasts she had seen rampaging through her world. She was sitting on her throne in the middle of the circular altar. Cautiously, Kali approached her.

  “I am fatigued,” the woman declared in a high, but pleasing voice. “Come back another time, my child.”

  “I am here to look for Lucifer,” Kali said swiftly.

  The woman looked up and met Kali’s eyes. “You are his bride.” It wasn’t a question.

  “I have been curious about you.”

  “I am ordinary.”

  “Yes, so ordinary that you are extraordinary,” she chuckled. “You are important enough for him to see me twice in four days. I have heard of you, but I never thought that we would meet so soon.”

  “I am sure we will have
a chance to meet again, but please, I need to see Lucifer.”

  “Spare a moment of your time for me, my child,” the woman requested. “It will not take long and I will send you on your way. He has only just left.”

  “Do you have questions for me?” Kali asked, wondering why the woman wanted to keep her.

  “I have only one question,” she said. “I expect a candid answer from you.”

  “I will answer to the best of my knowledge,” Kali promised.

  “When Lucifer took you as his bride, did he ever…” The woman was being very careful with her wordings. “…disclose to you his true name?”

  Kali shook her head. “He never told me his true name. He said it was only for him to know.”

  “I suspected as much,” the woman sighed with disappointment. “I appreciate your honestly, my child.” Her hands whirled to create a portal. “I will send you on your way now.”

  “Why do you want to know his true name?” Kali asked curiously.

  She smiled. “If he ever reveals it to you, trade it with me for everything your heart desires.”

  “If it is that important to him, then I will not trade it for anything in the world, my Lady.”

  “Of course, but I should be your first option if you should decide to.”

  Without a reply, Kali entered the portal.

  †††††

  “You broke your promise, Gabriel,” Archangel Michael said when he discovered Gabriel spying on the girl. He sat down and leaned on his elbow. “Lucifer would be furious if he knew you interfered. You should have just let him do what he wants.”

  “For our brother, I can break a promise or two,” Gabriel replied with a smile. “It is a shame if this love story turns in the wrong direction. Mentally, she is only twenty-two, Michael. The child needs a little guidance. I would hate to see her suffer for the next ten thousand years over choices she barely understands. Our Lucifer can be quite difficult.”

  “The first ten thousand years may be the longest,” Michael agreed.

  “She has just met Gaila.” Gabriel put the mirror down. “Seems to have taken a liking to the girl, although she still hasn’t given up the quest of obtaining Lucifer’s true name.”

  “I doubt the Elements will ever stop pursuing control over him.”

  †††††

  She didn’t know if they had been toying with her. It was beginning to feel like a wild goose chase. This time she found herself inside an eagle’s nest high above the mountains. She climbed out of the empty nest and stared down from the sharp cliff. Her eyes were amazed at the perfect blending of blues and greens mapping the landscape below. She leaned a little too far and the shift of her weight broke off the soft layer of stone. She plunged headfirst over the cliff. Her panicked screaming ceased when a tree branch broke her fall. She exhaled a sigh of relief and gasped again when she felt herself free-falling again. The weak branch couldn’t support her weight. She heard the loud thud of her body dropping onto the ground.

  She lay still for several minutes, moving her awareness up and down her body to examine if anything was broken. The pain from the impact quickly subsided. The deep scratches on her arms and legs closed and healed completely. It was only a matter of minutes before she was up on her feet again. She remembered Chevalier falling out of the castle’s window and his wings extending, and wondered why it didn’t happen for her. She thought they would instinctually appear.

  She intuitively scanned her heavily forested surroundings with her acute senses. She could hear movements, from little animals to the smallest drop of water splashing to the ground. It was all useless information that distracted her from her priority. She had been told many times that demons could sense one another’s presence. If she could somehow tap into that connection, she may be able to find Lucifer quicker.

  Her new power of invulnerability frightened her more than it thrilled her. She was not repulsed by it, but at the same time, she did not welcome it either. She knew that it was this power that saved her from the fall, but she still could not get herself to like it. She had always had a secret fear of Trent playing with other children. If he got carried away, he may accidently break their necks. Of course, her fears had been unfounded because Trent hated to play with other children.

  She closed her eyes and tried to feel another presence nearby. She detected many things, but no suspicious signs of Lucifer. She wondered how she was supposed to feel him from a distance. She opened her eyes again when she smelled the muted scent of sandalwood. She may know more about Lucifer than she thought. She followed her nose through the forest and paused when she stumbled upon a massive tree that may have reached the heavens. His scent still lingered in the air.

  “He has just left, little bride,” the layered voice of a woman said to her. “I will show you where he went, if you reveal to me his true name.”

  “Why does everyone want to know that?” Kali asked herself. She relied on her nose again to locate him. She let out a shriek when something grabbed her legs and turned her upside down. She looked up and was appalled to see thick green vines constricting her legs. From the corner of her left eye, she caught the figure of a woman on the tree’s bark.

  “I don’t know that!” Kali replied. “He never told me, and I doubt he ever would!”

  After a moment of complete silence, the vines released her and she fell onto the ground. “You are of no use to me, then. I would hate for Lucifer to come back with a vengeance.”

  Kali relied on her nose again to locate him. The faint scent was nearby. She pushed her way through the lush forest and arrived at a meadow where the tall grasses grew past her knees. Wild flowers of every imaginable color competed with each other for their own spot in the golden sunlight. There was a lake nearby, round and reflective like a mirror. She came closer and saw her detailed image reflected back. She was momentarily distracted until she heard rolling thunders move across the sky. She jerked her head up and gasped at the sudden formation of thunderclouds above. Somewhere amidst the dark clouds, she caught the sight of his platinum hair. His blue eyes gleamed brightly, like two large gems.

  She called out his name, but he was oblivious to her presence. He was being surrounded, wrapped, and coiled within the angry clouds. Lightning began to race across the suddenly gloomy sky.

  “Let go of him!” she screamed out when she could vaguely see a female figure in the clouds. Her arms were wrapped tightly around him and pressed him against her breasts. “You can’t have him, he’s mine!”

  The clouds ignored her completely.

  If she knew how to fly, she would have flown to them and snatched him away from the thunderclouds’ grasp. She didn’t know what to do and she felt completely helpless. The cloud woman suddenly released him and he fell directly from the sky. Kali screamed out his name as she reached for him and screamed again when he was plunged into the water. She dived in after him, frantically searching until she found him sinking deeper and deeper into the lake. She wrapped her arms around him and fought to pull him toward the surface. Slowly and steadily, she pulled him onto the muddy land. She leaned her ear on his chest to find a heartbeat.

  “I am immortal,” he reminded her.

  She jerked her head up and saw his blue eyes looking back at her. Joy and anger fought for control in her eyes. She loosened her clenched fists and slapped him across the face. Her action even surprised herself. “What do you think you were doing?” she screamed at him.

  She expected him to be angry and return the hit, so she winced when his hand reached up. She opened her eyes again when she found his hand wiping the traces of mud off her face. “You shouldn’t be here,” he said calmly. His voice still sounded so cold.

  “I hate you, Lucifer!” she declared in a half-crying voice. “You really are wicked. You are nothing but deceit and lies, and I hate you!”

  He stared back at her as if everything she had said was expected. He lowered his eyes, but she couldn’t see a hint of guilt. All she saw was melanchol
y. He was too accepting of her outburst, and it made her even angrier.

  “You don’t even know why I’m angry,” she cried, and pulled away from him.

  “Why are you angry, Kali?” he asked.

  “It’s because you’re cruel and manipulative and our union was nothing but a joke!” She lowered her head and wrapped her arms around her knees. “I’m so frustrated. I don’t even know where to begin. It was cruel of you to make such a dreadful choice! It was manipulative of you not to tell me how you would fulfill the bargain! If I knew, I would never have…” She let out another sob. “I hate myself for being like this! You should have flat out rejected my request. At least then the choice wouldn’t be mine.”

  He finally understood why she was upset. “If I did so, your hatred for me would deepen.”

  “I would hold a grudge at you forever! I could have pretended to hate you so I wouldn’t seem like such a heartless person. You could at least live with that, Lucifer.”

  “What would truly make you happy, Kali?”

  “I don’t know,” she shook her head. “I’d rather live with the thought of hating you than being without you at all. For you it may only be a simple sleep, but it isn’t for me. Take responsibility, Lucifer! You have everything that is mine, and if you leave me, I would be nothing more than an empty shell. That was our original bargain, wasn’t it?”

  “I never took anything that wasn’t yours to give,” he said with a chuckle.

  “How could you laugh at a time like this?”

  “You could have simply said you changed your mind,” he smiled. “Did it not sound like a confession just now?”

  “I hate you,” she muttered. It was a good thing her head was buried so he couldn’t see her flustered face. “You are still your deceptive self, after all these years.”

  “Haven’t I told you before?” he asked as he picked her up into his arms. The scenery around them changed and Kali found herself being placed in their bed in the castle. “I am unsusceptible to change. I am now, and will forever be, the man you see before you.”