7

The first to pull himself together is our tough guy: his injuries are the least severe. He stands on the path, eyeing us suspiciously. Spotting the running water, he lunges toward us and clings to the rock. But he quickly tears himself away with a vacant expression. What was water to me is acid to him. The liquid burns through his flesh, and his throat melts away. I can see his tendons straining. His lips disappear, and he gives me a snarling look.

“Life is full of disappointments, isn’t it?” the devil laughs. His good mood is back.

Soon the others are watching too. They are healed, but the pain has left a crazed expression in their eyes. They stare at me with a mix of hatred and fear. I no longer belong among them.

“Friends, you must pull yourselves together faster!” the devil scolds them. “It will come in handy down there. If you’re not fast enough, you might lose a part of yourself forever.”

I find Andrea with my gaze. She averts her eyes.

A heart-wrenching sob echoes through the room. It’s from a forty-year-old brunette, who’s clearly been dedicated to her body—even bringing her silicone with her to Hell.

She starts weeping tearfully.

“What happened?” the devil asks with concern.

The woman is frantically trying to hold back tears, sobs visibly shaking her ample chest.

“Shh, little one,” the devil whispers, “don’t cry.” He approaches and embraces her, and she leans into him.

The others discreetly move away from the pair.

“Why? Why me, my lord?” the woman chokes through her tears.

The devil pulls away, his gaze showing sympathy. “Don’t you know why you’re here?”

She shakes her head, sending her impressive chestnut mane waving.

“Do you feel like you’re here by mistake?”

She bites her lip and nods.

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She’s really good at this. I suspect she muddled many men before she died.

“Do you think, sir, that you might… investigate my case?” She gazed up at him with large, moist eyes.

“Of course, darling!” the devil assures her. “We’ll look into it right away. But I would need you to kneel for that.”

The woman bites her lip again and eagerly nods. Life experience apparently taught her a good blowjob can do wonders. But… I guess she doesn’t realize the thing won’t fit in her mouth. She’s kneeled obediently all the same.

It would have worked on a man, no doubt. But this devil isn’t a man.

He grabs her by the hair and tosses her between his legs. He clasps her waist with massive calves, his rat’s tail winding around her neck.

“I examine these cases rectally, dearie. Are you ready?”

The lady can’t even utter a sound. Her face has turned purple, and her eyes are bulging out of their sockets.

“I take your silence as consent,” nods the devil, getting ready to stuff his hand into her behind.

“Enough!”

The shout returns in an echo. Horror grips me as I realize it was I who has screamed at the pair.

The devil glares at me, his smile frozen once again into a maniacal leer. The woman silently grows red, crimson, purple.

“Let her go,” I growl and take a step toward him. I don’t even know what I’m expecting.

The devil finally loses his nerves. He bares his teeth (which suddenly seem to have multiplied) at me in a snarl, and with one swift motion, he plunges his arm into the woman’s body, up to his shoulder. Blood gushes from her nose, mouth, and even eyes.

He yanks his arm out just as abruptly. He’s clutching her heart in his bloody fist.

He releases his hold on her calves, and she collapses lifelessly. He rampages toward me with her heart in his palm. The final drops of blood jet from its aorta.

I’m an idiot, I realize somewhat detachedly.

“Do you think this heart held any good, buddy?!” he screams at me.

I would run, but there’s nowhere to go.

“What do you think?!” he screams like a panting madman. “She, Isabella, was quite the cunt, wasn’t she—honey?” he adds as he throws the woman her own heart.

It lands on the ground and hops like a bizarre frog back toward her torn rectum.

“She was an evil bitch. But do you know her biggest mistake?” He’s now standing nose to nose with me. His stinking breath creeps into my nostrils. “She decided after a wild night that she could drive, home, safely.”

I remember the flames leaping from my car’s windows. I try to back away.

“Exactly, dude! You two know each other. You might say you spent a short, intimate, but fiery moment together…”

I look in disbelief at the brunette, who is trembling and looking around. Her heart is still hopping back to her.

“…if you can call death an intimate moment,” the devil concludes. “She didn’t just kill you, pal, but also a mother of two kids on her way to work.”

He gazes at me, his eyes shining like xenon headlights.

Then he grabs me by the neck with one hand and lifts me into the air. I’m glued to his strong wrist, and my body burns with the lack of oxygen. I expect to pass out at any moment, but suddenly I notice something strange.

I feel his hand trembling with the effort. Now I can even see the shake.

Surprise registers on his face. He quickly releases me before anyone can notice.

I land on my feet and gasp for air.

“Cross me again,” he growls. “And I’ll fuck your blonde into pieces.”

Whether he means that literally or metaphorically is completely indifferent.