“Then let us speak to her without delay.”
By a “strange coincidence” Charmeine-Lan was just outside their room when Lemuel and Maion left in search of her. Unseen by Lemuel, Maion gave her the high-five success signal and that caused Charmeine-Lan to relax. The scheme had gone off perfectly. “Was Maion satisfactory Most Noble Ophanim?”
“Very much so. I understand I can become her patron?”
“That is so, although I must warn you that it is not an inexpensive undertaking. You must pay rent for her new apartment, and an allocation for her living expenses. For that you may visit her any time you please, you may eat in the club without charge and Maion will be reserved for your service alone. She will continue to dance in the club but that will be all. You will also need to give her an allowance so she can keep herself properly.”
Lemuel nodded. Charmeine-Lan pulled a pad out of her robes and wrote quickly on it. “This will be the amount in question. Maion’s allowance will be for the two of you to agree on though.”
Lemuel looked at the number in shock. His heart had sunk when he had heard Charmeine-Lan listing the things he would have to pay for but the total amount was a small fraction of what he had expected. He could afford it easily and still give Maion a generous allowance. Watching him, Charmeine-Lan carefully his her amusement. The amount she had been told to charge was indeed a small fraction of the usual cost. Michael-Lan had told her the business would eat the difference.
“Could we see Maion’s new apartment please?” Lemuel spoke carefully, this was a major step for him and one he wasn’t certain how he could justify to himself. Other than the fact that he was being frozen out by his formal mate and Maion had shown him the first tenderness he had known in months.
“Certainly, come with me.” Charmeine-Lan took the couple up another flight of stairs. “We have a few apartments vacant. This is a nice one.”
It was a simple suite of rooms, not so very different from the one in which he had spent the night with Maion. Lemuel looked around with his lower lip pushed out. In contrast, Maion’s eyes were shining. “It’s lovely Most Noble Ophanim.”
“Hmm. Charmeine-Lan, is this the best you have?”
“Well, we do have some better ones, but they’re usually for… Well, let me show you one.” She led the couple down the hall and around a corner. “These apartments are much quieter and a little larger.”
She opened the door and Maion gasped. This suite was much larger and more luxurious. The bare stone walls in the other suite were here covered with semi-precious stone and the furnishings were opulent rather than just comfortable. Charmeine-Lan gave Lemuel another note with the extra cost on it. Again, the amount was small enough to raise his eyebrows. “We’ll take this one.”
Maion dropped to her knees, her wings swept over her head. “Most Noble Ophanim, I don’t know what to say.”
“Well, you can start by calling me Lemuel.” He patted her on the rump as she ran into her new apartment. “Charmeine-Lan, my work may call me away for unknown periods. So there shall be no misunderstanding, I will pay you for a year in advance. Is that acceptable?”
“It is indeed. If you like, you can leave Maion-Lan-Lemuel’s allowance for the same period with us and we will be sure she gets it on schedule.”
Lemuel looked at her doubtfully. He could see several objections to that plan. “I will consider your kind offer and return to you on that. Now, I will give you a note of hand for the year’s payment and you can reclaim the gold at your convenience.” The money would be drawn from the amount he and Onniel had saved over the years. And if Onniel found out and didn’t like it, she could leave.
The business completed, Lemuel was about to join Maion in their new apartment when two rolls of thunder swept over the Eternal City.
The Forum of Indefatigable Exaltation, Eternal City, Heaven.
“Remember I once told you that humans went in for overkill? Well, this is what I mean.” Michael-Lan waved his hand at the devastation in the market. “First bomb was over there, it panicked people and crowded them into the killing zone of the second bomb here. Standard human tactics. They’re good at this sort of thing.”
“Humans did this? In the Eternal City?” The sudden change from his delight in Maion’s company to his horror at the scene of carnage was more than Lemuel could endure.
“I thought so.” Now the zinger thought Michael. “Only, after the bombing we have started to find these scattered around the City. He held out a crude poster.
“The search for justice knows no mercy. We demand the release of all the political prisoners seized in recent raids. If our demands are not met, the blood of those who die in future will be on your hands. The League of Divine Justice.”
“League of Divine Justice?” Lemuel was confused and still in shock. “Who are they?”
“Not human. Humans would have made reference to ‘the people’ and phrased this differently. The reference to The Divine and the way this is written sounds to me like a group of Angels who are trying to copy humans.”
“We have another conspiracy?” Lemuel looked even more shocked.
“We surely do. We’ve just got rid of one and now we’re faced with this. How’s the investigation into the other thing you were looking into by the way?”
Lemuel faked a complete lack of concern. “It’s nothing to worry about. The more I look into it, the less there is to be concerned about. Just over-enthusiam, that’s all. It doesn’t amount to heresy or blasphemy, we might as well not worry about it any more. Compared with this horror… ” Lemuel stepped back as he turned to wave and felt his sandal slide on something. Looking down, he saw it was a part of an angelic wing. He barely avoided vomiting.
Michael-Lan nodded sympathetically. “Your decision of course, but I think you are absolutely right. This atrocity must take precedence.” Especially since it means that I can now claim credit for the nuclear destruction of Tel Aviv and if anybody argues about it, we can link them straight to this. “We will have to get back to headquarters and see if Salaphael knows anything about this.” If he has any sanity left.
Chapter Forty Nine
DIMO(N) Test Facility, Camp Hendrick, Hell
“Tucker! How are you, what are you doing here?”
Tucker McElroy swept kitten up in his arms and kissed her before passing her around to the rest of his unit. He followed it by giving Dani a slap on the back that nearly knocked him off his feet. In all, it was a spectacular reunion.
“We’ve just finished up our last job for the United States Army and are going back to be discharged. All of us.” kitten looked upset at the news. “Why Tucker? We thought you were happy in the Army. Won’t we be seeing you any more?”
“Sure you will, we’ll still be here in Hell and still in an Army, just not the same one. Look kitten, you’re still alive so you won’t really understand how we dead ones feel about things but it’s not the same for us. Memories of what Earth and our first lives were like fade away pretty fast. We’re been in Hell for almost two years now and what matters to us is what happens here and now. Also, don’t want to sound mercenary about this but, well, the prospects for a country boy getting much further than I have aren’t so good. For a dead country boy, promotion prospects are pretty limited.” McElroy glanced around and saw that Colonel Warhol had studiously made himself absent. “and the truth is, the Army don’t really know what they’re going to do with us. We can fight and so on better than First Lifers can in Hell but it’s not the same thing. Lot of us are beginning to ask why we’re fighting for First-Lifers in our territory. It’s weird, kitten, but I’m beginning to understand why the Iraqis felt the way they did about Americans coming in. Sure, they saved them from a pretty nasty regime but why did they stay? Why didn’t they just get rid of Saddam Hussein and go?
“It’s the same here, why don’t the First-Lifers just go? This is our place, First-Lifers can’t even live here without a whole shitload of technical support. I know there are some things that have to be done, like the rescue effort in The Pit, but for the rest of it? Take the job we’ve just done. Small group of humans trying to attack the supply convoys taking munitions to the HEA so they could set up their own state. We had to persuade them it wasn’t a good idea. Well, we’ve done that but it just doesn’t sit right you know? Anyway, so when our enlistment was up, we took a discharge. We, the whole gang, are off to New Rome. Caesar’s hiring all the dead ex-Special Forces people he can find for his new legions.” McElroy broke off and grinned apologetically. “I’m sorry kitten, this has all been building up for some time and I needed somebody sympathetic to unload to. Now, how are you doing and what are you up to?”