It was a quiet dark night as the rustling of leaves filled the air. The strays seemed impatient and restless and were hushed by fear as they felt the darkness taking over the city slowly. They realized something very sinister was about to happen. An evil soul was going to be infused with an evil entity and not just any entity, the devil himself.
In the complete darkness seven burning torches could be seen. Each burning in a different color as they stood four feet apart from each forming a sphere in the middle of the cold sand, the cold breezes from the sea threatened to put them out but couldn't because the fires burning the torches weren't normal. Each came from each devil's circle of hell and each color represented the temptation of each devil.
Grey; Lust.
Purple; Envy.
Green; Greed.
Blue; Wrath.
Yellow; Gluttony.
Brown; Sloth.
And brightest and strongest of them all was, Red; Pride.
Xanton was sitting a few feets away on the cold sand as she watched the inferno sisters preparing for the ritual. They were all dressed in long black robes, the hoods covering their faces as they dragged their swords in the soft sand. The depression in the sand surface formed a pentagram as they softly chanted something completing the symbol.
"Ugh!" She heard the annoying groan from the most annoying angel she had ever encountered.
"Aren't there dead people whose souls need reaping?" She turned her head to Azrael who was lying in the sand beside her, a portable gaming device was in his hands hovering over his face.
"I have minions." He replied, keeping his attention on the screen. Xanton just rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to watching inferno sisters.
Azrael's main job was to reap pure souls, be it pure evil or pure virtuous. For all other souls he had reapers working under him. So he always had a lot of free time on his hands which he spent either playing video games or watching Netflix or just nit picking on his employees' working ethics.
As for now, he was just tagging along for the fun of it. For him it was like watching a show, where he was curious about many things and he had many guesses to how the story would unfold but he couldn't interfere because the script was already written and shot and his input won't really affect anything.
But was the script already written? That was the question that kept pestering him. He knew there always was a reasoning behind everything. There was no way a whole human being with no fate, destiny or purpose was born and there was no way a mistake could happen while handling things above because He himself watched over every single little detail, as to make sure there were no mistakes or imperfections in His little experiment called humans.
When Azrael was given this mission, it irked him a bit reading the details but he knew better than to question the great power. So instead of questioning anything he chose to sit back and watch how things would unravel.
A groan left his throat again when he failed to complete the task on the little device in his hands. He turned off the gaming device and put it in his inner pocket, he sat up with a bored expression looking at the inferno sisters as he watched them piercing their skin with their swords engraved with an archaic language unknown to mankind.
"Why is it that everything you guys do involves a lot of... complexity?" Azrael questioned and Xanton sighed as she watched them.
"We don't have pure Celestial energies like angels." She said looking ahead.
It was true, neither devils nor demons could create enough energy to perform critical tasks such as taking human form or summoning on earth in a blink of an eye like angels were capable to do. With their pure essence angels were the most powerful beings after God but when an angel was tainted and became a fallen its reach became limited and little so they had to resort to other methods; which included all sorts of negative emotions created by humans and to fuel them the blood shed of the hell beings was essential sometimes.
"Where's the brooding little devil, anyway?" Azrael asked and Xanton shrugged her shoulders because she felt embarrassed to tell him.
"Zafael, what's Lucifer doing?" He said, wrapping his grip around Zafael. A sly smile appeared on his face and Xanton sighed as she tried to ignore him but she knew it was impossible to do since she has been trying to do that for the longest of times and somehow always ended up around him.
"Hah, my heart." He gave a dramatic gasp. "Has the big bad devil gone soft or what? He actually let Yaseen say his goodbye to his beloved Aelia." He remarked mockingly.
"I let him talk to her because I don't want a crazy warrior coming after me when she regains her memories." Lucifer as he now stood beside where Azrael was nonchalantly laying in the sand. "Don't you have a job? Or has He finally realized how incompetent and useless you are as an angel?" Lucifer sneered and Azrael gave him a huge grin.
"Aww, are you trying to hurt my feelings?" He smiled as he looked forward to the inferno sisters. "The voodoo witches are ready, you should get this party started. After all, your beloved human is waiting." His eyes turned to Lucifer with a teasing look in them.
Lucifer smiled and nodded at him as a joke when he started to walk towards the inferno sisters who were now bowing in respect for Lucifer.
"Are you sure about this, Lucifer?" Xanton asked and he let out a chuckle.
"Why would you ask me that?" He asked.
"I don't know, the fact that I have seen the contract." She said,
At first he narrowed his eyes but remembered that after Lucifer, Xanton is the only one who has the authority to go through his archives.
"Are you doubting me?" He said as his eyes crimson down at her.
"I can never doubt you, Lucifer, but infusing with a human vessel has its own side effects. You have to have pure control over yourself to infuse with a human."
"Are you saying, I don't have control?"
She paused for a moment. She knew how brutal Lucifer can be and if she said something wrong she would suffer again and would have to find another dying human to possess.
She sighed and looked up at him as her chocolate brown skin shone with the light of torches. Her blue eyes seemed determined and firm when she said, "I'm afraid Azrael's right. The big bad devil has gone soft."
Azrael let out a loud chuckle from where he was sitting but chose to say nothing. He knew Xanton was the only creature alive to question or stand up to Lucifer. They both were a team, always have been since the beginning of the times. Lucifer was the brawn, the self centered impulsive one who always got things he wanted while Xanton was the brains, the only thing that gave him a clearer view of things.
Their bond actually sometimes irked Azrael as he never understood why she was there beside him when she was given a choice to join his kind to be a being superior to devils but instead she chose to go with Lucifer as a lowlife demon. That was the one reason that made Xanton quite fascinating to Azrael, he wanted to know why she was so loyal to someone like Lucifer?
Lucifer smiled as he patted on her head. "You've done well, Xanton. You can go back home now. I can handle things from here." He said as he walked away from her towards the burning torches.
"You'll be starting a war with Asmodeus. " Xanton said as he stopped in his tracks.
"She's already planning a war against me with Alciel." He said without turning his head.
She paused and then let out a calm breath. "Why is Fiona so important?" She asked the question that has been heavy on her noggin ever since Fiona was given life.
Lucifer slightly turned his head as the shadow covered his face with a light outline of his sharp features. His eyes were the only thing that was visible in his features, glowing bright red as he said the words,
"Because she's my belonging and Asmodeus should've stayed away from what's mine."