Lucifer's Angel

The soldiers stood there somberly in the shadows. I pulled Elizabeth as close to me as possible, not caring that her blood stained me. My mind went blank and all I could feel was my heart breaking with each second passing. No, it wasn’t just breaking, it was twisting like a snake, aching like a bullet wound, shattered like glass. All I could feel was the weight of my anguish crushing me, burying me alive. I was instantly over come with grief, but I kept my daughter in mind, knowing I still had her. Mary… Poor Mary, she would grow up without her mother… This was my fault. It was my fault… The Fuhrer had warned me about this, and I hadn’t listened. If I had let the military keep the stone, if I had listened to Elizabeth, she would still be alive right now. I couldn’t just let the military make weapons though. I was responsible for the death of my wife and the mother of my child…. This was my fault… all my fault.

My life’s work meant nothing, my wife, the woman I loved was dead, and my daughter’s life was now in danger. The only thing I could do now was to give the jewel back to Lucifer, and then things would be okay. Lucifer wouldn’t kill me for giving back what belonged to him. Gently, I laid Elizabeth’s body on the floor, swallowed my tears and guilt, and then, slowly, I stood up.

‘’Sir, we need to leave,’’ One of the soldiers said impatiently.

‘’Tell me, is Lucifer here,’’ I asked suddenly, looking down at the jewel in my hand, though none of them could see this since I had my back to them.

‘’Excuse me,’’ The highest ranking one asked. I narrowed my eyes in annoyance. He knew damn well what I had asked him. I hadn’t stuttered.

‘’You heard me,’’ I said, walking towards my desk, foot steps echoing. I looked over the research papers scattered over my desk, completely obscuring the mahogany wood with white. There was nothing but an array of black white, and the occasional red from extra notes. I eyed one paper in particular, one that was not research. It was a letter for Mary written in her mother’s neat, near calligraphic hand writing. I sighed and folded it up, then put it in my coat pocket. In a way, I felt as though I had just signed my death certificate. I knew I had nothing to lose now. The game was ending.

‘’My life’s work is all wrong and useless, my wife is dead, and if I die here by the hands of the devilish God, the burden of all falls to my daughter, only six years old.’’ I spoke flatly as I opened a drawer. Slowly, I felt along the black velvet lining until my finger tips crossed over the cold steel edge of the object I searched for. I pulled the blade out and held it in my hand keeping it hidden, while the jewel was in the other.

‘’So,’’ I continued.

‘’Do I not have the chance to set things right?’’ I turned back to the three men, and even in the depressing light and blood stained shadows, I could see the afraid looks that adorned the two lower ranked soldiers’ faces. They made no effort to hide the fact that they feared for their lives, and that, in its self gave me the answer to my question. The leader of the three noticed this as well and glared at them. They both snapped back to attention.

‘’If you don’t mind dying, then so be it, go set things right, but don’t expect us to come save your ass,’’ The solider hissed bitterly.

‘’Dying is a small price to pay now,’’ I laughed.

‘’Everything is nothing in this world, but even still, I am the scorpion of this tale, and I would rather kill my enemy and myself than let either of us win,’’ I stated, looking up just in time to see the youngest soldier break his military bearing, his eyes widening in fear as he made sense of my reference. With this realization he took a step back, terrified. I looked him in the eye and felt an ounce of pity for him. Some how, this young man was different from the other two. I could see just in his eyes alone something that he did not even know about himself. He would definitely be a rook in the next game. He would protect not only the queen, but the unknowing king as well. I smiled at him subtly and he looked at me confused, obviously thinking that I had gone mad. Sighing, I turned my attention back to the one in charge, a major whose name I did not know. He narrowed his eyes at me, apparently ignoring his subordinate’s actions.

‘’Are you threatening to kill us?’’ He questioned, taking his gun from the holster.

‘’I have other intentions,’’ I stated flatly.

‘’And just what the hell might those be?’’ I walked forwards a few steps, then stopped, and looked back at Elizabeth and thought over everything that had was going on.

‘’My intentions, as I said, are to set things right, and to do so, the Cor Omnium will go back to Lucifer.

‘’I’m not threatening to, I’m going to!’’ I dashed forward, throwing the knife to catch them off guard, and then spun around, grabbing the long knife I had hidden on my belt. The major was dead with a slit throat before he could even raise his gun to shoot me. The other soldier, the one that had actually kept his military bearing, jumped back and took off running in terror down the hall towards the kitchen, but I just took the gun from the major’s hand, cocked it back and pulled the trigger, hitting the man in the back. To my surprise, the gun had a silencer and it seemed almost as if the gun had the intentions of killing despite its owners wishes.

The soldier hit the ground with a loud groan in pain. He wasn’t dead yet and he couldn’t move now, considering I had got him in the spine. I stared down at him, debating on whether or not I should put him out of his misery, or just let him bleed to death. I pointed the gun at him and then closed my eyes as he looked up at me. I knew that if I hadn’t, I would’ve seen his face in hell for the rest of eternity even if it didn’t truly exist. Sighing, I pulled the trigger and then, everything fell silent.

I walked slowly through the dark out into the kitchen and laid the gun on the table, then headed towards my daughters bedroom. I at least wanted to say good bye to Mary if something should happen to me. I pushed open her door and turned on the dim lamp that shed just a small amount of light on the walls. I smiled slightly, realizing that she was still asleep as I walked towards her, but then, before I reached the edge of her bed, I stopped and turned around. On the floor, cowering in the corner was the young soldier I had smiled at smugly.

‘’So this is where you decided to hide at,’’ I laughed, walking over to him. He tried to move back farther in the corner though he was going no where.

‘’Why did you come in here? It’s not exactly the best place to hide…’’ I trailed off and sent him a questioning glance that asked for his name.

‘’My name is Alec O’Conner and my orders were to protect your daughter and Lucifer’s jewel at all costs,’’ he replied with a shaking voice.

‘’Well, Alec you can’t do that cowering in a corner. Stand up,’’ I said, reaching my hand out to him. Wearily, he took it and pulled himself up.

‘’I’m sure you’re probably a bit pissed that I killed your comrades back there, but it couldn’t be helped. They were going to try and stop me.’’

‘’Stop you from what?’’ The young man asked.

‘’They were going to stop me from returning the Cor Omnium back to Lucifer and setting things right. This thing is all powerful,’’ I said, looking down at the jewel in my hand.

‘’I’d give him back the stone and in return, he would bring Elizabeth back, and then everything would be alright again,’’ I said softly, looking over at my daughter.

‘’Why didn’t y-‘’ I raised my hand in a motion for him to be quiet hearing foot steps at the front door. Damn, I’m out of time. Quickly, I turned back to my daughter and picked her up carefully, then grabbed Alec by the arm and dragged him through a door to the led to the fire escape.

‘’Alec,’’ I said seriously, handing him my little girl. I reached into my pocket as well, and grabbed the letter. I handed that to him too, along with the jewel.

‘’I want you to take Mary and the jewel and get them both out of here, do you understand,’’ I whispered harshly, pushing him towards the fire escape. I could hear their voices now, and that only made me more frantic. Alec looked at my confused.

‘’Go!’’ I snapped. He turned towards the door, but just as suddenly as he did so, he turned back around.

‘’Wait,’’ He called.

‘’Why didn’t you kill me too?” He asked.

‘’You’re a rook. You’re meant to protect the king and queen in the next game,’’ I said quickly.

‘’Now,’’ I raised my knife.

‘’If you don’t get out of he-‘’ without another word, he turned and walked through the door. Sighing I turned and walked back into Mary’s bedroom, closing the door behind me. As soon as that door shut, a pair of boots crossed the threshold of the other and entered the room.

‘’Well, well, who do we have here?’’ I snarled, instantly recognizing the face that was illuminated by the lamp.

‘’Dr. Smith,’’ He said flatly.

‘’Yes,’’ I said in a sing song voice.

‘’I believe you have something that belongs to me,’’ he replied.

‘’I’m sorry, but you’ve lost this game. Check mate,’’ I replied with a smirk. He narrowed his eyes at me and then, out of the ground, just like before, the tentacle shot up, coming in my direction, baring their blades. I dodged and grabbed my knife from my belt again. This time, when they came towards me, I sliced at it, cutting it severely. Now that it’s movement was limited for a moment, I stood up.

‘’The Cor Omnium is not here. You moved to late and that cost you the win. You must be feeling pretty lousy right now for being as powerful as you are,’’ I continued, moving to lean against the wall.

‘’You should’ve known better, James, not to get so cocky. I still have a few tricks up my sleeve!” My eyes widened as several tentacles shot forwards. I didn’t even have a chance to move before they had pierced through my arms and legs, practically nailing me to the wall. I screamed out in agony feeling the pain coursing through out my entire being. It felt as though every inch of me had been stabbed rather than just my arms and legs.

‘’You know, James, I almost feel pity for you, because even in the end…’’ He trailed off, raising the gun that was in his hand. He aimed it right at my chest.

‘’Even in the end, your efforts are worthless.’’

And then he pulled the trigger and everything went black…