Lucifer looked at Elizabeth with a contented gaze at the end of the third day of a stint as his good self. They had gone wine tasting in Italy that day and when they had brought back their spoils, Elizabeth had made dinner and Lucifer had set the table.
"Why are you so happy?" she asked him, as they sat on the couch after dinner.
"I love you," was his response.
Her heart was warmed by this and she told him that she loved him too, but for the briefest of moments her cynical side chuckled at this. She quickly told it to shut up because for him that appeared to be enough to be happy, though she still couldn't figure out why.
After a pause she asked out of curiosity, "How strong are you?"
He smiled and took both of her hands in his. Then closing his eyes, his posture straightened, his shoulders moved back and his head lifted. After a deep breath, he opened his eyes and looking deep into hers, she was transported to a place of complete blackness. He was there before her, hovering slightly above her, his unclothed body seeming to shine from within and his green eyes sparkling. He had broad yet delicate wings of downy white flecked with gold stretched out wide on either side of him. He had gathered his power to him and she could feel it emanating from him and swirling around them both. He was breathtakingly beautiful and devastatingly powerful and he was displaying himself for her like a peacock for its mate. She heard him in her head say proudly, "All of this is yours," and she felt the meaning of this echo through her body and almost bring her to the brink of understanding.
But then suddenly something was wrong and it felt as if he'd remembered that he was broken and this was not as it should be. His expression changed to one of baffled sadness and she could see the tears coming. She moved towards him immediately and by the time she reached him, he was at her level and she wrapped her arms around him tightly. She felt his arms around her and then the unmistakable feel of soft, feathered wings also enveloped her, but when she opened her eyes, they were on the couch again. He pulled away and after a quick glance in her eyes, he looked down at his lap. Then looking back up at her, he hesitantly at first, but then with certainty, smiled at her warmly and she smiled back.
When Elizabeth had asked Lucifer about the differences between his two sides, he would only say that everything just felt different and so he acted differently. His good side didn't really want to talk about his bad side while his bad side took great delight in the reminding her of things he'd done while good that amused him now that he was bad again. She couldn't tell if he did this to tease her or embarrass her, which was highly likely, or to try to tell her that he remembered and regretted that he couldn't do those things now. It was strange, dealing with his two sides, but Elizabeth got used to this new development and the advantages that it afforded, but still kept it hidden from everyone.
With the children out of the house, Cassie and Elizabeth immediately began to get started on their plans to have more fun together. To their delight, they found Azazeal and Lucifer more obliging than they had thought they would be. For quite some time they spent more time away from their respective homes than at home, but all four of them individually snuck off to see Sara and Luke so much that the kids felt that their parents had never left.
With Cassie and Elizabeth's powers now nearly identical, they entertained each other by experimenting with them, however it also amused them to conveniently "forget" what they were capable of so that they would need some help from their lovers. Initially, they were scolded for this but eventually it seemed that the boys figured it out. They just couldn't help being girls when they were having so much fun.
One particularly brilliant idea that they had come up with, after a long stint at home, was to send the boys on a treasure hunt to find them. They had placed or identified clues around the world which would eventually lead them to were the girls were waiting for them a their next vacation spot. Azazeal was reservedly intrigued, he liked challenges, and Lucifer feigned boredom with the idea, but actually found it quite clever, especially when he discovered how difficult they had made the clues. The girls had figured that since Lucifer knew just about everything and Azazeal had practical knowledge about the world it wouldn't take them long at all if they didn't work hard to make it tricky. There was also a time constraint to add to the difficulty.
"All I want to know is what do I get at the end of this," Lucifer said with a grin.
"I have to agree with him, Cassie, what's our incentive?" Azazeal added with a grin of his own.
"We'll be there," Cassie said, as sexy as ever.
"Yes, but you're already here," Lucifer said, trying to annoy her, "I'm looking for something a little more…tantalizing," he said turning to Elizabeth.
"I'm open to suggestions," Elizabeth responded.
Lucifer leaned forward and whispered something in her ear and her eyebrows lifted in response.
"I've been wondering when you'd want to turn the tables a bit. I'm all yours…assuming you can find me."
While this exchange had been going on Azazael had said to Cassie, "You know the only thing that I want."
"Yes, but I don't think I could do it in front of our friends," she teased, knowing very well that he was not referring to sex.
"Then I guess I'll settle for the pleasure of your company," he suggested with a playful smile.
"You'd better not," she said.
And so the girls disappeared to Maui where they expected that the boys would find them in less than 2 hours. They had rented a large, beautiful house on the west side of the island, but were waiting for them at a specific place on the beach…in bikinis, of course (their vacation had already started). They were found in just under an hour, which made them glad they had taken so much time in creating complex clues.
They took them back to the house and both Azazeal and Lucifer admired their choice of location. Then the girls took great delight in getting them out of their usual clothes, which didn't vary hardly at all, into more island appropriate attire, which entailed simple board shorts and occasionally a t-shirt or tanktop. They kept to simple colors because you just can't put an angel in a Hawaiian shirt…you just can't. It was at this point that they discovered, or rather Lucifer announced, that clothing was neither particularly interesting nor required. To Cassie's surprise, Azazeal confirmed this with a smile and a shrug, however after a brief consultation with each other the girls decided that they would all stick to clothing for now. They both agreed, however, that it did explain the nudity that went on at home that they had always separately wondered about.
This was also the first real opportunity that they had to appreciate each other's man. Azazeal was tall and slight with beautifully delicate features that were very appealing, even more so when his skin tanned a little in the sun. His watery blue-grey eyes, of course, were his best feature but that didn't mean that his body left anything to be desired. Lucifer was a bit taller, wider, and thicker all around but while he was well muscled, it was perfectly proportioned to his size. He looked…exceptionally useful, for lack of a better descriptive term. He already had lightly tanned skin, deep green eyes, and dark, almost black, hair that was slightly grown out and relatively untamed but always looked just right.
Cassie was, of course, gorgeous in her bikini with her beautiful blond hair and her stunning blue eyes. She was by far more striking than Elizabeth who had long, lightish brown hair that had always naturally streaked blond in the sun and hazel eyes. However, everything about Elizabeth (the roundness of her hips, her breasts, her walk) screamed woman and sex appeal and she knew how to use it.
When Azazeal and Lucifer caught each other admiring their lovers, the girls were treated to a little staring match, which abruptly, and somewhat surprisingly, ended with Lucifer demanding his reward as he was not willing to wait any longer than was absolutely necessary. Elizabeth knowingly incited him further by offering him her upturned wrists in surrender, which he grabbed with one hand as they vanished.
When they were alone Azazeal wrapped his arms around her protectively.
"What was that about?" Cassie asked.
"We're very possessive," was his simple response.
"Well, we weren't the ones who wanted to make this a nudist colony."
But Azazeal ignored her and started to kiss her neck.
"So, what do you have planned for me?" Cassie continued.
"I can't decide where to start," he whispered.
"I have a few ideas," she said seductively, but he had transported them to a bedroom and she now felt herself pressed against one of the walls rather roughly but not uncomfortably. She smiled to herself and pushed into him, so that he had to press her back again. She didn't know why but there was always something amazingly sexy about him when he seemed just a bit dangerous.
Several weeks later, Elizabeth opened her eyes in their dark room in California just before sunrise. She rolled over and Lucifer was not there. She felt a flash of worry because their travels had kept her from doing some of the things she needed to do to keep him even keel and he'd been acting strange recently. She quickly got up and threw on her robe. She found him in the yard, dressed in his usual all black, staring into the place where the sun was just beginning to brighten the sky. She walked up behind him and put her arms around him, her head pressed against his back in between his shoulder blades.
"What would please you most this morning, my love?" he asked as he did every morning, but today there was a hint of sadness.
"A dry Fall wind," she said, remembering how much she loved that season, "and to know what is bothering you."
He turned to her with an introspective smile, but seemed pleased that she had asked.
"It worries me that you always take me away when you ask me to be your servant for a few days, as if it embarrasses you or you worry that I will hate you if you show that side of me to our friends. But," and here he laughed quietly, "They all know. They've always known because they know who I am. They've just been waiting, like I have in my way, for you to figure it out. And you have, to an extent…but Elizabeth, I am afraid…afraid that I will still lose you. Afraid that I will do something terribly wrong again or you will get frustrated with me and you will give up on me because you do not truly understand."
"What is it that I don't understand?"
"You may do what you like with me, Elizabeth, I am yours," he said quietly.
"I know," she said but he knew she was just acknowledging the fact that he'd said that before.
"But you don't really understand all that it means. I have talked to Azazeal and I know that you may have come to the limit of your comprehension, but I think that part of you will be able to understand. I will be calm and quiet when you ask and I will be wild when it pleases you and I am happy either way because it's what you want. But you must understand that you cannot embarrass me, you cannot scare me away, and you cannot exhaust my love for you. But when I say: whatever you desire, ask of me …it makes you uncomfortable, because you know that I mean it in the most explicit of ways and you do not understand how I can feel that way. You get caught up in the details of how and why and what must I be thinking, but none of that matters. Making you happy is sublimely fulfilling, even when it means doing nothing or that I must make up for a mistake."
"But why is it so important that I understand that?"
"Because if you understand that, you may be able to understand that I am never completely beyond your control. I would do anything for you and I don't need a reason, it just sometimes takes a strong enough command. I know that you may think that I mean that my mistakes are your fault, but my current state of unruliness was not your doing and you have a lot to accept and learn. I just ask that you to try to understand that if I displease you, it is never my intention, no matter how horrible I've been. Do your worst, but I beg you, do not abandon me."
"I don't know what to say," she said, reaching up to touch his face.
"Please just say that you will never leave me, because that is the only thing that terrifies me. To have tried to give everything only to be tossed aside again…and I would still love you anyway… it would destroy me."
"I will never leave you! How could you think I would ever do that to you?" she said full of concern, rather than surprise.
"Because it has happened before. You have been always been different, always been willing to take me back. I've known that even when you've been furious with me, but I fear that maybe one day you will give up because you cannot see that my fate is in your hands."
She hugged him tightly and said firmly, "I understand and I will always be with you. And when Cassie decides to let Azazeal make her immortal, and she will, you will do the same for me." He kissed her and she could feel something in him relax at this assurance.
Okay, no more chapters until there are some reviews from the lurkers, or anybody really, but especially the lurkers. It's just not as fun without the interction. Tell me what you like, don't like, or want to see. Or you'll never know what Sara and Luke are doing at school...