"Have you lost your mind? No! No, they'll notice that a Demon Lord has gone missing! Angela! Angela!" The Demon Lord growled.

I stood watching my Demon Lord, Zunabir pacing while she held the phone receiver to her ear. A long coiled cord wound its way down to the base of the old rotary phone base where I was. "I swear you better not..." Zunabir threatened. Her shoulders dropped and she sighed. She must have heard the line click. Angela had hung up on the Demon Lord. "How did she end up staying in Heaven and I get thrown down here?"

I peeked around the rotary phone's base. "You chose to fight in the rebellion, remember?"

She nodded and sighed. "Yeah.... " She dropped into one of the big comfortable chairs in her chamber. "Yeah, I remember." She let a wistful smile form on her black painted lips. "It was pretty badass huh?"

I chewed on my lower lip. "I can't say, you know I prefer to keep the books, your grace."

"I thought I trained that out of you, you don't have to call me 'your grace' in private."

I nodded. "Sorry." Then I paused. "Are you going to go?"

"Of course I am. She and Belezbia are best friends if I don't go, Angela will tell Belezbia how horrible I am and tell her not to form an alliance with me, much less date me."

"So what's the plan, Your Grace?" I asked, tilting my head.

"Well, if I'm not going to be sitting on my throne, I can't very well leave it empty." She began to tap her stilletoed nails on the armrest of her chair.

"Do you have anyone in mind? Someone you can trust. You don't want someone to use the opportunity to start a coup."

Zunabir paused to think for a few moments before airing her thoughts outloud. "I can't trust the Captain of the guards, he might be strong enough to defend my throne, but he's an idiot. He'd probably get tricked out of the throne and end up serving whoever stole my Kingdom. And if I'm going to be gone for two years, I need someone who can keep everything going for awhile."

"TWO YEARS?!" I cried out. "Two years, your gr--Zunabir? What can possibly need your attention for that long?"

"Angela kinda has a long scheme planned that I can't tell you about. It's probably bad enough she told me over the phone. We don't need big grumpy sky daddy bringing a war down on us."

I sighed and nodded. "You really don't have a very long list of suitable substitutes. There are plenty of grunts, but they can't do the background parts of keeping the Kingdom running. The nobles are just as likely to simply sieze the throne as keep it safe for you. And the commoners aren't strong enough niether do they now enough to run the Kingdom."

A slow grin spread over the Demon Lord's face. "What about you, Ziel?"

I widened my eyes. "I apologize for being so blunt or speaking crudely to you, your grace, but are you insane? Look how small I am! I'm a lowly Imp! How would I keep anyone in line? How can I--"

"Shh! You're perfect. Someone I can easily get rid of if they start a coup. Someone I am confident is loyal in the first place. Someone who understands the politics and how everything works around here. You're perfect, Ziel--well aside from questioning my judgement."

"But, your grace!"

"No buts! You're going to by my--" She stood suddenly and dramatically, pointing down at me. "SUBSTITUTE DEMON LORD!"

Okay, okay. I've got this! Substitute Demon Lord!

I went through my normal routine--though many more times larger than I was used to. That wasn't the only distracting thing. Every time I caught my reflection on a mirror or piece of glass, it felt like I was in some strange dream--or like I was somebody else. Well... of course I was someone else. For two years I was going to have to be Zunabir Demon Lord of Azabanir.

Being so very much taller than the imp I usually was, I had to use the powers she gave me to make my checklists bigger so I could actually write on them. I spent hours and hours pouring over everything--checking every box! Crossing every T! Dotting every I! Ha, I was good at this! This was where I felt comfortable, doing what Zunabir hated--mulling over every little detail about the Kingdom alone in my study.

"Your grace?" called a voice.

I ignored it, steeped in the minutia and paperwork of running my Demon Lord's kingdom.

"Your grace?"

I still didn't respond. Not until I felt a tug on the majestic robes I was wearing, suddenly reminded of the role I was playing. Still in the jetlag of adjusting my mind to deal with another entity, I looked down on the woman with what must have been a pretty nasty bitch face.

"Your grace..." once more the voice addressed me. A voice attached to a demoness with too kind a face to belong in Hell. Too graceful a stride to be a lowly demon. Her hair was like black silk and a pair of horns like alabaster curled back along the sides of her head like a ram's. She peered up at me with humility from her ocher complexion.

She was so mesmerizing that I nearly forgot who I was supposed to be again. "Ah, uhm yes?"

"Greetings, your grace. I'm Vizhabel, the new handmaid to Demon Lord Belezbia. I would have sought out your handmaid imp, Ziel, but I was told she hasn't been seen for a few days, so I hope I'm not imposing or breaking any rules."

She was meant to see me? It had been days? I felt my eyes start to widen but pulled the expression back into something cool and easy. Then I nonchalantly waved off my own apparent absence. "Oh...well, I sent her for a vacation. She's been working very hard."

"Oh," she paused, knitting her brows. "I didn't realize we got vacations."

I nodded. "It's not a common practice among the Demon Kingdoms. It was a suggestion that Ziel came up with, actually. She thinks we might get better work out of the demons if we offer occasional rewards for service. Though, now that I think of it--her being the first to go on one of these 'vactions' makes it a bit suspicious."

Vizhabel nodded. "I suppose that makes sense and I shouldn't question the judgement of a Demon Lord." She replied, her cheeks darkening a little.

"Nonsense. Do you think I would be doing so well if I surrounded myself with people that agreed with me all the time? Of course, that also has it's drawbacks--plenty of other would-be Demon Lords looking to steal my throne."

There was confusion on her face. "Belezbia said you were an odd Demon Lord, but..."

"She's not a normal one either."

"I--I suppose that's fair." Vizhabel agreed hesitantly. "When will Ziel be back?"

"How does it concern you?"

"My Demon Lord thinks I might benefit from learning from her, and since you and Lord Belezbia are on such good terms it seemed like an easy thing to arrange."

"Hm, I've just inadvertantly made your training harder by sending away a potential teacher, haven't I?" I asked. I struggled to fight back the blush that crept up on me, knowing I must be thought well of for a Lord to send their handmaiden to me for training. "Ah, well, why don't you stay by my side. You can be my part-time handmaid and receive the training you need--after all, I trained Ziel." Geez, where did that ego come from, Ziel? Pretending to be Zunabir most likely...

"Ah, uhm," Her face darkened more and she got quiet. After a moment she seemed to regain her composure and looked up at me. "Yes, your grace. I would be honored to serve two Demon Lords at once. Challenging as that might be."

I smiled broadly at her, starting to feel my own cheeks start to glow with a warm blush. Her timid gaze drew me in and I found myself wanting to stare longingly at her for eternities on end. Eventually, I caught myself and cleared my throat. "Ahem. So what business did your Lord send you here for?"

"She is ready to receive you for the tea you arranged to meet her for."

"Oh! Oh yes! I think I will certainly benefit from having you around while my Ziel is away, I nearly forgot!"