weaker demons and sent them forth to corrupt the humans. He had done it all to strike a blow that would shake Heaven to its foundations.
Wars had followed, a struggle for power that was endless and beautiful.
Lucifer smiled grimly at the pleasing memories as power coursed through him, darkness that bled from his skin like smoke and writhed as shadows around his arms.
He pulled his fist from the wall and turned his palm towards him, splaying his fingers as he watched the black ribbons fluttering around them.
He had lived shrouded in darkness. A king in his realm. He had passed millennia without feeling a thing.
No trace of light left inside him.
Until Erin.
The day he had learned of his daughter’s existence, he had been filled with a new purpose.
A desire to use her to finally achieve his dream of bringing down Heaven.
And the day he had first set eyes on her, something else had happened to him, something he had been fighting to hide ever since.
A tiny spark of light had burst to life in the dark cold pit of his soul.
Lucifer pressed his hand to his chest, the soft fabric of his black jacket, tie and shirt cushioning his palm. He curled his fingers, digging the tips into the material as he felt that light inside him, tormenting him, growing despite his attempts to squash it out of existence. It refused to die though, kept spreading tiny tendrils through him, reaching ever outwards and gaining ground against the inky dark.
As it grew, it restored parts of him that were better off dead, softer emotions that had no place existing inside him or in his realm. Emotions that were dangerous to possess in Hell. There were still creatures here drawn to the light in angels.
If his legions learned of the light waging war inside him, if the demons learned of it, a battle for his throne would erupt.
Every creature with power in his realm would seek his head.
He growled from between clenched teeth and vowed that none would ever know of it. He made sure that his men never witnessed his moments with his daughter and grandson, and those were the only times he felt powerless against the light, unable to contain and control it.
He would find a way to expel that light from his soul again, because he would do anything to protect his position. He might not have asked for his role in this realm, but it was his to play now and he had come to like his life in Hell. This realm was his home, his everything, and no one would take that from him.
His golden gaze dropped back to the floor.
No one.
Any threat to his throne would be dealt with.
He had given the mortal female time to become accustomed to her situation, but now that time was up.
Now he would use the small sliver of trust she felt towards him and her attraction to him to his advantage.
The trick Mihail had used on her to scrub her memories would be wearing off. While she wouldn’t remember that she had been taken by an angel, she might remember if Mihail had said anything to her or taken her anywhere before bringing her to Lucifer’s fortress.
And now that Mihail’s power was fading, Lucifer could employ his own abilities to sift through her memories as she tried to recall the events that had brought her to him.
If he discovered that she wasn’t in on Mihail’s plan, he would set in motion his own one.
He would implant orders into her head, ones that Mihail would unwittingly trigger if he returned for her.
The little mortal would become the instrument of the angel’s fall.
And Lucifer would be waiting for him with open arms.
CHAPTER 4
Nina paced the small apartment she had been moved to, wearing a groove in the polished stone floor. It was cold beneath her bare feet. She wasn’t sure what had happened to her shoes, but thinking about where they might be was a distraction she didn’t need, not when she was beginning to panic again.
She had tried to sleep, but had woken sharply, roused from her slumber by something she couldn’t remember now. It had