Femme Fatale (The Dangerous Game Between Life And Death)

Chapter Four: Fleeing Russia!

"Where are my wife and kid?" Lucifer, with voice laced with concern, asked Richmond, a sailor, a tall, slim man with broad shoulders and blond hair, sporting a peculiar yet amusing mustache. Richmond, a man whose life Lucifer had saved several years ago from a brutal fate.

Richmond's past was marked by a harrowing experience. He was about to be burned alive—a gruesome death—by a mafia boss in Italy because he had stumbled upon a secret mafia meeting, and he was thought by the mafia boss to be a spy of one of the other mafia families in Italy, sent to spy on them. The boss of the cartel of the Alexandra family in Italy had ordered Richmond to be burned alive, but only if he refused to confess. Richmond had been tortured to the point that he was half-conscious and was almost on the brink of death.

Lucifer, who was to have a meeting on behalf of his boss, the Supreme of Russia, with this Italian mafia boss, when he saw Richmond, who was battered with bruises and bathed in his own blood, asked who the injured man was, and the response was that 'he is a spy'. Lucifer could at once tell that he wasn't anything close to being a spy. He told the mafia boss, "You have the wrong guy! Release him," he had demanded. The mafia boss, though bemused by Lucifer's audacity, and yet with great respect and fear of Lucifer's capabilities, ordered Richmond's release. He knew better than to cross Lucifer, a man notorious for his inhumaneness and ruthlessness towards those he considered his "prey." . Lucifer can be a valuable ally or a formidable enemy.

Richmond was eternally grateful to Lucifer and was willing to do anything for him. For according to him, his life belongs to Lucifer; he respected him; he revered him. He was willing to go even as far as securing him a ship out of Russia in the middle of the night."Where are my wife and kid, Richy?" Lucifer asked again. Brought back to presence, Richmond replied, "Sorry, they are waiting for you inside; come with me." Walking Lucifer to the ship cabin, a modest room of 10-20 square meters (100-200 feet's), with a desk and a chair in the right corner of the room, a closet in the left corner of the room, an extra door a few feet away from the closet, possibly the bathroom, and a single medium-sized bed at the far end of the room where Betty sat rocking Elysa to sleep, it was a typical junior cabin apartment on a ship. The room was dimly lit, but Lucifer could see his wife's anxious face and his sleeping daughter Elysa, who stirred in her sleep feeling her father presence.

Betty upon seeing her husband, rushed to him with mix feelings, relief and anxiety. Relieved, because he came back in one piece, anxious because she didn't see Elyse, just the empty baby carrier, he held in his hands. "Did you find her?; Where is Elyse?", She asked desperately. Lucifer could not reply, he stood as if transfixed to the spot, Betty reading meaning into her husband's silence,broke down into tears, bitter tears, dropping Elysa on the bed, she walked over to Lucifer and began to hit him repeatedly on his chest saying " You promised me that you'll find her! You promised me!!", "I'm sorry Betty, I lost her", said Lucifer looking down cast, trying so hard to his his pain, to fight back the hot tears that threatened to roll down his eyes, he has become so soft! He was a such a hard man back then, who was no stranger to pain, a man who had forgotten what tears taste like, a man who had forgotten how to cry.

Lucifer was just Eight years old, when the Supreme had adopted him along with his adoptive brother Deamon, and had trained them into the ruthless person's they are now; "you must become accustom to pain and strangers to tears; harden up those soft hearts and show me gratitude for taking you off the street; I'll make you both so strong that no one in the world could defeat you; you will be my weapon, yes, my weapon to stay in power; so I can remain the supreme who weld raw power in the whole of Russia and the world!", the Supreme as said that night and it changed everything, including his life.

He became more of a monster and less human, he became the Supreme's best human weapon! Untill Betty came in the picture and changed everything, she was also an orphan who fend for herself by working in a convienace store Lucifer frequent, she was an exact opposite of who he was, he was attracted, she was first to ask him out in a coffee date and after few more dates, they both fell in love after some time together, they loved each other and to the Supreme dismay, she was changing him, His strongest man was not allow to be vulnerable, so he saw Betty as a threat, his weapon vulnerability,a question to his authority as the Supreme, Lucifer was HIS human weapon, a merciless beast about to be given humanity, and that kind of change was not welcome! Yet Lucifer defied the Supreme disapproval and still went ahead to marry Betty, the woman who brought him back from hell to life, the one who aroused the humanity in him.

"How could you lost our daughter?"why?!", Betty wept hysterically. Richmond sensing the tension, excused the couple. "You mean my little baby is dead?", Betty kept wailing, "No, no Betty, not dead, she's just missing", "what's the difference Lucifer", she yelled " Betty, look at me; stop crumbling like this and look at me!" Said Lucifer firmly, "We're leaving Russia tonight...", "I'm not leaving without my baby", she snapped at him angrily, flinging off his hands as he tried to hold her. " Do you want to lose Elysa too then?!; Do you wish to end up dead....", " I don't care about my life Lucifer!" She shouted cutting him short, " you don't care about Elysa's too?!", He asked in anger. "Do you really think for a second Betty, that I don't feel thrice as terrible about losing Elyse too?; that I don't feel a failure of a father for failing to protect her?! She was my daughter too,God damnit!!", He shouted, running his hand through his hair in frustration.

Betty was quiet. " I'm so sorry Betty, I didn't mean to yell at you, I'm sorry", Lucifer apologized, kneeling close to his wife, holding her hands to comfort her, he whispered, " But Elysa needs to stay alive no matter what. And you need to be strong for her". She nodded in agreement with a sad sign escaping her lips.

"We sail out tonight then"!; And I promise once we are out of Russia, I will pull every string to find Elyse, Betty, I promise", he whispered, pulling her closer to his chest to console her. It was the first time he has made her cry and he felt terrible about it. A huge lump of pain lingered in his throat and wouldn't go away. He swallowed forcefully. "I'll go see Richmond"; he should have set the sail by now", Lucifer said. Leaving Betty going to the control room to see Richmond, while she tend with teary face to Elysa.

"Lucifer, I was about to come get you" , said Richmond, " I'm here mate", said Lucifer," you're good?" asked Richmond concerned, " yeah, I am. Thanks mate", said Lucifer, "Good!; It all get better in the end mate, trust the process" Smiled Richmond, Lucifer nodded. " Aya...mate! So where do we sail towards?" Exclaimed Richmond. " ITALY!" said Lucifer.