being of hate

It's a busy workday morning in London. Life goes on as usual for the unsuspecting souls. In a house with an entrance that isn't there, three men huddle around a desk in a large otherwise empty room. A set of enormous wooden doors with pagan carvings separates them from the rest of the house.

The ornate chair once occupied by the buttocks of a now dead deity now hosts Bolton's. Belial is there and so is Muriel. The two stand around Bolton's desk, shuffling papers around, pointing at maps and photographs of faces.

Belial: "And here.. this is a forest in Belgium."

Bolton: "Who was that?"

Belial: "Don't know the name, but -"

Muriel: "Zadkiel."

Belial: "Right. Him and twelve others got picked off in the night."

Bolton: "How many have we lost since the hit?"

Muriel: "Three hundred and twenty seven. Plus all the operatives who got potentially made."

Bolton: "No word at all? Not even from Raphael?"

Muriel: "Nothing. It's a complete information embargo."

A single light tap on the door, preceeded by clicks of shoe needles.

Bolton: "Eva? What is it?"

The handle shifts and a half of the entrance silently rotates a few degrees, creating a passage just narrow enough for the receptionist to slip inside the room.

Eva: "Mister Bolton, Mister Azrael is here."

Bolton: "Thank you, Eva. Please, ask him in."

She slips back out and the door closes.

Belial: "You're starting to sound like him, you know."

A muted snap of the fingers later, Azrael, the angel of Death stands in the room, opposite of Bolton behind the desk. He scans his two companions.

Azrael: "Mister Bolton. Muriel."

He pauses for a moment.

Azrael: "Belial."

The demon sniffs.

Belial: "What's up, Az?"

Azrael: "Gabriel knows you're in command now, Mister Bolton."

Bolton: "So ends our advantage of disorganized chaos."

Azrael: "He knew you two were close, but didn't think that Belethor would pass the mantle onto a human. I hope you put that time to good use."

Belial: "A former spook who captured and tortured the last memory of god now runs the show. A hard pill to swallow for Gabe, I'm sure."

Bolton: "Bought us time, that's what matters. I'm pretty sure that was Belethor's plan since the beginning. He did know how everything ends."

Belial: "Do you?"

Bolton: "What? No. It didn't come with any powers, B."

Belial: "Like the pope then."

Azrael: "Eventually Gabriel put two and two together after your little resistance didn't cease with Belethor's death."

Muriel: "Resistance? It's the Apocalypse!"

Azrael: "Yeah, well, the book kind of stopped being relevant after you popped Michael's head like a watermelon halfway through chapter 6."

Bolton: "That was Abbadon's boys and a 50 cal. Been a while since I read the book, but I'm pretty sure it got a bunch of things wrong, if that's the case."

Belial: "Do I have to bring up the fact that the so-called apocalypse already happened in 66?"

Muriel: "Nero was not the anti-christ, for fuck's sake."

Belial: "Tell that to the Judeans."

Bolton: "Jesus fucking christ. Can we stop with this bullshit and get back to the topic at hand? Azrael?"

Azrael: "Gabriel is the last hairband holding the remnants together. Remove him and you will get the support of all the remaining archangels, ending this war."

Belial: "That's a great fucking idea. Definitely didn't occur to any of us."

...