Genesis [malexmale]

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Goddamn it!" Lucifer picked up a scroll and threw it across the room so it bounced across the stone flooring and into the fireplace, causing the flames to scream, carrying the now burnt scroll up into the shaft before settling it back down in the kindling.

The generals in the room all flinched at their King's wrath and took several large steps back, as if afraid the wrath should be turned upon them as nothing more than mere messengers. Even Marshall had retreated a few steps, his eyes locked upon the floor with his hands folded tightly at his back.

Meanwhile, I stood off to the side of Lucifer's desk, staring at the flames that ate the message up like nothing, but another bundle of kindling. I thanked the Source today was not one of the days Lucifer had Jaques standing at his side to learn from him. Surely the sight of Lucifer so furious would frighten him and nothing was more painful than a son afraid of his father.

The message had come in this morning and had only just been delivered after noon, for the generals had spent hours flipping coins in order to see who would deliver the notice first. Said notice being a rather taunting letter to Lucifer from Set himself, informing him that he was happy to take what territory Lucifer didn't conquer. Yet another spit in the face at Lucifer's constant messages of peace and compliance.

"He mocks thee," one of the generals said quickly to placate his king, "We should cease negotiations and launch an attack upon his land on the morrow." Lucifer glared at his desk, as if he were still seeing those words etched into his brain. His fists opened and closed over the edge of his desk, the inner debate of whether or not to flip it at his generals lingering in the recesses of his subconscious. He barely heard the generals as they began to praise him like a bunch of mewling pups.

He was angry. He was stressed.

Not only was Set refusing to back down, but Lillian was pregnant, only several days after their wedding, and Lucifer was fighting his urges to feed from her. While Lillian was not human, as Delilah was, she still wasn't strong enough to be fed from constantly, especially when she was pregnant. So Lucifer had sent her to the summer palace on the other side of the realm until she had given birth to their future son.

Lucifer was tense, on edge, and Set mocking him was not helping matters at all. I could already see the gears working in Lucifer's mind, debating an attack of mass proportions. To get his mind back on a logic track, I lowered my arms and stepped forward, immediately commanding the attention of the generals and causing them to fall silent, just a couple of sharp gasps that I was steadily becoming accustomed to.

"Lucifer, be at ease," I told him gently, making him blink and glance up at me with eyes that flashed red, then blue again, but I took it in stride as I approached his desk, then glanced at his generals, "Launching an attack on the Egyptians will not only be deadly, but quite possibly the most stupid thing you could possibly do right now." A couple of the generals snorted and one in particular crossed his arms over his chest and scoffed.

"And why should we be taking advice from you? Are you not simply a decorative item?" He demanded. Lucifer's eyes flashed menacingly, but I didn't give him the chance to react further to the general, because I vanished from my place at his desk and appeared before the general who'd spoken. And while he wasn't intimidated by my appearance, he did have to tilt his head up a bit in order to meet my eyes, his chin in the air with a haughty expression on his old face.

I smiled.

"I am decorative, much like a chandelier, sir. Too much pressure on my twine and I'll snap and smash you into the stone flooring," I replied, watching his eyes widen and his cheeks redden with rage, "And before you begin to speak that which is flittering upon your mind, I implore you to hold your tongue. While I am certainly a force to be reckoned with, your King has much more rage behind his attack and will happily take his time carving your innards out and painting his floor red with them to match his attire this noon." To emphasize my point, Lucifer growled low in his throat. The generals in the room stiffened, staring at Lucifer, then at me, then back again.