The Devil's Lover: The Wish (24 page)

“
You think I drank
Lucifer’s blood out of greed?” she asked. “That I wanted eternal
life at the cost of my own soul? I didn’t have a choice when he fed
me his blood. Even if I had a choice, I would have done it all over
again. I was pregnant with Trent at the time. He was only six
months old and not matured enough to enter the world. Soren, I
believe you know him, wanted me and the child dead. He was a
powerful demon and I didn’t have the strength to fight him. I was
severely hurt and was forced to go into premature labor. I faced
death in the eye and told him to back away. I couldn’t die until I
gave birth to Lucifer's child. I didn’t mind dying if I gave birth
to a healthy baby. I knew I was dying, but if I died, what would
happen to my unborn child? I couldn’t take him with me! I begged
Lucifer to save our child. He was also desperate to save the two of
us. From the look in his eyes, I realized that it was his last
option. I drank his blood willingly, trusting that he will give me
enough strength to get through this. I did what any mother would
have done to save her baby! I wanted to see my child before I died.
What happened to me was the last thing on my mind. If you want to
condemn me for my greed, I have nothing to say. I will take all of
the blame, but please, Lucifer has nothing to with this. I forced
him into it!”

Archangel stared at the girl. “You did
that because you wanted to save his child?”

Kali nodded. “There isn’t a day goes
by that I do not cherish him. Like Lucifer said, he was the only
thing that truly belongs to me in this world. He cannot be taken
away from me or torn from my arms, even by death. Isn’t that what
every mother wants, an immortal child to love? But that also means
I cannot be like every other mother. My child does not need to eat
or sleep. Even as a baby, he refused to be breastfed. He does not
need anything from me, and I felt rejected. Every day I worried
that he would have no memories of me when I’m gone. I saw my
shortcomings and I didn’t want him to forget about me. He could
live on for centuries, even millennium long after I’m dead. My
greatest fear was that he would not be able to remember he has a
mother. I brought him into this world, but that was just about the
only thing I could do. I cannot help him walk his path, and I
cannot follow him forever. The day my son was born, I knew what my
mother had felt when she gave birth to me. The woman gave me life,
but I never had a chance to meet her or to miss her. I think being
forgotten is a very cruel fate. Still, I told myself that I have
fulfilled my purpose by bringing this child into this world. I am
truly blessed. I would have been happy even if I died five years
ago,” she turned to face Archangel Michael. “Is that the answer you
came here for?”

Archangel Michael shook his head. He
bent over and kissed her on the forehead. “You are a very special
child, Kali. If you hadn’t taken Lucifer’s blood, heaven’s gates
would have gladly opened for you.”

Chapter 26: Sleeping
Beauty

Lucifer grunted. There are too many of
them, he realized. They knew they couldn’t defeat him, so why were
they still attacking? Could it be that they were trying to distract
him from Kali? They wouldn’t do anything to her, he knew that. But
why?

Archangel Michael appeared in the sky.
“It has been a long time, Lucifer.”

Lucifer was not happy to see Michael.
“What do you want?” he asked with great annoyance. Michael had
always opposed him in everything. In the Great War he was Lucifer’s
archenemy. “You swore to me that after the war, you would never
interfere.”

“
I have,” Archangel
Michael admitted. “If you would stay away from Heaven’s boundary,
there would be no reason for me to interfere.”

“
And when did I cross it,
Michael?” Lucifer asked.

“
You are mobilizing your
demon army.”

“
I have not,” Lucifer
argued.

“
You may be misleading,
but it is very unlikely that you would lie.” The archangel
concluded.

“
Then get out of my way,
Michael!” Lucifer demanded.

“
Follow me back to Heaven,
Lucifer,” Michael said. “You will have your trial
there.”

Lucifer laughed. “Trial? You want me
to face a trial in Heaven? You make it sound like Hell is part of
Heaven’s territory. Michael, I am my own king.”

“
Then I will have no
choice but to force you.”

“
If you could, that is,”
Lucifer called upon his sword. The sky rumbled. From the South, a
dark clump of thunderous clouds approached furiously, blocking out
the sun of the clear blue day. The surroundings were overshadowed
by complete darkness.

Archangel Michael had a still
expression on his face. A sword appeared in his right hand. An
angelic silver aura surrounded his body.

Lucifer launched himself sat Archangel
Michael with his sword. Michael stood defensively and blocked
Lucifer’s attack. Their powers met at the edge of the swords,
causing the two to fall back. They were equally powerful. Lucifer
flew into midair to get enough momentum and charged at Michael once
again. Michael leaped, dodging Lucifer. Lucifer’s sword cut through
the ground, leaving behind a giant scar on the pavement. Lucifer
glared at Michael. He summoned a massive ball of energy and
directed it at Michael.

Archangel Michael called upon his own
power, a massive ball of white light to cancel out Lucifer’s
attack.

“
It is futile, Lucifer,”
Michael said. “We are equal in power. If we continue, it would take
at least another three months for it to end.”

“
I have the time, don’t
you?” Lucifer asked.

“
It is only a trial,
Lucifer,” Michael said. “If you speak the truth, you will be
released.”

Lucifer laughed. “I understand, now.
This was Arvin’s plan. He wanted to separate us because he knew
what would happen to Kali.”

“
It won’t be long,
Lucifer,” Michael said to him. “If you return soon, she will be as
you’ve left her.”

“
Do you think I would take
that kind of risk?” Lucifer scoffed. “I will not come with you. My
words are true. I have no obligation to justify myself.”

“
You've left me no
choice.”

†††††

Kali shook her son gently when she saw
the lifeless look in his eyes. “Trent! Trent, what’s
wrong?”

His face was extremely pale, more so
than usual.

“
What’s wrong with him?”
Kali looked up at Chevalier.

He shook his head. “I don’t know. We
were just looking at the pandas. When I asked him a question, he
didn’t reply. He just stood still like a statue.”

Kali looked back at her son. “Trent,
talk to me. What’s wrong?” she held his hand. It was icy cold. She
gasped, frightened. She pulled him into her arms.

“
Trent, please don’t scare
me! Say something to me!”

Chevalier looked up at the sky. It had
been a while since Lucifer left.

“
Adria!” Kali yelled out.
“Adria!”

A summoning circle drew itself on the
ground. Adria appeared from the circle.

“
What is wrong with him?!”
Kali asked nervously.

Adria came to Trent’s side. She placed
a hand on his face and looked into his eyes.

“
What’s wrong with him?”
Kali repeated. “Adria, is this normal for a demon?”

“
No,” Adria
replied.

Trent blinked. He turned his head
toward Kali. He spread his little arms and wrapped them around
Kali’s neck.

“
Trent, what’s wrong?”
Kali asked him softly. She was on the edge of tears.

He just held onto her tightly. His
beautiful blue eyes glowed.

“
I think his instinct is
awakening,” Adria said softly.

“
He has an instinct?
What’s an instinct?”

“
Every demon is born with
an instinct. Normally, it is dormant within the demon unless is it
reawakened.”  

Chevalier placed a hand on his chest.
“I suppressed mine long ago.”

“
What it is then?” Kali
asked.

“
An instinct is a demon’s
primitive biological voice. It is a living soul that prioritized
survival and feeds on the negative emotion of the host. If the
negative emotions are too great, the instinct will grow powerful
enough to take over the demon’s body.”

Kali looked at her son. “What does
this all mean?” Kali asked, confused. “Trent doesn’t have negative
emotions. Why is this happening?”

“
Instincts sometimes know
more than the demons host,” Chevalier said. “Maybe it told Trent
something he didn’t want to hear.”

†††††

Acelin slammed the door opened. Arvin
sat on a chair in the middle of the room. The room was dead silent.
Acelin’s footsteps made Arvin open his eyes. Acelin came to Arvin
and grabbed him by the collar.

“
Traitor!” Acelin shouted
at Arvin. “You went to Heaven and accused Lucifer!”

“
I did.” Arvin
admitted.

“
Why?”

“
Why?” Arvin lifted his
head and kissed Acelin. Acelin remain emotionless until Arvin broke
the kiss. “You ask me why? Do you know what we are,
Acelin?”

“
Arvin!”

“
We are brothers, Acelin,”
Arvin said softly. “We are brothers! All we have in the world are
each other. When Lucifer embraced me, he asked me not to take away
his purpose. I wanted him to be happy, so I decided to back off.
But you, Acelin, you had to fall in love with his woman! Don’t you
see what she is doing to us?”

“
She is not doing
anything!”

“
There used to be four of
us,” Arvin pulled away, “Soren, you and I. We ruled Hell together
under Lucifer. Do you know how much time had passed? We were
together for so long that if we didn’t have different bodies, I
would have believed that we four were one. The appearance of that
woman changed everything. She made Lucifer turn against Soren, and
you against Lucifer.”

Acelin shook his head. “I would never
turn against Lucifer.”

“
I know you better than
you know yourself,” Arvin sighed. “Do not worry. No one can harm
Lucifer. Once that woman dies, everything will return to the way
they were supposed to be.”

“
Is that what you
think?”

“
I know it is
so.”

“
I won’t allow you to hurt
her,” Acelin said.

“
It’s too late, Acelin.
Even if I stop it now, it would still be too late.”

†††††

Their swords collided. The tremendous
pressures yielded by the two opponents caused the two swords to
break. Michael used magic to direct the fragmented pieces of the
broken sword at Lucifer. Lucifer shielded himself in a force field,
causing the fragmented pieces of the two swords to explode upon
contact.

The angels of the highest order were
chanting a holy song while the Archangel and the Devil fought in
the sky. The people in the surrounding area were terrified, seeking
shelter from the strange human-like creatures with wings. Others
were taking pictures and recording what was happening on their cell
phone cameras. They were witnessing a battle that was as old as
time itself.

Lucifer’s nails grew razor sharp and
he used them as a weapon against Michael. Michael leaped into the
air. His left wings were slashed by Lucifer. Michael’s angelic
white feathers fell and rained down from the sky. They
disintegrated before they touched the ground.

Lucifer smirked.

Michael used his energy to regenerate
his wings. “It is pointless to continue fighting,” Michael said.
“Neither of us can ever die, even if we used our true weapons. I
thought we cleared that up long ago.”

“
I just feel like given
you one hell of a beating,” Lucifer said.

“
Is that so?”

“
It is a battle that
neither of us can win. Give up and go back to Heaven,
Michael,”

“
You see those angels
chanting down there?” Michael pointed at his companions. “They have
been casting a very energy consuming spell for the last half an
hour or so.”

“
A spell that takes so
long to cast is useless when it comes to life and
death.”

Michael shook his head. “It is time
consuming, but not entirely useless.”

A giant circle drew itself on the
ground at the end of the angels’ chanting.

“
A binding spell?” Lucifer
gently laughed. “You think something like that could keep me
immobile for long?”

“
No,” Michael admitted.
“Not long at all. You are a powerful demon, Lucifer. I’m sorry I
have to use this method.”

The binding circle captured Lucifer in
a flash and pulled him to the ground. Lucifer struggled to fly
away, but the pull was too strong. He directed his energy into
breaking the spell. The spell was much stronger than he thought.
Damn, he knew those angels were up to something when they just
stood aside. Thirty something odd of them using all their energy
into casting one spell, how degrading!