Page 3 of Lucifer's Redemption

My teeth gritted.I fucking hate that name.

Fire welled in my fist. Loki squeaked before running out of the room in terror. He has felt a punch in the gut from me before, and he wouldn’t want it again.

“Lucifer.” Mother grabbed my flame-free fist. “It’s alright. Calm down, love.” I took deep breaths, letting the fire abate in my fists.

I need to stay away from Lilith, Loki, and the rest of my family until I learn how to control myself.

Chapter 2

Uriel

“Thatwasterrible!”Iplopped my head on my gigantic, fluffy, heart-shaped pillow. A hot tear ran down my puffy face. “I can’t even finish the movie if that poor, little animal has to live like that.” Taking the remote, I stopped the movie and tossed the remote to the other side of the room. “That poor little deer lost his mom and had to go live with hisreallyserious dad. I am sonotfinishing that.”

He looked waaaay too grumpy for that movie to have a happy ending, and I am all about happy endings.

Sliding off the bed in my white nightgown, I glanced at the clock to see if I could leave my room. Mom and Dad have been waiting on the stork for a new baby brother. They said I wasn’t allowed to come downstairs all night long—the stork works the night shift, apparently.

That was so hard, too, because I liked my midnight sneaky-snacks. I had a fun little hiding spot, right in the kitchen that Mom doesn’t even know about. The best part of all, it keeps popping up with new candy all the time.

It’s like magic, and magic is really awesome. Especially when Dad shows me his armor, he just wills it out—just like I do with my wings—and, BOOM, right on his body. He has this amazing sword, but it’s so sharp that I’m not allowed to touch it.

Mom gets super cranky when he shows me his battle armor.She gets cranky, like, a lot.

Dad likes to watch me when I’m in the kitchen. He has this little smile on his face when I get near my hiding spot, so I can’t go near it when he is awake.

He knows I have a secret stash, but I wouldnevertell him where it is. In fact, I might have to change it really soon, so he doesn’t steal it.

I pranced downstairs, not taking notice of my wings banging the stairwell all the way down. I squeaked, covering my mouth with both my hands. Mom hated it when I didn’t put my wings away in the house.

It wasn’t my fault they had a mind of their own. They just flutter when I get really happy, and then when I get all sad, they droop like those cute little killer whales’ fins when they’re kept in captivity.

Those poor whales.

Willing my wings back into my body, I tiptoed down the stairs. My parents’ room was on the main level of the house because Dad has to leave suddenly sometimes. He’s an archangel—the coolest job—and he has to listen to whatever his boss, Zeus, says.

Tiptoeing by my parents’ room, I scooted into the large kitchen. Mom had all the best cooking equipment. She loved to cook and her favorite thing to make was double-chocolate cake with strawberry drizzle. It’s my favorite, and she makes it when I argue too much about wanting to go outside.

Rubbing my hands together, I did a little booty shake before I opened the big box of prunes that secretly held my stash. The doorbell chimed, and my box of not-prunes went flying in the air before landing in the sink.

Gasping, I shrunk down to the floor, which was pristine white, just like everything else in this house—except all the greenery Mom kept everywhere.

Do you know how long it takes to water all the plants in the morning? It takes forever!

The doorbell rang again, but I stayed silent. Those were the rules: I could not leave the house without Mom or Dad, I couldn’t answer the door, and I couldn't have friends, which made me sad. They said the world out there was crazy, with so much evil that I couldn’t even imagine. They said it was worse than when Hans tricked Anna, but now, I’m thinking,maybe it was worse than that little deer who just lost his mom.

That poor baby deer!

But I had a wish, and that wish was for me to step out of here—alone. Mom always made me wear these itchy cloaks over my face, and no one ever noticed me! I didn’t like wearing a cloak. I wanted to feel the sunshine on my face, but she said I could get skin cancer.

I didn’t know gods got skin cancer, but apparently, they do.

When I first learned how to fly, she made me go out at night with Dad. It was so dark that I kept flying into poles, and I had a black eye for an entire hour! I cried and cried until Dad argued with Mom about how silly it was for me to fly at night, especially when it was so hard to see.

For a moment, Mom’s eyes filled with regret, until her irrational feelings flooded over her again.

‘There are too many dangers. Better a black eye than some demon taking her down to the pits of Tartarus.’

I didn’t know what any of that was, but if it was worse than a black eye, I didn’t want it ‘cause it really hurt.

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