“Say, Miss… Blanche, isn’t it?” Belial asked, mouth stuffed with white chocolate muffins her now investigation partner baked the day before.

“Yes, Miss Belial,” Blanche chuckled.

“Ya makin' fun of me," Belial blushed, sipping on the hot chocolate she made. 

"Say, Blanche, how are your findings?" she waved her scaled tail.

Blanche tied her silky hair and deeply sighed. Maybe her findings weren't what they expected, nor what she wanted to find, but hey, it was something at least.

“I found the demon’s summoning name,” she sighed. “But we still need to know his affiliation house,” and she showed the paper with lots of messy annotations that led to a single name.

"Agarath…" Belial voiced, reading the highlighted name. Her mug tripped, and the hot chocolate fell on the carpet, but she skillfully cleaned it with a spell before continuing to speak. "It can't be. He made a deal with the Crown and the Governors…" she pondered out loud.

"May you enlighten me on this complex politics you guys have?" Blanche asked.

Belial looked at the name written, then at her cell phone. Her rented apartment was a mess of papers, scrolls, and books. She barely had time to organize her place, nor did Blanche. At least the small apartment didn't smell bad, nor was dusty or dirty, only… messy.

The demon sighed. Belial was tired of sighing, and it had been a while since she received news from Azazel or his subordinate who joined him in the subway incident. All she knew was that it was solved. Mephistopheles practically forgot about her, leaving the updates to and only to the missing Azazel.

She couldn't afford to lose track of the demon from the Wishing Well. After all, the King's Consort gave her the task personally, so she couldn't fail… but being left almost completely behind and with zero new information made her annoyed, which Blanche perfectly noticed at how many cans of beer she chugged down and how many human parts she took home for her to feast.

“I… can’t,” Belial said. “It’s too much for a feeble human to understand the complexity of our government.”

Blanche crossed her arms and looked at Belial, her classic pose and frowned nose. "This one isn't a human, for your record."

"… I still won’t curse you with my superiors’ names,” and she was adamant about that. “But I think I know this guy’s affiliation.”

“Enlighten me then.”

Another something fell from where it belonged, and Belial went alert. Something was wrong.

Her neck's hair started standing as his brain made enough connections about the devil's affiliation.

“Greed,” Belial voiced. “Greed is his affiliation, but he’s more… aligned to Mammon… than to Avaricia,” she said, concerned, recalling that devil.

Belial took her cell phone and started texting someone, but, unfortunately, the person – rather devil – wasn’t online, which resulted in a frustrated huff. She then took a chalk and started drawing something on the floor.

She bit her long nails and looked around. First, she glanced at Blanche, then at the paper, then to the window.

Something was wrong.

“What’s the big deal with him?” Blanche asked, making space for Belial to draw.

“Power and influence,” she muttered nervously. “Maybe that’s why they left me behind. Maybe… that’s why Azazel is missing! And, maybe, that’s why the Consort gave me this necklace,” she took a thin, golden necklace from her pockets and placed it on her neck.

The item was delicate, adorned with a single white feather pendant that seemed too legit to be made of resin. When the single feather touched Belial's chest, it seemed to hurt, but she didn't care and only covered the bare parts with another upper shirt.

Something was wrong.

“Here,” Belial took a scale from her tail and gave it to Blanche. “Please, for the love of my King, attach it to your bracelet.”

"What's with this urgency?" Blanche asked but attached the scale to her bracelet.

Something was really wrong.

“He knows I know him,” Belial said, her face was pale. “We need to get out of here,” she urged and started gathering Blanche’s personal items around the house.

Blanche didn't ask or comment. She only obeyed and helped Belial pack a few things to go to wherever that mysterious devil would take her. Belial went to the bathroom and stared at the mirror, and, in a matter of four seconds, her entire appearance changed from her usual short, dark hair to a long blue one.

She quickly tied Blanche's hair with a bun she bought a while ago from the old lady's store and headed to the main door, leaving behind the mess of papers, books, and scrolls.

She turned the doorknob, but it was way heavier than usual. Her hands slipped on the metal, and the thing seemed to turn into jelly.

“Stay under my wing,” she opened her dark, long leathery wings. “Don’t look into his eyes," and Blanche nodded.

The door opened.

A mist entered the room and left the duo frozen.

Belial glanced at Blanche, whose eyes were closed, and she grabbed the flowery shirt the demon was wearing. A wise move.

Outside wasn’t their building.

It, definitely, wasn’t their building.

It was only darkness and mist with clouds of dust of a red something that flew around them. Belial took Blanche closer with her tail and wings, ready to avoid everything that came from that weird outside.

Her emotions weren't showing, but her body showed the trapped inner tension way too well.

“I see Mrs. Belial is really clever,” a deep, velvety voice said from the darkness. “But she’s not that clever…” the voice then turned into a strident chuckle.

“Cover your ears,” Belial whispered to Blanche, who obeyed. “Agarath, what a surprise… I see you’re as bold as ever, right?”

The voice’s owner entered the room, making the entire background distorted.

His appearance wasn’t clear for Belial, who still held Blanche close. She only saw him once at a ball at the King's castle, right after the deal he made with the Consort and Camos, one of Hell's Governors who worked alongside the King. That time he wore a very detailed outfit, perfect for nobles and things like that. His hair was short and dark, just like his eyes-like-void.

His wings were cut, the Consort himself cut them and tossed them away so he couldn't fulfill an assassination attempt on the Kingdom's Heir. His tail was also cut that time, and so did his fangs, broken by the King’s mighty spear.

A person – rather devil – everybody wished he vanished from the Kingdom, but, one day, he saved the Heir from a poisoning attempt made by another rival clan, and, by that, he got a certain trust from the people… but not by the King’s personnel, much less from Belial and Azazel, who couldn’t swallow Mephistopheles order to not lay a finger on him from that day on.

"What do you want from us?" Belial asked, urgency taking her voice.

“I want you to stop investigating me,” he sat on the nearest distorted chair.

“Heh,” Belial scoffed. “So, you’re really the one behind the dumb Wishing Well, aren’t you?”

“What if I am?” he replied calmly. “I’m just fulfilling my beloved Sin’s wishes.”

“And you’re gathering shady information behind the sheets, mostly from King Lucifer,” she hissed.

"Information is business~" he waved and chuckled joyfully. "I love trading! Let's trade then. You leave my case, and I give you information about Azazel and his crew," he snapped his fingers.

A mana screen appeared in front of them, showing a blurred map and a picture of Azazel in a terrible state. Belial blinked, but she didn't seem touched.

“I will not chew on this cheap trap. Also, weren’t you the one who recently kidnapped Your Highness Tieran?” she smirked, and Agarath went silent. "What? Isn't information business? Let’s trade, motherfu-”

Before Belial could finish, a numbing sensation took her body, and she slumped on the floor. Blanche gasped and started shaking her, but she gathered no response less than a fierce grab on her hand.

“Aw… you really got affectionate over a mere lowlife!” he laughed hysterically and approached Blanche.

But a repulsion spell made by both amulets – the Consort’s and Belial’s scale on Blanche’s bracelet – made it impossible for him to lay a finger on them.

Keep your eyes closed and so your ears. Blanche remembered and quickly did what she was told to do, shaking hands and catching her breath.

"Take care of them, watch closely, and don't let them go away from this dirty apartment,” Agarath huffed, annoyance taking over his velvety voice. “Belial will wake up soon, so leave lots of sigils to force her to hibernate,” he ordered, and the gargoyles came from the dark outside to the apartment. 

"What do we with the human?" A short gargoyle asked.

“I don’t care about the human, so let her starve," Agarath said, impatient.

A pattern formed on the back of Agarath’s hand, and he huffed again.

“I better behave, or else the Chronos will kill me as they did to my puppet,” he grumbled. “I need to find him, or else the King will rip my arm away this time…”

!

He then got an idea.

Maybe trading information was really a good business.