“AHHH! MASTER HELP!!” Odin cried, flailing his hands in the air as he was being stirred in the hot pot of liquidated iron in it. “MASTER!” The servant didn’t know what to do but pleaded with his Master who had put him in the pot, after finding out what he had done.
A demon stood behind the pot, who looked like a troll. The troll was tall with a deformed face, smiling down at Odin who looked like a fragile vegetable thrown into a cooking pot to add flavour into it. It was rare to have Odin being punished as he was the favourite out of all demons and vampires who were in Hell, and it was pleasant to have Odin being punished.
Vladimir stood not too far away from the place where Odin was turning part of the iron soup’s prominent ingredient.
“Odin, who told you to open the portal for Calhoun and the others?” asked Vladimir in a calm voice, staring at his fingernails that needed to be sharpened.
“Master! You never told me that they were not supposed to leave Hell!” screamed Odin in pain. With Odin being part of Hell’s resident, the hot boiling iron wouldn’t disappear him. Still, it made a point on how upset Vladimir was after knowing his grandson and Madeline along with the werewolf-demon had disappeared from Hell.
Vladimir’s neck snapped in Odin’s direction. His eyes blazed in uncontained anger, “What part of close all the portals and the exits did you not get?” Vladimir asked in a low and threatening tone.
Odin wanted to snap the troll’s head for swirling him, and he felt his legs turning jelly as his body started to sink in the pot of hot iron. It had been a while since his Master had got angry, but then it wasn’t his fault that his Master forgot to mention that his grandson was not just taking a stroll in Hell, but that he was held as a prisoner.
“But Master-“
“Shut up, you fool!” Vladimir raged in anger, his eyes flaming in fire and soon his entire face looked as if it had caught fire, leaving his skin and flesh melted and only bones to be seen. The voice of the Devil changed to something deeper and darker, “Do you know how difficult it was to get him to the underworld?”
Vladimir took a few steps away from the pot, his hands holding each other behind his back in deep thought. “My grandson, as proud as I am of him, it is hard to trick him because it’s like talking to myself in the mirror.”
“He takes after you, Master!” Odin replied as he moved round and round, his head had started to spin.
“That he does, which is why it makes it difficult for me to trick him,” answered Vladimir, “He thinks the angels are not going to take her away, but they are only waiting for the right opportunity. Paschar might not do anything, but Michael, he’s too righteous, and too much righteous is what will turn as a thorn in our paths. Keeping Madeline here in the underworld would guarantee her a residence, of course, she would have had to drink the potion, but nothing happened,” the Devil sighed loudly.
Vladimir then raised his hand, and the troll looked sad as he had to stop swirling Odin in the pot. Odin’s screaming stopped, and he felt as if someone had placed a bell on his head and then striking it hard to have his head ring and twirl. When Vladimir was not watching, Odin sent a glare at the troll, and he got out of the large pot before taking a step outside it.
“What do you think the angels will do, Master?” asked Odin, and the Devil turned to look at his faithful, yet dumb servant.
“Something so bad, in the name of right decisions taken by Heaven and in the name of the welfare of people,” stated Vladimir. “All they care for is Madeline coming to Heaven. They are so scared that one day I will make use of her.”
Odin blinked at his Master, “Are we going to make use of the lady?” Madeline had been too nice to him, and no one in this world had showered him with such niceness.
Vladimir chuckled, “Maybe one day. When the time is right, we can fight against Heaven and its white-winged creatures, the place that was once rightfully ours.” The fire in his eyes extinguished and turned pitch black. “Madeline might be a demon, but there is only a speck of it, while the rest is all angel. But even a speck of dust can stain a soul. You know that,” a slow smile graced upon his lips. The Devil was once an angel too, but all it took was one speck of doubt and one speck of emotion that changed the entire universe upside down.
He understood the angel’s worry and concern, but it brought a great joy to the Devil. To make things worse for the angels, Madeline was married to Calhoun, his very own blood and she was Calhoun’s beloved.
The Devil started to walk away from the place. Odin who had regenerated his skin back on his body, he quickly caught up to his Master and asked in an apprehensive tone, “What will happen now, Master?”
“I have sent the Salvette Mortem to the castle. It will guard the girl. If something does happen, the creature of death would take her soul away from the living world and bring her directly to Hell. This way, there will less inconvenience, and our problem will be solved,” remarked Vladimir with a smirk on his face.
The Devil never interfered when souls were taken to Heaven or Hell, but Madeline was special, and if she were to die, he would personally make sure that her soul was brought to the underworld.
As they left the torture room, Odin dutifully followed Vladimir, clearing his throat, he said, “Are we going to the living world now?”
“No. I missed Hell and wanted to spend some time here. There’s a foolish demon who dared to speak and raise his voice against me when I was in Hawthrone’s castle. Bring him to me,” said Vladimir in a calm voice, and Odin bowed his head, disappearing from there as a bat.
