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HOUSE ON FIRE
When we’re in a quiet alcove, he places me on my feet, holding me by my shoulders.
“Victoria, enough. I won’t let you do this. It’s not right.”
“That’s rich, coming from you. What were you doing in there, Lucifer?”
“What I had to.”
My head shakes fiercely. “No. Don’t lie to me,” I yell. “You’re pushing me away. Like you always do. When the going gets tough, Luke gets going.”
“You’re wrong. This time I don’t have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice,” I scream, and he shakes his head.
“He’s not wrong, Victoria,” River says, intruding on our private moment. “He’s already been warned what would happen if he tried to keep you here. He’s doing the right thing... for once.”
Luke ignores River’s slight as the reaper continues to move closer. A little too close to me for comfort. “You’d never be happy here.”
“You don’t know anything about me,” I snap.
“I know enough to know that what you were doing back there is below you.” River turns on Luke. “And you were going to let her do it. You call that love?”
“Reaper, I swear I’ll end you if you say one more word.”
“Do your worst, Satan. You and I both know that’s an empty threat.”
Luke takes an aggressive step toward River, and I shake my head, not wanting him to go any further. “Please, no.”
“I’m not going to stop. You don’t belong here,” River shouts over my head, glaring at Luke while he says it.
“He’s right.” Lucifer’s voice has me swinging around to glare at him.
His head is lowered, and shame mars his handsome face. “You were right, Victoria. I was doing it to push you away. Not because I want you to go, but because you have to.”
“No,” I bark. “I’m not leaving you. I don’t care what bullshit you pull. I won’t let you push me away.”
“I need you to go.” His voice rises in frustration. “Find out who you are. Experience where you come from and what’s expected of you.”
I rush toward him, falling at his feet. “Come with me.”
“He can’t. Our kingdom is sealed from outsiders,” River chimes in.
“Unseal it, River. I won’t go without him.”
“Victoria, stand,” Luke says, extending his hand and pulling me up. “You have to.”
He doesn’t want this any more than I do. He’s forcing my hand out of duty and it’s breaking him. His sadness is potent.
“You could never truly choose me without knowing who you are, Victoria.”
I lean into him, wrapping my arms around his waist. “That’s shit and you know it. I’ll learn who I am and still choose you.”
“For a time,” Lucifer says, smiling sadly down at me. “I wasn’t lying when I said this is what Hell is like. For millennia, I have entertained that way. It was a distraction from my life and all the things that I couldn’t have. I can’t have you, Victoria. No matter how much I want it to be different, I can’t. You’re an angel and I’m the devil.”
“More than that,” River cuts in. “You each have a legacy. One that includes reaping souls and ruling your own kingdom, and the other that includes maintaining order among the demons. The balance of the universe depends on both of you filling those roles.”
I grind my teeth at River’s incessant need to butt in where he’s not wanted.
