Bloodflood

06

I didn't move. Pack your things? You're coming home? Who the fuck was you?

I raised an eyebrow. "You're talking to Felicity, right?"

He chuckled slightly, giving me a soft shake of his head. "Not at all. However, her assignment was to watch over you and now her job here is done. She has to come home either way."

"This," I gestured to the apartment around me, "is my home. You can all leave. Felicity included. I want nothing to do with any of you."

Felicity's doe eyes widened even more. Her look was pleading, desperate. But I was fucking angry. And I was even angrier at myself for feeling guilty as I saw her lip trembling. She was going to cry. I didn't like to make anyone cry. Especially not someone I loved. I looked away from her sharply, focusing my attention back on Azazel as he began to speak.

"Felicity took care of you. She made sure you didn't get in any harm or danger. And if you did, well, she would have protected you. What are you so upset about?" Azazel asked me, raising an eyebrow.

"What am I so upset about?" I scoffed incredulously. He couldn't be serious. Not a chance in hell. "I thought she was my friend. I trusted her and she betrayed me. Don't pretend like you did me any favors or that I should be grateful for being lied to," I hissed. "And you? I don't want to be your soulmate. You have to be delusional if you thought I would just stop everything for you. Did you think I'd rejoice in happiness? I don't give a fuck about being your soulmate, Azazel. Get out."

My chest heaved up and down once silence fell over us. I hadn't even had a moment to breathe through all of my rambling. My thoughts had been racing and the more he spoke to me like this was normal, the more it frustrated me. He was a stranger to me just as I was a stranger to him. And he was demanding I give up my entire life to go wherever home was with him. Home, I could only assume, was a place not on earth. And I did not want to find out for myself.

Naamah, seated in the middle of Azazel and Felicity, smiled up at me. "I like you very much."

Azazel, however, didn't look impressed in the slightest. But he didn't exactly look angry either. His lips were taut and pressed into a fine line, jaw tight, but his eyes were vacant, soulless almost. It was hard to read him. "My father will come looking for you, Lilo. And he won't be forgiving."

I paused for a second, allowing what he said to register. I wanted to remain stoic but I couldn't. A chill ran up my spine and flooded my senses. An eerie feeling settled in my stomach at the single mention of his father, Lucifer. I quickly tried my best to regain my composure. "Is that a threat?"

"It is most certainly a promise," he said. "But my father doesn't need to get involved here. I want you to come on your own accord."

"Why would I do that?" I raised an eyebrow, crossing my arms. "Why do you think that I'll give you anything that you want?"

"Please, Lilo," I heard Felicity plead softly. I looked over at her, trying to maintain my firm composure. "I know this is a lot to take in right now. I'm sorry that I betrayed your trust...I never wanted to hurt you. You're still my best friend," she swallowed heavily, her voice failing to remain steady as emotion overtook her. "I don't want to lose you. I love you..."

I sighed. I felt myself softening. My empathy would be my demise. I was aware of that. But having known Felicity my entire life, I found it difficult to be harsh with her or to just let her go. She was the most genuine person that I had ever known. No one could fake that. Or maybe I was being naive. She was a demon after all. Demons were known for their treachery and deceit.

However, I still felt as though I knew her. Even if I didn't, I had grown to know someone over my lifetime that I shared a very deep bond with. And she knew me better than anyone else. I still trusted her judgment and her words even though I knew it was probably stupid of me. I was hurt, extremely hurt. I felt shaken to the core, like my whole world was crashing and burning around me. But I wanted to believe her even though the other half of me was telling me to run far away from here and to never look back.

I loved and trusted Felicity with everything in me. We had built a bond that wasn't malleable. She supported me through everything. She knew me in a way that no one else had. If I lost her, I lost everything. I wanted to throw it away but I couldn't. I loved her. And if there was one thing I knew about Felicity it was that she couldn't fake things. So everything that I had gotten from her was very much real. Even if I wasn't so ready to forgive her for withholding that from me.

She wasn't pleading with me for him but rather for herself.

I looked to Azazel again, swallowing. "Home is hell, isn't it?" He nodded his head in confirmation, toying with a silver band on his pinky finger. I took a deep breath. I was hoping that I was wrong about it being Hell. Well, fuck me. A wave of anxiety washed over me. "And if I go...Is there no way of me ever returning to earth? I can't do that to my dad."

My dad lived in another state. He remarried a few years after my mother passed away and created a whole new life for himself. He wasn't worried about his financially independent and adult daughter. He had two new children to take care of. We barely spoke anymore. I wasn't even sure if he'd notice I was missing. He probably wouldn't.

The sad reality dawned on me. There was absolutely nothing keeping me here. No one would really notice that I was gone. My dad was just an excuse. But I felt a little better that I wouldn't be confined to hell for the rest of eternity. At least some sort of normalcy still remained.

"You can return as often as you would like," he informed me. "I'm not interested in limiting your freedom. I am solely interested in bringing you home with me."

"And how can I be so sure that you'll stick to your word?" I asked.

I'd be stupid to trust him blindly.

"I am many things but I am not a liar. I gain nothing from trying to deceive you."

I clenched my jaw tight, looking Azazel straight in the eye. "If I go, I'm only going for her. And I expect to be able to come and go as freely as you say I can."

"I am a man of my word, Lilo."

"And how do I know that you're not deceiving me? You are Lucifer's son after all."

He rolled his eyes. "I almost forgot that you were raised Catholic. They're still telling tall tales about my father, aren't they?"

"Still?" Namah laughed. "Lucifer will always be known as a menace here. The bible's made sure of that." She looked at me. "Hell is beautiful. And it's hot all year 'round. You'll never want to leave. It's much better than this..." she grimaced slightly, "planet you humans inhabit."

I felt unsettled. I would actually be going to hell. After joking that I was probably going to hell for the countless sins I've committed, I was seriously going to hell. This certainly wasn't the way that I had envisioned I was going to hell. Everything was happening so quickly that I felt I had whiplash. I couldn't keep up. In just a few hours, my whole world flipped upside down. Hell was real, my best friend was actually a demon, I was the soulmate of Lucifer, and now I had to leave earth. I needed to sit down.

"So you will be joining us then, Lilo?" Azazel asked.

I let out a small, begrudging breath, "Yes. But I don't think you should get your hopes up about this soulmate thing. I have absolutely no desire to fall in love with you or be by your side. As I said, I am going for Felicity only."

His lips curved into a soft smile. "Okay, Lilo."

"Why are you smiling?" I asked in annoyance.

He was far too smug for my liking. It was infuriating. I didn't fall in love. I've tried. I wasn't capable of loving someone romantically. And even if I was, he would be the absolute last person I wanted to be with. I was not into cocky men and he reeked of narcissism.

"Because you've agreed to come home, is all. My, my. You're rather defensive, Lilo. Is it because you're afraid you'll fall in love with me? Do you fear submission?"

I clenched my fists tightly. "I will never submit to you."

He merely hummed. "Is that so?"

I nodded without hesitation, crossing my arms firmly. "Very much so."

I felt a small hand wrap around my elbow, ushering me away from him.

Felicity looked between Azazel and me before her eyes settled on me. "Let's go pack."