The Devil and His Lover

Chapter 9

"If I tried hard enough," Angeles began as he sauntered into Amenadiel's home without knocking. "Do you think I could choke out Lucifer?"

Amenadiel blinked at the human and answered without hesitation. "If it's you, absolutely."

"I see." He hummed as he flopped down on the fallen angel's couch like it was routine. With how often he did it, it might as well have been. He reached for a random textbook, flipping through it idly as he eyed the other.

"What?" Amenadiel rolled his eyes. "I can feel you staring at me."

Angeles didn't bother denying it but he didn't answer the angel right away. When Amenadiel had first met the human all those years ago, he had acted the exact same way. Angeles saw no problem in asking for what he wanted or doing what he pleased. He worked with his own schedule and it didn't matter if you were human, angel, or demon. You had better have had a good reason for derailing his plans. Angeles was the smartest person Amenadiel had ever met even before his post-death time. In fact, he knew that Amenadiel wasn't human the very second he had seen him and made sure he knew.

"Ugh, shit, you're Lucifer's brother. You have the same..." He had made a gesture that, to this day, Amenadiel could not interpret. He wondered what the human had picked up, however, since no other human had managed to make the connection that Lucifer and he were related before they even said anything.'

"You've changed since we've last saw each other." Angeles finally spoke after a few seconds of silence. "You've adjusted somewhat to being human." He hummed a bit as he glanced down at the book in his hands, something that was a part of the How To series humans were so dependent on. "Have you been praying?"

"Yes." Amenadiel replied truthfully because there was really no point in doing otherwise. The human could spot a lie almost as well as Lucifer. Lately, though, it seemed that his brother was distracted quite a bit with his detective, missing the smaller ones told straight to his face. No, Amenadiel felt more comfortable confessing his problems to this human than his own siblings because, though he had been wronged many times, Angeles always brought up all sides of the story despite how painful they may be.

Angeles nodded, placing the book to his side as he crossed his legs, leaving his hands to rest on top of his lap in an obvious display of openness. It was the human's way of showing that he meant no harm since he did not have any wings to display his earnest attention in a way an angel could understand. "You haven't prayed to Him about rising in Grace once more." He tilted his head, his bright green eyes studying him. "You've prayed to him about everything else but that."

"How can you tell?"

"It's written all over your face."

Amenadiel sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes before looking back at the human. "I- It's not my place. Father made me Fall for a reason. I have to find a way to earn His trust once more."

"You know, I've been thinking about that." Angeles made a gesture with one of his hands as if he was collecting said thoughts while the other arm rested on the back of the couch. "I don't think God was the one that made you Fall. In fact," He ignored the angel's wide-eyed look as he plowed on. "I don't think He had anything to do with it at all. As much as I hate the guy, I know He would not punish you so harshly for something so miniscule in the grand scheme of things." He sat up a bit, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his thighs as he gazed at the angel. "You failed the task you set for yourself and, because of that, you felt like you didn't deserve to be one of His angels."

Amenadiel sat their slack-jawed. He had never considered that he would be the cause for losing his own wings. He thought that maybe his father was punishing him for not having Lucifer return to Hell. He realized now that, if Lucifer was truly meant to be in Hell, his father would have taken his brother back himself. "Why are you telling me this?"