d e v i l

Phoebe was growing bored of Lucifer’s game. She liked being around him a lot, for reasons unknown by herself, but he always tried the same thing. And she was getting restless. So tonight she agreed to see him only because she was going to switch the game up entirely. He had no idea, but that was the fun of it all. “I don’t think I am,” she said, smirking at him. “I don’t need a drink to do what we’re going to do. Maybe after though.”

Lucifer didn’t like to be a bore. But he didn’t know he was being one. Phoebe was hard to please and Lucifer was going to figure out what made her tick even if it was the death of him. Maybe not that drastic but he was determined. “No? Alright.” He rose an eyebrow at her smirk. “And what is it exactly that we’re going to do?” he asked.

Lucifer treated all of the estate employees like dirt. In his eyes they were there to serve him and do his every command. He treated Ella the worst-- all the Tremaines did. Lucifer had most fun with Perla though. He was walking past her and just so happened to bump into her rather hard. Lucifer would claim innocence, stating it was an accident of course. “Watch where you’re going!” he spat. He couldn’t hide the smirk on his face though. Perla was beautiful and that infuriated Lucifer. Normally he flirted with girls and bought them drinks. He couldn’t be nice to Perla though. No-- she was beneath him. Pretty or not Lucifer wasn’t kind to her. “Shouldn’t you be doing something useful and not be getting in my way? What is that you even do here anyway? Whenever I see you you’re doing a whole lot of nothing. Maybe I should take it up with my mother. I doubt you can afford a pay cut.”

Lucifer didn’t know how Phoebe really operated. He was still trying to figure that out. He knew she was a game player but wasn’t sure what she was exactly playing. He fell trap to it every time though. She was manipulative and an excellent liar but Lucifer was that himself. There was something about her that drove him a little insane. Maybe a lot. He wasn’t sure. Still, she did agree to meet him at his current favorite club. And she had let him buy her a drink in the past so that was a good sign, right? “Are you drinking tonight?” he asked her. “Or are you more of a Sprite and grenadine kind of gal?”

Phoebe never missed an opportunity to show off her bikini body. She liked the attention she got from it and she liked getting the opportunity to soak in the sun and let things relax. She wasn’t surprised when Lucifer showed up around her. He had been trying to get close to her for a while and she was looking ready to talk to the way she sat alone at the juice bar. It was just because she didn’t want to buy herself a drink but now that Lucifer was there she knew she didn’t have to. “Funny. I think this looks more my scene than yours.”

“I think you might be correct there,” he said as he took a seat next to her at the bar. Lucifer looked her up and down, appreciating the sight in front of him. He might not have been so blatantly obvious in what he was doing if he were more sober. Maybe. “You look good. Very beach ready.”

Ella was just being civil, she was being calm and sincere with her words, yes she was being secretly seething but it wasn’t transparent so the only person who knew would be her; “Again, you would need to take that up with your mother. I respect my elders and I stand by what I say, if she tells me that’s okay to do so then I will do it, but until then-… patience is a valuable lesson to learn” she would have love to have commented on that last line because she completely agreed and she didn’t want to be, not by a long shot but she didn’t.

“If you know you can win, then you should definitely solidify that by going up against me. I have a few things here for you, unless you’re chicken of course” once again she wasn’t here to be sassy or off colour she was merely stating what she had always taunt; “One day you will learn that you can’t force people to do things-… I may be your maid but I am not a slave, and if you happen to put one hand on me Lucifer, I will call the police, I don’t care if I loose my job. My self worth and value is more important then any kind of money to me” she worked for them and she put up with them but she didn’t need to to tolerate any kind of threats. “Talk to your mother.”

Patience is a valuable lesson to learn. That was something Lucifer probably needed to hear but it only made him angrier. “I’m sure she’s told you to obey all of our orders. Not just hers. I’ll definitely be taking this up with her,” he told her firmly. 

Lucifer crossed his arms and rose his eyebrows. “I would but unfortunately for you I have a prior engagement and am unable to. Seems like you trying to pawn off your work on me was not a success. My mother will be hearing about that too.” Not in the exact way it happened but he never claimed to be an honest man. “As much as I dislike you I would never lay a hand on you. I’m better than that. How dare you assume otherwise.” Lucifer may have been nasty but he wouldn’t physically harm her. “Trust me, I will be.”

Ella after all this time had been slightly growing a back bone, it was a bone she pretended didn’t exist because a lot of the sarcasm and snarkiness she wanted to let out was reigned in for her employers as she smiled at the other; “Yes, but Lady Tremaine gives me my list and so far you are not on it, so if you would like to be on it, you can talk to Lady Tremaine and she can assign me that to do and arrange the order-… for if I don’t well then-… one of us will be in trouble” she wasn’t saying it to be rude, she really did live for Lady Tremaine - not by will of course.

The comments she was making on the surface were simple, and calm with little to no emotion attached to them because she didn’t want the others to judge or have anything ot pick at. Only she would really know just how much venom and poison she wanted to infect her words with; “Is that because you think you won’t win, are scared too or just have accepted your fate?” tilting her head to the side, “I think it is, considering I work for Lady Tremaine and don’t believe you to be my employer-… more like my co worker or colleague” and even that was pushing it since she wanted nothing to do with him.

Lucifer was appalled. He would be sure there were consequences for the way Ella was treating him. He was going to run to his mother the moment this conversation was over. He knew his mother would not appreciate Ella speaking to her ‘baby boy’ as such. “List? Your job is to do as the Tremaines say. Plural. Not just my mother. You listen to my sisters and I too.” As much as he disliked his sisters he was trying to make a point. “And you may bare the name but as far as I’m concerned you are not one of us. You never will be.”

Lucier’s blood was beginning to boil. He wouldn’t tolerate being treated this way. “I know I can win,” he said though it was complete bullshit. “Excuse me?” A coworker or colleague. He couldn’t believe the audacity she had. His eyes narrowed at her. “Listen to me and listen to me close, Ella. Disrespect me like this again and I will make your life a living hell. Worse than it is. Mark my words.” His hands had balled into fists at his sides and his nails were digging into his palms. He hadn’t noticed at first. “Add feeding my cat to your little ‘list.’”

Lucifer knew that Phoebe was at the beach bash from the photo he had seen on Instagram. He would make it a point to find her there eventually but there were a ton of people there and he had a lot of fans. He kept his sunglasses on for the most part, easier to avoid people that recognized him that way. He spent quite a bit of his time by the bar. He was tipsy but not by any means drunk. He had a drink in his hand when he went to look for Phoebe. When he finally spotted her he acted casual as he tapped her on the shoulder. “Funny running into you here,” he said. “Wasn’t sure if this was your scene or not.”

“Duly noted, I will add it after all of this stuff I have to do” she meant that both literally and sarcastically though the latter tone wasn’t obvious to someone like Lucifer because even though they - unfortunately - shared a last name they were also her employer and she didn’t want to make things worse for herself, she just wanted to keep her head down and do what she had to do so people like him didn’t give her a hard time but that wasn’t working right now was it.

“Maybe we can have a race, I’ll give you what I have to do and then we can see who does it faster-…” again with that snarky attitude that was hidden behind her sincere response because even though she was being cheeky with her responses she would honestly race him just to see him doing the same things she did almost on a daily basis. “You know, I would feel a lot better if I had it in writing with a signature on it, just so that if she comes to me then I have proof you know?” that and she was thoroughly entertained with the idea of him asking for permission.

“Pardon?” Lucifer narrowed his eyes at her. Was she joking? “You’ll do it now. I have a stream that starts in less than an hour. When I say jump you say how high. That’s how it works. You should be grateful we’re letting you work for us and stay here in our lovely estate. You do understand that all, don’t you? Or are you daft?” He was certain she was fairly stupid even though that wasn’t the fact. She was beneath him though, in his opinion, and should be treated as such. 

“A race? No, I don’t think so.” He would surely lose. He didn’t even know how to operate a washing machine. Her attitude was pissing him off though. She was rather gutsy to try and pull something like that on him. “I will do no such thing. It’s unnecessary.” And if his mother did come to him asking if he’d asked Ella to do extra tasks he would just lie. It would get her in trouble that way.

“Oh! Ohhhh, trust me. I know mean, mister. You should see what my diary has to say about you.” She added, trying to sound stern about it. “Three green are hands down the greatest sweet to sour, mostly because you get the citrus in there too. So, I guess your taste isn’t completely awful.” Laughing she sat a hand on her chest. “I mean.. I would totally know that, I’m on the food chain.” She let out proudly with a flip of her hair. 

Lucifer cocked an eyebrow up. “I really do not care what your diary says about me. It’s more likely how madly in love you are with me instead of how much you hate me. I doubt you’ve ever even thrown a punch. You’re just too nice.” He shrugged. “Citrus is alright. I’m more of a cherry or blue raspberry kind of guy.” He scoffed. “We’re at the top of the food chain.”

“Do you really get ladies, Luci? Or do you just scrap at the bottom feeders that wish to climb up a little higher on the social ladder? Just food four thought.” She added with a little smirk over her lips. “Personality gets you no where, money and looks are what have me running things.” Looking at her nails she smiled a little. “I think it’s under your skin just enough to bug you, which is all I need. Like a little bug bite from yours truly. “ 

“More than you get men,” he said, the hint of a smirk lying on his lips. “No bottom feeders. I only dine on the best. Food and women.” The smirk she gave him pissed him off more than it should have but she really just knew how to get under his skin. “No bother here.” Though that was a bit of a lie. It wasn’t killing him inside but it did irk him.

The family that had somehow attached itself to her and her family was honestly one big question mark, what her father saw in Lady Tremaine was the biggest question mark of all but sadly she wasn’t around to ask him. She wished she could ask her father so many things but unfortunately with circumstances as they were that just wasn’t a possibility, but that didn’t stop her from praying each night that a miracle could happen because no matter how good or bad a person was she didn’t think a person ever had to live this way and under these circumstances.

“Of course I have eyes-… and I said I was sorry!” what more did he want her to do? No she didn’t want to open that can of worms because if she did then she knew that she would be opening up for him to pile more things onto the agenda she had on already or to even open the pathway for the other to take advantage of her even more then she had already had thus far; “Well if you must know I am working on Lady Tremaine’s list, I am sure she would be thrilled to hear it’s being classifed as ‘nothing useful’“ she would never in her wildest dreams ever speak to that woman without it being absolutely necessary but she couldn’t help the worlds spilling out. Sometimes he just got on her last nerves.

“Maybe use them next time. Or get them checked.” Lucifer wasn’t in the mood to really deal with her. He had a Twitch stream that started in an hour and he needed to prepare for it. When she said she was working on his mother’s things he scowled. Of course she was. It was priority in the house after all. “Well, I suppose that needs to be done. It should have already been done but you’ve never been known to be timely.” He checked his watch. Fifty-eight minutes until go time. “You know, I need a snack before I start my stream. Some fruit and a sparkling water would be perfect. You’re the maid so get to it. I’m sure my mother would be understanding if you stopped for a moment to get her baby boy something he needed.