The Kill Society (Sandman Slim)(105)

He laughs and it breaks down into a wet cough. He finds a chair in the wreckage, rights it, and sits down. His voice is surprisingly deep and strong.

“You’d be surprised. Offer mortals or angels what they really want and the first thing they’ll give up is doubt.”

“Not me. Not down here. Doubt is my best friend. Doubt that I’m stuck here. Doubt someone like you is going to off me.”

“I have no interest in offing you any more than you have in offing me.”

“You just murdered a hundred of my troops.”

He shakes his head.

“They’re not your troops. They’re Lucifer’s troops and you’re not him. You might have the title. You might be hiding that you wear his armor under that coat but you’re no more Lucifer than the other one.”

“How do you know, Henoch?”

“I’m not Henoch, you young fool. There is no Henoch. I’m Lucifer. The first Lucifer.”

On any other day I might not believe something like that. Today is different though.

“If you’re the real Lucifer then the guy I know as Lucifer is Henoch?”

He leans his elbows on his knees and shakes his head.

“I told you. There is no one named Henoch. Henoch is the town. I’m Maleephas. And before you ask any stupid questions, yes, I said I was Lucifer. Remember that the Lucifer you know was once Samael. Just as you . . .”

“Stark.”

“As you, Stark, are now Lucifer.”

I hear something from above. I can’t tell if it’s screams or someone singing “Close To You.”

“What’s happening to my people?”

“I assume they’re being slaughtered just as anyone who comes here is slaughtered.”

“Why? What’s so special about this place that everyone has to die if they come near it?”

Maleephas shrugs.

“You’ll have to ask Samael. He built it. He made the city. He constructed the road. He made the rings you passed through and the Vorosdok that attacked your men. If you’ve been in Hell for any length of time you’ve probably noticed that he’s quite clever and has a good sense of suffering.”

Is this another illusion? Am I talking to myself or does the roadkill have hallucinogenic saliva and they’ve bitten me and are tearing me apart?

“Why would Samael do any of that?”

Maleephas stands and crooks a finger for me to follow him.

We go down a corridor with windows that look out over the front of the Breach. Roadkill and dead soldiers are spread out in all directions.

“Don’t feel badly,” says Maleephas. “This is his doing. Not yours.”

“Why? Why would he build this? Why are you here?”

He opens his arms wide, turning in a circle. He laughs with more strength than I thought he had in him.

“Because this is Hell. The first Hell. The first after the fall. The one we made together and he took and then abandoned.”

Maleephas looks out the window. A few last roadkill wander up the hill. A lot of them are missing heads, arms or legs.

“What stories do they tell about me now? That Henoch Breach is a rebel Hellion’s hold? What do they say about this Hellion?”

“That he’s crazy. That he slaughters travelers along his road. That he fucks snakes and rats and makes monster babies that do his dirty work for him.”

He grips the bars and presses his face to them.

“At least I’m colorful in this version. These myths about the place, they change over time. Very few in Hell recall what really happened in the early days. Remember what I said about offering beings what they really want? Why would they want to remember that this world began with a betrayal as thorough as the one in Heaven?”

“You’re saying that you and Samael were bosom buddies and he turned on you. Why? Why would he care about taking over this shithole?”

“For one thing he likes power.”

“So do you, if you were Lucifer.”

“Touché. The difference is that I had doubts about the argument with Father. He didn’t. When a group of us tried to go back, well, you see the result.”

The little gears clank in my brain. I look out the window.

“The roadkill that attacked my men. They’re Hellions, aren’t they?”

Maleephas nods.

“The ones who wanted to return with me so we could throw ourselves at God’s feet, hoping to receive his infinite mercy. What they received was what you saw in the grove. I received this prison.”

I take out a Malediction. Light it and offer it to him. He takes it and sniffs, hands it back to me.

“It smells awful. Is that what you do in Pandemonium these days? Pollute yourselves with that?”

“We have all kinds of pollution. You should try Aqua Regia. Or there might be some unicorn salad left in the truck if you want to try it.”

He shakes his head.

“Such a stupid world we made together. It was going to rival Heaven but it turned into more ruin.”

“You know what’s funny?” I say. “Guess where Samael is these days.”

“I’m afraid I’ve lost my appetite for games.”

“He’s back in Heaven. He had doubts about the argument too. At least the part about the war. He’s back upstairs trying to make it up to the old man.”