He blinked once, twice, thrice as his eyes adjusted to the dull red lighting enveloping the walls that felt as if they were going to crush him at any moment. Groggily sitting up on a cold stone floor shadows darting past him dancing in the eerier light that played upon the walls without care. Tenderly reaching white fingers to his neck the sticky, red blood that once dripped from his neck was gone but the spilled blood still marred his white hands, a reminder of what had just happened.
"Where am I?" He asked himself out loud as eyes darted around and worry began to set in. He was just at Hogwarts. He was just attacked by the wretched Snake of Voldemort's. He should have slit that beasts throat when he had the chance, reducing it to little more than snakeskin long forgotten.
"Hell," A deep baritone voice that could have rivalled even his piqued his interest. A well-dressed man stepping from the reddened shadows that danced playfully on the walls and Severus looked up at him from where he was splayed on the hard ground.
The man was tall, impeccably well dressed and very… handsome. A chiselled jawline to rival Lucius Malfoy, slicked over dark brown hair with just the right amount of stubble to adorn his perfect face and eyes that seemed to grab hold of one's attention, eyes that one could easily get lost in. He looked as if he had spent hours preening himself in the mirror.
"Hell?" Severus asked again with trepidation and pulled himself to his feet, black robes becoming tangled around his feet almost causing him to crash back down to the cold floor he had vacated.
"Indeed. It seems your guilty conscience has all but landed you down here in the bowels of hell to be tortured for all eternity," His voice so cool, calm and collected Severus was slightly worried how a person could so easily talk about hell and torture as if they were addressing the weather.
"What do you mean my guilty conscience? And who are you?" Was this a joke that someone had pulled on him?
"Sorry. How rude of me, Lucifer Morningstar, and you must be Severus Snape? Yes, I've heard all about you. Been a bit evil lately and landed yourself down here for a permanent holiday. Not to worry, we will try to make it as entertaining as possible," perfect white teeth flashed from behind lips that curved up into an evil yet ridiculously charming smirk.
"You're the devil?" Severus's mouth opened and closed a few times as he tried to form the words in his head, but he came up blank. "Isn't the devil meant to have horns?
"Indeed I am the devil. All of you humans have some skewed, perceived version of how I am supposed to look and you are all so far from the truth it entertains me. And you my friend are here because-" he was cut off.
"Because of the horrible and wretched path I have taken? Because I am a terrible and despicable person with a terribly calibrated moral compass?"
"Well yes, and no. When you come to hell because you know what you did is wrong and it is eating at your soul, just gnawing away and wearing you down. If you didn't think what you had done was wrong, you would have been up there," he pointed upwards, "In heaven with my dear father who cast me down here to watch over hell and control people like you."
"So people can ultimately choose where they go?"
"Yes. But the majority know right from wrong and deep down in their heart of hearts, they know they belong here. And that my dark, wretched little friend is why you are here. Because you know you have partaken in dark and depraved acts."
"You're the devil?" Severus asked again.
"Again, yes." An exasperated sigh and an eye roll followed quickly.
"I like you, Severus Snape. You are straight to the point and you don't take shit from anyone. I'll make a deal with you. I'll send you back up to roam the earth bestowed with immortality until such a day you fall in love, in which case I will come to earth and personally escort you back down here for an eternity of punishment."
"So you're going to bestow me with immortality and send me back to earth… I thought I was supposed to be punished and not rewarded for the wretched things I have done in my life." A confused look etched upon his face.
Lucifer rolled his eyes again. Honestly. "Immortality isn't a reward, Severus. It's a curse. After you have travelled to every length of the world, seen every wonder it has to offer and tasted everything to sate your culinary desires. Once you see friends come and go like waves on the shore, once there is nothing left for you to do then you will see how much of a curse it really it and you will be begging me to drag you back to hell."
"So all I have to do is not fall in love and I get to live forever?" A brow rose quizzically. Surely he had been huffing too much-powdered unicorn horn and was merely passed out on the floor of his lab.
"Basically, yes," Lucifer confirmed. "I'm feeling incredibly generous today and if I am being honest, I can't be bothered with another intake today so letting you roam the earth freely not only suits me but it is a giant middle finger to my dear old dad."
"Well that's easy," He snorted.
"Oh, and before you go." Lucifer flipped a coin towards Severus, it glided through the air with ease, the red light refracting off the surface.
"What's this? This can't be happening," Severus muttered as he caught the small, silver coin that was dwarfed by his large hand.
"A Pentecostal coin. If you ever feel the need to ask a question or just to come see how the weather is down here just flip it once and it will bring you back. You are basically a human being who can perform magic beyond belief and you are having trouble believing that I exist? Good luck, Severus Snape, you're going to need it."
Severus inhaled sharply, eyes fluttering open in time to see the sun just starting to rise over the horizon changing the inky darkness around him to low light his eyes started to adjust to.
A hand flew to his neck, nothing was there. The red blood still tainting his skin but the wound was gone. Slowly he opened his other hand that was clutched tightly shut, a small silver coin struck with a five-pointed star surrounding a rams head caught his eye and he realised…He had just made a deal with the devil.
A/N: I've had this one sitting here for a while… Seeing as my other story Good Luck, Lolita is nearly finished I thought I would post this up. I wasn't going to post it until the last chapter of the other one but I am so close to finishing it this won't matter.
-Aliasmel1