Chapter One

She was having increasingly vivid dreams. Real dreams. But that didn't make sense, did it? Dreams weren't real. They were just images that involuntarily happened during sleep. It wasn't the dreams that plagued her. It was the man that had somehow forced his way into her life and now her dreams.

Lucifer Morningstar.

He disgusted her. He really did. Disgusted her in the kind of way that she couldn't hold a grudge against him for very long. Chloe didn't understand the man and she was sure she probably never would. She would have liked to say he was crazy with his raving, "I'm the Prince of Darkness". He was crazy in that sense, but everything else about him was…

Crazily sane.

He was driving her insane.

Maybe that was why she found herself constantly dreaming about him. Oh, but the Devil of a man himself would have been beside himself with wicked glee if he'd known.

The dreams were horrific because…

Where was she? The sky burned a bright orange with dark, rolling clouds. The hills off in the distance burned, black smoke rising until she couldn't even see the sky overhead. Everything…burned. The air was so dense she could barely breath. Where was she?

Fear was thick in the air. It was something natural that clung to everything around her, something that pulled her own fear forward. She lifted her arm, bracing it against her nose as her eyes lowered. The ground was like burning embers with tendrils of smoke rising, glowing in places. She could feel the heat rising. She could feel everything.

And she could hear the screams.

They sent a chill down her spine and an all too real fear. Where was she?

Hell.

The thought moved through her.

"You're in hell, Detective."

She didn't believe in God. She certainly didn't believe in hell. She didn't believe in the Devil. Oh God, where was she? Horror took place, a strange lethargic sensation that moved through her. But she knew. She just knew.

She was in hell.

"Shhh, love."

She looked up at the hushed tone—Lucifer. His arms surrounded her and suddenly she was no longer afraid. She clung to him, her fingers twisting in the fine material of his waistcoat as the screams grew louder. They were begging to be released, begging for a single drop of cool water.

Begging for mercy.

Oh God, why were they here?

Chloe lifted her head, voicing the question out loud, the panic clear in her voice. "Where are we?"

"Hell, Detective." Lucifer said, that same erotic accent sending delicious chills down her spine. "Shhh…" He said again, one hand moving up and down her back while the other tilted her head further back. He leaned down and made a move that he'd made a thousand times before. One that she didn't stop this time.

Lucifer kissed her.

It was strangely soothing in the fiery pit surrounding them. His kiss was warm—her lips tingled. He tasted like brimstone. He tasted like the fires of hell. Even with the flames whipping up around them, he kissed her into a senseless pile of desire.

"Welcome to my world." Lucifer whispered against her lips.

She jerked back at the painful, tingling bite he gave and cried out as the flames rose higher, closing in around her. She lifted her hands when Lucifer pulled away, his eyes dark. They burned a fiery red. He lifted his right hand and her knees buckled, a sudden weakness filled her.

She couldn't breath as smoke rose up, clogging her airway. And all the while Lucifer just stared down at her with those seductive eyes, that sweet curl of his lips. She coughed. One of the flames lunged, following the move of Lucifer's hand. She could feel the burning heat slide over one leg and knew instantly Lucifer was controlling the flame.

She felt like screaming, just like all the other damned souls. Lucifer kneeled down, one hand lifting to caress her left cheek. Her cheek burned from the caress and she reeled back. She blinked her burning eyes, struggling to see him through the humidity.

"Why are you doing this?" Chloe coughed out, her voice hoarse.

He was doing it without a doubt. He looked completely out of place in the burning pits, confined in one of his fancy suits.

"Because I'm the Devil, Detective. It's what I do." His voice played out in that coy tone. He'd said that to her many times and as she stared up at him, Chloe could see the truth burning in his gaze. "And you're mine." He purred out. She was his, finally, to do with as he pleased, to torture to the ends of time and beyond.

Chloe screamed as the flames leapt around her again, Lucifer's soft laughter echoing in her mind.

Chloe woke up screaming, struggling against the flames that weren't there. She dragged in a ragged breath and reached out blindly in the darkness, her fingers fumbling over the bedside lamp before she pressed the small light switch. Dim light flooded the room, filling her with a momentary regard.

She was sweating.

With a weary sigh, she sank back onto the pillows and turned her head. Her heart was still racing as she took in the time. 3AM. The Devil's Hour, as Lucifer so fondly said.

She didn't do this, dammit. She was a calm person, dammit. But—Hell. Lucifer. He was entirely at fault here. He was the Devil, he said. He was The Dark Prince, he said. He was getting to her and he was getting to her just to the point where she dreamed of him kissing her. And dragging her into the pits of hell.

Chloe grimaced.

-Your reviews mean the world to me-