In my line of work there was no rest for the wicked. And there was definitely no rest for the Devil's right hand woman.
Despite a near apocalyptic disaster mere months before and the almost complete annihilation of London city, I was certainly no closer to taking a sneaky day off of work. I could try it but my boss would know I was lying. Not only was I less susceptible to human ailments since my first death, but the infuriating man who supplied my paychecks also happened to live in the same house as me.
It's temporary. At least that is what I promised myself every night when I closed my bedroom door on the sounds of his soft snores.
He stated that his presence was necessary to protect me from the overzealous reporters that had taken up residence outside of my house. It was a side effect from my public outing of the supernatural. Revealing your wings in the middle of Times Square on New Year's Eve was one sure way to draw the attention of every human with access to a TV or internet connection.
Yet I knew the truth. It was so much more than protection that had him sleeping on the sofa every night for the past three months. He was there out of pity. It was in the way that he stared at me when he thought that I wasn't looking. It was the same expression that was on his face now - with the soft eyes and the down-turned mouth.
A hand squeezed my shoulder pulling me out of my thoughts.
"Hmm, what was that?" I asked, letting my eyes lift to meet Lucius' for just a second before I dropped them once more to my lap.
Even as I did it, my heart ached. Guilt was a nasty disease that had grown within me, getting stronger and stronger each day that passed. Lying by omission was just as much of a sin as a bold lie but I had promised to keep this secret. I had promised not to break her trust and now I was paying a hefty price.
"I asked if you were hungry. You didn't eat this morning." His deep voice rolled over me softly as he whispered his words. It used to bring me comfort but in that moment it only brought more discomfort.
"No, I'm not up for eating right now." I lifted the half-forgotten papers in my hands. "I'm still catching up on this paperwork. The authorities have finally authorised the demolition of the tower provided we submit the following paperwork in the next fourteen days."
The Satani Media building, the earth-side office for the Devil and his demons, located in central London had been subjected to a volley of attacks when the Horsemen of the Apocalypse had gone a rampage. The building had suffered far too much damage and would not be salvageable.
It wasn't the only casualty of the battle - not by a long shot.
"Leave that." Lucius ordered.
He crossed the room in a few quick strides. My heart thudded loudly in my chest and my hands grew clammy even as I focused my gaze down on the crumpled papers within my grasp.
"Savannah, the building can wait a few more days. You however need to try and get better." He crouched down beside me, his hand forcing my head up so that I had no other choice but to look into the depths of his gaze. "I can't stand by and watch you do this anymore. I have remained silent for too long. Please Savannah. My Vannah, tell me what is wrong?"
I closed my eyes and sucked in a sharp breath. The pain and despair in those few words was almost my undoing. The man was rare in his displays of true pain and I felt each terrible emotion resonate with my own soul. But I couldn't break her trust and I couldn't be the one to break his heart.
Instead, I pressed my lips together and rested my head on his shoulder, taking the offered comfort. His arm wrapped around my shoulder and when I made no attempt to speak, the body beneath my head heaved a sigh.
"I'll order us some food in. You will eat and we will work through this paperwork together."
I allowed him to push me back and gave a somber nod under his expectant gaze.
"Okay," I croaked, my lips forming a shaky smile that lasted for a barely a moment. My gaze locked onto his forehead, unable to look directly within his eyes.
After he released me from his grasp, I moved across the room and sat down on the sofa that now took up residence in my living room. I had bought a new one. It was out of necessity. Every day there were dozens of visitors to my home, barely an hour passing before another hand rapped on my door. No matter how much I had protested, my little house had become Satani Media HQ. So I had splurged out and bought a soft brown leather corner sofa with matching armchairs.
Of course the rest of the room had been decorated too. It helped me to cope. I had control over this one thing. Everything else in my life was still hanging in the balance. The world was waiting for me to speak about the terrifying new side that had been revealed to them and my son was far out of my reach but I could choose what kind of wood was used for my flooring and what colour the walls were painted. It wasn't much but I could still do that.
I relaxed back into the softened leather and drew in a deep breath. I felt the chair dip beside me a few seconds later but I did not turn my head to face him. I didn't have to look to know how much I was hurting the man beside me.
"The papers have left several messages for you again. I know you don't want to do this and I have allowed you to keep your silence." Lucius stopped and sighed loudly. Out of the corner of my eye I watched as he drew a hand down his stubbly cheek. "We need you Savannah. Things are too messy at the moment and I fear we may have kept our silence for too long."
"What do you need me to do?" Even as I asked, I felt my palms growing damp and a nervous flutter in my chest.
"I need you to give an interview. I need you to step outside this house and be the figurehead we need you to be. I can't do it. If people knew who I was they would get out their pitchforks and start a riot. You know it's the truth." His voice was grim as he stared straight across the room, his eyes boring into the photos that hung there. "I am the Devil and people will go crazy if they learn that I will truly exist. You know it will happen."
My fingers gripped my legs tightly. If I had had any nails left, I might have drawn blood. As it was, there was little comfort in the fact that I had bitten them all off several days ago during another of my nervous fits.
"I can't. I can't go out. They're all out there."
The man beside me growled under his breath. My heart hammered in my ribs.
"I will not take no as an answer. You will do as I say. I will not watch you waste away in here for no good reason. Castiel was nearly destroyed and yet he isn't afraid of his own shadow. I have tried to be patient but I don't know how much longer you expect me to sit here and watch this." Lucius pushed up from the sofa and resumed his pacing routine before me. "I have already set everything up. You will go and do the interview tomorrow. You show everyone that they have nothing to fear from us. You will show them that we are not the enemy."
That lifted my head. I had seen Lucius as a man of power before, he could be damn terrifying if he tried, but never had he turned that voice on me. It dragged me kicking and screaming from by self-pity. I blinked.
"Hang on. What?"
"Are you telling me you don't know what's happening out there?" Lucius snorted and shook his head. "Of course you don't. You've just shut yourself up in your bubble and let everyone else be damned."
"That's not fair Lucius."
I met his eyes boldly for the first time in weeks and did not flinch away.
"Why? It's the truth." He responded blandly, his eyes stared back just as intensely offering me the cold hard truth within that single glance. "It's been over four weeks since you last stepped out of this house. Before you argue with me, opening the door to get the milk does not count as leaving the house. You are turning into a person I don't even recognise and right now I need you here with me. I. NEED. YOU."
If I wasn't already sitting down I probably would have stumbled backwards at the emotion behind his words. Instead I just sank further into the cushions. It was too much. It was all too much.
Lucius shook his head and turned towards the neglected TV on the wall. He pointed the remote and the screen sprang to life. He flicked through the channels and then stopped it on BBC News.
The presenter chattered away and I glanced up at Lucius with a frown. There was nothing important about this - what was so important about a bloody football foul? Sure biting your teammate was a bit barbaric but it was hardly a major concern in the light of all we had been through.
The man before me rolled his eyes.
"Just keep watching."
The TV flickered then and I drew in a sharp breath. There was my face. Those were my wings. That was me and I looked so - not like me. It was as if someone had turned me into some comic book hero, wings spread out behind me in a beautiful array of feathers as I leapt through the air, my eyes intense as they stared off some evil foe. I looked powerful and strong. I looked deadly.
With a blink, I took the remote from Lucius' hand and turned up the volume on the TV. I didn't want to know and yet I had to know.
"And in the studio with us today we have Deputy Prime Minister Victor Lyle." The severe looking red head appeared on the screen once more. Her face was etched with sharp frown lines and her lips pinched into a hard line as she stared grimly into the camera. Even as she introduced her guest, there was the same unforgiving stare in her eyes. Either the woman was severely grumpy or she really disliked her guest. "Welcome Victor. Now, I understand that you have become one of the leading voices in the bid to bring about the registration bill - a bill that is gaining momentum every day."
"Yes I am," Victor smiled at the host, his manicured fingers straightening his tie.
A shudder of disgust ran down my spine. He practically oozed charm in his three piece suit, every part of his polished and buffered to shiny perfection. He oozed so much of it that the git just came across as slimy. He had to be no more than mid thirties, with very few lines around his eyes and mouth but there was nothing appealing about the man.
"I heard about the movement from my local citizens and I listened." His blue eyes twinkled into the camera in a way that should have been charming but instead it had me grinding my teeth together. "We must do what we can to understand the new world that has opened up to us. To think that we have been living our lives without ever knowing what has been lurking just out of sight. It is enough to keep you up at night."
I snorted and shook my head.
"But don't you think that this is impinging upon the simple human rights? We don't ask different races to identify themselves or for people to identify themselves based upon sexual preferences." The talk show host leveled her darkening gaze on the self-righteous man sitting before her and made little attempt to hide her glare.
Victor clapped his hands together, leaning towards the camera conspiratorially. The movement caused a piece of his slicked back blonde hair to flop out of place. The man was undeterred.
"And in that statement lays our problem. How do we apply our rules and morals on beings that are not human?"
He waved his hand at my picture which was still on the screen behind him.
"They are not human so how can we expect them to act like human beings?" Victor lifted his eyes to the hostess and offered her a condescending smile. "How do we know what is truth and what is fiction when no one has stepped forward to speak to us? You speak as a person of fact, you are a newsreader. Tell me why they haven't shown their faces and why they hide among the shadows. It's because they know that they have something to hide. "
The news reader opened and closed her mouth a few times before looking directly at the camera.
"Thank you Mr Lyle. Let's take a look now at some of the footage that started off this debate."
Screams and panicked voices filled the air so I pressed the button and the screen went black. The nightmares were already bad enough without watching the bloodshed happen all over again. The sounds were already ringing in my ears and I would be hearing them for a long time to come.
Lucius resumed his pacing in front of me, his fingers tugging at his hair.
"That's just the start of it. Mr Victor Lyle is an odious man who had already secured himself a one way ticket to hell. But he's just the political face." Lucius ran his hand down his face. Weariness etched upon his features and sighed. "I think there is more to this registration movement but I can't get close enough to find out. Whether you like it or not Savannah, you are the figurehead the supernatural needs."
I stared up at the black screen even as my heart pounded in my chest. Already I felt my stomach turning over at the mere thought of what was to come but I pushed It back. Somewhere within me I found the strength that I needed.
"I'll do it." The first time I spoke the words were no more than a whisper but Lucius must have heard. His head whipped around and his eyes bored into the side of my face. Lifted my gaze and met his offered a wobbly smile. "I'll do it. I'll be what you need."