Execution (The Divine Book 6) by M.R. Forbes Page A

We moved through dark corridors, up a flight of iron stairs, and back out into what was still a club. It resembled the club we had left somewhat, but it seemed as though it had been passed through a strangely distorted filter. It was still vice, but it had changed into something darker and more sinister.
    There were girls up on the stage. They were still naked. They were still bumping and grinding. The music they moved to was discordant, off-tempo, like listening to the Beatles in reverse. They clawed and bit at one another, tearing into one another's flesh and drawing blood.
    The patrons of the place had their eyes on them, but they didn't all seem to be watching. Most looked disheveled and downtrodden; their eyes glazed over with a look of utter hopelessness. There were a few demons in the club, a fiend and a pair of devils. They weren't like the kind that existed on Earth. They were bigger and more imposing. I noticed them noticing us.
    "It's depressing, but not much of a departure from what I'm used to," I said.
    "Hell isn't for the free souls," Damien said. "Do you see those mortals at the front?"
    I followed the dancers down to the front of the stage. Four men in ratty old suits were positioned there, heads drenched in the dancer's blood, eyes frozen on the display.
    "What about them?"
    "They're always there. In that spot. They can't leave." He laughed. "An eternity of being forced to watch, and covered in a reminder of their weakness. Those devils back there can come and go as they please. They like the show because they choose when to see it."
    "You're saying the main torture of Hell is a lack of choice?"
    "Bingo. Sure, you have some of the worse offenders who are also subjected to pain day in and day out, but they don't have a choice either. The lesser damned get stuck with their vice, be it lust, sloth, greed, whatever. They get the version of it that the Big Guy chooses, and they live it until they either become numb and lost or until they man up and break free."
    "Break free? I thought Hell was eternal?"
    "Where do you think the devils and all of the other free souls of Hell come from? Where do you think Lucifer gets his stock to send back to Earth? Some souls manage to break loose of their bonds and go on the run. When they do, if they can survive for a day without being captured or killed, then they get bumped up to a minor demon and can start earning more and more freedom."
    "You did that?"
    "Yup."
    "How long were you down here?"
    "Fifteen years." He shuddered visibly as he said it. "Then another ten working up to fiend and getting sent back to the mortal world. Most people think of Hell, and they think of chaos. There is a level of it, especially out here, but don't forget that Lucifer used to be an angel. He still keeps the underlying systems running like clockwork."
    I was surprised by the information. I had always known that many of the demons on Earth originated in Hell and were sent back to sow chaos and destruction there. I had never learned how that process occurred.
    "So how does a damned soul break loose of their bonds?"
    "Usually it's because the torture doesn't work on them. Instead of growing weary and hopeless at the endlessness of it, they come to enjoy it instead. Even then, many will choose to remain for that reason, and Hell almost becomes Heaven to them. If Lucifer senses that and the soul doesn't try to claim free will, their punishment will be altered."
    "Use it or lose it?"
    "Pretty much."
    Damien guided us to the exit. We were at the door out into the wilds of Hell when the two devils decided they had done enough watching. They took up a position in front of the doors, crossing their arms and trying to look more frightening. Each was over twelve feet in height and solidly built, their red, leathery skin bulging with strength.
    "I don't recognize these two. Do you, Skalax?" one asked the other.
    "Who are your new friends, Damien?" Skalax replied.
    "Careful, Dilix," Damien said. "These two