Chapter Text
Respectless
Lucifer sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Thank you, Mrs. Carmine. I really appreciate you and Zestial being... discreet for me."
"Anything you wish, Your Majesty," she complied, "though I cannot speak for the... Hellborn Overlord, us elder Sinners do still hold respect for your position. If you wish to remain in the shadows for longer, then we are more than willing to comply."
"Don't concern yourself with Rosemary" he assured, "the Ars Goetia know not to out the Sins when they are in disguise, especially not myself."
Truthfully, he was most concerned with Rosie telling Alastor about his identity outside of the meeting once she realized that her best friend's long-time beau was the silent King of Hell. With any luck, she wouldn't put two and two together and would simply dismiss him as the secretary he claimed to be.
He hadn't planned on Alastor's mistake over his identity spiraling quite so much, but he hadn't expected for the Sinner to return his attentions, either. He hadn't expected him to simply assume that Ishtar was the one left in charge of dealing with the bureaucracy that the royal family had disappeared and give him the title of Secretary. By the time he realized that it would be necessary to inform the demon of the truth, he knew that the Sinner's pride would be gravely wounded to have been unintentionally led on for so long, and he didn't want to lose him by revealing the truth.
Now, he was having to call in favors to cover up his mistake because he had to deal with official business. He HAD to attend the meeting with the Overlords as the representative for the leader of their ring, who he actually was. This meeting would not be one that he could simply get the cliffnotes from Carmilla later for. He had things to say, and hopefully he could say them without having to reveal to his new love interest that he had been deceiving him for the better part of a century.
"Then, we will see you at the meeting, Sire."
"Be well, Carmilla," he dismissed, then hung up.
He had a meeting to attend, but first, he had to get through the morning exercises with his residents.
He didn't expect to arrive downstairs to find Vaggie demanding that the little minions that followed Pen around be dismissed. He comforted the distraught scientist while Vaggie took them to Alastor. Lucifer snickered, wondering how his morally grey lover would manage to get rid of the obtuse little creatures without compromising his scruples.
If the glare he shot him as he led them out the door was anything to go by, he knew exactly what his thoughts were and was not even slightly amused.
"Okay," Lucifer sighed, "Vaggie has informed me that we are having some problems with trust amongst us, so for today's group activity we will be doing.... TRUST EXERCISES!" he announced with flare, Razzle shooting a confetti cannon as he set off a miniature fireworks display with his fingertips as he did jazz hands.
No one was particularly amused, much to his dismay.
"And actually, Vaggie, I was hoping that you would be willing to lead the group today," he explained as he stepped back, much to her surprise.
"What?" she gaped.
"Well, I think you know better than anyone that I'm bad about trusting way too easy, so I thought that you might have a better idea of how to build trust properly."
"Uh, okay..," she stated without much confidence, and he gave her a cheery thumbs up.
Of course, she would ask him to be the first to do their first exercise.
"Something profound, hu?" he murmured, "okay. You all know that I'm a fallen angel. What you don't know is that I was a parent once. I was lost for a long time, and you guys have given me a purpose again. So, what I guess I'm trying to say is... I... I really care about you guys. A lot."
He closed his eyes, a privilege he hadn't had the first time he fell, and for half a second he thought to use his wings to catch himself with, but he found that Vaggie and Niffty both had stepped forward to catch him. He smiled and patted the cyclops' head in thanks as Vaggie called for Angel to go next.
And it... was down hill from there.
When Lucifer had to part from them after they left the BDSM club, which he honestly thought would have been something Al would have enjoyed in a completely non-sexual way, she promised that by the time he and Alastor returned, they would have found the right bonding experience to bring the group together.
He told himself to trust his foster daughter and made his way to the meeting.
As he expected, he was the last to arrive, Zestial holding the door open for him and handing him the second cup of tea as they took their seats.
"Zestial. Samael," she greeted.
"Carmilla," Zestial returned.
Lucifer grinned, and waved as her cheerily.
"Long time no see. Ah, is that the twins? You girls look so grown up now!"
Ophelia blushed while her sister just nodded in greeting.
"Now then, since everyone is here-"
They were interrupted by a young, spunky girl walking into the meeting with her phone to her ear, speaking loudly and mocking them. Lucifer instantly didn't like her.
"Velvette," Carmilla greeted, annoyance clear in her voice.
Lucifer interrupted her.
"Young lady, did your parents never teach you that interrupting a meeting and being late was rude as fuck?"
She simply raised an eyebrow at him and popped her bubble gum.
He looked to Alastor in astonishment like 'who is this bitch?'
"The representative for the Vees, Darling," he explained in answer to the wordless question.
"And you didn't eat her already?" he huffed indignantly.
Alastor just shrugged.
"I don't care for veel," he gave as explanation.
Which, made sense. Alastor was not one to fault one for being young and dumb.
"Let's just continue the meeting," he sighed, waving to Carmilla to continue.
"Now then, as I was saying, the Extermination this year was brutal."
"How many did we loose?" he asked.
"Overall, an estimated 16 percent," Ophelia provided.
Lucifer groaned and rubbed his face with his hands. This had gotten WAY too far out of hand.
"Together, we own millions of souls," Carmilla continued, "We need to discuss a plan to-"
Well, at least the kid had the mind to raise her hand before speaking out.
"Yes, Velvette?" she asked in exasperation.
"On the topic of 'discussion '..," she stated before throwing a severed Angel head onto the table.
Lucifer jumped up, wings immediately emerging from his back in defense as everyone gasped. Except Alastor, of course. He swiped a finger through the droplets of blood and licked it, making a face of displeasure while the cannibal overlord next to him did the same and hummed in delight. He met his eyes in a silent communication that had him blushing and reaching for the bite on his nape.
"...meager proof!?" the girl was screeching when he zoned back in to the conversation, "it's a dead fucking Exorcist!"
"Perhaps twas not by a demon's hand at all," Zestial argued.
"It wasn't," Lucifer informed, seeing Carmilla's panick as her daughter's moved closer to her and understanding exactly what happened, "only an angel can kill an angel."
"And how would you know, Lamb Chop?" the girl sneered.
Alastor's eyes turned to radio dials as he jumped up and growled, "you better SHOW some RESPECT! Check your behavior! NO ONE speaks to Ishtar that way!"
She blinked at him in astonishment, not having expected him to jump in.
"Did you expect us to sit back and take your insolent, brazen display?" Carmilla asked.
The girl went off, and Lucifer had to clinch his teeth to keep from jumping in himself. When her little standoff with Carmilla ended and she stormed out, Lucifer sighed and rubbed his temples.
"Well," Alastor said as everyone else sat there in astonishment, "THAT was a productive meeting."
"I'll address the issues we were suppose to talk about today in next month's meeting," he said to Carmilla, who was pale and beginning to shake. He placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled reassuringly as the room cleared.
"It's okay. She's just talking big. Don't stress about it, okay? We'll talk later."
She nodded and gave a short bow before dismissing herself.
Alastor stood behind him while he took a moment.
"Should you inform his Majesty of this development?" he asked, and the cannibal overlord looked at him in surprise.
He shook his head at her, hoping to convey that he did not want his identity revealed, and she nodded in understanding.
"Yeah, I... This must be why they moved up the Exterminations. This... this changes things. I need to get back to the hotel. Are you coming home immediately?"
He cocked his head to the side and cupped his face, to which Lucifer covered his hand with his own.
"If you need me to, I can, though I had intended to make a few stops before I returned."
Lucifer shook his head and pressed a kiss to his palm.
"No, no, go finish your errands. Just... come home safe, okay?"
Alastor chuckled.
"My dear, I am the Radio Demon. You need not worry for my well-being. I will be home in time for dinner."
Lucifer nodded and watched as he walked off. The cannibal overlord waited for him to leave before approaching.
"Your Majesty," she greeted.
"Rosemary. It's been a while."
Her smile turned sharper, but to anyone else she would appear nothing but polite.
"I do hope that your sublty isn't an attempt to pull one over on my deerest friend," she stated with menace.
Lucifer sighed.
"I have no intentions of hurting Alastor," he assured, "I just... need time."
"Was a century not enough?" she accused.
He winced but didn't try to argue.
"I hope that I don't have to order your silence on this matter," he threatened, eyes flashing red.
She narrowed her own voids.
"... if you hurt him, it won't be just me you have to worry about," she returned, then walked away.
He sighed and snapped to open a portal, not having the energy to deal with a walk across the entire city. He sat down in his chair in his office and hung his head. He needed to talk with Lute about this, as much as he hated it. With a wave of his hand, he called up his communications crystal and sent a signal to the one in the leader's office. An earily familiar face turned to look at him in astonishment with an 'oh!'.
"I-I'm sorry," she said, "General Lute isn't here right now. I... I didn't mean to answer -"
"No," he choked, then cleared his throat, "no, it's.... it's okay. You... wouldn't know how to answer it. It must have reacted to you on it's own."
Pale blonde hair was bobbed around her face with whispy curls not as tight as his around her ears. Her eyes were the same bright baby blues his had been before his Fall, and her cheeks were powdered to lighten her bright red apples into pale pink apricots. Her little lamb ears matched his, and he could see a set of small white wings tucked behind her baby pink dress.
She was beautiful.
She frowned and looked closely at him.
"You sound... really familiar. Have we met?" she asked.
He laughed as he held back the tears.
"A very, very long time ago. You've become such a beautiful woman, Charlie."
She smiled brightly and blushed.
"Hardly anyone calls me that anymore. Only my girlfriend - well, ex-girlfriend I guess- has called me that in years. My... my mom used to, when I was little, but then when we moved here she started calling me 'Charlotte'. Which is funny, since my name is-"
"Charlene," he sniffled the same time she said it.
She looked surprised again and nodded.
"Yeah... Are you..."
Her eyes lit up in realization at the same moment the door behind her opened.
"Daddy?" she whispered.
His heart clinched. She'd never called him that, but her recognizing him just from him saying her name made his chest ache in a way that wasn't entirely unpleasant.
"I love you, Duckling," he whispered as the person who entered asked her what she was doing, and he quickly dispelled the magic, least she gets in trouble for having contact with him.
"...sir?" Vaggie asked from the doorway, "Was that Charlie?"
He sniffled and nodded. Vaggie came forward and wrapped her arms around him as he cried silently. She'd come to know how much it hurt him to be away from her over their time together, and had shared in that pain with him.
"She's so wonderful," he sniffled, "more than I could have ever imagined."
Little did they know that she'd seen Vaggie enter the room, had seen her scarred face and lack of wings, and had begun piecing together an idea of exactly what all she'd been kept in the dark about before Lute had interrupted the call, and the princess was starting to make plans of her own.