On November 17th, 2014, the world seemed to belong to the Tyrants. Almost every country had capitulated to their rule, and the majority of mankind was enthralled by their words. On November 18th, Darkness and Fire fell across the Earth.
–excerpt from ‘The History of the Tyrants’ Theocracy’, by Tina Allard
Monday, November 17th, 2014 – Mary Glassner – The Mansion
“Master, I’ve finished negotiating the details for tomorrow’s meeting,” Jessica reported.
Chase burped as I patted her back. I had just finished nursing my six month old daughter. She was growing so fast, looking around the table and babbling in baby talk. She was just so cute; I couldn’t resist giving her forehead a kiss.
We sat at the dining room table, finishing a delicious dinner the maids had prepared. All the sluts were here for tomorrow’s meeting with Lilith. Alison and Desiree had returned from Japan, where they had just finished hunting down a Warlock that could kill people by writing their names down in a notebook. And Lillian had just returned from a meeting of the United Nations, making sure the delegates understood the Theocracy’s position on the issues before them. It was almost time to dissolve the organization and replace it with our own government.
“And what are they?” Mark asked Jessica.
“We’ll meet at the same spot as last year,” Jessica answered. “Although, it will be at noon. Lilith will be accompanied by Chantelle and Lana, and you may bring two others. Obviously Mistress is one, and I think I should be the second. I’ve spent the last month negotiating with Chantelle, I’ve come to know how she thinks.”
Mark glanced at me. *I think that will work,* I sent to my husband.
“Okay, the three of us,” Mark nodded. “No guards?”
“We leave all guards and soldiers 300 hundred yards back,” Jessica replied. “It will be the three of us meeting Lilith and her two priestesses in the middle.”
“Good work,” I told Jessica, reaching out and stroking her caramel hand.
She flushed, “Thank you, Mistress.”
I handed Chase to a maid, and turned back to my dinner. “I hope this meeting doesn’t take too long,” I said. “Missy wants to have her dress fitting tomorrow afternoon.”
“It seems like I just went to one of your sister’s weddings,” Mark sighed.
“Shannon got married in August, Mark,” I said, rolling my eyes. “That was almost three months ago.”
“Really?” he said, blinking in surprise. “Where does the time go.”
“The Middle East,” I said, suppressing a shudder. That had been a frustrating few months putting most of the Muslim world under our power.
“Right,” he grimaced. “When are Missy and Damien getting married?”
“December 7th,” I replied. “Don’t ask why. I think she chose it at random.”
“Speaking of weddings, Master,” Violet said suddenly. “I’m going to pop the question to Cindy.” She glanced at Mark. “That’s okay, right?”
“Of course,” Mark smiled. “So long as we get to bless you at the altar.”
“We wouldn’t have it any other way, Master,” Violet giggled.
I glanced at April; she was happily chatting with Korina. It seemed the teen had finally gotten over her schoolgirl crush on Violet. I bet Hayfa had something to do with that. The two seemed close these days, and April always seemed to find some excuse to visit Willow’s clinic and see the nurse at work.
Dessert was brought out, and Mark just nudged it with his fork. He was tense, nervous. The meeting tomorrow could go disastrously wrong. My own stomach was roiling now, his worry infecting me. Lilith was mercurial and unpredictable. And she’s spent the last year breeding her children. Our spies in the city reported that all women were required to submit to her affections. Every day, dozens were brought to her, often by force, and impregnated by the demoness. That’s why the Legion ringed the city, their ranks swollen with women who had lost husbands, sons, fathers, and brothers to the Wormwood Plague, and were itching to get revenge on Lilith.
I pushed back from the table and walked around to Mark, my hands kneading his shoulders as I bent down to whisper, “Come to bed; let me soothe your nerves.”
“Sure,” Mark answered. He stood up, his eyes peering down my low-cut, green dress. That brought a smile to my lips; I puffed out my chest, feeling sexy.
I hooked my arm around his. “Goodnight, my sluts,” I said to them. “I want all of you well rested and ready for the backup plan.” Just in case things went wrong, I wanted to be ready to trap Lucifer.
“Good night, Mistress,” Xiu smiled. “We’ll be ready, right sluts?”
Everyone nodded or voiced their agreement, then Mark ushered me out of the dining room. We walked through the richly appointed halls of our mansion, past some of my favorite paintings: ‘Girls at the Piano’, ‘Two Sisters on the Terrace’, and ‘Abduction of Europa’. I wished I had half the talent of Pierre August Renoir. Mark loved my paintings, and always told me he loved my art the best. He even hung a few in his office; his favorite was my painting of Mount Rainier. But my husband, sadly, had no real taste in art. I only had passable talent, but it always was nice to hear him praise my works even if they were terrible.
When we reached our bedroom, I slowly unbuttoned my husband’s shirt. With his shirt hanging open, I reached in and fingered the lines of his hard muscles, trailing down to his pants. I loved his muscles, they were so yummy, and my pussy was growing damp as I stroked them. I unbelted him, and pulled his pants off and his boxers, freeing his semi-hard cock rising from the tangle of dark-brown pubic hair.
“Lie down on your stomach,” I ordered my husband as I unzipped my dress, and let it fall to the floor. I wore nothing underneath. My husband’s eyes drank in my nudity with hungry eyes; nothing made a woman feel sexier than a man’s lusty gaze.
I found the massage oil, and straddled his butt. He flinched when the cold, cinnamon-flavored oil dripped on his back. I rubbed the oil across his muscular back, then started kneading his shoulders. “You’re so tense,” I said, working at a knot in his neck. “It’s going to be fine tomorrow.”
“Will it?”
“Probably,” I admitted, that sinking pit returning in my stomach as I massaged lower.
He sighed, the tension melting out of him. I leaned over and kissed his back, tasting the spicy oil, before I rubbed lower, sliding down to straddle his legs as my hands found his firm butt. He had such a fine ass, perfectly sculpted, and my fingers dug into the flesh.
I massaged his butt, squeezing the tension out of his hard muscles. I leaned down, and gave his butt-cheek a nip with my teeth, then turned around and started on his powerful thighs. Pleasure tingled through me as I worked his legs, rubbing my pussy on his ass. Mark sighed as I worked his calves. I had to lean over to reach, my clit pressing against his flesh.
“Thanks, Mare,” he whispered when I finished his leg.
“Wait until I do your other side,” I giggled.
“Do you really think everything’s going to go smoothly tomorrow?” he asked.
“I hope it will,” I answered. “Lilith has to know we could wipe her city off the map if it came down to it. And I think she’s too cowardly to try and attack us herself. She likes to use her daughters, and keep herself at arms-length.”
“She has daughters that can turn invisible, bending light around them or blending into their surroundings.” He paused, my hands sliding down his thighs. “This could be a trap.”
“You can summon your armor in a moment’s notice,” I pointed out. “Our soldiers won’t be far away, and the ghosts can cover ground rapidly if they choose to. She’d be stupid to try and do anything. Now turn over.”
Mark rolled over, his cock at full mast. I sat down on it, rubbing his cock into the wet grove of my pussy. I shifted my weight, enjoying the feel of his dick sliding through my labia and nudging my clit as I poured more massage oil on his chest. I leaned over, working on his pecs.
“You are so beautiful,” he whispered, reaching out to squeeze my breast. A bead of milk leaked out, and he brought it to his mouth.
“You’re not so bad looking, yourself,” I smiled back.
“I think there’s another part of my body that needs to be massaged.”
“Oh?” I asked, feigning innocence as I slid against his shaft. “What part?”
“I think my cock needs a deep tissue massage,” Mark grinned.
“An intimate, deep tissue massage?”
“As deep as possible, Mare.”
I slid up just a little bit more, felt the head of his cock nudging at my pussy. “I think I can help you out with that, hun.”
He groaned loudly, his eyes squeezing shut, as I slowly slid my pussy down the length of his cock. It felt so wonderful as his cock rubbed through my sheath, filling me up as I took him all the way to the root. I leaned back, squeezing his cock with my pussy and then relaxed. I didn’t move my hips; I just massaged his cock with my cunt’s muscles.
“Christ, that’s driving me crazy!” he groaned, his hands finding my breasts.
He rolled a nipple between his fingers, the pleasure making it harder to resist moving my hips. I kept squeezing and relaxing, a bonfire blazing inside me. It grew harder and harder to stay still. That fire demanded to be put out, and burned with a frustrated agony through me.
“Fuck!” I gasped, then started bouncing rapidly on his cock, my breasts jiggling up and down. I needed to cum, I needed to soothe the fire burning inside me. “My horny stallion! Flood me with your cum! Extinguish my flames! Oh, Mark! Oh, yes! Yes, yes, yes!”
I ground my clit into his groin, and twisted my hips, letting his cock rub harder on different spots inside my pussy. I threw my head back, my auburn hair wildly flying about my head as I fucked my husband. His hands were on my ass, squeezing the plump flesh. He pulled me up and slammed me back down on his cock. Over and over, churning me up inside.
“Fuck, Mare!” he groaned! “Oh, fuck! I’m gonna cum!”
“Do it! Cum in me!” My voice sound shrill; I neared my limits.
He grunted, an animalistic growl, and then his cock flooded my pussy. My orgasm was intense. Agonizing pleasure surged through every nerve in my body, and tensed every muscle. I collapsed onto his oily chest, gasping and writhing. His strong arms wrapped around me as I continued to quake, making me feel safe and loved.
“Everything’s going to be fine,” he whispered, and I realized I was crying. The fear I had bottled up released with my orgasm.
I kissed my husband. Everything would be fine, and tomorrow would go off without a hitch.
Tuesday, November 18th, 2014 – Mark Glassner – I-5 at Seattle City Limits
“Do you know how to use that dagger?” I asked Jessica as she fingered the hilt of the knife strapped to her waist. She had been nervously stroking the hilt the entire limo ride to the meeting.
“Not really,” Jessica admitted. “But, just in case something happens…”
“It makes you feel a little safer?” I asked her.
“Yes, Master,” she smiled.
“If anything does happen, just run for the guards,” Mary told her. “Don’t try to fight if you can help it. Lilith’s daughters, well, they are very dangerous.”
“Of course, Mistress,” Jessica sighed, fidgeting with nervous energy.
My own stomach was a pit of vipers, writhing and wiggling. I couldn’t eat breakfast, and only had a cup of coffee, which just made my stomach feel worse. Mary leaned against me, her body trembling occasionally, even if her face seemed serene. She had grown adept at hiding her true feelings from the public over the last year, and you would have to know her intimately to see the signs of her tension. I gave her shoulders a squeeze, and kissed her forehead.
“We’re here, sir,” Leah reported, slowing the limo down.
“Be safe, Master,” Violet said, hugging me before I got out of the limo. All the sluts were in there, plus Sam and Candy, the diamond-tipped rods ready to be used to bind Lucifer if the worst should happen.
I slid out of the limo into the weak, November sun; it barely did anything to take the bite out of the cold air. I helped my wife out of the limo, and she adjusted her body armor, stitched with protective spells. Soldiers were spilling out around us from their Strykers, setting up their defensive positions. Down the highway, I could see the mass of Lilith’s daughters doing the exact same thing.
I summoned the ghosts; it had been a while since I had needed them. The Patriots were wiped out, and Lilith had been quiet, so I hadn’t needed them since last May on the airplane. Twenty-two figures formed out of the mists, beautiful women in shining, silver armor and holding silvered weapons.
I blinked; twenty-two. I recounted. No-one had died in the last six months, so where did the twenty-second ghost come from. I stared at them, trying to figure out whom the new spirit was. Then I saw a ghost with sandy-blonde hair pinned up in a tight bun.
“Noel?” Mary gasped.
“Hi,” she said, a little stiffly.
“I freed you.” I felt flustered, unsorted. Seeing Noel dead and bound to me was so unexpected that I didn’t know what else to say.
“I’m not bound to you,” Noel answered, then glanced at Chasity. “I didn’t want to be apart from my loved ones.”
“What?” I asked, glancing at Mary. “You seemed pretty set against us.”
“Not you,” Noel answered frostily.
“It’s Chasity,” Mary explained, rolling her eyes. “Didn’t you see them together those last few days before, um, the attack.”
“Really?”
“God, you’re blind,” my wife said with a fond smile. “How did you die, Noel?”
“I made a mistake,” she answered; a look of self-hatred flashed across her face. “More than one, actually.”
“Well…I…” My voice trailed off. What did you say to the dead? I cleared my throat. “Be ready. If anything goes wrong, I want you racing across the bridge.”
“You can count on us, Master,” Chasity assured.
“It’s time, Master,” Jessica said, her hand gripping the dagger hilt.
Mary gripped her shoulder. “It’ll be okay.”
She released the dagger, blushing slightly. “Of course, Mistress. Shall we.”
Mary took my arm, her other hand resting on the bronze dagger. Just in case. We walked in silence down the concrete roadway, Jessica trailing behind us. Tufts of grass grew from cracks in the concrete; no-one had used this stretch of I-5 in a year, and it was starting to show some deterioration. Bands of dirt were caked on the road in undulating ripples; erosion washed down the highway by the heavy rains.
Down the highway, Lilith strode forward, trailed by Lana and Chantelle. Both women had daggers tucked into their belts, and dressed in utilitarian clothes: loose fitting pants for mobility, long-sleeved shirts, and bulletproof vests no doubt looted from Seattle P.D.
We stopped ten feet from the demoness. Lilith looked like a pin-up model, with her huge breasts and voluminous, silver hair that looked tousled, like she had just been fucked. She wore a sheer, red dress, translucent enough to see her flesh where it pressed against the fabric. A smile glinted on her lips, dangerous, victorious; my stomach sank.
I pushed Mary behind me, my eyes scanning for the trap.
“I’ve waited so long for this day,” Lilith purred, violet eyes shining in triumph.
My heart was pounding; this was very wrong. My eyes flickered about. Where was the trap? Was it a haja cloaking itself about to fire a beam—
“No, Mark!” Mary shouted, then screamed in pain.
I whirled about. My heart stopped. Mary was falling to the ground, her shoulder bloody; Jessica stood over her, clutching a dagger. The black blade, crudely made, was red with my wife’s blood. White-hot anger flashed through my mind, a rage that wiped all thoughts. Jessica roared inhumanly as her dagger thrust at me.
I summoned my sword, and swung at my treacherous slut. The Celestial Gold blade glinted in the sunlight, arching right for Jessica’s neck. I didn’t care that it wouldn’t hurt her—she was human, and the blade only hurt the supernatural—she attacked my wife, and the traitorous bitch was going to pay!
The golden blade cut through Jessica from shoulder to hip. She fell apart and changed. Her caramel skin rippled, turning a pasty white; her body shrank, becoming emaciated; her lustrous, honey-brown hair bleached pale. She was one of Lilith’s daughters! One of Lilith’s daughters stabbed my wife!
“Lilith!” I roared, rounding on the fucking demoness.
“I…” The fucking bitch blanched in fear, and took a step back. She looked wildly around, then glanced at Lana and Chantelle “Defend me!”
“For my Goddess!” blonde Lana yelled, drawing a bronze dagger and charging me as Lilith fled past her.
I slammed my sword into Lana’s face. The blade didn’t bite, she was human, but the force of the blow broke her nose, and slammed her body into the concrete. She groaned, her eyes rolling back into her head as she lay in a daze. Chantelle danced towards me, stabbing with her dagger. I swung, and she nimbly dodged. She moved with grace as she spun away from my every thrust and swing.
I growled in rage; every second I wasted on her, Lilith was getting closer to her army. I left myself open; Chantelle took the bait. Her arm shot forward, dagger gleaming. I caught her wrist, broke it, and slammed the hilt of my sword into her face. She fell senseless beside her wife.
Lilith was halfway back to her army, struggling to run in her dress and heels. I could overtake her. I was as fast as any Olympic sprinter. She would be dead before she reached her monsters. A warning voice whispered in my mind. What about the world? What about Lucifer?
I hesitated.
“Mark,” Mary gasped weakly.
I turned to my wife. She was still on the ground. The cut didn’t seem that bad, so why was she still down? I glanced at that blade; it looked evil. I knelt down and grasped my wife’s hand, thinking she must be poisoned. I concentrated on her being healed. “Tsariy!” I cried out, and the scarlet light engulfed her.
“It hurts, Mark,” she cried out.
The wound on her shoulder was still there, the shock punching me in the gut. The spell had failed to heal her? Why? How?
“Oh, God, Mark!”
I must have done the spell wrong. I can heal her. I can save my wife. “Tsariy!” Her blood flowed dark from the wound; my tears were hot on my cheek. “Why didn’t it work?” I shouted into the air. I kissed her hand. “Hang in there, Mare!”
Around me, the ghosts surged by, meeting Lilith’s daughters with swords and guns. I was vaguely aware of the Legion opening fire down the highway. I didn’t care. My wife was dying, and I couldn’t help her. I tried a third time, and a fourth time, to heal her. She can’t die! She can’t die! Please, please, please! I tried a fifth time; she grew weaker, her eyes closing; her breath shallowed.
“Don’t die, Mare! Stay with me!”
“What’s wrong?”
I looked up, hope surging through me. Sam was here; she’d know what to do. “The dagger,” I cried, struggling to speak coherently. “She’s dying! Save her, Sam!”
The Asian woman bent down, looking at the dagger. “There’s a maker mark on the tang. It looks like the Mark of Qayin. See the circle and the diagonal slash across it.” She held up the hilt, gingerly, pointing at where the blade met hilt. “It is one of the three Mispachs. She’ll be dead in minutes. I’m sorry.” There were tears beading in her eyes.
“There has to be a cure!” She couldn’t die. Not my Mary. She was my world. Nothing would matter without her. “Please, Sam!” I hugged my wife’s dying body to my chest, felt her weak breath on my cheek. “I can’t lose her!”
“You have to find the person whom the dagger’s bound to, and spill their lifeblood on Mary,” Sam replied. “It wasn’t this…thing.” She motioned to the creature that posed as Jessica. “I can see her blood has splashed on Mary.”
“Lilith?”
“Probably,” Sam answered.
I had missed the chance to catch her, now I would never cut through all of her daughters in time. I could feel the bit of Mary tied to my soul fading away. Her flame was guttering out; I was going to lose my wife. Her breathing slowed; her heart flagged.
She was going to die.
“Please!” I shouted at her. “Don’t go, Mare!”
Only a tiny tongue of flame still burned in her, consuming the last of her life’s wick. She was going to burn out—unless I could fuel her flame. I reached into my soul, and touched that part of me that was tied to Mary’s, the deep connection between us. Spells, wishes, and love bound us. We shared Molech’s power. We shared our dreams.
We could share our life-force.
I forced my life through our bond; the flame burned brighter, consuming my wick.
I groaned, my head swimming. Mary was quickly burning through my life-force. Her heart beat faster, and her breathing grew a little stronger. I had bought her a little time, but not much. Maybe ten minutes before my life ran out and we both died. Exhaustion swept through me as she consumed my life’s candlewick. I felt like I had run all day; I didn’t have the strength to kill Lilith and fuel my wife’s life. So I tapped all those other chains inside me: the sluts, Mary’s family, the maids, the hundreds of bodyguards. Their energy flowed into me, and my energy flowed into Mary.
“Mark,” Mary whispered, her eyes fluttering open. A tremulous smile spread on her lips “I was falling into darkness. And then your hand reached out, and pulled me back into the light.”
“Shh, It’ll be okay,” I told her. “I have to do something.”
“Okay,” she whispered, her eyes closing. “I’m so tired. I’ll just rest here.”
“I love you, Mare.”
She smiled, then slipped into unconsciousness again.
“What did you do?” Sam asked. “I felt something. You’re drawing on all of our life-forces?”
“We’ll keep her alive until all our lives are exhausted,” I told her. I spotted a Legion radio operator. “You, radio General Brooks. Send in the troops! Butcher Lilith’s daughters!”
I stood up. Lilith was going to die. I didn’t care that I would free Lucifer and damn the world to darkness and pain. My love was dying, and I could not give one shit about what it would cost to save her life. “Get ready with the backup plan,” I told Sam. She paled and nodded. “I’ll be back with Lilith.”
I drew my bronze dagger, and began to carve my portal. Lilith was a coward. She’d flee back to her lair—Seattle’s City Hall.
Fiona Cavanagh – Seattle City Hall
The air boomed with explosions. I watched the horizon as black smoke billowed in every direction. Jets screamed overhead, dropping bombs on the masses of Lilith’s daughters forming up down the street from City Hall. Something had gone wrong at the meeting; Mark was invading. Fear clenched at my stomach, and I glanced at Thamina, at her stomach. She was two months pregnant with our child, and the world was falling apart around us.
I had to get us out of here.
Lilith’s limo screeched to a halt; our Goddess strode out, breathless. She was drenched in sweat and flustered, like she had ran a marathon. Her violet eyes were wild as she strode up the steps of City Hall, and her silver hair was frazzled. She didn’t look like a Goddess at all, but a frightened woman.
Why did I ever follow this pathetic creature?
“Your damned daughter failed, Fiona!” she snarled at me. “All she had to do was stab Mark, and the stupid cunt couldn’t even do that!”
“What?” I asked in confusion. Ziki was masquerading as Jessica, spying on Mark. Why did she try to stab Mark? “Is she okay?”
Lilith waved her hand dismissively. “She was always on a suicide mission.” My blood went cold. Lilith sent my daughter to her death! I clenched my fist, trying to control the anger inside me. “Thamina, tell your daughter to unleash the Wormwood! I promised Mark what would happen if he attacked me. Let every filthy man on this planet die.”
“Yes, Lilith,” Thamina said, almost choking on her words.
“I’ll be in the bunker,” the phony goddess snapped, scurrying inside the building. She flinched as another explosion rocked the building, fear trembling in her eyes.
My daughter is dead. Lilith sent her to her death. My daughter is dead.
“I’m sorry,” Thamina whispered, then caught me as my knees buckled beneath me. “We need to stay strong. This is our chance.”
“Our chance?” I mumbled. My daughter is dead.
“Lilith is done,” Thamina continued. “We have to act now, Fiona. For us. For our unborn daughter. We have to stop Tir and Vera.” A steely resolve crossed Thamina’s face. “We have to kill them. They’ll unleash Wormwood no matter what we do. They’re devoted to Lilith.”
I glanced at Thamina. “Tir’s your daughter.” My daughter is dead. Anger burned inside me. Lilith sent my daughter to her death!
“I know.” Her steely resolve wavered, tears brimming in her eyes. “I know her. She loves Lilith and will carry out her final orders no matter what. We need to do the right thing. For our daughter.”
I pushed my grief down, and placed a hand on her belly. “For our daughter.” I took a deep breath. “I’ll take care of Tir.”
“No, she’s my daughter.”
“You sure?”
“No.” Her voice was hard as steel, hard as diamond. “But it has to be done.”
Vera and Tir were waiting in Thamina’s office for us to open the portals so they could escape Seattle and spread the plague if Lilith died. I drew my dagger; Thamina drew hers. I walked over to Vera, a sickly-looking creature, her skin as thin as paper.
“My daughter,” Thamina said, and threw her arms around Tir’s neck, hugging the lithe woman to her, and stroked her tawny hair entwined with black feathers. “I love you so very much.”
“I love you, too, mother,” Tir replied, hugging Thamina back.
My bronze dagger, enchanted to harm spiritual flesh, took Vera in the heart; surprise froze on her face as her blood oozed over my hand, black as death. With a gurgling sigh, she slid backwards, and flopped onto the ground.
“Mother?” Tir asked plaintively, sounding like a little girl. I turned to see Thamina helping Tir slump to the ground, her dagger stuck in her daughter’s back. “Why, mother?”
“I couldn’t let you kill any more people,” Thamina cried. “I’m so sorry. I love you, Tir.”
Tir’s sapphire eyes widened, and her body stiffened. She opened her mouth to speak, but only thick blood came out. She twitched once, then went still. Thamina collapsed on her daughter’s body, shaking as she sobbed her grief into her murdered daughter’s flesh. “I’m so sorry, Tir! What did I do? I’m so sorry!”
I knelt beside my wife, hugged her body, and grieved for both our daughters.
Mark Glassner – Seattle City Hall
I was death as I strode through the building with Chasity at my side. Every daughter of Lilith fell before my blade or the weapons of my ghosts. Even now, the spirits were sweeping through the building, trying to find Lilith and killing any monsters they found. My blade rose and fell, hacking through monstrous flesh; gore splattered my golden armor.
“Lilith!” I roared, and kicked in the next door.
Fiona looked up at me, her face stained with tears. Two monsters lay dead in the room, bronze daggers buried in their flesh. Next to Fiona, Thamina sobbed onto the chest of a tawny-haired monster, while Fiona comforted her. Sam had drilled the various aspects of Lilith’s daughters into my head; one of the corpses was a dever, and the other was a tir, both plague-causing monsters.
“She’s not here,” Fiona hissed. “You can find her in the bunker!”
“What trick is this?” I demanded.
“That bitch needs to pay! She killed my daughter!” Fiona snarled at me. “The bunker’s in the basement.” She pulled an amulet from around her neck and tossed it to me. “You’ll need that to enter. And Mark…”
“Yes?” I asked, barely keeping my rage in check. I wanted to squeeze Lilith’s throat with my bare hands. No, I needed to. My hands itched to feel her fear pulsing through her throat.
“Make the bitch suffer!”
“She will,” I promised, clutching the amulet in my hand.
“Mark,” a pitiful voice croaked. Thamina’s voice. “You don’t need to worry about Lilith unleashing the plague. W-we killed…” Her voice trailed off as a fresh bout of tears overwhelmed her. I glanced at the two corpses, and nodded in understanding.
“The basement!” I barked at Chasity. “Recall the ghosts!”
“Yes, sir!” she snapped.
As we marched through the building, more and more ghosts streamed silver through the walls, following us, their faces grim. There were eleven by the time we descended the stairs; the other ten unsummoned by wounds from Lilith’s daughters.
“For Mother!” roared a leonine woman, leaping out of an alcove as we reached the basement. She spat a spine that struck 32 in the eye; the Korean ghost melted into mist.
The leonine monster barreled straight at me. I didn’t have fucking time for this! My sword flickered; her head went sailing, rolling to rest before an iron-black door carved with symbols. I strode to the door, kicking the head savagely down the hall, and held up the bronze amulet Fiona gave me. It was triangular, carved with a single character, and matched a recessed hole in the door. I shoved it into the slot, and there was a groaning shudder as the iron door swung slowly outward.
“Mark,” Lilith purred as I strode in. She was naked, her lush body invitingly on display as she stretched out on a table. Her Lust washed uselessly over me; I was armored by the Gift. “Your wife was a beautiful woman, for a mortal, but think of the delights you could have with me as your consort. I know you grieve for her, but that will pass in time. And together, think of all we can accomplish!”
I strode forward, letting my sword vanish into golden motes and my armor dissolve. She writhed; a serpent waiting for its prey, triumph shining in her eyes. “Yes, come to me. Together, Mark, together we can—”
My fist gripped her throat, silencing the bitch; I slammed her back, delighting in her head snapping against the table. “Mary still lives,” I smiled. “For now.” I let my words sink into her, watched the fear blossom in her eyes. She clawed at my hand; I ignored the burning pain of her raking nails, and savored her terror. “Get me something to bind the bitch.”
“Over here, Master,” a weak voice said.
I glanced; I almost let go of Lilith in shock. A pale, emaciated Jessica was manacled to the wall in the corner of the bunker. I could see her ribs, and her skin hung in loose folds around her stomach. The ghosts flowed around her, freeing her from the chains, and helped Jessica to her feet. She tottered over to me, a look of disbelieving hope on her face.
“You came for me, Master,” she sobbed.
“I didn’t know you were missing,” I answered, my hand tightening about Lilith’s throat. “But you’re safe now.” I left Lilith to the ghosts, and the demoness howled as Karen took out her revenge. I hugged Jessica’s bony body.
“Master,” she sobbed. “I dreamed of this so many times. Please let this be real!”
“It is,” I whispered, stroking her skin. “Tsariy!”
Red light engulfed the bony woman as I healed her. Her flesh filled out, the muscles growing beneath my hands, and the trembling withdrew as her strength returned. The light faded. She was still dirty, but no longer looked half-starved. She smiled at me, and kissed me with passion and writhed her warm, lithe form against me. My body responded for a moment, but I could still feel Mary burning through our life-forces.
“Later,” I whispered to her. “Mary’s dying. That has to wait.”
Jessica’s dark eyes widened in fear. “Of course, Master.”
I carved the Portal, then threw Lilith over my shoulder, and strode into the Shadows. The demoness struggling in vain against her bonds. She had been cruelly bound by Karen, who seemed to delight in hurting the demoness. And Lilith so deserved to suffer. If Mary’s life was bleeding away, I would have the demoness experience all the torments I could inflict upon her.
“I can give you pleasures no mortal man has experienced,” she begged.
“I have all the pleasures I need.”
I led us through the Shadows to Bradley Park in South Hill. Months ago, we chose this as the spot to execute Lilith. It was a wide, open field of grass surrounded by trees and a small lake. There were no civilians living nearby anymore. The entirety of the bodyguards had formed a perimeter around the field, hunkered down and ready for anything.
Mary lay unconscious in the center of the field. The golden rod—necessary to bind the Devil—lay next to her, ready for her to wield it. Around the field, five women—Sam, Candy, Alison, Desiree, and Xiu, Jessica’s replacement—stood around Mary, forming a large pentagram. Each held a brass rod, ready to help my wife focus the binding spell when she recovered.
“Get to safety, Jessica,” I ordered. “Chasity, you and your spirits will surround us.”
Chasity nodded as Jessica ran towards the perimeter where the other sluts waited. Anger burned in me. Jessica had been in that room for a year, never allowed to get up, to even be free of her manacles. I dragged Lilith by the hair towards Mary, savoring her screams as she wiggled in her tight bonds, and waited for Jessica to clear the field; I owed my slut that much for all she suffered for me the last year.
Once she reached safety, I yanked Lilith up by her silver hair so she knelt above Mary. Chasity and Noel grabbed her, holding her struggling form as I raised up my sword. I focused on the back of the demoness’s neck.
“Please, Mark,” she begged. “Your queen! Think of all we can do together. Think of the power we’ll have!”
“For Mary,” I whispered, and condemned the world to darkness.
Power surged into me, an overwhelming, lustful energy as Lilith’s blood spilled red upon my wife’s body. Mary gasped, her eyes shooting open. Then she shuddered, moaning with lust as Lilith’s power flowed from my soul into hers. I groaned, my knees buckling, as the incredible lust burned inside me. Desire burned in my beating heart, then pumped through my arteries, spreading the passion to every inch of my body. I fell to my knees beside my wife, struggling to contain this newfound ardor—the succubus’s lust.
“Mark!” she gasped, her hands reaching mine. Blood stained her body. “What did you do?”
“I saved you.”
The earth groaned, a deep, violent moan rising up from the depths. Then the world shook. I grabbed my wife’s hands, and held onto her as the ground rolled, rippled, cracked. Trees creaked and snapped, and streetlamps crashed to the ground. I pulled her to me, and we clutched each other as we were tossed about. The sound of a thousand, a million, a billion souls crying out in agony filled the air as the veil between worlds was torn asunder.
The screams grew louder. The earth shook harder. I could feel the ground rippling like waves beneath us, leaving gaps and tears in the grassy field. I thought I was going to die; Mary clutched me with a death’s grip. I had killed us all. The world was going to tear itself to pieces. All I could do was hold onto my wife and hope.
I couldn’t think; the screams of the damned overwhelming my ears, driving into my brain like hot needles. I squeezed Mary tighter. I killed us all for love. I roared wordlessly, adding one more, terrified voice to the symphony of agony resounding through the fabric of reality. Mary trembled; her fear yelling in my ear; her arms wrapped like steel chains about my chest.
The quaking lessened. Darkness fell upon us.
I looked up; the sun was slowly being swallowed by darkness, working its way in from the outside edge. This wasn’t an eclipse; no moon or other celestial body was slowly passing in front of the sun and blocking its light from the earth. A black stain spilled across its surface, spreading insidiously, the yellow orb shrinking, shrinking, until only a pinpoint of light remained.
And then it was gone.
Everything became silent; the earth stopped rumbling, and the screams of the damned were snuffed out. I stood up, gripping my sword. A few streetlamps had survived the earthquake, flickering to life, mere pools amidst the ink of night. Mary stood up beside me, the golden rod gripped in her hands; disbelief painted on her face.
“You should have let me die,” she whispered in horror. “The world, Mark!”
“I couldn’t,” I told her, staring into her green eyes. I reached out and squeezed her hand; she squeezed me back. “I’m sorry, Mare. I just couldn’t let you die.”
“Of course you couldn’t, Mark,” a voice boomed from everywhere and from nowhere. “You love her. It’s absolutely amazing what a human in love will do. They are capable of doing absolutely any monstrous thing!”
A light bloomed next to us, burning my eyes. The light was so bright it hurt even through my closed eyelids, through my hands covering my face. A new sun was born to replace the one swallowed up by darkness.
Lucifer, the Shining One, the Son of the Morning, was free.
The light dimmed; I opened my eyes. He stood a few feet away, still shining bright, but no longer blinding. I gripped my sword, stepping before my wife, and I faced the Devil. Mary and the other five women began their binding spell. I had condemned the world to darkness, and now I had the chance to save it. I pushed down my fear. I just had to keep him distracted for a minute. Then he’d be bound forever.
Just one minute for Mary and the rest to recite the spell seven times, and then he’d be trapped in the diamond for eternity.
His light was bright, almost pure white, but scintillated with colors around the edges. I could vaguely make out the figure of a man in the center of the nimbus. Everything about him glowed, except his eyes: two black pits focused on my sword. His face shone too radiant to see his expression, but I could feel his smug smile nonetheless.
“Do you think you can trap me, Mark?” he asked with amusement, black pits focusing on Mary as she chanted. “I have known all of your plans from the beginning. This ritual will fail.”
“Then why did you come before us? You stepped right into our trap. Can you feel it? The walls of your cage are around you, and the door is about to be slammed shut.” The ritual was almost finished. “You’ll be trapped forever, Lucifer.”
Lucifer laughed, his voice booming across the field. “Unless the trap is mine, worm. I led the hosts of heaven once, and you think to outwit me? I shaped your entire life. I nudged the people around you, whispered into your dreams, and led you like a bull by the nose ring into summoning me. I changed the destiny of countless people to guide you to this exact moment.
“I released Lilith, and played the stupid whore like a lyre. I tricked even the mighty Archangel Gabriel. He destroyed the last of his nuns, and catapulted you into godhood with that attack. And you think you can trick me? Deceive me? Do you think you had any more chance of succeeding than a little worm crawling on his belly in the dirt thinking he’s better than the filth he wallows in?
“I predicted you would build the Matmown, so I wormed my spy into your confidence. You loved her, fucked her, and made her your whore, never knowing the serpent nestling in her breast. I know all of your secrets. I know exactly the spell you think to trap me with. And it will not work!”
None of my sluts could be spies. They loved me and were bound with the Zimmah spell. This was all some desperate attempt to stop the inevitable. “You need better lies, Lucifer,” I laughed. He wasted all of his time; Mary was on the last phrase. “You made the classic villain mistake; you shouldn’t have monologued. It’s too late to stop the spell now.”
Lucifer glowed more brightly, shining with triumph. The idiot.
Mary spoke the last word; the diamond tipping her golden rod flared to life for a moment, then exploded into dust. I looked over my shoulder; my wife stared in disbelief at the diamond. What went wrong? Did one of the women mispronounce? But they had practiced for months. All of them could say the phrase flawlessly. Unless one of them really was a spy. No, that couldn’t be. My sluts all loved—
“The fool trusted me, my bridegroom,” Alison breathed, throwing her rod to the ground. “Just like you said he would. I have completed my final task and await my reward.”
Shock passed through me like a physical weight, and I staggered back. That couldn’t be possible. Not my Alison!
“And you shall be rewarded, my bride,” Lucifer promised.
To be continued…