Kate dropped onto her bed next to Apollyon, putting the stack of letters on the nightstand.

“All good news?” Apollyon put her arm around the Nightmare.

“Overall, yea. Patrick started volunteering at the animal shelter and the wildlife rescue, RICA confirmed Agent Muller’s posting, Anahit has met with Monica to start teaching her Atlantean, everything is going well today.”

“That is good.”

“It is. It truly is. I’m honestly just happy today and ending the day with you is just the best.”

“I am happy too. You make me happy.”

Kate curled up to her devil. “You’re the sweetest.”

“For you, I do my best.”

“Your best is…” Kate giggled. “Just the best.”

Apollyon couldn’t help but laugh. “How eloquent of you. I must admit that no matter how much I enjoy my own bed, any bed becomes even better than mine simply by sharing it with you. Holding you in my arms fills me with a peace that is only amplified by you reaching out to me with your mind and sharing your comfort.”

“Polly…” Kate decided not to say anything more and just pull Apollyon into a mental hug.

The two demons remained snuggled together that way for a few hours. Eventually Kate withdrew from her friend’s mind.

“Polly, do you have some time for me later?”

“Of course. What have you planned?”

“Sariel and Yumi wanted to come by with a few nice plants for behind the house. Stuff like glass roses and frost berries.”

“And you wish for my assistance in planting them.”

“That would be amazing.”

“I will be here. Will anyone else come as well?”

Kate nodded. “Lizzy was given some art that my mum bought while travelling for work, she’ll be here too to help with the garden and deliver the pictures.”

“That is a lovely surprise. I look forward to meeting her again, to see for myself the wonderful young demon you told me she has become.”

“She has always been awesome, but now she can actually act on that. It was so nice to see when I last visited her.”

“I can only imagine. It will be a fun day.”

“Most definitely. May I ask a favour of you before your guests arrive?”

“Always.”

“I want to head out with you for a bit, today is the day our friends put in the finishing touches of your home and there is something I feel I should do before that.”

“Sure thing.”

The two demons enjoyed breakfast with an ocean view in the upper ranges of Dis and proceeded to enjoy the fresh crips air during a walk up to Apollyon’s home, where the old devil picked up a bag with two boxes in it.

On the picnic platform overlooking Hell’s capital, Apollyon sat down on the bench they had stopped at on Kate’s first day in Hell. Kate got comfortable beside her friend.

“I never tire of this view.”

“The exact view I showed you on your first day. I just wish you had gotten to come here under better circumstances.”

“It made me forget why you brought me here in the first place. All the worries of my human life forgotten.”

“I thought this would be the best place to follow a bit of protocol I didn’t even know existed. When you accepted your promotion of sorts, the library left the purview of the Inquisitorium. Previously, they had final say over anything we did. Now we are our own organization. That transition had been planned for, unbeknownst to any of us, actually. Athena wrote a protocol, so nothing would be forgotten. We just picked up everything that protocol demands and an extra that we all decided upon.”

“Okay? I thought that we had done everything necessary.”

“I assumed that too. Athena told me about the protocol only a few cycles ago. I talked to the other librarians and we decided that I should be the one to do this with you in private, just between us two.”

“Alright. I am honestly quite curious what we missed.”

Apollyon pulled the larger of the two boxes from her bag. “I have never held these myself, but here are the keys to the library and the archive. They have never been used.”

“Keys?”

“To lock the two buildings, yes. We never had a reason to do so, but the keys exist and as head librarian, they are now yours. Underneath them is the original agreement that led to the construction of the library and the one for the archive as well.”

“I… can’t accept that. I shouldn’t hold that power to lock the library and those documents are far too important for me.”

“I disagree, but I already told you that you only hold the responsibilities you choose. If you want someone else to have the keys, it’s your choice to hand them over. I personally think that you are the best choice to hold the keys.”

“I will need a properly locked box that only I and maybe you can open. As for the documents…hm. We should frame them and put them up in our new office.”

“That is a wonderful idea, but I must protest against being able to open your lockbox.”

“See it this way, we only need to lock the library in an emergency. If I am unavailable to do so, it is imperative that someone else I trust can do it. Maybe put a lock on it that only can be opened by other librarians if I am incapacitated or otherwise just incapable of getting to the box.”

“I see your reasoning. It would be an intricate magical lock, but certainly doable. I will ask around for someone who has the expertise for it.”

“That would be lovely, thank you. Until then, I want you to keep the keys safe. I trust you with them more than I do myself.”

“I appreciate your faith in me and I will do my utmost to not disappoint.”

“Polly… thank you.”

“For you, always. Now, there is something the rest of us librarians agreed we should get you.” Apollyon put the big box back and pulled out the smaller one. “Open it.”

Kate did. “A badge?”

“A badge. Not unlike the one you have now, it carries the same enchantments, but it isn’t the polished silver your old one is.”

“But why black and gold?”

“Because it’s a beautiful combination of colours and it carries a sense of elegance and importance to both demons and humans. Pure gold wouldn’t do that. This is the badge for the head librarian. Your badge.”

Kate took a few moments to just look at it. “Thank you.” She closed the box. “Giving this to me here, on this bench, just made me think about everything again. I know you said you’re proud of me, I just hope I can keep that up. Keep making you proud.”

“I have no doubts.”

“I have a question, totally unrelated. You kissed me on the cheek way back during my first days after I met you. We never kissed again, nor have I seen other demons kiss. Is that just not something we do?”

Apollyon grabbed Kate and kissed her passionately. “It is a rare gesture, usual saved for sex. I must admit that I have never been much of a kisser, but if you desire it, I will happily indulge you.”

Kate was blushing bright red. “K-keep it something special, but I would love to be kissed every so often.”

“Then I will do just that.”

Kate took a deep breath. “Wow… Sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.”

“I just got really flustered, I didn’t expect you to just go for it. You’re amazing.”

“It felt like the right thing to do. How long do we have until your guests arrive?”

“A few more hours.”

“Let us remain here for a while then and enjoy the view.”

Kate leaned over to kiss Apollyon. “And each other.”