A Stab in the Dark

Antonia, for her part, was happy to sleep by herself and set herself up in bed far away from her two friends so as to give the couple plenty of privacy. It had been a long day for all of them, and she was sure that they would want to 'relax' extensively. Perhaps it would be best for her and Brent to take an afternoon stroll and leave her two horny friends to their fun.

"I'm going out," Antonia declared. "I think I'd like to sight-see before our job officially starts. Brent, do you want to come with?"

"I would be delighted," the automaton answered.

"That's not a bad idea," Ashley agreed. "We could all go."

"You know, I've always wanted to go out in public disguised as a drow," Kathryn suggested, wrapping her arm around her lover. "I bet you'd love to be seen with one."

The girl's eyes brightened. "Leading her, or being led?"

"Whatever floats your boat, kid."

"Such a move would seem to make us highly conspicuous," Brent objected.

"Brent, you're a walking machine," Antonia pointed out, amused by what the construct considered unusual.

If he had an expression, Brent would have no doubt looked surprised. "That is quite right. I had forgotten that."

"I'm surprised you're ok with this," the sorceress said.

"Oh, don't get me wrong," Antonia clarified. "I still think your love life is disturbing. I just don't plan on being anywhere around you two when it happens."

Ashley rolled her eyes. "What are friends for?"

The afternoon was spent walking around many of the shops and attractions of Calimsha. Ashley and Kathryn behaved themselves very well while in public, though they did go about the city holding hands in a manner more reminiscent of lovers than friends. Antonia was quite surprised at that, but she supposed that it was out of a respect for her feelings. Heaven knew what the two would have gotten up to if she was not around; the last thing they needed was to scandalize the town with one of their crazy sex games.

While Antonia did not really oppose their love - if that was the right word for it - she found some of their practices off putting. It was not so much that two women were having sex with each other, but rather how they did it; Ashley would often come back to the room that they shared with bruises all over her body, as if she had been tortured. Each time Antonia would makes sure that it was not because Kathryn had gone overboard, and each time Ashley would deny it. Antonia never found the denials reassuring, and for that reason, she always kept an eye on Kathryn, even if they were friends now.

Speaking of Kathryn, the woman was looking at her strangely.

"You look a bit bothered, Tonia." Sometimes Antonia wondered if the assassin could read her mind. Kathryn's ability to intuit people's thoughts was uncanny at times.

"Oh, just getting used to being in a city again," Antonia lied, making sure to guard her body language more closely. "You really don't know how much you miss it until you're back."

"You can say that again," Kathryn agreed. "I can't tell you how glad I am to be around indoor plumbing."

"I'm just happy to be around you," Ashley said with a great deal of affection. "We haven't had any personal time for weeks."

"I bet you cried yourself to sleep every night," teased Kathryn.

"I, uh..." A red glow became visible on Ashley's cheeks. "I actually wrote poetry. About you."

"Really? I'm flattered. Do go on."

"It's nothing," the sorceress muttered evasively. Kathryn's grip on her hand tightened as the assassin pulled Ashley close.

"You know I'll force it out of you if necessary," the tiefling whispered. "Even if we are in public."

"Fine!" Ashley succumbed much more quickly than Kathryn expected; it was almost disappointing.

"Clothed in shadows and cloaked in night,

Hidden to all save but my mind's eye.

Beneath wan moon and restless sky,

She walks, and sets my soul alight."

The brief poetry reading left them all shocked The idea of Ashley actually writing poetry was so incongruities with her persona that Antonia, for one, would not have believed it if she had not been present when it was composed, and she actually had to convince them that Ashley had indeed authored it.

"I think that was very well done, Aiva," Brent complimented. "An ABBA rhyming scheme with trochaic tetrameter and a steady rhythm is one of the hallmarks of Fifthy Dynasty poetry. Where did you learn it?"

"Just something I picked up." Ashley's eyes were fixed on Kathryn, waiting for her judgement.

"It was lovely," Kathryn placed a chaste kiss on Ashley's cheek. "Come on, let's get back to the church. I think I should try to inspire you some more."

-

The acolytes had been busy after their departure, replacing the sparse accommodations of the room with several colorful paintings and a nice bowl of fruit. Some of it was quite exotic, such as a cluster of bananas that Kathryn snatched up immediately before asking if Antonia and Brent would vacate the room for the next hour or so.

Brent did not mind as he had no need to rest, but Antonia was a little irritated at the inconvenience. Still, Kathryn and Ashley were generally much more agreeable when well sexed, so she decided to let them have the room and wander about the church. The architecture was devoid of the elaborate stained glass windows or arches that adorned more lavish houses of worship, but it had a simple elegance to it. Most of it was empty as the priest and his followers had chosen this time for their meditations, though Eugene was sitting in the chapel by himself, evidently deep in thought.

Despite her best attempts to sneak through without interrupting him, Antonia found that Eugene had a sharp sense of hearing and turned in her direction.

"Oh, hello!" He said in surprise. "I do hope your visit to our city is going well?"

"Blindingly so," Antonia replied. "Really enjoyed the food. Dinner was top-notch."

"That is good." The smile that Eugene flashed her was shy and genuine. "I do apologise for my forwardness earlier. Had I known you were taken, I would have shown more restraint."

"Don't worry about it, there's no harm done." Antonia smiled back and tried to make him feel comfortable. "So, why are you here?"

"It is said that a wealthy merchant, a Mr. Barsoom, will be throwing a ball later this week. We have been keeping watch on him for many months, as he is a key financial contributor for many churches, and fear that the ball may present the perfect opportunity for the succubus to attack him. There have been several unsettling divinations about his life expectancy recently, and the church would hate to lose such a valued supporter. I sit here now praying for guidance and his good health."

"Sounds important," Antonia nodded. "But don't you worry, we're some of the best mercs in the business. We won't fail you."

Chapter 3

"Charmed, Lady Rothain," Mr. Barsoom greeted in an unctuous voice, pressing the woman's hand to his forehead as he bowed. It struck Ashley as an odd gesture, for she had always thought of it as a distinctly Remulan custom. Then again, there were many strange things about the eccentric merchant. Perhaps it came with the territory.

The Barnabas Barsoom Ball was in full swing, with innumerable wealthy and influential guests walking about oblivious to the security presence in their midst. Brent was currently pretending to be one of the many suits of decorative armor that lined the walls, while the others disguised themselves as the catering staff, partially because they had all been assigned kitchen duty at one point or another, and partially because good looking women made for a good party, even if Ashley and Kathryn had to disguise themselves to fit in. It gave them the perfect opportunity to wander around guests and observe them for unusual behavior.

"The lady over there isn't wearing lipstick," Antonia whispered into her hand. She held a broach inside of it, which transmitted the message to an identical broach in Ashley's possession.

"Her lips look red to me," Ashley replied.

"But look at her glass; there's no marks on it."

"So she's using something that bonds well to the skin, or maybe a bit of cosmetic magic. There's some very vain rich people out there."

"If you say so. I'm still going to keep my eye on her."

This was going nowhere, Ashley decided. So far there had been no sign of anything unusual, yet she could not shake the persistent feeling that she had missed something. What would she do if she was a succubus? The sorceress considered the question long and hard before the answer struck her.

Barnabas was chatting merrily with an attractive older woman by a chocolate fountain on the opposite side of the room. The sorceress ran towards him and gave him a firm punch to the back of the head.

"What the hell is your problem!" The merchant roared. "I hired you to protect me, not assault me!"

"Nice try," Ashley smirked, "But the real Barsoom has a chipped front tooth."

Barnabas's mouth gaped open to reveal a set of perfectly formed teeth. "How in damnation did you know that?"

That was all Ashley needed to hear. "I didn't."

The impostor found his arms bound to against his body as Ashley caught him with a binding hex. Unfortunately, he seemed to have had allies, for a variety of deadly demons soon burst into the room upon hearing the girl's spell. Guests screamed and ran through the halls of the mansion in a panic, though some chose to stay and fight.

Ashley's eyes darted towards her companions, who had joined in the melee to the best of their ability. Blasts of pink energy issued forth from Antonia's hands, while Kathryn stood facing down a scaly creature with a mouth full of serrated teeth. True, Brent was feebly swatting at a pack of imps with a ceremonial spear, but Ashley supposed it would have been a poor idea to use his flamethowers when there were still guests about.

"So tell me, what was it that really gave me away?" The impostor asked. "How could you have seen through my disguise?"

"Call it a stab in the dark." Ashley shifted her attention off of the spell to blind a group of demons with a cloud of glittering dust. It turned out to be a mistake; her captive cast a teleportation spell the moment Ashley started on her spell. Only Antonia's intervention, which came in the form of a disruptive blast of raw magic to the impostor's throat, stopped the spell from reaching completion.

Unfortunately, the impostor had another trick up his sleeve; a protective enchantment discharged and surrounded him with a field of magic that dispelled the grappling spell. He hit the ground and took off towards the next room at full speed, vaulting over an upturned table as he did so. Ashley clicked her heels together and activate a trinket on her ankles, which teleported her past the table and allowed her to chase him through several rooms, pelting him with curses and dispelling his attempts to shift away.

The impostor soon grew frustrated at his inability to escape from the persistent sorceress and whistled. A nightmarish canine the size of a horse leaped in through a window and blocked Ashley's path. Flame shot out of its mouth and its eyes glowed with unholy energy. It was a hellhound, the same animal depicted on the broach she carried with her. Ashley was ready to simply shift it when she was hit by a thin green ray which immediately anchored her body to the material plane. While not a problem in and of itself, it did prevent her from teleporting past the hellhound. It was now a barrier she would have to overcome with force now that she could not bypass it.

It leaped at her with its mouth wide open; powerful jaws clamped shut inches from Ashley's face, nearly taking her nose with them. The only thing that stopped them was a quick magical shield Ashley conjured at the last second, which held the hellhound off. The sorceress quickly went for an all-out offense in hopes of ending the fight and let a wave of pure force erupt from her body, which cut into the hellhound's flesh like a flaying wind. Fire leaked from the creature's body as its skin was torn, but it survived the attack and bit at Ashley again.

While the sorceress managed to shield herself against the first bite, but the second took her by surprise and she found herself knocked onto the ground by the force of the blow. Before she could get up, the creature leaped onto her and they became a tangled mess of limbs as they struggled for dominance. It ended with Ashley on her knees and facing the ground, held down the hellhound's mouth clamped around the back of her neck. Sharp teeth dug into Ashley's skin and she could feel the heat from the creature's demonic breath roll off of her.

Ashley closed her eyes and waited for the beast to finish her off, but the coup de grace never came. Instead she felt it adjust its position until something fleshy and solid hit her in the thigh. The sorceress' eyes shot wide open in horror as she realized what it was.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" A quick glance confirmed that the hellhound was not kidding. "There's no way that'll -"

Whatever complaints she had lined up were cut off by a firm pressure applied to her neck. It was becoming clear to Ashley that the only reason she was alive was because the hellhound had other plans for her.

"Alright," the sorceress muttered in defeat. "I got your point. Just let me get undressed, ok?"

The pressure on her neck relented, allowing Ashley to stretch her arms down to her waist and slide her pants and underwear off in one motion, exposing her sex to the air. The hellound sniffed the air approvingly and released her neck so that it could move forward and mount her properly. He kept her pinned down by its stomach as his long member slid against Ashley's thigh as the creature advanced, and she began to desperately think of ways to delay it.

"Wait!" She cried. "I... I'm not ready. Please, it won't fit if I'm dry. Just... just let me prepare myself, I promise it won't take long."

The hellhound gave an impatient growl and humped her behind, though it took no further steps to coerce her. Ashley figured that was its way of giving permission and began to toy with herself, remembering the first encounter she had with Kathryn over six months ago. The memory of their week of intense sex managed to make her wet even under these trying circumstances, and Ashley found herself well on the way to orgasm by the time the hellhound started to hump her again.

What would her friends think if they saw her like this, shamelessly masturbating underneath a demon? The reputation that she had worked so hard to build would be shattered forever if this got out. The sorceress was almost ready to risk death rather than let it defile her, but before she could take action, his large member found its way into her moist slit and slid in.

The pain was like nothing Ashley had ever felt before. Kathryn had fisted her once, taking care to stretch her to the point where a woman's slender hand could fit in, and Ashley had thought that was as far as she could have stretched barring childbirth. Now, a demonic hound the size of a horse was splitting her in half. Her vision swam as the monster filled her completely, his pointed tip only stopping when it reached her cervix. He immediately began leaking a hot liquid in her that could only have been its seed. For a moment, Ashley wondered if it would pull out, but the hellhound chose instead to push even further in.

Ashley went wild as his essence was released directly into her deepest spot, clawing at everything and anything in the desperate hope of freeing herself from the womb fucking. Her stomach bulged against the ground as it became full with heat and the beast's giant length. The pain was so distracting that Ashley did not notice her pussy being spread apart further until a half-formed knot had filled her cunt, sealing in all of her juices and the hellhound's cum.

Unable to pull out now that its knot had formed, the hellhound thrusted back and forth in Ashley, using all of her insides to slake its lust. He moved around in her smoothly, and Ashley realized that she must have been lubricating him all thought the ordeal. That heat in her was not just his hot seed; part of it was arousal. She was excited by this!

No, this was impossible, Ashley denied. She couldn't have lost control of herself like some bitch in heat. The sorceress tried her best to focus on the pain, but whatever was in the hellhound's semen was playing havoc with her nervous system, and eventually all her body registered was pleasure.

Jets of fire shot out above her in labored pants as his thrusts became staggered, and Ashley knew that her ordeal was almost over. If she could only get though it without climaxing, she could at least salvage some of her dignity. With one final thrust, the monster plunged into her as far as he could go and exploded. Ashley gritted her teeth as her womb filled up like a balloon, desperately trying to rein in her orgasm.

A wave of heat rode along with the semen, and Ashley felt like warm satin was running through her womb, out though her pussy, around the hellhound's knot, and down her thighs. The sensations hit all of her deepest spots and caused her cunt to clench around the hellhound's member. Each squeeze drew out more cum, and brought about more pleasure until Ashley realized that she had crossed the line at some point and was bursting freely on the floor as she was completely filled with the demon's seed.

Sharp teeth closed around her neck again, but were stopped before they could break the skin by a spray of freezing liquid. The hellhound yelped in pain as it turned around to face Brent, who was spewing coolant from his mouth. It tried to run off through the broken window, but it was still anchored to Ashley by its swollen knot. Ashley grabbed onto a suit of armor with one hand to keep the hellhound from escaping while she shot its brains out with a series of conjured darts that flickered with a soft blue light.

-

"So Barnabas is dead, eh?" Antonia made sure to speak with Eugene immediately after her wounds had been successfully treated by a dedicated healer. She found him in the wreckage of the mansion's dining room, where Ashley had uncovered the impostor. A thoughtful expression had taken root in his face, just like when Antonia had seen him in the chapel.

"It seems he was killed quite a while before the ball began." One of the ruined dinner plates littering the ground found itself meeting with Eugene's foot and flew over to the opposite side of the room. "Perhaps the plan was to lure many high profile targets to one place and kill them. That would explain the presence of so many demons."

"We came really close to being ambushed there. Damned if it doesn't make me shiver a little." In truth, the fact that they had shared a building with a demonic horde was enough to make Antonia's skin crawl off of her body and seek safe refuge in a departing ship. Why hadn't anyone noticed? Paladins had combed the building before the party, and Kathryn had helped them. If anyone would have detected the demons, it would have been Kathryn.

"Thankful must we be for your friend's sharp eyes," Eugene nodded. "Has she recovered from her ordeal?"

No one knew exactly what had happened to Ashley after she had broken away from the group save for Brent, and he put up a wall of stony silence whenever he was asked. Whatever it was, it had left Ashley inconsolable for a good few hours. Only Kathryn had been allowed to see her.

"I wouldn't worry about that girl, she's tough as nails," replied Antonia, though the thought of what could trouble Ashley so deeply disturbed her. It must have been quite devastating. Oh, their man would pay when she caught the, Antonia swore on that by her beating heart and flowing blood.