The throne room emptied slowly.
Clan heads filed out. Generals saluted. Scientists bowed. The witches lingered a mont longer than the others, their eyes lingering on Lucifer’s face, before disappearing into the corridors.
Within minutes, only a handful remained.
Damaris stood near the throne, still as a statue. His silver hair caught the torchlight. His golden eyes—so like Lucifer’s, yet older, more worn—studied his son with an expression that held centuries of regret.
Ella hadn’t moved. She stood near the left pillar, arms crossed, watching.
Luna had drifted closer, her notepad forgotten in her hand.
Vina and Rey waited by the doors, silent sentinels.
Dracula stood at the base of the throne stairs, his ancient face unreadable.
Zane leaned against the far wall, pretending not to care.
"You’re serious about this," Damaris finally said.
Lucifer’s jaw tightened.
"I’ve never been more serious about anything."
Damaris studied him for a long mont. Then he did sothing unexpected.
He laughed.
Not bitterly. Not mockingly. A real laugh—warm, tired, almost fond.
"You really are my son."
Lucifer raised an eyebrow.
"Is that an insult?"
"It’s an observation." Damaris stepped closer, his boots clicking against the black stone. "I spent centuries running from my past. You’ve spent a century running toward yours."
He stopped in front of Lucifer.
"We’re not the sa."
"No," Lucifer agreed. "You gave up. I don’t."
The words hung in the air.
Damaris’s expression flickered—pain, pride, sothing in between.
Then he nodded.
"Alright."
He straightened his shoulders. Rolled his neck. Cracking sounds echoed through the quiet hall.
"The stasis," he said. "I’ve been hiding in it. Not because I couldn’t wake up. Because I didn’t want to face what I’d beco."
Lucifer’s eyes narrowed.
"And now?"
Damaris smiled. It reached his eyes.
"Now I have a reason."
He raised his hand.
The air around him shimred.
Golden light—pale at first, then brighter—poured from his chest. His skin ward. His eyes blazed. The soul fragnts that had been trapped in the system for centuries finally clicked into place.
Damaris gasped.
Not in pain.
In release.
His back arched. His wings—those massive, shadow-touched wings that hadn’t spread in millennia—unfurled behind him. They were tattered at the edges, scars visible even through the darkness.
But they were his.
He exhaled.
The light faded.
When he opened his eyes again, they were sharper. Clearer. Awake.
"I’m back," Damaris murmured.
Lucifer stared at him.
"Welco ho."
---
The rest of the day passed in a blur.
Damaris walked through the palace like a ghost revisiting old mories. He touched the walls. Ran his fingers over banners. Stopped at portraits of vampires long dead.
Lucifer followed at a distance, saying nothing.
Ella walked beside him.
"He’s different than I expected," she said quietly.
"How so?"
"Softer."
Lucifer glanced at her.
"He wasn’t always soft."
She slipped her hand into his.
"Neither were you."
He didn’t pull away.
---
That night, Lucifer called a private gathering.
Not a council. Not a court.
Just the people who mattered.
The small dining hall—the one hidden behind the throne room, the one only a handful knew existed—was warm with firelight.
Ella sat to Lucifer’s left. Luna to his right.
Damaris sat across from them, eating for the first ti in centuries. He moved slowly, deliberately, relearning how to be in a body.
Vina and Rey sat at the far end, speaking in low voices. Dracula stood near the window, looking out at the capital. Zane had his feet up on a chair, eyes closed, pretending to nap.
Lucian—Lucifer’s clone, his shadow-self—stood in the corner, perfectly still.
Sothing in between.
"Lucian," Lucifer said.
The clone’s head lifted.
"Yes?"
"I’m leaving."
The room went quiet.
Luna’s hand tightened on Lucifer’s arm.
Ella’s expression didn’t change, but her grip on his other hand did.
"How long?" Luna asked.
Lucifer shook his head.
"I don’t know."
Zane opened his eyes.
"Where?"
"Damaris knows of places. Old places. Places where lost souls drift." Lucifer’s voice was steady. "I’m going to find Francisca’s soul. Or whatever’s left of it."
"And if there’s nothing?" Vina asked quietly.
Lucifer looked at her.
"Then I’ll co back and figure out the next step."
Rey spoke for the first ti. "You’ve been gone before. Long stretches. We’ve managed."
"This is different," Ella said.
Lucifer turned to her.
"It is."
She held his gaze.
"You’re not just going on a hunt. You’re going into the unknown. With him." She glanced at Damaris. "A man who’s been dead for centuries and only half-woke up this morning."
Damaris raised his glass. "I appreciate the vote of confidence."
Ella ignored him. She stood, pulling Lucifer with her.
"Walk with ."
---
They ended up in the garden.
The one Lucifer had built for her, decades ago, when she first beca clan head. Silver flowers. Black roses. A fountain that never stopped flowing.
Ella stopped near the edge of the water.
"You kissed once," she said. "A long ti ago. Before everything."
Lucifer stood behind her.
"I rember."
"It was a mistake."
"I know."
She turned to face him.
"It wasn’t a mistake because I didn’t want it. It was a mistake because I wasn’t ready."
Lucifer’s throat tightened.
"And now?"
She stepped closer.
"Now I’ve had a hundred years to think about it."
She cupped his face in her hands.
"Don’t die out there."
"I won’t."
"You don’t know that."
"No," he admitted. "But I’ll try not to."
She kissed him.
Deep. Slow. Full of everything she hadn’t said for a century.
When she pulled back, her eyes were wet.
"Co back to ."
Lucifer pressed his forehead to hers.
"Always."
---
Luna was waiting in the library.
She sat on the window seat, legs curled beneath her, watching the moons rise over the capital.
Lucifer found her there.
"You knew I was coming," he said.
"You always co to last."
He sat beside her.
"It’s not because you matter less."
"I know." She leaned her head on his shoulder. "It’s because I’m the hardest to leave."
He wrapped an arm around her.
"I’m going to find her, Luna."
"I know."
"For you. For . For everyone who lost soone to Adam."
Luna was quiet for a mont.
"You kissed Ella."
Lucifer stiffened.
"I saw you in the garden." She looked up at him. "I’m not angry. I’m not jealous. I just... I needed to know if you were going to kiss too."
Lucifer stared at her.
Then he cupped the back of her neck and pulled her close.
The kiss was softer than the one with Ella. Gentler. But no less real.
When they parted, Luna’s cheeks were flushed.
"Was that goodbye?" she whispered.
"No." Lucifer tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "That was ’I’ll be back.’"
She smiled—small, watery, real.
"Then I’ll be waiting."
---
The departure was quiet.
No fanfare. No speeches. Just the inner circle gathered at the main gate, watching as Lucifer and Damaris prepared to leave.
Lucian stood at the front, his expression unreadable.
"The realm is in your hands," Lucifer told him.
Lucian nodded. "I know."
"Don’t let them forget who rules."
"They won’t."
Lucifer clasped his clone’s shoulder—a rare gesture of trust.
"You’re not . But you’re close enough."
Lucian’s lips twitched.
"High praise."
Lucifer turned to the others.
Ella stood with her arms crossed, her face calm. But her eyes betrayed her.
Luna held her notepad like a shield.
Vina and Rey stood shoulder to shoulder.
Dracula bowed his head.
Zane raised a hand in lazy farewell.
"Don’t do anything stupid," Zane said.
Lucifer snorted.
"No promises."
Damaris waited by the gate, his wings folded, his expression patient.
"You ready?" he asked.
Lucifer looked back at his realm one last ti.
The capital glowed in the distance. The mana reactors humd. The trains carved lines of light through the darkness.
A hundred years of work.
A hundred years of waiting.
"No," Lucifer said. "But I’m going anyway."
He walked toward the gate.
Damaris fell into step beside him.
The portal opened—dark, swirling, slling of old places and older secrets.
Father and son stepped through together.
Behind them, the gate closed.
The vampire realm continued on without them.
User Comments
0 comments from readers