I woke up, and immediately sat upright, my head hitting something solid.
"Ow!"
What the fuck?
My vision came round and I saw a boy, around Dylan's age who was now rubbing where I headbutted him. He had short blonde hair, and bright blue eyes. He smiled at me then, a wide grin that somehow made me feel better despite not knowing where I was.
"Wolfie!" he smiled, "Glad you're up. Mum will be pleased, she thought you might be faking it."
Mum? Who was this kid?
"Uh, well, no I wasn't faking anything," I said, "What is this place?"
The last thing I remembered, was Lilith... the portal. We needed a sacrifice.
"Well, this is home for me," the boy replied, "You probably know it as Hell."
Hell. Of course. Lilith had promised she would bring me here.
"I'm Nick, by the way," the boy said, "I know who you are of course. Alec."
Of course, everybody knows who I bloody am... even in Hell.
I nodded at him and looked around the room. It was small but comfortable with a desk on one wall, a wardrobe against the othe re were sitting on a large double bed, draped all in red. The walls were painted black and there was a door, completely white, with no visible handle.
Shit. Was I trapped here?
"So you live here?" I asked, still unsure if Nick was a potential threat or not.
"Well not here, my room is down the hall, but yeah. I grew up in Hell."
Poor kid. Who would want to grow up in Hell?
"Are you... dead?" I asked tentatively.
I mean, I knew I was, but I couldn't just assume. That would be rude.
Nick laughed, and any fears I'd had about him dissipated, "No," he replied, "I'm alive. Definitely alive."
Huh. That's good to know.
"I'm sorry about head butting you," I said.
"Don't worry about it," Nick smiled, "Anyway, I absolutely should give you the tour! There's so much to do... it's
really fun. Well, except I usually have nobody to share it all with. Mum won't let me hang out with any of the souls down here. They get locked away in their Loops and left to suffer, but not you. You're different."
Huh, story of my life...
"Come on," Nick continued, grabbing my hand and tugging me off the bed towards the door, "I'm showing you the best part first."
The best part? My mind raced, wondering what to expect.
Nick proceeded to walk straight through the door, pulling me along with him. I stumbled after him into a large, dark room, with a row of dark red leather chairs, with cup holders on either side. The wall in front of them was taken up by a large white canvas screen.
Hell had a home cinema?
"I love to come in here and just watch movies and TV shows. We get everything down here, apart from Disney+, Dad had a falling out with Walt so he canceled our subscription."
Walt Disney? Was Nick's dad who I thought he was?
"And, uh, who is your dad?" I asked, dreading the answer.
"Lucifer."
Of course it was, but that meant his mum was...
"Alec, I'm glad you're up and about."
Lilith came swanning out of the shadows, her red dress matching the decor. She smiled, but there was no warmth to it.
"Lilith." I said, trying to keep my voice sounding natural.
"Nicholas, I thought I told you to come and find me when he woke up."
Her voice was sweet, but I felt the waves of terror coming off Nick, and I felt sorry for him.
"I was just showing Wolfie around," Nick said, "I was going to come and get you, mum..."
"Pitiful excuses, you sound just like your father." Lilith sighed, "You need to learn to do as I say."
"Yes, mum." Nick replied quietly.
Poor kid. I'd be a nervous wreck if I had Lilith as a mother... not to mention Lucifer was his dad. I'm surprised he turned out as normal as he had.
"Now, why don't you go and meet Belph? He has a wonderful surprise for you two by the pool."
Yeah, because I'm sure that'll be fun. What game was Lilith playing? Hang on... did she say 'the pool?'
"There's a pool?" I asked.
"Yep!" Nick grinned, grabbing my wrist, and dragging me back towards the door, "There are loads of things down here. The pool is great, you can swim whenever you want."
Swim? In Hell? Well, this was going to be interesting...
The door swung open as we reached it, revealing a large, brightly lit pool that extended all the way around the edge of the room. There were several lounge chairs spread around, and a couple of tables and bar stools near the back. A man dressed in an all black suit with long brown hair was standing at one of the tables, drinking from a bottle of whiskey. As soon as he spotted us, he grinned widely and gestured for us to hurry.
When we reached him, he clapped Nick on the back, and gave me an appraising look, and a smile.
"Alec Colby?" the man asked.
I nodded, unsurprised at this point that the man knew who I was.
"Righty ho, I'm Belphegor. You can call me Belph. Welcome to Hell, kid."
Belphegor ushered us both over to a table and took a seat, motioning for Nick to sit beside him while he poured himself another drink. He seemed nice enough, and looked friendly, but I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
I pulled out my chair and lowered myself onto it awkwardly. Belphegor passed Nick the bottle, which transformed into a bottle of coke as it hit Nick's hand.
"I'm sure you've got a lot of questions, Alejandro." he said.
"It's Alec." I corrected automatically before I could stop myself, and blushed. He chuckled lightly at my slip before leaning forward.
"Alright then, Alec," he said, "Let me explain what happens next. You died, right? Passed on, all that jazz... now is when the fun begins. You're in a unique position, most people who come to hell don't get the VIP treatment."
"I'm honored," I replied, trying my beat not to roll my eyes.
"You should be," Belph replied, "We can soon make it all change. Actually, that reminds me... I have something for you to see. A little bit of motivation to keep you in line."
He snapped his fingers and a blacked out image of a person appeared, looking like they were frozen. With a second click, the image became visible, and I found myself looking into the scared face of Wesley Stiles.