Jack leaned against the wall of the study, his mouth twisted into a wry grin. The room was taut with tension as the two demons glared at Tegan, the head of the Elv’ve’Norc. Their king was as close to death as he’d ever been and their sister was currently in the upper skies of Halzaja, a place better known as Heaven.

To a demon that was as good as dead.

And not in the good, happy, puppy’s now on the farm way either.

The Heldrons were on the verge of declaring war and as much as Jack understood the consequences of such a thing, he couldn’t help but be excited over the prospect. For even though he was an Elv’ve’Nor, an agent that had dedicated his life to upholding the peace of the Seven Planes, he was still a trickster.

The desire for chaos was in his blood.

“Bring her back,” Pyro demanded as his eyes heated a deadly red. He was on the cusp of changing into full demon mode where his horns and claws would lengthen, his bulk would double, and all sense would fly out the window. The time for talk was nearly over.

And thank the gods for that. Politics, even devious, scheming politics, was not Jack’s idea of a fun time.

“I promise you she’s there of her own will,” Tegan began. “When she’s ready –”

“A demon in Heaven by her own will!” Rahu, the younger brother, erupted. “You insult us with such a half-assed lie!” His eyes blazed with anger. With one challenging step he destroyed the distance between them. Snarling, he reached forward with a thick hand. His intent to wrap it around the man’s throat until death was obvious.

But though Jack had been brought along as backup, he didn’t move a muscle in aid. It wasn’t either of the demons they were worried about.

“She followed Galvanor there,” Tegan continued as coolly as a summer’s breeze.

Immediately, Rahu stopped in his approach, his fingers just skimming the berserker’s skin. He whipped his head around to face his brother and what he saw there caused him to growl.

“Kaz-ij!” Rahu snapped in their native tongue, his eyes narrowed in anger.

Immediately, Jack’s easy smile disappeared, replaced by the sly, devious grin his enemies had learned to fear. A random fight he would enjoy more than most people did chocolate. An actual threat to his friends, however, and things got serious fast.

Shifting his weight off the wall, Jack was about to call upon his magic when he noticed the amused look on Pyro’s face. Flicking a glance to Rahu, he rolled his eyes when he noticed what he had originally missed.

The demon’s teeth weren’t bared.

And though that in itself wouldn’t mean much in most tongues given the demon’s aggressive tone and narrowed eyes, it changed everything in drazic.

Rahu hadn’t said ‘kill him’ as in ‘Let’s kill Galvanor now,’ but rather ‘kill him’ as in ‘Dammit! We should’ve killed him when we had the chance, but we can’t now because our sister’s in love with him. Urgh!’

Ah yes, Jack had forgotten how overly complicated this language was. Which was ironic really given its elementary sentence structure and extremely limited word bank.

Muttering a string of curses, Rahu turned back around.

“And what is Galvanor doing up there?” he gritted out.

When the berserker simply dipped his eyes to the hand hovering around his neck and back up again, the demon flashed his teeth.

There was a second of tense silence before the demon dropped his hand.

Stepping back in an attempt to calm the situation, Tegan asked, “Do you know what the Duesychosis Plague is?”

As Rahu’s eyes narrowed in contemplation, Pyro’s widened in alarm.

“The same one that wiped out half the Persic plane?” the older brother demanded.

“Yes,” Tegan replied. “It seems the demon that threw the grenade at your king had it and passed it on.”

“Nivan!” they both exclaimed.

“But how? He’s not a persapic.”

The berserker’s eyes narrowed shrewdly. Even Jack’s smirk slid away as he too caught what was not said.

“Aren’t you going to ask where he got it,” the trickster said calmly. “Considering it hasn’t been around for millennia, I mean.”