The Pleasures of Hell

~~Day 95~~

~~Mia~~

Dobasi gave them a room and gave Mia a small amber necklace she could use to open and close the door. What a flashback. She almost laughed.

The big scary tetrad left, leaving Mia alone with her crew. Cerberus immediately got to exploring, and he stalked around the large room, noses to the floor, but there was nothing to find. Like Mia's old room in Death's Grip, it was wide, had a raised section off to the side with a huge bone table and bone chairs, and it had a window with bones covering it like bars. Back in Zel's spire, the window overlooked Death's Grip, a wasteland of thorny, deadly mountains. Here, near the top of the Angel's Spine spire, it showed only flesh. Archangel flesh, literally pressed up against the window. The top of the spire was buried in it.

Everyone found a place to get comfortable. Kas squatted in the corner near the bone door, and again, Mia almost laughed. Just like last time. The angels took the high place, standing around the table much too big for even them, while Julisa and Romakus stood by the window and examined the bleeding flesh just outside.

Vinicius found his own little corner and did what Vin always did: be all stoic and shit. He never had the same vibe as Kas, though. With Kas, he was like some classic beast from a gothic horror story, maybe a stone gargoyle or something, brooding on his perch, waiting for some beautiful little lass like Mia to teach him how to love. Vin was like a hibernating grizzly bear, usually quiet, but all too eager to kill anyone who got too close.

She'd check on Vin last. He'd appreciate that.

"Kas," she said. "Feeling alright? Arm okay?"

He held out his huge arm and rotated it. Satisfied, he clicked once, a deep cluck in his throat. All this time he talked with words, with her and the others, she'd plain forgotten the eyeless demon breeds preferred to click and cluck.

"Noah?" she asked, looking at the platform a couple meters up. It had a gentle stairway leading up to the black metal platform, practically cute decor.

She'd spent way too long in Hell.

"I will live," he said, and he sat on the edge of the platform so his legs hung off. He showed his stomach. The wound was closed, but barely, and the surrounding flesh looked blistered and gnarly.

"Hellfire," Yosepha said, "causes destruction in the spirit realm in a way few other things do."

"Spirit realm?" Mia asked. "I suppose that fits. We're ghosts. Or, I am, anyway. Y'all are spirits." She pointed a finger at Romakus. "Ever possess someone, asshole?"

The man laughed and gave his wings a deliberate shake, knocking around the skulls dangling from them.

"Oh, hundreds, and I made deals through them. I'm the demon of the crossroads. How do you think Robert Johnson learned to play?"

Mia scrunched up her nose. "How much scrying pool do you watch?"

"More than you! I've never seen a soul come to Hell, and not spend their first months completely absorbed in one."

She raised a finger, stopped, and lowered it. That was true, and Romakus might have been making a joke, but the following silence wasn't. Mia looked down, shifted in her sandals, and tugged at the edges of her flimsy red dress.

"You're right."

Romakus squatted in front of her, tilting his head. "Hell life so good you don't miss the surface?"

"It's not about missing the surface. I liked life on the surface, more than most, I think. But..."

"But?"

She looked around at the others. Everyone was looking at her, even Vin.

"But... I don't know. You know I was an orphan and never stuck with any family for long. And I had friends, but no close friends, only David. I had a quiet little life, and I was happy to casually cruise toward my quiet little goal. I didn't really ever feel... feel like I belonged, I guess."

Again, she peeked at the others. Kas was unreadable. Julisa didn't care. Romakus was analyzing her in typical sneaky demon fashion, probably thinking a thousand thoughts. Vin watched her like a predator learning prey. But the angels looked at her with a mountain of knowing, and all three's eyes grew somber.

Mia put up her hands. "It just means I don't miss it all that much, despite how much I liked it. Down here, I'm doing something important, and every day may be hell, but every day means something, you know? Down here, the days don't blur together into this giant mess of nothing, like up there. Down here, I remember everything that happens, because it's always important. Everything."

A deep rumble drew everyone's eyes. Vinicius.

"A life without meaning or purpose," he said, "would drive anyone mad."

She blinked at him. "Y-Yeah, it would."

More silence.

After a few minutes of stewing, Mia sat down against the metal wall near Kas. Unlike Zel's tower, this one didn't have any big piles of silk for sleeping on. Maybe Yosepha would let her sleep on her wing?

Azreal and Noah got up and walked to the door.

"Mia?" Azreal asked, and gestured to the black bone spikes covering the door.

"Going somewhere?" she asked.

"We will patrol the area, and see if we can learn anything about James, or return if we spot the rider. There is no danger. There is plenty of space for flying."

That was true. They were safe as long as they stayed in the air.

"Noah?" she asked.

Noah nodded. "I will be fine."

She tapped Dobasi's necklace, and the door opened. Both men nodded deeply, almost a bow, and left.

"Suspicious," Romakus said.

It was suspicious. The two angels had said a few things on the journey, each time wearing away at the trust Mia had in them. Something was up.

"Yosepha?" Mia asked. "You're from the same Heavenly Island as them, right? You know what's up with them?"

She shook her head. "I didn't realize we thought something was wrong with them."

Mia resisted the urge to tease her and call her a typical mikalim. "I'm pretty sure something is on their minds, something they haven't told us. Sure you don't know anything?"

"We share the same birthplace, but not the same captain or battalion. I do not know them well enough to assess."

Vin snorted, getting everyone's attention. "Azreal and Noah are old, perhaps older than they realize. Over the eons, many angels take out their anger in Hell." Everyone listened when Vin used complete, long sentences. Long-ish. "They rebirth themselves, fleeing dread. Some release that dread in Hell."

"Release the dread?" Mia asked, and looked up at Yosepha.

The angel sighed and looked away. "The vortex is vast, and angels have the freedom to come and go from Hell when they wish. It is more common than angels want to admit that we visit Hell, angels like myself, and Galon. And... we speak of it in whispers, but sometimes angels grow violent, grow the desire to do violence."

"Violence?" Mia asked.

"We are warriors of God, but we have no one to fight. Hell is not our enemy, not truly, and we go millions of years without fighting its denizens." Yosepha hopped down to her, wearing her white silks. "It is one of the many questions that plague us. Even the gabriem feel it, the desire to be soldiers, but... soldiers for what?" Sighing, she sat against the wall, and Romakus sat with her. "Imagine, millions of rapholem and mikalim, patrolling our borders that have never been touched since the First War, billions of years ago. Angels and demons may not suffer the hand of time as souls do, but we feel something is missing. Some angels kill themselves as either depression or rage consumes them. Some seek rebirth, for the thousandth time, and their memories fade. Some come to Hell, and while they never speak of what they do, we see the wounds it leaves on their grace. They... kill."

Mia stared. "I know you told me angels were committing suicide, and sometimes visiting Hell, but you never described it like this, like a condition everyone's suffering."

"It is our great shame. No soul in Heaven knows of it, and we would keep it that way."

Sighing, Mia slumped against the wall and sat on her ass. Cerberus joined her, pressed his heads into her chest, and she stroked them until the increasingly large three-headed hellhound lay beside her, heads on her lap. He was the size of a full wolf, now, maybe even bigger.

"The Great Tower isn't perfect," Mia said. "Every religion always preaches about how perfect the system is. But it isn't. God created this thing, this tower-tree thing, and it's trying to grow in literal nothingness. You'd think something capable of doing that would make some sort of elegant and immaculate design, a grand architecture that's perfect in every way."

Yosepha shook her head and fiddled with the small pouch dangling around her neck.

"I know little of science," the angel said, "but on Earth, humans speak of biology, of evolution, and how inelegant it is. Chaos, with nothing that can be cleanly described or categorized."

"That's true," Mia said. "Nothing fits into any neat box in biology, and evolution isn't a machine with intent, just a random outcome factory with a bias toward successful procreation, while everything else it couldn't care less about." Poor octopus.

"Perhaps the Great Tower is the same way?" The angel shrugged her wings, eyes still down. "Perhaps God planted a seed, and mirroring the chaos and insanity of Earth's biology, the Great Tower grew, a budding tree fighting against oblivion to survive."

It took willpower to keep from yanking that stupid pouch off Yosepha's neck.

"The souls in Heaven," Mia asked. "We really don't know what would happen if demons or Lucifer got into Heaven and ate or killed the souls there?"

"We don't. I can only imagine they would damage the Great Tower irreparably. A question for the council."

Groaning, Mia rubbed her face and went from sitting to lying on her back, slowly sliding down the wall until her head rested on the metal floor.

"Someday," she said, "I'm going to use the runes Raphael taught me. I'm going to go to Heaven, and demand answers."

Yosepha didn't answer. No one did.

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

Azreal and Noah came back.

"You two okay?" Mia asked.

Azreal nodded, but in typical asshole fashion, said nothing. Why did she have so many assholes in her group?

"We saw no signs of the rider," Noah said. "But I suspect he will show himself sooner or later."

Mia nodded. "Probably. You two--"

"We head back out," Azreal said. He held Mia's gaze for only a moment before he left.

"What? You should stay, sleep."

"We will perch somewhere safe," Noah said. "If Dobasi betrays us, it makes sense for some of us to be outside the spire where we may be of use."

Mia shook her head. "What? I'm not sure--"

The two angels left, leaving Mia with her jaw dropped. She looked at Yosepha, and the angel sighed.

"I am beginning to believe," Yosepha said, "those two may truly be far older than even they realize."

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

Evening twilight came. Kas went to sleep, cozy in his corner like a piece of furniture. Julisa, Vin, and Mia were next, letting the natural cycle of night and day in Hell knock them to sleep without struggle. Yosepha and Romakus took first shift.

"Get rid of it," Romakus whispered.

Mia kept her eyes closed, pretending to sleep with Cerberus beside her, her sitting back against him. Eavesdropping was a sin, right? Well, when in Hell.

"I won't," Yosepha whispered back.

"You're not a traitor."

"In a sense, I am."

Romakus grumbled. "Really got your head jammed up your ass, stupid angel."

"Maybe, but you seem quite obsessed with it."

"The pouch? You--"

"My ass."

Romakus laughed. Loudly. Everyone woke up, and Mia pretended to, faking the best yawn and arm stretch. Cerberus did the same, but once Mia stroked his mane a few times, he closed his six eyes and went back to sleep.

"Well, fuck," Romakus said. "Y'all need to sleep better."

Mia stuck out her tongue. "You're the one making a racket, dickwad."

Romakus shrugged and gave her what was probably his attempt at an innocent face. A giant demon with a demony, hyper-masculine, skull-ish face, could not do innocent to save his life, and Mia couldn't help but laugh. Yosepha did too.

"You know, Romakus," Mia said. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

"Do I?"

"You used to be a bailiff for Belor? You were a big mover in the Spires War."

Romakus, sitting at the opposite wall, scooped Yosepha up onto his lap. He set the angel facing away from him, her legs between his, and he casually held the beautiful black woman to his chest. She squirmed and elbowed him, but not hard enough to even earn a grunt, and the giant demon happily hugged her tight. Trapped.

"Not really," he said. "It was a part-time job, and I quit. Poor benefits, worse pay."

Mia frowned at him, walked up to him, and doubly frowned at him. "Vicente called you a traitor."

"What do you think the Damall are? I saw the insanity Belor wrought, and decided I'd put a stop to it. Hell is a much happier place when demons just do their own thing, fighting each other and fighting over food." He leaned forward and took a deep breath of Yosepha's super-short afro. "And I didn't like the idea of fighting angels."

Yosepha scoffed. "I bet you were as hungry for violence as any demon back then."

"Nah. I just wanted to settle down with an angel and raise a few kids."

If Yosepha rolled her eyes any harder, she'd have lost them. She tried to get up, but Romakus held her down, slid one arm around her waist, and a hand around her throat. Like it was Pavlovian, she relaxed back against Romakus, and her wings went limp.

God damn it. Mia frowned at Romakus harder, but the demon just grinned back and hugged his girlfriend snug and tight. Mia wanted that. Maybe not with a joker like Romakus, but damn, she wanted that.

Julisa walked over, whacked Romakus's wing with her tail, walked over to Vinicius, and sat with him instead.

"While we're up," Julisa said, "and we finally rest in a safe place, let us indulge."

Vinicius grumbled, but he didn't stop Julisa from running her claws down his chest, either.

Mia to the rescue. She strolled up to them, folded her arms across her chest, and gave Julisa some knowing glares. The tetrad smirked.

"Vin," Mia said. "Vicente. You really just... jumped him. And killed him." And killing the bailiff from the Black Valley could come back and bite them in the ass, but that's not what Mia wanted to talk about.

Vin rumbled and said nothing.

Mia tilted her head. "I know you said you saw an opportunity, but you also said he deserved to die for what he said."

Vin didn't rumble, and said nothing.

"The last thing Vicente said, was a bunch of threats about what he and Alessio would do to me."

Still nothing.

Mia sighed and looked back to the others. Cerberus slept. Kas watched, squatting in his corner. Romakus and Yosepha were cuddling, or rather, Romakus was groping and hugging and squeezing Yosepha, and she was doing her best not to act like she didn't like the attention.

It was probably their antics that had Julisa in a mood. The damn woman took a peek at Romakus, another at Mia, and again touched Vinicius.

"Kas," Mia said. "Can you deal with this bitch?"

Julisa set one of her many hands on her breastplate. "Do you think I am some--" Kasimiro came over, grabbed the woman's leg, and yanked her onto her back. "What!? How dare you! What sort of demon bends a knee to a soul? You--"

Kas dragged her back to his corner and wrestled with her. Julisa fought against him, but it didn't last, her struggles quickly becoming playful and flirtatious instead of serious. If she had her four swords, she'd be able to fight Kas without issue. But in a wrestling match, Kas was a heavyweight beast compared to her.

Mia walked up between Vin's legs and sat on his thigh. He didn't move. She smiled up at him, slid a little closer, and touched his stomach. He didn't move.

"You," she whispered, "attacked Vicente because he threatened me."

Vin snorted and said nothing.

"You getting attached to me, Vin? Protective?"

His snort turned to a growl, and shivers ran up Mia's spine. He wasn't happy she was poking the bear, but the bear needed to be poked. And besides, said bear couldn't hurt her, not with his leash and her necklace stopping him. He was bound not to hurt her, not to remove his leash or her necklace, and not willingly attempt to leave her.

Maybe she'd release him someday. Definitely. Once they'd saved the Great Tower.

She slid closer and pressed her side up against his stomach, her legs between his thighs and almost against his crotch. From this close, she could whisper even quieter.

"I bet if the others weren't here, you'd talk with me more. I bet I could get you to talk about yourself."

"I have no stories to share."

"Not true! I mean, they must be really violent stories, but you wandered Hell with the rider at your side. I bet you have all sorts of stories about strong hellbeasts you fought, or maybe little tribes of demons you ran into you took on, just you, or hordes of Cainites."

Vinicius snorted down at her, and hot dragon breath blew her hair back. Thankfully, it just smelled like hot air, and blood. He said nothing.

"No war stories? Maybe you joined up with a spire ruler at some point and fought another? Maybe you fought another child of the Old Ones? Tell me a story and put me to sleep."

"Why would I tell you a story to put you to sleep?"

"It's just an Earth thing. Nevermind." Sighing, she leaned into his side a little harder. "You really jumped Vicente and ripped him apart, because he was threatening me?"

Vin looked past her to the others. Azreal and Noah were out doing only God knew what. Yoseph and Romakus were hugging and kissing, as much as she could kiss him and his scary-but-kinda-sexy face. Kas was in a weird, sexual wrestling match with Julisa, which Julisa was more than happy to perpetuate.

Far as Mia could tell, Kas had no interest in Julisa, other than the fact that the four-armed bitch was ridiculously hot, with a tight waist and huge tits. Good. Maybe it was selfish of Mia to want to keep Kas for herself, at least emotionally or mentally. Kas had been protecting her for so long, she'd grown attached.

She'd grown attached to the asshole she was sitting on, too.

"I really don't understand you, Vin," she whispered. "I want to, though. You say you want to eat me, but then you do things like defend me when you don't have to, and even kill someone for threatening me. And yes, I know you'll deny it, but I know you better than that. I think you like me." A poke wouldn't do, so she punched him in the stomach. No response, of course, not even a flinch. "We could be friends, you know."

She almost felt like she was trying to befriend the grizzly bear she'd thought of earlier. If she had a fish to give, maybe that'd work. Except in Hell, the only fish she had was her body. Sex was just a normal way of communicating for demons, a common occurrence, something they did when they were bored or felt like spending time with a friend. It was hard for her to think of sex like that, but a few months in Hell had definitely put the idea in her head.

But Vin felt differently. He pushed her aside, and she squeaked, rolled backward off his leg, and landed on her back and ass on the floor. Apparently, the necklace wouldn't stop him from touching her if he wasn't actively trying to hurt her, even if his bull-in-a-china-shop movements got her neck broken. She stood up and glared, and he nudged her back with his tail.

She braced for harsh words. Something like 'leave me be' or 'I do not want you' or something. But he said nothing. He stared down at the floor between his feet, arms limp at his sides, before he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

Sighing, Mia sat with Kas and Julisa, who'd settled their wrestling match and sat next to each other instead. And because Mia was feeling upset, and dejected, and confused and annoyed and flustered, she sat between the two giant demons and pulled her knees up to her chest. Julisa frowned down at her, but didn't move her or anything, leaving Mia squashed between the two demons' thighs.