Beloved Evil

TWENTY-THREE

Lucifer crawled into her bed in the early hours of the morning. When Tara awoke, he was laying stiff as a board beside her. He still had all his clothes on, hadn't even bothered to get under the covers. One of his hands were wrapped tightly around her wrist, the other rested on his abdomen.

She looked over at the window where Arthur had been sleeping in a chair. He was gone now, and Tara wondered if he was okay. She didn't think she could ever look at him the same way again. He had always been so stoic, so formal that he almost seemed dead. Yesterday, he had become human. Demon or not, that was what he was now.

Lucifer stirred in his sleep and Tara couldn't help but smile. She turned on her side so she could really look at him. The lines on his face were smoothed out, his hair falling lazily down his forehead. His scars seemed soft in the morning light, as if she could wipe them away with nothing more than the gentle touch of her thumb.

His eyes opened and her face turned warm.

She waited for him to say something, but he didn't. Instead, he looked down at her wrist where his hand was still holding on to her tightly. He slowly let go.

Tara couldn't bare the silence any longer.

"Aridam?" she asked. "Is he okay?"

As she sat up slightly, her nightgown slipped down her shoulder. Lucifer cleared his throat.

"Yes, Aridam's fine."

She let go of a breath she'd been holding all night.

"What about the others? Hellin? Tell me what happened after you left."

Lucifer was still looking at her shoulder. He sighed, sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. With his back to her, Tara wondered why it felt so awkward between them. They had confessed something to each other the day before, but there was still so much that needed to be said. Was that the reason why the air was so thick around them?

"Are you okay?" she asked.

He stood up, ran a tired hand down his face.

"I'm fine, Hellin's fine, everything's fine."

He looked around the room, and Tara saw his expression change.

"What happened in here?"

She sat up all the way and followed his eyes. Arthur's hunt for liquor had left her room a mess. It looked like somebody had broken in.

"Arthur," she replied. "He really needed a drink last night."

Lucifer almost smiled. Almost.

"And did he find any?"

Tara scrunched her brows.

"No, why do you ask?"

He looked around for a while, and then began searching the room for something. Tara didn't say anything, just looked at the frantic man with raised brows. He finally found what he was looking for, which was apparently a small bag. He threw it on the bed.

"Pack your stuff," he said. "We're going to my room."

Tara opened her moth but closed it again. She found a change of clothes and then began packing what little stuff she had; her pencils and paper, her toiletries, the rest of her clothes. When she was done, Lucifer looked at the bag with a frown.

"Is that all?"

Tara shrugged.

"How much stuff did you expect me to have?"

He looked like he was about so say something but decided against it.

"Alright, let's go."

When he opened the door, Tara saw two guards standing on the other side. They bowed their heads as her and Lucifer passed.