Chapter 8

Lucifer's POV

"How long has she been in that damn library for?" I asked Gabriel as I gathered the plates and cups for dinner.

"I'd say about six hours now."

He can't be serious.

"There is no way someone can read for six hours a day."

Gabriel laughed as he placed the containers of Chinese food on the table,

"Catalina can AND SHE BETTER PUT THE DAMN BOOK DOWN AND COME EAT!" Gabriel yelled and within seconds Catalina emerged from the library, a large paperback book still in her hand.

Gabriel laughed when he saw her.

"What were you reading about this time?" he asked as he stood beside her at the kitchen island.

"The Fae."

Fae?

I guess Gabriel could see the puzzled look on my face and decided to elaborate.

"Catalina mainly reads fantasy books." I couldn't help but laugh. This tiny anger-filled thing still reads fairy tales.

"What's so funny?" She turned to look at me, taking a few steps towards me as I shrugged my shoulders back,

"Just never pegged you for a fantasy reader."

"And what type of books did you think I would read?" She questioned me as she opened a few containers and piled food onto her plate.

"To be honest I am surprised that you can even read but to answer your question, Smut mostly."

Gabriel burst into laughter as Catalina's cheeks turned a slight shade of pink. I was so distracted by the pink flush of color in her cheeks that I almost missed her hand as she raised it up and almost smacked me in the face. I grabbed her wrist just as her hand was a few short inches away from making contact with my face.

Damn, She's Fast. But I'm faster.

The orange in her eyes began to ever so slightly overshadow the green.

"You'll have to be quicker than that next-" A sharp pain stung between my legs.

Oh this fucking girl!

I went down, still clutching her hand, pulling her down with me. Catalina hit her head on the way down but within a few seconds, she was up and was straddling me.

"Touch me again and it will be the last thing you ever do." She whispered in my ear.

Impressive.

"You're a violent little princess aren't you."

She remained silent, still staring at me as if she wanted to rip my head off.

You can try but you won't succeed.

Within seconds Gabriel was there to separate us and help Catalina up. The pain between my legs had dulled a bit and I was able to stand up.

"Where did you learn to do that?"

It is not every day that someone could impress me, let alone take me down and have me on my back. I watched as she and Gabriel exchanged a look and she answered as she sat back in her seat.

"Don't worry about it."

I wasn't worried. I was intrigued. The girl couldn't be more than 5'2 and was able to take me down and I was pushing 6'8. She had had some form of training from the way she reacted when I grabbed her wrist, Remembering what Gabriel said about how she hated being touched without permission, I put the pieces together, she might have been forced to learn to defend herself. And for some reason, that angered me.

The sound of Gabriel clearing his throat pulled me back in,

"When was the last time you even read a book Lucifer?"

I scoffed,

"Gabriel I have never even seen you with a book so I am even surprised you know what they are."

"I wasn't even aware either of you knew how to read."

Gabriel burst into laughter as I stole a glance at Catalina. She was smiling. A genuine smile. Not her usual rehearsed sarcastic smile that she always gave. This one was different. It was..sweet.

I like it.

She must have felt me staring because she instantly looked back at me. That beautiful smile still plastered onto her face and I couldn't help but smile back.

* * *

"Alright so since I paid for dinner, you two can clean up and I'll be back in an hour," Gabriel said as he grabbed his keys, heading for the door.

"Where are you headed off to?" Catalina asked as she took a sip from her glass.

"I'm meeting someone at the shop. Like I said I'll be back in an hour. Try not to kill each other please."

Catalina waved him off as Gabriel made his way out the door.

"I'll do the dishes if you want to wipe down the island and counters." She said as she stood and began to make her way to the sink, I reached over and grabbed the cleaner and a rag.

"So I never did get a chance to ask you but how did you and Gabriel become so close?"

I already knew the answer from Gabriel but I was curious what her side of the story was. Was she frightened? Scared? Or did she genuinely value his friendship throughout the years?

"He helped me out when I was in a really bad situation and we've been close ever since."

"Is that how you found out what Gabriel was and that we existed?"

She shrugged as she placed a dish on the drying rack.

"I figured angels were real, my mother was the intense religious type and kind of drilled into me and my siblings biblical stories and your stories."

Our stories.

She already had an idea of the kind of person Gabriel was. The kind of person I was and for a brief moment, a part of me was disappointed. Not by what she said but that she had a preconceived notion of who I was. The stories she was probably told about me. What she must have heard. Then again I had done the same thing to her when I had met her for the first time.

"Gabriel has always been honest and upfront about what he was and his intentions."

"So my brother just came out and said he was an Archangel?"

"No. He… I was in a car accident when I was a child, the car hit me and drove off, Gabriel healed me."

"How badly were you hurt?" The question rolled out of me before I could stop it.

"So many questions today Lucifer," I could hear the slight smile in her tone of voice.

"It wasn't too bad. Just a couple of broken bones but at that point, I was old enough to know how to numb myself enough to block out the pain. But Gabriel offered to heal me and we've been friends ever since."

"And the fighting? Where did you learn that?" I asked as I tossed the washcloth into the sink and returned the cleaner to the cabinet.

"Everyone has to fight eventually to survive, so I taught myself."

"And your fire gift?"

She turned off the sink, grabbed a towel, and began to dry her hands, Still not looking at me.

"What about it?"

I inched a bit closer.

"Have you taught yourself to use it in a fight?"

She scoffed and finally decided to look at me,

"Of course not."

"May I ask why?"

I watched as Catalina took a deep breath and closed her eyes,

"Despite my rather..violent tendencies, I don't want to hurt people, and when I use it sometimes things happen and I lose control and when I lose control, bad things tend to happen."

She's worried about hurting people that might hurt her? What a strange little creature she is.

"What if I trained you in using your gift? To help you control it."

She looked at me with a puzzled expression.

"I assume you begin to lose control when you are angry, correct?"

She nodded her head ever so slightly,

I knew it.

"So I can help you to control that anger and train you to use your fire only when you have to."

Catalina was silent for a moment. I was worried she wouldn't answer but it was an offer she couldn't refuse. If she lost control the only person she would hurt was me and I was very hard to hurt. Besides, I angered her in general. I doubted she would feel much regret if she did somehow manage to hurt me.

This could be the way to help her!

Training her. Helping her control that anger could be the outlet she needs to get better.

"Your fire could be a very powerful weapon once you control it." Her response was almost instant.

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to hurt people."

I heard enough.

"And what about the people who want to hurt you!" I shouted at her,

"Just because I was hurt does not mean I want to hurt others!"

"Why?" I questioned her,

"Why shouldn't the people who try to hurt you be punished?"

"BECAUSE I DO NOT WANT TO BECOME MY MOTHER!"

She yelled and I could see the orange in her eyes slightly expand.

" I learned the basics of how to protect myself because I did not want to be powerless ever again. I didn't want to be hurt again, but I will not become my mother, I will not become the monster she said I would be."

"Powerless is the last word I would use to describe you."

Catalina might be a lot of things. A raging pain in my ass, loud, vocal, and, hotheaded sometimes downright unbearable but powerless? Never.

Her soft green eyes found mine, still holding on to that little bit of orange that was gracefully fading away.

"Tell me more," I whispered,

Why the hell did I just say that?

"Why do you even want to know?"

"Maybe because I would like to get to know you. Maybe because I want to believe that the person Gabriel sees is still somewhere inside you."

Because I wanted to. I wanted to know more about her. I wanted to know everything about her.

For more information on how to help her. Obviously.

"I'll make you a deal, I'll let you train me and I will tell you whatever you want to know about me,"

I'd like that.

"But I want something in return, one favor from you."

Training her would not only possibly solve the issue of the reckless behavior, bringing me closer to my goal of getting out of here as soon as possible, but I would also get to know more about her. And all it would cost me was one favor. It was a win for everyone involved.

"With training you, I might have to touch you, would that be alright?"

Catalina's body stiffened for all of one second and In that one simple second I could see a million ideas floating in her head,

"I promise if you ask me to stop, I'll stop. Nothing will happen that you are not okay with."

"Promise?"

I nodded,

"I promise."

"Very well then, it's a deal." She smirked at me, as she took my hand in hers. Her small freckled olive hand was such a stark contrast to my tanned, scarred, tattooed hand.

"A deal with the devil. You know my mother warned me about things like this." She smirked as she released my hand.

"Well, I am very glad you decided not to listen to her antics."

She smiled at me again briefly before turning around and heading back towards her room,

"So am I." She whispered ever so slightly that I almost didn't hear her.

"9 AM tomorrow and wear something appropriate."

She turned back to face me,

"Very well Lucifer, I'll see you tomorrow."

Within seconds she disappeared into the hallway. It was so damn quiet I could hear the faint click of her door closing.

What the actual hell is wrong with me?

I didn't know why Catalina and I made that deal but at that moment I wanted to know more about her. Why did she think she could turn into a monster? Who else had hurt her? The more I thought about the possibility of her being hurt and having to defend herself that angry hateful feeling in my chest emerged. But why?

Why was I getting so enraged about things her mother had done to her? Why did I want to know more about her? Why was she constantly in my head?

Because she intrigues you dumb ass!

I didn't have time to entertain these thoughts I had to focus on tomorrow. I reached into my pocket and sent a quick text to Gabriel.

Training tomorrow @ 9 AM. Me, you and Catalina. Don't be late!

I poured myself another drink as Gabriel instantly messaged back,

How the hell did you convince her to get up that early?

I took a long sip of my drink before responding,

Don't worry about it. I think this will be good for her though.

This could be good for her. This could be the outlet she needed to stop the reckless behavior. This could be the thing that saved her. The thing that could help her understand that she was no monster.

This could be good for her and I'd make sure to be there every step of the way. For as long as I could.