Hell. There are a lot of people who use the concept lightly. "It's hot as Hell" or "Go burn in Hell," but they don't realize what Hell is. They haven't seen it. They haven't looked at the lake of fire, and the evil that dwells there.

I have.

I know what Hell really is.

How?

Because my blood flows with it.

That may be a bit to take in. Not many people even truly believe in Hell so it's expected. Or at least not the true Hell. They believe in a place of eternal torment where evil souls go to be punished at the whim of a God. After having glimpsed the true nature of Hell I understand why it gets explained that way.

That Hell is nice.

That Hell is a place where only those who offend the self-righteous go. That Hell is where Demons are locked away to suffer along with the rest of the evil doers so that they can't harm any of the "good people." That Hell is a lie.

The true Hell. The Real Hell is not a cage for evil. It's a home. It's where they live and have fun when they aren't dragging souls back to do indescribable things to. And not just evil souls. They take anyone they want back with them.

So why don't they just overrun the earth and take anyone they want back with them and murder everyone else? There are two very good reasons. Angels and The Lucifuge. Angels may be completely full of themselves and only as useful to humanity as Demons are, but they don't like Demons taking their toys. And The Lucifuge? They are people like me. Men and women who have Hell itself flowing through their veins. Some say it's the bloodline of Satan himself. For some reason or another they are able to accept their birthright without the inherent evil consuming them, and they use it to fight back.

Now that doesn't mean all of them do. There are some who give themselves to the darkside of the power. When this happens they become foes to be reckoned with. This story isn't about them though.

This story is about The Lucifuge, or rather one particular member.

This is my story.

"Jason!" Albert yelled from over his desk. "How many times have I told you not to...!"

Yep. That was a pretty average Monday morning. Come in get yelled at for all the property damage caused by my "exploits." What can I say? No one ever gets a medal for saving people from the legions of Hell.

"Jason, are you even listening to me!" Albert shouted at me again. Albert was the head of the northeastern US branch of The Lucifuge. He was my boss. And he really like yelling.

"Of course I am," I replied politely with a smile. Of course I wasn't. I was thinking about what my medal would look like. I knew what the gist of what he was saying was anyway.

Secrecy was important. We have to operate undercover or we would be up to our necks in so many supernatural badies that the words royally screwed would not even begin to describe the shit we'd be in. Blah blah blah.

He never mentions the people I saved. Never once has he commended me for wiping out this evil or that. Come Monday all he wants to talk about was how much of a mess I'd made.

"Okay, you seem to be missing the point," he said turning around to face the large flat screen television that sat behind his desk, and turned it on. "I want you to read what it says."

"Uhm.. Salem industrial park burns after an electrical fire caused a massive blaze late last night. No one was injured but the damages are estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands," I read in a calm monotone voice appending at the end, "A young woman and her small child were saved from a horrible death at the hands of a wrath demon by one incredibly handsome Jason Rayne."

I shot him my most innocent smile, "They may have exaggerated me just a little bit but compliments are always appreciated."

He turned around and the look on his face scared me. Genuinely scared me. I mean I face demons on a regular basis and don't flinch, but his unwavering gaze froze me cold. "This is no laughing matter," he replied his voice ice, "you may have saved a couple of innocents but the blaze you caused will leave a mark for a long time. Sure you may have stopped someone from being ripped to bits and dragged back to the pit, but how many more are going to be lost because of the subtle influence of lesser spirits that are gonna be attracted to that place?"

I suddenly regained my ability to breathe as he looked down at the open file on his desk. In a stroke of brilliance I said the first thing that popped into my head. "But.."

I never got to finish that statement. "But nothing!" he roared, "You are not going to make another mistake like that again. I have tolerated you're messes for far to long. You make another and all that will be left of you is a smoking crater. Kapish?"

I knew he could do it too. I'm no featherweight on the supernatural power scale, but there was a reason he was put in charge of a half dozen satanically charged powder kegs. If it came to blows he could end me before I even knew he was there. So I said the first smart thing all morning. "Yes sir," and then just stood there stupidly looking at everything in the room but him.

"Good," he replied softening back into his regular gruff manner, "Now go kill me a demon properly." he said holding out the file that had been on his desk.

I took it noticing that the edges of the paper that he had been holding onto were still smoldering. I decided I should just shut up and leave before I made things worse. Say by telling him that the wrath demon had gotten away. Nope. I'd just keep that one to myself for the rest of well, forever.

My day had really started off badly so it would be really difficult for it to get worse. I essentially had gotten the ultimatum do better work or die from my boss. Hard to beat that at ten in the morning on a Monday. Of course I should have known by eleven things would manage worseness.

I suspect my bad luck had something to do with the fact that I was essentially evil from a cosmic perspective. So I figure the universe was trying to get back at that evil by making my life as difficult as I could make other people's. Apparently the universe doesn't care whether I actually Do anything or not.

Stupid satanic bloodline.

I walked into my little office. It was about ten by ten and had a small aluminum desk on one side and a bookshelf on the other. It was otherwise completely empty. The whole room was made worse due to the depressing white walls and soul-sucking fluorescent lighting. I was always intensely happy I only had to spend Monday's here.

The office block was labeled as an insurance company with the motto 'We'd cover you even if you wrecked in the afterlife'. I think Albert thought it was clever. Of course every other sane person was put off by the idea. Maybe that was half of the point seeing as we didn't actually cover anyone.

I had just managed sit down in my hyper uncomfortable chair when the first bad thing happened. My phone rang. Now usually that isn't so bad. At least then I'm not bored. Today was destined to be terrible though. So no one good would be on the other side.

So I answered my cell before it could finish the chorus of 'Don't stop me now'. I think I was subliminally trying to tell myself not to answer the phone with my choice of ringtone. Then again maybe it's just a fixation with Queen. Don't judge. They are great band. I don't have to defend them.

"Rayne," I answered.

"Hi, it's Madeline," a pleasant but nervous female voice replied, "we met last night..." Her voice trailed off

Fuck. Madeline was the name of the woman I had saved last night I gave her this number when I got back from failing to kill the demon just in case he took it personally and hunted her down.

I was already out of my chair, grabbing my jacket and out the door by the time she finished her sentence.

"I was wondering if you'd like to have dinner to make up for the whole saving my life thing?" she finished the question hesitantly.

The gears in my brain ground roughly together as they attempted to make the shift of thought. It took a while to do so. Which left me mostly standing stone cold in front of the exit with my car keys in hand.

Eventually I made the shift and said the first thing that I could think of. I've got to remember to stop doing that. "Sure," instant face-palm.

"Okay," she responded instantly losing the nervousness. "I'll call later to make plans. Got to get back to Susan. Thanks again for everything"

"Uh.. Sure. Anytime," I replied jerkily hearing the voice of a toddler yelling mommy.

"I'll get back to you later then. Bye"

"Yeah.. Bye," I replied still with a hint of hesitation. The click that followed meant that she had probably missed it.

I was really gonna regret this whole thing later. Correction I was regretting this whole thing already. Then I turned around and had another reason to wonder why I got out of bed this morning.

Albert was leaning against the wall looking at me intently. "Going somewhere?"

Double fuck. "I thought it was an emergency," I stuttered out.

"When you tell me how a piece of tail is more of an emergency then a war I'll go away," he replied icily, "Until then. You owe me a demon Rayne."

"Yes sir. I'll get right on that sir," I spat out standing in mock attention.

He turned around and walked around the corner to his office. I would have sworn to god that I heard him laughing. I didn't understand it at first until it really hit me what I had just said. Jason zero, Albert two for making me act like a scared kid. Mental note: recover composure around him.

I looked at the clock. Ten fifty-nine. Things had definitely gotten much worse.

Stupid satanic bloodline.