"SO WHO ELSE HAS BEEN stuck in The Beyond before?" Melanie asked as they walked side by side. Louis hadn't been asked so many questions before, especially not from a dead person. He found it amusing though. He very rarely had anyone to talk with - no one wanted anything to do with him, but why would they? He was The Devil, after all. 

"Lots of people," he said. "I've even had a few famous people stuck here before, believe it or not."

"Really?" Melanie asked, not expecting such an answer. "Like who?"

"John Lennon," Louis answered. Melanie gaped at him, "And also J.F. Kennedy."

"You're joking?" she said. "The President and a member of The Beatles? I don't believe you."

"You don't believe anything I say, do you?"

"No."

Louis laughed. "I don't believe you - I am a master of lies and corruption, after all."

"Why were they stuck here?" Melanie asked.

"They had unfinished business, just like you," Louis answered, looking down at her. "They both wanted to find out who killed them before moving on to The Other Side."

"Did they go to Heaven or Hell?"

"Heaven, of course." Louis smiled down at her. "Good people like them always go to The Other Side."

"Wow," Melanie said, shaking her head. "That's quite extraordinary."

"Indeed," Louis said. "There have been many amusing people passing through over the years..."

"Are you dead?" Melanie asked. Louis stopped abruptly and looked down at her.

"Why would you ask that?" he questioned.

Melanie shrugged. "You're here, aren't you? You said only dead people can be in The Beyond provided they have some unfinished business."

Louis shook his head. "I'm here because no one else would take the job. I'm an out-cast so the extra jobs get piled onto me."

"An out-cast?" questioned Melanie, confused all of a sudden. "What do you mean?"

Louis cleared his throat awkwardly. Never had a human asked such things about his past. It unnerved him to talk about it, but what could a human girl - a dead one - possibly do? "I'm a fallen angel."

Melanie laughed out loud. "A fallen angel? You told me you were The Devil!"

"I am. I was an angel before God-" he cringed as he said the name, "-cast me out of Heaven. I was one of three Archangels before I was exiled to Hell."

"Why did he kick you out?" Melanie questioned.

Louis knew humans had their own beliefs about why God had banished him from the holy place. The stories were endless, and inked into many books, such as the Bible. Louis wasn't sharing anything new with Melanie when he said, "I wanted more than I had."

"Like...?" Melanie urged, determined to keep him talking.

"Well, I had everything - wisdom, beauty, ability, perfection, and yet I wanted to be worshipped like God. Before I could make a move, the Lord banished me, stripping me of everything I had."

"Is that why you're ugly and red beneath this human disguise?" Melanie said, poking his arm. Louis glared at her and she cleared her throat awkwardly. She mumbled an apology before keeping her mouth shut to let him finish.

"That was not very nice, but if you must know - yes. That is why I looked like ... well, The Devil. Gradually, I managed to regain some of my powers - beauty being one of them. I mean, look at me, I'm gorgeous."

Melanie raised a brow before letting out a laugh. "Go on."

"I never did gain back my powers completely though - I'm weaker than I'm made out to be. Some of you humans believe that I'm an evil overlord who has untameable powers to do as I please with, but it's not true. I used to be extremely powerful, but I'll never be as strong as I once was."

"Well, that's what you get for taking everything you had for granted." Melanie kept her gaze low as she spoke, not wanting to irk him any more.

"I suppose," Louis said after a moment. "I still wanted to be more powerful though. Who wouldn't want to have unlimited power?"

"Not everyone would. Sometimes things like power, beauty and wealth can corrupt a person. Trust me, you would have been better off without it all."

"You should have seen me, Melanie," Louis said, "I was breath-taking. All of us Angels were. We were created by God, so it was destined to be that we were close to perfection."

"You speak very highly of yourself, you know?" Melanie teased and Louis laughed quietly.

"I know. But only because it was true. Trust me when I say I'm not as self-obsessed as I sound."

"I wonder at times," Melanie said quietly, rubbing her chest gently, just above her lungs. The uncomfortable pain was still there, and it seemed to slowly be increasing the longer she stayed in The Beyond. "Will my memories come back soon? The pain is getting worse."

Louis nodded slowly. "The worse it gets, the closer they are to coming back. You'll find out what happened to you soon enough."

"Yippee," Melanie muttered, squeezing her eyes shut, letting the pain stab at her chest. "I can't wait."

"I thought you were the one who was desperate for them to come back?" Louis questioned.

"I was, until I realized the pain is part of the package."

Louis chuckled and rubbed Melanie's back carefully. "Breathe through it."

"Trying," she muttered as she winced once again. Melanie was used to pain - she had an older brother who had tackled her to the ground every day when they were kids. For her, that was painful. But this pain was different; her head felt like it was on fire and it felt as if something was digging its way between her ribs. "How much more painful does this become until I remember?"

"Quite painful, almost like you're dying all over again," Louis said, frowning as he watched the girl raise a hand to her head.

"Fantastic," Melanie muttered. "It's nasty."

"I know. It will fade for a bit and then come back more painful, so you shouldn't be hurting so much in a little while." Louis said.

Melanie leaned over and placed her hands on her knees. She breathed in deeply a few times before straightening up and smiling weakly over at The Devil. She remembered his story of once being an Archangel and she frowned.

"I thought you said you weren't a religious figure?" she said. "If you were an Archangel, then you are kind of a religious character."

Louis cringed as she spoke. "I don't like being known as my former self. I like people to fear me and think of me as nothing but evil."

"Why would you want that?"

"So my reputation warns people not to mess with me," he answered simply.

"You don't have many friends, do you?" Melanie asked after a moment of silence. The pair of them had been walking through the town for a while now, simply because there was nothing else to do while they waited for Melanie to remember her death.

"None at all, actually," Louis corrected. "Tell me more about yours."

"I've said all I needed to say about them; great people, funny, loving, kind-"

"Less cliché, mushy stuff."

"Fuck you."

"You wish."

They stopped outside the church, and Melanie looked over at Louis curiously. She nudged him with her elbow and said, "I dare you to walk in."

Louis glared at her.