Lucifer snorted softly. "I suppose so," he said. "If He'd just talked to us on occasion, we wouldn't all be milling around in the dark, trying to do whatever we felt He did - or didn't - want us to do. But that's not what I was getting at, I just..."

He swallowed.

"I just want to stop hurting you," he said, "To not... make another colossal mistake one way or another."