No, no, no!She’d be unmade before he could pull his maker away.Panic yanked Saer to his knees, words fleeing his mouth before he could think through them.“Master, send me away, give me another task, let me help how I can,anything,but don’t take her away, please!”
Lucifer’s lips pulled back, sharp canines glinting, and Its eyes dipped from red to onyx.
Neyu’s form slumped, still caught in Lucifer’s grip.She struggled for air, but the steaming ceased.Saer’s claws curled in on themselves, biting into his palms.
“Say ‘please’ again, Saerkhanum.”The fallen angel’s voice seared with warning.
“Please.”Pride didn’t hesitate, even as the unfamiliar word grated in his throat.
Lucifer released Neyu, Its arm falling.Neyu crumpled, gasping, and some of Saer’s tension loosened at the same time he fought the impulse to rush to her.
Closing Its eyes, Lucifer took a slow, shaking breath, in, then out.NeitherDaemoenicmoved.
Lucifer swayed where It stood.
Then collapsed to the ground.
2
“MySaerkhanum,”thefallenangel’s voice rasped from the stony floor.
The First’s breath hitched.Did he answer?
How could he not?
“Master?”
“To me.”
Fear and wrath stalled him, and he glanced at Neyu.Through red-rimmed eyes, she peeled her lips back in a grimace, but nodded.
Saer rushed forward, ignoring the trembling in his knees.Lucifer struggled, and Saer cradled his upper limbs under the fallen angel’s torso.
The familiar icicle blue of Lucifer’s gaze met his, and any remaining dread in Saer’s body vanished.
Neyu didn’t move, though Saer felt her eyes boring into him.
Lucifer’s voice dragged with Its exhausted sigh.“You said you would go.”
To save Neyu.Hehadbegged as much, heartbeats before, and it already felt long ago.Saer’s jaw tensed, and he nodded.
The fallen angel licked Its lips.“I need you to find a cure for this...weakness.”Lucifer growled the last word, disgusted.“I’ll teach you how to travel between our world and the surface—”
The surface?
Lucifer’s body spasmed, and Saer fought to keep his face neutral.More questions amassed.His maker insisted upon creating Its army.But their very creation—Saer and Neyu—debilitated the maker they’d sworn to protect.Lucifer gave them life, sank Its very essence into them.
They’d repaid It, thus far, with disobedience.
The thought made Saer’s stomach churn, while a quieter part of his mind warred against the feeling.Against being forced toservewhen he’d been created to bemore—
“I’m bound here, unable to take my physical body anywhere else, but you…my Saerkhanum, you must bring me back what I need.”
Saer’s brow furrowed.Fire and heat sustained him, though clearly the fallen angel needed more.Or different.How was he to know what to search for?
But, he’d been created to obey, and not to ask questions, and so the First nodded despite his uncertainty and frustration.To keep Neyu safe, he’d do anything.
“Of course, Master.”
