The foyer looks as bleak as everything does in this pitiful state. The double doors are open, letting demons enter and leave Hell's Palace as they please. The fountain in the centre letting a spray of water free. The droplets are cool on my skin against the heated air.
Servants, maids and others clear out of my way, their heads dipping as I pass.
Damn. I probably should have cleaned myself up before I left.
I make it half way through the foyer till laughter has me stopping dead in my tracks.
My fists turn white as I clench them, hard enough that my nails bite into the flesh of my palm. Turning on a heel, I face the source of the laughter.
She walks lazily towards me, her head tipped back, a savage grin on her face.
I calm my features till my face is expressionless. Hester stops a good few meters away from me. If she thinks distance is going to stop me from hurting her, she's going to need to add a couple hundred miles.
She stops cackling like an old hag and looks at me with an innocent smile, though her brown eyes fill with cruel mirth and aggression. Her smooth, red skin shines under the three moons light that pierces through the windows. The thought of skinning it off her flesh doesn't sound too bad.
Her keen eyes swallow my appearance once again reminding me that I haven't changed since Odessa's ball.
"Hmmm," she muses to herself, "The last time I saw you, I believe you had someone with you." She tilts her head like a curious puppy. She's heard. Of course she has.
"Tell me, did you even bury his carcass? Or is he rotting away as maggots eat what's left?"
A growl erupts deep from my throat. Hester knows his body will be buried. I wouldn't let him rot underneath the sky, forgotten.
She giggles. I know she is trying to stir me up. I know she's trying to hurt me further with the pain I feel, completely aware that I'm in a vulnerable state and that she is dying to take advantage of that.
"You realise, if it weren't for you he would still be alive, right?" She rambles.
"You were the one who lured him away from the ball and into the gardens. If you had stayed and not pissed your sister off he would have been surrounded by a crowd. Not alone with you in an isolated garden. You gave the killer a perfect chance."
I flinch. Though I hope my face is emotionless, she has no idea how bad those words feel. They hit home like a bullet hitting a wounded creature.
"Shut your mouth," I snap.
Her smirk tells me that she knows she hit a weak spot.
"Does his father miss him? Abaddon? It wouldn't surprise me if he doesn't. I don't think many will miss him actually."
I hiss. Her words, all though hurtful, make me see red like a bull that has been pocked with an iron rod.
Hester continues to spit her words. The demons surrounding us look on, waiting for something to go snap.
"He was quite attractive. Shame I didn't get to fuck him before he bit the dust."
And something does, but doesn't just snap.
It goes fucking kaboom.
A strangled sound escapes my mouth, caught between a scream and a hiss.
Hester shrieks in surprise as my body hits hers with the force of a bus. She lets out an oomf as her back hits the hard ground with me on top of her, pinning her down as I straddle her waist and stomach. Recovering from shock at my outburst, she begins to hiss and claw like an animal. I tilt my head to dodge the sharp nails aimed at my eyes. With a hand, I restrain one of her wrists and with the other, I plunge it into her mouth.
Her shark like teeth bite down yet I can barely feel anything except burning fury that I cling to as if it's a life raft. She narrows her eyes, jaws clamping down harder. Ignoring my bleeding hand, I reach my talons downwards. Her eyes once narrowed, now widen. Hester bucks and twists trying to loosen my grip, my fingers diving into squishy flesh between her teeth.
With a final dig of my talons, I rip my hand out of her mouth. Hester's teeth tear up my wrist to my fingers in deep gashes, my black blood mixing with hers. Though the pain clears my head slightly, I don't care. Hester rolls over in a scream, spitting black liquid from her mouth. Her howls turn into chocking and coughing, trying not to drown in her blood.
From my injured grasp, I drop the fleshy muscle that once belonged in her mouth.
Trying to control it, tears still well in her eyes as she looks at her tongue lying near my feet.
Looking around the room, not a single person comes to her aid. They watch her bleed as she mourns the loss of words and maybe even swallowing. Some watch her with about as much emotion as a brick wall while others smile.
"Don't look so upset," I say, "Personally, I think it's an improvement."
I leave Hester there, letting her choke down her blood. The bystanders avoid my gaze as my hellfire lurks bellow my skin, barely contained.
It's not until I reach the gates at the palaces entrance, do I fully comprehend that my hand is bleeding. Flecks of black trail behind me, pain spiking my hand as the wrath and kick of the fight wears off.
"Shit," I curse under my breath.
Through blood and flesh, I see the white of bone. The bitch had torn my hand to shreds and I hate to admit it, but she did a pretty damn good job.
I search for something to wrap it in. I sigh. My top is ripped and my shorts gashed, barely clinging to my skin let alone able to be used for a bandage.
Well fuck me sideways.
Until I find something suitable, I'm going to have to let it bleed. At least I can move my fingers, I guess.
Walking near the streets. I hold out my good arm. A carriage pulls out in front of me, the black horse pawing the ground. It mane and tail of shadow float out behind it with eyes a blaze of red. Lifting its skeletal leg, it slams it with impatience.
"The Gates of Hell," I tell the coachman once I'm firmly fitted into the seat. I never considered it, but these seats are really comfy. It's like a velvety butt paradise.
He gives a glance at the blood spilling from my hand onto the seat. I narrow my eyes. What exactly does he expect me to do about it?
I'm bandage-less and Hell isn't known for its doctors.
Frowning, he whips the horse into motion. Déjà vu whacks me.
Sitting here with my best friend, heading towards the Gates on Friday the Thirteenth. Sadness envelops me once again. The spot next to me empty.
Taking a deep breath, I clear my head, washing away the thoughts like a flood. I'm silent for the rest of the ride, not even attempting to start a conversation with the driver.
The mountains in the distance become bigger the nearer we get. The black void of the portal contrasting against the mountain side. As soon as I step out of the carriage the driver speeds away without a second glance.
It's quiet. Little to no life lurks around the portal, knowing their not going to be let through. Try, and they'll be stomped on like an ant.
The only sound is the relentless howl of the wind and the broken screams from the Pits, not too far away. The red glow of the Pits blends into the sky as the human souls are forever condemned to their punishment.
A high pitched squeal raptures the air. On instinct, I duck. An angle of death swoops by incredibly low. His black wings grace the tips of my horns. If I didn't duck, that would have been my fucking face.
He hisses at the human screeching in his arms. Scowling, I summon a ball of hellfire. With a powerful thrust, the black, red and green fire steams through the air, hitting the angel in his glorious black wing. He tumbles from the sky yelling, hitting the dirt with a thud.
I hope that hurt.
"You almost decapitated me you fuck wit! Watch were you fucking fly!" I howl.
The angel of death looks at me, his mouth open, eyes wide...
Until he realises his human soul has done a runner. He lurches to his feet running after her, unable to fly with a crispy wing. He winces, the limb dangling on the ground. She actually makes it pretty far. A good twenty metres before he grabs her by the hair. She squeals like a pig. The angel drags her by the hair in the direction of the Pits, a snarl on his face.
Have fun walking.
With that done, I approach the portal. I get a fair distance before the ground quakes. Rocks tremble and vibrations travel up my legs. The dark green dragon emerges from behind the mountain, flames erupting from his jaws as reptilian eyes lock onto mine.
"Hello, Devil spawn," the Gate Keeper greets. He snorts out more smoke than a mass production factory would in a five years. The smell of sulphur and burnt wood surrounding the area.
I cross my arms, "Why?" I state.
His head cocks to the side, eyes narrowed.
He blinks, eyes intrigued yet calculating.
"I know for a fact that nothing gets passed this portal without your knowledge. You let a demon hunter straight into Hell. Why? What did it promise you?"
"I am surprised you noticed that," he muses.
"I'm not an idiot," I spit.
He sits upon a rocky outcrop. His tail curls around his legs like a cat.
"No," he says, "I guess not. And as for what it promised me, that is none of your concern."
I bare my teeth, "Did you know that Dem was going to be killed?"
I need to punch something. Preferably that giant lizard even though I know that it's the equivalent of an moth trying to bite whale.
He shakes his scaly head, "No, I did not know the son of Abaddon was a target let alone be killed. I apologise for that."
"Bullshit," I say, every word laced in toxic venom.
"You let a creature through this portal knowing that they were a demon hunter! You let them through knowing in full that their purpose was to kill, perhaps not who, but to kill nonetheless. Due to your actions, someone close to me died. Because of this, you are in my dept and can repay it by letting me through this portal."
The Gate Keeper looks taken aback.
"You will let me through this portal now."
He stares at me. I want to squirm and look away but I freeze and hold his gaze like unforgiving steel.
"You do not declare when I am in ones dept," he hisses. The warning in his voice so obvious a deaf man could hear it.
"I am royalty. The daughter of Lucifer himself. I declare that you are in my dept. You will let me through this portal."
His gaze turns to fire. He may be an ancient dragon but I am a ruler of Hell.
His eyes, staring daggers slowly fade into amusement.
He lifts his head, "Very well, Devil Spawn. You shall be let through the portal and into the Land of the Living with access back to Hell."
I mentally fist-pump. Fuck yeah!
I bow my head in gratitude figuring I should show some respect.
"Take me to the place where the nephilim freak left," I say then step into the portal.
There is a strange sensation of pulling. Then I'm being thrown. It's like I'm spinning in all directions, getting pulled and pushed repetitively. After losing all sense of place and direction, the portal spits me out into the Land of the Living.
***
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