The Pleasures of Hell 01.013

~~David~~

"Did you two come here looking for me?" he asked.

The male angel shook his head. "We came here looking for--"

The woman snarled. "Stop talking to the unmarked."

"Give it up, Yosepha. Romakus was right."

So, her name was Yosepha. David held up a finger.

"I--" He shut up quick when the dark-skinned woman tore through him with a hard gaze.

Angels had human eyes, far as he could tell, but they definitely had a shine and intensity to them human eyes didn't. The guy had bronze irises, she had obsidian, and both had an almost reflective quality to them, like metal. It made it hard to not stare into them, to get lost in their beauty. But then, the Yosepha angel had a sword planted to Caera's throat, and the guy had an arrow pointed straight at Jeskura and him, with a boot on Daoka's throat. It put a damper on the awe and majesty he would have otherwise felt.

"I saw Romakus a few years ago," Caera said, growling quietly. "Haven't seen him since."

"I don't care what you saw, demon."

"Then the fuck is this about?" Jes asked, flaring her wings. "A couple of angels drop out of the sky and ambush a few demons and their pet? The fuck?" If she was trying to look imposing, it wasn't working. Much as Jes was taller than Yosepha, and almost as tall as the male angel, it didn't matter. They were radiant, with bigger wingspans, and dripped with enough confidence they might as well have been twenty feet tall.

The male angel smiled. "It looked very suspicious from where we were watching. I'm Galon, by the way."

Yosepha rolled her eyes. She didn't like her partner's attitude. So much for angels being monolithic beings of pure goodness, eternal righteous warriors, or the forever guards of the Gates of Heaven. They seemed like people right now, just very dangerous people who'd kicked three demon asses in a matter of seconds without breaking a sweat, if they even could sweat.

He'd kind of expected them to be more impressive though, honestly, like maybe they could have come out of the fire sky in giant beacons of gold light, spoke in a booming voice, and shook the mountains? Maybe they could have said 'be not afraid' or something? But, nope, these two angels looked pretty typical, dangerous, awe inspiring, and unbelievably confident, but typical. Maybe the giant angel he'd seen before the portal to Hell sucked him up would fit the fantasy better?

But, if they weren't crazy monolithic god-like entities, then maybe he could talk to them? Knowing him, that'd make things worse.

"You haven't killed us yet," he said, "haven't killed me yet. Can I ask why?"

"Angels don't go around killing demons randomly," Yosepha said. "This isn't the First War."

"But... you're here. And, uh, holding me and my friends at knife point."

Galon spoke next. "A few demons and a soul, wandering around in twilight hours, spying on the Death's Grip spire? The spire's alive with activity? Imps and grems, running around, talking about the redheaded girl with no mark?" The angel nodded David's way. "Every angel in Heaven knows about the ginger pair that showed up later than the others."

"Others?"

"Galon!" Yosepha said, voice only kept from hitting yelling volume by her clenched teeth.

But the man just chuckled and shook his head. "Romakus was right, Sepha. Even without the aura, I can tell."

Yosepha ground her teeth. "Just because you are gabriem does not mean--"

Galon lowered the bow, and stepped off Daoka. Dao hopped to her feet and back to Jes in an instant, and Jes took a step forward, only to freeze when Galon raised the bow back up.

"Peace," the angel said.

Jes pointed a claw at Yosepha. "We can have peace when your asshole bitch friend lets her up."

"Sepha," Galon said. "Romakus was right, and you know it."

"I..." Hesitation crossed the woman's face. Or was that sorrow? She sighed, and stepped back, shield up and sword ready to stab the much, much larger tiger woman. Afraid of triggering the angel's reflexes, Caera slowly got back to four feet, and came back over to David's side.

It was a strange sight, watching a huge tiger slink away from a much smaller woman, and a little bit more of that awe and majesty showed through. Whatever these two had done while he'd been blinded, they'd easily beaten his protectors. Power in -- relatively -- small packages.

"If you're not going to kill us," David asked, "then why did you ambush us?"

"Angels don't go around killing demons randomly, like I said," Yosepha said. "But any fool could guess there was something unusual about your group, and the unmarked are to be dealt with." Yeesh, he thought Jeskura was the angry sort. This angel woman looked ready to cut in him in half if he said the wrong thing.

"But... someone named Romakus said you shouldn't?" A possible member of the Damall, according to Caera.

Galon and Yosepha traded a look. They knew something, and they weren't going to share it. Judging from Galon's playful attitude, him not willing to share something meant it was important, and probably something David very much needed to know.

"I wanted to see you for myself," Galon said. "You, your sister, the others. You're the first we've found, and... we have a problem."

"Problem?"

"Not every angel out there is as talkative as Sepha and me. And you seem like a nice guy, David." And of course the angel knew his name. Double shit. "You should stay out of the way until things settle down."

"Settle down? But... But..."

"Be happy we're not sending you to the Great Tower," Yosepha said, and she took a step back as she turned, getting ready to take off.

"Wait!" He stomped his foot down. Both angels stopped and stared at him. "Fucking wait! Jesus fucking christ, please at least tell me something! Anything! A week ago my sister and I were sucked into Hell, and we don't know why. We're unmarked, and we don't know why. Crazy shit is happening, and we don't know why! I have an aura, my body isn't normal, and... and..." He came very close to spilling every secret he had. But if they weren't willing to tell him anything, then he shouldn't tell them anything.

Yosepha was unmoved. She walked away, but stopped short of taking to the sky. Galon remained, frowning as he looked down, and un-nocked his arrow.

"We came here to confirm what Romakus told us, David, not to help you.

"Why not!? What did I do to deserve any of this!?"

"We don't know."

"You... don't know?"

The angel shook his head. "We don't know. But if you want to keep your head, just stay out of the way. Or not. You're unmarked. You can die and return to the Great Tower without having to spend any cycles in Hell. Probably."

David ground his teeth and glared daggers into the angel.

"I'm not going to do either of those things. I'm not going to just sit around and hide." Much as that idea was growing more and more appealing, despite his obsessive need for answers. "I need to know what's happening. I need to find out what's going on. And... Can't you just take me and my sister back up to Heaven, with the other unmarked souls? Away from here?"

"No. You're different from them, I know that much. I don't even know if you're human, David."

David stood there, while the weight of Galon's words threatened to drag him back down to the ground.

"Can... Can you at least find a way to tell Mia I'm alive?"

The angel sighed, met eyes with David, and silence fell on their strange little group for far too long.

"Maybe," he said. "Maybe. As for you, if you're sure you have to get involved, then find Romakus and the Damall. They might help you." He raised a finger. "Might. They might also decide to eat you, or throw you into lava."

Wonderful.

"They have a group in Death's Grip?" Caera asked. "Where are they?"

"On the Death's Grip and Black Valley border," Yosepha said, looking over her shoulder. "War brews. We were investigating that, as well."

Angels investigating demon activity. Finally, a little information he could use for some context.

"Thanks, for... for telling me at least something."

Galon chuckled. "I don't envy you, David. Something big is coming, and useless as this hilarious warning is, all I can risk telling you is the only reason we didn't kill you is because Romakus told us not to. Any other angel is probably going to kill you on sight."

He gulped. "Me, but not demons?"

Galon nodded, but smiled and gestured to the three demons with a wing.

"How'd you make friends with three demons, anyway?"

The three ladies looked between each other before scowling and growling at the angel.

"Fuck you," Jes said, and she held up a middle finger.

Galon laughed yet again, waved, and backed off to join Yosepha. A hard flap of their wings was all they needed to get into the air, and Jeskura's jaw dropped. Hovering, Galon turned to face them again, and the bow in his hands popped out of existence in a small puff of gold light.

"The soldiers of Avinoam and Ravid are a lot nicer than many of the Heavenly Islands, David, and few engage with the Damall like we do. I'm not kidding. If you see other angels, avoid them." He offered a casual salute. "Good luck."

Both angels took to the air, and despite the radiance of their wings and armor, it was only seconds before their bodies mostly blended into the settling embers of the fire sky. A minute later, they were borderline invisible.

David and his three protectors stood in stunned silence. No need to check around for any eavesdropping demons. The angels wouldn't have ambushed them like they did without being sure they were safe to do so.

"That... was scary," Caera said.

Jes and Dao both nodded, and pat each other on the shoulders as they checked each other for wounds. The fight must have been worse than he'd figured.

"I can't believe it," David said. "They just... showed up out of nowhere. Dropped on us from the sky."

The tiger lady nodded as she prowled back toward the mountain wall, away from the cliff edge. "They were playing nice. I've never seen an angel fight, but some demons have. The stories are horrifying. These two were being very... gentle."

Dao clicked a few times as she gestured to the tregeera.

"Yeah, I know," Caera said. "But even if they hadn't ambushed us, that mikalim would have easily killed the three of us."

"Mikalim? The woman?" David said. "She'd called the other guy a... gabriem?"

Caera nodded. "I don't know anything about the higher angels, no one does. But the foot soldiers, there's mikalim the warriors, rapholem the defenders, and gabriem the caretakers. That woman didn't need the other's help to take us down, if she'd wanted to."

Oh, damn. Seeing Caera, an eight-foot-tall tiger lady of muscle and claw, being afraid of a small -- relatively speaking -- angel, only as tall as Daoka, was numbing. Words were words, but Caera legitimately looked scared, and she dragged a claw on the stone as she shivered a few times.

"I guess... we got really lucky," he said. "And--"

Dao walked past him, gave him a harsh slap against the back of the arm, and began the trek back down the mountain.

He stared at her back, blinking. "Uh..."

Sighing, Jes came up beside him and slapped him in the back of the other arm.

"Ow! Hey! The fuck did I do?"

"Oh I dunno, basically begged the angels to get you out of here because it's a horrible place and you'd happily leave everyone here behind except your sister the first moment you can?"

"I... I..." Ah shit. His head slumped, shoulders too, and a new silence fell on them. "I didn't even... I mean..."

Jes rolled her eyes and walked after Dao, but not before whacking him in the back with her tail with a little more force than was probably necessary. Double ow.

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

They traveled in silence back to their hole, Caera in lead as usual. They needed to hide again, since the sudden -- and very fucking random -- appearance of the two angels meant other demons might come investigate, despite the twilight hours. Much as the angels seemed to fade into the fire sky easily enough, when they were on the ground there was no mistaking the giant white feather wings and the gleaming, shiny armor and weapons. Demons could come looking, or the rider, or that invisible monster, or maybe other angels.

He looked at Daoka's back. Unlike Jes or Caera, she had no tail, and her bits of armor didn't hide the shape of her body, her hourglass figure, or her very large ass. But, much as he enjoyed watching her back, the painful silence ruined it. They weren't just being quiet because they needed to avoid detection, he didn't need Mia to tell him that. Not once did Dao look back to him, check on him, rub a horn on him, anything.

Once they got back down into the ravines between the mountains, and the darkness of night fell on them, Caera spoke up.

"That bitch took me down in an instant. Hit me hard, knocked me down, and I had a sword to my throat before I knew what happened."

"Same," Jes said. "That Galon fucker whacked me with the bow. Might as well have hit me with a huge rock." Groaning, she rubbed the side of her shoulder. "I could tell, if he'd hit me any harder, he'd have broken bone."

"I got flashbanged," David said. "No idea how. Got some feathers in the face and then I couldn't see shit."

Dao said nothing.

"My first real run-in with angels," Caera said. "I... expected a little more, honestly."

Jes laughed. "Uh, they kicked our asses? We're lucky to be alive."

"Yeah, I get that. But I expected, I don't know, grand majesty? I expected shining rays of gold, called from the sky, like the in stories I've read. I expected... to be smited, I guess."

"Same," David said. "I get the impression they could have done that, but they were being stealthy, hiding, judging from what they said."

The tregeera sighed as she nodded, body looking heavier than usual. She was disappointed in herself. Another failed attempt to defend her friends from a surprise battle? No way she should blame herself for that. But, she was, just like David probably would, no matter how much he knew it wasn't his fault.

Demons were surprisingly human.

He winced. They were surprisingly human. The satyr walking in front of him wasn't some evil demon who feasted on hearts. She was basically a human, who just happened to need to eat human hearts, had horns and red skin, and a very fucked up childhood. Considering the hatching pit they'd told him about, it was a wonder the three demons with him were as nice as they were, even Jeskura. They had their own motivations, their own desires, their own lives. The demons of Hell weren't anything like any religion depicted them as.

He took a step closer to Dao. Took a step back. Took a step closer. Back again. Okay, now he really did need Mia.

Jes came up to him from behind, and leaned in close.

"I told you earlier," she whispered, "I was going to stick around, keep you around, keep you safe, Dao and me, all that shit. And I get it, this is Hell and you don't deserve to be here."

He looked back to her. Jes, the voice of reason?

"But..."

"But, you're an asshole. Daoka was excited. Fuck me, so was I." She shrugged, and took up the rear guard again.

He winced. God damn it.

They continued on in silence for the rest of the journey.

"What do you think?" Caera asked as they slipped back into their cave. "Those angels did show up really randomly, like you said. I get the impression they were doing more than just investigating the brewing war between Death's Grip and the Black Valley."

"They sounded like they were convinced I'd be some sort of evil asshole," David said. "And I... I guess they felt my aura when they got close."

"We all feel it," Jes said, "all the time, but it's always this tiny little thing, barely noticeable. Unless you're horny."

Caera chuckled. "Figures the angels would notice the nicer aura more easily, the so called empathy Galon said he felt from you. But not us demons. Nope. We'd never pick up on that. We're just demons, right? Not worth caring about."

Ah fuck, not her too.

He stood in the middle of the cave, and looked to the three ladies. Caera sat around the curve close to the entrance. Dao and Jes sat in the back beside each other. All three avoided eye contact, even Dao, somehow.

He looked around for a couch, or the doghouse he was apparently sleeping in tonight. No such luck.

Sighing, he sat down against a wall, away from the others, and ran through the scenario in his head a million times, looking for a way he could have handled it better. A million came to mind, but hindsight was twenty-twenty.

He closed his eyes, and slept.

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

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

~~Mia~~

She was officially corrupted.

She tried to sit up. Didn't work. Her muscles trembled and quivered, and even panting in a desperate attempt to get air back in her lungs, she couldn't get them to settle. Her insides ached, but even as the sore, tender muscles within pulsed with what almost felt like a bruise, her whole body shivered with tingling waves that followed. 'Hurts so good', she'd heard online from some ladies before. They probably didn't mean getting thoroughly fucked by inhumanly massive tongues and dicks, but still.

It hadn't been a fluke. That first time, she'd cum so hard, so many times, it was a haze in her memory. A dream she had trouble thinking was true. But just ten minutes ago they'd finished doing it again. Her, her tiny little body, stretched wide and deep by two massive demons, their tongues, their cocks, and somehow her melting into it just like in her favorite erotica stories. Maybe she'd been corrupted all along?

After a minute, she managed to push herself up onto her elbows and lift her head. She looked down at her naked body, utterly covered in cum. Her poor blankets. Sure it'd fade away soon, but in the meantime, what a mess. She looked over at Kas, who crouched beside her in his classic 'ready to pounce, ready to fight' pose, like a beast guarding his meal. She looked over at Adron and Hannah, and smiled.

"Aren't you guys done yet? It's almost night."

Adron shrugged, grinned at her, and didn't stop. He lay on Hannah's back, the young woman underneath him on her belly, and head turned to face Mia. But, even looking straight at Mia, Hannah was off in space, eyes glazed. She'd been pinned under Adron for a while now, with the big vrat fucking her ass in a slow, sensual, massaging way, keeping every inch inside her and grinding his pelvis on her butt. It was deliciously sweet.

He'd been fucking her pussy like a jackhammer before, and Mia had been genuinely concerned the girl was going to break in half. But, nope, Hannah liked it rough. At one point, both Kas and Adron had fucked her, way harder than they did with Mia, and only now that the girl was borderline passing out did Adron decide to get gentle with her. It worked well. Hannah's body was probably singing with sensitivity, and loving the feel of her master grinding on her.

What would it feel like to get roughed up like that? They'd choked Hannah, spanked her, passed her back and forth like a toy, and then thrust into her together hard and fast until Mia had been left staring at the girl's bulging belly, worried she'd pop. It'd looked amazing. But, Mia was already sore from a decidedly gentler stuffing. She had no idea if she could even handle getting pounded like that by a human man, let alone from two huge demons at the same time.

But damn, it had looked amazing.

Corrupted. She was utterly corrupted, just laying here, covered in cum, again, watching one of her bodyguards fuck his pet into a coma one foot away from her. And for some reason, it felt comfortable. Comfortable compared to everything else in Hell, at least. So comfortable, she rolled over toward Hannah, eventually managed to sit up again, and watched the way the girl's tight little butt spread around Adron's thick girth when he took a moment to lift his pelvis. Then he was back balls deep inside her again.