"Welcome to hell." He said, flatly. "I'm Prince Lucifer, but if that makes you uncomfortable then you can call me Luke. I'll be your guide during your stay here. If you have any questions, feel free to ask." He threw in a fake smile. I raised a brow, thinking I might've heard wrong.
"Er… Lucifer-" I shuddered. That did make me uncomfortable. "Luke. Sorry, did you say Hell?"
He shrugged. "Yep. The one and only." As if Hell was no big deal.
I wasn't quite sure what to say. "Uh... Okay. So then why am I here? In Hell? No, nevermind, scratch that. How am I here? How is any of this real? Is it even real?"
He snorted. It was a strange sight, to see the dark Prince Lucifer, with his dark hair and his dark eyes and his dark everything, snorting. "Well, it's a funny story actually. A very true, funny story." He began. "One day I decided I wanted to be more than I was, more than God himself. I know, who would dare? God heard about my fantasy and decided I was a criminal. So he conjured up this fantastic prison for me and my friends, and he called it Hell. My eternal punishment. But, y'know, it's not so bad, he mostly just leaves me to my own devices. In fact, a couple thousand years ago, I killed this silly human for fun, and God didn't do a single thing! Crazy, I know! Anyways, now I just fashion myself an average Joe trader. Human souls are a really hot commodity these days." He finished bitterly, ruffling his hair with a distinct expression of distaste.
I swallowed thickly. "Er... Okay then." There was a long pause. "So... Am I dead, or what? Did I do something to end up in hell?"
Lucifer had been sulking slightly, but at my question he immediately perked up. He was really starting to confuse me. One second he was a super killer monster man, then a depressed teenage boy, then a... what was it? Average Joe trader?
"Well, Rosie- can I call you Rosie? It has a much nicer ring to it than Rose. Thanks, dear. Anyways, I've made a bargain with someone up on Earth. He's recently discovered that someone close to him was murdered, and he, consequently, would trade anything to get revenge. Lucky for him, I've got some super high tech robot demons that are great at investigating these types of things, since, you know, I'm supposed to deal with murderers." He looked at me pointedly.
"And you think I did it?" I asked. "Please, pray tell me, why I would kill my own mother?"
Luke went quiet, seemingly unsure of how to explain this. Then Lyon spoke up.
"We don't think it was you, per se, but rather an angelic presence that's inside of you." Lyon had been so quiet, I'd forgotten he was there. Then I remembered the only reason I was in this damn jail cell was because of him. I'd been so caught up in trying to fathom the idea of Hell, that I'd forgotten I was IN Hell. I stood up suddenly, ignoring the stab of pain down my lower back and butt, and walked over to the bars of my cell.
"Okay, you know what, I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, I'm tired, and I really want to get out of this cell. So would you mind just unlocking it and sending me back to Earth?"
Luke's nostrils flared. "Did you even hear what Lyon said?" He demanded, suddenly in super killer monster mode. "You have a goddamn angelic presence inside of you and all you can think about is how hungry you are? For God's sake, sometimes I forget how stupid humans are, constantly needing to eat and drink and rest. Oh, there's an angel eating my soul from the inside out but GOD FORBID I GET HUNGRY. JUST IGNORE YOUR GODDAMN FUCKING NATURAL URGES FOR ONCE AND USE YOUR FUCKING BRAIN, YOU HAVE ONE DON'T YOU-"
"Luke." Said Lyon, calmly cutting the angry man off. Then Lyon continued, much more tranquil than Luke who had stormed a few meters away and was pacing back and forth. "All we're trying to say, Rose, is that the angelic presence inside you isn't only dangerous to you, but to everyone on Earth. Most Angels don't bother with humans unless they're Guardian Angels, but sometimes one of them goes rogue. Hence, the killer Angel in your body. It's in the best interest of not only Luke's client but also the entire mortal community for that rogue inside of you to be extracted and eliminated as soon as possible."
I sighed and leaned my forehead onto the bars of my cell, grasping them tightly with my hands. "Alright." I answered, resignedly. God knows I wouldn't miss my grandmother but I couldn't stand to lose my father or brother knowing I could've done something to stop it. "So how's this going to work? Like a surgery, you can just cut me open and use tweezers to pull out an angel?"
Lyon grinned. "In a sense. Let's just start by letting you out of this jail cell."
"You know, it's kind of strange to think that Luke is supposed to be your older brother because you act like you're ten times his age." I commented, as I watched Luke lying on the floor, sulking again.
Lyon fiddled with what was presumably a key hole to the side of my cell. "Well, you know what they say," he said. "Age is but a number."
I smiled, knowing all too well the meaning of that phrase. My brother was just seven minutes older than me, yet he sometimes acted like he was seven years younger. Reckless, childish, and always sporting a mischievous grin. I looked down, biting my lip at the thought of my family back home.
"Thinking about someone?" Asked Lyon.
I nodded. "Yeah. My twin brother. It's weird not being near him. I never gave a second thought to what would happen if we were separated, but now that we are, I kind of... Miss him." I wrinkled my nose at the sentimental thought.
"Well, we don't often appreciate what we have until we don't have it anymore." He replied. It was so peculiar hearing a boy who looked no more than seven years old speaking the words of an aged elder.
"How did you end up here, anyways?" I asked, curious. "I've never heard about a brother of Lucifer."
His expression darkened, and I immediately felt bad for asking. "I'm not really his brother, in the sense that we have the same parents. I was here when he was cast down by God. In a sense I was Hell, because I was essentially the king of the all the beings that were here before Lucifer. You might know me better by my full name, Apollyon."
I raised a brow, surprised. "King of the Locusts?"
"The one and only." He replied bitterly. "Bringer of plague, conjurer of death." I didn't quite know how to respond to that. There was an uncomfortable silence until Lyon threw his hands up in defeat. "Okay, I give up. Luke, come unlock the cell."
Luke, still lying on the floor, turned to face us, pouting. "No."
I rolled my eyes, tired of his childish temperament. "Luke, get your head out of your ass and open this cell or you can forget about whatever you're supposed to get from your client." I demanded.
He seemed torn between his need to keep me locked up and his need for his payment. Finally, after moments of deliberation, he dragged himself up and unlocked the cell with a wave of his hand. The door pushed open with a loud creak, and I stepped out of the concrete box onto a soft surface.
"You know, I honestly pictured Hell with a lot more... Fire. Flames. Screaming dead people, that kind of stuff."
Luke grinned maniacally. 'We'll get there in time. Just you wait."
ns 15.158.61.45da2
