Despite the anxiety I had been carrying around with me, the trip into the city had definitely been needed. It had given me a chance to spend time with my son without the threat of humans coming to harm us and without some otherworldly foe trying to bring about the next apocalypse.

With Danny dawdling at my sides, and my arms laden with shopping bags, the two of us slowly wound our way back to the castle. He giggled and twirled up the path before me. In his hand a he held a long plastic stick with a piece of bright blue fabric tethered to the end. As he span around, pure joy on his face, the fabric chasing through the air behind him.

We rounded the last bend, the castle firmly in our sights when rapid footfalls clomped up behind us, getting closer and closer as the seconds passed. Spinning, I placed my body between Danny and the interloper. My heart thudded in my chest but I felt strangely calm. My sword was only a thought away and I could already feel it lingering just beneath the surface just waiting to be called.

Closer and closer the steps came, steady in their pace as they thundered towards us. Even with my arms full of bags I was prepared to pounce. My entire body was coiled tight and I had to force myself to breathe.

I blinked as the man rounded the bend and closed the distance between us fast, his body moving so fast I thought for a moment he wasn't going to stop in time. Castiel's trademark coat flapped behind him almost like a cape, his arms and legs working as fast as they could.

He skidded to halt with a few feet to spare, his face flushed and his eyes running up and down the length of me then Danny. I glanced down as Danny stepped forwards, wrapping his arms around my hand and resting the side of his face upon my leg as he stared up at Castiel.

"Savannah," Castiel breathed out, his entire body sagging as he blew out a breath. "I've been searching for you everywhere."

"What? Cass, is everything okay?" I asked, watching as the fallen angel drew a hand across his brow, swiping away the perspiration which had formed on his skin.

"Everything is fine. Lucius just asked me to watch over you. With Terran and his minions in the city he felt it best you had a bit of extra protection."

I frowned at the man. "Now you don't expect me to believe that is the entire truth, do you?"

Without waiting for a response, I thrust my shopping bags into his chest so that Castiel was forced to grab hold of them before they dropped to the floor. That problem solved, I lifted Danny up into my arms and started walking towards the castle. As predicted, Castiel hastily caught up and then matched my urgent stride. Although I could feel my son's curious gaze staring up at me, I focused my sights upon the man at my side.

"Now tell me what is going on? Lucius was keeping things from me earlier and you're going to tell me exactly what is happening." I ordered. For a moment I wasn't sure it would even work. I had no power over him. I wasn't his leader.

Castiel sighed loudly. "We have alarms around Tartarus to warn us if someone tries to escape their punishment early. And earlier today an alarm went off."

"But surely that's not the first time it has happened? I know I would try to escape at every opportunity I could."

"Yes, we get escape attempts on occasion. Not that they ever get far. But this was different. The alarm sounded in a part of Tartarus that is reserved for the worst of the worst. Even Victor Lyle, cockroach that he is, would not qualify for a spot there. It is for the monsters, the ones with absolutely no hope of penance and reform."

"And you let Lucius go there alone." I growled at the angel, anger fuelling me onwards as I beat a hasty path to the castle. "I should have pushed him. I should have forced him to tell me what was happening."

Kicking stones out of my path, my entire body trembled with the need to act, to do something. I held Danny closer, squeezing him tight. I couldn't be certain whether I was trying to comfort myself or whether I was trying to reassure myself he was safe. I had only just

"He wasn't alone, Savannah. But here is not the place to talk about it." Castiel stated, nodding his head towards an aged looking demon that was busy attending to some rather terrifying black thorn bushes several metres away. "There are too many ears – ears that should not be privy to this kind of information. We do not want to spread panic and hysteria when it is not necessary."

Biting my lip to stop any more words escaping my lips, I nodded my head in assent. Silence fell between us as Castiel took the lead, clearing a path through the halls of the castle with each that brokered no arguments from the staff. I was grateful. I don't think I couldn't have managed an idle conversation not when I sill didn't know nearly enough about the situation Lucius had walked himself into.

We stepped into a drawing room. A room I had never been in before – and I could quickly see why Lucius had never seen fit to bring me here during his grand tour. The walls were covered in art – hand painted murals from floor to ceiling. It sounded wonderful in theory but the images were terrifying. Fire and pain, torture and death – it was Hell as I had imagined it prior to arriving in the underworld myself. And right there in the centre was Lucius.

I shook my head even as my gaze was transfixed by the image. Other than his face, there was no hint of the man I had come to know. The Lucius depicted in the mural was all wrong. There was no warmth or humanity within him. Instead, his lips were pulled into a cruel smile even as he used his foot to kick a weak and pitiful soul back into the fires of Tartarus.

"What is this?" I asked, my heart thudding in my chest as I reluctantly drew my attention away from the mural.

Castiel, having deposited my shopping bags onto the floor, rubbed the back of his neck as his gaze drifted up at the mural and then away again. "It's ancient history."

"You mean this is based on reality?"

"Sort of." He began, dropping his hand to his side as he looked away from the painting. "When he fell, after he gave everything up for the human and she shunned him, Lucius went through a period where he hated humans. It was a long time ago and he has managed to forgive the past."

I blinked and looked up at the mural, hugging Danny's small form closer to my body. I stared at the stranger depicted on the wall for a few moments longer before turning away. Whoever he had been, the man painted on these walls was not the man I knew and loved.

"It doesn't matter now. Tell me what is happening with Lucius."

Sighing loudly, Castiel moved to lean against a monolithic desk which had been pressed up against one of the walls. He looked down at his shoes as he spoke. "When the alarms went off, the guards on duty went to investigate. They never returned. Lucius and a team of guards headed out to investigate earlier today."

"And they're still not back?"

"No, but that's to be expected. Where they went is not easily accessible. Only a few people know the full layout of Tartarus. It's the only way to keep it secure and to prevent people from getting bright ideas."

Nausea overwhelmed me as another implication hit me in the solar plexus. "And that means the number of people who can find Lucius if something goes wrong is?"

Castiel cleared his throat before speaking. "Since Phil died? One. Only Lucius and Hades know the full layout of Tartarus at this time."

Sucking in a sharp breath, I looked back up at the wall. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that because I'm not feeling reassured at all. Did he not think it was time to enlighten someone else? Hades is gone and Lucius is out there all by himself!" My chest heaved up and down in agitation.

"He was going to teach me but there wasn't time. I -."

I held out a hand to stop his speech, closing my eyes as I attempted to calm the tide of panic surging through my body. My son wriggled in an attempt to escape my crushing grip. I blinked and loosened my arms, pressing a kiss to the top of his head before I murmured soothingly in his ear.

Finally, when I had a semblance of control over my emotions, I met Castiel's stare. Even though I felt like I needed to scream and shout, I calmly said, "I'm going to get Danny some dinner. We will continue this discussion later."

Without another word, and before he could attempt to stop me, I powered out of the room as fast as my feet could carry me. Fear took hold of me as I made my way down the corridors. Lucius had to be okay. I couldn't live with myself if Lucius got hurt.

I should have fought him harder instead of letting the matter drop. If I had gone with him, I could have helped. I may have been human once but I knew how to use a sword. It had tasted the blood of our enemies in every battle we had been forced to endure. I wasn't a weakling to be sheltered and protected.

My feet carried me around the castle on autopilot, my body going through the motions while my thoughts were never far away from Lucius. Somehow, despite how frayed my nerves were, I managed to keep my composure. I offered polite and friendly smiles to the staff. They seemed to buy the act. As far as they were concerned, it was a perfectly normal day and nothing was wrong.

Deep down in my heart, I wished it was the truth. And that was all I could do - hope, pray, and wait for news to arrive.

Thank you for reading.

If you want to know what happens between chapter 3 & 4, check out my post at the #WattpadBlockParty Summer Edition II for an exclusive Lucius POV piece. The link will be in the comments.