Chapter Text
Chapter 1
Chloe Morningstar flew up to the throne of Hell and touched down quietly. The throne was empty for now, but seeing it instantly brought up memories of her make-out session with her now-husband, Lucifer Morningstar, soon after she arrived in Hell to be with him for eternity. Chloe smiled to herself as she remembered being on his lap, moments away from sex on his throne when they were interrupted for a therapy session.
Since then, Lucifer had ordered the throne expanded so they could sit on it side-by-side. Work began when he announced that she would be coronated as his queen, and it was completed by the time the coronation had finished. Now, Chloe sat down on her side of the throne. She wiggled into the seat, getting a feel for her throne.
Her throne. Holy shit. She was a QUEEN.
She still couldn’t believe it. What’s more, she was an archangel now, complete with massive wings that started a deep crimson and slowly faded to a bright white. The bottoms matched Lucifer’s wings almost perfectly. The top were unique, but the red and the white explained their daughter Rory’s hot pink wings.
Rory had been to visit them several times since Chloe had passed from her Earthly life and gone home to the love of her life. While she had enjoyed visiting her mother, she had spent most of the time getting to know her father, who had been forced to be away from them during Chloe’s life on Earth. Chloe and Lucifer had secretly seen each others over the years, but for the most part, they had kept Lucifer’s promise to keep the time loop in which they were trapped intact so that he would discover his calling and save their friend Dan, not to mention the thousands of souls he had saved since. But it had been a brutal separation for all of them.
That was in the past. Now, Chloe and Lucifer were together, and they would never have to be separated again. Now, they were married, they were archangels, and they were the King and Queen of Hell. It was still hard for Chloe to believe, but not as hard as it seemed to be for Lucifer to believe that she could be happy in Hell. He was wrong, though. She was able to solve mysteries and work alongside the love of her life, and even go home every “night” to their penthouse that mimicked the one he had on Earth. She could also visit family and friends in Heaven anytime she wished.
She couldn’t be happier.
Chloe leaned back and smiled as she gripped the brimstone armrests on her new throne. She looked out over the vast hellish landscape. It was gloomy, with the occasional scream of terror, but it didn’t produce the feelings of fear or bleakness she expected. Chloe looked to her right and wished Lucifer was up next to her.
Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by a demon who flew up and began talking immediately, her head bowed. She had bright red hair that flowed behind her voluptuous body and a face that looked completely white, with ice-blue eyes surrounded by black sclera instead of white.
“Pardon me, my Lord, I’m so sorry for interrupting you on your throne, but I’ve been assigned to play the queen, and it’s my first major role in a Hell loop, and I wanted to be sure I had her right, and … oh! Um, your ladyship!” The demon finally looked up and saw Chloe instead of Lucifer. She bit her lip, and Chloe could swear she was blushing. “Please forgive me, your ladyship. I didn’t mean…I mean…I…”
Chloe smiled at her. She was still getting used to seeing demons in their true forms, and some of them made her work hard not to scream in horror, but this one had a very interesting look and a timid manner. She could handle this.
“It’s OK,” Chloe said calmly. “What’s your name?”
“Um…Vestia, your Ladyship,” she said, bowing her head again.
“Vestia…and you’re playing me in a Hell loop?” Chloe asked.
“Yes ma’am,” Vestia said.
“Whose Hell loop has me in it?” Chloe asked.
“I believe he is called Cain, your Ladyship,” Vestia said. Chloe took a deep breath. Lucifer and Chloe had recently started therapy sessions with Cain, but apparently he was still learning from his Hell loop.
“So…what exactly is it you’ll be doing in this Hell loop? As me, I mean,” Chloe asked. She noticed Vestia was beating her wings hard, and she gestured at the empty throne next to her. Vestia’s black-and-blue eyes grew wide.
“Oh, your Ladyship, his Lordship’s throne…I couldn’t!” she gasped. Chloe smiled.
“I won’t tell if you won’t,” she whispered conspiratorially. She winked and pointed to the chair. Vestia slowly moved to the chair and sat down gingerly. “Not bad, huh?”
“It’s nice,” Vestia admitted.
“So, tell me what you’re unsure about, and maybe I can help you out,” Chloe said.
“Well, it’s just that I don’t know you well, and I understand he was your fiancé at one point, so I assume he knows you well,” Vestia explained.
“First, don’t remind me of that debacle. It was not my finest hour as far as my judgment of men goes,” Chloe grimaced. Vestia looked at her fearfully, but Chloe smiled at her and patted her arm. “Second, he doesn’t know me nearly as well as he thinks, believe me. Nothing like Lucifer. He never did.”
“Of course,” Vestia said nervously.
“That said, Marcus Pierce used me to lose the curse God put on him. He claimed he fell in love with me, yet he betrayed me and tried to kill me and Lucifer in the end,” Chloe said bitterly. “So if I were to be in his Hell loop, I would remind him of the relationship he threw away and the badass he created as a result.”
“Ooo, I like that,” Vestia said eagerly. “So maybe try for a bit of sympathy at first, then let him know that I was the last person he should have hurt?”
“Exactly,” Chloe said. “Let him know you’ve done just fine without him, and you’re not ready to forgive him yet for trying to kill Lucifer and for killing our friend, Charlotte. Because honestly, I’m still working on it myself, even though I told him the other day that I did.”
“Got it,” Vestia said, nodding eagerly.
“And if you want to mention that you ended up taking over his job eventually and did so well you got promoted in less than two years, well, that would be OK, too,” Chloe bragged.
“You did?” Vestia asked. Chloe nodded.
“Does that help you out?” Chloe asked. Vestia nodded eagerly.
“Yes, thank you so much, your ladyship,” she said. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. I was so nervous to approach his Lordship about this, but I wanted to do it right, since it was my first starring role.”
“Well, I can understand that,” Chloe said. “I once had a starring role myself, and I was a nervous wreck. But I made it through, and I’m sure you will, as well.”
“Did you do well with the role?” Vestia asked. Chloe chuckled.
“Well, it wasn’t anything spectacular,” she admitted. “A B-movie role where my biggest moment was emerging nude from a hot tub. But Lucifer swears it’s his favorite movie.” Vestia giggled, and Chloe joined in on her laughter. She patted the demon’s arm. “I’m sure you’ll do a fine job. Just believe in yourself.”
“Thank you, your Ladyship,” she said gratefully. “You’re not what I expected.”
“Oh? How so?” she asked.
“Well, his Lordship is kind to us, but, well, I find him a bit intimidating. I mean, he’s the King of Hell,” she said. “But you seem…”
“More personable?” Chloe asked.
“Calmer,” Vestia said. “Lord Morningstar can be a bit, um…grumpy sometimes.” Chloe laughed out loud.
“That he can,” she said.
“Although, he seems to be much more relaxed nowadays,” Vestia said quickly.
“And you’re welcome,” Chloe said, raising her eyebrows and winking at Vestia, who giggled again.
“There you are,” Lucifer’s voice cut through their laughter. “I’ve been looking ev…” he looked at Vestia sitting in his throne and raised his eyebrows. “Vestia?” The demon got wide-eyed and swallowed hard.
“Lucifer, relax,” Chloe scolded. “I insisted she sit there. We’ve been talking, and the poor girl was beating her wings to death trying to hover.”
“Chloe, there’s a hierarchy to these things,” Lucifer said in a low tone.
“Yes, but there are also no chairs when your subjects want to speak with you, so what else was she supposed to do?” Chloe challenged. Lucifer opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. He looked from Vestia — who looked terrified — to Chloe — who looked challenging.
“You may have a point,” he admitted. Chloe nodded and looked at Vestia.
“Anything else you need?” she asked politely. Vestia looked at Chloe and shook her head. “Well, then, good luck with it.” Chloe leaned in and gave her a coy smile. “Give him hell.” Vestia smiled.
“Yes, my Queen,” she said. She glanced at Lucifer and swallowed hard. Vestia rose from his throne and hovered near it. She bowed to Chloe, then to Lucifer, then flew off quickly.
Lucifer watched the demon go and turned to Chloe.
“Honey, we really have to work on hierarchy with you,” he said. “If you don’t keep the demons in line, they’ll revolt. Do I need to remind you what happened when they did that on Earth?”
“No, you don’t,” Chloe said. She smirked. “And I do believe we explored each other’s hierarchy last night.”
“That we did,” Lucifer said, flapping his wings and landing on his throne. He leaned over and kissed her. “However, you do need to remember that you’re their queen now.”
“Lucifer, I understand that, but there’s nothing wrong with being kind to them,” she said.
“But you’re still their ruler,” Lucifer said. “When you were the police lieutenant, then the captain, then commander, you exercised a hierarchy in the precinct, right?” Chloe sighed and nodded. “It’s no different here, darling.”
“I’m sure you’re right,” Chloe admitted.
“However, if I’m being honest, and we both know I always am, I suppose it doesn’t hurt to treat them with kindness once in a while,” Lucifer said. “I’ve always tried to be kind to them. Catch more flies with honey, not vinegar.”
“Exactly!” Chloe said. “So, it sounds like we can compromise on our ruling styles.”
“It appears so,” Lucifer said. “We seem to be brilliant at meeting in the middle.”
“Speaking of,” Chloe said. She crawled into his lap and put her arms around his neck. He grinned and embraced her. “Why don’t we go back to the penthouse and practice meeting in the middle?”
“If you mean this middle,” he said, thrusting his hips against hers, “I’m all for it.” Chloe grinned and gave him a passionate kiss.
“Mmm, after you, Queen Chloe,” Lucifer said. She grinned, popped open her wings, climbed off his lap and took off for their penthouse below, with Lucifer following closely behind.