The instant Lucifer saw Sarah’s expression change, he reacted without hesitation.
He twisted around and swung the oak club toward whatever had appeared behind him.
CRACK!
The strike landed across a Crawler’s arm instead of its head, but the force was enough to snap the bone.
The creature shrieked and lashed out at the same time, raking its claws across Lucifer’s shoulder hard enough to knock him backward into Sarah.
The others had only just realized what was happening.
Fear swept through the group when they saw the Crawler, but everyone remembered Lucifer and Sarah’s repeated warnings and covered their mouths rather than screaming and attracting more of the creatures.
Lucifer steadied himself and looked at the wounded monster.
It was still alive, one useless arm hanging at its side as it hissed in pain.
“We don’t have time for this.”
He rushed forward and brought the oak club down.
CRACK!
The Crawler’s skull shattered, and its shriek ended instantly.
Lucifer wiped the blood from the club before looking toward the others.
“That thing made enough noise to attract half the cave.
We need to move.”
Nobody argued.
Dan immediately took the lead, guiding them away from the bone-filled cavern and into another twisting passage.
They moved as quickly as the terrain allowed while keeping their voices low and their lights trained on the surrounding darkness.
As they approached another narrow opening, Lucifer suddenly stopped.
There was a sound somewhere ahead.
Not scraping.
Fighting.
The echoes bouncing through the cave made it difficult to determine exactly where it was coming from, but Lucifer was certain he had heard impacts and the faint cries of a person struggling.
He immediately looked toward Dan.
“Find it.”
Dan understood and quickly put on his headphones before checking the surrounding passages with his equipment.
After several seconds, he pointed toward a narrow tunnel to their left.
“That way.”
Lucifer didn’t hesitate.
“I’ll go first.”
He dropped to the ground and crawled into the tight passage.
The others hurried after him, unwilling to remain behind now that they knew Crawlers were roaming the caves.
The farther Lucifer went, the clearer the sounds became.
Heavy impacts.
Creature shrieks.
Then the unmistakable sound of a woman fighting for her life.
Lucifer’s eyes brightened.
Juno.
After everything they had gone through, the million-dollar target was finally within reach.
Just as Lucifer neared the end of the crawlspace, a woman’s pained gasp came from beyond the opening.
His expression changed.
He lunged out.
The beam of his headlamp swept across the cavern and revealed two Crawlers surrounding a battered woman.
Juno Kaplan.
She leaned against the cave wall with one injured leg barely supporting her weight.
Blood ran down one arm, and cuts, bruises, and dried blood covered nearly every visible part of her body.
Despite her condition, Juno still gripped her climbing axe.
Her eyes remained fierce.
One of the Crawlers crouched in front of her while the second moved along the side, waiting for an opening.
Lucifer immediately shouted, “Hey, ugly!”
Both creatures snapped toward the sound.
“Over here.”
They abandoned Juno and charged.
Lucifer swung his arm and hurled the oak club.
The weapon struck the first Crawler directly in the head with enough force to knock it violently onto the stone floor.
Its body twitched once before going still.
The second creature reached Lucifer before he could recover his weapon.
It slammed into him and drove him onto his back.
Lucifer caught both of its wrists before its claws could reach his face, but the Crawler opened its bloody mouth and repeatedly snapped its teeth toward his throat.
“You really want to bite me?”
The creature pulled its head back for another attempt.
Lucifer slammed his forehead into its face.
THUD!
The Crawler reeled from the impact.
Lucifer immediately shoved with both arms, throwing the creature onto its back before climbing over it.
Golden patterns still covered his hand from Holy Seal of Justice as he drove his fist into its skull.
Once.
Then again.
The Crawler stopped moving.
Lucifer slowly stood and wiped the blood from his knuckles.
By then, the rest of the rescue team had finally crawled into the cavern.
Sarah froze the instant she saw the woman against the wall.
“Juno…”
Tears immediately filled her eyes.
Sarah had spent all this time believing Juno was dead.
The last time they had seen each other, their friendship had collapsed amid betrayal, anger, and survival, and Sarah had left Juno wounded in the cave after striking her with a climbing axe.
Now Juno was standing in front of her.
Alive.
Sarah rushed forward.
Juno squinted against the headlamps until she recognized the person approaching her.
Her expression instantly hardened.
She tightened her grip around the climbing axe.
“You…”
Her weakened voice came out rough and strained.
“You left me.”
Sarah didn’t stop.
She threw her arms around Juno.
“I’m sorry.”
Juno stiffened.
Sarah clung to her and began crying.
“I shouldn’t have left you.
I’m sorry, Juno.”
For several seconds, Juno continued gripping the axe.
Then the anger in her eyes slowly weakened.
Whatever had happened between them, they had once been close friends, and both had endured more than enough inside these caves.
Juno finally loosened her grip.
She lifted one arm as though she intended to return the embrace, but the deep wound running along it immediately pulled open.
“Hiss!”
Juno winced.
Lucifer retrieved his oak club and walked toward them.
“Reunion later.
Let me deal with the injuries first.”
Cath quickly lowered the DV camera and reached for her backpack.
“I have a first-aid kit.”
Lucifer raised a hand.
“Keep filming.
My method is faster.”
Cath stopped.
Everyone turned toward him.
Lucifer stepped in front of Juno and slowly raised his palm.
Juno instinctively became guarded.
“Relax,” Lucifer said.
“Senator Kaplan hired me to bring you home.
I’m not going to hurt you.”
“My uncle?”
Lucifer nodded.
“Richard Kaplan.
One million dollars if I bring you back alive, so I’d appreciate it if you stayed that way.”
Juno stared at him for a moment before finally relaxing.
Lucifer placed his palm against her forehead.
“May the Holy Light bless you.”
[Holy Light — Level 2 activated.]
Warm golden radiance immediately spread from Lucifer’s palm and enveloped Juno’s body.
Her eyes widened.
The others watched in stunned silence as cuts began closing before them.
Torn skin knitted together, bruising faded, and the deeper wounds that had plagued Juno throughout her time underground rapidly healed beneath the golden glow.
Even the injuries that had made it difficult for her to stand disappeared.
Twenty-two seconds later, the Holy Light faded.
Juno remained completely still.
She looked down at herself.
The open wounds were gone.
The pain had vanished.
Cath had forgotten to lower the camera.
Dan and Rios simply stared at Lucifer.
Even Sarah seemed momentarily speechless.
Juno slowly looked back at him.
“Are you…
God?”
Lucifer smiled.
“Something like that.”
Healing her injuries didn’t solve everything.
Juno had been trapped underground without proper food or rest, and Holy Light couldn’t replace the nutrition her body desperately needed.
Lucifer reached toward his backpack while quietly retrieving the Savory Pork Liver Pie from System Space.
He held it out.
“Eat.”
Juno smelled the freshly baked pie and immediately focused on it.
“You’ve probably been starving down here.
This will help.”
She didn’t need to be told twice.
Juno grabbed the pie and began eating with the desperation of someone who had survived on almost nothing for far too long.
Lucifer watched with satisfaction as the special food began taking effect and some healthy color gradually returned to her face.
“Slow down.
It’s not going anywhere.”
Juno ignored him and kept eating.
Lucifer couldn’t help smiling.
It was the first time anyone had eaten his cooking with that much enthusiasm.
Sarah stared at the pie and swallowed.
After a moment, she looked toward Lucifer.
“Could I have some too?”
Several other members of the rescue team immediately became interested.
The smell alone had been tormenting them since Lucifer brought it out.
Lucifer shook his head.
“Sorry.”
Sarah blinked.
“Seriously?”
“This isn’t an ordinary pie.”
Lucifer gave her a perfectly serious expression.
“Fifty thousand dollars a piece.
That’s the friend price.”
Sarah stared at him.
Then at the pie.
Then back at him.
“Never mind.”
The others immediately lost interest as well.
Fifty thousand dollars was enough money to buy a very respectable car in 2003.
Nobody was going to spend that much just because something smelled good.
Juno, however, had felt the difference herself.
The exhaustion weighing down her body was rapidly fading, and after Lucifer’s miraculous healing, she had no reason to assume the pie was ordinary food.
She stopped eating long enough to look at him.
“Fifty thousand?”
Lucifer nodded.
Juno swallowed another bite.
“How many more do you have?”
Lucifer fell silent.
He looked at Juno.
Then at the half-eaten pie.
A realization slowly struck him.
Damn.
Maybe fifty thousand was too cheap.