Lucifer's Daughter (10 page)

“Bah,” he said scoffing. “I squash a dozen of those a week. This one"s just taking a little longer than usual. However, I do need you to be a little more careful. Apparently, these applicants to eternal torture seem to think they can hurt me by killing you. Rubbish, of course, but I thought you should know.”

I smiled. Dad hated public displays of affection. “Ridiculous, I know,” I said.

“Yes, well, if you need any guards, I can spare a couple. Not that I care about your well-being or anything,” he said gruffly, not looking at me.

“No need, Dad. You keep them in Hell. I"ve got it covered over here. Which reminds me, you do know Azazel has jumped the fence and is helping your opponent, right?”

Lucifer"s face darkened. “Traitor! And after all I"ve done for him. I"ll reserve a special punishment for him.”

“Very good,” I said, suddenly panicking as the sound of the shower halted. “Well, if that was all, you should get back over there. You know, crush a few spirits, and all that.”

Satan frowned at me. “Muriel, are you trying to get rid of me?”

“Me?” I said opening my eyes wide. “Don"t be silly.”

The king of Hell looked at me suspiciously, but I kept smiling brightly. Finally, he let out a sigh.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” he said suddenly, snapping his fingers. “You are so grounded,” he boomed, loud enough the picture frames on the wall shook.

“What?” I squeaked. “Why?”

“I am not just your father; I am the lord and master of deceit. Did you really think I wouldn"t find out about you consorting with that–that–”

“Are you talking about me?” asked Auric in a deadly, quiet voice from behind me.

I wanted to bang my head against the wall. Damn, and double damn. I could see this getting ugly real quick as the testosterone level inched up into dangerous levels. Not to mention my arousal levels, as Auric"s shirt clung damply to the well-defined muscles of his chest.

My father smiled slyly. “Has he told you just who and what he is?”

I looked from my father"s gleeful face to Auric"s tight one. I just knew I wouldn"t like what was coming.

“I was planning to tell her myself,” said Auric.

“When? After you took her heart and virginity?” said Satan, pulling the protective father routine, to my surprise.

Auric flushed a beet red. What, he"d been planning to debauch me? Mmm, how titillating. But back to the matter at hand.

“What are you hiding?” I faced Auric, with my arms crossed.

“It"s not as bad as Satan is making it out to be,” he said, looking very unhappy.

“Great, then tell me.” He was married. He used to be a girl. My mind ran through the many possibilities.

Auric looked from me to Lucifer; he seemed to be fighting an inner battle, one that he lost.

Sighing, he said, “I"m an angel.” Okay, not the answered I"d expected.

“A fallen one,” interjected my father.

I shot my dad an evil look. “Let him tell me, Dad. I want to hear it from his lips.”

“I am an angel, fallen from Heaven and the Army of Light.”

“Big deal. What"s the problem? We"ve got lots of fallen angels in Hell.”

“Ah,” said my father gleefully. “But the fallen in Hades follow the path of evil. Their souls have been lost beyond redemption.”

I wrinkled my forehead and tried to process what they both weren"t telling me. I hated intense early morning discussions, especially before my daily cup of coffee. Slowly, the light bulb lit up inside my head, and understanding dawned. “You haven"t lost your soul to the dark side yet, which means you can still redeem yourself in the eyes of God, and resume your position in Heaven. Well, that"s good for you, isn"t it?”

Auric looked miserable.

“Come on, tell her the rest,” goaded my father.

“I can return if I perform a great act of good.” The words came reluctantly.

I could be really dense at times. “Like what, saving an old lady from a burning building?”

“Bigger,” Auric said, shifting uncomfortably.

And then I had the big revelation. My mouth dropped open, and my eyes widened, and I whispered, “If you rid the world of a great evil. Something like, say, Satan"s daughter.”

“Originally, I"d planned that; but then I met you and got to know you and...”

“You wanted to kill me!” I shrieked.

“Not anymore.” Auric"s face looked at me pleadingly.

“Oh, gee, that makes it all better. So, what, you"re going to kill one of my friends instead?

Maybe my sister, Bambi?” I ranted.

“No, of course not. I–” Auric stumbled over his words, his eyes a window into misery, but I didn"t care. I felt so betrayed. I"d trusted him. Allowed myself to start caring for him. Let him touch me; and all along he"d been lying.

“Well, I see my work here is done,” said my all-too-cheerful father. “I"ll talk to you later.” With a pop and stink of brimstone, Satan went back to Hell to spread around some more of his version of joy.

My heart shriveled inside my chest, and the walls that protected my psyche came slamming down. “I think you should leave,” I said woodenly, heading to my bedroom.

“Can"t we at least talk about this?” he asked, reaching for my arm.

Without even conscious thought, I repelled him. My power lashed out and pushed him back hard enough to hit the wall and crack it. He stared at me, surprised, which made two of us. I mean, I knew I had power and all, but I"d never had it react like that. Or so powerfully.

“Please leave. There"s nothing left to say.” Auric looked as miserable as I felt. How dare he!

He"d betrayed me. I listened, with my back turned, as Auric grabbed his coat and left.

As soon as the door shut behind him, the first of many tears rolled down my face. I clenched my fists at my side and let out a scream, a gut-wrenching sound that went on and on, before I dropped to my knees and sobbed.

How could he have done this to me? I thought he"d cared for me. I"d begun caring for him. I"d told him things I"d never told anyone. Let him touch me in ways I"d never been touched before.

And it had all been a lie. A big, fat, fucking lie.

I don"t know how long I cried before soft arms cradled me.

“There, there, little lamb,” came the soft tones of Bambi. “You forget all about that nasty man.”

“He hurt me,” I said in a little lost voice. “Why? I was ready to give him my heart and my body.”

“He"s a man,” said my sister, her voice turning hard. “Men are all pigs. Trust me, I know.”

“But I thought Auric was different.” I hiccupped through my tears. “I thought he saw me as a person. I let him touch me, and I liked it. How could I like it, when all along he was planning to kill me?”

“I don"t know, little lamb. Are you sure he wanted to kill you?”

I pondered Bambi"s question, and my first impulse was to shout, “Yes, of course he did! I"m Satan"s child.” But then I started using my brain for something other than filler for my skull.

Now that I thought about it, Auric had been given plenty of opportunities to kill me, had he wanted to. Hell, I"d fallen asleep beside him. Could I have been any more vulnerable than that?

Bambi sensed the change in my mood. “What did you just think of, little sister?”

“Why didn"t he kill me?”

“Maybe he was waiting for the right moment.”

“That"s just it, Bee; he had plenty of opportunity, not to mention a holy sword, but he didn"t.

Why didn"t he kill me and earn back his wings?”

“I"ll deny it if you ever repeat this, but I"ve been around men a long time. I think he"s in love with you.” Bambi"s face soured at the word “love,” an emotion succubi used to their advantage but didn"t understand.

However, that answer, coming from my sister, of all people, floored me. Loved me? Could it be possible? Did I love him? It would certainly explain the pain that now engulfed me at his betrayal. Actually, it was the answer which made the most sense. I loved a fallen angel. And I"d thrown him out and told him never to come back.

The tears started rolling again.

“What?” asked Bambi with concern.

“I told the man I love to go away and never come back.”

Bambi laughed. “Oh, little lamb, you can"t get rid of him that easily.”

“What makes you say that?” I sniffled.

“I saw him lurking outside, keeping an eye on the building.”

My heart started beating again, only to stutter to an almost immediate halt. “He"s probably just waiting for a killer demon to show up, so he can do his good deed and go back to Heaven.”

Bambi just laughed again, and pulled me up from the floor. “Go have a shower while I make some coffee. You"ll want to look your best when he comes groveling back.”

Somehow I couldn"t picture Auric groveling to anyone, but a shower and a caffeine jolt sounded great.

My epiphany came in the shower.

I couldn"t let Auric love me, not if I loved him. As the daughter of Satan, I would never be welcomed into Heaven, whether I behaved or not; even though God was technically my uncle. If I got involved with Auric, by default, he"d be banned from Heaven, too. He"d never get his wings back and rejoin his comrades in paradise.

If I loved him, I had to let him go.

I didn"t cry as long this time; there was something about being noble and self-sacrificing that made one"s backbone stronger. I would help save Auric from himself and, in time, he would hopefully find a way to get back to Heaven that didn"t involve killing me. And maybe eventually, I"d find another man who made my knees turn to Jell-O, my heart beat faster, and whom my dad absolutely hated.

After crying a little more, I finally finished showering and then dressed somberly. Pleated, short, black and green plaid skirt; a black blouse unbuttoned far enough to show the black lace of my push-up bra; and sensible, black ballerina flats in case I needed to kick some assassin ass. I pulled and twisted my hair into a tight chignon into which I tucked my two long silver needles. I also put on my thigh sheaths and slid two enchanted daggers into them. My bar had a flamethrower under the counter, and more weapons in my office if I needed them. My most potent weapon–myself.

When I finally strutted into the kitchen, confidence restored, Bambi smiled and handed me a cup of coffee.

“There"s my ferocious lamb,” she said, smiling. For the world"s biggest slut, Bambi was an awesome big sister. And no, that wasn"t an insult; Bambi took pride in winning the title year after year.

“You ready to get your man back?” she asked.

“Nope. I"ve decided he"s better off without me. It"s the only way he"ll go back to Heaven.”

“Are you sure about this?” questioned Bambi, her beautiful face creased in concern.

My voice said, “Yes,” but my heart cried, “No.” Didn"t matter, it had to be done.

I kept looking for signs of Auric as I walked to work beside Bambi. She assured me he followed us, yet I couldn"t sense him.

Good, because that meant I wouldn"t have to tell him to find someone else; but disappointing, because I had this marvelous speech I"d prepared. I kept waiting for him to show up, but instead, David and Christopher walked into the bar not long after I opened it. They looked at their feet, shuffling them sheepishly, not looking me in the face.

I snorted. “Let me guess, you were in on it.”

“We didn"t know it was you,” said David. “We thought Satan"s daughter would be some mean old hag.”

“So, what, you"re not going to kill me because I"m young and pretty?”

“Well, yeah,” said David. “That, and we can"t kill Auric"s girlfriend. It wouldn"t be right.”

I froze for a second. Girlfriend? What had Auric told them?

“When did Auric say I was his girlfriend?” I asked quietly. My heart thumped as it waited for the answer. Not that I cared, because I still had to dump him.

“Just now, outside, when he said to come in and guard you.”

Christopher sighed. “David, my friend, you talk too much. Listen. It"s true that initially we came to this bar because we"d heard Satan"s daughter could be found here, but as soon as Auric realized that you were her, the plan to kill you for his wings got cancelled. Auric cares for you.

It"s why we"re here. He"s asked us to be his eyes and ears inside.”

“And just where is he?”

“Around,” said Christopher, vaguely.

“Great, well, you guys stay here and guard the bar. I"ve got to go out back to do some paperwork.”

A lie–wouldn"t Dad be proud–but I didn"t want them following me when I went outside looking for Auric. I sneaked out the side door into the alley, where I stood for a moment, lost. Where was Auric skulking, anyways?

I scoffed in the face of subtlety. “Auric,” I hollered. I waited impatiently, then called his name again. “Aur–”

A hand clamped down over my mouth, so I naturally sank my teeth into it.

“Ow,” shouted Auric"s gravelly voice. “What did you do that for?”

“Next time, if you don"t want to get hurt, identify yourself before grabbing me,” I said, not feeling the least bit sorry.

“I was trying to keep you quiet so you didn"t announce to the whole world you were out here by yourself.”

“But I"m not by myself, you"re here. Which is why I"m here, to talk to about you being here when you shouldn"t be.”

I loved the confused look he got on his face.

“Listen, Muriel, if you"re trying to tell me to leave, then you can forget it.”

I wanted to ask why he wanted to stay, but of course that"s when the demons from Hell showed up. They jumped down from the roof of the bar, three hulking brutes that spread out around us.

With the mood I was in, they should have sent more.

I heard the snick of Auric"s blade coming out of the sheath, and knowing the demon behind me would be taken care of, or at least kept busy, I smiled at the two facing me.

“Hello, boys, come to play?” I taunted.

The muscle-bound beasts didn"t reply; instead, one moved sideways trying to flank me while the other advanced on me. My head remained blank of spells, and my power dormant. I"d have to actually fight, which suited me just fine. I had a lot of pent-up frustration right now that needed venting.

I didn"t wait for the first demon to reach me. I charged him, my silver blades suddenly in my hands, slashing as I ducked under his swinging fists. I scored two symmetrical slashes on his ribs before I twirled out again and danced back. Smiling ferally at him, I did a quick chant, and suddenly my two daggers glowed a deep red. I"d imbued them with hell fire, which meant the next time I cut, they"d burn and burn and... Well, let"s just say, it took some powerful magic to stop the burning.