Chapter 66 – Being Thorough

Admiral Douglas rubbed his forehead. “I keep telling you, we secured nothing. All we got is the footage I already provided you.”

The man in a black suit pinched the bridge of his nose, pushing up his glasses slightly. “So you got video footage of a demonic airship that doesn’t show up on radar, and you failed to get anything else. Not even parts of the wreck of the Corpus Christi.”

“There is nothing left of it. It got pulverized.”

“That seems unlikely.”

“I don’t care how that seems, I can only tell you what I have seen myself.”

“And that is not enough.”

“And what would have been? To blow that thing out of the sky? We lost a civilian and nearly destroyed one of our own ships because of this wild paranoia about what these demons could do.”

“And you don’t believe they are a threat?”

“They will be, if we keep provoking them. Right now, they just seem to be interested in doing their own stuff in places where we don’t have jurisdiction. I believe that if we leave them alone, they will leave us alone too.”

“What a naïve view, admiral. The demons are already among us. An epidemic of woke ideologies, so-called empathy, corrupted education. All those are values these literal creatures from Hell espouse. Their ideology has infected our nation, all western nations. They made us sign treaties allowing them free reign on our soil under threat of force. Even just one demon is enough to infect an entire city, turning the children trans, making the grandparents vote democrat and making the parents vegan. They are already here, admiral, and it has proven to be difficult to eradicate just the symptoms. We need to go to the source and fight the demons themselves, not just their influence.”

“You are nuts.”

“No, we are just better informed than you. But your disapproval was to be expected, you spent time under their influence. You will retire, voluntarily. As will all crewmembers under your command. We can’t allow demonic influence in our military, not when we are so close to finally acting against them.”

Douglas looked utterly incredulous. “Act against them? How? One does not simply walk into Hell.”

“Don’t be so sure, admiral. Now go home. We are done here.”

Admiral Douglas shook his head, got up and left the office.

The man in the suit pressed a button on his desk. A voice responded from the speaker of the phone beside it. “Yes, sir?”

“The admiral will not be joining us in the future, you may proceed as planned without him.”

“Of course, sir.”

“And tell the president that paradise lost is well on its way.”

“Yes, sir.”

“That will be all.” He pressed the button again.

The main doors of the library were opened hesitantly as someone old and unexpected finally made her way inside.

Apollyon, sitting at the reception desk and talking to Kate, raised an eyebrow. “Atryca?”

Atryca, carefully making her way to the desk, nodded. “Yes, that’s me.”

“Your arrival is highly unexpected but not unwelcome.”

“I never expected to come here either, but… I spoke to Famine and her new friend today. That old inquisitor became quite talkative and miss Brooks…” Atryca shook her head. “She left her home behind to speak up against evil. Meanwhile, the high priestess Atryca, leader of the Hand, hides in her bookstore. Cowering away from her dreams. Kuria was right, I needed to come eventually.”

“And I am glad you are here now. Would you like a tour?”

“Sure, why not.”

Apollyon got up and gestured for both Kate and Atryca to follow her.

Anne rolled over to kiss Melody on the cheek. The girls had slept in on this day.

“Hey cutie.”

“Morning, love. Did you sleep well?”

Anne snuggled closer to her girlfriend. “I always sleep amazingly in your arms, you know that.”

“N’aww, I still need to ask, you know.”

“And I love you for that. You were a bit unquiet tonight though. What’s wrong?”

“I just can’t shake this feeling that everything ended a little too neatly. Just one guy died, everyone is fine, the bad guys went home and the good guys found a better place to live. Now we are just packing up and going home too. That was too easy.”

“I get what you mean but shouldn’t we just take the win? We can still be vigilant but let’s enjoy a good thing when we run into it.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“While we are talking about worries… Baal brought up an option that I worry about.”

“Okay?”

“That I could turn into some sort of demonic angel. That either of us could. A demon with angel magic. He called it a dark angel. Would you still love me if I was a dark angel?”

Melody kissed Anne on the cheek. “I love you no matter what you are. Besides, dark angel sounds badass. A demon with angel powers… wouldn’t angels really hate that?”

“Baal said so too. He also said that they are basically just a myth.”

“So it’s unlikely you have to worry about becoming one.”

“But what Jolene said makes me worry. I wouldn’t mind being reviled by angels. I just want you and Kuria to still love me because I will never stop loving you.”

“We will never stop loving you. I do get the feeling that you think that being a dark angel might be kind of awesome though.”

Anne blushed. “Yea… that’s the thing. I do find that thought appealing, that’s why I worry so much about your reaction.”

“And you don’t need to worry anymore, cause I also think that would be fucking awesome. Can you imagine… crazy powerful dark angel Anne, with like an eclipsed halo and stuff, and her wife, the devil Melody, making out in Anne’s castle in the Kurian mountains while a thunderstorm is raging outside. Of course surrounded by all the cute cats finding refuge inside and snuggled up to your soft feathery wings.”

“Just like I will snuggle up to your soft boobies. What a fantasy… all worries about that are gone now, that would be so awesome.”

“Oh yes. How could one not love you…”

“I love you too.”

“You are so beautiful…” Melody kissed Anne again.

“You are too. Wait… you said dark angel Anne with her wife. But demons don’t do marriage, right?”

“Who’s stopping us? Demons don’t get married because they never created that tradition, not because it’s a bad thing or illegal or anything. A little celebration and affirmation that we are egg mates just with a human word for it seems like something everyone would support.”

Anne giggled. “I still can’t get over the entire egg mate thing. But you’re right, it’s just an affirmation of our… uhm… desire to mate. What a phrase… What would a demonic honeymoon even look like? Find a different friend to experience how awesome your partner is every night for two weeks?”

Melody couldn’t help but laugh as well. “Maybe. I certainly wouldn’t mind showing a few of our friends how good you are in bed. Isha and Serena might need a reminder that you can make a girl beg all night.”

“And I know a few cosmic entities who need a dose of Melody boobies.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Anne shook her head in amusement. “What a hilarious thought from a human perspective. Hey, let’s make a list of people I want my girlfriend to have sex with. Could you imagine like a human hetero couple like that? ‘Hey, my best buddy Dave from work is reasonably good in bed, you should fuck him.’”

“Only if you fucked Dave yourself.”

“How do you think I know he is good in bed?”

“Ah yes, of course. Then I will trust your expertise. If Saturday is good for Dave, you could sleep with Isolde from HR.”

“Sure thing, I have heard good things about her and her… performance reviews.”

Melody made a funny noise. “We do live some weird lives, don’t we?”

“We sure do and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“So, about that performance review…”

Anne giggled. “I think I might need to do another inspection first.”

“Oh of course, can’t just base your opinion on past performance. One must be thorough.”

“And I intent to be very thorough.”

“Oh yes please.”