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Chapter 8 - Know Your Place

Lucifer could still smell Dean in the room. His scent was everywhere, thick, rich and burning. It sent a tingle over Lucifer's skin, a gentle whisper of memory. He was here not too long ago. An angel too.

Beelzebub held his nose and complained of the stench. "They all smell the same. Like," he gagged, "disgusting filth." He swallowed and continued around the room.

Lucifer rolled his eyes. Beelzebub really was senseless sometimes. His nostril's flared. Dean was everywhere. He had walked across this room, sat in that chair, slept in this bed, ate at that table. Lucifer wasn't concerned by angel until the flair of Castiel's scent burned his nose like fresh basil.

His mind flinched back. The intrusion of scent sent a reverberating need and jealous anger rushing through Lucifer. These feelings were wrong, shouldn't be there.

"Lucifer?" Astoreth's gaze was critical. "What's wrong?" She must have read his expression; he needed to school his features.

"Nothing is wrong," he growled. Lucifer's hand rested at his temple for a moment before he realized the gesture. It was Sam's tell.

Astoreth didn't shrink back but prodded further. "Everything normal up there?"

"My mind is none of your concern, Astoreth." Her name fell from his tongue with venom.

She pulled him to the side. "You might be able to fool everyone else, but your macho bullshit doesn't work on me and you know that. Lucifer, you are damn near invincible. We are not, so I need to know that you are focused on the present and not dreaming of the future…or the past."

Astoreth suspected him. Lucifer always knew she would figure it out sooner or later. He sighed. "I'm focused."

She stared at him as if still assessing his mental state. Astoreth's expression left no hint to the conclusion she had drawn. The general turned to the black eyed men and women behind them. "He was here. Dean Winchester was here with an angel. Not high ranking. Potentially and probably Castiel. Our only challenge lies with Winchester himself. We have dealt with angels before. Kill the vessel and move on.

"Now, they were here very recently. By the smell," her nose wrinkled, "it's been a few days, maybe longer. We fan out and follow the leads we have. He will slip up and lead us back. There may be humans traveling with him. It is possible that they are hunters so don't get stupid."

Lucifer's hand rose and he pointed to five demons on his right. "The path he has followed so far is in a generally southern direction. Head that way and see if you can't pick up his scent. Bring the Hellhounds." The demons nodded. "Dean's path suggests that he is actually moving North East for the look of things around here. I want five more of you to follow that lead. The other groups, head for fifty miles on the compass points and spiral from there." Lucifer watched their black eyes flicker eagerly. "Go."

The demons bolted and the room was suddenly empty but for Lucifer, Astoreth and Beelzebub. Lucifer's generals turned back to him, one for orders, the second for information. He really didn't want to talk to her. "Beelzebub, we have been tracking him for nearly a year. Why have we not made progress?"

"Well, sir, it is more difficult now that the angels have stopped providing transportation. They abandon the humans for all we know that or they are no longer traveling in a traceable fashion."

"Find them. Find him. Now. I won't wait any longer." Beelzebub filed out under Lucifer's glare. The demon's presence evaporated and the night was not so dark where he had been in the door way. "Astoreth, I want you to…"

Her finger rested lightly on his lips and he suppressed the need to flinch away from her touch. "Are you alright?"

"What kind of question is that? I am everlasting; how could I be anything but fine?" Lucifer growled. She could see through his mask, could feel the growing tension trying to pull him apart.

"Tell me something and I will know if you are lying so give me the truth. Is Sam Winchester dead?" Astoreth's eyes shimmered like oil.

Lucifer closed his eyes as he felt the blood red flicker.

Guess she figured it out, came a small voice.

Shut it or I will cause you so much pain that Hell would be a trip to the fucking spa, Lucifer spat. "He is..."

Astoreth laughed. Her smile was twisted in distraught disgust. "How?"

"He cannot die while Dean is still alive. I need to find him and kill him."

You know I won't let you, Sam argued like he had so many times before.

"You had a chance to kill him. Many chances. We wouldn't have this problem, any problems, if you had just ripped his throat out and stomped on his heart."

"I have it under control." Lucifer looked to the window. The glow of life was evaporating as the world died. Little still radiated life and the forest no longer looked welcoming and worshipful. I can't have her questioning me.

What are you going to do about it?

"Bullshit. You aren't fully restored. You are just another demon like us and one who has succumbed to a terrible distraction." The slap reverberated in the small room. Astoreth's face glowed lightly from the contact.

I'm going to show her where her place is. Lucifer's hand settled on her shoulder. "I have more power," he shot pain like lightning through her, "than you could ever dream of. I won't be under minded by my inferior. I am the only one capable of commanding this war and you would be wise to remember that."

Astoreth scowled and stood her ground. The next shock sent her to her knees before him. She glared up at him but said nothing.

"Just because I chose you over Beelzebub doesn't mean I can't dispose of either of you when you prove no longer necessary."

"You need me," she mumbled back.

"Your military senses are very excellent, yes, but how many humans have the same sense. Pop a demon in and I have all the sense I need. You are expendable. I am not."

"The human's are nearly extinct. You need me to…"

"You're a good screw, and that is about all that is keeping you alive right now." She growled low as if the comment was more painful than the lightning running through her. "Now you will shut your trap about Sam and any other stupid notion that I am less than all-powerful."

She mumbled unintelligibly under her breathe. Astoreth was standing before she could blink. Lucifer shifted his grip to her jaw and snarled.

How is that a logical idea? Sam recoiled.

It won't hurt… me at least.

I thought we were…

Oh Sam, you are so pathetic.

Lucifer pressed his lips to Astoreth's. She was reluctant. Sam cringed against the fire. Lucifer's hand slid into her hair, half gentle and half animalistic. He pulled her hair back and began to mark her throat. Bruises formed instantly. Astoreth tried to push him away but he pinned her to the wall with the full length of his body.

"Lucifer," she begged. He pulled her shirt up and it ripped in half before he could yank it from her flesh. Astoreth pushed back but Lucifer was already sliding his hand over her lower back pressing her even closer to his body. A line of fire burst forth from the contact. Sam cried out and Lucifer laughed at his pain.

Astoreth shivered at the sound. The tremor of fear masked Dean's scent filling the room and Lucifer found that he missed the smell. Lucifer waited for it, waited for her to kiss back. When she did there was hunger and need lying deep below. Astoreth was desperate and compliant now. Her legs hitched up around his stomach. Her arms pulled at his hair, trying to gain access to his lips still buried in her neck. Lucifer heard her gasp and push against the wall.

He dropped her just as she began to fight him for some control. Lucifer stepped back and let her fall to the ground in a disheveled mass. Astoreth stared at him longingly, her entire body tensed to attack him. She shivered with need.

"You are so pathetic," he repeated. "Get up. We have work to do."

Astoreth rose on trembling knees. She settled with a blank face and steady control. She stalked up to Lucifer and stood before him with her chin held high. The move would have been dignified if the bruises weren't still littering her skin.

Lucifer's face fell in the semblance of an apology but he didn't voice it. He gently took her wrist. She flinched in his grasp before becoming composed again.

What the fuck was that?

She knows her place. She knows she needs me more than I need her.

But you do need her. Hey, you couldn't do this without her, Sam was raving.

Lucifer didn't want to admit it but Sam was right. You think I care about your morality, Sam? You think I give a damn what you think?

To this Sam was silent.

Didn't think so.