Cecidit Angelus

If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge? 

William Shakespeare

I entered the tower and found myself in a room decorated in crimson, the walls hung with draped cloth and huge paintings adorned them all collected from Earth. I could see a massive empty throne, carved from black stone into the likeness of a pile of bones, Lucifer sometimes had dubious tastes. I searched the room with my eyes until they alighted on a white clad form reclining leisurely on a divan, he was surrounded by women clad in very little. They giggled and fawned over him as he smiled at me. One woman in particular I knew, her waist length blond hair and soft amethyst eyes glimmered in the fiery light from the hearth. She looked up at me as I approached and stood.

“Azriel, it has been far too long!” She said with a smile that revealed a sharp set of teeth.

“Lilith.” I replied courteously. Adam’s first wife, a woman of enchanting beauty but a failure when it came to creation. Her wickedness had had her banished from Eden and a new woman had been made from Adam’s ribs. She was a whore, who sought power and she was never far from Lucifer. I despised her, she was a snake.

“Azriel!” Lucifer said and beckoned me with a long finger. I moved past the witch and knelt before him.

“You summoned me, My Lord?”

I felt his fingers under my chin and he lifted my head so I looked into his eyes, they sparkled with a dark light and I repressed a shiver. “Indeed, I have not seen you in quite a while. I have however, heard rumours...is it true you spoke to Gabriel?”

“Yes, my Lord. He came to me to see if I truly had joined you in your war against heaven.”

“Hmm, and what did he discover?”

“That I am loyal only to you.”

“That is good.” He moved his hand from me and leaned back on his seat. His white coat was open revealing his bare chest. I could see his pale skin and taught muscles move beneath his flesh. A single lock of golden hair fell into his eyes and he brushed it away casually. “You seem changed somehow...what happened?”

“I was...forced to realise where my place truly lay. I am forever yours, Master. Never again will I allow doubt to cloud my mind, God has forsaken me and I have come to accept my true nature.”

He smiled brilliantly and chuckled. “Excellent, then I shall take full advantage of your undying loyalty. Go above and bring me a soul, but not just any soul. One that has endured torment that has shattered it into a thousand pieces, this soul will be proof that you are truly loyal. Do this and I shall grant you anything you wish. Go to Earth and find the soul of shattered innocence.”

“As you wish, my Lord.”

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 

(Matthew 7:15)

I was silent for a while as my eyes lingered on the past. I decided not to divulge the reason I had made the contract with the boy sat behind his desk, he had no need to know and he had never truly asked. It was true that I desired his soul for myself, his anger and fury was like nectar to a demon and as addictive as Opium. I had reached a stale mate, I wanted the boy’s soul and yet I knew it was exactly what Lucifer had asked of me. The epitome of broken innocence. The perfect sacrifice to test my loyalty to the Beast, and yet...as I watched the boy slumped in his seat, his head resting on his palm and his eyes clouded with sleep, I could tell that giving up this perfection would be harder than I had first anticipated.

I watched him yawn with a hand covering his mouth as his eyes slid closed and he slumped into his seat. I smiled at the picture, his face washed clean of responsibility and care. Such a sweet, doll like creature who seemed so tough on the outside. He was still very much a child. I stood and stepped silently over to him, I bent at the waist and checked to see if he was deeply asleep. Then I lifted him easily in my arms and carried him back to his bedroom. He mumbled softly in his sleep and I held him closer, his warmth seeped into me. Unlike the false warmth of Lucifer’s touch this was...real. His small delicate body, which would be so easily broken if I did not treat him with care, was filled with life. His beating heart was soft and enticing, the way his small chest rose and fell as I lay him down in Egyptian cotton sheets, the way his hot breath fell from his soft lips everything about him teased me. It appealed to my demonic nature, I wanted to taste him...even if it was just the once. I began to slowly undress him so I could put him into his night clothes and as I did so my fingers brushed his skin and he trembled under my hands, a small blush stained his cheeks pink and he mumbled. I watched in fascination as he lifted his arm beside his head and turned it to the side, his hair caressed his cheek and I lifted my hand and brushed it away gently.

“...Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing.

Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,

That I shall say good night till it be morrow.”

The words from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet came to me and I whispered them against those tempting lips. They were as soft as they looked, delicate and warm. I leaned over his sleeping body with one hand planted beside his head in the sheets, as he lay against the white background I thought of him inside a coffin with white satin lining and a small smile crept across my face. How wonderful he would look with his body stained in crimson and his face forever set in the blankness of death as it was in sleep, his chest rose and fell and I gave in to temptation. I removed my glove and slipped my bare hand beneath his open shirt just to feel his heart beating beneath his ribs. Such strength in such a tiny body. It was amazing. I slowly slid my fingers up his torso enjoying the feel of the smooth unblemished skin beneath my fingers, his heat seeped into me filling me with ever increasing desire. My lips brushed his and I kissed him lightly, his mouth was hot and made me shiver in excitement. Yes, he would taste divine...

I want...

I want...

I want...

I want...

His soul. His body. His everything. I want to claim it, own it and crush it all at the same time. My hunger rose within me making me gasp and pant with desperation as I looked down into his oblivious face.

Want.

Want.

Want.

There was only one other thing that could make me act like such a beast and he was sitting down in Hell, upon a crimson throne carved in the likeness of bones. Lucifer.

Mine.

Mine.

Mine.

And many, many more times. That blue, the colour that makes me go insane with lust. The same eyes. It is always the eyes, such a beautiful, shining colour that tears me up inside. Will I have the strength to do what I must and hand this precious soul over to Lucifer? Will I be able to end his life as I have done to so many before? Will I even be able to resist not devouring him completely in a frenzy of passion?

Finally, with a small chuckle and a smile filled with mystery I pull away and stand straight. The shadows surround me, cloaking me in darkness so that only my eyes glow crimson in the gloom. “Good night, my Lord.” I whisper into the night.