Steve was led into a stark, Spartan-looking office. At the desk sat a demon with the head of a lion, horns of a bull, and wings of a vulture. Next to him stood a demon who was an unsettling mix of peacock and donkey. "You must be Steven James Clarkson," said the lion-headed demon with the bull horns. "I am Lord Nergal Deathfire, Duke of Tartarus, Acting Chief of Justice, Director of the Secret Police, and Knight of the Fly. This is my ally Lord Adrammelech Gloryfowl, Duke of Malebolge, Grand Chancellor of Hell, President of the Senate of Hell, Keeper of King Lucifer's Wardrobe, and Knight of the Fly. I understand that you've had some problems with the former human Rachel Church."
"She fucking burned me to a crisp!" Steve shouted.
"Never fear," said Nergal. "It is in our plans to kill her. First, of course, we have to get Archduke Beelzebub back. His skill with Chaos magic will prove useful."
"Got it," Steve nodded.
"For an Iron Knight, you seem strangely comfortable working with a demon," Adrammelech noted.
"To be honest, I've never cared much about this religion junk," Steve shrugged. "My parents are super-religious, But I've never really been too into God. He's honestly kind of judgmental. It's all 'don't do this' and 'waste a bunch of your time doing that' and crap like that."
"Then why join the Iron Knights?" asked Nergal.
"Because it made Rev. Church and his buddies see me as some big hero," said Steve. "I still remember the way he treated me when I killed my first demon. He actually bought me a car!"
"And you'll serve the secret police just as faithfully?" asked Nergal.
"Sure!" Steve laughed. "I mean, you're offering me revenge on that nasty little cunt."
"I may even be willing to sweeten the pot," Nergal smiled. "My chief wife is a natural-born demon and my equal, but I have many kidnapped ex-humans as concubines. I will give you one of these slaves as a gift if you help me restore Beelzebub to life."
"Cool!" Steve shouted. "So, how do we bring back Beelzebub?"
"Good question," said Adrammelech. "He left me his collection of Chaos tomes after his death, so we'll start by looking for the secret in those grimoires. This is a big undertaking. There's rumors of traitor angels being resurrected by Chaos in primordial times, but nobody knows what the secret was."
"Guess we'll just have to find out!" Steve chuckled.
"You'll need a new face first," said Adrammelech. He anointed Steve and whispered a spell to conjure the needed illusions over the damned human. Steve grew the head of a bull, and his lower body became that of a scorpion. "Your name is now officially Eqarba, and you are member of Nergal's secret police."
"Nice work, Adrammelech," Nergal said with a nod as he looked Steve over. "Now we have an archduke to bring back."