Page 5 of The Redeemable 4

“Ace, it is really you. How? Luc said that all his Sins weren’t redeemed yet. He was worried that the Redeemer wasn’t going to make it.” He pushed me away a little and his eyes ran an inventory of my limbs. “You look great!” Then he pulled me back into his arms again. “We’ve missed you so much, it hasn’t been the same around here. Mostly because Luc has been a giant asshole for two whole decades.” He squinted a little, as if he was looking at the sun. “Uh, Ace, do you know you have two souls right now?”

“I missed you too, Gus. It’s a long story. Let me introduce you to Cady. Cady, this is Gusion, Angel of the Past, Present and Future.”

Former Angel. It is nice to finally make your acquaintance, Arcadia Jones, Lucifer’s Redeemer and Saviour of the Damned.

Uh, just call me Cady. It’s nice to meet you too, Gus. You’re very… um…

“She thinks you’re hot, Gus,” I finished for her. She wasn’t wrong. Of all the fallen, of which there were only three, including me but not including Luc, Gus was the most ethereal. He had long, golden hair that hung down to the center of his back, and a body that was a beautiful pale gold, rippling with muscles like every teenage girl's wet dream.

Gus looked down at his body, as if seeing it for the first time. “Hey, I guess I am.” He grinned at me, a naughty grin that reminded me why we had all fallen in the first place.

“Where’s Memphis?” I asked.

“I’m here, Acerezeal.”

Memphis was inky darkness where Gusion was golden light, although Memphis’s hair hung down his back also in a long black braid. His dark ebony skin meant the deep blue of his eyes were startling in their shining brilliance. Gusion and Memphis’s visual differences only mirrored their personality differences.

I went to Memphis, wrapping my arms around his body although it remained stiff under my hands. That was just Memphis’ way. He was stoic. He made Arcadia’s Lux look like a CareBear.

“Let me introduce you to my, uh, passenger soul? Memphis, this is Arcadia.”

Nice to meet you, Memphis.

“No one calls me Memphis except Acerezeal. My name is Mephistopheles.”

The Mephistopheles? I thought you were a figment of some old poet's imagination.

“It suits me to be seen that way.” His face was as scary as he could possibly be while with such beautiful lines, but it was enough to strike fear into most mortals. But my Arcadia wasn’t a mere mortal

Okay. What kind of nickname is Memphis for a fallen angel anyway?

“A good one! Have you tried screaming out Mephistopheles during climax? I can tell you from experience that it seriously kills the mood. Now Memphis? The home of rock’n’roll? That’s enough to make you wet just thinking about it.”

I could feel Arcadia mulling over what I said. I hope she didn’t short circuit something important.

So you and Memphis-

“Mephistopheles,” the angel in question growled.

Sorry. You fallen angels are really touchy about your names. Anyway, so you and Mephistopheles, you know…

“Fuck?”

Uh yeah. And Luc is okay with that? she whispered, even though literally every person in this room could hear her no matter the volume of her mental projection.

“I am fine with the arrangement, Arcadia. Acerezeal’s heart belongs to me, this I know for sure. But this is also Hell. We didn’t all fall to spend eternity alone and as chaste as monks. We have already been judged and been found wanting. May as well make our banishment fun.”

“Me too,” Gusion added, grinning, his perfect straight teeth as blinding as the gilded marble floors.

Uh huh, Gus too? You never get to call me a hussy ever again, down here with your own little fallen angel harem, Cady crowed and I laughed.

“We should move from the landing room,” Memphis grunted, and moved toward the double doors. We all followed behind.

Do all souls land here? Cady asked, though I wasn’t sure if she was talking to me or the rest of the room. It was Gus that answered.

“Yes. Everyone who passes into Hell, or the underworld, must do so through this room. One way in, one way out, even for angel kind.”

So people who say they say a white light at the end of the tunnel, it doesn’t mean they are going up top?

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