Hello there! So, you know who is back! What does this mean for the MPS?
“After you killed me,” Belphegor started, putting air quotes around the word killed. “I ended up back in Hell. Asmodeus wasn’t too happy I messed up. That I failed my mission, which he hadn’t wanted me on anyway.”
I looked at Logan. He still had his knife in his hands. I turned back to Belphegor. “He was going to kill you wasn’t he?”
Belphegor laughed. “You really think he’d just kill me? You clearly don’t know much about Asmodeus. Lust ain’t just desire, it’s dangerous, extreme. That’s the point. Why he’s king of Hell while Lucy’s preoccupied. Asmodeus wanted to torture me, to make me suffer for failing.”
He wasn’t lying. I could tell from his face. He seemed weaker than he had been last time, more vulnerable. I thought about it. What did he have to lose other than his life? Going to Hell would’ve been worse than dying for him.
Belphegor continued. “So I ran. Cowardly, I know. I got an old friend to help me get back up here, Moloth, you know him? He’s a dealer demon, they get to come up here whenever they want. But back to the point, he got me up here, I came to this apartment, I’ve been here ever since. But then I heard Vitan, that bounty hunter, was after me, and I realized I had to run.” I looked over to the bed, where there was a half packed bag. We were lucky to have gotten here when we did.
Logan scoffed. “You’re really saying you’re the innocent party? After everything you did?”
Belphegor rolled his eyes. “Of course not. I know what I am, I am not innocent, I’m not good. But Asmodeus is no better. I hate to say it, but he’s worse.”
Logan stood up. “You tried to open the gates of Hell. He offered to close all of them forever.” Belphegor looked at him. “The only way he’d do that would be if all the demons got here first. You think he’s that benevolent? Please.”
I stepped in between them. I hated playing pacifist, but Logan was going to kill the guy, or the other way around, and I wasn’t having that. “Logan, can we talk? Privately?” He seemed resistant, but he agreed and let me lead him a little farther away.
“David, we can’t trust him,” Logan said. I nodded. “I know. But we can’t trust Asmodeus either. I just think that I’d rather work with the weakest deadly sin than for the king of Hell.”
“I am not the weakest deadly sin!”
“Stop listening in,” I called over my shoulder. I then turned my attention back to Logan. “Listen, we have to think about this. If we make a stupid decision we’re going to regret it.”
Logan didn’t seem to want to agree with me. He seemed to want to murder Belphegor, and I couldn’t blame him. I had my own bones to pick with that demon. I didn’t want to work with him, but it felt worse working for the king of Hell. I wasn’t extremely religious, but that didn’t mean I wanted to work for Asmodeus.
“I still don’t think this is a good idea,” Logan said. I shrugged. “You think I do? I want this guy dead just as much as you.”
“Good. Then we won’t have a problem,” a voice said.
I turned to see the bounty hunter was with us. This must’ve been Vitan. He had his cane around Belphegor so he couldn’t move, though he was fighting.
I really wished my gun was loaded now. “Stand down,” I told him. Vitan smirked. “And why would I do that? I have what I need, and you won’t get what you want. Win win for me.”
Logan raised his knife. Vitan rolled his eyes and threw Belphegor down. “Do you really want to fight for him? Is it really that important to you?”
Before me or Logan could answer, Vitan swung his cane around and tried to hit me. I barely dodged. Logan swung at him with his knife, which hit Vitan. The demon barely seemed to notice though. He took the knife out of him like nothing and threw it away. Logan cursed. Vitan swung again, this time hitting Logan in the side.
I stepped up, hitting Vitan in the head with my gun. He fell back but it didn’t hurt him that much. He took a step towards me, hitting me with his cane. I fell to the ground and he hit me in the face. I could tell my nose was broken and bleeding.
He hit me in my stomach, and suddenly I felt like I couldn’t breathe. He was about to hit me again in the head, but then he was pulled back.
Vitan was thrown into the wall, hard. Belphegor stood over him, eyes glowing blue. “Really Vitan? If I’m being brought in, I’d rather it be done by someone competent. Or do I have to remind you of the last mission you messed up?”
Vitan tried to hit Belphegor, but Belphegor just grabbed his wrist. Vitan yelled out in pain, as if he was breaking his wrist. “You try and hurt them again, I’ll kill you, understood? They at least know what they’re doing. Do you?”
He let go and Vitan disappeared. Belphegor’s eyes went back to his normal blue and he looked at me. He stuck out his hand. For a split second, I thought he was going to break my wrist like he’d done to Vitan, but I still took his hand and got up.
Belphegor went to help Logan, but Logan was already up. “Why would you help us,” he asked.
Belphegor shrugged. “As I said, Vitan’s an idiot, always has been. He doesn’t deserve to bring me in. I don’t like you two, but it could be worse. You two might just kill me.”
I wiped my bloody nose. “You want to die?”
Belphegor smiled, but it wasn’t a smile of happiness, or laughter. It was broken. “Why not? What else am I good for anyway? You should’ve killed me the first time.”
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
“No,” I repeated. “I’m not killing you Belphegor. That wasn’t the plan in the first place. So let’s make a deal. You stay on the alright side, no killing or anything like that. We let you live.”
I looked at Logan, silently asking if this was fine with him. He nodded and I turned back to Belphegor. He looked at me, eyes wide. “You’d do…why would you let me live? I swear if it’s because you ‘don’t want to be a monster’ or something like that I might regret not letting Vitan kill you,” he said, putting air quotes around “don’t want to be a monster”.
I shook my head. “I don’t like killing, and it seems to me it’s worse for you living anyway. Plus, you just kind of saved my life.”
“Don’t look too hard into that, detective,” Belphegor warned. “But deal.” He stuck out his hand and I shook it. Suddenly, there was a bright light blue light around our hands. The world seemed to shake and I felt like I couldn’t tear myself away. Belphegor smiled a little before letting go.
Logan came over to me, hand on my back. “What the hell was that,” he asked Belphegor. The demon put his hands up. “We made a deal. If one of us breaks it, well, the natural balance wouldn’t like it, so something bad would happen. You know, like one of us dying. It’s just the kind of thing that happens with demon deals.”
Logan stepped up. “That didn’t happen when I made a deal with Asmodeus.” Belphegor shook his head. “That’s because you made it in Hell. Demons can’t make deals in Hell unless they’re dealer demons. Or we’d be too powerful I guess.”
Logan seemed uneasy, but he nodded. “Alright. But if you hurt him-”
Belphegor rolled his eyes. “Please. Have some faith, why don’t you?”
“You’re a demon.”
“Fair.”
We were going to go back to Marina’s, but Belphegor claimed we should rest before. It was late, so after a little arguing between him and Logan he agreed.
I slept in a chair so Logan could get the couch. Belphegor seemed to want to make fun of me for that, but I gave him a glare and he refrained. He would take the first shift, because it wasn’t safe for us all to sleep at the same time and demons didn’t need much sleep.
I fell asleep way too quickly. Maybe all this chasing after a dead demon did that to someone, I don’t know and I don’t have someone to ask anyway.
In my dream, I was in Hell again, the same throne room. Asmodeus was draped on his throne, legs spread way too much, almost making me uncomfortable. “I knew you humans were too stupid to just do what I asked,” he said, scowling.
I stepped up. “Well then maybe you should’ve made a deal on earth.”
Asmodeus laughed dryly and stood up. “If you think Belphie will honor your deal you’re wrong. He doesn’t care about anything but himself, hasn’t since his fall. I blame that little angel, but it doesn’t matter. You made your choice, and I promise you’re going to regret it. Unless you want to stop working with Belphegor.”
I crossed my arms. “I don’t trust you. I don’t trust Belphegor either, but at least he didn’t send a bounty hunter after us. He realized he messed up and stayed away. Maybe he thinks that’s cowardly, but for him it was smart, because me and Logan would’ve killed him. As you said, I’ve made my choice. I’m sticking with it.”
Asmodeus walked right up to me. “And you’re going to regret it.” He grabbed my arm. It burned and I screamed.
Then I woke up. I tried to breathe, but I was sweating, like I had just been to Hell. I reached for my arm and touched it gently. There was a red mark there, like a handprint. I guess that wasn’t just a dream.
I looked over at Logan, who was still sleeping peacefully. Belphegor was still up though. “Nightmare,” he asked, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
I rubbed my head. “Is Asmodeus your brother?” He nodded. “Not biologically, but being there’s only 7 of us we consider each other siblings.”
“Well you’re brother’s a jerk.”
Belphegor chuckled. “Oh believe me I know. I’ve been stuck with him since the fall.”
I looked at him. “From Heaven? Why’d you fall anyway? Why leave something everyone says is perfect?”
“Because it wasn’t!” He took a deep breath. “It’s just a facade. It’s a mess up there, but no one wanted to listen to me. So me and the others rebelled. The angels didn’t like that, as you can see. So we fell and I became this.” He pointed to his head, and I saw the shadow of his horns.
I stood up. “Damn. In my dream Asmodeus mentioned something about an angel-”
“Nothing important,” he interrupted. Belphegor rubbed his face. “I wasn’t always like this, you know. I had friends. I believed in the almighty grand plan or whatever. I really did. Then I believed in making things better through Lucy and the others. Now I don’t believe in anything.”
I stood there in silence for a moment before hesitantly touching his shoulder. “Well, maybe you just need new motivation. And right now, I’d appreciate it if that could be survival. You know, me and Logan don’t want to do all the work.”
Belphegor smirked. “Well that’s as good a motivation as any.” I looked over at the chair. “You rest. I need some air.”
Belphegor raised an eyebrow. “What, scared of nightmares?” I gave him a look. “Just go to sleep.”
He gave a two fingered salute. “Yes boss,” he said sarcastically. I rolled my eyes and looked out the window. It was a nice night. Tomorrow we’d be fighting demons to protect a different one.
What had my life come to?
I hope you enjoyed! What will happen? Will Belphegor keep up his deal? Who can they trust? We'll see!
