I Love Luci Ch. 12

"Mull... I am not going to strike you for speaking the truth to me," he said and knelt down so they could stand eye to eye. "You are not wrong and your loyalties have been unimpeachable."

The little daemon almost puffed up with pride. "We are your most loyal servants, my king!" He said, his bronze cheeks turning a little darker from an almost human blush of gratitude. Then he hopped a little closer to whisper: "The Princes of Hell seek to have her captured or silenced, Lord Lucifer. I do not know which... many of the other household daemons are scared of their owners."

Lucifer set a hand on Mull's minute shoulder. "You tell them, Mull, any information they acquire should come directly to me. And if they are in danger for doing so, they may join my household for protection. I will not let the loyal be harmed for doing what I need by any demon, Prince or fallen angel in my realm."

Mulligan gave another deep bow. "I will discreetly pass that on to all of the other lower daemons, my king."

"Now... I will see to this emissary. " Lucifer straightened and tried not to feel overwhelmed by the look of proud devotion on the face of the daemon. Lower daemons like Mulligan were as immortal as their more powerful demon brethren, but lacking in the sheer manipulative power that Demons possessed. They had no glamor, and unless given a direct task, they tended to follow a biological imperative unique to their blood, depending on the bloodline they hailed from. Some tended fires, or worked as simple household attendants, some were suited only to defense and guard duty — those he kept in the Pits to ensure no escaping of souls.

In general, Lucifer paid them little mind unless one failed at its appointed task. And, in hindsight he realized, he was less than kind or patient in the face of failure. And yet, despite the quaking fear, Mr. Nox had proven a valuable resource. Lucifer made a mental not to take a different path with the smaller daemons. They made hell function and deserved a little kindness.

Maybe she was changing him. But... how could any of them say it wasn't for the better? Why did they *fear* Gwen so?

He was pondering this very thing when he entered his private study and saw the woman sitting on his desk waiting for him. Her green eyes had their characteristic slitted pupils. He closed the door and regarded her silently.

"Do I need to say 'I told you so'?" Bast purred and slithered off the desk soundlessly.

"If you have a message, Bast," Lucifer said tightly, letting his eyes flash red in warning. "Deliver it and go."

"The girl has been sent somewhere to be kept until such time as all interested parties can meet and discuss what is to be done with her." She stalked silently around him, running the tip of a single gold-painted claw along his chest and upper arm as she moved. "You just *had* to get smitten with her, didn't you?"

He grabbed the deceptively delicate wrist and removed her hand from him, turning to face her. "Where is she, Bast?"

"With a member of my people," Bast answered.

"Who? And why has Herne not returned her home?"

Bast narrowed her glittering eyes at him and bared her teeth slightly, a soft, low rumble of a feline growl in her long, slender neck. Her ebony tresses were braided back from her face, her caramel skin luminous under a the white suit jacket she wore, her throat encased in its usual golden cat collar. Today, a tiny mystic topaz dangled from the collar, catching the green of her eyes in its ever-shifting hues of green, turquoise, deep blue and lavender-pink. She was without any blouse under the deep V of the pristine coat, which was held shut by a pair of gold-inlayed cloisonné scarab-beetle buttons at her waist. Her long legs were encased by equally crisp and perfect dress pants and on her small feet she wore intricately woven golden sandals.

"I am not some errand-girl you can order about, Lucifer Morningstar." She showed delicately pointed teeth similar to a felines as she regarded him with disdain. "Be grateful Ra allows my intersession at all... we still have old grievances with your people."

Lucifer walked around to the chair behind his desk and sank down into it. "With my father, you mean. Well, join the fucking club, Bast. I'm less than thrilled with most of the choices He has made over the last several millennia! And Michael and Uriel are douche bags. Even *I* hesitate at the murder of innocent children in their cribs."

Bast tilted her head as if eying something curious. "You speak with genuine hate and yet I wonder where Hell would stand should the Old Gods realize there are in total more of them than the Angelic Host."

Lucifer raised his eyes, his face cold and impassive, and let them shine at her; not in their demonic red but the brilliant pure light of Heaven. "I may have genuine hate; it is as pure as genuine love. And I may loathe them..." He leaned forward and allowed her to see the jet black arch of his wings above his shoulders as he manifested them, and letting the darkness of the shadows close in, thick and suffocating. "...however ... *no one* destroys my family but me."

Bast's lips twisted into a wry smile. "Touché." She leaned over his desk, her breasts not at all hidden behind her suit coat as the material gaped and gravity had its way with her shape. She smiled slowly, catching his gaze as it rose from her bare breasts. "Then I suppose there is no danger to me in telling you that Ra did not necessarily give his permission so much as I am hoping not to have to ask for his forgiveness later on."

"So you can only say so much... whatever you feel inclined to and whatever won't get you in trouble." Lucifer said, intentionally dropping his gaze once more and not bothering to pretend he didn't appreciate the view.

"I've always... liked you, Lucifer," Bast purred softly, walking around his desk, sitting upon it, placing her slim, gold-covered feet on his chair, on either side of his hips and tugging him towards her. "You know how to... maneuver your way through this world. It is a world I miss being apart of. You're one of the few Young Gods that understand the value of hedonism, of surrender. You don't see women as the enemy."

Lucifer laughed. "No, you are correct. That is why I can be summoned by even your pagans. Too many of my people linked me to all the 'evils' of female kind... in some ways I guess I should thank those stupid, power man chauvinists. I have so much more fun than any of my brethren." He ran his finger lightly over her collar. "In their nightmares, I am both the enigmatic stranger that seduces. But so am also the merciless Master..." he slipped his hand under her collar and wrapped it around her throat, giving a gentle squeeze. "Who will punish the wicked. Have you indeed been wicked, pretty kitty?" Her green eyes flashed and her pupils dilated sharply. Her pink tongue flashed out to moisten her lips as she regarded him silently.

"How badly do you want her back?" Bast whispered. "Enough to seduce me for the answers you seek?"

He tightened his grip around her windpipe but she just continued to stare into his eyes until he growled his answer: "Yes."

"Enough to be my slave?" She narrowed her gaze as a flurry of emotions flashed across his face. Rage, pride, self-loathing, shame, fear and finally... acceptance.

"Is that the price you are demanding?" He asked calmly, but could no longer meet her eyes. He removed his hand from her body and stood up from his chair. Even his baring seemed suddenly... less. She didn't care for it. A diminished arch angel was not what she wanted, in the slightest. But... she was what she was and couldn't resist toying with him.

"And if it were?" She countered.

"Then... yes."

Bast sighed and curled her legs up beside her on the desk. "She won't want to be found. Where she is... being *what* she is... it's changed her."

"What do you mean?" A Lucifer demanded. "Where is she? *What* is she?"

"What? Uncertain. Thoth thinks she is some sort of near-human descendant of ours... that is to say, he theorizes she has at least a small percentage of ichor in her blood. Sometimes our descendants are just socially, physically or mentally remarkable. In her case, he theorizes, it's both physical and psychic. She is empathic to a chemical and biological level. Not only can she sense the energy of a place but her very self alters to become apart of that place." Bast have a graceful shrug. "Were she to have been given to me to care for, in my realm, for example, I imagine you'd have a literal cat in heat to find and care for. In retrospect, I think she would wish that instead of her current keeper's domain... but at least it is a realm of life and not death."

Lucifer tried to read between the lines as to what Bast was telling him. He knew that she wasn't required to answer a direct question and she was obviously enjoying toying with him by dropping clues and hints without actually telling him where to go. Gwen was with an Egyptian and was being altered by that realm. An Egyptian who was associated with life, not death. Potentially the deity had an animal affinity. Many of them had ties to animals, like Bast. Thoth, himself, was tied to the Ibex. Anubis famously had the head of a jackal and Horus that of a hawk. But none of these things could he imagine being uncomfortable or unbearable energy to be around for Gwen.

So what wound make Gwen hide from him? She had few real inadequacies that she allowed to bother her... save one he could never understand. Her shape. Her body, which he personally thought of as beautiful, and voluptuous, was something she didn't see beauty in and often she tried to hide herself and her curves, never willing to trust that he saw her as beautiful.

He suspected he knew where he was. But he didn't know for certain. But he had to take a chance. He leaned in as if to place a kiss on Bast's parted lips but paused just a moment before actually pressing his mouth her hers and instead asked: "How is Hathor these days, Bast?"