Interlude III The Engel family

"Goddam it, Elias should have arrived like an hour ago, should have told him the meeting was way earlier than it is I swear he comes late just to annoy me." A woman was behind a dark wooden desk, she was tall and of wide shoulders wearing a white military attire with medals on her chest, she had short blond hair and her teeth were pointed like those of a dolphin, she was in the middle of a room with a huge statue of a massive stone snake behind her on the middle of two windows. The room she was in was as oppressive as she was, a massive room for her desk alone with walls painted black and a white marble floor with a long black carpet. There was only one other person with her. A beautiful woman with long blond hair wearing a black suit with a pencil skirt, with a lot of documents on her arms.

"Do we even need him for this, He never bothers with city affairs." The Woman with long hair asked the much taller one, who just put her gloved hands on the desk.

"Beats me, Lorelei, he is the one that asked to come, The nerve of our brother to not even bother to come in time after winning at me, he has five more minutes or we will ask the police chief to come in already."

"Brunhilda, you still spoil him a bit too much, is better to just ignore Elias in general."

"As if it was that easy, you know if he wants something, he will get to it like the rat he is...err well, well looks who finally came." A huge wooden door opened as a man carrying a briefcase walked through the black carpet towards the desk.

"Hello there, you two it's been a while." The man waved, to describe him, he was also just as tall as the woman at the desk but while she was built like stone, he was a slim and long man more befitting for a fashion magazine, his attire was a black long trenchcoat that shinned with pristine elegance, and his blonde hair was long a loose but perfectly kept. He waved at the two women with a smile and they just stared at him unamused.

"Elias You really are awfull at keeping up with the schedule, Let's recap the matter at hand is as follows, there is a strong possibility we have invaders infiltrating the city."Brunhilda looked at the two of them as she opened some documents on her desk.

"You both heard that the boss of the Ocassio family was assassinated right? Well, that is fine, I can't say I care much, but the Chief of police has strong reasons to believe the assassins came from the outskirts."

"She better have something back up that claim."Lorelei crossed her hands while their brother looked at the documents.

"No photos then, forget it, just tell me, detail is." Brunhilda moved his head off her desk, as she pointed at one of them.

"The tower, you all know about that right? Well, not too long ago one member of the police department went there to investigate but he was murdered in action, his partner some woman named Eva, claimed it was due to a devil who could cause fog." Brunhilda moved her finger to another document.

"Fog you say?" Elias had his fingers on his chin looking amused.

"Move a few months later and we got two devils assassinated in Korea town, apparently the vice chief Miles made the connection due to some unusual fog that the assassin was the same person, but he had no evidence till now, He said both a demon with a fog an even more damning person Rush Collins where found in the city at the location of the Ocassio murder."

"Rush who? "Elias asked, Lorelei just cut him off before he asked anything more.

"Don't interrupt, he was kind of the chief of the outskirt town on the frontier, The chief of police gave him a devil so he could protect the area, Sabnock you know, so we naturally thought he had died out there when Vepar appeared but he sneaked into the city." Lorelei crossed her arms, a bit annoyed he didn't bother with any reading before coming here.

"I see that death trap, Yeah pretty cool he is still hanging in there, Anyway Lorelei you were the one who handled the gates outside right, for the whole smuggling thing."

"Don't insult me brother of course I made sure to be thorough The only gate there outside the main one was destroyed by my own hands when the Worm Queen died. If there is another gate I do not know of it."

"That reminds me about the tower, That has to be the devil Minos, Is the only devil that can do something like that. We still know nothing about that or who summoned?" Elias asked them both but the two of them remained silent unsure.

"Some warlords from afar manage to contract with that thing is my only guess...still Minos eventually kills its contractors so I figure we could just leave that matter to be handled by itself, but not anymore that tower means is beyond our expectations, we need to cleanse it out, but my hands are tied I can't waste time with the families getting more violent by the day since all smuggling was cut off."Brunhild crashed her fist against her desk.

"Regardless it seems the police chief and vice chief want to handle the situation themselves which will be the best for all of us, Moving the corps outside the city will be extremely showy, and it is better to keep this under wraps. Our citizens believe no one can cross our wall after all. I will ensure Mephistopheles prepares a contract of silence for everyone in the police department if needed. "Lorelei smiled quite happy with her solution, Brunhilda didn't seem that happy about it but she just looked down at her desk with no objections.

"The sooner we get this handled the better, the wolves, the worms even the snakes were completely wiped last year, there is no way this isn't a coincide, opening a smuggling ring with sacrifices is impossible like this with no assistance from outside, but if we dont do it, the hunger of the families will turn into violence on the streets and it's my job to clean that as director of the Anti-devil corps." Lorelei giggled at her furious statement.

"Brunhilda you gonna pop a vein at this rate, dont tell me those mean families are too rowdy for you?" Lorelei smiled.

"I hate you, you know that right?" Brunhilda told her while closing the documents.

"Im curious about something, You say there was a woman that went to the tower and came back alive right, No one else has seen that fog devil correct?" Elias asked them not caring for the current ambience in the room.

"I suppose so I think she got a raise to police deputy, not much to say about her, born in a poor district, some family member got her the chance at the police, no devil or anything of note really, her profile says she is obscenely stubborn and has been constantly obsessive with this since her partner's death, anyway she is coming too, but I think speaking with the chief will be enough."She looked at the document with not much of a care.

"Goody, but let me speak to the woman who went there, im curious of what she saw."Elias put his hand on his chest and smiled, the man was always quite theatrical, his every gesture showy.

"Sounds like a waste of time, but sure knock yourself out, brother." He nodded and turned around to walk away.

"You think he is planning something?" Lorelei asked her sister as they saw their brother walk away.

"Always, but that is gonna be young miss Eva's problem now, is better this way, let's invite them in now. We have much to speak with the chief of police."

***

Eva felt completely out of it, she was asked to go somewhere else by the guards, so she was separated from the chief and vice chief and moved to an elegant guest room, she could only guess it was because she wasn't important enough to hear their conversation. Ever since what happened in Ocassio Café she felt out of it, she both feels a failure for being unable to avenge her partner and angry that Vice Chief Miles took the credit for everything she had discovered, whatever happened she was sure only the chief and that man would be recognized, but she didn't even know if she cared at all.

"It's so tiring." She mumbled as she kept waiting along on an elegant table with plenty of food she lazily reached for...all she could think about was that nothing was going her way.

"Hello there." A chirpy voice broke the silence of the room, she turned to see a tall man with long hair strive into the guest room with a briefcase in hand that he put on the table in front of her and carefully slid it out of her sight so he could sit opposite of her. She felt she had seen his face somewhere, but maybe she was too exhausted to remember.

"Hello, my name is Elias Engel. I was looking forward to meeting you."He excitedly reached his hand so they could have a handshake she followed his example astonished.

"Elias Engel...you are the CEO of Morning Star Corporation....why would you even.." She remembered his face, you could see it in the papers all the time, even in fashion magazines, the young CEO of the High district Morningstar corporation and a member of the Engel family elite, someone who should never talk to a simple woman like Eva and yet there he was.

"I hear great things about the valiant officer that ventured the tower. I was quite curious about what you saw there, but hey if it's too painful to remember you dont need to." She remained silent for a moment, It was surprising as far as she knew all of the investigation was put under the Vice director's name, she thought no one would even care to ask her.

"I saw...a maze, that the only way to describe it like the whole tower just raised on its own...it was built it just existed there and...there was an assassin there a man with a devil that looked like a skeleton and created fog, a fog that just made everything banish..."Still, like a dam opening once she started she couldn't stop talking.

"Oh dear now that's curious to me, I think some people call that devil the forgotten bride, there is barely any intel on it."

"A bride...Yes I think I remember, It seemed to have a veil and it was all white..."

"That's not its real name thought, but is a devil almost none of us know much about, im surprised the last time anyone saw it was a decade ago, curious Really, there being a devil I know nothing about is very curious." He seemed to snirk happily but she was barely following the conversation.

"I dont care I can't forgive it, they killed my partner...or rather that moron got himself killed to save me, I never asked, I didn't even like him, the man was naive...too naive and foolish a normal person would have saved their skin..."

"I see, how sad I felt a tinge of jealousy in you, but that is fine, emotions about that keep one going and you dear you seem like someone who is not done fighting, How about this Would you capture that man for me, I want to see his devil very much." He stood up and walked over to her side.

"I...sorry Sir you are better off asking someone else, im just a human and not even a good one."

"Dear girl, there is something a devil can never give you and that is the desire to keep going, I can feel it, you dont want to give up at all, even if you are a mere human, you dont want any devil to outshine you, marvelous really." The man opened his briefcase and took something from within it, it was a small vial with a blue liquid inside and the insignia of a star on the plastic.

"How about if we even the playing field, would you like a devil of you own...If you drink what this vial contains you will have the power of a devil." He gently moved the vial towards her as he stood behind her.

"That's not possible, what about the ritual or the sacrifices."

"No sacrifices are needed, no ritual either, this is the pride of the Morningstar corporation, the power of devil entirely on the hands of men, no need to be shy, that's the kind of power only the chosen ones in this city can aspire to."

"Why me then?"

"Good question, but I have no clear answer, I just feel you are the right person for it, You could say only someone with a clear goal deserves such power and I feel that you have that, you will never give up. That is the one thing you need for this vial"

Eva grabbed the small vial in her hand, it didn't look like anything special, it just seemed like regular medicine.

"No...You are wrong for as much as I try I have never..."

"And yet, I feel you have yet to give up, I think that's beautiful, it's those who give up on their dreams that end up being crushed by this city if even with all that failure and pain you refuse to give up, I think you are beautiful dazzling even. So I can spare to give you this chance" He put his gloved hand over hers and gently closed her palms over the vial.

"No worries, im not forcing you...If you want to agree to my deal, just drink it or dont. Take with you and tell no on not even your superiors you wouldn't want them to take anything more from you." He stepped away from her.

"Can you trust me with this..."

"Of course Im sure you will hold on to it for your very life, of course, if you dont want it you can always give it to the chief, countless people in this city can only dream of this after all. Feel free to return with the chief Im sure they have boring political stuff to talk about." She looked at him still confused as he smiled back.

"it's been a pleasure hope, we get to work together in the future too." He closed the door after giving a cheerful farewell and she remained there looking at the vial.

Outside Elias Engel walked while whistling a song as he did he passed in front of the chief of police and the vice chief who saw him walk away down the hallway.

"What with that guy just singing like that in the frigid embassy." Vice Chief Miles spoke annoyed, he was very uncomfortable as his hooves didn't quite fit into his chair so he was even angrier than usual.

"Lower your voice, That man is Elias Engel, the CEO of the Morning Star Corp." Miles stopped talking immediately when the older woman spoke.

"He is the man who inherited it...you know the demon that destroyed the world."

"You are serious? That guy?" Miles waited till he was gone on the hallways before whispering again.

"Yeah, he inherited Lucifer, the devil who built this city into being and the most terrifying man within its walls and he, is rather annoying too."

They listened to the man sing to himself and the chief thought to herself, as always that man never ceased to enjoy himself, no matter what he was always smiling, he simply was the happiest man in hell.