Chapter
"Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory."
- General George S. Patton -
P.O.V. (Luci)
"We have a problem." He panted.
I rolled my eyes at Marcus. He had to materialize a couple of miles away from schoolgrounds to come and see me. I personally thought he could use the exercise, since he was sweating like a pig.
"Don't know how you get to keep that amazing body of yours while being such a lazy ass."
His worries momentarily forgotten at my easy banter, he grinned.
"Thank you immortality."
His face clouded over.
"Speaking of which. You got yourself a big immortal problem. I can't believe you haven't told me."
I rolled my eyes. Marcus could be such a girl sometimes, going all paranoid about nothing, making a big deal about something non existent. Only a girl could multiply zero with ten and get to a hundred. For a moment forgetting the fact I was girl.
"I got no idea what you're talking about, girlboy."
He opened his mouth, no doubt to return the compliment but his gaze got caught by my wrist, laying limply at my side.
"What happened to your wrist?"
I shrugged.
"The big boys picked at me and thought it to be funny to see how I would react to a crushed wrist." I said in a little girls voice.
"Help me Marcus. It hurts so much."
I shouldn't have exaggerated the truth like that, he was pissed off enough as it was. He gritted his teeth angerly.
"Who" He said in a low threatening voice.
"did this?"
I hugged him close with my good arm.
"The hot fangs that neuteralizes your powers."
I gave him a sharp look.
"Don't do anything stupid."
I grinned.
"That's my thing."
He looked very angry and pulled me close by my crushed wrist. I hissed in pain.
"Damn sorry, Luci."
I rolled my eyes, I wasn't as fragile as everyone kept thinking I was.
"Why did he brake your wrist? Does he know?"
"First of all, he crushed it."
"Big difference."
"Actually when you're the one with the injury. It is."
"Keep talking."
"And he doesn't know I'm part demon. I thought for a minute he would find out, but the crushed bone thing was a great distraction."
"He was there when you momentarily went demonic?"
"Unfortunately."
Wait, what? How did Marcus know I had had a disturbance of power?
"How do you"
"It's what happens when someone is trying to locate you." He cut me off.
"He drew upon your power to deliver the message."
"What message?"
I said while a piece of burnign paper flew towards me through the open window.
I had a bad feeling about this.
'across town the fires break out all around
far off the sirens bleed for the unsound
waiting for nothing now
but waiting is all that we can do
for now
before we fall'
I crushed the delicate paper while it burned up in my closed fists, the flames not able to hurt my immortal demonskin.
"Fucking bastard."
"He's going to challenge you and you'll lose. He the most powerful son of a bitch that I have ever known."
"He want's my position in Hell, the position I got because I am better and stronger than him. He'll die if he goes through with this. It's not an official challenge, Marcus. Just some note to try and scare me. I can take him, don't worry."
"I'll take him on for you."
"What do you mean?"
"I'll challenge him."
Was he crazy?
"Hell, nooooooooooooooooooo. He'll kick your sissy medieval but. ... he is an ancient."
"Medieval?" He looked confused.
"You know how old I am?"
I gave him a croocked smile.
"I stole your file from daddy's office. I know all about you, Marcus. And before you get into a hissy fit about privacy, you let me no choice. You never told me anything about yourself. Hell, I even had to work to get your first name. You are my best friend, Marcus. I wish you had trusted me with your past."
"Like you have with yours?"
Ouch, touché. I guess I deserved that one.
"That's different, and you damn well know it."
He latched his hand through his hair. Something he always did when he was trying to figure something out.
"I don't see what could be worse than be a murderer of innocent people."
I got mad at hearing his words and he got a devasted expression on his face.
"See? This is why I didn't want to talk about this, Luci. I didn't want you to know who I was. I was, and probably am still, a horrible person with no conscious what so ever. You're pure, and I'd just smudge my dirty past all over your sunshine."
I would have laughed at this if he hadn't looked so damn serious when he said it.
"What part of Satan's daughter don't you get? I am more evil than you could ever be, it comes naturual to me, punny human with your big heart."
"I'm not human, I'm a vengenance demon."
"Yeah, but you once were human. That's more human than I could or will ever be. And we both know how the guilt ate at you. Evil people don't get all beaten up about killing someone."
"I never cared about the dead." He said with a cold look in his eyes.
"They deserved it. I might not have been in right to play executionar but they got what had been comming for them."
Marcus had only killed the rapists, the childmolesters, and massmurders of the gouvernement, but he had still cared. Maybe not about the dead, but he had cared about the family they had left behind because of him. That was what made him a good person, and if he hadn't slit his own wrists, he would have gone heaven. No questions asked.
But I knew he wouldn't believe me if I told him. So I went for the halftruth.
"I don't think in black and white, Marcus. I have lived with angels, the supposed good ones, and I have lived with demons. There is no such thing as the ultimate evil, and there sure isn't something like the onehundred precent good guy. Take it from someone who knows, you got more heart than some archangels I know.
The war between good and evil will never end. But it are not the angels that personify that good and no demon, not even my dad, can repressent all evil. They like to act though and pretend they are, but it's a farce.
Good and evil must exist. There is an explination but I fell asleep in class when they brought up the 'there-is-a-balance-in-the-cosmos-that-can't-be-broken'-crap.
It's a twisted blend, so don't crack your pretty head open trying to figure it out. You won't."
And people said I did not give great peptalks. Hell, I should join cheerleadertryouts. Or maybe not.
"You truly are amazing." He said while ruffling my hair.
"I've been told." I told him not so modest.
"What are you going to do about Zereck?"
I gave him one of my most evil smiles.
"Sent him a message in return."
"You think that's wise? You shouldn't provoke him."
"Don't suck out all the fun, I already live enough suckers."
I couldn't draw upon my demonpowers and I couldn't ask Marcus to deliver my message, but I had some other trick up my sleeve.
I dug up a pen and paper.
I whistled a sweet song song and watched how the piece of paper got itself a nice couple of wings.
"Wow." I heard Marcus whisper.
"You get the ugly demon."
I whispered to the now goldenwinged paper and watched how it flew out of the window.
I didn't care if anyone saw the entchanted paper, they already knew I was an angel anyways.
"What did you write?"
"A small reminder of who he's dealing with."
Marcus nodded.
"As long as you didn't make it a threat, I'm sure it will be fine."
I bit my lip to hide my smile.
I wouldn't tell Marcus about what I had written. It would upset him.
My reminder to Zereck was a threat for I was Lucifer and no one crossed the demon second in command of Hell for a reason.
'they said he'd been in for quite a while when they found him by the riverside
those bones won't be identified
I saw a man the other night
yeah he looked just like a lookalike
of the man that I had left to die'