Loving Lucifer [COMPLETE]

Chapter 22

I lay beneath him, his beautiful autumn sky eyes looking into mine. His smile was soft and gentle, but playful nonetheless. He bent down to kiss me, his bare shoulder touching mine.

"I love you," I whispered, as he went over the edge. He turned around and lay beside me, stroking my hair and my face.

"I love you too," he replied, pressing a kiss to my cheek.

We were quiet for a while as we caught our breath. I looked into his eyes and smiled. It had been a wonderful evening.

After picking me up from my lectures, we'd come to his apartment where he had already prepared a wonderful feast for two. He'd made a nice duck salad to start with and had some pork roasting in the oven together with potatoes and vegetables. The main course was as delicious as the starter. We had ice cream for dessert and then proceeded to his bedroom.

Now we lay beside each other; our clothes on the floor, basking in the glory of what we had just done. His wings had disappeared by now, but I longed for them to re-emerge. I wanted to stroke them; I had never had the chance to touch them and now my fingers ached to do so. Instead, they settled for his soft, silken skin. He was entirely too beautiful to be real, and yet here we were, flesh, blood and bone. His breathing soothed me; it reminded me that someone who loved me would always exist - he was immortal and there was comfort in the notion of my lingering memory. My gut clenched as I remembered him shoving his brother at the mention of someone else - of his big secret. Did he still love her? As much as me? I hated myself for being jealous, and wondered how horrible life must be for Bobby if his envy plagued him all the time. An eternity of that would be more than depressing. I let my mind wander to another place; I didn't want to dwell on the past

"I wonder how Matt's doing on his date with Sam," I said.

"How did she take it?"

"She seemed thrilled...I think she's always liked him..."

"Or maybe after scumbag Todd she realises Matt's a much nicer guy," he replied.

"Alternatively," I said, letting out a chuckle.

"Do you think it will work out between them?" he asked.

"Well, she's his first love...I just hope it doesn't end in heartbreak for either of them; they're my best friends. It would suck if they ended up hating each other."

"Nah...I don't think they will. I never liked Todd, not from the first moment you mentioned him."

"Why? You didn't know him."

"You said Todd's nice," he replied, shrugging, "You didn't say great or wonderful..."

"Yeah, but I liked Todd at the time; I thought he made Sam happy."

"But that she must have deserved better because she's your best friend."

"Sure, but isn't that always going to be the truth?"

"Not if this works out...you can't believe she can have better than Matt - he's like a brother to you."

"True."

He smiled. "I hope it works out." He pressed a kiss to my temple.

I looked into his eyes, still curious after meeting his friends and housemates.

"So...Deo has a special gift, directly related to his...deadly sin...do all of you have those?"

"Well...all of us have particular characteristics. Deo...when Deo's name was Asmodeus, when he was an angel, he could radiate love...his fall twisted it into lust and that's what he oozes of now."

"Oh...what about the others?"

"As Mammon, Monty could bring about bounty and good fortune. He was one of the reasons I was so upset with the Creator - she never encouraged us to use our talents to bring about joy for mankind. He could have enriched the poor and fed starving villages...now Monty suffers from a bottomless pit craving for money and for material things...he has no special talents...simply a knack for stocks and investments; something he nurtured and something he was partially predisposed to be good at."

"Astor...what does he ooze? Sleep?"

He let out a laugh. "Astaroth brought peace to our realm. Wherever he walked, peace and relaxation followed. And now that has twisted itself into laziness and sloth. Astor can sleep all day if he wants to - he is always tired and never has enough energy to be active at all."

He paused.

"Bee...is a wonderful artist still, but his passion has turned into wrath and one had better not step on his toes, or he'd have a thing or two to say or do...and Bobby's prior protectiveness has turned into pure envy...and his envy makes him false...he lies and lies. He used to be a wonderful storyteller too, and now he is simply a fabricator of the truth. I wonder how hollow he must feel."

"What's Mo's talent? Eating?"

"Mo..." he paused, "Mo is a glutton, true, but he is plagued with knowledge - it used to be his greatest talent; knowledge - he was intelligent...more so than anybody else in our realm. And now he is plagued with the knowledge of things good and evil and he sees them all at the same time. He hears whispers of what shall happen and what has come to pass. Tragedies play themselves before his eyes. Remember Catherine, that Mo used to be an angel, and such things make him weep."

I paused, my heart racing at the prospect of asking the most difficult question of them all.

"I was her messenger...and she left me my wings - I am the only one who still has the gift of flight," he said, as if anticipating my curiosity. He paused, "She cheated, and left her favourite with his favourite pastime, in spite of the fact that this was entirely my fault." He took a strand of my hair between his fingers and twirled it lovingly, before lifting his eyes to gaze deeply into mine. "But there is something I need to tell you...something I've been meaning to say." He paused, as if weighing the words that would escape his mouth. "I can't have children."