Devilish Love

11. You Stink

Chapter 11: You Stink

"Uh," I squeaked. It was utterly humiliating. At least a hundred ghosts were staring daggers at me, not to mention Lucifer, who's hard look pierced my heart, rendering me unable to breathe. I didn't know if it was his powers, but it made me breathless, and not in a good way. In a scared, want-to-pee-my-pants way. 

Wait. Could I still pee if I was dead?

Not the priority! My inner voice yelled.

Okay, my inner voice made a lot more sense than I did. Why couldn't it just take over me? Jeez. 

 I quickly began sifting through all possible lies I could say to convince Lucifer that I hadn't really smuggled anything into Hell...but there were none that surfaced in my stupid brain. If I lied and said Ianthe and Gadina had sneaked in themselves, it would unfairly implicate them and they would be punished. That could not happen. Ianthe, in particular, was the first friend I had made after death. There was something special about that, just like how you would always remember your first friend in life. 

Although my first friend was a jerk. 

I needed to think positive. No! I needed to think of a way to get out of this situation first. Quick, think, Kayla! 

Suddenly, an invisible force pushed me up on my feet and jerked me upwards until I was standing. Then the same force- rather like a wind- propelled me towards Lucifer. We stood an arm's length away, and even though I was dead, I was praying for my life, because this scenario was just so, so scary. I knew he would scold me, his rage would burst forth, and everything would just explode and it would be terrifying...

He cocked his head slowly. But his next few words surprised me. "I will settle this in my palace. Bring those poor spirits with you first." 

"Huh?" I said, as I couldn't believe my ears.

"How many times must I say it?" His voice was deathly quiet, yet it echoed around the entire place, which was completely, eerily, silent. 

In my head, I imagined the ghosts secretly communicating in some weird ghost telepathy: Oh, goodness! Did you see that ridiculous woman? Dared to smuggle nature spirits into Hell! She really has a death wish! And the other ghost would nudge his or her friend and chortle, replying- Haha, she's already dead, so I wouldn't worry too much. And then they would cackle, and the camera would zoom out and pan to me. 

I rushed back to Ianthe and Gadina and stuffed them as gently as I could into the bags. My rear end felt wet still, and I was a little self-conscious of me bending down with so many people watching, but in the end, I put aside my personal feelings and completed my task. I had learnt to manage always being in the limelight- it was horrible treatment for a human, a supposed celebrity, but it was just life.

I then raced after him, and we entered the portal. It wasn't a portal, I realised after. It was a short cut to inside Hell. We had alighted at the borders of Hell, where the Hell Customs were. But people like the Devil, the royals of Hell, were able to use this constantly shifting door to enter, skipping Customs. Convenient for them. 

The Palace Of Hell, I will admit, was breathtakingly stunning. It had many high pointed towers, giving the illusion of spikes on a crown. From a distance it looked to be made of ice, blackish looking ice, but when we neared it, I saw the walls  were made of gray, white and black crystals. A few red tinted windows glinted in the light. Sinister, but beautiful. The gates were white marble, and designs were carved into the gate, designs of horrible tortures and ghoulish faces.

In a sick, twisted sort of way, I found the Palace wonderful. It made me wonder, could Heaven match up to this splendour? How could anything in the world possibly be prettier than this Palace in front of me? And yet I felt guilty. I should have been viewing everything in Hell with a critical eye, and believing in the wonders of Heaven. This was too hard...picking sides between Heaven and Hell...

We marched into the doors of the Palace, and down many glistening golden corridors to a relatively large room with a huge King-sized bed, a few cupboards and closets, and a dressing table. There was also a big window at the end of the room, and a sofa, with a lamp and bookshelves. A television screen was on the walls, which were, surprisingly, not black. They were white. I liked that.

"Your room," Lucifer said. He turned to the group of servants that had followed us in. "Leave," he said, flicking his hand, and they disintegrated.

Wow. It was, I had to admit, an efficient way of getting rid of your workers. I just hoped it wasn't permanent.

"So who are they?" he demanded.

"Oh, haha," I laughed nervously, twirling a strand of my hair around my index finger. "My, um, friends?"

"You do not sound sure. Are you certain that these are your friends, and that you have friends?" he asked.

"What? Of course I have friends! That's them!" I said, emptying out the bags carefully and setting Ianthe and Gadina on the sofa.

"Hm," he said, sounding unconvinced. "I find it hard to believe that you have friends. Also, you stink. I do not think someone who is smelly can win friends easily."

"Hey, I just fell in a puddle of goodness knows what!" I objected, folding my arms defensively.

He eyed me. "You should clean up. I will dispose of these- friends."

"No!" I cried passionately, leaping forward to block the spirits from his scrutinising gaze.

He scowled at me. "Move away."

"No, you listen to me. I'm sorry I smuggled them into Hell. I know it's wrong to sneak in things, especially spirits. But they were trapped and miserable in the restaurant, and they wanted to come here to get a fresh start. I don't want them to die or disappear or anything. I want to stay with them here," I explained.

Lucifer remained silent, then eventually said "Compassion is not something well rewarded in Hell, Kayla Marie."

"Fight me," I said, rolling my eyes. I was sure he would yield to me, he seemed like a nice person once you got past the scary outfit and manner he portrayed himself in.

"You would lose," he stated, like it was obvious. "Then the Heavenly King would punish me for killing you. No thank you."

"So, anyway! Can they stay, pleaseeee?" I begged.

Hesitating, Lucifer said "...Very well. As long as you three behave. Do they require medical assistance?"

"Yes, please!" I cried. 

As I moved aside for Lucifer to examine the sister spirits, I caught a whiff of my dress (torn and tattered now from all it'd been through. It was only meant to be a dress for my television show). It stank. Yuck, no wonder Lucifer was staying three metres away from me.

He pressed his lips together. "Alright. Consider this your welcome gift to Hell. I will bring them to the Hellspital. And you-" he looked at me in obvious distaste "-you will clean up and come to breakfast. The Royal Family would very much like to meet you. There are, I believe, some dresses put in your closet by my servants. I will come to pick you up in an hour's time."

With that, he used his powers or whatnot to levitate the sister spirits, and banged the door on me. I stuck out my tongue at the closed door.

Well, time to clean up and become myself again, the famous, beautiful Kayla Marie.

I smiled. This, I was good at. Lucifer wouldn't know who I was when I was done with myself.