26.

“Azrael! Lower you dagger, NOW!”

My father’s booming voice suddenly echoed across the very large hallway, forcing a small flinch escape my body, my eyelids quickly fluttering open just in time to notice the small battle raging in Azrael’s midnight orbs as he intensely gazed upon me, frozen.
Quickly snapping my frightened gaze to his right I then noticed the confused and equally shocked looks I was receiving, the walls suddenly seeming to close in on me, threatening to crush me in between, panic starting to flood my entire being.

They see you...

They now see you as you truly are...

Monster...

Monster!

Various voices kept whispering in my head, my vision quickly turning blurry as tears started to uncontrollably stream down my cheeks, all those horrible deaths at the unmerciful hands of the monster living inside of me once again flashing before my eyes. And without even wasting another moment I forcefully ripped my shoulder from Death’s vice grip and ran as fast as I could, completely ignoring my father’s pleading calls, not only a few moments later lastly noticing I was already outside their threshold.

And like a newly born cub, harshly plucked from its mother’s caring embrace and thrown into the cruel world I frantically looked around, searching for temporary shelter, my feet fastly moving on their own accord until I lastly found myself rounding the very tall, imposing building, like a shining beacon the small conglomeration of trees at the very end of their enormous backyard calling right back to me.

Only just as I was about to reach my only safe haven, loudly thudding footsteps crunched the grass beneath their boots, heading straight to me and without even a single warning, warm, human fingers curled around my upper arm, freezing me in complete and utter shock.

No...

“Miss, you are not allowed...”

I forcefully turned around, ripping myself free from the human’s grip, my breath faltering as I watched with wide eyes the human’s demeanor gradually changing, noticing once again that same frightening look I saw so many times before, foretelling what was about to come.

Only this time, it wasn’t one.

No, there were five men, all surrounding me like a pack of hungry wolves, craving for my flesh and bones.

“NOOO!” I screamed from the top of my lungs, crippling horror gripping at the very bottom of my supernatural heart, praying for the strongest gods to descend from their thrones and destroy my very being as harsh, violating hands started to roam all over me, kneading and touching.

Until it all suddenly stopped.

Drifting into that same, well-known limbo, I listened to my abnormally slow heartbeats and breaths, seeming like the world itself took a sudden halt, now moving at an insanely slow pace, the crimson red currently flooding my vision pulsating in the same rhythm.

A blood-curdling, terrified scream suddenly tore through the stilled air, harshly yanking me back to reality, forcing me to take a horrified look at the pool of blood and severed human limbs surrounding me, that same, still warm blood now dripping from my chin, hair and the tip of my fingers as I lastly realized I was almost entirely covered in it.

Following the source of that scream I ultimately noticed the four beings now standing just a few steps away from the horrendous scene, shock, fear and utter horror displaying on their features as they all stared, frozen to their spots.





**Lucifer**



“Holy gods!”

“What have you done!?” The demigod’s bellowing tone suddenly disrupted the very tensed silence, harshly pushing right past us, not even waiting for an answer as he so desperately ran to his younger sibling, effortlessly avoiding the gruesome obstacles in a single leap.

“It’s ok, you’re ok...” He kept soothingly whispering, gently wiping the pinkish trails off her bloodied cheeks as soon as he reached her, all four of us still rendered completely frozen, watching how he gingerly cradled her violently trembling body close to his chest, placing a soft kiss at the top of her head.

“Come on Daya, it’s ok, let’s get you cleaned up,” He softly said, not even giving us a chance to react as he so swiftly whisked her away and quickly walked straight towards the back entrance of the house, leaving us simply staring at each other, completely dumbfounded.

“What the fuck, man?” Erick’s obviously angered voice captured my attention, his tone only increasing in volume as he so shamelessly continued,
“What the hell did you bring into our house?”

“My child,” I simply replied, coldly staring him right in the eye, even though I definitely knew he had every right to be upset.

“That thing is your child?”

My eyes widened for the briefest moment, feeling my anger only increasing tenfold at the mere sound of those very harsh words, a strong sense of deja-vù completely filling me as a long forgotten, very distant memory faintly flashed before my mind’s eyes.

“I would rather strongly recommend you measure your words, Erick. We may be close friends but this is MY child we are talking about,” I lowly seethed, feeling my demon trying to claw its way out from the very depths of me, fully intent on mauling the one who dared disrespect my offspring, also fully aware that Erick must’ve definitely caught a glimpse of it as his golden gaze intently met mine, widely staring, seemingly hesitating for a moment, right before he let out a scowl,

“Did you not see what she did? She killed five of my men with...with God knows what! How did she even do that?” He angrily yelled, gesturing towards the horrifying sea of mangled limbs and blood, those terrified brightly glowing eyes flashing before mine as I took a glance at it, my old, dark soul reminiscing that crippling pain and despair her own emitted right as she resurfaced back to reality.

“First of all, I can assure you that your God has nothing to with this. If all, He is completely powerless in this situation.
And that thing, that very thing that killed your men, my friend, is called a Sin. One of The Seven Deadly Sins, to be more specific,” I thoroughly explained, trying my best to compose myself.

“One of The Seven Deadly Sins has made its home inside her soul. And as to how did it end up in there, I think I might have a clue...” I then absently added as I momentarily lost myself in the memory, faintly reminiscing that fated day, when that foolish mother of hers decided to follow me to The Underworld -even though strongly advised against it- and seduce her way straight to me, both of us committing a capital sin as we eventually gave in to our unquenchable lust for each other, creating a life, born from sin...

Born from Lust...

My thoughts quickly trailed straight back to that specific image, remembering how Raphael held my precious child so fiercely close to him, their bodily language only hinting one, pretty obvious fact;

They had intimately touched each other...

My anger rose once again, my fingers digging into my palms as I balled them into fists, feeling my demon become once again restless as I ground out,
“But thanks to our dear beloved, STUPID and mindless Raphael, it only became stronger!”

“Which is why we have to remove it, as soon as possible,” My attention quickly averted straight to Azrael as I’ve said those words, watching how he remained silent for a few fleeting moments, before reluctantly answering,

“I could do that, but there’s no way of taking it out without killing her in the process, and as far as I can see, you’re already way too fond of her, so...”

“Yes. There will be no killing. That is completely out of the question,” I hurriedly confirmed, leaving no space for any dark thoughts, the idea of losing her seeming so awfully painful, even though I have just found out about her existence a few weeks ago...

My child...

I have a child...

“Unless...” That simple word suddenly pulled me out of my brief reverie, the faint trace of a smile gracing my features quickly contorting into a frown as I harshly bit out,

“Unless what?”

Azrael simply remained silent for a few moments once again, pensively staring right back at me, his tone deadly calm and serious as he quizzically replied,

“Raphael will need his grace for this.”

Oh bloody hell.