have my soul; you will never be my mate.”
Lucifer visibly sank with her words. Clearly, that was a big deal. I had no idea what it meant.
Lucifer stood gesturing wildly, “These men will kill you when you refuse them!” he snarled, “Do you wish to see your sisters cut down? Raped and ravaged?”
She looked at him, her eyes flashing with anger; “You will not speak to me of these things when it has become clear to me that you are the engineer of our fate! You poisoned my mind with lies, but now the veil of my love has been lifted! Now I know. You lied to buy my love and for a time you succeeded, for my heart had truly been yours. But you cannot love, so you could not accept all the gifts I have to give. My heart was once yours for the taking but your darkness could not see.”
She stood and walked to the center of the room. The rest of her people formed a tight circle around her as Lucifer was pushed out of the way. She turned her back to him and began chanting, her melodious voice rising above the sounds of the battering rams outside. The Madea joined in and I felt my blood race. Dizziness swept over me as their song continued.
Mariee lifted her arms and her voice rang out. I swayed, losing my balance I reached out blindly. A firm hand wrapped around my arm, steadying me. I was ready to scream, I couldn’t believe that I was witnessing this. I was here!
While still in my cloud of wonder, Lucifer from the past pushed and shoved his way to the center of the multitude. He gripped Mariee’s arms and spun her violently, screaming into her face. It was useless, I watched in stunned silence as the look of pure panic washed over his face. He pleaded with her, all the while, she chanted, her eyes unseeing. He dropped his hands to his sides and then the chanting stopped.
The Madea were gone.
Lucifer fell to his knees and roared with rage.
His angered cries filled the cavernous room as he screamed out his fury. Then I heard it. A tiny sound that should have been much too small to hear; a sound, like a bell, it rang out clear and true. I stared in stunned silence as the ring that had changed my life bounced onto the stone floor then rolled to a stop at Lucifer’s feet.
I held my breath, watching as he picked it up. Memories flooded my mind. Finding the ring in the gutter, selling it, only to have it come back to me courtesy of Seth. Only then, the shit head had used it to kidnap me and my friends. On top of that, he used it to force my feelings for him, or should I say for his body to the surface. God, thanks to that ring, I’d had sex with Seth more ways than were legal. Why was I saving him, again?
I shook myself out of my walk down memory lane and watched Lucifer examine the ring. Then he stood, holding the ring in his palm. I frowned, wondering what he was thinking and then he looked up and stared directly into my eyes.
I felt the blood drain from my face as his eyes bored into mine.
I turned to look at Lucifer from my time. He was watching his past self stare intently at me. Then he smiled and looked at me as well, a kind of euphoric joy filled his eyes, and I began to shake. Lucifer from the past smiled at me as well and then the ring disappeared from his hand.
We were sucked from the room, tossed hard onto the floor of a filthy lab in Hell.
“Well now, that was enlightening.” He stood up; dusting his clothing off he frowned at a small tear in his shirt. “I must say that after so much time, my memory is getting spotty.” He chuckled at himself as if he were just another old man dealing with the hassles of growing old, not a sinfully seductive fallen angel with the body of a god.
I struggled to stand, taming my hair and skin with my everyday glamour. I glared at The Devil, daring him to strip it away again.
Ignoring me, he rubbed his hands together. “So, they empowered the ring and sent it on its way where it hid for centuries waiting for you,” He looked at me, “My Mariee.”
“Oh,