Chapter Text
If going quietly in gathering information was not going to work, then Beelzebub would try a new strategy. This time she would be much more aggressive in her approach with this angel.
All that added paperwork this angel had caused her could make any demon a bit vindictive. But this was a matter of pride, for no angel should be able out maneuver a demon, much less two.
If there was even a rumor in hell of such an angel on earth, earth would not have to wait for Armageddon.
Demons often got themselves discorporated due to angles all the time, they even got completely destroyed, but never out witted.
This could not go on, this angel had to be sent back up to heaven.
Beelzebub also wanted a bit of revenge.
She had to be careful not to go overboard and cause heaven to come looking. Especial right now when the there was such powerful men so easily swain.
Which is why she had picked this demon for the job.
The perfect demon for the job, could hardly be called demon at all.
All preparations had already been made and explicit instructions had been given. All Beelzebub had left to do was sit back and monitor the demons and make sure they did their job.
Beelzebub had sent up imps. Something that was not to bloodthirsty to cause too much damage, but destructive enough to disrupt any good, and hopefully frustrate the angel enough to leave.
She was under no illusion that any angel could not handle a couple of imps.
Imps were annoying little sprites that could hardly be called a demon. Constantly underfoot, and none too bright.
However, imps did have the knack of causing chaos. They could also be easily replaced, if the angel decided to destroy one.
And best off all was that she could watch the whole thing through their eyes.
The little buggers were instructed to play as many pranks as they pleased on the angel.
And she was going to watch. She could feel the sweet revenge from all that dreadful paperwork on the tip of her tongue as she watched the angel on the screen.
The angel looked to be exactly like all the other angels she ever came across minus the golden armor. It made the angel look softer, less glaringly bright somehow.
The angel was in front of hill were the humans were making some a stone building. She could already see the shimmering holiness surrounding the stone bricks.
The angel looked to be listening to some human in expensive cloth. The angel had put down its bag and was looked at the papers drawn out between them.
Although the angel looked to be paying attention, there was a slight glassy dullness in its eyes.
As she watched one of the imps appeared on a tree branch over the angel’s head.
‘Oh, this was going to be excellent,’ thought Beelzebub.
The imp materialized an apple before dropped a rotten apple on angel’s head before disappearing. The angel jumped and looked up into the tree, its eyes searching, and a frown forming. The imp appeared again this time next to the angle, grabbed the angel’s bag and was gone again without the angel any wiser.
Beelzebub could feel the smile on stretch onto her face, making a nearby imps scuttle away. This could work out better than she could ever hope.
Beelzebub decided she was owed a sweet treat in her success in taking care of this troublesome angel.
With that thought she left her office.
If Beelzebub had stayed a little longer to watch, she may have noticed the small smile started to play on the angel’s lips and a twinkle formed in those blue eyes.
It was weeks later that Beelzebub even noticed that anything at all strange was happening. Long enough that the matter of the angel was not on her mind.
The angel had been mostly forgotten after the novelty of watching juvenile pranks played wore off. She felt that it was time to focus on her other tasks, since the angel was clearly being distracted from its tasks.
It was during the bi-century head management meeting that she first noticed anything out of the ordinary happing. However, she would not correlate this strange happening to the pesky angel for a few more months.
Beelzebub sat with her elbow on the chair arms, her posture slumped back. She mentally thanked Lucifer for the mandatory time restriction of two hours max, as these meetings tended to digress into pissing contests. Not that she would ever say such endearments to Lucifer out loud.
Mammon's voice currently washed over her. He was going on and on about this great plan of Indulgences; something about Catholics priests asking for money. She did know or care.
Beelzebub much preferred the simple beauty of dry cropland and rotting animals. She loved the complicity abundant years brought on the powerful. She adored having the powerful feast while the workers starved. Most of all she loved how easily civilization toppled by uprising peasants, who blamed their woes on the current government.
But ever since the first churches began to spread across Europe a cold war had been simmering between heaven and hell in the influence on the upper church members.
The humans so easily follow without question, believing that holy men could do no wrong, meanwhile leading them so astray.
Belphegor was already asleep. He was sprawled out on a large pillowed chair, with every snore little sparks flew out his nose.
Although Leviathan’s large green eyes were open, she could not tell if he was paying attention or sleeping. His large body was curled up like a snake, with his head resting on top of one coil
Lucifer was paying attention, sitting upright in pristine tailored clothing. He had a small smile playing on his lips. This was either a good or a very bad for Mammon. There was no way of knowing with his mood swings.
Beelzebub motioned for the imp behind her to bring her a plate of pastries. The tray appeared promptly at her side and she took it with only a sidewise glance.
‘Pink…’
She turned back to the meeting, popping a one honey covered bread into her mouth, she found herself being distracted by that random thought.
‘Pink?’ She turned her head back to the imp.
The imp was wearing a pink jumper.
She looked around and spotted different colors dotted around; blue, green, yellow….
‘Why the hell were the imps in jumpers?’ she thought absently.
Strange but not something that needed her immediate attention.
(On latter inspection Beelzebub would think back on this moment and despair choosing to not pay attention to the imps, but that was a headache for the future.)
Beelzebub focused back on the meeting when Asmodeus raised his voice.
“LUST is by far a greater temptation than gold, you moron!”
“The love of GOLD has led to far more strife than All temptations of flesh!” Mannon said with a smug smile on his face.
Beelzebub gave an audible sigh and slumped further into her chair, ‘so the dick measuring contest was starting already, how wonderful.’
She could see Belphegor wake and give a lazy stretch. Having been disturbed from his beauty sleep from the yelling.
Belphegor, caught her eye, gave her a half shrug and smile as if he read her thoughts.
“Far More humans have fallen in the sin of lust, and lust has led them into far greater sin than any shinny trinket could do,” Asmodeus shot back, “Have you forgotten Paris of Troy already? I Won that bet.”
‘not Troy again.’ Beelzebub gave another long sigh.
Lucifers' eyes were lighting up, which was never a good sign.
"Asmodeus did start the war, but who was it that caused the fall of Rome?" Lucifer said in a cool collected voice and a shit-eating grin.
'Maybe it was time for her to get away from the humdrum of paperwork and these three. Maybe she should visit earth again, she heard France was nice.'
‘Where was that imp?’ Beelzebub thought, currently souring in her office.
‘Had Belphegor somehow infected them?’
She had sent that imp hours ago. How hard was it to collect paperwork, pick up her new jacket, get her lunch, and deliver the memos?
The imps lately were becoming more and more unreliable, often disappearing to who knows where. Sometimes not appearing back for days.
Her door cracked open and the imp scurried in with her tray of meat.
She saw a green pointed hat bob up and down as the imp scuttled in.
‘finally,’ she was starving.
It all came to a head the following month.
It started as she was going into her office.
Her secretary stopped her, “Your highness, I’ve got an urgent message saying the imps are acting strange.”
Beelzebub looked back, “What do you mean Ztrange?”
“They are refusing to come back.”
‘Could none of the other demons handle a couple of imps on their own?’
“Fine, tell them I am on my way,” She promptly stormed out and headed to the upper floors of hell.
On the upper floors she walked into the office to discover that it was almost empty looking. There were the assortment of offices and demons writing away on desks, but no imps could be seen scurrying about.
It was almost too eerily silent without them in the halls, like the calm before the storm.
She walked into the department’s managers office. He immediately stopped his pacing and bowed to her when she came in.
“Whaz is the izzue?” Beelzebub buzzed.
“Most of the imps are upstairs, and we have no one to pick up their jobs, Madam.” This demon said in a small voice. They was ringing his multiple pairs of hands anxiously.
Beelzebub fronted “Why are the upZtairs?”.
“Your orders, Madam” the demon said even more quietly. They were visibly shrinking away from her.
“What!?” Beelzebub shouted, “I gave no such orders!”
The office manager simply handed over a file that had been sitting on the desk.
She opened it.
It was the orders for the angel given directly to the office of job assignment. It stated that it was to send up an imp to disrupt the angel and if the imp came back or was not heard from to send another.
Beelzebub could feel the growing realization settling around her shoulders like a wet blanket.
With a quick movement of her hand, she had screen to show through the imp’s eyes.
The screen was so bright that it took her a few minutes to adjust to the light. But there was no mistaking what she saw. There in the middle of a lush green forest sat the angel surrounded by imps.
Most of the imps were laying on the ground or in tree limbs. Some looked to be making the flowers grow or playing on instruments. Some were chasing each other around the grove of trees.
The sheer number of demons, even as low power as these, should drive off any holy being. Instead, that angel sat as calmly as if on one of heaven’s clouds.
The angel was looked to be absently making something with two long needles and a ball of string, as its eyes moved over what looked to be a book.
One of the imps distracted it by placing a crown made of colorful leaves and flowers in the shape of crown on top of the angel’s head. In response the angel gave blinding smiled at the imp. Beelzebub had to look away from the screen for the dots to disappear.
The angel then held up a small triangle hat in the same green as the ball of string. In turn, the imp smiled right back and presented its head and allowed the angel to put on this strange pointed hat. Many of the imps were wearing similarly pointed hats or colorful jumpers.
Just then a nasty smile came over one of the other demons and it launched itself at imp with a new hat talking it to the ground.
Instead of seeming at all bothered by this display of violence, the angel calmly picked up this responsible imp by the scruff of its neck turning it around.
All the other imps had stopped what they were doing and were looking towards the angel. The angel and imp looked eye to eye. The angel was frowning but there was no sign of anger.
The tension was broken not a minute later when this imp started to cry loudly. Big tears falling to the ground, as it wailed.
The imp’s cries were stopped as soon as the angel leaned forward kissed it on the nose, and the imp looked up with bright eyes. The angel gave another bright smile and scrunched up its nose. Then the angel scooped the imp and set it into its lap.
The other imps resumed what they were doing, and the angel continued with the long needles and ball of string, this time with an imp curled up on its lap.
Beelzebub looked away blinking the spots out of her eyes ‘dam angles and their holy brightness.’
“How is that even possible?” she mused out loud.
‘that angel had defeated the entire army of imps.’