The Ritual

"Thank you, we wanted everything to look real. You two were awesome!" He smiled even if the demons missed a sizable bonus when the humans won.

"We spent a hell of a lot of time practicing that." Leilani showed off one of the blades. Pressing a button on the hilt caused a bladder to press out between either side of the blade. With a practiced motion, the sword would adhere to the bag as it was drawn across a neck. The demons would then pierce the pack with their fingers. It was why the demons had to hold the throats of their victims, or it would ruin the illusion.

"The suits wanted to put it in with CGI later, but I convinced them that everyone would play along better if it looked real." The man who played the role of the prime stepped into the conversation; the tall olive-skinned gentleman had shed his purple paint. He was holding hands with the African American that had been on an altar when Ren was initially led into the structure. Both were still nude and had diamond rings on their hands. "It was Leilani that perfected the setup that finally got the okay."

There was another sizable bonus available to all the contestants if they played along; Renee tried to treat every moment as genuine. She had no doubt that the demon's continued employment depended on how realistic the whole thing felt.

Getting selected to be on the show had been a months-long process. There were interviews and auditions. They each had to get naked to be judged on their physical appearance. After they had been pared down into an extensive set of couples that wanted to participate, a complete medical workup and STI tests were carried out. A thick packet of paperwork to be signed and notarized was one of the final tasks before they waited for the abduction and game to start.

Dae had gotten to know their fellow guardians far better than Ren had with the people in her area. Then again, it was a little hard to do much conversing with a gag in your mouth. Renee let him be the one to introduce her to his new friends. "This is Miss Givens. I wouldn't have been able to provide you with the intel you used to win without her help, babe." Her boy never let go of Ren's hand as he showed her off.

"It's Mary. This is my fiancé, Vinny. I wouldn't have even made it into the park without you." The petite, spunky redhead held up the man she was with's hand.

They were both still naked and sat across a glass tabletop from a married couple that had been an incubus and succubus. The two demons had sex with the pair on the altars earlier. The woman had a warm brown skin tone that reminded Ren of Dae's eyes. Her husband was Filipino and no longer had yellow body paint, but his hair was still bright red. The two couples had such a good time together that they would spend the weekend playing at a hotel before going home.

"Congratulations." An unassuming man in khaki shorts came over and shook their hands. "I hope I didn't come off as too much of a creep."

Renee couldn't place the man or his voice, but he looked her in the eyes with sincerity. "Uh... thanks?"

"Oh, you don't recognize me without the robes or," The man's voice changed tone and timbre, sending a shiver down Renee's spine. "The voice." He must have seen the discomfort on Ren's features as he switched back. "I think my character is getting a little too evil, but it's what the directors want." He didn't overstay his welcome before he wandered off.

"You two won, but I think I did too." Amber, the petite brunette from earlier, was still naked. She was draped over the lap of a smiling black man. His muscles still had hints of orange paint that contoured his pecs and biceps, making them look bigger. "This guy goes to my school. We're both Grad assistants. He's in networking, and I'm in communications." Ren had assumed that Amber was far younger than her actual age. The pair seemed deliriously happy.

"I think Amber's right. It's Andrew." He offered his hand to Dae and then to Ren. "Though I may have to go by Andre now. Amber can be persuasive." His smile was radiant as he embraced the impish woman in his lap as she turned to kiss him.

Some of the individuals that had performed on the altars had been plants. The prime's wife and the man that had gotten only a handjob from the succubi soon after Renee was brought into the ceremony were both actors. The bride, the pregnant woman, the man that couldn't stay erect, and the Latino that went off a little early were all placed by the crew to give off a little more realism.

At the back of the party, still in the open but uncaring who watched, the red demon that Renee was so close to fucking, was having sex with the middle-aged woman from the altars earlier. He had lost his ram's horns but retained his red body paint. The woman was riding his massive cock without shame.

The virgin was having sex with a nerdy boy that Dae let Renee know had also been a virgin before tonight. They were kissing and making slow love on a couch. Maybe they needed a push to start having fun with each other. Dae and Renee looked at each other with a smile as they walked past.

A tall, blonde man that seemed like a surfer dude, if this city had been near an ocean, was railing the emo girl from earlier. Renee and Dae would have been content to walk by them wordlessly on their way to the bar, but the man met Dae's eyes and pulled out of his woman. "Dae! Congrats. This is Ren, I assume." He waved them over briefly as the petite tattooed girl sat up.

"Yes, sir. Ren, this is Caleb. We needed that information on how to beat the seekers. Is this beauty Marnie?"

"The love of my life." Caleb leaned over to kiss the woman. "It's a weird way to celebrate our fifth anniversary, but..." He paused a moment as he slid his long cock into his wife. "We both had a good time and made enough money to pay off the loans so we can finally start a family. Are you two going to have kids?"

"A couple, at least." Renee smiled, they knew each other's views on children.

"Good, whew!" Marnie was struggling to talk as they had sex. "You two are so cute together."

"Thanks." Dae smiled at Renee as they let the couple get intimate. She could see complete agreement on the plan in his eyes.

The program featured one hundred teams pitted against demons with their trials and tribulations relating to one of the deadly sins each season. Lust had long been considered unfilmable; wrath and pride had already been through a cycle several times in the dozen years the program had run. The humans had rarely won the event but had come close in the last couple of years.

Dae had one last table to swing by before they got at least a minute to themselves. Her boy liked to style himself as an introvert, but he made friends everywhere he went. An eclectic group of eight people was seated around a table, passing a bottle of whiskey. A woman with blazing pink hair sat beside a tall guy that was just as pale as her. The guy had an electric blue mullet. They were both naked and immodest in their posture. To their left was a beautiful, vivacious, plump Latina sat beside a tall thin man with dark caramel skin. They were both wearing street clothes.

Sakura, the Japanese woman that had escaped for a while and inadvertently provided a ton of intelligence, was naked, while her husband wore a robe. At the head of the table was a black man with a smug expression that quickly evolved into a proud smile as he offered a hand to Dae.

"You climbed the back of the ziggurat, didn't you." The man's opposite arm was around a stunningly beautiful blonde woman. They were both wearing robes.

"I had it easy. My badass fiancée free climbed the back of the structure and gave me a rope to follow." Hearing Dae call her his fiancée sounded incredible.

"We were about ten minutes behind you. Wendy and I had to link up with one of the other defiled couples to try and get a split purse. We wouldn't have had time to win, but it almost worked."

Renee and Dae got a bottle of champagne and found a quiet booth to slide into. Her fiancé put an arm around Ren as they basked in each other's presence. The real world would be back after the weekend, and trying to act like everything was normal until the show aired was challenging. "We did it, babe." Ren couldn't stop smiling. Yes, the millions of dollars were a huge boon, but finally, getting together with Dae was far more critical. "Any regrets?"

"Yeah, one that is going to haunt me forever." Dae stared off into the distance.

"Oh no, what?"

"I can't believe I fell asleep last night before we got together." Dae smiled and came into a kiss.