Chapter 06.092

~~Day 152~~

~~Mia~~

She got on Cerberus’s back, wincing as she found some grooves between his spine spikes, and smiled at James.

“See? I can ride him now! But without a saddle, he’s gonna rub my legs raw.”

All three heads looked back at her, tilting. Riding the big dog was pretty much impossible beyond a walk, but a walk was all they needed for the boring, boring, zoring-doring-moring-boring walk through the bridge tunnel. And without a pesky set of testicles to get in her way, she was free to shift about and get as comfortable as she could.

James nodded, awe twinkling in his eyes. “Think we can make a saddle? Maybe we’ll run into hellbeasts again.”

Mia whined. “I don’t wanna kill hellbeasts just to make a saddle out of ‘em.”

Julisa snorted from the front of the group and snapped her tail. “Mia! You are riding a three-headed cannam larger than any other cannam. And it is very young, likely to only grow larger. You need a saddle. And besides, hellbeasts are mindless spawn of Hell. Kill them at your leisure.”

“Cerb is not mindless!” She patted her dog on his three heads. Boss-head harrumphed. Serious-head looked back at the path. Dopey-head leaned into the pats, looking for more. “Hellbeasts can even talk, Julisa. They do that clicky Hellian language stuff.”

The incubus Locutus tapped his chin, walking beside her. “So can surface animals, can’t they? To some degree? Are they not mindless?”

“They’re not mindless either!” Fingers to her face, she dragged them down her cheeks until she probably looked like her face was melting off. “We shouldn’t just kill animals because we need their skin. That’s fucked up. For food, sure, but that’s different. And we can’t even eat hellbeast hearts anyway!”

The four incubi surrounded her and traded glances, unconvinced. At least James understood, nodding, but smiling too. Another person who wouldn’t take her outbursts seriously. It was university all over again.

“Hellbeasts,” Romakus said, Yosepha at his side, “attack us without care for self-preservation, Mia. Varmints. They make demons look timid. Let’s not worry too much about them, kill any who attack us, and see if we can make you some riding gear, ya?”

She groaned. “Fine.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She spent some time working with Cerberus, teaching him to speed up or slow down based on gentle kicks with her heels. Slow learning. If not for Kas and Adron, and occasionally Noah, clicking at him in Hellian, they’d have made zero progress.

And, despite him looking much older, Cerb was still a puppy. Kinda. Did hellbeasts even go through a juvenile phase? He’d been ready to hunt and kill pretty much from day one, but there’d still been an edge of playfulness to him. It was still there, and with Mia on his back, Cerb drifted to the sides of the tunnel, clawed at the black rib sometimes, or reached between them and pawed at the wall of water, like a curious puppy.

Things lurked in that water.

“Careful,” Noah said, and he clicked his tongue once.

Cerb grumbled and swiped at the water harder, sending red water splashing.

Mia gave his back spikes a tug. “Now, now, Cerberus. Noah’s right. This isn’t Earth, with whales and dolphins and stuff. There are no fun creatures in that water. Only hungry hellbeasts like you.”

After a few more grumbles, Cerb relented and walked the sandy path again, following directly behind Kas. He was almost as big as Kas already. Not even three months old, and big enough to wrestle big demons.

Kas looked back, clicked once, and walked along. Her big shark-dinosaur demon bodyguard, short back legs making it so that despite being bipedal like all demons, he easily walked on all fours, almost like a gorilla. With a giant dragon tail. And a flat shark head that was all black, had no eyes, and two forward-jutting horns. Maybe he could wrestle Cerb when Cerb was bigger?

“Hellbeasts,” Mia said, gesturing to the parted sea beside her. “They hunt and kill humans and demons for our resonance, right? And we don’t eat them, because they don’t store it?”

“Yes,” Adron said. “Far as we know, hellbeasts eat resonance, and convert it into essence immediately. Demons eat it and hold on to it, turning it into essence to keep us alive, keep us strong, and let us do things like use auras, or breathe hellfire, I guess.”

Her vrat friend walked beside Kas, a classic demon. Eight feet tall, demony legs, long tail, a couple large black horns, and long flowing black tendril hair. A giant man, but tiny compared to his friend, or to the devorjin brute walking ahead, or the three tetrads. Or even the tiger lady Silvina, who was only a little smaller than Kas. The only demons in the group not towering over him were the four incubi, and sweet bat lady Yulia.

And the angels, of course. Azreal and Noah drifted back until they walked directly behind Mia, not wearing their armor, and both looked to the walls of water as much as behind them, scanning for attackers. Smooth sailing so far, beyond the occasional, failed angel bombardment.

“I guess,” Mia said, “hellbeasts wouldn’t kill each other very often, if there’s no reason to eat each other.”

Kas nodded. “Correct.”

“But it makes me wonder. Humans have resonance but can’t use it. They have to survive off what little essence they have, or eat demons or hellbeasts… or other people, to get more. But that energy chain doesn’t work for them, no resonance-to-essence conversion.” She laughed. Science! “How often do hellbeasts eat compared to demons?”

Adron shrugged. “About the same, I guess?”

“Well, then there’s some weirdness there. It’s almost like when a hellbeast eats someone, they get more fuel than they need? They aren’t going around using auras or breathing hellfire.”

“Most demons can’t,” he said.

“Still. It’s almost like hellbeasts eat resonance, and maybe only use a little bit of it for essence. Almost like, they’re gobbling up coal to fuel their fire, but then they just… dump the rest of the coal?” She tilted her head. “Do hellbeasts poop? No, of course they don’t. Cerb’s never pooped. No one poops in the afterlife.”

Someone laughed. Mia blinked, slowly turned her head, and stared at Noah. Mister Intensity was laughing. Even Azreal had a smile.

She beamed. Don’t ruin it.

“What I mean is,” she continued, “it seems like hellbeasts have a very specific purpose. They collect resonance and quickly burn through it. We know—or think we know—Hell is trying to cleanse souls of bad resonance before they can join the Great Tower for rebirth. That’s what Raphael showed me, I guess. Hellbeasts seem to be step one in this ecosystem.”

“And demons?” Adron asked.

“Demons weren’t here at the start, right? Lucifer created them.” Hand up, she counted off on her fingers. “He, it, they, created the nine spires, kinda like the nine heavenly islands. He created the Old Ones, who are attached to their spires in some way; similar to the council angels, maybe? He created demons, starting with the Children of the Old Ones, the first demons born from the spires. Sorta like his own version of angels, I guess. But if we take away Lucifer’s additions, what do we have? Heaven, the nine islands, the council of angels, and the four archangels, watching outside the universe, probably to defend it against things like aliens. We have angels, helping souls move on, and guarding them from future threats; more aliens, I’m guessing.

“Then we have the surface world, where resonance is created. The origin of… of… existence? Maybe? I don’t know. I don’t want to make the surface world sound like it’s all that matters, and—”

“It is,” Noah said, a hint of his smile still there as he nodded. “It is.”

Mia sighed. Because, of course, the man would frame it like his own life didn’t matter.

“And then we have Hell,” she said, “where tainted souls go to get cleaned up. Some die to the terrain, or each other, but I bet if demons had never been created, hellbeasts would be absolutely everywhere, eating humans and scavenging remnants. But demons and hellbeasts have been fighting each other for the same food source since humans started coming to the afterlife. So nothing’s turned out the way it was supposed to.”

“What are you getting at?” Adron asked.

“I’m saying, Hell was supposed to be very different. Even maybe a bit—a bit!—less cruel, in the original version, before Lucifer screwed everything up. I bet hellbeasts would churn through souls and remnants far more quickly than they do now.” Put like that, the ecosystem didn’t sound so bad. Or, as bad.

“Why does it matter?” Azreal asked. To his credit, his voice was completely serious, with no hint of cynicism.

“I need to understand the system if I’m going to fix it.”

So much for the light mood. Azreal’s face settled into a frown, but at least he kept his doubtlessly critical, mean opinion of her plan to himself.

“I’m an angel?” Adron asked.

She blinked. “What?”

“You said demons are Lucifer’s angels.”

“I meant equivalent, kinda? It’s almost like Lucifer tried to recreate what God did.” She looked back at her two angel bodyguards. “You said the old books are forbidden? That they can’t be read, because the council doesn’t want another civil war, another Lucifer situation?”

Noah nodded. “We angels understand that we are not impervious to temptation, even if that temptation is deadly. Forever we are on guard against it.”

Azreal mirrored the nod. “Worshipping an angel is… a powerful seduction. Angels must resist. Other temptations exist, temptations that must exist in the old tomes.”

How easy it was for a dedicated populace to put blind faith in their superiors. There had to be some social commentary in there somewhere.

“I’m just wondering,” Mia said. “We don’t know anything about Lucifer’s fall, right? What happened back then? Did Lucifer try something God didn’t like? And you two”—she gestured to the mikalim and rapholem—“are angels based on Michael and Raphael, right? Did they create you?”

“No,” Noah said. “God created us to resemble them, after a fashion. Or so we have been told.”

Mia nodded. “Yeah, I believe it. But then… where are the lucifarem? … lucifera? Lucifra? Lucarem? Lu—”

“There have never been such angels,” Noah said. “The rapholem are the shields of Heaven. We mikalim, her sword. And the gabriem are her healing waters. What role would such angels fill?”

“No idea.” Eyebrows furrowed, she rubbed Cerberus’s necks where they joined as her mind wandered. Where was David when she needed him? Thinking like this was his job. “Lucifer was cast down from Heaven, stripped of his ability to fly—whatever that means to an archangel—and retaliated by creating a whole bunch of stuff in Hell. Or…”

“Or?” Adron asked.

“Or maybe, Lucifer was trying to be like Dad?”

They all raised eyebrows, waiting.

She continued. “There’s a lot of versions of Lucifer on the surface world, but they all talk about how the archangel was cast down, usually for varying reasons: pride, refusal to serve humankind, things like that. I wonder what was going on, way back then, that God decided not to create angels based on Lucifer? What sort of falling-out did they have that would have led to that decision? Only for Lucifer to do something on an even bigger scale in Hell? Almost like he was retaliating, or trying to one-up his old man.” The angels blinked. “What I’m saying is, Lucifer didn’t create the spires and demons just to wage war. Maybe he was trying to be like his father, or better.”

“And you too,” Azreal said, “wish to be like God.”

She stared at him, opened her mouth, and shut it. That was a good point.

“I’ll be careful,” she said.

Azreal matched his partner’s stare. “Good intentions, Mia.” He didn’t finish the expression.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She pondered for a while, chin in hand. Cerb was nice enough to keep a steady pace and follow the group, which her naked thighs appreciated. It felt great not having to walk. Sucked for the rest of the crew, though. Demons hated long distances, so they took frequent breaks.

A few minutes into a pause, Adron leaned over her and knocked her head with a horn.

“Ow! Hey, what?” She jabbed his chin. “What gives?”

“How you holding up?” He smiled at her and winked. Or blinked. Half of his face and body were burned, and would never truly heal, but at least the burn marks had healed in a way that looked kinda badass. A quirk of being a demon, maybe?

“Me? I’m fine. You?”

“Oh, just peachy.”

She frowned at him. “Come on, out with it.”

“Nothing to oust.”

Oust? How the fuck did the Estian language translate that?

“Uh huh, sure. Why you asking?”

She and Cerberus were at the tunnel wall again, the best doggo in the world swiping at the water occasionally. Everyone else was sitting in a big circle around a burning bush James had summoned; apparently, he was good at that. Azreal and Noah sat with the group too, surprisingly, and listened to James weave a tale about a girl he knew back on the surface.

The angels listened to his every word, eyes fixed on the young man. Talk of battle, slaying demons and angels, learning to weave firestorms into upside-down ocean waves, and all that kinda stuff? Boring. Losing his virginity to a shy girl he’d bonded with, working some crap retail job? The angels absorbed the story, gazes locked on his, drinking it in.

Mia’s eyes lingered on Azreal and Noah, and she smiled.

“That’s why,” Adron whispered.

She blushed and shoved the man. Which Cerb took as an invitation to war and growled at him, and Mia quickly played referee and soothed her puppers. Snorting, Cerberus went back to swiping the water wall, and Adron chuckled as he leaned over her again, a mischievous grin on full display as he waited for her answer.

She was tempted not to say a thing and leave him hanging. Alas, she wanted to talk. God, she wanted to talk about this.

“I like Noah and Azreal,” she whispered, quiet as a falling feather.

“Me too,” Adron whispered back. “But not in the way you do, I bet.”

“And…”

“And, what?” he asked. “What’s the problem? Think they’ll care you’re a slut and have been fucking demons?”

She blushed again and buried her face in her palms. “It’s not that. I… don’t think. Do you think they’d care?” God, she had been quite the slut on this journey. Not lately, but just a few months ago, she’d been banging Adron, Kas, Julisa, Vin, and the four incubi. At the same time! Literally, in one case. Just a big ol’ dick receptacle.

“You heard the angels, Yosepha included,” he said. “Heaven is a non-stop orgy. Don’t worry about it.”

That was true. She peeked through her fingers at Yosepha, sitting on Romakus’s lap. As usual, Romakus couldn’t keep his hands off her, but unlike usual, Yosepha wasn’t doing much to stop him. The demon half-hugged, half-groped her, and she just leaned back against his chest and let him.

“I guess you’re right,” she said. “I just… I don’t know.” Sighing, she looked to Kas, the big guy sitting almost like a dog as he listened to James. And she looked back up at Adron, lowering her hands as she pouted at him. “And I like you too.”

Adron’s grin went nowhere. “But I don’t… what’s the expression? Put butterflies in your stomach?”

From pouting to frowning in seconds, she almost shoved him again.

“Don’t say it like that.”

But Adron just shrugged and nudged her again, this time with his tail.

“You’ll always be a sweet little piece of ass, and Kas and I would be happy to fuck any time you want,” he said. “But we can tell, even Kas, that you’ve got a type.”

“And what type is that?”

“Hopelessly self-destructive, doomed men.”

Damn. Hearing it put so… succinctly, made her squirm.

Adron gestured at himself. “I am a beacon of positivity, so I don’t fit the mold. And… yes, losing Hannah hurt. But I’ll survive. And hey, maybe your plan will work, and you’ll rework Hell and help remnants pass on faster.” His next nudge included a little kiss, right on the top of her head. “I hope you do, for Hannah.”

She sucked in a slow breath. Just hearing the woman’s name was sobering.

“And Kas?” she asked.

“Kas is grumpy, sure, but he’s not out to get himself killed. He’s on board with you changing things, and will happily help.”

That was true. For all Kas’s rough history and current hatred of demonkind, the man wasn’t a problematic wreck.

“Now Vinicius,” Adron said, his head up against hers, cheek to cheek, both of them looking out at the rest of the group. “Vin was an interesting project. That man is a bundle of destruction in all directions, in and out. Unfortunately, the destruction-out part was too big a problem. We all saw it with Belor. You made the right call, leaving him behind.”

Her next sigh might as well have breathed cold mist. “Aren’t you smart?”

He chuckled. “I’m just repeating the things you’ve said, Mia. Worded a little differently, but still.”

She rolled her eyes. It never felt good to hear something you’d said thrown back at you.

“The two angels,” he continued. “They’re different. They’re suffering. They’re using demons hearts to resist the dread. And all they want to do is spend their last moments making the afterlife a better place. Even makes me want to bone them.”

Damn it, she laughed. “Yeah. They fit the tall, dark, brooding stereotype pretty well. Without Vin’s volatility….” And just like that, her smile ran away. “I’m sad.”

“Sad?” he asked.

“About Vin. I… I keep thinking about it. Maybe I could have done something? I thought he was getting nicer, you know? But then Belor showed up, and—”

Adron nudged her head with a horn. “Maybe you’ll see him again. Maybe things will be different.”

“You think he’s still alive?”

“Definitely. He’s probably the oldest Child of the Old Ones around, older than Belor, older than any others that might still be out there. He roamed Hell with the father of murder and fought entire armies. If there’s any demon out there that can survive angels and aliens, it’s him.”

She nodded. Good. Much as she was angry at Vin, she didn’t want him to die. Yes, he’d tried to kill her at the end, but that was her fault because—

That was exactly the sort of shit an abused wife said. You made the right call, Mia.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~Unknown~~

A man ran for his life, as fast as he could. Sweat poured down his naked skin. His bare feet slapped the shoreline of False Gate. To his right, the Red Sea. To his left, the ruined wasteland of broken buildings and shattered land. Ahead, the Red Sea rose, a giant wave that reached high into the sky and refused to fall. And the closer he got, the more obvious what the giant wave was.

A split. Someone had split the Red Sea, and the two colossal walls of water towered over the trench with a might unknowable. He could hear the song. Three songs, playing at the same time. He didn’t know the runes, hadn’t absorbed them or activated them, but he recognized them. He just had to get there, get to the split and the tunnel awaiting him. He’d be safe in there. The lady in armor had told him! Get to False Gate, and then to the Forgotten Place. If he could do that, he’d be safe, safe from the rider, safe from the aliens, safe from everyone. Just go!

But it didn’t matter. White dots filled the burning sky. A thousand golden arrows fell upon him, and he tore apart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~Day 153~~

~~Mia~~

Everyone was together, almost a dogpile, tails and wings spread about, and Cerberus lay beside Mia, a big couch for her to lean against and fall asleep on. And when Mia snapped up like someone had shocked her, Cerberus jumped to his paws and roared as he spun around.

“Shit!” James yelled, jumping up too and spinning around. “That was… Mia? Was that—”

“No,” she said. Groaning, she got to her feet on shaky legs and patted Cerberus on his heads. “It’s okay, Cerb, it’s okay. Just a bad dream.”

Everyone was up in moments, some scrabbling for their weapons in the wet sand.

James waved his hands. “Guys, calm down. No one’s attacking. Just… Just another unmarked killed.”

“Not David,” Mia said. “A man, running on a beach. He… He saw…” She gestured to the giant black ribs and red water wall beyond. “He was trying to make it here. Angels shot him.”

Yosepha groaned. “My kind have become murderers, slaughtering all that breathe and move.”

“What about Keziah?” Romakus asked. “She helped us. She—”

Mia shook her head. “Whatever she accomplished, it was short-lived, I guess.” Weight dragged her down, and she fell on her ass in the sand again. Cerb was behind her in a second, becoming her couch once more. “God, he was so desperate. He thought maybe, just maybe… Fuck me, I could hear his thoughts, just a little. He thought—” Eyes closed, she let her head hang and let the misery pulse through her until it faded. It took far too long.

Noah and Azreal joined her, Noah kneeling and waiting until she looked up at him. He was looking at her, silver eyes searching through hers.

“Are you alright?” he asked, voice steady.

She sniffed. “Yeah. I uh… His death was really loud, in the music, I guess. The vision was strong.” The mikalim squinted slightly as he looked at her. Still searching for something. She patted his cheek. “I’m fine, really.”

He nodded at last. “Six unmarked are dead. Three survive.”

“Yeah. James, my brother, and me.”

James joined them. “You’re sure it was only the nine?”

“Far as we know,” she said. “Far as Raphael’s suggestion told me. Every unmarked went to Heaven’s gate, and then promptly got booted to Hell.”

“Hard to believe,” Julisa said, towering over them. “Nine souls, and all got to visit Heaven?”

“People aren’t that bad,” Mia said. “It’s…”

A hundred arguments about how most people were good people, shot in the foot by the look James gave her. Part of her wanted to ask, to learn about what sort of things he’d experienced in life. But the longer he looked at her, the more she thought better of it.

She sighed. “Okay, assuming not every unmarked who got sent to Heaven deserved it, then… what? Why did we all go to Heaven first? And then… promptly get sent to Hell?”

“No idea,” James said. “I mean, what do we know? What Raphael showed you, about that angel Ramiel dropping off an egg in some random guy. You said she killed herself, and then gave a part of herself to that man?” He gestured to the three angels. “If the afterlife is an ecosystem with rules, and we unmarked are completely new, then maybe we got sent to Heaven first because of whatever Ramiel did? The system rules just defaulted to something it recognized?”

“Yea, maybe. Yeah…” She got up and grabbed James’s hand. “Yeah! We’ve been assuming that whatever Ramiel did was about us becoming unmarked and going to Hell. Maybe whatever she did tried to get us to Heaven first? We can use angel runes. Maybe the Great Tower thought we were angels and tried to send us back to Heaven, because… we’re part of Ramiel? Maybe that’s why she killed herself. To help us?”

But Azreal shook his head. “Death was her only future, for such a violation. No angel may visit the surface in such a manner. Her suicide—”

“You didn’t see it, Azreal.” She marched up to the angel and took his hand, too. “I saw the look in her eyes. There was something going on in there, something special. She really believed in what she was doing. I wonder…”

Yosepha smiled and patted her back with a wing. “Then, this journey may yet be for the good of all, if you speak true of Ramiel.”

Livian, Julisa’s tetrad counterpart, snorted and swiped a hoof through the sand. “You assume the angel had good intentions automatically?”

Yosepha faced her. “I do. Even the angels trying to kill the unmarked are doing so because they believe it will help the Great Tower.” Hand around the pouch on her neck, she gave it a little tug, and the coins rattled. “I do.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another angel bombardment, bigger this time. Thousands of explosions, sweeping over the snake tunnel, and Mia and James built the group caves to get under. Not to escape danger; the tunnel seemed damn impervious. But the sound was overwhelming, thunder in her ears until her brain rattled in her skull.

It past. They opened their makeshift caves, and the journey continued. Then another bombardment. And again.

Giant pain in the ass.

With James’s help, it was easier to make a big cave straight down into the ground, nice and wide so everyone had room. She sat in the back corner this time, Azreal and Noah beside her, Cerberus behind her. She hadn’t asked them to sit with her. They just had.

Adron peeked back over his shoulder at her, and winked. That sneaky fucker.

The rest of the huge group chatted away on the other side of the cave, talking about sex, and battles, and sex, and what was happening on the surface, and more sex. Interestingly, James was happy to talk about sex, too, and more so when bat lady Yulia climbed onto his lap like she belonged there. James was smiling. It looked good on him, like he needed it.

“Well, we’re stuck down here until the bombardment stops,” Mia said. At least she didn’t have to yell anymore to speak over the roar of gold explosions.

“Thirty minutes,” Azreal said. “Then we go.”

She whined, but nodded. They couldn’t stop for long, but it was good for her ears, and for the demons and their shit-ass cardio.

“Noah,” she said. “Tell me a story.”

“A story?”

“Yeah. Tell me stuff.”

“I am no gabriem.”

She rolled her eyes and gestured to his partner. “Azreal told me about Odette, and that was a perfectly good story! Tell me about you.”

“A story about me?”

She nodded, beaming.

Noah sat back against the cave wall, one knee up with an arm draped across it. If there’d been a sky to look at, he’d have been gazing up at the stars, digging through memories while his long, dirty blond hair cascaded over his shoulders.

“Angels spend our days guarding Heaven. Mikalim roam the skies while rapholem stand upon its walls. It is the gabriem who have stories to share. They are the ones who interact—”

“Hogwash.”

He blinked. “Hog… wash?”

“Hogwash! You’re thousands of years old, Noah.” Finger out like a dagger, she jabbed him in the thigh. “You’re telling me all those years, you did literally nothing but fly around Heaven, guarding it against a non-existent threat? Come on. I know every other angel has spent time with the souls. You’d die of boredom otherwise.”

He shook his head. “Angels—and demons—are timeless, Mia.”

Not true. The dread existed, though that was a thousand times worse than boredom. Still, if she got the man talking, she could learn more, and maybe figure something out. About the dread. About him.

And he had a lovely voice.

“If Azreal found time to bond with Odette,” she said, “then I’m sure you’ve bonded with a soul once or twice, too.”

Noah sighed, but nodded, defeated. Plus one for her.

“I knew a woman once,” he said. “A soul. She was the most quiet thing you could imagine.”

“Tiny?” Mia asked.

“No. The body Heaven gave her was tall and voluptuous, and not dissimilar to her original body.”

“Oh.” Tall, voluptuous women weren’t exactly known for being quiet. Another note for Mia’s psych book, that she didn’t have. “Where was she from?”

“Africa.”

“Ooh! Did she look kinda like Keziah then?” What little Mia had seen of that woman had been a bit of a shocker. She’d been tall and voluptuous too, with dark skin, but with blue eyes and white hair. Very modern.

“A little, I suppose. Far less muscle. She lived in a tribe and spent her living days fishing. Many men vied for her attention, but they did not interest her. So, she fished. More men tried to woo her, but she did not return their advances. Some women, too, but they met the same fate. Tesfara was her name, and she did not care for talking. Her face was soft, but her eyes were forever serious. Deep bronze eyes that cut through you. She wore her hair in long, tightly wound braids, practically forced on her by mothers, aunts, and cousins. She wore vibrant red toga-like garments.”

Mia blinked and looked down at herself. “Like—”

“Not like you. Tesfara covered herself. She was no Jezebel.”

From blink to double-take, Mia stared up at the angel. “Jezebel? I—” Noah grinned at her. “A joke? A biblical joke? You can’t joke! You don’t have a funny bone.”

But Noah’s smile remained, slight but persistent, and he looked up as he dug through his old memories.

“I met her one day, on the beaches of Ravid. Miles and miles of silver and gold sand, twinkling beneath the painted sky. She held a spear in hand, the water up to her waist, and waited as steady as a stone. I flew above and looked for what gabriem tended her, but none did. Curious, I flew down and asked her what she was doing. And all she said was: ‘Fishing.’”

Noah was a better storyteller than he gave himself credit for.

“I’m guessing there weren’t any fish?” Mia asked.

“There were none. The only animals in Heaven are those resurrected in the river of memories. But Tesfara knew this. She stood there, waiting, and sometimes raised the spear to her shoulder, ready to throw or jab something that did not exist; I don’t even know where she got the spear.

“I asked her: ‘Why do you hunt for something that does not exist?’ And she answered: ‘Because it is all I know.’ I did not know what to say. What wisdom could I tell her that a gabriem had not already? This woman was a monolith of patience, and I was hypnotized. I stood in the water with her, and we watched the gentle waves go by for hours.”

You were hypnotized because you saw a piece of yourself in her. Because she was so caught up in who she was, she probably couldn’t even think past her self-created definition, and see there were pleasures to be had outside it.

Mia didn’t say a word.

“As the sun set and the stars emerged, Tesfara left the water and wandered the beach. I walked with her. She said nothing. I said nothing. I thought perhaps to suggest a trip to the sanctum, to enjoy fishing in there, but the sanctum is a fantasy, and I knew that was not what she wanted. So, we walked, and Tesfara dropped the spear. I said nothing. We walked for three days straight.”

“Three? What the fuck.”

Noah nodded, head still aimed up. “It was what she needed. It was what I…” His expression softened. “Only then did she speak. I learned of how she died: a terrible accident. She was exploring a reef, fishing, and stepped on a stonefish.”

Mia winced. Her love of nature documentaries put a lovely image in her head of the woman’s body going into painful spasms, shock, cardiac arrest, and fucking drowning in shallow water.

“There was no one there to help her,” Noah said. “Though, even if there had been, I do not know if she would have survived. Regardless, she was alone. She died alone.”

Don’t cry. Don’t cry.

Noah continued. “And when she was done telling me, she cried. I could tell it was the first time she had ever cried in her life. But she was not embarrassed by it, or ashamed. She stood there and cried, and I stood with her and said nothing. When she was done, she asked for my name. I gave it.”

Mia leaned in a little closer. “And?”

“And she went back to her new home, and invited me in. We sat on her bed, and she described her life to me, the people of her village, the clothes they wove and dyed, the hairstyles they embraced, the jewelry they fashioned, the meals they cooked. She told me of her family that she missed and wished to see soon.”

“Oh. I got the impression she didn’t like them.”

Noah shook his head. “She loved them. But she could not understand them, and they could not understand her.” He drew his wing out beside him and ran a finger through the white feathers. “She talked all night. A thousand things I’m sure the gabriem had tried to coax out of her but could not. She shared them with me instead.”

Mia leaned in closer again, cheek brushing up against his arm. “And then?”

Noah rolled his eyes. “And then, Tesfara told me she wished to experience at least a few of the things she had never experienced in life. She asked me to kiss her. I did. She asked me to touch her. I did. And she asked me to have sex with her. I did.”

Heart all aflutter, Mia laid her head on Noah’s lap and grinned up at him. “Details!”

Maybe she did have a bit of Jezebel in her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~Day 158~~

~~David~~

Twenty-one days. Three weeks.

David rubbed his face. The thoughts gnawed at him, dug into his skin like hooks, and tried to tear him apart. But they didn’t have the same power as before. He rubbed his arms and Pegasus’s head, too, until the evil little stabbing thoughts went away.

Hell, and everyone in it, operated on an accelerated schedule, whether they wanted to or not, him included. Every day was a trial, struggling through horrible terrain, grabbing remnants, screaming hellbeasts, and hungry demons. At least he didn’t have to worry about angels anymore, for now. And that accelerated schedule turned each passing day into a distant memory. No wonder demons got over things quickly.

In their cave, safe from the million screaming remnants beyond its—mostly—soundproof walls, everyone sat and let the night go by. Most were asleep, Pegasus included, on his side near David. Bigger every day, a proper full-sized horse now. When would he start napping standing up?

Acelina was up. Jes and Daoka too. Jes and Dao chirped quietly to themselves, glancing David’s way every so often, probably wondering when he was going to get over Caera. Part of him wanted to say he was starting to. It was true, and that bothered him. Humans didn’t get over things quickly, but Hell forced the issue.

Acelina looked at Jes and Dao, tilting her head slightly, before she crawled her way across the cave to David.

“You,” she said, “are going to think yourself into an early grave.”

“Can you die of stress?” he asked. “Or old age in Hell?”

“I doubt it.”

“Then…” He shrugged. “No reason to stop ruminating.”

The huge demoness sighed, nodding, and ran a claw down the side of her featureless black face. Even when she spoke, she kept her wide, scary mouth to just a tiny horizontal slit, hiding her shark teeth.

“It bothers me,” she said.

“What? Me, still being upset about Caera?”

“Yes.”

He shrugged again. “Not sure what to tell you, Acelina. Just… give me time. I’m feeling better, but I’m only human.”

She scoffed. “Well, we know that’s not true.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Yes.” Wings spread for balance, she crawled closer and sat beside him, opposite Pegasus. “But it still bothers me.”

“Empathy, from you?”

She snorted. “Is that so hard to believe?”

Wincing, he shook his head and looked down. “No, it’s not. Sorry.”

Unsatisfied, the demoness, wearing her fancy new aera armor, all bronze and gold and red, leaned over him and nudged the top of her smooth face against his forehead. He froze.

“I wish to make you feel better.”

He tilted his head, blinking up at her. “You do?”

“Yes.”

“I… Why? I mean, I appreciate the gesture. I just… didn’t really expect you to—”

“Zelandariel,” she said, adjusting to sit more on her hip, “had no empathy for me. Diogo had no empathy for me. And while I cared little about Diogo—he was a powerful devorjin and one I took advantage of—I did care for Zel, and it hurt me that she never returned that love.”

David shut up and listened. Daoka and Jeskura shut up and listened.

“But you, you stupid little boy,” she continued, “I know would feel quite terrible if I were hurt. You would feel horrible if I died. Wouldn’t you?”

“Well, yeah, of course. I don’t—”

She kissed him.

Jes and Dao gasped, but David barely heard them. Deer in headlights, he didn’t move a muscle as the nine-foot demoness pressed her lips to his. Kinda lips? Acelina’s face was flat, save for the subtle round curve of the shape of her head. But there were lips there, hidden, thin things, and they nudged against his.

Damn, she was huge. Her head was proportional to the rest of her, so it was almost twice as tall, deep, and wide as his. And as she kissed him, her tongue slipped out between her lips and pressed between his own. The thick, warm, slithering thing pushed between his teeth, and David just sat there, staring at the black canvas face an inch from him.

She had no nose. Funny, the things that go through your mind when a demon is about to bite your face off.

But his fight-or-flight reaction settled, muscles relaxed, and he just sat there as the scary demon lady explored his mouth with her tongue. French kissing, except instead of tongues doing battle, one tongue was gigantic and basically treating the other like its bitch.

She pulled her tongue back, and David sucked in the breath he didn’t know he needed.

“When you are feeling… better,” she said, “I am going to delight in making you mine, little boy. The carnal delights that harlot Laoko has no doubt teased you with are nothing compared to the ways I will make you feel. You will live your nights between my curves. You will worship my hooves, and spend every day waiting for the chance to sheathe your girth inside me. And someday, maybe, I will let you penetrate my sex, and you will know tight, squeezing bliss as you never have before.

“And when you are spent, I will cradle your small head to my breast, and feed you. I will hold you, caress you, and let you fall asleep on my perfect body, little boy. I will be the softest pillow for you. And when you awaken, you may again bury your length in my slit, and I will milk you, as you may drink of mine. I will be your zotiva, raising your army. You will be a ruler, deciding the fates of millions. With my wise counsel, of course. But behind closed doors where only we—and our harem—may see, you will be my pup, and I will treat you well.”

Nodding, she crawled back over to her side of the cave, drew a wing in front of her, and started stroking it like she always did.

David stared at her before looking at the two lovers. Jes and Dao did a double take.

He gulped and pushed down the buzzing warmth growing in his chest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~Day 159~~

David rode on Pegasus’s back, eyes drifting as the group continued down the rock path, deeper into the lava-filled canyon. It was a good thing his pet was happy to walk in pace with the herd, because David was somewhere else entirely.

He peeked back at Acelina. She smiled, showing her big, wide mouth against the black of her face, like a monster’s perfect, cartoony smile in the shadow under the bed. He snapped his head back and stared ahead. Moriah glanced back.

“David?” she asked.

“What? Yeah, I’m fine. Just uh… a bit distracted.”

Jes laughed and Dao giggled, but when everyone looked at the two, they just grinned and didn’t say a word.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He built another cave, and everyone went to sleep. How long had they been on this detour? A week. In a few days, Morgana would probably start using spire auras to stop Khazeer, and even down here, that’d affect his girls. He’d have to crush it, and that would be a hell unto itself. Yay.

But they were getting close. Another day and they’d reach the bottom. There was something down here, something with a weird shape his sixth sense couldn’t quite grasp, like a blurry silhouette at the bottom of a lake.

He sighed, leaned back, and rested his head against the cave wall. Pegasus lay further away tonight. Moriah and Tsila slept beside each other. Laoko and Sazillia did the same, though apparently the Las had joined them. Which Sazillia hadn’t liked, but the Las were persuasive, and before long, the little ladies were soundly asleep atop the fujara tetrad’s body.

Acelina slept, a little closer than last night. David watched her, furrowing his brow. Whatever was going on in that woman’s mind, he couldn’t quite figure out. Did she like him, or did she just want to manipulate him? Or both? Or was it always both with demons?

When he’d met her, she’d fit the spoiled princess stereotype perfectly. Now it was different. Now, he didn’t know what to think of her at all. Where was Mia when he needed her to figure this shit out for him?

Jes and Dao came over, sat on either side of him, and the gargoyle leaned in and kissed his cheek.

“You’re feeling better,” she said.

“No I’m not.”

“Yes you are. Acelina gave you something to think about, and now you’re thinking about it.”

He frowned. “That—” Daoka leaned in, gave him a kiss on the cheek too, and then promptly whacked him on the head with a ram horn. “Hey! Laoko spun me a few tales of sexy things, too, but—”

“But you don’t like Laoko. I mean, you do, but not like that.” Jes pointed her wing claw at the sleeping spire mother. “For some reason, that spoiled bitch does something for you. I bet, for all the sexy talk she hit you with last night, it was the idea of falling asleep in her arms that got you the most, didn’t it?”

“I—”

Daoka nudged him with her forehead, spared him a whack of the horns this time, and nuzzled against his shoulder as she clicked.

“Dao’s right,” Jes said. “I think you got a mommy kink.”

“How can I have a mommy kink when you insist you’re all in my harem? Those are mutually exclusive!”

But the gargoyle would not be deterred. Arms on her stomach, she mock-rocked an invisible baby against her black breastplate.

“Nah, they’re not. You want the big demon with the giant tits to treat you like a baby and breastfeed you and pat your back until you burp.”

He threw up his hands. “That—” Right, people were sleeping. He brought his voice down to a whisper. “That isn’t true!”

Daoka giggled, looked left and right, kissed his cheek again, and took off her breastplate.

“Uh, Dao?” he said.

Dao rolled her non-existent eyes, slipped the breastplate off, and let her large breasts hang free. Unaroused, her dark red skin had some firmness to it, so her boobs didn’t bounce or jiggle. As much. And without asking, she slipped behind him, put her back against the wall instead, and pulled him back.

He fell back against her, lying between her legs, his arms draped over her thighs, while his head rested against her sternum. And no doubt as intended, her heavy breasts sat on his shoulders.

“Guys,” he said. “I’m not—”

Jes poked him. “We’re not doing anything. Just relaxing.”

“You’re trying to seduce me.”

“Are we? I mean, if that were true, we’d be doing a lot more than just cuddling.” Again she leaned in and kissed him, but this time on his lips. “It’s not just Acelina, you know.”

He blinked up at the gargoyle. Damn, having his head between two huge breasts really was comfy.

“What?”

“We’ve all been hurting, watching you hurt. It’s super obvious with the angels; they’re practically chained to you, at this point. But the others, too, especially the Las. You might not see it, but we do. They drag their tails, or their wings slump when they look at you.”

David lifted his head and got a peek of the sleeping little goblins, before Dao gently pushed his head back down, and used her biceps to squish her breasts together, his head trapped in the middle.

“Laoko too, in her own weird way,” Jes continued, and held up a finger. “I think she’s worried about you.” She held up three more fingers. “But I think she’s mostly just worried about losing an ally.”

“Uh huh. And you two?” He nodded to her and up at Dao, upside-down from his view.

Maybe that was a harsh question. Jes sighed and let her head dangle a little.

“We’re more than worried,” she said. “We fucking get it. Caera was our friend long before any of this. And you know what she was like. Imagine finding a demon like her, in a world full of Diogos and Zels. Someone we could trust, and actually liked. Pretty rare, that.”

David closed his eyes. “Yeah, pretty rare.” But before the familiar weight could pull him down, Jes flicked him in the nose. “What the fuck!”

“I’m not going to let her death bring me down, though. Dao and I mourned her, and then we moved on, like Sazillia said. She had a point, you know.”

“I don’t—”

Daoka cut him off this time, covering his mouth with a hand as she smiled down at him.

“It’s okay,” the satyr whispered, her soft voice carried on a high-but-musical pitch, almost like… wind chimes. “You don’t have to punish yourself every moment of every day. It’s okay to be happy, David.”

Jes stared at her girlfriend, wide-eyed. But after a moment, her smile returned, and she leaned in and kissed her lover. And Dao returned it.

David stared up at the two women, their chins directly over his face, their lips locking together in slow, deep kisses. So beautiful. Jes had a sharper jawline, and Dao’s was a little softer. The two ladies fit together like puzzle pieces.

He didn’t look away. He didn’t want to look away. They looked amazing, beautiful and sexy, their horns lightly rubbing against each other’s as much as their noses, as they plucked at each other’s lips. Awful memories faded, just a little, and he melted against the naked warmth of Daoka’s body as her roaming claws traced the muscles of his chest and stomach.

Jes broke away and grinned down at him. “Is that a little buzz of your aura, I feel?”

Warmth flooded his cheeks. “Okay, yes, a bit.”

“Fucking Christ, finally. I thought we were dragging a corpse the past three weeks.” Wings out, she leaned in again and kissed him. Not a quick peck, or even a normal kiss. She kissed him like she’d kissed Dao, long and lingering, and her eyes drifted half-closed as a little moan escaped her.

David, pinned and helpless between Dao’s legs, his head on her sternum, let it happen. With a mind of its own, his hand reached up, slid along Jes’s neck, jaw, and behind her head. His fingers netted between the long, thick black tendrils, each almost like leathery rubber, smooth and durable strands of hair an inch thick. And Jes smiled and nudged her nose against his, leaning into his touch.

“How about this,” she said. “How about, you just lie there and relax, okay? No sex. But everyone’s worried about you, even the fucking tetrads. And demons all got the same way to… I dunno, ‘bond’ over bad shit, I guess.” She air-quoted ‘bond’ with her fingers, and her wings’ thumb claws. “No need to have some giant multi-day orgy like Sazillia wants. Something quieter?”

Maybe it was his sex drive clouding his mind. Maybe it was Jes, being Jes. Maybe it was Dao, being Dao. But the idea didn’t sound so bad.

“And what exactly would this bonding entail?”

Daoka clicked and chirped at Jes, and waved a finger like a wand weaving a spell.

Jes grinned at her lover. That wasn’t a gargoyle grin. That was a succubus grin. She tip-toed her way to Acelina, woke the spire mother, and whispered something.

Acelina sat up and aimed her featureless gaze at David, absorbing. Whatever Jes whispered to her, it got a giant, deadly grin out of the huge demoness, showing off dozens of enormous shark teeth lined up in a perfect, smooth row. She slipped off her breastplate, set the heavy thing aside, and crawled her way toward David, utterly enormous breasts swaying underneath her and growing softer by the moment. Giant teardrops.

“I am glad to see you are feeling better,” Acelina said, voice husky. “Did my vision of our future together sway you?”

“Pretty sure it did,” Jes said, not bothering to crawl as she took off her breastplate, too. Just their breastplates, though. Armor on the crotch, thighs, arms, all still there if they had it. Three topless demons. And God damn Jes had the body of a gymnast, breasts almost too large for her frame. “He’s been thinking about it all day.”

“Good. Good.” Acelina knelt before him, licked her teeth, and let out a long, quiet sigh of what had to be satisfied bliss. “Though I am frustrated.”

“Frustrated?” he whispered.

“Yes. Why is Daoka the one to convince you to give in, but not I?”

“I uh…” He looked up at Dao. She beamed. “She’s Daoka.”

Acelina flared her massive wings, let them settle snug against her back, and gave her long, thin tail a gentle flick as she lay on her side between his legs. Half on her hip, half on her stomach, her two breasts overwhelmed his right leg, while she snuggled close, her sternum over his pelvis. And from so close, her predatory smile returned as she teased a claw down his clothes. The hard black claws snagged on his crimson fabric, and she tore it apart with casual deliberateness.

~~♥♥♥~~

His clothes fell apart, and he didn’t re-summon them. He still had his black gladiator sandals and some of his black jewelry, even a few small black tattoos here and there on his pale, freckled skin. But he was otherwise naked and trapped between Dao and Acelina.

Acelina ran the back side of a claw along his cock, and he twitched as blood pumped into it. It rose, hardening as she guided it to lie across his belly. Before becoming a ghost, his cock would have stood at attention. But now it was too big for that, and the heavy slab of flesh lay across his abs, nearly reaching his own sternum as it grew firmer.

“Don’t tell the others,” Jes said, peeking around at the sleeping group. “But I think Acelina likes you.”

Acelina scoffed, hit Jes with a wing, and leaned closer. So close, so huge, her enormous breasts overwhelmed his leg and hips as she brought her face within inches of his.

“He is but a little boy,” she said.

Dao chirped and leaned in too, gently knocking horns with Acelina.

“Yeah,” Jes said. “Don’t lie, Mom.”

Again, Acelina scoffed, but it didn’t have the same punch. She lowered her head until her face nudged David’s, still caressing the underside of his length with exploring fingers.

“He is just… a stupid… naïve… little boy…” She purred, a throaty rumble, and her hand squeezed the base of his cock. “But, I can admit… to liking this little boy.”

“Pedophile.” Chuckling, Jes lay beside him, snuggled against his leg facing Acelina, and leaned over his pelvis. She planted a kiss on his cock, and when Acelina guided it to stand up straight for her, Jes planted another, dragging her lips down the now exposed pink skin of his glans, while looking at him. “David, you just fucking relax, okay? Don’t say anything or go anywhere. Just… stay there, and let us take care of you.”

Let them take care of him.

Daoka nodded, chirping softly. Her breasts grew softer by the minute, dark red skin turning to crimson to bright, and soon her huge breasts sank with gravity onto his shoulders, molding to the sides of his neck and temples. With her skin snug against his ears, he could hear her breathing and heartbeat as she reached down, wrapped her fingers in with Acelina’s, and the two demons slowly stroked the bottom of his length.

And then Jes leaned in, arched her back upward so she could aim her head straight down, opened her mouth wide, and slipped his cock’s fat head past her lips. David gasped, eyes half closing as the warrior woman eased her lips down past the base edge of his glans, suckled and licked its curve, and went deeper. And deeper. She slid in closer, pressed her body up against his leg and Acelina’s breasts, and sank lower. Acelina and Dao let go, and down and down she went, lifting her eyes to smile up at David as she wrapped her lips around the base of him.

He was balls-deep in her throat. David stared, and Acelina purred as she leaned in closer to Jes, squashing her enormous breasts against the gargoyle’s shoulder. But Jes kept looking at him, giving him sultry eyes—so unusual for the tomboy—as she kept him inside her. Her tongue bathed the underside of him in her mouth, unable to slip out from her spread, taut lips.

She stayed there for a while, keeping every inch of him wrapped in tight, clenching, wet muscle.

And then she pulled up, letting his cock slip free and land on his abs with a wet plop.

Acelina scooped it up, and David froze, eyes wide as the woman opened her large, scary mouth, exposing her hidden shark teeth. But only delicious, soft warmth touched him as she guided his cock into her maw, and far more easily than Jes, took him to the base.

“Slut,” Jes said, chuckling as she leaned up toward David. She kissed him, pressed against him, and smiled into his lips, all while Acelina sucked on his cock. A chirp from Dao and some guiding hands took Jes’s head, and guided it onto the satyr’s closer breast instead.

Inches from him to his right, Jes suckled on Dao’s large, swollen nipple, and her own breasts hung beneath her and nudged against David’s chest as she devoured her girlfriend.

And much as he wanted to watch the beautiful lady suck on her girlfriend’s tit, he stared down at the enormous demoness on her side between his thighs. Like she’d just cozied up to him on a couch, she looked perfectly comfortable, relaxed, and content, her tail slowly wagging behind her over her thick thighs as she nudged her head from side to side, lips rubbing against his base. Hidden behind her sealed lips, her tongue did wonders, sneaking around and rubbing at his length’s sides as much as underneath it. And unlike Jes, she could open her mouth wider, slip her tongue out, and have it snake around his cock’s base, before disappearing back into her.

Heat rushed him. Powerful, almost electric shocks of pleasure ran down from his glans to his testicles and underneath them where his muscles flexed. And each flex sent warm, thick cum up his length and into the demoness’s belly.

Acelina rumbled around his girth and kept him balls-deep inside her as she drained him.

“Fucking finally,” Jes said, sitting up straight and poking his chest. “Bet that feels good.”

He tried to say something, failed, and melted back, eyes closing as the first orgasm he’d had in weeks turned him into a puddle. Did Acelina not need to breathe? She kept him buried to the hilt, and with perfect suction, eased her head side to side, a slow dance that massaged him in delicious friction.

She finally let him go, and again, his wet cock fell on his stomach. Plop.

“David,” she said, running a claw down her own throat. “Was that not glorious?”

He coughed once, gazing at the spire mother as she teased his still-hard cock. “V-Very. I… I needed that.”

“Yeah, you did,” Jes said, poking him hard. Ow. “And—”

And everyone else was waking up.

Moriah and Tsila walked over, Moriah frowning, Tsila smiling. The Las stood behind Acelina, mouths open in wide smiles full of shark teeth—surprisingly similar to Acelina’s smile. Laoko and Sazillia crawled closer, sat on their knees, and watched, both wearing playful grins.

But no one said a thing. Except for Jes.

“This is group therapy for David,” she said. “He’s sad, so he’s not having sex. But we can still make him feel better.”

Sazillia laughed, but when everyone frowned at her, even Laoko, she blinked and went quiet.

Sighing and rolling her eyes, Moriah stripped out of her clothes, revealing her tan skin and lean, warrior-woman body. The angel mirror of Jes. She knelt beside David, and a hint of a grin snuck its way onto her face, and snuck away just as quickly as she flapped her glorious wings twice, and leaned in.

Tsila did the same, taking Jes’s place. Acelina was content to stay where she was, snuggled up between his legs on her side, his testicles drowning beneath her breasts while the two angels knelt around him, opposite each other.

“I think he is feeling better,” Tsila said, nodding as she dismissed her robe, revealing her slim body, dark tan skin, and small, pert breasts. “I hope I can help.”

Moriah nodded and held his gaze. They both did, both angels staring into him, looking for that special something in his eyes they couldn’t name. Whatever it was they wanted to find, he let them look. Tsila and her emerald eyes were beautiful, and he lingered on them and her Indian-like features. But Moriah was different. No idea what it was, but something about the Latina-like angel and her ruby eyes took his breath away.

What was going on in the angry woman’s mind? He almost didn’t want to think about it. He felt guilty and sad about his own shit, sure, but Moriah blamed herself for a civil war. But the longer they stared at each other, the more obvious it was he didn’t need to say a thing. She nodded, touched his chest, leaned in, and kissed him. He froze.

“Feel better,” she said, leaned down over his crotch, and with Acelina’s claws still holding it upright, she took his glans into her mouth. She couldn’t open it as wide as Jes, let alone Acelina, but she tried anyway, and fit the fat head of his cock between her lips.

Tsila leaned in and joined her, nudging her lips against Moriah’s, half-kissing her fellow angel. Playful, quick kisses, each followed by a brimming smile, and an eye-roll from Moriah. But when Moriah lifted her head enough to free his cock, while keeping it still pressed to her lips, Tsila leaned in closer, and kissed Moriah straight-on. Their lips locked, both sets of eyes aimed at David as they kissed each other while keeping his glans between them. Exploring, warm lips, sneaking around his cock to slip in kisses on the warring lips of the enemy. And through it all, the two absurdly beautiful angels watched him, drinking in his eyes as they drowned his cock in sparks of pleasure.

It wasn’t long before another wave of cum flowed up through him, and he melted into it. Acelina continued to hold his cock, stroking its base, while the two angels did battle, never looking away from him as they drew out the slow, almost painfully intense orgasm with their kisses. When their wet lips found the ripe head of his length, they were gentle, softly nudging their kisses into him and drawing heavy, thick waves of cum that oozed out of him and flowed down his length onto Acelina’s fingers.

And when they were done, they knelt up. Moriah tried to move back, but Tsila, giggling, caught her and pulled her in, forcing her to kneel directly over David’s stomach. Two angels, one obviously enjoying herself, one caught completely by surprise, filled David’s field of view as they kissed. His cum dripped from their squished lips, but that only made Tsila smile into the kiss she was forcing on the poor mikalim. But after a while, Moriah rolled her eyes, closed them, and kissed her back.

Loud clinks of metal hitting stone drew his eyes. Like giggling maniacs, four topless red goblins crept up between the two angels and pushed them apart. They beamed at David, and Lasca leaned in and rubbed her forehead on his arm.

“David feeling better?” she asked.

“A bit, yeah.”

“Good. Like David. It… hurts, seeing David sad. Seeing… you sad.”

The red goblins, kneeling beside each other around his hips, pressed their curvy little bodies together, and leaned over his cock. Acelina held it upright for them, and the daughters of chaos did something they never did. They went quiet. Like Acelina, their mouths opened more than wide enough to take the large slab of meat into their mouths, but unlike her, they were tiny. Four-foot-tall red goblins, and their throats squeezed like vises around his cock as they worked their heads down onto his length until they planted their lips around his base.

Good God. He groaned, the thickness of his girth making their throats visibly bulge. And when he slid his fingers into their hair, combing it as he caressed their scalps, they purred straight onto his cock, and he groaned again. They traded off quickly, smiling at him each time they switched, until at last Latia, daintiest of the four sisters of anarchy, held him deep in her throat, and he came inside her stomach. And while Latia drained him, Lasca, Laria, and Laara leaned into David, pressed their breasts to him, gave Daoka’s breasts some much-needed kisses, and kissed him too.

They sucked at it, noses bumping his and teeth almost cutting him. He couldn’t help but laugh, a little.

Sazillia came up behind Latia, scooped her up, and set the goblin aside. “You are all such gushy little shits. Come on! This is supposed to be fun, not all… emotional.” She set her four hands on her hips and looked at the crowd. No one was biting.

Chuckling, Laoko came up behind Sazillia, and undid some straps holding the woman’s fancy aera armor on.

“David is not Khazeer,” she said. “And we are not rough-and-tumble soldiers in his army. Learn to relax, oh mighty warrior.”

Damn, Sazillia was built. Small breasts on a tall, muscular, lean body, with the most ab definition of anyone in the group. And when she caught David looking, she smirked and ran her claws down her hard stomach, tracing the lines of her abs as her nipples grew hard.

Like a model on a runway, Laoko slipped out of her own breastplate, and strutted toward David, hooves like high heels as she swayed her hips, absurd breasts jiggling. She knelt, snuggled to a leg, her breasts against his thigh and drowning it in softness until they squished against Acelina’s. The only lady in the group nearly as busty as the spire mother.

“Ugh,” Sazillia said. “Feel like we’re all gonna hold hands and sing.” But she joined them, too, kneeling beside David and towering over him. “Okay… yeah, this is pretty big,” she said, and she teased a claw along his length. “Go bigger?”

Daoka clicked at her.

Sazillia nodded. “I know, I get it. We’re all bonding and shit. But I want to see.”

David let his mind go with his aura, and the change happened automatically. A pleasant change from the last time his body had altered its shape. This was so much easier, simply finding the emotional wavelength of being aroused, genuinely fucking horny, and letting his body go with it. His cock grew, pushing up along his body, and thickening too, before Acelina scooped it up again and held it up straight. It was well over a foot long.

“Holy shit,” Sazillia said, eyes wide. “That’s… large. Bigger than a tetrad’s.”

“Told you,” Jes said from the back.

The tetrad blinked down at it, at David, and at it again as she wrapped her claws around it. The first time she’d ever touched him. David shivered.

Laoko wrapped her fingers around it, too, slipped David a subtle wink, and opened her mouth wide. Very wide. Snuggled up against Acelina’s side, his leg lost between them, she guided his length toward her, her taut lips suckling and spreading smears of his cum as she took more and more of it. Her throat bulged, and the enormous lady put a hand on Acelina’s back for balance as she leaned in closer again, breasts squashing everything.

Dao chirped. And like she’d known Laoko all her life, she reached down, wrapped her hands around Laoko’s two closer horns, and nudged the tetrad’s head from side to side. The tetrad smiled around David’s cock, much as she could with spread lips, and she held him balls-deep, letting him bask in the suckling of her mouth, the tightness of her throat, and even past it. And Daoka eased the woman’s head around, using her horns as handlebars.

Sazillia groaned, watching with rapt eyes. “Okay, well, you can indulge in getting pampered, special unmarked boy. But I am going out of my fucking mind. That aura is… fucking buzzing through me and…” The tetrad tossed the rest of her armor aside, exposing every inch of her. Nipples hard and skin almost glowing red, she sat a little ways away, and motioned to the Las. “You four, get in here.”

The Las, currently standing between Acelina and Laoko’s legs, blinked back at Sazillia before looking at David.

He forced his eyes away from Laoko long enough to give them a nod. And with manic giggles, they tossed the rest of their armor away too, and jumped Sazillia. Legs locked, tongues went into holes, and Sazillia groaned as she indulged.

It wasn’t just them. Moriah stood only a meter away, watching, naked body on full display, but Tsila came up behind her, slid her fingers down her fellow angel’s skin, and between her legs. The gabriem kissed her friend on the neck and ear, and Moriah’s ever-angry expression faded as Tsila spread her slit for everyone to see. Dripping. And with a devilish smile, Tsila sank her fingers into Moriah’s pussy, the two of them still standing as she fingered her.

David stared at them.

Laoko lifted her head and snarled, a little more animalistic than usual.

“David,” she said. “You may be a bumbling idiot, but even a fool knows to pay attention to a lady when she is indulging him.”

“R-Right. Sorry.”

“Fool indeed,” Acelina said, taking over for Laoko. One arm ran down her own body, to her pelvis, and behind walls of flesh and wings. The spire mother masturbated while slowly easing his much longer, much bigger length into her throat. Much, much tighter than last time, and it took her a while to get every inch of him in her.

And when she was done, Daoka took his hand, and set it on Acelina’s head. He went still, half expecting Acelina to bite him for the insult. But Acelina tilted her head a bit to look at him with her eyeless gaze, and relaxed back onto his cock, holding him deep in her bulging throat.

Daoka guided both his hands this time, and soon he was holding both of Acelina’s two closer horns. And with a little encouragement from the satyr, he gently nudged Acelina’s head around, even up and down a little. Handlebars again, while she deepthroated every inch of his length past her throat.

Jes sat beside Daoka on her now free side, the other side taken up by Laoko. Legs spread, the gargoyle masturbated freely, eyes locked on either Moriah, or the way Acelina sucked on his girth.

“Fuck me,” Jes said, pushing her shoulder into Dao’s. “How’s she fitting that?”

Laoko chuckled, husky and warm. She leaned in, nudged her face up against Acelina’s, and kissed his pelvis. Acelina couldn’t breathe this time, and she had to lift her head again. An opportunity for Laoko, and she took it, grinning at David as she planted kisses not on his cock, but on the spire mother.

“How dare you,” Acelina said.

“Oh, come now, princess.” The four-armed demoness, on her side and snuggling up to David’s leg—and Acelina by the simple fact they were both so damn huge—also masturbated. Four arms made it easy, and she touched herself, and Acelina and David, too. “You are the most beautiful of us all, zotiva. Surely you would not deny me a little taste? And besides, I know David would love to watch us together again. Is that not true, David?”

Acelina frowned—only visible by exposing the corner of a tooth. But Laoko would not be denied. She pressed her body into Acelina’s, and the two ladies squished together, breasts molding over each other until David’s leg disappeared in the softness. And she kissed Acelina again, gently knocking horns with her as her more human mouth explored the subtle, hidden lips on Acelina’s black, featureless face.

David stared. Laoko grinned and gently moved, nuzzling into Acelina, almost humping her and causing their squashed breasts to spill over each other again and again, skin sliding over skin. With a wink aimed at David, she took his cock again, and eased the huge thing down her gullet.

Acelina sighed, and when Laoko took him to the base, she slipped her claws into the larger woman’s hair, and nudged her head around, helping the tetrad deepthroat him.

It wasn’t just him enjoying orgasms anymore. As more waves of warmth flowed up his cock, Jeskura let out a few hungry grunts beside him. Acelina’s own body shuddered, and her tail’s tip disappeared behind her wings, probably into her own body. Sazillia was both getting and receiving, the huge woman burying a giant tongue into Laara. Moriah was struggling to stay standing as juices trickled down her legs.

Daoka kissed the top of his head, caressed his chest, and gestured out at the ten other women.

Laoko lifted her head and took a few quick breaths. “Yes, David. The riiva is correct. We have all been… pent-up, I believe is the term?”

Acelina nodded. “Yes, boy. And we have been patient.” She set her head on the side of his pelvis, the huge thing and its many horns almost stabbing Jes in the leg as she let her long tongue out and wrapped it around the base of his cock, before slurping it all back up. “How dare you deny me, David. How dare you. I am a spire mother, you are my servant, and you should feel blessed to be so.” Head still on the side of his pelvis, she idly kissed the base of his cock.

He gulped. “Well, I mean… I was…”

“Yes, we know.” Nodding, Laoko leaned in, opposite Acelina, and kissed the other side of the base of his cock. “But don’t forget about us, unmarked. We have needs. And it is not only Daoka, or this princess beside me, that wish to see you content.” She brought her giant head up over his chest, and set a slow, playful kiss on Dao’s nipple, inches from his face. “Even I do not like to see you in pain, David. So, from now on, let us help you.”

“I—” His gasp interrupted his own moan as Acelina took his cock into her throat again. Even better, Laoko slid her hand along Acelina’s head and nudged it side to side. The extra movement dragged his swollen girth along her clenching throat muscles and tongue, and David melted back against Daoka as another orgasm hit him, this time straight into Acelina’s stomach.

Daoka chirped, and it softened into a quiet squeak as Laoko kissed her breast again. And kissed him, too. Her mouth was almost twice as big as his, but mostly human, save for a few demon fangs. Unlike everyone else, she kept her eyes completely open, not even half-closing, staring into him as if she were going on a treasure hunt as she plucked at his lips with her own. And then, onto Daoka’s other breast, suckling on it until the dark red nipple engorged into a peak. Daoka whimpered and mewled.

The tetrad traded off with Acelina again, and the spire mother sputtered and coughed, and then shuddered and squirmed as her hidden hand moved faster between her legs. She rested her head on his lap, snuggling to his inner thighs, and climaxed.

All David could do was watch as one by one, each woman enjoyed an orgasm or three. And when Laoko again leaned over his cock and took him down her throat, he set his hands onto her horns again and did a little more than just hold on this time. He guided her around, picked her head up a little, nudged it back and forth as much as side to side, and slowly brought himself to another orgasm. She let him.

They weren’t the only ones pent-up. How many orgasms was that? He lost count. He let go of Laoko, melted back, and let the final tingles flow through him. If he concentrated, he could get the aura back and drown in sexual indulgence, but the edge was gone now, and he let it die out.

The girls did not. They ignited their own auras, pounced each other, ground on each other, suckled, kissed, licked, and those with smooth tails used them on each other where needed.

Daoka chirped and gestured at them again.

“Oh? Right, sorry.” He slipped off her, and smiled as the satyr joined the crowd, slipped out of the rest of her armor, and lay down.

The group fell on her like flies on honey.

“Thank you,” Tsila told the satyr.

“Yes yes!” Laria said. “David so sad. Not so sad anymore.”

“Mm!” Lasca mumbled, mouth already firmly locked around Daoka’s pussy.

~~♥♥♥~~

David re-donned his red clothes, crawled over to his sleeping horse, and lay back against Pegasus’s belly between his legs. Jes grinned at him, winked, and joined the others, immediately snuggling beside her lover and kissing her.

He hadn’t agreed with Sazillia’s approach, all those weeks ago, the idea of celebrating surviving death by fucking like rabbits. But this was Hell, demons weren’t humans, and he had to admit, there was something nice about being with his girls like this. He’d really missed it.

He closed his eyes and leaned back, head resting on Pegasus’s side, and listened to his pet breathe and his heartbeat thump, like he had Daoka moments ago. What a weird way to mourn. Hell was a strange place, volatile, people dying constantly. And…

And she would have wanted him to enjoy himself. He knew it. They all knew it. And… and what?

He closed his eyes as the sounds of the orgy died away, and people went back to sleep.

And he opened them again when someone picked him up.

“Acelina?”

She snorted down at him, still naked, and sat near Pegasus. On her butt, she leaned back, letting her wings spread and settle like curtains as she pulled him to lie on her body. Literally, lie on top of her, like she were a bed.

“Daoka,” she whispered, nodding to the satyr still getting eaten out, the last to enjoy some sex. “She is not the only one who is soft and wishes to hold you.”

“Oh. I uh…” He gulped and blinked up at the faceless demon. “I really have a hard time telling what you want, Acelina,” he whispered. “Sometimes I think you’re… you know. And sometimes I think you’re… not.” Yeap, that explained things.

Acelina sneered and did the strangest thing. She hugged him. Half sitting, half leaning back, she held him to her chest, buried his head between her vast breasts, and hugged him. If the others were staring like dumbfounded idiots, he wouldn’t have been surprised, but he couldn’t see, face drowning in perfect softness.

Her claws slid down his back, caressing and scratching all the right places under his red, skimpy toga. And like with Dao, he melted.

He pushed his head up long enough to look at her, and she looked straight back at him, a black canvas that told him nothing. A few of the other ladies approached, giggling and chuckling, and Acelina snorted at them and slapped the ground with her tail.

“I am a spire mother,” she told them. “A zotiva. I am… indulging myself. Now leave me be, peasants.” Nodding, she hugged him again, ran her claws through his hair like Dao had, ran her claws up and down his back again, like Dao did, and guided his mouth to her nipple, like Dao liked to.

More giggles in the background, but they disappeared as David relaxed again, and suckled on Acelina. Not a sexual suckle, not really, with no kissing or licking or anything like that. Just a gentle, natural suckle, and warm, sweet liquid trickled into his mouth. There had to be a hint of resonance or essence in there, something that made it taste good to his afterlife body.

He let the minutes turn into hours as the night crept on by, and tension he didn’t know he’d been carrying bled out of him as he snuggled into Acelina’s bosom.

Jeskura had woken Acelina up specifically. No one else. They’d all woken up to the sounds and to his aura, but Jes had gone to Acelina after Daoka had clicked some stuff at her.

He was happy she had.