The Devil's Wife (4 page)

      I returned to my pacing, and eventually fell asleep on the couch.

~ * ~

      I shifted on the cushion, my claws kneading into the fabric in my sleep, my sleeping mind vaguely aware of my actions. Memories mixed with dreams flashed across my sleeping mind, leaving me with the feeling of déjà vu…

      The Archangels left the room at Jehovah's direction, leaving me in the corner of the room with Jehovah, my father Michael, my uncle Raphael and Lucifer Morningstar. The door to the meeting room remained open, so Jehovah shut it, standing in front of the door.

"What are your concerns?"

Lucifer and Raphael looked at each other.

      "Aspen cannot remain by Samyaza's side," Michael said, looking Lucifer in the eye as he shuffled papers. "I have seen them plotting something together."

      "Liar!" Lucifer snapped. He really hated "Samyaza," the name Jehovah had given him.

      "Bullshit!" I crowed.

      "I have seen you," Raphael said, looking away from Lucifer, trying to avoid my gaze as well. "I've seen you plotting against Jehovah a few times. I've written a statement to the effect, and signed it in triplicate."

      "You lying piece of—"

      "Samyaza, theatrical displays of emotion will do you no good here." Jehovah sat at the end of the table, watching Lucifer fixedly. "So sit down and shut up before you say something you wish you didn't."

      Lucifer looked Jehovah in the eye. "Tell you what, boss," he said, trying to keep the anger from his voice and face, "why don't you ask Michael what he was doing in your rooms last Friday, when you were overseeing the meeting with the Level Two Thrones? And why don't you wonder why you couldn't find your notebooks when you went looking for them?"

      Jehovah's stare turned icy. "Shifting attentions to Michael won't save you from my—"

      Lucifer stood up while I fumed, my mouth open to join the argument. "Jehovah, look at the smug little leech. He's been trying to get rid of his son for centuries, and you've seen some of his complaint files. You know I'm telling the truth."

      "What I know," Jehovah said, looking up at him, "is that he's accused you, and you're biting back. Aspen!"

      I jumped. "Yes, boss?"

      "Tell me," She said slowly, "do you have any complaints with anyone in this room?"

      I looked around, stopping to glare at my father. "Well, Michael's been stealing your notes on creation, but other than that—"

      "Oh, this is bullshit, Jehovah!" Michael snapped. "Aspen and Lucifer have been accused of plotting to overthrow you, and now they're accusing me of theft in order to distract you from their transgressions!"

      God lifted Her hand as Lucifer and I prepared to fight back. We looked to Her and shut our mouths, glaring at Michael and Raphael.

      "This is not the first time that either accusation has come to my attention." She looked to Raphael. "Leave."

      Raphael was gone in a few seconds, the door shut tight.

      "Now, I am going to deal with this bullshit once and for all," She said, glaring at the three of us. "Michael, you are being demoted to the position of Level Six Angel for thieving my notes. I know you did, because you have authorized numerous creations that I was only thinking about doing. Where else would you have gotten the platypus and the flamingo?"

      "Jehovah—"

      "That's unfair—"

      "Silence!" She snapped. When we all quieted down again, She continued, "Aspen, I'm assigning you to Level Two, where you will—"

      "No fucking way!" I spat, standing up. "Do you realize how long it took me to get to Level Six? I refuse to be reassigned to the cesspit of Angels just because my father wants to see me in shit for gaining your favor!"

      I ignored Jehovah's cry of "Silence!" and leaped at my father over the table. Jehovah sent me flying back to my seat with a smack on the head, and I stared at Her.

      "This is not the first time that this issue has come to light, Aspen, nor is your father the only one to raise it."

      "You should kill him," Michael spat from where he was sitting with his arms folded. "The little rat's just been a pain in the ass from the time he was born—"

      "That is enough, Michael," Jehovah said to him. "You may go."

      "But—"

      "Now!"

      Michael got sullenly to his feet, sulking like a threeyear-old denied a sweet. When the door had clicked closed, Jehovah turned to me.

      "Time for you to go."

      I stood up, trying to disguise the tears rolling down my cheeks. I was pissed, but I knew there was nothing I could do. I threw the chair I was sitting in half-way across the room, and before it hit the wall, I was out of the door, slamming it behind me. After a second, I pressed my ear to the door. I needed to know what was going to happen to Samyaza.

      Jehovah's voice was soft, but I could still hear Her through the thin wood. "He is extraordinarily like his father."

      "As you created them to be."

      "Indeed." I heard Jehovah's sleeves rustle as She moved. "I really don't want to believe Michael's accusations, Sam. You're my favorite, you wouldn't plot to depose me."

      "Because I wouldn't. You know me, Jehovah."

      "You're right, Sam. I do know you." She sighed. "That's one of the reasons I find Michael's accusations to be so persuasive. I know what you are capable of, even if you don't."

      "But, Jehovah, we weren't plotting to depose you. We were planning Sera's birthday party. Which has now been ruined, thanks to her father."

      "There's nothing I can do, Sam. You have to be demoted to Level Five. The accusations might be bullshit, as you say, but they are still accusations, and I can't afford to have you too close to me."

      "Jehovah, come on, be reasonable—"

      "I'm sorry, Sam, but I can't—"

      "Would you be open to negotiations? Probation?" Lucifer asked quickly.

      "I won't accept anything for you, Sam. I can't."

      "What about for Aspen?"

      My ears pricked up, and I listened more intently.

      Jehovah hesitated. "Sam—"

      "No, listen. He'll constantly be in trouble in the Finance Department. Surely you remember what he was like last time he was there?"

      "How could I forget? He almost bankrupted Heaven."

      I grinned to myself. That leak in the budget was actually handy after all.

      "Okay, what do you propose?"

      "Send him to look after the Earth and mankind. I know

you've done it before."

      "I have a feeling that this is for you, in some obscure way?"

      "Well, it might convince my wife not to kill me for getting her brother demoted," Lucifer said.

      "And what a noble cause that is. Very well. A demotion for Aspen means an assignment to Earth until he works his way up to another Level."

      "Thank you, Jehovah," Lucifer said.

      I smiled to myself as I thought over what had been said. A second later, I was being bent and stretched, my form shifting and changing. As the claws burst from the ends of my fingers, the floor vanished from beneath me, and I was falling to Earth.

~ * ~

      I woke with a start in the middle of the next morning as my dream cat-shape hit Earth, and looked around me. There was no sign that Clarissa had been and gone; her work clothes were still in the wardrobe, the plates undisturbed on the drainer.

      I growled under my breath and jumped up to the window, looking out at the city. There were two pigeons on the windowsill, tilting their heads and cooing at me.

      Get out of here, you stupid buzzards! I yelled, banging the glass with my paws.

      The pigeons fluttered from the sill and took off into the rising sun, squawking at me. I smiled to myself and sank my claws into the wood of the window, standing on my rear paws and bracing myself.

      I heaved the window up and slipped out underneath it. I balanced on the windowsill, looking down the sixty-nine floors to the pavement below.

      I looked around, but none of the humans below were watching me. I leaped from the building, out into space, and felt the thrill as I flashed through one of the Portals to Limbo, the only Realm I'd been able to reach since the Fall.

~ * ~

      "Aspen!" Azazel crowed in delight, picking me up. "What're you doing here?"

      Clarissa hasn't been home. I was going to ask someone to check Hell for her, and here you are.

      My brother laughed and put me down in favor of his beer. His drinking had gotten far worse since the Fall, to the point where he was never seen without alcohol in his hand. "Ah, Aspen. I'm not going to Hell to look for your broad. She'll be fine, she'll turn up eventually."

      I scowled at my twin brother. Michael wouldn't hesitate to do something for me.

      "Then go ask our father. I'm not your only family member, Aspen. Not by a long shot." He downed a shot and sneered at me. "God made sure of that, remember?"

      I hissed at him and sank my claws into his leg. Azazel swore and threw me off. I glared at him, fluffing my ginger fur up to make me seem bigger. Where's Lucifer?

      "How the fuck should I know?" Azazel snapped, holding a hand to the scratches on his leg. They were already healing. "Go look for him yourself, you ungrateful cat."

      You mean he isn't in Hell?

      "He doesn't spend his time in Hell, Aspen," Azazel snarled at me. "He lives on Earth. I think he said the city was called 'New Yale' or something. Huge city, lots of sins."

      I froze. New York?

      "Could be." He glared at me again. "Why do you care?"

      Because the woman I'm living with is identical to Sera, so much so that I mistook her for our sister in the beginning! I hissed and ran for the door. If Lucifer is near her, I'm going to—

      "To do what?" Azazel called after me, pulling me up short. "He's the King of Hell, Aspen, and you're just a cat, albeit a bad-tempered ginger one. Lucifer can do whatever the hell he pleases, and you can't do a damn thing to stop him."

      I turned on my twin and growled. I can. Just you wait and see.

      Azazel shook his head, picking me up by the scruff of the neck and abandoning his half-empty beer glass. "Leave Luce alone, Aspen. He's dangerous, and he deserves to love again after what God did to us."

      I hissed at him, and he grabbed my chin. I scratched him, but he didn't let go.

      "Aspen, listen to me. It is thanks to Luce's negotiating powers that you're allowed out on Earth at all. Luce can easily rescind that decree, because God would be all too happy to destroy you. Play nice with him, no matter what it is he wants, or you'll blink out of existence!"

      I growled at him, and he dropped me.

      "Fine! Get yourself killed! See if I give a damn when you're stuck in Limbo until the end of time." Azazel slumped back to the bar, and ignored me in favor of a bottle of Jim Beam.

      I growled after him, then shot out of the door and down the main road of Limbo, towards the gate back to Earth.

      Lucifer would not be allowed within ten miles of Clarissa. I have shielded Clarissa from most of the dangers of the world as best I could. Lucifer must not be allowed near her, even if it means that I have to convince her to move to Australia. God and His Hellraisers were moving on His plan to destroy Lucifer once and for all, and Clarissa must not be caught in the crossfire. Not now, not ever. I can't stand to see a woman I care about killed again on Lucifer's behalf.

Lucifer Morningstar

      Clarissa slept through the night and on until the next evening. I heard her starting to stir as I put a pan on to heat, adding some olive oil to the bottom of it and swirling it around lightly. I relaxed as I cut up an onion, and I was whistling by the time I finished crushing the garlic, adding them both to the pan and stirring them around.

      "So you do cook."

      I dropped the pan, half of the contents ending up in the gas flame of the stove. I cursed and saved the half still in the pan, turning the fire off and cleaning up the mess. I turned the stove back on, starting again.

      "You don't seem frazzled by the fact that I'm King of Hell, and that you're in my house," I replied as I added the second lot of garlic and onion to the pan.

      "Hell on Earth, that's what you called it. Why wouldn't the Devil and his domain be real?"

      "I said not to call me that!" I snapped.