1001 Sins | ✔

interlude

What is the difference between an angel obsessed with chaos and a law abiding demon?

When Petryas the young angel first met the demon, Shanda, it was on the battlefield, on opposite sides of the long standing war between good and evil.

When they meet again, they are fighting over the soul of a dead politician, a man with scars, laugh lines, he looks like a man who lived life, he had not just merely existed.

Petryas is determined the soul of the fool belongs in hell, Shanda is sure that the soul has no place in hell.

So they pull out the records of the dead man's life, and weigh the good and evil it on the scale of life.

"Once, when he was sixteen, he stole from a church and gave everything to a women shelter," Shanda says, flicking her proud black gaze to meet his blue ones. She smirks as if expecting him to accept defeat.

They let the weigh decide and when it tilts over to the evil scale, Petryas smiles full and mocking, he enjoys this, rilling angels and demons alike up.

"A good deed is not justified by bad actions, stealing is stealing," He declares proudly. "The money he stole was raised for a cancer patient in the church, the patient died some time later."

"Not only stealing, but murder if we are being specific," He cannot resist adding proudly, watching as a storm brews in the demon's eyes.

"You carefully omitted the fact that that patient died from a car accident, not from the cancer." Shanda sneers.

Tension cackles in the space between them and the angel is half startled when the demon snarls and lets the scale in her hands clatter to the white floor.

He jumps back, suddenly afraid, then irritated when she begins to laugh in that raspy voice that one would expect from a chain smoker. Perhaps she smokes, he thinks, what else can he expect from her kind, the disgraced ones.

"You've got a problem with me, angel boy?" Shanda asks, ignoring the shattered scale at her feet, she kicks at it, shifting the pieces under the table on which the unconscious soul lay.

"Your kind are despicable," He sneers, although he can tell it amuses her more than anything, judging by the mocking smile that tugs at the corner of her lips.

"Says the angel who was relieved of his position as guardian because the mortal trusted in your hand made more bad decisions in one week than he had ever made in his whole life." She mocks.

Petryas flushes and wishes he could smack her little smile off her face. He knows too well that he is not like the other angels. He is not a cherub, the peaceful ones, neither is he a seraph because his fighting skills are abysmal, in fact, he does not trust himself with a blade. He is just a common angel with an obsession for chaos and he hates himself because he does not fit in anywhere.

"Shut up, vermin." He snaps.

The demon clucks her viper long tongue, rolling it in a manner that he cannot help but stop to stare, he is not attracted to her, not at all — but Petryas is so fascinated by her kind, he is fascinated by evil, he is fascinated by the hows, the whys. What makes evil evil?

Shanda grins ugly and when she does so, he sees a wildness he has never seen before and for the first time, understands why she is so feared, standing a foot taller than him and wearing even taller combat boots that were made to crush skulls underneath them.

She is everything he isn't, her blue skin a contrast to his golden brown one, her narrowed eyes different from his wide and child-like ones.

"Tell me, angel boy, what is the difference between a chaos obsessed angel and a law abiding demon?" She drawls.

He stiffens afraid to hear the answer, and half curious.

She grins, razor sharp. He snarls and in this moment, they have never looked more alike.

"Nothing, we are one and the same."

"You're so bad at being good, and I am so good at being bad."