Elle's POV:

I wake to hazy red light, like a photo red room. A masculine shape is sitting on the edge of my bed, and I almlst think it's Cole, until I realize he's gone.

He smiles and leans forward. "You're awake. I protected you from the monsters in your closet. You're welcome." The voice and the comment clicks in my mind.

"Beelzebub, have you been sitting there all night?" I rub the sleep out of my eyes and stand, walking to a random door and opening it. A closet. How ironic.

"Maybe. Maybe not." He grins at me wolfishly, walking to stand beside me. I walk over the threshold, and the light turns from red to white, slightly relieving my headache.

I walk up to a satiny blue dress and hold it against myself. There are probably more stitches than fabric. "Does he expect me to wear this?"

Beelzebub shrugs. "He doesn't really associate with high class people. Hence, the girls are in no way conservative."

"Doesn't excuse him. I guess I'll just become my own designer." I close my eyes and imagine a blue v-neck teeshirt and a pair of stonewashed blue jean shorts.

"Do I look okay?"

"Elle, that's a stupid question. You always look amazing." He blushes slightly. "I can't believe I just said that."

"I won't tell. Or anything else you've told me." I force him to look me in the eye, and I'm reminded of just yesterday when he poured out his heart to me.

"Promise?" His eyes and expression yell desperation, and I feel sorry for him.

"Promise. Of course I promise." I give him a small hug and head off to explore. There are only three rooms, but they're all huge: bedroom, bathroom, and closet.

"Where's the kitchen? I'm starving." As if on cue, a small marroon piece of stationary is slipped under the door. Beelzebub walks over and picks it up, breaking the wax seal and reading it aloud.

" 'Lucifer requests your presence in the banquet room of his residence at sunrise on the day of this correspondence's recieval.' Well, I guess breakfast is set."

I remember that a second Dark Angel came with me. "Where's Maizen?"

"He's staying at his old barracks. I would have let you stay at my place, but it's a mess."

I laugh slightly. "It's fine. But we still have to find out where his house is."

"No, I know where it is. I've been there before. But we'll have to hurry."

"Can't we just...teleport there?" I don't know why, but it feels like teleportation might work.

"Oh yeah. Gimme a second." He closes his eyes, his brow furrowing as he focuses. I grab his hand at the last second, and we appear in front of a building that looks like a mix of a mansion and a castle.

"Is this what Hell looks like?" I'm surprised at how relatively modern the place looks.

Beelzebub answers as he lifts a dragonhead knocker and lets it fall. "Pretty much. All Planes of Existence mirror the Earthly Realm. Not exactly, but pretty close."

Almost instantly, a young woman answers the door. "Oh! Hello, Beelzebub. How can I help you and..."

I smile, hopefully making a good impression. "It's Elle."

She nods and smiles back. "He's waiting for you in the banquet hall. Beelzebub knows the way." She steps away and disappears from view. We step inside, and he has to hold my hand to keep me going. The house is amazing. The hallways branch off every hundred feet or so, but Beelzebub just keeps going straight forward until we reach the end of the long hallway.

A set of mahogany double doors ends the hallway, and Beelzebub gently knocks on them with a knuckle. We stand in awkward silence as footsteps approach the door.

Lucifer swings it open and stops when he sees me. "Where are the dresses I gave you?"

I shrug. "I sorta like clothes. The more the merrier. Hence, the dresses were a no-no."

"You're more powerful than I thought. Most Angels only use Manipulations for life or death situations, and that strains them. You don't even look tired."

I laugh as he ushers us into the huge dining room. "Then I guess you'll be surprised at some of the stories I have."

"Such as?" I can tell he's genuinely interested, and I almost laugh. Lucifer is actually interested in what I have to say. Talk about a story to tell your grandkids.

"Well, the day I Bonded with Beelzebub, I needed to talk to him, and apparently he put up a wall to keep you out. Gave me a nosebleed and a headache, but I did it." Just the memory gives me a headache, and I rub my temple, trying to be sly.

"How...how did you do it? I could never get into his head if he didn't want me to. And even failing took a lot out of me."

"He let me in, though. So it wasn't like I was really doing anything but initial contact."

Beelzebub shifts beside me. "Actually, you just surpassed the wall. I never took it down. You probably wouldn't have gotten a nosebleed if I had."

I just stand there and blink, too shocked to say anything. Lucifer guides me to a chair and I gratefully sink into it. The woman from the front door says something, and it takes me a second to realize she's asking me what I want to eat.

"Oh. Um...sopapillas?" I smile slightly, hoping the name is for what I think it is.

"A little early for fried bread, isn't it?" I did get the name right. Whew.

"Hey, French toast is technically fried bread."

Lucifer considers for a moment. "Touchè. And I'll have steak and eggs please."

The woman turns to Beelzebub expectantly. "Just coffee for now. I'm not really hungry."

She nods in acknowledgement and hurries away, leaving the three of us alone. We sit in awkward silence until a thought pops into my mind. "So what am I going to be doing here? I'm going to assume that I won't just be sitting in my room the whole time."

"You'll see how your life would be if you stayed and used your power here. Only a week will pass in the human realm, but a little over a month will pass here."

I nearly choke on my water. "What? A month here? You said a week."

He laughs wickedly, and he knows he's trapped me in a corner. "Ah. Obviously you didn't listen very well. I said you'd be here for a human week. Not a week where you would be."

I put my head on my fisted hands, holding it up. "Lying by omission is still lying."

"No. It's word play." He grins at me, knowing he's won. I roll my eyes as the Angel comes back, carrying our food. She sets my plate in front of me, and I instantly, my mouth begins to water. There's honey and chocolate criss-crossed over a mountain of whipped cream piled onto several pieces of cinnamon-scented fried bread.

Lucifer reaches over and tries to take a piece, but I lift the plate away at the last second, and all he accomplishes is a speared section of tablecloth.

"No. These are mine. I haven't had sopapillas in forever, and these are the only reason I haven't reached over and slapped you for not telling me everything about this little trip."

He leans back against his chair and frowns. "Fine. I didn't want any, anyway."

"Don't be such a whiner. Here." I cut part of a piece of bread off and put it on a saucer before handing it to him. "I would have given you some anyway, I just don't like people trying to take things of mine without asking." I send him a pointed look about him trying to kidnap me, and he gets the message.

"Okay. Sorry." He starts to eat the sopapilllas, and within seconds, the piece is gone. "Good choice. It's making steak and eggs look like plain oatmeal." He makes a sour face, and I can't help but grin.

I turn to Beelzebub, who's just been sitting and drinking his coffee. "Do you want some?" I point and he nods. I scoop half of the rest of the sopapillas onto the empty plate sitting in front of him.

"Hey! No fair. How come he gets so much?" Lucifer huffs at me and folds his arms like a petulant five year old.

"I swear to God, Lucifer. You're, like, three thousand years old and you're less mature than me right now. And you have food already. He doesn't."

He huffs again and begins to pick at his food. "It's been scientifically proven by your scientists that males mature slower than females."

"Yeah, but that only counts on males who prime at 30, not ones who are still going strong at 3,000."

"Fine. You win. Happy?"

I grin widely, closing my eyes. "Very. Now, can we hurry? I want to see something other than the two buildings I've been in so far."

He nods and pushes away his nearly empty plate as he stands. "Okay. Let's go."

Beelzebub shoves the rest of the sopapilla into his mouth, reminding me of a chipmunk. He gives us the thumbs up as he gulps down the gigantic bite. "We can go now."

I roll my eyes as he stops a few steps away from me and Lucifer snorts beside. "See what I had to deal with for all these years? He's even less mature than me!"

I take a deep breath. Maybe I should have brought Cole. "Maybe, but he had the presence of mind to stop trying to kill me after I broke his nose twice. And you wouldn't stop trying to kidnap me until I demanded to talk to you, so don't throw stones in a glass house."

He smiles and I know he has a comeback. "What about a plexiglass house? Does that count?"

"Yes, and the stones are bullet piercing rounds fired out of a fully automatic assault rifle. I still win. Let's just get out of here." I push open the double doors and stand just outside of them, waiting for the two to walk out.

After a moment of neither walking out, I duck my head in, eavesdropping on a very private conversation.

"...always get too close to your task. Every time. I'm glad she took you!" Lucifer is snarling at Beelzebub, who's demeanor is nothing like that of someone being yelled at.

As soon as he finishes, Beelzebub begins his rant. "Oh yeah? Who was gonna marry her then kill her? Sure as Hell wasn't me. I'm glad she took me, too, so that I can make sure nothing bad happens to her, like getting back stabbed by you."

A server bumps into me from behind, and I fall headfirst into the room, both men's expressions pained and horrified.

I stand and stare Lucifer in the eyes. "And yes, I heard everything."

I turn and walk away, leaving the server and the two Angels to clean up their own messes.

**********

I hear a knock on the door, and roll my eyes. I'm gonna be surprised if it's not Lucifer.

I came straight to my room via teleportation as soon as I walked out of the dining room. I've been talking to Moniqué through the Bond since I came back to my room.

"Elle? Can I talk to you? Please?" Speak of the Devil. Oh wait. He is the Devil.

"Go away. I don't like people who want to kill me, and you are apparently one of them." I throw an embroidered throw pillow at the door, but it hardly makes a sound on the solid oak panel.

"Please? Let me explain!" I can hear the door creak as he leans against it, putting his weight on the door.

Why do I even give guys second chances? I always get burned in the end. Oh well. Why not once more, for old times' sake? "Fine. The door's open."

He walks in, and he looks like he's aged years in the minutes since I've last seen him. Good. If he really was going to kill me, he deserves to be a little worse for wear.

"Elle, I..." He can't seem to finish the sentence, so I do it for him.

"Wish I hasn't heard that? Hope we can still get along? Want us to still be friends? Go ahead and stop me whenever. I can go all day." My face heats up as he looks at me, his eyes dull and guilty.

"I'm sorry. If you want me to leave and never talk to you again, I understand. I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry." He turns the way he came, and I jump off of the bed. For some reason, I believe his apology, and don't want him to leave until I've said my two cents worth.

"No. You can stay. I should know better than to judge before I've heard both sides of a story." I grab his arm and pull him back into the room, and he laughs slightly.

"You're just like the Prophecy said. You won't judge until you know the whole story."

"Yeah, I guess so." I sit back on the bed, folding one leg underneath me. "I can't help but feel like any Angel knows more about me than I do, and we're talking about me." I run my hands through my tangled hair, then change my flustered expression to a stern one. "You were apologizing to me for something."

He laughs and sits down beside me. "Yeah. I'm sorry you had to hear that. None of that was going to happen."

"Then why did Beelzebub think that's what was going to happen?"

Lucifer runs his hands back and forth over his hair, ruffling it into tufts. "To keep word away from someone who wanted me to...kill you. She thought you were a threat."

"To who?"

He sighs and hangs his head shamefully. "To her and what she thought was a relationship between the two of us. Where there was nothing but business."

I can't stop myself from being curious. "Who is 'she'?"

"Lilyth. The Queen of the Damned. She thinks we can be "the biggest power couple ever, like, ohmygawd." His voice goes staccato, and he gestures dramatically like an excited teenage girl.

"Wow. Never knew Dark Angels used spoiled girl talk."

"Oh, trust me. If she wasn't the sergeant in Beelzebub's old unit, she'd be out like last week's trash."

I start to laugh hysterically at his analogy, then snort. "I'm sorry. I just can't stop imagining Lilyth stuffed in a trash bag, yelling 'Ohmygawd, let me out.' It just isn't possible to get that image out of my mind." I double over and roll, falling onto his shoulder.

"Yeah. That image is pretty funny." He snickers and flops back onto the bed. "So how are you liking your room?"

"Seriously? I've been awake all of two hours and have only been to two places. I'm not exactly going berserk."

He props his head up on his arm and looks at me, his red eyes holding my blue ones. Talk about fire and ice. "A lot can happen in two hours. I thought it might be polite to ask."

"Wrong. Sorry, but your social intuition needs a reboot." I smirk and mirror his position, looking him straight in the eye.

"I'm afraid you may be right." He sighs and sits up, a full grin spreading across his face. "You aren't going to barricade yourself in your room all day, are you? I need to show you off."

"Never thought I'd hear that any day of my life, especially not from the Devil. But I will leave my room. Why, is there a social function I'm needed at?"

"Yes. A gala to celebrate my return. In this world, I was gone almost a week."

"And I'm going to be your guest of honor, correct?"

"Yes. There's a dress in your closet you can wear, or you can make your own. It's in a half hour."

"Fine. I'll go, but Beelzebub and Maizen will be there, right?"

He grins again, rhetorically. "What do you think? Of course they will be. Now hurry up!"

I glare at him, annoyed and irritated. "Okay, okay. But you have to leave first."

"Fine. I'll meet you here in a half hour."