Chapter 5 Lucifer
LUCIFER
Pickings were slim in the housing market in the Banks, where Dex lived, especially when Luc ruled out all the cramped apartments that wouldn’t accommodate his wings.
He decided to make do with a recently renovated warehouse in the adjacent neighborhood. Having his own building was ideal, and pretty much essential once he and Dex consummated their mateship. Luc intended to make the sweet young man scream.
His pleasure would echo through the loft nicely.
Luc refused to admit he’d copied Onyx. His brother wasn’t the only demon allowed to live in a loft. Besides, Luc’s new home was located in the Docks. Onyx was in the South Banks. They were completely different neighborhoods.
Sitting on his new bed, Luc tipped his face toward the sun streaming through the high-set windows. Dex’s lips haunted him. Sweet and soft, and oh-so adept. Where else on Luc’s body might he like to put his mouth? Luc intended to map every inch of Dex with his.
But he wouldn’t be fucking Dex tonight. Luc wouldn’t go further than kissing. Not until Dex knew.
Luc deserved a medal for his restraint.
If his brothers were aware of how well he was treating his mate, maybe they’d give him a chance. Though probably not. He was sure his intentions were selfish deep down. Luc wanted to do right by Dex, but only so long as it led to him accepting the mating bond.
Luc had to reveal his being the Devil in the most appealing way. Before their relationship went too far, but not before Dex was attached and willing to continue what they’d started.
It was a delicate balance. Nothing had felt so fragile in Luc’s life. This was his chance to share his side of the story, reveal his mistakes as he saw them before judgment was cast.
Luc’s phone vibrated in his pocket, and his heart skipped. Was Dex messaging about their date? Hopefully not to cancel. Luc hurried to unlock the phone.
No. The text wasn’t from Dex.
Unknown:
This is Onyx.
Luc saved the number, his fingers trembling, which was absurd.
So, Ash and Dante hadn’t poisoned Onyx against him. What fucking luck. This was all he needed. A chance. He could work with this. Maybe in time, he’d have his mate and brothers.
Luc called Onyx. The phone rang and went to voicemail. Luc hung up, scowling.
Onyx had texted less than a minute ago. Why hadn’t he picked up? Luc called again. And again.
“What?” Onyx snapped, answering at last.
“You texted me.”
“I know.”
There was a long silence.
“Can we meet?” Luc asked.
Onyx growled, and Luc braced himself. “Fine. I don’t know why I assumed you’d play it cool. Meet me at my loft. Stay on the roof and I’ll see you there.” Onyx hung up without waiting for a reply.
Luc rubbed his temple, fire raging inside him. Play it cool? Apparently, it was too much to expect Onyx to be glad to see him, even after he’d reached out. How was he supposed to fix anything if he was fighting Onyx’s temper the entire way?
The flight to Onyx’s loft was short, the city blurring beneath Luc, his wings beating steadily while his heart thundered. He landed on the empty roof of Onyx’s building and shot off a text announcing his arrival.
Luc rubbed his chest, a strange hollowness spreading through him. Relinquishing control of the situation wasn’t something he usually tolerated. Onyx better appreciate the gesture. This was big and should help prove that he wanted to fix things.
Eventually, Onyx landed beside him, folding his shimmering blue wings at his back. “So, you’re hanging around town. Why aren’t you off on a tropical island or something?”
Luc raised a brow. “I told you I’d be here.” Never mind that he’d planned to leave. He’d have come back when Onyx called.
“Don’t say that like not lying this one time means anything. Wow, you’re here. I’m so impressed.” Onyx rolled his eyes.
Luc clenched his teeth. His brother didn’t make anything easy. It was best to get right to it. “I’m sorry, Onyx. I had no idea you felt left behind.”
“But you should have. We’ve been over this. I didn’t feel left behind. I was going to be left behind. I told you that I didn’t want to go, and you ignored me.”
Luc still couldn’t believe he’d missed it. When he’d been preparing to leave the Eternal Realm, he’d been sure Onyx was as committed to following as Ash or Dante. He’d hardly spared it much thought.
“I don’t understand how you couldn’t have wanted your mate.”
Onyx’s cheeks flushed crimson, and he clenched his fists. “That’s your problem, Luc. You can’t understand anyone who doesn’t agree with you. Your way is the only way. You’re the most arrogant motherfucker I’ve ever met.”
The extent to which Luc’s self-absorption had blinded him was hard to wrap his head around. Onyx had seen everything in a completely different light. It threw Luc off balance. He wanted to say it wasn’t possible, that Onyx was wrong, which seemed to be the root of his problem.
Onyx wasn’t wrong, and Luc’s inability to see his truth wasn’t his brother’s fault.
“I’m sorry I didn’t listen. You’re right. I’m arrogant. My confidence blinded me to everything else.”
Onyx’s brows shot upward, and he shoved a hand through his hair, his horns hidden away as usual. “Your confidence? What is this, some sort of my-strengths-are-my-weakness bullshit?”
Luc snorted, and Onyx’s eyes flashed with blue fire.
“No. That’s not what I meant. I used to think my unwavering conviction was a strength.
I believed I was right because I held logic above all else.
I was right about finding our mates—they had to be on Earth if they weren’t in the Eternal Realm.
Even when I realized I was wrong, I still believed I knew the best way forward.
I saw no other path because I was so full of myself that nothing else existed.
No one else’s opinion mattered. That’s not a strength. ”
It was obvious now, even if it hadn’t been back then.
“You can say that again.” Onyx scowled. “But how was letting magic seep into humanity the best way forward?”
“It wasn’t. I already told you that I didn’t father the first witch. Fixing that mistake was the only way forward.”
Onyx scoffed. “I don’t believe you didn’t create witches. You wouldn’t fix something for someone else.”
“Maybe not entirely. Would you believe it was, in part, my arrogance that led me to take credit for creating witches, even though I didn’t do it? I believed myself so important that the council would punish me and spare the rest of you.”
Onyx’s eyes narrowed. “I still don’t see it. You wouldn’t stick your neck out for anyone.”
Luc tamped down his growing frustration. “Don’t think of me as you know me now. Not as the one who imprisoned you. Think of me as I was before. Wouldn’t that Luc have sacrificed himself to protect others?”
Onyx’s brow furrowed, his eyes widening ever so slightly.
Luc pressed on. “If I’d been the one punished as I’d hoped, then I’d never have betrayed you.”
Onyx’s tentative surprise vanished. “How the hell do you figure that?”
“If the council never created the Realm of the Damned, I’d never have needed to trap anyone.”
Onyx shook his head. “Creating Hell didn’t mean you needed to trap us there. What the fuck, Lucifer? The council didn’t make you do shit. Their decision was questionable at best, and yours was even worse.”
Could Luc ever make Onyx see?
Back then, his brothers might have believed he’d taken the fall for a fellow demon. He should have told them what he’d done before it all went bad.
But his arrogance had gotten in the way. Why consult them when he’d already decided?
When Nox came to him and confessed that he’d fathered a half-human child, Luc feared the Eternal Realm’s wrath.
Nox didn’t deserve to be punished for loving a human who wasn’t his mate, so Luc took responsibility.
How much more could the council hate him?
He’d led the fall. He was already their number one enemy.
But he wasn’t the one punished. Witches were. They were banished to Hell after death for the crime of being born. And the other demons hated him. They saw having that child as a betrayal of their quest for mates.
Luc should have told the truth then.
But the first step away from being a trusted friend had already been taken. Once everyone’s anger had become clear, Luc suspected they’d no longer believe the truth, and Nox wasn’t backing him up, too afraid to be the one cast out.
Nox had more offspring, and others saw no point in resisting. There were no consequences to their actions, and there was no fear when the Eternal Realm punished the resulting witches. Luc’s pleas to do the right thing fell on deaf ears. They all considered him a hypocrite.
Only one way to mitigate the damage had remained.
Demons didn’t need to hear how their mates were out there. They didn’t need to feel seen and sympathized with in their heartbreak. Luc had tried for centuries, and it had done nothing but lead to the current mess. Demons needed to be forced to do the right thing.
There needed to be consequences.
“Creating Hell didn’t mean I had to trap you.
You’re right, Onyx. But the Eternal Realm punishing witches for what we’d done meant someone else needed to punish us.
I couldn’t let magic completely overrun humanity.
If we’d stayed on Earth and demons had offspring left and right, how long would it have been until magic infected all of humanity and completely stopped the cycle of reincarnation? ”
Onyx took a step backward, his feathers ruffling. “I don’t know. We wouldn’t have all had children.”
“That’s not the point, and you know it. Things were going wrong, the consequences reaching far beyond us. Falling should have hurt no one but us. We were ruining things we never should have touched, damning innocents to Hell. I asked demons to stop and think, and no one bothered to listen.”
Onyx stalked forward, jabbing Luc’s bare chest with a finger, the touch disproportionally painful. “Why would they listen to you? If it wasn’t you who started it, you should have said.”
“That was a mistake, but I can’t take it back!” Luc heaved a breath. He was yelling and had to rein it in. “If everyone had to hate me—fear me—to ensure humanity wasn’t destroyed, then that was the price I had to pay as the one who led you all here.”
Onyx’s mouth fell open. “Why didn’t you say that? Why didn’t you come to me? Why not confide in Ash or Dante? All you did was spout bullshit about a prison.”
Luc’s tail thrashed. “It wasn’t bullshit.
We had to be imprisoned to stop the spread of magic.
To stop more souls from being banned from the Eternal Realm.
I said that. The logic was sound. This time, it was you who didn’t listen, like I didn’t listen to you about not wanting to fall.
You, Ash, and Dante cried about was how unfair it was to imprison those who hadn’t procreated. ”
“It was unfair.”
Luc’s fire sparked, his eyes itching as they burned. “So I should have weeded out the guilty demons? How? After that first demon came to me, no one else would confess. I tried to figure it out and asked for cooperation. It didn’t work, so I did what needed to be done.”
Onyx clenched his jaw. “What needed to be done. That’s one hell of a way to say you violated me and stole a piece of my very essence.”
“I know. And you might never forgive me for what I did to you. That’s your right. But I need you to know that I’m sorry. I regret it. Hurting you, Ash, and Dante was a line I never should have crossed.”
Once he’d crossed it, nothing remained sacred, and there seemed to be no point in doing the right thing.
Luc was bad, and he leaned into it. He had to embrace being the enemy to control the enraged demon population.
There was no room left for kindness, and no one would have believed it was real if he’d tried.
“I don’t know what to do with you, Luc.” Onyx seemed to deflate, his wings drooping. “Even if what you say about not fathering the first witch is true, it doesn’t make the rest okay.”
Fuck, there was no fixing this, was there? No apology would undo the harm he’d caused the three men he loved most in all the realms.
“Give me more time.” Luc couldn’t help begging. “Let me talk to you like this again.”
“I don’t know.” Onyx swiped a hand over his face. “Even if I can get my head around the reasons you didn’t ask for help, stole my magic, and imprisoned me, that doesn’t excuse what you’ve done since returning to the Human Realm.”
“Onyx, please—”
“I have to go.” His wings snapped out, and he leaped into the air. “Don’t try to justify hurting Harper and Ollie. It’ll make the hole you’re trying to crawl out of deeper.”
Onyx took off toward the river, disappearing into the distance.
The memory of Dante’s snarling rage filled Luc’s mind, and the smell of Ollie’s blood permeated the air. Luc took a gasping breath. He was sinking to the bottom of the sea, and he deserved to drown. To be buried in a hole he could never crawl out of.
He stood like a statue until the light began to change.
At last, he shook himself. He had to get ready for his date. It was better to focus on his mate anyway. If he could get Dex on his side, maybe he could help Luc mend things with Onyx.
And if not, at least he wouldn’t be alone.