Luke and Lyon led me to a surprisingly bright room, with dark gray walls and a putrid smell. I wrinkled my nose. A concrete table sat in the middle of the room, covered in cobwebs and mold. Both Luke and Lyon sat in chairs that were equally as disgusting.
Luke gestured for me to sit down. I pointed at myself, feigning surprise. "Haha, no. How long have these chairs been here, five thousand years? It's so humid in here, I'm surprised the furniture hasn't melted yet."
He rolled his eyes. "You're such a twentieth century human." I think that was meant as an insult.
"It's the twenty first century." I corrected. "Not that you would know, this whole place has a major first century vibe." I commented dryly.
"Is it?" Luke asked, frowning. "Hm. It's been so hard to keep track lately... And just for the record, even if we haven't renovated in five centuries, we've got tons of high-tech gadgets and gizmos. Those... iPads, I think they're called? They control our robot bugs." He added proudly. Lyon looked especially impressed. "Anyways, I usually leave that stuff to my assistant, Death. Although I don't know where she is right now, she's usually close by..." A hooded figure appeared at the door. "Ah, there she is!"
"You called, boss?" She asked casually. It was the same woman who had been there when I'd woken up.
"Yes, Death, this is Rose. You've met already." She turned to me hood still covering most of her face.
I tried to smile but it came out as more of a grimace. "Yes, it was a really pleasant meeting." I said in an unusually high voice. Death suddenly went still.
Luke sighed. "Death, it's alright, you can take your hood off. He seems to be dormant."
He? I wondered. This comment seemed to soothe Death. She slowly took her hood off, making me stifle a gasp. There was a deep indent in her left cheek, almost as it somebody had carved out part of her skin.
She noticed me staring and gave me a hard look. I shrunk a little in my seat, not saying anything. It seemed like she had some sort of guard up against him, whoever he was, and she didn't seem like the kind of person to mess around with. Aside from her scarred face, her bow and arrow, sword, dagger, and likely many other hidden weapons all screamed danger.
Still glaring at me, she said, "Alright, boss. I'll be out if you need anything."
She walked towards the door, but before she left, she turned to look at me again. As soon as my eyes met hers, it was as though something was triggered inside of me, except it wasn't... me.
My chest tightened. It felt like there was a dishcloth being pulled out from my stomach into my throat and out my mouth. A voice that was not mine spoke, startling everyone, including me.
"Leaving the party so soon, Death?" It mocked, low and raspy. Death's expression turned into one that I could be quite read. Both Luke and Lyon were suddenly still in their mold-covered seats. "Ah, how nice it is to be gathered here again, the four of us, just like old times." I felt myself smile. I tried to make my expression match my internal disgust but couldn't. It made me utterly sick to my stomach that this... this thing could use my body against my will, that it could make me do and say horrible things, knowing I couldn't stop it. "Ah, tsk tsk." I heard myself-- no, him say. "Rosie, you bad girl. Let us sort out our little spat ourselves, this is something for only the centenarian's club. Though, I suppose we're part of the centi-centenarian's club by now, eh?" He gave a loathsome chuckle. Nobody laughed.
Death charged forward with angry eyes. "You have no right to be here, Cassiel!" She pulled a dagger but my arm suddenly shot out, grabbing her neck and squeezing with a strength I didn't know I had. Luke and Lyon shot up from their seats, Luke putting his hands up trying to calm down the being in control of my body.
"Now, Cassiel, we don't mean you any harm, just please put Death down and we can negotiate and see if we can get you to exit your human vessel."
His human vessel? My chest flared with anger and I tried to open my mouth to protest but, again, couldn't. He-- Cassiel, I think, smirked.
"Ooh, you've made little Rosie here a tiny bit angry, your highness." He jeered. Then he turned back to Death, still in his grip. He cocked his head thoughtfully. "Azrael." She stiffened.
"I don't go by that name anymore." She replied, wheezing.
He smiled. "You should. It really was such a beautiful name. Still is. It sounds so good with my name. Azrael and Cassiel. Remember that? Don't you remember the glory days? We can go back to them, just say the words."
Death with this maniac, with this monster? I couldn't picture it.
He loosened his grip a little for Death to answer.
"Never." She gasped out.
Cassiel pouted. "That's a shame." Then he squeezed harder. Her eyes bulged and she thrashed a bit, then went still. He dropped her to the ground then turned to Luke casually, who was staring at Death's limp body in shock. "What, never seen an unconscious body before? You and I both know she can't die, none of us can. She'll be up and about again in a few hours, don't worry your pretty little head." He flashed a smile. "Now, then, those negotiations?"
Luke glowered at Cassiel. Internally, I shrunk, remembering how Luke had thrown me to the ground when he was angry. "Please, sit." He said, through his teeth.
Cassiel sat down, and I felt him wince a little at my bruised tailbone. "Dear God, Lucifer, what did you do to the girl? It feels like I've been to Hell and back!" He chuckled. "Oh wait, I have!" Luke pursed his lips in disapproval, then glanced at Death again. Lyon walked over to Death and brought her upright, leaning her back against the wall by the door. Cassiel was still laughing with himself. "Ah, I'm such a jokester, sometimes I can't even tell when I'm being serious!" He grinned.
"Alright then," Luke began. "If you'd kindly just leave Rose's body and take your true form then we can talk properly."
Cassiel tsked. "Do you care so little for humans, little prince? You know what'll happen to her if I release her, humans aren't meant for the horrors of Hell. At least let me back onto Earth before making me extract myself!"
Luke's jaw tightened. What would happen to me? I wondered. From his tone it sounded like Hell would kill me. "Well, she's survived thus far." He said, somewhat hopefully. "Besides, letting you back onto Earth would just let you find some other human to possess."
Cassiel gave a sharp laugh. "The only reason she's still alive is because of me! The moment I let her go, it'll be her puny little human soul against the whole of Hell. She'll never survive that."
"I think you'll find that many things have changed here since you left, Cassiel."
He scoffed. "Like what? Are you telling me you've made peace with God? That you're set to return to the Realm of the Divine?" Luke said nothing. "Face it, Lucifer. The Angels have painted you as an evil in the three realms, and no atonement will change that picture. You can try to make Hell the fluffiest place in the universe, but Hell is, and always will be the Realm of the Dead."
Luke remained silent. Lyon spoke up instead, speaking softly to me. "Rose, I know you can't control anything Cassiel does with your body but if you can hear me, I need you to do something."
Oh, I heard him. Loud and clear. Not that I could actually confirm it out loud.
"What, you think this little girl can push me out?" Cassiel sneered. "You insult me."
Lyon ignored him. "Okay, Rose, listen to me." He looked into Cassiel's eyes. My eyes. "Remember when we met in the forest? When you were remembering every bad feeling, every bit of pain that ever overcame you? I'm going to need you to remember them again."
I had to do what? Lyon's eyes flashed light blue for a second. I didn't have time to dwell on the strange occurrence before Cassiel boomed with laughter. "It is in the very nature of humankind to avoid pain! What makes you think Rose is any different?"
His words angered me, motivated me. I remembered the pain in my hand after punching my grandmother, the raw heartache upon seeing my mother's dead body. The tears I cried when I broke my legs. The blood pooling in my mouth after having a tooth pulled out. I wanted the pain to stop, but I wanted more to prove him wrong.
"This is great, Rose. Fantastic. Now, think about somebody you love more than anything, someone you would die for."
The first person I thought of was Alfie. We'd literally been together since the very beginning. He was the prankster of the two of us, always knowing how to make me smile. The thought of living in a world without him was absolutely dreadful.
"Picture them dead. Dead at Cassiel's feet."
I had trouble imagining it. I couldn't make my mind conjure up an image of the corpse of my twin brother. There was never a dull moment around him; even when he was tired, he had a smile.
Instead, I thought of someone I'd already seen dead. My mother. All I had to do was take the memory of my mother's bloodied body and create a vision of Cassiel, with a morbid grin on his face.
That was all it took. Emotion swelled in my chest, fury shooting through my veins. Hatred towards Cassiel, for stealing my body. Hatred towards Lyon, for surfing my memories like the waves of an ocean. Hatred to Luke, for locking me up in a concrete box.
A lone tear slipped out of my eye and down my cheek.
Cassiel screamed a cry of rage, a cry of madness. "DAMN YOUR HUMAN EMOTIONS! DAMN YOUR DEAD MOTHER!!"
I smiled to myself with my own sort of sick satisfaction, this time on my real face. I didn't need Lyon to tell me what to do next.
I brought up an image of Cassiel in my grandmother's old lady clothes, and I punched him square in the face.
A huge whoosh of air left my lungs and I fell to the ground, breathing heavily. The last thing I registered before falling unconscious was the swirling of a dark mist through the room.
Authors' Note: Hi!!! It's already the fourth chapter and haven't actually introduced myself yet, so... I'm Angela, otherwise known as madwoman-with-a-box! Thank you for reading this far, this is a story I've been thinking about for a long time and I've got a lot of ideas about how its gonna go. If you like the story then please like and review! I appreciate any kinds of constructive criticism!!
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