3. Lucifer

Lucifer

Lucien sighed wearily as his heart slowed. It was time to say goodbye. He should be thankful to have this fleeting moment, but he was selfish and needed more. Time would forever be his enemy.

"I can remove your memories. You will soon forget the fear and pain you experienced. You can live hundreds, even thousands of lives without the torment you were forced to endure in this one."

"And you?" she asked as her pretty mouth twisted in a frown.

She snuggled into his warmth as he cupped her cheek. Damn love, if it only ended in heartbreak. Lucien stroked her tears away with the pad of his thumb.

"I'll remember for us both. I'll find you again and again, regardless of how many lives you live, Sadie. I'll ask you each time if you want me to remove your memories."

"Why? "

"It is the curse that's been placed upon us. When my heart beats again, I will find you. Until then, I will hunt Cain and Constance."

"I don't want that," she sobbed. "I want you."

"You'll always have me," he promised. "Even if you can't remember. I'll make you fall in love again and show you the beauty I found with you."

Her eyes met his dark ones. "You're crying."

"Am I?" He chuckled cynically.

His heart was breaking, but he couldn't tell her that. The cycle of goodbye tore him apart. She didn't realize it had been one hundred years since she died.

"So is this goodbye?" she sobbed.

"No, my love. We'll be together one day. I'll make you my queen and lay the ashes of our enemies at your feet."

"And what about you? Are you going to be all right?"

He shook his head and grinned with chagrin. "I just told you that your soul is doomed to Hell, and you're worried about me."

His Sadie. She would always be his, regardless of what circle of Hell she was in.

The smile on her face was broken as she coughed, and blood bubbled from her lips. Their time was cut short.

"I'm sorry, tulip," he said as tears rolled down his cheeks. "I'll bring our baby home and lay him in your arms. I love you, Sadie Winters. "

"I love you, Luci?—"

He cut her off by crashing his lips to hers in desperation for a last kiss, not wanting to rob either of them of that. The memory of her soft lips against his would sustain him in the darkest nights once his heart stopped beating.

She didn't need to know that he died every time she did. They were bound by blood, and their hearts beat as one. When one heart stopped, so did the other. When his heart beat again, he would know she had returned to a physical body.

"I will save you from this torment, no matter how long it takes."

Lucifer would never forget the day Sadie died, as it haunted his every waking moment. Witnessing her anguish as she realized the fate that awaited her broke him. She screamed and tried to run on shaky legs.

He promised her he would find their child, and explained the deal he'd made to bring her soul back to life. She was doomed to a relentless cycle of Hell, and he was her captor, not her savior.

When he begged for one last kiss, she gave it freely. It was greedily accepted, like a man dying of thirst gulping water.

When their hearts stopped beating, the humanity Sadie'd awakened within him died as well.

He clung to her even when her body became cold and stiff, refusing to let her go. Had it been minutes, days, or weeks when he finally emerged from the snowy cocoon, giving her body to his mother?

The ice melted and buds returned to the trees, yet Lucifer remained on that mountainside, remiss to leave the spot where he'd last cradled his lover. The ground beneath his feet remained hardened. No life would ever return to that patch of doomed earth. And soon, the village would die as he had promised.

When he could no longer deny the fact she was gone, he tore the flesh from his bones once more. His eyes flooded with darkness as burning glyphs etched themselves into his skin. He sprouted horns that twisted like spirals and soon towered over the ground.

The sunny sky blackened with an oncoming storm as an ominous wind howled through the mountain air. Thunder clapped with Lucien's every footstep, and lightning flashed at the wave of his hand.

His first stop was tracking down Eliza Winters, Sadie's mother. The village folk screamed and ran as he drew near. Those he managed to catch had their minds invaded ruthlessly before he tossed their corpses aside. A trail of bodies followed him to the cottage.

The door splintered, and the woman inside shrieked. Her blonde hair and brown eyes reminded him of Beatrice.

He grabbed her and roared, "Where is Eliza?"

"Sh… she…" she shrieked and pointed to the anterior.

"Run."

It was the only act of mercy the demon was willing to offer, as he'd murdered her cousin for doing nothing more than attempting to help Sadie. With his debt paid, no other soul would survive the carnage. She stared wide-eyed, unsure where to go as he blocked the doorway. Lucifer stepped aside, and she ran, crying hysterically.

He wasn't in his right mind to offer her compensation, but she would never have to serve another person again. She would meet a wealthy merchant, and he would take care of her. She would be married within the year and bear multiple children.

He came across Eliza hiding in a closet. She screeched as he yanked her out by her golden curls. He hesitated for a moment when he saw the striking resemblance between her and the woman he loved.

"I condemn you to Hell for eternity, Eliza Winters."

His clawed hand tightened as she attempted to free herself from his grasp. He was unrelenting in his anger for retribution.

After being pulled from the home, she begged for mercy.

A low rumble sounded from his chest. "Did you show mercy to your daughter as you beat her for years? Did you show mercy when you sold her to a sadist?"

When she opened her mouth to retort, he grasped her tongue. With his superhuman strength, it took moments to tear the organ from its place.

Rumors were that royal servants had their tongues cut from their mouths. It wasn't true. They were controlled with memory manipulation. Brutal force was only necessary in certain circumstances, and Lucien was about to revel in it.

The woman's muffled sobs were ignored as he opened his maw and placed the bloody organ in his mouth. Though it was bitter and rubbery, his sharp teeth easily tore through it.

Lucifer swallowed it down with a wicked, bloody grin .

"Now your pathetic soul is mine to torment for eternity."

Never again would spiteful beratement roll off her tongue and hurt his Sadie—or anyone else.

He stalked closer to her once more, and she held her hands up as though he would halt. Lucifer grabbed her hand and crushed it in his fist, pulverizing every bone. Eliza's howls of pain were music to his ears. Torment and anguish were his lullaby.

He grasped her other wrist. Constance had made fun of Sadie's soft curves. But their mother was a large woman by comparison. Her daughter starved while she was well-fed.

Despite her corpulent size, he easily snapped the bone like a twig with a sharp crack. She screeched and blubbered, but he was far from finished.

"The pain she felt shall be yours tenfold."

He held up his razor-sharp claw and swiped it across her cheek. Blood mixed with the wetness and dripped onto her mud-stained gown.

He laughed as he threw her on her back. He stabbed his claw into her breast and sliced her open to her pubis. Lucifer dug his hands into the wound and tore her flesh apart.

Blood stained the packed dirt around her prone body. It always amazed him how much blood there was within a human body.

He destroyed layers of tissue and muscle; she wouldn't need them anymore. He wrapped his hand around her intestines and pulled. They threatened to slip from his grip, but he held firm. There was no hesitation, no stopping him now as he disemboweled his mother-in-law .

He had no rack nor animal to aid in the torture. But he relished in using his bare hands.

"Stay awake, bitch. I want you to remember this torment because you will relieve it every day for all eternity."

Souls were held prisoner in eternal damnation until their essence rotted away. Human imagination was solely responsible for images of Hell, and their sick nature conjured the torture that awaited them by demons.

As Eliza took her last breath, Lucifer began his wave of destruction. He mercilessly tore apart everyone until he heard the cry of a newborn. It wasn't his son; nonetheless, the child's cry turned him into a man once more.

He quickly found the crying child in the arms of Hilde, Sadie's friend. She held the infant close to her chest and begged, "Please spare him. He's my baby brother."

"All the innocent ones shall be spared, but no others."

"Bless you, m'lord," she cried.

He roared as she ran from the cottage. His skin erupted into flames, and he remained in the center of the burning village until the ashes scattered in the wind.