Demonic Influence (I hate my co-workers)

Drift Away

"I deserve to know why I'm here," Eddy repeated himself, arms crossed. The angels in front of him were, unsurprisingly, unmoved. Eddy frowned. Brett was far too intimidated by me, he gave me such a faulty sense of how angels operate, he thought, though not unkindly. Clearly, not all of his kind are so providing. He had been asking why he was to be questioned for hours, as best he could guess. Time seemed to pass differently here, same as in hell.

"Should I make him sleep again?" One whispered to the other. "Or maybe I could pull a couple of fingernails at least, that might make him shut up!"

The other just shook his head, sighing. "They just told us to watch him, Uriel, not torture him."

Eddy frowned. That was interesting, but the angel on the left looked far too excited at the prospect that they may be able to injure him. Perhaps there was some merit after all, to the terrible stories others had told him about the wrath of angels.

"You're no fun, Balthazar!"

"Why am I here?" Eddy asked again, quieter. He cast his gaze downward submissively, away from the angels watching him. They were taller than Brett, for one, which made them scarier. They also kept their wings out, though it appeared that you were unable to hide them in heaven. Eddy's blackened wings were on display as well, and while he was not displeased with their state of care, simply being here made him feel inferior and ashamed. Somehow, he assumed that was the effect they were going for.

Wings were made from power, pure or tainted, and while not often tangible unless the bearer chose them to be so, Eddy found that he could not put his away, or let them fade into his very being as he so often did. His blood ran cold. To take that choice from him was nothing more than a cheap intimidation tactic, an unspoken fuck you from heaven. He had begun to understand why Brett seemed to hate it up here so much.

The one angel rolled his eyes. "To see the archangels, obviously. They want to question you."

"About what?" Eddy responded, almost desperately.

The one, Balthazar, shrugged, curling his lip as he looked down at him in disgust. Eddy didn't dare ask any more questions.

-----

Brett closed the window after the bird, watching with certain fascination as it stuck out it's leg obediently, the note dangling from a string. He grabbed it as carefully as he could, untying it with cautious fingers, though the creature didn't snap at him. It must be for Eddy, he thought, connecting the dots. I know he was nervous about hearing back from Fred.

The bird let out a small croaking noise. Maybe I should open it, Brett thought in a strange fit of curiosity. I know Eddy told me not to worry about it, but it kind of makes me wonder what made him so nervous in the first place. It was far from a good idea, Brett knew that, but he was bored, and Eddy hadn't been back for hours. Besides, it's not like he would be doing anything devious with the contained information, he just wanted to know what it was about. He felt left out. Sue him.

Brett's mind continued to justify the situation for him, and he cracked open the seal before he could change his mind.

The letter felt odd in his hands, thick and slightly weighty. The parchment was crackled and old, the edges crumbling a little, even as he ran his fingers over them. The scent was familiar as well, but Brett couldn't quite place it. Some kind of spice. Curiosity consuming him, Brett opened the letter. His eyes flicked to the first line, only getting wider and wider as he continued to read.

The letter was brief, in a chilled way that seemed almost too cold for business. Brett couldn't imagine Fred writing anything like this.

Eddy,

Stop kidding yourself, it's gone on too long.

Brett paused. That was an odd way to start a letter. Furrowing his brow, he let his gaze drop back to the slightly crumpled paper.

You know what's happening, and while it sucks, it's not the end of the world. He's probably going to be dependant on you for a little while though, so don't worry about losing him. I mean, sure, he might get a little mentally shaken up about it, but that only makes sense, with the way they conditioned him.

If Brett had been Eddy, he would have realized that the letter before him was not written in Fred's usual, calligraphic scrawl. Instead, the letters had an odd slant to them, the quill having been pressed just a feather too light to the paper. Unfortunately, Brett was not Eddy, and he didn't realize this slight oddity.

Good news is, we have a job all ready for him down here. He'll fit right in, I can see no issues whatsoever with the adjustment. It'll be cake, to get him to come to terms with working for hell.

There was a small gap in the middle of the paragraph.

(That was a joke. Sorry, not my best.) Anyway, he'll be accepted here, most likely. I know the whole situation will probably cause him more grief than is necessary if you introduce him to everyone too soon, but hopefully you can find a good time, when he feels comfortable in his own skin again.

I also hope that you find a good time to talk this through with him. After all, it's not every day that you turn into a demon.

That was it. Brett's breath got caught on the way from his throat, as it seemingly tightened around nothing at all. His heartbeat was picking up, pounding in his ears, the white noise crescendoing even as his eyes flew across the last of the words inked on the letter.

I just hope the horns haven't shown up yet.

Good luck,

Fred

Brett couldn't think. He felt his wings tingling on his back, nothing more than numb weight. Eddy knew what was happening to him. Eddy had known, he had known the entire time and he didn't tell him.

Ultimately, it didn't matter what Brett had wanted to hear, because now, despite all the measures he'd gone to avoid the topic, here it was again. It was consuming him, consuming his life. In the end, it didn't matter how much he had tried to deny it, he was becoming the thing he had strived so hard to avoid becoming, the one thing everyone had told him was evil, worse than death itself. Michael's words came echoing back to him.

And so Brett sat there, eyes brimming with tears, and he tried not to drift away.

-----

A/N: Oh no!!! It's been too long. D: I'm so sorry guys, I've been so busy and preparing to go to London for a week and I probably won't be able to upload much while I'm over there either! Hopefully I can get one or two more chapters out though. 

Thank you all so much for your continued support, it means the world to me! Don't be shy to tell me what you think either, I love hearing feedback and comments from you guys.