The next morning Sara was completely confident that she'd made the right choice in her selection of lover. But she now realized why her mother and Elizabeth had been spending so much time taking about it rather than just giving her a few pointers and sending her on her way. She understood that had she chosen another lover, this experience could have been radically different and knew she was lucky to have picked the right man. She couldn't wait to talk to them about this because she felt that at least now she had a basis for discussion with them.

Sara had chosen the Araqiel to be her first. For all his apparent lack of intelligence, he was actually mostly just uncomplicated and he was also the sweetest most patient being she knew. She liked his adorably curly golden hair and blue eyes, but not pale blue like hers but a vibrant, piercing blue. Like all the angels, he was exceptionally attractive and he could be best compared to a typical dumb jock but without any of the attitude. He was very popular with human women, but like some of the other angels, he did not seem interested in devoting himself to one, perhaps because his first loyalty was to Azazeal.

Since he was so close to the family, he had been generally aware of her current mission and didn't consider it to be any different than Malachi or Luke's, so he did not question her advances. She did not initially tell him that it was her first time but when she did, he just smiled knowingly at her, which comforted her exceedingly. They had taken their time and he had gently encouraged her each time she explored a new sensation or part of his body. As in all things, Araqiel had managed to be perfectly patient without seeming patronizing and was loving without making her feel overwhelmed by the implications of this act.

She was happy with herself that she hadn't chosen a human man or Luke (who was a candidate) or another angel. Araqiel was quite possibly the perfect choice and she smiled to herself that he also would have no problem treating her as he normally did despite what had happened between them. She didn't regret him but she certainly didn't want everyone to know.

"When are you going to tell me why you are so unhappy about Christmas?" Lucifer asked Elizabeth.

"When were you going to tell me about immortality…or why I'm stronger than I was before?" Elizabeth said with an accusing smile.

"Oh that…I was going to ask you, when you were ready," he said with a smile that indicated that he was clearly lying but since she couldn't prove anything he knew he was safe.

"And as for your strength, I admit that I have been building you up for quite sometime and had planned on teaching you how to access your powers eventually."

"So I have powers too? How is that possible?" she said.

"My dear, I had a hand in creation. I can certainly manipulate your physical and mental abilities," he said arrogantly.

"And you did this for yourself, didn't you, so I could be what you wanted?"

He responded in a more honest tone than she had expected, "Initially, but I knew how important that it was to you that you were not corrupted so I wanted to make sure that didn't happen."

She smiled appreciatively, deciding to let this go, and said, referring back to his previous question, "I don't like to be the center of attention."

"Why not!!!?" he exclaimed as someone who craves it.

"My birthday was always a quite affair since it was Christmas. I'm just overacting to the idea of what Cassie will think she should do for my birthday."

"Well, I certainly plan on embarrassing you thoroughly."

"You'd better not!"

"How is it that you and Lucifer were hell-bent on bring about the end of days and now you're all excited about Christmas? Isn't that a contradiction?" Cassie asked.

"Ha, there has been much discussion by all the angels on this topic. You, Elizabeth, and the other humans who have helped us have given us hope. It was decided that since we have now fit ourselves into the world it may be possible for us to be saved too."

"Interesting!"

"It was actually Lucifer who made the most compelling argument by saying that if even he has been allowed to find some peace, perhaps He has been convinced to at least allow us to earn our way back."

"That would be great!"

"I certain hope it is the case, because I couldn't bear to be parted from you even when this lifetime is over."

She leaned over and kissed him deeply, recognizing in this discussion the new side of Azazeal that she was now seeing. As she had coaxed and charmed more and more information about himself out of him, she had finally been able to see just how deep his desire for forgiveness was. When he'd been thrown down from heaven, he had not expected it. He had thought that they were teaching and protecting humans just as they had been instructed and hadn't realized that they had allowed themselves to be lead astray because they loved humans so much. He had now begun to display his attributes in a way that more clearly reflected his angelic side and was rewarded by her love for him increasing exponentially.

Cassie was beginning to think that somehow these early angels had flaws that had unfortunately lead to their alleged disobedience.

Even Lucifer had his redeeming qualities and while he admitted to all kinds of mischief after his fall, he maintained that his offense had been that he had not understood why God had told the angels to bow to humans when God had told them before to bow only to Him. He had been summarily cast out for not obeying and it was then that pride and evil had begun to grow out of his confusion. Cassie found it highly ironic that he was now so devoted to a human but this did not seem to trouble him. Cassie thought that it did make sense that even though he was now broken and twisted that he would still want to only one voice to guide him so she supposed that this was why he had allowed his human lover to help him. Of course, she was not aware of how deep this desire was in him, how grateful he was for all of the chances that Elizabeth had given him to get this right rather than rejecting him, and because of this, the lengths to which he'd gone to tame and humble himself for her.

When Sara told Cassie and Elizabeth what she had done, they both stared at her and simultaneously said, "Don't tell Azazeal!"

"Why?" she asked honestly not understanding.

"Well," Cassie said, "I just know he won't be happy about your choice but it's done now. How'd it go?" she asked not really wanting to know.

Sara described her experience in a general way so as to relive her mother's fears and not disturb her with the details.

"Right, well that sounds like a good place to have started. Do you have any questions?"

"How long does it take to get good at it?" she asked a little to seductively.

Cassie's mouth dropped open.

"Sara, it's not a matter of time so much as experience," Elizabeth said, "My advise would be to stick with Araqiel for a while before you move on. Then maybe we'll have some specific things for you to try."

"Okay," she said happily enough and left.

Cassie turned to Elizabeth and said, "Oh my God! This is so surreal!"

"Don't worry about her. I know it's weird to see that much confidence and seductiveness in her but considering who her father is, it's not strange. Besides, she's considerably more manageable than Malachi."

"I know. I should be proud of her but I guess I'm too old fashioned."

"If it makes you feel any better, I cringe every time Luke tells me they're off to some brothel or sex club. But you know, I really think he's capable of handling it. After all he's half me too."

Cassie smiled, "I don't know how you handle Lucifer being at those places, I mean, being who he is."

"You know that's the one thing he's always been perfect about. But now I like to feign jealously whenever possible just to keep him on his toes," Elizabeth laughed.

With Christmas fast approaching, Cassie had little time to worry about Sara's sex life. She was planning something big for Elizabeth and she knew she would appreciate it. Lucifer had reported what Elizabeth had told him about being the center of attention and she was ecstatic that this wouldn't interfere with what she had planned. And actually she was quite looking forward to it too!