Lucifer (The Devil Chronicles #1)

Chapter 19

I shivered and scrambled away from the voice. My heart was racing and my hands got clammy as I pressed my back against the cool bars of the cage.

"Hello, Charlotte." Macayah whispered, his voice right behind me. I spun around and crawled away from his voice, gasping for breath. 

"What do you want with me?!" I tried to demand, but my voice quivered. I scolded myself internally, trying to be brave.

"All in due time. But first, Margaret, love, come here..." I heard Marge scream.

"Marge!!!" I screamed, grabbing onto the bars and trying to reach through the bars.

The screams didn't stop.

***

"You really think that will work?" Gabriel scoffed, his arms crossed over his muscular chest.

"No. But I don't see you coming up with any brilliant plans," Uriel fired back. Gabriel opened his mouth as if to say something but then pursed his lips together.

"I don't think it's that bad," Michael added, lounging on the couch in God's office.

"Father, are you able to predict what will happen?" I asked. I mean, he is God. He should be able to see this shit.

"I will try my best to help you in this situation but there is not much I can do. Charlie's powers block my sight and make it impossible to know what will happen. It's too dangerous to mess around with." He sighed, sitting at his large mahogany desk.

I nodded, crossing my arms. I stared at the white floor. Charlie had been gone for a few days now. I had no idea if she was even alive. Or, well, like a spirit thingy. I don't know this whole dead after dead thing is really confusing. 

"We'll get her, Luc," Michael said softly. I glanced at him and quickly looked away. My brother had always seen me as the strong, broody guy. I'd never really been this upset over someone and Michael knew it. Even when Kate and I went our separate ways, I knew she'd be okay and I would be okay, and Tommy would be better off.

"Lucifer, do you think we should go through with this?" Uriel interrupted my thoughts.

I looked at Uriel and then around at the other angels. They were all looking at me, waiting for an answer.

"I'll do anything to get her back," I promised, sighing. I would go to hell and back for her. 

"Alright, it's settled then," Uriel said, smirking, "We leave at dawn.

***

"Marge?" I whispered into the darkness. "Marge, oh god, please answer," I sobbed quietly to myself when I was met with silence.

Marge's screams resonated in my ears, hours after she'd stopped. At least I thought it was hours. It was horrible. I begged and cried and screamed to try and get Macayah to stop but he hadn't listened. I curled up into a ball and rocked back and forth, holding my ears to try and block it all out. And then all at once it'd stopped.

"Marge, please," I continued to cry, my sobs wracking my body.

"Char.." Came a whisper from Marge's cage.

"Marge! Oh, thank god!" I clenched the bars, trying to reach for her, though it was useless.

"Char..lie...you have to....get--" Marge coughed and I heard a thud.

I knew as soon as the thud came that she was dead. It was as if I could feel her spirit leave.

And once again, I was all alone.

***

"Lucifer, come at once." God's voice came from my dark room. I wasn't asleep, of course. I jumped up out of the bed that I'd been laying in and threw on clothes. I ran down to God's office.

I burst through the door to see the rest of the angels surrounding a girl. She had bright brown eyes and blonde hair.

"Lucifer, this is Margaret. She has information about Charlie," God explained. My breath left my body at her name.

"She was in the cage next to me--am I dead?" She asked, turning to God.

"Yes, my child." God replied, pity filling his beautiful eyes.

Marge nodded, as if she had already known the answer. "I had the power, too."

God shook his head. "You had a power but not nearly as powerful as Charlie's. Her power is 10 times what yours was."

Marge's eyes widened. "So, what now?" She asked, anxiety in her eyes as she looked around at the angels in the room. 

"What did he do to you?" I asked her gently.

She looked at me and studied my face. "Are you... Lucifer?"

I stepped back in surprise. "How did you know that?" I asked her.

"Charlie said your name as she slept. God..um told me that he was getting you." She replied, looking at the floor. She turned once more to Father. "Macayah sucked the powers out of me. I don't know how he did it but it was the most painful thing I've ever experienced." God nodded once more at her explanation.

"You may rest now, my child." God touched his hand gently to her forehead. She closed her eyes, smiled, and was gone. 

"Father, I'm worried for Charlie," I admitted, looking at my shoes.

"I am too, son." God sighed, pushing his fingers through his hair.

"What will happen to her? She is not alive. If her soul is consumed, what then?" I asked him, fearing the answer.

I heard God sigh, a deep, pitiful sigh.

"Tell me, Father."

"If Macayah succeeds, Charlie's soul will be destroyed."

I felt like I had had the breath knocked out of me. I clutched my stomach, willing it to go away.

"What does that mean?" I squeaked.

God put his hand in his face and looked up, his face tired.

"Charlie will be no more."