Hell's Actor

Chapter 259: Caped Superhero

The devils, having turned heel at the shocking scene in Lilith’s Womb, found themselves back in Hell.

In the din of Lucifer’s office, Satan couldn’t hold back anymore.

"What was that?" he finally asked, scratching at a growth of skin in one of his empty eye sockets.

"You saw it," the warden answered. "It was her."

"I know it was her; I have eyes!" He jumped up from his chair. "I’m asking how any of what we witnessed is possible? How was she there?"

Lucifer sighed. "I hate telling stories."

He spent the next few minutes explaining to Satan the workings of Lilith’s Womb.

"Damn!"

Satan jogged laps around the room.

"And you are telling me she killed an archangel?" He shook his head. "No, no, no! Just like that?"

His feet came to a jarring halt.

"What about us?" His pitch fell a level. "Could we have died back there, too?"

"Theoretically, yes."

***

’What a good read.’

That’s what Averie thought as he sat facing Berlin’s nightscape. In his hands was a hardcover book, and in his lap was Miss Meow.

Averie closed the book and ran a hand over the title—When the Strings Snapped.

He felt an affinity with the subject of the biography.

"Will it make a good film?"

Adaptations weren’t always straightforward, and Thomas Corsini had mentioned that the screenplay had little to do with the book.

"I’m curious." He sighed. "But curiosity killed the cat."

He looked down at the one sitting on his lap.

"Will it kill you, too?"

Miss Meow didn’t say anything. She had long written off this man as a psychopath.

"Most of the roles that I have played in this life have been intense, like brightly burning flames. Who doesn’t like hovering their palms over an open fire, right? Who doesn’t like burning themselves?"

Miss Meow gave a quiet scoff.

"This one won’t be any different. But I have a feeling, Miss Meow. I have a feeling that this role will make me do something I would rather not."

He looked down at the cat.

"Do you know what it is? No? Well, you are just a cat. What would you know?"

In the blowing wind, Berlin’s night sky shimmered.

Averie watched the scenery with complete attention. Words he didn’t mean to utter flowed out.

"Do you remember the time I hurt you badly?" He paused. "Do you, Charlene?"

The cat finally opened her eyes and held his gaze. Her mood was unreadable. Would she answer, or would she pounce?

After a minute, she meowed. It was a very subdued sound, as if answering begrudgingly.

Averie played with her ears, an unplaceable emotion in his eyes.

"I remember it very clearly," he said. "Did it hurt?" ƒгeewёbnovel.com

She didn’t say anything.

"It must have." He removed something stuck behind her ear and examined it. "But you deserved it."

It was a seed. He didn’t know how she got a tiny seed stuck behind her ear; he never fed her any. The girls only ever bought the premium stuff for Miss Meow—premium cat food, premium litterbox, premium toys, premium this, and premium that...

"You deserved the whip," — He flicked the seed away — "but not from me." freēwebnovel.com

He drew circles on her fur with his ring finger before continuing the scratches.

"I’m sorry."

Those words, whispered so mournfully, surprised the black cat. She sat up, gazing at the devilish actor.

What was she supposed to make of it?

In all her years in Hell, he was the only human being who resembled a devil. Everyone in the fiery pits knew not to mess with him. In a place where cries echoed, this man had laughed. He often played poker with the warden and taught the succubae how to dress fashionably.

The very same man—the lunatic actor from Hell, Gene Conti—was now apologizing to a woman trapped in the body of a cat.

"Are you surprised? I am, too." He exhaled hot breath from his mouth, his eyes tired and droopy. "I have been feeling the blues, or whatever they say."

He took her front paws in his hands and began dancing her like a pimp.

"It’s all because of her—The Lady. She makes me sentimental."

He could still see her—staring back at him from the mirror.

"That role... it has cost me a lot."

She wasn’t creepy. He didn’t feel haunted. It was more like an imaginary friend who kept him company—one his parents warned against associating with.

"But I don’t regret it."

He loved her too much to complain.

"They can’t see her—her..." He bumbled, trying to find the right word.

But he couldn’t, so he gave up entirely.

"You know something, Miss Meow? I sometimes don’t understand it—acting, myself, and everything that ever happened to me."

He rambled on, lost in nostalgia.

"Everyone I ever loved was welcomed in Heaven." His voice contained no emotion. He was talking to himself. "Why was I the only one left in Hell?"

He didn’t hate his time in Hell. His sentence was served in boredom.

"You live chasing something, die without achieving it... and when you close your eyes, when it all should be over, you are faced with the consequences."

He got up, stretched the feline in his hands, and flew her around the room like she was a superhero.

"Not all people deserve the consequences; some deserve a long rest."

He even wrapped a handkerchief around her neck like a cape.

"We were never cared for, we were never loved, by our supposed benefactor in Heaven. And yet, the forces he commands expect so much of us."

With an unbothered face, Miss Meow didn’t even try to convey the contrast between Averie’s solemn prose and childish actions.

"I don’t believe in second chances, and I don’t believe in the good of humanity, but why is petty crime such a sin that one can’t gain entry into Purgatory?"

’In what world do adulterers and murderers share the same fate?’

"Tell me, Miss Meow, do you miss them? Do you miss all the people you bedded and defrauded?"

The furry superhero made a safe landing, her cape fluttering behind gallantly.

"Do you miss your men as I miss my ladies?"