p style="color: #222222; font-family: -apple-system, '.SFNSDisplay-Regular', 'Segoe UI', 'Lucida Grande', tahoma, arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px;" "He probably emwas/em in Hell," Dean /br / Arcadia /br /p
hr style="border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: #cccccc; color: #222222; font-family: -apple-system, '.SFNSDisplay-Regular', 'Segoe UI', 'Lucida Grande', tahoma, arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px;" /
p style="color: #222222; font-family: -apple-system, '.SFNSDisplay-Regular', 'Segoe UI', 'Lucida Grande', tahoma, arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 25.5px;"br / "I'm sorry I kept you waiting," Lucifer said, uncrossing his arms and smiling at her as he pointed at a splatter of blood on his coat. "I had a bit of business to take care of." He smiled a little wider, obviously waiting for her to start laughing. When she didn't, the smile fell and he almost started /br / "Where emhave/em you been hiding," he asked, walking to the desk and pouring some scotch from a glass decanter sitting there. Lucifer leaned back on the desk and looked at her over the rim of the glass as he /br / "I tried to find you," Lucifer said, setting the glass down and walking over to Arcadia, who didn't meet his eyes. Lucifer reached out gently and lifted her chin up so he could make eye contact. "As soon as I was out, I went looking."br /br / "You knew that this would happen one day," he whispered drawing closer until they were almost parallel to each other and only inches apart. "Didn't you, you clever girl..." Lucifer started smiling again, as he leaned a little closer than he already /br / emHe's going to kiss me,/em Arcadia realized in horror as she saw what could only be described as lust in his eyes. She was a bit stunned that this was happening, so she didn't move at all until he actually did /br / His lips had barely brushed her's when Arcadia yanked herself free and backed away from him. "What the hell?" she shouted, staring at him in shock and /br / Lucifer looked just as shocked as Arcadia, but he looked so much more hurt than she was. "Sophia," Lucifer asked quietly, looking like a puppy she had just kicked. "What's wrong?"br /br / "Why is everyone calling me that?" she yelled back at him, turning away and starting to pace. "I'm not Sophia, whoever the hell that is."br /br / "You..." he said, watching her, the shock fading to curiosity and interest. "You don't know who Sophia is?"br /br / Arcadia shook her head, backing towards the bathroom slowly. Lucifer saw that and smirked at her. With a flick of his hand, the bathroom door slammed shut and left her with no escape from the room with Lucifer in /br / "Then I guess I will have to catch you up," he said, walking a little closer, but still keeping his distance from her. "Sophia was the oldest seraph, and yet was not an archangel," he explained. "She exerted dominion over knowledge and learning. Naturally, she and I became friends. We were nothing more than friends, if not very devout friends, and that was how we were. We would have died for each other and were practically inseparable."br /br / "Sounds like it was a lot more than a friendship," Arcadia /br / Lucifer nodded in agreement. "Yes, it soon became more than a friendship."br /br / "So how am I a part of this?" Arcadia asked, crossing her arms. "Just track down Sophia, don't draw me into this. And honestly, it's kind of creepy if your trying to have me replace her..."br /br / Lucifer started laughing. "Oh, no, that's not the idea."br /br / "Then what is?" Arcadia asked with a /br / "You are her vessel," Lucifer said, studying Arcadia for her /br / "So what happened to Sam will happen to me?" Arcadia asked, somewhat /br / "No, no, but it is the same principle," Lucifer explained, walking back over to the desk and picking up the drink again. "You have to make an open declaration that you will let her in and she will join you. Like taking a long nap for most, though Sam's been putting up quite the fight."br /br / "And if I never say yes?" Arcadia /br / "Well, she can ask for another human to become her vessel," Lucifer mused, sipping the scotch. "But it will decompose on her. Slowly and painfully."br /br / Arcadia winced. "And the person whose body she took over?" she asked, thinking that she knew the answer already. br /br / "Dead, of course."br /br / Arcadia grimaced, expecting that. br /br / Lucifer set down the glass and stared at her, leaning on the desk with his hands curled around the edge of it, giving him a strange rebellious look that looked all to comfortable with him. br /br / They stayed that way, in a silent stand off, waiting for each other to make the first move. Although Arcadia was able to keep eye contact with Lucifer's borrowed hazel eyes for a few minutes, their almost hypnotic quality made her break eye contact. They felt like they were staring into her soul and she couldn't help but wonder if Sam's eyes were like that or if it was just having Lucifer behind them made his eyes that way. Arcadia had a feeling they were, but didn't want to test the fallen angel. Seriously? How would you do that: Hey, Lucifer, evil incarnate and general douche bag, can you let the human you're possessing take control for a second so we can stare into each other's eyes?br /br / After the break of connection, they both shifted a little, unable to stay comfortable now that the bond was broken. Lucifer picked up the glass and took another sip, draining the cup. Arcadia looked back out the window. br /br / "Um, why does the window show me the view from the top of the Marriott Tower in Detroit" she asked, breaking the silence. br /br / Lucifer began coughing, nearly choking on his drink and Arcadia instinctively stepped forward to help him, remembering with embarrassment that he was emLucifer/em and that if he choked, that would be a good thing (Dean snorted at her mention of that fact and she gave him a dark look).br /br / The cough soon became a rough laugh that smoothed out as the coughing died down. Lucifer was laughing so hard that he was nearly bent over. br /br / "Ah..." he wheezed, catching his breath sharply. "That's what you see out the window?"br /br / "Yes," Arcadia snapped. "It is. What's wrong with that?"br /br / "Nothing, nothing," he said, still chuckling. "I just find it funny that a person so educated and well-traveled as you only sees the skyline of Detroit."br / br / "I'm not well-traveled," Arcadia muttered, shifted in an embarrassed fashion. "The farthest I've ever gone away from home was the family vacation to Hawaii. And our plane got grounded so we had to stay in Colorado."br /br / Lucifer snorted, turning his back to her and refilling his scotch glass. "The window," he told her as he poured one glass, then another. "Is enchanted. I had a witch who is particularly talented with travel spells enchant the window to show the person who is looking through it a place they long to go to."br /br / He turned around again, walking over and handing her a drink from over what would have been the line dividing the floor in half. She took it, not even protesting, but not drinking from it. Lucifer returned to the desk and took a long drink from the glass, draining half of it. Arcadia watched him with both shock and disgust when he returned to the drink, nearly finishing it. br /br / There was silence again, but only for a few moments because Arcadia took that time to think of how she could phrase her question for the fallen angel. br /br / "What do you see?" she asked him. br /br / Lucifer only gave her a confused look. br /br / "In the window," she /br / "Oh..." he said, thinking about the question as he held the glass loosely in one hand. "Well, what do you think I see?" he asked Arcadia, smirking. br /br / "Heaven," Arcadia said simply, not even having to think too hard about /br / The smile on the fallen angel's face fell, for lack of a better word. He began to look brooding, like he was planning on how he was going to punish someone. Arcadia's face began to fall too. Then his face turned to one of quiet /br / "Did you know," he said softly. "That you are the first person to get it right? Out of all these demons, monsters, and allies, you are the first one to get it right on the first try?"br /br / "No, I didn't," Arcadia said, giving him a surprised look with a cock of her head. "I would've thought that everyone would have known. You know, because of your story."br /br / "No, they all think I see myself, sitting on a throne of bones, or gold," Lucifer said with a sigh. "Or that I'm back in Hell with my 'loyal' forces."br /br / He stepped away from the desk and walked towards the window, staring out it was a strange look in his eyes. Longing. br /br / "As you pointed out," Lucifer continued. "It would seem the obvious choice to most creatures."br /br / He stared at the window a little longer, making Arcadia feel like she was intruding on something /br / Just as she was going to back towards the door, he started, nearly falling over and losing his breath. Arcadia rushed forward instinctively, grabbing his arm, but letting go almost instantly like she had been burned. She backed away from the heavily breathing man and watched him carefully, her muscles tense, ready to make a run for it if she had /br / But the eyes staring back at her were starkly different than the cold, piercing eyes she'd seen only moments /br / "Sam?" she asked carefully, not wanting to piss of Lucifer if it was still him in /br / "You?" he asked, looking at her with disbelieving eyes. "What are you still..." Sam broke off talking to start coughing. "Have I," he asked between coughs. "Been drinking whiskey?"br /br / "Um, yes," she said, wincing. "Almost a whole bottle."br /br / Sam groaned, leaning on the window sill with his head hanging between his arms. "Ugh..."br /br / "Are you going to be okay?" she asked, stepping /br / She didn't have to elaborate; Sam could see it all over her face exactly what she meant when he looked up and she saw that when he turned to face her. br /br / Despite him being a good six inches taller than her, Arcadia could easily make eye contact with him and she was left /br / His eyes really were like that. Staring into her soul with a kaleidoscope of earth tones: rich ambers, pine green, lake blue, and /br / "He's still there," Sam said quietly. "I can feel him. He's pissed and keeps trying to catch me off guard."br /br / "Sam," Arcadia said quietly, coming back to the present and not wanting to ruin the moment. "I'm so, so sorry."br /br / Sam didn't reply, just shut his eyes tightly and had a look of intense concentration. He groaned, arching his back in pain and starting to twitch in his /br / "Sam?" she asked again, leaning towards the large man. br /br / He gasped suddenly, letting go of the window sill and stumbling back into the desk. His knees buckled and Arcadia, who had stepped back at his movement, lunged forward and caught him under the shoulder, wrapping her arm as far across Sam's back as she could go and trying to help shoulder his huge weight. He groaned painfully and suddenly his complete body weight was on her shoulders as she dragged him towards the couch./p