Roman got on one knee bowing his head to the man before us.
“Good evening, Roman.”
“Lucifer, my Lord.” He stood up taking his seat again.
“Holland Ellenberger, the one that is already causing issues in the underworld.”
“I don’t know what you mean by causing issues, Mr. Satan...Lucifer...sir. I just don’t understand why I’m here.”
“You’re here because you weren’t worthy enough for Heaven, but you think you’re too good for Hell.”
“You caused God to send me here.”
He laughed. “I do not cause anyone to come here. Your own actions sent you here. I am only the one who takes the rejected souls who are cast here due to their own evil doings. You know right from wrong; you do not need me to tell you that acts you engaged in are not godly.”
“I wasn’t a bad person and I very rarely did bad things. I just want to live out my life like a normal fucking person and then die old, but not too old because then I’ll be an old soul forever, but you get what I’m saying. At least they have plastic surgery to keep me looking young until then.”
“Ah, vanity. One of the seven deadly sins.”
“Send me home, Satan!”
He looked at me then at Roman who shrugged his shoulders with a smirk on his face.
“You should have thought about that before you overdosed. Take it up with God. Now, Holland, every soul that is sent to me has a job and responsibility to fulfill. You will be sent to the Northside and will be the one who guides the new souls to their designated watcher. You are to report to me every 6 days with whose soul was placed with which watcher.”
“What the hell is a watcher?”
“They are my authoritative demons who have souls appointed to them should they have any questions regarding their duties that I give them. Roman is your watcher.”
Roman smiled showing his dimple again. At least my watcher was hot.
“If you have any problems, he is who you will go to first. He will also bring you to your ordered area and show you what is expected of you.”
“I’m not doing it. I’m going to sit here in this fancy-ass chair until you send me home or back up to Heaven so I can argue with Azriel.”
“This is not a negotiation!” he yelled, making me jump and my skin crawl from the anger that had arisen in his voice. “Get to your station and don’t come back until you have a report for me. I’ll be seeing you soon.” He flicked his hand at us dismissing our presence.
I was appalled, but I wasn’t going to argue with him anymore...for now.
Back at Roman’s office, he handed me a clipboard stuffed with pieces of grey singed paper, full from top to bottom with thousands of names.
“What the hell am I supposed to do with this?”
“I will show you.”
I let out a breath of annoyance. I was basically Satan’s bitch at this point.
Roman showed me to the Northside that looked just like the dark, dank area I had been in when I first arrived in Hell. It was full of fresh arrivals of lost souls with the same military guys clutching their clipboards and directing souls to different parts of Hell. He showed me how I was supposed to direct the beings to their forever place in Hell and how it was all put onto the lists we were given.
“Your first day will be tomorrow and since there is no sunrise, you are to begin at 3:15am until 3:15pm. Your lists will be updated every day by Lucifer,” I rolled my eyes, “and if you don’t show up, he will punish you – and trust me, you don’t want that. Now let me show you your living quarters.”
Roman and I walked down more desolate streets to yet another black building, but this one was a tall, skinny apartment building with hundreds of windows designated to each living area within the structure.
My apartment was located on the twenty-third floor with no elevator in sight to assist us with the trudge up the twenty-three flights of metal stairs. We finally reached the narrow hallway that led to my apartment. Roman extracted a skeleton key from his pocket, opening the door to a room that was the size of my closet in LA. All that was inside of the dismal black painted walls was a twin bed neatly made with a ruby red pillow and blanket and a black wooden desk with a chair sitting in front of the small window that overlooked the ominous street.
“This is bullshit, am I really supposed to live here?”
“You aren’t living the highlife, you’re in Hell. Be glad you even got a room to reside in. Not everyone gets that luxury.”
I plopped down on the tiny bed next to Roman.
“Now that you have seen where you will be staying and where you will be stationed, I’ll leave you to get comfortable.”
“I can’t get comfortable in a room the size of a shoebox and working in darkness to basically lead traffic for evil souls.”
“He could have given you a much worse job, so count your blessings.”
“I haven’t worked a day in my life, this is definitely not what I consider a blessing. I’m in Hell for fucks sake.”
“Well, you didn’t kill anyone besides yourself, so maybe you can get back into God's good graces eventually and he will get you out of here.”
“Does that ever happen?”
“I’ve never seen it happen, but I have heard stories so it’s possible. Not a common occurrence, but possible. For now, you need to do what is asked of you and don’t piss off Lucifer. My room is the penthouse at the top on the thirtieth floor if you need anything and you, of course, know where my office is. Feel free to come by anytime you need.”
So, he lived in the same building as I did in a damn penthouse. I was getting gipped, but I could definitely find plenty of reasons I needed him that didn’t involve work. I was going to make him mine; he just didn’t know it yet.
CHAPTER 3
For the past few weeks, I did the disgustingly repetitive work that was assigned to me by Lucifer. Every day I woke up, chose from my limited wardrobe of black, guided souls to their eternal destinations, went home to my shitty, dreary, living quarters, and then repeated it all over again the next day. It was a pretty easy job, but working was not the high-class lifestyle I was used to.
I learned a few things as well; in hell you did get to sleep a little, you did have a few different outfits to choose from, although they were all black, and you never had to use the bathroom. And the best part was my hot demon watcher, Roman, lived just above me. I planned to get to know him a little more very, very soon. Could demons have sex? I would definitely seduce the hell out of him as soon as I had the chance.
My last shift of the evening had ended. I threw myself on the bed, staring at the ceiling as the sound of angry souls wailed from the street. Hell was like Vegas, the city that never slept except there was not a drop of alcohol in my room. Roman had alcohol in his, but he was also a demon that had a way higher rank than me.
Lucifer was also living the high life in his mini mansion while I began and ended my days in a room the size of a walk-in closet. I wondered if this was what living in a trailer felt like. I didn't understand how anyone could choose to live like that. I decided I wasn’t going to either.
I marched up the stairs past Lucifer’s guards, not waiting for their approval of my presence.