I could recognize the zodiac. This became very useful in identifying the many demons who sat in the meeting room- they all wore small pins to identify their standing, or else had their astrological sign engraved on their nameplate. The Pisces immediately ushered me to sit down at the table head, and the rest of them simply stared me down.
There were five men and five women. Some of them seemed to ring in my mind, from paintings and stories that I had long known- that man, the one who had the sign of Libra on his nameplate but not his lapel, wasn't he of the famous aviinox? The two demons who tore through angels like paper and wore our blood on their faces? The man next to him, the Virgo, seemed to be his partner. But it was hard to tell. They cleaned up nice.
And the women- I was still adjusting to the sheer quantity of them- well, one of them seemed to echo in my mind. But I couldn't place her anywhere, not with a clear moral conscience, at least. And her name, Moll Manly, was utterly false and unknown to me.
"Sit." Said Pisces after a moment.
I gestured to myself. "Nichael."
A few of them looked confused. But there were so many of them that I couldn't be bothered to take note of each one's feelings.
"Glenn Illuzi." Said Pisces, taking my hand into hers and shaking it. She was a horrifically scarred woman. Someone had taken a knife and an hour to her face in the worst sort of way. Still, she seemed confident.
"Nichael." I said, settling down. I didn't understand her need to introduce her name in this situation. As long as I could refer to these demons by their associated zodiacs, I didn't need their names. Sure, it was impolite, and I felt a bit bad about that. But I made an exception for demons.
The man next to the Pisces, the Aquarius, took a moment to shake my hand next. "Logan Doyle."
Was I going to have to do this with all of them? "Nichael."
Someone laughed. It was the Scorpio. He took my hand next. "Michael Withers."
I frowned. That sounded like some sort of revolutionary propaganda. I decided to tell the Scorpio this.
"Michael will never wither. He is strong. He is immortal. He will gather your soul and make it into wine and drink it. Your armies will watch, and quake."
Scorpio let go of my hand immediately, and then looked at it like it had just told him the secrets of the universe.
"Oh dear." Said the Leo. "I think you've upset him." Was she talking to me or Scorpio? "Nichael, he didn't mean to make you angry. His name is Michael Withers."
I flinched at the unwarranted use of my name by her. "I knew that."
"Let's do business." Said the Virgo. There was a sort of collective glance to the Libra when this was said, and he sighed. He had a large grey scar stretching from his mouth to right below his eye. Many of these demons had scars, it seemed. Angels didn't have scars. Raphael healed us all.
"It's been five years since we've tried this sort of thing. And hopefully, this time it'll go better. We're not sure how much you know about the last meeting, but unfortunately there is little to catch you up on. Nothing happened. That's the end result. But since there's been a nice gap period, I guess we've decided to go ahead and give peace another shot."
"I wouldn't say we're giving peace another shot-" Said the Gemini.
"Shut up Marie." Said Sagittarius.
"-More as getting it shoved down our throats, again. The Few almost split in half last time we even thought about peace talks. And also, five of us died. Why are we tempting fate like this? Or have you forgotten what happened the last time we let an angel inside Hell?"
"You were not here, Marie." Said Libra with a cold smile and a slow voice. "Forgetting the past here, we believe it'd be most beneficial if we could end this damn war already. We just have one question: is Heaven willing?"
While I paused to think of the proper response, the Gemini started to speak again. "Doesn't anyone else think it weird how only one of the peace-supporting guys died, but three of the war-supporters did? I don't know. Maybe I'm crazy, or maybe, just maybe, it's conspiracy."
"Shut up Marie." Sagittarius said again.
"Okay." I said, summing the attention back to me. "Okay. So, I don't know what Heaven really wants. But the mere fact that Michael sent me down here means he trusts you not to kill me. And the fact that he can manage to have any trust for a demon- let alone what, several thousand?- is a good sign. Because some of that trust must be beyond his benign tolerance and into respect. So maybe peace is his divine will after all."
"That's good." Said Aquarius. "That's something."
Gemini stared sourly at me, but the rest seemed relatively pleased.
"Are we done here?" I asked.
"I... suppose." Libra said with a shrug. He was very nonchalant for a mass-murderer. "We'll be in contact with you- that is, Heaven- soon enough to set a date for another Earth-bound conference, I guess. Last time went pretty good. Maybe this time we'll finally break the ice."
I was dismissed quickly.
Tecie was waiting outside, as promised. "What kind of speech did you decide on?"
"It was fairly pathetic."
"Your moment of truth has failed you! Oh well. Time to head to your new flat I suppose."
"No. I need to wait until the meeting is over."
"They told you that?"
"No."
"You're a very personable guy, huh? Overflowing with charisma and everything. Who's the lucky chap you're hanging around for?"
I struggled to remember the astrological sign next to her name, but drew a blank. "Moll Manly."
"Her?" Tecie said. "What a niche appeal. Alright. Whatever gets you going. Do you want me to stick around, or this is more private?"
"You can wait nearby, such as beyond a corner, and I will find you when I'm done."
"'Done'? Please don't use such vivid language around me. I have sensitive ears!" She was laughing at something I was unaware of. I let her drift off down the hall.
After a long while, the meeting adjourned and the demons filed out of the room. Some of them cast suspicious looks towards me, or whispered in my general direction. When Moll Manly passed, I started to walk after her.
"Moll-" I called. But a heavy hand gripped my shoulder.
A fat man who had not spoken during the meeting was holding me in place. He wore a small pin with the sign for Cancer on his lapel and he smelled of smoke.
"I want to talk to you for a moment, angel."
"Well, demon, I'd tolerate to. I have to speak with someone else first-"
"Moll." He said, nodding. "What is it with your kind and her? She's one of the least attractive women I've ever seen, yet you birds cling to her."
"I hadn't noticed." Anything wrong with her appearance, that is. In fact, she looked almost divine, like I had seen her face in Heaven at some point... but of course, I hadn't, and of course, she was a demon. But she had a certain imprinted familiarity all the same.
"Come into the room. I have an offer. You'll find her later, eventually. All the angels do."
I was going to mention how similar his words had run to a traditional death ode of ours, but I chose not to mention it. I let the Cancer lead me into the meeting room again, though neither of us sat down.
"You're not leaving after tonight." He said.
I ended up involuntarily raising my eyebrows. Was he making a promise or telling the truth? And wasn't it a threat either ways?
"Alright. What part do you have in this?"
"Any part at all. It really depends on what you're willing to give me."
"Nothing, then. I don't join in deals with demons."
"It'll benefit you too. In any way you need. Because you know, I was just sitting in that meeting room and thinking to myself, it sure would be nice to have an erratic angel on my payroll. Angels have power here in Hell. We fear you too much. It doesn't matter that you look like a wimp. People will cower before you and- correct me if I'm wrong- you even have your sword."
I did still have it. On Tecie's advice, I had slipped the ring-sword into my pocket back during the elevator ride. It seemed it would have been too aggressive to wear it openly.
"I'm not interested in being your scarecrow." I was not sure I was using that metaphor correctly.
"You'll be scaring more than birds. I want a lot of things, you know. I want to dismantle The Few. I want to usurp Alexander. I want to end the revolutionary movement on the streets. And I certainly don't want peace."
I couldn't argue with his ideals. Surely the best way to seize my time in Hell was to wreak havoc? I was not fond of this large man and his smoky ways. But ruining Hell from the inside would be the mark of a truly great spy. Michael would approve.
"Alright. Where do you want me to start?"
He smiled. His face wrinkled greatly. "Where are you staying?"
"I don't know quite yet."
"I'll find you then. Wait around." He shook my hand. "My name is Stacy Baruth."
"Nichael." I said. I seemed to be saying it a lot as of late. "For your first favor to me, arrange a meeting with Moll Manly. I wish to talk to her."
"You birds." He chuckled. "So predictable."
(A/N: thought I'd just like to know: not everyone who is named is important. All of them are reoccurring to some degree, but don't worry, the main characters will become apparent as we go on. No need to panic about these seventy new characters)