Chapter Text
The angel sat on the dirty ground, where he had been hurled from heaven, blood dripping from the gash on his face. The liquid falling from his wound was slowly changing in color from ashen gray to black to a dark red. He wasn’t a human, but he wasn’t technically an angel either. Not anymore. He had been corrupted by his crimes, the acts of violence he committed against others.
“You don’t look so good,” a voice said.
The fallen angel looked up to see another boy standing a good distance away. Then he noticed the thin but strong tail, curling slowly from side to side behind the stranger. And though the angel couldn’t see them, he knew buried under the boy’s thick, dark hair he would find a pair of stubby horns still growing in.
“What do you want, demon?” the angel ground out, his battered wings flaring defensively.
“I just wanted to check on you,” the demon said calmly. “I saw your little trip downstairs and I have to say, I got worried. From what I’ve heard, it’s been a while since one of you’s been ejected like that.” He approached slowly and crouched in front of the angel. “That’s a nasty cut you got there.”
“Don’t,” the angel started, but it was too late. The demon touched the angel’s wound and it sparked as though it were lighting on fire. Felt like it too.
When the demon pulled his hand away, the bleeding had stopped. “It’ll still leave a scar, but at least you’re not leaking anymore.” He gently wiped away the blood from the angel’s face. “Much better.”
“I suppose you expect something in return now,” the angel grumbled.
“Not at all,” the demon said, standing up and holding his hand out. “But I’d like to take you to breakfast, if you want.”
The angel eyed the demon for a moment before taking the hand and pulling himself up. “Don’t have anything else to do anyway.”
The demon smiled. “I’m Elias. And you are?”
“Anthony,” the angel answered.
“Anthony,” Elias said, “have you ever had a waffle?”
The angel frowned and shook his head.
-
A hand struck the fully-grown fallen angel across the face, on the opposite side from the scar that made him so easily recognizable. Anthony let out a heavy breath and looked up at his assailant from where he was kneeled on the ground. His captors were fellow angels around his age, so they probably only knew what they were told about him by their superiors. He wondered if they had taken him on orders or had their own agenda. So far all they’d done since he woke up was force him to the ground and hit him a few times. Must be building up the suspense.
“I hope you’re having fun,” Anthony remarked.
“As a matter of fact, I’m not,” the head angel spoke from a few feet away. He had cropped hair, dark skin and wings in a matching tone folded against his back. “I don’t want to hurt you, Anthony, but sometimes a little pressure must be applied to achieve the goal.”
“And what would that goal be today?” Anthony asked.
“I have a problem,” the angel said. “And this, you, are all part of the solution.”
“What’s my role in the solution to your problem?” Anthony asked.
The angel smiled. “How about we play a game. You answer one of my questions, and I’ll answer one of yours. How did in heaven’s name did you end up working for a demon?”
Anthony shrugged. “These things happen. Why do you wanna know?”
“Let’s just call it curiosity,” the angel said. “Did you really think pledging your loyalty to that kind of guy would end well for you?”
“Well loyalty to my own kind didn’t work out so great, so I thought, ‘How much worse could it get?’ Turns out my boss has more honor in one of his horns than you lot do in your whole population.” Anthony glanced around at the other angels in the room. “Were you guys sent after me and my boss or did you all just decide to take a field trip together?”
“You could say we aren’t so unlike you and your demonic employer. Except we don’t answer to people like him, they answer to us.” The angel gestured to one of the others and he was brought a picture, which he then showed to Anthony. It was a crime scene photo of a murder victim. “Kinda like your friend, Damien. He told us everything he knew about you for the small price of a few human souls.”
Anthony nodded towards the photo. “For someone who looks down on demons so much, it looks like you guys have a higher tendency to go back on your word.”
The angel who had originally struck Anthony earlier did so again.
Anthony blinked hard. “You need to work on your right hook. Very sloppy. You could’ve knocked me out, and then your brooding leader over there wouldn’t be able to get much use out of me.”
“Shut up, reject,” the attacking angel spat.
Anthony scoffed a laugh. “I’ve been called worse by my mother.”
“I had a talk with her,” the lead angel commented. “She didn’t seem pleased when I asked about you, but she was happy to go on a long tangent about you. How you mercilessly slashed the throat of her partner, your other caretaker.”
“She and I remember that night very differently,” Anthony said offhandedly.
“And the others? The ones who decided you were better off grounded and left for dead, did they remember it differently too?” The angel shook his head. “I know they never did you any favors, but that still doesn’t explain how you were driven into the arms of a demon. One who, may I add, hasn’t even lifted a finger to try and find you.”
Anthony shrugged. “Boss is a busy guy. He’s very popular with his crew, which I have a feeling is something you wouldn’t understand.”
The angel smirked. “I already told you, we’re not like the others. We walk the darker path just like you and Elias.”
“You may not work for heaven, but you still act like the rest of them. Same attitude and delusions of superiority.”
A phone rang a little ways off and was promptly answered. Then the punch-happy angel approached his leader and held the phone out to him. “Dominic,” he said. “It’s Elias.”
Dominic’s smirk turned into a full, shark-like grin as he reached out to put the call on speakerphone.