The Devil's Love

Queen of Hell: Chapter 20: Sarah

A drip echoed through the small bathroom, the light from candles flickered against the tiles as we laid in the warmth of the bath and soaked in the quiet of the night. Bubbles popped around us, slowly dissipating our fluffy white cover.

"Did you see Allison follow us?"

Anton growled, his face screwing up with the thoughts of my crazy and obsessive sister. His eyes closed, relaxing after a strenuous afternoon of carnal delights.

"She is a pest," Anton grumbled as he opened his eyes. "Now that the council has been disbanded, we can inject whatever funds you want Sarah. Make that shop overflow with customers, make her realize how good your life is. Hire another chef if you don't want to overwork Igor, maybe hire two chefs and make him the head chef. Expand into the next shop along and increase the kitchen and dining rooms in size. Open for breakfast and late night drinks and nibblies. Don't stop Sarah, make her green with envy."

"But I thought we'd be going to hell, you are very confusing you know."

"I change my mind on a regular basis, Sarah, become accustomed to it."

I settled back down, resting my head on his shoulder. My thoughts turned from Allison to Michael and how he had not gone off to lick his wounds as Anton had suggested. He's trying to make me feel guilty now. Why couldn't he accept that he's lost and that Anton and I were having a child? There had to be more that we didn't know of,  surely there was a reason.

Thinking back to earlier, I remembered Michaels words about the child being a mass murderer. Anton said something similar as well. I struggled to remember what he said. The downfall of mankind when the son does something. But what? What does our son do to bring down the humans?

"Anton."

"Yes, my love." He said sleepily.

"Tell me about how our son is going to bring the world to its knees."

"Well, I don't know for certain. What I have read is a vision from a seer in the seventh century. Even he stated himself that he could not see too well beyond the tenth age, which is now. If you want to truly know what our little darling is going to do, then you'd need to find a seer and have them look into the future. It doesn't always work; their visions are usually sporadic and uncontrollable. There is no guarantee that the seer will be able to tell us anything."

I sat up in the tub and looked down at him, the light of the candle glistening off the wet skin.

"What did the other seer see?"

"Many suffering as an act of revenge. My kind fearing the future because of the unknown. A strong suggestion that you and I not marry nor have a child."

Too late on that one.

"So revenge for what?"

"Michael's persistence?" He shrugged with his offering. "Seers can be wrong Sarah, pay no attention to them. You can keep it as a thought in your mind if you wish, there may be a real chance that he was right. Only time will tell."

A loud explosion rocked our building; I could hear glass shattering and hitting the floor. Anton sat up and looked at the door that we had closed to keep the warmth in, glass piercing through the thin door.

"Stay put."

He got up and wrapped a towel around his waist, carefully opening the door. I could hear the sounds of alarms ringing loudly, sirens blaring and people screaming. Anton took careful steps through the apartment, now and then I'd hear the crunch of glass.

Then I heard his gasp.

Even though he said to stay put, I couldn't. I had to know what was going on. So I climbed out of the bath and wrapped a towel around me, walking through the minefield of glass on the floor. The windows had completely disintegrated, shattered across the floor.

Anton was standing in front of the center window; his shocked face lit up with colors of orange. I looked out to the street and let out a sob. My shop, my beloved restaurant was in flames.

"Get dressed; the authorities will want to speak with you."

Cold wind bellowed through the windows making me shiver; I quickly found the warmest thing possible and dressed.

"I should go out there; it's my shop."

Anton nodded woefully and dressed, joining me at the door.

"Who do you think, Allison or Michael?"

"Allison doesn't strike me as the type Sarah, and I doubt she has the means. No, if I were you I'd be looking a little higher. He has the means and the motive."

His phone rang, Anton looked at me with a slight frown as he pulled it from his pocket.

"Peaco."

Anton paused, closing his eyes with what looked like frustration.

"Of course, I would appreciate that. Keep an eye on things and call me when it is ideal."

The call ended with nothing more said, Anton slipped the phone back into his pocket and opened the door.

"Brave face darling, insurance will cover it."

"I don't have any," I mumbled, walking out of our apartment.

We walked through the main door to a disaster scene. People were watching on in awe as the authorities dealt with the fire. Anton and I walked to a police officer who was ushering the crowd back in case of a second explosion.

"I own the shop."

The cop nodded and gestured for one of his colleagues.

"Detective Sampson will chat with you."

He let us through the barricade to wait for the detective to wander over.

"Detective Peter Sampson."

"Sarah Walters, sorry Dremain. We married this morning. This is my husband, Anton."

Or otherwise known as the devil. I wondered if the detective would run away screaming if he knew he faced Satan himself. Maybe he might commit us to an asylum. At this point in my life, it was looking pretty damned good.

"Congratulations. Once the fire is out, we can start our investigation, that is of course if the structure is still sound. At this point, it will be hard to tell, but by the heat, I'd say it's likely to crumble pretty soon. If I could ask you a few questions?"

I nodded sadly and gestured to my apartment.

"We can go to our place, but it won't be any quieter."

The detective looked at the building with its blown out windows and huffed, shaking his head.

"Better in there than out here, ma'am."