Steal My Soul

Chapter 13

Luc walked briskly down the sidewalk with me clutched tightly onto his hand as he dragged me along. I had to nearly run in order to keep up with the demon’s long strides. Once we had walked at least five blocks away from the apartment building, Luc took an abrupt turn into an alley. He released my hand and poked his head out of the alley checking behind me to make sure no one was around. He let out a tired sigh and turned to me.

“Are you ready to meet my parents?” he inquired scratching at the back of his head in a nervous gesture. It wasn’t like him to be this nervous, so it made me feel even more apprehensive about the entire thing.

“Not really. Especially when you act all jittery and whatnot like you are right now. It really makes me scared to meet them. I mean, will they really hurt me just because I’m human?” I asked with slight hesitancy. I was, after all, still meeting the original Lucifer.

“My mother may not. She is a very kind person to, well, almost anyone really. Unless you piss her off. As for my father," Luc exhaled, his pale blue eyes glancing away from mine. “As for him I am not so sure. It depends on his mood, I’m afraid.”

I swallowed past a dry lump in my throat at the thought. I didn’t want to die. Especially not when I didn’t even want to be here in the first place. My soul had unwillingly been stolen from me and the only chance I had at getting it back was by agreeing to his deal. After the ritual, my original soul would be placed back into my body and then I could go on my merry way to live out the rest of my life. Or at least that’s what I hoped.

I jumped when there was a light, warm touch on my shoulder. My honey brown eyes lifted up to meet a stunning pair of pale blue orbs that were filled with assurance. Something I didn’t often see shining in the depths of those eyes.

“Please, trust me, Leighra, when I say that I will not allow my parents or anyone to lay a single finger on you,” he quietly pleaded; his fingers gently dug into the skin of my shoulder wanting me so badly to say I trusted him on something. How I wanted to tell him the very words he wanted to hear, but I couldn’t.

“You’ve made it very difficult to trust anything you say, Luc,” I sadly told him. My eyes fell to stare at the damp cement below our feet as his hand dropped back down to his side. I felt terrible that I couldn’t trust him, but I had good reason not to. Until he could prove to me otherwise that he was trustworthy…there was no way I could put my faith, or my life, confidently in his hands.

“Understandable,” he answered. I rubbed the side of my arm as Luc touched the wall in one spot before horizontally moving it over to touch another spot on the brick wall. His hand returned to the center as his fingers brushed down along the rough texture of the bricks. As his hand continued to move down the wall, a large black shadow began to appear. It stood taller than Luc and was shaped like a door. I glanced up at him in curiosity.

“It’s a door to the Shadow Realm. The realm that divides your's and mine,” he answered after seeing my questioning gaze.

“Interesting,” I murmured. I let out a small squeak as Luc swept his arm under my legs and swung me up to cradle me against his chest. I squirmed a bit wanting to be let down, but Luc’s hold on me only tightened.

“You need to stick close to me. And the only way I can assure your safety is if I carry you, alright, love?” He explained those icy blue eyes penetrating mine. I hesitantly nodded wondering if that was the truth or just an excuse to hold me.

“Plus it gives us good practice for later, right?” he winked as the old, flirty Luc resurfaced. I rolled my eyes, holding my breath as he stepped into the darkness. The shadow door sealed shut behind us as Luc continued walking forward. I wasn’t sure how he knew where he was going since it was pitch black, but I sure as hell was glad that he did. Or at least he pretended to know.

I felt my body slowly relax against his hard, muscled chest as I found my arms snaking their way to loop around his neck. I rested my head against his shoulder allowing the movements of his body to lull me into dreamland. Just before I drifted off, I felt the soft, warm touch of lips press against my forehead. I bit the inside of my lip in order to keep the smile off my face so he wouldn’t see. If he kept doing and saying the things he did, I might just find myself falling for this demon.

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“Leighra, love, wake up,” a deep voice breathed in my ear. The bars that kept me pinned against the warm, solid wall loosened their hold on me just a bit. I stretched my arms out in front of me as my eyelids fluttered open. Instantly I noticed how close my mouth was to touching Luc’s upon awakening. My eyes widened and clashed with a pair of amused, blue irises. Being so close to him I could see little flecks of dark blue swimming in that deep ocean of crystal blue.

“We’re here,” he whispered, the faintest hint of a smile teasing the corners of his lips. “Would you like for me to set you down or would you like to clutch onto me a little tighter?”

My cheeks flared red with embarrassment when I realized my left hand held his horizontally pin-striped shirt tightly in its grasp while the fingers of my right hand had found their way into the hair at the nape of his neck. I quickly dropped my hands into my lap and glanced away from his face.

“Please put me down,” I mumbled. His chuckle rumbled throughout his chest as he slid me out of his arms until my feet touched flat on the ground.

“Mum! Dad! I’m home!” He called out after he had set me down. It was only then I realized we were inside his house. Well, by the looks of the inside the more proper term would probably be mansion.

The floor of the foyer was covered with a black marble tile with a large floor rug in the center just a few feet from the front doors. On both sides of the foyer were a staircase that led up and around to meet in the center where it then split off in opposite directions to the second floor. The entire room had a gothic feel to it including the traditional gothic chandelier that dangled from the center of the ceiling. Straight ahead was a large archway underneath the center of the staircase that led back into an even larger room. It was in that room where I heard a feminine voice call out to Luc.

“In the living room, sweetie,” she called. A smile, one I’ve never before seen, brightened Luc’s face as he glanced down at me through excited blue eyes. He grabbed at my hand and pulled me forward through the long arch entrance until we emerged into what I assumed was the living room.

A large, plasma screen television was mounted on the wall above the massive fireplace that looked large enough to burn a barrel of bodies in. I mentally facepalmed myself for giving my mind that image. Several feet away from the fireplace was a large U-shaped, black leather couch where I could see the top of a curly, auburn head.

“Mum!” Luc shouted. The head that was sitting on the couch jerked around, a wide smile on the female’s face. She jumped over the back of the couch and sprinted over to her son wrapping her tiny arms around his waist.

“You’re the only one of our children that tells us when they walk through the door,” she pouted pulling away from him. “Why can’t your brother or sister be more like you?”

“Sister?” I hissed up at him. He never said anything about a sister. He sent me a sheepish grin, but before I had time to ask anything more about it, an excited shriek pierced the air.

“You must be Leighra!” she squealed pulling me into her arms. It was only when I was being crushed against her body did I fully realize how strong of a grip she had for such a tiny female.

She gripped my shoulders and pulled me away at arm’s length. My eyes widened at her stunning beauty. She appeared to be not much older than my 21, but I suspected she was much older than that. She had a mane of impossibly thick, curly hair that fell past her breasts as it shone a deep red in the light from the ceiling. Her rich, dark brown eyes were lined with kohl; her plump lips stained a dark red. She wore a black corseted dress; the layered lace of the dress flowing out from her maidenly hips. I wasn’t sure why, but I was surprised to see she appeared so…normal.

“Oh, Lucy, she’s beautiful!” his mother praised gently holding my face between her hands. Every time she touched me, I felt like she was doing her absolute best to not break me like I was a fragile porcelain doll.

“Lucy?” I chuckled as I made eye contact with him.

“Don’t get any ideas. Only my mother is allowed to call me such inane things,” he huffed folding his arms across his chest.

His mother waved away his words before turning back to me. “Oh don’t mind him. He always gets upset when I call him that. But, my dear, you are absolutely gorgeous,” she breathed running her fingers through my own mane of curls. Only my curls weren’t as tightly wound as hers. My curls were much looser almost wavy.

“My name is Lilith,” she introduced. “But everyone just calls me Lily.”

“Glad to see you finally made it home, son,” a voice, deeper than Luc’s, rumbled throughout the room. My eyes widened in a mixture between fear and shock at hearing that thick, British timbre. Lily stepped off to my left side wrapping an arm securely around my waist. I glanced over at her just realizing she was about my height. She flashed me a reassuring smile.

The man easily towered over me, Lily, and Luc to reach at least a good 6’6”. He stood before us bare chested wearing only a low-riding pair of black sweats that covered the majority of his bare feet leaving only his toes to peek out from beneath the fabric. The muscles in his chest constricted around his abs making them appear more prominent as he rested his hands against his hips. Yet it wasn’t the towering height or sheer muscled build of this man that held me captivated. It was the long white strands of silky hair that flowed in a snowy waterfall from the roots of his head. The white locks of hair fell in thick layers down to his shoulders where it then thinned itself out into longer strands that fell down to his sides. It shocked me to see Satan’s hair be so pure and white as it framed his hard, angelically sculptured face. He was indeed the perfect picture of an angel of the highest form; he was the first made.

Those swirling silver eyes narrowed into slits as they bore directly into mine. If I had had a soul, I might think he could see every detail about the life I’ve lived. Then again maybe I didn’t need a soul for him to know that.

“She’s human,” he growled switching his angry glare from me over to Luc. “You know the rules. Humans are forbidden to know of our existence unless I am consulted first.” At least I knew where Luc’s accent originated from: his father.

“Father, I can’t choose the soul that wounds together with mine,” Luc calmly told his father.

“You did not consult me first!” The man bellowed. Luc flinched back while Lily stood quietly beside me.

Within the blink of an eye, Lucifer, the first angel, flashed to stand directly in front of me; his broad chest the only thing filling my vision. The fingers on his left hand had morphed into thick, razor sharp talons as they wrapped around my throat in a steel grasp. I clawed at his hand trying to loosen the tight hold on my esophagus, my feet kicking the air as he slowly lifted me from the ground until I was eye level with him.

“Father!” Luc cried out charging his dad. Lucifer flung out his right arm to blast his eldest son back against the wall.

“I don’t care if you’re my son and she is the soul that binds to yours.” His silver gaze flared black as he stared down at his son. He slammed my body back against the wall bringing his face inches from mine. The whole of his eye darkened into a sinister black as a vicious smile turned up the edges of his lips. That smile made me only claw and dig my nails into his hand even more desperately wishing for escape. The fact that there were thin red trails of blood dripping down his hand from where my nails had dug into his flesh didn’t even faze him. Instead it only made him smile more.

“You still broke the rules that I set in place for this kingdom and for that…”

My eyes widened in terror when I saw his once pearly white teeth sharpen into tiny points. I thought Luc said he would keep me safe? That he wouldn’t allow his parents to touch me? I thought that there might be some hope I could trust him for once.

The demonic chuckle that emitted from the depths of the Demon King's throat made my skin crawl.

“For that…she will die.”