The Pleasures of Hell

~~Day 80~~

~~David~~

They spent the whole day talking. Incubi and succubi visited David in his cave, each eager to meet the unmarked, each suffering the same hangover he was.

They were surprisingly easy to convince. Instead of weeks of meetings, back-and-forth arguments about tactics and credibility, and overall distrust, Tacharius and Zabulon apparently had a lot of pull, or Zab did at least. Tacharius was tagging along, and Zab didn't seem to mind. They both made gestures to David, the party he kept, and asked him to make small demonstrations of his power. He did, summoning small auras or crafting spikes of blackstone. That was enough to convince the other volas that he was legit, and that he'd make a better ruler than Tarkissa.

He had no intention of becoming a spire ruler. An amber horn jammed into his forehead? No thanks. He had a journey to make and couldn't be tied down to a spire. Maybe he'd have to pick someone to rule in his stead?

More volas came and went, some with brutes and vrats, some with tigers and gargoyles, a couple with satyrs who immediately started a click conversation with Daoka, before asking David some questions in Estian. It was always a shock, hearing riivas not click. Daoka only ever clicked, but she smiled as she did, making grand hand gestures and almost bouncing with her enthusiasm. Hangover or not, she kept her optimism.

Moriah, on the other hand, looked one bad conversation away from cutting a fool in half, and everyone gave her her space.

Through it all, Acelina stood nearby, egg beside her. No one had been aware of the egg yesterday, but now they were, and plenty asked why she had an unusually large goort egg. She didn't answer them, and hissed when they got close.

Come twilight, they slept. Normally they'd only sleep eight of the twelve hours, and trade shifts to make sure they always had someone watching during those twelve hours. But David built up a wall, protecting them. And with how sleep deprived everyone was, everyone closed their eyes, and went out like lights. David sat back against Caera's side, his couch, and she curled up around and behind him. Anyone would fall asleep instantly with company like that.

~~Day 81~~

He woke up. Everyone else was still asleep, except Acelina. She knelt in front of him, featureless face pointed at him, and big egg on the ground between him and her, enormous breasts hanging underneath her chest. Gulp.

"Acel--"

She held up a finger over her nonexistent mouth, slid the egg closer to him, and came closer herself.

"You are a strange man, David," she whispered.

"What?"

She sighed, set a hand on the egg, and gently traced her claws along its leathery shell.

"I wonder what's inside this egg. A goort to carry you on your journey?"

"I... don't know."

She slid closer. "You really are concerned about the souls of the damned, aren't you?"

This again. He would have sat up straighter, but moving might wake up Caera.

"Yes."

She leaned in over the egg and brought her enormous, black canvas face within inches of his.

"Why?"

"I... I just am. It's just human."

"The humans of Hell would disagree."

"I don't know what to tell you, Acelina. Me, and plenty of other humans, would care. Not for any logical reason. We just would. We see someone else hurting, and we hurt."

She stayed inches from him, so close he could almost see the hints of something through the perfectly smooth, black canvas face. Hints of eye socket ridges, maybe. Hints of a nose that wasn't there.

"Empathy."

He gulped. "Yeah."

Sighing, she pulled back, looked back down at the egg, and stroked it some more.

"You will care for this egg, yes?"

"Yeah, definitely. I fucked up before. Wasn't really processing what was happening." It was hard to think about it. An egg had been plopped into his lap, born specifically for him by Hell. He had no idea what to think, no idea what to feel. Mia would probably be ecstatic to get a pet. He wasn't even sure whatever was in the egg wouldn't eat his face off the first moment it could.

"Promise me."

"What?"

She stabbed his chest with her second hand. He almost twitched, but held still, not wanting to wake Caera.

"Promise me you will care for this egg, David. I will protect it, but... this is not some random hellbeast egg. This is something more important."

He had a sneaking suspicion this wasn't about the egg, or at least not entirely.

Slowly, he set a hand on the egg. It was warm. And if he really paid attention, he could feel the slightest movement inside.

She set her hand on his again, and he froze. What was this about? There had to be more going on than just the egg. Had to be! He didn't move his hand, but Acelina didn't move hers either, and she kept her face aimed down at their touching fingers.

"You frustrate me, little boy. You are such a puzzle."

"You uh, you think? I thought I was pretty simple. I like metal music, video games, porn, and--"

"Nonsense. I see violence in you. I see a desire to do harm. Buried underneath this weak, pathetic, whimpering little boy who cares about others to the point of self-detriment, I see something made of fire and steel."

He stared at her, unmoving. "What?"

She leaned in closer again and nudged her forehead into his.

"You probably think I am an evil creature, don't you? Some old lover of Zelandariel's, twisted with hate, concerned now only with pursuing my own interests. You think I am helping you because I am smart enough to realize I must, or Hell is lost. You think I am--"

"No, no."

"You don't?"

He shook his head. With her forehead against his, the smooth texture slid across his skin.

"I mean, I'm not stupid. Demons are... You're not humans. You have different priorities, and think differently. But I don't think you're evil, Acelina."

"I don't believe you."

He pulled back a bit, blinking at her. She didn't move. Why was this conversation even happening? What words could he possibly say?

He leaned back in and bumped his forehead against hers.

"I trust you."

It was her turn to pull back. She kept her featureless gaze on him and held her breath. He held his. The room was deadly quiet, with only the sound of others breathing in their safe little cave.

"You trust too easily."

"Yeah, I get that. But I trust you."

"Why?"

He shrugged, carefully.

"Because you've been watching my back for a while now? Because you decided to take care of the egg, even though I was being a distracted idiot. Because that night when you... That first night you touched me, you had fun, right? It really seemed like you... wanted to join us. And I was happy you did." He nodded toward the Las. "I don't know what you were like when you were with Zel, but far as I've seen, you've grown to like us, right? You've grown to like the Las. I bet you even like Laoko."

She growled quietly and looked over at the biggest woman in the cave, sitting nearby, Jes and Daoka near her giant legs.

"She thinks she is superior to me."

"Not superior. Just, uh... older? And more... seductive milf?"

"I can be seductive."

He gulped again. "I believe it."

"You are easy to seduce, aren't you? I have but to hold you down and bury you in my perfect breasts and you would break."

He gulped louder. "I would."

"Though you seem to have become rather attached to the tregeera behind you."

He looked down at Caera, her head on the silk sheets beside his leg, a scar across one ruined eye. And the fact Moriah had given her that scar didn't bother Caera at all.

"Yeah."

"Then lucky for you demons are not humans." She smiled, that wide, scary shark smile showing through. But it didn't last. She sat back, stroked his egg, and while still looking at him, gave her enormous wings a gentle flap.

The breeze woke everyone.

Caera opened her eye, looked at the egg first, Acelina, and then up at David.

"Acelina?" she asked.

Acelina got up, scooped up the egg, and cradled the huge thing in her arms; not so huge in her long arms. It was oddly a little... motherly, the way she held it, gently ran her claws along it, and walked in place while everyone around her woke up.

Jes groaned and stretched out like a cat. A winged cat.

"Fuck me," she said. "I feel so much fucking better now. What the fuck, why would anyone do this to themselves?"

David shrugged, getting up too. "Got me. I've never done it, and I couldn't imagine doing it... Then again, I'm the nerd who doesn't do anything." Because he over-thought everything until he did nothing at all, according to his sister.

Daoka clicked at him several times before gesturing around. She was right. That was a lifetime ago.

Everyone got up and got dressed. And damn it, David couldn't help but watch Acelina. Considering the conversation, now he had images of Acelina from that first night together, when she'd woken him before and had taunted him, pressed her breasts against him, and had wrapped her long fingers around his cock.

He clenched his eyes shut, grabbed the strings, and made them silent. No aura. Exercise some self-control.

The fact his girlfriend didn't seem to mind any of this only made it harder. She rubbed up against his leg, practically purring, and when she noticed where he was staring, she rubbed a little harder. He looked down, and she smiled up at him.

The tiger would kill Naoko if she touched him without her permission, but she didn't feel the same way about Acelina, or the other girls in the group. It was so strange. Hell, Moriah had rode him and looked straight into his soul, and Caera had watched him, happy it was happening.

How the fuck was he supposed to navigate this?

Daoka came up behind him and hugged him, squashing her breastplate against his back. She giggled and rubbed her horns against his head, and gestured down at the Las.

"Las find friends!" Lasca said, joining them. "David should speak to imps and grems. They fight, if David prove strong! Others spread word already, felt aura. But David should prove he strong! And, that David like imps and grems."

"Prove that I like you?" He held up his hands. "Can we do that without sex?"

The Las whined, but nodded.

"Come," Latia said, and she pulled on his hand. "Come. We show. Everyone come."

The demons and angels traded glances.

"Imps and grems," Laoko said, "do not go to war. I have been in many battles, and I have seen the Spires War firsthand. Imps and grems stay out of it, usually."

"Not this time!" Laria stomped a hoof. "We fight! Strong together!"

If David had some sticks, he'd make an 'apes strong' reference no one would have gotten.

"I'd really prefer you stayed out of it," he said. "But we need all the help we can get. We have to get this Scar problem dealt with quick and now."

Lasca nodded and aimed her sword up high. "We go!"

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

"Pointless," Zabulon said. "You can't control imps and grems. Auras don't affect them as strongly as other demons, spire auras, too. They just don't have the brains for it."

The crew walked along the base of the Scar, the bottom, where the burning sky barely reached. On their left and right were the rising steps of the canyon, each four or five meters tall, terrace steps that reached up and up. And the further the group moved through the Scar, the less the terrace edges looked like natural formations of stone, and more like structures.

Hanging silks. Hanging chains. Thousands of skulls arranged in ornate patterns on walls as if they'd been carved out of white marble. They weren't. They were human skulls, tens of thousands of them, attached to the walls by hooks, or set up on stone shelves, or hanging from chains like beads. The ground was smooth, worn down by millions of claws living on it.

There was more. Metal spikes stabbed up from the ground, each a twisting shaft decorated with black skulls grown in the blackstone. Not something the volas made. Something Hell made. And the deeper David and the crew went, the more Hell's own decorating joined in. Gone were the plain stone terrace steps of the canyon. Spikes rose from the terrace edges, and chains dangled from them. The ground changed from rocks to perfectly flat ground, blackstone not just worn smooth, but practically tile.

Daoka huddled in close to Jes and David, held their hands, and clicked up at the arrangement of skulls dangling over their heads.

"Indeed," Laoko said. "The Scar only shares similarities with Death's Grip near the two mouths. Most of its length is this, metal and beauty."

It was beautiful, in a scary kinda way. What was that movie series? Hellraiser? It was like someone had taken the fashion design of Hellraiser and turned it into decor.

It was more than black spikes and skulls. The walls changed, still covered in skulls, but spikes jutted out from them, thousands of them, each a meter long; climbing the walls would be easier, and deadlier. Someone had taken leather, absurd amounts of it, and somehow stitched enormous walls of it together with black chain. The leather was dyed black somehow, and metal chains were hooked onto its edges to pull it flat over tunnel entrances like a drum skin. Or, in the case of horror films, human skin pulled taught by torture devices.

What in the ever-living fuck.

Torture device was the appropriate word, too. Some caves they passed were filled with remnants, and imps and grems inside killed them for scraps. The tunnels weren't random stone anymore, but walls of sharp metal decorated with black silk and blacker chains, each holding skulls in patterns David couldn't understand. And it only got worse when they passed one of the slave tunnels.

Not remnants screaming this time. Humans screaming. Laoko put herself between him and the cave, blocking his view, but he peeked past her into the tunnel long enough to see the humans huddled together, naked, spiked chains wrapped around their throats. A succubus was laughing at them and pulling the chain, herding them, dragging them into another section of the cave. A cage awaited, reaching from floor to ceiling, bars of spiked metal their new prison.

The humans were crying.

David clenched his eyes shut and looked away. Remember. They're damned. They are horrible people, killers, rapists, sadists, traitors, all the people full of hate, narcissism, indifference, self-infatuation, all the people who spread nothing but pain and misery on the surface. Stop feeling bad for them.

Stop it.

He covered his ears and looked straight ahead, directly into Tacharius's back. The incubus looked back at him, eyebrow raised, but said nothing. It was a good while before they were past the slave tunnels, and David covered his ears the whole way.

Acelina came up behind him and set a hand on his shoulder, other hand still grasping his egg.

"I can feel your aura," she said. "What are you doing?"

He lowered his hands and took a second to analyze. She was right. The screams, the begging voices, the pleas, they were nails on chalkboard, cheese grater on his flesh, and they were getting to him. Something was coming out of him in retaliation.

He wanted them to stop. He wanted the demons hurting them to stop. He wanted the voices to stop. He wanted everyone to stop.

The demons around him slowed and stopped, looking around in a daze. No more movement. They were confused, and looked back at him. Even Moriah and Tsila looked at him, an eyebrow raised.

He crushed the aura, and they started moving again, though they spared some curious glances back at him.

"How strange," Acelina said. "That was an interesting sensation. I wanted to stop."

"Yeah, sorry. I... I don't normally create auras, other than sex ones."

"But you crafted one now that told me to sit and do nothing. A strange aura. And not one I have ever heard of a spire creating."

"Anyone even know how spires create auras?"

"No. Only spire rulers would."

He looked behind him. "That reminds me. Azailia is probably going to come after us, or send people after us. We have to deal with her, and Tarkissa, and the unmarked girl coming our way through the Red Pits. And the aliens. And maybe more angels."

Acelina laughed and poked his back with her tail. "Yes. You'll probably fail and die, and Hell and the Great Tower will be lost. Aliens will lay eggs in our heads, and strange maggot creatures will eat our brains."

He stared up at her, and she looked down at him, showing her big shark smile.

He laughed. He laughed hard, grabbed his knees to keep from falling, and laughed some more until people stared at him. At least until Jes started laughing, and Daoka and Caera did, too. But just them. Either the others hadn't heard Acelina, or didn't share her dark sense of humor.

Moriah rolled her eyes.

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

Lasca pointed ahead, and the group followed. The group at this point was no longer just Tacharius and some other volas and a few betrayers. Natalie, Naoko, and Fuad were there, following Tacharius and Zazee, but behind them were hundreds and hundreds, probably thousands of demons and betrayers. Some followed along the Scar's base with David, eyes forever glued to his back. Most followed from up on the terrace edges above him on his left and right.

Maybe a thousand people on his left. A thousand more on his right. And somehow they'd found weapons and armor. Not a lot, and not the heaviest armor. A chunk here. A slab there. But it was enough.

Anything so he didn't have to entertain making meera metal himself. Killing demons and mixing their bones with blackstone? Forging it in the heat of lava? If the knowledge spread that he could forge armor, the ramifications could be awful, demons lined up with dead demons draped over their shoulders, convinced they were getting a free ticket to a nice new weapon or something. He couldn't handle that.

And if they ever found out he could imbue weapons with hellfire, they'd show up with dead humans in droves, carts full of them, ready to dump them into a furnace so he could melt them down; it didn't work like that, but that's what they'd do. They'd bring living humans, too, with chains around their necks, pulled in a line for David to sacrifice over an anvil. If that ever happened, David knew exactly what he'd do.

He'd shut down. He'd break, freeze, go statue, just like at the funeral.

David half watched the people ahead, the angels, Laoko, the Las, and Caera. She prowled beside him and glanced up at him now and then, and he pretended to not notice; a lifetime of avoiding eye contact made that easy. So many demons, murmuring, whispering. Some tested their weapons, gave the swords or axes a swing or two, as if they hadn't used them before. Maybe they hadn't, being volas and all that.

Would volas be able to fight? Probably. They survived the hatching pit, same as the other demons. They could fight, kill, hunt, and if they couldn't do it with weapons, they could do it with fang and claw. From what David saw of them, they looked strong enough. And if the numbers continued to grow like this, he'd have ten thousand, maybe fifty thousand demons following him before reaching the spire.

The numbers the others had told him weeks ago were wrong. They'd thought the provinces had maybe a hundred thousand non-imp or grem demons, and probably the same amount in imps and grems. No way. There were more. A lot more.

What would it be like if he used his aura to call a horde? Spires could do that. Mia had done it, according to Moriah. Why couldn't he? It was easy to imagine, him wearing his angel armor, staff in hand, summoning his army, literally. They'd flow over the rocks, pour over the spikes, rush through the crevices, an army of hundreds of thousands of demons, maybe more, wielding black metal, a horde aimed at his target.

He could. He could make the demons do his bidding. He could break them all, maybe even Laoko, and make them attack whoever he wanted. The strings were there, he just had to pull them hard enough.