Devil's Advocate

Purgatory was exactly as Angelique remembered it. Dank. Dreary. Grey and cold. Angelique didn’t bother taking any time to look around this time. She moved straight to Victoria’s cell, cell 14. She peeked in the cell and just about stepped back. Victoria was in there, but there was a wild look in her eyes, which were bloodshot and wide. Dark circles sat under her eyes and her cheek bones stuck out. Her hair was wispy and looked like it was falling out in chunks, one very noticeable chunk missing on the right side of her head. Her clothes were covered in splatters, some looked like food, others looked like dirt, and a few looked like blood. She felt her blood run cold.

“Victoria?” she asked. Her wild eyes snapped towards Angelique and the relief that filled them was palpable.

“Angelique.” She croaked out her name, like she had been screaming for hours and her voice was almost gone. She stepped forward, and Angelique had to fight to keep still.

“You came back to see me. They didn’t think you would.” She said.

“They?” Angelique asked. Victoria leaned forward.

“The voices. Can you hear them? They are always so loud.” Angelique was beginning to think Victoria was going insane.

“There aren’t any voices.” She started to explain, but a familiar voice to the left caught her attention and cut off her train of thought.

“You don’t hear them because only she does. It’s the voices of everyone she knew in life, telling her what she did wrong.” Angelique turned, surprised to see Lucifer standing there. He was looking at Victoria with the closest thing she had ever seen to pity in his eyes. Angelique crossed her arms, not out of annoyance, but to fight the sudden chill she felt.

“That sounds maddening and horrible.” She mused, looking at Victoria, who was pacing her cell with her hands clenched. “How long does she have to stay here?”

“Souls don’t have a concept of time.” He answered with an elegant shrug. “But in your terms, for every year she was alive, she spends the equivalent of 10 here.” There was no mistaking the pity in his tone. Angelique found pity to be an odd color for the devil to wear.

“I thought you would be all for this torturous punishment type thing.” She said, confused. Lucifer shot her a sharp look.

“First off, they call this atonement. She is having to atone to avoid eternal punishment, she is not enduring it. This is nothing compared to the torture that exists in hell. Secondly, I do not relish the punishment of children. As I said, that is not my jurisdiction.” Angelique wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but her time was limited and she didn’t know how long she had left, so she let it go and turned her attention back to Victoria.

“Victoria, I need more information. Can you tell me what state you’re from?”

“K-Kansas.” She managed to stutter, scooting a bit closer to Lucifer. Angelique was about to make a comment about how Lucifer had an admirer, but she then realized. He was warm. He was emitting heat. She held her tongue.

“That doesn’t make any sense though.” She mused, thinking about it. Victoria looked at her.

“He drove me for a long time. A really long time.” She answered Angelique’s musing.

“That doesn’t help me.” Angelique was getting frustrated. Lucifer cleared his throat.

“What exactly is it you’re trying to figure out?” he asked.

“We narrowed down our search of Scott to two houses, both in different states. But we’re not sure where to even begin looking with those two. Neither state is Kansas.”

“Which state is closer?” Lucifer asked. She shrugged.

“Actually I think it’s pretty close.”

“Have you checked the file?” he asked then. Angelique gave an annoyed glare.

“Yes. I checked the inconvenient plot device. I think he’s figured out I have something like this. He keeps changing locations, or changing his mind as to where he’s going to live, or something. I’m running out of ideas.” She resisted the urge to clench her teeth as the devil smirked at her. Out of the corner of her eye she watched Victoria scoot even closer to him, her fingers trembling. She let herself be distracted for just a moment.

“Is there anything you can give her? She’s freezing.” The devil raised his eyebrow, but snapped his fingers. Victoria looked immediately relieved, her body relaxing a bit as her fingers lost their tremble.

“Thank you. Thank you.” She was whispering, curling up on the floor in what appeared to be a comfortable fetal position. The devil nodded his head at Victoria, then looked at Angelique.

“I could count that as your favor. But I won’t. As for your problem, if I were you, I would look up where they found Victoria’s body.” Angelique felt like slapping herself in the face. Why hadn’t she thought of that? She nodded her head.

“Thank you. For the information, and for that.” She gestured at Victoria. The devil looked slightly stricken for a moment before he collected himself and glanced at her with his cool fire blue eyes.

“Don’t thank me for doing what I can to keep children out of my domain.” He answered. He glanced at a watch, a watch Angelique was curious about the reason he had, since he said souls had no concept of time. Her question answered itself when he said, “Your time is about up. Do you want to go before you’re jerked away?”

“How?” she asked, looking around for any sign of an exit. Lucifer gestured towards an area behind her, an area shrouded in black.

“Just walk back that way. Just like how you got here. Did I not mention that the first time?” He grinned at her like the cat that ate the canary. Angelique glared, not even bothering to respond. She knew darn good and well that he knew he had not. She nodded, deciding to not acknowledge his question.

“Thank you. Both of you.” Angelique looked over at Victoria, wanting to reach out. Wanting to comfort her. But she didn’t know what to say. Instead she glanced back at the devil.

“Please take care of her. She doesn’t deserve this.”

“Sweetheart.” Lucifer answered, his tone condescending. “Most of the people here don’t.” Angelique wanted to ask more, but she began to feel a strange sensation, a feeling of being heavy and getting stuck. She didn’t bother sticking around, but ran back towards the darkness, a jerking sensation hitting her right before she got there. Her time was up. She raced back home.