Reignite (Extinguish #2) (6 page)

Angels aren't meant to mourn their own kind.

"Why are you here, Hannah?" he asked skeptically. "Your
kind doesn't think twice after we fall. You write us off like we never
existed."

"We do," she agreed. "But something happened."

"What happened?"

She didn't answer that, but Lucifer saw it all in her mind as she
purposely dropped her guard for him. It all played out, every moment of the
short-lived apocalypse, every gritty detail Hannah had witnessed. And he saw
the last memory like a movie, Hannah helping Serah escape the woods in Hellum
Township.

"I'm nothing," Serah
said. "I succumbed to the snake's temptation. I unleashed Satan."

"You were enchanted by
Lucifer. He was an Archangel,
Ser
, the most glorious
one ever created. I can't fault you for falling for him."

"I am," she
whispered. "Literally."

A rush of black shadows
whipped past, blanketing the land as far as the eyes could see. Serah gasped,
struggling for air.

"Michael released the
reapers," Hannah said. "It's only a matter of time before they track
him down."

"Then what?" Serah
asked.

"You know the prophecy—Satan
will be destroyed once and for all."

Lucifer turned away from her. He didn't need—or want—to see
anymore. But he grasped Hannah's issue, knew exactly what had changed
everything: he was still here. "The prophecy didn't come true."

"Or it did," she said. "Either the prophecy was wrong,
or you're not Satan."

"Which one is it?"

"I haven't decided," she admitted. "Serah believed you
weren't him enough to fall for you."

Lucifer shook his head. "If I weren't him, she wouldn't have
fallen."

As soon as he said it, it dawned on him that this conversation was the
complete opposite of the last time he spoke to Hannah, where she'd called him
Satan and he rejected the notion. Now she was conceding that maybe he wasn't
evil after all, and he was still trying to prove her wrong.

Clearly, there was no winning.

Luce stared at the door of the community center in silence for a
moment, listening as the preacher talked about resisting temptation. His
thoughts drifted, his eyes on Serah sitting right inside the door, until a loud
crack echoed through the street and a big gray mass abruptly blocked his view.

A Dominion.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," he muttered, stepping
to the side to see around the monotone angel. Those drab winged fuckers always
annoyed him.

"Is, uh... is there a new task?" Hannah asked, nervousness
straining her voice. Being caught anywhere with Luce clearly hadn't been a part
of Hannah's plans.

"Yes," the Dominion said.

"What is it?" she asked. "What do I need to do?"

"Nothing," the Dominion said. "The task isn't for you,
Virtue."

Lucifer cut his eyes at the Dominion, seeing he was staring at him.
"You're kidding, right?"

"The Dominion
do
not joke."

"No shit." They'd been created without a sense of humor. All
work and no play
does
a boring ass angel make.
"But you must be mistaken, because I'm not one of your drones that you can
order around. You don't get to tell me what to do, not then, and certainly not
now."

The Dominion glared at him. Lucifer heard the bitterness in his mind,
words he'd never verbalize.
The arrogance of Archangels is astounding, but
the fallen miscreant takes it to another level
.

Lucifer smirked at that, amused, and shook his head as he turned away
from the angel. "Run along and tell Daddy I'm not interested in whatever
worthless assignment He's trying to shove on me."

That clearly wasn't the answer the Dominion wanted, but instead of
pressing the matter, the angel nodded in acknowledgment and apparated away.

"The Dominion's tasks aren't negotiable," Hannah said.
"It's God's will."

"So?" Lucifer said. "It's been His will for me to be in
Hell for six thousand years, but that didn't stop me from finding a way to
escape."

A way that stole Hannah's friend from her as
a consequence.
Lucifer
heard those words, spoken silently. He stared straight ahead as church services
came to an end, the few parishioners filtering out. Serah lingered in her seat
for a moment before getting up and walking out, strolling down the street
without ever actually participating.

Lucifer stared at her until she disappeared from sight. He could still
hear her heartbeat after that, pounding steadily.

He said nothing to Hannah, no goodbye, no words of well-wishing. They
weren't friends. One thing connected them, and that thing knew nothing of
either of them anymore. He strolled to the community center and stepped inside,
his footsteps methodic.

What do you know? I didn't
catch on fire
.

The preacher still stood at the front, absently flipping through his
worn bible, taking notes.

Lucifer paused right in front of him, their faces mere inches apart. He
was skimming through Genesis, his next sermon to focus on the beginning of
time, the rise of man and the fall of Satan.

It would be easy, so very easy, to just flip the switch and become
visible, literally terrifying the life from the man. But what was the point?
Another human dead, gone from the world, but there were seven billion more just
like him out there.

Last time Lucifer stood on Earth,
there were only
two
.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Over and over.

Again and again.

It
was Lucifer's first time on Earth. He stood deep in the Garden of Eden,
shielded from weak human eyes, surveying the one called Adam.

For
creatures that looked much like him on the surface, Adam seemed inherently
inferior. He wasn't even advanced enough to sense an angel in front of him. Why
did he deserve such a gift like paradise?

The
thumping came from Adam's chest, strong and steady. Most other living creatures
on earth had the same rhythmic sound echoing from them, but Adam's was louder.
It was his life force. Where Lucifer was filled with Grace, the warm glow of
radiant energy, burning as bright as the stars now viewed above, Adam was
filled with something else.

Blood.

Lucifer
had seen it, had watched as the man accidentally pricked his finger on a thorn
and spilled a drop of red onto the earth. It caused the man pain, something as
harmless as a beautiful bush of roses injuring him.

How fragile.

How weak.

The
thumping in his chest had grown louder, harder, more frenzied when it happened,
like something in his chest was tied to the pain.

"It's
called a heart."

Lucifer
turned away from Adam at the sound of his Father's voice, finding Him there in
the garden. He'd heard his thoughts. He'd been watching.

"The
sound you hear is his heart beating," He continued, stepping closer.
"Its what keeps Adam alive."

"How
long will he live?"

"Forever."

Forever
.

Inferior
yet blessed with the same eternal life as Lucifer.

"I
wouldn't call humans inferior," He said. "Just different. They have
weaknesses you don't possess, but they also have gifts. They can't sense you,
but they can sense things that you can't."

"Like
what?"

His
Father motioned toward the rose bush, the same one that Adam had injured
himself
with. "Smell this."

"What?"

"Place
your nose to the flower."

Lucifer
did as he was told, but nothing happened.

"You
can't smell it," He explained. "Everything around you has a
fragrance. You can see these things—these flowers, these trees—but
Adam experiences them. He breathes them in, he tastes them,
lives
them. He's one with Earth; you're
one with Heaven. You're different creatures, Lucifer."

Lucifer
turned back to Adam, observing him as he interacted with Eve. Both were filled
to the brim with love—love for each other, love for their Father.
"What's their purpose?"

"To
exist, and to love, and to worship," He said. "They're my
children."

Lucifer
hesitated. "And what's my purpose?"

"You
know yours."

To
see their Father's will through, to serve Him, and obey Him. "Does that
will include these humans? Does serving you mean serving…
them
?"

Lucifer
didn't have to wait for Him to respond. He knew the truth. But it still nearly
knocked him over when the answer resounded around him. "Yes."

Lucifer
stared at the humans. Just moments ago he'd viewed them as inferior, but now he
felt differently. If anything, it was clear to him now that
he
was the subordinate here.

"That's
not it at all, my son," He interjected.

"Son,"
Lucifer said quietly. "Am I your son?"

"Of
course you are."

"It
doesn't seem that way." He shook his head, turning away from Adam to
glance at his Father. "Not anymore."

Serah's heart was racing fast, battering her
ribcage like a jackhammer. Luce heard it the moment he apparated in the parking
lot outside the motel. It was coming from a room on the far end of the second
floor. He tensed, straining his senses, trying to make sense of her excitement,
but it was a puzzle that wouldn't come together without seeing the picture.

He had to see.

He had to know.

In a flash, he zapped
straight up, appearing just inside the open door of the dingy motel room. He
sensed no one else, spotting Serah right away, the tension in his muscles
receding as confusion washed through him.

She was
dancing
.

He could faintly detect
the music from this distance, streaming straight to her from the tiny speakers
lodged in her ears. She danced to the beat of the song, swaying and bouncing,
oblivious to everything around her as she absently changed the sheets on a bed.

Luce could do nothing but stare. Common sense told
him to back away, to put some distance between them before he did something
stupid, but it was hard to be logical when you're a passion-fueled creature not
known for doing the right thing.

Ever
.

He hadn't been this close to her since she woke up
a new person... a mortal. He could smell her, the natural sweetness, and the
light fragrance of flowers, with a hint of sweat lingering on her skin. And he
could feel her warmth from where he stood, feel it radiating from her and
absorbing into him. Her heartbeat was louder so close, tempting him, calling to
him.

What harm would it do to
touch her one time? Just once, a graze of her skin, to stand flush against her
body and breathe her in. She'd never know, as long as he was willing to let go.