Extinguish (15 page)

A minute passed with no sign of him, then two. She started panicking after five minutes had come and gone. She called out his name and stepped toward the edge just as he popped out of the river a mere foot from her, drenched, water running down his face and dripping from his hair.

"Come in," he said, waving her on with his hand. "The water’s cold as fuck, but that doesn’t matter much to you, I guess, since you can’t feel a damn thing."

She narrowed her eyes slightly, her hands on her hips. "I’m not getting in there."

"Why?"

"Because," she said, "this is no time for fun. We have a game to play."

He snickered. "Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Do you hear yourself?"

Even she had to admit how absurd that sounded. She shrugged halfheartedly, in no mood to argue with him when he was being somewhat agreeable for once.

Lucifer didn’t wait for her to change her mind. He slammed his hands down on the surface of the river, sending mounds of water splashing her way. It soaked the entire front of her dress, the material clinging to her skin as water dripped onto her bare feet.

Grumbling, she jumped into the river, splashing him right back.
 The moment she opened her eyes underwater, she was met with vibrant colors, an entire universe existing under the surface. Multicolored plants flourished, growing and intermingling, while creatures flitted around. Schools of animated fish circled her while river turtles swam by at a slow pace. Serah blinked rapidly as she resurfaced, spinning around until she saw Lucifer. "It’s beautiful down there!"

"I know."

"How?" She shook her head, absolutely dumbfounded. "It doesn’t make sense how this could be. How can something this glorious exist in a place this wretched?"

"It’s best not to question it," he said. "Just go with it, angel. Trust me—it’s better that way."

She shrugged, not pressing the issue, and dove back under the surface. Lucifer joined her, the two of them exploring the deep, lively water. He took her to a cave underneath the falls where tiny yellow fish swarmed, glowing in the darkness like fireflies in a night sky. They splashed and played around, Lucifer grabbing her feet and yanking her deeper into the water, the smile on his face wider than she’d ever seen it before. She kicked away from him, silent laughter erupting from her chest in the form of a jet of bubbles.

Hours passed, the two of them losing themselves in the underwater world, everything else forgotten and falling away as Serah, for the first time since she lost her brother, truly felt a sense of joy again.

She resurfaced, still laughing, as Lucifer popped up beside her. The moment he appeared, she splashed water in his face. He splashed her back as she tried to scamper away, not getting very far before he tackled her, dragging her back underwater briefly.

"This is incredible," she said, resurfacing again.

Lucifer raised his eyebrows. "Incredible?"

She nodded. "And I mean it in the good way this time. It's incredible. You
. . .
you're
incredible."

Surprise flashed across his face.

"I haven’t laughed this much in a while," she continued, staring up at the sun peeking through the gaps in the trees. It seemed so
real
.

"Me, either," he mumbled, drifting in the river near her. "It’s been a long time for me. A
very
long time."

A cloud covering appeared
as he spoke, thick and merciless, blocking out every bit of sunshine. Darkness overcame the river, the crystal blue water blurring, morphing to the shade of ink. A chill shot down Serah's spine, goose bumps coating every inch of her flesh. She shivered forcefully, her teeth chattering, the sound echoing through the murky air.

Lucifer
gaped at her. "Are you cold?"

"I,
uh. . ." She glanced at him, absolutely staggered when she looked him in the eyes, seeing the splatter of sky blue mingling with the darkness. "Maybe."

Something swam by then, a massive block of rushing water circling them. It struck Serah from behind, brutally shoving her into Lucifer. Her chest constricted as she yelped, a pressure building underneath her skin, tightening against her ribcage. The blue all at once faded from Lucifer’s eyes, replaced with the swirling red as his face hardened.

"Time to go," he said, grabbing her tightly and yanking her out of the water, setting her on her feet on the bank of the river. Thunder roared as lightning flashed in the sky, the wind picking up. The river shifted, turning into a swirling vortex, an underwater cyclone.

"What was that?" she asked, trying to stop from trembling.

"I told you—it’s best you don’t ask questions," he replied. "There are things in that water you’d rather not encounter."

"They can’t hurt me," she said. "Only an angel can."

"Yeah, well, we’re not taking any chances."

Lucifer snapped his fingers. In the blink of an eye, Serah was standing in the middle of the dim meeting room, candles flickering all around. Her dress was bone dry, her soft hair cascading over her shoulder. She ran her fingers through it, trying to detect dampness, but there was nothing. It was like the past few hours hadn’t even happened.

"That was. . ." She wasn’t sure what to say. "Wow."

"Take a seat," Lucifer said, his tone clipped as he pointed toward the end chair. He didn’t look at her as he put on his shirt again and sat in his throne, his expression as hard and unyielding as the marble. "Or don’t. Whatever."

Hesitantly, Serah slid into the chair, watching him peculiarly as he shuffled the deck of cards and split them in half. He flipped his top card over with the stiff flick of a finger, still not looking at her as he waited for her to play.

"Are you okay?" she asked, turning over an ace and taking both cards.

He scoffed. "I don’t need your pity, angel. I don’t want it."

"It’s not pity," she said quietly. "It was a genuine question. I was—"

"Concerned?" he asked. "Poor pathetic Satan, right?"

She shook her head. "I don’t think you’re pathetic."

"But I am Satan."

"You said it, not me."

She flipped a card over and he followed suit. They played a few hands in silence before he let out a long, exaggerated sigh. "Let’s just play this game so you can be on your way. I’m certain you have better things to do than sit here with me all day, every day."

Dejection laced his soft voice as a hint of vulnerability showed. Serah slowly
shook her head. "No, not really."

Everything changed that moment, although it was only vaguely detectable in the gloomy shell of a room. A gentle breeze stirred the flickering flames of the candles, rustling Serah’s hair, carrying her fragrance to Lucifer. He inhaled, closing his eyes momentarily as it washed through him, the scent striking something deep inside of his body, a tiny pickaxe piercing the wall he’d long ago built—the wall that kept everything and anything from weaseling its way under his toughened skin.

The hole in his barricade, hardly noticeable, was enough for everything he’d fought to keep in to start slowly seeping out, pure emotions flowing through his body, mixing with the unadulterated sin that always seemed to flood his system. The need, the want, the lust—the pride, the greed, the envy—it screamed out to him, begging him to satiate it, to give in to the desire.

He tried to ignore it.

She made it impossible.

"Tell me about your brother."

Serah’s brow furrowed. "I’ve told you about Samuel."

"You’ve told me
of
him," he said. "Tell me
about
him."

"Oh, well
. . . I guess it’s hard to describe him. He’s strong and loyal, full of love and compassion. He’s a beautiful soul."

"So a lot like you?"

She shrugged. "I suppose we're somewhat alike."

"What makes him so special to you?"

"He understands."

"Understands what?"

She hesitated. "My desire for more."

Desire
. Lucifer knew all about desire.

"What will you do if you find him?"

"If? Don’t you mean
when
I find him?"

Lucifer nodded. "When you find him, then."

"I don’t know," she replied. "I suppose it depends on what happened to him."

"Are you at all worried about what you’ll find?" he asked.

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Should I be?"

Lucifer shrugged a shoulder, his attention turning to his cards. Serah was pulling ahead in the game, leaving Lucifer down to only seven cards. He could sense her hope, strong in the room as it radiated from her, so
potent he nearly felt guilty when he threw an ace and broke her winning streak.

"Phooey," she said, poking her lips out in a pout. "You can’t
always
win."

"We’ll see."

Thirty minutes later, Serah threw her last card with a huff, crossing her arms over her chest as he won again.

As days wore on, Serah spent more and more time in the pit with Lucifer and less time attending to her mundane duties. Things on Earth were steadily collapsing, natural disasters, one after another, battering the lands. Sickness was spreading through countries, deadly diseases infecting mortals, while evil started to slowly swell.

No one on Earth made the connection, but the angels knew what it meant.

It was hard for Serah to reconcile that madness with the creature in front of her, offhandedly overturning cards in game after game, as if there was nothing else in the universe he had to do. How could he be destroying humanity, plotting to take over, when he spent nearly every moment playing a silly card game with her? He didn't sneak off to attend secret meetings, didn't have evil armies training by his side. In fact, except for the one who showed her in the first day, she didn't encounter a single demon in his presence.

The atmosphere was light, any tension that had once existed fading away as the two of them joked and laughed, for the first time their games more like fun than an assignment. There were two sides to him, two vastly different beings somehow coexisting within one body. There was Satan, the red-eyed demon, who lashed out in anger and invoked evil
. . . and then there was Lucifer, making the best of what he'd been given, still finding color in a dark, dark world.

And that part—the lingering bit of angel, optimistic and bright-eyed—fascinated her like nothing had before.

Lucifer shuffled the cards and split the deck down the middle. He was about to slide her half to her when she held up her hand to stop him. "This isn’t working."

"Excuse me?"

"The way we’re playing," she clarified. "It’s not working."

"Are you quitting?"

"No, I just want to do it differently."

Lucifer laughed dryly. "This is War. There is no other way to play it."

"Yes, there is," she insisted. "You can play it like a normal person."

"I’m not normal," he said, "nor am I a
person
."

"Maybe not, but you can pretend."