Post by Bene Elohim on Feb 8, 2024 13:37:29 GMT -8
~[Reader discretion]~
~[The Civil War: series contains mature content and situations which may make some feel uncomfortable, even triggering.]~
~[Please read at your own discretion.]~
~[The Civil War: series contains mature content and situations which may make some feel uncomfortable, even triggering.]~
~[Please read at your own discretion.]~
Lord Apollyon sat behind the desk in his office with his hands folded over one another on the beautiful mahogany desktop. Though he looked calm and collected on the outside, on the inside he was like a kid at Christmas. His gift was arriving any minute and he could barely contain his glee.
He wasn’t waiting long before the elevator leading down into the common area of his new Hell rang out and the doors opened. A figure stepped out of it and into his office.
The figure wore the black slacks, black button up shirt, and zip up hoodie. The hood was pulled up and beneath it instead of a face was a mask, blank with the exception of the eyes and a thin line for the mouth.
They’d blend into your average crowd until you saw the mask, and once you saw the mask? It was already too late.
The man approached the desk and instead of bowing as all the others had the figure knelt to one knee. Lord Apollyon motioned with a single hand for the figure to take a seat. They rose and lifted a hand to their face pulling the mask free and revealing the face of a middle aged Colombian man with short brown hair. The man had no sooner sat in the chair across from the desk than he questioned him.
Lord Apollyon: “And?”
A slow smile spread across the man’s face and his eyes took on a amazed tint, as if the memory itself was to much to believe.
Demon: “You should have seen it, Sire. The second he heard who our enemy was, his whole tune changed. When we went out to work on the quarry the next day? He took out nearly a dozen armed guards one after another.”
Lord Apollyon: “A dozen?!”
Demon: “I’ve never seen anyone move like he did.”
Lord Apollyon gave the smallest of little smiles before pushing a opened file across the table and spinning it around. One of the many things he had taken from the farmhouse which had been salvaged from the burning of the fake Hell.
The one file that had changed it all.
The man leaned forward and looked down to give it a read. He’s only read a few lines and his head snapped up to look at the man across the desk in astonishment.
Demon: “He was trained by Lucifer?!”
Lord Apollyon leaned back in his chair, a grin spreading over his face, and gave the smallest nod.
Lord Apollyon: “The original Sathanas. His first Fallen Angel.”
Demon: “What happened?! How’d he end up in a prison in Mexico!?”
Voice: “An innocent died.”
The voice brought the attention of both men to the doors of the elevator and the man standing just outside them. He stood a respectable six foot even and held a body of muscle beneath the loose fitting shirt and slacks. His hair was short and brown and his face just average but the man had expressive eyes, eyes that stared at the pair.
Lord Apollyon: “The file doesn’t go into specifics. Just that you were banished.”
Anthony Crawford: “I don’t discuss it.”
The man crossed the room until he stood beside the chair where the Demon sat and glanced down.
Anthony Crawford: “Leave.”
The Demon chanced a look up at Apollyon who gave him the faintest little nod, giving him all the approval he needed. The man rose from the chair, inclined his head to the men, then left, heading down into Hell by way of the second elevator. Once he was gone Anthony dropped into the seat he had just vacated.
Anthony Crawford: “He told me you were opposing Lucifer and you want my help.”
Lord Apollyon: “Correct.”
Anthony Crawford: “Why?”
The question seemed to take the man aback a bit. He hadn’t expected him to come out and ask him why he’d suddenly oppose Lucifer.
Lord Apollyon: “I was the First Demon, Anthony. I deserved what they did to me. When Rivers and the others found me, my wife and I were two weeks into a cocaine and heroin binge. One day, we ran out of valuables to sell for more. All we had was our home and our daugther…”
A look of complete disgust crosses the face of the man across from him and he growls.
Anthony Crawford: “You didn’t…”
The Lord himself expressed great pain in his eyes. He bore the guilt of a horrible father.
Lord Apollyon: “...We did. And then the Demons came for us. Yulia died paying the price for what we did... and I woke up to a new life. Devoted to the cause of protecting the innocent from people like we used to be. Then one day, Lucifer allows that… beautiful yet accursed angel… he transformed into the new Harbinger to change him. Soften him….and he disbands the sinful’s rightful punishment.”
Apollyon leaned back in his chair, his eyes boring into the face of the man across from him.
Lord Apollyon: “You know mine, so now tell me why you were banished.”
Anthony Crawford: “Why?”
Lord Apollyon: “I need to know if you can be trusted.”
Anthony ran his hand over his face and stared into the eyes of the man across from him before blowing out a deep breath.
Anthony Crawford: “A report came across Lucifer’s desk about a dad who was doing inappropriate things to his daughters, so I was dispatched to investigate and bring him to Lucifer’s newly completed Hell if he was guilty. I went to the house. He put up a fight and ended up dying in the scuffle. His wife heard it, and of course she attacked me, trying to save him. In the commotion, she ended up falling over a balcony.”
Lord Apollyon: “And died as well?”
Anthony Crawford: “Correct. It then came out that the parents were considering a separation over an infidelity. The daughters were angry at their father, so they made the story up.”
Lord Apollyon: “So, no one in the house was guilty...”
Anthony Crawford: “Correct. Lucifer was livid that his first assignment was such a colossal failure and that two innocent people had lost their lives. He covered it up and banished me for my part in it. He told me I should be placed in a Cell or ended myself for the torment their daughters would now go through without a loving mother or father.”
Apollyon’s eyes narrowed, analyzing the banishment of the First Sathanas. He moved his right hand to scratch under his chin, still curious.
Lord Apollyon: “Then why did you end up in a Mexican prison?”
Anthony Crawford: “That had nothing to do with Lucifer. The Federales didn’t like the fact that I was fucking one of their wives, so they decided to plant drugs in my car and arrest me. Lord Lucifer gave me a thousand dollars to start over and told me If I ever saw him again, he’d lock me in a cell. ”
Lord Apollyon: “How did that sit with you?”
Anthony Crawford: “Are you kidding me?”
There was a bubbling rage in the growled words that came from him at the question.
Anthony Crawford: “I designed his Hell. I designed the tactics he’d use to take down those who preyed on the innocent. I listened to every one of his rules and heeded his teachings as a way of life... and he banished me because of faulty intelligence. How do you think it sits with me?!”
Lord Apollyon knew better than that. It wasn’t the faulty intel. It was the lack of self control. Two people lost their lives because he couldn’t control himself in the field. But the kind of rage he felt in the man across from him? Valdemar could use that.
Lord Apollyon: “I am creating Hell the way it should have been. Serve me?”
Anthony Crawford: “Serve you?”
Lord Apollyon: “You should have been the Devil’s Right Hand. Not those pathetic ‘Yes Twins’ that served Rivers for so long. Come, Anthony… Serve as the Devil’s Right Hand now.”
Anthony leaned back in his chair and lifted his hand to his chin, stroking the hair gently as he stared at the man across from him. Finally, he simply nodded and lifted a dismissive hand.
Anthony Crawford: “Alright then. If nothing else, it might help me get some measure of vengeance for the wrongs done me.”
Lord Apollyon: “Good…”
From one of the drawers on the left side of his desk, he pulled a small folded piece of paper and slid it across the desk.
Lord Apollyon: “...Your first assignment.”
Anthony took the paper and unfolded it, glancing down at the contents.
Anthony Crawford: “Henry Ruvik, Michael Taylor, and Kellen Scott have been found at a lumberyard in Kearney, Nebraska.”
He looked back up and tossed the paper back onto the desk.
Anthony Crawford: “Who are they and why do we care?”
Lord Apollyon: “They are three of the men who kidnapped and brutally assaulted a woman named Maiko Adachi. One of Lucifer’s Fallen Angels. I have a Demon in their farmhouse who got this out to me. If they find them, then these men get the easy way out. They get turned over to Ashley and Aerynn, and I won’t tolerate that. These men deserve to suffer.”
Anthony Crawford: “So you want us to get to them first.”
Lord Apollyon: “Correct.”
Anthony Crawford: “Consider it done.”
Anthony rose from the chair and headed back across the room to gather the support and gear he would need when Valdemar’s voice called out from behind him.
Lord Apollyon: “Don’t fail me.”
Anthony stopped at the elevator leading back down to ground level and slowly inclined his head.
Anthony Crawford: “...Sire.”
That word, heard and spoken so often to Lucifer, only made a smirk slowly appear on Apollyon’s face as his Right Hand disappeared into the elevator.
