Chapter 1

Prologue

Tammy.

My name is…was Tammy. I died last night. My miserable life wasn’t something to shout about, but damn it, it was mine. Kind of. Oh it’s a sob story really. I was a suppressed timid little thing. My Dad was a drunk and verbally abused me with the rest of the world. My Mother walked out when I was so young I don’t remember her. I worked at a local supermarket and never saw a penny of my pay cheque. Not with my father’s habit to feed. In hindsight, I could have moved out at 18 and got my own place, but I was too afraid to leave him. He told me often enough he wouldn’t let me leave ‘like your bitch of a mother did’, so I didn’t even try. 

If I had, then I wouldn’t be dead right now. Last night was the first, and last time, I stood up for myself. Good old Dad was loaded again and wouldn’t let me leave the kitchen and hide in my room as usual. He made me a shivering mess, sobbing, as he hurled abuse at me. He called me worthless and wished I was never born. That I was a waste of space and air. 

The knife…was just there. After 27 years of this hell, I just…snapped. I’m not a bad person, and had I thought about what I was about to do, I wouldn’t have done it. But I grabbed that knife, I think to chop up whatever food I was trying to make for dinner, when he came at me. He had a bottle in his hand and was so angry I just…thrust the knife forward into his abdomen. I only did it once, and I was horrified afterwards, crying and shaking, but my father didn’t give me a chance to do anything else. He fisted at my long brown hair and slammed my head down onto the kitchen counter. 

The next thing I know, I am falling like I’ve rolled out of a plane mid-air. I scream and flail my limbs as I come to, only for an invisible force to yank me to hover a few inches above the ground, before letting me go to land with a huff. I’m wearing the same tatty trainers, blue jeans, and grey hoodie I was when my father killed me. The hood flops forward over my head and I roll onto my side, before I anxiously drag myself to huddle against the wall. 

I wasn’t sure where this was, at first, as it looked like a city with neon lights and skyscrapers. It took me a moment, huddled against a cold brick wall and shaking, eyes wide and jumping at every noise, to realise that the sky had eight moons in it. Eight! The night sky had a red tinge to it, and black figures with wings flew back and forth up high. If that wasn’t enough to tell me where I am, I saw my first demon step out of a limo and look down at me like I’m the one out of place. 

He is wearing black stiletto thigh high heels, black leather hot pants, a waist corset, his flat pecks on full view, a studded collar around his neck, and long black gloves to his biceps. His outfit wasn’t even the strangest thing about him. His skin was dark grey and he had a pair of small glossy horns curving up from his long white hair. His eyes were yellow and his teeth sharp as he licked them at me. 

“Oh. New arrival huh? I know the look.” He kicks the limo door shut and the vehicle drives off. The strange man thumbs the corner of his mouth and then drops into a dramatic squat in front of me. His knees jutting out like he’s dropped into a pole dancer pose, and his wrists hang off his knees. I refuse to look between his legs, or at the long grey forked tail slithering over his right thigh. “I’m Vinnie. Welcome to Hell, you damned little dame. Oh, you know you’re dead and in Hell, right?” 

“…I…but…” I blink and tears well in my eyes. “But…I…” 

A massive wolf the size of a horse gallops down the middle of the road and Vinnie doesn’t bat an eye. 

“I thought you were a revenant, at first glance. You’re pale enough.” Vinnie made me flinch as he grabs my chin with one hand, and the other throws my hood back. “Hm. Solid though and capable of talking sense, kinda. No horns yet. You’re fresh off the cart, huh?” He releases my face and cocks his head to one side. “Any idea what kind of demon you are toots?” 

“Demon?! I-I’m not a demon!” I screech and Vinnie’s smirk is sadistic. 

“Oh, poor thing, you most certainly are. You just haven’t grown into your horns yet. But you will. I tell you what?” He rubs his thighs with his hands and giggles at me. “I need a roommate. Last one, er, left, so why don’t you come home with me and you can get a job and split the rent with me? Best deal you’ll get on these streets tonight. Trust me.” He fluidly pumps his thighs and stands over me with a hand offered. “Fresh little thing like you will end up ass up or chained up in no time if you aren’t careful. Come on poppet.” I’m not sure I want to go anywhere with this monster, but when I hear a blood curdling scream down the street, I scramble up to my feet and take his offered hand.

I’m shaking like a leaf as he walks me with confidence down the pavement. “Good girl. Oh, are you a girl? Sorry, should have asked. It makes no difference, don’t worry.” He winks at me and I keep looking around us as grotesque figures come and go from the surrounding buildings. Demons with horns, wings, fangs and claws. I yelp and hold onto Vinnie tighter when two demons tumble onto the hood of a car to our right. Ripping into each other and throwing chunks of flesh and clothing around. “Fucking animals.” Vinnie rolled his eyes and stops to curse out the two demons. “Jo! Harv! Move that shit off the road you sadistic fucks.”

“Oh why Vinnie? You want to join in?” One of them arches against the car and grins, teeth bloody and licking his lips at my saviour. 

“You can’t afford me, and I am paid extra for blood play. Fuckers.” Vinnie gave the pair one of his manicured middle fingers. 

“Ah come on. Are you just afraid you’ll get lock jaw around my dick?” 

“I’m more likely to fall asleep waiting to see if you’ve put it in yet, needle prick. Now move that shit, off the road! You are freaking out the new arrival.” 

“Oh, sorry.” My eyes are wide and I’m hyperventilating as ‘Jo and Harv’ suddenly look at me with an apology and roll off the car. “Welcome to Hell new guy.” 

“Is she a succubus Vinnie?” 

“I don’t know, and even if she is, she’s with me now, so you can’t afford her either.” Vinnie huffed, raising his chin high, and marched ahead with my arm looped with his. “Shit I said her, again. Are you a girl? Or a Boy? Or Non-binary or-”

“I-I’m a girl. Tammy.” I answer meekly and huddle to his arm. “Are you…?” 

“I’m all man. Vincent, but I go by Vinnie. Or if the client pays well enough, bitch or honey.” He winks at me and leads the way to a building with most of the neon letters devoid of any light. “Home hellish home. I’ll give you a crash course on your new eternity later, but right now I’ll get you settled and some rest. And booze. Yeah, I remember needing a lot of liquor when I first woke up here.”

Vinnie said hello to everyone we passed, swearing and threatening most of them with a grin, as we headed to a dingy elevator. The lights flickered on and off as we rode to the top floor and the penthouse suite. Every surface was cow print, glittery, or pink. Vinnie locked the door behind me and I wasn’t sure if I felt more, or less safe when he put six deadbolts on the door, three chains, and locked a padlock the size of my fist. “Okay. Are you a vodka or a vodka kind of girl?” I blink, wondering if I misheard him, when he laughed and stepped out of his thigh high boots. “Vodka it is.” He tugs at the cords at the back of his corset so he’s only wearing the hot pants and gloves. Then the gloves come off too and I’m not sure where to look. “Oh, I have no fucking shame. I’m an incubus so this is pretty modest, for me. In fact, just for you, I’ll go find one of my dressing gowns. Hang on.” He turns around, shoves his shorts down, leaves them on the floor strewn like the rest of his outfit, and walks…naked…away from me. “Where did I put it?” 

I glance around the apartment, seeing most surfaces have clothes dumped here and there. “Ah, here we go.” Vinnie returns with a white silk dressing gown tied around his waist. “Now for that vodka.” He bounces on his feet, dancing around the kitchen as he grabs two bottles of vodka. “Ooo.” I blink when he holds up a cellphone and taps his fingers across the screen. “Sugar daddy just paid me my cut. Take out is on the cards tonight!” He does a happy dance and saunters over to me. I haven’t moved an inch since he let go of me. “Still in shock honey? Here, have some liquid ‘fuck my afterlife’ juice.” He hands me the bottle of vodka and swats my backside with his tail. “Come on. Sit down Tammy. It’s time for the talk.” 

Vinnie coaxes me to drink from the bottle and I splutter at the strength of it. 

“That’s vodka?” 

“Brewed in Hell? Yup. Now feel free to get wasted tonight. You get a free pass the first night, but I’m not mopping up your puke if you get nasty drunk. Disclaimer right there.” He swigs his own bottle and shuffles to sit closer to me on the pink tiger print sofa. “So firstly, how did you die?” I look away, struck by the question. “I died when the husband of the woman I was diddling came home and stabbed me in the back.” I gasped with shock and Vinnie shrugged. “I was a hooker in life. Fornication is a sin, amongst the many other fucked up things I did. My afterlife isn’t all that different from my life in that respect. My Pimp is still a greedy asshole, but this one pays on time, so that’s a step up I guess.” He giggles at me and nods for me to have my turn in sharing. I look down into the bottle, my long hair sliding forward and I am distracted by the colour of it. I thrust my right hand up to hold a lock up for inspection. 

“I…I’m a brunette…but my hair is black?” I turn my hand and release my hair, gasping that my skin is bone white. 

“And your eyes are black. You’re rocking the grudge look.” Vinnie giggled and after tapping his cell a few times, he turned it around so I could see it in selfie mode. He’s right. I touch my cheeks, shocked at how pale I am. My eyes are fathomless black, as are my lips. “Do you think I looked like this when I was alive?” I blink, releasing more silent tears, and look at Vinnie. White hair? Horns on his head? Grey skin? No I suppose he’s right. “You’re a demon now. How did you die?” He get’s back to the point and I sigh. 

“My…father.” I clear my throat and nod, surrendering. “He has been cruel to me my whole life. I was reaching for a knife to chop up dinner and he was shouting and calling me…horrible things. He’d been drinking and…”

“You snapped?” Vinnie chuckled and cupped his right cheek. “What did you do?” He giggled and gave a psychotic grin. 

“I stabbed him.” I hung my head forward and rubbed the sleeve of my hoodie against my face. Sobbing with shame. 

“You killed him?” 

“I-I don’t know, but I stabbed him, and then he grabbed my head and bounced my face off the kitchen counter.” I can’t rub my face fast enough to catch the tears, I’m sobbing so hard. “A-and then I was falling and I woke up here.” 

“Ah. Fucker killed you. Let me see.” Vinnie swigged from his bottle and gave me an appraising look. “Were you livid when you stabbed him?” 

“No. I think I blacked out or something. I was shocked when I-I saw what I did and I wanted to call for an ambulance, but then he grabbed me and…killed me.” 

“A huh, a huh.” Vinnie nods and pushes the bottle in my right hand to put it back in my mouth. “So you didn’t die of wrath then. Any addictions when you were alive?” 

“Addictions?” I blink up at the Incubus, not something I ever thought I would be doing, and he licked the vodka from his lips with a grin. 

“Drugs? Alcohol? Smoking? Gambling? Sex addiction or anything fun like that?” 

“No.” He pouted and then took a moment to ask me another question. 

“So what kind of job did you have? What kind of person were you? Like? Sarcastic and angry all the time?” 

“Oh no. I-I worked at a supermarket and I was always very polite to the customers.” 

“Oh.” He grumbled and tapped the rim of his bottle against his gray lips. “So you stabbed your deadbeat daddy, but it was a spur of the moment sort of thing you insta-regretted. You were a timid mouse when you were alive, and you didn’t have any addictions. Shit. I don’t have a clue.” 

“A clue about what?” 

“What kind of demon you are honey, of course.” He chuckled and put the bottle back in my mouth. “I was a man-slut in life, chasing sex and money, not always in that order, so when I died, I became an Incubus. Sex demon.” He clarified. “I was trying to figure out what kind you’re going to be since you don’t have your horns yet. Ah well. We’ll just have to wait for those bad boys to pop out on their own.” 

“Is that how you tell what kind of…Demon someone is?” 

“One of the obvious ways. Mine are ram-like, see? Typical sex demon feature are ram horns. Oh, that and our sexy as sin bodies.” He shimmied his shoulders, then snorted and swigged more of his vodka. “You’re not a succubus. I can tell that already.” 

“Oh, okay.” I feel the warmth of the vodka start to seep through my body and I sniffle away the last of my tears. “I…can’t belive I’m dead. And in Hell.” 

“And the roommate of an Incubus, who tomorrow, will take you to see Barbas.” 

“Who?” 

“Our regional president. He’ll get you working ASAP. Which is good, because then you can pull your weight around here, roomie.” He winked at me and clinked his bottle with mine. “Drink and sleep Tammy. Tomorrow we head out and find your place here in Hell.” 

“…” I whimper, overwhelmed about the fact I’m dead, I was murdered, I’m a demon, and I’m in hell. I sob and glug three swigs of vodka. Vinnie slides off the sofa and I turn on my seat to look at him. “Thank you.” 

“What for?” He looks at me with confusion. 

“I was really scared when I woke up here. I’d still be out there on the street had you not taken me with you. Thank you.” 

“…” Vinnie folded his arms and looked off to one side. “I’m not your friend, Tammy. I’m a demon. I need a roomie, and you are in no position to refuse. That…” He hesitated and then shrugged one shoulder at me. “…and I was out on the street sucking dick for scraps for weeks before Barbas found me a steady gig so…you’re welcome.” He turned his back to me and sauntered off towards what I assume was his bedroom. I lay down on the sofa and cry into the arm of my hoodie, the vodka discarded and forgotten. I was never much of a drinker. But crying? That I’m an expert at. 

Note from the Author- 

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