The Devil's Wife (20 page)

      Clarissa claimed I was jealous of the red-skinned Demon, or that I hated him. While neither were false, they weren't exactly true, either. I resented Lucifer far more than I envied or hated him. I hadn't told Clarissa the full story when it came to Lucifer and my family. I knew that, and so did she. She'd said as much to Jayce last night.

      Lucifer did my family a favor before he got Sera killed. It was Lucifer who fought with God against His treatment of our family, the Grigori. It was either my luck or God's sick sense of humor that had me living with Sera's replacement, forced to watch as Lucifer wooed another woman out from under my protection, probably to her doom at God's hands. Again.

      I resented Lucifer because he'd had the power to attack God to protect our family—as much as I hated to say I was related to him, even by marriage. Lucifer had succeeded where I failed, saving our family in some form. The Demons who now inhabited Hell were part of the Grigori family, whether they'd married into it, or were born part of it themselves.

      "Sweet Heaven, I thought it was all just a really bad dream!"

      Jayce had appeared behind me. I looked up at her to see her bug-eyed, staring at the sleeping pair with her mouth open. With a grin, I climbed up on the bed, wriggling my way under Lucifer's wing to yowl loudly in Clarissa's ear.

      Lucifer opened his eyes, glaring at me. Clarissa pushed me away as she rolled away from Lucifer, frowning in her sleep.

      Get up, you idiots, I said with glee. Jayce is going to fry you both. I want to watch the fun.

      Lucifer lifted his wing, pulling it back and putting it and the rest of his extra limbs away. He stared at Jayce, who was still watching them from the doorway.

      "Please tell me you didn't sleep with her," Jayce said to Lucifer, still staring at him as he rolled over and sat up. Her eyes were bulging from their sockets.

      "Yeah, he was in my bed, asleep, wasn't he?" Clarissa asked, half-asleep.

      "You know what I mean, Clarissa," Jayce snapped

      Lucifer looked around at Clarissa as she sat up. She was holding the blanket to her body with one hand and rubbing the sleep from her eyes with the other. Her voice was croaky with sleep, and Lucifer glanced out of the window. It was dark outside; the three human-shaped people had slept through the entire day.

      "Doesn't mean I like your tone."

      "Then you did," Jayce said, still in the doorway.

      "Yes. Please let me go back to sleep, Jayce."

      "No."

      I rubbed at Clarissa's hand, and she patted me automatically, looking around for her clothes. Lucifer was already pulling his jeans on underneath the covers.

      "Bitch," Clarissa said.

      "Whore," Jayce returned in the same tone.

      They grinned at each other, Jayce with reluctance. Lucifer slipped from beneath the covers, looking at least halfdecent and as gorgeous as ever—if such a state could be called that. I gagged and Clarissa casually knocked me off the bed.

      Lucifer smiled uncertainly at Jayce, slipping past her and into the living room. "I'm making breakfast. What would you ladies like?"

      "Whatever you make," Clarissa called after him, sitting up against the bed head and pulling the covers up to cover her chest. I settled myself on the end of the bed, watching Clarissa.

      Jayce will have bacon, eggs, and a muffin, I called after Lucifer, licking my claws clean. And I want some food too!

      "Whatever you say, Aspen," he answered me. "You've been eating all day. I heard you licking the plates."

      Whatever, I grumbled. You know, the ancient Egyptians worshipped cats!

      "Along with the dung beetle, the scorpion and the snake. What does that say about cats and men?" he answered, and I hissed at him. He laughed, the sound echoing around the apartment.

      "Clarissa," Jayce asked, looking at me warily, "did your cat just talk?"

      "He does a lot more than that," she said, patting the bed beside her. "Unfortunately."

      "But he just talked?" Jayce asked, as though to clarify

Clarissa's statement.

      "Yeah," Clarissa said, spying a pair of her underwear on the floor. "But, please, if you can get him to shut up, I'll buy you a new car or something."

      I gave Clarissa a disparaging look, jumped from the bed and fetched the underwear and her bra for her, dragging them to the bed. Clarissa smiled at me and Jayce sidled along the wall, sitting on the bed beside Clarissa.

      Don't make a habit of it, I said, settling down on the end of the bed again and watching Jayce. I am not your pet mongrel, regardless of Lucifer's hopes to get you a Hellhound that will be stupid enough not to run from him.

      "Thank you, Aspen." Clarissa did up her bra, then gently pulled her underwear on. She left Jayce on the bed, getting dressed and tying her brown hair back in a ponytail. "You're an excellent cat to me."

      You're welcome, I sniffed, mollified. And don't forget all the things I do for you.

      I was watching Jayce carefully. She looked strange, as though she was fighting herself inside her own head. She sighed, relaxing.

      "I've decided I'm not going to believe anything I see or hear anymore," she said happily. "It'll save me a few dozen heart attacks and a couple of strokes, I'm sure."

      "That was my plan," Clarissa smiled. "It still feels like a dream."

      I leaped from the bed and headed out into the kitchen. I could hear Lucifer banging my empty tin on the counter in summons.

      Prick, I muttered.

      There was now only one way to protect Clarissa from what was coming. I'd protect her as I could.

Lucifer Morningstar

      Months passed. Jayce became used to my presence in Clarissa's home, occasionally coming around with Clarissa to have dinner with us at my house. My front gate, which hadn't been opened in almost four centuries, was now permanently open, as Clarissa would bring her car around when she came over, and didn't want to leave the expensive Audi out in the street.

      Clarissa went back to working at the lawyer's office during the day and spending her evenings with me. After that first night, I refused to keep Clarissa or Jayce up past midnight, putting them to bed after their occasional drinking sessions. Jayce pretended not to notice that I never slept on Clarissa's couch, but in her bed. However, I refused to sleep in the bed with her when she slept over my house. I left the bed to the women, while I slept on my couch.

      I was half-asleep one morning in July, lying in Clarissa's bed. She was lying half on top of me, drawing things on my chest with her finger. She had one leg over mine, her head propped up on her elbow. She was halfsmiling, thinking something over. If it weren't for the fact that my wings reappeared when I relaxed, we would have slept like this. Unfortunately, I would be awake all night with the pains in my crushed wings if we did, and that would have been no fun at all.

      "Luce," she whispered, her fingers trailing up to my jaw and turning my head to look at her. "Would you move in here, with me and Jayce?"

      I smiled at her, taking my left hand out from underneath my head and using it to pull her in for a light kiss, my hand resting gently on her jaw. "Do you want to move in with me? Or I move in with you?"

      She blushed, chewing on her lower lip. "Well, I want to live with you. I don't care where." She smiled, catching her balance by placing her hand on my stomach.

      "But you're worried about leaving Jayce on her own."

      "Well, she always gets into trouble when I'm not around." She smiled at me, straddling me. "I worry about her."

      "You're closer than siblings," I said, resting my hands on her legs. "You should."

      She nodded, resting her hands to either side of my head. I kissed her, smiling up at where she filled my vision like a wonderful Angel.

      "So what's the story between you and Jason, anyway? Jayce mentioned once that you were worth millions to him if caught alive."

      Clarissa bit her lip, sitting back. I didn't let her go, watching her think, and waited patiently, sketching patterns on her thigh with my fingertip.

      "Well, I first met him when I was young…"

      Clarissa hesitated, chewing her lip. I watched her, waiting.

      "I met him when I was a kid. During that part of my life when I thought no one cared about me, that the world would be a better place if someone just listened. Jason found me on the street after I ran away from home, and offered me a place to stay."

      "Was he nicer back then, or something?" I asked gently, watching her eyes. The blue was like ice splintering in the Atlantic Ocean as her thoughts raced across them.

      "No. But rather than tear me down, like he did with Jayce, he built me up, into a fighter who eventually ended up as his second, with all the skills and abilities I needed in order to remain there. This was before he showed his true colors as a sadist, though. Or maybe he was back then, and I just didn't see it because he was so nice to me…"

      She stopped talking again. I drew her down into a kiss, listening patiently. She kissed me back, her hands running through my blonde hair. After a few kisses, she sat back, ready to talk again.

      "Then, when I was eighteen, my mother became terminally ill. My brother found me on the street, and took me back home. He skipped out a few weeks later, when my father told us he was dying as well, and I haven't seen my brother, Jonah, since."

      "I don't get it," I said, playing with her brown hair. "What about Jason?"

      "Well, I told him that I didn't want a part of his gang now, that I wanted to spend as much of my time as I could with my parents. He didn't like that."

      "How did Jayce come into it?" I asked, frowning slightly.

      "We were best friends from the time we were ten," she said softly, closing her eyes. "Sometimes I think Jason took her in order to make me pay for ditching him and his gang. When I didn't run back to him, offering myself in place of Jayce, he got pissed and offered a bounty hunter's ransom for my capture."

      "And when he hurt Jayce?"

      Clarissa's blue eyes opened, focusing on me. "When he hurt her, I hurt him. I removed the skin from his right arm once, attempting to flay him alive. But his gang stopped me, he pressed charges, and I ended up in jail a few times."

      "Was he a very religious man?" I asked. The assertion Jason had made in Hell—that he was doing Her work—was still preying on my mind.

      "Very," she answered, tilting her head a little to the side. "Why do you ask?"

      "When I took him to Hell, he claimed he was doing God's work. I know that God has been setting me up lately, trying to destroy me. The Angels say She's sick of my corrupting influence, while the Demons say that She's seeking revenge for finding you."

      "God's an ass," Clarissa said, watching me.

      "I couldn't have said it better myself."

      "What did Jason say exactly?"

      "'God sent me to do His work,'" I quoted, watching her closely.

      "Sounds like something he'd say." She shook her head. "He was always completely mad." She looked back to me, her attention focusing again. "But back to my question."

      "Let Jayce have the apartment," I said gently, drawing Clarissa down on top of me. "Live with me in my house. She won't feel like a third wheel, and you won't have to worry about her."

      "But what if Jason's friends come here, looking for her?" she asked me. She was genuinely worried about her friend.

      "You want her at my house, so you can look after her, but you don't want her to feel like a third wheel," I said, thinking. I smiled at her. "I suppose I could get a new room built onto the side of the house, and transfer my library into it. Or build her a small one-bedroom apartment out the back on some of my land, for her to live in."

      Clarissa smiled. "Would you have enough money for that?"

      I laughed, kissing her. "Clarissa, I can create enough money to buy the United States, if I wanted to." I smiled, wrapping her up in my arms. "I don't suppose I can convince you to get rid of that rotten cat and let me get you a puppy while we're taking about these changes, then?"

      She shook her head. "No amount of charm will aid you in getting rid of Aspen, Lucifer."

      I sighed. "I was afraid you were going to say that."

      I kissed her, and she smiled. She relaxed enough that rolling her over was easy. I held her down, kissing her neck, and she laughed, pulling me closer with her legs, as I was restraining her arms.