Hell Hath No Fury Like the Devil's Daughter Scorned [NaNoWriMo 2013]

Chapter 3: Arrival

Dedicated to _loren, thanks for voting and helping my fledgling book spread its wings :)

It was bright. So bright. Even against my closed lids, I could tell I was bathed in light. Where is this place? Where am I? Did I die and go to Heaven? Then I chuckled at my own foolishness. How can Lucifer’s daughter ever enter Heaven? To even have such a thought spoke volumes of my stupidity. If I died, I would just be sent straight back into Hell.

Using one hand to shield my eyes, I slowly opened my eyes. Despite that, the light still blinded me. “Ow!” I yelped as light assailed my sensitive eyes.

I could feel something being pushed into my other hand. Glancing down, I saw that it was a pair of sunglasses. I hurriedly put it on and breathed a sigh of relief. I seem to be doing that a lot lately, I thought. Well, since I was doing something that I had never done before, I suppose it is justified, right?

With my eyes shaded, I took the chance to look around. The sky was an azure blue and dotted with fluffy white clouds, colors rarely seen in Hell, where the primary colors were black and red. We were standing on emerald-green grass beside a path, and surrounded by houses. I knew all these from books that Akaden brought for me on his trips. Spying humans in the distance, I realised the hoods that Oria and I were wearing were not what these humans wore, so I took off my hood and Oria followed suit.

“Better, Princess?” Oria’s voice entered my ears and into my mind.

“Yes, thank you, Oria! But please stop calling me Princess. As far as I know, there are few human monarchies left in the world, and we don’t need to attract any attention with you calling me by my title, least of all the Trackers,” I said.

“But that’s disrespectful!” Oria protested, years of training having drilled into her the proper way of treating somebody higher up than her.

I rolled my eyes, exasperated at Oria’s determination. “We’re no longer in Hell, Oria! Up here we’re of equal status. So call me by my name,” I insisted. Little did I know that what I said now would bite me on my bottom later…

Oria still looked doubtful, but she didn’t seem to want to waste energy arguing with me, so she nodded reluctantly. “Alright then, I suppose. But what do I call you? Your name is so unusual, it’ll attract attention anyway,” Oria pointed out.

I pondered for a moment. “I have no idea… Should I call myself Diana? Or Marilyn? Or… I know! How about Gaga?” I clapped my hands excitedly, remembering hearing from one of the newcomers of Hell that it was the name of a famous pop star, whatever pop stars were. Perhaps they were a form of monsters that roamed Earth? Certainly they didn’t exist in Hell, that I knew for sure.

Oria blinked at me. “Gaga… Sounds weird,” she said, furrowing her eyebrows.

Now that she mentioned it, I had to agree. It sounded like what newborns would say. What kind of word was ‘Gaga’ anyway? Humans sure have weird names…

“Yes, I agree. Ugh, I can’t make up my mind!” I gave a very unladylike snort that my tutor would lecture me for two hours if she were here. Too bad I was on Earth, and there was no way she would be here.

I snickered at the thought of Miss Aza’s already red face becoming even redder as she lectured me, an occurrence that was unfortunately common because as she said, and I quote, “Princess Kelafiel! How many times do I have to tell you to be more ladylike? As the Master’s daughter, you are what everyone will look up to! You can’t disappoint him!” As if most of the ‘everyone’ would care about what a little girl, since I was younger than most of them, said and did! Even if I was Lucifer’s daughter!