Saturday had been packed with patients, more than Annabelle felt she could handle. She asked her boss if someone else could take some, but was rudely denied. No one wanted to work on a Saturday, so all the work was dumped on the newest employee, the one they claimed had no power against the others. It was like her two years of dedication were worth nothing.

Between every patient she texted Jack, and he always responded within seconds. She imagined him sitting by his phone waiting for her messages, as excited to hear from her as she was to hear from him. He begged her to meet with him that night instead of waiting until Sunday, and many times she almost agreed. But as the day went along—dragged along—she became even more exhausted and wanted nothing more than to crash in bed. He offered to come over and be with her while she relaxed, promised they didn’t have to do anything, and as much as she liked the idea, lying in bed with him was too close to what they had done days before.

As strange as it was, texting with him as she lay in bed made it feel like he was there. It was only eight o’clock when she bid him goodnight, and after gazing at the photo of Jack and Joey together that he had sent when they were away, focusing on the man’s handsome face, she slept with her phone under her pillow.

She dreaded church on Sunday. As guilty as she felt about that, she knew she would have to face Simon, to officially decline his offer. She tried to get backstage as quickly as possible in hopes of getting lucky and avoiding him, but to her surprise he was waiting along with her parents. Her surprise faded, however. Of course they would let him backstage. Of course they would know that he was pursuing her harder. And as they all turned to see her, Simon’s smile said it all: it was like a hawk waiting for his prey.

“Hi, Annabelle,” he said as she reluctantly stepped closer to the group. “You look beautiful today.”

“Thanks.” She looked at her parents, both smiling, her mother quite excitedly.

“Simon was just telling us that you’ll be getting together this week,” Sandra said. “That’s wonderful.”

Annabelle tried to hide her glare at Simon. But the news gave her fuel to tell them what she’d previously been afraid to say. She stood tall, hands gripping the strap of her purse. “Actually, I’m seeing someone else.”

She was surrounded by three different reactions. She looked from her father’s concerned frown, her mother’s heavy disappointment, and Simon’s dejected anger. Sandra spoke first. “You are? Why didn’t you tell us?”

“It was just a few days ago. I planned to tell you today.”

“Who is it?” Robert demanded. “Someone here?”

“No. He goes to a different church in the city. An Evangelical one on the northwest side. He’s very loyal to it, but I hope to have him join us one day.”

“I see,” Sandra said. “Well, does he have a name? What does he do? How old is he? How did you meet?”

“His name is Jack. He’s thirty-five, and he’s an accountant. He’s actually a neighbor of one of my patients and we just hit it off.”

All of the lies she was piling on were agony. The truth would come out eventually; she just hoped they would accept Jack well enough to not let those lies affect that acceptance.

“Well, I think we need to meet him before you get too far into this,” Robert said. “It’s important we find the right person for you to spend your life with. Simon here is a perfectly capable candidate.”

Annabelle was taken aback. “I’m a grown woman, Daddy. I can choose my own mate.”

“Marriage is forever, Annabelle. It is not a decision to be made lightly. If he does not fit into our family, if he is not appropriate for you, then it cannot happen.”

She had not expected this pushback. But she had also never had a boyfriend before, and therefore had no experience with her parents’ reaction to such a situation. “Well, you will get to meet him, and you’ll see how great he is.”

Annabelle spent the entire sermon stewing over her father’s words. Even at her age he wanted to control her future. She felt Simon’s eyes on her from two rows back the entire time, only feeling slightly sorry for him. She was certain his intentions were nothing more than furthering his own future, to be the son-in-law of a rich and powerful man. Surely no love would occur between them. What kind of life would that be? Wouldn’t God want her to be happy? To be with someone who loved her? The afternoon couldn’t come fast enough.

* * *

“Jack, you need to cancel. This might be the stupidest thing you could do.”

Dorian didn’t seem to have changed too drastically after his experience with Joey. Perhaps he had already gotten over it. He was standing in the kitchen, hands on his hips, watching Jack pace nervously.

“You don’t get it,” he said. “And you never will. I need to see her.”

It was two o’clock and Lucifer still hadn’t called him back. Never had he been late like this. Had he forgotten what day it was? Did he simply not feel the need for an update? Of course he would. So little had happened to appease him; he would need some news.

“Just head back on your own,” Miles suggested. “Tell him we have some sort of event and can’t miss it.”

“You want me to lie to Lucifer? Last time I did that he gave me lava for blood!”

“Oh, shit. Well, I’m just trying to help. Otherwise, Dorian’s right. You gotta cancel.”

“I won’t, and you can’t stop me.”

“Maybe just push it back till tonight,” Cameron suggested. “I can’t imagine Lucifer not contacting you before that.”

“I’ve already pushed it back once. She’s going to think I’m blowing her off or something.”

Dorian rolled his eyes. “There are more important things than impressing an angel you shouldn’t even be with. Besides, if she finds out the truth, it’s all over anyway.”

Jack sighed and closed his eyes, still pacing. He could never convince any of them to understand. None of them were as human as him. None of them were capable of comprehending love. All he wanted was at least a small bit of time with her, alone. Enough to tide him over until a safer time.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

“I’ll do this,” he said. “I’ll tell her I have to meet with some executive or something, but that I can stop by for just a few minutes. I’ll walk there and take alleys in case I get called on the way. Then I can hide. Then I see her quick for a few minutes alone, then come back.”

“You see her for a few minutes every day,” Dorian said.

“Yes, in front of people watching. It’s not the same. This is what I’m going to do. It will be fine. I’ll give Lucifer another hour, then I’m leaving.”

Dorian growled and mumbled to himself as he went down to the basement.

“You know,” Cameron said as he stood, “as weird as it is that you’re going out with this angel, I don’t really mind it. But you’re stressing me out with this.” He went to the sink and filled his cup with wine. “I’ll be visiting the sink a lot today I think.”

An hour passed and Jack still hadn’t been called. Dorian had not come back from the basement and Cameron had already finished three cups of wine. “I’m leaving,” Jack said. “I need to see her.”

It was a long walk, especially with having to take a more hidden route through alleys and quiet neighborhoods. Annabelle texted him multiple times asking about his whereabouts, begging to come pick him up, and Jack was running out of excuses. And still his pendant did not call him.

He reached her apartment, heart pounding from both walking fast and the fear that he’d be called at the most inopportune time. Just a few minutes. Just a few.

But seeing her grin as she opened the door made him consider staying a little longer than planned. After closing the door she wrapped herself around him tighter than ever.

“I really can only stay a few minutes,” Jack said.

“I don’t understand. You can make an excuse to be late.”

“I really—”

She kissed him, holding his head still in both hands. When she finally released him, he tried to speak but she said, “Shh. Come with me.”

Jack waved to Joey as they passed his bedroom where he was met with a disapproving raised eyebrow. He was pulled into Annabelle’s bedroom, and she quickly shut the door before immediately kissing him again.

He refused to pull away. A few minutes of this would be okay. But those few minutes passed, and he knew he had to end it.

“I seriously need to go.”

“No!” She had her arms tightly around his neck. “We haven’t even talked. I wanted to tell you that I told my parents about you today.”

“You did?”

“Yeah. I needed to. They keep trying to hook me up with that other guy at church.”

Jack laughed. “So I’m just convenient then?”

“That’s not what I mean!”

“What did you say about me?”

Annabelle frowned. “A bunch of lies. It was awful. Lying in church! But I had to. You’ll need to meet them next, impress them. My dad thinks he can control me and my future, but if he sees how great you are, he just might give you a chance.”

Jack winced at the thought. “Do I have to?”

“Yes, you have to. You’ll need to pretend you’re an accountant again and that you go to a different church, but I think you can handle that. We can plan beforehand.”

Jack sighed. “Let’s not talk about that right now. I need to go.”

“No you won’t.”

She kissed him again, and Jack couldn’t help but wish that she would allow herself to enjoy him the way she had only a few days ago. But even if she did, that would take too much time. As much as he didn’t want to, he tried to pull away again, but she held him tight and kissed him harder.

Then he felt the pulse under his shirt. A pulse that seemed to transfer to his body and pump fear through him. He pushed Annabelle away and tried to cover the pendant, hoping she didn’t see the glow through his shirt.

“Shit!” he hissed. “I need to go.” He burst out of the room, but only made it as far as the kitchen before he the vacuum took him to the seal of Gaap.

He stood there for a moment, covering his face, breathing hard. I am so fucked. He was shaking and tried to control it before stepping through the portal. Any sign of a problem would surely be sensed.

With a deep breath that he slowly let out, he calmed only slightly and stepped through the portal. He barely had time to hand over his pendant to Gaap before he was whisked away by guards. They were in Lucifer’s throne room faster than they’d ever gotten there before. Something was wrong.

Lucifer’s face did not hide it. He paced frantically in front of his throne, barely looking at Jack who was now kneeling before him.

“We have a big problem, Soul Reacher.”

For a moment Jack wondered if Lucifer somehow knew of what just happened, but the anger and anxiety didn’t seem directed at him. “Oh?” was all he could muster.

“It’s why I called you late. I was busy working with Malphas and Beelzebub to figure out how to clean up a disaster. But I still want to hear news from you. It better be good.”

Jack was fumbling with his fingers, still shaking.

“What’s the matter with you?” Lucifer said.

“Nothing, my lord. Just concerned about the disaster you speak of, though perhaps it’s not my business.”

“It is very much your business, as you and your companions will be cleaning it up. But I want your news first. Has 1301 scheduled a tour?”

“Yes. We will be touring with a much larger band. It will give us a lot of exposure, a much better chance at reaching Buriel.”

“Fine. What else?”

“Dor—I mean 0192 has a plan to search for the identities of the other human hosts. He suggested we do our own road trip within the radius we know they were in and infiltrate police stations like we did before. But we need a car for that, and—”

“Never mind that. No need to search for that anymore. We know exactly where they are.”

“Really?”

“Buriel and his companions have attacked a Christian retreat in a place called Florida. My geography knowledge of Earth is not detailed, but that doesn’t matter, I have people for that. Buriel’s demonic attacks have been undetectable for all this time until now. I know it wasn’t any of you four or the cambion, so I allowed Malphas to send a few crow scouts to gather information.” Lucifer stepped closer to Jack, his face grim. “We are on the brink of a holy war, Soul Reacher. He is attacking Christians directly. Many humans died today, and it appears the ones who lived are calling it demonic activity. We don’t know what happened, but just the fact they believe it’s demons means we need to act now.”

Jack swallowed hard. Though he knew he would have to face Buriel eventually, he did not expect the time to come so suddenly and without preparation.

“You will quickly go back to Earth to brief the others. I wish you could bring the cambion as well for additional power, but since you decided not to bring him to me for control…” Lucifer snarled before continuing. “You will need to do this without him. Once you have briefed the others, return here using your pendants. Gaap will open a portal to this Florida place and you will search, you will attack, you will bring me the souls of those three bastards. Understood?”

There was no hiding the intense fear that flowed through him. He could only nod.

“You don’t seem so confident.” Lucifer was right in front of him, looking down menacingly. “What happened to the power you showed me before?”

“I still have it. We can do this.”

“You need to. Because if this happens again, if he attacks again, we will have much more than three demons to battle.”

“Yes, my lord. It will be done.”

Once dismissed, Jack was swiftly led back to Gaap, and once receiving his pendant back, he rushed through the portal. He stood on the seal, back in his Earth clothes, his pendant between thumb and forefinger. He wished more than anything that he could choose where to appear, to make himself go home instead of the place he last was. He was going to land in Annabelle’s kitchen and have a lot of explaining to do.

“Abiego.”

He was greeted by a scream, Annabelle pressing herself backwards against the wall. Her eyes were wide. Her aura had so much purple in it. Jack froze, waiting for her to say something because he didn’t know how to begin.

“How did you…” she squeaked. “Where did you…”

Jack said nothing. Anything that came to mind was wrong.

Her eyes drifted down to his hand that still held his pendant. “What is that?” When he tried to hide it back under his shirt, she rushed forward and reached for it. He turned away to block her. “You’re always hiding it,” she said. “What is it? I saw it glow. Show me!”

Reluctantly, he pulled it out of his shirt again and let her touch it. Maybe she wouldn’t recognize what it was. Maybe he could just say he had magic powers, nothing demonic. She ran her thumb over Gaap’s sigil, studying it, then flipped it over to see the ID number on the back. But after another look at the front, she released it as if it burned her and backed away, her expression filled with fear. So much purple surrounded her.

“What are you?”

There was no doubt she knew what the sigil meant. Trying to pretend he was just a satanist with magic powers was a ridiculous idea she would surely destroy immediately. He gave up.

“I’m a demon.”