The Department of Hate - A Love Story (30 page)

Chapter 27 – Purity of Purpose

Cassandra was stuck in Belial’s room unable to leave. She was dressed in a brief red skirt. Belial had returned earlier, manically pleased with how things had gone. He claimed that Lucifer and Beelzebub had been destroyed along with all of their forces, leaving him the undisputed master of Hell. He’d gone off with great excitement – making his way to the Great Hall to claim his place on the throne and assert his authority and dominance. He would be the new Satan. Cassandra didn’t believe that Jarrod was gone but there was nothing she could do. She found herself thinking about the gnome – her imaginary friend from childhood. She shuddered. He was so horrible. She tried again to remember his name. Then it came to her. At first she couldn’t believe it. She threw herself back on the bed – moaning out loud.

“Oh no, Oh no, it can’t be.”
She remembered quite clearly now that the gnome had always called himself Beelzebub. She’d found the name amusing, not knowing what it meant. She still didn’t get it fully – but she knew Jarrod was involved somehow and that she’d always been part of his plan. She was devastated.

Jarrod came out of the portal back onto the Plains of Desolation a few miles from the city of Dis. The gnome was standing there waiting for him - the same twisted ugly little man he'd seen at Waterloo station and who had seemed so eerily and hauntingly familiar. He still did. Jarrod looked at him with great suspicion and hostility

"Who are you? What do you want?"
The gnome stared back at him with a look of immense satisfaction.  He had worked so hard for so long and success was finally at hand.

"I want you to take what is now yours, Master
." Jarrod was still suspicious but also puzzled. It had all started to fit together somehow - he just couldn’t quite see it. 

"And exactly how would I do that?"
The gnome started speaking, quickly and intensely, enjoying himself.

"Master, you discovered the nature of God's Fist five hundred years ago in an ancient manuscript – written for the humans by one of the Nephilim.  It told of automated defences you knew would be left on. Everything thing since then has centred on that. The Wall of Fire would not destroy the pure of heart. If you wer
e still in human form and in love you would survive. The others, Lucifer especially, would be destroyed. It worked. Hell is now yours." Jarrod stared back at him. Simple, just like that - he knew it was true. He was starting to remember everything. He said out loud

"And now Heaven is empty as well. God has abandoned us ..
. abandoned them." The gnome was positively gleeful.

"You were sure that's what you would find, Master. So was Lucifer. That's how you convinced him to attack. This means the Earth is now yours as well - to do with as you please. Hell, Earth, Heaven - they're all yours."

Jarrod thought about it for a few moments. How astonishing!  His whole life had been a lie, one huge self deception. Even as he realised this he felt the beginnings of that same strange force he’d felt earlier, faint but growing rapidly - a compulsion to change. He found he had to start fighting it and fighting hard, just to stay as he was. He said, simply and plaintively

"What about Cassandra?" The gnome continued with his explanation.

"I looked far and wide to find the only woman that you could ever love. You're Beelzebub, you don’t have much capacity for it. I guided events. I made sure that you met. It wasn’t easy. Some of the other Gods were trying to stop me. I disposed of a few poor choices. They were not right for you - and you knew it."
Jarrod listened to all of this with growing dismay

"But I do love her."
The gnome sneered.

"Jarrod loves her - that had to be real. But you're Beelzebub. Soon you'll be back to your old self. She'll be nothing but an unpleasant memory. I can have her stuffed if you want."
Jarrod was angry at this. 

"You will not harm her, ever
." It occurred to him that the plot had a flaw. He could choose to remain as Jarrod and live on with Cassandra. Deal with Belial somehow. Escape somehow. But even as he thought this he knew how unlikely it was. The compulsion to change was growing stronger and more urgent. Increasingly he felt like he was just a persona in someone else's dream - struggling to stay in it, to stay as he was, and not wake up. He felt very weak and very confused.

The gnome watched all of this cautiously. He knew that there was a small danger of the wrong outcome - but not much. They had prepared very carefully. He delivered his final blow

"You love her but what in the world makes you think that she loves you?"
Jarrod blinked

"What?"
The gnome pushed on relentlessly.

"She's a player. She does what she needs to do. You were to be her protector down here. Now it's Belial. She was just using you."
Jarrod answered quickly

"No, that's not true."
But he seemed less than certain of himself. It was all very confusing. The gnome waved his arm and before them they could see a view of Belial's inner chambers. The gnome sneered again

"and yet even as we speak ..."
Jarrod could see Belial and Cassandra on the bed together. Belial was on top of her fucking her vigorously.  There was nothing pleasant about his manner. It was savage and violent. Cassandra didn’t seem to mind though. She responded enthusiastically - spreading her legs more widely and reaching up to try to kiss him - her face flushed with delight.  Jarrod looked away. He was deeply hurt by this. He could barely think at first - he stared at the ground.  The gnome watched him carefully. Of course the images were from the day before and he had altered Cassandra's response.  In the original she had been disgusted and had resisted as best she could. 

Jarrod was lost in thought and in sadness. He considered for the last time the absolute impossibility of love and the emptiness and futility of existence without it. He considered the brute fact that she had rejected him and chosen someone else. In the dream in Vienna, on the steps of the Concert Hall, he watched her walk off arm in arm with her chosen lover, laughing together, not looking back - leaving him standing there on the cold concrete forlorn and bereft, alone again, now and forever more. He watched her in the taxi driving off. He was still overwhelmed by her beauty and her brilliance. But he’d finally had enough, waited too long. It was all over. He said out loud, almost casually

“All right, that
’s it then. Fuck it. I give up.” His aching heart finally broke. In the dream he raised the pistol to the side of his head, pulled the trigger and blew his own brains out. In an instant it really was all over. Jarrod himself was just the dream, rapidly fading and an old, old soul filled to the brim with a billion years of burning raging hatred finally woke up.

Beelzebub stood back up on his feet, stretched out and looked around - eyes blazing. He was alone, the gnome had vanished.  He was exultant. He roared out

"It worked! It fucking worked!"
He realised that of course the gnome had been merely an extension of himself, a projection, guiding events, ensuring the correct outcome, and had now been reabsorbed. He remembered that its existence had been shielded from Lucifer by Marduk. He remembered everything through the gnome's eyes - killing Adrianne, killing Elizabeth, killing Caroline, and all of the others. He had killed Marianne too – that one out of pure jealousy. He remembered watching over his ridiculous and pathetic life as Jarrod, trying to organise the first meeting in Amsterdam, opposed by the gods that were meant to be helping him, finally organising the meeting at Waterloo Station in London, setting the explosives that blew up the train, and above all watching Cassandra all of the time over her entire life. He saw the little trick just them with the images and was amused by it. He found himself increasing in height and bulk, musculature expanding – rapidly reverting to his true form. His skin and his face thickened and coarsened, changing in colour to a sickly gray. His eyes changed to a dark bloody red. His hair grew thicker and longer. His mind expanded rapidly also - quickly reaching levels of intelligence and malevolence far beyond human ken.  He had never felt so powerful and so ferociously determined - and he liked it. He wanted more.

He set out towards the Inner Gates - an unstoppable juggernaut of rage. When he reached the gates the guards snapped to attention and saluted smartly. He grabbed a battle axe from one of the guards and continued on down the southern slopes towards the entrance to the Great Hall at the edge of the Pit of Despair. As he approached the doors of the Great Hall he came across one of the lesser demons. He remembered him - the one on the train to Brighton that had held him down. The lesser demon was shocked to see him and called out

"Master!"
  Beelzebub swung the axe rapidly up into the side of his head, cracking his skull and slicing into it. The lesser demon dropped to the ground screaming and thrashing about.  Other demons had rushed out of the foyer - equally shocked to see Beelzebub. He snarled at them

"Throw this piece of shit into the Pit
." They yelled out

"Yes Master, at once Master
.” They quickly hauled away the body of the fallen demon. Beelzebub threw the axe to the ground. He had decided he wouldn’t need it for what was coming next.

A large demon came out of the foyer staring at him malevolently. He was obviously astonished to see him. He cried out

“Beelzebub!”
  Beelzebub took one look at him and roared out

"Belial
." They rushed at each other. Beelzebub easily managed to get in the first hit, a massive head butt which knocked Belial into a daze. Beelzebub then sank his teeth into Belial's face ripping out large chunks of it. There was blood everywhere. Belial could hardly stand. Beelzebub took a step back and then pounded his fist into Belial's stomach and sternum as hard as he could, rupturing multiple internal organs. He repeated this several times before smashing his fist into the side of Belial's head - knocking him to the ground. He immediately pulled the now only semi conscious Belial back onto his feet holding him by the collar at the back of the neck and then half walked half carried him to the edge of the Pit fifty metres away. For good measure he then gouged out both of Belial's eyes before finally pushing him into the Pit.  He watched him fall, calling out triumphantly

"F
uck you too. I win." He turned around and walked back to the entrance to the Great Hall. One of the lesser demons passed him a towel which he used to wipe off the blood. He did this quite casually. They watched him carefully, all of them almost frozen in fear.

Beelzebub then strode into the Great Hall and made his way straight across the open floor to the Throne. There were several dozen lesser demons and minor lords still in the Hall itself. They scampered out of his way, crying out in fear

"Hail the new Satan!"
He sat on the throne and stared out at them. They waited - each of them looking down as he met their eyes. There was no time to waste. The end times had finally arrived. He called out

"Lord Barbatos
." One of the larger demons raced towards him and stood there before the throne. Beelzebub looked at him contemptuously

"Take a hundred
of your best soldiers. Find Asmodeous. Cut that fucking asshole into a thousand pieces and scatter the pieces into the pit." Lord Barbatos saluted, and raced off. Beelzebub then called out

"Lord Nabarus
." Nabarus rushed forward and stood before him. Beelzebub raged on

"Hell is a shithole. We're mov
ing to Earth. We still have fifty legions, take ten of them and start preparing the humans for our arrival. You can get there through the heavens - the way is now open. Fill their souls with terror. Kill one in ten." Nabarus saluted sharply

"Yes Master"
and also rushed off. Beelzebub was not yet done, he called out

"Lord Saleos
."  Saleos rushed forward and stood before him. Beelzebub continued to rage

"Take the twelfth and thirteenth
legions and clear out the UK. We'll use that as our new base. Build me a palace in southern Essex somewhere overlooking the river Thames. Make the river run red with the blood of the slain." Saleos seemed confused

"Master
, what do you mean 'clear out' ?“  Beelzebub had no patience with him

"What do you think I mean you fucking moron - kill eve
ry fucking thing that breathes." Saleos snapped out his response

"Yes Master, Yes Master"
and then rushed off.

Beelzebub sat back on the throne. He was now absolute Lord and Master of Hell and of Earth. Lucifer had been destroyed. Finally he was the new Satan. Heaven was empty and abandoned. He remembered God quite clearly now and he remembered kneeling before Him at the beginning of time - as if that would ever happen again. He looked about randomly, vacantly - then he cried out

"I don’t know where you're hiding but I hope you're watching because you're fucking next."
  Of course there was still the vexing issue of the elder Gods but for now there was an immediate piece of unfinished business. Still glowering he barked out