Monday part 2
They were home by a quarter to three. Elise plopped down on his lap on the rattan sofa and handed him a glass of his favorite mix. Before he could take the glass, she kissed him passionately on the mouth.
"Hmmmm... I don't know what I did to deserve this for Red, but it clearly tastes like more."
"You know exactly what you earned it for, mister, and you know damn well there is a lot more where that came from."
"That leaves me no choice, my little Wicked Witch of the West, but to keep doing what I do and get as much more of you as I can..."
"If that's a promise, then maybe there's a lot more to get, consider it a bonus..."
She pressed another kiss to his lips, making his toes curl. The youngest twins seemed to take great pleasure in hitting them with a loud and clear message at unexpected moments:
" Eeuuww..."
This time it was Elise who said:
"Girls, your father and I are in a very important business meeting and cannot be disturbed. So be gone. There's a snack in the fridge and then homework!"
Already laughing, the two made their way to the kitchen with Brandon in tow. Unfortunately, they were unable to continue their important business meeting as Domino and Liz appeared in the garden.
Both dropped into a seat with blissful smiles. Alex manifested a glass of Chardonnay for Liz and, as a surprise, a colorful mix with an umbrella for Domino. She looked at the glass and then at the smirk on his face and said:
"Okay, Antichrist, I'll bite. What's this?"
"Well, since you are walking around with our goddaughter or godson in the oven, as you said yourself, no more alcohol for you. So instead of sex on the beach, it's now a virgin on the beach!"
She shook her head and said:
"May the future Goddess have mercy on us all, because our next God is stuck in his adolescence..."
Fay, Hope, and Pamela had entered the garden and had just overheard Domino's last sentence. Fay asked:
"What did Daddy do now?"
He replied as if shocked by the question:
"Your daddy didn't do anything, sweetheart. Your daddy was the responsible one this time and made sure that Domino's baby was not exposed to alcohol, so I manifested a non-alcoholic drink."
The three girls looked at the colorful drink and Hope asked:
"So can we have one if it doesn't have alcohol in it and what is it called?"
"Sure, you can have one."
He snapped his fingers and there were three extra glasses:
"The drink is named after you lot for the next fifty years because that's what your future will be like; virgins on the beach!"
This last sentence had the optimal effect he had in mind. It made the ladies laugh and the teenagers blush. He lit a cigarette and asked:
"So, Liz and Domino, from the way you were smiling when you entered the garden, I take it your day was good?"
They both nodded eagerly and Domino said:
"Two things Boss and Lady Boss. Liz and I had some girlish fun in your lovely house..."
She didn't get any further as she was immediately cut off by Elise:
"Your nice house, not ours. You will live there together."
"No, actually we're not. We talked about it and we would rather be neighbors in the village we are going to build in the garden."
Liz continued to speak:
"Apparently we both grew up in a trailer park and although our childhood was far from ideal, we have remained attached to the idea of such a community. Most of the people who live there are not bad or anti-social drug users. Most are just too poor to live anywhere else. People who really care for each other and help each other whenever possible. We want to be part of such a community again and set an example for our future residents. So we wanted to ask if we could get two trailers next to each other instead of the house. You could then keep the house itself for, say, a family with children who would need it much more than we do".
Alexander looked at her and said:
"If that is what you want, then you can have it, ladies. No problem. I am proud of you ladies for being willing to do this on top of all the hard work that will be involved. So if this is point one, what is point two?"
Domino said with a sly smile:
"We did what you said when you said to go crazy with your bank account. I bought an X5 from Emma and Jacques, like Elise's, but with a little extra. That's why it will take about a week for it to arrive, it's the absolute black-on-black version. And for the ladies, we have rented Vesuvius, on Thursday from 6 to 10 pm. Ladies only, no future Gods welcome. So just shoot off a prayer to a certain leather-clad angel that she's on the guest list this Wednesday."
He smiled just as mischievously as he said:
"And this invitation to a certain Angel is at the behest of a certain personal assistant, I presume? I'll make sure the message gets through. Nice to have the house to myself for a few hours. Brandon and I can watch a good action flick in the basement."
Elise asked:
"What is Vesuvius?"
With a big smile, Domino said:
"The most exclusive spa in town, maybe in the whole state. Four hours just for us with all the trimmings...Hmmm..."
Pamela stood up:
" This is a very nice drink and I definitely want another one of these later when Grandpa is here, but right now I am going to go earn my babysitting fee for a while."
The girl was looked at warmly by the four adults as she made her way to the kitchen where Jules, Sam, and Brandon were busy with something or other.
Elise said:
"So we've been to Deflin House. It is indeed huge and perfect for our purposes. There is a couple living there, Tess and Franklin, who want to stay. They both have over thirty years of experience, which will prove invaluable right away. They are familiar with the celestial world, so they will not have a heart attack when they see strange things happening. We brought the plans of the house and the area so we could get started in the morning. Alex also has an idea for our personnel problem, but I understand you need to talk to your father about that first.
"No, not so much my father. More like Belios, he runs the whole administrative mess in hell. Depending on what he thinks, I'm afraid my Dad will indeed have to be informed."
"Why, something unexpected again?"
Domino asked.
"Possibly. If it is local and small, it could be something as simple as a young demon, maybe even one of my group, who has been working far too diligently and therefore can be straightened out in no time. If not..."
That was all he had to say. They were starting to get a little used to unexpected skeletons coming out of the closet. At the sound of a pair of large wings and the appearance of Rae Rae, Alex looked up strangely:
"Euch... Rae Rae, now is not exactly the time to drop in, considering who is about to show up. Michael..."
He got no further. Rae Rae dropped into a seat and cut him off:
"No worries boss, present from Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa supposedly sent me on a spy mission to keep an eye on you, so he made me invisible to everyone. To see if you were playing a double game with your father. Call it a bone he threw Michael to sharpen his teeth on."
He growled something unintelligible and said a bit spitefully:
"Why is everyone in such a damned hurry all of a sudden? For thousands of years, they sat and stared at each other, and now they are running like idiots as if they were in danger of missing the last train. And now that I think about it, why are you calling them Grandpa and Grandma all of a sudden, or is that meant sarcastically?"
Azrael looked him in the eyes:
"Nope! Everything changed on Saturday, big brother. You turned the universe upside down with your plan for the future. If your group of Angels and Demons are exclusively your Celestials from now on, and we are all brothers and sisters, then your Grandma and Grandpa will also be our Grandma and Grandpa."
Before he could say anything, he was interrupted. The appearance of the next five in the garden improved his mood considerably. His father looked at Rae Rae for a moment and she repeated what she had said to Alex. The Devil just nodded and said nothing. The girls came sprinting into the garden and Alex made the introductions:
"Girls, Brandon, Liz, Domino, and Elise, this is my father Lucifer, and his two generals Bearus and Belios. Uncle Demon is already known, of course, as is Argo."
Bearus looked at Zelo:
"Uncle Demon? Really?"
"Not my choice, not my fault B. You try to say no later on when those two little ones ambush you with something..."
The General thought about it, shrugged his shoulders, and then took Zelo's explanation as a fact. The Devil's eyes seemed to light up with fireworks and his broad chest widened even more:
"B&B, Dad, these are Liz and Domino, good friends of ours. No, not friends, family. If you look at their souls, you know they are little sisters of Elise. That handsome young man over there is Liz's son Brandon and can't be kept away from these two young ladies, so attentiveness is required. And these five beautiful girls are Samantha, Jules, Fay, Hope, and Pamela, our divine daughters."
He put an arm around Elise's middle and said proudly:
"And this is the cornerstone of this family, my rock, without which none of this would have been possible. Elise Paschal, my future wife, your future daughter-in-law."
The Devil smiled very broadly:
"Alexander my boy, I don't know what this godly woman next to you sees in you, but you better thank her on your bare knees every day of your eternal existence, she deserves to be worshiped."
It was clear that everyone wanted to meet the Devil and his generals, but Jules was a little reluctant. Lucifer approached her gently and knelt in front of her so that he could look her in the eyes at her level. He smiled warmly at her and said softly:
"And you, dear Jules, have an important question for me."
She nodded and said quietly:
"You and Daddy are having a fight."
The Devil nodded and the rest of the garden fell silent, not wanting to miss a word.
"True, dear girl. But there are different kinds of quarrels. Believe me, you will find out as you get older. You want to go swimming, but Sam wants to go to the movies. You want pizza and Sam wants pasta. These are small things, of course. But so are the really big things. Unfortunately, there are no bigger things than Heaven and Hell, and unfortunately, Earth is caught between them. I represent hell, and I think things should happen a certain way. My father, your father's grandfather, represents Heaven and thinks things should happen in a different way. Your father has taken it upon himself to represent Earth, no, he has claimed Earth as his domain to protect it from Heaven and Hell. And he thinks things should be done in a very different way. Do your father and I disagree? Do we think differently? Do we sometimes get angry with each other? Of course, we do. But you know what, honey? No matter how much your dad and I argue, I should never doubt that your dad will treat me with anything but respect. Your dad should never doubt that I won't treat him with respect. We treat each other with respect and will always treat each other with respect. I have only one son, dear Jules, I will never have another son or daughter, and I would never want another son than my Alexander! Whatever it is, everything can be taken off the table because I will always and everywhere choose my son first and foremost because he is the light of my existence. I am the Lightbringer, but your daddy is literally the Light that his mother and I brought into this world!"
With these words from Lucifer, the two little ones threw themselves into the arms of the big bad Devil. Almost every eye in the garden glistened with the moisture of a few tears from these emotional sentences spoken by the one being in this universe who is the most vilified of all the others in history.
Moments later, everyone was relaxing with a drink in the lounge area. Rae Rae was sitting on a sofa with Bearus and Liz, with Jules on her lap. Zelo was apparently Samantha's favorite Uncle Demon, as she had made herself comfortable on his lap. Domino and Argo were also sitting together on a bench, watching with a gentle smile. Suddenly, Lucifer caught sight of Maximus, who had been oblivious to the commotion in the garden and was idly floating around on his flamingo. Pointing to the cat/dog, the devil looked Alex squarely in the eye and asked:
"What is that supposed to be?"
He closed his eyes, shook his head, sighed, and said:
"That, Dad, is a puppy from the litter of your meanest hell-hound, or at least it should be. What it is, no idea, why it is like that, no idea. My life is complicated enough without me playing psychotherapist to that thing, and it's flamingo!"
After this explanation, the devil blinked his eyes and wisely decided to avoid the subject. Alex said:
"Before we make ourselves comfortable and put the work out of the way as much as possible, because this is a family night, I unfortunately have a job for you, Belios."
"Sure, what is it?"
"I need you to go back to the archives and get two files for me. There is a couple in the Deflin House who now have my marker as untouchable. However, they had a marker that said they were destined for hell. But their souls are so much light that this should be impossible. I need their complete records. It seems there are more of these anomalies roaming around Louisiana. Ask Morax to take a look at the files. Souls that have already arrived and souls that are destined but shouldn't be in Hell. Have him call me and I'll bring the files to my office to go over them. Let's start with a hundred-mile radius around Baton Rouge.
The general stood up and said:
"Be right back, Alexander."
He then disappeared. Lucifer asked:
"Problems?"
"I have no idea, Dad. It could just be one of the young ones in my group doing his job too enthusiastically. Something very easy to fix. If not? No idea how deep the misery will cut and what the intention is."
The next moment, Belios was back in the garden, handing Alex the two files he had asked for. He made them disappear because he really wasn't in the mood for work or supernatural misery right now.
It was Jules, in all her childish enthusiasm, who made sure that everything else was quickly forgotten when she asked:
"Grandpa Lu, what was Dad like when he was a kid?"
Four participants had to work hard not to burst out laughing. The evil eye Alex threw at Rae Rae, Zelo, Belios, and Bearus helped. A warm smile formed around Lucifer's mouth as he replied:
"Your father was the perfect cross between an Angel and me, the Devil. One moment a sweet, neat, well-behaved, polite, obedient little Angel. The next moment, he had only one goal in mind: to cause as much mischief as possible. To be fair, even his naughty little pranks never had evil intentions. He was the boy who was always willing to help. That hasn't changed with your father, he's still willing to help people who need it. A son his parents can be very proud of. But also the son who made his mother and me hopeless at times. There seemed to be no end to his energy and imagination. Until he was about six or seven years old, his mother and I had him more or less under control. Then he started spending more and more time with Rae Rae and Bearus and it was a losing battle for us. I think he spent about as much time on schoolwork as he did preparing for his next prank. To be fair, some of the things he came up with were nothing short of masterpieces."
Like most kids, Samantha asked the next question without thinking:
"Who is Daddy's mom, our grandma?"
You had to look hard to see it, but it was there. Alexander's and Lucifer's muscles stiffened for a moment. But the devil went on talking as if nothing was wrong:
"Your father's mother, my beautiful wife Francesca. You must know that I do not always live in Hell, nor am I always in Hell. Sometimes I am on Earth for a while, call it a vacation. My favorite region on Earth for centuries has been Firenze in Italy. One evening I was invited to a garden party and there I met your grandmother. Now Alexander will disagree with my next words, but Francesca was the most beautiful woman who ever walked the Earth. Your father will say that Elise is the most beautiful woman who ever walked the earth. Let's just say we're both right. I fell like a log for your grandmother and your grandmother fell like a log for me. One ring and nine months later, we had a little Antichrist in our arms."
Fay asked:
"Did Grandma know you were the Devil?"
He nodded eagerly:
"Absolutely. If there's one thing Alex and I have in common, one hundred percent, it's that we never lie, ever. From the moment I saw Fran, I knew I was lost, so I immediately tried to distance myself from her. To stay away from her, to act distant. At that time, I was also not ready to go back to hell. If I had, we wouldn't be sitting here now. So I tried with all my might to push Fran out of the way. I was completely convinced that as the Devil I could not have a normal relationship with a human being. Let alone marry a beautiful woman like Francesca. What I didn't take into account was the woman's stubbornness. Something your father clearly inherited from his mother. To make a long story short, she had my back against the wall. In a last-ditch effort to scare her off, I manifested Hellfire. She stared at me with a look like I had just bored her to death. She made me sit down and talk to her. Really talked, person to person, like I hadn't done in ages."
He looked deep into Elise's eyes and said:
"Obviously you and Fran have a lot in common, Elise. You both see the person in front of you and not the something..."
At which point Pamela said:
"True love, not between the Devil and a human, but between Francesca and her Lucifer."
He smiled at Pam:
"Fran always said that I am not THE Devil, Pamela. Being the Devil is my job, just like being a bank manager or a teacher or a bricklayer or a farmer."
Suddenly Rae Rae burst out laughing and everyone looked at her. With a big mischievous smile, she said:
"Excuse me, my king, but of the things you just listed, you and your prince can only be one. Your tailored suits are of no use to a farmer or a mason, a teacher earns far too little, so you are bank managers. By the way, many people will argue that there is not much difference between a bank manager or a lawyer and the Devil, and in this case the Antichrist...".
This cheerful note from the angel made the gravity of the conversation disappear like snow in the sun. Elise and Alexander saw that the attention Lucifer received from his granddaughters was particularly good for him. There was no shortage of physical contact, and the youngest especially enjoyed hugging him or being hugged by him. They were drawn to each other like ducks to water. It had been years since he had seen his father so relaxed, so at peace. He heard her voice in his mind:
"Alex, I know it's going to be crazy in the near future, but your father needs to come here a few more times to recharge his batteries.
He looked down at his Breitling and said just as quietly:
"I'll take care of it right away, honey."
He got up from his chair and said casually:
"Dad, has it been a long time since you made your famous Hollandaise sauce? No matter how hard I try, I never seem to get it as perfect as you do."
The Devil understood very well that his son wanted to talk to him privately for a moment. He stood up and said:
"The secret is in the wrist, my son. Come and I'll show you."
It did Elise good to see father and son disappear into the kitchen so amicably. The father's hand on the son's back made all distance between them disappear for a moment. In the kitchen, Alex pointed out where the equipment Lucifer would need was and spoke quietly:
"Dad, I'm going to talk and you're going to listen. For once, I'm not going to shout. What I have to say is not, or not entirely, about the problem that is causing us to go into the red. You won't say a word, just make the sauce."
Lucifer nodded and Alex took a seat on the island with a glass of his mixture:
"I'm far from putting the whole puzzle together, but I will, you can be sure of that. But that's not why Elise and I wanted you here. And it is not the reason why I am speaking now and you are listening! Grandma sabotaged my intention to ask Elise to marry me. She knew that Elise had quietly entered the garden and knew what I was going to say, and yet she deliberately let it happen so that I would put my foot in my mouth. You know, Grandma, that woman sometimes works as mysteriously as Grandpa. Elise is your daughter-in-law. We just need a ceremony to make it official. She wants to meet you and spend time with her father. Because that's what you are, that's what she wants, that's what she needs and that's what you want! Our five girls, your granddaughters, have all escaped the darkness, Dad. But all five of them need a family, as normal a family as possible. You are their grandfather, they need you. In fact, they need you very much. You are the only grandparent they have at the moment. Conversely, you need Elise and the girls. She is your connection to the life you had when you lived among humans with Mom. And you need the girls and what they do to your soul incredibly. The door is always open to you, Dad, but if you don't start coming to our family table for dinner three times a week, I'm going to be so unbelievably mad at you..."
Now Lucifer really had tears in his eyes and it took him a moment to speak again in a very emotional voice:
"What about you, son?"
"I'm your son, Dad. This gigantic cosmic mess can make me so damn angry at you, at Grandpa and Grandma, and so damn angry at Michael and his weasels. You know what I'm going to do with Michael, I don't need you and your army, let alone your blessing. That son of a bitch is mine and he is going to suffer like no being in this universe has ever suffered before! Grandma and Grandpa are playing a dangerous game and using my Cas as a stake, so they are in the doghouse for now. Yes, I love them, but my decision has been made long ago, and so their fate depends on what happens to Cas. AND no, Dad, you can't make me change my mind! That decision has already been made and I will not go back on it! I don't care if they are your parents, if they screw up the situation with Casiel, I will not forgive them! How would you react if someone played a high-stakes poker game with my life as the stake?"
He tossed back the rest of his mix, stood up, and said:
"But you, Dad? No matter how much I want to strangle you from time to time, know that it will be done with love. I love you...always have...always will...."
Without waiting for a reply, he left the kitchen. He was about to rejoin the company on the patio, but Elise nodded almost imperceptibly to Liz, who had secluded herself near the edge of the pool.