The Devil's Lover: The Resurrection

  The Devil’s Lover: The Resurrection

  By Dahlia Lu

  Smashwords Edition

  Copyright 2011 Dahlia Lu

  Cover Image Copyright IStockphoto.com

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems-except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews-without permission in writing from its author.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictions or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is dedicated to my family and the love of my life.

  Prologue

  He stood on the edge of the tallest building. A silver wind fluttered his platinum hair into trails of glistening lights. They shone as brightly as the stars in the night sky. His lucid blue eyes stared out into the distance, as if he were longing for something he once had. He held a small crystal flask tightly in his hand and he unconsciously brought it to his lips.

  In the blink of an eye, he disappeared and left no trace that he had ever been there.

  Chapter 1: Vacant Grave

  “One minute I’m one of the most powerful demons in Hell, the next, I’m a bloody gravedigger,” the young man muttered irritably as he walked through a long corridor that led into a spacious domed room. He approached the throne in the middle of the room and sank down to the seat. When he thought about what he was doing a few hours earlier, he heaved a long sigh.

  “Remember your place, Seth,” a voice echoed in the room.

  Seth slowly stood up when he saw his father entered the room. “I don’t see why I can’t sit on the damn thing.”

  By appearance, he was a beautiful man in his early twenties with shining blond hair and brilliant grey eyes. Seth resembled him somewhat, but it was rare that anyone could ever match his beauty. He lowered his eyes for a moment and then turned away.

  “If Lucifer is not the one to rule, that throne shall forever remain empty,” he replied.

  “You can become the new King of Hell, Father,” Seth argued. When his father eyed him, he instantly realized his mistake.

  “Lord Arvin,” he corrected himself.

  “You have failed to retrieve her body,” Arvin concluded as he saw Seth had returned empty-handed.

  “Someone got there before I did.”

  “He returned.”

  “Lucifer?”

  Arvin grinned. “He still hasn’t given up on her. It has been thirteen years since she died.”

  “Why do you want her body?”

  “I don’t want it.”

  “But why did you ask me to retrieve it?” When Arvin did not answer, Seth guessed.

  “You’re planning something.”

  “Sending you was only a distraction so they would not focus on the bigger picture,” Arvin admitted, then added, “Lucifer will fail to resurrect Kali.”

  “He will fail?”

  “I will leave it at that.”

  “You still do not trust me,” Seth accused.

  “I only trust myself, Seth.”

  Seth said nothing.

  “I will show you, then. I doubt that you will ever betray me.”

  Arvin led Seth down an enormous seemingly-endless spiral stairs that vanished into the dungeon level of the castle. It had been a long time since Seth had last been here. The previous visit had left a bad impression. They reached the bottom and walked through a dark, dungeon-like hallway. Seth looked to either side and noted the appearances of many glowing red eyes in the dark. This was the place that held the demons that had lost themselves to their instincts. They lived forever in darkness without salvation. These were the demons that had lost the battle to themselves.

  Arvin commanded the last door on the corridor to open. It obeyed and swung open with a creak. There were a few candle lights in the room, but it was not well-lit enough to see what was inside.

  Arvin, however, knew exactly what to expect.

  “Crying will not help you,” Arvin said.

  Seth redirected his energy to create a small ball of fire in his hand. Dim light seeped into every corner of the room. On the bed lay a weeping young girl. She looked up at Arvin, a challenging look in her eyes.

  Seth was surprised to see her.

  “Skye?” He came to her side and offered a hand. “What are you doing down here?”

  She smacked his hand away from her.

  Seth looked to Arvin, confused.

  “She’s not Skye,” Arvin said.

  “She’s not?”

  “Well, her body is.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Lucifer cannot resurrect Kali….because I already have.”

  Seth was stunned. He looked to Skye and then back at Arvin. “If she is…then where is Skye?”

  Arvin grinned. “Well, that’s the entertaining part.”

  †††††

  The night cast dark shadows over the cemetery. A thick screen of fog reduced visibility to nearly zero. Approaching footsteps splashing in a puddle broke the silence. The couple ran to the grave site of a young girl. To their surprise, what they saw confirmed the grave keeper’s words. Her coffin was empty.

  “Damn it!” The young man said through gritted teeth. His golden eyes glowed bright with anger.

  “Who is responsible for this?”

  “Calm down, Chevalier,” his beautiful companion said to him. She patted his shoulder reassuringly. “Being rash won’t get you anywhere.”

  “Calm? Her body is missing!” he reminded her. He massaged the bridge of his nose in distress. “Who could…?”

  “The question should be why.”

  “It’s those damned demons again, Adria!” Chevalier accused. “It’s been thirteen years and they still haven’t left her alone! It must be Arvin’s doing!”

  “We can’t assume that, yet.”

  “Who else would dig up a dead woman’s grave?”

  †††††

  A colossal mansion stood on top of a steep hill. It was years beyond its intentional life span. Vines and moss had claimed most of the building’s structure. A tall man arrived at the main entrance. He had platinum hair and a pair of lucid blue eyes beneath thick lashes. Accompanying him was the cloaked figure of a woman. The double doors opened willingly to let them in.

  Their footsteps echoed along the pavement of the hallway. Greeting them at the end of the hallway was a young man with the same blue eyes and platinum hair.

  The woman, who had been walking behind the man, stepped forward. She slowly removed the hooded cloak that covered her small body.

  “Kali,” Lucifer addressed her, “this is Trent.”

  Trent stood motionless for a moment. Emotion swirled in his striking blue eyes. He spread his arms out and embraced her. He indulged himself in a moment of reunion before something inside of him felt wrong. He released her and took a step back. He stared at her, questions alive in his eyes.

  “My son,” she smiled at him.

  He blinked in confusion, and then turned away.

  “Trent?” she called out to him. He did not turn back. She look
ed up at Lucifer for an answer.

  Trent did not know what he was feeling. He had missed her every day for the last thirteen years. He longed to see her again, but now that she is here, he turned his back on her. There was something missing in her touch.

  Warmth.

  Trent shook the thought. Perhaps he had been separated from her for too long. He was no longer a child and the time gap between them had turned her into a stranger.

  “There is still much time to make up for what was lost,” Lucifer said, almost to himself.

  †††††

  Arvin chuckled, amused, as he watched Lucifer and Kali through the magic mirror. He looked to the girl sitting next to him and searched the emotions in her eyes. She was crying. Her tears gave him pleasure, of a sort. He playfully wrapped her silky hair around his finger and toyed with it.

  “What do you think, my dear?” he asked her.

  She wiped the tears from her eyes with her forearm. She turned to face him.

  He lifted her chin up with the tip of his finger. He glanced at the girl in the magic mirror and then looked back.

  “What do you think of her, Kali?” he repeated his question, “Or should I say, Skye.”

  He laughed. “You should really be proud. Skye is one of the most beautiful among angels and demons alike. Possessing her body is truly a blessing.”

  She pulled away from him.

  “You can’t fool him for long,” she retorted.

  “Oh? Skye is currently in your body. The body of the woman Lucifer loves so dearly. He never put his guard up with her. Skye can imitate your words, your actions, even your habits. What makes you think that she can’t be the new you?”

  She glared at him. “How can she be me, when I am me?”

  “Humans are so narrow-minded.”

  “No, you’re the one who's wrong.”

  “Am I?” he teased her. “What makes a person more than those three things?”

  “She may know how to act like me, but she is not me!” she protested.

  Arvin laughed heartily. “Do you really put that much trust in Lucifer? Expect him to doubt the woman he loves?”

  “He loves me!”

  “Does he? Or is he only in love with the idea of being in love?”

  “You are insane.”

  “Then wager with me.”

  “What?”

  “You said that he loves you,” he restated her claim. “Then prove to me that is so.”

  “I don’t have to do anything,” she replied.

  “Aren’t you curious yourself?” he asked. “Come now, dear Kali. Do you actually believe in what Lucifer claimed to be love? Could it not be obsession? You simply captured his interests for the time being, a blink of an eye in his long lifespan.”

  “Why not just get rid of me?” she questioned him.

  He paused for a long second. “I will let you go.”

  “What?” she said in disbelief. “You are just going to let me go?”

  “Nothing is that simple, of course.” He inched closer to her and stole a kiss from her lips. She pushed him away.

  “How dare you!”

  Suddenly, she felt something in her throat as if she had just swallowed a foreign object. She grabbed at her throat as a sudden pain rushed through her body. She glared at him as long as she could before the pain distracted her. It felt like every one of her arteries throbbed and burned, and seemed to center on her shoulder blade. A small emblem had formed on the back of her shoulder.

  “This is the cursed mark of silence,” Arvin explained. “It is a living curse that will kill you if you so much as attempt to reveal your identity.”

  She gasped for a deep breath of air as the pain faded, and found herself lying on the ground panting her relief.

  Arvin commanded the double door to open. When Kali regained full consciousness, Arvin was no longer in the room. His voice echoed from somewhere far away.

  “You are free.”

  Chapter 2: Her Imposter

  It was a city where time had held no claim for over twenty years. No changes had been made. Neither improvements nor deterioration has taken place, as if an invisible force was keeping it suspended in time for a purpose unknown.

  There was a commotion on the cross road. The traffic was building up, and many drivers grew impatient and honked their horns. Some had gotten out of their cars to see what was happening. They saw a young girl lying unconscious in the middle of the crossroads. She had long silken black hair and a face that would have been the envy of the angels. A young man had gotten out of his truck and covered her body with his jacket.

  “Someone called an ambulance!” he shouted out to the people, who gathered around him in a thick mass to see what was going on. They stared and gossiped, but none reacted. The young man picked the girl up in his arms and carried her to his own truck when he realized his call for help was useless.

  He returned to the driver’s seat. When the people realized there was nothing more to see, they wandered back to their own vehicles. The young man started up the engine and drove toward the hospital. He kept looking to the girl, then back at the road. He was sure that she hadn’t been hit by a car. If she were, she would have bruises and cuts. Her skin looked unusually flawless. Many questions filled his head, but he knew it was not the time to spare them much thought. The first thing he needed to do was get her to a hospital where she could get some help.

  Seth heaved a sigh of relief. He had been instructed to bring her back to the mortal world. It appeared he had summoned her to the wrong location. He was too distracted with other thoughts to focus completely on his summoning skills. He needed to stay focused from now on.

  †††††

  She kissed him passionately.

  It was the same lips, the same scent, and the same pair of eyes that stared back at him. Lucifer stroked her hair gently and returned her kiss. She was breathless when he broke the kiss. He bent down and scattered little kisses on her neck.

  “I have missed you,” Lucifer said to her.

  She smiled triumphantly.

  “And I, you.”

  †††††

  Trent strode down the long corridor of the inner mansion. His footsteps could be heard all through the hallways. Heaving a long sigh, he stopped in front of a large framed window. He looked to the image reflected from the glass’s surface, staring himself in the eyes for several seconds before continuing to walk. His reflection danced across each window as he passed.

  “What do you want?” Trent asked.

  “You felt it too, didn’t you?”

  “What do you mean?” Trent replied.

  The image paused for a moment before he spoke again. “I’m sure it was not just me who felt it.”

  “What nonsense are you talking about?”

  “I will investigate tonight,” the image said to Trent.

  “Not until you’ve explained what you mean,” Trent demanded.

  “The day is yours, the night is mine. I will explain myself soon enough.”

  †††††

  Chevalier turned the key to his apartment. He pushed the door open, then sluggishly closed it behind him as he entered the hallway. He let himself fall onto the sofa and leaned his head back. How could this have happened? He asked himself. It had been up to him to keep her body safe. He let it happen right under his nose. How useless could he be?

  A pair of hands came up behind him and covered his eyes. “Guess who?”

  “Bi, I’m too tired today,” he said to her.

  “Did you go to the cemetery again?”

  “It’s just been a long day,” he replied.

  “I see,” she said. She strolled to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. She gave the contents a quick glance and then closed it.

  “We’ve run out of food,” she told him. “I’m going to go down to the convenience store to buy something to make dinner.”

  “Okay,” he agreed softly.

  †††††


  Kali lifted her hand to block out the bright light that prevented her eyes from opening. She saw an outline of a face and reached out to it. She murmured Lucifer’s name softly before she passed out again.

  “How is she, Vince?” the middle-aged woman asked as she walked in. She put down the lunch box she carried on the table and came to the young man’s side.

  “Her doctor said she needed some time to recover,” he replied. He stared at the unconscious girl with guilt evident in his face.

  The woman massaged his shoulder comfortingly. “It was an accident,” she said to him. “You’ve done all you could for the last two days. She’ll come around.”

  “I swear I didn’t see her until-” He lowered his head. “Oh God, if something happens to her, I’ll never be able to forgive myself.”

  “Son…”

  “I need to be alone for a little while,” he said softly.

  “Okay. I’ll take care of her for now.”

  He nodded and stood up. Walking out of the room, he closed the door behind him.

  †††††

  The crowd went wild. They held posters and signs and screamed out his name. The people outside of the stadium were flooding in like streams of ants. It was the biggest concert ever held in the history of entertainment. Ticket prices had skyrocketed when the two hundred sixty thousands fans realized the seats were limited. Many flew halfway around the world just to attend this concert.

  The first time they saw his debut, they couldn’t take their eyes off of him. He had platinum hair and pair of pale majestic blue eyes. It was the sort of beauty that drew attention. No man on Earth should be this beautiful!

  Then they heard him sing. His voice was ridiculously cool and silky. Adding to the package, he was a little bit above six feet tall and had an air of mystery about him. His ads were posted all over the city.

  It was a battle already won.

  The stage went silent. The crowd quieted in anticipation. There were a few minutes of silence before the fireworks in front of the stage exploded into a fantastic display. The silver wings attached to his back were wrapped around him to cover his body. The wings spread out, revealing a beautiful man.