Romakus tapped his shoulders and forehead, in the classic Catholic gesture of the cross. What the fuck.
“I swear I won’t.”
“I don’t believe you.”
The following grin was utterly evil.
“Smart.”
“Either way,” Livian said, gesturing around at the demons that watched, “you’re not going anywhere until we learn what’s happening. And who knows, maybe we’ll be your allies?”
Mia scrunched up her nose. She didn’t believe that, either, and neither did they.
“What made the crack in Hell?” Romakus asked. “What is that strange, dark… thing, waiting at the bottom of it? Who killed Zel? What happened to the rider? And who was the woman in the aera armor?”
“You know about all that?” Mia asked. “I thought information took a long time to get around in Hell?”
“It does,” he said. “But the Damall have eyes everywhere, eyes with wings.” And of course he used a fancy flourish of a wing to point at the nearby bat girls. Unlike gargoyles, their wings were their arms, they were only as tall as a human, and they were quite skinny. They could probably glide pretty far, maybe even across the canyon.
Mia folded her arms across her chest.
“You’ll have to convince me I should tell you stuff.” Please no torture please no torture.
“Saving your life wasn’t enough?” Romakus asked.
“No, because you didn’t do that to save my life. You did that because you saw an opportunity to gain a new tool.”
“True. What would it take to convince you?”
Much as the big scary gorujin tetrad with his huge wings and big demon grin was unsettling, he did seem smart, capable of talking, even capable of planning, like Zel had been. Most demons were not like them. That meant communication and reasoning were on the table, if she was careful about it.
“Vinicius, healed. I need him.”
Romakus tilted his head. “What do you need him for?”
“To keep me alive.”
“As good a reason as any,” Livian said. “But it seemed like you were travelling toward a specific place. Wanna tell us where, at least?”
She could tell them that, at least. It was harmless information. Hopefully.
“The Black Valley.”
“Don’t want to stick around in Death’s Grip?”
“No.”
Chuckling, the two tetrads shrugged and nodded.
“Alright,” Romakus said. “Good enough for now. Twilight comes. These caves have a lot of tunnels and alcoves. Lots of places you and your pet can rest and recover.”
“He’s not my pet.”
The two demons laughed.
“Yosepha and Galon will come back eventually,” Romakus said. “Maybe they’ll convince you to tell us more.”
“Maybe.”
Livian laughed louder and backhanded Romakus in the shoulder. “You just want Yosepha’s ass again.”
Shrugging, Romakus gestured down the tunnel they’d come from, and the two tetrads began the trek back to Vinicius. Mia followed behind, making a quick glance back at the other demons to make sure they didn’t try to kill her or anything. Nope, they were curious about her, but didn’t follow, content to resume chatting to themselves. About her.
Wait. She blinked at Romakus’s back and wings, a half dozen times. Yosepha’s ass… again?
“It is the best ass in all of Hell,” he said.
Livian looked over her shoulder down at her own ass, which was, admittedly, a very firm, perfect ass, before she grinned back at her fellow demon.
“Really feel different than any other ass?”
“Oh it does,” he said. “Maybe it’s the way she tries to get away while we fuck, especially when she cums. The way her insides feel as she twists and turns and fights me, you have no idea.”
Oh god. Mia covered her face with her palms.
“I was there last time, remember?” Livian said. “I saw it up close.”
Oh god oh god.
“True. Maybe next time she’ll let you eat her out? You almost convinced her.”
Oh god oh god oh god.
“Maybe. I could…” Livian slowly turned back, and grinned down at Mia. “Oh, there it is. I can feel it, tingling right up the hooves straight into my pussy. That is a devious aura, unmarked. I can’t fight it. It’s just… there.”
“I… I…”
Romakus made one of those rumbling purrs Kas used to make when he came. Whether he meant to or not, the memory sent a warm wave through Mia, and she buried her face in her hands harder as the fingers in her soul plucked the strings nice and loud.
“Amazing,” Romakus said, turning and literally walking backward. “Your sex drive is on a hair trigger, little girl.”
“I’m not a little girl. I’m…”
“A woman,” Livian said, licking her fangs. “A small woman with a great little body. I bet at least one demon had a piece of that, knowing Zel.”
No point in lying about it. Her aura came out of her like an animal she’d been starving for days, and maybe that’s exactly what had happened. She hadn’t cum in so long, and something about her afterlife body just couldn’t handle that kind of deprivation.
“She… She had two bodyguards for me, a sarkarin and a vratorin. They… We had sex.” Okay, she didn’t have to lie, but she didn’t have to talk about it, either. Why talk about it? Was this really better than just stewing in her silent embarrassment?
“Oh my,” Livian said, and she slowed down until she walked next to Mia. “You must have enjoyed that.”
“That isn’t–” She snapped her eyes behind her and glared at some demons that’d started following them. They had playful little smiles. “That’s personal.”
“This is Hell, unmarked. There’s no personal. No private.”
“So I’m hearing! I don’t think that angel would appreciate you talking about her like that.”
Romakus laughed. Still walking backward, his ability to navigate the path and the remnants of the tunnel would have been fun and impressive, but the licking of his big fangs put a chill through Mia. Part of her liked the chill. Part of her was very much afraid of it. Romakus was unpredictable.
“She is right,” Livian said. “Yosepha is going to kill you some day.”
“Nah, she loves me.” He shrugged and turned around. “I’ll make sure the next time I tap that angel ass, you’re there to see it, Mia. Maybe you’ll join us? I bet even Yosepha would have a hard time ignoring that aura.”
Mia closed her eyes and looked for the fingers inside her. Stop plucking strings, god damn it. Stop filling the whole tunnel up with sexual desire.
“You know what Julisa is going to do,” Livian said. “The moment Vinicius isn’t bleeding all over the place, she’s going to do everything she can to convince him to fuck her. Or just top him while he’s injured.”
Romakus flourished his tail with a wave.
“I have less to worry from Yosepha than she has to from Vinicius.”