The Devil's Playthings (24 page)

“Are you sure I don’t know you from somewhere,” he asked her.

She shook her head. “No, I don’t think so,” she whispered, an
d continued to feed the birds. E
ven though none of them came to eat now, she knew they would when she was gone.

“You are so familiar to me,” he murmured, and sat down on the opposite side of the bench from her. “I have to be honest, since I saw you in the park I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered and turned away. “But you really should.”

“Should what,” he
wondered.

“Stop thinking about me,” she
replied. She wore the dark sun glasses always while she was outside, and now she was glad for them. She had no idea what color her eyes were at any given moment.

“You know, I’ve never seen the pigeons not come when someone fed them.” His voice was just abo
ve a whisper as he moved closer to
her. “It’s almost as if…” He couldn’t finish the sentence, because he was afraid of the thought himself.

“They’re afraid of me,” she finished the thought for him. She could see into his mind easily. She saw herself as he saw her: a fresh faced young woman with flowing blonde hair and sun kissed skin with a slight spattering of freckles on her cheeks.

“Yes,” he laughed. “Funny, isn’t it?”

“No, not really.” She said it with just a hint of the limitless anger that she felt.

She could see him thinking of brushing the hair off her shoulder. She wanted it so badly. She wanted the
feel of his skin on hers, even for a moment. She didn’t move. She didn’t turn toward him. She just waited.

She waited for him to touch her, or for Luc to show up and stop him. And then she thought perhaps she wanted Luc to try to stop him. She was ready to defend Lee, and herself, against him.

“I am
a little,” he admitted. Even he was shocked at the words coming out of his mouth. “And I don’t know why.”

“Because like prey, you sense I’m dangerous.” She parroted the same phrase Luc had said to her years ago. And still, she fell for Lucifer. It was a response programmed somewhere deep in her DNA.

She was becoming intoxicated on the scent of Lee Kim. She had no idea why she said what she did. But he didn’t seem freaked out. He seemed more intrigued; just as she must have been with Luc. God had intended them to be together, she already knew that. It was fate that they meet.

The only problem was, Lucifer met her first. And she was pregnant.

He reached out. She could tell his hands shook. And brushed her hair away from her cheek. The most innocent movement.

The woods behind the bench
stretched on for a few hundred yards. No one was there. They wouldn’t be seen. She had been confident in her ability to do it, even though she had not tried it. She thought it, and she knew it would happen. Just as she wanted it to.

She grabbed his arm, lifted him off his feet, and like a bolt of lightning they were hidden by the trees. She didn’t wait for him to kiss her. Both of her hands were in his thick black hair, and her lips were on his, before he even took a breath.

When she kissed him, he couldn’t breathe. She kissed him gently, as soft as the petal of a rose. Then her tongue was on his lips, coaxing them apart. She kissed him tenderly, with longing for a life she had seen but would never have.

His hands moved to her hips, pulling her closer. He wanted more. He wanted what he would never even know existed. Just as she would never have known if Lucifer had not mingled their blood. She knew, though, and
knowing
was her torture.

“You’re so warm,” he gasped. She was 10 yards away before he even finished the words.

“I’m sorry. I just wanted to taste it at least once.” She said.

“Taste what?” He could barely speak.

“
Forbidden
fruit.” She was gone before he could reply.

The Battle

Every
day the thing inside
her grew, and every day she watched for Father Peter
.
She watched Lee Kim as well, but him she avoided. She didn’t think Luc knew what happened, but she could never touch Lee again. It was too dangerous for him.

Although she grew stronger and more confident in her power every day, she knew she could never protect Lee from Luc and his Army of demons. Not that she didn’t want to run away with him to some remote island in Fiji or Alaska.

She definitely understood now why Samael wanted to come to Earth. She would have done it for Lee. The difference between the two of them
was simple. She could fight the
army of demons
that would pursue them.
Lee could not. For Luc to be with Emma was much easier. The angels weren’t after Emma… presently.

She was sure if she became more powerfu
l, or the baby inside her grew, she would become a target. But she was fairly sure she could take on even an Archangel. Michael did not scare her at all.

The word
s
Father Peter
printed on the paper
repeated over and over in head, since she knew that
her thoughts were now insulated from Luc. If she could get away with kissing Lee Kim, surely she could protect her own thoughts.

It still took several days for the words to
finally click in her head. She
grabbed her purse and her car keys, and ran toward the elevator. She climbed into her Italian sports car and drove
as fast as she could toward
Lakewood Academy
, where she first met Father Peter. There was a lake toward the north edge of the campus
, which the school was named for. W
hen it froze over the kids would ice skate or play hockey there. It was rather deep, and a small pier for walking or fishing was situated toward one end.

The message Father Peter had tried to send her wasn’t easy
to figure out, and it took weeks
even for her
. Now she just had to hope he waited for her there. The message contained
two words: baptize and lake
.
The guard at
the gate
was no match for her, and she stopped only long enough to let him know he didn’t need to see her ID.
S
he didn’t want him to alert anyone and possibly
call the police.

She drove to the parking lot closest to the lake and walked the rest of the way.
Thankfully
Father Peter waited in
the woods
.

“I thought you were never going to show up,” he said as he quickly led her to the pier. “We have to hurry, he’ll be here soon.”

The angels who protected him were gone, replaced by the one solitary angel she’d met the first time at the church.

“I’m pregnant
,” she whispered as t
hey ran toward the end of the pier. The angel stared at her, but did not move toward her. She was not armed.

“The antichrist,” he whispered. “We may already be too late.”

“Please, God, don’t let it be too late,” she cried out
. They heard thunder, and she knew it was him. “He’s coming.” She looked around in the dark sky but saw nothing. “You need to hurry.”

“Do you reject Satan?” He asked her hurriedly.

“I do,” she cried out, and the baby that could not have been larger than a tadpole
leapt
inside her.
“I have to tell you something,” she called out over the thunder. “You’re surrounded by angels.”
She heard the huge wings flapping, and felt the same pull she normally felt for him, only this time twice as strong as the baby seemed to be pulled toward him as well. “
Please God don’t abandon us now!
”

“And all
his works?” Father Peter’s brown
eyes flashed, and although he heard the wings also his gaze did not move from hers.

“
I do,” she had to scream over the thunder that rumbled louder an
d louder around them.
“He’s coming.”

“And all his empty promises?” He landed toward the edge of the water, his huge body
of awkwardly fitting parts
dwarfing everything around him.
And then she
heard
the thunder grow
louder, and saw an army of demons following him.

“Emma, don’t do this,” his voice boomed louder than the thunder.

“I consecrated the water,” Father Peter called out, and Lucifer moved slightly away from it. But they were on the pier, not in the water. He ran toward the pier, the earth shaking with each step. Emma dipped her hands into the water, and although it nearly boiled her skin she held it. When he came close enough she threw it at him and he reeled backward.

But the demons came closer, swarming around her and Father Peter. She felt them pulling at her, pulling her away from Peter and toward Lucifer. She even took a step closer to him, but Peter grabbed her and held her close.

She was sure it would have been an awe striking painting, if she were to survive to paint it: she and Father Peter on the pier with an angel between them to protect them, and a horde of demons surrounding them. And then there was the Beast, Lucifer himself, bigger than life standing so close she could reach out and touch him.

“Continue,” she screamed and grabbed more water.
And then lightening stuck, and with it she saw a
flock
of angels, swords drawn. The angels swung at the demons, and the demons struck back, pulling at them and scratching them with their long claws.
The angels didn’t retreat, they fought harder
.

“Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth?” Lucifer came closer and she let her hands fly upward until several drops hit his grey cracked skin. He screamed out and flew straight up.
That’s when she saw Michael flying down toward him. Michael’s sword was drawn, but Lucifer
held up one huge arm to defend himself
, t
hen hit Michael with the other. Michael tumbled back in midair, and Lucifer flew down toward her.

“I do,” she called out and looked for something that would hold more water.
But she couldn’t find anything.

Just then Michael was above him, and Michael swung downward with his sword, catching one wing. Fire came from the wing, and the sword, and Lucifer screamed out in pain. But he didn’t stop
. H
e
charged at Michael
, and flung him across the lake and into the trees.

“Is he fighting with someone,” Peter screamed out, and Emma nodded.
Their battle became airborne, Michael and Lucifer both hitting the other. Michael’s robes were tattered, his armor bent but not broken. Michael’s sword cut into Lucifer’s skin, and he screamed in pain.

“The Archangel Michael,” she screamed over the thunder and lightening. Peter
looked up to see Lucifer’s
chest
cut
and burned by a sword he couldn’t see.

“Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin
Mary,
was crucified, died, and was buried…”

Lucifer fell back to Earth with Michael in pursuit. And when Michael came just close enough Lucifer spit out fire at him like a dragon. Michael flew straight up, barely avoiding the attack.
Father Peter
screamed and ducked, but quickly
continued the baptismal ceremony as Lucifer changed his shape to Lee Kim’s and walked across the pier toward her.