Lucifer

Chapter 9

I blinked at him. He had pale blue hair that almost looked white. He was wearing dark leather armor, with designs on it to make it look like hard scale. If I hadn't been so close to him just a moment ago I wouldn't have noticed the extra detail.

"We've been trying to get you here for sometime, but those demon brothers are so uncooperative," he cooed like we were best friends. I just stared at him, not understanding. "I'm so sorry, you must be so confused. This would have been so much more pleasant if things had gone correctly." He seemed disappointed.

"I'm Abraxis. I'm the one who's been calling you. You were so close that one night while I was in the woods, until Lucifer had come out. I was not happy when I saw that you'd been injured! We had been told you were in good health, or we would have acted sooner. Apologies!" He bowed. "Though I saw what you were doing with Lucifer that night, you naughty girl. He will not like that."

I attempted to stand, and began to fall over when Abraxis caught me by the elbow.

"Careful now, stepping tends to have an adverse effect on balance the first few times. Takes some getting used too," he said.

"I'm sorry, I'm not understanding. He who? What's going on? Who are you?" I asked, placing a hand to my head to try and steady myself.

The commotion around the camp had stopped, and there was an ever growing circle of onlookers.

Abraxis hissed to the others, his sweet voice contorting into death as he ordered everyone to get back to normal. He turned back to me, his pale blue eyes sickly sweet. There was something hiding behind them, something cruel and deadly. Not like Lucifer and the rest. That was sheer power, that they could kill if they needed, if they wanted. This was something more, like he enjoyed it, sought it out, but had to play a part for me right now.

"We're the ones who have been trying to get you to us! He has been very eager to meet you," he half answered.

"You're the ones who sent that awful woman after me?"

"Well, black witches do tend to be a little on the more decrepit side, but they do have their uses. But you won't be having any trouble from them. When they failed in that meeting they were taken care of. Clearly, they were not up to the important task," he cooed.

I didn't like the implications.

"He who?" I asked a little softer, beginning to understand just how much danger I was in.

"All in due time, dear. We have things we need to see to first before we can get onto all that." He began pulling me away from the open air, and into a large red tent.

Inside the tent was mostly empty, with all the furnishings set around the sides, leaving a large open area in the center. Rugs covered the ground. There were two beds, a desk, a bookshelf, and an iron cage all set off to the sides.

Abraxis gestured to the room with a flourish. Smiling broadly. "These will be our temporary lodging while we work, dear." Then he looked at me, noting the uniform, and crossed one arm under the other elbow, raising a hand up to the side of his face, and tisked, "That simply won't do. You absolutely cannot be wearing their uniform anymore. We need to fix that right now."

He snapped his fingers, and in came two women wearing plain brown robes. The held out white articles of clothing to him, not meeting his eyes, their faces downcast. They were in and out before I could really get a good look at them, but I thought I saw bruises and marks on the bare skin that had been exposed.

He walked up to me, holding out the white garments. The top was nothing more than a small scrap of clothing to cover my chest, embroidered with gold designs. The bottom was a little more conservative, with a shirt that would probably fall about mid thigh and had two small slits running the length of it, with a longer piece of fabric draped on the back and would reach the back of my knees.