I am so, so, so sorry! I know how long it's been since I updated, and I'm so sorry. I fell into a slump with this story and was honestly not sure about where I wanted to go with it. Being an adult also keeps me pleasantly busy and stressed. Thanks, college. Anywho...I don't own Welcome to Hell. That honor belongs to Erica Wester. The book Jonathan refers to is Dante's Inferno by Dante Alighieri. I don't own that either. All the original ideas, characters, and concepts are mine, though. I hope you all enjoy the chapter, and I hope it was worth the wait!

"What do you mean, I won't get to see Sock again?!"

Caius rolled his eyes, acting as if the pitiful human's cries of outrage were nothing more than a mere annoyance, especially because he had to explain the whole matter. Again. This was the case, but Caius was being a touch more dramatic than he needed to be. It was all part of the master plan.

"As I have told you at least three times now, Jonathan Combs, you will not be able to see your precious Sock again." He said the young demon's name with a sneer, angering Jonathan all the more. "Demons, no matter their origin or position, can only be gifted with passage out of Hell under two sets of circumstances. The first is, of course, having a job that requires the demon to reside in the mortal realm rather than Hell. As you can tell, I have been granted such passage. The second requires Lord Mephistopheles's blessing. This is what Sock had when he last came to see you. As young Sock has been granted permission for neither form of passage, he will be remaining in Hell for the remainder of his days. As he is dead, that would be for eternity."

"But Mephistopheles could give Sock permission to come back a second time, right?" Jonathan asked, now uncertain. There were so many laws and regulations when it came to demons that he felt like he was constantly jumping through hoops as he tried to get a single answer.

"Unfortunately, no." Caius replied, smirking. "My Lord and fiancée is only able to grant that permission once and only once. Sock used his one opportunity to be free of Hell to come see you before he went completely mad. Pathetically romantic, if you ask me."

"I didn't ask…" Jonathan growled, curling his fingers into fists.

"No." Caius breathed softly. "You didn't, which is rather rude since I am the only one who can help you reunite with the man you were too cowardly to admit your feelings to."

Jonathan's eyes widened ever so slightly. Nobody would've noticed the change in his emotions unless they were paying unnecessarily close attention, which, of course, Caius was.

"What do you mean? Your whole purpose as of right now is to convince me to kill myself. Why would you help me?" Jonathan lowered himself into his desk chair, convinced the conversation had reached its end. "By the way, you're terrible at your job. In fact, you might be worse at it than Sock was, and he was pretty damn bad at it."

Caius grit his teeth, ignoring the blood that ran down his chin. His fangs had pierced his lower lip. He would not rise to the bait. "I have my reasons, Jonathan Combs, reasons you shall not become privy to unless you want me to make your feelings known to the rest of the mortal realm."

Jonathan scoffed. "And how exactly are you going to do that? Possess me?" He started to chuckle before noticing that Caius had smiled at the mention of possessing Jonathan. "Wait, you can't be serious. You can actually possess me?"

Caius nodded and floated over to the bed, settling down into the rumpled sheets with a smirk. "Of course I can, you idiot. I thought you had done your research, Jonathan. All demons are capable of some level of possession, and some are more powerful than others. While demons belonging to the lowest ranks of Mephistopheles's army are only capable of behaviors that are similar to that of a poltergeist, demons from the middle ranks can slightly affect the actions of mortals as well as behave as if they were poltergeists. Demons from the highest ranking positons of Mephistopheles's army are fully capable of completely taking over a human's body, destroying the homes and other areas in which mortals reside, and behaving as poltergeists. They can control the minds of multiple humans at a single time as well."

Jonathan couldn't help but gulp nervously. "And which part of that army are you in, Caius?"

Caius laughed, a strangely pleasant sound. "Should not that be obvious? I am, after all, the fiancée of the Lord of Hell."

Jonathan bit his lip, now more terrified of the demon than he had ever been before. In the past, he had only seen Caius as a nuisance. But now that he knew the threat the demon posed to his well-being…

"Wait." Jonathan arched a brow, causing the demon to look at him quizzically. "If you can possess me, why haven't you done so already? Wouldn't it be much easier to make me end my life if you were, you know, in control of it?"

Caius burst into laughter, and Jonathan involuntarily scooted backwards in his desk chair. He ran into his bedroom wall, causing him to jump yet again before he was able to focus on Caius again. That was not at all the reaction he had been expecting.

"Why are you laughing?" Jon demanded, surprised to see himself offended. Not only did he have to deal with this immortal brat, now he was going to mock Jonathan, too?

Normally offended by the mortal's rudeness, Caius could only laugh harder at Jonathan's reaction. The mortal really was dense.

"I find amusement in your statement because you are wrong. While I could possess you and force you to toss your body off a bridge or swallow a bottle of pills, it would not count. Your fellow mortals would, of course, be sure that you had done it to yourself, but it would be murder in Mephistopheles's eyes. I would not have completed the job." Caius explained, sounding annoyingly patient.

"So, your job won't be complete until I personally kill myself? Who cares? That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about the fact that I can't see Sock again."

Caius raised one delicate eyebrow. Despite the grief he had put many a mortal through, he was incredibly beautiful. His beauty had made it easy to tempt and seduce humans into doing whatever the demon desired. However, he had known before he even set foot in Jonathan Comb's life that his normal tactics wouldn't work. The mortal had fallen completely and irrevocably in love with Sock. The fact that the idiot wouldn't admit it didn't matter. Caius still wouldn't be able to seduce Jonathan. So, that left trickery and emotional torment as his only available tools.

"Ah, but it has everything to do with the matter at hand." Caius replied, acting surprised. "Do you not understand? If you were to kill yourself, you would be able to see Sock again. You would be able to spend eternity with him."

Caius was right. Jonathan was having an incredibly hard time admitting his love for Sock to anyone, including himself. That didn't stop Caius's words from sending a shiver down his spine and through his heart, though. He knew the demon was lying. Even if he did kill himself, there was no guarantee he would be able to see Sock. Hadn't he read in some book that people who committed suicide were turned into trees once they got to Hell? Logically, Jonathan knew that this was true. He would be turned into a tortured tree, and Caius would receive a pat on the back for a job well done. He would never get to see Sock. It was all part of some sick little plan that the demon had concocted in order to get the job done. But…the words Caius had spoken…

"Eternity?" He murmured, more to himself than to Caius. The demon smiled sweetly and nodded. Being a reader of minds, he could sense that Jonathan knew he was probably lying. He even had an idea of where people who committed suicide went once they arrived in Hell, but the mere thought of spending eternity with his little idiot was slowly becoming the dominant thought.

"Eternity indeed."

Jonathan covered his face in his hands. He couldn't kill himself. He definitely didn't want to kill himself. He missed Sock, and there was no arguing about that. He was also at the point where he would do anything to see his little idiot again. But he couldn't help but think Caius's plan would only benefit one of them, and it wasn't going to be Jonathan…

"Well, I do miss the little shit, and spending eternity with him would honestly be great. I can't help but think you don't have my best interests at heart here, though, Caius. Aren't demons known to lie in order to get what they want?"

Caius's smile instantly slipped off his face. "What could I possibly have to gain from setting you up with that pathetic excuse for a torturer?"

"Well, you've got me there." Jonathan replied, voice growing louder as he became confident. "But convincing me to kill myself would be the end of your job, wouldn't it? And then you could return to your precious fiancée."

Caius bared his fangs, all vestiges of warmth and helpfulness gone. "Never speak about my fiancée." He floated off the bed and over to Jonathan, wings unfurled to their full length. Jonathan couldn't help but flinch away. He knew mentioning Mephistopheles wouldn't be the best decision, but he needed to piss Caius off.

"Or what? You'll kill me? Then you'll have to return to Mephistopheles with your tail between your legs. Or would that be some sick form of pleasure to you two?"

Caius howled in fury and shoved Jonathan against the wall, claws digging into the human's upper arms. He leaned forward until his face was inches from Jonathan's and hissed, baring his fangs once again. "You may think I cannot hurt you, and you may think you can trick me, but you forget two important things, Jonathan Combs. I can read your thoughts. I know of your silly and pathetic plan."

Jonathan took a deep breath to steady himself and raised an eyebrow. "And what's the second thing, Caius?"

"I, unlike the others, can return to Hell whenever I wish. I have it in my power to hurt Sock." The demon watched in sick satisfaction as the mortal's face paled.

"Please leave him alone…" The blond whispered.

"Oh, it is too late to even consider apologizing, Jonathan Combs. You will wait here and imagine all the horrible tortures I could be putting your love through. I, meanwhile, will return to Hell and punish Sock for your impudence." And with that, the demon disappeared, causing Jonathan to crash to the floor.

The blond winced at the pain before laughing softly, holding his wounded arms to his chest. Caius might think he had the mortal figured out, but the little demon had just played into Jonathan Comb's hands.

Again, I am so sorry for taking so long to update. I hope you all enjoyed the chappie. As always, constructive criticism is appreciated, but flat-out rudeness is not. See you all soon!

XOXOXOXO