50 Damned Coffee

Lily

Two hours later, Lily stared out of the window of Luci’s Admin Level office, watching the play of shifting red-gold afternoon light and listening to the harried secretary outside explain something to someone in the same decisive tone that Lily had ignored on her way in.

Lucifer’s massive office felt a bit like an uber-luxurious cigar lounge, with black-and-gold paneled walls, deep, rich colors, and elegant decor. She’d been here several times before with Sharkie, but never on her own. She shifted her shoes on the desk, settling more deeply into the deliciously comfortable chair.

The muffled voice grew clearer, like the secretary was approaching the towering double doors of the office. “I am so sorry, sir. She refused to wait outside. I told her that I would have you call when you had a moment, but she insisted…”

Oddly clear-minded and composed, Lily dragged her eyes away from the window and stared at the door.

“It’s alright, Vitan, thank you,” Lucifer said just before the door swung open on silent hinges.

He looked like shit. Not a thread of his clothing was out of place, but his face was gaunt and weary, the opalescent sheen of his copper skin had dulled, and shadows smudged under his eyes. His hair was only slightly rumpled, like he’d run his fingers through it a time too many, but it said enough about what was going on in his head.

He closed the door smoothly. “I believe you’re supposed to sit behind the desk,” he said, voice rasping like he’d been talking too much.

“Not that one.”

A smile played at the edges of his mouth. “I heard you read God the riot act and did it with grace. Not to mention how you so kindly relieved the chittahi of its head . I’d say you’d do just fine behind that desk.”

Chittahi. That must be the name for the whateverthefuck .

Good to know.

“Gossip travels fast, I see.” Lily shook her head with a quiet smile. “My perspective is all wrong for that chair. I am neither wise nor kind enough to sit behind that desk and do what you do. I’m far too mortal for it.”

“I don’t know if anyone feels wise or kind enough,” Lucifer said, pushing his fingers through his hair and rubbing his hand down the back of his neck. “I’m sure you’d like some information—”

Lily stopped him with a noise, holding out the coffee cup she’d kept in her hand because the warmth and weight of it was soothing.

“Here. It’s not Common Grounds, but it’s still pretty good. Just sit and drink this. We can talk when you’re done.”

Lucifer took the cup but shook his head. “I’d love to, but there is so much to do—”

“You’re in a very important meeting right now. That’s what you’re doing. Drink the damn coffee.”

He blinked, then eased himself into the chair beside hers, leaving the opulent office chair behind the desk empty. His feathered wings rustled as he settled them into a comfortable position around the specially designed back. “A moment. It’s all I can spare.”

Lily picked up her own coffee cup, which she’d set on the floor beside her chair. She’d only managed a sip or two thanks to the nerves fluttering in her belly, but the practice of holding a coffee cup was familiar and comforting.

She needed familiar and comforting.

A minute ticked by as Lucifer sipped his coffee and tilted his head back against the supple burgundy leather of his chair. Lily looked back to the window, the quiet wrapping around them like a blanket.

It was ethereally beautiful on this level of Hell. Bioluminescent ivy crawling up the side of the window fluttered in a breeze, glowing flowers in a myriad of colors dancing amongst the leaves. The pulsing veins of light on the high ceiling outside were less numerous in this particular area, but more intense, making them all the more striking. Bel wouldn’t struggle to find beauty here.

Her fingers tightened on her cup, the warmth of it somehow failing to seep into her skin. Wherever he was, she hoped the beauty was as easy to find, but she doubted it.

She’d heard about the massive wards already being set up on the training fields for the injured. And heard they were filling up fast. Hell had long-established systems and procedures in place for such an event, and things were happing at a speed that never would have been possible in the mortal world. The elevators had been crammed with healers and supplies on their way up.

If he’s hurt, then they’ll take care of him, while I make sure Luci doesn’t fall apart. If he’s missing, then he won’t get any less missing if I lose my shit. If he’s fine, he’s fine. If he’s dead… The sips of coffee threatened to make a reappearance. If he’s dead, then he’s dead, and I refuse to make the Afterlife a worse place to be just because I’m hurting.

She swallowed.

I will never regret kindness.

But if Luci could drink that coffee a little faster, I’d really fucking appreciate it.

It was probably only three minutes, but it felt like an eternity by the time Lucifer sighed and rested the empty cup on the armrest.

“What happened?” Lily asked, turning to study his weary profile.

“I have no definitive information on Bel specifically.”

Fuck.

“Before dawn this morning,” Luci rasped, “there was a major attack. The definitive attack, as it seems. A small portion of our forces were overrun—hence the gegony and chittahi—its handler—that made it all the way into the Universal Hallway. Following that wave, we broke their lines and forced them back enough to close the rift. Preliminary reports are saying that it’s over. We are mopping up the ones that were trapped when the rift closed and have begun bringing most of our people back.”

“So we…won?”

Lucifer studied his empty cup, eyes sad and lips tight. “So it seems. As much a war can be won.”

Lily leaned her head against the back of the chair, feeling too many things at once. “I was American in my last life, Luci. I remember watching 9/11, and all the wars afterwards. I had friends who left to serve and never really came back. Trust me, I know that ‘won’ is a very subjective term when it comes to war.”

A faint smile flickered over his face. He glanced at the door, then his phone, and sighed. “In five minutes, this room will be filled with people and become a logistical headquarters.”

Lily nodded.

Lucifer rolled his empty coffee cup in his hand. “How is Sharkie?

“Worried,” Lily replied, then added with a somber smile, “Less worried than me, but worried. About Bel. About you. She saw the creatures go by Paradise, but she’s fine. Pretty sure she’s being doted on by all of Bel’s housekeepers at the moment.”

“What do you mean she saw the creatures?” Lucifer’s voice was sharp.

“I had an off feeling this morning, not knowing what it meant, so I told her to stay in Paradise while I went for coffee anyway, thinking she’d stay home . Turns out she’s a fan of loopholes. Technically, she never left Paradise,” Lily said darkly, letting her tone convey exactly how she felt about that. Every time she thought about what could have happened, terror pulsed through her body like a racing heartbeat.

Lucifer muttered something about limiting school field trips to the Fae realm, then asked, “You felt the warning?”

“Yeah. I know not all the souls did.”

He looked at her, considering. “Mortal souls who have a certain connection to the Afterlife are typically the ones to feel things as its denizens do.”

Maybe it was the Hellp Desk, then. Or maybe it wasn’t. It was an issue for later; her time with Lucifer was running out.

“Which…” Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat. “Which portion of our armies was overrun? Which legion, do you know yet?”

“Bel’s Fourteenth, according to early reports,” Luci said quietly. “But all my most recent information says that he was fighting with the Thirty-Fourth.”

I was thirty-four when I died.

Information can be wrong.

Where is he?

How long did his braids hold up?

Is he safe?

A kaleidoscope of thoughts, most of which made little sense, spun through her mind until they combined in a continuous mental scream.

“And how hard was the Thirty-Fourth hit?” Lily asked levelly, grounding herself with the warm coffee cup, the buttery leather of the chair, the bite of her nails into her thigh.

“All the legions seem to have been hit hard.” The words seemed to be pulled out of him. “There are going to be many casualties.”

Lily closed her eyes. Steady breath in. Hold. Steady breath out. Repeat. Repeat again. Perhaps spend eternity repeating.

“Lily.” Luci’s voice was gentle.

“I don’t want to freak out without a reason to,” she said tightly, not opening her eyes. The dark was soothing until it wasn’t. She opened them, composing herself. “So I won’t. All I ask is that you let me know as soon as you hear anything . Good…good, bad, or otherwise.”

“You’ll be the first to know.”

She should have demurred and insisted that his mother, his family, actually be told first. But she was selfish. Bel was hers, and she was his, and she didn’t want to wait a single fucking second longer than she had to out of some purely performative sense of decency.

And that’s why I’m too mortal to be behind that desk.

She stood to leave.

“Thank you. I also—” She cut herself off, realizing that barging into Lucifer’s office was one thing, telling him how she thought he should handle any element of this crisis was another. But she wanted to help. “I also know that you’ve done this long enough that you know how to best handle this, and I want to help, not be in the way. But I do have an idea, if you wanted to hear it.”

“Your last idea went rather well for us, Lily.” Lucifer gave her a small smile.

“The healers are swamped. A lot of the demons at the gate, especially the ones that are former military, have medical knowledge or other relevant skills. If I can help cover the gate, you can ask them to go help.”

Lucifer frowned. “I know that the Hellp Desk makes things easier, but do you think it’s enough to free up that many demons?”

Lily could hear voices in the hallway.

“Maybe. Maybe not. But maybe some of the demons on the levels could help cover the gate for a little while? I’ve seen the lower levels. They can throw some souls in a cage until things settle down.”

Lucifer nodded thoughtfully, scrubbing a hand over his mouth. “It didn’t occur to me to change anything about the mortal function of Hell. We cannot stop doing what Hell was made to do, but we can adjust it. Temporarily.”

Someone knocked on the door.

“I’ll head up.”

Lucifer touched her arm as he rose to his towering height, his eyes a bit brighter than they’d been when he first stepped into his office. “Thank you,” he said quietly. “I will learn what I can as quickly as I can.”

Lily offered him what smile she could. She had an answer—for now—and she had something to do.

She could work with that.

“You’ve got this, Luci. I know you know that, but you’ve got this.”

At the door, she stepped aside to let the secretary and a dozen professional-looking demons pass. She glanced back at Lucifer standing tall behind his desk, then headed for the elevator, phone already in hand.