Part 28 (2/2)

”You know that won't work,” I tell him, trying to be patient because I know his feelings for me are clouding his judgment. ”He won't listen to you. h.e.l.l, he probably won't listen to me but I have a better chance with him than you do.”

Mason's mouth tenses and I can tell he's frustrated because he knows I'm right.

I hold out my hand to him. ”Take me there.”

”Wait here for a moment,” he grumbles at me before he phases. He reappears a minute later with a dark blue parka and my baldric and sword in his hands.

”You're not going anywhere near those things without your sword,” he stridently informs me.

Mason helps me into the coat he brought which seems to be one of his since it's so big. He then helps me readjust the baldric to fit around the added bulk of the coat. He flips the fur lined hood over my head and tightens the snap closure.

”Be careful,” he tells me, leaning down and kissing me firmly on the lips. ”I'm getting us out of there if even one of them takes a step towards you. Do you understand?”

I nod. ”Ok.”

I'm not going to argue with him. If I do, I know he won't take me. Besides, I trust his judgment. He may be worried about my safety but he knows me going to talk with Lucifer is the only real option we have.

Mason takes one of my hands and we phase to Antarctica.

The wind is so cold and biting. I feel like it might blister the skin off my face. I look up at the sky and see that the sun is out again making me wonder if it's ever night time here in Antarctica.

I look to where Lucifer is standing in the middle of his five princes. The vortex of power emanating from their combined energies seems to be physically swirling the air around them, something I wasn't expecting to encounter.

”Lucifer!” I yell over the howling of the wind between us.

”Go away, Jessica,” Lucifer yells back like he's scolding a child for being somewhere she shouldn't be. Lucifer brings his hands together and immediately separates them again as he continues to open and close the Tear. ”I'm a little busy right now. I can't stop to have one of our conversations.”

”Stop what you're doing!” I plead.

”Your pet human seems to think she can boss you around, Lucifer,” one of the two newest members of the group says as he leers at me. He's slim with short brown hair, a high forehead and sharp angular bone structure which lend his face a sinister look. His hooded eyes stare at me in unadulterated disgust.

”You might want to think about shutting your mouth, Levi,” Asmodeus advises, gazing at me with so much hatred I feel like I might melt through the ice from the heat of it, ”unless you want to end up like me and Mammon that is.”

”Not really,” Levi says with open revulsion for his two brothers' current condition. He scrunches up his nose at his fellow princes like their stench is overwhelming. ”Though, I still can't believe you took a human's side against two of your own, Lucifer.”

Levi's statement does what I could not.

Lucifer lowers his arms and the Tear closes. Without even looking in Levi's direction, Lucifer holds a hand out towards the outspoken prince. Levi's body lifts into the air a few inches off the icy artic floor and floats to Lucifer's outstretched hand. As Lucifer's fingers wrap perfectly around Levi's throat, I hear the prince gasp desperately for air. Finally, Lucifer looks over at his minion and a cruel smile plays at the corners of his mouth.

”Would you like to say that to my face this time, Levi?” Lucifer asks, the promise of uncompromising pain in the question.

”You shouldn't care for her more than you do us,” Levi squeaks out, clawing at Lucifer's hand trying to pry it loose from his neck.

Lucifer simply tightens his grip. ”I realize your gift is envy but really, shouldn't you be above such a petty emotion by now?”

”She's nothing,” Levi gasps. ”She's an ant who should be put out of her misery just like any other human.”

Through Levi's threats, my attention remains focused on Lucifer, but out of the corner of my eyes, I see the other princes shaking their heads. I don't know if it's because they agree that Lucifer cares more for me than them or if they are thinking what I'm thinking: Levi should really shut the h.e.l.l up. But I fear it's too late.

”You shouldn't talk about things you know nothing about!” Lucifer roars, squeezing Levi's throat even more firmly, getting ready to break the other man's neck.

I walk closer to the edge of the circle with Mason by my side.

”Lucifer,” I call to him, ”don't do it. Don't do to him what you did to Asmodeus and Mammon.”

Lucifer looks directly at me for the first time since Mason phased us here.

”What do you care what I do to him?” He asks.

”I don't care about him,” I say, staring straight into Lucifer's eyes. ”I care about what doing something to him will do to you.”

”Do to me?” Lucifer questions, obviously not understanding my true meaning. ”I can tell you what it will do to me: bring me satisfaction that I can put him in his place so easily.”

”But your soul will suffer the consequences,” I try to reason. I take another step forward, inside the circle. I know I'm taking a chance but Mason is right behind me, refusing to let me go in alone.

”And what would you know about my soul?” Lucifer scoffs, eyeing me warily.

”I know you have one. You just don't use it very often.”

Lucifer stares at me coldly. I can't tell what he's thinking.

”You need to leave,” he says to me in a controlled voice. ”I'm about to do something you won't like.”

”Don't,” I beg. ”Don't give up on yourself. If you do this...if you punish him, you're only letting yourself sink deeper into the black abyss you seem to think is the only place you belong. You can do better, Lucifer! You don't have to be what everyone expects you to be. There's still good in you!”

Lucifer's eyes widen in surprise at my statement and I see a look of confusion pa.s.s fleetingly across his face. Then he stares at me like I've completely lost my mind.

”Good and bad is a concept you humans seem fixated on,” he says scathingly. ”I'm beyond either of them. I do what needs to be done and right now Levi needs to understand his place in the order of things.” Lucifer looks over my shoulder at Mason. ”You need to take her away now.”

I feel Mason put his hand on my shoulder, but I quickly shrug it off and walk directly up to Lucifer not caring that he's scowling at me now.

”Please,” I beg. ”Don't do this. Don't be this person. You can be more than what you are. You've shown that with me. You are that person when you're with me.”

A moment of uncertainty enters Lucifer's eyes and I see the arm which is holding Levi lower a small degree. I feel his want to be the person I can see him becoming, but then a new determination clouds his features like a mask and he hides his true self behind it.

”Get her the h.e.l.l out of here, Mason!” Lucifer screams.

Before I know it, Mason and I are standing in my living room.

Mason whirls me around to face him.

”What were you thinking, Jess?” he asks, his voice simmering with controlled anger. ”He could have killed you!”

”No, he won't kill me,” I answer, my voice sounding small.

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