9 Soul Portraits

Aisha.

"Why are you in a bad mood?" I ask after a while.

"I'm not." he grunts.

Since while ago we found ourselves walking through a crowded place full of horrible demonic creatures.

I roll my eyes and decide to keep quiet. Yesterday he came back very late from the meeting with his father. How do I know?

Very simple, for some stupid reason, I can't sleep unless he's around. The truth is that my awful transformation really exhausted me, and every time I tried to fall asleep the restlessness of knowing that Everette wasn't around, was present.

This mark thing is really strange, it's as if I can't control myself, I want to be with him and that bothers me. I know I wouldn't feel this way if it weren't for this stupid necklace, I tried to take it off my neck and throw it away, but it just comes back to me.

"You're pretty quiet..." I look at him waiting for a reaction.

He sighs in annoyance.

"You should imitate me." he says sarcastically.

"I don't understand why you are so annoyed with me, you know I'm sorry I didn't manage to become a beast, but I really tried and I will keep on doing it until I succeed."

He stops suddenly and looks at me neutrally.

"My mood has nothing to do with you." he assures me.

"Then don't act like it does. Do you have any idea how bad it makes me feel when you're mad at me?" I say in exasperation.

"This mark thing is a nightmare..." he places his fingers on his forehead for patience. "Aisha, I am not mad at you, I just need to distract myself a little."

Something inside me feels so much better knowing that.

"Can't you do anything fun in Hell?" I question.

I don't really know what kind of fun they have in this place, but Everette's macabre smile assures me that there are many, and perhaps too extreme for my tolerance.

"I used to be able to have fun in the temple of fornication, but now I have you, so neither of us would enjoy it. You are still too inexperienced to do anything without risk, so we don't have much choice, considering I can't leave you home alone, we really are cursed thanks to my mark, I must say I am very sorry to subject you to that."

"Don't worry." I shrug my shoulders.

He looks at me raising an eyebrow in surprise as he laughs.

"It doesn't bother you?" he asks incredulously.

"It's very strange." I admit, analyzing the situation. "It's as if you were necessary to me, but it's kind of nice." I smile sideways. "Something inside me tells me that my human life was quite lonely, so it's not so bad to have you next to me, even if sometimes it's a bit uncomfortable."

He grimaces.

"This is getting disgustingly sentimental..."

I laugh and nod.

"Then tell me what we can do to make you feel relax." I ask with a distracted air as we continue walking.

"It seems that torturing is still not pleasurable for you." he analyzes. "So I guess I could show you something I'm sure you'll love."

His half smile forces me to smile.

"And why would you do that?" I raise an expectant eyebrow.

"You're constantly saying that everything is horrible in this place, but the truth is, if you look hard enough, even Hell can be a paradise."

I let out a laugh at that comment. Hell a paradise, that sounds totally improbable but at the same time very intriguing.

"Very well." I give in. "Show me how this place is your paradise."

He nods and materializes us on top of a mountain, I watch him in amazement at our sudden transportation, but he seems to be too used to it as he just walks slowly along a rocky path. He stops, so I know he expects me to walk beside him, I hurry and get on his level to start our journey.

I just stay quiet, and I've learned to notice when Everette prefers silence, it's usually when his brow is slightly furrowed, which means he's lost in thought. When that happens, I try to imitate him, lately I've been trying to remember details of my human life, anything that can help me know why I'm here.

I still don't understand very well how time works in this place, so I don't know if it passes in the same way as in the human world, which I doubt. I wonder if my parents mourn my death, or if I ever had them. Life can be a complete mystery when you don't know who you are, and the only thing I know so far is that I must become a demon.

"Over there." he says out of nowhere.

I look up and notice a small rocky fortress.

"Does everyone here have their own castle?" I ask falsely irritated.

"Wealth is a pleasure we don't give up." he shrugs.

"So being rich comes naturally." I hint.

He laughs mischievously.

"It depends on your status, if you're a powerful demon you'll have the best, if you're a damned soul..." his laugh turns macabre.

"I understand..." I bite my lip self-consciously.

He comes forward slightly, before it used to bother me a lot when he did that, but I realized that he does it with a protective gesture, to make sure that nothing inside any place can hurt me, he explained that being a soul, many would seek to catch me, but so far his mark has protected me.

"Idrak." Everette calls with a full imperative tone.

A cloud of smoke appears a short distance from where we are, from it emerges a rather imposing man.

"What a surprise." he says to Everette with a half smile.

His eyes are a deep red, his complexion is slightly tanned, his hair is brown and covers his ears. He wears a dark robe that covers his whole body, but his strong arms do not go unnoticed.

"Let me introduce you to my new soul, Aisha." he says.

He makes a slight bow and I imitate him.

"It's a pleasure." I assure him, to which he reciprocates with a smile.

"I want you to paint a portrait of us." informs Everette.

He nods and gestures for us to enter.

"It will be a pleasure." he replies.

Confused, I enter the place.

"What kind of demon is he?" I ask Everette in a whisper as we walk through the huge fortress.

"It's a pure-blooded demon." he explains. "Many demons are not expelled from the realm of the Celestials, some are born as demons, just like Idrak, he is a full demon and has special qualities."

"Are you a pure-blooded demon?" I ask, to which he nods.

"I was born a demon, my mother did not have the opportunity to be with my father here in Hell, so the celestials allowed her to come and stay for a while, just at that time, I was born."

"So you could have been a celestial."

"They say that every being has a destiny, mine is to be the prince of Hell." he smiles sideways.

"Don't you think what would have become of you if your mother had given birth in the realm of the Celestials?"

He analyzes the question and sighs.

"All I know is Hell, I am really myself here. I believe that if I were a Celestial, I would have eventually been expelled. My

father is an evil being, evil flows through my veins. "

"And that makes you happy."I make guess.

"That's what I am." he shrugs his shoulders.

"You can take any place you like." Idrak interrupts us.

Everette steps forward and takes a seat on a huge sofa, with enough space to keep us from making physical contact, which he still can't get used to. I thought that only happened with me, but the truth is that during these days I've noticed that he gets uncomfortable when Asmodeo breaks his bubble of personal space, or some entity gets too close.

"What kind of special qualities does Idrak have?" I ask as he settles down next to a canvas, and without any paint on his hands he begins to caress it while the red of his eyes becomes more intense, like millions of rubies.

"He can see inside us." he says as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"You mean our souls?"

He chuckles and denies without looking away from Idrak.

"I don't have a soul of my own, practically what I possess is pure power, you are a soul that, as I have said many times, will become a demon, so someday what you are will be much more powerful, if we were human, he could see our souls, but we are not, I think he sees our desires."

"You think?" I raise an eyebrow.

"It's hard to explain, since it varies between each one of the beings."

My eyes remain fixed on Idrak, while his eyes don't move away from Everette and me, for a moment I feel it, I feel him watching through me. His hands passionately caress the canvas until he suddenly releases his breath and moves away from it.

"That was fast." I say admiringly.

"What takes time is for us to clearly see each of the things he managed to capture." Everette says as he sits up. "Thank you for your time, my friend."

Idrak smiles and denies.

"You have never expressed so many things as now, I really feel proud that I have not lost my conscience." he jokes.

They both laugh as they shake hands. Seeing him smile so openly makes me feel different, it is similar to losing my breath little by little, but once he is next to me, I can breathe, I can feel peace. Knowing that this mark is forcing me to feel this way makes me feel helpless.

It is not real.

No matter how much I want to lie myself about it.

I get up slowly and leave the place without waiting for Everette, I run in a hurry along the rocky path we walked together and I feel tears begin to flood my eyes.

Everything is a lie, he can't feel love, he doesn't want to feel it. It's all his fault, it's also my fault for being so fearful and forcing him to give it to me. Everything would be different if he really felt that way about me, it doesn't bother me to know that I'm idiotized by him, it destroys me to imagine that he seems to be the one who feels the same way, when it's a sham.

Why is all this so hard, what did I do to deserve to come to this place and meet him?

I run and run and run until I lose all sense of where I am, I stop when I realize that I am surrounded by trees and an unusual coldness surrounds me.

The forest of Death.

Great, I'm sure Everette won't take long to find me, the last thing I want right now is to be next to him, I repeat myself over and over again when in reality, every second away from his side is extremely painful for me.

"What's your damn problem?" his voice startles me and I turn around when I notice that he has materialized right next to me."You never understand how dangerous it is for you, even bearing my mark!"

"Leave me alone." I whisper with my eyes lowered.

"You're...!" he exclaims angrily but stops. "You are sad..."

He comes closer to me but I turn my face away.

"Leave me alone." I shriek.

He brushes my face with the tip of his finger and lifts it in his direction.

"What's wrong with you? Did someone hurt you?" his voice becomes a delicate, protective whisper.

"Stop acting like this." I demand. "You're not like that. "

He blinks in a daze and takes a step away from me.

"That's what's bothering you, that we don't treat each other with hatred anymore." he laughs without any hint of humor.

"That's all your mark's fault, it doesn't make sense for us to indulge in that kind of behavior." I cross my arms.

"I don't understand how you can be so stupid." he rolls his eyes in exasperation. "You recently told me that you didn't mind feeling this way because of it."

"You were upset because the mark links you to me." I assure him, remembering his behavior of a few hours ago.

"I told you it had nothing to do with you." he reminds me.

"You lied." I accuse.

He denies, pushing away any hint of a joke.

"Although my father is the master of lies, I assure you that we are disgustingly honest. Honesty is often the best weapon to hurt people. No one likes to admit their painful reality."

"I know you were upset because you can't help but act differently because of the mark! " I insist.

"I just told you it's not like that!" his tone becomes impatient.

"Then tell me what was bothering you!" I demand.

"We'll have to go to the human realm!" he shouts in annoyance.

What...?