“Yes, my lord, I have been out there spreading my seed far and wide, I plan to give you many magically inclined demons,” Asmodeus coos at the Devil. Kiss ass. And totally full of shit. I’m not sure where Lucifer got it in his mind that we needed to try and create halfling demons. But as far as I know, it’s never been done successfully. They’re all sadly human with no magic to sustain them.

“And you, Daxaddon?” I hate my full name, but when Satan calls you by it, you answer.

“My progeny hasn’t proven to have any abilities,” I say.

“That’s a shame. Either way, as your offspring, I’m sure he will join us in Hell one way or another. Do you plan on attempting again, or are your missions keeping you too busy?”

“Whatever you command, my lord,” I reply and bow my head like the obedient little demon I am.

“Very well. With the increased demon population on Earth, it’s important that we maintain a level of decorum. The last thing I need is more problems with the angels or witches again,” Lucifer grumbles. His status as a fallen angel has always been a sore spot for him. “What are we doing about the asinine amount of possessions?” Lucifer asks.

“We’re working on capturing the demons who are destroying the mortals’ minds during their possessions.”

“Yes, we will return them to you, my Lord,” Asmodeus says, with an overabundance of confidence. We still haven’t been able to find the demon that is body hopping and melting the brains of each mortal they possess.

“We need the precedent set that possessions are sanctioned, but only in the proper manner. Possess, use, erase,” Lucifer says. Milcom chiming a grunt of agreement is the only noise he makes the entire meeting. Why is he here?

“Yes, my Lord,” Asmodeus and I say in sync.

“We have intelligence that the demon we are looking for might be in Hallowsdeep,” Asmodeus says.

I glare at him because he didn’t share this information with me prior to the meeting. He knows what’s in Hallowsdeep, what I haven’t been able to face. My guilty conscience, something I didn’t even know that I had, has been weighing on me lately.

“Very well. If you don’t succeed in this mission, consider yourselves both back on breeding duty.”

Asmodeus smiles, clearly not the right thing to threaten him with. Just what earth needs, a bunch of demon’s spawn running around that look just like this smug fuck.

Lucifer nods his head and leaves the meeting space along with a perky Lilith and a mopey Milcom.

I steeple my fingers on the table. Now that the boss has left the room, I can drop the act. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me about the intel in Hallowsdeep?”

“What’s wrong, Dax? Worried about running into your dud of a spawn?”

“You know that place is inundated with supernaturals. We can’t just roll up there undetected.”

“Like that has been a problem before,” he scoffs, picking at his nails. His blonde hair sparks with tendrils of smoke, his inner shadow demon wanting to surface.