The Devil's Mate

Chapter 6

After he introduces me to the little people, whose correct term of acknowledgement is fae, as his mate he moves on to show me where the kitchens are. In the kitchen, there are what I originally believed to be sand filled voodoo dolls with buttons for eyes and slits for mouths bustling around at the orders of the doll called Masha who seems to be the head of household maintenance.

"Masha will your lady in waiting," He informs me, his voice announcing our presence to the dolls. "During the earlier times while Father and the other deities were figuring out how to create humans there was a lot fo trial and error. The error is all here in this household. As such we do call them Errors but they prefer the human term 'dolls'."

Instead of feet that walk in strides, these dolls hop from place to place, each time their bound bottoms touch the ground, they emit a little squeaking sound. Masha who bounces her way to us from the other end of the kitchen, bows low to the ground in greeting before speaking.

"Master has brought Mistress to the Kitchen at a very bad time," She chides him as a mother would to her child. "Here is as hot as hellfire. Master and Mistress must leave. Masha will find you both for supper shortly."

"I was just showing your Mistress around, Masha," He replies, shaking his head at her as she begins to push his calves in an attempt to get him to leave. "See you soon."

Taking me back to the foyer where he murmurs to one of the faes to open the stairs which has the ground shaking under my feet making me think the mansion is crumbling but in reality, a set of marble stairs rise from the ground ahead were twisted in a perfect spiral like a child's Slinky toy pulled from each end.

"I believe I will be keeping the stairs where they currently are," He tells the fae, looking at me concernedly as I grip his hand for dear life. "No need to close it."

"Yes, Master," the fae giggles, flying to me saying, "Don't worry Mistress, you'll get used to it soon."

"I hope so," I shakily respond, giving her a small smile before she flies off.

From there I learn that the mansion has three separate wings, the main house where we have the library, ten rooms, the kitchens, and parlours for visitors and our living room all spread across five stories including an attic which he tells me to not go into unless he's with me. Moving to the North wing through a bridge near our bedroom, he takes me to where he does his daily job of making judgement and hearing from the souls that have departed from Earth to determine whether or not they deserve to be in Heaven or Hell. 

Bustling around the third floor are men and women dressed in suits, most of them wearing black leather gloves as they move about giving each other papers and throwing papers into a flame at the end of the floor. He informs me that the flame does not burn the papers but instead transports them to other departments which are on the other four floors respectively.

"What's this floor for?" I ask him.

"This is the floor that determines who will die today," He responds as he watches his people run about. "The men and women you see here are people who have decided to not reincarnate after their punishment. They are, what you humans would call, Demons."

"They don't look as scary as the horror movies Hollywood makes," I mumble, more to myself than to him. 

"Hollywood's depiction of them is somewhat accurate but I make sure they return to their human form when they are in the building. It's easier for them to work that way," He shrugs nonchalantly as though its no big deal. "There is a spell on the three buildings that make them return to their human form as their beast form makes them lose all self-control. It makes them violent. With violence bring defence and I don't want a sector of my mansion to fall."

In total there are seven floors to this wing, seven floors because the Judgement Hall where he is most of the day is underground. As the floor of the foyer when uncovered, the entirety of the Judgement Hall is the double panelled glass that allows the viewer to see the river of blue fire outside the mansion. The only opaque thing in the hall is his chair, a desk that his assistant sits in to hand him the biography of the person being judged and a mirror that floats just beside his chair.

Recalling in one of the texts that the mirror was a gift from Buddha shortly after the creation of Hell to aid him in making judgement seeing as even the souls of the departed would lie about their lives. The Mirror of Truth is what it's called. 

"I won't bring you to the South wing," He tells me as we make our way back to the main house. "But I will tell you that the wing is the linkway between Heaven, Hell and Earth. There are five floors in that wing but it's a labyrinth. Demon hunters, Extremists and a group called The Covenant occasionally find the doorways to Hell on Earth and in their exploration, there is always death due to the creatures who guard the labyrinth. I'm not sure of its current state so we will not be going there today."

"Doorways to Hell? Multiple?" I question baffled as he takes me into our bedroom. 

"Occasionally, I go to Earth for food, not that the doll's cooking is bad, there are certain kinds of food which I enjoy that they are unable to recreate," He explains sounding almost embarrassed to be admitting it. 

Well, isn't he lucky I'm his mate? I think amusedly recalling the meals I've made for my family throughout my life thanks to Danny being a lazy slob and Mum constantly working late into the night. As I mentioned before the internet has been my best friend since I was twelve.

"Good for you that I know how to make plenty of delicious human food," I tell him smirking at his shock. "Just tell me when you have a craving and I'll make it."

"Tomorrow, I want lasagna for lunch," He says instantly, his red eyes showing the same excitement that they had when I first ran into him effectively making him look like a boy. "Masha doesn't know what it is and I don't know how to make it myself. The cheese on it-"

"Is the best thing in the world," I finish for him, smiling widely. "It's my favourite food."

Stepping back from me as he looks at me in bewilderment, he mutters, "As is mine."

The surge of happiness that runs through my body is indescribable, the thought of us having something in common makes my heart soar. The replying smile on his face makes mine grow even wider, seeing him smile for the first time.

Pulling me into his body by my waist, he wastes no time to press his lips into mine mid-gasp. His kiss is rougher than the first one we shared by the sidewalk and I don't mind it, in fact, I enjoy it. A lot. Unlike the first time where my hands lay by my sides, I push them into his hair, relishing in the soft silky feel of it before gripping it at the roots to press my lips harder into his, eliciting a low growl from him that lights me up from the inside.

"You won't believe what happened today, Dominic," An unknown voice says as the door to our bedroom open suddenly. "Oh, sorry."

Detaching his lips from mine, Dominic growls like an untamed beast at the intruder. For a second, I think it's due to this dirty blond-haired man dressed in a white suit appearing unannounced but that thought is quickly eradicated when he pushes me behind his back in a protective stance.

"Gabriel," He growls lowly. "What the fuck are you doing here?"