.- ... .- . .-..

Finally finding my voice after swallowing, I breathe only one word in question:

"Lucifer?"

He tilts his head. "Incidentally, you forgot to remind me about the tied sheets in the guest room," he says, his voice quiet and deep, almost dismissive. "But worry not. While you were gone, I went back to fix it."

"You what?" I hiss. "I thought you said you'd stay put this time? What if someone came in then? What if you got caught then?"

He rolls his eyes. "Does it look like I got caught?"

"Even so. You should be more careful!"

"You're telling me that?"

"Remind me again whose life is in danger between us."

"Salie, Salie, Salie." One of his hands rests on the door beside my head, almost trapping me. Then, his other hand's fingers touch my chin. "You have absolutely no right to say that so carelessly when the devil is this close to you." His fingers grip my jaw. "Close enough for you to be beyond just in danger. Don't you think so?"

"If he meant me harm, he could've done it yesterday," I say, my hands latching onto the surface of my door behind me, like my sanity depended on them while my mind replays his words about how my air feels to him. I give him a crooked smile. "Don't you think so?"

His fingers shift until his thumb is on my chin, the nail lightly scraping my bottom lip. His gaze on mine moves to my lips, then he squints. I swear I will run out of breath if he keeps giving me these looks.

With a slight chuckle, his thumb touches my lower lip and pulls on it gently. "You should be grateful we established a contract before you started acting so brazenly." He lets go and turns away. Then I exhale a heavy breath, pressing my lips together in an inhale afterward to calm my nerves.

Actually, I'm not as scared of him because I gained knowledge of his vulnerability outside hell, not because of the contract. He may just kill me if I say that, though.

"Any new information?" he asks, definitely watching me from somewhere in the room even as I switch the lights off.

I try to ignore his stares at my behind as I approach my wardrobe and begin to undress in the dark.

"No."

"Did they suspect you?"

"Probably." I slip into fresh, comfortable pajamas and pull on my hair tie, my blonde locks draping on my shoulders. "Don't worry, though. I have someone I trust who covers for me."

He doesn't answer. When I finish and turn around, he's lying on one side of the bed, hands on his stomach and his eyes shut.

I press my arms on the bed and squint at him. "Why are you there?"

"You don't want me to be?"

"It's not like you need to sleep." I gulp, ignoring what he said. "Do you?"

"Depends." He shifts and is now facing my side, eyes still shut.

"On what?"

"Many things. Like your preference."

My preference?

"If you don't want me here, I'll lounge idly elsewhere. If you do, then I'll remain." His eyes partially open. "So which is it?"

Ugh, this guy.

I roll my eyes and slip under the covers wordlessly. I face the other side, my skin heating up at his tiny chuckle.

Calm down. It's not like anything will happen. He won't do anything to me, and we won't accidentally end up tangled together in the morning. Nothing like that will happen.

"Rest up. You'll need it," he whispers. Softly.

I purse my lips, wondering if he can sense my heart wilding in my chest. "And you?" I whisper back.

"Do not mind me. Sleep."

It's weird to hear him like this. Still as demanding as ever since I met him last night, but it doesn't feel that way due to how soft he's being.

Why is he so confusing?

.- ... .- . .-..

I stretch my arms and rub my eyes. I was sure I'd find it hard to sleep with him on the same bed but guess who was proven wrong?

"Good. You're awake."

"What time is-" I sit up. At the end of my bed is a stranger. Or at least one who appears in a different form than I'm used to. His body is still enveloped with black all over. "L-Lucifer?"

He crosses his arms. "What's with the ridiculous reaction?"

"You look.. different, is all." Eyes still on him, I grab my phone on the nightstand to check the time—seven in the morning. The wedding preparations should start in an hour.

"This is what humans expect to see." Lucifer gestures to himself, referring to his current appearance: short brown hair, brown eyes, fair skin, and a seemingly unsuspecting demeanor.

"A normal-looking human, huh?"

"I suppose you can refer to it as such." He shrugs, his black-veiled body slowly changing. Bare skin is showing more on his neck down to his chest. "I take the form that is expected from the land of the living."

I raise a brow, my lips curling into a side-smile. "So if I had expected you to be a giant, walking mango, would you have been one?"

"..Why a mango?"

I scroll on my phone and shrug. "I don't know. It's been on trend in one of the online communities I'm a part of. That's all they talk about lately. Kinda just picked up on it, too."

"How bizarre," he muses as his veiled body reveals more skin. Down to his arms and hands, then his torso. He turns his back. "It matters not. Since you didn't instantly recognize me, I suppose this human guise will perform appropriately."

Soon enough, my lips twitch as the black attire that hugged his figure since the other night I summoned him fades completely. I snatch my gaze to the floor, only to glance at him again.

"Human disguise my ass, you're butt naked."

"Please." Lucifer waves a hand dismissively as he approaches my wardrobe. "You love the view."

I sigh sharply and shake my head, following him and scanning my hanged clothes for anything to fit him.

Lucifer steps aside, arms still crossed, his eyes judging me. Rather, waiting for what I pick so he can judge my fashion sense. This little asshole.

A lightbulb pops open inside me at something sleek that I'm sure will look good on him. I take it out, and as I suspect, he releases a scoff.

"Isn't that 'casual'? This is supposed to be for a wedding. Your wedding, if I may add."

Rolling my eyes, I press the hanged clothes against his bare body to check how it looks. Okay, maybe to hide too much of his skin from my view so I can be brave enough to look at him.

"Hold it." I press it on him even more before letting go and turning around to grab some underwear for him.

I resist my chuckle when his disgruntled grunts and the shifting of fabric reach my ears. A smile remains. Thankfully, my back is facing him.

"Catch," I say, throwing a black underwear at him. I purse my lips with his hurried, almost panicked steps on the floor.

"Tsk."

He complains, as usual, but still does as I tell him. What an absolute silly parrot.

Once I find a pair of socks and black leather shoes, I turn around. "Luci-" My breath hitches in my throat.

"What?"

His arm clings around the clothes on the hanger, hugging it to his chest as the hanger lays on his arm, and his other arm has the underwear pressed between his joints.

Why... Is he not holding the underwear with a hand or holding the hanger itself? Why is he so adorable?

He glares. "Spit it out, mortal. What's with that stare?"

I purse my lips to resist smiling. "I can't tell whether you're actually annoyed or just low-key embarrassed."

Before he explodes more in anger, I grab his arm, almost instantly letting go at the sudden spark, and pull him to my bed.

I throw my shoes on the floor, the socks, and the hanged clothes in his arms on the bed and pull the briefs from him. I crouch, one knee down, swallowing and keeping my eyes on his feet.

"What are you doing?"

"Dressing up his royal highness," I mock and tap his ankle. "Raise your feet."

For almost a minute, he doesn't move. He doesn't say anything, either. I sigh and attempt to stand until he finally raises one foot.

With a little smile creeping up on my lips, I slide the holes into his raised foot, then on the other, and now comes the more challenging part.

It's fine, Asael. It's just Lucifer.

Like hell, it's fine. It's Lucifer.

Before he notices my hesitation, I partially close my eyes and manage to slide the underwear on him without any complaints from him. I swiftly take the slacks and do the same thing. He raises his foot again, then the other, quietly.

"Hold," I say, referring to the slacks.

He does as told while I quickly look at my belts, nodding to myself as I grab one and slip it around Lucifer.

It's a bit strange, although admittedly refreshing, that he isn't being a cheeky butt. He's letting me dress him up. Obediently. It's weird, yet it gives me a feeling of being in the lead. Free. Dominant.

I can't say I dislike it.

"And..." I button his coat's cuffs and back away, only to step close again to unclasp the button by his shirt's collar. "Done."

He wears a white shirt with one button off underneath a silver coat, matched with slightly darker slacks and black leather shoes. I'm pretty sure he'll look better if he isn't in disguise, though.

"Hm." He faces the mirror from my wardrobe's door and unbuttons another button before nodding.

"Good enough for Satan?" I tease as I grab a towel and some clothes with me.

"It's sufficient."

I roll my eyes and enter the bathroom. "I'm gonna shower. Stay there and don't go out. You need to not stand out."

"I'm already in the guise of a human."

"Point is, if you go there early, people will talk to you."

He scoffs. "I'm not as incapable as you in conversation, foolish human."

"Whatever. You talk weird. Better not risk it."

The nozzle sprays warm water on the floor and me, silencing whatever retort Lucifer may have.

I close my eyes and sigh. In a few hours, I'll be married. In less than a few hours, whatever angels talk Lucifer said may begin. There's so much to think about. I don't know how to feel.

Only a bubble of hope remains at the center of my mind.

.- ... .- . .-..

"It reeks," Lucifer grumbles, refusing to leave my room. He probably means the angels. How many of them are here? A ton, he says, but doesn't that mean it's too risky?

"What if..." I finish brushing my hair and play with the hair tie in my fingers. "You stay here and don't go after all?"

"What?" He glares.

I purse my lips. "I feel like there's going to be major repercussions if you go there. Assuming it's filled with angels."

"It will be."

"It's also a church." I stretch the tie between my fingers, my gaze steady on it. "Are you not, I don't know, gonna be in trouble there?"

He scoffs. "What, you assume stepping inside a manmade structure meant for the Almighty would burn the devil or something? You humans with your comical beliefs."

"Yet you can't do anything here," I whisper, watching the tie slowly snap.

"Shut your muzzle." He leans on my door and crosses his arms. "Give me a couple of minutes, and I'll face this repulsive stench without issue."

I slam the tie on the vanity and turn my head toward him. "That's the thing. You're going in there despite how awful it is for you. Why don't you just... not go?"

"And then what?"

"I-I don't know. But-"

"I'm not a coward." He squints, "Like a certain pushover in here."

I grit my teeth and grip the tie in my hands. "It's risky."

"It will provide answers."

"Lucifer-"

"Are you forgetting who I am?"

I look away.

"Simply because I've been cautious these past two evenings doesn't mean I can't unleash anything if the situation pleas for it."

"You can't seriously be thinking of... showing yourself to humans."

"You have no say in this," he says as he twists the doorknob, his voice cool and even. "You are but a measly tool in this supernatural charade. In what way? I bear no answers. But it is what it is. We can only play our respective roles."

I stand up. "Lucifer-"

"For once in the entirety of our acquaintance, heed my words." He opens the door and peeks outside before glancing back at me. "Will you?"

Despite his calm harshness, something in his fake brown eyes is a pool of uncharted emotions I can't read. No, I'm not allowed to.

"I may be the devil, but I'm not inviting you to trust my words for my own amusement." His voice tones down. "This is the only way we can get answers."

Before anything else, the door slams softly behind him.

God, please keep that rebellious fallen angel from trouble.

.- ... .- . .-..

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