Posted by: Admin on Saturday, July 20, 2002 - 01:01 AM 
|
Heaven and Hell -- Book II
Ways of Power -- Chapters 6-9
by Maggie Finson
Chapter VI
We emerged not in the bizarre office complex, but right in the middle of good old Home. My own family, won in that earlier confrontation with Girard but still my family in a sense that really held to the word, was waiting nearby with Mother Lillith. De la Court gazed in rapt fascination at more amassed beauty and sex appeal than most people ever saw and survived. Helga Yawned, then cast a surreptitious grin in his direction, knowing full well what was in store for the guy. Dimona, still in her little girl clothes was cutely jumping rope for 'momma' Dellilah with a resigned expression on her pretty face.
Syl grunted appreciatively, "Man, oh man, that sure almost makes me wish I was still a man,"
Giving her a puzzled look, I questioned, "So what happened to the accent? Man? You were a male, too?"
"Yes," she answered the last question first. "I got switched because of the way I was pulled down here. I killed one His Hellish Majesty's Prime Hell Maids and had to replace her with someone else or face the consequences myself. Well, It's a long story, I'll tell you sometime when we can settle down with some good booze and a little time to relax."
'The accent?" I prompted, more interested in that at the time while wondering if everyone I knew around here had been sex changed.
"Oh, that's mostly for benefit of the yokels," with a grin she tilted her beautiful head to one side in a very feminine gesture for someone so large an martially attired. "Be honest with yourself, do you really think for a minute that His Hellish Majesty Lucifer would tolerate an uneducated, uncultured oaf like the one I was acting as patrol His borders and lead His precious troops against Angel Hosts?"
"Guess not," I agreed, wondering why the aforementioned monarch would tolerate a bumbling beginner like me being in such a potentially critical position as facing a Rogue Angel bent on bringing about the Final Battle between Good and Evil.
"Ahem!" Lillith clearing her throat pulled, no make that yanked, our attention back to the proceedings. "IF you two are finished with that interesting, but out of place conversation, do you think we could get on with things? Time is growing short, you know."
De la Court was the center of a ring that I was very familiar with from recent experience. Appearing a little dazed by all the delightfully demonic attentions he had been receiving from my little sisters, (Little? Hell, most of them were taller than I was, and the youngest of them was at least several centuries my senior in age. But I'd brought them home and like some weirdly off skew Chinese Obligation, they were mine to deal with.) the soon to be member of my own personal clan had gracelessly fallen to his butt and was eyeing the teasing, giggling group ringing him with bemused enjoyment.
"You do the honors with this one," Lillith informed me with a wide smile. "Your own magic reservoirs are so large and brimming full that you won't drain anything but the male essences from him. We need his magical abilities intact, so you're elected to do the job. Have fun and use your imagination."
"Imagination?" I questioned.
"YES, LITTLE ONE," MAMA's heavy voice entered my mind with an amused tone. "KAYLA, LILLITH, AND I HAD A LOT OF FUN FORMING YOU INTO THE POWER PACKED LITTLE SEX POT YOU'VE BECOME. THIS TIME YOU GET TO GUIDE THE TRANSFORMATION."
"Oh, goody," I responded, unsure whether I really wanted to be responsible for something like that so soon after it had been done to me.
"OH, YOU'LL DO IT. WHILE HUGELY ENJOYING THE EXPERIENCE."
"All right, all right," giving in with the mental equivalent of holding out my hands in surrender, I sighed. "What's with all this sex changing around here? Is that a prerequisite for becoming a full fledged Demon or something?"
"AROUND HERE IT IS." MAMA replied acerbically, "BUT IT REALLY HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH POWER. A CHANGE OF SEX DRAWS A LARGE AMOUNT OF THE STUFF OUT OF THE NETHER REALMS, THEN A LOT OF IT HANGS AROUND. SOMETIMES, LIKE WITH YOU, IT ATTACHES TO THE ONE WHO WAS CHANGED, OTHERS IT JUST STAYS UNTIL SOMEONE PUTS IT TO USE. ALSO, THE CHANGED SEEM TO BE POWER MAGNETS ONCE THEY HAVE SETTLED INTO THEIR NEW EXISTENCES. THIS ONE IS GOING TO BE SOMETHING QUITE DIFFERENT, A CROSS BETWEEN A HELL MAID AND ONE OF YOU LITTLE DARLINGS."
"Oh," nodding, I wished I hadn't asked. "Well, guess I'd better get started, the only question I have right now is How am I going to do that?."
"SYL WILL HAVE A FAIR AMOUNT OF INPUT WHEN YOU GET THE TRANSFORMATION GOING. HAVE FUN, CHILD."
Ricardo was staring from one of my sisters to another so quickly I thought his head might spin right off his neck. As I entered the circle and approached him he gave me a worried grimace. "What's going on here?"
"You'll absolutely love it," I answered with a slow smile while making my clothing (okay, okay, what there was of it.) vanish. His gasp was very gratifying as he took in all of me for the first time. Hey, a girl likes to be noticed and appreciated, you know. "Just lie back and enjoy the ride, lover."
Did I feel at all guilty about the fact that this would be the absolutely final time he experienced sex as a male? Nope, not at all. Anyway, the sex as a Succubus was far better than any I'd had or even dreamed of in my wildest fantasies as a male. I was more than a little confident that our newest inductee would discover that very soon, with a little helpful push from yours truly, of course.
Oh, yeah, did I forget to mention that all that lovely male essence would feed me well enough that I wouldn't need to concern myself with such mundane things as feeding for the next month or so? (Oink, oink, I confess. Yum!)
I began by gently stroking his shoulders while pointedly ignoring the rather distracting and very hard thing poking me in the belly, then embraced him fully with a long, deep kiss. (Have I mentioned the effect being French kissed by a long, forked tongue has on a guy? Wowie, zowie, tonsil delight!) Once that part of the foreplay (very brief, under the circumstances, you understand. I couldn't wait any more than he could for the coupling we both knew was coming. That wasn't an intentional pun, either.) was well underway, I wrapped him in my wings and settled into the real meat of the task.
Lowering myself onto his incredibly tumescent member, I began a slow up and down motion by flexing my knees. As his moans grew louder, I rolled us over until he was the one on top and the fun really got going. Which was a real good thing. As His male essences were pulled out by me, Mama obligingly added her own style of female essences to replace them. At the rate things were going, if the poor guy didn't cum soon, he'd never have another chance. Arching my back to help ram him farther inside of me and matching his rythym, I was finally rewarded with a load of hot, wonderful cum exploding into my own internal regions and underwent orgasm after mind numbing orgasm until we were both pretty well spent. Giving my newest sister a gentle kiss, I carefully untangled our wings and tails (Tongues, too, since those were still wrapped together.) and rose to view our handiwork. ( Syl had not only been lustily cheering me on to even greater heights of orgasmic thrills, she had thrown in more than a few suggestions of her own. Which I paid attention to as much as it was possible under the circumstances. )
She was absolutely gorgeous, if more than a bit different than one of us. I felt a mild twinge of jealousy, but that faded into elation as I noted the soft golden glow of intact, mature magical abilities within that beautiful form. "We did it!"
"NEVER DOUBTED YOU FOR A SECOND, SWEETIE," Mama confirmed in open admiration. Whether that was for my job, the finished product, or both, I neither knew nor cared. We had another member of our badly thinned out sisterhood with some very interesting additions, and one who would easily fill part of the yawning power vacuum our kind was presently experiencing. (More on that later.)
"Your name is Angelique," I softly told the stupified young Succubus/Hell Maid staring up at me from the ground. "Sleep now, little sister. Rest and be ready for one hell of a shock when you wake up."
"YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR SOMETIMES LEAVES SOMETHING TO BE DESIRED, LORILEI," Mama primly informed me, then ruined the solemn moment by giggling. (Something the size of Mama doing that is kind of like going through a five point oh earthquake.) "BUT I MUST ADMIT THAT THIS TIME IT IS VERY APPROPRIATE."
"Hell," my response was a bit distracted as I gave our newest sister a good looking over. "I remember how I reacted, and let me tell you, it was probably the biggest shock I'd ever experienced. That's including getting myself shot to death in my neighbor's bed."
Azure and silver, she slept easily and comfortably. Her eyes, before they had drooped shut were a deep, bright azure that was arresting it was so intense. Silvery wings, horns, tail, and hair combined with those compelling eyes into a beauty that would be a prime weapon against any Angel in existence. Not to mention the lithe muscularity of her build. Angelique would be as powerful physically as Syl, with the same lightning physical reflexes and innate fighting abilities of a Hell Maid. With the use of real magic thrown into the mix. Oh, boy, I couldn't help but wonder: what in the Hell (literally, of course. ) had Mama, Syl, and I unleashed on the unsuspecting worlds? A new kind of fighter, that was for sure, and one that might just tip the balance in our favor for once.
But she would be a new and different danger to the Hosts of Heaven. Something that would be needed in the future, though the War had more or less collapsed from sheer attrition and exhaustion a century before I'd come on to the scene.
A varying degree of peace, or truce, held between Heaven and Hell at the time, simply because there weren't enough bodies to fight the damned War and run things, too. The ranks of my sisterhood had been culled down to a mere three-hundred from a high of thousands. We were hit very hard, because every Angel knew we were both powerful magic users, and messengers. Get one of us, and the Angel doing so generally achieved at least two purposes. One, eliminating a dangerous foe, and Two, disrupting the enemy by breaking his lines of communication.
That was the reason I hadn't been forced to endure The Gates of Hell, and why I had extricated Ricardo, now Angelique, from that area before he could be subjected to the normal tortures and torments a newly arrived soul normally would. The Succubae were so important to Lord Lucifer, and so decimated, that Lillith had priority on anyone she felt would be workable and of use to us. Plus being given the option to mix and match, so to speak, experimentally.
Originally, I was to be nothing more than a recruiter, pulling in souls and damning them to Hell with their lust for my very exotic and entrancing beauty. I'd already been a seducer, so was perfect for Lillith's needs. Well, I've sure managed to recruit souls. Not, though, exactly as it had been planned. (see H&H: Recruiter. ) I more or less fluked into the power and magics that I have, by accidentally absorbing the life force and abilities of a very powerful black mage named Girard.
Girard, was, coincidentally, in league with the very Rogue Angel I'm being aimed at this time around. (Shudder.) Even if I am quite clearly second only to Lillith herself in sheer power and knowledge of magics among the Succubae, I'm still working out some kinks. (Damned stuff still doesn't want to cooperate with me and my directions, no matter how hard I try.)
So that's where Angelique comes in. Not only is she still a powerful and experienced magic user, she will be vital in our moves against the Rogue and His allies. Plus, hopefully, be around to train one very disgusted, and frazzled magic user right here at home. (Me.)
All I had to do, was secure Angelique's cooperation in the enterprise. Right. That was a chore I was not looking forward to handling. But orders from both Mama and more importantly, Mother Lillith, are not things a bright girl ignores. Nobody is going to accuse this sweet cheeked little darling of being stupid. (Well not to my face, or very often if they know what's good for them.)
Chapter VII
A single high pitched shriek interrupted my watching little Dimona practice her curtsies for mommy Jasmine. I glanced towards Kayla with a wry grin. "I think our newest sister just woke up. Did I raise that much of a fuss?"
"Yes," Kayla nodded, then winced as another shriek filled the air. "Well, maybe not so much. At least you were quieter about freaking out over the change."
"LORILEI," Mama's voice reached into my thoughts.
"I'm on my way, Mama," I responded while thinking myself to the spot where we had left the new sleeping beauty.
"What did you do to me?!!!" was the first thing out of her lovely mouth when I appeared in front of her. Not "How did you do that? " or "Tell me this is all a horrible nightmare, please!" Just an angry demand to know what poor little me had done to transform dear Ricardo into voluptuous Angelique.
She actually had both of her small hands around my throat before I thrust her back with a small application of magic. I simply gave her a disgusted look while viewing her sprawled form and shook my head. "Well, if you really want to know, cutting off my air supply like that isn't exactly the way I'd go about finding out. It's kinda hard to talk when your windpipe is being squeezed shut, after all. Now are you going to settle down and listen to me? Or do I have to call Mother Lillith and Mama in to calm you down?"
"You just used magic on me," Angelique swallowed in shocked surprise. "Used it against me, and got away with it."
"Hey, I did, didn't I?" I answered with a grin, then changed my expression to one just a little more serious and considerably less of pleased amazement. "Now are we going to be able to discuss things like two civilized people, or do I have to pin you to the ground until you start to see reason?"
Angelique looked down at her own considerable charms, then at mine in a very critical comparison. With a sigh of resignation, she nodded her agreement. "We can talk. This is Hell, after all, isn't it? I shouldn't expect to be pleased with anything that happens to me here, right?"
"Got that one in one try," I grinned again, "Smart girl, Angelique."
She winced at the use of that name and pronoun on her very own person, but another glance at her vastly altered anatomy caused a rueful smile to spread across her face. "I guess expecting to be called Ricardo looking like I do now is kind of silly, isn't it? Okay, so fill me in. Why am I suddenly this demonic sex goddess?"
Because we need very badly to increase our numbers," I offered a hand to help her to her feet, inwardly chuckling at her awkwardness. "Just let the body do its thing for now and don't worry about balancing."
She took my advice, but was having trouble with a tail that seemed to have a mind and intent to rape all its own. Slapping it away from her new equipment brought a sharp little yelp of surprised pain out of her full lips, but the tail behaved itself after that. Her wings snapped up and back, folding into a configuration that aided balance while standing instead of impeding it, and she managed to balance quite well on the heeled hooves she now had for feet.
"All right," folding her arms across her chest, then consciously leaving them there in spite of the wealth of new sensations that must have caused in her, Angelique favored me with a coolly expectant look, "I'm all ears. You were saying something about our numbers needing to increase?"
'That's right," I nodded in agreement, relieved that she was beginning to accept things if not actually like them. Hell, I wasn't sure if I liked the way I was at that point either but had accepted the fact that there was no changing things. I proceeded to tell her of the War, and it's disastrous effect on the numbers in both Heaven and Hell, resulting in the uneasy truce that existed now. "We're Hell's version of Magic users, messengers, and recruiters all rolled up into one neat little package. The Angelic hosts considered us a greater danger than any of the fighting demons, including the Hell Maids, so we got targeted every chance they got. Which was a lot, from all I hear."
"So You're one of the new recruits, too?" Angelique questioned in surprise. "I would have thought you'd have been a veteran of the Wars, the way you handled yourself at the Gates, and with me just now."
"Yes, I am a new recruit," I answered, for some reason proud that she had taken me for a far older being than I was. "My powers of seduction were what landed me here, the magical power I have was the result of a real fluke."
"You're the demon temptress that took out old Girard, aren't you?" Angelique gave me a respectful look that bordered on awe. Man was I getting sick of that look on people's faces when they figured out who I was. "No wonder you seem so much older and surer of yourself. That was no mean accomplishment, Lady Lorilei, and it had every circle of magic on Earth buzzing for a good many months following the event."
"Tell me about it," my wry grin and weary of it all shrug brought the first real laugh I had heard from her to Angelique's lips. "I really was just lucky, is all. Shithouse lucky if you want to be specific. I absorbed all his power, and knowledge before I knew what it was I'd done.
"But getting back to our original subject," my relief at getting away from the talk about Girard was evident enough to bring a smile to my new sister's face as I continued. "After awhile, you'll find that being this way isn't so bad after all. We're a sought after clan, not just for our obvious attributes. You were chosen because of your skills with magic. You'd have been a terrible waste as say, a Hell Hound, or an Imp, so here you are. It can be kind of fun, being like this."
"That's easy for you to say," Angelique grumbled almost to herself before speaking up, "You've always been female, I used to be a man. I don't know if I can handle this or not, this being a female sex goddess, even if I can still use magic?"
"You can," I answered, to her relief. "Just as soon as your mind adjusts to the new body configuration you have, your magic should return in full force, maybe stronger now since you are what they call a supernatural being. That and you're something just a little different from the rest of us."
"Why? Because I can actually use magic?" That gal got to the point without bothering to so much as give the bush a token beating.
"Partially," giving her a chagrined tilt of head and raised eyebrow, I nodded. "I sure haven't managed to get the hang of it yet. But the other part is that your also a Hell Maid."
"What does that mean?" Angelique questioned with a puzzled look on her lovely face. "Be sure to explain it clearly, in words of two syllables or less if possible. I'm still confused here, and could have sworn that you just said I was a Hell Maid. I thought I was a Succubus. Now which is it going to be?"
"Both," I answered simply, keeping in line with her request regarding complexity. "You've got the physical strength and stamina of a Hell Maid, with their affinity for long sharp objects that can do an awful lot of damage to enemies, with the beauty, wiles, and magical abilities of a Succubus. Have I lost you there? You're looking kind of dazed again."
"Uh, no," shaking her head, Angelique favored me with a halfway evil grin (Good for you girl!) and chuckled. "I'm just trying to figure out how I should feel with being some kind of prototype demoness.
"Which," she pressed with an insistence that I found heartening if a little wearying. "brings me back to another, and the original question I asked you about half a lifetime ago. By the way, do all of you girls spend ten minutes saying something that could do with a simple yes or no?"
"It's all part of the mystique," I grinned viciously. "have you ever heard of a diplomat of any kind that could settle for a simple explanation for something when there was a very good chance to confuse the issue with extra wordage?"
"Guess not," she nodded, then returned my grin, not sidetracked at all. "getting back to my one burning question. You seemed a little hesitant to answer when I said that you'd always been female. You weren't always female, were you?"
"Not always, not even for all that long, " a heavy sigh slipped around my clenched teeth before I could stop the damned thing. It circled gleefully, tormenting me for a few seconds before deciding to go find something more fun to do. "I didn't start out life as a female. I was a guy, and a pretty good looking and randy one, too. Had a wife and two kids that I claimed, and s string of girlfriends on the side. I ended up here because my neighbor caught me in bed with his wife. He shot both of us, and you can see my half of the story's result standing here in front of you."
"You were a male." Angelique favored me with wide eyed wonder, then got a sick look on her lovely, expressive face as she considered the consequences for herself if that were true. "Uh, oh. That does not bode well for my already flagging masculinity, does it?"
"Probably not," I agreed wryly. After all, I had tried my own forms of denial until that night I had gone out into the Human Realms and fed for the first time. After that it was, 'Oh well, at least I'm pretty.' and things like that to rationalize how I behaved and what I now found enjoyable. Which to be blunt, was sex, sex, and even more sex. With men. Then again, there was sex. Oh well, I'm pretty sure you get the idea. "We're almost elemental creatures of sexual appetite and pleasure, so get used to the idea girlie, because that's the only way you're going to get enough nourishment to keep that lovely little body and devious mind going."
"You mean having sex. With a man? Right?" Angelique questioned in resignation.
"You surely don't think we're built like this for speed?" I shot back with an evil little grin. (I was getting pretty good with those, and the seductive half smiles that drove guys nuts. I should have been, after all the practice I'd put into the two expressions.) "Of course we do it with men. Women just don't have what we need for good diet and health. Besides, most of our really fun abilities don't work on females."
"Abilities?"
"Sure," I went on cheerfully. "We're consummate shape shifters, able to take on any --female-- form we choose to get what we want, and can actually enter a guy's dreams to get our goodies, though I much prefer the wide awake approach. It tastes and feels so much better that way.
"We are also mistresses of illusion," my descriptions were becoming a little overly enthusiastic, so I toned down my approach a little, but damn it, being a succubus was fun, and I just loved talking about it. "Which means that we can make any male see exactly what we wish for him to see. Mages, and women are more or less immune to that ability, though, so be really careful about when and how you use it."
"Okay, I can understand that," Angelique nodded, then shot me a suspicious look. "But why are you stuffing me so full of information already?"
"Because it's supper time, sweetie," I informed her, taking an unresisting hand in my own, and gently pulling her in my wake. I felt more than a little guilty about rushing a newly transformed sister into an actual feeding, but had been impressed by others far more powerful and wiser than myself that Angelique needed to become acclimated to her new existence quickly. Evidently, time to stop the Rogue was running short, and ready or not, we had to try and stop him and his plans.
"Wow!" Angelique licked her lips in sated satisfaction once we had returned to Home. "You didn't tell me how great feeding was, Lorilei!"
"Yes I did," glowing with my own excess of wonderful male essence churning in my belly, I sighed in contentment, "You just wouldn't listen."
"No, I guess I didn't, at that," with a sleepy nod, she began to settle down for the traditional post feeding nap we took. "So now what happens? I know that I wasn't just brought here for pure punishment, was I?"
"No, you weren't," carefully considering my responses and their likely effects, I gave up on subtlety and just dove in head first. (A trait I understand that is both endearing and quite likely to be getting me into more trouble than I care to think about just now at some time in the future. Most likely a lot of sometimes, come to think of it.) "Remember when I told you that you'd been chosen for your magical abilities?"
"The Rogue," Angelique nodded in wide eyed comprehension. "I'm supposed to go after that damned rogue Angel, aren't I?"
"Yes," I responded unhappily, "but trust me, you won't be doing it alone."
Chapter VIII
"Dimona!" I commanded, "Time to quit playing around and get ready for some action."
"Does that mean I get to shuck this stupid dress?" the imp popped into the air beside me with an eager expression. "And my dollies, too?"
"Unless you really think they'd be any help in a fight," I responded with a little laugh. Pretty little Dimona had been punished enough for her last prank, in my opinion, though some of my outraged sisters still wanted their revenge. "Now hop to, Imp! We have places to be, people to see, and things to do!"
"With pleasure, boss!" she flickered out of sight for a moment, then reappeared clad in skin tight black leather and gleaming chain mail. "Ready for your commands, your witchiness."
"I am not a witch," I countered with real mirth in spite of the seriousness of the situation. Dimona was always good for bringing me back down to the realities of a situation with her little jabs and taunts. "And don't you think that outfit is just a bit over the top?"
"What, you don't like it?" she pouted, then giggled. "And here I thought it was so sexy and warrior-like."
"It's very nice, dear," I answered, then mentally called the others involved with this near suicidal scheme to come to me. "Forgive me if I have just a tiny bit of trouble seeing you as an intrepid warrior type. And wear what you like, so long as you're happy with it."
"Thanks, boss!" the armor vanished to be replaced with a camouflage bikini and a carefully painted face and body to match. "How's this?
"Well, I guess I did tell you to wear whatever you liked," my reply was stopped just short of becoming caustic by the arrival of the others in rapid succession.
Helga took one look at Dimona, snorted and bit her tongue to keep from saying anything that might start an argument. A wise person, Demon, Angel, or Human, doesn't lightly anger an Imp. As Dimona once told me, Imps are sneaky little bastards that never hit you head on if they can help it. Besides, I think the Hell Hound really was fond of the little tart and didn't want to hurt her feelings.
"Is it show time, boss?" the Hell Hound asked with ill concealed eagerness. Since she had been tied to me because I accidentally freed her from the clutches of Girard, she had spent a lot of time being bored. Hell Hounds are very physical creatures, and tend to pine and pout if they can't bite, claw or really scare some poor soul.
"It is," I replied without the visible eagerness of my second most interesting servant. In case you hadn't figured it out yet, Dimona was number one in that category.
Syl stalked up with a very subdued Angelique in tow. "Well, I suppose she'll do in a pinch during a fight. But take my word for it, if the poor little darling ever reaches for her sword, start ducking and getting ready for the worst, because her magic didn't work."
"I didn't think I did so bad with this damned heavy thing," Angelique sniffed while hefting an enormous double edged sword that I'd have been lucky to drag anywhere, let alone wave around in the air with one hand. "Besides, magic comes to me on instinct, while I have to concentrate a little to use this monster."
"Looks as if you're doing just fine from where I'm standing," I offered, quickly leaning away from the sweep of the blade as she turned towards me. "Uh, on second thought, maybe you'd better rely on magic until you get a little more practice in with it."
"Everybody's a damned critic around here," Angelique sighed, carefully replacing the huge blade in the long sheath across her back. (How she ever managed that with wings, I'll never figure out.)
"Let's see, Imp, Hell Maids, Hell Hound, me," I counted heads aloud to divert attention from an embarrassed new Hell Maid. That's another breed you really don't want having a grudge against you, and they insult very easily. "Okay, that's our part of the group. Let's go meet up with the others."
I waved a portal into existence, then motioned for the others to get moving. Angelique gave me a strange look, then stopped beside me for a moment. "You sure seemed to call that up easily enough."
"Oh," I shrugged. "Portals are easy. I just think of where I want to go and one shows up leading there."
"You can conjure a portal without even so much as a hint of strain, leveled me earlier with just about as much effort, and you say you haven't got control of your magic?"
"Not yet," I nodded with a grimace. "None of the tough stuff anyway."
"Lorilei?" Angelique quietly asked, "did you know that you're one very scary person?"
"What a nice thing for you to say!" I grinned, then pointed towards the portal with an extended wingtip. ( Wings can be very expressive, you know. ) Let's not dally, okay? Bad things are about to happen and we're supposed to be right in the middle of all of them."
"Oh, I can't wait," The Hell Maid/Succubus sighed, then entered the portal.
"I can." I muttered as I followed her.
Chapter IX
On the other side of the portal, in The Human Realms, I distastefully lifted one foot to dislodge an un-namable glop of something or other that I had no real wish to analyze. At least not any further than to decide it stank and was really nasty.
"Hey Boss," Dimona's voice somehow carried the idea a pinched up face trying to clear her nostrils of something really noisome. Hell has some dandies in that regard, but let me tell you something; for sheer creativity and disgust factor, The Human Realm's gunk, garbage, and chemically contaminated slimes beat us any time without even trying. "I think we must've landed in the sewers again. I thought Heaven owed you some favors? What? Do those haloed idiots think we really do like this kind of shit?"
"Ohh, wonderful, wonderful, stinky , beautiful gross smells!" Helga panted out between sniffs and actual deep breaths. Wallowing squishy sounds accompanied by canine whines and growls of orgasmic ecstasy pretty well ended any more discussions about liking where we had come out or not.
"Helga, I'm warning you," Syl's voice held a half amused threat, "If you get any closer and accidentally wallow over me, I'll spit you on Hell Ringer and walk through a car wash with you squirming at the end of my unhallowed blade until you're sparkling clean."
"Shit!" Angelique's voice wailed in disgusted affront. After several squelches and a lot of grumbling, something flew through the air to land in front of Helga's nose. "I sat on a damned dead rat! You can have it, my Hell Hound friend."
I won't go into any more detail about that except to say Helga quickly became one of Angelique's best friends and fervent protector. As long as my plump little behind wasn't in any trouble, that is.
My vision adapted, and I suddenly wished it wasn't quite so quick after catching a glimpse of what Helga was eating. Taking a look around, I noted a ladder headed in the right direction -- up -- and waved everyone towards it. "There we go, everybody that can climb better get started. Syl, help me haul our garbage hound up to the next level and I'll get us all cleaned up.
Helga only offered token resistance (I just got bitten once, and that was more of a nibble, and Syl got nipped right on her armor covered breast.) while the Hell Maid and I each took an end and left the filth encrusted lower level. I flew, she jumped. Man Hell maids can be something to watch when they're in action. Just so long as you aren't the action, if you get my meaning.
"I hurt my tooth on your damned tit!" Helga grumbled, feeling the chipped part of her very extensive oral armament with the tip of her dexterous tongue.
"Serves you right," Syl chuckled, "You'd think by now that a grown up Hell hound like you are would know better than to try and chew on a Hell Maid's breast. We all wear armor, after all."
One thing that kind of balances Heaven's little joke on our usual choice (or lack of, more precisely) of entry points was that the muck just sloughed off as if it wasn't interested in us any more once we were out of it. Which left us all clean, dry, and smelling much better than we had moments earlier. Most of us breathed a sigh of relief once that was finished. Helga however, cast a longing glance back down to where we had first appeared. "Aw, I hardly ever get to wallow in that kind of quality muck any longer."
"You can come back and play once we've finished what we came here to do," My voice actually held a note of command (a small one, but real command instead of wheedling like I'd been forced to use in the past for lack of a better method to obtain my varied minion's cooperation.) that the Hell Hound obeyed with reasonable good grace. A few pouts and whines don't really count as resistance.
I sought out a cleaner, much cleaner, spot outside the sewers where our partners in this dubious enterprise were supposed to be waiting. Ah ha! I found them, waved up another portal, and stepped through with my motley crew of hellions following closely behind.
Ariel, a pair of male warrior Angels from the Elohim Clan and an uncomfortable Incubus named Richard were waiting not so patiently for our arrival. One of the Elohim scowled in my direction, "Well, well. The Princess has decided to grace us with her wanton presence, and even brought some friends for entertainment."
Returning his sentiment with an overly sweet smile, making very sure he got a look at my long, pointed canines and the long, forked tongue wrapping itself around both of them. (One fork per tooth. My tongue is neither that long or dexterous, though it comes close.) "Oh, my, aren't you a big one to be making fun of a poor little girl like that? I think I'll go home and have a good pout over how mean you're being to me."
"I sure wouldn't miss you," his full melodious voice held a note of pure, prudish disapproval. Of me, my companions, and the need for him to dirty his fine Elohim hands by associating with the likes of us. "You damned Hell spawned Whore."
Still smiling, even wider, as a matter of fact, I casually reached out to pull an image from his mind and began my morphing routine. Don't ask me to describe how that feels, because I couldn't even begin to get across all the subtle nuances of body and even mind that altered just enough to achieve the precise image I was after.
A very lovely female angel raised her gleaming white wings, bent over while pulling up the hem of her gown, turned her back to him, and mooned the shit head. Her long golden hair trailed on the pavement since her head was peering back at him upside down from the area between her long, smooth legs. Oh, yeah, she was sticking her tongue out, and wiggling her cute butt very suggestively.
"Like what you see, sweetums?" I sing-songed in a very beautiful soprano that would have done an operatic diva justice. "Bet you'd like to see my front side, too, huh?"
Sweetums was flabbergasted into silence. If you can call a bunch of choking moans, and gurgles silence. That lasted for all of about twenty seconds before he drew his flaming sword while roaring in stentorian tones meant to reduce me to quivering whatever. "How DARE you profane the image of my beloved wife, Hell Spawn!"
I was neither quivering in terror or whatever else he had expected. Oh, I was shaking all right; from laughter that nearly threatened to blind me with tears. If it hadn't been for my wings being in the way, I would probably have been rolling on the ground, totally consumed by the humongous belly laughs my prank had caused me to have. Still, by the way, in my wholly inappropriate angelic guise.
"Oh, come on, lighten up, will you?" I managed to get out between chuckles that were quickly degenerating into feminine giggles of glee. "You were just thinking of the same thing I did, and hugely enjoying your little fantasy. What would wifey say if she knew about that one?"
"Nothing," Sweetums answered while halting in mid stride and glancing ruefully at his very impressively pyromaniac sword. He chuckled a bit reluctantly, then with more real mirth than anger. "But she would try ramming Star Fire here up part of me that Angels aren't supposed to have."
Morphing back to my own form, I nodded very seriously, then ingeniously asked, "Do you? Have that kind of body part, I mean?"
"I'd rather not say," he responded with an actual twinkle in his heavenly blue eyes. (Sorry, I just couldn't resist that one.) "You must be Lorilei. I'm Septham, and in spite of my normal misgivings over being allied with creatures of Hell, I'm happy to meet you. Do you think we could maybe play nice now?"
"Sure," my response was accompanied by a slow, careful release of energy I had gathered into some kind of spell without even realizing I'd done it. "If that's how you really want to do this, I sure won't argue about it. It's a pleasure, Septham, and yes, I am Lorilei."
While my spell, whatever it had been, dissipated harmlessly, and Septham returned Star Fire to its scabbard I heard numerous rasps, clicks, and hisses of weapons being returned to their mostly harmless resting places. Along with several audible sighs of relief. Oops!
"What?" Swinging my gaze over the whole unlikely assemblage, I pretended to look for something out of place on my person, then flashed everyone a slightly chagrined little smile. "Sorry."
Ariel watched me without expression for a few moments, shook his head and gave in to the grin that had been struggling to escape his set lips. It had a lot of fun once it was loose. "You certainly have a .... uhmm.... unique method of breaking the ice with awkward companions, Lady."
"Seems to be a bad habit I picked up along the way," shrugging, and fully, mischievously aware of what that gesture did to the male members of the party, I went on as innocently as I could. "It's harder to break than smoking, or eating peanuts once you get started on the things. Mother Lillith swears that she's sure I'm going to be getting myself in more trouble through my existence than anyone else she knows or ever heard of."
"You do seem to have an affinity for that," the Angel agreed with a wider grin. "Lillith has already told me that she is both dreading and looking forward to your future presence among Her Daughters. I myself am able to attest to that from our first meeting. I believe that you were only a few months old as one of the Succubae at the time, weren't you?"
"Hey, a girl's gotta get lucky once in awhile, you know," I frowned a bit then began laughing again. You have to admit that the situation was more than a little ludicrous. I'd only been a denizen of Hell for several months (as time flowed for me while there -- trust me, it's different than in The Human Realms, or from anywhere else I've managed to hear of.) and was already being treated as a near equal by powerful, and veteran beings on both sides. The truly humorous part of that, though, was all of them seemed more than a little wary around me. Maybe that wasn't so funny, I really hadn't even realized I was whipping up a very complex, very dangerous spell a few minutes before, and still had no clue as to what it would have been if I'd used it.
Angelique was eyeing me with something like awe as I returned to my own little party. Dimona nudged her gently and stage whispered, "You kinda get used to it after a while. When most of us see her whipping something up, even though she's not conscious of doing it, we just duck our heads, cover our poor butts, and hope for the best."
"I can see why," The half breed beauty answered, then walked up to me with a worried expression. "Do you have any idea what it was you just did?"
"Stopped some pretty strong tensions that could have caused us a whole lot of grief if they hadn't been nullified," I answered, purposely avoiding the real question she was asking.
"That's true," she conceded, then stared at me with her best serious expression (Hell Maids have that 'best serious' thing down to a fine art.) then pursued her quarry even though it didn't want to come out and play. "But you know that isn't what I'm talking about. Do you know what you just did magically?"
"Other than raised up one hell of an energy field, then getting rid of it without hurting anyone, you mean?" I shrugged again. "Haven't got a clue, sweetie."
"Well I do," she responded, obviously perplexed, "You set up a Hell Bolt -- red, searing lightning that literally shreds anything it hits and electrocutes any living being within fifty feet of where it hits -- powerful enough to blow the side out of that building over there. Then bled the energy off harmlessly, without so much as a spark.
"That much accumulated energy should have had you crackling with electricity for hours, if it didn't destroy you after not using it," Angelique drew in a breath (a really impressive sight even if you happen to be very female and interested in males like I've turned out to be.) "I was right. You are one very, very, very scary Lady, Lorilei."
"Yeah," I sighed, "I seem to do that to myself a lot lately."
Richard waited until Angelique was finished critiquing my performance, then too casually sauntered up to me wearing a hesitant grin. "Lorilei, I don't know what exactly you did just then, but you have anyone who does know just about dirtying their pants over it."
"Well," with a shrug I looked up into his handsome face and grinned. "Once I figure out what it was exactly, that I did, I'll be sure to let you know. Okay?"
"Just don't use it on me," was his reply. Following a moments shared laughter, he gestured towards the Angels. Those three were busily conferring, no doubt about what I had just done, or almost done to one of their number. "Any idea of what the plan is?"
"I get to be the bait," my grimace told anyone watching quite plainly that I wasn't all that thrilled with my imposed role in the coming actions. "And you bib, brave men and fighter types get to safely hide in the background until something -- hopefully one Rogue Angel -- tries to eat me."
"Sounds like fun," Richard nodded with a straight face. "Just so long as I don't get stuck out there with you. I much prefer the more indirect approach to things."
"Then you ought to go talk to Dimona," My answer seemed a little clipped, because it was. Hanging my sweet little tush out to dry while all these other powerful types were planning to hide in the distant shadows didn't sit all that well with me. "She's one sneaky little bitch, and ought to get along real well with the sneaky bastard you've turned out to be."
"Aw, Lorilei," he put on a hurt expression, mainly for my benefit, and reached to give me a hug. "You know better than that. My talents lie in other directions than fighting. Besides, your cute little Imp is too small for me."
Have you still got the hots for me?" I questioned from inside the circle of his arms, "After all that's happened to both of us recently?"
"Uh, no functional male could stand within fifty yards of you without getting a case of the hotsies for you, beautiful," was whispered into my ear, along with a liberal amount of tongue work in that shell-like organ.
"Gahhggh!" I pulled away and swatted him. Not hard enough to do any damage, just with enough oomph to let him know I wasn't happy with the trend things were beginning to take between him and me. "You know I hate, absolutely hate, wet willies, Richard. Please do us both a favor and try to remember what happened to us the last time we were making love?"
"We're already dead," he answered with a grin, "Or whatever our state of being is properly called, what could happen?"
"I don't particularly want to find out," was my crisp response. "Last time may have set a precedent, and I can see no sense in tempting Murphy and his insidious laws."
Not to mention the risk of getting pregnant. I know that's supposed to take some special rituals and a lot of work on the part of both participants, but the way my luck had been running lately, I didn't feel like taking the chance.
"I suppose you have a point," he reluctantly admitted, then grinned evilly. "Wow, this is rich! Me trying to get you into the sack and you putting me off with excuses like pregnancy and all that. This being a guy thing isn't so bad after all, you know."
"Neither is being female," I responded with a smirk that faded into a wry grimace. "Most of the time, anyway. But why is it that the girls always end up playing stupid roles like bait for some maniac? Why isn't it ever a guy who gets screwed like that?"
"That's just another side of the fence, dear lady," Richard smugly answered with a gleam in his eye. "Now you're beginning to see some of the drawbacks to being female. Still think it's fun?"
"Oh, sure," my response was genuine. It was fun being female, especially when you're beautiful, sexy, and moderately powerful. "I'll deal with the downside of things. At least I don't have to deal with periods, which is kind of strange considering where my Home Base is any more."
"Well, it looks as if it's time to start dealing with your new found role as bait," Richard gestured towards the gathered Angels, and I noted Ariel motioning for me to join them.
"Hmmm," giving a thoughtful sigh of resignation, I nodded while noticing the expression of displeasure on Ariel's face. "Uh, oh, looks like we might have a change in plans here. Might as well go get the bad news."
"You want me to do WHAT??!!!" I fairly screamed the last word of my question after getting the rundown on the new plan sent up (and down) from our fearless leaders.
"They want you to seduce Shen-Dai," Ariel calmly repeated. "and take Girard, or what's left of him, along as a peace offering."
"Look," I gestured at nothing in general, which is a good thing since the gesture was considered obscene in both Heaven and Hell, "Haven't I already been told that this Rogue really has it in for me because I took Girard down? What in the Nineteen Thousand Names of Hell makes you, any of you, or them, think that I'd be fool enough to get close enough to Shen-Dai to even attempt such a thing? The maniac would probably blast first and ask questions later.
"No, huh, uh, nyet, and any other word for no that ever existed. Are you out of your minds?" I questioned while refusing to accept the assignment.
"You'll also recall," Ariel dryly inserted his own comments into my tirade, "That our Rogue appreciates feminine beauty and power. You have both, and have proven the latter several times already. He wouldn't be able to resist you, sweetheart."
"Damn it!" I groused. "I'm just a baby as Succubae go. Isn't it illegal, or immoral, or something like that, to put a baby in harm's way like that?"
"Lorilei," Septham pointed out with dark humor, " I really don't think you ever qualified as being a baby at anything. If it helps, we aren't any happier than you are over this."
"I know, I know," puffing my cheeks to let out a held breath, I shook my head and looked to Ariel. "Okay, so tell me, what are you guys going to be doing while I do my best to screw the brains out of this Shen-Dai?"
"Oh, doing our best to sneak up on his minions and take them out quietly, then get to you before things start getting dangerous, " Ariel quietly explained. "Of, course, you're going to have the hard job there, convincing our target that you are making a genuine offer to join up with him and help achieve his aims."
"While I'm flat on my back with him on top of me," my answer did seem a little bitter, but also resigned. "Sure, no problem. Do I get a last meal or anything before starting on this little misadventure?"
"You really should get started," Ariel answered without much enthusiasm either. "I've argued that you aren't experienced enough with this kind of thing to be put in such danger, but the higher ups and lower downs all seem to have a great deal of confidence in you."
Great. I made a mental note to have a long, detailed discussion about things with Mother Lillith once I got out of this mess. If I manage to get my pretty little tail out of it intact. After grumbling a little, I turned back to Ariel. "Okay, then let's get this over with. Where do I find this Rogue and how am I supposed to approach him?"
"Well, that's another part of the plan that isn't all that palatable," Ariel responded. "You'll take on Human form, and go into hiding. We'll be hunting you down, and 'allow' Shen-Dai's people to rescue you. That ought to get things rolling with a little credibility for you."
"Who'll be hunting me down?" I questioned. "Just you Angels?"
"I'm afraid, not, dear heart," Syl approached wearing a sour expression. "You'll have the Imp and Hell Hound, since they're clearly bound to you. The rest of us will be out on a Hunt, with you as the Quarry."
"Lovely," I commented. "That really sounds like fun, you know? Hiding out from both Heaven and Hell, who just happened to send some pretty heavy duty troops out for the job."
"Aw, look on the bright side," Syl tried cheering me up. "We really won't be trying to hurt you, or anything. And who knows? Maybe you'll be able to evade us and avoid the necessary fireworks that would happen when we do catch up with you."
"Now I know why Hell Maids aren't used as diplomats," with a sigh, I straightened to my full height (Which wasn't all that impressive while standing next to three Angels and a Hell Maid.) and grinned at the chuckles that pithy comment brought to all of them. "Well, do I get a head start?"
"Gather up your minions, and get going," Ariel grinned. "We'll of course have to spend some time haggling over precedence of leadership, and hammering out just how this very odd, combined force is going to go about hunting down a very dangerous renegade Succubus."
"Be sure to take all the time you want," I grinned back, then turned to gesture at Dimona and Helga. "Okay you two, us renegades have to run. Ready?"
Note: TG magic transformation bizarre body modifications |
|
|