What most humans didn't know was that demons had halos to. It was rather stupid of them really. They knew that angels had halos and that demons were fallen angels yet they could never put two and two together and figure out that demons must have halos as well. Of course, the halos weren't pure gold anymore – nothing about them would ever be pure again. Feathered dove-like wings were now leathery and black. The healing hands that tended to God's Son in the desert were those of angels. The claws with poison beneath the nails, curved like a dragon's, belonged to demons. The angels held weapons of light, fashioned for them at God's will. A hammer never touched them in correction because, of course, the Lord could do no wrong. Demons' swords were forged in the fires of Hell. Their blades had been cooled in a mixture of the blood of the guilty and the tears of the innocent. The Prince of Night himself laid six hundred and sixty six unholy spells upon the weapons, and yet they could never win in a straight battle against the angels. No, the light always won, no matter what they did.
Lola stopped her musings abruptly. Really! She had started thinking about the stupidity of humanity, a perfectly proper line of thought for any demoness, and some how got on to the topic of her own doom. She wondered if any of the other demons thought about their eventual defeat, then shook her head as if to clear it of such treasonous thoughts. Now she had thought of it twice, surely that couldn't be good.
Lola was a perfectly average demoness, with a perfectly average day. There was no need for her to get to thinking all those sorts of things. She stood equipped for battle as always. Her sword was sharpened, her knifes were clean, her bow was stung, her quiver of arrows was resting on her back, and her red and black armor had no dent. Even though she was on break it was a necessary for every demon to be ready for battle at any time. At any moment something might go wrong. God had the trickiest way of flipping things around at the last minute. Take that scuffle that the human's called WWII for example. Everything's going fine: people being dehumanized and killed, an egotistical madman controlled a good part of Europe, people were killing themselves and each other off left and right, wild suspicions of those of a different race on both sides of the war, terrible weapons of destruction being produced. And some how at the end more people went to God to praise Him for ending the war, then the number of people who cursed Him for starting it. God's son had been rejected by His people and died an excruciating death, and thousands of years later people were still coming to Him. No one in Hell could understand how God managed to twist every plan to suit His own purpose. God was, in Lola's opinion, very unscrupulous.
But now she was getting off topic here. She had decided to reflex purely on humanity for a while and, God damn her, she was going to do so. Now, from the beginning. What most humans didn't know was that demons had halos to. The angels had gold halos that hovered above their head. Demons' halos were now silver and rested like a circlet on their foreheads. That was the one thing they couldn't hide when appearing to humans. They had once been angels and could force themselves to appear as angels to those foolish humans for a time. The only thing they could neither change nor hide was their silver crown. But humans never learned to look beyond the wings, never bothered to look beyond the light, to see what was really producing it. They did that with each other to. Assumed the responsibility of judging people and condemning them without full knowledge.
All humans had halos to. Angels and demons, neither of who could glance and see an entire human soul, only had to look at the halo to see what type of person he or she was. Mainly gold, and they were followers of God. Mainly silver, and they were hell-bent on leaving Him. Tarnished gold and their faith was weak. Tarnished silvered and they might be swayed. Lola had seen all types. She turned her attention to the people around her. The man about to cross the street was a gold crown, but tarnished. Lola decided she would have to alert Wormwood. If played carefully and the man could be brought over, played wrong and he would be lost forever. The silver complemented that woman's hair nicely. She probably thought of her self as a gold crown with all the hours she spent at the soup kitchen. She was leaving now, telling anyone who would listen how much she enjoyed serving and how much time she spent doing so. Wasn't it wonderful to help the needy? She certainly thought so. Lola would have to congratulate Jenovine on her work. The whitewashed tomb probably didn't even realize that she wasn't serving the poor anymore; she was serving her own ego.
Humans really were stupid. The Son said not to serve to be recognized by men, for they would receive no reward in Heaven, but this was conveniently forgotten. God had His rules written down so that they couldn't be lost in time. And yet, many humans acted completely ignorant as to what they needed to do in these few short years, in order to join Him for eternity. (On the subject, just how long did they live if they weren't killed? Two hundred years, was it? No, surely it was more than that. Probably closer to three hundred; that sounded better.) Lola knew that she and the others had a big part to play, but the choice was always in the hands of the tempted. Why would any human follow them? It was like at those races the humans would bet on. They could either back the car they knew was going to win, or the one with three tires. If they lost the bet, they lost their life, if they won they got to live forever. No human in his or her right mind would bet on the car with three tires. Yet, all the demons had to do was offer a few temporary pleasures, or get someone to bring a "new" philosophy into play, and some humans began to swear that the working car didn't even exist. The humans loved pleasures and comforts, so why did they want to suffer with the dammed for eternity?
There! She had just done it again. Lola scolded herself. What was she doing thinking about her own end when she was supposed to be reflecting on humanity. Well, the third time was supposed to be the sign wasn't it. Fine then! She was a demoness, a silver crown. She used to be an angel, a gold crown but had joined the wrong side and now she would forever pay for it. Now she was reduced to wandering among mortals to drag them down to her level. She had been an angel – they were merely mortals. If she couldn't return to Heaven, they sure as Hell weren't going to! The mark of the beast glowed on her forehead and hand, interrupting her rant. It was time for her to return.