Azazeal turned his horse around the trotted neatly back to Lucivar who had slowed his steed to a halting trot and been left behind by the males who had decided to see who had the fastest horse. The women, who were enjoying a much more leisurely pace and the opportunity to talk, were gaining on him slowly but surely.
"You know, you two could go a lot faster if you tucked your wings back tighter."
"I know," Lucivar growled and did just that, "but we get going fast and then I start using them for balance…aah," he let out in frustration as he had released his wings unconsciously once again and then tuck them back more fiercely.
"If it's any consolation, you put us all to shame in the war blade welding," Azazeal said helpfully, but not without amusement.
Lucivar glared at him but did appreciate the acknowledgement of his talents even if it was a lie.
"Come on let's catch up to them!" Azazeal said and took off in the direction that the others had raced off in. Lucivar's horse rocked back and launched himself after Azazeal's without any cues from Lucivar and he swore under his breath about lunatic angels that talked to common animals and the crazy animals that listened to them.
By the time he had caught up to Azazeal they were lurching up a small rise side by side and then they came suddenly on the other men having recently dismounted and released their mounts to graze at will. These faithful horses would most certainly not wander far.
"Who won?" Azazeal asked with a broad smile.
"Luke this time," was Malachi's response. He couldn't help qualifying it but alluding to the fact that he had won this race himself in the past.
"Let them win again did you?" Azazeal said quietly to Lucifer as he took the saddle and bridle off of his gray.
"Always," Lucifer said with a wink. Azazeal and he had decided long ago that they would sometimes have to allow the boys to outperform them. It wouldn't do to defeat them in everything, they were half human after all. They did have their pride and the need to feel worthy in their father's eyes.
Lucifer padded, still barefoot, over to where Malachi had set up court and flopped down next to Daemon, who watched slightly anxiously in the direction that the ladies would be coming.
"Give it a rest," Lucifer said without preamble, "She's better protected with Elizabeth than anywhere in…well..all existance."
Daemon scowled at him but turned his attention to the group and wondered why Lucifer was so sure of that.
"I propose," Malachi started authoritatively, "that we each display our greatness talent."
"We just galloped full out up here Malachi," Luke laughed, "Haven't you had enough competition for one day?"
"Nope, now you first, the ladies will be a while, no doubt talking about us, so let's have some fun."
Luke thought for a moment and then a portion of the sky clouded and dropped a small but powerful tornado on the ground that played around them for a few moments before he dispersed it.
Malachi was unimpressed, he'd seen his friend to this before, but Daemon and Lucivar watched it in amazement as Lucifer and Azazeal exchanged smiles at them being so easily impressed.
"Now you," Malachi announced and looked at Daemon until he turned to meet his gaze, "What are you good at?"
"Oh, he's only good for one thing and it's not appropriate for this audience," Lucifer rumbled and rather than being offended, Daemon found himself laughing and actually proud, because in this crowd being talented in the bedroom encompased a lot.
"Well," Malachi started in again, "Let's hear what a pleasure slave is trained to do then, hum?"
Daemon's eyes went cold and all the humor left him. Azazeal opened his mouth to speak but then stopped himself. He had been protecting Malachi and getting him out of trouble his whole life. It was about time that someone put him in his place. Azazeal had kind of been hoping that Lucifer would do it one day but for whatever reason his fiery friend showed remarkable restraint when it came to smacking his son down when he clearly needed it. He was just glad Cassie wasn't here because one look at her and he would have gone flying to the rescue once again.
Daemon was giving Malachi his most deadly stare but this only motivated the boy further.
"Come on, we're all ears, it can't be that bad," the inexperienced boy said too light-heartedly, "I mean, yes, slavery is bad but sex is good, so it should have generally balanced itself out, right?" Malachi had just the right amount of knowledge and naiveté to believe that, because of the title of pleasure slave, that what had been done to Daemon had been about sex, rather than cruelty, dominance, and humiliation.
Azazeal winced to himself. This was going to be bad. In his quiet moments he often wondered why it was that Malachi had turned out to be so difficult and he had decided that perhaps it was because his son had known from an early age, Azazeal had not hid it from him, what he had originally be destined for. He believed that his son struggled with the fact that he could have been a powerful force of evil in this world and perhaps brought creation to its knees, but all he really wanted to do was be with Ella. Malachi toyed with the bad things in this world to find out about that part of himself and he just hadn't quite figured out what he thought of his negative potential yet.
"I wish someone would keep me for pleasure, come on, what nasty things did they do to you?" Malachi goaded the angry Warlord Prince again, with a playful grin.
"What do you think they did?" Daemon roared, so livid now that he saw only read and was no longer in control of what he said. As he continued, something that he had never told anyone came tumbling out of him, "What do you think they did to a male who wouldn't get hard for them no matter what they did? How do you think they punished a male who tortured them with pleasure and pain in equal amounts? The whip wasn't good enough, oh no, not nearly humiliating enough, when you can impale a man and do to him what he refuses to do to you."
Daemon finished, his eyes flashing fire and his Black power crackling around him dangerously. His vision cleared and he met Lucivar's eyes first. He was sobered a bit by the mix of anger and sympathy that he saw there. Luke, Brian, and Malachi's mouths were all agape in shock, but Azazeal's gaze was even and strangely comforting. Then when he turned to Lucifer he saw his friend's best 'Yeah and?' look.
To his surprise, he burst out laughing again and Lucifer chuckled with him, slapping him on the back.
"You…like it…don't…you?" Daemon said in between fits of laughter, it felt so good to be laughing.
"Oh, I like many, many things," Lucifer said smoothly and gave him a naughty smile. Lucifer then sent him a detailed image of exactly how erotic it could be to be taken by a woman dispite her lack of natural equipment.
Daemon struggled to gain control of himself both his laughter and his thoughts about what Lucifer had shown him, not noticing how grateful the boys were that Lucifer had broken the tension, and he shook his head at the fact that Lucifer always had a way of cleansing him of the horror of what had happened to him when he chose to confront it. He would never be completely free of the shadow that his past life cast over him but along with Jaenelle's loving touch and her re-defining of the role of a dominant female in his life, there was Lucifer telling him that there was nothing, absolutely nothing, to be ashamed of.
Just as the strain was dying down among the males who were beginning to discuss some work Bryan was doing in the area of alternate fuel sources, the ladies rode up casually to the rendezvous spot. Jaenelle, Marian, and the other women smiled thankfully at the pleasantly arraigned table and chairs and blankets, as well as at the plentiful food and drink that was laid out. The boys hadn't really noticed and only now, in response to the ladies' delight, sort of nodded to each other in brief appreciation, but Elizabeth was flabbergasted.
"But I…who…wha…?" She looked to Lucifer to answer her unfinished questions.
"Vo Na Hoath, Ji Hoath," he said holding her gaze. Where I worship, they worship, he had said.
She gave him an 'Oh geez' look and he shrugged. She looked at Cassie who also shrugged but smiled in amusement. She, after all, was used to this, where as Elizabeth was just now finding out how accommodating the angels could be. She must have mentioned something about a picnic on this hill when they rode out, et voila, here it was in style.
Cassie had, from the beginning, found it much easier to understand Azazeal's troupe of angels than Azazeal himself. She had very naturally helped them adapt to our world and accepted their little gifts in return. She had swiftly learned the military like structure of Azazeal's organization and she had known for quite some time that mentioning any true desire in a very certain way in the presence of one of her lover's angels was a sure way to have it travel to the appropriate angel and then be fulfilled. It had taken her much longer to comprehend what made Azazeal tick but such is the way these things sometimes work with the ones we love the most. Of course, now she knew that when he simply informed her of something that it was important and needed her attention and that when she made a wish known, he sometimes delegated it downward.
Elizabeth had always been better at understanding her lover and while she was skilled at helping the angels under her care, she had been so focused on Lucifer that she had overlooked their presence in her life. After they had been married, however, Lucifer had, in true angelic style, informed Elizabeth of the number of angels who now attended upon her, as if she had somehow become entitled to this type of treatment. She had been furious and then ashamed of herself and then she had insisted in meeting them all. She had met them all before, of course, and she was glad of it too because she didn't want to discover anymore angels that Lucifer had kept from her. They were all the angels that had no clear purpose that could be used in the mortal realm except for those who were already her assistants when it came to dealing with angelic issues or who had always been the guardians that Lucifer had insisted on.
It had taken her a few days to get used to the knowledge that she was being constantly watched and followed by a slew of angels. She accepted it because of how pleased Lucifer and her entourage were with the arraignment and because most of them didn't have anything else to do with themselves.
One small issue with this new arraignment, well new to her because the development of her Court had gone on completely without her knowledge, had been that although Lucifer had always been jealous and possessive when it suited his mood, he reserved a special nastiness for those of her followers who got in the way. He was infallibly indulgent when any of the angels were in need but when he determined otherwise, watch out!
Elizabeth and Cassie had gone to Araquel for the answer because he was consistently the most informative. He had thought about it and said, "They had been neglected for so long, they crowd around close sometimes and he makes sure they keep to their circles."
That was the best they could get out of him. The problem soon began to work itself out though as the excitement of her knowing about them settled down.
Lucifer took his self appointed position at the center of Elizabeth's circle very seriously, as the other angels did their respective positions. He had hated having to deal with the demands of distressed angels and had given up that job to Elizabeth with no hesitation, but he seemed to be made to be the center of this type of order and like Azazeal, he sometimes delegated suitable duties to the best angel for the job, being that he was specifically concerned with her happiness and pleasure in a more esoteric sense.
Lucifer waited until Elizabeth had accepted the fact that her angelic groupies had done this for her and that it was no big deal. Then he sauntered over close to her to remind her with his proximity and his reduced amount of clothing just how sexy he was. She spent the rest of the afternoon fighting the urge to touch him or get too aroused by the look of him and knowing that he was doing things on purpose to tantalize her. If she allowed herself to want him too much, he would have an excuse to dispense with the attire because it was his duty, after all, to see to her…physical needs. She wasn't sure who would win this little battle but they would end up naked eventually and she made a careful list of things she wanted to do once they were.