Abaddon’s face darkened as the groveling demons before him scuffed up his carpet. They had already failed in their mission of locating the brat, but they still insisted on harming his furniture. Didn’t they know how useless they were? He propped his foot up with his table, creating a clanking sound that caused the demons to flinch. “Where’s Anubis?” he asked and intertwined his fingers in front of his chest. “Didn’t she proclaim herself as the best tracker?”

“Anubis is still outside the city, hunting for the target,” one of the demons said. His voice sounded garbled as he spoke through four mandibles. “She sent us back for the weekly report. She said the rest of us would get in her way by ruining the scent trails.”

“At least one of you can do something right,” Abaddon said and exhaled forcefully through his nose. He stood up and waved his hand, shifting gravity. The demons were engulfed by a black light and fell out of the room as the hallway became their ground. He closed the door and sat down on his favorite couch which he hadn’t been able to sit on for the longest time because the brat loved occupying it. He rubbed his temples and sighed. Why had he agreed to such an asinine deal with that hunter? Was he actually expecting him to kill Sariel? Now his life was at risk because the brat had run away, exposing herself to the dangers of Eljiam. Ridiculous. He should’ve locked her up in a cage from the start. This is what he got for being lenient on children.

There was a knock on the door. Abaddon glared at it before adjusting his clothes, turning his expression back into a neutral one. “Come in,” he said and straightened his back. The door swung open and a lanky demon with one arm and three legs entered. Abaddon raised an eyebrow. “Who are you?”

“I am a messenger from Meffi,” the lanky demon said and nodded at Abaddon. He retrieved a rusty knife from his belt and licked the edge with his tongue.

“You should take better care of your weapons,” Abaddon said and frowned. “It’s extremely difficult to find metal in Eljiam.”

“You aren’t afraid of me?” the lanky demon asked and brandished the knife in Abaddon’s direction.

“Tell me the message, or I’ll kill you,” Abaddon said and sighed. Why did Meffi hire these kinds of demons? He should at least do a better job at domesticating them before sending them out.

The demon nodded. He raised the knife high and plunged it into his own chest, below his throat, causing Abaddon’s eyes to widen. The demon groaned as he dragged the knife downwards, splitting open his ribcage, only stopping after there was a bloody line from his neck to his belly button. Blood and guts gushed out of the demon, staining the floor.

“What kind of sick message is this?” Abaddon asked while wrinkling his nose. Had the years spent in Eljiam finally taken their toll on Meffi’s sanity?

“It’s a magic trick!” a different voice said, coming from the bleeding demon’s gut.

Abaddon sighed. No. Meffi was insane way before he came to Eljiam. Abaddon’s eye twitched as two hands extended from the demon’s spasming body which had fallen to the ground. Then a head appeared, followed by a torso and legs, revealing a blood-soaked angel.

The bloody angel opened his mouth while brushing his wet hair away from his face. “I bet you didn’t think I was inside him the whole time,” the angel, Meffi, said with a grin. He sauntered to the corner of the room and rummaged through Abaddon’s closet, pulling out a robe and using it to clean himself. “Your office looks exactly the same even though we’re in a different world. How lame.”

“You ruined my carpet,” Abaddon said.

“You killed my messenger,” Meffi said and kicked the lanky demon’s corpse out of the room.

“No, that was you too.”

Meffi shrugged. “Aren’t you going to ask why I’m here?”

Abaddon frowned at the archangel who had taken a seat beside him. Meffi had a smile on his face like a child waiting to tell his parents good news. “I’ll amuse you then,” Abaddon said and sighed. He seemed to sigh a lot when Meffi was involved. “Why are you here?”

“Guess!”

Abaddon punched Meffi in the face. “I don’t have time to play your games,” Abaddon said and snorted. “While you’re playing around in Haalbeh, I’m designing the infrastructure for a new capital. It’s very frustrating. Just tell me and leave.”

Meffi rubbed his nose and frowned. “Fine. Sariel’s dead. Bye.” He got up to leave. He was halfway out the door before Abaddon grabbed his sleeve, causing him to smirk. “What? Didn’t you say”—his voice turned nasally and whiny—“’just tell me and leave.’ Now I’m leaving.”

“Bastard,” Abaddon said. “Sit back down and start from the beginning.”

Meffi sat down with a smug smile. Abaddon could already tell what he was going to say. “Guess why I’m here!”

Abaddon sighed and buried his face in his hands. “Let me guess,” he said in a monotonous voice. “Sariel’s dead and you came to celebrate.”

“No,” Meffi said and wrinkled his brow. “Where did you hear something like that?”

“You told me, dammit!” Abaddon shouted and grabbed Meffi’s robe collar.

“Tsk, tsk.” Meffi tutted and shook his head. “I’m supposed to be the fallen angel of wrath. What are you getting so worked up for? You’re very irritable, you know that? This is why you need to relax sometimes. Tell big brother Meffi what’s wrong.”

Abaddon’s eye twitched as he released Meffi’s robes and sighed. “I made a stupid deal with a demon, and now my life is at risk,” he said. “I’m very frustrated at myself and the last thing I need is for an angel who acts like a troll to play games with me. Do you understand?”

“Damn. You’re stupid,” Meffi said and blinked. “Why would you make a deal like that? Anyways, I guess you really don’t want to play any games. Earlier today, the mark I left on Sariel disappeared.”

“Your marks have always been unreliable,” Abaddon said.

“But,” Meffi said with a smile. “Don’t you know what year it is? Solra said he’d be taking action around this time.” He held his hands in the air, palms up, and pretended to weigh a few objects. “Solra takes action. Sariel’s mark disappears. What do you think happened?” His smile widened. “It’s finally time for us to return to Div’Nya.”

Abaddon’s eyes lit up, but they dimmed again soon after. “I still have to wrap up my issue before I can leave.”

“I’ll help you,” Meffi said. “What do you need?”