"No!" I cried. "You can't make me go back to her!"

"I don't make those decisions," said Ahuheya.

I stumbled and collapsed onto my knees, tears streaming down my cheeks.

"You have one minute to collect your wits," she said apathetically. She didn't even care that I would be a slave soon, to the person whom I had murdered because she damaged me.

Maybe it was better to tempt someone to murder. Better than being slave to that monster. I couldn't go back to her again.

Anything would be better than that.

No. I couldn't tempt someone to do what I had done. I couldn't hurt people like that.

I supposed I deserved this. I was never good enough. I never did enough. I never showed my father enough love before he died. I never could please my... mother... except physically in ways that made my skin crawl. Living with Giovanna was a hell in itself. I hadn't been truly happy for a very, very long time. Longer than I could remember.

And I was the one who committed the murder. I could have easily stopped that towel from falling and lighting up the house, but I didn't. No matter how many times I tried to rationalize it, it was always the same: I knew I as good as murdered her.

This was my punishment. My eternal punishment. To never be good enough, to never get respite from suffering. Whatever god, gods, demon, or demons ruled the universe... they wanted me to suffer. If I somehow got out of this, I knew there would be another hell waiting for me, most likely with Giovanna in it. Because I had tried to escape my hell in the mortal world... and ended up in this hell.

Heaven despised me.

What could you do when your entire existence was cursed?

I would be Giovanna's slave for eternity and I would be broken into as many pieces as there were atoms in the universe by the end of it.

My cheeks were with with those murky black tears we demons cried as I looked up at Ahuheya.

"Time's up," she said. Was that a tremor in her voice? No. I was just trying to make myself feel better by thinking that something in her felt sympathy for me. I wouldn't feel sympathy for myself if I were in her position. I was the worst of the worst. A murderer.

I slowly stood and said, "Take me to Giovanna." My voice was flat and dead.

We walked to a large door and then she said, "This is where Giovanna will take you to her home."

Then she pulled out a glowing blue... scroll? It appeared to have the physics of paper but was translucent and blue.

"These are the terms of your contract," she said and handed it to me.

I read through it quickly. It was simple overall: do everything Giovanna expected of me or she had the right to punish me with physical harm, mental harm, or withdrawal of payment. Escape measures would be met with legal action.

Why did no one question such a horrific system?

Oh, no, it was obvious why. This was hell. The people in power were literally evil, and almost literally omnipotent. And the non-evil ones were stuck in the bottom of the hierarchy.

When the most evil people in this world had the power to conjure planets from thin air, when the rulers of the city could change your entire history and erase you from existence with a thought, there was nothing one could do against them.

And because those of us who regretted our sins just couldn't move up in the power hierarchy, what could we do about it?

I took a deep breath and walked through the door.

The room inside was a small sitting room, with a large doorway to the right that showed one of those flying cars.

Sitting on a couch was that woman. That monster. She was dressed in a long red strapless dress.

I almost didn't notice the man next to her. He was tall, and ridiculously handsome, with pale blue skin, and his muscles bulged through his rather tight suit. He had large, curling red horns and his eyes were not black but had silver irises.

I recognized him. I'd seen his face all over the city.

Next to me, Ahuheya gasped and fell to one knee.

"Lord Satan," she breathed.

The ruler of hell.

I didn't kneel. I didn't exactly have anything to lose if Satan himself decided to punish me. Nothing could be worse than being Giovanna's slave.

"How has hell treated you, son?" asked Giovanna, her eyes connecting with mine. Though demons had no distinct pupils and irises, you could still tell where they were looking through some sort of intuitive feeling.

My first reaction was to bow my head and mumble a polite 'fine.' To cower before this woman who had taken so much from me.

But why should I do that?

I owed her nothing. She could do nothing worse to me than simply being in my presence.

So I stood up straight, calmly looked her in the eye, and said, “You lost the right to call me ‘son’ a long time ago.”

Her eyes flashed but she did nothing. Satan laid a hand on her arm, smiling slightly.

“I suppose you’re wondering why me and Satan are together,” she giggled.

“Satan and I,” I said, just to piss her off.

She glared. “We were dating since before I ended up here.”

Somehow, that was almost funny. “Let me get this straight: you cheated on my dad with the Devil?”

“I prefer to say that we had a secret romance which that man wouldn’t approve of,” she replied.

“That’s nice,” I said dryly. “Did you meet on Tinder or something? Never mind. Let’s get this over with. I’m your slave from now. You need to sign this contract.”

I tossed it to her and Satan’s hand shot out to grab it.

His eyes met mine. Giovanna’s gaze had made my skin crawl, but his didn’t really. I bet my cruel, pedophilic, manipulative mother was ten times the devil Satan ever was.

Giovanna touched the contract and it glowed. “I accept,” she said. The contract burst into flames and vanished.

Then Satan and Giovanna stood up and began walking to the opening where I could see that flying car waiting.

I followed them, and as I did I turned to look at Ahuheya.

There was an expression on her face perhaps somewhat akin to pity.

I turned away. I didn’t want to see it.