Double Or Nothing: A Coin Flip Away

Hypothetically, Maybe?

"My answer is no, Azazel!" Lucifer retorted, whipping his cloak back to plant a sharp foot toward his son. The fiery Lord of Wrath cracked his knuckles, rolling something around in his flaming mane of hair to crack his neck. "Lucifer, this could save the kid. Why would you deny her a chance to-!" "Do you fathom the concept of fusing Angelic blood with a Sinner?! Such an experiment is preposterous even by your brother's standards!" Azazel stepped back, shaking the white hot chains on his forearms. "Jules is itching to get back out and help her mentor out. You'd really deny her that honor?"

Lucifer swung at the air with his hand, gesturing to a portrait of the eighth Lucifer Morningstar, clad in deep black battle armor, holding a decapitated head by its tethered spine. "I wouldn't send her out knowing she'd be crippled by my tainted blood! There are laws that must be followed, and Angels stopped populating the earth millions of years ago! We don't rape senselessly anymore, Azazel," Lucifer shrunk to a whisper, tapping his toe on the floor. Azazel's fiery fist shuddered before swinging toward Lucifer. "Fine then. Let her die just because you're too scared to admit she'll live-!" "SHE WOULD DIE, DUMBASS!!"

Azazel stepped back, his eyes wide with surprise. Lucifer's shoulders heaved up and down while he rubbed the creases of his eyelids. "I've been trying to tell you that Angelic blood does not mix with Sinner blood, and Jules is-" "Not a Sinner." Azazel and Lucifer turned to face Asmodeus, who had entered the room with bandages up to her forearms. Lucifer exhaled, waving his glove at his daughter. "Asmodeus, this doesn't concern you, please-" "Oh, but you're mistaken, Lucifer," Asmodeus growled, sweeping forward to plant her finger on Lucifer's chest. "Jules is my byproduct of The Sin Hunter. She holds life and death in her bosom."

Lucifer paused, his eyes wide with shock. "Since when did you-" "When she caught Cynthia and Jack and forced them to "perform" for her," Azazel grunted with a gagging sound effect. Asmodeus shot her brother a dirty glance before returning to Lucifer. "Dad, you have your proof. So why can't Jules handle Angelic blood? Doesn't that, like, balance out with Hell and Heaven energy?" Lucifer lowered his chin, clenching and unclenching his fists. "Come with me," he replied, sweeping down the hallway toward his family's trophy room. Azazel and Asmodeus glanced at each other before following.

Stopping in the entrance to the finest, most powerful relics in all of Hell's history, Azazel and Asmodeus gaped at their father's display of fancy toys. Lucifer was advancing past trophy cases of large armor sets, mechanical spears and axes, flails, the golden skeleton of a humanoid being, and lastly, the magical trident of Hell, a fragmented blade with points so sharp it cut reality if desired. But Lucifer paid them all no heed, instead grabbing a large scroll from a shelf at the back of the room. Unfurling the scroll over a table engraved with Demonic rituals, Lucifer beckoned for his children.

"Either of you remember the bedtime story your parents and I used to read you? The one about the Angel of Death?" Azazel rubbed his deep black eyelids, resisting the urge to burn the table with his handprint. "Uh, yeah? The Angel descended from Heaven and smashed open a rift between worlds, why does that apply to this?" Asmodeus tilted her storm clouded eyes toward Azazel. "He's implying that if we gave Jules his blood, she'd fulfill this millenial old prophecy and break everything." Azazel turned to Lucifer with a glare that suggested malicious irritation. "So we're not doing this because you're scared of a bedtime story?!"

Lucifer covered his ears with his cloak, planting a foot toward his son. "There's more than just-" "YOU'RE NOT GONNA SAVE A KID'S LIFE BECAUSE YOU'RE SCARED OF A BEDTIME STORY!!" Amidst Azazel's fiery explosion, Asmodeus leapt for an ice-themed relic on Lucifer's shelf, swinging the pale blue rod toward Azazel and waving the bright blue gem back and forth. Bursts of large crystalline light flashed across Azazel's skin, cooling the greater Demon down and shrinking Azazel into his standing height. Lucifer removed his arms from his eyes, exhaling.

"I'm sorry, Azazel, but there's a choice to be made, and I'm making the right one." Asmodeus swished her tail around, keeping the icy rod in her hands. "And the right choice is...?" She asked. Lucifer turned to face the chilled air around the scepter, clasping his hands together. "If Jules must die while hundreds live, I would rather save the masses than the individual." Azazel's shoulders dropped with hesitance, the glowing red chains on his shoulders shuddering as the fire tamed. "You know this is a mistake," Azazel commented, to which Lucifer nodded. "I know, Azazel. I don't like this choice, but it's the only one."

As Lucifer exited, asking Asmodeus, "Please put that rod back when you're done," Asmodeus grabbed her brother's wrist, moving toward a corner of the room. "Ow! What's the big idea?" Azazel grunted. Asmodeus sighed, whispering through her teeth. "Dad's not going to donate his blood, so what if we get his blood from elsewhere?" Azazel grumbled, rubbing his sleeve. "Or we could use our bl-!" "No!" Asmodeus exclaimed, shushing Azazel. "It has to be Dad's. I'm worried our blood would do irreversible damage. It needs to be an Angel, not a Demon."

"Fair point," he replied, "so how do we get blood from the most high strung Angel in all of Hell?" Asmodeus turned to the ceremonial weapons and armor lining the walls of the room. "I have a few ideas," she muttered, her eyes drifting toward a large portrait of Lucifer, cradling a small toy in his parent's arms. "But we're gonna need Murph first."