by Alicia Ryan
Back where he started, Tuesday had no choice but to swoop down and land on the narrow ledge at the one opening. He considered for several moments whether he should just leave.
Finally the need to know where he stood spurred him on. If Lucifer was going to kill him, no amount of distance would matter.
Entering took two steps. Ariel hadn’t erred in her description. The outer wall was four or five feet of solid granite, making the doorway more like a foyer. Inside, however, the granite was covered by a layer of glistening black – onyx, obsidian? Probably the latter, he decided. It reflected yellow and orange from the sputtering, twisting ball of fire below.
Immediately inside, hallways branched off in either direction, but they extended only into darkness. He could see cylinders of the kind that provided light on the upper floors, but they were as empty and dark as the hallways. Was Lucifer not at home? Or just not receiving visitors?
He turned to his left, putting one hand against the wall and the other out in front of him. He’d only taken a few steps before it became too dark to see. After several minutes spent of moving slowly through total darkness, he noticed two small yellow lights in the distance.
His jaw dropped when he got close enough to tell they weren’t lights; they were eyes - eyes that glowed yellow with enough luminescence for him to see they were set into a statue of a two-legged, winged, reptilian demon.
He stepped to the side, the eyes following his movement. “What the…?”
Everything else he might have said lodged in his throat as he realized the demon couldn’t answer. It couldn’t even blink. Everything except its eyes had been turned to stone, but it was most certainly still alive.
He knew, even without confirmation, that this statue had been created on purpose because he could scarcely imagine a worse punishment than to be conscious but trapped motionless in rock. Suddenly Lucifer just killing him dropped lower on his long list of things to worry about.
He spun around, putting his back toward the horrifying statue and felt his way down another darkened hall. Glaring eyes accosted him at each turn of what he came to realize was a maze-like warren of corridors.
At some point, after the shock of successive stone-encased demons wore off, it occurred to him that he didn’t know if he could find his way out. Kicking himself for being a complete idiot, he realized if his conjured up clothes worked down here, he could probably conjure up a flashlight.
No sooner had he thought it than a nice heavy weight fell into his hand. He pressed the on/off button, but the light wasn’t much help. Still all he could see was a black hallway. Now he wished he’d thought to conjure up some bread crumbs or a long piece of string.
His bracelet glinted up at him, reflecting for a moment the beam of the flashlight. He put the light down and transferred the bracelet to his other, unmarked, wrist.
At first he felt nothing and was about to decide it was a stupid idea, but then a slight red glow and a seeping feeling of anguish started up his arm. He rose and proceeded further into the interior of the maze, noting that the glow became brighter and the anguished feeling more pronounced. He almost hesitated to get any closer, feeling so sorrowful he had to fight the urge to weep.
Whatever Lucifer was doing, it was making him unhappy in a way Tuesday hadn’t imagined anyone could be. Worse, he didn’t think Lucifer was purposely pushing emotions at him. The feelings coming through the mark weren’t his own, but they didn’t have the same intrusive feel as before. What he was feeling seemed more like…overflow.
His heart clenched at the thought, and he shook his head to clear it, telling himself sympathy for the devil was ludicrous. He forced his feet to keep moving forward.
Orange light reflected off the black walls as Tuesday turned what he hoped was the final corner. He’d never known despair as black as was assailing him now. His soul ached with it, creating a matching physical pain deep in his chest, in his heart.
He turned and up ahead saw open space – a cavernous room easily as long as a football field. When he reached the opening, he could see the full expanse - almost as wide as it was long. The first thing he noticed was a large, stone desk just to his right. It, too, was topped with a layer of gleaming obsidian.
Arched alcoves ran down either side of the long room. The ones he could see into contained tables and chairs. One had a big screen tv. He wondered briefly what kind of movies made the devil’s screening room.
The granite pillars supporting each arch contained slabs of diamond, behind which orange fire burned bright. They illuminated the room, but he couldn’t see into any of the other alcoves, and he wondered if they were occupied. Somehow, he thought not.
The ceiling arched black far above his head, but the floor was covered in gray slate. None of these things held his attention, though. How could they when out of the floor at the end of the room rose a massive granite boulder. No, he thought, ‘boulder’ didn’t do it justice; it was more like a mountain, with crags and hollows and numerous sharp edges. It was so big, the entire room must have been built around it.
About halfway up, in one of the many hollows Lucifer lay unmoving, his back to Tuesday, his enormous wings extended and draped across the stones. Tuesday could see sharp outlines poking through their soft black leather.
He walked closer until the sound of weeping stopped him in his tracks. Tears began to fall from his own eyes, and he reached down to move the bracelet back to his left wrist. When he did, Lucifer wailed and gripped tighter the stone on which he lay.
Tuesday took a relieved breath, but the sight before him was almost as heartbreaking as what he’d been feeling. If he’d thought an archangel’s joy infectious, misery was even more so. It just seemed so wrong. Even on Lucifer.
He moved his bracelet back to his other wrist, struggling to stay on his feet as he went forward, despair threatening to sink him with every step. When he reached the rock he had to fly up to where Lucifer lay, but his body felt heavy, almost too heavy to lift.
When he landed, he could see a pool of tears had collected in a little hollow under Lucifer’s pain-wrenched face.
“Lucifer?”
Black eyes opened but didn’t look up at him.
“Why are you here?” he asked, the words seeming to grate against his throat.
For a long moment Tuesday didn’t respond. “I don’t really know,” he said finally.
“Did she send you?”
“She suggested it, yes.”
Lucifer took a deep breath and struggled to get up, but his strength seemed to fail him, sending his face crashing back onto the sharp rocks.
Tuesday was too shocked to catch him, but he stooped and raised Lucifer’s torso, willing a layer of black feathers, then another and another, until the sharp ridges were covered. He eased Lucifer back down.
“What’s happened?” he asked.
“As you well know, your Ariel sent me a message.” He glanced up at Tuesday’s mark. “She wanted to remind me…remind me of what I’m missing.” He took a deep breath. “Bitch. As if I could forget.”
“So when we were…?”
Lucifer nodded. “She complains I have destroyed joy, and she thinks to put it back – to force me to feel it.”
Tuesday looked down at Lucifer’s prostrate form. “I guess you do miss it.”
“My other half had dominion over love itself, and I was one of God’s favorites. There was no angel more loved than me. Of course I miss it.” He almost snarled the last.
“Then why…?”
Lucifer barked out a sharp laugh. “That’s a long story – one I have no desire to tell at the moment.”
“Ariel gave me the short version I think.”
Another choked laugh. “For all her cleverness, there is much Ariel doesn’t know. She is young, as archangels go.” He closed his eyes. “And, as usual, her schemes will have unintended consequences.”
“I don’t understand,” Tuesday said. “Does she have a scheme?” He gestured at Lucifer. “
Other than this, I mean?”
Lucifer extended a hand, and Tuesday helped him roll over and get to a sitting position. Lucifer draped his bronzed arms over dark denim-clad knees. “She always has a scheme. I just don’t always see it coming.”
He looked up at Tuesday. “She thinks she’s playing us both for fools, you know.”
Tuesday shook his head. “I don’t think-”
“Think again. She’s not grooming you to be her lover. She’s grooming you to be mine.”
He waited for a moment as Tuesday let that sink in. “And her little message was an attempt to get me to take the bait.”
Tuesday slouched against the nearest rock. “Yours?” His voice squeaked, and he noticed he was feeling his own emotions again, despite not having moved the bracelet back to his marked wrist. Granted, it was only fear, but anything was better than the devil’s despair.
Lucifer nodded. “Don’t look so mistreated. I can’t say I’m thrilled about it myself.”
“Why? Uh…I mean why is she doing it?”
“I expect she thinks to temper me, temper my hate.”
He stood, a flurry of feathers flying up in his wake. “She knows I work to keep it, but she has no idea how strong it is.” His voice dropped. “And she has no idea what I can do – even to her. She may think she’s seen hate, but when I’m done with her, she’ll never see anything else. No more beauty, no more love – I will extinguish her light. She thinks to bring me up to her level. I will drag her down to mine.”
“No!”
Lucifer glared at him. “You’d beg me for mercy – for her? You’ve come to the wrong place, Tuesday. I’m not in the mercy business.”
Tuesday’s mind reeled. “No…no, of course not. It’s just…well, you might need her.”
One dark brow arched.
“You said she has talents you don’t – a talent for strategy if nothing else. Don’t you think you could use her? If you destroy her, she might never help you. Mightn’t she turn against you completely?”
He felt Lucifer’s anger cool a bit. “She can’t turn against me. She has nowhere else to go.”
“Doesn’t she?” He knew he was just guessing at this point, but he pushed on. “If she begged, if she repented because in her eyes you were truly the greater evil, would God not take her back?”
He heard Lucifer suck in a breath, and knew his guess hadn’t been too far off the mark.
“Perhaps you’re more like Ariel than even she realizes.”
Tuesday suddenly wasn’t sure if that was a good thing.
“You’re right,” Lucifer said. “It’s probably not.”
Tuesday gasped.
“When you’re this close, with the mark open, yes, I can read your mind.”
Tuesday extended his wings and dropped to the floor. “How about from here?” he called up.
Lucifer laughed. “Basically whenever you’re in hell. Up above, the signal becomes less clear and diminishes to just emotions.” He landed beside Tuesday. “Or a particular, purposely sent message.”
Tuesday wondered at Lucifer’s sudden change of mood.
“Well, I’m seeing that I may be able to turn this peevish little plan of Ariel’s to my own purposes.” He stared at the blank stone wall at the other end of the room. “There are many things to consider in this.”
He stood silent for so long, Tuesday thought he’d been forgotten until Lucifer spun around, pinning him where he stood with another powerful bolt of emotion – this time, raw desire. Tuesday gave a whimpering gasp, and his feet started moving of their own volition until he was standing mere inches from Lucifer, looking up into his beatific face.
It wasn’t fair for evil to be so beautiful, he thought.
Lucifer laughed. “Very little is fair, my Tuesday.”
He smoothed a hand along the side of Tuesday’s face, and Tuesday couldn’t keep himself from leaning into it.
“For instance, I haven’t decided what to do about you, but I am going to forbid you to see Ariel.”
The words only dimly registered, he was so caught up in the feel of Lucifer’s warm skin against his own. He thought he should be upset but couldn’t summon up that particular emotion.
“You can shut me out with that damned bracelet, but remember she, too, bears my mark. I can afflict her with pain even she can’t imagine. So obey me in this and don’t try to see her again.”
He nodded into Lucifer’s palm.
Before he could give into the temptation to kiss it, he found himself standing in the middle of his own bedroom.
Unlike when he’d left Ariel, this time he greeted his beige room with a sigh of relief. He didn’t stay in it long, however, opting instead to switch the bracelet over to his left wrist and go stand under a long, cold shower. Very long. Very cold.
Chapter Fifteen
It was two days before he told Price all that had happened. Two glorious, uneventful days. They watched soap operas during the day, with Price filling him in on the intricacies of the love affairs and blood feuds. Every night, they went out and got hammered. If Price suspected anything was wrong, he never mentioned it, and for that, Tuesday was immensely grateful.
“Man, you are in deep shit,” he said, when Tuesday finally spilled the beans.
“And thank you for those comforting words.”
“You don’t need comforting; you need your head examined.”
“I don’t know why I even talk to you.”
“Because you haven’t got anyone else to talk to?”
Silence stretched between them as they sat on opposite ends of the sofa.
“When do you think we’ll get new assignments?” Tuesday asked.
Price shrugged. “Could be anytime now.”
“Will I be rid of you then?”
“Most likely. You don’t have to sound so happy about it.”
Tuesday grinned. “If we’re still stuck together, will you promise to let me decorate our new place?”
Price guffawed. “Let’s take that little trip to the ATM you promised me, and I’ll think about it.”
They could have walked to the nearest cash machine, but Price also wanted to go to McDonalds, so they took the Mercury across town. The drive helped Tuesday clear his head a bit.
“Maybe I’m worrying too much about this,” he said. “Ariel is off limits, and Lucifer is down there pondering. He hasn’t shown up yet. Who knows how long it will be before he does? I mean, he could decide he doesn’t need me at all. Maybe he and Ariel will just work it out.”
Price laughed. “They haven’t worked it out in millennia, what the hell makes you think they will now?”
“I didn’t know you knew words like ‘millennia’.”
“Oh, you’re a riot, but changing the subject won’t help you any. You’re still royally screwed.” He chuckled. “Maybe even literally.”
Tuesday pulled into a parking spot in front of the bank. “How much will it take to shut you up?” he queried.
“More than you’ve got, boy toy. Just get me five hundred for pocket money.”
Tuesday got out of the car, grateful for even a moment’s escape.
“Here you go,” he said, too soon, as he got back in and handed Price the cash.
No sooner had he turned the key than both their cell phones began to ring. They turned to each other with raised brows, and then answered with simultaneous, tentative ‘hello’s.
“Well, Tuesday, you’ve made quite a cock-up of things generally, but your treatment of your ward didn’t go badly. That’s really all I’m responsible for, so I’m still stuck being your handler.” Norton’s voice was just as grating over the phone as it had been over the dvd player when he’d given Tuesday his first assignment.
“There’s a package waiting for you at your apartment with your new project. It should be simple enough, but I warn you, don’t take on anything extracurricular with this one. Play it by the book. No old girlfriends, no playing the hero. Do I make myself clear?”
&nb
sp; “Crystal clear, Norton. And you don’t have to worry. Mary was a one-time situation.”
“Good. Now get to work.”
Tuesday hung up and looked over at Price who was just doing the same thing.
“New assignment?”
Price nodded. “You too?”
“Norton says my packet is back at the apartment.”
“So is mine.”
Tuesday frowned. “Do we still have time for dinner?”
“It’s only four in the afternoon, so technically this is only a snack,” Price clarified. “Either way, whoever it is can wait long enough for me to have a cheeseburger.”
They went through the drive-through and ate on the way back. Tuesday wondered at his reluctance to leave this place - pathetic little Strawberry. But he’d found Mary here, and he genuinely liked Charlie. Hell, if he was honest, he even liked Price. Sometimes.
When he turned off the ignition, he looked over at his partner. “Feel like taking another little detour before we go in?”
“What’d you have in mind?”
“I’d like to check on Mary one last time.”
Price rolled his eyes. “What a sap. Fine. I know there’ll be no living with you if we don’t.”
Tuesday smiled, not pointing out that there wasn’t going to be any living with him anymore.
“No discussion, though,” Price specified. “We stay invisible. No conversation, no long, uncomfortable goodbyes.”
“Oh, you know I did sort of promise Charlie.”
“Nope. I don’t do goodbyes.”
Tuesday’s brows shot up, but he let it pass. “Okay. We’ll do it your way.”
And so they flew out to Mary’s little trailer in the desert, both of them gaping in shock to see Charlie standing out front wearing a tool belt and striding confidently around with a tape measure and a tiny notebook.
Mary appeared in the doorway, her wide eyes indicating that she hadn’t been expecting to see him there either.