Lucifer: The story behind the angel

Chapter 10

Several years after Lucifer's fall from grace....

Cain's POV
I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. No, I'm not sick, I'm just watching my younger brother Abel earn a congratulatory hug from our mother, Eve. Why is he the one that is always in the right, no matter what? I'm faster than him, smarter than him, I work harder than him! Why should he get all the pride from mother, from father, from God? I am the one who deserves it, not that little brat. My thoughts were interrupted by my father's voice. "Cain, what are you just standing around for?" "We have things to do." I sigh as I pick up the ho again. "So much for pride." I think to myself. I start consecrating the ground again, making it soft to plant seeds in it. As I'm working, Abel comes up and starts talking to me. "Would you like some water, Cain?" I stop hoeing for a moment. "No I'm fine." I shrug offhandedly. He shuffles away, leaving me even angrier. "I hate him." Hours later, I'm done tending the garden and am ready to go in, when I hear a deep male voice that wasn't my father's. I head in the direction of where it was coming from, and I see a man with a hair color I've never seen before. It was the color of the sun, but less bright. He smiles kindly at me. "Excuse me, Cain, is it?" I look at him, kind of starting to freak out. "How do you know my name?" He smiles again, like it wasn't creepy. "I'm an old friend of your parents." I relax a little. But why hadn't mother and father told me about this stranger? He saunters closer. "So, I heard you've been having some trouble with your brother?" I almost didn't want to tell him. But for some reason, I trusted him. "Yeah, he's always getting the attention from everybody." He looked around, as if pondering whether to tell me something or not. "What if I said it could all go away?" "What if I said, for instance, you could have the attention?" I got in closer, suddenly very interested. "What are you talking about?" He backs up, making his voice slightly louder. "Well, Cain, the way I see it, you have two options." "Either roll over, and continue getting angry about him, or you can do something a little more drastic." I jump when I hear my father calling me in for the night. "Can you come back tomorrow?" He narrows his eyes, and looks to his left. "Nope." "This is your only chance, Cain." I walk over to him, and expect him to do some magic mojo stuff, but he doesn't. He leans down, and whispers into my ear. I gasp when he says it, and look up to see if he was being serious, but he was gone. Father calls my name again. "Cain!" "Come in!" "It's time for evening meal." I turn to the place where the man was once more, and then turn to my house. He didn't even tell me his name.
The next day, I'm tending the garden, and watch as Abel leads the sheep away from our house. I follow him as soon as he is out of seeing range, to make it seem like I wasn't on to something naughty. At the edge of a group of rocks, there lie a single loose one amongst it. I pick it up quietly, and pursue Abel again. When I find him again, he's leaning down to pick up his shepherd's staff. I raise the rock up, and.... nearly chicken out. Then I remember all the attention he gets. All the things he gets credit for that I could do ten times over. So I raise the rock higher, and sling it down on his head, killing him instantly. As I head back to the garden, I'm smiling, not a care in the world. I smile and wave at mother, who waves back. Father sees me taking care of the garden. "Good work Cain." I grin. I could live with this. I wonder who that man from last night was. I need to thank him for his sage advice. I jumped when yet another unfamiliar voice sounded behind me. "Cain." I turn around slowly. "Y..yes?" When I turn and don't see anybody, I'm confused. It speaks again. "Where is your brother?""How does it know?" "I'm not my brother's keeper!" I yell at the unknown source. Then silence. I tend to the garden again, scared out of my wits. A shrill scream from around the bend makes me jump. I run to it, and find my mother holding Abel's body and crying, and father standing over both of them, looking to the Heavens. "Do you know anything of this Cain?" I looked at Abel's frail body. "No."

Lucifer's POV
As soon as a Cain lies to his parents, I turn my attention away from him, and to Rex, who's sitting on the floor at my feet. "And we have a winner!" The old creature raises its head to see what I was shouting at, but it must have lost interest, because it set it back down after a moment. After a moment, I hear the fragile *ding* sound of a soul entering Heaven, Abel went there. Cain's soul is cursed twice, because he has sinned twice. "Bonus!" I speak to Rex again. "Unless he asks forgiveness from Father." "That wouldn't be good." I look up as Lilith steps in. "I doubt he will Lucifer." "He's scared." "And why were you talking to yourself?" I stand up from my smooth crystal desk, grinning. "I wasn't." "I was talking to my favorite member." Rex looks up, and tilts his head. "Here's to you Rexy." Lilith, an older form of her previous self, is less obnoxious than she was. She was wearing actual clothes now, along with me. Her hair was pinned up in a braid. I didn't know exactly how the subconscious thing was supposed to work, but she was aging as normally as she should. She was my only company here besides Rex, and although I'd never admit it, I enjoyed her company. And I knew I wasn't going crazy, because Rex could still see her. She twiddled with a parchment on the desk. "Have you ever thought of making Rex scarier?"I look up at her in confusion. "But why?" She leans across the desk, still messing with the paper. "Leverage." She answers. I stretch out, making my gold wings spread out behind me, knocking over a bookcase on accident. "Oops." "I guess they did heal, and get bigger, crazily enough." Like normal, she was mesmerized by them. "When are you going to fly again, Samael?" I folded the wings back up as a went down again. "I don't know." "Probably never." I'd perfected a way to hide the wings, to have a sort of veil over them, while I trick the mortals into thinking I'm like them. But I haven't flown since... I can't even remember. I kneel down to pick up the bookcase that fell over. "Look at all this knowledge." I say, picking up each book and reading the front cover before setting it back on the shelf. Lilith picks one up and sets it next to the parchment on the desk. "Have you ever tried shapeshifting?" I pick up the book gently and set it on the shelf. "I can't say that I have." "What about you?" She sticks her tongue out at me. "Of course not." "But I'm serious." "I bet you are strong enough to do it." I think about that for a moment. "I'm not busy." "I'll try it." She jumps up from the desk, squealing in happiness. "Yay!" She claps her hands as I step out of the small room and into the larger cavern. I spread out, not wanting to fail and fall onto something. I thought about what I would try first. I think about the first time something had ever challenged Father. "A snake." I say, though barely audible. Lilith remains still and quiet. Sheesh, that must be hard for her. I imagine the snake's coils. It's scales, it's yellow eyes. I feel my feet wrap together on themselves, and my back curve. My tongue flicks out, now split in two parts at the end. The next thing I know I'm on the ground, slithering around as a large python. I raise my snake head up to Lilith, who is clapping. Though everything she does or says toils together, I can feel the space between us, hear her rapid heartbeat. I shut my eyes to blink, and when I open them a glassy opaque surface washes over, to clean my eyes. I flick my tongue out and slide it back in, sensing Rex in the other room and Lilith in this one. Yards below the ground, I can feel the presence of several smaller life forms, probably bats, underneath our feet- er, Lilith's feet, my stomach and throat. I hear her speak to me again. "Let's try another!" I take a moment to regain my other stature as an angel. When that's over with, I'm panting heavily and sprawled out on the ground, once again feeling the smooth cold surface of the cavern's main floor. "I thinks that's enough for one day." I say, through pained breaths. She falls down to lie next to me. My hair was wet and my skin feels loose. She nestles up closer to me. "I wish I could do that." I stare up at the ceiling of the cave. "No you don't."  She grabs my hand, closing it in her own. "Samael, I have to tell you something." Finally regaining full composure, I look over at her. "What is it?" She looked ashamed. "I...I think I am in love with you." I stare blankly up at the endless black of the ceiling once again. "You can't do this to me Lilith." "You are my closest friend." She shifts herself to her side, to face me. " Samael, I know this may be hard, but I have intense feelings of adoration for you, and I think it's love." "Actually, I know it is." I turn to face her this time. "When did these feelings begin?" She stares me down for a second, memory filling her gaze. "Remember when you told me about how you missed your Father, and your brothers?" I remember that day. It was the anniversary of my creation. "Yes." She tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Well, you were very emotional, and I began to think of you as something other than an angel, something with feeling." "And I think that maybe, if I ever liked you, you'd be able to return those feelings." Rex nosed his way in, curiosity finally getting the better of him. I thought about what she said, then yank my hand up, because Rex started licking it. "Lilith, you are very young." I say, struggling to get Rex away from me without moving to much. She grips my hand tighter. "I'm older now, and you have stopped aging." I pat Rex on the head and realize that she was right. "I was immortal." But I still wasn't prepared to get into a relationship with a girl I've known since she was twelve. It was very.. weird. Her voice interrupted my thoughts. "And if you don't reciprocate those feelings, I don't want it to ruin our friendship." "So forget I said anything if you don't." She said the last part quietly, as if I would be angry at her. I sit up, preparing to break her heart. "I'm sorry Lilith, I can't." I couldn't express in words what I meant, but I think she got the message well enough. She stands up, and I watch as she walks out. I close my eyes and a single warm tear rolls down my cheek. "I just can't stop hurting people, can I?"