by Eric Vall
“You’ve got to be shitting me.” Cupiditas sighed and buried her face in her hand.
“Please welcome Tristina and Gina Sullivan!” the man pointed to the edge of the stage and walked out of frame.
The crowd erupted into cheers as two women stepped out in front of the crowd with gracious waves.
The first one, “Tristina,” was very tall and slender, with brown hair and pointed features. She was wearing a very tight white dress that left little to the imagination. Her perky nipples were visible through the thin fabric of the dress, and her sexy legs were exposed all the way up to her inner thigh.
The second woman, “Gina,” was a curvy redhead. Her clothes were less fancy than the first woman’s, as they consisted of a simple green button-down shirt and black skirt. The buttons near the woman’s chest looked like they were going to explode off the garment at any minute thanks to her massive breasts.
Both of the woman approached their microphones as they continued playing the crowd.
“Is that who I think it is?” I asked Cupi.
The blonde succubus looked up from her facepalm and nodded. “That would be Gula and Tris.”
“Hellllloooo Phoenix!” Gula spoke into her mic. “Let’s hear you make some noise!”
The crowd erupted again in response to the succubus’ words.
She stood tall on the stage, soaking in the roar of her adoring fans as if they were the warm rays of the sun. Finally, she picked up the portable microphone and sat down next to Tris on the provided chairs.
“So, let’s open this Q&A up with a little bit of background information,” the man in yellow said as he sauntered back onto the stage. “You girls claim that, for the last few years, you’ve been working for a demon?”
“That is correct,” Tris confirmed.
“But not just any demon,” Gula added. “Azazel, the King of the Fourth Circle and the Father of Warfare.”
Hushed murmurs spread like wildfire through the crowd.
“Alright, you heard it here first.” The MC chuckled. “These two beauties are representing one of Satan’s finest himself. Now, we’re going to open it up to the audience for questions.”
“What the fuck are they doing?” I asked Cupi. “This has to be breaking nearly all the universal laws in the book.”
The succubus just shook her head. “Azazel doesn’t care about those any more,” she said with a grave tone. “After the Porta ad Inferos, he’s desperate, and all-out war between Heaven and Hell has broken loose. Silly little pieces of paper don’t mean anything anymore.”
“I have a question for Gina,” a random woman from the crowd stood up. “There have been rumors for years that a cult of demon worshipers resides right here in Phoenix. My question is does this cult exist? And if so, what is your involvement?”
“I’m glad you asked that.” Gula smiled. “Yes, there was a Cult of Azazel at one point in time, but it has been hijacked.”
“Hijacked?” the woman in the crowd retorted.
“Oh no,” I groaned. “I don’t like where this is headed.”
“Yes, hijacked,” Tris added, “by a man who thinks he’s better than Azazel, the demon who literally taught humans all they know about magic and warfare. He’s got a screw loose if you ask me.”
The crowd laughed at Tris’ joke, and it took everything in my power not to respond.
“But, here’s the thing about the Cult of Ralston, yes, that’s what they’re calling themselves,” the redhead continued. “He makes his followers do all his dirty work. He’s got them running all over the country, fighting his battles for him, and putting their own lives on the line for his own selfish reasons. And what is their leader doing while his followers are out there risking life and limb? He’s fooling around with not one, not two, but four different women!”
There were a few boos in the crowd.
“That’s just not true,” Jane growled under her breath. The brunette started to walk in the direction of the stage, but I stopped her and shook my head.
“Which brings us to the real reason we’re here,” Gula admitted. “We want to spread the word about Azazel!”
“Worst Mormons ever,” I mumbled.
“A few hours from now, right across the Nevada state line, we’re going to throw a banging party in honor of our master,” Tris chimed in. “Whether you believe in demons and angels or just want to have a good time, we hope to see you there. Bring your friends, all are welcome!”
The crowd erupted into excited cheers and hollers.
“And one more thing,” Gula spoke again. “You may be wondering why we’re hosting it all the way in Nevada. Well, we can’t say why, exactly, but I can give you a hint.”
The brunette succubus put her thumb and forefinger together as if she was holding a joint and then pretended to smoke it. The implication was obvious, and the crowd ate it up as they went wild with their cheers.
Tris and Gula stood up and waved to their adoring fans. After soaking up the praise for a few moments, they gave each other a hug and then began to walk off the stage.
“Oh, girls,” the man in the yellow stopped the succubi in their tracks, “it looks like there’s one more question. Go ahead, ma’am.”
The crowd quieted down, and a beautiful woman with a dark complexion stepped forward.
“So, I have a question for both of you,” she nearly purred into the mic.
I didn’t know who this woman was, but her sultry voice was sexy as hell.
“Go ahead, friend,” Gula nodded.
“So, my question is how does it feel?” the woman asked coyly.
“How does what feel?” Gula sounded confused. “I don’t think I understand your question.”
“How does it feel to be a traitor to the cause?” the mystery woman hissed.
“Traitor to the … ?” the brunette succubus started.
Before she could finish, a sharp, circular projectile shot through the air directly at the unsuspecting Gula, and the succubus’ eyes widened in terror as she cringed and prepared for death.
Luckily for these two, I wasn’t a total heartless bastard.
I tossed out a blast of green Hellfire and caught the blade a millisecond before it would have severed the succubus’ head.
Tris ran over to her sister and hustled her off the stage while mass chaos erupted across the exhibit hall. Innocent bystanders were fleeing toward the exits, knocking over vendor’s booths and nearly trampling each other as they did so. The air was filled with the terrified screams of the clueless mortals.
But there was one figure that stood their ground, the mystery woman with the sexy voice. The black-haired assailant slowly turned around and pointed in our direction.
“You!” she bellowed. “You have just denied a Rakshasi of her prey! For that, you will pay the ultimate price.” The woman threw out her hands, and her fingernails elongated and sharpened into what looked to be massive tiger-like claws.
“My name is Aruna,” she growled. “Get to know this name well, mortal, for it is the last one you will ever know.”
Chapter 6
“Aruna?” I snarked back at the assassin. “That’s a pretty name. How’d they get such a beautiful woman like you to be a cold-blooded killer?”
“My quarrel is not with you, mortal,” Aruna hissed. “Stand aside right now, or I’ll rip you limb from limb before I slaughter those succubi.”
“You know,” I joked, “you’re not really in a position to be making threats.”
I pulled my fist back toward my chest, and Aruna’s circular blade followed my emerald spell. The deadly disk spun through the air, guided by my Hellfire, and headed directly for the assassin.
Aruna simply grinned and leapt up into the air. Her body twisted as her right hand lashed out and snatched up the weapon as it passed her by. The dark-haired assassin continued to spin until she landed with feline grace on her feet.
“Okay, that was pretty badass,” Cupi muttered.
Then Aruna st
uck out her hand, and a black ectoplasm-like substance began to spray in our direction. Cupi tucked and rolled out of the way of the attack. At the same time, I tossed up a shield of violet to protect Jane and myself.
The black slime hit my shield with a disgusting plop, not unlike the sound a wet rag makes when tossed on a tile floor. Instead of bouncing off the violet wall of fire, the substance oozed down to the floor and piled up until it was overflowing around the edges.
I tried to make my barrier wider, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Uh, Cupi?” I called over to the succubus with concern. “I’m having some technical difficulties with my Hellfire over here.”
“It’s ectoplasmic magic,” the blonde responded from behind. “It has a different type of makeup than our Hellfire powers.”
“That’s all Greek to me, Cupi!” I exclaimed.
“Her power is derived from spiritual energy,” the succubus continued as she rushed past my left. “It’s energy in its purest form that comes directly from the human spirit, unlike the powers of Hellfire and Divinity.”
“That still doesn’t--” I grimaced as I pushed back against Aruna’s spell.
“The tainted powers of the demonic can’t penetrate it!” Cupi called back as she approached the assassin.
The substance continued to run over and touched our feet. The second it covered our shoes, the magical assault seemed to stop, and the next thing I knew, I heard a loud smack before Cupi’s body tumbled across the floor of the exhibit hall.
“Cupi!” I released my protective spell, and the ectoplasm remained in the same abstract shape it had been forming over my shield. I tried to turn and run to the knocked-down succubus, but the black substance was sticking us to the ground like the gnarliest bubble-gum I’d ever seen.
Jane and I weren’t going anywhere for the moment.
“Crafty,” I mused as I removed the goat-headed dagger from my belt. “Very crafty.”
I enchanted the blade with a wave of red Hellfire, and with a quick swing, I sliced open the ectoplasm and freed us from its clutches. The Hellfire didn’t burn the black goo at all, but thankfully my dagger was wicked sharp. Then Jane and I ran toward the fallen succubus, who was just pulling herself to her feet.
“I’ll be fine” Cupi gasped through shallow breaths and pointed behind us. “The Rakshasi is getting away!”
I halted my momentum and turned back toward the main entrance.
Aruna had used the distraction to try to make her escape. Across the massive room, the assassin’s slender figure dashed through the large double-doors and out into the hallway.
“Cupi, go round up the others,” I commanded. “Jane, come with me. We’ve got to stop Aruna before she can catch up with the other succubi.”
The brunette nodded, and then we took off after the assassin. By the time we made it out into the hallway, Aruna was already nearly a football field ahead of us.
“She’s not getting away that easily,” I growled and summoned emerald fire into my hands.
I conjured up a portal of green Hellfire directly in front of the fleeing assassin with the intent of bringing her back within striking distance, but Aruna didn’t even break her stride. The assassin leapt into the air and tumbled gracefully over the portal as if it were little more than a puddle on the sidewalk.
“Okay, new plan.” I looked over at Jane. “We need to get ourselves in front of her. I’ll get us there, and you unleash Hell. Got it?”
“Got it.” The brunette nodded and summoned yellow Hellfire into her palms.
I threw down a portal of jade fire in front of us, summoned a red spell into my other hand, and we both jumped in. My body and soul became weightless for a moment, and then I reappeared in front of the charging assassin.
Aruna didn’t even look phased. If anything, she wore an expression of annoyance as she grew closer. Not one to wait ourselves, Jane and I both blasted at the assassin with everything we had.
A slew of magical yellow daggers and red fireballs careened toward Aruna, and the dark-haired woman had to roll to the side to avoid getting lit up like a Christmas tree.
Without missing a beat, Aruna rolled into an upright position, sprang up into the air, and unsheathed her claws. As she came down on top of us, she took a swipe at Jane. The brunette tossed up a small shield of purple to dispel the attack, and Aruna’s claws struck the violet flames harmlessly.
At the same time, I unsheathed my goat-headed dagger and plunged it toward our opponent. Somehow, Aruna had the presence of mind to throw herself into a backflip. The amazing move managed to avoid my jab. Then her feet caught my weapon and kicked it up into the ceiling, where it embedded into one of the art installations above. Before her feet even hit the ground again, she launched her chakram at me.
I just barely managed to summon my own shield of violet Hellfire at an angle and ricocheted the projectile upward.
This was apparently exactly what Aruna wanted because as the assassin jumped out of the way of another one of Jane’s Hellfire attacks, she vaulted up into the air and bounced off my shield like a springboard. As she passed over my head, the assassin took another swipe at me with her claws.
I lunged forward, barely avoiding the deadly slash that was clearly meant to sever my spinal cord. I spun around, raised my hand to the ceiling, and called my dagger back to me with a flash of emerald flames. I was ready to skewer this bitch.
Unfortunately, Aruna had other plans. She dashed down a long hallway, only slowing her run to dodge the occasional yellow dagger tossed her way. In the few seconds it took me to reclaim my weapon, the assassin was already far away from us and only seeming to get faster.
“She’s good,” I said in awe.
“Damn!” Jane hissed with a twinge of urgency. “How the fuck are we going to catch her now?”
From behind Jane and me, there was the sound of a human voice imitating a trumpet. I turned around and saw Cupi and Liby hurtling toward us on their demon wings, Todd and Oliver in their arms. The two succubi landed in front of us and released their passengers.
“Everybody, stand back,” Todd exclaimed. “The real heroes have arrived!”
“Hey, ‘real hero,’” I chuckled and pointed down the hall, “the bad guy’s all the way down there.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Todd questioned triumphantly.
Libidine ran up behind me and wrapped her arms underneath my armpits. At the same time, Cupi grabbed Jane and Todd hopped onto her back. The next thing I knew, I was soaring at break-neck speed through the hallways of the convention center with Libidine’s massive breasts pressed tightly against my back.
There were certainly worse ways to travel.
“What about Oliver?” Todd asked over the sound of the streaking wind.
“He’ll catch up,” Liby promised.
Thanks to the wings of the succubi, we closed the gap on Aruna in no time. Then, without warning, the assassin blindly threw her chakram back at us. The spinning wheel of death zipped right past Cupi, Jane, and Todd, but I could hear the hiss as it cut through the air.
“Ha!” the imp exclaimed. “You missed us, you gazelle-lookin’ bitch!”
His taunts were cut short when a metallic snapping noise echoed from above, and then the chakram shot back into the running Aruna’s hands. I glanced up and saw the projectile had severed the ties of a couple of the massive triangular art installations above, and hundreds of pounds of heavy white canvas were now falling directly in our path.
Cupi and Liby tried to halt their momentum, but they weren’t fast enough.
Before we were trapped, I threw out both of my hands, cast a wave of green fire around the massive installation, and grimaced as I held the debris. It was heavy, but it was nothing compared to keeping the Lincoln Memorial from collapsing back in D.C.
The falling art froze in the air, and the succubi and I passed underneath swiftly. Now, we were only about thirty feet behind the assassin.
“Now we got her!” Todd
scoffed and tossed a baseball-sized fireball. “Suck on my spicy balls, bitch!”
Without missing a beat, Aruna somersaulted into the air and out of the way of the imp’s attack. Her body became engulfed in the same ectoplasmic substance she used against us earlier, and then there was a quick flash of dark light.
There, where Aruna had been, now flew a golden eagle.
“What the fuck?” Todd and I both said aloud.
“The Rakshasa are shapeshifters,” Cupi explained. “I’m surprised she didn’t break out that power sooner.”
“Of course,” I said sarcastically. “How did I not know that?”
In her animal form, Aruna was once again much faster than any of us. Jane, Todd, and I tried to hit her with various spells of red, yellow, and green Hellfire, but the assassin was much too agile as she spiraled through the barrage. It didn’t help that there were innocents everywhere in the convention center, and they forced us to keep from using anything too powerful in our magical arsenal.
Judging by Aruna’s willingness to dive through the screaming crowds, I figured it was intentional on her part to use the bystanders against us.
The eagle rounded a far-ahead corner, and then there was a wave of screams. The succubi and I rounded the turn and instantly saw what all the commotion was about.
There, in the middle of a massive gathering of people in business professional attire, was Aruna. She was headed straight for Gula and Tris, with her chakram in one hand and deadly claws in the other. All around, people were either marveling at the scene with their cell phones or fleeing in terror.
Tris and Gula were airborne, desperately looking for a way to escape out of the dead-end. Both of the succubi’s wings were bat-like, but Tris’ were much more sleek and slender than Liby or Ira’s. Meanwhile, Gula’s appendages jutted out nearly three times the width of her body. Both of the women were soaring through the sky, trying to keep as much distance between them and Aruna as possible, but it wasn’t going to be enough, not with the assassin’s speed and agility.
