The Reaping of the Gods

Chapter 19

The next day I awoke in our room. Luke had slept beside me but seemed as if he was scared to get too close but now I found his side of the bed empty. I decide to shower and get dressed before heading downstairs. I find Luke and Zach standing in the kitchen murmuring to each other.

"More secrets?" I ask, bringing their attention to my presence.

"No, just work stuff." Luke replies.

I nod. I'm not sure I'm ready to hear about all the things he does in hell. "So, Zach isn't your real name either is it?" I ask, turning my attention to someone else I had questions for.

"No it's not." Zach replies. "But speaking my name out loud invites possession."

"Okay so Demon?" I ask and he nods in response. "Can't you just choose not to possess someone?"

"No, actually." He replies. And I twist my eyebrows in confusion. He huffs in frustration. " Humans need everything explained to them. Stupid creatures."

"Woah, human here. I'm sorry I'm not as informed as you are. I didn't grow up where any of this is real. So how can I be stupid when no one has ever told me the truth? That's like me explaining to you how to make bread and when you screw up the first time I call you a stupid Demon." I couldn't tell where my brazen anger was coming from but god he rubbed me the wrong way. Or maybe I was just finally done with everyone hating on me for being human when they are the ones who didn't want humans to know any of this.

Luke laughs at Zach who glares back at me. "Demons are complex creatures." Luke explains. "Most are almost animal like. Just following instincts. Haunting places and possessing people is how they sustain themselves. Like how animals need to eat and reproduce. Just natural instincts."

"But Zach is different?" I ask.

"There's a few of us. Some of the oldest Demons such as myself, have become more.....self aware. But calling our true names, can sometimes call back the animal part of our brain and we end up possessing someone or haunting them. I wouldn't choose to but I'd have no control over it."

I nod, I would prefer not to be possessed so Zach it is. "So what cool things can you do?"

"What do you mean?" Zach replies.

"Well Luke can grow wings and fly." I say pointing at Luke, who has made his way over to me, wrapping his arm around my waist and kissing my cheek.

"Oh well, I can also grow wings but mine are more bat like and not so scorched angel. We can persuade people but they have to have the original thought. Like pushing forward an intrusive thought." Zach relaxes into a chair at the kitchen table, plopping a coffee mug down with a small thud.

"God I have so many questions. I don't know what else to ask." I say. I'm unsure how to voice my thoughts at the moment.

"OOOO, we should play a game." Zach pipes up enthusiastically.

"What kind of game?" Luke asks while throwing a distrusting look Zach's way.

"Like 20 questions or truth or dare?" Zach quips.

"Oh, I know. How bout True or False? I ask you guys a question that is like a trope or stereotype of Demons or Devils and you tell me if it's true or not." I say.

"Okay, but we already know all the human tropes. So what do we ask you?" Zach asks.

"I don't know. I guess anything." I reply. Zach smirks at Luke who is smirking back and I think I've made a mistake.

"You go first, Larissa." Luke takes a seat at the kitchen table.

"Okay, ummmmm" Now what question to ask? I turn to Luke. "So you trick people into selling their souls?"

Both of them let out a chuckle. "I used to. Nowadays humans are all too eager to give them up with no deal being made. The human world has taken every temptation I used to use and times it by ten."

"My turn." Luke says, giving me a smirk. " Did you actually ever consider Set?"

"I knew I hated him during our first date." I reply. He nods with a smile.

"Do demons have like specific things they haunt or possess? like Annabelle the doll?" I ask looking between both of them.

"Ugh, don't get me started on Annabelle. She scared some college students and now people think she's the scariest thing on the planet. She barely made it past apprentice." Zach snips clearly hating this particular demon. "But yeah, definitely most demons stick to one thing they know. Others, including yours truly, don't tend to follow a mold."

"Oh, my turn." Zach seems too eager. Luke glances him a warning look. "Do you believe in gods now?" he asks. His smirk is quizzical. As if he's waiting for something to click and then it does. He must've been that women outside my apartment before I got the invite.

"Did you have him follow me?" I ask.

"Yes." Luke says. "That counts as a question." He continues with a grin.

"Fine. Your turn." I smile back at him with a bit of cheek.

"Do you feel a bond with me?" He asks and for some reason it surprises me. He's never asked. He always just assumed I felt nothing but I've definitely felt something.

"I think so. I definitely feel a pull to you. I always feel safe when you are around, like I'm home." His smile beams at me before he gets up from the table and wraps me in his arms and gives me a kiss.

I whispered 'gross' comes from Zach who is still leaning against the counter.

"My turn, are you married?" I ask Zach hoping to wipe that cocky look off his face but all I get is a frown. That question made him sad.

"I'm sorry. You don't have to answer that." I apologize.

"No, it's fine. Um..Demons aren't allowed to participate in the reaping." He answers.

"What? Why not?" That doesn't seem right.

"We aren't considered more than slightly evolved pets." Zach explains. "Gods wouldn't risk losing a woman to something like me."

"That isn't fair. Set was allowed and he's an asshole." I snark, angry for Zach. They chuckle and nod in agreement.

"My turn." Zach says clearly changing topics. "Ummm.........." There is a long pause made more dramatic with Zach tapping his finger on his chin like he's deep in thought. "You worked in a bakery, can you make me cinnamon buns?"

I laugh. Luke shakes his head finding the humor. "Yes I can make cinnamon buns." Zach makes a motion with his arm seeming to signal he's excited.

"What did you say to Alec at the auction?" I ask.

"Oh, I just told him to keep bidding and I'd give him the money." He says as if it was nothing. But to Josie and Alec I knew it meant alot.

"That was very sweet. Why would you do that for him?" I ask. I thought he was friends with Alec but at the hospital Alec seemed cold to him.

"Haha Luke is a big old softie when it comes to love." Zach says from the doorway. "Couldn't let someone miss out on true love."

I look at Luke who has what looks to be a blush of embarassment on his face. He doesn't act how I thought Lucifer would act.