CODEX Part 2: The Secret Child of the Devil

“Beware for the lost son has returned,” The stranger beamed, "Isn't that how the story goes?"

"Something smells very fishy," Chen whispered to Ezekiel, both getting a chill down their spines when this odd man entered the room.

One step over the threshold was enough to fill the entire space with insecurities. It was such an odd tension in the air as if suddenly all their dirty little secrets were hovering over their heads in bubbles, ready to burst and be known to the whole world.

Zoe had felt this particular way before, although not as intense. She couldn't remember well where which only made her realize it was probably in Hell. The man in front of her was dressed in expensive clothes, he smelled strongly of luxury and opulence, and even the way he stood there was so flashy. His eyes gleamed with malice and mischief and it was obvious that everything was just a game to him.

"Which one are you?" Zoe asked, having no recollection of this man. "Are you...Mammon?"

The man's eyes turned into the darkest red and she swore he became taller and bigger and more authoritarian. It was scary.

“How dare you consider me to be that greedy ant. I am the king of lust and desire, the one who can crush your souls by simply looking into your eyes. My power is endless and so is my domain." He started in a strong voice. He was not playful anymore, he was offended and he was going to make sure they understood who he was.

"Asmodeus...I thought you would be harder to meet in the Upworld," Zoe said, for some reason remembering the term used by tortured souls when they were begging to return to life.

"It is, which is why you should be honoured to be in my presence right now," he said before he turned his eyes on the humans in the room. "One of you tried to make a deal with the devil, right? Well, want another one? A successful one this time,"

"Why would we want a deal with you? Is having sex a sin?" Chen asked, scoffing at the prince of lust. Ezekiel nudged his friend, trying to make him shut up and hope Asmodeus won't kill him but Chen stood by his principles. "What makes lust such a big sin anyway? Babies are made through sex, right? It's necessary. why would it matter what we do behind closed doors?"

The demon prince seemed to take great interest in this little human. It seemed to have brightened his day because all the tension dissipated and they could all breathe in relief.

"I'll keep my eyes on you, boy."

Chen was confused but luckily Ezekiel changed the subject.

“Wait, why are you here anyway? And whose body is that?"

Asmodeus spun twice, showing off his human vessel.

"I'm quite proud of this one. He died last night in Paris due to overwork and a stressful environment. He was living off of coffee and snacks which is a no-no for the heart, but who am I to stop someone from having a heart attack? I'm no angel, right?" He said, laughing at what he believed to be a good joke.

"But wasn't he an angel before?" Chen asked Ezekiel, as silently as possible.

"Shush," Asmodeus replied, "I can hear everything, no matter how low and far. Anyway, I think his name was Guillaume, but you can call me lord or prince or master or sir. All of these appellatives are good,"

"So why are you here?" Zoe asked, feeling tired already.

The demon prince walked towards the edge of her bed and sat there, staring into Zoe's eyes.

“Because it’s fun.”

They waited for him to continue but nothing happened. His eyes widened in excitement when he remembered something.

“Oh, right. I got you a get-well present!” He smirked cockily and snapped his fingers, “Tah Dah!”

In front of them appeared a demon that resembled a bigger, more grotesque form of Dobby, the house-elf from Harry Potter. He didn’t seem to give a care about what was going on, he actually looked tired and haggard as he was holding tightly onto a leash. He didn't bring a dog with three heads but a human man who had a black collar around his neck.

“Hans,” she whispered, not entirely surprised after what she learned about the Lost Boys. Her eyebrow started to twitch while she added, “Why did you bring him to me? He tried to kill me,”

“Because no one escapes his fate and this little lost boy here expected to run away from me,” Asmodeus said, the grotesque elf pulling the leash so that it made Hans fall on his knees.

Asmodeus was genuinely enjoying Hans' suffer from the side and, to be honest, so did Ezekiel.

“What do you want me to do with him?” Zoe asked, her eyes still on the hunter.

As a matter of fact, Hans looked completely fine except for the situation he was in. That was quite the view and she was lying if she was telling someone that she wasn't content after Hans tried to kill her friends.

“Oh, believe me, he will be more than helpful when you will have to face that stupid cult. He knows dark magic better than the alphabet.” The demon explained before he remembered something that made him smile, "Besides, you asked me for the address to the house, didn't you? Nothing comes for free, Zoe. We'll see each other again, don't worry," he said and all three of them vanished in thin air.

After such a day, Zoe wanted nothing else than to sleep and rest. Unfortunately, she couldn't have peace in her dreams either. She didn't know when it happened, but at one point she found herself in a garden of lilies.

"I see you're fine," came the voice of the one demon she both hated and loved.

“You’re here for real, aren’t you?” she asked meekly, having no energy to fight.

He only stared at her with an irritated expression. It made her feel really annoyed because she didn't ask for him in the first place and yet he came, on his own, and still managed to look as if she forced him to be there.

“Lilies can be deadly if you keep them in your room while you sleep,” he stated in that particular way of his as if she was just a responsibility he had to deal with.

“But they are pure and beautiful,” she muttered touching one softly.

“And potentially deadly. Just because something looks beautiful doesn’t exhort it from being rotten at the core," he said and approached her slowly. "Sometimes what is beautiful can also be poisonous and toxic, which is why you should get rid of them."

“Is that what you want to do? You plan on running away, lying to me and to yourself that you're doing it out of a sense of benevolence?” She asked, growing angry.

“We both know that my role here has ended. You and Beelzebub met each other, you came into your power and you're doing well. You don't need me,”

"But I want you to be here," she emphasized what he already knew.

“You don't need a demon to watch over you anymore. Especially not one that has developed human feelings,” Mehrdir informed her and looked to the side not prepared yet to look at the disappointment in her eyes.

“But I do want you around, one form or another. Why are you so afraid of me?” Zoe asked, feeling like the conversation was going in circles.

The corners of his lips twitched but he did his best not to smile.

“I had an obsession with the commander. You were right, it didn’t matter who he was. It’s not you as a person, it’s the title and what comes with it. That was what truly mattered to me.”

She narrowed her eyes and took a few steps closer but he didn’t budge from his spot.

“You expect me to believe a liar like you?”

He tilted his head to the side and stared innocently at her with those doey black eyes of his.

“Yes. That is exactly what I expect.”

Zoe stopped right in front of him and stood there, not knowing how to make him understand what she wanted from him. His eyes darkened and his handsome mask fell apart, showing his true figure in hope that she will be shocked and back away.

“You don’t matter Zoe, the prophecy does. Demons will always put their own desires before anything and anyone else.” He said in a voice that sounded like him but it also seemed to be lower and raspier.

With that said, Mehrdir turned his back to her and started to walk away. As he was getting further from her, even in a stupid dream, she felt this overwhelming sense of property mixed with desire and she ended up rushing after him.

“You’re mine,” she said, grabbing his wrist and stopping him.

Once she said those words, Mehrdir felt a sensation that was similar to what Iaosur went through in Hell. He felt this surge of energy enter his being and it went straight to his head. All the human feelings that he had developed became twice more intense, to the point he couldn't keep his balance. It would be what people call the 'spark' that appears when you meet someone you love and you touch them. It's electricity that makes your whole body react and it's constant.

Zoe might have not known what she did but he was aware and he could have avoided it if he truly wanted to.

“I am a demon too, remember? Do you think that I am not selfish and greedy? I'm just able to control it better,” she continued in a softer voice.

The demon sighed and pushed her aside. He disappeared without a response and without glancing at her.

They both knew that her comment was false. If that were true, she wouldn't have sacrificed herself for a few ghosts.

Two days after her dream, the doctor assured Zoe that she was prepared to go home. It seemed that her wounds healed completely –and miraculously, at that- and she was in perfect shape. However, there was one small problem.

“You’re free to go home, Zoe.”

“Yes, mom. I’m going home.”

Both women knew exactly what they wanted and none was ready to give in.

“No. Home, in Essex. I’m not joking, Zoe. So many things happened in so little time. I called the number you gave me, written on your supposedly business card. They knew nothing about Zoe Lestrade and they told us you don’t work there. Actually, it seems you don’t have a job at all!” Mrs. Lestrade raised her voice quite a bit.

Zoe didn’t seem to react as badly as Ezekiel imagined. she seemed bothered with other thoughts.

“I’m not a child anymore. You can’t tell me what to do. You can’t grab my hand and drag me into a mental hospital just because you are my mother. You have no power over me now.” she said coldly as she took what little things she had with her.

Mrs. Lestrade stared at her daughter in shock.

“You don’t know how harsh life is! You have no idea how troublesome it is out there. No matter what you do and how much you try to live on your own, in the end, you are nothing but a rich girl. You can’t live without us.”

That was harsh, moreover coming from her mother. Even Chen flinched and he has already seen Ezekiel's mother who was an overly overprotective woman.

“It’s alright. I don’t have to live,” Zoe responded in the same nonchalant manner, “You killed me a long time ago. I’ve been aimlessly walking through life ever since you first blocked everyone from seeing me. You made me like this.” She glared at her mother and left.

Mrs. Lestrade was speechless.

“Um-“

Ezekiel and Chen were reluctant. Zoe was mad and she wanted to vent her anger on someone but neither wanted to be there for her to do that. Ezekiel experienced it already and she wasn’t even awakened back then.

“We should call someone to calm her down,” Chen stated. That was a good idea, but who?

“I have no idea what to do. She’s been in a bad mood for three days already. She smacked Mark’s smile off as soon as he entered her room.” Ezekiel replied in his defense.

The boys sighed at the same time.

Zoe wasn’t as angry as she sounded, though. She was having some problems with controlling her emotions and that was obvious but truthfully, everything was going against her.

Asmodeus appeared while Mehrdir decided to leave and that was the worst decision he took among many others. She needed him yet he couldn’t accept her and her feelings and it hurt.

“Dammit!”

Zoe ended up in the park, where she hoped she could have a revelation. It was noon and it was full of kids, to her misfortune but she managed to find an empty swing and just take everything in.

“Why did it have to be me,” she muttered, feeling wronged for so many reasons.

“You’re running away once again.”

She raised her head and met a pair of brown eyes and bright blond hair.

“Do I know you?” she asked looking around before focusing on his face.

The boy tilted his head to the side and stared at her.

“Of course you do. Just because we haven’t seen each other in a while, it doesn’t mean I’m still not connected to you.”

“Andrew?” she asked, finally seeing his ghostly form inside this young man. “You possessed an innocent person in order to talk to me in the middle of the park.” She stated once she realized how weird it was.

Suddenly, she kind of got it. Everyone around her became darker once they met her, except the demons and they all started to take very questionable decisions.

“This place is full of people. I can't make you look like a crazy person even if you are one.” Andy added quickly, practically excusing his actions, “I know that I’ve been a bad friend lately. However, you came and saved me. You saved all of us.”

She started to swing back and forth, not much but enough not to look suspicious.

“You saw Hell.” The ghost finished dramatically.

“I saw what expects me on the other side. Weirdly enough, I felt like I belonged there more than anywhere I’ve ever been; more than home.”

“You felt that because you had demons that more or less cared about you. Eneizar, Iaosur, Mehrdir and Beelzebub, they are the demons that protect you no matter what.”

“Because I’m the commander.”

Andrew sighed heavily and grabbed a hand through his hair before he took the position of a nagging lady.

“You really haven’t changed, have you? They do that because they need you, yes, but there’s something that connects you to them, much like you did to Ezekiel. Besides, you have me, that idiot, and Chen. We’ve been drawn to you with a reason and even when that reason will disappear, we’ll still be here for you because we care.”

It was weird and dramatic but it soothed her heart. Andrew was taken aback when the most insufferable woman he had met grabbed his hand and squeezed it lightly.

“Thank you,”