We went our separate ways, the four of us fanning out through the crowd to spread our reach as much as we could through the masses

A murmuring had already begun as Frank clasped shoulders and hissed in ears, voicing aloud the things we were all collectively thinking. Encouraging neighbour to talk to neighbour so that the buzz grew. But I knew it wouldn't beenough unless Lucas, Jesse and I lent a hand.

Jesse surprised me with how he embraced this new task with enthusiasm, and I was glad to see him settling into this new role we'd designed for him. I'd worried how he'd take to being surrounded by so many demons all at once. He may have been physically changed, infected by my Hybrid blood, but in using my power on him I'd all but erased any experience he'd already had among our kind. I'd expected some apprehension, even fear from him, not eagerness.

Lucas on the other hand still looked puzzled. Moving through the throng of demons, absently staring at a few before moving on, making little to no effort to communicate with any of them. He still worried me, but now that we were closer than ever to our goal, with luck I wouldn't need to rest all of my hopes on any of them any longer. He would always worry me,but with support from the masses the responsibility might not feel so heavy on his shoulders.

When it came to performing my own part in this task, I spied a likely looking demon standing alone in the segment of the crowd that had been unofficially designated as my territory. Red skinned and wiry, he stood wringing his hands and muttering anxiously to himself. Spitting, angry expletives were the only words I could actually make out, although I didn't really need to hear it to know what it was that had him so on edge.

"You know he's not telling us the whole story," I muttered conspiratorially in his ear as I sidled up to him with a few swift steps.

The smell that radiated from his hot, clammy flesh smelled like a butcher shop. I wrinkled my nose at our close proximity, but I wouldn't back away. He was by far the easiest of targets to begin with, and I just knew that if I started with him more would soon follow. The churning in my stomach I could ignore for the sake of my revolution.

"Damn right he isn't,the slimy bastard. And that Cleric of his is no better. Think we're all so stupid we'll just believe anything he says and not question what's really going on."

"Mmhmm, and we all really know what it is he's really after here. Just imagine what all our lives will end up like if we let him get away with this." I said, increasing the volume of my voice some more as I noticed more demons turn their attention to us, their interest peaked as we voiced their own concerns. Showing them all that they had allies in their thoughts.

"She's right y'know.If this is so good for us, why's he keeping secrets. Doesn't want us to know how much better it's going to be for him, that's why!" A hump-backed old crone of a demon chimed in, shuffling over to join us in her brown burlap robe that crawled with some living infestation I didn't dare get too close to.

"Well maybe we should wait and see what else he has to say for himself." Another demon added and more and more of them gathered around our conversation; his tone sounding uncertain even as the words left his mouth.

They weren't all entirely comfortable with the idea of rebellion, thinking against their illustrious leader isn't exactly encouraged, let alone voicing openly opposing thoughts. But it was a beginning, and with more outward support they would grow braver in their convictions.

"We can wait. But he won't tell us any more. Anything he really wants to say has been said already, you can bet on that. He'll go over the same thing again,change up the words, big up how this is good for all of demon-kind,and our sector of Hell especially. He'll say what he thinks we need to know and nothing more." I said, shrugging my shoulders and trying not to sound too eager in my opposition of Lucifer.

Even though it was important that we all arrived at the same conclusion and found ourselves on the same page for us to be able to take him down, I knew if I pushed too much I'd only meet resistance and questioning of my own motivation. They needed encouragement, an ally to gather more allies. A leader to manipulate them into following the path I wanted them to take, without them realising what I was doing.

Aloud clapping echoed off the walls and grabbed the entire chamber's attention. Lucifer stood at the forefront of the raised platform once again, Malick at his side and Patrick slumped on his knees in front of the two of them. Lucifer's face held the same cold and stoic expression he always wore, Malick on the other hand looked positively gleeful with the possibility of what was about to go down.

"Ohh,here we go, lets see what kind of bullshit he's going to try and make us believe this time." The red skinned demon piped up again,rubbing his hands together which appeared to be a nervous habit of his, as he looked up eagerly at the platform so we might see the action take place.

"Why has he got that human there if there's not going to be any execution,I was looking forward to some bloodshed." The hump-back scratched at her shoulder absently as she looked over Patrick's quivering form.

I found myself unable to look at him, I had to try and save them, I'd promised Jesse we'd rescue his father and I couldn't bear to imagine the way he would look at me if Patrick died. They weren't going to execute him, but that much was all I did know. We could hope whatever they were going to do to him wouldn't result in his death, but what if what they did was worse? What if death wasn't the worst thing that could happen to him?

"Your attentions once again," Lucifer commanded as silence descended over the echoing chamber again. "Our preparations are complete and I invite you all to witness the first of what will be many successful claims placed upon a still living human soul."

We shouldn't know the full extent of what those words meant. We should all have been rippling with excitement and possibility, hope for what this kind of breakthrough could mean for our quarter of Hell, and I'm not so sure the bubble of suspicious murmuring that rose through the gathered crowd was quite the reaction Lucifer had been expecting.Still he pressed on, unperturbed as in reality the thoughts and feelings of, what were essentially, his minions held very weight in the grand scheme of things.

"With one, very simple step, we can ensure that this soul here will be summoned directly to one of our reapers upon his natural death, no matter how he should choose to live his life. And that there is the beauty of this method, he may go on to live the rest of his life once we are done with him here. He can return, without trouble, to the world above and no one shall be any the wiser. All we need do then is await his return when the time should come.

"I am sure, demon-kind, that you can see just how superior and efficient this new method could be once we are able to put it into wide scale practice. We will both cut down on the extent of power and numbers of demons working above to keep up with our soul quota, increase our number of new souls by ever increasing figures, and all but eliminate the possibility for situations to go awry."

With those last words his black eyes scanned the crowd, hints of a frown carving ridges in his pale forehead and deepening the cold chill that his look sent through my bones. He knew something and he was looking for us.

I tried to visibly shrink into the crowd, behind the small collective of demons that had gathered around for our session of gossiping,which with my new body was easier said than done, as his eyes roved the mass of bodies. I wasn't sure he'd recognise me any more - how much attention had he even paid to the way we all looked in the first place? - but I didn't want to take any chances. Unfortunately I knew the boys wouldn't have the same chance to retain anonymity. It probably wouldn't take Lucifer long to recognise any of them, and Frank stuck out like a sore thumb.

As his eyes passed over us to another group I turned on my heel and filtered my way as swiftly and smoothly back through the crowd as I could. I needed to find the others, we should all be together when things started to go down. A part of me also didn't trust that Jesse wouldn't suddenly jump up onto the platform in a misguided effort to snatch his father away from Lucifer.

I spied Frank first, unsurprisingly, and weaved my way over to him where he stood at the centre of an enthusiastic gathering, all muttering vehemently against Lucifer as they waited for him to go on with his speech.

"Seems our assumptions were accurate," I said as I reached him.

"Near enough, Love, near enough. He won't hand out the details but I think we're savvy enough to fill in the blanks for ourselves. And thanks to your little power so is everyone else here."

Lucas and Jesse, seeing the two of us talking moved over until we once again were a collective, united with one goal in mind.

I nodded, appreciating for once the grin that split Frank's face in two.

"It's time."