Hell's Hero Page 9

  “Have you forgotten? I’m not human.”

  “I liked you better when you were evil, when our lovemaking was just one step from hell. I want you back to pounding my ass, and not caring how I feel about it.”

  “I never did that.”

  “You know what I mean. I can’t make love to a friggin’ holy man.”

  “You’re about as off base as you can get on this one, Fate.”

  “I want the old Dante back. The one that smelled like Hell, talked like Hell, and fucked me like a demon out of Hell.”

  And then suddenly Dante’s face turned ashen.

  “Leave. Now. And go where I direct you,” came a command in Dante’s mind.

  Dante looked at Fate. “I’ve got to go. Will you be here when I get back?”

  “If I’m not I’ll be in some other devil’s bed.”

  A hurt look filled Dante’s eyes. “I have to do what I have to do, Fate. I just hope you understand.”

  All at once Dante began whirling around like a tornado until he disappeared and found himself upon a high precipice, up above the city’s glittering lights. He didn’t see anyone, but he felt a strong presence.

  When he started to turn around, the voice said, “Don’t turn. Don’t look at me.”

  “Who are you?”

  “I am God’s Messenger, also known as Gabriel.”

  “The archangel?” Dante asked as he looked up at a host of angels in the sky. “I am honored, but why am I here?”

  “The reason I brought you here is two-fold. First, to show you what your mission would be, and to also keep you from weakening. Had I left you there you would have thrown everything you’ve gained away. You’ve come too far to go back now.”

  “But my friend…I…”

  “I know you love him, Dante, but no friendship, no matter how deep is worth losing your soul over.”

  “Lose my soul just because I love my friend? What kind of God is He?”

  “Dante, God would never take a loving friend away from you. Besides, it’s only a temporary move. You are entering a very important phase in your life, and God needs your complete attention. Fate, in this instance, was put in front of you as a stumbling block. Don’t be fooled by the enemy. He knows where your passions lie, and is using it to pull you away from God.”

  “I think I understand.”

  “Maybe I can help you. Look upon the city.”

  Dante looked again, seeing what looked like a glittering paradise full of beauty that could not be believed. “It is beautiful.”

  “To the naked eye. Now, look beyond, look beneath, look where others cannot see.”

  All at once his eyes were opened, and what was beauty before became gaudy, showy, flashy, and garish. It became a city full of evil. He could see a war going on amid leaping flames, groans and moans, and screams while soldiers stood over innocent victims slashing their throats, and lifting small babes up with one hand, and stabbing them with their swords in the other while laughing. They even stabbed newborns still in their mother’s wombs. It was a bloodbath. It was terror on the streets. It was too horrible to behold.

  “This is Satan’s plan for you. To lead an army of assassins,” Gabriel said softly. “It is God’s mission to use you to protect them. There are those who, without you, will die. You have been given many powers that you will use to do your job. If you choose to accept, you must never use them for your own glory, or for your own financial gain. You must stay in the shadows, hide your identity as best you can, and when your job is done, you will be rewarded with a home in Heaven.”

  While trying to make a decision, Dante saw the angels of God lingering in the sky watching and waiting. When he saw the beauty, the good, the absolute power they held in their righteous hands, he struggled, his gaze jumping from them to the crime in the street.

  And then suddenly he heard something.

  A mantra, soft at first and then faster.

  Dante, Dante, Dante, Dante.

  It was a call for help so loud and so urgent inside his head that he had to put his hands up over his ears. It was the people’s call for help. They needed him. Crime was running rampant. He must help! He had to answer it! With that thought, he knew he could no longer resist. It simply wasn’t in him to turn away, so he suddenly fell to his knees and bowed his head.

  “I accept.”

  “You must be sure. Remember what I told you. Once you make the decision, there is no turning back.”

  Dante hesitated for a moment, still considering the high cost, and then said, “Yes.”

  With a light tap of a star-edged wand on each of Dante’s shoulders, Gabriel said, “You may rise.”

  Dante rose slowly wearing a suit of silver that glittered like the stars in the sky, and when he was fully standing his silver beauty cast a formidable shadow of protection over the entire city.

  “What is this?” he asked as he looked down at it.

  “With the choice you made, you have been given a Knighthood from the Highest Order of Heaven.” The voice hesitated a moment. “But still you are troubled.”

  “I don’t know what to tell Fate.”

  “I urge you to call upon the wisdom you have been granted.”

  * * * *

  As soon as Dante returned, he rushed in, finding the apartment dark, and knew that Fate was gone, out looking for a devil. Dante rushed out, feeling a mixture of anger and jealousy, but mostly fear because he knew that Fate was in the right frame of mind to find trouble, and he might just find it in the company of a devil with no good on his mind.

  After going from place to place, he finally found Fate at a gay bar with a man who was buying him drinks. He was laughing and drinking, and seemed to be having a great time. Dante walked in, and sauntered up next to Fate, making sure he stood at his back. He looked over at the other man, and indicated with a nod for him to get lost.

  “Who the hell do you think you are?” the man asked.

  “Take your pick. Devil or angel.”

  Just then Fate turned around, his gaze reflecting anger. “Get lost, Dante.”

  The other man’s eyes widened. “Dante? You mean you’re the Dante that everyone’s talking about? The man who…”

  “Yeah, I am, so get the hell out, or you’ll find yourself floating around in space without a spacesuit.”

  “Hey,” he said to Fate. “I ain’t stickin’ around for this. I’ve heard about him, and I ain’t no match for a man like that. He’s dangerous.”

  When he said that Fate turned to Dante, his eyes shooting flames. “Is this your job now, scaring off my dates?”

  “Come on, we’re going home.”

  “No, I ain’t goin’ nowhere with you.”

  “I think you are.”

  With that Dante lifted both hands, snapped his fingers, and the next thing Fate knew, they were in the living room of his apartment.

  Fate whirled around looking. “How the hell did you do that?”

  “One of my many hidden talents.”

  “How about showing me another one? How about disappearing, and forgetting to come back?”

  “You just won’t listen, will you?” Dante asked, and then shoved him down on the couch. “All right, you want a devil, you’re going to get one.”

  As Dante stood there, suddenly evil filled his eyes. His whole body turned to flame, leaping and burning.

  “Oh, my God,” Fate whispered. “You’re burning.”

  “You wanted a devil, so look closely, the show’s not over.”

  Fate watched, his breath catching in his lungs. He watched as Dante grew horns, and his skin turned scaly. The flames, still undulating along his body, emitted heat and smoke. Fate began to smell sulfur, and coughed when he felt coal dust and brimstone fill the air so thick he could hardly breathe.

  After wiping his eyes, he looked up, and Dante was naked, standing over him, his cock hard and ready. “You wanted a devil…you got one.”

&nb
sp; His words gave Fate a chill.

  Dante suddenly leaned forward and tore at Fate’s clothes. After he brutally ripped them off, he then began his viciously selfish moves for himself only. He jostled him, pushed him, used him for his own pleasure instead of trying to bring him with him to a peak of desire. His lips were hard, insistent, his hands rough and pushing. He handled Fate violently as he opened his legs to push himself into his hole. Fate didn’t feel loved, or cared for, he felt used. Because it was a one-sided act, it ended quickly with Dante being satisfied. Once that was accomplished, he pushed Fate aside like so much used garbage. Fate, at last released, jumped up, tried to put his clothes back on that were now rags, and rushed into the bathroom. He stood there crying.

  He thought about what he had gone through with Dante. The touch of his skin was so hot it burned just to touch him, and it didn’t have the normal feel of skin and bones. And when Dante tore at his clothes he felt ashamed. He’d never acted this way before, but when he learned that Fate wanted a devil in his bed, he turned himself into one. Before, when Dante removed his clothes, it was with a light touch, his hands feeling gentle and loving. Now, he treated him rough, pushed and shoved him instead of caressing his skin, kissing him, and making love to him.

  “What the hell are you doing in there?” Dante yelled into the bathroom.

  “Nothing…I’ll…I’ll be out in a minute.”

  Suddenly the door slammed open, and Dante stood there in his normal look. No more flames eating up his body, no more horns or scaly skin. He was the Dante he had come to love, and fresh tears came falling out of his eyes when he realized he loved the Dante he’d always had, not the devil he had become.

  “Come on out, and we’ll talk.”

  “I…I think I’ll just go to bed.”

  “No, Fate. We need to talk about this.”

  He looked at Dante. “Why did you do it?”

  “You said that’s what you wanted.”

  “So just to win your point, you gave me the worst you had.”

  “You think that’s the worst I have? You stupid jerk. That was nothing. If I showed you the worst I had you’d be dead. I would have mauled, raped, and killed you. Don’t you have any sense at all, Fate? I’m from goddamned Hell! In your worst nightmares, your fantasies, your erotic dreams, you couldn’t know the extent of what I could do if I tried. What I showed you was tame, sucker.”

  Dante turned, stomped into his room, pulled down a bag and began packing.

  “What are you doing?”

  “You invited me to go, so I’m going. By the way, if you see me camped out on some street corner with a cup in my hand, keep going.”

  “You don’t have to go until you find a place. Hell, I’m not that unfeeling that I’d just kick you out on the street.”

  “Don’t worry. With my talents I’ll get by. If not, I’m sure someone will come along who wants a devil in his bed.”

  * * * *

  When Dante left, it wasn’t any time at all before the TV news was full of his superhero escapades. Up to now he had only the penny-ante criminals to deal with, but slowly he took the city by storm, leaving a trail of flames in his wake, and the press dubbed him Hell’s Hero. Within only weeks every thug, criminal and brawler one could imagine came out of their hiding places. All wanting to take Hell’s Hero down. Dante found himself staying busy by stopping runaway trains, holding crumbling buildings together until the people could get to safety, but when large catastrophes such as keeping rivers from overflowing, and deserts from being besieged by freak sand storms began, Dante knew that most of what he had to battle wasn’t the villains that seemed to ooze out of the sewers of the city, but Satan, who had put together a rag tag army to come against him because of Dante’s change in loyalties.

  “Hey, Hell’s Hero!”

  When Dante turned to look he saw an exploding arrow coming toward him. He didn’t have time to react, so the arrow plunged into his chest, sending him crashing against a wall behind him. “Die!” a man called Hawkeye said. “Die, and go back to Hell where you came from!”

  But the man’s eyes opened wide in shock when he saw Dante grab the arrow and pull it out of his chest as if it were nothing but a toy.

  “Can’t you do any better than that, Hawkeye? Here, have some of this,” Dante said, grabbing a ball of fire out of the air, rolling it up like a baseball and throwing it toward him.

  Hawkeye’s first instinct was to catch it, but when he reached out for it, the ball of fire suddenly became bigger and bigger until it covered him like a flaming blanket, making him run around burning until there was nothing left but a cinder.

  “Oh, my God!” cried the rest of Hawkeye’s gang.

  But some, being a little more determined than the others, came running toward Dante and attacked him. Dante, ready for them, came out fighting, and launched a few pounding hammer-punches of his own until he had them laying in a pile of blood and flesh, some waiting to be picked up by the morgue, the others, by the cops.

  * * * *

  TV News…

  “If you don’t know what he looks like, watch the skies for a silver streak. He’s most likely on his way to save a runaway train before it heads into a deep chasm, or lifting a speeding school bus full of crying, frightened children to safety. When he’s not battling evil, his threatening presence can be found in the dark skies keeping watch while he casts an imposing shadow over the population. As for me, I feel more than safe when that shadow is there.

  “With almost no effort, he’s managed to clean up the streets, bringing in twenty criminals at one time by the scruff of their necks. It seems to me he’s got their number, knowing where they stay, what they’re up to, and then diving in like a bomber to clean out the nest of evil before they even get started.

  “Even though he’s managed to keep the city safe, his activities have brought out the more colorful criminals that seem to spend most of their time trying to figure out what his weaknesses are. Sorry, gents, it doesn’t look like the guy has any.”

  But Dante did have a weakness, and it was Fate.

  * * * *

  Dante smiled as he looked around. “Remember this place?”

  “The Pot Luck Diner?” Fate said, his eyes sliding around. “Sure, I remember. I also remember the homeless dude, and the stupid ass that sat opposite you in the booth.”

  “Yeah, I remember him, but he was far from stupid. He was kind…like his eyes. I remember his eyes most of all. His kind, blue eyes that smoldered when they looked at me. In fact they still smolder. They’re smoldering right now.”

  Fate pulled his eyes away quickly. “You sure have a way with words. Is that one of those hidden talents you say you have?”

  “Fate…thanks for agreeing to meet me here tonight. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

  “Yeah? Well, I wish I had that homeless dude back again. Instead I’ve got some superhero that casts a shadow over all the city. A—”

  “I thought you liked superheroes.”

  “I like them in friggin’ comic books, and on the screen, not in my own backyard.”

  “This hasn’t turned out the way I thought it would either…” Suddenly Dante’s eyes widened when he saw a man standing at the other end of the diner with a gun pointing at everyone, and two other members of his gang. “Oh, my God,” he whispered. “Don’t move.”

  “What?”

  “Don’t turn around, Fate,” Dante said, but it was too late. Fate had already seen him.

  “Oh, my God, look at that face. I’ve never seen anything so hideous in my life.”

  “It’s his false face. In my opinion the false face looks worse than the real one.”

  “What’s his name again? I forgot.”

  “It’s Digger. You remember Digger. I thought his favorite thing to play with was a knife, but this time he’s got a gun.”

  “What’ll we do?”

  “Just sit tight. I’ll take care of it.
”

  “Oh, my God,” Fate whispered. “What the hell, man, does this stuff just follow you everywhere you go?”

  “He’s sworn to get me. He must’ve received a tip that I would be here tonight. When there’s something they want, these creeps just seem to ooze out of the cracks in the sidewalk.”

  “Welcome to my little get-together, citizens,” Digger called out. “I got a hot tip that one of my friends was gonna be here tonight, so, just sit tight. If he comes out of hiding, it’ll be over in no time. If not…something bad might happen. Meanwhile, relax, you’ve just been taken hostage.”

  Dante watched him as he spoke. He was dressed in a black suit, his crudely sewed on face could still be seen among the shadows of his dark fedora.

  “The rules are this. No attacking the host. No trying to leave, no calling the cops. If I see one cop, I kill three of you. I see two cops, six of you die. You do the math. Now, if you mess up my party by breaking one of my rules…well, you can expect me to get a little upset. And when I get upset all Hell breaks loose.”

  “Doesn’t he recognize you?” Fate whispered.

  “He’s probably looking for the silver suit. Without it I look like any other Joe on the street, and kind of fade into the woodwork.”

  “That’s great. If he doesn’t know you’re here, then just cool it, okay? Maybe he’ll go away.”

  “He’s only got two others with him inside, but you can bet that there are more outside guarding the door. I need to be very careful, or that gun will start going off in every direction, and a lot of people will get hurt.”

  “Dante, aren’t you listening? You’re not a superhero tonight, okay?”

  “I am not a fuckin’ superhero, got that?” Dante whispered. “I hate that fuckin’ word. By the way that stupid name’s not my choice. it’s yours and the dim-witted media’s.”

  “Hey, Calypso, get them tied up,” Digger said.

  Dante saw a mean-looking Hispanic type come forward with ropes, chains, and weapons, and knew things were about to get ugly. He couldn’t just sit here and let this happen, so he moved to stand up.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Fate rasped.