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In the End
It began with a plague.
It happened quickly; with no chance to understand it. Death was swift, animals were not spared. One horror led to another: the end interminable. Farms went next, creating a food shortage unlike any the world suffered before. People began to turn on each other; nothing new there. Riots and mass hysteria took over, every person for themselves.
Rosa was out on a date when it finally arrived at her door. She and her date, Hector, stuck together. They’d traveled to find her family, only to find someone set fire to her parents’ home, with them and her sisters in it. She lost everyone she cared about in a night. Hector had nobody in Los Angeles, but after trying to contact his family; he found they too were gone. So, they clung to one another, as they were all that was left.
He was ex-military, that’s what she attributed to their survival. They made it across the city that was now primarily on fire or ransacked. They made their way to Topanga Canyon; the rich were some of the first to go, so they knew some houses were empty.
It was after finding shelter, a small reprieve from the chaos when it was finally revealed that the Four Horsemen of the apocalypse were responsible for their troubles.
From what they understood, they were some of the few humans who survived. As far as they were concerned; it was not a blessing. Living among survivors was a Russian roulette of chance. Some people were fine; others would eat their own young if it spared them. Sadly, it was not the worse Rosa and Hector suffered.
The worse was when they showed up. Those beings traveled during the day, but their domain was the night. Hector and Rosa would hear the blood curdling screams at night, unknowingly hearing the screams of their victims. Rosa did not know what it was that attacked others at night; at first, they both figured it was people. It became clear after seeing the remains the morning after. Whatever it was hunting people in the dark could not be human. What it was they were up against was not made known to them until a year of surviving the first set of attacks.
Rosa and Hector were scavenging for food and supplies when they finally came face to face with their predator. The beings were covered in sores, flesh flayed, no eyelids, and walked on all fours like beasts. Two came upon them and before she had time to think; Hector commanded her to leave, to escape, just as he ran, triggering the beasts to chase.
Just like that, Rosa was on her own.
She ran off, numb, blindly walking further up the hills until she found a house she did not expect to find. It was a sustainable house. Green roof, solar panels, rain barrels. She first scoffed when she came upon it. The wealthy could toy with the idea; those things required money to accomplish, and though at the time money was plentiful, it was not so among most Angelinos. The house blended into the mountainside, hiding it from view for the most part. She herself walked past it at first, until she noticed some far too well-placed trees for it to be natural.
That night, she slept like the dead. She woke up a day later, disoriented, and famished. It seemed those who resided in the house before her, did not have time to dip into their stores before they died. There was no evidence of struggle, so she doubted they were home when everything went to hell.
That’s what it was.
It was hell.
The beasts who killed Hector were proof enough. In the short time after it all began, they came across others who spoke of the screams, but nobody ever knew what it truly was, and nobody wanted to find out firsthand. Now Rosa knew. The only thing she could use to describe them was demonic. After finding out the Four Horsemen were responsible, it wasn’t a stretch to figure out what would become of those who survived on Earth. No, surviving was not a blessing. They were actively being hunted for sport.
Rosa shook out of her reverie.
It was early morning; songbirds could no longer be heard. They were some of the first to die during the plague. The rest died in the famine. She was sitting on the floor, cross legged in a room covered in tatami mats. Her sketchbook was left forgotten on her lap. Rough, sketches of the demons she witnessed abandoned, half finished.
She spent the day after Hector died noting what would protect her. Noiseless clothing was the first order of business. That day she made sure her clothing was as quiet as possible. A long tunic of black and olive, faux suede pants in a tan and brown, practical boot in brown she found in a closet that surprisingly fit. She was a tall woman, at six feet, it was rare to find clothing. A cropped leather jacket with a hood was next, a pair of fingerless leather gloves was next. Other than that, she wore no other adornments. No jewelry, nothing that could jingle or attract the attention of creatures with what seemed like heightened senses.
Her hair she kept braided and pinned up to keep it from getting caught on anything. After closing her notebook, she came to her feet, setting the journal in her makeshift bed. That room had no windows. She didn’t trust sleeping in rooms with them. She went well out of her way to cover most windows with butcher paper, or anything else she could find. The only windows she left uncovered were those in the greenhouse.
When she realized the house had it, she made up her mind to stay. If she could grow anything, she may very well survive. Though, with the state of the world, Rosa was beginning to wonder what good surviving would do her. The hills were quiet, occasionally she would hear voices of people walking down the road. Every single time, a sense of dread overcame her. Fearing their presence, their noise. She could not see herself living with others. She didn’t talk, she was as quiet as humanly possible.
Every so often, she would hear the screams of another person meeting their end with the demons. It was always at night. Rosa wished she could warn them, but she knew, if she spoke out, told anyone about the demons hunting them at night; she would be classified as insane. She would be attacked, or ostracized. There was little point in telling anyone anything. They would find out on their own, or conclude something equally horrible, albeit accurate.
The house was stock full of vegan items, dry ingredients. Again, to Rosa’s chagrin, of course, the wealthy had enough funds to sustain a lifestyle otherwise unattainable for most. Their over abundance was now helping her survive, irony did not escape her. She looked out the windows in the greenhouse and knew she had to go out and find more supplies. She was running short on some toiletries, and she needed to check the neighboring homes to find more.
It was a task she was not looking forward to, but she refused to die feeling dirty. At least, that’s what she told herself. In truth, staying indoors was difficult for her, and she needed something to occupy her mind, else her nightmares visit her in daydreams. She barely slept, and when exhaustion and necessity finally took over, her sleep was deep, dreamless. Waking at the slightest crunch of a leaf, snap of a twig, what she did could hardly be considered rest.
She took up a messenger bag in an olive drab and made her way out of the house. She didn’t lock the doors in case she needed to get in quickly. Rosa found a set of keys, but only carried the one for the main doors, fearing the jingling of a keychain.
Rosa looked up at the sky. It was overcast, it was after all, fall. Fall in southern California was beautiful, though after the apocalypse began, she found little beauty in the weather. Her family was gone, Hector was gone, she had nobody, and would die alone when her time finally came. She had no purpose other than survival.
Walking down the long winding, gravel drive, Rosa mused how strange it was for an LA home to sport such a driveway, but considering the aesthetic those who used to own the house were going for, it made sense. She stopped at the end of the drive, listening, observing the area around her. Rosa noticed nothing strange, so she continued down the mountain, heading toward the closest house. Since her arrival to the area some months ago, she did not venture into the other houses. She didn’t dare.
Her house was stocked up enough to make the trips pointless, and because she was so busy trying to maintain the greenhouse, she did not note the passage of time acutely. Now, she noticed how overgrown the vegetation was; nature taking back what belonged to it. The wind rustling through the treetops were the only noise, it comforted her. Rosa made her way into one house, it was abandoned. It did not fare as well as her own space, the windows were broken and looked as if anything of monetary value was taken.
Rosa shook her head.
Money was useless. As was gold or any such finery. Nobody could eat it, clothed themselves in it, or barter it to attain those items. It was pointless. She walked into the bathroom to see shampoo, soap, toothpaste. That’s what she was after. She took up the items and set them in her bag, going to the kitchen to find cooking oil, and some more dry goods. She smiled. She would need to make two trips, and that was fine with her.
Rosa gathered a couple of cans of instant food, grateful for the finds. Stepping out of the house again, she made her way down the paved drive, please with her outing. As she neared the end of the drive, she thought about going right back home. Feeling at ease, confident in the safety of the area, she made her way further, now just enjoying the cool breeze and serene walk.
Rosa accepted her days were numbered, and because of this, despite her fear, she wanted to live, even if it was in those few peaceful moments, as if nothing was wrong. Fifteen minutes into her walk, she finally heard voices. Moving swiftly, she ducked behind a large bush, camouflaging herself entirely within its leaves.
The voices carried as they came closer, letting Rosa know it was at least three different men, and a woman. She tried to look through the branches, but they were far too dense. She opted to stay where she was, Rosa did not need the added attention.
Rosa heard the female voice declare, “I mean, we’re safe now, I don’t know why it is we have to stay indoors.”
“Well, I mean, you’ve heard the rumors about what happens at night,” declared a male voice. This one sounded young to Rosa.
“Rumors? We lost a couple of people. They worked with my dad; they never came back. Haven’t you heard the screams and roars in the middle of the night?” asked another male voice, this one sounded young as well.
“Never mind any of that; I say we go into one of these houses and have some fun,” said the last voice, he sounded a little older, but Rosa couldn’t tell from his voice alone.
“What do you mean, what kind of fun? I thought we came out here to look for some food and shit?” asked the girl, her confusion obvious in her voice.
“I mean, we could do just that, or we can, ya know, have some fun too!” the older male voice said with a suggestive laugh.
Rosa narrowed her eyes. She knew where this conversation was going.
The girl laughed and with amusement replied, “What do you think you’ll be getting, Richard?”
Richard, the older sounding voice, replied, “Oh come on, it’s not like we get a lot of privacy back at the camp, Megan.”
Megan’s voice developed an edge, “Even if there isn’t, I don’t remember showing you any interest to begin with; why do you think asking me that was okay?”
Richard laugh, “Honey, we’re some of the last humans.”
Megan’s annoyance was now obvious in her tone, “Can you believe this, are you fucking kidding me?”
The other males seemed to go quiet, making Rosa frown in frustration. Why weren’t they helping the girl? Why weren’t they saying anything against their perverted friend? With every passing moment, every conversation of this kind; Rosa began to understand why they met this end.
“Hey! Let-Richard let me go, what the fuck are you doing!” Megan shouted as Rosa heard her being dragged, the scrape of Megan’s shoes could be heard on the pavement.
Rosa didn’t move, figuring this would spur the other two men to act. Surely, they would do something now that she was being pulled along against her will.
“William, Harry, help me!” Megan cried, as Rosa heard her continual struggle.
One of the younger men said, “Hey, Richard, she doesn’t look-,”
“Fuck off, Will, if you don’t want a piece of her you can just keep watch then,” snapped Richard angrily.
William didn’t respond but Harry, the last unnamed voice replied, “Fuck it, it’s not like anyone will believe her…”
Megan screamed as they started to drag her toward the abandoned house closest to them. Rosa’s fury swelled in her chest, her anger overcoming her good sense. She moved out of the bushes and snapped at the retreating forms of the four teenagers.
“Let her go, you sick fucks! How fucking dare, you?!” Rosa snapped at them, though her voice was not as loud as Megan’s screams.
They stopped, one of them, at the sound of his voice, Rosa knew it was Richard, said, “Mind your business, this has nothing to do with you.”
“Shut the fuck up, bullshit ass lil’ boy, forcing yourself on a chick because your bitch ass can’t seem to value women enough to get a partner. Let her fucking go,” Rosa snapped once more.
Her tone seemed to spook the other two enough to release Megan, but Richard held fast. “Shut the fuck up, or you’re next!”
Rosa opened her mouth to retort, but then noticed the look of horror in all four of their faces. Rosa heard a chuffing sound behind her, her body immediately sensed the danger. The terror shot through her as she turned slowly. Rosa was already covered in a cold sweat as she turned to face whatever it was behind her.
Her eyes met a pair of blue/gold eyes, a face of a what could only be described as an otherworldly lion, though its mane, was whiter than tawny. Its body was large, muscular, a pair of large, bat-like wings, black in color like most of its fur, shuddered in what Rosa figured was anticipation.
This, this was what was killing people at night. Her fear made her still, unable to move, scream, save herself. The kids behind her did not move, speak. Rosa knew they understood their situation now.
Rosa figured the level of noise would attract them, but she had no choice. She took a step back from it, it took one toward her. The teenagers behind her scrambled, as they ran away from Rosa and the beast, heading into the abandoned house, shutting the door behind them.
Their haste seemed to trigger the beast. It leapt toward her and as Rosa shrank down into herself, the beast jumped over her and headed toward those in the house.
Rosa shot to her feet and ran. She headed the long way toward her house in case the beast would follow. She felt the tears sting her eyes, the beat of her heart steady with the beat of her boots on the ground as she ran as fast as they would carry her.
She made her way back to her house, running in, locking the door, checking to make sure every source of light was off, even though she made sure of it before she left. Rosa crawled back to the windowless room she slept in, closing the door to that as noiselessly as possible. Kneeling now in a far corner of the room, she waited.
Did it follow her? Did it sense her? Would it know her scent? Rosa wanted to cry; the urge was there, but the terror of potentially being heard, kept the tears at bay. She was still shaking, though it was now a quiver running through her body. Her stomach was in knots, her body still covered in a cold sweat. A fear so overwhelming she wore it like a second skin. It would get dark in a few hours, her need for the items she went out to scavenge no longer great. Rosa vowed not to leave her home for the next three days. The decision made, she sat back, leaning against the walls behind her.
Mammon morphed from his Manticore form to his demon form, flickering his wings before folding them back, he swaggered over to his brother who were in their demonic form as they waited on him. They met once an evening near what the humans called the, “Hollywood” sign. They traveled off from Los Angeles to neighboring cities to wreak havoc on the humans their Father left behind. Lucifer, looked to him briefly, acknowledging his presence before returning to the conversation.
Satan growled, “I grow weary of this game, can we not raze the city and be done with it?” He adjusted his cuffs as he gave Lucifer a pointed look.
Lucifer denied the idea with a singular shake of his head. “We do this the way it is intended. Now, why are you late, Mammon?” his question casually made as he lit a cigarette.
“I came up on an interestin’ dilemma,” Mammon declared as he sat on a hood of an abandoned car, two skeletons sitting in the front seats, bare bones now that the lesser demons picked the bones clean. He too removed a cigarette case from a pocket lighting it as he began to describe his interlude with four teenagers and a woman who tried to stop the males from assaulting the female with them.
Lucifer cocked a dark brow as he asked, “Oh?”
“Yeah, I hadn’t noticed her at first. I was stalkin’ the kids, but she popped out of a bush,” Mammon chuckled, “Then started rippin’ into the kids about the girl. She was so angry she didn’t even sense me come up behind her.”
“So, you killed her,” said Asmodeus with a flick of an elegant hand and a roll of his honey eyes.
“Nah, I went after the kids first, and then-,” Mammon began but Satan cut off.
“What do you mean, ‘nah’, after the kids you searched her out and killed her, right?” Satan pressed.
“Did I fuckin’ stutter? I said no. Yes, I found out where she is, but I didn’t see a reason to kill her…yet,” Mammon growled. He’d be damned, again, if a younger brother would question his decisions.
Lucifer remained quiet as the others took exception to Mammon’s decision. Why would a human endanger themselves, for children who clearly cared nothing for any human, even those known to them? Surely if she survived this long, she understood the nature of man in general. Else, she would not be alive. He understood why Mammon found it strange. “Is she protected? Did Father give her any protection to keep her alive?”
“Not that I sensed, Lu, she was scared out of her mind,” Mammon informed him.
Lucifer nodded, “Well, I see nothing special about a female doing what she did. Humans are not the brightest. Now, you all know what you must do, you can go off and do it, we will meet here tomorrow night.” Lucifer finished his cigarette before flicking it.
As Satan, Belphegor, Beelzebub, Leviathan and Asmodeus took their monstrous forms before leaving. Lucifer stopped Mammon before he too parted ways.
“What, Lu?” asked Mammon, already exasperated with the eldest.
“Show me where she is,” Lucifer commanded before turning into his dragon form.
Rosa concluded the beast she encountered could be nothing less than a Manticore. Her musings kept her busy as she worked she was outside, early in the morning, watering the herbs thriving in the rocky soil around the house. The only noise was the wind threading itself through the vegetation around her. Yet, she still felt a stillness in the air she could not place. Rosa figured it was her nerves from her near-death experience; the thought was of little comfort either way.
She slept for nearly 24 hours after her run in with the monster. Waking sore and stiff from having fallen asleep sitting up against the corner of the room. She took a quick bath and then used the water to water the plants. The terror clung to her, making her perpetually uncomfortable. She looked through the trees and bushes in almost any direction she could see.
Nothing.
She swallowed the bile threatening to spill from her. She harvested some of the herbs before walking back into the house, again, closing everything quietly, removing her shoes to walk quietly through the house.
Lucifer watched her as she looked through the trees, trying to find whatever it was she was sensing. Her instincts were good, despite the miscalculation on her part with the humans she ran across a day before. She smelled clean, unlike most of those he and his brothers were dispatching without mercy. The calm way she harvested the herbs made him pause. Her care, in an unconscious, yet reverent way she took, as if considerate of causing the plant any damage. Who was she, and why did his Father leave her behind?
In the moment when she unknowingly met eyes with him, he learned what he needed to know. No cruelty, no envy, no greed. Why was she left around with those bound for Hell? It made little sense, with nothing better to do, he decided to find out. Yes, culling the remaining humans was entertaining enough; psychologically destroying them? That was better.
His mind made, plan in hand, he left as noiselessly as he arrived.
It took Rosa another day to gather enough courage to go back out to scavenge. There was no way around it. She had to brave this now, or she may very well condemn herself never to leave the confines of the house. Her fear consumed her, she needed to overcome it if she were to live. Rosa looked to the sketch of the Manticore she drew out in a desperate attempt to get it out of her mind; it did not help. She walked over to the plain paged journal, closed it, picked it up and set it in a drawer in her kitchen.
Rosa stepped out into the cloudy morning, the air cool, a little damp, but otherwise pleasant. It was good start, Rosa told herself. She made her way down the drive toward the main road, again, alert, and as quiet as she could make her steps.
Rosa walked down the street, opting to go in the opposite direction she took the last time. She found a couple of houses, they seemed not to be touched by looters. Rosa thought it strange, but she wasn’t about to question her luck. She took only what she needed, opting to fill her messenger bag with bare necessities in case there was a need for her to run. She stepped out of the first house and made her way to the second, which was across the street.
She walked into the front door, and into the living room, to see the open concept sunken living room open to a large kitchen with an island. She then noticed a man come to his feet. Rosa froze. He turned to her slowly and froze himself. His long black hair was braided back over his shoulder. He was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt, a turtleneck, and black pants from what she could see, as he was very tall.
Rosa was prepared to run out of the house. After the incident, a few days before and others before that; she didn’t trust lone men. His eyes were a dark, much browner than hers, at least that’s what she figured from the distance between them.
“Hello,” said he in a deeply masculine voice. Everything inside her pushed her to flee. He was pale, she didn’t think him native to Los Angeles with his lack of tan. He could be a traveler, which was more reason to flee.
At her lack of response, the man seemed to observe her a moment longer before saying, “There is plenty more here if you wish it.”
Rosa snapped out of whatever emotion kept her from moving, “No, you should take it,” she said quietly before turning to retrace her steps out of the house.
She felt the beat of her heart acutely as she opened the door and stepped outside. Rosa made her way from the house as quickly as she could without outright running. She needed to leave the area so that if he walked out to follow her; he would not know which direction she took. Out of sight from the house, she cut through the forested paths locals knew, from the amount of cleared vegetation, but would not be visible to a newcomer.
She walked down the path until she came across another street. This too had a few houses she could try. Rosa was still short a couple of items, promising herself to return to her house as soon as she found them. With luck, she came across the last two items in the first house. Her relief was palpable as she stepped out of the house and was ready to make her way back home.
She walked down the drive, a languid sense of relief filling her, knowing she wouldn’t have to expose herself much longer. That’s when she heard a male yell out, and noticed it was the same man she’d seen in the house down the other street. He was now bleeding; she could see that plainly. It was on his face and hands as he ran out of the line of trees, the path she took clearly known to him.
Rosa had no time to ask what was wrong, the blood and sweat from his obvious struggle triggered her need to flee as well. That’s when what appeared to the same Manticore she fled from, and now, what appeared to be a Chimera were chasing him.
“Oh God!” she gasped in horror as the man took her hand as he ran past her, pulling her with him.
“What did you do?!” she demanded of him as she ran to keep up with his far longer legs.
“Oh, we should stop and ask, that’s an excellent idea!” he snapped, “Is there any place to hide!”
Rosa snapped, “I couldn’t die in the fucking plague, no, no, I have to fucking die in a game of Goddamned Jumanji!” she was near hysterics, her nihilism dressing itself in humor knowing full well she may not live through this encounter.
“House, do you have one, woman!” the man demanded again.
“Oh, that’s a great fucking plan, let’s just lead them there so the knew where to get their next takeout meal!” she screamed.
Rosa could swear she heard something akin to laughter from the beasts and that horrified her all the more. “They can understand us?! Fuck me!” she cried as she was pulled off the asphalt road onto another dirt path into the trees.
“Go down that way,” she breathed, motioning to her right, as the path forked. Rosa heard the snap of branches and fall of trees behind her. The Manticore and Chimera were still behind them, Rosa wasn’t sure they would lose them, accepting they may end up being torn apart before they reached her house. They cleared the forest path, running on asphalt again, as they ran down the street where she initially came upon the Manticore.
“That way!” she pointed to her left, guiding him down her street. She heard wings, they were in the air, they were legitimately, fucked. There was no house that could withstand either beast.
She was getting out of breath, her strength was leaving her, he was better off leaving her behind. She would slow him down, Rosa accepted. “Go, just go, the house is down the way, I can’t run anymore, save yourself,” she panted out as she tried to pull her hand from his.
“Are you mental! They will eat you,” he replied incredulously.
“It’ll slow them down,” she breathed, the man cast her a look she didn’t quite understand. “Just go,” she whispered as she came to a stop pulling her hand free.
He turned to her, looking down at her, “Why did He leave you behind…”
“What-you know it doesn’t matter, just go!” she whispered, unshed tears in her eyes. “Trust me you don’t want the memory of watching them eat me…,” she said with a half laugh, with amusement she didn’t feel.
Rosa then frowned; the sound of wings was gone. She looked behind them, “The fuck?” she asked herself in astonishment. “Why?” she asked herself again.
They heard screams in the distance, “It appears they found a far more promising meal,” he said solemnly.
“I see,” she breathed out before she staggered on her feet, the adrenaline finally waning. She felt lightheaded, “I need to get back,” her eyes looked up to his again, finding them observing her with a hint of curiosity.
“I’ll be fine,” she said out of reflex. There really wasn’t a, ‘fine’ in a world where people were chased by beasts. Though she was alive, she supposed that was fine as fine would get. Her eyes then seemed to focus on his injuries again, “Shit, well, come on, you saved me so the least I could do is help you out,” she said with a solemn nod to him.
“I will be fine,” he said regally.
“Yeah, well, you can be fine while not bleeding too, so how about that? Come on, I don’t have the energy to argue this, if you don’t want to come along, I respect your decision,” Rosa said as she trudged down the road toward the house.
“I am hungry,” he said as he fell in step with her.
“Okay,” was her non-committal reply.
“What is your name?” he asked.
“Rosa, and yours?” she asked looking up at him as they walked.
“Lu,” he replied.
Rosa nodded as they made their way to her house and up the drive, as she opened the front door, he stopped her. “You do know, these beasts out here, are demons, do you not?”
Rosa frowned, “I…I didn’t know what they were specifically, I do know this was not a man made, apocalypse per say,” she admitted as she motioned him inside.
Lucifer noted she had not wards, nothing to protect the house. He sensed that at first, but now within her space, he realized she was sensitive to his kind, but not trained in warding them off. Whatever the girl was, she survived out of sheer luck or intelligence.
He watched her move around the kitchen which is where she led him. Her movements were certain, she did this before. She motioned for him to sit on her table. He did so, more out of curiosity. She walked over to him with a bundle of items. She set them out beside him before she said, “May I?” she motioned toward his face.
Belphegor, in his Chimera form had given him a good swipe across the jaw when he insisted, they injury him enough to make the act believable. Belphie was more than happy to fuck him up, biting him in the abdomen for good measure.
“Yes,” he answered softly. She washed her hands before walking over, the scent of the soap she used, something soft and floral tickled his nose. She touched his face gently, her eyes trained on the gashes. Lucifer knew they would heal quickly; they were simply there for her benefit.
As she cleaned his wounds, she remained silent, focused on her task. Lucifer observed her, studied her face. Her words telling him to flee and save herself; willing to sacrifice herself for him, though she did not know him. He knew human nature; he knew their propensity to save themselves at all cost. Her behavior did not make sense. Twice now, she tried to save someone of no benefit to her.
“Why would you sacrifice yourself to give me time to get away?” he asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
“What point is there for us both to die? Someone did the same for me once, I’ve been on borrowed time since,” she acknowledged, gently cleaning his wounds.
Her touch was light, soft, the kindest touch he has felt since he fell. He then focused on what she said, “Borrowed time?”
“A partner…he, he sacrificed himself so that I would live. I…I’ve been trying my best,” she offered in a defeated voice, just as she put antibiotic cream on the gashes.
“What is that?” he asked.
“It’s so you don’t get an infection,” she answered as she bandaged his neck and jaw. Her eyes moved to his, a small smile starting to form on her lips, her attempt to reassure him, Rosa supposed.
Something in his eyes, cut her smile short. “Where else did it get you?” she asked pulling away from him, feeling awkward again. There was an intensity in his eyes she didn’t know how to take.
He pulled his shirt off his body in a singular movement, making Rosa gasp as she saw the bite mark. “The fuck did it do, just took a sample in case he didn’t like how you tasted?!” she exclaimed.
Lucifer laughed.
“This isn’t funny!” she gasped in horror as she began to clean the wound as quickly as she could clicking her tongue. “You should have told me it bit you!” she chastised him.
Lucifer smirked, “I do not recall you giving me time.”
“At any given point, you could say, ‘oh, by the way, person I just met, I was bitten…’ and I would have worked on that first,” she sassed.
“You are doing it now, it is all that matters, is it not?” he asked with a smirk.
Rosa shook her head, “I do not understand how you can sit there smirking, when whatever the fuck bit you, is out there, probably savoring the fact that it got a bite at you.”
“Of that, I have no doubt,” he muttered with hint of amusement.
She finished cleaning the wounds, before wrapping his torso in gauze after treating it as well. She noted his hair was covered in blood, she shook her head, “I’ll help you wash your hair if you’d like?” she asked politely while motioning to his hair.
Lucifer shook his head, “I can do that myself,” she nodded with a smile and showed him the way to the bathroom. She gave him everything he would need before telling him she would be going back to the kitchen to cook.
He nodded as she closed the door behind her, leaving him alone in the lavish bathroom. He could tell this was not her home, though, he did not fail to note how neatly she packed everything she used. As if not to inconvenience anyone else, but she was the only person in the house, prior to his arrival. It dawned on him, after her acceptance of what she considered, ‘borrowed time’, she was simply leaving the house ready for the next person to take up residence once she died.
He looked in the mirror, why would He leave her down here. He knew her mind well enough now, even used her touch to understand her motives. Certainly, she sinned, but it was nothing like those left behind, those he relished ripping apart. It didn’t make any sense. He growled quietly; it didn’t matter. He would break her as he planned before letting his brother have her. She was an amusement to break about the ennui of their everyday hunts.
Rosa wasn’t sure what to think of him, though she had to admit, his physique was fantastic. She did not allow herself to dwell on that while she was tending to him; though his wounds were enough to quell any admiration of his beauty. Beautiful he was, she admitted to herself freely. She found some grated parmesan cheese, it was apparently still good, and that, she was grateful for. She found some black beans and a bag of basmati rice, so she was pleased. The beans soaked since the night before, so she knew they were ready to cook.
She was buttering the basmati rice as he stepped back into the kitchen, still shirtless. His shirt was in her wash bin, she would take care of that after they ate. “It’s almost done,” she said kindly motioning for him to take a seat at the dining table.
Lucifer observed as she poured food into bowls and brought them over to him before going back and getting her own food, along with a few other items. She motioned for him to eat as she took her seat across from him. He wanted to ask what it was, but he couldn’t very well do so should it be a common dish with humans. He took a tentative bite, it tasted good. She was adding different items to hers. At noticing his interest, she began to describe what she was adding.
He spoke with her about her past, the family she lost, though her answers were polite and to the point, well-rehearsed from what Lucifer understood. She did not ask too many questions of him. Simple family inquiries if he traveled. He confirmed he had family, confirmed they traveled. Confirmed he was apart from them and would look to find them as soon as he could. No outright lies, he didn’t need to when took what he said as the truth.
He wondered why she was gullible. He came to the realization quickly enough. She did not spend much time with people. It was perhaps the need to fight off the loneliness that seemed to consumed humans seeing safety where she should see none.
After eating she took up his plates and walked over to wash them, a fast, efficient job before she turned to what he figured was her soiled clothing, now containing his own. She did not speak much.
Rosa noticed her silence and said, “I apologize, I…I learned to keep quiet, their hearing is remarkable and I try not to make unnecessary noise,” she acknowledged with a nod before she made her way out toward what she called the laundry room. There were washing machines available, she informed him, but she did not run them because of the noise and power usage. She used a washboard to wash the clothes.
He walked out into the greenhouse, noting the condition of the plants, what it is she kept, she was a skilled gardener. Lucifer looked back to her to see her scrubbing away at his clothing. He could sense his brothers close by, waiting for his permission to fall upon her. It was far too soon, he told himself. He would wait until nightfall.
Rosa knew she was being stared at, she refused to look up. Rosa knew she made a mistake somewhere; something was off. Her instincts were telling her not to trust him. She argued if he was interested in harming her, he had plenty of opportunity. What if he was toying with her, her mind screamed. Rosa didn’t understand that, especially when he could have left her to the demons.
She began wringing out their clothes putting it in a basket before walking out into the greenhouse where she had some rope set up to dry her clothing on. Lucifer watched her work before asking, “Was…this partner of yours a mate?” he asked, trying to ease her nerves. He could sense her fear. Her instinct was kicking in, and it did not trust him; he inwardly scoffed, it was far too late for such warnings.
“Yes, I suppose he was,” was her simple answer. “I keep odd hours, so I sleep at odd times, Also, after that scare, I am going to take a bath and then sleep some,” she announced before she picked up her empty clothes basket and walked back into the main house.
Lucifer stared after her as she disappeared further into the house. He walked back inside the house, hearing the water in the bathroom run. He noiselessly made his way through the house, looking at her belongings, nothing caught his eye. It seemed she kept little to no personal items. Something unlike the humans he broke before her.
Rosa’s nerves calmed as she bathed in the hot water, she wouldn’t soak for long, she would need to use the water to water the plants on the other side of the house. Her mind eased, relaxed, for one of the few moments she was allowed during the day. Immediately, her mind strayed to Lu. He couldn’t be short than 6’7”, she knew this. It was rare for her to come across men taller than she. His hair loose the way it was when he’d stepped out of the bathroom, shirtless as he was to boot, she didn’t know how she’d kept from staring. Rosa figured her fear was what did it.
She wanted, desperately wanted someone to trust again. Rosa knew she wouldn’t have it. Something about him was off, if she learned nothing else from the end of the world; it was to trust her instincts. Forgetting about how attractive she found him, she began to bathe, trying to wash away the ever-present terror from her skin.
Rosa stepped out of the bathroom, to see him sitting outside smoking a cigarette. She thought nothing of it, walking over to the small set of drawers she used as a dresser. Kneeling before the small set of drawers, she removed a brush and began to run it through her hair gently. She heard the main door open, heard his steps make their way toward her. She thought nothing of it as she brushed her hair. Rosa took in a breath to ask him a question before he kneeled behind her.
Lucifer noted her posture stiffened as he knelt behind her. He extended his right hand asking for the brush without a word. She hesitated for a second before handing the brush to him tentatively. He ran the brush through her hair, as gently as he studied her doing so. “You keep everything packed away and labeled, you live by yourself, why would you do this?” he asked as he brushed through her waist length hair.
“When I die, I want whoever finds this place can go about it with ease,” she whispered.
Lucifer stilled the brush in her hair. “You have accepted this, have you?” his tone was solemn. Before he continued to brush her hair.
“Yes, I know...,” she swallowed before continuing, “I know they are aware of where I live now. My days are numbered, and though,” her voice cracked some, though she cleared it, before continuing, “Though I am frightened, there are still some things I can control. This is one of them. I just hope…they kill me quickly, though, I sincerely doubt I’ll be granted such mercy.”
“Why do you think that?” he asked as he set the brush on the floor.
“I mean, I must have done something wrong…something terrible to be left here, right? I have tried to think of what that could be, I sincerely have, but, I must deserve it,” she said as she nodded to him in thanks over her shoulder before she took her hair and began to braid it.
He watched her as she came to her feet, “Thank you,” she said quietly before going over to a corner where she seemed to keep her bedding and began to make her bed. She didn’t look to him as she did this, though she did glance up, “You can sleep here, I’ll make my own in that other corner, I find I can’t sleep, without my back to a wall,” she admitted not meeting his eyes as she did so.
He nodded as she proceeded to do just as she said. She closed her eyes shortly after getting comfortable in her little bed, curling up into herself, falling asleep from what he figured was mental exhaustion. Lucifer waited to make certain she was asleep before coming to his feet and walking noiselessly out of the room.
He spent his time in the greenhouse, seeing the instructions she painstakingly wrote out for all the plants. A complex set of feelings overcame him, one was frustration. Why was she among these heathens? Why was she left to fend for herself? He too, investigated her mind; he too saw nothing worthy of being left in hell on Earth. What was her purpose? Was she forgotten? Nightfall came before he knew it, he went in to check on her, she was fast asleep. He took up his shirt, it was dry now, and put it on before leaving the house altogether, walking toward his brothers’ location.
Rosa woke an hour after Lucifer departed, though she was unaware of it. She sat up, yawned, and looked around. Everything was where she left it, though she could see he had not slept. Rosa got out of her bed and walked over to the drawer with her journal. She took it out and with the pencil stuck in the book’s spine, she began to draw out the Chimera.
“What do you mean, we aren’t doing it?” asked Satan in exasperation.
“What language would you like me to speak so your plebian mind can understand?” snapped Lucifer.
“What changed your mind?” asked Asmodeus as he inspected his fingernails.
“I do not recall needing to explain myself to any of you,” he declared just as they heard Rosa scream.
“Do you have children in the area?” Lucifer demanded
“Of course, we do, we all do, what-if they took her what,” Belphegor did not get to finish before Lucifer let out a roar, transforming into his demon form. “Find her, unharmed, or I will have your hides!” Lucifer roared.
They transformed into their monstrous forms and took into the air and into the night, heading toward the sound of her screams. Lucifer transformed into a dragon, leaping into the air as well. She would be alive, she had to be.
Rosa did not have time to react after what seemed like a skinless dog broke through one of the windows and took her up in its giant maws. She screamed in horror, knowing full well nobody could save her. She did not move as she lay in his jaws. It was running down a forested path, she didn’t know in what direction. Rosa figured it didn’t matter anyway. She could hear running water, she figured it was one of the natural brooks.
She had a direction it was taking her, but it was pitch black out there, even the light of the moon did not make it through the dense forest. Before she had time to accept her fate, she heard several blood curdling roars. The beast holding her captive stopped in it tracks. She noticed a far more terrifying beast. It approached on all fours before coming up to his hind legs, it had an exposed monstrous skull, with a ribcage that was also exposed.
It motioned its head, and the beast holding her dropped her on the forest floor before taking off. Rosa curled up into herself after sitting up. She then noticed the Manticore, the Chimera, a Griffin, something that appeared to be a Fox, but as she noticed its many tails, she realized it was a Kitsune. She realized she was surrounded, she noticed what now realized was a Wendigo, was omitting a light, letting her see them all around her. She noticed a reptile like monster as well, it was observing her without moving, its long tail still around its many legs.
Rosa turned to look behind her, to see a pitch-black dragon, it’s massive feathered wings, four of them, were folded back as it observed her. His red eyes were on her, boring into her. Rosa wasn’t sure what they were waiting for. She was horrified, but she did not scream again.
The dragon stepped toward her; her breath caught in her throat. She whispered, “Please, make it fast,” it was the only words she found the strength to say. Rosa felt something soft brush against her back. She stiffened as she felt a couple of tails brush around her.
The dragon didn’t seem to appreciate this, it roared, making Rosa fall back as she attempted to crawl away from it. She noticed it was the Kitsune. It did not move from its spot. It appeared to have a conversation with the dragon. Rosa tried to move, but the dragon flicked a look at her, making her sit in place, before looking back to the Kitsune.
The Kitsune turned to her after the two beasts finished communicating if Rosa could consider it such. She looked to the Kitsune briefly before turning to the dragon who did not shift from its position.
The Kitsune changed before her eyes, turning into a bipedal creature before turning into a human looking being, with horns and four sets of bat-like wings, his clothes unlike anything she could imagine. His honey gold hair fell over one side of his face, his pale, smooth, gleaming skin stood out to her as well. He regarded her with amusement as she took in his appearance.
“Aren’t I the most beautiful demon you’ve ever seen?” he asked, his voice melodious, a simpering expression on his face.
Rosa wasn’t sure what to say, her fear kept her mute, the demon before her rolled his eyes and said, “Oh, come now, I’m not going to bite, honey…not yet,” he purred.
Rosa’s sharp intake of breath heard clearly in the silent forest. At Rosa’s continual silence, the demon before her sighed and said, “I am Asmodeus…Lord of Lust!” he said with a flourish, his hands moving gracefully as he posed for her.
Rosa looked around, assessing the situation quickly enough to realize who it was speaking, “You’re a Prince of Hell….”
Asmodeus looked pleased as he clapped his hands, “Yes, of course, you’d know of me!”
Before her, the monsters around her began to change, mutate into something else. Soon, most of them changed from their monstrous form into a horned demon like Asmodeus. The Manticore became a white-haired demon with a single set of bat-like wings. Beside him, the Wendigo turned into a green eyed, blond demon, his tail flicking impatiently behind him. Next to him, the Basilisk turned into a lavender haired demon who was staring at her intently. His tail, longer than the blonde’s, was still as if waiting for her to react. Beside him, the Griffin turned into an orange haired demon with fly-like wings. Beside him, the Chimera turned into a demon with ram-like horns and a bovine tail.
Her eyes turned to the Dragon, who did not shift. The dragon did not move but stared at her just as openly as she did it. Rosa’s eyes went back to Asmodeus who grinned at her. “You’re rather pretty.”
“Thank you?” she asked, unsure why such a thing mattered.
“Don’t you, think you’re pretty?” Asmodeus asked flirtatiously.
“Honestly, not at the forefront of my mind after being carted off by a demon, no,” Rosa said with a solemn expression.
Asmodeus extended a hand to her, Rosa assumed to help her to her feet. She extended a shaky hand, instincts telling her not to take it. She, figuring she was dead anyway, took it and came to her feet, noticing she was almost at eye level with him. He began to circle her, Rosa wasn’t sure what to make of it.
“You look like a fuckin’ vulture,” growled out the white-haired demon. Rosa glanced toward him. He gave her a smirk, “I’m Mammon, darlin’, you looked cute runnin’ from me.”
Rosa blinked before turning to the blonde beside Mammon who she caught rolling his eyes at Mammon’s words. At noticing her regard, the blonde said, “Satan.” He did not speak more than his name as her eyes turned to the lavender haired demon who narrowed his eyes at her.
“Name’s Leviathan,” he said curtly.
Her eyes went to the orange haired demon who solemnly stated, “Beelzebub, and this is Belphegor,” he motioned to the bovine tailed demon beside him. With brow furrowed she turned toward the Dragon. It was now gone, and in place was a raven winged demon.
“Lucifer,” Lu said solemnly as he looked upon her.
Scenting her fear was difficult. Hearing her ask for a fast death caused a flurry of emotions he did not expect. Watching her pale as she realized who he was, the horror as she realized who it was, she touched. He watched her grip her hands to her abdomen. Her expression should fill him with amusement.
He was not amused.
Rosa realized she led a demon into her home; they played her well. She did not see this coming; her instincts were right and disregarding them came with a steep price. She tried to swallow but found her mouth dry.
“Will I die now?” she asked quietly.
Asmodeus clucked his tongue and cheerfully declared, “What’s with this obsession with death, darling? You’re alive right now, doesn’t that count for anything?”
Rosa did not answer the question as she looked away from Lucifer to look to Asmodeus. Asmodeus stepped closer to her, she did not move this time, figuring no amount of distance would guarantee safety. “You’re not…reacting to my presence, that is, peculiar, do you have a demonic ancestor?” he asked with narrowed expression.
Rosa blinked and before she could stop the words spilling from her mouth, “Not something usually written in human birth certificates I’m afraid.”
Asmodeus smirked, “You have a quick mouth, tell me, now that you know that Lucifer was in that house with you, do you think we have any inclination to kill you quickly?” he asked, the feline smile gracing his face held an edge. Rosa’s blood ran cold.
“I suppose not,” she whispered, terror overcoming her once more. She paled further, her hands beginning to shake.
“She is going to faint,” said Satan with a clinical expression.
“No, she isn’t,” said Asmo just as Rosa dropped to the mossy forest floor.
Belphegor growled out in exasperation, “Are we done here? Let’s just kill her and get on with it. Yeah, she doesn’t have any of the others’ sins, but it doesn’t matter. She was left here and so she shall die.”
Beelzebub met eyes with Lucifer for a second before looking back at the woman, “If killing her is our decision, do it fast, do it now. I…don’t want to torture this one. She did help Lucifer; she didn’t have to. She didn’t have to help those kids, but she did. She’s scared, that’s obvious so she fought her baser instincts to do it. Here, I’ll do it, I’ll break her neck,” he supplied as he took a step toward her.
“Why would you sacrifice yourself to give me time to get away?” he asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
“What point is there for us both to die? Someone did the same for me once, I’ve been on borrowed time since,” she acknowledged, gently cleaning his wounds.
Her touch was light, soft, the kindest touch he felt since he fell. He then focused on what she said, “Borrowed time?”
“A partner…he, he sacrificed himself so that I would live. I…I’ve been trying my best,” she offered in a defeated voice, just as she put antibiotic cream on the gashes.
The conversation played in Lucifer’s mind. A quick death was a mercy to her. He could still feel the soft feel of her hands, taking care not to hurt him. Showing a kindness in a world where she knew there was none.
Beelzebub got to her picking her up by a shoulder he took her head and was about to snap it.
“Stop,” said Mammon coldly.
“What?” the others except Lucifer asked.
“Look, don’t get me wrong, I hate humans as much as the next demon, but, she…she really didn’t do anything wrong, what’s the harm in letting her live? She’ll die eventually, fuck, the humans will probably do it once they know she spoke to us,” supplied Mammon with his hands on his hips.
Satan frowned, “Your hot take is to let the humans kill her, humans who will not doubt violate her and give her a far more painful death than we? That’s…that’s your answer?”
Leviathan smirked, “Mammon wants a pet.”
Mammon growled at Leviathan, “Firstly, nah, I don’t like humans, not even that one. Secondly, I’d shut my pie hole, you have a damn goldfish as a pet because you-,” Leviathan cut him off.
“Because what, you, greedy piece of trash?!” Leviathan snapped at Mammon as he stalked over to stand before Mammon.
Lucifer motioned for Beelzebub to release Rosa, before turning to Mammon and Leviathan, “Must you?”
“Yes!” both demons shouted, not looking towards Lucifer.
Beelzebub released Rosa gently onto the forest floor just as she woke. Her eyes opened slowly; her gaze unfocused as she met his purple eyes. “Hi,” she whispered.
Beelzebub frowned some, sure now she was not aware of her surroundings, “Hello…”
“I died?” she asked in a whisper just as Lucifer made his way to her, his wings folded back and away to give him the space to crouch down to her.
“No,” Lucifer replied her glazed eyes meeting his red ones. Her expression remained serene, until her eyes focused. She sat up slowly, her fear once again permeated the air around her.
Rosa then heard arguing she turned slightly to see Leviathan and Mammon in each other’s face, shouting at each other. She turned back to Lucifer who was studying her once again, she wasn’t sure what he was thinking, she would not ask.
“You just want a woman who’ll pay attention to you!” laughed Leviathan in Mammon’s face.
Mammon laughed sarcastically, “While you wouldn’t know what to do with one if she was naked and, in your lap, weeb!”
Rosa frowned some but said nothing as she gained her bearings looking up to see Asmodeus observing her. “Let’s play a little game with her,” Asmodeus purred as he moved to take one of her hands.
Rosa could not vocalize a word, when they heard the voices of a group of people, at least that’s what she figured. The demons around her looked to one another, fading into the darkness leaving her sitting on the forest floor.
She knew they were not gone but figured coming to her feet would better serve her. The voices and flashlights were getting closer. Rosa noticed five lights just as she overheard their conversation.
“Yeah, they carted one off, I heard the screams, I mean, it was the female we were observing in that house,” said a male voice.
“We were planning on taking her tonight anyway, she had some bastard there with her, but he was nowhere to be found when that beast took her,” said another male voice.
“I bet I know why he was there; she had nobody else with her, not from what we observed, so no doubt she was getting some,” laughed a new male voice.
“She does have a nice body, apparently she’s been eating well,” said another, their tone suggestive.
Rosa knew she was very much in danger. She would die one way or another. The only option left to her is deciding when and how. The lights fell on her then, and Rosa narrowed her eyes to block out the blinding light.
“Dude, she’s alive!” one voice declared as they moved toward her.
“It could be a trap,” said a voice she had yet to hear.
“They’re not that smart,” said another.
Rosa scoffed some, they didn’t know it was too late already. She was a ghost, there was nothing left to lose. They approached her, stopping some six feet from her, except for one, who came toward her.
“Hello, we figured someone was taken tonight, we heard your scream…” he began, his tone placating.
Sarcasm bubbled inside her chest again, but she didn’t want to give away how much of their conversation she overheard. “Yes, I’m…I was set down here,” she admitted. She wasn’t sure how well they could tell lies, and sticking to the truth as much as possible, was her best bet.
“You seem relatively unharmed, these creatures are ruthless but baser beings,” he said as he came to stand a couple of feet from her.
Rosa laughed humorlessly, lacking the energy to explain, lacking the patience. She noticed now he had a couple of guns, and a knife in his boot. Hector taught her to notice those things. He taught her enough CQC to get her out of tight situations. At least, with humans. Hector’s time in the service is what kept them alive for as long as he lived. His instruction was priceless, and other than survival, Rosa up until that moment had no reason to employ it.
“Do you have family waiting for you?” he asked.
Rosa knew why he was asking, especially because she knew he was aware she was on her own. Her answer did not come quick enough, so one of the other men said, “She’s probably in shock, we should just take her back with us.”
“That’s a great idea, what do you say, err, I’m sorry what’s your name?” the man before her asked.
“Rosa,” she answered simply, before replying, “I can find my way back, I can navigate using the stars, thank you for your concern. I could use a flashlight though,” she hedged. Rosa wanted to see how they would react being denied.
“No, no, we insist,” said the man before her.
“No, I’m good, thanks,” she replied calmly. She couldn’t see his eyes clearly, but his body language told her enough. He did not like being challenged.
“Look, Rosa, you’re not safe on your own,” he informed her, as if she were a child.
“I have lived in the same world as you, sir, I assure you, numbers mean nothing. I’m as safe with you as I am on my own,” she replied sagely.
“You’re coming with us,” he said taking one of her arms.
Rosa frowned pulling away from him, “Fuck off,” she snapped.
He took her up by an arm, “Well, we tried this the nice way,” he growled.
Rosa punched him in the throat fast enough for him to be caught by surprise as he doubled over, she took one of his side arms, flip the safety and aimed at the nearest light. She heard them scramble, but she was already aiming before they could fire a shot at her. She shot toward the lights, noting they were too surprised by her actions to drop them so she couldn’t see them.
Rosa fired four shots, watching as the lights dropped, illuminating them enough for Rosa to shoot them dead. In her need to kill the others, she forgot about the man before her. He knocked her off her feet, the gun flying out of hands. Rosa then noticed his hair was obscured by a hat, she couldn’t even really tell his eye color or skin tone; not that it mattered.
“You little bitch!” he growled.
Rosa fought him as much as she could, though she could not overpower him. “Fuck you!” she snapped.
“I’m going to make you hurt before we kill you, I can promise you that,” he whispered harshly.
“Desgraciado, I’m already dead….,” she laughed. His confusion registering just as he heard the growling around him.
“What the-,” he muttered as he looked around him, as the darkness seemed to melt away to reveal beasts so large and fierce in size, they dwarfed him.
Rosa watched him swallow in fear, she used that moment to push back away from him. He looked to her, “You…you were working with them.”
“No, they just found me before you,” she whispered. She was not saved, she accepted that. He would find no comfort in her, that was the least she owed herself.
Rosa looked to see the Manticore and Chimera were ready to pounce. She was dead, she knew this. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see as they jumped to attack her.
Lucifer, still in his dragon form, picked her up with a clawed hand. Looking to the others as he gave them the telepathic command to find the human’s camp and cull them all. Their feral trills greeted him as he took to the air, Rosa in his claws.
“Oh fuck, oh fuck!” she gasped, she was airborne, she was in the dragon’s paws. She was in Lucifer’s claws. Rosa wasn’t certain what to do, perhaps a fall to her death would be less traumatic. He landed almost as quickly as he took up into the air. She noticed they were in the street before her house. Before her mind could understand it, he changed into his demonic form. His wings moving back and folding neatly.
Rosa was cradled in his arms; she didn’t know what horrors he planned for her. “I…I guess you’ll do it?” she whispered her question.
“Where is the woman who fought those humans?” he asked point blank.
“I cannot fight you,” came her plain, honest reply.
“So you give in?” he queried further.
“What point is there? If you’re all going to kill me, I would rather you all just did it, I don’t understand what I did wrong, I wasn’t cruel was I?” she asked, a pained expression in her eyes.
Lucifer began walking to her house, with her still in his arms. Rosa realized he wasn’t going to answer her. She figured it didn’t matter how she behaved with him; his entrance into her life was simply the beginning of the end for her. She didn’t have to wrong him; the decision was already made. Rosa figured she could die with dignity and not beg for a life they would never grant her.
Lucifer walked into the house. Noting the broken glass, from earlier that night. He walked around it and set her down in the windowless room. “Stay put, do you understand?” he commanded. At her quick, fear laced nod he walked back toward the glass in the next room and with a deft hand movement, he used magic to place the glass shards back into place on the window frame. With his magic, he fixed the glass, making it whole again. With that taken care of, he made his way out of the house, vanishing his wings and horns as he walked back down the lane toward the main street.
Beelzebub, Mammon, Belphegor landed and began to change into their human-like form. Satan, Leviathan and Asmodeus walked out of the nearest thicket of trees having shifted into their human-like forms as well.
“Now what?” groused Belphegor.
“We go inside, she made food, Beel,” Lucifer stated.
“We’re not killing her?” groused Belphegor.
Satan rolled his eyes, “Obviously not, Lucifer went well out of his way to remove her from danger,” he added with a huff.
“She, can cook? I’m hungry,” lamented Beelzebub.
“Yes, but she has no meat, if you want her to cook that, you will have to go hunt,” said Lucifer as he motioned for them to follow him to the house.
Rosa collapsed onto her bed. The adrenaline ebbed, making her tired once more. She closed her eyes as he left the house. Her energy drained away and before she knew it, she felt the haze of sleep overcome her.
Lucifer walked into the house, Beelzebub took to the air, he would hunt, he promised. He was hungry and the promise of a cooked meal was worth the effort, Beel stated. The others walked in behind him, walking around the house immediately. Looking for a spot to take up residence. Lucifer made his way to her room. He walked in, noticed she was fast asleep on her bed.
Satan walked in after him. “She keeps a neat house despite the circumstances, she’s asleep. I thought she was scared witless?”
“Humans react to traumatic circumstances differently. She is out for the rest of the night and probably most of tomorrow,” Lucifer informed Satan.
“Why are we here, Lucifer?” Satan asked outright, his tone relatively quiet.
Lucifer had no ready answer. It simply was what it was, and it would continue to be what he willed it. “Why did He leave her behind…,” he found himself musing aloud.
“What does it matter? The good souls went to the Celestial Realm, the rest are ours to do what we will with them because of their past…indiscretions, why, are you so taken with this one?” Satan demanded again.
“She would have died to keep me alive…”
“She has accepted death, she no doubt did it because she was done fighting,” Satan countered without missing a beat.
Lucifer let out a frustration laced sigh before he cast a glance over his shoulder, giving Satan a peeved looked.
“If you desire her, just say so, fuck,” Satan deadpanned before turning on his heel and walking out of the room.
Lucifer glared at Satan’s retreating form, a bark of fury bubbling in his chest, ready to deny the baseless accusation.
Lucifer swallowed it down, he was no liar.
He turned back to Rosa’s sleeping form, noting the dark circles under her eyes, looking far more like bruises tonight than they did the day prior when he first met her.
The being she became the moment those humans fell upon her was a thing of beauty. Even in the dark, when they were ready to intervene; she saved herself, a confidence he gleaned briefly as he pretended to run from Mammon.
Rosa’s movements from her makeshift bed brought him out of his musings. He remained by the door to the windowless room. He figured the few feet between them would make her feel secure enough to talk to him.
Rosa slowly came to, her mind refusing to let go of what little sleep she took. She could hear hushed voices a few rooms away. Rosa frowned. Did someone find her? Was she alive? How did she escape? Her mind was a muddle of fear, relief, apprehension, and acceptance.
A few seconds later, her reality became profoundly clear as her eyes focused on the infinitely beautiful face looking upon her from his spot by the bedroom door.
Rosa sat up slowly, her eyes not straying from his. She didn’t know what to say, didn’t know what he wanted from her. The dread came back twofold. He was back to looking human, at least, almost human. His eyes were a bold red.
“What happens now?” she whispered so faintly; Lucifer would have missed her question altogether were it not for his heightened hearing.
Lucifer watched as she made herself as small as possible bringing her knees up close to her chest. Her eyes did not stray from his. He was sure it was fear keeping her from looking away. He could see it; he tasted it in the air around them.
“One of my brothers went out to hunt, he is famished. You will cook for him,” Lucifer declared. His seemingly relaxed posture did little to ease her discomfort at his words.
Rosa nodded, “Um, err, okay, I mean, I don’t know if I can process anything he catches, I know how to do small things like chickens and fish, but, but not anything bigger,” she murmurs as she hold her hands together around her legs, locking them close to her chest as she peered up at Lucifer who took a couple of steps into the room.
“He can do it. I will say this will not wane their desire to see you dead,” Lucifer added, a part of him wishing to see how she took the information, while other wondered why he would taunt her with the information at all. He knew Rosa was aware of her predicament. He was growing increasingly less inclined to see her meet her end.
Rosa took in a breath at his words, she closed her eyes for a moment, willing the urge to panic to still. Inside her, every instinct cried for her to protest, to demand, she pursed her lips to keep the thoughts from spilling forth.
What could she do to get out of this?
She was living on borrowed time, in hell on Earth. The sins of the many, a collective noose around them all. Her personal resume of decency meant little to them, the rules went beyond them, from what she remembered of such world ending stories.
He could no more help being a demon and seeking to do what he was destined to do; than she could from meeting her end at his hands. Even if she were to run, to escape, her days were numbered. They knew where she lived, where she was familiar, her scent, there was no point in struggling against the death sentence heralded by their appearance.
She opened her eyes again, letting out a nervous breath. She opened her eyes and tipped her face back up to look up at him only to find him crouched before her, his face less than a foot away from her own.
Rosa’s breath caught, she gulped back her startled cry rapidly. If she weren’t already clinging to herself, she would have shuddered and cowed further.
Lucifer watched as fear and dread overcame her face once more. A cry of alarm swallowed back as quickly as it came up. “You are one of the few who does not bargain with me; rather, attempt to weasel their way out of their fate. You have accepted your death, and though I am sure you find some sense of control in that, I do not feel inclined to let you keep it. You will die, but you will not be forewarned, Rosa,” his voice was cold and unfeeling, he knew this.
She gave a small nod of acknowledgement as she looked away from him, the dark circles under her eyes becoming far more pronounced. “I understand,” was her solemn reply.
He frowned some, “I suppose you regret saving my life now, hm?” he asked as he came to his feet.
Rosa sighed out as she slowly came to her feet before him. Looking up at his face she shook her head lightly, “I mean, if you’re here, you’re not out killing someone else, right?” she commented with a calm Rosa did not know she possessed when talking to Archdemons.
Lucifer raised a brow, “An interesting take.” He looked back toward the hallway.
“He has arrived, you may precede me,” he added with a smile too charming to be real for the likes of her.
Rosa nodded as she cautiously walked around him, before walking out toward the backyard, opening the door to see the others sitting at various chairs, some smoking, some reading, and others doing all three. All except for demon with the fly-like wings. Beelzebub was his name she mused to herself. Upon seeing his wings, she realized the others also took on their human form, much like Lucifer whose presence she felt acutely. He was standing a couple of feet behind her, but the heat radiating from him she could sense from where she stood.
Those sitting observed her as she approached Beelzebub who looked to have caught a pig. Rosa, frowned, the confusion obvious. Pigs all but died during the plague, or so she was told.
“Where did you find that?” she queried without thinking, Beelzebub observing her, concluding she wasn’t being impertinent he replied, “It seemed to have escaped the plague ending most of his kind. Much like you,” he added, his gaze still on her.
Rosa nodded, “I suppose so, okay, well, since you’ve managed to gut it and take care most of the other work, I can do the rest, but you’ll need to put it on the kitchen table,” she mused more to herself than any of them.
Beelzebub gave her a singular nod she noticed only because she focused long enough to see it before he picked it up with ease, walking past her and Lucifer and headed inside.
Rosa figured carving up the pig would be a reprieve from being so openly observed, she turned to follow Beelzebub inside only to be met with Lucifer who was far closer to her than she anticipated.
“So, Rosa, is it? Yes, well, doesn’t matter, how did your partner die?” Satan enquired; his tone droll as he looked up from a book, she figured he took up from the living room.
Rosa blinked, not expecting the query, “Err, well, we came upon, I suppose is one of your, minions?” she asked more for clarification.
Satan nodded, “Their true name would be unpronounceable to your kind, so yes…continue.”
“Yes, we came across one, it spotted us, he made the choice to lead it away from me, thus I ended up here,” she said simply, the story so well-rehearsed in her head, she thought little of it.
“Rather cold a story for someone you were with,” observed Asmodeus with a tilt of his head and a smile on his glossed lips. His amusement ended on his lips, his honeyed eyes were cold, assessing.
“We were thrown together through circumstance, we stayed together because, I don’t know, trauma bond, and well, we survived. What we had can hardly be called a relationship,” she explained, making the smile drop from Asmodeus’ Cheshire lips.
“You stayed with him to survive, my, that is cold,” Asmodeus chuckled.
Rosa kept her fast retort to herself, willing them believe what they wanted of her. At her silence, Asmodeus stopped his tittering. “What happened to your family?”
“People happened,” she replied solemnly.
“I see, so they turned on you as well, yet here you are, being kind to our dear Lucifer, even though you didn’t know him from a hole in the ground,” Asmodeus mused.
Unwarranted, albeit perverse amusement erupted from within her and before she could catch the words she said, “…an attractive one, I suppose,” came her dry reply, making Asmodeus chuckle again.
“You are not wrong, Rosa…yet, you didn’t flirt with him, seems like a wasted opportunity if you ask me,” Asmodeus mused looking at Lucifer who was looking daggers at him.
“Nobody inquired,” Lucifer snapped.
“Touchy, hm, well, you best get to work, Rosa,” said Asmodeus with a flip of his hair, “Else we wonder why you are still alive.”
“I am wondering it now,” bit out Belphegor who caught Rosa’s eyes and held them.
Rosa’s breath caught at the sheer hate within them. Whatever it was causing the volatile emotions within the demon toward her; she did not care to invoke further. Without another word, she went to move past Lucifer, her right hand brushed against his, and though his hands were now gloved, she felt a bolt of electric-like power course through her.
Lucifer’s brothers’ incessant and aggravating questions did not seem to shake Rosa, until Asmodeus made a comment about his physical appearance. He was about to silence him when Rosa agreed with Asmodeus with a dry remark. Rendered speechless he watched as what little amusement lay in her eyes died when Asmodeus all but dismissed her, and Belphegor snapped out his question.
Lucifer watched as her body language accepted there was no winning this conversation and opted to retreat. As she passed by him, his fingers touched hers, purely by accident. He felt her touch erupt in a cacophony of sensations stemming from his right hand, up to his body. It was not, he realized, an unpleasant sensation. If she felt it as well, he did not notice, at least not before she went out his sight. The backdoor to the house closed behind her, his attention back on Belphegor whose fury he could feel.
“Go to the nearest camp sight, cull everyone,” Lucifer commanded of Belphegor.
Belphegor frowned, caught off-guard by Lucifer’s instruction. “What, why?”
“You want your pound of flesh, go seek it out, I do not recall stopping you from continuing our work, Belphie. If you are this aggravated about the current situation, a situation I remind you, I have decided upon, and do not require your approval to carry out; you may leave. We can meet further down the coastline,” he added, his tone broaching no argument, though Lucifer was certain Belphegor would argue, nonetheless.
“Is she that important to you or are you that hard up?” asked Belphegor with a raise of a brow.
Mammon covered his face and groaned, “For fuck’s sake, can you shut the fuck up! I don’t care if he’s waitin’ on her to ride him until she can’t walk, I could use a shower and some food, and so I’ll have it, if you wanna bitch, Belphie, fuck all the way off with the damn questions! Yes, we know, you hate all humans, fuck, as if we aren’t all aware of this. Fuck, Lu, can you believe this shit?” he grumbled as he kicked off his feet from a tree stump where he’d propped them up from his seat in a lounge chair.
He walked behind Lucifer and into the house, closing the door behind him.
Lucifer’s eyes did not stray from Belphegor during Mammon’s tirade. “Staying?”
“Yes,” Belphegor grumbled before sitting back in his lawn chair and looking away.
Hours after they ate, Rosa found herself in her room again, on her bed, sketchbook in hand, copying with the situation by drawing. It helped to focus her mind on something other than the situation she could not help, or face, if she were honest with herself.
An hour after they supped, she heard commotion outside, heard a some farewells and then far more subdued conversation. Rosa figured some of them left, too scared to peer out and find out who; she remained in her room, hoping they ignored her.
Now well into her third illustration, she looked up to notice her door, previous shut, was now open. Nobody else was in the room with her, a frown gracing her face before she could school her expression.
Rosa figured they wanted to leave the door open so they could keep watch over her. Though, she wasn’t certain what good it would do, the room had only one way in and one way out. There was no where for her to run.
She closed her book, putting it away just as Lucifer walked into her bedroom, topless and drying out his hair with her towel. She took in a long steadying breath before he noticed her observing him.
Lucifer set the towel aside to notice Rosa looking upon him with surprise. “What?”
“I wasn’t expecting you,” Rosa replied dumbly.
His smirk began slowly, and settled on his face, the full force of it winding her. It wasn’t his smile, but the lack of any ironic expression in his eyes, or sarcastic tilt of body.
“Where else would I sleep?” he queried as he made his way to her, more out of perverse satisfaction as he watched her fumble with her reaction to him. Attracted she was, through the haze of distrust and grip of fear, desire lay in wait. He wondered what it would take, he acknowledged he was curious, at least to himself.
Rosa didn’t know what to do with his proximity when he looked at her like that. Whether it was basic need, or her growing psychosis, her money was on both; she found him attractive. She dared not allow her mind travel down that path any further.
“Would you brush my hair?” he asked of her, after waiting a few moments for her to collect herself.
Rosa blinked, “Um, me? Are you sure? I…”
He leaned in, “I brushed yours, did I not?”
Rosa nodded once, “You did,” she whispered looking from his eyes to his hair, then back to his eyes, before settling on his lips.
Lucifer purred at her, and with satisfaction heard her swift, stuttered intake of breath that followed.
Rosa’s face flooded with heat, as she cleared her voice and said, “I, err, need to get the brush.”
“Where is it?” he asked, his eyes still trained on hers.
“In, the, err, little set of drawers behind you to the right,” she murmured.
He took his eyes off her long enough to try the first set of drawers, coming upon what looked like a sketchbook.
“Um, that’s not, it’s the other set of drawers,” Rosa quietly directed, trying her best to conceal the dread overcoming her. She didn’t want him to look. She should have come to her feet and gotten the brush herself.
“What is this?” Lucifer asked as he took up the sketchbook and without waiting for her reply he opened it. He stilled as he noticed it was drawings. Illustrations in pencil of children, children who looked remarkably like her, pages of them, parents from the looks of it, dated, and then, dates after what seemed the end of her world. Drawings of some landscapes followed, a drawing of a man, he concluded it may have been Hector. Her illustrations though clearly conveying a closeness, lacked the love found in the previous images of her family.
Rosa watched as he flipped through the pages, she looked away when he came upon her work on Hector. It was true, they stuck together because of trauma, and countless other close calls where they came to terms with their reality. They couldn’t trust anyone else. It wasn’t love, per say, but she had cared for him, and had cried in the days after his death.
She looked back to see he’d come to a halt at the illustration of the Manticore.
“You captured him perfectly,” Lucifer replied as he looked back to her.
“Especially as this was your first meeting,” he mused before looking back to the book. “You may take up the brush and brush my hair as I look,” he commanded so confidently, Rosa wondered if he ever considered being told no.
As it was, she wasn’t about to deny him. It gave her something to do rather than sitting and fidgeting through his looking through what she felt was her soul. She poured herself into a singular volume of pages, hoping her essence would remain in it, as if dropping it into a vault for safe keeping as she traversed a world meant to destroy everything inside her.
Rosa took up the brush from the set of drawers she placed it in and began to slowly brush through his hair. Parting it, sectioning it off to take on the task so she wouldn’t pull on him as she worked her way through.
He paid her no heed as he continued his perusal.
Lucifer felt her begin, and it took everything in him not to purr out from how gently she was working. Her touch so light, he knew she avoided touching him, out of fear. She remained silent as she worked, he eventually came to a stop at the first illustration of him.
The first sketch was of how he appeared to her when they first met in the abandoned house prior to being chased by Mammon and Belphegor.
The next was of his face as he seemed to flick his hair back with a careless ease, at least, that was how she illustrated him.
Rosa looked toward the sketchbook absentmindedly just as he came upon the pieces, she drew of him. She felt the dread overtake again. Her face once again flushed with heat.
Lucifer felt her finish his hair and heard her set the brush aside. “Done,” she whispered as she went to move back to her bed.
Lucifer took in a breath at her illustration of him in his dragon form. “I want this.”
“You can’t have it,” she replied quietly.
Lucifer expression was incredulous as he asked, “What?”
“You can’t have it, it’s mine, I drew it,” she said simply
“It’s of me,” he snapped.
“Yes, after you scared the living daylights out of me, so it’s mine,” she replied coldly.
He blinked but recovered in a fragment of a second. “Is this all it took to get that spirit back?”
“Fuck around and find out,” she growled as she snatched her sketchbook out of his hands before he realized what she was doing.
“Return it to me.” He commanded sternly.
“No,” she bit out.
“They are just illustrations,” he said with a roll of his eyes.
“If they’re just, anything, why are you so pressed about having them?” she countered.
“I’ll take it,” he spat out as he leaned closer to her.
“I’ll tangle your fucking hair,” she bit out once more, not flinching away from his proximity.
“What sad excuse for a deterrent is that supposed to be, Rosa?” he mocked.
“Now you realize how fucking stupid you sound asking for a dead woman’s illustrations,” she replied acerbically.
“You are trying my patience,” he growled, the sound coming from deep within him.
“Too bad,” she said with a smirk as she moved to sit on her sketchbook.
Lucifer lifting his right hand, and with a casual flick of his index finger, her door closed and locked.
Oh, I fucked up, Rosa declared to herself, realizing she was now locked in with him. No, she wouldn’t budge from this, if she were locked in with him, so was he, locked in with her.
“I’m not giving you the damned drawing, so you can just get over it,” she retorted.
Lucifer smiled, “How much would you like to stake on that, Rosa?” his smile was not dangerous looking on the onset, but Rosa knew better.
“I’m not betting shit, because I’m not giving it up, unless you plan on killing me to get it; I’m not just handing it-,” before she finished what she had to say he pushed her away with a hand, taking up the book.
He had little time to enjoy his victory before she leapt at him knocking him back onto her bed as she snatched the book from his hands and made a move to get off him.
Lucifer let out a laugh, a laugh more out of shock than amusement. She actually, “Oh no you don’t,” he growled as he pulled her by her right leg, bringing her back within his reach. He took up her book, but before she could come up off the mats, he pinned her body down with his, holding the book away from her.
Rosa was furious. Little of any value was left to her after the world went to hell. Her sketchbook was the only piece of herself she had left. She wouldn’t give it up with out a fight. Even if she was fighting Lucifer himself. The idea was very impassioned, but she knew she was outmatched. She now found herself struggling against his body, her fury, fed by fear, regret, the impotence of her situation, made her blind to his study of her as she lay beneath him.
“You don’t need it, just give it back to me!” she grunted as she tried to reach out to get it out of his left hand.
Lucifer saw the realization of her situation become evident to her as Rosa’s eyes filled with shock and then embarrassment. “If you wanted to get under me, you could have asked politely.”
“Fuck you,” Rosa snapped more out of reflex than courage.
He smiled at her, “There, I wondered what it would take to crack you out of that meek façade you’re so very fond of.”
“You’re so fucking arrogant, fucking hell! I’m scared, it wasn’t a fucking front! I’ve lost everything, I just didn’t feel comfortable taking up more space, but of course, you go to try and take what little of me there’s left, so take it, fuck. Just take it and leave me the fuck alone,” she spat out as tears streamed down her face.
His expression changed as she continued, “Relax, I’m not sad, I cry when I’m angry. Unfortunately, I have no other way of really expressing it. So, whatever, take it, burn it, bury it, I don’t know, mock me some more, I honestly…,” she didn’t finish her sentence. She was exhausted.
Rosa lay back on the mat, looking to one side, away from him, away from the sketchbook. Her tears streaming down her face to wet the mat beneath it. Memories of her siblings danced across her mind as she moved to cover her face with both hands. Her sobs erupted from her before she had the strength or opportunity to quell them.
Lucifer dropped the sketchbook and realized he accomplished what he initially set out to do. Little satisfaction came of it.
Rosa cried for her siblings, for Hector, for herself. She should have died with them; her nightmare would be over. She was shaking with the force of her sobs now. She would have curled up into herself were he not on her.
Lucifer pulled away slowly. There was no satisfaction in this. Her tears were of sorrow so dark he tasted their acrid energy in the air.
Rosa felt his withdrawal, she didn’t have the energy to feel good about it, didn’t have it in her to look at him, her shame at breaking down, at failing her family, herself; it continued to pour out of her. Nobody who cared about her was left. There was no reason to carry on, her tears were futile.
She felt a pair of hands pull her up and up into strong and steady arms and a willing lap. She felt herself enshrined an expanse of feathers, his wings, she realized. Rosa pulled her hands away from her face to find herself lain across Lucifer’s lap, on her bed, his arms around her body, and his wings around them both.
She then realized she was shrouded from whoever was now in the room talking to him. He was not looking down at her but looking at whoever it was Lucifer was conversing with. They were speaking in a language she did not understand, but she recognized Satan’s voice.
Rosa heard the door close, her attention was drawn back up to his face after looking in the direction of the door, though she could see nothing save for his wings.
“I would say I was sorry for pushing you this far, but it was my goal from the start. This game amused me, at least, it did. I take no pleasure from your pain,” he admitted solemnly.
Rosa wiped the tears from her face with her hands, “What changed your mind?” she asked, her confusion more in her face than how she voiced her question.
“I do not know, but it does not change my decision. Now, are you done crying?” his tone far curter than he meant.
“I think so, I don’t think I have anything else left in me at the moment,” she admitted.
“Good, get in bed, you look like death,” he instructed at his observation.
Rosa laughed weakly, “At least you’re honest.”
Lucifer pulled his wings back as she sat up, gingerly, her touch on his feathers, delicate, careful not to harm them, harm him. When she touched one of his wings to brace herself absentmindedly, she pulled back her hand as if burned.
“I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to lean on it, is it-are you alright?” she asked, wringing her hands.
“I am fine,” he acknowledged as she visibly relaxed.
“Okay,” she said quietly as she moved onto her bed unassisted. She looked away from him once more, not meeting his gaze. When she finally decided to look back to him, she gasped, he figured she noted his horns and wings were once again gone.
Rosa made no mention at how much better she felt he looked in what she figured his natural state, well, not so human appearance, anyway. She crawled under her covers, curling up in the blankets, willing herself to forget about terrible night. Dawn was breaking soon; she knew because she could see the light from under her door. Her back once again to the wall, Rosa closed her eyes and allowed fatigue to overcome her.
Rosa sighed at the delicious warmth enveloping her. The soft purr of a cat comforting completely the picture of contentment in her mind. A picture long forgotten yet fantasized of far more than any man, or plate of food. Rosa shifted some, feeling the pull of strong arms, wrapping firmly around her, keeping her in place.
She chuckled some, figuring Hector must have turned from his bed again. Even during the apocalypse, he rolled around the floor. A habit so hysterical, Rosa suggested they take up pylons to keep him from rolling out of a room.
She tried to move again, so she muttered, “Hector, lemme go.”
“I am not, Hector, beloved. Hector could not have comforted you with his body the way I have,” came the deeply masculine growl near her right ear.
Rosa’s eyes flew open only to meet drowsily sexy red eyes.
“You wrapped yourself around me, like touching me was a deep-seated need,” he purred languidly.
Rosa felt her face heat again, She realized, she had her left leg tossed over his right hip, pulling him tightly against her and an arm around his waist keeping him where he was, despite her protests at his proximity.
“I apologize,” she confessed, feeling ashamed again before she frowned and said, “Wait, why are you in my bed?” Her confusion written all over her face.
Lucifer sighed, “I did, but…you were crying in your sleep, and would not settle until I was in bed with you, then, you would not let go.” He didn’t tell her, didn’t dare admit how touch starved he was. As a rule, they did not touch or embrace, save for the few encounters with the opposite sex; he hardly allowed anyone to touch him. Being needed lit a fire within him, a fire he thought long since doused by the unforgiving nature of the Devildom.
Rosa nodded, she began pulling away from him, feeling doubly embarrassed. “I…I’m so sorry, you should have just pushed me away, I would have woken up and you wouldn’t be in this predicament, I’m so sorry,” she uttered again as she untangled herself from him.
Lucifer felt her pain as she tried to pull herself back in emotionally, trying to guard herself as best she could. How he came to realize how deeply wounded she was, he wasn’t so sure. The crying opened a door he could no longer close. A door he refused to shut.
He battled with his pride, trying to say what he longed to say, at least, acknowledge aloud.
“I do not mind, I…,” he stopped just as she paused what she was doing.
Rosa observed his face, the rigidity of his body beside hers. “…you…you’re touched starved too, aren’t you?” she whispered her query, flinching some, hoping her question did not offend.
“Yours are the kindest hands I have known, in many a year,” he admitted, the confession coming far easier than anticipated. Her expression was not one of pity, but simple, unadulterated understanding.
Rosa nodded, but kept her body to herself, she felt far too uncomfortable to offer him an embrace. After all, he wanted her dead, right?
Lucifer was fighting a losing battle. In the early morning hours after he moved onto her bed, her tears too heart wrenching to ignore, enveloped in the calm, gentle circle of her arms, he let himself feel.
Nobody save her sleeping form would be privy to the deep need within him to be embraced with kindness, and in that short, quiet, lonely moment, he allowed himself to suffer the weakness her touch pulled to the surface within him.
Rosa’s hands in his hair, toying with a lock of it as she fell back into deep slumber, a gentle kiss to his right cheek as she wished him goodnight. The touch lighter than a feather, the murmur of affection she released afterward felled him.
“Touch me, beloved,” he whispered to her, in that cold, windowless room. The dark hiding his expression from her, but not hers from him. He watched as confusion walked across her face before she reached out with her left hand, lacing it on the right side of his face.
Giving up on the pretense of being mostly unaffected, he turned his face to kiss her open palm. Her small gasp of surprised, and the excited intake of breath that followed, spurred the fire within him.
“More,” he whispered into her palm.
Her fingers lightly traced his jaw, down his neck to his right clavicle. She traced it lightly as she followed the bone to where it met his shoulder then arm. Her fingers danced a fire down his skin. He closed his eyes to keep his eyes from rolling back from how delicious her seemingly platonic touches felt.
“You’re firm everywhere,” she whispered, he could hear the excitement in her hushed tone. It made him heady with need.
Rosa did not know what was happening, but there, in the dark, something changed. Her body was humming with a hunger she longed since forgot could be kindled within her. Even so, it paled in comparison her previous yearnings of the opposite sex.
At his drawn-out chuffing and then low growl as her fingers trailed down his arm to his wrist, she looked away from her fingers as they danced back up his arm. She couldn’t see much but felt his breath near her face.
Before she changed her mind and before her self-preservation took over, she leaned in and up toward his lips, finding his lips warm, inviting as they met her own.
Lucifer who closed his eyes at the feel of her fingers, felt the touch of her pillowy mouth on his, this time his eyes did roll back, a current of sensation erupted from their point of contact down his entire body.
Her fingers ended their journey as she gripped a handful of his hair, keeping his lips against her own. Lucifer would have once again were he not behaving like a besotted fool. Her lips began to move just as he took command of the kiss.
Her whimper of pleasure did a number on his insides. He would have her if it took him eternity to convince her to give him an opportunity.
Rosa swore she could die at that moment and it would be a happy death. The way he kissed, it did things to her body, no nude full body contact ever did before. Yet, she was still dressed! His hands traveled down her waist to her hips, and he gripped her backside, pulling her closer to his body.
“Yes,” she gasped excitedly.
Lucifer was done toying with them both. He moved to settle over her, her thighs now on either side of his still clothed hips. To his delight, her legs wrapped around his hips, pulling his lower body to rest in the cradle of her hips and voluptuous body.
Rosa pulled him closer, tugging on his long hair, until he slowly complied. Her drawn out murmur, full of pleasure, cause Lucifer to physically shudder with need.
“I need you naked,” she whispered against his lips.
“I need you wrapped around my body,” he growled lustfully, not resisting the pull he felt with her had its perks, he mused.
“Fuck,” she whimpered as she moved to remove her shirt.
Lucifer felt the lust in the singular word roll down his spine, he moved off her long enough for her to pull her shirt off. Undressing was an unceremonious event. Both swiftly tossing their clothing aside before reaching out for one another again. Rosa’s hands traveled back to his face then to his hair to pull him to her with a gasp of need.
Lucifer on his part, moaned into her mouth as his body contacted hers. Her silky soft flesh warm, inviting, her thighs firmly wrapped around his hips. His hands traveled down her back to cup her hips as he ground his erection into her.
“Oh, fuck,” she whimpered, well beyond logical thought and consequences. Rosa factored no thought on what he was, on where they were, how they would handle the aftermath of what she was sure would be an Earth-shattering coupling.
Her hands traveled from his hair, to his broad shoulders, then further down his body as she wove her arms under his, feeling the toned muscles of his back, down to where her legs wrapped around him, keeping Lucifer where she wanted him.
Lucifer felt the trail of heat her hands left in their wake as she caressed his skin as if committing him to memory by touch alone. He left her mouth, trailing kisses down her deliberately exposed neck. She smelled of a heady mix of Earth and mint, probably from the tea she drank before she retired to her space.
He licked his way down to her left breast, taking the peak into his mouth, suckling on it gently, her body arching at the contact. Her moans were now more than subtle whispers, unintelligible demands he was sure she was not consciously aware she was making.
Her body was actively grinding against his erection, a not so subtle reminder of what she expected from him. He moved from her left breast to give her right one attention, the short withdrawal causing her to whimper and moan, “Please, don’t stop,” her voice a throaty, siren’s call he would be a fool to ignore.
“Never,” he breathed in response, his voice doing little to quell the inferno that was her desire. The slickness of her body was invitation enough, or so Rosa argued within herself. His body was hard everywhere, but especially so where she needed him the most.
Lucifer pulled away from her right breast, kissing her lips hungrily once again as he maneuvered his erection, placing it at her vaginal entrance. “Rosa…”
“I swear if you don’t, I may rip that page of artwork up out of spite,” she growled so ferociously, Lucifer chuckled lazily.
“My, hungry, aren’t we?” he purred.
Rosa didn’t have his control; she didn’t care to. “Please…”
Lucifer whispered against her lips, “I rather like you demanding I pleasure you. I rather like you beneath me waiting for me to give you what you want.”
Rosa whimpered as she tried to move her hips, hips he held in place with his hands, giving her no option but to wait on his lead.
Lucifer’s humor dropped as he said, “Next time you can ride me.”
“Until I can’t walk?” she mused with a slight smile, remembering Mammon’s words.
Lucifer smiled some, “Well, since we have permission,” he joked lightly.
“Please, Lu,” she cooed, the abbreviation of his name sounding differently in her voice. He closed his eyes from the pleasure. He slowly pushed into her, marveling at how readily her body opened to him, her slickness easing him as she sighed out a sound so full of need and relief it etched itself into him. A fragment of light in what seemed like centuries of darkness.
Rosa felt like she would die. There was no other way for her to understand the feeling of utter rapture. He was seated within her in moments, her body giving way to the being who seemed to master it within breaths of their first kiss. She felt his entire body quiver as he was firmly set inside her, giving her an inkling of what he was feeling. In the years following the fall of humanity never once did she feel as powerful as she felt at that moment.
His movements became steady and this to and fro between them began. He since released her hips, opting to hold onto her thighs as her hands snaked their way up toward his shoulders. Her moans filled the windowless room, he was sure now they could be heard throughout the house. Lucifer found himself caring little of what his brothers heard. Feeling her body wrapped around him was exactly how he needed to spend the day, and night, as far as he was concerned.
“Harder,” she breathed, the demand impatient but quiet.
Lucifer took her lips in a searing kiss, “Whatever you desire, beloved,” he found himself replying. It was not what he anticipated; in fact, he never uttered that sentence before in his life. His logical self-argued his lack of physical contact with women for his ready acceptance of her demands. The hungry, feral side of him demanded the logical part of him, shut the fuck up.
At that moment, they were creatures of need. In that moment, he tilted in her favor, letting her decide what she wanted for them both. Deep within him, he understood her control would start and end from their initial kiss to when they both came around each other.
Rosa was overwhelmed by a lust bent on consuming every part of her. She was close to a climax she was sure would break her body from its strength. When she demanded he pound into her harder, he’d all but given her carte blanche to request whatever she wanted from him.
“I’m so close,” she whimpered as her panting increased, almost at the pace of his thrusting into her body.
“Yes,” he hissed with excitement. He felt the starting quivers of her body, he needed to push her over the edge and let her fall into bliss.
“Come for me, my darling,” he whispered in a gentle command.
“Fuck!” she cried out loudly as her body began to convulse and pulse around Lucifer’s erection.
He gasped and cried out from the pleasure that crept up his spine, triggering his transformation, his wings spreading out behind him, shuddering from the pleasure.
Rosa’s eyes were opened enough to see it, his wings shuddering and twitching as he continued to pound into her, he was close. She relished in the moment, finding a calm strength within her she took his face, pulling it to her and whispered against his mouth, “Come for me, my King.”
Lucifer felt her hands on either side of his face as she pulled him to her, figuring she wanted another kiss, he readily followed her lead, until she spoke those words with such reverence, such abandon, he followed her over the edge.
He came, a feeling so enrapturing, his wings would have cramped if it were possible from the strength of his orgasm. Lucifer’s guttural growl as he released into her body triggered another climax from Rosa, causing another whimpering moan.
“Yes,” he slurred from the heady feeling of completion now overwhelming his senses. He slowly moved to collapse beside her, leaving her body entirely as he did so. Her breathing was ragged, her body actively shuddering as she recovered from her own orgasm.
Nothing but the sound of their ragged, quickened breathing filled the dark room for what seemed like forever to Rosa. She didn’t want to move. Didn’t want to face the reality of what lay outside that bedroom door, and what it meant to bed a demon. She closed her eyes, willing her breathing to calm before she spoke.
That was her last thought as she fell into a deep slumber.
Rosa came awake hours later, it was now late evening, she could tell because the lights from under the door were coming through. Getting dressed was a process she took up gingerly. She felt sore in places and muscles she long since forgot were used during sex.
She ran her fingers through her hair before padding to the door and opening it quietly. She poked her head out, at the stillness in the house, she made her way out of her bedroom, leaving the door open in her wake.
She made her way to the kitchen, noting everything was washed and put away. She remembered option to wash the dishes the next day after the tense meal they shared the night before.
Rosa looked out the window and noticed nobody. She then decided to traverse the entire house; nobody was there. She frowned some, wondering what may have happened, and wondered if they left, because Lucifer regretted what they did that morning and afternoon.
She contemplated this as she made her way to the dining room table and took a seat at one of the chairs. A self-deprecating smile graced her face as she concluded their passionate embrace was a travesty to someone, though she would not include herself among their number.
Rosa needed to bathe.
Leaving the table, she made her way to the bathroom and with practiced ease, began her bath ritual. Forgetting everything outside of that bathroom she undressed again and began to ready her products to bathe their passion away.
Hours after bathing, she went into her room, to tidy the area, and change her bedding. She figured it was time to get her sketchbook and put it away as well. It was what started their unforgettable morning, after all.
As she searched the room, shook on her bedding, it was nowhere to be found. She looked in the drawer where she normally set it, wondering if she had put it away, but forgot about it. As she opened the drawer, she didn’t find the sketchbook, but to her shock, there was a page from the book itself, folded neatly in half, tucked in where her book would be.
She took the piece of paper out of the drawer slowly, took in a breath and unfolded it, to look upon it. To her shock, it was a drawing of her! It depicted her sleeping, nude, her face a mask of contentment. Her hair a tangle, an example of the passionate tangle of emotions she now felt.
Beneath the drawing, words in a hand so utterly cultured and perfect, Rosa knew she could never write something to beautifully.
“I took what belongs to me…
I will return for the rest but give you leave to keep this…
so you may have something of mine in your keep.
-Lucifer”
Rosa smirked, “The only thing all males seem to have is the audacity.” Then his words hit home, revealing themselves. He would return for her since he now claimed her as his!
Rosa walked out of her room; her bedding long forgotten on the tatami floor. She made her way to the kitchen, leaning against one of the counters, staring at the illustration in her hand.
Rosa walked out of the house into the greenhouse. For once, the night did not fill her with dread. Looking around, she noted a few weeds and figured she may as well take care of it. She set the illustration down, prepping herself as she set to weed her garden.
Hours later, drawing now tucked away reverently into another notebook she used for notations about plants, she prepped her bed with clean bedding. The old bedding already in her hamper.
For the first time in years, she undressed completely. Getting into bed nude, something she did not indulge in since the plague took over. She still slept with her back to the wall, some habits were harder to shake than others, she mused.
Rosa fell into slumber with ease that night, her body easing into rest quickly.
Rosa dreamt of a warm embrace, an embraced coupled with a soft, tantalizing purr meant to soothe her. It was working. She stretched out some in the dream, arching toward the warmth of an unseen sun.
“Wake for me, beloved,” a masculine voice encouraged, coming from the same direction as the sun and the purring.
“Hm?” she said aloud, opening her eyes only to find herself alone in her room. She sat up, looked around in the darkness, frowning. Did she dream it? She got dressed quickly, walking out of her bedroom, she made her way back to the greenhouse and out into the backyard. She was barefoot, feeling the cool, dew covered grass beneath her feet was refreshing in its way.
“Lu?” she whispered into the night. At the continual stillness of the dark surrounding her, Rosa pursed her lips in thought before turning, making her way quietly back into greenhouse then back into the house.
As she padded into the living area, a feeling of disorientation overcame her. She took a seat, placing her head in her hands, trying to make sense of what happened. She had not dreamt in such a long time; she was convinced what happened was real. Rosa sat back in her seat, wondering how long it would take for her to accept her new reality as morning light began to filter through the butcher paper covered windows.
Weeks went by an acceptance of their permanent departure slowly slipped into her mind, easing her somewhat. Since then, she heard no more screaming around her area, though she would still sometimes hear people.
Rosa still practiced a self-imposed solitary life, her trust of her situation only falling as far as those of infernal origin hunting her. She well knew people were far more dangerous in their duplicity.
Early morning on the day that marked the demons’ month-long departure from her sphere, she decided to go out and scavenge again. The morning was mostly uneventful. She began to actively search out houses outside of her immediate area; it meant she went into areas that would put her in far more risk of being acknowledged by other people.
Late morning came, and that was when she came across a group of what appeared to be eight soldiers, or at least, they appeared to be to her. They were calling out instructions to one another as they stood in a group. Rosa was hidden by the foliage around her. She did not move, did not shift, did nothing to bring attention to her location.
“Yes, there apparently is a dead spot of demonic activity North-West of our current location. No demonic activity for over a month, the locals we…interviewed, said,” said who Rosa figured was the head of their unit.
“Pfft, probably just devoid of any living thing, hence they don’t bother,” said another, their voices far too muffled by their headgear and facemask to discern between a male or female voice.
“Well then it’s a good place to start, no? We may be able to set up camp in one of those houses if the area truly is devoid of demons,” said the leader with a nod.
Rosa concluded they were talking about her area. A panic overcame her. She needed to leave; her safe space was about to be invaded. She distrusted their motives, didn’t care to hear them out, and something about them set off all kinds of warnings in her mind.
If she left quietly, she would have a least three hours to pack before they made their way to her area. They would go the long way, and that would serve to buy her time.
As slowly as she could, she left her location. Inch by inch she moved so they would not notice any movement. Eventually, once she was certain they could not see or hear her, she took off in a dead sprint. Every second she tarried was a second, they inched closer to finding her.
She made it back to her place in record time, taking a few moments to clear her head. She had a checklist ready for such a situation. She started taking up what belonged to her, what she could leave behind, a sadness overcoming her, as she realized she would leave a steady supply of food. Rosa shook her head as she packed her bag.
An hour and a half after she arrived, she left the house for good. Forgoing locking the door. Everything that was personal to her was now neatly packed. She walked through the forest, remembering how she met the Demon Lords over a month ago.
She traveled through the day, and evening, only stopping once she knew she put at least a half day of distance between her and the house. She opted to go further into the forest. Deciding she was safer among the trees than people. Rosa wasn’t sure if her immunity from the demonic would carry over to a different location, but her chances were far better.
She started a fire after making a pit first to make sure the fire would not spread.
Lucifer frowned as he and his brothers noticed an array of people now inhabiting the house. “She is not here.”
“She must have anticipated their arrival, clever,” murmured Mammon.
“Beel, find her,” Lucifer commanded as he watched them wreck the hard work Rosa had put into the greenhouse.
“Disgusting,” muttered Belphegor.
“Kill them all,” Lucifer growled as he headed toward the house on foot.
Belphegor chuckled as he turned into a chimera, Satan, Leviathan and Mammon followed suit, turning into their beastly forms.
Mammon instructed Asmodeus to go and help track Rosa on the ground while Beelzebub took to the air. Asmodeus, not in the mood to deal with other humans, nodded as he took of in a run into the forest.
Hours away, Rosa finished her food, doing her best to gather all her garbage and put it in a wet bag meant for soiled items, she carried with her. The fire was still burning strong and would keep the chill of the night at bay.
She fell asleep sitting up, not realizing just how exhausted she was. Rosa came awake as dawn was beginning to break, and she heard a rustling. She sat up quickly, looking at the still quietly burning fire. She was now crouched on the forest floor, trying to listen again to whatever it may be.
“Sh, I could have killed you,” came a flirtatious voice from behind her, causing Rosa to startle and fall on her backside.
Asmodeus in his kitsune form chuckled as he sat beside her, “Hello, beautiful! So, I heard you and Lucifer got busy, but he refused to give any details…was it good, did he make you come?” he purred.
Rosa narrowed her eyes at him, “If he did not tell you, why do you think you deserve to know?”
“Because my dear, he spends an intriguingly amount of time looking through a book, I assume belonged to you, I wonder why,” Asmodeus mused.
“He’s a fan of art?” she offered making Asmodeus chuckle.
“The art of making you come, perhaps, he has not indulged in other females, even after some were offered, I wonder why that is,” Asmodeus mused, his eyes on her.
Rosa felt her face heat again but said nothing and was kept from speak at all, when the griffin landed near the opposite side of the fire.
“We must keep her from harm until Lucifer joins us,” Beelzebub declared, settling regally looking from Rosa to Asmodeus.
“Of course! I’m sure they’ll be busy for a time yet, handling the humans who took over your house, Rosa,” Asmodeus replied giving Rosa a sidelong look.
Rosa nodded, “I overheard their plans well before they reached the house so I decided it was time to leave. I do not trust others,” she replied.
“Instincts are good, I mean, you did bed Lucifer,” Asmodeus chuckled again.
“Why are you so caught up with that?’ she queried with a frown
“…Lord of Lust remember?” Asmodeus said dryly.
“I, err, see. That does make sense.
“Do you have food, Rosa?” asked Beelzebub.
“I do, but I don’t know if it’s enough to sustain you, Beelzebub,” she lamented. Rosa was aware of how much the demon ate.
“Hm, well, it would better than nothing, and I vow to catch something else later for us all to partake in,” he said solemnly.
“I believe you, okay, here,” she said as she began to unpack her food.
Lucifer wiped the blood from his face as he looked to Mammon who was wiping his hands off with a rag. “You kept the blood out of the house?”
“Yeah, they came rushin’ out, which was convenient,” Mammon replied with a smirk.
Satan stretched out as he shook his head, “They were disorganizing the books in the library, disgusting. So, I assume Belphegor and I will stay while you go in search of your priestess?” Satan queried.
Priestess was Satan’s term for sexual interest, in a mocking way.
Lucifer looked to Satan before turning to Mammon, “I can see why you find him so fucking annoying.”
Mammon smirked, “I’m a veritable angel for dealing with his bullshit.”
Leviathan shook his head as he came around to the group, “They did a great deal of damage to the irrigation system in the greenhouse,” his tone was short, the act having annoyed the Lord of Envy.
Belphegor sighed, “Well, since apparently Lucifer cannot live another moment without his human, we best fix it. Go get her Lucifer, no doubt she’s beside herself with heartbreak,” he muttered as he stomped off toward the greenhouse, followed by Leviathan and Satan.
“Well, that went better than I expected, Lu,” Mammon declared with a grin.
“…really, heartbreak?” Lucifer muttered.
“If she looks anything like you did the day we left her side, it may very well,” Mammon teased as he turned back into his manticore form and took to the sky.
Lucifer growled as he transformed into a dragon and followed suit.
Rosa was dying.
Dying of laughter.
“No, no, no, that’s not what happened, we did not fall because you decided to eat Father’s piece of cake!” Asmodeus chortled.
“The game requires us to tell a lie and a truth,” Beelzebub chuffed.
Rosa couldn’t control her laughter as she fell back into the soft forest floor. “Cake!” she cackled.
“They were both lies!” Asmodeus declared.
Rosa erupted into giggles again before coming to her feet, “Okay, I have to go, so, I’ll be right back,” she coughed out as she headed to an area behind a rock and a bush. The urge to pee overcame her after she started to laugh.
After finishing her business, and cleaning herself, she made her way back, only to see the object of her desire near the dying fire. She drank in his appearance as his eyes seem to be doing the same of her. She noticed Mammon standing to one side of her, a smirk on his face.
“Do you have my sketchbook?” she queried as she came to stop a few feet from him.
His gaze’s intensity went from hungry to amused, “You are mistaken. It is my book.”
Rosa shook his head, “I don’t recall you having one when we met?”
“Yet, it is mine just the same,” he declared as he walked toward her with a casual ease.
Rosa’s breath caught as he neared, the heat she recalled in her dream seemed to radiate from him.
Lucifer watched as a hunger overcame the humor in her eyes. Her eyes dilating as he neared. She missed him, and he reveled in the fact.
“You are, unharmed?” he asked as he came to stop a foot away from her.
“Yes, I left before they arrived,” she murmured.
“We took back the house,” he informed her, seeing the look of surprise grace her face before a look of contentment took over. A smile seen more in her eyes than her lips.
“I’m glad,” she replied, itching to touch him, but unsure if he was open to the contact between with his brothers watching.
He saw the hesitation in her eyes, the flex of her fingers her eyes flickering behind him.
“Touch me,” he commanded, though he meant it as encouragement.
Her eyes hinted at amusement before an expression of longing overcame her face. She reached up with her left hand, laying it gently on his right cheek. Lucifer felt her touch to his feet. He fought a purr as she said, “I missed you.”
Lucifer closed his eyes, letting out a slow breath as he replied, “Let’s take you home.”
Rosa blinked as he turned some to back out orders to the others, once again in a language she did not understand before transforming before her, his wings spreading out just as his horns emerged from his head.
He picked her up, bridal style and before she knew what was happening took to the air.
“Oh fuck,” she gasped holding onto him as best she could.
He chuckled, “I will not drop you, beloved.”
“Yet, Lucifer, it’s, ‘I will not drop you, yet,’” she corrected him making him grin.
“Oh, know me that well, do you?” he purred.
“No, it’s just the odds are low, but never zero,” she joked out nervously making him laugh.
“Did you truly miss me, beloved?” he queried.
“I did…I dreamt of you,” she admitted quietly.
“As I of you,” he admitted soberly.
“So, home?” she asked, wondering what he truly meant.
“Yes, home. It is where you will reside, as I have duties to attend to. Pay my brothers’ gruffness no heed. They understand the situation,” he explained regally.
“Oh, and what’s the situation?” she asked with a raised brow.
“You belong to me,” he informed her as they landed in the forest right outside her house.
“What does that mean for me, Lucifer?” she asked as he turned to face her.
“You are home.” His position stated, he took one of her hands and led her toward the house.
Damaged people are
dangerous.
They know how
to make hell feel
like home.
-Unknown