The waitress re-approached. “You guys figured out what you want?”
“Um…yeah,” Kid said. “Can I get three pecan waffles, two chicken parmesana omelets, and a chocolate pie? Oh, and hash browns covered in chili?”
Kinzer and the waitress eyed each other.
She turned back to Kid and smirked. “Hungry?”
“Yup.”
“And you?”
“Just two eggs,” Kinzer said, “over easy.”
“Be right out.” She dashed behind the counter.
Kid pressed his thumb to his cheek. “So, God and Satan fuck. Breakup. And Satan and his peeps go party in Hell?”
“Pretty much.”
“That has nothing to do with your scar.”
“I’m getting there. After the Fall, the Almighty and the Leader agreed to leave the world alone—to let it run its natural course. However, the Almighty went behind the Leader’s back and tried to destroy it. This started a war between Heaven and Hell, a very brief war that ended in far too much bloodshed. The Leader created powerful weapons, Morarkes, creatures with one purpose: to kill higherlings. To prevent them from attacking fallens, the Leader gave Morarkes a keen sense of smell to distinguish between higherlings and fallens. But the Leader discovered that he couldn’t control them. They turned against the fallens and wreaked havoc in Heaven and Hell.
“For a brief period, the realms united and fought against the Morarkes. And fearing that another war would wipe out not only the world but Heaven and Hell, the Almighty and the Leader created a special assembly, the Council, to moderate any immortal activity that happened in the world. Like the United Nations for immortal realms. The Leader hoped that the Council would prevent God from trying to destroy the world again. The Almighty hoped it would prevent the Leader from creating another devastating weapon.
“As you can probably imagine, if the Almighty doesn’t destroy the world, then He looks like the Leader’s bitch and like any immortal can walk all over him. So the Almighty is still trying to annihilate the world, but in a very sneaky way. The Leader has figured this out, and it’s turned into a massive chess game.”
“So…when you say this kind of shit, do you know you sound crazy? Or do you think, ‘This is going to make total sense to someone else’?”
Kinzer was relieved that Kid wasn’t taking him seriously. It meant he could ramble on without having to worry about him freaking out about the horrors of mortals’ vain plight in the Leader and the Almighty’s petty feud.
“In Hell, there are a lot of fallens who, for whatever reason, are trying to get in good with the Almighty again, to restore their place in Heaven. These fallens will do just about anything to get back, including helping to bring about the end of the world. One group is called the Raze. I’m with a special operative for the Leader, the Leader’s Allies. They sent me to investigate this group, to see what their plans were. But someone ratted me out. They clipped my wings, and I’m guessing their leader, Veylo, sold me to Jerry just to piss me the fuck off.”
He wasn’t going to tell Kid about Janka. That would be too much for him. He’d lose control of his emotions.
“Bullshit,” Kid said. “You’re telling me that shit on your back used to be wings? Like bird wings?”
“No. Like fallen wings.”
Kid shook his head. “Whatever. If you’re really some immortal demon, prove it.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. Don’t you have powers or shit? Don’t you do things different from people? Isn’t there some way you can show me?”
“When they clip you,” Kinzer explained, “you lose your powers. And other than having unusually large genitalia, we’re pretty similar to humans. We’re actually the original model. But maybe if you get a closer look, you’ll get it.”
***
“Where are they?” Kid whispered.
Kinzer, his eyes closed, sat on the toilet, shirtless. He looked like he was meditating.
Kid, crammed between Kinzer and the stall door, stared at his naked back.
“We could totally fuck in here,” Kid said.
“Shh!”
