Lucifer still wasn't used to the way Azrael just showed up, though she'd gotten into the habit in the years since their reconciliation. He'd turn around and there she would be, sipping a coffee or correcting Trixie's history homework or playing with one of the cats that he and Trixie had gotten after he and Chloe had bought the house.

(Trixie hadn't begged, but she'd done that thing with her eyes that Lucifer had found increasingly perilous, and somehow he'd found himself turning down the road to the animal shelter.

"You hate cats!" Chloe had said, puzzled, when Trixie had burst into the house, gleeful with the news.

"I know!" he'd replied. "But they sound like tiny sportscars, and I found myself unable to resist when the child handed me one."

So, cats.)

Still, Lucifer was generally glad to see his sister. She often brought entertaining gossip from the Silver City, or news of what odd things the humans were up to in other parts of the world.

When she showed up just after the seasons changed, her expression serious, he sat down at the kitchen table and nodded to the chair opposite. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Well, maybe nothing," Azrael said, with a small grimace. "Depends on your perspective, I guess."

Lucifer sighed. "This isn't going to be one of those times when you dance around something for twenty minutes, is it? I need to go meet Chloe."

"Look at you, calling her what she wants to be called," Azrael approved, her expression briefly lightening. Lucifer made a wry face. "Okay, okay," Azrael said, her tone mollifying. "I just thought you'd want to know that your vampire died."

"My…? Oh." Lucifer remembered, then frowned. "So soon?"

"Lulu, it's been years," Azrael replied, her tone gentle. "Car accident," she added, before he could ask. "All that time, and that's what finally got him."

Lucifer nodded, silent for a moment. "So in the end, where did he go?" he asked, not sure which answer he wanted to receive.

"Heaven, of course," Azrael replied. "He lived a good life."

"Poor bugger," Lucifer muttered, blinking hard, his throat gone strangely tight.

And it wasn't even that he had wanted Henry to go to Hell; certainly not. But the vampire had stopped by when he was in the area, and even though it had been more than a year since his last visit, Lucifer still regretted that there would be no more. And if Henry was in Heaven, well, Lucifer would never see him again.

He tried very hard not to think about future deaths. Just the idea made him want to gather up his friends and hide them away from anything dangerous, but he knew that would not go over well.

"Hey," Azrael said, and Lucifer met her gaze without thinking. "You did that. You helped him get the thing he wanted the most in the world."

Lucifer smiled, but shook his head. "He did a lot of it himself."

Azrael shrugged in acknowledgement. "Yeah. But without what you did, he never would have had the chance. So the next time you hear somebody badmouthing the Devil, you remember that. Okay?"

Lucifer smiled, nodding. "All right."

He glanced away, and when he looked back Azrael was gone. She never liked goodbyes, probably because she'd seen too many of them among the humans, but he'd gotten used to that about her.

Lucifer smiled as he got to his feet and left the house. He paused to peer into the sky, gazing at the weathered bat house that hung on a pole near the house, its top still holding hints of green glitter. "Hope you're not too disappointed, Henry."

Lucifer whistled as he started the car, suddenly pleased by the very thought of it: a vampire in Heaven.