by L-J Baker
"Oh, I don't know, my brother had me banished from my home, my siblings and father all kicked me out of their lives, and I've been basically alone for all this time. I can't imagine why I'd have some trust issues."
"You're completely right." Uriel leaned forward and rested her hands on her thighs, pulling her feet off the table." But that was a long time ago. Get over it already. I'm here. Either accept it, or tell me to leave, because I'm getting tired of apologizing."
Luc dropped his head back again. Even he was sick of his whining. The past was the past. He needed to find a way to come to terms with it and move on.
"I'm worried about Annalee's safety," he blurted out, not even sure why he would think about confiding in his sister.
"Because of Michael?"
Luc nodded.
"There was a time I would have thought Michael would never harm a human, that he wouldn't even consider letting an innocent get caught in the crossfire of any battle, but he's changed. I don't trust him anymore and I would be worried about the girl too, if I were you."
Luc would've preferred that she was concerned herself, but he hadn't really expected it. That wasn't who Uriel was. At least she wasn't downplaying his concerns.
"Harley insists I continue with the game, and to be honest, after meeting Annalee, I don't want to give up, but how can I put her at risk with a clear conscience?"
"The devil, with a conscience. Wouldn't the humans be surprised?" Uriel chuckled and leaned back in the chair.
"Can we be serious for a moment?" That's what he got for telling her his feelings.
"I'm sorry. Look, I get it, this girl could be your soul mate. You have to keep her safe. Maybe you should limit her time here? This is where the tablet is, so it's safe to say that this is where Michael will initiate the fight for it. How do you get into that safe, anyway?"
"Why?"
"Well, what if you, ya know, die? Someone should have access, don't you think?"
"What makes you think I haven't already trusted someone with that information?"
Which he had. Az knew exactly what it took to get into the safe and had the means to do so. He wasn't about to spread that information around though. It would put his brother at risk and Luc wasn't willing to do that.
"Have you?"
"Why did you ask me what was on my mind, if you were going to ignore it, and pry into things you have no need to know?"
"I didn't ignore it. I said to keep her away from here. Get a hotel room or something. Or go back to her place. Isn't that what modern women do these days?"
Luc got up and went back to the window. He wasn't in the mood to deal with his sister. He shouldn't have said anything to her about Annalee. What did she know anyway? The closest Uriel ever came to love, was with him when they were young. Then she chose their father's rules over her feelings for him, so it couldn't have meant that much to her.
"Sure, thanks. That's helpful." He poured another bourbon and drank the whole thing down.
"Oh, come on." She jumped up and joined him at the window. "Don't be like that. I really do care. When I heard through the grapevine that you were looking to settle down, I was happy for you. I want you to find the right woman."
"Does everyone know my private business?"
"Not everyone, but you kind of are the famous sibling, so people like to keep tabs on you. It's like the angels version for human reality TV." Uriel nudged Luc with her elbow. "Besides, I could win some serious credits if you pick the sin I bet on."
Luc turned to face his sister. "You're joking? Tell me you're joking. There are not really bets on which sin I'll end up with, is there?"
"I mean," Uriel shrugged. "I'm not the one who started it."
"Great." Luc shook his head and walked across the room, stopping in front of the mirror. He glanced at his reflection, not really interested in seeing himself. He'd been alive far too long to forget anything about that face. What he wanted to see was the face of his true love, whoever that might be.
"Is that what I think it is?" Uriel walked closer, touching her finger to the mirror glass. Her eyes widened and she looked at Luc.
"Not quite." Luc knew exactly what she meant. She wanted to know if it was the same as the one their father had. It wasn't, though it was close. It fell short in one very important way. "It doesn't look forward."
"That's too bad. It would help to see how things turn out, huh?" Uriel backed up, letting her hand drop to her side.
"Well, you could always ask dear old dad for that information. His mirror does do that. So if he doesn't already have all the answers, he could tell you with a few flicks of his wrist."
Of course, he wouldn't. Luc already knew that much, but it would be nice if he would. It certainly would save a lot of trouble, and probably lives, too.
"I've already asked him to tell me how all this will end. He refused."
"There's a real surprise." Luc leaned his back against the couch, still looking in the mirror. "Though I am surprised that you bothered to ask."
"He's not all bad, Lucifer. I know you've been away for a long time, but he's changed, mellowed out in his old age. I think if you gave him a chance, you might be able to patch things up."
It hadn't been long since Luc went to visit his father, to beg for his help in getting Harley returned safely. Not much seemed different about his father. He'd wanted to believe that could be the case when he got there, but by the time he left, he knew nothing had changed.
His instance that Luc give up his true love once her natural life ended, so that she could go to Heaven, rather than spend eternity with him, was cruel. It was exactly the kind of thing Luc expected from him. No, that wasn't true. It was worse. It was far more vindictive and mean than Luc thought he would be. His own father didn't want him to have happiness.
"You forget sister, I was just there. I saw no evidence of change in our father, except maybe for the worse."
Uriel frowned and patted Luc's arm. "I'm sorry things didn't go better for you there. I was hoping that you two could bury your differences and you could return home."
"Did you?" Luc laughed. "What makes you think I want to go home?"
He hadn't even thought about that possibility in longer than he could remember. Probably because it was never going to happen. That was until he met Annalee. For some reason, she made him think about things he thought he'd pushed down permanently.
"Oh, Lucifer. He misses you, ya know? And I know you must miss home, at least. Even if you don't miss him. It can't always be this way. You are both so stubborn."
"I'm not the stubborn one, sister. Father had the perfect opportunity here to extend an olive branch. He could have helped with Michael. Instead, he chooses to remain neutral, and risk everything he built, to that lunatic."
"But he has." Uriel took Luc's hands in hers and pulled him to face her. "He sent me."
It wasn't a surprise. Luc assumed their father had a hand in Uriel returning after she freed Harley from certain death at Michael's hands. But it was a small favor, at least for his father. Stopping Michael, or giving them a heads up when he would come, or even letting them know what Michael's motivation was, would have been real help.
Luc didn't want to fight his brother. He didn't want more to die. All he wanted was to keep the tablet, and the Earth, safe. Surely that wasn't too much to ask. Their father was the one who gave him the tablet to begin with. Why wouldn't he want to make sure it stayed where it was?
"And you think that was enough?"
"If anyone knows if it was, it would be him. Don't you have any faith in him at all?"
"No." Luc pulled his hands from Uriel's and turned away. "If you'd been treated the way I have, you wouldn't either."
"I'm sorry it's been this way for you," Uriel said. "I wish there was something I could do to make it better."
"You can. Help me defeat Michael and lock him in the Hell Box for the rest of eternity."
"That's a long time, Lucifer."
"Yes," Luc turned to l
ook right at her. "It's exactly what he deserves."
5
An entire week, with a smoking hot guy, that she gets to follow around, without it being creepy. Who wouldn't like that job? Anna tossed a few things from her closet on her bed and tried to calm the nerves in her stomach. Everything was riding on this story. Unless of course, she wanted to cover the local animal shelter events, or sloppy Joe day down at the soup kitchen, for the rest of her career.
The article needed to impress her boss and he wasn't easily impressed. The guy was a dick. And not just any dick, the kind that thought women should get married and raise children, rather than have careers. He had to think they were living a few decades earlier, or maybe even a century ago.
The only way to get stories with real meat, was to outshine the men in the office. Her story had to be better than good, or even better than great. It had to be perfect. It had to shine. That was a little hard when all she could think about when she was around Luc was getting him naked.
But she had a week.
"Trying to impress the hottie from the club?" Destiny barged in and flopped down on Anna's bed. She was in a bra and boxers, with a towel wrapped on top of her head. Certainly no body issues there.
"I'm just trying to be professional."
And that was the truth. She didn't want to wear anything that would come off as flirty, or sexy. She already had only a shred of self control around the guy. She needed him to have no trouble keeping it in his pants.
"Well, then wear this one." She held up a skater skirt, that would barely cover her ass. "Oh, with this." Then she paired it with a cropped turtleneck sweater that would put her middle on display.
"I'm trying to look like a professional journalist, not sex worker." Anna snatched the clothes from Destiny and tossed them back on the bed. If only she could fit in Georgia's clothes, it would be no problem. Georgia managed to keep everything covered better than an Amish girl.
And she was still getting laid more than Anna at this point.
"Fine. Wear the striped sweater, with the corduroy pants." She pointed to the pieces sitting on a chair in the corner. "He will barely notice you're around in that outfit, because I'm guessing that's what you're going for, right?"
"I'm just trying to do my job." Anna picked up the clothes she suggested and held them up against her in front of the mirror.
"Well, if you're not interested in him, maybe you can introduce me? I don't need to do a job there, unless he needs a little servicing." Destiny waggled her eyebrows a few times and poked her tongue through her cheek until Anna tossed a sweater on her face.
"Get out."
"Fine." She huffed. "But I'll find a way to meet him, so you better stake that claim soon, or he's fair game."
Anna slammed the door behind her and slipped out of her clothes. She put on the striped sweater and corduroy pants, examined her reflection, and shrugged. It wasn't awful. It was plain and average, completely unnoticeable.
Exactly what she needed.
Now she just needed to keep her thoughts focused on the story and not on its subject.
Luc noticed her walk in from across the bar. He had to do a double take at first. She looked like a teenager from the seventies. It was as if she was intentionally trying to blend into the background, when after just a couple hours with her, he knew she was born to stand out.
She was nothing like the other girls so far. If that meant that she was possibly the one, or not, Luc wasn't sure, but he was sure there was a difference. He felt it when he touched her, when he looked at her, or even when he heard her voice. The sound in his ears was like a melody that he couldn't get enough of. Sparks of electricity bounced in the air between them when she was close. It was unnatural, exciting, and completely unexpected.
Seeing her dressed in plain clothes, hiding her true personality, did nothing to change how he felt. The closer she got to him, the more charged the air around him became. He could easily imagine her without the clothes, so it made no difference. He might even have done a bit of that imagining early this morning before he dragged himself from his warm bed.
"Lovely to see you, Ms. James," Luc said, flashing her his best professional smile.
"Please, call me Anna." She shifted a messenger bag on her hip and glanced up at him through her lashes.
"But your full name is so beautiful."
"Well, Annalee is fine too." Her cheeks turned a light pink. "We can keep it formal-ish."
Luc took her hand and walked her over to a table in a quiet corner. Most days it was the place that Toby and Talia did their video game work, but today they weren't there, so the spot was free. It felt strange to sit there with Annalee, after he'd been there with Talia. She wasn't his soul mate, but he hadn't known that at first.
"Would you like a drink? Or maybe some appetizers?" Luc slipped into the seat across from her and waited for her to settle herself with her notebook and several pens.
"I ate, but a drink would be good."
"What would you like?" Luc held up two fingers to Harley and she started making her way over, in no particular rush.
"Well, it's only noon, so ginger ale?"
"And if it was after five?"
"I'd probably add some tequila in there."
"Let's pretend it's socially acceptable to day drink then. This is a club, after all. If you're going to shadow me, you'll quickly learn that we tend to drink like it's five pm, all day long."
Harley made it over, finally, and looked over Annalee like she was a shiny new toy. "What can I get for you?"
"Tequila and ginger ale, and bourbon." Luc kicked Harley from under the table to get her to stop staring.
"Sure thing." She stared a moment longer, then went to make the drinks.
"She's intense." Annalee let a small nervous laugh escape, then reigned it in. "So, what are we doing today?"
"What would you like to do?" Luc added a wink and half-smile, and got the expected reaction. She blushed. For some reason, he enjoyed making her flustered. She didn't seem like the kind of girl who normally had that reaction to a man, and he didn't usually go out of his way to elicit it from women, but again, she was different.
"I was thinking you could just go about your normal day and I could follow you around. You know, see what it's normally like for you around here."
The last thing Luc wanted was for her to see a normal day around this place lately. Who knew what that might include. Bloody messages above his bed? Demon attacks in his apartment? Break-ins, robberies, and murder? Those weren't the thing he wanted to expose her to. If he had his way, he would get her out of there, take her somewhere else like last time. But it wouldn't mesh with his cover story.
She was supposed to be shadowing him, writing an article on his life as a club owner. The story was important to her, so he had to at least make it work, but he needed to keep her safe at the same time. So that meant keeping her in areas where the mage put protections. It might not keep Michael out completely, but it was better than nothing.
"I suppose we could do that, but you have to have dinner with me after. So I can get to know you a little more. I don't really feel comfortable having a complete stranger around for a whole week seeing everything I do." Under normal circumstances, it would be completely true.
"You can just ask me to have dinner with you," she paused and met his eyes. "Without the excuses."
"Okay then." Luc's smile widened. "Have dinner with me."
Harley returned and set a drink down in front of each of them, smiled at Anna once again, and disappeared back to the bar.
"Is she hitting on me?" Anna looked after Harley, then at Luc.
"Probably not." Luc laughed. "But I wouldn't rule it out."
Anna took a sip off her drink and flipped open her notebook.
"Uh no," Luc said. "I thought we covered that yesterday."
"What?"
"The notes. Just relax and keep it casual." He nodded his head at her pad and took a long swallow of his bourbon. "Just t
wo people, getting to know each other. I would be willing to bet that by the end of the week, you'll have no trouble writing your article if you stick that thing back in your bag and experience this with me."
"It's just that I—"
"How about this? If you don't feel like you have enough by the end of the week, you can stay a whole other week and take all the notes you want?"
He watched her ponder the options in her head. His temples tingled with the desire to look inside her mind, to see what she was thinking, but he held back as always.
"I only have two weeks to do my research, write the story, and hand it in."
"So, you can take notes for five days then, and the last two will be to write… if you don't have brilliant ideas by the end of the first week that is. Deal?"
He kind of hoped she didn't feel prepared at the end of the first week, so he would have an excuse to have her around longer. But more so, he hoped that by the end of the week, he wouldn't need excuses to keep her around.
"Okay, deal." She held out her hand to shake on it and he accepted. "And I get to pick dinner."
"For tonight, anyway." Luc gulped down the rest of his bourbon and winked again. She didn't blush this time. He was a bit disappointed. He was starting to enjoy the way her cheeks pinked. It made him think about how they would look in the throes of passion and he couldn't wait to see the comparison up close and personal.
"Oh, so you think you're going to get multiple dinners out of this deal?"
"I hope so."
She took a few sips off her drink and they sat in awkward silence for a solid minute. Luc actually enjoyed the reprieve. She wasn't one of those girls who felt the need to fill every second with chatter. Awkward or not, she sat with it, tolerated the quiet, and relaxed more and more as the seconds ticked by.
Several locals started to wander in and take their usual spots at the bar. Harley served them drinks without a word. She memorized every order and anticipated their needs before they even knew what they were. For a demon, she was a damn good bartender.
"So, do you sit around and drink all day? Or do you actually do some work around here?" Anna asked, finishing off half her drink. The alcohol gave her courage, but the attitude was all hers.
