by Layna Snow
But that something else was gone, and these large flat-faced creatures were in the way, greyish with big black eyes. They looked like… And then it hit her. Aliens!
She was being taken by aliens! And she tried to fight, but couldn’t. Her limbs were heavy even though her body was weightless.
And her skin felt like thousands of tiny ants crawled under it.
Her body started moving, not up, but sideways! Were they on a spaceship? She didn’t know! She couldn’t look around.
All Sophie could do was scream out soundlessly as they took her through a hall made of metal. It was cold, and endless.
They took turns carrying her, and her skin started to burn, her body held immobile while she suffered.
The walls turned to jelly, orange and wavy as they passed through them. They?
Yes, the aliens were still there, clicking at her, at the walls!
Were they pulling them in farther?
But she couldn’t ask, couldn’t run. All she could do was cry, her sobs just gasping air.
And then, after an eternity, she was placed on a hard, cold, metal table. The light above her was blinding as a giant squid appeared. It clicked to the aliens, and then to her.
For a moment she thought it was going to kill her… or do something worse. She had heard the tales of weird adult movie fetishes, and she worried that it might become her reality. But instead it picked up a bible from somewhere and held it before her.
Did it want her to pray? Oh, it didn’t matter what it wanted!
She was going to do it! She hadn’t believed much in God over the years but she would put her faith in Him now!
Please, Father… She started, before hearing a snicker.
“He can’t hear you down here, love.” A smooth, young British voice sounded… from the squid. And then the book came down, and everything went black.
Just for a moment. Her vision dimmed until she couldn’t see anything.
However, she wasn’t out now.
And traces of light came back.
Then more.
Sophie looked up, assessing her surroundings. She feared that she’d still be in the spaceship. But as she stared up, she knew things were different.
The walls were made of smooth stone, not metal. The light above her was still there, but instead of a medical type light, it was a clear-ish luminescent crystal.
She wasn’t on a table, she figured out as she turned her head to the side. It was a floor, a hard, smooth surface, sort of like granite. However, even as she took in that information, she regretted the movement instantly.
The pain in her head was instant and pounding.
Great! The alien put metal shoed tap dancers in my head. Just what I always wanted!
She just closed her eyes and stayed as still as possible.
The laugh that echoed through the large room was slightly high, childish, and full of joy.
“You might as well open your eyes, things aren’t going to get better just because you ignore it.”
That voice, with its adorable accent reminded her of something, something dark and terrifying.
The sudden panic made her jump. The… squid was still there?
Even as she thought that, rationality tried to weasel its way into her head. What were the chances of there being a giant squid?
Soph turned her head carefully, aware that her brain felt like blended soup.
What she saw shocked her. There was no sea-life! Instead she saw a long rustic table filled with food, or so she assumed from what she could see from her position on the ground.
And sitting at the table, was a young man. He looked at her with soft blue eyes. His face still pudgy from youth, and his head covered with an unruly mop of light reddish brown hair. She could see a few freckles on his button nose.
He was probably around 14, and he was really adorable.
“Are you hungry?” he asked, and just the thought of putting food in her stomach made her want to… well she didn’t want to think of that either. She just wanted to sleep. Not here though!
“Just sit up!” the kid intoned, sounding like he was losing his temper. “I know sign language. You can communicate with me! Don’t just lay there. You went through Hell, now act like a warrior and do something!”
Well, what did he expect her to do? She was taken by aliens. Ended up in this weird place. She couldn’t talk, it hurt to move, and she just wanted to curl up in her guys’ arms for the next few weeks. She thought that she could protect herself, but she failed!
She had tried so hard, and now she was just about ready to give up.
“You spend all this time and energy coming down here, and now that the end is in sight you aren’t even going to ask your questions? Don’t you want to know what those things are? They are Xérnal Demons. We use them as messengers. They said that you thought they were aliens. A normal misconception. They mentioned that you were worried that they had probed you. And they did… sort of. Not physically. They cause hallucinations and then can extract information from your brain. They do it often. I like to stay up on all the latest information. It’s not as though I get to leave often.”
He sounded disgruntled, and just a little peeved at her.
He had no right!
Whoever he was, he kidnapped her. Dragged her down here, and took her memories!
Sophie sighed, getting her elbows under her and levering herself into a sitting position. For a moment, the room spun.
It took a moment to get everything settled, then she looked around the cave. It was large, mostly empty but well decorated. The light from the ceiling illuminated the sideboard, something that she had only heard about in historical romance books. There was a pitcher of some kind of liquid. She felt so parched, but she wasn’t going to drink anything here.
Right, because you’ve made super awesome decisions so far!
Gosh, she just didn’t know what to do anymore! But she knew sitting on the ground wasn’t going to help.
Her brief depressive moment was broken by her anger.
“Who are you?” She signed.
The boy laughed, and shook his head, as if amused. “Who did you come here to find, love?”
She came to Hell to meet the Devil. To make a deal, but surely this child wasn’t him.
Was he?
“I can see that you’re thinking.” He said with a happy smile. “And you’re right. I am the head honcho, the Devil, Lucifer, Abaddon, Satan, whatever else you want to call me.” He shrugged.
This cute child was the evil being she had been warned about since she was little?
This was the guy that wanted to raise an army against the Lord in order to let chaos reign? This was the man of fire and death who tricked people to get their souls?
El Diablo- as her Abuela would call him with a shudder.
Appearances can be deceiving!
And she knew that this ‘kid’ was much more dangerous than he let on.
Soph backed up quickly, crab walking to put some space between them.
Yeah, like space was going to protect you! It’s just open air! But her instincts were to flee.
The darkness that emanated from him was evil, thick and pulled her in as much as it repulsed her.
Everything inside of her wanted to run away, knew that this boy wasn’t to be trusted.
The Devil sighed, and even at a distance, she could see him roll his eyes. “You’re being awfully dramatic. I could have killed you, already.”
And while that was true, it didn’t mean that he didn’t mean her any harm. Hadn’t Adrian told her that he lied? Hadn’t Melody warned her about the dangers?
She had planned and plotted this moment. She had figured out exactly what she was going to say, but now that it was here, there was nothing in her besides fear.
A terror so profound that Sophie had trouble making her hands sign without trembling. “Is that why you brought me here? Because I was looking for you?”
The teenager rolled his eyes a
gain, his imitation of a real teenager was spot on! “Obviously. That, and I wanted to know what information you had. I mean, you weren’t going to make it on your own. Even with my manipulation of the penny you still didn’t find your way here. Turns out Adrian wanted you to stay with him.”
It took her a second to figure out what he was talking about.
And then she realized that Sin had caught the coin that last time. He had lied to her? As if that’s a shocker!
She should have felt anger, but instead she felt disappointed. She had wanted it to be Annie telling her where to go. She wanted it so badly, to be close to her sister again, even just in spirit. But it wasn’t her. It was Lucifer.
Of course.
“Don’t look so down, little one. Ask me what you came here to ask me. I might be in the mood to grant a little favour.”
Sure he would be! He probably already knew what she wanted. Why didn’t he just make it come true! Why didn’t he just save Annie and be done with it.
Maybe it doesn’t work that way. Her conscience told her. Maybe she needed to ask specifically.
And how was she to do that? She needed to think this through, to come up with a phrase what wouldn’t be misconstrued.
She wanted to make sure that he didn’t lie or cheat.
She’d seen movies with the Devil in them. And she knew that phrasing was everything.
“I want Annie, my Annie, to wake up and walk like normal and talk like normal, and live a long and happy life for the next 80 or so years. I want her to be healthy.” She signed.
Soph held her breath, hoping that he’d understand, hoping that he’d agree. And hoping that everything would go alright.
The teenager’s eyes focused fully on her, his face going serious as if thinking about her plea.
His eyes held secrets. Depths that defied his innocent looks. The shadows swirled, like ghosts seeking a way out.
Sophie wanted to look away, but she couldn’t. His stare held her, trapped her.
Oh sweet shortcake, she needed this to go well! Her other plans had fallen through and she didn’t have much time left.
“Alright. On one condition. You have to do something for me.”
Sophie’s heart stopped. Her chest constricted and she realized that she hadn’t taken a breath.
She’d do anything for her sister! Anything. But she worried. There were so many possibilities that he could ask for, and most of them seemed terrifying or impossible.
“What?”
“My daughter” he started, and her shock must have shown because again he rolled his baby blue eyes, “I am not as young as I look. People do not age down here, and she is… young. Now, as I was saying. You will come across my daughter and you need to protect her until she is 20. When she reaches 20 you will bring her back down here and deliver her to me.”
Sophie could only stare. He had a daughter?
The idea was frightening.
A little girl out there, with the darkness inside of her. With evil blood?
Hadn’t she seen movies like that with Annie?
The possibilities made her head hurt, and although her heart was aching for this young girl who she had never met, she knew that she had to agree.
Regardless of how it affected her life. She had to do this for Annie.
“How will I know it’s her? There are millions of little girls out there.”
El Diablo smiled again. He looked predatory, even in his youthful, innocent face.
And she couldn’t get any farther away. Her back ached from being held so hunched, her knees drawn up to shield her stomach. She didn’t want to look at him, but needed to know his answer. Needed to be aware in case he made a threatening move. Just needed to be aware.
As if that would help her!
“You will just know.”
“Is she as evil? Will I have to be careful?”
The Devil chuckled, the noise sounding so carefree, much too carefree for the king of all evil.
“Be careful? You’re sounding slightly bigoted. Have you ever stopped to wonder if things aren’t as black and white as they seem? The Bible is written by His followers, of course it will show Him in a good light. Have you read the Old Testament? There are plenty of instances where He was cruel.”
“There are many where you are, too.”
“That’s true, love. But, maybe it is just like your politicians. We want to seem better than the other. I know what these monsters down here do. They are my children. But, I don’t make their decisions. Can you hate the President because one of the children shot up a school? Do you hate the leaders of Africa because the animals attack? So why judge me because of the place I am forced to occupy, because of the things my boredom and loneliness created, and the world twisted into evil? Now, do we have a deal?” He asked, and held out his hand.
Sophie didn’t want to think about what he said, not yet.
It was too much, too close to home. She had grappled with right and wrong her whole life, and now with the guys… no, this wasn’t the time!
Managing to get up, Soph took a deep breath before walking slowly over to him. Every step took effort. Like walking through sludge. The air between them thick with potential—both good and bad.
She didn’t want to move closer. She didn’t want to be near him at all, but this was important.
Her feet were cold on the floor, and her muscles didn’t want to move. But she made it there. And she took his small warm hand in hers, giving it a quick shake.
Instantly she felt a shock, and immediately let go. It traveled up her arm, and right to her heart, where it burned, sizzled and then it fanned to the rest of her body before going out.
She felt…different. Changed in a way that she couldn’t put her finger on.
But she knew it couldn’t be good.
Soph stared, her eyes wide as she slowly backed away again. What had he done to her?
But it was over. The deal was made and all that was left to do was to complete it.
She hoped that she didn’t regret this.
17
The Devil turned back to the food on the table. “Are you sure you don’t want any? You have to be hungry.”
But she wasn’t. Her stomach knotted. Her whole body clenched.
Sophie couldn’t think about eating any of this stuff. She just wanted to get out of here.
As if sensing her decision, the young man sighed.
“Suit yourself,” he said before picking up a sandwich of some kind. She didn’t even want to know what was in it! It was probably dead babies boiled in the tears of his enemies.
“Razion,” he called, his voice calm and level. Even so, the power that lashed through the room was almost physical. She hadn’t realized that was even possible. But the hair on her arms stood up, and all her instincts told her to run far away!
She hadn’t even realized that she had taken a step back until she heard a rustling behind her.
Soph whipped around to face the new threat. And she didn’t know if she was happy that she had.
The thing before her was about her height, and had the basic anatomy of a person, at least as far as she could see! He appeared hairless, his eyes black with orange irises, and a little large. Its face was extraordinary in an unsettling way. His nose was small and didn’t stick out far from his face and his cheekbones were overly sharp. His mouth was thin as well. The thing that stood out the most, though, was his skin. It was black with blue tiger-like stripes.
“Razion, escort Miss Torres to the Main tunnel. The Angels should be looking for her now. The Xérnal have had enough time to tell the information. We have more of them, don’t we? I don’t think those Demons are coming back.” Satan said absently, as he took a bite.
“Yessss, sssir.” The blue striped Demon hissed, his thin snakelike tongue poking between his blunt yellow teeth. It continued to watch her, unnerving her with his weird eyes.
At least she assumed it was male. There were no feminine features in it’s cold,
angled face.
Sophie took a few steps to the side, and turned to keep both of them in her view. The Devil sacrificed Demons in order to get her here? Why would he do that?
“You say that you’re not a monster, but you let people die for no reason! That is wrong, no matter what you think.”
“My daughter’s life is worth more than those other lives. I will not explain myself to you.” His disapproval was like a weight, pressing down on her.
“I want to leave.” She told him, unsure if the snake thing understood ASL.
“Right this way, princcccessssss,” it hissed, walking towards a doorway on the other side of the room.
Sophie had no choice but to follow, and hope that he led her where she needed to be. It didn’t matter what he said to her, or what he called her. She needed to be gone, away from this psychopathic child and back somewhere she knew.
As she followed him through a tunnel made of quartz, she studied the Demon’s clothing. It was surprising that he was dressed as a Human. He wore grey slacks and a purple dress-shirt. What did you think he’d wear? A loincloth?
She thought this place would be barbaric, with open orgies and Demons feasting on rotted people. She expected to see torture and whippings but so far it all seemed very civilized.
They walked for so long that one tunnel bled into another, none of them distinct or interesting.
And then, she saw where this corridor led.
There was a huge cavern, the ceiling must have been hundreds of meters high. The top was like a dome, and in the center was one of those light emitting crystals. But what the dome protected awed her.
A rainforest.
It was huge! Trees stretching towards the domed ceiling. Leaves of rich jade and deep amethyst. Each leaf looked bigger than a car and shadowed the ground underneath.
It was beautiful.
The different colours of plants, poking out from the shadowy undergrowth.
And the sounds were wonderful. Animal songs that she’d never heard before. Insects buzzing around. Sophie could even hear running water somewhere. The bubbling of a stream barely heard over the symphony of birds chirping and the twittering of other animals.
