Shep poked his head out from his hiding spot under the sink, and then ducked again when he realized his parents and the figure that had broken into their house in the middle of the night were only a few feet away.
"You will worship, or you will die," the man said, as he held his mother and father far above the ground, one clawed hand wrapped around each of their throats.
"We would rather die before we follow any of your disgusting kind." His father did his best to spit on the creature that held them off the floor. It growled as his spit landed on its large bulging eyes.
"Your prayer is granted." Shep covered his ears when he heard the two sickening crunches as the figure crushed their necks. He needed to leave, he needed to get away. Before he could even think about what he was doing, he charged out of the cabinet under the sink. The man stood there, before the crumpled heaps of his parents corpses. He stood tall, having to bend his head to keep it from hitting the ceiling. His black skin looked like that of a rotting body, thick and leathery. His arms were too long for his body, falling down past his bent knees. His back was hunched, two large gray wings sprouting from them, a small trail of feathers following him as he moved. He drooled, teeth poking out from his thin lips, covered in blood. "Hello, boy," he greeted him, in his sickening scratchy voice. Shep looked him up and down, eyes drawn to his bare feet with long claws.
"What are you?" Shep asked.
"My name is Michael. I'm an Archangel."
~~~~
"Shep!" Lex woke him from his nightmare. Shep sat up in his bed, looking around the house adorned with treasures and nicknacks he had taken from his kills. Several feathers were framed on the walls, along with claws and fingers, and even the gray tongue of one of the disgusting creatures. "You alright?" he asked.
"I'm fine, Lex. Go back to bed," he mumbled.
"Demons don't sleep, remember. It's party all the time for us down in the underworld," Lex winked, swaying his hips to silent music.
"Well we're not IN the underworld, so go to sleep," Shep snapped.
"Party pooper," he crossed his arms and sat down. "So Michael killed your parents?" Lex asked. Shep sat up and glared at him. "You talk in your sleep," he smiled. Shep groaned and pulled the covers over his head.
"Go to sleep, Lex."
"It's noon," he replied. Shep sat up again, and stared at the clock.
"Fuck! Why didn't you wake me? Our bus leaves in fifteen minutes!" he exclaimed, as he jumped up to get dressed.
"I did wake you," Lex pointed out.
"Where's the key? Where did I put the key?" Shep scrambled as he pulled on a pair of jeans.
"This key?" Lex held up the rusted metal key on a chain around his neck.
"Yes! Give me that you little-"
"Ah ah ah," Lex waved a finger as he used his claws to scurry up one of the tall walls of the house. "I think I better keep these, just in case." He used his pointed tail to grab the other keys from Shep's hand.
"Give them back, Lex," Shep glared.
"Oh no-no-no-no, since I have these, you can't just ditch me. We're in this together. This is WAY more fun the partying in the underworld," he smiled, as he crawled along the ceiling.
"There's something wrong with you," Shep frowned, as he grabbed his coat and pulled it over his swords.
"Or something is oh so right?" Lex swayed his hips as he jumped off the ceiling and followed Shep out the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"You know, it's hard to think we're these awesome caped crusaders, when we have to travel by bus," Lex said, leaning up close to some old woman with glasses, and picked something out of his teeth using the reflection in the lenses. Shep watched as he continued to make faces at the poor old woman who couldn't see him.
"Stop that," Shep snapped, making the old woman turn to look at him, confused. She looked around before shaking her head and returning to her book.
"You're no fun," Lex laid in the middle of the isle that sat in the center of the bus.
"This isn't supposed to be fun, we have a job to do," Shep said. The old woman turned and stared at him again.
"Work work work," Lex sighed and turned over on his stomach, looking up at Shep. "Work is for the living," he mumbled.
"I am living!" Shep shouted. Without looking at him, the old woman stood up and moved to the front of the bus.
"Bluetooth. It's definitely on the shopping list," Lex said, as the woman stepped through his chest.
"Besides, I thought Demons were technically alive?" Shep ignored Lex's comment.
"We are. I mean, not really. Kind of...." Lex looked confused. "Yes," he finally said.
"I don't think that was a yes or no question," Shep rolled his eyes.
"Well I just made it one, damn it." Lex stood up and sat next to Shep. "The way it works; is when you die, if you're a sinner of course," Lex smiled happily and gestured to himself, "you go to hell. If you worship those douchebags," he pointed up, "you go to Limbo. It's kind of like what Humans imagine it to be. Just a whole lotta nothingness. But instead of being left in that nothingness, an angel comes, devours your soul, and that's it. The end," Lex said.
"I know all that. What happens after you arrive in hell?" Shep asked.
"I don't know how it happens for everyone, but for me, I got there and talked to the big man downstairs," Lex explained. "He asked me a few questions and boom, I sprouted a pair of wings and a tail, among some other things," he brushed his fingers over his small horns.
"You actually spoke to the devil?" Shep asked, not believing him.
"Yep," he nodded. Shep hesitated.
