I waited in the narrow alley behind the cafe. As I wrinkled my nose at the smell of cigarettes and dumpsters which apparently even existed in hell, I wondered if waiting for someone in an alley was a good idea. Mugging... theft...

Rape... 

"Hey, kid," came a voice. I turned to see Joseph walking out of a small doorway.

"H-hey," I stuttered.

"Oh, what's your name?" he asked.

"Amaro," I mumbled. It was Italian for 'bitter.' I sometimes wondered which parent had thought it a good idea to call me 'bitter.'

"Okay, so, Amaro," said Joseph, "there's a way things work around here. In hell, there exist many jobs. Cashier, like me. Barista. Scientist. Convocate."

"Convocate?"

"Demons that can be summoned by witches in the mortal world," he said, and my eyes widened. He didn't pause to explain more. "Anyway, here in hell there's also a class system. And let me tell you... life's not going to be good for you."

"What... do you mean?" I asked.

"You have exactly a week before you have to pay," said Joseph, "and you're an imp."

"A what?"

"Imp. The lowest class of demon. Someone who hasn't tempted yet."

"I... tempted?" I said. "What do you mean?"

"Okay, so there are, like, thirteen tiers of demon or something," said Joseph. "I'm not clear on the exact number... but thirteen sounds right. Demons ascend tiers by tempting mortals to sin, and each new tier gives the demon additional magical powers. You have to, of course, tempt a mortal to commit the sins you have. The more you tempt, the higher your tier rises. Of course, the more minor your sin, the more tempting it takes to rise tiers."

"This sounds like a recipe for a caste system," I sighed.

"Oh it is," muttered Joseph. "If you're unlucky enough not to have a stable job by the end of this week, you're probably going to end up enslaved to a higher tier demon. And slavery pays very, very little. It does pay, yes, but... it's hard. The best it offers is a bit of money and stable living conditions."

"Wow," I mumbled. "I need a stable job, then, don't I."

"That's the thing," sighed Joseph. "The only market that really accepts imps is slavery and forced labor. Imps are so common and don't seem to be useful for much else to the higher ups. You'll need to raise tier to at least a gallu, a tier-three demon. To do that you'll need to tempt."

"How do you tempt?" I asked, puzzled.

"If you focus, you'll hear faint whispers. Those are minds, and to tempt all you have to do is talk to the whispers and try to convince them to do the sin that brought you here. The major sin, of course, like if you committed a murder but also were an adulterer, you wouldn't be allowed to just tempt people to adultery, you'd have to tempt murder. It takes a large combination of sins to bring a demon to hell, but one may only tempt humans into committing the worst ones. A demon who tempts up to at least a gallu can usually find a job--since gallu can heal wounds they're good with medicinal jobs. But imps only really have illusion powers so most don't find them particularly useful for anything other than labor. The only way to get a better job than enslavement is to tempt until you're a tier-two cacodemon."

For a second, I'd nearly forgotten my sin. 

But now it came flooding back and I realized... "I can't tempt people."

"Then you might as well become a slave now," said Joseph sadly. "If you can't tempt because your sin was so bad, then don't."

"What was your sin?" I asked quietly.

"By the way, it's usually a bit rude to ask someone about their sin," sighed Joseph. "Unless you're, like, a high-tier demon like a marid and are basically a celebrity who flaunts their sins wherever they go."

"Sorry," I mumbled.

"I had sex with someone I didn't marry," said Joseph. "And frankly... I don't think it's a bad thing. In fact, it's a stupid rule. Neither of us were married, neither of us had commitments... we were fine, we weren't breaking trust. So anyway I tempted some people to let themselves and now I'm a gallu. I got a good job, and a stable life. And... you'll have to do something if you want to get a good job. Because imps... they can't get anywhere unless they move up tiers."

Joseph's lips pressed together and he placed a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry it's like this. But there's very little I can do. I'm only a gallu. And you can do even less. So... either you have to confront that sin and pass it to someone else, or you have to sign yourself into slavery.

"I'm sorry, Amaro. They may say that God is benevolent... but there's very few things in this world that one can call 'benevolent.'"

He laughed awkwardly. "Heck, we don't even know what god is running it up there. It could be, like, Zeus or something running this entire thing. We don't know what lives up there, and maybe we never will. But what I know is that... it's not going to help us. Whatever beings live up there, if any, they're not going to help us. We're on our own. Even after death, we're on our own."

With that, he walked out of the alley. I stood there, uncertain.

I beat my wings and lifted into the air, the movement strangely natural despite this being the first time I used those wings. I didn't know what to do.