Questions, Some Answers
              by sidewinder
                 -----------------------

                 The devil was waiting for Ezekiel.

                 His demonic servant would be returning, soon, to this motel
                 room in the middle of nowhere. It was just another anonymous
                 highway pit-stop like so many others all across America.
                 Lucifer knew Ezekiel would be soul-weary from another day of
                 hunting--especially as today's hunt had ended successfully,
                 with another escaped demon sent on an express trip back to
                 Hell. Even when Stone sent home the worst of the worst, souls
                 with no remorse nor trace of goodness in them--like the one
                 today--it always left him depressed. Must be the reminder of
                 just how easily and quickly Ezekiel could find himself
                 dispatched back to an eternity of suffering, the devil figured.
                 He also figured that as such, a night of mindless fucking would
                 be good for the man, and a small reward for a job well done.

                 Lucifer wouldn't even have to fight Stone to get him to admit
                 that he wanted it now, and that pleased him. Not that he didn't
                 still enjoy getting into a good argument with the man like he
                 used to, every now and then. He could have so much fun taunting
                 Ezekiel when he was in the mood for it, but being able to cut
                 right to the chase and just screw him senseless when he wanted
                 to was definitely a pleasing change of pace.

                 He could not, however, convince himself that other changes in
                 their relationship were such good ones. These encounters with
                 Ezekiel had gone beyond the stage of fun and games where they'd
                 begun. They had become...

                 Lucifer didn't want to call them a necessity, but was calling
                 them an addiction any better? He'd hooked Stone on the nearly
                 unsurpassable pleasure he could grant with a simple kiss...as
                 well as with other things. But somehow Stone, in turn, had
                 hooked him on something even worse--love. Real emotion. These
                 were feelings he'd tried to convince himself that he had no need
                 for, things he had not allowed himself to feel since he had been
                 banished from God's kingdom and denied His love, so long ago.

                 Not wanting to dwell on such thoughts, the devil reached for
                 the TV remote. The evening news was about to begin and he
                 always found it entertaining. Death, murder, political scandals--
                 they were all music to his ears. Every news broadcast was a
                 tribute to his successes here on Earth, proof of how easily
                 mortals could be led astray by promises of power and fortune,
                 by greed and lust.

                       "In other local news, the latest victim of the East
                       Valley Rapist has been upgraded to stable condition,
                       according to physicians at the Fair Meadow Medical
                       Institute. Police Commissioner Daniel Parker was
                       unavailable for comment on the status of the search
                       for the rapist, who is suspected in five assaults in the
                       past six months. Two of those attacks resulted in the
                       death of his victims due to multiple knife wounds and
                       severe beatings. Commissioner Parker issued a
                       statement to the press this morning, reiterating the
                       department's commitment to finding the man
                       responsible for these attacks and once again asking
                       the public to please contact the police should they
                       have any leads or information. Police investigators
                       would also like to speak to the Good Samaritan who
                       brought this latest victim to Fair Meadow last night.
                       The man, who is not considered a suspect at this time,
                       disappeared before the police could question him."

                 The devil chuckled and shook his head. Good Samaritan, indeed.
                 Good Ezekiel was more like it. The police could search all they
                 wanted, but they would find no more clues--nor more crimes--
                 related to this so-called 'East Valley Rapist'. His name was
                 Antonio Roman, and Ezekiel had put an end to Antonio's crime
                 spree this afternoon. Stone had only been on the demon's trail
                 for a week before he found him; but of course, the detective
                 was always particularly efficient when it came to hunting down
                 violators of women. Lucifer found it quite enjoyable to watch
                 his servant closely during these hunts, to feel the conflict
                 raging in Ezekiel's soul. Stone hated these sinners to their
                 very core and showed them no mercy. How could he, when it had
                 been a rapist who had lead him on the path to his damnation,
                 who had caused his precious wife Rosalyn and himself so much
                 pain?

                 The rest of the news was considerably less interesting, so
                 Lucifer passed the time making a few prank phone calls and
                 running up a considerable Psychic Hotline bill on Stone's phone
                 line. When the door finally opened, Ezekiel seemed barely
                 surprised to see the devil waiting for him on the bed.

                 "Nice work today," Lucifer congratulated him as he came through
                 the doorway. "Tell me, Ezekiel, it must have felt good to send
                 another rapist back home, to where he belongs. Especially one
                 as vicious and brutal as Antonio Roman. Did you enjoy it as
                 much as when you took care of Gilbert Jax?"

                 "I'd rather not talk about it."

                 "Ah. You don't like to admit it when you take pleasure in the
                 hunt. I understand. You need to humor that part of yourself
                 that clings to the idea of your inherent goodness."

                 Ezekiel sat on the edge of the bed, shooting the devil one of
                 his better "Don't fuck with me" glances before turning his
                 attention to unlacing his shoes. Darkness clung to Ezekiel's
                 very being, and Lucifer could feel the need burning in the
                 man's soul for the fire of his touch, for just a few hours of
                 pleasure and forgetfulness.

                 Lucifer sat up and wrapped his arms around his demon's waist,
                 rubbed his face against the back of Zeke's neck. Ezekiel leaned
                 into him with a soft sigh, accepting the touch of his hands,
                 the embrace. It felt good. It felt...strange, to simply be
                 touching, sharing, offering comfort. So many things that he
                 experienced these days felt strange to him.

                 He eased his embrace and pulled Ezekiel down with him, onto the
                 cheap polyester sheets of this motel room bed, just like every
                 other sorry bed that they'd shared. From city to city, the
                 rooms and the beds never changed--they were all anonymous and
                 dreary. Sometimes the conditions did indeed bother Lucifer's
                 pride. He deserved better than this. They both did. The devil
                 was almost compelled to change the rules of the hunt slightly,
                 and increase his servant's daily budget so he could afford
                 better lodgings. But to give in to Ezekiel's constant whining
                 about his finances would be a worse blow to his pride than sex
                 at the Super 8, so for now he supposed that these conditions
                 would have to suffice.

                 Ezekiel's kisses were hard and desperate. His hunger was
                 invigorating. His hands were in Lucifer's hair, balled into
                 fists, pulling the devil's head back to expose the line of his
                 neck for an assault of bites and kisses. The adrenaline of the
                 hunt was still in Stone's blood, his rage at this last demon's
                 brutality still simmering. Lucifer knew it would have been an
                 absolutely glorious time to allow Ezekiel to have his way with
                 him, and he yearned to be able to submit himself to that rage
                 and anger.

                 But he couldn't. Not so entirely as before, at least, not after
                 what had happened that time. He indulged the fantasy and
                 Ezekiel's aggressiveness as long as he could bear it before
                 turning the tables, rolling over to pin Ezekiel beneath him on
                 the bed. Their clothing was a distracting nuisance that he
                 banished to ash with a thought. He held Ezekiel's hands pinned
                 over his head and for a moment just stared down at him, holding
                 his fiery gaze. Stone truly had the face of an angel, Lucifer
                 thought, and nothing was better than seeing those angelic
                 features twisted up with depraved lust, like they were now.

                 "Tell me, Ezekiel," Lucifer urged, in that sweet voice that had
                 coaxed millions of men and women into sin and damnation. "Tell
                 me how badly you need me."

                 Still a spark of rebellion flashed in the demon's eyes at the
                 demand. But Lucifer was patient. He shifted his weight only
                 slightly, and the friction between their flesh was enough to
                 send a shiver of delight through Stone's body. Ezekiel closed
                 his eyes and groaned out his admission. "I need you..."

                 "How much? How much do you need this?" Another small shift.
                 Ezekiel gasped and his hands tensed under the devil's grasp.

                 "More than anything. More than life. More than...more than
                 redemption."

                 That was the kind of talk the devil loved to hear. Even if
                 Ezekiel didn't truly mean it...even if he only meant it at this
                 moment, when passion's influence over his words was stronger
                 than reason. Lucifer leaned in and brushed Ezekiel's left ear
                 with his lips. "You need this because you are mine. You always
                 have been. You always will be," he whispered. He spoke the
                 words with conviction, even if he knew the battle for Ezekiel's
                 soul was far from over, his victory far from certain.

                 He urged Ezekiel onto his stomach. Enough time had been wasted
                 on pleasantries. He needed Ezekiel to feel him, inside and out.
                 Lucifer had to touch the fire in that soul, feel its pain and
                 transform it--just for a moment, never long enough--into
                 ecstatic pleasure. Being inside of Ezekiel was like burning in
                 a fire unlike any other, unlike the brutal, searing fire of
                 Hell. This was a glorious flame, this was Ezekiel's soul,
                 flawed and yet at its core, still so beautiful. He made the
                 union last as long as he could bear it, savoring Ezekiel's
                 sweet, desperate cries. It was an old cliche perhaps, but there
                 *was* such a fine line between pleasure and pain, and at times
                 like this there seemed to be no difference between them.

                 His human form eventually gave over to friction and stimulation
                 and he came, the physical release only a minor pleasure
                 compared to that brief joining with Ezekiel's soul. He lay on
                 top of the man for a few minutes, breathing in deep the scent
                 of his sulphurous sweat, the smell of sex and semen and saliva
                 so heavy and rich to his senses. Eventually Lucifer rolled off
                 Ezekiel and lay on the bed, savoring how good it had felt and
                 committing it all to his memory. He shifted onto his side to
                 find Ezekiel looking equally satisfied and thoroughly well-
                 fucked. Lucifer ran his left hand lightly over Stone's body,
                 tracing over what remained of his written handiwork on the
                 demon's body. Each mark glowed softly as his fingers ran over
                 it, and Ezekiel moaned appreciatively and arched into his
                 touch. More than half of the marks were gone already, each one
                 disappearing as Ezekiel sent home another demon. Would Ezekiel
                 still respond to his touch in this way once the marks had all
                 faded away?

                 The detective was watching Lucifer, a small hint of a smile on
                 his lips. The earlier fire was gone, and for a few minutes they
                 could share something close to tenderness. "Do I amuse you,
                 Ezekiel?" Lucifer asked, wondering at the cause of the man's
                 Mona Lisa smile.

                 Stone sighed and shook his head. "Sometimes this whole
                 situation amuses me. Sometimes it depresses the Hell out of
                 me." His smile faded and he looked away. "Sometimes it makes me
                 feel sick. Today...I didn't even hesitate once. It felt...good,
                 sending that bastard back to Hell."

                 "Of course it did. Because he deserved it, didn't he? For the
                 things he did to those women, just for the sake of his own
                 pleasure."

                 "Yeah. Yeah, he deserved it. But..."

                 "...but you feel guilty for that satisfaction it gave you, when
                 you pulled the trigger and heard his soul screaming out in
                 misery. He enraged your sense of justice and you, Ezekiel
                 Stone, wanted to make sure he didn't enjoy another second of
                 'life' on Earth." The devil chuckled. "Ah, I do love seeing you
                 when you're so fired up. Your rage is the finest aphrodisiac
                 I've known in centuries."

                 Ezekiel looked back at him and asked, "Why me? That's what I
                 want to know."

                 "Why you what?"

                 "Why me for this job. Out of all the damned souls in hell, why
                 chose me? Was it because you loved me, or did that happen after
                 the fact?" Stone shook his head. "I've got a lot of other
                 questions, but I know you won't answer any of them. If you did,
                 you'd be lying anyway."

                 "I only lie when it serves my purposes to do so."

                 "Well, there, you see? Since you never do anything that doesn't
                 serve your purposes, why should I bother asking anything and
                 expect an honest answer?"

                 "You're wrong, Ezekiel. For one thing, falling in love with you
                 in no way served my purposes, nor did it do me any good at all.
                 And yet here I am."

                 Ezekiel didn't have a response to that, so Lucifer continued,
                 "All right. I suppose I could grant you the answer to one of
                 your questions. Just one. You want to know why I chose you? It
                 wasn't that difficult a decision, actually. Not as many of my
                 subjects met the basic requirements as you might think. For one
                 thing, I needed someone reasonably familiar with the current
                 state of the world. Someone who had never seen an automobile,
                 or a telephone, or even a gun...well, certainly he could learn,
                 as many of the escapees have, but it would have made his job
                 unnecessarily difficult."

                 Lucifer ran his hand slowly down Ezekiel's chest and stomach,
                 caressing him as he spoke. "I needed someone with a hunter's
                 instinct. Someone intelligent enough to follow the trails left
                 by other demons. Someone smart enough to know how to use their
                 weaknesses to set a trap."

                 His fingers brushed over Ezekiel's penis, now soft but so
                 easily awakened under Lucifer's touch. "I needed someone who
                 believed himself to be truly good and virtuous, who as such
                 would not be easily swayed to join with the other escapees."
                 The devil smiled. "Of course such belief is pure self-delusion,
                 for no soul who is truly good and virtuous would have become
                 mine in the first place. Isn't that right, Ezekiel?"

                 The detective had no immediate answer beyond a soft sigh, his
                 eyes glazing over with renewed longing. Lucifer closed his
                 fingers around Ezekiel's growing erection and stroked it
                 slowly. "So you see, my choices were in fact quite limited. And
                 when I had my possibilities narrowed down to a few select
                 souls, well, then I simply chose the one which I found the
                 most...intriguing. Does that answer your question?"

                 Stone was in no condition to respond him, so he took the silence
                 as a yes. Lucifer slid down the bed and replaced his hand with
                 his mouth, delighting in Ezekiel's moans as he sucked upon his
                 demon's cock. Did Ezekiel know for how few he had ever done
                 this, ever submitted himself in any way for another's pleasure?
                 Not for any of his fallen brothers, that was for certain. Never
                 for any mortal soul, except for this one. The pain of this love
                 he felt, the love that made him do this--made him *want* to do
                 this--nearly brought tears to his eyes. He understood the
                 source of that pain now, and knew that it was not only due to
                 his past, to his bitter memories of perfect love lost. It was
                 the future. It was facing a future where Ezekiel might no
                 longer be his. When Stone finished his mission, what then? What
                 if he still chose to return to the world of the living? What if
                 he managed to truly repent his sins, and when he died his
                 second death he managed to soar to Heaven, to the one place
                 where Lucifer would never be able to reach him?

                 The devil could not let that happen. He wouldn't allow it. God
                 had taken too much from him already; He would not ever, ever be
                 allowed to take Ezekiel.

                 Ezekiel came, much too quickly, his semen burning like lava
                 against the devil's tongue. 'Let it burn,' he thought as he
                 swallowed the fiery liquid. 'Let it burn, and let me carry this
                 sweet fire back home with me.'

                 Ezekiel hovered on the edge of consciousness. He was indeed
                 growing stronger, no longer blacking out completely from the
                 intensity of their activities. Lucifer moved up the bed and
                 rested beside the man once more, just gazing at Stone's naked
                 body until he was certain he could remember every detail and
                 keep it secure in his memory until their next time together.

                 "Mine," he said, brushing his hand across Ezekiel's forehead.

                 "Um hmm mm..." was Zeke's mumbled response. Was he agreeing?
                 Disagreeing? Did it matter?

                 For now, not really. But Lucifer knew that it would, someday.
 

                 [end...?]