BLASPHEMIA 4

Blasphemia CHAPTER FOUR

Snap. Snap snap snap. Snap snap.

Filia smiled. The sound was coming from behind her, down and to the left a little. The sweet girl with the brown, curly hair was the one responsible for it. For the past several days as Filia had sat in the room, the girl had snapped a rubber band against her wrist like crazy. It had perplexed Filia at first, but after asking Lily about it, she’d learned that it was something devout youth did to curb gay feelings. Whenever they felt the urge, they snapped the rubber band against their wrist, to associate the feeling with pain and suppress it.

Even for an Infernal, such an act was rather horrifying. Filia had pity for the poor creature, and no small amount of amusement given how rapidly she was snapping the band against her wrist. Most of the people around them were beginning to get annoyed by the sound, she could tell.

Her eyes flicked back to the front of the room, to the rune shining bright on the back of the professor’s neck. Over the past two weeks she and Nico had taken their time, using Lily as an information source, and had steadily branded a good number of students and administrators throughout the campus. No need to alert any of the forces of Paradise that were in the area to their presence. Stuffy angels would ruin their good time in moments if they had any inkling of what was going on.

Filia looked back at the girl. Their eyes met, and Filia saw a flash of pure desire in the young woman’s eyes before the rubber band snapped again and it was dulled. She’d never seen a more distressing sight.

“I seem to have forgotten my pen today,” Filia murmured, turning her body so that the young woman’s eyes could roam it. After playing around for a few days, Filia had started morphing her shadows into a more seductive version of the Saint Bethany’s uniform – her blouse was much more low-cut than the norm, showing a tantalizing amount of her supple, perky tits, with the bottom parts tied off around her waist so her tanned, glamoured midriff was visible. Her skirt barely covered her ass as she walked and sat, and Filia deliberately shifted her leg a little so that the fabric glided down and the young woman could see her thigh in its whole.

The young woman was beet red, practically salivating at the sight of Filia. She fumbled with her pen, almost dropping it. “T-take me… mine!” she said, eyes going wide as she realized what she’d just said. “Take mine!”

“Thank you,” Filia cooed, letting her fingers rub against the young woman’s as she took the pen. Filia tapped the end of the pen against her lips, staring the young woman dead in the eye. “I don’t believe I’ve ever caught your name.”

“Evelynn!” the girl almost yelped, clapping her hands over her mouth as a few heads turned to stare at her. Her eyes flitted around the room, hardly daring to look at Filia. “B-but most people just call me Eve!” she whispered loudly.

How fitting, Filia thought as she offered the young woman a charming smile. “Nice to meet you, Eve.” As she turned back around and went back to not listening to the professor drone on, she heard the frantic snapping of the rubber band behind her.

After the class, Filia lingered by the doorway, watching the rest of the students file out. None of them were branded, not yet at least. As much fun as it was seducing and marking the humans one by one, the Infernals only had so much patience. She knew that Nico didn’t want to mention it, but Filia had seen that look in his eye. The demon wanted more and more, and so did she. There had to be a way to expedite the process of getting the runes onto the humans. But how?

That train of thought had the brakes put on it as Eve came out of the classroom. She locked eyes with Filia. “Oh.”

Filia put some sway in her hips as she moved closer to Eve. “Hello, darling.”

Eve swallowed, her eyes looking around for some kind of escape – not from Filia, but from her desires that Filia could read plain on her face, the desires that made her nipples stiffen within the white blouse, that made her pussy wet and aching enough that the succubus could smell it.

Filia reached out and grabbed the girl by the wrist. “Let’s find someplace private and have a little chat, shall we?”

Minutes later, the two women were in a private bathroom, the door locked, with Eve’s skirt hiked up as Filia pinned her to the wall, the succubus’s fingers deep in her panties, crooked to slip right inside her. Filia’s other hand burned warm as she branded Eve with the rune, the young woman’s eyes glazing over with delight. “See, darling?” Filia purred. “Not so bad now, right?”

“No, Mistress,” Eve moaned, grinding her hips into Filia’s hand.

“You were so easy,” Filia remarked, lifting her hand away as the rune finished forming on Eve’s shoulder. “No resistance, no prodding needed.” She leaned in, and saw Eve’s nostrils flare as the woman breathed in her scent. “You trying to suppress your true desires only made it all the more easy for you to make you mine.”

“I’m so glad, Mistress!” Eve mewled as the succubus finger-fucked her. She rolled her head against the brand shining bright on her neck. “Your mark feels so warm…” Her legs spread, allowing Filia better access to her sopping wet cunny.

Filia pressed her thumb to Eve’s mons, rolling Eve’s mound under her thumb. “I’m going to take good care of you, my pet. I have a friend who wants to see some bullies get their just by making them do things that they don’t want to.” She crooked her fingers, rubbing against that sweet spot inside Eve’s pussy and making the young woman week in the knees. “How would you like all the girls you could ever want? All on me.”

“Mistress, I… I…”

There was a knock at the door.

Filia’s head snapped around, still buried knuckle deep in a quivering, ecstatic Eve. “Quiet, pet,” she murmured. “Who is it?” she called at the door.

There was no answer. Filia extricated her fingers, slowly lifting them to her lips and tasting Eve on them. She took a few steps closer to the door, cocking her head. “Hello?” she said, her voice slightly lower.

“Mistress?” Eve asked.

FIlia motioned for her to be still, then pressed herself up against the door. Her eyes narrowed as she strained to hear something, anything on the other side.

Then she heard the rasp of a blade being drawn.

Filia jumped backwards, and a split second later, a gleaming silver knife split the timbers of the door right where her head had been. Eve yelped, sliding off the counter and yanking down her skirts. “Mistress, what is that?”

There was the sound of metal meeting metal, and Filia saw the door handle begin to glow and melt. “Blessed silver blade.” She sniffed the air. “I smell white oak, holy water and hypocrisy.” She grinned. “Looks like the Church finally came knocking.”

Eve clung to her. “What do we do?”

“You do nothing,” Filia said. She kissed Eve on the lips, and the young woman melted against her side. “I’ll get them away from here, you go to my chambers and wait for me there. I shouldn’t be too long.”

“Yes, Mistress,” Eve panted, her eyes full of shining admiration for Filia.

A heavy boot thudded against the door, and Filia moved Eve behind her. The boot kicked again, and the door came loose with a ping as the half-melted door handle split in half and clattered to the floor.

In the doorway stood a figure wearing a black cloak, a gleaming silver cross hanging from her neck. The woman had a full, busty figure concealed beneath flowing nun robes, but her allure was tempered by the gleaming cross-shaped dagger held in her. Her silver hair was cut short, pixie-style, her eyes a slate gray. A belt full of demon hunting paraphernalia hooked around her waist.

FIlia affected innocence. “Wha-who are you?”

“Silence, creature of the dark,” the cloaked woman said, taking a step forward. The light from the bathroom fixture shone into the hood of her cloak, revealing that her face was actually quite youthful. Was she a student there? An agent of the Church in disguise?

“Well, worth a shot,” Filia said. She dropped her glamour, as it was a slight drain on her power that she might not be able to afford in the coming minutes. Her skin shone crimson in the halogen light bulbs in the bathroom, her one-piece outfit taut against her tits and the cleft of her ass. Her tail cracked back and forth like a whip. “What do you want?”

Those gray eyes glowered at her as the church whore raised her dagger. “Your un-life.”

“Touchy, touchy,” Filia said. “But you’ve already made a grave mistake, church dog. You’re in an enclosed space with an Infernal. Angels may rule the skies, but the dark, cramped spaces are ours.”

The church assassin stared her in the eyes for a moment. Then, the woman smiled a little, and FIlia felt fear run down her spine. “You’re right.” She reached up and yanked the sleeve of her nun robes down. On her arm tattooed in black ink were a dizzying variety of runes and holy symbols. “Let’s open up this space a little.”

Filia only got through the first half of “son of a bitch” before the church assassin punched her through the wall.

Nico was balls deep in one of Chastity’s clique when he heard the sound of mortar and pestle being pulverized.

He stopped mid-thrust, leading the girl – he hadn’t even gotten her name – to moan and claw at his chest for more. “Master,” she whined, the rune on her left breast glowing like a hellfire beacon. Beside them on the floor was another of the clique, Nico’s demon seed leaking from between her legs as her body was wracked with a powerful, continuous orgasm.

As much as he wanted to ignore the sound and keep slamming himself into the tight, eager cunny of the human woman, he stopped and drew back, a shiver of pleasure running up his body as his cock slipped free of her heat. He stepped towards the wall of the dorm room, looking out the window in the direction that he thought he’d heard the noise.

He heard it again, and again. Then the upper floor wall of one of the classroom buildings across the quad exploded outward in a rain of stone. Though the dust, he saw Filia turning head over heels as she landed heavily on the grassy knoll, carving a furrow into the grass.

“Bells,” he muttered, turning around. “Both of you, stay here,” he commanded his new thralls.

“Okay, Master,” both girls chorused, oblivious to what was going on outside.

Nico pounded down the stairs, dimly remembering to fire up his glamour as he burst out of the stairwell onto the quad. A few hundred yards away, FIlia was picking herself up out of the dirt, an annoyed look on her face. “Filia!” he called.

He felt a tingling sensation behind him, and a whiff of Paradise caressed his nose. He turned just in time to catch a mighty fist across his jaw, the blow lifting him clean off his feet and sending him flying into a nearby wall. Stone buckled under his mass as he connected, the impact knocking the wind out of him. He fell to his hands and knees, looking up at who had hit him.

The Angel was a prime specimen, standing seven feet tall with a chiseled jaw and dark, tousled hair. Humans liked to imagine angels as beautiful, handsome things, and so the very nature of Angels had been warped somewhat to fit that belief. But all the human impressions of them in the world couldn’t erase their true divine nature. A strip of cloth was bound across the Angel’s eyes, to prevent them from looking directly upon God himself – even they would be blinded by His radiance. His wings were fetched with thick, fluffy white feathers, and several yellow and red eyes peered out from his downy wing bones. In his hands he held a halberd, the tip wreathed in Divine fire that left color trails in Nico’s retinas the longer he looked at it.

And unlike the usual demure, Renaissance style postures of Angels, this one’s body language was very, very hostile.

“How is it that such darkness festers on this campus and we have yet to notice it?” the Angel remarked, leveling his halberd at Nico.

Nico brushed dust off himself and stood, then realized the Angel had actually punched him out of his glamour. Ah well, let the Divine prick see what he was packing. “I dunno,” he said, rolling his head so his shoulders popped. “That seems like your fault.”

“A fault I intend to correct!” The Angel lunged, leading with his halberd’s pointed spear tip. Nico moved to the side, his mind frantically trying to remember what he’d learned in Hell about fighting Angels. The general first bit of advice was “just don’t.” Lower-level demons like him were outclassed by even the weakest Angels, which this one seemed to be. He didn’t have the heraldry of physical features like extra wings and eyes that marked him as being closer to the Creator. The forces of Paradise had always valued quality over quantity, after all.

However, Nico felt the runes he’d branded across the campus pulsing in his senses like lodestones, their bearers’ spirits as open to him as their legs had been. He reached out and took hold of them, siphoning power out of them through the brands. His body thrummed with Infernal magic, and when he clenched his fist, a crimson arc of power crackled around it.

Nico allowed himself a small smile. He wasn’t small fry any more.

He met the Angel’s thrust on a shield conjured from Infernal magic, a rounded piece of bronze with a screaming human face on it. Halberd tip met shield with the sound of hammer ringing on anvil, the force of the connection sending out a shock wave that made the trees on the quad bend outward.

It was then Nico realized that the world around him seemed hazy, as if he were looking at it through a curtain of water. “What the-” he began, then quickly blocked a sweeping slash from the Angel.

“The humans will not see us as we battle,” the Angel said, circling him warily, his wing-eyes reappraising Nico. “We stride in Purgatory now.”

The ream between realms that blanketed the planet was the ideal space for their battle. If the Earth was a walnut, Purgatory was it’s chocolate coating. Here, any power they threw around would only exist in this realm, with only physical damage being visible to human eyes.

Nico gave the Angel his most winning smile. “Good. I hate to hurt some of the humans.”

Somehow, despite having no visible eyes, the Angel still managed to look perplexed. “Oh?”

“Yeah.” Nico summoned a gleaming broadsword inlaid with Hellish runes. He grinned at the Angel. “There’s still quite a few of them I haven’t managed to fuck yet.”

The Angel snarled and hefted the halberd above his head. “Your demon seed shall taint no more innocent bodies, Hellspawn! I will send you screaming into oblivion!”

“Bring it, you fluffy pillow!” Nico challenged.

Filia picked herself up and looked to her side just in time to see Nico eat a haymaker from an Angel that appeared out of nowhere, sending him flying into a nearby building. Filia moved to help him, but was stopped short as the assassin’s silver dagger slammed into the ground in front of her. It made a high-pitched whining noise, and Filia flapped her wings hard to get away from it. A moment later, it exploded in a blast of silver light. Even at a distance Filia felt her skin burn. “Bitch!” she said.

The assassin ran at her through the smoke from the explosion, her arms trailing behind her. She snapped her fingers, and Filia’s eyes widened as the dagger flew back to her hand, it’s surface completely unblemished despite being at the center of the explosion. It flashed in the light as the assassin threw it at her again, and Filia jumped over the dagger. “Hah!”

Another snap of the fingers, and Filia heard whistling behind her. Her head snapped around to see the dagger flying through the air back towards her. “You gotta be fucking-”

She ducked and scuttled backward as the assassin landed, plucking the dagger out of the air like it was nothing. No, the dagger homed in on her hand. Just who – or what – was she?

FIlia crouched down like a cat caught between pouncing and fleeing, her one piece hooking into the cleft of her ass. “You who wear the garb of the Church yet wields a weapon that reeks of Infernal power,” she said, glaring into the dark void of the assassin’s hood. “Who are you?”

The assassin reached up and drew back her hood. Her face was covered in more tattoos on the right side, and it took Filia a moment to place the language – Hebrew. Old Hebrew at that. Her eyes caught the evening sunlight, and to Filia’s surprise, she saw the left one change color from a striking blue to a sickly gold, slit down the middle like a snake’s. In that moment, it clicked. “Nephilim,” Filia said accusingly. “Spawn of Angel and Infernal.”

“At least call me by my name,” the Nephilim said. “I am Judith. I was spared at birth and given a chance to serve the Church.” She reversed her grip on her dagger, holding it so the point was angled behind her. “Many an Infernal has been reduced to ashes by my dagger. You will only be another notch on my belt, succubus.”

“So serious,” Filia said, rolling her shoulders and standing up. “How did you find us?”

“I’ve been watching from the shadows,” Judith said, stalking towards Filia slowly. “I masquerade as a student here, waiting on the off-chance pesky creatures from below like you stick your noses in here where they don’t belong.” The dagger flitted back and forth, as if she was deciding where to throw it. “The Church has a vested interest in keeping it’s flock safe.”

“How appropriate that you refer to them as a flock,” Filia said, sweeping her arm wide at the campus around them. “When you herd them in here like chattel and fence their minds as well as their bodies.”

“I have no interest in bandying philosophies with you,” Judith drawled, sounding bored. Her arm cocked back. “Now stand still and let me kill you.”

Judith threw the dagger, and Filia moved to the side to avoid it. That was nowhere near me, she thought, just before Judith’s fist smashed into her face. Filia felt her nose collapse under the blow, hot blood spurting out as she recoiled and clutched her face. Judith hammered her like a world-class boxer, drilling her in the side with weighty blows that, to Filia’s surprise, actually hurt.

Judith’s hand snapped out, and the dagger was in her palm in a flash of silver light. Another heartbeat, and it slashed across Filia’s arm and side, drawing blood. Filia extended her wings and flapped backwards, desperately trying to create some kind of opening. But Judith overhanded the dagger at her, and Filia had to move again so the blade didn’t sink right into her face.

How the Hell is she this fast?

She flapped around the tree nearest her, taking in a few deep breaths and focusing her energy on healing her shattered nose. It reformed with an ugly crunch, and FIlia grabbed hold of the lingering pain. How fucking dare she! Something tickled her ear, and in a flash, she realized what her best option was. She reached up and grabbed hold of the feather that Azagthoth had given her. It’s power flowed into her, inky and dark, melding with her own shadowy magics. She smiled as the slices on her arm and side healed. The bitch wasn’t even going to know what-

Judith rounded the corner like an apex predator, lunging with her dagger. Filia scrambled out of the way, quickly directing her shadows to form a more suitable set of chain mail bikini armor. Of course it’s protective properties extended beyond the skimpy outfit, but if Filia was kicking ass, she was damn well going to look good doing it. The magic swirled around her arms, coating them in a layer of solid shadows that fit over her hands like gauntlets, her fingers sharpening to lethal talons.

Filia pivoted on one foot and went on the offensive. She didn’t have any fancy fighting moves like the Nephilim did, but she did have ferocity and the raw fury of the Inferno behind her. She roared her defiance at the Nephilim, laying into her with her bare hands. Judith was caught off-guard by the sudden offense, backpedaling wildly as she deflected Filia’s frenzy swipes with slashes of her dagger. Her hand kept dipping towards the back of her belt, and FIlia wasn’t about to let her grab hold of whatever hidden backup weapon she had stashed back there.

The succubus swept her foot around, knocking Judith off her feet. She slashed down with her claws, but the Nephilim rolled and threw her dagger at Filia. It buried itself an inch into Filia’s shoulder, and she heard the whining noise immediately. She ripped the dagger out and threw it away just before it exploded, but the blast still knocked her on her ass and raised blisters on her side. Her body was wracked with pain, and she knelt down in place, focusing her energies on healing her side.

Judith was on her, not about to let her weakened prey heal itself. Her gauntleted hands cracked across Filia’s face, and Filia felt her jaw break under the blow. A kick claimed a few of her ribs, and through the pain Filia was again flabbergasted at just how strong the Nephilim was. She could shrug off getting hit by a truck, yet right hooks from the woman that was a foot shorter than her were breaking her Infernal body down to size. How the hell did the woman fuck anyone without bending them in…

Filia smiled. Duh.

The next time Judith went to punch Filia, the succubus ate the blow but wrapped her arms around Judith’s arm like a boa constrictor. Her hands pressed to the Nephilim’s skin. “Now you’re mine!” she cried triumphantly.

A flash of silver, and a blinding pain shot up Filia’s arm as the Nephilim’s dagger sheared through her wrist on it’s way back to it’s mistress’s hand. Filia screamed and staggered backwards, gazing in horror at her severed left hand, still wrapped around the Nephilim’s arm. Judith slowly pried the fingers loose and let the appendage fall to the grass. A quick flick of her wrist sent the blood flying from the dagger blade. Her mismatched eyes stared impassively at Filia. “You about done?” she said, her gaze growing cold.

Filia met Judith’s eyes, making no attempt to hide her hatred for the demon hunter. “Are you?”

Lily rose up behind the Nephilim like an avenging shadow and cracked the demon hunter on the back of the knee with the baseball bat she held in her hands. Judith staggered, more out of surprise than actual pain as he leg buckled for a second. She whirled around, dagger raised to spear her attacker. But then she stopped.

“You’re…” she breathed.

Filia pounced, crossing the distance between her and Judith in two loping strides. The Nephilim turned around, but FIlia was ready. She neatly sidestepped Judith’s dagger thrust and hooked her arm around the demon hunter’s throat, her legs scissoring around her waist as she dragged her down under her own weight. She summoned the brand to her palm, and grabbed Judith’s throat. “Now you’re mine,” she hissed.

Judith went rigid as the rune sizzled on her skin, kicking and flailing in Filia’s embrace. Lily grabbed hold of the Nephilim’s dagger and held on grimly, digging her feet in as the weapon tried to go back to Judith’s hand. “Gonna break my fucking fingers,” she grunted, pulling back on the pommel gamely.

“You… fucking…” Judith gasped, fighting the rune with all her strength.

“Just give in,” Filia hissed, her hand red-hot against Judith’s neck. “Give. In.”

“Never!” The demon hunter jerked her head back, pulverizing Filia’s nose again. The shock made her loosen her grip, and Judith wrenched FIlia’s fingers savagely as she tried to pry the succubus’ arm off her neck. Lily came to Filia’s aid again, whacking the demon hunter on the torso with the baseball bat with all the strength she had. Which, admittedly, wasn’t much – Lily was the type of girl that could be blown over by a strong gust of wind. But the blows sapped Judith’s berserk strength, and FIlia fought hard and brought her arm back down on the human’s neck. “No!” Judith howled, panic in her voice. “No!”

“Give in!” FIlia snarled, lacing her voice with Infernal magic.

“Never… never… no… ahn…” Judith gave a shudder, a long moan slipping from her mouth. “God… forgive me…” Her legs kicked weakly, and she slowly stopped struggling in Filia’s embrace.

“He won’t blame you,” Filia cooed, giving the mark an extra oomph of power just to be absolutely sure. “And I’m sure he’ll forgive you for all the sinning I’m going to make you do…”

Judith shuddered and went limp in Filia’s embrace, her eyes glassy. “Yes… Mistress…”

Filia slowly released her grip, and rolled Judith off her. The freshly branded Nephilim flopped onto the grass, her breathing deep and even as Filia got up. “Well, that was something,” she muttered.

“Eugh, what about your hand?” Lily asked. “Also, you’re welcome for the save, by the way.”

Filia stomped over to where her severed hand lay on the grass and picked it up. She turned it this way and that, then slowly set it against the stump of her arm. She willed power from Azagthoth’s feather into the wound, and clenched her teeth to keep from screaming as Infernal magic knit bone, flesh, and nerves back together. After a few moments, she clenched and unclenched the appendage a few times. “Back to normal,” she grunted.

“Awesome.” Lily hefted the baseball bat back over her shoulder. “Now where’s Nico and that Angel I saw beating the shit out of him?”

“I think I saw them slip into Purgatory,” Filia said, still moving her wrist this way and that to make sure it was all functioning properly. If she couldn’t finger fuck anyone after having her hand lopped off she was going to be pissed. “Trouble is, I have no idea how to get there.”

The two of them shared a glance, then looked down at the demon hunter on the ground behind them.

Nico was bleeding badly. The Angel’s halberd cut deep, drawing forth rivulets of black blood that spilled across his crimson skin like tar. He was dying a death by a thousand cuts, accumulated a number of small injuries that were sapping his strength. Worse still, the cuts burned. Not with the comforting warmth of hell, but the sharp, intense prickling of Paradise. No matter how hard he tried, even with power drawn from the feather of Azagthoth woven into the coarse fur of his legs, the wounds refused to close.

The Angel still had the sense to respect him. Though Nico’s summoned weapons grew less potent with each passing minute as he was sapped of his strength, the Angel had the sense to keep his distance and strike carefully, knowing as Nico did that a single misstep could cost him. If they were tallying, however, Nico had already made far more mistakes than the Angel had. All Nico had to show for his efforts were a few dents in the Angel’s armor and a single cut along the Angel’s leg bleeding gold blood.

He was cycling through options as best he could, backing up while keeping the Angel in his field of view. Technically, he could go anywhere, this being the realm between realms. But he knew that as soon as he turned his back that halberd was going to be sweeping towards his neck or thrown to pierce his twisted black heart. So he kept moving backwards, trying desperately to think of something.

Then he felt the skin of his back get white-hot, as if he was standing next to a blast furnace. His eyes flicked over his shoulder. Behind him loomed the church steeple. “Even here?” he grunted.

“The Lord’s power permeates all realities save for your forsaken realm below,” the Angel sneered. “And when the time comes, he will retake that dark place and illuminate it with His radiance so that no shadows shall ever congregate there.”

Nico wiped blood from his lips and stood his ground, summoning a simple pair of spiked gauntlets to cover his hands. “Are all you Angels as arrogant as this?” He managed a wry grin, though he knew the image was undercut slightly by the blood spatters on his face. “Careful, that’s a sin.”

The Angel charged him with a flap of his golden wings. “I shall carve out your tongue before I take your head, demon whelp!”

Nico ducked his enraged halberd sweep and hammered the Angel in the gut with his spiked gauntlets, metal on metal ringing out like the tolling of a bell. He scrambled away as the Angel pivoted and brought the halberd swinging down like an executioner’s axe, splitting the ground and casting up a geyser of earth. Nico gathered demon fire around his fist and hurled it at the Angel like a pitcher on the mound. Fireball met armor, exploding in a plume of flame that did little to the Angel except make him all the more angry. “Fucking hell,” Nico muttered.

A portal opened next to him with a crack. Like a crimson-skinned, big-titted, mostly-naked guardian angel Filia stepped through it. She glanced down at Nico, then at the Angel, then back to him. She grinned. “Having fun?”

“Can you make jokes when I’m not halfway back to where we came from?” Nico asked pointedly, picking himself up. “You’re not entirely unscathed yourself. And how are you here?”

Filia’s body was covered in ugly bruises that were fading before his eyes. Something decidedly unholy was in her eyes, a certain kind of power. “I’ve learned how to do a lot of things in the past five minutes,” she said, raising her hand and making a fist. “Tell ya later.”

The Angel charged them soundlessly, his face a grim mask, his mouth flattened into a thin line. Filia snapped her fingers, and her shadows burst from the ether around them, contorting until they formed massive chains as wide around as Nico’s arm. They lashed around the angel mid-flight, hooking his legs and wings first. He roared and swept his halberd in wide arcs, slashing through the chains.

Nico kicked off with all his strength, bounding forward to land inside the Angel’s guard. Before the soldier of Paradise realized what was happening, Nico hauled off and punched him right in the crotch.

To his surprise, it actually worked.

The Angel’s voice hit an octave usually reserved for opera singers, and his momentary lapse in concentration allowed Filia’s shadow chains to lash around him like anacondas. She twisted his arms cruelly, ripping the halberd from his fingers and tossing it away so the tip embedded itself in the steeple of the church.

“Since when could you do that?” Nico asked.

“I told you, I’ll explain in a bit,” FIlia said casually, her chains drawing tighter and tighter around the Angel.

He grunted and strained, his mighty muscles held fast by the thick shadows. “How can this be?” he cried. His head flailed from side to side. “My Divine light! How is it bound by evil powers such as this?”

“Let’s get back to reality, Nico,” Filia said, helping him up.

“What about him?” Nico asked. “Aren’t you going to finish him off?”

“Oho no!” Filia said. She walked over to the bound Angel and patted his bicep. “I have something special in mind for him.”

Nico suddenly felt far more tired than he had just a moment prior. “You’re joking, right?”

FIlia was not, in fact, joking.

“You’re seriously going to keep him in the basement?” Lily asked, staring at the Angel with a dispassionate look on her face. For someone who was seeing one of the Divine in the flesh she seemed incredibly nonplussed.

“I’m going to boot him into Purgatory here in a second,” Filia said. In front of her on her knees was the demon hunter Judith, and the succubus was caressing the side of her head like a lover. “Just as soon as dear Judith here finishes giving up the goods.”

Nico leaned against the wall, watching the Angel warily. His wounds had been healed by Filia, using a rune she’d extracted from the demon hunter’s memories. Apparently inside the Nephilim’s head was a veritable dictionary of runes, a Rolodex of arcane sigils that any demon hunter had to know to do their job properly. Sigils that Filia now knew how to use, thanks to her sifting through Judith’s memories.

“Here, Nico,” Filia said, holding out her hand. “Take my hand.”

Nico did as she bade, and felt the floor lurch underneath him. The room darkened, blackness suffusing everything as if he’s dunked his head in ink. He felt himself blink, then found himself standing on a disk of red light floating in a shadowy ether. Filia stood next to him, a big lazy grin on her face. She snapped her fingers, the sound echoing like it would in a cave.

From out of the darkness runes flared into life like beacons, one or two at a time at first, then dozens, then hundreds. Nico’s jaw dropped open as he turned in place, surveying his surroundings. “All of this…” he began, then trailed off as he took everything in. “Is in her mind?”

“Girl’s got quite the memory,” Filia said. “It’s a treasure trove of everything they ever told us we weren’t powerful enough to know in Hell.” She caressed Nico, her fingers trailing down his still-tender torso and ghosting around his hips. “All laid bare like a whore waiting to be taken.”

Despite her crude metaphor, Nico found himself already glancing around, looking for a place to dive in. Then, off in the distance between two of the demonic sigils, he saw a splash of another color – bright silver. “What’s that?” he asked.

“Oh, right,” Filia said. She snapped her fingers, and the disk they stood on zipped through the forest of runes. As they drew closer to the silver light, Nico saw that it emanated from a silver cube, the sides transparent so he could see inside.

Sitting naked in the cube was the demon hunter, in a traditional lotus position. Her eyes were closed, and she didn’t seem to be breathing. The left side of her body was covered in script tattoos of ancient Hebrew and Latin, inked in black along her face, shoulder, arm and most of her side.

“It seems like when I branded her she managed to… divide her consciousness or something,” Filia said, gesturing to the box. “No matter what I try in here I can’t break in, but judging from the look of things, she can’t quite get out either.”

Nico slowly reached out and rapped a knuckle on the side of the box. Inside, the demon hunter’s eyes snapped open and glared at him. If looks could kill, Nico would’ve been vaporized. “Yikes.”

“It seems like she managed to sequester some of herself in here to escape the thrall of the rune,” Filia said, running a finger along the side of the box. “It’s of little consequence though. We have her body and voice, and all this information. And she can’t leave here without falling to the thrall rune, so it’s effectively a stalemate. She won’t be bothering us.”

“How can she do this?” Nico asked.

“Beats me. She is a half-breed, though.” FIlia shrugged one shoulder. “Not really all that curious. I’m more interested in how we spread the thrall to as many people as possible with as little effort as possible, because I’m a busy succubus and I’ve only got so much time. Let’s see what we can find.”

The two Infernals rode the red light disk around the library of runes, committing as many to memory as they could even if it had nothing to do with what they needed because, well, you never knew what was coming.

Then they found what they were looking for. Both of them stared at the rune for a long time. “It’s so… easy,” Nico said.

FIlia waggled her eyebrows. “One might say it’s… devilishly simple.”

Nico groaned. “No puns, please.”

“Hey, I am in a good fucking mood right now, I will pun as I please.” Filia paused, cocking her head to the side. “I’m also in a good fucking mood, to be fair. Fighting this bitch got me all worked up.”

All that they needed secure in their minds, Filia pulled them out of Judith’s mind. Nico cast a long glance at the woman in the cube as the blackness receded and his feet touched solid ground again. Filia turned, snapped her fingers, and intoned a few words in Hebrew. A black portal split open next to the Angel. “Off to Purgatory with you for now!” the succubus said. She hauled off and literally kicked the Angel into the portal, a strong soccer kick that would’ve scored a goal from half-field.

“Now then… follow me, pet,” FIlia said, turning and strutting out of the room. Judith’s body rose from the floor and tailed her Mistress out the door.

Nico and Lily followed behind them. As they ascended the stairs to the top floor Nico was stuck looking at FIlia’s ass, and he realized it had grown… well, not larger, but more rounded. And it jiggled slightly with every step the succubus took. Had it always done that? And were her tits always so round?

They reached the top floor, and FIlia opened the door to the room that she and Nico had claimed. They’d outfitted it to fit their needs – a large round bed dominated the central room, piled high with sheets and pillows. The side bedroom held an actual bed for sleeping, in case their playthings were too exhausted to go home.

On the central bed sat a mousey girl with glasses and curly brown hair who perked up when they entered. “Oh, Mistress!” she cried, flinging herself off the bed and into Filia’s arms. “You’re safe! I got so worried I just…” She sniffled, then plunged her head into the valley between Filia’s tits.

“There, there,” FIlia soothed her. “I wouldn’t leave you alone, my pet.”

“Are you feeling alright, FIlia?” Nico asked, folding his arms. “You’re acting really weird.”

“What makes you say that?” Filia asked, running her hands down the girl’s back, curling her fingers to lift her skirt and press into the supple flesh of her bottom.

“You seem…” Nico searched for the right word. “More imperious. More domineering.”

“And?” Filia’s grinned grew wider as she slowly ripped the trembling girl’s skirt off, the fabric parting easily under her fingers. “That’s the whole reason we came here, right?”

Lily looked at Nico, her expression neutral. “Well, I mean…” Nico said slowly, rubbing the back of his head. “We came here to fuck humans, right? Just that. No need to let it all go to our heads.”

“Tch.” Filia’s fingers sharpened up into claws, and with three broad sweeps of her hand she shredded the remainder of the girl’s clothes. They fell like plaid confetti around her feet. Nico saw the brand on the girl’s shoulder, right under where a bra strap would go, pulsing with the rhythm of her heart. Which was to say, it was flashing like a strobe light.

Lily’s eyebrows row. “Huh. Eve has a nice rack. Who knew?”

FIlia pushed Eve down on the bed, her breasts bouncing in time with her body on the bed. Her shadow one piece disappeared, leaving her body fully nude. She ran her hands up and down her figure, stopping to cup and knead her own breasts, her long tongue flicking out to trace a circle around her nipple. “Now, Eve, my dear… where did we leave off?” She turned her head to look at Judith. “You stay right where you are, demon hunter. I’ll get to you soon enough.”

“Yes Mistress,” Judith said. She was trembling, vibrating like a tuning fork.

“I didn’t figure you’d be one to moralize about all this, Nico,” FIlia said. She set her knees on the bed and shuffled over to Eve, who laid back with a rapturous look on her face. “It’s not like we’re taking lives. We’re just showing these humans a good time.” She let her weight drop and ground her cunt into Eve’s face, who let out an orgasmic moan, her hands slapping Filia’s ass. “We’re doing – oof, she’s eager – nothing – ah! – wrong.”

Nico folded his arms and watched FIlia ride Eve’s face. The succubus leaned forward, her breasts hanging below her body and bouncing with the rocking of her hips. He bit his lip as he felt himself becoming aroused despite himself. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but some sixth sense of his had been feeling more and more off as of lately. The appearance of the Angel only confirmed his suspicions. Filia didn’t seem to be at all concerned with the possibility that the forces of Paradise might be onto them. She moved from partner to partner, like a dog chasing cars.

He shook his head. Maybe he was just being paranoid.

“You uh, okay there?” Lily asked him.

Nico looked down at her. She was looking at his face, but he could see her eyes being pulled towards the carnal scene on the bed in front of them. He sympathized – Filia made it hard to not want to watch. “I’m fine,” he said. “Just thinking.”

“Mm hm.” Slowly, both of them turned their heads to watch. FIlia was bucking her hips savagely into Eve’s face, her moans becoming louder and louder as her chest heaved. The human girl hung on for the ride gamely, her fingers dimpling FIlia’s supple cheeks as she moaned just as loud as FIlia, though the sound was muted by the succubus muff in her face.

“Do you want to go brand another one of Chastity’s girls and fuck her silly?” Lily asked, her voice slightly giggly.

“I thought you’d never ask, yes,” Nico said. The two of them left the dorm room, Filia’s ecstatic yelps following them the down the hall.

THE END OF CHAPTER FOUR