A/N: Oh, I'm just barely getting this up in time. Oops. I'm a bit of a procrastinator at times.
Guys! It is three days until Shadowhunters premieres! I'm am so, so, so excited. Matthew Daddario and Alberto Rosende are my favorites so far. What about you?
There are three new characters in this chapter, and let me go ahead and make it clear that I don't like adding OC's to this, but I don't really have a choice. I'm trying to keep them from being in the story too often, but I can only do so much with the characters in the Mortal Instruments for my plans.
Anyway, onwards to the chapter!
Chapter Song:
Angel With a Shotgun (The Cab)
Disclaimer: I am in the midst of an evil plan to get the rights to Mortal Instruments. All that I need is several puppies, a kitten, two firefighters, one cop, a ball of yarn, and ten dollars. We shall see.
~Thy Politics Art Tiring~
Thinking back on it, he really shouldn't be surprised. In fact, Lucifer had even told him that this was going to happen. Granted, he'd been half asleep and way too tired to really listen. When he wandered out of his room after only about three hours of sleep, unable to stay asleep even though he was exhausted, all he wanted was coffee and maybe some food.
What he had not expected was a blond, a redhead, and a dark head all huddled together in the doorway to one of the rooms he hadn't been in yet. His eyes narrowed in suspicion, and he quietly made his way over to them. He was just about to look over Asmodeus's shoulder when he heard a loud neigh.
Alec froze, and a memory rushed back. On the first night there, just a couple of days ago, Lucifer had claimed that he was going to make a stable for the Abyssal Guardians. He frowned. Geeze, couldn't a guy get even a couple hours sleep without horses moving in? Honestly.
Lucifer seemed to notice him, and the blonde turned his head towards him, revealing a mischievous gleam in his eyes. His lips were curved into a faint smirk and Alec was immediately on guard. "So, Alexander," he began, his lips twitching. "Who were you talking to last night?"
"Er," Alec said as the three of Hell's best stepped out of the doorway. His face felt hot which distracted him from his curiosity about how they'd gotten he horses inside without anyone noticing. He briefly considered the childish response of "nobody!", but Lucifer would need to know that he wouldn't be around for a few hours anyway. "Um, Magnus Bane."
Lucifer's grin was predatory. "The warlock that flirts with you?"
"Yeah," Alec replied, feeling very uncomfortable at the attention of the obnoxious fallen angel. He vaguely noticed Asmodeus and Esmeralda moving towards another room that he thought was a meeting room. He forced out, "We're not doing anything before lunch, right?"
Lucifer's eyebrows rose and he looked amused. "Not really. I was going to get you to read up a bit on the magic of Hell and on earth politics. Why?"
Alec resisted the urge to bite his lip, a habit that Lucifer was trying to get him to stop. "I, uh, Ihaveakindofsortofdate!" he said quickly.
Lucifer frowned at him, but he could see the amusement in his eyes. He cupped a hand around his ear. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't hear you over the stumbling and mumbling."
Alec barely resisted the urge to say something nasty about that, but he knew that mumbling was a bad habit, especially for the King of Hell. He took a deep breath. "Magnus and I are going for coffee in a bit."
Lucifer looked delighted. "Well, why didn't you say so from the beginning? What time?"
"Seven," he said, feeling awkward. He was talking to Satan about a date – wait, was it even a date?! Oh, by the angel, what if the warlock didn't mean it as a coffee date?
Lucifer seemed to not notice his internal panic and his eyes flicked to a clock. He hummed. "You still have almost two hours." He seemed to muse something over and nodded to himself. "How about we get an hour of study in while you eat and then you can get ready?"
Alec shrugged, glad to be back on familiar topics. "Sure. With the way the Clave is acting, I definitely need to know more of what is going on."
And that was how he found himself sitting in one of the comfy dining room chairs, drinking a cup of coffee and looking through documents. Because of the limited time they had, Lucifer was trying to cram in as much as he could. There were about five pages of brief information of obscure laws the Clave had that Alec needed to know, a short page on the creation of Hell and its power, and a huge stack of important reports that Lucifer and the two demons had gone through.
The notes on the Clave were interesting, to say in the least. Most of the laws written were horrible, and he'd hopefully be able to use them against the Clave. A few of the laws were so stupid that he actually snorted out loud, causing Lucifer to look up from his stack of new reports.
The single page on Hell raised a lot more questions than it answered. It vaguely talked about how God made the place as a type of punishment for Lucifer and humans, and how God had set up some magic that had shifted through the eons.
Alec was curious. "Hey, Luce, if Hell got its power from God, where am I getting mine from since I'm not a warlock?"
Lucifer got a considering look, putting his letter (writing in Portuguese, it looked like). "Either Hell or my father, I suppose. Knowing my father, though, it's probably both."
Alec's head tilted. "What do you mean?"
Lucifer frowned, seeming to search for a way to put it into words. "Hell is powerful – very powerful. It has a massive amount of magic and energy. My father created it, sure, but he just gave it enough to set it up. Over the eons, it's grown and grown. Between demons and all the human souls, it gets a lot of power."
"Wait," Alec cut in, feeling slightly horrified. "Is it, like, sucking energy out of people?"
Lucifer shook his head. "No, not really. Hm, it kind of takes used energy. So if a demon runs all over the place, using a bunch of energy, a portion of the used energy goes into Hell. It doesn't hurt anyone it's taken from, and you can't even feel it."
"Huh," Alec said. "What does it need all the energy for?"
Lucifer shrugged. "A lot of reasons. Expanding when the population goes up. Keeping some barriers up. Letting demons and warlock access the magic."
"So demons and warlocks that use magic are getting it from Hell itself?" Alec asked, intrigued.
"Yes. They tap into the extra reserves. It's incredibly difficult, though, and bloodline does affect it. The more someone taps into the magic, the more the magic entwines with them. So the better someone's ancestors are at tapping in, the better they'll probably be since part of the magic was probably passes to them. Of course, the older they are, the more controlled they are, as well."
Lucifer swirled his drink, which was hot chocolate. Yep, the devil was drinking hot chocolate. "Of course, it's a lot easier when actually in Hell, when there's energy and magic everywhere. It's why I was surprised when you did so well with your powers here; I was expecting it to be more difficult."
Alec was confused. "But we weren't even in Hell for most of the time."
"Yes, but my father laid the dimensions in line for Hell's energy to be easily accessible. Either way, going by trend, you should be weaker now, but you're not. It's possible that my father gave you a really good connection to the energy, or maybe it's just because your the king." He shrugged. "I have no idea. You'll have to ask him."
"Ask God?!" Alec asked incredulously.
"Well, yeah," Lucifer said, looking confused. "When you have a question, go to the source and all that."
Alec just shook his head, and picked up the first report. It was from Australia. He had just read the first paragraph that was ridiculously formal, 'Lord Lucifer' this, 'my lord' that, 'honored to make a report, my lord Lucifer'. He hoped the others were a bit more casual.
"Read this next," Lucifer said, handing him an official looking letter. "It's from the Seelie Queen."
"Okay," he agreed, and he read it. The letter was written on parchment and was very formal, but from what it was saying, the Queen wanted an official meeting and to ask them some questions.
"Hey, Alexander," Lucifer suddenly said. "What time were you supposed to meet Magnus?"
"Seven, why?" he asked.
Lucifer's eyes widened. "It's six forty eight."
Alec cursed, scrambling up. He all but bolted towards his room, needing to change out of his pajamas.
"Wear a blue or green sweater and that silver scarf!" Lucifer called after him.
Alec didn't answer.
. . .
"Welcome to the best coffee place in Manhattan," Magnus proclaimed, coming to a stop and gesturing towards a small café. It was mundane so the chances of running into someone who would recognize and arrest him was slim. The warlock opened the door with a slight flourish and motioned for Alec to enter first.
"The best?" Alec asked, walking in and getting hit by the rich aroma of coffee.
Magnus nodded, leading him towards a table towards one of the corners of the room. "Believe me; I've had a long time to test out food and coffee in this city."
"I'll have to take your word for it, then," he said, and he looked over the place. It had a lot of warm colors, and seemed to have a pretty calm atmosphere. Several mundane college students seemed to be working on homework on laptops. There were two baristas, both looking incredibly cheerful for seven in the morning.
Alec felt eyes watching him, and his eyes snapped back towards the source to see Magnus looking at him in amusement. The warlock was standing up for some reason, causing Alec to look at him in confusion.
Magnus nodded towards the counter with a quirked eyebrow. "I'll get the coffee. What kind do you want?"
"Just plain black, thanks," Alec replied.
"Will do. Be back in a flash," Magnus said with a grin that somehow seemed suggestive, walking to the counter. His purple top was shimmering in the lighting and the silver streaks in his hair were a stark contrast against his dark hair.
Alec's eyes continued to watch the warlock as he ordered their coffee and a couple of muffins. He thought he was being somewhat subtle about it, but suddenly Magnus caught his eye and winked at him.
Alec could feel his face heating up and he averted his eyes, instead observing the other people in the shop. He started trying to figure out weird facts about them, a game he and his siblings sometimes played. He didn't get very far before Magnus was back with the coffee.
The warlock passed over his coffee and a muffin, and his nose was somewhat wrinkled as he looked at Alec's coffee. "Black coffee is incredibly bitter. I don't understand how you drink it like that."
Alec shrugged. "I don't really know, but I've drunk it like that my whole life. I don't like the taste of all the sugar and creamer." Here, he looked at Magnus's coffee that was obviously laden with the stuff. It also had whipped cream with caramel on top.
Magnus nodded easily. "Fair enough. More sugar for me, then."
Alec nodded in agreement and finally took his first sip of his coffee. Oh, wow, the warlock might not have been exaggerating when he said this was the best café in Manhattan. He'd take this over the sludge in the institute any day.
He noticed Magnus intensely watching him, and he spoke up. "So, what's it like being the High Warlock of Brooklyn?"
"Horribly busy and sometimes annoying. You wouldn't believe the ridiculous things people pay me to do." He shook his head. "Oh well. It pays well." He suddenly leaned forward with an eager expression. "So what's it like to be the King?"
Alec shrugged. "Honestly? Incredibly exhausting. From the way things are working out and from what Lucifer is saying, I'm almost never going to have free time. I was lucky to get a few hours this morning."
Magnus grinned at him. "Well, I'm honored you spent rare free time with me, then."
Alec blushed, attempting to cover it by taking a bite of his muffin (which was delicious, by the way). "You're welcome."
"So what were you doing before we met up then?" Magnus asked, seeming highly curious, eyes never leaving his.
Alec took another sip of his coffee. "Not much compared to some mornings. Lucifer finished setting up some stables in a room when I woke up."
Magnus's head tilted, cat eyes confused. "Why on earth do you need a stable in a penthouse?"
"It was Lucifer's idea. We brought a couple of Abyssal Guardians with us, and they needed a place to stay."
Magnus looked somewhat dumbstruck. "Dear lord, you are getting yourself into some strange situations, aren't you, Alexander?"
He grinned sheepishly with a shrug. "I'm getting used to it. Luce is an . . . interesting person to live with, to say in the least. Anyway, I started to read up on politics, Hell's power reserves, and read some reports from other countries."
He decided to elaborate. "Lucifer has demons all over the world reporting to him the situations in their countries. It's kind of weird though, since I read a couple of reports from places that don't speak English much, but all the reports were in English. Lucifer can read all languages, I think, so he might be translating them for me."
Magnus looked confused. "He hasn't given you a spell or runes for languages?"
"Wait, there's spells and runes for that?"
"Yes." The warlock frowned. "I wonder why he hasn't given you anything. The spell's pretty complicated, but the runes are simple enough. All you have to do is put them on through tattoo or jewelry. Eventually you don't even need them because you eventually get proficient in the languages once you use them so much."
Alec frowned thoughtfully. "I'll have to ask Luce about it. There might be something about my rank that affects it. I'm not sure, but that sounds incredibly useful. It's not like I don't already have tattoos, anyway."
Magnus's flickered to his neck to the only visible permanent marks. The warlock suddenly did a double-take, and grabbed Alec's arm.
"What's wrong?" he asked, watching as Magnus pushed up his sleeve. His heart was pounding, and he was sure his face was red. By the Angel, he was touching him!
Magnus pointed at one of the marks. "These don't normally look like this, right?"
He looked at the marks and his eyes widened. Instead of the normal, dark color of the marks, they were turning silver tinted, almost like fading scars. "No. No, they don't." There was slight panic in his voice.
"Would Lord Lucifer know?" Magnus asked.
"Probably," he said. He thought about something, and his curiosity temporarily pushed his panic away. "Why do you call Luce 'Lord Lucifer'?"
Magnus shrugged, like the answer was obvious. "He's my lord. Technically you are, too, but you don't mind when I call you by your actual name." He tilted his head and a wicked look overtook his face. "I can call you Lord or King, though, if you want."
"No, thank you," Alec hastily said, trying to ignore the leer. His eyes shot back down to his oddly colored marks, and he started to stand. "I really need to go ask Lucifer about these marks, though. I guess I'll see you around?"
Magnus smoothly rose to his feet as well. "You'd better believe that you'll see me around. Text me."
"Okay," he agreed, and watched as Magnus left with a wink.
Alec shook his head in amusement and there was a faint smile playing on his lips. Magnus really was something else. When he turned to leave, as well, he could have sworn he saw a man on the other side of the café watching him, but he must have imagined it. Besides, the man definitely did not have solid white eyes like he thought at first.
. . .
"Lucifer!" Alec called the second the elevator doors opened. The fallen angel was sitting at the dining room table, looking over a small stack of reports, but he looked up with a grin when he heard Alec.
Lucifer's grin fell when he saw Alec's expression and he was on his feet in the next second, looking concerned. "What happened?"
Alec pushed his sleeves up, and pointed at the marks. "They're turning silver!"
Lucifer leaned closer to look at them, but he didn't seem concerned. "Ah, I had thought something like this might happen. It's nothing to worry about; your body just has no reason for the runes anymore."
"What does that mean?"
Lucifer explained, "You probably didn't notice, but lately you've been instinctively using your powers to give yourself the same effects your runes do. They realize, for lack of a better word, that they are unneeded, so they are disappearing."
"Oh, that makes since, I guess," Alec said, but then a thought occurred to him. "Wait, what about my parabatai rune with Jace?! It won't fade will it?"
Lucifer shook his head. "It shouldn't. There's no reason for it to. In fact, the parabatai rune is probably the only rune that will stay."
"Okay, good," Alec said, relieved. "So when do we need to go meet with the Seelie Court?"
"We should actually head out soon. We should probably go ahead and get ready. You know those formal black and silver clothes I pointed out last week to you?" Alec nodded. "Go put them on with one of those protective body suits under them."
"Okay," Alec agreed, and went to his room to do exactly that. Once he was dressed, he observed himself in the huge mirror in his room. He looked a lot like a king – well, except for his hair. He attempted to make it less messy, but there was only so much he could do.
He had just decided that his hair was as good as it was going to get when Lucifer made his way into the room. The fallen angel was wearing gold and white. He had a gold crown in his hair, and he was holding one of Alec's crowns in his hands.
Alec allowed Lucifer to put the crown on his head, and the fallen angel looked into the mirror with an approving nod. "We look formidable and of our rank. Good."
Alec turned towards him. "What else do we need?"
"Put on your concealed belt, and that's all you need. I have a courtesy gift for the Queen of the Court." He held up a velvet emerald green bag that looked incredibly expensive.
Alec nodded, and he wondered what was inside the bag. He didn't question it, though. "Are we entering through the pond entrance?"
Lucifer got a superior look on his face. "We are not showing up soaking wet. We shall use the entrance directly into the meeting room. The Queen already knows we will enter that way."
"There's an entrance into the meeting room?" Alec asked, following Lucifer when the fallen angel started making his way towards the exit of the building. "How come I've never been able to use it before?"
"Because you didn't used to be the King of Hell."
"Oh, okay. Hey, Magnus mentioned something about translator runes. Can I get something like that?"
Lucifer looked at him in fond exasperation. "I had wanted it to be a surprise, but oh well. I am in the midst of carving the necessary runes into a ring for you."
"Thank you, then." Alec left it at that, and they traveled in comfortable silence into Central Park. They went in the general direction of the lake, but they veered off to the left, going into highly warded trees. They'd walked maybe another five minutes when Alec saw a massive tree that seemed to almost shine.
"This is it," Lucifer told him, gesturing at the tree with a regal motion. The fallen angel walked up to the tree and whispered something to it. Suddenly, the tree shuddered and it started to unwind. In less than a minute, a set of stairs revealed themselves.
Lucifer entered first and Alec followed him. The tree closed back behind him, but the walls were glowing a faint gold-green light that let them see. The stairs only went about thirty feet down before opening up.
It took Alec a second to get a good view, but when he finally did, he was slightly awed. The ground and walls seemed to be made out of an actual tree, but that was insane because the room was easily fifty feet across. The ceiling was made of leaves, about forty feet up, and there were vines and moss growing down onto the walls. There were fireflies glinting high in the air, illuminating what moonstone and shining lamps weren't.
Sitting in an ornate throne with four regally dressed elves on either side was the Seelie Queen, all of which had weapons. The Queen was wearing a leaf-green dress and there was a gold vine-like crown resting in her scarlet hair. While she would normally be very beautiful, the cold and calculating look in her eyes paired with her predatory smile made her look intimidating.
Thankfully, Lucifer and he were not so easily intimidated. Lucifer put a charming smile on his face and he stepped forward with the emerald bag. He kissed the Queens offered hand, and gave her the bag. "A gift for you, Queen."
Alec followed Lucifer's example and pressed a kiss to the Queen's hand, feeling slightly disgusted, but he masked his expression into a friendly one. "It is a pleasure to see you, Queen."
"Lord Lucifer, King Alexander," the Queen greeted, a victorious smile already on her face. "I trust your journey here was safe."
"It was," Lucifer agreed. His hands were clasped behind his back and his posture was perfect, as per usual. "In your letter, you mentioned questions for us?"
"Yes," the Queen responded, and she rested her chin in her hand, eyes glinting. "What exactly are your plans?"
Lucifer seemed very open. "Currently, we are working on rounding up our demons. We have some rogues that we will be dealing with shortly."
"And what of the Clave?" she asked.
Lucifer glanced at Alec, and he took it as his cue. He spoke up. "We have plans to remove the Clave and set up a new non-mundane government system."
The Queen looked pleased and the four elves around her all looked shocked. "Non-mundane, you say?" she commented. "Not just Shadowhunter?"
"No, Queen," Lucifer replied with a charming smile. "There will be a voice for all non-mundanes within the chambers. Your Court will, of course, be offered a seat."
The Queen's smile was bone-chilling, but Lucifer seemed to not notice. Alec forced himself to keep a friendly expression. "I give you the thanks of my people, Lords."
Lucifer and Alec both dipped their heads in recognition. The Queen still had a coldly calculating look in her eyes, but she had a smile on her face and she looked to the emerald bag in her lap. "May I open the gift now?"
"Of course," Lucifer answered graciously. "It is yours to open whenever you so please, Queen."
The Queen smirked slightly, and her slim hands opened the bag. After a moment, she pulled out a handled mirror. It was made of dark wood that had little glowing green dots in it. It had amber-colored stones encrusted on the glass, and it was an obviously expensive mirror.
The Queen's eyes widened and there was a greedy look on her face. "Is this what I think it is?"
Lucifer had a pleased smile on his face. "It is a mirror from the Twilight Forest, crafted by a Twilight Elf and charmed by Lady Esmeralda herself."
The Queen looked into the mirror with an eager expression. She got a triumphant expression on her face.
"What is the mirror telling you, if I may ask, Queen?" Lucifer inquired.
There was a genuine grin on the Queen's face, but it still seemed menacing. "It says that I will soon find myself in a prosperous position and that there is great peace and happiness ahead for my people."
"That is amazing news, Queen," Lucifer proclaimed with an extremely pleased expression. "Was there anything else you needed to ask us?"
"Hm?" She asked, having to force her blue eyes from the mirror. "No, no, that it all. You may see yourselves out."
Both Lucifer and Alec both politely said their goodbyes, and they both gracefully left the Court. Once they were well away from the Court in Central Park, Lucifer started down a path, seeming to have a destination.
Alec stretched slightly, feeling stiff from standing with impeccable posture for an extended period. "That went well enough. The Queen gives me a bad feeling, though."
Lucifer's peaceful expression twisted into an expression of disgust. "The Queen is a manipulative, horrible creature. The only reason she was acting nice to us is because she likes to be on the winning side, and she know that we will win, one way or another."
"Does that mean we have their loyalty?"
"For now," Lucifer said, and wasn't that just ominous? "We probably need to consider getting rid of the conniving fool. Esmeralda and her people are considered Gods to the Seelie, so hopefully we can gain control of them soon enough."
Alec's eyes widened at the casual mention of murder, but then again, he really shouldn't be surprised. "Speaking of Esmeralda, what on earth was the deal with that mirror?"
Lucifer looked amused. "That mirror is incredibly rare and valuable, especially to the Seelie Court. The enchantments on it make it where when you look into it, you get a vague image of your future."
Alec blinked incredulously. "You gave her that when you're planning on murdering her?!"
Lucifer scoffed. "I'm not an idiot, Alexander. The enchantments have been altered so they show only positive things. She will be so confident in her own safety because of that mirror that she won't ever suspect a thing if we do choose to dispose of her."
Alec frowned. "Can we please make a deal to not kill unless it's absolutely necessary, please?"
Lucifer blinked. "I would never kill someone without due cause."
Alec nodded, not entirely sure that he wanted to know what exactly was considered "due cause". He looked around to try to figure out where they were. "Where are we going?"
"We have several hours until we need to head to meet the vampires, so I've arranged a dinner meeting with three very important people that you would benefit from meeting," Lucifer told him. "Oh, and you need to take off your crown for this."
"Oh, okay," Alec said as they stepped out of Central Park, and they both took off their crowns, putting them in Lucifer's expanding bag. Apparently the restaurant they were going to was very close to the entrance to the Seelie Court. He noticed that all of the restaurants they were passing were obviously very expensive and high-class.
Finally, Lucifer led him into an extremely extravagant restaurant. Lucifer easily walked to the host, his stride confident as always. "Table for Morningstar."
The host looked at a list and nodded. "Right this way, sir. The other members of your party have already arrived."
They were led to a table that had a white table cloth and there were three men already sitting down. The three rose when they saw them, and they all offered their greetings, saying "Mr. Morningstar, Mr. Lightwood" instead of their actual titles for the host's benefit.
The host helped them sit. "Your waiter will be with you momentarily, sirs."
Once the host had left, Lucifer spoke. "Alexander, these are three highly important in-the-know people that will be helping us for quite some time. I will allow them to introduce themselves."
"My Lord Alexander," one man greeted. He had dark brown hair and aristocratic features. He was wearing a suit that Alec was pretty positive cost more than most people made in a decade. "My name is Charles Hastings. I am a demon and I have been masquerading as a business man for several hundred years, altering a glamour to change my appearance. I am in charge of most of the finances for this war and I have a strong sway with the downworlder media."
"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Hastings," Alec replied, not sure what to make of the demon, but he seemed friendly enough. He turned to the next person.
The next man, who had skin the color of coal, smiled at him. "King Alexander. I am Theodore Parr and a member of the United Nations. I am in charge of keeping both you and Lord Lucifer updated on many mundane affairs. I am mundane," he added as an after thought. He had an accent that Alec couldn't place.
"Great to meet you, Mr. Parr."
The last man was blonde and was wearing glasses. His suit was obviously of lower quality than the other two, but he seemed happy to be there. He was beaming. "Lord Alexander! It is an honor to finally meet you. My name is Nathaniel Anderson, and I'm a scientist that's been working with Lord Lucifer for some time now. I've been working on making your Antarctica battle-field a reality."
"That's great," Alec said. "Is it coming along okay so far?"
The scientist nodded eagerly. "Oh yes, we've nearly got a solid plan. The wardings against mundanes seeing anything from the satellites is probably the hardest part. We've already made several experimental fight suits that we're extensively testing."
Anderson suddenly looked at Lucifer. "And thank you so much for the necessary materials and extra help. It's looking like adding that blue spider silk-like material into the fabric helped exponentially."
"Glad I could help," Lucifer responded, but before he could say anything else, a waiter came to them with a bottle of red wine and five glasses.
"Good afternoon," the waiter greeted them. He served them all wine, and took out a pad to take their orders. "Have you decided what you'll be having for the evening?"
Anderson, Parr, and Hastings all quickly ordered their food. Lucifer ordered some type of steak, and Alec just said that he would have the same thing as him. As soon as the waiter left, Lucifer turned his attention to Hastings.
"How are our finances and resources looking since your last report?" he asked.
Hastings smiled, taking a sip of his wine. "They are looking great, my lord. We should have more than enough to defeat Lilith and Samael. The money situation is still looking good, even with the large amount funding Dr. Anderson."
"Good." Lucifer swirled his wine glass. "And the media and rumors?"
"The media is unsure. There are a lot of mixed reactions. There are a lot of rumors circulating right now. Some think that you are about to start to Apocalypse. Some think you are still evil. A few think that you've gotten fed up with your demons, but others think you got bored and want to help them cause destruction. One particularity amusing rumor was that you decided to open a school of ballet."
Alec coughed to hide his laugh. "Ballet?"
Lucifer looked amused. "Why, yes, Alexander, that sounds like a lovely idea. I suppose that would make you my lead dancer?"
Alec laughed. "I don't think so, Luce."
He noticed the surprised looks at the nickname, but Lucifer ignored it as their food came. The waiter placed their food in front of them and then left.
The others started eating, and Alec eagerly cut a piece of the steak, feeling his stomach growling. When he bit into the steak, he barely restrained himself from making an inappropriate noise. It was the best steak he had ever had, and it tasted amazing with the lingering taste of a sip of red wine.
Lucifer chewed his own bite. When his mouth was empty, he turned to Parr. "Has the United Nations noticed anything?"
"No," Parr answered, "but I must ask you to reconsider my previous suggestion."
Lucifer frowned, and seemed to see Alec's confused expression. "Parr wants us to officially announce ourselves to the UN and tell them of the downworld."
Alec's eyes widened. "Tell mundanes? There would probably be a bloodbath! They would be terrified and lash out."
"Exactly," Lucifer agreed with a grim look. "I am going to have to decline again, Parr."
"Sir," Parr objected. "I have amended my original proposal and given it much thought. I believe I have found a safe way to reveal the news."
Lucifer thought about it for a moment, then urged him on with a wave of his fork. "Very well. Tell me your thoughts."
Parr stopped eating so that he could use his hands to gesture. "One of the main reasons why I think they should know is so that they know what is going on at any given time. From what information you've given me, it's too common for a rogue downworlder or demon to kill a mundane and the mundane police to get involved, which gets in the way of shadowhunter investigations."
He continued, "On top of that, the downworld is on the brink of complete war. The mundane governments are going to notice that, especially if the more powerful demons get released. We could be talking world-wide earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, unprecedented tornadoes, massive electrical storms, deadly hurricanes." He shook his head. "They need – no, they have – to know."
Lucifer looked somewhat impressed with the man's passionate speech. Alec thought he had a good point. Lucifer tilted his head. "And what of the general populace's knowledge? How would you keep it in the high-ups?"
Parr looked ecstatic that Lucifer seemed to be considering it. "Easy: blood oaths. It would bind them to their silence, so that even if they wanted to tell, they couldn't. They wouldn't even react as negatively if you could get one of the archangels to back you up."
Lucifer hummed. "Gabriel would have to be the one to make the message. The humans are most familiar with him since he heralded Christ's birth."
Parr looked so excited that he might pass out. Anderson and Hastings had yet to say anything, but they seemed to agree. Parr spoke, "Does this mean you'll do it?"
Lucifer paused. "I'll have to think about it. I need to consult with my council, my father, and Gabriel. I will not make a final decision until after that."
"Of course, of course," Parr quickly responded, a wide grin on his face. His pearly white teeth clashed against his very dark skin. "Thank you for considering it, Lord Lucifer."
Suddenly, the waiter was making his way back over to them. Alec realized that they had all finished their food while they had listened to the proposal.
"May I interest any of you with dessert or would you like the bill?" the waiter asked. Alec wondered why he hadn't come over to check on them before, but Lucifer had probably requested it.
"Bill, please," Lucifer requested.
"Yes, sir," the waiter responded and handed over the bill.
Lucifer glanced at the bill and easily passed over a credit card. Alec caught a glimpse of the amount owed – and please tell him he had imagined that number!
While Alec was trying to figure out how much a piece of steak cost at the restaurant, he realized the menu hadn't had prices on it. During his internal crisis, Lucifer and the three men said their goodbyes. Suddenly, Alec was being led out of the restaurant by Lucifer.
The sun was just dipping over the horizon when they stepped outside, and Lucifer turned to him with a slight smirk. "Ready to go to meet the vamps?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," Alec replied.
