“My, my, you are a pretty little thing, aren’t you? Your brother didn’t do you justice in his sketches. Now I can see why Lucifer went and lost his head over you.” Satan walked around them continuing his appraisal. Katia could feel his eyes moving over her and suppressed a shudder. “You and I are going to have such fun together.” A warm breath that brought a whiff of sulfur caressed her cheek as Satan whispered in her ear. “I can’t wait to show you my playroom.” He slid a hand down Katia’s back to squeeze her ass as he breathed in deeply. “I can smell him all over you. We’re going to have to do something about that, now aren’t we, Katia, darling?” Satan moved in front of the twins and held his hand out to Katia. “You’ve come all this way to visit me in my home. It would be rude of you not to walk with me. You wouldn’t want to be rude, Katia. Would you? I would hate for your brother to have an unfortunate accident all because you weren’t playing nice.”
Katia squeezed her eyes shut for a second to steel herself before slipping her gun back into its holster and sliding her hand into Satan's. As their fingers touched she felt a dark and oily feeling move up her arm making her recoil. All the showers in the world wouldn’t make her feel clean again. Satan tugged her forward so she was at his side, much closer than she’d rather be.
“You’re coming with us,” Satan said as he motioned for Keir to join them.
Satan walked sedately, taking stock of the frozen warriors, occasionally reaching out to test the sharpness of a blade or to spit on an angel. His arm snaked out to encircle Katia’s waist, pulling her flush against him. She shuddered in disgust.
“Did those dirty angels really think they could best me in my own house?” Satan mused.
Katia ignored his comment and continued walking, her eyes fixed straight ahead. Her only thought was to get to the dais where Luc was frozen in place, upside down, bruised, battered, and bleeding from a multitude of wounds that didn’t seem like they had even begun to heal.
“I mean, really, what were they thinking?”
Again, Katia ignored him. Suddenly she was cranked around in front of him, one arm banded around her like iron, pulling her flush against the front of him as he reached up and yanked her head back by her hair, forcing her to look him in the eye. She could feel the bones in her neck grinding. Her eyes watered in pain as she stood, staring into Satan’s glowing red eyes. Keir gasped.
“Don’t make a single move or I’ll snap her neck like a twig,” Satan said to Keir calmly.
Katia slid her eyes over to lock with Keir’s, silently pleading for him to stay put. Almost imperceptibly, he inclined his head in acknowledgement.
“I’m trying to have a civilized conversation with you, Katia, darling. Why are you ignoring me? That isn’t very polite either, is it?” he asked, a quiet menace in his voice.
A tear slid out the corner of Katia’s eye as she replied in a raspy voice. “I’m sorry.”
Satan laughed, clearly pleased with her response. “You’re sorry. Yes, everyone’s always sorry. ‘Sorry’ doesn’t go very far with me, but perhaps today I’ll make a special exception just for you.” He pulled back a little harder on her hair, causing Katia to cry out. She could barely breathe; any more pressure and her neck would break. The pain was excruciating, and Satan knew it and liked it...judging by the bulge in his pants that he ground into her. Katia was caught between wishing her neck would break so he would stop touching her, and hoping he would continue moving them closer to the cross, and Luc. As though her prayers were being answered, Satan suddenly released her. Katia stumbled backward a couple of steps gasping for breath.
“Shall we continue?” Satan motioned toward the dais. Katia flicked her eyes up to her brother with another silent request to continue on calmly. She resumed her position at Satan’s side. He kept his hands off of her this time as they continued their leisurely stroll through the killing field. As they walked, Katia peered around to see if there was anyone she knew in the fray. Familiar faces jumped out at her. She saw Sam, B, Gadreel, Michael, Belial, Asmodeus, and Azazel. They all seemed to be in one piece as they stood frozen mid-action. Katia breathed a quick sigh of relief. She didn’t see Amir anywhere, which was a good sign. He may be trying to open another doorway to the courtyard, but knowing how shadow-walking worked, it was anybody’s guess at how long it would take him to find his way back.
As the trio approached the dais, Katia’s stomach clenched. Luc was held immobile through the same dark magic as everyone else. His eyes were open but unblinking, the blood that had once run freely down his body suspended in time. Almost every inch of visible skin was cut, bruised, or burned. She wanted to run to him, to free him, to fix him, but all she could do was stand silently at his tormentor’s side waiting for an opportunity that may never come. The closer she got, the more Katia realized something was wrong. Luc's Sigil was gone, the golden aura was missing, the low level electric hum was absent. It was as though he were an ordinary human man that was knocking on death's door. Katia blinked rapidly to keep her tears at bay.
Breaking away from the group, Satan hopped up the steps of the dais and made his way to Luc’s side. “I’m sure you’re happy to see your beloved one last time, my dear,” he said to Katia as he ran a finger down one of the deep gouges in Luc’s chest. “Perhaps you’d like
