Chapter Four: Finding Elyse..
1283 Words
"Where is Elyse? Where is my baby?" Betty cried, her voice shaking as she clutched Elsa tighter.
Lucifer's face was drawn, shadowed by regret.
"Betty... I lost her. But calm down, I promise - "
"You what?!" Betty screamed, cutting him off. Her knees buckled, and tears streamed down her cheeks. "How can you tell me to be calm when you lost Elyse?! My poor little baby..." She crumpled to the floor, sobbing.
Lucifer knelt beside her, gripping her shoulders firmly. "Pull yourself together, Betty. I will find Elyse. I swear it. But right now, I need you to prepare yourself - and Elsa - to leave Russia. Tonight."
"No!" she yelled. "I'm not leaving this goddamn country. Not without my baby, Lucifer!"
Lucifer's grip on her shoulders slightly tightened. "Listen to me, Betty. If you don't leave now, we risk losing Elsa too," he breathes. "These people are stronger than you think, they won't spare us when they find us, nor the baby," he gestured towards Elsa.
"You're leaving, taking Elsa with you to safety. While I go back and find Elyse. Understood?"
Betty shudders at the thought of leaving, especially without her baby. Yet she pulled herself together - for Elsa.
"Yes," she nodded.
Lucifer stood up abruptly. "Where's the burner phone?"
She handed it to him quietly. While she watched him dial a line.
The voice on the other end answered almost immediately, light and sharp. "Lucifer, the morning star! Been a minute, mate. What's going on?"
"Remember that favor I said I might call in one day? That day is today. I need your help."
"Say the word."
"I need a ship. One that's leaving Russia tonight."
"Dock. Midnight." The other end of the line replied curtly.
"Thanks, brother." The line went dead.
Lucifer turned to Betty, whose hands were trembling as she packed a small bag with provisions from the bunker.
"Take Elsa and head to the dock. A man named Richmond's will be waiting for you. I'll meet you there."
"What about you? And Elyse?" she asked, hesitating.
"I'll find her. I have to. But you need to go now."
She kissed Elsa's forehead once, hard and trembling before she secured her in a new baby carrier from the bunker, strapping it around her chest, then tossed the second bag at Lucifer. "Bring back Elyse in that," she said with a voice full of steel and sorrow.
He caught it with one hand, nodding. "I will. I promise."
Just as she turned to climb out, Lucifer stopped her again. "Betty." He stepped forward and held out a Glock 19, matte-black with a suppressor and laser sight. Sleek. Deadly. Custom-fit for her slender hands.
"You still remember how to use this?"
She stared at it for a moment.
If only he knows she'd killed someone tonight.
Then she nodded. "Yes."
(Flashback - Two Years Ago)
"Eyes on the target," Lucifer instructed, his tone low and precise. "Your heart, mind, and hand - must be unified. Keep your stance firm. Gaze locked on the target. Then, c**k the gun - "
Click.
" -and pull the trigger."
He adjusted her posture carefully, guiding her hands. Her aim steadied, breath syncing with the cold air. Then -
Bang!
A glass bottle 150 yards away exploded into pieces.
"I did it!" she gasped.
"Yes, you did," he said, pride flickering in his eyes.
"But I don't need to learn how to shoot a gun," she pouted adorably. "I have you to protect me always."
Lucifer gave a soft laugh. "And I will, until my last breath. But if there's ever a day I'm not by your side - even for a second - I want you to be ready. Not vulnerable."
His eyes turned distant, haunted. Betty stood to her toes and kissed him with a sweet wide smile plastered on her face. He melted into it.
"Stop distracting me," he groaned, smiling, he was hard. "We need to finish the lesson."
"You're the one who's distracted," she teased.
"Let's begin again," he said - voice thick. They both knew, one day, she might need this.
(Back to the Present)
Betty paused at the bunker door. Lucifer's voice called out behind her, firm but aching.
"Keep going, Betty. Don't stop. Don't look back. I will come back to you - with Elyse."
She nodded, jaw clenched, climb out and vanished into the icy night.
Lucifer picked up the phone again. Dialed the untraceable line again.
"She's heading to the dock now - with our daughter."
"Got it, mate. I'll take care of them," the voice replied.
Lucifer hung up. He climbed out of the bunker and disappeared into the darkness after he'd safely secured the entrance.
****************
By the time Lucifer returned to Ulisa Kuznetsova street - the place where he last held Elyse, dawn's blue hue has begun to crawl across the sky.
He scoured every alley, every crevice, every dumpster. Nothing.
The bin where he had last left Elyse had been empty, cleared long before he returned. The Waste Disposal Company couldn't have taken her - there wasn't even a sign they'd been.
No tire marks. No trash scent. Just... gone.
Even the bloodstained jacket he had wrapped around her - now gone too.
He checked every bin in the neighborhood. Still nothing.
Elyse disappearance is a mystery.
Cold air bit into his skin, but he ignored it. Fear clenched around his chest like chains.
Dawn was creeping on fully. And a clear daylight meant danger. If they don't leave Russia before the sun rose, The Supreme would find them. And The Supreme doesn't miss.
Lucifer moved like a shadow. Silent. Invisible. Deadly. He was a predator - trained by the best, feared by all. The Supreme's favorite assassin.
And yet tonight, he felt helpless.
Only two people knew of his family: Daemon, his sworn brother, and The Supreme, the mighty Drug Lord and king of Russia's underworld. The man who raised them into killers. The man, Lucifer had just betrayed - by choosing love over loyalty.
And one of them had to be the leak to my missing daughter.
Lucifer slipped through blind spots, weaving through buildings, avoiding every surveillance camera. Still - no trace.
He pressed his back against a building wall, his breath frosting in the air. "Elyse is gone..." he whispered. "I don't have time to search all of Russia..."
The decision burned. "Your mother and sister need to survive too."
He slid into a shadowed alley, broke the window of a parked car, hacked the ignition, and drove off.
His mind spiraled. I broke my promise to Betty... She never forgive me. Never.
He slammed his fists into the steering wheel, screaming out in rage and grief. The pain in his throat was thick and unrelenting, coupled with his injured leg.
"What kind of a father am I?" he choked. "I'm so sorry, Elyse. This is all my fault. Daddy is so, so sorry."
He stepped on the accelerator, speeding towards the dock where Betty and Elsa waited - unaware that his heart was shattered into a billion little pieces.
At the end of the street, a dark sedan sat with its headlights off. Inside a man watched Lucifer, drive away - smirking. In the passenger seat lay a sliver pendant - the emblem of the Supreme's Order. One of the highest in the hierarchy.
A soft coo cut through the silence of the car. The man smile without warmth, adjusting the pink blanket around the baby.
His voice was cold and possessive.
"Easy little one. Easy..." he whispered, his eyes fixed on the road where Lucifer has vanished.
"... you're my property now!"
- Writer
