Chapter 2

Aion glanced up from his paper as I walked into the dinning hall in the same clothes I had been given the night before. He didn't say anything; just held my gaze and waited for me to speak.

I refused to utter a word either though. Instead, I sat down and took a plate of pastries and poured myself a cup of coffee.

"Does this mean that you plan on staying?" he asked as he folded his paper and crossed his hands under his chin. The familiar smirk he always seemed to wear was there: as if he knew what the answer was going to be.

"I have decided that for the time being I will stay. If only to keep an eye on you."

"I'll take that as a perfectly acceptable reason. Eat up, Mr. Remington. Today we're going to get you some new clothes."

"I heard that you don't wear anything other than your black top and white pants."

"I don't. But I'm certain that you don't want to be wearing the deceased baron's clothes."

I looked down at the white shirt, blue vest and blue pants again. "These belonged to Baron Alessandro?"

"Yes, they did. I just never removed them from the closet to make it appear that I had some other forms of clothing. I admit to owning a few suits for formal meetings and parties though," he replied as he sipped at his coffee and went back to reading his paper.

I just shook my head and returned to my pastries. "If the baron's clothes fit then I'll wear them. There's no point in wasting your perfectly good money in buying me clothes that I'll probably never use."

"You still have to own a few good suits. For parties and the like."

"Why do I have to attend parties?"

"Consider it a form of payment for the time being. I let you stay here, you attend parties with me," he said as he adjusted his glasses and frowned over something in the paper.

"Care to share?" I asked as I took a bite of my food. It tasted like heaven.

"Stocks. I'll let you have the paper in a minute, but there's supposed to be something in here about a new contract with my business."

His lavender eyes flicked over the headlines, but his frown only deepened. With a disgusted sigh, he folded the paper and pushed it over to me before draining his coffee cup. Obviously something had upset him.

Picking it up, I skimmed over the articles, but I had no idea what the problem was. Everything that was mentioned seemed like good news. I lifted an eyebrow at him, but the devil said nothing. He seemed too intent on thinking over something to notice me, or really anything else around him.

So, I went back and read over the articles more carefully, and then it hit me: there was nothing in the paper about the company that he worked for. There was a possibility that it had been in the paper the day before, but since I hadn't been able to procure one, it was impossible for me to know.

"You'll have to forgive me, but it looks like I need to go and check on this. I'll have Gabriel accompany you to Rome," he said as he stood up and left the room.

A moment later, and the dusty blonde entered and smiled at me.

"I hear that I am now accompanying you to Rome, Mr. Remington. Well, since Baron Aion has allowed me the privilege of using his credit card, I can think of a few places to stop at. I don't think that he shall be missing the money."

I grinned back at the young man and shook my head. "I already told him that I'll just wear the clothes he has in his closet. I was informed that I would need a few nice suits for 'parties and the like.'"

"In that case, I know the perfect tailor to go to. Also, Mr. Remington, may I be so bold as to make a suggestion regarding your appearance?"

I leaned back in my chair and folded my arms. "Fire away. I've been living on the streets for a while, so any suggestions would be considered."

Gabriel clasped his hands behind his back and looked me straight in the eye. "We here at the Alessandro Estate think that you need a haircut. We noticed that you had shaved after taking your shower, and we all thought that that was a much needed improvement, but your hair…," he trailed off, and I couldn't help be laugh a little bit at him.

"Fine. I'll get a hair cut."

"Good. I'll be waiting for you."

By the time I stepped outside, Gabriel was already waiting for me with Ambrogino in the car. It seemed that either the two of them were fast friends, or that Gabriel couldn't drive, and thus the Italian man was forced to be his chauffeur. I got into the vehicle and we started the long drive towards Rome.

I was also able to get a few words out of Ambrogino during this trip. As I suspected, he only spoke Italian, and truly, he didn't speak much. He did tell me that yes: his job was to drive either Baron Aion or Gabriel around. I asked why he had to drive our friend around, and he didn't respond. Instead, the person in question gave me a smile and explained that he was something of a Public Relations person for the baron outside of the company.

We pulled into the city, our driver told us to call when we finished and he'd fine us. He promptly left to do whatever it was he did while waiting for his passengers, and thus, I was left with my new friend in the city that I had spent the last fifty years of my life in.

As Gabriel and I walked through the heart Rome, I couldn't help but notice that many of the poverty stricken people that hid in the shadows were looking at me. It seemed as if they knew that I had turned away from that life, only to sell myself to the devil to gain something better.

And for what They seemed to ask, their eyes demanding me to answer them. So that you can have nicer clothes, a soft bed and food that you don't even need?

They haven't been here since 1946, I thought bitterly. They don't know what it's like to watch as everything changes around you and you stay unchanged. I deserve this small bit of pleasure. It's not like I'm hurting anyone.

"Mr. Remington? Are you alright?" my companion asked, and I nodded.

"I'm fine. I was just thinking about something. Now, where is this Brioni you were telling me about on the drive?"

Maybe I had paled, or perhaps I appeared dazed, but he stopped me. For what felt like hours, but was more than likely only a moment, his brown eyes darted across my face, as if he were checking on me.

"Gabriel, I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me," I told him as he took a step back from me, as if to assess my whole body.

"It's just…This is going to sound very strange, but when you were looking at the ground just a second ago, I felt this wave of anger come off you. I admit, I haven't known you that long, but it felt so wrong coming from you. At the estate, we've come to expect it once in a while from Baron Aion, but from you? It just doesn't seem to fit your character."

What he said hit a chord with me. I had been that upset that he had noticed it? I had never been one to let my emotions get the better of me. If anything, that particular point had been why I was allowed to stay with the Magdalene Order for such a long time. Some of the younger angels had been too volatile to allow among mortals for long periods of time. I was the calm one. The one that never did anything too rash.

"I was just thinking about something. I'm sorry if I appeared angry, because that was hardly my intent. Why don't we just forget about this whole thing, and go find that shop? We'll pick something up for you too."

Gabriel relented, and led me towards the boutique. It really was beautiful, and even from the outside, the building spoke volumes about the type of people that shopped there: people that hadn't lived on the streets, people that had more money than they knew what to do with, people that probably didn't know that demons and angels still walked the world.

My friend led me inside, and after being introduced to the owner (apparently Aion had come on a few occasions, and the limits—or rather, lack thereof—of his credit card were well known) I was taken back and measured.

I decided on four new suits, and thankfully for me, Gabriel refused to let me see the bill. He told me that it was enough to feed a small nation for a few days, and while I know that he was joking, somehow I don't doubt that it was an extraordinary amount.

"You don't need to worry about it. It's the baron's treat," he told me as we left.

"I've never spent several thousand dollars on anything," I replied as we walked down the sidewalk, presumably to a barber.

"I would say get used to it, but you almost never do. It still boggles my mind that Baron Aion spends hundreds of dollars on a single bottle of wine that he never intends to drink. At least with the food I can somewhat understand. There's nothing better than freshest food that money can buy," he told me with a whimsical look on his face.

"You eat the same food as he does?"

"He insists that we're all equal and that we should all eat the same things. He's just…well, he's anal about his liquor."

I laughed and we walked on in silence for a while. Still, I couldn't escape the inevitable hair cut that I had planned out. I rather liked my hair the length it was at, but perhaps it too was nothing more than a reminder of a past that I didn't want to give up. I mean, I had made it long soon after leaving the Order, and I had just kept it that way. Soon enough though, we stopped in front of a barber, and Gabriel just looked at me. He seemed to be saying, "You promised to get it cut; now here we are. Are you a man of your word?"

With a sigh, I walked into the tiny establishment, and took a seat. A few minutes later, I strolled out only to see my friend standing by the door with two ice cream cones and a smile.

"Much better. I already called Ambrogino, so he'll be by in a short while. Ice cream?"

When we got back to the estate, Gabriel said he had some business to attend to, and I decided that I wanted to go back to the library. But going to the library meant passing that statue again, and the pure emotion captured in the piece wouldn't leave my mind.

So, as I passed by it, I couldn't help but stop and look at it again. There were three demons clearly depicted as fighting the angels, but another one was turned and was battling against the hordes of demons behind his crew. It reminded me of the story Chrono told of the Sinner's escape…except there had been no angels involved in that. God didn't think it was a large enough revolt to warrant divine intervention.

"It's a representation of a story young devils were told in Pandemonium."

I look over my shoulder to see Aion standing behind me with a glass of scotch in each hand.

"Everything is fine with the company. They just decided to delay the announcement for a few days while some specifics are worked out. Everyone was made well aware of the fact that I wasn't pleased with being left out of the loop," the devil explained before he handed me one of the drinks and started his story about the sculpture despite my not having asked him about it.

"The story goes that a demon woke up one day realizing that he had never seen the world above. He spoke with the nobles about going up, and they refused to listen to him. So, he went to Pandemonium and asked her if she remembered what the world looked like. Some say that she told him that the world was a beautiful place, and others insist that she said nothing at all, but instead began to cry, as if she longed to tell the demon, but couldn't.

"He convinced three of his brethren to accompany him as he went to the surface, and they agreed. However, as they left, the nobles sent the soldiers after the rogues. Unbeknownst to the nobles though, God decided to send his angels to keep the rogues from entering Earth. So, as the demon and his friends attempted to flee, they were attacked on both fronts: angels to their front, devils to their rear. Thankfully for them, as soon as the horde of demons saw the angels, they started to attack them.

"The general thought is that the demon and his companions never made it to Earth. However, there are some who believe that the demon did survive and looked upon the world with awe. He was heavily wounded, but he was able to change his form and look like a human."

"Interesting story. I wouldn't have guessed that we were sent to fight four rogues. He made it sound like we were to be fighting the horde," I said as I sipped at the scotch.

"Isn't your God supposed to be omnipotent? If He is, then obviously He knew that the demons would come up, and probably a few of them would have made a run for it themselves. My guess is that He wanted you to tame the devil population and remind them who the superior race is," the demon said before he started to walk towards the library. I followed him silently, more out of interest to his story than for any other reason.

"You almost said that as a compliment," I told him as I sat down in the same seat I had used the day before.

"Did I? I hardly meant it as one," he replied with a smirk as he went searching through his collection to pull out two worn books. One he handed to me and the other he kept for himself.

As I opened it up though, my heart skipped a beat as I saw that it was an ancient Bible written in Latin.

"Aion, how old is this book?"

"Not as old as you think. I want to say that it was translated from the original Greek works in the early 1600's. So while it is still old, it's not so old as to have a heat attack over the fact that I have it out. I'm almost sad that I couldn't procure an original Erasmus copy, but this version is about as reliable as it can be," he answered as he sat down in the opposite chair and opened his own book.

I was just about to start reading when Aion began speaking again.

"I never did tell you the name of the demon, did I?"

"No, you didn't. Should I care?"

"The stories all say that his name was Adam. If that's the case, and he did survive, then there is a good chance that the one that all the humans call the first man was in fact a demon."

I looked at him and frowned, but I didn't say anything.

"Just something to think over, Remington. I'll let you go back to your book," he smirked.

It was late by the time the maid came and told us that dinner was ready. The whole time we had just been reading, though I did intend to find out more over the meal. It just didn't feel right to break the comfortable silence of the library.

As we sat down on opposite sides of the table, the demon looked at me, and arched an eyebrow.

"Well?" he asked, "aren't you going to ask me something? You're not as good as you think when it comes to hiding your emotions. "

"I was just wondering who painted the mural in the library and who made the demon and angel sculpture. They're both very intricate."

Aion ate a little before answering. "The angel and demon piece was commissioned by Baron Alessandro, and I never learned the identity of its crafter. I would say that a demon made it though, judging by the depiction of the devils and the story it's about.

"As for the Dante's Inferno mural…that too was commissioned by the late baron, but the artist was a young man named Georgio. I have no idea what happened to him, but it seems he was something of a disturbed young man."

"How do you know that the baron wasn't the disturbed one?"

"Oh, he was. After all, it does take a man without a soul or a love of God to bring back the leader of the Sinners. However, it was the young man that did all of the torture scenes. The Baron just wanted an Inferno piece for his library."

"So you were brought back to life via a contract," I said, and he nodded even though it wasn't a question.

"Yes, the baron brought me back from the grave with a contract. Not that death was as bad as I thought it would be, but it isn't nearly as entertaining as being alive."

"Why were you at Saint Peter's Basilica that day than?"

"He let me go off for a day. I was just wondering around."

"You just happened to be there the day Pope John Paul II was shot?"

"Yes."

He wasn't telling me the truth, but I knew that I wasn't going to be able to pry it out of him. He only revealed information when it was the most beneficial to him. Hell, I was lucky that he admitted as to how he came back to life.

There was no further conversation that night, and I went up to my room quietly. As I went to change, I noticed a set of blue silk night clothes with a note in neatly written script.

I noticed that you didn't have any other clothes.

I'll be certain to have you pick out some more suits tomorrow.

Aion

That night the new clothes sat on a chair near my bed. I still didn't know how far I was willing to sell myself to him.