Chapter Twenty: Adramelech

Since the time of Christ, a lot of the organization of Hell has changed. Azazel, consumed by his desire to do nothing except think of what amuses him, allowed me to rule things in his absence. Our brothers also reorganized themselves, either being consumed by me or by Azazel or by one another. Our numbers started with around two hundred at the time of the Fall but now we stand at around one-hundred eighty, with legions of demons serving beneath them. Until today, where Sachiel adds one more to our brotherhood. We immediately arrived at my machine. I unbuckled my belt and exited the car.

We stood back upon a rocky ledge so we could see it in all of its glory. Sachiel and I stood inside a cave in front of the machine. The machine was organic and had an outside carapace shell and thousands, perhaps millions of arms that reached out and steadied its body against the cave walls. The arms were the magnificent part of the machine. I had to stand in awe of my own creation. I could feel what it was feeling and longer I stood still, the more I could hear it, too.

Each arm was long, thin, and perfect. Along every arm was a set of numbers, mostly written in Arabic numeral form. The numbers glided across the arms, keeping track of every monetary transaction in the world. The machine stood endlessly tall, taller than every skyscraper of every major metropolitan city. The machine was lit up like an airport, too, blinking tiny lights of red, green, and gold. It looked just as sleek as a shopping mall. I could tell Sachiel was impressed. The machine hummed and whirred, numbers flying past us like military jets.

"Yes, yes this is impressive," admitted Sachiel, bleary eyed and shell shocked. He could barely string a sentence together.

"Every bit of this is mine," I said, admiring the bloated system. The machine is what fuels my consciousness and a large portion of Hell. It works using money as a wheel of suffering, all of which is collected and distributed not unlike a mega corporation. It has to feed millions of legions of demons all underneath my leadership, so it requires a lot of mortal pain to run.

"Aha, you thought I wouldn't find y'all!" Azazel said in his annoying, nasal tone. His voice was meant to be beautiful but I just find it loud and grating. His voice is like his name, Lucifer, the Light of the Morning, is also the sound of the first obnoxious birds at five in the morning. "Figures you'd be here, too. Hi!" Azazel turned on his heels-- while wearing tap-shoes-- and addressed Sachiel. He did not acknowledge me. He wore a dark purple, pinstriped suit. It strikingly clashed against his red pony-tailed hair.

"Hi, I'm Azazel-- sometimes people know me by my answering service name, too--Lucifer. But really, Brother, call me Azazel. I know who you are. You're Sachiel, aren't you?" Azazel said, tipping his head to the side and folding his arms. "You see, a part of my consciousness is always in Mexico, doing things, you know--- like my job of crossing people over the rainbow bridge?" he said, ending his voice on a questioning note.

"Those people are always dying. Always. Just... dying? You know? Gunned down. Drowning in the ocean. Falling asleep at the wheel. Choked by her husband. Poor Violet. Venus? Viennetta? Well, whatever her name was. She's in a better place now. And turns out, we just missed each other. I couldn't believe it, my brother giving our new brother a tour! New brother, you ask? I can't believe it. Just... can't believe it. Welcome home." Azazel increased the drama by gasping and putting his hands to his cheeks. His nails were painted a frosted white with pinches of glitter on the ends. Then he wrapped his arms around Sachiel and hugged him tight.

"Well? Introduce me formally, Adramelech!" Azazel demanded.

"Why? You already know him," I said in annoyance. "Besides, we're bonded. He drank from my cup willingly. You can't consume him because he's already partly mine."

"Huh? Don't be gross! We just met!" Azazel said, pulling back and sizing Sachiel, who seemed to be in a daze, up and down. "How rude is he?" Azazel asked, picking up Sachiel's trembling hands and kissing them. "He's already taking about eating you and you just got here."

"Yeah, we are in a sort of agreement about that, I believe," answered Sachiel, wearily. "I agreed to let him have my consciousness since. Well. Because... this is Hell," he motioned vaguely towards my monstrosity machine. "and to be quite honest he is right. I hate it here. I feel sick. I don't feel like myself. I'm not even sure how I got here..."

"He's just trying to wear you down. I'd love to know how you got here. And I have access to higher vibrational places, to Earth and beyond! Much more like the environment you're accustomed to. So, if you'll come with me you can breathe and think properly. My brother Adremelech is just an evil ghoul who is trying to leech your energy and eat your soul. But, you're not ready for that, are you, dear Sachiel?"

"No, I'm... keep telling him that I'm not ready to be eaten. But... just looking at that thing..." Sachiel weakly uttered, raising his small face towards the machine.