Abaddon

Abaddon paced back and forth in front of the grand, ornate desk in his office. The carpet under his feet began to singe with every pass, the heat from Abaddon's temper transferring through his skin and radiating outward. 

His desk phone trilled loudly. Startled out of his trance, he crossed to the other side of the desk and sat, staring at the receiver. A terrible feeling washed over his entire body, switching from steaming hot to ice cold in milliseconds. 

"Abaddon." He announced, as he lifted the receiver. 

"She is still at large." The voice hissed from the other end.

"Y—yes, Sir. I have my best people on it. I assure you, we—"

"You assure me of nothing. I thought you could handle this... this situation." The voice growled, low and menacing.

"I'm closing in, Sir. I can do this. Please, I need just a little more time." Abaddon's voice wavered for a second, before clearing his throat and willing himself to stand up to the Boss Man. "I will catch her, Sir. You have my word."

"Your word means nothing to me. You have until midnight to deliver the girl, or you'll find yourself demoted to Pooper Scooper for the Hellhounds."—click.

Abaddon slowly set the receiver back on the rotary cradle. He had worked so hard for this promotion, and it was all about to blow up in his face. He glanced down at his watch. He had just under 5 hours to deliver this "girl" or whatever she is, to the Boss or be banished to the Hellhound yard. He shuddered at the thought.

Rising from his desk, he made his way hastily to Nigel's surveillance room. He would find this girl if it was the last thing he did. 

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Henry wondered the halls listening for giggles. He had found a pair of foam ear plugs in the janitor's closet, and he was determined to find her and turn her in. Surely, that had to be enough to get him out of janitorial duty, right?

He had lost the trail several hallways ago, and decided the best plan of action would be to head to Nigel's surveillance room and see if he could spot her on the security cameras. He approached the door, knocking softly. He very much hoped that Nigel was not in there, so he could have a chance to look on his own, without someone talking his ear off. After a few seconds, he turned the knob and entered slowly. He had never been inside the surveillance room before, he was expecting a few CRT monitors with rotating feed from the various cameras. He did not expect to see an entire wall of tiny TV screens. Each showing a different area. Henry's mouth opened as he stared in awe at the floor to ceiling display, not knowing where to start looking.

At that moment, he heard the doorknob turn. As quickly as he could muster, he darted behind the door to keep himself just out of view. The door slowly creaked open. A tall, shadowy figure enter the room and walk toward the display, raising a long index finger as it scanned the monitors, one by one. After what seemed like an eternity, and Henry would know, the figure landed on a monitor near the bottom. It stared for several seconds. Then, before Henry could react, it turned and stormed back out of the room, slamming the door behind itself.

Henry, feeling a bit shaken, moved closer to see which monitor the Someone was inspecting. There she was, playing fetch in the dungeon with the three-headed Cerberus. As he noted where to find the girl, Something caught his eye one screen to the right. His pupils widened. He stared, unblinking, at the face of his father, Henry Senior. What was his father doing in Hell? Henry continued staring in disbelief as he thought back to childhood memories of his father. He had died when Henry was eleven, but he remembered a fair amount, even hundreds of years after his own death.

Henry Senior was a priest at their local church, and his family would go every Sunday to watch his sermon. He was always preaching about being kind to others, being charitable when possible, helping those less fortunate than yourself, and the difference between Right and Wrong. Henry was so sure he would never see either of his parents again once he ended up down here. He thought for certain they would both have been admitted entry through the Pearly Gates.

He looked down at the bottom of the tiny screen on this particular monitor. There was a timestamp at the bottom labeled "Sodomy Room."

Henry felt a wave of several different emotions wash over him. He turned to leave, and as he entered the hall, he stopped. For a moment he couldn't decide. One direction lead to Cerberus, and the girl he had been searching for. The other direction, to his father. He had a thousand questions for the man who raised him. Firstly, what did he do that brought him here, let alone to the Sodomy Room? Whatever it was, he briefly contemplated if he even wanted to know the truth. He took a deep breath, and turned left.

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Abaddon reach the entrance to the dungeon that housed Cerberus. While grotesque and terrifying in appearance, Cerberus was still a puppy, only 150 years old. Puppies need structure and training before they can be trusted enough to move about this dimension unsupervised. He had only just learned basic commands in the last 80 years or so. 

As he entered, Abaddon noted that same sound that sent chills down his spine earlier,  laughter. He cautiously leaned his head around the corner, hoping to glimpse the scene without being noticed. This way, he could properly prepare himself to capture the little devil creature. From his vantage point, she was facing away from him, and the three heads of Cerberus were watching her gleefully, tongues hanging out, panting from the exhaustive play session with the little girl. She grabbed the red squeaky ball from the mouth of the middle one, waving it in the air for a few seconds before launching it over all its heads. It swiftly turned and ran after the ball as it bounced across the floor.

Abaddon saw his opportunity. Swiftly and stealthily, he crept up behind her. He had removed his long cloak, and threw it over her head, tackling her to the ground before she could react. He immediately felt the blue flames flare inside the cloak. While it was warm to the touch, the magical demon cloak kept most of the flames inside, protecting Abaddon from the blaze. He briefly heard what he thought was a banshee screech, but the cloak muffled that too. Thank Lucifer.

"I can't believe that worked." He said to himself as he stood, holding the cloaked girl tightly in his arms. As he steadied himself, he turned and made eye contact with all three drooling, snarling, puppy heads. Cerberus had witnessed his capture, and did not appear to be pleased with him.

"Good puppies, nice puppies." Abaddon cooed, stepping backward toward the door, while keeping eye contact with the three headed beast. The heads began to growl as they closed in on Abaddon. He reached behind his back and felt for the doorknob. His hand found the smooth round surface of the knob and he turned to run out the door. As he did, he collided with Nigel in the hall. Everyone fell to the ground, the sounds of all three puppy heads smacking against the door echoed through the empty hallway.

Abaddon righted himself in time to see the girl fling off the cloak and sprint away down the hall.

"Dammit, Nigel! I had her! This is your fault. I'll be sure to let the Boss know you're the reason she got away." Abaddon glowered down at Nigel.

"Sorry, Big Guy, I just got word that she was here and wanted to see if I could catch her to bring her to you. Hey, what were you doing down here, anyway? I thought you wanted me to find her and bring her to you. You shouldn't be doing that kind of grunt work, you're too important for that. Why, it's—"

"Nigel, one more word and I will feed you to Cerberus."