Bad Word
Lucifer
Stepping out of the front palace doors, many continued to glare holes in my back. The heat of their stares only magnified my mission to find this girl, figure her out. Surely there had to be a spell cast on her, to deter my emotions and seek some sort of revenge on me and my family.
There was no secret. My father was, in fact, the God of Hell, but he wasn’t as evil as the souls he tormented. After my mother being saved from a sex traffic ring, he sent his own demon soldiers to act as humans, finding entire rings of darkened souls for them to feed upon. The soul eaters became father’s new favorite creation. They suck the lives of worthless humans or supernaturals, sucking them straight to the doors of torture. Bypassing the judgment table and earning a number one spot session with me.
Bodies fell completely to the floor with no reason for humans of why they died. The demons would then release the women and even children, taking them back to their homes. Mother helped with the entire operation when it first started. She had saved countless lives.
Humans and supernaturals had become smarter, no longer hiding in the dark, but in the open, with simple code words and phrases. None would be the wiser. It was a daily battle. The supernaturals knew what my Father was doing and would do everything to continue their operations selling and distributing to buyers for sex slaves.
Could this Uriel be using her Innocence to make me believe she was my mate? It took my father years, thousands of years, to find my mother. Why would I find mine so quickly? Could I not see through her deception? Surely my mother could discern from any sort of soul magic.
Uriel pranced down the cobblestone path, dancing with one foot on each rock. The hellhounds from afar watched her skip down the trail, closer and closer to the sod. The thick grass was Mother’s joy. She loved to walk barefoot in the morning, letting her wolf go free and dance in the garden.
Father had forbidden any demon, god or goddess to walk on the grass, only letting his precious mate and mother’s hell hounds feel the special grass between their paws. The hellhounds grew closer, being the silent predators they were, gently pawing through the grass.
Their teeth salivated while I stood up against the palace walls as watching her. My soul wanted to grab her arm, pulling her back away from the danger, but that could all be her plan. Fingers tightening, the clicking of my thick rings knocking against each other until three hell hounds approached the sidewalk. Uriel smiled, waving right in front of the giant beasts.
“Hi!” she whispered. Their growling ceased, their large black heads tilting side to side. One of their tongues lagged out of their mouth, licking their chops. Reaching into her skirt pocket, she pulled out a piece of meat. “I brought you guys something,” she whispered like it was a big secret. Their mouths watered as she broke it into three pieces.
“Here you go!” Tossing it up into the air, each one took a large chomp, licking their maws. “What good boys you are!” Rubbing their head, they all laid in the grass. Uriel hopped into the grass with them as they rolled on their damn backs as she rubbed their bellies.
I shook my head exasperatedly.
“You are such good little puppies! I wish I had a dog. Her lip pouted.” Loki walked up, carrying a leg of the roasted pig. Taking a large bite, he smacked his lips as he spoke.
“She’s a genuine piece of work, huh?” Licking his fingers, I stared down at him, putting my lip into a curl. I didn’t like he was making fun of her, but I didn’t want to show that to Loki. He might get the wrong idea. I was still figuring her out, making sure she wasn’t some fraud.
“I mean, she just walks right up in here, not paying any attention to the evil glances all the-wolves were making at her,” he waved his hands around. “And she didn’t even notice the supposedly hottest two highest ranking warrior wolf twins Timmy and Tommy staring her down like turkey on Thanksgiving day. Ready to lick her up from head to toe and stuff her with their…” I grabbed Loki by the neck, tight enough to make him go purple. Dropping the pig leg, his claws stuck out of his nails and his horns on his head grew.
“Don’t fucking talk about her like that!” I growled lowly so she wouldn’t hear. He smiled, trying to giggle. “You are such a sick fuck,” I dropped him while he gasped for air.
“Didn’t you know I like being choked?” Groaning, I hit the back of my head on the wall. Mother was going to have a time with him when his balls dropped.
Uriel continued to rub on the hellhounds, not at all appalled by their grotesque looking forms. Hellhounds could sense any sin, even the smallest ones, feeding off them and finally attacking the ones that fed them the sin.
She had none from the looks of it, her white dress now stained with deep greens from the lawn. She stood up, wiping down her dress only to run across the lawn giggling, her wings trailing behind her running towards the garden.
“You gonna follow her?” Loki looked up at me, mischief in his eyes, digging in his pockets, finally putting a sucker in his mouth.
“Why don’t you go say hello?” I muttered. “See what she’s all about?” Loki rubbed his hands together, rolling the sucker between his lips.
“My pleasure.” Rubbing his hands in mischief he hopped off the stairs, running towards the gardens.
Loki ran only on the stoned path, making sure he didn’t fall into the grasses. The hellhounds would never attack him, but they didn’t like Loki either. There were too many times he had changed his body into that of an animal such as a deer and scare the shit out of the hellhounds because they weren’t allowed to harm a hair on his head.
Father once saw a hellhound get too close and killed it on the spot.
Uriel found the center of the garden. It was laid with tons of roses, daisies, tulips and a few gardenias. I found it funny she gravitated towards those, not willing to pick the flower put smell it enthusiastically. Taking off my dress shirt throwing it to the ground, I willed my wings out, flying to the top of the gazebo where she sat playing with the petals. Loki shook his head, watching my shadow fly above him.
Loki cleared his throat. “Hello,” he tried to make it sound deeper. Idiot.
Uriel’s head sprung up excitedly. “Oh, hi!” Standing up, she brushed her short dress off, the green stains still discernible. “I’m Uriel, what’s your name?” Loki took out his hand for her to shake. She shook it playfully.
“I’m Loki, Prince of Hell,” he tugged on his suit jacket, giving a smile.
“That’s right! You were standing up there with your family. Sorry, I got so excited I must have forgotten! You were very handsome up there.” Loki puffed out his chest.
“You think so?”
“Yes, yes, I noticed you first. You kept looking at the gigantic cake. Once I saw what you were looking at, I went for it,” she squealed excitedly. She acted like a child never seeing a four-tiered cake before.
“You like sweets, yeah?” reaching in his pocket, he pulled out one of his suckers. It wasn’t just any sucker, it was one you stick in your mouth giving a horrible taste and glued your mouth shut. Father and Mother were out for several days and the nanny at the time was dumb enough to put it in her mouth. I wasn’t around and no one else knew how to break the spell except for Loki, and he wasn’t telling.
Pulling out the brightly colored pink wrapt sucker, Uriel’s eyes grew wide. She bit her lip, clasping her hands together. “For me?” Loki nodded. “Only the best, tastes fantastic.” Uriel goes to reach for the sucker, but rubs her chest instead.
“What did you say?” Uriel asked.
“Said it tastes fantastic.” Uriel rubbed her chest again, sitting down on the cement bench.
“N-no thank you. That was very sweet of you, but I think I’ll have to wait for another time.” Loki’s mischevious eyes softened. He sat on the bench with her.
“What’s wrong? You keep rubbing your chest. Does it hurt?” Why the hell does he care? He’s never cared about anyone before.
“Yeah, it did.” Her nose scrunched, her pouted lips almost touching the tip of her nose. “It was weird. But thank you, Loki, you are the second nicest person I’ve ever met. Few people want to come talk to me, but you did, and that makes me delighted. I don’t get out much and this was my first party and I’m sure my social skills are lacking.”
Loki shook his head. “Nah, I’m not nice.” He shoved the sucker back in his pants pocket. Uriel shook her head, hand landing on his. Loki’s eyes brightened, pink sparkling his cheeks.
“You are Loki, and I can tell you are a good person. You came all the way out here to talk to me.” He leaned his head back. “You didn't have to, but you did.
“Fuck,” he whispered.
“Loki!” she scolded. “That’s a bad word. You shouldn’t say that.” She scolded, covering her ears while Loki smiled.
“Alright, I won’t say it again if you promise to give me something.” Uriel leaned forward.
“I don’t have anything,” she patted her pockets.
“But you do,” Loki smirked. “Give me a kiss on the cheek and I won’t say that word again.” My fists tightened, heat filling into my veins. The piece of shit was trying to rile me up. Uriel sat back, her back straight, with the wind playing in her hair.
“I-I can’t do that,” she muttered.
“Why not?” Loki said, sounding offended. “It’s just a kiss on the cheek!”
“I have to give it to someone I love,” she whispered. Loki stared at her, dumbfounded.
“You mean to tell me you won’t give me a kiss on the cheek because you want to give it to someone you love?” Uriel fiddled with the hem of her dress, her pale cheeks brightening to a deep shade of red. “Have you ever kissed anyone before then?”
Uriel rocked her head. “Mom says you only do that to people you love.” Loki scoffed.
“On the cheek? You can only kiss the people you love on the cheek? What about the lips?” Uriel gasped, holding both hands to her mouth.
“Noooo, you can’t do that. Only people wanting to the stork to come kiss on the lips.”
Hell has frozen over. Loki, for the first time in his life, was speechless. His brain was trying to reboot at the information he had received, for fuck’s sake, I didn’t know what to think! I rolled on my back, my wings spread across the roof of the gazebo. The white pillars looking vastly white against my blackened wings.
This girl was not cursed with some spell to lure me in. There was no ill sin in her heart and no damn bad intentions in her voice. Her intentions were blank, other than trying to make a friend, know people, and live life around her.
“What damn cloud did you fall out of?” Loki whispered. Uriel covered her ears again.
“Does your Mom know you curse this much?” Uriel huffed. “I can’t hang out with you if you keep spilling bad words, only the uneducated use words like that.” Loki stood up, offended.
“So you won’t hang out with me because I use bad words, yet you believe kissing brings on babies?” Loki’s tone cracked, his hand slapping his chest. “Everyone wants to hang out with me! I kiss she-demons my age all the time! I’m the prince of hell. I’m popular!” Loki waved his hands in the air, sitting harshly on the stone bench. Crossing his arms, he wouldn’t look at her, huffing silently to himself.
Uriel stood up, pushing her white dress down her thighs. “I’d like to be your friend, Loki, but if you talk like that, I can’t be your friend. I have standards and using those bad words when a friend you asks you to stop isn’t being a good friend.” Uriel’s hips swayed, walking out of the gazebo.
I snorted quietly. I haven’t seen Loki this disturbed in all his life. A girl, a woman that would normally throw themselves at the princes of hell to get attention, just walked away from him. My heart warmed to think that she would give up being friends with someone. Maybe she had more brains than I thought.
Uriel continued to walk down the path before Loki screamed out her name. “Wait, just wait,” Loki brushed back his hair. Listening intently, I watched as he rushed to her. Loki was only ten years old, almost as tall as the little goddess. Uriel picked at her nails, not wanting to look at him, rubbing her foot on the stones beneath her feet.
“If it bothers you that much, I won’t curse anymore.” My eyes widened. Loki just did something out of the kindness of his own heart. The gold of Uriel’s wings glowed as she fluttered the feathers close to him.
“Really?” Her eyes beamed. Loki put out his hand for her to shake. “Yes, I will try my best, but it is a bad habit to break, you know.” Uriel nodded, shaking his hand.
“Where is Uriel?!” A loud shriek came from the front of the palace. Lightning flashed and the entire garden was lit up as bright as Earth. Several gods, including Mother and Father, raced around the house, everyone disregarding Father’s rule of staying off the lawn.
The hellhounds from the stables began to swarm, surrounding the now-massive crowd following behind the enraged goddess.
“Uriel! There you are!” Hera’s sandals slapped the stoned path. “We must go, now!” she hissed. Face hardened in disgust.
“Uh oh,” she whimpered, stepping back towards the gazebo.