The Devil's Favourite Obsession

Something gnawed at Cixi. Something struck inside her chest like a lingering bolt connecting a thought she never thought could be connected to another.

”Does the Grim Reaper come under your command?” Cixi questioned. She almost took a step closer to Lucifer without realising it.

”Grim reapers are part of the Diwi world,” Lucifer replied, as if it were a daily conversation. ”And Yama is the one they take orders from.”

Cassian looked at Cixi with curious interest. Why was she asking about grim reapers? Meanwhile, the King of Hell stood three feet away, and the immediate threat was right in front of them, and Cixi’s mind had gone to reapers.

”I thought they took the souls and brought them to you for punishment,” Cixi said.

”They are the middlemen,” Lucifer explained. ”They take the souls first to Yama, and from there the souls travel either to hell, purgatory, or the next assignment.”

His answer made Cixi raise her brows. ”You did not speak of heaven,” Cixi mentioned.

”People are rarely doing a good enough deed to live in heaven.” One corner of Lucifer’s lips curled upward.

”I thought you were the reason behind everyone’s sin.”

Lucifer laughed. It was a short, delighted sound. Then he turned his gaze to Cassian and extended a hand toward him, palm open, as though offering a stage.

”Would you care to explain?” he commanded. ”I will leave the stage to you.”

”Every human has free will. Your inner self tells you what is wrong and what is right. So humans should stop blaming the demons or the devil.”

”How can the demons not take responsibility if they are involved in corrupting someone’s mind?” Cixi questioned.

”If I ask you to eat dirt instead of real food, would you do it?” Cassian asked her simply and directly. ”Every person does it willingly.”

”What about the possessed people?”

Lucifer laughed at Cixi’s question. ”She is one curious one.” And he laughed again, loudly this time, his head tilting back, his golden hair catching the sparkling light from the cave walls. ”Your marked one is quite interesting,” he stated to Cassian, holding Cixi’s gaze with open amusement. ”It is not a spiritual congregation, Cixi. The important question is, why did you ask about the Grim Reaper particularly?”

Lucifer knew the answer. He knew everything. He knew about the bridge. He knew about the ocean. He knew about the moment Cixi’s soul had brushed close enough to death for a reaper to notice. He only wanted Cixi to say it. He wanted to watch her hide things from Cassian while Cassian stood right beside her. He was not doing this out of goodwill.

Nope!

He was entertaining himself.

”That...” Cixi’s voice faltered. ”That, I was curious.”

”You did not ask me how hell looks from a king of hell...” Lucifer tilted his head, pressing harder, ”But instead you asked about the reaper? How odd!”

Cassian observed what Lucifer was doing. He had spent eternity with this King. He knew his every trick and every method Lucifer used to unravel a person for his own amusement. He had watched him do it to kings and generals and ancient beings who believed themselves unbreakable, and he was watching him do it now to Cixi in a sparkling cave beneath the water.

”I think Cixi needs to rest,” Cassian interrupted. ”I will be back as soon as she is safe at home.”

”How is she safe, Cassian?” Lucifer’s smile did not waver. ”Last I knew, someone pushed her from the terrace.”

Cixi’s eyes grew wide... ”H-How did you know?”

And in response, Lucifer only gave her a perfect smile.

If Cassian thought it would be that easy to steer Lucifer away from his entertainment, he was mistaken. This was the same Lucifer he had always been.

”King,” Cassian added politely, ”I will return you the same favour you have bestowed upon us while we were in the middle of the date.”

Lucifer remained amused.

Taking the silence as a sign that Lucifer would not press further, Cassian reached for Cixi’s hand. His fingers closed around hers.

In front of them, the air moved. And a mirror appeared, materialising from nothing.

Cassian walked into it. While Cixi remained shocked.

He walked into the mirror the way a person walks through an open door, without hesitation, without ceremony, pulling Cixi gently with him. The glass swallowed them. Cixi felt the surface pass over her skin like cold water, a brief, shocking chill that lasted a heartbeat and then was gone.

The next step landed on solid ground.

Cixi looked around. She was inside the Palace. Cassian’s floor. The familiar walls, the familiar furniture, the familiar evening light filtering through the windows.

The cave, the ocean, Lucifer, all of it gone in the space of a single stride.

She looked around carefully, making sure. Then she turned to Cassian.

”You can travel through mirrors?”

”Yes.”

”Can you see me through mirrors?”

Cassian raised a brow.

”I mean,” Cixi clarified, her grey eyes narrowing, ”if I am not there. Can you still see me?”

Cassian smiled. It was not a kind smile. It was not a gentle smile. It was the vicious, unapologetic smile of a man who knew exactly where this conversation was heading and had no intention of lying about the destination. ”Yes.”

Cixi’s jaw dropped. ”So whenever I saw you in the mirror,” she mentioned, and she stressed each word like she was hammering nails, ”you could see me too?”

Cassian twisted his lips before replying. ”Yes.”

”So you have already seen me nude much longer ago.”

He took a moment before replying. ”Yes.”

Cixi stared at him with eyes so wide they consumed half her face. ”You pervert.”

”How am I a pervert?” Cassian’s tone carried the breezy indifference of a man who had been called worse things by things far more terrifying than a five-foot-three human woman. ”I only saw you when you thought of me, and you were standing directly in front of the mirror. Do not blame me. Blame your naughty mind.”

”That is gaslighting.”

”It seems everything is gaslighting these days. Even speaking the truth.”

”The truth?” Cixi’s voice climbed. ”The truth is that you watched me without my permission!”

”Then you should have covered yourself when you saw my reflection,” Cassian replied calmly. ”I did not see you doing any of it.”

Cixi’s jaw dropped for the second time in thirty seconds. ”I was confused! I was not even sure if I was truly seeing you or imagining you. I almost convinced myself I was losing my mind and needed a psychiatrist.”

”Oh, Cig.” Cassian’s voice softened. Not by much. Just enough to let warmth bleed through the edges. ”I understand this is all confusing for you. But you will get used to it.” And he wrapped his arms around Cixi and brought her close.

”I am not sure if I ever will be,” Cixi replied honestly.

Now that she knew he was a demon. Now that she knew he was connected to Lucifer, the King of Hell, the actual Lucifer who kissed her knuckles in an underwater cave. She did not know anymore what she should do with her feelings.

They sat inside her chest, tangled and contradictory, pulling in every direction at once. She was confused. She was desperate to find an answer that would make everything make sense.

Cassian cupped one side of her face, his long fingers settling against her cheek, his palm warm against her skin. His eyes had returned to their human form. Dark. Deep. The yellow slits are gone. The horns are gone. The veins are gone. He stood before her in his human skin, looking at her the way he always looked at her, as though the rest of the world had been built as scenery for the sole purpose of framing her face.

”Do you feel afraid of me?” he asked quietly.

Cixi shook her head. A small, slow denial. She did not trust her voice, but her answer was certain.

No. She did not feel afraid of him.

”Then wait until I am back,” Cassian said. ”Lucifer and I need to have a talk.”

Cixi did not want to make the King of Hell upset. Whatever conversation needed to happen between Cassian and Lucifer, she understood instinctively that her presence in it would do more harm than good. So she nodded.

Cassian held her gaze for one more moment. Then he turned, and a mirror surfaced on the wall behind him, its glass dark and smooth and waiting. He walked into it and disappeared, and the mirror vanished after him, leaving nothing but the wall and the quiet of the Palace room.

Cixi stood alone.

She looked at the empty wall where the mirror had been. She looked at the room around her. She looked down at her hands, which were trembling slightly at the edges, the adrenaline from the last hour finally catching up to her body now that there was no one left to be brave in front of.