The Song of the Serpentine Angel

3 | Busse Woods

Chicago, IL

December 9th, 1978

Venuch had not seen Azzozas in two full days. The snake demon had suddenly grown sullen after he finished speaking to him and disappeared into the shadows soon afterward. Those two days gave him the time he needed to mull over his new life. He was now under the protection of Azzozas...the demon he'd spent decades trying to avoid. This new acquaintanceship had opened plenty of new doors for him and meant he could do so much more for himself without worrying about death.

But that brought him back to his previous thoughts: why had Azzozas not made another appearance in two days?

He and Azzozas both were busy men, but Azzozas was a man with many people who wanted him dead or worse. The only thing that had let him know the man was still alive was Ray had mentioned in passing that Nikita (Azzozas's human disguise) had taken a sick leave for an entire two weeks. Then, shortly afterward, he'd been looking through his desk drawers for a pen when he noticed a bag of money and a letter carefully tucked beside it. He knew it had been from Azzozas upon seeing it.

"What do you have there?" Ray questioned, coming up to Venuch's desk and scaring the absolute shit out of him. "Is it a love letter from a secret partner?"

Venuch gave the shorter man an unamused look. "Do I look like the type to have secret admirers?" That shut Ray right up. He felt somewhat bad for getting snippy with the man considering he'd only been trying to make friendly chat, but he was in no mood to entertain any small talk. This was especially true considering the mounting unease he had from Azzozas's sudden disappearance. What could've made him of all demons take such a long time off of work? Had something suddenly come up? He cleared his throat. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. Was there something you needed?" He shoved the money back into his desk drawer.

Ray brushed his apology off and simply smiled at him. "It's perfectly fine. I just wanted to check on you because you seemed rather out of it today. Are you feeling okay, John?"

He stared at Ray, unsure of how to word any of the thoughts in his head. They were too numerous and too tangled within each other to ever hope to be understood. Venuch pursed his lips. Was he okay? Did he feel okay? The main thing was, why did he care? Well of course he'd care, if Azzozas up and died there's no telling who or what would come after Venuch. "I'm fine, just having an off day," he said simply, turning back to his papers. "So, no need to worry yourself with me."

"I see...well there's something else I need to—" 

A voice abruptly cut him off, "Mister John Kristiansen! Is there a Mr. Kristiansen here?"

Ray and Venuch shared looks. The blond stood, carefully brushing past the brown-haired men. "Aye, 'tis I you are looking for," he called out to a strange-looking man with round glasses that seemed about ready to fall off the tip of his nose. He was a mousy-looking fellow, wind-tossed bleached hair falling in blue eyes as pale as the moon. Though he was frail, his voice was like that of someone twice his size. Strong and sturdy as the stones within Busse woods. Venuch was confused by whom this man was and how he knew his name.

Mouse-man walked toward him, a suitcase tucked beneath his frail arms. "Come with me, there is something urgent I must discuss with you in private," the man whispered. "It concerns him."

Venuch frowned at the man. "And what makes you think I will go willingly with a person I do not know?"

Mouse-man grimaced and readjusted his glasses. "Ah, yes, my apologies. My name is Danka Szalay, I am one of Mr. Petrov's higher-ups, the CHO — Chief Human Resources Officer," He explained quietly enough that it made Venuch have to strain his ears so could hear him (and that was saying something). "I was told I'd find you here. Now, please, there is something urgent I must discuss with you."