A few days have passed since Udo has spoken with his informant and yet he still only had so much information to go on.<br/><br/>Trying to get anything out of that man had been a waste of time. At first everything seemed to go well. He learned that the book was on angels, demons, and magic; volume II, this book, covered mostly demons. That was the gist of it at least. It was all very fascinating and left him craving more. But when he tried to get the man to translate more of the book, to go deeper, that’s when everything had gone downhill. The man had simply refused to say anything more and in the end he had him shipped to Steinwache, mostly out of frustration getting the best of him, because of his insubordination.<br/><br/>Letting the man go was out of the option, and simply erasing his existence was too risky. So, he had told a lie. He wasn’t particularly proud of it and it still weighed on his mind. He worried of them finding out, and being sent there himself. But in the end, he was doing what he had to, as he always tells himself, for the good of Germany. If it came down to him being called a traitor, he had no regrets.<br/><br/>Udo sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair. His gaze was toward the ceiling, staring off into some faraway place while he thought. This whole thing was tedious. There wasn’t any other way he could explain it. Even though he hadn’t really been given any instructions, something was driving him to find out more about this book. He hated it. All he wanted at this moment was to forget that he ever came across that book, or got caught up in this mess, and go back to business as usual. He didn’t need this on his mind right now, with his plate as full as it was.<br/><br/>If it were that easy, he would have by now. It was becoming more and more difficult to sneak in trying to learn more about that book. That book held something important… something relevant. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew he had to find out just what that was.<br/><br/>A knock on the door caught his attention. He told whoever was there to come in, straightening in his chair and picking up his pen, turning his attention to the papers that were laying on the desk, to appear busy.<br/><br/>To his surprise, the man who entered was wearing an SS uniform. “Forgive my intrusion, but you are officer Drechsler, correct?” He inquired.<br/><br/>Udo nodded. “Is there something I can help you with?”<br/><br/>“Good. As a matter of fact, yes, there is.”<br/><br/>“Make it quick, would you? I’m rather busy today.”<br/><br/>“Perfect, I’ll get right to business then… It’s recently come to my attention that you have something that belongs to me. I don’t care how you obtained it or why you’re carrying around, but I’d like it back.”<br/><br/>Udo arched an eyebrow. “On?” He was curt, annoyance slipping into his tone. “What makes you so sure? I’ve never seen you until today. As a matter of fact, I don’t speak with the SS unless necessary in general. I’d need you to elaborate, as I’m sure it’s probably a misunderstanding.” It was weird. He would think twice before coming off as impatient or annoyed when speaking to someone from the SS, he knew better. But something about this man seemed very off. He didn’t like it.<br/><br/>“Oh, I’m sure,” the man said, grinning triumphantly. He closed his eyes for a moment, as if concentrating, and then added, “The book in your drawer… it gives off an aura. You’ve been naughty, ah, but on the other hand I suppose it suits you.”<br/><br/>How could he have possibly known it was there? Udo could do nothing to hide the slight shock on his face and fought the urge to look toward the drawer. He felt something drop into his stomach as he swallowed hard, struggling to find the words to explain himself.<br/><br/>This was the end of the road. He was not going to save Germany after all; all of his work was for absolutely nothing. He should have known… he should not have gotten involved. To think of all the people, someone from the SS, belonging to the very group of people he admired, feared, and even felt jealousy toward, was going to be the one to stop him. He was expecting to be dragged out of this room. But, it would appear, much to his relief, he was not going to be getting that treatment today.<br/><br/>The man just continued looking at him with that grin on his face. “I’m only going to say this once,” he growled. A strong presence filled the room just then, one he recognized as the presence of a demon. That same oppressiveness, the feeling of weight on his shoulders he had experienced that night at the hotel. “That book actually belongs to me. It has for a long time, and now that I’ve at last tracked it down, I’d like it back.” For a long time, he observed Udo’s expression, gauging his reaction carefully. “I see… that look, one of understanding…” He said finally. “Tell me, since you have that book, I’m going to assume you are aware of the presence of angels and demons?”<br/><br/>Udo nodded.<br/><br/>“Oh… wonderful! That saves me a lot of trouble… Now… if you will, the book.” The demon stretched out his hand. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be, I’d rather not have to take it from you.”<br/><br/>This was becoming more and more bothersome by the minute. A headache was starting to form behind Udo’s eyes, mostly because of this unbearable presence. He was doing his best to resist the temptation that seemed to come from this demon. Was that a trait with all demons, having such an influence? Regardless, every last part of Udo was saying not to relinquish that book, it was to be pried from his cold, dead hands, and he was going to listen. He had gone through the trouble of obtaining it. Handing it over was not an option.<br/><br/>“No,” Udo said simply. “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”<br/><br/>“No!?”<br/><br/>“If you’ve gone through the trouble to track it down, then it must be valuable. I don’t care who or what you are, I’m simply not allowing something like this to slip through my fingers.”<br/><br/>“Well then… I guess I’ll just have to pry it from your fingers,” the demon growled. Udo reached under his coat and drew his pistol, but the demon spoke again before he could get a word in. “You could shoot me if that’ll make you happy. But… I wouldn’t recommend it. You wouldn’t want the blood of an SS officer on your hands, would you?  Oh, don’t tell me you thought I’d come to you as myself… oh no… The poor lad who lent me his body, he’s a feisty one alright; I can feel his conscience clawing at me, fighting to be in control again. It’s rather amusing… You Nazis have such strong wills!”<br/><br/>“I have my ways.”<br/><br/>“Oh? A man with a silver tongue? Wonderful! But… that doesn’t change what’s happening right now…. Oh! I’d almost forgotten. This man did have something for you.” The demon paused and reached under his uniform jacket, pulling out a rather thick-looking envelope. He held it up, looked at it, and then said, “We’ll do a trade. My book… for… your envelope…”<br/><br/>The demon reached up and touched his nose. Blood was trickling from his nostril, and he looked irritated, alarmed even, and let out a growl to further reflect that. “Luckily for you, it looks like our time is up,” he the envelope on the desk. “I’ll let you have your way this time. However, I will come for that book again.”<br/><br/>The demon turned and left the room, keeping his nose, or rather the nose of the man to whom the body belonged, covered as he did so.<br/><br/>Shaking his head, Udo frowned a little, “Good riddance.” Demons were becoming such troublesome creatures. He turned his attention to the envelope and picked it up carefully. Studying the handwriting carefully, he immediately recognized it. It was Erlind’s writing. It was further confirmed when he read the contents of the letter, and was a very, very pleasant surprised. He couldn’t help the grin that appeared on his face once he finished reading through everything.<br/><br/>So, he was to go to meet up with Erlind in Munich? The fact that he was being summoned proved how important it was, and he had no complaints. He has needed something more to do since Berlin had been cleansed of the plague; needless to say, he was more than excited to head out as soon as possible to do business. This would definitely give him a chance to get out of town for a bit, being amongst the many people who were not fond of paperwork. The only excitement, if one could even call that, he’s had was learning about that book.<br/><br/>If that book was that important to demons, perhaps Erlind would know something about it, he wondered. He’d bring it with him just in case he got a chance to ask him about it.<br/><br/>About an hour later, he went home and prepared for the trip to Munich. The trip would take about six hours at most, depending on traffic and the weather. He might not be able to make it in one night. Nonetheless, he hoped that he wouldn’t be too late upon arrival.<br/><br/>--------------------------------<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Meanwhile,<br/>Somewhere outside of Germany</span><br/><br/>The demon gasped for air and bolted upright in his bed as he returned to his body. He ached all over, and was in a cold sweat, blood still dripping from his nose. It would appear some of his wounds had opened up. Damn it all! He should have known that he wouldn’t have been able to maintain astral projection for long.<br/><br/>He was pissed.<br/><br/>“That son of a bitch…” He said in between coughs, wiping the blood at the corner of his mouth away with his bandaged hand, “I’m going to rip his head off … I will have that book.” His jaw tensed and he held his head. His body was trembling, adrenaline fueled by anger surging through him. He tried to get out of bed but the pain proved too great. A sound, discomfort mixed with irritation, escaped him.<br/><br/>The noise caught the attention of someone else in the room.<br/><br/>“You’re back early.”<br/><br/>“There were complications…”<br/><br/>“What happened?”<br/><br/>“I couldn’t maintain it… I’m going to try again after I recover from this failure…”<br/><br/>“I told you, it was too soon to try. Trying again so soon would be fatal.”<br/><br/>“I don’t care,” the demon snarled, “I… I need that book. I shouldn’t have allowed it to slip from my grasp to begin with…” Curses… There was still time. He could get it back. The One has already made his entrance, Darcy had succeeded, he could feel it, and he needed to have that book. But… patience was the issue. How patient would He be? It has already taken far longer to recover than anticipated. He could barely astral project!<br/><br/>The last thing he needed was for anyone to be angry with him…<br/><br/>But aside from his wounds, there were other obstacles.<br/><br/>“Why not meet that man in person?” Inquired the other being in the room.<br/><br/>“He reeked of other demons… powerful ones, the officer did. That envelope had a particular aura about it, especially… Seeing him as I am now is far too risky, and would get ugly if those others would have been with him.” It was annoying, but he was at least thankful the demon who was trying to get in contact with the officer had given him something to go on. It was so easy to track humans it wasn’t funny.<br/><br/>“Then rest!”<br/><br/>“No. I can’t fucking rest.”<br/><br/>“But… if there are powerful demons…”<br/><br/>“I don’t care…” Instead of looking deterred, there was a grin on his expression, a toothed grin, showing a bit of fang. “It’s not just about the book. That officer… I want to wipe that nonchalance off his face... He needs to see what a truly powerful demon is capable of doing to a puny human like himself.”<br/><br/>When he recovered, which would take awhile, he would do just that… The One was here! It was time to shine.