Sarah backed away from me, pulling from my embrace. It was the first time she'd ever done it and I had to say, it hurt.

"Am I to assume that he is what I believe he is?"

"The archangel Michael? Yes."

"Explain it to me, what just happened, what you signed over, why he was effectively holding me hostage?"

Taking a deep breath I took her to the kitchen and began to make coffees, it was too early in the morning and I'd not had even one.

"Well, obviously they realized that I'd managed to overthrow the council and disband them, effectively displacing their rule on earth. The council are not the rulers of any of the dimensions, they are more like a visual presence. They are they go between, the ones who are supposed to keep an eye on things and maintain order. Somehow they'd managed to gain a little too much power and me walking in there and disrupting things as I had made everyone realize how bad things had gotten. Then once the hype had settled and the chatter died, they realized that I was the owner of this fine little rock. They tend to get a bit freaked out when the devil tries to make a claim."

"Have you done it before?"

I chuckled as I passed the coffee mug to her.

"I do it all the time. Mostly when I'm bored and want a bit of fun."

Sarah stared at me rather shocked.

"The ways to control this world are not what you think Sarah, it is not legions of the damned walking upon heaven to wage war like Michael seems to think it is. It's little things like greed. Money is the root of all evil. Lust, wrath, pride, sloth, gluttony."

"And envy," she whispered with a mighty frown. "You talk about these things as if they do not harm society."

I held out my hands with nothing more to offer. "I merely offer temptation Sarah, it is man's choice to take it. My beloved demons do my bidding, walking this land and tempting mankind. Some fall for it and some do not. But do not believe that I always win Sarah, for there are so many that negate all of my work with little things. Little things like charity."

She said nothing as she took a sip of her coffee, her eyes pinned to me. I could not gauge her mood, she was somewhere in between acceptance and disbelief.

"For all that my demons do their work, there are countermeasures, opposites to everything. Angels and demons, striving to balance and unbalance this world. Up until yesterday everything was fine, my demons would tempt and the angels would throw their magic pixie dust around with their wands and fluffy wings and undo all my hard work."

Sarah giggled which made me smile.

"Everything has an opposite Sarah, like the yin and yang. Do not believe that I am sending this world into the bowels of hell, it wouldn't fit."

She laughed some more, rolling her eyes at my stupid joke.

"It's true." I protested. "How many billion humans are there? And that doesn't take into account the other creatures that you do not know about. I do not want a full hell, how could I have the damned writhing in agony in the lava lake if it so full that they are piled upon each other?"

"Stop." Sarah laughed. "I get it. You aren't the bad boy Michael said you were."

"No, he was right about that. I did misbehave yesterday but I do love to show the little fairy up."

I wrapped my arm around her waist, pulling her closer to me.

"Imagine how much trouble he was in once they realized he wasn't keeping a proper eye on the place. Oh, it feels good, doesn't it baby?"

Sarah grinned at me, one that fuelled my desire for her.

"It sure does."

The empty cup was cast aside as she leaned on the bench, curious eyes found me. This was interesting, she was a good soul, charitable and caring for her fellow man yet she had a darker side that I had not seen before now.

"So what did you do to the document?"

"I removed all of the hidden clauses that twinkle toes thought he could hide and ensured that he backs right off. All he wanted was the earth back and he thinks that if I accept blame for this and state that I was wrong then he won't be in trouble. He got the earth back but I will not accept the blame for something that I was entitled to do. Causing issues for his kind is what I was made for, aside from the obvious of course."

"You two don't like each other, do you?"

I shook my head with a simple smile. It was the truth, or at least an almost truth. Michael has always been jealous that I have been given more, even if it is the darker side of life. Personally, I couldn't care if he was here or not.

"Yin and yang darling. He almost like an opposite to me but sadly for him, he doesn't rule over his dominion like I do. He's pissed that all he is a security guard with wings in his world whereas I am the boss man in mine. See why there is a love-hate relationship?"

"Oh yeah."

Security guard might have been harsh, being the protector of heaven was a pretty fine role. Cerberus did it a lot of security work in hell, though I don't think that Michael would like to be compared to a dog. It certainly made me laugh, though.

But our issues were a lot deeper than just the roles that we had in our worlds.

"I might have stuck a blade in him a century or two ago."

I frowned as I tried to remember when exactly I had done it. The exact events I could remember yet the date was not to be found.

"Why?" Sarah asked dryly.

"The sod deserved it. Okay, so that might have been a bit harsh. Maybe I might have kept an angel in the underworld and he was being all brave and macho, storming the place to retrieve the fluff ball."

Sarah frowned at me with a confused grin.

"It was spying Sarah, I warned them to back away from my dominion and they didn't listen so I captured one and taught them a valuable lesson. Do not mess with the devil."