Demon ∞ l.h.

∞ Chapter Twenty Two ∞

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After Luke's admission of his past, we sat in silence for several minutes. Unlike Luke who could sit completely unmoving and mute for hours, I could not. It took all of my internal strength to not fidget were I sat curled in to the seat by the fire, or spew out the thousands of other questions floating in my mind.

But it was Luke who finally broke the stillness, his voice quiet and calm – so unlike what I was used to hearing. "If you don't mind, Eve, I do in fact have a few questions of my own..."

My gaze slowly lifted to meet his, my left eyebrow quirked in confusion. "Surely whatever you want to know you already do?"

"Unfortunately, even the King of Hell's powers are limited in their own ways. I hope you do not mind my questions, for they are rather personal..."

"There is no restriction to what you ask me, Luke, but there will be restrictions in the answers I give you." I cheekily quote his own words back to him, and I am surprised to see a hint of a smile playing on his full lips.

"Do not sass me, Miss Eve, for you won't like the punishments should you cross the line." Luke's tone is playful, but I can't help but notice the underlying sense that suggested he was completely kidding.

"Understood, Mr. Lucifer." I gesture with my hand, "Proceed with your questions and queries. I cannot wait to hear what the King of Hell has to ask."

"You are twenty six years of age, yes?" I nod briefly, knowing that this was simply an introduction question to whatever was really on his mind. "The typical contract between a demon and the human is that the human gets whatever they want, so long as they give the demon their soul."

I could tell where this was leading already, and I did not like it at all. Once more I nodded to Luke to show I understood.

"The person selling their soul gets ten years to enjoy their life and whatever they wished for. You, my dear, sold your soul and got ten years for it. That means you sold your precious soul, the things that governs your morals, values and beliefs, at a measly age of sixteen. What in Heaven, Hell and Earth could you have wanted so bad as to sell your soul for when you were only barely beginning to live?"

And there was the million-dollar question. I sad smile worked its way onto my face, and I struggled to swallow the lump building up in the back of my throat. I closed my eyes momentarily, trying to push back the tears threatening to surface.

My lips wobbled with the force of emotions I was feeling. Without looking to Luke I softly ask, "Have you ever been in love, Luke?"

The pause is drawn out a long, but his answer comes loud and clear. "No, I have not. You may see me as the Devil, but I to am an angel. In Heaven, it goes against an angel's nature and order's to feel anything but obedience and reverence to God. I never disobeyed those orders."

"I've been in love." I wiped a tear that had fallen from my one of my eyes. Looking up at Luke the words fall from my lips before I can stop them "I was in love and it was the most beautiful thing in the world, Luke. You couldn't possibly comprehend the true beauty of someone having a piece of your heart, for it is the vulnerability to face when you fall in love that makes it beautiful. The person who holds it has the power to take what you have given them and crush it, or they can hold it, cherish it and return the favour to you.

"And the thing is, is you can't escape the thought of them because every time you go to fall asleep the image of them in burned into the inside of your eyelids, and when you wake the thought of them constantly sits in the back of your mind. I had this love, Luke, and it broke me."

"I don't understand," Luke tilts his head, watching as trails of tears streak continuously down my cheeks and into my lap. "What does this have to do with the selling of your soul?"

"Luke, I lost the person I loved and it shattered me so beyond repair that I fell into depression, I went mute, and I reduced my life to simply existing. It felt wrong for me to enjoy life, to pretend that I was okay when I truly wasn't. I sold my soul because I wasn't willing to let go of the one I loved."

"You brought them back, didn't you?"

"I brought him back from the dead because it was my fault he died in the first place. So I brought back my Michael."

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