One Hundred and Ten…

One Hundred and Ten: Lover Come Back

Contains sexual content, language.

As the days passed and Aubrey’s spirit lingered at the Haas Estate, a strange thing happened. She turned a fiery orange hue.

That was fine with Lucifer. At least he could see his mother.

Why she’d changed, however, he didn’t know. The longer she hovered around lighting, the more illuminated she became. Maybe that was the reason.

Weird. And the next, final step would be a complete metamorphosis.

She sat huddled on the floor.

“Mom,” Lucifer said. “I love you, but you need to leave. I have to change into my PJ’s and go to bed.”

“Yes. I know,” she quietly, sadly said.

“I’ll leave you be. I suppose I’ll go haunt Vaclav for a little while.” She left.

Lucifer cleared his throat, nervous about his mother’s inevitable discovery of Lauren.

It was only a matter of time.

After changing, he fell into bed and covered up. Minutes afterward he fell asleep.

Minutes after that, a bright blue light drifted from his body.

Yes indeed, it was time to visit Mila. It’d been a while.

Something also seemed to whisper to him. A soft voice telling him Mila was in pain. What kind of pain? Lucifer would find out.

He shot out of the room. A small part of him wondered if his mother knew what he was about to do; since she was a spirit herself.

And here we are!

Lucifer went straight to Mila’s bedroom window.

That voice had been correct. Something was wrong. She was crying. Then Lucifer heard Mila’s parents arguing about something.

He tried to listen; to decipher what her parents were fighting about.

“I know good and goddamn well that baby’s not mine!” A muffled male voice said. “How long has it been going on, Carla? Huh? Tell me!”

“A few months, alright?” the woman cried. “So just go ahead and leave and get it the fuck over with!”

Another girl cried as well. Mila’s little sister.

She slapped away a tear. “I hate vampires!” Mila sobbed. “I hate the fucking hybrids! Why do we have to… live so close to hell?”

Lucifer stepped down. His heart broke for Mila and her sister.

What made it worse? There wasn’t one single thing he could do to help. And something told him who fathered Carla’s baby.

Cody Haas.

Lucifer loped away. But wait… holy shit!

Cody!

In spirit wolf form, Lucifer could detect Cody’s particular scent. And apparently Cody could detect him.

The dark wolf glared at him; challenging him.

Cody bared his fangs, red eyes wide and menacing. He snarled, howled and reared back.

What the hell? What is wrong with you, Cody? Lucifer asked using telepathy.

Stay away from here. Go home where you belong. This is my territory, don’t fuck with it, and don’t fuck with me.

Cody lunged. Lucifer dodged him and raced down the street.

Creepy howling reverberated from behind.

More yowling. Sounded deep, unnatural, almost demonic.

Once he escaped, Lucifer glanced back.

No sign of the devil dog. However he still heard those eerie, monstrous cries.

Maybe Mila was right. Maybe Shadowvale really was hell.

He trotted into a random mausoleum.

Cody, what’s happened to you? What turned you into this ungodly demon?

“What’s wrong?” Lauren questioned. “You’ve been so quiet the last few days. You’ve hardly spoken one word to me or the kids.”

Vaclav gazed at her, unsure of what to say. Would could he say?

“You haven’t kissed me either. Something has changed with you. Are you getting tired of me?”

He grabbed her and pulled her down.

“I’ll never get tired of you, angel. Once I fall in love with a woman, I stay in love with her. Forever.”

Yes. I stay in love with her. Those meaningful words ricocheted in his mind. Disturbing him.

Lips touched, gently and softly. “Of course I still love you,” he whispered kissing her.

Then horror struck.

His other love was stuck to the canopy above. Aubrey didn’t look very thrilled. She reached out as if to snatch Lauren away from Vaclav.

Meanwhile, Lauren’s hand lowered to Vaclav’s crotch.

She stroked him through his pajamas.

Nice and easy hand movements that got him semi-hard, despite his anxiety over Aubrey’s watchful eyes.

It grew until he had to stop Lauren. If she didn’t stop, he’d be forced to screw her.

He didn’t want Aubrey to see that… needless to say.

He jolted upright. Lauren looked happy, if not a little confused.

He held Lauren’s hand, and gave her a quick peck on the lips. “Let’s just hold each other for right now, okay?”

Lauren was no longer happy.

Vaclav’s eyes shifted up to the canopy. Thankfully Aubrey was gone.

Anguished whimpering streamed from Lucifer’s bedroom. At times those sounds rose to a distressing screech.

Mournful, disquieting.

Mom?

He headed for his room.

“Oh, God. It hurts so bad. I’m a fucking ghost, so why does it still hurt? I’m not human anymore! It’s not fair!”

“I knew… I figured he’d move on at some point. Maybe even have more kids. I thought I’d accepted that possibility! And… and Lauren?! What the hell is he doing with Lauren? What happened between her and Reznik? I’m so confused.”

“I didn’t know it’d hurt so bad. I thought I could deal with it but I can’t.”

Lucifer’s arms slid around her. “I know, Mom. I—I wanted to tell you but I didn’t know how. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“But it IS my fault. I’m the one who conjured you back. I should’ve just left you alone; left you in peace where you belonged.”

“No. Don’t blame yourself. At least you gave Vaclav and I one more chance to see each other.”

“You gave me the chance to see you. How you’ve grown. How you’ve turned out,” she said, sniffling. “And I see that you’re a wonderful, caring, sweet boy. You will soon be a man, and I pray… I pray you will remain the sweet, wonderful person you are now.”

Vaclav rushed into the piano room.

Lance was playing a game on some sort of modern technical object. Vaclav had no idea what it was called.

“Hey Dad,” Lance said glancing up. “Why are you up? It’s morning.”

“Hi son. I’m up because your mother’s sleeping. That’s all you need to know.” Vaclav stood in front of Reznik’s spell book.

He skimmed through the first pages and found nothing of interest.

His frustration mounting, he flipped each page; stifling the intense urge to tear them out along with his blond hair.

Where is it? Where is it?? Where’s that damn spell that I know exists?!

I’d easily find it, if I weren’t looking for it.

He twisted toward the bookcase. In a frenzy, Vaclav started hurling books from the shelves.

“Fuck! Where is it? Where’s the right one?” he raged.

“Dad, do you need help or something?”

“No,” he sighed.

“I’m only looking for a certain book, or a book with a certain spell in it. I need it for something.”

“Okay. Uh, just let me know if you need help finding whatever you’re looking for.”

“I will. Don’t worry about it. Go play your… video game or whatever that thing is.”

Nighttime commenced.

“Uncle Lucifer, Pebbles wants to talk to you,” Azura teased.

He tried to ignore her.

“He wants to tell you how much of a stupid nerd you are.”

Lucifer took off, slamming the door behind him.

She followed.

“Uncle Lucifer! Let Pebbles tell you how much of a moron you are!” She banged on the door.

“Grow up, Azura! And stop calling me uncle! You’re a freakin’ month older than me!”

“I can’t help it if it’s true, stupid moron!”

Lucifer heard voices coming from the pavilion, so he approached the area and peered in.

“I need you to do something for me,” Vaclav said as Reznik invoked mysterious items from the cauldron.

“It’s important. It’s about your mother.”

“Here, kiss Pebbles.” Azura thrust the toy at Lucifer.

“Shit. Stop it! I’m trying to hear something in the other room. Go away.”

“No. Pebbles needs a smooch from Uncle Lucifer.” She laughed hysterically.

Lucifer’s eyes grew round with annoyance. He shoved Azura against the wall.

“Fucking stop it, I said. Grow up. If you keep this up, I swear, Azura…”

“Daddy!” she cried. “Lucifer’s threatening me!”

Reznik didn’t respond to his daughter’s pleas.

“What are you trying to say? I don’t get it. At least I don’t think I understand.”

“Your mother—”

“Dad,” Lucifer interrupted. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Lucifer, I’m trying to discuss something very important with Reznik.”

“I have something more important to tell you.”

Vaclav nodded. He and Lucifer stepped out of the pavilion and descended into the basement.

“You’re the one who conjured Aubrey’s spirit?” Vaclav asked.

“Yeah. I had a lot of questions I wanted answered, and only she could answer them. I also wanted to see her, to see what she looked like in real life. I wanted to be able to talk to her. I wanted to see the woman who carried me for all those months. I had to do it.”

“She’s every bit as awesome as I knew she’d be, Dad. I’m glad now that I did it. At first I was afraid.” He paused. “I want to see her as a human, just like you do. It’d be a dream come true if it was possible. Is it? Have you actually found a way?”

Vaclav nodded.

“You have to be the one to do it, if you think you’re powerful enough. I was going to ask Reznik.”

“I know.”

“Are your supernatural abilities strong enough to perform this spell?” Vaclav asked.

“I think so. All I have to do is drink blood before trying. Blood makes my powers stronger.”

“I’ll show you which spell you’ll need. Here’s the book.” Vaclav handed it over.

Lucifer read the spell.

“Are you sure you’ll be able to do this?” Vaclav asked. “Also, we need to ensure Lauren doesn’t know. She can never find out. We must be as careful as possible.”

“I know, Dad.”

“It won’t be a problem. I’ll get this done. Then we’ll both be able to hug her; love her like we should,” Lucifer said.

Many thoughts raced through Vaclav’s mind:

Yes. She can be a mother to you, if only temporarily. Even the mere possibility would be considered unfathomable to common humans.

As for me, I will finally be able to touch her. Kiss her. Embrace her. Do all the things I missed out on for fifteen long years; including lovemaking.

Please forgive me, Lauren.

Ephemeral Resurgence

A spell to shift the spirit form back into earthly human form.The duration is three hours. Abuse of this power will inevitably result in a curse upon the performing mage or warlock.