The Pleasures of Hell 01.018

"It is a wonder a tiny creature like her did not pop, taking both those men within her together at once."

David put up his hands. "Okay, okay. Thanks, yep, got it." He knew Mia had a big sex drive like him, and who knew what weird things her afterlife body was doing if his was giving him a giant dick. Thinking about her having sex hit his sex drive harder than an ice-cold shower.

Acelina chuckled. Even Jes laughed.

"Finally, some relief from that aura," the gargoyle said. "Okay bitch face, keep going."

"I cannot."

"And why not?"

"I do not know which way to go."

Grumbling, Jes walked past Acelina into the curving tunnel ahead. They'd already taken the turn at where Acelina had said she'd come from, so now they had to go on Jes's skills. She took a deep breath of the air, squatted down over various bloodgrip vines, and poked her head around each tunnel corner for a few minutes.

"This way," Jes said, and she gestured for Acelina to go first.

The huge demon grumbled, but went ahead.

"I should be--"

"I'm not letting you walk behind us. We run into trouble, you're the first to get screwed. And I don't trust you to not stab us in the back."

"I would not stab you in the back." Shrugging, Acelina marched on. "I would arrange for you to be crushed by a boulder, or I would send a host of demons to do my bidding and rip you asunder."

"Listen to this bitch. 'Rip us asunder'." Jes chuckled as she made literal air quotes with her claws.

David sighed and followed behind them. Maybe it would be a good idea to just leave Acelina behind once they were out of the tunnels? At first he'd thought maybe she needed help, and because she seemed willing to talk, he was willing to give it. Now he was getting serious evil vibes. Evil queen dominatrix vibes. Which, sure, were hot, but now that he was thinking with his brain and not his dick, evil queen vibes were probably not vibes he wanted to keep around.

But she knew the bailiff Domicela, someone they might have to deal with. And she was a spire mother, someone important, or at least wanted. Jes was right. Let Caera decide.

The tunnel grew dark. Twisting and turning, it grew low, too, and Acelina frequently had to duck to keep her huge horns from hitting the ceiling. Jes walked with a forward leaning posture counter-balanced by her tail. Not as much as Caera when she stood upright, but enough to give her a bit of that dinosaur look. Acelina walked like Daoka, completely upright, with her thin tail hanging straight down behind her. Unlike Dao, she also made sure each step was a full-on catwalk. And from the increasingly haughty attitude, he had to assume it was on purpose.

She was going to trip and break her ankle, at this rate. And each step was announced. Clop. Clop.

"Acelina," Jes said, "walk quieter. If you don't learn how to live outside the spire, you're going to--"

"I fully intend to make it back to the spire, eventually."

"Ha, yeah well, that's a nice thought and all. But you saw that ravine when it was done growing, right?"

"I... did not."

Jes snorted. "It's fucking huge. Cuts clear across Hell, and I can't glide across it, let alone you. So unless the spire can repair Death's Grip somehow, you're fucked unless you make the trip around the donut."

"If what you say is true about the ravine, and Zelandariel truly is dead"--David did his best to not flinch at the weight in her voice--"then perhaps I will find a new home with Azailia."

"Dump Zel and go for Azailia instead? Rich."

"Are you implying I--"

"You never really loved Zel. You just wanted more power, and--"

Acelina spun around, flared her wings, and took a swing at Jeskura with her claws. She did not go for a backhand or a punch. She tried to claw out Jeskura's throat.

Say one thing about Jes, she was great at fighting. She jumped back instantly, leapt back in after the swing was over, and went for Acelina's gut.

"Jes!" David yelled.

Jes stopped mid swing, claws inches away from raking Acelina down her exposed side. Acelina knew it, too. With a slow, deep snarl, Acelina slowly stood back up straight, eyeless face aimed down at the gargoyle, wings flared until they hit the tunnel walls.

"You're lucky David's an unmarked," Jes said.

"Am I?"

"Yeah, you are. He's nice, and fuck me, for some reason I kinda like keeping him happy." Jes stepped away from Acelina and gestured ahead. "Keep walking."

Acelina aimed her obsidian, blank face at David, mouth closed so her whole head was a black void.

"He wants to keep me alive because I can prove useful. Nothing more."

"Nah. He wants to keep you alive because he feels bad for you. You fell out of your precious spire, can't get back, your so-called love is dead, and you can't survive on your own out here. Sure, you're useful, and that's why I didn't kill you before, at least until Caera says to. But right now? Yeah, David just feels sorry for you. Poor dumbass just can't help it." Jes stepped back, stood beside David, and gestured ahead down the path again. "Get walking."

Acelina half turned, looked back to David again, and stood there for a couple seconds longer than necessary. She was thinking, but her mask-like face was impossible to read, even for Mia. An opaque black mourning veil would have let him see more.

But, after some unknown internal debate, Acelina clicked a few times in her throat, and resumed the march.

"Yeah yeah," Jes said, half chuckling.

"What'd she say?" David asked.

"Nothing."

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~~Mia~~

The hellquakes had done more than rip a canyon through Death's Grip. They ruined the tunnels, filled them with big rocks, and made the journey a gigantic pain. Mia had been concerned maybe they'd winded up in the hatching pit tunnels, but a lack of demons -- and skeletons -- suggested they had not.

Vinicius walked ahead of her, still holding the hole in his side, but no longer bleeding from his wounds. Zel's heart probably helped heal him, but he was still pretty fucked up. He needed to eat again, and they both needed rest. Her brother definitely needed to eat, too, to heal all his injuries.

Poor guy. She'd never seen him hurt so bad, and even with all those wounds, he'd managed to keep holding her. Would he see things when he ate a heart? Probably. Whatever was strange about them, they both seemed to have what the other had.

That gargoyle Jes was pretty, though. Angry and loud, too, something David probably appreciated. He hated indirect, subtle women. Was he fucking her? Probably, if he had the same aura issue Mia had.

She cringed and wiped the mental image of her brother having sex from her mind. What she needed was a talking topic, to distract herself. Anything to get her mind off Hannah.

"Think the hatching pit tunnels got exposed to that canyon? The spire mothers told me about how the spires birth too many eggs, so they put good eggs into the pit and let them fight to survive." She shivered and rubbed her arms. "I can imagine how bad that'd be, if they're strong enough to climb the canyon wall. There are lots of demons around in Death's Grip, but not so many you can't avoid them. Imagine if it was just... swarm of demons, everywhere, all the time?"

Vinicius said nothing.

"Think Adron or Kas survived? You burned Adron pretty bad, but I think he'll survive. Think he'll heal? I don't know how much demons can heal from their wounds. Like, your shoulder spike. Will that heal?"

Vinicius said nothing.

"Kas though, he was fighting the rider, and after seeing what the rider did to Diogo, and to you"--she gestured to his arms--"I'm terrified he might have... died. God, I hope not. He and Adron, they..." If she'd been back on the surface, back in her normal boring awesome life, losing her virginity the way she had would have been so ridiculous, so unbelievable, so dreamlike, she'd have spent a month trying to accept that it'd actually happened. Plus, lots of angry yelling at them for doing that to her without her permission. Plus, lots of feeling very torn about it, and the two men.

She'd spent sixteen days as a ghost before coming to Hell, and now had over a week in Hell herself. Maybe she'd just become desensitize to absurdity, with all the orgies she'd seen and other craziness. Even so, she wanted Adron and Kas to be alright. They'd been nice to her in their own ways, even Kas. And now Adron didn't have Hannah anymore, so he'd be super sad, and... and...

She sniffed, shook her head, and wiped her nose. The look in Hannah's eyes lodged itself in her mind and refused to go away, the confusion on her face, the moment of realization. She hadn't expected to get hit. She didn't mean to die. She didn't... She didn't...

Mia stopped walking, clenched her hands into little fists at her sides, and bit down a sob. But another one followed it, and another. Soon, she was crying, and she stared down at the cruel rocks beneath her feet as her vision blurred.

Vinicius said nothing.

"Asshole," she said, and she sat against the tunnel wall. Hannah's eyes met hers, filled with surprise before looking for Adron's. Only at the last second did the poor girl understand what was happening. And then she died. Died, and fell next to Mia.

Vinicius stopped. No way he cared about her. He was just stopping because he couldn't go far 'of his own will', according to the stranger. Whatever. He wasn't allowed to attack Mia, so she could sit down and cry her damn heart out if she wanted.

"Hannah didn't deserve this. Any of this." She gestured around at the dark tunnel and its few amber veins as if it represented all of Hell. "Yeah, she did some bad things, but no one deserves to get tortured like remnants do! And Hannah didn't deserve 666! Now she's going to be a remnant, and die so many more times! Horrible, painful lives and deaths, and she didn't deserve that! No one deserves that!"

She planted her forehead against her forearms, arms draped across her raised knees, and cried. She heard no demons, no remnants. The tunnel was nothing but stone and rock, and might not even take them topside. How would they get out? Go back to the canyon wall and climb? Could Vinicius even make that huge climb back up?

She didn't care about any of that right now.

"Hannah wasn't the same person anymore! She'd changed. But Hell doesn't care about any of that. That's not fair! She shouldn't have to suffer! This place is stupid! I hate it!"

Vinicius said something.

"Why do you care?"

She lifted her head from her arms and stared up at the enormous monster.

"What?"

He shook his head slightly, hand still on his gut.

"Why do you care about a betrayer?"

"You saw what she did! She saved my life! She saved my life, and she didn't think she'd die doing it. It was a horrible accident. And now she's got to die so many times, just because she drank some of Adron's blood! Because she was scared and didn't want to die in Hell! And she died anyway!" Mia covered her eyes with her palms. "That's not fair!"

She hadn't cried, properly just sobbed her eyes out, since she'd died. Since before she died. She'd cried a little since arriving, a few times too, but not like this. The last time she'd cried this hard was because of a sad movie a few months ago, a full on wailing noise that made her sound like a firetruck.

Vinicius said nothing. She didn't know if that was a nice or bad thing about him. Other demons would probably make fun or her for doing something as crazy as getting emotionally wrecked by someone else dying. If she herself died, sure, that'd be worth crying about, but other people? Who in their right mind would care about someone else dying?

She would. She fucking would and she couldn't help it, god damn it.

"Now she's got to die a whole bunch of times, just to... to... to what? Go back to this tower or whatever? This thing no one even understands?" She wiped her eyes, but new tears drenched them and she gave up. "I just... I can't... It's not fair."

A quiet, long, heavy rumble flowed out of the colossus beside her.

"I've been locked in a spire dungeon for... I don't know how long."

"Probably a couple centuries," she said between sobs.

His next rumble was a lot louder.

"And the surface has grown this soft in that time?"

She got up, marched up to the giant, and reached up so she could poke him in the bottom of his stomach, the highest part she could reach.

"It's called empathy! What would a murdering asshole know about it? Nothing!" Clenching her fists tight, she took a deep sniff and wiped her eyes again. Not so quick to get blurry again, this time. "I don't belong here, in Hell! I care about people! And I'm not going to let this horrible place change that!" She poked him again, harder. "And I'm not going to let you change that, either! I'm sad because two guys who liked me might be dead, and are both at least very hurt. I'm sad because me and my brother are separated again and I don't know if he'll be okay. I'm sad because my friend died saving me, and... and... fuck off! Fuck off and fuck you!"

She glared up at him, knowing damn well she probably looked ridiculous with soaked, swollen eyes. She didn't care. It mattered that she get this across to him, that he take her seriously, that he understand.

But, he didn't understand. He stared down at her, like a statue. A bleeding statue.

Heavy silence followed, and the painful realization she wasn't angry at him, but at Hell. Okay, not entirely true, but mostly true.

"C... Come on. Let's keep going, and maybe find you something to eat." She wiped her tears and nose again, and marched on.

Vinicius rumbled, and set a hand on her shoulder. She froze like someone had just stabbed her in the spine with a giant icicle. Leash? Hello, leash, save her please?

But Vinicius didn't hurt her. He held her still until he was ahead of her, and took the lead.

She took a deep breath and did her best to slow her heart rate. That felt dangerously close to dying. She wasn't even sure the necklace worked if she was the one using it, and not Zel.

Vinicius marched on, leaning forward slightly with that dinosaur posture, giant tail behind him gently swaying with each step. A few drops of blood hit the stone.

Mia sighed and jogged up to his side, or at least beside his tail. Still a bit behind him, in case any demons jumped around a corner.

"Okay, I feel better. I can talk now."

Vinicius said nothing. He did grumble again, though.

"Not about... about empathy and stuff. I mean, about what we're gonna do." She waited for a response. None. "That woman in the armor, you believed her, and after everything that just happened, I guess I have to believe her, too. That means I have to get across Hell to the Forgotten Place. And of course, that woman didn't give me any hints on how to do that."

"If I tell you, will you release me?" Finally, dialog.

"Um, sorry, but not until we actually get there. I need to get to my brother, and apparently save the world."

The strangest sound came out of Vinicius, one she never expected. A quiet chuckle.

"You should have lied to me."

"Lied? About releasing you?"

"Yes. Lied and tricked me."

"I... probably should have done that." She squirmed and stared down at a spot of Vinicius's blood on the ground as she walked over it. "I suck at this."

"You do. But you killed Zel. And freed me. I will help you, for now."

She frowned at the big bastard's back. Damn, that was a huge back, absolutely covered in giant spikes.

"Not because of the leash?"

"I am bound to you. I cannot walk away from you. I cannot attack you. You can hurt me whenever you wish." He glanced over his shoulder at her. "You think that's enough to break me? I resisted Zel for centuries."

"So... what? You'll sandbag in protest?"

"Sand... bag?"

The cultural disconnect was going to be a problem.

"It means you'll sit down and do nothing. You can't walk away from me, but we saw with how far away I got from you when you were on the other side of the ravine. So apparently, I can walk away from you without setting off the leash. And you're saying even if I use the leash and hurt you, you'll resist and keep sandbagging anyway."

A slow nod.

"Well, I don't want to use the leash. Please don't make me."

A rumble.

"But," she said, "I once I get to the Forgotten Place, meet up with my brother, and... save the world. Ugh." Just saying it was enough to make her want to puke. "Then, I'll release you. And this won't be like Aladdin. I'm not gonna--right, you have no idea what that is. I'm not gonna back out on my word, because as far as I'm concerned, demons do what demons do, and just because you have a very demony, violent history doesn't mean I should use that as an excuse to make you a slave." She didn't bother waiting for a response this time. "So, how do we get to the Forgotten Place?"

"Unless Hell has changed, False Gate."

"False Gate? You mean, where the vortex is?"

Vinicius nodded. Even the nods were subtle, like a big nod might shatter his stoic demeanor.

"How far is that?"

"We journey counter-clockwise." Well, at least he knew what a clock was. "We cross the Black Valley, and Angel's Spine. Then we deal with False Gate."

"The Black Valley, then to Heaven's Tears, and then to the Unholy Lands."

Vinicius stopped and looked down at her. "What?"

"It's the real names. Black Valley's right, but Angel's Spine used to be Heaven's Tears. False Gate used to be the Unholy Lands." She smiled up at the beast. He tilted his head to the side slightly. "I wasn't lying. I can read the ancient language, and Zel showed me Lucifer's book and it showed me all these symbols and runes and stuff. The real names for the provinces were one of the things it showed. The Forgotten Place is really Frozen Heart."

He rumbled slowly, digesting the information, before resuming the march.

"If your brother is to meet us, he must cross the Grave Valley, the Scar, the Red Pits, and the Navameere Fields."

"That... sounds further."

"Almost twice as far."

"Oh god." She threw up her hands. "Oh god! He might not make it! I might get there before him, and have to do this without him! I might--"

Vinicius snapped a hand out, and she jumped back. His palm collided with the wall, and the beast stumbled forward. Each step earned a drop of blood, and one of his raptor feet left a big bloody footprint.

"Oh god. You okay? Sit down. We start the trip tomorrow."

Shaking his head, Vinicius pushed himself off the wall, and kept walking.

"I will heal."

"Yeah, and you'll heal faster if you sit down."

"I need food."

"Yeah, I know. But you ate a few hours ago, so you should still have some of that in the gut, right? It'll heal you over the next few days, from what Adron told me."

He rumbled, but sure enough, he only got a few more steps before stopping.

"Twilight will be here soon."

Twilight meant hellbeasts on the hunt. Would goorts move around in the tunnels? Or maybe some really scary stuff?

"Alright, let's keep moving until we find a good place to stop?"

After a few seconds, she got a nod out of him.

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They didn't find a good place.

Vinicius confirmed they weren't in a hatching pit tunnel, and based on the bloodgrip vines and the upward tilt, he figured they'd run into some forks that'd eventually lead up. The tunnels were networks, intersecting with each other and creating a maze. The only way to figure out how to get around was to either memorize the maze, or follow a combination of the bloodgrip, and your nose. She couldn't smell anything other than rocks and blood. Naturally, Vinicius refused to elaborate.

The best place to rest they found was a sort of dip in the wall, a shallow alcove maybe twenty feet deep and wide. No bottleneck, which was bad. A bottleneck was easy to protect.