2. 2

2

Kassel

“ A nd the final item on the agenda for today,” Oren read out from a dark green binder in front of him that matched his bowtie of the day. “Your vacation forms.”

Kassel stifled the roll of several of his eyes—hopefully all of them—at the words they’d been listening to for the past… however many centuries had gone by since Oren had invaded their lives.

The squishy little human’s type A personality had been unleashed upon them all with a blank check from their resident Prince of Darkness (and simps). A renowned new title moving throughout Hell’s Circles.

Sometimes it got a bit much.

Kassel wasn’t exactly a picky demon. He was more than fine to move with the flow of the bloody stream instead of bothering with fighting against it. But he found himself wistful at times, longing for the days of limbs scattering the halls and memos written in blood on the walls. Nowadays there were designated cleaning teams on rotas, and always, always , more paperwork to fill out. Forms and binders of so many colors and varieties it made even Kassel’s eyes cross.

They tried their best, and honestly, the improvement to their internal organization was noticeable, as much as it felt like its own round of specialized torture. Things began to get done on time. The hellhound pits were flourishing. Upstairs had never been so deliriously happy.

Which was why Kassel was sitting in yet another meeting for ‘upper management.’

Well, that and the fact that their boss, the literal ruler of Hell, was Oren’s boyfriend and was sitting next to him looking at him as if he’d lit the fires of Hell all by himself. None of them could say anything for fear of dismemberment and painful death. Even if they all had better things to do. Jobs to tend to. Sinners to torture.

Kassel in particular had a fresh batch of lustful, self-absorbed assholes to make feel like scum. He’d been looking forward to it. But this meeting was never-ending.

He raised his hand and inspected his claws, the bright blue polish chipping off of the claw on his thumb making him frown. He’d just had them done two days ago at their monthly spa day. Oren had even suggested the addition of purple glitter flakes to go on top to match his skin tone. Initially indifferent, Kassel was actually quietly pleased with how they caught the light of the fires around them.

The downside was that he had been getting even more admiring glances from the rest of the demon horde ever since.

Maybe his title of Mr. Hell was in the bag for another century.

Sigh.

He looked up from his claws as Oren continued to drone on and caught sight of Zorun across the large brimstone table staring into nothing. A certain pair of twins were curled up on his lap, sound asleep like kittens, intertwined onyx limbs and tails overlapping and creating a startling contrast to Zorun’s glowing white skin. It was hard to tell where one started and the other finished.

They’d only had a half hour battle at the start of the meeting, with Zorun placing them back in their seats one by one as they complained and whined and pawed at his four horns. Then Zorun had relocated them across the table, where they’d slipped underneath and crawled their way across five seconds later. This contest of wills had become the precursor to every meeting, and the time Zorun spent putting up a protest was growing shorter and shorter, which seemed par for the course with those three.

Kassel didn’t rightly know why Oren included Azoth and Tarik in the first place. Yes, they were ‘department heads’ as Oren put it, but their willingness to do anything they didn’t want to personally do was absolute zero and had been since their hatching. They spent more time derailing anything going on than listening. But Oren was determined that he could win them over.

Kassel didn’t bother to tell him otherwise.

A sudden splintering sound drew the room’s attention, breaking the monotony.

Jek flushed green in embarrassment, ink staining his hand and claws from where he had broken his pen in half.

“Sssorry,” Jek said, the S hissing from his forked tongue. He shifted his serpent body over and grabbed a new pen before moving back to his place to resume taking notes. In a language no one else could understand.

“One hundred,” Zorun mumbled under his breath.

Kassel shook his head with a small smirk, ignoring Jek’s angry reptilian stare and bared fangs.

Oren knocked a small wooden gavel against the table. “Attention please. We haven’t got too much left on the agenda.”

Which could mean they were going to be here for another decade.

Luc simply sighed lovingly at him, cheek in hand, showing no signs of stopping him. In fact, he seemed more interested in winding his tail up into places they didn’t belong than anything else.

“Now,” Oren continued, pushing his glasses up and carrying on like he wasn’t getting publicly felt up. His ability to multitask was admittedly impressive. “Where was I? Oh yes, vacation. So, if you look at this box here…”

A sudden tug in Kassel’s stomach made him jump in his seat and he slammed his hands down against the table, making everyone jerk their heads toward him. The twins bolted upright in Zorun’s lap, snowy hair tousled and red eyes narrowed and droopy as they searched for the cause of their interrupted nap.

“We were having…” Tarik started.

“…a great dream,” Azoth finished, cuddling up closer to Zorun’s chest and matching his brother’s glare.

“Sorry,” Kassel said, placing a hand over the spot where he’d felt the yank.

“You okay, Kas?” Oren asked, worry written clearly on his face.

“Fine,” Kassel said, feeling the sensation ebb slowly until there was no trace of it anymore. “Slight… pain.”

“You don’t really feel pain,” Zorun said, wings drawing up behind him.

Which was why Kassel felt unendingly confused. He frowned to himself, looking down at the offended area.

“We didn’t do it,” Tarik and Azoth declared sulkily. “You don’t all have to look at us like that.”

Kassel grunted when he felt it again. Stronger this time, more forceful. It made him want to get up from his seat. Move. Leave the place he was in and just go… somewhere. He wasn’t even sure where.

“What’s going on?” Luc demanded of the room, finally out of dreamland.

“Is it your chest?” Oren asked, pointing to a spot on his own skinny body, underneath his colorful sweater vest. “Like right around here?”

“Yes.” Kassel nodded, feeling the sensation disappear once more. “It’s gone now though.”

“Completely?”

“Yes,” Kassel said. He was leaning back to settle in again when another yank lifted him clear out of his chair, his vision flickering.

Some of his eyes were still watching the meeting room and his fellow demons, but a few of them, just on the periphery, were catching something completely different. Lights. Silver. Gemstones. Snow. A book.

A human.

“KASSEL!” He heard Oren screech, and he focused whatever eyes he could on the meeting room. “You’re being summoned!”

“Oh shit,” Luc said.

“What?” Kassel grunted as he felt the tug intensify.

He could almost feel himself flickering out of the room. Fewer eyes were seeing the meeting room, more and more of them staring at a lone human holding a book in his lap.

He felt himself fade even more.

“We’re not done with the meeting!” Oren called after him.

“I’m not controlling this, Oren,” Kassel said through his teeth, his own voice sounding echoey and distant.

“You need to file a formal request to attend to a human summoner and ask for approval,” Oren yelled after him, waving a paper in the air. “This is breaking protocol!”

“That doesn’t even make any sense,” Kassel said.

“You can’t predetermine a summons, hon,” Luc said reasonably.

“But… I color-coded them…”

Oren’s whine faded out, because Kassel wasn’t standing in the meeting room anymore.

He was in the middle of a cramped human room, next to a glittery, decorated tree and in front of a very small, very surprised-looking human being. He was shining brighter than the tree, it seemed. The glow came from within, where Kassel knew his soul was. And this was the kind of soul that only came about once in a century. Just pure goodness. Kassel had never seen it before.

As the human was sitting down, Kassel couldn’t really determine his size accurately, but he seemed short when compared to Kassel. Taller than Oren, though that wasn’t a huge feat.

He had dark, almost pitch-black hair curling on his forehead and tickling his small ears, and huge blue eyes—two of them, like most humans—surrounded by long, dark lashes.

He was wrapped in a fluffy red-and-white knitted blanket, with matching socks poking out of the cocoon. There was a gigantic leather-bound book next to him, Oren’s name proudly etched into the front cover.

Oren had some explaining to do.

Ending his inspection, Kassel turned his eyes toward the human’s again, finding him staring right into the middle ones on Kassel’s face.

Kassel was about to say something, talk the human into releasing his binds and letting him go back home when the human trained the widest smile on him. It was open and friendly and it made something inside Kassel… move. He wasn’t sure what it was. He’d never felt it before. It was fluttery and not entirely pleasant. Something made to be crushed.

“Hi,” the human said, standing up and walking closer. He stood right in front of Kassel, the top of his head reaching the middle of Kassel’s chest. “I’m so happy to see you.”

“You are,” Kassel deadpanned, all of his eyes narrowing.

He was accustomed to weird humans by now. Oren had some very unorthodox reactions to all things hellish. Kassel had been under the impression that Oren was an anomaly—a singular soul designed with a flaw to just understand Hell and appreciate it the way those who were born in it only could. Yet here this creature was. Summoning a demon and acting like it was the best thing to ever happen to him.

“Yes!” the human said, reaching out shyly and offering his hand to Kassel. “My name is Beau.”

Kassel took the offered hand in his, sparkly claws wrapping around the fragile-looking bones. He turned it over and yanked it up toward his eyes, looking for the reason the human had held it out in the first place.

There wasn’t anything special, only the errant thought that the pale skin looked interesting next to Kassel’s lavender tone. His skin was softer than anything they had in Hell.

“Um… you’re Kassel, right?”

He sounded bashful, and when Kassel turned a single eye to him, he found the human biting his lip.

“Yes,” he said shortly.

Beau beamed up at him, giving their joined hands an enthusiastic shake. Kassel allowed the strange motion, letting Beau bring his hand closer to his face this time.

“I like your claws,” Beau said, for some reason rocking onto the sides of his feet and back again. “They’re very festive.”

“Festive?” Kassel repeated, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. His eyes tracked around, the answer niggling at his brain. It had been so long since he’d been topside.

“Oh,” Beau said, breaking their grip and rushing to rearrange some pillows on a hideous green sofa just behind him. He picked up a set of needles and a basket filled with yarn, stuffing them somewhere off to the side of the sofa.

It was like having a small hellpup underfoot. Kassel would have to make sure he didn’t step on him.

He watched the human fuss until he could clear off the majority of the small piece of furniture.

“Please, have a seat. You got here really quickly but I don’t know if the trip was difficult to make. Did you travel safely?”

Kassel tilted his head as he watched him point to the sofa, waiting for him to sit down. So he did. What else was he supposed to do?

The sofa creaked and bowed under his weight. Kassel was pretty sure it was about ready to say goodbye to this earthly realm. As for him, his knees were up against his chest, his tail wrapping around his own thigh in order to fit himself into the small space.

He sighed to himself, looking up to see Beau staring imploringly at him, one of the cushions clutched to his chest and resting under his jutting chin.

Kassel was trying to work out what for when he remembered Beau’s question. “The trip was unexpected, yet quick.”

“Was it painful?” Beau asked, blue eyes going wider as he stepped even closer, his leg brushing against Kassel’s knee. “I didn’t even think of that before calling you here. I apologize if the trip hurt you in any way. It wasn’t my intention. I didn’t even know if it would work when I started reading it out, I just hoped…”

He trailed off and didn’t continue.

“No, it wasn’t painful,” Kassel said, completely dumbfounded by this little human’s knot of worry. It was different from Oren’s whirl of anxiety when someone messed up the filing, or any of his charges whimpering for mercy.

Kassel wasn’t sure what to do with it.

“You’re sure?” Beau asked, his eyes sparkling now like bright gems.

Kassel nodded slowly.

Beau tilted his head at him for a second before smiling again, casting the cushion aside on its cheery face. “Okay, good. That’s nice to hear. I’d hate it if I hurt you in any way. Are you hungry or thirsty? I made some hot cocoa earlier and some cookies. We were supposed to have carolers, and I thought…”

A shadow passed over his face for a fraction of a moment before he shook it off.

“Anyway… I’ll get you some,” Beau continued, turning his back on Kassel and hurrying toward the adjacent room.

He disappeared from sight before Kassel could turn the food down. He wasn’t actually hungry, but the little human was like a jittery steamroller. There was hardly a chance to stop him.

Kassel heard clinking coming from the next room and the whirr of something going around and around. He didn’t bother peering through the wall, because before he knew it, Beau was walking back with a large, steaming mug in one hand and a silver plate in the other.

Kassel sniffed the air, then immediately wished he hadn’t. The cloying sweetness made him want to sneeze. Or dunk himself in a molten bath to burn it away.

“Here.” Beau offered the mug to Kassel, as bright as the lights behind him.

It was in the same shape as the tree in the corner, only with a mound of white stuff sticking out of the top. Kassel wrapped his fingers around it, claws clicking against the surface. He was careful not to apply any pressure, lest he smash the thing to pieces.

“Thank you,” Kassel said awkwardly. It was comically small in his grasp, his fingers nearly wrapping round on themselves. He brought the mug closer to his nose and inhaled tentatively.

He had to stop himself from visibly recoiling.

Or casting it into the deepest reaches of Hell.

“Have a cookie!” Beau chirped enthusiastically, shoving the silver plate under his nose next. “They’re fresh, I promise.”

The cookies in question were weirdly shaped and seemed to give off an aura of goodwill that made Kassel want to retch. No rot. No blood. No delicious sinew. Humans were entirely uncivilized.

Kassel took one between his claws. Bringing it up to all his eyes to examine it in detail.

The feeling of being watched began to creep along his tail, making the hairs on it rise and the end flick.

He turned an eye to the culprit.

Beau was leaning forward on his toes, a breeze away from falling into his lap. Beau didn’t blink, his anticipation flooding the space and making it hard to breathe. Maybe Kassel had a thing or two to learn about staring.

Kassel sighed internally, bringing the cookie to his mouth. One bite had half his eyes closing in disgust and half widening at the weirdest texture he had ever experienced. It tasted like someone had poured sugar over a pile of sand. He stopped himself from spitting it out, forcing the crumbs down his throat.

“Are they good?” Beau asked, fussing with the cookies with one hand though he never broke eye contact. “It’s a new recipe I tried. I’m not great at baking, but I did my best…”

Kassel had no idea if they were passable by human standards or not, but he was pretty sure this recipe was the worst thing that had ever happened to humanity. On the bright side, he could take the rest of the cookies back to Hell and use them to torture the souls in his care.

“I would like the recipe.”

Beau bounced in place, bitten pink lips spreading into a pleased smile over a sound that was high and joyous and grating on the ears. He rushed into the sliver of space next to Kassel on the sofa and sat down, falling into Kassel’s thigh. The furniture groaned in pain, a more familiar and soothing sound.

“So,” Beau said. “How are you? Have I interrupted anything important for you?”

Beau was practically dwarfed in Kassel’s shadow. He had to strain to even keep him in view. “Just a staff meeting. I don’t mind not staying to the end of it.”

“Staff meetings are always boring.” Beau nodded solemnly before brightening a little. “I guess my summoning wasn’t too bad then?”

“Why did you summon me?” Kassel asked, since the subject had been broached anyway.

The shadow was back again, something dark seeping into the air.

Beau scuffed his sock against the worn carpet on the floor for a moment. “Oh, um. It’s almost Christmas and I was waiting for the carolers and then they didn’t—I just… wanted someone around…”

Kassel didn’t really understand any part of that sentence. Humans summoned demons in centuries past usually only for a handful of reasons: death, destruction, power, pestilence. Beau hadn’t mentioned any of those buzzwords.

“So… you don’t want me to do anything?” Kassel checked. Beau shook his head, peeking at him with wide eyes and slightly pouting lips. “Don’t want me to scare someone? Or kill someone for you?”

“Why would I want you to kill someone?” Beau gasped.

Kassel frowned. “Why else would you summon a demon?”

Beau regarded him in complete bafflement, like Kassel was the one not making sense. It was sort of insulting. He wasn’t the one summoning demons from the pits of Hell.

Honestly, this human was really… odd.

And not in the way he was used to with Oren. Kassel could taste innocence on the back of his tongue. It had a different flavor altogether. Not just an innocence of soul like Oren reeked of, but truly an innocence of spirit as well. Like a sin had never crossed his mind even though the stain of sin had touched his skin. Kassel could sense the mark of it. Marks not made by his own hand.

It was hard to pin down, but Kassel wasn’t in that line of work. That was for the higher-ups to decipher when he died. Even if the thought of leaving it alone niggled at his brain like a loose horn, ready to be torn out.

He shrugged off the discomfort and refocused. “I’m here now, so make use of it before I go back.”

Beau had perked up at the start of his sentence, before the ending sent him visibly folding into himself like a sinner after a century of torture. Kassel didn’t feel the satisfaction he usually got from seeing a human crushed so helplessly.

Beau scrambled up from the sofa, not looking at him anymore.

“You… don’t want to be here,” he said quietly, almost whisper-like.

Kassel didn’t bother responding. No demon wanted to be topside. It was unnatural at best.

“I‘m sorry,” Beau said, and Kassel swore he saw something glimmer down his cheek as he bent down to grab the summoning book from the floor. “I shouldn’t have called you here. I should have known you wouldn’t… I’m sorry.”

He muttered under his breath as he frantically flipped through the pages.

“Beau…” Kassel said his name, not sure why the sudden shift in Beau’s demeanor was irritating him.

“You should go back,” Beau said, sniffling. “I won’t keep you here.”

Kassel felt the strange urge to say he could stay. He had no idea why, pausing abruptly to examine the foreign impulse. How… strange. And warm. Before he could work it out, the tug in the middle of his chest started again and Beau’s living room flickered in front of him.

The meeting room reappeared in front of some of his eyes again. Just the peripheral ones at first, then shifting toward the middle, until his body was being pulled away.

The last thing he saw was two shiny sparks rushing down Beau’s cheeks.