Evenstar (63 page)

He scrambled up from the floor.
 
“What are you doing?”

Belial stared at her feet and stood in the way of the exit.

Andy gaped at her.
 
“Belial,
what
are you doing?”

“You won’t hurt me?”

“Of course I’m not going to hurt you!
 
Belial.”
 
His face went pale.
 
“Belial, let me leave.”

“No.”

“Belial, we can’t be here together when Lucifer and Dahlia start.
 
You know what’s going to happen to us!”

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes.
 
“Do you really love me, Andrealphus?”

“Yes!
 
Only you, forever.
 
So please let me get out!”
 
Andy stormed towards the door.
 

Belial kicked him back.
 
She rubbed her eyes.
 
“If you love me you won’t hurt me.”

He fumed.
 
“Belial!
 
We will not have control over our actions!”

She took his hands.
 
“Andy, I
need
to know this!”

“Belial, please do
not
do this to us.”
 
He pleaded with her.
 
“I don’t want you like this and I know you do not want this!”

“I have to do it.”

He looked lost.
 
“Why?”

She looked at her hands.
 
“What’s stronger, love or lust?”
        

“Love.”

“Prove it.”
 
She raised her eyes to his.
 
“I don’t believe in love anymore, Andy.
 
Prove it to me please.
 
Please.
 
Be strong enough.”

Andy set his jaw.
 
He stared at the wall where the door used to be.
 
He looked at her; she wavered between trust and fear.
 
He sat down.
 
“I will.”

“You will stay?”

He nodded.
 
“And I will not touch you that way.”

Belial flopped down at his side and rolled to the pillows.
 
She stared at the ceiling and took deep breaths.
 
Her heart pounded and her fingers twitched.

 
He could feel her dread.
 
He lay down on his stomach, making sure they did not touch.
 
He clenched his fists and spoke into pillows, “Why now, Belial?”

“We might not have another chance.”

***

Paimon pinned Furcas to the floor.
 
Their clothes were shredded.
 
They bled from scratch marks.
 
The pair lay up against the remains of the stone dais’ base.
 
Paimon held Furcas down with one hand and pulled a crochet hook out of his own cheek with the other.
 
He tossed the tool.
 
“You didn’t say
not
to go in that room.
 
There wasn’t a sign that said ‘No Paimon Allowed.’”

Furcas looked away.
 
“It was still private.
 
It was mine.”

Paimon silenced him with a kiss.
 
“Private?
 
Between us, are you kidding?
 
When has anything ever been private and why didn’t you ever tell me you wanted a
baby
?”

Furcas scratched at him.
 
“I don’t particularly relish the idea of being laughed at!
 
Besides, what is the point of telling
you
?
 
I regret that I did it, I was sick!
 
Can’t you just forget it and everything else I said?
 
I was just being delirious; I didn’t mean any of it!”

“You’re a shit liar.
 
So no, I’m not going to forget about it.”
 
Paimon wrapped his arms around Furcas and thrust into him.
 
Furcas went weak, Paimon smiled.
 
“And the point?”
 
He thrust again.
 
“The point, Furcas dear, is that I want to make you happy.
 
Keeping secrets makes my job that much harder.”

Furcas let a smile show.
 
“You’re doing a fairly nice job right now.”

“You’re talking too much, obviously I’m not.”
 
Paimon dug his feet into the floor, and the rock behind Furcas cracked.
 
He grabbed a knot of Furcas’ long hair.
 
Crushed flowers scented the room.
 
He held Furcas down by his hips and sank down, kissing his caramel-colored skin.

Furcas scratched his nails across Paimon’s wing scars.
 
“You don’t need to give me anything.
 
I
am
happy.”

Paimon pressed his nose to Furcas’ hair and inhaled.
 
“Shut up.
 
You were going to moon and mope over this for the rest of ever, weren’t you?”

Furcas looked away.
 
“I thought the desire would go away, I know it’s not doable.
 
It’s such a stupid thought anyways.”

“Of all the stupid ideas you’ve had, this one is by far the most interesting.”
 
Paimon leaned his head on Furcas’ chest and listened to his heartbeat.
 
“But you don’t think it’s possible, so you don’t even want to try.
 
That’s
why you didn’t tell me.
 
I’m right aren’t I?”

Furcas blinked.
 
“Try?
 
How would that work?
 
We can’t get…you know.”

“Furcas, use your imagination.”
 
Paimon grinned and pushed himself up on his elbows.
 
“We’re right next door to the fertility duo!
 
Why do you think I called this room for us?”

“But…”
 
Furcas looked over at the doorway.
 
“You don’t really think that we can.”

Paimon smirked.
 
“We’ll never know until we try.
 
They
spontaneously create shit left and right.
 
Why can’t we?”

“We’re not like them…so how?”

“Fucking like rabbits and concentrating on it until something works?
 
That was pretty much my thought on the concept.
 
I figure we can mess around some, see what happens.
 
If we don’t spontaneously create our own kid, then we’ll try something else.”

Furcas blushed.
 
“Are you saying you
want
a baby?”

Paimon smirked.
 
“With you?
 
Fuck yes
.
 
You’d make an adorable mommy.
 
If
you’re
the mom I get to force you to cook me dinners and do all the chores, oh and make cocktails for me each night.”
 
He grinned.
 
“This idea is sounding better and better.”

“You hate my cooking
and
my cocktails.”
 
Furcas grimaced.
 
“You don’t really mean it.
 
You’re
teasing
me.
 
I can’t believe you!
 
Teasing me about this after I—”
  

“Furcas.”
 
Paimon ran his thumb across Furcas’ cheek.
 
“I’ll take you as you are cooking or no cooking.
 
I would love to have a child with you.
 
Though, I can’t imagine what kind of demon spawn we’re going to manifest if we get this right.
 
It’ll probably be the death of us.”

Furcas blushed.
 
“You do mean it!”

“Yeah, that’s what I just said.
 
You never believe me…”
 
Paimon pushed Furcas back down and moved against him.
 
“For now, let’s just see how things go.
 
My brilliant mind is on the case.”

Furcas’ voice grew slurred with pleasure, “What should
I
do?”

“Besides having the best orgasm ever?
 
Do what you’ve always done.
 
Bat your eyes and look pretty for me, baby.”
 
He dodged to avoid a punch to the face.
 
He grabbed and pinned Furcas’ hand.
 
“Pretty and feisty!”

***

Gaea had departed the small green room.
 
Lucifer let Dahlia lead him inside.
 
As the door sealed shut behind them, she dropped his hand and stepped away from him.
 
She rubbed her arms.
 
She stood with her back to him.
 
If they were to speak, and they needed to, she could not look at him.
 
His eyes paralyzed her.
 
“I said they had five minutes and so do you.”

Lucifer stared at her naked back; his fear warred with desire.
 
His voice slipped out a whisper, “For what?”

“Tell me what it felt like.”

“What felt like?”

“Breaking my wings and locking me in.
 
I need to know what it felt like.”

Lucifer fell back against the wall.
 
An emotional hole opened up inside him, worse than the spear wound.
 
This hole did not burn; it left a place for everything good to flee through until he was a void.
 
He stared at his feet.
 
“Dahlia, I am without excuse.
 
I am guilty, shamed, revolted with what I did to you.”
 
His voice cracked.
 
“I know I can never say this enough and never make up for what I did.
 
But know that I am sorry and will be for the rest of my existence—”

“I do not want to hear your apologies, not right now.
 
Just tell me the truth,” her voice came out cold and brittle.
 

Lucifer let his tears fall, unrestrained.
 
“It felt like death itself had come to make in me a home, but worse than death, for death would have been an undeserved release, an unfitting punishment for such a foul deed.”

She turned at the sound of his sobs, but held herself back.
 
She looked to his side, seeing, but not seeing him.
 
Each breath he took, a sawing sound, ragged, cut at her.
 
She closed her eyes.
 
“Continue.”

Lucifer sank to the grass.
 
He stared at his hands, remembering the snapping sensation of her wings.
 
“In the instant I caused you pain, I felt less than alive, beyond doubt a vile creature.
 
I loathed each cell in my body.
 
I hurt in a way I did not think possible.
 
The pain inside me was not an emotion or a fleeting thought.
 
It was a living thing, a sadistic, gnawing snake that wound itself around my every nerve so that within I burnt alive.
 
I wanted it to consume me.
 
I desired that my flesh be broken in place of yours and when that could not be so, I wished it would destroy me wholly.”

She turned from him.
 
“What was the pain?”

Lucifer scratched at his chest, diving into the agony.
 
“Guilt, regret, love for you, and hate for myself.”

“Did it allow you to act?”

“No, I stayed frozen.
 
The pain raged inside me, unable to find release.”

“Did those feelings leave you after you left me broken and locked?
 
Did they die down as soon as the blood was washed clean?”

Lucifer gagged, his senses flooded with the scent of her blood.
 
He remembered the metallic taste that had infused his mouth and refused to leave.
 
“No, they grew.”

“Grew into what?”

“A fire, an inferno.
 
I had nothing else inside me.”

“What happened then?”

“I entered the fire and I became the inferno.
 
I let it take me over.”
 
He remembered burning his body away.
 
“I remade myself in the flames.
 
There was no other course but to let it overwhelm me.”

“You are the love, regret, and guilt?
 
The fire that burned inside became your body?”

“Yes.”

“Then you are not the one who put me away, Lucifer.
 
You are the fire that fought inside.”

“But my hands did—”

“No.”
 
She turned and sat before him.
 
He raised his red-rimmed eyes, but he could only meet her lips.
 
He trembled.
 
Dahlia reached out slowly with a shaking hand.
 
She took one of his hands and held it between the two of hers.
 
“
He
was your hands.”
 
She took a deep breath and pressed her palm to his chest.
 
He felt her heat through the touch.
 
Dahlia poured her strength into him.
 
“
He
was your flesh.
 
You were one in being with Him, but your heart and soul were your own.”
 
She touched his cheek and raised his face to hers.
 
“It is not your fault.”

“I should have tried.
 
That I did not is unforgivable.”

“You
did
try.
 
The fact that you felt revulsion, that it brought you pain, shows that the fight was occurring inside you.”

“Dahlia—”

She kissed his palm, stopping his words.
 
He froze and watched her lips.
 
Dahlia breathed in and out through her nose, her breath hot on his skin.
 
She closed her eyes.
 
She kissed his wrist and worked up his forearm.
 
Each caress set fire to his cold skin, unlocking the muscles that were bound and frozen.
 
She reached where his shirt started and moved to his bare neck.
 
When her lips reached his skin, he gasped.
 
“Dahlia—”

She covered his mouth with her own.
 
Lucifer lost thought.
 
Flowers bloomed around them.
 
She placed both hands over his heart and slowly pulled back, the act itself hard.
 
“I could only love one heart, and what beats in you now, beat in you then.
 
You are
my
Morningstar.”

He looked into her eyes and wrapped his arms around her.
 
He brought her close and kissed her hair.
 
“Always.”
 
He closed his eyes.
 
“How can you…”

“Forgive?”

“Yes.”

Dahlia kissed his cheek.
 
“You did not know what you were doing, and your hand was forced.”

“That does not excuse me.”

She looked into his eyes.
 
“You were innocent, Lucifer, and punished just as much as I was.”

“No.”

She placed her fingers on his lips.
 
“Yes.”

“You must not forgive me.”

“That I have already done.
 
I forgave you at the throne and never once has my decision wavered.
 
You must forgive
yourself
.”

Tears formed in his eyes.
 
“I cannot.”
 
He shook his head.
 
“Dahlia, I can never do that.”

“You were placed in a prison as poisonous as mine, as painful as mine.
 
You
must
see that.”

“Rightly and justly so.
 
I deserve this, I am bound.”

Dahlia brought his head down to her chest.
 
“No, Lucifer, you are free.
 
The door is open, it has always been open, but you must let yourself out.
 
No one can force you, you must decide.”
 
She brought her lips to his ear.
 
“Come with me.”

He gnashed his teeth.
 
“I—”

Dahlia kissed his neck.
 
She unbuttoned his shirt.
 
“Be with me.”

He shook his head.
 
“I cannot.”

Dahlia let her tears fall on his bare chest.
 
“Love me.”

He looked up at her.
 
“I do, always, forever.”

“Then be my partner, my equal, healed and whole.”
 
She brought his face to hers and kissed one cheek, then another.
 
“Be with me.”
 
She kissed him on the lips and pulled him to the ground, tearing off his shirt.
 

Lucifer broke the kiss and gasped; the air grew warmer.
 
“I cannot do this.”
 
He brushed away her tears.
 
“Please do not cry.”

Dahlia’s lip trembled.
 
“My lover is tortured and I can do nothing but watch.
 
In this I am guilty for now I am the one that does nothing.”

“No.”

Dahlia’s eyes dimmed.
 
“If you cannot join me, then I must join you, for I cannot bear to be apart any longer.
 
If your chains are despair, then my clothing will be misery.
 
Your bonds are guilt, and so my tethers will be remorse.
 
In sorrow we will be one.”

“No!”
 
Lucifer sat up and pulled her up with him.
 
“Do not!”

Dahlia looked at him sadly.
 
“I cannot do any different.
 
We are intertwined.”

Lucifer gripped her, panic-stricken.
 
His heart beat wildly.
 
“You must not!”
 
He cupped her face in his hands.
 
Fire raced along his skin.
 
“Bright star, do not go dark.
 
My Evenstar, linger in light.”

“I cannot blaze if the Morningstar never rises.”
 
She looked away.
 
“We have gone through the darkness of the night and approach the day.
 
You must ascend or I never will.”

“I do not remember how to be loved.”

Dahlia kissed him and touched his belt.
 
“I will show you the way, if you follow.”

“I will always follow.
 
I am ever yours to lead.”

Dahlia wrapped her arms around him and drew him down to the ground.
 
She sliced his belt in two with a fingernail and grabbed hold of his pants.
 
He held her wrist to stop her.
 
She put her lips to his ear.
 
“You will follow me.”
 

Lucifer let her hand go and raised his eyes to meet hers.
 
“Yes, but—”

“None of that.”
 
Dahlia kicked off his pants.
 
She slipped out of her skirt and lay beneath him, naked.
 
She took his hands and placed one on her hip, the other on her breast.
 
She slipped her hand in-between her legs and rubbed; a soft cry slipped out of her lips and reached his ears.
 

Lucifer watched her, mesmerized.
 
She reached up to guide him into her.
 
His limbs locked.
 
“I cannot.”

“You can.”
 
She trailed a hand up his leg.
 
“I want you, I have missed you.”

“I have missed you, but I cannot.”
 
He felt her heartbeat through her breast.
 
He sank down and kissed the place above her heart.
 
His tongue darted out, tracing her nipple.
 
Fire lit inside him.
 
He clenched his jaw and shook his head.
 
“No…”

Dahlia arched towards him.
 
“I am here, Lucifer.
 
I am waiting.”
 

He closed his eyes.
 
“I cannot, I am sorry.”

Dahlia reached down and placed her hands on his lower back.
 
She spread her legs and rubbed against him.
 
He gasped.
 
She kissed his lips and worked her way to his neck.
 
She massaged his back, lulled him into her embrace until he relaxed once more.
 
Dahlia locked her ankles around his waist.
 
She smiled into his skin and pulled him into her.
 
They both gasped.
 

Lucifer sputtered.
 
“I—I—”

Dahlia put her finger to his lips.
 
“Follow.”
 
She moved beneath him and he was lost to sensation.
 
Building desire took over.
 
His skin lit golden-white; blue fire flicked across the surface.
 
Dahlia’s red light mingled with his.
 
She held him tightly, not letting him go.
 

Lucifer thrust and kissed her, locking their lips together.
 
Euphoria crashed over them in waves.
 
Her desire mixed with his, making the division between them unclear.
 
They moved together, knowing each other, remembering.
 
Lucifer clutched her to him.
 
He pressed every inch of his body against hers, needing her to be his once more.

Dahlia’s breaths grew faster.
 
Her cries fueled him onwards.
 
Every sound she made healed his broken pieces and mended the soul deep fractures that bent and warped him.
 
With each pulse and movement, he regained what he had been, what he truly was.
 
He smiled into her skin and the shadow that covered his life began to peel away.

Dahlia scratched her nails across his wing scars.
 
He cried out and moved faster, harder.
 
Sweat made their skin slick, their movements frenzied, and their kisses deep and lingering.
 
He held her in a steel embrace, no longer thinking of what she could or could not handle.
 
He had to have this and it had to be deep.
 

Dahlia knew what he required.
 
Where her hands and hips guided he could not help but obey.
 
She brought him closer, kept him on the razor edge of ecstasy, until he begged for release.
 
She held him in place with her hips and whispered into his ear, “I love you.”
 

She pulled him inside of her as she cried out.
 
His voice joined hers.
 
The fire from his skin surged through the room, engulfing them in flames.

Gaea’s tree erupted into life.
 
Energy rushed outwards.

***

The planet stilled.
 
It recognized this force, this connecting of two things.
 
Berith and Apple reached the surface.
 
The sunlight appeared brighter, the air crisper, the colors more vibrant.
 
The plants around them bloomed in restored life.
 
Animals surged with strength and ran faster, flew higher than they had ever before.

Berith and Apple grinned at the sight.
 
Both had stripped out of their armor.
 
Berith looked around.
 
“That was
not
five minutes.”

Apple kicked him in the knees, sending him the ground.
 
“Who cares?”

***

“There has to be a reasonable explanation for what occurred in Tennessee!”
 
A politician spoke towards a TV camera.
 
“We have scientists working on it.”

“What occurred is the beginning of the Rapture!”
 
A minister waved a copy of the Bible from his seat.
 
“The End Times are here and all of you will suffer!
 
Those of us good enough to remain must be vigilant and watchful.
 
The Tribulation is upon us!”

“Hello, America.”
 
The moderator stepped in and the camera focused on him.
 
“If you are just joining us now, we are speaking about the disappearance of over seven million people—”

“Not disappearance,
Rapture
!”

The moderator raised his hands.
 
“Pastor Williams, we need to let our other—”

The pastor stood.
 
“
At the coming of the Son of Man.
 
Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.
 
Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left
.
 
This is—”

“But
everyone
there was taken!”
 
A celebrity guest rolled his eyes.
 
“Besides that, what do you make of the fact that the one that brought about your so called Rapture called himself Lucifer and grew horns!?”

The pastor went red.
 
“That was a sign from God, an image to warn us!”

“To warn us of
what
?”

“That the Devil is among us and the final war has started!”