Antidepressant Withdrawal (7)

Lucifer had checked already twice the house of William and Karen Johnson before he decided to retreat; there weren't any demons in all Connecticut. He then gave new orders at the ones he saw lingering close just in case, not wanting to make it know that he was protecting the place. He even placed a thin layer of grace on top of the recurrent places Aaron went so he'd know when a demon went closer. He already checked the hospital whenever he visited Aaron.

He was sure that he had smell sulfur on Aaron, it may be a coincidence, but he got angry just by thinking that there could be one trying to lay a finger on Aaron.

It was obvious that Hell was becoming more unstable if you knew where to look at, and Lucifer had to spend more time down there because of that─ keeping the demons in line as he killed and questioned the ones that went against him. But even with all the work he had to get done in Hell, he still visited Aaron, not caring that he'd have to compensate for it later. Few hours on earth were days in Hell; it gave time for demons to regroup. The idea of changing the current of time in Hell had started to appeal to him, if he hadn't done it was because of the many consequences that it'd carry such action.

Nevertheless, Lucifer wanted to be a little more time with Aaron. As he had told him before, he enjoyed his presence, the feeling of his soul. And as the feeling kept growing, there was certain worry in him that did the same too, worry that others could use Aaron against him.

Lucifer felt that the hospital was a little shaken for some reason, so he decided to appear in the epicenter of it after delegating some of his work. He was relieved when he noticed that Aaron wasn't involved in anything that had made the doctors so troubled. He looked over the shoulder of a nurse and read a paper about some dead body they were transporting to the morgue. He decided then to appear in Aaron's room, frowning when he saw him looking at a book on his lap without actually reading it.

"Are you okay?"

Aaron jumped at his words.

"What─? Oh, hi." Lucifer leaned down to kiss Aaron's forehead, humming when Aaron tried to smile. He'd have told him how he didn't need to try, but he didn't as Aaron's soul lightened slightly.

"Do you know what's happening out there?"

"Yeah," he answered quietly, eyes going down to his lap. "They found Rachel outside the hospital; I heard that she died while they moved her to surgery."

Lucifer gently tipped Aaron's chin upwards to be able to look him better. "Who is Rachel?"

"She was a patient. I didn't notice that she had left as I always tried to ignore her."

He traced his lips with his thumb when they quirked downwards. "If you ignored her, then why are you sad, Aaron?"

Aaron licked his lips. "She had also anxiety as I have, but she dealt with it by having sex with others. And, well, we used to be 'friends' the second time I came here. That was before she was released, of course."

"And what happened then?"

"I don't know... When I returned she was also here but it wasn't the same. I felt even more uncomfortable around others and she seemed to do anything to make it worse." He shrugged helplessly. "So I tried to avoid her. Maybe if I had done something else─ if I had tried to talk with her instead of…"

"Aaron." He touched his hand as he felt his soul turning dense. "It's not your fault."

Aaron didn't seem to believe him, the pain in his eyes only aggravated and Lucifer didn't know what to do. He pulled Aaron towards him, onto his lap, when Aaron didn't protest but let himself be moved, Lucifer hugged him and left a kiss on his jaw. "It's not your fault," he repeated, stroking Aaron's back and soul gently. He huffed and pressed his nose into the crock of Lucifer's neck.

- -

The nauseous smell of food made Aaron give his food to someone else, again, making sure that no nurse saw him while he passed it under the table, swallowing some without chewing when he noticed they threw suspicious looks at him. He still felt the symptoms of the flu on him even when Lucifer had eased it just the day before. He'd have asked his doctor for medicine but he hadn't thought it would last that much, he promised himself to tell him about it the next day in their session.

He returned to his room feeling restless, which was weird considering that all day he had felt really tired, though his headache may be one of the reasons he couldn't get any sleep even if he lied on the bed and closed his eyes. He still tried though.

- -

Lucifer was curious about this Rachel woman Aaron had mentioned, annoyed at the pain she had caused him. He hoped to find the soul still lurking around the body so he could play with it as he walked into the morgue. If it wasn't there, he could always use the body as a medium to call to the soul. He had already given Michael many souls; he didn't think he would mind if he took one. That, if she was on Heaven.

He made the doctor inside want to go to eat so he could open the compartment she was in. The small door didn't make any sound as he slid it open, showing him a dead body under a sheet. He tilted his head when he felt something really familiar before he even got the chance to pull the blanket off. Lucifer felt a spark of anger flaring up in him as he introduced his grace brusquely into the body, making it jump. He found a taint inside; there was no trace of the soul.

All Hell heard him as he commanded demons to found the one that had used the girl's body, offering a prize to whoever brought the demon to him. No one dared to question him; they just followed his orders, running from one place to another, afraid of his wrath. It didn't help that he kept reducing to ashes some of Hell's structures either. Michael even called him once to ask him what the problem was. They had made an agreement that included him not to start the Apocalypse, it was understandable that his brother would be wary of his sudden anger, but Lucifer chose to ignore him; he wasn't destroying the earth, after all.

It took him almost two weeks down in Hell for him to calm down, and that only happened after a random demon finally showed the one that had possessed Rachel.

"Oh, my daughter. You thought that Beel would be your worst nightmare in Hell," he said, leaning into the rack with a dark glare. "But I can make him beg for mercy easily whenever I want."

It had been a really long while since he got the chance to really work with someone as through as he did with her, making the time run slower in Hell, taking his time to enjoy every scream that escaped her. He questioned her about why she had done it too, wanting to know if she had been the one lurking around Aaron.