02- Satan! Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  End notes

  Destroyer excerpt

  Rockstar Romance excerpt

  Concrete Chaos excerpt

  Michael-Scott Earle

  Chapter 1

  As far as Hell went, the room wasn’t so bad.

  Well, except for the weird worm-caterpillar creature. The bug was about the size of my middle finger and colored gray like the walls, floors, and ceiling of my cell. It kind of inched around the room as a caterpillar would, making accordion-type movements instead of wriggling. It was slimy like a worm, and hairless, with a tuft of spikes over what I guessed was its head and a scorpion stinger on its tail.

  I was terrified of the thing.

  Maybe it wasn’t dangerous, but the little slug monster seemed to inch around my small twenty by twenty-foot cell in a random pattern. Any time it got within two feet of me, it opened a tiny maw filled with jagged teeth, stuck up the mane of spikes on its head, and let out a roar that sounded like there was an actual lion in the room with me.

  So I kept moving around the floor to keep my distance from the monster, and the caterpillar continued to roam around as if I wasn’t even sharing the cell. It was a good arrangement for now, but I figured I’d have to fall asleep some day, and I wondered what would happen if the worm came upon me while I slept. I doubted that it could even swallow one of my fingers, but I was in Hell, so I had to assume the stinger on its tail spewed some sort of crippling poison, and its teeth looked razor sharp.

  It felt like ten hours had passed since Charlotte and I had escaped Ashley and her gang of devil schoolmates who were intent on murderizing us. The beautiful succubus had said little to me after she pulled me into her Hell portal. As soon as we had stepped through, my girlfriend picked me up in her hand-talons and took flight through the burning sky. I’d tried to talk to her, but the roar of the endless lava rivers and the screams of the millions of damned souls swimming in them had made it hard to hear my own voice when I shouted.

  I’d gotten a good look at Hell while she carried me through the air, and I soon came to realize that it wasn’t just lava, fire, and brimstone. There were a few spots of dry, gray land. On each island sat a castle surrounded by squat buildings. Some of the castles looked European, but plenty were styled like ancient Asian fortresses.

  Then we came to the largest chunk of land I’d seen so far. Every single square inch of the island was filled with mega towers lit with colored neon lights. Strange writing flashed on the sides of the too-tall buildings, and I saw hundreds of flying dots twist and turn through the air of the city like a swarm of gnats.

  They were not gnats.

  As we flew closer to the buildings, I realized that the flying dots were winged demons of varying sizes, shapes, and compositions. There were small bat-like imps, hairy humanoids with horned faces, armored minotaurs with lava pouring out of their joints, skeletal horses with dragon wings, and hundreds of other species of Hellspawn. It seemed like no two were exactly alike, and as Charlotte flew me closer to the buildings, thousands of glowing red eyes turned to regard our travel.

  A group of them had flown toward us, but instead of meeting them in the air, my girlfriend dove with stomach-dropping speed into a short building made of reflective glass. One of the windows was open, and we angled through it like a perfectly thrown stone. We landed inside a room filled with seemingly endless office cubicles, but the area was devoid of life. My sweetheart pulled me out into a hallway, down a flight of stairs, and then pushed me into this gray room.

  “Do not leave this room. I’ll be back,” she warned.

  I tried to ask what was going on and why she had to keep me in here, but the door to the room slammed shut in my face, and I heard it lock from the outside.

  Then I’d turned to examine the room, seen my cellmate slithering across the floor, and occupied myself by avoiding his snarls.

  “Don’t suppose you can talk?” I sighed to the other occupant of the cell.

  I didn’t anticipate a response from the demonpillar, but the little monster did pause its aimless wandering, turn its face toward me, hiss like a big rig’s air brakes, and then go back to crawling.

  Nobody really liked me, not even tiny demons.

  But that wasn’t entirely true. My lips still tingled from Charlotte's magical French kiss, and my tongue could still remember the long dance it had enjoyed with hers. I leaned against the wall of the room, closed my eyes, and replayed the scene in the bathroom over again in my head. It was times like these that I felt grateful for my sharp memory. It had helped me ace all my tests and helped when I tried to savor my first real kiss.

  Suddenly, there was a pounding on the door, and I had been so wrapped up in the recollection that for half a second I thought it was Ashley pounding on the door of the bathroom before Charlotte had pulled me into this world.

  “Who is it?” I asked fearfully.

  “A friend... open the door, please.” It was a woman’s voice, and it sounded full of syrup, chocolate, and honey.

  “Ummm, do I know you?” I tried to ask the question with authority, but my voice came out as a squeak.

  “Ohhh, no, ahhh, but I want to get to know you. Can you come out please?”

  “I don’t think I should come out. Uhhh, sorry.” I tried to move away from the door, but the demon-worm spat out a screech at me, and I jumped back to the knob with a yip.

  “Awww, why not? Aren’t you lonely in there? How long have you been cooped up in the room? Just open the door. Please?” Her voice sounded really appealing, so I reached for the knob.

  “Sorry, the door is locked from the outside,” I explained after I tried to twist it. I shook my head and suddenly wondered why I had tried to leave. Didn’t Charlotte tell me to stay in here until she returned?

  “Oh, then I’ll go get the key. Don’t go anywhere.”

  “Uhhh. Okay. I can’t really.” The worm hissed behind me, and I jumped to the other end of the room. Now I really couldn’t leave even if I wanted to. The little demonpillar patrolled in front of the door as if it were standing guard.

  Minutes passed, or maybe hours, and then there was a scratching at the door.

  “I can’t find the key. Do you know who has it?” the sensual female voice asked.

  “Ummm, Charlotte has it. Wait, don’t you know her?”

  “Charlotte? Ohhh, yes,” the voice purred. “Are you hers?”

  “I’m not sure. I mean, I really like her. She’s so smart, strong, pretty, and she saved me from all those Erinyes. Then when the school changed into that crazy battle, she got me to safety. Then she kissed me, and it was so wonderful. She told Ashley and the other cheerleaders I was her boyfriend. So I guess we are together. I just haven’t really talked to her since she took me to Hell. So maybe we really aren't together? I suppose it is pretty complicated.”

  “You said that you think she is pretty?” the woman’s voice on the other side of the door pouted.

  “I think she is the most beautiful woman in the world. I thought that the first time I saw her in class.”

  “I wish someone would think I was pretty. I’m so lonely. I envy Charlotte,” the voice said with a whine, and it sounded like she had started to cry.

  “Oh, I’m sure you are beautiful. Your voice sounds nice, and you are trying to get me out of this cell. So I think you are great.” I took a step toward the door and the demonpillar hissed at me.

  “You really think so? That is so sweet of you. What is your name?” the v
oice asked.

  “My name is Sherman, but it is hard for people to remember my name. So don’t feel bad if you forget it.”

  “I don’t forget things, Sherman.”

  “What is your name?” I asked.

  “Joro is what I’ve been known as. Stan, can I ask you a question?”

  “It's Sherman, but of course!” I said with a smile. Besides Charlotte, this was the longest conversation I’d ever had with a girl. A lot of guys on the internet said that once you had a girlfriend, you would gain a bunch of confidence, and all these other women would want to talk to you. I had never believed them, but it looked like it was true.

  “Would you ever be able to love anyone other than Charlotte?” I could hear the hesitation in the woman’s voice, and there was a soft scratch at the door after she asked her question.

  “I don’t know, Joro. I’ve loved her for so long, and she’s the first girl that I ever kissed. I can’t even think about life without her.”

  “I understand. How long have you loved her?”

  “Ever since I first saw her. When she transferred to my school four months ago.”

  “I see. That is a long time. How old are you, Sherman?”

  “I’m eighteen; I got held back a year in grade school when I got pneumonia for six months.”

  “Ohh, eighteen. So fresh and young. I bet you have a lot of energy,” Joro sighed.

  “I’m not very active honestly,” I laughed, and the demonpillar glanced at me. “I mostly just read comics and play video games.”

  “What are comics and video games?” she asked.

  “Oh, you don’t know? Well, comics are like books, only there are drawings in them. Mostly action scenes. A lot of them have great artwork. I like to read them all, but I really like the Japanese-style ones. They call them ‘manga.’ Video games are like moving books, I guess. You can control a character on a screen and go on all sorts of adventures.”

  “You like Japanese ones?” Joro gasped.

  “Yeah. I like Japanese culture. I’d love to go one day.”

  “I am Japanese! This is amazing!” Joro sounded really happy on the other side of the door, and I kind of wished I could open it so that we might talk face to face. I realized that this was now the longest conversation that I’d ever had with a girl.

  “Wow! What a coincidence!”

  “Do you speak it at all?” she asked

  “I’m not really that good. I just know a few words,” I said.

  Joro spoke a few sentences in Japanese, and I tried to pick apart the words.

  “It sounded like you said ‘I would like to be your greatest friend.’ Is that what you said?” I asked.

  “Yes! Your Japanese is very good. Oh, I wish you could come out of the room so that I could meet you properly. It sounds as if we have a lot in common.”

  “Yeah. That would be fun. Maybe when Charlotte comes back.”

  “Yes, maybe that would be--”

  “What are you doing here, Joro?” I heard my girlfriend’s voice penetrate the door.

  “Oh, hi Charlotte. I was just speaking with Wesley. He is so wonderful.”

  “Get away from the door,” Charlotte growled, and the sound of her anger made me wonder if my girlfriend thought I was cheating on her by talking to the other woman.

  “I was just talking to hi--”

  “I know exactly what you were doing.” The succubus’ voice grew louder.

  “I like him, though. I think I want him. Will you give him to me?” Joro’s voice now had a bit of a growl to it.

  “No. He’s not even mine. He is our lord's. I’ve promised him.”

  “Ahh. That is too bad. Are you taking him to the throne room now?”

  “Yes. So move away. I know all your tricks, and you can’t have Sherman.”

  “Ahh. So sad. Poor Joro. Albert,” she said, and I heard a knock on the door. “It was nice talking to you.”

  “Yes. I liked talking to you, Joro, but my name is Sherman.”

  “See? He likes me.”

  “I don’t care. Back away. Get out of this hallway. I won’t warn you again.”

  “Mean, mean Charlotte.” I heard faint footsteps move away from the door.

  “Mean, mean Charlotte.” Joro’s voice echoed faintly to the left.

  I heard a key twist in the lock, and my girlfriend walked into the room. The sight of her made my entire body numb. She was still wearing her school uniform, but the buttoned front of her shirt was undone to reveal her perfect cleavage, and her ripped skirt was dangerously short. Instead of their usual purple hue, her eyes glowed a red molten-magma color. Something about her persona was different; it was almost as if she burned with sexy power.

  The demon-slug on the ground hissed when Charlotte stepped into the room, and she glared at the little monster. It yelped as if it had gotten scorched, and then hastily crawled to the other side of the cell. I stepped around the scurrying creature and smiled at my girlfriend.

  “Getting into trouble?” She smirked at me, and my head spun pleasantly.

  “I didn’t mean to. Joro knocked on the door and started talking to me. She seemed nice enough.”

  “Ha. Of course, she did. Let’s go.” Her hands were no longer claws, and she grabbed onto my arm with her delicate-looking fingers.

  I stepped out into the hallway and let the succubus pull me to my right. I looked over my shoulder, back to where I thought Joro had walked away, and I saw the back of a woman wearing a gray robe. Her hair was a long silky black that fell almost to the ground. The girl turned around as I looked, and I saw that she was beautiful. Not as pretty as Charlotte, of course, but no woman I’d ever met had been.

  “Everything here has teeth, Sherman,” my girlfriend said with a little chuckle. “Especially me.”

  “Oh, sorry.” I felt my face flush, and I turned away from the Japanese woman. “You are the only one for me. I’m sorry for looking at her.”

  “You are an idiot,” she sighed, but the smile on her face made me think she liked what I had said. “The problem is that we have to get you to Lord Satan, and his tower is a few miles from here. I’d prefer to fly you there, but my kin hunger for your flesh, blood, and soul. There is no cover in the air, and I can’t defend you from multiple attacks, so we are going to have to walk there through the underground tunnels.”

  “Charlotte, something about the idea of an underground tunnel in Hell doesn’t sound that safe. Also, I kind of don’t want to meet Satan. Is there a way you can just take me back home?” I asked, even though I guessed what her answer was going to be.

  “The tunnel is safer than flying, but we might still get attacked--”

  “Mean, mean Charlotte!” The scream was far down the hall behind us, but the screech seemed to echo off the drab gray walls and gain in strength.

  “Let’s go. Hurry,” the succubus said as she pulled me with inhuman strength.

  I ran as fast as I could down the corridor of the boring office building, and then Charlotte pulled me right at the first intersection. There was a set of double elevators here, and Charlotte calmly pressed the down button.

  “There are elevators in Hell?” I asked.

  “Of course, but they only go down,” she laughed, and then there was an angry and slightly familiar screech in the hallways behind us.

  Charlotte began to tap on the button.

  “Uhhh, what exactly is Joro?” I asked when my girlfriend’s face took on a worried expression.

  “She’s annoying; that is all. I just don’t want to waste any more time. Ahh, thank Satan,” she said as the doors opened.

  “Going down?” said a man inside the surprisingly large lift car. He was kind of human-looking and wore a burgundy ‘elevator operator’ suit complete with the flat circle hat. The guy’s face did look a little bloated, and his eyes did burn with the same red intensity as Charlotte’s, but I might not have given him a second glance if I had passed him in the street.

  “Yes, bottom floor. Hu
rry.” Charlotte pulled me into the car after her.

  “Got it, sweet cheeks. Who’s the meat sack?” the operator said as he hit the lowest button on the wall.

  “Mean, mean, Charrrrrleeeeettttt!” It sounded like Joro was right around the corner, but the elevator doors closed before I could see the strange Japanese girl.

  “He’s Lord Satan’s, don’t get any ideas,” the succubus said after the lift car started moving. I realized I had been holding my breath and let it out with a painful wheeze that reminded me that I wasn’t used to running.

  “Oh, I don’t get any ideas, toots. I just press these buttons. Never going up, always going down, but every once in a while…” His voice trailed off.

  Charlotte didn’t say anything. She didn’t even look at him, and I finally couldn’t stand the suspense.

  “Every once in a while what?” I asked, and the beautiful woman sighed as she put her face in her hands.

  “Every once in a while I get a dame with a tight tush and a big rack in the car. Oh, baby!” The man smacked his lips together, and he gave Charlotte the most lecherous look I could have possibly imagined.

  “That is my girlfriend.” The words escaped my mouth before I even knew I had said them, and my heart jumped into my throat. I was an adult since I was eighteen, but I was still in high school. This elevator operator looked like he was at least forty years old, but since he worked the elevator in Hell, I guessed he was probably much older. I wasn’t used to talking back to authority figures.

  “Ehh? Well, good for you, son. If ya tamed a succubus, ya must have a schlong the size of an eggpla--”

  “Do you want to die?” Charlotte interrupted the man but didn’t bother to look away from the door.

  “Actually, I kinda do. They’ll give me a new torture assignment, and I’ll--”

  My girlfriend’s left hand swung to her side as if she was swatting away a fly. I didn’t even see her hit the man, but the entire side of the elevator exploded with blood, brain, and skull fragments. It was as if a water balloon had gone off in the lift car, and half of Charlotte’s left side was drenched with the red remainders of the operator.

  “Carsite varrrlittte cooon barrrter!” my girlfriend cursed in some unknown language and wiped off her face with the palm of her clawed left hand. The movement just seemed to smear the blood all over her more, and she cursed again.