~Lorelei's POV~

-Two Months ago-

I woke up with a start in the middle of the night. Hurriedly I waved a shaky hand to the side slapping around for the lamp atop my nightstand. Light flooded my small apartment and I jolted upright, wrapping my blankets tightly around me as I surveyed the small room. A chill ran down my spine. This was the second night I'd awoken in this manner.

It started a few weeks ago when I noticed black cars, SUVs and vans appeared to be following me. There was one parked outside of every place I went and always one or two following closely behind any transportation I was in. I had no idea for how long it had been going on before one of my more observant friends pointed it out. They found it strange that the same car was outside our favorite tea shop when we met for tea three times in a row. After they'd pointed it out, I began to notice them everywhere.

Last week, it escalated, it wasn't just cars. Now I was seeing men in dark suits with dark glasses everywhere I went. I could always feel their gazes on me though I couldn't see their eyes. At first I thought they were FBI and that they found my Smut stash but after realizing smut wasn't illegal and that was ridiculous I became even more freaked out.

"You're losing it, Lore." I breathed in an attempt to calm myself down. There wasn't anyone in my apartment. I tiptoed to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

I glanced out the window and felt my heart stop as I spotted a black SUV with tinted windows parked outside. My body began to tremble. I scrambled to turn off my lamp and almost screamed at the darkness I encased myself in. After my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I glanced out the window again.

The door of the SUV opened.

My heart thundered in my chest. What should I do? Would the cops help? What if they were working with the cops?

A man in a dark suit wearing dark glasses that obscured his eyes stepped out of the SUV, he turned his head in my direction and I felt his gaze pierce me through the darkness.

A scream caught in my throat. I was too terrified to let it go.

He shut the door behind him and walked slowly toward my building.

I bolted for the door, fumbling with the locks and threw it open. Wildly I stumbled through the hall racing toward the back stairwell, away from the entrance he was walking toward. My heart was pounding in my chest, so loud I was sure he could hear it from outside. I threw open the door to the stairs and nearly flung myself over the rail in my attempt to get to the stairs as fast as I could. My bare feet slapped loudly across the concrete steps but I couldn't stop, I had to run.

A chill ran down my spine as I heard the door of the stairwell, three flights below me slam shut. He was in this stairwell! I turned around and raced upward.

Scream for help! A voice inside my head begged me.

What help? No one had ever helped me when I was in need before. Not when I got mugged a few years ago, not when a drug addict beat me within an inch of my life during a bad trip, not when I got roofied at that party in high school, not when my mother would starve me or my father would hit me...there had never been any help. When I'd asked for help in the past, it made everything worse. My mother turned cruel, she didn't starve me she emotionally abused and manipulated me into starving myself and my father got more violent. There wasn't anyone for me to reach out to for help.

I slipped on the last step and a soft hiss of pain escaped me as my shin scraped against the corner of the step. Blood seeped from my leg, I felt it dripping down my ankles and slipping between my toes making my stomach turn. I didn't stop running, I burst onto the rooftop.

A strong gust of wind whipped around me, throwing my raven waves into my face. I hurriedly looked around and the scream finally tore loose from my throat as I came face to face with another man in a dark suit with dark tinted glasses.

I screamed and screamed until I thought my throat might be raw and bloody. I kicked and punched and flailed with all my might trying to fight off my assailant before I realized there was no assailant. No one was attacking me. I sat upright and felt something soft and warm slip off of me. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the darkness.

I found myself in a very lavish bedroom, laying atop a plush mattress in a massive four poster bed with actual curtains like I'd seen in movies and read about in books. I didn't know real people actually had them. This was definitely not the same holding cell those men in suits had stashed me in for two months. That one had been a room the size of a prison cell with an uncomfortable cot, a single flimsy blanket and a bucket for a bathroom.

I shakily threw back the covers and slipped from the plush bed. A glance at the nightstand gave me pause. There was a cute rubber ducky with a vibrant white snake resting around its neck sitting on the nightstand as if placed there with care. Something about it was familiar and comforting. It reminded me of the day I'd rescued a similar looking snake at a park. People often misjudged snakes and didn't take the time to learn how to differentiate between venomous and nonvenomous snakes which often led to a lot of nonvenomous snakes meeting their demise. As much as I hated it, I could understand someone killing a venomous snake to protect their animals or children if they didn't have the skills or resources to safely relocate it but there was no excuse to kill a nonvenomous snake.

I reached a hand out to touch the rubber ducky to make sure it was real. It let out a faint squeak as I pressed it.

Where was I? How did I get here? What happened to me?

I struggled to remember. The last thing I could recall was being dragged from my cell and nearly drowned in a bath then having my skin rubbed raw before I was anointed in various oils and stuffed into a white shift. All the while no one would speak to me and the people who interacted with me would just start chanting some strange chant anytime I tried to ask what was going on or to be let go. My head began to pound as I sifted through my foggy memories.

The more I tried to remember what happened after the traumatic bathing experience the more my head throbbed. A gasp escaped me and I rammed the heels of my palms into my eye sockets in an attempt to dull the pain. My knees buckled and I slipped to the floor as a soft cry escaped me.

I crawled blindly until I bumped into something solid. My hands floundered about trying to grasp onto something to steady myself. It seemed to be a dresser of some kind. I managed to pull myself to my feet and open my eyes again only for another gasp to escape me as I found myself face to face with a mirror, but the person staring back at me was very different than the last time I'd looked in a mirror.

The most noticeable and strangest difference was a black halo hanging above my head. My raven hair had become lustrous, full, healthy and had a shine that would put shampoo commercials to shame. My eyes were the same grey as always but there was something frightening lying underneath, something inhuman. My skin was a very unhealthy pale with an almost grayish tinge to it but it felt soft and healthy. From my captivity I'd been nothing but skin and bones now I was at a nice healthy weight. I was dressed in a cute black nightgown that fell just below my knees, definitely something I would have picked out for myself, but I had no memory of this place or of going to sleep. I glanced downward as I saw what appeared to be a red strand of ribbon extending from my chest seemingly from my heart. It shimmered in and out of view and seemed to lead toward the massive door on the wall directly across from the bed I'd woken up in.

"Sinner."

The voice I heard in a distant memory cropped up as I followed the strange red ribbon whenever it faded into view.

"A wretched creature like you serves but one purpose."

Tears welled in my eyes as the voice continued on. I couldn't recall when I'd heard them but deep down I knew they'd been uttered to me.

"The sacrificial bride of Lucifer."

The ribbon led down a long hallway. The walls were lined with beautifully painted portraits of what looked like a loving family. With each step and each new painting the happiness in the paintings looked more and more forced and strained.

The door at the end of the hall was cracked open, the ribbon flickered into view. It was leading me through the door.

"You will be his end."

The door opened into a room overflowing with rubber ducks. There was a workspace dead ahead with someone furiously working away. The ribbon flickered into view, I followed it with my eyes as it trailed toward the man sitting at the desk and plunged into his back where his heart was. I glanced down at the ribbon protruding from my heart and felt the pounding headache return.

"Lu-Lucifer?" I gasped.

The man at the desk abruptly stopped what he was doing and turned to look at me, but he wasn't a man, he was some kind of supernatural or celestial being. His skin was pale paper white but he had bright rosy cheeks and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. He had pale champagne blonde hair and red eyes with a light yellow sclera. When our eyes met I felt like all the blood suddenly rushed to my head and my vision suddenly went blurry before everything went dark. The last thing I heard as I felt myself begin to fall was the beautiful creature I was bound to calling my name.