The Devil's Playthings (23 page)

“Why did you do this to me,” she screamed at him. “Why did you take me away from that life?”

“
Emma, you know why.
”
Luc’s voice was as smooth as satin
. “
I could no more leave you to that life than I could leave you now. Lee
doesn’t deserve you.
H
e had no idea how special you are.”
Luc took a step closer to her. She could see the starlight in his black hair.
“Am I not good enough for you? I gave you power you couldn’t even dream of. I gave you love. I made you a princess.
”
She turned away from him again.

He walked up behind her and touched her shoulders, and she flinched. “You begged me to come and save you, and I did,” he reminded her. “You begged to be taken away from that life, and I did.”

“But I didn’t know what was coming,” she sobbed and fell to her knees. “I didn’t know that Lee was going to find me. I had no idea that I was going to be happy.”

“That’s the point of having hope,” he fell down beside her and wrapped her in his arms. “That we don’t know what is going to happen. It’s the best part about being human, and the worst part of being what we are.”

She shuddered at the idea that she would be this way forever. “The best part about being like us, is we have each other, and we will for as long as we exist.” She knew that meant after this plane
of existence
they would be together as well.
Their souls would be entwined forever. “Let’s make a baby, it’s time.”

He said let’s make a baby like it wouldn’t usher in the end of humanity
.
L
ike it would be a beautiful little bundle of joy
;
not evil. “What would it look like,” she gasped. “What would it be like?”

“I’m fairly
sure he
will
look like whatever he
wants
to look like,” he laughed, but she cringed.
“Emma, it will happen, and it will be you who brings my chi
ld to life. The child of
Lucifer
, Emma.
T
he anti
christ. You can’t stop it
,” he warned as he walked back into the building
, carrying her in his arms as he had done many times before
.
She knew she couldn’t do it. She knew she had to find a way to stop him. And she only knew of one person who could help her.

She drove back to the half-way house the next day to find Father Peter had been gone for nearly 3 years. The forwarding address he gave was a hotel that was burned to the ground less than 2 years later. She had no idea if he perished in the fire or if he somehow escaped. She had no way to find the one person who could help her.

She took up jogging in the park
at the reservoir
, in hopes of catching
a glimpse of Lee. And she did, every few days he would pass her and smile, and she would smile back. And when she would return back to the apartment she would cry. Every night Luc still came to her bed, and every night she had the same feelings deep inside her of wanting Lee and hating Luc.

One day in the park, several weeks after giving up
on ever
finding Father Peter a homeless man approached her. “Spare some change, Emma?”

She stared at his dirty face under the long dreadlocks and dark basebal
l cap. The faded brown
eyes gave him away, and she ran to him and hugged him. “Oh my God, Father Peter,” she whispered as she held him. “Oh my God what happened to you?”

But she knew what happened to him. As soon as she touched him she could feel every moment of torture that Lucifer had put him through. She could see every second that he spent in the padded room with him, every hateful and
blasphemous
thing he said. She felt Father Peter’s fear; but then it faded to apathy.

He began to believe he was ill. And the more medicine they gave him the more apathetic he became. She began to cry, not just for him, but for everything that was lost and her part in it.
Soon four angels surrounded them, with swords pulled and ready.

“I had to disappear so you wouldn’t find me again,” he murmured. “But the more I thought about what you said, the more I realized you were a pawn. You were his toy, his plaything.”

She nodded her agreement, and grabbed his hand and tried to lead him to a diner, but he refused. “Emma, he’ll find me
with you
,” he resisted
and shook his head.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” she insisted as she stared at the angels who had their swords pointed right at her. She took a step back, away from them and Father Peter.

“I can’t go through that again.
But you need this. Come tomorrow and I’ll find you.”
A
nd then he disappeared into the trees. She unfolded the paper he’d handed her,
and just as she caught a glimpse of the word
s she felt
Luc
appear
behind her.

“What’s that, Emma?” His voice was full of honey.

“I picked it up off the ground,” she insisted. “I was going to throw it away.”

“Emma, why are you lying to me,” he asked. “I know you were talking to someone.”

“A bum, a homeless guy,” she said truthfully. “He asked me for change.”

“Don’t lie to me Emma,” he
countered, but she remained silent. “Stop looking for Lee, he will never be yours.”

She wondered if he really didn’t know what she said, or whom she spoke to. If he didn’t know, did that mean his power over her was weakening? Did that mean he didn’t read her mind like he once did so easily? She wondered if she could lie to the Father of Lies.

He watched as she threw away the paper, then led her to an expensive restaurant. She found no joy in the food, or the ambience. She found no joy in anything, knowing it would all be for nothing when she had his child.

“Why do you love him, Emma?” He asked as he watched her eat.

Her eyes grew wide, and she shook her head. “I don’t know what you mean,” she whispered. “Who are you talking about?” She
stared deep into his silver
eyes, hoping that he could see she was telling the truth.

“Father Peter,” Luc said smoothly. And when she shook her head again he counter
ed.
“Please don’t lie to me.
”
But it was the way he said it, almost a plea. As if he didn’t know for sure.

“I don’t love him,” she said quickly. “I don’t love anyone.” She looked away from his bewitching eyes, into her wine glass, then took a sip.

“Then the better question would be,” he continued, “Why don’t you love me?” She didn’t answer. She knew that was a question even she didn’t know the answer to.

She stared blankly into her wine glass again. “Emma, I’
ve given you everything; cars, jewelry, knowledge, power.” He reached across the table and put his hand under her chin, tipping her head back so she was forced to look again into his magical eyes. “I’ve given you the most amazing sexual pleasure you could ever imagine. And I’ve given you the best gift a woman could
hope
for: eternal youth.”

She still didn’t know how to answer him. And he could see it in her eyes, and in her heart. She didn’t know what was lacking between them, but she knew it was. She could feel it, but couldn’t name it. “Well, when you have our baby perhaps you will finally feel that love you lack.”

She knew that she would never feel the maternal bond to a baby that he gave her. How could anyone love the thing that would destroy all of humanity? Even if she was forced to carry it inside her body for 9 months, and it looked like a human, and it was needy like a real baby, she would know it wasn’t helpless. She would know what it was capable of.

“Or perhaps you just need to remember back before you met Lee Kim. You told me you loved me.” He almost pouted. It touched her that he was hurt over her. And it hurt her too. He had given the ultimate sacrifice for her. He fell from heaven. He became a monster. For her.

But she had to remind herself, he did not want to be an angel. He did not want to be subservient to God or anyone. His love for her was not the cause of that, it was the symptom.

She knew the exact moment that night
she became pregnant, she could feel the other being growing inside her.
She could feel that night as soon as he spilled his seed inside her that the baby began to form.
She could feel the cells splitting. And she knew
he felt it too. And as
they lay in bed he grabbed her and pulled her toward
him.

“It’s done,” he said as
he laid his hand on her still flat stomach and kissed her hair lovingly. “My will be done.”

“Would you tell me now,” she wondered as he continued to stare at her with those
glittering black eyes
.

“Tell you what, dear,” he asked as his hands twisted through her hair.

“Tell me why you chose me,” she whispered. “Why me?”

“Because of your connection to Peter,” he whispered.

“I know that’s not true,” she insisted. “Tell me. I want to hear the truth...”

H
e interrupted her, breaking off her sentence t
here.
“You were mine,
He gave you to me.” H
e said
it
like a spoiled child.
“
You were a microcosm of the human spirit. You were desolate, and yet on the precipice of a new beginning you couldn’t begin to understand. You were weak, yet you had an inner strength to be on your own in such a harsh world. You had so much pain in yo
u, and such a longing for love.

“And then He tried to take you away from me,” his lip twisted into a snarl. “He said I couldn’t have you.”

“He was testing you,” she whispered.

He moved his hand up her breast, over her shoulder, and back down to the place where another life grew inside her. “You called to me
Emma. I couldn’t ignore you if I’d tried. Every whisper you made I heard. Every tear you shed I felt.”

“He wanted you to fail,” she almost pitied him. And then she asked the question she really wanted to know the answer to.
“Why didn’t I have an angel looking out for me
? Why didn’t He assign me a new angel?
” she wondered aloud, then regretted it.

“What makes you think you didn’t,” he asked. Her eyes flew straight to his. “She was in the alley with you when I found you, and she sat with you every day in my apartment. Even living in the apartment of Lucifer she never faltered. She never left your side, until…” He let the sentence end there. He didn’t need to remind her.

“I saw it,” she whispered. “I saw her out of the corner of my eye,” she remembered seeing a flash of white in the black, evil room.

“Yes, she was there,” he informed her. “She wouldn’t give up on you. But now you’re mine, and I won’t give up on you
either
, Emma. I’ll never, ever let you go. No matter what I have to do, I’ll keep you.” She was reminded of what he said about love, and the feeling of holding on to what you want
even when others tried to take it away
. And she believed she’d never escape him.

The word
s
that Father Peter had written on the paper
echoed in her head, and although she’d been to the park several times since then, to the same exact spot, he was no where to be found.

Lee, however, was there nearly every day now. She sat on a bench feeding the pigeons when he ran by one day. She didn’t acknowledge him, afraid of what might happen to him. But he stopped at her bench, allegedly to check his heart rate. He placed two fingers on his throat and looked down at his watch, but she could tell he was actually looking at her.