Page 11 of Wicked Believer
The attention Charlotte’s little light show drew no doubt caused a stir.
I freeze time with a snap of my fingers, turning my attention toward our unexpected visitor. “Hello, Mother.”
I pivot soon enough to see her step forth from the shadows, her shock of dark hair trailing behind her as it slips through the ether. “Sweetheart,” she croons, smiling up at me with a motherly love that’s unbefitting of such a youthful face. “It’s been too long.”
She draws closer, opening her arms as if she means to beckon me, for me to kiss her on the cheek like I would have over the last several centuries, but instead I step to the side, shielding a still half-naked and vulnerable Charlotte, who lies frozen upon the ground beside me.
My fiancée has yet to learn how to defend herself from such trivial things as celestials trifling with time and space, but she will. And soon.
Now that I’ve unleashed what she’s stolen from me.
Mother smiles wickedly.
I nod over my shoulder, indicating Charlotte’s state of undress. “You never were one for privacy.”
Mother drops her arms, resigned, and shrugs. “And why should I be?” She sticks her lip into a pout that reminds me a little too keenly of Mammon. “I created you, after all.”
“And her?” I arch a brow, nodding toward Charlotte.
“Lucifer,” Mother says, lowering her chin as she looks at me. “You can’t possibly be angry with me.”
My expression darkens. “I think you’ll find my frustration with our family knows no bounds, Mother.”
She sighs, trailing her hand along a nearby tree, watching idly as the bark rots and crumbles away. My Mother can give or take life with as little as a touch.
Such is the burden of a goddess. A true deity.
“You never did like me or your Father meddling,” she says wistfully before she glances my way again. “Even when it was for your own good.”
“And that’s what this is?” I sneer. “You meddling?”
She waves a dismissive hand. “Now, Lucifer, you’ve said yourself you shouldn’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to.” She smirks, turning my own words against me.
I always did have my Mother’s smile.
And clearly, she’s been keeping tabs on Charlotte and me for far longer than I’m comfortable with, frankly.
A warning snarl tears from my lips, my more demonic features flashing.
But my Mother isn’t deterred by the terrible sight of my angelic form.
Nor the way time and Hell have changed me.
Mother bats her lashes innocently. “I simply gave her a little push in your direction, that’s all. The rest was all you, sweetheart.”
I don’t believe that for a second.
“And Father?”
She scoffs. “As if He’d ever involve Himself in something this thrilling.”
I lift a brow.
She cocks her head to the side, examining me. “Why, ending the world. That’s why He let you and my other babies out of Hell, after all. Your Father grows tired of humanity.”
The moment the words leave her lips, I feel no surprise that she’s said it.
Simply anger that I failed to trust in my own judgment sooner.
