Then the noise started. The cracks had been continuously growing, but it seemed like only this room was affected, because everything looked fine outside the cracked window. And no one was panicking. But the cracking had been a slow, quiet process. Now, he couldhearthe cracking, along with a rhythmic thumping sound. He thought for a moment it was his heart—it felt kind of like a heartbeat, reverberating through his body—but Bitch Lady obviously felt and heard it too.
“Angel-a,” a monotonous voice intoned from above. “Please advise on the status of ticket #1618033988749894. This ticket has not been closed for placement. The Leadership Team has also taken note of some… irregularities, which seem to be originating in your office.”
“I don’t know what’s happening!” she stammered, a definite note of panic to her voice. “There appear to be cracks in the walls? And ticket #1618033988749894 is non responsive to all afterlife placement techniques.”
Her voice rose in pitch as she continued, and Adam felt a twisted pleasure in her panic. “I have not been properly trained to handle issues of this magnitude. This is outside the scope of my experience and job description. I need to escalate the ticket! I cannot resolve the situation!”
With that, she put down her tablet, pushed her chair back, and glared at Adam. “This isall your fault.” She waved frantically around her office, beginning to shout. “ALL YOUR FAULT!” she cried out.
Adam couldn’t keep his mouth shut a moment longer. “Well, maybe if you weren’t such a bitch to people, and maybe if you hadn’t been so damn snarky to someonewho just diedthe first time I was here, then maybe you wouldn’t be in this position, hmmm?”
With that, he looked up. “Andyou, Leadership Team assholes, Minosclosedmy ticket. I watched him do it. I was placed. I was placed with the approval of both your bosses, so I don’t knowwhy in the afterlifeI am sitting in fucking Angel-duh’s office. Maybe you should consult withyourmanagement, hmmm? Because you all fucked up.”
The thumping was growing louder, and Adam sat back in his chair, a look of glee on his face. Because he realized what it was. It was footsteps, and a door was slowly forming on the wall. His Minos was here for him.
“Oh, you’re in for it now,” he chortled gleefully. “Because Minos is going to beso pissed.”
With that, the door was unceremoniously thrown open, and his huge, hulking sexy demon ducked into the room. Adam jumped up and threw himself up into Minos’ arms. Which was quite the throwing of himself, by the way, because his demon seemed to have about doubled in size. But Minos shrunk a bit in order to catch Adam in his arms and cradle him close.
“Oh, Big Guy, you got bigger! That’s gonna be fun later!” he cried out, and then they were even closer in size and Minos and Adam were frantically kissing, lips pressed together, tongues sliding into each other’s mouths.
Adam sucked hard on Minos’ tongue, and then Minos bit Adam’s lower lip between his teeth, and they were both groaning in delight. When they finally stopped for air, they just stayed pressed mouth to open mouth, taking in each other’s panting breaths.
“I’m so glad you’re here, Big Guy. I fucking missed you,” Adam whispered, petting his hands along every inch of face and horn he could reach as Minos squeezed him tightly.
And then all hell, or actually, he supposed all heaven, broke loose.
Chapter20
Minos
With his little human finally back in his arms, Minos felt a level of calm descend upon him. Adam was still blessedly Adam-like, and he looked not at all worse for wear. The room, however, did look quite a bit unheavenly.
He wondered how the cracks had occurred. Arioch had pounded away at the door, but it had seemed utterly ineffectual at the time. The door had held strong, and Minos’ frustration had grown with each glancing blow against the glowing, white obstacle standing between him and his human. He had finally stalked forward and pushed Arioch out of the way, readily to bodily slam himself against the door. He had grabbed the handle, which he hadn’t even seen moments before, thrown all his weight into pulling, and been utterly shocked when it simply opened up for him.
Everyone in the clearing had been dumbfounded at that. “Well,” Ari had muttered, “that’s delightfully unexpected.” Then the demon had chortled in glee. “Oh, the chaos shall be magnificent!”
So Minos had entered the doorway and started climbing. It was quite the journey, but he plodded along methodically, feeling himself getting closer and closer to his Adam. As the walls slowly faded from gray to white, he didn’t let panic take hold. He took stock for burning pressure, for flames, for something blocking his way, only none of that happened. Cracks started forming in the walls as he walked, but he ignored them. If the passageway was ruined because he used it, it was the least of his concerns.
All that mattered was Adam.
When he had reached another door at the top, he had worried that this was where he would be blocked. Yet he could sense his Adam on the other side, and he had faith that a mere doorway would not be able to separate them. He expected Adam to have to open the door from his side, but he reached out to the handle anyway. To his astonishment, it opened easily, and he ducked his hulking form through it.
He had braced himself for… something. Excruciating agony. Burning flames. Dissipation. Blinding light. Bleeding from his orifices.
Demons couldnotenter heaven. This was not merely folklore. There were occasionally those who were tired of their immortality and chose to melt into the ether. A demon attempting to enter heaven was the quickest way to become, as Arioch had said, quarks spread out into the universe.
Minos had no desire to end up as such. He had thought, had hoped, that he could fight through whatever he needed to for long enough to collect his Adam and get back into the stairway. Only instead of agony and pain, he had found himself with an armful of Adam. He had immediately shrunk down to accommodate his little human, who seemed gleeful to see him. Then they were kissing, and he wasn’t even sure who had started it, but he squeezed his Adam tightly and clung to him, feeling whole again, finally.
It was at that point that he registered the screaming.
The room was cracking around him and darkening from its institutionally bright white color to a more faded gray. It was also growing in size, which he expected meant they were due for some company from the Leadership Team.
The screaming was coming from a woman who was looking decidedly unangelic. She was staring at him and Adam, screaming something about not being properly trained to handle recalcitrant tickets and how demons could not be in heaven.
Minos ignored her and her tirade, looking down at his little human.
“Are you well?” he asked simply. He could see that Adam was, but he needed to check in anyway. “Shall I kill her?” he tacked on. He wasn’t sure it was possible, but he could try. He knew she wasn’t the force behind Adam being taken from him, but he also knew Adam disliked her and she had not been kind to him. For that alone, he would find a way to end her existence.
