The Devil Within

I Would Rather Be in a Horror Movie Than a Rom-Com

"What's the plan, oh Blessed One?" Ishim asked after briefing you on the file's contents.

"I know you meant that as an insult, but I am so damn proud of you for recognizing my status," you snorted, holding out a hand to Ishim. "File, please."

"I just debriefed you on the contents of it," Ishim said, narrowing his eyes at you.

"I'm aware, but I still need to read through it too," you said, shrugging.

"Is it because you think he's lying to you?" Lucifer snorted, rolling his eyes at you. "I guarantee you he isn't lying."

"And I guarantee you, it's not entirely that," you sighed, shaking your head at Lucifer. "The two of you have too much faith in my memory. Hearing information and reading it are two very different things, it helps if I read the information too." You raised a brow at Ishim and gestured once more to the file. "Besides, that belongs in the hands of someone from the House of the Blessed. Give me the file, Ishim." After a reluctant glare, Ishim gave in and handed you the file. "Thank you," you said, opening the file to read up on Arnold Müller's life.

The angels were silent as they watched you read the file, making a chill go through your spin at how intense their gaze was. To distract yourself, you fully immersed your attention in the file. Overall, Ishim gave you all the accurate facts regarding Müller. He was one of the Thule's founders way back in 1940, practically building it from the ground up. Müller lived in Germany up until the Judah Initiative sent a golem to destroy the unit, fleeing to the United States and state-hopping every few years or so. The file contained all credit card and bank statements Müller had accumulated over the years including those retaining the information of where he could be at that moment. His statements showed payment for a week in one of the nicer hotels and he apparently owned a huge, old farm just outside of city limits. By huge, you meant huge. The guy was able to get around 900 acres of land for private matters. Further down the rabbit hole of a file, you saw that the private matters involved not only Thule-related crap but Hunting stuff as well. If only the Hu ting business was a bright side, but it wasn't. At the back of the thick folder, you found transcripts that Müller kept of conversations between him and monster pack leaders. Werewolves, vampires, witches, djinns, he's dealt with everything that could be reasoned with in the North American Continent. The only creatures he didn't deal with were demons, proving his intelligence.

You've read multiple files regarding some of the Thule Society's members out of curiosity. Sometimes Raphael had you read through others as a sort of homework to see how much knowledge you could retain. As it turned out, you could actually retain a lot of info under the right circumstances. For instance, there was a surprising amount of Thule members that thought they could outsmart a demon deal and ended up mauled by a Hell Hound a year later. Demons did not tolerate that kind of bullshit and shortened deals because of it, killing off the idiot before they knew what hit them. You guessed that Müller heard of these issues and kept his distance from demons, only coming close when necessary.

"We should scope out these two addresses listed," you said, pointing to the hotel and farm addresses. "Who wants which one?"

"You're letting us choose?" Ishim questioned slowly, furrowing his brow in suspicion. "You could order us to do anything you want. Why?"

"I'm gonna have to agree with Ishim on this, Sweetheart," Lucifer said, nodding. "Why give us the choice?"

"Because it doesn't matter where you two go," you said, shrugging as you closed the file. "While I have my own grievances with both of you, you're efficient and quick. I don't care where either of you ends up so might as well give you the choice."

"Logistically speaking, it would be best for you, Lucifer, to take the farm," Ishim said, scratching his chin. "You're faster than I ever could be and twice as efficient, you could cover the farm in a fourth of the time I could."