Caught in the Fire

Chapter XVII: Rotten Inside

"Delilah?"

Before Lucifer stood a beautiful woman with blonde hair, heavy eyeliner, and black nail polish. She was wearing a short black dress adorned with sequins, assorted jewelry, a gold watch, and a white fur jacket. Her smile brightened his day, as it often did.

"Of course I remember you," he replied with a sad smile, "How could I forget? You were once my brightest star."

He remembered the countless times he played the piano and Delilah sang by his side, captivating everyone at Lux. He remembered her terrible taste in men, like when she said that homeless man with the turtlenecks and tweed jackets who frequented Lux for a year was cute. Then she made a deal with him to become famous, and she unfortunately met her untimely end.

"I'm so sorry, Delilah," Lucifer said from the heart, "I wish I hadn't meddled in your life."

"Everything went downhill for me." She hanged her head, closing her eyes in pain, "Oh, God, I'm a mess." She hid her face behind one hand. "I guess I really did sell my soul to the Devil after all."

"No, I never wanted your soul, Delilah," Lucifer said, pained at hearing those words coming from her, "I only wanted you to turn your life around. All I ever wanted was for you to be happy."

"It's too late for that," Delilah bemoaned, "Now I'm in Hell with my killer, reliving my death, over and over. There's nothing I can do to avoid it. I've tried everything, but I always end up dying. I'm trapped. I can never escape."

"I know how you feel," Cain said, glaring in Lucifer's general direction.

"Help me, Lucifer." Delilah held on to Lucifer's lapels in desperation, looking pleadingly into his eyes. "Get me out of here, please! I'm going to get it together. I promise. Just let me out of here!"

Lucifer looked at her for a moment with a somber expression, and then he looked away and closed his eyes in pain, thinking about how it was too late for her. She had been murdered in the prime of her life, full of guilt, unable to turn her life around. He wanted to tell her that everything would be all right, but he couldn't lie to her.

"Delilah, your guilt is keeping you here," he said with great sadness, "These are Dad's rules. I... I'm sorry."

Delilah let go of his jacket and stepped back, cupping her mouth, her eyes filling with tears. "There's no hope for me," she said, tearfully. She buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking with emotion, and then she ran to the exit.

"Delilah!" Lucifer watched her go, and then he collapsed at the piano, his head in his hands, feeling that guilt consuming him again.

"I guess putting the victims and their killers together has been the modus operandi of your demons since you abdicated your throne," Cain said, "And you're just going to leave her like this?"

"I can't help her," he answered miserably, "She needs to get herself out of here, just like every other damned soul in Hell." He buried his face in his hands. "I didn't make the rules, Cain!"

"Maybe you didn't make the rules, but you caused all this by corrupting my mother, and then by abdicating your throne."

"No. No, this is Dad's fault," Lucifer said, desperately, "How could He expect me to rule Hell until the end of time? I had a life to live, too, and He took that from me!"

"What about her life? Or afterlife, for that matter? How long has Delilah been here, trapped with her killer? Let's see, if each day on Earth is three hundred years in Hell, then you multiply the number of days in a year by three hundred, then you multiply by..."

"I know exactly how long it's been, Cain!"

Lucifer thought about the torment of damned souls, suffering unjustly after his abdication, for thousands upon thousands of years. He wondered how all those other souls were dealing with being chained together, sometimes with the worst of humanity, like that poor art critic who was stuck with Hitler. And Delilah... Who knew what she was going through with her killer?