7. Sadie

Sadie

Sadie woke up feeling ill. She knocked on her neighbor's door to seek an herbal remedy. Her mother taught her how to make certain potions which treated many maladies.

Chloe grabbed what she called painkillers and gave Sadie two pills with a glass of water. She placed them on her tongue and grimaced at the foul chalky taste. She greedily gulped the water to rid herself of the cottonmouth.

Sadie returned to her apartment alone, curled into bed, and pulled her blanket over her head to block out the light. She'd been plagued with headaches her entire life, and sleep was the only remedy she'd found. Her mother would not allow her to rest for long. Some days, when Sadie became sick, she could nap between chores.

A knock on the door interrupted her sleep, forcing her to rise and answer. Chloe stood in her doorway, laden with bags.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Dizzy," Sadie admitted groggily.

Chloe instructed Sadie to relax on the couch while she busied herself around the kitchen. She returned with an ice cube pack for Sadie's head and a heating blanket for her abdomen. She then brought a glass of ice water so cold that condensation ran down the side of the glass.

Sadie was familiar with the concept of ice as her village was part of a mountain range. They often used frost to treat certain abrasions and drank cool water from the stream. Freezers were foreign to her, but she was quickly adapting to the new age thanks in part to the memories of Tallulah. Without them, she might've been an alien from a foreign planet.

For her part, Chloe seemed to be receptive to her new friend's quirks. She didn't question her much about the oddities behind her questions, lack of knowledge, or old-fashioned thinking.

"It's like you're from another time, Sadie. Are you sure you weren't part of a cult before coming to America? I can't imagine living off the grid my entire life."

Sadie shrugged, not taking it to heart. It went both ways, as she perceived Chloe to be ostentatious.

Once Chloe had seen to Sadie's needs and her own, she settled on the couch with and turned on the TV.

"What do you enjoy watching?"

"Horror movies," the answer slipped from her tongue.

Sadie had no idea what a horror movie was. It was just another example of how ingrained Tallulah was within her. Every time she thought about her experience in Hell, she prayed it was nothing more than a nightmare. She was so ashamed of her actions and how weak-willed she was.

Even when her soul was being tortured, the connection to Lucien was always there. He damned her, killed her, and saved her. She didn't know what it would take to reconcile her head and heart, but she needed to try. The only way she felt she could do that was to find out who she was in this day and time while being terrified it was all a ruse and somehow she was still in Hell.

She would bear scars forever, no matter how much Lucien tried to save her. Sadie realized she needed to save herself this time.

"I don't want to watch a horror movie!" Sadie said sharply as Chloe clicked through options.

"How about something funny? When I'm in a bad mood, one of my favorite movies is Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It's raunchy, crude, and hilariously bad. It's truly one of the worst movies I've ever watched but it always gets me."

"Maybe something else?"

"Okay, how about a show then?"

Chloe chose a show that was a documentary-style work environment, with a grumpy boss and a sunshiny blonde employee.

After a few episodes, Sadie felt relaxed and enjoyed the show.

"How many episodes are there?"

"There are 7 seasons, a little over 100 episodes."

"And you just sit here and watch it all day?"

Chloe laughed. "It's called binge-watching. Welcome to being Gen Z! I'm guessing you've never spent a day on the couch watching TV and scrolling on your phone all day?"

Sadie's wrinkled nose made Chloe giggle again.

"Back home I was friends with cousins, Hilde and Beatrice. Hilde and I grew up together. She lived right next door to me. She was always the more outgoing and optimistic one out of the two of us. One time she wanted to sell her hair for some money. It was beautiful, just like yours."

Chloe blushed at the compliment as Sadie reached forward to twirl her hair like she would in jest with Hilde.

"That was one of our last conversations. I got a job at the castle for the Lord and one thing led to another."

"That sounds like a fairytale. How'd you go from working in a castle to living here?"

"I fell in love…"

Tears pricked Sadie's eyes and she sniffed. She wasn't quite ready to talk about Lucien.

"I'm sorry," Chloe said with a frown.

"It's not your fault. We're just taking some time apart for now."

Sadie went quiet and turned back to the TV. The spunky blonde was knocking on doors to find a missing scarf belonging to a socialite that she'd accidentally given away.

The woman in the show's problems were comical, as they were mostly self-imposed, but they were so trivial that it upset Sadie. She didn't understand that it was written to be uplifting and allow people to escape their worries, even if it was only for half an hour minus commercial breaks.

"Are you okay?" Chloe asked after the episode ended.

"I'm fine," she replied.

"Sadie—"

"I'm fine," she snapped. After seeing the taken aback expression on Chloe's face, she rushed to add, "I'm sorry. I think I'd like to lie down again."

Chloe nodded in understanding. "I need to run some errands, anyway. If you make me a list, I'd be happy to run to pick you up something."

Sadie shook her head. She didn't even know what items she'd need until she took an inventory of her tiny space. The offer seemed too generous for someone who barely knew her.

Two weeks had passed since the last time Sadie heard from Lucien. She'd been the one to ask for space, but she felt pained by his absence. Was he her boyfriend? Tallulah had experiences with dating and had exes that Sadie never had.

She was careful about discussing him with Chloe. She couldn't exactly refer to him as her demonic lover or express their sordid past. They'd become fast friends, and she felt the less Chloe knew about her, the safer she would be.

Now that her soul was integrated with her body, she felt echoes of her time in Hell. She'd wake up from night terrors seeing Demons cutting off limbs and coming after her with sickles. Tears would run down her cheeks as she dreamt about holding her baby in her arms, only for it to be torn away again. She dreamt of running through the corn maze, away from the Skeleton man who continually chased her.

With Chloe's help, she learned how to navigate public transportation and apps on the phone Lucien gave her. It made her feel more connected to the world outside the tiny walls of her apartment, which started to feel like home.

She even met the mysterious man in apartment 1C. Brady greeted her with a smooth smile that caused the hair on the back of her hair to stand up. Something about him was familiar even though she couldn't put her finger on it.

Meanwhile, Chloe continued to gush about him. She proclaimed to be ‘jealous' that he seemed interested in Sadie. She got the feeling that he was narcissistic and selfish.

Most days, she peeked out the window or doorway to see if he was in the hall before leaving her apartment. Trying to avoid him was hard, as he always seemed to pop up suddenly.

Sadie stopped at the communal mailboxes in the lobby and stuck her tiny key in the hole of the one that read 2A.

A thick linen envelope fell out of the box as she opened it. Her hand shook as she picked it up, noticing the calligraphy addressed to

Tallulah Daniels

Somehow, she'd made it back to her apartment and closed the door behind her, making sure to latch the chain and turn the deadbolt. She couldn't be too careful. The building needed a key to enter through the second set of doors. She hoped this meant that since this letter had been in her mailbox, and not delivered to her door, they didn't have a key.

She took a deep breath and opened the envelope, careful not to break the wax seal. She didn't recognize who it belonged to, but the symbol in the black wax as a Leviathan cross.

After looking it up, she'd learned it was the alchemy symbol for black sulfur—which she associated with Lucien. He always smelled of brimstone and the fires of Hell. At one point, she found comfort in his arms and even grew to love his scent. Being in Hell had changed that. She never wanted to go back.

The letter inside the envelope was written in the same calligraphy as the envelope.

Sadie Winters,

Congratulations on passing the trials of Hell and freeing your soul. The Society invites you to be our guest of honor at an introductory dinner. A new set of trials will await you.

A representative will escort you on the 31st of July. We look forward to receiving you.

-The Society.

Sadie dropped the letter as though it burned her hand. She fell to her knees and hugged herself. She rocked back-and-forth trying to calm herself, but the distress wouldn't abate.

Was there no safe space for her? She'd been tortured psychologically and physically for years and was partly to blame for it. It would be easy to throw all her anger at Lucien and not claim responsibility for her choices, but did she have any? She wasn't a victim, but a toy in a twisted game of fate.

Fate hadn't been kind to Sadie Winters. Everything she'd ever known, anyone she'd ever loved was torn away in the blink of an eye. What seemed to be her second chance came with a price. She couldn't deny it anymore.

Her knees ached as she finally pushed herself off the floor. She glanced at the digital display on her microwave and was shocked to find it was almost midnight. Her phone had several missed calls and messages. Most were from Chloe, several were from unknown numbers marked as potential spam. She was disappointed that none were from Lucien.

If she ever needed him, it was right then and there. She sent him a text.

Sadie: I need you. Please come.

It had been a month since she'd last seen Lucien. He promised to be there if she ever needed him. They were connected in ways that were painful to Sadie. He knew her inside and out. He knew every fiber of her being. She gave him everything, and he'd reciprocated in kind by giving her a piece of his very soul.

But those hours had proven he wasn't coming.

Her faith in Lucien had been shaken and it was something hard to fix when deep down, she couldn't fix herself. Was this the existential crisis that people referred to?

Sadie paced her bedroom, running through her options. They all led back to The Society. Lucifer was the epitome of The Society. Would she ever understand why she was a target?

If she had to play The Society's games, she would ensure she was the victor.

A draft woke Sadie up in the middle of the night. She sat up and pulled her blanket higher. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a shadow creeping along the wall.

"Lucien?" she asked, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "Is that you?"

A scream caught in her throat as the answer came from a gruff voice which she instantly recognized.

"Tell me something, little mouse. Why do you stay with my brother? He hasn't been kind to you. I've fucked you so many times it could've just as easily been my child in your belly. You could've been my prized pet."

"I love Lucifer," she said firmly.

Cain scoffed. "Fuck love! That has nothing to do with this. Do you think I haven't noticed the pity in your eyes when you look at me, little mouse?

"Is it because my father cursed me before I was even born? Or how about my mother, who hated me the moment she expelled me from her womb? Don't say she couldn't love her damned children because that isn't true. She held Abel to her chest, nursed him, rocked him, loved him. But there was no room for me.

"My step-father preached about God and goodness. If I made a worthy sacrifice to HIM, I would feel HIS love. So I made the ultimate sacrifice of my own flesh and blood. And where was HIS fucking love? There is no God, Sadie. You should know this as you were dragged to Hell because of my brother.

"He set you up from the very beginning. We could've been great together. You know what it's like to be shunned from birth by those who are supposed to love you for just existing. We both grew up with hatred and misery. Don't you see how we're soulmates."

"Shut up." Sadie's voice wavered.

He'd given voice to some of the very worries that made her soul cry.

"Do you remember how you cried the first few times I fucked you in my chamber? You begged me to stop, but then what?"

"You forced me, you bastard."

"As a demon, I don't feed on fear or despair. Do you know what I feed on?"

She shook her head, but the tears in her eyes spoke volumes.

"Come on Sadie, you're a smart girl. You know the answer. You always have. I've been watching you sleep every night for a month. Have you always talked in your sleep?

"Did you ever wonder why you woke up so many times with wet sheets? Your body craves me whether you're sleeping or awake."

"That's not true," she seethed.

His chuckle made her heart flutter. She prayed Lucien would sense the danger she was in and come to her rescue.

"Ever the damsel, aren't you? If you join me, I will make you a queen, Sadie. I will give you anything your heart desires."

"As long as I let you mutilate and hurt me?" she spat.

He shrugged. "There's an easier way to do this."

He stepped closer and wrapped his hand around her throat, squeezing just enough for him to exert his power. She swallowed nervously as he leaned closer.

His lips caressed her neck as he growled, "Tell me."

She was walking on the thinnest tightrope in existence. Walking over a tank of circling great whites would be less threatening than the glint in Cain's eyes.

"You don't know what love is, Cain. I feel sorry for you," she wheezed.

His hand tightened as he shouted, "Shut the fuck up, little cunt!"

"I love you because your brother loves you. Lucifer looked up to you. You protected him from many times from your father's wrath."

"Tell me you need me, Sadie."

"You know I can't do that, Cain."

Their tête-à-tête was as dangerous as sitting on the edge of a knife, but Sadie couldn't back down, even if the night cut her. The letter told her to expect a representative. How cruel was it they sent Cain? She bit her lip and stubbornly stared into Cain's now burning eyes. He squeezed tighter, making her squeak.

"Do you need me to strip you right here and show you who is in charge?"

"If that's what you need to do. I will survive."