He then used the fire to cook the meat, eating it and regenerating his health. From there, he took a rest, sleepy music playing as the stars moved in the sky above.
Lucian set the controller down, yawning.
He planned to pick it back up and at least play a little longer, but he fell asleep instead, awakened the next morning by a bright light.
He blinked his eyes opened and gasped. “It’s you…”
The angel took a step forward, and lightly placed her hand on Lucian’s bed.
Chapter Five: Pleasant Surprise
Lucian North almost equipped a weapon.
Startled, his two crows lifted in the air, Ezra standing and hissing.
“Lucian…”
“What…?” Lucian looked over the woman’s shoulder, assuming that there would be more angels, that she had brought the cavalry. He couldn’t see Grimzilla from his current position, but he sent his power forward to animate the giant mecha anyway, a whirring sound meeting his ears as it came alive.
The angel sat on the bed, surprising Lucian even more.
“Do you mind if I lie down?”
Lucian shook his head in disbelief.
“Okay, I can sit.”
“No, lay if you want,” he told Danira, moving aside just a little.
The angel, her wings now shrugging completely into her back, laid down onto her side, staring out across Lucian’s workshop as she settled her legs on the bed.
Lucian looked to Hugin, wishing that he had given his spherical creation the ability to express its emotions.
Lucian made a gesture with his face angled at Danira.
“Yes, I see that she is on your bed,” Hugin said in an androgynous voice, startling the angel.
She didn’t quite look at Lucian yet, but she did stir a bit. “It can speak?”
“Just that one,” Lucian said, shooing Ezra away.
The cat, defiant as ever, made his way toward Lucian’s feet and fell on his side, trapping them under the blanket.
“I’ve thought a lot,” Danira said.
“That’s great,” Lucian told her. He glanced back to Hugin and Munin, his spherical creations observing the two of them. He got the urge to shoo them away, but didn’t.
“A whole lot. I…”
“Can you summon your crows?” Lucian asked her. “Then they can go play somewhere else.”
Danira lifted her hand, a sparkling energy radiating from her fingertips and filtering away as her two cherub crows formed. They quickly took off, Lucian’s creations spiraling after them.
Lucian wondered at that moment if he should try to put an arm around her, that maybe she wanted some affection.
It was the vibe he was picking up, but…
He relaxed some, staring up at the ceiling of his workshop, remembering the reasons he was supposed to be mad at her.
“You betrayed me,” he said.
“I know.”
“You attacked me, ambushed me.”
“I had to.”
“But why?” Lucian asked, still resting on his back, Danira on her side, facing away from him.
“It was for appearances,” she finally said.
“For appearances?”
“One of the angels, Hashul. He started to notice something, and I did what I did to quell any rumors. I am…”
Danira turned to him, Lucian’s heart practically melting as he took in her features, the electricity between them cutting to his very core. Her blonde hair was pressed against the pillow, the blue paint still on her face as always, and she wore her lighter armor, Lucian doing everything in his power not to glance at her breasts, or the way her current position on her side pressed them together.
He focused again on the ceiling.
“You hate me.”
“You know that’s not true,” he told her quickly.
“Then look at me.”
Lucian turned to his side, a voice at the back of his head reminding him not to give in to any temptation. Then again, she was in his bed, clearly in need of some comforting…
“What’s wrong?”
Lucian had to laugh at that question. “Aside from everything? Nothing.”
“That bad, huh?”
“If you only knew.”
“I’m sorry. I…” She swallowed hard, the hard look on her face softening. “I prayed about it.”
“You did what?”
“I prayed about us, and I believe that this is the right thing to do, that He wants us to heal the divide between our two Progenies.”
Lucian took her in yet again, glad as hell that his predecessor had bailed.
Had Old Death been here…
And he couldn’t help but smirk at Danira’s reasoning for coming to him.
But he knew better than to say anything.
Lucian didn’t know how often he would find the angel lying in his bed, but now was certainly not the time to have a theosophical discussion.
“What’s that look supposed to mean?”
“I just…” Lucian couldn’t help but smile. “Nope, I’m not going to say that. It may be the cheesiest thing that has ever almost escaped my mouth in the presence of a woman.”
“I could use cheesy at the moment.”
“All right,” Lucian said, shrugging. “But I warned you. I’ve never had an angel in my bed before.”
Danira made a bit of a duck face before relaxing her lips, the angel finally laughing. “Maybe I didn’t need that much cheese.”
“I should learn how to conjure a pizza,” Lucian told her. “A good one too. Thin crust, wood oven-style. You know the kind we have on the East Coast. Go flat.”
“I’m more of a Chicago style pizza myself,” she said.
“I can do that too, but it gets a little soupy. But anyway…”
“I just want you to know that not only am I sorry, but I didn’t want to hurt you. And I am ready.”
“Ready for…?”
“To fix what’s wrong,” Danira said, Lucian’s nonexistent heart fluttering a bit even though that wasn’t exactly the answer he wanted to hear.
He quietly cursed this side of him, knowing that it was important now to understand more of why she came than to instantly try to take advantage of it.
“There’s a lot wrong,” Lucian said, his thoughts quickly shifting to his brother.
“There’s going to be a war unless we do something,” she said.
“I thought the war had already started.”
“Not quite. It has, but there’s still time, I guess I should say. I fought in the last war,” she said, her throat quivering. “I killed many of your kind. I have killed more Progeny of Darkness than I can count.”
“Shit, you’ve almost killed me,” Lucian reminded her.
“Yes, I have.”
“But that’s…”
She placed her hand on Lucian’s wrist.
And for a moment, they just looked at each other, Lucian feeling almost cleansed by the silence, able to see Danira in a new way.
She was always beautiful, with smooth and flawless skin.
But looking at her now, he could see the corners of her lips and how they almost formed dimples, the way the end of her nose curved up ever so slightly, the strands of her hair that were blonde and other strands that were brunette.
“Why do you always have blue on your face?” Lucian asked her.
“I thought you would never ask. I wear it to honor my heritage.”
“Go on.”
“The Akkadian women did a similar makeup style for a spring festival. I have kept it ever since. You may see some of the other angels doing something similar.”
“So you put makeup on every morning?”
“Do you put a dark hood and black clothing on every morning?”
“No, it just appears.”
“Can you change your features?”
“I can.”
“So can I.”
Her hair turned pink and then quickly morphed back to blonde.
“We really are a lot alike,” Lucian said, suddenly feeling foolish for his statement. “Let me rephrase: I mean our species, whatever we are, we are alike. Not you and I, considering our pasts. Well, maybe we are a little alike, sort of a pair of rebels.”
“Please. I’ve never been a rebel.”
“Yet…” Lucian looked to her and she shrugged.
“Yet I am in your bed. Is that what you wanted to say?”
“You’re the one that said it, not me. If you want to do things the old-fashioned way, I can make another bed next to mine and you can use that one.”
“I’m not here to sleep.”
“Then…”
“I’m here to make amends. I’m here to tell you that I’m ready to figure this out with you, whatever this is.”
Lucian didn’t know what to say. He found himself wanting to offer her coffee and chocolate, but he knew that doing so would cause her to sit up.
And he definitely didn’t want that.
Lucian hoped to gaze at her as long as humanly possible.
He could spend the rest of the day doing this, and if she got bored, he would suggest they play video games.
Anything to keep her in his bed.
“You should get different sheets,” Danira said, motioning to the black sheet and a duvet cover that Lucian had outfitted his bed with.
“What’s your bed look like up in…”
“You can say it.”
“Heaven?”
“What do you think it looks like?”
“I think that it is pretty big, definitely a California king. I would bet money that you have white sheets and blankets, maybe with gold trim. Lots of pillows. Like so many pillows, plus a bunch of unnecessary little throw pillows that women have for some reason. And then, yeah, there would be four posts. Maybe you have it sort of in a medieval style, with curtains you can close so you can feel like you are in your own little private sleeping pod.” He looked at her. “How did I do?”
“You aren’t far off,” she admitted with a wry smile.
“I figured as much.”
“I’m just glad to get all this off my chest,” she said. “It’s been a rough couple days. There is…”
Lucian’s expression soured.
“What is it?” she asked.
“My brother. His parasite is back; you aren’t going to believe this, but everyone in my family, my niece, Mom, and Sam, they all have the same death date now. Everyone, Danira. They are all scheduled to die on the same day. And I have no idea what to do…”
“Oh, no…” Danira said, looking as if she were choking back tears. “That’s horrible.”
“I can’t kill the damn parasite. I tried. Leliel tried too, although she’s not as powerful as she once was now that she’s a fallen angel. My plan for today was to go and meet Yoshimi, tell her about it, and see what she has to say. I’ve got less than a month. Otherwise, everyone dies. And then what?”
“I will help you in any way I can,” Danira said, true conviction in her voice. “You know I don’t have any real effect on that parasite, but I can help protect you.”
“Thanks, that means a lot. I have to see what Yoshimi says. She is the strongest one I know, well, maybe aside from…”
“Who?”
“Apparently the Death Hunter named Wyatt. Everyone’s telling me he’s one of the toughest out there, but maybe there are some others that I haven’t met. Probably. And that brings me to the other little situation I’ve found myself in.” Lucian exhaled audibly. “I told you that the Committee on Luminaries wanted me to produce my predecessor. Well, in case you didn’t know, that whole attack, or ambush, or whatever happened on the beach... all that was his idea, and I think he used Leliel to draw your group out as well.”
“He did.”
“Now as for Azazyel, that wasn’t planned. Obviously. Old Death claims that those at the top are working together to keep us, you and me, or others like you and me, at odds. That was his whole point in causing the big fight. And I believed him. Even though it seemed a little bit like a conspiracy theory. But then Old Death had a conversation with the head of the Committee, right before you showed up on the beach. And yeah, it definitely confirmed it in my eyes. Something is up.”
“I’ve suspected this for some time,” Danira said, her voice lowering.
“Anyway, the Committee’s enforcer, this woman named Mastima...”
“I’m familiar.”
“She believes it too. And she thinks that this guy named Gaspard, this other Death who was taken by Wyatt, will be able to do something about it. I don’t know why, to be honest with you. That guy, Gaspard, is a real piece of shit. Sorry, no cursing. So she wants us to go after him.”
“I want to go with you,” Danira said suddenly.
“What was that?” Lucian asked, giving her a funny look.
“I want to go with you to take on Wyatt. I owe it to you. Maybe I can help.”
Lucian didn’t know what to tell her. Of course, he wanted Danira to go with him, to be part of whatever he did over the next few days as he tried to grow stronger.
Even though she had betrayed him, he knew that he would do anything for her, that there was something about the angelic being that made him feel alive, feel wholesome.
But he couldn’t help but have this itching feeling that he was rushing in, that what she had proposed wasn’t necessarily the best solution.
“Come on,” she said, touching his wrist again. “I owe it to you.”
“I don’t know what Mastima will think about that,” Lucian finally told her. “And you definitely can’t go meet Yoshimi with me. She would kill me for that.”
“Well, how about I meet you later then? Where are you meeting Mastima anyway?”
“Oddly enough, I’m meeting her at the beach. Yep, the same one I always go to.”
“You and that beach.”
“What can I say? It’s one of my favorite spots. I would have killed to live in the neighborhood near there. I can’t imagine being able to walk down and enjoy that view every day.”
“Let me help you with Wyatt.”
“Yeah?”
She nodded. “And then we can continue to work on a solution to all of this.”
“I’ve got to admit,” Lucian said, finally placing his hand on hers. “When I wanted us to be close, I never thought it would mean this. And you said it yourself: you’ve killed a lot of my kind, not that I knew any of them or anything. I don’t think that anyone is going to forgive you all of a sudden. You know, let bygones be bygones. Nothing like that’s going to happen, but I don’t really care what any of them say anyway.”
“I didn’t expect the Progeny of Darkness to forgive me,” she said, removing her hand from his and placing it back on top, squeezing his wrist.
“You like being in charge, don’t you?”
“It depends on the scenario,” she said.
“Well, I’m not going to stop you from coming with me, but it’s going to be quite a surprise for Mastima. Technically, I haven’t even decided yet if I was going to go through with it.”
“But your family...” she said, a sadness taking shape behind her eyes.
The expression on her face was real, Lucian recognized its authenticity, that she meant what she was saying.
“If I can kill Wyatt, it’ll give me a much-needed power boost.”
“Then that settles it,” she said, pressing herself up.
“You don’t want to lay here any longer?”
“Maybe later, tonight,” Danira said, her back to him now, her head slightly tilted to the left so he could see a partial view of her face.
“Because I have got some pretty fun video games that we could play. You and me. Or we could just drink some coffee and eat some chocolate. Maybe get working on that pizza.”
Danira stood; Lucian wanted to reach out to her at that moment and pull her back in.
Instead, he sat up too, doing his best to keep things cool between them
.
He didn’t know what her intentions were, but he didn’t want to thwart any future plans she may have by acting like a dumbass.
“So I’ll see you on the beach then.”
“You sure you don’t want to stay for a cup of coffee?”
“Later,” she said, turning back to him, her wings slowly starting to form. Her golden crows raced over to her, spiraling around her once before disappearing. “And after that, we can play some video games. Maybe. But first, we handle business. See you on the beach.”
Chapter Six: Tomodachi
“Yeah, yeah,” Lucian told Hugin, who hovered before him. “I know it was unexpected.”
Lucian was now standing outside his workshop, a cup of coffee in hand as he stared out at the lake.
He was ready to go, but before he vanished, Lucian quickly brought up his stats.
He thought about spending a few Soul Points to create a new weapon, but even though he had a few ideas earlier, or at least he thought he did, Lucian was drawing a blank at the moment.
It was likely because of Danira.
He still couldn’t believe that she had shown up unannounced, and actually gotten into the bed with him.
He also couldn’t help but think that something could have happened, that he might have messed it all up.
But with the final sip from his cup of coffee, Lucian temporarily cast these concerns away.
There was no point dwelling.
What mattered now was speaking to Yoshimi about his brother, Connor, Mastima, and what had happened between the two Progenies on the beach.
Lucian hadn’t lied when he told Danira he would meet the female Death in Portland. He trusted her, but he had to be sure that there wasn’t a trap waiting for him.
And this was mostly for Yoshimi. He didn’t want her to be part of a potential ambush.
Lucian knew that he could call her to his location with the geisha comb that she’d given him, but he also felt like floating around for a moment, just existing.
He pressed his thumb and pinky finger together, appearing in Tokyo, hovering above Shibuya Crossing, a heavy rain coating the street, hundreds of people with their umbrellas out.
His cape swelled up, and billowed out, flattening quickly.
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