This Fallen Angel is a very peculiar one. As I was flying towards the mark's signal, I caught a good view of him, before he noticed me coming. He looked... as if he didn't enjoy his life very much. But that's outrageous. Who wouldn't enjoy being my Angel? It was an honor. I broke the glass to the classroom he was in and dragged him out. He didn't cry out or start chattering happily. He just stayed quiet. I wonder why? I tried to make him start speaking, but he just fired back with smart remarks. 

"You're probably the quietest Fallen Angel ever," I commented.

He didn't answer as if he didn't know if I was talking to him, but then he asked, "Is there a problem with that?"

I said, "Is that any way to express your gratitude to me? I am a very high ranking demon for your information. The highest, to be specific." I mean, I did give him one more day than I had to. 

He seemed to think for a moment. "Satan?"

So he knew who I was. "Correct. Now, don't you think that you should apologize for your rudeness?" 

"No, I don't. Why should I? My life's kinda sucked because of this stupid mark," he vented.

 I chuckled. "Has it? But I even gave you some extra time to say goodbye to your loved ones. A whole day, actually. That is better than any of you predecessors got. So, you should be thanking me."

He just snorted. "Well, there was no one to say goodbye to. So, really, you were drawing it out for you. Where are you taking me anyway?"

"It'll be a couple of days before we get there, but we're on our way to Hell," I said nonchalantly. This was my millionth time bringing a Fallen to Hell. Well, not literally, but I've done it so many times that I lost count. 

We neared the thicker clouds, the ones I couldn't fly through. So after I checked to make sure it was safe, I dropped him. He didn't scream, thrash around, or even flinch. He fell quietly and hit the ground with a muffled thud. 

I landed next to him, shaking the snow from my wings. "Alright, let's start walking," I said. 

Lucifer wiped the snow from his eyes. "To where?"

"You ask too many questions," I stated, and starting to walk away, so he had no choice but to follow me.

I felt his gaze boring into my back. He was probably assessing my appearance, which wasn't too out of the ordinary. I had on a leather jacket and a black t-shirt with a white skull on it. My black skinny jeans were ripped, chains on them, and my palms wear covered with fingerless leather black gloves, with small silver spikes on them. My shoes were a pair of black white and gray Jordans. Lucifer shivered, most likely freezing cold. The snow was starting to come down hard, and out of my peripheral vision, I saw him put his arms in his sweatshirt. I looked back at him, smirking. "Cold enough?"

Lucifer narrowed his eyes at me. "Nope. I'm so warm it's annoying."

"Really? Most Fallen Angels I've escorted have either complained or suffered silently. Why are you so different?" I asked. I definitely wasn't going to let him know, but I was very surprised.

He shrugged. "Seems like there were two different types of Fallen Angels: scared or spoiled. When was the last Fallen Angel retrieved?"

I hesitated, then said, "1406." How was he so perceptive?

"There's your problem. People no longer worship all sacred beings. Now, people are terrified at the thought of anything demonic," He grumbled.

I turned and kept walking. "I know. That's why I expected you to be one of those two types. Usually, fear makes humans try to kiss up to me. Guess it backfired. You have a lot to work to do. I've been without an Angel for 16 years."

He kept following, and I sensed through the mark he was gripping his hands, desperately trying to keep them warm. I knew where we had to go, and I hated this part of the journey because 46% of them never even tried to make it this far. They died, and those who made were terrible. Complaining, crying, whining, expecting to be spoiled, and I hated it. But this one was different. He didn't complain, not once. He had too much pride. And I have even more. It didn't make any sense. Although it had taken a while, I could now sense him through the mark. And by sense, I mean every single limb and nerve. Lucifer was suffering silently. When I reached out to feel the mark, he was ice cold. Colder than the air around us. 

I should've turned and offered assistance. My pride and ego stopped me. It made me angry to just imagine myself offering my help, and him smugly accepting. Curse me and my ego. 

The sound of footsteps behind me halted, and I saw that Lucifer was on his hands and knees. Looked like he had tripped. I walked over to where he was and reached out to grab his arm. He flinched away from me the moment my fingers brushed his arm. He looked up at me and said, "I'm fine. Just... give me a moment." His whole body was shivering. And his body, even though it was already a porcelain pale before, was now whiter than the snow around us. Not to mention the color looked gone from his plump pink lips. 

"Hate to break it to you, but you're going to need a lot more than a moment. You're already half dead. So unless you want to die out here in the snow where no one will find you, you'll let me help you." I finally put aside my ego, worry overcoming my instincts. I couldn't do the whole 'wait 16 or more years and then get an angel' thing again. I actually like this one. He's different. 

But instead of shoving it in my face like I thought he would, he just glared and snapped, "I said, I'm fi-" 

His words were cut off by a sneeze. It sounded more like a kitten sneezing though. That made his face a little red. So technically I helped him a bit. I picked him up and threw him over my shoulder. He didn't struggle much, because his hands were still in his sweatshirt. I looked around and spotted a cave. I hurried that way because his body was getting colder by the second.

It was a small cave, and I could barely keep my wings from scraping the sides. I quickly made them disappear. I set Lucifer down and stared at him. His breathing was shallow and fast as he stared right back at me. I lifted his sweatshirt, took one of his hands, and squeezed it, only to drop it quickly. It was ice cold. Even his face held no warmth.

"Why're you staring? It's creepy," he muttered as he rested his head on the cave wall behind him. I had to crouch to fit in the cave. It was highly uncomfortable. Still, I crouched down to his eye level, and lightly slapped his face.

"You can't go to sleep yet," I said. I knew that if he went to sleep now, he would never wake up. D*mn it.

He jerked up, but his eyelids still drooped down. "Why not?"

"If you go to sleep, you'll die. Is that what you want?" Maybe he wants to live.

His eyes opened fully, but the look in his eyes... they were so full of hatred, sadness, loneliness, that I wanted to pounce on him. "Yes."

That one hollow word rang into silenced air. He was giving up. I wasn't about to let him do that. I lifted him a bit and put him between my legs. (A/N: Don't think dirty."Satan" was sitting criss-cross by that time, and Lucifer was small enough to fit as a child would.) His back was on my stomach and I dropped my arms over his shoulders. I rested my chin on his head, engulfing him in a cage of warmth.

I felt his breath steady bit by bit, and let him go to sleep after a while. After I made sure that he was okay enough to. I would never admit it, but he was starting to grow on me bit by bit. I really wanted him to serve me, for eternity. That means he had to trust me, I had to eventually trust him. But, I'm pretty sure I got his trust.

I reached up a little bit, and put my hand through his hair. When my bare skin touched him, sparks flew up my arms, and down my spine, making me shiver. I narrowed my eyes. This... was unexpected.

I had never heard of a Fallen Angel being able to find a mate, much less to me. He was supposed to serve me and do all my dirty work, not love me. And if he ever became a full demon, I would have to kill him. Which would, in the end, kill me, because my inner subconscious would die of loneliness and the grief of losing our mate. How troublesome. At this rate, it would take us another day to get to the portal to my kingdom, and then I have to put him through the test. 

A delicious smell broke through my thoughts, snapping me from my daze. It was coming from the small one in my arms. It was his neck... I bent my head to take a deep whiff, and that only woke up my little -or, rather big- friend down there. He smelled of ginger, cinnamon, roses and vanilla. Somewhere in there, there was also a faint mango smell. I wanted more, but I couldn't. For one, he was a servant, a toy, not a love interest. Second, my little friend would have the urge to do something that I don't think is acceptable to do to a sleeping person, or any person really. I sighed. This was gonna come back to bite me.