Timeless

Chapter Five

"There are darknesses in life and there are lights, and you are one of the lights, the light of all lights."
~Bram Stroker, Dracula

Years passed and Jael's life ended up being one unfortunate event after another, something she found rather comedic than anything. It was ironic to her, something she was slowly getting used to; God was punishing her for the sins of her father.

At the age of ten, her brother enlisted in the Marines, serving five years total. He also married Alice, a woman he had attended high school with, eloping at the court house the night before he was shipped off for his first tour. It was a letter home that was the final strike against him, in his father's eyes. Josh had cut off his practically nonexistent Christian ties in exchange for Wicca, a religion he had been studying since meeting Alice their freshman year of high school, whom had introduced him to it. He continued to keep in touch with both of his sisters, but there was nothing left between the father and son.

At the age of thirteen, her sister graduated from high school three months pregnant; the father the stereotypical deadbeat teen. Delilah bailed out on Jael with a sigh and an apologetic hug late one night. She left and moved into an apartment downtown near the local technical college. She bore a daughter, named Bella, and studied for her finals during labor taxing hours of labor. The father of the baby was no where in sight. Michael did not even attend the birth of his first grandchild; Jael, on the other hand, made sure she was there - as was Alice.

At the age of fifteen, Jael was kicked out of Wesley Christian Academy after a slew of disciplinary actions and run-ins with local law enforcement; she had fallen into a rebellious stage in hopes of gain her father's attention. It was a desperate plea for help. She blatantly shoplifted and vandalized public buildings. Even after an attempt from Michael to sway the decision, she was not allowed to continue her education at the esteemed facility. Instead, her father transferred her to Clifton High, the local public school. She transferred there towards the end of Sophomore year. Rumors spread rapidly, like the cancer of society, and within a week, she was labeled as a troublemaker with daddy issues; something else she found funny, and fitting.

She did, eventually, find a few friends. Aria Duane and Safie Marks, cousins as peculiar as Jael herself. The girls were adopted by a pair of sisters from the same orphanage in India. Their parents - adoptive, not birth - were Jewish. The two Indian-Jews were among the few people that could make Jael laugh anymore. They were easy to be around, and became steady rocks in her life of shifting sand.

Connor was one of the few constants in her life, especially being as both of her siblings were preoccupied with their own families: Josh with Alice and Delilah with baby Bella. He was devastated when she was tossed out of Wesley--that being the only flaw to her plan; he even attempted to convince his parents to let him switch as well, but it was a vain attempt. So he settled on devoting every spare minute of his time to her; he could see how sad she was and it worried him. He called her during lunch and spent more time texting her during classes than actually learning. It was something that drove his parents out of their mind. He was in love with her, obviously, and that too was something his parents frowned upon; she was ornery, they'd said, adding that she wouldn't amount to much if she continued on the course she did.

At the age of sixteen, she had just began her junior year at Clifton High. Her father had hired Maddy, a middle-aged woman with grey streaks in her shoulder-length brown hair and matching grey eyes. She was a nanny - a caregiver, according to Michael - and she had been hired to keep an eye on Jael and to be the parental figure she so obviously lacked. Surprisingly, Jael settled down, falling into a bitter existence. The law enforcement whom she had become so acquainted with, didn't get another call regarding her.

And as she grew in her bigger contempt, Lucifer watched from a distance, bidding his time and falling deeper in love with her. Every mistake she made, every time she slipped up, it reminded him how utterly human she was, and how much he truly loved her. The glint in her eyes sent his nonexistent heart racing, and the curves her body developed made him ache with lust.

In reality, Hell was a human creation, a concept, yet it existed nonetheless. Despite common belief, it was not a pit of eternal flames, at least not the whole thing. There was indeed the Seventh Ring, where the true sinners are cast, but despite that, it's starkly similar to Earth. There is no path paved with skulls, nor do the damned scream eternally. They merely exist.

In fact, the idea that Hell was "below" was a myth all its own. Hell was on Earth and it feasted on the despair and greed of the world. The dead walked among the living, the damned among the breathing, yet there was a barrier, a thin, invisible thing that kept chaos from ensuing. The thin wall was called the Gate and without the Key, something only Lucifer - or the Creator - could use, the Gate could not be opened. Maxine kept the Key, though she herself could not use it. The Seven - aside from a few daemons who'd squeezed through over time - were the only damned visible by the living society.

Everyone respected the barrier, that is everyone except Hell's most notorious damned: Maxine. She was cast out, along with the Seven. Maxine was the only female daemon of the Seven, the others brutish, beta makes, aside from Lucifer. She was a spitfire with black locks that fell down her back in waves, and eyes the color of the night itself.

Unlike Lucifer, she refused to accept her fate. She was an angry girl and her dark hair and eyes now matched her dark wings. Still, Lucifer saw something in her - perhaps he was being naive - and he made her Keeper of the Gate, and of the Key. She was his second in command, a dutiful soldier with her own nefarious ploys.

In the months leading up to Jael coming of age - turning seventeen - Lucifer took it upon himself to make friends with Connor as a way to ease himself into the girl's life. It would be easier to get to know her, to be close to her. He needed to be near her; the yearning he felt was becoming all too real - it consumed his every waking thought.

Connor's family owned the local pet store and a chain of several in a few nearby towns. He worked there three afternoons a week and on Sundays; it was something he actually rather enjoyed despite the pungent smell of animal that lingered with him through the week. Lucifer, of course, took advantage of the set up. He frequented the store, stocking up on fish food and supplies for his dog; pets he bought purely to frequent the shop. After several visits, he struck a conversation with the boy about the weather - as lame as it sounds - but one thing led to another and their friendship, though formed with ulterior movies, blossomed and the two became close. It was through Connor that Lucifer would finally get to the girl he loved.