Chapter 12
2071 Words
"She wants to see you. I can't tell you more than I'm supposed to."
"Stop." I shook my head. "Now I know you're playing with me."
He squeezed my shoulders, his body emanating a kind of dizzying heat that affected me in ways that I, up till now, couldn't fathom.
At least I'm not so much as losing my breath this time around.
"I wouldn't be here if that was what this would be all about; a joke," he retorted. "She wants to meet you, that is a fact."
She wants to meet me? I looked deep into Lucifer's burning irises and glared, wanting him to notice how unconvincing and absurd his revelation sounded. I assumed it was a challenge to tell this in the dark, but I wasn't in the least bothered by that.
"Don't spill crap on me, Lucifer."
He applied pressure on the part of my body his hands touched. This time, I barely flinched.
"You stubborn, bullheaded witch." The insult jabbed me just a little. "Why can't you just come with me? All your questions will be answered when we get there."
"I want them now," I insisted. "And don't you dare insult me. No one normal and in their right mind would ever - urgh!"
Light exploded in my vision so abruptly that it caused my eyes to sting painfully even as I shut them.
I wasn't given a moment to recover, however, when Lucifer suddenly backed me into a wall and slammed my back against the tall, hard bricks.
The action didn't hurt me that much since my body absorbed most of the pain, but it made me renew my struggles nonetheless.
"Get away from me!"
"Stop and listen to me, Lena!" He doubled his hold, probably knowing how strong I was and moved closer, deliberately making me writhe in response.
Lucifer leaned his body even closer, displacing the matter that stood between us. The effect it prompted out of me was exactly what he was aiming for.
My attempts to throw him off balance gradually ceased, though my hands rose and curled on his chest, trying weakly to push him away.
I carefully opened my eyes, wanting him to see that they didn't reflect whatever spell my body had been ensnared in. But my jaw was captured before I could fully adjust to the light and was tilted to level my line of sight with his.
His silver eyes weren't as intense as they had been in the dark, but they still managed to captivate in ways that simply bothered me.
"Don't make me take you there against your will," he threatened in a gruff, low tone, sounding dangerously close to aroused for some reason. "We both don't want that to happen."
"We?" I repeated sceptically, and admittedly a tad bit breathless than before. Please, not this again. "And why don't you?"
"Because..." he paused before moving closer to faintly brush his lips from my cheek to the shell of my ear.
I wanted to renew my struggles so badly, but it was as though that simple trace of his lips across my skin rendered my body weak and submissive towards him.
I hated it.
"Answer the damn question," I gritted out, the energy slowly receding from inside me. "Why are you hesitant?"
Lucifer paused just as his lips reached the corner of my mouth.
My chest tightened.
"Because I need you on my side," he whispered.
"What?"
"And I can't have that with you knowing everything."
He spoke cautiously, yet I couldn't bring myself to do so, fearing that the least movement would prompt his lips to capture mine in what I was sure would be a literal disaster.
Yet they were so close. They were right there. I could easily dodge his advance with continued defiance, but something held me still. Call it curiosity, low self-esteem or witchery, I didn't care.
Or rather, I wasn't given enough time to.
The first touch of our lips made my mind swirl, but then the sensation full-on heightened when Lucifer fully captured them and used his teeth to trap and slightly bruise my lower lip.
My body began to vibrate strangely and I mindlessly grabbed his shoulders when I started to feel as though all the blood was being drained from my system.
Never been kissed this passionately or body-consumingly before, I stood - slowly panting - with my eyes shut, trying to breathe and squelch the rising need that was making me extremely uncomfortable.
The feeling grew almost unbearable when I felt his tongue force its way in between my lips to invade inside my mouth.
My eyes snapped open immediately as I couldn't take the suffocation any longer. With each sweep of his tongue and entrapping felt as if Lucifer was literally sucking the life out of my body.
It was like he was purposefully ensuring that I explode with intensity.
He would've probably succeeded in that if I hadn't seen an undeniable replica of my eyes in his when he too pried his eyelids apart.
The black orbs that met my gaze made my whole being go numb. Quickly recollecting my stance, I forcefully jerked out of his embrace, staggering backwards as I struggled to regain the energy Lucifer had somehow drained out of me.
"Lena-"
"What was...that...that...should not be what a kiss should feel like," I gasped out in exhaustion for a few seconds, calming my system down and rubbing my chest in an effort to soothe the mild throbbing within.
"Your eyes," I whispered, confused. Unsure. Pure black there were, just like mine, yet contorted his features and making him look more demonic.
I took another step back. What the hell was happening?
"Len-"
"What is going on, Lucifer?" I couldn't help but breathe out in panic - the emotion taking root along with immense confusion. "Tell me!"
"Stop moving!" he ordered loudly before grabbing the front of my shirt just as my foot bumped against the stairway.
I stopped, but didn't turn my gaze away from his.
It felt so bizarre seeing something I only witnessed when I looked in the mirror stare at me from another entity.
Lucifer continued to stare at me for a length of time, sighed, then abruptly let go of my shirt.
I stumbled backwards as a result but held myself from racing up the stairs when he slumped defeatedly on the last staircase.
"I didn't want to tell you anything because I knew you'd see no reason in coming with me," he spoke softly after he realized I wasn't going to turn my back and run.
The wolf-man twisted his head to look at me sideways from his peripheral. "I thought you'd be willing to leave this place without a second glance for any reason, any opportunity thrown your way."
"I don't even know you," I retorted in defence.
"It shouldn't matter."
"That's not how it works."
"I didn't come here to negotiate," he growled.
"And I am not leaving my home with some stranger without any sensible or valid reason!"
"This is not your home!" he yelled and rose from his sitting position to face me. "You and I both know that."
"What is it to you?" I was tempted to take a step higher on the stairs but stopped myself, remembering that Lucifer couldn't hurt me even if he tried.
Regardless of my body's weird reaction to his, it didn't change the fact that I was no doubt immortal.
"You don't just walk into my house and assume things, Lucifer," I added with the proper amount of vigour. His eyes had returned to their normal state so it was much easier staring at them this time around.
When he failed to retort - which I was getting used to - I took a step lower and towards his frame. "Why won't you tell me the truth?"
"Because I need you to willingly come with me," answered Lucifer, truthfully. "Not reluctant at all."
"Why not? Why do you need my cooperation?" I questioned, still as confused as ever. "That isn't the deal with kidnapping. You have to do it even if the person's willing or not."
"This is different."
"It's the same thing!" I shot back. "You're still taking me away from my house."
He thinned his lips, perhaps thinking of a suitable retort yet coming up with nothing.
Finally, he relented. "I just need you to be on my side."
"You've made that clear, but why?"
Lucifer didn't look away but didn't respond either, and it no doubt got on my nerves since I was aware of that habit he always portrayed.
"Answer me, damn it!"
Without thinking, I reached out to shove him hard out of frustration, but he caught my move and squeezed his hands about my wrists.
Mission failing, and due to embarrassment, I seethed silently.
"I could easily overpower you, immortal or not, but I won't get what I desire," he began slowly. "First, swear that you'll help me escape."
"Escape?"
"From your mother."
My mother.
There it was again.
The fact that Lucifer appeared desperate to be freed from the woman who apparently gave birth to me actually heightened my curiosity at meeting the same one who abandoned me.
"How do I know this is not a trap set for me to be tortured or pushed into something I'm not ready for?"
"You don't."
Already expecting the answer, I looked away from Lucifer and stared down at his hands. Trying to dispel the strange feel of them around my wrists, I began to think deeply.
Surprisingly, I didn't feel so emotional about the prospect of seeing my mother as I'd been before. To be frank, the whole ordeal sounded too foreign to be concluded as real. I just couldn't grasp the concept.
She wanted to meet me. After all these years. Never even visited once before and now she suddenly wanted to see me? Sending some queer wolf-man to fetch me instead of doing the deed herself to make it worthwhile?
Either she felt shameful to meet me or had other encounters to deal with.
Some mother I have.
"My mother is the Night Witch, isn't she?" I proclaimed with a good dose of sarcasm, snapping my eyes back to Lucifer's. "She is, isn't she? She has to be. That would explain so much."
His jaw clenched. "I said swear it."
I wrenched my arms away. "I thought she was already put to sleep by those Witch Hunters when they spoke about it, but that's not the case, is it?"
Lucifer kept silent.
"Oh, for goodness' sake, tell me something Lucifer." I almost yanked my hair out in frustration. "She's the one Cleo and Micaiah have been searching for for years, isn't she? You knew about this yet didn't say a word to them to let them know?"
"I didn't come here to rest the minds of those hunters. I came here to fulfil my bound duty by delivering you to the Night Witch, and if I could, attain my freedom before you even get to her."
My eyes widened. "So I'm right-"
"Besides," he added grimly, "don't you want to see her and find out why she abandoned you?"
"No," I answered with all honesty. I wasn't ready for some sappy story of how I was too much luggage. Though to be strictly sincere, I very much doubted that she'd be the type to collapse in tears and plead for me to have seen the good in her actions.
Judging by Lucifer's insistence to help liberate him from under her thumb and the fact that she could've come to see me at any time she pleased - being the Night Witch and all - I didn't think I even wanted to confront her at all.
However, it wouldn't kill to just see her nature and how she truly was this one time. I had no idea what she wanted with me, but if it could satisfy that tiny portion of me that wanted to see my birth mother for the first time, then I wouldn't miss the chance.
I cleared my throat.
"Alright, I'll come with you," I said with all the certainty I could muster. "And I swear to help you get free in whatever way I can, only if you do something for me first."
"Don't tell Cleo and Mik about my mother."
- Writer
