August 6, 1938

"Adam! You're early!" Charlie exclaimed in surprise, still in her pajamas.

"The fuck you doing eating in bed?" Adam asked curiously, staring at the tray of food beside Charlie. "You sick again?"

"No! Everyone gets birthday breakfast in bed in this house!" Charlie said with a grin.

"That's a thing now, eh?" Adam mused as Charlie climbed out of bed. "Thought that was just for married women."

Charlie, glad to actually see Adam on her birthday, raced over to him and surprised him with a hug.

Adam, still holding her gift, blinked at the sudden contact but ruffled her hair all the same.

Charlie beamed and looked up, realizing Adam was still giving her a strange look. "What? Do I have food on my face?" Charlie asked, running a hand over her mouth.

"Nah. Just stand still," Adam instructed, and the devil's daughter obliged curiously. Adam then placed a hand on top of Charlie's head. Not like a head pat, Charlie realized, as he then held the hand to his waist. "Shit, you did get fucking taller!" Adam realized in amusement.

"Of course I did! I'm a hundred thirty-two now! It's time for my growth spurts! Soon I will be taller than Daddy!" Charlie said confidentially, holding up her arms in celebration.

"Low bar to clear," Adam mused, moving his hand up to his height. "Just don't expect to clear this fucking line."

"Why are you so tall? Mommy isn't nearly as tall as you?" Charlie asked with a head tilt.

"Hellflake, your mom can shapeshift to look however she damn well pleases. She can be as short or tall as she fucking wants," Adam reminded. "Probably just got tired of her big ass horns hitting door frames."

Charlie hummed, wondering if that might actually be the case. Her mother tried to be practical with many things, she could see why her own height might be among them.

"Your friends coming over, I'm guessing?" Adam asked idly.

Charlie nodded, eyes finally landing on the wrapped gift in Adam's hand.

"Go ahead, cheers," Adam said, handing it to her.

With childish excitement, she wrapped apart the wrapping.

Her smile fell at what it was. Not because she didn't like it, but...

"I have no idea what this is," Charlie admitted curiously.

It fit in her hand and was like a cube but with twelve sides. It was hollow with different-sized holes on each face, and little bulbs at each point.

"Really?" Adam asked in surprise. "I thought everyone did."

"What shape is this again?" Charlie asked with a furrowed brow.

"I believe humans call it a dodecahedron," Adam answered with a shrug. "Romans invented these. Saw one in a restaurant and thought you might like one."

"So, it's for food?" Charlie tried uncertainly.

"No, it- well, you could use it for some foods. Might help making something like hot dogs," Adam mused thoughtfully.

"Adaaaaam! Tell me what your strange-looking gift is for, please!" Charlie requested with a pout.

Adam chuckled. "Fine, fine, it's-"

The door sprung open. "Charlie, I'm-!"

Adam's eyes fell onto a small hellborn child. A small lizard-looking brat with little horns on the nose. Her scales were dark blue, almost black and her eyes were grey, sclera and all. She was wearing a yellow hoodie of all things.

And she looked absolutely petrified as if she would shed her own skin and run right now if she could.

"Lord...Lord Exorcist," she breathed, backing away, and tripping over her own tail.

"Gleam!" Charlie said as she rushed over to her friend. "It's okay. He's not going to hurt you. Right, A-"

Charlie stopped as she looked to Adam again, who was standing tower over them, the normal glow of his wings somehow seeming more sinister suddenly.

Adam never hesitated to remind her of who he was and what he did.

He said he would have killed her that first night if she had been any other Hellborn.

Gleam was any other Hellborn, to Adam at least.

Still, Charlie pressed on. "Right?" she asked to Adam.

He considered the trembling Hellborn before he reached down, making her flinch. Adam didn't care and reached to grab her by the hoodie, dragging her back to her feet before releasing her.

Gleam looked up at him with confused, terrified eyes.

"Stop worrying yourself. I'm not going to fucking end any of you on her birthday," Adam said firmly.

It wasn't much, but Charlie would take it.

"Th-thank you," Gleam said softly. "L-Lord Exorcist? T-thank you for killing that...that bitch!"

Charlie was just a bit surprised by Gleam yelling the insult.

"Don't get any fucking ideas, kid. If you don't want Hellflake here crying over your graves, you'll stay home on E-day," Adam warned with a glare. "How the fuck did you even get taken by that bitch?"

Gleam winced. "My parents...sold me."

"Well, that's fucked," Adam said dryly.

"We were poor and thought t-the demon p-p-paying for me would take care of me," Gleam explained.

"Either slightly less fucked or liars," Adam mused casually.

"B-but then they took me to Pride, and I was in a cage, and she wanted more and more blood! She bathed in it! She drank it! Sh-she even painted with it sometimes," Gleam rambled on. "I-I thought you were going to kill me."

"Safe bet," Adam mused.

"Adam," Charlie pleaded softly.

"I-it's fine, Charlie," Gleam said with a weak smile. "I'm just glad...that it ended. That I'm not still with her anymore."

"Are you back with the parents who sold you?" Adam asked flatly.

"N-no. Q-queen Lilith helped me find a new family," Gleam answered.

"Well, that's good at least," Adam muttered. "So, the seven hells are still terrified of me?"

Gleam nodded rapidly. "Mom. My new Mom? She said the mafia on Greed Rings sometimes sends people to Pride on E-Day. If they don't d-die from that, they'll finish them off when they try to escape."

"I should be annoyed at being used as a clean-up, but the more hell-blood spilled the better," Adam mused casually. "Well, I should probably head off. Enjoy the party, Hellflake. See you in a few months."

"Goodbye," Charlie said with a sigh waving as he left with a portal. She placed an arm around Gleam. "You okay?"

"He really hates us," Gleam said softly. "Except you."

Charlie winced but couldn't refute that. "Come on, let's get ready, the others will be here soon."

Gleam nodded absently. "I'm glad I got to say thank you, even if he'd probably kill me next time he saw me."

Charlie tried not to let that thought stay in her head too much for the rest of the day. That Adam or his angels might someday kill one of her friends if they ended up outside on Pride on Extermination Day.

It was a soft but brutal reminder that she truly was the safest person in Hell sometimes.

Extermination Day, 1938

"The King of Locust, whose wings have blinded a thousand princes and dukes of Hell, laid low the two Goetian Kings. Only by the might of burning Lucifer and regal Lilith were their lives spared. But their heirs, for the sake of their love, fled deeper into the besieged Ring of Pride and were never seen again. All that was ever seen of them again were a pair of feathers, stained with blood."

Charlie finished the story solemnly as she looked up. Just as she said, they were baking this year before Extermination Day started. While waiting for the muffins to finish baking, Charlie pulled out a book she had gotten for her birthday.

It was a book of Stories of Hell. And there were many involving the Exorcists and their Leader.

"I remember those two," one of the exorcists said, because Lute was once again not the only one here. "The Kings, I mean. Zagan and Vine. Didn't even know what an Ars Goetia was at the time. Scared me shitless when they were actually able to push us back. Then Lord Adam nearly skinned them alive before your folks stopped us."

"Mom and Dad were actually there?" Charlie asked curiously.

"No," Lute answered. "They just...made it known they were watching. Sir decided a pair of so-called Kings weren't worth the headache."

Charlie looked down. "And the heirs? The two lovers in the story?"

"No idea," another answered. "We certainly didn't kill them."

"Not that year at least," Lute agreed, checking them over. "Princess, how soft do you want them?"

Charlie walked over to the over and smiled. "Those look great! Though, we still can't make enough for everyone."

"Kid, we are literally an army, you'd need dozens of ovens to do that in one day," another exorcist reminded.

Charlie didn't refute the point but did look at them curiously, helping Lute take the muffins out. A perk of being the Princess of Hell? She didn't need oven mitts! "Also? I meant to do this last time, but...can I ask your names?" Charlie asked. "I mean, you ARE all the same Exorcists that were here last time and Lute baked, right?"

"They are," Lute informed, nodding to her sisters in arms. "These are the seven captains of the Exorcists."

Seven. That number came up a lot.

There was a pause as the captain all looked between each other before removing their masks. They were all similar to Lute in general features. Their skin was all either white, grey, or grey-purple. Their hair was all silver or white. The eyes were all varied a lot, but no one had eyes like Lute. Still, all of their eyes were bright and brilliant, but also hard and sharp. Like the glare of a reflected light.

"Princess," Lute addressed again. "Allow me to introduce the captains: Ionia, Doria, Phrygia, Lydia, Mixolydia, Aeolia, and Locria."

Some of them waved. Two smirked. Only one of them actually smiled at her.

"It's nice to meet you. Even if...I wish you would all go home today," Charlie said with a smile.

"Oh, the terrible princess wants to cruelly put us out of a job. What will we ever do?" Mixolydia said in feigned sadness.

"You're terrible," Lydia muttered in disapproval to her twin.

"W-what? Oh no, I never thought about that!" Charlie said in shock. "I-I just thought you'd do...whatever the rest of the army of heaven does."

"Mix, you absolute cunt," Lute deadpanned. "No, Hellflake, that isn't a concern. She's just messing with you."

"...Did you just call me Hellflake...?" Charlie asked in wonder.

Lute's brow twitched, and her fellow angels watched her, eyes gleaming with malicious teasing. "I did. Adam rubs off on me."

"I think what you mean, Ma'am, is you rub him off," Phrygia remarked knowingly.

"I am putting you on guard duty for a decade," Lute warned.

"You'll get me for one horrible year, then our wonderful leader will let me off the hoof after pounding you into the mattress to make you forget about it," Phrygia retorted.

"Through the mattress, thank you very much," Lute corrected.

Charlie watched the exchange with wide, wide eyes. "I...okay, well, I guess I know you aren't Adam's daughter now, Miss Lute."

Lute raised an eyebrow at the outlandish notion. She was about to open her mouth when they all suddenly stopped and touched their halos.

Charlie had learned very quickly that Angels could speak through Halos. She wasn't sure about the rules about how that worked, but she did know they didn't need to actually speak or even touch the halo. It was more of a social cue they did out of habit, to let others know they were "on the halo" as it were.

Which sounded a lot more like a toilet metaphor, they all admitted.

Lute frowned. "Charlie, I'm sorry, but Adam can't come this year, he has a meeting with a particular Overlord."

"Oh," Charlie said in disappointment.

"Ladies, head out and begin the purge," Lute instructed.

"Ma'am!" they saluted, redonning their helmets.

"See you next time, Princess!" Doria called over her shoulder as they each grabbed a cupcake on their way out.

"I trust you can contact your father to take you directly home?" Lute asked evenly, arms crossed with her spear already in hand.

Charlie nodded, biting her lip and looking to the side. "Lute? Can we...talk for a bit before I go home? Since I can't talk to Adam?"

Lute considered the question. She would have said no only a decade ago, maybe less. "I will answer one question for you, Princess."

Charlie mulled on that, choosing it carefully, "Lute? What's the difference between us?"

Lute deadpanned. "You need to be very specific with that question, Hellborn Princess."

"No, that! That's what I mean! What is the difference between the souls of the Heavenborn, Earthborn, and Hellborn?" Charlie asked, waving her hands about animatedly.

Lute stared, debating ignoring the question entirely, to make her choose another. But she knew Adam would answer it for her, so she would as well. Albeit, with less profanity. "There is a difference in nature in our very souls. Philosophers in Heavens compare it to many things, even the states of matter."

Charlie looked up expectantly as they both took a seat next to each other, her utter attention on the angel. Lute hummed, placing her spear in the air and drawing a circle made of heavenly light. She tapped it and the circle began to wiggle and flow. Never breaking, but it was like the ring was filled with waves and ripples.

"Earthborn, human souls? They are filled with boundless potential. For better or worse. They can become anything they desire to be if they try hard enough," Lute said, tapping the circle again. Now it was solid, perfectly round. "But Heavenborn come into existence with a purpose. Something that humans struggle to find in life; something that gives them fulfillment and happiness just by doing it. Loving their work, as it were. Sera of the Seraphim, her purpose is to help in the governing of Heaven for the sake of all within it. Houri are born with the purpose of companionship. Some of the Exorcists were born to defend Heaven. Other angels are born to maintain different parts of the heavens. Tending to the forests or expanding on the cities, incorporating new inventions into the heavenly realms."

"Wait, so...Adam said that there are plenty of Heavenborn that are born and raised, not just..." Charlie paused to make a bursting motion with her hands. "popping into existence, all grown up. Are they born knowing their purpose?"

"Yes, to my understanding. They don't feel the drive for it until they become adults, but they do understand their purpose at a young age. There is no uncertainty for a Heavenborn in why they exist, what they want to be unless they invite uncertainty in," Lute said with a dark look on her face.

Charlie was curious but she knew a subject she should not press when she saw it.

"And, umm, the Hellborn?" Charlie asked softly.

Lute tapped the circle again and...it broke. The circle gained gaps and missing chunks, retaining only a semblance of its form with wispy remains.

"Hellborn are like smoke and air, shadows. Their souls are whimsical, casting aside any purpose beyond their own worst wants and desires. Full of fleeting cares and whims, passing from one to the next without regret. Trusting a Hellborn is like a human trying to catch smoke in their hands."

Charlie winced at the rather brutal description. "Is that what...Heaven thinks of all Hellborn? That we don't have a purpose?"

Lute gave her a look that was...almost pity, but not quite. "Hell was never supposed to exist, Princess."

Charlie looked down, unable to refute that point. According to the stories, Hell came into existence because of her mother and father. "If all of that is true, then why does Adam care about me at all? Why am I...here, talking with you, if that's all he thinks of me?"

Lute motioned to the broken circle again. "Notice that even with all the missing parts and the shimmering of what remains, the circle can still be seen. Hellborn are not completely unpredictable. You are individuals with personalities. Lord Adam seems to think that the parts that make you a "Hellflake" might be permanent instead of fleeting."

Charlie starred and starred some more. She didn't know if all of this was really correct about Hellborn souls. But she was sure that Lute believed it and that Adam probably did too. So, that meant...

Adam cared about her, despite everything he believed about her parents, Hell, and Hellborns.

And even if it felt a little selfish, that still made her happy.

Elsewhere, Adam sat on a roof, watching as the extermination began. Obviously, most sinners had run away from here at the mere sight of him.

But for once, he didn't join in the killing spree. He just sat there and waited.

A shadow crept up along the floor behind him, reaching for him until-

"You're going to lose your hand if you try it, Fucko."

Alastor chuckled as he emerged from his shadow, taking a seat casually next to the angel. "Well, you seem to be in a downright dour mood, my normally kill-happy fellow! Might I ask, hunter-to-hunter, what could possibly be bothering you on this most violent day of days?"

Adam sighed deeply as he stared down at the road. "You remember what they called the Great War?"

"Hmm? Yes, yes, they called it the World War, why?" Alastor asked idly.

"I'm pretty sure it's about to become World War One."

Alastor's ears twitched up in surprise and interest. "And what makes you say that, my good man?"

Adam turned to Alastor and gave him this long stare of a thousand years and more. "I was there when the first war, Stag of the Crescent."

Alastor's spine shot straight and his eyes narrowed at the new nickname he had just been granted. The Stag of New Orleans, the Crescent City. "Were you really? Interesting. So, you can, perhaps, foresee the future?"

"Less see and more...hear," Adam answered with a scowl. "The fucking marching, the breaking of dreams and homes, the shit the victors do after, and all the damn screaming. that shit echoes backward in time a bit."

"I'll have to take your word for it," Alastor mused. "I'm not sure why you are unhappy with that. True, you'll be rather busy for a few years, but you don't strike mesa the sort to sulk over a bit of work."

"Unless it's fucking paperwork," Adam muttered. "But yeah, that would just annoy me. It's...everything else I've been hearing. A lot of souls coming to Heaven are talking about...horrible things that happened to them. I talked to some just before I came down here."

Alastor narrowed his eyes. "What could disturb an angel who saw the first war?"

Adam grimaced before leaning over. Not too close, but enough that he could whisper and Alastor's ears could pick it up.

"...Alive? They did that do them, alive?" Alastor repeated, his smile barely holding in place as something truly revolting went through his body. "That is...demonic."

Adam nodded. "That's in the East. Things have been boiling in the West. There was this night a while ago. Not a lot of people died, but...people just started ransacking people in their own country."

Alastor studied the angel curiously.

"There's no such fucking thing as Fate, Stag. Just where you land because of the shit you did. But there are points where shit becomes inevitable. Where the shitball has rolled downhill so fucking far that it can't be stopped. It's going to land and it's going to be nasty. Whatever is going on back on Earth? Well, fucking past that point. And I get the feeling that shitball is about to reach the bottom."

Alastor hummed. "I appreciate the forewarning, but I don't quite see why you would spill all of that to me?"

"I have a fucking list, Stag. A shitlist of people who I try to off the instant they get down here. That list? It's about to get a LOT longer," Adam said with a growl to his voice. "How'd you like to stay off the menu long term?"

"...Why am "I" not on the list?" Alastor asked with narrowed eyes. "I may not be no Jack the Ripper, but I very much know I belong down here."

Adam looked at him, yet the Radio Demon felt like the angel wasn't looking at him at all. "Right, I remember you now," Adam said with a snort. "There were a few fuckers on my shitlist that you sent down here."

Alastor stared for a moment before his smile widened in a predatory way. "So, staying off the menu you say?"

Adam smirked. "Just don't get the wrong damn idea, Stag. I think you and your shit is too big of a threat, I'll fucking put you down like the beast you are."

"And I will take it as a compliment when you deem me such a threat!"

End of Chapter

Oh boy. So, yeah, one year this episode. Fittingly, its the year before WW2 starts. Okay, just going to explain right away? The shit that disturbed ADAM of all people was stuff Unit 731 was doing(WARNING: DO NOT LOOK UP THE SHIT THEY DID LIGHTLY) and Kristallnacht(AKA, the Night of Broken Glass). One is horrifying, the other felt like a warning bell to Adam that shit is about to hit the fan.

With that out of the way, yeah, Adam met one of Charlie's friends, Gleam. Obviously still scared of Adam, rightfully so, but she is still grateful for ending Bathory. Adam in turn is NOT giving any other Hellborn the benefit of the doubt. Charlie is the exception.

Meanwhile ,Charlie has now formally met the seven captains of the Exorcists. They're all named after the seven musical modes from Ancient Greece that is still used today. Yes, Vaggie is literally just unlucky that Adam was using body parts as inspiration for names.

OCs aren't going to be a big part of this fic, but they do help flesh out not only Heaven and Hell, but Adam and Charlie as well. Their uncle-daughter relationship gives them a peak at the other relationships in each others lives.

But we also not only got a peak at a story about Adam as the "King of Locusts" involving Goetian Kings, we got an explaination on how the difference is seen between souls born in Heaven, Hell, and Earth. Weather its entirely true or not, it makes sense, and it's easy to see why angels would think see it like this. Hell was NEVER suppose to exist, including the Hellborn themselves.

And yeah, Adam has a fairly good idea of how bad things are about to get, and decides that he likes the idea of having Alastor sniffing some targets out for them and thinning the herd. And for that, he has been upgraded from Fucko to Stag.

The Stag of Crescent.

Yeah, Adam sometimes just gives out badass nicknames like that.

Anyway, that's all this chapter. Next time...WW2 starts.