Carina was walking back home from the library where she works. The night was arching over the land. Snowflakes glittered in the light of the street lamps. A cold breeze blew. Carina tightened her coat to keep warm. She didn't like the cold, but she adored winter. When a white blanket covered the ground and the frost drew flowers on the windows.

She turned into a narrow street. She was already approaching the door of her house when all the lights went out. She looked suspiciously into the dark street, searching for enemies in the dark. And in that, a bright light flared up. The flames opened and a cat came out. It appeared to be just an ordinary black cat except for the flames burning in its eyes. The fire gate disappeared back into the void it had come from and the street lamps came back on. The cat also stayed. It was slowly approaching Carina, leaving no footprints in the snow.

"Go away," she said to the cat.

The cat sat down on the pavement and stared at her with its fiery eyes.

"Get out! Go away!"

She threw a snowball at it, but the cat didn't even move. It continued to pierce her with its fiery gaze.

Carina went inside and slammed the door behind her. She didn't like this creature of fire watching her. She knew the heat of those flames. It came from hell. It was common for demons to enter the earth, she saw it almost daily, but there was something different about this demon.

She took an ice cream from the fridge and sat down in a chair in the dim light of the broken chandelier. She tried to distract herself with a documentary about serial killers when something scratched at the window. She almost jumped out of her skin with fright. It was the hellcat again. It was sitting on the balcony scratching at the window, demanding her attention.

"Go look for souls somewhere else, demon." she tried to shoo the cat away.

In that, the demon took human form. Dressed in a black suit. His jet-black hair was neat. The only thing that gave away who he really was was those cat eyes and fangs that he revealed as he smiled sinisterly.

"However, I have come for your soul, Carina, the brightest star of the south. Princess of the Kingdom of the Night," he said.

His words chilled her to the core. It's been ages since she heard her title escape someone's lips. She thought she was being careful not to be found out. And yet now the creature from hell stood on her balcony, watching her with its ominous gaze.

"How do you know who I am?" she asked him.

"Because I was looking for you," he replied. "My lord would like to meet you, Titan girl."

"Tell your lord that I am honored by his invitation, but I'll let it pass," Carina told him.

"My Lord will not be pleased."

"If he wants to talk to me, let him come."

She knew very well that he couldn't. Imprisoned in hell for eternity for his rebellion against God. Because she helped him to his fall.

"Is there nothing that can change your mind, princess?" the demon gave her a questioning look. "I feel the loneliness in your heart. You desire for company."

"Save the sweet talk for someone more naive, demon." she banged on the glass that separated them. "Change back to a cat and go back to hell."

"Don't you even want to see your brother again? Polaris?"

"Polaris?"

The demon had her full attention. His eyes shone with a bright flame.

"What did you do with my brother?" Carina demanded.

"Come with me and find out."

The last time she saw her brother was during the great war of the Titans against the gods. The last thing she saw before she fell was her brother fighting Lucifer. He pushed her out of the heavens to save her. As twins, they had a bond. She hadn't felt him in millennia and thought he was dead. But what if it isn't? What if he had been imprisoned all these ages? It ignited a spark of hope in her.

She hesitated for a moment, but finally opened the balcony door and let the demon in.

"Take me to Lucifer."

She was sure it was a trap, revenge for her betrayal, but if there was even the slightest chance that she would be reunited with her brother, she was willing to risk it.

Her consciousness separated from her material body. The flames opened and the demon took her to Hell.

A sweet melody echoed through the premises of the devil's palace as they walked down the corridors. The demon snapped his fingers. The fire wrapped around Carina's body and clothed her in a breathtaking gown of gold. She gave the demon a questioning look.

"Just a little celebration," he said.

Nothing has changed since she left Hell. Lavish parties still celebrated his infernal majesty. Demons and fallen angels danced in their best clothes, drank bitter wine. And Lucifer looked at them from his hellish throne. His face reflected pride and cruelty. He was the king who ruled there.

Carina put on a stone face. She could not afford to show weakness. Not in front of the wolves, who would gladly tear her alive. Lucifer's cold gaze found her as she approached him.

The music stopped. The entire infernal court turned their curious eyes on her.

"Didn't anyone teach you to bow before the king?" he told her irritated as she stood proudly in front of him, unbroken.

"I remember the times when you were kneeling before me, Lucifer," she replied with a mischievous smile. "I have to admit I enjoyed it."

She awakened a flame in him that flowed through his veins. He spread his mighty wings, which no longer shone with the heavenly light. In the blink of an eye, he was standing in front of her, drawing his sword at her. The tip of the blade dug into her neck. But she still stood proudly. She didn't show an iota of fear.

"Everyone get out!" he ordered his subjects.

They did not hesitate even for a moment. They fled the hall to avoid becoming victims of his wrath.

"You're still the same, Tenebris. Or should I rather call you Carina?" he said her name with venom on his tongue. "When I first saw you in the Kingdom of the Night, you looked different."

"The fall changed you too, Lucifer," she said. "Black suits you."

"All these flatteries. You truly were a dark muse."

"I am a daughter of darkness after all."

"If I had known who you really are back then, I would have killed you. Do you recognize this blade?"

"Very well. It has already killed so many of my kind. So many of my brothers and sisters."

"And yet you are not afraid?"

"I came for my brother. I have no time for fear."

Lucifer gave a short laugh. It eased the anger that was burning him alive a little. Her courage is something that even eternity will not change.

"Of course, your brother. Didn't you think you'd come here and just get him out of the goodness of my heart, did you?"

"What you want Lucifer?" she was not naive. Everything has a price. Every deal with the devil.

"I heard that you have the keys to the gates of hell. I want them."

"You must have heard wrong," Carina said.

"Don't lie. They were allegedly stolen from Michael by a shadow, and I remember very well that you, my dark muse, rule the shadows."

"I hid them so no one would find them," she told the truth. "I need time."

"Then find them again and bring them to me or you will never see your brother again."

He waved his hand and darkness enveloped Hell. Carina woke up again in her house. The hellcat was sitting next to her. As her consciousness entered back into her body it turned its back and left. It jumped off the balcony and disappeared in the glow of the fire.

⸸

Carina boarded the first flight to Rome. She didn't want to waste time. She clutched Lucifer's sigil pendant tightly in her palm. He gave her that necklace before he fell. It was his promise to return to her. But she was the one who ran away. She never took the necklace off her neck.

She walked through the dark catacombs stretching beneath the entire city. She ran her palm gently over the cold stone, could feel its texture under her fingers. She still remembered it there. It was like yesterday. Her steps did not forget the path even after so much time. She found the place she was looking for. The pieces of the mosaic have already begun to fall off over time. She cut her palm and let drops of her blood fall on the image before the wound healed. The fairies depicted on the mosaic suddenly came to life. They pulled back the invisible veil and Carina was able to enter the secret chamber they were guarding.

She has not set foot there for several centuries. Dust covered treasure chests and cobwebs hung from the ceiling. With a wave of her palm, she made all the dirt disappear into the darkness.

She didn't have to look for what she came for. One look was enough. There was a golden box in a niche in the wall. She took it in her hands. The snakes that decorated it suddenly came to life. As if would they sense that the time has come.

At night she went to the Palatinus, where the Roman Empire was born. She burned the pentagram into the grass and Lucifer's sigil into it.

"I call you Lucifer," she called out into the void. "Come for my soul."

A fire gate opened and a cat demon came out.

"Do you have what my lord wanted?"

"Yes." she held the gold box tightly in her hands.

"Give it to me and I'll pass it on to him." a wicked smile adorned his lips revealing his white fangs.

"I'll hand it to him myself or he'll get nothing." she insisted.

The demon led her to Lucifer. He was already impatiently waiting for her.

"It took you long, Carina."

"I had to travel halfway around the world because of it." she retorted.

"Do you have the keys?"

Irritated, she shoved the box into his hands. The golden snake bit him. The box fell out of his hands. The keys to the gates of hell clattered as they hit the obsidian floor.

"Don't worry. They only want blood."

"Everything must be always about blood with you, right, Carina?"

"You have the keys. Where is my brother?"

"I do not know," he said. "I never had him."

The moment he said those words, the crack in her broken heart opened even more. It let her drown in her own blood.

"You liar!"

Tears streaked her face. She was beating fists into his chest. And Lucifer left her. He let her get it out of her. He kind of sympathized with her, even though a large part of him couldn't forgive her. Anger, pain and despair sounded in her voice.

"What you did to my brother? Did you kill him?"

"The last time I saw him during the war, he was still alive," he answered.

Broken, she fell to her knees before him. Her hair fell in her face. Lucifer kneeled to her. With an almost unnaturally gentle touch, he brushed the unruly strands behind her ear.

"The war is long over. Only because of what was once between us will I let you go alive, Carina. Go and live your empty life filled only with the desire for revenge."

And that was the biggest hit she got. The angel of pride humbled his pride to show her that his anger would not consume him as it did her.

And when she woke up again in her body, she was alone. Without a brother, she did not know if is alive or not. Broken.

The hellcat fixed its fiery eyes on her.

"Get out demon or I will skin you!"

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Promt: Halosandhellfires

The gates of hell stood ajar and out steps one of hell's most cunning creatures. Your character stares it in the eyes. This hellcat can brinf you to your knees or grant you your one deepest desire.

Wordcount: 1972