My heart sank. I had suspected as much, but now that it was spoken, it was obvious. “I…”
Chima cleared his throat. “We brought you here so that we might offer you a way out.”
“A way out?” Lucifer asked. He turned his attention back to Chima and pointed at the stone table. “What about the girl?” Callie thrashed about on the table, trying desperately to speak, but Lucifer raised his finger to his lips. “All in good time, sweet Callie.”
“If you want the girl,” Chima said, “I’m sure we can come to an arrangement.”
“Can we?” Lucifer purred. “Come to an arrangement? Do you understand bargaining, Chima? You must make me an offer. Surely you understand this. What can you offer me, little vampire? What could you possibly give me?”
Chima licked his lips. “Once we understand how to call the darkness, we can free you from Hell.”
* * *
Lucifer rocked back on his heels. “And how do you propose to do that?”
“Haagenti knows how the darkness works,” Chima said. “With that knowledge, we should be able to control it. The darkness comes from before. It should be able to break open Hell itself.”
“Interesting,” Lucifer drawled, stroking his chin. “Very interesting. You break me free of Hell, and then you do what?”
“We rule over these stupid cattle,” Erlik said. “We have spent too many years hiding away when we should be ruling them. They are only human—”
“Yes,” Lucifer said. “They are only human. And breaking the gates of Hell would unleash all the demons in Hell. That might be a problem, don’t you think?”
“With the power of the darkness,” Chima said quickly, “we can defeat any demon.”
“I would be free?” Lucifer asked. “Just like that?”
“Just like that,” Chima said.
Lucifer looked around the gathering. “All of you agree to this bargain?”
There were nods all around. Henry remained motionless, but Desmond spat at the ground and said, “No way. This ain’t right. Lottie, you can’t go along with this.”
Lottie yanked the silver chain around Desmond’s neck. “Hush. When this is all over, we will rule Chicago the way we were meant to.”
Lucifer smiled. “So, there are a few holdouts. Obviously, the young Sam Harlan and Sister Callie disagree with your plan.” He spun around and bowed his head to Pete. “What about you? Where do you fall on this issue? Are you throwing your lot in with them?”
Pete sighed heavily. “These folks have no idea what they’re doing. They’re nothing but ignorant children playing with fire.”
Before anyone could speak, Lucifer smiled an honest and genuine smile and said, “Well spoken, Peter,” and then snapped his fingers.
Everyone froze, and I don’t mean they stood very still.
They froze like they were made of stone. Callie stopped thrashing against the table, and Pete stood sadly looking at Lucifer. Above us, the churning of the clouds came to a stop, and there was a silence like I had never experienced before.
The only sound in that moment was my heart pounding in my ears and the whoosh-whoosh of blood flowing through my body.
Lucifer stepped around Enid and said, “Would you walk with me, Sam?”
“Uh—”
“Don’t worry, I won’t bite. I would have words with you before … well, before what is about to happen, happens.”
“I don’t understand.”
Lucifer took my hand in his, and it felt like a normal person’s hand, neither fire nor ice, just flesh, and blood, and bone. “Come. The beach isn’t far from here.”
He led me to the east, down the gently sloping grass, to a sandy sliver of beach along Lake Michigan that stretched south for nearly two hundred yards. Light from the city was reflected in the gentle waves that were in the process of lapping against the sand.
“You froze time,” I said in wonder.
Lucifer laughed. It sounded like a thousand tinkly crystal bells. “Neat trick, that is. I can’t keep it frozen for very long, but there is something to be said for being the second most powerful being.”
“God is the first?”
Lucifer took a few steps and turned back to me. His smile was all white teeth. “Of course He is. You know, a lot of people don’t understand why God doesn’t appear to them anymore. Why He doesn’t show up and fix everything.”
“Well,” I said slowly, “why doesn’t He?”
“I’m going to tell you a secret,” Lucifer said. “Free will.”
I took a halting step onto the wet sand, but my boots didn’t sink in—the sand was as hard as concrete. “Funny,” I said. “I’ve heard that before.”
Lucifer stopped. “Do you understand it?”
“I guess I don’t.”
“Smart man,” Lucifer said. He turned to stare at the frozen water. “The first sign of wisdom is knowing what you don’t know. Free will is a funny thing. It only really works if God doesn’t interfere.”
“Helping us would be interfering?”
Lucifer turned to me and spread his hands in the air. “Imagine this is … everything. What do you know about the multiverse?”
“The what?”
“You’re standing here in front of me, but there is also a version of you that is still back with the Ancients. And another version of you that is still working at your diner in Arcanum, going home every night to your wife and daughter. There’s a version of you that goes home to his son. There are almost infinite versions of you, Sam, on an almost infinite number of worlds just like this one. There’s an almost infinite number of worlds where life doesn’t exist. Do you see what I’m saying?”
“Sounds like something from a bad movie,” I said. “What does it have to do with anything.”
“God is a part of all of these worlds, Sam, but He is also outside of them, looking in.” He spread his hands even wider. “He is infinite. Were He to manifest on this world, right now before you, there would be terrible consequences. Like, end-of-the-world consequences.”
I thought about it for a moment. “God can’t appear because of something to do with free will?”
Lucifer nodded. “Now you understand. He sent His son here, and it almost destroyed everything.”
“Funny, I don’t remember hearing that.”
Lucifer laughed. “Why do you think He could only stay for a short time after His resurrection?”
“Okay, you got me. I don’t have a good grasp of the Bible.”
“Sister Callie has been trying to teach you,” Lucifer said. “Maybe you should have been a little more attentive. Who knows, maybe you’ll still have time.”
“Bible lessons,” I said. “You’re telling me I need Bible lessons?”
“Couldn’t hurt. Not everything is in the Bible, though. Peter is proof of that.”
I stopped. “Why should I believe anything you say? You’re supposed to be the great liar.”
“I don’t always get great press,” Lucifer said. “But I promise you this, Sam. I am not lying. By the end of the night, one way or another, you’ll realize this.”
“What is happening?” I asked.
Lucifer scratched his head. “Do you know Hell’s true purpose?”
I smiled. “I’m sorry, but this is crazy. I’m standing on a beach, frozen in time, learning about the greatest cosmic mysteries from Lucifer. Maybe I’m not really here. Maybe I’m safe at home in Arcanum, and this has all been a bad dream.”
Lucifer raised one eyebrow, and the ruddy light in his eyes slowly faded until they were Andre Johnson’s eyes once again. “Maybe. Or perhaps you died back in Lottie Graham’s warehouse when that wall fell on you.”
My stomach dropped, and I tasted bile at the back of my throat. “What?”
“You called out to me when the brick wall fell on you. Remember?”
“I never called out to you—”
“Sam, please. You thought
to yourself that you would sell your soul to me if I just gave you the strength to save Callie.”
“I didn’t…”
Lucifer shook his head sadly. “Yeah, you kinda did.”
“I … I sold my soul to you?”
Lucifer smiled. “Did you?”
I sold my soul? I … wait. “No, I didn’t.”
Lucifer smiled. “I guess you didn’t, then. Hell exists for two purposes, Sam. One is to keep demons safely locked up.”
“If demons need to be kept locked up, then why are there demons?”
“To tempt people’s faith in God,” Lucifer said. “Look, it would take longer than I have to explain that part to you, so let me just skip to Hell’s second purpose. Hell provides a place for souls to be … forged is the best way to describe it.”
“I thought Hell was to punish the wicked.”
“Who knows more about Hell, Sam, you or me?”
“Okay, okay. So, Hell forges souls. Then what does Heaven do?”
“Heaven takes those souls that are almost ready and prepares them for the next step.”
“Next step?”
“To become one with God, of course.”
“So everything exists, literally everything, to become one with God? That sounds like hippy-dippy bullshit.”
Lucifer laughed again, but this time it was strained. “Let’s head back, shall we? I can’t hold them back much longer.”
“Hold what back?”
“The demons.” Lucifer gave me an unreadable look. “When they used the Demonic script on Callie’s body to open the door to Hell, the demons tried to leave. It’s taking every bit of my control to keep them at bay.”
Chapter Nineteen
As we walked back on that lonely stretch of sand, Lucifer turned to me and said, “I’ve got an offer for you, Sam.”
“Are you trying to tempt me?”
“Just doing my job,” Lucifer said. “Yes, you were correct. You didn’t sell me your soul when you were saved from under that fallen pile of bricks.”
There was something in his voice and the way he spoke. It put a notion in my head. “Someone helped me.”
“Call it … divine intervention. Your soul remains yours, but I will offer you something you want, something you really, really want.”
“What’s that?”
“I can make this all go away.”
“You mean the Ancients?”
Lucifer stopped and spoke carefully, “I can turn back the clock to that night when Silas attacked. I can make it so that he never found you. Stacie would still be alive. Lilly would still be alive. You would never meet Jack. You would remain blissfully unaware of vampires. You would have no knowledge of magic or demons. You wouldn’t know the real purpose of Heaven and Hell.”
“Just like that?”
“Without the attack in Indianapolis,” Lucifer continued, “Silas remains in control of his clutch. Everything that came from that first night, that terrible first night, is undone.”
“What about the Glicks?”
“What about them? Without your intervention, they would still be alive.”
“And the Mendozas?”
Lucifer shrugged. “Sadly, Maria, Leticia, Elena, and Olivia all receive the gift. But Franco would still be alive, and so would Angie Bent.”
“What about Monticello?”
“Milford Barlow’s wife, Eva, still clings to life. He doesn’t seek out her family in Bement, and Meriwether never makes a deal with Haagenti.”
“Father Mosley—”
“He’s still alive, Sam. So are the other members of the Bement coven.”
“All those lives…”
“There’s more,” Lucifer said. “The Ancients never learn of the darkness, and they don’t kill all the young men in Chicago. All those lives, Sam. Young men, snuffed out in their prime, just to summon me. Think of that.”
“And … Katie?”
“Sister Katie is still alive,” Lucifer said softly. “She’s Larz Timm’s prisoner, and eventually he will give her the gift, even with her natural immunity.”
“Immunity?”
Lucifer frowned, and a bead of sweat formed on his brow. “I’m quickly running out of time here, but I think you know what the families did all those many years ago.”
I licked my lips. “They did something with the vampire essence. The darkness.”
“They infected themselves with the darkness. Just a small touch of it. It created a natural immunity that they’ve passed down over the years. You must have guessed.”
In fact, I had suspected exactly that. “I sell you my soul and … you just do this? You reset everything back to normal?”
Lucifer smiled. “You’ve been through so much, Sam. You’ve learned about vampires and you’ve learned about your heritage. You’ve watched all those around you die. Don’t you deserve some peace? Don’t you deserve your life back? Don’t you want to be just … plain Sam Fisher again?”
I would still be innocent.
I was tempted. I knew I shouldn’t have been, but I was. Lucifer offered everything I wanted. My wife and daughter would still be alive.
“What about those that I did help?” I asked.
“Those you helped? Do you really think you helped anyone?”
“I—I know I did.”
Lucifer smiled sadly. “Perhaps. You will have to weigh those lives against all the lives you hurt. But does that even really matter? I’m offering your wife and child back. Your wife and child. How can you resist that?”
Lucifer was right. I couldn’t resist his deal. To have my wife back, safe and sound, and my daughter, my sweet Lilly.
I can hold them in my arms again and never let them go. I can sell the diner, change my name from Fisher to something else. I can become anybody other than a Harlan. We can live our lives in peace, free of this insanity. I’ll make sure we’re never found.
I couldn’t resist, and Lucifer knew it. “I think…”
Lucifer smile was as old as time. “Yessss?”
“I want … I mean…”
“Time is running short, Sam.”
How can I not take the deal? How can I look at myself in the mirror, knowing my old life was within my grasp and I turned it down?
But…
Making a deal with Lucifer. It doesn’t seem … right. If what he said is true, that souls go to Hell to be shaped into something else, then surely it’s a mistake?
But…
My wife. My daughter. My old life. How can I say no?
In that frozen moment in time, I blinked back hot, stinging tears. “I can’t do it. Besides, I don’t matter. How could I? I’m just a nothing in the grand scheme of things.”
Lucifer’s mouth quirked up. “I’m going to let you in on a little secret. For tonight, you are the only one that matters. For tonight, it’s all about your destiny.”
Despite Lucifer’s words, I felt so small. So helpless. “I don’t understand…”
Lucifer clapped me on the shoulder. “Bravo, Sam. Just … bravo. I’ve been rooting for you, kid. I truly have. It wasn’t really a choice at all. What has happened, has happened. You may not feel it now, but you’ll come to understand that everything happens for a reason. Remember that, in the days to come. Take comfort in it.”
We approached the stone table. Everyone was just as we had left them. Lucifer pointed at the spot I had occupied, and I walked around the stone table and stood there, too confused to ask questions.
Lucifer took his place in front of Chima and raised his right hand. He turned to me and said, “Sam?”
“What?” I asked dumbly.
“Good luck.” With that, he snapped his fingers and time flowed again.
* * *
Lucifer turned to Chima and said, “You have made a grave mistake.”
Chima blinked. A scowl appeared on his face, and he focused his attention on me.
I don’
t know how he knows, but he knows that Lucifer did something.
Chima studied me for a moment. His eyes narrowed and he licked his lips but said nothing.
Enid sniffed at the air and said, “What are you waiting for?”
“We summoned you,” Chima said quickly. “Do not test our patience.”
“Yes,” Lucifer agreed. “You did summon me.” He turned his attention to Erlik. “Tell me, Scholar. You’ve searched from the Hall of Records to the Library of Alexandria. You have spent so much of your time looking for new ways for the Ancients to prosper, to help them maintain their power. How could you have been so mistaken?”
Erlik glanced from Chima to Enid. “I don’t know what Lucifer is talking about. I am never mistaken.”
Lucifer threw his head back and howled with laughter, and when he did, there was a sound like that of cicadas chirping in the distance.
Like, all of the cicadas in the world chirping at once.
“You poor, pathetic creatures,” Lucifer said. “You summoned me to offer me my freedom. What makes you think I’m not free now?”
“What is he talking about?” Enid hissed. She kept her eyes on mine, but her mouth tightened. “Erlik! I thought you said—”
“A foolish child,” Lucifer said in a voice of thunder, “with a child’s knowledge of the night sky, and your Scholar thought that he could meddle in God’s will? I am not a demon, dear children. I have free will. I am not condemned to Hell as some type of punishment. Father asked me to go. It was a great honor! I am free to leave at any time!”
Garski started whispering in Tessa Spurlock’s ear. To my left, Desmond began to laugh before Lottie pulled at the chain attached to his collar, cutting him off.
Henry said, “It’s not exactly going down how you planned, is it?” Chima absently smacked him in the back of the head. In a normal human, it would have been a killing blow, but Henry shrugged it off. “I wish you had listened, Chima. Your entire plan is a mistake.”
Chima shook his head and addressed Lucifer. “We have come too far to stop now. I’m sure there is something we can offer you.”
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