“Lilith!” Naamah rushed to hug her oldest sister.

  “Naamah. This can’t be real.”

  “It is! Look, Eishi is here too. And she has friends.”

  Not wanting to interrupt the family reunion Kate turned to Anahit for her questions. “I was told only Lilith was imprisoned in the needle, who are the other two?”

  The other two were demons as well, but they were sleeping. Kate didn’t dare to wake them up to ask directly.

  “I don’t know.” Anahit shook her head.

  Lilith answered, struggling to stand up. “They were humans. I turned them in the hopes that what life they lost in there, we might give back to them out here. How long has it been?”

  Kate sighed. “Around twelve thousand years.”

  “I feared as much. Time in the trap has passed as it did out here. They would have died in there…”

  “And who are they?”

  “I could ask you the same thing, who are you? But to answer your question, they are Phea and Saliria, a temple priestess and her guard, who tried to save me from being betrayed by the sorcerer king.”

  “And I am Kate, head librarian. Handpicked by Apollyon.”

  “The General picks our librarians now?”

  Kate chuckled. “She became one herself. There is much to talk about, but I don’t want to intrude on the family reunion.”

  “We’ll talk at the library then.”

  “Before I head back outside to see about some other kerfuffle going on, this is Monica, she actually freed you.” Kate gestured to the mildly out of pce looking human.

  “Then I owe you more than I could repay in your short life.”

  Monica stifled an awkward ugh. “We already agreed that I’m getting a home, that’s enough for me. It’s an honour to meet you.”

  “A home is a good reward, but I want to give something more personal. We will talk about it ter. Your library has not moved, has it, Kate?”

  Kate shook her head. “Still were you left it.”

  “Good. Let us go there.”

  “I’ll come by after we sort out our local problem here.”

  As everyone besides Kate had left the cave, Azazel entered it.

  “Oh, Az, hi. I was about to come outside.”

  “Yea, I would like you up there in a moment but there is something I must do first.”

  “What is it?”

  “Making sure no one abuses these needles ever again.” She shifted back into her demonic form for a short moment.

  “Break.”

  The needle cracked in two. Azazel sighed and teleported the shards away. “I put them in a magically sealed room in Hell, if you want to ever take a look at them again.”

  “Them? You broke them all?”

  “Yes. No more needles. The fae will be upset, but I don’t care. They are too much of a risk.”

  “Okay, I have questions about that for ter.”

  “And I will answer as best I can. Now, I think you will find dealing with RICA and the FBC amusing.”

  “I just might.”

  Kate broke Superintendent Ramsey’s nose. “Good, now that that’s out of the way: why the fuck did you follow orders from an angel?”

  “They offered us ways to defend against you, in exchange we just had to py along here.”

  “Py along? Do you even know what you tried to stop here?”

  “Freeing Lilith, yes.”

  “And you know how much that means to every demon?”

  “Yes.”

  “Apparently, you didn’t.” Kate turned to the FBC boss. “You, American person, what’s your name?”

  “Senior Agent Ramirez, ma’am.”

  “Alright, Ramirez, do you know how much you fucked up here?”

  He shuffled around awkwardly, much to the glee of Azazel, Apollyon and Sariel, who were watching Kate have fun with the humans.

  “It seems I don’t.”

  “Yea, you don’t. Az, can I create some more work for you?”

  The High Inquisitor shrugged. “Knock yourself out.”

  “Fun. I want every single blessed bullet sorted neatly in boxes in my library in… hm… let’s say one week. If even a single one is missing, heads will roll. At the same time, I want your bosses, RICA and FBC, in my office. We are going to discuss how and if both of your agencies will continue existing. Az, the next part should be said by you.”

  “Ramsey, Ramirez, what you tried today was agreed upon by the Inquisitorium to be a reason to wipe humanity out. You represent this world and you stood against us. As this was the most important endeavour we undertook in the st forty thousand years, we agreed that anyone trying to stop us must be punished to the highest degree. In your idiocy you have made humanity our enemy. But we enjoy showing mercy, so we will keep punishment to your two groups. Maybe you will get a second chance, maybe you won’t. That’s up to your bosses next week.”

  Before either human could answer, Azazel teleported them away.

  “How annoying.”

  “Yea… anyway, how did the fight with Gabriel go?”

  Sariel looked quite pleased, even if she had a sizable cut on her cheek. “I bested him. It will take some time for him to revive.”

  “Nice.”

  Lilith was lying on balcony in the back of the library, looking at the stars, when Kate sat down beside her.

  “It’s gotten quite te, sorry to keep you waiting.”

  “I have waited twelve thousand years for this view. I can wait a few hours to talk to you.”

  “Would still have been rude to keep you waiting any longer. How are you?”

  “I feel great. This is a good day.”

  “It truly is. I haven’t spoken to the other two you turned yet, how are they holding up?”

  “Shaken but well. Losing not just their time but also their home was quite the shock, but they’ll be fine.”

  “Good.”

  “So, how about you, young librarian. When did we hand you this pnet’s most important demonic gift?”

  “Last years. I’ve been here for six total. Currently, I’m the youngest demon.”

  “Neat. I’ve heard my current successor is barely older than you.”

  “Thirty-five years old, I think. No idea when her birthday is.”

  “I need to talk to her one day. She sounded like a good person and the right one for my old job.”

  “She truly is both of those.”

  “I will trust your judgement. Crazy to think that between my sister, the one who brought us immortality and the General of our armies, they all chose you to lead this pce. Still can’t wrap my head around Apollyon working in a library.”

  “She was my first demon friend. She still is the best friend I can imagine.”

  "Yes, she must be an amazing friend… maybe now that we are both unburned by rank and duty, we can get to know each other properly.”

  “You should, she’s amazing. From what I’ve heard, you are amazing too.”

  Lilith rolled over to look at Kate. She looked just as her sisters did, once again with the same piercing eyes in a different colour. Hers were sort of maroon.

  “Please don’t tell me people have been praising me while I was gone.”

  “I’m afraid that would be a lie.”

  “Oh well. I guess we both have to live with people praising us behind our backs.”

  “What was said behind my back?”

  Lilith giggled. “Eishi had some fun tales to share, and she holds you in very high regard for trying not to let her succubus nature get to you when you were human. That's high praise.”

  “I feel quite honoured by that.”

  “As you should. She also told me about a human friend, who she will turn soon, who is entirely immune to our effects on humans. I never knew that was possible.”

  “As far as I know, Evelyn doesn’t experience any sexual attraction at all.”

  “Truly fascinating. I really want to meet her before Eishi turns her.”

  “That shouldn’t be a problem, she’s here every other day or so.”

  “And intend to spend a lot of time here as well, I am sure we will run into each other.”

  “I have no doubts. Why spend your time here though? All of Hell is awaiting your return and your sisters are eager to spend time with you.”

  “I know and I am eager to sleep in my own bed again, to hug those I missed so dearly and to feel that fresh Kurian breeze on my skin. But I need a few days to gather my mind, it’s all a bit overwhelming and here I can catch up at my own pace, surrounded by both demons and humans and, most importantly, strangers. I have spent millennia in the same company, good company, don’t get me wrong, but I yearn to meet new people. Like you and your friend Evelyn. Even Apollyon would count, we only talked about our duties in the past.”

  “Feels good to be considered interesting enough to meet and get to know.”

  “General Apollyon’s first love? Are you kidding me? Of course you are interesting. And that is in addition to all that library stuff and just being someone I don’t know.”

  “Wait, wait, hold on. Polly’s first love? You have got to be joking.”

  “Unless she found someone else in the st twelve millennia, I’m not joking. She was famous for being all about her work and never socializing much.”

  “I will ask her about that someday.”

  “Please report back when you do. Speaking of questions, do you enjoy the nights of this world as much as I do?”

  “Definitely. Even before I started pnning my current home with Joro, I made pns to collect those little star pebbles, Noxite, to make a grotto with them as the ceiling. Just to have a starry sky in Hell. Now Joro has made enchanted windows for me to turn Hell’s twilight into night to look out into from my home.”

  “I hope you don’t mind me asking every so often to enjoy some hours in your grotto once it is done. I love the stars.”

  “Have you talked to Amaterasu yet?”

  “No, why?”

  “She studied the stars, she made maps of the night sky and even put a star in a bottle. I’m sure she will eagerly share her love for them with you.”

  “Isn’t she one of the librarians of the archive?”

  “And since we absorbed the archive, she is one of us here.”

  “Then I will likely meet her by pure accident sooner or ter anyway. You have such a fun group here.”

  “The best friends I ever had, plus Oliver who you might meet someday as well.”

  “I look forward to meeting all of your friends.”

  Kate turned to the balcony door, looking inside to see Apollyon enter with the two young demons who had been trapped with Lilith. “Looks like we have some company.”

  “Company is good.”

  “Let’s see if they are up for te dinner. I could go for a snack.”

  “A snack is good pn.”