She was screaming, almost with every thrust, every brutal moment. Claudia wondered how she could take this and stay sane, and a tiny voice in her mind that sounded a bit like Lucifer's taunted her by asking how she could be certain she wasn't mad already. Gabriel could break her, just as Lucifer had done, reshaping her into what he wanted.

She'd been given over, like a hand-me-down toy or piece of outgrown clothing. That betrayal of who she thought she'd been still stung, for all that he'd hinted it wasn't over. Perhaps this was her punishment, and she'd deserved it. Claudia didn't know, and even as her body tried to give in, her mind still wanted to find a reason, something to hold on to.

It was those slivers of doubt, the ones that told her this was justified, that she hadn't been good enough, that filled her just as much as the need. That made her try to beg for something, anything, even though she knew she was unable to form a single word.