Chapter 11

Lucifer doesn't even realize he's not alone in the hallway until he hears the screaming. He looks down to see Michael's former vessel and one of his brothers sitting together in the floor. Alfie? Lucifer doesn't have a brother named Alfie. Does he? Oh well, who cares?

"Shut up," Lucifer hisses as he walks by.

He decides to hide out in one of the empty rooms. He slams the door shut angrily and flops down on the bed, lying with his face in the pillow. He sighs and rolls over, staring at the ceiling. He's bored, but that's not a new experience for him. There's only so much to do in a cage in Hell when there's no one to torture. Things were so much better with Sam there to throw around. He even got to kick the other kid around after Sam got out, only he didn't stop after Michael went insane.

There's a quiet knock on the door, bringing Lucifer from his thoughts. Lucifer sighs.

"I swear to Dad, Michael, if you —"

"It's not Michael," a small voice says.

"Jo?" Lucifer guesses.

"Yes."

"Well, Jo, I'm not in the mood for whatever you want to say right now, so get lost."

"Can I come in?" Jo asks. "Please?"

Lucifer sighs and sits up. "Fine."

The door opens slowly, revealing a frightened looking Jo. She takes a few steps inside, closing the door behind her. She doesn't lock it, likely because she wants someone to rescue her if she cries out. Doesn't she realize he has telekinesis? He could lock it himself. Moron.

"What do you want?" Lucifer demands.

"I want you to go talk to Adam," Jo replies.

"Who the hell is Adam?" Lucifer asks.

"The boy in the hall," she clarifies.

"I thought it was 'Alfie.'"

"No, the other one," Jo clarifies.

"Oh, cage boy," Lucifer replies. "He'd make a good punch in bag right now, actually. He was always more fun to watch than Sam. Sam don't scream or beg. Well, not much. Then again, I have a personal grudge against Sam, so it was fun to —"

Jo scoffs. "I can't believe you."

"I've heard that about a lot of things," Lucifer replies. "You've got to be more specific."

"You scarred that boy for life," Jo tells him. "He's going crazy, and you want to beat him up ?"

"I'm the devil. What did you expect?"

"This is exactly what I expected, but I was hoping you were better than this," Jo says. "I guess that 'I'm not all bad' thing was just a lie, huh?"

Lucifer nods. "Yeah, pretty much." Seeing her expression, he rolls his eyes. "Come on. I'm the devil. I lie. It's what I do."

Jo just looks at him for a second, then shakes her head as she turns away. "I should have known," she mutters, walking back to the door.

"Wait," Lucifer says just as she's about to open the door.

She turns around and crosses her arms. "What?"

"Why'd you come after me?" Lucifer asks curiously.

"Don't get your hopes up, big guy. I heard the boy screaming. It had nothing to do with you." With that, she walks away, slamming Lucifer's door behind her.

Lucifer locks his door with his mind and lies back down. Good riddance. He had thought she was just some hot chick, but she's apparently more than that, and Lucifer hates it. What does it take to get a decent hookup around here?

~~

Jo is storming away from Lucifer's room when she sees Samandriel cradling Adam in his arms as he cries. Jo looks down at them sadly, catching Samandriel's attention quickly.

"I could have told you myself that talking to Lucifer is pointless," Samandriel tells her.

"Well, I figured I'd try," Jo replies. "Is he always like that?"

Samandriel nods. "Or so I've heard. He didn't used to be. He used to be a good friend to all the archangels, and even God himself. But the Mark corrupted him and Michael banished him to Hell, and now he's bitter beyond belief."

"What Mark?" Jo asks.

"The Mark of Cain," Samandriel clarifies. "It locked the Darkness away, but with pretty bad consequences. But what happened to Lucifer he had coming to him. It wasn't all the Mark. There was still a part of him — a big part — that wanted to go against our father's wishes, and he had to be punished."

"And here I thought he was just having a temper tantrum," Jo jokes.

"Essentially, that's all this is," Samandriel agrees. "He's just mad that he got sent to Hell because of the Mark, not realizing that it wasn't just the Mark that did it."

"I know that perfectly well!" Lucifer's voice rings through the halls. "And I can hear every word you're saying."

Adam whimpers at the sound of Lucifer's voice, and Samandriel holds him tightly.

"No one was talking to you!" Jo yells back at him.

"No, but you were talking me and I felt it gave me the right to weigh in."

Adam starts tearing up, burying his face in Samandriel's uniform shirt. The angel rubs his back in a comforting motion.

"It's okay," Samandriel coos. "He's not going to hurt you."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that!" Lucifer calls.

Adam begins sobbing loudly and uncontrollably, and try as he might, Samandriel can't calm him. Adam keeps repeating the same phrase over and over. "Don't hurt me, don't hurt me, don't hurt me." In a rage, Jo marches back to Lucifer's room and attempts to open the door, only to find that it's locked. Jo kicks it in instead, breaking the latch as the door swings open.

"What the hell was that for?" Jo demands.

"What? I'm not the one breaking doors," Lucifer retorts, sitting up once again.

"How could you say that to the kid?" Jo asks angrily. "Just seeing you was enough to scare the crap out of him, and you decided to threaten him?"

Lucifer nods. "Yeah, basically."

Jo looks him in the eye, looking for a sign that he's faking this 'not caring' thing, but there is none. Jo glares at him, unable to believe he could be this cold.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she demands.

"A lot of things," Lucifer replies. "Would you like a list?"

"Enough with the flippant remarks!" Jo practically screams. "You're scaring a boy who's already had enough fear in him to last a lifetime — to last thousands of lifetimes."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"You —" Jo stops, looking at him in disbelief. "I can't believe you're an angel," she says. "You're worse than anyone I've ever met, human or monster."

That remark pisses him off way more than Jo intended. Lucifer's eyes glow red with rage. "I may be heartless, but I will never, be worse than your kind," he growls. "You rape and pillage and kill for no reason. You could live the perfect life with everything you could ever want, and still want more, while watching others who have nothing and laughing. Your whole race is screwed. At least I have a reason to be bitter, which is more than I can say for you."

"What, the Mark? You said it yourself. It wasn't just the Mark —"

"I'm not talking about the Mark," Lucifer interrupts. "I'm talking about being cast down to Hell by my own brother for having a mind of my own, for seeing through your kind's facade more than anyone else ever could. Your kind cost me everything, and I will stop at nothing to take you out."

"Maybe that's your problem," Jo replies, walking up to him to look him in the eye. She wants to make sure he understands this perfectly. "You're so quick to blame us. How about your own mistakes? Do you even blame yourself at all? This isn't just Michael's mess. This isn't just because some humans pissed you off. This is your own damn fault, and the sooner you accept that —"

"How dare you pin this on me?" Lucifer demands, his eyes flaring red yet again. This time, they don't return to their normal blue. "You weren't there. You don't know what happened, so don't you dare —"

"Then how about we ask someone who was?" Jo suggests. "How about Michael, huh? The one who clearly doesn't want to fight you, no matter how much you pissed him off? Not that you care what he wants. He's only your ! Or Gabriel? Who, if I overheard these conversations correctly, you killed yourself! You can't blame this on us. This was all you! You're the one who killed your own brother!"

That's what makes Lucifer snap. He throws her into the wall as hard as possible without breaking it, slamming the door shut and fixing the lock as he does. He walks up to her, his face inches from hers as he pins her against the wall.

"You don't know what you're talking about," he hisses.

"Really?" Jo challenges. "So, you didn't kill Gabriel, then?"

By this point, Lucifer is trembling with rage. He barely noticed the slamming at the door. "Gabriel went against me! What he got he had coming to him! He chose you broken, flawed creatures over his own brother!"

"Well, I don't blame him!" Jo retorts. "If I had a brother like you, I would have tried to kill you years ago! You think the broken ones? You turned on your family, you them! And why? Because you were jealous that Daddy didn't want to spend every second of every day with you."

"I didn't turn on my family, turned on ! They betrayed me! The Mark turned me like we all knew it would, and I got cast down because of it!"

"It wasn't the Mark that did this to you," Jo tells him vehemently. "It was you. It was all you, just like this is all you. They didn't send you away because of the Mark. They went you away because they knew who you really were."

This is the last straw for Lucifer. He looks her dead in the eye as he growls, "You little bitch. I will you."

She laughs dryly. "I'd like to see you try. You said it yourself. You can't kill me. God is making sure of that."

"Maybe not," Lucifer agrees, "but I can make you wish I did." He raises a hand and clenches his fist, shattering all the bones in her body at once. She screams out in pain and falls to the ground, but Lucifer doesn't care. He crouches next to her, putting his face dangerously close to hers as he says Ina dangerous whisper, "Don't you ever, talk to me like that again."

He stands up, walks over to the door, and slams it open as hard as he can. He pushes through the people gathered there, all of them fearful of what he's done to Jo, and storms off. He hears someone call his name, but he ignores them.

When he reaches Adam and Samandriel, Adam begins screaming again. Lucifer snaps his fingers as he walks by, silencing the boy by making him spit up blood instead. He doesn't wait for any reactions. Instead, he hides out in another room, as far from the war room as possible. He'll let them deal with the mess, just as long as they leave him alone.