A Demystification: Eve

Day 20: Last Words

WORD COUNT: 1118

It was done. He was gone and I was still here, with nothing left to do and no one left to fight. The world was safe and I had been there to see it happening. Not that I was necessary in the end. She'd thought of everything, she had, and played him to the last. It had all been a vengeance scheme, and, in the end, only she had managed to get any sort of revenge. Even against God, who'd been forced to thank her in the end, and remove the last vestiges of her humanity for her service. We'd all played witness to her subtle game, the resurgence of the long-forgotten woman, her carefully selected audience of assumed players who'd ended up being no more than puppets on strings. Even God, though perhaps in the end we're just dancing a multi-layered waltz, with the Father choreographing every step and drawing lengthy conclusions.

Regardless, where did I go from here? I didn't have much to go back to, really. A job at a cafe that might not even be there after this long away, even if I was on a leave of absence and still technically in the system. An apartment alone with statues of gods and fake plants. A family full of successful people and disappointed hopes, the latter half of which seemed reserved exclusively for me. What was I to go back to now that I'd watched someone else save the world?

"Where do I go from here, Lucian?"

Next to me, Lucian stopped and turned his blue eyes on me, his expression decidedly sardonic. "Were you listening at all, my love?" It sent a trill of excitement down my spin to hear him say those words to me. If there was anything I could take away from this, it was his love. It was strange to me that I had someone to love and who loved me in return, so strange that I still had a hard time realizing that everything would change simply because of him. There were problems in our relationship because I was human and I would die while he would live forever, but I was cursed to come back anyway, so we could deal with that later.

"I was. Adam's in limbo, Hell gained a new demon, and I get to go back and either live on an island with you or go back to New York and work at the cafe again. Things turned out great for me."

Lucian grabbed my hand and brought it to his lips, pressing a kiss to my palm. "I love you, Eve, and you're one of the most intelligent women I've met in decades, but you really missed a lot back there. Gabriel, acting as God's emissary, sent Adam to limbo for all of eternity so he could never attempt to undo his punishment or endanger creation ever again."

"I was there, Luce, I remember that. And then Lil had the remainder of her humanity removed so she would no longer be bound to earth as she is. And Sammael came up from Hell to welcome her to their kingdom. That was scary, but oddly romantic..." There had been real love in his eyes when he'd emerged from the Twilight; something I was sure true demons couldn't experience. And she had manipulated the world in order to get to him, knowing that it would mean revenge on everything and everyone she hated.

Lucifer sighed. "Eve...Adam's punishment changed. God changed it. Thus, your punishment must change. It's why you had to be here, my love. Nothing can happen with the one of you without it happening to the other; it's the nature of God's brand of castigation."

"My punishment changed?" I looked back at the tree that had come to represent the tree, the place it had all begun so many years ago. "Was that the period where everyone shut up and looked back and forth at one of us, after Adam and Lilith disappeared?"

"Ah, yes. That would explain that. We can speak without words. Eve, your punishment has been changed. As Adam is no longer cursed to rebirth as a human and is instead stuck in limbo, with constant awareness and the memory of every moment he's lived, you are no longer cursed to rebirth. Your punishments must mirror one another in some way. But as God is aware of your endeavors here, of your attempt to aid us in undoing Adam's plot--"

I interrupted. I do that a lot, I've noticed, unable to let someone finish a point when something jumped into my own head that just had to be said. "But I didn't actually do anything. None of us actually did anything."

"But you were here, Eve. It's like having the lock and the key at the same place. You're necessary. Let me continue. Your punishment has changed. You can no longer live and die and be reborn, as Adam is no longer doing the same. Hence you will live. But you are not so villainous as to deserve limbo for eternity, though Heaven and Hell are eternally denied you. As an immortal, however, you will need something to feed off of. A life force. The gods have the Twilight, but you are not a god."

"Immortal?!"

"That's what living forever means. Unless you'd rather cease to exist..." Lucifer raised an eyebrow, knowing what my choice would be.

"Well then...where am I going?"

Lucian grinned. "How would you like to live on a villa on an island in the middle of the Atlantic with the Morning Star?"

It took me a moment to realize what he was saying. "I...I'm to stay with you?" Lucifer nodded and I threw myself at him, arms around his broad shoulders and legs around his hips. "This is wonderful! Oh Lucifer, I love you!"

Lucifer laughed. "I love you, too, my Eve."

Kissing is awesome. Take from someone who's never done it much until now. Kissing the man you love and having him kiss you back is easily one of the best feelings in the world. "Does this mean I'm gonna be Mrs. Morning Star? Because if so, I need to tell you, I am not taking your name. 'Cause Evelyn Star sounds too much like a really bad 80s singer. And I am not teasing my hair."

Lucian shook his head. "Eve, my love, I am trying to get you back to my villa so I can ravish you like the beautiful woman you are. So kindly shut up and help me open a gate."

"Oh. Well, if you but it that way..." And I shut up quite nicely, if I do say so myself.