Page 1 of The Devil You Know

Chapter 1

Our eyes met, and the world didn’t end.

What a surprise. This was already going better than our last meeting thousands of years ago, where Michael could barely stand my presence. I still remembered how it devolved into a shouting match almost instantly.

“How are you?” Michael asked from across the table.

A smile stretched my lips. I smiled in a way I imagined a Black Widow would smile, if she could, just before consuming her partner. ‘How are you’ he dared to ask. Was he trying to make me snap first this time, to prove how much better angels were than demons? How much more control they had, how much more civilized they were, how...

“Good. I’m good,” I said. “Just peachy. Now, how about we get to work?”

I told myself that the flash of regret I saw in Michael’s eyes couldn’t possibly be there. It was just a phantom conjured by my dreams, which had already been squashed thousands of years ago. We weren’t brothers-in-arms anymore; we were nothing to each other, just obstacles on the road to ruling over our respective kingdoms.

The bookish looking angel Michael dragged with him as his scribe gave him a subtle poke under the table.

“Oh, yes, right,” Michael floundered. What have they done with the confident man I remembered? “My team has compiled a few matters to discuss.”

That discussion was extremely boring and circled around matters I knew for a fact were already practically agreed upon by the people we usually relied on for diplomacy: the other Archangels and Archdemons. But I approved of the move. I myself decided to forgo the heavy questions today, seeing as this was only a test. I was aware everyone’s expectations were pretty low. If the meeting ended without bodily harm, everyone, including me, would be pleasantly surprised and consider it a success. I admit things got hairy a few times, tempers rising on both sides, but the hosts of this meeting – the curious angel and demon pair who established a place where both sides could meet and talk, Zachariel and Hellion – helped to ease tensions and keep everything on track. And lo-and-behold; after several hours we had a first document signed by both me and my counterpart.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m going to celebrate,” I said, standing up and stretching. Seeing both the host and Michael opening their mouths I added. “Alone.”

My frosty tone was enough to shut Zachariel up, but Michael didn’t take the hint.

“Lucifer, can we talk for a moment—”

“And why would I want to do that?” I asked, not even looking at him. “Let’s not pretend this is anything more than business. Goodnight.”

Nobody followed me to the teleportation point a few rooms over.

What displeased me was that I had to go back there. The negotiations went too well. Now, a week later, Abaddon and Azazel were on my case, insisting I make this work permanently, and that I take over the lion’s share of the dirty work (read: diplomacy) to make up for all the millennia I have been avoiding it.

What a joke. As if I was just sitting idle instead of governing a whole ass realm.

Nevertheless, I got bullied into appearing at the negotiation table again. My purple coat swished ominously as I thundered into the room, the angelic delegation and our hosts already sitting at their places. All eyes drifted to me and Abaddon, who, as I suspected, volunteered to accompany me only to make sure I wouldn’t run. I made for the chair furthest away from Michael, but Abaddon used his absurdly long legs to pass me and drop into the chair first. That fucker. I had no choice but to sit directly opposite Michael.

I glared.

The clink of a porcelain cup in front of me diverted my attention, and I gave a side eye to a nervous angel who just brought me the tea. He retreated so fast his wings would have swished audibly if they had been out.

“Michael brought the tea to this meeting as a gift,” Zachariel started the conversation. “It’s a flavor you are fond of, I have heard?”

The smell of cherry blossoms wafted to my nose, the memories rising unbidden. It wasn’t the flavor I liked but the scent; when me and Michael descended into our new, human-shaped bodies to gawk at the flora of Earth, the humans hadn’t even discovered the art of tea yet. But the flowering trees had been there, barely changed through the millennia, the wonderful scent the same now as it was before and only magnified by the heat of water and hints of other complimentary ingredients in the tea.

“I’m not a fan of it anymore,” I said. “Tastes change.”

And you know nothing about me, was the clear message under the words.

Michael dared to look gutted. But then he closed his eyes and, when he opened them again, his eyes shone with determination.

“Let’s see to our agenda for today.”

This time we brought more complex topics to the table. Scuffles between angels and demons on Earth. How to ensure the policy of not showing our powers to humans had proper rules and punishments that could be enforced, regulating the trade between our kingdoms. I circled around Heaven’s delegation looking for any weakness and I pounced whenever I could. At first, I was smug about how many victories I managed to pull, how I maneuvered Michael into conceding his points and made him approve deals that weren’t optimal.

Then I realized...

Michael was letting me win.

He was putting his kingdom at risk because, for some unfathomable reason, he decided to roll over and show me his belly. I had never been so insulted in my life.

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