The Pleasures of Hell 05.091

~~Day 152~~

~~David~~

They found another statue. And another. And another. The same thing, every time: an angel lamenting a child of the Old Ones, a breed called zetasa according to Laoko. And the rune inscription was the same, every time: 'Navameere, and his love, Desiderata. Their last moments before Lucifer's war.'

The group walked along between black forests and tall, sharp, obsidian grass. At this point, no one knew the way, not even their guide, Sazillia. Tsila and Moriah knew the way as the crow flew, and they pointed ahead, but that didn't help navigate the jungle maze.

David, riding Pegasus, petted him along his back, between the spiky spines, and out along where his extra arms grew into wings. So big now.

"Morgana," the tetrad Sazillia said, marching at the front with Laoko. "She hasn't used the spire aura yet?"

"No," David said. "You'd feel it if she did. I can suppress spire auras, but not perfectly. And maybe it won't happen?"

Sazillia shook her head. "It always happens. The spires go to war with each other, and use spire auras against each other. The moment one province gains ground, they lose it to the other's aura."

David ground his teeth. "A system practically engineered to ensure war. Mia would hate this."

But Sazillia shrugged, like the whole situation were weightless. "Lucifer created the system."

"Maybe," he said, "but I'm guessing Lucifer just made do with what he had. Spread the spires out, created the Old Ones from them, and the constant fighting was a side effect. Not exactly in the devil's favor if his soldiers keep trying to kill each other instead of the real enemy. And--what the fuck is that?" The group stopped and looked back at him, and he gestured down to the ground. "I swear there's something down there."

"David," Jes said, the gargoyle coming up to Pegasus's side. "You know we can't see what you see, right?"

"Sorry. I just, I keep seeing it. There's tunnels down there."

"Yeah, but unless you want to take a detour, who cares?"

David sighed. Caera would have cared, but he didn't say it. Maybe that was why he kept noticing it? Some misguided attempt to fill in for her? Mia would know. She'd plop open a textbook, point at a paragraph, and beam at him as she diagnosed him with half a dozen mental disorders; not that that meant much, when second-year psych students were convinced their pet rocks had avoidant personality disorder.

"Hell cares," he said. "Quite a bit, to have all these statues cropping up. This is important."

And right on cue, the next bend around trees that pierced the sky showed the telltale hint of blackstone wings. Angel wings. A man, kneeling over a woman almost twice his height. And the woman, dying, had the lean and muscular curves of a demoness, but with extra eyes, and sharp spider legs sticking out of her back.

David gave Pegasus a couple gentle nudges with his heels, Pegasus took him closer, and David hopped down. With a squinting eye, he looked the statues up and down.

"Sazillia," he said. "You said you've seen a lot of these statues around. This many?"

The tetrad shook her head and gave the statue a low kick with her clawed foot. "When we push into this province, it's chaos, unmarked. Fighting for every inch. We don't exactly take stock of everything we find."

"But?"

"But, it's true, I don't remember seeing these statues this often."

David sat on the statue's circular platform, and everyone gathered around. Well, most of them. Laoko and Sazillia were happy to walk around, examine things, and basically look like they didn't obey him. They still didn't get that David didn't want to be their leader, and was just the guy who kept getting handed the hot potato. That was fine. When shit hit the fan, he could trust them to help. Maybe. Hopefully.

"We know," David said, "Hell seems to grow monuments to important stuff, right? And way back in the day, demons wrote stuff in the ancient language. Some of it was just etchings in stone, made by the children of the Old Ones. Some of it's in amber veins, and probably written by the Old Ones themselves, or Lucifer. But this"--he gestured down at the amber veins gently glowing in the plaque below the statues--"doesn't seem like something they'd have written. I'm guessing Hell wrote it herself."

"Hell reads and writes?" the little Lasca said, squatting in front of him. "Sounds strange."

"Strange, yeah. But we've seen some strange things. The cavern with Azazel, and all those statues of the children?" He knocked on the statue's base with his knuckles. "I bet there's something down there, too, like in the Scar."

"Abaddon," Moriah said. The angel sauntered up and, unless David was going crazy, she made something of an effort to gently touch Pegasus's closer wing with her own. But the hellbeast snorted, stepped aside, and Moriah wiped away her disappointment with a quick slash of her thumb across her lips. "The Old One Abaddon is below us, if Azazel is correct. What do you hope to do by finding an Old One, David?"

"I never said I--"

Moriah flapped her wings at him, and he winced and covered his eyes against the wind. "We can all tell your curiosity is eating at you with every mile--"

"Kilometer."

"--that we take, David. These statues pluck at your mind."

"Yeah, they are, because each statue I find, I can feel there are tunnels and stuff beneath us."

Daoka clicked several times and gestured at the ground.

"Dao makes a good point," Jes said. "Every province we've been through, there's tunnels beneath us. Why's this province so special?"

David gestured at the statue behind him. "Because these tunnels are all going somewhere, somewhere specific, like a bunch of streams connecting to a river. It wasn't like that in the other provinces. This almost feels like someone is waving a sign at me saying: 'come here'."

From the back of the group, Acelina stepped up and gestured out to the path with a huge wing.

"We are but weeks away from False Gate, David. Do you truly wish to deviate from the path?"

"I don't know. But this feels weird. Feels like... like I'm just walking past something I shouldn't be walking past. All the other times, all the other things we've seen, felt like strolling through a museum. This is different."

Tsila took to the sky and scanned the horizon. "The strangeness in the River Styx remains. That strange, raised red line. Do you truly think your sister has found a way to reach the Forgotten Place?"

He nodded sternly. "Yeah, I do. She's not dead, we know that. And there's two more unmarked out there, assuming there were nine of us in total like you think. Maybe one of them reached False Gate and did that? I don't know. All I know is, I trust Mia to reach the goal. And here, there's something weird happening under my feet, and ignoring it feels wrong."

Everyone sighed, even the Las, and they idly dug at the sandy ground with hoof or claw. Pegasus copied everyone else, and Dao chuckled and patted his head and horns.

"Hey," David said. "I'm just saying, we should take a peek."

"And Morgana?" Sazillia asked. "A bit over a week from now, she's going to use her spire aura to try and break Khazeer's forces. You promised you'd stop that."

"And I will. I can do that from underground, too."

Jes raised a wing. "A detour underground means we'll be stuck in Navameere Fields longer, David. Which means you might have to block her spire auras multiple times, or something, and I remember how much that fucked you up last time. The faster we get through this province, the faster we don't have to worry about the spire bitch."

Sazillia marched up to Jes and glared down at her, making the angel-sized gargoyle look like a child.

"Khazeer needs our help," she said. "David promised to help suppress Morgana's aura."

"We're helping Khazeer by saving the damn universe." And like a spunky child with no sense of self-preservation, Jes poked Sazillia in her stomach. "Which do you think is more important? If I had my way, we'd be back in Death's Grip right now, killing Diogo for killing my friend, and killing Tacitus for what he did to Dao. We'd be in charge! We'd have the spire, and David would be there too, and Caera and..." She hissed, looked away, and everyone shut up.

Before the silence strangled them all to death, Daoka clicked, chirped, and rubbed a ram horn against Jes's demon horns. Whatever she said, Jes rolled her eyes and softly pushed her girlfriend away.

"I know," she said. "I know, I know, I--fine. David, you wanna make this trip through Navameere Fields take an extra week or ten, by all means."

David nodded, stood up, and nudged Pegasus away from him and back with Acelina and the Las. The others joined them.

"Abaddon is probably listening," he said. "I'll keep the music quiet."

Laoko snorted, standing at Sazillia's side. "Doubtful."

He looked back at her and waited for the inevitable argument. Of course Laoko would want to keep going, to do whatever was needed to see the mission succeed. And he'd have agreed with everything she'd say.

But this nagging feeling wasn't going away. No way Hell was practically growing statues in their path for no reason. And Hell didn't connect underground tunnels into others like the roads of Rome. But that's what was below him right now.

With a small flick of his fingers, he played a gentle tune, and peeled away the sand and dirt. Quiet music meant slow, but thankfully he wasn't trying to move a mountain, just dig a hole. And this time, the hole, once it cut ten meters into the ground, connected with the tunnel.

Not a jagged mess of a tunnel, something that Hell had naturally formed over millions of years, with rocks half barring paths, and dips in the ceiling forcing anyone to crawl. No, this was a proper tunnel, with flat walls, a flat floor, a few amber veins to light the way, and a straight path down on a slight slope.

"This," Sazillia said, snorting as she hopped in and took the lead, "is not normal."

"Agreed," Laoko said. The two tetrads walked in front with Moriah behind them, and the rest of the crew behind her. "You are sure this is not Abaddon's work?" she asked, looking back.

David shrugged. "I don't think so? I didn't hear any music play. I mean, there's always a background hum, like all existence around me has a sound to it. If an Old One plays music, I can hear it, if it's nearby. If not, then probably not? But why would Abaddon set this up?"

"A trap," Moriah said, giving her wings a flutter. "To lure curious unmarked down to their deaths. That is the goal of the Old Ones, is it not? To eat the unmarked?"

"Could be," David said. "And maybe it will be. But these statues aren't new, right? I bet the tunnels aren't, either."

And maybe he wouldn't mind a trap. Maybe he'd like to throw his weight around a little, see how loudly he could play the music. Or maybe, see if he could transform again, and throw around more than just his weight. Maybe it'd be nice to sink his teeth into someone who deserved it. Maybe it'd be nice to bash someone's brains in with a rock--

He looked down at his empty hand, squeezed nothing, sighed, and leaned his weight on Pegasus beside him. The winged unicorn of Hell leaned back into him, shoulder to David's, and let out a quiet neigh sound that was almost a purr. If the horse kept growing, it wouldn't be long before he'd be too big for shoulder-to-shoulder ruminating. If he grew to the size of that other unmarked's spider, the tetrads would be riding him.

"You okay, Pegasus?" he asked, and nodded at the tunnel walls, floor, and ceiling. "Your first time being underground like this."

"Not so," Acelina said. "He saw much as an egg, remember?"

David blinked, and Acelina waited, eyeless. "Wait, Pegasus could see things while in the egg?"

"Not literally, but I am sure he felt and heard much."

Maybe it was David looking at her. Maybe it was her voice. Pegasus slowed and walked beside Acelina, gently bumped against her side, and pressed a wing against hers. And after a bit, Acelina looked down at the horse, sighed, and ran a hand down the membrane of his wing.

"He remembers you, you think?" David asked.

"I... suppose. Normally, zotiva do not care for eggs, like I did with him. We watch them for the first few weeks to know which eggs are strongest, and set those eggs in the hatching pit when they are about to hatch."

"Never?" Jes asked. Daoka mirrored her with a chirp.

"Not never," Acelina said. "Sometimes, a glorious egg is born, a fellow zotiva, or even a child of the Old Ones. I have heard stories from my sisters, of zotiva before them who cared for eggs they prized, from birth to hatching. They spoke of a connection. And they spoke of betrayal." She shrugged, but when Pegasus nudged against her again, she traced her claws softly down his wing again. "I... do not think a hellbeast knows of the concept of betrayal."

Tsila, walking in the back with the Las, smiled past Pegasus at David. What was that smile about?

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

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

~~Unknown~~

A man ran for his life, as fast as he could. Sweat poured down his naked skin. His bare feet slapped the shoreline of False Gate. To his right, the Red Sea. To his left, the ruined wasteland of broken buildings and shattered land. Ahead, the Red Sea rose, a giant wave that reached high into the sky and refused to fall. And the closer he got, the more obvious what the giant wave was.

A split. Someone had split the Red Sea, and the two colossal walls of water towered over the trench with a might unknowable. He could hear the song. Three songs, playing at the same time. He didn't know the runes, hadn't absorbed them or activated them, but he recognized them. He just had to get there, get to the split and the tunnel awaiting him. He'd be safe in there. The lady in armor had told him! Get to False Gate, and then to the Forgotten Place. If he could do that, he'd be safe, safe from the rider, safe from the aliens, safe from everyone. Just go!

But it didn't matter. White dots filled the burning sky. A thousand golden arrows fell upon him, and he tore apart.

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

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

~~Day 153~~

Slowly, David sat up and looked around the secure cave he'd carved for the group last night. Most of the girls were up already, chatting and chirping as they examined their armor. Acelina was already sitting with the Las, checking their wings, and when she was done with one, they joined the others checking hers; her wings were much longer, practically drapes. Laoko and Daoka checked each other's hooves. Sazillia and Jes bickered about something. Moriah and Tsila talked about something innocuous from their time in Heaven.

Pegasus got up, trotted up to him, leaned down, and pressed the side of his head into his.

"I'm okay," David said, but his voice wavered. Daoka was at his side in a second, clicking at him as she gently tugged on his wrist. "I'm okay, really. Just... had another vision."

Jeskura jumped up and almost tripped as she ran over. "Mia--"

"Still alive," he said.

Jes sucked in a breath and shook her head. "Scared the shit out of me. What happened, then? Another unmarked dead?"

"Yeah. A guy. He was running on the beach in False Gate. And False Gate was... a giant mess. Almost as bad as what happened in Death's Grip, when the aliens showed up. And there were angels, flying over a split in the sea, shooting gold down at it. Not just down at the split, either, but everything, everywhere. And I guess, the moment they spotted movement on the beach, they just bombarded the area. Guy didn't stand a chance."

Laoko tilted her head and idly combed her long ponytail over her shoulder. "He was an unmarked. Could he not use the music to defend himself?"

"I think he tried, but he was exhausted. And... I'd have to go nuclear to fight an army of angels. That isn't easy, and it isn't quick. If it weren't for you girls"--he gestured to the ladies--"being my tanks, I couldn't do any wizard shit."

Every lady raised an eyebrow, and David chuckled. Damn, that felt nice.

He counted off on his fingers. "I've killed two unmarked. Angels have killed three. The rider's killed one. We're down to just me, Mia, and someone else, assuming Mia and I were the last unmarked to enter the afterlife." His smile faded, and he closed his fists and eyes. The vision had been strong. He'd heard the man's thoughts, the most desperate and loud ones, as if his death had sent a pulse of music and memory through Hell and into him.

The unmarked were connected somehow. But for now, he had a different mystery to solve. Or a wild goose chase to get screwed by.

He peeled down the wall, and the group resumed the trek down into the guts of Hell.

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

It was almost cliché, and David grumbled from Pegasus's back. The tunnel opened up and exposed an underground canyon, and a deeper canyon, and a deeper one again, all below the surface crust of the Navameere Fields. Colossal black roots scaled the walls, some as thick as buildings and as long as streets, winding their way up staggering mounds of rock and pushing up through the cave ceilings to create the deadly plants above. But below, it was all the same as the other provinces.

Lava. Rock and flames. And dying remnants. A million damned souls cried out in agony, torsos jutting out from rock walls that lurched over the lava streams below. Over the top of the waves of pillowing red, the remnants couldn't avoid the heat, and they slowly burned alive, skin sizzling and blisters bursting. The canyon walls looked like living red carpet.

It did not end. The further they went, the more remnants they found, some dangling from the ceiling and clawing at each other, some sprouting from the giant black plant roots--but only their faces. Damned faces, unable to turn or twist, only able to scream.

It was a casual stroll, easy, the gentle path holding snug to the cave wall on the right, while the ravine opened on their left and lit their way with flame. A perfectly pleasant walk, no rocks to trip on and no trenches or ditches to jump over. The juxtaposition with the remnants on the canyon walls churned his gut.

Burning bushes sprouted up everywhere, and David's grumble turned into a hiss.

"You know," he said, "last I checked, a burning bush was a symbol of God. The fuck is this?" He gestured with a swing of the arm at the pathways deep below them, shorelines along the lava rivers. Burning bushes dotted the cracked, rocky ground.

"Hell mocks the surface," Moriah said, matching his grumbles. "False Gate is worse, thousands of monuments grown in the shapes of houses of worship, and filled with the worst of horrors. This plane exists for one reason: to torment the damned."

Torment wasn't a strong enough word. David peeked over the edge, much as he could from Pegasus's back, and looked away. Writhing masses clawed up at the outer edge of the path, remnants trying to rip themselves free of the rock encasing their lower bodies. Some got a hand on the lip of the path, and stared up at David with rabid, desperate eyes. But whatever they screamed, it all blended together into a chorus of wailing agony.

"This has to change," David said.

"For all its misery," Tsila said, "Hell is the way it is because it is the world God created. The souls sent here deserve this fate, for no matter the circumstance a soul is born into, it is their choice to take onto themselves dark, vile resonance. And only those that make that choice are here."

"God's wrong."

The two angels stopped, and when Pegasus did the same, David gave him a nudge. He didn't want to stop.

"God is wrong?" Moriah asked. She and Tsila both flew up to join him and hovered overhead; plenty of room to fly in the giant cave. "God is--"

"Gone," David said, glaring up at her. "And you know why he's gone? Probably because he, they, IT, realized IT fucked up and the Great Tower isn't very well designed. Lucifer, yeah, big problem, but the ecosystem itself is just fucking awful. Look at these people!" Again, an arm swing gesturing out at the literal hundreds of thousands of remnants they walked past, blanketing the walls. "Some of these people are going to burn like this for decades before their number hits zero. This is just... there has to be a better way. And I'm going to find it. I'm going to fix this place. Not just the Scar. Everything. All of it. I'm going to fix it."

The two angels traded glances, surprised. Which pissed him off. They'd had this conversation before! The Great Tower was an ecosystem, and a brutal one. There had to be a better way.

"David," Tsila said. "I am glad you wish to alleviate suffering, but consider the surface world. Animals die in the most cruel ways all the time. Sometimes very slowly. There is no fairness there. At least here in the afterlife, only the deserving suffer. And those who deserve joy are in Heaven, for as long as they wish. Is it so truly a horrible system?"

"And betrayers?" David asked. "People here who drank demon blood, just for a smaller chance of not dying a second time for a while? They're at 666. Naoko doesn't deserve to suffer that many deaths."

Moriah shook her head. "She willingly drank demon blood, David, from a willing demon. Demons are not of Hell, not entirely. They are of Lucifer. The Great Betrayer. His taint runs through their veins, and any soul who willingly ingests it and makes the deal, is tainted thus. A chosen covenant, and a contemptible one."

"Then Lucifer is partly to blame, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that it needs to change."

The angels sighed, but Sazillia looked back at him with a grin.

"You got balls," she said.

He scrunched up his nose; Mia habit. "I can't put my finger on you, Sazillia."

The tetrad turned and walked backward, shrugging, two hands against the wall to guide herself. "You can touch me any time you want, slayer."

Slayer. He grimaced.

"I meant the way you talk. Sometimes I swear you sound like you came out of New York City, and other times I think you might be from Texas. Other times you almost sound like Laoko, looking for your crown in the British royal court."

Sazillia cleared her throat. "I do occasionally watch the scrying pools. Sometimes, I see something I like."

Laoko, marching beside her fellow tetrad, laughed a controlled, perfect laugh, winked back at David, and gave her long hair a flick.

"What David does not realize, oh sister mine, is that we tetrads are old. We are survivors. We have seen much, experienced more, and have witnessed entire eras of humanity come and go. I have feasted on the knights of lords, and the thieves of desert dunes. I have eaten priests and murderers separated by continents. I have enslaved soldiers of sword and gun alike. And I speak as I do, because I enjoy being this person, this demon."

Sazillia rolled her eyes, but when she turned around, her steps had a new bounce to them, and her tail wagged lightly behind her.

Daoka chirped and nudged Acelina's hip.

"I rarely dealt with souls directly," the spire mother said down at the satyr, giving her giant wings a small shake. "I am not as well-cultured as those two harlots, but I have seen much in the scrying pools. I know what I am, and what I am deserving of. I am a princess, and I am deserving of a castle, and servants and slaves, and to have my meals prepared for me." She held out a hand and examined her claws. "Those tetrads are crude. I am a delicate flower, as a surface poet might say."

David smiled back at Acelina, and she returned it. Her smiles were scary, but this one seemed genuine.

Laoko and Sazillia slowed down and walked beside Acelina, surrounding her.

"A princess is right," Sazillia said. For all Acelina's insane nine-foot height and enormous four horns, Sazillia was a foot taller, had four horns of her own, and she grinned down at the comparatively much softer demon. "How would you have survived out here with the rest of us lowlifes, if David and his girls hadn't taken care of you?"

"I am a zotiva. Surely someone--"

Laoko chuckled on her opposite side. "Acelina thinks the world will bow to her, simply because she is beautiful, and all wish for a taste of her milk. How many suitors have begged for your attention, zotiva?"

Acelina snorted and drew her wings over her shoulders, a barrier against the two tetrads. "Do not think it is only you two who have tasted thousands of years of life. Millions of demons have fought for my approval in that time."

Sazillia drew in closer and growled -- sexily -- down at Acelina. "But out here, you don't have millions of suitors. You have us. And you, mighty princess, can do little to defend yourself, can you?"

Uh oh. David had gone through high school mostly unscathed by any kind of bullying, but he'd seen plenty. This had 'girl clique circling prey like sharks' written all over it.

But before David could say anything, Daoko got between Acelina and the two giants and unleashed a hailstorm of clicks up at them. The two tetrads sighed, rolling their eyes, but put up their many hands and walked back to the front of the group.

Mother duckling mode engaged, apparently. Daoka nodded, nudged her ram horns against Acelina's arm a couple times, and wiped her hooves on the ground.

Acelina didn't smile, but she did click once and gently traced a wing's thumb claw along Daoka's horns. Jeskura rolled her eyes too and playfully punched her girlfriend on the shoulder.

Demons. David glanced up, and Moriah and Tsila gave him quick nods. Demons in large groups like these might be harder to manage, with some of those demony instincts kicking in. Would they get violent? He doubted it. Would they try and bully each other and establish a pecking order? Probably.

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

David stayed up with Sazillia and Laoko, and Pegasus sat beside him. What went through a hellbeast's mind? A horse was a grazer, chewed on grass all day long, and that was their life. But Pegasus was a carnivore, and when David wasn't petting him and the Las weren't playing with him, he just stared off at nothing. Mentally relaxing, maybe? David envied him.

Sazillia and Laoko whispered to each other, nodded a few times, and prowled their way over to him.

"David," Laoko said, on her hands and knees in front of him. The rest of the girls were asleep in the small cave he'd fashioned, leaving him alone with the two biggest demons in the group. As planned. He'd been hoping for a chat. "Sazillia and I have been talking, curious about your goals for the future."

"The future?"

Sazillia nodded, sitting beside David on her hip, towering over him as she leaned in and lightly knocked his knees with the back of her claws.

"After," she said.

"After--oh. After we save the world?"

Laoko smiled, pursing her thin lips. It was that look, her 'queenly' look, that matched her narrow jaw and gorgeous face perfectly. Only thing missing was a pompous crown.

"Yes," Laoko said. "Things will be quite different come then. Even if you were forever unable to use the true might of your Hell powers, for fear of summoning the alien again, you would still be formidable with your silent song. And of course, that monstrous form, that I am sure one day you will master."

"Yes," Sazillia said. "And it'll kick ass."

He raised an eyebrow up at Sazillia. She was lean, muscular, and he wasn't sure whether to think of her as a Viking warrior, or a strong farm girl. And the short dreadlocks were cute, too.

The nasty scar halfway across her neck was a little unnerving, though. Not ugly, but the untold story might have been. He almost asked about it.

"I told you girls, I don't know. I'm going to save the world, find my sister, and then... who knows? It'd be nice to go to Heaven."

Sazillia snorted and nudged him with her two closer hands. "And leave all these women?" Like gesturing to a buffet, she licked her fangs and leaned in closer to him, forehead coming within inches of his as she looked at the other girls. "You wouldn't want to do that."

He smiled at the sleeping ladies. "No. No I wouldn't. Maybe they can come with me? I don't know. I'll figure something out."

"Let's be realistic," Laoko said, leaning in closer, too. The breastplate struggled to handle her bust with her torso horizontal. "You will likely stay in Hell forever, and Sazillia and I are not so stupid as to not see the potential there. You say you wish to fix the Great Tower? You will need power for that, David."

Because, of course, the tetrads wanted power. He forced down the laugh, but he couldn't help but smile.

Laoko was smiling, too. "Do not mock me," she said, voice playful. "I--"

"No, no, I'm not mocking you. If I were a demon and in your position, I'd be doing the same thing. You're both tetrads and you both want power. I get that. You're a couple of school bullies."

Sazillia tilted her head and looked at Laoko. "Know what he's talking about?"

"I... think I do." Though Laoko tilted her head just as much, confused.

"Laoko, from the first day I met you," he said, "I knew you wanted power. I knew you'd do pretty much anything to get it. Pretty much, but not everything. I remember how much it upset you when Azailia didn't tell you what her plan was for me, to let Tarkissa sacrifice me to the Old Ones in the Scar. And I remember how much it hurt you when Timaeus died so we could escape the aliens and cross the border into the Scar."

Laoko sat back, still kneeling but up straight now, smile fading.

"What of them?"

David shook his head. "I'm just saying, of all the power-hungry demons I've met, you're at the top of my list of people to trust."

She blinked. "Truly?"

"Yeah. But you're a manipulative, scheming bitch, and I want you to play nice with Acelina."

Laoko rolled her eyes and gestured to the sleeping spire mother on the other side of the cave. "She has spent her years bathing in the attention of others while having done little to deserve it. We have fought fang and claw, every day, for centuries, to survive. Surely you can agree she deserves to be humbled. Jeskura agrees."

That was true. The gargoyle lay beside Dao, snuggled up. Dao liked Acelina a lot. Jes didn't at first, but David knew she was warming up to the spire mother. But also, that she completely agreed with Laoko.

"Even so," he said. "You want my help to get power, once we've saved the world? Be nice to the demons in the group. That includes stuck-up princesses like Acelina."

"You like her," Sazillia said.

"Yeah. I do." The words came out of his mouth before he had a second to think about them.

Laoko grinned. "Has she tried to seduce you yet? I mean, truly seduce you."

"Like you two are right now?"

But his quick jab didn't land, and Laoko just rolled her eyes and poked him in the chest. "Please. I am a diplomat, David. I am a queen. I am an ambassador. I am a regent, a consul, a monarch, and an empress. But most, I am a ruler, and a general. Though, I suppose, if you wanted me to, I could try to wrap you around my finger like she undoubtedly will. I could act the spoiled princess, who has only ever known privilege, and simply expect you to suckle on my breasts and clitoris every night, while doing my bidding." She poked him a second time. "I suspect you would enjoy that, I think."

That night Acelina had woken him up months ago and basically bullied him while pleasuring him with her breasts had left a very pretty, permanent memory in his brain, true. David squirmed.

"But no, that is not my way," Laoko continued. "I am not trying to seduce you. I am trying to negotiate with you. We draw closer to our goal. And when this journey is over, I ask that you consider my request. We could do great things together, David."

David couldn't help but smile. He liked this Laoko, when she schemed outwardly, and told him what she wanted. Scheming behind his back? Not so much.

"I'll keep it in mind."

"And..." Laoko looked back at Acelina. "I would enjoy having Acelina as one of my zotivas. Her knowledge of eggs is impressive. She is talented."

"And fucking hot," Sazillia said, groaning as she did a full-on cat stretch. "I've never fucked a zotiva, not really. Can I?"

David frowned. "I..." I what? He looked at the sleeping spire mother in her new, upgraded bronze-colored armor. The Las were sleeping with her, as usual, sitting against her curvy thighs.

The spoiled princess had been with them for so long, all for a chance to kill Mia. And after all this time, she admitted she'd known what Mia had done all along. David had no idea what to think of her anymore.

"I think," Laoko said, leaning in and nudging his head with a colossal horn, "that David is growing rather possessive of Acelina. And the whole group, I imagine. Aren't you, human? All these women, and I bet some part of you would love to hold them all to yourself. Your harem."

"It's not a ha--"

"You're right," Sazillia said, nodding. "I've met plenty of souls like that. Well, I think you could make a nice life for yourself here, David, in Hell. Take over a spire, Laoko as the queen, you as the king. Acelina can be your spoiled princess. The others can be your guards and sex toys." Like she'd stumbled onto a radiant truth, the warrior woman nodded again, grin growing as she flicked her tail. "How about the Navameere Fields? We kill that Morgana bitch, and we take over."

"We?" David asked.

"Yes. Laoko and I have been talking, and we've agreed we should work together. She's probably not going back to the Grave Valley, so, she and I should team up."

"You work for Khazeer, don't you?"

Sazillia shrugged. "I do. But we would be his allies, of course." She slipped in closer and sat snug to his side, looming over him. "I'll be nice to the stuck-up princess bitch, if you promise to think about us in the future. We tetrads are rare. You want us."

The eye roll came out, but Sazillia saw it coming and jammed him in the shoulder with a claw.

"Ow!"

"I'm serious, unmarked. And Laoko is serious. You have power, and Laoko is smart. You two would make a great couple, ruling over Hell."

He blinked up at her. "All of Hell? What happened to just one spire?"

"Well, one spire... at first." She grinned like a cat, a big scary one, and leaned in close, like Laoko. Their horns lightly knocked against each other. "And I'll be your personal bodyguard. And sex tester."

"Sex... tester?"

"Yes, like a food tester. I saw them in the scrying pool."

"How--" He stopped and laughed. Laoko and Sazillia weren't equal partners. Laoko was in the driver's seat, and Sazillia was in the passenger seat. But the fujara tetrad was apparently happy to ride shotgun, or even in the back, if it meant she was with people she respected, like Khazeer or Laoko.

He eyed Laoko. She eyed him back, smiling even as she opened her eyes wide, making sure he could see every millimeter of their depths. And they were large eyes, considering her head was twice as tall, wide, and deep as his. The red irises, surrounded by black sclera and punctured by black pupils, hid tiny flecks of amber.

She really was hot, in that classic seductress kind of way. But she wasn't crawling on top of him and squashing him with her breasts like Acelina might have, when trying to manipulate him. It was nice. Why couldn't they have more frank conversations like this?

"Alright," he said. "Alright. Like I said, I trust you, Laoko, at least, more than the other tetrads I've met. We have a deal."

Sazillia perked up like a happy kitty. Laoko sat upright and licked her lips like a satisfied lioness.

"Wonderful." She looked back at the rest of the group, eyes trailing over Moriah and Tsila, and then Jes and Daoka. But they settled back on the angels and lingered there. "Sometimes I wonder..."

"Wonder?"

"Yes. You understand me, David, at least somewhat, yes?"

He tilted his head. "I mean, I think I do? I'm not Mia. She'd probably have a few fancy words for you, I bet."

"Fancy. Ha." She chuckled and tapped a claw against her lip.

"But, yeah, I think I understand you a bit. I get the queenly thing."

"Mmm. And?"

Oh, it was going to be like that. She wanted him to describe her. Could have been a scene out of a romcom.

"And I get that, much as you like power, you don't like using violence to get it. If you could, you'd prefer to use words to get your way, especially when you think -- know -- that your way is better for everyone."

Her smile grew. "Yes. Continue."

What was she getting at? She was looking at the two angels the most and--oh.

"And... I get that you're one of the few demons who tried to establish a dialog with angels, decades ago. I remember you telling me about Liel, and his friends Galon and Symons. I remember you saying you basically had a romance with Liel, too."

Sazillia blinked and looked at Laoko. Maybe her fellow tetrad hadn't explained everything yet.

Smile doused, Laoko sat on her hip and looked down at her huge hooves as she combed her ponytail of long, black, thin tendrils.

"I do miss... the conversations. With Galon and Symons, and... Liel."

Finally, a little vulnerability from the queen.

"You miss Liel?" he asked.

"I do. I miss talking with someone who enjoyed talking. Even Sazillia here is a blunt instrument who would prefer to settle everything with either her claws or her pussy."

"Hey." Sazillia frowned, but it didn't have any seriousness to it.

Laoko continued. "I miss sitting with Liel, holding his glorious wings in my many hands, and combing his feathers with my claws while he talked to me of the humans of Heaven. I miss the stories he shared, about the souls he'd worked with, and the angels who'd told him stories of the same. I miss our debates about the nature of the Great Tower, what demons are, where is God, and why things work as they do. I miss Galon's jokes, and flirtations. I miss Symons's intense glares." Her next smile might as well have been painted in blue. "I miss... seeing a different side to things, instead of being here, surrounded by demons who... do as demons do."

A wet blanket would have been less depressing. Woops. Even Sazillia was staring at Laoko like she didn't recognize her anymore.

David watched her, waited, and eventually Laoko met his gaze. They stared at each other for a while, Sazillia clueless to the silent conversation.

While demons were happy to slaughter each other in unending wars for eons, Laoko would have been much happier with cold wars, with demons trying to outsmart each other. Violence was to be saved for surgical strikes according to her, not for bloodbaths like two weeks ago.

Not exactly the vision David had in mind for the future, but still, better than things were now.

Pegasus was asleep. David moved over, Sazillia moved with him, and he gestured to the spot beside him. Laoko chuckled, smile returning, and sat on his other side, squashing him between the two ten-foot four-armed demonesses.

"Keep your friends close," he said, "and your enemies closer."

Sazillia tilted her head. "We're enemies?"

Laoko leaned over David and gently thunked her giant horns against Sazillia's. "What he means is, since we are dangerous and could be adversaries one day, it is better for him to keep us near, both as allies, but also, within reach of his sword."

"Don't need the sword part," he said.

But Laoko shook her head. "Nonsense. We are deadly creatures, David. You would do well to keep that sword close and use it against anyone you know plots against you." She leaned down and rested her forehead against his. "But that is not I. Oh no. No, I would much rather control and use you, in ways I think you would even enjoy. You are far too cute and adorable for me to betray."

"And powerful," Sazillia said, practically shivering as she lay on her side and set her giant head on his lap. They'd never done this before, and David froze as the dangerous woman got comfortable on his legs, her body stretched out beside him, head taking up his entire lap as she grinned at him. Personal boundaries did not exist for this one.

"Pay no attention to this slut," Laoko said.

The fujara turned her head. "Hey."

David winced as Sazillia's neck spikes dug into his thighs.

"What David needs, Sazillia," Laoko continued, "is a woman who will guide him to strike fast and true when required, but also, a woman who can stimulate his mind. Is that not right? We could talk of stories. I do oh so love stories from the surface, and the gabriem told me many. Would that not endear you to me, oh mighty unmarked? Lie upon my naked body, fill my insides with your length, and tell me stories that delight you? Regale me with tales of knights and dragons, of seductive monsters and dashing men. Tell me of Achilles and Odysseus, of Gilgamesh, of Dante, and Son Wukong."

"Uhh...."

"Shhh. See it in your mind's eye, sweet little David. You, lying back against me, my naked breasts upon your shoulders, while your harem"--she gestured to the group again--"see to your every need. While I comb your hair, that spoiled princess would be massaging your lengths with her own breasts, and those little scamps you care for so much would do all they could to lap up your cum while it gushes over Acelina's bosom. I would tell her to turn, face the others, and she would take both your cocks in her ass, while Moriah, Tsila, Jeskura, and Daoka, would feast upon her breasts, drinking her milk and your cum alike."

This was the second time Laoko had dumped a fantasy on him in the middle of the night. For him or for her? At this point, he half expected her to be wearing a crown and indulging in being some sort of director for a large-scale orgy, and loving every minute of it. Maybe that was her true calling: a porn director? He squashed his sex aura before it got away from him.

"I think," he said, "you're underestimating Acelina, if you think she'd just do whatever you said."

Sazillia squirmed on his lap, eyes closing as she smiled. "Tell me more, mom."

Laoko smiled down at the other tetrad and poked her in the forehead. Those two had started getting along very quickly.

"And through all this pleasure, you and I could speak, David. We could talk. Converse, about whatever you desired."

He squirmed, for very different reasons than Sazillia. "I do like to talk." He had a thousand rants lined up, just waiting for a good excuse. "But I don't know about doing that while, uh, getting pampered."

But Laoko was looking at the other girls now, and her smile was absolutely devilish.

"I suppose you wouldn't want other men in the harem. Typical man. But you have proven you can satisfy many suitors at a time. Sometimes at the same time. So naturally, I would choose who would have the privilege to fuck you, David. And only when I have seen my fill would I then fuck you myself, the desert of the meal. And, of course, being as beautiful as I am, the other women would have no choice but to come to me and caress me, massage my perfect breasts, lick my perfect body, and watch as I milk you of every last drop you had to offer."

From calm and demure one minute, to lightly panting and smiling wickedly the next. She had more in common with Acelina than she thought. A tiny voice in his head stopped him from saying it, though.

"Come now, David," she said. "You would like that. I know you would."

"I... would. A lot."

Sazillia grumbled and tugged on her own tail. "Laoko you bitch. The fuck is the point in trying to get the kid horny? He said he doesn't want to fuck. But I do, and now--"

Laoko sighed and nodded, leaning back a bit. "Yes, you are correct. I... am sorry." Before Sazillia could widen her eyes, hearing a demon say the dreaded 'S' word, Laoko leaned down and kissed Sazillia on the lips. "I will make it up to you, mindless barbarian."

"Fucking right." Sazillia frowned, folded all four arms across her chest, and closed her eyes.

Okay, something had happened between these two. They didn't really know each other before, though people knew Laoko's name. But this? Buddies in some sort of power couple act, working together to bring David into their world-domination schemes?

It was actually kind of refreshing, how honest they were about it.

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

~~Day 154~~

Outside the cave and back on the path, the deep chasms of lava and remnants were unending, but at a certain point, you couldn't help but tune them out. A single remnant begging for mercy was one thing. A million was white noise. And horrible as the sight was, Moriah and Tsila took full advantage. The heat from the lava had little effect on them, and they used the cave's vastness and soared. Scouting, they said. But the smiles even Moriah was sporting said otherwise.

They wanted to fly.

"Ladies," David said, walking beside Pegasus. "I know we're underground. Angels can't see us. But Abaddon might?"

"Can Abaddon see through walls?" Moriah asked, swooping in close.

"I don't think so."

"Then don't worry." She gestured ahead. "Tsila and I are keeping an eye on the bend. There have been no betrayers. This path is suspiciously straight."

David nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Just--"

The Las walked the edge, teetering on it, and David almost yelled at them to get back. But they spread their wings, jumped, and glided, giggling as they reached the other side of the canyon wall. Remnants awaited them, but the Las had been around for decades. They cut the remnants apart quickly, scaled up their bodies for more height, and glided back to the group.

Tsila interrupted, caught Lasca, and the little impa squealed as Tsila flew her higher and higher, reached the ceiling, and let her go.

Laara, Latia, and Laria stared up at their leader as Lasca glided around from the obscene height.

"Me next!" they said in perfect unison.

Tsila smiled and fetched another La. Moriah grumbled, rolling her eyes, but did the same, taking two up at the same time with a little less finesse than the gabriem. High above the group, she let them go, and the winged red goblins cackled as they soared in big circles.

"Flying monkeys," David said.

Dao chirped at him.

"From a movie. Er, a book first, I guess. Flying monkeys worked for the evil witch, and--ah nevermind." He gestured up at the four little ladies. "Still seems weird to me demons can't fly."

"Indeed," Laoko said. "There is more than physics at play here."

He smiled at her. She smiled back. A physics conversation? Tempting, but he just nodded and moved along, the group joining and the flyers and gliders keeping to the air.

"Hey! Bitches!" Jes said, shaking her tail. Moriah and Tsila flew down, rolled their eyes, took Jes by the claws, and up into the air. "Fucking finally!" she yelled, and spread her huge wings like a bird learning to use them for the first time.

Daoka stopped by Acelina and clicked at her.

"My wings are not for gliding," she said. "I can, but not well. They are to show that I am royalty and am to be doted upon." Wings spread, she gave them a small shake, and their long, thin membranes billowed like silk curtains.

Dao clicked again and gently head-butted the much larger lady.

"Very well. If you insist. Angels! I would taste the air, too."

David looked back, blinking as Moriah and Tsila, doing the same, grabbed Acelina's wrists and lifted her. Up and up to the top of the giant cave, they released her wrists, and Acelina's wings opened like sails. They were enormous, dwarfing everyone else's, long and thin and catching absurd amounts of air as Acelina experimented, descending in a circle faster than the Las or Jes did. But before she sank too far, the angels swooped down and hauled her up again.

Acelina's shark teeth were showing. She was smiling.

Dao chirped at David and head-butted his shoulder. Pegasus misinterpreted, riling up, and Dao clicked and giggled at him until he calmed down.

"Yeah," David said. "Yeah, I guess it is nice. We don't get moments like these very often." Millions of screaming remnants aside. It was Hell. You had to get your wins where you could.

He tapped Pegasus on the shoulder, and his pet stopped and lowered to his front elbows. David slipped off, and rubbed Pegasus's neck and wings.

With another chirp, Dao pointed at Pegasus and Acelina, still gliding in far-reaching circles.

"Uh, Pegasus, glide?" David asked. "I mean, maybe? Not while I'm on him."

Dao frowned.

"Dao! He's never glided before! He could fall and die. And I'm riding him! I could fall and die!"

Dao frowned harder.

Well, shit. If Pegasus died, he knew what'd happen. Like a dry twig, he'd snap and crumble. But if Moriah and Tsila were confident...

"Moriah, Tsila! Think you can help Pegasus learn to glide?"

Everyone with wings glided down to the path, and Moriah and Tsila stood at the edge with Pegasus. Moriah clicked in her mouth, but a human or angel tongue didn't have quite the same sound as a demon tongue, not low enough in the throat, and Pegasus neighed and nudged her away with his wing. Tsila tried, but same result. Pegasus looked out over the edge of the path into the colossal ravine below, and David prepared to grab him if he tried to jump off. And probably fall with him.

"Fools," Acelina said. Grumbling, she squatted beside the big horse, clicked deeply several times, and gestured out at the air below.

Pegasus tilted his head. Acelina flared her wings, almost blanketing half the group. Pegasus tilted his head again, and this time she flapped her wings.

The spire mother clopped her hooves a few times, stepped up to the edge, and jumped. "Ladies!" she yelled. "I expect assistance!"

David eyed Moriah and Tsila, and while the gabriem laughed and took off, Moriah rolled her eyes yet again.

"We could say it was an accident," she said, eyeing David. "Oh no, the zotiva overestimated herself and fell into lava. A cruel fate. Surely there was something we could have--"

Dao shoved her off, and Moriah glared back at her as she flew after Acelina. The two angels were masters in the air, barrel-rolling and diving up and down, catching height as easily as they dove like falcons. They grabbed Acelina's wrists, guided her higher like flying tugboats, and Acelina glided back to Pegasus under her own power.

At least, mostly. She came up short a few feet and hissed through clenched teeth as she sank her claws into the wall of remnants and dragged herself up over the edge. David reached for her, but Jes and Dao were already helping her up.

"Infidels," she said, looking up at the two angels. "There, Pegasus. See?" Another wing flap and a few clicks and clucks. "Your hellbeast is struggling to understand, David, but I believe he is willing to try."

"And if he falls like a stone?" David asked.

Tsila flew down and hovered in front of the red unicorn. "We will catch him, of course."

"He's a horse, Tsila. Catching him won't exactly be easy. He might panic. He might flip upside down! He might--"

But Tsila giggled again, shook her head, and held out her hands. "We will catch him. Do not worry."

This was a bad idea. Couldn't they start smaller? Like, a tiny trench?

Acelina patted the goort on the shoulder and gestured out at the open air. And Pegasus took a step forward. He clopped at the edge with his front hooves, tested the empty air, and took a step back.

"If he doesn't wanna go," David said, "maybe we shouldn't--"

Pegasus ran and jumped off. Oh shit. David reached for the music, ready to make a bridge or platform, something to catch his friend, but Pegasus's wings were bigger than he'd expected. Way bigger. The goort stretched them out as far as he could, and the large membranes caught the air and turned his sprint into a glide.

"There, you see?" Acelina said, wiping remnant blood off her claws. "He can glide as well as any young demon."

Sazillia and Laoko squatted at the edge, way too close for comfort for demons without wings.

"There are hellbeasts," Laoko said, "with wings. Your goort is not the first. Though he is the first goort with them. And since this is his first flight, I wonder if..."

No need to wonder. Pegasus kept a straight path, and the oncoming wall did nothing to dissuade him.

But Moriah was on it. She flew over him, got her hands along his sides just under his wing arms, and pulled. Not exactly lifting him so much as lightly pulling him up and letting the air do the rest of the work. She helped him gain altitude, and steered him to the right. Be it instinct or Moriah's words, Pegasus tilted his right wing down, left wing up, and turned around in a slow gliding circle.

The Las cheered. Jes smiled. Acelina did, too, but hid it when David looked her way.

Like vertically stacked planes, Moriah guided Pegasus back onto the path. Unlike everyone else, Pegasus had a lot of forward momentum when he landed, and he hit the ground in a trot. And the trot turned into a trip, and he fell.

"Shit!" David ran to his side, and Pegasus let out some high-pitched whinnying sounds as he got back on his hooves. "You okay, buddy?"

Acelina was at his side in a moment, a few heavy clicks cutting through the horse's panicked sounds. They stopped, Pegasus settled, and he nestled his wings to his sides again. David pressed his forehead into his pet's neck and shoulder, and hugged him, much as he could hug the increasingly enormous horse.

"He did well," Acelina said.

Jeskura joined them. "Yeah, he did. Demons don't normally go gliding unless we got somewhere to land, so, all things considered? Yeah, that was pretty good."

"More!" Latia yelled, and the dainty little goblin jumped off the edge. The others followed, and Moriah and Tsila played babysitter.

Even with the gliding and flying, the crew got moving, and Laoko and Sazillia glanced back more than a few times to give David some intrigued smiles as he got back on Pegasus. Strange smiles, too. Were they happy? Surprised? He raised an eyebrow, but that only seemed to make them look back and grin at him more, Laoko especially.

"Those two," Jes whispered to him, "are going to be trouble." The whisper was pointless. She'd had to lean in to do it, and she'd kept eye contact with Laoko the whole time.

He nodded. "Yeah, they are, but I think it'll be good trouble."

"Good trouble? I don't know shit about Sazillia, but I think she's the sort of warrior girl who'll challenge her boss to a duel to take his crown, you know? And Laoko, we know what kind of bitch she is. What were you two talking about last night?"

"Nothing. Just, stuff you could probably guess." He smiled down at her. Lately, he'd even smiled several times. Fucking crazy.

Christ. Seventeen days. A long time, or no time at all? He couldn't even tell anymore.

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

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

~~Day 151~~

~~Mia~~

Another angel attack. Another day holding her head, hoping the tunnel wouldn't collapse. The angels couldn't get low enough to shoot their holy energy through the tunnel's ribs, not with the sea walls so close. Instead, they bombarded the tunnel from above, like they did with everything. But from above, the ribs were tight where they met the snake skeleton's spine, and no arrow or beam or arc got through. The bridge stood strong.

That was the point of the bridge. If Lucifer felt the Forgotten Place was some sort of fortress he could defend, while the False Gate -- Unholy Lands -- was a place he could enact his evil plans from, then the bridge was how he and his forces moved between them. They couldn't fly, not even Lucifer--whatever flying meant to a being so big it could touch the sky. Which meant the angels had the aerial advantage, and, case in point, they used it.

She looked up at Azreal and Noah, the two angels walking beside her. They were at the ready, weapons and armor on, and they marched with conviction, her devoted, steadfast bodyguards. They also didn't so much as peek her way, as if one second of broken vigilance would spell their doom.

Maybe kissing them was a mistake.

No. No it wasn't. She'd given Vinicius so many chances, and every time, he'd regressed back into a violent animal. Belor showing up had been the straw that broke the camel's back, not the root of the problem. It was time she moved on.

Two days since she'd kissed them, and nothing had come of it, other than the two men avoiding eye contact with her. Which was weird, after all the times they'd drowned in her eyes, soul-gazing.

They didn't like her anymore? The thought made her stomach ache, and she looked down at the gross sea floor under her sandals. She liked them. She thought they liked her. They were kind, and empathetic, and for all their incessant grumpiness, they had sprinkles of humor that she loved.

Did they think she was just treating them as rebounds? That wasn't true! Was it?

So much for being a psychologist. She couldn't figure out anything.

Yulia tugged on her dress, and Mia slowed until she walked in the back with her. Her unnamed brute walked behind her, forever mute, and spared a quick glare at Mia.

"What happened?" Yulia whispered, the skinny bat lady leaning in. She was so damn cute, with a slight chipmunk nose, long dreadlocks, two big fangs that looked more goofy than anything, and a dainty ballerina body that was barely taller than Mia's. And of course, she had wing membranes hanging from under her arms that connected to her sides, and her hands ended in a single pair of pincer claws. Pinch pinch.

"What? What do you mean?"

"I mean, why are Azreal and Noah being so weird around you?"

"Weird?"

"Yes!" The bat lady got in closer and pressed her nose straight up against Mia's ear. "They keep looking at you when you're not looking! They're very sneaky."

Mia blinked and stared ahead at the two angels. They didn't look back, walking ahead like two sentries with a job to do, surrounded by the remains of the Damall.

"I uh... I kissed them."

Yulia giggled and hooked an arm over her shoulders. "You kissed the angels? They're strong! Really strong. Stronger than Romakus."

"That's not why I kissed them."

"I know I know. So why kiss them?"

"Because... Because I like them, a lot? They've done so much for me, and--"

"Do you like them for sure?" Yulia said. "Or do you just want to pay them back?"

That was a good question, and one she'd been asking herself since she'd done it. Did she actually like them, or was she just trying to repay them for all the times they'd helped her?

She looked at Azreal; not that she could see much through the absurdly massive, beautiful armor. Of course, he didn't let his injuries stop him from walking, but she spotted the occasional limp. Stubborn dumbass. Her eyes drifted to the stubborn dumbass at his side, Noah, his lighter armor still a full suit of plate.

Azreal had teased her a little bit, two days ago, before she'd kissed him. For all his surliness, he had a playful side. She liked that. And he'd told her about his past, about Odette, a calm and contemplative woman. She'd liked that. And Noah was so much more forthcoming with his thoughts. She liked that, a lot. He was articulate, and direct, and honest. She liked that a lot.

They were both absurdly handsome. She liked that a lot.

And they were both depressed, and she wasn't so stupid as not to realize she really liked the idea of fixing them up. Give her a nurse's uniform from the 1950s, and she'd have happily tended to their wounds and listened to their stories and snuck them some blowjobs between shifts and--and one of those things was not like the other.

"Pretty sure I like them," Mia said. "It's just, I'm so used to demons, you know? Angels are so different."

Yulia nodded, and her playful smile disintegrated. "Yeah, they are."

"Shit, sorry." Mia leaned in and pressed her forehead to Yulia's. The first angel Mia had ever really talked to and gotten to know was Galon, playboy gabriem and friend of the Damall. And someone Yulia had cherished. "How about you?"

Yulia wiggled her nose. "I like James."

"You do? I don't really know much about him."

"James is great! He's fun. Makes me laugh all the time! And his cock can get so big!" She held out her hands, abandoning the shoulder hold. "So big! Fills me right up, until I feel like I could burst." She patted her absurdly flat stomach and smiled brightly, showing off her two long fangs. "He kind of reminds me of Galon, in a way. He's funny, tells jokes, and spends a lot of time practicing with the music and makes toys and stuff."

"Toys? I hadn't thought to try that."

"Try it! Yes yes, should try. And sometimes, when we're all fucking and having a good time before sleep, James will hold me and hug me and squeeze me and fill me right up and--" She hugged herself and squealed. "So much cum!"

Mia squirmed a little more. "Was he always like that?"

"Oh no, no no. When we first met, he was sad and stuff, all the time. But he got over it, and when he started making people laugh, he changed overnight. It was great!"

That was good. She'd half expected James to be super angsty, considering his circumstances. David probably was.

The music quietened. Mia froze.

"Mia?" Yulia asked. "Mia, what's wrong?"

The group came to a stop, looking back at her, and they scanned the ribs and ceiling of black bone.

"Someone get in?" Romakus asked. "Mia? I don't see anyone."

Mia took a second to respond. A second too long for the group, and they had their weapons and claws out the next.

"It's not that," Mia said. "I just... the music is getting... muffled. Flattened. I know you don't know what that means, but it's like someone's squashing my connection." She reached out and played a note. A spiral of rock stood up from the ground and into her palm, like a staff. "Okay, I can still play normal stuff. But..."

Faustinus came close. "But what?"

"I don't know. When I was dueling Molech, he blocked some of my songs, and I blocked some of his. And when he did that, it felt like someone had grabbed the strings I play the music on, right at the root. But this doesn't feel like that. This feels more like... someone's thrown a big thick blanket on top of me." She played another song. Same result, a rod of stone joining her hand, and she dismissed it with a similar tune.

"You're still controlling Hell," Kas said. "I do not understand."

"I can still play, but I can just... feel it. If I played super loudly, the song wouldn't go anywhere. What the fuck." She looked up at the black ribs and spine, and past them to the Red Sea's walls. The bridge runes were still resonating, a hum in the background of existence, songs that'd become part of the environment. Something was encasing Mia, but not the bridge song.

"Mia," Romakus said, "so far you've succeeded in confusing the shit out of us."

"I know I know. I don't know!"

"Uh..."

She grumbled and marched to the head of the group to the tetrads: Livian, Julisa, and Romakus. "I'm saying I can feel something smothering me like a big blanket. I can still play music, but if I tried anything big, anything that might attract Mother Hell's attention--"

"Mother Hell?" the tiger Silvina asked.

"Uh, yes. Don't worry about it." Mia gestured forward down the path and Cerberus's mushy footprints, barely surviving the wet sand of the seafloor. "I'm saying if I tried to do something big and powerful, it wouldn't work. I can feel it."

Julisa snorted and flicked her tail. "And what does that mean for us?"

"It means... be careful?" She shrugged. "It means if shit hits the fan, I can help, but I won't be doing anything big."

Romakus shrugged and pointed his fat sword down the path. "Every time you do something 'big', you summon aliens and get us all nearly killed. I think we can survive on you doing some smaller stuff for now."

She frowned at him and looked back. Maybe before, when they had a couple children of the Old Ones to fight for them, encounters were a little easier. Vinicius and Belor had been so damn strong, they'd practically trivialized battles. Even when the rider had attacked, Vin had handled him with their help.

The rider. Cain. Where was he?

The group moved on, Mia glancing back now and then. Not for Vin anymore; she'd given up on that fantasy. But Cain, or angels, or demons or betrayers or maybe Molech using the music to make the bridge bigger to fit his fat ass. Nope. There was nothing.

And it was eerily quiet. The Red Sea was constant white noise, but Mia had been listening to the background hum of music for months now. Now, most of it was suppressed. Not the immediate stuff, the stuff around her she could still interact with. But the distant stuff. There was now a large bubble around her, blocking most of the silent song.

"Lucifer," Livian said, and the tetrad looked back and dug at the sand with a hoof. "We know of three entities that can control Hell as you do. The unmarked, the Old Ones, and the archangels. Those who can play the music can also silence the songs of others, yes?"

Mia nodded. "Yeah. And yes, Lucifer makes sense. But..." She rubbed her arms and trembled. "I was kinda hoping the devil itself, himself, whatever, would be locked up and not able to affect the world outside his cage, you know? You--"

A trio of forms waited ahead. The path was perfectly straight, following the slight slope of the sea's floor, which meant no one was going to ambush them, front or back. And in the front, three tiny dots moved. One of them had two white dots around it.

Angel wings.

One of the dots came toward them, moving fast, and it wasn't long before a hellhound with three heads was tearing through the sound straight at them.

Mia got down on her knees, and thank God Cerberus slowed before he crashed into her and cleaved her in two. Skidding to a halt, he still tackled her, and she oofed as the soft sand caught her back. The beast was on her in a moment, and she giggled and held him off as three giant heads tried to lick her to death.

"Cerberus! I'm okay! Cerberus, stop!" No point. Trapped between giggles and catching her breath, Cerberus defeated her with his weight, lying on top of her like a Great Dane's much larger, fatter cousin, still convinced they were a puppy.

Romakus came for her. Finally, someone would help get him off--nope. Romakus jogged on by and roared a cheer. In the distance, someone groaned and complained, saying things like 'get off me' and 'stop licking me!' It wasn't only Mia, then.

After a minute of nearly asphyxiating, Mia slipped free of the big dog's weight, wiped off some sand, and smiled at Yosepha and Romakus joining them.

And James.

Her heart froze, and she turned to run. And stopped. No resonance. No growing ping. No rising tremor of attention. Nothing.

"I think Lucifer is squashing the music," James said, smiling as he came closer. "Or at least, that's what Lilith said. And, hi, Mia. Nice dog."

Mia stared at the man. He was gorgeous. Dark skin like Yosepha, shaved head, average height for a man, and built like an athlete; the skimpy red silks and black jewelry did nothing to hide that. And when he came closer and smiled a little brighter, she almost squeaked. She recognized that smile! In the mirror!

She came closer.

"Mia?" he asked. "You are Mia, right? I thought--"

She hugged him. Nice and tight. Tight as she damn well could with her little arms.

Maybe a direct hug right off the bat was too much. Not for social reasons, but for the electric shock as the runes in her mind flared to life, shot through her body, and straight into James. The runes she'd learned from the Death's Grip spire, the alphabet of songs, and the true names of things. The runes for suppressing spire auras. The runes for using the great forge. The rune to maybe, someday, create a portal to reach Heaven, or maybe even the surface. All of it shot into the poor guy, but she hugged him anyway, because damn it, she wanted to.

He squirmed. "That's... a lot."

"Yeah, sorry." She squeezed tighter.

"Whoa, hey. You're the one who's been saving my ass. Figured I should be the one happy to see you."

"Yeah, well, you saved mine too." She let him go and beamed up at him. "You saved us back there! You used the sky and..." And killed hundreds, maybe thousands of angels.

She glanced back at Azreal and Noah, and the two angels both nodded to Yosepha and to James. Yosepha wasn't in her armor, and the two angels dismissed theirs and each thudded their chests with the palm of their fists. Yosepha did the same, doing her best to shove Romakus off as the giant demon leaned over her from behind and insisted on hugging and groping her.

"You spoke to Lilith?" Livian asked.

James nodded. From the body language, he knew Livian well. They were comfortable with each other.

"Yeah. We were running--flying down the tunnel, Cerberus behind us, and once we had some distance on the battle, we ran into the woman in armor. She said to keep going, but she had to keep Cain off our tails."

Mia sucked in a slow breath. "I was wondering where he was."

James continued. "And she said, once we're within the domain of the Forgotten Place, we'll feel it. The music is squashed here. I think Lilith meant Lucifer is doing this? She was pretty vague."

"Yes," Noah said, grumbling as he joined them. "Yes, she is."

James had met most of the group already, but not all, and he nodded to Romakus. "Uh, where's Vinicius? And Belor? I'd been hoping to meet them."

Romakus winced and gestured to Mia.

"Be glad you didn't," Mia said, frowning as she looked back again. "Children of the Old Ones are obsessed with one thing: ruling everything they can. Assholes. Belor went back to False Gate, probably to get himself killed, and Vinicius... fuck him. Probably drowning in blood."

James stared at her, blinking. "I uh, knew it was probably rough, but damn."

"Yeah, well, you had it even worse. You got caught super early on!"

"You rescued me, though. I'd been in that Black Valley for a fucking eternity. And you rescued me. You didn't even know me."

It took effort not to bounce as she smiled. "You have no idea how many things we need to talk about!"

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

Catching up with a stranger was a weird and amazing experience. They talked about how they'd worked together, despite never getting near each other. They talked about the group, and how Adron and Noah had spent a lot of time with James's half. They talked about the visions, the dead unmarked, and James had been shocked-but-not-shocked when Mia explained about the visions of her brother. Neither of them had killed an unmarked yet. David had killed two.

They talked about Lilith and Cain, and what might happen when they reached Lucifer. They talked about Mia's encounter with Raphael, and she took the time to give the other demons protection runes. They talked about the group, and James caught her up on how nice Yulia was, how pragmatic Silvina was, and how Livian was basically Julisa-lite, a bitch but not so bad. They talked about the incubus boys, and how they'd stepped up more than a few times to defend James in fights. They talked about Cerberus, and how James hadn't been lucky enough to visit a hellbeast hatchery yet.

And they talked about the surface. They talked about the horrible things happening there, and the circumstances of their deaths.

"Wait, wait," Mia said. "You were born a week before I was. Know if you were a premature birth or anything?"

James shook his head, settling on the rock chair he'd formed with music. Everyone was taking a break, sitting on furniture the two unmarked had forged. Romakus took full advantage, holding Yosepha against her will on his lap and drowning her in kisses. Kas and Adron chatted with Silvina, Julisa, and Livian, and the incubus boys joined them: Faustinus, Locutus, Oudoceus, and Gallius. Azreal and Noah did what they always did: stood guard and pretended they weren't tired. Yulia, on her brute friend's back, joined them, and forced them into conversations, filling in for Mia.

Which left Mia to talk with James.

"Premature birth? Dunno," James said. "Why?"

"Raphael's corpse gave me a vision about an angel named Ramiel. Somehow she'd gotten to the surface, something only the exarch angels do, and far as I know, never really in-person like this. Ramiel followed a random man around like a ghost, a century ago I think, and when he went to sleep, she put an amber egg inside him; he couldn't see her or tell what she was doing. And then Ramiel... I don't know. She killed herself. And as she was dying, she touched the man somehow, and... gave of herself, maybe? Some gold stuff came out of her and went into the man. And she looked... happy. She died smiling."

James stared at her, big brown eyes wide and hypnotized.

"Damn. I mean... damn. Noah and Yosepha had already told me a bit, but they didn't really... wow. You think Ramiel was our mom?"

Mia laughed, wiping a small tear away. "Maybe? There's got to be a connection. We both died on the exact same day, right? And if you were born a week before me, then I'm thinking, maybe something in that amber egg was like... a schedule? That man had children, and those children had children, and then those children, maybe the women were menstruating and had eggs and some of those eggs 'activated' at the same time! You and I might actually be the exact same age, right down to the second, but not from conception, but rather when a woman's egg got activated on the schedule, and--"

James held up a hand. "A schedule. Got it."

"Sorry. That's my inner David. I just meant, I think we're the exact same age, kind of. We're part of some big plan, and one guess whose plan that is."

"You think Lucifer... might be our pops?" James asked, looking back down the path ahead of them.

Mia tilted her head. "Orphan, too?" She recognized the look.

"Yeap."

"That can't be a coincidence. Know what happened?"

He shook his head. "Nope. First memories are me, drifting between families. Never could get it right."

Mia whined and buried her face in her palms. "Me neither."

"This place, though," James said, gesturing around at everything. "Feels like... I don't want to say home. Wouldn't know. But damn, you know? After everything that's happened, it feels like, shit, like there's something here."

Took the words right out of her mouth. She nodded, looking around too, though she let her eyes linger on her two angels.

"Maybe Lucifer is our dad," she said. "You saw the vision with David, how he transformed. Very archangel-like."

"Ch'yeah. Fucking scary shit, Mia."

"I know. I... know." She rubbed her arms. "Okay. We keep going forward?"

James looked back again. "I don't see another option. Everything's pointing us straight to the devil. Satan. Lucifer. Morning Star. The Big Bad."

"Which sounds pretty fucked up."

"Yeap, it does," he said. Cerberus wandered up to James and set all three heads on his lap. James blinked down at the giant dog, at Mia, and down at Cerberus again. "I can't believe you have a literal three-headed hellhound. And you named him Cerberus."

"Well, I mean... what else was I supposed to name him?"

Funny-bone confirmed. James laughed and laughed, and rubbed Cerb's three heads. Mia immediately got up and pointed to each head.

"That's serious-head. That's boss-head. And that's dopey-head." Dopey-head made it obvious by wagging his head from side to side. "I'm surprised he likes you. Cerb's pretty on-guard with everyone, even in the crew. Must be an unmarked thing."

"Yeah, maybe." James made sure to pet each head and get around the horns and spiky forehead ridges. "Can you believe it? We're almost there. Been, what, five months?"

"Yeap, about that. Five months. Can't believe it." She smiled down at Cerberus, buried him in pets, and looked back at the crew again. "But we're almost there! Almost there."