::Happy Holidays, everyone! Sorry I haven't been posting regularly-I've been distracted with all kinds of things. I will get back to posting each week here soon. Thank you so much for your reads and follows. Enjoy your holidays! Stay safe, wear a mask.

The Girl with the Dinosaur Tattoo::

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Chapter 16

Serra

I don't always think things out before I do them, but I had given the last six minutes plenty of my attention. There was no other possible fix to this situation; we wanted to keep track of Lucifer and I had the ability to do so. Well, I knew Grace would be able to see me wherever I went, but if Lucifer went on his own, well.

There were three years of examples there.

"Well, well, well," Sam's voice echoed through the stone chamber where we dumped out seconds later. "You've got a pair on you, that's for sure."

From the ground, I stared as Lucifer got to his feet and dusted himself off. "You can look," I smiled coyly. "It's nothin' you haven't already seen."

"Considering I'm riding around in your husband's brain pan," Lucifer sighed heavily, rubbing his face. "Your sister is the single-handedly most annoying creature I have ever come in contact with."

"You haven't spent enough time with me yet," I muttered, dusting myself off.

I watched him carefully, making sure he wasn't about to leave me here in the dust and end up somewhere else, blowing my plan to shit. The other half of my brain allowed me to consider Sam's body and how Lucifer had been taking care of it. He looked skinny; but that was all of us right now. Life in a warehouse during the apocalypse was no joke. His hair was thinner and shorter than I was used to, but he was wound-free from what I could see, and his eyes were clear. Overall, Sam was still healthy, and I wanted to make sure it stayed that way.

Lucifer took a deep breath through his nose, looking calmer than I knew he was feeling, and stared at me from over his nose. I had managed to hitch a ride across time and space, and now, unless he killed me immediately, he had a new partner in crime. I winked at him.

"You didn't exactly think this out all the way, did you?" he growled, approaching me.

I shrugged, "You're rubber and I'm glue, buddy."

"What did you think you were accomplishing, Serendipity?" Lucifer put his hands on his hips and stared at me. "You're kinda in the way of my whole 'world domination' thing."

"That's kinda my point."

He narrowed his eyes, "Is it?"

Shrugging, I approached the devil, "Like a pebble in your shoe." Licking my lips, I touched his face, "Besides, I know Sammy is in there. You're hardly even registering on my radar."

Pressing his lips together, Lucifer growled again, "Mmm." He turned away from me suddenly and shook his head. "Do me a favor and get in this tiny, tiny cage," he beckoned as he opened the door to a cell. "Otherwise, I'm thinking I'm just going to have to turn you into an oily spot on the floor."

I shook my head. "You're not gonna kill me," I sighed. "I'm worth too much to you."

"That's why I want you in this tiny, tiny cage." Lucifer sighed heavily. "Away from me."

I smiled. "Nah," I shook my head. "I'd rather be your right hand. You know, do some of your dirty work? Satan's little helper?"

Lucifer shook his head slowly, "Who are you trying to fool, Serra?" he asked. "You're a fucking Warrior of Heaven and you're trying to tell me that you're gonna help me with world domination?"

"You sound like a comic book villain," I answered, rolling my eyes. "And whatever keeps me breathing and next to you. I'm not leaving him."

"Yeah," Lucifer nodded and held up his hand. Before I had a chance to fight back or argue my way out of anything else, my world went dark. "You are."

ā€¦

Liberty

The world around us was silent again; all the monsters we had just been fighting were either dust or ash, and we knew it was because Mom lost control. Every once and a while, we were reminded just how powerful she really was.

I watched her for a minute as she knelt on the ground as soon as Auntie disappeared, attached to Lucifer, but slowly, I turned and exchanged looks with Daddy. He didn't really move at first; he was too busy comforting Charlie and Levi, but I knew that Auntie would be fine. She had the uncanny ability to talk her way out of anything, and I knew this situation would be no different. Yeah, she was in a different part of the world with the devil himself, but she also wasn't stupid, nor was the situation completely out of her control. This was, no doubt, all a part of Auntie's plan.

I took a deep breath and turned in a complete circle, taking in my surroundings. The piles of ash and dust all around us illustrated just how many creatures Mom had destroyed all at once. I shook my head, wondering again why she couldn't display her power like this all the time, but then she would argue that she didn't have control. I disagreed.

"You're telling me," Ryan was out of breath as he jogged towards us, "that you could have just exploded all of these monsters right from the beginning and saved us all the ā€“"

Santiago was holding up a hand, silencing Ryan on their approach. He knew Mom almost as well as Daddy, and he knew as soon as he saw her on her knees that something wasn't right. "Where is Serendipity?" Santi asked quietly. He looked almost afraid to hear the answer.

"With Lucifer," Mom answered, slowly getting to her feet. "She went voluntarily," she added, closing her eyes. "It's not an actual kidnapping."

"Voluntarily?" Donna asked, her mouth falling open. "What do you mean?"

Dad shook everyone off. "Look," he began, holding onto Charlie. "This is hard enough right now. We'll figure it out, but now, we just need to walk away."

"Walk away?" Ryan asked, spreading his hands. "I don't get it. We spend the last four hours battling this shit out when she can just snap her fingers, and have it all end up like this?" Dad shot Ryan a warning look. "No, Dean," he continued, shaking his head, "I'm tired. We're all tired. The inconsistency of her abilities is something that's always pissed me off."

I couldn't decide what was more dangerous: talking to Daddy in that tone of voice or discussing Mom's powers like she wasn't standing right next to him. I stood next to Glory and we watched silently.

Slowly, Mom turned and tilted her head, taking a deep breath. The air vibrated with electricity as Mom's abilities still tickled the air around us. She was still right on the edge.

"Ryan," she whispered, "you need to get gone."

"Get gone?" Ryan asked, looking dumbfounded.

Mom's bright blue eyes moved to stare Ryan in the face, without moving the rest of her body. That move was and had always been one of our most feared as children of a Nephilim. Glory and I took a step back in tandem. Charlie and Levi stepped away from Daddy and moved behind us.

"Ryan," Daddy ventured, holding out his hand. "This is really not the time. This is what we're gonna do," he glanced at Mom and she took a deep breath through her nose. "We're going to do a bit of clean up, make sure the people are okay," he motioned to the rubble behind us. "Then we're gonna head back to the warehouse and have a bit of a family meeting."

Shaking his head, Ryan looked like he was going to argue, "But Iā€”"

Dad's voice dropped an octave and his jaw shifted, "Walk. Away."

For the first time, Ryan's face fell, looking submissive. He backed towards the rest of the Warriors and Santiago stepped forward.

"We'll take care of the town," Santi commented quietly, mostly speaking directly to Daddy. "Take Grace and the kids back to the warehouse and we'll meet you there in a bit."

Dad nodded slowly at Santiago and lifted his hand, "Grace, let's go. We need to have a chat." He turned to stare at the rest of us, "All of us."

Charlie took a deep breath through her nose and sighed quietly. "Yeah," she whispered. "Take me home, Glore," she continued. "I can't look at this anymore."

My sister took my cousin's hand and disappeared on the spot. I took a deep breath and took Levi's hand. "We have to go get Sawyer first," I muttered. "We'll see you guys at home."

Mom nodded slowly.

With that, we disappeared.