The Good, the Bad, and the Damned

Chapter Nine

Someone screamed. It was probably me. Lilith stood there, a self-satisfied smirk on her face. What she didn't count on was the chaos this is unleashed when I lose control of my emotions. I rushed forward, exhaustion forgotten, my mind in turmoil. 

No. Luca. No, no no no no no no NO. This couldn't happen. Lilith tried to step in front of me but I brushed passed her, flinging her away with strength that I definitely did not normally possess. I knelt next to Luca, gently taking his head in my hands. It was facing the wrong way. I felt bile rising in my throat. I swallowed it back down, and the tears that I had worked so hard over the years to conceal came pouring out. I screamed again, and a shockwave blew outward, knocking over Lilith, Asmodeus, and several trees. I gently brushed Luca's hair out of his face, trying to push some life back into him. Like maybe if I held him for tightly enough and for long enough, his neck would right itself and he would open his eyes and give me his teasing smile. Then he would hug me. But none of that happened. He stayed there, dead. I couldn't even think it. 

His eyes were open. I could still see the shock and fear in his eyes. I saw my tears splatter across his face. And maybe it was that. That image of his wide eyes staring up at me that replaced all of my sadness with anger. Burning anger. It consumed me, filling every orifice of my body. I closed his eyes and stood, setting him gently on the ground. Lilith was picking herself up from the ground. I wanted her dead. I was going to kill her. I advanced on her, slowly and deliberately. That over confident smirk wavered just slightly. She glanced briefly down at my hands, clenched into fists and narrowed her eyes.

"Don't be foolish. Haven't enough people gotten hurt today?" She said. Credit to her, she didn't back away. As Asmodeus told me later, I looked like I could burn the world down. And in that moment, I probably could have. I unclenched my fists. I could feel sparks at the tips of my fingers, unchecked power flowing through me. It flowed through my veins where blood should have been. I was invincible. I raised my hands and Lilith's eyes widened as she was blown off her feet again. I stood over her, fire in my eyes. 

"You really shouldn't have hurt my family," I say, my voice completely calm. The calm that always comes before the biggest of storms. I had been holding all of that power back for years. Since I fist started realizing what happened when I let it out. But right then, I was so beyond caring. I let it all go. All of it. I raised my hands towards her. I saw the fear in her eyes and I relished it as I felt all of the power leave me in one blast directed right at Lilith's face. It shot forward with a sound like an explosion. I closed my eyes against the glare that was coming off of it. Somewhere in the distance I could hear Asmodeus. He was saying something. I didn't know what. I didn't care. I pushed all of the power out of me, into that one spot, and then I felt a hand on my shoulder and it all just stopped.

I opened my eyes. Lilith was nowhere to be found. I hoped that I had somehow vaporized her into nothingness, but somehow I doubted that. Where she had been was a crater as if an asteroid had struck the earth. I turned toward the person whose hand was still firmly on my shoulder, hoping to see Luca. I felt like I was being punched in the gut as I realized it was just Asmodeus. The tears began to fall again, silent and wet, down my cheeks. Asmodeus seemed to steel himself for something, and then he did something so unexpected that I stopped crying for a moment. He pulled me into a hug. My face was pressed into his chest. I was stiff, and then I wrapped my arms around him. He smelled like a campfire, which was something I had always loved. I began to sob. Loud, ugly sobs. I knew I was probably ruining his suit, but he didn't stop me. He let me get all of it out. 

After what seemed like hours, but was probably just a few minutes, I let go and backed up, wiping the tears from my face. 

"She's not dead is she?" I asked, my voice barely more than a raspy whisper.