by Jason Herc
I tried to put the demon core into my pocket, but the worn-out fabric was already falling apart. I didn't trust my pants to last much longer.
Ember saw my dilemma. "Take these." She stripped one of the corpses of its gray tunic and trousers and tossed them to me.
I quickly changed into the clothes. Festus coughed twice.
"Ahem. This is not a clothing store. I'm going to have to ask you to leave now."
Ember and Allura had harvested several cores from the dead demons, but we weren't nearly done looting them. I still wanted to check for any valuables or weapons we could use. I mean, if we were fucked, we might as well make the most of it.
"Hold on, feline," Allura said. She finished plucking the core from a corpse and dumped it at Festus's feet. "There must be nearly half a ton of fresh meat here for your kitchen. Consider it a gift, to buy your silence and agreement."
Festus made sputtering noises in objection. "I do not serve the flesh of my former patrons. This is a civilized establishment—"
Allura cut him off. "I know what's actually in the food you serve here."
I knew it. That damn brown rice. I tried not to think too hard about what Allura was implying.
"Your silence buys our silence," Allura finished.
"But, but…" Festus stammered.
Ember threw several more of her obsidian coins at Festus's feet. "Take this too. And you can melt down the axes."
"After I take one," I said, but Ember shook her head.
"They're marked as clan gear," Ember said. "It's too risky."
"You can have this." Allura picked up a short dagger, small enough to throw, and handed it to me hilt first.
I removed a wide leather belt with pouches from another corpse and used it to hold the new dagger and my old sword.
"That works. Although I was hoping to replace this rusty blade."
Unfortunately, none of the demons had been carrying weapons other than the axes.
Festus muttered to himself and wandered away, which I took to mean that he had accepted our bargain. He was soon out of earshot.
"Will he rat us out if their friends show up asking questions?" I asked.
"Probably," they both replied in unison.
I wasn't a bloodthirsty murderer by any means, but the most recent events had shown me just what kind of world the Abyss was. This wasn't a place for the soft-hearted. Still, I hesitated before asking my next question.
"Should we kill Festus?"
We would be leaving fewer loose ends.
Ember frowned, not in disapproval, but in what looked like an internal debate.
Allura shook her head. "No, he's too dangerous at home in his Gluttonbarge."
"She's right," Ember said finally. "Plus, you shouldn't cross a black cat."
I raised an eyebrow. "Alright." I moved to the next corpse to harvest its core. "Let's hurry up and grab all the demon cores." I didn't want to try anything with them yet, but there was no reason to waste a hard-earned resource that could prove useful later.
"Take this," Ember said, handing me a dull gray wristband.
"I don't need jewelry, unless it's worth a lot." I took the item from her and examined it. It didn't look particularly valuable.
Allura peered over my shoulder to see what it was, then moved to another corpse. She took what looked like another band or collar from it.
"I'll explain later," Ember said.
I nodded and returned to my own task.
Several minutes later, Allura led us down a series of organic hallways until we ended up back at the tooth-door from before. There was no sign of Festus.
We opened the door and stepped outside. The Night Fog had rolled in again during our stay in the Gluttonbarge.
The three of us moved forward into the dark mists and headed down the original path, quickly losing sight of the monstrous inn.
CHAPTER 10
Once we had left the Gluttonbarge, Ember moved next to me and touched the arm that was wearing the gray wristband from before.
"Let me show you," she said.
I took off the wristband and gave it to her. She slipped it on quickly and raised her arm. A small portal, like the one she had used earlier but a fraction of its size, appeared in the air in front of her.
"Does that go…?" I asked.
Ember smiled as she shook her head. "No, the portal doesn't go back to Earth. This is a spatial band. It lets you reach a small, personal space between the planes. You can store whatever you want." She took one of the demon cores and reached into the portal. Her hand was empty when she withdrew it.
"That's handy," I said.
Ember chuckled and gave me the wristband. "I wasn't sure if I could do it. You have to direct a tiny amount of Flame to the band to open the portal." She added the rest of her cores, then collected a few more from Allura to deposit in the portal. Ember flicked her wrist, and the portal vanished. She had a self-satisfied smile.
Allura looked on with obvious jealousy. "When will it be my turn?" she asked me in a low, sultry tone.
"Soon enough," I replied. "When we reach the city, like I told you before."
I took the wrist band from Ember and focused on my Flame. I hadn't been able to manifest it like Ember had, but using a spatial band must have been really basic Seeker stuff. After only a few seconds of effort, a red portal appeared in front of me.
I peeked inside and saw the cores Ember had placed inside. It wasn't too large inside, maybe the size of really big car trunk.
I took one of my cores from the pouches on my belt and placed it in the void. The core hung suspended in the air exactly where I placed it. I removed the rest of my cores and placed them inside. Finally, I put Crowley's icon into the portal as well.
I focused on sending my Flame into the wrist band again, and the portal twinkled out.
"This is a Seeker device?" I asked.
Allura nodded. "You could say that, although it's one of the most basic items a Seeker uses. There are far greater artifacts and weapons."
Even the spatial band was an amazing work of magic I couldn't possibly comprehend. Damn. What couldn't a Seeker do? I was as eager as ever to get on with the journey.
"No more dawdling. Let's get to Duskfall."
We continued along the same path as before. After an hour or so of walking, the landscape changed from the scorchweeds of the Black Plains to a more barren, rocky land. According to Ember and Allura, we were near a small mountain range, although I couldn't see that far into the distance with the Night Fog. The more or less straight path we had been following through the Black Plains also vanished, and the entire ground looked the same in all direction.
"How do you know this is the right direction?" I asked. I hadn't seen any stars in the Abyss, not that the Night Fog helped with visibility. I didn't see how the succubi could navigate along the featureless lands without a GPS signal or even a compass. "You're not like a homing pigeon or something, are you?"
Ember giggled. "Homing pigeon?" She pointed at Allura. "She's the one with feathery wings."
Allura wrinkled her nose at me. "Actually, you're not too far off. All creatures of the Abyss can sense the direction of the Obsidian Emperor. Since the Emperor tends to stay in one place, it's nearly the same as using a compass."
Both the succubi seemed pretty familiar with Earth terms. "You've been to Earth as well?" I asked Allura.
"Most succubi have," Allura replied. "Before the Emperor's decree."
"How long has his…travel ban been in place?"
"Time doesn't work quite the same in our place and yours," Ember added.
Allura nodded. "Here, perhaps several of your years. Less in yours."
"And the Obsidian Emperor? Where is he, exactly?" I asked.
"Far, far away from here," Ember said quickly. "And not somewhere you'd want to visit. Those gods we saw fighting the other day? He would make them look like ants."
"He's dangerous, then."
"And unpredictable," Allura wa
rned, but I was already trying to envision what it would be like to be so powerful that the gods were nothing but nuisances.
"You said he was once mortal, like me?" It never hurt to dream big, especially in a new world where the old rules didn't apply anymore. Who knew what I could become in a place like this? I touched my Flame briefly with my mind. I had much to learn.
Ember came up behind me and stroked my shoulders. "He's an ambitious one. Sure you can handle him?"
Allura slid between me and Ember, drawing a small cry of surprise from the other succubus. She leaned on my shoulders and reached down my chest with one hand.
"I can take all of him. You look a tad tiny." Allura squinted at Ember's petite figure. Then, she whispered in my ear. "I can swallow all of you. From either end."
"I heard that," Ember squeaked. "I can fit him inside perfectly well. Besides, Aidan likes it small and tight."
We had come to a stop as Allura and Ember glared at each other. While it was a bit amusing at first, if they kept nipping at each other for rest of the trip, it would get tiresome pretty quickly.
"Ladies," I said. "If you both want to stay with me, you'll have to get along with each other. Now kiss and make up, so we can move along."
I had said the last part as a kind of joke, but the two succubi took it literally.
Ember and Allura grabbed each other and battled with their mouths, as if each was trying to assert her dominance through a tussle of lips and tongues. Ember groped Allura's generous breasts with both hands, while Allura slid her legs between Ember's thighs forcing them apart. Allura reached under Ember's dress, drawing a gasp from the blonde succubus.
I was ready to rip my clothes off and join them right there, but I hadn't forgotten how dangerous traveling the Abyss could be. It took all my willpower, but I managed to get my pulse, raging for a different reason, under control. My strength, my will.
"That's enough," I said. I checked our surroundings but didn't see any threats or signs of pursuers. "You two are best friends now, got it? We don't want to linger."
"Aww," Allura whined. "We were just getting started."
Ember pouted. "Aidan's tongue was better anyways."
"Ember," I warned. "Be nice."
"Fine," Ember sighed. "Let's go."
We soon reached the bottom of the mountain range. I couldn't see how tall the mountains actually were with the Night Fog. Allura led the search for the entrance to the mountain pass, but we couldn't find it.
"The Night Fog hides everything," Allura said. "We can wait until it recedes."
"A section of the mountain's carved out here," Ember said," like a small cave. We can rest inside."
I realized with a start that I hadn't actually slept since entering the Abyss. If people didn't need to eat as often here, was it the same with sleep?
"Do demons sleep?" I asked. "I'm surprisingly awake after days without sleep."
"Only to dream," Allura replied.
"To fantasize," Ember clarified. "For the things we cannot have."
"Free healthcare and low taxes?" I joked. The succubi stared at me in confusion. "Nevermind."
"For power," Allura said.
"For a man worthy of us," Ember said, pulling me toward the small cave.
Ember settled against the back of the cave with me leaning against her between her legs. Allura took a position opposite us, watching closely.
"You could fuck me now," Ember whispered. "In front of her."
I considered the tempting offer. "Perhaps. But I don't want to reveal too much about ourselves, or how we're linked."
I didn't quite understand the connection between Ember and me, either. I just wasn't quite sure if we could trust Allura fully. From what I could tell, my ability to grant Ember a portion of my Flame was supposed to be impossible. That meant I was invaluable, in my own way, to a succubus. From experience, I knew people acted strange when you started displaying your valuables.
Ember wrapped me with her wings, the warm leathery mass acting like a heavy comforter.
"If you'd like to relax, I'm available," Allura said. She spread her wings open at the same time that she spread her legs wide, revealing her smooth pussy. Neither Ember nor Allura had worn anything beneath their dresses, a fashion trends I approved of.
I was still wrapped within Ember's wings, shielding most of us from Allura's view.
"If you're worried about Allura spying on us, how about a little discreet fun?" Ember whispered into my ear.
Her hand crept down my trousers, easily finding its way under the waist band.
She circled my cock with her hands, milking me slowly until I was hard. She reached further down to massage my balls with her finger tips, then returned to stroking me.
I could sense the mild tension between the two succubi, even though I had asked them to get along. I sighed.
Ember seemed less sure about herself around Allura, as if she was afraid Allura would take her place. I wasn't concerned about Allura, as she would want to stick around until she got what she wanted. But I had a soft spot for my first succubus.
I leaned up and back, whispering to Ember. "Would you like to show her how much of me you can fit inside?"
"Yes!" Ember replied immediately. Her face scrunched up. "I can force you inside me all the way. Even if it hurts me—"
"No!" I replied just as quickly. "I meant with your, you know, mouth."
"Oh." Ember's face lit up. "That's easy!"
She unwrapped her wings and curled her body around me on the ground instead, her head now resting in my lap. She tugged my trousers down, and I lifted my butt to help her slide them off me.
My cock was already hard from her stroking, but she licked my head several times, then flicked her tongue around the sensitive edge, making my cock throb even harder.
I glanced over to Allura, who watched us coolly as if she wasn't terribly interested. But her tail flicked from side to side behind her, like an eager pet.
That gave me an idea. "No hands," I said to Ember. "Only your mouth and tail."
Upon hearing my words, Allura must have realized she was giving away her interest. Her tail froze.
Ember nodded. She pulled her hands to her side. Her tail swung forward instead, coiling itself around my cock. Ember's purple eyes lit up with a mischievous glint. "I bet you don't even know what a succubus can do with her tail."
The coils of Ember's tail pulsed rhythmically around my cock, squeezing in waves along the length of my cock. After a period of wave-like contractions, the movement changed. Each ring of tail around my cock twisted gently clockwise or counterclockwise, all in unison, and then in staggered, opposing directions. The tail loosened or tightened its grip on each coil, teasing, twisting, or stroking with just the right amount of pressure in any given place.
"Oh my fucking god," I moaned. "This is insane."
"I'm not a god," Ember giggled. "Although you could be, some day."
The intense swirling pattern of pleasure was driving me closer and closer to the edge, much too quickly.
"You have to show Allura how much you can fit inside," I reminded her in a gasping breath. I clenched hard, trying not to finish.
What the hell, I began focusing on my Flame. My strength, my will.
The pleasure was still nearly intolerable, but I managed to hold back the spasms. "Ember!" I croaked.
Ember moaned in reply. "I feel it, all of you. Your Flame…"
She uncoiled her tail, releasing my cock. It twitched on its own as I remembered the swirling sensations Ember had provided just moments before.
Then, she kissed my cock's throbbing head before swallowing me.
I had been too focused on the intense pleasure to check on Allura, but when I looked up now, I saw her snatch her hand away from her crotch. She had been pleasuring herself? I smiled to myself as I looked back down at Ember.
My cock touched the back of her throat too quickly, but Ember lowered her jaw further and tilted her head. She forced her head furth
er down, pushing my head past the resistance of her throat.
She tried to say something, the vibrations of her throat tickling my cock, but it was impossible to understand her with my cock fully lodged deep into her throat. I knew what she had been trying to say.
"See, Allura?" I translated on Ember's behalf. "All the way in."
My entire shaft was inside Ember's mouth, and her lips practically kissed the base of my cock. She flicked out her tongue, easily reaching my balls from that position.
Allura's cheeks were flushed red. She didn't say anything, but her hand crept back to her crotch.
I had meant to kept Allura at a distance until we reached the city, but I knew that she was mine.
"You can take a closer look if you like," I said, motioning for her to come closer.
Allura blushed, then stood and walked over to our side before sitting down again. She leaned against me, studying Ember as she moved her head up and down.
Allura raised one hand tentatively toward Ember's throat. "Can I touch it?" she asked.
The bulge in Ember's throat moved up and down, mirroring the motions of Ember's head.
"Go ahead," I said.
Allura stroked the bulge of my cock in Ember's throat. "So thick and hard, even through her throat. And I can sense…something." Allura's eyes widened in surprise. "Is that your Flame? Or hers?"
"Both? I'm not sure," I said, gasping as Allura tightened her hand slightly around Ember's throat, increasing the pressure on my cock with her grip.
Ember moaned with a sound of pleasure, but I pulled out of Ember's mouth.
"Don't stop," Ember said. Her eyes flicked up to Allura. "Harder. It makes him feel good. I can sense it. And if he feels good, I feel even better."
Ember greedily swallowed my cock again, arching her head back to expose her neck.
