The Devil's Wife (13 page)

      A single mistake! I stared at her. Clarissa, he got Sera killed, he got her unborn child killed, and he has her suspended in Limbo! It is true that God is a wrathful bastard when you push God, but you should take history into account, Clarissa. Lucifer is not a good guy. Why else would God be seeking to remove him from the Universe completely? She's had enough of Lucifer's tempting and guile that has corrupted the humans he lives among.

      "But I don't think Lucifer meant to—"

      The sound of a knock on the front door distracted her.

      Clarissa, please, don't let him settle into your life, I pleaded in a last-chance effort.

      "How do you know him, Aspen?" she asked, ignoring the door. I took it as a good sign.

      I was Sera's brother before God ripped me from my Angelic body and threw me into the shape of a cat. I've inhabited a cat's shape since the Fall, Clarissa. I know what I'm talking about on the subject of Lucifer and his past "mistakes."

      The knock on the door was repeated, and Clarissa got to her feet. I yowled and hissed, trying to get her to listen to me.

      "I don't understand a word you just said, Aspen." Clarissa picked me up, carrying me to the door.

      That's because I wasn't talking, fool!

      She held onto me as she opened the door, smiling when she saw Lucifer Morningstar standing in the doorway. My fur bristled out when I saw him, and Clarissa scolded me, setting me on the floor.

      "Hey. Come on in." She stepped back and stood on my tail.

      I let out an involuntary scream, shooting into the kitchen. Lucifer laughed at me.

      Shut up, you bastard, or I'll sink my claws into your tail and see how you react! I screamed in fury.

      "Sorry about him," Clarissa said, and it took me a few seconds to realize she was talking about me rather than to me. "You didn't have to go shopping, Lucifer."

      I felt myself hating Lucifer more. I hadn't known it was possible for me to hate the Devil more, but I did. And they say cats are arrogant, evil, cunning bastards!

      "It was no problem. I figured that if you let me cook for you occasionally, it'd be easier to know what you have here rather than guess."

      I sat on the counter and glared at Lucifer as he came around the corner. He was carrying two green canvas bags, full of stuff. I didn't care about that. I couldn't care about that. I was staring at Clarissa. She was blushing slightly, her eyes taking in Morningstar's appearance. I growled, like a tiger or a lion.

      Lucifer was wearing black. The loose button-up shirt he was wearing thankfully covered up the reasonably-wellbuilt red torso that I'd been exposed to earlier, but it also added to his...attractiveness, I guess. The shirt was longsleeved, so the only red skin I could see was on his hands and his face.

      Lucifer's pants were even worse. He'd chosen a pair of black "skinny jeans" that hugged his shape better than a leotard did one of those dancing people on the television. The stupid wanker had topped it all off with his black army boots, making him look rather dashing.

      I coughed up a hairball in disgust.

      "Aspen, do you have to do that on the counter?" Clarissa demanded and threw me off. She sounded almost sadistic when she laughed at my involuntary yowl.

      Well, if you get Lucifer to dress in a way other than sickeningly attractive, I wouldn't have to. I flicked my tail at the Light-Bringer, who was ignoring me, and settled on the back of the couch to continue to glare at him.

      Clarissa rolled her eyes at me. "What he wears is up to him, you insubordinate cat," she snapped at me, glaring.

      I ignored her, glaring at the Light-Bringer instead. Lucifer stopped unpacking the things he'd brought, turning to look at Clarissa.

      "You can understand him now?"

      Of course she can, I glared at him. Since you put some of your magic in her to heal the injury that it's guaranteed you caused, she can hear me. I told her everything you didn't, Lucifer.

      Lucifer cocked his head to the side, watching me. "Everything I didn't tell her about what?" he asked innocently.

      The Fall and my sister. I stood up on the couch, my fur standing on end. How you got Sera killed, along with me and the rest of my family!

      Lucifer stopped, turning completely to face me. "You're a cat! You don't know what you're talking about!"

      It was obvious that he was trying to discredit what I'd told Clarissa.

      I'm your brother-in-law, Lucifer, I growled, hissing at him. The Angel you were going to turn into an uncle until God found out! She didn't just throw you and the Demons from Heaven, with Sera's "accident" on the side. God split and destroyed my entire family! We were targeted because we were made different from the other Angels, different from you! And now you're going to get Clarissa killed as well, just to make it two for two!

      Lucifer frowned at me, looking me over. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Clarissa looking between the red-skinned Devil and me. "So your name wasn't a coincidence."

      No. It was one of the few times that she could hear me without the assistance of your magic. I settled back down on the couch, continuing to glare at him. The way I would like her returned, Lucifer. Now!

      "If I did that, she would bleed to death—Clarissa? Are you all right?"

      I detected genuine concern in his voice, which didn't soften my resolve. The people in greatest danger were always the ones the Devil cared about. I turned to find out what he'd seen. Clarissa was slumped on the couch,

watching us with wide eyes.

      I shot across the couch to sit next to her, beating the Light-Bringer to her.

      "Please don't talk to me, Aspen. I'm still not sure that this is real," she said faintly.

      I frowned, licking at her hand. I pushed her hand up so that my head was underneath it, and she automatically scratched behind my ears. I was happy to see that Lucifer looked devastated.

      She doesn't want you, Lucifer, I said with a dark laugh, enjoying his pain. So get out of her life before you bring God and Her minions down on her.

      "Clarissa?" Lucifer asked, sitting on the coffee table opposite her. He was ignoring me. "Are you okay?" He felt her temperature, checking around her jaw for something. I yowled and growled at him, but he ignored me.

      "I'm just—it just hit me, that's all." Clarissa sat up, and I climbed up onto her lap. "I never really thought that the things the preachers told me every Sunday could be real, that there were such things as magic, or talking cats, or the Devil."

      "It's a lot to take in, on top of the attack," Lucifer allowed. "You probably haven't been able to really process it until now, then you processed too much."

      Clarissa nodded, scratching my ears again. "Especially when I never really thought I'd see anything like this." She laughed, leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees, and buried her face in her hands.

      I tumbled from her lap as Lucifer leaned back from her. Clarissa scrubbed at her face and I jumped up to sit beside her.

      "The world just—just jumped around. What I thought was real turns out to be fake, and what I thought was imaginary turned out to be real—" She rubbed at her face again, and I rubbed my head along her arm, showing my support.

      "Do you want me to leave?" Lucifer asked gently. "I can give you some space to get used to the fact that I am real before I try to be your friend?"

      Clarissa looked up at him, reaching a hand out to rest on his knee. "No, stay."

      I looked at her hand on his knee and felt my anger at the Light-Bringer flare. I might only have been a cat, but I had claws and Clarissa would never forgive him if he killed me. At least, I hoped so.

      I leaped for Lucifer's face, my claws extended. Clarissa yelled, trying to grab me, but I sank my claws into Lucifer's scalp as his hands pushed me from him. I felt my claws slide through his skin as I flew through the air, and landed on my feet. I yelled and charged at Lucifer again.

      I stopped. Clarissa had hold of my tail, pulling at it.

      Let me go! I'm going to kill him! I was satisfied to see that Lucifer was holding a hand to the side of his face, where my scratches were bleeding. However, as I watched, the scratches healed, leaving the blood dripping down his face. Coward! Fight me like a man!

      "You aren't a man, Aspen," Lucifer said as Clarissa picked me up by the scruff of the neck so I couldn't break free. "You're a cat. And a very annoying one at that."

      Because of you! I hissed and screeched, but Clarissa wouldn't let me go. She threw me in the bathroom again, shutting the door.

      "You can stay in there until you learn to be nice, Aspen!"

Lucifer Morningstar

I really hate cats.

      Even when I was in Heaven, with the little monsters constantly underfoot, I hated cats. They never seemed to like me, and Aspen just proved that they still don't like me.

      "I'm so sorry, Lucifer," Clarissa said, returning from the bedroom.

      I could hear Aspen yowling and growling from the bathroom, accompanied by the crash and bang of shampoo bottles and other assorted paraphernalia hitting the floor and the walls. I felt a perverse sense of pleasure when I heard my brother-in-law's cat-curses.

      "Aspen was being an ass." She looked at the side of my face. "Let me get you a cloth or something for those scratches."

      "They're healed," I said, touching the blood on the side of my face. "Don't worry about it."

      "I'll get something to wipe the blood off, then." She headed into the kitchen.

      I followed her, watching. She dampened a hand towel and wrung it out, turning to look at me. I moved to take the towel, but she smiled at me.

      "Here, let me do it." She reached up, trying to clean the blood from my face, and laughed. "You'll have to bend down closer than that, Lucifer. I'm not ten feet tall," she teased.

      I rolled my eyes at her exaggeration, but bent down so she could reach my forehead. I didn't stop leaning forward, taken by impulse. I pressed my lips to hers, then felt her freeze. I started to lift my head again, to end the kiss, but she lifted her arms up to wrap them around my neck, holding me to her.

      I felt her relax into me and I frowned, pulling back. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that—"

      She shook her head. Disappointment crossed her face for a second, but then she let me go. "It's okay, Lucifer." She smiled. "If it wasn't I would have pulled away." She cleaned the blood off my face, and I hesitantly smiled at her.

      "You know, you still have to help me take those bullets out."

      She laughed nervously, handing me a towel to dry my face. "I'll do it now, if you think you can stand the pain."

      I smiled at her. "Sure. I even brought the things I use to grab them." I pulled the tongs from one of the green bags, handing them to Clarissa. "I doubt many people would have the stomach to do this, but I think you do."

      Clarissa nodded, looking like she was trying to hold the color in her face by sheer willpower. "What do you want me to do?"

      I grabbed her hand, leading her into the living room. I took my shirt off, examining the holes from the remaining bullets. They hadn't healed at all.

      "Pick a hole, put the tongs in, grab at the thing you find, and pull." I showed her the one in my arm first, making sure she knew what she was doing. "It won't hurt, so don't worry about grabbing the wrong thing. It's not like you could pull a bone out or anything."

      Clarissa nodded, setting her mouth. "Okay, let me try." Her hands were shaking when she lifted the tongs, inserting them into the bullet hole. She glanced at me, then frowned.

      "That doesn't hurt?"

      I smiled at her. "It feels a bit strange, but it doesn't hurt."

      "Hmm." Clarissa peered into the hole, closing the tongs around the bullet. It was sitting inside my bone, and she only just managed to grip the edge of the bullet to pull it out.

      "Can you feel anything?" she asked, pulling the bullet from my bone.

      "I can feel everything you're doing," I said to her, watching her face. "It's strange, and I don't think I can describe it to you."

      "Oh." She pulled the bullet out, looking at it. "I'm amazed that you didn't get an infection or lead poisoning."

      I laughed again. "I can't be killed, so sickness doesn't get a foot in the door." I grinned at her. "The same as I can't get lead poisoning."