It looked like any place up in Heaven. Rich red carpet ran along the floors, tapestries hung from the wall, and candelabras stuck to the walls giving off a cheerful yellow glow. It made me want to do a double take. I looked at Edward with eyebrows raised. He smiled softly and pulled me along, my hand still in his.

I didn't know whether to take my hand back or let it remain in his grip. He was strangely warm and it unsettled me how much I liked his warmth. It seemed to bring me comfort. This being of darkness brought me warmth. I could practically see Calypso shaking her head at me. She'd say that I was being foolish for allowing myself to get an attachment to a demon.

Yet was that what he was? Would a demon help an angel from a Realm so unlike his own? Maybe not Lucifer himself, but Edward seemed different. He had so much darkness inside him, but not an evil darkness if that made any sense. Almost as if he was born in the wrong body and time and just made due with what he was given.

Or maybe I was just being extremely stupid. I guess only time will tell.

Yet something was off here. Why was this room so lavish and majestic? It was like I was transported to a different place entirely. I turned my head and looked behind me. I could still see the dusty air that I left behind from the market, even a slight smell came through. How could it change so quickly?

"Come here," he said. He lifted his other hand to touch my forehead. My body shuddered as a cold wave cascaded down my body. I clenched my teeth together and closed my eyes until the feeling subsided. When I opened my eyes, my jaw dropped.

The rich majestic carpet was nothing but a moldy cover, laying across the floor in careless abandon. The walls were black and oozing in certain places. Even the tapestries were comical representations of works of art. They hung in rips and tatters from the wall.

"What in the world?" I murmured, looking around.

"It's a glamour. I forgot that you'd be susceptible to it. I've been trained from an early age to peel away the layers of delusion."

"Is nothing as it seems in the forsaken place?"

"Only if you look hard enough, will you find the truth. My father planned it this way. You see what you want to see."

I clenched his fingers tighter in my hand and he led the way down the hallway. I did my best to hide the revulsion on my face. Things had taken a darker turn. The candlelight made everything appear dim and uninviting.

Loud sounds echoed down the dark hallway. Gurgling sounds, unlike anything I'd heard before. I stuck close to Edward as we travelled further down. I looked up at his face to see that he wasn't afraid. I resolved that I wouldn't be either.

We walked closer towards a strange, orangish light. The sounds got louder as we approached. I scrunched my eyes to see the room before us. It was a room out of a fairy tale. A dark, twisted fairy tale, but a fairy tale nonetheless.

Men and women sat in chairs around a table that seemed to go on forever in one direction. No matter how much I scrunched my eyes, I couldn't see where the table ended.

Food lay rotting on the table. Flies and maggots crawled and wiggled over everything. I watched as one man grabbed at the food in front of him with his hands. The food squished in his dirty hands. He shoved the rotting mass into his mouth, maggots and all.

I resisted the urge to vomit.

Everyone at the table was eating with the same kind of frenzy. They seemed to never get enough. When the plates and trenches in front of them were depleted, a devilish imp would crawl out of some trap door in the floor and plop down another revolting mass of rotting meat. My stomach churned at the sign of the group feeding.

I turned my head and bumped into Edward's chest. Surprisingly, his arms snaked around me and he pulled me close. He smelled like ash. My head neatly fit underneath his chin.

I felt safe in his arms and it scared me. I pulled away and looked up at him. His eyes were lit up, like he had little green embers dancing around his iris. "Why did you do that?" I accused.

"Do what?"

"Pull me towards you like that. I didn't need you to comfort me."

His face clouded. "It looked like you did."

"Well, you thought wrong." My heart hammered away in my chest. I averted his gaze and centered my focus on the floor. I started off walking forward and I could hear him coming up behind me. His steps heavy in my ears.

"Would now be the best time to tell you you're headed in the wrong direction?"

I faltered in my steps. "But this is the way opposite of the way we came in. How can it be wrong?"

He laughed, which incensed me even more. "Didn't I just tell you that nothing is as it seems. Especially in this place."

"But…"

He nodded his head in the direction behind us and to the left. I turned to see that he meant around the table and back towards the way we came. "Won't that just take us back?"

"Why don't you let me be the navigator."

I grumbled under my breath an obscene word, which he must have heard because he smiled, which made it all worse. I followed behind him with a distance of about three feet between us. I didn't want to be too far from him, but definitely not too close.

I tried my best to ignore all the slurping and gulping coming from the people around the table. Chairs creaked as they tried to support all their weights. It was like a feeding den of the obese. What made it fifty times worse were the children.

Their small childish bodies bloated beyond normal proportions. Their chubby hands smashed food together before stuffing it into their overstuffed cheeks. I watched a small group of them eating more than their body could possibly hold.

A chair creaked and cracked. The toddler closest to me crashed to the floor. His red shirt smeared with colors and filth from whatever he was shoving into his mouth. I cried out in alarm, but the child didn't seem to hear. He waddled to his feet and stumbled back towards the table, reaching already for the next piece of filth with reach.

I couldn't help it. A single tear cascaded from my eye. It glittered gold in the dim light. I looked up to find Edward standing once again in front of me. He lifted his hand and wiped the drop from under my eye. It glimmered on his finger with flecks of light. I watched as he lifted his finger and put it into his mouth.

Did he just…

In that moment, I didn't really care. His eyes were smoldering. In this place of darkness and despair, how could his eyes light up with so much light. They seemed to glow with an inner beauty that I never saw before in my life.

His eyes stayed trained on mine and I couldn't rip myself from his gaze. He crossed the few inches between us and lowered his head. His lips parted, and I swear I could see a little glimmer on his bottom lip.

My mind was telling me to back away. Don't let him be this close, my body flashed warnings all throughout my being. But I couldn't ignore the pulling on my heart. My heart turned out to be a bit braver.

His lips brushed mine softly. His skin felt like soft velvet against mine. A warmth began to build up between us. My hands unconsciously reached up to entwine in his shirt. I pulled him closer and in doing so, made the kiss deeper.

His lips pulled and pushed, they begged me to respond. Our kiss evolved into something bigger, something sweeter, something… hotter. I'd never been touched like this. Never had the pleasure of experiencing an intimate contact with anyone. How could he light me up like a dry bundle of sticks? How could my body burn with the light of the warmest star?

Our kiss ended sweet.

His lips pulled back slowly. His eyes still glimmering with an emotion that I still couldn't read. He smiled softly. I almost wondered if he was embarrassed. Edward, the son of Lucifer, the fallen angel who fraternized with the likes of Rosalie, was blushing.

I cleared my throat and tried to hide my own smile. We were surrounded by madness and chaos, yet we were sharing a private moment that belonged to us and only us.

"Shall we move along?" I asked, not having anything else to say.

"I guess we should. I doubt our audience would approve. They seemed to have enjoyed that."

I turned back to find that all the faces around us were turned toward us. Their gazes every hungry and unsatisfied. I stepped back and bumped into Edward. "What are they staring at?"

"Us."

"But they didn't care when we walked by any other time. Even that kid breaking his chair wasn't enough for him to look up."

"But that was before the kiss. Our energies came together and anyone within twenty yards could have felt that blast."

"Our kiss created energy?"

"Bella, were different. They are lost souls. I am a demon. You are an angel. I doubt many of our kind get to fraternizing."

"What do they want?" I stepped back another step. The gluttons kept staring at us. Their eyes were empty and their jaws were slack. One guy even had food slowly dripping out of his open mouth.

"Another kiss. They feed on energy and life. Our kiss is like the best dessert they've ever experienced in their lives. They want an encore, which I'd be pleased to oblige."

I turned and wacked him across the chest. He laughed and pulled me back to him. His hands snaked down into both of mine. "I was kidding. Well, partly. I don't get off by giving others a show. But for what it's worth, it was probably the best day of their lives."

I shook my head. "You're something else. You know that."

"Yes. I've always been a little different, but then again maybe that's why you like me so much."

"Cocky too." I tried to hide the smile that crept up on my face.

He seemed to still see it, despite my best efforts. "Not cocky. Just sure of myself. Now, before we end up on the floor rolling around, let's get moving. They'll go back to their feast." He started walking down the length of the table.

"Wait," I said catching up. "How are their children here? Surely no child would be capable of committing such great acts of sin?"

Edward sighed and took my hand, yet he didn't stop. "They are here because they never had the chance to change their own destiny. Those children are children that perished with their mother while still in the womb. Drug addicts mostly. They would take and take until they died. Perishing themselves and their unborn children to this place."

"That's just awful." I couldn't wrap my head around it. "Can't there be some kind of forgiveness for this situation. It's not their fault."

"Still, it's the way it is. They know nothing but hunger. Don't feel so bad about them, Bella. They don't feel, think, or remember. They were never born. They never witnessed any of life's lessons or miracles. They are empty vessels whose only goal is to feed."

"But they're children," I protested.

"Not anymore."

He pulled me away from the toddlers at the table. I looked back one last time to see them. Their curly hair gleamed with sweat and grime, yet I could almost see what their faces should have been underneath them.

Don't worry little ones. You may have never had a voice, but I will be your voice. You are not forgotten. I care about you and one day you will be free. Free to giggle like a child should, in the arms of a mother who truly loves you. If God won't listen, then I guess I'll just have to break Hell open and rescue you like I'm doing for Calypso.

You matter. Even if you were never held, or heard. You matter. And one day you will know love.

I swear it.

I turned away and walked away from them. In my heart my decision had already been made. If I could break open Hell for my friend, then nothing would stop me from freeing souls who were imprisoned for no other reason than being linked to someone who rightfully deserved to be here. One day, they would be given that chance. No one, not even Lucifer himself would stand in my way.