Back at the house, Lucifer stood at the kitchen counter. She was carefully, meticulously, making scrambled eggs again. The simple, rhythmic motions were soothing. She hoped this small act would mend the tension that had lingered between them since morning. While she possessed no conscience in the human sense, Cain's words about killing being wrong had taken root in her thoughts, replaying in an endless, puzzling loop. As she slid the soft yellow curds onto two plates, she rehearsed what she might say to him when he returned. She feared he might ask her to leave. The thought of being alone again, of losing this strange, warm pocket of existence, was a dull ache she did not fully understand but desperately wanted to avoid.
She picked up a spoon to divide the eggs evenly between the plates. The metal hovered over the fluffy mound.
Then, the spoon clattered to the counter, spinning on the tile. Lucifer was gone.
In the crushing darkness of the alley, Cain had his arms wrapped over his head, his eyes squeezed shut so tightly he saw stars. He braced for the impact of teeth and tearing, for the end. The seconds stretched, each one an eternity of anticipated agony.
But the agony did not come.
The wet, rasping breath of the monster had stopped. The sound of dripping saliva had ceased. There was only silence, thick and heavy.
Slowly, trembling, he lowered his arms. He cracked one eye open.
The Malignant hung suspended in the air before him, frozen in its lethal leap. Its grotesque maw was still open, its tongue lolling, but it was motionless, a horrific statue.
Then, a soft sound.
Thwip.
The monster's body split cleanly down the middle from head to base, as if drawn by an invisible, impossibly sharp blade. Two symmetrical halves peeled apart, suspended for a moment longer before dark, viscous blood began to cascade down, pooling on the filthy ground with a sickening splash.
Cain stared, his mind blank. He took a hesitant step forward, drawn by a macabre fascination. He reached out a shaking finger, touching the razor edge of one of the bony teeth protruding from the bisected torso. He jerked his hand back, a bead of blood welling on his fingertip.
"Are you unharmed?"
He knew that voice. He turned.
Lucifer stood a few feet away, her expression one of calm assessment. She looked as she always did, pristine and out of place in the grimy alley.
Cain let out a shaky breath that was almost a laugh. "Yeah. I'm okay. Did you… do this?"
She gave a single, simple nod.
"Thank you," he said, the words heartfelt. "I thought I was dead."
Lucifer's gaze drifted from his face. It settled on the paper takeout bag still clutched in his white-knuckled hand. She stared at it, a strange intensity in her eyes, but said nothing.
Cain walked toward her, the adrenaline making his legs feel like rubber. "Let me tell you what happened. This thing, it looked like an old woman. It almost tricked me." He launched into the story, the words tumbling out in a rush of nervous energy. When he finished, he noticed her eyes had not moved. They were still fixed on the bag.
He held it up. "This was supposed to be our dinner."
Lucifer looked from the bag to his face. Her expression flickered, first with shock, then with a subtle but unmistakable disappointment.
Cain caught it immediately. "What's wrong?"
"I…" she began, then looked down, almost sheepish. "I prepared our evening meal at the house. It was intended as an apology for my actions yesterday."
A wide, relieved smile broke across Cain's face. "That's great! We can just add this to what you made. That way, your effort doesn't go to waste."
Lucifer's eyes lit up, sparkling with pure, unguarded happiness. Before Cain could react, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him in a tight, crushing hug. She lifted him clean off his feet effortlessly.
"Uh, Lucifer… air… need air…" he managed to wheeze, feeling like he was in a hydraulic press.
She set him down instantly, her hands flying to her mouth. "I apologize! I was overcome."
"It's… it's fine," he gasped, straightening his rumpled suit. "Just… maybe warn me next time."
"I promise it will not happen again," she said solemnly. Then she added, almost as an afterthought, "without your prior knowledge, for as long as I reside here."
Cain's smile faltered for a second. So technically, she's still going to do things and just tell me about them later? He shook his head, dismissing the thought. She wasn't human. Pushing human laws onto her was like asking a hurricane to respect a no-parking sign. It was futile.
He glanced back at the bisected monster still hovering in the alley. "What is that thing? And what are you going to do with it?"
Lucifer followed his gaze, her expression turning serious. "It is called a Malignant. A parasitic entity from the Void that exists outside Creation."
"If it's from outside, what's it doing here? On Earth?"
For the first time, Cain saw a flicker of genuine worry cross Lucifer's face. She didn't answer immediately. Instead, she raised a hand toward the suspended corpse.
"Divine Divide," she murmured.
Thwip.
The two halves of the Malignant, the blood, every trace of its existence, simply vanished. One moment it was there, a grotesque centerpiece to the alley. The next, the space was empty, save for a faint, acrid smell that quickly dissipated.
Cain blinked rapidly, his brain struggling to process the absolute erasure. "How did you… where did it go?"
"A Malignant can only manifest in a reality if an Aspect is present nearby to act as its anchor," Lucifer explained, her voice low. "This is… significant. It has been millions of years since an Aspect set foot on Earth. Heaven will know. They will have felt the disturbance."
Cain stared at the now-empty spot where the nightmare had been. "Based on what you're saying, this is really bad news, isn't it?"
"Yes," Lucifer said simply. Then she shrugged, the worry seeming to leave her as quickly as it came. "But it is Heaven's problem to solve. Not mine." She turned and began walking toward the alley's entrance, where the distant glow of streetlights promised normalcy. "Let us go to your vehicle. We should return home."
Cain took one last, long look at the empty space in the dark alley. A cold certainty settled in his gut. Whatever this was, it was now his problem too. He turned and followed Lucifer back into the light.