AN: Hi, everyone! Sooo, I was talking to my friend Billy Jay a couple days ago, and we had just gotten done doing a Repo!/TDC RP on ShamChat, and she was telling me how she'd read the Bible and Paradise Lost and Dante's Inferno, right? And she said, "It just occurred to me that Lucifer is supposed to be BEAUTIFUL." And she explained that the whole red-skin-and-horns-and-goat-feet thing didn't really come into the popular conscious until the Puritans showed up and started rejecting pagan traditions, and they basically took the goat horns from the god Pan and gave them to Lucifer to freak people out and "put them on the path of righteousness" or whatever, right? And so then she says to me, "What if the horns and red skin are as much an act as the Carnies? What if his true form is so beautiful that he like wears makeup or whatever to make people know for absolute certain that he is SOOOOOOO not on God's side?" And then, because we're both total shipper trash, she also said, "And what if Tamara is the only one who's aware of it?"

And I went, "HOLY SHIT, BILLY, I LOVE IT! Because that would also explain his beautiful blue eyes!"

And so basically, because of this new headcanon that she thought of and we both accepted into our TDC repertoire (for lack of a better word, lol), I now give unto you my first (published) TDC fic, consisting of some Tamara/Lucifer fluff and implied smexy-times, along with the headcanon about Lucifer and his appearance. Enjoy! :)

I DISCLAIM!

Lucifer's eyes snapped open and he quickly sat up, looking around the room. Everything was dead silent, and yet he could have sworn that he'd heard something. Or maybe he was just being paranoid. He sighed and laid back down in bed, then turned to gaze at the sleeping form of the girl beside him and let out another sigh.

He honestly didn't know what had come over him. It was rare for him to do something impulsively. He was always very calculated in everything he did. It had taken him countless months of self-debate before he'd finally decided to oppose God all those years ago. And yet here he was now, in the aftermath of a spur-of-the-moment choice he had made mere hours earlier. He wasn't sure if he regretted it or not. Ever since her arrival in the Carnival, he had been inexplicably drawn to this girl, like a magnetic pull that was there for both of them and that neither of them could resist or explain. And she just looked so much like Hannah...

The girl was naive and innocent. She was only nineteen, shot twice in the chest by an angry boyfriend and sent to the Carnival for being too trusting. Well, she had learned her lesson about that, undoubtedly. After her encounter with Scorpion, she had become wary of all those in the Carnival.

All, that was, except for him.

His voice, she claimed, was soothing. She liked listening to him talk, and when she asked him to read to her from his book, he was always only too happy to oblige. Keeper had, several times now, voiced concerns that Lucifer was showing preferential treatment towards this girl, but the Dark Lord always dismissed these, though he knew deep down that his second-in-command was right. He just didn't want to admit it, because in his mind, that would mean having to acknowledge something that, although he was aware of it, he wanted to continue to ignore, at least for the time being.

When she woke up and realized what had happened, he wondered, would she hate him for it? Lose her trust in him the way she had lost it in Scorpion?

Well, either way, it seemed he was about to find out, because she was beginning to stir.

She inhaled deeply through her nose, and her eyelids fluttered open. He waited. She froze for a brief second, then slowly sat up and looked around, clutching the sheets to herself.

"I believe," he said, making her gasp, "that this is the part where you start throwing things and screaming at me, is it not?"

She stared at him with wide eyes.

"Why would I do that?" she asked quietly.
"I'm the monster that seduced you, aren't I?" he replied.

She blushed and looked down. She truly was still an innocent, wasn't she?

"I...I guess," she said finally. "But I'm the one who let you, so..."

"Is that how you see it? Interesting."
"Look, I'm not stupid. I know that you know that I feel...drawn...to you...and I know that you feel the same way. I can tell there's more going on here than meets the eye. I just...wish I knew what it was..."

There was a pause, during which they gazed at one another, each trying to read the other's expression.

"You look like her, you know," he said finally.
"Who?" she asked, frowning in confusion.

"Hannah. She was a fellow angel."
"...You loved her...didn't you?"

"...Is it that obvious?" he asked quietly.
"I'm not stupid," she repeated.

He sighed heavily as he pushed himself into a sitting position, leaning back against the headboard and closing his eyes.

"That's part of why God threw me out," he confessed. "He...He didn't like the idea of two angels..." He huffed. "I don't know why. Probably some stupid reason, like most things with him. You...You remind me of her."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
"...I don't know. I honestly don't know yet."
"Well...when you figure it out, let me know."

He opened his eyes halfway to look at her. She really was beautiful, he thought.

Oh...damn it. There was no more denying it, no more fighting it. He had thought that he would never feel for someone else what he had felt for Hannah, but this girl...she was proving him wrong.

"Tamara..."
"Yes?"

And before he could stop himself, he was kissing her. Within a matter of minutes, he had her pinned down on the mattress beneath him, holding her by the wrists and keeping them abover her head. She didn't exactly respond positively, but she didn't push him away, either, so he couldn't tell what her reaction was. When he broke away, it was only for a brief moment before he started trailing kisses along her jaw and down her throat. She gasped. "Boss..."

He froze.

"No," he said firmly. "I don't want you to call me that anymore."

Silence.

Then, in a small voice, she said his name. Not one of his titles, but his actual name. And something about it...the way it sounded when she said it...it filled him with something. Something he couldn't identify because it had been so long since he'd last felt it.

Slowly, he began kissing her again, more gently than before. He could feel her pulse in her throat, and he lingered in that spot for a moment or so.

He wasn't ready to say it. Not yet. But he needed her to know.

How was it that tale went again? Not one of his, but that one that she would've grown up with, about the girl and the beast. Would this have the same outcome, he wondered? Could this beautiful young flower learn to love a dark creature like him? As he lifted his head, their eyes locked, and he saw things in hers that he had never seen in Hannah's. There was caution there, yes, but there were other things, too. Things that sparked a wary hope in him that maybe this wouldn't end in disaster.

"He made a mistake," he said, "putting you here."
"Maybe so," she replied, "but if he hadn't, I wouldn't have met you."

"Is that really such a good thing, though?"
"I don't know. You tell me."

And then, next thing he knew, she was the one kissing him.

"I've corrupted you, haven't I?" he said breathlessly. "Made you into something else, something...darker..."
"You opened my eyes," she replied, "that's all. You made me see the way things really are. That's a good thing."

They stared at each other for a moment or so.

"You have such beautiful eyes," she said quietly. "I've never seen anything like them."

He was silent for a moment.

"I'm going to tell you something," he said finally, "something that I've never told anyone else, that not even Keeper knows about, and I'm trusting you to keep it a secret, understand?"

She nodded.

"This...This isn't actually what I look like," he admitted.
"...What do you mean?" she asked, frowning in confusion.

"It's an act. Just like the Carnies. You have to remember, I used to be an Archangel. After I was thrown out and became what I am now, I wanted everyone to know without a single doubt that I was by no means on God's side anymore. So I...I started making myself look like this through magic. The one thing I was never able to perfect was the eyes, so I finally decided to just leave them alone."

"But...if you don't look like this, then...?"

Wordlessly, he rolled onto his back and closed his eyes, just laying there for a moment before his appearance started to change right before her eyes. His horns vanished, along with the long fingernails. By the time it was over, he looked like a completely normal man with long brown hair. When he opened his eyes to look at her, they were the same beautiful shade of blue as they had always been. They stared at each other for several moments, Tamara with fascination written all over her features. Slowly, she reached up and gently put a hand on his cheek.

"You're beautiful," she whispered.

He let out a somewhat humorless laugh. "That's something I haven't heard in a very long time," he said quietly.

"Thank you for showing me," she said. "It means a lot that you would. I promise not to tell anyone."

They gazed at each other for several moments, then he pushed himself up on his elbows and cupped her face in his hand, drawing her closer. He kissed her again, and this time, she responded to it, kissing him back, and that spark of hope gained some strength.

"You know about Scorpion, don't you?" she asked as they pulled apart.
"What about Scorpion?" Lucifer replied, his expression darkening somewhat.

"He's got a thing for me. Seems to think that if he can convince me the stabbing was just part of him doing his job or whatever, then I'll forgive him and let him have me."

He scowled.

"Scorpion had better keep his hands off you if he knows what's good for him," he growled. "You are mine now, you understand me? Mine."
"Good. I honestly don't want to be anyone else's, and even if I did, never in a million years would it be Scorpion. Not after what the bastard did to me."

"If I ever find out he laid a hand on you, I'll do more than just lock him in a cage or set the Tamer on him. I'll make him regret ever having been born."

"I'm sure you're more than capable. But for now, can we stop talking about that insect?"

"What would you rather talk about?" he asked.

She grinned impishly at him.

"I'd rather not talk at all," she whispered.

He caught on to her meaning all too easily, and quickly set to work ravaging her.

So, there you have it! When I emailed it to Billy for her to read yesterday, she told me that it reminded her of those old Gothic stories where the heroine is seduced by the mysterious guy who is probably most likely a bad idea. Honestly, that wasn't really what I was aiming for, but then I realized that hey, it WORKS, so why the fuck not? Anyway, um, yeah, I hope you enjoyed this, and I might maybe possibly post a multi-chapter TDC fic, also, but I'm not sure yet. I'll have to make some more progress on it and see how things start to play themselves out before I decide for sure, plus I'd have to think of a title. Anyway, yeah.

Please remember to review! :)

Also, please don't tell me anything in your reviews that would give stuff away for Alleluia, because I haven't gotten to see it yet, and I don't know when I WILL get to see it, and I don't want any spoilers, so please and thanks.

HAIL AND TESTIFY!