POV — AZAZEL
I held Betty's hand, and she smiled. I'll write to her tomorrow morning—I don't want to disturb her family program tonight.
After his lecture, I had a long talk with Naberius. His own case is progressing well too—yesterday he went on a date with Selma.Small world. With that Selma—the one who is Paula's superior at the company, and who reinstated me on the Rrr-Take project today.
"Samyaza contacted me," he said in a serious tone.
"Well, well—seems you have unexpected followers too," I tried to joke.
Even in Pandemonium, I was never on bad terms with Naberius. Not like with Marduk.But our successful influencer wasn't in the mood for joking.
"He tried to talk me out of getting involved in Lucifer's affair."
"Of course he did. The 'ones above' punished him thoroughly ten thousand years ago…"
Naberius shook his head. I cut my sentence short and waited.
"The children of Watchers and demons are hunted down by the 'ones above' and sent to Hell."
That was when he showed me what that nosy writer had written. And I had slept through everything he described.
"So what?" I argued. "They grow up in Pandemonium."
He shook his head again.
"They're incapable of living only in Pandemonium."
"That's bad," I summarized bluntly.
"And they can't endure the human world either," he added as a final blow.
We fell into a somber silence. Neither of us wanted to think about what would come next.Only one question kept circling in my mind: why would Lucifer want this?
Something wasn't right.
Then it dawned on me that I am the leader of this small group Lucifer assigned to the case.Until now, I'd thought of it as an empty title. Lucifer had been directing all of us.
"Tomorrow evening, we'll hold a meeting—without Marduk," I decided.
"Why without him?" Naberius protested.
He was right. My personal resentment toward Marduk didn't justify planning a meeting without him.
"For Marduk, it no longer matters."
Naberius didn't know about that. In the end, we invited him to the meeting as well.
I won't mention to the others what crossed my mind.This will lead to war. If not with Heaven, then among ourselves.And neither makes any sense.
On the way home, I kept thinking about what Number One is quietly, carefully plotting.Maybe it will be too late to realize his plan by the time Gremory finds that grimoire, and Lucifer is able to leave Pandemonium.
The rented apartment I lived in, in the human world, felt so empty that I almost missed even Marduk.
That evening, I barely dared to think about Betty.How could I involve a fragile mortal in this affair?
I still have to keep meeting her, so Number One doesn't grow suspicious.
I was glad that the greatest virtue of demons is that they're loyal only to themselves.If Lucifer plans something truly idiotic, maybe together we can stop Number One.
I looked out the window. The night city offered a beautiful sight.Humans had no idea of our existence at all…