05

LUCI'S POV

My mom never spoke about my dad. She always referred to him as "he" -never once muttering his name. He was a mystery to me and | felt as if it was even better that way.

I only knew the basics about him well as much as the internet could provide.

The devil, according to any site I could research, was evil. Plain and simple.

He was a fallen angel and was once God's favourite before betraying Him.

What they didn't add was that he had somehow come to Earth and had some... relations with a human who happened to be my mother.

I'm sure he knew of my existence though. I guess he just had to leave.

Growing up. my mom didn't help me figure out my powers. She's always said that | should repress them and that it wasn't good for me to explore and adventure into the demon side of myself.

But really | couldn't help but think it was just to put her mind at ease.

That being said, I had to figure out how to control my powers on my own. It was fairly easy in the beginning since ] could not produce more than a small flicker of fire on my finger. But then it started to grow and became more noticeable.

When my body temperature became irregularly hot, my mom had to stop taking me to hospitals since they questioned my unusual 104-degree body temperature. It wasn't until I started accidentally burning items around the house that my mother fully acknowledged what I truly was.

I suppose it didn't make things any easier though. | was kept isolated from other kids so I didn't have any friends.

She called it "rehabilitation" and It got very lonely at times.

Then one day, | wasn't so lonely anymore. | came home after a long day at my middle school and my mother introduced me to two captivating children around the same age as me.

One was an Olive skinned girl with straight jet black and beautiful big almond-shaped eyes. Her lips were pink and she had a narrow bridge but a slightly wide-centred nose.

The other was a tan-skinned boy with exponential curls and deep hazel eyes. He had freckles dotted all over his face and deep dimples on both of his cheeks.

After meeting them for the first time we were inseparable. Three peas in a pod taking on the world together. | wouldn't know what to do without them. They were truly my rocks.

"Why are you looking at us like that weirdo?"

Celia threw a chip out of her bag at me and giggled. | rolled my eyes and threw it back to her.

Celia was alluring. She was practically everything I was not. Her features seemed to have been designed by gods. She was so naturally beautiful that many people in our school always stopped to stare at her. She had a petite frame and was always dressed to impress. She was the type of pretty that made you cry because you wanted to be her. She alluded in a salacious manner just in the way she walked and spoke about things.

And the boy was | extremely jealous of her. Of course, none of the things that happened to me at school was her fault, but I could not help but feel as though people always visually compared me to her whenever we were seen next to each other.

Celia was the butterfly and I was the caterpillar that would be trapped in its cocoon forever.

"Nothing, I'm just really lucky to have you two." | replied. | didn't want to think that way, but I couldn't help it.

Marcus exchanged a look with Celia and they both eyed me suspiciously. He came over to my side of the table and draped an arm over my shoulder.

"Is everything okay?"

He stared deeply into my eyes, searching for any sign of discomfort. He sat down next to me and beckoned me to lean my head against his shoulder. I obliged and let out a deep sigh.

"Did you eat today?" He mumbled.

I shook my head against his shoulder and felt him mutter something under his breath. Digging into his pocket he pulled at an energy bar and offered it to me.

"No thank you," I declined the offer and snuggled deeper into his shoulder.

"| wasn't asking Luci,"

1 lifted my head from his shoulder and met eyes with a stern face. | reluctantly took the energy bar and quickly turned it over to read the information on the back. | groaned and unwrapped it before taking a bite.

"I'm eating now," I said through a large bite, "are you happy?"

He smiled at me and placed a hand atop my head, "yes | am."

We had sat quietly in the school parking lot, awaiting the bell to ring. | continued to chew slowly as I contemplated the events that had happened in the past two days.

"How was work yesterday?" Celia asked. She came over to the other side of Marcus and sat closely next to him.

"It was fine. Nothing exciting," | lied. I finished eating and crumpled the wrapper in my hand tightly. [ did not want to reminisce on the events that had occurred. | just wanted a peaceful day at school.

"Don't lie to us, Luci. We saw the pictures."

I snapped my head towards the two and cocked my head to the side. "What pictures?"

They exchanged looks with one another before Marcus pulled out his phone and tilted his screen towards me.

I gasped when | saw the vulgar image of myself displayed on the screen. It was a picture of me at the diner, bent over with my ass visibly in the centre of the camera. The position | was in was very sexual and unflattering.

The bottom of the photo displayed the caption, "Go to Rugrat Diner and ask for Lucille! Guaranteed dinner and a lovely show."

] grabbed his phone from his hand and started scrolling down the comment section of the post. Most of the comments include the peach emoji or a variation of comments regarding the size of my behind. Some explicitly spoke about what they wanted to do to me if they saw me at the diner and | suddenly felt sick to my stomach.

I pushed Marcus' phone away from me and hid my face in my hands.

The last two days have been extremely difficult. I felt this to be the breaking point of it all though. | had been trying so hard not to break down in front of them, but this time! couldn't help it.

My vision blurred and | could see through my watery eyes, tears falling on the parking lot ground. | sniffled and wiped my eyes and refused to look up.

"Luci," Marcus said softly, "do you know who took these pictures?"

I sniffled once more and ignored his comment. It's not like when things like this happened they could do much about it anyways.

Since we had been going to Kingston high, Marcus and Celia have fought a fair share of my battles. A lot of which had earned them suspension and many detentions. This year they couldn't do much to help because they would be expelled if they got into any more fights because of me.

"It doesn't matter anyways," | choked out. I grabbed my backpack off the ground and slung it over my shoulder. I had worn my contacts so my eyes were irritated and red.

I began to walk away from them when Celia grabbed me by the hand to stop me.

"Of course, it matters. Whoever did this needs to pay Luci."

I yanked my hand away from her grip and sighed. "It doesn't matter who did it. No one will believe us. They've never believed us. If we complain now we're just putting a bigger target on me."

She went quiet and backed away from my grip. Of course, she knew | was right. Each time we complained about students doing something vile to me, the administration never took it seriously. Although Marcus and Celia were more liked than me, people still didn't treat them with as much respect as they deserved.

"Exactly," I said. | began to walk away into the building alone before turning around back to my friends.

"See you guys at lunch?"

They both nodded and threw me a sad smile. It was then I noticed Celia holding Marcus' hand in a tight grip. It was as if she was forcing herself to calm down.

I knew she felt awful that she couldn't protect me, but it was for the best.

I quickly walked into the school and tried to avoid the stares and whispers behind my back. | could hear guys whistling as I scurried past them and girls looked at me in disgust.

The school was not going to start for another twenty minutes and the thought of going to wait by my locker made me anxious.

I decided to head to the darkroom to see if my photos had finished developing.

The darkroom was a small room that was illuminated by red lights. It was a place where the photography club came and developed and processed their photos that were taken on film.

Last week before Saint had smashed my camera, | submitted some photos on the tray to await development. Now that all my photos were gone, I needed to buy a new camera.

I groaned just thinking about it. With my first camera, I was lucky enough to find it at a thrift store in very good condition. Now | had to save up for another to replace it.

I sighed as | approached the darkroom and quickly went inside. | closed the door behind me, and the red lights illuminated my skin instantly.

I gazed around at all the photos that were developing and scanned the room to find mine. | walked over to the table and saw that half of my photos were developing and the other half were still in the tray.

"I guess I'll do the rest then," | muttered to myself.

I began to grab my materials and film when | heard the door to the darkroom quickly snap open and then lock shut. My body went cold and my stomach fell. My senses immediately heightened as my vision had already been blurred.

"Hello?" I called out. "Is anyone here?"

] stepped closer to where the door was and suddenly [ was met with three bodies blocking the exit. Each with smug smirks on their faces.

"Hey Luci," Devan cooed.

I immediately backed up further into the room and breathing became uneven. In front of me were Devan, Greyson and Bryce. Two of the guarded the door while Devan held up his phone in the air and waved it around.

"Sorry to bother you, we just wanted to get some more pictures. There's high demand." He grinned at me and took a step closer.

] panicked and frantically searched for a weapon. | grabbed the sharp scissors on the side of the table and held it up in front of me. "Get back."

A moment of silence passed before they all burst out laughing. Greyson found my attempt at defence the most hilarious since when he laughed he crouched over to cover his stomach.

"Restrain her," Devan commanded.

Bryce and Greyson moved from their position on the door. Greyson swiftly grabbed my wrist and the scissors dropped down to the floor. He put my left hand behind my back and held it tightly there. While Bryce took my right hand it did the same.

Devan walked over to me menacingly before picking the scissors off the floor. He examined the sharpness of them before turning on his phone camera and holding it up to me.

How did I always find myself in these situations? "Let's give them a show, shall we?"

He brought the scissors to the neck of my shirt and then slowly started to drag the tip down extremely slowly. I could feel my shirt start to rip as the sharp tip skimmed over it.

"Even though you're big, your tits make up for it," Devan stated.

1 could see him expanding on my chest area with his phone. | tried to budge out of their grip, but Greyson and Bryce held me tighter.

"Stay still or you're going to get it worse,"

I rolled my eyes and winced when | felt the scissors come in contact with my skin. Devan kept the pace at which he was Cutting down my shirt, agonizingly slow.

"Why are you doing this? I've done nothing to you three." | asked.

I kept steady breaths and tried to avoid building up my anger.

"Saint told us you're the reason his hands were so fucked up. He didn't tell us exactly what you did but I think it's appropriate to get some revenge... on our terms." Greyson whispered in my ear. He pulled a piece of my hair that was in my bun and yanked on it hard.

"I don't know why Saint let you off easy, but that's now gonna work with us."

Devan started to cut my shirt faster. The neckline of my shirt was now split into two, and my cleavage was almost about to spill out.

There were two things I could do:

I could one, burn these idiots to a pulp, and risk killing them and or my powers being found out.

Or | could two, let myself be sexually harassed and or assaulted in my school's darkroom while being filmed.

I was a lot of things but one thing | was not was an idiot.

I closed my eyes and started to channel all the pent anger | had been holding for the last two days. Every insult, every cut, every chokehold, and every tear replayed in my mind like a scratched CD. | could feel my insides bubbling and | knew that once | opened my eyes, they would be glowing red.

I could feel my body start to heat up and sweat. Any second now, | would have enough energy to get out of this situation. The fire in me started low at the centre of my stomach and then quickly spread to the rest of my body.

Devan's work on my shirt was almost complete as he had cut it halfway down. My bra was not fully exposed, but it was exposed nonetheless. He paused for a moment to stare before stopping the motion of his scissors and putting his phone down.

"Listen," he said as he brought a hand to my shoulder, "we will be nice, and not record this part."

He slowly stroked my arm up and down and looked at the two behind me as if smiling in victory. Before he could reach and touch my breast, the door to the darkroom opened abruptly.

Coming through the door was Saint. He wore all black today and | noticed three big gold rings on his fingers. He turned and looked at the four of us and the situation we were in.

His expression was unreadable, but through the red room lights, I could see his body stiffen.

"What's going on here," he asked slowly.

He didn't make eye contact with me at all, instead, he looked between the three guys who had put me in this position.

"Just having a little bit of fun. You want in?" Devan asked.

He ignored Devan's comment and looked directly at Greyson and Bryce.

"Care to explain?" He glared at them awaiting a response.

"Well you said that you were going to get revenge," Greyson began, "but she seemed fine so we thought you chickened out or something and we wanted to complete the job for you."

He sighed and finally looked at me. I gave him a hostile stare and huffed out my chest. He seemed to be trying to read my emotions but | held my front up high so he could not see me falter.

Saint then lowered his gaze from my eyes to my chest. | saw his jaw clench but he didn't say anything about it. He instead lowered his gaze from my chest to my hand and | saw his eyes widen.

"| appreciate you three but I got it from here."

"What? Are you sure? Cause we weren't even close to doing yet." Devan asked.

'I'm sure. Leave. Now." He commanded.

On instinct Greyson and Bryce let go of me and Devan headed straight towards the door. It was spellbinding how simple it was for Saint to command a room. It was almost as if everyone was in a trance, waiting to obey his law.

As Devan and the other two began to walk out the door, Saint cleared his throat and held his hand out to him.

"Your phone please."

Devan begrudgingly placed his phone into Saint's hand and scurried out of the room. Saint smiled to himself as he heard the door slam shut and began to scroll through the phone.

A wave of silence washed over us and neither of us chose to speak. The only sound that could be heard was Saint's scrolling and typing on the phone.

I stood in the back of the darkroom with half my shirt cut off and my body attempting to stop overheating. | wiped my sweaty palms on the side of my jeans and cleared my throat.

Saint looked up from the phone and gazed me over. He let out a low whistle and chuckled to himself.

"Nice shirt." I remained silent and kept trying to steady my breathing. "Not gonna talk, are you?"

He set the phone in his back pocket and strode over to me with his arms crossed.

"Not even a thank you? I'm hurt." He faked a frown before putting an arm on my shoulder and looking directly at my chest.

I pushed him off and quickly grabbed my backpack in a hurry. The class was going to start in a few minutes and | couldn't keep arriving late.

I slung my backpack over my shoulder and began to walk towards the door when Saint grabbed my backpack strap and pulled me towards him.

"Wait, you can't go to class like that,"

He shrugged the thin black jacket he was wearing off and held it up to me. I eyed him suspiciously and didn't make any attempt to grab it.

"What you don't trust me?" He asked.

"Of course | don't fucking trust you! What kind of question is that?"

I dropped my backpack to the ground, stepped in front of Saint and pushed him hard. He fell back into the table and gripped it to strengthen himself back up.

A few items on the table fell to the floor and spilt over when his body made contact.

I would never trust Saint with anything in my life. | knew for a fact that | would never take that statement back.

"I was trying to be nice," he growled. He threw the jacket at my feet but kept his green eyes on mine.

I stomped over the jacket before kicking it back to him. "Go to hell, Saint."

"Oh, can you take me there?" He smirked. He leaned back against the table, never once backing down.

To say that | was mad would be an understatement.

I was livid.

Saint knew all the right ways to push my buttons. | knew he was trying to get me angry. So! decided to play his game.

"What do you want?" | asked.

"Well first | want you to put on the jacket, then we'll talk." I instantly picked up the black jacket off the floor, shook some dust off and slipped it on.

The jacket had soft fur on the inside but a thin leather exterior. It fit snugly against my skin and it was not an oversized fit on me.

I looked back at Saint who seemed shocked that I had listened to him so quickly.

"Okay, well I need to ask you something,"

His eyes linked to mine as he sighed. I could see his breathing faltering as he gazed from my eyes to my chest.

"Well, what is it?"

He opened his mouth to say something before closing it and taking a step closer to me. He gripped the zipper at the end of the jacket and conjoined it in place, before

swiftly zipping it up.

Once the zipper reached the top of my neck he stepped back and clasped his hands together.

"What do you know about Azure?"

"Um not much. It's that city that's a couple of hours from here right?"

Saint nodded and eyed me carefully.

"Have you ever been there before?"

I dug my hands into the pockets of the jacket and felt unfamiliar items at my fingertips. I fidgeted around in them to avoid the awkwardness.

"Can't say that I have."

"Hmm," he said in a low hum, "okay then."

"Why are you asking me this?"

He grinned and stepped back towards me. Grabbing my waist, he walked me back into the small corner of the red room, entrapping me.

"I think you owe me a favour now," He whispered. I could feel his breath on my nose.

"What are you talking about?" | asked.

Saint's was getting too comfortable invading my personal space. His body was practically up against mine and he was just too close. It made me uneasy.

| averted my eyes to the floor and began hopelessly counting the tile pieces in my head.

"If | hadn't come in here, you would've had to use your powers or be humiliated on camera."

"If you hadn't made everyone in this school have it out for me, or use your useless friends to complete your "revenge', | would've never been put in that position."

He grabbed my chin and forced my eyes up to his.

"If you're going to get confident and start speaking crazy to me at least look me in the eyes when you do it."

"What do you want Saint," | whispered back to him.

"I need you to come with me this weekend to Azure."

"What? Why?"

Saint paused and I could hear him swallow. His deep breathing fanned my cheek and for a second | sniffed the air a bit to take in the scent around me. He had the fragrance of a bright spring day in the forest; not literally of course, but it was those emotions that swam to the surface when | inhaled his scent that took me back to that place.

I had too many questions and things to say and my head grew dizzy from the thoughts swarming around.

'I think my dad is in Azure."

Then, like clockwork, the school bell rang.