Chapter 2: 2.- Let’s Conquer the World

Erica and Lucifer ran away for a couple of days. It was nothing new for them, in fact they took it quite calmly. They stole several cars one after another, bought wigs, changed clothes several times and avoided crowded places, as they were less likely to be noticed. Erica had already finished school a couple of months ago, and although they had plans for the future, there was nothing rushing them.

Living on the road was fine, but they soon grew tired of it. So when they saw a sign inviting them to a "luxurious beachside hotel," they decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to go take a look. Despite being on the beach, that entire area was full of mountains and inclines. The trees along the road rose large without letting them see the sky, from time to time an animal appeared and stared at them with curiosity. It was a quiet area.

At the end the road, they descended precipitously to a huge, very colorful building next to the beach. In a few minutes they left their battered stolen car in the parking lot, went to the front desk to ask for a room, went to shower, and then went downstairs for dinner. They were served by a waitress with long eyelashes who couldn't take her eyes off Lucifer.

—What would you like?— she asked with one hand on the table and the other against her waist, smiling at the man.

—What do you have to offer?— he asked back, with one of his charming smiles.

Erica frowned.

—I want juice— said the girl, her voice higher than necessary.

But despite this, she did not manage to interrupt for long the flirtatious glances that the two adults were giving each other. The waitress took advantage of the interruption to give Lucifer a list of the drinks they had available, he ordered wine. When the waitress left, Erica stared at her father with an unfriendly face.

—What?— he pleaded.

—I'm here too— she claimed.

—Haha. I'm sorry.

Despite this, Erica didn't stay calm.

—You're not going to sneak out at night to spend it with her, are you?

Lucifer grinned from ear to ear.

—Maybe.

Erica gritted her teeth and looked away, frustrated. She came to her senses, however: she couldn't remember her father's last companion. She couldn't be unfair to him, no matter how much she disliked the idea. In the end she sighed.

—No, it's all right. You can go if you want to.

Lucifer looked at her with wide eyes, surprised. Then he chuckled again.

—I was only joking, princess— he leaned over the table with parsimony and intertwined his fingers —This vacation is for the two of us. Let's have a good time together.

Erica smiled, excited.

—Yes!

 

The next day they got up early to take advantage of various activities, after a quick shower and breakfast.

—Where are we going first— asked Erica.

—What do you say we take a walk in the woods— suggested her father.

And off they went into the forest. They walked away from the hotel towards the mountains full of trees and got lost there, walking aimlessly. They crossed streams, saw exotic animals and took pictures. All was going well, until in the middle of the trail they came across an injured man, one of the hotel guides. They approached to help him, when a mountain lion appeared out of nowhere and attacked Lucifer. Erica quickly prepared to grab him and shake him off, but before she could act, her father knocked the animal down in one simple move and then grabbed it by the back like a cat to show it to his daughter up close. The latter took the puma in her hands and observed that it was asleep.

—What did you do to him?— she asked her father.

—That's one of my big secrets— he answered before giving a frivolous chuckle.

Erica narrowed her eyes and looked at him unsatisfied.

—Another one for my collection. Someday I'll make you tell me all these tricks.

Lucifer put the puma aside, bent over the half—dead guide and examined him. He had a horrible wound on his neck. It was not clearly visible because of the dirt and excessive blood, but it seemed to Erica that it had no chance of survival.

—First we have to stop the bleeding— said Lucifer —Could you go get some water? I think I heard a stream earlier, where we passed.

Erica nodded and ran to where her father indicated. Since her legs were faster than the best Olympic sprinter, it took her no time at all to get there. However, as she did so, she realized that she had no bottle with her, so she sipped the water into her mouth and returned with her cheeks puffed out to her father. When he turned and saw her, Lucifer burst out laughing. Erica wanted to protest, but there was water in her mouth.

—Wipe the blood away— he asked.

Erica splashed the water on the guy's neck, being careful not to touch the wound. To her surprise, as she cleaned off the blood and dirt, she realized that there was only a gash of a couple of centimeters on a muscle, no big deal. Still Lucifer slung the unconscious man over his shoulder to carry him back to the hotel.

 

After leaving him with the nurse and giving sufficient explanations, Erica and Lucifer headed to the beach to relax. They rested for a while under the shade of a parasol. Later they bought an inflatable boat and headed out to sea, where they lost sight of land. Curious, the girl looked at the horizon in relative calm.

—What are we here to do?— she asked her father.

She did not receive an immediate answer. Lucifer did not usually leave her waiting, so she turned around, only to notice that he was no longer in the boat. She looked in all directions, but he was nowhere to be found.

—Dad?!— she called out to him, getting desperate— DAD!

At that moment, something big jumped out of the water and overshadowed the boat. For an instant Erica saw herself underneath an animal.

—A shark?!— she thought as she recognized it.

The animal arced through the air, landed on the other side of the boat and hit the boat with its tail, turning it upside down. Erica fell into the water.

—Wah!— she exclaimed —Damn shark, you threw me out!

But she couldn't get angry, for at that moment her father's head popped up through the surface of the water.

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—Dad!— Erica jumped on top and hung onto him like when she was a child.

—Did you like my surprise?— Lucifer asked.

—Your what?— she exclaimed — Did you bring me this shark?

Lucifer gave her a broad smile.

—I noticed you'd never swum with sharks before, and I thought: why not. Not bad for your old man, eh?

Erica couldn't contain her excitement. They immediately went down to play with the shark and accompany him on his expedition for food. The girl ran her hand over its scaly skin, marveling.

Soon they came across a couple of shoals, which the beast gobbled up unceremoniously. Erica held it by its fin carefully. The animal didn’t try to shake her off and proceeded to swim smoothly with her at his side.

Finally, the father and daughter left the shark alone and returned to the hotel. They had so much fun that they missed lunch hour. There were very few people left in the restaurant when they sat down. They filled their stomachs and went upstairs to watch a movie in their bedroom, only they both fell asleep halfway through and woke up near the end.

They still had a few hours of sunshine left by that point, so they headed to the beach again to hang out and play in the sand. Lucifer dug a hole, quietly, not removing more than a few kilograms of sand each time. Soon Erica joined him and they spent quite a while digging. Not long after that Lucifer had to go inside to continue. Erica was very amused, only it wasn't long before she began to feel thirsty. Luckily for her, a man walked nearby selling ice cream.

—Just in time— exclaimed Lucifer — princess, do you want to go buy some ice cream?

—Yes, I'm going!

Erica stood up and approached the vendor to buy two vanilla ice creams. As the girl was retracing her steps, a fat lady pushed her in the back while she was trying to receive a flying disc. Both ice creams fell to the sand.

—Be careful, girl— the lady shouted at her, as if it had been Erica's fault, and prepared to go back to her friends to play frisbee.

The girl managed to grab her shoulder, turned her around to look at her face and raised her hand to squeeze her neck. However, before she reached for it, her fingers intertwined with thicker, more familiar ones; her father's fingers.

Then she realized that Lucifer was standing next to her. He had stopped her from killing the lady in front of everyone. The latter walked away, confused and somewhat frightened.

—Dad!— exclaimed the girl.

She quickly looked down, embarrassed by her lack of self—control. Her father, however, pulled her close to him and gave her a comforting hug.

—It's okay, it's just ice cream— he said, —I'll buy you a much tastier one, what do you think?

Erica frowned, annoyed.

—She didn't even apologize— she argued.

—Then she's a fool. Let her be a fool, you don't need to see her anymore.

Erica nodded. The ice cream didn't matter anymore, being surrounded by her father's strong arms was much more comforting.

They walked around the hotel and bought ice cream that were much better looking than the previous ones. When it got dark, they headed to their room to rest.

 

As they closed the door behind them, Erica dared to ask a question she didn't want to ask in public.

—Dad, have you ever thought about conquering the world?

Lucifer turned to her, somewhat perplexed.

—Like the bad guys in the movies?

—Yes, just like them.

Lucifer sat up in his bed and smiled, showing that the subject amused him.

—And why are you interested in conquering the world all of a sudden?

Erica shrugged and with her arms pointed to the window, from where she could see the rest of the hotel and the beach.

—If we were the masters of the world, we wouldn't have to put up with people like that.

—That's true, but conquering the world is a drag. You need a lot of things, like reliable people, money and a solid strategy. Ruling a country is something, but a whole world?

Lucifer paused as he noticed his daughter looking at him with bewilderment. Of course, for she had proposed the idea almost as a joke, yet her father talked about everything as if he had already experienced it.

Then he smiled at her.

—But if you want, we can give it a try.

—Ah...— Erica muttered, before realizing what Lucifer was really proposing it — Wait, what?

—Yes, I can already picture it. It'll be a lot of work, but we could stop running from the police. I have a handful of friends here and there, I could cash in a few favors....

—Wait, wait— Erica cut him off —Do you really want to do this? I just meant it as a game.

Lucifer stared at her strangely.

—Yes, I know— he thought for a moment —Maybe we should think about it a little more. Let's leave it for tomorrow, shall we?

—Y-yes— Erica answered.

To distract themselves, they turned on the TV and watched more movies, then it got late, they turned everything off and went to bed. Erica stared at her father's silhouette in the dark, thinking how great he was. She didn't need anyone else in the world as long as she had him.

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