✔His Diabolic Angel

No Soul

"Your wife?" I repeated. Did I hear her right? She's a...what?

Miss Lillie smiled. "Yes, Raven, I am what you children call today, a lesbian. We have been married for one hundred and fifteen years. We dated about fifty years before we got married."

"Holy shit," I whispered. "That's a lot of years. So, are you two a secret or...?" I trailed off and held my hand up. I thought I heard someone crying, but as I tried to listen for the noise again, it stopped.

"Nah, almost everyone down here knows about us. You'll hear Lucifer tell you how love cannot survive down here. That is not true. We both love each other and will always love each other as long as we live."

"That's so sweet. I-" I stopped talking because I heard crying. "Okay. Tell me that you all hear that."

Miss Lillie looked at Zaphara, who looked at me. "Nope," they both said at the same time.

"Okay. You were say-" The crying started up again and this time, I couldn't ignore it. "Um, I'm going to go. I will uh talk to you all later."

I walked out of the room, and down the hallway. As I approached the last door on the right, I heard talking. I recognized the voice to be Mazel's.

"To live in a world where love can't exist is worse than living in the Between."

I slowly pushed the door open, which, thankfully, didn't creak as I stepped into the room. Mazel's cries seemed to have stopped right as soon as I entered the room because all she was doing now was sniffling, her back was facing me.

I shivered as cold air escaped from its prison, wrapping around me. The room that Mazel was in, was built in stone from top to bottom. In the center of the room was an altar, which Mazel stood in front of it. She wasn't directly in front of it because I could see the altar. On top of the altar was a metal cage that held, what looked like, a dagger in it. Chains wrapped around the cage, but one lock held the chains together, in place.

I slowly started walking towards Mazel, careful not to make a sound. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a key. I watched her as she inserted the key into the lock and the chains all fell to the ground.

Sighing, Mazel opened the cage and pulled out the dagger.

"You want to know what the worse part about living here is?" Mazel asked, turning to me, throwing the key at me, which I managed to catch.

"How did you-?" I looked at the key for a second and put it in my pocket.

"The fact that love, the purest emotion known to all kind, can't exist in a place as tainted and horrendous as Hell," Mazel said, as she walked closer to me, dagger in hand.

"You see, I thought everything was perfect between Lucifer and me before you came along. Do you know how many long nights we spent together in that bed you two, now share?" she asked.

I shook my head, not wanting to say anything to the upset demon with a dagger in her hand.

"Three hundred and sixty-five years!" she screamed, tears running down her face. "I loved each and every moment of it too. You know, they say that demons don't souls, right? That when they die forever, forgotten?" Mazel laughed, twirling the dagger in her hand. "I became a demon almost a thousand years ago. Before I died and became a slave to Lucifer, I did bad deeds for people in exchange for sex. I guess, I thought, eventually I would find my true love. I was wrong."

Mazel gripped the dagger by the blade so tight that blood slowly started to drip on the floor. Mazel hissed and dropped the dagger. With lightning speed, she grabbed the dagger before it hit the floor. My mouth dropped open as she continued talking. 

"Do you know how hard it is for someone like me to live a life of loneliness? Being with Lucifer, in that bed, was the only thing that made me feel like I was loved. But I guess it is true, demons can't love if they don't have a heart, a soul."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, taking a step back, away from her.

"Oh, Lucifer didn't tell you?" Mazel looked at me for a minute, searching for something, I guess before she burst out laughing. "Oh, my! He didn't tell you. No matter how much he professes his love to you, he can't mentally love you. He has no soul to love you with. I don't know why I saved you. I knew he couldn't love you. He just believes that if he can keep you alive, he holds the most powerful tool in the world. You know that, right? You're nothing but a tool to him. You're the first of your kind."

"That is not-"

"True? Ha! It is. When I saved you, brought you back from the Between, I asked to collect on my bargain. I wanted him to love me or at least spend one more day in bed with me. He refused. He has never refused me!" she screamed.

"I thought if I gave myself to Lucifer, I would live the life I always wanted. Boy, was I wrong. I am nothing but a bed toy to him. I'm done, though. I'm tired of being nothing but someone he can bed.

"This dagger is the only way to stop this pain that I feel. I know it isn't possible for me to feel any kind of emotion, but I do. So, why don't you leave me be so I can rid the one thing that is causing me to hurt?

"I won't let you kill Luci-" I started but stopped when I saw Mazel grip the dagger with both hands and raise it above her head.

I charged towards her and before she could bring it down on herself. I kicked her in the stomach, which caused her to cry out and drop the dagger. While she was gathering her breath, I grabbed the dagger and threw it into the cage and quickly locked the cage back up.

"No! I am not going to let that happen. Think of how Lucifer would feel if you were no longer here for him?"

"He doesn't care!" Mazel screamed, collapsing to the floor, crying. "He doesn't care," she said a little more quietly. "When I told him that I couldn't live without his love, you know what he told me? 'Then don't. Mazel, in this world, I can't afford to love someone. You know I can't and I know you can't. So, why don't you do us a favor and either kill yourself or go back to your room?'"

I gasped. "Lucifer would not have told you that."

"Oh yeah?" Mazel said in a challenging voice. "Do you even know why that dagger was locked up, hidden, in a secret room? That dagger is the only thing that can truly kill an immortal. It is said that God made it in case he had to kill Lucifer. Lucifer stole the dagger and kept it locked up here." She shook her head.

"So?" I said. "That doesn't prove-"

"When Lucifer told me either kill myself or go back to my room, he held out the key that opens that little box. Do you still believe that Lucifer cares about me?"

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(1270 words)

Started: 1-10-18
Ended: 1-13-18
Updated: 1-24-18

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Here you are, my beautiful Hellions, chapter nine.

So, what do you all think? I know this is a short chapter, but the next chapter is a little bit longer. The author's note is short too. 

Since this was a short chapter, there actually aren't that many questions that I can really think up.

But the questions I do have are:

-If love can't exist in Hell, how is Miss Lillie and Zaphara able to actually love each other?

-Would you live in a place where love couldn't exist?

-How would you feel if you were in Mazel's position?

I hope you all felt what Mazel was feeling when I wrote this, if not, please let me know and I will redo the chapter when I redo the book.

Are there any questions, comment, or concerns?

Expect the next update, 1-28-18...hopefully.

Until next time, this is Mama Rivers saying, Stay Dangerous, my Hellions.