We Are War

3. Satan or Santa?

Astaroth was never hiding from anyone, the man had red hair and red eyes, too pale skin and sharp canine teeth, he looked like a goth or cosplayer with his choice of... steampunk or punk clothing, he didn't blend in and he didn't even try. Valentine was pretty sure the man sometimes walked with his wings out as well, one black – one white, and people just thought he was a cosplayer going somewhere and ready to pose for the camera. He also would answer humans straight off the bat what he was if they asked, half demon half angel, no one believed him of course but that was just one more thing which served to drive the elder angels up the wall trying to babysit the wayward angel. Valentine didn't know many half angels – not with their other half being a demon, humans and other mortal blood was more common. And the werewolf had heard rumours beings like Astaroth would be quickly put down if elder angels found them. However Astaroth was also a skilled fighter, trained and taught ever since a toddler, so he was valuable for angels to drag along. Astaroth's energy was also one of a kind, he could sneak past many creatures without anyone knowing what he was. But usually he had a babysitter, an angel tagging along, making sure he wouldn't set anything ablaze, kind of like Uriel had been for Dexter – someone around to make sure things went smoothly. Valentine knew the half demon hated his babysitter as much as his babysitter hated his job. Valentine saw the babysitter standing at the nearby bus stop as he reached for the door of the sushi house, he gave the angel a little nod – only getting a scowl in return- oh the man seemed to hate Valentine almost as much as he hated Astaroth.

"Tiny!" the half demon was sitting at a table already, waving for the werewolf when he saw Valentine enter the restaurant. He had a plate of sushi in front of him, and miso soup in a bowl next to that, with a pint of beer as well. Valentine was often worried for the man's sanity, but then again he was also sure it had left Astaroth many many years ago. The werewolf smiled however, giving the man a nod and ordering something to eat before he joined the man at the table, with a pint as well. Who said he'd need to be all serious about this whole thing? He deserved a little treat every now and then.

"You had something fun on your mind?" yes the half demon thought blowing up things or going to the most dangerous places on earth. But this was also the reason why Valentine trusted on the man whenever he needed back up on some dangerous things, Astaroth would never say no, he was always willing to help and he never shied away from the job that needed to be done. And going behind the elder's back was no issue for the half demon, in fact he was probably even more happy to go against the orders and piss someone off.

"I need someone who creates a chaos, big time chaos, not just couple of bombs here and there but you know – full scale panic attack in a heavily armed demon base", the half demon turned from happy to positively thrilled after hearing this, yes, he was definitely in on the plan, just like Valentine had calculated. The half demon used chopsticks to pick up one of the sushi pieces, dipping it into soy sauce before biting into it. It looked really good, and Valentine thanked the waitress heartily as she brought him his order, with warm and deliciously smelling miso soup bowl. He went to taste it, wanting to melt into the seat, it tasted delicious and he never really realised how hungry he was. Hunger was something he had trained his brain from young age to ignore, he had always wanted to become a warrior angel, not warrior wolf, but an angel and angels didn't feel hunger. No shrink had yet tried to dive into his brain and fix this little issue, so he still managed to completely ignore any feel of hunger. And he often forgot to eat, but when he got food in front of him he realised he should get his belly full for a change.

"Oh sounds delicious! It's been a while since I could play with my friends. Where are we going?" Valentine pulled out a small notebook from his pocket, pushing it over to the half demon and returning back to his serving of miso soup, he truly was hungry and he knew his serving of sushi wouldn't fill him, but he could always go and crash at one of his brothers for second dinner, he was never turned away when he happened to show up, one perk of being away for long periods of times because of his work. Astaroth went to open and scroll through the black notebook, nodding a little at everything he was reading, it had all the information in it what Valentine had been able to gather so far. What, where and why mainly, with whom was still in work in progress. But at least he had heavy artillery all set now, Astaroth was such a chaotic force he counted for the whole battalion.