Death At My Door

Chapter 5- Let the Simulation Begin

  Cujo and I found Lucifer within a couple of minutes.

   "I'm all unpacked, Luce," I stated, walking next to him towards Abaddon.

   "That is good. I shall prepare a room for the simulation for your training and then tell you your role as a Reaper," Lucifer replied, leaving me with Cujo and Abaddon.

   "Do you have any questions about the training?" Abaddon asked.

   "Uhhh...yeah, what is going to happen?" I questioned.

   "I can't answer that, it adapts to your thoughts and fears," he replied.

   "Oh, okay," I replied.

   Lucifer came walking back in.

   "It's all ready, please follow me," he instructed, walking me into another room.

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   Lucifer led me to the edge of what looked like an arena.

   "So can you please explain to me what I have to do?" I asked, looking around me at the enclosed room that looked nothing like the cave I was originally in. This room looked like it would be used to green screens in movies, but it was grey instead of green.

   "You will go through two simulations. One when your Hound-"

   "His name is Cadejo, not "Hound"," I informed strictly.

   "Fine, one with Cadejo, one without him, and one when you must summon him if he is not with you at that moment," Lucifer stated with attitude.

   "You know Lucifer, I don't need the attitude from you. I can do perfectly fine without it," I said harshly.

   I heard a small chuckle echo around the room and looked around, trying to find the source of it.

   "You are just like your father, dear Ashley," Abaddon stated from his closed in perch at the top of the arena. "He had the same harsh tone when he wanted to and didn't take anything from anybody."

   I looked at Lucifer with a small smirk.

   "I'm just like my father, you hear that? I'm going to raise hell as a Reaper, and I'm going to find out who murdered him!"

   "That's great," Lucifer said dryly. "Are you ready to begin?"

   "Are you ready Cujo?" I asked, looking behind me at him.

   "Let the simulation begin!" Cujo exclaimed, jumping to attention.

 

   The room around me transformed into another on that I have never seen. It looked like it was worse than Hell itself. There were body parts hanging on the walls and people strapped in chairs with blindfolds on their heads; they were crying.

   "What the hell is this place?" I asked Cujo, disgust in my voice.

   "It looks like the home of a serial killer. This Reaping should be easy for you to judge because of the wrongness of what he has done but he can be dangerous, so don't let your guard down."

   As I continued to look at the people tied up around me, I realized something. They were all young girls and boys! They couldn't be older than 15. The youngest looked like he was eight.

   I stood in front of the youngest one and whispered, "It's going to be okay, I'm going to get you out of here."

   He nodded his head and I began to untie him. When I took the boy's blindfold off, I heard Cujo begin to growl.

   "Master, I know you want to help the innocent, but we must continue on to the reason of why we are here. We are here to judge this person, not save his victims," Cujo informed.

   "Cujo, I am not letting these victims stay here any longer."

   "Master, this is only a simulation, they will not get hurt if we leave them," Cujo growled once more, his hair beginning to stick up on his back revealing magma that was flowing through his veins; his eyes turned from the beautiful grey to a fiery red within seconds. "We must not argue, danger is near!"

   I turned around just in time to see Cujo lunging for a huge man that had an eye patch over his right eye. He brought him down without a problem, but the man popped right back up.

   "Cujo, no!" I exclaimed, watching the man pull out a large knife.

   Cujo whipped his head around to look at me and time seemed to slow down as I saw the man bringing his knife down, aimed at my dear Cadejo's head.

   Keeping my beautiful hound's protection in my heart and soul, I felt something change and get stronger in me.

   "Master," I heard Cujo whisper.

   "Cadejo, back up! He's going to attack you!" I felt myself give the command not in my mind but in my soul; Cujo was right about our spirit!

   Cujo spun like a whirlpool and leaped away from the man just allowing the knife to miss him.

   I leaped towards the man, rage and anger burning in my heart and veins.

   "Nobody hurts my Cadejo!" I exclaimed as I brought the man down with a swift kick to the gut.

   The man fell to the floor, and I didn't allow him time to get up. I held my foot on his chest with the strongest force emitting from my body; a force so strong I didn't think it could exist. It was like the man was paralyzed.

   "I am the new Reaper; I will one day be as good as my father, but for now I am only Death's Daughter," I snarled.

   "No please! Spare me!" the man begged.

   "Some people believe that there should be second chances; I am not one of those people. Death is at your door, and I am not leaving."

   With that, Cujo ran over to me and his collar began to glow as the man disappeared from underneath my foot.

   "Is that it?" I asked.

   To answer my question, the simulation turned into the same room I was in before; Abaddon was once again chuckling and Lucifer has a stale expression on his face.

   "Wow Ashley, you are a spitting image of your father when you are judging somebody. He always said smart comebacks like that just to make his point like a badass," Abaddon chuckled.

   "What can I say? We were always the smart asses of the family," I chuckled with him.