~~Young~~

Chapter Twenty

   But is the angel in question held responsible? Of course not, not if it was deemed to be an accident. Instead anyone in hell who had laid eyes on the soul would get it good from Lucifer for not turning the soul around immediately. Mostly because his brother would do the same to him, God taking his anger out on the demons hanging about earth just to show Lucifer that he could mess with his shit even if he never left his realm.

   “Gaaage,” the demon dragged out the ‘a’ and held out a hand to him in greeting, “haven’t seen you around for a few.”

   Gage took his hand and gave him a good, firm, shake, “weren’t you there when I gave Bane a good ass whooping?”

   “Nah,” he waved a hand and went back to the rolled parchment in his hand, “I was here.”

   “Too bad, it was a good show.”

   “So I heard,” he moved on to the next soul, pressed a finger to its head, and burned a checkmark next to one of the names, “did you say something about a favor though?”

   “Yeah,” Gage said slowly and dragged a hand through his hair as he followed behind the demon, “I’m kind of in the shit with Lucifer and I thought if I brought him a gift I might be able to worm my way back on his good side.”

   “I heard about that too,” Greed spared him a glance before returning to his work once more.

   “Yet you’re not turning me in,” now Gage shoved his hands in his pockets, looking over the crowd and trying his best to pick out Lizzy. Talk about a needle in a fucking haystack…

   Greed dropped the parchment and turned to face Gage, “I know you didn’t steal a soul,” he said flatly, “first because I know you’re not that stupid, arrogant sure,” he chuckled, “but considering you’re Lucifer’s right hand demon you more than the rest of us understand what happens when he’s pissed.”

   “And second?” Gage turned to him expectantly when he didn’t continue.

   “Second…well, you haven’t taken a soul when I was on duty. And I think the both of us know Envy wouldn’t have hesitated to tell Lucifer such a thing if you did it on her rounds.”

   Well what do you know, an alibi. Gage hadn’t even considered there would be someone here in hell that would testify for him. Of course the soul in question had never made it to hell’s depths rendering that alibi invalid, but hey, he was taking whatever shred of hope where he could get it.

   “Well it’s good to know I have someone on my side,” Gage grumbled, “but I’m still going to need that favor if I’m going to convince Lucifer of my innocence.”

   Greed went completely still and looked to Gage in shock.

   “What?” Gage asked a little too sharply, maybe he didn’t really know what was going on. He didn’t just kill his only chance to save Lizzy did he?

   “No…nothing, just that word, innocent, from your mouth,” he shook his head in repulsion, “that’s just wrong.”

   Gage gave him a shove seeing the smile cracking on his lips, “are you going to help me or what?” he laughed.

   “Sure, sure,” Greed nodded, “what are you looking for? I’ve got the usual accident and murder victims…”

   Gage pretended to think it over, he didn’t want to look to enthusiastic, “any of them on the lighter side?”

   Greed ran his fingers along the names, “I’ve got a victim of a drive by…oh, no, gangbanger so that won’t work.”

   “Any innocent bystanders?”