Bedrooms and dungeons…..

Have y’all been wondering what was going on with our group of assorted ghouls, demons and Voodoo Queens?  Well, you’re in luck.  Here is the next installment of Nearly Departed!!
 
For the second time in twenty-four hours, Lisa woke in a strange bed. ‘This is becoming a habit’, she thought as she stretched and yawned. The revelations of last night slammed into her consciousness like a freight train, causing her to stare at the small, crescent shaped scab that graced the flap of skin between her thumb and finger.

There it was. There was proof that her heart was pumping blood through her veins, her skin was regenerating and she was, for all points and purposes, alive. Or something close to it.

She sighed and looked around. This room wasn’t quite as masculine as the one she woke up in yesterday. It had a light airy touch that made the dark paneling seem to glow with perfection. The white and blue flowered drapes and matching bedspread would look great in a lakeside cabin, while the whimsical prints on the wall would be at home in any environment.

Apparently Mitch, aka Death, was a talented decorator, or at least had access to one. Who would have guessed?

Getting out of bed, Lisa was happy to see she had on the same Armani suit she wore yesterday. At least no one had taken advantage of her while she was out. She wasn’t so sure about her stint at Lucifer’s place. She had begun to get glimpses and memories of her time there, and it wasn’t something she wanted to examine right now.

Stretching again, she was amazed that she felt so good. Escaping the clutches of Lucifer and Momma Fred, leaving the building and making the amazing escape to this wonderful house was exhausting. Then finding out that she wasn’t actually as dead as she had thought, well, that would overwhelm even the strongest of people. Lisa knew she wasn’t the ‘est’ of anything, be it strength or intelligence.

Glancing at her reflection in the mirror, Lisa was stunned by the sight that met her blurry eyes. The woman in the mirror was beautiful, her hair shone with life, her skin was pink with the blush of life and her eyes glimmered with mirth.

Lisa was amazed! She hadn’t looked so good the first time she was alive. She had always thought of herself as being a frumpy girl, not one that any man worth having would be attracted to. The woman she saw in the mirror was alive, assured and filled with promise.
There was an extra spring in her life as she opened the door and headed out to find the kitchen and that amazing first cup of coffee that promised to keep her mood light. The hallway was lit by soft yellow light of well-placed wall scones. The deep, rich burgundy carpet swallowed the sound of her footsteps, making it seem as though she were walking on sunset clouds.

All in all the hallway was the most amazing place she had ever seen.

The sinful carpeting ended as she came to a large, wide staircase. Pausing to look over the rail, Lisa spied Mitch watering a large ficus plant sitting by the door. He was dressed in cutoff jeans and his signature black silk shirt over a green t-shirt blazed with the name of some old seventies band. He looked every bit as decadent as the hallway.
Skipping lightly down the stairs, Lisa found herself looking forward to the day. As Mitch glanced up at her, she realized that no matter what happened now, it promised to be interesting. And interesting was good!

As Mitch and Lisa made their way toward the kitchen, a battle resumed across town.
Lucifer still hadn’t been able to find even a hint of where the two runaways were hiding. He knew that Death could cause him unforeseen trouble, but that was nothing compared to the trouble that would raise its’ ugly head if Lisa made any unsupervised discoveries about herself.

The fact that she was in Death’s control made it a sure bet that there would be discoveries made, and each and every one of them would bring torturous disaster down on Lucifer’s head.

In a fit of rage, he threw his phone across the room only to watch it shatter in a million pieces.

“FUCK!” He raged. “Titus, get your useless ass in here!”

His voice carried to the deepest, darkest pits of hell. Titus quaked with fear, whatever unexpected event that had set his boss off meant pain of the most heinous type of the second in command. Taking a deep breath, Titus flashed himself outside of Lucifer’s study. Steeling himself for the torrent of pain he was about to experience, he knocked.
The answer came immediately.

“Get the fuck in here. NOW!” Lucifer’s voice threatened to break the windows, which would in turn cause him to be even more pissed off.

What a day this was turning out to be.

“You called for me, sir?” Titus hid the loathing and fear that he was feeling. He buried it deep in his soul, a place that Lucifer could never invade. “I came as quickly as I could.”

“’I came as quickly as I could.’ Sure you did.” Lucifer mocked. “Sit your ass down and explain to me why we can’t find that damnable fuck we all know as Death.”

Titus had been gone for a few days, he had spent some much needed time in the 15^th century, visiting the places and people he loved.

“Sir?” Titus couldn’t keep the tremble from his voice. “I’m not sure what you are talking about. I’ve been gone, Sir. Remember, you said I could take a few days as a reward for fixing that little problem with Satan.”

Titus had taken a royal beating from the Big Boss. Satan was enraged by Lucifer’s incompetence in securing the loyalty of a particular politician. It had taken Titus an entire day just to be able to drag himself from the pits of hell and back to his home. Lucifer was, at the time, thankful that Titus had taken the blame and the punishment that only his father, Satan, could dish out.

Now it looked as though Titus was in line for another beating, or worse. He’d never seen his ‘Boss’ as angry, and fearful, as he was right at this moment.

Lucifer sat looking at the demon before him. He remembered the day he bought Titus’s soul in exchange for the ability to return to a happier time. Titus realized that nothing he experienced there would actually change history, but it did afford him a respite from the torments of his day to day life. What Titus hadn’t realized was that the moment he sold his soul he would exist forever. He would have to live with the memories of his failures, and how those failures led to the torture and deaths of every single person he had ever loved.

“I remember.” Lucifer’s voice was flat and emotionless. “But you’re back now and we have a very serious problem.”

“Sir?” Titus knew when Lucifer said they had a ‘problem’ it meant Titus had a problem.

“Death is hiding someone from me. And by hiding I mean that none of my resources can even get a whisper of his location. I need what he had, and I need it now!” Lucifer’s voice rose in volume and anger as he continued to speak. “I expect you to find him, retrieve my item and bring it back here to me. Are you capable of doing that?”

“Sir? I’m not sure of what item you are speaking, but if you will enlighten me, I’m sure I can find it. I am, after all, the bloodhound of hell.” Titus couldn’t help but to prod Lucifer just a little. His father, Satan, had named Titus the bloodhound of hell a few years ago when a certain angel had hidden from both sides after a brief and disastrous affair with a congressman.

Lucifer bristled. He knew he couldn’t actually harm Titus in any real way, but usually threatening him worked just as well. Although he did enjoy beating the lowly demon to unconsciousness from time to time.

This time he knew that Titus would be reluctant to grab the little ghoul that was at the core of all their problems, but reluctant or not, Titus was the best demon for the job. Shifting uncomfortably in his chair, Lucifer tried to formulate the correct way to bend Titus to his will.

“I said for you to sit, if you can that is.” Pity tinged Lucifer’s tone, he’d seen the damage that his father could and would inflict upon those that displeased him, although this time Titus had taken the blame for Lucifer’s fuck up, saving him from the wrath of his father.

Titus eased his large, lanky body into the chair across from Lucifer’s desk. He was sore, but the worse of the pain had eased, in part because of his visit home. There was nothing like seeing your loved ones to ease the physical and emotional pain that haunted him daily.

“I can sit.” Titus’ voice was deadpan. “I don’t understand what you expect of me now, though. I am sure I cannot find the item you are referring to if Death has hidden it from your sight. He’s a tricky one, Death is. He was tricky when he was a man, and he’s worse since he has become the thing he is now.”

Lucifer’s attention was caught by the fact that Titus had known Death prior to his present incarnation. He had never meet anyone that had experience with his nemesis in his previous incarnation. Perhaps there was a tidbit of information that Titus didn’t realize the possessed.

“So”, Lucifer began, “you knew him before he became Death? When was that?”

Titus realized he had revealed more than he meant to. Now there was no way out of it, he would have to tell Lucifer at least part of the story of his friend’s decent into darkness, a decent that Titus was partially responsible for.

Sitting in the chair across the desk from one of the most dangerous beings in creation, Titus took a deep breath and began a tale of one man’s fall to madness.

Death's story is finally coming to light, and it promises to be an interesting one!!  Meanwhile, what could possibly be going on with our little ghoul?  Is she really coming back to life, or is it all an illusion?  Stay tuned to find out!