Posted by: Admin on Thursday, July 25, 2002 - 12:06 AM 
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Heaven and Hell IV
Balancing Act
by Maggie Finson
Part 1
Syl and I emerged from the gate we had used to leave the rogue angel's citadel into an unpleasantly familiar place. Wrinkling my nose at the odors of brimstone, fear, and blood along with far less agreeable scents I stared at the monstrous gates. They were that in more ways than one, believe me. Have you ever had the carvings and graffiti on The Gates of Hell described to you? Well, never mind for now. Use your imagination to conjure up the most completely disgusting panorama your twisted little id can devise, multiply that by at least ten, and you might, just might come close to the originals. But I doubt it.
"What?" I questioned my larger companion with a quick glare. "Are we returning defective merchandise today?"
"Defective merchandise?" the Hell Maid frowned, then threw back her head and actually drowned out other demonic and hopeless soul screams with her booming, tenor laugh. "Are you implying that you might be the returned merchandise, little sister?"
"The thought had crossed my mind," I grumbled, then rushed on with a nearly breathless and completely air-headed sounding voice. "I know that isn't a worthy thought all things considered, but..."
"But nothing!" Syl bellowed while delivering a resounding, companionable clap to my back. "You, little sister, are nothing short of an unqualified success that even has some of the older Angels taking notice. Wouldn't think of getting rid of you now! Besides, I've gotten kind of attached to your scrawny, soft hide."
"That's a relief," I grunted while flapping my wings for balance. "Then why are we here?"
"Now I know for a fact that you aren't stupid, Angelique," my companion snorted. "Why do already established members of Clans here in Hell usually come to The Gates?"
"Uh, Helga comes to play,"
"Other than Hell Hounds and Soul Herders."
"Oh," letting out a long sigh I turned to favor the receiving area with its extensive counters run by officiously obnoxious clerkly demons with a less than enthusiastic glance. "Well, then, let's get it over with. Who, or what, are we collecting?"
"A soul condemned here for murder," Syl replied while digging through her capacious rucksack for several moments before triumphantly brandishing a pick up order. "Here it is! We're after one Edward Hemmings, tried, judged, and executed by his peers in the Human Realms for the murder of his wife and the man he found in bed with her."
"That name sounds familiar,"
"It should," the Hell Maid began elbowing her way through the usual milling crowd around the counter area and I prudently made use of the path she was clearing. "We owe the presence of our lovely and somewhat nerve wracking Lorilei to Mr. Hemmings."
"That Ed Hemmings!" I adroitly dodged an angry kick from a sharp edged hoof belonging to one of the disgruntled demons Syl had dislodged from its position in line while grinning. "So what's in store for him?"
"Well," Syl grinned evilly. (Trust me, an evil grin from a Hell Maid would curdle cheese at a hundred paces. Their friendly grins are scary enough to see, not that they're hideous or anything, just very, very -- well, evil.) "Mr. Hemmings is going to be treated to an orgy that would make any man think he had died and gone to Heaven, then will wake up as Hell's Valkyrie number two."
I perked up at that. "You mean I won't be the newbie any longer?"
"Well not the newbie," Syl allowed with another grin that turned serious for a moment. "If you work out as well as you seem to be with the start you've had, little sister, you might just end up heading your own Clan."
"Sheesh! Like I don't have enough to worry about already," I grumped, but then grinned back tooth for tooth at my big companion. "Well, let's go get him. I can't wait to quit being the junior member of this outfit."
"I thought that's what we were doing," Syl gave me a look usually reserved for total idiots then continued forcing her way through to the front of the line.
"Uh, Syl?" I questioned after dodging more irate swings, kicks, and nips. "Why are we in such a hurry?"
"Rumor has it that Mab wants this one, too," Syl growled as we neared the counter.
"Mab?" I knew that name, and what it was connected with in Hell. My experience with her minions had not been pleasant. "Is She recruiting for more Hags now?"
"She wants this one soul rather badly," Syl nodded. "Lillith would interfere just to spite the nasty bitch, but evidently Mr. Hemmings has a reservoir of potential he was never truly aware of. With the political climate down here shaky as it is with The Truce and how different factions are reacting to it, Lucifer wants this newbie with us, not Mab."
"So why doesn't He just give the order that makes it so?" I asked in all innocence, or was that ignorance?
"First come, first served at The Gates," the Hell Maid countered almost gently. "Lillith shunted Michael, who became Lorilei straight to her own offices in The Center, you, she hid away in that little cave and shielded your presence until Lor, Helga, and I came to grab you. Mab found out abut those little tricks and lodged a complaint with Infernal Affairs. So we play this one straight. More or less."
"More or less?" I countered, realizing that we were actually paralleling the counter rather than moving towards it. "And how did you get all this information anyway? We just got back."
"Succubae are messengers that make the old Greek God Mercury look like a feeble old man," Syl replied while giving me a fatalistic shrug. "You were preoccupied with that Angel, so whoever brought the message slipped it to me instead."
"Oh," I replied in a small voice. (Hey, I hadn't been female all that long, and Tiand -- the Angel in question -- had been drawn to me like an iron filing to a magnet. Even though I hadn't, and didn't really want to admit to the fact, I was attracted to him as well.)
"Oh, is right," giving me a knowing, and lascivious grin Syl continued in the direction she had been plowing. "Now, pay attention to business."
"I will, mommy." Following her amid the growls, curses, and incredibly obscene gestures we were garnering while plowing through the crowd, I noticed we were nearing the end of the pickup area and actually approaching The Gates themselves. "Uh, Syl, why are we heading for The Gates?"
"Remember when I said 'more or less' about playing this one straight?" she responded with another grin that would have been unnerving if I hadn't known her for awhile. This one meant that she was genuinely amused over something. That turned to a brief glower before she added, "and I won't forget that 'mommy' crack."
"I'm sure you won't," giving a resigned shrug as visions of even more hellish 'training exercises' came to mind, I turned the subject back to the present business. "Now, about 'more or less'? It might help me to keep my mind on our business if I knew what we were up to, you know."
"Easy, chickee," Syl laughed as I winced at that nickname. "Mr. Hemmings hasn't arrived yet. We're going to catch him right out of The Gate."
"Oh, that's good," I gave the steadily plodding quadruple line of condemned souls coming out of The Gate an incredulous look. "I only see one little problem with that."
"What's that, little sister?"
"We forgot to bring the sign we hold up with his name on it."
"You can make one if you like." Syl grinned as I continued watching the flood of souls with a resigned expression on my face. "I happen to have something a little better than that."
"What? a bullhorn to shout his name with?"
"Nope, I have this," Syl held up an ugly black string that passed from her hand then through the myriad souls plodding to their various punishments, and on through the gates.
"A soul string," light dawned as I watched the nasty looking thing twitch as it went taut, then loosened in my companion's grip. Given how Mr. Hemmings was condemned, there was a connection between him and Lor - unfinished business, so to speak. "But how did you get it?"
"Lor loaned it to me," Syl gave another toothy grin and winked at me. "Since she isn't really in any shape to come herself, I just sort of detached it -- with her permission -- at the Rogue's place. She thinks the plan is hilarious, by the way."
"Which part?" I questioned, "Outmaneuvering Mab, or getting our hooks into the man who killed her?"
"Both," Syl replied as she began winding the cord on a rather large spool. "Now help me reel him in, would you?"
That damned spool was full by the time a rather bedraggled and still struggling soul literally popped through The Gates and was yanked into my waiting arms. He'd been a large man in life and that still manifested in his disembodied soul, which made a handful for poor little me. Not that I couldn't handle him, but I was already a bit annoyed at all the kicks and bites that I had dodged on my path to The Gates.
"If you don't stop struggling like a trout out of water, I'm going to hurt you, Ed," I growled after turning him to face me. "We're not here to hurt you, or drag you off to the pits reserved for murderers, but I'm not in a real pleasant mood just now and would greatly enjoy using force to subdue you."
An ungentle nudge in my ribs from Syl distracted me enough to hear her halfway amused, slightly frustrated aside. "You have other powers, dummy, use them!"
"Oh, right," I made the armor and weaponry disappear and manifested a brief, gauzy little number that left absolutely nothing to anyone's imagination, then gave the poor frightened soul my most winning smile of invitation and kissed him fully on the mouth before going on. "If you do settle down I can make this part of the trip really pleasant for you."
My hand had wandered to his crotch and started lightly rubbing with the expected results, and I extended my Succubus abilities to heighten his desire while dropping my voice into Male Meltdown Sexy Mode "Oh, yes, very pleasant. If you just come along like a good little boy I can promise you an experience like none you've ever had in either life or death, Eddie boy."
Good old Eddie's eyes widened and his tongue almost hung out of his mouth as I stroked his libido and other parts with a slow, sensuous smile on my face while cooing . "Now come along like a nice boy, and Angelique will show you what you've been missing all these years."
I turned my back, and sauntered away from him with a quick glance over my shoulder and a lazy smile. He would have followed me into Hell after that. (Come to think of it, that's what he was doing, wasn't it?)
"It's 'bout time," Syl grumbled, then grinned at me before going back to scanning the milling throngs in the immense receiving chamber. With a frown, then an evil chuckle, she quietly warned me of imminent action. "Heads up, beautiful. It's show time!"
Showtime turned out to be a group of five gorgeous young females who had detoured from their original destination (The Counter ,of course) to intercept us. I recognized them as Hags in full dress for seduction and internally sniffed at the sloppiness of their illusions. Little things like a whiff of foul body odor, a rag sticking out from under one of their lovely illusory outfits, and a wavering of their images were not something most mortals, or new to Hell souls would notice, though. Wrinkling my nose in distaste, I waved Ed to stand behind me and exerted a bit more Influence on him to make sure he did.
"Dark Stars and Damnation," I quietly swore under my breath, then quietly told Syl, "I detest Hags."
"Most of your kind do, hon," my companion nodded. "It's a territory thing, and the reaction of perfection to a poor imitation masquerading as the real thing. Just keep your cool until I give the word, then you can whammy the bitches to your little heart's content."
"I've seen what those nasty bitches do to people in my human existence," I went on with clear distaste in my mouth. "They don't care what they ruin, and never bother to clean up their own messes. I refused to deal with them at all, other than to drive them off when I was a Human sorcerer."
"Wise of you," Sylvanna agreed as she loosened the heavy battle axe hanging over her shoulder so it could be drawn quickly. "Now get ready, we may have a fight on our hands here. These bitches are sneaky, cowardly, and just plain nasty to deal with in a one on one situation. In a group they're actually dangerous."
For the first time since I'd awakened as Hell's newest type of denizen, I realized that I was actually not only ready for a fight, but anxious to get into it. I absolutely hated those creatures on sight in addition to not being in the best of moods to begin with.
"Well what do we have here?" One of the Hags, appearing to be a statuesque brunette with her dark hair playing at ripe buttocks and teasingly flirting with her full, firm breasts, grinned while she looked us over, and her companions spread into a loose inverted wedge with us in its center. "A Hell Maid, a newbie Suckie, and our property. So good of you to fetch him for us. Her majesty, Mab will be sooo grateful for your assistance. Now just hand him over and we won't have to get messy here."
Hags are magic users, and while the leader tried to distract us, the others probed my link with a very quiet Ed, trying to sever it and replace it with one of their own. My own magical shield, set over him before the nasty things even showed up, glowed as the probes touched it, and I deftly reached out to slap them back. (None too gently, by the way. I have mentioned that I hate Hags, haven't I?)
"Naughty, naughty," I admonished with a feral grin as the four other ersatz beauties (two blondes, a redhead, and another brunette) staggered with surprised looks on their faces. In passing, I noted that the usual swarm of denizens in the receiving area were giving our two groups a very wide berth and that we were in the center of a rather large area completely empty of either demons or condemned souls. I guess even the stupid ones can feel trouble coming. There was a gathering at the perimeter of the circle, though, with every Demonic type in the general area crowding, spitting, and biting to get a better view.
The leader of the Hags snarled, then brandished a rolled up parchment. "We have authorizations to pick this one up. Mab wants him, and She is going to have him. We can do this easy, or hard. That's up to you two uppity bitches. Personally I'd prefer the hard way, though."
"I only see one problem with that pick up order," Syl smoothly replied while casually reaching over her shoulder to get her axe. "It won't hold up when we already have possession of the item in question. Possession and nine tenths of the law, you know."
"Tell your seductress to let go of him, now." the leader ordered as her companions began assembling spells to see that her order happened. "Or things are going to get real nasty here."
"What, you mean they haven't already?" I questioned sweetly with an innocent expression on my face as I quietly jabbed magically at the others to mess up their spell casting. "The neighborhood went to -- ahem -- Hell in a heartbeat when you girls showed up."
"Little girls shouldn't use a smart mouth on their betters," the leader of the opposition growled at me, then turned a syrupy sweet smile on Ed. "Now, fella, you have one beauty with her hooks in you now, and trust me she means no good for you regardless of what she might have hinted at. There are five of us, with an old goddess behind us, willing to save you from the fate she and her devious sisters have in mind for you, probably as a food source, she is a Succubus and I think you know what they do to males. All you have to do is say the word, and you can walk away with us, we'll protect you."
Ed was beginning to waver as he watched the illusory beauties strike seductive poses of invitation. All that smooth gleaming flesh, the curves, mamamaries, and sweet faces pouting at him would have been sickening under regular conditions. Knowing the truth behind those facades of youthful beauty, I'd plain and simply had enough of it. I quietly gave Ed's eyes the power of True Sight, something I'd likely regret later on, and just for grins used a powerful counter spell to shred the bitches' illusions. The growls and shrieks from the spectators let me know that the spell had been maybe a bit overdone as illusions clothing creatures in the audience winked out too.
The effect on Ed, as he first watched the beautiful forms of the Hags waver, then blink out completely to be replaced with three stick thin, ugly crones with oozing sores and bad cases of halitosis (not to mention a total lack of personal hygeine) and two grossly fat creatures that might have been female if one used imagination and gave them the benefit of the doubt, was gratifying. He retched, and squeezed closer to me than he had been since the beginning of that confrontation. The only problem with that was we were now in a fight, and having a very frightened soul clinging to me like a second set of clothes was not a good thing.
"Little girl, am I?" I sneered at the now grossly obese and sore encrusted leader of the Hags. (She was a brunette, though her hair was now a tangled, snarled mess any self respecting comb or brush would have run in terror from) "I was using magic and running your kind off every time I saw them centuries ago. And that hasn't changed now. Get out of here, or I'll start getting serious about ridding myself of your stinking presence."
"You're going to regret that, Bit....Waaugh!" The leader started whipping up a very nasty spell to throw at me as she howled in rage. Which I interrupted with a quick bolt of molten plasma Hell Fire that scattered her various noxious pieces all over the receiving area in a cloud of noisome mist. Not to mention adding a new cave/cubby to the wall behind the pick up counter. Seeing those officious clerks scattering and diving for cover was pretty gratifying too, by the way.
Syl had her axe out and ready, but was staring at me with something akin to awe as I casually stepped into the spot the defunct Hag had occupied and purred to the others like a cat in the cream that had found a mouse swimming in it, too. "Now that felt really good. I'm already in a really pissy mood, so I would strongly advise the rest of you to take your ball and go home. Although if you really do want to play, I'd be more than happy to let you."
"Uh, you all might keep something in mind here," Syl added quietly, still watching me while keeping tabs on the four remaining Hags. "Angie here has killed Angels, so I don't really think she'd have all that much trouble backing her threats up with your lot."
So far, I'd quite easily deflected and flattened their own seduction spells, blown their illusions (which Hags are reputed to be very good at) away, and totally demolished their leader. On top of that, I now held a crackling ball of energy that was spitting sparks and small bolts of lightning in one hand that was quickly recognizable as an area effect spell that was particularly devastating. That was enough for the four remaining Hags. With parting snarls they bolted and ran. Leaving us in the center of an even wider circle of emptiness than before.
I cancelled out the illusion in my hand with a small chuckle. "Now that felt good, Syl. Shall we go, Ed, dear? We have things to do and people to see, after all."
Ed gave me a frightened look, then started as Syl put a hand on his shoulder. "Easy, boyo, we aren't going to hurt you. Angie's little display there was to protect you, after all. By the way, that Hag she blew away was an old one, don't know what her name was, but she was pretty powerful as those nasty bitches go. I think you'd better do like she asks, don't you?"
Ed only nodded with a glazed look in his eyes, and Syl favored me with a look that plainly said we were going to have a loong discussion about this when we got home.
At least I didn't have to dodge angry hooves and claws on our path to the waiting portal for transport to Home. I also noticed currency changing hands, claws, and pincers as we made our way through the receiving area, and idly wondered what kind of odds Syl and I had been given in the encounter. From the sour looks and amounts of stuff passing from one to another, I figured they had been pretty long ones.
"So how much trouble am I in?" I asked no one in particular as we emerged in the gardenlike comfort of Home.
"Well, let's see," Syl began counting points off on her fingers as Ed stared in dumbfounded amazement at the scenery - I think he may have even noticed the Acacia trees and flowering shrubs, but I wouldn't have made book on it. A large number of Succubae were wandering over to where we had appeared, and more were beginning to drift our way as my companion began her litany.
"First, you neglected to remember that you have talents beyond bashing things for a while, until I reminded you. Second, you blew away an emmissary from another area of Hell in view of just about every type of demon in existence there in the receiving area. Third, you blew an extra hole in a wall already riddled with them and had the receiving clerks taking extra breaks to change their pants because the bolt blasted right across their counter," Syl paused to draw in a breath, gripping Ed's shoulder to keep him from wandering off as she did. "Then..."
"You deprived your companion of the fun she had been getting ready for by stripping illusions away from their wearers for several hundred yards around you," another, rich feminine voice picked up the thread and I winced as I recognized who it belonged to. Mother Lillith tilted her head and shook her glorious mane of flame red hair off her shoulder, then finished. "Then single handedly sent four well seasoned, and fairly ancient Hags running off to the safety of their Mother Mab's shadow. All without so much as breaking even what would appear to be a little sweat. Between you and little Lorilei, I've been doing more damage control the past few months than I had to contend with in several previous centuries. What am I going to do with you?"
"Uh, send me to bed without supper?" I weakly replied. (Hey, I know it was lame, but you try looking Lillith in the face and telling her to really punish you. I dare you.)
"But you did," the original Succubus, and Adam's first wife pursed her full lips in consideration, "make sure Mab didn't get her hooks on Edward here. Which is what I sent you and Sylvanna to do, after all."
"Well, yeah, I did help do that," I agreed carefully. With Lillith, you can never be too sure where something is leading until you're either in a luxury suite, or falling off the edge of a very high cliff.
"Mab is going to be very angry about your destroying Tiamhaidh, by the way," Lillith went on thoughtfully, "and about losing her prize to us yet again."
"Uh, I take it Tiamhaidh was the pile of rancid lard I blew up?"
"Rancid lard?" Mother Lillith lost her serious demeanor for a moment as a chuckle escaped her mouth. "I'll have to remember that one, dear, and yes, Tiamhaidh was one of Mab's lieutenants, and one of the older ones at that. What you did over there generated a lot of healthy fear of you, which equates as respect in many circles of Hell, and only heightened the reputation of the Succubae in general. The one down side in all that is you made a very powerful, and nasty enemy in the former Queen of the Fae with your stunts. She always did hate being embarrassed or shown up by anyone. I'd love to be able to hear her ranting and screaming over this one, my precocious little darling."
"So now what? Am I confined to Home, or quarters, or something?" I questioned, with an unpleasant picture in my mind of a raging one-time goddess painting a large target on my backside. Then couldn't stifle a giggle at the ridiculous picture that made.
"Just watch your back, child," Lillith let out a tired sigh. "You and Lor can both take care of yourselves in most head on confrontations, but still lack experience with the subtleties of treachery that could snare you. I warn you, Mab is a past mistress of that, three time champion of Hell in double dealing and sneakiness. So consider yourself warned, and do try to be a bit more subtle when you go about your business, couldn't you?"
'Uh, ok, I'll do my best, Mother," my response was an honest one, and after dealing with the Hall of Mages on an adversarial basis for several centuries I had thought myself pretty good with watching for just about any kind of treachery that might sneak my way.
"And start teaching some of your sisters here to use that quick draw spell technique, could you?" Lillith asked, making it a command just by saying the words. "That skill will prove very useful in the future, I think."
"Sure, I'd be glad to, Mother,"
"Good, consider yourself officially chastised, and let's get on with the important business at hand, shall we?"
Important business. Oh, right! Ed, with his newly gifted sense of true seeing was oggling the abundant, and real multitude of female flesh gathered around us with something like lust gone into disbelieving awe, then on into heart attack territory if he had still been a living breathing creature. Lillith giggled after watching his reactions for a few seconds then winked at me. "I think he's ready, don't you?"
"Any more ready, Mother," I drawled, "and he'd be humping the nearest tree just for relief."
"THAT MIGHT BE ENTERTAINING," Mama's all encompassing voice joined our conversation. "I HAVEN'T HAD A GOOD LAY IN EONS. LORILEI IS ON HER WAY, LILLITH, DEAR."
"Good, once she arrives, we can get started." Lillith nodded. "Thank you for calling her, Mama."
"OH, SHE WOULDN'T MISS THIS ONE FOR ALL THE SOULS IN CHINA." Mama assured us with a deep, rumbling chuckle. "I HAD TO RESTRAIN HER FROM JOINING THE COLLECTION PARTY SO SHE COULD FINISH HEALING."
"Bet she just loved that," I whispered to Syl, who shrugged noncommitally then grinned in response.
"Just how much fun did I miss out on?" Lorilei stalked regally into the midst of our group, with a quick grin and low bow to acknowledge Lillith, then turning to give Ed Hemmings a long, calculating look. "Ed, good to see you again!"
"Uh, have we met before?" Men. I don't know how I survived as one for as long as I did. Get a look at some pretty bodies and faces (oh, all right, some incredibly gorgeous females even if they all did have horns, tails and wings) and the blood deserts the brain -- where it's generally needed in that kind of situation -- and fills the one thing that has gotten more males into trouble than Eve and her apple ever thought of. Ed simply stared at Lor as if she was the main course following some very delightful appetizers.
"Oh, yes, Eddie, darling," Lor cooed as she moved gracefully to stand in front of him and deliberately placed one hand on a distractingly curved hip while pursing her lips in feigned hurt that he didn't recall her from the past. "But we can discuss all that later. I can see that you're all primed and loaded for -- um -- a she bear? Well, no matter, I'll just start getting you some of that wonderful relief you sooo obviously need just now."
"Urgh!" Ed stiffened as Lorilei's other hand reached out to tickle his quite obvious erection. (Newbies in Hell don't get clothes, you know.) Relief, it seemed, was not something the little minx intended to give the poor sap any time soon as she continued teasing him to the point of being merciless.
Well, he had shot and killed her in her previous incarnation, and was pretty much responsible for her being what she was, (Okay, that's reaching, I know. But Sheesh! If good ol' Ed Hemmings hadn't gotten angry enough to lose it and shoot both his loving wife and her illicit lover, Lor wouldn't be here at all.) and for where she was. Well, all right, some would say that her behavior as a male was the cause of placement, and the form she now wore a just punishment for an overactive libido as a Human male. You tell her that. Go ahead, I dare you.
"Get in there, Angelique," Lillith urged, along with a not so gentle pat to my backside for encouragement. "This guy is going to become one of yours, after all, so a bit of input from you is going to be required."
This female thing may still have been kind of new to me, but I knew an order when I heard it. Besides, a good orgy was just what I needed about then and I really, really liked the having sexual relations part of the new me. So, I joined in the fun as the gathered sisters, and two mothers, began singing.
Lor and I took turns draining the masculine energy from the unsuspecting Ed's soul, and replacing what we took with the needed feminine version of that energy. I really don't recall how many different positions we used, or how often I was on top, underneath the other two, or in the middle. Not that it mattered to me, or to Ed, or Lor, we were having the greatest sex possible for Succubae, and one-time Human males. We were creating a new being out of an old one.
I threw in my own obvious strengths, with weapons and fighting techniques, and awakened the sleeping potential for magic in Ed's being. Lor, added her own rather unique self and magical ability, along with her undeniable lust for male essence, flesh (well part of the male, anyway), and the usual Succubus characteristics to balance my Hell Maid inspired input. By the time we finished, all three of us were an exhausted, sated, tangle of wings, tails, arms and legs. With the notable absence of a certain piece of male anatomy that had started the party with us.
'Wonder what color her eyes are?" I idly questioned while looking over the scarlet winged beauty with hair like molten flame covering her lush, if slender (for a succubus) form. As if in response those large almond shaped beauties snapped open to reveal themselves as a very startling, and lovely, ice Blue that contrasted nicely with her generally scarlet color scheme.
"Umm?" the newly made she moaned in a satiny, electifying contralto.
"Your name is now officialy Victoria. Go back to sleep, dear." I leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, then began gently untangling myself from both her and Lor as my -- my -- child settled back into a deep and restful sleep.
"Hey!" Lor gave my tail a little whack. "Keep that thing where it belongs, will you? And I had something to do with her, too, you know."
"I know, Lor," Finally disentangled, and helping the smaller Succubus to her delicate hooves, I enveloped my teacher and friend in a tight hug. "But Victoria is my first."
"Ok, little sister," Lor grumbled, then flashed one of her famous infectious grins. "She's only my second. But I know how you feel."
"Can we cook, or what?" I asked while watching my newly made daughter(?), sleep.
"I'd sure say so," Lor agreed, then a chorus of other agreements joined hers.
"Well, we'd better get some rest ourselves," with a sigh, I began moving to a spot a few paces away and curled into a comfortable position for a nap. "I have this feeling that sweet little Vicki is going to be a handful when she wakes up and sees the new her."
"If she's anything like you two were," Lillith nodded to both of us with a laugh. "That's a no-brainer that even an Imp blitzed out on mischief would refuse to bet against."
"Now wait a second here!" I barely heard Dimona's jumping to the defense of her kind as I drifted into a very nice little dream world of my own. One filled with an Angel named Tiand, and a randy, but lovable (to me) dwarf called Guiridiur, both working on parts of my anatomy that wanted worked on even after the orgy with Ed/Victoria.
"ANGIE" the voice in my head wouldn't go away no matter how much I tried to ignore it.
"I hate being called that," I mumbled as I shifted my position and tried to return to sleep.
"ANGELIQUE. WAKE UP AND SHAKE THAT PRETTY LITTLE TAIL. NOW!"
That got my attention. "Huh? Mama? Another ten minutes? Please?"
"NOW, DEAR. OUR NEWEST ADDITION IS WAKING UP AND YOU'D BETTER BE THERE WHEN SHE DOES. GOT IT?"
"Oh! Okay, okay, I'm awake, MAMA. Really!"
"I NOW YOU'RE TIRED, LITTLE ONE," MAMA soothed and I felt strength and alertness flow back into my body and mind. "I'VE GIVEN YOU SOME EXTRA ESSENCE TO TIDE YOU OVER. I'M PRETTY SURE YOU'RE GOING TO NEED IT."
"That's encouraging," I grumped, then hastily added, "Thanks, MAMA. How close is she to waking fully?"
An enraged, disbelieving scream made that question moot. The scream descended into a string of curses and imprecations that would have done a very experienced fishwife proud.
"Never mind," I answered my own question while hurrying the few yards between where I was and where I had left Victoria. She wasn't there. "Great! Now where would I have headed if I were a berserk, newly made Demon?"
I headed for the portal we'd entered Home from at a dead run.
Sure enough, my baby was there, throwing a tantrum and trying to get the portal to open all in one frenetic series of actions that looked more like a seizure than anything normally tolerated by nature, unnature, or supernature. I stopped to watch her unsuccessful tries at getting the portal open until she began to wind down. MAMA had made sure it was closed tight so there was no real danger of the newly fashioned Victoria actually getting loose in Hell before she learned the ground rules of the place.
"I have to give her credit for one thing," a voice beside me commented. "She has staying power."
Glancing at a half amused Lorilei, I gave a shrug. "That she does. At least we know she isn't going to be a shrinking violet, don't we?"
"Think we maybe put a little too much oomph into it when we made her?" The gorgeous (all right, they're all gorgeous) succubus questioned idly as Victoria began beating at the pillars of the portal with a rock she had picked up from an ornamental garden nearby.
"I'd say there was a pretty good chance of that," was my own comment as the crimson beauty decided the rock wasn't doing any damage to the portal or convincing the recalcitrant doorway to cooperate with her and slammed her improvised tool to the ground at her hooves with another panted curse.
"Maybe we ought to stop her now?" Lor asked half heartedly.
"Nah, let her get it out of her system," I advised as the object of our attention began climbing one pillar to get at the arch joining it to the other while muttering about there having to be an on switch somewhere on the damned thing. Once up there, she promptly fell off because her wildly thrashing tail had tangled itself with her feet on its way up to -- well, you know. Our tails often seem to have a mind of their own (dirty) when we're agitated.
"Okay with me." the royal blue shaded wings of my companion spread in unison with her slim shoulders to make a truly impressive shrug. "But she's liable to hurt herself at the rate she's going."
"Kids." I sighed theatrically. "All right, I suppose we ought to put a stop to this before she actually manages to damage something or some innocent bystander."
"You first,"
"Thanks, but I really think this is going to take both of us, Lor." I answered as Victoria got back to her hooves and began looking for something else to whack the portal with. Just as she fixated on one of MAMA's prized acacia trees and began trying to break off a branch we both decided it was time to stop our little girl's antics. MAMA was and is very protective of her acacias.
Lor threw a light restraining spell while I Tk'd the crimson winged dervish away from both the tree and the portal. She landed at our hooves with a solid thump, held her head a moment, then promptly shook off Lor's spell and regained her own hooves. After that she just stood there panting and glaring at both of us from those incredible ice-blue eyes until she grated out a sibilant. "YOU!"
"Urk!" was not the most intelligent response I might have come up with, but then I would have been able to talk just a bit better without a hand grasping my throat tightly enough to crumple a steel bar.
Lor wasn't faring any better at that moment, as our crazed daughter had managed to get her in a headlock with the arm not ocupied with me.
Events degenerated into a rolling, thumping, tangled free for all after that quiet moment. It must have been quite a sight, a few witnesses (from a safe distance) have told me it was one of the best, nastiest, most vocal catfights they'd seen since Lillith booted Eve out of Home. Yeah, that Eve. You know, the one with the apple?
Anyway, things finally calmed to the point of an armed truce. Mainly because I was sitting squarely in the small of Victoria's back and holding her legs down while biting on her tail for all I was worth to keep it from taking out one of my eyes. Lor was firmly ensconced between the scarlet Dynamo's shoulder blades, keeping those barbed crimson wings from rejoining the fight while industriously pushing our child's face into the turf to keep her from biting.
"Now, could we discuss this in a slightly more civilized manner?" Lorilei questioned through gritted teeth as she pushed a little harder on the back of Vicki's head. "Or are Angie and I going to have to get really angry and do something to hurt you?"
"Mrrmph!" came the mufffled response. I managed to trap her tail under my arm to give my aching jaw a rest. It popped when I moved it to speak.
"I didn't quite get that." Lor sweetly replied to the incoherent, and thankfully muted growls from the still struggling form we were holding down. "Are you going to be good if we let you up?"
"Mmmumph hummph!"
"I'll take that as a yes," Lor agreeably let go of Vicki's head.
"You bitches! What did you do to me?"
"Made you more compatible with your new home, for one thing," I put in Helpfully, while tactfully avoiding the subject of exactly how we'd done that. I mean it was obvious even to the still shell shocked and weakly raging Victoria.
"I'm not a girl!" she moaned.
"No, you aren't." Lor agreed. "You're a cross between a Succubus and a Hell Maid, which I guess makes you Hell's Valkyrie Mark Two. The Mark One model, also known as Angelique, is the one sitting on your backside."
"But I'm a female!" the muffled wail was full of anguish, but by that time I really had no sympathy left for our newly awakened wild child.
"Duh!" I answered a bit shortly. "By simple definition, neither a Succubus, a Hell Maid, and especially not a Valkyrie, can be male. Not even a male in good drag. It just isn't something that happens at all."
"I might point out," Lor added without flinching. "That both Angelique and I started out as Human males, just like you did, and we seem to be doing all right with the way we are."
"But dammit, I don't want to be this, this monstrosity!"
"Maybe you should have thought of that before you shot me and your wife way back when." Lor brought out the big gun in our little fracas, and it actually caused our newest member to go limp for a moment as she stared in wide eyed disbelief at first Lor, then with a lot of neck craning that had to hurt, at me.
"Mike?" she questioned in a small voice after returning her attention to Lorilei.
"Not any longer, thanks in part to you." My partner in crime answered a bit tartly. "Now I'm Lorilei, a Succubus, like You're Victoria. A Hell's Valkyrie. There isn't any changing back for any of us. Not now, not ever, so start gettting used to the idea of the new you."
"Oh," she answered weakly. "You can let me up now. I'll be good."
"Good really doesn't enter into it around here," I told her while gingerly removing my very sore self from her backside and standing with an experimental flex of wings and anything else that I could. "Just behave yourself, please?"
"I will. Promise!"
We'd gathered an audience, one that was a whole lot closer than it had been while the rough and tumble first meeting between the three of us been going strong.
Both Lor and I warily watched Vicki for any resumption of hostilites, but our little darling was far too busy examining herself to be worried over something so simple as a soul deep need to kill something. Her hands moved over her face, fluttering like frightened butterflies before moving down to cup a firm breast each. Brushing her nipples during that activity caused Victoria to draw in a quick gasped breath.
With minds of their own, (I could sympathize, my own had done that when I first awakened as I was now) her hands brushed across her smooth, flat stomach, then both generous hips, and her enticing bottom. Struggling not to do it, she then began a rather thorough examination of the altered landscape at her crotch.
We let her get through all that, including the 'still not believing it' part, then Lor whipped up a full length mirror beside the newly created Hell's Valkyrie while telling her. "You might as well have a look at the full effect, honey. It's going to be you for a long, long time to come."
Victoria took in her new self in all its glory, from flame red hair, crimson wings and tail, to her super model type figure, let out a sigh, gave the two of us a long look in comparison, then swept the gathered audience with another glance while muttering, "When in Rome..."
'Better now?" I questioned with a tentative grin.
"If you mean, am I still homicidal, no," Victoria responded a bit destractedly then went on in a half dazed voice. "But, better? I don't think I'll ever be that again."
"You are something to look at," Lorilei confirmed, deliberately misunderstanding her meaning. "Welcome to the family, Vicki."
"Do I have a choice about that?" Vicki questioned a little acidly. "Being part of the 'family' I mean."
"Nope," Lor cheerfully answered, "Like I said, both Angie and I have been through the same thing. It really isn't so bad most of the time."
"This must be one of those 'other' times, then." Victoria let out a sigh. "Because right now it seems pretty bad to me."
"That's ok," I replied, moving up to give her slim, strong shoulder a friendly pat. "I do know how you feel about this. I did my best to strangle Lor the first time I woke up this way. Now, I think some introductions are in order. Are you up to that?"
"Why not?" came the bemused answer. "If this is going to be home, I suppose I'd better get to know the people living here, right?"
"That's the spirit, little one!" A Hell Maid who had been a very interested observer stalked forward to give the new girl a resounding thump on the back. "I'm Brekke, and we're going to become very well acquainted over the next little while."
"Brekke..." Victoria acknowledged once she had recovered from the companionable clap on the back.
"Just think of Brekke as you very own, personal trainer," I offered while feeling more than a twinge of sympathy. "for all the physical training you're going to have to go through."
"Oh, this one is going to do fine!" Brekke enthused as she gave Victoria a long, carefully measuring examination. "Probably do as well as you did with Sylvanna, Angie."
"Good to hear," my answer actually held a small wince as I recalled my own weapons and fighting techniques training.
"I," Lorilei sauntered forward with a grin, "am going to be your teacher in the use of magic."
"Magic?" Vicki pulled her attention away from the imposing Hell Maid long enough to give the saucy little minx a dubious look. "Me?"
"You always had the potential for it, dear," Lor explained. "It was just never brought out in you. I'll be doing that while Brekke is showing you the fine arts of fighting physically."
We introduced her to MAMA, with suitable cautions about molesting the acacia's, to Lillith, then the rest of the gathered throng of Succubai, Hell Maids, Imps, Hell Hounds, and whatever else MAMA had allowed to wander in at the time. Hell, I met folks I'd never seen before.
Note: Read Part 1 or Part 2 or Part 3 or Part 4 |
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