Treachery : book 2 of Codex Elysium

Chapter 59

Chapter 59

Present time: Midgard

Lucifer swore softly and balled her fists. A Witch Hunter stood in the pouring rain, his trench coat flapping wildly in the wind. Still it was only one. Maybe Satan hadn't learnt of her treachery yet? Maybe she still had some command over these things? Lucifer stepped into the freezing rain, she straightened her back and spoke in an imperious tone

"Nothing to see here" she gestured towards the broken window "Just some simple storm damage"

The Witch Hunter didn't move or even acknowledge that Lucifer had spoken

"Be on your way! That is an order!"

Still the hunter didn't move, worse still other Hunter's began to emerge from the shadows.

Lucifer began to count her foes and swore. There was ten of them. She doubted her ability to fight off one and come out unscathed, but taking on ten was suicide. The Witch Hunters formed up in a loose semi-circle around the doorway. The only escape was back through the shop but something told Lucifer that there would be more Hunters waiting out the back of the shop.

Lucifer gipped the handles of her fighting knives and closed her eyes in frustration. She hadn't escaped and flew all this way just to die now. As she drew her blades, the rasps of ten blades being drawn answered her, followed by Satan's cruel laughter

"Oh Lucifer, how art thou fallen? The warrior princess, still willing to fight even though she lost the war a long, long time ago"

The crown prince of Hell stepped between two of the hunters, his hair was slicked by the rain. He stopped just out of Lucifer's striking range and crossed his arms

"Is this it then? Is this your choice? To die here and now?"

Lucifer clenched her jaw and stayed silent, let history remember her as a silent warrior who made her last stand against a ruthless enemy. She would not beg for mercy, she would be remembered for fighting until her very last breath. Satan's mocking chuckle drifted through the pouring rain

"Oh Lucifer, what am I to do with you? You have been lied, tricked and deceived by your little whore. Do you really think that was divine intervention at Nidavellir? Are you willing to stake your life on that belief?"

Lucifer's knuckles had gone white from gripping the sword handles so tightly. She ground her teeth in frustration. How did Satan know about that? What business was it of his what she believed in? Satan shook his head in mock disappointment

"I have told you again and again. The divine cast you out! Look at your wings! You are out and can never go back. Why do you fight me?"

Lucifer bit down on her tongue. She had a thousand reasons why she would fight him. That was the divine light that touched her. Even now she still felt it burning inside her and no one was taking that away from her, especially not Satan. For all of his intelligence and ability to find out information, Satan still didn't know that the choice to fall was given to Lucifer by the divine. She could have stayed in the kingdom and done nothing. But no she chose to fall, she chose to blacken her wings, she chose to help the mortal world and mostly she chose to be a counter to Satan. The reason that she kept her wings was because she had done no wrong, she had not fallen from grace. She was told that there would be no return but she still hoped that one day she may be able to return and her wings would be white again. She looked Satan straight in the eyes and said

"You have never understood me, you do not know who I am or what I do!"

She poured all her anger and rage into her blades and summoned her hellfire. The blades ignited and burnt brightly. Satan's eyes widened in horror. All the Witch Hunters dropped their swords and shielded their faces. What was happening? The former princess of hell frowned, she had summoned hell fire to her blades thousands of times before. It was no secret. So why was the crown prince of Hell now slowly backing away from her? While muttering to himself. "It's a trick, it can't be real!"

Lucifer risked a quick glance at here blades and then gasped in shock. She suddenly understood Satan's reaction. There was no hellfire burning on her blades. It was pure golden fire. Heavenly fire that can only be drawn from the power of the divine. It was the same fire that the Aesir summoned up in Nidavellir. Tears of joy slipped down Lucifer's cheeks. Had her divine powers returned? Was this the beginning of her redemption? She looked at the way all the Witch hunters were cowering from her. Briefly she considered fighting but then chose not to push her luck. Her magnificent angel wings unfurled and she hurled herself into the sky. Just before she launched off, Lucifer took one final look at Satan. He was not cowering but had an unreadable look on his face. If she could have seen through his eyes maybe Lucifer would have understood that look.

Satan had seen something that he had not seen for over three thousand years. He had seen just for a brief moment, an angel with blonde hair, deep blue eyes and pure white wings. For a brief moment he had once again looked upon Morning star. The brightest and most beautiful angel of them all.

The crown prince of Hell watched Lucifer streak off into the storm. He vowed a slow and bloody death for her. She would not live to reach her redemption, the Morning star would never shine in the heavens again.