Author's note:
Again there are going to be some short chapters before the longer ones.
Chapter 36: Murder
The hard morning sand was damp between his bare feet, the tide had only recently gone out, that combined with the strong morning sun had allowed for a nice flat, hard surface to form.
The Helltaker was positioned like an Olympic sprinter at the start line, his right knee forward, his left knee on the ground allowing him to steady himself. His two hands at either side, each hand balancing on his thumb and index finger.
His breathing was steady, he wanted to win this.
"You ready?" he looked at the demon on his right.
"You'll probably beat me, but just know that if you don't I'll hold it over you till you die" the hulking demon grinned back.
"Deal" the Helltaker looked at their destination, "First one to that white outcrop".
"What's an outcrop?" the demon asked confused.
"The white rock there" the human pointed. Ahead of them, just a few hundred yards away, a white rocky outcrop at the base of a cliff was their finishing line.
"Alright boys, don't go injuring yourselves. There is already way too much testosterone coming off you two" Judgement crossed her arms, "Ready?".
"Yup" the Helltaker replied.
"Yes" Behemoth nodded.
"Three, two, one-" the Helltaker lifted his body up slightly, ass in the air, feet planted on the ground, head facing forward. "GO!".
The man launched himself forward, Behemoth caught off-guard by the human's sprinting strategy. This gave the Helltaker a slight advantage as the demon faltered, not quite catching his footing properly on the sand, pushing too hard and slightly sinking.
The race now properly began, the Helltaker gaining an early lead, he had agility and the knowledge of a proper sprinting technique on his side. Behemoth had proper strength and stamina on his, the much larger grey demon was at first struggling to keep up, but once he gained a rhythm he was now closing the gap.
The Helltaker was struggling to maintain a proper breathing pattern as he ran, his heart trying as hard as it could to pump blood around his body. His leg muscles were already burning, he definitely wasn't as fit as he once was.
The man heard Judgement shout something behind them, but the wind and his own panting was too loud and cancelled her voice out.
Behemoth was now fast approaching, the larger demon gaining on the human, he too panting like a mad beast. The finishing line was almost in reach, the Helltaker was only a few yards away, but as he ran, thoughts were bouncing around his mind wildly. Some random, some logical and one of them stuck out.
For once he decided to listen to it. He slowed his pace down to a moderate sprint, he decided he would let Behemoth win this one. There was no point to wearing himself out in the first race of the day. He already knew he was severely unfit, if he pushed any harder now he would be out of action for the rest of the day.
As they approached the finish line, the sound of his breathing and thudding feet, both his and Behemoth's was all he heard. The grey demon stormed past at the last second and won, the Helltaker was gracious in his defeat, both of them slowing their pace to a jog then a walk, the grey demon eventually collapsing.
The human gave Behemoth a round of applause after, but because of how tired the man was it came across a slow sarcastic one. The male demon must have really pushed himself as he was in worse shape than the Helltaker; he was laying on his back, panting vigorously.
"Did I win?" he had his white eyes closed. "Yeah-" the Helltaker was hunched over resting his hands on his knees.
"You won buddy".
"Y-es" he said exhausted, relishing in his victory, the demon had properly gone all out.
"The real challenge is who can get back to Judgement the fastest" the human joked.
"Pass".
The three spent the most part of the morning racing one another and in between races they competed in tests of endurance and strength, the Helltaker teaching both demons new forms of exercise from crunches to burpees, Russian twists and the many variations of the plank.
They had brought down a few of Judgement's weights and had been using them during these exercises.
As the hours progressed, the three had done an Olympic level fitness test, mainly due to their desire to burn the calories they had gained from the takeout last night. The Helltaker also wanted to prove to himself and the other demons at how unfit he was, for that he was greatly.
He probably shouldn't be straining his body so soon after a coma, but he didn't care, he needed to regain his past physique, it was one of the only things he was proud of.
On top of this fitness test, as they were walking back to the house around midday, the human also learned about the lore between the grey and white demons. Turns out there wasn't much difference between the two after all, it was a random genetic mutation.
Originally grey demons had actually been bred to be stronger, faster and more cunning than their white brothers and sisters, the Helltaker not wishing to go into the intricate details of this selective reproduction.
Lucifer had selectively bred her strongest demons, but not in the traditional way you would think. Apparently it involved a lot of magic, selecting which characteristics to pass on and many, many, many different rituals.
The Helltaker also did not wish to know how new demons were born, the only way to make a demon in his eyes was to kick them out of out of Heaven. A grey demon being born was now a natural but random occurrence amoungst the different broods of Hell.
However in the early days of this selective breeding program, more grey demons began to emerge and rise to positions of power within Hell's hierarchy, unsurprisingly there was also a rise in the number of cases of discrimination between the two sides of Hell's society.
Even in Hell, racism found a way. White demons were afraid of the grey demon's dominance, urging Lucifer to control and segregate the two groups. Thankfully, even the devil saw how stupid and irrational this fear of the 'other' was. Lucifer knew that as long as she was Queen, all demons would stand united under her.
She even decided to execute some of the more troublesome demons when they began harassing the grey families.
Unsurprisingly, there were many innocent casualties when more and more demons became afraid of the grey's overall superiority. Many were falling victim to fearmongering.
"You should have seen the crowds of demons outraged when I became High Prosecutor, they were out for my blood" Judgement shrugged off this bad memory with a smile.
"I remember me and my friend were in the opposite crowd" recollection of violence flashed in Behemoth's white eyes, he smiled at the memory. "It was a good day".
However, these racial tensions were in the early years of Lucifer's reign of Hell, a divided realm, full of unproductive and angry demons.
The devil had to put in place laws for Hell; death penalties in place for murderers, the fallen angel had to establish order somehow. Eventually, the demons were able to overcome their petty differences, mainly due to fear of death.
The Helltaker was amazed at this history between the two sides of demons, never expecting their society to be so...similar, they were just like humans. Everyone given enough time, worry, anger and stress will always turn against a minority, blaming their problems on them.
At least Lucifer saw through this and decided to unite her people, he was proud of her for that. He had never asked her about the difficulties of forging a kingdom, he would love to have a long conversation with her about it at some point.
"It was a rough few years when the High Prosecutor role was thrust upon me, but I had my friends at my side...and as long as they supported me...I could do anything!" Judgement beamed.
"Pandemonica, Modeus, this knucklehead, Lucy" she paused upon hearing a siren approaching in the distance. "How could I forget the best mentor in Hell? Justice wa-",
"Hang on J" he cut her off as the approaching sirens became louder, moving along the coastal road above them.
"You wanted to know, I haven't fi-".
"Just wait a second!".
The man could just see the reflections of red and blue sirens as the police cars drove along the coastal road in the same direction they were walking. It was now becoming obvious as to where they were going, the man's heart sank.
"I've gotta call Lucy" he scrambled to pull his phone out of his short's sandy pocket, the worry in his voice was obvious. He hit dial on the devil's number and held it to his ear.
Ring Ring...
Ring Ring...
Ri-
"Hey wha-".
"Tell everyone to get into human form now, we've got company incoming. We will try get back as fast as we can" the man didn't even stop to breath.
"How do yo-".
"Lucy just trust me, we will see you in five".
"Okay". The man had already hung up and approached the other two demons. "Alright you two, listen to me very carefully. Behemoth you're gonna have to disappear for a few hours, I'm sorry we just can't risk raising any more suspicion".
"Of course, tell me where to go" Behemoth stood to attention, knowing that something important was going down.
"I need you to go back to Hell temporarily, we will reach out to you when this drama is over" the human looking rapidly between the two grey demons.
"Trying to get rid of me already?" Behemoth was slightly suspicious of this plan.
"Shut up and listen to him" Judgement echoing the human's seriousness.
This was no joke.
The High Prosecutor shoved the purple bag filled with different sized dumbbells into the male demon's hands.
"Alright alright, I'll see you two in a few days then I guess" the larger demon huffed.
"I'm sorry Behemoth, but we just can't risk them seeing you" the Helltaker was trying his best to quickly apologise.
"Yeah, whatever pal", the male grey demon began opening a portal into the base of the cliff, he would soon be able to step through it.
The demon exchanged one last sombre look with the High Prosecutor, this was not how he wanted to leave. Judgement simply nodded a him, turning away from him and following the Helltaker who was already speed walking away.
This was not how he wanted to say goodbye.
"Judgement, ready for another run? No breaks no breathers" he prepared to run as fast as he could, the man now starting to jog.
"I'm with you all the way" the grey demon began running, setting their pace.
"Human form now".
"Where is he?" the detective asked the devil.
"He and Judie have gone for their morning run, didn't think to call ahead?" Lucifer decided to give a little sass to this intruder.
"Well when will he be back?" Sasha ignored the devil's cheeky remark.
"They should be on their way back now" Lucifer remaining calm and collected, walking into the kitchen.
Just a few minutes ago, Lucifer had answered the front door and four police officers in uniform, the detective and two smartly dressed men in suits had barged their way into the house.
All of them were searching for something, sweeping the ground floor to assess if there were any imminent threats. So he was right, guess I've got to stall them the devil had thought.
"Tea? Coffee?" she asked, watching the detective pace, the other two men in suits and sunglasses standing like statues in the empty lounge, both of them maintaining a formal posture, holding their hands together just above their crotches.
The four police officers were stood around the kitchen table, one of them was about to say something, most likely accepting Lucifer's offer of hospitality.
"We are fine, thank you" the angry detective said through gritted teeth, glaring at the four officers. "Actually, while we are waiting, where is your daughter?" Sasha now walking into the kitchen from the hallway, coming to stand uncomfortably close to the devil.
"Which one?" Lucy smiled back pleasantly, she would have killed the mortal there on the spot for invading her personal space like that.
"Not the triplets, the two" the detective not remembering any of the names of this huge family.
"Malina and Zofia?" Lucifer feigned a look of confusion.
"Whatever do you want with them?".
"Which is the one that doesn't smoke?", the detective's tone was now hostile.
"That would be Malina, now tell me...why do you want to see her?" the Queen of Hell returning the hostility.
"Your daughter is a witness, maybe an accomplice to murder" Sasha definately did not sugarcoat this sentence.
Now the devil began to panic, finally realising why they were here. It took them long enough...someone must have connected the dots relating to that night. The night that the Helltaker and Malina got mugged, the Sour Demon did tell the family how she brutalised the three attackers, now she was going to be tried for murder?
Despite this inner flustered panic, the devil maintained her usual poker face, a talent everyone knew she had mastered, coming into use more times than she would like.
"For murder? Ridiculous. Not my sweet Malina, she is an Angel". Literally.
"I'm here for him and the girl. Now I'm going to ask you again...where...is...your...daughter?" Sasha Burn had officially had enough.
"She's still sleeping, it is a Sunday after all...I guess I'll go wake her up" the devil decided it best not to retaliate...but it took all of her will power not to harm the woman stood in front of her.
This mortal will burn for having such guile. Lucifer began slowly walking up the stairs heading to the sister's bedroom door.
With Lucy gone, the detective turned to face the four officers behind her.
"No one is to leave this house without questioning, I want you to search every damn room of this place".
"Y-es Ma'am" one of the officers bumbled.
"What are we looking for?" another one asked, receiving a glare from her superior.
"Anything and everything suspicious, they are hiding something here, that I am sure of".
"Yes Ma'am" the officer shrank.
"Alright, we will take the upstairs, you two can take downstairs" the woman said to her colleagues.
"Roger that". The officers moving off in pairs, one pair beginning to search the lounge, the other moving to the stairs. The downstairs team instantly began throwing the cushions off of the sofa, moving furniture, kicking the pentagram rug to one side and checking for anything suspicious.
After only a few minutes they had covered most of the lounge, the two were unsuccessful in their search.
"Damn, look at all these video games" one said to their partner as they opened a small cupboard in the corner of the room.
"Must have cost a small fortune, reminds me; you've gotta stop playing on your phone at the precinct, what if the chief walks in?".
"He won't, I'm sneaky like that".
"Whatever, I won't save you next time".
The two officers turned to look over their shoulders and saw the two men in suits looking at them.
"What's with the men in black?" the male officer whispered to the other as they turned back to look through the cupboard.
"I mean Halloween isn't too far away".
"Remember when you dressed up as Bigfoot last year?" the man chuckled, the two men now stood.
"Shut up, let's keep looking Green Goblin".
As the upstairs pair began heading up the stairs, they passed two humans going down past them. One was extremely tired but came across as a veteran office worker, she had large black bags under her eyes.
The other was extremely attractive and curvaceous, she came across as...alluring. Both of the humans had ashen white hair. The two paid little attention to the officers as they passed.
"Hey, eyes on the job dude" the female officer said to her partner, "Oh be quiet".
"Hello? I don't believe we have met before?" Pandemonica followed by Modeus had come down the stairs and into the kitchen, both of them staring at the detective who was now sat at their kitchen table, both of her hands together under her chin.
Before her, Modeus was dressed in nothing but a revealing red silk robe, nervously covering herself up now and when she had seen the two officers. Pandemonica was wearing a grey turtle neck sweater, with red sweat pants.
"And you are?" the detective couldn't be bothered to remember the names of the women that lived in this house.
How many were there again? What a perverted man.
"Monica Rubiaceae, this is Maria Lindsey" Pandemonica gestured to Modeus, the demon in question giving the detective a shy wave.
"Yeah, whatever. I'm not here for you" she glared straight through the two demons, patiently waiting for her main suspect to arrive.
"May I ask what you are here for?" Pandemonica going to make her first espresso of the day.
"No you may not" the detective could not be bothered to deal with anymore of them, her charcoal grey eyes now going back and forth between the two women. Modeus was stood awkwardly in the middle of the kitchen, not knowing what to say.
"Not very professional of you, we are required to cooperate with members of the law yet they won't tell us why they are in our house" Pandemonica had her back to the detective, the two men in suits were now stood in the doorway between the lounge and kitchen. A sadistic grin, hidden to the three, was on the demon's face, she knew that she was getting under the detective's skin.
"Look, I don-" Sasha began angrily, however she was cut off at the sound of thundering footsteps.
The chaotic trio had awoken and was running down the stairs, excited about the prospect of adventure. It was a brand new day. The three were alerted to the enticing new scents to smell, but as they entered the kitchen they skidded to a halt upon seeing and then smelling the intruders.
All of them tensed up in synchronisation, alert to the danger. They did not recognise these new scents amoungst the house, but they did recognise the woman sat in front her.
"Lila, Ella, Mila" Pandemonica said over the noise of the espresso machine, "We have guests, behave". Cerberus maintained eye contact with the detective.
"Girls" the woman said sternly, she did not receive a reply from the triplets, they were beginning to growl. However, this frosty standoff was broken as multiple things happened all at once.
The front door began to open, the sound of Malina and Lucifer's footsteps coming down the stairs were heard and the espresso machine let loose a loud noise signifying it's completion. Signifying the start of chaos.
"Get him! Don't let him escape" the detective leapt from the table and went into the hallway. The two men in suits darted to the front door and were instantly upon the man, trying to restrain the Helltaker, all of the demons exploding with anger as these events unfolded.
"HEY! WHAT THE HELL?!" the man resisted against the two agents, struggling as they violently attempted to restrict his movements, the idea of being captured again triggered a form of PTSD within him.
The Helltaker began striking out at the two men, not by choice, it was a flight or fight response. As he fought, he watched the detective approaching.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE YOU BITCH" he heard Malina's voice call out from the hallway. Lucifer had to physically restrain Malina from lashing out and attacking the police officers.
"No, not here" she whispered to her daughter, "We have to let this happen". The other officers from upstairs and the lounge were now converging on the scene, keeping the other demons back from intervening.
"Don't hurt him!" Modeus's voice called out in despair, she to trying to reach the man but the officers were preventing them from doing so.
"Excuse me? Don't you dare touch me Mr!" Pandemonica threatened an officer blocking their path. The rest of the demonic family were now awake, sensing the commotion. The four of them coming from their rooms and down the stairs, Justice, Beelzebub, Zdrada and Azazel all gathering on the stairs.
"What the fuck is going on?!" Justice said, she was stood at the base of the stairs leaning against the banister, the blind demon was wearing a big red hoodie and shorts.
"What are they going to do to him?!" Azazel's worried voice was also heard amoungst the commotion, the angel wearing her white hoodie and shorts was stood behind Justice.
Behind Azazel, the Queen of the Abyss stood watching the struggle with a depressed silent frown. Beelzebub was wearing her silk black robe, similar to Modeus's, the usual morning attire.
She gave one quick look to Lucifer, the devil meeting her gaze, she simply nodded back as she fought to control Malina's rage. Last but not least, Zdrada came down the stairs half asleep, not aware of the unfolding drama.
"Could you keep the noise down jeez?" she yawned pushing past Beelzebub, Azazel and Justice.
The demon was wearing a large cotton grey shirt, and sweat pants, the clothes being too large for her body, her usual morning attire. When she was at the bottom of the stairs, her eyes finally revealed the truth, she too exploding with rage.
"WHO THE FUCK ARE THESE ASSHOLES?!" she instantly went into combat mode, moving to attack the nearest police officer. Thankfully Beelzebub moved faster than Zdrada, moving behind The Bitch Demon, grabbing her by the arm.
"Get your fucking hands off me" she turned growling at Beelzebub.
"Trust me, do not succumb to you rage...it will only put him in further danger".
Zdrada wanted to lash out at Beelzebub, but she knew that the older demon was much stronger and much faster than she was.
All she could do was watch helplessly as the Helltaker and Judgement struggled, the man eventually deciding to let himself be restrained. The two agents were struggling to control the huge man while pushing the raging grey demon backwards.
"Jason Williams, I'm placing you under arrest" she shoved back the sweaty High Prosecutor, before delivering a punch to the Helltaker's gut to help the agents gain control, winding him temporarily. He grunted, leaning over himself, the breath knocked out of him.
The detective now grabbed the man's wrists, wrenching them forwards and placing handcuffs on them. The second special service agent was now converging on the grey demon, struggling to restrain her.
"On what charge?!" he demanded while trying to breath properly.
"For the suspected murder of Fred Willoughby, Sam Peterson and Dominic Montana" the detective adjusted the handcuffs to be painfully tight on his wrist.
"Who the fuc-" he began but stopped, it suddenly clicked; he put two and two together. The man now listening to what the Detective was currently saying.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in court. You have the right to talk to a lawyer for advice before we ask you any questions" she paused temporarily watching the agent losing the struggle with Judgement.
The grey demon was elbowing the agent in the stomach, then proceeding to deliver a flurry of blows to his forearms as he tried to block.
"Can you handle her?!" she shouted at the man fighting his hardest against the strength of the prosecutor. He was loosing.
"It's alright Judie" the Helltaker said looking over his shoulder as Judgement was about to explode, she was ready to kill. The first agent was still restraining him even though he was no longer resisting.
Reluctantly his reassuring words got through to Judgement despite the anger, rage and...bloodlust that now clouded her mind. She obeyed and let herself be restrained, preventing her from helping the Helltaker.
"You have the right to have a lawyer with you during questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for you before any questioning if you wish. If you decide to answer questions now without a lawyer present, you have the right to stop answering at any time" the detective continued the warning.
As she finished she bounded over towards Malina, the demon clenching her entire being, ready to fight.
"Get the fuck back" she hissed as the detective approached.
"Malina- whatever the fuck your last name is, you are under arrest as a suspected accomplice to murder" she grabbed Malina by her hands and yanked her forward. The angry detective placing another pair of handcuffs onto the demon's wrists.
The Sour Demon was surprised at the speed and strength of this woman, she was amazed that she had been cuffed so easily. Now herself and the Helltaker were being dragged out of their house, the world moving around her in slow motion.
Why wasn't she fighting back?
Why wasn't he fighting back?
Did he want this to happen?
The two were being lead to the police officer's cars, the Helltaker guided to one, Malina to the other one.
"Get your fucking hands off me" she hissed to the man in a suit that was leading her. She received no reply. They trudged over the gravel driveway, the demon family following them outside shouting obscenities.
Then it hit her, she realised why she was subconsciously allowing this to happen. Her mind flying back to one of their many conversations, she dug deep but eventually she recalled exactly what he had said.
"What if they imprisoned me, you demons were left alone and let loose on the world...Can you imagine?"
"We would come get you"
"No you wouldn't, I would not be responsible for the deaths of innocents"
"What?! You wouldn't want us to come rescue you?".
"No".
I know that Malina and the Helltaker wouldn't allow themselves to get arrested like this, but think about it this way: All of the demons want to live on the 'surface' , they don't want to jeopardise this new life they have, this clean start.
Looks like they will have to bite the bullet this time, surely they are innocent?
