To Tempt the Devil

Series: Brimstone

Disclaimers: All characters except Cassie belong to TPTB. I'll figure out who they are when and if they ever put Brimstone back on television.

Category: Romance, as unlikely as that sounds.

Rating: Part 1: PG-13  Future parts may go to R. I'll have to see where the story leads me.

Plot: What would happen if the Devil fell in love?

By Wesa.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on between you and Ezekiel?" Cassie asked softly.

Lucifer leaned back in the passenger seat comfortably. "Nothing. He works for me."

"Uh-huh." Cassie drove her purple Saturn into the parking garage under her own apartment building, found a parking spot, and pulled into it. She got out of the car. "Coming?" she asked.

"I'm invited?"

"Makes it difficult to talk to you if you're not there," she replied, moving toward the elevator.

"What makes you think I'll talk?" he asked, following her into the elevator.

"You like to talk," she retorted as the door closed and they started the journey upward.

"You could be in danger, bringing me home with you like this," he warned.

"Like as if you couldn't get in anyway if you wanted to," she retorted. "Nobody lives forever. But you're not actually allowed to kill me yourself, are you?" He didn't answer, but followed as she left the elevator and led the way to her apartment. "I'll take that as a 'no,'" she said as she unlocked the door.

"I might rape you," he said, following her inside and closing the door.

"I don't think so," she retorted, smiling over her shoulder at him. "I didn't bring you here to talk about us. What's with you and Ezekiel?"

"I told you, he works for me."

"Doing what?" She sat on the sofa and patted the cushion beside her.

"He's ... capturing some escapees," Lucifer replied, accepting the invitation and seating himself next to her.

"There's a way out? No, scratch that, of course there is; you're here. There's a way out for the ... the inmates?"

"Not anymore."

"Ezekiel doesn't want to do it. How did you compel his cooperation?"

Lucifer gazed at her sternly. "Cassie, that's between Ezekiel and myself. You must not interfere."

"I don't know that I want to interfere," she replied. "It seems important they should be sent back."

"They're some of my worst, and I don't want them in the same world with you."

She looked at him solemnly. "Why?" she asked

He stared at her speechlessly for several seconds before he looked away. "You aren't mine yet," he said at last. "If you died now, I'd lose you forever."

"Would you?"

The whisper turned him back to face her suddenly, and her mouth brushed his, the merest touch of velvet. It startled him and he drew back slightly, staring again. "Cassie ..."

She gazed steadily at him, her indigo eyes solemn. "Why do you doubt me?" she asked softly.

"I don't want your pity," he breathed, touching the dark hair that swung around her face and tumbled wildly down her shoulders.

"Pity?" she repeated, not understanding. "Why would I pity you? I admire you." He frowned. "What's wrong, love?" Cassie asked him. He flinched. "Okay, that does it," Cassie said. "Give; what troubles you about what I said? The word 'love?'"

"Would you condemn your own soul so easily?" he asked.

"Since when is love one of the seven deadly sins?" she retorted.

"But lust is."

Cassie chuckled softly. "Sweetheart ... honey ... The only reason the body you've chosen is so attractive is because you're inhabiting it," she told him gently. "It's not the face; it's what you do to it when you smile. It's not the body, but the way you move in it. I know this body is like a suit of clothes to you, something you put on so you can go out in public without people falling all over you in adoration. But I believe I can see just a little of the archangel peeking out through your eyes when you look at me. You are so beautiful. ... And yet ... And yet, that's not the whole of the reason I love you." She sighed and lowered her eyes. "I know I'm not good enough for you," she murmured. "Please forgive me. I meant no insult."

She started to rise from the sofa, but he caught her hand and drew her gently back down. "It's not the power I wield as ruler of Hell?" he asked.

"Power?" she repeated. "I don't - well, perhaps a little. Aren't you more like the warden of an insane asylum, though?"

He smiled and nodded. "Sometimes it's an asylum, sometimes it's a prison. And I'm not only the warden, I'm a prisoner."

"You're here," she pointed out. "Are you saying that Hell is of our own making?"

"In a way," he allowed. Cassie bit her lip, looking at him; Lucifer could see that she was wondering if she dared ask him her next question. "What is it?" he asked.

"What did you do," she asked softly, "to deserve prison? You loved God too much? I wouldn't have thought that was possible."

He sighed. "I was angry; I left," he replied softly. "We weren't enough for Him, or we weren't good enough, or something. Why did He have to create humans? Why ensoul animals, with their filthy, infested bodies and physical needs? Humans breed like rabbits, and destroy their environment with regard neither for those who came before them, nor for those who will come after. And now they're about to spread out into the rest of the universe, contaminating and ruining it as they go." Cassie entwined her fingers with his, and he seemed to realize suddenly that she was one of the humans he so despised. "Cassie, I - Not you. You're not like the others."

"But I am," she disagreed. "I am an animal with a soul. My body gets nasty even if I don't do anything to get sweaty and dirty. I have to spend a lot of my time just cleaning myself. Half of nature seems to want to live off my body: insects, dust mites, bacteria, viruses, fungi. And that's not counting the lions and tigers and bears that could actually eat me. And even though I don't approve of the damage to the environment, there's no question that I have benefitted from the advances in chemical and nuclear sciences in recent centuries. I've benefitted from the destruction of the forests: I've used paper without thinking much about it all my life. I still use paper; computers aren't reliable enough yet, and if we don't have hard copies, we aren't always going to be able to find the information we need.

"And you're right, there are too many of us, at least for this small world. Six billion. Yet we still have this animal drive to reproduce. It makes no sense," she added, shaking her head, "at least not from my point of view. Maybe that's it. We're only seeing this from our own points of view. Think about His."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You were created. Sometime later, I was born - lets not get into whether or not reincarnation is real, not right now - but He always was. Always is a long time to be alone." After a moment's thought, she added, "A human philosopher once wrote, 'God split himself into a myriad parts that He might have friends.' I think he was being facetious, but maybe he had a bit of the truth there, maybe more than he knew. Maybe that's why God created us, all of us: He was lonely."

Lucifer's long face shifted unhappily. "Wouldn't we have been enough, just spiritual beings?"

"Oh, Luke," Cassie whispered. "I don't have all the answers. I don't even know if the ones I've suggested are even close to correct. All I know is that philosopher was right when he said that the more you love, the more you can love, and the more intensely you love. Nor is there any limit on how many you can love. And loving feels good, Luke. Maybe those rules apply to God, too. I guess that would explain why he made us animals: we do multiply quickly. More for Him to love, more to love Him.

"I understand - no, I think I understand how you feel, and I want to help. Let me love you, Lucifer. Let me try to help you reconcile with your Father. I want you to be happy again ..."

Lucifer looked at Cassie, at the tears in her eyes as she gripped his hand and leaned toward him. "You really love me?" he asked softly.  "All that's important to you is that I'm happy?"

She smiled wryly. "I'm not so noble as all that, Luke," she said softly. "I would love to be included in your future, your life. But if that's not what you want, then -- "

He smiled slowly, sadly. "I'd like that, Cassie, but how can it happen? How could we possibly be together?"

"If we both want it, if God wills it, too, it will work out. You know it will," she assured him.

Threading his fingers through her hair, he drew her close. "I want it," he murmured, and kissed her.

End of part 2.