1 Chapter One: In the beginning...

It wasn't the easiest being a guard in Hell. Her mind wasn't right for it. She couldn't torture. She, honestly, made a terrible guard but she was strong. Crowley had figured out about her hundreds of years ago. She was part demon, part Angel. A demon hybrid is what Crowley had called her. For some reason, being half of something made you more powerful. It was one thing to be a Nephilim, and have at least a morsel of human, but she had nothing human. She could feel, and she could love. She knew emotions and knew how to manipulate, but she never felt right on Earth. She was out of place. Heaven? Well, that wasn't any better. It was interesting how judgy Angels could be. Humans always painted them in such high lights, but they were as narcissistic as the next person. 

Realistically, though, they were all assholes. The only decent one had been one named Castiel. He was rough when you first met him, but with some humor, he could be a nice guy. He was sent to kill her once. She was an abomination to both Hell and Heaven. Unfit for any realm, Heaven wanted her gone. Castiel and Crowley and made a deal about her. Well, technically they made a deal and then approached her with a deal. She could stay in Hell, and be unbothered by anyone. She would just have to guard Lucifer's cage; so an eternity babysitting. It could have been worse, she supposed. Earth was nice, but she always ended up getting into a mess with either demons or angels that wanted her dead. It wasn't a party for her. It would feel a bit weird to be watching an Archangel. The other demons ridiculed Crowley for sending her, a half-breed, but he shut them up rather quickly. A snap of his fingers did a hell of a lot of damage. He had promised her freedom from the judgment and, well, that was something that she could agree to. She hated everything about her existence, but dying was nearly impossible. Her demon attributes countered her Angel weakness and vice versa. Holy water had no effect. 

"So I just.. Stand here and make sure he doesn't escape? This is hardly a far stretch from babysitting." She had said, more annoyed than anything else. She could feel his presence. The stench of power and hate filled her every pore continuously. Her light side was nauseous from it, but her dark wanted to take in even more. Battles raged in her mind all the time; to kill or not to kill.

"That's right, lovely. Just make sure he doesn't do anything naughty." She could feel the sarcasm in his voice and knew it was likely toward the one in the cage. It was a feature he seemed more prone to these days. She could tell he had gotten softer in the last few years. Whatever the reason had been, she didn't care too much. He and Castiel struck a deal because of it. It wasn't long ago he wanted to kill her as well. It was always his little minions that tried to do it. She still had a sour taste in her mouth about him because of it. 

"I guess little Crowley's too scared to hang out with the big bad wolf." His words oozed with annoyance. She looked over in the direction of the voice, watching blazing red pupils come out of the darkness, then the rest of his body following behind. He has messy blonde hair, a hint of brown showing. His vessel made him look as if he were anywhere from thirty to forty years of age. That came as a surprise since most wanted younger, more agile bodies to use as their meat puppets. He wore a pair of regular jeans, and a collared shirt with a regular shirt underneath. 

"Now now. Don't get mad because you didn't get to keep your playtoy." Crowley retorted, only giving him a small glance this time. 

"Are you the one that let my little Sammy go topside?" He had a whiney, hurt hint to his voice. "It was nice having a little plaything to keep me company. Maybe this little sweetie will come and join me instead. I can think of many more things that we could do." The wriggling of his eyebrows that she witnessed made her gag ever so slightly. Not that he wasn't, to say, attractive. She just had no intention of climbing into a cage for any extracurricular activities with the guy.

"Hard pass on the cage, buddy.." She replied, and managed to place her hands together, pushing them forward to crack the knuckles. 

She could feel his eyes on her and looked over to see two icy blue eyes instead of their previous red tinge. He managed a taunting grin, "Ah, she only declines the cage. I'll remember that when I get out of here." She didn't even try to fight the eye roll that she gave before realizing Crowley was amused at the two of them bickering.

 "This is going to be a long eternity." 

"Aren't you a feisty one, then?" Lucifer said, never taking his gaze off of her. He was amused by her boldness. No one ever thought to speak to him like that.

"My name is Alycen, actually. I guess I'm going to babysit you for the next… however long daddy is keeping you in there." She could feel his anger rise slightly at that sentence. His hands clenching the bars for a moment before pushing himself off of them, returning to his dark corner to, presumably, brood more. Crowley chuckled behind her, and as carelessly as ever, she took her attention off Lucifer and to him.

"It wasn't dear old dad this time. Sam and Dean took him downtown." She wasn't sure if Crowley assumed that she knew who that was, because when she didn't, like, at all. Crowley gave her a faint nod, then shrugged. "I have business to do." And as quickly as he got there, he left.

She stood there for a moment, just staring blankly to where he should have been. Was that name significant? Should she be taken aback by that? "I don't know who the fuck that is, but whatever." She managed to make herself a seat next to the cage, stretching her arms behind herself with a sigh.

This honestly felt more like a bitch job than anything else. This specific cage was airtight. There was zero chance that he would escape that on his own. 

"At least the view is nice.." His voice seemed much closer than before, so she moved her head sideways, and started when his face was next to hers, technically behind bars, but he was literally an arms reach away. She hadn't even heard him move from his brooding area in the back. He was good at sneaking, that was for sure. She sat straight up before looking around the area. The view was literally the worst. Walls made of stone, a floor made of bones. There was no way he thought of it as 'nice'. As if reading my mind, a grin played on his lips as he reached through the bars, a finger caressing the side of her cheek. He entwined one of the copper curls on her head in his hand, then pulled it. She flinched for a second when the hair left her scalp, growling gutturally at it before grabbing his retreating finger. 

"I wasn't talking about that view." He said, not even trying to pull his finger out of her hand. She stared at the long curl he had pulled from her scalp. The only real thing that she cared about was her locks. Take anything, but not the hair.  she grabbed his finger, pulling it back until there was a snap of the bone. He gave off a-- moan? pulling his finger back before it fixed itself. "Oh baby, you've got me all flustered now. I do like the rough bits more." He played with the curl idly, then set it to his nostrils and breathed in deeply. "I bet you'd be really fun at that."

"Don't.Touch.Me." She said through gritted teeth, watching his eyebrows raise sardonically, and corrected, "Ever". "There is no chance in Hell you would have any part of this--" She emphasized, pointing toward her figure. She was, admittedly, fit and attractive. "You can stay in there and keep daydreaming."

"Well, if you're going to be this boring, we're going to have a long time down here." His voice was almost pouty, his face making the same expression of apathy as she did to him previously.

"Are you six? This is Hell, not a Chuck E Cheese. Act like you're the Devil." She sat back down again, her legs crossing as she tried to focus on anything but the man blabbering behind her. 

"You realize that I'm Lucifer, right?" The disbelief in his voice was comic. He could believe she had the audacity to speak to him like that.

"You're also in a cage and can't get out. I'm supposed to be scared?" She snickered, "I'm Lucifer, and I do whatever I want and everyone needs to listen." Her tone matched that of a sniveling teen, and it made him more interested than anything. Blatantly disrespecting Lucifer was not on anyone's to-do list; yet here she was. "Hell, you archangels are a treat to be around, aren't you?"

"Everyone's scared of the big bad wolf." He remarked, pressing his back against the cage and sliding to sit. They were basically parallel to each other now, her back just a few feet away from his. She could feel his aura pulsating against her neck. Her skin heated at the power he contained. It was a lot of power; maybe she should have been more scared of him than she was. 

"Not to be stereotypical, but I'm not like everyone else." She clenched her jaw, biting back an urge to say even more than that. "The worse you can do is torture me, if you could even do anything, which you can't. Remind me of why I'm supposed to be scared of you?"

"I'd do much more than torture you. You look like you would be more fun with other things... Alycen, is it? If you let me out of here I can show you." The sexual connotations oozed out of every part of what he had said, teasing her. He was interested in her. He was going to have a good time if she was going to be his guard. Manipulation was, after all, his favorite past time. 

She pulled herself from the chair, turning to face him. "You really can't see it?" She could tell that she had caught his curiosity. He turned to face her, using the bars as support to get eye level with her.

"I can smell it. You're different, aren't you?" He held up her lock of hair once more, giving it another sniff. "I'm afraid I don't see too much right now. But, you have my curiosity." She could feel him becoming giddier as she had inched closer to him. His fingers came together, and he tapped the tips together. "What surprise do you have for me today?"

Within a moment, white-feathered wings outstretched behind her. Her eyes had blinked to blackness, only a ring of fire red showing where pupils should be. Lucifer watched in glee when she stretched her wings farther, and his hands clasped together hard "I had heard there was one of you topside." She had spent her entire existence never knowing what she was until a short man with a temper came into her life.

He stood up quickly, putting his finger to his lips in thought. She suppressed herself once more, forming back into regular "human" mode. "Of course it makes sense that Crowley found you first. This form isn't the perfect vessel," He pointed towards the meat bag he was inhabiting, "So in looking for an alternative until Sam finally gave in, I tried to find, well, you."

He gave a playful frown as he looked back at her. "But you were so good at hiding that I couldn't... Or I guess Crowley got to you first." His chuckle was almost maniac for a minute, and he looked back to her, curiosity engulfing his features once again. "What did he offer you? I can't imagine power had been in the bargain. He's… what should I say? Become a little... dawdled in that area lately. You know, can't get it up in the demon department." He gestured with his index finger, taking it from pointing towards her to bent down. It was obviously a play on words. 

"Does it really matter?" She asked, turning her back to him with a shrug. 

"I could offer you more. Crowley is strong, but I'm much stronger."

"Which is why you're currently in a cage, right?" She had snapped back, not even bothering to look at him this time. She could tell that it bothered him to hear that. He tried to suppress it, though, putting on a slightly convincing smile at the remark. She didn't turn to see him smile. She knew the smile was his attempt at manipulation. He was, after all, the original manipulator.

"Listen, Lucifer. I get that you're just biding time until you can get out and wreak whatever havoc you have in mind.I just want what I was promised."

"And what is that?" She could tell he was closer to me while we spoke, so she stepped farther away.

"Peace. I don't care about the war. Angels, demons, fucking I really don't care. Both sides hate me, I'm just an abomination. I get that. I'm going to just sit down here in Hell, babysit you and live my eternity as peacefully as ever. I've been running away from Angels and Demons for centuries. I'm done doing that." She clasped her hands together, clearing her throat as she turned back to his direction. 

"I . just. don't. care. You're not going to manipulate me to join Team Lucifer. I'm team Alycen."  She could feel her own emotions bubble up for a moment and suppressed them with a hard swallow. 

His expression was hard to read for her. He looked almost bewildered. 

"We cool, then?" She asked with a sigh, plopping herself back into her chair in a rather human-like fashion.