The sand at the riverbank is wet and packed down with wide foot-prints. Within the thick of the forest one would expect a bear or a cougar. But no, these prints belong to a man. His clothing lies strewn in the branches of a tree, taller than most men can reach. The river itself is cool, not as cold as in fall, but still pleasant on a day when the temperature is at its highest in years.
A snake slides out from beneath a blackberry bush, its scales darker than the fruit nestled within the thick leaves over its head. By this time next year it could either be that bush or honeysuckle growing, both of them warring for control in this part of the forest.
Lucifer really doesn't care.
He flicks his tongue out, slick and black, just like the rest of him. Men have found his scales in the past, some of the larger ones, and thought they were onyx. Silly little human games of wealth and pride.
As a snake he is longer than any man is tall by at least two times. The grasses part around him and the sand bows beneath his body, a long slithering track leading the to water's edge. Next to his head is the impression of a big toe, the scent of the man he's looking for still fresh on the granules of crushed rock and shell.
Even the water clings to his scent, desperate not to leave it behind. The current flows around his head as he slips in, the caress of it familiar and needed. Schools of river fish change direction as he enters and cray fish scurry under their rocks. If Lucifer had lips he would grin.
The trail floats around him as he heads upstream. Leaves and twigs make shadows on the water's surface, blurry and distorted by the time they reach him where he swims along the bottom. A catfish feeds on the corpse of a drowned rabbit, but rushes off as he approaches. The half-eaten carcass flows down past him and it isn't until he's gone that the catfish thinks it safe to move.
A small fall sits in front of him, not even a third of his length in height. Scaling it is simple, more fish flit around and away from him, some of them falling down into the river below. A pool sits behind the fall, deep enough for a grown man to wade in. That's exactly what he finds as his tail comes up over the edge of the rock. Strong legs dredge up sediment and rotting vegetation.
Lucifer winds through water grasses and finds the toe that made the track in the sand. The scales on his chin slide against the skin of the man's foot, but it remains still. It's so easy to wrap himself around the delicate curves of the tanned ankle, giving himself the needed traction to continue upwards.
The entire while the object of his search only jolts when Lucifer's head slides along the base of his cock. When he pops out of the surface he hears a gentle hiss between clenched teeth. The rest of his body slides along the sensitive human flesh and it hardens against him. He coils himself once around the thick midsection he's offered, skin tan and stretching out with rivulets of water rolling down.
Fingers skirt under his jaw, leading his head out and away, toward the sunlight. Hazel eyes narrow, both exasperated and fond. Lucifer's tail still touches the bottom with length to spare, the end of it curling around two toes. They wiggle in his grasp. Muscled midsection and shoulders shake around soft laughter.
In this form he can't speak aloud verbally and he's still much to excited to project his thoughts to his bonded, so he leans forward and flicks his tongue across the tip of his companion's nose in greeting.
A gentle smile curls the lips beneath, a drop of water being pulled into a dimple. Lucifer finds that he wants to reach his tongue out and taste the way the water's been changed after touching someone so beautiful. "Hi, Luc."
Lucifer butts his nose against the strong chin of the man holding him and settles his mind so he can focus on communicating. "Hello, Sam."
"Y'know, when the moon comes out, you're gonna pay for that." Sam tips his head down to gesture at his half-hark cock sitting in the water.
Sunset isn't far off now, the taller falls at Sam's back ignite across the top and the spray is dusted with color. An hour at most and Lucifer will be a man again, able to do more than wrap a coil of his body around Sam's length and tease. When night comes Sam will lay him out and open him up, spread him wide and love him until light pours over the horizon again.