“Yes, ah indeed and remember, eternal life is a long time to hold a grudge, Pet…a long time to lie in wait, merely biding their time until such an opportunity for revenge presents itself.” Right, so I would be that opportunity for revenge then, I thought with what I knew was no doubt a grim expression.
“So, it was all an act to keep me safe?” I asked gathering as much but his answer surprised me.
“An act? No, not at all.”
“But you said…” He held up a hand to stop me before adding more,
“I said I needed to keep you safe and I did that by naming you as a runaway slave of mine that needed to be found and punished by my hand. As for the act of making it believable, well, let’s just say that my demon was easily provoked since you disobeyed me and walked through that portal into Hell, for I wasn’t the only one furious with you,” he said referring to his demon as if he were almost a separate entity.
“So that was what exactly, your demon’s version of punishing me?!” I shouted getting annoyed at the idea.
“Oh, you know nothing of punishment, my dear girl, you can trust me on that!” He snapped back.
“So that show was…”
“Wasn’t a show at all,” Lucius finished off for me and my scowl deepened.
“But I don’t understand?” I admitted making Lucius release a sigh, as he dragged a hand through his hair again.
“It is harder to control that other side of me down here. The rage, the power, the need to control and dominate all those beneath me…I am too close to the surface and as for you…” he took pause and I couldn’t wait.
“What about me?”
“My need to control you has never been greater. To bring you to heel and keep you there is all that consumes our joint need. You ran from me too many times, that the demon in me knows that down here such a thing will not be tolerated.” With the stern tone in which he said this, I could do nothing but take his words seriously.
“And what of the other part of you, like the man I see now…what of him, Lucius?” I asked not liking what I was hearing at all.
“I am furious with you, Amelia,” was his obvious statement.
“Yeah, I get that but…”
“No…no, you don’t,” he said cutting me off.
“Lucius.” His name passed through my lips in a way that told him I didn’t like where this was going. Naturally, being Lucius, it was one he ignored.
“Your decisions over these past months have done nothing but continually put your life at risk, placing yourself in danger…”
“But I—” Again, he didn’t let me finish.
“Do not think me a fool and ignorant of all that has happened to you since stepping through that portal!” He snapped getting angry again and well, if what he said was true, then I couldn’t blame him. I had been reckless, I knew this.
But then also knowing that he had discovered everything that had happened was also something I had hoped to save him the pain of. Obviously, Lucius had his own methods in discovering the truth, and my hopes of brushing past it all and focusing solely on us being back together and reunited had been a foolish wish. But even knowing this, I couldn’t help but try to defend myself.
“It’s not like I intended for any of it to happen!” I snapped back.
“And what did you expect exactly, taking a trip to Hell was going to be like a trip to a chop shop in Daddy’s stolen Ferrari?” he threw back at me, making me sound like some spoilt, foolish Princess!
“I didn’t do this for fucking fun, Lucius! I thought you would come in after me, remember!” I argued making him cross his arms again, so I continued,
“I waited, Lucius! I waited for you to follow me through but then I got scared and realised I couldn’t just sit there and wait forever. That was when I realised my mistake, all of about two minutes after I made it through!” I told him making him at least let go of some of his anger.
“Portals don’t work like that, Pet.” He told me, and I felt like rolling my eyes but wisely refrained. I did however say in a sarcastic tone,
“Yeah, I kinda got that Hellish memo, like I said about two minutes after I realised my mistake! So yeah,