Lucifer's Child (Chapter I)

I strode down a sidewalk, calm and indifferent. I turned into a walk, and glided up to the door of the building. I went through the door, and walked into the room at the end of the hall. As I flung open the door, the person inside immediately stood up. “Nikita,” he greeted. “What was so urgent that you had me rush over here, Dominic?” I asked coldly. His cool mask of indifference faltered for a moment. Dominic was a very useful man, and the only person I could call a friend. I had met him almost five hundred years ago. He has a gift for gathering extremely useful information for me. I could tell that the information he had collected this time was far from pleasing. “It appears, Nikita, that part of our- I mean your- plan has been discovered,” he explained, clearly struggling to keep the anger out of his voice. I could tell that he was not telling me everything that he knew. Dominic was an aggressive, virtually fearless man, qualities which I had always prized. He had rarely seemed to be so frustrated and nervous about something that he could not look me in the eye. This was not good news at all. “Who has discovered us?” I asked, knowing I would hate the answer. “Ah. Well, it seems that Michael has witnessed the gathering of werewolves you organized for today,” Dominic said, clearly as unhappy as I. “That bastard!” I growled. “The fool is always too close. Do you believe he has informed Gabriel and Raphael?” I asked. At that moment, I was worried for the first time in over four hundred years. I knew that Gabriel would not hesitate to attack me if he found the slightest evidence that I was planning something. It was pity that he was on the other side. He could have been very valuable to me. “Yes, I believe that would be his first action,” he answered. I sighed and dropped gracefully into a chair. “Kita, there is something else,” he began slowly. More bad news, I thought angrily. “Kali was supposed to report back yesterday. I have not heard from her.” “Damn her!” I muttered. “Well, we can only hope she was delayed because of her…sport,” I finished distastefully. Kali took pleasure in torturing men. I suppose it gave her a feeling of superiority. Good. I liked suppressed anger. It made better warriors. There were a few moments of silence before Dominic spoke again. “How long has it been since Gabriel confronted you?” Dominic said, his voice full of derision. I smiled a little and answered, “Almost five hundred years. He must have more, important, matters to deal with,” I said maliciously. That bastard would regret interfering with my plans. “I wonder if he still has the scar,” Dominic said, laughing coldly. My grin widened. “I should hope so. He needs to be reminded of his defeats, however minor they are.” Just as Dominic opened his mouth to reply, the door to his office flew open and he jumped to his feet. I calmly turned to face the arrival. Kali stalked in, obviously furious. “Some…complications… have arose,” she began.1