I know The Devil

~ Love recognises no barrier. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, and penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.

Rudolph held my hand sensing I was losing my cool even as a foul-mouthed warden shoved us forward showing us to an empty alley-like space packed with heavy bricks we are supposed to stack neatly to the side.

Don’t get me wrong, I was an absolute believer of punishment when deserving, I served mine quietly and meted humans theirs when after years of showing just how much they hate me they end up meeting me. But, I couldn’t stand inequality of any kind hence why hell burnt poor and rich alike, but in here I had noticed that few of the prisoners were exempted from hard labour because their well off families had already bribed those at the higher-ups and just that realization was frustrating. Yet, I found myself swallowing that along with the warden who was trying hard and failing to disguise that he hated his job, knew he was a disappointment to his mother, and certainly couldn’t stand the way the children in his street would look at him when they knew what his job requirement in a police station really was and he was nobody cool.

I carried the third brick, trying to remind myself again and again that I loved Amelia so much and that’s why I was doing this, why I was taking orders from this lowly human who thrived on this trivial power and wasn’t aware of how greatly endangered his life was if I snapped. I love Amelia and that’s why I had let Rudolph talk me into saving her silly brother’s life.

I had a loud clang echoing inside the room and stopped aware that the sound had come from a room where I had seen Amelia’s brother, Rob being directed with a few other men to arrange its roofing.

Rudolph met my gaze and we both knew just as I had suspected that we couldn’t do anything to avert fate and Rob must already have a knife deep inside of his body.

“Hey, what are you staring at? Move it!” The warden stepped closer to me, shoving me, and I gritted my teeth even as I let the brick fall to the ground and turned to face the man who now had terror in his eyes. I clenched my fist desperately trying to stop my demon form from controlling my body but I could already tell that my eyes were no longer their usual colour, I closed my eyes in pain knowing it’ll be a total bloodbath if my demon self make entrance since unlike me, he had no ounce of humanity, he was heartless and the true Hades.

I growled at Rudolph as I felt his hand touching my stiff shoulders and he rolled his eyes, helping the ward to hit the button that was a secret alarm that goes off during an emergency and was sure to alert people.

I snarled, just realizing that Rudolph was more of a dunce than I gave him credit for if he thinks that a few more humans stood a chance against me and could make sure half of the inmates in here leave with their heads intact.

“Lucius, stop creating a scene already. You’re going to make this man piss himself and I’m not sure Amelia would be too happy if you end up killing half the people in this place. It would only make her worried about her brother’s safety.”

Yes… Amelia that’s right.

I felt my claws which were just about making an appearance retract back even as I stared at the warden whose mouth was still wide open and his eyes almost literally popping out of his eyes. His skin was pale and it was almost like he was frozen in time.

I shook my head, amused for a while then rolled my eyes.

“Fix this,” I gruffly ordered Rudolph not waiting to hear his sarcastic reply but knowing that he was surely going to erase what the unfortunate warden had almost experience not because he needed to or because I did care, but Rudolph was pure for a reason, untainted. Not only could he not bear the thought of someone living with the paralyzing fear of almost seeing my true form, but knowing that the spell would be broken and he would be able to see other demons, live a life of pure misery believing he was losing his mind since he could see what others couldn’t perhaps commit suicide, or finally lose his mind for real, was something Rudolph was too good to let happen.

As for me, I couldn’t really care I thought as I hurried towards another person I didn’t give shits about. I heard footsteps, and blaring sirens from a distance because of my extraordinary hearing abilities and it finally made sense why Rudolph had hit the button. Finally, look who was getting good at just being good.

I rushed into the room and yes, the sight was indeed messy. A knife was sticking out of Rob’s body and the man I suspected was responsible for what had happened, looked at me in absolute fright and confusion like he had been possessed to do what he had done.

Rudolph pushed me to the side even as I couldn’t help but feel that something was amiss. The confusion in this man’s eyes was real and besides, I was the one that tempted him to start selling drugs which helped him in some way. It did improve his standard of living and also helped him satisfy his addictions.

Age 45, drug peddler, alcoholic, womanizer, unmarried and a dipshit in nutshell but he was no murderer. He was too much of a pussy to do that.

“What happened?” I managed to ask using my compelling voice.

“Rob started it.” He was on his knees, static energy clung to his shirt even as he clenched his eyes tight, while aggressively wiping his blood-covered hands with his shirt repeatedly.

The other two men who were in jail for more heinous crimes which ranged from rape and child trafficking to murder seemed also paralyzed with momentary shock which made me puzzled. These men have taken life with little or no remorse so why the special awe like this the first time they were witnessing spilt blood?

The sound of fabric tearing in the air made me remember Rob who was fighting to open his eyes even as Rudolph cajoled him repeatedly to hang in there while applying pressure to his knife wound, trying to stop the unrestrained flow of his blood.

I wanted to remind him the uniform he had conveniently torn and now was allowing Rob to drench with his blood wasn’t his and belonged to a dude called Paul Bills but refusing to give him an avenue to accuse me of being heartless and not caring for Amelia so-called brother, I kept mute and watched him stay by Rob’s side till the paramedics came for him.

Without saying a word, we left the prison and returned the two men who we have given a day off back to their haven and then we strolled to the side of the street looking like we were just having a normal ass boring day like every other pedestrian.

“I need to go to the hospital,” I told Rudolph as he brought out his phone wanting to board an Uber I was hoping for the both of us because although Rudolph didn’t hide that he considered me disgusting and couldn’t stand me, he didn’t have it in him to be cruel. It takes lots of effort to be me.

He eyed me suspiciously, not buying the thought that I was going to the hospital because I cared about Rob and I was impressed, that although it took him hundreds of years, he now had a hang over my true nature.

“Amelia would be there. I made sure that Titiana would get her for me.”

He arched his brow, in a “What have you done this time?’ manner and I shrugged replying to him with a classic, “I can’t help myself.”

“Remember you still can’t go close to Amelia else all your progress is gone. You’ll be nice to Titiana and act like the perfect boyfriend, also___”

“I just believe that I deserve to see Amelia at least if I went through all this trouble for her brother. Nothing more, Dad.”

If I knew how, I would laugh at the horrified look on his face, of course, Rudolph’s total nightmare would not just be immorality which would cost him his position but having to father a devil. But I didn’t know how, because I was only like that with Amelia, only she made me seem humane, only she made me care enough, only she brought me real pain and tortured me… And only her I couldn’t really get regardless of how essential she was to my existence.

I slowly walked away from Rudolph not turning back to look at the man I used to be and for once I didn’t feel the need to ruin anyone’s life by whispering cajolingly to them all the bad decisions known to mankind, I didn’t care about making sure my demons remember who was boss. Its been weeks since I visited hell and of course, Demons like Lilith and Scaridena might be parading themselves as the King of my Kingdom but it happens every time.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

The same old pattern of me getting all soft whenever I meet Amelia, Lilith my second in command and her assistant, Scaridena trying to hasten my Downfall and take over my throne, the complete blood bath that takes place when I return where I take back what belongs to me and assume my position as Hades, the name that strikes terror in the heart of man and demon alike, that makes Angels scowl and was bad news to the elders but as for now, I was the humbled man that fell hard for someone I could never be with forever but yet because I’m stubborn I fight anyway knowing that all my victories were somehow my loss.