Reignite (Extinguish #2) (2 page)

Luce
threw his hands up and motioned toward himself. "Well, get a good look,
because it's only a matter of time before I'm gone again."

Truthfully,
Luce was surprised he was still standing on the surface. After Michael had
spared Serah, he'd expected his brother to cast him right back into the pit. He
wouldn't have fought it—fighting was senseless. Luce had thrown his last
card and lost the final game.

But
instead of banishing him—instead of punishing him—Michael had
simply left. A second before he vanished, a telltale sparkling glow had
surrounded him, enveloping him, sweeping him away. It was something Luce knew
no one else could've seen, not even the other low-level winged bastards like
Abaddon, but enough Archangel lingered in him to detect it. He'd even felt it
briefly, the prickly sensation on his skin.

Their
Father had summoned Michael.

And
ever since his tantrum afterward, Luce had merely been wandering around the
Earth, bouncing from place to place as he waited for Michael to reappear to
finish what they'd started.

"Nah,
you aren't going anywhere," Abaddon said. "It's not like you have
anywhere to go, right?"

"Right."
Luce drew out the word, eyeing the angel strangely. He could detect a hint of confusion
in his voice. He knew when somebody was prying for information. You can't con a
conman. "Don't bullshit me, Don. Why are you really here?"

Casually,
Abaddon shrugged a shoulder. "Curiosity."

"About
what?"

A fraction of a second hesitation.
"About why you gave up
so easily."

There
it was.

Luce
gazed at his old friend as that question sunk in. He hadn't said it, but Luce
knew what he really meant by those words. "You want to know if the rumors
are true."

Despite
the angels trying to keep silent, some of their whispers managed to seep
through. He heard the gossip.
Notorious Lucifer, King of
Hell, claimed to know love again.

Unfathomable
.

"So?"
Abaddon asked. "Did someone actually tame the Beast?"

Luce
laughed bitterly, turning away from the nosey angel to look back out at the
water. "Why does it matter?"

"Because
it's you." Abaddon was at his side in the blink of an eye, staring at him.
"You're the warrior, the rebel, the one who's brave enough to fight this
archaic system without regret. We still believe in you. We're—"

"
Cowards
," Luce said, cutting him
off. "You're fucking cowards. That's all you are."

Long
ago, before he'd been cast into the pit, before he lost everything that meant
something to him, Luce had built quite the following, an alliance of rebel
angels who believed in his cause. His army had been strong, formidable, so much
so that he believed he was guaranteed success.

That
was, until push came to shove, and half of those on his side withdrew from
battle. They surrendered, pleading for mercy, and were granted forgiveness.
Abaddon had not only been Luce's second in command, but he'd been his closest
friend, and his deflection was something Luce never really came to terms with.

He'd
abandoned him when things got tough.

If
Luce had to rank the worst moments of his existence, Abaddon's betrayal would
be up there with the day he was cast into the pit by his own brother.

Neither
came close to the sting of losing Serah, though.

"The
time wasn't right," Abaddon said, trying to defend
himself
.
"We were destined to lose."

"What
makes it so different now?"

"You
have incentive."

"And
I didn't then?"

"You
wanted it then, but you need it now. Before it was about fighting for what we
thought was fair… now it's about getting revenge for how you were
wronged."

Anger
rose inside of Luce, simmering in his gut. He turned to Abaddon, expression
darkening. "You know nothing about how I've been wronged."

Abaddon
took a step back, raising his hands defensively. "You're right. I can only
imagine, and I'm sure my greatest nightmare isn't even a fraction of the
reality. Which is why we thought for sure you were going to win. Even
they
thought you were going to win. But
then you just backed down, you retreated…
why
?"

Closing
his eyes, the moment played out before him—the moment Serah lost her
Grace. "I had what I wanted."

"Her?"
Abaddon asked. "The Power? Serah? Pardon me if I'm wrong, but you don't
really have her now, do you? Yet another thing they've 
taken
from you."

His
voice had a note of incredulity to it that only made Luce's anger simmer more.
He hadn't meant her at all. He meant he'd gotten his revenge, had gotten his
taste of freedom, but hearing her name from Abaddon's lips stirred up his
resentment. "I gave her up. There's a difference."

Abaddon
slapped him on the back as he shook his head. "You keep telling yourself
that, pal."

Luce
said nothing in response, staring out at the colorful water again, trying to
harness some of the tranquility to soothe him, but it was pointless. He
couldn't absorb any light when so much of him was still consumed by the
darkness.

Abaddon
must've taken his silence to mean the end of the conversation, because he let
out an exaggerated sigh and turned around, starting to walk away. After a few
steps, he stalled. "We still believe, Lucifer. This world should be ours,
not theirs. If you decide to fight for what has been stolen from you… if you
decide to take a stand… I'm sure you'll figure out where to find me."

With
a pop, he was gone, disappearing into the atmosphere, leaving Luce once more to
his silence… once more to his loneliness.

"Name?"

"Sarah... I think."

"Last name?"

Serah shrugged. Did she even have one of those?

"Date of birth?"

"I'm not sure."

The man looked up from his decrepit computer and peered at her through
a pair of thick, steel-rimmed glasses perched low on his nose. Skepticism
marked his pudgy face. "You look like you're in your early 20's. What's
your education? High school? College?"

"I have no idea."

He sighed exaggeratedly as he leaned back in his creaky, swiveling
office chair. The small cubicle, hardly the size of a walk-in closet, was
filled with stacks upon stacks of paperwork. "Let me see if I got this
straight: you have no birth certificate, no social security number, no
identification at all; you aren't even entirely sure of your name; you have no
previous address, no current address, and no means to procure an address; you
have zero education, zero references, and zero experience. Yet, you expect me
to find you a job today?"

Serah nodded. "Yes."

It sounded about right to her.

He stared at her with disbelief for a moment before sitting back up,
his gaze returning to his computer screen. "I'll see what I can do."

Serah shifted around on the uncomfortable little gray chair as she
watched him type away at his keyboard. Something about the short balding man
with the high-waist brown trousers charmed her the moment she'd stepped inside
the Chorizon Employment Commission, so much so that she'd sat around all afternoon,
refusing to be seen by anybody else, as she waited for him to be available to
help her. A strange sense of intuition, deep inside of her, told her he was the
one to speak to about a job.

"Do you have any special skills?"

"Not that I know about."

"Can you type?"

"I suppose I could try."

"Have you ever driven a car?"

A light laugh tickled her chest, unexpected and inexplicable.
"Yes, although I don't remember when, or where, or how, but I'm certain I
have driven before."

He typed away for a moment longer as Serah studied his small wooden
desk, cluttered with office supplies, his faded nameplate bearing the name
Douglas Barnhart. Frustrated groans echoed from him after a while as he gave up
on the computer and turned his attention back to her. He stared her down, eyes
narrowed as if he were reading her.

"Look, miss, this office can't help you."

"But?" She knew there had to be a 'but'. She could hear it in
his voice.

"But I might be able to do something."

Serah smiled radiantly as she jumped up from the chair and leaned
across the desk, startling the man as she squeezed him in a hug. "Thank
you so much, Mr. Barnhart."

"Whoa, wait, don't you want to hear what it is before you
celebrate?"

"Oh." She sat back down. "Yes, of course."

"My mother owns this little place across town, the Barnhart Motel.
She mentioned hiring some extra help. It's not glamorous, you know... will
mainly be cleaning rooms and stuff like that. And while it won't pay much, I
think I can get you somewhere to stay out of the deal."

"That sounds wonderful!"

"Yeah?"

"Absolutely."

He nodded as he grabbed his phone. "I'll set it up right
now."

She watched him, satisfaction
settling through her. She knew he would help her. Somehow, she knew.

Seven of clubs.

Ten of hearts.

Two of spades.

King of clubs.

Six of hearts.

Six of diamonds.

Six of spades.

Luce laughed bitterly to himself, staring at the dingy cards spread out
on the asphalt beside him. He sat around the side of Chorizon Elementary
School, leaning back against the brick wall facing the vacant playground.

Six. Six. Six.
What a fucking joke
.

He tossed down the rest of the deck, discarding the cards. It was
useless. There was no point to the game with no one to play it with him.

But what else was there to do?

He had wandered for weeks, alone and utterly bored, somehow ending up
right back here where it all had started. It was not far from the gates... so
close, in fact, that Luce could feel the powerful energy emanating from them.
It was a pulse in the air that reached out to him, tempting him back to
familiar territory.

He'd be lying if he said he hadn't considered it. He was ten times
stronger now that he was no longer marked, no longer cursed and confined by the
magic. He could voluntarily waltz right back through the gates, back into the darkened
pit, and pick up where he'd left off, making life Hell for everyone around him.

Literally
.

But something stopped him. Something stalled him, keeping him up top
and lingering around this little town.

As soon as the thought passed through his mind, he caught a subtle
whiff of a familiar scent and felt a spark of energy in the air around him. His
eyes studiously scanned the playground and the surrounding streets until he
spotted her.

Serah.