I rolled my eyes.
“Yeah, well I don’t have that luxury.”
“Then get to asking,” he said, leaning back against the bench.
I hummed as I debated which question I should ask.
“What happens when people die?”
Lucifer gave me an unamused look. I shrugged. I’d be a fool not to take this opportunity to get the answer to one of humanity’s most controversial questions.
“It depends. If they’re ready to go, they’ll either move on to Heaven or Hell. However, if they have unfinished business here, they’ll roam the Earth until they complete whatever it was they left unfinished.”
“And if they don’t?” I interrupted.
“If they don’t then they’ll continue to roam the Earth until they waste away and move on to where they were supposed to go. But the longer they stay here the more they start to feel again, like being stuck on earth makes them more human again.”
“That doesn’t sound like such a bad thing, though?”
Lucifer shook his head. “Would you like to feel how your body decomposes more with each passing day?”
That shut me up.
“It’s quite unfortunate, though,” he started, glancing at me from the corner of his eye. “Sometimes people who can see them pretend not to, and those ghosts are left to live out the rest of their existence on Earth in as much emotional pain as physical.”
He was saying this because of me, I knew it. How did he find out, though? How long had he known?
I shifted as a sudden urge to get away washed over me.
“Not that I really care,” he said, standing up. I got up with him. “Either way, I’ll get the souls I need.”
“Are you leaving?” I asked. Even in my own ears, I sounded panicked.
“Yes, I’m needed for something in Hell.”
My mind rushed through everything I wanted to ask him but my time was limited and I didn’t know if he’d want to answer a last question. I had to try, though.
“Wait, before you go,” I said, picking at the skin around my nails. “Do my parents have to be the ones who pay you back? Or could someone else do it?”
His expression was one of surprise— like he couldn’t believe I would be asking such a question. To be honest, I even shocked myself. Was I willing to do what my question implied?
“Someone like you?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. My refusal to meet his gaze must’ve been answer enough.
“Look, sweetheart.” My breath hitched at the name. “I wouldn’t recommend it. Yes, it’s possible, but don’t get involved. It messes with a lot of stuff I don’t have time to get into. Just know that nothing good will come out of it.”
Lucifer pulled out a dagger from his pocket and sliced the air. A wide gap opened up and freezing air escaped, whipping around us.
I could barely breathe and I was sure that if Kevin could see me right now he’d be proud of the spot on imitation I was doing of him.
“I’ll be seeing you tomorrow morning, Ms. Evans. Please take care of my hellhounds for me,” Lucifer said right before he stepped through the hole and disappeared.
With his absence, the park was way too quiet and empty for my liking. I looked down at Ella and Diego, who looked up at me with matching bored expressions. I swallowed as I looked around me, wondering how in the world I was going to get two hellhounds and my guitar home without any trouble.
When we finally got home I tried giving them dog food left over from when I pet-sat the neighbor’s dog, but they gagged at it and ran. I tried again with chicken and bacon, which they both ignored. It seemed like nothing on in this world was good enough for them.
Currently, I was sitting on the steps of my backyard eating blueberries and wondering whether or not they might actually feed on human flesh. Lucifer did say they were hellhounds.
They wouldn’t eat me in my sleep, would they?
Ella tilted her head sideways as I popped a blueberry into my mouth. I mimicked her.
“Do you want one?” I asked, holding a blueberry out to her. She sniffed, bobbing her head up and down as she came closer. More delicately than I thought possible for a dog, she took the blueberry between her teeth and bit down.
Somewhere in the background, I could hear Diego snarling but I was too engrossed in the moment with Ella to care. Her ears shot straight up and her tail wagged so hard I was sure she would break a bone. I gave her another blueberry and she actually closed her eyes as she ate.
“Huh. I never met a dog who liked blueberries,” I said as I continued to feed Ella.
Diego turned away from us and his shoulders sagged. My heart broke.
“Hey, bud,” I said softly as I got up. “Do you want to try one?”
He turned enough for me to see his glare.
The crunching of wheels on gravel alerted me to my parents’ arrival. I looked at the two dogs, wondering whether having them so close to my parents was a good idea. With the limited time my parents had left on this Earth, the dogs could pick up on it and decide to end them early.
Could they even do something like that? I had no idea what hellhounds were capable of but I didn’t want to risk finding out.
“Hey, guys, I need you to go inside,” I whispered, reaching out to Ella to push her inside.
Before I could actually touch Ella, Diego’s jaw was around my arm. I flinched back, causing his teeth to break the skin. Blood dripped down my hand as it hung stiffly by my side.
“Okay.” My breath hitched. I was on the verge of losing my mind, I could feel it. “I won’t touch any of you, I promise, but you need to go inside and to the room all the way upstairs.”
Ella ignored me in favor of the blueberries on the ground while Diego growled deep in his throat.
“Please?” I begged. “If they see you here they’ll freak out and I don’t know—”
Before my eyes, they turned into the black and blue smoke that usually followed Lucifer around. It slithered its way inside and from the window I could see it go up the stairs.
“Venus?”
I turned around to see my mother. Her eyes widened when she saw my bleeding hand. “Oh my god, what happened?” She rushed over to where I stood.
“Um.” My mind blanked.
“Venus?” My father asked, walking over to where we were. His eyes narrowed down on me and he crossed his arms.
Oh, right. A question was asked.
“Um, a dog bit me. It was an accident, though. And he didn’t actually bite me, I jerked away and that’s why. Anyway, I’ll just get this cleaned up and…” I all but ran inside the house.
In my bedroom I saw Diego on his hind legs, pushing the lid to Kevin’s tank open.
“No!” I yelled, running over to where Diego stood with his mouth wide open as Kevin eagerly jumped out of the tank.
I caught him right before he disappeared into Diego’s mouth which closed around my hand. Again.
“Let go,” I said with a slight tremor to my voice. I wasn’t sure if it came from fear of these dogs or nerves from Kevin flopping around in my hands.
Diego whined but let go of my hand. I could see little teeth indentations around my wrist as I put Kevin back in his tank and fed him. I added my old science textbooks to the top of his tank so it wouldn’t be easily opened again. Ella watched with twitching ears from her place on my bed.
I ran my hands over my face. “If it wasn’t enough to have a suicidal fish, now I have a fish-eating dog in my room. Great.”
Diego continued to whine at the tank, pawing at it when Kevin swam close to the glass. I furrowed my eyebrows.
“Are you… Do you want fish?” I finally asked.
Both their ears perked up and they turned to face me.
“Okay. I’ll, uh, see what we have,” I said, glancing at Kevin as if he would somehow take offense at my words. “But do not try to eat Kevin again, understood?”
I took the wagging of their tails as a yes.
After another interrogation from my parents and a box of baked fish sticks later, Diego and Ella were sleeping peacefully on my bed. I slumped down on my desk chair and groaned.
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