Daystar (23 page)

Paimon snorted.
 
“Yep.”

Jegudiel looked at the door to the outside.
 
“So, how do we know when I am free to go?”

Paimon stood up.
 
“I dunno.”
 
He scratched his chin.
 
“Let’s give it a go.”

Jegudiel stood next to Paimon and stared at the door.
 
“Give what a go?”

Paimon grabbed Jegudiel’s hand.
 
“Trust me?”

“Absolutely not.”

Paimon grinned.
 
“Come on, let’s try it.”

Jegudiel took a bite of bread.
 
“Opening the door?”

“Yeah, point me towards it.”

“Okay.”
 
The pair stared the door down.
 
They ran together.
 
They slammed into the door at the same time.
 
Blue light threw them back into the opposite wall, knocking the wind out of them both.
 
Plaster and dust fell on their heads.

Paimon coughed and rubbed his head with both hands.
 
“I don’t think it likes us.”

Jegudiel nodded.
 
“It did not have to throw us like that.”

“A gentle push would have been okay by me.”
 
Paimon rooted around until he found a bottle of gin.
 
He drank and passed it to Jegudiel.

Jegudiel smiled.
 
“It did not have to hit us.”

Paimon froze in shock, remembering.
 
He burst into tears.
 
“Fuck!”

Jegudiel dropped the bottle.
 
“What?”

Paimon rubbed his blind eyes.
 
“I
hit
Dahlia!
 
How could I have done that?
 
I’m a terrible person!”
 
Paimon scratched at his scalp.
 
“Fuck!
 
Fuck!
 
Fuck!”

Jegudiel’s face was a mask of confusion.
 
He patted Paimon’s back.
 
“Uh, I do not know what to do right now.
 
Tell me.”

“I thought you knew about love!”

Jegudiel blushed.
 
“I was lying.
 
I do not know a damn thing about anything.”

Paimon pulled Jegudiel into a hug.
 
“You are supposed to do this.”
 
He sniffled.
 
“I have to train my own comfort.
 
This is so fucking sad.”
 
Paimon lashed out and kicked at bottles near his feet.
 
“I hate this!”

Jegudiel breathed out.
 
“Am I supposed to respond—”

“No!”
 
Paimon curled his legs up to his chest.
 
“Sometimes people just need to be hugged.”

Jegudiel hugged him tight.
 
“I can do this.”

Paimon’s eyes blurred with tears.
 
“Furcas gave the best hugs.
 
Did you know that?”

Jegudiel shook his head and kept his mouth shut.

“Before I fucked everything up with us he loved to just stay locked up arms and legs for hours.
 
Usually it ended up turning into something else, but the hugging part was still genuine.”
 
Paimon laughed through his tears.
 
“He was such a big baby.”

Paimon’s expression wavered between a frown and a smile as he struggled to keep from weeping.
 
“I miss him.”
 
The ache in his chest grew worse.
 
“I miss him.”
 
Paimon squeezed Jegudiel until the Archangel thought something would to break.
 
He hugged Paimon back with the same intensity.

Paimon swallowed back tears.
 
He wiped his eyes and regained control.
 
He pulled back and Jegudiel let him go.
 
Paimon sniffled and punched Jegudiel in the shoulder.
 
“Thanks.”

Jegudiel punched him back.
 
“You are welcome.”

Paimon shook his hands out.
 
“You’re learning.”

“A bit.”
 
Jegudiel smiled.
 
“It is not so hard.”

Paimon stared into space as his eyes dried.
 
“Jegudiel, I was thinking.”

“What?”

“I hate to say this.”
 
Paimon sighed.

“Say what?”

“I hate your fucking name; it sounds like someone spoke mid-vomit.
 
Like it was going to be something cool like Jegulenal or something like that, but someone coughed and your name came out as-is: Jegudiel.”
 
Paimon mimicked vomiting.

Jegudiel frowned.
 
“Uh, thanks.”

Paimon smiled.
 
“Can I rename you?”

“What?”

Paimon shoved Jegudiel to the floor and sat on him.
 
“Let me rename you!”

Jegudiel squirmed.
 
“Uhm, I do not know how comfortable I am with that idea.
 
I like my name.”

“We’ll make a bet.”

“A bet?
 
On what?”

Paimon scratched his head.
 
“That I can do something better than you despite being blind.”

Jegudiel frowned.
 
“That could be anything.
 
I am sure you could do any number of things better than me.”

“I’ll give you an advantage, something so easy that you would have to be retarded not to get it right.”
 
He nodded to himself.

Jegudiel looked at him guardedly.
 
“Okay.
 
But I want to see the task before I officially say yes to this.”

Paimon crawled in the direction of the TV.
 
He clawed through books, tapes and contraptions, throwing some back at Jegudiel.
 

Jegudiel picked up a book on Tantric sex and threw it away as soon as he saw the pictures.
 
“Why do you have these dirty things?”

“For my amusement.”

“How is that book of—of sex positions
amusing?
”

Paimon stopped in his search and shrugged.
 
“Making up sex acts to see how many people try and do them is funny.”

Jegudiel wrinkled his nose.
 
“You’re
sick
.”

“Every day of my life.”
 
Paimon grinned and held up a gray box.
 
“Found it!”

Jegudiel scooted over.
 
“What is it?”

“Super Nintendo!”
 
Paimon threw a handful of cartridges at Jegudiel.
 
“Find the one with the cartoon cars on it.”

“Cartoon?
 
Cars?”

Paimon frowned.
 
“Oh, yeah, you’re a dumbass, right, forgot.”
 
He scratched his head.
 
“I guess I’ll put them in one at a time and listen for the music.
 
I’m a genius.”
 
He found the controllers by touch.
 
Paimon reached up to the TV to turn it on.
 
“Shortly your world is going to change, my innocent friend.
 
Do you want to play and bet your name?”

Jegudiel smiled.
 
“You just called me
friend
.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Okay, yes!”

Paimon rolled his eyes.
 
“Sit down and prepare to lose.”

Jegudiel watched the screen light up.
 
“What are we doing?”

“Racing go-karts.”
 
Paimon found the right cartridge.
 
He grinned.
 
“I call Toad.
 
In your face, bitch!”

Jegudiel looked at the shinier, newer consoles that were next to the SNES.
 
“Why aren’t we playing with those?”

Paimon shrugged.
 
“You’ll see, this game rocks.
 
It’s the only one I have memorized.”

“You have it memorized?”

Paimon grinned.
 
“I could play this blindfolded.
 
I think I shall call you Princess Peach!”

***

Lucifer’s pain was excruciating, never-ending, cyclical.
 
He was pulled between agony and memory, though even there, it was a bittersweet experience.
 
He hoped that he would never see Dahlia again, that she would never make the mistake of coming here.

Light fractured his prison.

Warmth replaced freezing cold and scorching fire.
 
His hands were unbound, his feet freed.
 
The faceplate lifted away, his dried blood peeled off with it.
 
Lucifer gasped and blinked against the brightness.
 
Involuntary tears blurred his vision.

Cool hands touched his face as the plates of metal came away from his back.
 
Something hard was placed around his neck, a collar.
 
Lucifer’s vision resolved itself.
 
Raphael and Gabriel leaned over him.
 
Michael stood behind them, a frown carved into his face.

Gabriel’s face was emotionless as he fixed the collar around Lucifer’s neck.
 
Raphael ran his hands across Lucifer’s skin healing and soothing.
 
Lucifer looked past them.
 
“Is she here?”

Raphael nodded once.
 
“She has come.”

Lucifer sucked in air to scream, to warn her.
 
The collar sensed his intent and strangled the words out of him.
 
He scratched at the metal but it would not come away.
 
The collar reacted to his physical interaction and sucked the strength from his limbs until he was deadweight on the floor, unable to lift even a finger.
 
The collar glowed with his energy.

Gabriel nodded at the result.
 
“It works.”
 
His eyes barely met Lucifer’s.
 
“It—it works.”
 
He backed away, keeping his eyes on the ground.

Raphael leaned forward and touched Lucifer’s back, healing more wounds.
 
His lips brushed Lucifer’s ear.
 
“Lucifer—”

“Get away from me!”

Raphael pushed him to the floor.
 
“Lucifer, listen—”

“I said get away!”
 
The words came out in a garble as the collar choked him.

Raphael shut his mouth.
 
He hooked an arm around Lucifer’s waist and pulled him upright.
 

Lucifer was too feeble to do anything about it.
 
His eyes darted about, getting used to the light.
 
He noticed the sound was gone, the singing stopped.
 
Lucifer blinked and she appeared.
 
His Dahlia four-winged and haloed, not whole, but more than he had glimpsed in some time.
 
She wept were she stood.
 
Dread settled over his limbs.

Dahlia turned to him.
 
“Lucifer.”

Lucifer reached out to her, unable to say anything.
 
She looked at him once more, sadly, and then turned away.
 
“Your word that he is to remain healed and released.”

YOU HAVE IT.
 
HE WILL BE RESTORED AND FREE FROM THE PRISON.

“You will not strike my children or my planet.”

YOU ASK MUCH WHEN YOU ARE IN MY REALM, AT MY MERCY.

Dahlia dropped to one knee.
 
“I am begging you to exercise that mercy.
 
You have us both now.
 
You have won.”

The fire roiled and laughed.

I DO.
 
FINE, THIS THING I ALSO PROMISE.
 
AS LONG AS YOU REMAIN MINE, YOUR PITIFUL PLANET REMAINS UNMOLESTED AND LUCIFER WILL REMAIN FREE.

She bowed her head.
 
“Thank you.”

NOW, GIVE YOURSELF OVER.
 

Lucifer clawed at the air, his entire being straining to reach her, to break free.
 
The fire saw this and laughed.
 
SPEAK, LUCIFER.

The collar’s compulsion was broken.
 
“Dahlia!
 
This is a trick!
 
He seeks to take your memories in trade!”

Dahlia looked at him sadly.
 
“I know what He wishes, Lucifer.”

Lucifer ran towards her.
 
He was cut short by the restraining hands of Raphael and Selaphiel, both were rigid, tense.
 
He was pushed to his knees.
 
“Do not do this.
 
Flee!”