h. h.

holmes
Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/790473.

Rating: Mature
Archive Warning: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Category: Gen, F/M
Fandom: Greek and Roman Mythology
Character: OC - Character
Additional Tags: Murder
Stats: Published: 2013-05-09 Words: 2550

h. h. holmes
by ochaofice

Summary

when I was alive I was a serial killer; by the name of Herman Mudgett. i was born may 16,
1861 and died may 7, 1896.h.h.holmes

h.h.holmes

“Shhhhhhhhht” Followed By a Scream.

The line moved. I breathed fire back on to the brander. Red hot, onto the shoulder of the next poor
soul. “SSShhhhhhht” This one didn’t scream. The souls behind him looked impressed. I left it on
longer than needed. Again the line moved. Again the thought that human reproduce like rabbits hit
my mind. Then they die. Then they come to me to be branded as the devils property. Next soul in
line was a trembler.
“Relax. It hurts, but if i mess up then i have to do it again.”
The soul looked up at me; i was fighting a smile. i loved my job.
i just hated being trapped here.
This boy just could not stop shaking; so i sent him to the end of the line to relax.
I heated up the brander with my breath again.
“NEXT.” I yelled
Up came another soul. As it got closer I could make out the girls body and clothes. Short skirt; low
cut shirt and her high heels matched that shirt. The color Red.
The only thing that wasn’t hot was the gunshot wound in her forehead along with the bruises on
her wrists in the shape of hands. Big hands.
“When I was alive I was close to being rich, how does someone get rich down here?” she said
“You don’t everything goes to the devil.” I said.
“Is that right.” she said.
“SHHHHHHHHHHHT” I branded her. I felt sorry to cause further damage to her body.
“Will these ever go away?” she said pointing at her wrists
“When you forgive him.” I said “and if you can you can go to heaven.”
“Whys the devil so rich anyways?” said an old man.
He looked like a miner. He was dusty and his head looked kind of funny; too long and not wide
enough.
He turned his head to look at the lady. ‘who I still had a hold of.’ When he turned I saw that his
head had been smashed and cracked open.
Letting go of the girl’s arm, I said. “He feeds us and does his best to get us out of here.” “If he gave
us money we wouldn’t learn to be kind... We would just fight over it...And, what would you need
money for anyways you're dead.”
The line moved. I grabbed the souls arm.
“What about you;” he said “Don't you get money for branding us?”
I blow fire on the brand again.
“No, but he gives me presents.”
“Presents?” he said
“Yeah like just yesterday he gave me a bird egg.”
“Really?” he said “Why would he give you something that would die?”
“We’ll put it back in a year or two... Its just a pet.”
“What about a dog? Could we have dogs?”
“If we work hard enough... Maybe I’ll try talking him into getting me one.”
I fixed it to be hotter than usual and then put it on
“SSSSSHHHhhhhhhht”
the soul trembling walk away
About twenty souls later the boy came back to the front.
“Sorry about being a bother” he said.
“That's alright, hey why don’t you stay here with me for the rest of my shift?”
“Can I brand someone?”
“Would you want to?”
“Not sure”
I made the brand hot again and handed it to him.
He held it like a weapon.
“You can’t hold it like that. Its not a sword its a brander like for cows.”
“NEXT” I yelled
The boy moved it so it looked like he was holding a stamp.
“That's better”
A soul came up. It was a man in his twenties.
“Ok now just press it on his shoulder.”
“SSSSHHHHhhhht”
After branding him, I gave the boy my card and he told me he should be going. That he had to go
look for his Aunt Koria.

A mind-numbing amount of souls later my shift was over. I’m pretty sure I worked for a whole
day.
Walking the streets of hell is life threatening. Funny life threatening.

when I was alive I was a serial killer; by the name of Herman Mudgett. i was born may 16, 1861
and died may 7, 1896. When i can down here i changed my names to h. h. holmes.

Lava in the ditches. Every thing from stage coaches to cars, driving as fast as they can. At lest you
can’t get mugged. No one has money here but the devil and he was it locked up save and sound.
Somewhere.

I wonder what year it is now. guess I should have asked that boy. I did give him my card so maybe
he will find me so I can help him get a job.
I take the last left turn and i can see my house down the road. Someone is sitting on my steps and
that weird feeling comes back.
When I get to my house I find out that it is that boy the one from my shift.
“Guess this is my chance..” i paused “Hey what year is it?”
“2010” He said
I blinded two hundred years?
“Anyways I wanted to talk to you about getting a job?”
“Right basically you just have to say it out loud so the devil can hear it.”
“what?”
“just pulling your chain.” I said “we can have cellphones down here too. So I can just call the devil
and you'll start tomorrow.”I said
“cool”
a call to Satan and I would be seeing this boy everyday for the rest of my existence.
great.
“all set” I said
“thanks.”
his only been here a day what if he doesn't have a place to stay.
“got a home?”
“nope”
“I'd offer you to stay but well I killed over 50 people who lived in my house.” i smiled as I
remembered the fun i had.
I had killed over 50 people, I have killed about 15 to get the money to start my hotel of death. Then
got lost in all the blood and guts. Truthfully I don’t know how many i killed i think somewhere
between 150 to 200.
Then the house was finished it had pipes going to every room so I could poison anyone, anywhere.
Along with a basement where I could play doctor.
“Really? that's... something.” he said slowly. “I guess I don’t care its not like you can kill me
now?”
He had said it like a question; making me laugh.
I turned walked up the steps and opened the door for him.
I turned to the right and went in to the kitchen.
“Want some thing to drank?”
“Can you make tea?”
I put the water on the stove and went back to the living room.
He is looking at my one and only picture of my hotel of death.
“What’s your name?” I asked and of course he jumps because I’m right behind him.
“James”
“That there’s the hotel I build.”
“Oh”
“how’d ya die?”
“pills”
“Didn't really escape did ya?”
He didn’t answer. he had turned around to look at me. I watched him staring at the marks around
my neck.
I had been hanged.
Smiling, “...Of course I got caught.”
We both jumped as the tea water started to whistle.
I jump up. removed the water and made tea.

chapter 2

i watched James from behind my tea cup in the living room.

i wanted to ask why he had killed himself. but it felt personal. so instead i ask how old he was.
“17” he said
“did you find your aunt?”
“no”
“how did she die?”
“old age” he looked uncomfortable
“then shes probably in heaven you know. no regrets..”
“your here so you regret something. what do you regret?” he said it quickly. then turned a light
pink
“i don’t know..i don’t feel regretful..my guess is that i am unaware of it. or that god has damned
me for my sins” i said with a smile again remembering all the fun i had.
do you ever...you know... run in to the people you killed?”
“its only happened once..”
“about i would guess a hundred years ago... i was out at a bar...she was a women. i walked up to
her. asked her to dance she turned and her eyes widened.. i was so shocked. she was one of my first.
a somber mood rose in the air between us.
“i felt sorry for her... i let her walk away.” i said

i walked him up to one of the spare rooms and showed him the bathroom.
then i layed down in my own bed. sleep found me quickly.

i was dreaming about my hotel again. it was scary because i was not the one controlling it. i was
the victim here and i didn’t remember the layout any more i could die at any second and every
second i had was a gift.

i have this dream every night with out remembering the guilt for my victims. i wake up every
morning relaxed and ready for the days work.

i woke up this morning with a sharp pain to my chest but as i got out of bed and got dressed it went
away. down the stairs i went. hungry from skipping dinner last night i make eggs, toast, and coffee.

“James! breakfast!” i called up the stairs.

“coming!” he yelled back

breakfast was chatter free as was the walk to work.

“first things first I've got to change your tattoo a little.”

i grabbed his arm like before but this time i just blew on him and then used my fingers to get the
design.
“there is no brander for the tattoo of the devil brander’s” i explained “a brander must make it
themselves.”
“th” he stopped speaking because as he spoke hot red fire came out of his mouth.
“think about just talking and not spitting fire.”
“i. like. this. tattoo. better. it’s very detailed.” he said very slowly
“very nice” i said he caught on quick.
“next you try and heat up a brander.”
i handed him his own.
“hold it like you did before”
he held it. staring at the end of the brander waiting for me to explain.
“what you want is to use your mouth to shape the fire. the tighter your mouth the hotter it is. see”
i picked up my own and heated it up nice and hot.
after a test once in the air he heated his up too.
i waved two over.
up came a man and woman. i took the woman. i didn’t want him to flinch on the first time.
i watched him press the brander to the mans shoulder. then did i the woman's.

hours later we where replaced. we started walking home.

“you did good work today.” i said.
“thank you” he said
“just so you know...Satan likes to meet his employees.”
i watched his face. first there was surprise. then scared and then his face went hard.
“I'm not scared” he said
yeah you keep telling yourself that.
“course your not who would be scared of the devil?” i said my voice dripping with sarcasm.
silence.
i decided on a whim that we would eat out. so i steered us to the restaurant named ‘under lord of
sushi’ one of my favorites

James point of view

Holmes lead us to a small restaurant. the sign said ‘the under lord of sushi’ lol
“Do you like sushi?” i asked
“yes i like it.” he said
“this place is friendly unlike the other diners.” he said.
“nice!” i said
we walked in. there was a really big guy behind the counter! i mean massive! this guy if he sat on
you...i shuttered.
“HOLMES!” his loud voice boomed
“Dan!” Holmes said loudly too.
“Dan this is James. my underdog.” he said “James this is Dan.”
“good to meet you Dan!” i said
his cheerfulness was amazing!
we sat at the counter. he handed some menu’s over and left us to chose our meal.
i was just going to take whatever Holmes picked so i had time to look at our surroundings
the counter was a nice oiled cherry wood. it stretched all the way around Dan's cooking area. he
made the meal right up front so everyone could see. right now he was making a volcano out of
wine and onions. oh cool! he just lite it on fire! the wall had a nice dark color a reddish black the
floor was a pale beach colored wood. big windows by the door.
a man just walked in and i shuttered for some reason... i felt scared. for no reason.. i couldn't even
see his face. he had on a hood. it was long and black like a reapers.. oh. that couldn't be Satan?
could it?
i tapped Holmes shoulder and pointed at the man.
“that's a reaper. we see them all the time they get to leave to collect the damned.” he said
“what do you mean?” “ like demons?” i said
“sometimes.. mostly ghosts though just people who stay on earth.”
“so there really are demon’s on earth?”
“depends on what you mean by a demon? i could be a demon if that’s how you view it.”
“true.”
just then Dan came back and asked us what we wanted.
“the sushi boat” Holmes said
“what his having.” i said
Dan brought out too big wooden boats. chopped up rice and vegs throw them on the grill and then
pulled out slabs of fish. only one i knew was the Salmon.
“so James how did you die?” Dan asked
“pills” i said simply
“i was swimming in the ocean when a squid grabbed me and pulled me under” he said laughing
“isn't it ironic?” he said holding up some pink meat.
“is that squid?”
“sure is!” he boomed
we all laughed.every one in the room thought it was funny!
he fulled our boats and then placed them in front of us.
“arigatou!” i said before eating.
“what does that mean?” asked Holmes
“its ‘thank you’ in Japanese.”
“what year is it?” asked Dan
“Holmes asked me that too. its 2010. didn't you guys know?”
“its hard to keep track..” said Holmes

chapter three

Holmes point of view

still eating our skillfully prepared meal, my phone vibrated in my pocket.

i had a call.
“hello?”
“hey Holmes, its me i be by your place soon after you. if you hurry. oh and by the way since i got
ya on the phone and i gotta ask again would you please please please join the reapers? please!”
“no.” i said simply.
i hung up the phone.

“well crap!” i said

i told Dan to pack up our meals and that we needed a extra box of rice.
when we was out the door James rounded on me.
“where are we going?” he said
“home now”
“why?”
“he’s coming.”
“Satan?” he whispered
“yeah..”
the walk home was uneventful. i unlocked the door. we walked in.
“so what does he want?”
“just to meet” i said
a knock came from the door
“should i get it or will you?”
he gestured for me to do it
i opened the door.

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