Chapter Twelve

Don't forget to Vote and Comment! Merry Christmas to all my devoted readers! Hope you all enjoy this chapter. Spread the Joy all around!

Better with the devil you know

Than the devil you don't

It's hard to put your hands on a ghost

You don't want to fuck with me

Better with your enemy far

Than your enemy close

6 feet from me till the end of the rope

You don't want to fuck with me

Chapter 12 – Awakened

Nephele's POV

The world is a haze as my head becomes blurrier and then clearer time and time again. I drift through multiple stages of consciousness. I don't know how long I had been in this stage for but I felt cold, so cold I could have sworn my blood was frozen within my veins. I wanted to move to get warm except I couldn't. I wanted to be warm again.

Every now and again the heat would appear at my side and I desperately wanted to open my eyes and hug the heater but my eyes wouldn't open and I couldn't move.

I hated being stuck in my own head, and I was repeatedly fighting the demons of my mind. Every time my body succumbed to that nagging darkness, I would push myself back form the edge, only wanting to see the light of day again.

I don't know what happened before I practically died. Too say I was confused was an understatement. I remembered the consistent urge to scream, I remembered myself screaming as if I was in agony however my head hurts, if that was possible when I was stuck in my own head, whenever I thought of anything past that point.

Nonetheless I was once again feeling an insistent fatigue, a dark looming figure begging for me to give in an let the darkness wash over me.

Soon the darkness lets me wake; lets me see the light of day once more and I smile in appreciation for the darkness's kindness. Although that sounds as though I am a very timid and quiet person. That is the opposite of my personality, quite literally.

I open my eyes in a daze, my head swarming with dizziness and aches. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion as I stiffly move my legs, pushing myself up on the soft bed I lay. My arms burn I do push myself from the plush sheets. I try to think of what would cause this pain, in my head and body, but every time I try to think of a reason, I hit a wall. I try to push past the wall but I can't; it is as though something is blocking my mind from seeing what happened to me.

My brows furrow in exasperation, annoyance most likely clear on my expression. I look around the room slowly, taking in the scenery around my form even through the sheer black curtain that hides the bed from the remainder of the room. Although sheer, I cannot make out most of the room regardless of the meant to be sheer curtains. I huff in even more frustration, now knowing I would have to stand or move for myself to be able to see the remainder of the room, which was the area that lays to the right side of the bed and me as well as the area in front of the bed.

I pull myself up, biting my lip to hold in the hiss of pain that rises in my throat. I cannot allow the people outside my room to know that I am awake. I know Lucifer would be mad at me; heck even furious. I do not know his mood nor do I know how badly he will hurt someone who tried to escape.

I push myself to the very edge of the bed, the sheets riding up over my legs and stomach. I reach out with the tips of my fingers, the tips brushing the curtain and flinging it out of the way. Instead of it moving on the railing above and getting out of the way, it flies gracefully back into place. I growl in frustration, a humanely growl I must reiterate because I do not know at this point to whether the supernatural are real. I now grasp the material in my closed fist and tug at it, it sliding smoothly along the railing above and finally revealing the room to me.

I smile proudly to myself and feel accomplished in doing something by myself however scream and jump back when I see Lucifer standing against another dark grey love seat directly across from me. I hold a hand over my heart as it starts to beat erratically, either because of his scare or because of his presence. It didn't matter regardless; I needed it to go away whenever he was near anyway.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" I stutter in mild distress, wondering what evil things the devil is thinking as a punishment for me. He smirks at me, his lips rising to show his pearly white teeth in a cashmere smile. He looked at me funnily, as if he already knew all my secrets. I furrow my eyebrows once more in confusion, wanting to know what he is thinking about doing. Except at the same time I don't.

"I am watching over you, what does it look like Little Cloud?" His words are like a mystery, all his words having double meanings and it was giving me a headache.

"Well thank you for that but I was doing just fine and I don't need anyone to watch over me." I huff out in annoyance. I was so close to escaping!

Lilith and I were about to get out, except those... people got in the way. I was so close; I could taste the freedom on my lips.

I look up in surprise as a sarcastic laugh escapes Lucifer's lips at my comment. His eyes meet mine and I can tell he was angry, his eyes were a dark and deep red, dried blood red in my opinion but I guess that did not matter now. I watched as his muscles bulged under the dress shirt he was wearing that was neatly tucked into his business pants. His eyes closed tight and his fists clenched at his sides which made me scared. He was refraining himself so he didn't hit something. Or someone, specifically me.

I take a small step away from him out of pure fear, surely, he was going to hurt me now.

I knew doing the whole escape plan was a bad idea. I knew I was going to get my ass handed to me for betraying the King of Hell's hospitality and trust.

I bite my lips as my foot meets the edge of the bed as I take another teeny-tiny step back. But as my foot meets the ground and I move; his eyes snap open. I gasp as his eyes are now a pure black, them being so dark that the only way I could describe them is using the word 'obsidian'. I was as still as any solid object. The only thing I could hear was my heartbeat. I did not move, nor make a noise as I watched the man who was already a little under a foot taller than me, stalk forwards; eyeing me as though I was his prey.

I swallow the lump in my throat as he stops a mere metre away from me. I can feel the tensions rise in the room as it becomes suddenly very thick, and very warm.

"uh- "I stutter, my mind a haze yet still trying to get out of this... dilemma. I watch carefully as he stands still, a small smirk on his lips as I close my mouth out of frustration due to my incoherent words.

"Yes, Little Cloud, you were doing so well defending yourself, weren't you?" His voice sounds so facetious and I knew he wasn't taking my incline seriously. To him I was not okay. "The only reason you are a living being right now, is because I was there just in time to stop those bastards from ripping both you and Lilith too little, teeny, tiny pieces." By the end of his little rant his teeth were grinding against each other as his jaw was locked in place out of, or I believe, anger.

I do not say a thing to what he just said. Mainly because I knew he was somewhat right; about me being ripped to shreds but I doubt Lilith would be ripped to shreds. She was Lilith. Although I doubt, she was the Queen of Hell like everyone in my world thought she was, she was still a powerful woman. Plus, her and Lucifer did not seem to be that close, which for some reason made my stomach flutter in happiness.

I chase the thought away and bring myself back to the present, knowing I cannot get carried away in thought. Especially around him.

We stand like that; a metre away from each other with the tension between us still tight. I could see his breath escape his lips as the air in the room suddenly got colder than it was before. I look around, distracted by the temperature drop. I find no Air Conditioner or Heater that could cause such a drop in temperature. I purse my lips and turn back towards Lucifer who still stands a metre away.

Deciding to get some space and maybe air, I side step the king and make my way, carefully of course, to the doors behind him. However, as soon as my hand touches the handle, I find that it is frozen in place. Not cold, but I cannot move it at all. I turn to Lucifer on my hell, looking him dead in the eye wondering what he has done.

His eyes were also on mine as I turn and I almost gasped as I noticed they were blue once more; the beautiful stormy blue was memorising but I knew better than to be caught up by his playboy charms.

"What did you do?" I ask, demanding a reasonable and for once full and truthful answer. He smirks again at my question, showing his shiny teeth at me.

"I did nothing." Is what Lucifer replied with, and made me want to slap the smirk from his face. I bit the inside of my cheek in frustration and annoyance.

"You totally did something; now why can't I get out?" I ask once more, my voice raising a little out of annoyance. He smiles wider at my demands but answers in a calm and collected voice;

"Oh that? All the doors that allow you to exit my wing of the castle, as you would call it, are locked so that you cannot exit or open them for that matter." I gape at his words.

How dare he?

I bit the inside of my cheek so hard that I draw blood. I was beyond angry. So now I was really trapped here, with no possible escape; not even from him. I couldn't even get away from him.

There was the small voice in my head telling me it is what was coming for acting out as such, but I did not want to listen. I only wanted freedom and he was not listening to my quite obvious demands.

"That is so unreasonable! Instead of talking like adults about what I want and what you want, you and to go with what you want which totally goes against what I want! All I want is to be free and yet here we are, with me locked in a room with no possible way to not feel claustrophobic and stuck!" I seethe in anger. I was beyond pissed at this point.

I was not his girlfriend, wife or queen. I did not need to be here. I did not want to be here. Yet he keeps me here as though I am his personal property. You know what Lucifer? Fu-

"This is not unreasonable by my standards Little Mate." He takes a dangerous step forward, myself now back up as his eyes now change to a darker blue. "You ran away; you left which would not have done much by your standards regardless, but then you put yourself in harm's way. You could have died last night." He stops as if he is trying to get over the factor. "If you clearly cannot protect yourself from the bastards who are now after you, you will have to be protected by my standards, which is that you are locked within the safest region of my land, my wing of this god damn castle, with or without your permission. I do not need to ask you every-time you make an utterly stupid mistake to whether you think that was the best for your protection or not, because I will do everything in my power to make sure you do not leave this castle without my consent. Everything you do, I will know about. Every step you take in these halls, I will know about. Every fucking word you utter, I will know about. I dare you to test me amica mea, I fucking dare you because if you do, you will be punished. Do you understand?" His words were cold and eyes were pure obsidian black.

I could not speak one word against what he just said as they left me cold, frozen almost. The air temperature in the room had dropped once again and I knew it was because of what he just said.

I do not say anything to him, only stare as he stares equally as hard back at me.

"Do you understand Nephele?" He repeats, but I do not give him the answer he wants.

"Get out." I say back, my voice even and calm but not representing the storm that brews within my head. I feel my eyes become watery although I do not know what for. I have no emotional connection to the man who stood before me so why am I wanting to curl into a ball and cry?

When he doesn't move, I wanted to scream, I wanted to tear the bedroom I stood in apart but I knew I couldn't.

"Get out now." I speak louder with more force. I notice that on his face the smallest flash of emotion, I notice how his expression changes for a single millisecond before he covers it up again. He realised what he just did.

"I said get the fuck out of room." My head hurt as I said this, my voice louder than before. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as a tear rolled from my left eye and onto my left cheek as I turned away from the man. I could hear him sigh, an exasperated and exhausted sound leaving his lips. I then hear his footsteps echo against the dark floorboards of this now freezing room, the sound of the door opening and closing passing in a blur.

I stand, facing away from the door for a good while not wanting to come back to reality as my mind wondered the oblivion, I called my mind. My legs stand strong and my arms by my side as I look at the now silky black curtains that line the windows. This time, the curtains are drawn, showing the beautiful landscape of Hell.

Great and long rivers of darken liquid flow in the very far distance. I can see fields upon fields before the rivers, dark and old willowing trees between me and the river. I notice the gaping ravine separating those fields of drying grass and ashen trees and myself. I realise the castle is divided from the rest of the underworld, a protection mechanism of sorts.

Except where they trying to protect those inside from the dead souls and reapers outside, or those individuals who are transitioning from life to death from the King of Hell?

I keep my eyes attached to the window, noticing every little beautiful detail of this place. I love of the sky is never too bright, just a bright fiery orange, turning dark purple mixed with yellow as the 'sun' of this world sets, turning the night sky into a dark midnight black, darker than at the human world. I notice how the trees that were once dark and ashen in the distance change into a bright luminescent aqua glow, as if they were taken straight of Avatar the movie and put straight down on the ground here. I see the distance flurry of light, like a small city or town and smile as I know there are people, or demons I figure, that do have a life down here and live similar to what a normal human would on the surface, or in my world.

When I finally turn back into the real world with the knock upon the bedroom doors which keep me locked and practically chained within this castle.

I do not answer the call of my name; nor the sound of the door handle turning but becoming stuck halfway. But I do turn to the door handle not turning, as it is only me who should not be able to turn the door handle apparently, going with what the devil told me.

I furrow my eyebrows when my eyes meet the ice-frozen door handle. Crisp icicles dangle of the door handle with the look of no chance of falling. I purse my lips and take two timid steps closer to the door handle reaching my hand out to touch the brass knob. However, when I touch it, instead of getting the ice-cold, numb feeling I was suspecting I did not feel a thing; as though the ice was not cold to me.

This made me so much more confused than before; the temperature drop, now the ice on the door handle. What did these things mean?

The door handle stops shaking and the pounding starts instead. I jump and take a small timid step back in fright as my name is called intensely.

"Nephele open this fucking door!" I hear Lucifer shout over the pounding but I shake my head, as though he could see my actions. "God help you Nephele, if you do not open this door, I will take it down!" He all but screams through the closed door.

I swallow the lump in my throat and realise it must have been hours since he left for him to be wanting me to open the door and greet him. How long was I standing still for?

I shake my head, no emotion coming through with my actions. I will not open the door for the man who is trapping me in his world.

"Squawk." Upon the sound behind me I let out a mini scream, instantly wrapping my hand around mouth to hopefully stop Lucifer hearing. My eyes widen as I look down to the ground, were the sound came from.

I bend down to the thing that let out the sound and smile softly.

Within a foot of me stood a small bird, well a bird of sorts. Icey blue baby feathers coated its back, with little strong looking wings and deadly looking black feet. The tips of its wings were white, snow white whereas as the wing came closer to the body it became a darker blue, eventually going from the snow white through a light blue, to a dark deep blue on its belly. The bird had a beak that was black and looked as though it could snap off my fingers in a single snap, which I hope it wouldn't as it just appeared randomly in this room. The beak was attached to a head that looked very similar to an eagle, making me wonder what type of bird it was. Was it even a bird?

If it was an eagle, it was a blue one.

The bird also had a very cute looking tail, with a few extra soft and long feathers sticking out almost exotically.

I lean forward on the tips of my toes and reach towards the bird who was looking at me curiously. It could have been just me but a small, light blue aura shone around the bird. It wasn't cold or icy, it was calm and warming almost, different to what I would normally expect. I tilt my head to the side, wondering how close I could get to the bird before it took my finger tips off. I continue to keep eye contact with it as it stares at me, almost creepily. My eyes widen in surprise when the bird jumps towards me, making the feathers touch my arm as it jumps on my forearm.

It liked me!

I laugh at it, ignoring the yelling behind me as I gently, with the back of my finger stroke the feathers on it back. It lets out a purr like sound and I giggle again, muttering "You like that huh?" I shake my head and stand. I lets out a little squawk as I do so, but I continue on and enter the bathroom gently.

"I'm going to name you Blue, very fitting I know." I whisper to it, and I swear I saw the bird nod its head in agreeal. I was so happy I made a friend that I did not notice the pounding on the door to my room stop.

This was going to be fun;

I now have a friend to help me ruin Lucifer's life, how nice.

Lucifer's POV

I sit at my desk is despair, a bottle of Jack Daniels in my hand as I stare out the window of the office. After trying for ten minutes trying to get through Nephele's door, I realised it was pointless. Even if the door was not suddenly coated by ice and impossible to break through the handle way, I would only make it worse by pulling the door down, which I was capable of doing.

The door to my office opens but I do not turn as I take another swig of the half empty bottle. Alcohol did not make us drunk, nor did it make us tipsy. In fact, it had no effects on any of the other worldly creatures, as Nephele would call them, or us.

A small smile forms on my face at the thought of her but is quickly gone as Lilith and Adam enter my point of view.

Adam is holding Lilith tightly to him in a protective manner, something I only dreamed about with My Cloud, as though I am a threat to their relationship. Which I was not, I was just a threat to Lilith's survival, but I could never kill someone who is practically a little sister.

I did not hurt her; I did not do anything to her for what she did to Nephele. I would never do that to Lilith regardless, but that did not excuse her manner nor make me any less 'mad' at her.

"What is it?" I grumble under my breath as I pay them no attention.

"Lucifer, she is here." My eyes widen at Lilith's words and I stand from my position and turn to Adam, Head of Security for the Underworld.

"You know she is beyond your ages; she can travel in and out of these realms without being noticed. You are lucky she wanted to be noticed. We can track her to the castle, but we cannot specify where within the castle." Adam speaks, which has me wondering where that fucked little bird is. I turn around in anger, knowing the extent of damage that bird can do to anyone within my realm.

Throwing the bottle of Jack Daniels into the wall next to the window out of pure vexation. It shatters, the noise loud and painful almost but Lilith and Adam do not say a word, in fact they do not move as they are waiting for my instructions.

I continue to stare at the brown liquid that falls down the wall, the small droplets creating a path against the once pristine white wall.

"Find her."

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Word count is 4109 - Just the narrative part :)

<>

QOTC: Favourite Month?

Also has anyone Read LifeL1k3? I read it and now I want to know what occurs in Deviate because I cant go through the emotional trauma again.

~<>~

Let me know your thoughts below:

~<>~

If your waiting for the read, go check out my other book > The King's mate ~

Follow @grace_rose_writes on Instagram for more xox

Rose xo