The End Pt2
#2 of From Hell
I followed her. The resemblance to a dog was not lost and it soured my mood further. Trying to gain some control on my situation, I cleared my throat. "Where we going?"
"I may be stuck with you, but I sure as Heaven am not going to like it," she begins, her words clear in regards to us 'getting to know each other', "but if you must know I want to question any who may have been on Earth during the window of the crime."
"So rounding up suspects, questioning? Looking for possible evidence?"
"Something like that."
"Look, we got off to a bad start." I said, kicking a rock from my path as we walked from the Pit to one of the great cities at the centre of the the Eighth Circle. Malebolge.
She stops, turning to face me, "I don't know why you are here but I promise you that whoever it was that killed the Allmighty will be punished by an angel. You cannot stop or distract me, you cannot-" she was in full swing of a righteous spiel and I had no time for it.
"Stop, stop right now, I don't honestly give a fuck about any of this except for the part where my Lord game me a command. You think I want to be here, for eternity?" My rage had taken me but, oddly, it wasn't directed at the white-clad angel.
Her eyes were glowing now, "You should have thought of that before sinning!" The words stung not because of their contents but what they reminded me of. I had been judged. My life had not been a bad one, I had done some good things, some bad. I had been baptised as part of my family's faith.
But I hadn't believed.
Mine wasn't an uncommon fate, or so it seemed. Him, Christ, who judged all, had looked so very sorry that, despite having lived a good life I had to go to Hell. Time distorts in Hell, your torment is meant to be forever and, so, your time here feels such. I had been interned in the sixth circle, the great city of Dis, to be burned in a coffin and feel every moment of it.
My mind had wandered, she was still ranting, "... and furthermore it is disgusting that you should be given the freedoms you are." I blinked a few times, how long had passed?
I was opening my mouth to try and get back into the one-sided conversation when I saw a figure walking slowly toward us. Surrounded by others, I recognised him and gave a bow of my head to show him I knew. Spotting my gesture the angel turned and saw him. Supported by a pair of canes, the well-dressed male limped toward us.
"Greetings Asmodeus, Prince of Hell!" I called, wishing I could see the angel's face as the legendary charmer and perverter came closer.
His smile was dazzling and it was clear he was in a good mood. "Pet of my Lord, why are you escorting such a creature through the realm? Is it a gift to me?"
Now I really wish I could see the look on her face.
Her hand went to her hip and I knew at once what she was reaching for, even through it wasn't there. Police training...
"Nay Prince, she is investigating something for my Lord, he bade me to make sure she didn't get her pretty wings pulled off." I called back and she turned her glare to me. I really should have felt honoured, taking her eyes off the demon of lust for a moment.
My mood soured quickly. In that moment as I spotted the fuming, righteous anger on her face Asmodeus moved, quickly taking up her free hand and kissing it.
Her hand didn't reach to her hip this time, it gripped the hilt of the sword on her back, sliding it up and trying to pull back enough to bring it to bear on the Prince.
"Was this why you were sent, Satan's Dog?" Asmodeus says, drawing his hand back and moving a shuffled step back, the women who followed him moving in a bit, their guise of perfection fading a little as claws and wings reveal themselves.
"Yes, put that fucking blade away and Prince, our Lord requires cooperation." I said, throwing myself between the two. Maybe a stupid move, but if either of these two kills the other I know I wont be far off.
The angel stood, her blade still ready, Asmodeus' minions stood down not an inch either.
"Okay, I probably can't kill either of you, but I promise that whoever doesn't lower their guard in the next few seconds is going to be spending half of eternity healing from what I will do!" big words from me, but Asmodeus knew I could back it up, a little.
Amazingly enough it was the angel who lowered her blade first, "I need no guardian, but you are right, my fight isn't with anyone but the Slayer."
Asmodeus snaps his fingers and once more the demons around him are nothing but women, pressing themselves to each other and him. "An old-time crusade? And our Lord approved?"
I give him a nod, he knows I fear not a lot in this place, not with my Master being who he is. But he knows I will speak no lie about my Lord either.
Stepping aside, Asmoedeus grins again, his mood returned, "Well then, it is out of my hands. But know, angel, if you slip your leash, I will take you. I have only five angels left, after the last sortie. I would love another." It wasn't just a threat, it was a promise. The one thing you didn't want, above all things, was Asmodeus' love. "Feel free to spend some time in my city, I am sure you will be able to enjoy it, if you only let yourself."
"Why did you step between us? I wouldn't have attacked unless he did." She asks me at last, our companionship having returned to silence as we entered the city itself.
I focused ahead, "Because you might have killed him and..."
After I leave it at that for a few moments, she says, "Go on."
"And he might have captured you. Those demons with him are fierce, I have faced a few of them. But he would throw them all away in a heartbeat to catch you." I explain, walking, keeping my eyes from her. Quietly, under my breath, I mutter, "And no one deserves that."
To try and cover my exposed feelings I ask, "Where are we going exactly, I might be able to get us there more directly?"
She gestures down a road in the shanty-town, leading me until we are standing out front of a small house that clearly was not quite as run-down as the rest. Stepping up to the door, the angel behind me, I bring my fist down three times.
No sooner does the door open than I see her. Ugh, out of all the souls in this forsaken place, it had to be the only time I had lost a fight. The woman before me, perfect in every aspect, hadn't beaten me, hadn't tried to kill me. She had walked up and kissed me when she had her opening. My Lord had not been impressed with me.
"Well, my favourite little puppy, here to relieve yourself of some of your needs?" the succubus asks, tilting her hips to one side. Ever since that fight Asmodeus had been holding her over my head, I couldn't fight her, not now she had tasted my lips. It was a good thing my Lord liked Asmodeus as much as he did.
My snarl is cut short as I am pushed aside, the angel standing between me and that damn seducer. "You were on earth during the last moon?" she asks, cutting off any further comments directed at me.
Blinking, the succubus is about to laugh at her when the angel's hand raises and backhands the woman, her illusion of beauty shattering, revealing the demonic form, her wings hanging in tatters behind her, horns atop her head. "I was... why?"
The angel pushes her back into the house, leaving me to follow and close the door behind. "Then, by the power of Michael, saint, arch-angel, defender, I DEMAND THE TRUTH!" her words thundered and the succubus looked stunned by it, her eyes losing focus slightly, "What actions did you take and whom did you encounter?"
I had never seen a power like this and, it was clear, the succubus had no defence against it. She talked, she explained everything she did, who summoned her, who she fucked, who fucked her, who she granted power to and who she stole it from. It was a long list and by the time she was done, talking of a holy man who had sent her back to hell, I realised that the angel had held her focus the whole time.
"Then you are no use to us." she pronounces, turning her gaze away from the demon and making for the door. There were no cat-calls this time, the succubus clearly quite dazed by the invocation.
"Not much use there, any others?" I ask, pulling the door closed behind me and moving up beside her as the angel made to walk off.
"A few, it was a slow month, apparently... and, Blake. Call me Melanie." she says as she leads us toward the next on what is apparently a short list.
"None of them even noticed it, how could that be?" Melanie says, walking away from the last of the demons who had been on Earth during the incident.
I reached a hand out to her shoulder, the first time we had actually touched, "Maybe we are approaching this from the wrong direction?" I ask, an idea coming to me.
Her head turns, an eyebrow raised. She doesn't even comment about the touch.
"Well, we have investigated each possible suspect. You have clearly inspected where the remains were found but, maybe we should search for a sign of where He had been killed?"
She stops, my hand falling from her arm, "You are right, we should go to Earth and try and find the place, no doubt it would be showing some signs, considering what happened."
Melanie had started saying 'We' a lot. Most of the investigation so far had been her, but I couldn't help a feeling that I needed to protect her, despite her obvious strengths. "Then I will get my Lord's permission and we shall travel there directly."
I focused inward, my rage flowing strong in this part of me. The great beast who made me what I am, his three heads taking up all my mental focus, howls, sensing that I am hunting and approving of it. But I have to push past that, to the link I have with my Lord.
His darkness flows down and all through me, making me tremble and drop to my knees but, just as I am almost completely overwhelmed by it I feel ascent.
As my senses return I hear screaming and quickly realise it is me. Shutting my mouth, my throat dry, I look up at her, the horror of what had happened slowly fading to a terrible background sensation, "He... my Lord approves. We can go."