The four chambers of hell felt too suffocating today. I was roaming around aimlessly, trying to squelch my frustration. I couldn't believe my dad had favored that annoying prince over his own daughter, just because he was a boy.
It wasn't fair and everyone on the council knew it. Yet, they had still agreed with his decision, and I wanted to know why.
I hadn't even realized my feet had taken me to Beelzebub's chambers. Only the members of the council could visit him. He was sort of like our demon master's personal assistant.
My hand was hovering mid-air when the heavy doors opened with a creak.
'Enter.' The voice gave me chills. I had only met Beelzebub once alongside my father.
Azrael used to drag me with him on a lot of missions when I was young. It was training, so I looked forward to them. Beelzebub was usually the one to pass on the demon master's order to the council members.
My dad and I had been preparing to go to earth to collect a few souls. The demon master needed the job done by tomorrow, and Azrael was more than capable of handling it. But, I was only five at the time so he claimed that this would be a valuable experience for me.
Azrael was in the process of opening up the portal to earth when someone knocked on the door. I stayed behind- obedient as always. But Beelzebub barged into my father's chambers in anger. He threw me a glance but didn't comment on my presence.
My father was too busy arguing with him to take much notice of me standing in the corner. So I stayed silent and listened.
'Lucifer had given me the job, how dare you try to steal it fr-'
'For the last time Beelzebub,' My father began in an exhausted tone, 'I was told to collect souls from Manhattan by tomorrow.'
Beelzebub pulled out an envelope from his huge coat and waved it in the air, 'Then how do you explain this?'
My father frowned and snatched it from him. He spits out in anger, 'What is this?'
'A letter from Lucifer I received this morning,' The red seal on the back was proof of that. 'It's proof that I was to collect fifty souls today, not you.'
Azrael threw the letter to the floor and stormed past Beelzebub, saying, 'You want proof? I'll give you proof!'
He went around the table and opened a door, searching through a bunch of envelopes for probably the most recent ones. A frown came over his face, and I tensed in anticipation.
Unfortunately, I wasn't the only one to notice his expression, 'What's the matter, Azrael? Can't find the letter?'
'It was right here!' My father exploded in anger, as he grabbed a pile of envelopes and threw them on to the table. He went through the pile in hurriedly, searching in panic.
'The lengths you'll go to for praise are absurd,' Beelzebub was shaking his head in disapproval, which didn't bode well for Azrael. 'As a demon of such high stature, you should know better.'
With that, he turned around and walked out. My father raised his hairy head and reached for Beelzebub, 'No!'
He hurried after the latter with wide eyes, and I took the opportunity to survey his chambers.
I had disregarded it earlier as a trick of the mind, but it was bothering me now. My eyes went through Azrael's days like laser beams. I analyzed the contents of his desk for anything that was out of the ordinary. But I found nothing.
Disappointed, I analyzed the rest of the room, including the letter. My eyes zoomed in on it as something clicked in the back of my mind. I picked up Beelzebub's letter with gloved hands and one of the letters addressed to my dad by the demon master.
The seal was fake. Whoever had created the replica of the letter was smart. It worked exactly how the original seal was supposed to work. You could see the demon master's horns in the fake seal, but I caught the shadow in his eyes that proved the seal to be fake.
It was realistic enough and no one would suspect a fake seal on the many letters being delivered in Hell. So you had to concentrate and look very closely to notice it.
The only thing you could see in the seal was the demon master's horns and eyes. The latter resembled two large black holes rather than eyes though. There was usually no reflection in his eyes, only darkness.
However, the fake seal had a small, silver glint. It was practically unnoticeable if you didn't look too closely. But I was known for having a keen eye.
I used my magnifying vision to see what the glint actually was. A small scene played of some shadows swirling around. It was only a glimpse, but you could clearly make out a string of silver dashing across the eyes. I suspected it was magic.
But I didn't have more time to debate on it as Azrael came back. Immediately, I placed the envelope on the floor where it was lying before and took my spot by the corner.
'Stupid Beelzebub..' My father murmured as he took his usual spot at the table. He didn't acknowledge me so I took that as a sign to leave after bowing.
As I walked down Azrael's chamber, my mind was in chaos. Every demon had a specific color that displayed what level of power they were on. The colors started from Green being the lowest power level, while Silver was the highest.
Although, Golden was the highest and the most powerful level, but it was only for the angels. In Hell, Lucifer was the only one who was Golden. Most of the members of the council were Silver, with a few exceptions.
Azrael was Silver, as well as Beelzebub. There were four princes of Hell altogether and all of them were Silver. This included Leviathan, Asmodeus and that annoying Eurynome.
For as long as I had known Azrael, he was never known for lying. He was proud and arrogant. Everyone seems to know his business even before he knew it himself.
Even though he was at odds with the demon master, this was something beneath him. Azrael would never stoop this low.
Leviathan never held grudges. It was odd for a demon, but I know it's true. He was arrogant like every other demon, but he respected the other princes.
I had interacted with Asmodeus once when I was about a hundred and fifty-one. There was something unsettling about his presence. You could feel the coldness radiating off of him. He was just too calculating.
His children were the same. Both were around my age so we had interacted a number of times. I had even gone on missions with Piláh.
Asmodeus was more of the type to work from the shadows. This didn't seem like he would do.
That left Eurynome and my gut agreed that it was him. He was sly and hated my guts for always stealing the spotlight.
It wasn't really my fault that I was too good and he was just lousy. But jealousy runs in demon blood, so this could be a ploy for destroying my father's impeccable reputation.
I marched over to Eurynome's chamber. I was so angry that I didn't even notice Leviathan's presence by my side until he spoke, 'Ooh, someone's angry..'
My head snapped in his direction in surprise. But I quickly wiped my emotions and forced myself to remain neutral.
When I didn't reply, Leviathan turned and walked in front of me backwards. It was normal for him with his snake abilities.