Chapter Text
There was a saying in the human world.
Love at first sight…
The first time when her brother Belphegor had told her about it, Lilith had scoffed at that ridiculous idea. Love to her was a complex and serious emotion that needed time to develop and she thought humans were just too frivolous with their emotions to even think this way. It was absurd that with one look, one could feel such intense liking akin to love. Lilith thought it was just silly stage of infatuation that would pass once another attractive person appeared. Everything about humans was just so temporal and hurried due to their short live spans. As an angel, she had never fully understood what made them so special to her Father that He would task higher beings like her brethren to watch over them.
“Lilith! Look at this! Isn’t it wonderful?! Aren’t you glad that I got you to come along with me?” Belphegor laughed as he ran ahead of his sister towards the various colorful stalls selling a variety of food and goods.
“Belphie, wait for me!”
Lilith hurried after her brother, breaking into a run to try to catch up but he was too fast, vanishing into the crowd. She was not used to moving around solely by her feet alone and walking so much made her legs ached. It would have been nice if she could use her wings, but it was strictly forbidden rule for angels to reveal their true forms in the Human Realm unless they had special permission. Lilith gave a frustrated little huff and somewhat regretted following Belphie in sneaking down to the Human Realm just to see what humans called a fair. It was like a huge marketplace where people from different areas had gathered here to buy and sell their goods and services. Belphie would of course be fascinated by variety of human produced items, she agreed some were rather charming and not seen before in the Celestial Realm, but they should be returning home soon before Lucifer noticed they had sneaked down again. She was about to call out again for her brother when she found herself surrounded by three rough-looking human males looking down at her with leering smiles.
“Oooh what have we here? What a pretty little lass. Heh heh heh.”
“Come with us now and we will show you a nice time, lass.”
“Have you seen hair of this colour before? It’s like that fancy shade of pink purple.”
One of them reached out, intending to grab a lock of her hair. Lilith retreated before the human touched her, but they started closing in as they cutting off her escape. Belphie had told her humans were generally friendly and nice but if these three men were any examples of being nice, Lilith would definitely need to revise his opinion of them. She tried to make a run for it but was too slow and a rough hand closed on her wrist. Lilith cried out, trying to break free but the man was too strong as he dragged her back and the other two closed in on her.
“Help! Belphie! Anyone! Help me!..Hmmmph!!!” A hand clamped over her mouth before she could draw breathe to scream.
“Unhand the lady now and no one gets hurt.” A new voice interrupted.
“Oh? Don’t bother us, we saw her first. Let us have our fun and you can have her after we are done. Hahaha…. Urk!”
“You bastard!”
Before Lilith could see what was happening, she was roughly shoved aside. She yelped in pain as she lost her balance and fell onto the ground. There was some further sounds of scuffle and cries, Lilith opened her eyes to see a single man facing off with the three, wielding a staff deftly as he fended off their attacks and landed some painful hits. Gaining no advantage despite their numbers, the ruffians eyed each other and backed off, deciding she was no longer worth the trouble, they took off running in different directions. If not for this new human coming to her rescue, she would have likely broken the rule about using magic while in the human realm. Michael would likely give her a earful but it was facing Lucifer’s disapproval that would make her feel worse.
“Are you alright?” The voice was low and full of concern.
Lilith glanced up and found herself glancing deep into a pair of warm hazel eyes. She could have sworn in that instant, time stood still. Something just seemed to fall into place like the missing halve of a puzzle piece that she did not know she was holding on to. He stood smiling down at her with an outstretched hand. She hesitated briefly before putting her much smaller hand in his. The human helped her to her feet and Lilith winced a little at scrapes on her hands and the bruise she could forming on her thigh where she had fallen on. Taking a step back, she finally had a good look at the human who had came to her aid. He was tall and well-built, his hair a rich dark chestnut that brought out the green highlights in his fascinating eyes. Compared to the ruffians who have accosted her, he was clean and neat, his clothes were not lavish, but they looked well-made and fitted him well. Lilith was no expert, but if she compared him to her brothers, she guessed he could be considered good looking for a human.
“I’m fine, I guess…” Lilith wanted to brush the dirt off her white dress, but her palms were tender, and she flinched.
Pain was a sensation that was alien to her as she had never been physically hurt before as an angel. Lilith did not like it, more and more she was finding the human realm a frightening place and she wanted nothing more than to return to the Celestial Realm as soon as possible, but she would need to find Belphie first. She was reluctant to have to ask the human for aid, but without resorting to magic, he was her only option. Back at home whenever the twins and her got into trouble, it would always be her who would plead their cause to their oldest brother. One look into those sad soft lilac eyes and even strict Lucifer could not bear to be too harsh. Lilith reckon it would work on the human too and without a thought she trained her eyes on his, looking lost and helpless. The swift intake of breath proved that the human was just as susceptible to her little wiles.
“Ah, you’ve cut your hands! They should be attended to. Would you follow me? I have a small stall around here where I am selling my paintings. You can get your hands washed and I have some medicinal salve that you can use.”
“Oh sorry! I’ve forgot to introduce myself. I am Damien, an artist and painter.” The human named Damien smiled reassuringly.
“You are not from around here, are you? I have never seen someone with your hair and eye colour before. I would have definitely remembered if I had, such mesmerizing shades. My apologies, that was too forward of me.” He coughed to hide his embarrassment.
“Yes, this is the first time I am here with my brother. I was looking for him when I ran into those…” Lilith signed as she walked behind him.
“That’s the thing about such fairs, they do draw all kinds of people. Unfortunately, both good and bad. Alright, we are here. Hans! Thanks for watching my stall for me. Put an ale on my tab yah?” Damien waved to the man tending the wooden craft stall.
It was a small booth and paintings of landscape and a few portraits of various sizes were hung or displayed. A painting easel was leaning to one side with an empty canvas set up upon it. As Damien set the huge sack he was carrying down and rummage through it, Lilith took the time to have a look around. While she was no art connoisseur, even to her untrained eye the human was skilled at what he did. His paintings were beautiful, the colours used vivid and vibrant that she could see them gracing the halls of her home in the Celestial Realm. There were only three portraits there at the booth yet each one of them seemed to have captured the essence of the person on canvas, leaving a hint of their personalities and character.
How would I look if he painted me…?
The sudden thought came into her head so unexpectedly that Lilith surprised herself and almost jumped when Damien called out to her. Startled, her cheeks flamed in embarrassment as his voice jolted her back to reality. It was strange that she had just barely met this human yet already he had such an effect on her. Damien had an earthen flask in his hand and a small ceramic pot in another. Belatedly, Lilith remembered he had brought her here to clean the scrapes on her hands, there was nothing to be flustered about. She was a celestial being that had lived more lifetimes than any human, even though she was still considered young by angel standards, Michael had always chastised her about her excitable nature. She took a few deep breathes to calm herself down as the archangel would make her do whenever she got herself into this state. Finally, feeling more settled she moved over to where the human still stood and opened her hands to him. It stung a bit when he poured water over her hands and after flushing for a bit, he gently held her small hands in his much bigger ones and dabbed them dry with a clean cloth. His hands were slender and beautifully shaped, but there was nothing dandy about those hands, she could feel the strength and the calluses on his fingers as he spread a thin layer of salve over her scrapes. His hands were warm, and they gave her the same sense of security like how Lucifer’s hands felt whenever he held her hands on their walks together in the rare times when he was free.
“Lilith!!! There you are! I’m so sorry I got carried away and lost you back there. What happened? How did you get hurt?”
“Belphie! Where did you go! You got me so worried! I encountered some bad humans and this one called Damien saved me and brought me here.”
Belphegor hugged his sister tightly in apology, he had not thought there would be any direct danger in the human realm. He had always wondered how was it that such short-lived humans could be such complex creatures. Unlike the Celestial Realm or Devildom where there was only one main guiding principle, the Human Realm was given this ultimate gift of the freedom of choice. He had studied them for hundreds of years, but he still could not understand the puzzle of human beings and their capricious natures. They were just too fascinating since none of them was ever the same. There had been humans that he had been following from birth to grave, born in the same place, same household yet these humans by the power of their choices had led totally different lives. Michael had told him before that humans were capable of great good and great evil and this was evident in the short human history that even he as a young angel had witnessed. His pink violet eyes studied the one before him called Damien who looked like he was in his mid-twenties. That would put him as older than both Lilith and him if he considered their age translated into human terms and it would seem that this human was a talented painter. More importantly, this human had a beautiful soul that glowed in myriad shades of blue and white.
“Thank you for coming to Lilith’s aid. We are here to visit a distant relative and happened upon this fair. If there is anything that I could do to repay this favour, please let me know.”
“Would you be by any means staying here for a while?” Damien asked.
“I can’t be sure yet even though I would really like to see more of the fair. It would depend greatly if our elder brother would ‘allow’ us to come out more often.” Belphegor exchanged a look with Lilith before he replied.
“There is indeed something that I would like from you two.”
“Huh?” Two pairs of pink violet eyes regarded the human warily.
Damien raised his hands in a placating gesture, smiling warmly as he explained.
“Haha… don’t worry. I simply wish to paint you both.”
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