Coming of the Seraph

Chapter 7

†

Rosiel's castle was enormous, even by the standards of the accommodations allotted to other high ranking officers; and it was surrounded on all sides by a rolling forest of green and silver trees. The building towered several stories over the tops of the trees and had a single turret high enough to scrape low-hanging clouds. It was the perfect location for the Inorganic Angel to house two infamous fallen angels and ensure their presence was kept from prying eyes. Regardless of the privacy offered, he quickly and quietly ushered them into the mansion; excitedly speaking to the young Cherub at his side. The interior of the house was as ostentatious as the exterior, large paintings sat framed in solid gold and flowers tried to mask a lingering bouquet of gunpowder and blood.

"The maids won't give you any trouble, they've been instructed to stay out of your way." Rosiel glanced back towards his ex-angels and he pulled the soft waves of his hair over his shoulder. "Plus, they usually serve in silence."

"Rosiel-sama." Katan's frown tightened as he pulled a long charcoal coat over Rosiel's shoulders. "You should rest. You haven't had much sleep as of late..." The angel wanted to say that he'd invested too much time in the Demon Lord, but Rosiel would hear none of it.

"How was it Katan?" The Inorganic Angel smiled wide, pleasantly steering the topic back to his speech earlier in the evening. "I said everything I wanted to, just the way I wanted to." Katan glared behind him, Lucifer and his envoy had fallen back in a hushed conversation.

"...I'm worried." Katan admitted outright, and caught a glance of Azreal walking away. "You never know when Lucifer will turn on you." Katan's eyes found the Demon Lord again. He was leaning against one of the white marble supports with a smirk curving his lips. Dark gray eyes shifted and Katan's brows knitted together as they silently appraised each other.

"He... He aimed to take down the Creator and sought his victory with a blade. Though you think you've tamed him... Those eyes are the way they've always been."

"Don't worry so much about it, Katan." Rosiel said with a laugh, they'd gone over this once or twice and the Inorganic Angel felt his patience on the matter begin to ebb. "See?" The angel silently signaled Lucifer to his side as he held out his hand expectantly. Lucifer dipped to one knee and his lips brushed the porcelain skin of Rosiel's hand. The Inorganic madman smiled, satisfied with the gesture as proof of ultimate loyalty.

"Go get some rest, you're tired, no?" Lucifer didn't respond as Rosiel stood on tiptoe to brush their lips together. The angels watched the Demon Lord take his leave, and waited in silence until he disappeared from sight and sound.

"Besides..." The Inorganic Angel shifted his weight and freed a dark amber gem now set in gold from his hip; he dangled it back and forth for the Cherub. "As long as I hold the Blood Crystal his soul is compelled to obey my every command." Gold eyes watched with quiet wonder as Lucifer's blood, nearly black with age, swirled and rippled beneath the gem's surface.

"And Azreal. What have you done to control her?" Katan couldn't help but wonder if his master saw the same woman he did. He hadn't graduated from the ST Academy when it happened, and counted himself lucky that he wasn't among the countless victims she'd taken. She was insane, that had never been denied; but just being in her presence made it abundantly clear that something wrong was just below the surface.

"None actually." Rosiel admitted sheepishly. "But Azreal's loyalties have always been with Lucifer, she'll bend her knee for as long as she believes Lucifer's loyalty is genuine." Katan's eyes widened, unable to believe that there was nothing but Rosiel's unwavering trust in the Devil holding that dangerous vile woman in check.

†

"Say something." Lucifer demanded, his whisper betraying his agitation. But Azreal was distance and unfocused, silver eyes on the ground and she was noiselessly speaking to herself. She had slipped into a mania on the merkaba, screaming incoherently until Lucifer joined her after Rosiel's press conference. The woman's eyes had gone wide with dread and she pressed herself into a corner until the ship landed.

"Azreal." Lucifer came to a stop, his scowl deepened when she didn't; he reached for her arm and she blanched at the contact. She snatched her hand away and stared him down for a long moment.

"...real...!" She gasped as terror washed over her features. "...He's real...He's real..."

"I...I would like to go to my room!" Azreal shrieked to the maids and cleared some distance between herself and Lucifer. With swift nods that seemed more robotic than living the young maids turned to lead the woman to her room. Silver eyes gave the Devil one last look, she shuddered as that piercing indifference bore into her. When they rounded the corner the maniac woman nervously cast her eyes around, his apparition always followed and it tormented her with sweet words and ominous smiles. But he had touched her, and he hadn't faded away into someone else.

"It was him..." The woman muttered again and again, until the mantra began to clear away the fog of madness; just enough to remember her fear of Lucifer's company was outmatched when compared to the blistering rage of seeing Nanatsusaya in the hands of the Messiah. She snarled at the image of his hands taming that bestial sword.

He gave you that sword... It had been a show of His faith in her loyalty after Lucifer's war. But the sword had not been as kind to her as she had been to it. The Creator had said it had a soul and at first she'd taken it as a figure of speech, but the spirit inside Nanatsusaya hadn't stayed dormant for long. It had asked for her name in a voice that begged to be recognized. But it went unnoticed until he was in the corner of her eye and she was standing in a pool of angel blood.

"You're room ma'am." One of the maids squeaked and she kept her head down. Another youth unlocked the door and together they disappeared into the room, lights switched on and the woman entered the room with little hesitation. The white walls held intricate reliefs and ancient Enochian prayers that where offset by dark brown and bronze furniture and fixtures. A thick framed mirror hanging over the mantle of a fireplace offered a view into a similarly decorated bedroom.

"Ma'am..." The most senior of the maids stood in the doorway, her skirt exposing only half of her calves. She had her hands balled up stiffly at her sides and her breathes came in short fearful little spurts.

"What?" Azreal frowned, in the mirror she watched the maids wince, their fear was as unwelcome as their presence.

"Do you require anything?" The maid rushed and she silently prayed that the woman was similar to the man she accompanied; he was unkind and possibly cruel but kept his requests minimal.

"Yes. A change of clothing and an Ark Tablet." The girls fled the room, procuring the items while Azreal found her way into the bathing room. The bathroom bore dark wood walls and white fixtures, she started the water in the large glass shower; and in a few moments the glass became opaque. The fallen angel stripped out of the leather clinging to her body and paused to examine the bruise still fresh on her arm. Belial had said it was her own fault for picking at the IV and muscle underneath was sore and tender; and she felt her skin prickle as the restlessness of withdrawal set in for another attack. The hot water did little to settle the intensity of the craving her body had for opiates but the strain in her unused muscles melted under the torrent of water.

†

She didn't notice him enter the room and hardly reacted when he took a seat beside her on the dark sofa. With one arm draped across back of the sofa Lucifer busied himself with watching, she had her blue hair piled over her shoulder, splayed out to dry on the arm of the couch and she was dressed in silk the color of white sand with a split running to her hips. It exposed a black gossamer underskirt that refused to allow him more than a glimpse of her long limbs.

"What are you doing?" He inquired innocently as he watched her sharp features scan the datapad intently.

"Nothing." Azreal evaded and she didn't bother to hide the article she was reading; Lucifer's eyes scanned the rolling text, he made out few words as she skimmed the entries. His and her names among them.

"How did you get into the Ark database?" Lucifer raised a pitch black brow, as a faint smile touched her lips.

"Ezekiel hasn't deviated much." The woman offered simply, being twins meant that their serial numbers were only one number apart; and his password hadn't been difficult to guess.

"...Nanatsusaya no Mitama no Tsurugi." The simper on his features faded and his clear gray eyes narrowed fractionally. "The question I have Azreal, is why do you know about that sword?" He watched the panic slice through her calm demeanor for an instant, and just as quickly it was gone.

"Where did you get it and when?" He searched her vacant silver eyes for an answer, as she set the Ark Tablet on the nearest table and it allowed him a view of a newspaper headline that bore the terrible pseudonym attached to her name.

"Father..." She turned to face him "After... the last time we met. It was His gift..." Azreal stood suddenly, her steps took her to the doorway of the balcony; but strong hands reached over her to keep it in place. Azreal felt his body against her own, his warmth seeped through the thin silk and her stomach clenched in a bizarre fit of tension.

"You were betrayed by our Creator. Don't be blind to that anymore Azreal." Lucifer whispered against her ear, it sent a shiver down her spine and her gasp left a circle of fog on the glass.

"I know that." Azreal responded breathlessly. "But I need to know how that sword ended up in Alexiel's possession."

"I can tell you." Lucifer professed softly against the skin of her neck, he grinned sharply as her back arched against him.

"Then tell me." The fallen angel challenged and she steadied herself against the window, silver eyes shut as her body shook under the weight of the temptation he whispered against her neck. Lucifer's long tapered fingers absentmindedly stroked his chin, as he stirred memories that weren't entirely his.

"By the time she came to collect, that evil sword had passed through thousands of hands; all of them driven insane or to suicide." He inhaled the scent of moonlilies and subtle unrecognizable fruits. "Finding that they couldn't destroy it, Heaven sealed it away."

"Why did it give itself to her?" Azreal told herself to move, and as she committed to the thought she felt his nails scrape lightly against the tan silk over her spine. Her head tipped back against his chest and she gave him a bewildered mewl; a faint flush stained her cheeks as he took advantage of the newly exposed flesh. Lucifer moved his tongue in small circles across her neck and shoulder as his hands slid down the front of her dress. He stopped suddenly and turned her around; he contemplated her question for a moment, there were times when his own feelings and Nanatsusaya's were impossible to differentiate. The soul trapped inside that sword had loved her unconditionally and though his intentions had been different at first, something had brought him back to her decades later.

"I don't know the answer to that question." It hadn't been the first time he'd brought their lips together, but unlike that first time it wasn't to ensure his victory in a battle he'd already lost. It was far too eager and he was lost in the simple desire of pressing her pliant body against his own. They parted with short heavy gasps, and Azreal wasn't ignorant of the possessive gaze that swept over her. Those gray eyes bore the weight of desire and she felt her body betray a lifetime of service to a Creator who denied his first children a sensation as pure as pleasure.

"Come to bed with me." He whispered as she shook out a breath as his mouth closed over her jaw and worked lower as his hands roamed higher. "Please." He begged into the hollow of her throat and her fingers dug into his shoulders as she nodded desperately.

†

Azreal woke up to the unfamiliar warmth of a naked body pressed against her own, and in the moonlight she saw Lucifer's arm under her head with his fingers clutching at a length of her dark hair. She watched his hand flex softly and he gently entangled his hands deeper in the strands of blue, she knew right away that he was awake. The soreness between her legs intensified when one of his arms moved from her waist to her hip, and settled only when exhaustion took her back to sleep.

Afterthoughts

Nothing really explicit happened so the rating won't be changing. I'm throwing around the possibility of writing what exactly happened between them. But it will probably be posted on the tumblr I keep for the story! Thats right, you can get up close and personal with COS and take a look at what inspires me to keep this story going.

comingoftheseraph is the tumblr handle

Stop in and say hi!