The Pleasures of Hell 01.008

No wonder Zel got her a bodyguard.

The balconies weren't as wide higher up, and the hole between them smaller, as the tower tapered. But even in the skinnier top half, the tower was still plenty wide, and the rooms inside plenty large. Case in point, the room Zel took them into was huge.

The door wasn't like other doors. This one had a giant black skull with an open mouth for its entrance, same as her throne room. And it had white teeth stabbing up and down in front of it covering the maybe twelve-foot-tall doorway, with only a few inches of space between each tooth.

The strange amber horn on Zel's head glowed, and the teeth moved up and down, and disappeared into huge metal grooves above and below Mia, like the huge metal skull was absorbing the teeth.

"Come," Zel said, giggling softly as she gestured around.

It wasn't nearly as horrific and brutal as Mia figured it'd be. No remnants, no corpses, no freshly skewered dying demons or souls on wall spikes. It was a pleasant, huge room, with a giant pile of leather blankets on the side, a big open area of smooth metal in the center, and dangling chains above. The chains were, predictably, decorated with skulls of all sorts, but at this point in her four days in Hell, skulls looked less like dead bodies and more like a decorating choice.

The ground curved up along the right wall, and bones stuck out over it to create a stairway that led up to a sort of small platform that hung over the room, almost like a mini cliff. Zel walked up it, and Mia followed, eyes on the big bone stairs her feet much preferred to the stone and metal. Kas stayed by the door.

There was a stone table, too big for Mia, and around it sat four huge chairs made of bones, with backs made of rib cages. Like in the throne room, the bones couldn't have been taken from a corpse. They were bones meant for this purpose. On the table, a small statue of a bolstara like Zel stood, made of metal, but a different color. Bronze? In its four hands, it held a burning bush, like the dozens Mia had seen before, but much smaller.

Just a little ways past the table was a window, about as big as the entrance to the room, with the same sort of teeth covering it. Zel approached, the amber horn on her head glowed, and the teeth pulled up and down, disappearing into the metal and stone that surrounded them.

Zel stood by the window, or more like giant hole in the wall, and motioned for Mia. She came, wincing against the hotter air, and sucked in a hard breath as she peeked down over the edge of the stone. The closest outdoor balcony was probably a hundred-foot drop. Blinking away some tears from the heat, she forced herself to look up, and to the mountaintops in the distance.

The window faced the center of Hell.

"What the..." Mia squinted as she stared out to the red sea. Even high up as they were, and the fact Hell was apparently completely flat, trying to see something hundreds of kilometers in the distance was borderline pointless. But even as a blurry mess, she could still see the sea, the center of the Hell donut, and the raging black clouds that hovered over it even closer to the water than the sky of fire over her right now. And not black like Earth clouds were. Black like obsidian wished it could be, and even so far away, she could see the lightning flashes.

"The Forgotten Place," Zel said. "Somewhere within that unending storm, in the center of all of Hell, lies the ninth spire, lost to us since the Spires War. Felezar had somehow managed to cross the sea, and indeed had come to control the spire. But he was not the first child of the Old Ones to rule a spire and die regardless. And not the last."

"How... How long ago was that?"

"No one knows. The Third Age and the Nine Spires war ended two thousand years ago, with the death of Belor. Felezar's death came long before then."

The time scale of Hell's history was massive. And it wasn't like anyone was writing this shit down, at least not in the detail someone would need to have an accurate understanding of when shit had happened. Demons had more of a hard time understanding their past than even humans did.

"Is that what you want? To get to this, uh, Forgotten Place?"

Zel chuckled and idly plucked at her nipple chain. "Perhaps. I have many goals, and with time, they may be revealed to you. You have a role to play in this upcoming war, and I must learn what it is before the knowledge can be used against me."

"Upcoming war?"

Nodding, Zel gestured out to the right of the sea, toward some weird vertical line in the distance. It looked kinda purple, a bit red, a bit blue, and it swirled. So far, it was just a hazy blur, but there was only one thing it could be.

"I assume you know what that is?"

"The vortex," Mia said. It was barely visible past the right edge of the middle sea and the black storm, and over the mountains past it. Something that far, and she could still see it? It had to be beyond massive. "I don't know much about it."

"Lucifer ripped open a hole to Heaven, in the First War. Forever it has twisted and turned in the sky over False Gate. It is the False Gate. And from there, angels come and go in greater numbers than they ever have before."

"It's so far away."

"And yet, the angels cross the skies at great speeds, forever above us, forever out of reach." Sighing, Zel gestured back to the pile of blankets. "This room is yours."

"Mine?"

Nodding, Zel sat at the table, and motioned for Mia to do the same. Not exactly easy, considering the chair was made for people at least a couple feet taller than Mia, and she had to climb the damn thing.

A necklace was on the table. Mia hadn't seen it before because of how high the table was, but there it was, a simple chain of black. Not a sleek piece of jewelry from the surface, no no, this was a proper chain, with thick inch-long links. One part of the chain held a crystal, something in the shape of a sharp tooth or claw, maybe two inches long.

Zel scooped up the necklace, and touched a long claw to the small crystal. Her extra amber horn glowed, the same sort of glow Mia had seen in the amber veins, and the same glow rolled down her claw and onto the crystal. And into the crystal. Mia blinked twice. It'd been so subtle, just a tiny motion, and now the crystal on the necklace glowed with a very subtle amber hue, like Zel's horn.

"This will open and close your door," Zel said, and she slid the necklace across the table to her. "But not the window." And with a gentle flick of the wrist, she pointed some claws back at the window behind her, and the teeth closed, leaving only a couple inches between the huge white things. "It wouldn't be safe to let you open and close it at your whim."

Mia picked up the necklace.

"You're giving me a room, and a key?"

"Indeed."

Mia squinted at the demoness. "Uh, why?"

"Would you rather I bind you in chains and leave you in my throne room, in pain, for potentially the rest of eternity?" Grinning, the demon queen leaned forward and tapped a claw on the stone table. "If that is what you'd prefer, I do have a dungeon just waiting for more occupants."

That was half the reason why Zel was so scary. With demons like Diogo, it was obvious they'd just kill anyone they thought would be a problem. Zel had the foresight and patience to think past her desires, and plan for the future.

"I uh, I think I'd prefer the bedroom."

"Good. Though of course Kas will be staying with you, inside your bedroom. Can't risk leaving you alone, can I?"

Mia looked behind her, down the small sloping stairway to the big demon standing -- on all fours now -- by the open door. He'd heard Zel, but didn't even so much as look their way. One hundred percent just didn't give a shit. She could respect that, but that didn't necessarily mean she wanted that kind of person around her twenty-four seven.

"We can... trust him?" Mia whispered.

Zel giggled, nodding as she gestured to the necklace. "Put it on."

Sighing, Mia slipped on the heavy chain. The little crystal dangled down to her sternum.

"How does it work?"

"Touch it when near the door. It will respond to your essence, with a little of your will to tell it to obey."

A magic door-opening necklace. Mia would have been ecstatic in a different circumstance.

"I still don't know why you're being so nice to me. I mean, I'm glad you are, but it's not like I have any knowledge or anything to give you."

"No, you don't. But you are more inclined to follow my requests from now on, aren't you? And, my orders?" Zel leaned over the table, and her nipple chain clinked quietly over the hard surface, while her big necklace and huge demon skull hanging from it clanked much more loudly. "I already have at least one thing I would like to test, Mia. Something I would have you do. And I believe it will be easier to coax cooperation out of a pet, than a prisoner."

"Something you want me to do? Will... it hurt?"

Again the demon queen laughed, sitting back and shaking her head.

"Of course not. Your pain brings me no value. Yet. For the moment, it costs me nothing to keep you as my pet, and I have no reason to abuse my pets. All demons do enjoy fighting, and fucking, with exuberance. But torturing souls is an acquired taste many demons do not have."

"Not one you have?"

Zel shrugged. "Not as much as others."

That wasn't a no. Mia gulped.

"So all I have to do is just... be your pet?"

"Correct. Be my pet, stay in the spire, and do try to not get yourself killed. Kas is one of my more talented enforcers, but even he would lose to a group of brutes who decided they wanted to rape you and eat you once they were done with you. No doubt many demons want to know what the heart of an unmarked souls tastes like. Be careful."

Mia sucked in a hard breath through her teeth, but kept her eyes locked with Zel's, and even managed a solid nod, too.

"You think that's a possibility?"

"Wildly unlikely. Any such demon would soon find themselves dying the slowest, most painful death I can devise. But I did not survive these centuries by taking unnecessary risks." She tapped the table with a claw again. "Do not make me regret this leniency. As I said, I can simply tie you up, but forcing you to do what I wish may not prove as effective as your cooperation, and it is your cooperation that interests me."

Nodding, Mia wrapped a hand around the amber crystal between her breasts.

"It's a much better deal than I figured I'd get. I'll do it."

"Wonderful." Zel stood up, and headed for the door. "Stay here and get settled until next rekindling. I will make sure the word is spread about who you are and your value to me. Perhaps you should get acquainted with your new guardian."

"Acquainted..." Uh oh.

Giggling, Zel shook her head as she stopped by the open doorway, and tapped Kas on his long, flat head.

"No, Kas will not be touching you tonight. I want to experiment with the reach of your aura and your sexuality while you are unspoiled. And then again, once you are."

Oh, great, Zel was going to make her do sexual things, too. For a second, that sent bile up Mia's throat, and rage and heat up her spine. But it faded a moment later. Zel wouldn't just throw a big brute or someone at Mia to rape her. That didn't fit the whole 'pet' plan. She'd do something a lot more devious, and a lot more effective. That was still horrible, that Zel might force something on her, but... considering the orgy scene with Saldavin...

"I can feel that aura," Zel said, chuckling again as she looked over her shoulder at Mia. "If you truly need satisfaction, masturbate. And perhaps give Kas here a blowjob or two. He could use some relief."

The eyeless dragon snorted, clicked once in his throat, and grumbled.

"I... think I'll be fine," Mia said, standing up.

"Very well. You two should speak, nonetheless. You both know Adron and his feisty slave. Start there."

And with that, the demon queen was gone, and the white teeth came out of the metal above and below her, effectively closing the door. It didn't stop anyone from peeking in, but privacy didn't seem to matter in Hell.

Sighing, Mia walked down the stairs, and stood in the center of her room. The pile of leather blankets, and even a couple silk ones, would make for a better sleep than even Caera's room had provided. Plus, Caera's room had been a tiny thing, and this room was bigger than a surface one-bedroom apartment. And much as she didn't want to admit it, it was a cool looking room, with the dangling chains and skulls and stuff. Mia had gone through a bit of a witch phase in her teenage years, like all self-respecting girls did, and skulls and black metal were awesome.

Fresh blood and corpses were not. Thankfully her room didn't have any of that. It was clean.

She scooped the bronze statue of Zel off the table. Wow, heavy, but the tiny burning flame in the statue's grip didn't fall off. And if it was anything like the burning bushes out in the mountains, it'd burn forever.

"Kas," she said, setting the statue down before she walked down the wide bone stairs. "Can I call you Kas?"

He grumbled and clicked once. Whatever that meant.

"You know Adron?" she asked.

He rumbled deep in his chest, like a bear or something, before clicking once in his throat again. Was it in his throat? It bulged slightly when he did. Maybe it was something he did with his tongue in the back of his mouth?

"Is... that a yes?"

He sighed. "Yes."

"Uh, sorry, I don't speak Hellian." Shit, she said sorry again.

"Souls never do."

"There a reason you don't like speaking Estian?" It took some effort to not say English.

He tapped one of his big bull horns, grumbling. "The eyeless, like sarkarins and riivas, don't usually speak Estian because the vibration in the throat can bother our eyesight sometimes." He poked the flat top of his long head. It was almost bone hard, same as his horns, and made a soft tap tap sound.

"I... what? But you don't have eyes."

"We can see, with this." He tapped the black bone skin his horns came out of again.

"That--nevermind. I'll take your word for it." Some species on the surface had weird ways of seeing, and she was no biologist. And it was Hell, biology didn't make sense down here anyway. "Why's it called Hellian?"

He groaned, rumbling deep in his chest. Yeap, he was annoyed, but he was also willing to answer her questions. She couldn't pass up that opportunity.

"Because hellbeasts speak it."

"What? Wait, what? The hellbeasts can talk?"

He shook his head. With how the two huge horns came out the sides of his head, and pointed almost straight forward, further than his snout did, head shaking was a dangerous gesture with him.

"Simple words. Kill. Eat. Fight. Fuck. Nothing surface animals don't already make noises for."

That was interesting, actually speaking the same language as animals.

"Can they--"

"No, hellbeasts can't understand complicated Hellian words or sentences." He turned and faced her, straight on. He sat almost like a cat might, but also almost like a bird might, and his huge arms were able to reach the floor. "You're annoying."

She stared at him, and waited for the follow up. But he didn't follow up. He just stood there, and -- supposedly -- stared at her, after insulting her.

It was too good. She laughed, and laughed, and eventually fell to her knees on the pile of blankets.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing, nothing. It's just, that's got to be the most normal reaction any demon has had to me, yet. It's nice."

He clicked a couple times in his throat, but said nothing she could understand. At least his posture relaxed a bit.

"You're unusual," he said eventually.

"I get that a lot. So, you really know Adron?"

He backed himself up a bit so his tail and back were in the corner of the room closest to the door.

"Yes."

"How?"

Another rumble.

"We've worked together before."

"Ah, interesting. Adron told me he--" She squinted at the door. She didn't see anyone through the cracks between the giant teeth, but still, no reason to risk outing Adron's secret agent job. "Yeah, he told me."

"Adron is a moron, sometimes."

Mia tilted her head to the side as she pulled her knees up to her chest, hugged them, and watched her shark dragon dinosaur bodyguard. Much as demons were all alien and weird, they were also kind of human-ish in a lot of their mannerisms and whatnot. And their inflections.

"He's your friend."

Kasimiro grunted again, but didn't deny it, either. It was true, then. Good. Much as Adron was a mischievous troublemaker kinda guy, he also seemed like a nice guy, at least by Hell standards. If Kas was his friend, then hopefully that meant Kas was also a nice guy.

Of course, nice guy by Hell standards included Adron having his sex slave pin Mia down so he could get ready to sink his enormous dick into her tiny body.

Mia clenched her eyes tight and shook her head hard, earning a small head tilt from the horned shark.

"Do you... also know Hannah?" she asked.

He nodded.

"Um... how?"

His tail swished. Once.

"I fucked her with Adron, several times. He spoils her."

Oh god. She shouldn't have asked.

"At the... same time?"

He grunted, and nodded.

Mia groaned, and buried her face in her blankets. Christ, why did she fucking ask? The mental image of Hannah, lying back on Adron's chest, his hand around her throat, choking her and holding her down, cock buried deep in her ass, while the shark demon with the body of a god sank his cock slowly into her dripping slit and--

She groaned louder. If Hell corrupted her anymore, she'd end up doing exactly what Zel suggested. Masturbate, and get to know her new bodyguard. She wasn't that desperate. Yet.