If some of you are still around and have been waiting for this update then hello, welcome back and you all deserve a God damned medal. I apologise for the wait, life hasn't been too kind to me over the last few years and the last thing I wanted to do was sit in front of a screen and write when I really wasn't feeling it. I hope to get back into the swing of things soon. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy! 

"WELL, THIS IS not what I was expecting."

"You like it?"

"I suppose... What's not to like? It's just very..."

"Beautiful?" Louis suggested.

"Very..."

"Exquisite?"

"Very ... boring." Melanie said finally.

Lucifer was aggrieved, a hand flying to his chest as if someone had ripped out his heart. Melanie had never seen him look so disgusted. 

But she wasn't wrong - Hell was nothing at all like she'd anticipated. It was so vastly deliberated in media, biblical studies and fiction that there were several possible versions to take into account. Melanie had read up on Hell after her initial visit to the Beyond and the countless variants of Lucifer's realm left her curiosity unsatisfied. She knew the only way she'd ever truly know was when her seventy years of life were up and the pair were reunited for eternity.

One version depicted Hell as a ruined wasteland: somewhere barren and desolate where blazing fires encompassed the crumbling remains of buildings, repressing the lost souls to catastrophe for the rest of their (undead) lives. 

On the other hand, she'd also considered it to be a frozen plain where all the trapped souls would be lost in never-ending blizzards, cursed into isolation and never to find another soul again. 

She'd even expected a Hell Hound to be sitting guarding a throne made of bones and innards...

But this.

This was a joke.

They were exactly where they'd been moments ago, the exact same spot, in the exact same clothes. The only difference being that everything was now in colour. And so damn vibrant. Melanie had almost forgotten just how bleak and drab it was in the Beyond.

Around them, the turning leaves tore free of the branches above them and momentarily obscured Melanie's vision. She batted yellows and greens from her eyes and glanced over her shoulder to find the hospital behind them, the surrounding gardens well kept and dotted with the last flowers of the season, wilting in all colours and sizes. 

"This is Hell?" Melanie blurted. "We've not even moved."

"Oh, but we have," Louis said. "Welcome to Limbo. It's very much like the Beyond but instead of being a 'waiting area' this is the real deal. This is the official first stop into Hell."

"But..." Melanie began, not quite sure what she was trying to say. "I thought it would be like ... fires here, there and everywhere! And Hell hounds guarding every entrance. I thought you'd have a castle surrounded by a moat of boiling lava, souls made of magna reaching up to try and grab and drag victims into the fiery depths below. I thought it would maybe even be an icy fortress, with ice shards and an avalanche hurtling down in the distance..."

Louis just fixed her with an incredulous look and huffed. "I'm not Elsa, you dumbass."

"That's not what I'm saying-"

"So, Hell isn't good enough for you because I'm not wearing a floaty dress and a tiara and singing a song about not giving a shit about my problems anymore?"

"No, I-"

"I thought you knew me a little better than that, Melanie." Louis cocked a brow. "Though if what you want is me to start singing a song about death and destruction, I can easily put together a catchy little number for you. Hell, I'll even bring good old Grim out to play the percussion!"

"Louis-"

"Get the hounds out to start singing too if you want this little venture to be more reminiscent of a Disney movie-" 

"Satan, shut the Hell up!" Melanie snapped. She composed herself before continuing. "All I meant was that this isn't entirely what I thought your home would look like. You have all these demonic powers like casting fireballs and growing horns and talons and you've taken me to a pixie garden!"

"No, I di - a, a, a fucking what now? A pixie garden?!"

"It's so pretty and colourful! There's a toadstool ring right under that tree for God's sake!"

"Oh, now you're bringing my father into this?"

"Well, at least your father's realm is probably how it's depicted in literally everything!"

"How dare you mention my father in my own home?"

"Maybe your father should put you over his knee for a spanking!"

"Why is spanking on your mind, Melanie?"

"Why is - what?" Melanie was caught off guard for a moment before she scowled at him. She crossed her arms. "At least I don't have daddy issues."

"I - how dare you?" Louis put a hand on his hip. Melanie genuinely couldn't tell if he was offended or just being dramatic. He had a flare for both. Sometimes it was so hard to tell with the Devil when something was a game or not. 

Melanie took a deep breath. "Let me start again, Lucifer. Hell isn't quite what I thought it would be. I've read about so many different versions. I just thought it would be a lot more eccentric and in your face ... kind of like you are."

"Oh, you'd know all about having me in your face," Louis leered and Melanie felt a blush colour her cheeks.

"You are an absolute pig sometimes, Louis." Melanie narrowed her eyes at him once again before she took another look around. She sighed deeply. "So ... this is Limbo?"

Louis nodded, his expression softening. "It is. Like I said, this is where you'll be residing. Though if my memory serves well, there could be a potential spot down in Lust with your name on it."

Melanie fixed him with an unimpressed look. What she failed to mention was that he probably had a point.

"Anyway," Louis continued, "Hell is my home and I am in control. It's a little complicated but I'll try keep is as simple as possible for you. There's nine different levels of Hell - you may be familiar with them being referred to as the nine circles - and everyone has their allocated place. Adulterous life lived? Lust they go. Chasing riches and wealth and nothing much else in life? Greed is for you. And so on. Though if you've lived a fairly well-behaved life and don't fall into a specific category, you'll get to reside in Limbo." Louis paused and looked to the sky. "It's the closest to Heaven there is without actually being Heaven."

Melanie looked around and had to double take when she saw a flash of movement in the distance.

"Is that a person?" she asked. She squinted into the distance and her mouth fell open.

It was! There were people here. Real people, with colour in their cheeks and wind in their hair. A couple walked hand in hand in the distance, laughing and talking together joyfully. Melanie could make out more bodies in the distance by the tree line, some old and some young. A child no more than five skipped in and out of the trees, a dandelion clutched tightly in one hand.

Melanie was so used to the Beyond and its lack of bodies that the sight of life momentarily stunned her. Then she began to question whether or not she could call it life seeing as every person around her was, in fact, dead. 

"There are many people here," Louis said as he turned to look where Melanie was. "Each level are thousands, millions, billions of souls that have had their time, lived their life and made their mistakes. In Hell is where they make up for them all."

"So every person, good and bad end up in Hell? Apart from the oh-so-righteous, of course."

Louis nodded. "You'll come to find that not all who reside here are bad people. The misconception of my home being a place for only the most evil of souls does irk me."

"Like the misconception that you're also evil?" Melanie wondered aloud. She looked into Louis' eyes and found him looking glum. Had she upset him?

Louis cleared his throat. "More than I would like to admit," he finally said.

More people were starting to appear. From every direction, Melanie found a new face to look at. From inside the hospital, bodies moved in and out of the building and through the busy corridors. Some made themselves comfortable on in the front gardens and beneath the trees.

"What need is there for a hospital if everyone is dead?" Melanie pondered.

Louis shrugged. "I guess the comforts of home are a kindness. Like I said, this place is as close to Heaven as you're getting."

"So if Limbo is almost Heaven - but not quite - who ends up here?"

Louis chuckled. "Is this the part where I give you the grand and quite frankly long overdue tour of my home?"

Melanie laughed. "I believe it is exactly that. You've had plenty of time to prepare and rehearse your monologue for me."

Louis just grinned and then nodded once.

Melanie shook her head in disbelief. Of course he's prepared a speech, she thought.

"Prepare to be amazed, Melanie," Louis said.

"I've had seventy odd years to prepare myself, Louis." She threw her arms up and said, "Go on then!"

Louis was like a kid on Christmas morning. His eyes lit up and he let out an excited yelp and sanded his palms together as though he were concocting an evil plan.

"Welcome to Hell, first of all," he began. Without hesitation, he threw his arms up and gestured to nothing in particular as he said, "This is our first stop - Limbo. Not quite Heaven - as you put it - yet not quite Hell either. I have the power to take you anywhere in Hell that you wish to go but if that weren't the case, this would be where you'd end up."

"Why here?" Melanie asked.

"You weren't baptised, were you? Those who weren't baptised will end up here, as will those who lived their lives without sin but never knew the big man or his golden child."

"Aw, and I thought you were his golden child?" Melanie teased.

"Yeah, maybe once. Moving on!" Louis turned his back and beckoned for Melanie to follow him They made their way through the trees together, climbing over roots and moss and Melanie found even more beautiful things as they went. A butterfly landing on a daisy, a crystal clear stream running under the little footbridge they were crossing and a gathering of wild mushroom at a tree trunk. Such common things that she would have seen in her lifetime on Earth yet somehow looked so much more stunning in Hell, of all places.

 "I can't get over how beautiful it is here," Melanie voiced as a rabbit went scampering away as they passed. 

Louis held his hand out to help her over a fence and onto the main road just outside of the thicket. 

"Limbo has been redecorated over the last few centuries. It was a bit grim before. No pun intended."

"You do love a good pun though, Satan. Tell me more."

"Like what? I have to admit, this isn't the most interesting level."

"Well, tell me why those who weren't baptised aren't allowed to go to Heaven?"

Louis just chuckled and pointed to the sky. "Because in His eyes, the souls that weren't baptised are in no position to set foot upon his plain. That's why no one here is in a state of torment. It's a comfortable place. No one here was a sinner in life but they are forbidden from entering Heaven because He deems them unworthy. No baptism - no Heaven."

"Oh. All because they weren't religious? Seems a bit unfair."

"That's only one of the words I'd used to describe my father," Louis muttered. "Shows you just how uptight he is."

"Now, now," Melanie cooed as she linked her arm with his. "Be nice."

"I'm always nice."

"I beg to differ."

"I do love it when you beg."

They grinned wickedly at each other before turning the corner and making their way towards the town centre. Melanie had lived here all her life and yet is was only now that she seemed to be seeing the beauty in it - the old buildings with all their history, the carefully tended-to public gardens where she and Rachel had played as children, the fountain by the town hall with its intricately detailed statues and scripture. It was beautiful and it was a hometown she was proud to have raised her children in. Perhaps even her grandchildren would grow up there.

Her chest ached.

She tried not to dwell on the fact she would never get to meet her grandchildren. She'd tried so hard to hold on so she could meet her granddaughter but it had been too late. It was something that would haunt her for the rest of eternity. 

Perhaps there was some way Louis could help her check in on her family from time to time just so see how they were doing. She'd have to ask him after the tour was over.

"So Limbo isn't very interesting, is it?" Louis asked once they got to the town square. The place was full of people Melanie had never met before yet if she looked hard enough at some of them, she was sure she recognised a few. 

Melanie shook her head. "Nah, not really. It's just the eternal waiting room between Heaven and Hell, ain't it?"

"Basically," Louis said. He fixed her with a stare. "But I can take you deeper, Melanie. I can show you things that will horrify you, tempt you and even seduce you."

A shiver ran down her spine and despite her better judgement, Melanie said, "I'd love to see more." She realised after she said it just how much she actually meant it.

Years in the making had her tour of Hell been postponed and Louis' choice of words brought on an unexpected foreboding akin to what she had felt the first time she had been sent to the Beyond.

"You say that but you're frowning," Louis commented. He signed and rested his hands on her shoulders. "I am more than happy to show you my world but I need you to understand that some of the things you may see are not for the faint of heart. There are nasty and very ugly, horrific things in my realm, Melanie and I need to know that you're going to be OK exposing yourself to them."

Did she have a strong enough stomach? Melanie had never turned down a challenge and embraced everything with her head held high. Louis' words though, she couldn't shake the nerves tossing around in her stomach.

She took a deep breath and looked into his piercing eyes. "I'm tough."

"It's not about being tough," Louis told her. "It's about being able to accept and acknowledge the pieces of yourself that may have a place here in the different circles of Hell. You need to be prepared to face them head on and stand your ground. You don't want to see something that will haunt you for the rest of eternity - that's how you become a tormented soul. And there is no turning back from that."

She understood. Heard him loud and clear. She also heard that tiny voice in the back of her head telling her that she had endured enough Hell in life so what else was there to lose?

Finally, she nodded. "I'm ready."

Louis rubbed her shoulders gently and sighed. "You are tough, Melanie. I just hope you're tough enough for what's to come."

He took her hand and the world around them began to change once again.

The vibrant day began to dull into night; the clear blue sky swirled into deep indigo, the sunshine gradually fading to become moonlight before Melanie's very eyes. Heavy dark clouds soared across the sky in the blustering wind that had suddenly picked up around Melanie. Her hair flew wildly around her collar and she clapped a hand over her face twice before finally managing to clear her vision.

Once Melanie had recovered her bearings, the first thing she noticed were the jagged rock formations that had replaced the buildings of the town square. They stood tall and menacing like giants and suddenly Melanie felt very small. She wondered if Louis could tell that she was suddenly intimidated.

"Where are we?!" Melanie yelled over the wind. She had to hold onto Louis for balance as the gales threatened to knock her off her feet. It was like being directly in the centre of a tornado, she suspected. 

Louis just grinned and took her by the shoulders again. He spun her around to face what Melanie could only describe as a phallic-shaped building in the distance. Lightning cracked across the purple sky, illuminating the vast rocky landscape and tower that stood before them. 

Louis didn't have to yell, for he nuzzled himself into her collarbone and announced, "Welcome to Lust."

Sorry for the ridiculously long wait for this shitty chapter, all motivation has left me these days. I shall push on and finish part three of Lucifer though as I have some potential plans to polish the hell out of the story and look into self publishing for those who may want a physical copy. Let me know what you think and if you'd be interested in owning a copy? 

Cazza