Corpse Curses

by Jen Ponce

  “Perhaps I shall give her some of mine,” the one between my legs said.

  “Is that wise?”

  “Since when did I give a care about what is wise?” And then he bit down again, and I screamed. Pleasure. Pain. A swirling thunder of energy that poured and poured and poured through me.

  “You’ll kill her,” Lux said, as if from far away.

  “Not for long. And won’t she be better if she’s no longer quite so frail or quite so mortal?”

  Things went darker still. I blinked but couldn’t get rid of the shadows that gathered.

  “You cannot do this without her consent, Abaddon. Not this.”

  Abaddon’s bite eased off. The shadows swept back, and I could see again. I blinked and the three demons’ faces came into focus. “What is going on?”

  “Abaddon wants to …”

  “Let me ask her, Mal, if you’re so insistent on it.” Abaddon’s lips were smeared with my blood, his eyes glowing almost white with power. “I can gift you something, little mortal, that will make you somewhat more durable. King’s blood. That of the Destroyer. I take yours. You take mine. It will hurt, but all good things in life do, don’t they?”

  My body was smeared with blood, most of it not my own. Power throbbed between and around us, connecting us. I wasn’t sure I knew my own mind right then, wasn’t sure I could have said yes with a clear head, which was what consent was all about, wasn’t it? I wanted it, of course I did. He promised power. He promised something more than the mortality I’d been born with. Even as someone who had access to magic, I would die, eventually.

  “Not now,” I said. “I don’t want to think. I just want you to fuck me. Ask me later when I don’t have your hands on me, when I’m not wanting your cocks inside me. Hmm?”

  He grinned. “As you wish, little mortal.”

  22

  Abaddon took my clit into his mouth, flicking it with his tongue. It lifted my hips off the ground so that he had to hold them in place. I bucked against his face to no avail; he wouldn’t let up until he swept me over the precipice with my orgasm, then lapped up the juices I’d produced. Then he kissed his way up my belly, nibbling at the flowers tattooed on my hip, grazing his teeth over my ribs, biting one of my nipples and then …

  His muscled, tattooed body was over mine, his hot cock poised to invade me, and he whispered, “Are you ready, little mortal? They’re always a bit shocked the first time, hmm?”

  “Wha—?”

  He thrust inside me hard, the temperature already warm and getting warmer. I felt the entire length of him; the heat insisted on it. Shivers of sensation wracked me, producing goosebumps that raced up and down my skin. I cried out as he latched onto my neck, not biting, just sucking at the skin. I raked my fingernails down his back, and he hissed into my mouth. He liked it, so I scratched him harder, hard enough to bleed, which drove him to fuck me harder.

  Oh yeah, I wanted it harder.

  I was acutely aware of the other demons on either side of me, each watching as Abaddon screwed me, and I reached out to them, wanting to touch them. I found Malphas’s cock, Lux’s too, and I stroked them as Abaddon drove me toward another orgasm. It wasn’t too hard to get there, not with the heat of him buried deep inside me. When I did come, it was to his shout of triumph, his shuddering release, the spilling of his burning seed inside me.

  It didn’t hurt. Not as much as it felt so damn good.

  I shifted so my ass was near Malphas’s cock, wanting to feel him inside me next. His fingers were still in my hair, and he jerked my head back to him. “Are you feeling well and truly fucked, dear Korri?”

  “Oh, yes,” I said. “I want more.”

  “Mm.” He rubbed his hand in a circle over my ass, then delivered a sharp blow with his palm. The sting of the slap curled my toes and made me want to beg him for another and then another. That would be rather weird of me … then again, I was fucking three demons in a pool of cooling blood from our murder victims so maybe that wasn’t weird at all in comparison.

  “Focus, love. I want your mind on me, not on whatever it is you’re thinking. Wonder what I might do next to your delectable body. Wonder if I plan to fuck you at all or only let you stew in your own juices.” He slapped my ass again, making me moan, remembering the night Lux had done the same thing and all the wonderful things we’d done after. “Suck Lux’s cock, love. I want to see that mouth put to use.”

  Lux raised his eyebrows at me, then moved when I nodded, the head of his cock bobbing near my mouth. A drop of pre-cum welled and I licked it, enjoying the sweet-salty-bitter taste of him. He pressed closer and I let him part my lips as he pushed, opening my mouth wide, wider as he slid himself inside me.

  Malphas spanked me again, sending thrills of sensation through me, but now it was Lux I was concentrating on, not wanting to bite down at the wrong moment. I appreciated that he was moving slowly since his dick was big enough to choke a horse . I moved my tongue along the underside of his cock, finding the rhythm as he fucked my mouth. Just when I had it down, Malphas parted my legs and slid a finger into my vagina, first one, then two. I was so wet he found little resistance.

  Abaddon’s mouth clamped onto my clit, his hot tongue flicking at it, driving me nearly mad. I moaned as best I could with a cock down my throat, and Lux had closed his eyes, hips moving as he fucked me.

  Malphas shifted and then it was his cock at my entrance. He slipped inside, his dick almost rough. I felt every thrust as he moved inside me, Abaddon’s mouth still pleasuring me from the front. When I came, I came hard, crying out around Lux’s cock and still Malphas thrust into me, still Abaddon’s tongue flicked me, still Lux’s cock filled me and power rose between us, knitting us together, filling me with their energy. This time, when I came, they came and I knew I had made them do it. I had controlled them. Their magic had bent to my will and a surge of ecstasy rolled through me that had nothing to do with pleasure.

  They were mine. And not in the dickish Conventus sense, but in an animalistic, primitive sense.

  Mine, I thought, swallowing Lux’s semen as he slipped out of me. Then his mouth replaced his cock and he whispered a thank you against my lips.

  I got kisses from all of them, one by one and each thanked me, making me feel even more powerful than I had before. The crazy Abaddon, the Destroyer himself, looking almost subdued as he gazed at me.

  Mine, I thought again.

  They helped me up and Abaddon cleaned us, removing the smeared blood with his magic. When I looked like a middle-aged man once more, Lux took the knocked-out Keeper to drop off in a distant alley with a hangover and subtle memory gap. Malphas disappeared back into the crystal around my neck when Abaddon let go of the circle around us. Then he and Lux took my hand and back we went to my house.

  They left me there with a kiss and a promise to see me soon.

  23

  ABADDON

  Crazy is as crazy does.

  I’d never felt quite so alive. Taking the little mortal in a pool of blood had been … invigorating. She was worth her weight in gold, that one and I would have her as mine whether she liked it or not. Lux and his nobility. Ask her first? Why? Better to ask for forgiveness than permission, wasn’t that what the mortals said?

  She would be better if she weren’t so fragile. She would be better if I could count on her lasting for more than a few decades. A killer like her needed to live a long, bloody lifetime.

  Back in Hell, I let my magic coil free and I grew and grew and grew. The ground shook as I walked and had there been demons left, they would have trembled before me.

  But they were gone, or close to.

  Rage boiled inside me. Rage at the damned magi who had taken so many of us, who had strung me out on a tightrope wire of pain and darkness and abstinence and futility and had made me dance for their pleasure. The boy who’d trapped me had been a depraved maniac, had hurt people, hurt mortal women, had lied and stolen using my power.

  It was only fitting that he�
�d died hard and I had her to thank for that too.

  What would she think of my true form?

  I had a feeling she would not be afraid.

  Hell was a wasteland, but there were more demons in Quetza, the city where I had ruled for thousands of years. They were hiding, skulking about like refugees in a hostile land but they were there. When I roared for them to come to me, they did, kneeling at my feet, fearing me more than they feared the mortals who enslaved us. “I am home,” I said, and I planned not to leave except by my own design. “We must fight them however we can. We must bring back our friendships with the witches and work to kill the magi who enslave our kind. Can you do this?”

  “They’ll capture us, take us, put us in cages,” they hissed. “We are safe here because of the wards.”

  The wards, yes, the ones that obscured their magic and made them less than worthless to me. Though, weren’t they more dangerous if they were caught? I supposed they would be and as much as I hated it, they were better off here. I was better off with them in hiding than free.

  Fuck.

  In years past I would have killed a good dozen of them for impertinence, but there wasn’t enough of them to waste and anyway, I was feeling sated after my killing spree with the little mortal. “Begone,” I ordered, and they scattered like leaves in the wind.

  I walked up the high road to my home that sat atop a blood-red hill. It wasn’t as ostentatious as the capital where Hecate, Lilith, and Satan had once made their home, and I liked it that way. It was abrupt and sharp as I was, its walls made of red thorns, its interior as twisty as the mind of a murderer, and its presence dark and portentous.

  I missed it.

  I wended my way to my rooms and gazed at the bed there. It was covered in a fine layer of red dust, the demons assigned to cleaning it obviously slacking their duties. Not for too long, though, otherwise the entire bed might have been obscured. The dust was pervasive and got into everything without diligent tending.

  I snapped my fingers and the dust vanished, snapped again to get rid of the layers coating the glassy screen that sat opposite the bed. What things might I learn from watching scryer? In times past, I’d watched the mortals’ news, their shows, learned their customs and habits. I gazed about Hell with it as well, looking in on enemies, finding out secrets that I stored away for safekeeping.

  I lay on the bed now and turned it on with a small output of magic, thinking of Lilith as I did so. A glossy black chair popped up, her seat for centuries. Eons? Perhaps. Satan’s chair had been a glossy, dark wood, a massive thing to show off his power. Lilith’s had been sleek like her. Hecate’s …

  The screen moved and brought her throne into view. The light purple, the carvings of butterflies and bats, cats and caterpillars really an eyesore in our world and yet it fit just as well as she had anyway. Hecate had been magnificent. Bloodthirsty when called to be but so damned in love with her mortals she was ridiculous.

  I thought about my little mortal because she was that: mine. Perhaps she didn’t know it yet, and I was certain Lux and Malphas might disagree but too bad. I could share with them if need be, but she was mine. I hadn’t had anyone or anything as mine in too long. To be fair, I hadn’t been interested in anyone until now. Perhaps I was just bored. Perhaps it was the sudden, heady freedom.

  No.

  She was a killer. A mortal killer and I hadn’t sniffed one ounce of regret on her after she so bloodily murdered the magus who had trapped me. She had freed me without any requests for favors except to stop the pain of the magus’s attack.

  I brought her into view, sleeping on her bed to beat the dead. We’d exhausted her and yet I would guess if I went there now, she would come willingly into my arms. She was as voracious and eager for sex as she was for killing.

  What kind of angel had I found?

  I waved away the picture, shrank myself into my smaller form, and held Lux in my head so that I could travel to him. He was at the shop, Stolas himself behind his counter reading yet another book on some archaic subject or other. He really was quite dull, that one, though I did love the way his face froze, his gaze wary as he espied me. “Hello, Stolas. Haven’t changed, I see.”

  Although he did his best to hide it, I saw the way his fingers shook—just a tad—when he flipped a page. “Abaddon. Free, I see.”

  “Mm.” I flicked a few of the dangling bits from the ceiling, wondering what it would look like to see the whole damned thing ablaze, a beautiful, black Hellfire boiling along the walls. “You are too.”

  “Yes.”

  “Been so for a while.”

  Lux stood nearby, his face neutral, his features relaxed, though I knew he could pounce in an instant. It was what he was, after all. A hellhound, made to guard Lilith on her throne of black glass. Would he wish to protect the demon standing so prissily behind his counter? Would he lift a hand against me? Malphas would have if he’d thought we needed Stolas. If we didn’t, he would gladly help me rip the demon limb from cowardly limb.

  Because a coward was what he was.

  “How long?” I asked.

  He stubbornly flipped another page, though if he were actually processing what he was reading I would serve myself up to the nearest magus. “I don’t answer to you.”

  I was on him in a thrice, hand at his throat, eyes blazing. “I am a king.”

  “Not mine.”

  “But your brother in arms, surely?”

  Flat, red blooms spread across his cheeks. Shame poppies, a witch I once knew had called them. Oh, she had been a beautiful little one. So full of life, of promise. She’d died happily in my arms when her time came, when old age crept up on her as it was wont to do with mortals. I had loved her, long ago. Before the world had changed. Before we had been entrapped, reduced to so much chattel. “I couldn’t go back,” he whispered.

  “Damn you for not trying,” I growled then dropped him to wheeze on the floor, turning my back so neither of them could see the emotions that welled.

  They thought of me as insane and I cultivated that image. I wanted them to be wary, to be afraid. I wanted them to cower when I walked into rooms. It had served me well on the battlefield in more than one war. Even our dark lord had a healthy fear of me.

  But to know that one of our kind—one with actual power that could have helped us—hid like a lesser instead of helping free us … it made me want to rip him limb from cowardly limb.

  How long had I been compressed into that fucking crystal, forced to maim, to kill, to fuck at their whim? How long had I been stuck there, unable to breathe, to move on my own? And Stolas had hidden here with his books and his intellect and his fucking fear.

  Did I really not understand? Would I have truly risked my freedom had I gained it?

  Those were the only two questions that kept me from killing him now.

  I wanted to think I would have gone back for my brothers right away, but no matter my fear, no matter my hesitation, I would have gone back.

  Perhaps Stolas would have found his courage. Or perhaps he would have stayed in his damnable shop, hiding until Hell was emptied and all the devils enslaved.

  “You can make up for your wrongdoing by helping us now,” I said, running a finger over the spines of the books on shelves lining the walls. All manner of stories, histories, dictionaries, guidebooks, spell books, and more. Worlds trapped within pages and bound with promises. I plucked one from the shelf and let it fall open where it wished. ‘Wild Mind’ it read.

  “How? When I leave for too long I’m vulnerable—”

  “I could kill you, if you’d like.”

  He pressed his mouth into a tight, disapproving line. “You’d like it if they captured me again, wouldn’t you?”

  I didn’t dignify that with an answer. “Perhaps you can help right from your little hidey-hole.” I put the book back and grabbed another, this one by choice and not randomly. I opened it and studied the index before flipping to the correct page. “‘Seeking the Demon Lost.’ Can you use t
his to find one of our own?”

  “Who?” Stolas snapped.

  “Paimon.”

  “Ah,” Lux said, understanding in the sound.

  Paimon was a king of Hell too. He was also particularly adept at finding hidden things, learning secrets, and ferreting out treasures. If we broke him free, he could help us find the most powerful among us.

  Stolas came over and plucked the book from my hand, then frowned at the page. “This takes a lot of power.”

  “And I have a lot, as does Malphas and Lux. Did we not set Baphomet free?” At Lux’s nod, I said, “Even you, Stolas. If you deign to help.”

  “We’d need more power than that. And it will take time to gather what the working calls for.”

  “Then start now so that when we need it, you will be ready.” To Lux, I said, “Have you been to the spirit lights? Either of you?”

  “I was there,” Lux said. “I don’t remember if Paimon was alive or dead. I can go check now.”

  I nodded and he vanished. The tension in the air ramped up when Stolas realized he was all alone with me. “Fuck this up and I will eat you.”

  His jaw jumped. “Eat me and you’ll never get this spell to work.”

  How hard could it be? I tapped the page. “Get to work.” I left him before he could goad me into murder.

  24

  KORRI

  The next morning, Poppy was banging on my door, hollering at me. I blinked blurrily at my phone, then threw an arm over my eyes. “What? Better be good. It’s my day off.”

  “Thank fuck,” I heard her say.

  “What?”

  “I thought … I wasn’t sure what I thought. There was a massacre at a Keeper bar last night. A bunch of those assholes were slaughtered. Like, ripped apart. It’s bad.”

  She didn’t sound too broken up about it and a smile played on my lips as I remembered the night before. I tried to picture what Adam might be thinking or feeling right now, then wondered if it would even be a blip on his radar. They weren’t as high up as he was, and they hadn’t been a part of his particular Lodge either. Maybe he’d only be concerned that Conventus magi had been targeted.