Falling

Ch 3

As hard as I had tried to distract myself for the rest of the day, my thoughts kept wandering back to Asmodeus and what he had said. It wasn't until later that evening that I finally reached my breaking point and stopped in the middle of my living room, glaring up at the ceiling.

"Okay, I feel absolutely ridiculous doing this and I'm fairly certain that I've finally gone insane, but..." I paused and took a deep breath, trying to ignore the voice in the back of my mind that told me this wasn't real. "...Asmodeus, if you can hear me, I have questions and...I'm ready to talk."

I continued to stare up at the ceiling, waiting for...well, I wasn't quite sure what I was waiting for. But after what felt like an eternity of nothing, I let out the loudest groan of frustration I could and turned to go back into the kitchen for my wine.

"I was starting to think you'd never move."

A surprised yelp escaped from my mouth before I could stop it as I whirled around, sucking in a deep breath when I saw him sitting on my couch.

The shock quickly faded to frustration as I sighed the breath out and asked, "Is there any chance you can let me know when you just suddenly appear in my apartment?"

"Were you expecting me to not show up when called?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I have no idea what I was expecting," I said, turning back around to grab my bottle of wine. "For a supposed prince, you sure have a lot of nerve for chastising my manners when you can't even do something as simple as letting someone know when you've suddenly appeared in their home."

He laughed loudly at that, tilting his head back as he did so. "Oh, you are such a delight!"

"Keep startling me and you'll see how much of a delight I am," I muttered under my breath before asking loudly, "Do you want some wine?"

"I'd love a glass, thank you."

After opening the bottle and grabbing the two glasses that were still on the counter from that morning, I made my way back into the living room and set one of the glasses down in front of him. Before I could say anything, he stood up and gently took the bottle and other wine glass from my hands, pouring a rather large glass. I scowled at him as he did this until he offered the almost-full glass back to me with a smile.

"You said you had questions?" He asked then, pouring his own glass.

His question didn't register immediately as I stood there, distracted by him. He leaned back against the couch and looked up at me, raising an eyebrow after a moment.

I shook my head quickly and said, "Yes, questions."

After sitting down in the chair next to the couch, I took a sip of my wine and avoided his eyes so that I wouldn't get lost in them again. He waited patiently, taking a sip of his own wine and watching me with a soft smile.

"I'm not really sure which question to ask first," I admitted with a nervous laugh.

His smile widened. "Take your time; I'm in absolutely no rush."

I nodded and gathered my thoughts, taking another drink of my wine before looking up at him finally. "You said you are one of the seven princes of Hell."

He nodded before giving me a mischievous look. "That's not a question."

"I'm getting there," I stated, scowling at him. "What exactly do you rule over?"

"Well, I'm sure you know that there are different types of demons." He swirled the wine around in his glass while not taking his eyes off me. "My brothers and I are the ones that rule those demons in accordance to the sin that they are assigned."