The Devil’s Intern Part 12

Joshua was grateful to be riding the elevator back up to the top of the tower. Another minute down in the prison chamber would have driven him to insanity. Farther away from all those monsters and fiends trying to get to him. Even farther away from that mysterious yet sinister Mephistopheles.

Yet Mephistopheles' words still haunted Joshua. He couldn't shake his final statements out of this mind. They stuck to him like a splash of tar on skin. But the imprisoned former right hand did bring about some good questions. Did Lu rig the name selection just so Joshua could come to Hell? Was Lu trying to convert him away from what he was taught, away from his faith?

If it was true, Joshua felt like an idiot. How could I've been so foolish, he thought, What was I thinking learning anything from the devil? The devil who tricked Adam and Eve. The devil who twisted the hearts of men. The devil that betrayed God and his angels to only be damned forever along with his demon kind.

Yet despite being the cruel devil that he was taught to avoid by the followers of Christ, Joshua recollected a much kinder and nurturing side that he never knew about this devil. Despite being the lord of darkness and king of the condemned, he was a good king to his demon kind, as well as a rather good and supporting stepparent to his best friend.

Who was this devil for whom man feared and resented? Who was the true face of evil? Is what he was taught from the bible even accurate to what he was shown and told based around the demons he met? So many questions. So much conflict.

The elevator stopped at its final destination, and Joshua exited out. His head hung low, still trying to puzzle together all the burning questions he had. Past the halls of artistic history and towards the towering doors of Lucifer's office Joshua traveled. He opened the door and jumped when he heard the devil's furious call. "YOU!"

Joshua looked up and saw that Lu, Lilith, Legion, Balthazar, and Scrugs were all surrounding a colorless soul that shivered in their presence. Balthazar kept it bound by chains around its thin wrists as Lu interrogated it, violently hold it by its neck.

"YOU!" the devil growled. “You worthless maggot! You did this, didn’t you?”

“N-n-no, my lord,” the soul coughed. It cried only dry tears. “I didn’t know what was inside the bag.”

Lu's backhand flew against the soul's face. "Didn't like that answer. Try it again!"

"Better answer your king," Lilith suggested, "We might be merciful."

"But mercy from you means having vultures pecking out my guts."

"That will be the least of your long list of troubles if you don't answer," the sorcerer Legion bellowed. "Now confess!"

"What's going on?" Joshua demanded, running towards the demon group.

The demons looked over to Joshua. "This is adult talk, Josh." Lu said, "Wait for us outside the office. Thank you."

"No," Joshua stood his ground. His anger was growing. "I want to know what you're accusing this soul of. What's going on here?"

"That's what's going on!" Balthazar answered, pointing his nasty finger towards the floor.

Joshua looked over to where the demon pointed. A large hole in the middle of the office floor was burned wide open. The outer edges were singed to the marble tiles by some kind of molecular acid, but sealed off by layers and layers of ice.

Joshua walked over to the giant hole and looked down. It seemed whatever caused this mess traveled down to four other levels before finally being stopped by a mountain of ice, likely made by one of the demons, or the devil himself, desperately using their powers to cease the acidic material.

"Apparently this wretched had a bag full of holy water," Legion added, "which is dangerous to demons and this world. It tripped and caused all this damage. Luckily Ghuul had the workers evacuated while Moloch and I froze the substance before it could do any more damage. Moloch, however, suffered a couple burns that will take some healing, but he'll hold up just fine."

“Where did you get the holy water?" the devil interrogated the soul again.

“I d-did not know about the h-holy water.” it pleaded once more.

The holy water! Joshua's mouth dropped open. He had forgotten that his mother stashed some holy water inside his backpack before he first came to the Inferno.

“I’ve had enough of this bullcrap." Lu said, finally releasing the soul. "Take him down to the torture chambers and make him talk.”

“Oh we’ll do more than just that, boss.” Balthazar sneered.

“Stop!” Joshua spoke out, “Leave it alone. That holy water came from my bag.”

Lu and his fellow demons stared at the human boy in silence, shocked that he would admit to this. "You dare bring that dangerous, corrosive substance to our dimension?" Legion scolded. All six of his eyes leered with such ire.

"Say it's not true, Josh." Lilith begged.

"Yeah,” Scrugs said. “It ain’t too late to say the soul did it.”

“What’s the big deal?” Joshua defended himself.

"Do you not see the giant hole in my office?" Lu said. "Holy water, in our realm, is dangerous."

"How? It's just blessed water. If crosses can't hurt you-"

"As I said before, young Master Wordsworth," Legion corrected. "Holy objects and relics are not to be taken lightly. While harmless for us to hold, but given the right prayer or incantation..." The old demon sorcerer pulled out a whole chain of holy objects. With his powers of telekinesis, he plucked the smallest cross of the bunch. The tiny relic hovered its way in front of the demon’s covered mouth.

Joshua heard the adviser whisper something to the cross. He didn’t know what he said. He couldn’t even understand the language he spoke. Latin? Arabic? Old English? Whatever Legion said it gave the cross power. Legion’s hand clamped over entirely around the tiny cross. The six-fingered fist struggled to hold the object like he was holding a piece of hot coal.

After a brief five seconds Legion released the cross. The cross, now glowing like a star, continued to float under his unnatural power. Legion held his hand before Joshua. The cross had left his mark, scorched and horribly scarred in the core, a shocking sight that forced Joshua to gasp. “…and they become deadly weapons against us. A power given to your species by the angels during the long war.”

“I…” Joshua gasped. “I didn’t know.”

“We told you about this!” Lu shouted. His anger then faded into confusion. “Didn’t we?”

“No you didn’t!” Joshua shouted, “In fact, despite what you’ve shown be here, there’s still many things that you’ve never share with me.”

“Like what?”

“Did you rig the drawing so that my name would be placed under your internship?”

“What difference does that make?”

“I said did you rig the drawing?”

The devil rolled his eyes. “So I tweaked it a little. Big whoop."

"I should have known you'd do something like this." Joshua's voice raised with is anger. "You're just like the devil my mother always warned me about."

Lu's brows scrunched down. His teeth bared out and his hands balled into fists. His scarlet eyes now consumed by a pool of red. “The devil your mother warned you about?" he growled, sounding more monstrous in his voice. "Are you kidding me? Who do you think you're talking to right now?"

Lu stepped closer towards Joshua. Joshua now realized that he unraveled the devil's fury, stepping back the closer Lu approached. "What's wrong, Joshie? Are you afraid of me? Of us? No it’s not fear I sense. It’s…hate. You hate us? Why? After everything I’ve shown you, you’re still clinging onto that Sunday school garage they’ve shoved down your throat when the reality of everything is dangling in front of your face. Have you honestly learned nothing? Why you ungrateful, little-"

"MY LORD!" his adviser called, "CEASE!"

The devil blinked. The redness of his eyes turned back to their regular form. Lu looked at his intern, who was backed trembling against the wall.

Lu gasped and stepped away. The Beast inside him wanted to hurt the boy. He knew it. He almost obeyed it.

After a moment of silence, Lu sighed. "I tried to show you something different, and I failed. I tried to show you our true world, our true nature, and I failed. I cannot teach you, nor can I not change you. Lilith, escort the boy back to the elevator home. We're done here."

"But I still-" Joshua muttered.

"Get out!" the devil retorted. "Before I do something I'll never regret. After all, it's just like they taught you in your bible study, kid. I'm still the bad guy."

The enchanted elevator crashed back into the office and Joshua hurried inside, departing the maddening world of the Inferno. Before the doors closed Joshua saw the devil cover his eyes with his hands, regretting what he had done and said. His friends, Lilith and Legion, comforted their king the best they could while Balthazar and Scrugs dragged the weak soul off to be tortured regardless.

Despite all the conflicting thoughts in his head, one question remained that Joshua could never figure out the answer to. Why would the devil ever want him to be his intern anyway?