Angel of the Damned

AotD - 11

The blue hot bead’s heat began to blister Ebony’s lips.  The pain brought more begging to her lips and quickened her breathing.  Her eyes flickered down to the beads still hovering around Lucifer.  She attempted to coax two out and they responded willingly.  She drove the first into the bead in between her lips and the second into Lucifer’s arm.  The smell of burnt flesh instantly filled the area and Lucifer let out a blood curdling shriek of agony.  Ebony hit the floor and ran for the cross laying in the middle of the clearing.  She grabbed the cross as she was thrown head over heels.

Snapping her wings out, she flipped over in place and pocketed her rosary, the beads no longer glowing hot and cool to the touch.  When her feet touched the ground, she shot into the sky, wind rustling through her feathers and hair.  She cleared the tree tops when something wrapped around her ankle and there was a crack, pain rupturing into her leg.  Her lips parted in a numbing shriek of agony as she tumbled back down to the ground, slamming down onto her back.  A rock dug into her back and she lay there, unable to move.

“You, little bitch, are going to need to get taught a lesson,” Lucifer hissed.

White pain flashed behind her eyes as he kicked her ankle.  She saw black for a moment before the world came back into focus and she wheezed for air, “Please, stop.”

“Why?” Lucifer asked.  His boot connected with her ankle again.

“Gabriel, help me!” she cried through her scream of agony. The pain receded for a brief moment and then bounced back at her.

Lucifer’s face erupted in a large smile and he knelt down, taking her face in his hands. “Gabriel?  He took a wife?  Oh this is wonderful!”

“No!  Don’t touch him!” Ebony cried. She threw Lucifer back, slamming him into the pillar, turned and ran.

***

Ebony grabbed the lip of the rock and pulled herself forward, her ankle dragging useless behind her.  She pulled herself over the lip and fell the foot into the semi-sheltered area at the base of the magma tree.  She lay there and held her breath.  The brittle flakes of cooled magma crunched under Lucifer’s boots as he walked towards her.  The footsteps were agonizingly slow and Ebony squeezed her eyes shut as she curled into a ball.

“Oh, Ebony, I told you that you wouldn’t be able to outrun me and seeing as you can’t even walk, how exactly do you intend to do that?” he called out.  Ebony’s ankle continued to throb, the spot where magma vine had wrapped around her skin was blistered and burnt.  A quick wiggle of her toes confirmed she still had at least minimal usage of the foot.

Lucifer stood on the ridge above her and surveyed the forest spread out around them.  Lava flowed from spouted in the trees and into holes on the ground, occasionally creating a stream of lava that flowed into the distance.  The tree’s roots very massive lava builds that provided a sufficient hiding spot.  Nestled in between a root and a stone still warm to the touch, Ebony held her breath as Lucifer stood over her.  He head snapped right and he vanished from the ridge. Ebony sighed in relief.

Just a few more minutes, for good measure. Ebony thought. She nestled down into the cavity and waited, the seconds felt like minutes and the minutes like an eternity.  The rough magma underfoot cut into the soles of her feet as she pulled herself to her feet.  Her ankle gave out on the first step, sending her crashing face first into the razorsharp magma shards.

“There is no way Lucifer would be crawling around the Magma Forest, it doesn't make any sense.” A female voice cut through the air.

Ebony's head jerked up at the voice.  Blood filled her mouth as she bit down on her burnt lips to keep from screaming.  The action brought a whimper of pain with it.