Eisheth gnced around awkwardly. She and Kate were waiting outside the library in Hell.

  “How long since you st met?” Kate tried to ease the tension somewhat.

  “Twelve thousand years, give or take a few centuries.”

  “Right… Well, we’re meeting in the library, I have final say over everything. If you want her to go, she will leave.”

  “That won’t be necessary but thank you.”

  “It is what friends do.”

  Naamah teleported in. She looked like Eisheth’s near perfect twin, the same tan skin, the same bck hair, just kept in a tight bun, the same piercing eyes, just in an ember-like yellow instead of Eisheth’s venomous green.

  “Sister. Head librarian.”

  “Namaah.” Eisheth nodded politely.

  Kate wasn’t sure how to address the newcomer. “Ex-Inquisitor.”

  Naamah fshed a brief smile across her lips. “Please, just call me by my name. The title is no longer mine nor relevant.”

  “Then please just call me Kate.”

  “As you wish. I was informed that all preparations to free our sister are done?”

  “Yes, we are just waiting for Monica to arrive. She told us to start at noon library time, which will be in about fifteen minutes.”

  “Let us head to the other side then. I, for one, am ready and do not wish to keep Monica waiting.”

  The two sisters remained silent on their way to the main hall of the library, where Monica had just arrived.

  “Monica, may I introduce Naamah?”

  “Hey, I am very certain you have heard of me. I’m Monica.”

  “As Kate said, I am Naamah, Lilith’s youngest sister. You are the one that will free her?”

  “I will do my best.”

  Naamah smiled. “I’m sorry if I come across as harsh and mean, it’s been a long twelve thousand years and I got nowhere. I have utmost faith in you and even if you fail, trying this with you is more than I managed to do.”

  “I just don’t want to disappoint you all.”

  “No matter how this ends, it is very unlikely that we will fail because of you. Well, I am ready to begin if everyone else is.”

  Kate nodded. “I will call in everyone and get my own gear. I will join the team that teleports to wherever we are going.”

  “Then, with your permission, Eisheth and I will head downstairs.”

  “Of course. I’ll meet you there.”

  Monica followed the two succubi. “I’ll be down there too.”

  “Alright, see you in a bit.”

  The team to free Lilith was quite impressive. Besides her two sisters, Azazel, and Sariel there were Apollyon, Anahit, Hera, and Beleth, much to Kate’s surprise. They were all cd in armour and armed to the teeth. Monica, in her rain jacket and jeans, looked mildly out of pce.

  Nanshe looked quite pleased with the group. “Alright, just to get everyone up to speed on how this will go. We are using a magical map of this pnet and multiple volunteers and inquisitors out in the field. Each of them has a device on them that will activate when we turn on the pulse generator. Those devices will detect when they are hit by the pulse and transmit that information to our map. The pulse will then cross itself on the other side of the pnet and return here, triggering the devices again. We are expecting six gaps in the pulse and one distortion, as the functioning needles will simply block it from passing and the one that serves as Lilith’s prison will be unable to do so it properly. Any questions?”

  Monica spoke up. “That won’t give us a precise location, right? We will just have a rather rge area to search. Better than the entire pnet I suppose, but it will take more time.”

  “Correct, but we can use a smaller inverted pulse, basically drawing a ring of magic in, to locate the needle with higher precision. If it is underground or otherwise inaccessible, steps will be taken to remedy that and allow you and the rest of the team direct access to it.”

  “I see. Alright, I am ready then.”

  “If no one else has anything to say, I will initiate the pulse.”

  No one said anything.

  Nanshe took a deep breath. “Activating the rings in three… two… one… now.”

  A cold stinging sensation ran over Kate’s body and vanished again just as fast. That had to be the magical pulse. Not even a minute after, the feeling returned and vanished again.

  Nanshe leaned over the map and took it in slowly. “We are receiving information as expected. The grace period for te transmissions will end… now. Hm… good news: the needle is on nd. Bad news: the area we need to search is the eastern part of Africa, but south of ke Nasser and north of Mozambique.”

  “That is still a massive area.”

  Azazel put a hand on Monica’s shoulder. “But it is less than the entire pnet. It will take some teleporting around, but we can cover thousands of square kilometres with each smaller pulse.”

  “Then we shouldn’t waste any time. Let’s go.”

  The demons took turns pulling in a magical pulse, giving each other time to recover, and quickly trianguted the needle to be in the northern parts of what is now Ethiopia.

  Consulting the map and taking notes with each pulse, they narrowed it down more and more. After several hours of work, they finally arrived in the Simien Mountains at the cliffside under which the needle was buried.

  Azazel checked the map and notes again. “If we are correct, the needle is about fifty metres inside this rock. We can’t bst this mountain apart without drawing attention. Do we want to try a magical incision, basically creating a tunnel to the needle and then digging around it?”

  That suggestion was met with general agreement and Azazel got to work. It took a few more minutes for the tunnel to be finished and secured with magical protective fields.

  Before anyone could say anything, unexpected guests began to teleport in. Angels, humans and armed vehicles surrounded the demons.

  Azazel sighed. “Gabriel and company, what a lovely surprised. I am sure you are here to congratute us on freeing Lilith in a few moments.”

  Gabriel, tall, blonde and with an utterly smug expression, answered. “To the contrary, High Inquisitor, we are here to make sure your predecessor stays buried.”

  “I might have missed the st millennia of history, but I am not quite clear on how you intend to stop us.”

  “Our human friends have the wonderful propensity to develop efficient means of killing each other. We merely slipped them a few blessed alloys and they immediately got to work making bullets. Blessed bullets. And if those don’t work, I will just wait until you free your old friend and put you all back into the needle.”

  “Monica, please go. Apollyon, Sariel and I will handle this.”

  Monica nodded and was escort by the other demons into the tunnel. Kate remained up on the surface. “I will fight with you.”

  “As you wish.”

  Apollyon grinned. “Don’t worry Az, we have come up with a few new tricks you don’t know of yet.”

  “I am eager to see them. Now, Gabriel, there is four of us and five of you. I don’t count the humans. How shall we do this?”

  “You seem eager to fight.” The angel ughed. “Just getting you out of the way of our friends here will be enough. If you could open fire, please.”

  The humans, cd with the emblems of RICA and the FBC, raised their weapons and didn’t hesitate. After a few seconds of spraying the demons and the mountain with lead, Gabriel’s smug expression vanished.

  Kate stood there, her hand raised, projecting a barrier. Nothing had passed it.

  “What did you do?!”

  Kate finally lowered her hand. “The research paper called it a bulwark inscription. Every inscription is merely the carrier of a spell, and each spell can be used manually. I did just that. You might have seen this barrier when the chariot id waste to Celestis. Last time an angel attacked me, I was human and that human side, those experiences, give me a fun new perspective. I have more up my sleeve.”

  “It does not matter, I will beat you in close quarters then.”

  Azazel jumped in. “Sure, let’s do this the old fashioned away, but first the humans…” She shifted into her demon form, a shadow of existence, not a living thing anymore but a being from beyond imagination projected onto a world utterly unwilling but forced to contain it. It was obvious why she kept to her human shape most of the time.

  “Stand down.”

  Weapons were lowered. Kate knew this shattering feeling, her magical senses made it worse than st time. This was no mere telepathic command, this was Azazel forcing her will on reality.

  “No, what are you doing? Fire, open fire!” Gabriel was shouting now.

  The humans simply did not.

  “Gah, the old-fashioned way then.” He drew his bde, as did the other angels beside him.

  A grin fshed across Apollyon’s face as she spotted someone struggling to unfurl his beaten feathered wings. Uriel would be her opponent again.