Inferno of God

9: In Which Adam and Je'sus Put Themselves to Good Use

Adam Abelman sat at Asher's bedside, thoroughly displeased with how the last few days had gone. He turned to his friend, Je'sus, who sat reading, as usual, and raised his voice, far louder than he would with anyone else, as Je'sus tended to be prone to voluntary deafness. "Hey." There was no response, which, even with the increased volume, was not unusual, sometimes, it was difficult to remember that he killed someone at knifepoint. "Hey buddy, do you have any idea where Satan went?"

Je'sus looked up, "What do you mean?"

Adam rolled his eyes, "Honestly, do you notice anything? No one's seen him for a few days at this point, I thought with the amount of time you spend in his library, you might know."

"Sorry, I haven't been there in a while, Paradise Lost is kind of a long book, have you asked Baal?"

...Baal's sick, remember?"

"No." He snapped the book closed, "No one ever tells me anything."

Adam sighed, as much as he wanted to continue poking fun at the man, he knew he was becoming high at risk of passing over the line, as Satan told him he often did, so he stood up, grabbed his plaid autumn jacket, and stepped to the door. "You know what? Nevermind, I'll just head over to the manor to see if he left something, could you watch Asher for me?"

He nodded and continued reading, meaning that he probably wouldn't even glance at Asher unless he began coughing up blood or something of the sort, but it was enough for Adam, and he happily fled the room, as he hadn't the opportunity for any free time in days.

Upon stepping through the engraved, wooden, front doors of the manor, he immediately knew something was seriously wrong. Though a slight sheen of dust over any and all hard surfaces was normal, as both demons felt such manual tasks as dusting were unnecessary, the home looked as though no one had stepped foot in it for days. Chairs were left as dusty as the tables, fireplaces were coated with old ash, and the place generally appeared appallingly unkept.

While calling out his name, a move which quickly failed, Adam found a small note pinned to the message board. The knowledge that it contained only made Adam more worried, and sent him rushing to Satan's office, the paper in hand, secretly hoping that he would be seated writing, inquiring about the intrusion. It was found empty, the entire house had been completely abandoned.

He returned far earlier than Je'sus had expected him to, looking a bit worried, but determined, and still clutching the piece of paper in his right fist. "We are going to rescue Satan." Out of everything he could have said, those were his words upon entering the cabin.

"I'm sorry," Je'sus clutched the bridge of his nose, "what?"

"You heard me, we're going to go rescue Satan."

He closed the book, "okay, is this one of your attention things?"

Adam seemed disgusted at the mere suggestion of it, "what? No, I may be an idiot, but I'm not a jerk, look, based on this note, I have deduced that Satan is stuck in Heaven and needs rescuing."

"Give me that," Je'sus took the note from him, "and by the way, it's induced, Arthur Conan Doyle mixed the words up." He then smoothed out the many creases Adam had made in it, and skimmed through the handwritten text. Afterwards, he sat back in his chair, "I can't believe it, this thing seems completely legitimate. Okay," his voice adopted the flat, huffed tone of defeat, "How exactly do you plan to rescue Satan?"

Adam opened his mouth, but fell silent before anything could come out, "I have no idea, now that you mention it."

He sighed again, though this time it was done while smiling,"You know what? If you watch Asher, I'll head up to the library for information, cool?"