ARCHANGELS' LEGACY BOOK II: Tears of an Angel (Completed)

Part XXIII

“One of the Harpies have returned, my lord”, the hooded figure said as she knelt in front of the throne, where the king of hell was seated.

“I hope it brought good news”, Lucifer took a sip from the wine glass in his hand, “and do stand up, Valena. I hate straining my neck”, he complained.

The sorceress stood up and pulled back her hood to reveal her beautiful auburn hair. Being the favorite sorceress of hell, gave her so many privileges. Well, why wouldn’t she? After all, she was the one who gave Lucifer the chance to be a father to two daughters, in exchange for her and her family’s immortality.

“I’m afraid it brought ........ bad tidings”, she hesitated.

“Well? Get on with it woman. Don’t keep me waiting”, he said impatiently.

“Only one wounded harpy survived and also lost the princess in the process”.

Lucifer became silent but when he spoke he looked at her with fiery eyes, “and what do we call that, Valena?”.

She was starting to get nervous, “Stupidity, sire”.

He walked towards the sorceress and started walking around her. This made her more agitated because she knew Lucifer’s emotions were unpredictable.

“If I remember correctly, you were the one in charge of that imbeciles so, what went wrong? Why didn’t they catch a single angel or the princess from the group that was less than their numbers?”.

Valena couldn’t think of a single explanation on the failure of the harpies, “I.....I.....”.

She didn’t expect what happened next. Lucifer threw his glass on the wall and grabbed her neck to choke her. She tried to pry his fingers away but he held her in an iron grip. She can feel the air getting thinner and was starting to get dizzy.

“I never expected that you, of all the trusted allies I have, would disappoint me. Do this again and I will make sure you’ll never enjoy your immortality”, he spoke so close to her ears. A threat she wished will not come true.

Just as easily as he had grabbed her, he let go and Valena fell down on the floor. She coughed, trying to inhale as much air as she could to even her breathing.

“Have I ever told you how I admire your loyalty to me?”, he asked, as if nothing happened.

“You....you did, sire”, she stuttered. She stands up and tried to hide the trembling in her voice.

“Then don’t ever forget who you serve”, he glared at her and returned back to sit on his throne.

“Yes, sire”.

“By the way, is Jackson doing his part? He can be useful at times and I hate to lose him if he ever betrays me”, again, she can sense the threat in his voice.

“He is, my lord. He was actually the one who gave me tip that the princess is with the angels”.

Valena saw how the devil first grinned and ended up laughing at her words.

“I don’t see why these children even bother? They already saw what I am capable of”, Lucifer remembered the last time he encountered these angels in Fairyland. “I do admit however, that I underestimated Michael’s son’s strength”.

The angel’s powerful push brought him to lay on his bed for a week and Valena helped him to heal fast from his wounds. Though he can heal by himself but the injuries afflicted on him was severe. He tried to hide this from his daughters and the other demons. He doesn’t want them to know that he was capable of getting hurt.