[The Watchers 19.0] Dominion - Reckoning

by SJ West

  He scrunches up his face, immediately telling me he does not approve of my choice.

  “Only women who work at the Ladies in Waiting would wear something like that,” he informs me.

  “How in the world do you even know about an establishment like that?” I ask, aghast at his knowledge of the brothel in Cirrus.

  “Oh, I hear things,” Lucas replies with an air of knowledge well beyond his young years. “Especially when Xander is around. From what I’ve heard, he gets in trouble there a lot. The last time he did, my mom had to go straighten him out.”

  “Have you ever been there yourself?”

  Lucas begins to laugh like I’ve said the funniest thing in the world.

  When he catches his breath, he says, “Nope! My mom would kill me if I stepped foot inside a place like that. She doesn’t even know that I know about it.”

  “Well, if I were you, I would stay clear of such places, even when you get older.”

  “I doubt Bai would talk to me again if I ever went somewhere like that.”

  “Oh, yes. I know who you’re talking about,” I say, recognizing exactly whom Lucas is referring to. From what I remember, Lucifer pegged her as being the reincarnation of JoJo Armand, Gabe’s wife. It was sickeningly sweet that the two of them would choose to come back from the dead to have a second chance at an earthly life together. Why that seemed so important to them, I have no idea.

  “You stay away from her,” Lucas tells me.

  When I turn to face him, there’s something in his eyes that wasn’t there before. The childlike quality is missing for some reason.

  “Gabriel?” I dare ask. “Is that you coming out to play with me?”

  After a slight hesitation, Lucas answers, “Yes, but I’m not here to play with you, Helena. I’m here to deliver a warning.”

  “Oh, really? And what exactly does the Archangel Gabriel want to warn me about?”

  “You can’t trust the Lucifer of this world.”

  I have to admit I wasn’t expecting that from him. I thought for sure he was going to threaten me with some sort of Heavenly punishment if I interfered with Gabe and JoJo’s planned happily-ever-after.

  “Why are you warning me, Gabriel?” I ask. “You almost sound as if you care what happens to me.”

  Lucas’ expression loses its hard edge, and I see the innocence return to his eyes.

  “Why wouldn’t I care?” he asks. “I need you to help me find my mom.”

  How strange. Why did Gabriel feel the need to take over Lucas’ body to deliver his message to me? His meaning was cryptic, but he seemed to be implying that the Lucifer on this Earth might harm me in some way. Did God tell Gabriel to deliver that message to me? If He did, why would He do it?

  “Is there something wrong with you?” Lucas asks. “You look upset.”

  “I’m fine,” I lie, not wanting to admit I’m a bit shaken up. “Everything is fine.”

  I turn back to the rack of clothing I’m standing in front of, privately mulling over Gabriel’s words. I have to admit that I’m curious to meet this reality’s Lucifer now. Gabriel’s warning begs a couple of questions, though. Does this Earth’s Lucifer already know I’m here? And if he does, will he seek me out?

  It’s not often I’m involved in a mystery not of my own making.

  I smile, wondering what unexpected adventures the future here will bring.

  Chapter 16

  I decide to let Lucas pick out what I should wear. Apparently everything I like looks whorish to him. Unsurprisingly, he selects the tamest dress in the shop. It’s ivory in color and made out of a thick stretchy fabric with a hem that goes to just below my knees. It’s tight-fitting and has a décolletage that curves around the tops of my breasts and ventures all the way down to the band of fabric around my waist. The shoulders are embellished with a mixture of bronze and gold beads stitched into the fabric in an asymmetric pattern.

  The shop owner keeps true to her promise to bring Lucas some new clothes. What he’s wearing is functional, but not very fashionable. I can’t have people thinking he’s some beggar child I picked up off the street. We pick a gray ensemble for him to wear, replete with a simple gray cotton T-shirt underneath a stylish leather jacket. A matching pair of pants with boots completes his outfit. As we stand in front of a full-length mirror in the main show room, I have to admit that we look rather good together. Lucas is the best accessory I’ve ever had.

  A man enters the store behind me. I catch a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror and instantly know who he is: this reality’s Lucifer. However, he doesn’t look anything like my father anymore. This world’s Lucifer has a brand-spanking-new body. His facial features are finely chiseled, giving him the appearance of a Greek god. His six-foot frame fills out the gray suit he’s wearing rather nicely and offers a striking contrast to his tan skin and brown hair.

  When his hazel eyes lock with mine in the mirror, a slow smile stretches his lips, and I’m certain he already knows exactly who, and what, I am.

  “Lucian Forester?” the shopkeeper says, her mouth agape in utter shock as she stares at this world’s Lucifer.

  Lucian doesn’t even acknowledge the poor girl’s presence, much to her chagrin.

  “Hello,” he says to me as our eyes remain steadfastly on one another. “I thought I might find you here.”

  I turn around to face him.

  “Well, it took you long enough,” I reply condescendingly. He needs to know up front that I’m not impressed by him. “I was wondering if you were paying any attention to what happens in your world.”

  “I knew you were here,” he assures me with a cocky grin, unshaken by my contemptuous words and attitude. “I wanted to give you some time to get acclimated to your new surroundings before I introduced myself.”

  “Who are you?” Lucas asks, looking at Lucian and me in confusion.

  Lucian considers him for a moment before he begins to chuckle softly.

  “I can’t say I ever thought you would come back here,” Lucian declares.

  “Back here?” Lucas asks, looking even more puzzled. “I’ve never been here before.”

  I quickly clamp my hands over his ears and stare daggers at Lucian.

  “Don’t you dare say another word to him about that,” I order in a terse whisper. “He doesn’t remember anything, and I need to keep it that way for now.”

  Lucian sighs his disappointment.

  “Very well,” he agrees with a small shrug of his shoulders. “It’s water under the bridge now anyway. I’m evolved enough to let bygones be bygones.”

  Hesitantly, I lower my hands from Lucas’ head. I don’t trust Lucian to keep his word. I know I’ll have to remain vigilant while he’s around Lucas.

  “What did you do that for?” Lucas asks, obviously annoyed by my handling of him as he rubs his ears.

  “Well, if I told you that, it would defeat the purpose of me doing it in the first place,” I say with a roll of my eyes.

  “Why is he with you?” Lucian asks. “Is he your son in some weird cosmic way only my father would understand?”

  “I seriously doubt this body can conceive children,” I reply.

  “But you told me he is your son,” the shopkeeper says, drawing our attention to her.

  “You really shouldn’t interrupt the grown-ups while they’re talking,” Lucian chastises her. “It’s bad manners.”

  He lifts his right arm and quickly twists his hand at the wrist as he looks at the woman. I hear the shopkeeper’s neck snap. As her dead body falls to the floor, Lucas grabs me around the waist and buries his face against my stomach. I automatically place a comforting hand on his back, faintly wondering why I feel the need to soothe him.

  “Seriously?” I say to Lucian in aggravation. “A little bit of warning would have gone a long way in this particular situation. Now look what you’ve done! He’s scared of you.”

  “He should be scared of me,” Lucian counters, unapologetic. “I am the devil, after a
ll.”

  “Well, I hate to be the one who bursts your narcissistic bubble, but you’re not the only devil in town today.”

  “Oh? Has the Origin’s Lucifer decided to grace us with his uninspiring presence again? I really don’t see why he bothered to come back. He wasn’t at all helpful the last time he was on my Earth. In fact, he actually colluded with those people to tear down everything I was trying to accomplish here. Now look at my world.” Lucian looks out the front window of the shop in disgust. “Everyone is so peaceful and happy. It’s sickening.”

  “I’ve been wondering about that. Why is it so nice here?” I ask. “When Lucifer left, this Earth was in shambles.”

  “I know.” Lucian sighs as his eyes become unfocused. He looks as if he’s remembering his time in the sun as the orchestrator of the End of Days. “Once they ruined my plans, the surviving humans and Watchers started working together to rebuild this Earth. It was a true Renaissance era. It took them hundreds of years to make things even better than they were before the Apocalypse, but they persevered and made a world to be envied by others.”

  “Why didn’t you do anything to stop them?”

  “All of this peace, love, and joy has weakened me.” Lucian looks in my direction. “Hell isn’t what it used to be. Without enough new souls to energize it, I’m left virtually powerless.”

  “That certainly sucks for you,” I admit, feeling zero pity for him. “I suppose my counterpart here is as feeble as you are.”

  “Obviously,” Lucian replies patronizingly with a raised eyebrow. “Why do you think I’m here?”

  “I have no idea why you’re here.” A warning bell goes off in my head, and Gabriel’s words of caution come back to haunt me. You can’t trust the Lucifer of this world, he told me.

  “She wants to meet you. You give her hope that better days will be just around the corner. We all know this supposed peace and prosperity mumbo jumbo can’t last forever here. Humans are wired to destroy themselves. It’s just a matter of time before they start making the same mistakes again. The odds are stacked in our favor. We just have to wait it out.”

  “She?” I ask, finding his use of a pronoun for Hell curious. “Has your creation taken on a physical persona as well?”

  “Yes, but she’s not nearly as strong as you. She can’t maintain a body for very long, and she certainly isn’t capable of leaving Hell, much less travel through a wormhole between realities. I have to admit you’re quite remarkable.”

  “I know.” I see no reason to feign modesty. “It took a lot of hard work on my part to get where I am today.”

  “Your Lucifer must be very proud of you,” Lucian says, sounding envious of my father’s good fortune.

  “Not really. He wanted me to remain in Hell. He seems to think that’s the only place I belong.”

  “It’s a pity he doesn’t appreciate what you can do for him in your current state.”

  “Oh,” I say, realizing Lucian is in the dark about my father’s status. “You probably don’t know that Lucifer found redemption.”

  Almost every muscle in Lucian’s face goes slack after hearing my revelation.

  He slowly begins to shake his head in denial. “That isn’t possible. God could never forgive us for the things we’ve done.”

  “That might be true in your case,” I concede, finding a small bit of joy by rubbing my father’s heavenly state in Lucian’s face. “I mean, you did start the Apocalypse here, after all. Lucifer never went that far in the Origin. It probably earned him at least a few brownie points with the man upstairs. I guess you should have thought about that if you were hoping to ask for forgiveness one day.”

  “I will never ask my Father for forgiveness,” Lucian says stubbornly. His defiant expression makes me feel forlorn for the Lucifer I used to know. He would frequently profess the same thing to me. Then Jess entered his life and made him soft by giving him hope God would allow him to atone for his sins one day.

  “You should keep thinking that way,” I tell Lucian. “I’m sure Heaven isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

  “You have no idea what it’s like there.” He turns his gaze away from me to stare at something outside the shop.

  I don’t think he’s actually looking at anything. He just doesn’t want me to see the longing he has in his eyes to return to Heaven. I know that’s what he’s thinking. Lucifer would get the same look sometimes. I mean, I guess I can see the appeal. Anyone can imagine almost anything into existence in Heaven. There’s probably a certain attraction due to that fact alone. I know I love being able to do it in my own domain.

  Lucas lifts his face to look up at me and whispers, “I want to go now, Helena. I don’t like him.”

  Lucian looks back at us. “Do you need somewhere to stay while you’re here? I have a place you can use.”

  “Will you be staying there with us?” I ask.

  He shakes his head. “No. You and the boy can have it while you’re on my world. I have another apartment in town I can use.”

  “Why are you being so generous to us?” I ask, suspicious of his motives.

  “I want to know more about your Earth. It is the Origin, after all. I’m curious to know what’s transpired there during the last thousand years.”

  It seems like a logical explanation, but I’m certain he has another agenda he isn’t being forthcoming about.

  “You might as well take us to the apartment now,” I say. “I think Lucas could use some rest.”

  “Would you mind if I showed you something first?” Lucian asks. “Ivy thought you might enjoy seeing the last remaining remnant of the Apocalypse on this Earth.”

  “Ivy?” I ask a second before it dawns on me whom he is referring to. “Oh, is that the name your version of Hell has chosen for herself?”

  “Yes, sorry.” He smiles self-consciously. “I should have told you that already. I’m so used to calling her by name I didn’t even think about it. My apologies.”

  “What does she believe will interest me?” I ask, curious to know if Ivy and I share the same predilections.

  Lucian smiles beguilingly. “Come with me and I’ll show you. I promise you won’t be disappointed.”

  “Helena,” Lucas says urgently, lightly tugging on my dress with both hands to regain my attention.

  I look down at him.

  “What?” I say irritably.

  “I don’t like him,” he says again, more urgently this time. “We shouldn’t be going places with him.”

  Lucas’ insistence is annoying me. I realize I need to take care of him, but I also want to know what it is my counterpart on this Earth wants me to see.

  “I need you to stop whining,” I tell him as gently as I can without sounding like an ogre. “Let’s go see whatever it is Lucian wants to show me first. Then we’ll go to his apartment and I’ll make him leave us alone. It’s the best deal you’re going to get from me; take it or leave it.”

  Lucas huffs his disappointment. “Fine.”

  I take one of his hands with mine and walk us over to Lucian.

  “Ready?” he asks, looking excited about our little excursion.

  “Yes,” I reply, wondering if I really should have said no.

  Lucian places his hand on my shoulder and phases us to the top of a circular, stacked, rock formation within a cavernous depression. I feel as though I’ve traveled back to a time in Earth’s history when humans didn’t even exist yet. I look straight up and see the sky, noticing that the area we’re standing in is actually the result of a sinkhole. Flowstone formations drape the rocky interior walls like curtains, while moss and other low-growing vegetation make a carpet of green on the concave floor of the chasm. It’s morning wherever we are, and the rays of the sun flow through the opening above us like a spotlight.

  “Where are we?” I ask Lucian as I continue to look around the isolated area.

  “Vietnam,” he answers. “This is the Son Doong cave system. It’s been called an infinite cave because the ch
ambers within it are so enormous. You could fit a block of forty-story buildings within most of them.”

  “And this is what Ivy wanted you to show me?” I ask, underwhelmed by what my counterpart here thinks will impress me.

  And then I hear it.

  My attention is immediately drawn by the low growl of one of my most precious creations.

  “What was that?” Lucas asks, his fear causing him to clutch me even tighter around the waist.

  “A leviathan,” I answer breathlessly, briefly remembering the time Levi and I spent designing them in Hell together. It was the only time I ever found that particular prince of Hell interesting.

  I look down at the large hole directly across from us within the chasm and watch in amazement as the leviathan emerges from the mouth of the cave. My breath catches in my throat as it floats toward us. My whole body begins to tingle with a mixture of emotions—the most predominant one being pride.

  “Why is it still here?” I ask. “I thought Jess and that other vessel, Leah, destroyed all of the ones that were sent here.”

  “They missed this one,” Lucian replies. He holds out a hand and runs it lovingly along the translucent belly of the leviathan as it floats over our heads. “It’s been trapped on Earth since then.”

  “How has it survived this long?”

  “I bring it humans to feed upon every once in a while,” he tells me. “I think it’s so comfortable in these caves because they remind it of Hell. It seems content to stay hidden here. Ivy loves knowing that one of her favorite creations is still able to roam freely on Earth.”

  I remember wishing, not so long ago, that I could make a fissure large enough for my leviathans to roam the Origin’s Earth. Leviathans are majestic creatures born to terrorize and consume the bodies and souls of the living. Only here, on this alternate Earth, were they given a chance to live up to their full potential. The leviathan eventually makes its way back down into the cave. I feel Lucas tremble against me as he continues to hold on to my waist.

  “Thank you for showing me this,” I tell Lucian. “And tell Ivy she was right: I did want to see a leviathan on Earth. You should probably phase us to the place we’ll be staying while we’re here.”