“Oooh! Oh, well, in that case, yes, he is welcome in my home and my pussy.”
“Saleah, come now.” I shook my head and chuckled.
“I’ve heard some pretty impressive rumors about Lord Dakkar.”
“You have? I wonder why I hadn’t. How long has he been on this plane?”
“Well, he’s been here before, but returned to hell. He seems to make periodic visits. Recently, he’s been here since the night of Katashniel’s rising. From what I’ve heard, he keeps to himself. Doesn’t make big scenes, but rumors have been milling around since the dark ages about him. Apparently, he’s the reason why vampires are popular in modern civilized mythology. I heard when he drinks your blood, you orgasm and maybe die if he drinks too much. But hey, not a bad way to go, I say.”
I wasn’t too keen on Brian being partnered with him or being ordered by our king to fuck Dakkar. But I guess our king, in his infinite wisdom, assessed as much, even when I didn’t say anything. Well, considering Adriel’s ability, I didn’t have to say anything. He would have read both my emotions and Andre’s… probably Brian’s too. That was why he made it so we’d all be able to fuck Dakkar, and from my little encounter with him in the lobby, I was sure the Lord would take full advantage.
I turned, finally, facing Saleah. “I’ll send them, because it’s important they have every advantage I do.”
“Just have them give me the heads up so I can lower my wards,” she said.
I nodded. “Of course.” I stepped up to her, taking her hand and kissing the back of it. “Thank you, my dear. You have my gratitude.”
She smirked. “I want more, but I’ll settle for that. Now, please… get that Lord out of my home.”
I smiled because I understood her sentiments. I teleported to the Oasis room and dressed quickly. It was a good thing I had no shame in my physical form. Once dressed, I teleported to Oria, who had gathered many beautiful and exotic flowers from their roots. No doubt, Saleah would have a heart attack when she saw her garden ravaged. Yes, indeed. It was time to leave.
“We should leave now, my Lord,” I said, holding my arms out to her.
She nodded. “I’ve picked all the lovely flowers I like anyway.”
I scooped her up in my arms and teleported back to Alandale. We needed to start somewhere, and the place where our king resided was as good a place as any to test out my new insight and grab a nice meal.
Chapter Seven
Andre
I looked around the dim club full of demons and gullible humans, and I was instantly thankful that I could teleport. Had I drove, I wouldn’t have been able to guarantee my car would still be there when I got done doing what I had to do. I mean, there were two cars a few blocks down that had been set on fire and were just burning away. The fire department would probably never get to them because they were putting out bigger fires elsewhere. Even before the bullshit with Katashniel went down, this section of the city was rough around all the edges. Now, so many businesses were boarded up or under repair because they’d been set on fire a few months back when the riots had broken out. I would never understand why people resorted to base, animalistic nature, destroying their own neighborhoods when they were angry or in some other state of disarray. What fucking good did it do? After the melee died down, what happened then? Now, you couldn’t go to the grocery store around the corner because it was burned down.
Anyway, I was tasked with finding Katashniel’s knights and didn’t really know where to look. I knew about this demon dive, I had gone there one time when I was on a case. So, maybe I’d be able to apply some pressure on demons to get some answers. It required stealth and a lot of lying on our part to get them to confess and expose themselves. That trick wasn’t going to work on more powerful demons, which was why tracking down Katashniel’s knights and the one Lord who betrayed Adriel was proving to be a pain in the ass.
Speaking of ass, I wasn’t too keen on having Brian paired up with Lord Dakkar. Maybe because I liked having Brian to myself… or at least to ourselves, since I shared him with Raphael. Not sure how I felt about Adriel giving Dakkar permission to fuck Raphael and me, either. I could honestly say, a threesome was the most I’d ever done. Was there such a thing as too many dicks in the bed? Could that be a problem? I guessed I’d be finding out.
“Can I get you anything?” the bartender asked, catching my attention.
I turned around to face him. He was a demon, green aura, so that meant he was a pure demon. He didn’t have the sensation buzzing around him that would make him one of Adriel’s demons, so I decided to put him on my list to be watchful of. You would have thought it would make things easier, but it didn’t. Apparently, all demons from Eighth-hell had a familiar aura about them. So, I couldn’t tell a loyal demon from a disloyal one. But demons from other hell levels didn’t have that aura. But these days, they still had to pledge an allegiance to our king.
Adriel was cleaning house, and since most demonic royalty were still residing in their own levels of hell, all the demons had to be on his side or get sent back to the hell they came from. I knew of only one queen that was on this plane, and even she had to agree to the alliance. Because she was able to make that bond with Adriel, her demons did have a hint of that buzz I got when I was around one of my own. All the other demons, we just had to take their word for it, which sucked. I did know, when it came to proving loyalty to Adriel, if they didn’t step up, they’d get stepped on.
I sighed. “Do you have any information of where I can find any of Katashniel’s knights?” I asked, knowing he’d say no.
The demon snorted and shook his head as he wiped down the bar top. “If I knew that, I’d have told King Adriel that information, if only to be in his good graces. It’s not like those guys come here bragging about who they are.”
“Surely, you hear things?”
He shook his head. “I have the level of hearing that humans have. Nothing super about me except my strength. You might want to talk to that Todakai over there. He comes here every night, orders the same drink, and plays cards until I close the place down.”
I turned to see who he was talking about and set my sights on a demon with a purple aura who was sitting at a round table with four other demons and one human. He’d taken the body of an average-looking human. Caucasian, brown hair, brown eyes, about six feet and on the lanky side. At first look, you probably wouldn’t think he was a threat and I figured that was what he was going for.
“Why should I talk to him?”
The bartender gave me a weird look like I should know better than to ask that question. “Because he’s a fucking Todakai. If you’re looking for something hard to find, they come in handy.”
“Thanks for the advice,” I said. I had to go into my mental rolodex about demon types. A Todakai was one I wasn’t too familiar with. Guess I was about to learn about a new demon. I walked over to the table and the demons at the table all looked up at me.
“Can we help you, buddy?” one asked, then laughed. Two of the other demons joined in the chuckle.
“Just wanted to ask a few questions,” I said.
“Look, we’re just trying to have a nice game here. Don’t want to be bothered,” another demon said.
“Can any of you tell me any information about Katashniel or his army?” I asked, ignoring the demon’s comment.
“No, we don’t know anything,” another demon said.
“Do you speak for everyone?”
“He speaks for me. Why don’t you get the fuck out of here with all that shit,” said the Todakai I came over to speak with.
It was moments like this when I enjoyed being a demon. At least, one that was damned near indestructible. I placed my hand over the table and sent my fire to it, setting it ablaze.
“Oh shit!” two of the demons exclaimed as they scooted back from the flames. The others made their comments, but all were finally giving me their undivided attention. Good.
“The next motherfucker that thinks it�
�s his time to shine will catch some flames. Am I clear?”
They all nodded, including the human who was trembling. That was another thing I didn’t get. If you were afraid of what demons were capable of, why the fuck would you hang out at a demon bar, dumb shit? Anyway, at least they knew I wasn’t playing around with their asses.
“Now, let’s start again. Can any of you motherfuckers tell me about Katashniel’s army, or do I lose my temper?” I asked.
“Look, I swear, we don’t know anything,” one of them said.
I looked at the Todakai, and he looked away with shifty eyes.
“They don’t come here… too many loyal to Adriel,” he said.
“How do you know that?”
He shrugged. “I just do. It’d be too risky.”
“Not if they are lying,” the human said.
I turned to him, because he was speaking for the first time. “What do you know?”
He shook his head. “Not a damn thing.”
“Why are you even here?”
“Because I want to believe that demons and humans can live together. If we don’t try, then how will we know?”
Well, shit… that just took a big ass dump on what I thought about people like him. I couldn’t argue with that logic. He was right and I was wrong. Well, kind of wrong. This still seemed like a bad place to want to test those waters. Of course, if I was honest, the only ruckus started tonight was by me. You know what? I didn’t have time to be worried about all that. Had some investigating to do.
I placed my hand on the Todakai and teleported us out of that place and into an alley a few blocks away. The streets were pretty crowded with demons and some humans, though most seemed to be minding their own business, if not boisterously. Some were just gathered together, talking shit, I supposed. There was a couple fucking against a car; demon female, human male. A small audience was gathered, watching and apparently enjoying the show by the smiles on their faces. It looked consensual, so I didn’t bother to interrupt. I learned long ago how to pick my battles.
I looked at my new demon friend. “Now we can talk in private.”
“I don’t know what you want with me,” he said, adjusting his clothes.
“First off, what’s your name?”
He swallowed hard. “Tyson.”
I raised both brows. “Last name?”
“Tyson Barnes. And you? Since you want to know so much about me.”
“Andre Jackson.”
“That lawyer guy?”
“I’m the district attorney.”
“Yeah, a lawyer with a fancy title.”
“Whatever, motherfucker. Next, what kind of demon are you?”
“A weak one, bottom of the totem pole. I can’t even teleport and I eat animals to survive, mainly rabbits.”
“That doesn’t really answer my question, and you know it.”
He signed. “I’m a Todakai.”
“What are your abilities?”
Tyson raised both arms out in an elaborate shrug, then lowered them, slapping his thighs. “I’ve got super-heightened senses.”
“Explain. Even I have heightened senses.”
“What are you?”
“An Agoto.”
His eyes widened and he bowed his head. “My apologies, sir. If I had known beforehand, I wouldn’t have been so rude.”
“I ain’t worried about all that, just answer the question.”
“I can hear what is now being discussed back at the bar.”
Okay, that was impressive as fuck, because I couldn’t. “How?”
“I can leave a little piece of me in the form of a drop of blood or cum, and it’s like I’m still there. Blood is easier to leave, though.”
“I can imagine. Well, shit, that would make you one hell of a spy.”
He smirked. “It does. That’s how I know none of them ever go there. It’s been recently warded off to demons disloyal to King Adriel. You didn’t notice, because you are loyal. But someone who isn’t… they wouldn’t be able to get in.”
“For how long?” I didn’t remember the bar being warded off before.
“About a month ago.”
In a way, this was bad news for me. I needed to run into someone shady so I could get answers. I needed to hit up bars that didn’t have that loyalty ward.
“You knew that the bartender told me about you, you had to have heard our conversation.”
He nodded. “I did. It’s not the first time he’s pointed someone in my direction who needed my services. I’ve made some good money doing my ‘surveillance’ for both humans and demons.”
Well, I could see how. I was sure about to put his ass to work. “Can you put your blood or whatever on someone and be like a listening device?”
“As long as they don’t wash up or change clothes, yeah. But with demons, it’s difficult. Most, like you, sir, have senses that can detect that sort of intrusion on their person. It’s easier to do locations, especially these days when finding demon blood in public is kind of common, less suspicious.”
“Well, I see where you’re coming from now. But I can also see that you can help me out.”
“How? I’m not from Adriel’s army.”
“Where do you come from?”
“First-hell.”
“Well, if you want to continue living, it’s best you work with me. My king isn’t taking too kindly to demons from other hells at the moment.”
“Well, I don’t want to die, so tell me what you want.”
“I need you to be my eyes and ears in places demons don’t think anyone is listening,” I said.
“Will it earn me favor with King Adriel?”
“It won’t hurt.”
He nodded. “Do I get to be a knight like you?”
I scoffed. “Don’t push it. At the most, you’re my sidekick, buddy.”
I saw his shoulders slouch just a little. “I’ll help however I can.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure, sir.”
“If you can do that kind of trick, why haven’t you done so already?”
“Demons like me don’t usually get involved with anything. I’m too lower level, and higher ups would kill me if they suspected.”
“You seem like you have the perfect body. No one would suspect you were a demon. I mean, if they can’t sense it. Not all demons can, you know.”
He shook his head. “I can’t defend myself that well. I don’t know any fighting styles and I’m not strong enough.”
“How strong are you?” I asked. Since I was bringing him with me, I needed to know just what kind of back-up I’d have by my side.
He looked down as if ashamed to answer. “The human body I possess is the limit of my strength.”
I blinked and did a reassessment of the body he was in. If this lanky, spindly-armed form held all the physical strength he possessed, I was wondering why he didn’t bother possessing another human. “Why did you pick such a physically weak human in the first place? And what happened to the human who used to own this body?”
He looked up then, eyes wide and hands out to defend himself “No, no, I swear, I didn’t kill nobody. He was already dead when I found his body. Suicide. He didn’t want it, so I took it.”
Damn, demons could be callous, but then… they were no different than humans in that regard. My short time as one had given me some different perspective. I narrowed my gaze. “So, you were just floating around looking for a body? For how long?”
“About ten minutes. The gate to First-hell is open, but the portals don’t stay open for long when someone makes them. You’ve got about ten seconds to get out or back into hell before those portals close. I just took control of the first body available to me. I’ve only been on this plane for about six months.”
“Fine, then. Keep the low profile.”
I’d never met a demon this weak and pathetic before, but at least he had one hell of a useful ability. In all of my time cracking skulls and eating demon s
ouls since Katashniel broke out, I never came across fortune this good. Tonight was my lucky night. Now, I just needed to take my new friend all over this town and many others and have him drop some blood here and there. Hopefully, I’d learn the location of Katashniel’s knights and could do my job.
“So, where are we going?”
“All over the world, because looking for Katashniel’s knights will be like looking for a few needles in over two-million haystacks.”
He shrugged. “Were you always looking for them, though?”
I shook my head. “I’ve been rather preoccupied with keeping peace and order between humans and demons. Killing demons who were attacking humans. Stopping humans from trying to kill each other over stupid shit. You may have been chilling, taking shit easy for the past three months, playing cards and all that. But just in case you failed to notice, things have been batfuck crazy outside that bar.”
“I noticed… that’s why I stayed in the bar. I was no match for those demons.”
Jesus Christ. I rubbed my temples just a little. I wasn’t getting a headache, those didn’t happen anymore, but it was mainly out of frustration. Why couldn’t this fucking day just end with me blowing my load inside Brian’s tight, sexy ass?
“Well, sunshine, you’re in the fight now. So, tell me, how long does this trick of yours work?”
“Okay, now that’s the issue. If I drop my blood on the floor, on some furniture, or against the wall and it goes undetected, it can last for about a week before the connection starts to fade away. If someone cleans it up, it’s gone instantly.”
“What if they just use a napkin? Like, does it go away if they don’t use any cleaning chemicals to contaminate it?” I asked. I was really trying to figure out how all this shit worked.
He shook his head. “The connection I made is broken once it’s moved. It’s like I place my blood on an object, then it becomes rooted and I am the eyes and ears of that place. But once that connection is broken in any way, even if someone steps on it… it’s gone.”
“So that means you need to place your blood somewhere where there isn’t heavy traffic?”
He nodded. “Yep.”
Chaos: Season Two, Episode One (Demon Gate Series Book 10) Page 7
