It had been about a year since “the Split.” Sebastian sat in his penthouse, thinking over all that had happened in that time.
November 20—
Sebastian woke up in the arms of a vampire who he was told, was bonded to him. The last thing he remembered was lying on the pavement after having been hit by a car. He’d seen a mirage of a dark-haired angel with pure white wings, thanked God his Duckie was safe, and then… nothing. Now, upon awakening, he learned he was married to said angel.
The room was filled with strange people, some he knew, most he didn’t. He recognized Duckie and Bethany. He recognized Lucifer, his husband and guardian angel. He vaguely recognized Cat. That was all by sight, but bizarrely enough, he could swear his body recognized almost everyone present. Stranger still, though several people maintained that the vampire Xander was his boyfriend, while Xander was the one who’d awoken him, Sebastian’s body remembered nothing of him. He assumed if they had been dating, it had just begun and/or was a sexless relationship. He was told he was incorrect on both counts: they’d been dating for a year and had slept together at least twice.
He was attending the birth of the wife of his husband’s best friend. He was distinctly nauseated. He wasn’t the only one. He also got the distinct impression that he, Lucifer, Duckie, and Nathaniel harbored a strong dislike of the woman birthing. Duckie and Nathaniel were apparently good enough friends to echo each other’s opinions and emotions and Sebastian had slept with both of them. That was alright, he supposed. Duckie, meanwhile, was with a good-looking woman, curly of hair and curvy of body. Sebastian didn’t like her, but he reckoned he’d get over it, especially since she was hot. Duckie had good taste, and Sebastian supposed that was alright, too.
Nathaniel, on the other hand… Sebastian reckoned he must be seeing the guy he was with out of pity. They were opposites: Nate was tall, blond, toned, and walked through a room like he owned it. George was at least an inch shorter than Sebastian’s own 5’9” and of stockier, or maybe just softer, build, brown of hair and eye, without much presence to speak of.
Lucifer’s friend, Faustus, and Faustus’s wife, Freya, were equally boring to look at, both pale and very dark-haired. To be fair to Freya, though, it was entirely plausible she looked better when not in the midst of delivery. Xander, who was also pale with black hair, had strikingly beautiful features. If such a thing could be said, eh was prettier than the Devil himself.
A searing pain shot through Sebastian, but was gone before he could react to it. He didn’t know what to make of it, so he decided to ignore it.
Freya’s babies were delivered safely, with the help of another devil—as plain as Faustus and George—and of Bethany, who was experienced with colts, piglets, and calves. Sebastian learned later that most of them were there for moral support for Faustus, who’d been browbeaten into this marriage on pain of death.
“It’s not like that,” Faustus said to Sebastian’s doubtless-horrified expression. “TI was our Dark Lord—the other devil, as you’ve called him—who offered me the choice. Freya wouldn’t harm me.”
In Sebastian’s opinion, coercion was coercion, and even if the deal only stated a marriage must occur, Faustus was all but stuck with her now, shackled by two tiny newborn leashes.
“This whole birthing affair has got all the girls, minus Helena and plus George, positively baby-crazy,” Faustus confided, grimacing.
“Leverage it,” said Sebastian automatically. He covered his mouth, looking at Faustus with wide, apologetic eyes. Faustus, though, gestured for Sebastian to continue. He’d quickly shut down the cunning thought, but at Faustus’s prompt, he brought it back to the surface easily enough. “The girls and George want babies of their own; have them babysit when you need a break or want to take the wife out for date night.”
Faustus understood the significant raise of Sebastian’s eyebrows to mean he should use date night as an excuse to fob the babies off on the girls. His pride was a bit ruffled at that. “I have raised babies before,” he said. “Motherless children, wards of the Church of Night, of which I’m High Priest.”
Sebastian shrugged. “I don’t know you well enough to doubt your abilities,” he pointed out, “but the suggestion is there.’
Among this and other conversations, Sebastian decided Faustus was an amiable enough fellow, if a bit stuck-up. His personality unsuppressed dramatically after a few drinks, so unsurprisingly, Luci was frequently inviting him round for wine and a movie. Wine gave way to mixed drinks before the first bag of popcorn was gone. Faustus provided ridiculous commentary on whatever they were watching, frequently in the form of freestyle rap. Luci hated rap, but somewhat tolerated it from Faustus. If Sebastian was feeling light-hearted enough, he’d get up ad make up a cheer routine to whatever Faustus came up with.
At the end of such nights—that is, by 2:00 a.m., Luci cured Faustus’s drunkenness and sent him home to relieve that night’s babysitter of their duty. Surely the fact that Faustus always got home after last call was not missed by the old ball and chain, but as he never went home drunk or even smelling of drink, there wasn’t much she could say. Even if she did, neither Morningstar could summon the energy to care.
The closest Sebastian had to a baby was his cat, Figaro, a sleek black American shorthair. Luci had made it abundantly clear that Figaro was Sebastian’s cat, not their cat. Figaro had been a present from Xander, who lived down in the wine cellar. Well, at least when he wasn’t working; both Xander and Lucifer had jobs that required a lot of scouting. For Xander, that meant curating artwork and verifying archaeological finds from his human days. For Lucifer, it meant scoping out the competition, also known as attending the grand opening or re-opening of every club in California. Bottom line: Sebastian had a lot of time on his hands.
He’d been on leave from his own law firm for a while. He took advantage of still being on “medical leave” to brush up on his legal knowledge, in case he’d forgotten any of that. It surprised him that he hadn’t. Still, he went to the Bar Association and told them he’d suffered a head injury and would like to re-take the Bar exam. He passed, with a much higher score than when he’d initially taken it, and was able to resume work at his firm. Though his staff had had things well in hand, they welcomed his return. He took to work like a fish to water, taking any case he was asked to and winning all of them .He could usually tell the innocent from the guilty from their first meeting. The truly innocent, anyone in his firm could get off .he preferred to work for the guilty. He got them off and gave them to Luci to be punished, or to Désmoda and Maze to be tortured and kept as sex s laves, if their crimes were heinous enough to warrant it. Otherwise—if they’d acted in self-defense or for vengeance that the Morningstars deemed necessary—Sebastian got them off and warned them not to get caught again.
This year, Trent and Rebecca hosted Thanksgiving. Trent’s turkey was even better than Sebastian remembered. Trent also convinced Rebecca to make dinuguan, a Filipino dish she had learned to impress the family of someone named Josh Chan. Embarrassed by how badly that year had gone, Rebecca protested.
“But I’ve already butchered the pig,” Trent counterprotested.
“It’s funny how you made it for your ex but you won’t make it for the guy you’re with now,” Sebastian observed mildly.
Rebecca glared at him. “Okay, fine,” she snapped. “I’ll cook the stupid pig.”
Nathaniel and George put themselves in charge of roasted vegetables. They roasted butternut squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, and brussels sprouts in balsamic vinaigrette with a mixture of savory spices. George also tossed some salad. Cat brought homemade honey mead and mulled cider. Lucifer an Sebastian made mincemeat pie, and some ice cream cakes made with amaretto and rum.
Trent assured Faustus and Freya that, while they were welcome to attend the feast, they didn’t need to bring anything. He reckoned they’d be far too busy taking care of the twins to cook anything.
Bethany brought comfort food: macaroni alfredo, mashed potatoes, fried chicken, salmon casserole, lobster rolls, and sweet corn pot pies. “It’s great to be so close to the ocean,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to cook with fresh seafood.”
Trent’s intern Cygnet was friends with Troy. They and some of their friends from college brought food, too. Troy brought dim sum, Cygnet brought Peking duck, Cin brought homemade bread studded with fruits and nuts, and Désmoda brought some traditional Baltic dishes with names the others had trouble pronouncing.
As a whole, the feast was well-received. Troy in particular loved the dinuguan and complimented Rebecca profusely, which took some of the sting out of her being bullied into making it in the first place. Sebastian’s favorite was the Peking duck. Rebecca favored the macaroni alfredo. Trent’s favorite was the lobster rolls, but he noted that he loved everything his mom cooked. The others agreed, save Faustus. Freya told nostalgic stories about her own late mother’s cooking.
When they’d all eaten their fill, Bethany led them in packing and labeling leftovers. They drove to Los Angeles, parked at Lux, and made a procession through the streets downtown. They handed out food to the hungry. The college students had also brought handmade blankets, scarves, hats, ponchos, and socks. Sebastian invited everyone he saw to call Morningstar Industries to inquire about housing. Lucifer invited every streetwalker he saw to party and stay the night at Lux. Offered handsome pay and free drinks for their time, they agreed.
Everyone ended up staying the night at Lux. Lucifer took one male and two female hookers up to the penthouse with him. The Blackwoods, including the twins, slept in the suite on the penultimate floor. Trent and Rebecca got the next floor down. Troy and Cygnet, fourth down. Cin and Dés, fifth down. Sebastian went to the room in the basement he sometimes shared with Xander.
Sebastian really didn’t know what to make of Xander. Looking at him was searingly painful despite his beauty. Sebastian must have loved him once, or else looking at him would not be so painful. Xander insisted he loved Sebastian and was clearly sad that his human didn’t remember him. Sebastain didn’t want to think about it, so he didn’t. He just enjoyed the time they spent together as much as he could. Being bitten and fed from almost made him believe he was loved. He kept his reservations to himself and showered Xander with affection equal to what was shown him. He didn’t speak a word against the vampire, but he felt they were not as close as his alleged Bonded insisted. There was a wound, deep and gnawing, a hole in Sebastian’s heart that a thousand sweet words couldn’t fill.
Things with Trent were… different from before. Sebastian’s body sensed him, feeling as though they’d been together already. He wondered if they’d decided they were better as friends, and if so, how long it had taken. Sebastian still utterly adored him. He was happy that Trent was happy, but there were times he missed the feel of Trent’s warm body beside his own at night. He wondered what it had been like, making love to him. Sometimes, if he wondered hard enough, he could almost feel it. Trent secretly gifted him a toy cast from a mold Trent had modeled for. It was a kind gesture, though it wasn’t the same. Still, Sebastian treasured it, much as he did Lucifer’s ring, and used it with reverence and gratitude.
When he’d first come to, he’d gotten the distinct impression that he disliked Rebecca. Even so, she was very much his type. He somewhat enjoyed thinking of her and Trent together, and wondered if they’d let him join them every now and again. He couldn’t think of a tactful way to ask, though, and didn’t want to make him legitimately angry with him. He did enjoy ribbing her from time to time, though. From what he could gather, they’d all met in college. Trent and Rebecca had dated off and on since then, and had finally decided to be together. Sebastian didn’t particularly dislike Rebecca anymore and reckoned they’d just gotten off on the wrong foot when they’d met and the feeling had lingered, or maybe she’d annoyed him just before he’d lost time.
With Luci, it was like he was in awe of the fact that anyone had wanted to marry him. He was grateful for Luci and adored him, though perhaps not as much as he loved Trent. He learned he and Luci had begun Morningstar Industries together. Mostly they bought and improved properties, then converted them to something useful and rented, say, rooms in an abandoned mall to streetwalkers in exchange for the tenants working with one of their charitable affiliates.
It was with delight that Sebastian learned he could afford anything he wanted. He frequently commissioned artwork of his friends from struggling artists he met on Facebook and paid twice their asking price. He enjoyed strolling farmer’s markets and artists’ festivals. Luci enjoyed it, too, the novelty of seeing new things. It wasn’t unusual for them to buy one thing from each booth and outfit the rooms of their acquired properties according to theme. Sebastian wasn’t buying things just to store them in the dark somewhere. Quite a lot he gave as gifts to tenants and employees. Anything for which Luci expressed appreciation got displayed in the club, in lobbies in their penthouse.
Their marriage was open, and Sebastian didn’t have an opinion on that. He didn’t mind Luci sleeping around. He had some dalliances now and then, and they were each… an experience. He, Luci, and Nate slept together whenever Nate and his partner were on the outs. Sebastian and Trent cuddled like they always had when they could, but didn’t go farther than that. It was strange, adjusting to the fact that they were both married to other people.
Sebastian and… what’s-his-fuck, the guy Nate was with, avoided each other out of mutual dislike. Sebastian didn’t know or care if the guy knew he and Nate were fucking. Something about him just got on Sebastian’s nerves. Maybe it was just a personality clash, or would have been if… Gianni? had a personality to speak of.
Faustus’s wife, Freya, struck Sebastian as rather… territorial. She bristled at the idea that Faustus might be attracted to anyone else, which he absolutely was, but as long as he wasn’t acting on it, what was the issue? Clara, for example, a young woman of Jamaican descent who worked with Trent, Cat, and Cygnet, was rather pretty—though not Sebastian’s type—but couldn’t be touched by anyone. Faustus was intent on finding her a cure, and Sebastian suspected there was more than just professional [enthusiasm] at play. Then there was the way he looked at one of the dragon shifters, a girl named Threnody when she was in human form.
The thing was, Freya wasn’t bad to look at. Sebastian wasn’t sure why she seemed so insecure; she was indisputably better-looking than Faustus, and neither Clara nor Threnody had shown an iota of interest in him Freya herself, meanwhile, had awkwardly tried to flirt with Lucifer, who openly disliked her, and Sebastian, who’d basically laughed in her face. Sure, Sebastian liked girls, but while Freya was better-looking than Faustus, she still wasn’t his type, nor was she charming enough to make up for it.
Also failing to catch Luci’s and Sebastian’s interest was a half-elf named Becca, who’d tried to throw herself at both Morningstars. Two of her adult children had also shown an interest in Luci; he’d decided to humor Allya.
Allya was also the one Sebastian was the most willing to share Luci with long-term. Truth be told, Becca, Allya, and Freya were hard for Sebastian to tell apart, all pale girls with long dark hair and light-colored eyes. He wasn’t entirely sure why he felt the most comfortable with Freya. Maybe it was because she’d never tried to fuck him, or if she had, he’d forgotten about it.
Girls had thrown themselves at Trent and Sebastian back in high school and they’d never enjoyed it. Trent preferred to distract them by setting them up with a friend. Sebastian had been much more willing to humor them, going to third with most girls who asked him to. It had always been something he did because he could and was asked to, not because he wanted to. He didn’t hate it, usually. Now that he knew he could have men, strong and hard and comfortable, with visible arm muscles and deep voices, that was the route he preferred to go. Despite being in his 30’s, Sebastian looked like a twink. Quite a lot of gay and bi men appreciated his delicate features, Goth dress sense, and long, soft, curly blond hair.
Xander didn’t want him dating around, but since Xander was rarely around, Sebastian disregarded that. Out of sight, out of mind, as Nathaniel liked to say. Besides, thinking about what Xander wanted was inexplicably painful. Sebastian wanted to be treated with all-consuming desire, so he went where he could find men who would badly want to sleep with him. Such a simple concept.
Sebastian had noticed a sort of tension between Freya and Nathaniel, and wondered about it. Did he have feelings for her? Would Gianni care? Nate and Luci both seemed to think Gianni would care if he knew Nate was fucking Luci and Sebastian. Did it make a difference that Freya was a woman? Faustus certainly wouldn’t mind; he objected to comments about his wife only when he felt he had to. When he was made to feel he had to.
Freya was the High Priestess of the Los Angeles Church of Night. She presided over important ceremonies, took the names and pledges of new initiates, and otherwise devoted her life to serving the Dark Lord, all while caring for twin babies. She had the other girls’ help with the twins and Faustus’s help with the practical aspects of running a church. All Faustus’s associates back home had been surprised he let his wife be in charge of the new church branch. They were even more surprised that he’d deliberately gifted it to her! Upon his move to Los Angeles, or Hell-A, as he affectionately called it, Faustus promoted Ambrose Spellman to High Priest of the Greendale Church of Night and his Aunt Zelda to Headmistress of the Academy of Unseen Arts. Promoting not one but two Spellmans was a deliberate screw-you to the overreaching Johansson family. Balancing priest duties, motherhood, and an apothecary probably wasn’t easy, especially since Faustus liked to get drunk and party at the penthouse. But she was the Dark Lord’s Chosen, so presumably she was getting help from her very own supernatural patron as well.
Sebastian had met him, once or twice. He liked Sebastian’s little pink crocheted Baphomets. Maze had also taken a shine to him, and Sebastian hadn’t seen much of her around either, so he guessed they were together.
Trent’s interns, Cygnet and Clara, were nice as far as Sebastian could tell. Cygnet was both shy and friendly; she clearly enjoyed his company but seemed at a loss for what to say around him. Clara was a curio. She physically couldn’t be touched—she’d been openly surprised when Sebastian had survived contact with her—and people flocked to her out of curiosity.
Christmas was a much quieter affair than Thanksgiving. Rebecca, Lucifer, Maze, Faustus, Xander, Freya, and Blaine didn’t celebrate. Bethany hosted a potluck where they ate goose and food otherwise similar to Thanksgiving, put on Biblical movies, and played games. They played Monopoly, Scrabble, dominoes, Yahtzee, Uno, and Cards Against humanity. It was a reasonably good time. A week later, Lux hosted a New Year’s party.
Sebastian enjoyed the parties and spending time with his friends. As morose as he could sometimes be, it was nice having people around. He’d gotten a Christmas kiss from Trent and a New Year kiss from Luci. He could fall into a man’s arms with a snap of his fingers. Life was pretty good.
Valentine’s Day he spent quietly with Luci and after that, time sort of blurred together. Now… here he was. Defense attorney, philanthropist, real estate developer. Deeply in ennui, with pieces of his heart going to each of his special men.
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