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And for a second, I genuinely thought about it; thought about all the evil men who spent their lives hurting and exploiting the innocent. Men who’d never seen one damn iota of punishment. It might make it worth it to be the one devising their eternal afterlife of torture.
“Do you guys, you know, do all those punishing things to evil humans like those horrible religious zealots like to babble on about?”
Laughing to himself, Nova continued to move his fingers swiftly across the keyboard. “If by evil humans you mean those like Hitler or Stalin or…” His eyes sparked knowingly. “Like Trump and all those like them, then yes. That is true. There is a special place for humans like them who bring massive evil to everything they touch. They will all spend eternity in torment.”
Guess a perk of taking the job as Ruler of Hell would be torturing those assholes after they die.
And before I could ask anything else, Nova added, “Your previous foster father is there, for example.”
Despite working so hard to keep the emotion from my face, I reacted. “He’s down there?”
“Where else would he be?”
“But I—”
“Killed him? Yes. It was his fated end, and one of the reasons I was able to locate you. You were not the only one he hurt, and he’ll spend eternity living in a Hell of his own provocation.”
Bile rose into my throat at the mere thought of what him hurting others entailed. I knew to what degree he’d ruined me. All those times he put hands on me. All those nights he sneaked into my bedroom, hand over my mouth, disgusting fingers between my legs. All those days I lived in literal fear of what the next day would bring.
Closing my eyes, I worked quickly to put the gross, visceral memories out of my head. I hated how much power that fucking bastard still held over me even in death. He shouldn’t, not after all these years, but even now, my body remembered. I could almost feel his hands around my throat, squeezing so hard I saw specks in my vision, my head pounding ragefully.
I swallowed and ignored the small look Nova offered me, clearly picking up on something left unsaid. But based on the way pity floundered in his gaze, he knew it all.
I refused to be a victim, and I hurriedly dispelled the emotion crowding my chest and rising into my throat. I fought to get my head back in the game. Because, honestly, I wanted to ask more questions.
Like how it all worked, or how they determined which souls suffered. What was the threshold of evilness to get the “You’re invited to Hell!” card. To ask if there was a heaven as well. But a part of me didn’t want to know. Something told me that one day I’d know it all whether I wanted to or not.
Nova keyed a few things into a small, coded box on his own three-screen computer. A window appeared on good ol’ Donny’s laptop, and then several files started to open. Things were highlighted and then the hyper-focused demon made a little sound and smiled with satisfaction.
“There we go,” he announced, finally stealing a glance at me. Lifting his hand with a look in his eyes, Nova tangled his fingers in my hair, and I recoiled in surprise. The move was way too lovey-dovey, and I nearly smacked him for it. As if knowing exactly what I thought about it, the idiot snickered happily. “It’ll be a little day trip, but I’ve been to this very spot a time or two.”
I eyed the computer skeptically, opening my mouth to speak. But then someone knocked at the door, interrupting me.
“Sir?”
Nova was out of his chair and fixing his vest. Then he nodded for the blue-haired woman to enter. She hesitated when she saw me but strode in anyway. Her steel-grey eyes took in my body with a couple downward swipes before she finally looked at Nova again.
“What do you want to do about the demon?”
Nova hummed in his throat, the look on his face giving me an oddly anxious feeling in my belly. “Kill them both and send their body parts back to their master.”
Now, I was in total favor of destroying Donny in the most painful way possible, but sending him and his destroyed lover back to Lucifer seemed like a bad idea. So even I was beyond confused by the sudden command.
I guess if you’re aiming for a statement piece, that’s definitely going to get your message across.
The blue-haired woman seemed just as startled as I was by the command. “But Lucifer—”
“Is already fully aware we’ve started to make moves. I have a plan, Reese. I promise you,” Nova explained, his voice soft and entreating. “I trust you and your team will accompany us on our venture to hunt down the Sworn Three?”
Reese’s eyes were suddenly full of confidence, the previous hesitation all but gone. She lifted her chin and straightened her posture. “We would lay down our lives—”
“If I have it my way, you won’t have to. My friend here is quite powerful, you see,” Nova prattled on proudly, and I rolled my eyes before grabbing my bag and heading for the door. “Lady?”
Sighing, I pivoted and was met with two sets of eyes staring at me in confusion. “I figure you don’t need me here? I’m just your bash and smash side piece, yeah?”
Reese’s lips twitched upwards, clearly amused by my sarcastic tone, and then she rushed to hide the fact that she smiled at all. “I’m Reese, by the way. And you’re…what did someone say…” She tapped a finger against her lips, smirking. “Oh, right. That half-breed bitch.”
That got a laugh out of me, and I clicked my tongue with a sideways glance at the green-eyed demon bastard who probably told all on me. “Ah, yeah. Guess Nova here overheard that prize of a line.”
