The Unknown // Colby Brock

~~ Chapter One ~~

"Anyways," Jake dismissed, "this is Mike, the trainer. Kevin, here, is a guard like Corey, and this is Aryia - he's the medic."

Because you can get hurt when you're already dead. Nothing seemed to make sense other than I was dreaming all of this up, and I wasn't actually in hell.

Maybe I managed to survive a gunshot to the head and was lying in a hospital room living out what I thought would happen after death... although I always thought that it'd just be black for all of eternity, so that didn't make much sense.

"And finally - well, not really, but almost - we have Griffin and Xepher. He's our getaway guy, and she's... well kind of just a stylist."

"Hey, I'm not 'just a stylist'," Xepher snapped back with a frown on her face. "Hun, I make weapons such as these" - out of nowhere, she flicked her hand, which was heavily ringed with scary metal-looking nails, and out came a short, thick blade that looked like it could cut off my head. From a single finger.

"So, that's everyone besides... you know, the devil, but you don't need to meet him just yet. In fact, if you could never cross paths, that would be very helpful to me."

When Jake said that, something came to mind. While I was 'dying', I could hear two male voices speaking the entire time. I thought that maybe it had been my imagination again, but thinking about it, I had a feeling one of them was Jake, which, based on the conversation, would make the other one the devil... and Jake a disobedient follower.

For some reason, I got excited by the idea.

"You're going to get in trouble for brining me here," I said slowly as I stared at him. "Bad move."

His eyebrows rose. "You don't even know the consequences."

"The prison for a week... right?"

His face grew suddenly pale, which I didn't understand. My attitude was settling in - mostly because I was realising that this might actually be real and I wasn't only dead, but in hell and treated special just because of my dark soul. Yet hearing that Jake had to go to the prisons for giving me that special treatment, I didn't even feel gulty. He made the choice, so why should I be burdened with feeling bad about it?

"Prison in hell is nothing like that which you have on Earth, Arianna," Mike told me calmly, bringing my attention to his face. "You essentially sit in a pool of lava and never die feeling every ounce of pain from the moment you enter the cell."

Still no reaction from me; Jake was choosing to be put to this fate... right?

"Black soul for sure," Devyn giggled, nudging Tara.

For the first time, I realised that Xepher was cringing at Mike's words as she stared at me waiting for some sort of negative reaction too. I just couldn't. I didn't feel for something I didn't do. I had had enough of that in my lifetime.

The sound of a loud slam made everyone in the living room look towards the throne room waiting to see who had entered the house, but that didn't take long, because the man was one step away from running through the mansion. Of course, the moment he caught my eye, he stopped.

I didn't know what he was thinking but he stared at me for a couple of seconds before he looked to Jake, whose eyes were focused down on the ground guiltily.

"Jake, what did I say?" the guy, who sounded a hell of a lot like the one I had heard during my post-death coma, said through gritted teeth. His tone was darker than my soul, and his beautiful blue eyes seemed to be glowing red of anger. Literal red. "Kevin, take him to the prison."

"You can't actually be serious?!" Tara exclaimed, jumping up from the couch.

The devil didn't even look at her as Kevin stood up.

"No! Sit your ass down. Jake isn't going to the prison for bringing someone in who we might need one day."

"Tara... kind of has a point," Corey mumbled. "At least, he shouldn't go to the prison..."

"I warned him. A devil's word is both final and binding. Kevin. Now. Or you're in there too."

With that, he continued on his walk to the throne, which sat tall and proud in the exact centre of the throne room. When he sat down on it, he suddenly looked so much more powerful... and so much more relaxed.

When Kevin carefully grabbed a hold of Jake, I couldn't help but frown a little. From a logical perspective, it didn't make sense for the devil to make that choice. It appeared as though Jake did a hell of a lot of work, and he was sending him away for a week just because he - like Tara said - brought someone in who might be useful, not that I thought I was.

I - being the idiot I was - decided to side with Jake on this one.

"So, the devil in real life is just a bully who sends people to be in pain if he doesn't have his way?" My words made even Kevin and Jake stop in the archway leading to the throne room, and it made the devil's eyes flick to me.

There was a storm brewing in them, but I didn't care. "Sounds like a pussy move to me." I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow.

"Arianna, that's really not a good idea." Xepher spoke gently, trying to take my hand, but I pulled away immediately.

Challenging people had gotten me into a lot of trouble in my life, but I wasn't alive anymore. In fact, I had become more dead than I had ever been, which was honestly an achievement.

Slowly, the devil's eyes moved from me to Jake, but he didn't soften up one bit. "Kevin, bring him here." He stood from his throne and walked down the one step it took to be on the same level. As Kevin got closer, I could see the devil's eyes getting more red and a weird feeling came over me.

But then Jake was within his reach, and he grabbed his arm. Kevin moved quickly backwards as if he was going to get hit by something. "You can stay in the dungeon instead for twenty-four hours after you wake up."

"After he- " Tara's confused words were cut off by the sound of a snapping neck soon followed by a thud as Jake hit the floor.

I knew I looked slightly shocked, especially when the devil then looked to me with that fiery red glow still in his eyes. This was real. I was in hell.

Chapters: 30 (plus some bonuses)

Requested book idea by our friend Ari solbysbitch . We did research and everything to make this real 😂. I hope she likes it and I hope you do too.