The house was full when they both stepped in through the sliding glass door. Lucifer shut the door behind them and stood behind Natalie, sensing her hesitation, before he guided her forward with a hand to her back. They had decided that now was not the time to share their recent discovery, as several people were mourning, but he knew she felt extremely insecure regardless. He wasn't exactly father material, he knew that without a doubt, and so he had promised to be by her side from that moment on.
The house was full of demons, angels, and people from the bar and there was enough noise to put any doubts to rest. They only people missing were the horsemen, but they were scouring the world in search of Death, so it was to be expected.
Raphael was just descending the stairs when he caught sight of Lucifer and Natalie and he smiled. He had washed Pax up as best he could and changed him into a set of clothes provided to him by Felix, before leaving him to rest in one of the empty guest bedrooms. He was tired, and very much sad, but the sight of the couple sharing knowing looks as they slipped through the crowd was enough to lift his spirits.
It was decided that everyone was to gather in the living to discuss their friend's passing, and when that was done, a few would remain to plan out their next course of action.
Gabriel had cooked up a beef stew, packed with vegetables, and ladled it into bowls for guests as they arrived. It was an easy enough meal to stomach and provided more mobility as people shuffled about to talk to each other. Felix had not moved from the couch but Laila had brought him a bowl of his own, though it remained untouched on the coffee table before him, while people sat around him and offered their condolences. Their words meant nothing to him as he had fully retreated into his own mind.
Raphael pushed through the crowd and made his way into the living room, where he set a hand on Felix's shoulder and gave it a squeeze, before he turned to Natalie and Lucifer. The two were standing near the coffee table, discussing plans for the night with Laila, when Raphael joined them. Lucifer eyed him from the corner of his eye, a look that promised a discussion later, and the archangel only lifted a fist to cover the smile that wormed its way onto his face.
"So around eight? We'll kick everyone who doesn't need to be here out," Laila confirmed with Natalie.
"That sounds about right," Natalie answered with a shrug and a nervous laugh.
"Perfect," Laila sighed and retreated to the kitchen to inform Gabriel.
Natalie watched her go before her attention was pulled away with a hand to her shoulder. Green eyes landed on Raphael and she noted that he had gripped Lucifer's shoulder with his other hand. He stood back, gaze flicking between the two, before he patted their shoulders and smiled.
"You sly sonofabitch," Lucifer drawled as he stared down at his brother with crossed arms, but a grin was threatening to overtake the stern expression he wore.
"We do not speak of that name," Raphael shot back with a wink. "Besides, we are desperately in need of some good news," he added with a sigh as he grew serious once more.
"It certainly puts a deadline on us to get this situation sorted out," Lucifer muttered darkly. As if recalling that he had not asked, he grabbed at his forehead, "Natalie, how long?"
"Wha – oh!" she lifted a finger to her chin in thought, "almost two months."
"Jesus," Lucifer murmured and dropped his hand with a sigh.
"I'll take care of everything," Raphael assured the two.
"We got the best doctor in town," Natalie elbowed Lucifer with a laugh but the demon only scowled.
Eventually, as the night wore on, Natalie retreated to the guest bedroom upstairs where Raphael had left Pax's body. As he was a demon, his body would not decompose, and there was no need to worry about when to officially lay him to rest. In fact, Natalie did not plan to lay him to rest at all. She flipped the light switch on in the room and quietly shut the door behind her before shuffling over to the bed.
Pax lay there, still as stone, but his face looked calm and peaceful.
Natalie sat down on the edge of the bed with a sigh and reached over to brush a lock of dark hair out of his face. She smiled sadly, missing his sometimes perverse antics, and bit her lip.
She had a theory that she had been sitting on for a while now, ever since Kristi had stumbled into the bar with her soulless sister, and was beginning to form a plan. Alyssa was being held in a hospital on life support, though her body could still function minimally on its own, they wanted to take precautions. If Natalie could somehow return her soul to her body, in theory, Alyssa would be just fine and wake up none the wiser. Following that line of thought, why then, would it be any different for a demon or angel?
They didn't even need to breathe and their bodies would remain in existence as is for all eternity. Essentially, Natalie concluded, their bodies were permanent vessels that were waiting to be used.
That was why, as Raphael was hunched over the tub earlier, she had asked him to leave him in a guest bedroom as opposed to taking him outside to be buried.
"What would we do without you, Pax?" she whispered, "You're the life of the party."
"Natalie?"
Natalie turned her head towards the door, finding a rather serious looking Raphael in the doorway, and pushed herself to her feet with a sigh. "I'm coming," she answered tiredly.
"Everyone is leaving now, so we'll start the meeting in a few minutes," he explained as she padded past him and he flipped the lights off in the room before shutting the door quietly.
"I need another cup of coffee," she groaned with a stretch.
"One cup a day," Raphael warned as he guided her down the hall, "And you shouldn't even be having that much."
"What?" Natalie gasped, a look of horror coming over her face.
Raphael did not react to her dramatics as they descended the stairs into the dining room. They slid down the hall into the living room, which was filled with demons and angels, a few humans, and Pestilence herself. She had arrived moments earlier with Jasper in tow. The two hounds were in the backyard roughhousing as everyone took their seats.
The couches were crowded, as well as the floor, as Natalie picked her way through the room. She was fearful of stepping on someone and glanced up as Lucifer stood from his seat on the couch and offered it to her. She smiled gratefully and dropped into the seat with a sigh. Lucifer leaned his hip on the arm of the couch with crossed arms and a serious expression while the others in the room fell silent.
Raphael kicked the meeting off as he moved to stand before the coffee table with raised hands, asking for their attention, and he cleared his throat. "As you all know, we have recently been struck a huge blow in our endeavor to thwart the creature that has been stealing the souls of the young," he paused and watched as several faces grew grim with the announcement. They all had known, but hearing it spoken so loudly to them all at once made it seem so finite. "However, with that event, we also gained further knowledge on this enemy."
Lucifer pushed himself into a standing position, arms still crossed, and spoke up. "Based off of what the witch told me, she is located underground somewhere, and is only sending out extensions of herself to do her dirty work."
Michael hummed in thought from where he stood by the window, a finger curled to his chin. "You've determined that it is female?"
"She's some type of hag, anyways," Lucifer muttered in return with a shrug. "She's mean, old, and ugly. And wants to take over the world."
"Well that's boring," Uriel mumbled from his seat on the couch and dropped his head into his hand that was propped up on the armrest.
"The important thing here is that we have a better idea of where to look for her," Gabriel admonished with a small frown. He stood in the doorway leading into the kitchen and had materialized parchment and pen to take note of their meeting.
"Cave systems," Natalie thought aloud with a hum.
"Exactly," Lucifer confirmed. "Most likely nearby since she only recently seemed to have regained her strength. I doubt she crawled far," he added with a snort.
"So we move to search through all the local cave systems, but what then?" Laila voiced up from her seat on the floor across the coffee table from Felix. As always, she was steady as she spoke, giving voice to the question they all had.
"I beat the shit out of her."
"I speak with her."
The two opposing voices spoke at the same time, causing eyes to swivel in their direction with varying expressions of confusion and amusement, and the two shot each other knowing looks.
"Natalie," Lucifer groaned in exasperation.
"Lucifer," she shot back teasingly.
"You won't be going anywhere near her," Lucifer growled darkly. He couldn't believe she was trying to make the same argument again. Especially with the news she had just dropped on him. He would not be letting her leave the house much less go traipsing through caves in search of an age old monstrosity that had killed Pax.
"I will," she stated coldly though she fisted her hands in her lap to hide the shaking.
"You have more lives to think about than just your own now, Natalie," Lucifer implored her in a quiet tone, irritated that she would pick now to speak out against him, when so many eyes and ears were present in the room.
"I understand that, dude, but I don't see how this will play out any other way. If you kill her, she'll just come back to me regardless, and might possibly escape again. Why not let me talk to her, understand her, and figure out how to fix things," she argued with scrunched brows.
"Are you fucking kidding me," Lucifer growled and threw his hands up in the air. They were having the same fight they had over a week ago all over again.
"You had no problems with taking me into dangerous situations before," she shot back over her shoulder as she turned her eyes away from him.
"I did a lot of stupid things back then," he countered and turned his eyes on to Raphael, pleading for back up, but the angel had no real argument to provide. He felt that Natalie had just as good a chance as anyone, putting a stop to the monster, even if he didn't like it. "And you ended up dying for it," he added with a scowl upon seeing Raphael's lack of support.
"I did, didn't I?" she muttered, "While we are on the subject, how the heck did you bring me back? As I recall, you cannot bring people back from the dead."
Lucifer cursed and pushed himself away from the couch. "We're not doing this now," he warned darkly.
"You what?" Michael exclaimed from the other side of the room with wide eyes.
"Are you saying that Natalie has been to Hell and back?" Raphael asked, astonished, and dropped his eyes to Natalie with a new respect that he had thought impossible. He had already had the highest of regards for her, but now, she was godly.
"I aint saying shit," Lucifer shot back in hopes of settling the conversation.
"You bribed Death," Michael whispered as the pieces fell together in his mind and he gasped.
"And me," Pestilence added from her seat on one of the dining room chairs that had been brought into the living room. "It was my fault she died to begin with, I infected her," she explained lamely.
"And you thought it a kind gesture to send me his wings, wrapped in a bow," Michael growled. His eyes would have melted anyone who stood before him, such was the fury in their watery depths. His horns grew from his head as he struggled to keep his composure.
"Easy!"
All eyes turned to Natalie as she now stood in the middle of the room, hands raised at her hips, pleading for them all to calm down. Once silence had fallen she dropped her hands as she reviewed the conversation in her mind. She felt many things in that moment: hurt, betrayal, sadness, and guilt. She understood now that Lucifer had given up his wings, his beautiful wings, to save her from the Hell within him. She understood, because she would have done the same if their roles were reversed, however, she did not take kindly to the fact that he hid it from her. She turned her eyes to Lucifer now, as he stood with his back to her with arms crossed, and let out a breath through her nose.
"Lucifer," she called quietly.
"I never wanted you to know what I did for you on April fourth . . ." he muttered lowly.
"I understand," she whispered, "But that does not give you the right to hide that kind of information from me."
Michael was not accepting of the information, it would seem, as his anger did not dwindle. When silence had fallen between the two, he marched up to the devil, cocked his arm back, and punched him square in the jaw.
Lucifer was taken off guard and would have been knocked to his feet if Raphael had not been standing next to him and caught him before he could hit the ground.
"What the fuck is your problem?" Lucifer exclaimed. Blood blossomed in his mouth and the taste of it on his tongue sent his body boiling with rage. Skin cracked and turned black before their eyes and he did not bother to fight it.
"You!" Michael cried and shook his hand to relieve it of the pain, "You asshole, you lectured me for ripping out my own wings but you did the same yourself!"
"Of course I fucking lectured you, you dumbass! I was stupid and so were you!" He cracked his knuckles, preparing to throw his own punch but pain erupted from the side of his head as Natalie stepped forward and grabbed ahold of both their ears, yanking hard, and pulling them to their knees.
"We all love each other and we're stupid!" She shouted over the commotion of the room.
It was at this moment that the front door opened and Alex stepped in, a questioning look upon his face, as he laid eyes upon his daughter. She was holding two demonic monstrosities by their ears as they seethed on the ground like squabbling cats.
"Clearly, you all have a lot of unresolved bullshit," Felix spoke up for the first time that night. He was watching them wearing a rather blasé expression from the couch.
"We can work on that later," Natalie admonished, her gaze never leaving the two before her. She crouched down and wrapped an arm around both of them, bringing them in for a tight hug, and said, "I love you both."
Michael scratched at his nose, embarrassed, as he worked to reclaim his human form.
Lucifer, on the other hand, had shut his eyes and wrapped an arm around her tightly. He did not bother trying to regain the human appearance, choosing to hide his emotions behind his demonic form, but said no more on the subject.
"What did I miss?" Alex asked as he shuffled into the living room with a nervous laugh.
"Everyone being dumb and emotional," Felix grouched.
"Ah, the usual then," Alex responded with a sigh as he took Lucifer's place at the arm of the couch.
"We will search out this woman, subdue her, and allow Natalie the opportunity to speak with her once we are sure it is safe," Raphael commanded after everyone had had a moment to collect themselves.
Lucifer scowled but held his tongue from where he sat on the floor, legs crossed, with a hand entwined with Natalie's. She had sat down on her ankles next to him as Raphael spoke up. She watched Lucifer as he frowned at the floor between them and smiled.
"We'll map out all the large cave systems in California," Raphael continued. "Pestilence, you can then use Jasper to investigate. I have a feeling that our missing Death will be wherever this woman is."
Pestilence hummed in acknowledgement.
"We'll need a strong fighting force," Lucifer added a few moments later. "Michael, Uriel, and . . ." Lucifer trailed off as if a thought had just struck him. "Where the fuck is Zadkiel?"
"Across country, raising some kid she picked up off the streets," Felix voiced after a tense moment of silence while everyone exchanged confused looks.
"Get her ass up here," Lucifer spat. "Nows not the time for living out fantasies," he muttered and pushed himself to his feet.
"I can take care of that, Leader," Zoe spoke up as she entered the living from the kitchen, a large bowl of beef stew in hand. She was just as short as the day Natalie had met her, and she recently returned from her task of patrolling the schools in Southern California. She was sad that Pax had been killed, but she was not much of an emotional person, and so did not dwell on it. This made her the perfect field agent. She was rarely hindered by her mind and remained cold and logical throughout any situation.
Lucifer grunted before he cracked his knuckles, "Good. Now I'm done playing party host, so anyone who isn't sleeping here can get the hell out."
There was much grumbling to be heard as those present, who were not sleeping at the house that night, meandered their way towards the front door. Those who had been appointed tasks split off into the night to see them completed ahead of the slow group who were loath to leave the warmth of the house. It had been a sad and serious occasion but there was no denying the comfort that Natalie brought into anyone's life simply by being present, and her house was like the central hub of all that positive energy.
"I need a cigarette," Lucifer grouched as Laila shut the door after the last guest had left and dusted the imaginary dirt from her hands.
It was a job well done, she felt, as she padded into the kitchen where she had started to pour the remaining beef stew into Tupperware for safe keeping. She was certain no one would have the time to cook over the next few days anyways.
Felix followed Lucifer out onto the back patio to smoke while Gabriel spoke quietly with Raphael in the dining room.
Max soon arrived to assist Laila with cleaning up and to grab a bowl of the cooling stew himself before it was all put away. He was buttering himself a piece of bread while Laila dropped the large pot into the sink to be cleaned out.
Lucifer cupped his hands, still black and lined with red cracks, around the cigarette and lit it with a snap of his fingers. He pulled from it, feeling the acid smoke fill his lungs and burn his throat, before he blew it out into the cool night air. His shoulders relaxed and he glanced back at Felix, sitting on the wicker bench, and sighed.
He knew it would be a while before the kid bounced back fully but Lucifer truly wished he didn't have to, to begin with. He was debating on saying something to him when his eyes caught sight of Natalie, standing in the backyard with both hell hounds at her side, and Pestilence before her. His hackles rose at the thought of Pestilence being anywhere near her, especially without him present and he took off down into the yard with a growl.
"Natalie," he called as he approached.
The two women broke off their conversation to watch as he approached. Natalie smiled as he came to a stop next to her and she reached for his hand without thought. "I was just wishing her luck, it's gonna be a rough couple days, so I wanted to make sure she didn't need anything," Natalie answered his unasked question with a shrug.
"She's got more money stashed away than anyone I know, I'm sure she'll be fine," Lucifer muttered with a raised brow.
"It's called being nice," Natalie shot back with her own brow raised and her hands on her hips.
"The point is, I don't want you anywhere near her," Lucifer cut to the chase with a scowl.
"I'll forgive you for not trusting me," Pestilence drawled as she examined her recently manicured nails. It was safe to assume that the one who had done her nails was no longer among the living. "It would be stupid of me to infect the one being that is holding this world together," she explained with a sigh. But her eyes soon landed on Natalie again and she smiled. "Thank you, sweetheart, but as your boy toy said, I've got resources," she assured the woman with a wink and a wave of her hand.
"Alright," Natalie mumbled hesitantly, wishing there was something she could do regardless.
"I'll give you a ring if I find anything, Lucifer, keep your line open," Pestilence informed as she crossed her arms and shifted her weight to one leg.
"Noted," Lucifer said as he looked down on the horsemen with a much calmer expression. He had placed a hand on Natalie's shoulder and pulled her into his side as the horsemen took her leave, disappearing among the trees of the backyard with a begrudging Jasper in tow.
"I hate that woman so much," Lucifer growled as soon as she had gone, tightening his arm around Natalie's shoulders.
"It's alright, dude," she shushed him and pushed him back towards the house.
"Any word from dad?"
Michael looked up from where he sat in the living room. It was early in the morning, too early for anyone else to be up, but Michael was staring at the TV with vacant eyes when Lucifer padded into the room. At the sound of his voice, his eyes slid back into focus, and he turned his head to watch his brother take a seat on the couch next to him.
Michael ran a hand along the length of one of his horns as he thought before letting out a breath through his nose. "No," he admitted quietly, "I don't think he would wish to speak to me regardless."
"He would too," Lucifer muttered and crossed his arms on the couch.
An awkward silence fell between them for a few moments, Michael's eyes cast down to his hands, before he asked, "Have you ever tried . . .talking . . . to him?"
Lucifer rubbed at his face as the news played out across the TV and lit the dark room better than the few rays of the sun that had risen at that time. He let out a loaded sigh. "No," he finally shot back curtly.
Michael hummed in thought as his eyes returned to the television, "Maybe you should try."
"I'm not praying to father," Lucifer said matter of fact and shot a frown in his brother's direction. "He-," he cut himself off and pushed himself out of the couch to stand.
"I'm just saying, Luce, that now is as good a time as any. If we can get his help then we might not even need Natalie to talk," Michael said quietly as he flipped to another station on the TV.
Lucifer paused, mid-step, and turned back to look at his brother over his shoulder. "Back to your manipulative ways, are you?" he drawled with a bored expression. Clearly, he was unimpressed. "At least as a demon it suits you."
Michael looked down with a single nod before he ground out through grit teeth, "I'm not stupid you know, and I love Natalie just as much as the next person, so any chance we have to keep her off the front lines is worth it!"
Lucifer scowled, "You're not stupid?"
"No," Michael shot back, "I know she's pregnant, you asshole."
At that, Lucifer's ears fell, and he stared at his brother open mouthed.
"Now try talking to dad before I beat it out of you," he muttered darkly, eyes blazing in the early morning and horns glowing blue. He was so tense Lucifer was sure he was about to spring off the couch and attack him. "I don't-," he cut himself off and bit his lip, "I don't want to lose any other part of this family . . ."
Lucifer was silent, awestruck by his brother's admission, and glanced down at the rug beneath his feet before he nodded and walked away. Michael did not watch him go, but he saw the movement from the corner of his eye, and let his shoulder's drop once he was certain his brother had left the room.
