“Not quite, but yeah. General concept.”
“What are you, then?”
“I’m a low-level demon. Lowest of the low. It’s hard to function without a host on Earth or in Hell.” He pauses. “Why do I feel like you’re trying to distract me?”
He’s close to my motivation, but not quite getting it.
“Because you’re a demon and don’t trust genuine curiosity.” I sigh and tell a half-truth. “I’m bored out of my mind, and this is actually fascinating. So, you’re a low-level demon. What does that entail besides being a parasite?”
“Like I said, general troublemaking. I don’t have a real job. What they’re doing is keeping an eye on me to see what I excel at, if anything. Like, maybe they’ll recruit me into Deals or Torture, or as a guard or personal assistant.” Before I can ask, he explains, “Whatever image you have of Hell, it’s probably wrong. Is it a place for eternal torture? Sure. But it’s also a business. Hell is competing against other afterworlds like Heaven, Hades’s Underworld, Jannah, Valhalla, and more. Everyone has a job.”
Okay, maybe it’s my Western world mindset, but Heaven and Hell being real is one thing. I would also be down to believe that Jannah and Jahannam were the only two. However, Kit confirmed that multiple afterlives from multiple cultures and religions exist. Is he sayingeverybelief is correct? That Heaven, Hell, Jannah, Jahannam, Valhalla, the Underworld, Nirvana, andmore are actually out there? That most of them got something right? It’s too much. I can’t focus on that. Let’s focus on Hell as a business. That I can wrap my head around. Deal with the potential existence of Greek and Norse gods later. Or never.
“That’s so odd.” I struggle to keep calm, my voice rising to an unfamiliar pitch. “What do you do, recruit people to Hell?”
“In a way. The salesmen sell it, like make deals for souls, but also entice people to commit mortal sins. If someone commits a mortal sin and feels no remorse, it’s pretty likely Hell will get their soul.”
“And you’re a low-level demon, meaning there are higher-level demons. Can you, like, ascend to a higher level?”
“Potentially to a mid-level, but not high-level. Mid-level demons are basically low-level demons who have figured out how to manifest their own physical form.”
“Meaning?”
“Have you ever seenBuffy the Vampire Slayer?”
My brow furrows. “…Of course.”
“So, think of non-vampire demons in that and how they’re presented. Ugly, scaly, horned creatures are what mid-level demons are. But they can still possess humans if they need or prefer a human form. A lot do, especially if they ever have work to accomplish on the surface level. Except, since they have this physical form already, when they possess a human, the human dies as soon as their body is taken over.”
“Well, that’s shitty.” Downright horrifying, actually. How many demons are walking around right now, wearing bodies that are not theirs?
“Yeah. It’s horrible.”
He takes a pause so long I think he’s done talking to me, but he eventually continues.
“High-level demons are different. These ones could have been created by Lucifer himself, or are something else entirely. Ancient mystical beings who have lost their place in modern society. The late King—not Lucifer, since he’s basically MIA, long story—Adramelech, was rumored to have once been a god. He usually walked around in a humanoid form that was all his own, not a host. But he could supposedly turn into a peacock and a mule and even a sun.”
“A sun? Like burning mass of gas sun?”
“Yeah, but that was reserved for special occasions.”
I scoff. He cannot be serious. “If you don’t want to tell me the truth, you don’t have to. You don’t need to make things up.”
Kit chuckles, his voice growing excited as he continues to talk. “I’m not! I swear. It’s weird shit. The current Queen, she’s something else. Like, people don’t think she’s even a demon.”
“Then what is she?”
“Some say she’s an ancient witch. Others claim she’s Nephilim, but no one knows. And it’s not my place to ask.” He clears his throat, his tone dying down. “But higher-level demons are the ones in charge of how Hell runs. They’re the section leaders. Hell has different torture divisions and business divisions, and higher-level demons are in charge of that. In the grand scheme of things, I am nothing. No one would notice if I went missing, you know?”
“I feel like that sometimes,” I admit without thinking. I’venever been great at connecting with people, but it became especially more difficult after August died. Without those connections, it’s easy to slip away unnoticed.
Kit snorts, pulling me out of my self-pity. “After talking to your sister, I guarantee you she would notice. And that friend of yours, he noticed after a few days, right?”
I let half a smile loose. “I’m sure you’re right.” I lean back in my chair, content with settling in for a while. I think that’s enough questions for now.
Hell makes no sense, and I feel like with any other questions I would get confused.Moreconfused. I’m happy Kit is answering my queries. He’s oddly happy to talk to me. It makes me wonder if he’s lonely. Like, at first, he seemed annoyed I was awake, but now whenever I make an appearance, he seems glad for it. I could be reading into things, though. Maybe we’re both making the best of a bad situation. However, if I was that irritating to him, he would leave.
We continue to watch TV together.
