I stared at Lucifer, not really processing his words. The antichrist. The Devil's child. I backed away from him instinctively. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I promise it's never been my intention to assault you, so you can relax."

"But you said-"

"I know what I said," he said, sighing, "but all I said was that it would be the antichrist, not my child." The confusion on my face must have been obvious because he shook his head and rolled his eyes. "I think it's time I begin that long explanation you said I could give."

He moved over to a fallen tree and sat on the trunk. He motioned for me to do the same. I was still iffy about this whole situation, but I was tired from all the walking and running I'd done today. I sat at the opposite end, leaving a large gap between us.

"Fair enough." He said as I did. "I guess I should start with the meeting that followed your adoption. Of course, I was called to Heaven immediately after. God was furious. It was in violation of our contract for me to directly interfere with your life or your soul, even if I was saving them.

We had quite the heated argument. He argued I was disrupting His plans, I argued He was far more evil than I was if His plan was to let a baby suffer and die alone. We went back and forth like this for a while before deciding we should look at the original contract to decide what should be done.

Well, you have to realize this contract was written shortly after Eden. We discussed every foreseeable situation. It was practically infinite. I don't think either of us really remembered all of it. How could we? Something like this. Was it even possible?" He started rambling on. Making half-formed sentences, mostly to himself.

"Lucifer?" I finally interrupted.

He stopped and took a deep breath before nodding and continuing.

"Let me go back even further. Mal told you why I was forced from Heaven, right?" I nodded. "Well, my goal from the beginning has always been the same. I wanted to give humans freedom. Even now that's all I want to do."

I opened my mouth to protest but he raised a hand to stop me.

"I know. Where does the torture and damnation come in? There are different levels of Hell. Those who commit great acts of evil suffer for them, but those who have only sinned against God live rather comfortably. A hedonistic lifestyle is considered bad, but only because there are usually consequences. Not in Hell. Drink all night without hangovers, eat beyond your fill without ever hurting or getting sick, indulge in flesh without any worries of disease or pregnancy. A life without consequence."

"How can people just live like that?" I muttered, mostly to myself.

"They can't," he said with a slight smile, "that's why I let them. Humans think they desire true freedom, a life of pure pleasure, but they get sick of it. Even the most self-indulgent souls only last a few years before they settle down and go back to living a normal life. The truth is humans only want one thing: to be happy.

They think lust, gluttony, and other sins will make them happy, but they don't. When you have everything you could ever want and you're still not happy, then what do you do? They're forced to look inward, to seek happiness in themselves. One day they finally find it. It's different for everyone. Maybe it's a passion they never pursued in life, a love they never found, or a goal left unfinished, but no matter what it is, they are finally happy. This has always been my goal."

I thought about what he was telling me. It made sense, a bit. Children who are allowed to eat candy until they puke rarely try to do it again. Wouldn't it be the same with souls and sinning? An eternity to seek out true happiness. I wondered what my happiness would look like. I shook off this thought.

"Wait, what does this have to do with Heaven or contracts?"

He gave me a sad smile. "God and I pulled out our old contract. It was clearly written. No demon was allowed to directly interfere in a soul's chosen path without consent. Not even me. There are consequences. For a demon, someone like Mal or Gary, it would be a few centuries of torture." He chuckled a bit at my shocked expression. "A long time for you, but a rather short one for demons. However," his smile faded, his face turned grave, "my penalty was more... severe. A leader is always more culpable than his followers. When we looked at the contract to see what would happen we were both shocked.

God is ageless, but He can grow and mature like the rest of us. You humans are so unpredictable, even to Him, I think He had trouble adjusting to you. When you were first created He was determined that you would live his way, no exceptions. Since that time, much like a tired parent with many children, He has relaxed His rules. More mistakes are acceptable, every individual is not scrutinized so closely. He is truly forgiving.

But He wasn't before." Lucifer said sadly. "When the contract was made He was still angry, spiteful towards me and Adam and Eve. He said I could have as many damned souls as I wanted. I don't think we ever thought..."

He trailed off. I was getting impatient.

"Lucifer," I said, exasperated, "I know I said this explanation could be as long as you wanted, but I think we can both agree it's dragging on a bit."

He gave a weak chuckle. "You're right. Forgive this rambling old man, Venus. I guess it's hard to explain exactly how I've ruined your life. When the contract was written the penalty for demons was rather minor, by our standards, but mine was greater. God wrote that any human soul I interfered with would cause the end of humanity. If I truly wanted responsibility for humans, enough that I would violate a contract with God Himself, then it was decided I would have it. All of it."

"So, I'm going to end humanity?" I asked weakly.

"Not directly," he sighed, "it was decided the soul would only carry the tool for the destruction of humanity. That tool was reproduction.  Free will prevented both of us from forcing that soul to do something, but, as you may have noticed, humans act on that instinct all on their own."

"So if I have a child, it will be the antichrist?"

I never really thought of having children before. I'd always wanted to be a nun. How did I feel now though? Did I want a child? I didn't know the answer, but the idea that I didn't have that choice upset me.

Lucifer shook his head. "Again, not exactly. The antichrist must be a spawn of Hell. However," he said meeting my eyes, "it does not need to be my child. When I said I had no intentions to assault you I meant it. Other demons though..."

"Is this why Mal won't leave me alone?"

"Yes and no. Demons feel an attraction to you, stronger than with other humans. This is why you keep running into them, but Mal's obsession," he sighed and shook his head, "I'm afraid that's just Mal being Mal. You'd have to ask him about that."

"Lucifer, none of these answers are really answers. 'Not exactly,' 'yes and no,' 'not really.' I feel like I'm not understanding anything."

"It's all very hard to explain, but if I had to put it simply. You attract demons, and if you sleep with one of them you will give birth to the antichrist, who will then become my successor and lead to Hell's complete overtake of humanity."

"So another woman leads to the fall of mankind." I mumbled. I wondered if Eve had this much guilt after Eden.

"It's not because you're a woman. I promise you that." He said sternly. "Had you been born a man the same thing would have happened, the demons would just be female."

"What a comfort, the damnation of humanity isn't sexist." I said, rolling my eyes.

Lucifer slid across the log and sat next to me. He put his hand on my shoulder. We sat silently for a moment.

"I'm sorry, Venus. For everything."

"Shouldn't you be happy? Doesn't saving me mean you got control of humanity like you wanted? I'm surprised you didn't do it years ago."

He moved his hand from my shoulder. I looked over. He was looking at the ground, he seemed upset.

"I know to you I am the embodiment of evil, something you have been taught to hate your whole life. I know you may never fully overcome that. I have never wanted to harm you or humanity. Only set you free. My methods may seem unorthodox, but it is the way I see best to do things.

I never thought I would be the one to interfere with a soul. I never wanted to influence someone's will. I assumed humanity would flock to me naturally, see me as the more benevolent choice over time. The apocalypse? A thing of pure fantasy. Antichrist? A laughable concept. I never could have imagined things would have happened this way.

Do I want control of humanity? Absolutely. Did I want to ruin an innocent girl's future to make it happen? Absolutely not. All this time, I couldn't watch over you, but I always cared for you, Venus. You are the closest thing I have ever had to a child, and I only ever wanted the best for you. This is not it."

I wanted to be angry. To scream, and hit him, and blame him for everything, but I couldn't. At the end of the day two things stuck out from his story: he saved my life and he never wanted any of this to happen to me.

"So, what happens now?" I asked.

"Only God knows." He said, giving a dry laugh. I smiled faintly. "I have interfered in your life enough. I will never force you to do something.

Run away and live your life as a hobo, I'll wish you safe travels. Meet a nice church man and settle down, Hell will never touch your family. Or if you decide you would like to speak to Mal..." He trailed off.

I thought about it. Lucifer really was giving me complete control over my future. If I asked I was sure he never let Mal near me again. Is that what I wanted?

True happiness. The thing all souls desired. What would make me happy? What did I want for myself? I pictured a small, but comfortable house. I saw myself in a tiled kitchen, in a long dress and an apron making dinner. It's a warm fall day, the leaves are rustling in the breeze, a couple break loose and flutter past my window.

This was nice, it was peaceful, but was it what I wanted? Why did I still feel empty? What was missing?

A hand rested gently on my waist. Lips pressed against my neck and a chin rested itself on my shoulder. It was simple, familiar, and filled the emptiness I felt.

"How was work?" I pictured myself asking.

"It was Hell." A familiar, raspy voice replied.

We both gave a small smile. A habit for a joke that had been told too many times and was still always funny. I liked this future. I felt like it really would make me happy, but could it ever be a reality?

"Bad guys rarely turn good, good girls rarely turn bad. A poor match." I said, repeating Lucifer's words. He nodded vaguely. "Do you think he could ever change? I know he'll never stop being a demon, but could he ever change? Could he be the man I need him to be?"

"What do you need him to be?"

I thought about it. "I don't know. I don't want him to be different, just better. Does that even make sense?"

"No, but love never does. It's why we're in this mess." He laughed.

A love so strong it made the Devil change. Didn't that mean anything was possible? Stay or leave, the choice was mine, but either way, I was tired of running.

I turned to Lucifer. "I want to talk to Mal."

He nodded and embraced me. Black smoke surrounded us again. As it faded the silhouette of a familiar house stood in the moonlight.