Summer of the Lake House

Summer of the Lake House

Chapter 7: Kneel before the Devil and Pray

Sekre: Cookie for you. Yes, my evil little mind has decided to stick the poor boy with Lucifer. I just hope my mom never sees this, she’s totally convinced I’m a satanic lesbian, this just might send her over the edge.

Madlodger: Cookie for you. I can tell you’ve thought a bit about this but nope, I’m not giving it away but I can say that I have something a little different in mind for Amenci than you probably think. As for the rest, I shall keep you in suspense, don’t want to give too much away.

Anti-Socialite: Cookie for you….and a trampoline because you seem very bouncy. Now bounce away little Anti-Socialite, I command thee, BOUNCE!!! And I’ll try to keep updating sooner rather than later ^_^

Kizuna: Yay, my bestest reviewer! Cookie for you. And, yeah, it’s a bit confusing because I’m really messing with the mythologies but it was Lucifer after all. I just figure that there’s so many gods out there with wings that angels just seem like a pointless concept. They don’t really do anything but look pretty, kill people, and show up in lot’s of online fiction so I decided I didn’t need them.

Boring_neko19: Cookie for you. And no, Dion is still a main character, but I’m going to alternate a bit between them. I like to add a bit of variety. And hello to the community of boring_neko, glad to know many people like my story. ^_^

Converse Tennis Shoes: Yeah, I don’t see that many stories out there that really do mythology. You get the stories that add bits and pieces but it’s usually tied in with other popular themes, like vampires and werewolves and such, I was trying to stay away from that. And I’m glad you liked Raven, I was afraid maybe I had overdone that flakiness.

Magalina: Cookie for you. Glad you liked the realism I was trying to give it, I was afraid it might turn people off of the story but it’s nice to know it was appreciated and that you were so into it. This chapter is pretty long but I don’t think it will keep you up so late.

A/N: Well, now that I’ve given away all my cookies I would like to say that you all got it. It was Lucifer, the Big Bad himself. You’re all so smart…or I’m so obvious. But believe me when I say I though a long, long time about whether or not I should include him in the story and I finally decided I should. I was actually toying with the idea of Hades or Anubis but I decided I could do more with Lucifer. Who knows tho, the other two may come into the story at some point; we’ll just have to see. But enough talk, on to the story!


Warning: Severely long-winded descriptions ahead. Feel free to skip if it becomes too much for you to take.

Tylers POV:

I don’t know how long I stayed in that chair, curled up, staring unseeing at the stone floor. It had to have been a good few hours and my mind had slowed to a grinding halt in that time. There was only so much worrying and panicking a person could do before they just stopped wondering and let fate take over.

That didn’t mean I was completely resigned to my fate or had stopped being miserable. I was so cold in that dark, stone room. The fire seemed to be there merely for show because I couldn’t feel a thing from it. It was at least as tall as me so why was I covered in goosebumps, and why could I see my breath in the air, why as every second passed was by body giving in to the frigid cold of that room if that giant fire was raging just feet away from me?

I sniffled miserably, trying to curl up tighter against the biting cold but knowing it was useless to even try.

That was probably the worst part of this whole twisted situation, knowing it was all useless. My struggling, my hoping, it was all useless. I was trapped and that fucking “Lucie” was going to come back and find me and probably beat the shit out of me for sitting in his chair.

Raven had said he’d be a stern master but he was such a twit; stern could just be Raven-speak for sadistic, egomaniacal, half-rotted corpse of a dark lord.

My stomach twisted. I was making myself so nervous imagining what kind of horrible creature this “Lucie” could be that when I heard the squeak of the door I actually screamed in surprise. I’ll admit, not my bravest moment, but you try sitting in a cold, stone, dungeon of a room with nothing to do but freeze to death and imagine all the horrible things a man who technically owned you could do to you. After the second hour of picturing my eye’s being burned out with a hot iron it was safe to say my nerves were just a bit frayed.

So I screamed. It was just a small scream and I don’t think the person heard it because the door didn’t stop opening. I could see the forms of two people who seemed to be talking in heated whispers to each other as they entered the room.

Cautiously, I sank deeper into the chair so they wouldn’t see me, but the curiosity was so great I couldn’t help but take a peek. I wanted to see him, the man who supposedly owned me. I just knew if I was able to see into his eyes I would know what my fate was going to be or have some idea of what kind of person he was. He would find me sooner or later and I wanted to know what I could about him before that happened.

The two came into the room but I couldn’t see them very well. I think luck was on my side though because as soon as they closed the door the larger figure sighed heavily and said, “Let’s get some light in here.”

I can’t really say how he did it but the bigger man reached out his hand and seemed to actually grab the fabric of the room, the very reality of it, and rip it away. I could actually see his large hand grabbing and twisting away the room I was sitting in as if it were nothing more than tissue paper. I was sitting right in the middle of it as the stone room was torn away like a sheet that had been covering a chair to keep the dust off of it. It was the same effect, as if the cold stone had been a cover for the real room beneath it, keeping it safe while the owner was away.

I had to bite my lip to keep from making any noise as the room tore and dissolved around me. It was disorienting to say the least, sort of like I was going crazy, partially because even as the room was ripped away I wasn’t affected in the least. I couldn’t even feel a slight shifting of air or hear a single noise, though it felt like I should have been experiencing a whirling, violent vortex around me. The only change I could actually feel was that suddenly the room went from being frigid to almost overpoweringly warm, and I shivered as my body adjusted to the sudden change.

Wide eyed, I watched as the desk disappeared, leaving me almost completely exposed, and the chair under me changed from the hard throne-like monstrosity I had been huddled up in, to an enormous, leather chair. And while much less imposing than the throne chair, it was far grander than anything you would see in your average living room. In fact, as the room underneath was revealed, I noticed that everything was far larger and grander than anything you would see in a normal home. I looked around nervously and didn’t like what I saw. It wasn’t that the place wasn’t nice, it was probably the nicest place that I had ever seen in my life, but it was just…intimidating.

Everything in the room seemed to belong to a person who was cold, no nonsense, and likely to hurt a disobedient slave. Everything was hard and sharp, from the dark, hardwood floor, to the large, granite fireplace; there was no softer side to it. Over the hard floor was dozens of strange, dangerous-looking furs of creatures I didn’t recognize and wasn’t sure I wanted to. I looked around to see massive framed pictures and sculptures, all of horrifying images of demons and death, things that wouldn’t look out of place in an old, gothic cathedral but looked all the more frightening in a living room.

I could feel myself growing more and more desperate. This room frightened me… but I had to see the man it belonged to. Maybe he wasn’t so bad. I hoped he wasn’t…I prayed he wasn’t.

The two men entered further into the room and I stayed as still as possible. The man I saw first was the smaller one but only because he was so strange and flashy, and probably the most magnificent creature I had ever seen. He was taller than I was by almost a foot and dressed in the oddest costume I had ever seen. He appeared to be made up to look like a giant, gold peacock.

An elegant feathered mask sat on his delicately proportioned face, covering the entire top half of his face down to the tip of his nose where it dipped into a sharp beak-like curve. It molded perfectly to the contours of his face and seemed to be made of a thin, shining gold. It gave him an elegant, mysterious feel.

He wasn’t as fragile seeming or adorable as Raven, but he did posses an otherworldly beauty about him that kept me staring.

The only visible parts of his small, heart shaped face were his smirking mouth, a small, rounded chin, and the biggest eyes I had ever seen in my life. They peered out at the world from behind the mask, glittering a strange shade of blue and green and lined thickly with black makeup. They took up almost the entire middle half of his face.

As he moved elegantly into the room I became aware of the fact that he, like Raven, seemed to like minimal clothing. Unlike Raven, however, he wasn’t completely naked. A thin gold loincloth hung around his oddly full hip and he wore a thick gold choker that seemed to keep his head forcibly positioned so he couldn’t put it down or turn it too far. It looked painful and I couldn’t see anyone wearing something like that willingly.

The more I saw of him the more my eyes widened. They almost popped out of my head as his long, feathered tail came into view. It dragged a few feet behind him and the feathers were gold but decorated with the traditional blue and green of the peacock he was supposed to be.

It was amazing, hundreds of golden eyed feathers were growing from the base of his spine and I almost gasped in shock to see that he wasn’t dressing up as a peacock…he WAS a peacock. The feathered train was one of the most incredible things I had seen up to that point, save maybe for Ravens storm, but it was by far the most beautiful. In fact, everything about him had a seductive beauty. Every move of his body fascinated me, the slight movement of his hands, sway of his hips, and the superior, arrogant look on his pretty face.

I was so busy ogling the peacock man it came as a shock when I realized that I had completely forgotten about the second man. Frantically my eyes searched the room and found him standing so close to me I could have reached out and touched him. I was fortunate that the chair wasn’t directly across from the door or they would have seen me right away. As it happened it was at a slight angle and the large arms hid me well enough from view that I could be pretty easily over-looked. I wasn’t taking any chances though and hunched down as slowly as I could, trying to draw as little attention to myself as possible. Thankfully I was the sort of person that could easily be over looked and at that moment I was so grateful for it.

The second man wasn’t nearly as flashy as the peacock but what he lacked in flashiness he more than made up for in sheer dark presence.

I couldn’t help but gasp nervously as he moved even closer to me. He stood very tall and straight, there was no hint of a slouch in his shoulders, no bend in his neck; he seemed to be looking permanently down his nose on the world. Like the peacock he was arrogant, but it was a frigid arrogance, a powerful arrogance.

The dark man stopped and turned slightly to face the peacock man. I could better see the sharp aristocratic features. His face was deeply masculine, unlike Raven and the peacock who were almost disturbingly androgynous, and if I hadn’t known he was a god I would almost have figured him for a cutthroat businessman. The mans sharp, angled face was very fine boned but solid and dominated by his high cheekbones and narrowed black eyes.

Maybe that wouldn’t have been so intimidating, even with the killer eyes, but it was the mouth that solidified the entire image. If you have ever heard the description ‘a cruel mouth’ than you can get a pretty good picture of what it looked like. That sharp, bloodless mouth looked like it had only three possible expressions, sneering, smirking or pressed into an irritated line. It could have been a beautiful mouth if it had belonged to anyone else…but not on this man, he made it an ugly, fearsome thing. Not that he was ugly by any stretch of the imagination, but some people could turn beauty into an ugly thing with a bad enough personality. It looked like he was one of those people, beautiful on the outside, ugly on the inside.

He was more dressed than anything I had seen yet in a broad band of engraved gold around his hips that had two long strips of black cloth hanging from both the front and the back, covering the essentials but leaving his legs exposed. They were kept from flying open by many gold chains down either leg to mid thigh, attaching the two strips of cloth together. He had the body to pull it off to, well muscled and powerfully built like he had spent all his life fighting. But all in all he was very simple and straight cut, nothing there that didn’t need to be

I think the flashiest part of him was his hair, and if I was any judge I’d say he liked his hair a whole lot. It was a thick, black waterfall, falling in mild waves down to the curve of his back. It was the only part of him that was in the least way embellished, besides the gold hip band. Thin ropes of hair were wound several times around a shining silver band that was so intricate and detailed I was sure it was a mark of authority. The rest of his hair was allowed to fall free but had several braids running through it where trinkets, bells and silver and gold threads, had been wound in. It could have looked gaudy and vain on other people but he carried himself with such superiority that the simplicity of it actually seemed modest.

The two men began talking again. I wasn’t really listening but I could hear they were worried about something that had been stolen. It was after a moment of studying the two that I heard the peacock man say, “Listen to me, Lucie, I doubt he even knows yet, we can get it back well before that happens.”

Lucie? I gasped softly. The cruel looking man was the same ‘Lucie’ who Raven had given me to? Oh god!

“Did you hear that?” asked the peacock man.

Lucie frown darkly, looking irritated beyond all reason. “Do I hear what? I don’t have time for your little games now, Melek Taus [1]. If you want to be stupid I suggest you get away from me because I have too much to deal with without-“

“Hey,” Said the peacock man, who was apparently called Melek Taus. “Since when do you call me by my full name?”

“I said I don’t have time for this! If you can’t be helpful than leave,” he hissed sharply, clenching his fists.

Melek Taus made a hurt noise and his train twitched violently. He looked ready to jump on the man and beat him and I dearly hope he didn’t. ‘Lucie’ looked capable of ripping the smaller mans head off. “FINE! I’ll leave! If you want to be a dick than go ahead Lucifer,” he said sarcastically.

I gasped and Melek Taus shouted and looked around frantically. “I HEARD it! Didn’t you hear that? There’s someone here!”

I froze, berating myself for not being able to keep myself quiet but my mind was reeling from the shock of what I had just heard. “Lucie” was Lucifer! THE Lucifer! The devil! The ultimate evil! I mean, I had been raised in a very Christian community so fear of the devil had practically been shoved down my throat from the time I was born. I had never taken it seriously but all of a sudden I was wishing I had paid more attention during those long, boring services.

“Lucie? Did you hear me?”

The dark man narrowed his eyes further and scowled. “Of course I heard you,” he said in a strange way that made my skin crawl.

Oh god, I though. Oh, please don’t let him see me. Just ignore me and go away! Please, don’t see me.

I was panicking and didn’t notice it until to late that he had seen me. It wasn’t until his head began turning my way that I panicked, every horrible thought of the past hour went through my head and had to get away. I almost made it to. My foot was on the arm of the chair and I was prepped to jump when a powerful hand shot out faster than I could see and curled around my neck. I yelped as the fingers dug into my neck and yanked me violently back into an awkward sprawling position on the chair. I was on my back, completely exposed and vulnerable. I was forced to look up at him.

He glared at me, piercing black eyes boring into my own, and I could feel all the warmth leaving my body. I felt like a small animal trapped in the coils of a snake, unable to break away from its blank stare as it slowly broke every bone in my body.

Oh god, I was going to die. I didn’t want to die; I didn’t want to be there. Why did Raven do this to me?

I gasped in horror as his face twisted into something ugly and threatening. “Who are you?” He demanded in a harshly grating voice that echoed throughout my entire body. It felt like my insides were being squeezed tight and pierced with needles with every syllable.

“How did you get in here, human,” he snarled as his voice slowly began resembling nails on a chalkboard. I squirmed uncomfortably at what the sound of it was doing to me. It physically hurt. “ANSWER ME!!!” He roared.

I cried out, grabbing my head but still he continued. The sound of his voice became harsher and with every rise it felt like my skull was splintering in my head. Dimly I heard the peacock man, Melek Taus, saying something; I think he was telling him to stop but it only got worse. I could feel razors inside of my flesh, cleaving me open from the inside.

My body twitched and jerked uncontrollably, arching until I was almost completely off of the chair. But the voice, that horrible voice echoed in my head, I don’t even think he was speaking anymore but I could still feel it inside.

I was screaming unstoppably. I could feel it tearing my throat into bloody strips and my muscles jerking, twitching in horrible spasms until they bled. My tendons were snapping. I was falling apart! I was being torn apart!

“HELP ME!!!!” I shrieked, digging my nails helplessly into my skull as the world tunneled in on me.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

I took a deep shuddering breath. I had the strangest feeling of floating, like I was waking up from a nightmare…a really bad nightmare.

“Oh, I think he’s coming around,” said a cheerfully chirpy voice above me. “Wake up, human.”

Reluctantly I opened my eyes, only to be greeted by an unfortunately familiar masked face. I couldn’t help but stare blankly while the masked man grinned in my face as if seeing him was something to be happy about. I couldn’t have been more disappointed if I had come face to face with the dev-…..oh, yeah.

I looked slightly over and froze when I saw him. He didn’t look any happier to see me than I did to see him.

The masked man looked between us and frowned. “Oh come on now, don’t you start, Lucie. You shouldn’t have used your Voice like that. Poor guy, you probably frightened him, did you see the way he was twitching?”

“What was he doing in my rooms?” He growled, though it was thankfully more subdued than that horrible grating voice from before. “Answer me human. How did you find your way into my rooms? You couldn’t have done it yourself so who was it that brought you?”

I shrank nervously under the piercing stare. “I-It was Raven, he said I was a gift…I think. He took me from my place.” I swallowed but my mouth seemed to have turned to cotton and I couldn’t seem to raise my voice above a soft whisper. “I…just want to go back. I wouldn’t tell anyone…I want to go back home.”

The two stared at me for longer than was comfortable until Malek Taus suddenly smiled and burst out laughing. Behind him, Lucifer gave a disgusted sound and relaxed noticeably.

“And here I was,” giggled the peacock man, “wondering if someone had sent you as a trap. Oh, you had us worked up. Naturally Raven would be behind this.” He chuckled softly, shaking his head. “What a laugh.”

“Lucie” didn’t look so amused. “Raven gave you to me? Why would he have you to give in the first place?”

“Oh, come on now,” said Melek Taus, “let’s not go questioning Raven. He does what he does, we merely accept it. Take his gift and be happy.”

Lucifer scowled. “It’s not as if I have much of a choice in the matter. A gift is a gift.” He shook his head in disgust, glaring at me as if it was my fault. “Damn Raven, this is probably another one of his stupid pranks.”

“Oh, undoubtedly. But perhaps I should leave now. We can talk about it later, after you get your new slave settled in.”

Lucifer nodded his agreement and Melek Taus stood up, leaving the room with a dramatic flair that I didn’t think was entirely intentional. I watched him go mournfully. I didn’t know him but he seemed like a pretty nice guy and, honestly, I didn’t want to be alone with Lucifer. But inevitably, the door closed with an ominous thud and I could have sworn the temperature lowered a few degrees as Lucifer’s gaze once more fell on me.

I was suddenly very aware of how utterly defenseless I was. My fate was going to be decided by this man and so far I didn’t think I had made a very good impression. Cautiously, I righted myself from the sprawled out position to a slightly more comfortable sitting position, keeping my eye warily on him the entire time.

He didn’t say a word to me. Black eyes bore into me and I felt as if he was picking me apart bit by bit, dissecting me like I was some sort of side show freak.

“Um, L-Lucifer-”

I got no further because a moment later a sharp cracking sound filled the room and I was lying across the arm of the chair feeling sickly dizzy and dazed. My cheek burned furiously and it took me a second to realize that he had slapped me.

“W-what-”

“Do NOT address me so disrespectfully, slave,” he spat, grabbing my hair and pulling me forward so I was awkwardly off balanced. He loomed over me dangerously. “Like it or not I’m stuck with you but I am far to busy to be correcting a disobedient slave so rest assured, any problems will be dealt with swiftly and efficiently.”

He let go of my hair and I sank back into the chair, trembling and feeling a sick fear in the pit of my stomach. My legs unconsciously curled up against me as I listened to him speak.

“You will never address me by my name, I am not your friend, I’m your Master and so you will call me. Master or my Lord. Do you understand me, slave?”

I badly wanted to say no. I wished I was a braver person, the kind of someone who could stand up for myself and demand my rights.

“Yes, Master,” I whispered faintly, turning my head away.

He curled his lip up into a sneer, obviously not impressed with me. “You’re weak. I have no use of weak slaves, much less ones that were forced upon me as a prank. I don’t want you so, if I were you, I’d do my best to fade into the background and draw at little attention to yourself as possible. Is that understood?”

“Yes.”

“Good,” he muttered, looking irritable and severely annoyed. For a long time he didn’t say anything and I stayed put, only making small moves to rub my aching jaw. I could feel it bruising and stiffening the longer I sat. “Don’t touch it, you’ll only irritate it, and by the Green Mother get that stupid look of your face. There’s nothing either of us can do about this ridiculous situation and the only thing crying will get you is another sore jaw!”

“I’m not crying,” I snapped bitterly.

Another sharp crack filled the room and I reeled as white light filled my vision at the force of it. I came to my senses a few seconds later, finding myself crumpled on the floor, gasping for breath and feeling as if my jaw had been broken. Panting heavily, I lay where I had fallen as my vision slowly returned with the addition of dancing black spots. My fingers curled into the thick fur I had landed on, it was scratching my face but I couldn’t move.

“Do not disrespect me,” Lucifer hissed.

He let me stay where I was, thankfully, and I stared warily at his bare feet as he talked. “I will not tolerate attitude from you. And since you are my only slave at the moment I would keep in mind that nothing you do will escape me.” I took a deep breath and stuttered out a quick ‘Yes, Master’ that seemed to please him. “Good, I’m glad you understand. I suppose this isn’t a complete waste of my time in the long run…I have been contemplating getting a new body slave.”

A chill went up my spine at that and my breathing faltered slightly. Was he saying what I thought he was saying?

“Not THAT kind of slave.” He snorted, clearly laughing at me and somewhat reassuring me. “You must think very highly of yourself to think I would ever invite you into my bed. Rest assured, if I was to require the use of a slave in that manner I certainly wouldn’t pick someone as common and ill bred as you. No, you will assist me in my day to day needs, laying out my clothing, helping me with my hair, serving my meals, and such, as well as keeping my quarters tidy.”

I let out a deep sigh. It wasn’t so bad, I wasn’t going into hard labor or anything. I just had to do simple stuff and keep my eyes open for any chance of getting back home. I could do that. It couldn’t possible take that long to find a way of this godforsaken mountain.

“I know what your thinking, slave. Stand up and look at me when I’m talking to you.”

He nudged me with his foot and I slowly crawled to my knees. My head spun slightly as I got up but it passed soon enough, it was the acing in my jaw that really got to me. It was stiffening and swelling, I didn’t think I would be able to talk if it got any worse.

I didn’t complain though. Something told me complaining would only get me another bruise to go along with my growing collection so I stood without protest and faced him as bravely as I could. It was a little bit harder to do when I discovered that, as tall as I am, the top of my head only came up to his shoulders.

I looked up at him just as his hand grabbed my jaw and squeezed painfully; digging his fingernails into the forming bruises and lifting me so I was forced to stand on the tips of my toes. He seemed to enjoy hurting me and continued lifting me by my jaw and squeezing until the tears began to flow,only then did he stopped.

“I want you to listen to every word I am about to say.”

His black eyes bore into mine, burning his words into my memory. “You will never try to escape. Your body is dead…you are dead and as a Lord of the Underworld that means you are strictly under my rule. No matter where you run I can find you, nowhere you could possibly go would be far enough that I couldn’t bring you back and nobody would ever risk my wrath by helping you. I want you to know that. I want you to understand how useless it would be to attempt to escape. But, if you ever get it into your head to try, be warned that many things are worse than being my slave and one of those things is being my slave minus a few body parts. I will remove one body part for every attempt so I want you to ask yourself if your freedom is worth your legs…or your arms…or those pretty eyes of yours.”

He smiled gently and began running his fingers almost lovingly through my hair, stroking my inflamed jaw with his thumb. “I will be a good master if you are a good slave…I leave your fate up to you.”

He let go of me. Without his support I fell to my knees and doubled over, unable to take it anymore. My forehead touched the prickly fur under me and closed my eyes.

…..I just wanted to go home.


A/N: AAAARRRGH!!! This chapter was horrible to write, I wrote and rewrote and erased so many parts and when I reread it, it still didn’t look right. I was having a serious writers block so I hope you’ll all forgive that this chapter is just one I sort of just shook my head on.
Next chapter is going to be Dion again and I’m having some pretty good ideas for what’s going to happen next with the rest of the characters.

[1] Ok, so for all of you who don’t know who Melek Taus is commonly known as the Peacock Angel or the Peacock King and while I’m not exactly certain on this, many other religions think that Melek Taus is actually the Devil. So technically, Lucifer and Melek Taus are the same person, but I’ll probably go deeper into that in later chapters.