“So you don’t like being here?”
Kas is contemplative as she thinks about her response. “It’s not that I hate it here, living beings are just more fun to play with.”
I make a humming noise as I follow her. None of the spirits–dead people–ghosts–whatever the hell they are, pay us any attention. It almost seems like most of them are in a trance as they do their daily routines. It looks fairly like a rundown or post-apocalyptic New York City as people go about their business. It’s definitely stark, comparing my modern-day outfit and solid figure to the slightly wispy ones before me.
“Do you want to see the pit?” she asks, and I just nod my head. I need to know everything about my surroundings and where I am. Kas doesn’t even have to ask as I hold out my arm, and she portals us to the pit. The temperature around us is hotter than fuck, and immediately sweat starts dripping from my brow as she walks us deeper into the building.
I guess I was expecting caves with hellfire, but it’s more like a laboratory built underground. There are no windows, and unlike the sorting room or a typical science lab, everything is dark and eerie. I feel like I’m in an abandoned mental asylum as Kas leads me down the halls.
Screams ricochet off the walls, and there’s a sickening stench of decay and blood in the air. “The worst of the worst come here, rapists, people who hurt children, specific murderers.” My gaze meets hers, and she shrugs. “Senseless murderers, people who kill the innocent or do so with no remorse.” I go to open my mouth and explain how I don’t have remorse about who I’ve killed, just how my sister reacted, and Kas shakes her head back and forth at me. “It’s different, I don’t know how to explain it really, but there are people who seek vengeance and others who kill for sport, those are the people who wind up here.”
There’s a man begging, shouting, “Please, not again.” Kas swings that door open to reveal a massive man, bigger than Lucifer. He’s easily over seven feet tall with blood covering his face and his white blonde hair is up in a bun. I notice then that his ears are pointed. He doesn’t even look over in our direction, just grunts.
“Elvor, this is Lilith, a new demon. I was just giving her the grand tour.” Elvor grunts again as he glares at the man in front of him. He’s tied to a chair, three fingers already missing as Elvor takes his knife and cuts off a fourth digit. The finger plops to the ground, and the man in the chair starts wailing again. I notice that the man in the chair seems just like any other human, not like the dead I saw in the city.
“Is he a demon?” I ask Kas, and she shakes her head.
“No, Lucifer just makes them corporeal so the torture hurts more.” I nod, that makes sense to me.
“What did he do?” I ask. Elvor wipes the blade clean of the man’s blood by rubbing it on the man’s cheeks. It’s fucked up but also kinda awesome.
“Tell her,” Elvor commands, his voice deep and growly and scary as fuck. He squeezes the man’s bloody cheeks, forcing his head towards me, so he can look at me. His grip looks punishing as the man tries to shake his head. Elvor grunts and stabs the man in his thigh, making him whimper. “Tell her.”
“She wanted it, okay? So what? She came on to me.” Elvor shakes his head in disgust, and I know the man is lying, but I don’t want to know any more details.
I grimace and look at the man before me, easily in his forties. “Elvor, may I?” I ask, holding my hand out for the knife. The massive man smirks at me as he pulls the knife out from his thigh and hands me the bloody blade. I might be in Hell, but knowing that people like this get this treatment for the rest of their pathetic afterlife gives me some joy.
The man sputters, watching as I test the weight of the blade in my hand. “If I kill him?” I ask.
Kas responds. “He’ll regenerate tomorrow.”
A grin spreads across my face, and with strength I didn’t know I had, I easily glide the knife into his throat. It takes him a minute to die, and I hope that he feels every ounce of the pain. It feels good—until it doesn’t.
My sister’s words rattle in my brain. I know they’re true because I liked it; I liked ending his life, seeing him bleeding, and knowing he will have to suffer again tomorrow. I’m the monster Diana said I was, but I’m not sure if I’m allowed to embrace it here. Or if her thoughts of me will haunt me for the rest of eternity.
Elvor gives us a grunt and leaves the room, leaving the man’s lifeless body tied to the chair.
“Well, that’s an exciting trip to the pit. Shall we go back to the manor?”
“That’s it?” I ask.
“Mostly. That concludes your grand tour of Hell.”
I thought that she would take me back to my room, but instead, she transports us to a massive banquet hall of people. Actual real-life people, not the spirit-like people we saw in the city.
“Stay close to me,” Kas instructs as we walk down yet another hall.
“Are they all demons?”
“Yes. Most of the demons here are in charge of securing souls for Hell. Others have different jobs.”
“Like what?”
Before she can answer, a man approaches us. He’s attractive, tall with dark hair, graying around the sides. He might be a demon, but there’s a gentle quality to him.
“Any word on Asmodeus?” he asks her.
“Nothing yet,” she says softly, looking at the demon in front of her before glancing back at me. “This is Lilith, she’s new.”
