~~Day 95~~

~~David~~

The next morning.

They had to go talk with Septima and figure out what the plans were. She'd be staying in her spire, but he still needed to have a sitdown with her and make some plans about crossing the Scar, and whether he should stick to stealth or maybe get himself a force of his own, a small army.

But for now, fuck. He was tired. They were all tired.

He sat up and looked around at the girls, all naked, all cozy on the blankets, all snuggled up to each other--some more than others. Acelina and Caera had fallen asleep with David, and last he remembered, he'd fallen asleep on Caera's breasts.

But these weren't Caera's breasts. The tiger lay beside his legs. And yes, Caera was huge and had large breasts, but whatever pillow his head was currently on was colossal. Acelina's boob. He sat up and blinked down at the massive demon lying under his torso. Apparently, he'd moved around a bit in his sleep. Or maybe Acelina had taken him and put him to rest on her bust while he slept?

Was she still asleep? Nope. She reached up, put a hand on his face, and shoved him back hard. He fell back on the blankets with a flomp, spread arms and legs, staring at the ceiling. Okay, so much for bonding with Acelina.

Daoka crawled over, chirping and clicking, and pulled David's head up onto her lap. But instead of helping him up, she kept his head there, smiled down at him, combed his hair with her claws, and chirped some more.

Caera got up, stretched out cat-style, stood up on her hind legs, and smiled down at David, too. "I suppose Dao deserves some time with you," she said. "If Acelina is going to be a bitch."

"I am not a bitch," Acelina said. She didn't get up, instead content to sit on her side, legs out to the side in her usual ultra-feminine way. "I am royalty. Latia. Laria. Lasca. Laara. Dress me."

The little ladies hopped up, wiped the sleep from their eyes, and like good miniature demon soldiers, scampered around and fetched Acelina's armor. They weren't good servants. They tripped over some armor pieces, and the blankets, and several of the armor pieces they gathered and brought to Acelina weren't hers. She scoffed, sent them away with a flick of her wrists, and they came back with armor attempt number two, and three, and five.

Moriah and Tsila both stood up, and Moriah summoned her potram clothes. But before Tsila could, Laoko came up behind the angel, set two hands on her shoulders, two more on her head, and lightly tugged on her long, black, braided ponytail.

"I enjoyed last night," Laoko said down at the angel. Tsila tried to turn around, but Laoko didn't let her. "I will take you again tonight."

David pointed an accusing finger at the giant tetrad. "Leave her alone, Laoko. Tsila, I'm sorry about last night. Laoko--"

"It's okay," Tsila said. "They're demons. I knew what I was getting myself into when I agreed to go on this journey. And I enjoyed myself."

Laoko grinned with her usual, subtle, evil smile. "See?"

Cue the staring match. David eyed the tetrad, and she eyed him back, daring him to say what he was thinking. He didn't. What could he say? 'You got dominant with Tsila last night because you're looking for other ways to usurp my strange position as 'leader' of this group?' If Laoko wanted to initiate sex with the girls without him, he was hardly in a position to tell her no, especially with Tsila, who he'd never touched in the first place. The girls weren't his.

Sighing, Daoka leaned down over David, kissed his forehead, and when he tried to sit up, she pushed him back down and combed his hair some more. Trapped. She wanted one-on-one time. He could do that.

Matching Dao's sigh, Jes came over, sat beside David, and danced her claws down his chest. "Too many bitches in this group," she said. "I vote we get rid of Laoko and Acelina."

Before what was probably an innocent jab started a fight, David shook his head.

"Acelina and Laoko are way too useful. And I like them."

Jes rolled her eyes. "You just like their giant tits."

With an evil chuckle to match her subtle smiles, Laoko came over and knelt beside David. Her kneeling next to him was enough to bury him, Jes, and Dao under her shadow.

"Can you blame him?" she asked, and she used all four hands to play with her bust. Caressing, massaging, squeezing. Through it all, her skin stayed dark red, eliminating most of the jiggle, thank god. She wasn't aroused, just playing her usual games.

Tsila came over, still naked, and knelt beside Laoko, leaving David encircled by naked women. Caera peeked up over the ring of ladies and looked down at him, raising an eyebrow at the sudden circle of ladies surrounding him. The Las joined in, too, fitting in the space between the ladies, and Lasca kneeling between Laoko's legs; she had the room.

Daoka chirped and gestured at the women. They nodded. She clicked and chirped. They nodded and clicked back once. She gestured a few more times, patted David's forehead, clicked twice, and the ladies all nodded yet again. Acelina, Caera, and Moriah stood around the ladies, looking down and into the circle, and Daoka made sure to gesture up at them and chirp at them, too, earning a smile from Caera, a groan and eye roll from Moriah, and a scoff from Acelina. But they all nodded eventually, too.

And no one translated a word.

Satisfied, Daoka smiled down at him and combed his shaggy red hair, like she hadn't just given everyone a lecture that she refused to explain to him. And with his infinite wisdom, David didn't press her for one. She gave him a big smile, leaned forward, and pressed her breasts together, burying his face and smothering him. This was apparently becoming a thing.

It only got worse. "Fine," Laoko said, agreeing to whatever Daoka said. She leaned forward, and went breast-to-press with the satyr lady, and David disappeared under their busts. Uh oh. "But I think Tsila should be involved. She's earned her place, has she not?"

Jes laughed. David could barely hear it through the layers of softness, like he was suddenly underwater.

"You got a thing for angels?" Jes asked.

"I do." Laoko sat back, and David sucked in a needed breath. "Look at how soft." The giant tetrad scooped Tsila up and set the angel on her lap, facing away from her. With a subtle grin, Laoko combed Tsila's enormous wings, and the slim angel sighed happily, complete with the joyful expression of a cat getting petted just right. "And David has neglected her."

"She's not neglected," Jes said. "Just new to the group. And besides, David doesn't need to spread his legs for every girl who comes along."

"Nonsense," Laoko said. She wrapped Tsila's neck with one hand, held her hip with another, and used two more to comb her gorgeous wings. "You do not understand gabriem like I do, gorgala. They are touch-starved. They spend thousands of years drowning in the gaze and caress of horny souls, and when they come to Hell, they are robbed of it. This little gabriem"--she gestured to the slim naked woman sitting on her lap--"cums with a mere touch. I think we should collar her, leash her, and treat her as our doting sex slave."

Tsila's eyes widened. She flapped her wings, but Laoko tightened her grip on the girl's neck, the wings went limp and fell, and Tsila's expression melted, too. Definitely touch-starved.

Moriah came to her rescue. She swatted Laoko's head with her own wing and plucked her friend from the evil tetrad's grasp.

"She is not a toy," Moriah said. She faced the gabriem and eyed her. "Right?"

Tsila sighed and kicked at the blanket like a disappointed teenager. "I am not a toy," she repeated monotone. She did not sound as if she agreed with her new babysitter.

"Get dressed."

"Very well." With another sigh, Tsila donned her potram rune.

That was the cue for everyone to get up and get dressed, and David used his God-given right to watch them get dressed. Laoko knew he would, too. She made sure to get dressed directly in front of him and made a show of putting on her breastplate, squashing her enormous breasts within.

"Daoka," Laoko said, "may I speak with the boy for a moment?"

Daoka tilted her head and eyelessly looked down at David. Before he could respond, she nodded, got up, and left him to fend for himself from the giant woman now standing over him. He almost asked for help. Too late. Laoko reached down, scooped him up by his wrists, and walked him off to the side of the room.

The Las followed, but she shooed them away. "I wish to speak with our fearless leader for but a moment. Alone."

The Las whined but walked away, and Daoka patted their heads, combed their dreadlocks, and helped get the little red goblins dressed in their armor.

"What do you want to talk about?" he asked.

Laoko set him down on his feet by the wall, knelt in front of him, and looked him in the eye. Close and personal. That was actually unusual for Laoko, eye-level communication. She usually preferred to keep a little distance, usually through her height.

Hey, look at him, analyzing behavior. Mia would be proud.

"I wanted you to know," she whispered, "that I appreciate what you said yesterday. You like me." She smiled, decidedly less evil than usual. "I like you."

He froze and stared. This was like when you flirted with a girl and, against all odds, she flirted back, and your brain short-circuited, unsure of how to continue.

"Yeah?"

"Oh yes. The others, even Caera, they do not consider the large picture very well. The totality of the Great Tower? Of existence? You do. You see beyond the immediate, and that appeals to me. I appreciate your mind, little boy. And your body." She teased a claw down his naked chest. He hadn't summoned his potram clothes yet. Woops. "I fully expect to butt horns with you regularly."

"Um, good?"

"Do you not wish for that? You said you enjoy arguing."

"I do, very much. But, I mean, more like debating? I don't want to argue just for arguing."

"Of course." She nodded, plucked at her very, very long dreadlock ponytail with one set of claws, and the other three poked him in the chest again. "I am simply warning you. I am used to being in charge, young soul. You will regularly have to fight me and challenge my opinions. I expect you to do so. That is the agreement, yes?"

He gulped. "It is, and I will."

"Good." She leaned in closer and nudged her nose against his. He froze solid. This was very affection for Laoko. "Do you realize how unusual it is for so many demons to congregate around a single soul?"

"It--"

"It never happens, little boy. Caera has bonded with you in a way most demons do not. Jes and Daoka adore you. Acelina likes you more than she would ever admit to herself. The Las idolize you. And Moriah finds herself drawn to you, despite the wound you dealt her."

He squirmed and snuck a peek at the other girls. They were chatting, helping each other get their armor on, and even laughing.

"And Tsila?" he whispered.

"I am not sure about her yet, except to say that she is a gabriem, and that means she craves human touch with every ounce of her grace. You would do well to appease her."

"I uh, I mean, I'm not against it, but I didn't exactly plan to sleep with every girl who comes along."

She shrugged. "As long as the demons closest to you are fine with it, does it matter? I know that betrayer Naoko would love to have a taste of you."

He winced and snuck a peek at Caera. Thankfully, she didn't hear, or she might have come over and started a fight.

"I don't know. Caera--"

"You are no demon, David, and while the girls have explained it, I will explain it again. You are a soul, and demons crave you. Angels, too. But they know all too well another human can steal that away. Steal you away. Or have you not seen how humans behave with each other?"

"I get it. I do." He frowned down at the metal floor and scratched his head. "Okay, I don't get it. Why demons are okay sharing me with other demons, but not other humans? I still don't really understand, but--"

She flicked his nose. He blinked.

"If you ever decided to fuck another soul, Caera and the others would be deeply offended. You are their bonfire, not to be consumed and stolen by another fire. But... if the others brought Naoko to you, to be used like a toy by them upon you, they might not only agree, they might find it thrilling."

"More thrilling than a succubus orgy?"

"Much more."

He squirmed again. Laoko had obviously had some experience with human romances, and he dared not ask.

"Either way," he said. "I'm not going to suggest it. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I'm sleeping with so many women."

"Your aura seems to thrive on it."

"Pretty sure any horny young guy would have an aura like mine if he could."

Laoko laughed, stood up to her full height, towered over him, and combed his hair with her fingers. One hand was enough to bury his head under her palm and claws.

"I will speak to Caera later," she whispered.

"Uh, what?"

"About Naoko."

"No no no, don't do that. We don't need--"

Laoko shoved his head, same as Acelina had earlier, back toward the pile of blankets. He landed with an oomph, and Daoka strolled over, chirping and clicking something at Laoko as she helped David back up. Another private conversation, no translation, earning another playful chuckle and wicked grin from the gigantic tetrad as she walked on by.

"Come on," Moriah said. "Leave the boy alone. We must speak with Septima."

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

They went back to the throne room, and David almost got PTSD thinking they'd need to scale the height of the whole damn spire again. They did not. Everyone got comfortable in the Hell-decorated room, Septima sitting on the far-too-large throne of bone, with several brutes standing around her. The angels didn't wear their armor this time, either, just their potram silks. Maybe as a show of trust, or as a challenge, suggesting they didn't need their armor or weapons to kick demon ass if it came to it. The brutes with Septima eyed the two angels, tiny eyes in their large, skull-like faces locked on them. Horny, maybe? It was the Scar. Everyone here was horny.

"We'll be going soon," David said. "Figured we should make some plans."

"Yes," Septima said. "Plans are good." She'd donned her armor for the occasion. Maybe she wanted to look presentable, or command presence. No wonder Zab and Tacharius didn't like her. She was the straight man in a world of horny jokers. "I am sending Tacharius with you."

David raised an eyebrow. Sure enough, someone else stepped through the doorway, and everyone turned to look back as the incubus stepped into the room, wearing some black silks.

"Heya," he said.

"Do we need him?" Laoko asked, gesturing back to the incubus. "We are entering the Red Pits. What value will he be?"

"Tacharius knows how to talk," she said. "And because he's going to talk to Tatiana. She's going to join you, too."

David tilted his head. Tatiana? Oh, right, the third and final bailiff of the Scar.

"Where is Tatiana, by the way?" David asked. "She must have come closer when Tarkissa used the spire aura and summoned everyone, right? I figured she'd be here by now."

Septima groaned and idly rubbed her new horn, like a kid rubbing a fresh wound. "She likely did come closer, and then returned to her side of the Scar the moment the aura vanished. She has little interest outside of taking care of her side of the Scar and Floor, and it is that side that shares a border with the Red Pits. You will meet her, and you will take her as a companion on your journey, at least until you have stopped the unmarked from Navameere Fields."

David did a double-take between Tacharius and Septima. Tacharius shrugged. Apparently this was par for the course, dealing with Septima's bossy attitude, made a hundred times worse now that she was the spire ruler.

Laoko wasn't so easily swayed. "I have met Khazeer. I can speak with him."

Septima was not deterred. "I don't know what history you have with Khazeer, but Tatiana knows him well. She has dealt with the spire ruler of the Red Pits multiple times before. She is going, tetrad. She is going because it makes sense, and if I am stuck here as spire ruler, the least I can do is make sure your mission to save the Great Tower goes well. A few incubi and succubi on your journey will hardly draw attention."

"Few?" David asked, raising a brow. But a glance back at Tacharius explained, Zazee the succubus poking her head around the doorway from outside, and the three betrayers Fuad, Natalie, and Naoko behind her doing the same. Uh oh.

"They'll help make sure nothing bad happens while you go through the Scar," Septima said. "And when you reach the Red Pits."

David winced. Mostly because if Zazee was coming, that meant Naoko was coming, and from the look Caera gave the betrayer, the petite Asian girl was likely to die in a sudden 'accident'. So much for Laoko's idea of the demons using Naoko like a sex toy.

"Any objections to this?" David asked his girls. "Anyone?"

Everyone looked at each other, scanning for any objections, any reasons not to let these tag-alongs join in. They didn't look happy, but Septima did have a point.

"They will probably die," Acelina said. Well, that was one reason, and it got a small gasp from Zazee and her betrayers.

Septima shrugged. "That is a sacrifice I am willing to make."

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

David didn't like ceremony, but leaving the spire was so unceremonious, he almost felt robbed.

He walked out of the spire with his crew, and David, his girls, Tacharius, Zazee, and the three betrayers started the march, same as they'd done weeks ago. A casual walk across the Scar. A few days ago, he'd had a small army following him. No more army. Domnius had gone in the opposite direction to start an army and be a blockade against the Grave Valley, but that army wouldn't include the volas. And the volas had been all too happy to stop fighting and go back to their usual indulgences.

Well, it wasn't all quiet. As he stepped out of the large, open area in front of the spire and back onto the terrace steps of the Scar canyon, succubi and incubi waved at him. Hundreds of them. Thousands, even, in the distance. Some cheered. Some jumped and waved. Some showed off their asses and squeezed their breasts, hoping for a distant touch, maybe. David waved at them, and several succubi on the step below giggled up at him, blowing kisses.

Okay, he felt better. A sendoff was nice. A good stroke for his increasing ego.

Zabulon the incubus waited for them, smiling. "I guess this is so long?"

"For now," David said. "I'll be back someday."

"If you survive. If any of us survive."

"Which reminds me. Domnius has already made a run for the border with the Grave Valley. He's going to get every imp and grem he can to play guard and stop Azailia from being a problem." David stepped up and poked the incubus in the chest. "You're going to help him."

"I am?"

"You are. Your club in the Floor is near the Grave Valley. If Azailia comes through and stirs trouble, your club is one of the first to fall. So you're going to work your connections and make sure Azailia doesn't come through. If that means arming a hundred thousand volas, and imps and grems too, then that's what you'll do."

Zabulon sighed and let his arms drop. From running a club of indulgence to being on the front line of a potential conflict. Poor guy.

"I suppose if I must."

"You must," Laoko said. "Unless you do not mind Azailia taking over the Scar."

"I mind. Quite a bit. I'm not a fan of her."

Laoko frowned. Zab didn't know Laoko and Azailia used to be friends, but the tetrad didn't mention it. She walked past him, leaving the incubus with a raised eyebrow.

"Thanks for the help," David said, and patted the much taller man's shoulder. "I am serious. I'll be back at some point and make sure things are going well. That also means you'd better follow the new rules. Stop treating damned souls like cattle. Capture and kill them, sure, but do not hold them as slaves or meat farms, or torture objects."

"But they're--"

David glared.

The incubus sighed again and put up his hands. "Very well, unmarked. The Scar will no longer trade in souls. God help us if Azailia and Khazeer both decide to punish us for that."

"You'll figure it out." David smiled at the man and walked past him.

Time to start yet another fantastic, amazing journey, full of sunshine and rainbows.

Yeah right.

He looked back at the girls and smiled. Caera prowled directly behind him, with Jes and Dao at her sides. Laoko was ahead of him, with Moriah and Tsila, the most powerful of their group. Acelina and the Las hung out in the back, the little ladies running between Acelina's thighs, risking getting stepped on but somehow avoiding it.

His girls. Or rather, he was their boy, if his conversations with Caera, Acelina, and Laoko were any indication. Even Daoka probably thought of David as 'hers', in a tender, motherly kinda way.

Behind Acelina and the Las, walked Tacharius, Zazee, and the betrayers Fuad, Naoko, and Natalie. They stayed close to their vola masters, but Naoko snuck a few glances at David and risked a thumbs up and grin.

David didn't ask why they were coming along. Emergency food source? Battle fodder? Human shield? He didn't want to know, but Zazee and Tacharius didn't go anywhere without their betrayers.

"You know," Jeskura said, coming up behind David and setting her claws on his shoulders, "we aren't getting through the rest of the Scar quickly. It's a long walk, probably fourteen days. I bet Septima would appreciate it if we visited some of the Floor's clubs, and made sure they were obeying the new laws. Or at least know about the new laws."

David rolled his eyes and smiled back at the gargoyle. "Up here, it's a lot harder to get ambushed. No one can drop on us from above." He gestured up at the giant mountain on the right, and to the left, at the canyon of the Scar, with various bridges below of bone and metal connecting to the opposite side where another mountain awaited. "But down there." He pointed down to the left, and the terrace steps leading down into the Floor, where indulgences of every kind were explored. "Kind of easy to get jumped in a dark alley, you know?"

"Oh come on! People know who you are now, and they saw what you did in the battle. Plus, you got angels with you, and a tetrad. Even Acelina makes a good bodyguard; no one knows what to do at the sight of a zotiva outside her spire."

He sighed, but Jes hooked her arm around his neck and pressed her forehead to his as they walked.

"Don't act like you didn't like it," she said.

"Like what?"

"Having a bunch of succubi ride that dick? Dicks? Strangers, girls you'd never met, just throwing themselves at you? Stupidly hot women just cumming their brains out on you? Soaking you? You--"

Wincing, he pushed Jes away, but she was relentless and didn't let go.

"Okay, yeah, there's something sexy about that," he said.

"Knew it. Perv."

"But! But, it's not what I'd prefer, you know?"

The gargoyle knocked on his head with her horn. "And what do you prefer?"

"Romance?"

She swooned and hugged him tighter. "That's so sweet. Romance, with ten girls at once." Something poked his back, and judging from the evil smile on her face, it was her tail. "Eleven if you seduce Tsila, too."

"Ten? You're including Laoko?"

"Of course."

He groaned and looked ahead to Laoko and the angels. "I'm not sure romance is the word. Besides, I'm dating Caera."

"Don't be ridiculous. You're dating all of us."

With a quiet whine, David looked back to Caera for help. His girlfriend smiled at him and gently swiped at his ass once, making sure he felt the pinch of her claws, but she did nothing to save him from Jes.

"I'm not dating the Las."

"Why not?" She grinned and kissed his cheek. "They're sexy little... what's the word? You said it before. Goblins."

He groaned again, but couldn't help but smile a bit. This was what their journey was going to be like, a lot of teasing, all pointed at him. But sure enough, Jes leaned in and kissed his cheek again, rubbed her horns against the top of his head, and hooked a wing along his shoulder and back. It was nice. This was nice.

Moriah snuck a glance back at him, and unless he was seeing things, she smiled at him.

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

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

~~Day 98~~

~~Mia~~

Someone picked her up. She froze. Probably not the best reflex from being randomly woken up, but being stirred from the dead sleep of the afterlife left her stun-locked for a second.

Vin had picked her up. Thankfully, she didn't scream.

The titan sat a little way from the group, limping with each step, and two arms hanging limp at his sides. But he had two to spare, and he set her on his lap with her standing, and his back to the cave wall.

"Vin?" she whispered. Even standing on his legs and looking at him, he was still taller than her.

The titanic creature sighed, one hand resting along Mia's leg, another along her back, the two hands almost completely hiding her small body in his palms. But he said nothing. He simply looked down at her, and let out a slow, rumbling sigh. It was always hard to read Vin's facial expressions since he basically had the head of a dragon, a demony dragon, with a short snout and skull-ish eyes. Not exactly to read the facial expressions of.

All she could tell was: this was new.

"Vin, what's wrong?" she asked. It might have backfired, asking him. It'd probably have been better not to say anything at all. But Vin simply sat there, pondering whatever strange thoughts the old fossil liked to ponder.

So, she waited. Vin gently stroked her shoulder with a thumb, did the same for her leg, and said nothing. He took another slow breath, eyes locked on her and her body, but there was no sexual desire in his dragon eyes, far as she could tell. Fingers continued to explore her body, but did nothing more than lightly hold her and nudge her shoulders and legs.

"I..." Vin sighed and shook his head slowly. "Kasimiro would tell you eventually. I should tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"When that invader kicked me. I fell into the canyon, and grabbed the wall. I almost fell in. Kasimiro saved me. He leapt across the ravine, scaled the wall, and helped me climb."

Kas you big, beautiful shark dinosaur.

She did her best not to smile. "Yeah?"

"Yes."

"He kinda did the same thing before, right? In the Black Valley? Xela's headquarters, when you rescued James?" Thankfully Xela didn't seem to follow in Vicente's footsteps and chase them from the endless swamp.

"That was different. I was prepared to die, then."

"And... And this time?"

He sighed again, colossal chest rising and falling. "I did not wish to die."

She gulped and stared up at the titan. "I'm confused. Have you... Are you... Have you been looking to die?"

"I... do not know."

She winced. Every red flag she'd read about started waving in her head, and if she'd been back in university, she'd have called the counselor immediately. But this was Hell, and there was no counselor. And it wasn't like any demon would ever give a shit about another demon's mental state. Probably.

"Is it because of the necklace?" she asked. "The leash?"

He shook his head. Good. Much as seeing Vin in this horrible state tore her little baby psychologist heart apart, she needed him. Without his strength, she didn't know if she could get to False Gate and the Forgotten Place. And despite all their growth, she still couldn't trust him without the leash.

She wanted to. Christ, she wanted to, but she couldn't. Vin was a loose cannon who let himself go and did crazy, destructive stuff at the drop of a hat.

"Is it because of Zel? What she did to you?"

Again, Vin shook his head.

"Then... what's wrong?" she asked. "I mean, I know I can't help. And I know you don't want to tell me. But I still want to know."

Another of his heavy breaths washed over her, each nudging her long red hair back.

"Things are different now," he whispered. "I... am different."

"What? You--"

He shook his head again, ran a thumb over hers, and traced it along her hair. She did her best not to melt. No no, don't do that. Vin was an ancient killing machine who'd done nothing but slaughter for thousands of years. It was all he knew. Don't go thinking romantic thoughts. Nope nope.

He pulled her in a little closer, and she almost squeaked as she planted her elbows against his chest.

"I did not lie," he said, "when I said I wish to devour you and eat your heart."

She gulped. "I didn't think you did." And now she didn't feel so safe in his hands, even with the necklace.

"But I do not wish to see you die."

She gulped again, for a different reason. "You don't?"

"No. And... Kasimiro knew that."

She looked over Vin's arm to Kas. What was that demon's game? Kas had said he wanted change, and wanted to help Mia, but she'd just assumed he wanted to help her save the Great Tower.

Her old bodyguard lay on his side, still recovering from a beaten body, but ultimately in better condition than everyone else. Cerb lay near him, sleeping. Kas was the only demon who ever spoke with Cerb, used clicks with him, and engaged with him.

She drew her eyes back to Vin, the dragon no longer looking at her, instead looking past her to nothing, thinking about something he no doubt would not tell her.

"Kas knew you don't want me to die?" she asked.

"Yes."

"And..." She waited for him to explain the connection. He didn't, and she didn't press it. Thinking time. Vin nearly died, again, and Kas saved his ass again. Apparently, Vin didn't want Mia to die, and Kas knew that. Kas didn't want Mia to die, either. For the same reason, or different reasons?

The dragon looked down at her again, and set a hand along her back, nudging her toward him. "I do not know what is happening to me."

Fuck. She melted, and let her chest press to his. She reached up and touched his titanic neck, and petted him as best she could, hopefully without making him feel like she was demeaning him or hurting his ego.

"I don't either," she said. "But, I mean, you're still Vin, right? You want to get into big fights, kill lots of demons and souls, and eat their hearts?"

He nodded, but it didn't have the enthusiasm she expected.

She continued. "I don't know. Maybe you're... um..." Fuck, how could she explain this? "Think back to your"--she stopped herself before saying childhood--"earlier years, thousands of years ago, if you can. Way way back. Have you ever had a demon at your side you cared about? A betrayer, maybe? Anyone you kept with you when you went on your hunting trips?"

Vin shook his head. "Only the rider. And only because his thirst for blood rivaled my own."

Not exactly what she meant, but the fact Vin was talking to her was a giant step.

Had Vin really changed by being close to Mia for the past couple of months? Her little heart went aflutter at the thought. No, stop it, don't give in to silly thoughts. Vin had burned her so many times in the past, showing he liked her, then didn't like her, back and forth.

But he had changed.

No, stop thinking that. This was exactly how girls fell for killers and ended up being the next victim.

Or maybe this was exactly the sort of situation where a deadly monster like Vin could change, if someone just held out a helping hand? It wasn't like all demons were ultra-violent monsters. Kas wasn't. Adron wasn't. Romakus wasn't. Even Julisa wasn't... as much as some other demons.

Vin looked down at her and tilted his head, probably wondering the same damn thing she was: what was going through the other person's head?

"Did you want to talk about... stuff?" she asked.

Vin waited a few seconds and shook his head.

Well, she couldn't have much of a therapy session if Vin wouldn't talk to her. But maybe...

She pressed her cheek to the big guy's chest, and waited. With her ear against his pectoral, she could hear his heart beat, massive and slow, each thud a heavy bass thump straight into her eardrum. Soothing, in a strange way, and for a moment, she felt like a kitten curled up against its mother's chest, listening to its heartbeat. She braced for Vin to push her away.

He didn't. He kept one hand gently nudging against the back of her legs, the other against her back and shoulders, and he didn't quite hug her, but he did keep holding her. And the longer she stayed pressed against him, the calmer she felt, and the calmer his heartbeat became.

So she just rested against him, and listened to him breathe.

The others were still asleep, recovering, and once the rekindling morning came and the amber veins brightened, they'd wake up. She'd grow a forbidden tree then, make sure they got more food, and they'd all probably stay in the cave for another day or two. Maybe she'd try doing that hellquake trick with James, to communicate that she was alright. If they weren't moving for a couple of days, Yosepha and Noah would probably panic, or the angel equivalent, trying to figure out what had happened to her.

But all that worrying could wait. She pressed her body up against Vin's torso, turned her head, and listened to his heart with her other ear. Badum. Badum.

He didn't stop her, and the minutes slipped on by. If he and the others were in better shape, things might have even gotten sexual, but everyone was beat up, tired, and healing broken bones. On top of that, Romakus and Julisa, and maybe Kas weren't happy with her. No sex.

It was better this way. Knowing Vin just wanted her near, no sex involved? Her poor heart fluttered some more, and she nudged her forehead into his sternum and giant chest, melting in the feel of his hard, enormous body under her skin.

He slipped his fingers around her waist. She braced for the inevitable, of being set aside, the titan demon done with her. But he didn't do that. He set her on his leg, and let her lean back into the nook of an arm. Like leaning back on a recliner couch.

She smiled, rested her cheek against his side, and let sleep take her.

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

Morning came, the rekindling. The amber veins pulsed brighter, and the internal clock everyone had in Hell told them to wake the fuck up. Mia got to work before anyone said a thing, and ignored the knowing glance of Romakus, and snarky grin of Julisa as she slid off Vin's body.

Time to fix the mess she'd made, or at least mitigate. She reached out with her sixth sense and listened to the strings, feeling for the shape of Hell. All there, and unchanged from yesterday. She listened for any music beyond the constant background hum of existence. Nothing. She felt no vacuum silence from the aliens, or any song from the Old One hunting her.

She played a quiet note and waited. Nothing. She played another, gently shook the ground around them, and waited. Still nothing. She played a little louder, stirred up a small hellquake in the area, and waited. Unless she played obscenely loudly, the ocean presence of Hell wouldn't come to her, and if it didn't come to her, the black eye beneath it couldn't spot her.

Beelzebub was a different story. It could hear her song. The question now was, could it come to her if it heard her, considering how injured it was? It'd already been injured before the battle had started, covered in ancient wounds that weren't healing, and its battle with the aliens and Dobasi's demons couldn't have been easy for it. How injured was it now? Did the aliens and demons hurt it more since Mia and the crew ran?

She had to risk it.

She hit the strings hard enough to launch a proper hellquake, enough to send not-so-subtle vibrations out for kilometers in all directions, but mostly counter-clockwise around Hell, toward James. Dah, dada dah dah. Shave and a haircut.

She waited, holding her breath. No vision of an unmarked dying meant James had to be alive. Hopefully.

Relief washed over her as two small vibration pulses went through her feet, and the distant sound of silent strings played. Dah dah. Two bits. Thank god. Thank God.

"The boy is alive," Julisa said. "Are you, Romakus?"

The tetrad sighed, tested his wing and arm, and shook his head. "Nope. Dead as a doornail."

Mia rolled her eyes and suppressed the urge to scold the asshole for making yet another reference to the surface world. It wouldn't be fair of her. Romakus was angry with her, but he had good reason to be. Mia's actions could have gotten them all killed.

Mia got on her knees beside Cerberus and petted dopey head. Sure enough, dopey head looked up at her and made a dopey grin, showing some very sharp teeth as he panted.

"Sorry, Cerb," she said. "I'm sorry about the battle, and..." Sighing, she petted serious head and boss head, too. The horns on his lion-wolf heads looked fine, but the black spikes of his lion's mane were not, and she made sure not to comb any of the damaged ones. Maybe they'd come out naturally, like shark teeth. Or maybe not. Maybe they were like broken pin feathers! Those could bleed, and bleed and bleed and kill the bird and--

She shook her head hard and scanned over the rest of her hellhound's wounds. They were closed, mostly. Cerberus would live, but he wouldn't be moving for another day or so.

Mia reached out with her sixth sense again. The wall she'd sculpted for their little cave was multilayered and thick. And after fucking around with the music for over a couple of months now, she'd gotten pretty good at shaping stuff. She'd made the wall look natural. They were safe, and could rest, as long as no one tracked her down by her song.

"Kas?" Mia asked. "You okay?"

Kas flexed out his limbs, tail included, clicked once in his throat, and nodded.

Mia returned the nod. If he was upset with her, he kept it to himself. She appreciated that.

She summoned a forbidden tree, and she made damn sure to do it quietly. Gentle notes, subtle, tugging at the flowing death of millions of distant remnants. It used to be difficult, but now it was... still difficult, but doable. She reached far, guided the flowing resonance within Hell's blood, and brought it to a center point in the cave. A tree sprouted up from the rock, and over the course of thirty minutes, she made it grow over a meter high, and grow half a dozen forbidden fruits.

"Here," she said. "I know I almost got us all killed. And I know I got us into a pickle." She gestured at their little hideout. "And I still think I made the right call. So does Vin." She looked his way for confirmation, and smiled when he nodded. "Regardless, I got us in this mess. I'll get us out. But I'll need your help. So, here." She plucked a fruit and gave one to everyone, Cerb included.

Romakus eyed her, growling, but he took a bite of the fruit, and even the asshole couldn't help but groan a little at the satisfying meal.

"You've separated me from my angel," he said. "Who the fuck am I supposed to fuck when you inevitably let your aura go, Mia?"

She froze. "I uh... I won't--"

"Yeah you will. Slut."

"What the fuck. I am not a slut!"

Julisa shook her head. "You are, down to your bones, a slut."

Mia blushed bright red, head to toe, glared at the two tetrads, and marched away. "I don't know! Just, jerk off, I guess? Or fuck Julisa."

"Oh no, no no." Romakus shook his head like she'd aimed a shotgun at his face. "I got a good thing going with Yosepha, and sure, she might be a slut like you--"

"Hey!"

"--and secretly crave having two or seven cocks in her at once, but I know she won't sleep with anyone while I'm not with her. Least I can do is return the favor. And this way, she won't lop off my head."

Mia couldn't help laughing. "How did you ever get with an angel? You're so... crude! And crass. And awful."

He touched his chest like she'd offended him. "I am a gentleman."

"You're a menace."

Shrugging, and then wincing with pain, he leaned back against his wall with Julisa and gestured to Mia. "Just try and keep your sex drive under control, unmarked."

"I can do that," Mia said, glaring.

Julisa laughed, but didn't say anything. The sly grin said it for her.

There wasn't any point in arguing with them, and it wasn't like they didn't have a point. Whatever. Things were bad, and now wasn't the time for sex.

Mia wandered over to Vin and handed him a heart. He took it, and unless she was inserting meaning where there was none, he was a little more careful than usual not to hit her with his claws. What the fuck happened between him and Kas? Again? He hadn't gone into details, and she knew asking would only push him away.

"Ankle feeling better?" she asked.

Vin stuck his foot out and wiggled it. Mistake. He growled at the appendage and slowly set it back down.

"Another day and I will be able to move."

Move, not run, or fight. She didn't say it.

"Alright," she said, and faced the group. "So everyone rests and sleeps for another day. And tomorrow we see if we can move. Sound good?"

"We have no choice," Julisa said. "But yes."

Mia nodded, sat with Cerberus, and petted the bestest boy in Hell's heads as she fed him some forbidden fruit.

Tomorrow, they'd start down the path along the ravine, hopefully run into Noah and Yosepha, and maybe even Adron and the others.

Adron. Fuck. She still didn't know how to tell him about Hannah. Should she even? Julisa thought she wouldn't, just to spare Adron's feelings, and to Mia that sounded like a good thing. But Julisa had a point, too. Keeping the truth from people to spare their feelings was manipulating them. Everyone deserved the truth, no matter how much it hurt.

Worry about that later. For now, survival.

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

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

~~Day 110~~

Two weeks later.

Somehow, he managed to resist the lure of the succubi and their dens of indulgence. It wasn't easy. Every day they walked, they drew nearer the Floor, stepping down terrace steps to get deeper into the Scar. Not because it was safer; it wasn't. Not because it was faster; it wasn't. But because the girls wanted to relax. They'd spent so much time fighting for their lives and risking everything, night and day. They wanted to visit the clubs, watch the scrying pools, and dance. And dancing with a bunch of succubi meant a lot of breasts jiggling and rippling.

He couldn't resist much longer. Sure, he was having sex with his girls every night, literally, but that only seemed to make his sex drive grow, and the girls knew it. They danced, swung their bodies around, waved their asses -- and tails -- and enticed him in the large, thronging piles of succubi all longing for the touch of the man who'd defeated Tarkissa. The unmarked.

Apparently, they hadn't believed he'd just be a little guy, a young man. And apparently that only seemed to entice them more. He practically had to fend the succubi off with a stick, which his girls thought was hilarious.

They continued the journey. On his left, the ravine vanished. No longer was it a nigh-bottomless pit to the darkness below, and the three Old Ones, trapped and wounded for billions of years, each looking for ways to escape. Now it was like the Scar when he'd first entered it, no ravine, and canyon walls made of terrace steps on his left and right that held the nests and caves of the succubi and incubi that indulged in their trade. Some traded in sex of the most absurd sort. Some traded in damned souls, wrists bound and ready for transport. Some traded in obscene displays of violence that David put a stop to immediately.

The Scar was leaving a very weird aftertaste in his mouth, like biting into food that was simultaneously delicious, and too spicy.

The group slowed, and David looked around at the grotesque display of skin pulled across walls, stretched on metal hooks. Dead flesh didn't last more than a few days, from a soul or from a demon, so it was always fresh. Skulls dangled from chains. Some complete skeletons were strewn around, sitting against the tall walls of the terrace steps that surrounded David and the girls. Plenty of the skeletons were demon. Some were human.

Some music pulsed with bass nearby, and the group stopped.

"Here," Tacharius said, and he gestured to a cave.

Like many caves, this one's entrance was tall and wide, with a few hundred chains dangling from the entrance's roof, like a hippie's beaded curtain, except the beads were spiky, and liable to cut his skin if he weren't careful passing through them.

Tacharius went first and extended his arms out like he'd suddenly become hyper-flamboyant and was making a grand entrance.

"Tatiana!" he said, and David waited for the 'darling' to follow. It didn't, but it sure sounded like it should have.

Laoko followed him, then the angels, then David. He looked around and winced, not because of anything grotesque inside the cave, but because it was, yet again, a large cave filled with silk and sex. No one was even dancing. Everyone was on the floor, fucking.

The Las ran around the crew and dove for the pile of bodies. They were the only imps and grems in the cave, since David's order hadn't spread yet, or was just taking a while to affect the culture. But before the ladies could throw their still-armor-clad bodies on the pile of soft vola flesh, Laoko grabbed them out of the air, one hand for each, and she held them up by their horns, like she'd caught cats by the scruffs of their necks. The girls whined and dangled helplessly.

A succubus stood up from the pile and didn't even so much as cover up the fact that her juices soaked her sex and dripped down her thighs. A few months ago, the sight would have made David break like a dam made of twigs. But the past ninety days had been full of so much sex, he didn't let the succubi's blatant post-sex state get the best of him. He kept his aura from leaking as the woman stepped around the betrayer girl she'd just been scissoring, and stood in front of David and the crew.

She was tall for a succubus, as tall as Jes at only a few inches short of seven feet, with more than a few scars on her body. Succubi were usually very curvy, and while Tatiana certainly had curves, she was also definitely slimmer than other succubi, with small breasts on her lean, tall frame.

The scars were battle scars. It took a lot to give a demon a scar of any kind. He almost asked, but stopped himself before he put his foot in his mouth. Mia would have praised him.

"You must be the unmarked," Tatiana said. She folded her arms across her chest below her small breasts. Earrings. Necklace. Pierced nipples. Pierced navel. Pierced clitoris hood. Each piece of jewelry was a small thing of black metal, and David glanced back at Acelina and the egg she held in her arms. Acelina had her armor on, but otherwise, same fashion sense.

"I am," he said. "David." He turned, gestured to the girls, and listed them off by proxy. "Laoko, holding Lasca, Laria, Latia, and Laara."

The little ladies cheered.

"Five Las!" Lasca said.

David continued. "Moriah and Tsila." He almost added 'of Azoryev', but maybe they'd prefer the less information shared about them, the better.

Tatiana raised a brow and looked the two angels up and down. If David's lack of a mark didn't impress her, seeing two angels with him did, but she tried not to show it.

"Caera, Jeskura, Daoka, and Acelina, all from Death's Grip."

Slowly, Tatiana's tight lips grew into a grin. "All women. The rumors about you are true."

David put up his hands. "It's coincidental, I swear."

Giggling, Daoka gestured, clicked, and shook her head. No translation needed. 'No it's not.'

"What brings you to my humble abode?" Tatiana asked. "When I realized what the spire aura was about, I went back to my den the moment it released its hold on me. I did not care for Tarkissa, and I understand he is now dead, and Septima rules in his place?"

"Yes," Tacharius said. "I don't like it anymore than you, but I think it's for the better. David's got some new rules he's put in place."

The incubus casually stepped over a couple of incubi sucking each other and leaned against the giant scrying pool in the center of the cave. The music wasn't loud, as if in a passive state, background noise. An orgy was, apparently, the passive state of the whole club, considering how happily and lazily all the volas continued to fuck while listening to the conversation.

"David has put in rules?" Tatiana asked. "He is not the spire ruler."

David smiled, a little more confidently than he probably should have, but conquering an entire province definitely inflated his ego a bit.

"I am the spire ruler," he said. "Just not in the physical sense. Septima is my steward. This province is mine. I won it, fair and square."

Tatiana slowly tilted her head to the other side, and her short dreadlocks shifted across her larger-than-average-for-a-succubus horns.

"The power of the unmarked," she said. "Is it not exaggeration?"

David held his hand to the side, and summoned a spike of rock up from the floor, causing the surrounding ground to sink slightly as he reformed Hell with a tiny, silent melody. Tatiana jumped back, and the sex demons froze as David spun the forged spike of stone in his hands, before he handed it to the tall succubus. With a hesitant hand, she took it and stared at the smooth blackstone spear.

"The issue," he said, "is the strongest stuff, the sort of abilities I could use to destroy entire regions, is..." Tell her? Tell her. If she was coming with him, it paid to be honest. "You know about the invader?"

"I have heard of this strange alien creature, yes."

"If I play the music--use abilities that let me do things like that"--he gestured to the spear--"except on a grand scale, I might summon the invaders to my location. They try to kill me, and any demons in their way."

"The invaders will just... arrive?"

"They'll rip the whole damn province in half from the ground up." He pointed at the ground. "Tacharius knows. He saw it happen."

Tatiana looked to Tacharius, eyes wide, and the incubus nodded.

"It was insane," Tacharius said. "Angels died in droves."

"Angels!?"

"Yes," Laoko said in a queenly voice, almost like Acelina would. "This invader will come for us all eventually, without needing the unmarked to guide them. Maybe today. Maybe tomorrow. So we journey to False Gate, where we will find a way to stop this madness. And you will accompany us, at least to the Red Pits spire."

"I will... what?" Tatiana gestured around at her volas, all of them frozen and listening. She stepped over to the scrying pool, barked an order, and it went silent. "You want me to do what?"

"It's true," Tacharius said. "Septima wants you to play diplomat in the Red Pits. You know Khazeer, intimately." And the incubus emphasized 'intimately'. "Right?"

Tatiana sighed, and her skin went from inviting red, to dark, unaroused red in seconds. She scooped up some red silk from a rock, settled it over her shoulders, and quickly tied it into a dress that crisscrossed over her breasts and hung around her hips as a loose skirt. Fashion aficionado, from how easily she did that.

"I do not agree to this plan," she said.

Laoko chuckled. "Does that matter?"

Tatiana glared up at the tetrad before setting her angry glare on the rest of them. But with time, the anger passed, and she slowly looked back at David, sighing.

"And the unmarked coming from Navameere Fields?" she asked.

"I'll deal with her," David said. "And kill her if I have to."

"You can kill an unmarked?"

"Wouldn't be the first time."

She raised a brow and looked at the others. Laoko and Tsila didn't react, but the Las, Jes, Caera, Daoka, and Acelina had all seen what'd happened, and they nodded. Moriah frowned.

"And when do we leave?" she asked.

"Now."

"Now!? Now--now--you can't be serious. You--"

"You knew we were on the way," Jes said. "Don't act like you didn't see this coming."

Tatiana's shock faded to frustration again, and she aimed a hard glare at Jes. David took a small step to the side, in case any errant fists came flying his way.

"I had hoped," Tatiana said, "that my volas were wrong."

"They were not," Acelina said. And unlike Laoko, her queenly voice boomed. "Now prepare yourself. We go."

For all everyone's talking, it was the spire mother, slowly stroking David's egg, that shut everyone up and sunk the reality in for poor Tatiana. She turned and pointed at a few of her fellow volas.

"You heard the zotiva. We go. Gather my armor. Get ready, my pets. We make for the Red Pits."

David raised a hand. "Uh, pets?"

"Yes, of course. I am not leaving my home without bringing my closest lovers."

David facepalmed and looked at the girls, but before anyone could suggest maybe not bringing yet even more sex demons on their journey, Acelina nodded.

"A reasonable request," the spire mother said, and aimed her eyeless gaze at everyone. Right, because of course the woman used to being pampered by an entire spire could understand a spoiled bailiff needing her entourage.

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

~~Day 111~~

This was not how he'd expected this to go.

In the original plan, he'd either have him and his girls, sneaking across the Red Pits, or he'd have a giant army overflowing with demons, each armed with meera armor and weapons, ready to take on anyone in their path. The second option was a pipe dream, but the first option was perfectly fine.

What wasn't perfectly fine was dragging newcomers along. He didn't say it out loud, but he was thinking it. Baggage. When David had first come to Hell, he'd been nothing but baggage to Jes, Dao, and Caera. But he'd quickly become valuable because of his abilities.

The battle at the spire had proved the sex demons could fight, just not nearly as well as any other demon breed. Even the imps and grems, while smaller and weaker, had the advantage of being total psychos that swarmed their enemies. The volas were a liability.

If things went according to the new plan, they'd get to the Red Pits, meet Khazeer, and Tatiana would negotiate. But there was a problem: Khazeer was probably at his spire, in the center of the province. That meant two, maybe three weeks of traveling through Hell, and that was always dangerous. Less dangerous, now that he didn't have to worry about being betrayed like last time, hopefully. Even so, they'd be out in the open where a roaming, uppity tetrad and their gang might find his group and start a fight.

Logistics. Tactics. He rubbed his temples and tried to forget about them for a bit. For now, the goal was simple: walk forward.

He looked behind him. Two incubi, Tacharius and one of Tatiana's men. And with Tatiana, three other succubi. Three more betrayers too, all men, along with Naoko, Fuad, and Natalie. David's group had gone from him and the eleven girls, to including six volas and six betrayers, doubling its size.

Tatiana stepped ahead of him, spearheaded the group, and gestured out at the ground as the two mountains of the Scar fell away, opening up to the Red Pits.

To the left, Hell exposed its edge, hundreds of kilometers of flat ground that revealed the distant red ocean that surrounded Hell. With Hell being completely flat, the distant colors blurred into nothingness, with no horizon to create any sort of dividing line. To the right, it was the same thing, except instead of the endless ocean, a distant island sat in the center of the River Styx. From here, all he could see of it was a colossal black storm, with dark clouds that reached down from the ember sky almost like a tornado, burying the Forgotten Place. How far was that? A thousand kilometers? Two thousand? Just a tiny blur of color from such a distance.

"Welcome," Tatiana said, "to the Red Pits. Watch where you walk."

The Red Pits. The name was not misleading. Before him, the province stretched on, and nothing blocked his line of sight to look straight across the entire land. It was fucking freaky. Death's Grip had a hundred titanic mountains. The Grave Valley had fog and buildings. The Scar was a canyon, with two god-sized mountains running parallel with it. The Red Pits had none of that, just empty, clear air.

What it did have, was pits. While David and the crew were free to look straight across the entirety of the province, the ground beneath them was anything but flat. It was full of bloody pits, pits David recognized. They'd run into some before, deep below the surface of Death's Grip.

A chorus of screams rose from the pits, and David sighed as he peeked down over the edge into the inevitable horror show below. Remnants. Thousands of remnants clawed at each other, tore into each other as they tried and failed to pull themselves up out of the rock. The pit was deep, a few dozen meters, with harsh slopes that'd spell doom for anyone unlucky enough to fall in.

The Red Pits. True enough. The pit before David was red, the rock a mixture of black and thick veins of crimson, permanently stained by blood. Between the pits where thick paths weaved, the ground was black with occasional, distant structures David couldn't get into focus from this far. But the pits themselves were coated in red lines, only growing redder on the way down until the pit turned into a pool of blood at the bottom.

"Fuck me," he said. "I'm going to go deaf, crossing this province."

Tatiana chuckled and gestured out over the pit in front of them. "There are paths where the pits are spread, and the sound distant. But be careful where you step. Pits can open up underneath you, and they grow rapidly. I have seen demons pulled down into a pit they did not expect. And even remnant hands are strong enough to kill a vola when there are a hundred of them."

"Oh. Great. Quicksand! Childhood fears realized, just fucking wonderful." He threw up his hands and rubbed his face. "I never thought I'd say this, but I think I'd prefer tunnels. The fuck are we supposed to do if angels spot us?" Nothing but clear, burning skies overhead.

The succubus shrugged. "Dig us a tunnel with your abilities?"

"Tunnels are hard! Very hard, and complicated. It's--fuck, it's complicated, but I can't do tunnels easily. I can kinda create a big cave, I suppose, and make a ceiling, but that might be obvious from above. I could dig the hole deeper, but even then that'd displace a lot of ground and--"

"It's hard, I understand," Tatiana said, rolling her eyes. "At the moment, to any angels flying above, we would look like a small roaming band of demons and their betrayers. There are many in the Red Pits. I doubt they would simply swoop down on us. On you."

"I thought this province was militant? Had a military and whatnot?"

"It does. More than half the demons of the Red Pits are a part of Khazeer's army, and wear meera armor, wield meera weapons, and practice combat."

Daoka chirped, tilting her head.

"Yes, practice," Tatiana said. "I know, demons rarely practice skills. But Khazeer has channeled the aggression of demons here into use. They spar. Sometimes demons die, more often than Khazeer would like, but those that survive grow skilled."

Moriah and Tsila traded glances.

"Angels are born with the knowledge implanted," Moriah said. "If we practice, it is not to grow skilled, but to awaken the knowledge already there."

"Khazeer knows demons are not so gifted," Tatiana said. "He holds his place as spire ruler through both might and wisdom. We must be careful with him. I will do my best to seduce him, and--"

"Seduce?" David asked.

"Yes." The tall, thin succubus stood up straight and posed, running the back of her hands down her long body. "How else would a volara negotiate? We are demons from the Scar, after all. Indulgence is our trade."

He almost said something stupid like 'okay but only if you actually want to'. Asking a girl to fuck a guy for political reasons didn't sit well with him, but this was Hell, and surface rules didn't apply. He swallowed his misplaced concern and nodded.

"Thanks," he said.

She blinked at him. This again. But instead of giving her the spiel that he was a nice human and actually used words like 'please', 'thank you', and 'you're welcome', he started the trek ahead down the black path between two giant pits. Everyone followed.

They got a whole five minutes into the journey before Acelina stopped.

"David," Acelina said. "The egg will hatch soon. Very soon."

He froze. "Uh, whe--"

"Now."

"Oh. Oh! Fuck. F... Fuck!" He scampered over to Acelina as the spire mother sat and set the egg on the ground between them. He sat with her and held up his hands. "It's early! A week early! What do we do!?" Did the egg know they were entering a new province?

"Just wait, foolish boy."

Tatiana groaned, but Zazee and the other two succubi clapped their hands and gathered around Acelina.

"You said it was a goort?" Zazee asked. "All the goorts the Dens raised killed their masters eventually." And with that warning, the six betrayers in their party backed off.

Demons didn't have the same sense of self-preservation. They gathered close around Acelina and David, sat in a tight circle, and everyone watched, eyes wide -- if they had them -- and aimed at the large egg stirring on the ground.

Something punched David in the gut, and nausea swam up into his throat. The egg was going to hatch. The egg was going to hatch! Why hadn't he considered this before? He'd said the words, knew it would happen, but now the egg was actually hatching, and a new life was about to force its way out of it and into his care.

Did fathers go through this whiplash? And this wasn't even a human! It was a hellbeast. Just a mindless creature, a--

The dark red, leathery shell of the egg split. Moisture spilled from it, a strange liquid, the sort you found on any creature breaking its way out of an egg, but David looked up at Acelina with worry anyway. She didn't respond, watching and waiting. He sucked in a slow breath and did the same, watching the creature push itself out from the layers.

Hooves poked through the egg, black, and twitching. David gulped. More layers broke away, falling to the black stone paths of the new province, exposing more of the goort inside the large, oval shell. Four hooves. A horn. A horn? He did a double-take and looked at Acelina, but the spire mother shrugged and gestured back at the egg.

Goorts didn't have single horns. They all had two, ram horns, big ones that curled back in classic ram fashion. But this little goort had a single, large horn sticking up from its forehead. It wasn't short, either, but something that stuck out long, sharp, and straight from the little critter's forehead.

As more of the shell broke over a couple of silent hours, Acelina finally peeled away some of the shell, but only the parts that no longer stopped the creature from breaking free. She wanted it to struggle for its freedom. With each piece, she slowly revealed the small creature underneath, small compared to other goorts, anyway. It was already the size of a Great Dane, eyes still closed, and just as lanky.

"Goorts," Tatiana said, standing and staring down over David's shoulder, "are not born this large..."

Acelina pulled another fragment of shell away, and everyone gasped.

"That's a wing!" Jeskura yelled. "What in the fuck."

The straight horn was strange, but wings were stranger. David almost fell back as the creature stood up on shaky legs, and in classic newborn horse fashion, tried to walk. It failed, collapsed on its knees, and tried again.

"Um, Acelina," he said, watching the mini-pony-sized horse stumble around. "It has wings."

"Yes, I see that." Slowly, Acelina unfurled her wings, gave the giant curtains a gentle shake, and settled them to her back again. "Goorts do not have wings."

What could he do? He shrugged. "This one does."

"Apparently."

David gulped and looked around. His girls all watched with bated breath, eyes locked on the stumbling creature. It really was the size of a large dog, but most of that was leg, and its body lacked much for muscle. Maybe that'd change as it grew older, but right now it was a skinny thing, and it wobbled as it walked around.

It spread its wings, and everyone stumbled back to make room. Massive wingspan for such a small creature; small relative to the demons. David was a small guy, and a Great Dane was nearly as big as him normally. He stood up, frozen, staring at the creature as it stumbled some more and wandered in a circle as it tried to stay upright.

The third time it fell, David scooped a hand under its chest and helped it stand.

"Don't," Acelina said. "It must learn to walk on its own."

"Yeah, I get that, but there's a sweet spot between learning on your own and getting help."

The spire mother tilted her head. "What?"

"The sweet spot. If you give someone a task that's impossible, they don't learn very quick trying to do it. Give someone a task that's too easy, same thing, they don't learn much doing it. Give someone a task they can barely do, but can manage, and they can learn very quickly. And helping them a little, just a wee bit, in that circumstance is where the magic happens." He smiled up at the giant woman as he helped steady the wobbly horse again. "I mean, that's how it works on the surface, according to Mia."

"Perhaps." Whatever she thought, Acelina took a step back along with everyone else, and they gave the trembling goort some space.

David did too. Could it stand? It could. It stared at him with its red and black eyes, and pawed at the stone ground a few times with a hoof. He had no idea what that meant. Surface horses were hard to understand, with body language absolutely nothing like a human's, or dog's, or cat's. How the fuck was he supposed to understand a goort's?

The goort fluttered its wings, its body no longer wet as Hell whisked away the juices of its egg. Slowly, it figured out what its wings were, how they worked, like a baby first learning how to grab things with its fingers. It looked back at its wings, past it along its red skin and to its tail covered in spikes. Then it looked at David and wobbled toward him.

David froze and looked to Acelina. "Um, what do I do what do I do?"

Acelina shrugged, and for a fraction of a second, let her shark smile come through. "Why are you asking me? I know little of hellbeasts. Ask Tatiana."

But Tatiana shrugged again and took another small step back. "I did not run any den in the Dens. Neither did Tacharius or the others." She gestured back at the one other incubus and three other succubi with her.

David looked to his girls, but they all shrugged. He was on his own. And the goort had sharp teeth, not the flat teeth of a horse. It even had fangs.

It was like some sort of undead vampire unicorn pegasus. Like, if the actual Pegasus had gone to Hell and been reborn.

But the wobbly horse with wings didn't charge at him and try and skewer him with its single horn. Instead, it came to a stop in front of him and looked up, waiting. It lightly clopped the ground a few more times, each quiet strike making almost classic clop clop noises; lack of horseshoes deadened the sound.

David squatted in front of the horse again, and waited. He was ready to dive to the side if he had to, or push the goort over; it'd be easy with how wobbly the creature was. But it goort walked toward him, eye-level with him, and waited. It was waiting for something. Everyone was waiting for something.

David took a slow breath, reached out, and set a hand on the goort's head. It pawed at the ground with a hoof again, and nudged its head into his palm. It had small horns along the ridges of its flat skull, and David's fingers nudged along them. He rubbed his thumb across the horse's nose ridge, too, and it whined at him, a whinny sort of sound.

It was a strange sensation, and David didn't know how to process it. Despite its height, it was just a baby, a wobbly baby he could have pushed over with the tiniest shove if he'd wanted. The beast pushed its head into his palm, almost like a playful goat kid, or maybe just like a baby horse looking for some comfort from its mother. No way could David hurt this thing.

But it wasn't a horse. It was a goort, a hellbeast, and despite how large its eyes were for its head, giving it the baby horse look, it had teeth ready to shred and kill. A strange combination of cute and scary. But the body language was all cute, and David closed his eyes as the goort came closer and pressed up against his side, shoulder to shoulder. It leaned against David and gave its weak wings a small shake.

David gulped and looked down. The goort took it as an invitation to rub the side of its head against the side of David's. David closed his eyes, and something wet rolled down his nose. For a moment, David thought maybe it was the hellbeast's drool. No, it was a tear. His tear.

He sucked in a quick breath and wiped the tear away, hopefully before anyone noticed. Fucking christ, where did that come from? He took a few more breaths and tried to settle the strange bubbling sensation in his chest.

Mia had always told him he needed a pet, something to punch through his brain, something real, something not on a screen or in a book. He had no idea, no fucking idea at all, what it'd be like to have a creature try to press up against him, just to get close.

"Strange behaviour," Tatiana said. "All the goorts I've seen from the dens, the moment they hatched, they grew violent to at least some extent, biting and such." She stood over the mini horse and grabbed it by the cheeks, aiming its face at her. It whined.

David pushed her hands away. "I think it's safe to say it's not a regular goort."

"Where did you get it?"

"Hell birthed it for me, in the Scar's Dens."

Tatiana tilted her head. "I... what?"

He grinned at the succubus and stood up. Even standing, she was over a foot taller than him, like the angels, like Jes, so the hellbeast looked tiny compared to them. But compared to David, it wasn't small at all, and the Great Dane comparison was apt. It stayed with him, stood at his side, and stared up at the now-standing demons towering over it.

"In the Dens," he repeated. "We visited a goort breeder, and I heard Hell calling me inside. I went in, and an unusual egg came out. Acelina's been taking care of it since."

At the mention of her name, Acelina knelt down in front of the goort, and waited. The little horse turned and faced her, pawed at the ground with a hoof, and wandered closer. It ignored everyone else but her.

Acelina held out a hand, and sure enough, the goort did for her what it did for David, and pressed the top of its head into her colossal palm. Its head disappeared between her fingers, and Acelina idly rubbed her thumb along its nose, and her claws along its neck and the spikes there. The volas and betrayers watched, confused, and David's girls almost dropped their jaws, eyes on Acelina, not the hellbeast.

After more than a minute of silence, Acelina stood up. The goort stared up at her, waiting for more touches, but when Acelina didn't give it, it turned around and half jumped, half stumbled its way over to David again. It kicked out its front and back legs, maybe only just now realizing it had them, hopped around some more, and instead of falling over, spread its wings for balance.

It didn't quite try and kill David, but it did have a sharp horn, and it was tripping over itself, experimenting with its balance. David laughed and jumped back before an errant charge almost sank the horn straight into his guts. Put a whole new meaning to the 'testicle protection instinct' fathers built when hanging around their children, always at convenient ball-punching height.

"Okay little guy," he said. "Okay, calm down." If Mia were here, she'd probably have melted and died from cuteness overload. Maybe she'd get lucky and get a hellbeast of her own, too.

"This will slow us down quite a bit," Tatiana said, "and that's assuming this beast doesn't kill us come twilight."

Daoka chirped and gestured at the hellbeast.

But the succubus shook her head and clicked once, herself. "So you say, but goorts have been known to feign passivity before attacking. That said, they usually travel in herds. Without a herd of its own, I have no idea how this one will behave."

David petted his new pet, and again, something warm tingled inside him when the horse pressed into his palm. Mia had been right. With another slow, heavy breath, he forced back another tear. You're a man, damn it. Don't cry just because you're experiencing some emotional vulnerability.

"This is important," David said. "I'm not making this shit up. Hell played a song for me, and music is how I control Hell. I went into that den and came out with a strange egg. Now look at it. It's a winged goort! With a unicorn horn!" The other features didn't seem worth mentioning: the red skin still soft with youth, the black hooves, the tail covered in spikes, the spikes along its neck, the sharp teeth, all that was normal hell horse goort stuff. "You ever seen something like this?"

Tatiana sighed and shook her head. "No. This is new. I am... forced to admit that I did not appreciate the degree the unmarked are... special. This is insane. Hell does not simply birth new, random hellbeasts like this."

"I think," Laoko said, "we should see if this creature will follow us, and not simply throw itself into a pit with its pathetic legs. If it cannot keep up with us, what will we do?"

David winced, but the woman had a point. He set a hand on the goort's neck and waited for the reaction. It didn't mind. He gestured out ahead, on the wide path of black rock that weaved between the colossal pits. The goort did not move. Could he train a horse to recognize gestures?

He took a step forward. The goort stuck behind him. He took a step back. The goort tripped over its legs turning around, but got up and followed him. Herding behavior. Perfect.

"Let's start walking and see what happens?" he said.

Laoko nodded, and everyone fell in line. Laoko and the angels at the front, David and the rest of the girls in the middle, and Tatiana, Tacharius, their succubi, the other incubus, and their betrayer friends followed in the back.

Like a foal in a herd, the little hellbeast trotted along, looking around with curiosity at the people that surrounded it. Clop clop, its hooves were quiet, and the sound was oddly soothing.

The Las came up close to the hellbeast and walked alongside it.

"I ride?" Lasca asked.

David did his best not to laugh, or melt with the cuteness of the idea. Men did not melt! But the Las were cute little goblin ladies, and the goort was like a mini pony. It'd be so perfect.

"Not yet. Maybe someday. It was only born a few hours ago. And--" He stopped, and the crew stopped with him. "Before we go any further," he said, gesturing out to the long province ahead of them, "let's make sure we're all well fed, and the goort too."

"You want us to go hunting now?" Tatiana asked.

David grinned at the succubus, shook his head, and held out his hands in front of him. "Just hold tight for a second. With this many remnants around, this should be easy." He plucked a silent string and played a silent tune.

"Hold tight?" she asked.

Jes laughed. "It means wait."

"Wait for what? For--"

A small forbidden tree sprouted from the ground. Those who'd never seen David do this stared, some with dropped jaws, as a spindly, withered tree poked up from the rock. Forbidden trees were ugly things, and the fruit they grew might as well have been organ meat for their size, texture, and color. But it was infinitely better than eating a person's heart and absorbing their memories.

David plucked a fruit and gave it to his new horse. The sight was strange. Horses chewed, while the hellbeast half-chewed, half thrashed. It fumbled with the food, dropping it over and over until it realized it could step on it and tear off pieces with its teeth.

"What are you gonna name it?" Caera asked. She prowled closer, and the mini horse stumbled to the side, and fell. She laughed, but in that loving way mothers did, and it got back up and finished its meal.

"It's a winged horse," David said. "I don't really have much choice what to name it, do I?" He smiled. "I mean, what to name him."

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~~Author's Note~~

Thanks for the love readers. I'm taking a break. Expect PoH to return in mid March.