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The phone rang and Lucifer rummaged through the carnage to find it. He pressed the speaker button and her voice filtered through the room.
“I have a deal for you,” Valerie said, her voice soft and timid.
Unfortunately, I was privy to his thought process and what was going on there made me shiver. Whatever her deal, it would end with my hand pulling out her bloody heart. I tried to intervene, but in the half hour that he had been silent and still, he seemed to have built a fortress around my motor skills.
“What are you offering,” he asked, in my smoothest voice possible. The one we both knew she couldn’t resist.
“If you meet me at the Starbucks in town, I won’t kill you.”
“You won’t kill me as long as I am in your boyfriend’s skin.”
“I wouldn’t bet on that. You killed my family, I have a score to settle and as far as I’m concerned, Chris is dead, so I have no qualms taking your life.”
He was silent and I went bat shit trying to break through, exhausting my mental capacity until I sat down huffing, as if I had run a marathon. She had to know I still existed. She had to know the plan by now. I put my head in my hands and waited for Lucifer to speak, to coerce her with my voice.
“So, why the deal?”
Silence prevailed and when I didn’t think she’d answer, she sighed. “I want to see him.”
“He’s dead,” Lucifer whispered. “Shoved out into the ethereal world. Forever lost to you.”
“I need to see for myself.” Her voice hardened.
“Fine. But the deal stands. If I show up, you don’t kill me,” he said, plotting his own attack, relishing the visions he showed me which jumped from a quick death to a slow agonizing one where he took every advantage of her physical form before delivering the final blow. He drew correlations to my different escapades with her, allowing me to see every brutal detail of his attack. “Give me a half hour. I need to make myself... presentable.”
“Fine.”
The line went dead and he chuckled. “I hear you rattling about, don’t worry, I’ll let you participate in the fun.”
“Fuck you,” I growled but it didn’t reach my vocal chords and I wondered what the hell was happening.
He stopped in front of the bathroom mirror. “I’m absorbing you,” he grinned and a flush of goose flesh covered the body we shared. “You didn’t bet on that, did you?”
No. I didn’t bet on that at all and I couldn’t tell if he was giving me a line of bull just to give himself a leg up on this battle of wills or not. All I knew is the moment we stepped into that Starbucks, the memory wall I was struggling to hold at bay would tumble, so I kept quiet, biding my time.
Lucifer showered, shaved, and prettied himself up just for Valerie’s benefit, and then he glanced in the mirror. “I wonder if I can fool her into thinking you’ve won the battle of wills?”
Fuck. That was not what I wanted to hear.
“You wouldn’t dare,” I said and this time the voice came out. He grinned and winked before stepping out. Whistling, he grabbed a pair of keys off the peg by the door and stepped into the garage.
When he settled into the driver’s seat, he looked into the rearview mirror. “Boy, I’m going to have fun with this.”
I roared and nearly unloaded the wall of memories, but I knew it wasn’t time. If I did it now, I risked wasting the element of surprise.
His quiet chuckle burned and I sat back for the ride. Whether I wanted to admit it or not, I wanted to see Valerie. The thought of her made my pulse increase and he noticed the building desire.
“I’m used to my mules being devoid of emotion, but you’re just a plethora of sensations,” he said and I remained quiet, trying to buffer my emotions from surfacing.
It took a few minutes of twisting roads before we rounded the lake to the small town. The Starbucks was another quick turn and before I had time to contemplate the close proximity, he stepped out of the car, locking it behind him like a normal citizen. He glanced at our reflection and smirked before inhaling and taking on the shell-shocked expression. He adjusted his breathing as well.
The bastard was a master at portraying something he wasn’t, and he ran his hand through our hair and headed inside with the borderline panicked expression. Eyes darted from corner to corner and Valerie was nowhere in the vicinity. He turned toward the parking lot and then looked at the time on the phone before heading to the counter.
The sales girl perked up like the Christmas tree lighting in Rockefeller Center at the sight of me. Women always do and Lucifer sent a full-on smile in her direction and leaned on the counter. He ordered a grand cafe mocha and took a seat, waiting for Valerie to enter.
With each minute that passed, he got more irritated. I guess he never had to wait for a woman in his entire existence, and it made me chuckle.
“Shut up,” he whispered and the lady at the table next to him sent a worried gaze in his direction.
He looked at the last text, calculating the time again, like it would suddenly render a different outcome. She stood us up. He stood and the ground rumbled. The glass cups on the shelves behind the counter clinked together and the lights swayed as the mini-earthquake rocked the small town.
Lucifer didn’t panic, in fact, he didn’t really register the anomaly at all, but as time passed, he began grinding his teeth in frustration. “Where the hell is she?” he asked and glanced at the time again. He started drumming his fingers on the table, slowly at first but it quickened to a frantic pace and the woman sitting at the adjoining table moved away, her face painted with lines of unease.
“Screw this,” he finally said after an hour went by. “This is beyond fashionably late,” he muttered as he stood. He swept the half-empty cup off the table and deposited it in the trash before heading out to the car.
“She just upped the ante,” he growled and glanced in the mirror. “I swear she’ll be begging for death when I’m done with her.”
I kept my silence and the vigilant lockdown on my thoughts. That earthquake had to have some significance and as we got closer to the lakeside mansion, I noted the abundance of afternoon light coming through the thick canopy of trees. Something had changed and when we turned into the driveway, I knew the landscape had been altered.
I think Lucifer did, too, because the burn in the center of my chest shifted from anger to apprehension; he slowed around the last bend and stopped the car when the lake came into view. The area where the house had been was a perfect circle of cleared dirt.
He blinked, scanning the odd devastation before his gaze locked on a lone figure in the middle of the dusty clearing. I’d recognize that back anywhere and the fact she had changed into one of my favorite sundresses didn’t go unnoticed.
His mood quickly transitioned from the numbing shock weighing heavily on his hands to the raw burn of fury that clenched his fists around the steering wheel. He revved the engine and Valerie glanced over her shoulder. Even from this distance, I could see the tears tracking down her cheek.
The roar of the engine lowered as he saw the same. The word opportunity blossomed in his head and I had to staunch a reaction. If he got hold of her, I wasn’t sure I could stop him from harming her.
What he did next made me want to scream, but I held onto my mental sledgehammer, just waiting for an opening to smash the memory wall.
Lucifer put the car in park and stepped out, using the car door to prop himself up.
“Valerie?” he asked with just the right note of hesitation. It was enough to trace doubt in her features and she turned.
The flash of hope in her eyes singed, and Lucifer took full advantage. He cleared the door and took a couple of steps in her direction. What he didn’t realize is that he had crossed onto the dirt.
She took a step in his direction and then stopped. “How do I know it’s you?” she asked and sniffled, running her wrist across her nose.
“Why was I at a cof...fee shop?” Lucifer said and purposely stuttered and took another step forward.
“Bastard,” I whispered, but it didn’t reach my vocal chords.
He ignored me, playing the game that was putting Valerie in danger. She blinked and covered her mouth. More tears cascaded down her cheeks and she took a stumbling step in our direction before falling to her knees in a sob.
“I thought you were dead,” she said and glanced around. “I felt the earthquake and came here instead of going to the shop and I found this.” She waved at the flattened land. “And the car you came in was still in the driveway.” Her hand pointed to the car I stole in Boston. “And...” she covered her face. Her shoulders shook and the sobs that escaped slammed straight into my heart.
Lucifer, on the other hand, had no sentimental reaction, but boy did he put on a show.
“Ah, babe,” he said and made my voice crack at just the right spot. My eyes misted over and he moved closer to her kneeling form. His caution was waning in favor of viewing her as the perfect victim. One he could use to derive a great victory over me, but he didn’t know what I knew.
He didn’t know she was the one that harbored my power.
Valerie didn’t move from her spot, even when my hand brushed her hair. I thought I was going to have to scream a warning, but then she looked up with the hardest stare I’ve ever seen.
“Now,” she said and I knew she directed the command at me.
I swung with every ounce of mental strength at the wall bulging with memories. When my imaginary hammer hit, it shattered with the force of a tidal wave.
I had a chance to laugh as Lucifer dropped into a twitching, convulsing mess before the memories overrode all logical thought, pulling both of us into the abyss.