The Pleasures of Hell

Chapter 02.024

~~Mia~~

"Vinicius! Put them down!"

Vinicius stood his ground. Surrounded by the walls of the tunnel they hid deep within, they were safe from future angel scouts on suicide missions to kill any unmarked they spotted. Unfortunately for the demons who'd been told to guard Vinicius, that meant they were within pouncing distance. And judging from the splatter of blood on the walls and ground, Vinicius had pounced and grabbed not only the incubus Gallius, but the fujara tetrad Julisa as well. Gallius he held in one hand by the waist, but Julisa was much bigger, ten feet tall, and the twelve-foot-tall four-armed demon had to work a little harder to keep the tetrad and her four arms under control.

"We are leaving," he said, speaking to Mia, but eyes on the tetrad directly in front of him. The incubus didn't warrant checking.

Julisa grinned, but half gargled, half choked as Vinicius tightened his grip around her throat. Her feet and tail tangled, and her talons lightly clawed at the empty air underneath her. If she found the opening, she'd probably use her raptor feet and tear open Vin's chest, but at the moment, that'd just cause Vin to pop her head off. And she kinda looked like she was enjoying herself, anyway.

"We're not leaving! The Damall helped us," Mia said.

"We only needed help because you stopped me."

"Yes, you're right! You're right, okay!" She stomped up to his giant, bleeding leg, and punched it. A wooden door had more give, but it was enough to earn a grunt from the demon. "Even though those angels hurt you enough you're bleeding all over the place, and still bleeding, yes, obviously, we didn't need the Damall's help at all." Not the time for sarcasm, but she couldn't help it.

He aimed an eye at her before snapping it back to the giant woman in his grip. He didn't bother looking at the other two tetrads behind Mia. Livian and Romakus thought the situation was cute, judging from their smiles.

"I feasted on the human souls. I will heal," he said.

"Yeah, I know." And he definitely was, considering he could already use an arm that'd taken a sword right through its shoulder. "But you still need to find a place to rest while you do that. And if we're going to run into more angels, we can't have you half dead when they find you again. So, just, put the demons down, sit down, and relax."

He brought the demoness in close, and growled into her face.

"We can't trust the Damall."

Julisa smiled, but did nothing but squirm in his grip. Mia had seen that look before. That was the look of a woman who liked being abused a little more than was probably healthy, or safe.

"Why not?" Mia asked.

He rumbled, deep enough Mia felt the vibration in her toes. But he said nothing, and let the silence of her question linger until Mia had no choice but to look back up to Romakus. Who was, of course, grinning.

"The Damall," Romakus said, "have a history of conflicting with children of the Old Ones."

"We are the rightful rulers," Vinicius said.

"Tell that to your parents. They wouldn't really appreciate the mess you made of the house."

The child of Belial growled. "Irrelevant."

"Pretty relevant," Romakus said. "You children have a habit of leading giant armies and stirring up all of Hell, when you get a spire under your thumb."

"Then—"

"We intervened," the Zel-look-alike Livian said, stepping forward, "because the unmarked is important, and we're not about to let her die on the whim of angels. Even Yosepha and Galon don't think that's a good idea."