Sup guys. Sorry that this took a long time, but I stupidly wrote out the entire chapter with only one more part to go on the site itself rather than on a word document, without saving any backups and my laptop decided to restart by itself one day and then BAM, no more chapter story.

Imagine the anger when I realised about two months of work just disappeared. So, I decided to not force you to wait again for what I imagine to be another couple of months because uni just started again and just update this with the parts separated, hence why this is called "Chapter 31A".

Again, apologies about the timing of this update AND apologies about it not being as descriptive/rushed.

Hope ya'll enjoy it! 

Before Ilhoon even arrived at the house, he could already sense the power radiating from within. It felt ancient, dark, far more powerful than anything else he had ever encountered. He filled with dread.

Since the strange phone call from the old lady, Ilhoon and his team had been uneasy in picking up the child. They remembered when she was broken out of her cage; Lucifer screaming with his broken Archangel brother, Michael. Ilhoon hadn’t been there since the Creation, hell, he was only 800 years old. But he knew enough that Heaven fought Herodias’s Darkness, locked her up, and Lucifer’s role. Ilhoon knew it happened after the War in Heaven, Herodias’s power the only thing that brought Heaven and Hell onto the same side again. Demons weren’t supposed to feel fear, weren’t supposed to have emotions, but if something upset even his father… Ilhoon knew better than to rush in to the house and take the baby, especially if she was Herodias like the grandma had claimed.

He led the way, Hyunsik and Changsub following suit. It was an interesting experience, transforming to their natural state. Their essence was denser than air, they felt it intertwine and dance on them. When they came to, they stood in front of a warded door, the symbols concealed, but obviously there. Fortunately for the demons, the warding was faded, applied once (most probably when the house was first bought), and never renewed. Its weakness allowed for the demons to walk in.

Instantly, the ancient power that hummed through his being from the outside intensified, screaming at him to leave. It was strange, to feel an energy so familiar, so evil, but put Ilhoon on edge. He wanted to leave just from the power alone. But he knew the danger of keeping Herodias free. Even if she wasn’t actually there like the grandmother said, Ilhoon wasn’t going to take the chance. He rarely agreed with angels, but he’d gladly work with them if it meant locking her up again. As the epitome of the Darkness, who knew what she could do to demons.

Venturing forward, Ilhoon noticed the blood. A brown handprint on the wall, red footprints leading to a room that pulsed with dark energy. Ancient. Demons don’t typically feel fear in the presence of anything other than powerful Angels and Lucifer, but Ilhoon was petrified. He didn’t want to proceed into the path of whatever it was that was in there, radiating its powerful energy, more powerful than anything he’d ever come across.

Following the footsteps, he halted in front of the closed door of a bedroom. Pulsing with energy, dark, ancient and deadly. This was the heart of it all. Hand on the doorknob, Ilhoon slowly twisted, bracing for what he was about to uncover.

Anticlimactically, there wasn’t a strange being in the centre of destruction when he opened the door. Instead, in a crib, lay a baby, cooing adorably. The room was painted pudding yellow, and decorated with frills and laces, clearly done by an old woman. An old woman who was sitting on the floor in a pool of blood. And on her lap, a dead dog.

She looked up, serenely, while the dog’s head. “Glass Sword,” she chuckled.

Ilhoon heard Hyunsik in his breath, and Ilhoon knew he finally caught on.

“He was barking too loudly. It made Tiffany mad,” the old woman said. “Don’t worry. I was quick.”

The grandmother kept petting the dog, as if it were calmly sleeping in her lap, rather than bleeding all over her.

“You made a call about Herodias. You’re a Woman of Glass."

She looked at him with dead, soulless eyes. “Yes. There she is. Right there. Isn’t she adorable?”

The demons looked over to the crib, where the baby sat upright. That didn’t seem right. She was a newborn, and much larger than when they first arrived. Her face no longer held baby fat, and she was capable of holding her own neck up.

“Beautiful,” Hyunsik whispered.

The halameoni looked down at the dog and smiled.

“How is that possible?” Changsub asked. He looked to Ilhoon. “She’s who you talked to on the phone?”

Ilhoon shook his head, “She definitely had a soul then. There was fear in her voice.”

“That’s not a demon in there. And no crossroads nearby. How can she not have her soul?” Hyunsik wondered.

A loud slam of a door from the front of the house sounded through to them. Habit drove them to unsheathe their blades, the handle slipping gracefully down into their hands. On Ilhoon’s signal, they moved out.

“Halameoni! I’m back with the wipes. Unscented. No parabens. No anything, which left me with basically no money,” a man’s voice joked. “Also a BPA free bottle and pacifier. How’s Tiffany holding up?”

As the man rounded the corner, he came across Changsub. He stopped dead in his tracks, the baby’s new items still in his hands. Changsub saw that he was dressed in the neat, crisp navy blue uniform of a policeman. The newcomer, the grandson, Changsub guessed, startled when he saw the demon. Glancing at the blood on the walls and the floor, he immediately dropped his things, reached for his gun, and pointed it at him. Changsub smirked.

“Hands in the air!” He shouted, hands steady. Changsub tilted his head, observing the officer. “Hands in the air, right now!”

Changsub took a daring step toward him, then another, angering the policeman further. The closer Changsub got, the more frustrated, until he snapped and fired. The blow hit him in the arm, the echo of the gunshot still ringing in the still air. Changsub looked down and saw the hole in his arm recover, no trace left behind.

“Nice try,” he whispered, before he blinked and revealed his black eyes, earning shock from the officer, who staggered back while Changsub continued forward. The officer hit the wall behind him, while the demon reached his hand out and closed it around his throat. Pinned to the wall, oxygen barely going to his brain, all he could do was stutter and claw at Changsub’s hand. He watched the policeman blinking getting slower, breathing getting shallower. He watched with his black eyes as his mouth poured blood from the hand plunged in his chest, felt his beating heart in his hands that were surrounded by bone. Just as fast, Changsub snatched his hand back, the officer’s heart in his hand, and its owner on the floor.

Dropping the heart to the floor, Changsub knelt to the dead man, going into his pockets. He grabbed out his ID badge and a handkerchief. For someone who looked young, he had old people habits. Cleaning his hands, he rose, and walked back to the room.

“It’s all clear. Took care of it,” he called out, meeting Hyunsik outside the room door.

“We heard. Could’ve been cleaner,” Hyunsik commented.

“Where’s Ilhoon?”

Hyunsik motioned into the room that held the grandmother and the baby. Ilhoon blocked the view of the crib, but the grandmother lay on the floor, the dog next to her, her hands and face covered in black veins.

“What the happened here?” Changsub asked.

Ilhoon looked back at him grimly. It was a while before he spoke three words: “Dark. Ancient. Powerful.”

He moved out the way to reveal a toddler sitting in the crib. She wore a rose pink babydoll with a scoop neckline and was barefoot. Her black hair contrasted with her pale milky skin, long and freshly washed. She sat in the crib, and looked up at Ilhoon, smiling. Understanding spread across the room.

It was Hyunsik who thought fast.

“Would you like some candy?”

She looked at him and smiled sweetly.

“Follow us.”

She did so, obediently, walking behind Hyunsik but in front of Changsub. Ilhoon took it upon himself to stand closest to her, acting like a personal bodyguard. She cheerfully followed, though he was still unnerved by her, radiating a power far more evil than demons themselves.

As they walked, Ilhoon looked down at the child, her birthmark peeking out from her pink dress. It was small, and partially covered, but he could still make out the slender hands holding up the platter with a severed head on it.

It was Kris who put it in Lucifer’s head that if he didn’t check in with the hunters as “Mark” from time to time, they’d grow suspicious. Of course, he assumed that he was wrong. Surely, they knew of his mission. He must’ve told Jinyoung at least. But the thought stuck with him. How long had it been since he was on earth tormenting them? Maybe they had changed. Maybe his brother had started keeping them updated on his travels.

So he put his fun on hold. Lucifer called for Kris’s right-hand man, Ilhoon. A lesser demon, but the most powerful who obeyed Kris during his reign. He couldn’t help it, but Lucifer felt warm and fuzzy knowing that the Princes and Knights of Hell didn’t stray on their loyalty. This quickly transformed into anger. He snapped his fingers once, twice. Why was he not here?

After an eternity (and trust Lucifer on that estimate, he’d been alive for almost that long), the tell-tale sound of Ilhoon’s heavy feet stumbled their way into the throne room, followed by Changsub and Hyunsik, his regular followers. Lucifer rolled his eyes until they parted to reveal a little girl. He rolled his eyes.

“I’m going out,” he declared, interrupting what he assumed was the beginning of Ilhoon’s planned speech explaining the child.

The demons shuffled. The girl, however, seemed more interested in him. Lucifer looked at her, making eye contact, and felt a deep forgotten fear inside him awaken. He knew her. But… it couldn’t be. He dismissed it, though it still bubbled under the surface, wanting Lucifer to take a closer look at it.

“As you wish, my Lord. But, may we please present…” Ilhoon gestured to the child.

She smiled brightly. “Tiffany,” she introduced.

The paranoia increased, but Lucifer shoved it down. “Do you know where you are, little girl?”

“Hell.” Tiffany said it the way one would say “café” or “home.”

“Huh. And… how are you finding it?”

“Dark. I like darkness.”

Lucifer nodded and stood, gesturing around. “This is my throne room. And this,” he said as he crossed to retrieve a book and handed it to the little girl. “Is his bookshelf,” Lucifer gestured to Kris in his cage, who screamed loudly. Tiffany didn’t seem to notice.

“The Very Hungry Caterpillar?”

“You are very articulate for someone who looks five. Read that. Educate yourself. When you’re done, there’s a whole stack over there,” Lucifer said, pointing at the hidden shelf. Tiffany walked away, opening the book and reading carefully.

When she sat, on Lucifer’s throne, nonetheless, he turned back to Ilhoon.

“What is the meaning of this?”

Ilhoon paled. “Lord Lucifer. You have a child. I figured–”

“I am Lucifer. I may be a father, but my daughter was never a child.”

The demons nodded. “My Lord, we fear… We fear she may be her.”

His suspicions were confirmed. Since Herodias was set free, he was wondering when she would do this. He remembered that day, screaming, feeling her escape in his very Grace. It had been literally an eternity since she was caged, and many dismissed her as a bedtime story to scare people. The Darkness, her other name, who threatened all of creation, who had the power of snuffing out the Light of God. Lucifer almost forgot her himself. Hell, he would have if he hadn’t been a part of the War, much like many of the other Angels.

“Then keep an eye on her. I’m leaving. Keep an eye on my puppy for me.”

"But, my Lord." Ilhoon addressed. "What do I do with... her?"

Lucifer rolled his eyes at his subject. Good help was hard to find. "I don't know. Just make sure she doesn't raise hell, got it?"

Before Ilhoon could reply, Lucifer disappeared, leaving no trace that he was ever there besides the sound of wings.