ACEDIA: Love in Hell

4 - SHOULD HAVE LISTENED

RUTHIE

I watch this demon king walk out of the bedroom and nod to the guards who close the doors behind him.

He's a lot better looking than the smoke manifestation made him out to be.

That makes no sense for me to be attracted to him. It's ridiculous. Valefar, King of Sloth, the Sixth Spirit, is a demon, and yet I think he might be the sexiest thing I've ever laid my eyes on. My mind lingers on his face long after he's gone. He has a strong jawline and a long, elegant nose. His eyes are large and round, framed by dark lashes. The slight pout in his lips and the angle of his thick eyebrows give him a regal, confident look that one wouldn't expect from a monster. Though his eyes are anything but human. They're yellow with no irises, and his pupils were slit like a snake. When he smiled at me, I saw sharp teeth and the longer ones – his actual fangs - had red at the tips.

The robes he wore didn't look Japanese like Lamia's did, but I couldn't quite place them. Like a roman emperor mixed with a gladiator. Maybe it was a Hell thing, but also it was because his body wasn't made for normal clothes. He has goat legs. Goat legs. The bottom layers of his clothing accommodated for this, wrapping about his backside or draping over his groin like a loincloth. I guess pants would look goofy on goat bottoms. His tail isn't a goat's though. It's long and tufted at the end, his lower half all covered in black fur.

In all aspects, I shouldn't find anything appealing about him even if he has a somewhat pretty face. The cloven feet should throw me off at the very least. Instead, while they unnerve me, I'm staring at the door feeling guilty for slapping him and debating if I should try and sleep or just go find this throne room. And he licked the tears from my cheek. That slow drag of his tongue was kind of hot.

I toss and turn on the bed for maybe an hour or two, scan the room for more interesting things, though nothing catches my attention. I'm not curious about the little trinkets by the fireplace or the collection of daggers lining one of the walls. I want to stare at Valefar some more, and I want to find out his plans for me.

He said he'd be receiving tribute for a few days, leading me to believe demons don't sleep as much as humans. I roll out of the bed and look for a pair of shoes or something left for me, but there's nothing. Figures. He warned me about escaping but I was past that. It would be stupid to try and make it on my own in the fucking underworld. I'd be eaten alive out there.

I was never much of a survivalist anyway. I didn't go camping or watch those Bear Grylls and Les Stroud shows. I tended to just hole up in the library or computer room at school, or play on the computer when I wasn't doing homework or at class.

So, barefoot and in a dress that didn't leave much to the imagination, I pull one of the doors open and peek out. The guards are standing there on either side of the doors but they say nothing. When I take a few steps into the hallway and glance behind me, they still don't move. I clear my throat. Nothing. The only confirmation I have that they're even alive is that one turns and shuts the door closest to him. Then they're like statues again.

Well, all right then. I continue down the long corridor, clasping my hands behind me, glancing at some paintings on the walls. When Lamia was leading me here, I just kept my eyes on her. Now I'm getting a good look at everything. This looks like a regular old castle on Earth, like it's occupied by royalty and not demons and hell beasts. The portraits are very beautiful and I can't help but stop to peek at a few of them.

One is of Valefar himself, looking ever the confident one with a fur lined cape of deep purple. He has a scepter in one hand and some weird looking globe in the other that has an upside-down cross jutting out of it. I don't really understand the purpose of the items, except that I recall other royal portraits having them in the back of my memory, like Elizabeth I. The cross is right side up normally. Of course a demon king would have something like a pentagram or a messed up crucifix. So he dresses like a Roman, a little bit like an Egyptian, but their coronations are European? Do demons pick and choose what they like about human cultures and apply them down here? That's something that would be fun to research.