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I awoke to the sensation of Darian brushing his hand through my hair. I leaned into the touch and purred.
“You’re oddly catlike, you know that?” He asked, amused.
“Everyone has their eccentricities, now pet me.”
He laughed softly and complied. I purred louder and his laugh increased in volume. It was at this moment that I realized something: I loved him. I had been in love twice before, yet both of those relationships paled in comparison to this. I opened my eyes and uttered the words that could make or break a relationship: “Darian, I love you.”
He stopped petting my hair and looked at me strangely. For a moment I thought that he was going to walk out until he smiled. “I’ve waited to hear that.” With that, he kissed me. We didn’t leave the room for two hours.

“So, what made you so tense last night?” Darian asked.
I sighed. “I think Esther tried to have me killed. The recall was just a diversion and she expected me to do something heroic and get killed in the process.”
He growled. “I assume you punished her.”
“Yes. I threatened her life.”
“Good. No one attempts to kill the demon I love and gets off scot free.” He looked pensive for a minute. “Damn. I just realized that we still have to deal with her. We have a meeting in an hour.”
“Damn.”

The meeting came all too soon. I was a little apprehensive about walking into a the presence of a person that I had just tried to kill a short while ago. The only evidence of my rage were the red marks around Esther’s neck. Oh, and the pathetic death glare that she was sending at me. I didn’t care because I had just had the best sex of my life around two and a half hours ago.
“General Baal, tell me why I shouldn’t have you executed for this catastrophe. NOW!” She was livid.
I waved my hand in a subtle gesture and the air was forced from her lungs. After a few seconds of entertainment courtesy of an asphyxiating cat demon, I allowed the air back into her lungs. “If I remember, it was your fault that this happened. Besides, if we had stayed and fought, we would all be dead. The battle was just a test to see how Heaven’s tactics have changed since I left.”
“And have they?” She asked.
“Not really. Gabriel seems to be letting his apparent successes against you in the past get to his head. When my forces come into play, he will have a rather rude awakening.”
She looked pensive for a second. “How many soldiers do you have?”
I had a feeling that she might try to limit what the Caprican Military would do, so I lied. “Four hundred thousand demons under arms. Mainly infantry, but fifty thousand cavalry and fifty thousand archers and sorcerers.” In reality, I had just over seven hundred thousand under arms, with a fairly equal mix between infantry, cavalry, archers and magic users. At last estimate, I had 175,000 of each. If I learned one important thing from my lessons from my father, it was to keep a balance of forces.
“Good. How soon will they be here?”
“Considering that they are marching and not teleporting, I guess about six hours.”
She looked puzzled. “Why don’t they teleport?”
“I find that a soldier tends to stay in better shape when they don’t use magic to do everything.”
Esther nodded. “Alright. I would prefer to have them here as soon as possible, so order the teleportation.”
I nodded and reached out with my mind. I then sent the order to the commanders and withdrew from their minds. “Done. They will be here shortly. If you will excuse me, I have to meet my commanders.” I took my leave and exited the room before she could say a word. I walked out onto the battlements overlooking the farmland to the northwest of the city. I turned around at the sound of armor rattling. Mammon was there and he nodded to me before his eyes travelled to the countryside.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” He said with a wistful note to his voice.
“Yes it is.” I replied. “I remember when the farms yielded their first harvest of grains and animals. There was such a celebration.” I smiled. “Those were simpler times. No war, no political scheming…”
He laughed. “There was still political scheming, but it was only to curry favor with Lucifer.”
My smile turned sad. “I wish he was here now. He’d know what to do.” I turned to face him. “How exactly did he die?”
“You’d have to ask Esther. She kept the execution private. I heard that she put the executioner to death afterwards.”
I felt the gears in my head start to work overtime. Esther’s expression on her face when I threatened to kill her the same way she had Lucifer killed, the fact that she kept the execution private, killing the executioner… I started laughing.
“What is it, my lord?” Mammon asked, genuinely puzzled.
I paused to catch my breath. “I don’t think Lucifer is dead. I think that Esther kept him alive to gloat. If you will excuse me…” Closing my eyes, I stretched out with my magic, looking for that unique magical signature that my star pupil had. I was just about to give up when my scrying detected a faint remnant somewhere in the palace basement. I opened my eyes and smiled. “I’ll be back shortly.”
I teleported to the location and growled as I found myself at least twelve meters off target. She must have had wards put up to protect the area. I started walking in the general direction of the remnant only to find my path blocked by several guards.
“Sorry sir, this area is restricted. Leave now.” One of the guards said.
“I see.” I then proceeded to kill the three guards with my katana. Replacing the sword back into its scabbard, I kicked the door open. There was a single figure slumped in the farthest corner of the room. The figure raised his head and my heart seemed to stop beating for a moment.
“Baal? Is that you?” His voice sounded incredulous. He shook his head. “It’s just an illusion.”
I rushed over and knelt before him. “No, my friend, this is no illusion. Ask me something only I would know.”
He nodded. “What was the first order that I gave you?”
I smiled. “It was to, and I quote, ‘Get laid.’”
His jaw dropped. He rose on shaky legs and hugged me. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too, Lucifer.”