Death's Requiem

By: Ryu Niiyama

Chapter 4

Azrael let out a squeak and disappeared from Ella's embrace. Stumbling forward for a moment at the angel's abrupt departure, Ella huffed and threw her hands up in exasperation.

"Aww, come on Rae-Rae, not again!"

Before the human could begin to pray, the Angel of Death reappeared, a small potted sansevieria in one hand and a bouquet of lego flowers and origami roses in the other. Ella let out a wet snort as tears sprang to her eyes at the sight of her beloved bearing gifts. Azrael wanted to make the gesture of giving flowers, but she knew that Ella wasn't fond of gifts that died. The sansevieria plant is hard to kill and it also had the added benefit of cleaning the air. The false flowers were pretty, nerdy and would last forever. They were perfect, given by a lover that knew Ella better sometimes than she knew herself.

Azrael preened a little at the overcome look on Ella's face before she moved to set the items down on her human's dining room table. Ella followed and when the Angel of Death turned around, the forensic scientist was behind her and she reached out and cradled Azrael's face. Slowly, she leaned in, only pausing when she was a few inches away from the Angel of death's lips.

"Please, don't run Rae-Rae. Is this…is this ok?"

Azrael bit her lower lip subconsciously, only serving to give Ella's libido a very unneeded kick. Yet the angel nodded softly and Ella smiled before leaning in and closing the distance between them. She wasn't sure what she expected, but she certainly wasn't expecting Azrael to kiss her with such tenderness and meticulously consuming affection. Ella didn't push to deepen the kiss but she honestly didn't have to, as the feel of Azrael in her arms and the sweet taste of her lips was more than enough. Kissing Azrael was better than every teenage and adult fantasy that she'd ever had; the press of the beautiful angel's lips against her own was an act of perfection and bliss.

When they parted, Ella had to struggle not to pull her beloved back close, tension torquing her body as fire coursed through her veins. She wanted Azrael in a way that she'd never desired another lover, but she also wanted to take things slow. This was her first love, her best friend…the last thing she wanted to do was to mess things up by rushing things. Yet she felt like she was at war with herself, as she cried out internally at the warmth of Azrael's body against hers, the press of their breasts as they held one another, dovetailed perfectly. She could feel the easy strength in Azrael's delicate hands and she had to struggle to keep from leaning deeper into the angel's embrace.

Yet somehow in that moment she knew just what to do, as she moved her arms to cup the slightly smaller Celestial's shoulders and she began to rock them in an impromptu dance. Azrael let out a laugh of pure joy before her hands moved to Ella's hips and she held her gently, beginning to hum softly with perfect pitch.

Ella swooned a bit into the deceptively strong embrace of the Silver City's former gatekeeper and her hands ran firmly up Azrael's back, suddenly confused at the smoothness of it. She knew that Lucifer used to have scars where he'd cut his wings off, the idea of which making her slightly nauseous and upset, but Azrael felt entirely human beneath her robes. As wonderful as this moment in her beloved's embrace felt, she still felt like Azrael was shutting her out. Ella held on to the peace and love of the moment for as long as she could, before she pulled back, not surprised that the powerful angel let her go with ease. Not wanting to offend or hurt her dearest friend but wanting to reach her…never wanting to see the Azrael that thought that she was someone to be feared ever again, Ella knew she had to ask.

"Why are you holding back Rae-Rae? I'm pretty sure that one of the feature sets of being an angel is that you have wings. I know you can hide them. Lucifer did that once, but he unfurled them the last time I saw him."

Azrael got a distinct look that was a cross between anger and wanting to toss cookies, and Ella smirked as she realized that her Rae-Rae was jealous that Ella saw Lucifer's wings first. Well, she supposed that was fair, because she was certainly nervous about how many humans Azrael might have loved. She was almost positive that Azrael was a virgin, not that it really mattered, but the Angel of Death had literally met every human that had ever lived, surely this wasn't her first time in love? What other souls, living or dead, did Ella have to compete against? It was selfish and irrational to want to be the only one that Azrael had ever loved in this way, but the diminutive Angel meant so much to her…and she wanted a chance to atone for sending her beloved away.

She wanted to be the one…the only one to become Azrael's lover.

"I'm afraid, Ella." The soft whisper tugged the human woman from her own fears and wants, calling forth the need to attend to her dearest friend and truest love. Carefully, she cupped Azrael's cheek and the petite angel leaned into the caress briefly before raising her eyes to meet Ella's gaze.

"Why?" Azrael gave the impression of shifting a bit, even though she didn't move as far as Ella could detect, leading the human to assume that the Celestial adjusted her wings. The Angel of Death grimaced a bit before exhaling, gathering her thoughts in a fashion that Ella recognized instantly.

"You don't understand. Our wings, they are…personal. To show them is to reveal divinity…to reveal my soul. I am an Angel, Ella and I think it hasn't truly hit you yet what that means. I am the living embodiment of everything that you believe in and a great deal that you don't…can't understand." Azrael looked a bit upset, like she wasn't explaining herself to her satisfaction but not sure what else to say. Ella moved forward and brushed her lips over the bridge of the angel's nose, where her disguise glasses used to rest when she hid her identity. The action seemed to calm Azrael to some degree, her face less pinched and her eyes less melancholic.

"Nothing has changed Rae-Rae. Not the important parts anyway. Just you and me against the world…well universe, I suppose would be more accurate now. As long as you want me, I'm with you."

Ella held Azrael and looked into her eyes, projecting all of her love and warmth, before she raked her blunt nails slowly down either side of Azrael's spine. The angel tilted her head back, her eyes sliding closed sensually as she shuddered slightly and let out a harmonic moan that Ella felt in her sexual core. Her eyes widened as her normally cute, beautiful, funny angel walked right over the line into painfully sexy territory and she gulped, wondering if she should be careful what she wished for. After all, she still remembered the story of all the lovers of Lucifer that Decker had to interrogate and how every single one of them firmly said that the fallen angel was the best lover they'd ever had. Considering that Lucifer bedded his partners without an emotional tie, Ella was starting to wonder if she'd actually survive lovemaking with Azrael, who returned her love. Still, she couldn't help but smirk knowing that she, a lowly human had wrung such a reaction from the Angel of Death.

Wanting to offer comfort and but still on edge as her body tried to spontaneously combust, Ella opted for irreverent humor instead. After all, she learned from the best.

"Sooo, your back is sensitive?"

Azrael snorted and then glowered prettily at her human even as she struggled not to preen, very much aware of how she was riling Ella up. She decided that there might be something to this new feeling of sexual dominion, not that Ella would ever be anything other than her equal in her heart. It was...nice knowing that she was the reason that Ella's heart was racing a mile a minute currently when she'd once believed that she'd have to wait until Ella died to tell her the truth. Death's Messenger hadn't thought it possible to love someone as much she loved her family, but Ella Lopez wrote her own rules, and Azrael loved playing by them. Smirking, she attempted to look a little less frazzled than Ella assumed she was, trying to remember just why she needed to take things slow.

"I've got extra limbs on it so yeah, smartass. Stop looking at me like that!" The smug, knowing look on the forensic scientist's face was both arousing and annoying and Azrael huffed a bit in response.

The diminutive angel decided that turnabout was fair-play as she untucked her wings but kept them invisible and she easily stroked a pair against Ella's arms even as she lowered a pair to stroke against the back of the human's thighs and her buttocks. Ella's eyes widened at the foreign sensations for a moment, as her eyes darted about trying to see just what was touching her, before the muted energy of Azrael's divinity hit her and she let out a shuddering gasp that exhaled in a low moan.

"…oh, fuck…"

Azrael's eyes widened at the profanity and she forced herself to focus on the reaping of a snake in Istanbul so that she could calm down. She had to stay calm because if she didn't…if she didn't… Ella wasn't leaving her home until Monday…if then. Ella leaned back a little, forcing the invisible wings to take a bit more of her weight, and Azrael instinctively embraced her more closely, even as the angel had to fight herself to keep from unveiling her divinity. Ella let loose another moan and a soft shimmy that was doing Azrael absolutely zero favors in her struggle to maintain her composure. Then as soon as the moment came, it left as Ella's agile mind struck upon an epiphany.

"Wait a second…so that's you being in wet blanket mode?"

Ella didn't realize it was possible to look both equally indignant and aroused at the same time until Azrael aptly demonstrated for her. "Really? Wet blanket?" The human giggled as she could clearly hear the unspoken 'why I oughta…' underneath the angel's words.

Ella grimaced in embarrassed desire as the feeling of a pair of Azrael's wings 'cupping' her ass provocatively immediately derailed her train of thought, even as it sparked a bit of curiosity about the structure of said wings. Blinking, the human struggled to backtrack to her place in the conversation. "Sorry...I mean…"

"-And that doesn't creep you out?"

Ella arched an eyebrow at the pendulum of reaction, used to it and in some ways having long since incorporated it into her own personality, knowing it was a byproduct of an agile mind as Azrael quickly dissected the conversation and weighed it against her own expectations. It was cute that her angel was so concerned about her acceptance even though the idea of rejecting a perfect warrior that also happened to be her best and oldest friend was literal insanity. Wanting to alleviate her angel's concerns while not entirely sounding desperate…because at this point a long sultry look from Azrael would set her off, she opted again for humor.

"Um... you are normally described as having a body full of eyes and tongues for every person alive…so you having more than two wings isn't weird…although the tongue thing might be fun…"

Azrael exhaled. "…I'm not sure if I should be charmed or offended right now." The angel waggled her eyebrows to soften her remark, but their longstanding friendship allowed Ella to hear what Azrael was really saying.

"Ok, ok…I get it…you aren't ready. Rae-Rae that is ok, please don't think that it's not." The disappointment that flickered over the angel's features broke Ella's heart because she knew it was self-directed.

"But you want…"

"I want you. I've always wanted you. And yes, hot and sweaty is crowding out a lot of my coherent thoughts, but if you slept with me to appease my humanity or something and not because you wanted to be with me, that would be awful. I'm guessing by your initial reaction and how your brothers get around, you aren't immune to desire-" Ella paused when Azrael's face scrunched up in the universal expression for squick/TMI.

"Eww. Can we not bring my brothers into this? But no…I do want you Ella, greatly…desperately… but I have to be careful. I don't want to hurt you…and I could …by accident."

Ella nodded, accepting that she was dating a supernatural warrior outside her own species, so there would have to be some ground rules. And she did want to romance Azrael…it was just really difficult to think about that when the angel was lighting Ella up like a festive tree. "Ok, then we can take it slow…kissing is nice. But…um, can I feel them even if you won't let me see them?"

Azrael twitched, suddenly hyper aware of the fact that Ella's hands were at the small of her back currently.

"I…I can't."

"Oh…" Ella tried not take it as a rejection, but surely she wasn't so fragile that Azrael could never be herself around her was she? It was bad enough realizing that Azrael had gone more than a decade without touching her merely to maintain her ruse. To have a lifetime of her angel hiding from her would be devastating. Lost in thought, the human found herself humming softly as she felt all six pair of wings embrace her warmly, Azrael shushing her soothingly.

"No, its not what you think…if you touch my wings right now…I'm gonna put you on your back and ravish you. I mean that's just what is gonna happen…" Ella let out a squeak at that thought as her mind started working overtime, fantasies and questions flying across her Id at a breakneck pace. The human turned stark, yearning eyes upon her beloved knowing full well that Azrael picked up some passionate devastation she'd caused in Ella, demanding with her gaze that her angel take responsibility.

"Are you trying to dissuade me cuz…it's not working…like at all."

Azrael deliberately removed her wings from Ella's body entirely, tucking them away and the human whimpered a bit before nodding.

"Got it. Taking it slow. Ok. So, we can still make out though right?"

"Oh yeah, I really like that part." The diminutive angel suddenly swept Ella into her arms and carried her over to the nearby couch to show her just how much that idea appealed to her. In a show of effortless strength, Azrael lay her human down upon the soft furniture and carefully straddled her, moving her hands to stroke at Ella's hip and to cup her cheek. Smiling with gentle reassurance, wanting to remind Ella that no matter what she would always be her touchstone, the angel leaned down and feathered soft kisses over the human's brow, cheeks and nose. Ella giggled softly, equally charmed and aroused as she looped her arms around the smaller female's neck and bridged the gap between them, kissing her beloved with a tenderness that belied the desire that burned within her soul.

Azrael moaned in that sonorous tone that was pure divinity as she pressed a little closer, deepening the kiss between them. Carefully, the angel slipped warm fingers beneath Ella's shirt, a sailor moon print by the way, stroking firmly enough to keep from tickling the human. She loved the texture of Ella's skin, the silken softness and she couldn't help but let a little of her power seep into the human through their connection. Azrael traveled through their happiest memories together, pushing them to to the forefront of Ella's mind, showing her human in her own way all the aspects of their shared love. If Ella wanted it, this would be a love that would endure a lifetime, and when it was time for Ella to take her final rest, Azrael would be there for her, ready to love her for eternity.

Ella let out a ragged, sobbing groan into Azrael's mouth, which the angel greedily consumed, responding eagerly to the connection between them and raking a hand roughly down her dearest one's back. The Angel of Death jerked forward, losing control for a moment, accidentally tugging at some of the more carnal fantasies Ella had tucked away in her mind. Both females groaned at the heat that was steadily building between them as they traded sensual, devastating kisses and Azrael's hand inched higher when Ella began to rock and writhe against her. Struggling for clarity, the angel carefully navigated them towards more innocent memories before gently cutting their connection, her kisses becoming more soothing than inflaming. Ella whimpered in response, breaking their kiss so that she could bury her face in the crook of Azrael's neck, understanding why the angel sought to cool their ardor, even as a small part of her rallied against it. Azrael crooned softly, pressing lingering kisses anywhere she could reach until Ella calmed enough to seek out her lips again.

The two held each other, intertwined in a comforting tangle of limbs, trading kisses and soft whispers of affection. Though Azrael never stopped reaping even as she focused on her beloved, she stayed with Ella for hours, holding her and partaking of the sweetness of her lips until exhaustion finally tugged the human woman into slumber. Gently, the Angel of Death carried Ella to her bedroom and tucked her human in, whispering her love to the quiet night, answered only by Ella's contented sigh even as she drifted deeper into her sweet dreams.

Azrael could only hope that Ella saw her within her dreamscape as well. With a bright smile, the angel let herself go invisible as she tucked herself into dark corner of the room to fully attend to her duty, reaping souls and keeping watch over the woman she loved.

A few days later, Ella decided that 'taking it slow' had to be worse than any torture that Hell could concoct. She couldn't focus on work, and she was uncomfortably wet and swollen half of the time. Even worse she had to try to keep a firm reign on her thoughts so Azrael wouldn't think she was some sort of a sex addict. Maze had noticed instantly when she stopped by the lab briefly, and had alternated between cracking jokes and describing her own sexual escapades that Ella's brain helpfully put herself and Azrael in the leading roles instead of the bounty hunter. Yet how could she be anything other than so ready that she thought she might combust flames of frustrated desire?

Her oldest, dearest friend and the keeper of her heart, returned her feelings and as an added bonus was hands down the sexiest yet most adorable being on the earth. Not to mention the best kisser Ella had ever taken into her arms. Perfection was starting to become more than Ella could handle. The forensic scientist had never been one to be impatient about sex, but she was starting to think that it was possible to die from blue ovaries. True love apparently took the dial for desire and went past 11 and then broke it off so it couldn't be turned back down. She respected Azrael's objections and even found her angel's chivalry to be sweet, but she was going to literally jump the Angel of Death if this kept up. Groaning softly at her plight, Ella decided her best bet was to make a concentrated effort to focus on work for the time being. Especially since Azrael was being considerate and not just randomly popping up in her lab or at crime scenes lately. It wasn't exactly the angel's fault that she wound Ella's libido like a spring, and Ella swore she could be an adult about the whole thing.

Maybe.

The day had been decently uneventful from Ella's perspective, as she spent most of the day with the Medical Examiner going through autopsy reports for some other cases she had on the docket. She hadn't seen Lucifer and Decker had called out sick, which was unusual as Chloe Decker only really missed work if something was wrong with Trixie or now that Ella knew Lucifer's true nature…if something was wrong with Lucifer. "Hopefully Deckerstar is getting some action since Ellazrael isn't…or should it be Lopezrael?" The human was so busy trying to ponder her couple name with Azrael as she entered her home that she almost missed the quiet hiccup that sounded from her couch. Immediately the human locked her door and dropped her bag, before rushing to the angel curled up upon its cushioned surface.

"Rae-Rae? What's wrong?"

The angel looked up and threw her arms around Ella, sobbing quietly into her neck. Not wanting to startle her when she was obviously upset, Ella looped her arms around Azrael's waist and rocked her gently. "It's ok Rae-Rae, I'm here…can you…can you tell me what's wrong?"

"Lu…Lucifer's gone back!"

While this story is about Ella and Azrael, Lucifer has to have a presence mainly because he is one of Azrael's favorite people. Both her brother and her beloved human ground her and I want to make sure I display that. Plus, I feel like Azrael would accidentally run Ella ragged as she underestimates the effect she has on her human.

5/2021