holy

ix

eddy didn't sleep at all that night. his mind was racing, convincing himself that he'd be able to handle bringing brett back to heaven.

he needed to do it, for brett's sake.

after much deliberation, he was ready. he wrapped brett up in another one of his large black hoodies and headed out the door, carrying the angel carefully in his arms as he walked through the empty nighttime streets of a thursday.

before he knew it, he had reached the portal that allowed for passage between earth and heaven and hell. usually, he'd step to the left to return to the underworld.

this time, though, he went right, holding onto brett tightly, preparing himself to go to heaven.

•

there was a reason demons never went to heaven—it was practically a death sentence.

as soon as he stepped through the portal, he felt like he was high.

and not in a good way, not in the way he felt after he'd kill someone. no, he felt like he had drunk a cup full of syrup and injected his veins with sugar. the air around him smelled like brett did, but with 10 times the intensity. the worst part was that everything felt too light, too happy and carefree, and eddy's entire being cringed in disgust. he wanted nothing more than to take a few steps back and leave.

but he couldn't. he looked down at brett, grounding himself, and then took a good look at his surroundings.

he was incredibly out of place.

he stood in what looked like a train station, except instead of trains there were portals everywhere, ones that would take you to the different realms of heaven. everything was a white or a cream color, and it was much too bright for eddy's eyes.

it was crowded, and eddy stood out like a sore thumb, wearing all black in a sea of white.

as soon as the angels caught his scent in the air, it caused a panic.

they were flying away, holding children behind their backs and covering their noses to block out the smell of death and smoke.

they watched in horror as eddy held the dying angel in his arms, many of them already assuming the worst.

in response to the commotion, what looked like a group of guards rushed towards eddy, reaching out to grab brett from his arms.

as the angels approached him, eddy let out a loud snarl, his eyes turning a deep blood red.

"do. not. touch. him." eddy growled out, pulling brett's limp body closer, a touch of possessiveness in his tone.

the guards stopped in their tracks, clearly afraid of eddy and unsure of the whole situation. they'd likely never seen a demon enter heaven before, at least not like this.

then, a much larger angel, although still shorter than eddy, stepped forward with an air of confidence.

"hand over the angel, demon," he spat out.

eddy took a step back. his blood was boiling, coursing through his veins like a wild fire.

"no," eddy growled louder this time, gritting his sharpened teeth.

the angel took another threatening step forward.

"he's dying," eddy lashed out.

the angel stopped in his tracks.

"take me to the archangels," eddy demanded.

•

the tall angel led eddy through a series of portals, each of which required an angel's fingerprint to get through, which meant that for eddy, there was no escape.