"SO ... WE'RE NOT GOING TO sneak upstairs for a quickie?" Melanie asked as Louis gently dropped her at the school entrance. Her head still ached ever so slightly from the arguing that had occurred only moments previously but Louis' wide grin was enough to cast her worries aside. It was funny how easily he could make her smile again.

Michael was being unreasonable. That was the bottom line and no matter what, Melanie would not change her mind about it. Obviously it was nice to know he cared about her enough to go to the extremes of challenging Satan to keep her safe but even after Melanie's constant pleas to drop it, he wouldn't. That was what made her angry. Finally, when she could no longer take it she had told him to leave.

Louis cleared his throat before turning to face her. It was almost like a scene from a movie - the handsome male turned and glanced over his shoulder to lock gazes with the girl whose heart began to beat twice the speed it was before. Melanie felt it, the heavy thumping of her heart as she looked back into Louis' eyes, his sinfully gorgeous eyes.

"I think..." Louis began, his hands reaching out to cup her cheeks, "that we can give that a miss, Cooper. What do you think?"

You want it just as bad as me, you fucking tease, she thought, so c'mon and admit it.

"Er," she began. "Yeah - I was only joking, after all!"

Louis raised a brown and took a step closer, his nose brushing against her own. "Are you quite certain of that? Because you sounded pretty convincing to me a few minutes ago."

"I'm good at teasing," she said with a small shrug. "And acting."

"Hm," Louis hummed as he pecked her nose. His lips were cold, she noticed and she wondered why.

"So, now what?" Melanie asked as she slid her hand into Louis'. "More dancing, socialising and finger food?"

She saw Louis cringe. "What a combination. All evil things lined up in a row."

"To to be fair, you're probably more evil that the lot."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Louis admitted with a grin. "However, I am a fantastic dancer, a superb people-person and I sure as hell taste a lot better than the sandwiches and crap sitting on the table in there."

"Yeah, I bet you do..." Melanie found herself mumbling. Once realising she had spoken aloud, she tried to cover her mistake with a cough. Louis watched her curiously, his hand squeezing hers tightly before he tugged her towards the school building.

Once back inside, Melanie was confused as to why Louis suddenly turned left and began leading her up towards the maths corridor.

"Louis-"

"It's OK, just keep quiet and follow me," he promised her. "Perhaps we should go upstairs to ... celebrate another month of being alive, huh?"

"Oh..." Melanie said, completely and utterly gob-smacked at his sudden change of mind. "If you say so, Satan."

"Oh, I do say, Cooper," he answered, winking at her from over his shoulder. Melanie flushed ever so slightly and she smiled widely to herself as Louis continued to guide her further up, into the school. The maths corridor was dead - eerily quiet (minus the music echoing throughout the school) with no one in sight. It was also rather dark.

"Help me find the lights," Melanie said as she reached out towards the wall with her free hand. She couldn't touch the switch however, as Louis hand tugged hers back.

"No. If you switch the lights on, someone may see and come up to investigate."

"'Investigate', huh?" Melanie laughed. "The teachers are hardly detectives."

"You know what I mean!" Louis said. "Here." A different kind of light source flickered in his free hand and Melanie could just make out the grin on his face, illuminated by the flames. "There."

"And what if the smoke alarms go off? You know, in science one time, we were using fire in this experiment and it resulted in the entire school having to evacuate to the building and stand outside for an hour in the cold while the fire engine took its time up the road."

"'Evacuate', huh?" Louis questioned. "This isn't 1945."

"Well, I'm fucking sorry, Lucifer," Melanie snapped. "Damn it, people still use the word 'evacuate' today, you know."

"And people still use 'investigate', Melanie."

"I give up with you."

"Sure you do. You worship me."

"I do not."

"You do too. Why else would I find a T-shirt with my name on it hanging up in your bedroom?"

"Well, if I worshipped you so much, why would I wear a necklace with a cross on it?"

Louis halted and turned to face her. If Melanie didn't know him better, he would almost have looked threatening, scary even. She backed up a few steps, her hand losing his as he stood just that little bit taller than her. His eyes looked glassy in the fire light.

"To irk me, clearly," Louis whispered. He touched his forehead to hers and Melanie closed her eyes momentarily. His breath was cool on her face and all she wanted, right there and then, was for him to close the gap between their lips. Like he'd said - there was an undeniable chemistry between them. It seemed to last forever, the wait for him to kiss her, so Melanie took matters into her own hands and cupped his jaw before kissing him like her life depended on it. Well ... he was pretty much in control of her life in many ways, especially after she agreed to live in exchange for her soul.

"Hm," Louis hummed against her mouth. "That was nice."

"What? A kiss?" she asked.

He nodded and said, quite simply, "Exquisite."

"Wow," Melanie laughed. "Guess I just have that effect on people."

Louis tilted his head to the side and nodded. "You most certainly do."

They climbed the staircase up to the languages corridor. Melanie recalled what she had suggested to Louis outside the school and her cheeks flushed. She was thankful for not having the lights turned on as she knew all too well that Lucifer would tease her about her tomato coloured complexion.

"So, where are you taking me?" Melanie asked. "We're in the languages corridor, Louis."

"Indeed we are. Oh, look! There's the French classroom ... the Spanish." Louis continued to give a running commentary until they reached the corridor's end. They stood before a closed door, silent and still. "What's in there?"

"It's an old music room. There used to be two music classrooms but the roof kind of caved-in on this one. So now it's kind of used for junk," Melanie told him. She looked up at him and observed his perfectly defined features. She couldn't help but wonder what the differences were between his Devil self and angel self. Physically, he was beautiful and Melanie sure as hell could see him as an angel - perfect and glorious in every way possible. And yet, she saw him that way just as he was - as Satan, The Devil.

Melanie pondered what he may have looked like when he'd resided in Heaven. Was he surrounded by a blinding white aura as an angel? Did he have a golden halo? What sort of clothes did he wear? His wings - how big were they? Silly little things came to mind and soon, she came back to reality to see the door of the old music room wide open.

"How did you unlock that?" she asked, shaking her head. "Wasn't it locked?"

"It was but there's not a lock picker quite like myself," Louis said with a cheeky grin. He gestured forward for her to enter first and she did, turning to look over her shoulder as he shut the door behind them. They were alone. "Now," Louis said, looking around the half cluttered room. "Are there any candles here?"

"Don't think so," Melanie said. "Fire hazard."

"Hm," Louis muttered. "Be right back."

Melanie was about to question his motives, but as she turned to face him she realised he'd vanished once again into thin air. With him gone, she looked around the old music room, her eyes landing on the piano in the corner with several missing keys. Next to it were a few guitars without strings and one broken drum set. Chairs and tables had been pushed up against the wall at the far side and Melanie pulled two chairs out for herself and Lucifer.

"Boo."

"Bastard!" she shrieked as she whirled round to face him.

"Your face!" he laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he bent over and clutched at his stomach. "Oh, my! Haha! Sorry, Melanie. That was just so funny!"

"If I'd died of a heart attack, would it be funny?" she snapped, plopping herself down into one of the seats she'd pulled out.

"Well, considering you'd land straight in Hell, kind of," Louis said with a shrug.

Melanie frowned and thought about what she had said. "Wait a second - if you were the reason for the heart attack - and the heart attack was what killed me - wouldn't that make you responsible for my death? If so, technically I was murdered again so what would happen? Would I land in The Beyond, Heaven or Hell?"

Louis seemed stumped. "Er..." he began, frowning momentarily. "Well, heart attacks are common physical attacks on the body. It's almost like cancer or something along the lines of that - an unfortunate and terrible thing to happen to some part of the body. And things like that are natural deaths or reasons for death. I doubt my little scare would kill you, Melanie."

"Oh..." she mumbled, still a little confused about the whole situation. "No, but would I land in Hell for having a heart attack?"

"I believe so as I have already laid claim on your soul, so there would be nothing more for you to give if we were to meet in The Beyond once again."

"What if I gave a hand-job? Would you let me live again after that?"

Louis looked stunned. "And you say I'm the horny one."

"Well ... you genuinely are, Satan," Melanie reminded him, gesturing to his head.

"Point taken. Anyway, look - I brought lots of lovely candles," he said, lifting a bag that Melanie had not noticed him holding before. "Full of candles because I am such a hopeless romantic. Now praise me, human."

"Make me, you piece of crap," Melanie laughed as Louis opened the bag. She jumped however, as the candles suddenly few past her and into the air. They spread themselves out around the room, in a circle around Louis and herself and she just raised a brow and turned back to look at Louis. He grinned and clicked his fingers. Every single candle in the room lit themselves as if by magic and Melanie opened her mouth to speak.

Louis spoke first, "Ta-da."

"Uh-huh," Melanie said, spinning around on her heel to take in the candles around them. "Are you planning on having a Satanic ritual in an empty classroom, Lucifer? Wow, you really lack imagination ... and setting."

"Hey," Louis grunted. "Don't tell me what I do and don't lack."

"Like a penis?"

Louis sighed. "You're such a struggle, Melanie Cooper."

"I'm a delight, I know. Candles are a bit cheesy though, don't you think?"

"Oh, shut up and get your arse over here, girl. I want to dance with you properly."

Melanie didn't hesitate - she made her way over to him and soon the two were swaying around the room like a happy couple on their honeymoon. Louis stood on Melanie's foot multiple times and she just laughed it off. There wasn't much he could do to truly hurt her - everything was fun and games between the pair of them. As they waltzed to the completely atrocious and inappropriate music echoing up through the school, Melanie at one point leaned forward and rested her chin on his shoulder. Louis held her closer until they were no longer dancing but hugging in the centre of the room.

"Thank you for continuing to visit me," Melanie whispered.

"It's a pleasure, Melanie. Feel special because you're the only mortal I've gladly agreed to stay in touch with. I like you, so why wouldn't I visit you again? You remind me so much of myself - mischievous, sassy and ridiculously attractive."

"You think I'm attractive?" Melanie questioned.

"I do, yeah," Louis spoke. "I just..." He trailed off, leaving the sentence there, incomplete and full of mystery. Melanie wondered what he was trying to say, so she lifted her head, took his face between her hands and asked him.

"You just what, Louis?" she quietly wondered.

Louis looked her in the eye as he began to speak. "Never before have I felt the need to be close to someone like you - a human. Usually I can't wait to send mortals back to this horrible place ... but with you, I feel something I haven't felt for many years. In fact, I don't think I've ever felt like this. Maybe this is an additional side to my banishment - the uncertainty of feeling something new?"

"What do you mean?" Melanie asked, a little confused.

Louis sighed again. "My banishment was simply a permanent punishment for having the desire to be like another ... and getting rid of me before I could take action seemed like the only option. However, I never even began to consider all of the new obstacles I'd have to face. And now, Melanie Cooper, perhaps having increasingly powerful feelings for another is one of them. Not only is it a little scary but it's also something new."

Melanie was speechless. He said powerful feelings towards her and all she could do was stand and smile at him like a complete fool. How exactly was one supposed to respond to a speech like so? And so, a little confused, excited and giddy inside, Melanie simply asked, "What exactly do you mean by 'powerful feelings', Louis?"

"Well, I know what you're thinking - you're thinking love. I wish I could tell you it was the truth but it's not. Love isn't something I can do any longer. I can't afford to. And I know I may seem like a selfish bastard for saying that but ... I want you to know that you hold a special place in my black heart. You have ever since you called me a liar back in The Beyond."

"Oh..." Melanie muttered. She knew he didn't mean love - heck, she didn't love him! The pair simply had a strong bond, an unbreakable connection that didn't stretch as far as love or less than friendship. "I know it's not love, Satan. I mean, for fuck sake you're The Devil and I'm but a single human girl. I know we have chemistry - strong bloody chemistry, might I add - so I know exactly what you mean. And this fear of new beginnings ... I'm even surprised you can feel fear."

"It's not fear as much as uncertainty. New things cast a shadow of doubt and unwanted dread, you know?"

"Yeah," Melanie said with a nod. "I do. I completely get and understand what you're saying and if it helps ... I have feelings for you too. We both feel the same way - whatever the way actually is - so, now we both know, what is there to fuss about?"

Louis laughed then. It was a genuine, happy laugh and Melanie hugged him once again, tighter than ever before. That hug meant a lot to her and now she knew it also meant a lot to Louis. They stood like that for what must have been several minutes before Louis pulled back and used his forefinger to tilt her chin up to face him.

"You know what? Screw it," he said before pressing his lips to hers. The kiss was passionate, deep and full of potential for further interaction. Melanie craved more than just kisses from Louis but she knew that going any further was risky - especially in an unstable classroom with multiple lit candles and the horrible thought of a teacher walking in on them. Melanie smiled at the thought and Louis smiled back as his hands smoothed over the material of her dress and to her backside. He pulled her hips towards his and said, "I look forward to the day you agree - if you agree - to rule by my side. We'll have a hell of a time!"

Melanie laughed at his pun before pecking him on the lips once again. "But until that time comes, here's to many more monthly visits and good times."

Louis nodded once again as he caressed her cheek with his thumb. "Indeed, Melanie Cooper, indeed."

*

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Thank you so much for joining me on the Lucifer journey, I've loved every second of it thanks you you guys, my awesome readers, I love you all! x

Cazza