The Devil's Love

Queen of Hell: Chapter 11: Anton

Sarah smiled as she looked at me, the scroll in her hand was old and clearly she recognized the name. Offering nothing she rolled it up again and put it back on the shelf. I took her hand and walked to the end of the gantry, leading her up the stairs. Down was not where we needed to go, not just because what we wanted was at the very top but because I sensed something wrong down there. Something out of place. Something heavenly.

I hadn't conformed to what anyone had thought would be an ideal filing system. Maybe by the surname of the person, it seemed reasonable. But I tried to be as unreasonable as possible. So I filed in whatever shelf was available and left many scratching their heads with confusion. I would always be able to find whatever I wanted, there was no real issue of something becoming mislaid.

And that was why whoever was within the depths of this room didn't know where to look. I suppose I could call it a stroke of genius that I'd had the forethought to be erratic with the filing, knowing there would be a day when it would become beneficial but the reality was that it was not a stroke of genius. It was knowing that I tread upon a fine line with the other deities. I might have joked that Michael was a thorn in my side but I was a thorn in everyone's side.

I thought about what Michael said when he stated that they fortified and waited for me to storm the place with a legion of the damned, waiting for me to do what was always in my nature to do. The beast within me didn't like being tied to one world, he liked to do as he pleased when he pleased. Having others tell him what to do was nothing more than pure frustration and what does the devil do to relieve such frustration? Why he rallies his own and storms places. It was a vicious circle that had dulled in recent years because I had won the right to roam the earth.

An odd thought crossed my mind, thinking about being allowed to roam the earth. Had they let me win, knowing that I would become subdued and complacent? How often had I caused serious problems for them since then? Rarely, only boredom was their issue now. Mischievous and defiant, I was the trickster that would wait in the shadows for them to pass and then put his leg out to trip them.

But there was something about it that niggled in my mind, refusing to let it go. Let the devil roam the earth, ensure he does not misbehave too much. The occasional bit of nonsense is nothing so long as he forgets what it is like to be victorious in a true battle. I could feel it, I could remember what it was like to bring my foe down and walk upon the land with the knowledge that I had bested them.

Suddenly I realized that I have been living a lie, I had not won the battle. I had been fooled. Then I realized their true motive for this. Keep me occupied with trying to keep a hold of Sarah, anything else would be forgotten.

We reached the floor that held the scrolls we needed, misfiled and mislabeled intentionally. These were the scrolls that were anything other than contracts. Sarah edged to the balustrade and I pulled her back, shaking my head. Something tinkled against metal, deep in the depths of this room. Sarah's eyes widened as she realized that we were not alone. Instantly she stepped back to the shelves and stayed there, waiting for me to find what we came here for.

My hands ran over the shelves, waiting to feel the pull of a scroll but there was none to be had. Beginning to panic I started removing them, dumping them into Sarah's waiting arms. What I did not realize was it was a book I was looking for, tucked in behind the scrolls that I had just removed. The cover fell to the wood with a little clatter, I looked back to the edge and waited with fear. No fairies flew up from the depths so I carefully pulled the book out, gesturing for Sarah to put the scrolls back.

Page after page I turned, skimming through the text that was hand written by someone.

Queen of Hell.

Notes made in the fourth age at the turning of the eighth full moon.

I have felt a disturbance in the worlds of this and the next. I will document as best I can, given that my sight cannot see well beyond the tenth age.

A feeling of wonder and hope, charity, and faith. There is a need for completion in the abyss of the damned, they writhe in the agony of the unknown.

At a time when all is forgotten, I foresee her arrival reminding him of what should be. She will be his counterpart, equal in all that he does and all that he possesses. Together they will rule the darkness and bring a shadow upon the land. Fear will rise within his own, belief that the union will herald a new age of destruction.

The king and the queen of hell will bring death and torment to many, I fear that my visions of the future are, of the downfall of mankind at the hands of a deity and his love.

At all cost, the king and queen should not be allowed to marry. There is a ray of hope in the fall of their union, send her upon her way and lock him into the abyss. The fate of this world and the next rests upon this happening before the queen takes the king as her lover and gives him a child. All hope will be lost if she is with his child.

I pray that I am misguided by the vision but I do not believe it to be true. Many will perish in an act of revenge, many will suffer in terror.

Quietly I pulled the page from the book, looking over the next page. It talked of more visions, this was a time that had already passed. By appearances, it looked like the seer was all over the place with the timeline of his visions.

With a puff of flames and smoke, I sent the vision into a small fiery mess that would stop anyone else from learning that they needed to stop us from marrying. Taking a quick flick through the book, I found nothing more of worth and returned it to its hidden placement on the shelf.

Sarah frowned, waving the smoke from in front of her. With everything set back as it once was and looked like it should, I took a moment to check something, or rather someone.

One hand searched through her abdomen and into the depths of her body, Sarah frowned as she looked down at my hand and then up at me. Our times together could be labeled into two categories, before Monday, and after Monday. Before Monday consisted of protecting her against a wanted but poorly timed pregnancy, unsure of what Monday would bring. After Monday was a love fest of one time but that's all that it takes. The weight of the unknown had been crushed, leaving us with a bright and happy future that was ours to decide.

One little spark told me everything that I needed to know. With a smile that lit up her face, she asked a wordless question and I nodded. It was true, the seers fear of this time in our world was coming to pass. Sarah was pregnant.