Kneel

Case 52

  "Well, I would say that's progress." Linda waved her hand.

  "Doesn't feel like it." I muttered while resting my cheek in my palm as my elbow was on the arm of the couch.

  "No one said progress wasn't painful." She half-shrugged while slightly tilting her head. "What you're going through is difficult, Misha. However, you're handling it rather well. You're aware of the conflict within yourself and are trying to address it."

  "But how am I supposed to know what thoughts are right and which are just....my brain being an asshole?"

  "I think you know the answer to that."

  "Do I? I mean, I'm pretty good at arguing with myself now."

  "Have you tried talking to Lucifer about it?"

  "Not really, but kinda? I just let him know I was trying to work through it."

  "But you did tell him what you were working through?" Linda raised a brow at me, and I nodded.

  "Yeah. He asked me to be honest with him, so I was."

  "See? Progress. I mean, the fact that you're even in a limbo over this shows that you have gained more self-confidence. Before, you would have just fallen into your doubts without question, wouldn't you?" Linda laced her fingers together in her lap while looking at me.

  "Well, I mean....yeah." I shrugged as my gaze drifted to the windows.

  "So, what do you plan to do, then?"

  "I, uh, haven't figured it out yet."

  "Do you even know where you two stand?"

  "No."

  "Maybe you should start there, then."

~

  Sighing through my nose as I dropped my keys and locked the door behind me, I then slid off my jacket. I paused when I felt as if I was being watched before rolling my eyes.

  "I'm not in the mood. It's late, and I'm tired, so whichever of you heathens it is, you gotta stop breaking into my house."

  "Oh, have many break-ins, do you, my dear?" A smooth voice came from the hallway a few yards away from me. My hair stood on end as my expression fell, and fear began to trickle in. "My, my, I was worried you'd forgotten about me. I'm touched you remembered." A tall, lithe person walked out from the shadows while smiling

  That face, so sweet and delicate-looking, held such intense eyes that seemed to look right through me.

  "I've been looking for you, my dear. You've been a rather pesky little thing to track down. You were supposed to be where I left you."

  "....How...."

  "You belong to me. You should have known I would eventually find you. I may have been distracted in the beginning, however, it does take quite some time to find enough feathers." Gremory reached into his coat to pull out a jar that glowed with an ethereal light.

  The living room wasn't so dark now, and I could clearly make out the demon's face. Feminine with gold piercings and tan skin. Long, black hair mostly covered by the brightly colored fabric wrapped around his head.

  He really hadn't aged a day since I last saw him.

  "You look so lost. Do you not remember everything, my dear?" Gremory smiled while looking back at me. "I had to leave you to find angel feathers. I had to collect so many to extract this much divinity from them." Gremory raised the glowing jar in his hand. "And, goodness, it was not easy."