When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

Luke 4:13, NIV

            Jesus staggered slightly as he walked through the desert. The forty days were over, and he had eaten nothing in all that time.

            "Not the smartest move I've seen you make, Jesus son of Mary."

            Jesus whirled. The amused voice emanated from a tall blonde man leaning against a nearby sand dune. He was seated, one leg draped carelessly across the other, and clad in spotless white clothing. Eyes green as the rare desert trees watched Jesus with a calculating air, and his full mouth wore an almost cruel smirk. Something was hiding behind those slitted eyes, something that would have stayed hidden from any mortal man and even any angel, but Jesus was the only begotten Son of God, and even Lucifer Star of the Morning could not hide his soul from God.     

            "And when you would have seen me make a smarter move, fairest of the creations of the Lord, and he who has fallen the lowest of them all?"

            Lucifer grinned, and the flash of his smile was like a flash of sunshine through a cloud, like the first breath of air after almost drowning in the sea. "That miracle at the wedding was nice. I've always liked wine." He rose languidly, and Jesus was abruptly reminded of how graceful snakes really were, all smooth motion and understated strength. "Of course, I've always been fond of food too. You might want to get back on that someday." Lucifer bent suddenly, long blonde hair catching the sun like it was sunlight too, and hefted a rock. He whirled to face Jesus, green eyes lit with challenge. "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread."

            Jesus sighed. He had hoped…"It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'"

            Lucifer's eyes narrowed. He waved one golden-tanned hand and they were suddenly…elsewhere. Jesus turned slowly. He knew what Lucifer valued now, and wasn't sure he wanted to see it. Jesus saw all the kingdoms of the world, all their glory and pride and honor. All the wealth and beauty, all the grace and wisdom. All the corruption, all the death and pain and suffering.        

            Lucifer's breath, scented with cinnamon and cloves, was hot on Jesus' ear. "To you, son of a poor carpenter from Nazareth, I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours."

            And Jesus might have taken the offer, might have taken Lucifer's gifts, but God's Name was carved in bloody letters in his heart. God's light shone like the returning sun after an eclipse, only it didn't hurt. He had seen the glory of the Kingdom, and he knew anything Lucifer created would be only a pale shadow of what God's Favored had once possessed, and lost through his pride. Lucifer could pretend, but God does not lie, and thus cannot be lied to. Lucifer cannot fool Jesus.

            "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"         

            Lucifer let out a huff of breath, and Jesus noticed in the back of his mind that the scent had changed. Now Lucifer smelled like starlight felt, only there was blood behind the stars, heavy and oddly metallic. Lucifer's hands on his arms spun him around, and Jesus was back in Jerusalem, on the pinnacle of the temple.

            "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, 'He will command His angels concerning you, to protect you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"

            Jesus smiled. He could see Michael waiting there, red hair burning like an unquenchable flame, Prince of the armies of Heaven. Lucifer could see him too, but Michael had never defeated the Light-Bearer. It had taken God to throw the green-eyed angel to Earth, the brightest and most beloved of all the angels. God would do nothing now, and Lucifer knew it. Michael was no threat to him. But Jesus was.

            "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

            Lucifer growled behind him, and suddenly he was kissing Jesus, Lucifer's cruel full mouth was on his desert-dry lips, and Lucifer tasted like sunlight drenched in poison.  Michael was screaming in fury, but Jesus wasn't really listening. There was a reason Lucifer was God's Favored, God loved the passion and fire in his Star, and Lucifael was back in all his blazing glory. Lucifael, Light of God, Lucifer before he fell, and there was forgiveness in Jesus' kiss, love yielding to Lucifael's tongue. But Lucifer's scorn whispered in his omniscient mind, and the kiss ended.

Lucifer looked at Jesus, and the unwilling love in Lucifer's eyes, the rage and the hatred and the fury, twisted his heart. Lucifer had been the greatest, and as beautiful as his soul had once been it was that ugly now. But God could not hate, it was against God's nature to hate. The waste of Lucifer's light was what sickened Jesus, that brilliant mind and near-painful beauty degenerating into this.

Lucifer bowed in a mocking salute. "You are the Son of God." Then Lucifer smiled again, and this time it was like a knife dragged over Jesus' face, not quite slicing the weathered flesh but tremblingly close. "I will see you again, Jesus. Now is not the time, but I will see you again." Then Lucifer was gone, and Jesus did not know whether he feared this next meeting or looked forward to it. Lucifer has admitted his respect and his love for God, and this could redeem him, but Lucifer was adversary, and it hurt to fight that which he had most loved. Lucifer, Star of the Morning, fairest and fallen.