Hellbound - Prologue
Lilith sighed, tapping her long, manicured fingernails on the table in front of her. She lifted a small glass cup to her lips and drank the bitter liquid down, the warmth not quite enough to satisfy her taste buds. At the very least, it contained caffeine, so it’d keep her going throughout the monotonous day.
The door opened briefly, and a large, imposing beast of a man stepped into the room. Behind him, the horrific noises of a normal workday drifted into the room before the door closed and cut off the sound. Lilith could only shiver as she considered the thought of going back out there.
“Hey, Lily, how’s your day going?” The large, bestial man walked up to the fridge and opened it, digging around for food that he probably didn’t bring himself.
Lilith glanced over at him and frowned. “Carl, it’s too cold out there today. Why do you men always keep it so cold?”
“Haha… you’re always complaining about the temperature, if we had it your way, the entire place would be on fire.”
“What’s so wrong with that?” She asked, taking another sip.
“We have to work there too… if you’re so uncomfortable, how about you put on a sweater?”
“Hmph… so I go out of my way to look nice since the supervisor said I don’t apply myself enough, and now you want me to cover it with a sweater? How do you think my clients would react if they saw me wearing a sweater?”
“They might be able to focus more on the tasks at hand…”
The cup in Lilith’s hand shattered, causing the bestial man to freeze like a deer in headlights.
“What are you implying?” She asked coldly.
The man shivered. His back was still turned away from Lilith as he idled in front of the fridge, but her eyes seemed to pierce him from behind.
“I-it’s nothing… It’s just that…” He finally found something and pulled it out of the fridge, and turned to her.
Lilith had her arms crossed and was glaring at him. This, of course, pushed up and pressed together the two things he was trying to avoid looking at the most. Carl was sweating, but he managed to summon the willpower to remain staring at her eyes.
“Just what?” She demanded angrily, perhaps unsatisfied that he didn’t get ensnared by her booby trap.
“It’s just… some of the guys… not me… of course… they’ve been saying… well you know…”
“Are you saying that because of my looks, my clients only focus on my body and not my work?”
“N-no… that’s ridiculous…”
“That’s sexist!”
“I-I didn’t say anything!”
“You bastards! Even though I get results, you still think that I only got here with my looks! I worked hard to get on the racks. Even though they told me it was a boy’s work, I get the best numbers out of any of you!”
“Ah… I have to go…” Carl quickly made an excuse and tried to leave the room.
“One day, I’m going to show you all! I’m going to be the boss’s right-hand woman, and you’ll all take orders from me!”
“Wh-whatever you say, you crazy bitch!” Carl ducked out of the room just as another glass came shattering against the door.
Lilith had an openly furious expression on her face, but she didn’t chase him out into the work area. This entire industry was sexist. If she took her grievances to her supervisor, she’d be the one getting lectured. It took about five minutes, but she managed to calm down slightly.
“Bitch… huh…” She mused to herself in a gentle whisper.
She didn’t try to be a problem, but a lot of men felt threatened by her position. They felt that a woman had no place in this field. It was a job that required a lot of physical labor, and some would call it messy. They felt she’d be better placed in a job where she could take advantage of her incredible looks. Yet, she has specifically gone for this job, as it was the only job where her looks had nothing to do with it. If she wanted to, she could have any job she asked for.
This wasn’t just because of her looks, but also her family. She came from an upper-class family far beyond this blue-collar job. She had fled that life, wanting to earn her keep. Of course, none of the men down here knew about her history, or they would be stumbling over themselves to get in her good graces. To everyone who worked on the rack, she was just the attractive girl with the tits that matched her temper, and she preferred it that way.
Well, it wasn’t like she worked down here expecting to find love. She had dated one or two, and the dates were always disastrous. She eventually grew a reputation as a man-hater and a crazy bitch, and none of the other men would even look at her twice. She didn’t mind, though. Part of the reason she ended up down here was to escape a man. She was better off alone. Although she said that, she felt lonely down here.
“I am pathetic, aren’t I?” She felt a small tear fall down her cheek and then wiped it away quickly, looking around the empty breakroom and reminding herself that she was alone.
At that moment, the door opened again. She was about to fly into a rage, but the man who walked in, an imposing fellow with dark skin and a large nose, was her superior. At first, she had respected him a bit, but she discovered he was a company man at heart and didn’t have the creativity or will to push against the current regime. In short, he was a weakling who merely maintained the status quo. Lilith still had to treat him with respect, so she smiled at him politely, happy she had managed to wipe the evidence of her tears away in time.
“Yes, Damien?” She asked.
“Lilith, there is a new batch coming in today.”
Her expression turned bitter. “What about it?”
He sighed as if he didn’t want to put up with her shit any longer. “You’re good at giving our welcoming speech. Just give the newcomers the spiel and then relegate them to their chosen agent.
Her bitter expression grew into a frown. “Isn’t that your job as the supervisor?”
He sighed, “Lilith…”
“Maybe if you’d hire more women with a softer touch, you could have greater retention!”
“Lily!” He growled. “Enough of this. You’re the best at this, so you’ll do it.”
“Yet, I haven’t been offered a promotion!”
“We’ll be getting an evaluation in the next few months. Just do your job well, and maybe I won’t file a personal complaint against you.”
“A complaint, for what?”
“Creating a hostile work environment…” He shot back. “Many of the guys have been complaining lately. Your retention right now is about the only reason I haven’t fired you.”
“A hostile work environment! What the hell? Are they men?”
“Enough! Just do the job, Lily, and maybe you can stay around passed evals.” He slammed the door before Lilith could say more.
Lilith scraped her hand across the table, causing claw marks to appear on the table, my eyes red with fury. Angrily, Lilith stood up and went to the restroom. She placed her whip on the bathroom sink and then quickly checked herself in the mirror. She made sure she was presentable.
First, Lilith checked her leather bodice. It hugged her body tightly with long, lacey straps. Her large breasts popped out of the top, showing almost all of the cleavage possible from her large DD breasts. Underneath, Lilith wore a lacey thing that barely covered her butt and crotch. Of course, there was no hair down there, let alone a tan line, so the red skin was smooth around her barely covered regions. It was always eye-catching, but most of her coworkers were used to it. Only the clients were always shocked when they saw her like this. However, this was the way Lilith dressed, so they could just deal with it.
Lilith retightened her knee-high leather boots, fixed up her hair, polished her horns, grabbed her whip, and then pushed out into the workplace. As soon as the door opened, the screams, cries, and yells exploded. It was a tune Lilith was used to at this point. She crossed her arms, causing her chest to pop out even more to the point where it wouldn’t be surprising if a nipple popped out at any moment. Yet, Lilith, who was 100% comfortable like this, would never allow a part to show she didn’t want. She was crossing the bridge over a river of lava, but she still felt it was too cold. What could she say? She liked it hot? She’d never admit it had anything to do with the outfit that exposed most of her skin.
She walked past countless rows of people, all tied down onto large metal contraptions. Some of them were unconscious. Some were screaming. A few had one of my coworkers with them, who was actively playing with their charges. These were the racks, the place where all hellbound souls ended up.
Lilith didn’t go to her rack, but instead went to a specialized room. There was a sign above it that read receiving in demonic script. She entered the room, which contained only a single rack on a chain. She went to a nearby desk and picked up the printout left on it. When she looked down at the list, she cursed Damian under her breath. There were nearly fifty names on the list. It would take her all day to process these new souls.
Letting out a sigh, she walked over to the level and pulled it. The chain began to move. The empty rack moved to the right, and then a new rack came in from the left. This rack had a naked man strapped to it. He was screaming his head off. They all came in screaming. Yet, when he saw Lilith, his eyes popped, and then his voice trailed off.
“Welcome, mortal.” Lilith began. “As you’re probably aware by now, you’re in hell. Through your mortal life, your Sins outweighed your Merits, and so you are here.”
“No…” The man shook his head. “This is a mistake! I’m not a bad person!”
“Would you say that to Tiffany McGillan?”
“Wha-how do you know?” He was shocked.
“What about Samantha Greeker? Danielle Soft? These were all women you cheated on, correct? Affairs are a sin…”
His expression, which was originally filled with innocence, turned malignant. “You fucking bitch! You whore- you-“
“Silence!” She made a gesture, and while his mouth continued to flap, he realized no words came out.
“Honestly, I don’t care why you’re here. I’m merely here to tell you what happens next. You have one of two choices. You can give all of your soul power to me. You will become the lowest level demon, stepped on and controlled by everyone. You will have turned your back on humanity. There will never be a place for you in heaven. You will work, and through exploiting and harming human souls, you may regain a bit of strength and power. If you fail to extract enough soul power to sustain your existence, you will cease to be and become nothing. If you manage to survive and become strong enough, you’ll be expected to fulfill missions, fight angels and heroes, helping King Satan wage a war against humanity. Either way, the rest of your days will be a constant fight for survival. What do you say?”
She made a gesture, allowing him to speak again. He spat, but Lilith was used to this kind of thing and was more than far enough away to avoid it.
“Fuck you, demon bitch! I would never become one of you monst-“
She cut off his speech again.
“Then, you have selected option two. Your soul will be sent to the racks. One of our lovely agents will extract soul power from you forcefully. This can be done through intense emotions such as fear and despair. You will be tortured and ripped apart, your soul energy slowly drained from you, either way. The good news is that you’ll never become a demon. The bad news is that your soul will become twisted and deranged. When you are no longer capable of producing soul energy for us, your tattered soul will be released into the abyss. Of course, there is always a chance that a hero fights their way into hell and rescues your soul, but I must warn you, the last time a hero made it this deep was untold eons ago.” Lilith pulled a small knife from her pocket. “Since you’ve chosen torture, let us get started.”
She took a step forward, but the man was shouting desperately, but silently. She allowed him to speak.
“Please! I was mistaken! I changed my mind. I’ll become a demon! I’ll-“
She blocked his speech. “Honestly, the more demons we have, the more mouths we have to feed. It’s already hard enough extracting enough soul power to fuel King Satan’s war. Plus, I’d have to take responsibility for you, and the piddling soul power you’d give me wouldn’t be worth my time. So, let’s just get started, and when you reach your agent, maybe he’ll be more lenient.”
He looked on in disbelief, but as she reached him with her knife, that turned into silent screams. A short time later, she stepped out of the room. There was no blood. A soul did not bleed. However, there was an ashy substance on her fingers and the knife blade that came from the extraction process.
She normally would have processed a few dozen souls before taking a break, but she noticed a commotion outside. A bunch of people seemed to be running quickly toward the break room. Lilith finally managed to stop someone as they ran by.
“You, what is going on?” She demanded.
The young imp racing by her stopped at her words. “Mistress! It appears that something big has happened on the front lines! We just got word of it.”
“Got word of what, spit it out!” Lilith demanded.
“Ah, that is… King Satan is dead.”
“What?”
“The Hero and his party… they found some way to trick Lord Satan into accepting a duel against them. He fell in battle.”
“King Satan… is dead?” Lilith felt like she had been struck with a brick. “What of Asmodeus? Is Asmodeus safe?”
“Demon Lord Asmodeus?” The imp blinked. “Yes, yes… all the Demon Lords are alive. That’s the problem. Without King Satan, the demon lords are preparing to battle for the throne. Hell is about to fall into civil war!”
“He’s safe…” Lilith let out a breath of relief, her hand loosening on the imp’s arm.
The imp used this opportunity to escape her and race away. At that point, there was a voice that came across the intercom. It was none other than Damien.
“You all might have just received news about the death of a certain Demon King. While the future of hell is still uncertain, the best all of you can do is continue to work. No matter who is in charge, soul power still needs to be harvested, and the racks are the leading source of soul power. Please get back to work!”
Damien was shaken, or he wouldn’t have made such a sloppy. As for Lilith, she was much better now. Since her father was safe, she had nothing to worry about. It was true that her family might be entering a war, but she wasn’t involved with any of that. All she had to focus on was finishing processing this new batch of humans.
She returned to the receiving room and began to work on them one after another. Some cried, while others begged. None took her up on her offer to become a demon, at least not before the cutting began. Her knife was particularly effective, too. It had a trait that caused ten times the amount of pain a normal knife would cause with each cut.
It was far too late into the night, and everyone else had already checked out and gone home when she finally came to the last name on the list. She was yawning and her eyes were blurry by the time she pulled the lever, bringing the last soul in front of her.
The first thing she noticed was that he was neither crying nor screaming. If anything, his eyes had a slightly vacant stare. He looked to be a very ordinary man. He was probably considered very attractive for a human. His eyes were dark and his hair was black. His member was perhaps above average for a human, but nothing that would make Lilith blush. She stood in front of him, but he didn’t even glance at her, which annoyed her slightly. She decided to begin her spiel and get this over with.
“Welcome, mortal. As you’re probably aware by now, you’re in hell. Through your mortal life, your Sins outweighed your Merits, and so you are here.”
A flash of anger appeared on his face, and her looked directly at Lilith. She was expecting him to start speaking, to claim he did nothing wrong, but he just stared silently. Lilith didn’t know why she was letting just a pair of eyes catch her off guard. She was acting like a young maiden’s first day on the racks.
She cleared her throat. “You may choose one of two options. Option 1: You can give up your soul energy to me, turning yourself into a demon. If you pick-”
“I will become a demon.” He spoke coldly, interrupting her.
She blinked, trying to regain her smile. “I’m sorry, perhaps you don’t understand. If you become a demon, you will abandon God and any position in heaven-”
“Fuck God.” His eyes flashed with hatred. “The only heaven I want to see… is a heaven on fire!”
She coughed awkwardly. This was a vengeful type, huh? She had seen these guys before, too. Their entire personality was blaming their lives on God. Most of them couldn’t cut it as a demon for even a week.
“You will have to start at the bottom. You will be forced to do horrible things to humans!”
“I’m counting on it-”
“Silence!” She shouted, cutting his voice off. “Before you decide, I’m going to give you a taste of option 2. We’ll torture you a bit and see if you still feel like it!”
She didn’t know why she was so irritated. She must just be tired after such a long day. Plus, there was the emotional shock of finding out the King Satan died. Trying to recover her mood, she took a step toward him, but when she saw his eyes, she froze. There was a fury and hatred in his eyes. Her heart started to beat quickly.
She realized he was fighting against the restraints of the rack. He was out of control. She decided it was best to punish him right away.
Just as she took another step forward, she froze in shock as a white light came pouring out of his body. No, it was more like he was pushing it out.
“GGhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!” his voice started to scream, the silence she imposed was broken.
“Th-that’s impossible, you can only break my silence if you were…” She froze as horns began to grow from his head.
A moment later, the rack binding him shattered. He collapsed to the ground in front of her. She stared down at him, now completely shocked.
Her talk about becoming a demon was just that. It was a way of making them feel more despair. It was true that human souls could become demons, but it wasn’t something someone could do simply by choice. A person had to reject God in their heart and abandon their soul. It was extremely painful, the equivalent of ripping off your own skin. One had to build up tolerance, which came after several torture sessions. The path to becoming a demon was long and arduous. The racks even had a special division who specialized in guiding promising recruits down the path.
As for a human who became a demon in receiving, Lilith had never heard of one. Just who the hell was this human? She glanced at the name on the sheet.
“Lucifer… Morningstar?”