No matter how much he looked, Kyle still couldn’t get used to the view. The dingy sky, the heat-baked plain or the craggy obsidian mountains that shimmered and danced in the intense heat of distant Hellfire. It was a miserable sight. And this was the nice part of Hell. Or so he’d been told.
Since he’d woken, they hadn’t ventured beyond Ryka’s room. Their room, now. It was one of thousands carved into the face of a cliff that loomed over the plains below. Ryka called it an aerie, and it was where some of the flighted demons lived. There were walkways between some of the rooms and some of the floors, but given that its habitants could all fly, that was the easiest way to get around.
Kyle had taken one look over the edge of the balcony and collapsed back onto the bed. He’d trusted Ryka never to let them fall when they’d shared a body. He didn’t trust himself not to immediately crush his new bones to dust and splatter his new organs at the base of this cliff. It was a long, long way down.
And he was still getting used to having wings. There was no rush, right? Besides, he’d been perfectly content staying in Ryka’s embrace, and Ryka seemed more than happy to keep him there.
Kyle glanced back over his shoulder. Ryka was sprawled out on the bed, fast asleep. His wings hung onto the floor, and his tail was twitching as he dreamed. Probably about him, Kyle realized with a smile. He might not have spent his time asleep making their contract - although he did still frequently recall that night in perfect detail - but Ryka was the focus of most of his dreams, too.
Maybe it was time to get back to those. He had gotten up to stretch, but since Ryka hadn’t stirred, Kyle took that as a sign that another nap was in order. He was about to follow through when he caught sight of a storm massing on the horizon.
A wall of black clouds raced across the plain, dust billowing out ahead of it. Kyle folded his wings in tight to prevent them from getting battered in the gale, and he held up an arm to keep sand out of his face as he watched it approach. He knew this storm. Recognized the constant crimson lightning crawling along the stormfront. But still didn’t expect the one bolt that lashed out to strike not three feet from where he stood.
Flawless, Lucifer appeared in that very spot. “Kyle.”
Instinctively, Kyle sank to his knees and bowed his head. “My Lord.” He risked a look in Ryka’s direction, and was immediately caught.
“Let him sleep. You had your turn; now it’s his.”
Too nervous to respond, Kyle could only nod. He knew that it had taken him a long time to fully recover after being transformed. And the whole time, Ryka had been waiting as patiently as he could by his side. Now that he was feeling better, Ryka could finally relax.
“Rise.”
His body obeyed before his mind could register the command. He only met the Devil’s gaze briefly. Any more than a few seconds could be dangerous. Just as mortals saw their own demise when they met a demon’s eyes, immortals saw the void in the Creators’ eyes. Because the two beings that created all souls could just as easily destroy them. He had been told that pieces remained, so that those who had immortality taken from them could still suffer as they languished in nothingness - in Oblivion - for all eternity.
“We should chat. Take a walk with me.”
Before he could respond, he felt Lucifer’s hand on his shoulder. Gray mist swirled around them, and the ground dropped away from their feet. His head was still spinning when they landed on the plains, electricity crackling around them. “Wha-?”
Lucifer wore a gentle smile, but Kyle was still uneasy. Not that Ryka could offer him any protection against Satan himself, but Kyle would have felt better with him nearby.
“I assure you, you’re perfectly safe with me. I wouldn’t have wasted the effort reincarnating you just to harm you now.” Kyle wondered if it was his face or his mind that had been that easy to read. No answer came, so he assumed - hoped - it was the former.
But the subject of his rebirth reminded Kyle he had yet to thank Lord Satan for this gift. Immediately, Kyle was kowtowing with his forehead pressed to the grit beneath them. “Th-thank you. For this, for-”
“Enough.” A gentle admonishment, but it still froze Kyle’s tongue. “Up you get.” It was by his own volition this time that Kyle stood. “Now, our chat … since you don’t have the advantage of having been raised here, I’ll let you ask as many questions as you’d like. Ryka educated you as well as he could, but you were a poor student. Odd thing for a teacher, too.”
“I was scared to ask. I’m even more scared now,” he admitted.
“There’s no need. This isn’t a trick. You can ask anything. I know what your first question will be, but go on, spit it out.”
“Why me?”
“You know you weren’t the first or last – I believe you even met another pair in your travels.” Kyle nodded, thinking back to a long-distant encounter with the demon Hara and his very miserable host. “But I’d always chosen hosts who were already destined to be mine. They wanted power, or revenge, or fame. And they wanted to use their parasites to reach that poison fruit.
“As I’m sure you noticed, demons don’t enjoy being ordered around. They played their parts as long as they could stand. But those parasites tired of following orders and tried to end the contract on their own. Which always left me no choice but to intervene. Except in the one case you two chose to assist.” Kyle swallowed, but no consequences for interfering were mentioned. To his immense relief.
“You two have been the exception.” Kyle knew this as well, that what he and Ryka had, and had done, was completely unheard of. “I decided to try something different with you. Pair a young, uninterested demon with a soul that wasn’t yet damned.”
“‘Yet?’” Had he really been so close before Ryka had come along?
“Your eternity hinged on that ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Maybe your soul was clean enough to start, but that one choice was the single thing saving or damning you. If you’d turned him down, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
Kyle could hardly imagine how his life would have played out without Ryka. Dull and lonely, he assumed.
“Was it random, though? Choosing me?”
“I had a few candidates selected. But I sent him to you first; I had a hunch.”
It must have been more than that, but Kyle wasn’t going to ask. Not when he had other questions. “What about Ryka? Why him?”
“I wasn’t matchmaking, I assure you.” Kyle looked away. Not what he’d meant, but maybe not far off. “Aside from needing to get him away from here? He had no interest in being a parasite. The others all longed for the chance to dirty a soul that way, but got bored of it. Then frustrated with their hosts. Ryka went in with no expectations, just an assignment. And a desire to not be alone. Which made two of you, if I’m not mistaken.” He wasn’t.
“At the end, those last few years, I kept seeing you through the shadow. Why then? And why did Ryka just have to ask to come back, after all that time?” Kyle knew Ryka was hesitant to ask Lucifer. However close they had been before Ryka’s exile, being tossed out of Hell on a whim had degraded his trust in Lucifer. But Kyle wanted to know, at least so he could tell Ryka.
“I was getting worried. Such a long time without any problems. I really couldn’t believe it. And, you were getting dangerously close to achieving some fabled, perfect romance. Your two souls were about to become one.”
With a gasp, Kyle thought back to his last few years as a human. His one red eye, and his ability to see sin with it. “What-?”
“It was beyond his control of course. But in the end, there wouldn’t have been much of you left. Yours was still just a mortal soul. Some of yours would have shown through, though. Poets can only dream of what you two almost had.”
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Lucifer gave Kyle a chance to let the information sink in. Kyle wasn’t sure he wanted to think too deeply on the subject, however. Finding out he’d almost entirely lost himself to Ryka was … well, “romantic” wasn’t the first word that came to mind.
“And as for Ryka’s asking to come home … the timing was right. I wasn’t going to let things go on much longer, and I had a free moment to untangle your souls.” No, it didn’t get better the more Kyle thought about it. Lucifer kindly gave him the opportunity to move on. “What else would you like to know?”
“As you said, I was a bad student. Um, I’m sure this is stupid, but do you really make deals with humans?”
“If they’re desperate enough to want to make a pact with me, there’s no doubt they’ll do something drastic and damn themselves. No dealing required. Besides, if getting involved would be to my benefit, I just send one of my children along.”
“Right.” It made sense.
They walked a little ways in silence, Kyle trying to think of what else he wanted to know. But it wasn’t necessarily Hell he was concerned about. “Does my Mom know? That I’m-”
“She does. I’ve spoken with her; would you like to know what she thinks about it?”
Kyle shook his head. It was beyond unsettling that Lucifer had contacted his mother, but he was more upset knowing that his mother was aware of what he was doing. Of what he had done. She had known he was damned, and was probably glad to see that he had managed to avoid an eternity of torture. Though he was sure she was saddened that he had become the same kind of creature that had blackened his soul to begin with.
“No, Kyle, apathy rotted your soul. Ryka just gave you the opportunity to demonstrate how little you cared.” His breath caught in his throat, and Kyle froze midstep. “Of course I know what you’re thinking. You shouldn’t be so surprised.”
“No,” Kyle sheepishly admitted.
“Besides, she was the one who wished to speak with me. I can’t say I’ve been invited to Heaven to sit down with one of the saved too many times.”
“She asked you?”
“You are her only son, and she was more than a little worried for your soul. I was able to set her at ease, at least for now.” Somehow, hearing this mother had purposefully sought an audience with the Devil wasn’t doing anything to soothe his nerves, and Lord Satan’s next question didn’t help. “You asked about your mother, but what about your father?” Lucifer offered with a wry smile.
His own reaction – already that of an angry animal, with hair bristling and teeth bared – startled Kyle.
“Ah. I see you’re upset. It must bother you immensely that even after abandoning you and your mother, he still found his place in Heaven.”
“How?” Kyle hissed. “Why?”
“Because he could still love.” Kyle’s wings began shaking as Lucifer explained what had put his father back on the path to salvation – a new family. Years after leaving his first wife and young son, he had remarried, becoming step-father to three boys. And he had loved them. “He repented. He confessed his sin, and he was forgiven. He changed.”
“But he left us behind.” Forcing himself to calm down, Kyle took a deep breath and shook his wings out, refolding them slowly. “I just wanted-”
“An apology? The words never would have made it out of his mouth. Ryka would have killed him on the spot for hurting you. It wasn’t just physical harm he wanted to protect you from. Or was it revenge you wanted?”
An immediate “no” started to pass his lips, but he realized quickly that he would be contradicted. Of course there had been times, especially as a young man, when he wanted the father who had abandoned him to suffer. After taking a deep breath, Kyle went with a defeated “I don’t know.”
The Devil strode ahead, then turned and looked over his shoulder at Kyle. “That can’t be all you want to ask. In fact, I know it isn’t. But I’m not going to let you take the easy way out, like Ryka always did.”
Staring at the dirt, Kyle walked to catch up with Lucifer. Having settled on what would hopefully be a safer topic, he asked, “So, what will we be doing for work? I won’t have to um, do anything over there, will I?” Kyle motioned toward the distant mountains, but refused to let his gaze wander in that direction.
“No. Though there are so many of your kind who gladly would have sold me their souls to be able to hurt one another like that. Maybe I should let you torture them. Hmm.” For a few moments, Kyle was sure he’d somehow further damned himself. But then, with a grin, Lucifer continued, “Ah, but then what would poor Judas do in his spare time? No, I have something more appropriate planned for you. You may still have a lot to learn yourself, but I know you’ll pick it up quickly.”
“O-okay.”
Looking incredibly pleased with himself for making Kyle so uncomfortable, Lucifer finally revealed the task he had in mind for Kyle. “I want you to help raise the imps. They need minding, and I suspect you’ll have more patience for them than most.” A task he knew others were saddled with as a penalty. It didn’t sound that bad to him. It was nice to think that maybe his teaching career wasn’t over after all. “Just don’t give in to them as easily as you gave in to Ryka.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“I should hope so.”
Once more, they continued on in silence while Kyle tried to think. He was only recently deceased, but it was still difficult to remember things he had learned in church, or picked up from others. And he was sure that most of it, Ryka had corrected without having to be asked. Muttering to himself, Kyle desperately searched his own memories. He didn’t need to go back far, only to his first meeting with Lord Satan.
“You mentioned a Council? Who are they?”
“My self-proclaimed advisors and generals. I assign them tasks, and if they wish to remain in my favor, they do them perfectly and without question. But they’re all very old demons. Some of them, like Styx, volunteered to come here with me when I left Heaven. A few more have come or been sent since. And one has gone back home as well.” At this, Lucifer looked a little forlorn. Kyle was sure he had been told about a Reaper that had retired, choosing to spend the rest of his eternity in Heaven.
No matter how many times he heard about it, it was still difficult for Kyle - who had been raised in a very Christian household - to believe that Heaven and Hell peacefully coexisted. There had been no uprising, no fall from grace. Just a civil division of labor.
“How did you decide who ran Hell?”
“I was just more suited to the job. God can be cruel, certainly, but it’s just in my nature. He likes rewarding the just, I like meting out true justice. No bad deed unpunished, you know.”
Before he remembered to be afraid, Kyle asked his next question. “Ryka kept mentioning some scales. Um, how does that work? Is it like in Egyptian, uh, mythology?”
“Hard to call it that now, isn’t it? I’m sure Anubis will introduce himself at some point; you are quite the oddity.” Like Kyle needed the reminder. “It’s similar. Most religions got something right. Though only you, Judas and Christ have experienced true rebirth. So far.
“All souls, when they leave their mortal bodies, pass the Scales of Judgment. All your good and bad deeds are weighed against each other. If it tips toward good, you’re rewarded with Heaven. Toward the bad, and you become mine. And sometimes it’s almost too close to call. Which can lead to problems.”
“Problems?”
“Sometimes souls wind up in the wrong place. It takes a little effort in some cases, but they can be returned to their rightful places.”
The silence following this answer was much longer. And for the first time, Kyle realized that only his feet were crunching across the rocky ground. Startled, he looked down. Lucifer was walking, but he hovered just above the dirt. The dust stirred up by Kyle’s footfalls wafted around Lucifer’s robes, but never settled on them.
“Something wrong?” Lucifer inquired.
Focusing his gaze on the horizon, Kyle shook his head. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Devil smirk, obviously amused at Kyle’s attempt to lie. “I thought of another one. Ryka said once that we shared my DNA. So, does this mean that humans and demons could … breed?”
“That question asks, and tells, much more than I think you wanted it to. For instance, you’re not really sure where you belong. If you were, you would have said ‘could we and humans.’ I know this is new, but ….” Kyle froze as Lucifer reached over and gently brushed one of his horns. Gasping, he sank to his knees. They were still so sensitive. “Don’t forget what I made you. Now get up.”
His legs straightened themselves, and he continued forward. “To answer your question: yes. Angels and demons can interbreed with humans. Though angels rarely consider such a thing – love isn’t such a physical thing for them. Half-breeds don’t last very long, anyhow. If the souls don’t leave the bodies on their own, they’re usually killed as abominations. You can breed yourselves, to some extent. Though most of you try to avoid that and leave the work of creation up to me. It is my forte, after all. And I have made some good crosses, if I do say so myself.”
“Oh.”
“Would you like to see it done?” Not sure what he was being asked, Kyle kept his mouth shut. “A ‘maybe,’ then. I see.” That made one of them. But clarification would probably only serve to make him more anxious. And having a question-and-answer session with the Devil was nerve-wracking enough. Especially because he couldn’t think of another question, so just walked on in awkward silence.
“Home again.” Startled, Kyle squinted up at the sheer rocky face of the mountain. It hadn’t felt like they were walking in a circle. But here they were, right back where they’d started. “Well, I hope that helped. Ryka can fill you in on the rest, or you’ll learn it as you go. I’ll send you up.”
“Thanks,” Kyle managed, turning around to face Lucifer. Instead, he found himself looking out over the plains again. He was on the balcony once more, and Ryka was still fast asleep on the bed. Unsure whether or not his talk with Lord Satan had provided any real benefit, Kyle started for the bed. Maybe sleep would help. He still tired easily, and talking with Lucifer had been exhausting.
Whimpering quietly, Kyle sat on the edge of the mattress. It was still strange to him that Hell had furniture, but he supposed demons deserved comfort. Maybe he should have asked where it all came from. Was there a supply chain to Heaven or Purgatory? A group of shadow portals robbing warehouses? He shook the thought. It was all too much.
He wanted to be noticed, but he still felt bad disturbing Ryka. But even though they didn’t share a body, somehow Ryka still knew. Never waking, he lifted a wing, and Kyle gratefully curled up under it. He was scared and confused, but at least he wasn’t alone.