Danika

✢ TWELVE ✢

Danika's cheeks were pink. Not from being cold while she stayed in the Underworld, but because she was sick. She was burning up with a fever but being without medicine and a doctor, Estrella didn't know what to do other than keep her wrapped up in blankets and plenty of liquids in her system. They laid in Lucifer's bed, protected by four walls. Estrella held Danika while she rested, using whatever body heat she had to keep her daughter warm.
She was freezing herself, wearing as many layers she could, but the coldness of the Underworld still fought its way through the fabric. Estrella’s mind raced continuously; should Danika be taken back to Earth to see a doctor? Should Estrella go so she can grab some medicine? Would Lucifer even allow it? Was it even safe? She was prepared to argue with Lucifer if that's what it took, but she knew as a mother that Danika needed more than just warmth and liquids to get through this cold or whatever it was. What kind of sickness would be lurking in the Underworld? Estrella feared the answer. Lucifer didn't even have one. Two knocks on the closed bedroom door came to Estrella's attention, she gently remove Danika from her arm before getting up to see who was there. Lucifer usually just walked in, it was his bedroom anyway. Opening the door; she came face to face with a female with crimson red eyes. Her skin was grayish white and her long black hair touched her waist but it was the outfit she wore that caught Estrella's attention; basically nothing but enough to cover her breasts and ass. The other female looked genuinely shocked to see Estrella standing there, as if she was the one intruding!

“Yes?”

“Isn't Satan here?” the female snapped with a audible attitude, then she propped her hand on her hip. Estrella stood her ground.

“Who?”

“Don't act ignorant, you know who I'm talking about.”

“You're right, I do. But he's not here, guess you'll have to try again later.”

The female grinned and her teeth looked black, rotting from her skull. Estrella felt sick to her stomach.

“Oh, I plan to.” and with the flip of her hair, she walked away.

Estrella stood there momentarily in shock before closing the door. But her legs wouldn't move, her mind raced with thoughts as she tried to piece together the puzzle that made itself obvious. Had Lucifer slept with that thing? Has he been sleeping with it? Estrella glanced over her shoulder at Danika, still sleeping peacefully and it was the sight of Danika that made her explode. Estrella stormed out of the bedroom with every intention of hunting Lucifer down, wherever he was; whatever he was doing, she was going to interrupt with fury. The faster she walked down corridors, the angrier she had gotten. She opened every door that came in sight, finding the room to be empty, until she opened the correct door to find Lucifer sitting at a desk that was chipping its paint.

Lucifer could sense her anger, it radiated off her body like steam and filled the air with the scent of heat. He lifted his head, his black eyes fixate on her brown ones. She reached the front of the desk and stood there momentarily before opening her mouth and letting words fall out.

"What have you been doing here for the last seven years?"

Lucifer became confused.

"Excuse me?"

"A girl or demon or whatever the hell she is, knocked on your bedroom door looking for you. I'm not dumb either, I know what she was after. So tell me, what have you been doing for seven years?!" Estrella snapped. The hurt and anger in her voice felt powerful to Lucifer.

He laid down the pen that he held in his hand and exhaled softly. How could he lie? He was caught and he knew she wasn't going to take a excuse as an answer nor would she believe anything else but the truth.

"Why are you asking me when you already know the answer?"

He was calm, extremely calm and his face held no emotion. That angered Estrella more, she hesitated which thoughts of words ran through her mind. She was hurt, she felt betrayed, but even worse she felt like he had betrayed Danika. Her body trembled from the emotions she felt.

"This whole time I was raising our daughter, you were down here sleeping with the nastiest whores you could lay your hands on?!" she started to raise her voice at him and when he opened his mouth to defend himself, she continued on; "For seven years, while I struggled to raise her. The nights I stayed up with her to try to get her to sleep, crying and worrying constantly when or if the angels were going to come and rip her from my arms. Wondering if you were trying your hardest to come back to us, hoping you spent day and night trying to fight for her, you chose to stay down here and have sex with everything that had a vagina?!"

Lucifer stood up from his chair.

"I did try my damnest to escape to come back to her, don't yell at me as if I'm a poor excuse as a father!"

"Why shouldn't I?" She challenged. She didn't realize tears were streaming down her face until her vision became blurry. "That's exactly what you are, Lucifer! You chose sex over us!"

Lucifer's anger matched hers, the heat in this room was becoming unbearable and their shouts collided with each other.

"I didn't choose anything! Every waking moment I worked my ass off, as did my brothers, to figure out how to open the entrance to Earth! I looked like a goddamn fool in front of my kingdom, worrying more about you and a daughter they didn't believe was mine! I did my part to protect Danika the best I could, I agreed to leave her life just so she could grow up. Let's not forget what I've done for you either, I brought you back to life when I could have left your lifeless body in that hallway and took my daughter. But no, I spent hours bringing you back from the dead. Yes, I slept with a few women here and there. But don't you dare jump down my throat as if you didn't do anything during those seven years either!" He shouted and Estrella stayed silent, staring into his black eyes. He chuckled angrily. "You thought you could keep it a secret, didn't you? I guess we're both pieces of shits then."

Estrella's voice broke as she spoke. "It was a mistake."

"Oh, was he? Was taking a pregnancy test and hoping for a family a mistake too?!"

"Yes!"

Lucifer's face showed he was more than serious, he was beyond angry with her.

"Don't come in here screaming at me when you did the same shit I did, neither of us waited for the other."

He was right, they didn't. Did Estrella believe he was going to wait when she didn't? They were soulmates, she had half of his soul, but they didn't act like it. She didn't feel like his soulmate, where was the devoted love they were meant to have? She swallowed hard, her throat burned and ached from crying and yelling.

"Just keep your whores away from my daughter, can you manage that?"

Lucifer didn't answer, they stood face to face in silence and the looks on their faces said they hated each other. But did they? Estrella turned and walked away, wiping her cheeks as she did. Standing in the same room as him hurt her heart, she didn't want him to think he had broken her heart. Even she didn't think he had, she was confused, but she wondered if his heart was broken because she had been with someone else? It seemed like they both betrayed another.