Chapter 1: Damned If You Do…

 

 

HIGHER HELL

Chapter 1: Damned If You Do…

It was an average day in Hell.

You know.

Hot, firey, lots of screaming souls.  The usual.

Nothing special.

I sat staring at my favorite fire, like I always do. You know, in all the millennia I’ve been watching it, I don’t think the flames have ever lapped and flickered and fluttered the same way twice. I should know.

My name is Casmiel, by the way. I’m a demon. So obviously, I know the fires of Hell inside and out.

Well, at least my favorite one anyway.

An eternity of sitting on my ass being bored.  That’s what Hell was for me.

Until my buddy, Gamygyn, approached me (and my fire) through the smoke and ash on this boringly average day.

“Casmiel. How are you?”

I shrugged.

“Same shit, different millennium.”  I replied.

Gamygyn frowned a bit and nodded.

He’s a pretty cool guy, Gamygyn. One of my oldest friends.  Long, shiny black hair, blind looking milky eyes, embers smoldering in the feathers of his ash colored wings. Always so serious though. It might be Hell, but lighten up for Christ’s sake.

“What have you been doing lately, Casmiel?”

“Nothing. Just sittin’ here. Why?”

He gave me a look like he wasn’t sure he believed me.

“Come on,”  I said.  “You’ve known me long enough to know I don’t do much of anything.  Ever.”

In fact, I’ve got a pretty good streak of doing nothing going. It’s probably a record.

“Well, I think you may be in trouble, Casmiel.”

I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Me?  What the hell gives you that idea?”

“The Big Guy wants to see you.” he answered darkly.

“The Big Guy? Me?  Why would he want to see me?”

I don’t think I’d spoken two words to him since we landed in this hole. What could he want with me after all this time?

“I don’t know,”  Gamygyn said, looking a little concerned.  “He just told me to tell you he wants to see you in the Throne room.”

Damn it.

I was enjoying just lounging here. I hate having to go anywhere.

I’m a lazy demon.

“Fuck. Well, I guess it wouldn’t be good to keep him waiting. Especially if I’m in trouble.”  I grumbled.

Don’t know why I would be. I ain’t done anything.

I got up and started for the Throne room.

“Aren’t you going to rematerialize?”  Gamygyn asked.

I could’ve just transported myself there instantly and rematerialized at the Throne room.  But that would take too much concentration.  Too much effort.

“Nah.  I’ll walk.”

Gamygyn tagged along with me.  I imagine his curiosity was getting the better of him.

Hmm.

Satan. Lucifer. Beelzubuth. Mephistoph- Mestifof- Metifstosofleas- Whatever the hell Humans are calling him these days.

The Big Guy.

The reason we’re all here.

As Gamygyn and I walked, we passed a lot of stuff that might interest anybody else.

But not us.

Fire, brimstone, tormented souls, other demons.

Same old, same old.

I should wear something that says ‘I spent an eternity in Hell and all I got was this lousy t-shirt’.

Sigh.

Life’s a bitch for a fallen angel.

That’s what we are, after all. Before we were demons, we were angels.  But, shit happened and, what can I say, I got drawn into the losing side of an argument.

The Argument.

Worst part was, I wasn’t even that interested in the whole deal.

I was a lazy angel, too.

So here I am, spending eons staring at a fire, trying really hard to not try hard at anything.

And on my way to see the Big Guy.

What in Hell could he want with me?

It’s not like I’m good at anything. And he doesn’t summon anyone for just a casual chat. Not me anyway.

“Watch yourself, Cas.”  Gamygyn said.

“Huh?  What-  Eeeew!  What the fuck!?”

As we passed the opening of a cavernous chamber, a pair of hands reached out for me.

“HELP ME!  PLEASE, HELP ME!”

A Human soul.

I don’t know if it was male or female. It’s body was charred and cracked. Blood and puss oozed from the fissures in the blackened flesh. It’s eyes were wide and bulging.

The soul’s hands scrabbled at the rocky, ash covered floor. It screamed as another demon sunk his claws into its legs and dragged it back.

“Sorry ’bout that.” The demon apologized without looking at me.

I shuddered.

I hate those things. The Human souls. Disgusting. I usually stay as far away from them as possible.

Gamygyn and I peered inside.

It was a whole bunch of medieval witch hunters being burned at the stake over and over again. They must’ve been at it for five hundred years or more. And they still didn’t get it.

Hmph.

Like I said, same old shit.

“Give that one an extra kick in the ass for me.” I called to the demons inside.

One of them gave me a quick thumbs up and went back to piling more wood on the fire.

If it ain’t bad enough I gotta get up and go see the Big Guy, I gotta have a filthy sould try to put it’s hands on me too.

This is shaping up to be a really shitty day.

We rounded a corner and saw the Throne room looming ahead of us.

Big fucking doors!

I’d never realized just how enormous the skull encrusted doors to the Throne room were.  Actually, I don’t think I’d ever been this close to it before. Never needed to.

We stopped and looked up at the doors.

“Um,…Do we knock on the Devil’s door? Or do we just walk in?”  I asked.

It’s not like there was a sign, ‘Walk-ins Welcome’ or ‘Please wait to be seated’. Not even a ‘Ring bell for service’.

Before Gamygyn could reply, the doors slowly opened on their own with an appropriately foreboding moan.

“Well, here we go.”

“What do you mean we?”  Gamygyn blanched.  “He wants to see you.  I’ll just wait outside.”

“Gee, thanks.”  I muttered.

I started up the long path to the Throne. It was lined by about a dozen or so demon monks (yeah, we have those) all in black robes, hoods hiding their faces, and holding flaming torches. They were muttering something in unison. I couldn’t make it out.

What a job they have! Hate to be them.

There was the Throne.

All bones and jagged looking rock. Didn’t look very comfortable. If I was supreme ruler of the Underworld, I’d have something comfy that let me put my feet up.

But the Throne was empty.

He calls me all the way here out of the blue, and he’s not even here to meet me? He can’t be that pissed if he’s in no hurry to see me.

What am I doing here?

I should be taking a nap in front of my fire right about now.

“Casmiel. At last.”

He came strolling in from a side chamber near the Throne.

The Big Guy. Satan.

He wasn’t that big really. Just normal size. But you could feel the power coming off him. He wore a plain black priest’s cassock that covered him to the ankles. I could see his hooves though. He’s got the legs of a goat. The hooves click-clacked on the stone floor as he walked towards me.

His skin really is red like Humans seem to think. Not bright red though.  He just looks like he’s got a sunburn. Goat-like horns poked out through his thick wavy black hair.

“You could have been here much sooner. Why didn’t you rematerialize? Why do you make your Master wait?”

I shrugged.

Because I didn’t want to come, of course. But I wasn’t going to tell him that.

“You have no ambition at all, do you Casmiel?” He said with a faint smirk as he sat himself on the Throne.

“No, not really.” No point denying that.

The Big Guy sat there staring at me for a long moment with those piercing powerful eyes.

It was more than a little disconcerting.

And I was already bored.

“You have never gone forth to serve me, Casmiel. You have never done anything in service of me. In fact, I’m told you do nothing but stare at a fire forever.”

Hey, don’t bring my fire into this.

“Why don’t you serve your Master, Casmiel?”

I shrugged.

“Not much I can really do, I guess.”

“You sell yourself short. You have as much power to serve as anyone does.”

Yeah, sure.

I didn’t like where this was going.

“Yes, Master. I’ll try harder from now on.”

“No.”

Okay, now he looked pissed.

I really didn’t like where this was going now.

“Yes, Master. What would you have me do?”

Nothing big I hope.

He smiled.

Oh, shit. This isn’t going to be good.

“You’ve never been to the World of the Living, have you?”

Oh, no! Oh, no no no no no!

You’ve got to be kidding!

“In fact, I understand that you alone of all the creatures in my realm have never been to the Human World. Why is that?”

Why do you think?

“Well, um…I guess I just havn’t been that interested in Livies.  I mean, the Living.” I said.

That was an understatement!

Truth is, Livies creep me out. Running around doing all the crazy shit they do. They just bug me.

“I think it would do you good to visit the Living.  That’s why I’m sending you on a mission to their World.  It’s time you took an interest in Humans, Casmiel.  After all, they are the reason we are here,”  the Big Guy said, gesturing at the surroundings.  “ There is a man whose soul belongs to Hell. He has become a very powerful man. A criminal among criminals. A murderer, thief, liar, a sinner second to none. You will retrieve his soul and bring it to Hell for punishment. It will make me very happy, Casmiel. And then you may return to your little fire if you wish.”

Well, what could I do?

“Yes, Master. I will bring you his soul.”

“Very good,”  he grinned.  “Aluriel will have the details for you.”

The Big Guy rose from his Throne and the doors opened on their own again.

Guess I was dismissed.

I turned and started back down the path between the monks in a much worse mood than when I came.

“And Casmiel.”

I stopped in my tracks.

Now what?

I turned in time to see him click-clacking his way back into the side chamber.

“Don’t fail me.”

Great. That’s me told.

The big fucking skull covered doors slammed shut behind me with an echoing BOOM.

Damn it damn it damn it.

Why couldn’t he just leave me alone?

So I hadn’t done anything to “serve” him. Big deal. I hadn’t done anything wrong either. I wasn’t trying to sneak back into Heaven or anything like that. I gave up hope of ever going back there a long time ago.

Besides, Heaven might be more comfortable than Hell, but it was really just as boring.

Why’s he got to pick on me?

“How’d it go?”  Gamygyn asked.

“He sent me on a mother fucking mission.”  I said.

His milky eyes grew wide.

“A mission? What kind of mission could he have for you?”

“I gotta go collect a soul from the Human World.”

Gamygyn was dumbstruck for a moment. He stared open mouthed at me, his ashy wings twitching.

“But you’ve never even been to the World of the Living. Why send you?”

“He says I haven’t served him enough.”  I said with a roll of my eyes.

His eyebrows arched and he nodded solemnly.

“That is true, you know, Casmiel. But this seems a rather harsh way to make you start.”

“Tell me about it.” I grumbled.

Gamygyn walked with me to the Gates.

The Gates of Hell.  You’ve heard of them, I’m sure.

As we walked, he kept throwing me little sideways glances and then shaking his head.

Yeah, I didn’t believe it either.

We approached the Gates and the gatekeeper, Aluriel, came out to meet us.

Aluriel had a big flaming bull’s skull for a head and the thick legs of a bull. A big ass key hung from a chain on his belt. I gave Aluriel a half-hearted wave.

“Cas! Gamygyn! What’re you guys doin’ out this way? Lost or somethin’?”

“I wish.”  I said.   ”How’s it goin’, Al?”

“Can’t complain, can’t complain,”  he said.  “ Ain’t seen you in eons. You been sittin’ in front of a fire all this time?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“So what brings you two out here?”

“Casmiel has a mission in the World of the Living.” Gamygyn informed him.

Aluriel looked at us both for a moment.

“Ah hah ha ha ha ha haaah!”

Flames shot out of his nose when he laughed. They blew back Gamygyn’s long shiny black hair.

“Oh, good one, guys! Good one! Like Cas would ever go to the World of the Living! Nothin’ could get you outta Hell! Ha ha ha! Am I right?”

“I wish you were, Al, but the Big Guy really has sent me on a mission.”

Aluriel stared at me in shock, then turned to Gamygyn.

“He’s serious?”

“Dead serious.” Gamygyn replied darkly.

“Holy shit, Cas! What’d you do to piss the Big Guy off?”

“Nothing. That’s the problem.”  I said.

“Damn,” he said, shaking his horny head. “I was given info for somebody goin’ out, but I never woulda guessed it was for you!”

Aluriel fished a bony hand in a leather pouch on his hip. He pulled out a roll of parchment with a picture of a middle aged Human on it.

“Well, looks like you’re after a guy named Joseph Bianco. Ooooh, he’s a real piece of shit! Right now, you can find him at a night club he owns called La Villa Blue.”

“Joe Bianco. La Villa Blue.” I repeated, memorizing the picture. “Got it.”

“I can open the Gate so you’re pretty close to the place. You know what you’re gonna do then?”

Fuck no! I didn’t have a clue what I was doing!

“Um…Yeah, sure. No problem. I’ll be back before you know it.”

Aluriel looked at me like he didn’t buy a word of it.

Neither did I.

He shook his horny head again, took the big ass key from his belt, and stuck it in the Gate lock. With a loud clunk, it unlocked and swung open.

Gamygyn reached out his hand and shook mine.

“Good luck, Casmiel. I’ll keep an eye out for you in case you get into trouble.”

“Thanks, buddy.”

“Give ‘em hell, Cas.” Aluriel said.

“Yeah, thanks.”

I’m gonna need it.

I stepped through, and as he swung the Gate closed, I heard Aluriel mutter to Gamygym, “He won’t last five minutes out there.”

Thanks for the boost of confidence!

I looked down.

A city stretched out below me.  It was night, and the city was all lit up like it was scattered with bright little fires.

It made me think longingly of my fire.

Hopefully, I’d be back to my fire soon.

I took a deep breath, spread my big black, crow-like wings, and dove towards the city lights directly below.

“This is gonna suck.”

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’?”

Chapter 3: Guardian Angel of Death?

HIGHER HELL

Chapter 3: Guardian Angel of Death

Okay, this is going to seem weird, but next thing I knew, Gabby had invited me up to her apartment.

What kind of Human invites a demon into their home?

This kind apparently.

She sat cross legged on the couch watching me as I took a seat in a really comfy looking chair. It was a little threadbare, but it felt like Heaven to me.

“There’s a lever on the side if you want to put your feet up.”  she said.

I pulled the lever and leaned way back.

Oooooh, yeahhhhh!

This is what I need in front of my fire!

“So…Hell is real?”  Gabby asked a little timidly.

“Sure is.”

“What’s it like?”

There was just a hint of fear in her voice when she asked, but it was trumped by curiosity.

“’Bout what you’d expect, I guess. It’s hot, firey. Lots of Human souls being tormented.”

“Tormented by what? Demons? Satan?”

“Well, some demons help torture souls,”  I explained.  “ The Big Guy- Satan, I mean- he doesn’t do any of that himself though.  He’s more like a supervisor or something.   Most souls just get tortured by visions and sensations of all the evil things they did to other people being done to them.”

“And Heaven really exists too?”

“Sure.”

“Do souls ever get out of Hell and go to Heaven?”  Gabby asked.  “Or are they stuck there forever?”

“Yeah, it’s possible for them to get out of Hell, but it usually takes a really long time for it to happen. And then only rarely.”

“Why?”

“’Cause they have to actually regret what they did. Not just regret getting caught. They can’t be sorry because of their own suffering. They have to feel truly sorry for the people they hurt,”  I said.  “You sure ask a lot of questions.”

“Sorry, but I’ve just had everything I never believed- not really believed anyway- proven to be true. And how often do you get to talk to somebody who actually knows, you know?”

“Heh heh. You got me there.”

“So, why are you here anyway?”

Ugh…I didn’t even want to think about it.

“I was sent to collect a guy’s soul,”  I told her.   ”But I kind of, well…I fucked it up. Big time.”

“A bad guy?”

“Oh, yeah. Major scumbag.”

She was looking at me with her head cocked to the side for a moment, like she was trying to figure me out.

“It’s funny,”  she said finally.   ”You don’t seem very evil.”

I was shocked.

“Huh?  Why would I be?”

“Well, you’re a demon, a servant of Satan, right? Shouldn’t you be evil? Satan is pure evil isn’t he?”

“Where the fuck did you get that idea?”

“It’s common knowledge! Everybody knows Satan and all his…his ‘minions’, or whatever, are evil.”

“That’s bullshit.”  I said simply.

Gabby looked totally confused.

“I don’t get it.”

I shook my head.

“Look, it’s pretty simple. Satan punishes bad people, evil people. He’s strict, I’ll give him that. He can be a real hard ass of a boss. But how can you think he’s evil when his whole job is to punish evil?  Say what you will about the Big Guy, but I’d say he’s essentially good.”

“I never thought of that.”  she said.

“Well, now you know.”

Gabby still wasn’t totally convinced though.  Not that I was surprised.  Humans have always got the truth about our Worlds all jumbled up.

“But, what about the whole ‘battle for people’s souls’ between God and the Devil?”  she asked.

“Battle? Hmph, there was never a battle. Just an argument. The Old Man, er- God, I mean- and Satan disagreed over how much Humans should know. That’s it really. The Argument just got a little out of hand and, well, we all ended up tossed out on our asses.”

“So you were on the Devil’s side in the argument?”

“More or less,”  I shrugged.  ”I really didn’t care that much either way. But I thought the Big Guy had a point. Why not let Humans see us and know about Heaven and everything? But the Old Man didn’t see it that way.”

“Ha ha ha ha!”  she laughed.

What the hell?

It was pretty though. It sounded nice.

“What’s so funny?”  I asked.

“I can’t believe I’m sitting in my living room talking to a real live demon about all this shit. Oh! Sorry, I probably shouldn’t call it ‘shit’, should I?”

“Why not? I do.”

Gabby sat there studying me for a minute.  It didn’t feel nearly as disconcerting as when the Big Guy did it.

“You sure are one weird chick, sister.”

“Why’s that?”  she said, a little taken aback.

Why?

Why do you think?

“Like you said, you’ve got a real creature of Hell in your living room, but you’re not scared or freaking out like all the other Humans I’ve seen tonight. That’s just fucking weird.”

She laughed again.

I definitely like that sound.

“You’re not gonna hurt me, right?”

“’Course not. Why would I?”

“Then I don’t have any reason to be scared.”  she said.

“Fair enough.”

BANG! BANG! BANG!

She jumped.

The noise startled me too.

Somebody was pounding on her door.

“I know you’re home! Open up!” A growly man’s voice barked from outside the door.

“Fucking asshole.”  Gabby muttered as she got up.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

“I’m coming! I’m coming!” she yelled, annoyed.

She started unlocking the door but stopped and shot me a scared look.

“Uh, Cas was it? You better hide!” she whispered.

Shit.  That’s right! If she opens the door, whoever it is will see me and probably freak!

I jumped up out of the chair and swung around the corner into the tiny kitchen.

I heard the door creak open.

“Where the fuck’s my rent money?” the voice growled.

“Just a sec.”  she replied.

Gabby hurried into the kitchen and fished her hand in a jar on the countertop.

“Landlord.” she mouthed silently with a roll of her eyes.

She pulled a wad of bills from the jar and returned to the living room.

I heard the guy flipping through the cash as he counted it.

“You’re 150 bucks short. Where’s the rest?”

“I don’t have it yet,”  she told him.  ”I can get it to you next Friday. I promise.”

“You’re already a week late! And you already promised you’d have it all this week!”

He sounded pissed.

“Well, I’m sorry! I don’t have it. And besides, you promised you’d fix that light in the bathroom a month ago, and it still ain’t fucking fixed!”  Gabby shot back defiantly.

“Don’t take that tone with me! You’re lucky I even let you stay here!”

“Yeah, lucky me.” she said with enough sarcasm to choke a fucking whale.

The Landlord’s growly voice got quieter.

“There’s other ways you can pay me, you know.”

“Uh, no thanks- Ah! Let go of me, asshole!”

Huh?!

“HEY!”  I shouted.

I swung around the corner and saw a bald guy in a dirty t-shirt and boxers holding Gabby’s wrists in his hairy hands, his body pressed up against hers.

He stared at me, his eyes popping out of his head and his mouth hanging open in shock.

“The lady said she’ll have it Friday, asshole! Now fuck off!”  I growled.

He let go of Gabby and tripped over his own feet in a stumbling effort to get out of the room.

“Okay! Okay! Friday!… Oh, shit!”

He ran off down the hall. I could hear him pounding down the stairs as fast as he could.

Gabby shut the door and started laughing her ass off.

“That was great!”  she said.  ”I’m so glad I met you tonight!”

She was laughing so hard there were tears forming in her eyes.

“He looked like a real scumbag.” I said.

“He is. That fucker’s been trying to get in my pants since I moved in.” she said as she flopped back down on the couch. “It’s a good thing you look like that.”

“Look like what?”

“Like you do.”  she said, gesturing at me.

I glanced down at my body, my legs, my arms and shrugged.

“You don’t know what you look like?”

She sounded truly amazed.

“No mirrors in Hell.”

“You’re kidding!”

Gabby jumped up again, crossed the room and opened a closet door. A full length mirror hung on the inside of the door.

She grabbed my arm and pulled me in front of it.

“Huh. So that’s what I look like.”

Most of it I knew.

Long spindly legs wrapped in tight black leather sprouting out of my big, black charred boots. My belt made of Human finger bones with a skeleton hand for the buckle circled my waist. My skin, the color of old parchment, showed my ribs and muscles so clearly you could’ve counted each one.  My long, black coat covered my arms and shoulders and hung to below my knees. It had tarnished gold pentagram buttons and two little silver skulls on the collar. My hands were bony and skeletal with long sharp nails.  And, of course, there were my big black, feathery crow-like wings.

My face was new to me.

 A mouthful of sharp pointy teeth. Fangs really. And my mouth was far too wide for my face, much wider than a Humans, so that I didn’t have much in the cheeks department. My nose was just two bumpy holes like a skull’s. My eyes were big and red. The ears were kind of withered like a dried out corpse’s. My hair was spiky and black with silvery tips.

She was right.

I do look kinda cool.

A perfect demon.

Far cry from my old angelic form. I’d been able to see that reflected in the pools of crystal water in Heaven. I used to spend a lot of time sitting by the pools of cool water then. Funny that I ended up sitting by a fire later in Hell.

Shit.

I am going to have to change my form. I can’t keep walking around in the Human World looking like this.

“I need to change.” I said.

“You have more clothes?”  Gabby asked.

“No, I mean change my body. So I can go out without causing a riot.”

“Oh, you can do that?”

“Yeah, but I’ve never tried it,”  I said.  ”Let me get a good look at you for a minute and I’ll try getting the shapes and colors right.”

She took a step back and stood there for me.

Okay.  You can do this, Casmiel.

First, let’s flesh out my form and face so I’m not so skeletal. Make my skin the same pale tone as Gabby’s. My hair I’ll leave alone. I like it spiked. But I’ll change the silver tips to match the purple locks framing Gabby’s face.

“Smile for me.”  I said.

She put on a big fake, goofy looking smile.

Okay. Make my teeth Human shape, and my mouth normal size. Better change my red eyes. I’ll go with blue ones like hers. And, what the hell, I’ll add some black eyeliner and an eyebrow ring like Gabby’s too.

Last but not least, take away my wings.

“There. How’s that?”  I asked her.

She looked me up and down with eyes wide with surprise.

“Uh…Great. But, um…”

“What? I screw something up?”

She made an embarrassed gesture at my body.

“You’re, um…You’re naked now.”

She blushed and gave a little giggle.

How cute.

Damn it.

I concentrated too much on my body and forgot clothes!

My big black boots.

Tight leather pants.

White t-shirt with black runes on it.

My long black jacket.

“Better?”

“Oh, yeah! You look great!”  she said.  ”You could be my brother or something!”

I glanced down at my new Human body.

“So, uh…What did you think?…Before the clothes, I mean.”

Gabby looked me over and blushed slightly again.

She shrugged.

“I’ve seen better.”  she said.

Hmph.

There’s no pleasing some Humans.

“Not bad though.” she added with a sly little wink.

Heh heh heh.

“By the way, what are those symbols on your shirt?” she asked.

“Oh, these runes?”

“Yeah. What’s it mean?”

“It says, ‘I spent an eternity in Hell, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt’.”

Chapter 4: Fallen Angels Fall Hard

 

 

Higher Hell

Chapter 4: Fallen Angels Fall Hard

 

I slept in Gabby’s chair that night.

I wanted to get as much use of it as possible before I had to go back to Hell.

Wish I could take one with me.  It’s a hell of a lot better than sitting on a fucking boulder.

Gabby woke me up with her scurrying around in the morning.

“Do you eat?”  as she came out of the kitchen stuffing a piece of toast in her mouth.

“Never have,”  I said.  ”I don’t need to eat or drink, but I suppose I could.”

“Oh. Well, come here. I’ll get you something.”

I climbed out of the recliner, stretched, and followed Gabby into the kitchen. I took a seat on a padded stool by the counter.

Gabby placed a plastic bowl and a spoon in front of me with a colorful box of sugary cereal and a carton of milk.

“There you go.”  she said.

Holy shit!

“This stuff’s good! I like eating!”  I said as I shovelled it in my mouth.

Gabby swigged down a cup of coffee while I ate my cereal.

“I gotta go to work. You gonna go out today? Try out your new body?”  Gabby asked.

“Not ’til after dark. I don’t think the guy I’m after will come around until then.”

“You gonna be all right here by yourself?”

“Sure,”  I shrugged.  ”Might get a little bored, but I’m used to that.”

I thought a little longingly of my fire back in Hell, burning away without me.  I missed it.  Who’d have thought when I was booted out of Heaven that I’d actually miss Hell one day?

I followed Gabby back into the living room as she got ready to leave. She picked up the TV remote and switched it on.

“Here,” she handed me the remote. “Maybe you can find something to watch while I’m gone.”

I flipped through a few channels.

“Cool!”

It’s like watching my fire, but a whole lot more interesting.

“I’ll be back about six,”  Gabby said as she headed for the door.  ”Have fun.”

“Yeah, I think I will.”

I spent the whole fucking day swilling cereal and watching TV. Now I see why Humans do this all the time.

I watched a little of everything. Soap operas, news, sports, music, cartoons, do-it-yourself shows, documentaries, talk shows, infomercials.

The religious channels made me laugh. They didn’t have a fucking clue.

And what’s with all the fucking commercials?!

Don’t get me wrong, I thought they were cool too, but they kept interupting the more interesting stuff.

I saw a commercial for the cereal I was chowing down on. It said they were “magically delicious”.

Fuckin’ right, they are!

But mostly what I saw was a lot of stuff that just proves Humans are stupid.

I mean, people actually waste an hour every day of their lives watching Oprah?

Jesus Christ!  I’d rather watch my fire burning any day than turn my brain to goo with that shit again!

And the news was just ridiculous. I couldn’t believe there were so many channels dedicated to talking to no end about all the bad shit happening to Humans all over the World! It really got me when they’d call natural disasters ‘acts of God’. Please! Like the Old Man had anything to do with it. If he randomly did shit like that to Humans, I wouldn’t want to go back to Heaven.  It would just be mean.

Not that I’m that worried about going back anyways. I try not to think about that much. Lost cause.

I didn’t even realize how long I’d been sitting there until Gabby walked in.

“Hey, Cas.”

“Hey.”

“You find anything to watch?” she asked.

“Hell yeah. Tons of stuff,”  I said.  ”You’re out of cereal, by the way. You know it’s ‘magically delicious’?”

“Yeah, I know,” she chuckled. “That’s okay. I don’t usually eat enough of it before it goes stale anyway.”

Gabby busied herself making some dinner. I didn’t want any. I think a whole box of cereal was enough for one day.

After she’d eaten, Gabby planted herself cross-legged on the couch and sat there quiet for a while.  She seemed totally lost in thought.

“You’ve been to Heaven, right?” she asked suddenly.

Oh. That.

After last night’s conversation about Hell, I’d been kind of expecting this to come up.

“Yeah, before the Fall that’s where I lived.”  I said.

“So, what’s it like?”

I shrugged.

“It’s okay.”

Gabby raised an eyebrow at me.

“Okay? That’s it?”  she said like she didn’t believe me.

“Well, okay, it’s more than that, but it’s hard to describe. It’s pretty. How exactly I couldn’t say. It’s full of angels, of course. And Human souls, though I never dealt much with them.  Everybody’s happy there, or at least content.  The angel’s go about their business and the souls hang out with all their friends and relatives…I don’t know.  The best way I could put it is it’s like living forever in total, constant comfort and satisfaction.”

I’d been dreading this conversation a little. Like I said, I try not to think about Heaven if I can help it.

“What about God?”  Gabby asked.  ”What’s he like?”

“Hmm, the Old Man?  He’s kinda like a friendly old grandfather.  He’s a nice guy.  Really powerful, but not overbearing.  You get a warm and…I guess loving sort of feeling from him.  But at the same time, he’s sort of cold and distant. I know that doesn’t make any sense, but he’s a hard guy to get your head around, you know.”

Gabby got quiet again. She looked sad, which wasn’t exactly the reaction I’d expected.

I didn’t like to see her look that way.

What’s up with that?

“My Mom’s there. At least, I hope she is.”  she said in a small voice.

“She’s dead, huh?”

“Yeah. She was shot. It was about seven years ago.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

That sounded like a stupid thing for me to say, but what the hell are you supposed to say to something like that?

After a few minutes, she looked up at me. Her blue eyes were moist and glistening.

“If I end up in Hell, and my Mom’s in Heaven, that’ll be okay. But what if I go to Heaven and she’s in Hell? How could I be happy there knowing where she is?”

Damn.  I’m no good at this shit.

What am I supposed to tell her?

“I don’t know, Gabby.  I guess you’d just have to keep hoping she eventually regrets what she did and makes it to Heaven in the end.”

She looked away, still worried about her Mother’s fate. More so than she was about her own. Weird. I didn’t think most Humans would care where anybody else went, as long as they got to Heaven themselves.

“Listen, Gabby. You gotta be a real scumbag to go to Hell. You have to have really hurt people in some way. If she was anything like you, I’m sure she’s not in Hell.”

She flashed a pretty smile.

“Thanks, Cas.”

Hey, I actually made her feel better! Imagine that.

We sat chatting about the stuff I’d seen on TV that day for a while. She didn’t like Oprah either as it turned out. I was just killing time until I could go to La Villa Blue and take another shot at Joe Bianco.

If I’m lucky, I might be able to return to Hell tonight.

You know, I actually felt a little conflicted about that.  I was enjoying getting to know Gabby. She’s a cool kid. A cool Human.  I may just miss her when I go back. Wonder if the Big Guy would let me come visit her once in a while? Some demons hang out in the World of the Living quite a bit. Even when they don’t have a mission. Guess it depends whether I actually succeed in my mission or not. If I fail, the Big Guy probably won’t let me do shit anymore.

It was almost eleven o’clock, and I was about to tell Gabby I was gonna head out, when there was a light, almost tentative knock at the door.

“You expecting somebody?” I asked.

“No,” she shook her head.  I don’t know who would be here this late.”

She got up to answer it, her brow was furrowed trying to think who it could be.

Gabby opened the door just a crack.

“Hello?”

“Hello. I’m looking for a friend of mine. I think you know him. His name is Casmiel.”

Gabby’s head jerked around to look at me so fast I thought she’d snap her neck.

“Um…It’s for you.”  she said, shocked.

Not nearly as shocked as I was.

Who the hell would come looking for me? Especially here.

I went to the door and Gabby opened it wider for me to see out.

There was a tall thin guy in jeans and a leather jacket standing in the hall. He had long shiny black hair and gray eyes.

“Casmiel, I need to talk to you.” He gave Gabby a nervous glance. “Alone.”

“Uh, sorry, but who are you?”  I asked.

“It’s me, Gamygyn.”  he replied.

“Oh! Okay. Just give me a sec. I’l be right out.”

Gabby closed the door lightly as I went back to grab my jacket off the recliner.

“Who is that?” she whispered so Gamygyn wouldn’t hear her outside.

“Gamygyn. A buddy of mine. He’s a demon too. I’ve never seen him in his Human form before.”

“That’s a demon?!”  she said, surprised.  “He’s hot!”

Heh heh heh.  A Human think’s he’s hot?  That would probably embarrass the hell out of Gamygyn.  I’ll have to remember to mention it.

“I’ll be back later.” I assured her as I left.

Gamygyn and I walked out of the building and went to a dark corner outside.

“So what’s up?”  I asked.

“Are you sure you should be associating so closely with a Human, Casmiel?”  Gamygyn said.  ”It’s against the rules, you know.”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry about it. She’s a good kid. And she’s not bothered that I’m a demon, so it works out all right.”

He frowned and gave me a look.

“If you insist, but I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Of course you don’t. That’s not the only reason you’re here is it?”

“No. I came to tell you Joseph Bianco is at La Villa Blue right now. I’ve been following him for you.”

“Thanks, buddy,”  I said.  ”I was just gonna head over there to look for him anyway.”

“He was in no hurry to get there.  The police were there investigating the disturbance you caused last night, and Bianco wanted nothing to do with them,”  Gamygyn explained.  “Are you going to be all right this time?”

“Sure. I look like a Human now, so all I gotta do is watch and wait until I can get him alone.”

“Hmm…”  Gamygyn hmmed, eyeing me in an odd way.

“What?” I asked.

“You look like her. The Human girl.”

“Yeah, I sort of used Gabby as a template,”  I said.  ”She helped me out a lot.”

Gamygyn looked shocked.

“She saw you before you changed?”

“Yeah. She sort of modeled for me so I could do it right. So?”

“She wasn’t afraid of you?”

“No. She’s weird that way. She said I looked cool.”

Gamygyn grinned and shook his head in amused disbelief.

“Trust you to find the one Human in this city who’s not afraid of demons, Casmiel.”

“Heh heh. Speaking of which, Gabby likes your Human form. She says you’re “hot”.”

Gamygyn’s normally pale face blushed red.  He didn’t know what to say.

“Oh.  Well, um…Okay.”

Heh heh heh!  I knew that would get him.

“Just don’t get too close to her or reveal too much about our World, Casmiel,”  he warned me.  ”You’ll have to return to Hell when your mission is complete, after all. Which you should do tonight.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Thanks for the help, buddy.”

Gamygyn gave me a nod.

“Good luck.”  he said, then he vanished.

Okay. Let’s do this.

La Villa Blue.

I’d been sitting there for almost two hours watching Joe Bianco.

He swaggered around like he owned the place, because he did. He’d been busying himself with his employees and others so I hadn’t been able to get him alone.

I had turned a stack of napkins into cash and bought myself a drink.

I bought a few drinks.

And I was drunk.

Hey, I was trying to blend in!

I sat in a dark corner and kept an eye on Bianco, waiting for him to enter his private room at the back.

Bianco was one smarmy motherfucker.

He wore a tailored suit, and a couple of gold rings glinted on his fingers. He was well tanned with wavy black hair greying at the temples and he wore a constant ‘I’m better than everybody in here’ look on his smug face.

At one point, a pretty, young woman and a young guy were working on putting away clean glasses behind the bar. The girl dropped one with a loud smash. In his haste to try to stop the glass falling, the young guy knocked one over himself and it broke as well. Bianco saw it happen and he took the opportunity to flirt playfully with the girl, even putting his arm around her and discreetly touching her ass. The male employee was another story. I couldn’t hear what was said over the music, but he very obviously chewed out the young man and had him kicked out of the club, leaving Bianco to hit on this girl who must’ve been half his age.

Enjoy it while you can, Joe. You’ll get yours later.

Actually, that was wishful thinking.

I didn’t know how I was going to pull this off drunk. If I fuck it up again…

Just then, I noticed one of my wings sticking out behind me.

Shit!

Concentrate, concentrate!

I can’t lose control in here.

My wing disappeared.

No more for me, thanks! I’m hunting a guys soul.

A few minutes later, Bianco finally entered his private room. Alone. He left two new thugs standing guard outside.

Now’s my chance.

I stood up, closed my eyes, concentrated, then opened them.

I staggered and almost fell over, but I was standing in the room with Bianco.

Whoa!  My head was spinning.

Don’t drink and rematerialize!

“Who the fuck are you? How’d you get in here?” Bianco demanded.

“Just a second.” I told him.

I held my head for a moment until it quit spinning and my eyes focused again.

I reached behind me and locked the door.

“What do you think you’re doing?! You can’t barge in here and lock my fucking door!”

He was pissed.

He didn’t like the idea of somebody so obviously beneath him entering his personal space.

Too bad for him.

My wings sprouted out behind me and my body and face morphed back to their normal skeletal, demony shape.

“Holy shit!”  Joe gasped.

He recoiled like he’d been pushed back, though nothing had touched him.

“I’m here for your soul, dude. Let’s not make this any harder than it has to be.”  I said.

I reached out for him, but I swayed, unsteady in my inebriated state, and fell against the shiny topped table. Bianco pulled a silver pistol from inside his jacket and pointed it at me with trembling hands.

“Sorry, Joe, your boys already tried to shoot me last night.  It ain’t gonna work on me.”

He was scared shitless. Sweat was breaking out across his tanned forehead.

“L- last night?! That was you?!”

My head was starting to spin again. I needed to get this over with, quick.

“What the fuck are you?!”  he cried.

“I’m from Hell. The Big Guy wants your soul, Joe.”

“No! No! No!” His head shook back and forth, unable to accept it.

He took off through the back door into the alley.

Not again.

I rushed after him into the alley and staggered into the wall.

He was climbing into a big shiny car again. I could hear him yell as he jumped into the backseat ”Drive! Drive! Drive!”.

The car tore away, tires squealing on the asphalt.

“Not this time, asshole!”

I spread my big crow-like wings and sped upwards.

Oh shit!

Don’t drink and fly, either!

I was having a hell of a time staying level and flying straight, but I caught sight of the car just before it joined the rest of the traffic.

I concentrated as hard as I could on the car and on staying airborne as I followed from high up in the sky.  Bianco’s car twisted and turned through the traffic and streets, but somehow I managed to keep up with him.

I felt like I was gonna hurl.  Everything was a blur except for the roof of the car.

Finally, it stopped in front of a big building. It looked like ritzy apartments.

Okay, here I go.

As Bianco got out of the vehicle and hurried towards the lobby doors, I rocketed down to cut him off.

“Whoa, fuck!”

I started to wobble first. Before I knew it, I was spinning out of control towards the ground. Fast.

A second after Bianco ran into the brightly lit lobby- I landed.

Hard.

And not on my feet.

Awwww, fuck!  That hurt.

I might be damn near invincible in my demonic form, but I can still hurt myself.

I groaned and sat up, seeing stars.

The driver of Bianco’s car saw me, screamed, then hit the gas and screamed out of there.

I stood up, aching all over.

Joe Bianco was gone. He’d already scurried into an elevator and was on who knows what floor.

Damn it!  I just know Gamygyn is somewhere shaking his head in wonder at how stupid I look right now.

Well, at least I know where Bianco lives now. I can come back when I’m sober and try again.

But for now…

I closed my eyes, concentrated as hard as I could, and opened them.

I was standing just inside the door of Gabby’s apartment.  I stumbled again and fell to my knees.

“What the fuck happened to you?!”  Gabby cried as she jumped up off the couch and helped me to my feet.  The feathers of my wings were sticking up the wrong way, and a few even fell out, floating slowly to the floor as she guided me to the recliner.  “Are you all right? You look like you had the shit kicked out of you!”

My head was spinning again and my stomach was riding a rollercoaster around inside me.

“Ugh! That’s the last time I go out drinking!”  I groaned.

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?

Chapter 6: Double Damnation

 

Higher Hell

Chapter 6: Double Damnation

 

Okay.

Back on the case.

I needed to get after Joe Bianco.

Gabby had just gotten home from work, and I wanted to get an early start.

“Have a good day, Cas?”

“Yeah. I watched one of you DVDs and listened to some of your CDs. I like that Marilyn Manson. Reminds me of some of the guys back home in Hell. Bauhaus felt like home, too. Pretty cool.”

She smiled.

“Yeah, they rock. What movie did you watch?”

“Reservoir Dogs. Hey, watch this!”

I morphed into Harvey Keitel. Complete with black suit and sunglasses.

“For all I know you’re the fuckin’ rat!”

I even had the voice down.

Gabby burst out laughing.

“That’s awesome! Though Tim Roth is more my type. I wouldn’t go out like that though. You’d probably get mobbed by people wanting autographs.”

“Heh heh. Probably.”

I went back to my usual Human form.

But I kept the shades.

“You want something to eat?” Gabby asked as she went to the kitchen.

“No, thanks. I wanna get out there and see if I can catch my guy. I know where he lives now, so I’ll go hang out and watch for him.”

“Oh, okay. Where’s he live? Is it close?”

“Not real far. Some fancy apartments. The Trafalgar Building.”

“The Trafalgar?”

“Yeah.”

Gabby stopped what she was doing in the kitchen and came out. She had a strange look on her face.

“I used to live there.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. With my Mom and-…It was a long time ago.”

She didn’t look very happy. I think I’d brought up some bad memories for her. Shouldn’t have mentioned it.

“Sorry. I was thinking of asking if you wanted to come along and help me find the guy, but I can tell that place has some painful memories for you, huh?”

She gave me a weak smile.

“I’d like to help, but no, I don’t ever want to go there again if I can help it. That’s where my Mom died.”

“I’m sorry. Don’t worry about it. Forget I even mentioned it.”

She smiled again and casually waved away my apology.

Gabby turned to go back to the kitchen and gave a loud squeaky yelp of surprise.

Gamygyn was standing there in the kitchen doorway in his Human form. He must’ve just rematerialized.

“Forgive me,” Gamygyn apologized. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Gamygyn looked a little embarrassed. He was even blushing slightly. His grey eyes didn’t seem to want to make contact with Gabby’s.

“I need to talk to Casmiel.”

Gabby just stood there speechless, one hand over her heart, recovering from the shock of finding Gamygyn in her apartment. Her eyes were locked on his face, which just made him more nervous.

“What’s up?”  I asked.

Must be urgent if he didn’t even use the door. He’d usually never let a Human see him rematerialize.

“I’ve heard some strange rumours, Casmiel. I’m not sure what’s going on.”  Gamygyn said.

“What do you mean ‘strange’?”

“Someone else from our World seems to have been in contact with your target.”

“Another demon? What for?”

“I don’t know. Like I said, it’s all rumours. But some are saying it may be someone from the Other World.”

“You mean Heaven?” Gabby interjected.

Gamygyn seemed surprised at Gabby’s understanding. He gave me an exasperated look.

“Casmiel, what have you been telling this girl?”

I waved away his question.

“Nevermind that. Are you saying my guy has a gaurdian angel or something?”

“I don’t know,” he shrgged. “I don’t understand why either a demon or an angel would contact him. It’s very unusual. I thought I should update you though. I’m going to go look around and see what I can find out. Can you meet me at midnight in the same alley where we spoke the night you came here?”

“Sure.”

“Good. I’ll let you know then what I’ve found or didn’t find.”

“Got it. Thanks.”

Gamygyn gave me a nod, then looked nervously between me and Gabby for a second.

He wasn’t sure if he should dematerialize in front of her.

“Oh, don’t worry about her,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “Just go.”

He sighed, shook his head.

“I don’t know about you, Casmiel.”

He disappeared.

Gabby looked at me, confused.

“What was that about?”

“Oh, he didn’t want you to see him disappear. Gamygyn’s a cool guy, but he likes to do things by the book. We’re not normally supposed to show ourselves or our powers to Humans unless we’re taking them to Hell. It’s pretty much against the rules for us to have regular contact with Humans.”

“What about you? I’d call staying here with me ‘contact with a Human’.”

“Yeah, I’m not real big on rules.”

She grinned and gave a small chuckle.

“Something tells me that’s an understatement.”

I grabbed my jacket and threw it on. I stowed the shades in my pocket.

“Well, if I don’t have to meet Gamygyn ’til midnight, that gives me some time to go hang out looking for my guy. Who knows, maybe I’ll find out what Gamygyn’s all worried about myself. He’s probably just overreacting to gossip.”

Gabby’s face got real serious all of a sudden. I thought it was the memory of the place I was going. I wished I’d kept my mouth shut about it now. The idea that I had said something that hurt her bothered me.

But it wasn’t that that had her worried.

“Speaking of hanging out watching somebody, I saw that guy again today. The one you saw outside the church.”

The Freaky Guy?

Again?

“Where? What was he doing?”

“He was standing across the street watching this building when I left for work today.” she replied.

“Did he follow you?”

“I don’t know. I saw him when I went out and he looked at me. I started walking towards work, and when I looked back to see, he was gone. I didn’t see him anymore after that.”

Hmm.

I didn’t like it.

What the hell was he doing out there?

“You know, maybe we’re reading too much into this, Cas. He might’ve just moved into the neighborhood and that’s why we keep seeing him around.”

“Yeah, maybe. But I still don’t like the way he was acting towards me. If I see him again, I’m gonna ask him what his problem is.”

Gabby smiled.

“More Human contact? You really don’t like rules, do you?”

“Hey, they’re made to be broken, right?”

 

The Trafalgar.

I had a couple hours before I was supposed to meet Gamygyn, and I wasn’t going to waste them.

It was pretty obvious, looking in at the posh lobby and the night watchman on duty behind a desk, that I’d never get to wander around in there dressed in my normal get up.

I waited ’til there was nobody around and no cars going by, and…

I morphed my clothes into the ‘Reservoir Dogs’ suit and put on the shades.

That song from the opening credits of the movie started running through my head.

I strode into the Trafalgar lobby with a swagger like I owned the place. The night watchman looked up lazily from the little TV he was watching behind his desk.

“Can I help you, sir?”

“No, thanks. I know the way.” I lied.

“Should I call and announce you?”

“No need. I’m expected.”

The watchman shrugged and went back to watching TV.

Phew!

I was hoping he wouldn’t press me to know who I was here to see. If I’d told him I was visiting Joe Bianco, no doubt he would’ve called ahead to tell him.

Apparently, I didn’t look dressy enough to be seeing someone of Bianco’s stature.

I strolled into the elevator and pressed a floor number without looking. Hell, I had no idea what floor to check first anyway.

The doors opened with a little ding and I stepped out onto what turned out to be the seventh floor.

This ain’t Bianco’s floor.

I could tell right away, these apartments weren’t fancy enough for him. It was just a pretty plain looking hall with pretty plain looking doors. Even without seeing inside them, I could tell every one of the apartments on this floor were probably identical inside. Bianco would want something that showed he was better than everybody else.

I walked down the hall. Worth looking around, I guess.

I turned a corner in the thick carpeted hallway, and froze in my tracks.

There he was, leaning casually against the wall.

Not Joe Bianco.

The Freaky Guy!

What the fuck is he doing here?

And how did he get past the night watchman?

He was still just as dirty and ragged as before. Black hair a perfect mess. Shoulders hunched, knees bent, he looked like he was crouched to spring at me.

But he just stood glaring at me.

Okay, Gabby. This is no coincidence. He’s got to be following me. Why else would he be in this neighborhood?

“What’s the deal, pal? What do you want?”

He didn’t answer, but I saw a flicker of the rage and contempt I’d seen from him before cross his face like a shadow.

I was already bored with this shit.

“What the fuck’s your problem?”

Slowly, he raised his arm and pointed a dirty, long nailed finger at me. He held it there, staring me dead in the eyes for a moment, then he turned and walked away.

He walked weird. Like he wasn’t used to walking indoors. It was like he wanted to break into a run but was trying not to. The way he moved reminded me of a bird, or a dinosaur on a TV documentary.

He rounded a corner.

I jogged ahead and peered down the other hallway.

He was already gone.

What in the name of all that’s un-fucking-holy is the deal this this moron?

I made a mental note to tell Gabby ‘I told you so’ when I got back as I returned to the elevator.

Alright, forget about that asshole. I’ve got a bigger asshole to find.

This time I took a second to think before pushing a button.

Joe Bianco is a rich motherfucker. A powerful guy with lots of people under him.

There you go! Got to be the top floor.

I hit the button and waited.

The doors opened with a ding again, and I knew I was in the right place.

The floor was laid with gleaming marble tile. In the center of the room was a big gold fountain. The crystal water sprayed up from the center and trickled back down with a tinkling, musical sound. The walls were covered with expensive artwork in expensive frames. Classic, modern, photography, there was a little of everything here. It was like a mini art museum. Big leafy ferns and potted palms stood next to thickly upholstered chairs here and there around the walls.

And on the other side of the room was a big set of fancy carved oak doors.

This has got to be Bianco’s place.

Rich bastard.

Isn’t there some Human saying about rich fuckers getting into Heaven about as easy as a fat ass camel through the eye of a needle?

Well, the fact that I’m here is proof, I guess.

I wandered into the room wondering if I should change into my demonic form. Nah. I’ll wait ’til I’ve got him where I want him. Catch him off gaurd.

Just then, a couple of things happened almost simultaneously.

With a ding, the elevator doors slid open again, and out stepped Joe Bianco.

As I started to turn and face him, the big oak doors swung open, and out stepped-

Joe Bianco.

What the fuck?!

I couldn’t speak. I just stood there looking stupid as my head swivelled back and forth looking from one Joe to the other Joe.

Who caught who off gaurd?

Which one do I go for?

If I pick the wrong one, the other is going to get away.

What in the hell is going on here?

The two Joes looked at each other and smiled. The Joe by the oak doors lazily lifted a hand and pressed a button on a small keypad on the wall.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

A fucking alarm!

Five guys came scurrying out the door behind Joe Number One like rats from a sinking ship, all with guns in their hands.

Damn it!

They can actually shoot me in Human form! Fuck! Why didn’t I change before?

I wasn’t going to take all of them on at once, especially not knowing which Bianco was the one I needed.

I ran into the elevator and jammed a finger into the ground floor button.

The Joes were still smiling at me, which just pissed me off even more. I looked at the one closest to the elevator.

“You can’t hide from me forever, Joe!”

They both laughed.

“I don’t need to.”

I don’t know which one said it. The doors were sliding closed already.

I had no idea what just happened in there.

Gamygyn had better have some fucking good answers!

Chapter 7: Death Disco

Higher Hell

 

Chapter 7: Death Disco

 

　

I rematerialized in the alley behind La Villa Blue.

I was early to meet Gamygyn. I hoped he’d be early too. I had a lot of questions for him.

I was clueless.

How could there be two Joe Biancos?

He seemed to have been expecting me, but how’d he know I was coming? Hell, he shouldn’t have even recognized me! Sure, he’d seen me in Human form once, for a few seconds, but I shouldn’t be that noticable. I looked totally different in my suit and shades than in my punky goth getup. At least, I thought I did.

And he knows who I am, or at least what I’m after, so why wasn’t he the least bit scared? The last time he was scared shitless. This time, he laughed at me!

They laughed at me.

I just couldn’t get my head around it.

I wonder if Joe lived there when Gabby did? If so, maybe she’d know if he had a twin.

No. I don’t want to bring up anything about that place to her again. I don’t want to make her think about that. Too painful.

Damn it, Gamygyn. Where are you?

I could hear the thumping music from inside La Villa Blue pounding through the walls.

Maybe I should wait in there. Maybe have a drink.

Ugh.

No!

Just the thought of having a drink still made my stomach turn. I don’t know how people can do that every week.

I leaned against the wall and kept watching for Gamygyn.

What went down back there, it had to have something to do with whatever Gamygyn was on about earlier. Joe Bianco wouldn’t have a twin. I’d have been told about that. Gamygyn said the rumour was that either a demon or an angel or something had contacted Bianco. Did he really have a gaurdian angel helping protect him from me? I can’t believe the Old Man would want to help a scumbag like Bianco. But then, even as an angel I never understood what the hell he wanted. None of us did.

Bianco said he didn’t need to hide from me.

What’s that supposed to mean?

Damn it.

This mission just keeps getting to be more and more of a pain in the ass.

When Gamygyn showed up at Gabby’s place, I thought he was there to tell me to hurry up and take care of Bianco. I’m sure the Big Guy’s getting impatient by now. He’s gotta be pissed.

And then there’s that Freaky Guy! What the fuck does he want anyway?

Well, as long as he has a problem with me and not Gabby, then he’s the least of my worries. I can handle one messed up Human, no problem.

I thought I heard something moving in the dark farther down the alley. Like something slowly scraping the ground. I listened to it getting closer for a minute.

“Gamygyn? That you?”

No answer.

Maybe it’s that drunk I saw back down the alley the first night I was here.

I walked towards it, just to kill some time.

It just looked like a shadow on the ground at first. Then I realized what it was.

“Gamygyn!”

I dashed forward and knealt beside him.

What the fuck?!

“Your wings! Gamygyn! What happened to your wings?!”

He was in his normal demonic form, but his wings were gone! Both of them had been ripped from his back. All that was left were two bloody knobs of bone poking out of the holes in his flesh.

“What happened to you?”

With a huge, agonizing effort, he rolled over and looked up at me.

“Oh, shit!” I gasped.

One of his milky, blind looking eyes was missing, gouged out of his skull. There were slashes across his face, and a gaping gash across his chest poured dark, almost black, blood out onto the ground. There were assorted scratches and deep looking puncture wounds stabbed into his arms and legs.

“Casmiel.”

Gamygyn’s voice was little more than a strangled whisper. His one good eye was focused on me.

“Mish- mission…ch- changed…”

“Mission changed? I don’t care about my mission! Who did this to you?”

“Ssscur- scir- linn…Bi-Bianco…Not…Ta- targ-get…”

I could hear the blood gurgling in his throat when he spoke, but I couldn’t make out half of what he was saying. I was totally freaked out. I’d never seen anything like this with one of my own kind before.

“I don’t understand.”

He closed his good eye and took a slow painful breath. He grimaced with the effort to concentrate what energy he had left.

“No deal.” He hissed.

“No deal? What deal?”

Gamygyn shuddered, his breathing turning more and more into a gurgle every second.

“Come on, buddy, stay with me. I still don’t get what happened. Where’s the guy who did this?”

“Ssskkkllln…na- nath…yell…Bianc-co…”

He didn’t make any sense, and he obviously didn’t have long to live.

“Listen, Gamygyn. I’m gonna take you back to Hell. Maybe the Big Guy can help you.”

He groaned and tried to shake his head.

“No…no…save…fr- frien-d…n- no…t-ime…”

It was killing me to see and hear Gamygyn like this. I think it was the first time I’d actually heard him call me his friend.

“I gotta do something, buddy! I can’t let you die here. Not like this. Not in this World. Let me try to get you to Hell.”

He shook his head again. His voice was so faint now, I had to lean my ear close to his mouth to hear him.

“You…dan-ger…sscurlnn- n-n-athelll…fr- fr- end…”

I’m in danger? I’m not the one drowning in my own blood!

His good eye went suddenly wide with fear. He struggled to take a rattling breath.

“N-n-na…yell…curl…in-n…powfl…Byon- Bianc…co…”

His eye half closed. He wasn’t moving or breathing.

Gamygyn was dead.

I stood up, shaking all over. As I looked down on the body of my friend, smoke began to hiss out of his wounds, his mouth, his eye sockets.

The smoke grew thick, and then in a quick flash of flame, Gamygyn became nothing but a pile of ashes.

I stood there staring at the ashes shifting on the ground in a gentle breeze.

I didn’t know what to do.

My brain felt frozen. I was numb.

In all my years in Hell, I’d seen Human souls being tortured and tormented in every imaginable way, but I’d never seen anything like this. Not with another demon.

What or who could’ve done this to him? If he’d been in demonic form when he was attacked, only someone from Heaven or Hell could’ve hurt him. But if he’d been attacked in his Human body, anybody could kill him.

Just as hard to understand was why he was attacked.

Gamygyn never would’ve done anything to bring this on. He wouldn’t have fought anybody.

So why was he attacked so viciously?

I had rage building inside me.

It felt weird.

I never felt that strongly about anything. I’m a lazy demon, remember. I don’t give a shit about anything enough to get really pissed off.

But I was shaking with fury now. The pounding of the music inside the night club echoed the wrath pounding through my body.

I’d get the fucker who did this. I’d make him suffer like Gamygyn suffered.

And I knew who was going to feel my rage first.

The only name I’d gotten out of Gamygyn.

　

The Trafalgar Building.

Now that I knew where to go, I rematerialized directly into that museum-like foyer.

Joe Bianco wasn’t getting away this time. I didn’t care if there were a hundred of him in there, they’d all pay.

This ain’t business anymore, it’s personal.

I took a deep breath and clenched my fists. I took my demonic form.

I tried the carved oak doors. They were locked.

Good.

I can make a more impressive entrance.

I pulled back and slammed my hand into the door. The long sharp nails of my fingers sank deep into the wood and I yanked the whole lock and door knob out.

I booted the doors in.

There was a wide expanse of luxurious furniture and expensive trinkets, but I had no interest in them.

My eyes were focused on only one thing.

Joe Bianco, well tanned and smug looking, sitting alone on a couch going over a bunch of papers. A few neatly stacked piles of cash stood on the coffee table in front of him.

He had looked up, startled by the banging of the doors against the inner walls.

I spread my wings, pointed a long sharp-nailed finger at him, and put on my most menacing look and voice.

“JOSEPH BIANCO! SINNER! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!”

I crossed the room in a flash, threw the coffee table out of the way, and glared down at him, fangs bared.

Hundred dollar bills floated to the floor around me.

“Scum of the Earth! Scourge of this World! You will pay for your crimes with your filthy soul!”

He opened his mouth to speak, but I grabbed him roughly by the throat before he could say anything. I lifted him up over my head, slammed him onto his back on the couch, and leapt on top of him. His hands scrambled to try to pry my fingers from his throat. I tore open his fine white silk shirt sending buttons flying. Finally, I released his throat and raised a sharp fingernail to scratch the pentagram into the flesh over his heart through which I could extract his soul.

I stopped.

My hand was frozen in the air above his heart.

What?

There was already a pentagram there! Not scratched, but burned, branded into his tan skin.

What the hell is this?

I caught a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked up and saw Joe Number Two running across the room at us.

But as he leapt the last few feet to dive at me over the back of the couch, he changed.

That well tanned face with wavy black hair morphed into a long, narrow skull, like a crocodile, or a dinosaur. Barely any skin covered it. His eyes burned red.

It was another demon!

He slammed into me, knocking me off Bianco. I rolled across the thick carpet, then jumped to my feet in total shock.

The other demon was crouched between me and Bianco.

“What the fuck’s going on? Who the hell are you?”

The demon didn’t answer. Bianco did. He had an arrogant, triumphant grin on his face.

“You idiot! You can’t kill me!”

He held open his ruined shirt to expose the mark on his chest.

“Never seen that before?”

No. I hadn’t. I didn’t understand any of this.

“I made a new deal with the Devil, you see. I’m untouchable!”

I shook my head. That didn’t make any sense. How could he have? Why would the Big Guy do that after sending my here?

“It’s true.” the demon said with an oily, hissing voice. “He has cut a bargain with my Master. I am here to stop you taking his soul too early.”

He was one of the ugliest demons I’d ever seen.

His skeletal frame was covered with tight leathery skin. He stood with his bony knees bent in a crouch, his arms hanging loose at his sides. He had a long tail of bone with dry strips of scaley reptillian skin clinging to it. The wings folded behind him were black and thin, like a bats wings. His jaws were lined with long yellow fangs.

“Who are you? I’ve never seen you in Hell before.”

“I am Scirlin.”

Scirlin?

Ssscurl- in?

That’s it!

Gamygyn was trying to say his name!

“Gamygyn tried to tell my about you! What happened? Who attacked him?”

“Ahh. That was most unfortunate. I heard about it from my Master just before you arrived.”

Scirlin’s words sounded saddened, but the look in his eyes was still vicious and unfeeling.

I didn’t like this guy.

“Apparently, he was set upon by two Human thugs. He never had time to transform before they struck. Gamygyn’s loss is a terrible one indeed.”

My shoulders slumpped. I could feel the weight of Gamygyn’s death like a huge boulder on me.

I’m so sorry, buddy. You were only there to tell me Scirlin was protecting Bianco from me.

He’d died because of me. Because I’ve been such a screw up.

“Gamygyn said my mission had changed. What do I do now?”

“You are to remain in the World of the Living. Your mission will become clear soon.”

What kind of answer was that?

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“My Master gave me only that message to give you.”

Great! I’m just supposed to hang out and wait for my mission to fall into my lap?

“If you’ll excuse me,” Scirlin said with a slight bow. “I must return and report to my Master.”

Scirlin disappeared.

Bianco was watching me, smug as ever, with a cocksure grin on his face.

What a sleazy motherfucker. I just lost my friend, and he’s all smiles.

“What could a piece of shit like you have offered the Big Guy that would make him let you keep your worthless soul?”

“That’s between me and your boss.”

“Listen, fucker, my friend died tonight, and it’s all because of you and all the criminal shit you’ve-”

Wait a minute.

Two Human thugs?

That’s who Scirlin said attacked Gamygyn.

My mind flashed images of La Villa Blue.

Two thugs.

Bianco had two guys gaurding his office at the nightclub.

And there’d been even more of them here earlier tonight.

I took a step toward Bianco.

“What did you do to Gamygyn?!” I shouted in his face.

“Who?”

“Gamygyn, asshole! Another demon! My friend! You sent your men after him, didn’t you?”

“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

“Liar!”

I grabbed Bianco and threw him over the couch. He scrambled to his feet, backing away from me.

He was scared now. Beads of glistening sweat were breaking out across his face.

Apparently, he thought I wasn’t capable of hurting him. He believed that little mark on his chest was a golden ticket of protection.

Big mistake.

So I can’t take his soul. I can still take my anger out on him.

“Wait! Just wait! I really don’t know who the fuck Gamygyn, or whoever, is! I swear! I’ve only ever seen you and the demon that just left.”

“Why should I believe a scumbag like you?”

I jumped the couch, grabbed Bianco, and threw him hard against the wall. He fell in a crumpled heap to the floor, wincing in pain.

“I’ve got good news and bad news, Joe. The good news is, you get to keep your slimy soul. The bad news is, you’ve caught me in a really shitty mood, and I’m gonna have some satisfaction.”

Before he could get up, I’d grasped him by the throat again and lifted him off his feet against the wall.

“First, I think I’m gonna give you a nice scar across your face to remember me by. Then, I’ll wait right here for your boys to show up and…” I gave him a malicious grin. “Well, their souls won’t be enough to pay for Gamygyn’s, but they’ll make a good down payment.”

I heard footsteps on the marble tile floor of the foyer. I turned and glared at the ruined doorway.

Looks like I won’t have to wait for Bianco’s flunkies after all.

Perfect.

And then the demonic glare morphed into what was probably a completely comical look of total bewilderment.

Gabby!

Gabby was standing nervously right where I’d kicked the doors in.

“Cas? What are you doing with my Father?”

Chapter 8: Hell Hath No Fury…

Higher Hell

 

Chapter 8: Hell Hath No Fury…

 

　

Her what?

Wait a minute.

Her WHAT!?

I looked back and forth between the two of them a few times.

“Cas, what are you doing with my father?”

I dropped Bianco like an embarrassed kid caught doing something bad.

“What…uh, what are you doing here, Gabby?”

“You didn’t come back. I thought you might be in trouble again. I knew you were coming to my father’s building, so…”

Bianco was rubbing his throat where I’d held him. His voice came out hoarse.

“Gabriella. It’s…It’s good to see you again.”

He sounded nervous. Not like when I’d attacked and threatened him. This was awkward for him.

Awkward for him?What about for me? Or Gabby, for that matter.

 

There was obviously something up between them. They were carefully avoiding each others eyes. The air was so full of tension it was oppressive.

And it wasn’t just because Gabby had caught me kicking her Dad’s ass.

“Why are you in my father’s apartment, Cas?”

She sounded like she knew the answer already, but didn’t want to believe it until she heard it from me.

“You know this- this monster, Gabriella?”

“Gabriella?” I asked.

“That’s my full name. Gabriella Maria Angelina Bianco. But I hate that name. It’s so flowery. That’s why I go by Gabby.”

“It’s a beautiful name, Gabriella. Your Mother’s name. A beautiful name for-”

“Don’t talk about my Mom.”

She hadn’t even raised her voice, but Bianco shut up as if he’d been slapped.

“This scumbag is really your father?”

Gabby moved into the room, flopped down into a chair with a huge sigh, and covered her face in her hands.

“I knew it. I knew it when I saw the doors busted in.”

She looked up at me, her eyes moist and glistening, like when she’d told me about her Mom.

“It’s him isn’t it? He’s the one you’re after. You came to take my father to Hell.”

I shrugged.

“Well, yeah, actually. I never would’ve guessed he was your father…Sorry.”

It sounded pathetic to apologize, even to me. But what could I say.

Gabby waved away my apology. Instead she finally fixed her eyes on Bianco and glared at him.

“Mom knew. She knew you were headed for something like this. She knew if you kept it up, you’d end up in prison or dead! But I doubt she ever thought the fucking Devil himself would come for you!”

She gave a short humorless laugh and shook her head.

“You have to do everything fucking big, don’t you? ‘Go big or go home’! Or go to Hell, right?”

The tears were threatening to come in earnest now, but Bianco’s voice came cold and stoic.

“You don’t know what went on between your Mother and me. You were too young to understand.”

Bianco still wouldn’t look his daughter in the face as he spoke, trying to fix his shirt and tie.

“You…You really shouldn’t be here, Gabriella. You should just go home.”

Gabby wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand and stood up, defiant. The rebel child.

“No! I want to see it! I want to see you pay for everything you’ve done with your life!”

“But he’s not going to do anything to me, are you?”

Well, he’s got me there.

“Um, no. Unfortunately.”

“Why not?” Gabby asked, rounding on me like I was siding with him or something.

“Apparently, he’s made a new deal with the Big Guy, with Satan. I don’t have to take him to Hell now.”

Gabby threw up her hands and shook her head again. If looks could kill, Bianco would’ve been on his way to Hell then and there.

“You really are a bastard, aren’t you? Making deals with the Devil to save your own ass!”

“You have no idea.” Bianco muttered. “You should go, Gabriella. You and your…friend, if that’s what he is. You should both just go now.”

“Fine!”

Gabby turned on her heel and stalked quickly out into the foyer. I gave Bianco a quick menacing sneer and followed Gabby out.

As I stepped into the elevator with her, I turned to see Bianco watching us go.

I flipped him the finger just before the elevator doors closed.

 

Outside, Gabby was silent, walking with a fast angry step down the sidewalk.

I had changed back into Human form in the elevator, and now I was walking fast just trying to keep up with Gabby.

I turned my collar up and jammed my hands into my pockets. I still had the feeling of an embarrassed kid being dragged home to be punished.

Ridiculous.

“God damn him!” Gabby spat.

It wasn’t me she was mad at.

“I knew he was mixed up in all kinds of illegal shit! Mom knew too! That’s why I never let him give me any money when he offers! The fucker! I don’t want his dirty money!”

I kept quiet and let her vent. She was talking to herself more than to me anyway. Just saying the things she’d liked to have said to Bianco.

“He deserves to have his soul taken to Hell! If he even has a fucking soul!”

Gabby marched on, fuming in silence for a moment. Then, suddenly, she came to a halt and punched me hard in the shoulder.

“Ow!”

What the fuck?

“And you! How could you try to kill him like that?!”

Okay, now I was confused.

“What? I- but, you just said he deserved it!”

“He’s my father, Cas!”

I’ll never understand Livies.

Thought I understood this one though. But now she was glaring at me.

“But, you sound like you hate him. And besides, I was just doing my job! I didn’t know he was your Dad!”

“I do hate him. But I love him too. He’s my father. He helped raise me along with my Mom. He does deserve to be punished for all the shit he’s done, but still…I don’t want him to die! He’s the only family I have.”

“I’m sorry. I just didn’t know.”

We started walking again. Not so fast this time. I think she had gotten all the anger out of her system.

“I know. I know you were just doing what you were sent here for. It’s not your fault.”

“Well, if it’s any consolation, it looks like he’s got a bunch more time to live now that I don’t have to take him to Hell.”

“What the fuck’s up with that anyway? They send you all the way here to take his soul, and all of a sudden the Devil changes his mind?”

“He’s cut a new deal with the Big Guy. He must’ve offered him something, bargained away something in exchange for more time. Apparently, he’s marked my Satan himself. That’s the only reason I hadn’t already taken him when you got there.”

I shuddered.

I didn’t want to think what Gabby’s reaction would’ve been if she’d got there and found her father dead with me hovering over his body.

She’d probably never have been able to forgive me. Hell, she’d probably hate me.

That really had been a close one.

I might’ve lost two friends in one night.

I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye.

Those two locks of purple hair framing her pale face were brushing back and forth against her cheeks as she walked.

Those smooth wet cheeks.

She was silently crying as we walked the empty streets heading home. All this shit with her Dad must’ve really gotten to her.

I suddenly had an overwhelming urge to protect her from all pain. It broke my demonic heart to see her hurting inside. I actually wanted to put my arms around her and just give her a hug.

Hmm.

Guess I’m a bit of a sentimental demon.

We kept walking. I didn’t want to say anything. I didn’t know what to say. I just focused on the quiet night and the emptiness around us.

It was like the whole city was asleep. Not a soul around but us. Beauty and her Beast, wandering the city streets.

But…

Something didn’t feel right.

I got a feeling like we were being watched.

Just then, Gabby stopped and lightly touched my arm.

“Cas.” She whispered.

“Huh?”

She nodded very slightly in the direction she was staring. I followed her gaze across the street about a half a block ahead.

There, standing half hidden in the dark opening of an alley, was a skinny, dirty man with messy black hair.

The Freaky Guy.

“What’s he doing here?” Gabby wondered softly.

I don’t need this shit. Gabby’s upset and I just want to get her home. The last thing I need is this asshole popping up in our path again.

He stood there staring at us with those dark angry eyes, but he didn’t move a muscle. It was like he was daring us to come closer, waiting for us to make the first move.

“Do we keep walking?” Gabby whispered.

The Freaky Guy laughed just loud enough for us to hear. That weird cacklish snigger.

“No.” I answered Gabby, and I took off running at the Freaky Guy.

He grinned that dirty smile and ducked into the shadows of the alley. I pounded across the deserted street, jumped the curb, and charged into the dark mouth of the alleyway.

It was a long, clear corridor between the buildings. None of the trash and boxes I’d seen in the alley behind La Villa Blue. There were doors on either side every few feet, and metal fire exit stairs on both walls.

But there was no Freaky Guy.

I wandered down the alley a ways looking at the doors and scanning above me on the stairs.

Nothing.

He was gone.

I paced back and forth, getting pissed that he’d given me the slip once again.

“Leave us the fuck alone, asshole!” I yelled.

A dog inside one of the buildings started barking in reply.

“Cas.”

Gabby was at the opening of the alley. I stomped back to where she stood on the sidewalk, frustrated and angry that this puny fucking Human kept making a fool of me.

“Cas, what happened? Where’d he go?”

“Don’t know. Coward must’ve gone in one of the doors down there.”

She shook her head, exhausted.

“Let’s just get home.” She said with a sigh.

“Yeah. I’ve had enough bullshit for one night.”

We moved on with a little more purpose in our quickened steps now. All the way back to Gabby’s apartment, I couldn’t shake the feeling we were still being watched. But no matter how hard I looked, I didn’t see the Freaky Guy again.

What a fucking night!

And what really made my head ache, was the fact that I still needed to try and piece together exactly what was going on.

I don’t have to take Bianco to Hell.

Bianco turned out to be Gabby’s father, for Christ’s sake!

The Big Guy supposedly made a deal with Bianco, but didn’t tell me.

Gamygyn is fucking dead!

And, according to Scirlin, my mission has been changed, but I’m just supposed to wait around to see what it is now.

Jesus Christ!

Will someone throw a demon a fucking bone here, please!

When we finally reached the apartment, I collapsed in the recliner with a heavy sigh. My head was pounding as I massaged my temples.

Gabby didn’t say anything for a while. She wandered around the apartment like her head was too full of the night’s events to let her rest.

Finally, she reached out and lightly squeezed my hand, muttered a soft “Good night”, and went off to bed.

I felt bad about all the trouble I was causing her. She didn’t need any of this drama.

Neither did I.

I put my feet up, closed my eyes, and hoped I’d drift off into peaceful dreams of watching my fire back in Hell.

I was missing my fire more than ever after all I’d seen tonight.

My fire never gave me all this stress.

Chapter 9: Slut Dogs From Hell

 

Higher Hell

Chapter 9: Slut Dogs From Hell

 

The next day I went to work with Gabby. With the Freaky Guy out there somewhere, I didn’t want to leave her alone for a minute. He might’ve been after me, but I wasn’t going to take the chance of him going after Gabby to get to me.

Gabby worked at a cool little music shop called The Trash Bin. They sold used instruments, CDs, records, band t-shirts, posters, etc. I loved the place as soon as I walked in.

Gabby had pulled out a few CDs for me to listen to as loud as I wanted on a set of headphones. The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Sex Pistols, Bauhaus, The Cramps, Rob Zombie, The Damned, and a handful of others were scattered around me as I sat on the floor letting their sounds rocket around inside my head.

Occasionally, guys would come in to jam on the used guitars, basses, and drum kits.

Now I understood why Gabby wasn’t freaked out by my demonic appearance. The guys filing through the store could’ve passed for demons back in Hell. Just slap some wings or horns on them and they’d fit right in. All tattoos and piercings and fucked up hair cuts. They were pretty cool.

I liked listening to the guys jamming on the equipment.

Some were pretty good.

Most sucked.

But either way, I liked it.

By the middle of the day, I’d started fiddling around on a guitar myself. A big black and silver sucker with f-holes like two demonic grins. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, but I made some awesome noise with it.

It was then that a guy walked in and made a b-line for the counter where Gabby stood.

“Hey, hey, Gabby! How ya doin’?”

I saw Gabby roll her eyes. The guy didn’t see it. He was too busy staring at other parts of Gabby’s body.

“Hi, Rash.” she said very unenthusiastically.

“Rash?”

Was that this guys name?

He looked at me, a little startled.

“Oh, shit! Sorry, dude. Didn’t see ya there.”

He looked back and forth between me and Gabby a few times, waiting.

Gabby sighed.

“Cas, this is Rash. He’s a regular.”

Rash looked pretty much like all the other guys that had been in and out of the store. Torns jeans, a faded black ‘Austin 3:16′ t-shirt, several tattoos and piercings. He had short blonde hair, but the hair on top of his head was gelled up in a green faux-hawk. I was getting a vibe off Gabby that she didn’t really like this guy.

“Hey! You play, dude?” he asked as he strolled over to me, pointing at the guitar in my hands.

“Nah. I’m just fucking around.”

“Let’s hear some!”

I shrugged.

I started strumming and picking, trying to make sounds like I’d been listening to all morning. The amp roared and screeched and moaned before letting loose a wicked squall of feedback. I could keep a rhythm, but it was hardly a tune.

Rash bobbed his head and tapped a foot to it with a toothy grin.

“Dude! You rock! Really avant garde, man! You gotta cool Sonic Youth kinda thing goin’.”

He suddenly got a wild eyed look and his voice got pleadingly serious.

‘You gotta join my band, dude! I could really use you! What d’ya say?”

Is this guy for real?

I shrugged again.

“Whatever.”

“Cool!” He tried to give me some complicated kind of handshake, but he screwed it up.

“What’d ya say your name was?”

“Call me Cas.”

Rash wandered off to look at some PA equipment. I put the guitar down and went over to Gabby at the counter.

“Heh heh. Guess I’m in his band now.”

Gabby smirked.

“Yeah, right. Rash doesn’t really have a band. He’s always trying to get people to join his band, but it’s all talk.”

She shouted across the room to him.

“Hey, Rash. What’s your band called again?”

He perked up his head from what he was looking at like a puppy that’s heard a new sound.

“Slut Dogs From Hell.”

“Slut Dogs From Hell?” I repeated with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah! Cool, ain’t it? Ya got your sex with the ‘slut’ part, and ya got your dark, evil shit with the ‘hell’ part, and you can’t go wrong with throwin’ a ‘dog’ in there! It’s perfect, don’t ya think?”

He flashed a toothy grin again and went back to fiddling with the knobs on an amp.

“Is he retarded or something?” I muttered to Gabby.

She had to stifle a giggle.

“No. He’s just stupid. And unfortunately, he’s got a crush on me.”

“Heh heh heh! Lucky you. So, why’s he called Rash? His parents stupid too?”

“His real name’s Charlie. He thinks Rash is a cool, tough, punk kind of name. A lot of the other regulars pick on him about it. They call him Diaper. That’s why he waits to come in when they’re not here.”

Gabby and I shared a little chuckle at Rash’s expense, but had to cut it short as he walked up and leaned on the counter.

“Hey, Rash. I hear you have a bit of a crush on Gabby here.” I said with a covert wink at her.

Gabby looked horrified that I would bring that up in front of her.

Rash, on the other hand, looked positively pleased. He gave her a sly look.

“Gabby always seems to be too busy whenever I ask her out. But just you wait! One of these days, when I’m a big time rock star, she’s gonna wanna get a little Rash!” he said with another wink at Gabby.

It was all I could do to keep from laughing at him.

He saw me fighting down a laugh and suddenly got really nervous and embarrassed.

“Oh, shit! You two ain’t…I mean, you and Gabby aren’t, uh, together, are you?”

“No, no. Nothing like that. I’m Gabby’s, um…”

“Cas is my…my brother!” Gabby covered for me.

“Oh! That’s cool. Hey, I gotta get goin, Cas. We gotta get together and jam sometime! Have a band practice!”

“Yeah, sure.” I lied.

And on that day, the Big Guy will be figure skating around his Throne Room!

“See ya, Gabby.” He gave that toothy grin and ogled Gabby’s body one last time before leaving.

“Well, he’s one pathetic little loser, ain’t he?” I said.

“You have no idea.”

I thought for a moment.

“You know, it’s an interesting idea. Me being in a band, I mean. I would like to actually learn to play that thing.” I jerked a thumb over my shoulder at the big black and silver guitar.

Gabby smiled.

“That would be cool. Just not with Rash. You could get your friend, Gamygyn, to play too and call yourselves The Demons.”

The grin fell from my face.

Oh, yeah.

I hadn’t told Gabby yet.

“Gamygyn won’t be joining me in anything. With all the shit with your Dad last night, and the shit with that Freaky Guy following us, I forgot to tell you. Gamygyn’s dead.”

Gabby’s jaw dropped in shock.

“What?! How? When did it happen?”

I really didn’t want to talk about it, but Gabby deserved an explanation.

“I went to wait for him in the alley behind your Dad’s club like he’d asked. But when he showed up…I don’t know how it could’ve happened. He was beat all to hell. His wings were missing.” I sighed with the weight of the memory. “I saw him die and turn to ashes right in front of me.”

“Oh, Cas. I’m so sorry.”

I shrugged. Her consoling voice felt good to me. Reassuring. But I still hated feeling like this.

“He couldn’t tell you anything before…you know?”

“He tried to tell me about your Dad’s deal with the Big Guy, but it was too hard to understand him.”

Gabby looked curious.

“I didn’t think you guys could be killed.”

“If we’re in our Human form, we can be hurt if we don’t change back in time. In our regular bodies, only another being from our World can hurt us.”

“So which happened to Gamygyn?”

“Well, there was another demon gaurding your Dad last night. He said a couple of Human thugs attacked him before he could transform. I think they were a couple of your Dad’s boys. Though he claimed he’d never seen or heard of Gamygyn.”

“Well, you can’t necessarily believe what my father says.”

Gabby looked away with a sort of guilty look in her eyes. I could tell she felt bad that her own father might have been responsible.

Ridiculous.

She had no reason to feel guilty about anything that asshole does.

“What bothers me most,” I said. “Is that nobody’s come from Hell to tell me what to do now. My mission has been changed, but all the other demon could tell me was that I’m supposed to stay in this World and wait. How am I supposed to complete my mission when I don’t know what I’m here for?”

After the store closed for the night, Gabby took me out to dinner at a little all night sushi place she said was her favorite. It wasn’t bad. Not as good as that ‘magically delicious’ shit, but I liked it. We sat there downing little cups of tea and talking about the music she’d shown me, and the music and movies she still wanted to show me, until pretty late. By the time we started walking home it was almost midnight.

The streets were pretty empty in this part of town.

We saw a few cars and people go by, but they became rarer and rarer sights as we walked along.

The quieter it got, the more I started to get that feeling we were being watched again. My senses were all on alert for any sign of that Freaky son of a bitch to show up again.

It wasn’t until we were about halfway home that I thought I noticed something.

I couldn’t tell what it was, but something didn’t seem right.

I listened hard.

Our footsteps echoed off the buildings around us.

Was that it? Just an echo?

I slowed my pace.

Gabby started to get ahead of me. She didn’t seem to notice anything.

I looked hard into the shadows up the street and in the alleys and doorways we passed.

Nothing.

Something still didn’t sound right.

I came to a stop.

It was still there.

I turned around.

There!

The fucking Freaky Guy again!

All tangled black hair and dirty ragged clothes. His oversized boots clompped awkwardly on the sidewalk.

He was walking towards me.

Come on you son of a bitch! Come and face me this time!

I folded by arms across my chest and waited, annoyed, for him to get close.

This is it. This fucker’s goin’ down.

The Freaky Guy started speeding up, a hungry look on his face.

He broke into a jog, coming at me faster.

I braced myself and prepared to take my demonic form at just the right moment. I’d show him just who he was fucking with! The corner of my mouth curled up in a grin at the thought.

Poor bastard won’t know what hit him.

He was full on running now. He was about to slam right into me.

And I was ready for him.

At the last second, as I was about to change, he dodged around me with agility I hadn’t expected and shoved me from the side with surprising strength for such a skinny guy.

I lost my balance and fell over the curb into the street.

He didn’t even look at me.

In fact, he’d run right past me without stopping or even slowing down, running straight for-

“Gabby!”

She stopped and turned at my shout. Her eyes went wide and her mouth fell open at the sight of the wild haired, dirty freak bearing down on her.

I scrambled to get up. Equal parts fear and anger built in me as I watched the Freaky Guy leap the last few steps and knock Gabby flat on her back on the hard cold concrete.

His speed had worked against him. He hit the ground just beyond where Gabby fell and rolled several feet down the sidewalk.

Gabby had got back unsteadily to her feet by the time the Freaky Guy jumped up and ran back at her. He grabbed Gabby by the shoulders and pinned her against the building.

He was almost trembling with some kind of furious excitement. I heard that weird sniggery cackle come from him.

Gabby was screaming.

“Get away from her!” I bellowed.

Finally on my feet, I charged at the Guy, ready to shoulder block him out of the way.

He moved just enough so that I didn’t knock him down as hard as I’d hoped. He staggered back and fell to one knee. The twisted grin disappeared from his face and he glared at me, his features contorted in that look of pure hatred I’d seen before.

As he stood up, Gabby screamed “Run!”, grabbed me by the hand, and dragged me with her up the street. I held tight to Gabby’s hand as our feet pounded the pavement.

Damn it! I’d wanted to face him, but I wanted to get Gabby to safety too. I hated running away from a Human like this! Like I was actually afraid of him!

But I didn’t need to look back to know he was chasing after us.

At the end of the block, Gabby yelled “This way!”, and I let her pull me to the left down another street.

She knew this city a hell of a lot better than I did. I hoped she had a plan of where she was going.

Uh-oh…

I think I know what she’s thinking!

The spires of the big fucking gray stone church were emerging from the darkness down the street.

She pulled me across the road, still running as hard as she could.

She doesn’t plan on taking me in there does she?

Gabby veered, pulling me along, and bounded up the stone steps.

Oh, yes she does!

Gabby wrenched on the door handle and swung it open.

I froze.

“Get in! Hurry!”

“I- but, I don’t know if I can!”

“Get the fuck in there! We’ll find out if you can!”

She was pushing on me with all her strength, trying to shove me through the doorway.

I took a nervous glance inside, then one behind us.

The Freaky Guy was charging full speed across the street.

“Shit!”

I grabbed Gabby by the arm and we dove through the doorway into the dark church.

I pulled the door shut hard and held it just as the Freaky Guy reached the steps.

The door shuddered as he slammed into it. I heard a strangled cry of rage as he kicked the door, and then I heard that weird sniggery cackle come, muffled, through the wood.

Everything went quiet.

Gabby was leaning against the wall, a hand on her chest, gasping for breath. Sweat covered her face and she was trembling.

I still held on to the door handle. My heart was beating so hard and fast it felt like a rubber ball bouncing around in me.

I’m in a church!

I’m standing in a ‘House of God’!

Oh, shit.

I don’t like this.

I shouldn’t be here!

This is so, so wrong!

What’s going to happen to me?

I was fully ready for the Old Man to come down and destroy me right where I stood.

“Cas!” Gabby whispered.

I was so tense, the soft whisper made me jump.

I let go of the handle and turned.

Somebody was walking up the long church aisle.

I started shaking, sure it was the Old Man or the Big Guy. Excuses started rattling around my head, each sounding more feeble than the last.

The figure drew nearer.

It was a Human!

The Priest!

Momentary relief washed over me like cold sweat, but I was still on edge.

The Priest stopped a few feet away and looked us over for a moment.

“What can I do for you two so late at night?”

Chapter 10: Father Forgive Me

 

 

Higher Hell

Chapter 10: Father Forgive Me

　

The Priest just stared at us.

Gabby was still trying to catch her breath enough to speak, and I was still scared shitless that God or Satan or both were about to strike me down.

How do I get myself into these situations?

What I wouldn’t give to be sitting peacefully in front of my fire right now. Or sleeping in Gabby’s recliner, for that matter.

“Are you all right?” the Priest asked.

He was a pretty plain looking middle aged guy. Nothing special. He had brown hair with a little gray creeping into it. He wore the expected black with that white collar, but he had a boring powder blue sweater jacket on over it. His bright blue eyes seemed to pierce the darkness.

Gabby took a few big gulps of air.

“Father…Is it okay if we stay here…for the night?”

“Are you in some kind of trouble?” he asked suspisciously.

Seems he wasn’t above judging us by our appearance.

Young, dyed hair, punk/goth type clothes and such. And we came running into his church past midnight. He probably thought we were running from the cops or something.

“A man…A man attacked us. We ran in here to get away.” Gabby panted.

I just stood there looking nervously around while Gabby spoke. Way up in the corner there were a bunch of red candles illuminating a gaudy, brightly painted statue of the Virgin Mary. Right behind the altar, a couple small flood lights shown on a life-size painted wooden carving of Jesus on the cross.

Oh, I’m gonna catch hell for this! I know it!

“Someone attacked you? I should call the police.”  the priest said, concerned.

“No! No. I- we don’t want to cause you any trouble, Father,”  Gabby said anxiously.   ”If we could just hang out here until morning, we’ll be fine.”

He was still eyeing us suspisciously.

Especially me.

“Is your friend okay?”  he asked.

“Oh, no, I’m fine, Padre. I just- I mean, I’m not, er…I’m not Catholic is all.”  I sputtered nervously.

“Well, that’s not a problem. You’re just as welcome here as anyone. But I really think I ought to call the police. Since you escaped your attacker, he may try to hurt someone else.”

“I don’t think so, Father.” Gabby said quickly. “I’m pretty sure he’s only after us. We’ve seen him before. He’s been following us, watching us, for days.”

“He’s a stalker you mean? Do you know the man?”

“No. He just showed up recenty,”  she told him.  ”But he’s been watching us since at least Sunday morning.”

The Priest wasn’t convinced.

“I don’t know. You really should report this man.”

I could see Gabby thinking fast. For some reason, she really didn’t want the cops called in.

“We will. In the morning. But for now, we just need to stay here for a few hours. Please. And…And I’d like to take confession…If it’s all right.”

I looked at Gabby a little confused.

She wanted to take confession now?

But she’d said the right thing, apparently. The Priest seemed to lighten up a bit. Like he’d been bored off his ass and was glad of the prospect of having some actual ecumenical duty to perform.

“Of course. Of course you can, my dear. Right this way. Your friend can wait here in the pews if he likes.”

“Yeah, sure. Thanks, Padre.”

Gabby and the Priest headed off down the side of the church. I took a few tentative steps farther into the dark church and sat down in a pew.

This place was about as welcoming as the Big Guy’s Throne Room.

I was still nervous. Though it didn’t look like anybody was coming to punish me. Not right away, at least.

Well, I’m already here. I might as well take a look around. Not many demons get to see this, after all.

I walked up the aisle and took a good long look at the carved, painted crucifix.

Hmph.  He didn’t look anything like that.

Everybody in Hell had watched that little spectacle.

The Argument between the Old Man and the Big Guy was that the Old Man wouldn’t show himself to Humans. Or let us show ourselves, for that matter. He wouldn’t give them proof that he was real, that we all were real. And then, there he was! Going to the Human World, being born as one of them! He was showing himself to them, living with them, teaching them!

We thought it was going to be the end of the Argument. We were all psyched that Heaven and Hell would be reunited again. We were all going home!

Yeah, right.

He didn’t prove anything. He didn’t even tell Humans who, or what, he really was. He called himself the “son of God”. He still left it all in Human’s hands, open to interpretation. He left it up to belief and faith. In the end, all he did was make things worse! The Big Guy was furious. All the Old Man did was hide who he really was. He was mocking Humans, the Big Guy had said. And then there was all the death, the killing done in the name of this fake Human that God had more or less impersonated! The people worshipping the illusion as something seperate from the real thing. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost! It was all bullshit!

And people praying to the Virgin Mary. Please! That poor girl never even had a clue what was really going on! She was fooled and left in the dark just like everybody else.

He’d cheated them, the Humans.

And he’d cheated us.

I don’t know if he ever meant for it to appease the Big Guy or not.  I don’t know what the whole point of it was, but it only widened the chasm between Heaven and Hell.

We weren’t going home after all.

Sigh.

I suddenly had an urge to tear the damn thing down. Smash the intricate carving of that face that never existed into pieces! Smash it and all the lies it represented. And that gaudy, ugly statue of Mary, too! Hell, it might as well be a statue of me up there surrounded by candles for all the good it’s worth!

I took a deep breath, ran a hand through my hair.

Guess I’m still a little bitter about that. Still too fresh. Two thousand years ain’t much to me, after all.

What a fucking night this has turned out to be!

I sat in the front pew feeling totally exhausted.

First the Freaky Guy, and now this place.

It’s been one screaming fuck up after another ever since I came to this World! The only good thing to come of it has been meeting Gabby. My only Human friend. I guess that’s made it all worth it. But how much more of this shit am I gonna have to put up with?

Well, I suppose I know now who the Freaky Guy has a problem with. That much was made clear tonight. He’s just some crackhead pervert with a thing for Gabby. Well, as long as I’m in this World, he’s not getting a fucking hand on her again. I just wish Gabby had let me deal with him back there in the street. I’d have one less thing to worry about.

I heard voices and turned to see Gabby and the Priest walking towards me.

“Thank you, Father,”  she told him.  ”I’m just going to lie down on a pew and try to get some sleep if you don’t mind.”

“Certainly. Go ahead. I’ll try not to disturb you.”

I took my jacket off as Gabby stretched out on the pew behind me.

“Here.”

I covered her with it like a blanket.

“Thanks, Cas.”

I knew I’d never be able to sleep in this place, and I didn’t want to disturb her either, so I started walking to the back of the pews.

But the Priest stepped up to me.

“Aren’t you staying with your friend?”

“Oh, uh, I can’t sleep. Not here. I don’t wanna bother her. I’ll just sit in the back.”

“You don’t like churches, do you?”  he asked.

That was an understatement!

“No, not really. No offense.”

He smiled.

“None taken. But why don’t you like them?”

“It’s a long story, Padre.”  I sighed.

He nodded like he understood completely.

He has no idea.

“What’s your name, son?”

“Oh, you can call me Cas.”

“You have a last name, Cas?”

I thought fast.

“Uh, Cas Thedemon.”

Hey, it was the best I could come up with on short notice.

“Would you like to join me for a cup of coffee?”

“I don’t drink coffee. Thanks anyway.”

Would this guy just leave me alone, for Christ’s sake!

“Well, maybe you could just keep me company. I could use some conversation. We could talk about why you don’t like the church. I’ve got all night.”

I don’t know how he dragged me into it, but I was sitting in his office while he puttered around fixing himself a cup of coffee, humming to himself as he did.

Guess I was right.

He was bored as hell and dieing for someone to talk to. Probably worked here every night, just hoping for someone to walk in with a problem.

Must be one lonely guy to want to spend the night talking to me. Poor bastard.

Hell, he can’t even go out and get laid on the weekend!

A wood name plate with gold letters stood along the front of his desk.

Fr. Donald Buchanon.

Father Don sat down behind his desk stirring his coffee lazily with a white plastic spoon.

“So, Cas. You’re an atheist, am I right?”

I was a bit taken aback by that question.

An atheist?  Hardly.

“What makes you say that?”

He sipped that black, sugar sweetened crap and shrugged.

“The way you acted when you first came in the church,” he explained, still lazily stirring. “I’ve been part of the clergy for twenty-seven years. You can tell when someone’s never been in, or wanted to be inside a church after that long.”

Well, he got that much right.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a, uh, ‘House of God’. Never thought I would be again. But no, I’m not an atheist.”  I said.

“You’re a Christian?”

“Well…No, I wouldn’t say that.”

“But you believe in God?”

“‘Believe’ isn’t really the right word.” I said.

He continued to slowly stir and sip at his coffee with a slightly puzzled look.

“What happened to turn you away from the church?”

“I didn’t turn away from the church. I turned my back on God.”

Stir, sip, stir.

“Why did you lose your faith?”

“I didn’t lose faith in God,”  I said.  ”I lost faith in his judgment.”

Stir, sip, stir.

“But how could you question his judgment? The mind of God is unknowable, but we know he is good and he is wise. He knows what’s best for us.”

Stir, sip, stir.

Damn it.

I felt like I was on trial for what I’d done in Heaven! This was an inquisition against me for siding with Satan!

What am I doing talking about this with this guy? I shouldn’t even be here, let alone talking about this shit with a Human. Especially a Priest!

Sigh.

“Why do you believe in God, Padre?”

He stopped stirring.

“I see God’s miracles everywhere,”  he said like he’d said it a million times before.   ”Everytime I see something beautiful. Everytime I see our parishoners’ faces. Everytime I see them light a candle and kneel in prayer. A million things in this world prove God’s existence to me everyday.”

Stir, sip, stir.

“Bullshit.”

No stir. No sip.

He pushed his cup to the side and stared at me in surprise.

“Belief doesn’t prove anything, Padre. Faith is not fact.”

“But…Cas, that’s the beauty of it. God wants us to believe and have faith without proof or facts. That’s what shows our trust in him and his judgment.”

“How do you know that’s what he wants?”  I said.   ”He’s unknowable, right? How do you know he even cares?”

“Because he gave us his Word in the Bible. And, of course, he gave us his only son.”

“The Bible was written by Humans, Padre. Humans who never met him. Never spoke to him one on one. It’s their own beliefs, their own interpretations and preconceptions. And forget Jesus Christ for a minute. Pretend you don’t know anything about that part of it. If God really cared about Humans and wanted to be worshipped, why wouldn’t he show himself to them? If he really wanted all Humans to do good and all come to Heaven, why not show Humans that it’s real? By leaving it a choice, he’s letting millions, billions of souls go astray who wouldn’t if they only knew. How can he do that? That’s the only proof there is. Proof that he doesn’t care.”

The coffee was totally forgotten now.

Father Don looked a little overwhelmed.

“You’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this.” he said, a little stunned.

“You have no idea, Padre.”

He thought for a moment before slowly answering.

“Well, Cas…I would say that believing without proof, having faith, has more meaning than if we have actual evidence of God’s existence. It shows that we care. And if God didn’t give us the freedom of choice, he would no longer be God, but rather he’d be more of a tyrant. If he says ‘you have no choice but to follow my path’, then we no longer act out of love for him, but fear of him. It would be forced, not willingly given love.”

I shrugged and sighed.

“But you’re still working under the assumption that he wants Humans to love and worship him.  You’re still basing everything on the fact that he cares what Humans do or what happens to them.”  I shook my head, ran a hand through my hair.  “I’m on your side, Padre, I really am. But I don’t think God is on anybody’s side.”

“But, Cas, why would God have made us and not care about us? He made us in his own image out of love. I can’t accept that he created mankind on a whim.”

I laughed.

Oh, man.  The stuff I could tell this poor deluded guy!

“Oh, you don’t even wanna go there,”  I said.  “Besides, what makes Humans so special?”

“You talk about humans like you’re not one yourself, Cas,”  Father Don said.   ”Have you become so cynical that you place yourself apart from the rest of mankind? If so, that’s no way to live. Perhaps what you need is more people in your life to help show you the truth.”

“I’m sorry, Padre, but no amount of Human interaction is going to show me more truth than I’ve already seen. And it’s not cynicism, really it’s not. I’ve just seen too much. I’ve seen shit that would make you want to shove that collar up Christ’s ass.”

Father Don grimaced at that last remark.

Oops.

Think I might’ve gone a bit too far there.

“Well. You’re a young man yet, Cas. Maybe you just need time to work things out.”

“My body may be young, Padre, but my soul’s been through Hell!”

Father Don smiled at me patiently.

“I will pray for you, Cas.”

“Heh heh heh!  I appreciate the sentiment, Padre,  but there’s just no way to save my soul.”