I was pacing. I knew I was being ridiculous, but I just couldn't stop moving. I had thought that facing deadly angels would've numbed me to the horror of facing death. But that...creature...I shuddered.

"Rika, you're alright." Lucifer whispered brokenly, pulling me from my pacing into his broad chest. "I've got you, Kitten. Nothing will happen with me here. I promise."

My mind was screaming at me to tell him to go fuck himself. I was a strong, independent person, dammit. Even so, my body relaxed when he wrapped me in his warm embrace.

You know what, brain? I'm going to let this one slide. It's like soldiers kissing the first woman they see getting off the boat.

Lucifer sighed, his tentative hold on me becoming stronger when I didn't pull away. His hand held the back of my head to his shoulder. We stayed that way, in silence for a moment.

"Lucifer?" I asked, not pulling away.

"Yes, Rika?" His chest rumbled beneath me as he spoke.

"What the Hell was that thing?" I felt him tense. I gripped a fistful of his shirt in the silence that followed, picking at the gray fabric absentmindedly.

"I'm going to summon Marcus to the library," he finally said, tightening his arms slightly, "let's leave this damn place first, and I'll talk to the both of you." I nodded against him, inhaling his smell. Melted chocolate and something spicy.

Before I knew it, the air bent around us, and we were in the library.

I should move away. I should keep my distance again.

I didn't though. Instead, I allowed the angel to lead me to the loveseat that I had refused earlier that day. I had just tucked my legs beneath me when the air in front of me shimmered. Marcus materialized. I wasn't sure if I should be concerned by how normal that felt.

"What happened to you, Babe?" Marcus fussed when he took in my appearance. Lucifer didn't seem too pleased at the nickname, but he let it slide.

"You know, nothing much. Apparently, nearly dying has become my normal evening activities." I joked weakly, trying to hide just how shaken up I was.

Marcus' eyes widened. "Here? How...What...?"

"It was a...Well...What was it?" I asked Lucifer, turning to look at him. He was staring at me intently, as if he worried that I would evaporate if he looked away.

He shifted slightly, clearing his throat. "It was Cerberus," he said.

"Cerberus? Isn't that Greek mythology?" I formulated it like a question, but I knew it was. I was a mythology nerd.

Marcus was still in shock, but Lucifer waved my statement off. "That was Marcus' idea. He thought it was wonderfully ironic."

"Cerberus was Lucifer's favorite Hellhound. I was being clever." Marcus added numbly. "but that makes no fucking sense!"

"What doesn't make sense?" I asked, a tiny bit annoyed at being so out of the loop.

"Everything!" Marcus shouted at me, his hair wild.

"Helpful." I muttered, but Lucifer just sent a hard glare at the daemon, silencing him.

"Sorry, Ammi. I'm just...mad at myself." He hung his silver head, "I'm in charge of the security here. I can't believe something slipped past me. Especially with you here...I should've tightened everything up more than I did."

"It was obviously someone internal to our operation." The King of Hell mused, staring off into space. "The door of our room wasn't broken down, and there are powerful wards that prevent unwanted teleportation over it."

Our room?

"Is that how you knew it was there? How you knew to find me?" I asked.

Lucifer's eyes went cold and withdrawn. "I didn't know to find you." He whispered.

Marcus swore in a language I didn't recognize. "If I hadn't taken over..."

"What?" I felt my heart skip a beat.

"Normally, I take on the judgement of souls myself." Lucifer told me, playing with a lock of my hair.

"You judge all of the souls?" I asked incredulously. That seemed impossible to me.

He just nodded. "But today...I was distracted, and, for the first time...I let Marcus take over. I wanted to see you. I was on my way when I heard you scream."

I couldn't speak. None of us could. Silence stretched between us.

Finally, I broke it. "It just...appeared. I was reading on the bed, and it came out of nowhere and threw me against a wall." I shuddered at the memory of the vicious attack. "It came at me so fast, like it knew I would be there. Like it was there for me." I looked at the two men pleadingly. "But that's ridiculous, right? There's no way-"

"I'm so sorry, Sweet." Lucifer murmured, his face hard, but his eyes soft and caring.

"Oh, fuck." I gasped, putting my head between my thighs as I tried my best not to puke. I was disgusted by my show of weakness, but knowing that someone was doing their best to kill me made my stomach roll.

A large hand rubbed my back gently. I squeezed my eyes shut and focused on breathing.

"Why didn't it listen to you?" I asked, my head still between my legs. "Keep talking, I need the distraction."

I heard Lucifer hiss, his hand still on my back. "I have no fucking clue." He addressed Marcus, "Cerberus ignored my commands. I had no control over him. And his eyes were white, not red. He was not in his right mind."

"Big guy above, Luce. That sounds like Sorcery." Marcus said.

"I know."

I rose into a sitting position, ignoring the lingering queasiness. "Why is that a big deal? Isn't that sort of thing pretty common?"

"Not at this scale." Marcus said gravely, "mind control is a powerful type of magic; dark magic. And even then, usually it's small suggestions like 'take a right instead of a left.' To sway a creature such as a Hellhound from its allegiance requires an incredible amount of power and skill."

"Oh great. I like my assassins to have incredible amount of power and skill." I groaned, feeling sick again.

"Dammit, I am so, so sorry. I can't believe I let that happen to you, Amirykal."

"Well, it's not your fault. It's not like anything slipped past you. I mean, Hellhounds live here, don't they?" I tried to reassure him.

"Well, the hounds live near the castle, but they don't often come in..." Marcus trailed off. A bolt of lightning struck me.

"Wait...we're in a castle? I thought-"

"You thought that this was all of Hell? A single building?" the angel beside me asked, seeming amused.

"Well. There aren't any windows in this place, and I-I don't know, I just never thought about it." I was such an idiot. "You should show me around, Marcus." I got a little bit excited at the prospect.

"No!" Lucifer barked, and I felt a feathered wing shoot out behind me, curling around my body protectively.

"What-" I started, but the asshole cut me off.

"You won't be going anywhere anytime soon." He told me, in a tone that brooked no argument.

So naturally, I started to argue with him.

"The Hell you mean?" I pulled away, turning to face him incredulously.

"Have you not been here for the past hour?" Lucifer growled, "you can't just be wandering around."

I opened my mouth to reply, but Marcus beat me to it. "He's right, A. You might as well paint a target on your ass."

Not much I could say when they ganged up on me like that.

"Don't talk about her ass." Lucifer mumbled moodily, throwing a glare at his friend. I rolled my eyes.

"What are we going to do?"

Marcus ran a hand down his face. "I'll have our best mages try to trace the teleport and look for some sort of marker that would give us a clue as to who or what cast the spell."

"Will that work?" I asked, aware that I was way out of my depth.

"No." Marcus sighed, "a sorcerer skilled enough to cast this sort of spell will have covered his tracks. But I'll do it anyway."

"There is one who could help us." Lucifer said. It was if he had slapped Marcus across the face.

"You aren't serious." The daemon said.

"Would that I wasn't."

"What are you talking about?" I demanded. Fucking cryptic supernatural beings.

"I'll send for him...unless you would rather go to meet him?"

"Send for him. I wouldn't risk walking into his lair when he expects me."

"Good call."

"Who is 'he?'" I tried again, continuing to be ignored.

"You know he always has a price."

"I know, Marc. I've known him a long time. I'm prepared to do anything."

"A dangerous state of mind."

Well, since they're ignoring me when I try the diplomatic route...

I reached back, fingering the silky feathers of Lucifer's wing. I thought back to the conversation I had with Marcus in the kitchen.

"Angels' wings are super resilient. Though they are sensitive, any damage to them will heal rapidly."

I found a downy feather near the top of his wing. I didn't want to use a flight feather; that seemed a bit too extreme. Gripping the feather between my forefinger and thumb, I jerked hard, not hard enough to pull it out, but enough that he felt it.

The result was instantaneous. Lucifer snarled, his wing jerking back towards him. He whipped towards me, eyes wide and disbelieving.

"Did you just..." He growled, rubbing his wing tenderly.

"I might be a mere mortal, but since you're discussing me, don't you think I deserve to be a part of this conversation?" I asked sweetly, all innocent-like.

He narrowed his eyes, and Marcus cackled like a hyena.

"Might as well have put your hand down his pants." He sputtered. I blushed bright red.

"I thought it would be like, you know, a pinch." I said.

"You'd have to try harder than that to hurt me." Lucifer purred, his eyes pulling me in. "I must admit, though, I rather like your way of getting my attention."

"Can we talk about the subject at hand?" I tried, blushing harder with every moment. I contemplated hiding behind my hair, but that seemed childish.

"What, Luce's Holy weapon?" Marcus snickered, and I started to get up. Lucifer wrapped a muscled forearm around my waist and held me back with a chuckle.

"Why I oughtta-" I started, but the damned angel pulled me back onto his lap. I felt him beneath me and I froze, flustered and uncertain.

"I'm assuming you aren't talking about my cock?" He whispered into my ear. I felt a rush of heat in my belly, and I tried my best to shut down my imagination before it conjured up unwanted images. I wrestled free, landing on the other end of the loveseat clumsily.

I cleared my throat, pretending as if I hadn't lost my last shred of dignity. "You would be correct in assuming so." I cursed inwardly when my voice shook slightly.

"The being I must speak to is extremely old and dangerous." Lucifer gave me a serious look. "I'm sure you've heard of the Serpent?"

"You mean the asshole that gave us shame and labor pains?" I asked, "he's a royal dick."

"Well, not just labor pains..." Marcus blurted out, then blushed.

"Marc, you had to open your damn mouth." To my surprise, Lucifer was blushing as well. Both refused to meet my eyes. My eyebrows hit my hairline.

"What has got you two up in knots? What did he do?"

"Well, you see..." Marcus began, and choked as if he couldn't finish the sentence.

"Female humans, as you may know," Lucifer started, then dissolved into a fit of coughing.

"As a female human, I am a bit of an expert. There's not much you could tell me that I don't already know about myself." I tried to assure them. It had the opposite effect. They blushed much harder, and I was worried they'd pass out.

"Well, you know...some, many, females get...monthly..." Lucifer managed to grit out.

"He's responsible for periods?" I asked bluntly.

They looked like deer in the headlights. I rolled my eyes. Dudes.

"No, just, your pains..." Marc said, his voice strangled.

"That bitch!" I roared, causing them to jump. "Oh, he is going to get a major ass-whooping from me, on behalf of all female kind!"

"You will do no such thing." Lucifer said, overcoming his embarrassment. "Apophis is an old God, from Egyptian times. With great age comes great power."

"And yet, you haven't killed me yet." I pointed out.

"This is much different, and you know that. Even I can't protect you from the Serpent. He weaves traps with words, and sees the things you try to hide from even yourself. He will not even know of your existence if I can help it."

~~~

I was pissed.

I mean, how caveman could he get?

I jerked again at the handcuffs that tethered me to the bedpost. I wasn't some dog to chain up when it wasn't behaving. Then again, I should've probably kept my big mouth shut. Letting Satan know you have no desire to hide away from an ancient Egyptian serpent god like he told me was a bit of a bad move. Daring him to make me when he ordered me to obey was just damn stupid.

He and Apophis were meeting in the library. I was stuck in the newly fixed-up bedroom. Apparently, mages were not just for tracking down assassins. They also repaired furniture. I looked up at the clock, and felt my frustration build. Apophis had been here for ten minutes. I had to get out of here.

Inspiration struck. Reaching as best I could into my giant mass of red hair, I fumbled around for a moment. "Where the fuck-ahah!" My fingers found the metal object buried in my curls. Pulling it out, I inspected the bobby pin. Should work just fine.

Hampered by the shortness of the chain, I had a bit of trouble reaching the keyhole at first. A few moments of frustration later, I managed to reach it. A moment later, I was free. I rubbed my wrists sulkily. Now, the hard part. I had to find the library. I opened the door.

Fuck. Me.

The hulk was there again.

"Oh, hey there, Benjamin. How's your head?" I said nervously.

The man looked amused, and unhurt to boot. "Hello, my Queen. My name isn't Benjamin; Marcus just uses that because he can't pronounce my given name. But there are no hard feelings, I assure you."

I raised a brow. "Really? What kind of creature isn't pissed when he gets his head plastered to the floor? You must be a saint."

"No, just a human man in service of my King. I appreciate a skilled warrior when I meet one. Forgive me for underestimating your abilities."

"You're human?" I asked, astonished.

He chuckled. "Yes, Queen. I am a Spartan warrior that died in the battle of Thermopylae. King Lucifer found me in Purgatory and offered me a place as a personal guard. He gave me immortality, and allowed me to keep fighting even beyond death."

I'm sure my face must've lit up like a Christmas tree. "You're Greek? I've always been fascinated by the Ancient Greeks. Is that why Marcus can't pronounce your name?"

His mouth quirked up slightly. "My name is Lacedaemon, though Marcus claims I look much more like a Benjamin. I would be happy to answer any questions or humor any requests you may have, my Queen."

He really did look like a Benjamin.

"Speaking of which..." I began slowly, "there is one thing you could help me with..."

Benjamin's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "If it's anything to do with leaving the castle, I have already been warned of your intentions."

I glowered at him. "I find your lack of faith disturbing." Seeing his confused look, I forged on. "Never mind. The point is, I just want to grab a new book from the library. I finished the one I have in here."

"I'm not sure-"

"I can't find it on my own, and I could really use a guide."

"Lucifer didn't say anything about the library." Benjamin admitted.

"Thank you so much!" I grinned, inwardly hoping he didn't land in any trouble because of me.