Okay so I lied! I have updated this chapter with a bit more at the end. My rant about Daemon will appear as a new individual story so stay tuned!
Unfortunately, Lucifer's guise as a boy did not accomplish his goal. There was a glow and a warmth coming from Elizabeth but it was entirely maternal. Still he basked in it anyway because it was fascinatingly novel to him and spent a good hour happily pressed against her enjoying what a mother's love felt like.
When it was time for dinner, however, he flatly refused to change back to a man. He sat there, his knees on either side of her legs, his face pursed up in childish determination. He crossed his arms across his chest and his wings extended themselves wide and then fell back down slowly as if they had wanted to perform some gesture of defiance but didn't know how.
Elizabeth tried all sorts of reasoned arguments as the rest of them watched and then finally she said, "Well, little boys have bedtimes and it's past yours."
He considered this more than he had the other arguments but then stuck out his tongue at her. She suppressed a laugh and then said, "Fine!" She picked him up and carried him to their bedroom.
Elizabeth put little Lucifer down on the bed and then went to hunt for something to clothe him with before tucking him into bed. It was technically unnecessary but it felt right. When she turned around with a pair of shorts, she found the full sized Lucifer lounging naked on their bed, his wings casually spread out beneath him.
"Do you want another child?" he asked a little too seductively for having just been a boy in her arms but there was no use explaining this to him.
"No…well…no," Elizabeth replied.
There was part of her that did want another child. She loved their boys will all her heart and they were a source of joy in her life. The boys' effect on Lucifer was adorable too. He was proud of them and often dropped in on them randomly to visit but generally ended up disrupting everyone's lives, though since this was an expected occurrence and it did not cause any real harm. He also watched them and their families secretly more then they knew and had actually helped them in ways they would never know. It would be nice to have another little one running around and to watch Lucifer teach the child things no mortal should know, but…Elizabeth didn't have the heart to tell him that she and Cassie lamented the fact that angelic children grew up too quickly. There was hardly anytime to enjoy them before they were off on their own. It was selfish but true. There were other reasons too, their good work in the world and in Jaenelle's world took up a lot of their time, but the call to motherhood did tug on both women.
"Are you sure?" he rumbled.
Elizabeth paused, considering how she should respond because it was hard to explain to an angel how one could want something and yet make a responsible decision not to fulfill the desire.
"Let me give it to you," he sighed and putting his hand on his chest, slowly slid it down the length of his body until he was stroking himself into readiness.
Elizabeth could only watch this for a few moments before she was compelled to crawl on to the bed with him. As she moved to straddle him, he let his hand fall away and his hips pressed against her gently before they retreated back to the bed respectfully. He was looking at her as if nothing existed but this moment, as if the purpose of his existence was being here lying under her, as if the only thing that mattered was what she might do next. She was used to this look and knew what it probably meant.
"You would give me a child?" she asked experimentally, whispering in his ear.
"Tol," he replied with breathless eagerness. The word meant "anything" and it also happened to mean "everything."
She was right. The slip into angelic was far too easy, too quick. It had been too long since he'd done something for her worthy of her rank and that proved his love and devotion to the degree he thought was sufficient. They had guests so she could hardly take care of this now, but they would be going home in a few days, so she would deal with it then.
To satisfy his immediate need, Elizabeth kissed him deeply and nudged mentally at his urge to worship that was all too keen to obey her. His breath quickened, his body started shaking slowly and rhythmically. And then the words came, sweet and loving and joyful, until he had no more to give and he lay beneath her utterly spent, his offering glistening on his belly.
The Lucifer that joined the group for dinner was quiet, attentive, and humble. No one thought it strange and this was a great relief to Elizabeth. The last thing he needed was for her to feel uncomfortable about him right now. He was still bizarrely sensitive about some things, just like Azazeal, and it was still possible to uncover his underlying fear that he had done something that she could not forgive. Forgiveness was her special gift to him, more precious than anything else, because she was the only one to have given it to him…and there had been a lot to forgive. If he thought he might loose that, he would react badly and though he had told her before that he would not mistake her anger for a fall from her grace, it would not stop him from singing for absolution if she sent confusing signals to him.
After dinner, Daemon approached the quiet Lucifer and asked, "Get in trouble again?"
Lucifer stared at him blankly for a moment before a warm smile spread across his face.
"She liked the boy," he said, "So I offered to give her another child."
"How..?" Daemon asked, knowing of course that a woman shouldn't be able to get pregnant during her moontime but underestimating who he was talking to.
"She took what she wanted," Lucifer interrupted, "as is her privilege, and my offering was instead a sacrifice."
Lucifer smiled again and left Daemon as if he could not possibly have any other questions. He did have questions but he would just ask Azazeal later.
Elizabeth herself had only known what Lucifer had done when, as she explored his body encouragingly with her mouth, his lovely words had become wild and incomprehensible though the feelings coming from him remained clear and ardent. She had heard this only twice before, when their sons had been conceived. Lucifer had spent potent seed instead of the substance that merely mimicked that of a human male. He had put himself in it and then wasted it. Not wasted in a frivolous way, but as he had said, as a sacrifice. As any human male, he had a virtually unlimited supply and so the act had been purely symbolic and an entirely Lucifer-like thing to do.
After Azazeal had considered Lucifer's words as Daemon had repeated him, he tried to explain but it was hard for a person with no concept of God or the Old Testament stories of a living sacrifice to understand. As Daemon considered Azazeal's explanation, Azazeal smiled to himself at the reason why Lucifer, the warrior of earlier in the day, had come to dinner as the servant. Azazeal thought that it might help to explain to Daemon what it felt like to be able to choose to impart your essence like that instead of having it already individually packaged by the body but he didn't think that even a man that had Daemon's amount of control over his own body would understand.
"Will he never run out of things to give to her?" Daemon asked, pulling Azazeal out of his reverie.
He smiled broadly and said, "No and she will never know from one minute to the next what she will receive from him."
Daemon chuckled and Azazeal continued in a low and meaningful tone, as if prophesying the future.
"Just as Lucivar will never stop finding battles to fight and will never tired of standing guard over his family. And just like you will never stop righting wrongs or stop serving your Queen with loyalty and honor."
Daemon's heart swelled with emotion but he resisted the strange urge to hug Azazeal.
"And you?" Daemon asked.
Azazeal's smile grew wide again and he shuttered his eyes for a moment before looking Daemon in the eyes and answering, "I will never stop wanting her to need me and depend upon me…and I will give myself to noone but her."
A few days later the Blood returned home. The angels and the Blood remained friends for many, many, many years to come.
The End
I hope you enjoyed my story! Thanks for reading!