Samael stood on the sidewalk of the street running his thumb over his ring finger.

He ignored the noise of the traffic and the onlookers that stared at him as they passed by whispering among themselves. For the area where he was, he stood out too much in the way in which he was dressed. That, however, did not matter to him.

Who could challenge him? Besides, he was not nearly alone. Within the surrounding crowd held monsters that had made the crossover from pacts and deals of those foolish enough to take them.

He stared intently at the billboard. The face upon it looking at him was Domenic. It had the first bit of information he needed a location but there was no guarantee that he would be there, as this had happened once before. He gripped the brown leather bag he held in his hand tightly.

What a man you have become. He thought as he smiled.

"I told you that your life would get better," Samael said out loud as he blended himself within the oncoming crowd. "There was no way that you could have hid from me for much longer, pride in the end dominants all."

"Taxi," he called to one that was passing on the road. It came to a sudden screeching halt as Samael took his time walking to it.

When he got in Samael began. "Take me to the Golden Sceptre."

"No problem," the taxi driver replied, looking at him in the rearview mirror.

So it seems you went back to where you used to work. How poetic that you would go back to the same place that you considered being hell.

Have you even noticed the changes in yourself—Domenic or those in your desires? Samuel said to himself as the taxi pulled back onto the road.

You and I are so alike and that is how I already know how your tale will end. All I need you to do is play that role to completion.

Give yourself to your vice, let it taint you, and destroy you, or I will use you until you're dead to open the gates to the next world.

The taxi driver fidgeted with the radio. It ran through various forms of music before he finally landed it on the news. The news played a sombre tale of murder, death, rape, and unrest. It kept the taxi driver's eyes focused upon it as one dilemma went to the next.

For Samael, however, that was only just the beginning of his plans. For that was not enough to make his master satisfied.

*

Samuel was now outside the building that was now owned by Domenic. It was obvious to anyone by all the initials at every given chance who owned it.

"Now then, how do I find him?" he muttered as he looked around seeing the corrupted levels of those around him. Even here he found some monsters who had managed to creep across from the other side by giving false promises to men. He nodded to them as he passed and received a greeting in return. They will serve when needed.

He walked around aimlessly observing at first until he saw someone that looked rather interesting. Her very nature alone told a story about her position within the company. He slowly got closer to listen in on her conversation.

"I am sorry Ms. Susie, it will never happen again."

"It better not you know if this happens again, I can have you fired. I work directly for the boss of this company and I can't have those kinds of mistakes occurring."

"I am sorry, I am sorry it is just a computer error."

Samael looked at the badge of the other woman Susie was speaking too. On her shirt, it said the front desk manager. He could see the various workers snickering to themselves from the display.

After constantly tapping her feet and looking impatient, he saw the one call Susie stormed her way to the bathroom.

He smiled to himself, yes, she would do well he thought as he headed towards the bathroom, still holding his bag in his hand.

It wasn't long before only one person returned holding a bag in their hand. The other lay dead in the bathroom, a mess to be cleaned up later. It was like a game of pretend, the demeanour was the same with a minor change. What was once male now stood female. There was no longer a rush to get the information from the front desk manager who kept a panicked expression upon her face.

Susie took the elevator and headed back to where she worked, moving a bit slower than her normal self.

As soon as she got out of the elevator behind an initialed door—there was the person she was looking for—Domenic, but it also seemed he was looking for her too.

Susie slowly twitched her hand, but this didn't give the response she was looking for. Domenic was not bounded to her will and she masked her anger with a smile as she passed by the other workers.

Domenic called her over and flashed a stack of documents in front of her. He stormed off leaving with a promise that he might come back later. His face, however, said otherwise.

What had happened? Susie wondered with a sly smile as she looked through the documents on the table. I am curious to know—she gave a command with the motion of her hands to those waiting outside the building to follow him.