#also she's got so much devilish accents in her looks that depicting her as a sheep feels like flipping the script

[thunderboltfire]

Poor battering ram of a woman, how come you've chosen so badly who to follow?

[gayestnerdsinfiction]

“You rose to me ash blackened and new” for any of your ocs? (Also: Can i just briefly say that i love your writing a whole lot? It's just very fluid and elegant and I really enjoy reading it.) ❤

aaahhhh thank u so much!! i always see when u leave nice tags on my stuff it makes me smile so big! (also i misread the prompt and added a word to it but i’m sure no one will care right???)

Israfil paces warily around theedge of the room, keeping as close to the sleek black walls as he can managewithout touching anything. He had expected Hell to be fiery and cluttered andthoroughly unpleasant. He supposes the rest of it may very well be like thatfor all he knows, but this room looks like a fancy corporate office occupied bya very goth businessman. The desk at the center of the room looks to be pureobsidian, polished and shining beneath the stark white ceiling lights. Theblack chair accompanying the desk is plush with dark green accents and wheelson the bottom. Israfil never saw a wheeled chair during his time in Heaven. Hewonders if there’s any significance to that.

He’s in the middle ofsurreptitiously examining the ornately framed painting of a woman that hangsbehind the desk when the front door swings open with a whoosh of hot air.“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Lucifer says smoothly, strolling into the office. Heis dressed in a well tailored crimson suit and a wide brimmed hat, which he promptlytosses onto the desk. “How’s tricks?” he asks, pulling the wheeled chair backand taking a seat.

“Oh, you know,” Israfil says. “Beenbusy.”

“I can tell.” He reaches into oneof the many drawers in his desk, removing a small, silver box. “Cigarette?” heoffers.

“No. Thanks.” He clears his throat.“Listen, I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner. I was sort of caught up with…something.”

“Israfil,” Lucifer says, taking acigarette out of the box and lighting it with the tip of his finger, “believeme, I know all about your exploits in humanity.” He gives Israfil aknowing look. “You should know by now that no one has any secrets from me.”

“Right. That’s true. Anyway—”

“It’s a shame what happened,” heinterrupts, wisps of smoke curling out of his mouth as he speaks. “But I guesshumans aren’t really made to last. Not like us.” He grins, looking for a momentlike his old, charming self. “We’re like the cockroaches of this whole wretcheduniverse.”

“Right,” he repeats, softer thistime. “Look, Lucifer—”

“You know, I remember when youfell,” he continues, gesturing for Israfil to sit in one of the green armchairsacross from the desk. “It was quite scandalous, really. God’s golden boygetting cast aside without warning.” He leans forward slightly, as if preparingto tell him a secret. “You know, my wife and I took bets on whether it wouldstart another uprising in Heaven. From what Michael told me, a lot of theangels were not happy with that little turn of events.”

Israfil didn’t know that Luciferand Michael still kept in touch. Though, he supposes it makes sense. After all,Michael was the only one who was ever really close with Lucifer. “You’remarried?” he asks.

Lucifer waves a hand at thepainting Israfil had been inspecting. It depicts a tall, dark skinned womanwith tumbling black curls and blood red lips. She sits cross legged upon agolden throne, a jackal lying peacefully at her feet. “Lilith,” he says fondly.“You might remember her from the garden?”

Israfil nods slowly, eyes fixed onthe painting. “Vaguely.” He remembers that Adam had a wife before Eve, and thatshe, too, had been dismissed from the garden. Apparently Lilith and Adam had a…difference of opinion regarding the woman’s place in a relationship. “Youmarried her?”

“How could I not?” He turnshis chair to face the portrait with a soft sigh. “I knew she was brilliant themoment I met her. And she’s got a body that just won’t quit.”

“Okay, anyway,” Israfil saysabruptly, feeling more than a little uncomfortable at the turn thisconversation is taking. “I was wondering—”

“I wanted to claim you right afteryou fell, but your grace hadn’t burned off yet,” Lucifer says, seemingly intenton telling this story whether Israfil likes it or not. “Besides, it was way toointeresting to watch you play house with the human, and I thought it mightthrow a wrench into my entertainment if I took you under my wing too early.” Hepauses, swiveling around in his chair once more and tapping a bit of ash offthe end of the cigarette onto the table. “I’ll admit, I was a bit disappointedwhen you didn’t come to call after I adopted you,” he murmurs, looking upthrough his eyelashes at Israfil. “Some demons less benevolent than I mighthave perceived that as a snub, you know.”

“Like I said, I was busy.”

“Of course. You were busy.” Hetakes a long tug on the cigarette, looking thoughtfully at the ceiling aboveIsrafil’s head. “One of my seers came to me with a vision. On the eve of yourfirst little scuffle with Raphael.” He blows a perfectly rounded smoke ring. “Sheprophesied that you were going to fall in combat.” He chuckles to himself. “Outsideof an IHOP, no less. If I hadn’t stepped in, that would’ve been super embarrassingfor you. And you have far too much potential to let you get taken out in aparking lot brawl, of all things.”

Ah. So that explains why he hadbeen claimed during that fight all those years ago. He had always had thesneaking suspicion that Lucifer knew something he didn’t—which, granted, wastrue most of the time—that led him to choose that moment to claimIsrafil as one of his own. It had always seemed a little too apropos to be a coincidence.“I appreciate your intervention,” he says curtly.

Lucifer nods slowly. “It really wasa beautiful sight,” he murmurs. “Watching as you rose to me like ash, blackenedand new, with the full force of Hell at your fingertips.” He exhales softly,his eyes fluttering closed. “I was proud to see you triumph like that, rebornwith my dark blessing.”

Israfil resists the urge to scoffat the utterance of ‘dark blessing’. Lucifer must think himself quite the poet.“It was a welcomed gift,” he admits. “Your patronage, I mean.”

“Hm.” He stubs out the cigarette onthe back of his hand. The flesh sizzles and blisters before returning to itsusual, eerily smooth texture. “And now you’re here.”

“Now I’m here.”

“I suppose you’re wondering whattask I’m going to ask you to perform,” he says casually, popping the cigarettebutt into his mouth and swallowing it. “To prove your loyalty to me, naturally.”

Israfil nods, relieved to befinally getting to the point of this whole meeting. “I don’t intend to residehere,” he says carefully, “but I’m willing to carry out my… duties, as the needarises.”

Lucifer smiles, lips pulling backto reveal a mouth of glossy white teeth. “Good,” he says. “Your service isinvaluable to me.” He runs his palm over his slick, dark hair, eyeing Israfil withgreat consideration. “You’re currently living in Oakland, correct?”

“Correct.”

“Good,” he repeats. “In downtownOakland there is a restaurant owned by a man who has a band that I don’t like.Have the restaurant shut down for me.”

Israfil blinks. “Is that all?”

“That’s all.” There is a devilishgleam in his eyes, but he offers no elaboration and Israfil doesn’t feel quitebold enough to ask, so he says nothing and simply nods his head in agreement. “There’sa good lad,” Lucifer says brightly. “Now, I have a very important meeting witha few of my generals, so I’m afraid I’ll have to send you on your way.” Hewaves his hand at the tall double doors at the other end of the office and theyswing open, revealing a broad shouldered, burly demon standing just beyondthem. “Halphas will show you out.”

The demon bows low at the mentionof her name.

“Right. Okay. Well, I’ll be… seeingyou, I guess.” Israfil gives an awkward half bow to Lucifer, feeling a bitstrange at having to bow to someone who was once his delinquent cousin, andshuffles out of the room. He has a gnawing sensation in the pit of his stomachthat tells him he should’ve given more thought to the implications of Lucifer’srequest. He knows better than to believe that the order is as innocuous as itseems. But even the unforeseen consequences of shutting down a singlerestaurant are probably preferable to any of the things Lucifer might haveasked a demon he liked less.

Even so, as Israfil follows Halphasdown the wide halls of Hell, something in the back of his mind tells him heshouldn’t have been so quick to agree.