The Portraits

New York was my city. It was alive in the dead of night, it was twinkling lights in the darkness, and I walked the streets of my fair city feeling safe and beautiful in my Herve Leger strapless black dress, it clung to my body in a way that made men stare and women hate, with each click of my Louis Vuitton platform pumps, I could hear Ellie Goulding singing Starry Eyed.

I made a left on 7th and started for the Moonlight Tavern was quaint whole in the wall, not many people knew about it and fewer knew how to get in. I moved towards the front doors where my gig manager Sully stood with the bouncer, he was a big brute of a man with harsh, angular features that still managed to be handsome, he had slicked back black hair, and were a pinstripe Armani suit; he reminded me of a mobster more than a gig manager but my aunt Lynn swore by him so here we were. His soft blue eyes gave me an appreciative once-over, “You look great sweetheart, now get that pretty ass of yours on stage and give them a show.” I rolled my eyes and started inside, the Moonlight Tavern consisted of cold steel and glass surfaces, fog from a smoke machine curled around parishioner’s feet and it gave the place an ethereal feel, the stage was small and was covered by ivory satin curtains, it was my world for the next hour. I moved towards the backstage area and weaved through a crowd of other young artists who’d take the stage after me; I smiled to myself as I checked my reflection in the mirror, making sure my ruby lips stayed ruby and that every curl was still in its rightful place, I fixed the hem of my little black dress and started towards my stage.

The stage itself was white hardwood and on my stage stood a white grand piano with intricate silver carvings in the wood, it was a beauty and for the next hour it was mine, I ran my fingers along the sides of it as I sat on the bench in front of the keys; the ivory curtains would rise soon and I knew I would stand out against everything, the angel in black; a voice came on over the intercom system to announce me to the club, "Please welcome, the beautiful and enchanting Miss Lucille Walker." A shiver moved up my spine as it always did when I heard my name and then the ivory curtains started to ascend and I played the first keys of Christina Aguilera's I am, I counted the seconds in my head before I opened my mouth to sing the first few lines, my voice carried over by the mic sitting on the deck of the piano above the keys.

As the words left my lips, I shut my eyes, it was one of my favorite songs to sing and I felt it when I sang; I tried to keep the dark things inside of me locked away only allowing them out to be dissected by each word of a song, each scratch of my pencil against a page in my sketchbook, each page I read, and every word I wrote. I was going into the chorus when pain strangled my lungs to my spine and the keys stopped abruptly beneath me fingers and I squeezed my eyes shut tight, it hurt so bad, I couldn't breathe, I had to get out of here. I stumbled to my feet and ran towards the backstage, flying through the emergency exit into to the alley. I leaned against the brick wall as the coughing started, it shook my frame and I could taste the coppery tang of blood as I spewed it on the concrete. I groaned and clutched my stomach, I had been fighting it for five years, burying it deeper and deeper only to have it rip through me when I least expected it.

The steel emergency door opened and Sully popped his head through the opening, “Damnit Lucille, what the hell is going on?” he said, his body soon following his head, his eyes softened with worry when he saw the blood dripping from my mouth, “What’s going on sweetheart?”

I shook my head, “I’ll be fine Sully.” I breathed, even though my throat ached and I couldn’t stop shaking, “I can handle myself.”

He studied me for a moment, his blue eyes searching my face, he sighed, “You need anything, call me.” He said and gave my shoulder a squeeze before he disappeared back inside.

I wiped at my mouth and stumbled down the alley to the street and hailed a taxi, I just wanted to go home. I slid into the back of a black and yellow and shut my eyes as I prattled off my address; I tried to get the trembling to stop and I wondered if a doctor x-rayed me if he would find the evil clinging to my skeleton, my organs, right beneath my skin, if he could see the antichrist in my flesh.

I was born to bring a reign of darkness upon the world and five years ago, I almost did. The Apocalypse had started the moment my brother, Caelan was born; he was the first son of my father, Caleb Walker, then the General of Hell, and his birth released the first Horseman. The others followed, my mother Eliya, the daughter of Lucifer, had begun to have visions of falling angels and rising devils, of Hell and Heaven colliding in fire. It was then that I crawled out of my crib a grown woman, the power coursing through my veins, tempered by my virginity, the last shred of my innocence that had to be destroyed so I could drag thousands of human souls into the pits of Hell. I seduced one of my father’s soldiers, Isaac Lowell, a man I didn’t know but my daddy had killed because of me, with the flush of power in my veins I went after the world as Lucifer struck down Michael, the Archangel and stole his wings, taking them for his own. My father helped me during my takeover but it was my mother who stopped me, who killed me and saved the world from my darkness.

It took me a bit to crawl out of Hell but when I did I was no less evil, it took the birth of my baby sister, Cassidy, to save my soul and when I found the light, I found the woman I could be, kind and able to love and be loved but the darkness always remained, circulating around my innards and strangling my lungs. If I allowed myself to think over it, I knew that I missed the power I controlled but that power would rob of the woman I am, it would consume me, there would be no more beautiful and enchanting Miss Lucille Walker, there would only be an unholy entity full of power and rage. I couldn’t let myself go back to that even if the thought of it gave my soul in itch. I shut my eyes tighter, I wanted to ignore all of it, lock it away, I didn’t want to lose myself in that haze of evil but I didn’t know if I could fight my birthright any longer.