The Devil's Wife (27 page)

      Clarissa was watching me, running her hands over me as she moved. I ran my claws through her hair, smiling as her head lolled to the side, towards my hand. I brought a lock of her hair around to her front, running it up and down her chest. Pulled around over her shoulder, her hair was waist-length, beautiful.

      "I love you, honey."

      Clarissa smiled at me as I put my hand back on her cheek, reflexively thrusting upwards. She groaned, and I smiled. She opened her eyes to look at me and I frowned, stilling. She was in pain.

      "Clarissa?" I asked, becoming completely still. "Love, what's wrong?"

      Clarissa stood up in the small space between the throne and my wings. I sat up, putting myself away and readjusting my wings. Clarissa was already pulling her shirt back on.

      "Clarissa?"

      "Let me out, please, Lucifer," she asked quietly, facing away from me and folding her arms, her head bowed.

      I opened my wings, folding them back. She headed toward the Frozen Lake, and I got up to follow her. She had her arms wrapped around her stomach, and she was crying. I pulled her to a stop, grabbing her upper arm. She tried to shake me off, tears falling down her cheeks, but I wouldn't let her go.

      "No, Clarissa, please. Just tell me what's wrong."

      "Nothing," she muttered, still trying to break away from me.

      "Issa—"

      "Leave me alone!" she screamed hysterically,

wrenching her arm from my grip. She ran towards the Rift, and I watched her helplessly, frozen, my arm still held out where it had gripped hers.

      "Why are you standing there?" Aspen asked, suddenly appearing beside me.

      I jumped and glared at him. "What?"

      "Lucifer, if you don't see what you should do in this situation, then you are as big an idiot as I've always said you were." He frowned at me, his wings flapping absently. "Go and get her. She shouldn't be alone. Like Jayce when Jason beat her, Clarissa needs to talk to someone. If it isn't you, then you will lose a large part of your relationship with her. And you will never be able to get it back."

      "How do you know?" I snapped at him.

      "Do you remember my relationship with Arvena? And what happened with Carmichael?"

      "Yes. Your relationship was never the same."

      "Because I didn't go after her when she ran. And Carmichael got there first. She turned to him because he was there when she needed him, and dumped my ass on the sidewalk. Trust me when I say I know what I'm talking about, Luce. She needs someone. And it had better be you or I will kick your ass from one end of eternity to the next. Make the right decision."

      Without waiting for my answer, he turned and walked away.

      He was right, of course. He had a clearer view of the world than I did. I threw myself into the air and flew toward the Rift, hoping to catch Clarissa before another Demon did.

~ * ~

      "Clarissa, honey, wait!" I called, landing beside her and grabbing her hand. "Please, talk to me."

      She tried to pull herself away again, then sobbed. I pulled her to me, and she melted into my arms, crying hysterically into my chest. I held her, resting my chin on the top of her head and staring into the Cavern, seething that someone had made my Clarissa—my beautiful, strong, independent Clarissa—cry.

      I will hunt them down for this, and destroy not just their bodies, but their Eternal Souls as well. They won't get away with doing this to her, or Jayce, or anyone else!

      She sank to the ground, still crying into my chest, and I went with her, kneeling beside her. Each sob tore through me and hardened my resolve for revenge.

      "I'm sorry, Lucifer," she whispered eventually, wiping a tear from her face.

      "It's what I'm here for, Issa," I murmured, smoothing down her hair and kissing the top of her head. "You can cry on me as much as you want."

      Clarissa sniffed, pushing herself away from me gently. I didn't want to let her go, so I let her pull back a little but kept my hands on her shoulders.

      "No, not about that," she whispered, and I wiped tears from her cheeks again, being careful with my claws.

      I gave them a second's thought, then I felt the wings, claws and tail vanishing. She pulled me in for another hug, holding me tightly.

      "This was our anniversary," she whispered, burying her face in my chest. "I was happy! Then Jayce was taken, and we had to go find her. Then Aspen and I fell into the same trap, and they killed my cat and locked us in a dark, cold room for hours..."

      I was silent, letting her talk. Occasionally I'd smooth down her hair and kiss the top of her head, and I could feel her rallying herself together. Clarissa had spent time behind bars, but that was as the person committing the assault. And well-deserved assault at that, I thought with an internal growl. She was never the victim, she was the queen bee, the one who led other inmates around by the ear, or they left her alone.

      Now she held the other end of the stick. She was the one who was beaten, cut, burned and raped. She had been kidnapped, and left in a cold, dark hole while she heard Jayce scream, unable to help her best friend, her sister in everything but blood.

      I tensed up, growling under my breath. She hugged me tightly, starting to tremble.

      "I will get them for you, Issa," I swore, kneeling down so that she was taller than me. I took her left hand in mine, my right hand on her cheek as I looked up at her, into her eyes to promise and pledge to her. "I will bring them here and you can tell me how you want them punished."

      She sobbed, hugging me. "I'm so sorry, Luce," she sobbed as I kneeled there, hugging her.

      "You have nothing to be sorry for, Clarissa," I said, standing up and picking her up. "Come on. I'll put you to bed, then I will bring you the men for your judgment."

      She curled into my arms as I released my wings, heading back to my throne. I passed over it and beyond the Frozen Lake, heading for the little room I occupied when I lived in Hell. I landed on its landing ledge and folded my wings down, carrying Clarissa over to the soft and comfortable bed in the corner of the miniature cavern.

      Clarissa didn't let me go, instead holding onto my hand and looking up at me with sad eyes as I tucked her in.

      "Stay with me, Luce, please," she begged, holding my hand tightly. "I don't want you to leave me. Ever."

      "I won't leave you, Clarissa," I told her, kicking off my boots and lying down beside her.

      I pulled my right wing over us to give her the feeling we were at home in my house, and she pulled my arm around her waist, like she normally did. She had already closed her eyes and was starting to relax, breathing deeply, not loosening her grip on my hand. I gently brushed her brown hair from her eyes, watching her for a while.

      When I was sure she was asleep, I pulled myself out of Clarissa's grip and kissed her forehead, my fingers lingering on her arm as I watched her face soften slightly. She rolled toward me, and I felt a desire to stay with her. If she had a nightmare, or remembered something bad, woke up screaming, then I wanted to be there for her.

      "I love you, Lucifer," she breathed, her hand finding mine trailing on her arm. "Don't ever leave me."

      I watched her drift off into an unsettled sleep, watching as her face slowly relaxed. She was on her right side, facing me, and the light of a torch caught the shiny skin of the burn mark on her left cheek. I gently brushed my fingers over it and she frowned in pain. I kissed her temple, smoothing her hair back. I couldn't leave her. I could never leave her again while she lived, probably even after she died as well.

      Aspen. I'll send him up to Earth to get the Hellraisers. He has just as much reason to hunt them down as I do. If I send Leviathan and Beelzebub up with him, I can be sure that they will find all of the Hellraisers and bring them back.

      "I'll be back soon, love," I whispered, throwing myself from my ledge and out into Hell's depths, searching for Aspen.

Jehovah

I tapped my finger seven times on my desk, then glanced at my seven bodyguards. "Where is he? I summoned him ten minutes ago. He should have been here by now!" "Our officers said he entered the Gates less than two minutes ago, Ma'am," Raphael said, bowing his head. "He would not yet have had time to get to the elevator, let alone ride it up here, Ma'am."

"While you're on the subject of Samyaza Morningstar, might I remind you of his presumptuous use of his middle name, Lucifer, among his friends down in Hell? I wish to ask what you intend to do for his gang-like behavior." Michael bowed slightly. He had yet to get over me threatening to kill him if he screwed up again.

Good. The Angels needed some ego busting around here. They seem to forget that, at the end of the day, I am their boss, not their friend. "I know, Michael. I remember," I snapped.

Michael nodded and bowed. "Of course. Forgive my intrusion."

I huffed and started pacing. Seven steps into it, I stopped and smiled. "Here he is."

The elevator doors sprang open, the panel dividing off into seven bends. I walked my seven steps back to the desk and sat, waving to Uriel. The Archangel led in a woman, blonde-haired, with tanned skin, who smiled when she saw the red-skinned man leaving the elevator. "Sam..."

Samyaza's head snapped up. "No! Jehovah, I won't stand for it if you're going to bullshit me with her again—" I shook my head at him. "Sit down, Sam. Sera, here, is joining us for lunch."

Samyaza stared at me. "You're shitting me, right? After five thousand years, you're going to let me sit beside her, talk to her?" His ire was rising, as well as the red pigment in his face. "Tell you what, Jehovah, why don't you just go jump off a bridge and fuck yourself?"

"Sam!" Sera gasped, her hand to her chest. "How dare you speak to God in such a manner! Apologize right now!" "Go screw yourself," Samyaza snapped at her, barely glancing in her direction. "Jehovah, I am not going to play your little games. I don't care what you want in trade for her, you're not getting it."

"You mean you don't want her, Sam?" I asked quietly with a raised eyebrow, gently serving up a cup of tea. "My, my, Sera will be awfully annoyed to hear that." "Go blow a monk," he spat at me, then turned to Sera. "As for you, you ignored me for five thousand years. Don't think that I am even considering taking you back after you dropped me like a bent dime!" "What's a dime?" Sera asked me.

"It doesn't matter what it is," he snapped. "The answer is no, Jehovah. I already have someone who appreciates me for who I am. I don't need a girl who wants me for her own ends." Sera looked offended; I was pissed.

"And does that girl want you after you failed to save her from the humans, Lucifer?" I asked.

"You know what, Jehovah? Fuck you!" he snarled and turned his back on me, marching from Heaven. The seven Angel bodyguards stood absolutely still, not even daring to breathe. They were watching me, well aware that I was on the edge of snapping.

Finally Raphael stepped out of the cluster of Angels. "Boss?"

"Yes, Raphael?" I said in a voice that was terrifying in
its sweetness.
"You okay?"

The western wall to my office vanished, leaving it open

to the air.

"Do whatever you can," I said to the Angels. "Do whatever you want. Make sure he never loves again." The Angels glanced at each other, then headed to the gap in the wall. "Now!"

My snappish shout made them jump, their wide white leathery wings snapping open and taking them down to Earth. I turned on Sera as the woman stood, watching me. "As for you, go back to Limbo. I want nothing more to do with you." "But—Jehovah!"

I snapped my fingers, remaking reality. In Limbo, Sera continued the conversation she'd left six months ago as though nothing had happened. For her, nothing had. Curse Samyaza Lucifer Morningstar to the bottom of the Rift!

I returned to my pacing, trying to think of a way to get Samyaza. That bastard really pissed me off, but I was as restricted in my powers as I was free—I'd have to kill him some other way.

Jaselyn Haraford

      Beelzebub and I were sitting on the edge of the Frozen Lake, watching Leviathan. The water-Demon was having fun leaping from the frozen depths and creating sculptures of splashes in the frozen water, entertaining the humans and Demons gathered around the Lakeshore.

      "Then Lucifer grabbed Michael, slapped him and said, 'If you ever decide to drink on duty again, you're going to find yourself doing a shitload more drinking! Pull yourself together, you idiot, or you'll get us all killed!'" Beelzebub crowed, and I laughed with him.