Chapter 5: Chapter 4

Lucifer twisted his mouth as his most loyal of his dark servants entered his throne room.

Tyrone’s dark eyes met Lucifer’s, then quickly lowered to the floor. He bobbed his head. ‘You wanted to see me, my lord?’

Claws scraped against rock as a shadow scuttled across the floor. With a squeak it disappeared into a darkened corner. Lucifer crossed his legs as he tightened his grip on the marble arms of his throne.

‘Have you any news from above?’ Lucifer said. ‘It’s been a while since I’ve heard anything useful.’

‘No news, my lord, but the search continues. Have no fear, she will not escape us.’

‘I do not fear, Tyrone. I haven’t known fear in a long time.’ He paused as he gazed down upon his dark servant. ‘Tell me again what happened. How did she slip through your fingers a third time?’

Tyrone continued to gaze at the floor, his black, greasy hair hanging in front of his face. His black wings rustled nervously at his back. ‘The Angels of Light defended her. We could not defeat them. They took her and flew where we could not follow.’

‘And who were these Angels of Light?’

The dark angel hesitated. ‘We could not see. They blazed too brightly. But there were five.’

Lucifer raised an eyebrow. ‘Five?’

‘And all powerful.’

From outside came the screams of the burning Damned. ‘And none of them revealed themselves to you.’

Tyrone shook his head. ‘Their identity remains secret.’

Lucifer leaned back in his chair with a sigh. He flicked his hand. ‘Go then. But do not fail me a fourth time or you will know my wrath like you’ve never known it before.’

The dark angel bowed his head and turned to leave. Lucifer watched as he marched back down the hall. Just before he reached the entrance, Lucifer said, ‘Jacob.’

Tyrone stiffened. He turned. Lucifer glimpsed his wide eyes before his servant quickly lowered them. ‘J-Jacob, my lord?’

‘You know Jacob. My last greatest servant before he betrayed me and defected to God.’

‘Yes. I know him.’

‘You knew him well, in fact.’

Again, Tyrone bobbed his head.

‘I have received news that he is one of the five,’ Lucifer continued. ‘You wouldn’t know anything about that?’

‘No, my lord.’

‘Such a strange thing that you wouldn’t recognise him.’

Tyrone’s black wings rustled. Lucifer could sense his fear, his uncertainty. He could smell its rottenness on the air.

‘Perhaps the rumour is wrong, my lord.’

‘Perhaps. Though it was spoken to me by my vessel herself.’

Tyrone lifted his face. Gone was his surprise. Now his dark eyes were filled with dread. ‘My lord.’ He dropped to his knees. ‘Forgive me. I did not think it worth your time.’

Lucifer sneered. ’Not worth my time? Not worth my ? You might be disloyal, Tyrone, but you’re not a fool.’

His dark servant didn’t answer.

‘Are you afraid, Tyrone? Are you afraid that he might once again take your place? I remember how you used to be: your envy, your jealousy, your ambition. Even now, I sense it. You grovelling, miserable little sycophant. How dare you. How dare you keep this from me.’

Tyrone dropped flat to the floor, prostrating himself. ‘My lord, forgive me! It’s only because I love you. I would never do what he did. Unlike him, I’ll never turn away from you. I’ll always be yours.’

‘And yet you’ve tried to pull the wool over my eyes. I don’t know what angers me more: that you betrayed me or that you thought that I would never know.’

His dark servant writhed like a worm. He was trembling so hard that feathers shook into the air. ‘Please, my lord.’

‘Enough begging,’ Lucifer snapped. ‘It’s tiresome. You should know how much I despise it. I forgive you, Tyrone.’

The angel raised his head. His dark eyes met Lucifer’s in disbelief. ‘Th-thank you, my lord.’

Lucifer could have almost laughed. ‘But not without a lesson. If speaking the truth is something beyond your reach, then maybe you should learn what it’s like to walk in its light every minute of every day. Maybe then, you’ll understand how lies anger me.’ He narrowed his eyes. ‘How they sadden me.’

Lucifer raised his hands.

Tyrone’s eyes widened. ‘NO!’

Lucifer gave one hard clap and Tyrone ducked his head with a gasp. He coughed. He spluttered. He grabbed at his throat as he choked. Then he screamed. He jerked and thrashed. Then he was back flat upon the floor, writhing and squirming as his howls echoed around the cavernous room.

He tried to get up, only to fall back down again. Feathers puffed into the air. They spilled upon the floor. The dark angel raked at his head with a scream as his eyes swelled and glazed over. One of them burst in a spray of pink blood.

Grunting and groaning, he stared down at the clumps of black hair he’d ripped from his head. With a cry, he slumped over, bracing his forearms against the floor as his spine began to bend … and bend.

Shaking and shuddering, he reached for his left wing. It peeled off as easy as a bandaid into his hand, streamers of bloodied, clotted skin hanging from the end. Staring at it in shock, Tyrone dropped it with a heavy thud. More black feathers skittered across the floor. He leaned over, opening the great wound in his shoulder as wide as a mouth as he screamed again.

His back continued to arch grotesquely until the bones of his spine pressed hard against his thin, translucent skin. The bone of his left scapula did the same, bulging up against the muscle. With a strangled shout, he threw himself back to the floor. His right wing slumped. Again he reached back and again it came apart in his hand. Black feathers skipped around him.

Then he curled into a ball, cradling himself as his skin began to bubble and pop and change texture. From a translucent white, he began to darken. His working eye turned red as his ruptured eye bled pus onto the floor.

The bones of his shoulder blades finally punched through muscle and tissue in a spray of blood that splattered his face and fallen wings. Dropping to his side, he held his elbows as he writhed and twisted like a tortured eel.

Lucifer clasped his hands between his knees as he watched, somewhat entertained. It was going to be a pain to find a new loyal servant, but there were plenty willing to fill the position.

Tyrone screamed again, then choked as he gripped at his throat. Something bulged inside. It looked like he was about to cough up something, only to swallow it back down with a grimace. He gagged, then retched. A thin trickle of white liquid leaked out of the corner of his mouth and onto the floor.

Lucifer leaned back as the transformation completed itself.

Tyrone lay gasping on the floor.

‘On your feet. Let’s look at you,’ Lucifer said. ‘Let’s see what your truth looks like.’

His servant obeyed, though with difficulty, legs wobbling, hands dragging along the floor as he tried to straighten—unsuccessfully, arched over grotesquely like the miserable creature he’d always been. Bald head. Peeling scorched skin. His one eye dripped blood down his rotting cheek. All his muscle tone was gone, revealing each one of his ribs pushing up against his skin, similar to the bones of his crooked spine.

‘Much better,’ Lucifer said. ‘Now I see you.’

His once loyal dark servant began to cry, snorting and snuffling and croaking like a toad.

Like a toad. Like a . How fitting.

‘Now, get out of my sight,’ Lucifer said with a casual flick of his hand.

The creature obeyed with a whimper, lurching away into the darkness to join the rest of his twisted brothers and sisters.