Page 3 of The Morning Star
“I’m afraid I agree,” Asta chimed in.
“You agree?” I snorted. “Didn’t you fuck and life-partner a demon instead of killing him? I don’t think even you can stretch the rules far enough to justify that one.”
The angel squirmed in her seat. “Those were special circumstances. We had a greater danger to consider. Dar was more useful to me in ridding the world of a worse demon menace than he would have been dead.”
“More useful to you in your bed,” I taunted before I turned to the others. “And believe me, I’ve got no problem with that. I want angels and demons to find common ground, to form beneficial associations up to and including intimacy—both physical and spiritual. We all agreed that’s our end goal. It’s time we took some steps toward that goal instead of sitting around paying it lip service for a few thousand years.”
“But you’re proposing a demon-controlled area of this world.” Gregory shook his head. “I’m fine with allowing demons access here with behavioral standards and certain restrictions, but this? It’s a dangerous path that would only lead to more fighting between us instead of less. The demons will inevitably have a culture and structure diametrically opposed to ours. It will create friction, and we’ll find ourselves back in a war. I agree with the sentiment of your proposal, Cockroach, but not this implementation of it.”
Cockroach. In the Ruling Council meetings I was always the Iblis to Gregory. It was a sign of his emotion on this matter that he’d slipped and twice called me by the pet name he’d given me when we first met. Although at first it hadn’t been a pet name, but a slur.
“You’re allowing demons greater, nearly unfettered, access to this world whether you’ve formally legislated that new policy or not,” I pointed out. “This is a logical next step. It’s not as radical as all you pearl-clutchers are making it out to be.”
“There is a difference between letting demons individually run around on a mini vacation, and having them actually control part of the human world,” Rafi chimed in. “What if they enslave the humans in their area? Restrict their movements? We just stopped the elves from doing this, but now we’re going to let the demons?” He shook his head. “Vacations only. One year or less for each demon. Formalize it with policy and procedures. Form a committee to study the outcomes. We’ll revisit this in three thousand years and possibly make some allowances for longer stays with appropriate behavior on previous visits.”
I glared at the archangel. Of all the Council, I’d hoped at least he would be on my side.
“That’s one ‘no’ vote,” Gabe proclaimed, turning to the others.
Nyalla bit her lip and shot me a guilty look. “I’m not sure I like the idea of demons having half the human world. I’ve seen what some of them do to humans, how they treat them. It’s just who they are, and humans are fragile with short lifespans. I’m so sorry, Sam. I have to vote ‘no’ as well.”
It was as if she’d punched me in the gut. How was this happening? I’d prepared so carefully. I’d rehearsed my arguments. I’d even put together a deck of PowerPoint slides. With four “no” votes, I’d already lost, but I still turned to the other two, hoping some dissent might move up Raphael’s proposed timeline for consideration.
Ahia wrinkled her nose. “It would be hell on earth. I don’t know many demons, but I don’t want to live in a demon-controlled area. And who would get to decide which area the demons controlled and which the angels controlled?”
“We would,” I told her. “We’re the Ruling Council. The demons have a representative here in me. Nyalla speaks for the humans. You speak for the humans and werewolves and give added balance on the side of Chaos. We decide which group gets which spot, and we don’t have to start out fifty-fifty. Let the demons have a few major cities, or maybe a state or two. Or maybe a few third-world countries. Probably wouldn’t be any worse than what the humans are dealing with in those countries right now. Probably would be an improvement.”
“Nobody is deciding that because the demons aren’t going to get any spot,” Gregory interjected. “We’re in control. The angels. The Angels of Order are the ones who championed human evolution. We’re the ones who gave the gifts of Aaru to the humans. I’m all for a reunification process between Angels of Order and Chaos. I’m all for moving toward peace among the entirety of the angelic host and their descendants. But I don’t feel that should take place here.”
“Then where?” I argued. “This is our only common ground.” I didn’t mention that Aaru, the angelic homeland was out of the question since the angels were currently banished, and the only ones in residence were a few moldy Ancients who’d thought to forcibly conquer the world only to arrive and find it empty. No sense in rubbing salt in that wound.
“Not here,” Gregory insisted. “If things go wrong, we cannot have the humans in the middle of an angelic war. We cannot soil their homeland.”
I snorted. “Right. Because they’re not soiling it themselves. And they’re not helpless little bunnies. They may not have our abilities, but don’t discount what they can do when sufficiently pissed off.”
Now all the archangels were scowling at me. “We gave them the gifts of Aaru,” Gregory sternly intoned. “We’re responsible for shepherding them into positive evolution. Just because they’ve hit a rocky point in their progress doesn’t mean we should turn their world into a battleground. We’re supposed to be helping them, not hurting them.”
Right. Whitewashing history at its finest. “You’re the ones who fucked humans, gave them the gifts far too fast, then spent ten thousand years wondering whether you should kill them all off and start over with dolphins or something,” I argued. “You guys screwed up. It’s our turn to give it a shot—or at least a shot with half the humans. They’re more like demons than angels anyway.”
“How about we all stop fighting over the humans like two dogs over a chew toy and leave them to evolve on their own?” Ahia said.
“How about the angels have control over one third of the planet, the demons have control over one third of the planet, and the humans get a third?” Nyalla asked. “And the humans get to pick where they want to live?”
“Sounds great,” I told her. “Demons get North and South America. Angels get Antarctica. Humans get the rest.”
“That’s not an equal division.” She scowled.
“No, it’s not.” Raphael shook his head. “If this ever did come to pass, and it will be thousands of years before I ever see it happening, the demons will need to start with a small geographic area. Not a third, and especially not a third of the prime agriculture and environmental areas of the planet.”
“At least a third of this world,” I told him. “And we can’t wait three thousand years on this. If we don’t agree on some sort of concession, some asshole is going to come over here with a shit-ton of demons, an army, and take it. Do you really want another war? With the humans smack in the middle of it? Compromise, and compromise fast or that’s what’s going to happen.”
“The majority voted no on establishing a demon-controlled territory here among the humans. Done. Over. The answer is no.” Gabe whacked the table with his little wooden gavel.
Jerks. They were all jerks. And Gregory was so not getting laid tonight. Although after me spilling the beans about the Grigori, I most likely wasn’t getting laid either.
“We’re moving on,” Gabe continued. “Next on the agenda is an update on the human assimilation.”
I snorted. “What, like the Borg? ’Cause that went so well in Star Trek?”
