Bohler Books

“What the hell, Mike?

“Why do I have to hear it from Asmodeus of all people – Asmodeus, Mike! – that you not only let your tail slip, but that you were bragging about it?

“The first rule of heaven is that you don’t let anyone know that we’re just like them. We have to be better, Mike. We have to at least seem better.

“What do you have to say in your defense?”

“I d-didn’t mean to, Gabe. I’m sorry. You know how he baits me. He told me that their tales make them better than us, that we could never be so majestic, and I just had to prove him wrong.”

“Well, we’re going to have to let you be the fresh meat for those hot-heads, Mike. We can’t bail you out this time. We absolutely can not afford to let those low-lifes know that we all have tails. We’ve closely guarded our secret since the Creation, and we can’t have you spoiling it now. You’ll just have to be a freak. If they knew, they’d get ideas and we can’t have them deciding to move up-town. We have to keep them looking up to us.”