The Devil's Bride by H.W.

Click, click, click, click.
The sound of her high heels sounded loud in the long marble hallway.
She casually sauntered on like a person with not a care in the world.

Click, click, click, click.
The high heels were attached to almost knee high shiny black leather boots. From those boots perfectly formed legs moved up to perfectly formed hips that rolled just as perfectly with every step. It was exactly enough movement to give her a sexy sway of the hips, but not to look obnoxious. The perfect legs were covered by black stockings, and the perfect hips were covered by a black denim miniskirt.

Click, click, click, click.
A white blouse had been closed with nothing but a knot in the fabric. Giving the perfect mix between showing off her perfect abs and forming a tempting cleavage. Her abs were perfect in the way that you could see the six-pack, just. Which was just right to be sexy, but not so much that it only appealed to fitness fanatics.

Click, click, click, click.
Her perfect 34-c cup breasts were covered by a black lacy bra, of which it was clear that it was deliberately chosen to shine through the thin white blouse. Her face showed her Latina heritage and was so gorgeous that one simply had to assume that she was some kind of Miss. Miss Universe sounded about right. Her thick yet silk like hair cascaded in ample waves over her shoulders until halfway down her back.

Click, click, click, click.
In short, she looked like Miss Perfect who had just stepped out of the 'of the year' edition of your favorite 'show women as meat eye candy' magazine. Her clothing look was such that if you saw someone standing on a corner of a street like that, you wouldn't call her a prostitute, nor a hooker. No, dressed like that you would call her a whore.

Click, click, click, click.
And yet. Somehow she managed to pull it all together. She looked gorgeous, sexy, like perfection come to life. She looked classy. There wasn't a person on the face of the Earth, man or woman that wouldn't want to share the bed with her, even if they were in a relationship themselves.

The image of perfection stopped in front of one of the many doors in the world-famous research facility. Her stop wasn't a hesitation; it was clearly a waiting for exactly the right time to enter. Seven seconds later she did just that.

She opened the door and sauntered into the lab. She walked on, leisurely looking at the impressive technology around her. She stopped and touched one of the humming machines. "I must be getting old. They experiment with the weirdest stuff these days."

She chuckled, knowing only too well just how often she had said 'I must be getting old' over the years, and knowing that in the scale of things, she had only just started.

She moved on. Around the corner of a huge bulk of another machine she saw her query. "Hello Jim. Time's up."

The old man looked up when hearing the silky voice that sounded so sensual that people could easily describe it as Angelic. How wrong they would be.

"You," He said in a whisper while backing up a little. "It can't be."

"Ten years. That was the deal." She came closer and hopped onto the worktable. Without asking she reached out and took his laptop, checking what he had been writing.

"No, I need more time. Please. I, I'm actually finished. I know the answer. Please, I only need the time to write the formula down. Please, or else my entire research will be for nothing."

"Ten years, that was the deal. And it's ten years to the second. Sorry Jim."

He kneeled and folded his hands. "Please, I beg of you. Please. I only need one more hour."

She didn't even look at him, never stopped with reading the technical data that only four other people on Earth would be able to understand. "Hmm, you really do have the answer. Wouldn't it really be a shame if people found this now? They would know that finally the cure for all cancer is found... and that they would have no idea on how to recreate the formula."

She laughed, and it sounded so wonderful that people might say that it sounded like angels singing. She would find a comment like that extremely funny. "Oh, the agony, I can almost feel it now. I can see them seeing your answer and weeping because it's of no use without the formula."

"Please." Tears started to roll down his face. "Please, one more hour. Please."

She put the laptop back and finally looked at him. He saw those perfect eyes focus on him. They were brown, but he swore that he could see a fire burn in them.

"You are a pretty good man, Jim. Honest, I'm not as bad as people always make me out to be. But I need something in return. One hour, for a price. So, Jim, just what -can you give me that is worth one hour of time?"

Jim thought feverishly. What could he offer? He only needed that one hour. One hour and all cancer in the world would be a thing of the past. A cure for any cancer, no matter which one, would be a simple two dollar pill. One hour. He needed one hour. But he knew that he had nothing he could offer. He knew that she would not be interested in anything material. All she was interested in was... An idea came to him.

"A colleague of mine. She has a habit of saying..." He was smart enough to stop himself before actually saying it. "Say something you can use. Four doors down. She is working on some wormhole theory. It will never work, but the board financed her research because it looks good on the books and isn't that expensive."

She laughed again. "Oh Jim, I knew I liked you for a reason. There truly is some ugly bastard deep down in that upright front of yours after all."

"She will go to you eventually anyway," Jim defended. "Just that now you can get her earlier. She, she is, she does, it's unnatural."

She looked at him for a moment before chuckling. "Oh Jim, if you religious fanatics only knew how wrong you are. The Big Man doesn't care one bit about stuff like that. That won't bring her to me, believe me. So I'm happy to get a chance at her. Now, Jimmy boy. You have fifty-nine minutes left. Get typing. Excuse me while I go check out the unnatural one in the mean time."

She hopped off the table and sauntered out of the room. 'Silly man,' she thought while walking. 'They perverted that book so much over the history of its rewrites. If they only knew just exactly how close Maria was to Jez... just why Jez offered shelter to Maria, or that Maria spent the rest of her life in Jez's home.' But then, that part had also conveniently been left out of the book somewhere along the line.

~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~~

Elizabeth McGowan hit the table in frustration. She was so damn close, she knew it. Now if she also knew the answer everything would be perfect. She stalked back to the whiteboard that spanned the with of the room and that was filled with intricate formulas, most of which she had invented.

Elizabeth McGowan was a natural platinum blonde who's hair reached just passed her shoulders. Blue eyes, that sometimes seemed green with the right clothing, were set in a beautiful, but for some just a little too strong face. Her broad and stubborn jaw only accented that. She was beautiful, yes, but her stubborn temper had pushed many a person away. Thirty-nine years old, she had an ample 36-D chest. A fact that she had loved when she was twenty, but not so much when gravity had come knocking and had reminded her that what was big, was more inclined to sag. Oh, she still liked her breasts just fine, and in fact, she still had a beautiful body, but there was no denying the fact that once her nipples has stood proud on top of those delicious globes, but in the last few years they had been starting to point slightly to the ground instead.

She always dressed conservative, and that day was no exception. White kaki pants and a light blue shirt hid her body, just the way she liked it. Sensible flat bottom shoes rounded off the overall boring image. Despite being six feet tall, and therefore taller than the average woman, she was the kind of person that could easily be lost on a busy street. Mostly because that was how she preferred it.

But there was one thing that set her apart from most other women, most other people for that matter. She was brilliant. The word was often overused, but not with her. Her IQ was so high that it had always been off the scale the few times she had been tested for certain jobs. She could calculate the Pi value of any number given, down to 50 decimal places within five minutes. Without any aid other than pen, paper, and her brain. In fact, she never used computers for calculations, merely to keep track of notes. As she had once told a colleague with a shrug; computers were too slow.

Well, she wasn't really faster than a computer, but she was faster as someone that had to enter data into a computer, then hit enter, and then had to read the result.

She had even been to the Whitehouse a couple of times. Though not part of the Whitehouse staff, she was a trusted advisor of the President on scientific matters. She had been the one to assure him that building the world's biggest particle collider in Texas was truly worth the half trillion dollars it would cost. In short, she was the nerd with the world's highest security clearance.

But none of that helped her in her current frustration. She moved to an unused corner of the whiteboard and started to write again. She never noticed the beautiful stranger that opened the door, and then casually leaned against the doorframe instead of fully entering.

Elizabeth growled in frustration and threw the whiteboard marker against the defenseless board. "Damn it all! I know it's possible! I would give my freaking soul to know the solution to this."

"Careful pretty lady," The stranger suddenly said, making Elizabeth swirl to face her.

"What?"

The stranger pushed away from the doorframe and entered, casually walking through the room until she was only a few feet away from the blonde. "I said careful pretty lady. You really should not go offering your soul for a solution to your problem. Rumor has it that exclamations like that are all the Devil needs as a contract. Surely such a beauty like you wouldn't want to go to Hell, would you?"

The blonde blushed, wondering how the most gorgeous woman she had ever seen could possibly call her beautiful. "I, um, hehe, well, um, frankly, this is so important that I would willingly offer my soul for the answer. You have no idea how important this is."

The vision of perfection looked at the whiteboard and shrugged. "Looks like gibberish to me. If you say it's important I just have to take your word for it."

Elisabeth smiled. "Don't worry, nobody in this world would understand this now. But, um can I help you? Are you looking for someone?"

"I was. And then I found you. Would you like me to be your good luck charm?"

"What?!"

The Latina came closer, well into Elizabeth's personal space. "Sometimes people need someone in their corner that brings them good luck. Someone that is willing to spent time to make the person forget about the problem. So that that person can look at the problem with fresh eyes the next day."

The Latina pouted, in an extremely sexy way. "I broke up with my girlfriend last week. She didn't need me anymore. I need someone else to make my whole world. Would you like to be that person, pretty lady? You wouldn't be sorry. I would rock your world."

"What?!" Elizabeth almost shouted. "Are you insane? Did, did you escape from some institution? No wait, I get it. Did Gwen put you up to this? She told me that she would hire me a call girl one of these days so that I finally would get laid."

The vision of perfection came closer yet and reached out, playing with Elizabeth's top shirt button. "For such a smart person you can be a real moron, you know? If I was someone that could be hurt by words, I would walk out right now. Come on, Liz. I'm your win in the lottery. Are you really going to walk away from the best thing that ever happened to you, simply because I skipped a few steps? If you really want, you can take me out to dinner and I can pretend to start to like you over time. Would you like that better?"

Elizabeth took a step back and said triumphantly, "Ha! Someone must have put you up to this. I never told you my name, so how can you know my nickname of 'Liz'?"

The Latina let a finger trail seductively down the swell of Elizabeth's breasts until she reached a nametag there. "Lucky guess, 'Liz' Elizabeth McGowan. Come on, this is the last time. A yes and I'll make you the luckiest woman in the world. A no and you will curse yourself for the rest of your life for letting this opportunity slip."

Suddenly an idea came to Liz. "Tell you what, you said you would be my good luck charm. If you let me get the solution to that there, I'll take you up on your offer."

The sexy pout came back. "Oh, come now, Liz. I just said that. I have no idea what these wiggly lines mean. How could I help you with that?"

Being daring, the Latina came closer once more. But this time she didn't stop. Instead she molded her body against the taller blonde and kissed her.

At first Liz tried to move back, but within moments she lost herself in the kiss. She couldn't help but moan. The woman had to be the best kisser in the world because Liz soon lost her mind. Or more to the point, all other things occupying her mind ebbed away. Soon only those lips and that talented tongue were of importance to her.

"Oh my," Liz could only say once the gorgeous stranger took pity on her and backed away.

"Now, do you really want me to walk out of your life?" The vision of perfection asked seductively.

Giving in to this stranger that surely must have escaped out of the loony bin, Elizabeth said, "Well, maybe I could be persuaded to a dinner for another kiss."

The kiss came and was, if even possible, even better than the first one. "Come on pretty lady. I hear a steak calling my name."

With a shake of her head, Liz turned so that she could walk to her desk and take her purse out of the draw. She looked at the whiteboard with a glance like she had done so often before. She stilled. Suddenly it all made sense to her. She gasped. She knew the answer.

Without saying a word she walked to the whiteboard to finish the scribbling.

"Hey, our dinner," The perfect voice behind her reminded.

Liz ignored it. She had to. She had to write that down now that she knew it. Finally she stopped and looked with her mouth hanging slightly open.

"Did you just finish it?" The Latina asked.

"Oh, damn it. My manners. Sorry for ignoring you. I just had to write that down before loosing it again. Yes. Yes, I did it. Of course, this is just a first step. But this is the foundation. Now I can calculate the rest."

"And what are you actually working on, pretty lady?"

Liz smiled tolerantly at the nickname she already started to love to hear. "I'm working on creating stable wormholes. I think it's possible to create stable wormholes that will make it possible for us to travel to different planets."

"You want to tell me that this will make it possible for us to travel to Mars?" The Latina asked in disbelief. "And you think 'I' am crazy?"

Liz chuckled. "I guess you have a point. For others this does sound like fiction. So who am I to say that you are weird just because you simply go for what you want? By the way, Mars would be a good first step. But I'm talking other solar systems. And once there, new machines can be built there and the same distance can be reached from there. With a little hopping to the left and right to systems that are in reach, we could eventually reach the other side of our galaxy in twenty years or so."

"Alright, now I'm leaving. You are nuts pretty lady."

Liz laughed and reached out to stop the Latina. "Hey, you promised to be my good luck charm. Let me buy you that dinner, since you definitely brought me good luck now."

The Latina smiled seductively. "That is right. You did offer your soul for the answer to that problem there. Well, pretty lady, I guess that your soul is mine now. Don't worry; I'll take good care of it."

Liz shook her head amused. "Well, a deal is a deal. Tell you what. I now have a chance to get Humans off Earth, so now I give your crazy ass a chance as well. As long as you treat me right my soul is all yours."

"Oh, no, pretty lady. You got that wrong," The Latina disagreed. "Your soul is already mine. There is no dealing there. It's up to me to decide what I do with it. So maybe you should be really nice to me so that I'll be really nice to your soul."

Liz merely laughed as she daringly put her arm around the vision of perfection, and steered her onto the corridor and out to the front door.

Click, click, click, click.

"See, that is why I wear no heels here."

The Latina smiled. "I like the sound. As you already found out, I'm weird. You will find out that you only scratched the surface."

Liz merely looked at her.

"I'll tell you over dinner. Best if you knew up front. But just know that I learned long ago that I could either fight it and go insane, or accept it and shrug my shoulders and just go with it. But know one thing, pretty lady, as strange as I am, you don't have to fear me."

Liz actually faltered in her walk to the door.

"Come on, pretty lady. Just how many perfectly normal people exist that make their partner's life into a living Hell? At least I know that I'm weird and do my best to use that to make my partner's life fun."

Liz and the Latina had just left the building so Liz could not hear the sound that rang through the empty corridor of the research center.

Click, click, click, click.

~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~~

"Alright, let me start with the shocker, the Latina said after a sip of her red wine. "My parents are Devil worshipers. So that's why I'll never introduce you to them."

Both of Liz's eyebrows crept closer to her hairline.

"You can see it in my name. My last name is Pain."

"As in hurt," Liz clarified.

"As in causing it," The Latina corrected. "Now, I just told you that my parents are Devil worshipers. So, now you guess what my first name is."

"Um, demon?" Liz guessed.

"Nope." The Latina grinned. "Though I can be a true demon in bed you know? No. Believe it or not, my first name is Lucia."

"As in," Liz started in understanding.

"As in a female version of the name Lucifer."

"Oh boy." Suddenly Liz started to wonder. "Um."

"I was waiting for you to think of that."

"What do you mean?" Liz asked.

"It's clearly showing on your face, pretty lady. Suddenly you wonder. A person who's last name is Pain, who's parents were Devil worshipers. She even embraces the fact that she is a little weird. You are wondering what the Hell I would do to you if I get you into bed."

"Well, yes," Liz shamefully admitted.

"Don't worry pretty lady. Yes, I admit, I can enjoy things that I already know now that you would never want to do. But pretty lady, know one thing. I get my pleasure from making my partner feel good. Whether that is if I'm pleasing her, or if she is pleasing me. I want you to do things to me because 'you' want to do them. Because 'you' can't way to do that to me. I promise you, I will never make you feel uncomfortable. I promise you, I'll be the best thing that ever happened to you. Now, since I promised you that you don't have to worry about that, how about we start a few steps before that?"

"Alright," Liz said hesitantly.

"What's your favorite food?" Lucia glanced at the menu. "We still have to order you know?"

Liz had the decency to blush. "Alright, let's start with eating first."

"Well, let's start with food first," Lucia corrected with a sexy grin. "And if we are lucky we can then end the nigh with some eating. Because make no mistake, I really, really want to eat you tonight pretty lady."

Liz merely blushed so deep red that the waiter asked her is she was alright when he came to take their orders.

~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~~

Two years later.

Liz was so nervous that her hands were shaking slightly. But she stubbornly forged ahead. There were about fifty people in the room, but she knew that the only real important ones were sitting at the front table. Four uniforms with rows of stars on their shoulders, and one person who was surprisingly casually dressed.

"I don't understand that. Laymen's terms, Doctor," The casually dressed man reminded.

"Of course, I apologize mister President." She tried to simplify her speech. She wondered how though. How could she explain it and still convey the importance. She glanced to the side of the room, where her lover was sitting and looking at her in full confidence. Her lover. An idea came to Liz. She couldn't count the times where her lover had told her, 'and now tell me again, but in a way that I understand it.'

Liz suddenly stopped and turned to face the room. "Alright, let me start this anew."

She heard some groans. "I assure you that this time you will understand it."

They did.

An hour later the president asked the question that was on everyone's mind, but that nobody wanted to be the first to ask. "How much?"

Liz hesitated. Then she said nervously, "Mister President, I estimate the total costs to come down to one trillion dollars."

A mumble filled the room. Liz cringed before adding the other part. "But I think we all know that it's rare for early budget proposals to make it. Just what was the original budged for the Joint Strike Fighter? And what was the end price tag? So be prepared for four or even five trillion."

She had lost the room, she knew it. Some of them were even getting up already.

"Hey, haven't you morons been listening, or what?"

Suddenly the room was quiet, and despite the words, Liz had to smile. That was her Lucia, her savior.

The Latina joined her lover and addressed the room like she owned it. "Don't go pretending that it's too much of a price to pay. My Honey is offering you a freaking way to get to other worlds. Just how the Hell much is a new planet worth to you assholes? Fuck a planet, she is offering you a way to the entire Galaxy. Billions of livable planets. That comes down to less than a fucking cent for a planet. Every damn person on this damn world could have a whole damn collection of planets for themselves. So piss off with your fake outrage and give my Honey the funding she needs. Hell, you don't even have to pay all of it yet. The first tests cost less than a hundred million. By that time, for a hundred million, you will know for sure if it can be done or not. So step the fuck up to the plate before my Honey says screw you and ask some rich Arab in Qatar to pay her research and you have to pay that guy ten times as much just to buy a fucking moon off him."

There was a loaded silence in the room after that.

"Um, Honey, remember what I told you before, about playing nice if you wanted to join me in the presentation?" Liz finally asked.

"Sorry hon, they pissed me off." Lucia glanced back at the room before adding. "They know damn well that you are on to something. But they want you to get the money somewhere else before they then step in and steal it al from you under the name of national security. So I say, Honey, tell them to go screw themselves. Let's hop on a plane tomorrow and let's go find some people that are willing to fund you."

Finally the President of the United States cleared his throat before merely asking, "Do you take checks?"

~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~~

Three years later.

Shouts went up from pretty much everyone in the room. "Miss McGowan," "Miss McGowan," "Miss," "Elizabeth," "Miss."

Liz pointed blindly at one of the reporters.

"Thank you. Miss McGowan, I think it's safe to say that you are now the most famous scientist in the world, that ever lived even. You proved Einstein wrong, Newton is made to look like an amateur. You opened the Universe to Mankind. How are you going to top that? What is next?"

Liz thought about that for a moment.

"You know, I hear that a lot. I don't think it's fair. Just because their theories have been proven wrong, doesn't mean that in general they were wrong. Just because I proved that it is possible to travel faster than the speed of light, doesn't mean that Einstein is wrong and didn't know what he was doing. You have to keep the rest in mind. Those people were risk takers. Just like me they risked their entire career on an idea. When everyone was telling them that they were crazy, they knew that there was another way. I respect those people, and I wouldn't be here talking to you today if they had not dedicated their life to their career. Take Einstein. Half of my work is based on his. For me to believe that a theory is wrong, that theory first has to exist. Just look at it this way. I like to drink diet coke. Would they have ever been able to invent that, if not first some other people invented artificial sweeteners? One invention builds on another. The same with scientific theories. No matter if right or wrong. They give a base to work with. Without Newton or Einstein I would not be standing here today."

Having stood up for her personal heroes, Liz answered the other part of the question. "As for what's next? Nothing. After the storm of interviews this will bring, I am retiring. I worked on this for five years. My partner stood by me for that entire time, always supporting me when I spent yet another all-nighter in front of a whiteboard. Ladies and gentlemen. This is the pinnacle of my professional life. Nothing I can come up with can top this. No. I had enough. I did my thing for Humanity. Now it's time for others to build on my work. Now that I made it possible it is easy to build on that. And frankly, that is what's needed. I'm focused on this. I'm set in my way. I'm like Einstein that refuses to belief that faster than light travel is possible. Now we need another Elizabeth McGowan to come in with fresh eyes and proof just what an amateurship job I did."

"You actually want people to proof you wrong?" The reporter asked to clarify.

"Well, people have already traveled to other worlds, so proving me wrong is pretty much impossible. But I have discovered certain rules of physics that I think are impossible to break."

She smiled. "Just like Einstein thought that it was impossible to travel faster than light. So I want people to come in and proof me wrong. I cannot wait for the day where I see someone travel to another world in a vehicle that is larger than fifty yards. As you know, according to my calculations that's impossible because the size will rip the ship apart because it's too much time between the beginning and the end of the ship entering the event horizon. I truly cannot wait to see some carrier type spaceship to be build and travel through an event horizon. I say it's impossible, but I want to see it. I want to be proven wrong."

"You are truly going to retire?" Another reporter asked, not able to believe it.

"Sir, I am on top of my game. I just made a big bang. I rather stop my career with a big bang than slowly drift off into mediocre new developments."

She looked him straight in the eyes. Besides, I spent about sixteen hours a day on this for five years. No vacation, not a single day off. I worked seven days per week. My most wonderful Lucia stood by me. She fed me when I wasn't taking care of myself. She held me when I cried because another theory ended in a dead end. Don't you think she now deserves all of my free time? Don't you think she deserves to finally take me to a carnival for the first time since we fell in love? No ladies and gentlemen. You will see me on TV. I will do the interviews, I will do the speeches at seminars. I will inspire new talent."

She smiled again. "You will see me accepting my third Nobel price for science tomorrow. But I swear, I will never again work on a new scientific theory. As of today, consider me retired. And now excuse me. My partner wants to show me the pleasure of simply watching the stars tonight."

~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm sorry baby. This evening was incredible. I'm sorry for never giving you the time you deserve. I don't know how you were able to stick with the selfish bitch that I am."

"You are not selfish," Lucia disagreed. "You would have been selfish if you had been working for yourself. You didn't. You worked for Humanity. You opened up the Universe for them, but you never left the planet yourself. You never left America for that matter."

"I will now," Liz said with a smile. "As you know, I have a shoebox full of invitations for speeches from Universities and whatnot around the world. You were right, you know? You truly are the best thing that ever happened to me. I don't think I could have done this without you, babe. You inspired me. You took my mind off it when I needed some fresh perspective. You,"

"I actually did a lot more than that," Lucia interrupted. She stood up and walked to the railing of the penthouse apartment they had been living in for the last couple of years. She looked down to the road that was fifteen floors below.

"Lucia, you know I don't like it if you are so close to the railing," Liz reminded as she came closer as well. "And what do you mean with you did a lot more?"

"Hon, I actually gave you half of your ideas. Oh, you did the big stuff, but those small ideas that came to you in dreams? That made it possible to go that one step further? Those were all mine. Well, eventually you would have thought of them yourself, but that would have taken about fifty years. You did not have that much time."

Lucia held out her hand and Liz took it in confusion.

"Look at me, look in my eyes," Lucia urged.

Liz did so and trusted her lover as they started to walk. They had played this game many times before. It was in fact one of the ways that Lucia was able to let Liz forget about her work for a moment. Lucia would guide them, and Liz would only look into her lover's eyes, letting all else drop away from her. The first couple of times she had been hesitant, but soon she had come to trust her lover completely because her lover had never, not even once, let her walk into anything.

As they walked, Lucia explained. "I'm sorry hon, but you won't be going to those places. You also won't be accepting that third Nobel price tomorrow. Well, they will give it to you postmortem."

"What, what are you talking about?"

"Hon, how often have I told you that your soul belongs to me?"

"It does," Liz assured right away. "I love you Lucia, and if you don't want to travel then we won't, but,"

"No hon," Lucia interrupted. "Remember, back when we met. Remember what I told you. You offered your soul for that answer, and I warned you that the Devil might come to take you up on that offer."

Liz frowned, thinking back to that time, and as she did so they kept walking.

"You deliberately made the offer again," Lucia continued. "Hon, the Devil took your offer."

"I thought your parents were Devil worshipers, but not you," Liz said confused. "Please don't tell me that you worship the Devil after all."

"Oh, I don't worship the Devil," Lucia assured. "I'm not into worshiping myself. Hon, what you obviously didn't know back then, and also don't know today, is that you have a brain tumor. You were supposed to die three years ago. Long before you could finish your work. But you had ideas, good ideas. The Big Man and I agreed that maybe it would be a good thing if you lived a little longer. And since you already offered your soul to me it was easy for me to make that happen."

Suddenly Liz laughed. "Oh Honey. You had me going for a moment. Let me guess, the Big Man is God, and you are the Devil yourself."

"I'm afraid so hon."

Liz laughed again and quickly kissed her lover. "You are really too much baby."

Lucia sighed. "Liz, look down."

Liz did so with a smile. Only to have her heart stop beating for a moment when she realized that they were hanging in thin air. She looked back at Lucia who shrugged.

"I really do like Lucia better than Lucifer. Don't worry hon, I promise you that you won't feel a thing."

"What do," but before Liz could ask more, Lucia let go of Liz's hand and the blonde suddenly started to fall. A scream tore itself from her lungs.

"AAAaaaaaahhhhhhh....

~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~~

"...hhhhhaaaaa, umpf."

The last 'umpf' was said when Liz suddenly hit a soft bed with enough force to knock the air out of her lungs.

She looked around in great confusion. A bed? A large bedroom that she had never seen before in her life? Lucia standing by the door in a leather cat-suit?

She quickly scrambled out of bed. "What the Hell?"

"Yep, that's right. And on the first guess too," Lucia said as she slowly sauntered closer in her normal and sexy way. "Welcome to my world love."

"No, no. This can't be real. I'm dreaming."

"I'm afraid not hon," Lucia assured as she came closer. Seeing Liz trying to back away from her, Lucia pouted in her sexy way. "Oh, come now hon, there is no need for that. You never feared me in the last five years. Don't start now."

"You... you, you are really the Devil? As in 'the' Devil? As in the big evil, the ruler of Hell, the fallen Angel, the,"

"Yep, that would be me. Lucifer, the fallen Angel. Though you will soon find out that most of that is not true." Lucia put her arm around Liz. "Walk with me."

As the Latina started to explain they started to walk towards one of the walls. And just when Liz thought that they would walk straight into it, the wall disappeared to reveal a huge room on the other side. It had all the traits of a living room. Places to sit, a table, even a home entertainment set sat against one of the walls. The small difference with most other living rooms was the not so small matter of huge space. It was often said in joke that a room was so big that one can play baseball in it. In this room one actually could. It literally was big enough to hold a baseball field; outfield and all.

"You see," Lucia explained. "Pretty much all that you find in the Big Book has been changed and twisted so much over the centuries that only the core of it still has some truth. A side effect of it being rewritten time and again by stuffy old dudes that thought that their, at then, present day belief of faith was the right one. Hell, remember just last month we watched that program on Discovery about how in the middle ages the church simply removed huge chunks out of the Big Book that they didn't like at that time."

Lucia steered them to one of the side walls, and walking through that one brought them into a beautiful garden full of deliciously smelling flowers.

"You see, hon," Lucia continued to explain, "I am called the fallen Angel, but I never did fall. The Big Guy actually offered me this position, and I actually still work for him. One day he came to me and said, 'Lucifer, I think I'm onto a good thing here, but I have a problem. There are a lot of these people that I don't really want in my realm. They did things I don't approve of, so the last thing I want to do is reward them by letting them spent the rest of eternity with me'."

Seeing the look of disbelief on Liz's face, Lucia persisted, "Honestly. You can ask him next week yourself. In five days it's Sunday. I always go to see him for a working dinner then. I think he would love it if I brought my bride along. Anyway. So he told me, 'Lucifer, you are my best servant, but I know that you also have completely no morals or restrictions. You simply do good because you are working for me and it's your job. I'm thinking of setting up this other realm. A place where people go that don't deserve to be here with me. Would you want to rule it? It will be a lot of power, and frankly I only trust you enough to get that job."

"God offered you Hell, as a job?" Liz said in disbelief. The garden had changed, she noticed. Now it was a beautiful meadow with fruit trees dotted through it.

"Yep," Lucia assured. "And from what I said to that, that's where all the fallen angle stuff comes from. I told him, 'Sure I take the job, boss. I much rather rule in Hell than serve in heaven'. The Big Man and I have worked together ever since. I know. When I tell this fact to new, special, arrivals that deserve my personal attention, they never believe it. But just look at the Big Book. Just how many people did the Big Man kill off in that? The flooding of the world comes to mind here. Do you really think that he would do that if all the people he killed would come knocking on his door? Or do you think he would have done that if I was truly his hated enemy? Do you think he would have sent me millions of minions to fight him in the battle between good and evil? He is not a moron you know? No, he created Hell himself, and he put the one person in charge of it that he could trust with the power; me. He knows that I still see him as my boss, just like everyone else in heaven knows that even in heaven they better not mess with me because the Big Man always has my back."

"But, but you spent the last five years with me. You left Hell for what it was to be with me?"

Lucia chuckled softly. "Doesn't that sound good? I left Hell to be with you. But, since you will find out soon enough anyway, sorry hon, but no. You see, I'm the real Devil. I'm not what you see on TV. I'm not one of those demons that you see on Buffy. I'm not like that wannabe God they had on that show that could only be in one place at a time. Babe, I can be in many places at once."

Suddenly a second Lucia was walking on Liz's other side.

"Many, many places." A third Lucia was suddenly walking in front of them.

"Oh, I do have a sexy ass, if I say so myself." Lucia said before she continued, and with every 'many' she said, a new Lucia popped into existence. "Many places, hon. Many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many places."

The army of Lucias in front of Liz started to walk into each other and whenever they touched they simply melted together until finally only thee versions were left. The one that Liz had been talking with from the beginning, one on her other side, and the one in front. Suddenly the one she had been talking with all the time and the one on the other side disappeared and it was the one that had been in front of Liz that came closer and continued the conversation. This made it very clear to Liz that there truly was no difference between a Lucia and a Lucia.

"And all of those me's are truly me. No copies; me. I know what every one of me said, I know what every one of me does. I am me, I'm just in a lot of places at once. Oh, you will love this, hon. Guess how many of me there are."

"A hundred," Liz said, just throwing out a number. In truth she was still trying to get her mind into line with the fact that she was now strolling along with 'the' Devil, who kept calling her hon, just like the love of her life had done for the last five years.

Lucia laughed. "Such narrow-mindedness from such an open-minded person like you? How about almost nine hundred... thousand... billion versions of me? You see hon. The Big Man did start out around here. He did create the Universe, and at one point he decided that he might as well live in the place he created. He entered the Universe at the place where Earth is now, though back then Earth didn't exist yet. One day he was bored and decided to create Earth. He liked his creation so he made Earth kinda his home, so to speak. But heaven isn't located there, nor is my Hell. On top of that, we expanded. We are now on millions of planets in the galaxy. We are worshiped and feared on planets that, thanks to you hon, Humans will only visit in hundreds of years."

'Thanks to me?' Liz thought.

"Well, thanks to you it is that Humans will even visit them at all," Lucia explained.

"You are reading my mind," Liz said amazed as she pulled away from the embrace she had been in.

"Oh, hon, don't be like that. I have always been reading your mind. How the Hell do you think I knew that you were hungry when I forced you to eat?"

"But you never showed it, so don't start now."

"Ooooh, I love bossy babes."

Liz's eyes when wide when she realized that she had indeed just told the Devil to do something.

Lucia laughed. "Come on babe, you are my bride. You should have the proverbial balls to stand up to me and tell me to go fuck myself."

"You keep saying that, that I'm your bride..." Liz let her words trail off.

"You are. Sorry hon, you truly did give your soul to me back then. But even back then I realized that your soul was a special one. I promised you that I would take good care of your soul, and I will. You make me feel special, hon. Do you know just how rare it is to come across someone that can make the Devil feel special? I'll make you my Queen, my Consort, my bride. You will rule over Hell with me."

Liz stopped walking and looked at Lucia in disbelief. "I'm not into the pain thing, as you know. How could I ever rule over Hell?"

Lucia once more put an arm around her bride and prompted Liz to start walking again. "That too is so distorted as it can come. Not all regions of Hell are bad you know? Oh, I do have some parts that are like people seem to think that Hell is like. The eternal flames that treat condemned souls to an eternity of being burned... well, not alive, but being burned in pain. There truly are quite some people that deserve that, you know? But those are the parts you will never see hon. Those are the parts I'll take care of. But not all is as black or white as that. You heard of the seven levels of hell?"

"You know, you can read my mind."

Lucia sighed. "Come now hon. Play along. You told me not to read your mind. Well, if you really want to know, I don't read minds; I simply know. I know all you ever experienced, all every person in hell has ever experienced. But wouldn't that make for a dull conversation? So I can ignore stuff. Kinda like not looking up the answer in a book even though you know it's there. I can do the normal conversation thing with you, hon. I have been doing it for five years now."

Liz shook her head, but she figured that if in Hell, better not piss off the Devil.

"I like being pissed sometimes," Lucia pointed out.

Liz merely looked at her.

Lucia gave her a seductive grin. "Alright, as of now we interact like we did the last years. Just ignore the fact that if I want to I can also know silly things like what the first word was that you ever spoke, and to who you said it, and what that person's reaction was, and what she, um, I mean that person, was thinking and,"

"I heard of the seven circles of Hell," Liz interrupted.

Lucia nodded her head, more than willing to go on with her bride like she had in the years before. "Well, there are a lot more. I am always adding levels when I come across things that I think are just a little too bad for 'this' level, but not bad enough for 'that' level. In regards to that, Hell is kinda like walking into a desert. You aren't just suddenly there, it goes slowly. Plants change, dirt turns slowly into sand. It's the same thing with Hell. The levels slowly flow into each other. If a person that is not bonded to one specific level... about one third of my tenants by the way... walks in a certain direction, Hell will get better or worse. They are allowed to do that because that way they can find the level they want to live at and settle there. Believe me, and no I didn't look, but I know you enough that you wonder, no, they won't all go to the best part. Some of them actually prefer an a little more shady and more dangerous part. It makes life in Hell more fun. Others are bonded to a certain level because they deserve that for what they did, and they will never be able to leave it no matter how much they want."

"So, how many levels are there?" Liz wondered.

"Almost seventy... thousand."

"Seventy-thousand?" Liz repeated in disbelief.

"Yep," Lucia assured. "About five thousand of those are levels so bad that I will never ever let you enter them, my love. Just seeing it would scar your beautiful soul. Then there are another five thousand or so that I'll only let you visit if I'm with you. Then there another ten thousand that I can assure you that you don't really want to see, but you will be able to stomach it if you were to go there nevertheless. But hon, that leaves about fifty-thousand levels that are bearable to a certain degree. And the first couple thousand or so really aren't that different then life on Earth is. In fact, especially if the first couple of thousand levels, life is often a lot better than the life on Earth. What is better? A good life in Hell, or a terrible life on the streets begging for food?"

Lucia steered them in another direction, and Liz could see people at the edge of the field, in the direction they were heading.

"You see," Lucia continued to explain. "There are a lot of people that are in Hell for one specific thing. Other than that they are great people. Liz, you never had real friends, only people to work with. Some of who were more open with you than others, like Gwen, but they still weren't real friends. You will make a lot of friends here."

Lucia held out a hand and one of the people at the edge of the field came closer as if called. Once the young woman had reached them she bowed to Lucia.

"My Lord."

"Lord is my working title here," Lucia explained. "I keep that because it fits to me being a man and me being a woman. Anyway. This here is Abby. She will become your best friend, right after me being your best, best friend of course."

Liz looked at the woman that was now suddenly staring ahead like a person who's mind had just vacated the building.

Lucia waved a dismissive hand. "Don't worry about her, she is fine. I just didn't want her to hear me tell you that you two will become great friends. In fact, you will also forget that part once you feel comfortable being here. I just told you this now to assure you that your life here won't be bad hon. And she is a good example of someone that deserves to live in the first level of hell. You see Abby is a wonderful person. A great friend, a caring friend. Someone that would have given her life to safe others, when she was still alive of course. She is someone that would be welcomed into heaven with open arms, if not for one little thing."

"You already know that I'll stay here, and that she will be my friend?" Liz said in disbelief.

"Hon, I told you, your soul is mine. You will never leave Hell because you gave your soul to the Devil. Well, not counting us leaving Hell together so that you can do some sightseeing in places you can't even imagine now. But other than that, even if you didn't want to stay with me, and I know you will want to stay once I convinced you, but even if, you would never leave Hell. You would just move to a different level. Now, as for Abby here. One day something bad happened to her. She was walking through a park at night. A street gang grabbed her and raped her, all twenty of them."

Liz looked at the innocent and shy looking Abby in shock. "And because of that she is hear? That can't be right."

"No. She is here because the gang made the mistake of letting her live. Oh, they thought she was dead, but they didn't check well enough. See, at that point Abby was certain of a place in heaven, simply because of the suffering she had to live through. But then she made the mistake. She took shooting lessons, she learned how to handle a gun so that she could defend herself. Again, so far, fine. But one night she had the gun and decided that it could be used for revenge as well. She went back to that park and killed nineteen of them. The last one was quicker on the trigger than she, and that's why she is here. Not because she killed them. Even that can be accepted by the Big Man with some tweaking. No, she is here because she won't repent for her sins. They hurt her, yes. But she sinned by killing. If she would repent for that, she could go to heaven, but she doesn't. She is proud of what she did. So she is here. And as I said, she will be your best friend. She is a great friend to have, just as long as you don't try to rape her; which we both know you could never do anyway. So, this otherwise sweet and gentle good soul is a first level of Hell resident."

Liz looked back at Abby once more. She wondered. Not saying a word she glanced back at Lucia, who answered the obvious question that she didn't need her powers for to know.

"Oh yes, they are here too." The grin that accompanied that statement was far from the sexy one Lucia normally gave. "I even showed Abby their fate once in a weak moment. As I already pointed out, she can go to heaven if she only repents. But even seeing their suffering didn't make her repent for being glad of killing them."

They started walking again. Liz saw buildings down the road, a small town she guessed. "I can't belief that Hell can be better to live in than on Earth."

"Why not?" Lucia asked reasonably. "Come on hon. Why condemn a person to a eternity of pain and torture only because they made one little mistake? Just how fair is that?"

Liz snorted. "The Devil talking about fair."

"Yeah, the Pope would get a heart attack," Lucia grinned, and this time it was once more the trademark sexy grin that had made Liz's knees go weak countless times.

The word 'torture' had reminded Liz of something, of two things actually. "Um,"

"Well, I promised that I wouldn't do it, but,"

"Yes, please," Liz agreed, glad that she didn't have to ask.

"To answer your first question. Yes, I love pain, but I love to cause it, not to feel. Wars, agonizing diseases, Mmhmm, so good. But that's not what I want from you hon. I didn't want that in the last five years, and I don't want that in the future. You see, what I want is to have someone to just be with. The fallen Angel? Maybe, but doesn't that right there still have the word Angel in there? I'm evil hon. I won't deny that. I can do things to people that no Human has ever done to another, and I will get off on it. I am the reason of billions of deaths. But hon, I still am a being with feelings. I too long to hold someone. I too want someone in my life that makes me feel... good. I have a job that gives me my fill of relishing in causing pain, I don't need that at home from a lover as well. What I need is for someone to look at me and tell me, 'I love you.' Just like you have been doing already. I am worshiped by a lot of people. People kneel for me. People revere me. But, they all do that for the Devil. Hon, I want, I need. I so long for someone to love Lucia. Nothing more, nothing less. Simply love me."

Liz felt those words travel straight to her heart.

"To answer your second question," Lucia continued. "No, you are not my first bride. Hon, I have been around for longer than Humans even exist. As an Angel I didn't need sex because angels are into enlightenment. They think it's way better than sex. Well, I have been there, done that, and I for one love sex more. I want to get laid. Yes, I had people in my life. And yes, I did it all. I did sexual things you can't even imagine."

Suddenly Lucia stopped Liz and turned her until they were facing each other. "Hon, I may be the Devil and have this name of being an evil not to be trusted bastard. But please believe me when I say that none of them ever made me feel what you made me feel in the last years. At best they made me feel good, sated, spent, worn out, satisfied."

Liz closed her eyes in hurt, only to open them with the softly spoken words that came next from the Devil's lips. "But in my entire existence only one person ever made me feel loved. I love you Liz. You are the first person ever that not only found, but even captured, the Devil's heart."

"What, what happened to the others?"

Lucia smirked. "My bed warmers?" They started walking again. "Well, just like you they were in Hell for a reason. That's part of the deal with the Big Guy. People often think that I made them do things. That's not true. Oh, I often persuade them to do something alright, but I never actually make them do it. If someone does something evil, then it's in them. I merely bring it out. They would never have made it into Heaven anyway, simply because they wanted 'this' or were longing to do 'that'. So, when I felt that it was time to move on from my bed warmers I sent them to the level of hell that they were supposed to live in anyway."

"Why are you always portrayed as a man?" Liz suddenly asked.

Lucia chuckled. "Liz, remember what I told you about stuffy guys rewriting the Big Book? Do you really think they would show this big and strong evil that is the balance to the Big Guy's goodness as a woman? No, it has to be this big ugly guy with horns and a tail."

Lucia laughed. "That shows you that they never think. They say that I and my minions can take on any form we want... and we want to look butt ugly?"

"That explains why you look like perfection come to life," Liz said in understanding.

"Guilty as charged," Lucia agreed. "Though to be fair, I'm not really a man or a woman. Angels are just beings of light, basically. That's why they don't do sex. Well, after all, I am also an Angel. Just that I found the pleasures of the Human flesh... well, I should really say Humanoid flesh. Some of my bed warmers weren't from Earth you know? I can be what I want. And about one quarters of me, meaning the me's in the Universe, are men. I have to understand what drives them, you know? But on a personal level I actually prefer to be a hot babe. This look? That's my look of this century. I prefer to look different every century or so, but I do prefer to be a woman."

They had reached the small village and it reminded Liz a lot of the villages one saw on TV if they wanted to show a pre-industrial civilization. Liz commented on it.

"I insist on a society where everyone truly works. Blacksmith create, farmers farm, bards go around and entertain. I do allow some leniencies. Books are created by presses and everyone is allowed to read. So they do have written entertainment at night. I allow running water and an in-house toilet with flushing water. Stuff like that. A balance between luxuries. A balance between the 'work for a living' life on one side, and them having so much luxury that people turn into couch-potatoes on the other side. I tried other ways, but I have found that this works best. Considering that these people are here for eternity, the drive for simply making money is gone. Instead they want to get satisfaction from having a good days work in which they accomplished something."

"I assume that the way of living changes in other levels of Hell?" Liz wondered.

"Oh yeah," Lucia said in a drawn-out and extremely sexy way. Liz very wisely decided not to ask further.

Suddenly Lucia leaned closer and whispered seductively. "Of course, in these lighter levels of Hell, I do give them some things that don't exist on Earth." Before Liz could ask, Lucia explained. "Remember that Star Trek Fan Fiction you liked to read in your occasional free time? How those women always had those toys that make them able to feel?"

"You are kidding me."

"Nope," Lucia assured. "It goes along with allowing entertainment. They would use those toys either way, unless I were to forbid sex, and I don't do that to these nice people. So, if they use toys anyway, why not give them that little extra? I do have omnipotent powers after all. You find actually a lot of stuff like that here. I would be more than happy to also allow things like TV, but there is too much negative there. People just sitting around doing nothing, other people making a living of pretending to live. Stuff like that."

"Oh yeah, I can see how you wouldn't want negativity, in Hell," Liz couldn't help but point out.

"Now, now, play nice, hon," Lucia replied, but she did so with a grin.

They had reached the center of the little village, and one of the things Liz noticed the most was how these people treated Lucia. Oh, it was clear that they knew who she was, that they knew what powers she had. But still, they were clearly respectful of her, not fearful.

"Show me the ugliest level of Hell that you are willing to let me see," Liz suddenly said. "You are selling me Hell in Heaven's mantle. I want to see the real thing. I want to see why you are the most feared creature in... the most feared known creature."

Lucia sighed. But she had known that this was coming. There was nothing she could do against it, if she truly wanted that independent bride.

~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~~

Liz heaved again. "I'm," heave "I'm going to puke."

"You would already been doing so if you were still alive," Lucia pointed out. "Please hon, don't ask me to show you that again. That's not for you to see."

Liz closed her eyes, but quickly opened them again when images of pain and torture flashed across her vision.

"Sorry hon," Lucia merely said.

"You know what disturbed me the most? Liz said after a moment, the realization hitting her at the same time than she was saying it. "It wasn't that this happens, it wasn't even that I saw it. It was seeing a version of you torturing someone and seeing that same look that I have seen so often before."

"Causing pain can be a near orgasmic experience love, especially for the one that is considered the true definition of pain."

"Hold me," Liz asked.

Lucia did so. Taking her lover in the same arms that had mere moments before been buried deep in the chest of a condemned soul, to literally rip his beating heart out of his body. Well, not literally the same arms, but then again they were because every Lucia was 'the' Lucia.

Liz closed her eyes and deliberately let the horrible images surface once more. Yet despite it she felt secure in those arms. The irony was not lost on her. First of all that the Devil was treating her to a tender hug, and second that she felt secure in that hug. "Kiss me."

Lucia happily obliged.

Liz knew those lips, knew that tingling feeling that spread through her body. Lucia's kisses had never stopped affecting her. Deliberately ignoring everything else, Liz realized that it didn't matter where she was, she was where she wanted to be; in the arms of her lover.

"Welcome home, love," Lucia said softly.

~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~~

"I have some conditions," Liz said four days later. She was lying outdoors in an open field, in her lover's arms.

They had spent the last four days pretty much just making love. Lucia had always impressed Liz with how much stamina she had, but now that she was no longer pretending to be a normal Human, Lucia only stopped if Liz asked her to. They both liked it that way.

It had been a learning experience for Liz. Lucia had kept her word, she didn't ask or want things that they hadn't already done before in their years together on Earth. But that didn't mean that there weren't changes. Liz loved the toys, she loved feeling what it was like to be inside her lover. She also loved the fact that Lucia always had energy left. And of course that Lucia didn't mind one bit to do all the fun work if Liz was spent. Not that she had tired easy. Only an hour before Lucia had admitted the reason for that. Lucia had known that they would want to experience each other without restrictions this time. No holding back to pretend. So Lucia had gifted Liz with extra energy. She had even offered Liz that extra energy for good.

With a shrug, Liz had accepted. Extra energy was always good, even if, probably, eventually they would stop having sex that much. She would simply find other things to keep her busy. After all, she had to find something to do so that she could pretend that she had a working day. So that she could tell her lover all about her day.

The ground under her felt softer than it should be, she knew. But she ignored that. Birds were singing in the trees, and insects were buzzing by, leaving them very conveniently alone. Hell, Liz decided, wasn't 'that' bad of a place to be in if you were with the right person.

"Conditions?" Lucia prompted.

Liz looked up at the stars above them. Then she frowned. "Um, babe?"

"Yes hon?"

"It's night out."

"Yes?"

"Those are day birds I hear."

"Whoops. Sorry, you distracted me pretty lady."

The bird stopped singing, but it was done so flawless that it simply sounded like a normal break the birds would have taken anyway. Then the birds started again, the night birds that is.

"Lucia?"

"Yes hon?"

"What stars are this? I never saw these constellations."

"That's the view from my second favorite planet, forty-thousand light-years from here. Do you want to see the Earth heavens?"

"No, I like this, I was just wondering," Liz assured. "Anyway. I'll be the Queen of your realm, except for those, um, special parts that are all yours, but I want a real home. You have the power, you can take our home wherever we go, can't you?"

"More to the point Hell is everywhere I go. So if a home is in Hell it's always close."

"Alright, then I want a real home, with real doors. No walking through walls at home. I want to pretend that you are just another Human there. Well, a hot babe of a Human. My sex dreams come true, but still a regular Human."

Lucia chuckled. "Alright, a normal home."

"No more reading my mind, or more to the point, you ignore what you know from me. Do however you did it in the last five years. Let me actually tell you about the great day I had."

"Deal," Lucia assured as she pulled her lover a little closer yet.

"In that same light," Liz continued. "I know that you can be wherever you want, and therefore you can spend every minute with me as well. Don't. Do it like you did on Earth. Pretend that you have some part-time job that takes you away from me six hours on work days. Work day being... let's see... when I play Queen and we don't visit interesting places. It's not that I want to get rid of you, but I want our relationship to work. But how can I talk to you about how my day was if you were there and saw it all anyway."

"Alright," Lucia agreed. "But, we are in Hell baby, you will be safe as my Queen, but just in case, if ever, for whatever, you need my help. Be it to show people that you can talk for me, or if someone tries to hurt you. Just think of me with the idea that you need my help and I will be there immediately."

"Alright," Liz agreed, copying the same word Lucia had just used. "Babe?" Liz asked.

"Yes?"

"Do you really think that we can work? Us I mean?"

Lucia shrugged. "Hon, I know everything about everyone that ever happened, well, that should be known by the Devil. But even I can't look into the future. I can do logical deduction, which is why I know where Humans will travel first now that they can leave Earth, and how long it will be before they will run into trouble. My guess for the first interstellar war with Humans in it? Two hundred years. Don't worry, it will be a learning experience for them. But I can't actually look into the future. But, using that logical deduction I would say that we will last for a long, long time."

Liz kissed a temptingly naked shoulder. "What makes you say that?"

"Two things. First, I never felt about anyone like I feel about you."

"Glad to hear it," Liz said with a smile.

"Want to know the second thing?"

"Of course."

"Liz, you just set me terms. Do you know how many beings ever had the balls to set conditions for me?"

"Not many?" Liz guessed.

"Try two. One is called Elizabeth McGowan, her I call Liz, or pretty lady, or hon. The second being that every set me conditions? I merely call the Big Guy. If our relationship lasts as long as my relationship with the Big Guy already has lasted, then we are in for a long haul."

Lucia suddenly thought of something. "Oh, pretty lady. As you know, I think that you are gorgeous. The good thing is, you can look like that for your eternity."

"The bad part?" Liz wondered.

"There is no bad part," Lucia assured. "But I just wanted you to know that if you get tired of how you look, I can oblige you. Now, remember, we are talking a very big number of years, you might want to try something new every once in a while."

Liz hummed. "That doesn't sound too bad actually."

"Want a little taste of the fun stuff?" Lucia asked with a sexy purr.

"What'd you have in mind?" Liz asked with a fake frown. As answer, Liz somehow felt her body change.

"Dare I look down?" Liz asked, never giving up her gaze into those wonderful brown eyes. Now that Liz knew about her, Lucia let the flames show sometimes. Liz loved it. Loved to see literally fire in those eyes.

Lucia chuckled. "I started off easy on you. You are still you, just a little more... fresher. You now have the body you had when you were twenty."

"Really?" Liz asked amazed. "So are you telling me that if I were to stand up now, my nipples will actually point at you instead of the ground?"

"Come on, hon. It wasn't that bad, just a few degrees. They were still pointing at me, mostly."

"Oh, you like to live dangerously, don't you?" Liz frowned. "Um, will I ever be able to make a fun statement like that and not have it sound weird as Hell... see?"
Lucia laughed. "Hon, didn't you ever notice? I also say things like 'what the Hell.' It sounds cool, so why not say it?"

Liz kissed her lover. "Will you show me other worlds, I mean real other planets?"

Lucia pretended to think about it. "Well, it should be a little special. So how about we visit one different planet every month. A planet where there is sentient life."

"And they already know what the Devil is?"

"Well, yeah."

"Babe," Liz said reassuringly. "I got used to you being in other places and doing other stuff. I don't mind you being the evil Devil there. As long as you go sightseeing with me at the same time."

"Deal," Lucia assured.

"So," Liz said hesitantly. "I'll be meeting God tomorrow. Anything I should know?"

"Neh, just be yourself. Don't worry, he is not such a prude as people make him out to be. He won't shout blasphemy if you happen to say 'shit'."

Hmm. Lucia, not to be one to change the subject, but, um about that nice toy of ours?"

"Want to have some fun hon?" Lucia asked with a sexy grin.

Liz suddenly giggled. Then she said, "Yeah, I never had sex under the stars, and I want to fuck you and make you scream like a little Devil."

"Ooh, woman, that will cost you."

"How?" Liz dared to ask.

Suddenly Lucia was holding what looked like a normal strap-on toy, but looks could be deceiving. In realty it was one of those special toys that made the wearer feel what they were doing in a whole different kind of way. "Because now I'm going to fuck you like a true demon."

Liz was not at all scared by the words. She trusted her lover completely. "God help me, I trust the Devil."

Lucia merely laughed.

~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~~

Seven million years later.

She strolled through the beautiful village with a serenity fitted for a Queen. It was actually only one of many beautiful villages in her realm. Once, thousands of years ago she had to punish someone. She had thought up the painless, but long punishment of going through the realm and count how many souls were hers to command. Last thing she knew, he was still counting.

Oh, if she really wanted to know, her lover could tell her the number down to the last soul. But she didn't really need to know, she knew that it was more than billions, what more came after that? It was a lot or it was a lot? Why need to know it more exact than that? But despite that her realm had a feel of only sporadically populated, and villages had a homely feel to it. Welcome to strangers. And irony of irony, totally crime free. Living in Hell, and there was no crime to be found. Mainly because the people there were already punished for their crimes, and they didn't want to face the Devil for a second punishment.

Abby pointed and she looked at the place her best friend had indicated. "Yeah, that will do."

"So does she know?" Abby asked.

Liz merely looked at her.

Abby smiled a little sheepishly. "Sorry. So does she pretend not to know?"

Liz smiled. "Yeah, she loves to play surprised when I 'surprise' her with an anniversary."

"So what is it? You never told me."

Now Liz smiled even more as before. "The fact that in exactly twelve hours she will be the loving keeper of my soul for exactly seven million years. I even got God to give me a little hand. We will get a five hour stretch of time in the Angelic springs."

Abby chuckled. "I wonder what the Angels will think when they find out that the Devil made love to her bride, in the Angel's favorite bathing place."

"You are just jealous that you won't be able to take your own love there," Liz accused.

"Oh, absolutely," Abby happily admitted. "But I think we will manage to spent a wonderful night at home while our friends are crashing the heavenly party, having sex all over heaven,"

"And you are sex obsessed ever since you met Rana," Liz added.

"Well, I do have a couple of million years to make up for," Abby defended. "Now at least sex is fun again. God, I am so glad that I am living in Hell. Can you imagine being an angel, having no sex at all?"

Liz shrugged. "As Lucia likes to say; 'angels don't do sex.' That also means that they won't care that Lucia and I have sex in heaven. They will just be happy that, while there, the Devil doesn't look around to see if maybe some of them actually need to be in this realm."

~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~~

"Do you think you will ever get tired of me?"

"You ask me that at least once every... millennium," Lucia playfully reminded. "You don't hear me asking that of you, do you? You know damn well that I couldn't stop you if you decided to walk, not anymore. Hon, we are together for seven million years now. How about we see that as a sign that we are a good match and simply assume that we will be together for the rest of eternity."

"That sounds wonderful," Liz said dreamingly. "You would think that we would grow tired of each other at some point. But I swear that I love you more and more with every day, even after all this time. You, my little Devil are my... you are my everything actually."

Lucia looked in the purple eyes of her lover, who was going through life as a Gwuanz that century. A very sexy Gwuanz. "I love you, pretty lady. Thank you for making my eternity feel like Heaven."

"And I love you, my little Devil. Thank you for doing what you promised you would; taking good care of my soul. It's right where I want it to be; inside you, wrapped all around your beautiful heart. Lucia, you are the best thing that ever happened to me."

"Hon," Lucia started slowly. "As you know, I knew that you would arrange this. Now, normally I don't say that, normally I don't let you know what I know about you. I'm only telling you this now to remind you that I know, I don't have to ask you. You truly want to spent the rest of eternity with me. You know exactly what I am. You have seen some of the things I do. You have been with me to levels of hell that I once thought I would never let you enter. Yet despite it all, your wonderful soul has been there warming my heart. The thing is, because of my abilities, I now know that we will spent eternity together, yet you, you still wonder. You still ask me that question. You won't after today."

"I know, I promised to not ask anymore."

"You did," Lucia agreed. "But that's not why you won't wonder anymore. You won't wonder anymore because of my gift to you."

Suddenly Lucia was holding a small black wooden box, not much bigger than her hand. She handed the box to her lover who took it.

"What is this?" Liz asked with a smile.

"Something that only exists once in the entire Universe."

Liz opened the box and frowned when she saw an extremely old piece of folded paper. She took the paper and put the box down. Once she had unfolded the paper she gasped. "T, t, this, this is,"

"As I said, something that exists only once in this Universe, and you now own it. Not even the Big Guy owns that. But you do. That is yours. That is yours to keep safe for all of eternity."

Liz cried when she promised full sincerity, "Oh babe. Oh my wonderful Lucia. I will always take good care of that. I promise. I promise that I will always take good care of your soul."

The end.
(Of this story, but only the beginning for Lucia and Liz.)