Prologue: Another Execution

The street was empty, small pieces were falling off the walls, aside the trash lying around and squeaks of rats as they ran, chewing the rubbish and fighting over it, teeth chattering in warning, eyes gleaming maliciously.

Sudden tapping against the dirty ground made them go quiet, heads snapping to look up, before scattering into different directions, crawling and hiding into holes, scrapping at the various surfaces as two shades appeared, one was short, plump chubby looking with several spikes poking from his back, with four eyes glowing above his beak, coloured purple and dark blue respectively, the other was different, quite the opposite. A skinny tall with two horns dominating his head, a singular eye with X and yellow glow dominating his face.

"Why do we have to do this?" one of them groaned, kicking an empty can away, breaking the silence. "You know why." The other answered flatly his strange looking feathered tail swishing with annoyance at his younger companion, "She ordered us. So, stop whining and man up." He added in hiss, crystal eye glaring mockingly, the first one let out a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck, "This place's giving me creeps." He mumbled, "Why in the nine circles would an overlord live here?"

"Maybe because he's an Overlord? Never thought about that, dummy? To keep himself low and in safety, out of preying silver eyes? Geez sometimes I wonder if you've ended up here for your stupidity." He grumbled receiving himself a smack on the shoulder.

"Okay, Einstein!" his fellow buddy hissed, his spikes standing up a bit, "Explain this: If He needs to stay hidden because of his status, why none of the other Five needs to? Huh?" He hummed sharply, eyeing his companion sternly,

before his friend could answer, a sudden quake shook the ground sending last remaining brave rats into the holes with a panicked squeaks, their back-spikes scrapping against the walls.

The demon fell silent, his eyes wide with shock and.... fear?!

A sudden laughter caught him of guard, turning his head to side, he huffed angrily at his companion. "What's so funny?" he asked with cold, almost hissing tone, his eye burning into to laughing demon sharply.

"It's just that...dear Franklin, is afraid of a small earthquake!" The other demon howled with laughter, tears appearing in the corners of his eyes.

"Are you finished, Deus?" Franklin asked in flat annoyed tone, ignoring the accusations. His friend nodded after mouthful of chuckles, "I am... now." He giggled for the last time before falling silent. They walked few steps further before Franklin stopped again.

Franklin stood still; with swift movement he stopped his friend from walking further. "Dude, what the fuck's wrong with you today?" He asked Franklin with annoyed tone.

Franklin stayed silent, eye glued at far end of the shady street, frowning, "Deus. When I tell you to run, run and hide into the nearest hole like your life depends on it." He hissed whisperingly leaving Deus in confusion.

"What- ""Shush!" Franklin shushed him, still starring into the alleyway. Deus' eyes widened in shock as sharp claws crawled from behind of one of the buildings, scrapping away small pieces of the wall, followed by dark inhuman chuckle. Just as two glowing yellow eyes appeared from behind the corner Franklin shoved him away, "Go! Now!" He yelled pushing him even farther.

"Don't just stay here like frozen cissy, run for it!" Franklin's frantically yells rang in Deus' ears as he pulled himself together and without further hesitation followed suit. His feet stomped against the hardened dirty road, Franklin screamed something again, but his hazy clouded mind couldn't focus on him, instead his whole brain focused on the third pair of feet chasing after them accompanied by flapping of heavy wings.

'What in the Tartarus was that?!' he shrieked in his mind remembering those glowing silver orbs in the dark. Their stomps became more frequent as a frightening inhuman laughter sounded behind them.

***********************

On the opposite side of the alleyway a spacious parking lot was built. It was empty save for one red clearly damaged car parked in the middle row. Its owner stood under a dead maple tree, leaning around a falling apart stone wall, an expensive looking tobacco between his lips.

He was short, with peach skin and dark grey splotches, his dark purple eyes were frowning heavily, gazing onto his scarred feet. A pair of small striped horns poked from between a soft bunch of blonde coloured hair. His white spotted hand was holding a phone,

"Where are those idiots of yours?" He asked coldly into it,

"They're not there yet?" A softspoken feminine voice asked on the other side,

"Do you really think I'm so retarded I wouldn't notice them standing few inches away?!" He gave out a dark snarl, clearly getting annoyed, "I'm giving them ten more minutes max. Then the deal's gone, you're not the only customer of mine you know." He hung up before the female in the other hand had a chance to reply.

Letting out a snowy white puff of cloud from his nostrils, he exhaled deeply, taking another snuff of his delicious tobacco, enjoying the bitter taste and burning in his lungs, his eyes looking up at the bleak red sky. A soft purr of satisfaction escaped his throat.

A sets of quickly approaching terrified screams surprised him, making him cough, causing him to spit out the expensive delicacy. "Goddammit!" he cursed picking the tobacco up again. He looked over the wall, to see a very unusual scenery: two demonic creatures running for their life followed by a ferocious looking angel.

He crouched back down, listening for the heavy footsteps to run past him, before straightening himself back upwards again. His blood froze inside his veins as he came face to face with grinning, bloody smile and pair of silver eyes staring right into his core. He felt as his body started to shiver in fear.

Taking deep breaths, he glared at the creature on the other side of the wall with determination, pulling his battle blade out of his trouser pocket, he threw himself at the killer from heaven with demonic screech, slashing the blade around him madly.

***********************

The two friends breathed heavily by the time they left the alleyway behind. Franklin looked behind him, yelping with both fear and surprise as they saw the creature still chasing them. "Frank?" Deus peeped up, "I can't run any longer." He looked at his friend in fear, whimpering a bit.

"Just hold on, Deus." Franklin replied, breathing heavily, his head already turning in all different directions in search of shelter. A sharp cold wave pierced through him as he heard Deus trip beside him.

His steps stopped, panting he looked toward Deus, then finally taking a good look at their predator. His eyes widened in surprise when he noticed the creature no longer being right behind their tails, instead it seemed to vanish into thin air.

"Are you alright?" He asked Deus between short breaths, the other demon sat up, "Yeah." He nodded panting heavily as well, his eyes permanently widened by the unfortunate experience.

"What in the fuck was that?" Deus asked after their breaths returned. Just as Franklin was about to answer – eerie shrieks of pure terror cut through the air making them jump up again.

They looked at each other with the same question on mind: 'Should we take a look?'

Without any words they spontaneously started walking toward the source, their steps slow and cautious, both crouching a bit as to not be seen by the ferocious heavenly creature that was chasing them moments ago.

As they came to the end of the street, Franklin signalled for Deus to stop. Deus looked at him, then followed his gaze, eyes growing wider, he clasped his hands firmly over his beak as a cream of pure surprise and terror threatened to break lose.

Dead body laid on the pavement, its face half eaten, dark crimson liquid streamed from deep slashes in its back and limbs, bones were visible on several places, an arm was ripped away being tossed several inches from the rest of the body, face skin was missing. Their previous chaser stood above it ravenously stuffing itself while purring deeply, its big dark coloured wings soaking their tips in the black crimsony puddle, chunks of meat and skin fell from its mouth, its slick tongue catching them and pulling them back.

Deus started breathing heavily upon noticing the dead glazed piercing purple eyes staring up at them, with soft blonde messy hair dangling on the top of them, a look of utter defeat forever smeared on the gaping mouth bellow.

"That's...that's Amos!" He yelped in whisper covering his mouth as to not bring the creature's attention to them. Franklin placed hand on his shoulder, "Let's go." He mumbled; disgust showing on his face.

Quickly they turned on their heels and sprinted away as quietly as possible.

"Red blood." Deus mumbled as they stopped to catch a breath, "What?" Franklin breathed out, "His blood, it was...it was...red." Franklin sighed in annoyance, "Of course it was." He almost growled, "He was a sinner, you idiot. What you thought he was hellborn?" Deus gave him a shameful nod, "Like the others." He mumbled, his face deep red. Franklin rolled his eyes, "Dumbass." He muttered to himself. Before any of them could say something more, another monstrous screech came from behind them, sending them running again.

******************

"Welcome back, boys!" A feminine demon chuckled while adjusting her long light locks, she had purple skin, with very curvy fluffy chest covered in cream fur, her yellow and violet eyes watched the newcomers very closely "Admetus, Franklin, we were worried you'll never return." She giggled puffing a smoke from her nostrils while playing with her odd ancient-looking cigarette holder, her other pair of arms was folded under her chest.

"Aerice," they panted in unison, falling to their knees winded, they panted heavily after running such distance, their hands were firmly place on the gravel surface to keep their balance.

One of Aerice's eyebrows rose, "What's wrong boys? Did the walk tire you out?" She asked teasingly blowing out another puff of smoke, "Or did you get wasted on the stuff I ordered?" she narrowed her eyes slightly in a bit of suspicion.

Franklin looked up at her, "It's not that boss." He managed to get out in-between his heavy breaths, "We came across one of Them." He muttered staring into her eyes, while Admetus spat out saliva,

"We didn't even get to take the stuff, Boss." He added.

Her eyes widened, "And Amos...?" Franklin shook his head, "It got him, it was almost finishing devouring him when we get to him." He sighed rubbing sweat off of his face.

Aerice remained silent, her eyes glazed and unreadable, "I'll talk to the lord." She said in whispery cold voice. Turning on her heels she beckoned to one of her bodyguards, "Robbie?",

a tall very muscular blue scaled lizard with red stripes all over his body came to her, "Yes, A.?" he asked in gently smooth deep voice.

"Take them back to the club." She told him softly before leaving. "Get up, boys. We have a long shift ahead." Robbie said placing his hands gently on the shoulders of his coworkers, "Come on boys, we don't have all day. The clients are waiting." He chuckled heartedly as he led them toward a dark red, glittered limousine, helping them onto the backseats before hopping into the driver's seat himself.

****************

"THEY DID WHAT?!"

Loud yell broke Katara from her deep slumber. Groaning she sat up, rubbing her face. Sighing she got out of the bed, wrapping herself in her purple fluffy coat she walked out of her room.

With soft tapping of her bare feet on the dark floor, the young demoness reached the kitchen entrance,

her mother sat at their big dark table, her tail tapping on the floor in anxiety and annoyance while her dad stood in corner, his face turned down, his expression scorching the dark floor beneath him.

"Mom? Dad?" Katara's voice got them to look at her, "What's wrong? What happened? Did I do something wrong yesterday?" she asked rubbing her eye. Her voice caused all of them to look at her, Mags stood up from her seat,

"Of course not, sweetheart, you didn't do anything wrong." She told her daughter in a soothing voice, wrapping her in warm hug before looking at her husband for support,

Satine looked up, the raging fire dying in his eyes, "You're innocent, Little Fire." He agreed, walking to his family, joining in the hug, Katara looked at him in confusion, "What happened then?" she asked glancing from her mother to her father, yellow eyes glistening with worry.

Satine turned his eyes away, "There was an execution." He growled through gritted teeth, the calmness from before gone,

"Again?!" Katara gasped with anger, "It wasn't even a week from the last one, let alone month!" she argued,

"We're aware, Hun." Feminine voice from the balcony as Aerice joined their conversation, a soft periwinkle smoke following her, drifting from her cigarette. She stopped beside a sink and leaned against it, setting the room into silence again.

After few moments, a terrified scream sounded from the outside, shattering the silence. With swift leaps, Katara bursted through the still open doors and stopped by the balcony railing. Her mother and father along with the overlord on her heels.

Looking over the surroundings, the young hell-spawn spotted an elderly spider demon running toward the castle with two angels giving a chase.

"Help!" yelled a raspy old voice, an old demoness was running toward them, her completely black eye looking at them as black tears streamed down her face, hands flailing in the air as she gazed at the royal family on their balcony.

"We got to help her!" Katara stated one leg hanged over the silvery railing, "NO!" Satine cried in urgency grabbing her by arms, yanking her back, he shook his head as she turned to look at him in astonishment. "You're not risking your life like this, not under my watch." He told her in stern, serious voice, making her pout.

"But dad- "she tried to protest, "No." He said in stern voice, swinging his legs over the railing. Without other words, he jumped down. Making Katara huff in annoyance.

"Hey!" He roared at the heavenly creatures walking to them as Mags and Katara watched from above, fear and worry written on their faces.

"Miles!" Mags called into the castle, making an old looking imp appear,

"You called, Mrs. Magerna?" he asked in neutral yet polite and respectful voice. Mags nodded, trying to mask annoyance at being called by her full name,

"Miles would you- ""Get down there and protect father, please!" Katara interrupted her mother, desperation thickening her voice, the imp servant nodded,

"Right away, miss Katara." He said and hurried down, his pointy tail flailing behind him.

Satine panted, sprinting downhill, "Hey, assholes!" he snarled in hoarse voice, "Leave her alone!" He growled darkly underneath his breath, tail swishing frustratingly behind him.

The angels looked at him, then back at their prey, the old demoness was panting, kneeling forward, her eye wide and full of fear, she was shivering violently, tiny sobs escaping her half open mouth.

"Last warning." Satine almost hissed through tightly gritted teeth, his tail lashing in rage, "Leave. Her. The. Fuck. Alone." He shuffled closer, stepping ahead of the elderly, spitting each word out with malice. Eyes slit into tiny deadly glaring lines. Causing the angels exchange unreadable glances.

One of the angels tilted its head, face covered with freshly skinned demon one. "Leave." He growled darkly, tips of his claws glowing in purple light,

"Sir!" Milles's yell caused Satine to turn back, the glow disappeared as he lost his focus on it, "Watch out!" the imp plunged himself forward, tackling the hell-lord and shoving him away. Catching the well-aimed blow himself. The force being enough to fling himself few meters away.

Satine looked at him in anger, his mouth opened slightly,

before he could say anything, an eerie screech sounded nearby. Satine's words turned into furious hiss as he spotted the angels repeatedly stroke the old lady's head in glee, her dark blood oozed out, creating puddle beneath her.

Seeing red the hell lord let out an ancient dark screech that made them stop, his whole body glowing dark purple, he marched forward to the angels, each step causing black trail to appear. As one of the angels prepared to strike him with machette, Satine looked at him, causing him to be petrified into stone and crushed in hell-lord's fury, making the other two ran away in sheer terror.

Satine stopped beside the demoness, he crouched down, checking for vital sign, exhaling a sigh of defeat after finding none, he stood up again, waiting for Milles to arrive.

"I'm sorry sir." Milles panted, "Your daughter told me to protect you." His gaze glued to the corpse, wincing as his arms trailed around his bodies, checking for bruises, he could feel some of them forming already. Satine remained silent, watching the angels flew up and disappear to Heaven in defeat.

Slowly, the hell-lord looked at his servant, "Sir?" he looked to Milles. Opening his mouth, Satine closed it after no words came out, he hung his head down, eyes glazed with rage and incredible disappointment, "Let's go home, sir." Milles whispered softly, placing a firm grip on his shoulder, he guided the crushed ruler back toward the castle.

"Dad!" Katara cried when they entered, she jumped on him, wrapping her hands around his neck tightly. Satine wrapped his hand around her too, slowly.

After what seemed like eternity, Katara let go, "Welcome back, Sat." Aerice said entering the entrance hall with Mags following closely behind, "Glad to see you're still living." Her joke attempt fell flat as pairs of annoyed eyes looked at her. "Whatever." She muttered, rolling her eyes she lit up another cigarette. Turning her attention to one of the three big pictures hang around the room.

"Are you alright dear?" Mags asked him stepping closer, her faces dark with worry

"Of course, sweetheart." Satine replied gently, pulling her into a tight hug, kissing her cheek. "They didn't even touch me, thanks to Milles." He added with a grateful nod. The servant blushed slightly at the small praise,

"It was nothing, sir. I just did what I was ordered to do." He replied scratching his head, avoiding the ruler's gaze awkwardly.

"What are we going to do now?" Katara asked looking at her parents in worry,

"I'll go talk to the highest one." Satine answered with hollow sigh, letting his wife go as he headed for the door once again, "It's the only thing that's left."

"Go with him, Milles." Mags said watching her husband leave their home,

"Right away, my lady." Milles replied following quickly behind him.

"Will they be okay, mum?" Katara asked after they left, Mags shook her head, placing her hand onto Katara's shoulder in comfort.

"I'm don't know, sweetie." She answered with a sigh.

*********

"Stupid, cloud things!" Satine snarled as they exited the empty purgatory wastelands, stomping his foot furiously to get rid of a white cloud fluff which lingered all over the ground. "Why the fuck did they create those things anyway?" He groaned in mild irritation as he hit his foot onto a stone hidden beneath it. He sharply looked at Milles who just shrugged,

"Not sure sir." He replied with honesty,

"Never mind, at least we're here." The hell-lord muttered looking at golden gate. "Let's get this over with." Taking deep breath, he walked up to the gates.

"What the- Why the hell are they locked?!" Satine yelled angrily shaking the bars trying to open them.

A small cute face popped up from window nearby, a young-looking girl with strawberry blonde hair and orange-amber eyes blinked warmly at them "Oh, sorry, sir, no imps allowed in." Cheery bell-like voice said, one of Satine's eyes narrowed into thin slit,

"Excuse me?! I'm the ruler of hell, not a dirty imp!" He sneered, clearly offended at the statement, his tail twitching in frustration. "No offense." He added, his voice being calmer and more soft-spoken, looking at Milles.

"None taken, sir." The imp servant replied with a nonchalant shrug.

"Right." Satine nodded turning back to the angel guard, "We'd like to talk to the highest one." He said trying to sound calm.

"Oh yeah, no, sorry. No hell inhabitants allowed- ""Polly! Who you're talking to?" A rough voice cut the little angel off as another, tall gazelle, angel joined them, "No-one important, Dante." Polly piped as an answer, looking up at the newcomer.

Satine narrowed his second eye at the statement, "Well, excuse me, I'm just trying to find out why there was a fucking execution this morning!" He growled; teeth gritted tightly as a hiss came from him.

The gazelle glanced at him, "Oh howdy, Satan, is it?" "Satine." The hell-lord corrected him immediately, his tail lashing with fury.

"Almost the same." Dante noted with an eyeroll, causing the ruler of Hell to start shaking in anger, "What do you want, we're kinda busy here, you know?" Satine's nostrils flared as he trembled in rage,

"You're. Busy?" he managed to choke out through gritted teeth, seeing red.

Polly nodded enthusiastically, "We're working on removing hell right now, it's taking a lot of time cause it's sooo big." She explained flailing with her hands animatedly, paying no attention to the murderous glares Satine was sending her.

"You WHAT?!" Satine raged, his claws digging into the gates so tightly it scrapped away small bits of gold, causing Polly to yelp.

"We got an order few days ago." Dante started explaining calmly with smug smile plastered on his face, "The Highest one wants us to.... eliminate Hell. For good." He finished leaning forward toward the hell ruler, his smile widening with satisfaction.

Satine was fuming, both eyes slit into thin lines. Quiet hisses escaping his lips, "And how were we supposed to know, huh bitch?! You already caused one of my overlords to die!" By this point he was grabbed by Milles as to prevent him from launching himself at the two angelic beings.

Another smug smile of utter satisfaction appeared on Dante's face, "It was in Heaven's Magazine, sir." Polly said causing Satine to turn his death glare to her once again,

"DO I LOOK LIKE A FUCKING CHARITY TO YOU?!" Satine yelled at her, his eyes blazing with rageful fires.

"Calm down, sir." Milles told him in a whisper, "They aren't worth your energy." He added.

Satine closed his eyes, took a deep breath and opened them again. "We're way classier down there, we don't read that kind of shit." He sneered at them, his eyes blazing.

Dante shrugged, "Your decision then, old man." He said, "Don't whine here you weren't warned then." He finished with a grin before turning around and leaving, "Come on, Polly, we've got better things to do than hanging out with scums." Grabbing the female angel by her shoulder ushering her away.

*********

"SCUMS?! SCUMS!? I can't believe that goddamn, motherfucking-" Satine roared after they returned to the castle. "'You should have read our news,'" he mimicked Dante's voice grabbing a glass from nearby table, "Fuck my ass, you lambsucker!" with force he threw the glass against a wall, shattering it, making Milles jump up in surprise.

"I guess the meeting didn't go so well?" Mags chimed looking at the now shards filled floor. With a sigh Satine shook his head,

"They told us, they'll wipe us out and we can do nothing about it." He growled quietly still raging.

"Lady Mags, let me escort you somewhere else until your husband gets his temper under control again. For your own safety." Milles said kindly rushing the queen out of the room against her own will.

After moments of standing still, Satine walked to chair and sat down. "What are you going to do, dad?" The question made him jumped up in shock,

"Katara, oh satan, don't scare me like that!" He heaved looking at his daughter.

"Sorry dad." Katara giggled, her yellow eyes glowing playfully, "I was just curious what you're going to do." She scratched her head.

"I don't know, sweetheart." Satine answered honestly, "I feel like there's nothing we can do."

"You can't say that." Katara argued, "You're Satine, the king of all hell, surely there has to be something you can do." She urged him. Satine looked at her,

"And what am I supposed to do, we can't fight them, our powers, magic, weapons, ANYTHING is useless against them, they'll crush us." Satine said looking at her.

"You're right in that." Katara sighed in agreement. "You could still try. There must be something you took from heaven when they banished you which you could use now." She muttered causing Satine to look at her,

"You're right, thanks Kat." He smiled a little, and got up, hugging her tightly before heading for a door leading to cellar, "Where are you going?" Katara asked him, the hell-lord looked at her and left without reply.

*************

He made it into the cellar and lit up his palm, "Okay, where is it." He mumbled to himself, his eyes scanning the dusty shelves.

Suddenly he stopped in middle of step, "There you are!" He yelled cheerfully pulling an ancient looking book from heap of dust. "Now...let's see...there it is!" He stopped scrolling through the pages and closed the book, keeping one finger in as a reminder and hurried upstairs.

"I found it! I got a solution!" He cried in triumph as he ascended back into the kitchen. Without wasting time with explaining he opened the book again, his swift moving fingers soon started to glow with blue light around them. Soon enough a blue light surrounded the castle as a bubble spread and grew around it.

"And what's that supposed to be, my dear?" Mags asked after Satine finished casting his spell. He looked at her with a smile,

"This, my beloved Mag, is a special kind of barrier made by me before my exile from Heaven long time ago, it is to protect this castle and its inhabitants against all powers, mainly heavenly ones."

"Cool." Katara said looking from the balcony in amazement, "But what about demons out there?" She asked, stepping back inside, closing the balcony's door behind her.

"I have a plan for that too, my dear daughter. The bubble blocks every heaven-like forces and powers, so I thought about it, when another execution happens, we can invite our dear denizens here thus making them an impossible target for the angels." He explained proudly pacing around the room.

"Shouldn't we get them informed beforehand, dear?" Mags joined the conversation.

"Exactly dad!" Katara agreed, "Why don't you go to Nether News? Everyone watches them." Satine shook violently in disgust,

"No, never! The anchors scare me." He said with crossed arms.

"Really? The mighty ruler of the hell scared of little two rabbits?" Mags asked in teasing tone,

"Yeah," he admitted rubbing his arms, "They try to make me sleep with them, even when airing. And that I will not do, I'm a responsible and faithful husband." He admitted finishing with serious and determined face.

"So, you'll go?" Katara asked with raised eyebrow,

"As if, princess," Satine grumbled, his eyes narrowed a little, "I'd rather go up there again than see these two in person one more time."

"What will you do then?" Mags asked, "I've got an idea, don't worry my dear." Satine told her with sly grin.

"And what's that?" Katara questioned.