Lucifer stood at the window of the chalet and watched as large flakes from the waning storm floated lazily to the ground. While the snow glistened white in the moonlight, still it reminded him of the ever-present rain of ash in Hell. Something that was surprisingly high up on the list of things he decidedly did not miss about his celestial punishment was that constant presence. It was impossible to keep the relentless residue from landing on everything, and each cinder it carried with it the stench of suffering.
Snow's resemblance to the ashes of damnation was one of the reasons why he'd opted for a more southern climate when he'd decided to take his little sojourn to the mortal realm. Well, that and the abundance of scantily clad humans. Beaches made for much more tantalizing feast for the eyes than snow-covered ski hills. Beaches were also wonderful locations for collecting a variety of sexual partners.
Another of the many perks of life in LA; the abundance of eager young people looking for a foot in the door which would allow them to ascend to the ranks of the rich and famous. And the vast majority of them willing to take their clothes off and do just about anything to open that door. It made for a plethora of enthusiastic playthings who were typically agreeable to any suggestion so long as they believed that you had a connection or a hook that could advance their career. He did, of course, and he had put many of his conquests in the right place at the right time to impress individuals who could enhance their standing in their chosen avenue of fame or power.
He chuckled to himself as he lifted his glass and took a slow sip. It felt like a different lifetime when he'd allowed such factors to influence his decisions. True, it was only a dozen years ago, barely a blink for an immortal, but it felt like eons since he'd decided to purchase the dingy fight club that he'd since converted into the go-to hotspot that was Lux.
A grin curved his lips as he realized that even his own personal playground no longer held the appeal it once did. It had been years since he'd spent the evening carousing amongst the sweaty masses in the club, consuming ridiculous quantities of alcohol and narcotics while he lounged in one of the booths like a king on his throne. And oh, how the peasants had flocked to him; each with their own narcissistic desires, all thinking they were so very unique while in reality they were so mundanely the similar to those who came before and after. True, there had been a few who had come to him with genuinely unselfish requests, but they were certainly the exception rather than the rule.
While he did still enjoy occasionally taking to the piano in the evening, he much preferred to remain upstairs with the two women who had become the center of his existence. As he thought of them, the grin now widened into a genuine smile. His life had been turned upside down in so many remarkable ways since Chloe and Beatrice had come into it, ways he certainly had never even fathomed were possible for him.
He absently ran his thumb across the platinum wedding ring he'd been wearing for nearly a year now. It felt different against his skin than the one he'd worn when he'd married Candy so long ago. He knew it was because the marriage to Candy had been strictly a business transaction. While they had been legally married, they had never consummated the relationship, and the annulment had been finalized ages ago. He had been surprised by himself at the time, he really didn't understand his own reluctance to sleep with Candy. She was stunning and it would have been simple enough to charm his way into her bed, but he'd had no desire to do so. Looking back he realized it was because even then, he was already deeply in love with Chloe. Bedding Candy would have been unfair to both women.
The band he wore now felt as much a part of him as his own skin. More to the point, it felt as though it belonged there, like a missing piece that he'd not realized he spent millennia searching for. From the moment that Chloe had slipped it onto his finger, wearing it had felt right. A silent, ever-present statement to all that he belonged to her in every way. He knew that no matter what circumstances would come, he'd wear that ring until the end of his days. Like Chloe, it was intrinsically a part of who he was, now and evermore.
He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs behind him. He caught the reflection in the window and his smile softened
"What in the world are you doing up at this hour, my little Urchin?" he asked quietly as Trixie came to his side. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and hugged her gently. He kissed the side of her head as she wrapped her arms around his middle and squeezed him tightly. At sixteen, she was a young woman now, but he still used her childhood nickname when he spoke to her. He'd started calling her Beatrice around the time that he and Chloe had gotten married. She'd confided to him shortly thereafter that she missed him calling her Urchin, admitting that she enjoyed the unique interaction that had been part of their relationship since they'd first met. Since that afternoon, he only called her by her given name when in public; when it was just family, she remained his Urchin.
"Apparently my brain doesn't compute time zones well," she acknowledged. "Right now, I don't know if I want to eat, work out or watch TV, but the one thing my brain does not seem to want to do is sleep. What about you? How come you're up?" She leaned into his one-armed hug as she spoke. She'd always felt so safe when she was around Lucifer. Even now, just standing with him like this she felt more at ease. She'd never been able to explain it, but she supposed it was because from the first time she'd met him, she'd been drawn to the light she sensed within him. She often thought of herself as a moth, inexplicably lured toward the brilliance which emanated from him, even though he didn't see it himself.
"Touch of the same, I suppose. I was restless and I didn't want my tossing and turning to disturb your mother, so I decided to see if a nightcap would help me settle in," he admitted. "How about I make you some hot cocoa, maybe that will help relax you."
A broad, energetic smile came to her face as she watched the delicate snowfall and an idea suddenly occurred to her. "That sounds amazing, but first… I just had a great idea," she insisted. She pulled away but wrapped her hand around his and drew him across the large open space toward the door where their coats hung. She knew he was allowing her to lead him; he was immensely strong and if he didn't want to follow her, all he would have to do would be plant his feet and she'd not be able to move him shy of wrapping a tow chain around him and pulling him with her car.
"What in the world has gotten into that head of yours, child?" Lucifer asked as he followed her. He sat his glass on the kitchen island as she dragged him past it.
"You'll see!" Trixie replied enigmatically as she reached the door. She grabbed his coat and pushed it into his hands. She nudged his boots toward him with her foot as she slipped her own jacket on. She giggled as he looked at her with an expression that clearly questioned if she'd lost her mind. She tugged her boots on and wrenched the door open before ducking behind him and pushing him out the door.
"Beatrice Espinoza, it's the middle of the bloody night and you're in pajamas. If you catch pneumonia you mother will kill us both," he commented as he walked out onto the porch.
"Less talking, more walking," Trixie snapped as she pushed on his lower back. She was careful to keep her hands low so that she wouldn't put pressure on the spots where his wings emerged from. He'd never said anything, but she imagined that anything pressing on or hitting the area might injure his wings, so she was always cautious to make sure she didn't touch his upper back. His wings were too beautiful to take even a small risk injuring them in any way.
Once they had reached the bottom of the steps she grabbed his wrist and pulled him out into the snow on the front lawn area of the property he'd rented for them. After dragging him out about a dozen feet from the foot path, she let go of his wrist and moved several feet away from him. "Turn and face the house," she said, her breath hanging in front of her in a vaporous cloud for a moment before drifting lazily away.
Lucifer sighed, his breath creating its own cloud as he looked at her and wondered if she'd secretly started nipping into his whiskey when he and Chloe weren't watching. He knew she hadn't, but surely intoxication would provide an explanation for her erratic behavior. Still, as he usually did, he indulged her request and turned to face the house.
"Now fall back," she told him.
"Now what?" he asked as he looked at her. She responded by simply smiling, stretching her arms out at shoulder height and wordlessly falling back into the snow. She giggled as the large, light flakes scattered around her in a cloud. "You have undoubtedly lost your mind, child," he remarked as he watched the flakes settle onto her face.
"What's wrong, is the devil afraid of a little bit of snow?" Trixie teased. "Come on, just do it. Please, for me…" She smiled as she looked up at him. She could already see that she'd get her way; he could resist her requests only slightly longer than he could resist her mother's.
Trixie's smile grew as she heard him mutter "Bloody Hell…" before straightening his posture and allowing himself to fall back. A few seconds later she heard what she was sure was him spitting out snowflakes that had landed in his mouth.
"Now move your arms and legs like you're doing jumping jacks a bunch of times." She listened for a few seconds and heard no movement. "Oh, come on, you're already in the snow. This is the fun part!"
"Fun part?" he asked. He then sighed and obliged her. He felt utterly ridiculous and was suddenly extremely grateful that the cabin had no neighbors within several miles. "There, I've done your absurd horizontal jumping jacks. Now what?"
"Stand up, but don't mess up the design that your arms and legs cleared," she instructed him. She stood and saw him do the same. She followed her tracks in the snow back to him then pulled him a few feet back toward the house before turning to look at the two voids left in the previously undisturbed field of white. "Bet that's the first time that an actual angel made a snow angel," she beamed at him as she pointed to the spot where he'd been.
"Snow angel?" he asked her. Maybe an early sign of hypothermia was delusions.
"Yeah, look at the pattern in the snow. The head, the wings and the robes," she pointed to the depression made by his head, then his arms and lastly his legs. "Snow angel, made by my favorite actual angel." She curled into his side and hugged him tightly as she looked at the two snow angels. She was pretty certain he was about to say something sarcastic, but he simply stood there hugging her back as the last of the large flakes from the evening's storm finally drifted to the ground. They stood there in the silence of the snow-covered night for a few moments before she looked up at him. She couldn't read the expression on his face. He was staring at the shape in the snow, then looked down at her.
"How is it that you always somehow manage to see something that isn't there?" he asked her quietly.
"What do you mean?" she inquired, her forehead creasing.
"You know I'm the devil, yet you insist that you see me as an angel," he said softly, the cloud of his breath hanging between them as though the words themselves were trapped in the silver moonlight.
"Because you are an angel," Trixie replied as she shifted away so she could face him properly. "Your devil form, the things you did when you were on the throne of Hell, that's not who you are; that's who you were tasked with being and doing. None of that changes the fact that you're an angel. It doesn't dim the light that comes from you or take away your wings. It also doesn't change the fact that you're one of the most awesome people I've ever met. You have always been, and you will always be an angel, Lucifer. Even if you don't see yourself that way, I do, and I know my mom does too."
He stared back at her in amazement, not knowing how to respond to her words. It had taken him so long to accept that Chloe saw him as the angel he'd been rather than the devil he'd become. He knew that Trixie was oddly unafraid of him; even after she'd seen his devil form for the first time she'd never experienced fear. It had taken her a few days to stop looking at him like he was going to spontaneously turn red and she'd had seemingly endless questions after the initial shock had passed, but he never felt even a moment of fear from her. Since then, he'd never thought that she saw him as anything other than the devil though. True, she'd seen his feathered wings several times, but he'd always presumed that the devil image was the predominant one in her mind.
"So, does that hot cocoa offer still stand? My hands are getting cold," Trixie commented as he continued to look at her like he was trying to decipher a code or solve a puzzle.
"Of course." He nodded. Before they started back into the house, he spontaneously pulled her into a full hug and held her tightly.
"I love you, Lucifer. For the record, you are an angel, but you're also the best step-devil ever," she said teasingly as she uttered the play on step-dad that she'd been using since he and Chloe had gotten engaged.
"You are a true treasure, Beatrice. I love you too, my little Urchin."
