Demons and Non-Believers

Chapter Nine

I sat one knee propped up and one laying flat, on the ground, next to the King of Hell.

"Next!" Gerard yelled.

The doors opened and another soul shuffled his way in, in front of Gerard, who was sitting upright now in his throne, rather than his usual 'bored-teenage-boy-with-bad-posture" position.

"Jacob Allen, wife beater, child molester, town drunk...the list goes on. How do you plead?" Gerard asked monotonosly.

"Not guilty..." he answered in almost a question.

Gerard shook his head. "Pit!" he yelled loudly.

A demon took the quivering soul, digging her long nails into his neck, and pushed him towards a door in the far corner of the room. It was the room where the rest of the essence was taken out of you. Where the souls were turned into even lesser beings, taking most of their memories, relationships, and everything that made you human, and then destroyed them. At least that's what Gerard told me.

"Next!" Gerard called. The 108th today. I've been counting every single one. Every single one was taken to the pits.

"How many more?" I asked just barely above a whisper.

"Hush, you don't speak." Gerard scolded.

This one was a female. One of the very few among the male rapists, abusers, and drunks.

"Maggie Malat. Locking actors Misha Collins and Jensen Ackles in your closet, beating up a police man for mispronouncing your last name, murdering director Steven Moffat for 'killing your favorite characters'. What's your plea?"

"Guilty as charged." she grinned, putting her hands up and shrugging.

She was the first of the 108 to plead guilty.

I looked at Gerard. He was smirking and looking through his red hair at her. The first time he's smiled throughout this entire selection process.

"And it was worth every minute." she added.

Gerard looked over at the next demon in the line of demons on his side opposite of mine, smirking and nodding.

The demon stepped down and towards Maggie, stopping at her side, and then turning forward.

"Maggie Malat, please step forward." Gerard said.

She did as told. "Ooh, an inauguration! Fancy!" she grinned. She looked at me and smiled. "And you have such a cute pet!"

I growled from the back of my throat. What the hell? I was becoming one of them...

"Well Maggie, you are now a knight of Hell."

"Oh, cool! This could be on an episode of Supernatural!" Maggie pointed out.

Gerard's expression contorted into one of confusion, but he shook it off, and continued to talk. "Well, anyways, welcome to the family of Hell. Bob will show you everything you need to know."

The demon next to her turned his head and smiled an evil smirk, nodding his head as a 'hello'.

Now as I looked at Maggie, her face wasn't glowing with that ghostly glow. Instead, it was now a dark aura around her. She was officially part of Hell's army, or "family" as Gerard put it. What kind of dysfunctional family is he running here?

She left with Bob.

Gerard turned to his side where all the demons were standing in a line. "This session is over. Let the souls know. You are all free to leave." he said.

The line of evil disbanded, all but one going out the door. Olivia. She made her way towards me, squatting in front of me so she was at my eye level. "Hey, cutie." She took her small fingers and brushed the hair from my face, tucking it behind my ear.

I smiled weakly, feeling Gerard's cold hard stare in the side of my head. My gut told me it was jealousy, but I didn't understand why.

"I heard that was a good session. That we were lucky to stop before 300 souls." she laughed softly.

I did one of those forced laughs where I just blew more air from my nose than normal, forcing a tiny smile onto my face.

"I'll see you in the next session, huh, cupcake?" she smiled with her tired eyes.

I nodded.

She stroked my hair again before standing up and leaving.

I kept flinching every time she reached to touch me, since when Gerard touched my bare skin with his, it singed me. I realized, Olivia had humanity left in her, unlike the king, who has been down here longer than I had existed. That was the key to it. How non-human and human you really are.