To Hell and back- literally

Nalani's story

“Hey Burns.” Nalani said softly as he fell gracefully at the base of a tree. He patted a space between roots that looked like it had been made to be a chair. I craned my neck to see the top of the tree.

“How long has your brother been dead?” I asked wearily. He chuckled lightly.

“Three years. Right before Amelia found out she was pregnant. This tree was here before that, though. He was just buried right under it. And before you ask, I’m only 104. I know, to you humans that’s a lot, but to demons that still considered a child. You’re not even considered a teenager around here until your almost 300. my dad….well, he’s older then dirt.” He smirked slightly at that. I gaped at him, surprised. He sighed, patting the ground again.

“Sit. You might have to put your head between your knees at some of this again, Anxiety.” I grimaced, but finally sat down hesitantly.

“ I suppose I should start with the background of demons. You know the whole, Fallen angel thing, right? Lucifer wanted power, and God cast him down? Right, everyone does, and we had to do that stupid paper in that one class. Anyway-“ I gasped suddenly.

“You just let us sit there and discuss why your home isn’t real!?” how could you do that!?" he gave me an amused look.

“I’m getting to that. This is going to be a very long story if you keep interrupting, you realize that?” I closed my mouth, and he nodded.

“ ok. Where was I? Casting down by God. Right. Well, after that happened, he built a…sophisticated side to Hell, so that the fallen angels, who aren’t being tortured, can live normally…ish. And we have jobs that help the demon race, and things like that. I’m a scare. The best they’ve ever had. That’s why my nickname is scare around here. I get told what scares a person the most, I get in their dreams, and I draw out their fear. That’s what feeds… most demons now a days. Like I said, a few families still stick to the eat humans diet. We let people talk like there is no hell, because it makes the job easier.” He hesitated a moment, seeming to take a deep breath.

“ The Fallen angels are the strongest of us. My mom is one. I can’t remember her exact name, I was never good with them. She appears as a mermaid… I’m pretty sure it starts with a v, or maybe an u…” he shrugged suddenly.

“ anyway, so I’m considered an… oh, I don’t know the technical term. It just means that I’m right up there with Lucifer in the power over demons and most fallen angels thing.” He hesitated, looking away from me for the first time to stare at something out of view for me, probably only in his thoughts.

“ I have had the privilege to meet most of the fallen angels. When I was about 80, I met… I met Ronobe. He seemed amazing. We discussed everything that we loved, everything we did, we always had the same interests.” His voice dropped to an icy whisper that had me flinching back.

“Then, when I was 94, he decided he was done with me, and threw me away. Said I had a huge heart, bigger then most demons, and oddly kind, but he had crushed it for me, so that I didn’t have someone else do it for me. It was then I realized what a complete bastard he was. He was a demon, so of course he would be. He said he had been looking for a new toy, fresh meat so to speak, when he met me. Then he went looking for more. A few years later, Burns met Amelia.” His voice lightened suddenly.

“it was the happiest I’d ever seen my brother, ever. Even in the band, he wasn’t as happy as he was with her. It was amazing.” His voice dropped to a sad whisper suddenly.

“when I was 101, m birthday, actually, me and him where driving around the back roads of the town we where living at that our scares lived in. suddenly, something flipped the car. We walked away fine,” he flashed a tired grin, looking at me again.

“Very few things can kill a Demon. We crawled out, and Ronobe was there, furious. He went on about how it wasn’t right to court a human, that they only distracted us, took us away from our place, our role, as demons, and that if we associated with them outside of a job we might as well be as worthless as they are.” He hung his head suddenly.

“He beat my brother. I tried to break it up, but when I did, he cut me. It wasn’t a dog that got me, it was him. The man I fell in love with tried to rip my heart out of my chest. Then, suddenly, he stopped, and said ‘I don’t want to kill you, gorgeous, just your brother. I still have a liking for you.’ And began killing my brother, in the only way possible. Ripping the heart out of the chest. It’s a long, grueling process, since the chest starts to heal almost as soon as you rip through it, but he managed. And he had coated something on his nails before he got to us. He used most of it on me, but it made sure that the chest didn’t close quite so easily.” He glanced at me again.

“Questions?” I frowned.

“Yes, actually. You said that you where in the town your scares where located. What did you mean by that?” he grimaced.

 “ when we get a job, we get sent to the school that they are going to. We get to know them, be their friends so that we know how their brain works to get in their head, and then scare them. Then we leave.” He hesitated.

“Who’s your scare?” he grimaced, abruptly standing up and away from me. I sat still, watching him pace, something I noticed he did when he was agitated. He finally sighed.

“you are, Anxiety.