SAMAEL

 Back in her house, Lilith muttered, "Stay here and remain quiet, okay?" before turning around and ascending the steps.

I watched her conceal her radiant skin and swaying hips once more with that unsightly shawl. The queen of Eden was beautiful in a way I hadn't seen before. 

As if she were afraid of something, she moved slowly. From upstairs, I could hear obnoxious breathing and snoring. Her husband perhaps. She was trying to make sure he didn't come down to see me.

I cast a quick glance around as she vanished from view and entered the upstairs hallway. Her perfume permeated the entire house, despite its chilly, gloomy atmosphere. It felt as though she had left her imprint on it from spending so much time there. 

I decided to go upstairs.

I wanted to see the first man, even if he wouldn't see me. I was interested in how he seemed in person. He was meant to be made in my father's likeness, just like all the other angels, but because he was human, I wondered if his imperfection would be evident.

Although the hallway was dark, a dim moonlight glimmer was reflected onto the wooden planks from an open door where the snoring was coming from. I approached the doorway and took a quick look inside.  

Lilith was standing over the man, who was unconscious in a bed. I squinted. He was alive. I could hear his heart beating and his snores filled the space around me so what was he doing?

In flesh form, he didn't look all that different from the other angels, although he was less handsome and had the same light flush of blush on his skin as Lilith did. His leg hung down to the ground and I noticed it was hairy.

Lilith gazed at him with fury and malice in her eyes as she clung to a second cloak. Was there a reason she was so angry?

Her gaze met mine as she spun around. She rushed over to me, her eyes widening. 

"What are you doing?" She hastily mumbled.

She had a fire in her eyes that I hadn't noticed before. He, the king, her husband, was responsible. Her feelings towards him were dark and I knew very well was dark looked like.

"What did he do to you?" I asked, not bothering to whisper. If he woke up then I would simply knock him out.

"What?" The fire was snuffed out and replaced with bewilderment, "nothing. Let's go quickly."

She walked past me, hurriedly heading down the stairs and I glanced back into the room once before following her.

*** 

At night, Eden was chilly. 

The stone-built homes looked like they had emerged from the ground. They were all identical modest cottages with square windows and tall, fabric-covered doors. Animals loitered in front of some doors and birds perched on the roofs. 

As I walked, the wind swept across my face, slipping in between the cloak's exposed areas to give me goosebumps. I tightened my lips and scowled. Flying would make it simpler for me to search the area for Lucifer, but I wasn't sure Lilith would approve of that plan.  

"Ask her," said the voice. 

I shook my head slowly so she wouldn't see me.

"You don't even know if she'll agree. You're just scared of being so close to her."

I rolled my eyes. I wasn't scared. I was irritated. When I first saw the woman by my side, my stomach flipped a little too violently, and even now, there was still something preventing me from maintaining eye contact with her. 

My father must have made me allergic to humans. He should have anticipated their creation, and if he did, it made sense that he would not want me close to them, corrupting and tempting them with my whispers.

I glanced at Lilith. What would it be like to tempt her?

"Everywhere seems so quiet," She remarked softly, exhaling a breath of white air.

"Yet, I can't hear him," I said.

"Can you hear a lot of things?" she asked as she whirled to face me. 

I nodded, "yes. I can hear a lot of hearts and breaths coming from the houses but yours is the loudest at the moment," I explained, "why is it so fast?"

She turned aside with widening eyes, "because, i-i'm nervous." 

"We don't have a queen in the heavens," I said, "but my father explained that you govern with the king here as his partner."

It wasn't an explanation I enjoyed listening to especially because it was given shortly after I had questioned my father's motives in front of everyone present at the gathering. I was sure that many of the angels were focused on me as well and were scarcely listening.  

"Kings don't get nervous or at least my father doesn't," I said to Lilith, "so I don't expect a queen to be. Yet here you are."

She made a small scoffing noise, "I've just never seen an angel before or hidden anything from my husband."

"Do angels not occasionally visit?"

"Adam sees them alone."

"Why don't you accompany him?"

"He doesn't allow that."

"And why must you only do what he allows?" 

She pressed her lips then, refusing to respond as she looked around. We had ventured far into the city and were surrounded by even more houses, all of which were shut with occupants.

It took me a while to realize they were asleep. They were different from us in that manner, Father had said. They slept through the night in a dead-like state because of their weaknesses, which required time for their bodies to recharge. 

If Angels needed strength, we simply ate but humans needed to do a lot more than that. It seemed like a stressful existence.

"There," Lilith said, pointing trail of smoke off in the distance. It was coming from the top of a hill and I recognized it as the one from the image at the event.

"What's that?" I asked.

"The hill is where we gather to play," she replied, "nobody's supposed to be there by this time so..." 

"If someone is there lighting a fire, it could be Lucifer."

She nodded as she began to walk faster. I raised my gaze back to the hill. It was a bit far and it would take too long to get there. If it turned out that Lucifer wasn't there, we would have wasted our time.

"Let's fly," I said. 

Lilith halted in her tracks and asked, "Fly?" as she turned to face me.

I began to take off the cloak she gave me. It was large enough to cover my wings, fortunately. I tossed it to her and she caught it swiftly.

"Yes, I can carry you. We can't lose any more time before Morning comes," I murmured as I stretched my wings, "We'll get there faster this way." 

She separated her lips and glanced up at my wings with a glint of wonder in her eyes "i- Uhm. What if someone sees?"

"I'll hear them." 

She blinked, nodded, and began taking slow steps in my direction. She was hesitant, and that was understandable, but I, on the other hand, felt somewhat eager.  

I stretched my hand to her and she had barely taken it before I drew her in.

She smelled wonderful.

I lifted her in bridal style and she shrieked as she put her arms around my neck. It was a cute sound I hadn't heard before.

I liked it.

"Well, my queen, are you ready?" I asked. 

She closed her eyes and nodded.

I spread my wings and flew towards the sky. 

I made an effort not to move as quickly as I usually would because I didn't want Lilith to be terrified and I also wanted her to enjoy the experience. Her eyes were still closed, though. 

"You should open your eyes," I said, "the scenery isn't so bad."

She opened one to peek around and then the other. She let out a quiet gasp as she took in the view of her city below, which seemed quite small from where we were standing. She turned to look at the woodlands and noticed how the numerous trees appeared to be connected, blocking her view of the area below. 

"Wow," she muttered softly.

"You like it?" I asked. In comparison to the heavens, I felt the vista was very uninteresting, but she regarded it like a work of art. 

She smiled broadly as she raised her head to face me and nodded, "yes. I like it," she said while her eyes twinkled with excitement. 

My stomach flipped again.

"Okay. Hold on tight," I said as I began to move in direction of the smoke.  

She chuckled, "will you drop me?" She asked as if that wasn't something she should have been scared of.

"Never."

My eyes caught sight of where the smoke was coming from and I assumed Lilith had noticed as well because she turned to face it. It was a little cave on the hillside and the smoke danced out of its entrance.

I gently dropped to the side and helped Lilith come down from my arms. My body didn't seem to like how empty it felt without her, but I chose to ignore it. 

"Cover yourself up," she instructed, "if there's a human in there, we need to make sure they don't see your wings."

I nodded and took the cloak from her, slipping it on as she started to tiptoe toward the cave's entrance. Once I was sure my wings were covered, I followed slowly.

When we turned to face the entrance, a loud screech pierced the air and almost knocked me to the ground. 

Lilith screamed and I grabbed her by the waist and stood in front of her protectively.

But there was nothing to protect her from except...a child?

"Eloise?" Lilith said.

The young girl in front of me had bright blue eyes and brown curly hair. Both her copper brown skin and the rest of her clothing were covered in stains from dirt. 

"Lilith!" The girl said, "What are you doing here?"

I was still on high alert as Lilith moved around me and put her hand on my shoulder as if to ask me to calm down. The sound that child made when she spotted us surprised even me and that's saying a lot.

"I should be asking you the same question Eloise," Lilith said as she crossed her arms and scowled at the girl, "You scared me. What are you doing here? Where are your parents?"

Eloise fumbled with her fingernails as she said, "I- Uhm." 

"Speak," I said and she grimaced at the sound of my voice. 

"Don't scare her," Lilith turned to me.

I turned to face her and crossed my arms, "I'm not trying to be scary. I'm simply asking her to speak." 

"Well, there was a tone in your voice when you said it."

"How did I say it?"

"I don't know. It's like-"

"Samael?" A voice said and I turned back to Eloise but she wasn't by herself any longer. Lucifer was standing behind her, looking bemused as he watched Lilith and me. 

As I lowered my arms, I exhaled a sigh of relief. My brother's initial perplexity rapidly changed to joy as he grinned and flew over to me, bashing into my body as we hugged and collapsed to the ground.