'My Silas,'

The churning screams died away as the world came to a stop. 

Silas' head stirred, heavy and clouded. In the stillness, he came to. In the quiet of where he was now, he opened his eyes slowly. He was sitting in a very comfortable leather chair, facing a large desk of mirrored black marble. 

His thoughts began to settle.

From the opposite side of the desk was an empty chair facing him, far more regal than the one on which he sat. This was all within what appeared to be a lavish head office of some multi-billion dollar company. Looking around the room at everything, Silas couldn't put together the fragmented thoughts he was questioning. The finest carpets of black silk with no expense spared for each and every material used in the décor. Paintings hung on the walls of which Silas wasn't quite sure what they were of. Some were small, others large, and all seemed to swirl with Death itself. Was he waiting for a meeting? He was alone. With a confused gaze as he was now in a completely different world, Silas couldn't remember what had happened to bring him to that moment. 

He looked to his hand that held the chains. There was no hand to focus on. Just shadow. There were no chains, there was no Sky and the Collector could not focus on the reason why she was not with him.

'My Silas,' 

Silas froze still, dread running up the back of his neck and into his memory. Only one could speak his name in such a way. He looked ahead, facing the chair before him and the one who spoke his name. 

Wearing the best suit of impeccable taste, the first Fallen, Lucifer sat watching Silas with eyes of fire and shadow. Silas was left in silent disbelief. A third eye at the center of the Devil’s forehead was watchful of the Collector.

Lifting his hand out to the side, the Devil was at the ready to take something from thin air. From the empty air, Miss Yona was at Lucifer's side, handing him a file without a glance to Silas. It was Silas' file. The unabridged version.

Long black horns curled back on his head, shined to perfection. His wings were visible as churning shadows emanating from behind his back. He was taller than Silas and certainly the tallest of all Fallen.  

Opening the folder, Lucifer read the first few pages, the most recent happenings Miss Yona could report. A stone façade concerning his face, he need only glance at the paperwork to commit every line to memory. 

'You're here earlier than expected,' mused the Devil. Silas said nothing. He was still trying to get his thoughts straight. 'I honestly thought you had this one.'

Closing the file, he handed it back to Yona, his smoldering gaze of three eyes back on Silas.  

'Now, everything is a mess.' Lucifer sighed. 'I invested so much in you, my Silas. More so than any other. And for what? When your final Collection was right in front of you, you blew it. You literally lost everything." 

Reality stretched and bent his sight. Silas tried to form some sort of coherent response. Was he dead? No. But he was dying. As the terrible truths of the Other world began to trickle back into his thoughts, Silas opened his mouth and even he was surprised by what came out; 

'I-' Silas stopped himself. His sense of self. It was there. His soul was speaking and the spell he cast before Faust's final act worked. Lucifer had answered him. For the first time in thirty four years, he could feel. In awe, the Collector looked to his Boss who was nodding slowly. 

Knowing full well Silas' was disoriented, Lucifer said,   

'You failed, my Silas. Spectacularly.' The Devil leaned back in his chair. The weight of Lucifer’s disappointment bore down on Silas. 'An entire murder of Souls, gone. And Faust has taken the chains from you, leaving you in ruins. He has taken your Sky and he will use her to embarrass me in the eyes of the Divine. I can't say I am very pleased about this. This little stunt is sure to snowball into a flood of unsanctioned deaths and as you can imagine, the Divine will have something to say. Then my problems will never end.'

Silas' eyebrows furrowed as he tried to breathe everything in. Flashes of Faust's actions and Sky's screams. They had been separated in a cruel amputation orchestrated by the good Doctor. Everything after that was a blank in his mind. 

'No,' Silas muttered, shaking his head. It couldn’t be true. 

'No?' Lucifer asked, his voice scoffing at the blank left in Silas' memory. 

'No,' Silas said flatly. Looking at Lucifer. 'I did not fail.' 

Silas' stubbornness was borderline amusing to the Devil but his denial was an annoyance. 

'Oh? How do you figure?' Lucifer was still curious. A little excitement in the monotony of the everyday workings of his company, he listened to Silas. The mortal soul before him. Silas knew he had to be very careful in what he said or how he spoke while knowing he had very little time.

'I am not dead yet.' Silas said flatly and his answer made the Devil chuckle. There was no denying it, Silas was loyal and he wasn't wrong. The Collector wasn't dead. He was dying. There was a difference. His determination was astounding and Yona was even caught by his words. 

'Oh, my Silas,' The Devil cooed, his smile never fading, his gaze narrowed. 'My stupid, stupid Silas. You are useless as a Soul Collector in your current state.'

'I can still bring him back to you.' Silas said but the Devil only scoffed, his eyes beginning to burn into the Collector. 

'Don't waste my time, my Silas. You called for me and I answered. You are lucky that I would even grant you such a meeting. Do you have any idea how busy I am? Your only saving grace is my Yona, who has done nothing but vouch for your behalf since the very beginning of your Contract. A moment such as this does not come along everyday and I would suggest you hurry with the point you wish to make because you have little to no time left before your physical body dies. Then, those unbreakable rules of the Contract you signed come into play and you get to spend the rest of your eternity in Hell.' Lucifer said. He rubbed his temple with a long finger, trying to push the frustration from his mind. “A waste, honestly. But those are the rules.” 

'I am your only choice.' Silas said and as he said it, his words made the Devil consider. He wasn't wrong. There was no one else. Silas was the last. 'There has to be a way.' 

'Of course there is,' Lucifer answered. 'but I am bound by laws. Very strict laws. Your Contract does not include anything more than what was exchanged at its signing thirty four years ago.'

Only Lucifer had the power to stave Death's hand from taking him, while allowing him another chance. It was unprecedented and an intervention had never been done and couldn't be done without another price being paid. What price could be paid when Silas had already sold his soul? Not about to hand anything to anyone on a silver platter, Lucifer was caught in a thought. Taking a deep breath in, the Devil weighed his options, which were little to none.

Silas would have to make another sacrifice if he truly wanted what he was asking.

Lucifer was scanning Silas' face. The pale face lined with black circles beneath his eyes. He was loyal. More so than any other human he had ever employed. Better than the most well trained dog. How could he let that go so easily? There had never been a Soul Collector like him. And once Silas was gone from his service, there most certainly would never be another. 

Yet without Sky, Silas could not do his job and the Devil needed Faust collected. There were rules between Heaven and Hell. Rules with human souls. He couldn't offer help for free to a mortal soul for even something he himself wanted.

Silence and thought. The Devil was mulling over what little choice he had when an idea bubbled to the surface of  his thoughts. It was something that bent the rules. Something of a proposition that could buy them both more time.

'How would my Silas like a promotion?' 

Silas' body stiffened. Had he heard that correctly? With everything that had happened up until that point, the possibility of hearing wrong was probable.

'A promotion?' The Collector breathed in repetition, checking to see if he had heard right. 

'Yes.' Lucifer replied, patient with Silas' slow take of the situation.  

'What kind-'

'-of promotion?' Lucifer finished Silas' question for him. 

Silas nodded. 

'The kind where you keep working for me,' Lucifer answered. The Collector had a terrible feeling creeping up into the back of his thoughts. There was more, he was certain of it. Silas swallowed hard. Everything he had worked for. The sacrifices he made. Everything he had suffered for his freedom was about to be thrown aside. 

'You can save Sky.'

Silas froze. 

Sky. Sky. Sky. Everything had been for her. Everything. And it would always be that way. She was in danger if Faust had her. Silas shut his eyes. Listening to his own breaths and the brief silence before Lucifer spoke again, his words crushing Silas with their weight,

'You'll have another chance at collecting Faust but your Contract will continue for another unforeseen amount of time. If you accept, I will have Miss Yona forward the updated paperwork for your approval and then once signed, you will get immediate help for your current circumstances. If you decline, you will be dead within the hour and your soul will be condemned to Hell. Really when you look at it, it's not a hard decision to make.'

Silas couldn't believe what was happening. His freedom was slipping through his fingers and if he didn't agree now to an extended time in Lucifer's employment, there would be no time left at all. He knew what the Devil hinted and it was the last option he had ever wanted to consider. 

'And what of my Soul?' It pained Silas to even think he would be without it again for another lifetime. 'How long must I be without it? The Corruption of being a soulless poisons me.'

'If you agree to a promotion, you need to put your soul back on the table as part of the deal. That is the price a human must pay for my help. It is an unbreakable rule for every contract.' Lucifer said. Silas hated that stipulation. 

He cast a glance to Yona and what came to Silas' thought next was unthinkable and in that moment of impossibilities, he proposed, 

'Then, make me Dæmon. Give me the privileges of their status. I have proven my loyalty and my worth. Amend the clauses of my Contract. No chains. A Soul Collector, yet the same position as your children. An adopted son. I will be yours as you wanted. Without question. A brand new piece to use in your games with the Authority.”

Dæmons could keep their souls even while in employment of the Devil. 

Lucifer burst into laughter. 

'Silas, please, stop, you are too much, really.'

'I'm serious.'

The Devil's laughter stopped.

'Yes, I know. So am I. What you are asking for is highly unorthodox. A human cannot just become a Dæmon. And Dæmons cannot be Soul Collectors. If such a thing were possible, my Yona would be out collecting and I wouldn't waste my time making deals with human souls and trusting them to get Hell's work done. For you to even be considered for such status, some piece of you would have to be at least physically Dæmon. What do you expect me to do? Stick horns on you and...'

The Devil's face was set in stone when he stopped himself from finishing. 

An idea. 

Perhaps it needn't be horns to bend the rules.  

Silas had desired his freedom from the Contract the moment he signed it. What he was asking for meant he would never escape Hell or its duties. Something that made Lucifer very pleased to consider. Silas would be his forever and that was useful. Upon the arm of his leather chair, the Devil touched the side of his face absently with the back of his  fingers.

'Oh, my Silas, you tread on dangerous ground. How would your Sky feel knowing you would be one of us? She may despise you for so readily committing yourself to Hell and not her.' 

Never escaping Hell may be the only choice to save Sky. Silas and the Devil stared at one another in another moment of silence.

'What will happen to her?' 

'What will happen to her is up to you but the outcome is something that I can't say. You let go of the chains, effectively releasing Sky from her duties.' said the Devil. 'The chains cannot be recovered in the way they were. Sky is wanted by Heaven, Faust and you. What a popular girl. I can't say I am rooting for you but I will tell you that with this promotion you would have the power to change the course of all of this. My Silas, your work's quality and loyalty to your Contract have not gone unnoticed all these years. If you agree to your promotion, I will help you. You will become something... more. My personal Hellhound and you will remain in Hell's employment indefinitely.'

Silas pressed his lips together. There were no heart strings played in sympathy. It was business. Silas was an experienced Soul Collector. One of the longest lasting humans the Devil had ever employed. He was useful.

'And my Soul?'

A grin crossed Lucifer's face for the final time. 

'Let's see if you survive what you've asked for first. Agreed?' 

Silas didn't wait.

'Agreed.' 

Lucifer quickly signaled to Yona. She knew everything that was needed. 

'My Yona will forward the paperwork to you. All you have to do is sign, my Silas,'