#ftsoad

    “I don’t know what any of these things taste like, Verin.” Ariel stared helplessly at the menu. “Nor do I require food. I have heard of a milkshake, but I don’t know what it is.”

“Dear God,” Verin scowled. “You have not lived, my friend.” She called over a waiter, who smiled at them kindly. “Two milkshakes please.”

“They’ll be ready in a minute, ladies.”

A few scant minutes later, two milkshakes stood in front of them. Verin immediately dug in, having half the milkshake gone before Ariel was done analyzing it.

“You know, Feathers, you don’t have to scan everything to see if it’s poisoned. We’re not in New York.” Verin said, slurping her shake.

“I don’t scan to see if it’s poisoned. I scan to see what it is.” Ariel informed her. “By doing so, I’ve found this contains vanilla extract, is exactly two ounces in weight, and has a serving size of one.”

Verin stuck out her tongue. “Drink a milkshake without analyzing it, have some fun. I should’ve taken you to a bar. We know where Astaroth is, the angels aren’t on our tail, and we have some free time.”

Ariel raised an eyebrow. “We will never have free time. We’re caught in between Heaven and Hell, and I don’t mean that metaphorically. We’ll always be in danger.”

“You must be fun at parties.”

Ariel stared at her for a second, then smiled. “That was sarcasm, wasn’t it?”

There was a pause. Then Verin’s eyes widened, and she jumped out of her, spilling her milkshake down her front. “You recognized sarcasm. You knew I was being sarcastic.” She turned to several other customers, all side-eyeing her. “THIS GIRL KNOWS WHAT SARCASM IS, DO YOU HEAR ME? SHE KNOWS WHAT SARCASM IS!”

The waiter from before was smiling brightly, obviously finding Verin’s excitement amusing, but he was sent over by hisr boss to tell Verin to quiet down.

“Oh, yeah, ‘course. Excuse me.” She said politely, sitting back down. The grin was still wide on her face, and Ariel found herself laughing instead of blushing.

“You know,” Verin said casually a few seconds later. “I figured you were going to say something about how milkshakes aren’t appropriate food for breakfast. You say stuff like that all the time.”

Ariel smiled, deciding to tell her the truth. “I only do that to annoy you, of course. I don’t talk like that around anyone else.”

Verin’s mouth formed an O shape and she slapped Ariel’s arm. “You ass! You complete and utter ass!” She paused, then added quickly. “I was joking, sorry.”

    Ariel rose an eyebrow. “I thought Lucifer was king of-”

    “Oh please.” Verin rolled her eyes. “Lucifer’s in charge, yeah, but all he does is sit on his throne all day and brood about Charlie’s Angels. It’s a movie.” She added at Ariel’s confused look.  “Anyway, everyone knows the Queen is Abaddon.”

    “I-...why am I not aware of this?” Ariel said angrily. “All of Heaven believes Lucifer is the demon’s leader.”

    “Leader’s are people who work with the common-folk,” Verin said. “Aka: demons like me. Lucifer’s more of an abusive boss. Abaddon is fair and just, and we’d all prefer her over Daddy kins.”

    “I refuse to believe this. Lucifer created all of you, and you don’t love him effortlessly?” Ariel demanded. “Despite his faults?”

    “Tell me something, Feathers- Have you ever seen God?”

    “No. Only the archangels have.”

    “Have you ever heard Him talk?”

    “No. Only the archangels have.”

    “Do you have any proof that he’s real?”

“Of course.”

“Okay, enlighten me.”

“The archangels inform us of his plans.”

Verin snorted. “And that’s proof?”

“Yes…” Ariel said uncertainly. “What about the bible, huh? And He created the entire universe. Is that enough proof for you?”

“Hey, sorry. I’m not trying to tell you the big guy’s not real.” Verin said apologetically. “I’m just saying you have a tendency to blindly trust people. I mean, look where we are right now!”

“What do you mean?” Despite her apology, Ariel was starting to get annoyed by Verin. She questions the reality of God and then makes fun of her personality, yet still is surprised when Ariel doesn’t consider them friends?

“For all you knew, I could have been lying that day in the warehouse. I could’ve still had a weapon hidden somewhere. But you believed me.”

“Are you suggesting I shouldn’t have trusted you?”

Verin frowned. “We’re getting off topic. What I was trying to say is I’ve met Lucifer, I’ve talked to Lucifer and I know who he is, truly. Not that great of a guy, and you think I should love him unconditionally? He’s basically an abusive parent.”

“Perhaps, but demons are creatures of Hell. They deserve some bad in life, for all that they’ve done.”

“Please tell me you’re joking.”

“God isn’t mean though. Name one thing he’s done to hurt humanity.” Ariel demanded.

“For starters, he flooded the Earth and killed everyone that wasn’t on that one guys Ark.” Verin said thoughtfully.

“He did that because the people sinned.” Occasionally, angels would question God’s motives. Michael would always respond with that sentence.

“Not a great reason. I mean, is it a sin for angels and demons to help eachother out?” Verin said. Ariel knew she had a point, but didn’t respond to the question.

“Just...nevermind. Tell me how we’re going to stop Astaroth.”

“Sure.” Verina looked as though wanted to argue more, but she didn’t. “Same way all demons get killed- special blades, bullets containing holy water, angels beating ‘em up. The usual.”

“How can we find her?” Ariel asked.

“Well, she doesn’t let off a glowing jet of red light, unlike some. We’ll have to follow Abaddon and hope Astaroth is still after her.”

“If we’re not remotely near where Abaddon is headed, we won’t see the light. How’s this going to work?” Ariel said tiredly. No doubt it’d be a difficult process to track the demons down.

Verin grimaced. “Easy. What do you think Abaddon eats?”

“Demons don’t require food or water.”

“If you’re as powerful as Abaddon, you’ll need something to keep your vessel up to code.”

“Then I’d guess newborn babies.”