»When he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he shall make the face of heaven so fine,
That all the world will be in love with the night,
and pay no worship to the garish sun.«
William Shakespeare
»You're not serious?« I muttered, overflowing with confusion and sheer annoyance by his haughty presence. Even stabbing myself with a fork seemed a more enjoyable experience than facing the Lord of Darkness at my dinner table.
»Why not?« He gracefully placed both of his arms behind his back, posing in a slick tone of an old fashioned man with a superiority complex.
I frowned and clenched my hands harder than usual, searching for a decent reply. »Because...Because you're, you know – you, and I'm sure that you've got better things to do.«
He focused his look on the floor for a few seconds. »No, I do not.« He quickly attained his self-importance back.
»Don't you have like – people to dismember, souls to steal or, I don't know burn someone...«
»As amusing as that sounds,« His lips twitched into a wicked smile. »I am positively hot for your mother's cuisine.«
»Liar.«
A shadow of our coat-hanger danced across his face when the dimmed lime lights lustered through the glass door. »I am a lot of things, little Lux,« He pinned my hands behind my lower back and matched my torso with his. The sent of him was still the same as always, but the fieriness was gone. His touch didn't burn my skin. »but I am no liar.«
I shifted my eyes uneasily and nodded. He let go of me and joined my mom in the kitchen. His presence in my home and around my family should have made me nervous, frightened even, but...but there was just something about him. Something tranquil. I saw something in his eyes that I often saw in my own reflection, a certain essence that was ours, and only ours. But then again, I could just have some version of the *Stockholm syndrome.
* * *
After a thought-provoking acquaintance with my father, a few death stares with my brother and a suspiciously sly conversations with my mother, Lucifer sat down at our dinner table. I was not sure how he was going to react to what's gonna happen next.
Right on time, my mom mouthed the words: »Shall we say grace?«
I glanced towards our dinner guest to notice...nothing. Not a twitch of a muscle, nothing. Only a cocky stare right back at me.
»Can't we just eat?« Jan leaned on his elbow and gyrated the spoon in his hand.
»No,« My mom insisted. »we have to bless the food first.«
»Why, it won't taste any different?« He clanked the metal spoon at the edge of a plate.
»That's not the point, besides,« She seemed more put together with her tone of voice tonight. Probably because of our visitor. »you ate an entire bag of chips, how hungry can you possibly be?«
»Mom, I could eat three bags of chips, covered with melted cheese, and I would still be hungry.«
»Calm down Marta,« Dad broke the conversation. »the boy's got to eat. He's a top sportsman!« He took the plate with fried chicken. »Here son, eat!«
»Jure!« My mom was outraged. »Please, put down that plate.« She said calmly as possible while grinding her teeth. She sounded like a cop trying to convince the bad guy to lower his weapon.
Dad silently growled and rested the plate back on the table.
»Now, who will say grace? Lucija?«
I felt one of my eyebrows raising in a sarcastic manner. »Sorry, I'm all out of my spiritual juice.«
Mom sighed in despair. It's been ten years since I told her I was an atheist, yet she still tried to change me. I bet she'd be happier if I was gay, I'd be living in sin, but hey – at least I'd visit the church.
»How about paperboy?« Jan threw a mocking stare across the room at my devilish friend.
»Paperboy?« My father suddenly raised his head. »We don't have a paperboy.«
An evil grin rose on Jan's face. »Well, Lucija said...«
»Let's eat!« I quickly changed the subject and took a whole spoon of steamy mash potatoes. It always began and ended the same – mom wanted to pray, a heated discussion began and somebody sooner or later took a bite of non-blessed food, thus concluding the christian dinner at the Morison house.
The more glances I threw at Luc, the more I noticed the smile on his face. It was almost invisible, hard to catch by an untrained eye, but it was there, in the corner of his lips. There was a fragment of a smile he tried to hide and ignore, but I saw it.
* * *
»Lucija, can you please take out the trash?«
I stumbled out the door, watching The King of Hell helping my mom clean the table. In what universe does the devil wash the dirty dishes? You'd think he had servants to do his dirty work, like Hades in cartoon Hercules with Pain and Panic.
I was just about to dispose the smelly trash-bag when...the sound went dark.
A bitter gasp of wind brushed against my skin, which was uncommon for this time of year. Notes of air quietly played around my bones, creating a jittery aura. Slowly a darkness rose from hiding and shifted towards me. My heart beated so fast I thought it was going to break my rib-cage, a breath of air got stuck in the back of my throat, and my body was trapped like a deer in the headlights. The blackness creeped towards me, moving in a sluggish fashion, draining all the oxygen out of the air like a flame.
Suddenly it stopped. A veil of darkness ghosted from its face like a vaporizing smoke, revealing what was hiding underneath it.
A face. Just a face of a woman.
She had a certain glow about her, but not a bright one...no, more like a dark one. Like a glow of death itself.
She was as beautiful as she was terrifying.
She reached towards me with her skinny hand, with a fingers of a skeleton. The glow illuminated her skin, uncovering all the purple veins and bones beneath it. She softly touched my face and...
...and buried her hand in my hair, grabbing by its roots and pulling me down. Her once gentle mask broke and out came the madness within. With her inhuman strength she pushed me to the ground and spoke with a voice of the shadows.
»You are the soul of whom they spoke, you are the one marked by the Anguis.« She hissed the name. »You are the mortal flesh and bones that will rot and then join the forgotten ones. I smell the sin on you, one of the Sevens'. Do you have any idea about the consequences of your decisions, you speck of dust?« The anger in her voice was too calm. To calm to call it anger. It was rage, pure hatred.
»W...What are you t...talking about?« My words shivered under the weight of her presence.
She tightened the grip on my hair and traced her fingers over my neck. Delicate nails on her hands turned into claws with smudgy edges. They felt arctic against my bare skin, like sharp pieces of ice. A sinister smile eased on her lips with stinging features. »I could claim what is yours and what is his, but...«
She gradually broke the skin and made it bleed with a small, but painful scratch under my chin. »Ugh...«
»What is skin but a mere skeleton's robe...« She cackled and dematerialized in the surrounding darkness. An echo of her perverse laughter repeated itself over and over again in the back of my head as I ran into the house.
»Little Lux, your mom was just telling me...« Lucifer all of a sudden came around the corner. I shrieked and tears stung my eyes as I felt fear overflowing from the inside out. »What is wrong?« He captured my staggering body with his strong hands and lifted my chin. »What happened?« I stumbled back, shuddering. My lips trembled and my voice was nowhere to be found. I searched for the words and for some kind of sound, but...all I was able to do was cry those bitter tears.
He seized me into his embrace, pressing my head against his chest. His heart...I could hear his heart. Suddenly I felt myself taking a deep breath, like when you're about to dive under the water. I opened my eyes just to see that I was no longer standing in the corridor of our first floor, but in fact – in my room in the second floor. I raised my head and looked at Luc through my teary eyes.
»I moved us.« He explained and wiped the crystal tears off my cheeks with his rough and awkward thumbs. He lifted up my chin and stared at the fresh cut on my neck. In a delicate manner he traced his fingers across it and I felt a slight tingling sensation in the wound.
When I touched it, it was gone.
He stared into me with his still human eyes and asked again. »What happened?«
My voice was cracking a bit, but I managed to tell him pieces of the incident. »Someone...Something, some woman...she...« I almost started crying again, but he gently placed me in a siting position on my bed and squatted next to me. It was weird looking at the Devil at my feet. »She attacked me. S...She came out of nowhere! And she kept on saying weird stuff about bones and souls...a..and someone called Anguis...«
»Wait, what?« He stopped me and furrowed his eyebrows.
»Anguis.« I repeated. »Do you know him?«
He directed his look away from me, staring at something and thinking. A new emotion painted his face. And it wasn't a positive one. »You could say that.« His voice was cold and sharp.
»What was that, out there...«
»A Grigori.« He calmly replied.
»What's that, a demon?«
»No, a Watcher.«
»What's a Watcher?« I asked, but somehow I knew he didn't feel like explaining anymore. I shook my head. »I don't understand anything! What is happening?« I felt hot tears burning my eyes again. »What if it comes back...«
»She won't. Besides, it is not the Grigori I am worried about, it's the one controlling her.«
»What?« I got more and more confused. »You are making no sense! What the hell is a Grigori, I mean Watcher, and who the hell is Anguis?«
»Anguis is the Dragon.«
I got feed up with his non-revealing replies, so I yelled with a scratchy voice. »Who the fuck is the Dragon?!«
Luc looked at me and the color of his amber eyes was flooded by the redness of his fire, the flame of his existence filled up the room with raging warmth and he stood up, his broad shoulders complimenting his posture, invitingly. »I am.« He said and vanished into the shadows.
Glossary: 1. Stockholm syndrome or capture-bonding is a psychological phenomenon in which victims express empathy and sympathy toward their captors.
Author's note: Hello dear reader! I hope you are enjoying this story so far, know you must be confused with new things, developments and names, but I promise, all will be explained. If you have any questions, opinions – post them in a comment below, vote if you liked this chapter and of course, enjoy in the rest of your day.:)