Heaven

chapter 21: what destroys you beyond repair

A pain throbbed in the cage where Sina kept his heart. Tears burned behind his eyelids. Barely a minute had passed since Bel's ascent when from the corners of his unconscious, another voice came and dragged him even deeper into his dream. This was a voice – a horrid one at that – one he had not heard in decades and was hoping never to hear again.

A deep baritone lapped at his brain as a figure began to form, "So, you're in love, eh?"

First, Sina saw a serpent. The serpent coiled up and clamped its jaws over its tail and tried to consume itself. The now-bleeding snake quickly morphed into the fetus of a malformed deer. The fetus suspended itself in the air and began to take form. Hooves kicked, a forked tongue flickered, and horns protruded. As the aberration grew, it twisted around the umbilical cord of a crimson mist. Soon the serpent-deer transformed into something even more hideous and clawed its way out of the red fog.

Where Bel had stood moments ago now stood the Devil. He was tall and fierce with a muscular scarlet body and twisted antlers protruding like a crown. Slicking back a mane of inky hair, he spoke, "Silly rabbit." He tisked. "I've not seen many of my children fall in love, well, not unless they were completely bonkers. Have you gone bonkers?" Before Sina could reply, he continued, "Did you not know that collar he wears makes him a man of God – a fucking priest?"

Sina cringed. He was not scared of his father but he loathed him. Any distance between them was never far enough. "The deal was I left and we never speak again," he replied coldly.

Brushing his son off with a wave of his hand, the Devil flicked his pointy tail from side to side. "This place is no better than Hell – your real home. What are you hoping to do, Sina? Live here trying to pass off as a mortal? Are you going to masquerade as one of them for three hundred years then hopefully get to Heaven by doing good deeds or something ridiculous like that? God isn't going to help you, little man. You are sin by name and sin by nature."

Sina growled. "Fuck off. My name means nothing. It's just a name."

The Devil ran his hands along the flour-covered counter and chuckled. "Sure. And I'm just a man in a really good Halloween costume. You've sold your body for sex more times than I can count. You've taken nearly every drug known to man. You've got a filthy tongue. These do not a good boy make."

Sina wanted to tell the Devil to stay away from Bel's flour but all he could do was scowl. "Look here, I don't like you. And if you must know, I don't like that paradise-dwelling one either. I neither want your Hell nor the other one's Heaven."

The Devil mock-yawned.

"Very childish, pops. You two shit-stirrers created a war. You created hate between families. You tore apart countries. I want no part of it. I just want to live my life here however grody and crappy it is. Then I'll embrace my end."

The Devil reached for a towel and wiped the flour off his fingers. "Did you just use the word grody?"

Sina wanted to kick him. "It's the 1980s. Shouldn't I use the slang?"

Ignoring him, the Devil neatly folded the towel before speaking, "You need to stay away from the preacher yet you are like a dog returning to your vomit." Setting the towel on the counter, he tisked again then knelt to come eye-to-eye with Sina. His black gaze blazed.

"You left me. Fine. I did not come after you all these years, I could have but sat and thought it and I said to myself, Balthazar, old chap, kids leave the nest eventually." He shrugged and when he did, little flames rose from his shoulders. "You want to live in this shit-hole called Earth, go right ahead. You have a long time to go and you're going to see just how horrible it is here. People suck, Sina. They will never accept you. And if they ever learn about your true nature..." stopping abruptly, the Devil tossed his horn-covered head back and laughed until the world shook. "Foolish little monster." Looking back to Sina he continued, "If they learn you are a demon they will hunt you down and do unspeakable things to you." He paused dramatically then added, "You'll beg for Hell then. And if your lovely priest finds out you are my spawn, what do you think he will do, hmmm? Take you home and cherish you?"

"I want you to leave," Sina said through clenched teeth.

"This is just a dream. It's not like I came to find you at work or anything. Do you still work at that grody club?" Balthazar chuckled. "I did use the slang word in the correct context, did I not?"

"Leave," Sina hissed.

Slapping a hand on his son's shoulder, Bal shook his head. "Silly child. The preacher man'll hate you. But before he does, he'll break your heart." Using Sina to push himself up, Balthazar rose to his full height. "Alright. I will go. You stay here, lad. Stay in this cursed place and be damned. You'll not be welcomed back when you decide to return. Stay and let a priest become the thing that destroys you beyond repair."

The Devil waited for the red mist to swirl around him. Like an embrace, it enveloped him.

As his father vanished, Sina heard him utter one last word, just loud enough for Sina to hear clearly. "Pathetic."

*Fun Fact: The transformation of the Devil from serpent to monster is a nod to that painting in Savage (it was a last-minute add). Those of you who read Savage will know what I'm talking about.