10

'Ah, Azel,' sighed Lucien. 'I can count on you being there to ruin a happy moment any day!'

'There is no happiness in store for the dwellers of Hell,' said the young man solemnly. 'You ought to be content with what little pleasures you are allowed, rather than taking an ell instead of an inch and exceeding your limits like you did today!'

'Who is he?' whispered Grace nervously.

'Allow me to introduce Azel, the Gatekeeper Angel,' said Lucien, gesturing towards him. 'He is to angels what the Assistant is to demons.'

'I'd rather not have my name taken in the same vein as that evil, amoral leader you all admire so much,' said Azel with a frown.

'Hey, I don't admire him any more than you do!' said Lucien indignantly. 'So don't rope me in with the others! Did you ever bother to get to know me rather than just blindly assuming I'm like everyone else?'

'You're in Hell, and that's enough for me to know,' said Azel, crossing his arms.

'Well, I wouldn't have been in Hell anymore if you hadn't decided to show up like a wet blanket and ruin what we had going here,' said Lucien, crossing his arms and mirroring him.

'I'm called the Gatekeeper for a reason, demon,' said Azel sternly. 'I guard all gateways and exit routes; my job is to ensure the likes of you never leave and disturb the peace elsewhere. What you just attempted was a breach of security, and while I'm letting this go for now, if you attempt it again, you shall face harsh consequences.'

'But how did you find out?' said Lucien, uncrossing his arms and sinking into a chair with his head in his hands.

'Things which may have worked fifty years ago don't work anymore,' said Azel. 'They get outdated! I have personally ensured that the majority of loopholes that were previously ignored be covered and accounted for. So I'm sorry, but the portal you opened somehow has been out of order for a while now; and even if you try it again later I will find out at once and can stop you – just like I did today.'

'Blast and botheration!' exclaimed Lucien. 'We were so close!'

'Who is "we", by the way?' said Azel, looking for the first time in Grace's direction with a scrutinising gaze that gave her goosebumps. 'Who is this girl? Where did she come from?'

'I'm Grace,' she replied, feeling somewhat intimidated. 'I... I was...'

'Summoned by me,' said Lucien. 'Look, Azel, I know you hate my guts and all, but this girl is innocent, I swear. Please at least allow her to leave and return to Earth, where she came from. She's totally the Heaven-bound type! There was no way she would have ended up here had I not brought her here myself.'

'And yet, she did end up here,' said Azel disappointedly. 'And anyone whom you are personally vouching for... I can't help but doubt them, can I?'

'Please,' said Grace softly, taking a step forward. 'I never died; I was just standing somewhere and then before I knew it, here I was. My place is neither in Heaven nor Hell; only Earth, where I can hopefully prove my merit and end up in the right place when my time does come. But it isn't now, for I'm not dead yet! Please let me return; and if possible, please do allow Lucien to come with me; because I truly believe that while he may have been born here, he has a human heart – a good one!'

Azel looked at her almost emotionlessly as she spoke, though somewhere in the middle, a glimmer of something like sympathy came into his eyes. As she finished, he caught sight of the silver cross around her neck, and his expression softened noticeably.

'I'm sorry,' he said, in a kinder tone than before. 'But my orders are to never let anyone out of here no matter what they say or do. In the past, some angels got deceived by humans and demons alike to be let out because they were innocent or truly reformed, but the second they passed the gates, they showed their true colours.'

'But—' said Grace pleadingly.

'No, Grace. I don't care why or how you came here,' said the angel firmly. 'All I know is that you're here, and you're not allowed to leave – especially if you're already sympathising with a Hellborn demon.'

'Just because he's born here doesn't mean he can't be good!' said Grace.

'This is Hell,' said Azel, shaking his head. 'A place where goodness and kindness are long unheard of, rare, obsolete! Maybe even a joke to the likes of the Devil's Assistant... I'm not saying it isn't possible, but in all the time I've been here, I've seen that no one has the faith and devotion necessary to ever attain those values, let alone a demon who collects black magic books in his spare time!'

'I collect a lot more than that, you—' yelled Lucien, jumping up from his chair, but the angel had vanished into thin air. 'Come back, you cowardly jerk! AHRGH!'

'Please, calm down,' said Grace, but the demon punched the air as she spoke and took no notice of her.

'He's such a silly, uptight, holier-than-thou idiot, gosh, I HATE him!' said Lucien loudly, kicking the chair down and walking across the room towards the tinted windows.

'Well, I suppose he was just doing his job,' said Grace in a small voice. 'I guess it's just as well that we didn't get in any extra trouble for it...'

'We were so close, human, we were so close!' said Lucien, looking mournfully out of the window before turning towards her, his eyes sparkling with violet rage once more. 'He could have let you go, at least! But no! Orders are orders! Who gives them, anyway? Another angel? God? I hate them all!'

'Please don't say like that,' said Grace. 'God is all we have left to trust in now... and I'm sure we'll find a way soon enough.'

'Whatever makes you feel better,' said Lucien bitterly, stomping out of the room and banging the door behind him.

Grace slowly walked up to the fallen chair and set it right again before sitting on it, her elbows on the table and her head in her hands. Hot tears rolled down her arm as the minutes went by. She, too, had believed she would finally be able to get away before the angel had interrupted them. She, too, felt a pang of injustice as she remembered Azel's words. She stood no chance regardless of the fact that she had landed here by mistake. Lucien stood no chance because he was a demon born in Hell and nothing could ever change that. The one and only way out of here had been exhausted and proven useless; leaving them with... nothing.

If hopelessness didn't ensue, what else? Couldn't it be that they were truly forsaken? Did God know or even care about what happened to them? Did being good or evil matter at all in this world?

As she thought, the cross around her neck unfastened itself and fell on the floor; but she didn't pick it up. At first, she didn't notice it, and when she did at last...

She didn't want to.