Marvelous. The epicenter of hell on earth, stood upright. Up high for all of Boston to gawk over. His eyes scaled the structure. Rising, rising with the might of his power coursing through. It was there after he left a couple of demon friends behind. He didn’t trust that they would stay at his place and watch Real Housewives and leave the Lord behind. Believing when there was enough time, the cat would become their dinner. By design he cared little for the outcome of the house. It was Lyle's abode, sure, but it wasn't his home. He was out of place. Sticking to hiding himself. Shielding the real him to avoid the scratching of records, the screams of horror, or the stunned that disbelief was an obstacle to overcome. Saving his pet from the snarling buddies he made that morning was on a priority list.

He did what any possessive owner would do, and that was bring the feline along for a little field trip. In a quick instant, all the matter between the two phased out of thin air, then appearing where he was beckoned. The pulse of the building called to him. So did the purring that echoed from his arm while holding Andromedon securely upon stepping out of an ether of sorts from a quick trip. Laughing he released and picked up a pinky to lips, mocking the villain from Austen Powers. Anymore he would consider himself the worst of the villainous tropes but it was a quip of his. Suggesting of finding his way between the fun and games to where he actually belonged.

“Home...sweet...home. Shall we go, you handsome little guy?” As if the cat would talk back, he let him down and snapped a finger, summoning the existence of his house cat expand in size. The sometimes irritable being filled out. Stretching it’s limbs until it bulked in weight. A little Sphinx he was not but the majestic big cat he had meant to be. It followed right behind and up the stairs. Mephisto extended his hand and the doors parted like a sea at his command. The running lights turned his eyes into wide saucers. He clapped in joy and allowed the cat to go exploring, splitting up the moment passing the area where front desk agents would be and busy bodies entering and going on their own free will.

Free will was a funny little concept he thought. Wondering, going back eons of existing, studying the nature of humans and the carriers of horror if they were fooled by a tool of control. Had some maker who was not a person of science, his idolatry, tricking and setting out the largest con of all? His chin rubbed in thought. Pestered by both memories of the casino floor he instantly appeared in and that of the war won in order to have part of hell sprouting right from out the Vegas strip. Arms flapped open as if he were ready to splash head first onto a poker table. Swan dive across it until its surface pooled from felt material to that of water.

His walking and mesmerized attitude by the placement of slot machines, the songs echoing from their speakers, and the subtle touch of music playing overhead, pushed his mood from unhinged to pleasant. With safely being behind his own doors, his mask lifted from hiding the one piece of identity he felt as himself in. Like a butterfly or a creature molting, the dead skin of Lyle crackled and shook away to dust as red flesh shown through. Ears batted up in to points and pointy incisors ripped through gums, painful at first then subsiding as he walked deeper along the floor. Hand wiped at the corner of his mouth from the few droplets of blood. Casting it away with a quick handshake. The shedding of one life for another was present. Deep brown almost onyx eyes flickered yellow and lips curled as slight of hand produced a cigarette already lit at its end.

His seat was taken at a slot machine, patting pockets for change. He came up with a leftover coins, feeding the machine and pulling it’s lever. Slides of the electronic device flipped for the thrill awaiting a win. He watched with rapidness, and pumping his arm in excitement for the rows to align matching images pertaining to the machine where odds never was in the favor of someone average. He raised his hands in the air at the buzzing and musical enchantment of a win. The first of many this week as looking up to more than luck. His earnest take on the widening of what was Hell, would bring out the worst in people. Feed upon it. Drink from its fountains. He would be there the milk right from under the apparent madness.

Looking just over his shoulder, the screeching of a gremlin little grotesque creature was heard not too far away. He reached out for the payout and saw the bucket, one he would fetch after discoveries were made when distancing himself from the machine. Levitation flitted him forward, still pulling back from a cigarette. Still bemused of being the only one around until the corner turn gave him the sight of the Lord clearly going for ripping off the ear of a being the size of a New York rat his anchor to this realm, grew up seeing. The poor gross thing couldn’t escape the paws of Andromedon as he was prey to a rather large cat. A cat he should let wonder the streets more often rather than regulate his time to an insane concept of pets riding in strollers.

Ashes flicked. Disintegrating at his charge. Into the ether where things go unlike being here where confidently a plan was in motion to legitimize a place that wasn’t in its location before. The disguises of persons cycled through his head. The meetings and swaying of dominance over prime real estate would occur soon enough, readying the place for its opening. He had a home for the derelicts, for the people wishing their crazed world couldn’t reach anymore of the same heights, and the prime suspects or those easily susceptible to playing against wanton behavior at the core. In the middle of his thought he turned away from the mess being spilled against a nice red floor.

“Now, now, Andromedon, we can’t get anyone here under short notice to clean up behind you. Let it go.” His hand parted in a wave, rising a manifested entity from the smoke to push away the cat from devouring the gremlin, making a mess before the public step foot inside. The house cat swiped back at the raised and living smoke before it dispersed and the small creature who screeched again at a louder decibel raced away. There would be more, Mephisto thought and would be waiting for them.