Senseless

August 20, 1882 - Merritt

I screamed.

Before this moment I had never really considered what Hell might truly feel like, but now—now I knew.

Hell was watching Lucius shoot Leviathan in the chest. It was watching the man I love fall to a bloodied heap on the floor. I knew the rules of angels, but I was unfamiliar with those of demons. I knew that I should be dead; Leviathan should never have been able to get into the church alive, much less rescue me. I knew that a death here, unless administered by the angelic sword, would land him in the pit where he would rot until the final battle.

What I did not know was what being shot in the heart might do to him.

I struggled against Lucius's hold on me but he would not relent. I was pulled back, away from Leviathan and towards an opening in the alley. The crowd in front of the church could not hear me screaming or see me over the flames that were slowly licking their way up to the steeple. The wooden cross on the bell tower was almost entirely engulfed in flames. I kicked and screamed, grabbing onto anything I could to keep from being pulled away.

I had lost the sword and no longer knew where it was; my one weapon against this man was missing. No one would come looking for me. None of my friends, save Leviathan who lay dead behind the chapel, could even assist me. Michael had said I would need to face this on my own, did that also mean I would die alone?

"Unhand me!" I was screaming, my voice hoarse from the smoke I'd inhaled.

Lucius turned and shoved me towards the back of the alley. He let me go but the force of his push was enough to knock me to the ground. I scuttled backward on my hands; trying to distance myself from him as he continued to stalk towards me. My back hit the cold brick wall and I found myself corner by him.

He crouched in front of me and placed his gun on his knee, angling it towards me as he said, "Now, Miss Holbrook, I love a good lie. I adore it when the human mind can fabricate something so untrue, so far-fetched, that it fools even them. It's a stunning thing, truly it is. But I cannot stand when such things are used against me." He leaned forward, his teeth bared like a savage animal as he said, "Who the hell are you?"

I closed my eyes. The feeling of that gun aimed at me. The image of Leviathan on the ground. It was enough to make my stomach roll. "Adonai, please—"

Lucius's hand collided with the side of my face so violently that my skull bounced off of the pavers behind me. "Don't you dare."

If I am to die, let it happen now. Let him kill me now. I refuse to be used by him, to be threatened by him. "Get away from me." I seethed.

"This is so interesting, you see, I've dealt with so many people over the last few centuries. All of them too far gone, too driven mad by the pain of my torture. A pity really. By the time they finally got around to admitting what a nasty liar they were, it was too late. But, you," He pressed the cool metal barrel of the gun to my forehead, "You don't feel pain. So, what am I to do with you, Miss Holbrook, eh?" I spat at him and he backhanded me again. "Impertinent child."

I kicked at him, almost hitting him in the groin but he dodged me and caught me by the ankle. Before I could do anything to stop him, he hauled me towards him by my legs, my back and head hit the pavement with enough force to cause my vision to go black. By the time I'd blinked away the confusion, he had the gun back at my head. I lay still. Breathing so heavily my shoulders shook with the effort to draw air into my smoke filled lungs. "Go on then," I dared, "kill me."

He laughed and shook his head. "Oh no, I intend to get what I want out of you first—even if it takes me a hundred years."

He pressed a hand to my throat, pinning me to the ground with his hands before he crawled up my body and shoved his knee into my stomach. I gasped, unable to breathe as all the oxygen was knocked from my lungs.