Chapter 1: Celebrity Hell

 

Higher Hell: The Second Coming

Chapter 1: Celebrity Hell

“Casmiel!”

“Hey, Cas, buddy!”

“Yo, Casmiel!”

“Cas!”

“There he is! Hey, Cas!”

“Casmiel! How’s it goin’?”

“Dude! You da demon!”

And blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Can’t a demon get any peace?

I don’t know what was worse, all the demonic well wishers constantly coming up to me, slapping me on the back, acting like my long lost pals, or all the fucking questions.

“Is it true…?”

“Did you really…?”

“Can you show us…?”

“Will you teach me…?”

Are you fucking kidding me?

That last one was my question, by the way.

Hell was more or less back to normal. As far as Hell goes anyway.

The first few weeks back had been horrible.

Right away, the Big Guy had given me a detail of demon monks as guards. Some demons had been really pissed that lazy, useless Casmiel had been “allowed” to turn, however briefly, back into an angel. The monks were supposed to protect me from any of those assholes if they tried to mess with me.

They didn’t need to bother.

The pissed off guys were too scared I’d get all angelic on their asses to pull anything. They just glared at me from a distance and threw the occasional insult my way.

Fuck ‘em.

If it had been them that had changed, they’d have been shouting how great they were to the whole Underworld.

Really, they didn’t bother me half as much as the others. The ones who were ecstatic, celebrating like they’d just won the World Series, the Superbowl and the World Cup all on the first night of spring break in Cancun.

Calming them down was a bitch.

And once they were convinced I hadn’t redeemed Hell and they weren’t going to Heaven, they got really depressed.

For like a week, nobody did anything.

Some just sat around all sullen and crestfallen. Others wept openly for days.

It wasn’t a pretty sight.

But now?

Now they treat me like I’m some god damn celebrity. They seem genuinely happy for me, but I’ve gotten so sick of this conversation:

“How did you do it, Cas?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, what caused it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Come on, you can tell me.”

“I don’t fucking know!”

I lost count how many times I had to go through that with some dumbass demon.

I couldn’t even get away to relax by my fire!

Even if the others had left me alone for a while, sitting by my fire wouldn’t have been the same. Not with a whole band of demon monks following me around like some kind of multiple shadow.

But all that wasn’t the most fucked up part of being back in Hell…

I swear I’m being stalked by a damned soul.

Seriously.

It started right after I got back. I kept seeing this filthy soul creeping around everywhere I went, just far enough away to not draw the monks’ attention. It would just stare at me from around corners and behind boulders and stuff.

It was creeping me out.

I tried mentioning it to some of the other demons, but they just laughed and gave me a funny look. A look like they thought my experience in the Human World had fucked with my head or something.

Hey, I know what I saw. I don’t care if all the other demons think I’m a few fries short of a Happy Meal, somethings following me.

Things had calmed down enough that I was on my way to the Throne Room to cash in on my deal with the Big Guy.

Hell was it’s old smoky, firey self again and I wanted to go visit Gabby.

I’d been thinking about Gabby a lot. Mainly about whether she was all right.

When I’d returned to Hell, I’d left her with a dead father and a burned out apartment. I was desperate to know if she was okay.

I also just wanted to get away from all these questioning demons and relax with Gabby in peace. I wanted to hear her laugh, see her smile, see those two locks of purple hair framing that pale face.

Yeah, I know. I’m a sentimental demon, I guess.

The monks and I arrived at the Big Guy’s big fucking, skull encrusted doors.

Not surprisingly, they swung open on their own with a loud moan.

As we walked up the aisle to the Throne, the monks finally left me to take their places lining the path.

The Big Guy sat on his Throne, apparently deep in thought. He didn’t even seem to notice I was there. He sat with his chin resting on his fist like that famous Human statue of the naked dude thinking. When he finally sat up straight and looked at me, he wasn’t at all surprised to see me.

“Casmiel. I’m glad you’ve come. I was about to send for you.”

Oh, great. Just what I wanted to hear.

“What do you want with me, Master?”

Better not be anything big.

“I’m removing the monks from their assignment with you. Things are back in order, and it seems no one is going to attempt to harm you. I’m sure you will be relieved to no longer need them.”

That was an understatement. I hated having them around all the time.

The Big Guy stared at me for a moment, making me uncomfortable, as usual.

“Are you happy to be back in Hell, Casmiel?”

Huh?

That was the last thing I expected him to ask.

“Um, yeah. Sure.”

He raised an eyebrow in a skeptical look.

Aw, fuck it.

I might as well tell the truth.

“No, Master. I thought I’d be glad to be home, but that was before…I miss Gabby. That’s why I came. I wanted to ask if I could go visit her now that things are back to normal.”

There, I said it.

I waited in anticipation for his answer, but he just continued to stare at me with those piercing eyes.

He’s gonna say no. I know it.

“Very well, Casmiel. You may visit your friend in the World of the Living.”

I couldn’t believe it!

Just like that, he was going to let me see Gabby!

“Thank you, Master!”

“But, while you are there, I have a mission for you.”

My heart sank.

What?

Hadn’t I fucked up the last mission bad enough?

He sure knows how to spoil a good thing.

I sighed.

“Who’s soul do you want me to get this time?” I asked unenthusiastically.

He grinned.

“No souls this time. I simply want you to gather some information for me.”

“Information?”

“Yes. There are several creatures from my Realm who have been in the World of the Living for a very long time. For whatever reasons, they have spent little time in Hell recently. Scirlin was one of those who had several unexplained absences.”

The Big Guy’s face darkened at the mention of Scirlin.

“I want you to find out what they are doing. I need to be sure they are not following in Scirlin’s footsteps.”

Well, this sounds like a boring mission.

“Yes, Master. I will find them for you. But what about Gabby?”

“You may spend some time with your friend, but do not let it get in the way of your mission. Do not let yourself become distracted. I will be sending someone to assist you. Hopefully, they will keep you from losing focus.”

Someone else?

I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that.

“Who?”

“I haven’t decided yet. When I have made my choice, I will send them to meet you with the list of those you need to locate.”

Nice. I don’t even get a warning.

It better be somebody cool.

If only Gamygyn was still here. He’d be my choice.

“As you wish, Master. May I leave for the Human World right away?”

He laughed.

The Big Guy actually laughed.

I’d never seen Satan laugh before. It was kind of weird.

Especially since I didn’t know what was so funny.

“Forgive me, Casmiel. I’m not laughing at you. I just find it amusing that you tried so hard to never go to the World of the Living, and you were none to pleased when I sent you before. Yet now, you are virtually begging to return.”

He had me there. I’d never wanted to go there before. But now it was all I thought about.

“Well, that was before I met Gabby. I suppose I should really thank you for sending me there. If you hadn’t, I never would’ve met her.”

The Big Guy smiled.

“You’re welcome, Casmiel. I always knew you would do well in that World. You just needed a push. And yes, you may leave as soon as you like.”

I thanked him again and began to leave, excited at the thought of seeing Gabby.

I had barely turned to walk away when he stopped me.

“Casmiel. Just a moment. I have something for you.”

For me?

What in Hell could the Big Guy want to give me?

He stood and click-clacked his way over to me. With a slight grin, he reached into a pocket of his black priest’s cassock and pulled out a handful of flickering red-orange flames.

My mouth fell open.

“Is- Is that…?”

“Yes, Casmiel. It is a piece of your fire. I have made it so you can carry it with you at all times. Even in your Human form. Think of it as a reward for a job well done. And incentive to continue to serve me well.”

“Thank you! Thank you very much, Master! I won’t fail you. I promise.”

I left the Throne Room in the best mood I’d been in since I’d returned to Hell.

I was going back to see Gabby. And I had a piece of my fire, warm in my pocket, to take with me. Sure, I had another mission, but I’d have help with it this time.

I couldn’t have been any happier if he’d said ‘Pack your shit, we’re going back to Heaven’.

Nothing could bring me down now.

Then I heard it.

“Hey, Cas! Wait up!”

Not again.

It was Nybbas.

If Hell has nerds, Nybbas is the biggest geek in Hell.

He was a scrawny little demon, only about half my size. He had a weasel-like face with a single stupid looking horn right in the middle of his forehead.

Nybbas yapped at me in a whiny little annoying voice.

“How ya doin’, Cas? Whatcha up to?”

“Hey. I’m a little busy right now if you don’t mind.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

I started walking away.

And he started walking right along side of me.

Damn it.

“Wow. That sure was some cool stuff you did in the Human World, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess.” I grunted.

I couldn’t wait to get away from all this attention from idiots like Nybbas.

“I mean, turnin’ back into an angel like that! That was amazin’! So, uh…how’d ya-”

“I don’t know.” I interrupted him.

“Well, ya must have some idea, right? You can tell me. I won’t tell anybody.”

“I don’t have a clue. Now, if you don’t mind, I got stuff to do. Alone.”

“But it couldn’t just happen by itself, right? You had to have done somethin’. Maybe it was that Human girl. Maybe if I went to her and-”

“No!”

BOOM!

Nybbas flew backwards and smacked into the blackened stone wall.

Wow, I did it!

The Big Guy had made me take some lessons from the demon monks to learn to use my powers better. I’d pretty much sucked at it, but this little shit had pushed me just a little too hard.

“Jeez, Cas. No need to get physical like that.” He whined, getting back to his feet.

“Sorry, Nybbas. I just…I gotta go, okay?”

I left him there whining to himself and headed for the Gates of Hell.

Maybe when I come back, the novelty of what I did will have worn off. I was so fucking sick of hearing about it.

I was almost to the Gates when something caught my eye.

A flash of something peering around a corner at me.

“Nybbas, if you don’t leave me the fuck alone, I’m not gonna need to turn into an angel to kick your ass!”

But it wasn’t Nybbas.

It was that soul.

What the fuck is it up to? Why would one of those things follow me around? I’ve never had anything to do with them.

I turned down another corridor to avoid it.

Guess I’ll just have to take the long way to the Gates.

The soul emerged through the wall and stood in the middle of the hall.

Damn it. This things starting to really piss me off.

I turned to double back the way I’d come.

The soul rose up out of the floor and grabbed my arm.

“What the fuck?!”

I recoiled in disgust, totally freaked out, but it wouldn’t let go.

It was the soul of a woman.

She was drenched in blood from head to foot, her long hair matted with the red slime of it. There were several gaping bullet holes in her body leaking a constant supply of fresh blood.

I looked at the hands gripping tightly to my arm.

There were deep gashes in the wrists that kept opening to spill blood before knitting themselves closed, only to slash open again.

The torments she had caused in life being inflicted on her over and over for eternity.

“What the hell do you want? Why are you following me?”

Bloody tears were pouring from her bulging eyes. Her quivering mouth opened wide as she took a deep rattling breath.

I thought she was about to scream in my face.

“You!…You’re the one!…You’re the only one!”

Her words came high pitched and hysterical between shuddering breaths.

She looked terrified.

Well, that’s to be expected. She is being punished in Hell, after all.

I tried to tug my arm away, but she just gripped it tighter and pulled herself in closer to me.

“Who the fuck are you? I don’t know what you’re babbling about.”

“You! You’re the only one! The only one!”

She was becoming even more hysterical, her voice rising before cracking with a sob.

“I’m the only what?”

“You can help her! You can save her! You can save my daughter!”

Shit.

Even the souls must’ve heard about what I did. Now she wants me to do what I did for Gabby for her own kid.

How do I explain to a crazed soul that I don’t know how to do that again?

“Look, I don’t know what you heard, but I can’t-”
“You can! You’re the only one who can! You can save her! You know her!”

I know her daughter?

I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Is this…?

“Gabriella! Save Gabriella! You can save her! He’s after her!”

Oh, shit!

It is.

This miserable, blood soaked, filthy soul…was Gabby’s mother!

Her wild eyes were bugging out at me.

Wild eyes that looked eerily like Gabby’s.

“It’s all right. Gabby’s safe now. Nobody’s after her anymore. I took care of that already.”

She shook her head furiously and her long, flailing hair splattered blood on the walls.

“No!” she moaned pitifully. “He’s after her! Her father! It’s all her father’s fault!”

She broke down sobbing and moaning uncontrollably.

“You’re confused. Her father’s dead. The deal was fake. She’s safe now.”

She moaned even louder and sank to her knees.

“Save her! Please! It’s his fault! It’s all her father’s fault!”

Mrs. Bianco continued muttering insanely to herself repeating ‘Save her’ and ‘Her father’ over and over. Her sobs echoed off the burnt, rocky walls.

Suddenly, she stopped and whipped around to stare back down the hall.

Voices.

Some other demons were coming.

She looked back at me, trembling in fear. Those eyes, so like but so unlike Gabby’s, spilling bloody tears.

“Save her! Please, save her!”

She released my arm and sped away through the corridor wall.

I stood there feeling so sorry for that pitifully confused soul.

She just didn’t get it.

That happens a lot with damned souls.

They just go insane from the torment of finding themselves in this horrible, firey place. Then they maybe catch a few glimpses of life back in the Human World and it all gets jumbled up in one big, unending nightmare.

Not much you can do for them.

It was a hell of a downer for me though.

I’d been in such a good mood, about to go see Gabby, and then I gotta run into her Mom’s tortured soul.

Why’s this shit always gotta happen to me?

Well, I know one thing for sure…

There’s no way I’m telling Gabby.

Chapter 2: Houses of the Unholy

 

Higher Hell: The Second Coming

Chapter 2: Houses of the Unholy

I swooped down into a dark, deserted alley not far from the Trash Bin and landed lightly back in the World of the Living.

No screams.

No crashing cars.

Nothing like the last time I arrived here.

It actually felt good to be here this time.

I morphed into my Human form and slipped on my Reservoir Dogs shades as I stepped out onto the sidewalk.

A young guy in a faded hooded sweatshirt was leaning against the building.

“Got a light, man?” he asked, holding up a cigarette.

Oh, what the hell.

“Sure.”

I reached in my pocket and pulled out my handful of fire.

He gawked at me for a second, his eyes flitting disbelievingly between my face and the flames flickering away in my outstretched palm.

The kid slowly put the cigarette to his lips and lit it.

“Uh…Thanks.”

“No problem.”

I stowed the fire back in my pocket and headed for the Trash Bin, leaving the kid scratching his head.

Heh heh.

I’m gonna enjoy being in the Human World this time.

Just wish I didn’t have the image of Gabby’s Mom stuck in my head, eating away at me.

I don’t want to keep the fact that I spoke with her mother from Gabby. She’s want to know that. But I don’t want to upset her by telling her about it either.

I hate this ‘ethical dilemma’ shit.

I turned the corner and saw the familiar storefront where Gabby worked.

All the depressing thoughts of Mrs. Bianco left me and I had to smile.

The past few months in Hell were all gonna be worth it for this.

I walked in and took a deep breath, inhaling the welcoming smell of the place. A mix of old leather guitar cases, musty record covers, and the little incense sticks sold on a rack by the counter.

There was nobody there.

Not Gabby. Not anybody.

Damn! I hope she still works here.

The big ass black and silver electric guitar with the grinning f-holes I used to play was still there, leaning on a stand next to an amp.

Well, well, well. That oughta get somebody’s attention. Hopefully, it won’t be some new employee.

I picked up the guitar, plugged it in, and switched on the amp. It crackled and hummed a bit as I grabbed a pick lying nearby.

I strummed out a crunching, punkish rhythm like the stuff I’d listened to with Gabby. After only a few seconds I heard the stockroom door open over a squall of feedback.

“Interesting style. Don’t quit your day job though.”

“Heh heh. I don’t plan on it.”

I turned in time to see Gabby drop a box of used CD’s with a thud as her mouth fell open.

“Cas!” she squealed.

She ran to me and practically jumped into my arms.

“I can’t believe it’s really you! It’s been so long, I was starting to think the Devil wasn’t gonna let you come back!”

She released her arms from around my neck and stood back, laughing with excitement.

I smiled.

“Nothing in Hell was gonna keep me from seeing my favorite Human.”

Gabby giggled and gave me another quick hug.

“So every thing’s back to normal down there? No more problems?”

“Oh, yeah. Same old, same old. How’ve you been? You all right? I know things were pretty fucked up when I left.”

“It’s been…interesting.”

“I’ll bet. What’s been going on? You find a new apartment?”

“Actually, I bought a house.” she said proudly.

“A house? Where’d you get the cash for that? Last time I was here, you could barely pay the rent on your old place.”

“Well, it all started when the media got the news that my Dad was dead.”

Her smile faded at the mention of her father’s death. I’m sure the memory of that night still haunted her.

Nobody should have to witness those kinds of horrors.

“It was a huge story, of course. It was all over the TV and the papers. He was one of the biggest crime bosses around, so they just ate it up. The police suspected another big time criminal guy, but of course, they couldn’t prove anything.”

“They didn’t find out about you being his daughter, did they?”

“No. Luckily. They found bloody footprints going up to the roof, but no fingerprints to lead them to me. Do demons even have fingerprints?”

“Nah. Not like Human ones anyway.”

“Hm. Anyway, the whole thing ended up a big mystery. Tracks that came to a dead end on the roof, a big pile of ashes with no sign of a fire, not to mention the fact that the body had been…you know, eaten by something they couldn’t identify.”

Gabby shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself. I could tell by her eyes she was reliving that awful sight. Scirlin tearing into her father like a lion on it’s prey.

“So where’s your new house come into it?” I asked, trying to get her mind off the attack.

She shook her head slightly and her eyes came back to the present.

“Oh, yeah. A few weeks later, a guy showed up here with an envelope full of money for me. My Dad had hidden it away with instructions for it to be delivered to me if anything happened to him. I couldn’t believe it! It was more money than I’d ever seen! The guy said there was supposed to be a lot more, bank accounts and stuff, but they’d all been either snatched up by his “business associates” or frozen by the police. I didn’t care though. What I got was more than enough to get me a place and all the stuff to replace what I’d lost in the fire.”

“I’m glad you’ve been doing all right. I was worried about you. Being around me put you through a lot of shit. I’m sorry.”

Gabby grinned and squeezed my hand.

“Don’t be. I’m glad I got to know you. And besides, you saved my life. Scirlin would’ve killed me too if you hadn’t been around to stop him.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Have you figured out how you did it yet? How you turned into an angel?”

I groaned.

“Ugh, not you too! That’s all I’ve heard for the last couple months. Constant questions about that.”

“Sorry,” she paused with and expectant look on her face. “So have you?”

I rolled my eyes with a smile.

“No. As I’ve told just about every creature in Hell, I still don’t have any idea how it happened.”

“Oh. Well, I’ve got something else I’ve been wanting to ask you too. About while you were back in Hell.”

She suddenly looked very serious.

“Shoot.”

“I was wondering…If you might’ve heard anything about my Mom.”

Oh, shit.

I was so hoping this wouldn’t come up.

I should tell her the truth. She’d want to know the truth.

But she’s been through so much bad shit lately.

I suddenly remembered the look on her face the time she’d asked how she could be happy in Heaven if she knew her Mom was in Hell.

Then I thought of her mother’s pitiful, blood soaked soul.

“No. Nothing.”

“Oh. I thought maybe…Well, then maybe my Dad was lying about her being bad! Maybe she’s in Heaven after all!”

Her face brightened and she smiled hopefully.

“Yeah. Maybe she is.”

I felt guilty lying to her.

It made me a little sick to my stomach.

But I couldn’t bear telling her the truth.

“Let’s not talk about Hell,” I said. “I don’t know how long I have to hang out with you and I don’t want to waste a minute of it.”

“Satan’s not gonna be calling you back soon, is he?”

“Worse. I got another mission while I’m here. He’s gonna be sending somebody to help me track down some missing demons.” I shrugged. “It sucks, but at least he’s letting me spend some time with you first.”

“Good! ‘Cause you realize what the day after tomorrow is, don’t you?”

“What?”

“Halloween! It’s my favorite day of the year! There’s gonna be a big costume party at La Villa Blue. You can go to it with me!”

“Awesome. And I’ve already got the perfect costume built in.”

Gabby laughed.

So did I.

I’d been waiting months to hear that sound again.

After the store closed, Gabby took me to her new house. It was just a little house in a run down residential neighborhood within walking distance of the Trash Bin.

It wasn’t much to look at from the outside, but inside it was all Gabby.

The walls, curtains and furniture were all deep, dark reds and blacks. She had a black lacquered pine box coffin for a coffee table, and a full anatomy class skeleton stood in a corner wearing a top hat. Framed posters of Nine Inch Nails and Rob Zombie hung on the walls along side posters from Tim Burton and Quentin Tarantino flicks. Wrought iron candle holders with black candles in them stood on all the tabletops, and there were a few ceramic skulls scattered here and there.

This place definitely got the Goth Housekeeping seal of approval.

The best part, for me anyway, was the big black leather recliner she’d bought just for me to use when I visit.

I was relaxing in it as Gabby flipped through channels on the TV.

To my surprise, she stopped on a news channel and focused intently on the man they were showing.

“I was hoping you’d come back while he was in town.”

The TV showed a tall, muscular guy with long wavy blond hair and a prominent chin covered with stubble. He wore a bemused smirk on his face and was being led through a crowd of obviously adoring fans by a handful of serious looking, leery eyed dudes.

“Who is he? Rock star or something?”

“No,” she said, not tearing her eyes away from the guy’s handsome face for a second. “He’s…Well, I guess you could say he’s sort of a holy man.”

A holy man?

This guy?

You gotta be kidding.

“What’s so ‘holy’ about him? He looks like any young dude you’d see on the street.”

“He’s been going around preaching on the streets, gathering crowds. He tells people they shouldn’t bother going to church because the priests, ministers, rabbis and such don’t have a clue about the truth. He’s grown a pretty big following. People come from all over to listen to him. It’s really pissing the churches off.”

“Okay, so he’s got that much right. But what’s it got to do with me being back?”

Gabby finally took her eyes off the television as the picture went back to the news anchors. She gave me an odd look. Like she was admitting to a secret she was embarrassed by.

“They say he does miracles. Real miracles.”

I just stared at her for a second.

That was it.

That was why she had that look.

She believed it. Or at least she wanted to.

“Yeah, right. Just some slick tricks to get people to listen to him. It’s a con.”

“That’s why I’m glad you’re here. I want to go see him preach tomorrow. Both of us. You can see for yourself and tell me if it really is bullshit or not. You’ll be able to recognize a real miracle from a fake.”

I shrugged.

“If you want. But don’t get your hopes up. There’s been a long line of guys who claimed they had powers from God or whatever, and they were all full of shit. I doubt this guy’s any different.” I told her. “You really like this guy, don’t you?”

She raised and eyebrow.

“Between all the stuff I’ve seen and heard from you, and all the stuff I’ve heard about him…I have to admit, I’m almost convinced he could be for real…Plus, he is hot.” she added with a sly grin.

“Heh heh, we’ll see. What’s this so called prophet’s name anyway?”

“Nathaniel.”

So I gotta go listen to some Human preach and do “miracles”, huh?

Not exactly the way I wanted to spend my first full day back in the Human World. Knee deep in holy bullshit.

Good thing I’m wearin’ boots.

Chapter 3: Miracle Man

 

Higher Hell: The Second Coming

Chapter 3: Miracle Man

Nathaniel was making an appearance at a hospital downtown.

There were a ton of fucking Livies all crowded around the front steps of the building. Cars and buses honked their horns at the crowd as it spilled into the street, blocking traffic. A few overwhelmed looking cops were trying to get the mass of Humans out of the way without any luck.

“I don’t know, Gabby. Looks like we’re not gonna be able to get close enough to see much.”

Gabby stood on her tip toes and craned her neck looking around for a better spot closer to Nathaniel who stood at the top of the hospital steps with the serious looking guys I’d seen on TV.

“There.” she said, pointing off to the side of where Nathaniel stood. “Follow me.”

We detoured around the throng of listeners until we came to an empty space beside the high steps. The top of the steps was about fifteen feet above street level where we stood. A concrete wall topped by a metal railing completely blocked our view from the low angle.

No wonder nobody was standing there.

“Nice. This is worse than standing way at the back.”

“We’re not gonna watch from here,” Gabby said. “We’re going up there.”

With a grin, Gabby pointed at the top of the concrete wall.

“How the fuck are we gonna get up there?”

She smiled mischievously.

With surprising agility, Gabby climbed onto a city trash bin next to the building, clamored up onto a window ledge, and was just barely able to pull herself up onto the top of the wall.

“Heh heh, I gotta hand it to ya, sister. You’re definitely resourceful.” I chuckled as I followed her path to the top.

It was windy up there, but it was perfect.

We stood on top of the wall holding the outside of the railing only feet from Nathaniel.

He was wearing a t-shirt and jeans with a long black coat and that same smirk he’d had on television.

This is supposed to be a holy man?

He sure doesn’t look anything special in person.

Okay, he was a handsome guy. Which probably accounted for the many smiling young women ogling Nathaniel from the crowd. But he still just looked like a movie star making a public appearance.

“The Church tells you that to reach the Lord, you have to go through them,” he was saying. “That they hold all the keys. They’ll tell you you need them in order to find salvation. Really? The last time I checked, they were just like all of you. Just ordinary human beings. So what makes them so special, hm?”

Nathaniel’s voice sounded excited. Either that or agitated, I couldn’t tell which. At times, his words dripped sarcasm.

The audience was rapt.

“What makes your ‘spiritual leaders’ any better than all of you? Is it the churches themselves? A church is just wood and stone and concrete. Anyone can build one. Throw an organ and a cross in your living room and you could call that a church.”

A few chuckles rippled through the crowd.

“Is it their vestments? The robes and collars and such that they wear? Those are just clothes. Anyone can wear them. Heck, tomorrow is All Hallows Eve, and I bet some of you might even dress up as a priest, or a nun, or a rabbi, even the Pope.”

He paced back and forth rubbing his stubbly chin pretending to try and think what made those people different. It was all for show, but the viewers were eating it up.

Nathaniel had charisma, I’ll give him that.

“Maybe, maybe they’ll say it’s their vast knowledge, their knowledge of the Bible and what they think it means. What? None of you can read the Bible for yourselves and understand it? They have to be there to hold your hand and interpret every word for you? You know, Mitch Hedberg said “Any book is a children’s book if the kid can read”. The knowledge of the Lord is everyone’s who can read it! It’s not theirs to monopolize!”

Several cheers and applause and “amens” rose from the crowd.

I was bored.

He’d actually had it nailed until he started promoting the Bible as God’s word.

Hell, the Old Man didn’t have anything to do with that book.

It was written by Humans for Humans, and it was more or less all fiction. Just sort of based on a true story.

And loosely at that.

“So what makes them so special? It’s certainly not the money they ask you for every Sunday. Salvation can’t be bought or bartered. Can they actually do anything that you can’t? Can they prove their holiness to you?”

As if on cue- and I’m sure it was- a young nurse came out of the hospital pushing a man in a wheelchair. She parked the chair by Nathaniel and stepped back with a very uneasy look on her face.

The man in the wheelchair sat limply, his head at an odd angle against the padded head supports. Only his eyes moved across the scene in front of him as he sat there, expressionless, a little drool leaking from the corner of his mouth.

Nathaniel gave him a sympathetic look.

“This is Steve,” he told the audience. “Steve was in a very serious car accident a few years ago. He suffered brain and spinal damage. The doctors inside say he’ll never be the same again. Steve will need 24/7 care for the rest of his life.”

He paused, allowing the onlookers to take in poor Steve’s miserable condition.

“What can your religious leaders do for Steve? Hm? Anything? Sure, they’ll pray for him and tell you to do likewise, but do they really expect that to help?…Do you?”

Nathaniel slowly walked around Steve’s wheelchair. He removed his long black coat and handed it off to one of his Serious Dudes.

The wind, which had been steady, was picking up. It fluttered my own jacket and kept blowing Gabby’s purple locks across her face.

Nathaniel faced the crowd with the same smirk he’d worn before.

“If your religious leaders are really so holy, can they do this?”

Nathaniel placed a hand on Steve’s forehead.

The wind whipped even harder, but no one noticed. All eyes were on Steve as he began to jerk and shake violently in his wheelchair.

With a terrified look, the nurse rushed forward only to be stopped by one of the Serious Dudes.

Nathaniel removed his hand.

The crowd watched Steve intently, expecting a miracle.

Well, they got what they came for.

With a few blinks of his astonished eyes, Steve carefully got to his feet. He stood there surveying the mass of faces before him, trembling slightly.

Then he looked at Nathaniel.

Steve burst into tears of joy and threw his arms around his healer’s neck. Nathaniel patted his back awkwardly for a second before pushing himself gently away.

The audience was going nuts. There were cheers and applause and shouts of ‘Praise the Lord’ and such.

Steve was guided down the steps by hands from the crowd to join the celebrating worshipers.

“Where the Church only gives you words,” Nathaniel shouted above the wind and the cheers. “God’s true messenger gives you proof!”

He stood there soaking up the adulation of the crowd, his smirk twisting his stubbly face.

“What do you think?” Gabby asked me, trying hard to be heard over the wind and the crowd.

“Eh, I ain’t impressed,” I replied. “Steve was probably a plant. I bet he was fine the whole time.”

Gabby gave a little shrug and a reluctant nod.

“Could be.” she admitted.

Just then, Nathaniel glanced our way and did a double take. A look of shock spread across his face and he gawked at us for a second before smiling and returning his attention to his fans.

A huge gust of wind suddenly swept through the packed street.

With a startle scream, Gabby flew backwards off the wall, falling towards the pavement.

“Gabby!”

I leaped from the wall, spread my wings, and-

What the fuck am I doing?!

I’m not in my demonic form!

I heard people screaming as I hit the ground with a dull thud a split second after Gabby landed flat on her back, her head bouncing off the concrete with a sickening crack.

I scrambled onto my knees beside her, aching all over.

Gabby’s scared eyes were still wide open.

And she wasn’t moving.

“Gabby! Gabby!”

Oh, no!

No, no, no, no! This can’t be happening!

“Gabby!”

A crowd of onlookers was gathering around us, pressing in on all sides.

“HELP! Somebody help!” I screamed at them.

Dozens of cell phones were suddenly whipped out, all clicking out 9-1-1 simultaneously.

IDIOTS!

“We’re right in front of a fucking HOSPITAL!” I yelled in panicked frustration. “Somebody get a doctor!”

Blood was running across the sidewalk from beneath Gabby’s head forming a huge red puddle.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!

This really can’t be happening!

There was excited murmuring running through the crowd around us as they began parting to let someone through.

Finally!

“Come on! Come on! Let ‘em through!” I shouted.

I was shaking all over.

I’d never felt so helpless, even when Scirlin had me paralyzed.

I looked up, expecting to see a gurney being pushed towards us through the opening in the crowd.

But there were no orderlies or paramedics or doctors.

It was Nathaniel.

He rushed over and knelt beside Gabby, placing a hand on her even paler than normal forehead.

Gabby jerked suddenly, her back arching off the ground as she inhaled a deep breath and coughed.

She slowly sat up and stared in shock at all the faces surrounding her.

People nearby gasped and whispered to each other about the miracle they’d just witnessed. Word of it raced through the throng like lightning.

Gabby’s eyes fell on Nathaniel’s face.

“Are you all right?” he asked her softly.

It took her a second to get over the shock enough to answer.

“Y-yeah. I’m f-fine.”

He helped her to stand, holding her hands in his.

Cheers went up from the crowd again, just like they had for Steve.

He’d really done it.

Nathaniel had really healed her.

I couldn’t deny it.

We’d all seen her fall, seen the blood coming from her head. But now she didn’t look like anything had happened at all. Sure, she was still a little shaken, but she was completely healthy.

“That wasn’t a very safe place to watch from. I hope you’ll be more careful next time.” he said.

“I- Yeah, I will…Thank you.”

He smirked again.

“I’m just doing what God sent me here to do. No need to thank me. Come. Why don’t you come with us? You can share your own experience of the Lord’s power with the others.”

Before either Gabby or I could say anything, Nathaniel and his followers had started moving away down the street and had whisked Gabby away into their midst.

“Hey! Gabby! Wait up!”

I tried to follow her, but I couldn’t get through the moving wall of people.

Within seconds she was gone, swallowed up by the crowd as it moved off to wherever Nathaniel led them.

I was left standing there, aching, with a stupid look on my face.

What the fuck?

I looked around at the few stragglers still passing me by, wondering what I should do. Should I follow the crowd and look for Gabby, or just go back to her place and wait for her to come home?

After a few moments of indecision, I shrugged and turned to walk home.

A woman in a long white dress was just hurrying past, trying to catch up with Nathaniel’s entourage, when she stopped suddenly and stared at me.

She had flyaway curly blond hair that kept blowing in her face, and…she was barefoot.

No shoes?

In late October?

She just stood there gawking at me like I was some kind of circus freak.

Hmph, Livies.

“Better hurry,” I said. “The Jesus trains leavin’ without ya.”

I moved to walk away.

“Casmiel?”

I froze.

Totally confused, I turned to face her.

“How do you know my name?”

A big bright smile spread across her sweet, innocent face.

“I knew it was you! I’d recognize that spiky hair anywhere!” she launched herself at me and threw her arms around my neck in a quick hug. “Though, last time I saw you, your hair was gold with silver tips.”

“Gold?” I muttered.

“Uh-huh.” she said, nodding her head eagerly.

I studied her smiling face.

The last time she saw me my hair was gold?

That had to be…

“Batty?” I asked tentatively.

For the briefest fraction of a second, a pair of snowy white wings appeared and disappeared behind her back.

She giggled and shrugged.

“Holy shit, Batty! What the fuck are you doing here?!”

Bath Kol, Batty to anyone who knew her, was one of the sweetest angels in Heaven.

Not one of the brightest, but she was a sweetheart.

I’d known Batty pretty well back in Heaven.

She was thrilled to see me- and it actually felt good to see her again too- but she seemed a little distracted. Her eyes kept darting up the street in the direction the crowd had gone.

“I’m on a mission for Gabriel,” she said, glancing up the street again. “But don’t tell anybody! It’s top secret.”

Yeah, right. Who the fuck was I gonna tell?

“So why are you here?” she asked.

“I was with my friend, Gabby. We were watching that Nathaniel guy and, well, some weird shit happened and we got separated.”

Batty was barely listening. Her gaze was still focused in the distance.

“Oh, well that’s nice.” she shook her head in an agitated way. “I’m sorry, Cas. I gotta go. It’s been great seeing you! I hope we run into each other again!”

With a quick smile and a wave, Batty hurried off after the tail end of Nathaniel’s following.

What the fuck was that all about?

Well, Batty always was a flaky one.

Hell, she actually got lost in Heaven quite a few times. We used to find her wandering around in circles somewhere because she completely forgot she could just rematerialize.

I can’t believe they’d actually give Batty a mission down here.

Hmph.

But then, look who’s talkin’.

Chapter 4: Trick or Treat

 

Higher Hell: The Second Coming

Chapter 4: Trick or Treat

At sundown, a big fancy car showed up in front of Gabby’s house. It reminded me of the one I’d seen Joe Bianco riding in when I was after him.

Gabby and Nathaniel entered and saw me sitting in the recliner watching TV.

The news had shown Nathaniel healing Steve, but they’d missed out on what happened to Gabby.

Nathaniel gave me a funny look as I stood up, kind of like he didn’t trust me and was a little worried about leaving Gabby alone with me.

I couldn’t explain why exactly, but the feeling was mutual.

Gabby ran across the room and threw her arms around me.

“Cas! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to leave you there. I thought you were right behind me until we were two blocks away. Are you okay?”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m fine. What about you? I was scared as hell when you fell. Are you sure you’re all right?”

“She’s good as new,” Nathaniel answered. “It’s a good thing I was close by. She could’ve died.”

“Yeah, I guess so. Er, thanks.” I muttered.

Something about the way he looked at me rubbed me the wrong way. Almost like he thought I wasn’t “holy” enough to be around him.

Well, I sure as hell ain’t holy.

But I wasn’t convinced he was either.

“It was meant to happen, Gabby,” he said. “The Lord intended for us to meet. I’m sure of it.”

Gabby smiled nervously, looking a little overwhelmed.

“I’m going to be making an important announcement the day after tomorrow. I’d like you to be there with me when I make it. Right by my side.”

“What? W-with you? In- in front of all those people?” she stammered.

Nathaniel smirked.

“It’ll be fine. Don’t worry. All eyes will be on me. You won’t need to be nervous.”

“Um, okay. Yeah, I’ll be there. Can Cas come too? I’d feel better if he was with me.”

He took his measure of me before slowly answering.

“Of course. The more the merrier.”

“Oh! I should really officially introduce you,” Gabby said. “This is my friend, Cas. He’s staying with me for a while. He was really, um…interested in what you had to say today. Weren’t you?”

“Oh, yeah. It was real interesting stuff. Not too many people really have a clue what they’re talking about when it comes to God, you know.”

“Well, that’s what I’m all about. Telling people the truth about the Lord. Making sure people can tell the real thing from the phonies.”

“Hmm. So which are you?”

Nathaniel got an annoyed look, but before he could reply, Gabby hurriedly cut in.

“Thank you for bringing me home. And I can’t even begin to thank you for what you did for me this afternoon. I can’t wait to hear what you have to say after Halloween.”

She bustled him towards the door, and after a couple quick good-byes, Nathaniel left in his beg shiny car.

Then Gabby rounded on me.

“Cas! How could you insult him like that? Especially after he saved my life!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I should’ve kept my mouth shut. I just don’t trust him. Not yet anyway.”

“What’s not to trust? You saw it with your own eyes, didn’t you? He healed me. When he healed that guy in the wheelchair I wasn’t so sure. Like you said, he could’ve been a plant. But when I came to looking up at Nathaniel, I knew. He’s for real, Cas! You know he is.”

I sighed.

“Yes, I saw it. I saw the blood. I saw your eyes going lifeless. And I saw him bring you back with just the touch of his hand. I can’t deny it, he saved your life. And even though I didn’t show it, I am truly grateful to him for that. I thought I was about to lose you. But…”

Gabby threw her hands up in exasperation.

“But what, Cas? What more proof do you need that he is what he says he is?”

“Gabby, listen,” I motioned for her to sit. She sat down cross legged on the couch facing me as I settled into my chair.

“What he did…It’s not the first time I’ve seen a Human do that. Heal people in a miraculous way, I mean. There’ve been quite a few Humans throughout history who were real healers. And they almost always think they’re somehow chosen by the Old Man, or that they’re the new Jesus Christ. But they’re not, Gabby. The Old Man doesn’t have anything to do with it.”

“But if he’s using it for good, what difference does it make?” Gabby pleaded. “Even if it’s not divine, isn’t it good that he’s helping people?”

“Maybe. But an awful lot of those healers in the past ended up in Hell. They get corrupted by it. They want to be worshiped for it themselves. And then they use the evidence of their power to convince people to do things they normally wouldn’t. It usually ends up in violence. ‘Destroy the non-believers’ kind of shit. If Nathaniel keeps helping people and doesn’t go of the ego deep end, then great. I just get the feeling he’s in it for himself more that for others.”

Gabby shook her head.

“I don’t see that in him, Cas. I spent a lot of time with him today and he didn’t strike me at all as ego driven. So until you have some proof that he is, please try to be polite towards him. For me.”

“Okay, okay. I can do that. Just be careful, okay? Keep your eyes open around him. And let’s not stand on anymore fifteen foot ledges either.”

She laughed.

“Don’t worry. One resurrection is enough for me.”

Halloween.

Needless to say, for a goth chick like Gabby, this was bigger than Christmas.

She had to work during the day, so I went along to the Trash Bin with her.

It was near closing time when a guy came in with a big fucking knife stabbed through his head and blood all over him.

It was a costume, of course.

“Hey, hey, Gabby! Happy Halloween!” Rash said as he walked in.

“Hi, Rash. How ya been?” I said.

Rash gawked in surprise.

“Cas! You’re back!”

He approached me and, just a little timidly, shook my hand.

“I was kind of wondering how you’d react to seeing me again, Rash. Considering you almost pissed yourself the last time when you saw the real me.”

He laughed nervously.

“Yeah, well. Gabby explained everything to me after that. It was kind of a shock. But- “ he got an excited look on his face like he couldn’t contain himself any longer. “I can’t believe I got a real, honest-to-God demon in my band! I mean, how cool is that? We’re gonna fuckin’ blow everybody away!”

“Yeah, sure.”

“It’s so perfect! We’re the Slut Dogs From Hell- an you’re actually from Hell! It’s like it was meant to be! Hey! Ya think Satan would give me ultimate guitar playin’ power like that old blues guy?”

“Heh heh, if you ever see him you can ask.”

He suddenly got a slightly scared look.

“Uh, maybe I’ll just practice. I don’t think I’d want to meet him in person.”

Yeah, I thought he might say that.

“Oh, yeah!” he said, turning to Gabby. “Tonight’s the big Halloween party at La Villa Blue. How ’bout you and me go together, get shitfaced, and then head back to my place for some tricks and treats, huh?”

Rash flashed his toothy grin at her.

“I’m gonna pretend you didn’t just say that.”

He shrugged.

“Ah, well. Your loss. There’s gonna be lots of hotties in skimpy costumes there tonight. Guess I’ll just have to pick up one of them instead. But if ya change your mind, ya know where to find me. See ya later, Cas.”

Rash strutted out the door as if Gabby had just said yes.

“Heh heh. Glad to see he hasn’t changed.”

After work, Gabby walked me back to her place, then left again. She said she needed to get something before we went out.

She returned a little later holding a small bag with a big grin on her face.

“Got it.”

“Got what?”

“After we got separated yesterday, I decided to get you this.”

Gabby reached in the bag and pulled out a tiny, glossy black cell phone.

“That’s for me?” I asked as she handed me the phone.

“Yeah. Now if we get split up we can just call each other.”

“Awesome. Wish I’d had one yesterday.”

“I already programmed my number into it, so you’re all set. I even set your ring tone for you. Check it out.”

Gabby hit a few buttons on her phone and mine started ringing.

Da-da-da-dum click-click, da-da-da-dum click-click, da-da-da-dum, da-da-da-dum, da-da-da-dum click-click.

I laughed as I recognized the theme song from the Addams Family, one of Gabby’s favorite shows.

“I thought it suited you.” she giggled.

“Thanks, Gabby. But hopefully, I won’t need it again.”

“Keep it on you though. There’ll be a lot of people at the club tonight and we might lose track of each other.” she said. “Well, I’m gonna go get ready.”

She scurried off up the stairs to change into her costume.

I didn’t know what she was going as. She said it was a surprise.

Before I could sit back down, the doorbell rang.

“Can you get that, Cas?” Gabby hollered down the stairs.

I went to the door and opened it.

My jaw dropped.

“Hello, Cas. Is Gabby home?”

Nathaniel stood in the doorway, his prominent, stubbly chin held high as he looked down on me.

“Er, yeah. Come on in.”

As Nathaniel stepped inside, I shouted up the stairs.

“It’s for you, Gabby!”

“Just a second.” she replied sounding rather annoyed at the interruption.

One very awkward silence followed as Nathaniel and I stood waiting.

Finally, I figured I’d better say something.

“Um,…Sorry I was kinda rude last night. I, uh, really appreciate what you did. Saving Gabby, I mean. I was afraid she wasn’t gonna make it.”

He grinned and his look softened a bit.

“No problem. I was glad to do it. So, where are you from, Cas?”

Oh, shit.

Never had to answer that one before.

“Uh…Down south. Way down south in, um…Dixie.” I replied sheepishly, cringing inside.

Hey, I was put on the spot. What did you expect?

“Funny, you don’t have a southern accent.”

“Oh, I’ve been up here a while so I kinda lost it, I guess.”

“You’ve known Gabby for some time then? Maybe you know her family?”

“No. Never met ‘em,” I lied. “I think they’re all dead.”

No way I was telling him about Joe Bianco. He didn’t need to know her Dad was a criminal who’s murder was just all over the news.

“Then it’s a good thing she’s got you to watch over her. Sort of a guardian angel, huh?”

It’s a good thing I wasn’t eating or drinking at that moment, or I’d have choked.

“Heh heh heh! You could say that. But I’m no angel.”

He laughed. He laughed a little too loudly if you ask me. Like it was way funnier than it actually was.

“Well, none of us are perfect, are we?” he said.

“Who the fuck is it, Cas-”

Gabby froze in mid sentence and just stood on the stairs gaping at Nathaniel and me. One foot was still poised in the air over the next step.

She shook her head to erase the shock and slowly came down into the room.

“Na-Nathaniel? What are you doing here?”

“I just wanted to stop by and see how you were. Are we still on for tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Yeah, of course. Where will you be speaking?”

“Meet me at the big fountain in front of City Hall. I’ve told the media I’ll be speaking at noon.”

“I’ll be there. I wouldn’t miss it.”

“Excellent…Gabby, I’d like to talk to you about something else too. In private.”

He gave me a weak smile.

I shrugged.

“I’ll just wait upstairs then.”

I headed off to leave them alone, but something was nagging at me.

I really wanted to hear what he was going to say. I don’t know why, but something was making me uneasily curious.

I shouldn’t though. It’s private. I should just let it go.

Yeah, just let it go.

…

Fuck. I gotta hear this.

I thought back to the stuff the monks had tried to teach me in Hell.

I concentrated on making myself invisible.

I’d never really mastered it.

And this time was no exception.

I was invisible.

But only up to my waist. The top half of my body was just as solid as ever.

Eh, not bad though. Last time I’d tried, I could only make my feet disappear.

I carefully walked down the stairs just far enough so they couldn’t see my upper body and listened.

“You’re a very special girl, Gabby. More special than you know.” Nathaniel was saying.

Yeah, she is. So don’t you go fucking with her head!

“I want you beside me tomorrow because I’d like you to help me. To join me in my mission.”

“I don’t understand,” Gabby replied. “How could I help you?”

Nathaniel sighed.

“I can’t say too much before tomorrow, but after I make my announcement, I’m going to have a lot more enemies. Detractors. Lots of people, especially in the media, will try to paint me a liar. I’ll need people like you to stand with me, stand up for me, be my defenders.”

“But-”

“You believe, Gabby. You believe in me. I want you to be one of a select few true believers. You understand what I’m trying to do for the World. I want you to come with me and help heal the World by being my proponent, my defender, my apostle.”

There was a long pause.

I could tell Gabby was probably a little overwhelmed by Nathaniel’s offer.

I didn’t like the sound of it. Especially the ‘come with me’ part.

“I have a compound,” Nathaniel continued. “It’s out in the country. A beautiful place in the mountains. I’d like you to come stay there with me and become one of my assistants.”

Gabby answered slowly.

“I- I don’t know. It’s not that I don’t believe you or anything. I do. I just-”

“You don’t want to leave your home, your job,…your friend, Cas. I understand. You don’t have to answer right now. Wait until you’ve heard what I have to say tomorrow. Then you can decide.”

They started walking towards the door.

Which would lead them right past the stairway where my torso was seemingly floating in midair.

Shit!

I hurried back up as quickly and quietly as I could.

THUMP!

I fucking tripped!

Hey, it’s not easy to walk when you can’t see where your feet are.

I lay at the top of the stairs sprawled on my back, my invisible legs dangling down the steps.

Luckily, it was dark enough up stairs Gabby couldn’t see my body as she glanced up with a curious look and continued to the door.

Nathaniel looked up at where my legs were with a self-satisfied smirk before following Gabby out.

Phew! That was close.

I got up and rushed into the spare bedroom, my legs reappearing as I did.

A moment later, Gabby came up.

“You okay, Cas? It sounded like you fell or something.”

“Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Just stubbed my toe.” I lied. “Is it safe to come down now?”

She had a mixed look of worry and confusion on her face as she spoke.

“Yeah. Nathaniel left.”

“So, what did he want?” I asked like I didn’t know.

Gabby sighed.

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you about it later. Right now I need to get changed.”

I didn’t like the idea of Nathaniel trying to get Gabby to come away with him at all.

But as I left her to get into her costume, I felt a little better knowing that, by the look on her face, she didn’t seem to like the idea much either.

Chapter 5: Monster Mash

 

Higher Hell: The Second Coming

Chapter 5: Monster Mash

“Okay. You can open your eyes.”

“Holy shit! You look fucking awesome!”

Gabby stood in the living room looking like a movie star!

She wore a long, black gown with very high heeled shoes. She had a white fur stole draped across her shoulders and white gloves that reached past her elbows. Jewelry glittered on her neck, wrists and fingers that looked like it could finance a small country. Her hair was pulled back in a bun except for her two purple locks, which had been curled into ringlets.

“Wow. Where’d you get all this stuff? Are those real diamonds?”

“Yeah,” she said, lovingly running a finger over her necklace. “This was all my Mom’s. She used to wear it to fancy parties with my Dad when I was a kid.”

Her mother’s.

I should’ve known.

My mind suddenly went back to that corridor in Hell. Gabby’s Mom, crazed, drenched in blood. Those wild, insane eyes that were a horrible imitation of Gabby’s.

She gave me a concerned look.

“You okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Oh, yeah. It’s nothin’.”

You know, I’d felt really guilty about lying to Gabby about seeing her Mom in Hell. But as I watched her smiling at her reflection in the mirror, admiring the things that were all she had left of her mother, I knew I’d done the right thing.

La Villa Blue.

Never thought I’d be back here again.

And nobody was screaming or trying to run away as I entered in my demonic form alongside Gabby.

Apparently, after my first visit to La Villa Blue, people had decided it had all been a big prank. Now everybody just thought I had a cool costume.

Gabby wasn’t kidding when she said there’d be a lot of people here!

It was so packed with costumed patrons drinking and dancing to the loud, thumping music under the flashing lights you could hardly move through the place.

On our way to the bar, a guy dressed as Count Dracula bumped into me.

“Shorry, thude.” he apologized through his plastic fangs.

“No problem,” I said, patting him on the back. “Hate to tell ya, but Bela Lugosi’s dead, man.”

“You’re having a drink with me.” Gabby shouted over the music when we reached the bar.

I instantly thought of the night I’d gotten drunk waiting for Joe Bianco and pulled a skeptical face.

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”:

“Come on! One isn’t gonna kill you.”

She reached into the small black leather purse she’d brought and pulled out some cash.

I grabbed Gabby’s hand and pushed the money back into the purse. She gave me a ‘What the fuck?’ look.

Then I picked up a handful of napkins off the bar.

They turned into a stack of twenty dollar bills.

“I’m buying tonight.” I grinned.

Gabby burst out laughing.

“Thanks! I’ll have to bring you out more often!”

She bought us a couple of fruity, colorful, girly drinks only a demon could sip without looking like a pussy.

It wasn’t bad though.

The music changed and she hopped off her barstool.

“I like this song! Come dance with me.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, demons don’t dance. At least this one doesn’t.”

She rolled her eyes at me.

“Fine then, party pooper.”

She headed off through the crowd to the dance floor.

I stood there sipping my girly drink and admiring the different costumes for a while until I heard my name shouted behind me.

“Cas!”

I felt a hand slap my back and I spun around.

Rash stood there, a big toothy grin on his face, still wearing the fake knife through his head.

“Nice “costume”, dude!” he said with an exaggerated wink.

“Hey, Rash. Having a good time?”

He swayed a little where he stood and his eyes seemed to take a second to focus on me.

“You know it! Where’s Gabby?”

“She’s out there somewhere dancing.” I said, jerking a thumb over my shoulder.

Rash drained the last of his beer, spilling a little down his front.

“I gotta find her! Show her some of my moooves!” he said with a wiggle of his hips. “Don’t go anywhere! You gotta do a shot with me when I get back.”

He headed off after Gabby, his fake knife smacking people in the head as he moved through the crowd.

After a while, Gabby came back and finally convinced me to go dance with her just so she could get out of dancing with Rash.

“He dances like an epileptic on crack.” she said.

It wasn’t easy with my wings bumping into other dancers.

Somebody grabbed my ass on the dance floor!

And I wasn’t sure if it was a chick or a dude!

At Midnight, I entered the costume contest, which I lost to some chick who flashed her tits at the crowd.

That’s Humans for ya.

A pair of boobs trumps a real live fucking demon.

We had returned to the bar to have one last drink before leaving when Gabby pointed out someone in a dark corner of the club.

“You know, there’s a woman over there who’s been staring at you all night,” she said playfully. “I think she likes you. She hasn’t taken her eyes off you once.”

I turned and scanned the dark booths way at the back.

There was no missing her.

Bright green eyes that almost seemed to glow in the darkness. Black hair that went to just past the milky white shoulders exposed by her tank top and black leather pants that might as well have been painted on.

“Not much of a costume,” Gabby mused. “She’s just got those glowing contacts and a couple rubber snakes hanging around her neck.”

I stared, dumbfounded.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

To Gabby’s surprise, I started walking over to the green eyed woman.

“Cas? What are you doing?”

She sounded a little worried. Like she thought I might’ve had too much to drink again and was gonna do something stupid.

I stopped in front of the woman. Gabby peeked around from behind me looking concerned.

The green eyed woman smiled faintly.

“Casmiel.”

“Lilith.”

Gabby stepped out from behind me, shocked.

“Wait. You know her?”

Lilith smiled at Gabby and shook her hand warmly.

“You must be Gabby. I was told to expect you to be with Casmiel. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

“What the fuck do you want, Lilith?” I grumbled.

Gabby gaped at my rudeness.

I’d never much liked Lilith.

Well, to be honest, I’d never really known her that well. But I’d never liked the vibe I got from her.

Lilith was one of the Big Guy’s favorites. A top adviser to Satan. And I’d always got the impression that, because of her position, she thought she was better than me.

The snakes on her shoulders raised their heads and hissed at me.

Gabby leaped backwards so fast she almost fell down.

“Holy shit! Those things are real?!”

Lilith flicked her hair back, revealing that the two snakes grew out of the back of her head like an underdeveloped Medusa.

“Don’t worry. They won’t hurt you. Cas, on the other hand, might not be so lucky if he doesn’t start showing some manners.”

“Don’t tell me about manners,” I said, getting pissed. “You’re the one who’s always so high and mighty and looking down on me.”

Now Lilith was getting pissed too.

“Where do you get off, Casmiel?! I’ve hardly ever even spoken to you! You’re the one who’s always acting pissy around me. And if I did talk down to you, it was only because you were wasting all your time sitting in front of that stupid fire!”

I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could, a hand slapped my back.

“Yo! Cas, Gabby! There you are,” Rash shouted as he staggered into me. “I wondered where you two-”

His eyes fell on Lilith.

“Helloooo! Who’s this unbelievably hot friend of yours?”

Rash put on his goofy grin and sidled up to Lilith.

“Hey, sweetie. Never seen you around here. The name’s Rash. Cas here’s the lead guitarist in my band. How ’bout I buy ya a drink and we get to know each other a little, huh?”

I took Rash by the shoulders and pulled him away.

“Trust me, dude, you don’t wanna go there.”

Lilith chuckled.

“You’re in a rock band, eh, Casmiel? Don’t tell me this inebriated Human knows what you are as well.”

“Oh, I know all about what Cas is,” Rash announced proudly. “Me and Cas are like this.”

He tried several times to cross his fingers, but he was too fucked up to do it.

“You certainly are a piece of work, Casmiel. We’re not supposed to expose ourselves to Humans at all, yet you now have two Human friends.”

“You’re really a demon too?” Gabby asked.

“Technically speaking, I’m not a demon. I’m a succubus.”

“Whoa! You suck what?” Rash chimed in.

“Okay, okay!” I said, getting annoyed at Lilith’s failure to answer my original question. “Enough with the small talk. What the hell are you doing here, Lilith?”

She gave me a sly grin.

“Haven’t you guessed yet? I’m your new partner.”

Chapter 6: Get Thee Behind Me Satan

 

Higher Hell: The Second Coming

Chapter 6: Get Thee Behind Me Satan

Why me?

Of all the creatures in Hell, why the fuck did the Big Guy have to send Lilith to help with my mission?

Lilith and Gabby were becoming fast friends.

The two of them sat on Gabby’s living room floor chatting and giggling away.

Rash had been so drunk he couldn’t remember how to get home, so in a fit of sympathy, Gabby had invited him home with us to sleep it off. He was crashed on the couch snoring like a moose with a duck stuck in it’s throat.

I sat in my recliner, my arms folded over my chest.

What a shitty end to a perfectly good Halloween.

Gabby was recounting her side of what had happened months ago with Scirlin at her father’s apartment.

“It’s so strange,” Lilith said, shaking her head. “Nothing like that has ever happened before. Of course, Casmiel has always been a strange one, but still…I’d never seen anything so odd in all my years in Heaven or Hell.”

“Why don’t you ask me what it feels like to be a freak?” I said with a sneer.

“Oh, come on, Cas. We’re not making fun of you.” Gabby said.

“Why you?” I finally blurted out at Lilith. “Why’d the Big Guy send you?”

“Lucifer trusts me,” she said proudly. “He knows I’ll get the job done and keep you focused on the task at hand.”

“So when are we gonna do this anyway?” I asked impatiently. “The sooner we get it over with the better.”

“We’ll start tomorrow. I’m pretty sure I know where a few of the demons we’re supposed to track down are. We’ll start with them.”

“What’s Hell really like, Lilith? Cas was pretty vague about it when I asked him.”

“We’re really not supposed to talk about that with Humans. But, seeing how Cas has already blabbed so much about our World, I guess I could answer a few questions. Besides, I like you, Gabby. You’re a good kid. And you’ve got great taste in décor! I can’t understand why you’d want to hang around with a loser like Casmiel though.” she chuckled.

“Do I have to stay here for this abuse, or can I leave while you talk shit about me?”

“Calm down, Casmiel. You actually did a very good job last time you were here. I’m proud of you. Just don’t tell anyone in Hell I said that or I’ll have to hurt you.”

Gabby laughed.

I was speechless.

I couldn’t believe Lilith had actually complimented me.

“What’s the most surprising thing about Hell?” Gabby asked her. “Something Humans would never guess.”

Lilith thought for a moment.

“Probably the huge number of holy people who are there. Popes, priests, ministers, nuns, you name it. Even saints.”

“Wow! There’ve been that many who were corrupt?”

“They’re leaders. Authority figures. Throughout history, they’ve been one of the biggest groups of people to abuse their authority, hurting millions in the process. The more they believe God is on their side, the worse they usually are. Take the Crusades for instance-”

“I hate to cut this history lesson short,” I interrupted. “But Gabby and I are supposed to go to some big announcement thingy tomorrow. We really ought to get to bed.”

Lilith leered at me for a moment, then, surprisingly, agreed with me.

“He’s right. We should get some rest. Cas and I have a long journey ahead of us for the first stop on our search tomorrow.”

“Where are we going?”

She gave me a sly grin.

“To one of the largest graveyards in the World.”

“Are you gonna disappear and reappear there?” Gabby wondered.

Lilith shook her head, waking her snakes which had been curled up asleep on her shoulders.

“No. Cas doesn’t know the place first hand so we can’t rematerialize. We’ll have to fly.”

“Oh, I didn’t think you could fly since you don’t have wings like Cas.”

Lilith smiled and a pair of green and black butterfly wings appeared behind her. A four inch long, needle-like spike pointed from the top and bottom of each wing.

“My wings are a little too dangerous to have out in public,” she explained. “The spikes are poisonous.”

“Yeah,” I snorted. “Just like her personality.”

She glared at me.

“Don’t hate me because I wasn’t made as freakish looking as most demons, Casmiel. It’s for a good purpose.” she turned to Gabby with a smirk. “I hope you’re not too attached to him, Gabby. He may not make it back from our little trip.”

They both laughed.

I sank back in the recliner and tried to go to sleep.

I wasn’t looking forward to the next day at all.

Before leaving for Nathaniel’s big press conference, Gabby reluctantly gave Rash both our cell phone numbers. He was still pretty hungover and Lilith offered to keep and eye on him until we got back.

“These are for emergencies ONLY,” Gabby told him. “Do NOT call us for anything unless it’s seriously important. No calls to ask me out or to tell Cas about a new song you wrote or anything like that. Got it?”

“Yeah, yeah. I got it.” Rash replied while warily watching Lilith stroke the head of one of her snakes.

He’d had a bit of a shock when he woke up in the morning and realized the snakes weren’t part of a costume.

Gabby and I started walking to the square in front of City Hall where we would meet Nathaniel.

The stuff I’d overheard him telling Gabby was running through my head as we went.

I was really uneasy about his request that she go away with him.

Maybe it was just because of Lilith’s trash talk, but I suddenly felt like I didn’t really compare to Nathaniel. I mean, he’s famous, handsome, he has healing powers, and by the looks of that big shiny car of his, he must have money too.

What did I have?

What if Gabby decided to leave with him? Where would that leave me?

She must’ve noticed I was a little out of sorts.

“You okay, Cas? You seem down. You’re not letting the stuff Lilith says get to you, are you? She doesn’t really mean it, you know.”

I shrugged.

“Eh, I don’t know. She’s certainly not who I would’ve picked for my partner. She’s so…It always seems like she thinks she’s better than me ’cause she’s in good with the Big Guy.”

“After you went to sleep last night, she said she envies you.”

“Her! Envy me! What the hell for?”

“She said you’re capable of great things, like when you saved me from Scirlin, but nobody expects it of you. They expect you to just be, well, you. But she’s expected to always be perfect and on top of things at all times because of her position. That’s why she envies you.”

Hm.

I’d never thought of it like that.

“She also said you deserved to have changed back into an angel more than almost anybody else in Hell. She said you’re the only one who wouldn’t let it go to your head.”

“Wow. She said all that with a straight face?”

Gabby smiled and rolled her eyes.

“Yes, Cas. I think she only picks on you ’cause you make it so easy the way you react to it.”

She’s probably right there.

And nobody does expect much out of me in Hell. That’s why everybody went ape shit when I finally did something good.

Who knows. Maybe I have been a little too hard on Lilith.

But she’s still a bitch.

I decided to breach the subject of what was really bothering me.

“So,…What did Nathaniel have to say last night?”

Gabby sighed.

“He wants me to go with him to some compound he’s got out in the country. He said I could be one of his helpers in his mission to change the World.”

“Do you want to go?”

I sure as hell hope not.

She took a moment to answer.

“Not really. I mean, I’m flattered he would want me to join him. Nathaniel’s interesting and exciting…and cute,” she added with a grin. “I do believe in him and what he’s doing. How could I not? But I don’t want to go out and change the World. That’s really not my kind of thing. I just wanna live my life. You know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I do.”

I knew exactly what she was saying. I’d always felt the same way.

A weight was lifted off my mind.

She didn’t want to go.

That was what I wanted to hear.

We rounded a corner into the square in front of City Hall.

My jaw dropped.

Holy Hell in a fucking handbag.

It was a sea of Livies!

This crowd made the one at the hospital look like and intimate little tea party.

Thousands of people were clustered between the tall buildings waiting for their hero to speak. TV news camera crews were set up all over the place, and a couple of news helicopters hovered over the area.

Across the square, I saw a group of monks and and group of nuns, two clumps of brown and black, protesting against Nathaniel. They held signs that read ‘Christ is Lord, Not Nathaniel’ and ‘Do Not Follow False Prophets’.

It made sense they’d be pissed. Nathaniel was taking away their followers after all. He was attempting to put the official Church out of business.

But the vast majority of the people were all keyed up in anticipation, excited to see and hear Nathaniel speak.

“Miss Bianco?” a deep, gravelly voice came from right behind us.

Gabby and I both jumped, startled by the voice.

A tall, thin man with short clipped gray hair and ruddy cheeks stood looking down at us with a severe expression. His nose was a little crooked, like it had been broken once. His hawkish eyes surveyed us quickly.

“You are Miss Bianco, yes?”

He sounded like he had a German accent.

“Y-yes. I’m Gabby Bianco,” she replied meekly. “Who are you?”

“I vos sent to escort you to Nathaniel. Come vith me.”

He turned without another word and marched off around the crowd. We had to walk fast to keep up.

He led us to a path formed by lines of orange road cones and yellow police tape. The path cut straight through the crowd to a big fountain surrounded by a knee high pool, like a small pond smack in the middle of the square.

Nathaniel stood there with his serious looking guys beside the fountain pool. A barrier of more cones and police tape kept his adoring followers several feet back from him.

“Ah, there she is,” Nathaniel said with a smirky smile. “Now I think we can get started.”

Nathaniel stepped up onto the concrete berm that ran around the pool and raised his arms.

An expectant hush fell over the mass of Humans surrounding us.

“Thank you all for coming today. As I’ve hinted recently, I have something very important to speak about today.”

He began to casually pace along the pool’s edge as he spoke without looking at his audience.

“Ever since I first arrived here, I’ve been bombarded with questions. Who are you? Where did you come from? Where did you receive your religious education? And, of course, how do you do the miraculous things you do? Everyday I’m asked several times, are you for real? Because even though they’ve witnessed my miracles first hand, many people are still unwilling or unable to believe.

“To be honest, I’ve been rather vague in my responses to all the questions. I’ve told you that I’m God’s messenger. I’ve said that I come from the same place we all come from, which is the Lord. I’ve repeatedly said that my power comes from the Lord, and that, yes, it is absolutely real. Just ask the people I’ve helped.

“But today, I want to make all things perfectly clear. The time has come for the Truth to set us all free. Oh, there will still be doubters. There will always be those who would deny me and call me a liar and charlatan. But my people will know the Truth.”

Nathaniel continued to stroll silently for a moment, as if gathering the courage to say what he wanted to say.

It was during the pause that I heard several people in the crowd gasp and point at Nathaniel with awestruck looks.

I looked at him pacing.

What the fuck are they pointing at?

He’s not doing anything.

Gabby suddenly grabbed my sleeve.

“Cas!” she whispered excitedly. “Look!”

Then I saw it.

Nathaniel was slowly, casually walking on the water!

His feet make barely a ripple on the surface of the pool as he stepped, walking like he didn’t even realize he was doing anything special.

Murmurs ran through the crowd as more and more people noticed.

“It’s true,” he continued. “That my power comes from the Lord. This power, and the responsibility that comes with it, was given to me by the Lord. My creator. My teacher. My father.”

More excited whispers went through the audience like electricity.

His father?

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

Nathaniel turned to face his followers and the murmurs rose into outright cries of ‘Hallelujah!’ and ‘Praise the Lord!’.

A light was shining throughout the square.

It was coming from Nathaniel.

His face and long, wavy blond hair were glowing, emitting a pure white light.

He lifted his arms in an open, welcoming gesture.

“Behold the Truth,” he wasn’t shouting, but his voice had suddenly increased several times in volume. “I am returned to you. The Son of God. The same one who, for your sins, was crucified. I have returned as promised. Your messiah. Your savior.”

Beams of sunlight broke through the clouds and shone directly on Nathaniel.

The crowd was going nuts.

People were crying and reaching out to him. They quoted the Bible and called him Lord and Jesus and Messiah and Christ.

Bullshit!

I was there! I saw the original Jesus Christ. And I knew that he wasn’t a man at all, but God himself. The Old Man in Human form.

And this guy was definitely not God.

What was he trying to pull?

I didn’t know how he was doing all this, but I knew it couldn’t be real.

And as I surveyed the worshiping Humans all around the square, I could see I was the only one who knew it.

Or maybe I wasn’t.

On the edge of the square I saw a woman in a white dress with curly, flyaway blond hair.

Batty!

She was standing half concealed behind a phone booth like she was trying to hide.

Batty was crying softly too, but not the tears of joy that were on the faces of the Humans. Batty’s face looked desperately sad, like she had hoped Nathaniel wouldn’t do this and was bitterly disappointed and heartbroken.

What the fuck is she up to?

Nathaniel stepped off the water and back onto the ground near me and Gabby.

“Now I will expose the true liars among us! The Light of God will not allow them to hide any longer!”

I saw Batty suddenly look fearful and dart away out of the square.

At the same moment, I felt a cool breeze run up my body from my feet to my head. It made me shiver.

People started screaming.

“Cas!” Gabby shouted.

“What? What’s everybody-”

I was in my demonic form!

And everybody in the square, thousands of Humans, even the TV cameras, were staring straight at me.

I tried to change back.

It didn’t work.

What the fuck is going on?!

“Have no fear,” Nathaniel calmly told the crowd. “This demon’s power can not compare to the Lord’s.”

I gaped at Nathaniel.

“What the fuck did you do to me?!” I shouted angrily.

Gabby quickly stepped in front of me, holding me back while pleading with Nathaniel.

“Wait! Wait! Cas isn’t evil! He’s good! Cas is my friend!”

“Gabby, Satan and the servants of Satan are deceivers,” he said, glaring intensely at me. “I’ve known what you were since the first time I saw you, Cas. Even before I saw you sprawled like a buffoon at the top of the stairs eavesdropping on my conversation with Gabby.”

Gabby whipped around with an incredulous look.

“You were listening?”

She shook her head in frustration and turned back to Nathaniel.

“Look. I know Cas. He’s not what you think.”

“Oh, no? Tell me, Cas, tell all the people gathered here, who is your master? Who do you serve?”

“I serve Satan, but-”

“You see!” he shouted to the crowd. “The Beast confesses!”

I was getting full blown pissed off now.

“Listen you little prick-”

He cut me off again.

“Gabby, if this demon is your friend, then why is he lying to you? I can see right through him. The Eyes of the Lord see the secret he’s hiding. Something you have been dieing inside to know.”

Gabby was totally confused.

“What? What would I want to know? Cas would never keep anything from me.”

“You motherfucker!” I yelled at him. “I’ll take you to Hell with me right now!”

The crowd was quickly becoming a barely restrained lynch mob.

And they wanted my head.

Angry faces shouted all around for Nathaniel to strike me down, destroy me, send me back to Hell forever.

“Why hasn’t he told you he spoke with your own beloved mother in Hell right before he came to you?”

Gabby stared at me, waiting anxiously for me to deny it.

But I couldn’t.

“I- I did, Gabby. I did talk to her. She came to me as I was leaving Hell. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

The look of hurt on her face was agony to me.

Not only did she know I had lied to her, but her worst fear about where her mother was had just been confirmed.

Why didn’t I just tell her?

Damn it, I never should’ve kept it a secret.

“Cas…How could you not tell me? I’ve wanted to know so badly for so long. You knew I wanted to know.”

“Gabby, you don’t know what it’s like for a soul in Hell. She was…I just couldn’t bear to tell you. It would hurt you too much.”

Nathaniel butted in again.

“He would never have told you. This is a demon’s true nature. Liars, deceivers, tempters. You were desperate to know your mother’s fate. He knew and he hid it from you. Just like he hid that he was spying on us the other night.”

“You stay out of this!” I yelled, pointing a long nailed, skeletal finger at him. “I was only thinking of what was best for her!”

I looked into Gabby’s eyes.

For the first time, I saw a trace of mistrust as she looked back at me like she wasn’t sure she really knew me anymore.

“Gabby. I’m sorry. I’m really-”

“Cas.”

She spoke my name so softly I almost couldn’t hear it over the jeers of the crowd.

“I think you should go.”

“But, Gabby-”

Tears were trickling slowly down her pale face.

“I- I need time to think…I don’t want to see you right now.”

She turned away.

My heart sank into the pit of my stomach.

I’m pretty sure it was broken.

I closed my eyes to rematerialize.

As I did, I thought I saw her start to look back at me.

But it was already too late.

Chapter 7: City of the Dead

 

Higher Hell: The Second Coming

Chapter 7: City of the Dead

I rematerialized into Gabby’s living room.

Apparently, Rash was feeling better. He seemed to be stuffing his face with just about the entire contents of Gabby’s fridge while Lilith looked on with a slight look of disgust.

“Hey, Cas,” Rash said through a mouthful of food. “Where’s Gabby?”

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.

“I don’t know. We…We kinda had an argument, I guess. Or a misunderstanding. Or- I don’t fucking know.”

“An argument about what?” he pressed.

“It’s a long story. Lilith, let’s just get on with our mission. I…I can’t be here right now anyway.”

She gave me a curious look, then shrugged.

“Okay. Let’s go.”

We headed for the back door. If we had to fly, it was probably safer to leave from the backyard than to take off in front of the house in broad daylight.

“Hey, wait!” Rash called after us. “What do I tell Gabby when she gets back?”

“Just tell her I’m sorry.”

Lilith and I stepped out into the fenced in backyard.

No one would see us here.

Lilith’s deadly butterfly wings sprouted from her back.

“Follow me. And try to keep up.”

A couple of big flaps of our wings and we were zooming eastward high above the clouds.

The wind roaring in my ears helped to block out all thoughts of what had just happened back in the square.

I just concentrated on following Lilith’s green and black wings away from the sun.

It was dusk already where we touched down.

We were in a hot, rocky, sandy valley cut into the desert.

“Where the fuck are we?”

“Egypt.” Lilith replied.

Shit, I guess we really did go a long way. I’d been so busy trying to keep up with Lilith the time had seemed fly by.

No pun intended.

“You think a demon’s been hanging out here?”

“I’m almost certain of it.”

I looked around at the barren stretch of rock and sand, darkening as the stars came out.

“Why the hell would anybody wanna stay here? There’s nothing. And I thought Hell was a boring place.”

Lilith began leading me through the long shadows cast be the high walls of the chasm.

“We’re looking for Ammun.” she said.

“Never heard of him.”

“Doesn’t surprise me. You don’t exactly get around much.”

She walked slowly, examining different parts of the rocky walls.

Humans had been here.

Lots of them by the looks of it.

There were foot paths and a dusty track where vehicles had been.

There had been a lot of digging in this place. Like the Humans were looking for something.

How could Ammun stay hidden with so much activity around?

Lilith answered my question before I could ask it.

“The archeologists come here studying the tombs. Tourists too. Remember, I said this was a graveyard. The ancient rulers of this land are entombed here.”

“What’s that got to do with Ammun?”

“Ammun had a Human friend, just like you. Only his friend was the Pharaoh of Egypt. Ammun served him as an adviser of sorts. But when the Pharaoh died, Ammun never returned to Hell.”

“And the Pharaoh dude is buried here somewhere, right?”

“You’re not as dumb as you look, Casmiel.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. But why would he stay with his friend’s body? That’s just fucking creepy.”

“I don’t know,” she said, stopping and pointing to a barely noticeable little cave opening high up on the rocky wall. “But I think we’re going to find out. Up there.”

Lilith flew up to the cave and I followed her in.

I couldn’t see shit.

We felt our way slowly along the rough stone walls until we suddenly felt smooth plaster under our hands and feet.

“Damn it,” she said. “I wish we’d brought a light.”

“Hmph, now you think of it- Oh! Wait. How ’bout this?”

I reached in my pocket and pulled out my handful of fire.

“Did Lucifer give you that?” she asked.

“Yeah. Right before I left. Why?”

“Very few demons are allowed to wield or carry demonic fire. It’s very powerful and dangerous. It can kill demons. Even angels, for that matter.” she explained. “Lucifer must have been very pleased with you to let you have it.”

She sounded impressed.

I held the flames high and they illuminated walls, ceiling and floors that had been plastered and painted with Egyptian scenes and hieroglyphics.

“Can you read this shit?” I asked.

“No. But that’s Ammun there on the wall.”

She walked over to a large painting of a tall, dark skinned man with a falcon’s head.

“He’s no oil painting, is he?” I snorted.

Lilith didn’t think it was funny.

“You’re one to talk.”

She started heading deeper into the tomb.

“Come on. If he’s still here, he’ll be somewhere deep inside.”

The place was a fucking maze of narrow hallways and low ceilinged chambers. Some rooms were packed full of big clay jars. One was lined with shelves full of crumbling scrolls. There were statues and all kinds of weird looking stuff the deeper we went.

Obviously, the Humans hadn’t found this tomb yet or it’d be completely empty.

Or maybe they had.

At the end of a long hall, right in front of the entrance to another chamber, were the dried out remains of two men in fairly modern looking clothes, their bodies partially mummified by the dry desert air.

Something had kicked the shit out them. They lay at such odd angles, all twisted up, I could tell half their bones had been broken.

One had a gaping hole in his chest like he’d been stabbed by something huge.

“I think we’re here.” Lilith whispered.

We stepped over the bodies into the chamber, which was enormous compared to all the others.

High pillars supported a vaulted ceiling. The walls were lined with stone statues and decorated sarcophogus’s…sarcophoges…sarcophogi- ah, you know what I mean.

Lot’s of dead guys in boxes.

There were jewels, clay jars, tools, all kinds of crap in here, but nothing living.

With a whoosh and a crackling, the entryway behind us disappeared and was replaced with solid stone, and fire shot up from several big stone oil basins lining a path through the room.

“We’re trapped!” I said. “Where’d the door way go?!”

“Ammun must’ve helped build the tomb,” Lilith said calmly. “He can change it’s form.”

No shit?

Well, he better be prepared to change it back! Living with dead guys might be cool for him, but it ain’t my idea of a cozy home.

A loud, deep voice boomed from the walls all around us.

“WHO DARES ENTER THE TOMB OF MY PHARAOH?!”

With another whooshing sound, a doorway appeared at the end of the path lit by the oil lamps.

Ammun stomped into the room holding a massive spear. His big falcon-like wings were spread wide and his eyes looked ready to kill.

“Ammun,” Lilith said, showing no fear. “It’s been a long time.”

Ammun held his pose like he was ready to attack, but his wings lowered just a bit.

“How do you know that name? Who are you?” he said in a deep bass voice.

“Have you forgotten me, Ammun? It’s Lilith. And I’ve brought Casmiel. Lucifer sent us.”

He dropped his spear with a clatter on the stone floor.

“Lilith? You…But- What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you. You’ve been away for a very long time. Over three thousand years. What have you been doing all this time?”

He seemed surprised when Lilith mentioned how long he’d been gone. He looked away, slightly embarrassed.

“I’ve…I’ve been busy.”

“Busy? Here?” I blurted out. “What the hell is there to do here?”

“I made a promise. I promised to stay with my Pharaoh.”

Lilith took a sympathetic tone.

“Ammun, your Pharaoh died thousands of years ago. Why stay? I’d say your promise has been more than fulfilled.”

“No. It hasn’t.”

Ammun crossed to the largest, most ornate of the coffins, the most prominent in the chamber. The image of his long dead friend was carved into the stone lid, decorated with gold and jewels.

He gently touched the golden face.

“My Pharaoh and I were like brothers. I advised him and aided him in both war time and peace. He worshiped me. He could never quite understand the concept that I was not a god. Demons, angels, they were all gods to him. But I was more. I was his friend.

“I promised to look after him in the afterlife. I told him as he was dieing, ‘I will be there. I will stay with you. I promise.’. Those were the last words he heard from me.”

Ammun’s bass voice was beginning to tremble with emotion at the ancient memory.

“Then what are you doing here?” I asked, a little impatiently. “Why don’t you just go to him then?”

He slumped to his knees in front of the coffin. His voice cracked as he choked back tears.

“He went to Heaven.”

Lilith slowly nodded in a tired sort of way, like she’d thought he was going to say that.

Ammun sniffed and tried to compose himself.

“I’d never even considered. I don’t know why, but I’d just assumed we would be together in Hell. It never occurred to me he might go to the one place I can not.

“He must hate me now. Oh, he must have been so confused to arrive there and not find me. He probably thinks I abandoned him.”

He was completely miserable. And he’d spent thousands of years here in this dark catacomb dwelling on his misery.

Poor guy.

I thought about what it would be like if I could never see Gabby again and felt the sting of what had happened earlier with Nathaniel.

What if I’ve already screwed up so bad that she never wants to see me again?

“Come home,” Lilith said gently. “Why torture yourself here? Come back to Hell.”

Ammun shook his feathery head.

“No. Thank you, Lilith. And tell Satan thank you for not forgetting me, but I will stay. I promised to stay with my Pharaoh and I will. Even if it is only to guard his bones and his treasures.”

“I wish you would reconsider,” Lilith pressed. “Eventually the Humans will discover this tomb and-”

Da-da-da-dum, click-click, da-da-da-dum, click-click…

They both looked at me in surprise.

My phone!

“Sorry.” I muttered as I pulled it from my pocket.

“All the way in Egypt? Hm. Good service.” Lilith said, impressed.

I didn’t pay any attention to her. I was too excited to hear from Gabby.

I answered it with butterflies in my stomach.

“Gabby! I’m so glad you called! Look, I’m really, really sorry I-”

“Cas! You need to get back here right away! It’s an emergency!”

I was stunned speechless for a second by the unexpected sound of Rash on the other end.

“Rash? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know what to do, Cas. Some guys- They just took Gabby! She didn’t wanna go so they just fuckin’ took her!”

“Guys? What guys? Who was it?”

“I don’t know. But they trashed the place lookin’ for you. One of ‘em threw me across the room! And now there’s some blond chick with no shoes here freakin’ out cryin’ and shit. She says she needs to see you right away.”

That had to be Batty. What the fuck is she doing there?

Fear was gripping me as I turned to Lilith.

“We gotta go. Now. Somethings wrong. I think Gabby’s in trouble.”

Before she could reply, Rash’s voice came through the phone even more aggitated.

“Hurry, Cas! This blond chick is weirdin’ me out.”

“We’ll be right there.”

I ended the call and pocketed my phone.

“Let’s go, Lilith. Ammun’s made up his mind anyway.”

She looked a little flustered for a moment.

“Okay,” she sighed. “We’ll keep in touch, Ammun. Please think about coming home, all right?”

Ammun stood and retrieved his spear.

“You have a Human friend as well, Casmiel?”

“Yeah.”

“Go. Do whatever you must for your friend. That is what’s most important.”

“Thanks, buddy.”

Lilith nodded at me and we both closed our eyes and concentrated on returning to Gabby’s house.

I don’t know if Gabby’s forgiven me or not, but if anybody’s hurt her, there’ll be Hell to pay.

Literally.

Chapter 8: Demon Speeding

 

Higher Hell: The Second Coming

Chapter 8: Demon Speeding

Lilith and I rematerialized back in the living room of Gabby’s house.

Rash sat on the couch, nervously trying to comfort a quietly weeping Batty beside him.

Lilith was stunned.

“Batty?! Why are you here? What’s going on?”

We looked around and saw a disaster area.

The coffin coffee table had been thrown against the wall. The lab skeleton was in pieces on the floor. Shelves had been swept clean, their contents scattered everywhere.

“Batty,” I said, trying to keep the fear and anxiety from my voice. “What happened? This has something to do with Nathaniel, doesn’t it?”

Batty sniffled and gave me a miserable, teary look.

“I’m so sorry, Cas. I couldn’t do anything. It was his- his men. They took her away when she wouldn’t agree to come on her own.”

“That son of a bitch!” I spat. “I knew he was trouble! I knew it!”

Lilith was confused.

“Who’s Nathaniel?”

Batty nervously wrung her hands, avoiding our eyes.

“He’s…He’s…I’m sorry. I really shouldn’t say anything.”

“Why not?” I asked. “I know you were at his announcement today. I saw you there. What’s your deal with him?”

She looked like she was struggling with herself over what to say.

“Nathaniel’s my mission!” she finally blurted out. “I was sent to follow him and keep an eye on what he’s doing. But I’m not supposed to talk about it to anyone! Gabriel made me promise!”

Rash looked at each of us, frowning in a puzzled way.

“What, that religious dude? That Nathaniel? And is anybody gonna tell me who this chick is?”

I sighed.

“Batty, this is Rash. Rash, Batty. She’s an angel.”

Batty suddenly smiled brightly and shook Rash’s hand.

“Pleased to meet you, Rash.”

Then she immediately went back to looking pitiful.

“Is anybody going to tell me who this Nathaniel person is?” Lilith said in exasperation.

“He’s a miracle worker. He’s built up a following of Human believers, including Gabby. And today he told the whole World he’s the second coming of Christ.” I explained.

Lilith rolled her eyes.

“Pfft, please.”

“Yeah, that’s what I said. But Gabby believes in his miracles. Nathaniel healed her after a bad fall the other day. He’s schmoozed her real good. He wanted her to go away with him somewhere.”

“Is that what happened, Batty?” Lilith asked. “He made Gabby go with him?”

Batty nodded as she wiped the tears from her face.

“Nathan-Nathaniel wanted her to come with him very badly. But Gabby wanted to speak to Cas first.”

I was so pissed my wings were twitching.

When I get my hands on that asshole…

There was just one thing I needed to know.

“Is she in danger? Would he hurt her, Batty?”

She wrung her hands again, her brow furrowed with consternation.

“I- I can’t believe Nathaniel would hurt her himself, but…Some of the others…There are some very evil people with him, Cas. I don’t know what they might do.”

“That settles it then,” I said. “We’re going after her.”

“You know where they would’ve taken her?” Batty asked.

“Well, no. I was hoping you knew since you’ve been following him. All I know is that he wanted Gabby to come to his compound in the country.”

My shoulders slumped.

If nobody knows where Nathaniel took her, then it looks like we’re fucked.

I felt like a caged animal. I wanted to get out there and find Gabby, but there was nowhere to go.

Lilith pulled a small scroll from her back pocket and began to study it intently.

“I think we may be able to track her.” she said.

“Track her? How? What is that, a map?”

“No,” she said, not looking up from the scroll. “It’s the list of demons we’re supposed to be looking for.”

“No offense, Lilith, but fuck our mission. I’m not looking for anybody right now unless it’s Gabby-”

“Will you shut up and listen,” she barked at me. “There’s somebody on here who might be able to help find her.”

I thought about it for a second.

If he could really help, that would be great.

But…

I shook my head.

“We don’t have time to fly all over the World looking for another-”

“It’s not far, Cas. If he’s still where I think he is, it’s only a short flight from here.”

Batty jumped to her feet. Her face brightened and she seemed energized at the possibility of a lead.

“Let’s go then. We’ll just follow Lilith.”

Rash suddenly jumped to his feet too.

“Hey! You’re not leavin’ me! I wanna come too!”

“Sorry, Rash, but we can’t be dragging a Human with us. And I sure ain’t carrying you wherever we’re flying to.”

“Gabby’s my friend too, Cas. I- I don’t have a lot of friends. You and Gabby are about it. I wanna help.”

He looked more serious and earnest than I’d ever seen him.

I kinda felt bad for him.

Me and Gabby are his best friends? And we don’t even like him that much.

I sighed.

“I don’t know. What do you think, Lilith?” I asked her, knowing full well she’d say no.

She thought for a moment.

“I’ll call us a cab. We shouldn’t fly if he’s coming.”

Rash pumped his fist in the air.

“Yes! Road trip!”

I wasn’t at all sure about this. I mean, what the hell good would it do to have Rash with us? He’s just gonna get in the way.

And we could’ve gone a lot faster flying.

Not to mention, I hate riding in cars.

But, ten minutes later we were all four piling into the back seat of a taxi on our way to find this demon who might be able to help find Gabby.

It was pretty fucking cramped in that back seat.

“So where exactly are we going? It better not be far. I don’t want to be stuck in this tin can any longer than I have to.”

“Jersey.” Lilith replied casually.

“Jersey? As in New Jersey?”

“Yes, Cas. New Jersey.”

“You think we’re gonna find another-” I threw a quick glance at the driver. “Another one of us, in New Jersey?”

“That’s right. And do you mind getting your elbow out of my ribs? I don’t need you jabbing me all the way there.”

I sighed yet again.

What a screaming fuck up this is going to be.

“This is gonna suck.” I muttered.

Two hours and one bathroom break later (Rash forgot to go before we left), and our very annoyed and slightly puzzled driver was dropping us off on a lonely road through the forests of southern Jersey.

“You sure this is the right place?” I asked Lilith, looking around for some sign of a house or something.

“I’m pretty sure we’re close,” she said. “Pay the driver will you, before Batty spills everything about us.”

Batty was chatting away at the cab driver, who looked like he wished she would just shut up.

“Hey, Rash. Got any money on you?”

He fished in his pocket and pulled out a few crumpled bills and some change.

“Three bucks and seventy cents. Why?”

“Give me the bills.”

“But this is all I got!” he protested.

“Just give ‘em to me.”

Rash reluctantly handed the three ones over.

I turned them into one hundred dollar bills.

I handed one back to an astonished Rash and gave the other two to the cabbie, who happily accepted them and left.

Rash was still gaping at his bill in amazement.

“I gotta hang out with you guys more often!” he said with a toothy grin.

The sun had just gone down. It was the second sunset Lilith and I had seen in one day thanks to our globe trotting.

“Okay, let’s find this dude fast. Lead the way, Lilith.”

We hadn’t walked far when we came to a narrow dirt road that turned off the highway to our right.

“Down here.” Lilith pointed, and we headed down the dark, bumpy path into the forest.

“So how’s this guy supposed to help us? He psychic or something?”

“No. He’s a good tracker though. He’s got incredible senses of smell, sight and hearing. If anybody can figure out which way they went, it’s him.”

The trees grew more and more dense the farther we walked and the darkness became almost impenetrable. Only a few scattered beams of moonlight filtering through the trees kept us from veering off into the thickets as we followed the many curves in the winding road.

Lilith had finally had enough of it when she stubbed her toe on a big rock in the road.

“Damn it! This is ridiculous. Cas, get your fire out.”

I reached for the warm, flickering flames in my pocket.

“Allow me.” Batty chimed sweetly.

Her snowy white wings appeared behind her and she spread them slightly. A soft, iridescent glow beamed from their underside.

“Thanks, Batty.”

About half a mile on, the trees opened up to reveal an old split rail fence lining a small field of withered corn stalks on one side of the road and a hay field on the other.

A sloppily painted sign was nailed to the first fence post:

NO TRESPASSERS

THIS IS YER ONLY WARNIN

As we passed the sign, I had to ask Lilith again, “Are you sure this is the right place?”

She scowled at me in response.

“I’ve never been in the country before,” Rash said, craning his neck to look at nothing in particular. “Why the fuck would anybody wanna live here? There’s nothin’ to do. No restaurants. No bars. No nightclubs. No strip joints- No offense ladies,” he added quickly. “None of life’s necessities.”

“You really need to get out more, Rash.” I said.

BOOM!

What the fuck?!

All four of us jumped at the sound of a gun blast a short distance ahead of us.

Darkness engulfed us as Batty quickly made her wings vanish.

“I don’t usually give a warnin’ shot. Yer trespassin’ on private property. If ya know what’s good fer ya, you’ll turn ’round ‘n’ go back the way ya came.”

It was a warm, baritone voice with a country accent, but his words weren’t warm or welcoming at all.

Actually, he sounded like a pissed off Johnny Cash.

“Um, sorry. We were, uh- We’re looking for-”

“Is that you, Leonard?” Lilith asked into the darkness.

There was no answer.

“Maybe we should just go.” I whispered to her.

“Leonard? It’s Lilith. We need your help.”

Still no reply.

Great.

We wasted our time coming all the way to the middle of fucking nowhere for nothing.

This guy ain’t got a clue what she’s talking about.

Footsteps started coming closer.

Shit!

If he shoots again, we’re all in Human form!

The bright beam of a flashlight swept across the four of us, momentarily blinding me.

After I’d blinked the spots out of my eyes, I noticed Lilith wasn’t in Human form. Her snakes were perched alert on her shoulders and her spiky butterfly wings were spread wide.

A deep chuckle came from the man with the flashlight.

“Hah! Well, I’ll be,” he said. “Hey, Batty! Why don’t you give us some more light, darlin’.”

Batty burst into a big bright smile as her wings reappeared, bathing us all in soft light. And illuminating the man with the gun.

He was a tall, fiftyish man with a long, weathered face. He wore a cowboy hat and boots with dusty jeans and an old, worn out buckskin jacket. His shotgun hung at his side in the strong grip of his knobby hands.

He was grinning at us.

“Well, I know the ladies, but I don’t recognize you two gents.”

This had to be our guy. There’s no other way he’d know Lilith and Batty.

I changed into my demonic form.

“I’m Casmiel. I don’t think we’ve met before. And this is Rash. He’s a Human.”

He stepped forward, and as he did, transformed into his own demonic body.

His head was that of an emaciated black horse with red eyes and two small fangs. Huge bat wings appeared behind him and the lower halves of his legs morphed into those of a horse with big, heavy black hooves. His body and arms were long and lanky, but muscly.

Lilith smiled.

“Casmiel, I’d like you to meet Leonard.”

Leonard made a tip-of-the-hat motion, even though his cowboy hat had vanished from his horsey head.

“Better known ’round these parts,” he said. “As the Jersey Devil.”

Chapter 9: The Jersey Devil

 

Higher Hell: The Second Coming

Chapter 9: The Jersey Devil

I felt like we’d stepped back in time.

Leonard lived in an ancient looking farm house surrounded by pastures, vegetable gardens, a chicken coop, a tractor that looked older than the dirt he plowed with it, and a very dilapidated looking barn.

The inside of the house looked even older.

The only light came from the blazing fireplace and a few strategically placed oil lamps. The walls were bare, unpainted wooden planks, and most of the furniture looked like it was new about two hundred years ago. He did actually have electricity all the way out there. There was a big ass black and white console TV and an antique record player with a huge collection of record albums lining a bookshelf beside it.

Leonard sat in a rocking chair by the fireplace puffing away on a pipe full of sweet smelling tobacco.

“So, what brings ya all the way out here?”

“A couple of things, actually,” Lilith replied. “But first, why haven’t you been back to Hell in so long?”

“Yeah, it must be awfully fuckin’ boring around here.” Rash said.

“Boring? Ha! I don’t have time to be bored. There’s always work to be done on the farm.”

“But why are you playing Farmer Brown anyway?” I asked. “Not exactly your average hobby for a demon.”

Leonard puffed on his pipe for a moment, thinking.

“Why do I stay here workin’ this ol’ farm? Well, I guess that would be on account of Miss Sarah.”

He continued to puff on his pipe as if that had been all the explanation we needed.

“Okay, I give,” I said finally. “Who’s Miss Sarah?”

“Miss Sarah was just about the sweetest little lady you could ever hope to meet.”

He set the pipe down on the fireplace mantle and leaned back in his rocking chair.

“Miss Sarah was actually Mrs. Sarah Beckwith. She and her husband, Daniel, started this farm, cleared the land, built this house, in about 1792.”

Rash’s eyes popped as he scanned the walls.

“Holy shit! I can’t believe it’s still standing after that long!”

“It’s taken a lot of work to keep it that way, young man,” Leonard said with a hint of pride. “Anyhow, a rich man from town who owned a bunch of the land ’round here wanted this property fer himself. He kept makin’ offers, but Daniel wouldn’t sell. So the Rich Man started tryin’ to force ‘em out. He had their crops burned. He blocked the road with trees. He sent men to steal their horses and smash up their well. Finally, Daniel got in a fight with the man in town one day and never came home. They never found his body, but Sarah knew the Rich Man had had him killed. So, she summoned me.”

“Summoned you? What do you mean she summoned you?” Rash asked.

“She became a witch.” Batty answered.

“Not a witch like you’ve probably seen in movies and on television,” Leonard explained. “Anyone who has a demon helpin’ ‘em is a witch. It don’t have nothin’ to do with magic or anythin’.”

“Yeah. Technically, you could call Gabby a witch since Cas helps her and hangs out with her.” Lilith added.

“Well, as you can imagine, Miss Sarah was desperate, so she called on someone from Hell to avenge her husband. I answered. I took the Rich Man’s soul and the souls of the men he’d had kill Daniel, then I stayed to help her with the farm. I only meant to stay through the harvest that year, but I guess we just enjoyed each others company too much. I stayed through the winter and helped with the next years plantin’. Then I helped with that harvest, and so on. Miss Sarah and I lived in this little house together for forty-nine years. It was the happiest I’d been since leavin’ Heaven, everyday of it. I’d do the chores while she did the cookin’. She was one amazin’ cook too! And in the evenin’s I’d play the fiddle while Miss Sarah sang along.

“When she got old and frail, I cared for her. And after she died, well, I just couldn’t bear leavin’ and lettin’ the old place go to ruin or be sold. So, I’ve been here ever since.”

When he’d finished his story, Leonard sat there with glazed eyes and a faint smile, like he was still remembering Miss Sarah’s voice singing to him.

“You don’t ever plan to return to Hell, do you?” Lilith asked.

He shook his head.

“Darlin’, when you live in Hell, you have to find whatever little piece of Heaven you can and hold on to it,” He patted the arm of his rocking chair and scanned the room with wistful eyes. “This is my little piece of Heaven. I never want to leave it.”

“Well, that takes care of what Satan sent us here for. Now how about the slightly more pressing issue?” I asked Lilith a little impatiently.

She nodded.

“The other reason we’re here, Leonard, is we need your help finding someone. A Human girl. Cas’ friend.”

“Oho! So you’ve found yerself a Miss Sarah of yer own, have ya? Well, I’d be more than happy to help ya out then. Do ya have anything of hers? Maybe somethin’ she held on to not long ago?”

I thought hard.

Shit.

I didn’t bring anything of Gabby’s with me.

“Uh…”

“What about your phone?” Lilith asked. “Did Gabby give it to you?”

“Oh, yeah! She just gave it to me yesterday before we went to the club.”

I pulled the phone from my pocket.

“This may be a silly question,” Batty piped up. “But, have you tried calling her?”

Everybody looked at me.

“Um, no. I hadn’t thought of it.”

I hit the appropriate buttons to call Gabby and put the phone to my ear.

It rang for a while before going to her voice mail.

“No good. She’s not picking up.”

I handed the phone to Leonard who looked at it like he had no clue what it was.

Which he probably didn’t.

He felt it. He looked it all over. He held it up to his horse-like face and sniffed it.

Suddenly, Leonard got up from his chair and headed outside with Lilith, Batty, Rash and me following anxiously.

Leonard stood in the yard looking all around, sniffing in every direction, his nostrils flaring. Finally, he stopped and pointed a finger toward the north.

“There. I got her. Can’t tell exactly where, but it’s that way. Maybe a day’s drive.”

Well, that really narrows it down.

“You couldn’t be a little more specific, could you? She could be in danger. We need to find her quick.”

He scratched behind one ear for a second, thinking.

“I suppose I could drive ya. I can follow the scent right to her.”

“You have a vehicle?” Batty asked.

“Other than the old tractor, I hope.” I added.

Leonard walked over to the barn, swung open the front door, and switched on a light inside.

“I use this to go pick up supplies fer the farm. It’ll get us where we wanna go.”

Inside was a very beat up old 1963 Lincoln Town Car. The thing was big and boxy with a few stray pieces of hay on the seats and some loose chicken feed on the floor. But it would definitely hold all of us.

“Y’all look pretty tired. Why don’t ya sleep here tonight and we’ll leave first thing in the mornin’.”

I’d have rather left right away, but I was pretty exhausted. The flight to Egypt with Lilith had taken a lot out of me.

I shrugged and sighed.

“All right. As long as we get an early start.”

“This is a farm, Cas. You just better be able to get up as early as I do.” Leonard said with a pat on my shoulder.

Rash looked concerned.

“When you say ‘early’, you’re talkin’ like, what, nineish?”

Leonard chuckled.

“Son, by nine the best part of the day’s already passed,” he pulled out a pocket watch and checked it. “If we get to bed now, we’ll be plenty rested up for the trip. I’ll get y’all up at six after I do my mornin’ chores.”

Rash blanched.

“Six! That’s the middle of the night for me!”

“Heh heh,” I laughed at him. “Welcome to farm life, city boy.”

Chapter 10: Highway to Hell

 

Higher Hell: The Second Coming

Chapter 10: Highway to Hell

“I’ve- got- a- tiger by the tail it’s plain to see…”

Holy shit, somebody kill me, please.

True to his word, Leonard had got us up at exactly six a.m., and we were on the road in his big ass, hay smelling boat of a car by six-thirty.

First we’d had to endure Rash complaining about being up so early (“It’s still fuckin’ dark out!” he’d whined.), and now we were being treated to Leonard singing along to old country songs on the radio at full volume.

“I’m losin’ weight and a turnin’ mighty pale…Looks like I got a tiger by the tail…”

Lilith was on one side of the back seat off in her own little world, and Batty sat on the other side, smiling brightly and bopping along to the music. Rash sat between them looking like he was regretting coming with us.

I was in the front passenger seat ready to bash my head on the dashboard, and we’d only been driving for an hour.

“Can we please turn that down a little, Leonard?” I begged.

He shrugged and finally lowered the volume to a more manageable level.

“This is fun!” Batty said, all perky and cheerful. “I’ve never been on a road trip before. I love that music, Leonard. What is it?”

“That’s the great Buck Owens, darlin’. You need to come down from Heaven and listen to this stuff more often. It’s good fer the soul.”

“Ugh! Sounds more like Hell to me!” Rash complained.

As we drove on and the sun rose, we slowly became a little more awake. Rash’s constant complaining had stopped, and I wasn’t so grouchy anymore.

It helped that Leonard had switched from loudly singing along with the radio to quietly humming along.

He seemed to know where he was going. Every once in a while he’d roll down his window, sniff the air, and give a slight nod like he was just checking.

We had, of course, all changed into Human form as soon as we left so we wouldn’t scare the shit out of everyone else on the road. With Lilith’s snakes and spiny wings hidden, Rash was getting rather flirty with her.

Well, she is pretty hot, after all.

“Dude, I really wouldn’t if I were you.” I warned him.

He ignored me as he flashed his toothy grin and tried to cozy up to her in the back seat.

“So, you’re not actually a demon, huh?”

“No.” Lilith replied, staring daggers at him.

“What exactly are you then?”

“A succubus.”

Rash’s eyebrows raised and he smiled even bigger.

“Hmm, sounds interesting. What exactly does a suck-ubus do?” he asked with extra emphasis on the first part of ‘succubus’.

“Oh, boy.” I muttered.

That boy’s not gonna make it home alive at this rate.

“I take perverts to Hell.” Lilith answered coolly.

Rash went white as a ghost and his toothy grin was wiped instantly from his face.

“Oh, th-that’s cool,” he stammered nervously. “So, um, wh-what kind of stuff p-passes for, uh, perverted these days?”

Rash was slowly moving back down the seat towards Batty.

Lilith smiled faintly. This was just the reaction she was looking for.

“You seem nervous, Rash. You haven’t done anything I would have to steal your soul for, have you?”

Rash swallowed hard.

“N-no, ma’am. I, well, I-I-I guess it would depend on your definition of perverted, I-I guess.”

Lilith looked fully satisfied with herself. Now that she’d made Rash back off, she finally let him off the hook.

“I punish rapists, pedophiles, sexual predators in general.”

Rash suddenly looked very relieved.

“Oh. Okay. How do you, you know…”

“Oh, I use my charms to lure them in and then-”

The two snakes shot from behind her head and snapped at the air in front of Rash’s face.

I thought he was gonna pass out.

“It…must be very rewarding work.” he said meekly as he turned to the more pleasant, and much less dangerous, Batty.

“So, what do you do in Heaven, Batty?”

Her face lit up.

“Oh! I’m glad you asked! I have an absolutely fascinating job there! I keep track of the interactions between Humans and people from my World. Every time an angel comes to this World, I write down who they meet and where they go in a big book.”

Batty waited proudly for Rash to look impressed.

But he didn’t.

“Sooo, you basically do book keeping, like a clerk?”

“Yeah! I love it! This one time, Uriel had to go to Pittsburgh…”

And she was off, telling totally boring stories like they were thrilling adventures.

Rash slumped down in the seat looking miserable again, while Batty nattered away for what seemed like hours.

I even asked Leonard to turn the music back up a bit so I wouldn’t have to listen to it.

We drove all day and into the dark, early November evening.

Leonard rolled down his window and sniffed the air for the umpteenth time.

“We’re gettin’ real close.”

Up ahead he turned onto a dark dirt road. We were even more in the middle of nowhere than we were at Leonard’s farm. I hadn’t seen any other traffic in a long time.

“She’s just up this road a ways. Before we get there, you folks got any idea what we’re gettin’ into here?”

“Not really,” I answered. “We’ll just have to make it up as we go.”

“Well, should we park and sneak up, or can we just drive up and ask to see her?”

“No, I think we better do this stealthily. Let’s park here and walk up.”

Leonard stopped the car and we all climbed out.

It wasn’t a very long walk before we had to start sneaking from shadow to shadow as we approached the front of Nathaniel’s compound.

It was a pretty big place. There was a ranch style building in the center with wings branching out to several bigger, mostly windowless buildings. Next to the complex were rows of steel storage buildings and a few big shiny cars like the one I’d seen Nathaniel get out of before. A helicopter sat on a landing pad across the grounds.

More importantly, there were two armed guards pacing around under the pale orange glow of the floodlights near the front door.

We all crouched low behind a row of hedges several yards from the entrance.

“Our best bet is to leave Rash here and go in invisible.” Lilith whispered.

Leonard and Batty nodded in agreement.

“I don’t wanna stay out here all by myself!” Rash protested.

“And I’m no master at invisibility,” I said. “Watch.”

I concentrated as hard as I could.

I looked down at my body.

I was invisible from the waist up this time, but everything below that was perfectly visible.

“Christ, Casmiel,” Lilith huffed with a roll of her green eyes. “Can’t you do anything right?”

“Hey, Miss Perfect, I’m trying. I’m half invisible, maybe we can still make it work.”

“I am not walking in there with your ass, Cas. If you can’t do it right, then we’ll just have to come up with something else.”

“Oh! I know!” Batty said excitedly. “I’ll go over and seduce the guards, and while they’re distracted, you all sneak in!”

Sweet, bubbly Batty waited with a big bright smile for us to react to her plan.

We all just stared at her.

“I’ll do it.” Lilith said.

Batty pouted.

“Why can’t I do it?”

“Darlin’, ya don’t send Jennifer Aniston to do Angelina Jolie’s job.” Leonard replied.

“Oh, all right. Just don’t hurt them, Lilith.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Lilith said. “I’ll be right back.”

She stood and sauntered over towards the guards.

I’d swear she morphed her tits a little bigger as she went.

“Stop right there!” one of the guards said forcefully when they spotted her.

“Oh, I’m so glad I’ve found you boys,” Lilith said in her sexiest voice. “My car broke down almost two miles from here. I was beginning to think I wouldn’t find anyone to help me.”

“What are you doing way out here, Miss?”

The guard’s voice sounded totally taken aback at seeing a raven haired beauty in painted on leather pants come strolling out of the darkness.

“I was on my way to an audition, but I think I made a wrong turn.”

“An audition? For what?”

“I’m an exotic dancer,” she purred, cozying up to the guards. “Maybe if you help me, I could show you my routine.”

Oh, man, she was layin’ it on fucking thick.

The guards chuckled to each other and whispered something to her.

Lilith giggled and tossed back her hair flirtatiously as she leaned in between the two men like she was going to whisper something back.

Wham!

There was a lightning fast flash of movement from her hair, and the two guards fell in a pair of crumpled heaps on the ground.

I saw the snakes slither back into their hiding place beneath her black hair.

Damn. She may be the sexiest bitch in Hell, but she’s also the scariest if you ask me.

Lilith grabbed each man by the collar, and with the strength of a creature of Hell, dragged them both easily back to us behind the hedge.

“You weren’t supposed to hurt them.” Batty pouted.

“They were scumbags. I read their minds a little when I touched them. They were bound for Hell anyway.” she looked at Rash. “Get one of their uniforms on. You too, Cas. Transform your clothes to match theirs. If you can even do something that simple.”

“Bite me.” I muttered.

I morphed my clothes into those of the guards, gun and all.

Rash put on one of the uniforms and was about to buckle the dead man’s gun holster around his waist.

“Um, I don’t think so,” I said, taking the pistol from his holster and throwing it into the woods. “The last thing we need is you armed and dangerous.”

Rash was very disappointed.

Lilith then explained the plan to us.

“Leonard, Batty and I will go invisible while you two go in as guards. Then Leonard can lead us to Gabby.”

The three of them vanished as Rash and I headed inside.

The interior was sparsely decorated. A few chairs and couches were situated around a stone fireplace with a big flat screen TV mounted on the wall above the mantel. Hallways stretched away from the main room to the left, right and center, apparently leading to the outer buildings.

Nobody was around.

“Which way, Leonard?” I whispered.

“Middle corridor.” came his baritone voice from my right.

There were several rooms and other halls branching off the corridor as we quietly made our way deeper into the compound.

It kind of reminded me of Ammun’s tomb.

We came to an intersection with another main corridor. Leonard muttered “Left.”, and we turned to come face to face with another guard patrolling the building.

“What are you two doing? Where are the guys that were out front?”

Oh, shit.

“Uh, don’t know. The Boss radioed us. Said he needed us for something.” I lied, pointing to the walkie talkie on my belt.

He eyed us suspiciously.

“What’s he want?”

I shrugged.

“Dunno. He wasn’t specific.”

Lilith appeared suddenly behind the guard, her two snakes poised to strike the back of his neck.

Just as suddenly, Batty appeared beside her, wagging a finger at Lilith with a reprimanding look. She took hold of Lilith’s arm and they both disappeared.

The guard saw the momentary surprise on my and Rash’s faces and spun around.

“What was that?”

“I didn’t see anything.”

“Me neither.” said Rash.

“I thought I just felt a breeze or something behind me.” the guard said, looking confused.

Rash and I looked at each other and shrugged.

“Well, just hurry up with whatever he wants and get back to your post.” he said as he took one last look around, shook his head, and continued on his way.

Phew!

That was close.

We moved on deeper into the complex with Leonard whispering the occasional “Left.” or “Right.” until we passed an open door with voices inside.

I stopped and listened.

The words weren’t clear from the hall, but I recognized the voice.

Nathaniel!

I peeked in the doorway.

I couldn’t see him.

Then I heard another voice. This one sounded angry.

I poked my head into the room.

It was a huge open area. A warehouse. The door was open onto a catwalk that ran all the way around the room, high above the floor.

Nathaniel and the other person were somewhere down below on the warehouse floor.

They seemed to be arguing.

“Cas, where are you goin’?” Leonard whispered in my ear.

“Come on,” I motioned to the others. “I want to hear this.”

I grabbed Rash and pulled him down to the floor where we crawled on our bellies to peer over the edge of the catwalk.

The warehouse was full of big wooden crates. A forklift was parked in the middle of the floor, and three plain white delivery trucks sat just inside a big garage style door.

Nathaniel was below and to the left of us. And almost directly beneath us was a tall, thin man with ruddy cheeks and a crooked nose.

The German sounding guy. The one who took Gabby and me to Nathaniel at the city square.

“Vy isn’t she dead yet?” the German was saying. “You haff had many opportunities to do it. Vy does she still live?”

Nathaniel sighed heavily.

“I’ve already explained this, Henrich. Miss Bianco will die when the time is right.”

WHAT?!

My heart seemed to skip a beat. I couldn’t believe my own ears.

I didn’t buy his Jesus schtick for a second, but I never thought he would want to physically harm Gabby!

I glanced over and realized Lilith, Batty and Leonard had become visible again and were on their stomachs watching the conversation too.

Batty looked nervously on the verge of tears. Lilith and Leonard looked on, their eyes wide and mouths agape in shock.

“How do I know you are not trying to cheat me?” the German said, his face growing redder. “I haff done all that you asked! These veapons I haff supplied to you for nothing. Nothing! No one else could haff provided you vith these. And did I ask for money? No! I asked only for Joseph Bianco and his daughter to be sent to Hell!”

He spat Joe Bianco’s name like it was something disgusting.

“Your creature, Scirlin, failed! And vy did you revive her after you blew her off the vall at the hospital? You could haff let her die then! I haff kept my end of the deal. I vant to see you complete yours!”

It happened so fast, I almost didn’t register what I’d seen.

It took hearing the soft gasps from Lilith and Leonard, and the pained whimper of Batty before it became clear.

In a flash, Nathaniel had swung around and smacked the German hard across the floor with a powerful blow from his pure white wing.

His- His WING?!

Nathaniel stood over the German, flexing a huge pair of crisp white dove’s wings on his back.

My jaw dropped and we all gaped at Batty.

“Batty?” I whispered, astonished.

She lay there with her hand over her mouth and tears trickling down her cheeks.

“You’re revenge on the Bianco’s is trivial! It’s nothing compared with my plans! The girl will die when, and only when, she has served her purpose in my plan! Do you understand me?”

The German nodded nervously as he stared up at Nathaniel.

I’d heard enough.

At least from those two.

Now I wanted an explanation from Batty.