Angel on your shoulder

1.

Anders Bryant was well known to the department of acquisition, management and delivery of souls (DAMDS) as being simultaneously the most easy and frustrating demon to work with. Most demons make deals that are reality bending and have repercussions, and when they actually get the souls they've become angry and most are unwilling to handle... even if they usually only get a few. Anders however was a semi well known artist to the human world and when fans pledge their souls to him they often don't expect him to take them up on the offer... The department often can't decide which is worse, angry resentful souls or overjoyed souls meeting their idols after they've died. Anders was one of the few demons who actually took good care of his souls, he has multiple personal pocket dimensions in which he keeps them in, extravagant parties and lush forests... but an eternity of anything can be unwelcome sometimes.

The clerk handed over the bag after the signing of paperwork and Anders explained to each individual soul what was happening, after he was finished (and that was the part the clerks don't like, a demon staying literal hours in their lobby talking to their souls!) the clerk told him to come back in 2 days as they were expecting a few new souls for him that required his attention, if the clerk has a sly grin on his face Anders was completely unaware of it...

Anders sat in his apartment with a cup of tea, not drinking it of course because it was way too warm for that. He opened an email from Emily, another demon who managed his relations with the public. She had scheduled a Q&A live on his youtube for saturday, which a couple of days after he was scheduled to pick up those souls.

"That's fine," Anders mused to himself "I won't have to reschedule either of them."

Content with his good problem solving, Anders took a sip of his tea, which was finally cool enough to drink, and confirmed it with Emily. He brought his wings into existence to make sure they were clean and undamaged, just in case. Contrary to popular belief demons did not have one set species for wings and Anders was an excellent example of that, with his wings being those of a monarch butterfly, and honestly they were among the nicer wings a demon could have, feathered wings were a hassle to clean, Anders' roommate for a school trip had left feathers around constantly. Bat wings were actually not that terrible to have, definetly one of the more pleasant ones. Anders had known a demon with beetle wings once. Angels had feathered wings, unfallen with their bright white wings and fallen with their inky black wings.

Anders snapped out of his reverie and finished his tea (which had passed its optimal temperature and was now cold and unpleasant) He checked in with his souls, the newer ones and the ones he'd had for a while had reactions varying from indifference to just plainly avoiding him. Anders had always been fascinated by human souls, the souls of demons and angels couldn't pass into pocket dimensions and he's always been mystified by humanity's ability to do so. In many ways Anders admired and envied the human soul. The demon stared at his hands in wonder for a moment, because he knew while he may appear human most of the time he was never quite truly human, his eyes too intense, his posture too rigid.

Of course that wasn't a problem.