[removed]

In the end, the wave of lucklessness that struck the mortal world came to an end after the Orderlies realized just how much luck was essential to keep the world working.

That doesn't change the fact that for a whole week, I had to live without the luck that has kept me afloat for years. Since my books didn't sell, I failed to pay rent that month. Since I was on thin ice with my landlord, I was kicked out onto the streets. I was able to sell enough of my furniture so that I could afford a super-cheap hotel room, but it left me with practically no material possessions. It turns out that my hotel room was haunted, and since I could see and hear ghosts more clearly than the typical person I was kept awake by the sounds of ghosts doing what most people do in cheap hotel rooms. It's exactly what you think.

One day, I heard a knock on the door.

Unwilling to leave my bed, I called out, "Who is it?"

Parsimony stuck his head through the door, as in actually phased his head through the actual door itself. "It's me."

"Come in!" I was glad to see him. It had been a week of no contact, I was worried something might have happened to him. That maybe the Superiors learned that he was stealing luck from mortals who probably deserved it more than I did.

"Is everything okay? Where have you been?" I asked.

He stood by the bed, took a deep breath and said rather matter-of-factly, "I got fired and then I spent a week in the Justicar's Court with them grilling me about what I've done."

The Justicar's Court is nothing less than life or death for an accused angel. It was essentially the Superiors' boogeyman. Any angel less than perfect would be discarded if it meant protecting the reputation of the angels. They alone had the means to truly kill an angel.

"But you're alive! I thought the Superiors would kill you... or banish you to Hell."

"Trust me, they tried. Fortuna looked after me. She vouched for me."

"Fortuna? Doesn't she know that you've been stealing luck?"

"Oh yeah, she figured it out alright. That's why I got fired. She just couldn't bring herself to see me get killed for what I've done. Now I'm just an unemployed, but thankfully alive angel."

"I'm glad you're okay... that we're okay," I planted a kiss on his cheek.

Flustered, he gave me a gentle push. "I'm okay, but you're living in a haunted hotel. I don't think that counts as okay."

"Well, you were right. My books didn't sell. Now I'm in a dirty hotel, awake at two in the morning listening to ghosts f-"

"FUCK YOU, MORTAL!" Parsimony and I were startled by the sudden noise as Fortuna filled the room with a burst of light, materializing at the foot of the bed. Her long arm extended towards me, pointing a thin finger adorned with golden rings. "Not only did you rob my best worker away from me and made him spill our secrets, I spent a week out of my already busy schedule covering up the largest scandal that our department has experienced in five-hundred years!"

"I-I didn't-"

"Oh but you did! None of this would have happened if you just let Percy go on his merry way without ever talking to him!"

"I'm sorry! Is it a sin to be a little curious?"

"It is, actually," both Parsimony and Fortuna said in unison.

"Oh."

Fortuna put her hands on her hips and sighed. "I say all of this. But I mainly want you and Percy to be happy. Don't get me wrong, I am upset. You've both violated some of the most vital angelic laws to ever be written. You've made a huge mess, and I've taken the time and effort to clean it up. You two better make it all worth it."

Parsimony and I silently nodded.

"Then it is settled. I give you both my blessing. It's not a whole eight portions of luck but it's enough for you both to get by. Percy, if I ever see you at the office, I'm going to kick your ass."

"Understood, ma'am."

"As for you, mortal, I have enough trouble without some random asshole leaking our secrets. Can you give me a break and get an actual job?"

"Is a demonologist an actual job?"

She winced. "Sure, I guess so... Heaven knows those demonology books fly off the shelves more than books about us. Anyway, goodbye."

With a snap of her fingers, she disappeared in a burst of light.

Thanks for a beautiful interpretation of the prompt 😄

Thank you so much!

I absolutely agree! I was thinking of Death from the Discworld series when I wrote this. All children know that monsters are real, so it’s easy enough to be honest.

Ambriel sounded rather shaken up as she rushed through a polite greeting.

“Look, Lilith, I’ll get straight to the point: I need your help to keep this guy alive. Just until you can give his guardian angel some - specialized training, let’s say.” Ambriel seemed almost amused by the notion as she spoke it.

“Elaborate,” Lilith responded, intrigued but wary of where this conversation was going.

Ambriel sucked in a deep breath to steady herself while she pondered how best to summarize the current situation.

“So I have my ward - the devout and gentle daughter of an organized crime boss. She is very well-sheltered from her father’s business dealings though, if you can believe it, so I got her case file.”

Ambriel ran her fingers through her hair, attempting to calm herself before she continued, “But there’s been - well, a complication of sorts…”

“Oh, don’t tell me: there’s a guy.” Lilith nearly giggled in delight. Juicy gossip and star-crossed lovers could be ideal grounds for sowing the seeds of chaos.

“There’s a guy,” Ambriel confirmed. “And he’s well-meaning but he’s not exactly the brightest candle upon the altar. Plus his guardian is a newbie, totally unprepared for this level of protection.”

“So you want me to come with you and play nanny to a guardian angel?” Lilith pretended to pout at the idea. “What’s in it for me? You know I don’t work for charity.”

“Besides top-side access you mean?” Ambriel raised an eyebrow. “You also have limited privileges to influence the crime syndicate -“

Lilith’s eyes lit up and the end of her tail flicked in anticipation. Her lips curved into a mischievous grin.

“Under specific circumstances!” Ambriel quickly added, attempting to be stern.

“We must always try to prevent violence, not provoke it. You may only influence the syndicate in ways that will protect the wards. And you cannot tempt the wards with sin.”

“Yawn,” Lilith said teasingly. “Sounds boring,” she lied. She was interested, but wanted to press Ambriel for more privileges.

Ambriel laughed incredulously. “Ha! If only you knew how often this guy has stumbled just about to death’s door! I swear he’s got bad luck. Maybe his angel does, too.”

A moment of silence passed between them, each absorbed in their thoughts.

Ambriel sighed. “I was hoping that you could give the new angel some advice on how to anticipate and manage the chaos of the syndicate.”

Lilith raised an eyebrow in amusement. “You know I’m more of a chaos enabler than a chaos manager, right?”

“Well yeah, but I - was hoping maybe you would at least be able to give us some pointers.”

The deal was too good for Lilith to pass up, so she relented. “Alright, I’ll do it. But you owe me a favor.”

Ambriel could barely contain her joy and relief. “Oh, thank you, thank you! How soon can you start?”

“Immediately,” Lilith replied without hesitation.

“Let’s go then!” Ambriel nearly squealed with delight. “Gadriel will be waiting with his ward, Romeo. And I need to get back to Juliet.”

"It's no secret. Our department is being gutted," lamented Fortuna. Her heels clacked down the hallway and her curly red hair bounced as she went. Fortuna always looked a little on the rough side, especially since the affairs of mortals can be quite stressful, but with the recent budget cuts and changes to her department, her eyelids became dark cloaks of tiredness.

"So, what do we do?" asked Parsimony. He adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and ran his hand through his dark curly hair as he ran to catch up with Fortuna with his short legs. It was considered bad angelic etiquette to fly indoors, and Parsimony was always a clumsy walker.

Fortuna stopped, turned, and looked at Parsimony with tired eyes. "We do what we always do, Percy. No reason to change the way we do things."

Parsimony ground to a halt, nearly losing his footing. "We won't have enough magic to do it! We are on thin supply as is, we can't afford to just spend it on just any mishap that comes our way!"

"We are angels, damnit! And what do we do?" Fortuna twisted her mouth into a jagged smile, a signal for Parsimony to say the motto.

Parsimony gave a weak sigh. The motto of the Guardian Angels was burned into his mind the moment he joined their ranks. "We make miracles..."

Within the hierarchy of angels, Fortuna and the Guardian Angels were in a tenuous position. The Guardian Angels were considered separate from the highly-specialized Orderly Angels, which included subgroups specializing in anything from judging the sinful mortals, giving advice to mortal leaders, and giving orders to the lower-ranking angelic soldiers.

As such, the Guardian Angels were frequently understaffed and under equipped, as the Orderlies moved towards a paradigm of taking a more hands-off approach in guiding mortals, preferring to give simple advice rather than altering reality to fix the outcomes to the mortal's favor. The Superiors began taking the resources of the Guardians and giving them to the Orderlies, which meant luck shortages happened frequently. The Guardian Angels were understandably upset by this change. Without the means necessary to help the mortals, how could they manage to do it?

Within a week, the Guardians squandered what little magic they had left for the month. They operated on a first-come-first-serve basis, which meant the luck was spent on such trivial things such as gambling, finding missing socks, and businesses making slightly better profits than usual.

I learned of these changes as I usually do: Parsimony. While most mortals cannot see angels, those mortals who study angels may find it useful to specialize in the magic of perception. Thanks to my magical studies, I see angels, demons, ghosts, fairies... just about anything that would prefer to remain unseen. This unseen world is filled with strange characters, and Parsimony is one of the strangest. He is abnormally short for an angel and flutters on moth-like wings, signs of his half-angel-half-fae heritage. He is also the most talkative of any angel (or any fairy if we want to call him that) I have ever met. He was also once my Guardian Angel.

I suppose it was dumb luck that an angelologist would be assigned such a forthcoming angel as a guardian. I call it dumb luck because it was certainly not a miracle Fortuna would orchestrate; angels, if nothing else, are secretive creatures or are at least supposed to be. Perhaps it was Parsimony's fae nature that made him such a chatterbox. When Parsimony wrapped up with his other clients for the day, he stopped by to give me what little luck I needed and then we would talk for hours about his work and the office politics of angels.

Our talks were essential for my studies of angelic culture, but the more we talked, the more I just realized I liked having someone to talk to. While the world knew that angels existed, it wasn't a popular occupation to try to study them. Most people would think you would be crazy to try to study something so beyond mortal understanding, and as such I had very few friends. Only a handful of people bought my books every month, but it was enough to pay the rent and the necessities. I got by with the help of Parsimony and a little luck.

Then came the Day the Luck Ran Out.

"So, it's official. I've spent the last of the luck today." Parsimony fidgeted with his red tie. I had not received any luck that day, so it was clear I was left out. Parsimony's other clients, who were earlier on his route, were the lucky ones. I just wasn't the type of person the angels thought to give their own personal Guardian, so these kinds of inconveniences were an inevitability.

"Well, it's no problem, right? People get by without luck all the time! You only ever gave me a little luck, so I'll be fine!" I only half believed what I said. I didn't understand luck or how it worked. It was a fickle, volatile thing. It was magic given free reign to act in the favor of the user. No mortal could cast a spell to emulate for even a second what angelic luck does every second of every day.

"Well, we'll just have to see..." Parsimony said, avoiding eye contact. His eyes bounced back and forth around my cramped apartment, as if an argument or a tennis match was playing in his head.

"Are you okay? I mean, I'm going to be okay... Right?"

"There's something I need to tell you..." The knot of his tie bobbed as he repeatedly tugged it, trying to summon the strength to tell me the truth.

A deep breath.

"I haven't just been giving you a little luck. I have been skipping people and cutting people short on their deliveries for years so that I could give you all the luck I can spare!"

I didn't know what I was feeling at that moment. It was a strange mixture of confusion, anger, and appreciation. But was what he was saying true? It was hard for a mortal to quantify such an abstract thing as luck, and whenever I received it from Parsimony it was as simple as him waving a hand at me. I couldn't see the luck he gave, so I had no idea.

"Me? My life isn't glamorous or anything, so why am I supposed to believe that I am so lucky?"

"Let me be frank. Your life is a disaster. I don't say that to insult you, just that your path in life isn't what most people would consider successful."

"What... what do you mean?"

"You are an angelologist! Have you met a single person who has read your books or told you that they appreciated what you do?"

"No..."

"That's what I'm saying. It has taken a bonafide miracle for you to live a relatively comfortable life. Nobody buys your books on purpose! They read a title like The Community of Angels and think it's a romance novel or something! It has taken eight times the average amount of luck to get you to this point. Eight. Times."

I sat down on my worn secondhand recliner, the finest I could afford. I sucked in a breath and asked, "But why me? Why do I deserve all the luck?"

"I like you." Parsimony squeaked out these words quickly, as if he tried to sneak them past me.

"Like, like-like me?"

He nodded.

I was dumbstruck. It was taboo for angels to have affairs with mortals. Hell, it was taboo for most angels to even talk with mortals, especially Guardians. Now my Guardian was admitting to an unauthorized transfer of luck and that he had some sort of crush on me.

I felt anger, but I kept my voice down to a calm rumble. "You like me, you want me to succeed, but you refused to tell me that my business was built on a lie until it was too late?"

"That's not how Guardians are supposed to work. We make miracles, not give advice!"

"We're not even supposed to be talking right now, Percy! You couldn't break just one more rule and just tell me that my life's work is a one-way ticket to disaster?"

"I wanted to protect you. And I knew that this is what you wanted to do with your life. I feel like I would have failed my job if you did anything else besides what you wanted!"

"I never wanted to live a lie..." I leaned forward in the recliner, with elbows upon my knees and head down. My vision began to blur as tears filled my eyes. My life's work was a sham.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I didn't think this would ever happen. I just thought we could continue like this forever and... Can we still be friends at least?" He placed a hand on my shoulder and gave it a gentle, yet firm squeeze.

I gave it some thought. Could we still be friends? He didn't mean to hurt me. In fact he was the only thing keeping my life together up until this point. Even if he didn't do all of that, he was still my best friend... maybe more than that. I had to go for it.

Wiping tears from my eyes I quietly said, "I never said no, did I?"

I looked up at Parsimony, whose cheeks were striped with tears. He remained silent, perhaps confused by my question.

"I never said I didn't like-like you," I gave a tired smile. I was still processing everything that happened up until that point, but I realized I couldn't stay angry at the angel who risked everything to make me happy.

"In fact, I never said I liked being an angelologist." I paused, taking a deep shuddering breath as I still recovered from crying. "You know what I like about it though?"

Parsimony finally spoke. "What is that?"

"That I met you."

TO BE CONTINUED

Dislodging a bit of Steve from underneath the claws was a great touch!

I like how h**ven was censored

Bullet Train reference? A great read!

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Turns out that shooting a random fireball into the ceiling is a good way to have the university police called on you.

Luckily for me no one was looking at me when it happened, and they couldn't find any accelerant or, well, anything that could make a fireball on me, so I didn't get charged with anything.

They ended up releasing me after a couple hours sitting in the small interview room the one part-time university detective used.

It wasn't until I got home that I could review the doodle I had been making. I've always liked to make up and draw random arcane looking symbols in the margins of my notebooks, it helps me relax.

It was pretty easy to pick out the page, since it was covered in soot. I took the notebook out to the garage of the house I was renting with some friends. My roommate has turned half of it into a welding shop for his side gig, and he was out of town visiting family, so it was probably the best place for some experimentation.

It took two and a bit hours for me to get it right. I finally figured out that it was two symbols, one on the previous page with the second overlayed precisely, the. Simply pressing my thumb on both caused a fist sized fireball to appear when I pulled my thumb away.

Of course, I hit a wall once I figured that out. I had no grasp of why the symbols did that. One of my other roommates had tried to explain computer programming to me once, he had shown me the project he was working on, even with him explaining what the word soup I was looking at was supposed to do I could barely wrap my head around it.

I didn't have the first clue where to begin parsing the geometric shape I had just randomly scribbled in my notebook.

My fruitless tests of variations were interrupted by a knock on the side door of the garage, which was odd, because none of my roommates but Greg ever came out here, and he wouldn't knock.

I closed my notebook, though there wasn't anything particularly odd about it or the workspace. And walked over to the door.

I cracked it slightly to see who was out there. It turned out to be two people. A nondescript looking guy who appeared to be in his mid twenties with unruly black hair was looking down at his phone. Slightly behind him was a woman, with deathly pale skin and slightly red-tinged hair.

The man looked up at me, I caught an upside down glimpse of what he was looking at on his phone, it was my student picture, the same one on my ID card and attached to all my transcripts.

"Joe Tanner?" The man asked in a tone that said he kind of already knew the answer.

"Yes?" I replied uncertainly, "Who are you?"

"You can call me Alex," he replied, he jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the woman. "This is Natasha, you can call her Nat, or Tasha. I can't tell if switching actually annoys her or not, so I'm doing some experimentation."

The woman just rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything.

"What do you want?" I asked, trying not to sound rude, but feeling unsettled by the odd pair for some reason.

"Today, at around ten thirty A.M." the man said, consulting his phone again. "You conjured a fireball in your advanced English class."

I felt a chill, then immediately realized that it should have been obvious that if magic was real then people would know about it.

The man continued speaking, either not noticing or not caring about the flush rising on my face. "Then starting a couple hours ago you conjured several more fireballs in this garage. Nat could smell the magic from two streets over."

Before I could really get into considering running from what I was sure would be one of those men in black suits disappearing me situations, the man pulled out one of the crappiest business cards I had ever seen. It was obviously printed on the cheap paper they had for students to use in the library, and looked like it had been put together by someone with only the vaguest idea of how the software worked. To top it off, I could see the ragged edges where it looked like the scissors had caught and torn the page.

It was so different from what I was expecting that my mind went blank for a second.

"Between you, Nat, that guy with elemental blood last week and those twins, this is turning into an unseen hotspot." The man said, pulling my attention away from the abomination of kerning in my hand.

"The local council has asked me to put together a support group for newcomers. Next meeting is on Saturday, you can find the details on our Facebook group. There'll be donuts."

"Wait," I said, not really sure what question to ask first. So I was half surprised to hear myself ask, "your magical support group posts about meetings on Facebook?"

"Sure," Alex said cheerfully. "I mean, Zuckerberg is a lizard person you know."

I envisioned her appearance as kind of banshee-esq so I was thinking Shriek or a synonym for witch.

Leo thought about jumping out for a second but grabbed his backpack instead. Reaching in, he took out the notebook and was met with an emanating red light. Speechless he handed the notebook over as he saw one of his drawing, simple lines that should have no depth, seemed to almost breathe on the page and move as the light slowly brightened and dimmed with each passing second.

Leo sat silently, watching Circe run her hands over the page, mumbling under her breath. Her eyes began to well up before she seemed to notice him staring and rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hand. "Leo, what's your last name?"

Caught off guard by the question, Leo answered, "It's uh, it's Wallbridge."

Circe seemed to notice the hesitation and said, "You don't have to tell me, it's just, this type of stuff, this isn't something people learn. This is something else entirely."

"I-I don't know, I never met my family."

She shifted in her seat to face him better. Grabbing the notebook, she put her finger next to the shifting lines, "Leo, what you did here, this is pure runic magic. I've read about it before, and we're taught about it in history, but this isn't normal, even by magical standards. Nobody has been able to do this for over 100 years. There was only one family that had true mastery over this, and they disappeared a long time ago."

"W-wait so you think I'm some sort of... what? A wizard or something?"

Circe smiled a little, "No, I wouldn't say that. But the fact that you're able to do this magic, I would say there's slim to no chance you're a normal human. This is a type of blood magic. Not in the sense that you use blood or anything, but it's only capable of being passed down through bloodlines, never learned. People have been trying for years to replicate some of the known runes, but it's never worked."

"So, you think this family that disappeared is what... my family?"

"I don't know." Circe said as her tone got softer, and her face bore a more empathetic expression. She could see he was beginning to get overwhelmed with all this information.

Leo had given up hope a long time ago of ever learning more about his family. He put his hands up to his face and rubbed his eyes a bit.

"I-I just need a minute." He said as he stepped out of the car.

A chill Fall breeze met his face as he exited the car. After pacing for a moment, he went over and sat on the curb, elbows on knees, hands on his face, and tears forming in his eyes.

"What the actual fuck is going on?" His hands were shaking, and the wind caused bumps to form on his arms.

Red foliage floated down in front of him, landing on the asphalt. Glancing down, the veins on a leaf began to contort and twist into a familiar symbol. His mind shifted immediately as he was taken back to his dreams. The same markings he had been seeing for weeks. A fear welled inside him and the leaf started to burn. After a moment of shock, he stood up and began stomping it out before the wind took it away. Sitting back down, a realization hit that these symbols might be more than him going mad, and that brought some solace.

After a few minutes, Circe came over and sat beside him.

"I'm sorry you never met your family. I can't imagine what that's like, not knowing anything about where you come from. I can't promise you all the answers, but if you're willing, I can get you information about your gifts, and you can do with that information whatever you want. I live not that far from here, and to be honest, I think you probably shouldn't stay here much longer. You didn't exactly use the most subtle magic back there, and those two other people seemed to get a good look at you."

Standing up, Circe reached down a hand to help Leo up. Leo took her hand and pulled himself to his feet.

"Thank you for what you did back there."

"To be honest, when I saw the flame I thought it was just magic gone wrong. But when I saw the notebook and the surprised look on your face, I figured there was something more going on. When you started to go limp I figured out it was your first time. Exerting that much energy can be dangerous if you don't have experience, and sometimes even with experience it can still drain too much. I-I'm glad I was there."

Circe smiled a little and started walking around to the driver side of the car, "So, you willing to take one more chance today? The library at my house isn't huge but it definitely has enough to get started."

Leo looked nervously at the car for a second before saying, "Can we keep this between us? The whole bloodline magic? I just don't want to get too ahead of ourselves."

She hopped in the car and popped the passenger door open. "Of course. It's not my secret to tell."

Leo took one last look at the Fall colored leaves lining the parking lot leading up to the school. He took a deep breath and got in the car, unsure of what awaits, but for the first time in a long time, hopeful for a new beginning.

[deleted]

Leo's arms instinctively shot up in an attempt to shield his face from the flames. Sitting still trying to process what just happened, he looked across the room. Two other students were sitting on a couch, both wide eyed with mouths agape . Glancing up, it appeared the flames didn't catch, and stranger still, no markings where the fire would have hit the ceiling. If it weren't for the other student's expressions and the still burning tips of his shoulder length blonde hair, he might have thought he was having a mental episode.

Without warning, a hand grabbed him on his shoulder and pulled him to his feet. Still shaken, he turned around to see a young woman. Clad in a leather jacket, blue jeans, and a look of intensity and purpose, she said, "Grab your things, especially that fucking notebook."

Still dazed, Leo quickly looked at the page he had been drawing on before shoving it in his backpack. It was a symbol he had seen many times over the last few weeks, not in real life, but in his dreams. The markings would appear on clothes in shops, graffiti on walls, tattoos on people he passed in the street, but never clear enough to make out all the details.

The woman dragged Leo out the room and began walking at a brisk pace towards the staircase. The florescent lights seemed really bright, and looking forward it almost appeared there were two of this woman. She looked back and said, "Just a bit further, can you make it down the stairs?"

The last words sounded as if they were coming from underwater and things started to go black. "Oh no you don't." He felt the woman put his arm over her shoulders and begin to walk him down the stairs.

"You have to stay awake. Once we get to my car I can help with the dizziness but I can't carry you by myself. Just walk slowly and lean on me."

The walk down the stairs and through the parking lot seemed like an eternity. After nearly passing out twice, Leo finally felt relief as he was sat down in the passenger side onto a dark grey leather seat. The woman shoved his feet into the car and shut the door, quickly looking around before entering the car herself.

"Wh-who are you?" Leo stuttered, barely conscious as he began to break out into a cold sweat.

"Circe. My name is Circe." The woman said as she started scrambling through her backpack for a small glass jar. Pulling out a small, purple, semi-transparent candy, she said, "Suck on this, and just relax for a minute." Shoving the candy into his mouth, Leo immediately felt his face go numb and eyes begin to water. The dizziness was replaced by acute awareness as he leapt up from his slouched position. A look of mild surprise on Circe's face as she said, "Just calm down."

"What the fuck is this?" Leo said as he spit out the candy into his hand, suddenly aware he had let a complete stranger stick something into his mouth.

Circe replied in a calm voice, "I can explain, just give it another minute. You already have color returning to your face. Are you feeling better?"

Leo took a second and the chills disappeared. He was no longer sweating and his hearing and vision had returned to normal. Seeing this woman clearly for the first time, she had pale skin with auburn brown hair. A thin scar across her right cheek that stretched from cheekbone to right under her lip. It must have been old as it had become barely visible. She also had a light accent but he couldn't place from where.

"I-I don't understand what's happening right now. I was just drawing, a-and some sort of fire shot up in front of me. Was that you?"

"No, it wasn't me. What's your name?"

"Leo. What is this? What did you give me?" He said pointing to the small purple candy in the palm of his hand.

"That is grape flavored candy, which I've infused with a simple arcane recovery spell."

Leo sat still waiting for a laugh or 'gotcha'. After a few seconds of silence and a dead serious look from Circe, "Well, thank you, I think. I don't really know what to say."

"Look, I'm not some crazy person. The candy helped, didn't it?"

"Yeah, but..."

"But I said spell and so I must be insane? Is that it?"

Leo leaned towards the door a bit more as the tone shifted a little. "Look, I'm not judging, if you believe in that sorta thing, ya know, th-that's great. I'm just not really into that sorta stuff."

"That's weird, because you just almost set the whole school on fire back there with 'that sorta stuff.'"

Circe looked forward for a second and took a deep breath. "Look, can I just see this notebook you were drawing in?"

(Continued in comments)

Thanks for taking the time to read these, it’s a great prompt! I’m still learning how to write better characters

Glad you like them.

Great story!

"Have you lost your mind? No! No, they'll notice that a Demon Lord has gone missing! Angela! Angela!" The Demon Lord growled. "I swear you better not..." She must have heard the line click. Angela had hung up on the Demon Lord. "How did she end up staying in Heaven and I get thrown down here?"

I peeked around the rotary phone's base. "You chose to fight in the rebellion, remember?"

She nodded and sighed. "Yeah.... " She dropped into one of the big comfortable chairs in her chamber. "Yeah, I remember." She rubbed her thumb between her brows.

"Are you going to go?"

"Of course I am. She and Belezbia are best friends, and if I want to keep things going well with Belezbia, I need to stay on good terms with Angela."

"So what's the plan, Your Grace?" I asked, tilting my head.

"Well, if I'm not going to be sitting on my throne, I need a substitute." She said, tapping her stilettoed black nails on the armrest.

"Do you have anyone in mind? Someone you can trust. You don't want someone to use the opportunity to start a coup."

A slow grin spread over the Demon Lord's face. "What about you, Ziel?"

I widened my eyes. "I apologize for being so blunt or speaking crudely to you, your grace, but are you insane? Look how small I am! I'm a lowly Imp! How would I keep anyone in line? How can I--"

"Shh! You're perfect. Someone I can easily get rid of if they start a coup. Someone I am confident is loyal in the first place. Someone who understands the politics and how everything works around here. You're perfect, Ziel--well aside from questioning my judgement."

"But, your grace!"

"No buts! You're going to by my--" She stood suddenly and dramatically, pointing down at me. "SUBSTITUTE DEMON LORD!"

~*~

Okay, okay. I've got this! Substitute Demon Lord!

I went through my normal routine--though many times larger. It was strange to be so tall and to look like my Demon Lord. I had to use the powers she gave me to make my checklists bigger so I could actually write on them. I spent hours and hours pouring over everything--checking every box! Crossing every T! Dotting every I! Ha, I was good at this!

"Your grace?" called a voice.

I ignored it, steeped in the minutia and paperwork of running my Demon Lord's kingdom.

"Your grace?"

I still didn't respond. Not until I felt a tug on the majestic robes I was wearing, suddenly reminded of the role I was playing.

"Your grace..." once more the voice addressed me. A voice attached to a demoness with too kind a face to belong in Hell. Too graceful a stride to be a lowly demon. Her hair was like black silk and a pair of horns like alabaster curled back along the sides of her head like a ram's. She peered up at me with humility from her ocher complexion.

She was mesmerizing and I nearly forgot who I was supposed to be again. "Ah, uhm yes?"

"Greetings, your grace. I'm Vizhabel, the new handmaid to Demon Lord Belezbia. I would have sought out your handmaid imp, Ziel, but I was told she hasn't been seen for a few days, so I hope I'm not imposing or breaking any rules."

She was meant to see me? It had been days? I felt my eyes start to widen but pulled the expression back into something cool and easy. "Oh, well, I sent her for a vacation. She's been working very hard."

"Oh," she paused, knitting her brows. "I didn't realize we got vacations."

I nodded. "Oh, it's a new thing we're trying. I think we might get better work out of the demons if we offer occasional rewards for service."

Vizhabel nodded. "I suppose that makes sense and I shouldn't question the judgement of a Demon Lord." She replied, her cheeks darkening a little.

"Nonsense. Do you think I would be doing so well if I surrounded myself with people that agreed with me all the time?"

There was confusion on her face. "Belezbia said you were an odd Demon Lord, but..."

"She's not a normal one either."

"I--I suppose." Vizhabel agreed hesitantly. "When will Ziel be back?"

"How does it concern you?"

"My Demon Lord thinks I might benefit from learning from her, and since you and Lord Belezbia are on such good terms it seemed like an easy thing to arrange."

"Ah, well, why don't you stay by my side. You can be my part-time handmaid and receive the training you need--after all, I trained Ziel."

"Ah, uhm," She face darkened more and she got quiet. After a moment she seemed to regain her composure and looked up at me. "Yes, your grace. I would be honored to serve two Demon Lords at once."

I smiled broadly at her, starting to feel my own cheeks start to glow with a warm blush. Eventually, I caught myself and cleared my throat. "Ahem. So what business did your Lord send you here for?"

"She is ready to receive you for the tea you arranged to meet her for."

"Oh! Oh yes! I think I will certainly benefit from having you around while my Ziel is away."

~*~

"Oh, Zunabir! I've missed you!" Belezbia cheered as she wrapped me up in her arms.

It was hard not to get intoxicated with such a powerful and beautiful Demon Lord. I wanted to surrender everything to her in that moment, but duty pulled me together.

"Hi, Belezbia." I replied.

"Hi?!?" She released me and glared into my face. "You're only going to say hi to me?"

I panicked and felt my cheeks going hot and, thankfully, she didn't seem to realize the blush belonged more to guilt than affection. "Oh! I-I'm sorry. Without Ziel, I've kept my mind busy with running my kingdom."

"Oh? What happened to Ziel?"

"I gave her a vacation."

Belezbia narrowed her eyes. "That's very strange."

"It was Ziel's idea. And you know I can hardly function without her."

Belezbia let out a loud laugh and threw her arm over my shoulders. "You know, that is believable. But you don't even have a replacement to help you get by until she gets back."

"Oh, I only did it this morning once I met Vizhabel. She needs training and said you wanted Ziel to train her and I trained Ziel... it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it out. Maybe I can get a little more mileage out of my demons if they get little carrots every once in awhile."

"You are very odd, but I think I like that about you, Zuna. You're not like some of these stinky, ogres that run a lot of the other kingdoms of hell."

"Ha, yeah. Stinky ogres. Yuck." She shook her head.

Belezbia chuckled again as she pulled me over to a table and we sat to take tea. She locked eyes with me and I tried not to flinch or shiver. There was so much power behind her glowing golden eyes. Under the pressure of the gaze I let out a soft simper and tried to cover it with a clearing of my throat.

Belezbia tilted her head back and laughed into the sky before settling her gaze back on me. "Why are you so nervous all of a sudden?" She asked, speaking in a low sultry voice. "Do I intimidate you sweet?" She asked, standing and leaning over the table. "Do I hold power over you?"

What do I do? What do I do? I panicked.

Belezbia leaned closer. "I love seeing you squirm." She said and leaned in close to press our lips together.

And I panicked!

Do they know the demon would likely shorten the lives of others around the man

Glad to hear! I'm not much of a writer myself so it's fun to read what others come up with

The nurse... had...

DUMPS LIKE A TRUCK! TRUCK TRUCK!
THIGHS LIKE WHAT WHAT WHAT!
BABY MOVE YOUR BUTT! BUTT! BUTT!
I THINK I'LL SING IT AGAIN! :D

I'm happy to hear that! If you haven't checked it out, I actually wrote a 5000+ word follow up to this story to another writing prompt later that day. It's titled Code Inspection and is about the old god Dar'goth, brought back by Anthony, possessing the body of the landlord of this story as Dar'goth attempts to build a temple dedicated to his almighty wrath on top of the apartment building. However, the elder god has been gone so long that he's never had to deal with the ruthless inspectors from the city's code department.

If it wasn't for your inspiration that story for another prompt would have never existed, and it was a blast to write!

An Angel had come to me, Uriel, and asked a favor, it needed some time away to pray and recenter. It happens sometimes with the lowest Orders, though usually another Angel covers for them. I was promised payment, the possibility of decades on Earth, just for watching over a child, though my powers would be bound while there. I agreed, the job went well, the Angel returned and took up their post once more.

It was eighty three years later when I stood before Saint John of Capistrano. “Uriel lied to me! I had none of my memories, none of my powers at all, you, he…I was a human! I was a human for eighty fucking years!” It felt good to curse at a saint, and I was very upset. Saint John shook his head “he let you be deceived, yes, but you knew your powers would be bound.” I scowled at him “but not my memories or knowledge! I was the same as any other human, Uriel did not say a thing about that!” The Saint nodded, then pulled out a quill and a gavel and a book….MY book, I saw my name on it. He nodded and looked up at me. “What in Hell is that? I know I am Eternally Damned, no need to rub it in. I was fine while there, though, I am the one filing a complaint here.” John nodded and flipped to the first page. “First Corinthians, 6:3” I felt a phantom of pain when I sat down so hard, 83 years of memories convincing me it hurts when you sit down directly onto the floor like that. The verse ran through my mind, ‘Do you not know that we will judge angels?’ A verse referencing Saints sitting above angels “What?” John looked at me again, raising an eyebrow at being interrupted, then turned back to my book “you said it yourself, you were fine while there, the same as any other human. As any other human would be, now, you are to be judged, and offered mercy” I just sat there, watching, crying, trying not to laugh, as I realized what he meant, what that bastard Uriel had set me up for. I should have known, really, we all should have, what sort of loving god would damn someone for all eternity? The oldest, biggest bastard had told us what we needed to hear so it could see how we lived when there was no hope of eternal reward, no hope of redemption…and I had behaved like anyone else.