She scrubs her hands down the pleats of her skirts and nods.
“Where is the meeting?”
“Neutral ground, on Earth.” She nods, seeming unsurprised. Besides her initial confusion when she came to Hell, now is the only time I’ve ever seen her look unsure. She’s nervous as she fidgets. “You don’t have to come.” I wish she didn’t want to. I wish I could keep her in the dark cage that is my realm. The thought of locking her away has been on my mind more than I’d like to admit. But Lilith is no caged bird; taking away her freedom would only make things worse.
“I want to,” she says quickly. “I need to.” I nod and hold out my arm. She loops hers around mine and grips my biceps. I try to keep my composure as I portal us to the meeting place.
We’re the first ones here, of course. “Fuckers are never on time,” I grumble. Lilith doesn’t let go of my arm as a crack of thunder sounds in the distance, and the front door opens.
I wasn’t expecting this many angels here for this meeting. And yet there are five. Ezekiel, Maddis, Rita, Jorge, and I watch as Lilith’s twin steps into the room. She blinks at her sister a few times before taking her seat and looking away. As I look over at Lilith’s face, one nearly identical to the angel across from us, I can see her trying to keep her composure. She’s trying to push down whatever emotion she feels after seeing her twin again. She squeezes my arm before letting it go, and her arms fall to her sides.
“Lucifer,” Ezekiel greets, and I nod.
“Well, let’s get to it then.” We all take our seats. The angels on one side of the room, and Lilith and I on the other.
Ezekiel stares at Lilith, his eyes never moving, and it makes my eyes twitch. He knows I collected her soul, but there’s no way he knows anything further than that. I can’t leave this room with him thinking that I have any affection towards Lilith. She, of course, doesn’t notice him staring because she won’t stop looking at her twin.
“Your demons are out of control, Lucifer.”
I roll my eyes, crossing my arms and stretching out my legs, crossing them as well but at the ankles. “And what, pray-tell, are they doing?”
“Corrupting mortals, picking fights with collectors, just general poor manners.”
“Mmm. And who is filing this complaint?”
“Heaven,” Rita chimes in, glaring at me. I always hated that bitch. She’s always so pinched, I would’ve hoped someone would have removed that stick up her arse by now. But it seems that it’s still firmly in place, and she’s giving no leeway. I take note of the age of the angels in this room, all are nearly ancient. I feel off-kilter and have this need to overcompensate.
I grin, flicking a piece of non-existent lint off my suit cuff. “That’s interesting, is mummy back home then?” Hit them right where it hurts. She left so long ago, they’ve been floundering ever since, and it seems to be one of the biggest reasons they pick fights with me constantly. They so easily forget that God gave me this job for a reason; that just as much she created Heaven, she also created Hell, and someone has to fucking manage it. I would say all of this to them—but it would be all for naught. I’ve said it so many times, but they are too self-righteous to listen to anything but the rhetoric they have been spewing for ages.
I watch as the angels still, and my grin gets wider. It’s the first time Lilith takes a break from staring at her twin to look at me. “She left, what? A millennia ago? Tired of your bullshit and what she created. Probably started all over somewhere else by now. Made new realms, ones she could be proud of.”
“You shut your mouth,” Rita hisses at me. Lilith’s twin looks at me with pure disgust.
“What? Your little friends haven’t told you that God isn’t running the show?” Her eyebrows furrow as she looks at me and then at her sister. Not a surprise, I’m sure they keep new angels in line by telling them if they work hard enough, if they are devout enough, then they will get to meet God. The same one who left and is never coming back.
“That’s enough, Lucifer,” Ezekiel chastises.
“Always were her favorite little pet.” I pick at my nails, slouching in my chair disrespectfully. This is what they expect of me. I’m the villain, so I might as well act like one. “Besides Michael, that is.Hewas her true favorite.”
“Lucifer,” Ezekiel growls my name.
“Don’t get me wrong, brother, I know what it’s like to be mummy’s favorite pet. Don’t forget there’s a reason I got this gig in the first place.” I snap my fingers, a small flame burning above my flesh. “A reason she made me so powerful,” I stand to my full height, even though Ezekiel is nearly the same height as me, but he doesn’t stand as he glares daggers at me. “So tell me, why exactly are you trying to pick a fight with me?”
“You’ve gotten out of control. Your demons are being reckless.”
“Reckless would be letting them do whatever the fuck they want. Trust me, if I let them do that,thenthere would be cause for concern.”
“There are other causes for concern,” Rita chimes in, glaring at me and then Lilith before softly petting Diana’s thigh. “Go on, darling, tell us what you know.”
Lilith’s twin swallows thickly, her eyes watery as she stares at her sister. “Tell us what you found in her drawer."
“It was just a knife,” Diana says, and I keep my cool. I watch as a sinister grin shows up on Ezekiel’s face. He was there that day, so long ago, when this punishment was placed upon me.
“And the relevance?”
“The fact that her twin says she had a knife in her drawer and I find the all mighty Lucifer taking a soul to Hell, you can’t tell me it’s a coincidence,brother,” he says the word scornfully, and I realize they suspect, but don’t know for sure.
“She’s my latest pet. You can’t deny that she’s beautiful.” I lean over slightly, gripping the end of Lilith’s hair and wrapping it around my fist, spinning it around my closed fingers until I reach her skull. “I get so bored in Hell, sometimes it’s nice to have something pretty.” I glance at Ezekiel and smirk. “Not that you would know anything about that? Still practicing abstinence in Heaven?”
