Chapter 8

Friendship

Furiously, Scott grabbed Courtney's face and smashed her against the brick wall with the back of her head, over and over. He let go of her face and she dropped to the ground. She felt like her head was spinning. Grabbing her by her throat, Scott lifted her back up, pinning her against the wall. Courtney could barely breathe.

'Never do that again!' Scott yelled, his red eyes burning with anger. 'Who the fuck do you think you are?! I am the only one who gives the commands here, not you! You got it, you stupid piece of shit?!'

Courtney glared at him. 'She could've tried to escape.' she croaked. But Scott didn't want to hear any word from her anymore, he was too furious. This was a sign of disrespect, something he couldn't tolerate. He threw her body across the throne room; she crashed against another wall and lied on the ground, groaning in pain. The impact of the crash caused the wall to show bursts.

'I am the only one who gives the commands.' Scott said, now strangely calm. 'I do hope you remember that now. If you do this again, I'll have you send to the lowest ring of Hell.' He stormed out of the throne room. 'Stupid bitch.' he mumbled before closing the doors.

Noah, who had been watching the roast for the whole time with a smirk on his face, walked towards the battered Demon Witch and helped her to get up. 'I thought you were much more wiser than that,' he said. 'You're lucky you didn't get killed. The previous Demon Witch didn't have that much luck.' Remembering her screams when she was dragged to the cold ninth ring of Hell made him softly giggle. She thought she knew far better than the Archdemon... her foolishness was her demise.

'He's just too stupid to see it.' Courtney groaned. 'While he was lying on the ground, she could've easily fly away.' Noah shook his head. 'Don't underestimate Scott. He could've easily catch up with her.'

Courtney sighed. Her face had something sad for a moment, but that ended soon enough as anger clouded her mind. 'I should've been in Heaven.' she hissed. 'They had no right to send me here to Hell. Did they even know what I did when I was a mortal? I was successful and faithful to God.' God. She hated that name so much now. 'I was rich and respected. I was a politician, for fuck's sake. People cheered for me, they voted for me... I would make the kingdom rich and mighty again! They all respected me, all but one... He said I took bribes... Messed with the votes... He even said I slept with the prime minister!'

Noah cocked his eyebrow and smiled. This could get interesting. He felt little to no pity for the Demon Witch. He had never felt pity for anyone, not even in his mortal life. Stories filled with agony always amused him.

'I did what was right...' Courtney continued. 'I've sent an assassin after the culprit. After his death, I thought my name would've been cleansed.' Suddenly, her left eye started to twitch uncontrollably. 'But more lies emerged from the peoples' mouths. Each lie was more vulgar than the other. Those liars had to die... they all had to die! They had no right to live! My name had to cleansed, no matter what! I've send all assassins in the kingdom after them. After each death, I prayed to God and thought He would understand. I thought He would forgive every one of his followers. But soon, the plague reached the kingdom and wiped out nearly all of the residents. It didn't last long before I got infected too. In my death bed, I prayed to God for access to Heaven. When I saw the world around me fade away, I was ensured I would wake up there. But instead, I was send to this place...' She fell down on her knees and banged her fists on the floor. 'This isn't my fate!' she yelled, crying in anger.

'Damn it woman, will you calm down already?' Noah enjoyed people's agony, but this was just getting ridiculous. She was acting like a damn spoiled five-year old.

'God doesn't forgive anyone for his sins, only those who were truly pure in life. You were apparently out of His league.' 'What?!' Courtney sniffled angrily. 'You've heard me. Do you really think you were pure enough to go to Heaven, after all you've done? You've killed people, Courtney.' 'They were staining my reputation! They were disrespecting me! What else could I have done?' the Demon Witch replied. Noah shook his head in disbelief. 'Fool.' he mumbled. 'You know, you're just like those other idiots out there being punished. They all believed they were living a holy life, but they were all wrong, because they were hypocritical. Be glad Scott gave you a second chance. Without him, you would be nothing more than a pathetic soul, only good for torture and everlasting pain. You can yell at me as much as you want if I say this to you Courtney, but you may the biggest hypocrite of them all. Believing you are pure while the blood of those people is on your hands... pathetic.'

There was a silent moment between the unholy creatures. Courtney was too angry to speak. For a little bit, Noah was right. She was privileged compared to those damned souls out there. Working for the Archdemon was less worse than drowning in a dark swamp, burning in catacombs or being suffused with boiling hot molten gold. But still... nobody could crush her pride. As long as she had her pride, she wouldn't become insane.

'Noah...' she said eventually. 'Why are you here in Hell?'

The military strategist softly chuckled.

'For being an atheist.'

'Here. It's your reward for today.'

Frowning, Nody looked at her reward which Scott was holding in his claw. It was a loaf of bread.

Her hunger was bad, but not as bad as before. At first it felt like her stomach was slowly rotting away, but now she was hungry like she didn't eat for a day. The Demons had never brought her food during her captivity. (Zoey's severed head didn't count, it was just another case of emotional abuse) Even though she helped Scott slaying the Cerberus, she still had to be alert. After all, he was the most sadistic creature Hell had ever known. Who knew what tricks he had up his sleeve.

'It's poisoned, isn't it?' she asked suspiciously. 'No.' Scott replied, frowning. 'This is a normal loaf of bread like you eat in Heaven. It's not poisoned, I swear to my Lord. Here, I'll show you.' He pulled off a piece of the bread and put it in his mouth. Chewing it into tiny pieces with his sharp teeth, he swallowed it afterwards. 'See?' he said after a little while. 'I'm still standing, alive and well. Now take it.' He held the bread closer to Nody's mouth. She grew a little bit less suspicious. If Scott was even swearing to his Lord, the unholy force that created him, and ate the bread for her, then maybe he was speaking the truth. She opened her mouth and took a bite. She had eaten bread many times before back in Heaven, but it never tasted this good before. It was the first ever thing she had eaten in Hell. The taste of the bread conquered the taste of blood in her mouth, which pleased her a lot. She didn't taste anything strange, so maybe Scott was telling the truth after all. She chewed until it turned into a sludge and swallowed.

'I can tell on you're enjoying it.' Scott said with a grin. 'Want more?'

Nody took more bites, the taste got better and better. She knew bread was just a simple food, but right now it tasted like a king's meal. She let out a little satisfied sigh when she had eaten the entire loaf. 'Thanks.' she said. 'By the way... how's your arm?'

'It's fine.' Scott groaned. Nody raised her eyebrow. 'You don't really sound grateful...' 'I could've healed my arm by myself!' the Archdemon suddenly snapped. 'I didn't need your help with that!' He sighed. 'But anyway... I... I want to thank you for helping me with slaying the Cerberus, but there's one thing I don't understand.'

'And that is?' 'You didn't even refuse to help us when we needed you. Why? After all we have done to you.'

'Hey...' Nody said with a smile. 'If even the evilest son of a bitch from Hell can't take on an enemy like that, then I guess my help would be welcome!'

Scott softly snickered.

'I have seen your skills during the fight. Gotta say, they are impressive. You are talented, even though you're just God's little bitch.' Normally Nody would've been offended by these remarks, but strangely enough, this time it barely did something to her. It didn't sound offensive, rather mocking... but in a playful way.

'Thanks.' she giggled. 'You ain't that bad as well... even though you fight like a savage. A big, ugly unholy savage.' Scott smirked and nodded. A chuckle escaped his throat. 'I've heard that from more Demons. But seriously... I have never seen someone fight like you, not even my Demons. And for that, you have earned my respect.'

Respect? Nody frowned as her eyes went wide with surprise. Respect from Scott? The Archdemon? The biggest son of a bitch from the Afterlife? Satan's image? The embodiment of Hell's cause? This couldn't be... this had to be a joke!

'Are you serious?' she said, completely astonished. 'Respect? From you? You're joking!' Scott shook his head. 'It's true. If you fight like this, you can catch everyone's eye. Even that of an Archdemon.' Kneeling down, he made a better eye contact with the Archangel. Looking into her eyes, Scott noticed something new about her. He knew her eyes were blue, but he never took a real close look at them. While the eyes of the female Demons were blood-red and filled with hatred, these eyes were different. They were blue like the bright skies from Heaven. The eyes from the purest of the purest. The eyes from an Archangel. Even when she was mortal, they never lost their pure color. But right now, it didn't interest Scott that much. 'Perhaps I have underestimated you, bitch.'

Nody smiled. 'Maybe I have underestimated you as well, bastard.'

Both of them softly chuckled. Suddenly, a familiar weak voice emerged from the darkness of the dungeons. 'Por favor, master... Give me some bread too!'

'Shut up, Alejandro.'

It had been a long time since Nody felt this good. Earning the Archdemon respect wasn't maybe that bad after all. During the conversation, he barely sounded threatening. He sounded rather like he was mocking, but not in a bad way. It sounded like he was teasing, like friends would tease each other.

Friends...

No way. There was no way she could be friends with Scott. Having a pleasant conversation without insults and abuse in a long time sure was good, but still... They were mortal enemies, it wouldn't make sense! They were created to destroy each other, not to befriend each other. They were the embodiments of the two worlds' causes, the complete opposites.

After Scott had left the dungeons, the happy feeling remained for a little while, before fading away and being replaced with doubt.

'He's tricking you.' a voice in her head whispered. 'He's pretending he's having respect for you, you fool. It's just one of his sadistic tricks.' Nody kind of agreed with the voice.

When people are scared, they could easily be manipulated. She was scared of course, for what was next to come. The unavoidable theft of her virgin blood.

If you are so scared an desperate, you would become gullible and believe any 'kind' word your abductors would say. Once they had earned your trust, they would crush your last bit of dignity underneath their feet and inflict more mental scars.

The Archdemon was no exception. He was the lowest of the lowest, the evilest of the evilest, the darkest of the darkest. No matter how scared she was, she must not fall for his 'kind' talk.

But little did she know that her theorem would be put to the test soon enough.