Entanglement

regard

Phil POV

-

Seeing Dan again after two months of no interaction between me and the demons hadn't been all that strange; it had simply felt like the last time we had spoken had only been yesterday. The demon boy looked the same, and his hair was still the same length, and he still had the same dull brown eyes. Everything about him was completely recognizable.

The only difference was that, yes, he kept looking at me as he always did, but there was no anger that I could feel coming from him. It was mere curiosity, and yet no part of my mind could understand why. Observing, contemplating; but why?

I'd barely thought of him during those two months. With helping the Cleaners and killing cruds, Korey had finally seen how useful I was, and now the spotlight I'd been waiting for was shining over my head. I mean, he chose me instead of Alfie to come talk to Tyler, so that meant something.

It wasn't really like I got bored up in Heaven. With my natural positivity, it was easy to see each new waking hour with excitement, while the plants grew taller and new angels developed bigger wings. My wings had grown quite significantly in only weeks, and I felt satisfaction every time I looked in the mirror. I had so many responsibilities now; the usual was of course Habitance, but I was part time Revolver, Cleaner, and Premier. I wasn't a nobody anymore.

Despite all of the new things in my life keeping my mind occupied, I could tell from Dan's facial expression as he looked at me that I'd been on his mind a lot, even if I knew he had just as much to think about on his side of the afterlife.

This was a strange realization. He'd told me to stop being kind to him, and stop attempting to talk to him, so I had. If he'd expected me to keep going after him or something, he really didn't know me at all. I knew where my limitations lie. He was just a demon that happened to annoy me more than the rest of them. All that mattered now was business, and the possible poke of pestering in his direction if I felt like going through with it.

But the intense gaze he held on me made me confused. If it was not caused by feelings of hatred, then what?

After Korey and I had informed the three demons of what was going on, they seemed too stunned for words. Tyler placed a hand on his forehead, and Troye looked at him with uncertainty. It was a serious issue, and if they didn't listen to what we were telling them, we would have some problems. I hadn't personally known the angel who had been killed, but I knew they had been young. Problems became even more serious if the mortality of angels was caused. All of this was no one's fault, simply the result of too many humans dying for the amount of angels we had turning them. With the demons' temporary law, it made it worse. All they could do was kill their quota of food and once in a while kill any cruds they saw. That was all we needed for now, though: more demons out lowering the crud population. And our goal was that it would get even better when Heaven and Hell populations evened out, so the demons could begin recruiting once more. It was sure to work.

I kept my eyes on Tyler, ignoring whatever unreadable expression was on Dan's face. Authority had choice, and I knew Dan had no authority despite personally knowing both Troye and Tyler.

"I'll choose people to be on what we'll call Crud Duty. Drifters, probably," The short demon decided, with a firm nod to himself as if self-reassurance was what he needed. He turned to Troye, "Do you know where Chris is? He's their spokesperson, I should let him know first. It would be easier coming from him then me, I think."

"Probably with PJ, I know he's been helping Find lately," Troye answered, the only person seeming calm and collected out of the five of us. "You can let them know when PJ's quota is finished."