Chapter 15
The Coronation
Lucifer lay spread-eagled, looking up at the ceiling of one of Rosaline’s bedrooms. The woman who had just serviced him traced a hand across his thighs as she walked towards the door. The three other singuli left him as well. He sank deeper into the silk-cushioned chair and looked through the thick scarlet curtains at the other Victorian buildings in the neighborhood.
“Where’d they go?” Sariel asked from his reclined position across another divan. “I mean, I was done, but I wasn’t done-done.”
Lucifer laughed. Even an immortal had limits. After a month of making love to different elven singuli multiple times a day, he might have hit just such an apex. But like Sariel, he wasn’t that interested in leaving.
“Do we have to go back home?” Lucifer asked.
“I sure as hell don’t,” Sariel said. “Eranos can have that crap hole.”
“No,” Lucifer said, shaking his head. “No, he can’t.”
“Yeah, I guess you're right. Where did the women go?”
“I’ve asked them to leave us for a while,” Elandril said from the doorway.
Sariel jumped up from his cushions and ran over to the door as Lucifer turned his chair to face the newcomer. Elandril hadn’t visited them in weeks; not that Lucifer was complaining. Rosaline was doing her job well.
Her red-headed singulus watched Lucifer from the doorway, and he stared at her in return. This one never joined in, and that was unfortunate. She was the singulus that had held his attention in the stadium. She put her hand on Elandril’s shoulder as she passed him and walked to Sariel’s old divan before pulling it across the floor to Lucifer’s seat. Sariel continued to talk animatedly to their old friend as Lucifer ran his fingers through Rosaline’s crimson locks.
He looked through the door she had just come from and noticed that all of the harem lined the hallway. There were hundreds of beautiful singuli out there. Despite his exhaustion, he felt himself stir as she grabbed his hand and brought it to her lips.
“What’s on your mind?” she asked.
“You’re a remarkable creature, Rosaline.”
She fluttered her eyelids. “Why, thank you.”
“Thousands of creatures working as one, spread across an entire universe.”
“You’re making me blush.”
She wasn’t lying. Her cheeks flushed as red as her hair. Her reaction to his words seemed odd. He and his brother complimented her at least a dozen times a day, often in the most salacious ways possible. But discuss her globus …
“Such a versatile woman,” Lucifer continued. “So talented.”
She dropped his hand gently to her lap and then placed it under her black dress.
“Lucifer,” Elandril said from a couch along the wall. “Would you join us?”
“Coming,” Lucifer said, bowing to Rosaline.
She readjusted herself on the divan. Other women filed into the room and draped themselves over her shoulders and legs.
“Elandril,” Lucifer greeted him. “What brings you here?”
But Elandril didn’t answer his question. He patted the couch, and Lucifer took a seat beside him. It was hard not to look at Rosaline, and not just because her tight black dress was hiked up to her thighs. She was staring right at him.
“Didn’t you tell her to stay outside?” Sariel asked.
“It was more of a request, really.” Elandril said. “Lucifer, what did you say to her?”
“I just complimented her.”
Elandril leaned against the couch pillows and steepled his fingers. “What did you say?”
“I just said she was a remarkable creature.”
Sariel laughed. “That couldn’t have been it.”
“And then I just commented on how amazing her globus was, and that I thought she was just highly versatile.”
“Versatile?” Sariel put his hand to his forehead. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Are we even related?”
Elandril didn’t respond. Instead, he nodded towards Rosaline who did the same in return.
“I’ve practically written sonnets about every inch of each of her singuli,” Sariel said as he watched Rosaline grow restless, “but I’ve never seen her act like that.”
“Our culture has changed considerably since the Great War—since the near destruction of our primal pattern by the Chaos assassin.”
Sariel and Lucifer shifted in their seats.
“I do not want anymore apologies from either of you,” Elandril said. “What happened in the war is over and done with, and most of our race welcomes the coming era. We are evolving.”
“Excuse me?” Sariel asked.
“We are progressing down a different path, and our concept of the individual is now very, very different. Our communal and social order have changed, and so,” Elandril said, laughing as he watched Rosaline, “have our compliments.”
“So, telling an elf that she is gorgeous or hot-as-hell just doesn’t do it for her, huh?” Sariel joked.
“No,” Elandril said. “It doesn’t. After all, you are probably complimenting just the outside appearance of one of her members. It’s the equivalent of complimenting a demon’s toenails.”
“But each of her members is gorgeous,” Sariel said defensively. “I mean all of her globus is gorgeous. Is that not a compliment?”
“Did you say it like that?”
“No.”
Elandril spread his hands and shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe you should have.”
“But if she has thousands of members spread across the universe,” Lucifer said, “wouldn’t she still have reason to dismiss the compliment? Even the hundreds in this mansion are probably a fraction of her overall self, right?”
Elandril nodded. “She’s a woman. Maybe you should just stick to versatile.”
“I’m filing that one away, for sure!” Sariel promised.
“How many singuli do you have?” Lucifer asked.
Elandril didn’t reply.
“If Rosaline has many thousands, I’m guessing you must have tens of thousands …”
Still no response.
“Hundreds of thousands?” Sariel asked.
“I’m afraid that’s a state secret, old friend.”
“You still don’t trust us?”
“I don’t trust your race,” Elandril said, “just as I don’t trust Jehovah. I don’t even trust my own people with that kind of information.”
“You’ll make a good king,” Lucifer said.
He laughed. “Maybe so, but even a wise king can be ambushed if enough of his secrets are shared with his enemies.”
“You mean Jehovah?” Lucifer asked. “You’re not the ones with a cosmic death ray bombarding the heart of your universe.”
“If you are successful with your plans to overtake Eranos and stop Jehovah’s onslaught, then we elves may suffer the same fate.”
“I think you misunderstand our cousin. He hates Chaos because of the Council. He just wants to be left alone.”
Elandril laughed. “You really believe that? Archimedes’ ass, Luke!”
“If you’re going to curse,” Lucifer said. “At least have the damn thing make sense!”
Elandril put his arm around Lucifer and brought him close enough to whisper. “Your cousin doesn’t hate Chaos. He simply needs a primal pattern to feed off of. That contraption of his …”
“The Hall of Souls?”
“That’s the one,” Elandril said. “We came across some ancient experiments in our archives, and so when he came to us, we had some insight into his designs. The immortals degrade over time, and consequently, the Hall of Souls needs a fresh infusion every now and again. That’s why he came to visit us thousands of years before your imprisonment. Like your father and the Council before him, he thought he would come across a weakened pattern—one that no one would mind being depleted of immortals.”
“He told you this?”
“Not in as many words, but I could see it
in his eyes and discern it from his questions. Your cousin is a scientist. I don’t think he values the lives of other immortals quite like we do. His experiments appear far more important to him than any lives they might endanger, including his family members in Chaos or a few million elves in our universe.”
“What experiments?”
“I specialize in being everywhere, but I’ll be the first to admit that I would never venture into that creature’s head,” Elandril said. “I know a dangerous mind when I come across it. You could say my survival as a globus depends on it—singulus acquisition being what it is and all.”
“Best to keep him away, then,” Lucifer said.
Elandril stroked his hairless chin. “About that … I came here to tell you two that the coronation is tomorrow, and you’re both invited.”
“And Jehovah will be here as well?”
“I don’t think so, but Michael has reserved a small Order contingent.”
“We’d be delighted to represent Chaos,” Lucifer said.
Elandril’s grin became a frown.
“We’re not the only demons who will be in attendance, are we?”
“I don’t believe so,” the elf said. “The Council is sending a large delegation.”
Lucifer bit his lip. A large delegation from the Council instead of the Courts? Sounded like a trap. “Elandril, I hope you plan on turning them around at the gates.”
“That wouldn’t be very diplomatic,” Elandril said.
“You’re worried about appearances?” Lucifer asked. “These are the same people that killed your father and tried to murder your primal pattern. I have no intention of letting them get that close again. Allow me to organize a personal guard. Hell, I’ll even serve in it.”
“I’ll think about it,” Elandril said as he rose to his feet. He walked over to Rosaline’s red-haired singulus and kissed her on the cheek before turning around to bow and wink at the brothers. “Meanwhile, you two should sleep on it.”
The elected King exited the room as Rosaline’s members entered. Her globus encircled them and began disrobing. “Tonight, dear princes, I show you how versatile I truly am …”