Ariuk Was Never an Angel

1 Dante

Dante

A twisted smile spread across my lips at the peculiarity of the situation.

Centuries ago, God had banished me from Heaven to live an eternity in the depths of hell, surrounded by fire and brimstone.

The truth of the matter was that his favorite fallen angel was roaming Earth freely, spreading chaos amongst humanity.

However, living the pathetic existence that the man upstairs had handed to me wasn’t an option.

I needed excitement, and deals had always come too easily to me.

Offer something. Take something. Bind it with a promise and wait to see what people were willing to give up.

Somewhere along the way, it became my brand.

Payment came in many different forms. Sometimes, it was money.

Other times it was a favor. The ugliest deals were the ones where someone offered their soul in exchange for help.

Watching the pitiful creations upon Earth pray for relief from the mild inconveniences I inflicted from deals they agreed to was nearly worth the disrespect I had experienced up above.

I wasn’t picky with who I struck a deal with, it was true, which is how I had ended up here, in this dive bar, sitting in front of a man I used to call a brother, again.

I could see that he was flustered, the man shifting nervously in the old, tattered wooden seat of a dive bar that we had agreed to meet in.

The shaggy dark curls surrounding his thick face took away from the purity of his soul, purity that was slowly disappearing with every moment he sat in front of me.

Why Uriel always found the most rundown restaurants to meet in rather than a place a little more private, I’d never know. As it stood though, this was a tense situation. An archangel was sitting before me—the prince of darkness—pleading for my help.

Oh, the fucking irony.

I leaned back in my chair, enjoying the way it creaked with the effort to hold my weight.

It was trying so hard to do the one thing it had been created for and slowly failing.

I could only imagine the next person sitting in this wooden piece of shit and the legs giving out.

Thick aromas of grease and happiness erupted into the air, making my nose twitch.

We weren’t here for the food, but Uriel would be able to understand if I ordered a burger and fries to go, right?

A crooked smile slid onto my lips, which only served to fluster Uriel even more.

“Dante, please.”

But I only chuckled in response. Because while he mentioned that this was a matter of urgency—it always was, he had pulled me away from my usual morning of torture and punishment, something I had grown to love over the last few centuries.

What Uriel wanted me to partake in wasn’t just blasphemy; it was downright mutiny.

I had tried that once. It hadn’t ended well.

All the human stories didn’t quite have it right, though.

I hadn’t been jealous of God, and I sure as hell hadn’t woken up one morning plotting to steal his throne.

A disagreement over how Heaven was run turned into a screaming match, the screaming match became sides, and somewhere along the way, trying to make Dad listen turned into trying to make him move.

It hadn’t exactly gone according to plan. Anger fueled our actions, and in a fit of rage, I ended up as Dante, the Prince of Darkness, and Dad had remained right where he was, spinning a narrative that worked best for him. Yes, I was still fucking bitter about it.

At least I had kept my wings. But I had no assurances that would be the case the second time around. Uriel was a loose cannon, and he didn’t follow the rules. Approaching God the way he was suggesting was a suicide mission for both of us.

Toying with Uriel, I threw my arms behind my head, leaning back even further to rock on the back legs of my chair.

I thought about letting Uriel in on the secret, that I had never challenged God the way he was attempting to do; however, it was more fun to watch Uriel squirm, all the while playing into my carefully crafted demonic persona.

The creaks intensified as I ran my tongue along my top teeth before finally destroying the silence that had thickened between us. “What will you give me for this? It didn’t work last time, and it won’t work this time.” Dear old dad wasn’t stupid. He’d know Uriel was coming from a mile away.

Uriel shifted uncomfortably, leaning across the table, his hands clasped together. His eyes revealed the torrent of emotions whirling beneath the surface, but without something in return, I wasn’t going to agree to help. “This has to work.”

“As you have said multiple times in the last hour. Question still stands, Uriel. What will you give me?” Making a deal with the Devil was always a last resort for everyone who approached me, and Uriel’s quest to shake things up would either have him hanging out with me in hell or worse.

He wrung his hands together, eyes shifting around the dimly lit place.

“You didn’t use to make deals,” he hissed.

He looked glorious like this, another fallen angel, asking for help from those he shouldn’t. His usually soft brown eyes were dark with emotions I couldn’t possibly understand and didn’t care to.

“I didn’t use to be the Devil, either,” I retorted. My tongue darted out to lick my bottom lip, wondering if he’d take the bait. Oh, what a wonderfully twisted world we lived in.

Uriel sighed, biting his lip as my thoughts drifted to the double patty burger with cheese and pickles I was still hoping for. “Anything. I’ll give you anything.”

That managed to drag my attention away from my burger.

Archangels didn’t beg. They definitely didn’t offer anything.

Uriel’s hands had been restless since I sat down, but now his fingers locked together hard enough that the knuckles lightened.

Whatever had pushed him into this little dive bar had done more than piss him off. It had scared him.

Interesting.

A chuckle fell from me at his desperation.

The legs of my chair collided with the stone floor in an ungraceful thud as I sat up straight.

Playfully tapping my chin, I resisted the urge to shift just to see the horror grow in Uriel’s expression.

There wasn’t much I wanted from Uriel or any of the angels, well, except for one, but I refused to think about him at the moment.

I’d felt the little spark attached to Uriel’s essence before. Never close enough to know what she was, only enough to know something about her didn’t sit quite right with Heaven. That alone made me curious.

Sifting through what Uriel could offer, a sinister smile spread across my face, my expression darkening with the evil intent I had become known for. “Your mentee. I want your little girl.”

I wasn’t in the business of dealing favors that included people, and that wasn’t what I was asking for now.

I’d felt something strange attached to Uriel’s essence long before tonight, something that didn’t fit neatly into what Heaven considered possible.

If whatever had frightened him badly enough to bring him to me went wrong, somebody needed to make sure his creation didn’t disappear with him.

He wanted my help getting close enough to warn the man on the throne.

In return, I wanted him to trust me with the one thing he might not be there to protect afterward.

His reaction wasn’t immediate, but shock and pain filtered into Uriel’s expression, telling me that he held some ounce of love for the newest angel.

He’d been annoyingly protective of his newest creation since the moment she came into existence, keeping her close enough that even I knew very little about her.

If Uriel thought she was worth hiding, I wanted to know why.

“Anything but her.”

“And yet that’s the only thing I want. Do we have a deal?

” I raised my hand, signaling for the waitress.

I was weak when it came to human food, and I had waited for long enough.

Uriel hesitated before finally nodding. “Excellent. Good luck trying to get a hold of Dad, though. I’ve heard he’s a bit hard to speak with.

” Ever since I had ruined things. One petty little disagreement, and now Dad stayed as hidden as his job allowed.

The mysterious aura he carried around with him actually served his purpose to embody the elusive entity on the throne.

Uriel shook his head, his curls bouncing against his cheeks. Despite the youth and smooth skin that came with being an angel, I could see the wrinkles creeping into his flesh, formed from exhaustion and stress. “I’m not trying to challenge him, Dante. I’m trying to warn him.”

That was news to me, and while I was intrigued, I was now focused on a burger that would soon be mine. I kept the salivating to myself though, pretty sure Uriel wouldn’t appreciate it. The waitress popped up at my side, a wide smile on her face as she blinked rapidly in my direction.

I had long since become immune to what humans called flirtation.

I knew I looked good, but I wasn’t here for a quick fuck.

I was here for a juicy piece of meat. I rattled off my order, sending her along her way but not without watching her sway those hips, trying to test my control. I was immune, not dead.

Uriel’s scowl brought me back to the present, pulling a sigh from me. “I can’t wait to see what you’ve got in store, Uriel. In fact, I’ll bring popcorn and sit outside the gates.”

His brows furrowed. “You’re an idiot.”

“Says the archangel who’s about to challenge God.”

“That’s not – you don’t get it.”

“I never do, do I?” I mused. I pushed away from the table and headed for the register, tracking down the waitress before she disappeared with my order. Her smile widened when I leaned over the counter, and under any other circumstances, I might have taken the invitation.

Uriel was trying to warn God.

Fuck.

I added a Coke to my order. Apparently, I was going to need it.