When Mrs. Harris’ eyes fell on Vladimir, she quickly looked at Madeline, “I didn’t know we are having a guest.”
Vladimir tilted his head, and he prompted the word, “Guest? I am the relative, milady.”
For a moment, Mrs. Harris was left confused, and her eyes then suddenly widened, “Y-you are the King’s grandfather?”
“So you have heard about me,” Vladimir offered Madeline’s mother a smile, and with his eyes that were wide, it only turned the woman frightened in his presence. The Devil started to walk straight towards Mrs. Harris, and he said, “We didn’t get to meet each other officially. I am Vladimir Lazarus, Calhoun’s beloved grandfather,” he stressed on the word beloved.
If her mother hadn’t heard about who Vladimir was, maybe it would have been easier to ease her into the situation, but Madeline could tell her mother’s nerves were wrecked in worry in the presence of the Devil.
“Mama,” Madeline tried to get her mother’s attention, “Let us go to the kitchen to see if the dessert you made is done. Vladimir is here to join us for dinner.” If it was possible, her mother turned shocked. Walking towards her mother, Madeline smiled and took mother’s hand to lead her down the stairs.
When they entered the kitchen, Mrs. Harris turned sharply on her heel, “What is the Devil doing here?!” The horror that Mrs. Harris felt was now apparent on her face. In the past, she thought if there was one person whose presence was intimidating, it was her son-in-law Calhoun Hawthrone, but this was something she had never foreseen.
Beth, who was in the kitchen, turned around to ask Madeline, “Vladimir is here?”
“You know him too?” whispered Mrs. Harris with a shocked expression on her face.
With the way her mother was behaving, Madeline questioned what the demon had said to her mother that had her terrified. Madeline placed a hand on her mother’s shoulder, “Mama, breathe. Vladimir is here because we have some questions to ask. The person who came to talk to you, he wasn’t an angel.”
“What?” frowned Beth.
Mrs. Harris placed a hand on her temple, pressing it, “Oh, dear God. Please be merciful on my family and me,” she muttered under her breath.
“What is going on?” questioned Beth, placing the pot on the table that she had earlier carried in her hands.
Madeline turned to Beth, “We had an unknown demon in the house who impersonated the archangel’s form to persuade mama and me.”
“The Devil is here! This is not good,” whispered Mrs. Harris under her breath, going to one of the racks, she pulled out the garlic from there, and Madeline sighed. “One should not associate with the Devil! One should not invite him as he shall bring nothing but destruction and misery. Have we all not read it?”
Madeline and Beth shared looks, while their mother continued to whisper so that the Devil who was here would not hear her. “This is the reason why we tried to hide you, Maddie. Your grandparents knew this was going to happen, and they were trying to prevent it.”
“Mama, grandma and grandpa wanted to kill me,” Madeline responded. She understood that her mother was scared and worried, but this was not how to go about it. “Vladimir is here to help us! You need to believe my words, instead of listening to a stranger, okay?”
She stared at her mother, waiting until her mother finally nodded her head.
“How do I act?” asked Mrs. Harris.
Madeline squeezed her mother’s shoulders and said, “Like any other person. I know he is the Devil and the thought is daunting, but he is Calhoun’s only family. There is goodness and badness in every person. We have all had it,” she said looking straight into her mother’s worrisome eyes. “It might be wrong of me to tell this, but he is better than grandma and grandpa. He helped Beth.”
Mrs. Harris’s gaze shifted to her younger daughter, and Beth nodded her head.
“Madeline is right, mama,” said Beth, before someone would drop the news to her mother she decided to say, “Something happened in Cossington, and I fell very, very sick. It was Vladimir who helped me get better.”
“Why didn’t you tell us anything about it?” Mrs. Harris’s eyebrows had deeply furrowed, “Are you alright now?”
“We didn’t want you to worry about it,” replied Beth.
“Let’s get the table ready to serve the food,” suggested Madeline, and Beth nodded her head, “Mama?”
“Yes, let’s get it ready,” agreed Mrs. Harris.
On the above floor, Vladimir and Calhoun heard every word spoken by the women of the house. While the Devil smiled, there was a questioning look in his eyes, “Seems like I missed something.”
“Do you know a demon named Darian? Madeline and I suspect that he was here,” informed Calhoun.
“I don’t think I do, but what business did he have here?” questioned the Devil, his eyes holding curiosity in them.
“He came here impersonating the archangel Michael, tattling to Madeline’s mother on how I am related to the Devil and he tried to sway Madeline’s decision to leave the living world. He came to Madeline when I wasn’t here,” hearing the words from Calhoun, Vladimir’s eyes narrowed. “Madeline heard from the angel Gabriel that Heaven has decided to stop from persuading her.”
“The bastard sure has some nerve trying to pull something like that,” commented Vladimir. He snapped his fingers, and within five seconds, four demons appeared in front of them. “Find the demon named Darian. You can let the others know about it too, and the one who gets him in front of me will be rewarded handsomely,” and he waved his fingers for the demons to disappear.
“We want to enter, Hell,” stated Calhoun and Vladimir’s eyes lit up like a child’s eyes.
“You know Hell is your home, and you are always welcome Calhoun,” replied Vladimir, excited to have his grandson and the angel back in Hell.
“But I have conditions before I step back there,” said Calhoun and the smile on Vladimir’s face faltered.
“I am listening.”
“You shall not try to keep us in Hell, and you won’t threaten or kill Madeline or me, forcing us in any direct or indirect way to live in Hell. Nor try to turn Madeline into a demon,” Calhoun was specific about his deal with the Devil, and Vladimir nodded his head.
“Sure.”
“And I get to ask you for a wish,” said Calhoun, but this was something that didn’t sit well with the Devil. “Consider it to be a backup plan if you ever try to flip and go back on your word. The wish can be from either me or Madeline.”
Vladimir placed his hand on his chest and said, “My heart bleeds that you don’t trust your very own grandfather.”
Calhoun rolled his eyes. After the stunt Vladimir pulled at them when they were in Hell, Calhoun would not let the Devil trick them again. And he also doubted Odin would be able to help.
“Alright, consider it to be done,” Vladimir agreed to the conditions. “We can leave whenever you want-“
“After supper,” Calhoun had already decided not to wait. He would have gone to Hell alone, but he didn’t want to leave Madeline behind. Both of them then headed down the stairs, making their way to the dining room.
