Sex is a Job Description? Ch. 13

"Gather your weapons and armor. Take your mounts. Bid farewell to your bedmates. We are leaving the house."

"Yes, lord," they chanted in unison. Lusotan left the barracks and made for the stable as his troops readied themselves for battle. The Enderthris Pass was nearly a fortnight away as the Crow flew, and almost twenty cycles of hard riding across a great swathe of rocky hills and a forest. Lusotan hoped that Fentin's trackers weren't on the trail already. If that was the case, then he'd arrive in time to collect the corpses and come back with the bad news.

Ceria did not take well to bad news.

Which was precisely the reason he wasn't going to tell her that he was leaving, or that the humans had apparently had some sort of mishap in their portal's destination. In the stable, he found several of the house guards saddling their Braets. Vendr wondered still how the horse-like creatures managed to ride for days without collapsing in exhaustion. Their long, swollen limbs looked mismatched for their relatively short bodies, giving them the look of an equine spider more than their Mortal Realm equivalents.

Lusotan pulled himself atop his mount and situated himself in the saddle. The creature shook its four legs individually and then waited for the reigns to be pulled. Once the head of the house guard had counted all his men ready and waiting, he led them out of a postern gate on the north side of the estate.

"We'll find the humans between here and Enderthris Pass. Two of our scouts are with them, and will help us escort their number to the estate. We ride."

------------ South of Enderthris Pass, Hell ------------

The ground was more than a little bit cold. In fact, it was nearly frozen by the time the agents and demons had finally gotten into the forest that skirted Ceria's core territories to the north, south, and west. So, as the group of thirty made itself comfortable on the cold, hard ground, it came as no surprise that they'd be sleeping packed just about as tight as sardines in a can.

Tom sat on a large root shaped like the Greek omega and swung his legs back and forth, staring into the dim forest as if it might help alleviate his situation. They were less than two weeks away from Ceria's estate, and every day that they rode closer brought him further into Ceria's hands. He tried to stem the wave of adrenaline that rushed through him at the thought of seeing her again, his instinct to flee coming on in full force.

He scooted back to relieve some of the tension on his butt, which was considerably sore because of the very uncomfortable days of riding on what the demons referred to as Braets, creatures that loosely resembled horses with thick legs and almost tube-shaped faces. He didn't like them, and they seemed to not like him either.

"Human, don't walk so far away from camp," the guard assigned to watch over Tom ordered, armor clinking as she came to where he sat and leaned against the tree beside him. She folded her arms across her chest and looked out into the forest where Tom's eyes scanned the darkness.

"You'd be doing an enormous favor if you left me alone."

The demon seemed to take some offense to that, as she stiffened visibly. "I've been ordered to make sure you don't come to harm." Her tone was a stiff as her posture.

"And if I were to do this?" Tom asked, removing his pistol from its holster and putting it to his head. He pantomimed shooting and made a noise. The demon looked at him impassively and leveled her gaze.

"Few are able to do it. You are not among them."

Tom holstered his gun and sighed. "You'd be surprised what fear and stubbornness does to people."

"If you could surprise me, human, you'd have done it already. Now come back to camp. It's dangerous to be this isolated during the Second Night." The armored demon waved her hand, coming off the tree to leave. Tom didn't move.

"What's the thing with everything being called 'the night' or 'cycles' and stuff like that? It's day and night, right?"

She paused, and pursed her lips in thought. "Our Realm works differently than yours. Yours is immeasurably immense and you are a tiny speck somewhere in it. Hell is divided into the Nine Circles, and each Circle is different. Ours is a set of seven rings that circle each other and have large things float around the Eternal Sanctum, what you would call the sun."

"Like this?" Tom tried to recreate a rudimentary example using his fingers, but the demon shook her head.

"No. Think of it like this: your sun is in the middle. There are things between it and the rings. The rings...get up."

"Why?"

She growled, "Get up. You're wasting my time."

"So you figured that out? Yeah, they told me the seven wheels inside of each other analogy the first year of my history lessons. Nothing you could tell me is new."

"Quite the mouthy one, isn't he?" Veronica commented, drawing both Tom's and his guard's attention.

"Veronaa," the guard said, nodding her head in respect.

"Dana," the agent replied, nodding in turn. She addressed Tom. "I think it would be best if you took her at her word. There are more things in these woods that can kill you than just Fentin's potential trackers."

"Well, I don't really feel like being around anyone tonight."

Veronica ducked beneath the root Tom sat on and laid flat on the ground beneath him, putting her hands under her head. The conversation died momentarily as Veronica just watched him watching her. He didn't know what she was doing or what she wanted. Now that they were in Hell and she had all her powers back, she'd changed...become more demeaning and aggressive in her personality.

"So do I call you Veronaa now, since you're in Hell?" Her purple eyes gleamed at that, and she cracked a very faint smile.

"You can call me whatever you'd like. You know me as Veronica, so you can call me that. Veronaa is what I am called by the ones who know me here, however. It makes no difference to me."

"Veronaa it is," the human replied, hopping off the root and landing with his feet on either side of Veronaa's waist. She raised her eyebrows.

"Feel like having a romp in the woods tonight? We could even make it a threesome if you'd like," the demon offered, sitting up so that her head was level with his zipper. She looked up at him suggestively and leaned forward just enough to let her tongue flip the slider on his zipper up and grab it with her teeth.

"If you have to force it, you shouldn't try it," Tom retorted, folding his arms across his chest. "Because, you remember last time?"

She unzipped his pants and took in a long, deep breath of his scent. "I didn't need the amulet to get you hot and bothered last time. That thing only got in the way. Things would've fallen in their place soon enough."

"Well, today they won't. Let's go Dana." Tom stepped to the side and zipped his pants up, careful to avoid his growing arousal. Veronica got up and put her hands around his waist, stopping him from going any further. She put her lips to his ear.

"C'mon, let's give this organic sex thing another try," she breathed sensually into his ear. Her voice sent a shiver down his spine and filled his body with an endorphin rush. "You remember how good the third time was? In the shower?"

Her whispers made Tom's thoughts return to her shower, an encounter that Tom held as one of his favorites out of everything he'd experienced. It gave him pause to leave. As much as he'd like to have something like that again with her, he didn't think it was possible. She wasn't that Veronica anymore. She was Veronaa.

"You're not the same person you were back then."

Veronica kissed his ear and trailed her hands down his shirt slowly. "Neither are you, but that doesn't mean that we can't try." She licked the rim of his ear and bit down just hard enough to make him squirm. Her hands dipped into the waistline of his pants and her fingers played with the waistband of his boxers. She giggled sensually.

"Hey Dana, mind helping me?" Tom asked the guard, who had been watching the exchange with interest.

"It is not my place to interfere with another demon's desire," she answered stoically, unmoved.

"How about interfering on behalf of Ceria's fuckbuddy?"

Dana shook her head. "Even less so to interfere with the fate of a toy." With no further encouragement needed, Veronaa slipped her hands into Tom's pants and he rolled his eyes. Of course this would keep on happening. Like he'd actually be able to catch a break for once.

"I know you want to. I can feel it boiling over inside of you." Veronaa took one hand out of his pants and unbuttoned them, pushing the zipper down smoothly. She grinned against his ear and started placing gentle kisses up and down the side of his neck. She hooked her thumb in the rim of his boxers and pulled them and his pants down enough to let his cock spring free and bob up and down as it found an angle to rest at.

"You realize that this doesn't mean I want to."

"That's what this is for," Veronaa answered with a hard pump to his cock from base to head. Tom actually chuckled at the ridiculousness of her effort. Even though it didn't do anything for him, she continued to stroke him in a slow, drawn out measure. Tom looked to Dana, but her eyes were drawn to the sight and fixated upon it without relent.

"And so what is this supposed to do?" Tom asked as Veronaa gave his neck another little kiss.

"Make you feel safe and protected. That's why I'm here at all, to protect you from her."

Tom blinked in confusion. "From Dana? Dana, seriously? Have you even looked at what you're doing? Protect me?"

"Better me than a woman who is a slave to her desires. Look at her eyes and tell me you think she could unwind gently after you knot up her desires around this," she explained, giving his erection an especially hard stroke that squeezed out a thick bead of precum.

"So there's no way we could just part ways and have either of you not have sex with me?"

"Oh no, not with you aroused like this," Veronaa replied with a nip at his earlobe. "You'd have a legion of demons fall upon you for the opportunity to ride this thing once they found out what its special little quirk is."

Tom reached back and pulled Veronica tighter against him, giving her a great deal of confusion as he grabbed her thighs and squeezed. He turned his head to look her in the eye, and she arched a brow, still stroking him just as slowly as ever.

"Is that not exactly what you're doing right now? Why don't we just cut the bullshit and get to the part where either one of, or both of you do me. As much as I hate her, one thing I'll say about Ceria is that she didn't beat around the bush."

Veronaa's eyes dimmed at that, and she stopped with her hand.

"Do...do you really just think that I want to fuck you and be done with it?" She sounded almost hurt, and Tom had no idea what to think of it. Thus far, it had seemed like she just wanted him inside her, like a human dildo. Well, the previous time had anyway, and the way she had been acting in Hell didn't help his opinion of her motives.

"Would you like to give me evidence of the contrary?" Tom persisted.

Veronaa tilted her head forward and gave Tom a short kiss on the lips. "Fucking is feeding. I have never taken you to bed with the intention of feeding. I want something more than just a full stomach when I put my arms around you and hold you close." She hugged him around the stomach, releasing his arousal to drive her point home. Veronaa nuzzled his cheek softly and kissed up his jawline to his ear.

"So that means that you can just take what you want, when you want, because you have better intentions than most people?"

Again, Veronaa sounded surprised. "I always thought that you liked being pushed for it. Have you grown bored of our bouts together?" She sounded genuinely concerned.

"No," Tom answered plainly. "I just don't feel like doing it anymore. With anybody. Since all this happened- Veroni...Veronaa. I'm in Hell. Hell, the place where the souls of the damned end up. I am absolutely terrified of everyone and thing down here that I'm going to meet. I'm going to be the slave of some sadistic, degrading fuck and trapped in her house for God knows how long. It's enough to kill anyone's libido."

"You worry too much, Tom," the demon said to him, lowering her hands again. "I'm here to protect you from her."

"As in..."

"You know exactly who I'm talking about. And I've made it very clear to her that I'll thwart whatever plans she has for you. So relax, and try to enjoy the time you have away from her."

"And what makes you think that that changes my mind about what I said? I still don't want to screw," Tom stated, but Veronaa was unwavering.

"As much as you may not want it, you need a moment away from all this. I can give you that, if only for an evening. I can take you to places that have scarcely been brushed by mortal fingers, unfathomed depths of pleasure and-"

"I've heard that spiel before, Veronaa. Only one girl made due on that."

Veronaa smirked. "The slime, I presume?"

"Yeah actually, it was."

"Of course you'd think she was the only one," the demon cooed, as if she were about to give him some revelation that would change his understanding of things forever. Tom shook his head and chuckled faintly at that, finding it hard to believe that she could do new things to him when someone could rearrange his anatomy on a chemical level had done it all.

"So what makes you so special, demon?" he inquired pointedly.

Veronaa's skin rose and she inhaled deeply against his neck. "You've never had a demon in full bloom. Especially not one like me, human," she returned in much the same manner.

Their eyes met for a moment and Veronaa's purple orbs glowed with a fierce light. Tom's arms fell to his sides and he felt, very distinctly, a pair of hands grab his arousal, one around the tip and one around the base.

"Veronaa," Tom whined, leaning his head back as she gave him a long, pleasurable stroke.

His pupils dilated instantly.

"Feel funny?"

"F-f-fuck!" Tom grunted, squeezing his eyes shut. He was at a loss for words. Had she...?

"Oh, so you've figured out what I can do, have you?" She gave him another long stroke, and he strained to keep from jerking his hips against her hands. She rubbed his glans, now dripping copious amounts of precum. "Slimes aren't the only ones who can overcome certain...limitations, you might have."

"How are you doing tha-ah!" She cut him off with another stroke, and flecked her tongue across his cheek.

"I'm a special breed of demon. Not only can I eat slimes, I can make any part of my body feel just like heaven like your blue girl did." She continued for a few strokes, drawing out the motion as the other demon nearby stared hungrily at the two, lost in their bodies as she drank in the lust and desire that emanated from the pair.

"If you keep go-oh...ing, I'm gonna, fuck Veronica! I'm-"

"Therein lies the difference though," she countered, letting her hand rest as the base of his shaft, squeezing it tightly as it pulsed with his heartbeat. Her right hand rose to their faces and she licked off the fluid coating her palm. "I can make it feel good. But I cannot make it be good."

"I can't cum?"

Veronaa tapped the tip of his nose with her finger. "Not unless we do this the right way." She demon kissed his cheek and Tom strained to keep his body from doing things he knew it shouldn't.

"Veronica, I really don't..." he pleaded, but she persisted against him gently.

"There is no game to win here. I'm not like her; I don't want to win against you. The only thing that I want is for you to feel like there is nobody in the Three Realms besides you and me, every worry. Every fear; null. Please let me do this for you." Every word that came out of her mouth chipped away at his resistance, a mountain chiseled away into gravel in moments.

It was hard to stay mad at someone who had your best interest at heart, and from someone who had literally been at his deathbed when he rode the line between life and death, she couldn't be anything but genuine. Her voice carried volumes of hope with it, hope that he would trust her enough to go with something he didn't want but she knew he needed.

Tom sighed, and turned his head enough to face her directly. They shared a knowing look and then leaned in toward each other. Tom's lips pressed against hers in a kiss and they all but melted against each other. He turned to face her, and she repositioned her hand around his erection and began to run her fingertips along its length gently. Tingles of arousal leapt up and down his member, and it left him absolutely speechless.

"Oh my God, you have no idea how amazing this is. I've never had anything like without Sohm." At the mention of the slime's name, Veronica's hand grabbed his cock firmly and she started jerking him steadily, causing his mouth to seek hers hard. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled their fronts together.

"I don't... want to hear...that...name...again," she managed between kisses. She raised her hand between them and he relented for a moment to let her talk. "Please?"

"Okay," Tom answered, and resumed kissing her doubly hard. She moaned as his hands dropped to her waist and peeled away her skirt hastily. She hadn't bothered with anything underneath, and he teased her sex with two fingers.

A husky growl came up her throat.

"It feels like an eternity," she breathed, tilting her head back as Tom bit her bottom lip and ringed her clit with his thumb. They both worked to get their shirts off and the demon reached up with one foot and pushed his boxers and pants to the ground in one smooth motion. They fumbled about for a while, getting entirely undressed, kissing, groping, caressing. Dana beside them stood like a statue, her presence growing ever clearer as her breath escaped her.

"Holy fuck, Veronica- Veronaa, whoever you are. Just, fuck." Tom's mind raced to a thousand different places at once as Veronaa's body writhed against him in an embrace that was nearly as old as life itself. His cock throbbed against her, every slip and caress from her driving his lust higher and higher. He could feel it! All of it made him feel like he was fucking!

This was what other men felt. This was the feeling of a real woman against him. Every little bit of stimulation that she could offer was now his to collect on. This was everything he had hoped to achieve in life, something natural!

Something normal.

"Have you ever had a threesome before?" Veronaa asked coyly, pulling away from his ravenous mouth. He scooped her up with both arms and placed her upon the pile of clothes at their feet.

"No," he answered plainly before latching onto her breast with his mouth, sucking eagerly at the swollen mound. Veronaa's arms held him tightly as they writhed against each other and sought stimulation that rubbing and sweating could give.

"Would you like to change that?"

Tom looked up to Dana at Veronaa's words, and both demons caught his interested gaze with vastly differing looks. Veronaa's motherly gaze softened at the notion of bringing in a third party, and Dana's lit up like a child being offered a five-layer cake in its entirety.

"Mmm-hmm," the agent answered as his glans found Veronaa's engorged labia. Her eyes began to roll back, but she focused them on him as he rubbed her back and forth. She placed a hand on the back of his head and grabbed his hair in a tight fist.

"Don't tease me like this, Tom," she groaned. The agent responded with a hard thrust into her body that elicited a broken, hoarse cry from her lips. Her legs swung around his hips and encouraged him to go deeper, though he was already pushing as far as he could go. Tom closed his eyes and reared back to thrust again.