Chapter 118: Gabriel’s Honey Attacks Again

Lisboa, Portugal

Early 1350s

–

"You sure are a hard human to find, Erik Ravenclaw."

Azazel says to Erik. Since Erik's battle with Serafall, Azazel had put some agents of Grigori to try and find ways of contacting Erik Ravenclaw. But it was all useless efforts. The agents couldn't find a spec of information about where he resided. The only information that they got about that is that he used to reside in the castle of Hogwarts, a magic school for wizards and witches. But that information was almost two hundred years old at the time. Even so, some of the most stubborn agents tried to infiltrate the school. Needless to say that they did not have any success. The protections of the place were too strong and the ones who tried to use brute force through it received a few months of recovery in the medical wing of Grigori as their reward. But, after a lot of time, a hundred years to be more precise, they finally got a lead about a new mercantile group and, after confirming that one Erik Ravenclaw was the owner of said company, the information was repassed to the leader of Grigori. This brings us back to this meeting. Erik shook his head at Azazel's opening comment.

"Have you tried to send a letter through the wizards' means?"

Erik asked Azazel.

"You mean, writing a letter and attaching it to a bird's leg?"

Azazel asked back after cocking his head to the side.

"Yes. They prefer to use owls, but any bird would be acceptable really."

Erik replied to the Fallen Angel. Wizards' Post service had evolved almost nothing during the years but it had become more popular with almost all wizarding families owning an owl.

"And would it have worked?"

Azazel asked Erik, who nodded his head in confirmation.

"Yes. Heaven managed to contact me through this method. They used a pigeon for the delivery. It was Gabriel's idea."

Erik said nonchalantly to Azazel.

"I see, so Heaven already contacted you."

Azazel said to Erik, who nodded his head in confirmation and then let out a sigh.

*sigh*

"I need to retrain some fools. So, do you mind me asking you what Heaven wanted?"

Azazel said.

"A meeting to be certain of the same thing that you are probably wanting to know too."

Erik replied to Azazel, who nodded his head.

"And your answer was?"

Azazel asked again.

"The one that you probably reached already. I will not be joining the Devil's faction just because I married Serafall. But, I will help them with projects that I see are worth it."

Erik said to Azazel, who nodded his head after hearing the answer. It was indeed what he had already concluded.

"And what kind of project of project you see as 'worth'?"

Azazel asked Erik again. He was curious about what kind of thing 'moved' this new powerhouse of the supernatural world.

"The kind of project that would stop a new great war from happening."

Erik replied to Azazel. It was the same answer that he had given to Michael all those years back. And it was the same answer that he would give again if asked. The restart of the great war would only finish destroying the three factions. And with the power gap that will appear, other pantheons would wage their own wars to get to fill this power gap. So many wars, one after the other, fought by the supernaturals is not something that Erik thinks the world could sustain.

"Hmm. Indeed a worthwhile project."

Azazel said to Erik. The Fallen Angels' numbers were great and they could reproduce with no problems since different from Angels, they had already fallen from grace. But, just like Devils, the rates of a Fallen Angel getting pregnant were very low, and taking into consideration that most female Fallen Angels don't want to get pregnant, their race was very dependent on Angels falling to boost their numbers.

Both men stood in silence for a moment while enjoying their coffee. Erik then made a decision and communicated it to Azazel.

"Let's do it like this. If, the three factions want, at any time, a place to talk, a neutral ground where they can discuss things, talk to me and I will arrange it. I will communicate this same thing to Michael and the Satans."

Erik said to Azazel. His offer of a neutral ground for talks was something that they were dearly missing. No faction wanted to talk to others for fear of being ambushed in the chosen location for the meeting. Erik's offer of a neutral ground for talks would facilitate things to happen. Just the protections around his magical school were something that weighed in his favor. Azazel nodded his head after thinking for a while.

The duo continued with some random talks for an hour or so. At one point, Erik summoned some of his famous honey cookie pot with a smirk on his face. This was a special batch that he had made and wanted to tease Azazel with them. He took one of the cookies in his hand and slowly nibbled on it, savoring it slowly. Azazel looked at Erik slowly eating and raised an eyebrow at that. Full of curiosity, he extended his hand and picked one of the cookies from the pot. He looked at it for a time as if he was analyzing the structure of the baked goodie in his hands.

"It's just a honey cookie."

Erik said after seeing that Azazel was still looking at it. But here came his teasing.

"The only difference about it from a normal cookie is where the honey comes from."

Erik said again and took another bite of the cookie. Azazel looked at Erik and then looked at the cookie. He then shrugged and took a bite of it. What happened next was an explosion of flavor inside his mouth. Azazel was once an Angel that had fallen because of his curiosity and lust, and since his fall he had been exploring this curiosity of his by experimenting with everything that he could. He had eaten some marvelous things just like he had eaten some disgusting ones during these experiments, but this cookie, a simple honey cookie, was the most pleasing food that he had ever eaten. He looked at Erik and saw the smirk on the man's face.

"Ok, what had you put on it?"

Azazel asked Erik, who continued to smirk at him.

"Oh, nothing different from my usual recipe. As I said, the only difference about it is the origin of the honey."

Erik said to Azazel while still smirking. Azazel knew what Erik was doing. He knew what the smirking man wanted to hear.

"Ok, I will bite it. Where did the honey come from?"

Azazel asked and saw the smirk on Erik's face deepen.

"Before I tell you that, let me ask you a question: Did you know that Gabriel started a beekeeping hobby?"

Erik said to Azazel. The fallen let out a sigh at that.

*sigh*

"No, I didn't know that Gabriel had become a beekee-"

Azazel started to say but froze in the middle of the sentence as realization hit him hard. He looked at the cookie and then at Erik.

"You don't mean that…"

Azazel said incompletely. Erik's smirk was still on his face and he only nodded his head back at Azazel in confirmation and then snapped his fingers.

*snap*

The honey cookie pot that Erik had summoned disappeared with the snap of his fingers. Azazel looked at the place where the pot was in horror.

"No! Summon it back! Summon it back!"

Azazel said desperately. Erik just started to laugh at Azazel's face. The man then glared at Erik.

"You are an evil man, Erik Ravenclaw."

Azazel said to Erik, whose answer was to laugh even more. After having his fill, Erik wiped the laugh tears from the corners of his eyes.

"Teasing apart, my stock of honey cookies made with that specific honey is very limited. No way that I will give it for free."

Erik said to Azazel, who sighed.

*sigh*

He now knew Erik's objective with allowing him to sample one of those special honey cookies.

"State your price, Erik Ravenclaw."

Azazel said to a wide smiling Erik after steeling himself. For some of Gabriel's honey, he was ready to bite this bullet.

–

The negotiation was a fair one, at least for Erik. Azazel had not a great loss either. The only thing that Erik asked for was for some knowledge on magic and for him to keep the fallen away from Hogwarts. Erik didn't want them or any other faction to influence the kids. Things were already bad enough within their own community.

Azazel agreed with the 'demands' and parted back to Grigori with half the pot of Erik's special honey cookies and a contract signaling that a copy of his books about magic was going to be given to Erik. Even with his 'loss', Azazel thought that the meeting was a fruitful one. He had a better look at who was Erik Ravenclaw and got something going for a future peace talk between the three factions of his pantheon. In the end, it was a win for both of them.

–

After Erik got home, he told the girls about his impromptu meeting with Azazel and how he had gotten the better over him with the help of some honey cookies with Gabriel's honey. The girls laughed hard at that. Selena promised a very good reward that night because of the books that he got for them and Serafall promised her rewards because of Erik's promise of providing a neutral ground for the talk that could happen. Calypso, not wanting to be left out of the 'rewarding' ceremony, decided to reward Erik for his 'win' against Azazel. Erik had a very good night.

–

Years continued to pass quickly. Erik's Ravens' Merchantile Group had established themselves within the entire known world as traders of renown. Even the people and leaders of Indias liked to trade with them because of their fairness. If they could choose, they would always choose Ravens' Merchantile Group. The group's fleet has grown once again and now had more than fifty ships in its services. But not everything was a sea of flowers to the group. Some of their competitors tried to band together and accuse the Ravens' Merchantile Group of illegal trafficking and tax avoidance.

Luckily for the group, all their transactions were noted down in their Numbers Book. After presenting the book to the authorities it didn't take long for they have the charges dropped. But the 'war' had been declared. One that ended with the ultimate win for the Ravens' Merchantile Group. The only thing that Erik had to do was to drop the proof of the competitors' wrongdoings at the right hands and watch as they got burned down to the ground. There were not enough bribes that would manage to save their jealous asses.

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