"I remember this painting," Jia said as they passed a large oil portrait of a serious-looking man glaring out at them. He had stark white hair, deathly pale skin and eyes of the deepest red like Lucifer's. "It used to feel like the eyes watched you as you walked past."
"It still does," he answered. "My father is scary even in a picture."
"I know that feeling," she answered automatically. His brows pulled together and he stopped to look at her.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Nothing. My dad just has a temper sometimes. You know how I always hated being yelled at." She shifted her weight nervously.
"You're a grown woman. Nobody should be yelling at you."
"I still live under his roof and I'm friends with a human he happens to hate. He has every right to yell at me until I can pay my way towards the bills." She shrugged. "It's no big deal, Louie."
"Louie? I haven't heard that nickname in a long time." He cocked his head at her obvious distraction tactic, but let it slide for the time being. "Come on. If we don't get there soon Beelzebub and his friends will have eaten everything."
"Beelzebub?"
"One of the Seven Devils."
"The Seven Devils?"
"You really didn't learn anything about this realm when you last came here did you? In human scriptures there are the seven sins. Each sin has a corresponding layer of Hell to which the committer of said sin is banished. Each layer has a ruler. I represent pride. Mammon represents greed. The third Devil is Asmodeus representing lust, Leviathan represents envy, Beelzebub is gluttony, Satan is wrath and Belphegor is laziness. Your scriptures call it sloth or something along those lines."
"And is any of that correct?"
"Most of it is wrong. The scriptures correctly identify the seven most powerful figures to be cast from the Angelic realm and the traits they embody, but the order of hierarchy is incorrect. Satan is the most powerful. He has three sons; myself, Mammon and Belphegor. Our family is the Ruling Caste. We then have the First Sphere which comprises of the other three Devils identified in your scriptures and religious texts. The Second Sphere is made of their subordinates and the rest of the Fallen, and the Third Sphere ranks the pure blood Demons with the most power in this realm."
"But our scriptures have been around for hundreds, if not thousands of years. You and your brothers are only a year or two older than me."
"That's true in body but not in mind. We reincarnate."
"Wait, what? You mean you can't die?" She blinked at him.
"Our bodies can be destroyed but we can't be killed."
"How old are you really?"
"That's a big question and I don't actually know the answer. I've existed alongside my father for millenia. I've forgotten more about my life than I remember."
"How many times have you died?" She looked at Lucifer with a new appreciation in her eyes, recognising the keen intelligence and his reserved nature for what it was; something carefully cultivated over centuries.
"Less than my idiot brothers," he shrugged, looking away. "We were killed by Satan as punishment for stepping out of line. Then we were forced to reincarnate and wait for our bodies to reach maturity again. It was all very inconvenient."
"So were you and your brothers killed at the same time? You all seem about the same age right now."
"Yes."
YOU ARE READING
Of Light And Shadows
Paranormal(UNEDITED- TITLE CHANGED FROM MORNINGSTAR) Jia's first memory was of someone who was once an Angel. He had eyes the colour of blood and hair as black as sin. All the stories from her world said he was formidable, that he could be ruthless and his po...
