Chapter 2: Paradise Lost and Found

 

 

Higher Hell

Chapter 2: Paradise Lost and Found

 

HONK!

SCREEECH!

SMASH!

Oops.

I’d landed right in the middle of a busy street.

Cars were swerving and crashing into each other. Humans were running everywhere screaming “Aaaahh!  Monster!  RUN!” and such.

“Jesus Christ.  Will you people shut up.”  I muttered

You’d think they’d never seen a demon before.

Okay, they probably hadn’t, but it was still annoying.

A car came straight at me, it’s horn blaring. I side stepped out of the way and looked in the driver side window as it passed.  The dude driving took one look at me, covered his face with his hands and screamed like a little girl.

“Hey!  I’m walking here!”  I shouted after his tail lights.

Idiots.

Is it any wonder I don’t like Livies?

I flew over to the sidewalk, scattering a bunch of Humans who ran screaming in every direction.

How in the name of Satan’s firey left testicle am I supposed to find my guy in all this chaos?

I looked up to see two guys in blue pointing guns at me.  Their hands were trembling so badly they had a better chance of shooting each other than hitting me.

Cops, huh?  Okay, let’s have a little fun.

I reached out and placed a finger over the ends of the cops gun barrels.

They turned into bananas.

The guns, not the cops.

The officers looked at the bananas. They looked at each other. They looked back at me.

“This is where you run away, fellas.”  I grinned.

They did.  And they took the bananas with them.

Something caught my eye in the store window beside me. A reflection. Bright neon blue light.

La Villa Blue.

It was right across the street.  Well, Aluriel did say he’d get me close to the place.  One big flap of my black wings and I was at the night club’s entrance.

The door man, big muscle bound guy, was hiding behind one of the two columns on either side of the door. I peered around at him, my face close to his.

“Sorry, dude. I left my ID in Hell.”

The guy fainted.

I stepped inside.  The place was all thumping music and flashing flickering multi-colored light. And wall to wall Livies.

This is gonna be like trying to find a needle in one big ass fucking hay stack.

“AAAAAAH!”

That didn’t take long.

The moment the Humans partying inside the club caught sight of me, they all started flipping out.  They pushed and shoved each other in a rush for the emergency exits. Some dove under tables or behind the bar.

Through the jumble of panicked bodies, I noticed two big burly guys guarding a door in the back. They were stopping the crowd going in that door, and being pretty rough about it too. A young dude grabbed for the door handle. The two thugs picked him up off his feet and threw him away, knocking down terrified patrons like bowling pins.

Hmm, what could they be guarding?

Or who?

I’d bet my wings Joe Bianco’s in there.

I closed my eyes, concentrated, then opened them again.

It worked!

I was standing right in front of the door between the two guards.

I hadn’t used that trick, rematerializing, in a long time. I wasn’t sure I could still do it.

“Holy shit!”  one of the guards cried.

“Jesus Christ!” the other exclaimed.

They simultaneously pulled guns from inside their jackets, pointed them at me, and fired.

And shot each other.

Bullets just go right through me, you know.

“Come on, guys.  You can’t shoot a demon.”  I said, shaking my head as they fell to the floor clutching their wounds.

I shrugged and pushed open the door. Inside, the music was instantly drowned out when I closed the door. I was in a room was filled with comfy looking leather chairs and a couch. Hell of a lot more comfy looking than the Big Guy’s Throne. There was a small bar stocked with bottles of liquor of all different colors gleaming like gems. A shiny table held a half-full glass of amber liquor, an ashtray with a still burning cigarette, and some kind of paperwork.

But Joe Bianco wasn’t there.

Another door across the room was slightly ajar.

He must’ve split when he heard the ruckus and the gunshots out in the club.

The door led into a back alley running behind the club. Way up at the end of the alley, I had just enough time to see Joe Bianco jump in the back seat of a car before it tore away.

Oh, shit!

I can’t lose him! I can’t!

I closed my eyes. Concentrated. Opened them.

I was standing where the car had just been, looking up the street.

There were dozens of cars.

Dozens and dozens of cars going in all different directions. Traffic everywhere.

Fuck!

I can’t tell one car from another. They all look the same to me.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

I lost him.

Oh, the Big Guy is not going to like this at all!

Sirens were going off all over the place, and heading this way.

A bunch of cars wrecked, tons of Humans freaking, and two guys with gunshot wounds.  I’d caused a lot of trouble already, and I’ve only been here a few minutes.

Aluriel was right.

I’m not cut out for this shit.

I need to hide. Fast. If I keep showing my face, causing panic everywhere I go, the Big Guy’s going to really be pissed.

But where am I supposed to go now?

I was standing alone in the dark alley trying to figure out my next move, when somebody grabbed my arm and swung me around.

“Casmiel. What have you done?!”

Gamygyn.

His milky eyes couldn’t have looked any more shocked than mine.

I didn’t know what to say.

“You have caused so much trouble, Casmiel. Our Master is not pleased.”  he said.

“Yeah, I figured as much.”

Gamygyn shook his head.

” Are you even trying to complete your mission successfully?”

“Of course I’m trying! But what does he expect? I don’t belong in this World! It’s his own fault for sending me here in the first place!”

“Well, why didn’t you change your form and blend in with the Humans? You need to use stealth, follow the rules. You can’t expose our World to all of this one.  I know you don’t want to be here, Casmiel, but you must act like a demon and not like a fool,”  he shook his head again.  ”Please, Casmiel, just use your common sense. I’ll be watching out for you.”

With that, Gamygyn spread his ash gray wings and took off, leaving me standing in the alley looking stupid.

“Yeah, thanks for the help, fucker!”  I shouted at the air.

He could’ve at least helped me find where Bianco went!

Now what?

Change my form?

Change my form!

Damn it, I didn’t even think about that.

But I’ve never actually done it. I don’t think I could to it without some kind of help, or at least a guideline to follow. Something to give me the general idea of what to look like.

For now anyway, I need to get out of here and hide.

Another narrower alley ran off between the buildings behind the club. I headed down there.

It was pretty filthy. Trash all over the ground. A couple of rats scurried along the wall. With the high walls close on either side, the alley felt almost like a cave or a deep chasm. It felt kind of like Hell, actually. And it kept me well out of sight.

Every so often as I walked the long path, a dim light over a doorway would illuminate the garbage bags and cardboard boxes that nearly blocked the walkway in places. As I passed one of these islands of light in the darkness, I saw a filthy old guy sitting on a ragged blanket in a carboard box. The smell of mingled sweat, piss and booze smacked me in the face when I got close.

He stared, mouth agape, as I walked by, my wing brushing the top of his box. He didn’t speak until I’d gotten a few feet past him.

“Ya got a dollar?” he croaked.

I turned and looked at him a second.

Oh, what the hell.

I picked up an old piece of newspaper lying on the ground and handed it to him.

It had turned into a hundred dollar bill.

His eyes went wide and his hairy jaw dropped in amazement.

I heard him call out as I walked away, “God bless you, Mister! God bless you!”

Heh heh heh heh! Yeah, right!

“You have no idea, old man.”

Farther on, the alley widened out. I didn’t like it. I’d felt more concealed when it was narrow. Now I felt exposed.

There was an entrance from a side street, and stairs going up the back of the building. Some clotheslines crisscrossed the air above my head between the walls.

Shit.

I was at the end of the alley. It opened up on either side onto small side streets.

And…

Click, click, click, click.

Fuck! Somebody’s coming.

There was a dumpster and some wood boards against one wall. I ducked behind them and crossed my fingers that whoever it was would just walk by without noticing anything.

Just as I did, the footsteps stopped.

Peering out a little from my hiding spot, I could make out the shadowy silhouette of a girl standing in the entrance from one of the side streets.

And she was looking right at where I was.

Come on. Just keep walking.

She didn’t move.

Go on. Walk away. Nothing to see here. I don’t need anymore screaming Humans tonight.

“Who’s there?”  she said firmly.  “I can see you. Don’t fuck with me! I got pepper spray!”

I ducked down a little lower.

“Are you okay?”

Her voice had softened. It was rather pretty actually.

“Do you need help? Should I call an ambulance?”

She must’ve thought I looked hurt when I ducked down.

“No. Um…I’m fine. Thanks.”  I said.

Pay no attention to the man behind the dumpster.

“What’re you doing back there?”

Aww, come on! Can’t anybody just leave me alone?

“I’m hiding. What’s it look like?”

“Hiding from what?”  she asked.

“From you.”

That surprised her. She didn’t know what to say for a moment.

“Why are you afraid of me?”

“I’m not,”  I sighed.  ”I just don’t want to scare you, that’s all.”

“What are you talking about?”

Jesus Christ. This chick just won’t take a fucking hint!

“Look, sister. If you see me, you’re just going to start screaming and run away. I don’t need anymore of that shit tonight. Okay?”

“But…What do you look like?”  she asked.  ”You can’t be that ugly.”

What do I look like?

I don’t know. I’ve never seen a mirror.

“Just take my word for it.”

She stepped forward into the light from the stairs.

She looked pretty good for a Human.

Pale skin. Jet black hair pulled back in a ponytail, except for two purple locks that framed her pretty face. Shiny black boots clung to her thin legs to just below her knees. Her black and silver spiderweb patterned mini-skirt was cinched to her tiny waist by a leather belt with a silver skull buckle.

She had a lot of skulls.

I don’t mean she had a lot of heads, that would just be freaky.

There was a tiny silver skull dangling from each of her ears, and another on one of the many rings on her fingers. She also had a little diamond stud in the side of her nose and a small silver ring on her eyebrow.

She looked cool. Put some wings on her and she’d fit right in back in Hell.

There was a curious look on her face.

“Let me see for myself.”

Damn it.

“You asked for it, sister.”

I stepped out from behind the boards, flapped my wings once, and flew over the dumpster. I landed a couple of feet in front of her.

She gasped.

Here it comes.

…

But it didn’t.

She just stood there staring at me with those pretty blue eyes lined with black eyeliner. I noticed the polish on her fingernails was exactly the same shade of purple as the two locks framing her oval face.

I shrugged.

“W-what are you?”  she stammered.

“You’re not scared?”

She looked me up and down slowly.

“Um…No. Actually…You look kinda cool.”

Cool?

Nobody else tonight seemed to think so.

What was with this chick?

“But, what are you?” she repeated.

“I’m a demon. My name’s Casmiel. You can call me Cas.”  I told her.

“You’re a demon? Like, from Hell?”

“You got it.”

She swallowed hard, but didn’t run away.

“Um…I’m Gabby.”

“Hey, Gabby. How’s it goin’?”