[The Watchers 19.0] Dominion - Reckoning

by SJ West

  “Well, well, well,” I say as the trio approaches me, “what do we have here? Jess and Lucifer’s Excellent Adventure? I’m sure people would pay good money to see the two of you fighting your way through Hell. I have to say that I’m surprised to see you here again, Father. I thought for sure you would stay hidden where it’s safe. Tell me, what brings you back so soon? Did you miss me?”

  “You know why I’m here. Give us Anna and Lucas, Helena,” Lucifer says in his most intimidating voice. It used to bring me in line to do his bidding, but all I want to do now is laugh in his face. I know I’m more powerful than he ever was during his reign here, and he knows it, too.

  “Sorry, but you lost the right to order me around the moment you gave up on who you were truly meant to be. You are still dead, aren’t you? Or did God resurrect you just to annoy the hell out of me?” I can’t help but laugh at my own joke, but the two standing in front of me aren’t as amused. “You people really need to get a sense of humor.”

  “This body is only temporary,” Lucifer says, ignoring my attempt at a joke. “Once Anna is safely back home, I won’t be returning here. Well, unless you do something this idiotic again.”

  “Anna, Anna, Anna,” I say in aggravation. “Everyone worries so much about Anna! Why is that? It’s not even like she’s all that special.”

  “She’s my daughter.”

  “So am I!”

  I notice Jess staring at me, an annoyingly quizzical look on her face.

  “What?” I snarl at her. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “I think,” she begins, studying me even more closely, “this is the first time I’ve truly understood what’s wrong with you, Helena.”

  “Oh, really?” I ask, doubtful that Jess could have any deep insight into my character. “What sort of divine enlightenment do you think you’ve just received about me?”

  “It’s obvious you’re nothing but a spoiled brat who never thought her father loved her enough while he was alive. Everything you’ve done up to this point is just your version of a temper tantrum.”

  I feel rage infuse every cell of my new body, and I immediately lash out at Jess. I lift my left hand to throw a flaming ball of energy at her, but it ends up glancing off a transparent gold shield that surrounds her like a bubble. It was invisible to the naked eye until it was needed. I should have known God wouldn’t send His holier-than-thou champion back without some sort of protection from me. I throw one at Lucifer just for kicks to see if he’s protected, too, and of course he is.

  “Well, the two of you are no fun to play with,” I complain, growing even more aggravated.

  “We’re not here to play games with you, Helena. We’re here to get my daughter back. Now, where is she?” Lucifer demands hotly.

  “That’s for me to know and for you to find out, big guy.” I wink at Lucifer to test whether or not I can still enrage him or if being in Heaven has completely neutered his personality.

  Apparently Heaven hasn’t changed him that much.

  With a growl of frustration, Lucifer rushes me. He grips my throat tightly with his left hand and throws me down on the ground, causing a puff of dust to rise from the dirt road.

  “Take me to her now!” he demands.

  Even though he’s cut off the air to my lungs, I’m still able to smile up at him.

  He’s back. That do-or-die hellfire look in his eyes hasn’t been extinguished yet. The old Lucifer has come out to play with me, even though he said he wouldn’t. Maybe if I push him just the right way, he’ll decide to return to me and we can pick up where we left off. What is it the humans used to say? You can’t teach an old dog new tricks? It looks like that might be the case for my father. What would he be willing to exchange for Anna’s release? I’m sure if I asked him for his soul, he would gladly hand it over in order to save her. After all, he gave his life to protect her from me. I doubt there’s anything he wouldn’t sacrifice for his sweet, precious Anna.

  “Lucifer!” Jess rushes over to him and begins to wrench at his arm. The sight of her distress tickles something inside my soul, and I begin to laugh.

  Poor Jess. She’s slowly seeing all her hard work crumble to the reemergence of Lucifer’s true self. She spent so many years endeavoring to change her friend, even though he wasn’t ready to be transformed. Her friendship and love weren’t enough to make him want to be a better man. Only when he saw himself through Amalie’s eyes did that unexpected miracle take place. She was the only one who could make Lucifer face up to who he had become. She held up a mirror to his soul and forced him to stare into the abyss. He ended up detesting what he saw in the reflection. He tried to be a better man for Amalie, but all he did was fail her miserably before she died.

  “Lucifer, stop!” Jess begs, yanking on his arm with even more force. “You’re doing exactly what she wants you to do! Don’t let her win.”

  Damn it.

  If there’s one thing Lucifer hates most in the world, it’s losing. Why did Jess have to put it in those terms when I was just gaining the upper hand?

  He instantly lets go of my neck and stands back up.

  “She’s not worth it, Lucifer,” Jess tells him. “Think about Amalie and Anna. They both need you. Don’t let them down by giving in to Helena’s jabs. She’s trying to goad you into losing your soul again. Can’t you see that? She wants you back here with her.”

  “Why would she want that?” Lucifer asks in bewilderment, staring down at me as I try to gasp for breath to refill my lungs.

  “I think she’s lonely.”

  “You know,” I croak as I sit up, rubbing the soreness out of my neck, “I am right here. I can hear what you’re saying.”

  “Good,” Jess says in that sanctimonious tone of hers. “You need to hear the truth. You’re behaving like a child who’s mad because her favorite toy got taken away.”

  I stand to my feet. As I look at her, I don’t even attempt to hide my hatred.

  “You know less than nothing about my relationship with Lucifer!”

  “I know enough to tell when someone is acting out their jealousy, Helena, and right now, you’re practically green with envy.”

  “Envious of whom exactly?” I question. “Amalie? God? You?”

  “Anna,” Jess answers calmly, so sure of her answer. “You’re jealous of how much Lucifer loves her and how much he despises you.”

  After listening to her words, my blood begins to boil, and all I want to do is smash her smug face into the ground. When I look over at Lucifer, I see a look of dawning pass across his features. He meets my gaze as if he’s seeing me for the first time in his life.

  “Anna’s my child. You’re just a construct I created to serve my will, Helena,” Lucifer tells me, as if I should be able to discern the difference between Anna and myself. “I never meant for you to become self-aware, and I certainly didn’t intend for you to become flesh and bone.”

  “That’s all I’ve ever been to you! A means to an end!” I scream, unable to hold in my rage and frustration. “You’ve never been able to see me as real.”

  I reach out and grab Lucifer roughly by the arm. “How does that feel, Father? Don’t I feel real enough to you yet?”

  “I am not your father, Helena,” he states in frustration, yanking his arm out of my grasp. “How many times do I have to say that before the truth of it finally sinks in? I don’t care how many bodies you make for yourself. You will never be a real person! This isn’t some fairytale. I’m not Geppetto, and Jess isn’t the Blue Fairy. You will never be a real girl.”

  As Lucifer’s words settle into my heart, I slowly take a step back from him.

  “You don’t see me at all, do you?” I ask in a whisper. “You’ll never see me no matter what I do or what I become. I’ll never be someone you can care about.”

  “You are not a someone,” Lucifer says. “You are a something.”

  I stare at him as my own sense of realization sinks in.

  “Fine,” I say. “I
f that’s the way you see me, then there’s nothing I can do to change your mind, but I know who and what I am even if you don’t.” I turn my back to him. “Good luck finding Anna with that hellhound of yours. By the time you reach her, I’ll already have what I want from your precious daughter.”

  “What do you want from her?” I hear Lucifer yell at me as I walk away. “Helena! What are you planning to do?”

  I don’t turn around. I just keep on walking until I fade from his sight and teleport myself back into Anna’s room. When I see her lying on the bed, sweating profusely, I know what I just said to Lucifer is true. He may find Anna, but he’s already too late to help her.

  “Helena,” Anna says when she sees me in the room, “I think something’s wrong with the babies. I need a doctor.”

  “You need to get my dad,” Lucas tells me from his position next to Anna on the bed. He’s sitting there cross-legged, holding her hand.

  “Oh, I think we can handle things just fine by ourselves,” I assure them both.

  “I thought you wanted to protect my children,” Anna argues. “Please, Helena, I know something’s wrong. I need your help.”

  “I’ve already given you my help,” I tell her, walking over to her side of the bed. I have to admit she does look pale. “Oh dear, I hope I didn’t put too much of that medicine in your drink. Honestly, I forgot to ask what else it might do to you besides start your labor.”

  “You drugged me?” Anna asks in disbelief, her eyes frantic with worry now.

  “With everyone trying to reach you, I couldn’t very well wait around for it to happen naturally. The babies are almost full-term anyway. If you think about it, I’m doing you an enormous favor. You can finally get rid of that gigantic baby bump you’ve been toting around for the last few months. Although I seriously doubt your figure will ever be the same again.”

  Anna places a protective hand on her stomach and looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.

  “I think you’re the craziest person I know,” she tells me without a shred of doubt.

  “Thank you,” I reply. At least she called me a person and not a thing like our father just did.

  That pompous ass deserves to have Hell rain down on him. If he and Jess weren’t being protected by some Heavenly shield, that’s exactly what I would do.

  I observe Anna for a little while to judge how swiftly her labor is progressing. Other than a fine sheen of sweat across her forehead, I see no other signs that things are moving along fast enough. I don’t dare give her any more of the medication. I don’t want to harm the children. What to do … what to do …

  “Oh!” I say as brilliance strikes. I may not be able to give her any more medication, but I can play with her emotions to help speed things along. “I almost forgot all about Malcolm and what he’s been hiding from you. If you’re going to bring his children into the world, you really should know what he’s capable of doing.”

  “My dad is a good man,” Lucas defends him, looking fiercely loyal to a man he barely knows anything about. His counterpart, Gabe, knows a great deal about Malcolm’s past, but this reincarnation of him is innocent of Malcolm’s rather shady history.

  “You’re right, Lucas. Your dad is a good man,” Anna says.

  “If I were you,” I say, “I wouldn’t let your little angel witness what I’m about to show you. I’m sure what his father did would only feed his nightmares.”

  I know Malcolm has shared some of his past with Anna. She knows what he used to be and the way he used humans to satisfy his own needs—carnal and otherwise.

  “He might not want you to see his worst memory, Lucas,” Anna says, wisely choosing to heed my words of caution. “Helena isn’t going to give him a choice about reliving it, but I think we should give him the choice of sharing it with you when he’s ready.”

  I let out a derisive laugh. “Oh, trust me. He won’t be sharing this moment from his past with our littlest angel.”

  “Why do you keep calling me an angel?” Lucas demands. “I don’t like it.”

  “And why is that?” I ask, finding this curious.

  “Because coming from you it sounds like a bad thing.”

  Anna sits up in the bed and brings Lucas into her arms.

  “Stay here for me and your dad,” she tells him before slowly moving her legs over the side of the bed and placing her feet on the floor. Instinctively, I go to help her stand up.

  She walks over to the chair by the window and sits down. Her expression is defiant in the face of my threat. I can’t help but admire the faith she has in her husband. I mean, it’s a bit on the foolhardy side, but if there is one thing I can say about Anna, it’s that she always believes in the ones she loves.

  “Can I make a request?” she asks.

  “You can make it,” I tell her, “but it doesn’t mean I’ll grant it.”

  “Let Malcolm see me,” she pleads. “Let me be with him while you do this.”

  “Hmm.” I mull this idea over and see an opportunity open up. “Request granted.”

  I turn to the window and zoom in on the image Anna is able to see from her room in the tower. From her vantage point, she can see Malcolm, Mason, Jered, and Slade walking in the thick fog, blindly trying to navigate their way to the castle.

  The men look our way and see Anna. From their point of view, all they see is a window with Anna sitting behind it. Malcolm’s eyes widen in surprise when he sees the love of his life. He rushes over to the window and starts banging on it, but when his fists go through the illusion, he realizes she isn’t actually there.

  “Lucas, come here for a moment,” Anna hurriedly requests. “Let your dad see that you haven’t been harmed.”

  Lucas scrambles off the bed and runs over to the window. He presses his hands against the clear pane of glass as he looks at his father.

  Malcolm kneels on the ground in front of the window so he’s eye level with his son. He raises his right hand, folds it into a fist, and places it over his heart. He thumps his chest twice while holding Lucas’ gaze.

  Lucas mimics his father’s gesture with his own little hand and says, “I love you, too, Dad.”

  “Go back to the bed, sweetie,” Anna urges.

  Lucas thumps his heart twice more for his father with his little fist before doing as his mother instructs him.

  Anna and Malcolm lock gazes. She holds out a hand and presses it against the glass. He mirrors her movement, even though his hand simply passes through the illusion of the window on his side. They stare at each other, and the love between them seems to manifest into a physical presence inside the room.

  When Anna drops her hand away, she looks up at me and says, “Do it. Prove to yourself that Malcolm is strong enough to survive whatever horror you’re about to make him relive. I already know he is.”

  “It must be nice to have so much faith in another person,” I comment, finding her even more beautiful as she sticks up for her man while suffering through the first stages of the birthing process. I admire her ability to handle everything that’s been thrown at her. She’s strong, but is her love for Malcolm strong enough to forgive what I’m about to show her? The answer to that question is about to be revealed.

  Chapter 13

  (Malcolm’s Point of View)

  Being able to see Lucas and Anna again has healed my soul and fueled an already burning desire to have them both back in my arms again. When I first saw the window appear, all I could think about was tearing it down to reach them. The sensible part of me knew that it was only an illusion, but I had to try anyway. I had to know for sure that they were out of my reach.

  Anna doesn’t look well. Her skin is deathly pale and glistening with sweat. If I didn’t know any better, I would say she’s in labor, but the babies aren’t due for another four weeks. Could stress be causing her to go into labor early? Dear Lord, please don’t let that be the case. I refuse to have my children breathe their first breaths in Hell.

  “I have to say I kind of like you
on your knees, Malcolm,” I hear Helena say behind me. “The position suits you well.”

  I withdraw my hand from the illusion of Anna and steel myself for what’s about to come next. There’s a reason Helena is allowing Anna to see me, and I know it’s not out of the goodness of her heart. She’s been systematically showing everyone the one memory that haunts them the most. I can only surmise that she’s through playing with the War Angels. That only leaves Slade and me to harass.

  “I guess you’ve come to show me my worst memory,” Slade says, apparently having the same thought as me and deflecting Helena’s attentions onto himself first for some reason. “Go on, then. Show it. I have nothing to hide.”

  Helena turns her gaze away from me to stare at him.

  “Are you that eager to relive it?” she asks him. “I promised my sister she could watch Malcolm’s memory, but if you want to go first, who am I to deny you such sweet torture?”

  The heavy mist surrounding us rolls away, and I instantly recognize where we are.

  It’s an exact replica of Brand’s home in England. The scene Helena has conjured shows the Watchers engaged in battle with Lucifer’s angels in front of the mansion. This is the day Lilly was able to stop Lucifer’s plans to destroy the world, but not before he was able to make the Tear. I fought in this skirmish alongside Slade, but I don’t understand why this would be his worst memory.

  “You look puzzled, Malcolm,” Helena says, sounding a little too happy about my confusion. “Didn’t you know that this was the day Slade received his hellhound bite?”

  She turns around and points to memory-Slade lying on the ground, a hellhound standing over him. Its jaws are open, and you can tell there’s nothing that can stop what’s about to happen next.

  Helena unfreezes the memory so we can all watch the hellhound bite Slade on the shoulder. He cries out in pain, but no one hears him. We were all too busy with our own battles to notice what was happening to him.