Page 7 of Under His Wings

After seeing that interaction I was more confident that Beira's rumors may have been onto something. As the grapevine had it there was a public altercation which resulted in Abaddon taking Auriolus under his wing. Hell wanted to sweep this whole thing under the carpet so nobody was really talking about what the situation was about but nevertheless it put Auriolus into a position of a person of interest. And that resulted in some juicy rumors coming from Abaddon's mansion… now I just had to see if there was a seed of truth in them.

I decided to observe from afar.

After the second hour at the marketplace I was happy that my mark was so hyperactive and injury prone. Abaddon didn’t have time to spot me lurking when he had to pay attention to his charge not tripping over his own feet. He scowled darkly at the smaller demon but still acted like a protective mother hen, his hand always ready to catch the other.

The way Auriolus stumbled, held his wings stiffly, and looked around with wide eyes as if taking the crazy world of demonic activity in for the first time made me ponder an idea... was he newly fallen? That would certainly explain the curiosity and the clumsiness if he still had some lingering pain from when he lost his white wings.

The pain... the smoke... I couldn’t get the taste of ash from my mouth for months and even now I could feel the phantom sensation of burning feathers when I thought about how I fell.

Smoke...

Fire... fire.

I shook my head forcefully, gritting my teeth against the memories which wanted to pull me under.

Now that I looked closer at the healthy, well-groomed wings on Auriolus’s back, I realized he must have been here for months already if his feathers managed to grow back black. And my own first coat was pretty mangy; I didn’t get the beautiful shine on mine before I molted and exchanged the feathers for new ones properly cultivated with the Hell’s power.

No way that big-eyed stray was here for enough time to go through the whole process already.

Once I had my suspicions, it was easy to hone in on the never-ending stream of words leaving Auriolus’s mouth and quickly come closer when I managed to pick a keyword I was looking for.

“...I was a fashion designer in my previous life, you know. So, trust me when I tell you this purple fabric is made for you. It will go brilliantly with your golden horns.” Auriolus beamed at the huge demon at his side.

Abaddon entered a staring contest and, wonder of wonders, lost against puppy dog eyes.

Gold clattered onto the vendor’s table.

“Fine. Have it if you want it so much. But I don’t need it. Wear it yourself.”

Auriolus gasped as if he was dealt the biggest offence of his life.

“I beg your pardon! Wearing purple with my coloration would be a crime!”

“Get used to it.” Abaddon bared his teeth. “We are demons. You are a demon now. Crimes are our thing. Let’s finish here before I decide to teach you a lesson like your previous handler wanted to do.”

Oh? There was a story here. But I was more interested in learning about the dreaming. Unfortunately, the pair headed out of the market after visiting an herbalist, making trailing after them too risky. I decided to see what they were doing in the herbalist’s shop instead. I took a gamble and barreled through the door as if in a hurry.

“Excuse me, excuse me, dear madam, sorry to bother you, but Lord Abaddon sent me to pick some more of the product you just sold him.”

The clerk frowned at me.

“He just got enough for several months!”

“Yes, yes, but he just remembered he may not be available for some time, so better stock up than be sorry later!”

“Hmph, and he had to send a servant as he couldn’t be bothered to turn around. Typical. How much do you want?”

I loved when the targets of my lies filled the blanks in themselves.

“Just enough for another week or two?” I asked, hoping it wasn’t some kind of extremely rare magical ingredient I would need to spend my life savings on.

In the end, I didn’t end up paying a lot for it because it turned out to be a common Earth herb, valerian. For demons it didn’t really have any effect in its base form, but it was an ingredient in a few more complicated concoctions. But, if I remember correctly, humans had used valerian to help with sleep. Restful sleep with no nightmares.

Bingo. It seems that silly demon dreams just like my angel.

Chapter 6

To my frustration, I was unable to keep my eyes on Auriolus and Abaddon unless they were in a more populated place and, after a week of fruitless searching for rumors of their appearances in public and staking out places Abaddon frequented, I decided they were probably hiding in the high demon’s mansion, waiting for the rumors to die down. The mansion was a very private, very secure parcel of Hell and I wasn’t stupid enough to go anywhere near there. So, with a sigh, I went back to Earth.

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