Using a portal made of bright-blue light, Michael and Gabriel had arrived at an open meadow with a view of a sparsely populated suburban area in the far distance, after which they then proceeded to walk to their actual destination. Even though they could technically teleport to their destination directly and skip all the walking, the protocol for using the portals dictated that one should summon portals where they’re unlikely to be seen by nearby humans—all in an effort to maintain their secrecy.

“Mike, what are we doing here?” Gabriel asked with a bit of worry. “Didn’t you say that Uriel is probably dating a demon? We should go after her and bust her ass right now.”

“Patience, Gabriel. We shall confront that demon eventually. However, I will not go into a fight without a sufficient amount of preparation,” Michael explained. “If we’re going to face our adversary, we’ll need to gather as much information about her as possible beforehand.”

“Yeah, but is that even necessary? I mean, it’s two of us against one of her.”

“I wouldn't completely discount her strength just yet. She is able to hide her demonic aura from us. Even though we’d met her at that diner along with Uriel, I wasn’t able to sense her aura. That indicates at least a certain level of skill in terms of magical power.”

“So you’re saying that she’s possibly stronger than you? Possibly stronger than both of us combined?”

“Not necessarily, though it’s better to be safe than sorry. Besides, even if we are able to defeat her in a fight, there’s no telling whether she has connections with other high-level demons. A hasty confrontation with her could result in retaliation from her demon companions. Additionally, attempting to instigate a fight with a demon that’s been granted authorization, especially if unprovoked, is a violation of the treaty and could result in us being severely reprimanded.”

“The treaty doesn’t apply if that demon intends to do harm to another human without a justifiable cause. Or, in this case, another angel disguised as a human.”

“We don’t know what her intentions are. That’s the problem. There’s a lot of things that could potentially go wrong if we just blindly rush into this without any forethought.”

“Well, did you at least tell Mom and Dad about this?”

“Yes, I have.”

“And what did they say?”

Michael paused for a while before replying. “They have given me free reign on how to handle this particular problem, so long as I keep them up-to-date on the situation.”

“Wow, really? They trust you that much?”

“It is a test, Gabriel. A secret test to see whether I am capable of handling this on my own—to see whether I deserve the position that I’ve been granted. They might not have said it out loud, but I’m almost certain that that’s what they’re thinking. Believe me, it is not as much of a signifier of their trust in me as you may think.”

“Oh I see.”

“Whatever the case may be, we need to approach this situation as cautiously and delicately as possible.”

“Alright, whatever you say, bro. You’re the boss.”

---

After several minutes of walking, the two brothers had arrived at a small church. Inside, there was a lone elderly nun who was tidying up the place. The nun heard the brothers’ footsteps and reacted with mild surprise when she saw them donning the long, black robes of a priest—an attire that’s quite similar to her own. Normally, this particular church was visited by church members from the local community. It’s not often that they were visited by priests outside of this particular church, especially unannounced.

“Oh, hello there,” the nun greeted politely. “How can I help you two gentlemen today?”

“Sister Agnes, I presume?” Michael asked.

“Why, yes. How do you know my name?” the nun known as Sister Agnes confirmed with a hint of curiosity.

“I am Michael and this is my brother Gabriel,” Michael introduced. “We are here to inquire with you about certain services.”

“Services? If you’re looking to make a confession, our head priest is off for today.”

“No, we’re not here for that.” Michael then extended his arm out to show Sister Agnes the palm of his hand. Initially, there was nothing on his palm, which left Sister Agnes a bit confused as to what Michael was showing her. However, for a brief moment, something appeared on Michael’s palm—a bright Christian cross seemingly made of ethereal, white light flashed into existence as if created using magic. Just as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared from his palm within a fraction of a second. The way that Michael had shown her that cross mark was somewhat similar to how a police officer would flash their badge in an attempt to get a civilian to cooperate. “We are here for…other services.”

Upon seeing that mark, Sister Agnes’s eyes immediately lit up with recognition, her expression stiffened to that of rigid formality as she now knew exactly who they were and what they came here for. “Come with me.”

Michael and Gabriel followed Sister Agnes across the aisles of the church and down a set of stairs to the basement area—crossing a dark, narrow corridor until they’d reached a wall at the end of it. Then, she activated some sort of hidden switch on the wall, causing the wall to shift and move, opening itself up to reveal some sort of secret entrance. Inside it was a small dark room that soon lit up upon the group’s arrival. However, instead of using normal electrical light as illumination, it was instead lit by magical lighting, with colorful glyphs and glowing orbs hovering in mid-air.

On the surface, Sister Agnes was just an unassuming elderly nun—a disguise that she’d carefully maintained over the years. In actuality, however, she was actually an agent working for Heaven and God himself—in both a figurative and literal sense. She was still a human, of course, and not an angel like Michael and Gabriel. Due to the Treaty of Heaven and Hell, the level of influence that was permitted from either side was severely limited. That, in turn, meant that the number of angels and demons that were legally allowed to stay in the human world was also limited.

This had led to Heaven outsourcing a good portion of their work to actual human agents, almost all of whom were members of the clergy for obvious reasons. Despite that, not every person within the clergy knew about the existence of the supernatural world as only a select few were allowed in on the secret. Each human agent was carefully hand-picked through a selection process that’s based around several criteria—such as a person’s devotion to their faith, their particular set of skills, their work ethic, and their willingness to keep a highly important secret. 

With that said, most of the human agents’ work involved menial tasks such as intel gathering and data archiving—things that even a human should be capable of handling, give or take a limited access to magic. In exchange for their services, they were guaranteed a spot to the paradise above for when their meager human lifespans inevitably reach their expiration date—a spot where they get to ‘earn their wings and halo’, as the saying goes. 

Of course, since they’re working closely with supernatural beings such as angels, they were sworn to absolute secrecy in all matters involved. Additionally, they were restricted to a similar set of rules and guidelines as the angels were to make sure they don’t abuse the special position that they’d been given. Working as agents of Heaven alongside literal angels was a highly privileged position and not something that should be treated lightly. 

All in all, this secret network of angels and humans had been running with the utmost secrecy and efficiency so far, so much so that it might even give agencies such as the CIA or MI6 a run for their money. Having access to magic certainly helped a lot in that regard.

“So, how may I be of service to you today?” Sister Agnes asked the two brothers in a fairly respectable manner. 

Michael took out a small photo and handed it to her—a photo of Glenda. “I need you to pull up whatever you can find on this woman.”

“Very well.” Sister Agnes took the picture and placed it on one of the floating glyphs, which latched onto it as if it was stuck with glue. Then, with a wave of her hand, all the glyphs maneuvered chaotically in front of her before rearranging themselves into a giant holographic screen full of organized data for all of them to see. 

Michael and Gabriel took a couple of minutes to read through all the information on the screen, focusing on the info that they found relevant.

Name: Glenda

Alias: Glenda Samuels

Title: Succubus of Gluttony

Affiliation: The Seven Sinister Sisters

Type: Demon

Sub-type: Succubus

Authorized access to the human world: Yes

Reason to visit the human world: Participate in the Succubus Succession Trial

“The Succubus Succession Trial? What’s that?” Gabriel asked.

“Oh, it’s essentially a competition to determine who will succeed Lilith in becoming the next Succubus Queen,” Sister Agnes explained. “The competition requires the participants to sleep with virgins in order to collect their virginities. Whoever can collect 666 virginities first wins the competition.”

“Wait, so it’s basically a competition that involves sleeping with as many virgins as possible?” Gabriel said with wide-eyed surprise. “Man, that sounds absolutely insane! Who the Hell came up with that? Uhh, no pun intended.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Sister Agnes commented with a hint of disgust in her tone. “Only the succubi can come up with an idea this vulgar and obscene.”

“So, this succubus by the name of Glenda…she’s one of the potential successors to Succubus Queen Lilith?” Michael asked. “That would make her the daughter of Lilith and Satan.”

“Yes, precisely. In fact, she is one of seven daughters of Lilith and Satan, the Seven Sinister Sisters,” Sister Agnes explained. “Born under the use of special magic, causing each of the sisters to embody one of the Seven Deadly Sins. That technically makes her royalty, though being royalty is not what it once was and there’s only so much her royal status can do to protect her. If she so happens to breach the treaty, she will get punished accordingly, just like the rest of us.”

“Hmm…I see,” Michael mumbled, quietly contemplating on the information he’s given. 

While Michael was pondering in deep thought, Sister Agnes couldn’t help but interrupt him with a small question. “Umm, excuse me, Archangel Michael. Forgive me for asking but what is your reason for inquiring about this particular succubus?”

Michael turned to give the nun a hardened look, which may have unintentionally frightened her a little. Despite being devout servants of God, members of the clergy such as Sister Agnes here were nonetheless human and were thus inclined to human tendencies, one of which being their interest towards gossip and scandal. Of course, Michael couldn’t exactly divulge that his younger brother was dating a succubus, for the revelation of such a shameful act could potentially make his whole family look bad in the process. 

“That is on a need-to-know basis,” Michael replied sternly. “And, as of right now…you do not need to know.”

Sister Agnes shrunk away slightly, as if ashamed to have possibly intruded on a sensitive topic. “Yes, yes, of course, Archangel,” she said with a slight stutter, her voice suddenly becoming meek and timid. “I’m sorry if I came off as being rude. Forgive me for asking.”

Michael dismissed his gaze towards the nun and refocused his attention back at the screen, where Glenda’s info was on full-display. “Would you kindly leave us for a moment? My brother and I need some time alone.”

“Why, yes. Of course. Take all the time you need, Archangel,” Sister Agnes said with quick obedience. She then exited the room and closed the secret wall door behind her, leaving the two brothers alone inside.

“So, what do you think?” Michael asked Gabriel, his hand clasped behind his back as he stood tall, watching the data screen with Glenda’s picture on it with a calm, steady gaze.

“What do I think?” Gabriel replied. “I think our little bro Uriel here has fallen for a succubus and he probably doesn’t even know it. Damn, it all suddenly makes sense now. Of course she’s a succubus. That’s the only reasonable explanation. There’s no way any normal human woman can get that frisky. I mean…there are frisky women out there, but not that frisky, you know what I mean? And her sleeping with all those dudes…it’s all just for a stupid sex competition. Didn’t Sister Agnes say that this succubus is going after other dudes specifically for their virginities? Damn, Uriel had probably given her his first time already. Poor Uri…he’d always wanted to give his first time to someone special, not to someone who treats sex like it’s a goddamn contest. Unbelievable!”

“The thing I don’t understand is why would this Glenda succubus continue to date Uriel despite having already claimed his virginity,” Michael said. “One would assume that it’s counterintuitive to have a long-term relationship when one is in the process of sleeping around in order to obtain even more virginities.”

“Yeah, I’m stumped on that part as well,” Gabriel concurred, scratching his head as he tried to come up with a theory. “Ooh, do you think it’s possible she might have figured out that Uriel is an angel?”

“Highly unlikely. The angelic restraint mark that’s placed on him conceals his angelic aura almost entirely. There’s almost no way a demon of her level could possibly detect it.”

“But what other possibility is there? Furthermore, why would Uriel agree to a relationship like this? Do you think he might be mind-controlled?”

“Also highly unlikely. Uriel’s angelic physiology prevents him from being affected by most low-level mind-altering spells such as basic mind-controlling spells or basic memory-erasing spells.”

“But then, what else could it be?” Gabriel said as he rubbed his chin in continued confusion. “Ooh, do you think that Uriel might have already known that Glenda is a succubus? That there’s a chance he might have learned about all this—all the Heaven and Hell stuff—from her?”

Michael looked at his younger brother with a raised eyebrow. “Gabriel, if Uriel were to learn that this Glenda woman is actually a succubus, do you really think that he’ll be stupid enough to continue dating her?”

Gabriel shrugged. “I don’t know, man. From what I’ve seen so far, Uriel has changed quite a bit since the last time we saw him. Plus, he’s never been as committed to the whole religion thing as we were when we grew up. Maybe the religious rebel within him had perhaps nudged him a little towards seeing demons in a new light. I mean, I hate to say it but…do you think that there’s a slight chance that Uriel and this Glenda succubus are actually…in love?”

“Love?” Michael scoffed, as though considering that possibility completely absurd. “Gabriel, demons are incapable of love. They’re demons. All they are ever capable of is malice and cruelty. For the longest time, angels and demons have always been two sides of the same coin—angels representing good and demons representing evil. There are absolutely no exceptions, not even with this one.”

“Yeah, if you say so,” Gabriel mumbled in agreement, though still harboring a hint of doubt.

Afterwards, Michael took out his phone and held it in the air close to the data screen, where he then proceeded to download all the information regarding Glenda into the phone through a magical wireless transmission. Later on, he would compile a report using the data he’d obtained before sending it to his parents to keep them up-to-date on the status of his mission. 

“From what I can tell so far, I’m almost certain that Uriel is being manipulated by this succubus named Glenda, if not by magic then by her wily charms,” Michael deduced, his tone hardened with resolve. “Succubi are nothing if not cunning and deceptive in their methods of seduction. Although, to what end, I am still not entirely sure. Regardless, we are going to stop her with whatever means necessary. Our brother Uriel is in the clutches of a malevolent succubus and I will do everything in my power to rescue him from it.”