The Beast and Beauty

Chapter 13: portal to hell

Arabella

I couldn’t figure Lucifer out, he was a mystery to me, one minute he was almost kind, and then he would be coarse and cruel, and then he would be kind again, it was confusing, but I was also thankful for his kindness in explaining he wouldn’t hurt me, I felt a huge weight lift of my shoulders as even today I had still had that fear that I’d be going to hell when I died, and I felt if not all of it then at least the deepest root of fear had gone, after all, who better to tell you not to be afraid of the devil than the devil himself?

He could be lying just so I would set him free, and then I scolded myself for doubting him, it had been just like he had said, being branded as the prince of lies made it so that even if he told the truth, no one would believe him, we would always doubt and that thought made me sad for him, how lonely it must be for him to have all the realms of people hating him and thinking he was incarnate evil.

That wasn’t fair of me, especially when he hadn’t shown even a hint of judgement or revulsion when I’d mentioned my bed-wetting problems, he had been kind and reassured me I had nothing to fear. So, taking a deep breath, I gestured for him to lean down, and I undid the chain from around his neck.

I held my breath and he walked away. My heart sunk, had I really thought he would take me with him? He looked outside and checked down both streets, and then he came back over to me and took a hold of my wheelchair. My heart soared as he opened the shop door and pushed me out.

“Keep an eye out in case she comes, your stepmother has a lovely habit of showing up at the most inconvenient times.”

For once, I was glad it was dark, hopefully it would make it harder for her to notice us so quickly. He wheeled me along the street and a couple of people waved hello to us, I waved back, but Lucifer ignored them.

When we got close to the forest he headed into it, the ground became more bumpy and rough, but if it was more difficult to push me along he didn’t show it. A wolf howled in the distance and I jumped in fright. “Don’t worry princess, I won’t let the wolves eat you, you’re safe with the, what do they call me? Ah, six six six the beast.” I could hear the smirk in his words, he was teasing me.

“How do we get to your realm?” I asked him.

My magic will open the portal to my realm, the portal is on the other side of this forest.”

“It’s just there for anyone to try and get into?”

“No, it’s closed and invisible to the naked eye until I open it.”

“How do people have you open it?”

“You’re extremely chatty when you’re nervous.”

He managed to sound both annoyed and amused at the same time.

“Please indulge me,” I asked.

He sighed in frustration and answered, “fine, like I said, you need powerful magic, dark magic, you can do a ritual to open communication up with me, if I wish to respond, then I will, or you can give me an offering and again if I like the offering and you, I will allow it.”

“Wait, offerings!”

He laughed at my outburst, a boyish laugh that sounded way more cute than it should to me.

“You people are so funny, don’t worry princess, I have no interest in human or child sacrifices or any other vulgar acts.”

“But—“ he cut me off with anger in his voice this time. “No buts, anyone who commits such heinous crimes are nothing to do with me, they act on their own and I would never accept such a disgusting thing, where the f.uck they get these f.ucked up ideas from I don’t know, but it sure as f.uck isn’t from me.”

I heard him mumble more quietly under his breath, “f.ucking trickster spirits probably, always masquerading as me and humans for it every f.ucking time.”

I very wisely chose not to talk about it anymore, he was so angry, I felt the air around us heat up. I asked something simpler instead. “Ok, so what do you like?”

“Wine, chocolate, honestly it doesn’t really matter too much it’s the intention of the person I care about most and if they are respectful, then I’ll allow them in or work with them.”

“How does that work with people in the earth realm? They have no magic, right?”

I heard another howl, and it sounded closer, I swear he was wheeling me further towards the wolves. His voice distracted me from my fears. “Not like here or the other realms, but they somewhat have it, it’s just a lot harder for them to access. They need to do a lot of rituals and offerings and open themselves up to me. It can be hard for them because in a land with no magic it means they have to somehow find the belief that there is, or if they really want to talk with me face to face, they learn to astral project, leave their bodies while they sleep, it’s rather difficult to explain, but basically, it’s done through more spiritual means, it’s not like me and you right now here together, it’s more like communicating with spirits.”

My frown made him give a small laugh. “Yes, I know it’s confusing when it’s so easy for you lot in this realm to come to me directly in the flesh. But a realm without magic means they can’t do that, and I can’t go to their realm in the flesh either.”

He rolled his eyes at that, and I asked, “what’s with the eye roll?”

“My creator made the earth realm even if I was the one to first create life on it, he took over and claimed it as his, I’m forbidden from entering so though I technically have the power to enter earth in the flesh, I won’t.”

“You respect him?”

He snorted at that, “no, he has many flaws which he refuses to see, but I can respect what is his and in turn he respects what is mine.” My wheels were covered in mud by the time we reached the other side of the forest, it was rather a beautiful area, and I was sad I had never seen it before.

There was a clifftop and down below was a big lake that would have looked beautiful if the moon had been shining gently down on it, my stepmother had made sure that we couldn’t even enjoy the moonlight with her curse, it was a lot of streetlamps and lanterns being carried around that helped us to see.

Lucifer stood in front of me and I watched as he rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, tattoos appeared along his forearms, patterns of strange symbols one I knew was his Sigil, I looked at some other symbols and realized they must be the sigils of his demons, there was also some beautiful artwork along the tattoo sleeve too, a sword, an Angel and some other drawings I couldn’t quite make out because he moved, but I could make out enough to know they seemed to resemble who he was.

I watched as he lifted his arms and the tattoos began to glow a soft red, underneath them, I saw softly glowing veins running underneath his skin and towards his hands, he chanted in some language I’d never heard of before, not even when my stepmother did her spells.

It must have been the language of demons and I watched as the air before us shimmered, the wind picked up whipping strands of my hair around my face. He took out a small knife from his back pocket, I had no idea how he got that, but I watched in horror as he reached up and cut his arm and allowed his blood to drip thickly and heavily onto the floor where the shimmering was, then it opened up, a big hole appeared in front of us and I could see his realm through it, it was like he had made a tear between our realms.

He looked back at me and saw me staring at the blood dripping down his arm, and he smiled at me. “It’s not pretty getting into hell, princess. Are you still coming?”