Post by Bene Elohim on Feb 8, 2024 14:05:17 GMT -8
Hide.
It was all that ran through his head.
Hide.
They needed a place to hide.
A place to collect their thoughts and regroup.
No one in history had ever hit them as hard or as personally as Apollyon and Sathanas had. Even when the Resistance with the help of Kelsey Spencer and Rebecca Saint attacked Hell while Dean Matthews hide beneath the robes of a Demon, half dead but still fighting to protect those he loved, it had not been like this.
Half of them were in shock while the other half screamed in a frenzy for vengeance. Blood lust driving them into making decisions which may result in even greater wounds.
They needed a place where Apollyon and Sathanas couldn’t find them, but Lucifer knew inside that those places were so few and far between.
Sathanas knew all the safe houses and Valdemar knew all of Lucifer’s more recent connections. People like Sela, the Kenyon’s...hell, anyone connected to them would be watched carefully now. And then it had hit him.
Returning from the meeting with Martin West and Johnny Maverick the Children crossed the threshold of the house sitting just off the Illinois side of Lake Michigan. The house was a beautiful two story ranch style house sitting just off the water.
When they arrived Lucifer shifted his direction and headed instead toward the water. Xaria glanced after him, but did not follow when she saw red haired woman standing by the water looking out over the surface. She’d given them space, disappearing quietly while they settled in.
Kasey Summers.
The owner of the home and a friend of Lucifer’s. She would have questions and Xaria knew it.
Lucifer approached with his hands folded behind him at the wrist and the long coat flowing gently in the early fall breeze coming off the lake. He came to a stop beside her, reaching up long enough to remove the glasses with the inverted cross on each lens before crossing his arms behind his back once again.
Lucifer: “I cannot thank you enough for this Kasey.”
Kasey Summers: “What happened exactly Mic….”
Seeing the faint little tightening around his eyes was enough to warn the pretty redhead and she corrected herself, an embarrassed flush coming over her cheeks.
Kasey Summers: “...Lucifer. What happened?”
Lucifer paused and stared out at the water letting his mind go back to where all of this had begun.
Lucifer: “One of my Demons has gone rogue. Taken documents and funds from the Children and started his own movement. Even gone as far as to name himself, the new Lucifer.”
Kasey Summers: “That doesn’t sound good…”
Lucifer: “It gets worse.”
Lucifer drew in a deep breath and let it out through his nose.
Lucifer: “He’s recruited my first disciple. He helped design all of our tactics. Our equipment. All of it. Everything we do, he knows it’s coming.”
Kasey Summers: “So you have a civil war within your group?”
Lucifer: “Something like that.”
There was silence between the pair for a moment and he knew, somewhere inside, that he couldn’t hide the truth from her. Not after she had taken the risk of giving them a place to lay low and hide. She deserved better. To know the danger she was in.
Lucifer: “They came after men who attacked one of my Angels, Maiko Adachi and destroyed the farmhouse we were using as a base. An explosion of some kind. We tracked Sathanas to a place in Kansas he was using as a base of operations and stormed it in force. He escaped and….they blew up the Harbinger’s home in Malibu in retaliation, hoping we would be inside.”
Slowly Kasey’s eyes widened in shock as her mind went back to the news of an explosion at a home in Malibu a few weeks back.
Kasey Summers: “That was you?!”
Lucifer gave a small nod, keeping his eyes out on the water beyond them.
Kasey Summers: “I heard it was some kind of accident. A gas main leak? And there were children inside?”
Lucifer: “....Correct. Me and Zachary…”
Kasey Summers: “Zachary?”
Lucifer motioned back toward the house over his shoulder.
Lucifer: “The tall one with blonde hair and hints of a beard. I got advanced warning about the blast. He and I were able to get the children out…”
Kasey Summers: “So what now? You all can’t stay here forever if you’re fighting a war, Lucifer. I mean, my housemate’s in California right now, but I think he might be a little pissed off if I’m letting the place be ground zero for...”
Kasey suddenly paused and looked back at the house, a confused expression crossing her pretty face.
Kasey Summers: “You saved the children? Where are they? You didn’t bring any kids with you.”
Lucifer smiled a happy, even content smile and shook his head.
Lucifer: “No, I sent them with my Sons, Ananiel and Ramiel, and daughters Sariel and Ani somewhere safe. Somewhere no one could ever find them.”
Kasey Summers: “Safer than here?”
Lucifer: “Hell.”
Kasey was enough of a friend to know that he didn’t mean the literal biblical Hell. Hell was a physical location that was somewhere in the country. Impossible to find, even harder to infiltrate. Another confused expression crossed her face.
Kasey Summers: “I thought that was compromised? Didn’t you tell me you and that big guy destroyed it fighting one one another a few years ago?”
Lucifer: “The original was destroyed. I am building another.”
Kasey Summers: “Why not just take everyone there?”
Lucifer shook his head gently and glanced back at the house.
Lucifer: “It’s not ready yet and they’d want to take it upon themselves to finish it. To work through the days and nights to make our home...whole. I need them focused, strong.”
Kasey looked over at him, reading the lines in his face and the tone in his voice. Something he never showed anyone inside that house. None of his Children and not his Harbinger.
Kasey Summers: “...You’re scared….”
Lucifer didn’t even look back at her.
Lucifer: “I don’t think I can beat him. Sathanas is ...I don’t think I can stop him ...”
Before Kasey could respond, Lucifer reached up and patted her on the side of the head, thanked her one final time for giving his Children a safe place to regroup and turned, heading into the house.
When he neared the door it swung open to reveal the Harbinger who held a cell phone in her right hand, which she immediately reached out to him.
Xaria: "William..."
Lucifer lifted a brow wondering what in the world the Jester could want with him right now as he took the phone and raised it to his head.
Lucifer: "Yes....Now isn't the best....yeah...fine. I'll be there soon...."
Xaria shot a concerned look at her Lord as he snapped the phone closed and held it out to her.
Lucifer: "He needs to see me in person, now."
Xaria: "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
Lucifer: "No, but I'm not about to turn my back on an ally now. Not after one opened her home to us."
Xaria: "...."
He turns off his phone and sets it aside. It was clear to him that his emotions were too… wonky for him to have a public forum to voice them. He lays down and his eyes close. The moment his mind starts to drift, he sees an explosion. An explosion he wasn’t there for.
There was a lot he wasn’t there for.
He had to make that right.
In the fire of the explosion, he sees the face of the man who made all of this so complicated. The sower of every seed of doubt in the mind of Johnathan Fitzsimmons.
He told him his true name was Josiah. Josiah who became King after the death of his father. He was supposed to be like his father. Cold. Brutal.
A Demon.
He’d been running from it for so long and now...now it was right at his doorstep.
A hand beckoning him toward the flames.
His eyes and the door both open at once.
Into the master bedroom, a little boy, three-years-old with medium-length chocolate brown hair and green eyes, approaches the bed. He uses the storage bench at the foot of the bed to climb up onto the bed and crawl his way over to--
Cole: “Johnny!”
The hug he gives Johnny is imminent and unavoidable.
Entering the room after him is a woman in a green dress and a pair of black and green thigh-high stockings. Her blonde hair lightly dances around her as she moves towards the boys. She looks at her son and shakes her head.
Chelsea: “You’re supposed to be in bed, little one.”
Cole: “I am in bed.”
He looks back to his mother with a giddy smile on his face, knowing this isn’t actually his bed. Chelsea chuckles before she climbs onto the bed and embraces not only Cole but Johnny as well.
Chelsea: “Boys will be boys…”
Johnny smiles at both of them, placing a kiss on top of each of their heads.
Johnny: “You see, you think you got your mom on a technicality, but technicalities don’t work on moms. They have more of a ‘what I say goes’ vibe, but in your case, you got off for being cute… I use the same strategy all the time.”
Johnny reaches out and strokes Chelsea’s face.
Johnny: “It works. On occasion.”
Her lips curl to form a half-smirk and she leans down, kissing the top of Cole’s head. Then she tilts her head up and kisses Johnny on the lips.
Chelsea: “You can’t hide anything from me.”
She looks back down at her son and a soft sigh escapes her.
Chelsea: “Three-years-old… and you look far too much like your father.”
Cole wasn’t Johnny’s. His father is Chelsea’s ex-husband, “Howlin’ Mad” Murdock of wrestling fame. Even now, he’s still training students at the Knoxville Wrestling Institute, but he always has time for their son.
But Chelsea knows that’s not the point. When she looks up to Johnny again, a frown crosses her face.
Chelsea: “Kids can detect human emotions very well. Cole came in here, already knowing you were sad.”
Johnny: “I’m… a lot of things right now after...well…”
The hand beckons from the flames. He shakes his head.
Johnny: “...what happened.”
Instinctively, he clutches Cole a little tighter. The little boy feels the clutch and looks up to Johnny. His green eyes shimmer softly.
Cole: “Johnny…?”
Of course, her son doesn’t know what happened. Chelsea, however, is aware of the terrifying situation in Malibu at Xaria Linette’s house on the 11th. The news reports all say the same thing: a gas leak within the estate that resulted in the explosion.
Johnny’s twin sons were inside the house.
However, before the explosion, they were saved by Trenton Modeling Industries Talent Director and top model, Zachary Sears. She’s known him since he was an eighth-grader. How far he’s come since then.
Chelsea: “Johnny…”
Her focus returns to her boyfriend, reaching up and placing a hand on the side of his face.
Chelsea: “...you haven’t told me what happened when you and Martin met Lucifer and Xaria. It’s been three days.”
Johnny stands, picking Cole up as he does so.
Johnny: “Come on, squirt. Let’s get you to bed okay? Your mom and I need to have a grown-up talk, and if you hear it, you’ll get so bored YOU will become more boring as a result. Wouldn’t want that to happen.”
Johnny carries Cole to his room and gets him tucked into his convertible crib. Right on cue, the boy does let out a sleepy yawn.
Cole: “Otayyy…”
Johnny: “Goodnight, squirt. We got a long day of watching cartoons and tormenting your mother with our impossible charm tomorrow and we need rest for that.”
Johnny, of course, waited for Chelsea to hear that last bit. Looking on from the bed, she scoffs lightly before she chuckles and shakes her head. Cole can’t help but giggle. Johnny gives him another kiss on top of his head before turning on the nightlight and leaving back to Chelsea. He says those dreaded words.
Johnny: “So. We have to talk.”
Chelsea: “Yes. We do.”
They can both hear another yawn from Cole. Swinging her legs around, Chelsea touches the floor with her stockings-covered feet and rises up from the bed.
Chelsea: “Let’s go downstairs. Cole won’t be able to sleep if we’re talking…”
She gives Johnny a certain look.
Chelsea: “...and you’re venting.”
Johnny leads the way downstairs to the living room and has a seat in the comfy chair before taking a deep breath. Chelsea decides to sit on the couch across from him, the two of them making eye contact before he speaks.
Johnny: “What happened at that estate wasn’t an accident. I don’t have all the details quite yet, but some real bad shit is going down between Lucif… between Lucy and someone, and it almost killed my children. Lucy even baited these fuckers into attacking where they thought Christian, Jacques, and Penny might be, and they took the bait. Someone actively tried to harm my children. On purpose.”
Johnny stops talking. Just letting Chelsea soak that all in. After thirty-nine years, it is rare to surprise Chelsea… but this has caught her off-guard. Her eyes widen and her body language grows tense, her lips parted and yet no words came out. There are people in the world who kidnap children and do horrible things.
She would know. Her own daughter Rosalyn was kidnapped, threatened, and mentally tortured when she was thirteen. Even Jack Darling, the Eternal Bastard, was terrified. He experienced the Fear only a parent experiences when their child is in danger.
And now Johnny was experiencing it.
Chelsea: “...Lucifer seems to know who this person is. He didn’t tell you, did he? That’s bothering you.”
Johnny knew what Chelsea had been through. That’s why he was hoping against hope she’d understand the decision he had made at that moment.
Johnny: “Chelsea, I...asked Lucy what I could do to help. And I meant it. He told me to...ask if you felt the same way. He has the children… the ACTUAL children somewhere safe and...until he figures out how I can help him, I think we should be there too. You, me, and Cole.”
There was another pause.
Johnny: “Chelsea. I’m terrified.”
That was not something she expected to hear from him. There was raw honesty in his voice, and as she looks to him, she can see he’s actually shaking.
It is the Fear.
She knows that look, and that feeling, all too well. Rosalyn was thirteen. Johnny’s sons, Christian and Jacques, are only seven years old and someone was willing to destroy a house with them inside.
Rising from the couch, she makes her way over to Johnny and kneels down on the floor before him. She takes his hands in hers and squeezes them with gentle firmness.
Chelsea: “...and you’re not alone, Johnny. You’ll never be alone ever again.”
She knows that her granddaughter Izabella is due anytime soon. It could be late tonight, it could be tomorrow, it could be in a couple of days. She really hopes it’s sooner rather than later.
Chelsea: “This Saturday in Atlanta, we’re going with Lucifer and his Children. You, me, and Cole.”
Johnny pulls her hands to his lips and kisses them. He was hoping there’d be relief if she said yes, but there he was again. The hand beckons him into the flames.
And he defiantly swats the hand away…
But he steps into the fire anyway.
At this time, Maricela Reyes is at work. All the while, Martin West has the window open, an ashtray sitting on the windowsill, and has a tape recorder on.
Martin: “When it was almost time for me to be confirmed as a Priest and for my studies under him to end, I told Father McManus I wasn’t ready. I told him I had so many questions I didn’t know the answer to, and he just chuckled and put his hand on my shoulder. He told me ‘The answers are all in the Book, son.’ and that was that. He’s absolutely one hundred percent right about that, but he also wasn’t telling me everything. What he meant by that is that if I had a question, I can open my Bible and I can find a way to justify any answer I come to on my own or decision I make. The answer comes from me and my mind disguises the scripture as the answer. It’s why so many idiots out there can justify homophobia or racism by pointing to one passage when there are hundreds of other passages telling you to love one another, no matter what. Atrocities carried out in the Lord’s name justified by a single passage. We know the answer when we open the pages of that book… and Father McManus told me to find comfort in that, but it does exactly the opposite. We don’t read the Bible. It reads us.”
Martin stops recording and lightly bites his lower lip. He takes a long drag off of his Pall Mall and puts it out in the ashtray before hitting record again.
Martin: “Two days ago, they found Father McManus hung from the ceiling of his Church. When someone called and told me, they said his Bible was open on his lectern. I wish I’d have thought to ask what passage it was open to. I wish I knew what he thought the ‘answer’ he had found was.”
Martin stops the recording for his memoirs and turns a fan on to blow smoke out of the window just as he hears the front door open. It was probably Mari back early from her photoshoot… and that bit of logic doesn’t stop him from reaching into his pocket to slide the fingers of his right hand into brass knuckles.
The door closes, the soft footsteps on the wooden floor grow softer, almost completely quiet. Once Maricela is inside of the living room, she slips out of her laceless Vans and places them on the shoe cubby. The floor of their home is kept cleaner this way.
Maricela: “Martin, I’m home.”
She makes her way into the kitchen, opens the refrigerator, and takes out a bottle of strawberry banana BodyArmor. She didn’t see him in the main section of the living room, so she imagined he was at the window corner. Twisting the cap off, she takes a drink and releases a content sigh.
Maricela: “One more photoshoot done, two more art commissions finished… The finances remain stable.”
Hearing her voice, he removes his hand from his pocket, leaving the brass knuckles in their confines before making his way to the kitchen.
Martin: “Hey there, Bella dama.”
He leans against the frame of the entry to the Kitchen and smiles just looking at her. She looks up to him and returns his smile with her own.
Maricela: “Hola, Padre.”
Walking over to him, she kisses him softly. His taste of cigarettes; her taste of strawberry banana. When the kiss breaks, she looks into his eyes and tilts her head.
Maricela: “You forgot to pop a mint, mi amor.”
Martin: “Apologies, but my gum is all the way over there on the counter and you intercepted me.”
Maricela chuckles softly. Intercepted, indeed. Martin shifts past her, grabs a stick of mint gum from a pack on the kitchen counter and pops a piece in his mouth. He chews.
Martin: “So how was work?”
Maricela: “Progressive. One photoshoot and two art commissions in the books. Wing Wednesday for dinner sounds very tempting.”
She offers him a knowing little smile. Martin smiles back but the smile fades.
Martin: “Talk first. Talk then dinner. There’s something I’ve been...trying to figure out how to talk to you about. About this… about what happened at Xaria’s Estate.”
Martin nervously chews his gum a bit. The incident that took place on the 11th of August… Maricela had a feeling the conversation was going to surface. In actuality, she tried to argue with Lucifer and Xaria about letting Martin see his daughter. He had the right and yet Lucifer believed it was too dangerous. This only made her angry, the fiery Latina lashing out from within.
Maricela: “You… were gone all day on Friday. I was wondering what happened.”
At first, there’s a pause from the Good Shepherd. To recollect his meeting with Lucifer and his ex-wife, the mother of his daughter, on top of the incident was strenuous. Still, he does his best to press on.
Martin: “Well... that attack on the Mansion was no accident. Lucifer has made a powerful enemy and it’s been made clear that enemy will hurt Penny if it means getting to Lucifer. I told Lucifer I’d help him. He agreed. Offered me and you to come to stay somewhere safe where I could see Penny ‘til this is all dealt with. I also punched him in the face at some point… but if I didn’t believe him, I’d have already called Child Protective Services. I’m not going to beg you to come with me… but you know what I would do for my little girl.”
Martin sighs and shakes his head.
Martin: “...apparently, I’d make a deal with the Devil for her.”
Coming from a man of God, that’s rather unheard of. Maricela is stunned in disbelief, nearly dropping her drink. The fact that someone would intentionally rig a house with children inside to blow up was horrifying. She doesn’t want to imagine her nephews in the same situation.
Martin’s daughter was almost murdered that day.
Maricela: “Dios mio…”
She sets the bottle on the kitchen table and immediately hugs her boyfriend tightly. As horrified as she is, her anger is also rising. The Latina blood in her must be bubbling.
Maricela: “We… we have to help. Their enemy is someone who is willing to put the lives of children in danger! We can’t let them get away with this!”
Martin nods in agreement.
Martin: “Well alright then. Let’s pack you a bag. I already got mine ready, and hey…”
Martin kisses Maricela lovingly, his hand on her cheek and one arm around her waist. She connects with his passion, wrapping her arms around his neck and returning the kiss. He doesn’t pull away until she’s been completely and thoroughly kissed. He presses his forehead to hers.
Martin: “Thank you for...understanding. Thank you for being you.”
Her hazel green eyes gaze into his deep brown eyes. She can clearly see how gracious he is, how genuine his emotions are… and how vulnerable he is. Leaning up, she kisses his forehead.
Maricela: “Eres mi luz, Padre. Without you, my world is engulfed in darkness.”
Martin hears her words and thinks. It’s about something he’d been thinking about for a while now.
Martin: “Hey… before we get you all packed up, how about you go put on some sunscreen and some flip flops and we go walk on the beach for a little bit? Not many people out there which is rare for this time of day.”
Hearing his idea, she can’t help but smile.
Maricela: “You had me at ‘walk on the beach’.”
Her smile widens before she dismisses herself to their bedroom in search of the sunscreen and a pair of sandals. While she’s at it, she might as well change out of her work clothes and into something that’s beach appropriate. Martin waits for her in the kitchen, leaning against the counter. He reaches into his pocket.
Not the one with the brass knuckles in it.
He pulls out a small jewelry case and opens it to examine the engagement ring inside. Father McManus was a good man, but when Martin had to figure out what he had to do in regards to this situation with Lucifer…
...and the big question he was about to ask Maricela on the beach…
He didn’t need to look to the Book for answers.
In both cases, he was doing what he felt in his heart was right.
And he knew God would understand that.
It was all that ran through his head.
Hide.
They needed a place to hide.
A place to collect their thoughts and regroup.
No one in history had ever hit them as hard or as personally as Apollyon and Sathanas had. Even when the Resistance with the help of Kelsey Spencer and Rebecca Saint attacked Hell while Dean Matthews hide beneath the robes of a Demon, half dead but still fighting to protect those he loved, it had not been like this.
Half of them were in shock while the other half screamed in a frenzy for vengeance. Blood lust driving them into making decisions which may result in even greater wounds.
They needed a place where Apollyon and Sathanas couldn’t find them, but Lucifer knew inside that those places were so few and far between.
Sathanas knew all the safe houses and Valdemar knew all of Lucifer’s more recent connections. People like Sela, the Kenyon’s...hell, anyone connected to them would be watched carefully now. And then it had hit him.
Returning from the meeting with Martin West and Johnny Maverick the Children crossed the threshold of the house sitting just off the Illinois side of Lake Michigan. The house was a beautiful two story ranch style house sitting just off the water.
When they arrived Lucifer shifted his direction and headed instead toward the water. Xaria glanced after him, but did not follow when she saw red haired woman standing by the water looking out over the surface. She’d given them space, disappearing quietly while they settled in.
Kasey Summers.
The owner of the home and a friend of Lucifer’s. She would have questions and Xaria knew it.
Lucifer approached with his hands folded behind him at the wrist and the long coat flowing gently in the early fall breeze coming off the lake. He came to a stop beside her, reaching up long enough to remove the glasses with the inverted cross on each lens before crossing his arms behind his back once again.
Lucifer: “I cannot thank you enough for this Kasey.”
Kasey Summers: “What happened exactly Mic….”
Seeing the faint little tightening around his eyes was enough to warn the pretty redhead and she corrected herself, an embarrassed flush coming over her cheeks.
Kasey Summers: “...Lucifer. What happened?”
Lucifer paused and stared out at the water letting his mind go back to where all of this had begun.
Lucifer: “One of my Demons has gone rogue. Taken documents and funds from the Children and started his own movement. Even gone as far as to name himself, the new Lucifer.”
Kasey Summers: “That doesn’t sound good…”
Lucifer: “It gets worse.”
Lucifer drew in a deep breath and let it out through his nose.
Lucifer: “He’s recruited my first disciple. He helped design all of our tactics. Our equipment. All of it. Everything we do, he knows it’s coming.”
Kasey Summers: “So you have a civil war within your group?”
Lucifer: “Something like that.”
There was silence between the pair for a moment and he knew, somewhere inside, that he couldn’t hide the truth from her. Not after she had taken the risk of giving them a place to lay low and hide. She deserved better. To know the danger she was in.
Lucifer: “They came after men who attacked one of my Angels, Maiko Adachi and destroyed the farmhouse we were using as a base. An explosion of some kind. We tracked Sathanas to a place in Kansas he was using as a base of operations and stormed it in force. He escaped and….they blew up the Harbinger’s home in Malibu in retaliation, hoping we would be inside.”
Slowly Kasey’s eyes widened in shock as her mind went back to the news of an explosion at a home in Malibu a few weeks back.
Kasey Summers: “That was you?!”
Lucifer gave a small nod, keeping his eyes out on the water beyond them.
Kasey Summers: “I heard it was some kind of accident. A gas main leak? And there were children inside?”
Lucifer: “....Correct. Me and Zachary…”
Kasey Summers: “Zachary?”
Lucifer motioned back toward the house over his shoulder.
Lucifer: “The tall one with blonde hair and hints of a beard. I got advanced warning about the blast. He and I were able to get the children out…”
Kasey Summers: “So what now? You all can’t stay here forever if you’re fighting a war, Lucifer. I mean, my housemate’s in California right now, but I think he might be a little pissed off if I’m letting the place be ground zero for...”
Kasey suddenly paused and looked back at the house, a confused expression crossing her pretty face.
Kasey Summers: “You saved the children? Where are they? You didn’t bring any kids with you.”
Lucifer smiled a happy, even content smile and shook his head.
Lucifer: “No, I sent them with my Sons, Ananiel and Ramiel, and daughters Sariel and Ani somewhere safe. Somewhere no one could ever find them.”
Kasey Summers: “Safer than here?”
Lucifer: “Hell.”
Kasey was enough of a friend to know that he didn’t mean the literal biblical Hell. Hell was a physical location that was somewhere in the country. Impossible to find, even harder to infiltrate. Another confused expression crossed her face.
Kasey Summers: “I thought that was compromised? Didn’t you tell me you and that big guy destroyed it fighting one one another a few years ago?”
Lucifer: “The original was destroyed. I am building another.”
Kasey Summers: “Why not just take everyone there?”
Lucifer shook his head gently and glanced back at the house.
Lucifer: “It’s not ready yet and they’d want to take it upon themselves to finish it. To work through the days and nights to make our home...whole. I need them focused, strong.”
Kasey looked over at him, reading the lines in his face and the tone in his voice. Something he never showed anyone inside that house. None of his Children and not his Harbinger.
Kasey Summers: “...You’re scared….”
Lucifer didn’t even look back at her.
Lucifer: “I don’t think I can beat him. Sathanas is ...I don’t think I can stop him ...”
Before Kasey could respond, Lucifer reached up and patted her on the side of the head, thanked her one final time for giving his Children a safe place to regroup and turned, heading into the house.
When he neared the door it swung open to reveal the Harbinger who held a cell phone in her right hand, which she immediately reached out to him.
Xaria: "William..."
Lucifer lifted a brow wondering what in the world the Jester could want with him right now as he took the phone and raised it to his head.
Lucifer: "Yes....Now isn't the best....yeah...fine. I'll be there soon...."
Xaria shot a concerned look at her Lord as he snapped the phone closed and held it out to her.
Lucifer: "He needs to see me in person, now."
Xaria: "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
Lucifer: "No, but I'm not about to turn my back on an ally now. Not after one opened her home to us."
Xaria: "...."
~[
Chelsea Pryce Residence
The Upper Echelon of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
8:00 PM
August 19th, 2019
]~
Chelsea Pryce Residence
The Upper Echelon of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
8:00 PM
August 19th, 2019
]~
He turns off his phone and sets it aside. It was clear to him that his emotions were too… wonky for him to have a public forum to voice them. He lays down and his eyes close. The moment his mind starts to drift, he sees an explosion. An explosion he wasn’t there for.
There was a lot he wasn’t there for.
He had to make that right.
In the fire of the explosion, he sees the face of the man who made all of this so complicated. The sower of every seed of doubt in the mind of Johnathan Fitzsimmons.
He told him his true name was Josiah. Josiah who became King after the death of his father. He was supposed to be like his father. Cold. Brutal.
A Demon.
He’d been running from it for so long and now...now it was right at his doorstep.
A hand beckoning him toward the flames.
His eyes and the door both open at once.
Into the master bedroom, a little boy, three-years-old with medium-length chocolate brown hair and green eyes, approaches the bed. He uses the storage bench at the foot of the bed to climb up onto the bed and crawl his way over to--
Cole: “Johnny!”
The hug he gives Johnny is imminent and unavoidable.
Entering the room after him is a woman in a green dress and a pair of black and green thigh-high stockings. Her blonde hair lightly dances around her as she moves towards the boys. She looks at her son and shakes her head.
Chelsea: “You’re supposed to be in bed, little one.”
Cole: “I am in bed.”
He looks back to his mother with a giddy smile on his face, knowing this isn’t actually his bed. Chelsea chuckles before she climbs onto the bed and embraces not only Cole but Johnny as well.
Chelsea: “Boys will be boys…”
Johnny smiles at both of them, placing a kiss on top of each of their heads.
Johnny: “You see, you think you got your mom on a technicality, but technicalities don’t work on moms. They have more of a ‘what I say goes’ vibe, but in your case, you got off for being cute… I use the same strategy all the time.”
Johnny reaches out and strokes Chelsea’s face.
Johnny: “It works. On occasion.”
Her lips curl to form a half-smirk and she leans down, kissing the top of Cole’s head. Then she tilts her head up and kisses Johnny on the lips.
Chelsea: “You can’t hide anything from me.”
She looks back down at her son and a soft sigh escapes her.
Chelsea: “Three-years-old… and you look far too much like your father.”
Cole wasn’t Johnny’s. His father is Chelsea’s ex-husband, “Howlin’ Mad” Murdock of wrestling fame. Even now, he’s still training students at the Knoxville Wrestling Institute, but he always has time for their son.
But Chelsea knows that’s not the point. When she looks up to Johnny again, a frown crosses her face.
Chelsea: “Kids can detect human emotions very well. Cole came in here, already knowing you were sad.”
Johnny: “I’m… a lot of things right now after...well…”
The hand beckons from the flames. He shakes his head.
Johnny: “...what happened.”
Instinctively, he clutches Cole a little tighter. The little boy feels the clutch and looks up to Johnny. His green eyes shimmer softly.
Cole: “Johnny…?”
Of course, her son doesn’t know what happened. Chelsea, however, is aware of the terrifying situation in Malibu at Xaria Linette’s house on the 11th. The news reports all say the same thing: a gas leak within the estate that resulted in the explosion.
Johnny’s twin sons were inside the house.
However, before the explosion, they were saved by Trenton Modeling Industries Talent Director and top model, Zachary Sears. She’s known him since he was an eighth-grader. How far he’s come since then.
Chelsea: “Johnny…”
Her focus returns to her boyfriend, reaching up and placing a hand on the side of his face.
Chelsea: “...you haven’t told me what happened when you and Martin met Lucifer and Xaria. It’s been three days.”
Johnny stands, picking Cole up as he does so.
Johnny: “Come on, squirt. Let’s get you to bed okay? Your mom and I need to have a grown-up talk, and if you hear it, you’ll get so bored YOU will become more boring as a result. Wouldn’t want that to happen.”
Johnny carries Cole to his room and gets him tucked into his convertible crib. Right on cue, the boy does let out a sleepy yawn.
Cole: “Otayyy…”
Johnny: “Goodnight, squirt. We got a long day of watching cartoons and tormenting your mother with our impossible charm tomorrow and we need rest for that.”
Johnny, of course, waited for Chelsea to hear that last bit. Looking on from the bed, she scoffs lightly before she chuckles and shakes her head. Cole can’t help but giggle. Johnny gives him another kiss on top of his head before turning on the nightlight and leaving back to Chelsea. He says those dreaded words.
Johnny: “So. We have to talk.”
Chelsea: “Yes. We do.”
They can both hear another yawn from Cole. Swinging her legs around, Chelsea touches the floor with her stockings-covered feet and rises up from the bed.
Chelsea: “Let’s go downstairs. Cole won’t be able to sleep if we’re talking…”
She gives Johnny a certain look.
Chelsea: “...and you’re venting.”
Johnny leads the way downstairs to the living room and has a seat in the comfy chair before taking a deep breath. Chelsea decides to sit on the couch across from him, the two of them making eye contact before he speaks.
Johnny: “What happened at that estate wasn’t an accident. I don’t have all the details quite yet, but some real bad shit is going down between Lucif… between Lucy and someone, and it almost killed my children. Lucy even baited these fuckers into attacking where they thought Christian, Jacques, and Penny might be, and they took the bait. Someone actively tried to harm my children. On purpose.”
Johnny stops talking. Just letting Chelsea soak that all in. After thirty-nine years, it is rare to surprise Chelsea… but this has caught her off-guard. Her eyes widen and her body language grows tense, her lips parted and yet no words came out. There are people in the world who kidnap children and do horrible things.
She would know. Her own daughter Rosalyn was kidnapped, threatened, and mentally tortured when she was thirteen. Even Jack Darling, the Eternal Bastard, was terrified. He experienced the Fear only a parent experiences when their child is in danger.
And now Johnny was experiencing it.
Chelsea: “...Lucifer seems to know who this person is. He didn’t tell you, did he? That’s bothering you.”
Johnny knew what Chelsea had been through. That’s why he was hoping against hope she’d understand the decision he had made at that moment.
Johnny: “Chelsea, I...asked Lucy what I could do to help. And I meant it. He told me to...ask if you felt the same way. He has the children… the ACTUAL children somewhere safe and...until he figures out how I can help him, I think we should be there too. You, me, and Cole.”
There was another pause.
Johnny: “Chelsea. I’m terrified.”
That was not something she expected to hear from him. There was raw honesty in his voice, and as she looks to him, she can see he’s actually shaking.
It is the Fear.
She knows that look, and that feeling, all too well. Rosalyn was thirteen. Johnny’s sons, Christian and Jacques, are only seven years old and someone was willing to destroy a house with them inside.
Rising from the couch, she makes her way over to Johnny and kneels down on the floor before him. She takes his hands in hers and squeezes them with gentle firmness.
Chelsea: “...and you’re not alone, Johnny. You’ll never be alone ever again.”
She knows that her granddaughter Izabella is due anytime soon. It could be late tonight, it could be tomorrow, it could be in a couple of days. She really hopes it’s sooner rather than later.
Chelsea: “This Saturday in Atlanta, we’re going with Lucifer and his Children. You, me, and Cole.”
Johnny pulls her hands to his lips and kisses them. He was hoping there’d be relief if she said yes, but there he was again. The hand beckons him into the flames.
And he defiantly swats the hand away…
But he steps into the fire anyway.
~[
Martin & Maricela’s Apartment
Malibu, California
2:30 PM
August 21st, 2019
]~
Martin & Maricela’s Apartment
Malibu, California
2:30 PM
August 21st, 2019
]~
At this time, Maricela Reyes is at work. All the while, Martin West has the window open, an ashtray sitting on the windowsill, and has a tape recorder on.
Martin: “When it was almost time for me to be confirmed as a Priest and for my studies under him to end, I told Father McManus I wasn’t ready. I told him I had so many questions I didn’t know the answer to, and he just chuckled and put his hand on my shoulder. He told me ‘The answers are all in the Book, son.’ and that was that. He’s absolutely one hundred percent right about that, but he also wasn’t telling me everything. What he meant by that is that if I had a question, I can open my Bible and I can find a way to justify any answer I come to on my own or decision I make. The answer comes from me and my mind disguises the scripture as the answer. It’s why so many idiots out there can justify homophobia or racism by pointing to one passage when there are hundreds of other passages telling you to love one another, no matter what. Atrocities carried out in the Lord’s name justified by a single passage. We know the answer when we open the pages of that book… and Father McManus told me to find comfort in that, but it does exactly the opposite. We don’t read the Bible. It reads us.”
Martin stops recording and lightly bites his lower lip. He takes a long drag off of his Pall Mall and puts it out in the ashtray before hitting record again.
Martin: “Two days ago, they found Father McManus hung from the ceiling of his Church. When someone called and told me, they said his Bible was open on his lectern. I wish I’d have thought to ask what passage it was open to. I wish I knew what he thought the ‘answer’ he had found was.”
Martin stops the recording for his memoirs and turns a fan on to blow smoke out of the window just as he hears the front door open. It was probably Mari back early from her photoshoot… and that bit of logic doesn’t stop him from reaching into his pocket to slide the fingers of his right hand into brass knuckles.
The door closes, the soft footsteps on the wooden floor grow softer, almost completely quiet. Once Maricela is inside of the living room, she slips out of her laceless Vans and places them on the shoe cubby. The floor of their home is kept cleaner this way.
Maricela: “Martin, I’m home.”
She makes her way into the kitchen, opens the refrigerator, and takes out a bottle of strawberry banana BodyArmor. She didn’t see him in the main section of the living room, so she imagined he was at the window corner. Twisting the cap off, she takes a drink and releases a content sigh.
Maricela: “One more photoshoot done, two more art commissions finished… The finances remain stable.”
Hearing her voice, he removes his hand from his pocket, leaving the brass knuckles in their confines before making his way to the kitchen.
Martin: “Hey there, Bella dama.”
He leans against the frame of the entry to the Kitchen and smiles just looking at her. She looks up to him and returns his smile with her own.
Maricela: “Hola, Padre.”
Walking over to him, she kisses him softly. His taste of cigarettes; her taste of strawberry banana. When the kiss breaks, she looks into his eyes and tilts her head.
Maricela: “You forgot to pop a mint, mi amor.”
Martin: “Apologies, but my gum is all the way over there on the counter and you intercepted me.”
Maricela chuckles softly. Intercepted, indeed. Martin shifts past her, grabs a stick of mint gum from a pack on the kitchen counter and pops a piece in his mouth. He chews.
Martin: “So how was work?”
Maricela: “Progressive. One photoshoot and two art commissions in the books. Wing Wednesday for dinner sounds very tempting.”
She offers him a knowing little smile. Martin smiles back but the smile fades.
Martin: “Talk first. Talk then dinner. There’s something I’ve been...trying to figure out how to talk to you about. About this… about what happened at Xaria’s Estate.”
Martin nervously chews his gum a bit. The incident that took place on the 11th of August… Maricela had a feeling the conversation was going to surface. In actuality, she tried to argue with Lucifer and Xaria about letting Martin see his daughter. He had the right and yet Lucifer believed it was too dangerous. This only made her angry, the fiery Latina lashing out from within.
Maricela: “You… were gone all day on Friday. I was wondering what happened.”
At first, there’s a pause from the Good Shepherd. To recollect his meeting with Lucifer and his ex-wife, the mother of his daughter, on top of the incident was strenuous. Still, he does his best to press on.
Martin: “Well... that attack on the Mansion was no accident. Lucifer has made a powerful enemy and it’s been made clear that enemy will hurt Penny if it means getting to Lucifer. I told Lucifer I’d help him. He agreed. Offered me and you to come to stay somewhere safe where I could see Penny ‘til this is all dealt with. I also punched him in the face at some point… but if I didn’t believe him, I’d have already called Child Protective Services. I’m not going to beg you to come with me… but you know what I would do for my little girl.”
Martin sighs and shakes his head.
Martin: “...apparently, I’d make a deal with the Devil for her.”
Coming from a man of God, that’s rather unheard of. Maricela is stunned in disbelief, nearly dropping her drink. The fact that someone would intentionally rig a house with children inside to blow up was horrifying. She doesn’t want to imagine her nephews in the same situation.
Martin’s daughter was almost murdered that day.
Maricela: “Dios mio…”
She sets the bottle on the kitchen table and immediately hugs her boyfriend tightly. As horrified as she is, her anger is also rising. The Latina blood in her must be bubbling.
Maricela: “We… we have to help. Their enemy is someone who is willing to put the lives of children in danger! We can’t let them get away with this!”
Martin nods in agreement.
Martin: “Well alright then. Let’s pack you a bag. I already got mine ready, and hey…”
Martin kisses Maricela lovingly, his hand on her cheek and one arm around her waist. She connects with his passion, wrapping her arms around his neck and returning the kiss. He doesn’t pull away until she’s been completely and thoroughly kissed. He presses his forehead to hers.
Martin: “Thank you for...understanding. Thank you for being you.”
Her hazel green eyes gaze into his deep brown eyes. She can clearly see how gracious he is, how genuine his emotions are… and how vulnerable he is. Leaning up, she kisses his forehead.
Maricela: “Eres mi luz, Padre. Without you, my world is engulfed in darkness.”
Martin hears her words and thinks. It’s about something he’d been thinking about for a while now.
Martin: “Hey… before we get you all packed up, how about you go put on some sunscreen and some flip flops and we go walk on the beach for a little bit? Not many people out there which is rare for this time of day.”
Hearing his idea, she can’t help but smile.
Maricela: “You had me at ‘walk on the beach’.”
Her smile widens before she dismisses herself to their bedroom in search of the sunscreen and a pair of sandals. While she’s at it, she might as well change out of her work clothes and into something that’s beach appropriate. Martin waits for her in the kitchen, leaning against the counter. He reaches into his pocket.
Not the one with the brass knuckles in it.
He pulls out a small jewelry case and opens it to examine the engagement ring inside. Father McManus was a good man, but when Martin had to figure out what he had to do in regards to this situation with Lucifer…
...and the big question he was about to ask Maricela on the beach…
He didn’t need to look to the Book for answers.
In both cases, he was doing what he felt in his heart was right.
And he knew God would understand that.
