"Come on," Lucifer says, gently pulling back from me. He takes hold of one of my bloodstained hands with his. "I know where you need to be."
Lucifer phases us and I soon find myself standing in the sitting room of Malcolm"s New Orleans home.
"Malcolm!" Lucifer yells stridently.
Malcolm quickly appears in the doorway of the room. He immediately walks over to me and takes me into his arms. Within the safety of his embrace, I feel the full force of the horrifying things I did to Belphagor. I completely breakdown and begin to cry as my soul screams out in pain.
"What happened?" Malcolm asks Lucifer.
Lucifer tells Malcolm what he knows. Of course, only I can tell him the full story.
"Thank you for bringing her home," Malcolm tells Lucifer. It"s probably the first time Malcolm has ever thanked Lucifer for anything.
"She needs you," Lucifer says, sounding as if he"s finally realizing how important Malcolm is to my mental well-being. "She lost control of who she is. You need to help her cope with what she did and find a way to put it behind her. She"s going to have to forgive herself or her guilt will eat her up and do more damage than good. It will leave her vulnerable."
"Like yours did you?" Malcolm asks knowingly.
"Just help her," Lucifer says, not arguing against what Malcolm said but not agreeing with it either. "I"ll leave the two of you alone."
Malcolm continues to hold me while I grieve for the part of my soul I lost that day.
"Anna," Malcolm says gently. "You need to tell me why you thought Belphagor lied about giving you his seal earlier."
I take in a deep breath and say, "Because I don"t have the seal on my back like I do the other two."
"But you felt the power you received from it after the transfer, right?"
"I thought he did something to make me think he gave it to me," I say, sniffling. "I thought he tricked me so he could keep the seal for himself."
"Oh, Anna, I wish you had come to me with your suspicions. We could have found a way to discover the truth together."
I grab the front of Malcolm"s shirt like a child holding onto a parent because she"s afraid she might drown otherwise. And that"s exactly how I feel. I feel like I"m about to drown in what the seals are transforming me into, and I desperately need him to help me keep my head above water.
Malcolm pulls away from me slightly and cups my face in the palms of his hands, forcing me to look into his eyes.
"Don"t let this destroy you," he tells me. "We"ll find a way to make it through this, my love."
"How can you call me that after what I just did?" I ask, sobbing.
"Because you are the love of my life. You are the love I was always meant to find and you"re mine. I won"t let the Princes of h.e.l.l or the seals steal you away from me. I"ll fight them all to keep you safe not only from them but also from yourself. I won"t let you turn into a monster, Anna. I"ll die before I let that happen."
Malcolm pulls me back into his arms, trying to keep me safe in his small way.
But deep down inside I know not even his love can save me from what I"ve already become.
Author"s Note.
I hope you all enjoyed reading Lucifer! The last book of The Redemption Series is ent.i.tled Redemption and will be out by Fall 2014.
If you would like to keep track of my writing progress on Redemption, please visit either my website (www.sjwest.com) or my Facebook Page (#) each Sunday afternoon. As soon as I start writing Redemption, I will start the Redemption meter. That way you know exactly how far along I am in the ma.n.u.script.
Thanks for reading!.
S.J. West.
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