Chapter 2~~~Babysitting
Razakiel POV
I watch as the girl strides from the room. Her beautiful, curling, brown locks bouncing along behind her. The proud spring to her step, as she walks, belittling the pain she has suffered; the fear she so fiercely fights and hides. Her strength and resilience astound me, considering all she has been through.
As Lucifer's shield I can hear their thoughts, Lucifer of course can control his at all times, but Lucia is open to me. When I heard her thoughts, about the torture and pain she was forced to endure, I was shocked; horrified, her own father had tortured her to within an inch of her life on multiple occasions, for the things she hasn't done; simply to maintain her obedience.
Disgust rises within me, swelling in my chest and spreading out through my body, the urge to murder the monster in front of me with my bare hands is almost too much. But I know I cannot let him get to me, not yet, it has taken decades to gain his trust, I cannot lose it now.
I fight back the murderous rage building inside me and take in a deep, calming breath, as I wait for him to give his orders.
"Razakiel," I step forward, out of the shadows, bowing my head, "you will guard her."
Indignation rushes through me at the idea of babysitting his child, but I maintain my neutral expression as always; I cannot show any emotion before him.
"Any injury she sustains under your care will be multiplied tenfold in your own skin," I suppress the shudder that run down my spine at his words. I am all way aware that this is no way an exaggeration, if anything, my punishment for failing in my duties would be much worse than what he described. I have learned from experience; I now know never to fail.
"Yes sir," I dip my head once in acknowledgement, eyes focused on the reddish-brown flecks of dirt coating the rough rocky ground, and wait for him to release me.
"If you hear anything even a hinting rebellion from her, you will report it to me immediately," the shock of his continued speech almost forces me to look up. Catching myself before I can meet his eyes, I once more dip my head and dropped my gaze, "Am I understood?"
"Yes sir."
Will I do that? Well I am not entirely sure. Theoretically I should already be reporting her for her rebellious thoughts, considering what she was thinking as they spoke moments ago. On one hand I need to maintain Lucifer's trust, but at the same time Lucia might also be off use to me.
Despite how degrading babysitting is, it could be of assistance in my plan to escape. It gives me the inside to one of Lucifer's deepest secrets, there are very few who know the identity of the mysterious Lucia, and as her bodyguard I will have access to her all the time. She could be my key to escape. If I could get the both of us out of here and get her to our heavenly father….
"Get to work," his deep growl jolts me from my thoughts and I mentally sigh in relief. Finally, I can escape in his presence, even if it is to go baby sit his child. I stride quickly from the room to go find Lucia. I know she can't be too far away; it has only been a couple of minutes before she was dismissed. I walk through the halls following the traces of her thoughts as I protect them from others. I wonder if she truly wishes to escape. Will she actually attempt it? Or will her fear hold her back? If I can gain her trust, I could convince her to escape with me. Then I could take her to the heavenly father. It might be enough for him to forgive me. She of course could be destroyed, at best. But her fate will be no worse than what she has already endured, besides what is the loss of the Devil's daughter, an abomination of nature, if it means I can go back home?
"Are you okay? He didn't hurt you, did he?" A deep, masculine voice whispers from a deserted side dark tunnel to my right. I paused and listen more, creeping steadily close to catch the muted voices.
"I'm fine! My father, what's he going to do?" Lucia's lifting voice replies I move closer until the shadowed outline of two angels come into view. A tall, well-built figure, slightly shorter than me, as far as I can tell, is standing protectively over a much smaller, clearly female form that I can assume is Lucia.
"Are you okay Nich?"
Nich? I haven't heard the name before, but the angel before me clearly means a great deal to Lucia.
"You aren't in Lucifer's army Nicholas! You could have stayed in heaven! You should have stayed. Now you'll never be allowed to return. You're stuck down here forever."
Nicholas? As far as I am aware, he was a member of Mikheal's army. Which, can only mean he choose to fall. Anger reared its head inside my chest at the thought. What sort of angel choose to fall? Choose to follow the Devil? If the rest of us had a choice we would have chosen heaven. Hell, most of us would have chosen death over falling, but we weren't even given that option.
"You know I had to, Luc you're my best friend; I wasn't going to leave you down here alone. I know you'd do the same for me. What's heaven without your best friend?" It is a good excuse, the anger slowly drains away, but, a suspicious nagging remains; even for a friend, a lover, a mate, most angels chose to remain in heaven than fall.
It's rare to find an angel whose loyalty to another is greater than their loyalty to God. Lucifer's army was forced to fall; we had no choice. But Nicholas is correct; Lucia will need all the help she can get if she is going to survive down here, a loyal friend is probably necessary. I just hope he doesn't get in my way.
A smile slips across her face and she steps forward as she stretched her arms up and wraps them around his neck, leaning her head on his chest; clearly, she agrees with him. That's when I notice I can't hear either of their thoughts. That means he has to be some sort of shield as well. Pushing a little on the shield guarding their minds, it's obvious he isn't very adept; probably only capable of shielding one or two others, I could easily break through and hear at least Lucia's thoughts, but it might alert him of my presence and I'm not ready to disrupt their conversation yet.
"Thank you," Lucia says, glancing down at the glazed black rock beneath our feet. Then, "Don't forget you're not supposed to know about me being his daughter, no one else can find out." A small shock rings through me at her words; this kid knows who she is? Lucifer finds out he is good as dead. Lucia would undoubtedly be worse off though, from what I heard earlier.
"Luc I've known it for years, have I told anyone yet?"
"I know… I just don't want… you know what he would do to you? He is dangerous Nich."
"I know that, it's you that I'm worried about," his voice falters on the on the last words; he clearly cares for her at least a little. I know as well as she does, that she is save as long as Lucifer believes he controls her, and at the moment he still does. But judging by the last comment he made, he has his suspicions. So maybe the kid does have something to worry about.
"I promise I'll guard your secret; no one will hear it from me," he whispers so low that I almost missed it. Then he unwinds his arms from her waist, grabs one of her hands and turns back in my direction, keeping her beside him as he moves towards the exit behind me.
I move silently out of the way and wait for them to exit back in the main tunnel. When they are few meters ahead of me, I take flight and come up just a few feet behind the pair. They whirl around upon hearing my arrival, wings flaring; an angel's wings become visible when they feel threatened or in danger. A smirk makes its way across my face when I see this; just my arrival had their had their hearts racing.
Nicholas's wings are a deep mahogany with flecks of white and cream through them, I barely glance at him as my attention is held captive by the almost glittering white wings, with iridescent silver edges, belonging to Lucia. I have never seen an angel with wings even remotely as beautiful as hers; as she moves, they seem to shimmer; almost like diamonds in the sun.
Mesmerized, I forgot for a moment, why I am here. How could something so perfect, so irrefutably beautiful, be unnatural? Surely no one would condemn such mesmerizing perfection as monstrous? Moving my gaze from her now slowly fading wings, I find her icy blue eyes and meet her penetrating stare. And as I watch her analyze my movements, I shake the disturbing, thoughts of her perfection in my mind.
Her eyes narrow as she takes me in, fire burning in her gaze. My midnight black, almost blue, wings appear at my back in warning at the intensity of her gaze. Her face remains impenetrable, but it's clear in her eyes what she is thinking; she has no idea who I am but she will fight me if she has to.
"Lucia, Lucifer has ordered me to be your body guard until he figures out what to do with you." I say, my voice short and clipped as I attempt to hide my anger at the word bodyguard.
It is only a slight improvement on the word babysitter, which was closer to the truth, but I get the feeling she would be just as incensed by the term as I am. And since I might need her in my plans, it seems to soften the blow. So, bodyguard it is.
"If the General commands it," she replies, exasperation clear in her eyes, even as her face and tone are perfectly controlled. Turning slightly towards Nicholas, she continues, "it appears I have acquired a bodyguard, Nicholas," she smiles and I note that she not only uses his full name in front of me but speaks to him in a considerably more formal manner too.
Nicholas's eyes flick to me before he bends his head to whisper in her ear, just loud enough for me to catch, though I'm sure that is the opposite of his intention, "Maybe he doesn't trust you as much as you thought"
She laughs lightly, the sound hollow to my ears, and once again her emotions are clear in her eyes; fear, she agrees with him. She should be afraid though; Lucifer doesn't trust her anywhere near as much as she thinks.
"Let's go Nicholas," she murmurs before turning to continue down the tunnel. She pauses mid-stride, however, and whirls back to look at me, "What was your name again?"
"Razakiel," I reply finally feeling my wings begin to fade. As Lucia begins to move forward again, I shadow her every step; from this point I can never let her out of my sight, no matter how much we both despise the thought.
She ignores me as best as she can, following her normal routine. Nicholas remains with her for a few hours after I arrive so I can't gain access to Lucia's thoughts and the boredom sets in rather quickly. Honestly, honestly, I don't know why Lucia's is so annoyed; at least she can still go where ever she wants, while I am stuck trailing her everywhere.
This is worse than being Lucifer's personal shield; at least I didn't have to be by his side every moment. Not to mention the fact that she no longer has to worry about the murderous monstrosities created in the fiery pits of hell, as they lurk in every shadow. No, that job falls to me. Not that I mind that aspect really. It's interesting; what torture can do to a soul, a desperately destructive desires to kill, the need to torture others, is all they can think about. I know from the snatches of thought I catch whenever we get too close to one. Besides I'm always up for a good fight, especially now that I'm stuck babysitting.