AZAZEL'S POV
„Confusion now hath made his masterpiece."
— William Shakespeare
I couldn't get Marduk out of my head. It was unbelievable that he of all people had started caring about the consequences of Lucifer's command.
Of course, my thoughts kept drifting back to Marduk.
Seriously! Marduk was the last person I'd ever expect to care about the consequences of an order.
What could have happened to him?
Well, I had no idea what had made Marduk become so considerate, but I was surprised by myself too.
I'd never cared about Marduk before, and now I was sitting there wondering what his personal story might be.
Something must have happened to him that changed the way he is.
It had to have happened before Marduk arrived in Pandemonium.
I couldn't believe that I—Azazel—had actually become curious about Marduk.
About his past.
Ugh...
And the more I thought about him, the more curious I became.
For the first time in my life, I regretted that Marduk and I had never been close enough for me to simply ask him about any of it.
I was sitting on a white-painted bench in front of the sports field, waiting for Betty while scrolling through Marduk's social media profile.
It was pointless.
His only friends were the rest of us and a woman I didn't recognize. There wasn't a single clue on his profile. Nothing about his past, nothing about his present. The woman couldn't possibly be the surrogate he'd chosen in a hurry just to carry out Lucifer's order as quickly as possible.
Even so, I carefully looked through her profile as well.
Turns out she owned a pastry shop just a short walk from the apartment I was renting.
So the only thing I'd learned about my formerly unwelcome roommate through social media was that he liked pastries.
Unbelievable.
The woman's name was Veronika, and she loved posting photos of her grandchildren.
For the first time in my life, Marduk made me smile.
Specifically because of him.
Strange... but he'd found himself a genuinely likable acquaintance.
I finally checked the time.
Betty was late.
Not by much, and she hadn't messaged me. I was sure nothing had happened and she'd be here soon.
If she were going to be much later—or couldn't make it at all—she would have sent a message.
Unless...
Unless something had happened to her.
But why was I even thinking that?
I went back to browsing Veronika's profile.
I'd decided I'd stop by her pastry shop sometime in the next few days. It looked like a pleasant little place, but it wasn't the pastries that interested me.
It was Veronika herself.
I'd already spent at least ten minutes studying her pictures.
She looked so much like someone.
I even raised an eyebrow as I racked my brain, trying to remember where I'd seen those facial features before. Faces of women from the distant past flickered through my mind. Women who had nothing to do with me—and whom I'd never wanted anything to do with.
Then my thoughts wandered back to Marduk.
Right.
He was back, and we'd be sharing an apartment again.
That was going to be strange.
I didn't think we'd suddenly become close. I couldn't even imagine Marduk and me as friends.
But we could be good allies.
I was so absorbed in digging into Marduk's past that I barely noticed the people walking by. Crowds filled this part of the city at this hour, some strolling, others rushing somewhere.
I paid no attention to any of them.
But when Betty came closer...
I felt it.
At that exact moment, my phone rang.
And, naturally, it was Number One calling.
Oh, come on.
Without a second thought—and with a deeply satisfying sense of spite—I declined Lucifer's call.
"Sorry. I'm busy," I thought with malicious satisfaction.
I'd call him back whenever it suited me.
And if he happened to ask why I hadn't answered, I'd simply tell him I was busy carrying out his assignment.
A petty sense of revenge washed over me.
At least I got that much satisfaction.
Thanks to Lucifer, my conscience still wasn't completely clear. Betty wasn't just another assignment to me anymore, but because of Lucifer's orders, I still couldn't shake that lingering guilt.
"To Hell with Lucifer."
I knew he wouldn't ask why I'd ignored his call.
If I didn't volunteer an explanation, though, he'd figure out exactly how to get under my skin.
Still, hanging up on him left me feeling wickedly satisfied.
It made me feel stronger.
Not that I was weak.
It just felt good to get one over on Lucifer for once.
As long as he was stuck in Pandemonium and couldn't interfere with things between Betty and me, I couldn't care less what kind of petty revenge he came up with for rejecting his call.
Seriously.
To Hell with Lucifer.
I was still thinking about the mission—the big mission.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Betty riding toward me on her bicycle. She headed for the bike racks and disappeared from view for a moment.
That was when I stood up from the bench and started walking toward the racks myself.
It wasn't a conscious decision, but I understood it perfectly.
If I couldn't see Betty, then I had to go wherever she was.
I needed to see her again as soon as possible.
My thoughts drifted back to Lucifer, and I silently told him exactly where he could go.
By the time Betty came back into view, I was thinking about the mission again.
Gremory still hadn't found the Grimoire that could bring Lucifer out of Pandemonium.
I hoped she never found it.
Whatever reason Lucifer had for wanting to come to the human world, I thought everyone would be better off if he stayed exactly where he was.
Naberius was probably having lunch with Selma because he hadn't been online while I'd been waiting for Betty.
Neither had Aamon.
He was working the late shift today, so he was probably still asleep.
Morax hadn't logged in yet either.
He'd probably only just gotten home from school. He'd eat, rest for a bit, pop online to message us, and then start preparing for tomorrow's classes.
Apparently, the mission wasn't exactly his top priority.
He enjoyed being a teacher far too much.
I wasn't about to remind him that it wasn't what he was actually supposed to be doing.
Andras and Camio weren't making any progress either.
Honestly, I doubted either of them would ever get girlfriends.
Still, they'd adapted to the human world surprisingly well.
They kept their jobs a closely guarded secret.
Although Naberius had figured it out.
Surprisingly enough...
They taught conflict resolution courses.
Then again...
Andras was an expert at starting conflicts, while Camio had an uncanny ability to understand and sense the voices of nature.
Now that I thought about it, I was actually curious about their methods.
I was glad none of the demons on my team had turned into criminals.
I was almost proud of them.
At least I didn't have to be embarrassed that Lucifer had put me in charge of them.
Then again...
Maybe they behaved themselves simply because they knew causing trouble would hurt Lucifer's mission.
Either way...
I wasn't ashamed of this team.
I only gave a slight shake of my head when a guy nearly ran me over on his bike.
He was still messing with his phone one-handed as he swerved away from the bike racks.
I checked one more time to make sure my phone was still on silent.
Then, on impulse, before slipping it into my pocket...
I turned it off completely.
I'd made another decision too.
I was done living inside my own head.
From now on, I was going to focus on Betty.
She was busy locking up her bike when I spotted her again.
Paying attention to Betty wasn't difficult.
Knowing no one could see me—and that Betty couldn't notice me either—I watched her so closely that most people would probably have called it inappropriate.
I liked what I saw.
Then she bent down to check the lock one more time, and a strand of hair slipped across her face.
It reminded me of the exact same thing happening back in the Rrr-Take department.
That was the moment I truly started to like her.
Funny how something so small...
She turned around and looked straight into my eyes.
That strange moment was interrupted by a group of teenagers.
It was a strange moment...
Even though she wasn't actually looking into my eyes at all.
I brushed that loose strand of hair away from her face...
Just like I'd wanted to do back at Rrr-Take.
I almost laughed when she worried I'd use my unusual abilities against her on the sports field.
Tomorrow we're going to watch movies about me.
Yes.
About me.
Now that is progress.
We still hadn't decided whether we'd watch them at my place or hers.
Ugh...
That was when I remembered Marduk had come back from Pandemonium...
...and moved into my apartment.
"I'll think of some reason why watching movies at Betty's place makes more sense," I decided.
I wanted to be alone with Betty.