Falling for the Devil

Chapter Two - Luke

"Uhg..." Luke moaned, "stupid school." Every year he was forced to enroll into a new school while he attempted to fall in love. And every year something happened to the girl. Once the girl had disappeared. Twice the girls had broken up with him and run away. Those were the lucky ones. Nine times out of ten the girls had shown up dead. The doctors always came up with reasons for their deaths. Second-hand smoke, a grease fire, heart attack, aneurism, deadly, undetectable cancer.

But Luke knew the truth. When he went to the funerals, every one of the bodies shared one thing in common. They all had a small, black scar behind their left ear in the shape of a six-pointed star. This wasn't just any mark. No, this was the mark of this father, Apollyon. The mark of the Angel of Death.

As soon as he pulled up at the Hell Hole, Luke swung off the back of his black motorcycle and made his way towards the entrance. Once inside he looked around seeking the Admin Office. The entire time he refused to look at anyone, especially not the girls. He refused to condemn anyone else to death. However, he could still hear them. He could still smell them. Soon, they saw Luke and came to him.

"Who are you, Hot Stuff?" the one with the bleached blonde hair and obviously fake boobs asked. She trailed her fingers down his chest, "I'm Marissa. If you ever need some 'friendly' company then come and find me." Luke knew she didn't mean this kindly as if she was offering to show him around school; more likely she just wanted a quickie in the janitor's closet. "See ya soon," Marissa added before she wobbled away on her outlandish high heels.

Luke turned around to continue on his way to the office, but he ran into yet another girl. However, this one seemed to be the complete opposite of the first. She was, in a word, stunning. She had long, almost black hair and bright blue eyes that shone like sapphires. Her eyes had dark green specks that made him want to stare into them for hours on end. No, he would NOT condemn this girl to death. He would NOT let anyone else die because of him. Luke saw her mouth moving and her eyes glaring, but he didn't hear anything the mystery girl was saying.

"Whatever," he muttered pretending to be an ass. She glared once more and leaned over to retrieve her worn out paperback. She stalked off leaving him staring after her. No... no no no no no. NO!! He would NOT fall for her. Sighing, he continued his search for the admin office.

After another ten minutes of searching, he found the office. He walked straight to the desk, "I am a new student. Can I get my schedule?" The forty-year-old lady behind the counter rudely said, "Well then what is your name?" Until that moment she had not looked at him, but when she did she suddenly became nicer and smiled a lot more.

Luke wearily replied, "Luke Aaron Williams." The lady, whom he later found to be named Mrs. Bogamadas, handed him a small package of papers. On the first one, Luke noticed a phone number penciled in on the top right hand corner. "Why won't they leave me alone?" he asked himself. Luke sighed and turned to the second page. It was his schedule. He quickly glanced over it as he hurried out of the room.

1) AP English Literature

2) AP Biology

3) AP Art

4) Lunch

5) AP Calculus

6) AP United States History

7) AP Latin

Joy. All advanced placement courses. He wasn't worried about failing or having bad grades. There was no reason to worry. He was there when Emily Bronte stunned the world with Wuthering Heights. He witnessed Robert Hooke looking into a microscope to see cells for the first time in history. He was the one who gave de Vinci lessons as a child. Pythagoras would not have discovered his famous theorem without his help. Luke was one of the first settlers to arrive in Jamestown. He spoke Latin like a Roman, partially because it was he who assisted Caesar in political affairs.

He had been taking the same classes for the past three hundred ninety nine years. Three hundred ninety nine girls dead. This year's girl would have made four hundred, but Luke had given up. For every hundred mortal years, Luke's body aged one year. This year would make him appear to be eighteen years old. This was the year he would inherit the family business. There was no point in even trying to resist the inevitable.

Room 109. Room 111. Room 113. Finally. After taking a deep breath, Luke walked into the classroom. A thirty or so year old lady smiled at him as he entered. But not in a creepy, "take me" kind of way. Then the lady, who he assumed to be Mrs. Fields, said, "Class, this is Luke Williams. He's a transfer student from Austin, Texas. I'm sure that all of you will make his welcome here in Tennessee." She paused for a moment and then continued, "Okay everyone, I arrange my classroom alphabetically. So, everyone stand up and come to the front of the room."

The whole class groaned, but Luke did not care. He did not know anyone, so he did not care who he sat with. "Margaret Bones and Hannah Boone." Mrs. Field's voice droned on, "Mary Smith and Matthew Stewart. James Tonks and Adam Ukens. And finally, in the last table in the back left corner, Luke Williams and Elizabeth Wylkerson." Without looking at the girl, Luke walked to his table and sat down. Mrs. Fields asked, "Is there anybody who goes by a different name than what is on my roster?" Several students called out requests, "I go by Nicky."

"I prefer Mary Ann."

"Can I please go by Matt?"

Then the sweetest, bell-like voice spoke, "Mrs. Fields, I go by Ell not Elizabeth." It had come from next to him. He looked over and was shocked to find that it was the same girl he had run into and been so rude to before. How had he been so rude to such a beautiful creature? He could not stop staring at her. Luke vaguely heard something about partners, questionnaires, and research papers, but did not think anything of it until a paper was placed at his spot. Then she spoke again. He almost moaned but was able to rein it in at the last second. "Did you have a job over the summer?" she asked in her honey sweet voice. Luke knew that under no circumstances could he fall in love for Elizabeth Wylkerson. He had to be rude to her yet again. "Yes," he replied almost without thinking. Ell looked at Luke as if he was dumb as a sack of hammers. "What did you do?" she asked in a slow voice.

Shit, shit, shit. What am I supposed to tell her? I work for the Angel of Death in my free time? Oh yeah and by the way I'm his son and set to inherit the family business next year. Thinking quickly, Luke threw out the first minimum wage earning, high school level job he could think of. "I am a waiter at Perkins," he drew out slowly. Apparently his tone annoyed her and she snapped, "Look, why don't you just answer one of the worksheets and I'll answer the other?" Immediately Ell began writing. Luke looked down at the paper and began to read the questions, "What is your father's name?"

"What is your mother's name?"

"When is your birthday?"

"What are your hobbies?"

"Where does your family originate from?" How was he supposed to answer these? He could not tell the teacher that his father was the Angel of Death, he did not have a mother, or that his birthday was around three thousand years ago but he was not sure of the exact date because they did not have calendars then. How would he explain that his only hobby was meeting hundreds of women and then having them be killed, or that his father originally came from heaven but now lives in hell? They would have him committed to an asylum.

And above all, he couldn't let himself develop feeling for this beautiful, young girl. His time was almost up. He had accepted his fate, and he wouldn't condemn any more women to die for his hope of salvation.

While Luke hated to be mean to Ell, he knew he had to be.

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