Of Light And Shadows
Chapter Twenty One...

“You interfered with the Greater Demon Abaddon while he resided in the human world. You came into contact with an Angel while there and you helped her. You know it’s forbidden for Demons to interfere in the workings of those sent by me to live outside of our realm, don’t you?” Satan narrowed his eyes at his first born child.

“Yes, sir.” Lucifer’s reply was flat, void of any hint of emotion. It reminded Jia of the many times she’d responded obediently to her father.

“And you know it is an even higher breach of my trust to aid an Angel, yes?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I have nothing to offer that would help my case.” Jia felt a swell of pride as he lifted his head to look Satan straight in the eye. “I did what I felt was right at the time.”

“You did what you felt was right?” Satan started circling him slowly, hands still clasped behind his back. Lucifer kept his eyes on the window in front of him as Satan moved out of his field of vision, refusing to show fear. “You felt like helping an Angel was right? Can you explain that to me?”

“Our rules dictate that Demons and Angels can’t mix. The Greater Demon Abaddon enslaved Seraph Lauviah and forced her into becoming his companion, breaking our highest law. I went there to rectify that and to help Abaddon’s daughter. Once freed, the Angel returned to her realm and Abaddon fled.”

“I suppose I can understand that,” Satan nodded, still circling his son. As he passed, his gaze strayed to Jia. “What I don’t understand is why you kept it from me.”

“I was concerned that you would harm Abaddon’s child for being what she is.” Satan laughed like Lucifer had told him a good joke.

“Oh dear me, no. I am fascinated by her. I would never harm someone so unique. She is too impure to be allowed passage into the Angelic Realm so she will replace a perfect place for herself here among the elites. Had you simply come to me and asked about her, I would have told you the very same.”

Something in Satan’s face made Jia’s heartbeat stutter erratically.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t approach you first, father.” Lucifer was still looking out of the window and she saw his shoulders tense ever so slightly, almost as though he knew what was coming.

“Kneel.” Her stomach flipped in anger as Lucifer Morningstar, Prince of the Demonic Realm, was forced to stoop to one knee in front of all of them. “I truly admire everything Lucifer has done for me and for this school, and I appreciate that he was acting in Lisbeth’s best interests,” Satan called, addressing the rest of them.

“I know now that his actions were simply to rectify a heinous rule-breaking. However, that does not excuse the fact that Lucifer broke rules himself.

"Not only did he meet with and help Seraph Lauviah, in direct violation of laws created for us at the time of the Uprising, he also disrupted the life of Abaddon, who was sent to the human world by me to monitor the spread of the Vampire disease. And that is unacceptable.”

There was a beat of horrible, heavy silence as Satan rounded on his son and Jia watched as the rest of the Devils looked down, knowing what was coming.

“None of you will interfere. You will witness Lucifer’s punishment as a reminder that none of you, not even the mighty first born, are above my rule. Let this be a lesson for all of you.” His voice took on a resonant quality and Jia realised then that the rest of the Devils had been rendered powerless by it.

Bell’s hand tightened on hers, not hard enough to hurt but enough to know that he would hold her back no matter what happened. A second later Mammon’s hand closed around her other wrist.

“We can’t defy his orders. I’m asking you one more time to close your eyes, Jia.” She couldn’t do it. Her eyes remained glued to Lucifer as he knelt on the ground, tense and waiting for the first strike. Mammon’s warning meant nothing because her body wouldn’t obey.

The first blow was vicious and the sound of Satan’s knuckles cracking across Lucifer’s cheekbone reverberated around her head. Satan watched as his son put one hand to the ground to steady himself for a second before he straightened up and waited again.

The next impact was Satan’s shoe slamming into Lucifer’s jaw. Again his son swayed, steadied himself and straightened up, spitting blood onto the polished floor. Jia couldn’t believe the sheer strength he displayed as he refused to fall, blow after blow.

She watched him weaken, watched him sway more and take longer to recover. It continued like that until Lucifer couldn’t stay up anymore. When a backhand finally drove him to the ground Satan smiled in victory. The expression was all teeth and fury.

Tears streamed down Jia’s face as the beating continued and Lucifer never once raised a hand in defence. Satan’s foot crunched against his ribs once, twice, three times and she heard a splinter as Lucifer’s bones gave way when the last kick lifted him off the ground.

He coughed and fresh blood splattered his chin and still Satan continued hurting him.

Jia strained against the grip Mammon and Bell had on her and Satan saw it and grinned. He leaned down and gripped his son’s throat, dragging him up and forcing him to look at her. She could hear Lucifer’s ragged breath as it struggled through his battered lungs.

“This is a good first lesson, don’t you think?” the Demon ruler purred. His tone was conversational, like he was discussing the weather. “Look how she cries for you. Do you regret helping her now that you’re suffering, Lucifer?” He slammed his son into the floor by his throat, forcing all the air out of him. “Answer me.”

Jia watched silently, tears pouring down her face, as the person she cared about most in the world rolled onto his front and got slowly to his hands and knees, one arm wrapped around his damaged torso as he tried to suck in a breath.

He returned to the position he’d started in but his eyes found hers instead of looking at the ground.

“I don’t,” he wheezed. Even through her tears she was so very proud of his strength.

“You stand by what you did?”

“I stand by my decision to bring her here. She’s where she belongs.”

“I agree with that, at least.” Despite his agreement, he slammed the sole of his foot into Lucifer’s head, forcing him to the floor and pressing down hard enough to make Lucifer’s nose bleed.

Jia heard his skull crack quietly, horrified at how silent Lucifer was as he took the worst beating she’d ever seen. He coughed when the air was forced from him again but other than that, no noises of pain escaped him.

When Satan pulled out a knife from inside his jacket her breath caught in her throat and she had to fight the urge to scream. She knew any sound would only make it worse.

“Do you see this, Lisbeth?” Satan asked her. “It’s nothing personal, of course. This is needed to instil the rules of the Demonic Realm into its leadership. You are part of this now and you will obey or suffer the same fate. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir,” she answered.

“To you I am your Lord.” She swallowed, her gaze on Lucifer’s heaving chest as he struggled back to his knees. She could see the fury in his eyes even through the blood, but he stayed obedient. “Do you understand?”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“Excellent. As long as you remember this moment you’ll do well here.”

And then Satan gripped a handful of Lucifer’s dark hair and forced the knife slowly between his splintered ribs. This injury did draw a pained gasp from him, his composure finally cracking. Satan smiled and pulled the blade back out, twisting it as he did.

He chose a different spot and did it again and Jia swallowed the bile rising in her throat. Lucifer grunted at the motion of the blade scraping his ribs on the way back out. The final spot Satan chose was directly over Lucifer’s heart.

“Can you feel everything, Lucifer?”

“Yes.” The air rasped through his throat, pushed from punctured lungs.

“Does it hurt?”

“Yes.”

“Can you feel your body dying?”

“...Yes.” There was so much anger in that single word even as his body was broken. Jia watched as the blade disappeared into Lucifer’s chest up to the hilt.

He gagged as Satan twisted it once more before letting him drop. He fell with a heavy thud, all traces of life gone. Jia couldn’t help the strangled cry that escaped her as Lucifer’s eyes fixed on the ceiling, seeing nothing.

Satan pulled the knife free and tossed it aside as he walked over to her, stepping over his son’s body like it wasn’t even there.

The only thing keeping her on her feet was the grip around her wrists but at a look from their father, Mammon and Belphegor stepped back and let go of her. She swayed unsteadily, all the strength gone from her legs.

“My darling Lisbeth,” Satan murmured softly. He touched her face tenderly, his thumb smearing Lucifer’s warm blood over her skin as he trailed it along her cheekbone. “Welcome to life in the Demonic Realm. I’ll be seeing you again very soon. There is much I’d like to know about you.”

He kissed her once, his lips lingering against her skin just long enough to make her feel sick, and then he disappeared in a cloud of shadows. As soon as he let go of her she crumpled.