They had come to her house in a large black car. Belial sat in the driver seat while Lucifer sat in the back with Elizabeth. The interior was covered in black leather and classical music oozed from the stereo. The whole experience was extremely surreal.
The restaurant chosen was Ruth’s Chris. It was the nicest steak house in the city. She hadn’t dressed properly for the venue. This place had a valet and a doorman and was extremely expensive. The demons walked through the door like they owned the place, but Elizabeth was a little more reserved and felt like she didn’t belong there.
The hostess was even dressed nicer than her, although she was too enraptured by the demons to even notice. Glancing up at the ceiling, Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief. The desire to thank God entered her mind but it seemed a little too strange to be thanking Him. She was about to eat dinner with two of the people who openly revolted against Him. Would she be damned for all eternity for associating with these two?
By the time they were seated, her head was swarming with questions. Their table was in a small room with only a few other tables in it that hadn’t been sat yet. A waitress was instantly there to take drink orders and once she left Elizabeth wasted no time bombarding the demons with questions. “Okay, I want some answers.”
They both looked up from their menus and stared at her. Satisfied that she had their attention, she continued, “Why me?”
Closing his menu, Lucifer locked eyes with her and inquired, “What do you mean?”
Elizabeth let out a loud sigh. Running her fingers through her hair, she realized that it wasn’t going to be easy getting answers out of him. Deciding that being blunt was going to be the way to go, she said, “I’m not naïve. You didn’t pick me at random. I’m being targeted by you and whoever that was who broke into my room, and I want to know why.”
Lucifer and Belial stared at each other intently. Lucifer’s eyes would narrow periodically and Belial’s eyes would dart to the table before looking back up. He even let out a sigh after a minute. They were talking to each other. Silently, without opening their mouths, but they were doing it. Glaring, Elizabeth was beyond upset.
The waitress returned with their drinks and, placing them on the table, gently asked, “Would you like to hear what the daily specials are? Or do you need a little more time?”
Without hesitation Lucifer smiled brightly at her. “We’ll all have the fillet Minot, cooked rare.”
Smiling back at him, the waitress collected the menus and quickly scurried off.
“I didn’t want a steak,” Elizabeth said.
Taking a sip of his drink, Lucifer ignored her complaint and returned to staring at Belial. They had no intentions of talking to her, much less answering her questions. Crossing her arms on top of the table, Elizabeth glared at Lucifer. Her finger tapped the white table cloth with excessive speed while she contemplated what to do. Biting the inside of her cheek, she’d have to push him harder if she wanted answers.
“I did some research,” Elizabeth said. Neither demon blinked or looked away from the other. Ignoring their ambivalence, she continued, “According to Biblical sources, Ben here is the man to summon if you need to control other demons.” That got their attention. Slowly both demons looked at her. Smiling, Elizabeth persisted, “So why did you send him? Out of all the fallen angels and demons under your control, you sent Ben to watch me. There has to be a reason.”
Their eyes were locked on her. She had struck a nerve. Lucifer lifted his drink and took a long sip, his eyes never leaving her. That’s when Belial murmured, “You’re not like other humans.”
Lucifer’s drink slammed onto the table with excessive force. His eyes glowed with anger and he growled at Belial, “Shut up.”
He immediately looked down and obeyed. The tension could have been cut with a knife, but Elizabeth had no intention of dropping the subject. She wanted answers and was determined to get them.
“Elizabeth? Is that you?”
Turning around in her chair, she saw an older woman walking towards her from an adjacent table where the hostess was in the process of seating three other people. An uncomfortable smile crossed her face. Squinting, Elizabeth answered as cheerfully as possible. “Mrs. Trahan! How are you?”
“Oh, just fine, dear. Won’t you introduce me to your friends?”
Elizabeth’s stomach churned and her smile faltered. Starting with the easy one, she said, “Well, I believe you’ve already met Mr. Clark.”
Reaching out her hand, Mrs. Trahan took hold of Ben’s and replied cheerfully. “Oh of course, how could I forget? We met at church.” Elizabeth knew she hadn’t forgotten; she just wanted to be reintroduced to him.
Nodding his head, Ben replied cordially, “Always a pleasure, missus.”
Now here was the hard part. How to introduce him? “And here’s the Lord of Darkness himself!” Yeah, that’ll go over well. Luckily, Lucifer saved her the trouble. Standing he took the old woman’s hand in his own, “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Lucas Vandermire. I am a distant cousin of Benjamin’s and am visiting him from my home country.” Bowing gracefully, he kissed her hand.
What a little shit. Elizabeth’s mouth fell open. Mrs. Trahan was completely fooled, however. She was utterly enraptured by the two. “Oh, how wonderful! And such gentlemen.” She said. “It’s so hard to find young men with such good manners nowadays. And you look so much alike, almost like brothers. Now how is it that you know Elizabeth?”
Now it was Belial’s turn to lie. Scooting his chair as close to Elizabeth’s as possible, he placed an arm around her shoulders and said, “Well, Elizabeth and I are dating.”
Mrs. Trahan’s eyes lit up, and Elizabeth’s heart sank. This would be common knowledge around the town before the week was through. Elizabeth had to struggle to keep smiling when the old woman exclaimed, “Oh, how wonderful! I’m so happy you were able to get her out of her shell. You know she’s been so depressed since her parents passed in that horrible accident. God bless their souls. But how could you blame her? She’s so young and all. Well, that’s just wonderful that you’re dating again--and such a handsome and polite young man. Your parents would be so proud.”
Belial beamed at the older woman the entire time, but all Elizabeth could think was how much she wanted Mrs. Trahan to shut up and go away. Glancing at the knife lying on the table, the thought of jamming it into Ben seemed like a viable option at that moment. Thankfully she never had to resort to that. Just then their waitress returned with their dinner in tow. Elizabeth couldn’t have been more ecstatic to see that steak.
“Oh, well, I need to get back to my table. I’ll let you get back to dinner. It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Vandermire… and it’s always a pleasure seeing you, Mr. Clark. I’ll see you Saturday, Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth nodded at the old woman. She returned to her table with extra pep in her step, surely to spread the newfound gossip she’d just learned.
After the waitress left, Elizabeth leaned into Ben so the people sitting at the other tables couldn’t hear. “Dating?!”
He chewed a piece of steak slowly, savoring the flavor. Taking his time, he didn’t answer until he swallowed the piece of meat. “This explains why I’m living with you as well. It’ll just make things less complicated.”
Elizabeth glared at him for almost a minute. He was ambivalent, however, and was more concerned with the food sitting on his plate. Cutting into her own steak, it was by far one of the best she’d ever had. It was juicy and perfectly cooked. After a few bites Lucifer spoke unexpectedly. “This isn’t the time or place to talk. After dinner I’ll let you know what you want.” Taking a short pause he added, “Within reason.”
Elizabeth met his eyes. They gleamed even in the dim light. He looked sincere, however, and a genuine smile crossed her face. Nodding in agreement, they went back to eating. They finished their dinner in silence. It couldn’t have passed
quick enough for Elizabeth. She was desperate to get home and learn all she could.
To her surprise, not only did Lucifer pay the bill but he also left the biggest tip she’d ever seen. Elizabeth was excited. It was time to leave, but her excitement was stifled when they passed the table Mrs. Trahan was sitting at. Waving them over, Elizabeth was content to keep walking and pretend that they didn’t see her. But Belial and Lucifer quickly waved back, smiles gleaming on their faces when they walked up to the table.
Mrs. Trahan quickly introduced everyone and they said their mandatory hellos. Elizabeth zoned out after that, only catching bits and pieces of the conversation. Staring at the wine bottle set in the middle of the table, she studied the object. It didn’t look horribly expensive, but it wasn’t bottom of the line, either.
Mrs. Trahan didn’t even notice Elizabeth wasn’t listening. She was content talking to Lucas, telling him all about her charity work and her friends. He listened intently and politely, smiling the entire time. It was hard to believe that he was the Lord of the Underworld. Suddenly Elizabeth was shaken back into awareness. Belial’s arm found a familiar place around her waist. Lucifer was in mid-sentence but she only caught the end of it. “…We’d love that. Benjamin was telling me how quaint the church was. I can’t wait to see it.”
“Oh, well, wonderful,” Mrs. Trahan said. “Then we’ll see you all on Saturday?” She asked a question, but really only one answer would suffice.
“We’ll be there,” Lucifer said with the utmost confidence. Elizabeth was stunned by what she had just heard. Gawking at Lucifer, she almost forgot to tell everyone goodbye. The waitress thanked them at the door and did the normal “please come again” routine, but all Elizabeth could think about was what Lucifer had just promised Mrs. Trahan.
Chapter 9