Queen of the Damned Part 3

At the top floor inside Inferno's Tower, the Helevator doors opened wide. Carmen stepped out, marching through the Dealing Room. The working demons moved out of her way when she stormed in. Some tried to politely greet her but she ignored them all. There was one motivation that drove her to come back to this hellish dimension.

Carmen's march finally brought her outside her husband's office, directly to where Lilith was seated. The friendly sucubbus noticed her walking in, oblivious to the rage that was written across Carmen's face.

“Hello, Carmen,” Lilith said in her normal, cheerful attitude. “How was your show today?”

“Don’t play cute and innocent to me!” Carmen slammed her hands on Lilith’s desk, making the surprised sucubbus jump from her seat. “What is the meaning of this? Why did you send demons to my workplace?”

“Easy now, love,” the poor demonic secretary shuttered in her seat. “I don’t do well with confrontations.”

The door to Lucifer’s office opened. “It’s alright, Lilith,” both women recognized that low, echoey voice. The royal advisor then stepped out. His spider-like limbs tapped along the stainless floor. “I’ll take it from here.”

Of course. Carmen figured Legion would be behind this. In the time she knew him, he had always wanted her to uphold her new role as queen. An old demon stuck in the old ways as Carmen always imagined him.

Carmen followed the elder demon inside her husband's office. Every time she entered the devil's office, she sometimes forgot how big it was on the inside. "Take a seat, please," his six-figured hand was directed at Lu's chair. Carmen took her seat at the chair across from it, where Lucifer's clientele would normally sit. All six of Legion's eyes stared at her. "Suit yourself." he shrugged off her reluctant behavior.

“What the hell were you all thinking?” Carmen began, her tone calmer now. “Sending demons to my workplace? While we were airing live, I might add.”

Legion nodded. “My apologies. I understand your vexation-”

“Lu and I had an agreement," she continued. "We agreed that he wouldn’t meddle with my personal affairs on earth and I wouldn’t meddle with his here. Not that I would ever want to meddle with them to begin with. Your heads must be full of ash to think that it was appropriate-"

"Lord Lucifer is ill," now it was Legion's turn to interrupt. "Therefore, the role of leadership befalls to you, my queen."

Carmen groaned. "Seriously, you have to stop this. I'm not a queen. I never asked anyone in this world to call me as such."

“Like it or not, you already hold a position of power over this realm and its inhabitants since the first day the two of you said ‘I do’. You are queen of this world. From a personal standpoint, I believe it is about time that you started upholding your duties to this world as an official member of the royal family."

"Don't you see I don't want it? I don't know how to run a kingdom, little less govern a whole race of demons. I can barely understand any of your customs."

"Hell needs leadership. Without it, this world would ascend into chaos, as it was long ago. We cannot afford to return to our savage beginnings. All that we've built today would be meaningless without our kings."

"This is exactly what I'm talking about, Legion. These are your people. You, and Lu, know these people better than I do."

"My people is also your people, Carmen Gravely." Legion looked at the picture placed on the devil's desk. It was one of the Gravely family. Lu, Carmen, their two daughters. This one was taken during a day at the beach. Lu was wearing his red Hawaiian shirt, topped with a pair of black sunglasses. Carmen wore a nice black bikini. Each parent was holding their daughters in their arms, lifting them high in the air. They all looked they had fun that beautiful day.

Legion added. "You and your daughters are one of the very few mortals that have seen our realm and interacted with its inhabitants. You have not judged or persecuted us. You have not lost your innocence. You have not lost your sanity. You and your daughters come to our realm have served as a bright beacon upon all of us who have spent too long in the dark. A sign that your world has lessened their hostilities towards that that is different." his round, half-covered face turned back to face Carmen's. "You have treated my people as if they were your own. While I still remember the day you learned the truth about us and our realm, you were at first terrified. Yet your love for Lord Lucifer was strong enough to look past the differences and accepted him, and us. Now, we are asking for you to lead us. Keep in mind that this is only temporary until Lucifer's health has returned. Afterward, you can return to your own business, and never be bothered."

"But how do I even go about 'ruling' this world?"

"We've established a schedule for you. Starting tomorrow you will assume the role as acting Devil, eight to five each day. Weekends off, unless you are called for an urgent matter. I will be by your side, as I have done so for all the kings of the past. If you need assistance, I can provide, as well as Lilith and Scrugs. Everyone inside this very tower is at your service, and if necessary, your disposal."

"But what about my job? We have new episodes to air."

"We have already persuaded your bosses to give you some vacation time. Of course, we gave them a substantial amount of money to do so, and we took away several decades of damnation and torment off their records."

"What about my girls?"

"Young Rosemary and Regan are capable of walking to and from school, are they not? By my understanding, it is only a twenty minute walking distance from your residence to the elementary school."

"I'm not gonna have to torture someone down here, am I?"

"That role is reserved for our employees, not our ruler. You just have to give the order."

Carmen sighed. She knew there was no getting out of it. And like the elder demon said, this was only temporary. “Alright. I’ll do it.”

#sinsofthefather #fiction #fantasy #comedy #horror #demons #hell