Kasdeja had been enjoying a few hundred years of uninterrupted vacation time from her service when she was rudely called back into the Office.
"KASBEEL," something thundered horribly in the black, and she whimpered. Maybe if she held still, It would just leave her alone.
"WATCHER KASBEEL, ANSWER ME."
"What!" she whined, teeth chattering.
"YOU'VE BEEN IGNORING YOUR DUTIES, CAPTAIN OF THE LEGION. YOU DO NOT DESERVE THAT HUMAN SKIN OF YOURS."
She burst into tears. "I've been working! I have!"
"YOU LOOK RIDICULOUS, WHAT IS THAT IN YOUR HAIR?"
She shook her dreadlocked head. A couple centuries' worth of shiney trinkets, tied in knots in her caution-orange hair, jangled noisily.
". . . IS THAT A SPOON?"
"It's pretty. I put a hole in it here, see? And put the string through that, see there? And tied it like this to my hair--"
"WHO HAS BEEN DRESSING YOU?"
"Myself! Do you like my stockings?" she wiggled her toes, neatly wrapped in a pair of rainbow toe-socks.
"YOU ARE GETTING YOUR OLD FORM BACK. YOU WILL HAVE TO WORK OUT OF THAT NOW." the terrible thing growled.
"But----!"
"NOW."She opened her mouth to protest again. Maybe if she offered him a cookie, she still had a few mint chip ones left in her backpack, but as she began to speak a cold, dark mist began to creep from her mouth, snaking along into a second, ethereal form. The giddy, toe-sock-clad girl collapsed into a heap of dust, and in its place stood once again the Fallen Kasdeja, Commander of Legions, the 5th Satan, and Temptress of the Inferno. Its eyes glittered cold, black, and unfeeling, its wings outstretched, its pale skin gleaming with an unnatural frost.
"I obey," it murmered, bowing its head, and somewhere inside the shell Kasbeel was a cry of despair.
