Red Thread of Hate

Infernal Matters

“So these are the, uh, conditions you set?”

“Some of them, yes.”

The Princess of Hell, Charlie Morningstar, stood in a large blue and white elegant room across from a tall woman. The long gray locks of this larger female gleamed in the heavenly light, shining as if they were not hair but a silver thread. The shorter of the two stood looking at the sheets of paper on the desk between them, and her girlfriend stood behind her, looking at them both with disbelief.

“You must understand that if you really want to put demons here, they must learn to follow Christian rules from the beginning.” Sera continued “You don't have any of them there, and I can't let this… rabble come here. I hope you understand.”

“Yes, I understand.” Charlie replied, re-reading the list of rules that was on the paper in front of her  “I just don't get some of them... because I understand the ban on alcohol and drugs. And I understand, um, more sexual restraint, I guess…” she hesitated with a little shyness “That doesn't mean we can't have here, you know, gays, right?”

“No, it's an old rule. A few guidelines have changed since then, although no one knows where this came from.” Sera shook her head “Sometimes you'd be surprised what strange beliefs prevail here-” she started and then closed her mouth and cleared her throat “Never mind. So, do you want to ask something more?”

“The name of Go- I mean, His Majesty, must not be uttered.” Charlie read it and corrected herself quickly as she went along “Doesn't He come here? Is there another reason?”

“Oh it's an old rule, but yes, we tend to avoid talking about…Him. No one ever saw Him anyway.” Sera looked to the side for a second, as if uncomfortable with the pressure of the question

“And you just follow the rules of someone you've never seen?” Charlie asked with slight disbelief in her voice, then shook her head “Oh okay, I, um, don't judge. I don't think it will be difficult to follow, heh…”

“Time will tell, and if it does work, you will be much closer to achieving your goal.” The woman walked closer to the desk and pulled out one of the papers from under the stack “However, I also have a few things regarding your, um, hotel group.”

Charlie looked up at her from the list, looking at her face, then lowered it to her hand on the paper.

“They are in therapy! I mean, it's a work in progress but I swear they're doing great!” she assured quickly with a smile

“All of them?”

The princess quickly opened her mouth to respond, but before any sound came out, she closed it. She glanced at Vaggie, unsure of what to answer, because of course, she would say yes, everyone was on the right track. The problem was, well, that not all of them were.

“Most of them.” so she replied, forcing a reassuring smile on her face “But they're doing wonderfully!”

“You know, if one of your future patients notices that one person can, uh, be there without following the rules, they'll think that they don't have to do that either.” Seraphim's eyebrows furrowed “Here, here is a list of what I believe each of you should follow.” she handed the princess the piece of paper she had previously held in her hand

Charlie grabbed it, glancing at Vaggie for a second before looking back at the paper. She quickly glanced at the rules written on it and let out a small sigh of relief when she saw that it wasn't anything too hard to follow. These were things like Angel couldn't do drugs or he had to stop working as a porn star, Husk had to give up his drinking and gambling addictions, which were mainly things that Charlie implemented effectively anyway.
And everything would be fine if she hadn't reached the last point, or more specifically, the last few points about This One Person.