The Devil's Love

Queen of Hell: Chapter 21: Anton

Sarah looked at her apartment in shock, unable to figure out why I'd changed it. Gone were the racks of clothing, boxes of shoes and bags and the large cabinet of jewelry. In its place was a functional apartment that looked like it belonged to a young couple who were a little strapped for cash.

The furniture was reasonable, but it did not look expensive. Now there was a lounge for two placed in front of a small television. The bed was against the back wall, and the dining table for two was where it always had been. And, to be just that authentic, glass was scattered over everything.

I'd already heard his thoughts, innocent until proven guilty but the man thought it was an insurance scam. Except that for some reason Sarah didn't have any. I'd overlooked it, not thinking it was something that I had to worry about and that Sarah would have covered it.

When her shoe crunched onto the glass, Sarah began to fuss.

"Darling, sit with the detective. I will find the broom."

She nodded and moved to the dining table, tilting the seat to knock off the glass.

"You seem unharmed."

"We were in the bathroom with the door shut."

"Lucky. Are you going on a honeymoon?"

"Undecided at the moment. I didn't think I had time to take off from the shop but now."

Her sad tone faded into nothing as she wiped the tears.

"Sorry. It's just that shop meant the world to me. I'd bought it with my parent's inheritance; I don't have anything now."

"I'm sure the insurance will cover it."

"I don't have any, well, just liability in case someone hurts themselves."

"That's not wise practice Mrs. Dremain."

Well, that had a lovely ring to it. I smiled softly as I found the broom and dustpan, thinking how beautiful the words were. Returning to my former solemn disposition, I walked out of the cupboard and began tidying the glass.

What a novelty housework was, I'd never done it before. Of course, I'd much prefer to weave a little of my magic and make the glass return to where it belonged, but I couldn't do that. People would wonder why the windows were repaired so quickly and without a tradesman doing any work. So I carried on with my hidden amusement at doing something so trivial.

My phone rang, and I stopped sweeping and pulled out my phone.

"Igor," I said as I walked into the kitchen.

"Master, I hear a rumour. Is it true?"

"It is I'm afraid."

"I come now."

And then the phone went dead. Well, I guess he's always been a peculiar one. Loyal to the very end, which I admired a lot. Sarah needed that kind of support and friendship in her life. Which reminded me of her dear sister who would be sitting up the road in her car, watching everything that was going on.

Peaco was monitoring her as I had requested and had felt a divine presence in the area in the moments before the explosion. There was no doubt that this was the work of Michael or at least one of his many underling angels.

I walked out of the kitchen and saw Sarah and the detective looking at me.

"Word spreads quickly, Igor is on his way."

Sarah nodded.

"Igor is my chef, a wonderful man."

The detective smiled thinly and continued to make notes in his little booklet.

"So you say that there are no gas tanks on the property?"

"No, I wanted to hook up, but the money was running a little low. I think the next shop along has it, though."

"Any enemies or business rivals?"

None that she could tell you about. Oh don't worry about her absolutely bonkers sister detective, she's only sitting up the road for the fun of it. By morning she'll be frozen to her seat anyway so that it won't matter. No, you should worry about the archangel that's out for revenge against us. Yes, that's right officer. An archangel, yes, we've pissed off one of the highest of heavenly creatures. No, we're not mad. You see, I am the devil and, oh, that's a nice jacket. Does it only come in white?

I inwardly laughed, resisting a smile. Oh, the drama of it all. She punched him, and he torches her restaurant, what a spoiled brat he is.

The buzzer at the main door went off, casually I put the broom against the wall and walked to the door. Rather than just buzzing the man in, I walked to the main door so that I could warn him.

Igor was looking at the mess when I opened the door, he turned and looked at me with sadness and anger.

"My lord." He whispered.

"We have company, Igor." I returned just as quiet. "You are permitted to speak as a friend would for any of the times we are with humans."

He tilted his head and walked into the building.

"Sarah is speaking with a detective at the moment."

We walked into the apartment, the detective watching us

"Detective Sampson, this is Igor Rurikovic."

My phone rang again, much to my annoyance.

"If you will excuse me again."

I walked out of the apartment, removing my phone from my pocket.

"Peaco."

"Good afternoon my Lord. Is this a convenient time for you?"

"Yes, it's fine. Tell me what you've learned."

"Well, as I said to you earlier, Allison had not left the car aside from this morning when she took a restroom break and refreshed her supplies of sustenance. She had indeed followed you to the shops though I noted that she was held up in traffic when she followed you throughout Manhattan."

I wanted to chuckle, her grand scheme of stalking us had failed because of a little traffic congestion.

"When she lost track of you, she returned to the apartment and waited. That's when she took the break and was in the car for ten minutes before you returned. She stayed there and even with the mess that is going on at the shop, she hasn't moved."

"Does it look like she will?"

"I am not certain my lord, she appears to have settled reasonably well. There is enough food and drink to keep her going for a while, as for the restroom breaks I do not know."

"Alright, carry on."

The door to the neighbors opened, Frank Ford wandered out and gave the nod as he continued to the front door. For a man that seemed old, he certainly moved like he was in his twenties.

"I searched through the fire my lord, as I stated I felt the divine presence when observing Allison. It was very strong in the restaurant; there was definitely an angel of some sort in there. I doubt we could consider an archangel my lord, I would suggest deus or infra. But that is not our issue my lord. There is script on the back wall, for demon eyes only and written in Latin."

"What does it say?"

"It says battle, open field, queen and dead."

It didn't surprise me that they would want to take Sarah out now that the pregnancy has been confirmed. If she weren't prepared to accept Michael's warped view on how things were, then they would be more than happy to kill her. It was their opinion that it was better to have the queen and child dead than to have the child born and reigning his wrath upon the Earth. But the problem is, is that they've threatened my wife and my child. And this, this is the beginning of the seer's prophecy coming true.