Lucifer was tiring of Hell. An eternity of other people’s pain was wearing on him. This wasn’t what he had wanted when he first led his rebel army against the Heavens. But at least he could wangle some holidays. Not like the Other.

Now he was returning from a decade on Earth. He liked these little vacations. He liked to walk without wings, to feel air, fresh air on his skin and to breathe in smells other than sulphurous fumes. On Earth he could do whatever he liked. Not like here. Here he was on duty. Here he was The Devil. He was an angel by birth, after all, even if he had taken the Fall and angels have no free will. He was in the employ of his enemy. And he hated it. His wings unfolded, great black feathery wings singed by fire and tattered by time, and let his guise of humanity slip. Demons wouldn’t care if he walked about in a leopard-print catsuit, so what did it matter if he walked naked? As an angel he was sexless in any case. Asexual. Sometimes on Earth he liked to wear gender and he liked to be referred to as “he”, unless he took female form, of course. Anything was better than “it”.

The door to his chamber crashed open and a pair of demons slunk in. Female and male demons; a daughter of Lillith and a lowborn creature with horns. Lucifer slumped into his obsidian throne with a sigh. With weary anger he barked a question at them, wondering why they had disturbed him, watching them with his head resting in a manicured hand.

“Emissary from the Silver City,” rasped the female, running scarred fingers through green hair.

“An ambassador has arrived from…the other place, most unholy liege,” spat the male with a sycophantic bow. Lucifer hated the way they grovelled to him.

The devil in the black throne raised a golden eyebrow. Was it that time already? Every few millennia the Other sent an emissary to him. An angel from the world above sent to inform him of the Other’s wishes, to request an apocalypse, to praise, or, more frequently, to criticise. An angel. A messenger. That’s what the word meant of course. Another reminder of Lucifer’s loyalty to his foe. Still, angels make better conversation than demons do, and it’s always nice to see an unfamiliar face.