Dance of the Angels

Chapter 13

“What is he doing?” asked Naomi as she stared at the spot where Michael stood seconds ago. “Are you going to stand there or tell me? Why do you look so sad and full of dread?”
“Because we are sad and full of dread,” Gabriel said. “Father… Father doesn’t like people disagreeing with him, we tend to ignore it a lot of the time.”

“I don’t,” Lucifer said, reminding everyone he was still being restrained by Samiel with a wave of his hand.
“Thanks Luci,” Samiel said with a deadpan expression.
“You’re welcome!” he said happily in response. He tone turned more serious. “And don’t call me that.”

As Naomi looked at the three men, she realised something. She would have to live with them. Or at the very least, with Gabriel and Lucifer. Since they didn’t have enough power to keep Lucifer in Hell, they were stuck with him. There would be no Michael. Hopefully, her mentor wouldn’t be staying with her.

While Naomi turned the television on and grabbed the remote. She tossed the remote to Gabriel who accidentally let it slip through his grasp. He picked it up off the floor and flicked through the channels as Naomi moved out of the way.
“Can you put something decent on?” asked Lucifer as he scrunched up his nose at whatever drama show was on.
“I don’t think you get a say in that, Luci,” said Gabriel as he put it on the armchair.

“Fine,” grumbled the Devil. He leaned back,crossed his arms like a child, and looked at Gabriel on his let then Samiel on his right. “But I’m surrounded by idiots!”
“Lovely,” muttered Naomi as she walked into the kitchen.
“Except her,” Lucifer said to Gabriel. “She’s intelligent.”

Staring up, she looked at the ceiling. Her distractions were music and imperfections the in the ceiling. When she heard someone knock on the door, she paused the music.
“Who is it?”
“Lucifer.”
“Go away,” yelled Naomi.
“Okay,” he replied. She heard his footsteps going downstairs and she turned the music back on.

The song ended and she paused the playlist. She stood and left her room, heading to the bathroom opposite Michael’s room. She shut the door behind her and stared at the sink. She raised her eyes to look at her reflection and she felt the tears welling up.

Lucifer noticed Naomi’s bedroom door was open. He peered inside and couldn’t see her. Stepping out of the room, he noticed the bathroom door was shut. A thud came from inside and he walked over. Gently, Lucifer knocked on the bathroom door and heard quiet sobs from inside.
“Naomi? Is that you?”

Naomi gripped the edge of the sink as she cried, her eyes were puffy and sore and the back of her throat hurt.
“Naomi? Are you okay?” She tried to hold back more tears as she realised he was the only one who seemed concerned. Not Gabriel, not Samiel, Lucifer. The Devil. He was the one who seemed to care. “Should I come in or…?”

“It’s open,” she croaked. Her hair fell in front of her face and she pushed it back. “It’s not locked.” Each word burned her throat but there was a distraction as she heard the door creak open.
“Uh… Naomi, what’s wrong?” asked Lucifer. She took a deep breath and fell to her knees. Carefully, Lucifer knelt next to her and placed a hand on her back, careful not to touch her skin. “Do you want to talk?”

Closing her eyes, Naomi nodded and Lucifer sat down properly. It was silent for a few minutes and then Naomi sat back against the door net to him.
“Everything had gone wrong,” she said. “Michael is gone, Gabriel is one of the worst people to look after someone, Samiel is my mentor at school and you’re supposed to be in Hell.”

“Everyone sees that as a bad thing,” he said. Naomi stared at him with eyebrows raised. “Okay, maybe it was a bit of a bad idea to target you when you were still with Michael… I should shut up.”
“Good idea.” Sighing, she stood up and Lucifer did the same.

They left the bathroom and Lucifer followed. He looked at her room properly. Drawing and sketches were pinned to the wall, a mirror hung over her draws and a framed autograph of someone he had never was next to it.
“You know, he’s the oldest so he’ll probably be fine,” said Lucifer as he sat on the edge of her bed.
“Why?”

“Who’s next in line after Michael?” he asked.
“You,” Naomi said quietly in understanding.
“And why would God want the Devil to be in charge of anything? Raising young angels would fall to me and you have to admit that wouldn’t turn out well.” Naomi laughed quietly and nodded. “Michael will be safe, he won’t be killed.”

Naomi sat next to him and rested her head on his shoulder.
“Thank you,” she whispered quietly. “They keep saying you’re bad but they won’t explain why.”
“You saw me fall and torture all of those people, you have no idea what else I’ve done,” he said.

“What else have you done then?” she asked, almost too quiet to her. She hoped she wouldn’t regret it.
“I’ve killed people. I created demons and they are the filth of this universe, worse than humans.”
“Well now you have to prove me right, that you can be good,” said Naomi with a smile.
“You’ve misplaced your trust and confidence,” he said, smiling. “I should go back downstairs, they’ll think I’ve killed you or something stupid like that.”

It was in the early hours of the morning when Naomi finally drifted into some form of peaceful sleep even if she still tossed and turned and struggled to find any comfort. Stress from the past few days had caught up with her in the form of sleep disturbance.. For hours she had stared up at the dark ceiling as a strange feeling in her gut - one like it was trying to tie itself into a knot - told her something was wrong.

At 7am, Naomi made herself breakfast. Simple toast since she knew that the queasy feeling in her gut would make her want to throw up if she ate too much. Something was off…

“Naomi! Have you seen Lucifer?” Naomi sat down the half-eaten piece of toast and headed to the stairs. Looking up them, she could see Sam leaning over the banister.
“No, why?” she asked.
“He’s gone.”

Naomi closed her eyes for a moment and took deep breaths. Lucifer was gone.
“What?” she heard Gabriel exclaim from upstairs. “How is he gone?”
“Who saw him last?” asked Naomi. Sam shrugged and Gabriel did too as he teleported to the top of the stairs from Michael’s room. “He was talking to me yesterday before I tried to sleep.”
“He came back downstairs,” said Sam. “He was on the sofa and he fell asleep and we just left him there…”

Gabriel’s loud voice echoed through the house.

“Fuck!”