Angel of the Damned

AotD - 27

“Where are you taking me?” Ebony asked.

Neither figure made a sound as they pulled her from the room.  She hobbled to keep up with them as they pulled her along.  The halls were empty and made of black stone with magma running through it.  Ebony kept her wings folded inside her back as the creatures tightened their grip on her.

“Who is this girl?” a young woman asked walking up to them.  She wore a red dress with a black bodice tied around her midsection.  The dress had poofy sleeves and on her left arm was a mark.  Fear shot through Ebony’s chest and she began to thrash against the figures holding her.  The woman staring back at her was an exact mirror of her. “Oh you buggers are completely useless for giving me information.”

“Lucifer sent us to bring the Angel to him,” a low raspy voice said.

“Of course he did, why did he?  She is an angel not a criminal, you can let her walk by herself.  Let go of her,” the woman said.

The figures hands fell from Ebony’s arms.  The pain began to build inside her ankle.

“What is your name?” the woman asked.

“You look exactly like me,” Ebony said.

“As far as I know, you look like me,” the woman said.

Ebony gritted her teeth and shifted her feet.  She looked at the woman and grabbed her arm, the womans life flashed briefly in front of her eyes.   She spoke through her teeth, “You have lived twenty years and I have lived a thousand and twenty-four more.”

“Bring her to Lucifer.  She deserves to know what he has store for her,” the woman said.

Ebony began to hobble forward before the one shoved her shoulder, sending her sprawling to the ground.  She cried out and rolled onto her back, grabbing her ankle.  The two figures grabbed her under the shoulders and began to drag her along the floor.  The woman walked along behind them.  Her eyes bored into Ebony’s as they walked.

“He got the eyes wrong,” she whispered.  A smile broke out on her face and she began to laugh.

“Halt!” the woman said.

The things dropped Ebony and stopped moving.  Ebony groaned and clutched her ankle.  She narrowed her eyes and began to speak, “Whatever he is planning on doing with you, it won’t work.  My husband knows every detail about what I look like and the smallest detail wrong will alert him.  You might be able to fool my friends, but not my husband.”

“Your husband hasn’t seen you in twenty years,” the woman said.

“It doesn’t matter,” Ebony hissed, “You aren’t Linked to him.  All I need to do to prove you’re fake is touch him.”

“Yes, but you won’t get that chance now will you?” she asked. “Resume.”

Ebony stared at the woman as she was pulled away.  The woman stood in place with a smirk on her face.  A door opened and the creatures deposited her on the ground.  Ebony pushed herself up onto her knees, before falling back and pulling her injured ankle around.

“Ebony, Ebony, Ebony,” Lucifer shook his head, “you really should heal that ankle.”

“I can’t,” Ebony said, “you don’t think I’ve tried?  So, what’s your plan for my doppelganger?”

“Ah, so you met her?” Lucifer said with a smile.

“Yeah, I met her, I must say I am disappointed.  You got the eyes wrong.  My eyes are silver, not gold. It’s not like you can go back and change that,” Ebony said.

Lucifer narrowed his eyes and walked over to her.  He knelt down in front of her and his eyes studied her face for a moment.  She watched as his jaw set tighter and his eyebrows knitted together.

“That fucking sonofabitch!” he swore and stood up.

Ebony looked around the room she was in.  The door was being guarded by the hooded things, not that she’d be able to run away.  Her eyes traveled over a part of the room that was covered by a black cloth and then to Lucifer’s desk.

“Come on, Lucifer, its not like I can tell anyone your plan.  Who am I going to tell?” Ebony asked, “Just tell me, so I can prepare myself.”

The door opened and the woman walked in.  She kicked Ebony’s ankle as she passed by and bowed before Lucifer.

“Ebony, but now you have met your replacement, but I don’t think you have been properly introduced.  Ebony, meet Ivory.  She will have so much fun taking your place at Gabriel’s side in Paradiso,” Lucifer said.

“Gabriel is not easily fooled!” Ebony said. “She does not have a Link to him.  He will figure it out eventually.”

“But not before she has driven a blade into his heart,” Lucifer said.

“You will never touch him!  If Gabriel dies, I swear to God, I will slaughter the both of you!” Ebony said.

“Oh, she doesn’t know yet?” Ivory asked Lucifer.

“I was just getting to that,” Lucifer said.

Ebony watched him walk over to the curtain and pull it back.  A figure lay on a stone dais dressed in lavish robes.  The torches mounted on the walls illuminated the dais, revealing the body of a young woman with her head tilted to the side.  Her curly brown hair framing her angelic face perfectly.  Her eyes were closed and her chest rose and fell evenly.

“Joyce!” Ebony wailed.  She lunged to her feet only for her ankle to give out and drop her onto her face. “What have you done to her!  What have you done to Joyce!”

“You should be very familiar with the concept, considering you’ve spent the last twenty years in this state,” Ivory said as-a-matter-a-factly. "And Lucifer is the only one who can remove her from this state.  So you kill him, she's like this until her heart gives out."

“No!” Ebony wailed, “Get her out of it!  Get her out!  Joyce!  Joyce, wake up!  Joyce!”

“Oh, my sweet, sweet daughter, you don’t need that damned angel, she’ll just hinder you,” Lucifer said. “Besides, she’s easier to control this way.”

Ebony crawled over and pulled herself up onto the dais. Brushing a lock of curls out of Joyce’s face, she picked her up and cradled her in her arms. Joyce entire body remained limp as Ebony clung to her, remembering the little girl she’d raised as a human. “Why?” Ebony sobbed. “Why’d you do this! She’s innocent!”

“You should ask your husband,” Lucifer said. “He did pretty much abduct you.”

“Gabe did no such thing!” Ebony snapped.

Images flooded Ebony’s mind, dimly lit from a thousand years ago.  A woman screaming as Lucifer forced himself upon her; an infant, covered in blood, crying in a fire lit room; a young girl in white robes kneeling praying in church; a young woman in white robes holding a little child.  Emotions slammed themselves into Ebony’s mind.  The terror of the woman, the confusion of the infant, the hope of the little girl and the distress of the young woman. Tears wet her cheeks as she realized the first woman was her mother.

“You,” she gasped, “You, you raped my mom.”

“And you killed her,” Lucifer said. “It will be so refreshing to destroy those pompous assholes who think they lay claim to the whole world, knowing my daughter won’t get caught in the crossfire.”

“No!” Ebony wailed. “You are not my father!”

Lucifer turned to her and walked over. “Oh, but I am, and there’s nothing you can do about it.  Ivory, bring her back to her room. Make sure she has clean clothes and some food.”

Ivory walked over to Ebony and pulled Joyce from her grasp.  Joyce made a soft moan as she settled back onto her back.  Ebony stroked her cheek and Ivory pulled her away.  The door slamming shut behind them.