SOULmates

12- Sweaty Desperation

Zaria crossed her arms. "Hey wait you lied to me!"

She was all dressed up and ready to go out with Nicholas after the frightening encounter with Lilith. She was tapping her foot impatiently while Lucifer looked at her, confused.

"What did I do this time?" He asked.

"You told me that demons wouldn't be smoky, but that one... Lilith, was made out of smoke." Lucifer gaped at her.

"That's your takeaway from this?!"

Zaria shrugged. "Well yeah."

Lucifer massaged his temple. "Alright well this is obviously not the thing you should be worried about--"

"Are we safe?" Zaria interrupted, fiddling with her necklace.

"What?"

"Are we safe? Is it like, safe for us to leave the apartment?" Lucifer nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah yeah yeah! You guys are fine, you can come and go without worrying about them finding you." Zaria raised an eyebrow, frowning skeptically.

"And what about you?"

Lucifer felt his stomach drop, and he avoided her gaze. "Um I, ahahaha well the funny thing about that is--"

"Lucifer," Zaria reprimanded gently. He gulped, his face burning.

"They can smell me. Immediately, the second I step out that door they'll know where I am. I'm just gonna stay here until I find a spell to throw the scent off." Zaria nodded slowly, avoiding eye contact.

"If there's anything I can do to help, let me know," she said crossing the room and placing a hand on his shoulder. Lucifer's eyes brightened.

"Well actually--"

A knock at the door interrupted him. He looked up in annoyance as Zaria grinned from ear to ear. She opened the door to Nicholas, dressed nicely wearing a bright grin.

"Hey Zaria," he greeted, kissing her gently. Zaria melted into his embrace. Lucifer rolled his eyes and cleared his throat. Nicholas pulled away from Zaria, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Oh sorry, hey Luke!"

He smiled amicably at Lucifer, who shot him back an unenthusiastic grimace. He leaned in close to Zaria.

"Is he okay?"

"Oh yeah he's fine, he's just a little... under the weather."

"Right... well, let's go. If you're all set, I mean."

Zaria nodded and then stopped dead in her tracks when she saw him examining the sigils on the back of the door.

"Hey uh, what's all this?"

Zaria frantically waved her arms, laughing nervously. "Oh you know, that's just from Zach! Zach did that. He uh, was feeling creative with some um, chalk and you know how it is," she said laughing nervously. Nicholas nodded. Zaria smiled and steered him out of the apartment, shooting a look at Lucifer on the way out. He rolled his eyes even as the door shut.

Don't forget about Zach, he should be getting there any minute.

Do you really think that low of me?

....

You know what, don't answer that question.

He could've sworn he heard Zaria chuckling in his head. The sound made him feel warm for some reason.