~~Author's Note~~

It's been a while since I've done proper descriptions of the characters and world concepts. Forgive me while I re-describe some things and characters. Most authors do this every novel, but I've been putting it off. Book 5 is a good time to do it again, I wager.

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~~Day 98~~

~~Mia~

Another day, another night. She wanted to get moving now, but Azreal needed to recover, and Vin too, despite his protests to the contrary. His ankle was fucked, and sure, he'd heal fast, especially since she kept his belly full, but a wrecked ankle took longer than a day to heal.

"Let's wait a couple more days," she said, standing in the middle of their little makeshift cave. "The rider... Cain, is out there, looking for us and James. Beelzebub fought off those aliens I bet, and he, it, whatever, is looking for us, too. I don't think he can just wander the province, though. He's trapped and injured."

"You let him out," Romakus said, sitting against the cave wall beside Kas.

"Beelzebub's not free. I don't think it's as simple as just the location, right? Asmodeus got out back in the Black Valley, but he didn't act like he was free. He came at me like I was all that mattered, and I got lucky and put him back underground. But it never seemed like he was free." Mia waved a hand. "My point is, I don't think we have to worry about Beelzebub just popping up out of the ground like a daisy and catching me. His followers... I dunno, but we can handle a bunch of emaciated betrayers, right?" The group nodded. "Dobasi, on the other hand, I'm not sure. Think he's still alive?" Dobasi, the spire ruler of Angel's Spine, probably wanted Mia dead for the damage she caused.

Romakus sneered. "He is tough to kill. He's in his spire, recovering from using the aura, no doubt. And considering his lover died, he's going to blame you for that, Mia. Not to mention the thousands of demons who died to the invader, and Beelzebub. Not to mention the physical damage--"

Sighing, Mia wandered over to Vin and sat on his leg, like a bench. "You think he's an enemy now?"

"I think he could be. He's a smart motherfucker, but he holds a grudge, too. He invited you into his spire so he could work with you; this spire is special, with the whole archangel blood pit thing. But you kinda ruined everything to save James, so..." Romakus shrugged and gave his huge wings a small flap, making the dangling skulls lightly rattle against the stone wall. "Hope it was worth it."

"It was fucking worth it!" Mia hopped off Vin as quickly as she'd hopped on, marched up to Romakus, and glared straight into his damn demony face. Sitting down, the ten-foot-tall demon's face was eye-level with her. "Three unmarked are dead already. There's six of us left, and we're probably all scattered throughout Hell. Who knows who'll make it to the Forgotten Place! And apparently, we're the fucking key to saving the god damn universe from getting swallowed up by an incarnation of fucking oblivion!" She kicked the asshole's huge foot. "So I made a decision! I saved James's life, and I made that call because I thought, in the situation I was in -- we were in -- there was a chance I'd live, too. I trusted you, and Julisa and Kas and Vin, and Dobasi and the others, to deal with the fallout!"

Romakus smirked. "You think you saved James's life, you mean. He could be dead."

"He's not. I got visions when the other three died." A cruel shiver pulsed down her spine at the memory of staring up at her brother as he beat another unmarked to death with a rock. "James is alive, and I'm going to keep it that way. The angels said he's a nice guy. He's alive, and supposedly having a nice sex life with Livian and the others. Things are looking up!"

Hollow words. Dobasi's lover, Cillia, was dead, killed in the battle, and he probably blamed her. Hundreds of demons had died, probably thousands, because of her, too. They'd looked happy to die in battle, or at least happy for a battle, but that didn't mean she didn't feel a little sad about it.

What fucking universe did she live in? Feeling bad about demons dying? If she'd still been alive and said that to someone on the surface, they'd have thought she was crazy, for multiple reasons.

"We rest," Kas said, "and then we move on. No use in thinking about what we can't change. Rest."

Mia smiled at Kas. She'd said those exact words to David in the past because her brother was the type who couldn't stop analyzing until he'd paced himself into a ditch, and she was doing it, too. She wandered back to Vin, sat on his leg again, and motioned for Cerberus. Her big dog walked over to her, sat in front of her, and all three heads waited for pets. She stroked the tops of all three heads, rubbed between his horns, and combed back his growing mane of spikes. Her precious hellhound.

"Feeling better, Cerb?"

The three heads watched her, not understanding. That was fine. She looked to Kas, and Kas clicked a few times. Cerberus's boss head clicked once in his throat.

"He says he's strong." Kas shrugged and patted the ground with his giant tail. "Hellbeasts aren't smart enough to understand nuance, Mia. It knows strong and weak, that is all. It thinks it is strong."

That made sense. Strong creatures survived. Weak creatures did not.

She rubbed his faces, leaned in, and gave each one a headbutt. He returned them in kind, and dopey head nudged his nose into her neck, looking for more pets. Not hellhound behaviour, despite how Cerb was obviously a hellhound. The only difference between him and a cannam was he was a bit bigger for his age, and had three heads. He had the small horns, body spikes, cat-like claws, a spiky tail, a mane of spikes like a lion, and cat-ish, dog-ish snouts.

He didn't act like a cannam. He was special.

"Azreal," she said.

The large angel, sitting alone but nearby, slowly lifted his head. "Yes, Mia?"

"How you feeling?"

The man spared her a small smile, the intensity of his purple -- amethyst -- eyes gone, but he gave his two wings a gentle flap. Barely.

"I will live."

"Anything I can do? You really saved my ass, you know. Flew back when I told you to go for James."

He shrugged, again a small motion, as if the effort were too much. "The sound of battle could not be ignored. Noah and Yosepha were confident they could handle the betrayers and mutants Beelzebub sent for James. You needed a protector." He gestured to himself with some fingers dangling over his knee. "I am rapholem. A protector."

She beamed at him. "You are. You--" She squeaked as giant red fingers circled her waist and set her higher upon Vin's leg, close enough she could lean against his chest.

Vin, the twelve-foot goliath with four arms, kept one hand around her waist, and rumbled quietly.

"The angel is wounded. I will protect you," he said.

Mia blinked up at the giant before poking him in the ribs. "I appreciate that, Vin, but let's be real, you're not as... stable, as an angel. You're a demon with big plans and big desires. You want to rule Hell and indulge your appetite, right? And hey, I don't blame you. Demons do demon things. And--"

"And you lack control," Kasimiro said. He walked over, walking on all fours using his long, thick arms, and he squatted down beside Cerberus. "Mia needs someone who can protect her with focus."

Kas was the most unusual-looking in the group. Romakus looked like a classic humanoid demon, with a demony, almost skull-ish face, two wings, clawed feet, a long tail, and big black horns. Julisa looked similar, just four arms instead of any wings. Vin looked like a bigger, scarier version of Julisa, four arms, giant tail, giant body spikes, giant horns, but with a short dragon snout.

Kasimiro, on the other hand, looked like a shark-dinosaur. He had short legs, body spikes, a huge tail covered in spikes, and thick, heavy arms he sometimes walked with. But most telling was his head. It was a shark's head, flat, and completely black. Eyeless, with two horns jutting forward from the sides for ramming and stabbing. He was almost as big as a tetrad, too, but with all the slouching, he never gave away his size.

Vin snorted down at Kas. "I am bound and I am committed. Do not test me, sarkarin."

"I am testing you, ragarin," Kas said. "You and all your kind could never see past your own impulses."

Mia straightened up on Vin's leg. "Kas... how old are you? I mean... I thought--"

Kas snorted and aimed an eyeless gaze up at Vin. "Old enough to be wary of a child of the Old Ones."

Mia blinked at her bodyguard. That wasn't what Kas had said before. No wonder he was such a good fighter. Demons didn't live long, but apparently Kas had been around for a very long time, longer than he'd let on. Of course he had to be the kind of asshole who didn't like talking about himself. Did Adron know?

"I think," Mia said, "that Vin's been a pretty awesome companion, all things considered. I mean, I have him leashed, and he's still helping, willingly."

Kas snorted again. "He just wants to fuck you."

Mia gulped. Kas never talked like that. She also blushed, because damn, that was forward, and she squirmed on Vin's leg.

"Well, I mean, I am very pretty," she said, summoning some bravery, spontaneity, and a smile. She grabbed the flaps of her long red toga thing -- more like flimsy strips of fabric barely held on around her neck and waist -- and gave them a little shake. "If Vin wants sex as payment for his cooperation, I'm willing to give it. And I like him. And you, too."

Julisa snorted, earning everyone's attention. But she said nothing, content to roll her eyes, smirk at Mia, and go back to doing absolutely nothing.

"Poor Julisa," Romakus said sarcastically, and he gestured to Kas with a colossal wing. "Gets to have sex with this sexy piece of man meat all the time. Well, what about me!? Yosepha isn't here! I have no one."

"I'm sure Yosepha is fine," Mia said, raising a brow at Romakus's compliment toward Kas. Kas took them in stride, even sitting a little straighter and taller. Demons were weird. "James is alive, so I'm sure she's alive, too."

Romakus groaned and rolled his eyes. "Yes, but she's not here! You've seen her naked ass, Mia, many times. You have no idea, no fucking idea, how much I need that ass in my life. It is the most amazing, perfect ass. A huge ass on a slim, fit woman! Bigger than your ass!" He gestured to Mia's ass, which was plentiful considering how tiny the rest of Mia was. She'd worked hard on it, damn it. "I need that ass back here, right now. We'd finally gotten comfortable fucking around you assholes, so I was looking forward to having my dick in that ass every night again." He gestured at the air, as if caressing two ass cheeks that weren't there. "So perfect and round and firm and--"

"We get it," Mia said. "We'll hold off on the sex until we're all back together, okay? Or at least until Yosepha is back with us. Fucking christ."

With a heavy sigh, Romakus leaned back against the cave wall and let his wings and limbs go limp, as if he'd died. "I need that ass, Mia. That perfect, black ass."

"Dude! The ass is not made for sex! Have you ever had sex with Yosepha in her... you know."

"Sure. But that's not nearly as fun."

Mia glared. Maybe if she glared hard enough, she'd drill her thoughts straight into his brain. But it wasn't like she didn't enjoy anal sex. Not as much as regular sex, but still, she did enjoy it, and Yosepha enjoyed it even more. But no way she'd admit that to Romakus. He'd use the information against her, somehow.

"How about you, angel?" Julisa asked, and she gestured to him with two of her four arms. "In what ways do you most enjoy sex?"

Azreal sighed and let his head roll back against the stone wall. "It's been a long time for me, demon."

"So long you can't remember?"

"I am no gabriem. I don't--"

"Don't be absurd," Julisa said. "Surely you must enjoy a certain part of a woman's body more than others." The fujara tetrad stood up, gave her tail a flick, and did a small turn in front of the angel. She wore her armor, but a few pieces of metal bent into shape and held on with leather straps left plenty of her skin exposed. And for all the bitch's bad attitude, damn she was built, muscular but curvy in all the right places, with large breasts the breastplate struggled with.

Azreal spared her only a glance before closing his eyes and relaxing back again. "Do I have to play this game, Mia?"

Mia couldn't help but laugh. "Uh, would you obey the order if I told you to?"

Poor rapholem. He tried to groan with annoyance, but it turned into a groan of pain, and he clutched his side as he forced himself to relax again.

"I am surrounded by demons and the horniest soul in the afterlife," he said.

Mia frowned, but it didn't last. "Okay, yes, I am a horny soul. But--"

"Very," Kas said, nodding.

"Hey! You can't say anything. Don't think I've forgotten what you and Adron and Zel did!"

Kas lowered his head and stepped back, sitting beside Romakus. Oh wow, she actually hit him in the gut with that one.

"Sorry," she said. "That was... a weird time. And, uh, yeah, Zel kinda forced the situation, but that was Zel being a bitch. Not your fault, or Adron's."

Vin rumbled, and everyone looked up at him. "I like the stomach." With his grip still around Mia's waist, he lifted her, brought her tiny body close to his short dragon snout, and licked her stomach. Her flimsy potram red toga left much of her body exposed, stomach included from the plunging cleavage, and Vin happily ran his tongue up her flat stomach. She squealed and bopped his nose, but all that got her was another lick of her belly.

The group was getting along, at least better than before. Plus one for budding psychologist Mia.

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~~David~~

~~Day 112~~

Caera hopped around. Pegasus hopped after her. Caera ran ahead, and Pegasus kinda sorta maybe ran after her. He mostly stumbled, falling over sometimes, and sometimes landed straight on his chest, but unlike most goorts, he had wings. With a flap of his wings, he kept from landing too hard, and another flap got him back on his hooves, and he chased the tiger again.

The land flowed with shallow hills, and each time the group topped one, they looked down over the mostly flat land ahead, and the thousands of red craters that dotted it. Pits, deep pits full of remnants, and true to Tatiana's word, sometimes pits just opened up randomly, remnants crawling up out of the rock and sinking the ground. The quicksand concern David had had as a child was now relevant.

"Your girlfriend," Tatiana said, "is going to get your new pet killed."

Tatiana was a succubus, a volara, and also a bailiff of the Scar province. She was damn tall, as tall as the angels, with large horns -- for a succubus -- and a slim body and small breasts. A runway fashion model sort of build, and she knew it. She strutted with every step, red silks dangling off her body and doing an even poorer job covering her skin than the two angels and their potram runes did.

"She's keeping an eye on him," he said. He adjusted his own potram rune clothes, a flimsy red toga with some black jewelry, and black gladiator sandals.

Tatiana stepped closer to him, squinting down at him. She didn't want to be on this trip, and she made damn sure he knew that. And with her so close, he was forced to look up. He was a small guy, after all, five six on a good day.

"This isn't a time for games," she said.

"Preaching to the choir. But Pegasus needs to learn how to move ASAP, and if he falls into a pit, Caera will save him. Or someone else will. He's fine." He hoped. He trusted Caera, and the logic was sound, but seeing his new pet jump near the edge of pits shot his blood pressure through the roof.

He'd never known this feeling, to be so firmly attached to something else like this, and feel... protective. But the day Pegasus had been born, when the horse had pressed his head into David's palm, and then cuddled up next to him, his soul had ripped in half. That very night, instead of cuddling with Caera or Jeskura and Daoka, David had held the winged horse to his side, and slept well. It was such a strange feeling.

David looked around at the group. Ahead of him walked Laoko, a ten-foot-tall titan of a woman, a bolstara tetrad; four arms, hooves, no tail or wings, and a flat-ish face that gave her a mask-like quality. Beside her walked Moriah, a mikalim angel with tan skin, red eyes, long black hair, and currently wearing her potram clothes, flimsy white, revealing silks exposing gold tattoos, and some gold jewelry.

Behind him walked Jeskura, a nearly seven-foot-tall, lean gargoyle, with her somewhat shorter lover Daoka, a satyr with no eyes. Instead of eyes, her forehead was tall, black, and merged with her four ram horns. Behind them walked Acelina, a nine-foot-tall goddess of curves on thick legs. She was the only demon David had ever seen who both had wings and hooves, and her long, thin tail slithered behind her as she walked.

But most unique was Acelina's face. Like Daoka, she had no eyes, and had four colossal horns that merged with the solid black surface. Unlike Daoka, her entire face was black, a smooth obsidian canvas all the way down to the top of her neck. There was a scary mouth in there, wide and full of deadly sharp teeth, but unless she opened it, it was invisible, which made it all the more scary.

Between her thick legs ran four little ladies, each around four feet tall. Two impas, and two gremlas, who looked like red goblin versions of Jeskura, except two ran on hooves and had no tail. They giggled and smiled, flapped their wings, and once Acelina gave a small gesture forward, they ran ahead past the group, and chased after Pegasus. Pegasus ran away, half hopping around, frolicking. Despite their size, the Las had no trouble dealing with the weight of the few bits of black metal armor they wore. Strong little ladies.

Tsila, a slim gabriem angel, walked in back of the group, forever smiling. If Moriah looked Latina, Tsila looked Indian, with emerald eyes and a long black ponytail. But despite her eternal smile, the angel carefully avoided speaking with the six betrayers in the group, and instead focused on talking with Tatiana's entourage of succubi and one incubus. She talked with Tacharius a lot, too, the trickster incubus who'd somehow gotten deeply involved with their group over the past month. Maybe she liked him?

And then there was Caera, who had somehow become David's girlfriend, despite the weird romantic and sexual dynamics of their, and every demon's, relationship. She was a tregeera, a tiger, with black spikes on her spine and on her joints. She could walk on her hind legs like other demons if she wanted, and hit over eight feet tall when she did, but tigers usually walked on all fours, with forward-pointing horns, and utterly massive, broad tails.

She was also missing an eye, a huge cut across the forehead to the cheek, given to her by Moriah. Caera didn't hold a grudge.

And that made everyone in their weird group. The succubi, incubi, and betrayers were kind of the odd ones out. Tatiana, her three male betrayers, her incubus, and her two succubi friends. There were also Zazee, Tacharius, and their three betrayers Fuad, Natalie, and Naoko.

Naoko smiled at David. David squirmed a bit. The girl was going to get herself eaten by Caera if she kept looking at him like that.

Caera ran back up the hill to him, smiling the whole way as Pegasus and four little ladies followed her.

"He's learning fast," she said, and she gestured to the horse. "I know hellbeasts have to learn fast, but this is pretty damn fast. A day old and already running around."

Pegasus pawed at the ground with a hoof a few times, making a clop sound on the dark red dirt. He hopped from side to side, stumbled again, fell on his side, and failed to catch his weight with his wings.

"Okay, maybe not so good," she said.

David laughed, squatted down, and helped his pet get back on his hooves. The touch of Pegasus's skin, warm and a little leathery, but full of young life, sent warmth through David's chest. Maybe he was over-analyzing it, but every time he touched the goort, and the goort responded by pushing into David's hand, he felt... He didn't know how to explain it. He just felt. Mia would probably have said something psychological. All David knew was that it'd taken a whole five damn minutes for this baby creature to become his complete focus.

Pegasus pressed up against his arm and leg, wing getting in the way and tangling itself around David's forearm. Laughing again, David freed himself and patted the horse creature on the head, avoiding the unicorn horn that threatened to stab his palm. The goort didn't so much neigh at him as whinny and roar at the same time, but with all the volume of a house cat's meow. The half-roar was a good reminder he was a goort, not a horse, and in fact had sharp teeth and spikes on his dark red body.

But the look in Pegasus's red and black eyes was nothing like the hellbeasts David had run into. There was something else going on in there. Thought? Adoration? Pegasus looked at David a few more times before rubbing his cheek into David's hip, and David stroked the winged horse's back and wings.

"Look at this dumb baby," Jes said, groaning. She ran her claws along Pegasus's further wing and flicked a pebble free of where membrane met wing finger.

Daoka chirped, stepped around David, and checked Pegasus's other wing. The goort fluttered his wings and pressed to David's side. Afraid? Or shy?

"Truly odd behaviour," Laoko said from the front of the group. "Hellbeasts are mindless and concerned only with eating the resonance of humans and demons. They don't... do this." The enormous demoness gestured down at the tiny horse with one of her many arms. "It's behaving like some sort of pet from the surface world."

"He," David said with a playful squint, "is not a regular goort. I figured the wings were a dead giveaway."

Laoko rolled her eyes and flicked him in the forehead. He blinked. That was a surprisingly playful response from the demon.

With a scrutinizing eye, she squatted down and looked at the horse, and Pegasus slipped behind David, putting him between the goort and the giant woman.

"I guess we have no choice but to accept it," she said. "Hell herself crafted this unique creature just for you."

"Indeed," Moriah said, standing beside Laoko. Moriah was as tall as Jeskura, almost seven feet, but she looked like a child compared to the tetrad. "I guess we all owe David an apology for thinking dragging the egg along with him was a bad idea."

Daoka clicked at Moriah, shaking her head.

The angel put up her hands. "Not everyone thought that, I suppose."

David smiled at Daoka, stood up on his toes to kiss her cheek, and earned a chirp.

"It's okay," he said. "I know you guys can't hear the music, so I must sound pretty crazy when I talk about it. I heard it, and it drew me to the egg." With a shrug, he half turned to the horse hiding behind him and patted Pegasus's head again. "And even I thought whatever came out might just eat me."

Laara, Lasca, Laria, and Latia stood around Pegasus, nodding like wise sages.

"Pegasus is special," the ever-vigilant leader of the Las, Lasca, said. "We'll protect."

"Yes, you will," Acelina said. "I held that egg in my arms for weeks. It would be a... waste, for my work to be rendered moot." She spread her wings, and everyone took a step back to give her space, including the succubi and incubi in the back. Her wings were utterly enormous, long, and thin. She hooked her wings' thumb-claws around her neck, and let the wings dangle behind her, like a cape.

Caera stood up on her hind legs and gave her tail a shake. "The faster Pegasus learns to run, the faster we can trust him not to die."

"Him?" Laoko asked.

Caera shrugged. "What? David calls it him."

"It is a hellbeast. It has no sex."

"Neither do we, technically. I haven't seen you give birth to any eggs, Laoko."

Laoko chuckled and put her hands on her hips. Wide hips. She almost had Acelina's absurd curves.

"Touché."

David blinked again. Laoko never talked like that either. Was she... happy?

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Come night, or at least what passed for night in a place with a burning sky, David carved two large caves into the ground, complete with ceilings so they could hide in safety. In one cave, it was him and the girls: Caera, Moriah and Tsila, Jes and Daoka, Laoko and Acelina, and the Las. In the other: Tatiana, her incubus and two succubi friends, her three male betrayers, Zazee and her betrayers Fuad and Naoko, and Tacharius and his betrayer Natalie.

Judging from the sound and through the thin stone wall David had crafted between the caves, the other group spent their nights having sex. Which meant his group had to deal with quiet moans and groans, and the sex demons had unusually musical, delicious-sounding moans. If not for Pegasus, David would undoubtedly have been aroused by the sounds and had sex with his girls.

Everyone sat against the cave walls, with enough space to be comfortable. A small hole in the ceiling let in fresh air and what little light the ember sky gave at night. Pegasus trotted around in circles in the middle, circling the light in the middle as if he could catch it, including pawing at it. Clop clop. But he gave up after a few failed attempts and fell to his knees between David's legs.

Pegasus was just a baby goort, but that was still a large animal, as large as a Great Dane dog, and David had to spread his legs wide to give his pet room.

"Las think," Lasca said, raising a hand and wing in tandem, "that we should sex the volas. Succubi and incubi hot. Bring here, have sex? Make them sex us! David has aura. Big orgy like last time!"

David face palmed. "We're on a quest to save the universe, Lasca. Not to have orgies every night."

Moriah snorted. "David. You are a strange creature with your own auras, almost always sexual, and the ability to grow a second penis. Do not lie and tell us you don't want to have an orgy every moment you can."

"Hey! I resent that accusation." He did his best frown and half hugged the giant tiger lying beside him. "I am a one-gal kinda guy."

Moriah raised an eyebrow and gestured at the room. "One man. Eleven women."

"That's not--"

"And one hellbeast," Latia added. The tiny little lady, skinniest of the girls, wandered over to Pegasus and sat by his tail. She teased it, and the tail flopped to the side, Pegasus uncaring that someone was playing with it, and unaware his tail reacted on its own.

"And one hellbeast," David said, and he patted the goort's head as Pegasus set it on David's thigh. "And I'm not the only guy in the group! There's Tacharius."

Again, Moriah gestured at the room, this time with a wing. "He's with Tatiana's group now. You wanted all the women for yourself."

Laoko grinned. "If that were true, David would have the volaras and the female betrayers in here, as well."

"Nah," Jes said. "David wants to fuck everyone with a cunt, but he trusts us. He doesn't trust them."

The conversation was spiralling fast, and all David could do was rub his face with his hands. But thankfully Caera came to his rescue, and she licked his cheek.

"David," she said, "is a horny young man." Okay, maybe not rescue. "But I think he likes us more than the others." Okay, maybe rescue?

He nodded vehemently. "I trust you all."

Laoko scoffed. "Please do not trust so mindlessly."

"Okay, maybe not you, but I mostly trust you all. I don't trust the volas or their betrayers."

Acelina shrugged and scooped the Las back with her hands, dragging the little ladies away from Pegasus and giving the tired goort some peace.

"What about that Naoko girl?" the spire mother asked. "She obviously wants to have sex with you, David."

Trainwreck incoming, David put up a hand. "I think she just wants someone who isn't a demon or betrayer on her side."

"I don't know," Tsila said. The gabriem angel smiled, idly combing a feathered wing laid across her lap. "I've seen the look in her eyes, young man. She is attracted to you. Sexually."

He winced.

Laoko lay on her side, torso in the middle of the cave, and she smiled at David as she traced two hands' worth of claws along the floor. "Of course. All women are attracted to a man of power and action. Even little ones like you."

Before he could rant or defend himself, Laoko laughed, a pleasant sound. Normally, the enormous tetrad always had a certain distant air about her, but now, she seemed pretty relaxed. It was a nice change of pace.

"I think it would be fun," she said, "to include the young woman. Not as one of your lovers, of course; she is only a betrayer, after all. But humans are delightful little sex toys. I imagine even Caera here would enjoy picking Naoko up and using her body on your length."

David squirmed and looked at the huge tiger beside him. Caera frowned at Laoko, but when she looked at David, there was a decided lack of denial in her face.

"I never said she wasn't attractive," Caera said. "But the way she looks at you makes me want to tear her to pieces."

Gulp.

"But," Laoko said, "I bet you also like the idea of using her like a toy on your precious unmarked."

Caera squirmed a bit, all too similar to David's squirming.

"She is a pretty little thing, isn't she?" Caera asked.

David opened his mouth, and shut it. Hell wasn't the surface world, but that still sounded like a trap. A girl's trap. The most deadly of traps.

Daoka chirped in, nodding.

"Exactly," Jes said. "She's such a tiny, dainty little thing. You said Japanese, David? I could fit her in my pocket." They all stared at her as she patted her leg where, if she'd worn surface pants instead of bits of armor, she'd have had pockets. "And it's not like we're going to deny it. We like humans. A lot. We like to eat them and we like to fuck them. Souls are... tantalizing."

Every demon nodded, even Caera.

Tsila nodded and gestured to David with her freshly combed wing. "Angels are born craving the attention of souls, and we cannot help but want to help them in whatever way we can. That is why it hurts so much when we see damned souls, especially betrayers. They are... tainted, and unhelpable."

Instead of the heavy silence Tsila and Moriah probably expected to follow that confession, Laoko shrugged, sat up, and ran a massive, gentle hand along Pegasus's back, the horse having already fallen asleep.

"Tainted is fine with us, angel," she said, and she winked at David. "But regardless, it is clear that we are all under the manipulation of this unmarked soul before us. We should be taking the initiative and controlling him instead."

He stared. "Wait, what?"

"I am forced to agree," Acelina said, casually and easily trapping all four Las under her two giant wings. "David is the only unmarked soul us demons have ever interacted with. If angels crave his presence, then we demons are at his mercy, aren't we? Clearly, we must bind and tame the young man before he controls us. He is quite evil."

David would have moved, but Pegasus's head lay on his leg, the young creature fast asleep. He was trapped, and doomed.

Caera laughed and licked his cheek again. "I admit, I kinda like the idea of using Naoko on you. Put her in her place. Maybe... do a few other things to her, too."

"I'm pretty sure you want to kill and eat her."

"Two things can be true at once."

He put up his hands. "I'm not committing to anything. And I don't think I'm manipulating any of you! I can suppress my aura at will now, and I know I'm not doing anything."

"You don't need an aura," Moriah said, voice solemn. "You are human, and unmarked or not, you are similar to the souls in Heaven. You are going to attract every demon and angel you run into in ways you cannot appreciate. You said Greg was an unmarked soul who attracted a flock of Cainites in a month? It will be the same in many places. Unmarked souls are like... radiant orbs of gold floating in darkness. No matter who or what they are, everyone will drift toward you, David."

Everyone looked at Moriah, and the heavy silence Tsila might have expected earlier came and shut the room up.

But then Moriah smiled, and the silence melted away like fading mist. She spared a glance for David before looking down, pulled a wing in front of her, and idly combed her feathers and straightened them.

"I suppose it will make David feel better," she said, "to know that, other than his troublesome auras, the attraction he exudes does not differ greatly from the souls of Heaven. You are most definitely unique and strange, David, but you are definitely human, too."

He took a breath, smiling and nodding. "Thanks. Yeah, that is good to know. Not gonna lie, it's been eating at me, knowing that I might not be human. But part human? I'll take that."

Caera licked his cheek again, and he kissed hers.

"So, angels," he said, turning left at the conversation intersection. "You're born adults?"

"Yes," Tsila said. "Angel births are rare. Or at least, were rare, before angels..."

"Before angels began succumbing to the dread," Moriah said. Tsila winced, but Moriah kept her gaze solid as she straightened her feathers.

"Dread?" David asked. "There's a name for it?"

Moriah shrugged. "Some call it that. There is no true name for it, whatever it is. But over millions of years, the dread sinks its claws into our minds and grace. The joy we have in existing fades away. Almost all new angels born are born to replace angels who have committed suicide. Few die in Hell anymore."

It wasn't supposed to be a heavy conversation, but Moriah seemed content to go swimming in the deep end tonight.

"Sorry," David said.

"Do not be. It is not your fault."

Quick, pull up! Save the conversation.

"Angels are born adults," David continued, "and they just... default to liking souls?"

Tsila smiled. David knew that smile. That was the smile of someone about to go on a passionate rant about something they cared deeply about.

"Each of the nine Heavenly Islands," Tsila said, "has fountains within small gold buildings, private and separated from the souls of the city. Within, waters flow down a waterfall hidden within the gold stone, fed from the same waters souls use when they pass onto the Great Tower. Divine fountains. When Heaven senses there are not as many angels as there are supposed to be, she will birth another. They step out of the shallow pool, born of gold light within the waters. They are born knowing everything important, and with a desire to serve the souls of Heaven. Rapholem are also born with an innate desire to protect, mikalim with an innate desire to act, and gabriem with an innate desire to tend and care for."

"Sounds like we could use a rapholem," Jeskura said.

Moriah nodded. "Though, in truth, our predicament is a strange one. The more angels we add to this group, the more likely we are to be spotted and recognized for who we are. Tsila and I scan the sky constantly, every moment of every day, in case more angels make an appearance. If they spot anything, it will be our wings, and we will be at fault for this journey ending too soon. Maybe we should risk an encounter, David? We don't know what's happening in Heaven, what islands have committed to your death and what ones have not. For the first time since the First War, angels fight amongst themselves, and if we can learn what is happening, we might find a better way to cross Hell. It would only take days for me to fly you directly to False Gate. And with a battalion of angels, perhaps we could weather the storm of the Forgotten Place and fly you into the heart of Hell?"

"Or," David said, "you get captured by the first group of angels you meet, and they use that cross of truth you mentioned to learn about what's happening down here. Then instead of having to fight a single battalion, I might have to fight off an entire Heavenly Island's worth of angels. How many is that?"

"A million," she said. How far their relationship had come, the entire group's, for her to trust them with that information. "Or so it is reported."

"I believe it," Tsila said. "The islands have grown vast over the centuries to fit the explosion in souls. Where once a single gabriem could easily tend a soul for their time in Heaven, now they must balance time with dozens. Gabriem, and all angels truly, relish each encounter with a soul, so it is hardly a bad thing. But there is the reality that humans greatly outnumber us in Heaven now."

"And," Acelina said, chiming in, "as... Zelandariel told me, the spires are birthing more demons. I saw it myself, helped it myself, chose eggs I normally would not, and helped swell the numbers of demons in Death's Grip. There are more souls in Hell than ever before, and if Hell is as Heaven is, she is growing to fit them. We need more demons to deal with them."

Zelandariel, the spire ruler in Death's Grip. Dead spire ruler. Mia killed her. She'd also been Acelina's lover, and while David and the girls knew Mia had killed Zel, Acelina did not.

If... when he told her, she was probably going to rip his head off.

"What about rebirth?" David asked. "Angels can be reborn?"

"If an angel wishes to be reborn," Tsila said, "they are dipped into the waters of the private fountain, the same where angels are born, and Heaven will reforge their body and mind. It is not a perfect process. A piece of the mind is lost each time, memories absorbed by the Great Tower. I am hardly the person I was when I was first born, many lifetimes ago."

"So you wake up in a new body?"

"Yes. A new body, and sometimes a new name. The memory of our previous life is intact, but the further back I look, the more my memories of previous lives become a blur."

"I can still remember mine," Moriah said. "I am not as old as Tsila."

That was hard to believe. Moriah had the cynicism of an older person. Tsila was always bubbling with happy energy. Except for that time Tsila had talked to David, and been his therapist for a bit. That night had revealed that the happy-go-lucky gabriem had wisdom he hadn't really expected from her. Never judge a book by its cover.

"It's all so complicated," Jes said. She stuck her long tail out and gave Moriah's wing a poke. "Demons just eat and fuck and die."

"Stop being so reckless," Laoko said, "and you will live a long life, as I have. You are a very talented gorgala. It is rare to find a demon of your kind that can fight devorjins and win."

Jes smiled. But before she could respond, Daoka crawled over to Laoko, chirped at her a few times, and poked her breastplate.

"I am sure you will," Laoko said. "But you know as well as I, riiva, that demons grow savage the moment things turn violent. Even the armies of the Red Pits and Navameere Fields, the only true militaries in all of Hell, struggle to control their urges. We should learn from the angels, learn self-control, learn to..." She frowned and looked down, her beautiful, mask-like face stuck on a thought.

Laoko had history with angels. She'd known them, romantically, apparently, and knew an angel named Galon. An angel Moriah had killed. Much as no one talked about it, Moriah was the falling stone that'd triggered the avalanche, a literal war in Heaven.

"Laoko," Tsila said, "does make a point. Demons can be careless with their own lives. If we want to escort David to the Forgotten Place, we must traverse Hell. We risk our lives every day. You demons must learn to be careful with your own."

Daoka nodded, chirped a few times, and gestured to Caera.

"That was then," Caera said. "We got those Cainite fuckers, and I'm satisfied. I got the scar to prove it." And despite that, she aimed her one eye at Moriah and smiled.

Moriah smiled back. Barely. Caera might have been comfortable losing an eye to a superior warrior, but Moriah reeked of guilt, for several reasons at this point.

Daoka could have been a gabriem in another life. With a quiet click, the satyr crawled over to Moriah, sat beside her, and patted her on the angel's bare leg. Moriah didn't recoil. If anything, she looked content, maybe even a little happy that the nicest person in the group wanted to sit with her.

David was, too.

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

That night, they took shifts. David stayed up with Jes, Dao, and Caera. Everyone else slept.

David sat against the wall, Pegasus between his legs again, Caera on his right, Dao on his left. Jes sat behind Pegasus, and she casually checked his wings again, scrutinizing them, as if she had some deep knowledge of wings she might use. Well, she did have wings.

And sure enough, with Pegasus on his side, Daoka examined the young creature's hooves, checking them for whatever problems a hoof-haver might have in Hell. But she nodded, satisfied, and cuddled to David's side as Pegasus closed his eyes and drifted off again.

"What a big baby," Jes said down at Pegasus. She scooped him up, set him center of the cave, and took his spot between David's legs. Pegasus didn't stir. On her back, Jes spread out her arms and legs, wings too, and looked up at him upside down. "Shit is crazy."

"What is?" David asked, tilting his head. The sight of Jes on her back, her few pieces of armor doing little to hide her athletic body, made him stir. She'd taken his virginity. It was hard to forget that.

"I spent my whole life in Death's Grip," she said. "Daoka, too. And... what, a hundred days ago I think? We found some little twerp of a soul about to get eaten by some imps and grems. Easy meal for Dao and me. Little did we know."

David smiled. "A lifetime ago, honestly. I barely recognize myself."

Dao nodded and kissed his cheek.

"Agreed," Jes said. "You were such a scared little thing back then. Now look at you. Still a little thing, but not so scared."

"Having special powers is kinda a cheat code for ditching some fear."

"Makes sense." She pushed herself along the floor until the back of her head sat right on his crotch. But thankfully, after a wince from him and a chuckle from her, she pushed herself up further so her head rested on his stomach instead. "I miss it, though. A bit."

"Miss it?" Caera asked.

"Yeah. You weren't there, Caera, but we had this little guy tied up, and then he gets horny and hits us with his aura. We didn't know what was going on, neither did he, and we just gave into it, you know? Then this giant dick comes out of him, and Dao and I know we've hit... jackpot is the word, right?"

Oh boy. He rolled his eyes. "Yeah."

"Jackpot." She grinned up at him, still upside down, and flicked her tail, sticking out to the side and idly hitting Caera's thigh. "This was never the plan, you know? To go on some silly epic quest to save the world. We were happy with just locking you up and treating you like our pet, David."

"A pet, eh?"

"Yes. A pet we'd spoil. Of course, we'd never let you outside, because someone would scoop you up and eat you. But we'd keep you safe in that delightful little cave we had, feed you, fuck you, and after we killed Diogo and saved your sister, I'm sure we could have found some demons to take good care of her, too. You mentioned Adron? Sneaker fucker, but he'd probably treat her right." Jes sighed and stretched out her wings, burying David's legs and arms. "Imagine it. None of this travelling. None of this endless goddamn fucking walking. We could just stay in the cave all day, watching stuff in the scrying pool, and sex sex sex."

Caera snorted and shook her head. "David would go stir-crazy."

"I would?" he asked, raising a brow. "I uh... I dunno. I think I'm sold on the idea."

Growling, Caera jabbed his shoulder. "You'd rather stay in a cave all day fucking Jes--"

"And Dao," Jes said.

"And Daoka, than go on journeys with me? I want to explore!" And because one growl wasn't enough, Caera leaned into David and growled in his ear again. "You want to see things with me, right?"

"Definitely!" he said. "I just... I just know me. Exploring sounds fun, and I'd love to learn more about the history of Hell. But I also love the idea of doing absolutely nothing for the rest of my life." What smile he had faded as he thought about it, eyes aiming down, but not at Jes. "Or, I mean... I guess that's not true anymore. Over three months of wandering around Hell, fighting for my life, meeting new people, seeing strange sights, I guess I might find staying in a cave for years kinda boring."

Daoka rubbed her closet ram horn against his head, finding just enough pressure to scratch his scalp in that good, eyes-roll-up-in-pleasure kinda way, and he leaned into her. She chirped twice, leaned down over his lap, kissed her girlfriend, and kissed his cheek.

"I suppose," Jes said. "I guess we demons are used to just... doing our own thing. But now we're risking our necks on an epic quest. Fuck me, I am tired. Demons are not made for walking."

"You're like cats," David said. "Sometimes you run in packs. Sometimes you go solo. You establish a territory, hunt in it, and don't really want to go anywhere else." Before Caera could jump in, he nudged her with his elbow. "Except for you."

"Except for me," Caera said.

"Then why were you working for Diogo?" David asked the tiger.

"Needed to eat, mostly. Working for Diogo was easy eating at first. I fell into the job, and after losing my friends, I..." Right, the friends the Cainites had killed. The reason she'd wanted revenge on them in the first place.

Jes scrunched up her nose. "You worked for an asshole. Which reminds me. We still need to pay Tacitus a visit someday."

Tacitus. Right. A bailiff of Death's Grip the group hadn't run into, and someone who had beef with Daoka. The satyr clicked once and shook her head.

"Come on, Dao," Jes said. "We have David with us. And fucking angels! When this is all over, we can go back to Death's Grip and rip that fucker in half."

Sighing, Dao nodded, but she also pulled in on herself a bit, hugging her knees and looking down with her eyeless gaze.

Jes reached over David's leg and patted her girlfriend's knee. "You know it'll make you feel better, just like Caera and the Cainites. We ain't sissy human bitches, Dao. We're demons. Revenge is good."

Dao nodded, but she didn't look convinced, as much as David could read her. It was damn hard reading anyone's facial expressions when they didn't have eyes. But David was learning, and he reached out an arm and slipped it around Dao's back, careful of her spikes; she was a few inches over six feet, or he would have put his arm on her shoulders instead. She leaned into his side, still hugging her spiked knees to her breastplate, and didn't quite relax.

He didn't ask. He wanted to. Fucking christ, he wanted to. Not knowing something important about someone he cared about was like itching powder on his skin. Half because he did care about her. Half because he just had to fucking know.

Mia would have been proud of him for keeping his mouth shut.

Jes sat up, turned around, faced him, and crawled forward. David blinked at her, but Jes didn't give away what she was doing. Like a girl with a plan, she scooted in close until her knees pressed against his inner thighs, almost against his crotch, and she planted her palms against his chest, pinning him to the wall.

"Uh, Jes?" he asked.

"Shh."

He blinked at her again, looked at Caera, but all that got him was Jes's fingers around his jaw forcing him to look at her. Caera looked confused, too.

Jes leaned in close, very close. Noses touched, and she stared straight into his eyes. From this close, he could see the tiny amber specks inside the red of her irises. And black sclera looked really awesome.

"Moriah likes to do this," she said.

"You saw that?"

"Uh huh. And you heard the angels earlier. They're head-over-heels in love with all souls--all Heaven-bound souls, anyway. I wanna see what the fuss is all about."

"Oh. Um... okay." He held still, perfectly still, as the beautiful gargoyle stared at him from two inches away. She really was beautiful, too, with long, black tendril hair, a sharp jaw, thin lips, and the physique of a lean woman, fit and athletic.

She tilted her head, still staring at him. "You do got pretty green eyes."

"Yes," Caera said, "he does." The huge tiger snuggled up to his shoulder, opposite Dao, and brushed Jes's fingers off his chin. She took his chin instead, turned him to face her, and kissed him. Her short tendril hair rubbed his forehead. Caera had a short snout, barely there, just enough to give her otherwise human face a cat-like look. The scar through the eye, leaving it forever closed, only made her look more awesome and hot.

He kissed her back.

Daoka turned him toward her, and he got the same treatment, the satyr looking at him with her eyeless gaze from point blank before she kissed him, too. She had no hair, but the horns gave her a crown-like appearance. She had a soft face too, rounder than Jes's, and thick lips. Thick, soft lips. She nuzzled into him, kissed him, chirped into his lips, and kissed him some more.

Jes rolled her eyes, but when Dao was done with him, she kissed him too. Eyes open, she gazed straight into his as she kissed him, including when she snuck her tongue into his mouth. Long tongue, and warm.

"Okay," Jes said between kisses. "You're getting better at that."

"Kissing?" he asked.

"Yeah. You used to really suck at it."

"Well, I mean... I'd never--"

She kissed him some more, and this time let her eyes close. But it wasn't long before Daoka reached out, took Jes's chin, and guided her taller girlfriend to her lips instead. And from only a few inches away, the two ladies kissed, gently tugging at each other's lips.

There was something so absurdly hot about a woman kissing a woman that David's body lit up like kindling, and he gulped down his hunger and pushed down his aura as best he could.

"I really owe you three, you know," David said.

"I know," Caera said, nuzzling her snout into his neck. "All the others, they don't know, way back when you couldn't defend yourself in the slightest. They don't know when it was me, Jes, and Dao, standing on that ravine edge, watching you and your sister try and get away from the rider."

Jes grinned, breaking her kiss with Dao. "I swooped in like a fucking hero."

Dao nodded, chirping.

"Very brave," Caera said. "I'm glad you did. I want to keep this little pipsqueak around."

Again Dao nodded, but she also took off her breastplate, exposing her huge breasts. Before David could say anything, Dao guided him down onto his back, set his head on her lap, his legs across Caera's lap, and she stroked his hair, combing the shaggy mane with her claws. He blinked up at her, and had to close one eye as she leaned down over him, smooshed one breast over half his face, and guided her nipple onto his lips.

She chirped down at him with a warm smile.

"Dao," Jes said, "really had a thing for watching moms in the scrying pool, she tells me. It's not a thing down here in Hell, you know? Ain't no girls giving birth to anything. And demons are born basically teenagers by human physical standards. There's no... softness anywhere for anyone. But this little bitty"--she poked Dao's other breast--"has always had this weird thing where she loves the soft stuff. Like, when humans are soft with each other. Mommy fever, I guess? If she could lactate like Acelina, she'd be in Heaven."

David couldn't help but smile, even as he opened his mouth and gave Dao's nipple an innocent kiss. Dao chirped.

"It still surprises me," Caera said, idly dancing her claws along David's legs as she watched him, "that you and Daoka ever became an item, Jes. Not like there are many demon couples out there. Same problem the angels have."

Dangerous words, calling out why a couple would or wouldn't be a couple, but Jes shrugged, nodding, eyes aimed down at David but speaking to Caera.

"We fit together like a lock and key," Jes said. "Or, you know, what I figure a lock and key are like." Dao chirped, nodding, and Jes leaned in for a quick kiss of her girlfriend. "When we found this little boy, all nice and unmarked, of course Dao got attached instantly. And if she had it her way, she'd spend every night like this, just relaxing and letting the kid suck on her nipples while she plays with his hair." The gargoyle reached out and ran her claws through his hair, too, sharing his scalp with Dao.

Caera chuckled. "He's not a little boy. He's an adult... barely." She sniggered. "But I know what you mean. He's just so... nice. I know other Heaven-bound souls must be nice, too, but you're the first we've ever met, David." She teased a claw along his stomach. "It's a strange feeling. We know you don't really understand, but it's not normal for demons to just... let their guard down like this, you know?" Nodding, she gestured at Daoka, David barely able to see any of this with half his face covered in boob. "The angels get to experience this all the time. I... envy them. It feels nice to relax like this. To feel comfortable like this."

"Plus, he's David," Jes said. "I get the impression we wouldn't like any unmarked soul we met quite like you, you spoiled little fuck." Chuckling, she leaned in, nudged her face into David's, and kissed his cheek, underside of her horns pressing against Dao's sternum; demons were very good at not accidentally stabbing each other with all their spikes and horns.

Daoka giggled, brought Jes's head up to kiss her, and again smiled down at David as she combed his hair and cooed at him.

What was a man to do? He relaxed on Dao's lap, and let her half smother him with her boob. If Daoka had a mommy kink, he was hardly the guy to say no to that.

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

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

~~Unknown~~

A woman stood her ground in a cave, a large snake-like creature at her side. The snake creature was dead, and the woman looked down at it with tears in her eyes, before a man in bronze, gold, and red armor, brought his axe down on her head.

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

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

~~Day 113~~

His eyes snapped open, and he sat up with a jolt, adrenaline or the Hell equivalent pumping through his veins. His eyes shot across the room, and his aura exploded, drowning the area in the most basic, most deeply biological emotion: fight or flight. Every demon woke up with him, scampering to grab their weapons, many of them squeaking or growling.

Everyone except David was up on their feet in ten seconds, weapons drawn, scanning for an enemy. David stayed on his ass in the cave, panting, staring down at the ground between his spread legs.

"David?" Caera asked.

"I... had a vision." He gulped down the boulder in his throat, and all the girls stared at him.

"Another unmarked died?" Jes asked. She sucked in a breath and squatted in front of him. "Was it--"

"No. It wasn't Mia. It was a girl, but she didn't have any freckles. I saw her arms. Tanned skin."

"What else did you see?" Moriah asked.

"I--" David faltered as Pegasus wandered up to him, eyes wide, and David reached out and stroked the small horse's neck. "I'm okay," he said. Unconvinced, Pegasus rubbed his head into David's arm and shoulder, making a quiet, whining sound. "I'm okay."

Maybe he wasn't okay. The more Pegasus pushed against him, almost desperate to get his shoulder and neck pressed to David's chest, the better David felt. He got up, but Pegasus refused to give him space, full-on turning to the side so he could press his left wing and the whole left side of his body into David's waist and legs. The little goort looked up at him, and whinnied. The creature might as well have cracked David's heart in half. David squatted down and hugged the horse, letting Pegasus hook his neck and head over David's shoulder.

"The rider," David said, looking over Pegasus's wings to the girls. "He got an unmarked girl. I think she had a pet, too, like Pegasus."

"Another winged goort?" Acelina asked.

"No. Looked like a wurm of some kind. I didn't get to see any details through her... tears. It was dead." He hugged Pegasus tighter, and the little horse rumbled, almost like a purr.

"I wonder how many unmarked that leaves us," Moriah said. "There were eight reported incidents that I know of, of souls reaching the gates of Heaven, only to be swallowed by the Hell portal. The last incident included two souls."

Tsila nodded. "Then, if there were and are no more incidents, there are probably nine unmarked in total. A fitting number."

"Were," Jes said. "How many have died, David? How many visions?"

"Four so far," he said. "Two died to angels. One just died to the rider. Another... the one I killed."

"Five left, then?"

"Probably," Laoko said. "Nine unmarked. Do we even know what will happen when one reaches the goal? What awaits us in the Forgotten Place?"

Everyone looked at the angels, and Moriah and Tsila frowned, looking down.

"We can only assume Lucifer awaits us," Moriah said. "We're on a journey to meet Lucifer, the archangel. As to why..." She shrugged. "Perhaps we can take his power? The might of an archangel might fend off the invader."

"Or," Acelina said, stretching out her absurd wings. "We will release him? The first of God's creations, a potential ally."

Tsila shook her head. "We would trade annihilation for enslavement. Releasing Lucifer is not an option."

"I get that," Caera said, stretching out cat-style. "But at least with enslavement, we're alive. Gives us a chance to free ourselves someday, right?"

Both angels shook their heads and sucked the energy out of the room.

"Lucifer defeated his three brothers," Moriah said. "Archangels themselves. God had to intervene. The creator of our entire existence, the Great Tower, had to intervene. You cannot imagine Lucifer's power."

"Neither can we," Tsila said. "The old books are forbidden to us angels. Only the council may read them."

"That's crazy," David said, standing up again. Pegasus stuck to his side like a huge velcro dog. "I can't believe you guys put up with that. The council keeping information from you?"

"Do you not trust your government, David?" Moriah asked.

"Hell no! And I'm Canadian! Fuckload worse governments out there, and no one trusts them far as they can throw 'em."

But Moriah just shook her head. "We are angels, not souls. The council keeps such information from us because it is not information for angels to have."

"Sounds like bullshit to me, Moriah. Is it like that on all the Heavenly Islands? I get you're from Azoryev, and you said it yourself it's a more conservative island compared to the others. But still, if there's information about what the Great Tower was like when it was first created, what God was like, what the archangels were like, what the First War was like, I'd really want to read that information."

"It is not that simple," Tsila said. "The council angels have watched over us for two billion years, David. God left us. The archangels died. Lucifer was imprisoned. The council angels did what they felt was necessary to keep Heaven afloat, and they succeeded."

"Until now," he said. "Angels committing suicide? And it's only getting worse?"

"I do not entirely disagree with you," Moriah said. "And that is why there is much... turbulence now. But there is no use lamenting the past, unmarked."

"Yeah, yeah, you're right. I'm just agitated. Those visions really suck. I don't see what's happening from the outside. I see it from the perspective of the other unmarked, and even... feel it a bit." He rubbed his head where the axe had hit. Instant death. Say one thing for the rider, he didn't indulge in torture.

Once everyone was ready, David opened the ceiling of the cave, and everyone climbed out. The second cave opened too, and out came a bunch of succubi, incubi, and betrayers with satisfied smiles on their faces.

"Everyone feeling okay?" David asked, playing a silent tune and shifting the ground to remove the caves and cover their tracks. A smart angel overhead might figure out what he was doing if they spotted the empty pits.

"I suppose," Tatiana said. "This is a far cry from my home, my scrying pool, my silks, my--"

"We get it," Jeskura said, snapping her tail. "How the fuck did a princess like you become a bailiff?"

Water off a duck's back, Tatiana just shrugged and gestured behind them to the two long mountains of the Scar.

"In a den of schemers, the smartest prevail."

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

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

~~Day 105~~

~~Mia~

A week later, they were making good progress. They'd stuck to Mia's ravine for as long as they could, but it wasn't long before they'd had to navigate the tunnels of flesh and blood again. They'd climbed higher, got close to the surface and the colossal waves of white archangel flesh and feathers, and found tunnels that wormed underneath them. This close to the surface, they were probably safer from any potential Beelzebub encounters; the creature was far beneath the rock, hopefully too far to reach them. And the Old One's servants probably didn't explore the tunnels this high up either. Again, hopefully.

They found a large tunnel that moved along underneath the archangel flesh. This close to the surface, with the archangel bodies directly overhead, the walls had long since stopped being rock, and had mutated into something else. Flesh and rock combined, with endless bloodfalls running down their surfaces, and dozens of cold, dead eyes, literal eyes that jutted from the fleshy rock face. Mia did her best not to meet their lifeless gaze.

"I've been meaning to ask," she said from atop Vinicius's back. "That sercano lizard the rider showed up on. That thing was fucking giant. It even gave Beelzebub pause."

"Yeah," Romakus said over his shoulder. "It was pretty awesome. Fucker just came out of nowhere. The rider was waiting for an opportunity."

"That's just it. The sercano I saw the rider ride in Death's Grip, we ran into it later in the Black Valley, right? But that's not the sercano we saw here. That thing was bigger, and... weird looking."

Vin nodded. "Mutated on archangel flesh."

"It'd probably been around for a long time," Romakus said. "Judging from how it responded to the rider, the rider had probably broken it a long time ago. A master come back for its pet."

Mia shivered. Breaking a hellbeast probably included a lot of torture, considering how defiant and volatile they were. She smiled down at her best pup in the whole world, and Cerberus looked back up at her -- or dopey head did at least -- as he walked alongside Vin's leg.

"Yes," Vinicius said. "The rider is no demon. He plans. He has been to every province and broken many creatures. If they live, I expect they will bow to his demands."

Sighing, Mia rested her cheek on Vin's shoulder, angled so she could look down at Cerberus as they walked.

"A demon called it deus sercano," she said. "Why?"

"I've heard of deus hellbeasts," Romakus said. "Hellbeasts that have gotten really old and have been gnawing on archangel flesh. Dobasi and his crew have to deal with them all the time, so they name some of them. Give them that title. I guess they'd been dealing with that sercano for a long time. Probably why it was in the area."

Mia groaned. Of course the rider would have an ace up his sleeve like that.

"I wonder if he'll have something in False Gate?" she asked.

"Maybe," Romakus said. "I haven't been to False Gate much since Belor died, but it's nothing but chaos there. The demons have gone insane, and it wouldn't surprise me if they've been fighting hellbeasts for no reason other than some blood to spill. If they spotted anything the rider was working on, I bet they threw themselves at him and killed anything he touched." After a pause, Romakus stroked his chin, looking up. "Then again, the rider's been wandering Hell for tens of thousands of years. Who knows?"

Mia sat up. "Can the rider even bring his mounts with him? We saw how he gets around. Can he bring a hellbeast with him when he does that, use the lava or whatever and pop up out of the ground?"

"I do not think so," Vin said.

"Good. Or, I mean, hopefully good. But damn, he's got mounts in multiple provinces?"

"He is called the rider," Kas said, marching beside Romakus. "I expect we'll see him again, riding another creature."

Nodding, Mia looked back at Azreal, their rearguard. "Feeling okay?"

"Yes."

"And you're sure we'll run into the others on this path?"

"Yes," the angel said. "I know Noah. Have known him for thousands of years. He will take this path."

She smiled. She looked forward to seeing the others again, especially Adron, but Faust and the other incubi, too.

Now that Vin was being more direct about liking Mia, how would he react with the boys around? Demons were strange. Hard to predict. It wasn't like he was directly possessive of her, but kinda was?

Mia suppressed her aura before it could get away from her. The memory of Faustinus and the boys Locutus, Gallius, and Oudoceus fucking her at the same time, was a pleasant one. A really pleasant one. Incubi weren't just gorgeous, but were utter experts at sex. Every motion had been perfect.

Maybe she'd get to fuck them, and Vin, and Kas, and Adron at the same time? Little her, squished between all that muscle while seven--eight dicks all fought for a chance to get on her and inside her?

Or maybe... ten? Azreal and Noah were so handsome! And they really had that 'grumpy man back from war who just needs a kind woman to soften his heart' thing going for them. Even now, Azreal walked with the most serious, almost intense look in his purple eyes, his gaze scanning the area, each step clinking quietly with the sound of his armor; his helmet was off.

Okay, Mia, now you're just being silly and greedy. Nine guys at once? Don't be ridiculous.

Still, the idea was delightful. Maybe Vin would let the others go first, and they'd surround her and stuff her and cover her in cum, and then he'd pick her up like some sort of dirty, used-up toy, and he'd masturbate with her body and--

Again, she crushed her aura before it got away from her. Not having sex for Romakus's sake was killing her.

"I think," she said to everyone, "next time we meet with the group, maybe we should mix up the members again? I miss Adron."

"You wish me to join James?" Kas asked.

"What? No. I want you with me, and Adron."

"There is value in one of us being with James. Adron knows what I am likely to do, and I him. Perhaps not as much as the two angels, but still."

"I mean, I guess? But Romakus and Julisa can probably guess each other too, right? Maaaaybe Julisa goes back to James and works with Livian? Maybe Adron comes back here? And... Maybe Faust and the boys, too?"

Julisa laughed, looking back over her shoulder at her. "That would leave their group quite small. Do you really want all the men in this group?"

"Hey! I am entitled to a little fantasy every now and then."

Romakus shared the laugh. "Slut."

"I'll have you know I was a virgin before I came to Hell. Never even had a boyfriend. Now I got mean, nasty demon boys trying to do things to me all the time."

"Who you oh so conveniently fall onto?" Romakus said, laughter only growing. "Trip and fall right onto their awaiting dicks?" He walked backward, facing her, and feigned falling over, complete with the back of a hand pressed to his forehead. "Oh no! I've fallen, and I am oh so helpless!" He fell to his knees and palms, and stuck his ass out in the air. "Oh no, please don't take advantage of my helplessness!"

Watching a ten-foot-tall goliath of muscle, with two colossal wings that had skulls dangling from their tips by black chains, shake his ass and tail in the air like he was twerking, was too much. Mia laughed, struggling to hold on to Vin's back spikes. Cerberus looked up at her with all three heads and tilted them. She'd never laughed like this, not in front of him.

Julisa whipped her boss on the ass with her tail. "Get up, you moron."

Romakus squeaked, as much as a giant like him could squeak, and did as ordered. "Azrael, what would a slut like Mia be doing if she were in Heaven?"

Everyone looked back, chuckling as Azreal rolled his eyes. Mia couldn't help but giggle.

"Many souls in Heaven indulge in sex for centuries," he said. "Human souls outnumber us now, but angels find ways to make it work. Souls are often content to indulge in each other, or share an angel. Sometimes multiple angels will indulge a single soul, but more often, the especially... lustful souls, like Mia--"

"Hey!"

"--will spend their time in the sanctum, enjoying whatever fantasy they desire. Many women wish to indulge in the fantasies Romakus just enacted."

Romakus grinned over his shoulder. "Told ya."

"And," Azreal said, "many men take up the opposite role in the sanctum. A man will often be the monster, and the woman will be the helpless girl."

"That does sound like a lot of fun," Mia said. "All the time in the world to make friends, maybe get a boyfriend, and then you get to have any sort of fantasy you want? Even sex fantasies? Like, could the man become a... tentacle monster?"

Everyone looked at her, and the ones with eyebrows raised them. At least Romakus got it, and he laughed again. How much scrying pool did that man watch to know what a tentacle monster was?

"I am no gabriem," Azreal said. "Rapholem and mikalim spend much of their time on the wall."

"Much," Mia said. "But you must go into the cities regularly, right?"

"We do."

"I bet a lot of souls really like the rapholem and mikalim."

Azreal tilted his head. "How so?"

"Well, because you're... you know." She half-turned on Vin's back to look back and face him, still holding on with one hand.

"I do not know."

"Azreal, come on. You and Noah are so damn intense and grumpy, every girl out there looks at you and immediately thinks 'wounded soldier' fantasy."

"I am not a wounded soldier."

"You are literally a wounded soldier!" She gestured at him and how he favored one side. Sometimes men were so dumb, it hurt. "Have you even fully recovered from getting fucking squashed?"

"I am fine."

"Uh huh." It was too much. She laughed again, and to her surprise, so did Vinicius. His laugh didn't have nearly the joy hers did, more like the quiet rumbling laugh of a deadly bear, but still. "I'm just saying that a lot of people will like rapholem and mikalim just as much as gabriem."

A tinge of pain cut through her, and she winced. She hadn't known Galon long, but it'd been long enough to get attached. If all gabriem were like Galon, then she could imagine most people falling head-over-heels for them, just through the sheer virtue of them being so sociable. But she knew a lot of people would prefer a hardass angel for a companion, especially men like David.

Azreal kept a neutral expression and held Mia's gaze, waiting for her to say something. She smiled at him, snuck in a tiny wink, and turned back to face ahead and over Vin's shoulder.

"Romakus?" Mia asked. "There anything relevant you can tell us about False Gate? As much as I'd like to show up, immediately find the runes Lilith talked about to get us across the Styx river, and get to the Forgotten Place, we all know shit won't be that easy."

"Why do you think I'd know much?"

She squinted at him. "Because you used to be a bailiff for Belor? Don't think we haven't noticed that you've got a history you refuse to share, Romakus. You worked for a child of the Old Ones! A... a uh..." She patted Vin's shoulder. "What was Belor?"

"An abdarin, a child of Abaddon."

"Right. And you're a ragarin, a child of Belial," she said, sinking the terms into her brain for memorization. Vin snorted confirmation. "Children of the Old Ones got too many names." Before Vin could counter, she patted his head again and resumed the conversation. "You worked for Belor, Romakus. You were one of his top men! You have to know a lot about False Gate."

"I guess," he said, shrugging, and he casually dragged some claws along the wall and the bloodfall flowing down it.

"Then come on, spill the beans." And she was sure he knew that expression. "Tell me, what's False Gate really like? Or was like."

Romakus sighed, gave his wings and shake, and walked on. Silent? Romakus? The man never shut up. What was this about?

It took a bit of quiet walking in nothing but the dark tunnel, the strange, dead eyes on the walls, and the flowing, dripping, endless archangel blood, before the gorujin tetrad said something.

"False Gate is... what was the real name you said, Mia?"

"The Unholy Lands."

"Sounds about right. It's a place of ruins, but also, churches. Massive cathedrals. In False Gate, you'll find entire villages, huts of brick and stone, each surrounding a glorious cathedral of metal and glass."

Mia tilted her head. "Glass, really?"

"Yeap, glass grown out of the guts of Hell. Probably something to do with the great forge."

"Great--" A rune pulsed in her mind. Forge. Create. Combine.

"Great forge, yes. It's beneath the biggest cathedral in False Gate, near the spire. Lava flows through it, and if you know how, you can make armor and powerful weapons there. Hellfire-imbued weapons are just the start. You can make aera armor and weapons, too. If you're willing to sacrifice people to the forge, you can make some very powerful armaments and gear up an army strong enough to take on Heaven."

Mia lifted her head and slowly looked back at Azreal. Sure enough, Azreal looked even more pissed than usual, and clenched his jaw.

"Belor," Azreal said, "armed many demons in aera armor. You forge meera metal with the bones of demons. You forge aera armor with the bones of angels. And you can use the hearts of living humans to imbue weapons with hellfire." More runes pulsed in Mia's mind.

Mia sucked in a hard breath and looked back at Romakus. "But... if Romakus was a bailiff, I mean... You were probably involved in arming the troops, right?"

Romakus didn't look back. "Yep."

"So you... you what? Killed demons, and brought their bones to this great forge, to be turned into armor?"

"Yep."

"And souls? You... brought to the forge, alive? And they got their hearts ripped out?"

"Yep." Each time Romakus spoke, it was quiet, and heavy.

"And angels!? You killed angels and--"

"Brought their corpses to the forge, stripped them of their flesh, ground their bones into dust, and fed them to the flames."

Mia winced and looked away. She should never have asked.

Romakus continued, reading her mind. "Belor was working on a way to turn an angel's heart into some form of weapon imbuement, but he could never figure it out. I guess he didn't have the rune. But we tried. We captured angels alive--not an easy task with how strong angels are. But Belor wanted to make it work." The tetrad laughed, but it didn't have any of the warmth from before. "Belor poked the hornet's nest. At first, we caught angels who were just scouting, learning about Hell or checking on the spires. Then, when Heaven sent angels to investigate, we captured them and fed their hearts to the forge, too. Failure, each time. So Heaven retaliated. They wanted to stop Belor from reaching the Forgotten Place--his only bid to use the vortex to reach Heaven. And they wanted revenge."

The tunnel might as well have been filled with an icy wind with the painful shiver that ran up Mia's spine. She looked back at Azreal, and the angel managed a slow nod.

"Fucking... fuck," she said. "Romakus, does--"

"Yosepha knows a little," the demon said. "She doesn't know I had a direct hand in it."

"Oh." Gulping, Mia looked at Julisa. No need to worry about Vin or Kas or Azreal. They wouldn't say a thing. But Julisa?

"I already knew," Julisa said, shrugging. "Romakus and I have worked together for years, but I wasn't alive back then."

"You never mentioned it," Mia asked.

The demoness snorted. "Why would I? It's Romakus's problem, not mine. And people have a habit of killing the messenger."

Mia looked down, clutching Vin's back spikes and staring down at his dark red, leathery skin. Okay, this topic took a turn for the dark.

"What did you expect?" Julisa asked. "Heaven and Hell may not be at war, but that doesn't mean demons aren't constantly looking for a way to get stronger. Many demons want to rule Hell, Mia, not just the Old Ones or their children. In every province, every demon we meet will almost assuredly have such a desire. They, and we, want to rule and control and dominate. Even your sarkarin friend"--she gestured down at Kas--"wants to rule Hell in some capacity or another. And Heaven. And the surface." Shrugging as if it were perfectly reasonable, she flicked her tail and cracked all four sets of her knuckles. "I am sure Yosepha knows Romakus has a past she does not want the details of."

It was easy to forget that sometimes. Adron had been nice in his own way, and Kas, too. But demons were demons, violent and full of all sorts of dark desires. They were villains, kinda. If they stopped having a common enemy, what would happen? Would they betray her? She didn't think so, but still, it was worth thinking about.

But Romakus didn't seem to fit Julisa's description. Not now, not anymore.

"What changed?" Mia asked. "I mean, about you, Romakus. You joined the Damall to try and keep the spires in check, right? Not all demons are like what Julisa said, if the Damall exists."

"The Damall failed," he said without looking back. "They're all dead."

"We don't know that," Julisa said. "There may be members still alive on the other side of Hell."

Mia waved a hand. "But why did you join, I mean? What happened back then to make you change your mind about... about things?"

Romakus looked over his shoulder at her, finally, and the squint in his eye struck her cold.

Julisa stepped in. "Let it go, unmarked."

"It's fine, Julisa," Romakus said. "The little psychologist wants to fix everyone's problems. Thinks she can change people, even demons. She's gonna gather up a whole group of demons and angels, and think she can fix the nature of creatures that have been around for billions of years, with a few well-meaning words. A typical first-year university student with her head thoroughly jammed up her ass."

Somehow, Mia resisted the urge to correct him. She was a second-year student. Instead, she stared at him as best she could, but the cruel glare in the demon's eyes broke her, and she looked away.

"If you don't want to talk about it, Romakus, you don't have to. I just thought--"

"I met an angel," he said, and resumed the march. "I met an angel, a gabriem, that I'd captured. And when I killed him, he spoke to me. Said some things. That was when I knew I had to change."

With that, Romakus marched forward once again, and didn't look back. Conversation over.

Mia stared. If she'd been David, she'd have been foaming at the mouth, asking what the angel had told him. But with Mia's amazing -- if short-lived -- education, she exercised some wisdom, and shut up. The fuck could she say? All she could do was stare at the tetrad's back and the huge, banged-up black sword hooked between his wings. It looked heavier than it had a moment ago.