Lucifer Damned (Morningstar Book 3), Percival Constantine [electric book reader .txt] 📗

“You must be Uriel, our new ambassador,” said Odysseus. “A fine sight better than the last one, if I may say so. Nasty little business that rogue angel got up to.”

Uriel narrowed his eyes. “I’ve heard of you. In fact, as I recall, weren’t you in league with him?”

Odysseus only let the accusation trip him up for the briefest of seconds before he came up with an excuse. “Well, ‘in league with’ is such a…strong choice of words. I was simply hired to do a job, but I wasn’t aware of what he was truly up to. And he was so crafty, he slipped under the notice of Heaven. So I can hardly be found at fault for not exceeding the profound, celestial wisdom of the angels, now can I?”

“I don’t care about you, Mr. Black. I care about the demon standing in my lobby,” said Uriel.

“Ah, yes. Well, I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but Belial now works for me,” said Odysseus. “He’s my bodyguard, you see. And as such, he is permitted to remain in Eden so long as I am accompanying him. That would be in accordance with the rules of your fine establishment, would it not?”

Uriel’s lips tightened and he gave a stiff nod. He glanced at Belial very briefly, but quickly returned his gaze to Odysseus. “Fine, but that also makes him your responsibility.”

“Certainly, that goes without saying,” said Odysseus. “Thank you very much for your understanding, my fine fellow. But we won’t take up any more of your valuable time, so off we go to mingle.” Odysseus turned away from Uriel and gestured for Belial to follow. “Come now, my bodyguard.”

Belial gave Uriel a nod and followed. They found an empty table and sat down. A waiter came to take their drink orders and Odysseus requested a beer, but Belial simply held up a hand to indicate his refusal.

“You oughta have a drink. Might loosen you up a little,” said Odysseus.

“I’m not here for drinks, I’m here to monitor,” said Belial.

“Seems ol’ Uriel there feels the same about you,” said Odysseus. “Already I seen him whisper to at least three different angels. No doubt asking them to keep an eye on you.”

“Let them watch me all they want.”

The beer arrived in a tall glass and Odysseus raised it up. “Well, to the fine art of celestial spying then.”

Odysseus drank and continued talking, though Belial scarcely paid attention. His attention was focused on the room. So far, he hadn’t seen the reason why he’d come to Eden, and it was a good hour of just sitting and watching before she made her appearance. But once Belial saw Anael step off the elevator with determination in her eyes, his attention focused on her.

“There,” he said.

Odysseus stopped whatever story he was in the middle of and followed Belial’s line of sight. “So that’s the little angel that Lucifer’s so enamored of, eh?”

Belial ignored the comment and continued to watch as Anael finally located Uriel. She seemed insistent and soon, she walked towards the balcony with Uriel following behind.

“Stay here,” said Belial as he stood from the table. He went to the bar and asked for a glass of water, then sipped it as he went closer to the balcony.

Anael and Uriel had gone outside and Belial pretended to watch the piano player as the angels continued to focus their attention on him. But he focused his hearing on what was happening out on the balcony. He filtered out all the other noise from the people around him and now was able to listen to what they were saying.

“I don’t appreciate being given orders by those who are supposed to be under my command,” said Uriel.

“Right now, I couldn’t care less,” said Anael. “I want to know why you sent a pair of bumbling assassins after the Adversary.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh yes you do,” said Anael. “You knew about the Morningstar’s power loss.”

“Lucifer’s powerless? That’s news to me.”

“You’re a terrible liar, Uriel. You and I both know you must have somehow overheard it when Belial told me. And then you passed on information about him to a pair of hunters. Do the names Shem and Ham ring any bells?”

Uriel paused before continuing. “Where did you hear this?”

“Where do you think?”

“From Lucifer then. So why are you having little chats with him when you’re supposed to be convincing him to return to Hell?”

“If you want him to return to Hell, then why in the name of the Presence would you send assassins after him?”

Uriel gave a chuckle.

“I don’t think it’s funny,” said Anael.

“Actually, it is. If I really wanted Lucifer dead, don’t you think I’d be able to send better assassins than a pair of morons who’d be lucky if their combined IQ exceeded their shoe size?”

“Then why do it at all?” asked Anael.

“Should be obvious, don’t you think? To remind him of what he’s lost,” said Uriel. “Up until now, Lucifer has been living on Earth free of any worries, content in the knowledge that he’s immortal and invulnerable. Now that he’s been stripped of that protection, I wanted him to realize what’s at stake. Lucifer cares only about power, so by sending those two after him, I’ve reminded him that he’s now powerless.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Anael. “If he cared about power, why would he abdicate the throne in the first place?”

“It’s part of some scheme of his, no doubt. But I wanted to show him that his place is in Hell.”

“Why not come to me with this plan of yours?” asked Anael.

Uriel scoffed. “Is that a joke? You’d never have gone for it and you know it. You’ve been reluctant to go as far as necessary when dealing with Lucifer.”

“What did you expect me to do? Drag him back to Hell myself?”

“At this point, I’m willing to consider that option. At least you’d be doing something other than having social visits with