Of Brimstone and Cloth

Enzo looked at the creature standing on the desk. It wasn’t at all what he pictured when he thought “fiend”. Standing about 3’4” on digitigrade legs ending in hooves, he had an oval face with two small horns protruding out, and fur around his neck. This alone, would have conveyed devil to Enzo, but the purple suit and pants it wore, complete with cufflinks and a tie made it seem more like a goblin trying to act civilized more than a fiend.
And the strange part was that it was working.
“Got your message, green skin. Who's the old guy?” The imp asked in a sharp, raspy voice.
Stix coughed. “This is the priest that gave me the information I provided before.” He responded, motioning to Inkwell to cut it out.
“A… priest?” Inkwell stammered. “Shit, man, a little warning would have been appreciated.” The imp turned to Enzo and bowed. “I’d shake your hand, but I’m afraid we would both be smited if even offered that. You can call me Inkwell.”
“Inkwell.” Enzo repeated. “Inkwell…”
“Yeah, Inkwell. Like the thing you dip a quill into.” The imp responded. “No need to act so surprised. I ain’t going to be biting no holy man.”
Stix crossed his arms. “Father Enzo agreed to help us track down this guy we’re both looking for.” He explained, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “I figured instead of me acting as a middle man it would be better if the three of us work together directly, rather than separately. It would save a lot of time if we were on the same page.”
“Yeah yeah, of course.” Inkwell agreed, looking at Enzo. “It been a while since we worked with a holy man.”
“This isn’t the first time?” Enzo remarked.
“Probably your first time, not ours.” Inkwell remarked, crossing his arms. “Look, might be hard for you to understand this, but us fiends, at least us who are part of the Firm, don’t really have a real issue with you holy folks unless you directly interfere with us.” He proceeded to take out his notes from the case they were handling from his pack. “But anyways, best to get you up to speed.”
The trio spent the next few hours into the night going over everything they had gathered. Enzo was amazed how the infernal being was behaving, he always pictured them being pure evil and mischievous, but Inkwell was different. He was intelligent, learned, and quite well behaved.
When Stix stepped away to use the privy, Enzo and Inkwell were left alone.
“You mind if I ask you something Inkwell.”
“Sure.”
Enzo took a breath. “You are, basically surpassing all the expectations I ever had about fiends and devils. Why?”
With that Inkwell cackled. “If I knew you better, like I do with Green Skin, I’d be treating you like absolute shit.” He remarked, scratching at his eye. “It's not like an impulse or anything to be evil, it's just things work differently down there then what people commonly believe.”
Enzo raised a brow. “How so?”
“Well, it's a little complicated to explain without a full flow chart and presentation.” Inkwell coughed, genuinely being caught off guard. “In your world, those with power are born into it, they are essentially set to greatness from their very beginning.” He then motioned to the ground. “Down there, even the lowest of the low ranks can climb to great power, but to do so honestly and with integrity, doesn’t really work out for those individuals. Even the strongest willed of souls who end up in the hells find would eventually find their souls twisted and reformed over hundreds of years of frustrations without making any progress.”
“I… see. So people who end up in hell aren’t always evil?” Enzo asked. “Why haven’t I ever heard of this?”
“Ehhh, it's easier to believe that if you're a good person you end up in a good place, and if you're a bad person you end up in a bad place.” Inkwell says with a shrug. “In truth, I don’t think anyone really knows how these things work. Not your gods, not the arch devils, and certainly not any mortal.” Inkwell chuckles. “For me personally, I think it really comes down to where a soul believes it belongs, rather than the actions they did in life. If someone thinks they are a good person, they end up there. If they think they are a bad person, they end up down there.”
Enzo frowned, finding some truth in the imp's words.
“Relax old man. I can’t say I ever sat through any of your speeches or anything like that, but your words probably have some sort of positive effect on people.” Inkwell laughed. “So long as you're not one of those asses that every bit of pleasure is a sin, I’m sure your followers are fine.”
The words didn’t really comfort Enzo as he looked out to the fading light of the day. “So what exactly is the worth of a soul to a devil?”
Inwell looked back at the priest. His face took a more serious expression, different then what Enzo had witnessed up until now. “A soul represents influence in the hells.” He explains, crossing his arms. “To put it simply, it's a representation of the power and control one has, and is often used as currency like you mortals use your gold and silver coins.”
From his pack, Inkwell pulled out a blue coin, handing it to Enzo. “Weaker souls are put into coins like these, and exchanged for goods and services down in the hells. Stronger souls are often absorbed into a devil’s being, where at that point the devil can form that soul into a new minion or add it to their own power.”
Enzo examined the coin, flipping it around in his fingers. He could see the black taint within the coin, similar to the taint he saw in that baby before. “And what constitutes a strong soul?”
Inkwell hummed, looking downwards in thought. “Again, it's something hard to determine.” He remarked. “It's often believed that those who live fulfilling lives, like having children, running a business, just living a life in general have stronger souls. Doesn’t matter if it's good or evil.”
Enzo pondered that for a moment. “And what's the value of a baby’s soul?”
Inkwell snickered. “Asking the tough questions, are you?” He grinned. “Well, a soul that hasn’t lived a life has next to no value for a devil, frankly. Better to wait till at least an adult before trying to lay a claim on them.”
Enzo hummed, thinking about the reports he had. “So a parent who would, terminate their child because they learned their child was tainted by a devil.”
“Would be doing that child a favour, quite frankly. Most weak souls are discarded, giving them a chance to make it somewhere else other than an coffers of a devil.” Inkwell turned to Enzo, frowning. “Wait, you're not suggesting…”
Enzo nodded. “A lot of the babies who were supposably marked were, well…” Enzo didn’t finish his thought. “So the devil didn’t get the reward they were really hoping for.”
Inkwell scoffed. “Wait wait wait… that changes a lot of things then.” He remarked, flipping through his notes. “No devil worth their weight would leave an obvious flaw like that in their contracts.”
At that point in time Stix walked back in. “You two need to seem to be kicking it off well.”
“Holy man here made a good point we hadn’t considered.” Inkwell remarked. “Made a good call bringing him in. His annoying questions were insightful.”