Free From Hell with Love by Kevin Kauffmann

which caused Niccolo’s brow to furrow.
    Glad you agree , he thought before turning to Cadmus, who was looking at him out of his periphery.
    “So we’re going to tell Lucifer, right?” the reaper asked, tapping his scythe against the steps to summon Mercy.
    “Sometimes I think you can read my mind,” Niccolo said before Plague appeared in a burst of green mist.  Cadmus laughed briefly before leaping onto the solidified dust of his horse.
    “You wear your thoughts on the outside, my friend.  Let’s go,” he said as Niccolo jumped onto his horse.  They started galloping through the streets just as he finished the statement.
    ***
    They were just outside the palace gates, which were as imposing as always, when they noticed a hunched-over demon walking down the path.  Niccolo noticed the black feathers and beak and instantly jumped off of Plague, who dissolved immediately.  When Niccolo landed, he rolled in order to disperse the momentum, allowing him to get to his feet easily.
    “Damn it, Nico,” Cadmus cursed softly behind him, but Niccolo had no patience for his friend’s criticism.  He walked over to the demon with the raven head, stopping when he was within a yard of the creature.
    “Amon,” he said, his voice low and sympathetic.  The bird turned to look at him, the eyes narrowing as it tried to recognize him, but after a moment its head twitched to the side.  When the demon opened its beak lined with pink gums, Niccolo could see the wolf’s teeth that made Amon so fearsome.
    “Horseman, it has been some years since we last spoke.  How are you?” the bird asked as he brought up his skinny, scaled fingers of both hands and interlaced them, the sleeves of his brown robe falling to hide them from plain sight.  The bird’s face seemed to be annoyed.
    “I’m…fine.  I’m more worried about you,” Niccolo said in a rare display of compassion.  Amon had never been especially kind to the Horseman, but Niccolo decided to ignore that fact.  The demon had lost his brother this day and, in some small way, he could sympathize with him.
    “Worried about me?  This is a rare occasion.  No one ever worries for the Fallen, anymore,” Amon said, his head twitching to the side as he spoke.  It seemed that along with the raven’s head, the demon had inherited some other birdlike qualities.  While the two conversed, Cadmus approached them, trying not to interrupt.
    “Well, I was there when…Räum…” the leper started to explain, but almost immediately the bird’s eyes narrowed and he looked down toward the cobblestones of the pathway.
    “Oh, yes, I see.  A rotten business,” he said before looking back up and then twitching over to the reaper.  “Of course you were there.  The two of you are never far from each other.”
    “I’m sorry, Amon,” Cadmus said as he came within speaking distance.
    “For what?  Your duty?  Don’t be sorry, Horseman.  We Fallen owe you gratitude for dispatching our brother.  I’m ashamed that he had become so beastly and that he had become your problem,” Amon said, sadness seemingly absent from his words.  It was almost as if he had no attachment to his brother.
    “I’m still sorry,” Cadmus insisted, which drew a stare from the avian demon.
    “That is appreciated, child, but quite unnecessary.  You only claimed his soul.  The one who did the slaying was Crocell.  I…” he hesitated as he thought about the slayer, “I cannot even blame our brother.  Räum always had a weak constitution.  When we told the prophecies, he would fade in and out.  Although it was unfortunate he had become a beast, it was not entirely…unexpected,” he explained, twitching at the last word.
    “You speak as if you’re not even sad he’s gone,” Niccolo said under his breath, but immediately the fallen angel stepped up and bared his wolf’s teeth.
    “Insolent little wretch.  Don’t you dare accuse me of not caring!  He was my twin!  I have lost half of