The Angel's Curse

Intentions?

Beelzebub stared intently at the babbling demon before hir, utterly unimpressed with what he was saying. Or trying to say, anyway.

"I think," said Hastur desperately, trying to grasp at any shred of respect that his superior still held for him, "that they're going to-to er, yknow, erm..."

"That izz quite enough, Duke Haztur," cut Beelzebub coolly through the demon's spluttering. He clearly had no idea what he was talking about.

Beelzebub hadn't really expected him to, honestly.

"Vanezza," s/he called nonchalantly. "Can you explain to me your plan for thizz new zpell?"

Essie, who was currently in another part of Hell with the tortured souls, not actually torturing anyone but simply standing by and watching, heard the Lord of the Flies call her and bamf— she was standing in front of hir, nudging Hastur out of her way with a sharp elbow.

"Yeah, 'course," she said, narrowing her eyes at a fly that was zooming around her head in dizzy circles.

Beelzebub blinked and it flew obediently back to the main cloud.

Essie flicked a piece of fiery hair out of her eye and said, "We got a mole up top, she's feeding us info on the whereabouts of all angels assigned to Earth. We're gonna do the same thing that we did to Aziraphale, strip them of their angelic qualities and render them human."

She paused, allowing Beelzebub to give her a nod indicating s/he understood, then continued. "Obviously, when hundreds of angels fail to report, Heaven will be obliged to send more angels down to investigate, and we'll repeat the process. We--"

Beelzebub held up a hand to halt Essie. "Zat is zzufficient to me, Vanezza," s/he buzzed. "The fact that the spell workz is obviouzly a huge victory for Hell, but we still need to be very careful in the execution of zizz, do you zee?"

Hir tone suggested that s/he expected a simple yes or no.

Essie bit her tongue. Although she detested authority of any kind, she sensed that to cross this particular authority would likely result in something dreadful.

She bowed in submission, which seemed to satisfy the Lord of the Flies.

"We have already failed Armageddon once, Ezzie," said Beelzebub, surprising Essie by using her nickname. Despite everything, Essie kind of viewed the superior demon as almost a parental figure. And in a twisted, evil way, s/he was that, helping the young half-demoness to learn to be evil to the fullest degree.

But an unstable danger lurked beneath the surface, something Essie did not want to disturb.

"We will not fall z--zhor--" Beelzebub paused, screwing hir face up in concentration at pronouncing the word, somewhat contrasting with the serious and sinister air that Essie had just established the demon as emanating. Hir infection-riddled mouth twisted, and s/he got the word out distinguishably, "--shzort of destroying Heaven again. If we do, it will fall upon your shoulderzz."

Without another buzzy word, s/he departed.

Hastur, who had been witnessing the entire exchange silently, his mouth slightly open, leered at Essie as she watched the retreating back of the Lord of Hell.

"What are you lookin' at?" she growled testily at Hastur, who, forgetting that he was a Duke of Hell and that he outranked her, hastily shuffled off to leer at someone else.

Now alone, Essie ran a hand through her hair and breathed a sigh of relief.

Beelzebub had approved.

Now she had some more time to think about the next move before Hell dispatched a wave of demons to begin the process.

And the "mole" would be expecting a report from her.

Essie turned her head to glance up at the damp, moldy ceiling above her, thought about her next destination, and disappeared.