Monique's POV:

It's dark...why is it so dark?

The sound of shoes scuffing concrete echoes in a never ending space, drawing my attention.

"Who's there?"

There isn't any response. I do a full 360, turning to look for anyone.

The action is useless; the darkness keeps me blind.

"Silly human."

The words shock me, and in sheer reflex, I turn around again.

"Have you ever heard the old wives tale? If you die in your sleep, you die?"

My breath hitches and I take a few steps back.

Sleep. I must be sleeping.

I squeeze my eyes shut and take deep breaths, trying to wake up.

"It's true, you know. When you die in a dream, your soul dies. Not just your body." A sinister laugh echoes all around me, making my heart pound.

I open my eyes and bite my lip, pinching the inside of my arm tightly. My eyes start to water and I whimper, closing my eyes as a tear falls down my cheek, my arm stinging with the ghost of pain.

I drop my hands to my side, ready to cry from fear and frustration.

"You can't wake up. Not now, at least. You have to stay here until I let you go. Which, I suppose, could be until your body has waisted away to nothing, just a sliver of your soul's essence holding it to this world." The voice gathers behind my ear, cold breath making goosebumps rise across my skin and raising the hairs on the back of my neck.

I turn around, shoving someone away from me. I watch as the man calmly takes a step back, then raises his face to regard me coldly, like a cat watching its prey.

Black tattoos curve around his face and exposed skin, accentuating harsh features and harsher eyes, and a mouth twisted into a cruel mockery of a smile. His eyes flare icy blue, along with his tattoos, giving his skin a pallid tint; even in the dim light.

"What do you want?" I take another step back, then another as he copies me, stalking forward, slow and calculating.

"I want to see you suffer. You, your friend. Everyone you know and love. Everyone you think of, from the second you get up, to the second you fall asleep, and the people you dream about. I want to obliterate you and your allies from all of any world. Maybe I'll start with sweet little Maddie."

The words all make sense but hit me harder than anything said in English could.

I fight back tears and smirk, spitting out a retort through gritted teeth. "Somebody's got a naughty thing for S & M."

He raises his hand and narrows his eyes just barely.

Before I even have time to blink, I rise up from the floor and fly a few feet, then fall and hit the ground before skidding to a painful stop.

I cough and prop myself up on one arm, regarding the dark splatters on the floor with a mixture of concern and disdain.

The man appears in front of me and crouches, crushing my neck in a vice grip and raising me up until my feet don't touch the floor. I sputter, blood gurgling out of my mouth and down my chin. A harsh cough somehow escapes, blood splattering out of my mouth and onto his face.

He swipes his tongue over his lips, a wicked smile growing on his face as his eyes glow a bright, steady blue.

"I guess today isn't your day. It can wait. Besides, maybe we can see each other tomorrow night, too. I do like a nice game of cat and mouse."

Suddenly, he disappears and I fall like a rock, choking and gasping on my own blood on the cold floor of the dark room.

Lucifer's POV:

I yawn and stretch, careful to keep Monique still.

Suddenly, she tenses and groans, mumbling. I lean in closer, listening carefully.

"D-dar...dark...dark." Her back arches, her muscles seizing. Her hand clutches the side of the chair and I hear quiet pops as her fingers punch through the fabric. The tendons in her arms and hands stand up against her skin, pulled taut.

Suddenly she starts to silently cry, her eyes snapping open to show the sclera, riddled with burst blood vessels. Her tears start to turn pink, then light red.

"Monique? Monique?" I shame her shoulders, earning nothing but a pained moan.

"Wh... what...d...you...want...w.." She murmurs again, her tears starting to run bloodred as she goes paler.

I sit up as fast as I can, cradling Monique next to my chest and shaking her again, my chest starting to feel tight as the bloody tears start to drip down her chin.

Her back arches again and blood starts to dribble down her nose. She coughs, spraying blood onto the front of my shirt and the couch.

I raise my head and take a deep breath, getting ready to yell for help, then realize that if I can't help her, odds are that no one else can, either. Five Angels won't be any good if they're all panicking.

I push my arm against her back, straightening her back and bringing her face closer to mine.

"Monique, listen to me. You need to wake up. Now. Wake up."

Her body seizes again, blood flowing down her chin too fast for any normal injury.

"Damn it." I grit my teeth and bring my wrist up to my mouth, ripping at the skin with my teeth. The tingle of ichor numbs the tip of my tongue. I position my arm over her mouth, waiting in fright as the blood flowing from her mouth starts to gain a gold tint. I wait another few seconds as her body tightens up again, her mouth resting limply against the wound on my arm.

I laugh and nervously clench my hand. "You're going to hate me forever."

I move my arm back to my mouth, sucking out as much blood as I can, already feeling a buzz in my head.

Hesitantly, I cover her mouth with mine, trying to force the blood down her throat. I pull away and wait, watching as her throat contracts as she swallows.

"Come on. You can do it." I push hair back from her forehead, feeling a little bit better as she goes limp.

Through a heightened sense of hearing, I can hear her labored breath and the rattle of blood in her lungs.

Her eyes open, the pupils so tiny they're hardly visible.

She starts to say something, almost too fast to make out, then repeats it again and again.

By the second time, I know what language it is.

" *insert altered Latin translation* "

We're coming for you, our King. You have betrayed your people. It cannot be forgiven.

Monique's eyes close again and she goes limp, doused in sweat and breathing heavily. She starts to shiver, curling up into aright fetal position.

I press my hand against her forehead, recoiling at the almost burning heat.

I pick her up and stand, walking as fast as I can into the bathroom and setting her in the tub before turning the water all the way to the "cold" side.

Monique still hasn't stopped shivering, and her head keeps hitting the side of the tub. I cradle her head in my hand and try to support it, but she weakly manages to roll away, water splashing dangerously close to her nose and mouth.

"You're really going to hate me after this." I sigh and yank off my shirt, then crouch next to Monique in the bathtub, waiting impatiently as the water covers up to Monique's ribs and she slowly comes to, registers her surroundings, then me, then decides to start yelling.

"Lucifer! You pervert! You are so dead."

"You're very welcome for saving your life, by the way."

"What do you mean, "saving my life"? How does putting me in an ice bath translate to you saving my life?" She scoots away from me and wipes at her nose, looking down in silence at the blood for a second. "What happened..."

"I don't know. You kinda just started to spaz out. You started bleeding from pretty much everywhere but your ears, and you said something."

She turns and looks at me for a moment before standing. "Well, what did I say?"

" *altered Latin translation from earlier* "

"Doesn't ring any bells." She wobbily steps out of the tub, water dripping off of her with a drumming patter.

"Of course not." I stand and follow her out of the bath, grabbing a towel and squeezing the bottoms of my pants in an attempt to dry them out.

"I'm going to go change." She quietly leaves the bathroom, tracking water as she walks. After a moment of hesitation, I stand and drop the pants, crumpling them into a ball and dropping them into the hamper by the wall, then try to pull my shirt down enough to cover my (fortunately) long boxers.

Cautiously, I walk out of the bathroom, hurrying to my temporary room and putting on a new pair of pants.

Reaching for my shirt, I realize I left it in the bathroom. I walk back, opening the door and walking in to find Monique inspecting her mouth ruthlessly, a scowl growing on her face.

"Hey, do you know why my mouth is yellow and sparkly?"

"It's gold."

"Yeah, whatever color you want."

"Yes, I know. Of course I know."

She tilts her head to one side and raises an eyebrow. "Then please, let the cat out of the bag. I think it's suffocating."

I groan and drop my shoulders. "Do you really want to know?"

"Since it probably has something to do with why you were dunking in a cold bath with me, while half naked, yes I would definitely like to know." She turns and faces me, the hem of her shirt rising.

My eyes widen and I make an excuse, glancing away. "Don't you want to put on some pants first?"

I hear the attitude in her voice, not needing to look at her face to know she's smirking. "Come on, you know you love it." She smugly repeats my words from earlier. "Besides, you're definitely old enough to show some decency towards me, and you should know by now that if you touch any of the merchandise, I'll seriously injure you."

"Just because I'm the Devil doesn't mean I have a problem with fully clothed women."

She shrugs. "I never said that. Besides, it isn't all about you, you know. I was still feeling too warm after my wonderful little....dunk." She spits the last word out with distaste.

"Still. I would rather you just put something on so that no one gets the wrong idea." I tug my shirt over my head and push my messy hair back into a neater position.

"I'd rather not die of a high fever, but once I feel less like an ice cube and a fireplace combined, I will consider your proposition." She smiles broadly and casually walks past me and out the door, turning towards the living room.

I follow her out, watching as she sits on the recliner and pulls the blanket up to her chin.

"Now that we're out of the bathroom, why was my tongue gold?" She smiles again, leaning her head on her fist.

Crap.

I thought she would have forgotten.

She wraps her hands around her own throat and makes gagging noises, sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth.

Well, the cat's suffocating.

"You're going to be angry at me."

"Who says I'm not already angry at you? You did just take a bath with me without my consent."

I give her a cold look and start. "Fine. You started having seizures and muttering. Then, you started to cry blood, then got a nosebleed, and then coughing blood. I had to give you some of mine."

"What? Your blood? What'd you do, gimme a transfusion?"

"Don't act like an idiot. It isn't funny." She glares at me. "I had to make you drink it."

Her face scrunches into an expression of disgust. "That's gross! Why did you do that?!"

"You started running a ridiculous fever. You would have died if I hadn't done anything! As it was, it took two tries."

She stands, pulling the blanket up with her. "Did you shove a tube down my throat for quick absorbtion, then?"

"No. I..."

"You what? What did you do?"

"I had to kiss you. Well, more of a CPR breath-type "kiss". I figured that would be the only thing that might get you to swallow the blood, short of poking the roof of your mouth or something else."

She regards me with a look of what seems like revulsion. "Are you sure your name isn't Dracula?"

"That isn't very funny. You could have died."

"Then I guess I need to make the rest of my life count." She sits back down and gathers the blankets around herself again, then grabs the remote to the TV. "And to do so, we watch...Hmm. To do that, we watch...There's nothing good on, so we just watch World's Dumbest." She switches to a show displaying a man proudly jumping off of a diving board, then hitting his ankle on the rim of the pool on the way down.

Monique snickers and rolls her eyes. "Idiot."

I roll mine, too, then walk over to her and poke her leg. "Move over."

She looks up at me and shakes her head. "I'd love to, but I can't."

"Why not?"

"I just don't really feel like it." She shrugs.

"I just saved your life. I think I at least deserve to sit where I want."

She shakes her head again. "That makes sense, but you can't sit with me because I don't have any pants at the moment and I don't feel like getting up."

"Well, that sounds like a personal problem."

"It really does. Especially to you, since I'm not getting up." She laughs and leans back, pushing on the recline lever.

"I'll pick you up and set you down on that couch over there if you don't mover over. I won't even try to make sure your blanket stays with you."

She narrows her eyes at me and sighs, sounding slightly angry. "Fine. But you know what, you're a blackmailing pervert."

"Says the seventeen year old wearing nothing but a shirt and panties in front of a two-thousand plus year-old man."

"Just to make that sound less demented, you look eighteen, maybe as old as twenty. And, I'm only a few months away from eighteen."

"I'm the two-thousand-going-on-twenty year old man who saved your life. Move over."

She mutters under her breath and moves over on the oversized chair, making enough room for me to comfortably sit.

"You're going to rub the whole "saved-your-life" thing in forever, aren't you?"

I turn my head to look at her, an amused expression plain on my face. "You know, in most cultures in history, you would owe me your life. As in, we get married and you have my little super-attractive babies. Stop complaining."

She turns and pats my shoulder, my arm resting behind her back. "It's okay. I'm sure you'll eventually save the life of a girl willing to marry you within a week of meeting you."

I laugh sarcastically and glare down at her. "Ha ha. I just love your demeaning sense of humor."

"So do I. It's great, isn't it?" She smiles and shifts in the seat, leaning against my chest and using it as a pillow. "Don't even think about telling anyone about this."

"About what?" I innocently raise my eyebrows.

"You know what."

"Yeah. I know." I wrap my arm around her waist and start to reach down for the blanket, meaning to pull it up higher over Monique's waist. She leans up a little and starts to say something, then stops and settles back down as my hand rests at her waist again.

"Hey Lucy?"

I narrow my eyes at the mention of my nickname. "Yes?"

"Why are you such a jerk in the Bible?"

"First of all, I was a much younger idiot with no social skills and too much time on my hands. Second of all, the Angels who told humans what to write in the Bible didn't exactly want my autograph. On top of that, well... I guess I kind of am a jerk in real life."

"Were you the serpent in the Adam and Eve stories?"

"No. That was one of my Angels, Bedlaas. Most of the evil "demon and devil" things in the Bible got accomplished by underlings. Bedlaas did a lot of things that set chaos and fear into motion."

"Sounds like a real piece of work."

"He is. He's one of the worst opponents we have."

Monique seems to consider something, then talks again. "Do you remember any of your Angels who had...a lot of tattoos?"

The corners of my mouth turn down into a small frown as I try to remember. "I think so. It's hard to recall. They would have had to have gotten them recently or maintained them and gotten them redone every few decades."

"Oh. Okay."

"Why do you ask?" I lower my chin to look down at Monique.

"I saw an Angel with tattoos..." Her voice drops to a whisper and she nervously messes with the edge of the blanket.

Instantly, I sit straight up, feeling myself go on high alert. "Where?"

"Not here, you idiot." She pushes on my chest, forcing me to sit back. "I would have said something earlier if he was here."

"Then where did you see him?"

"My...dream. Well, more of a nightmare." She sighs.

"What happened?"

She sits up and frowns. "He's a royal jerk with some serious issues and physically abusive tendencies."

"Sounds like a great guy. What did he do?"

"Threw me five feet through the air without touching me. And then he decided it was okay to pick me up by my neck. I had a nosebleed and my mouth was bleeding...it was horrible. And then I coughed up blood...and he licked it off of his lip." She sighs in frustration. "I mean, what's up wirh that?"

"It's a drug."

"What?"

"Hemoglobin. To Angels, it's a drug. It wouldn't do anything in your vision, but he tried to ingest the blood out of habit."

"What?"

"The oxygen and iron react with ichor. It acts like a powerful stimulant drug. Dark Angels who became addicted is where vampire myths started."

Monique mergers under her breath. "Well that's cheery. Is that why you look, well, high?"

I nod and anxiously run my hands through my hair. "I'm sorry. I was just trying to make sure you were okay and some of your blood got in my mouth—"

Monique covers my mouth with her hand and rolls her eyes. "You need to learn to shut up. You did what you had to do. While I may not like the means, the end was definitely more favorable than any others. Don't beat yourself up over it." I nod and she moves her hand off of my mouth.

Past the turn in the hallway, a board creaks. Monique sinks down next to me, hiding most of her face with the side of my chest.

Elle comes into view from around the corner, rubbing her eyes and yawning. "Lucifer? When did you wake up?" She glances down towards Monique. "When did you get here, Monique?"

Monique shrugs.

"Why are you two cuddling..?" Elle hesitantly asks the question, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"What? My name's Lucifer so I'm not allowed to cuddle?" I scoff and hug Monique, who cautiously hugs me back while keeping her eyes on Elle.

"That's not what I s—"

"No, we aren't cuddling. He wanted to sit here but I didnt want to move, and I guess he saved my life. So he gets a day pass." Monique snickers, glancing at me before sitting up, pulling the blanket up to her ribs.

Elle's eyes go wide and she runs over, crouching next to her friend. "What happened?!"

"Ahhhh....Well..." Monique tries to stall, then gets an idea. "I'd rather tell the wonderful story after breakfast."

Elle nods and leans on the armrest. "What do you want to eat?"

Monique shrugs.

Elle rolls her eyes and walks to the kitchen. After she disappears around the corner, Monique jumps up and out of the chair, quietly running across the living room and disappearing around the corner.

Monique's POV:

"Stupid...." I hop on one foot, yanking the leg of my pants up in an attempt to get dressed.

Knocks draw my attention to the door and I sit on the bed, hastily finishing my struggle with the pants.

"Come in." I smooth my shirt as Lucifer pokes his head in the room, then walks in and closes the door.

"I just came to tell you that Elle says breakfast is ready."

"Oh. Thanks." I roll my clothes into a bill and throw them onto the foot of the bed, looking around the nearly bare guest room.

"Look, you don't have to explain about...well, really anything if you don't want to." Lucifer follows me around the room as I put things away, making the room look even more bare.

"I know. What are you, my lawyer?" I laugh and cross my arms, leaning against the dresser.

"No, I was just saying that if you don't want to talk, you don't have to."

The corner of my mouth turns upward. "Thanks for the advice."

He gives me a mildly confused look, then nods and gives me a small smile.

I walk past him and down the hallway to the living room and the kitchen. Gabriel meets me at the corner, blocking my path.

"Monique, you're going to need to tell me about your vision."

"Vision? You mean that stupid dream?" I nervously giggle and shrug. "It wasn't really anything."

"It does. A human doesn't just have dreams of an Angel assaulting them."

"What? How did you know?" I reel back in confusion.

"I'm a prophet. Something happened last night, I could tell. You're worrying about it to no end, too."

"Well why wouldn't I?"

"That's a good point. Would you mind telling me about it, though?"

"Can't we wait until we've eaten?"

"I guess. Elle says there's someone at the door for you. Well, two people." Gabriel looks back around the corner.

"Oh. Thank you." I smile graciously and walk past him. I stop next to Jack and Elle standing in front of the door, staring angrily at the people on the other side.

"Hey. What's going on?" Without a word, Jack takes a step to the side and Elle moves behind me.

My temper instantly flares at the sight of one of the two men.

"You." I narrow my eyes and sstalk forward, my hands balling into fists.

"Me? What did I do?!" Daevon raises his arms and his voice, confusion obvious on his face.

"Not you." I stop a foot away from Daevon. "Move." He takes a few steps to the side, leaving me face to face with the man behind him.

The man with the same tattoos and dark blue eyes flickering to bright, icy blue.

"Monique. How's the neck?"

"You bastard..." I growl and clench my fists, my palms stinging as my fingernails dig in.

"Monique, what's going on?" I feel Lucifer put a hand on my shoulder, which I angrily shrug off.

"He did it." I point an accusing finger at the man, my heart starting to pound as my brain starts to muddle from anger.

"Bedlaas, what did you do to Monique?" Daevon glares at the calm, heavily tattooed man, who shrugs.

"Came to her in a dream...with a message." Bedlaas smirks.

"Message? Is that what Dark Angels call getting into an unfair fight with a human?"

He shrugs and I lunge at him, my feet only barely leaving the ground before someone grabs my arm.

"Monique..." Elle looks between me and Bedlaas worriedly.

I pull my arm away aand shake my head. "No. I'm not letting him be all smug and conceited when he almost killed me this morning!"

Jack taps my shoulder, drawing my attention, then smiles. "Allow me." Suddenly, he pivots to face Bedlaas, landing two crippling punches to his throat and nose.

Bedlaas takes a step back, breathing shakily before recovering. "I would destroy you all where you stand, but you aren't worth the energy, and Lilyth will do that anyway."

I chuckle and cross my arms. "Just be sure not to kill any more innocents instead of us, 'kay?"

"So long as you die, it doesn't matter how many innocents have to."

Daevon scoffs and shakes his head before turning to face us. "He doesn't speak for me. I came to say that I'd rather follow the prophecy and join the people who are going to win, instead of taking a chance that Lilyth can beat you all."

"Funny how just a few days ago you were coming to get your general back, and giving very nasty attitude." I raise my eyebrow.

"Daevon, you can't be serious. You're going to join causes with our traitor general and our traitor king?" Bedlaas' face screws up in disgust.

"Oh, speaking of traitor kings, good idea to have Monique relay your message." Lucifer snaps at Bedlaas, who smiles coldly, his eyes flickering between cold, ice blue and their regular darker blue.

"Oh, good. You got the message." Bedlaas chuckles.

"Sadly, yes."

"Bedlaas, you should go." Elle nudges to the front of our group, standing beside me.

"I'll be back. Soon." He disappears in almost a Cheshire-Cat-esque way, leaving everyone in contemplative silence. Elle sighs and walks away, everyone following her to the kitchen.

Daevon walks inside, quietly shutting the door behind him. He looks down at the ground in thought for a moment before looking back up with an apologetic look on his face.

"Are you okay?"

I nod. "I'm fine. Still a little angry at Señor Tattoos, but okay. Okay, very angry, to be honest."

"I'm sorry about last night, getting you in trouble with your mom. I was really just trying to annoy you, not get you in trouble."

I shrug. "It's not like that's going to change anything now. I just want to go eat some breakfast."

He nods and follows behind me as I silently walk into the kitchen, wondering if he really even got me into any trouble.

A/N: Okay guys, so this was a really long chapter (4500 words) and I hope you all liked it. :)  So sorry I haven't been able to update all summer, but school's starting again, so I can get back into a sort of schedule.

If you liked the chapter, I would appreciate it very much if you could vote or comment, and if you've liked the entire book so far, please add it to a reading list. If not, that's okay, and I thank you for spending your time to read my book. :D