Cassius walked away, taking my heart with him. I longed to keep him by my side, where I know for sure he’d be protected the most, but I could not take the risk. Satan is not to be messed with. I have not sent up a prayer in eons, but for Cassius I did. I swallowed what little pride I had left and turned to a higher power.

Please, keep him safe.

“My lord.”

I turned to find Malik, the warrior’s leader standing before me, a small platoon of guards behind him. They were armed with spears, made with the metals of the earth. “Is this all?”

“Yes, my lord. We ask for your orders.” Malik bowed his head respectfully. I recalled the day of his Falling, how even then his eyes shown with courage and strength.

“Man the towers and the perimeter of the village. I suspect there is only one enemy in our midst, but that does not mean to relax. Be on watch and call the signal at the first sight of anything off, even if it’s the smallest detail.”

“Yes, my lord. Is that all?”

“Give me a spear.”

Shock flashed across hia face. “You’ll be going alone?”

“He’s here for me,” I said, accepting the spear he offered me. I tested its weight, tossing it from hand to hand. “I cannot ask you to risk your lives for me.”            

I’ve already taken enough from you.

Malik knew better than to argue with me. He bowed again stiffly; disagreement written clear on his expression. “Yes, my lord.”

Even now, his loyalty shown through. I know Malik will not disobey, not even if I did order him and his warriors to their death. What I had done to warrant such faith, I do not know, but I’ve long since accepted his devotion to me, to Eden. He led his warriors away, casting one last glance at me before turning to his duties as head protector for the Fallen.

The sounds of nature subsided, birdsong cut off, the whispering trees silenced. The forest grew still as I walked through it; a calm before the storm that was waiting to happen. A calm before the storm that I so deeply dreaded, the storm I feared just as much as Cassius’s future.

I did not search for a trail, for footprints in the soft soil or broken tree branches. I simply walked deeper into the wood, heart beating erratically, so loud I could hear the blood roaring in my ears. What was coming for me was waiting for the time to strike, and I could do nothing but anticipate it. Anticipate him. The bloodlust in his amethyst eyes, his constantly morphing body, changing shape to better suit his spontaneous emotions.

“Lucifer,” a voice purred, almost endearingly.

I did not need to turn around to know who it was. “Asmodeus.” I gripped my spear tighter.

“It’s been too long,” the lust incarnate said, placing a cold hand on my shoulder, leaning in to hiss into my ear. “Decades? Centuries? I’m afraid I’ve lost count.”            

I whipped around, forcing his hand away with the blunt of the spear. “Leave. I will not ask you again.”

Asmodeus’s ebony hair was long, draped over his shoulder, the end hanging just past his waist. His dark skin seemed to shimmer in the dappled sunlight, his stature tall and lean. The form he took was beautiful; I could not help but notice how close to Satan he looked.

“Why should I?” He tilted his head, eyes widening with false innocence. “You have power over us no longer, Lucifer. You chose this.”

“So, you won’t leave?”

“We will not.”

I set my jaw. “Are you disregarding our agreement?”

“That contract was nothing but a small bandage against a gaping wound,” Asmodeus sneered, unsheathing a pair of daggers. “Salvation is beneath us all. You decided that upon our birth.”

I wanted to say that I decided nothing. That my pride was so arrogant, out of my control. That I was high from the power it gave me. No amount of explaining would save me now. “Do the rest agree with you?”

He snorted, his graceful features twisting in disgust. “Belphor and Beelzebub don’t give us the light of day, and Leviathan is still loyal to you. Mammon doesn’t care as long as he gets to keep your archives when we succeed.”

Even now, the pieces of my soul strain against one another. “Leave. You have no reason to do this." 

“You don’t get to decide that,” Asmodeus hissed, lips baring back to reveal a pair of pointed fangs. “Satan wants you and your village dead. I won’t disappoint him.”

He lunged like a snake, swift and fluid, daggers spinning in his hands. I blocked a blade with the length of my spear, dodging as the other aimed for my chest. Springing back, I swung the spear in an arc; the tip hit the ground where Asmodeus stood a mere second ago, whipping up dirt. We danced in a violent flurry of sharp edges and heavy breathing, neither able to gain the upper hand.

Small cuts slowly accumulated, stinging with sweat that ran down my body. I gritted my teeth in frustration. This needed to end. I stabbed for his hand, the tip hitting his dagger with a clang. He lost his grip and it fell to the forest floor. Not giving him time to think, I spun the spear to hit his other dagger where it dropped to meet its pair.

I stuck a leg out and swept it under Asmodeus’s feet. He stumbled but remained standing, the bloodlust gleaming in his burning violet eyes. I used this chance to shove his back into a tree with the point of the spear a hair’s width away from his throat.

“You’ve lost your edge, Lucifer.” His grin was eerily feline, chest rising and falling rapidly. “Before, it would have taken you only a single minute to unhand me. Such a shame, how much you have deteriorated.”

“My only shame is you,” I said coldly. The spear’s tip pressed into his skin, drawing a bead of blood. Asmodeus’s pale hand grasped the shaft.

“Come back with me,” he whispered, almost sensually.

“You know I will not.”

“Hell is cold without you." 

I gave him a harsh glare. “Then freeze.”

We stared at each other for a while, neither of us moving a muscle, until Asmodeus broke his gaze from mine. He looked up to the sky, the breeze tugging with his long black hair. “You wound us all. How dare you leave, Lucifer? After all we have done for you?”

I remained silent.

“Selfish bastard,” Asmodeus spat out, anger replacing his momentary nostalgia.

“I know.”

“You know nothing!” he shouted, tears gathering in the corner of his eyes. “You know nothing.”

And then the wind took him, his body disappearing in a burst of lavender flower petals. To where he went, I do not know, and nor did I care. I dropped the spear and collapsed to my knees, heaving. Asmodeus was right. I had lost power. Such a fight should not have taken so much from me. Perhaps living safe in Eden was making me soft; without the constant threats, I was not fighting as much as I had in the past, before Eden was created. It frightened me, how I was growing weaker. Eden needed my protection now more than ever with Satan dangerously looming closer. I cannot fail my people again. 

I left the spear on the ground when I left, not wanting the burden of the violence that just occurred on my shoulders. I know the pain I had caused them when I left to create Eden, and despite their actions against the Fallen, guilt consumes me. I abandoned them. It was as simple as that. I told them no reason, left them no warning. They have the right to be angry at me. The right to feel betrayed. A selfish reason, I know, and my inner voice scoffed at me. I am no better than a hypocrite.

The worried faces of the guards greeted me. Malik immediately rushed to my aid when he heard the blow of the horn, signaling my return.

“My lord—” he began, but I cut him off.

“I am fine. They are simply flesh wounds,” I said, searching the emerging crowds that came from the safe rooms for a single face. I saw his curly hair bouncing before anything else, the sun shining on it bringing out the dark honey-colored strands and making his skin glow a warm brown.

Cassius made his was through the throng of people, face pinched concern. A hand reached out to lightly graze my arm. “Are you alright?”

I placed my hand atop his, squeezing it while admiring the millions of freckles that graced every inch of his skin. “Now that you are here.”

“Let us go to the infirmary,” Cassius said, ignoring me. Still holding my hand, he led me down a stone paved path, past houses and to a small hut. He pushed the door open without knocking, revealing an empty room. “Sana gave me directions,” he explained, rustling around the place. “They told me I could use these supplies to help you. Now, undress so I can reach your wounds.”

Sana. Of course, they would speak to Cassius. The head physician was a kind soul, devoting all their time trying to find a way to postpone the fate that every Fallen suffers from. Extremely gifted at medicine, Sana was once Seraph Raphael’s assistant before they Fell. However, instead of panicking like many of the Fallen do, they were calm and immediately created a place for healing.

I pulled off the top of my robes and hissed as Cassius applied a concoction to clean the wounds, its minty scent hanging in the air between us. His brows were furrowed as he focused dutifully on the task. Once he was done, he smeared a clear ointment over each incision, fingers moving softly across my skin as if he thought I would shatter at the slightest touch. I am not that fragile, but I leaned into his caresses, nonetheless.

“I do not deserve someone as gentle as you,” I commented, watching Cassius organize everything back to its original place.

He stopped his movements but didn’t turn around. “I am not so gentle as you think. I have many thorns, Lucifer, and I fear them." 

“Which thorns do you speak of?”

The man is perfection in my eyes. Nothing could deter my interest in him; not even his so-called flaws, for they are a part of him. What would I be if I did not love those too? One cannot say they truly love the earth without also loving the bugs that crawl through it.

“My selfishness in finding the cure. I only started searching for it for myself despite knowing there were others in Eden. My anger as well. It’s like an ugly beast that lives inside me when I think of the Holy Lands,” Cassius said, keeping his back toward me still.

I stood up, walking to him. “Those are emotions, Cass. You have every right to feel them after what you’ve gone though.”

“They’re disgusting. I hate feeling them.”

He flinched as my bare chest met his back, warmth from his body seeping through his robes. “You’re afraid of them.” It wasn’t a question.

He answered it anyway. “I am.”

“Why?”

“I do not know what to do with them.”

Cassius finally turned around, looking up at me. I felt my breath get caught in my throat at the sight of him; a sliver of golden light fell through the cracked door upon his face, enhancing his features against the dullness of the semi-dark hut. I dared to reach up a finger, swiping a loose curl from his forehead, my hand resting on his hair. He responded by tilting his head into the touch and placing his own hand on my arm. I could count each individual freckle that were dusted across his cheeks, leaving me wondering when and how we had gotten this close.

Our breaths mixed, warm and damp. I thought this must be fate to be here with him at this very moment, to have an arm wrapped around his waist, my hand moving from Cassius’s hair to trace his jaw, down to his chin where I tilted it up the slightest.

“How do you do it, Lucifer? How do you deal with it?” he whispered, voice feathering sweetly on my skin.

“I do not know how I managed,” I replied in the same manner, leaning down to his height. “All I know is that you have saved me.”

And then our lips touched briefly, pulling away once, twice, before settling into a delicate rhythm. They moved softly against one another, yearning for warmth. Cassius’s fingers ran through my hair before deciding to scratch lightly at my scalp. He left me breathless and dazed and nervous. Our bodies were pulled flush, for I wanted more of him, desiring no space between us to be left alone.

His back hit the wall, but even then we did not stop. Our movements grew more unrestrained—it was nothing like the hesitance we felt at first. This was pure, ravenous hunger that knew no limits. My lips were aggressive in the most endearing of ways, prying open Cassius’s mouth and delving into its soft depths. He melted in response, giving into the pleasure, clawing at my chest, my shoulders, my back.

My head followed his as he tried to pull away. “Lucifer,” he panted, “I need air.”

I did not say that I would rather suffocate than not kiss him. Instead, I nuzzled my forehead into the crook of his neck, breathing heavily. Our bodies were heated, muscles tense and wound up from passion. We stayed like that, seconds slowly dripping by into minutes until our breaths became even and steady.

“Cassius,” I mumbled into his shoulder. His hands paused from where they were carding through my hair, showing that he was listening. “Oh, how you undo me."