by Jason Herc
Helix shook her head as she stroked my chest with a hand. "No. It's thrilling. It's a rush. My father never lets me have any fun."
Oh fuck. I tried not to roll my eyes as I pushed her gently away. "I'm not sure this is a good idea." I turned to the dark-haired succubus. "Allura?"
Helix bit her lip, her face unsure. "You don't want me? I know I can't match a succubus, but…"
"It's not that. Allura's injured. I want to make sure she's healed up before we see the villagers. In case they ambush us again…"
Ember scowled. "Again?" I explained what had happened on the way here.
"You think they would try that again?" Helix asked when I was done explaining.
"I don't know. We need to be cautious, though. Allura, come here. Time to heal up."
Allura smiled as she carefully limped over to me. She knew what we would do. Ember watched, then laughed as well.
Helix looked in confusion at Ember, then me. "You can heal her?"
"Well, it's faster if we do it this way. You can turn away if you like. Ember can give you some privacy."
In response, Ember stretched out her wings and moved to encircle Helix in their safe embrace. Helix held up a hand to stop her, though.
Allura slipped out of her dress and reclined on the stone surface where we had found Ember when we first arrived. She spread out her arms and legs as if tied down with invisible ropes.
"Master. I'm ready," Allura murmured.
Helix gasped. "Oh, you're going to—" Her cheeks turned pink. For all of her attitude, she sure turned shy when the rubber hit the pavement.
"Sorry, she gets first priority," I said. "Once she's healed, that's up to you." I left the offer hanging.
Helix's eyes widened. She nodded eagerly and moved to Allura's side.
Ember chuckled again. "I guess she doesn't need me." She folded her wings behind her back and moved to the entrance. "I'll keep an eye out for trouble."
"Good." I sheathed my sword, then removed my own clothes.
The stench of Mammon's corpse was a bit annoying, but sometimes you had to make do with you what you had. I moved to straddle Allura.
We kissed, my tongue flicking lightly against Allura's. My hands roamed down Allura's smooth skin, and she gasped slightly when I pushed her legs apart.
Her right thigh was a bit stiff, but I pushed it gently yet firmly to the side to expose her fully.
I moved down her body, spending a minute on her breasts, then working my way further down her stomach.
I knelt between her thighs, then, and kissed her mound. My tongue traced a path down her slit and back up before pushing her lips to the side and thrusting forward. I curled my tongue upward through the slightly musky flavor until it met the bulge of her swollen clit.
I spread the hood to expose more of the sensitive spot, then attacked it with my mouth, sucking hard.
Allura gasped and bucked several times, but I kept my mouth clamped around her. My Flame was already rushing through Allura's Node and back to me, but as she cried out in pleasure, my mouth grew warm with a fresh surge of Flame that met the gushing liquid from her pussy.
Ordinarily, I would have had Allura spend some time on me, but I figured she deserved to be pampered a bit after being injured. I spent several more minutes pushing Allura to the brink of her limits by swirling my tongue around her clit.
I stuck first one, then two fingers inside her pussy as I continued sucking on her clit. Every time she bucked her hips, her pussy clenched harder around my fingers. When the internal walls tightened, I folded my two fingers to double their thickness, then twisted my knuckles within her stretched opening as my tongue smothered her clit.
I paused to speak. "How's your leg?"
"Much better," Allura panted. "Just a little more."
"That's what you always say." I laughed and crawled over on top of her.
I rubbed the head of my cock on her slick opening, then slid fully into her with one hard thrust.
Allura screamed and her wings flared wide behind her back on the ground. Her tail began lashing against the ground. Her legs wrapped around me tightly.
"Feels like your leg's in good shape." I began pulling out and pushing back in, slowly at first, then faster and faster.
I heard another gasp behind me. I looked over my shoulder to find Helix on all fours with her eyes closed. Her hand was between her legs, and her face was contorted in a mix between pain and pleasure.
That's when I realized Ember's tail was snaking between Helix's crotch.
Oh no, she didn't…
I shook my head. Ember was still facing the entrance to guard us, but her tail had penetrated Helix. The bulbous tip of Ember's tail was thrusting in and out of Helix while Helix played with herself.
Helix's eyes opened to gaze into mine. She smiled, and I nodded before turning my attention back to Allura.
I continued thrusting in and out of Allura as she ground her pelvis harder into my groin.
Soon, Allura shrieked as her thighs clenched hard around me and her pussy's lips gripped my cock with a greedy pulsing motion. The extra sensation drove me over the edge, and I released myself into Allura, pouring more of my Flame into her at the same time.
I let my cock finish throbbing inside Allura, then slowly withdrew it. Allura wiggled her hips to try to keep me inside, but I gently patted her stomach.
"That's enough for now. We're not out of this yet."
I turned to find Helix lying stomach first on the ground, her legs shaking behind her. Helix inhaled sharply as Ember plucked the end of her tail out of her.
"Shit!" I stared as blood dripped from Ember's tail. "Did you just…?"
Ember shrugged. "She's a virgin. Was. Technically, still is."
"No, that's not what I meant. Fuck." I showed her my red sword. "Your tail."
Helix had recovered by now to realize what we were talking about. "My blood…" She covered her mouth with her hands, then laughed. "You have to bind it with Flame. I can't, but you can use your own."
"Bind it?" Ember looked at the bloody tip of her tail. An orange glow blossomed over it, then faded away. When the Flame had receded, her tail's tip had a dark red stain.
A Bloodstain, like my sword.
Allura walked over to Ember. She was wearing her dress again and no longer had a hitch in her gait. Her healing had been complete as far as I could tell.
She reached for Ember's tail and held it in her hand, then let go. Ember looked on curiously, as did the rest of us.
Allura formed a needle in her hand and struck it against the stone wall. Its point scratched the rocky surface.
She held the same needle upright, then nodded to Ember.
Ember smiled before whipping her tail at the needle. The needle shattered into three pieces and dissipated.
I shook my head. "Your tail has a Bloodstain from Helix's…" I sighed. I supposed I shouldn't have been surprised when dealing with succubi.
I moved to Mammon's corpse. I poked at the center of his body with my foot. "Do Seekers have cores?"
Allura came to my side. She began digging into the mass of fabric and gore with a pair of needles.
"Not in this case," she said. "Some Seekers do. I think only ones at a more advanced stage."
"Damn." I had hoped to get something to push me forward on my Path. I hadn't been able to open Allura's second Node just now. A large juicy core would have helped.
"Wait," Allura said. She bent over Mammon's head and pushed his robes aside. His neck was soaked in dark blood, and in the dim light, we had all missed what Allura was pointing to.
Mammon had a black metal collar around his neck. Mammon was himself an enslaved Seeker? Had he been forced to build obedience collars?
"How hard is it to craft these collars?" I asked. "Would any Seeker be able to do this?"
Allura shook her head. "Crafting something as powerful as obedience collars is a rare skill. Mammon was almost certainly enslaved for his ability."
Enslaved by his own creations. I snorted.
"Then, who the hell is enslaving Seekers?" I had seen Ryder at the previous scene, but the boviaries had been using them starting from back at the Gluttonbarge. Were they working together?
"I saw nothing," Ember said. "After they captured me, they bound my eyes and ears. When I was released, I was already here."
"If you were enslaved, why would they bother doing that?" I asked.
"Maybe they were just extra cautious?" Ember suggested.
Helix shook her head. "It's hard to believe anyone would enslave Seekers."
"Wait…" Allura continued searching through Mammon's bloody robes. After rooting through the clothes, she pulled out a square piece of obsidian, similar to the icon Crowley had given me before, but slightly larger.
"Is that…?" Helix began.
Allura nodded. "A sect marker."
"Which means?" I prompted.
"Mammon used to be a sect member," Allura said.
Ember gasped. I blinked at the news. So somebody wasn't just enslaving Seekers. They were enslaving sect members?
"If this was linked to Ryder and the Emperor, what would happen?" I asked.
"I don't know," Helix replied. "The sects wouldn't be happy. That's for sure."
"It's not surprising that the lesser demons, like the boviaries, might support Ryder," Allura said. "Remember, lesser demons can never become Seekers. They've never enjoyed having Seekers lord power over them."
That made sense. Allura had been desperate for a taste of more power through me, hadn't she?
I stomped on the collar around Mammon's neck, crushing it along with what remained of Mammon's flesh. "We're in over our head. We need to find Crowley. Anything else worth salvaging?"
I bent to pick up Mammon's scythe. It was a decent weapon, although a bit unwieldy for me.
"Either of you want this?" I asked.
Allura shook her head. "I have my needles."
Ember started to decline, then stopped herself. "Wouldn't hurt to try it out."
I tossed the scythe to Ember who caught it with one hand. She twirled the scythe like a baton in the air, then caught it.
"Is there a harness? How did he carry it?" she asked.
Allura dug through Mammon's remains once again and pulled out a leather strap with some kind of holster. She flung it over to Ember, who studied the rigging before buckling it on. Then, she slid the scythe across her back.
"Nice," I said. I tossed my robe to Ember, leaving me only with my pants. "Put that on. If everyone's ready, we'll head back now. One left, two right?"
Helix nodded, her cheeks still flushed. She eyed Allura and Ember, her eyes clearly filled with envy. "I'm ready."
"Come on." I led the way back into the labyrinth with one question left on my mind.
To kill or not to kill.
I still hadn't decided what to do with the villagers who had gotten us into this mess.
CHAPTER 27
We made our way out of the labyrinth without too much trouble. When we stepped out of the tunnel back into the underground clearing, a half-sleeping man at the entrance jumped to his feet and cried out.
We waited as more armed men approached, led by the village elder. The elder stopped in front of us and gazed from face to face. His eyes rested on Ember the longest.
"Mammon?" he asked.
"Dead." I jerked my head to the scythe hanging from Ember's back. "That was his."
The men chattered loudly at my comment, but the elder cut them off with a wave of his hand. "Mammon's dead? You've saved us, then." He bowed deeply. "Please have our humblest apologies for your inconvenience."
The other men bowed as well.
It made sense. They had groveled before Mammon. If I had defeated Mammon, I was the greater evil, from their point of view.
I reached for my sword in disgust and drew it an inch. My infernal Flame boiled inside me eagerly.
No. They weren't worth my time. I slammed the sword hilt back into its sheath.
"You want me to kill them?" I asked Ember.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could make out the men shrinking backward, whispering to each other in alarmed tones.
Ember shook her head. "That won't help us. But perhaps they could pay us back for what they've done?"
"How about that?" I asked the elder. "You going to make this up to us?"
The elder glanced nervously around him, but he was alone. His men had stepped further away, leaving him to bear our wrath first.
He rubbed his hands together. "I…we…we can make reparations."
I folded my arms, nodding for him to continue.
He suddenly glanced around. "Where's Jorry?" He had finally noticed his missing man.
I shrugged. "Also dead." I wasn't in the mood to explain further.
The gray-skinned man quivered in fear, but behind his scared eyes, I knew he was making a calculation. They could have run or found a new home. What tied them to the desolate Gravelands, even with a monster like Mammon turning their village into a hellish workshop? I also didn't get why Mammon had come all the way here. Couldn't he have made his obedience collars back in Duskfall?
Allura slid to my side, her black hair brushing against me as she whispered into my ear.
"They're hiding something."
I whispered back. "I know."
I spoke more loudly to the elder. "Your sandscreamers. Tell us more. Where are they? How do you control them?"
The elder's worried expression told me I was getting close. He mumbled.
I drew my sword and aimed it straight at the elder. "I killed Jorry. Enough fucking around, or you'll end up like him."
The elder hastily bowed his head low. "We keep the sandscreamers sedated in pens until we need them. We train them from birth to follow our whistling commands."
Whistling? I exchanged a glance with the others. I hadn't heard any whistling, although it had been a chaotic mess of screams when fighting the sandscreamers.
"For what purpose?" I pressed. "To ambush travelers?"
The elder hesitated. "We would have never attacked you, had we known—"
"Answer me." I flicked my sword, cutting his robe open without touching his body. The elder yelped but didn't move. The lower section of his robe fell open.
"Yes, to ambush travelers," the elder whispered, his eyes still on the ground in a bow.
"He's lying," Ember said. She stepped over to the elder and grabbed his hands, jerking it forward out of his robes. She examined the hand. Her mouth opened in shock. "Flame! I sense active Flame in him."
Helix gasped. "But he's a Fallen One."
I was less experienced as detecting Flame than the succubi, but I directed my awareness towards the now trembling man. There. A foreign warmth. All living things had Flame, but this was more than that ever-present background.
The Fallen One had more Flame than he should have.
"Are you a Seeker?" I asked.
"No!" the elder covered his head with his arms. I realized I had raised my sword and lowered it.
"Then what? Why do you have Flame? How?"
The elder shook his head. "Nothing. A residue of the sandscreamers—"
"He drinks the elixir." A young man with long brown hair and light tan skin stepped forward. "He hoards the elixir for himself, to preserve his sanity."
"Quiet Shekel!" the elder snapped at the young man.
"No, you quiet." I smacked the elder on the side of his head with the flat of my blade. "What's this elixir?"
Some of the other men grumbled, but the young man called Shekel raised his voice angrily. "What? The entire village suffers and sacrifices for his sake alone? I've had enough of this."
He turned to me, his eyes nervously darting to my sword and back to my face.
I nodded, urging him on.
Shekel raised his chin defiantly. "The sands contain traces of Flame from the blood of the lost. Pools of—"
The elder lunged at Shekel. Allura sent
a needle into his foot, pinning him in his place.
The elder yowled in pain, staring at his impaled foot. Some of the other men moved forward but I sent a Sheet Cut between us. They stopped.
"Go on," I said to Shekel.
"Pools of Flame-touched liquid lie in these caverns. Elixir. We hunt for these pools. We each receive a small allotment, except for that one. He takes a hundred times his share." Shekel pointed at the elder. "He lied. Mammon required a supply of sacrifices for his crafting, but we don't understand why. But Mammon also required our elixir to fuel his crafting."
That explained why Mammon needed to set up in this godforsaken place.
The elder returned a look of pure hatred. The others kept quiet. Shekel's fate would be sealed, one way or the other, by our response.
"How's that possible?" Allura asked. "You say that the Flame is from the blood that was spilled over the sands. But the Flame of the dead quickly decays."
Shekel eyed Allura's curves and gulped. He straightened his back, though, and spoke.
"We're not sure. The blood is bound to the sand, and blood has a strong affinity for Flame. We think the sand has some property to slow the loss of Flame."
"Can you cultivate?" Allura asked.
"No," Shekel replied.
"Why do you drink this elixir, then?" I asked. "What use is Flame to a Fallen One?"
Shekel looked surprised at my question. "Surely a Seeker like you must know? Fallen Ones are meant to pass on, but with the broken cycle, our spirits grow restless. The older ones are already losing their strength, and worse, their minds."
"The Spirit Plague," Helix said. She turned to me. "It affects all of the Fallen Ones."
"Including you?" I asked.
"I don't know." Helix shrugged. "My split heritage means I might be immune to the Spirit Plague. Or it might be delayed. Either way, I can't cultivate, and if what he's saying is true, gathering Flame somehow is the only way to stall the disease."
"Unless the cycle is restored," I said. Crowley had warned about the consequences of the Obsidian Emperor's actions. In a way, what had happened in the village was as much the Emperor's fault as the village elder's.
Ember crept up behind me and spoke softly. "You should take the elixir. To strengthen yourself."
