"I've found you a job," Dev said brightly, stepping into my apartment as I opened the front door for him. 

I rolled my eyes as I took a sip of beer. "Are you expecting me to be happy about that?" 

"Of course not," he scoffed, walking into the kitchen and opening a lager like he owned the place. "You're not happy about anything. It doesn't suit your intimidating personality." 

"You need people like me when you're surrounded by over-excited children like you." 

"Whatever," he took a seat at my dining room table in his usual place, his back to the window which displayed my favourite view of Los Angeles at night. "I'm the one who's being mature here by actually doing work when you're not." 

"That's ironic, considering I'm the one who has to take this job." 

"It's part of my job description to make you suffer from boredom." 

I couldn't help but chuckle as I took a seat opposite him. "Tell me what I need to know then." 

"It's your funeral," he smirked, wiggling his eyebrows before continuing. "You've applied for a management job at Robbins and Co, which is basically a law firm that only takes on cases deemed 'morally correct'. Any other demon would probably burn up from all the good things done there, so that's why you're perfect for the job, and no one will suspect a powerful demon to be that close up, even if Robbins has got Il Libro Dei Demoni."

"Hmm...That could possibly work. But I have to get the job first." 

"The interview is this Friday at three o'clock. You'll probably meet her then. And I've got a fake CV here that I need you to memorise before you go. It'll look pretty bad if you don't know that you did a law degree at Cambridge." 

"At least make it realistic!" 

He chuckled in response. "If I did that, you wouldn't get the job." 

"True," he handed me the CV. "I'll have a look at this tomorrow then. Well done for finding the job so quickly. How did you manage to make the vacancy?"

"Let's just say..." His eyes gleamed with malice and cunning, and suddenly I knew where this explanation was going. "The previous manager felt the strangest urge to take a trip down Skid Row, and never came back..." 

Skid Row was a renowned road in downtown L.A where thousands of homeless people lived, therefore becoming a prime hot spot for murders in the city. Few were foolish enough to venture down there at night, especially since we had poisoned the minds of the homeless two years ago and made a number of them go completely insane. It looked like our efforts had indeed proved to be fatal. 

"I hope you were subtle about it. The Christians already know to some extent what we are; we don't need the rest of the human race knowing as well," Dev was just too messy with his strategies sometimes. Killing people would have been my last resort, but maybe that was just my irritating human half showing itself in my work.

"I know, I know. You remind me every time," Dev rolled his eyes at me as we both finished our beers. "Are you up for some fun tonight?" 

"Yes." 

"Really?" Dev looked shocked, and I chuckled at the expression on his face. "You never want to do anything anymore...damn what's going on? Are you finally back to the party guy we all knew and loved?" 

"I'm not becoming the 'party boy' again, but I need to get out of the apartment. I've been working out here to fill up my time and I've gotten bored of it," I did love the shared gym that belonged to all the residents of this building. It had a massive swimming pool, extensive exercise equipment, and numerous hot tubs and saunas. But I kept getting irritating looks of longing from my neighbours, who always tried to distract me from my peace and quiet, and it was starting to get on my nerves. 

"I'm excited," Dev admitted, grinning at me as he stood up and put his empty beer bottle on the kitchen counter. "Where should we go? It has to be somewhere special, considering this is your first outing for months." 

"Stop making such a big deal out of it, otherwise I won't come," I threatened, exasperated by his antics. "There's only one place I really want to go anyway as I've missed it and I want a joint." 

"Let me guess," Dev paused, smirking at me like he knew my biggest secret. "Luogo Del Diavolo." 

Luogo Del Diavolo was a secret club located underneath one of Los Angeles' most prestigious and expensive bars downtown, Seven Grand, and was purely for anything demonic: anyone remotely holy wasn't allowed anywhere near the place. Sin and temptation darkened the red, spacious room with its shadow of evil: any drug, crime or demon could be found there, making it a sort of Hell on Earth. 

And it was a place where I was held in high esteem. I was offered free drugs all the time and people obeyed my every beck and call; and after all of the crap I'd received from Satan I could do with some free highs. Maybe even some beautiful, led-astray woman could take my mind off Carmen, as my human half's obsession had gotten into my head as well. I was excited for Wednesday even though I wouldn't be the one experiencing it. My human half wouldn't risk a first date in the night where I could take the opportunity to hurt him by ruining it. But I wasn't going to do that: I wanted her too. 

"Yes. Obviously," the watch on my wrist told me it was now half past eight in the evening, so I wanted to get moving. "Let's go now. Call a taxi while I get my coat." 

He grinned at me, eyes shining with a dark excitement. "Sure. And by the way, it's called a cab, you English twat." 

"Shut it," I called to him with my back turned, as I walked into my bedroom and collected a thin leather jacket perfect for mild summer nights. 

I heard Dev give the taxi driver my address before he hung up and walked out to the lobby, eager to get me out of the apartment.

Rolling my eyes at his antics, I followed him and locked the door behind us. I turned to Dev once again. "If you're anywhere near a murder scene tonight like last time, I'm gonna be pissed off." 

He held up his hands in defence. "Hey! That was a complete accident! I told you, I had nothing to do with that guy!" 

"Yeah, yeah." 

Half an hour later, Dev and I stood outside of Seven Grand. It was a masculine, rustic kind of bar which seemed out of place in a city such as Los Angeles: I would be less surprised to see it up north in the Canadian cities as the moose heads and the dark, wooden walls would appear more homely than bizarre like they do here. Nevertheless, it was definitely a nice place, if a bit too popular on those Saturday nights, but I still liked the originality and in general the whole atmosphere of the bar. 

But it was nothing compared to Luogo del diavolo, the precious gem of the City of Angels.

I swung open the pretty bog-standard English-pub door, an excitement attaching itself to me like a flea itching to be let out, as I approached the bar which was surprisingly busy for a Monday night. They played different live music here on certain days of the week, and I presumed Monday must have been one of them: we were welcomed by the sound of bluegrass country music. I took no delight in the strange strums of the banjo, so I quickened my pace, disgust showing itself prominently on my face. I felt rather then saw Dev's amused smile, who knew I was very particular about my human music, as the band played on and on.

When I got to the bar I waited for about two seconds before being served, humans edging away from holding a big, intimidating guy like me up. 

"What can I get you?" The bartender was a young, bearded man that wore an expression of severe and undeniable boredom.

"Two Diavolos for me and my friend, please." 

He looked surprised for a few moments after my utterance of the secret word to get into Luogo Del Diavolo, but he managed to recover his equilibrium pretty quickly, his professional manners taking priority. "Of course, follow me please." 

He walked away from the bar, and started to lead us towards a locked door that was supposedly for 'Staff Only'. The employees of Seven Grand unfortunately had to know about Luogo Del Diavolo, because it would be seen as very suspicious for people to continually disappear into a random room and not return for hours on end. But they were never allowed down there. Each bar had their own set of employees, and they only corresponded by the opening and closing of the doorway between. This was a good thing. If they knew what their demonically-influenced management was using their bar for...well, to put it politely, they would have to be 'taken care of'.

And that wouldn't be a joyful experience. 

For them anyway. I couldn't say I wouldn't enjoy it. 

So like the good, loyal employee the bartender was, he opened the door that held the entrance to Luogo Del Diavolo; let us in; and then shut the door behind us, too intimidated to follow. Impressed by his lack of curiosity, I wondered who had created the fear necessary to quell this irritating human emotion, and whether I should make contact with this man out of respect...or whether I already knew him as one of my associates. Whoever this guy was, he was certainly resourceful. 

The room itself was completely silent, apart from quiet jazz music playing in the background from a vintage vinyl player, the instrumentals swaying to the dim, flickering light of the place. Furniture was fairly sparse: two plush leather chairs sat around a small table in the corner, whilst at the back of the room stood the entrance to Luogo del diavolo, disguised as a towering bookcase. 

It could have been considered as slightly cliché, a poor attempt of illusion that Scooby Doo could foil, but it had proved effective so far and matched the whole vintage tone, therefore blending in better than any more advanced disguises.

Striding over, I glanced towards Dev with a grin stretched across my face as my excitement suddenly became too much to repress. "Ready mate?" 

"Yes." 

I chuckled to myself, and pulled the large, black book in the centre of the bookcase to give us access to a dark paradise. 

And then, at that point, we walked into the shadow, caution to the wind as we dived into the evil that was our refuge and our solace.