Reignite (Extinguish #2) (8 page)

The humans had it all.

They lavished on earth,
innocent and righteous, granted eternal life in paradise. Adam and Eve loved
each other, their love sanctified by God, and they showed each other
affectionately. They were obedient creatures, as obedient as Lucifer had always
been, except they had something he didn't.

Free will
.

It was a novel concept
he couldn't quite wrap his mind around. The angels were created for a specific
reason, to perform tasks dished out by the Dominion, orders from their Father.
It was undeniable, unarguable. He spoke and they listened.

But humans were created
and set free. Their job was merely to exist, with hope they'd always love God
for their gift.

It caused something to
twist inside of Lucifer, a shift in his make up, foreign thoughts and feelings
invading the Archangel's world. He was a jealous sibling, wondering why his
Father loved a different child more than him.

He resented Adam.

The human had
everything.

Lucifer stood in the
middle of the garden, beneath the Tree of Knowledge, the one and only thing
forbidden to these humans. Lucifer lived an existence of obedience, yet these
beating-heart creatures' only rule was 'don't touch this tree.'

A tree
.

Reaching out, Lucifer
ran his fingertips along the smooth bark. It was nothing special, nothing any
different than the other trees in the garden. Had God not singled it out as
special, none of them would've noticed it. It was a test, Lucifer knew… it was
their Father's way of gauging their obedience, how faultless and perfect his
beloved humans were.

Bullshit
.

The woman named Eve
lingered nearby, oblivious to his presence. She cast looks at the tree but
never ventured too close. Maybe it was out of love, like their Father believed,
but Lucifer detected something else. It was the first time he'd ever felt it.
Fear. Fear of what would happen if she touched it, fear of whatever secrets the
fruit held. Lucifer watched her for a while, his frustration mounting each
second that ticked by.

He leaned back against
the tree, crossing his arms over his chest. A green serpent slithered along the
branch above him, drawing Eve's attention.

Eat from the tree
, he thought, projecting the sentiment directly at her. She tensed as
if his silent words rang loud and clear through the garden. Her eyes shifted
around, her fear growing, before her gaze turned right back to the serpent.

She thought the creature
was speaking to her.

Try the fruit
, he thought.
It's the best
there is
.

Eve stepped his way,
edging closer to the tree than she ever ventured before. Her heartbeat was
wild, the thumping like an echo in Lucifer's ears.

Her voice was quiet, her
eyes hesitantly on the snake. "We're not supposed to eat from that tree.
God told Adam—"

Nonsense
,
Lucifer thought, cutting her off.
It's
the Tree of Knowledge. Don't you think having wisdom is a good thing? Don't you
want to be knowledgeable? Don't you want to be closer to Him?

"But—"

Try it
,
he thought again.
Touch it. Taste it. Eat
the fruit
.

She hesitated, staring long and hard at the tree,
before stepping even closer, her body unwittingly flush against Lucifer.
Reaching up, she plucked an apple from the branch near the snake and brought it
to her lips, hesitating once again, before taking her first bite.

A soft moan escaped the
woman's lips as she closed her eyes, juice from the apple running down her
chin. A smile curved Lucifer's lips as he watched her savor the forbidden fruit.

He wondered what it
tasted like.

The
Tree of Knowledge.
He wasn't
sure what the human got out of it, but he certainly learned something.

His Father's new children weren't
as perfect as He hoped.

There's only one thing worse than Hell.

Hell without a King
.

The
moment Lucifer stepped through the sixth gate, the whirlwind sucking him down
to the pit
,
chaos
greeted him
. The blur of surroundings around him cleared, the seventh
gate in tact. It was different now, the magical translucent shield stronger,
the sigils that had once marked Lucifer's skin now burned straight into the
gate. It was the only way to keep the demons inside, to keep the evil from
crossing through and heading right back onto Earth in Lucifer's absence.

He paused a few feet
away, staring at the madness. He wasn't around to keep up the façade—to
tidy up, so-to-speak—so it was little more than a bottomless pit of
anarchy. Fire raged as demons ran loose, fighting and fucking, torturing and
taunting. Every Hell that had existed converged into one gigantic mindfuck of a
nightmare.

It turned his stomach.

They were savages.

Luce slowly approached,
the gate within reach of his fingertips. Anything inside was trapped there, the
reapers constantly attacking anyone who got too close, ripping them to pieces
like they'd done to Luce so many times before. He watched it for a moment on
the protected side of the gate, contemplating, hesitating, before letting out a
deep sigh and stepping right through.

The second he entered
Hell, the scenery change. It was like a flood rushing through, wiping away the
madness and dousing the fires, the molten lava hardening, the Hell reforming
that Serah had seen day in and day out when she approached the gate.

Lucifer's
Hell.

Desolation
.

Lightning flashed,
thunder cracking, rumbling the ground, knocking demons off their feet.
Lucifer's wings had emerged, overshadowing everything, obscuring Hell in a
shadowy darkness. Demons immediately stopped what they were doing and bowed
down as he stood there, eyes sweeping along them all, anger simmering inside of
him.

He said nothing.

With the snap of a
finger, they vanished. Back to their cages, forced back into their torment, as
Lucifer locked them all away.

All except for one, that
is.

Lire.

The demon was not far in
front of him, bowed obediently. Lucifer strolled forward, kicking his side
hard. "Get up."

Lire scrambled to get to
his feet. "My Lord."

"Make sure they're
all locked up again," Lucifer said. "You find any stragglers, you let
me know and I'll make them regret disobeying me."

"Yes, anything you
need." Lire turned to scamper away but paused after a few steps. "My
Lord, it's great to see you, but I thought things were well on earth. We were
informed you were roaming free."

"I was."

Lire stared at him.
"So why are you here?"

Luce had no answer for
that. With another snap of the finger, Lire disappeared, vanquished from sight.
Why was he here? He didn't know. This is the last place he wanted to be. But
being on Earth, being near Serah, not being able to touch her, or be with her?

Well, maybe there were
two
things worse than Hell.

Luce strode right down
the long winding dirt path, leading straight to the decrepit castle, passing
not another soul along the way. He went inside, went straight to the conference
room, retaking his seat on the carved marble throne in front of the long table.
Slouching down, he let out an exasperated sigh and pulled the old deck of cards
from his pocket.

He didn't play War
today.

Today, he played Solitaire.

The plastic bags dug into
Serah's skin, cutting off the circulation as she tried to juggle nearly a dozen
of them, clutched tightly in her hands and around her wrists.

Getting
groceries was a pain.
Literally
.

She
strode through the parking lot toward the motel, trying to endure it, but it
got to be too much. Groaning, she set down the bags in the middle of the lot
and flexed her fingers, bright red from the strain.

She
needed a car.

She
could afford one with all the money she'd saved working and living at the
motel. In fact, she'd made enough the past few months to afford to move out
into her own place. Living and working in the same place had gotten to her,
messed with her head, so much so she'd passed out on one of the beds last week,
fell asleep in the middle of her job.

It
wasn't like her at all.

She'd
dreamed about the man again, the man who was always around yet wasn't really
there at all. It was peculiar, and she could remember him so vividly, every
detail of his face, even the sound of his voice. It was the first time in all
the times she saw him that he actually spoke to her.

Her
boss had offered her a new job, a promotion of sorts, working regular hours at
the front desk at night, so Serah figured it was time to move on, settle into a
normal routine, try to build a life.

She
hadn't seen the stranger since making that decision.

Not
that any of it was real, anyway. Not that
he
was real. Her imagination was running wild, conjuring up phantom people in her
dreams.

Or maybe you're really crazy,
like the doctors suspected. Who has an entire lifetime of memories wiped away
in a freak lightning storm?

Sighing,
Serah reached down to pick up the bags again when a voice cut through the lot
nearby, calling out to her. "Here, let me help you."

She
quickly looked up at the sound of the foreign voice with a twinge of an accent,
seeing a man she'd never seen before in front of her. A blue suit clung to his
frame, his hair long and pulled back. He was unusual looking, his features
sharp as chiseled stone right down to the pointy nose. He smiled kindly,
though, a tingly sensation creeping along her spine when she looked into his
eyes. Bright, bright blue… unnaturally blue… the sort of blue that felt
familiar, like a crisp lake full of the coolest, purest water.

It
momentarily entranced her. The man wasn't particularly attractive, but those
eyes were.

"Uh,
okay," she said, blinking away her stupor as she shivered from the chill.
She returned his smile as he easily picked up all of the bags for her.
"Thanks."

He
nodded. "Sure thing,
m'lady
. Lead the way."

She
continued through the parking lot, straight to her room, and unlocked the door.
The man set the bags right inside, pausing near the doorway, being nice enough
to not enter without her permission.

"I
appreciate it," she said again. "Truly."

"Don't
mention it," he said. "It's what any gentleman would do."

In
the past six months, Serah hadn't encountered many gentlemen. She'd been hit
on, catcalled, and even picked on, but not many have gone out of their way to
hold open doors or carry things for her.

It
was certainly a nice change of pace.

"I'm
Sarah," she said politely, holding her hand out to him. "Or, well,
you can call me Sarah. That's what everyone calls me now."