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Date: May 26, 2001
Status: Private (Aziraphale; Ellie; The Child & Asmodeus)
Setting: Cairo, Egypt
Summary: Cairo, where things start heating up.

The Four Seasons hotel was relatively new it’s pale beige walls were newly scrubbed and it’s decor was suitable. It may not have been an opulent palace as the demon had grown accustom to in his many years as posing as both the god Ra-Atum and as the Enemy of Ra, Apep. However, he felt a great deal of relief settle in his form.

Asmodeus sought out the front desk and, in fluent Arabic, asked to know which room his daughter was in. He presented the necessary paperwork to show that yes, he was Amos Diaz and was shown immediately to a corner room up on the twelfth floor with a breath taking view of the Nile. He tapped lightly on the door, hoping that she was not asleep.

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She wasn't asleep. Even if she'd been in the habit, she was too impatient. Asmodeus was lucky to have caught her inside the hotel at all; she'd been wandering in and out and around the city for the past week, exploring and waiting, always looking over her shoulder for signs of her usual pursuers or peering ahead for a glimpse of the ones she was expecting.

She didn't often stay in one place for so long. It made her uneasy. The hotel room was pleasant enough and did offer a nice view, but being there was dull.

On the other hand, she'd found that having money did simplify things somewhat--no need to expend any power, just hand over the card or a slip of pretty paper and get what you wanted. Perhaps that was why no one had found her yet, which at the moment was a mixed blessing; but if she wasn't using her power, she didn't have to worry that it would run away from her, as it still sometimes did. So, like any unsupervised teenager with her first credit card, she had gone a little overboard, and the suite was littered with books, interesting baubles and pretty clothes that had caught her eye.

The books were what had made the waiting bearable, though they weren't exactly the sorts of books one would expect a young girl to own: not romances, mysteries or dramatic novels, but rather books of history, religion and mythology.

The name Asmodeus hadn't been hard to find. Ellie, on the other hand, or any name from which Ellie might be taken, was much more elusive. At least she did know now what a Principality was, and the significance of the Eastern Gate. Ellie's angel friend was famous (and famously not very good at his job, it seemed.)

She startled a bit when the knock sounded at the door, and set aside the book of fables she'd been reading, approaching the door with caution and trying to get a "feel" for who was on the other side.

Asmodeus. Finally! She opened the door and regarded the daeva silently, having no notion of how to welcome a guest (or a "father." That lie had made her wonder just who her real father might be. Not the Principality, she suspected, but it was possible she might be wrong.)

Asmodeus walked past the girl carefully, looking around the room as he went further into it. His mouth curled into a pleasant grin at the sight of so many books and clothes. He was glad, though, that he hadn’t had any unforseen obstacles come up in his path. He’d hate to think what all she could have gotten up to had he taken longer. Of course, had his quick detour down Below had taken him longer than he had expected, at least he’d have had something to perk her interest.

“I hope you had a pleasant stay,” he said fondly. “It wasn’t my intention to leave you here so long, but I ended up not being able to make the jump so I had to come the long way and having to recharge my energy at my siblings’ temples. Or, what’s left of them rather.” The last he said in a rather neutral tone. Keeping the anger and disbelief at bay. “I hope you don’t mind, I had an associate of mine look up the files on the two we met in Tibet.”

"Your siblings, the other daevas," the child said, quietly shutting the door. "You're the only one now. Like me." She said it dispassionately, but with certainty. There were stories in the books about immortals who'd had children with humans, lots of them; but nothing anywhere about a half-angel, half-demon.

"Files?" she repeated, frowning slightly. "What kind of files?"

Asmodeus nodded stiffly, he really didn’t want to talk about his siblings currently, “Just some information on the two we met. Seems your mother went off radar with my people around sixteen years ago and now has a lovely little price on her head from the Succubus Wyrm Queen, Triskelle. I’m guessing here, because there wasn’t anything in her file about you, that you’re the reason she just vanished. There’s something about a Constantine being involved as well, but they’re always involved in screwed up shit.” He scratched at his nose absentmindedly, “The angel, who’s name is Aziraphale, has had many run-in’s with my Master’s best field agent. Of course, after meeting him, I’m not too sure whether to believe Crowley’s reports. Personally, I think an imp could take him out easily, but if this Aziraphale was pulling an act. It’s possible that I could be mistaken on that.”

"Hmm. He has power," the girl noted absently, thinking. "But he didn't try to use it. I haven't met an angel like that before."

Frowning, she added, "I don't know anything about a Constantine. But your guess makes sense. Angels and demons are enemies. To do anything together would get them in trouble." She chewed absently on her lip for a moment. "But then what about my father? If it's Aziraphale, why is he not hiding too?" Her doubt about that was plain in her voice. She didn't know why the idea struck her as wrong, but it definitely did.*

"And what did you mean, recharge?" she added, appropos of nothing. Her gaze dropped to a cheap cell phone she had bought, intrigued by the elegant little device, though it had been disappointing to realize she had no use for it--no one to call. But she had learned from the little book that came with it about 'recharging.' "You aren't a battery..."

---

*Leaving aside any other instincts that might have been at work, this demonstrated that it's entirely possible to have a functioning gaydar even if one is oblivious to the notion of orientation.

Asmodeus looked at her for a long moment and then grinned. “No,” he said with a snicker, “I’m not a battery. However, I have limits.” He made an ugly face. “I’m not sure if it was because you were born, but your limits seem to outreach my own. In other words, you will be able to do more and be able to go longer without a significant pull on your own powers. I’m not what they call omnipotent, child. I’m only as strong as my Master wills me to be. Thankfully, His will seems to want me to be vastly powerful or I’d have had my tail handed back to me by the imps long ago.” He then smirked. “I’ve considered this. I do not think this Aziraphale is your father. The word “pansy” means girlish. I guessing he’d be more interested in me than your mother. Hypothetically speaking, of course.” He shuddered as the thought reached his brain.

The child shrugged. "I haven't found any limits yet. If I was not planned, then maybe no one cares how powerful I am."

She tilted her head quizzically at the demon's last statement, not entirely understanding, but who the Principality did or did not find attractive was of little concern to her. "Then perhaps he knows who my father is. Maybe a friend of his? That could be why he helps the succubus?" It was only a spur-of-the-moment guess, and her uncertainty showed. She had very little grasp of relationships, and understood neither how an angel and a demon could stop fighting long enough to produce a child nor why another angel would approve or try to help.

He shrugged at her. “It might take a while. You were born of two highly strong entities and you would have inherited not only looks, but certain abilities. Also, a combination often doubles the power.” He frowned at the last question. He’d been thinking about it since he’d taken off, about the odd way the succubus had reacted to seeing her child. “I think either your dad dumped your mom before she came looking for you . . . or he’s dead. I can’t think of any honestly good reason why a parent wouldn’t come looking for their baby. Especially one they’ve not laid eyes upon since the day of her birth.” He wanted to retch. He had a low opinion of angels, all those Below did or at least were suppose to, however, angels were tough critters and definitely hard to kill. In fact, had anyone ever asked him how one would go about killing an angel his reply would have been that it was impossible.

"Dumped?" The child stared at him, uncomprehending. "You found me by accident, you said. Maybe they didn't know where to look." She tilted her head to one side, considering. "If he is dead, maybe she thought I was dead too."

The daeva tapped his nose with a forefinger as he thought over what he was going to say carefully. "Dumped means that he might have left her. That he may have abandoned her. However, I really would prefer to think that he was killed. At least it'd explain his absence a lot better. Still, I don't know what could possibly kill an angel. I've tried. And I've failed." He looked at her quizically, "It's possible that they didn't know where to look or if you were alive. Ellie wouldn't have been able to come back down to Hell if she betrayed us, so she wouldn't have been able to check for you Below and I'd hate to think what'd happen if she had. Well," he shook himself mentally, "would you want to talk to them if you got the chance? It's not really fair to either of you ladies to keep you from your mom."

"No, angels don't die easily. I've tried too. And I do want to talk to them. I want to know what they know." She wrinkled her nose impatiently. "But they're taking a long time getting here. Do they have to stop to 'recharge' too?"

Asmodeus looked down at the child quizzically. It wasn’t like they didn’t tell them where they were headed, so what could possibly be the hold-up?

“I don’t think so?” he said haltingly as he thought over what could have happened. “None of the angels or other demons I’ve ever met needed to recharge. Just me. They might have run into trouble. After all, the angel did say that they were together because he was helping Ellie. Perhaps his Lord didn’t know he was going to look for you with a demon. Being allied with one of the enemy is a pretty high crime amongst my kind and the punishment for such certitude has only been avoided once.” He wrung his hands in nervousness. “I hope nothing’s happened.”

The girl twisted a bit of her hair idly around one finger, thinking. "We could look for them. But then if they did show up here, they wouldn't find us." She frowned suddenly, glancing up at the daeva with an uncertain expression. "You don't think...they...would just decide not to come?" They had seen her now. Maybe...maybe they had decided she wasn't worth bothering with, after all?

Not that she would care so much if it was so, she told herself; but she was a poor enough liar as yet that even she could tell it wasn't really true.

He glanced at her and raised a brow at her slight falter in speech. If they had decided not to come. That she wasn’t worth the trouble, as he gathered from her expression that was what worried her.

“I think we should remain here for a bit. It’s quite possible that they may have been delayed. If they don’t arrive within a week then we can go looking for them. There have been no others here seeking you, so it should be safe for the time being. If they should never come for you or if when we find them they obviously have given up the search, well, a pox on them! They then would obviously not care about you as much as I think they should.” He sneered slightly at the thought. “If they’ve given up the search then I’ll stay with you and help you.” He stretched a wing around her shoulders in what he’d hoped was a soothing gesture. “I’m a pretty poor substitute for one’s parents, but many of the angels know what I am and they’ll be warier to come closer without the aide of an archangel and at least you’ll be a little less harassed that way. I hope they do come for you though since you’re a girl you’ll need another girl to talk to. At least that’s what the humans say.”

She flinched a little, unused to gestures of comfort, but recognized that it was not a threat and allowed the daeva's wing to remain where it was. "Another girl to talk to," she mused, thinking of the groups of females she'd seen together all over the world, talking and laughing, casting odd looks at the males and spending a great deal of money. "Humans are strange. I don't understand them. And they're so fragile."

He ignored the flinch. The child would have to become accustom to displays of comfort and affection eventually, it'd be better if it started now.

"For all of their strangeness and fragility they are quite knowledgeable about some things and are quite durable when it counts,” he said recalling the failed Apocalypse and the three children that had taken on three f the four Horsemen. “Humans are the reason this planet still exist as it is. Neither a place of incomprehensible goodness and light or a place of unrelenting evil and darkness.” Asmodeus sighed in an indifferent manner. “I worry about this world sometimes. Master could not punish the AntiChrist for not bringing about Armageddon, as was his purpose. A semi-demonic being that is allowed to go unchecked could get cocky.”

"The Antichrist?" she repeated in surprise. "I have read about him. He is already here? Why did he not do as he was meant to?"

Asmodeus thought about the question carefully. Giving the wrong sort of answer would be a bad idea at just this point. The truth had won him a few points in this, he didn’t think it’d hurt now.

“He didn’t want them mucking things up,” said the daeva carefully layering his words with concern, “or so he said. That the world had already been mucked up enough as it was and it didn’t need a big celestial war to make it an even bigger mess. Of course, if the war had progressed the AntiChrist wouldn’t have much of a princedom to call his own. Keeping the world like it was has, I’m sure, been very beneficial to the youth. As I said, I worry. I worry that he is just biding his time, like a slow-acting disease, waiting for the perfect moment to enslave everyone and everything to his will. He could do it too and make everyone on this world not even realize that it’s been done would just be the icing on the cake.”

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