"Go to Heaven for the climate,

Hell for the company."

-Mark Twain

-Ӝ-

The Crow Club was a place of respite when it came to demons, a hidden little corner tucked away from the rest of Ketterdam, and it served as a perfect place to rest and lounge about when these particular creatures were done devouring the unborn and tearing out the hearts of priests with their teeth. The usual things, really. It lay on the fringe of the city, where the gangs usually lurked and the buildings were beginning to thin out as urban bled into rural, and demons came from far and wide just to have the privilege of stepping through the doors and not even participating in the activities there.

The atmosphere of the Crow Club was quite laid back, considering most of the demons who ventured there were exhausted from a day's work of buying souls off of the desperate scum of the Barrel and wreaking havoc upon the merchants and their goods, and one was always welcome inside with open arms. They could sit, have a drink, recline back on one of the couches and rest without any fear of getting pickpocketed, and then be on their merry way. The place always smelled of tobacco, leather, gunpowder, and fine whisky, all of which seemed like normal smells attached to a place such as this one. But under everything, however, a slight trace of sulfur lingered, able to be picked up by those with the keener noses. It was a hidden but very bold announcement that something was not quite right around these parts.

That particular day was a rather sluggish one. It wasn't sluggish in business, no, it was just that the demons were much lazier than usual. A fresh regime of immigrants had just taken to the harbor that morning, and despite their strict delusions in their Saints and doing good deeds, they'd been more than willing to barter off their souls for money and the like. It was easy, really; money was a small price to pay, and any demon with even a sliver of power could conjure a small fortune of kruge within seconds. Souls could fetch a pretty penny depending on the highest bidder; they held power like no other and could be militarized to make devastating weapons of mass destruction, however production of such weapons had become strictly prohibited when the Treaty of Saints and Sinners had been signed. Now they were simply used as currency amongst demons, and every now and then a soul that had been circulating for a while would implode to create a new demon.

The deals had been so numerous that demons had taken the rest of the day off in order to recline in the Crow Club, at ease knowing that their accounts were expanding to prepare for the arrival of new souls. The day was a bit on the humid side, with no wind, and the rank stench of the city had begun to leach from all of the cracks and crevices, permeating the air with its awful odors. The demons didn't really pay it much heed, though, as they loitered about the Crow Club like a group of particularly plump and lazy pigs seeking refuge from the blistering weather. Some sat at the gambling tables, some hunched over the bar, but most were sprawled about on the furniture and even on the floor, lounging about like slugs as they caught some sleep or simply rested their eyes. The heat was mellowing them, reminding them of their fiery home from which they were birthed, and it left these demons little more than big cats that were sunning themselves. A tail twitched, a leathery wing stretched out and folded again, and an ear flapped idly here and there.

Kaz watched from his position behind the bar as he served up free drinks that seemed to materialize out of thin air as he grabbed for them, and cracked his neck a little while keeping a close eye on Jesper, who, though he hadn't hit the tables yet, would no doubt try to sneak back to them when he was released from this heat-induced stupor. Though the demon was not at all jealous of the conspicuous Zemeni look his colleague had, he couldn't help but allow his envy to pull on a few of his strings as he regarded the two gigantic bat wings that occasionally stretched lazily. Though many demons had wings, so many that Kaz could count at least twelve other demons in his line of sight that had two extra aerodynamic appendages, none were as large as Jesper's. It had come to the point where making a joke about one's wing size was the equivalent of making dick jokes, so in no way was Kaz going to say that Jesper's wings were bigger than everyone else's, though there was really no other way to describe them.

"Kaz, sweetheart, can you get me another drink?" Nina asked silkily as she draped herself over the bar and somehow made it not seem in any way sexual or alluring, though her bounty of breasts would be able to tantalize anyone, Kaz included. "I had to deal with the most awful merch this morning who kept trying to heckle and bargain with me. What good is one-fourth of a soul? And on top of that, how would he manage to split it from the rest of him if I somehow was stupid enough to take up the offer?" Kaz chuckled a bit and slid over to where Nina was lying, handing her a glass of wine that certainly hadn't been in his hand two moments ago. The cat-eyed demoness didn't even bat an eyelash at this, and after downing the entire thing in one gulp, she made it disappear with the flick of her wrist.

"Everyone seems like quite the slug today," Kaz remarked, a coin suddenly appearing in his hand, which he twirled in his gloved fingers this way and that, making it disappear and appear over and over again. The heat was affecting him as well, and he wanted no more than to sprawl onto the bar like Nina had done and just take a quick cat nap, but there was money to be had, and he limped over to some new arrivals as they took a seat at the bar and simply asked for water. After they were done, he hobbled back to Nina, who seemed just about ready to fall asleep, her eyes drooping and her entire body limp and putty-like. It was as if she'd melted onto the bar, and Kaz hoped that this heat wave would end soon so he wouldn't have to scrape her off himself.

She was lucky that demons everywhere had an unspoken pact not to steal or swindle one another (it would be utter chaos if that was the case), because the location of her satchel, which was no doubt stuffed with signed contracts that she would turn over to the bank in order to get souls in return, was blaringly obvious. In fact, she hadn't even taken the effort to keep an eye on it. He engaged in mindless chatter with Nina, occasionally pausing the conversation to serve newcomers and bid farewell to those who had to get back to work, and the entire day would've just gone on like that.

Only, that was when the door flew open, so hard it was nearly ripped from its hinges. Kaz looked up with an expression of concern, a question about someone's day and why they were acting so grumpy perched at the tip of his tongue, but then his jaw dropped open and his stomach plummeted like a leaden ball that had been tossed into the sea. He stared. An angel stared back.

The quiet hush of voices had ceased, and tension permeated the air as demons sensed something was awry, their drowsiness gone as they regarded the figure who stood at the threshold. The Suli-looking angel stepped forwards, and Kaz noted how her feet did not make a sound where they touched the floor, despite the fact that the floorboards of the Crow Club had a serious squeaking problem that even the stealthiest of demons couldn't avoid. Though angels and demons had ceased their warring after the Treaty of Saints and Sinners had been signed, there was still a heavy distrust as both angels and demons alike sat back and watched with baited breath to see which side would break and lash out first.

"Can I help you?" Kaz asked coolly as the angel regarded the Crow Club and its inhabitants, sizing it up with an intelligence that glittered in her dark eyes. The angel didn't reply as she trudged over to the bar and towards Kaz, and almost immediately the demon's cane was in hand, ready to be used in defense if needed. Angels were risky business, warriors of Heaven that were so highly trained and difficult to defeat in battle that demons had always wandered in droves before the treaty was signed, considering that if they were in a group they had a slight chance of besting any angel that attacked; a lone demon would never stand a chance.

The angel, however, seemed to have no interest in Kaz whatsoever, instead opting to take a seat on one of the empty stools by the bar. The demons next to her promptly rose and slunk over to the couches, where every lazy-eyed demon that had been lounging there before now very much awake and alert. Jesper had even had the guts to conjure up his beloved revolvers from whichever pocket dimension he kept them stashed in. This angel was incredibly outnumbered, but she didn't seem all that concerned, for that matter, and instead raised her hand for a drink.

Kaz panicked a little. He had no idea what angels liked. No idea what they ate and drank. Hell, he had no idea if they even had to eat and drink. So he just conjured up the bourbon that was his personal favorite and placed it down in front of the angel along with a glass.

The angel eyed it warily for a moment, and then with a voice that was like honey and ice and fire and earth all mixed together, she stated, "If this is poisoned, demjin, I will not hesitate to smite you, and if the poison works too quickly for me to do so, my garrison will hunt you to the ends of the earth and into the depths of Hell." The assembled demons somehow became even more tense, and they all shifted uncomfortably, every set of eyes trained on the golden, feathery wings that sprouted from her shoulder blades and were folded tightly against her back.

Kaz was barely able to find his voice, and when he did, the words came out a bit hoarse, "It's not poisoned." The angel seemed a bit dubious, but simply shrugged and downed the shot in one gulp. That certain bourbon was a particularly strong one, and Kaz tried not to show his grudging respect for the fact that the angel didn't even flinch at the intensity of the drink. It made him ask questions, though. For one thing, why was she even in this place when she could be lounging around in her cloudy paradise home? And why did she seem so at home in a bar atmosphere such as this one? Was she a heavy drinker? Did Heaven even have drinks? Why was this angel seeking chaos? Were angels considered defective if they sought out such disorder on Earth when they had the perfection that was Heaven at their disposal? Was she fallen?

"Why are you looking at me as if I will suddenly sprout another head, demjin?" the angel inquired, quirking an eyebrow. Though she wasn't outwardly showing her amusement, she seemed so damn smug, and Kaz's initial wonder and curiosity was scattered to the wind and replaced by a slow burn of annoyance.

"Listen here, angel," he told her coolly, and he saw her feathers flaring slightly at his sharp tone, though her expression was still professionally schooled. "You're making my other customers uncomfortable. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Oh, really now?" the angel asked, quirking an eyebrow. A dare. A challenge. Kaz couldn't do anything to throw her out, couldn't threaten her or make her leave by force because of the stupid treaty, and if angels had places of respite like this one, they would be just as helpless. "Perhaps just one more drink? A fine wine this time, if you may." Kaz ground his teeth together but obliged, setting down both the bottle and the glass without a word. "Thank you." Kaz rolled his eyes at the apology when his back was turned, and as the angel drank, he made his way back to Nina, who was now sitting up straight and glaring at the angel as if she could make her explode only with a single look.

Angels and demons didn't mix for obvious reasons. Demons were created by Lucifer; they were human souls that had been condemned to Hell, and they were twisted and mangled until they mutated. Some souls just served as demonic currency until they finally changed into the same exact creature that they'd been bartered by, and that was the entire issue. The main reason angels and demons had been fighting for so long was because angels hated the way that demons used human souls, as if they were insignificant. Kaz could understand them in a way; angels were created specifically to protect humans and their souls and make sure they passed through to the other side safely, and they didn't want demons using souls as no more than money to be passed from hand to hand. Then again, they had different cultures, and angels had no right to try and force their culture on everyone else. They may be in the morally right, but still…

He was just about to open his mouth to talk to Nina about this whole thing when the angel groaned a bit, a split second before the door shattered to bits. Everyone's weapons were drawn now, and a huge angel tromped into the room in full angelic military dress. His blonde hair was shoulder length, his eyes the icy blue of the artic, and in his hands he held a huge, double edged sword. This was an attack. This was an actual, honest-to-god attack, and Kaz's heart stuttered a bit as he recounted all of the stories his brother had used to tell him; angels leveling cities because people weren't worshipping the right way, angels in the forms of crocodiles drowning young demons that bent down to drink from rivers, and a host of other atrocities. He knew that this group of demons was no match for these two angels, and his hopes plummeted even further as yet another angel stepped in as well, his eyes just as blue as his companion's but his hair a mousy red. Three angels in total. About sixty or so demons. There was no doubt that Kaz's side would be the losers in this battle.

Instead of beheading the demon closest to him, the blond-haired angel bellowed, "Inej Ghafa!" The angel at the bar, who Kaz could only assume was Inej, seemed to shrink a little, bending her head down as her wings folded even more tightly against her back than when she'd first stepped foot into the Crow Club.

"He's a very handsome fellow," Nina purred, pulling down her skirts a little to more emphasize her incredible cleavage.

"Now is not the time," Kaz snapped, baring his teeth.

"C'mon, now; look at him!" the demoness chided, grabbing both of Kaz's spiraling antelope horns before the demon could protest and steering his head so he was forced to look at the blue-eyed hunk of an angel storming over to Inej, who seemed ready to disappear in on herself. He shook the demoness's hands off of him and watched the whole thing unfold with wide eyes.

"What do you think you're doing, hanging around a place like this?!" the angel spluttered, his face flushed red and his glittering white wings flaring angrily. "You could've been hurt or worse!" Kaz personally took offense to that. The Crow Club was one of the safest places on this godforsaken Earth, and even if Inej was an angel, he would've grudgingly stepped in if some of the brutes that frequented the place began to grow hostile. He let a low growl rumble at the back of his throat, but the angel promptly ignored him.

"I'm fine, Matthias," Inej hissed into her wineglass, closing her eyes as if to teleport herself away to anywhere but here. Kaz commended her self-control; he would've snapped at Matthias by now, and he could only assume that the white-winged angel was Inej's superior. He wouldn't know, considering most demons didn't know jack shit about angelic military, government, or customs in general. "I just wanted to be alone for a while."

"Bullshit!" Matthias bellowed, sheathing his sword but keeping a firm hand on his scabbard in case he had to draw it again. "You just wanted to make a point, now did you? That we can't function as a team without you? Is this because we disobeyed your orders in that last War Games?" Wow, plot twist. In that moment, Kaz became a bit more wary of Inej. Of her light words and even lighter tread. Under that soft skin was a hardened warrior, a fighter tough enough to lead a garrison. She was probably more powerful and skilled than Kaz could ever dream to be.

"Perhaps," Inej replied vaguely, but the slightest hint of a smile graced her features. It was very soft, merely an upward turn of the corners of her mouth and nothing more, but it reeled Kaz in like a fish on a line.

"You didn't have to do this, though!" the redheaded angel argued, crossing his arms tightly as his tawny eagle wings fluttered in his frustration. They were smaller than Matthias and Inej's, but they were longer, made for gliding rather than speed. "You and I both know that the demons should be left to their own devices."

"He's right!" Jesper called out, and all of the other assembled people murmured in agreement. The angel cast Jesper a withering look and the bat-winged demon shrank back a little, but she refrained from making him blow up with a look, so that was a start. It didn't help, however, that the Zemeni demon began to then shamelessly flirt with the angel who'd just spoken, the boy flushing red mere seconds after the demon had opened his mouth. What was with Kaz's friends and making eyes at angels?

"I'm not going anywhere, Wylan," Inej stated firmly, leveling her very scrutinizing gaze upon the redheaded angel, Wylan. "I happen to like this quaint little place. Many nights I've rested on its roof."

So that wasn't a flock of crows after all.

"Inej-"

"No," the angel interjected, silencing Matthias with her bitter tone. "The garrison has clearly stated that it would work just fine without my steady hand to guide it. In that case, I guess I should remove myself from the situation altogether. You disobeyed me and the other garrisons destroyed us in the War Games. My strategy, if perfectly executed, would've given us the victory. Now we are the subject of ridicule, no?" The two other angels didn't bother to object. Kaz had to admit that he was thoroughly entertained and quite curious. War Games? Was that the term used to describe all of Heaven's garrisons participating in a huge mock spar? Inej's garrison had clearly taken a beating, enough for the golden-winged angel to camp out in a demon-infested place such as the Crow Club.

"We're sorry, okay?" Wylan murmured, wringing his hands together as his wings drooped, though he did have enough sense to flinch away when Jesper tried to wrap an arm around his shoulders for comfort. "We thought you were dead."

"Well I'm not," Inej replied icily. "The purpose of there being a garrison leader is for order, and if there is no trust in the leader, they will not be able to maintain order properly. Matthias, you're the new leader of the garrison. Goodbye." The blond angel stammered a few sentences, trying to come up with a reply, before he gave up and plopped down on the empty stool next to her, his face haggard and in serious need of a shave. Wylan eventually joined them. It had to be one of the oddest scenarios that Kaz had ever seen; three angels seated unafraid at the bar of the Crow Club while surrounded by wary demons.

"I got this, honeybun," Nina murmured to Kaz before the antelope-horned demon could interject, and with that she flounced over to the three seated angels, her skirts hugging her curvy frame and her breasts just short of bursting out of her bodice. He smirked to himself as he saw Matthias, who seemed to be attempting to try and avert his gaze but was failing miserably, his face somehow flushing a darker shade of red. Wylan, for some odd reason, seemed unaffected. "What can a get you three?" she crooned, leaning over the bar so that her cleavage was hanging in front of Matthias's face. She could be a real seductress when she wanted to, though she, thankfully, hadn't taken up the job of becoming a succubus like some other demonesses had.

"I'll have another glass of wine, please," Inej stated with a soft smile, and that mutual understanding thing that all women had passed between them, and suddenly they were acting like friends. Kaz found it eerie.

"Five beers. The best you've got," Matthias stated, looking as if he was pulling a muscle in an attempt to keep concentrated on Nina's face.

"Will you be sharing?" the demoness purred, fluttering her lashes and gesturing to Wylan, and Matthias gave her an exhausted look and shook his head. Nina's cat eyes unashamedly checked out Matthias, and the angel sat awkwardly, shifting in his seat until the moment was over and Nina had moved on to Wylan, who waved her off and shook his head, looking as if he was nursing an awful hangover. Nina gave a nod of approval to the three angels and suddenly there were five beers in front of Matthias and Inej's wine glass was refilled. Wylan looked awed, though the other two didn't seem all that impressed (much to Nina's disappointment). Nina retreated back to Kaz just as Jesper reached the bar, seeming tense.

"What are we going to do?" Jesper hissed, his fangs gnashing together. "We can't best them in a fight or kick them out."

"Let's just allow it to play out, shall we?" Nina prompted, casting Matthias another sultry look. "Let them stay a while." Jesper opened his mouth to protest, but Nina put her finger against his lips, effectively silencing him. "Don't argue with me. I saw your flirting away with that Wylan boy." The Zemeni demon couldn't argue with that, so he just leaned against the bar and sulked.

"You seemed a bit rattled by Inej, no?" Nina prodded with a wink, and Kaz responded with a scathing glare that would have anyone else shrinking back, though the demoness just rolled her eyes and shook one of his horns like a baby shaking a rattle.

"Stop that!" Kaz barked, slapping her hand away, and she grinned as he adjusted his gloves and leaned a bit on his cane. "If everyone in here sees you getting away with that without getting your throat slit, they'll start thinking it's A-OK for them to do it, too. Things then become a whole lot messier." Nina gave a noncommittal shrug that infuriated Kaz to no end and then returned to ogling at Matthias, who Kaz grudgingly admitted was attractive; if he'd been gay, he would totally be checking out the way the angel's muscles pulled and flexed as he sipped at his beers. He wondered why Wylan had the eyes for the redheaded twink-looking kid instead. Perhaps Wylan was the toppy type.

"Demjin!" Inej called, and it took Kaz a moment to realize that she was referring to him. He bristled a bit and trudged over, trying to hide the fact that he was leaning heavily on his cane; it would be one more weakness she could pick out if she and her two lackeys decided to kill everyone in here. The number of people who remained in the Crow Club had dwindled as demons slipped out, their eyes trained on the angels and their fingers fluttering at their holsters, and now all of the gambling tables were empty. Only the true frequenters remained, though they were decidedly less laid-back than they usually were.

"Yes?" Kaz asked, his voice sickly sweet. He just so happened to be on bartending duty today. That did not mean that he was Inej's personal handmaiden. What would she want next, a manicure? Perhaps a foot rub or a massage? The words lingered at the tip of his tongue, but he was keen on keeping himself all in one piece, so he refrained from letting them slip out.

"I would just like to thank you for allowing us into your establishment," she stated, and Kaz couldn't tell whether she was joking or not. For one thing, he'd asked her to leave and she'd refused, and he'd been too fearful of asking when her two pals came in, so technically he hadn't really "allowed" any one of these angels onto his establishment. Her tone, however, was sincere, and she didn't show any of the telltale signs of lying. No rubbing the place under her nose. No wing twitches. No rubbing of the back of her neck. She was telling the truth.

"I have a name, you know." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. He didn't give just anyone his name, especially not an angel who was the leader of a garrison, and he wondered what had come over him.

"Do you, now?" Inej prompted, quirking an eyebrow and smiling that small half-smile that Kaz had been infatuated with just a few minutes earlier. Wylan and Matthias had been dragged away and cornered by Nina and Jesper, and out of the corner of his eye he could see Wylan's wings shifting in his discomfort as Jesper whispered something in his ear that was no doubt lewd, his bat wings curling around to caress the tawny feathers. Matthias had backed away from Nina until he'd plopped down on a chair, and before he could rise the demoness had straddled his lap and was now running her hands all over him. Though he looked scandalized, he didn't really seem to be minding all that much. "And may I ask what that name is, demjin?"

"Kaz. Kaz Brekker." Why was he telling her this? What the hell was wrong with him? He couldn't seem to stop, though, because his answers made that little half-smile linger a little longer and he'd unconsciously made it his mission to make it spread into a full-on grin. He had yet to accomplish this goal.

"Is Kaz short for Kazimer?"

"Maybe, maybe not." He might as well be vague now that he'd let his name slip. He wouldn't let more information like that fall from his mouth of their own accord. He had to have control, but that precious restraint was slipping the more he was in Inej's company.

"Kazimer means 'to destroy peace'," Inej remarked offhandedly, as if it was completely normal to have the meanings of names stashed away in a vast ocean of knowledge. Why did she even take the time to learn what names meant? Everything about this angel both perplexed and intrigued Kaz to no end.

"That's not necessarily true about my personality, though," Kaz chuckled, cursing himself for allowing more personal information to slip. Perhaps Inej was just a siren demon disguised as an angel, and she was luring him in with her song, enough to be caught and eaten alive. There was a small, barely noticeable ring of light around Inej's head, though, and he was pretty sure that, though sirens were skilled, they weren't skilled enough to recreate that kind of divine presence that caused such a halo. "I like peace more than anything. It's why I left Hell. Why I built this place."

"Interesting," Inej replied, taking another sip from her wine glass, which she was taking painstakingly slow to finish. He just wanted her to be done with it and then get the hell out of the Crow Club, bringing her friends with her, because this Inej Ghafa was going to be the end of him.

She was the beginning. She was the end. She was life and death and she was merciful and vengeful, and she was going to be the one to make the sun scorch the Earth to a mere husk and make the stars fall like rain upon Ketterdam and upon every saintsforsaken city in this decrepit world.

"If you're so good at knowing what the meanings of names are, then what does Inej mean?" he managed to ask around the lump in his throat, and he tried to conceal the way he leaned heavily on his cane just to stay upright, the vertigo making him frazzled.

"Harmony," the angel replied softly, smirking, and Kaz felt triumphant at the fact that she was showing more amusement than she'd ever had in the demon's presence. "And you think that a person who was into memorizing the meanings of people's names wouldn't memorize the meaning of their own name first?"

"It was simply a question," Kaz replied, shrugging. They both looked down to see Inej's wine glass empty. Her cheeks were flushed and rosy, and in that moment he knew she wouldn't have another. Their eyes met and Kaz tried to make sure that he didn't look as disappointed as he felt, but he could see that expression mirrored on Inej's own features. She slowly rose to her feet, and Wylan and Matthias managed to break away from the two who were harassing them (Was it harassment if they looked like they were enjoying it?) and join her by the door. Jesper and Nina looked heartbroken, though Matthias had a paper in his hand that listed Nina's address if he ever wanted to write her or visit. Jesper, on the other hand, didn't seem to have had much luck, and Kaz hoped that Matthias was willing to share the address with his two colleagues, especially Inej, considering Kaz, Jesper, and Nina all lived in the same place.

"Farewell, demjin," Inej murmured. "We will meet again." Kaz's heart fluttered at the vindication in her voice. Matthias and Wylan both muttered goodbyes under their breaths, much to Nina and Jesper's disappointment, but their blue eyes were sparkling with something akin to determination. Kaz knew fully well that this wasn't going to be the last he would see of these angels.

Inej smiled at him.

She had dimples.

There was the sound of beating wings and one moment they were there, the next they were gone.

-Ӝ-

(A/N) Please review your thoughts! I was thinking that this was going to be a part of a whole cluster of Creature! AUs