The Devil's Apprentice by Patrick Stewart (polar express read aloud TXT) 📕

the alleyway led back onto the busy London street. Cars drove past and humans walked across, but none spared a glance his way. He wasn’t surprised. It was a dank alleyway. Dark too.

The long summer continued. The sun shone brightly in the evening sky. But not much of it filtered down here. Though up above the space was clear, something seemed to stop most of the light, leaving the alleyway ominously dark.

Before him was the Red House of Satan. It seemed magnified today. The stone steps of black looked as if they were covered in ink. The white columns and the pediment appeared as if freshly painted. The red stone used to build the hundred floors glowed like embers.

It was the pediment that Alex stared at. Where normally protruding from the stone were Greek or Roman figures, this one had a demon sculpted on it. The horns were perfectly symmetrical. The body was muscular, the jawline defined. He looked cool…

And it was a he. 

Sculpted on the pediment was the image of Satan.

Taking a deep breath, Alex climbed the black steps and walked through the swivel glass doors to the left. It opened up to a large foyer. The floor was made of emperador brown marble. To the left was the receptionist. Sitting behind a cream-coloured polished stone counter, she stared at the computer. Her smart fitting white shirt was visible above the counter. She looked for all purposes like an ordinary receptionist working at a large company.

If any human accidentally walked in, this place would seem no different to any other large office block. Alex wondered if that was the point. He doubted any humans actually came this way. The service doors from the adjacent and opposite buildings led onto the alleyway. Alex had seen cleaning staff step out to throw things into the large black and green metal bins. They didn’t spare a glance for the Red House of Satan, though it stood a hundred floors high. The veil stopped them from seeing. A veil that was supposedly weakening. Alex wondered if stopping the demons from being freed would make any difference in the long run. If the veil breaks and humans see demons and angels for what they are, there would be chaos. There would be war.

Deciding that was a worry for another time, Alex climbed up the staircase in the centre of the foyer. They led up to the elevators. It was the one at the end that he needed to take. The golden doors that led to the hundredth floor. Problem was, only a select few were able to use that lift. Alex wasn’t one of those.

He had to wait for someone allowed to use the elevator and either go up with them, or sneak into the lift as they came out. Neither was a great option. For starters, he could be waiting for ever. Worse than that, it could be Scarlett coming down in the elevator.

That bitch hated him.

With a passion, it seemed.

“Press the button, dumbass,” the voice said.

“It only works for certain people,” Alex muttered.

“Yes, for VIPs. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m a very important person.” 

Alex chuckled. “Person? You’re barely a spirit.”

“Are you mocking me?” the voice grumbled.

“Little bit,” Alex replied. 

He expected a retort, but the voice fell silent. Strange. The voice never seemed to be short of shit to say. Alex wondered if he’d hurt the voice’s feelings. He decided he didn’t care. He leaned against the wall, arms folded across his chest. This could be a long wait. It could be futile too, if Scarlett stepped out when the elevator finally opened.

His eyes fell on the elevator button. It was a simple enough button. About the size of a two-pence. Gold, naturally. What was the worst that could happen if it pressed it? His finger burning off was the first that that popped into his head. That would be terrible.

It was a risk worth taking, Alex decided. There was a lot on the line and time was of the essence. The demons either had everything they needed to free the big bad demon, or they were pretty close. His mind made up, Alex strode towards the elevator and thumped at the button before he could talk himself out of it.

The good news, his finger didn’t burn off.

The even better news, it worked.

The golden doors parted.

“Told you, ass swipe,” the voice said. 

* * *

There were dozens of silver scones attached to the red-stone walls of the foyer on the hundredth floor. Each scone held a black torch that burnt a dark red fire. With that many flames, the place should have been brightly lit. But it had a dim glow about it. Like walking into a volcano. You imagined it to be bright and fiery. And it was, but somehow, it was dark too.

The blue-skinned receptionist sat at the far end. Her eyes on the computer, she did not look up at him as he approached. Alex rested his elbows on the desk of dark wood. “I’d like to see Satani,” he said.

The receptionist continued to type away, her eyes glued to the screen. She looked almost human.  Her hair was red, her eyes were black. Her skin was a light blue, much like Melissa’s. But the similarities ended there. Where Melissa was a mixture of hot and cute, this demon was sexier and colder. She was bigger too. Despite being seated behind the desk, Alex was sure she was as tall as him, if not more.

But he wasn’t afraid of her.

He cleared his throat and repeated, “I’d like to see Satani.”

“You don’t have an appointment.”

Alex had a similar conversation with the demon the last time he came up here. She had yet to look up at him, and he wondered if she would remember him. “I need