Chapter 15: I Am The God of Hellfire, Part 15

Sam was lying on the bed, naked from the waist down. His cock couldn't be harder.

"Come on. Suck it. You know you want to do it," he said in a hoarse voice.

Christina, dressed only in lingerie, swallowed.

Then, very slowly, she lowered her head between his legs. Opening her mouth.

——

When Sam opened his eyes, he found himself again in the illusory copy of the mansion.

Satan didn't like doing this, but regardless of what plans he had, he was the key piece. Otherwise he wouldn't have bothered to have a son in the first place. So he had to do what he could for him. Providing him with a safe space in which to practice his powers was the least he could do, no matter how much it hurt and weakened him.

It was possible that was a lie in the first place.

Nothing more than a way to make him feel grateful.

Actually, it wouldn't surprise him in the least. But that was beside the point, it's not like he ever thought Satan was really his ally, that he didn't have his own agenda and that he was anything more than a piece for that thing. More or less important, pieces were pieces.

"Father, before we begin, I have a question. If it's not too much trouble."

"Go ahead."

"I felt more changes as soon as I killed Ivor, but killing Jaiden had no effect. Is it because I didn't do it with my own hands, even though I was definitely responsible, or because that stupid guy wasn't Wright enough?"

In case it was the latter, there would be a problem. Satan had suggested the housekeeper as the first murder, assuring him that he would start gaining his powers. So, unless she was an illegitimate daughter as he had speculated at first, all that was a lie.

For something they called him the Prince of Lies, but he hoped he hadn't screwed him over like that. What reasons could he have, damn it? Nothing would make sense.

"Neither one thing nor the other," Satan said.

It was irritating to have a conversation with someone he couldn't see half the time. Neither of them was doing anything important in this illusory mansion, why hide?

"Oh?"

But that answer was interesting. Could it be that it wasn't true either that the unlocking of powers was linked to the murders?

He wanted to know the rules of the game they were playing. He needed it more than the oxygen in his lungs. His life would probably literally depend on it. Very soon, when he took care of these annoying insects.

When he reigned over the ashes and rubble of this family.

"Well, not even I can be sure 100% of the answer," Satan said, "but I think it has to do with your mental state. Considering that you hadn't finished the job prevented you from unlocking a new power. The problem is that it's true, of course, so you couldn't have done anything to avoid it."

Sam frowned, pondering.

It sounded good, but the truth was that he wasn't qualified to judge if it made sense. This world was completely new to him. Not even a week had passed yet, and the side he was exploring was completely unknown to everyone except him and Satan. So the other Sam would have been just as lost as him.

He saw no reason to deceive her about this, of course, but just because he didn't see it didn't mean it didn't exist.

In any case, it wasn't worth talking about it.

If he was telling the truth, it was something he had to accept sooner or later. If it was a lie, then he would keep lying to him. As long as things kept going perfectly, it didn't bother him for now, at least.

"Naturally. You're my son and you need to feel that you have everything under control with the same strength as I do, but that's how things are."

Yes.

They weren't father and son, but in the end they had ended up looking alike. Maybe more than the other Sam would have ever done, which was ironic. Maybe the devil had found his perfect son in a human being.

That would be a surprise.

Maybe he would tell him after he stabbed him, just to see his face.

"Humans seek to study magic, they have systematized it over the years," Satan said. "However, in the process they have done nothing but... cage it. They know nothing of its free and wild power. That's why we are stronger."

But that's why things weren't as simple as looking at a dusty book and seeing exactly what you had to do and what you had done wrong. Satan and he had different powers. Similar in some things, perhaps, but ultimately different.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"I understand, father."

"Good."

Seconds later, a copy of Ivor manifested in front of him, in the middle of the reception. Another empty doll that existed for his convenience.

"I thought you might like to torment him a bit more."

"Good decision."

Sam stared at Ivor and searched within himself at the same time, a sensation different from the one that gave him using telekinesis, a new, unknown sensation. He didn't close his eyes like the previous time, not even to start.

He had quickly learned to use telekinesis with his eyes open, and he didn't think it was still necessary.

It probably never had been, it had just helped him concentrate.

It couldn't be because he kept his eyes open, it didn't fit, but the fact is that he got no results. Sam frowned. Yes, it wasn't about that. Because he no longer felt the strange sensation that had filled and shaken him on his way back to the room, after killing Ivor.

The same euphoria and change that enveloped him when he pushed Evelyn off the roof.

Not that, nor anything like it.

He had searched within himself for the power that he knew must be there, somewhere, and had found nothing.

He clicked his tongue.

"Shit. I don't feel anything special."

"Just try again. We have time."

Yeah, plenty of time and it wouldn't even affect his sleep hours, but that wasn't the point. Sam frowned even more, frustrated, angry with himself.

"With all due respect, I don't think that's going to change anything. Something's wrong."

"Very well. It's your power, not mine. You know it better, even if only by instinct. What do you think is missing?"

If I knew I would have already gotten to it, obviously, he thought. But, despite his rage, he had enough presence of mind to recognize that saying that out loud would be the worst damn idea of his life.

He didn't like living knowing that Satan was more powerful than him, that he could sabotage him at any moment, if he so desired, even if he just got bored of him. Who knew what a demon was like?

But for now it was the truth and that was it. There was no way around it. He had to show him some respect or he would pay for it. He didn't want to bet that he was too valuable a piece of his plan to crush him, that he wouldn't dare throw eighteen years, from his perspective, into the damn trash.

He didn't like gambling.

He was good at improvising, yes, but that had nothing to do with it.

"I don't know, but I'm sure. It's not that I started and failed, I didn't notice anything. Something must be missing."

He gritted his teeth.

No matter how many times he turned the question over in his mind, he wouldn't get anywhere. How was he going to find the missing piece if he didn't have a clue what the power could be? And waiting for a sign wasn't an option, even if it really came out of nowhere.

Gambling and passivity were the enemies of success.

Satan had told him that he wasn't in a hurry, that it was best to do things right, no matter how long it took him. But he was in a hurry, to a certain extent. Now that he had started, there was no way he could stop. On top of that with such a strong start.

So addictive.

Satan finally decided to stop the nonsense (he could affirm that among his various powers, reading his mind wasn't one of them or he would have already made him pay for his sarcastic comments) and appear by his side, sliding through a wall as if it were water, once again.

Too much consistency for an illusory space. Or maybe it didn't mean anything, really.

"I think I know what the problem is," said Satan.

Without making a gesture or anything he could see or feel, he made a crow manifest. When he recreated Evelyn's corpse for his pleasure, he had snapped his fingers, but he supposed that had been nothing more than a theatrical gesture.

This time it wasn't Ivor, it wasn't Evelyn, nor Jaiden. Just a crow, black as a starless night, standing at his feet.

"What am I supposed to do?" he asked, just to be sure.

"Rip out its heart."

Ah, so it wasn't a matter of trying to use his power on the crow, to make sure it wasn't something that only affected animals.

Anyway.

He wouldn't enjoy it as much as killing a human being for obvious reasons (even if it had been more than a realistic illusion), but Sam didn't hesitate. Just to try.

He was so eager to control his new power that he could barely contain himself.

Sam gutted the animal with his bare hands. It was surprisingly easy. Once he had it palpitating in his hands, which did produce a slight pleasure, despite everything, he glanced at the demon. Waiting for more instructions.

"And now?"

"Whatever feels natural to you."

But he shouldn't have done it.

Sam opened his mouth to respond, probably too sarcastically, but was saved because he began to feel something more than the heat of the still-beating heart of the animal.

Letting himself be carried away by that sensation, he ate it.

He devoured every last bit of the heart, its blood ended up running down his chin and hands. He had the feeling that the amount of blood was disproportionate, but that didn't matter.

Nothing was real, nothing had to make sense.

Speaking of which, he transformed into a crow in the blink of an eye. The transformation was instantaneous. There wasn't even pain, and there were important things that hadn't changed, such as...

"Oh. I can talk, this is very strange."

He couldn't say it was the strangest thing of all.

This adventure had begun with him being reincarnated, when all his life he had been sure that you die and the curtains fall, the lights go out forever and that's it.

So he couldn't say it was the strangest thing that had happened to him, not by a long shot, but it almost felt like the strangest.

The ease of the change. The fact that he had the form of an animal, but retained the ability to think and process of a human being. It didn't fit.

But that uncomfortable feeling would pass, he could and should ignore that. From the beginning it was clear that science had a passing relationship with this world. If transforming into a crow had surprised him more, that was only because it had affected him directly.

Sam decided to test his new form, flying through the illusory mansion.

He thought he would have to practice. That he would end up crashing like a fool against the walls and the floor until he got used to it, feeling humiliated in front of Satan, but it wasn't so. The flapping of wings, the balance, the flow of air. Everything about flying felt as natural to him as it should be for a real bird.

It was part of the package.

He returned to the starting point. Next to Satan. There he regained his human form with a single thought, with total naturalness, and he didn't even feel dizzy from the sudden change, again.

Good, good. This power was much better than he had thought at first.

But, to be satisfied, he had to do the test again. Transforming and undoing the transformation again. It presented no problem for him. It was as natural as breathing or as flying was in his crow form.

"So I only need to devour the heart of an animal once to transform into it whenever I want. Good. That's much better."

A deliciously diabolical idea occurred to him that made him regret having killed Ivor so soon.

But that didn't mean it was useless, that he couldn't use that idea against other people.

I Am The God of Hellfire, Part 15: END