Chapter 8: Gates to hell

*aquamarine: Tristan hates Ralph because of an incident that happened between the two, Tristan wants revenge but also something else that Ralph has.

*Guest: 10 or 11 chapters….Also Chris grew up with Ralph and Tristan.

Ralph was stood inside the church with his greatest enemy stood next to him, Tristan. Hey stood in the crowded room of people who only wanted to do good, unaware of the fact that two devils were about to decide who gets to rule hell.

"Who knew that you could ever settle down? Raise a family and everything." Tristan taunted as he pointed to Carrie. Ralph just looked at him, resisting the urge to strangle him.

"Where's Jess?" Ralph asked.

"Is that all you care about? Our little sister? Not Chris or Jack or any of the others?" Tristan asked. He chuckled a little but Ralph's heart just sunk lower than it already was.

"What's happened to the others?" Ralph asked.

"Our home burnt down Ralph but the idea of it lived on...To create soldiers, the perfect soldier." Tristan explained, he sounded like he was a preacher describing heaven.

"Not soldiers….Killers. Soldiers fight for something, they just wanted us to go in and destroy...Like a demon." Ralph argued but Tristan didn't care, he just looked at Ralph and smiled.

"And you're the devil Ralph...Our humble leader who baptised us in fire and unleashed us upon the world."

"How are you alive?" Ralph asked. He needed to know, he had lost so much sleep trying to work it out, how could he be alive after being taken all those years ago?

"Oh I bet you'd like to know, has it been crushing you? Tearing your insides apart….I was in an Afghan prison for a year, stuck in some cave where I was beaten and starved till I couldn't use my powers...And then one day they came to finish me off, I was no use to them so they got their machete and…" Tristan asked. He sounded angry,

"You killed them?" Ralph asked.

"We're born to be killers Ralph...Eighty four with my hands and their weapons." Tristan explained. He looked at his hands that were perfectly still. Ralph was shocked by this but he knew that deep down, he had done similar things.

"Where is she?"

"Safe...For now. Do you think your daughter will have your powers? She'll gain the ability to spread death and destruction wherever she goes." Tristan mocked which really angered Ralph.

"Where is Jess?" Ralph asked for the final time.

"You'll find out..Enjoy some time with your family, not all of us can have one...No matter how hard we try." Tristan said as he walked away from Ralph. Ralph froze for a second, trying to work out what he meant.

"Wait…." Ralph said as he ran towards him but Tristan smiled. Ralphs head started to hurt, he felt dizzy all of a sudden and the world just started to spin but only for a second. Once Ralph came back to his senses, Tristan had disappeared.

Ralph scratched the back of his head and took a deep breath but as he did, Anatoli approached him, holding a cheap mobile phone.

"I need you to repay me." Anatoli said as he handed him the phone and began to walk away.

Tunnels of deception

Jess was stood in the dark room with Chris. He was pinned to the wall and had blood being ripped out of him and stuffed into a young child. Jess nearly screamed as she looked at the horror show that was the room.

"Jess?" Chris asked in disbelief. He could barely speak, all of his energy had been pulled out of him but there was a small glimmer of hope in his eyes when he looked at her.

"Yeah...It's me...It's ok now." Jess said as she tried to take Chris down. She used her powers to tear the metal straps off him and then held him in her arms. As soon as she ripped off the tubes, Chris suddenly felt relieved but the child started to scream.

Jess looked at the screaming child who was attached to the wires and Jess quickly got Chris out of there. She dragged him into the other room so that they could escape the noise. She used her powers to knock down a wall and ran outside. Jess emerged from the hole to reveal that she was in the sewers.

They could still hear the screams from the child as they started to run down the tunnel. Jess felt the guilt tear her insides apart. How could she leave the child? She thought to herself but Chris was getting heavy and he was clearly in pain. As they started to run for what seemed like a mile, Jess started to fear that they were going in circles. She could barely see where she was going and worst of all had no idea where she was going. They could still hear the screams but suddenly, out of nowhere they stopped. Jess was even more worried at this point.

Chris had falled to the ground and thrown up what seemed to be a mixture of blood and vomit. He looked like he was out, he was too ill. He sat down with his back to the wall and started to breathe.

"I'm sorry, I'm out...I'm too tired." Chris mumbled to himself.

"No you're not...Come on, please." Jess said as she tried to pick him up but as she did, she could hear a noise. It was like thunder travelling through the tunnels. It was getting louder, getting closer to her.

She knew the noise was right in front of her, she was thrown back with Chris and hit the ground. As she got up, she could see Tristan walking down the tunnel. Chris tried to stand up, he was to weak to but he still wanted to try.

"The child died Jess...You killed it." Tristan screamed as he got closer to them.

"How did you find us?" Jess asked.

"I spent three weeks crawling through caves in Afghanistan...I think I can make my way through a sewer system." Tristan explained as he picked up Chris and held him by the throat. He started to strangle him with one hand and placed the other over his eye. Chris started to scream as Tristan's eyes burnt red.

Jess started to scream as Chris' body started to burn. The skin peeled off and as it hit the ground it burnt. Jess looked at the ceiling and pulled it down upon Tristan and herself. Tristan just smiled at Chris' body slowly disintegrated. Jess started to run away but she fell to the ground as if she hit a wall except nothing was there. She looked around and felt like she had a rope around her, she started to scream as it got tighter, the sewer started to collapse in itself but everything fell around her. As she looked around she was thrown up into the air and out of the sewer.

She was knocked unconscious but when she woke up, she found herself in the old camp. It was the middle of the night and she was freezing, she saw a small fire and Tristan was stood in front of it. He looked different this time, his eyes were red and his skin was grey...He looked sick but at the same time he was happy about it.

"What have you done?" Jess asked as she tried to work out what was going on. She looked around to see a large hole in the ground, she recalled that there were tunnels under the camp but she didn't remember them being like a sewer system. She looked at the fire and saw the remains of Chris on it.

"I needed the power….I thought we could create more of us but...A demon can't be born but can only be made stronger." Tristan explained. He sounded a little depressed but excited at the same time.

Ticket to the pit

Have you ever been under somebody's influence? It's like being high, you're not sure what's actually real the entire time despite knowing that it cannot be real. That is what it's like being under Tristan's influence, you know you're not in control but you don't know which actions you're not in control of...Confusing I know. What's even worse is after.

Lucy was still in Tristan's apartment. The longer she was there, the more she learnt about who Tristan actually was or at least the illusion that he put out there. He wanted the world to see a businessman who funded community programs and not the devil that he claimed to be. She couldn't leave, she wanted to but couldn't...She also wanted to speak to Rita who just stood there...Silent. Tristan was doing work on his computer, he didn't want anyone to know his name or that he was doing the good deeds, it was odd to Lucy but then again...The devil gives a little and takes more.

"Why am I still here?" Lucy asked, breaking the silence.

"You want to kill Carrie right? Pull an angle out of heaven and beat her before she gets back up? Well I need to know what cloud the angle is sitting on."

"It's funny how you think they're the spawn of the devil but you consider yourself the devil." Lucy asked. She had to know but at the same time she wanted to distract Tristan.

"They're the spawn of the old devil….There can only be one. Now, show me where they are."

"...No."

"Shame, I thought you were pretty but in order for a Lion to have children of its own, it must kill the children of the previous leader." Tristan said as he put his hand around her throat and started to squeeze, he then put a hand over her eye and stared right into her soul.

Lucy could feel the fire, the burning sensation that was inflicted upon her as Tristan pulled her mind apart. He crawled through her mind and pulled the information out of her but doing so caused her insides to boil and burn her mind. Lucy started to scream as her skin slowly peeled off and burnt before it hit the ground. Her surrounding started burn as well until they were completely unrecognisable. She found herself in a dark realm where the only light came from the hell flames. Tristan was replaced by a molten statue with wings and horns, it let go of Lucy and flew away as she looked at her surroundings, as she recovered from her fall into a pit. Molten metal fell out of the sky and hit her arms, it kept falling and froze...Creating chains.

"That's what will happen to you if you betray me." Tristan said to Rita as he dropped the burnt skeleton of Lucy onto the floor.

"Why did you do that?" Rita asked as she walked over to the body,

"I needed the body and the information." Tristan explained as he poured himself a glass of vodka.

"She didn't deserve to die." Rita argued as she touched the girl's face.

"She won't stay dead long." Tristan said as he walked over to the body and smiled. He placed his hand on her and the body exhaled loudly. Rita jumped up in fear, screaming at the top of her lungs whilst Tristan just stared at her.

Reunion

Arthur was sat in the garden, he was drinking a mug of coffee whilst he watched Danny play with some toys. He took a large sip of his coffee and begged for a cigarette, he tried to force it out of his head but the craving was still there.

Then it happened, the air started to feel warm and the sky got darker. Henry was experiencing one of his flashbacks but they weren't really flashbacks. He had been to hell and was pulled out but that doesn't mean you're free, they still have their sights on you and will try to bring you back.

Arthur was stood there, in the pit where the wailing corpses cried out for help but they didn't move, not with the the metallic demon stood in the distance. Arthur stood there but this time he wasn't alone with the hellspawn...Lucy was in front of him.

"You?" Arthur asked. Lucy recognised Arthur and started to speak to him.

On the other side was Carrie and Jess. Carrie was trying to make sure Arthur was alright whilst Jess took Danny inside. Rachel ran outside with a pillow and placed it under Arthur's head. They were surprised that he wasn't screaming but weren't going to complain about it, he seemed nervous and afraid.

"We….We have a problem." Arthur said as he opened his eyes. He jumped up but quickly fell back down, the two sisters caught him and made sure he was alright.

"What did you see?"

"That Lucy girl...The reporter...Who's Tristan?" Arthur explained, he was short on breath and didn't really understand, Jess was stood by the door and heard everything.

"Tristan…?" Carrie asked as she looked at her terrified aunt.

"I've got a friend on the force, I can ask her for help." Rachel asked, she was referring to Chloe who was still working at the station. They didn't really talk but would help each other out if they really needed it.

"No point...We're all dead." Jess said as she looked at her shaking hands.

Well I hope you enjoyed so please review. So what is Tristan doing in both timelines? They are connected so don't worry. Is Lucy dead for good? And what has Ralph been told to do? Just warning you guys, me and a friend have a web series in development that we've written and are filming now so I might not be updating as normal. Until next time, have fun.