Page 2 of The Devil You Know

The table nearly broke when I slammed my fist against it.

“Come back when you take this seriously,” I snarled, staring into Michael’s blue eyes. “I’m not going to sign a damn thing if you just hand it over to me, damn the consequences.”

“Ah... maybe a bit of a recess is in order,” Zachariel said diplomatically. “Let’s meet again in fifteen minutes. I will get some snacks and drinks in the meantime...”

I took the opening and stormed out straight to the main door. Outside it was raining, and I turned my face up to the clouds eagerly. Maybe the droplets would cool off my anger.

“Lucifer!”

...or maybe the rain would just make me stew in my anger. Get it? Stew? I clung to making stupid jokes at myself to keep from screaming as I whirled to face Michael. Of course he followed me. Of fucking course.

“Can we talk?” the blasted angel asked, not caring his precious blue-and-gold brocades, or whatever fabrics he wore, were getting wet.

“You can make an appointment with my secretary,” I answered woodenly.

“The last time I tried she told me the next opening was in five thousand years!”

“Well, you would be a lot closer if you had taken it then,” I said snidely. “Now, I’m afraid the waiting list is even longer.”

“I need to speak with you urgently,” Michael insisted, his hands clenched at his sides.

“No.”

“Lucifer, please listen to me. Let’s go somewhere private and I will tell you something incredibly important, something only for your ears—”

“There’s no way in Hell or in Heaven I will go anywhere alone with you,” I bared my teeth at him. “And you are causing a scene.”

It was truly a laugh of the universe, maybe God’s hidden streak of humor showing, that the brand new ‘Embassy’ was built next to an angel and demon exclusive BDSM club. Granted, it made sense as I knew that particular club was the first place to achieve a semi-neutral status, but it was hilarious to spot a group of angels and demons in leather gear staring at us like deer in headlights. Or maybe like people who were witnessing a train crash.

I had the pleasure of watching Michael’s cheeks flood with red, his pale skin showing the color of his embarrassment beautifully. He was thrown only for a second and he gathered himself quickly, his lips setting into an expression of bull-headed stubbornness.

“Please, Luci,” he said, and I wanted to slap him.

“How dare you,” I hissed. “How dare you call me that?”

“Please,” he repeated, and he...

Sank to his knees.

There, in the mud, in the middle of the street, with angels and demons watching.

I yanked him back to his feet, my eyes wide and wild from seeing how he dirtied himself, his pristine clothes streaked with mud. Roughly, I pulled him behind me towards the edge of the magical dome hiding this place from humans.

“You had seen nothing, got it?” I growled over my shoulder to the four people gaping after us, putting all my menace into the implied threat. They nodded hastily.

As I pushed Michael against a tree trunk, as far away as I could get from the two buildings, I realized he had got his wish. We were alone. I expected to see triumph on his face at getting his way, even if it was by humiliating himself, but his expression was soft.

“I can’t risk telling you here. It’s too important, and if anyone eavesdropped on us... Meet me tomorrow in the nearest town and I will ensure we have the utmost privacy. Please.”

“Stop it!” I demanded. “Stop pleading, and begging, and acting like a total doormat! Fight me! And if you do that... If you pit that brilliant mind I know you have against me... Maybe then, maybe I will consider your request.”

Michael’s lips started shaping a ‘thank you’ but he thought better of it in the light of my request to grow a spine and nodded instead.

“Got it.”

“Good. Then there’s only one more thing to do.”

I slapped him hard.

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