Chapter 5: Hell’s Bells

 

 

Higher Hell

Chapter 5: Hell’s Bells

 

I didn’t get out of the recliner the whole next day.

I felt like shit.

Every time I tried to get up, my head pounded and my stomach did back flips.

Gabby’s attitude had morphed instantly from concern into amusement when she realized I was just hungover. She thought it was funny.

Not from where I’m sitting, sister.

“Never again.”

“You know how many times I’ve said that after a night out?” Gabby giggled.

“Yeah?  Well, then why’d you keep doing it after the first time?”

“‘Cause it’s fun while you’re out drinking and having a good time with your friends. You forget all about what you’ll feel like the next day.”

“I ain’t gonna forget! That’s the first and last time for me, sister!”

She giggled again.

It was the only sound that didn’t make my head throb.

And Gabby’s knowing smile even managed to make me smile.

The next morning was Sunday.

I’d been expecting to hear from Gamygyn ever since I’d fucked up and lost Bianco again, but he hadn’t shown his face at all, Human or demon.

He was probably too embarrassed to come here again after what I’d told him about Gabby thinking he was hot.

Speaking of Gabby, she was unusually quiet all morning. She seemed distracted, pacing around the apartment like she didn’t know what to do with herself.

Finally, she sat down on the couch and looked at me like she had come to a hard decision.

“I want to go to church.”  she said.

“So go.”

“I want you to come with me.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.  Hold on a minute,”  I said, taken aback.   “I don’t even know if I can go into a church. The Old Man probably wouldn’t like it, and I’m know it’s against the Big Guy’s rules. Besides, Humans don’t have a clue what they’re talking about with religion. Why would I want to listen to that?”

Gabby looked a little concerned.

“You think God would strike you down or something if you go in a church?”  she asked.

“I don’t know what he’d do, but the Big Guy would probably be pissed.  I’d rather not risk it either way.”

“Well, what if you just came and waited outside? I really want you to come with me, even if you don’t come inside.”

She was looking at me with those eyes.

You know. Those eyes.

I rolled my eyes with a  grimace.

I couldn’t say no to that look.

“Okay. I’ll go. But I’m staying outside.”

Gabby burst into a smile. I wouldn’t be able to say no to that smile either.

“Thanks, Cas. It means a lot to me.”

“This is so fucking weird.”  I said, shaking my head.

“What? Going to a church?”

“That too, but that’s not what I mean. It’s fucking weird that I actually like hanging out with you.”  I said.

“That doesn’t sound very nice.”

Gabby looked a little hurt.

Oops.  I didn’t mean it to come out like that.

“No, I mean…Well, I usually can’t stand Livies, you know, Humans. They normally creep me out and annoy me. But you don’t. That’s weird.”

She gave me an understanding nod and a smile.

“I like you too. It’s called ‘friends’.”

“I’m friends with a Livie, huh?”

“Like it or not, yeah.”  she grinned.

I shrugged.

“I can handle that, I guess.”

There it was.

Big-ass-stained-glass-spire-topped-wide-open-doored-gray-stone-fucking church.

The sucker was huge!

It reminded me of the Big Guy’s big fucking skull covered doors.

I suppose the Throne Room is kind of a church, but with a throne instead of an altar.  An un-holy church.

But this one was holy with a capital fucking ‘H’.

I didn’t like it, as if you couldn’t tell.

Gabby was decked out in a somber looking plain black skirt, top and jacket.  She looked like she was going to a funeral.  She gave me a weak smile, kind of like she didn’t know if she really wanted to do this. But she went up the steps, gave me a quick wave, and disappeared inside.

I suddenly got a wierd feeling in the pit of my stomach like she was being swallowed up by this big beast of a building. I had a strong urge to run in and snatch her back out of the jaws of this stone monster.

I’m just being stupid.  This is the safest place in the world for her to be.

There were a lot of people filing in through the big arched double doors. Most of them were old. A few of the old Livies gave me a quick glance and moved on a little faster. The rest just tried to ignore me.

They knew I didn’t belong here.

So did I.

I leaned back against the wall, hands in my pockets, and wondered. How many of these old Livies are here because of a lifelong habit of coming, and how many are just here ’cause they’re old, they know they’re gonna die soon, and they think they need to square things up with the Old Man?

Hmph!  As if it would work like that.

The stupid part was that the majority of these Humans were probably good and were going to Heaven in the end anyway, whether they went to church or not.  Whether they even believed or not.

As the last few stragglers made their way inside, I noticed somebody else just hanging out, leaning against the wall on the other side of the doors. A kind of nasty looking guy.

And he was staring through the Humans entering the church straight at me.

The last of the churchgoers entered the arched doorway and a guy in a badly fitting suit and tie came out and shut the wooden doors.

The other guy was still staring at me.

He looked terrible. He stood kind of slouched, hunched over a bit, his knees slightly bent like they couldn’t carry his weight, which couldn’t have been much. The guy was scrawny as hell with filthy torn clothes. His black hair was a tangled mess. His hands were dirty, and his feet were crammed into unlaced boots that were way too big for him.

But the really terrible thing was the look on his face.

Hate.

Pure absolute loathing.  Like I was the most vile, disgusting, most hated thing in existence.

I looked around.

Nobody else anywhere.

It was definitely me he was glaring at like he hated my guts. Like he wanted nothing more than to see me drop dead where I stood.

What the fuck did I do?  I’ve never even seen this dude before.

Was it my Human form? Maybe I accidentally made myself look like somebody that fucked his girlfriend, stole his car, and ran over his dog.

Hell if I know what his problem is.

Hell.

Hey!

He can’t tell I’m not Human can he?

I looked myself over real quick.

Nope. No wings poking out or anything. I shouldn’t look like anything other than some gothy young punk standing against a wall.

The guy didn’t move. He didn’t say anything. He just stood there. All sunken cheeks, pointy chin and nose, and those deep set dark eyes full of hate.  I could almost see the mix of rage and contempt swirling behind those eyes.

Hmph.

Just ignore him.

If he ain’t got the balls to come out and say what’s up, then I ain’t gonna give a shit.

Whatever.

I just stared off into space and waited for Gabby to get done with whatever bullshit they were up to inside the church.

What a way to spend the morning!

BONG!

Shit!

Fucking church bell! It startled me.

Isn’t that just a bit ironic?

I’d zoned out standing there. The service must’ve ended.

BONG!

What the fuck!?

I was startled again, but not by the bells this time.

The scrawny, hate filled freak was standing right in front of me, his pointy nose only about a foot from mine.

BONG!

I never even saw him move. How long was he in front of me?

He grinned at me. A nasty, angry grin with crooked, rotten yellow and brown teeth.

BONG!

“Ask not for whom the bell tolls…”  he said.

BONG!

“It tolls for thee.”

He laughed. Kind of an odd cross between a snigger and a cackle.

The doors of the church swung open and the first people started filing out. I glanced over at them and back again.

In the second it took me to throw that glance at the doors, the Freaky Guy had buggered off.

I didn’t see him anywhere.  The guy was fast, I had to give him that.

But what the hell was that all about?

Hmph.  Livies. I’ll never understand them.

“Cas.”  Gabby called.

Except maybe this Livie.

Gabby had come out and pushed throught the old people to me.

“So, how was it?” I asked.

“I think you’re right, Cas. They really don’t know what they’re talking about do they?”

“Heh heh, nope.  Not a clue.”

“Well, I didn’t really come here to listen anyway,”  she said.  ”I’d been thinking about my Mom and I wanted to come here for her really.”

“I thought it might’ve had something to do with that.”

“Sorry you had to wait out here so long. It was probably pretty damn boring, huh?”

Heh heh heh.

“Boring?  Not quite.”  I chuckled.

I told her about the Freaky Guy as we headed back to Gabby’s place. When I described what he looked like, she stopped in her tracks.

“Wait a minute. A dirty, skinny guy with messy black hair? Did he have oversized boots and ripped clothes?”

“Yeah.”

“Kind of a pointy looking face?”  she asked.

“That’s him, yeah. You know him?”

“No, but I saw him hanging out in the alley when whe left the apartment.”

Hang on.  He’s following me?

Or following us?

“And you don’t know who he is?”  I asked.

“No. That was the first time I’d seen him, as far as I can remember.”

Hmm…

Maybe he was just some crackhead that didn’t like the look of me and followed us to tell me so.

Or he could be a stalker following Gabby. He might’ve been pissed at me for being with her.

Who the fuck knows?

But if he is a stalker after Gabby, he sure picked the wrong chick. Imagine his rotten luck, picking on the one girl in the city who’s friends with a demon. A full fledged creature of Hell. Servant of Satan.

Sucks to be him.

I kept my eyes peeled the whole way back to Gabby’s place. I didn’t see him anywhere, but I kind of hoped I would.

It’d be fun, you know.

Catch him staring at us from some alleyway, rematerialize in front of him, take normal form, and scare the living shit out of him.

Heh heh heh.

You know, I might miss my fire, I might just want to be left alone, and I might be totally annoyed with most of the damn Livies around here, but I am kind of having fun in this World.

Who’d've thought?