8. Judgment
Azariah
O pening my eyes was a chore. He had put me upside down again so the blood would drip from my wings to my head. It dried over my eyes and stayed crusted there, even after my wings had healed.
My blurry vision slowly came into focus as my consciousness returned. I did my regular limb check—fingers, toes, and wings. Ugh, that one still hurts .
I tried to bend the primary joint in my left wing, and the shooting pain ran all the way to my neck. It wasn’t broken anymore if I could move it, though. I just had to go easy so it could fully heal before that ugly demon came back.
The chain-torture contraption Kimaris held me in worked on some kind of complex, hellish pulley system.
He liked to have me constrained and hovering, like in the middle of a spider’s web, while he pulled and pushed on the chains.
Sometimes my wings broke, other times my arms or legs were pulled out of their sockets.
He sure liked variety, that demon. Today was apparently a flip-the-angel-on-his-head day.
My body was tightly bound, with my wings only chained loosely.
Kimaris enjoyed fucking with them the most.
“Lovely,” I groaned, taking in the feathers littering the ground around me. Their golden sheen remained on the quilled end, but the top end had become an inky black, like a raven’s feather. The color shifted from black to gold abruptly, like someone had dipped my wing in an oil spill.
I always knew the corruption of Hell would set in and alter my appearance. I just didn’t expect it to happen so quickly. Or maybe I’d simply lost track of time since I’d been down here. Time flies when you’re being tortured by demons.
My chain links clinked together in an echoey, metallic sound as I twisted around, trying to get my bearings. Sure enough, small golden horns had also sprouted from the top of my wing joint. Great.
I stilled at the sound of Kimaris' large, hoofed footsteps clamoring through the corridor. Shit, he was coming back sooner than normal. Normally he waited for me to fully heal before starting up my torture again.
The big demon was pissed—I could tell by the aggressive swing of his shoulders and his snorted breaths, reminiscent of a bull. He paced around the cavern at first, seemingly taking no notice of me hanging upside down in the center.
“Oh don’t leave me in suspense,” I taunted, pushing back the fear welling up in my chest. Fear was a human emotion, one bred as a result of mortality.
My time on earth must have acclimated me to it.
“Tell your favorite punching bag what’s got you all upset.
I’d love to know one reason why you enjoy torturing me so much. ”
Kimaris spun to face me with a growl. “I enjoy torturing you because you’re a holy, winged prick that sucks God’s cock. I don’t need another reason.”
“That’s half-correct,” I said. “But I wouldn’t be here if I really sucked His cock now, would I?” I forced a grin. “He’d never let me go if He gave me such an honor.”
“Shut up,” the demon hissed, returning to his pacing. “Whoever made you think you were any good at it is delusional.”
“I use my teeth on you because demons love pain.” I pulled my lips back and clenched my teeth with a loud click, enjoying Kimaris' ensuing wince. “But oh, I’ll worship a cock that’s deserving of it.”
Pissing Kimaris off was my only joy since being cast down to Hell for my judgment, and I reveled in the glare he threw at me.
He’d tried to break me since day one, intent on making me submissive and compliant, but he underestimated what an angel of my caliber was capable of.
I did not obey, and that was both my downfall and my greatest strength.
“No wonder you fell,” Kimaris sneered. “A holy creature who enjoys such impure activities. It’s too bad you weren’t born a demon.”
“I was not cast down from Heaven for what I like to do with my mouth.”
“No? For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment —ring a bell?”
“Very good, you can read,” I praised. “What you forget is sin is relative. Complex creatures such as myself are even capable of committing more than one at the same time. So you’re not wrong, Kimaris, but giving otherworldly blowjobs is not the reason why I’m here.”
“I told you to shut up!” The aggravated demon lunged and I willed myself not to flinch. “If you weren’t so fucking annoying, I was about to offer you a bargain. But it seems your favorite thing to do with that mouth is make meaningless noise.”
My lips clamped shut as I forced my facial expression to stay neutral.
A bargain, he said? I shouldn’t have felt a glimmer of hope at that word—I was in Hell after all, to be used as a demon’s toy while waiting for judgment.
He was just trying to break me again. King Belial would never allow his subordinates to grant leniency, especially not to an angel like me who could feed their arms with my holy strength.
I had to stay strong and wait for my day of judgment.
“That’s better.” Kimaris dragged a perverse, clawed hand across my face. “Nice and quiet.”
I forced myself to lean into his touch. My wing still needed more time to heal. If I pleased him, he might grant me a bit of relief before the next torture session. But nothing was ever a guarantee with these fickle demons.
“I might have some use for you.” Kimaris stroked a thumb over my lip and I stuck my tongue out to lick it. “No, not like that, angel.”
“I’m willing to show you my skills without the use of my teeth,” I offered. “You’ll be the only horned brute down here who got sucked off properly by an angel, I can guarantee that.”
“What did I say about shutting up?” Kimaris whispered almost sweetly, his hands moving to cradle the back of my neck.
Oh yeah, I absolutely did not want him to break my neck again. That took forever to heal and I was paralyzed from the chest down for most of it. So I did my best to look compliant, slamming my lips shut while trying not to clench my jaw against whatever he had coming for me.
“How would you like to walk the earth again?” He caressed my cheek bones, red-orange eyes brightening as he watched for my reaction.
I hid my surprise and blossoming hope behind a puzzled expression.
That was the last thing I expected him to offer me.
Demons never offered freedom. Ever. He had to think I was desperate, and fuck, maybe I was.
My judgment could be centuries away, and as strong as I was, I was no mindless machine. One day, my resolve would crack.
“The current earth that now resembles the vast majority of Hell?” I said in my best aloof voice. “I suppose it wouldn’t be much different from my current situation.”
“You wouldn’t be chained.” Kimaris continued stroking me in his mock display of tenderness. “You could spread these beautiful wings of yours and feel the sun again. Wouldn’t you like that?”
Yes. Oh Lord yes, so fucking much.
I knew I had to answer carefully, to not make him think I was eager. He’d use my love of earth and humanity against me if he knew how badly I really wanted to go back. Sunlight and having use of my wings wasn’t even the half of it.
“Are you that taken with my cock-sucking skills? I’m flattered Kim, but I haven’t even shown you the best part.”
“It’s not your mouth that’s the most useful to me.” He tapped a long black claw on my forehead. “But what’s in here.”
“You’re going to have to be a bit more specific. There’s more up there than your kind is used to.” I stretched my wing with as little movement as I could muster, so as to not catch his attention. Damn, still sore.
“Your knowledge,” he said. “Of humans and earth’s landscape from your travels. I may need you to find something for me.”
“Well the landscape has changed quite a bit since I last walked. I hope you’re not looking for, say, a set of keys, ‘cause those are long gone.”
“Must I warn you again, you feathered piece of shit?” Kimaris yanked on a chain and my vision dotted with black spots. The pain was so intense, I thought I might pass out again.
“Sorry. Sorry…” Deep, gasping breaths wracked my bound body. Lord, it hurt so much worse when I was close to fully healed. I could only pray Kimaris wouldn’t know or be able to tell. I’d crack long before my judgment if he exploited that.
“If you find what I’m missing,” he returned to his low, husky voice, “I’ll take the chains away. For good.”
Anything. I’ll find a sewing needle in the Marianna’s Trench if that’s what you need.
“And just when I was adopting this as one of my kinks,” I sighed. I could never show eagerness for what he offered, not even when I wanted it more than anything. Demons lied and manipulated. It was how so many souls broke so easily.
“Cut the act, angel,” he snarled. “You’re suffering here. It’s as obvious as those horns sprouting from your wings.”
“I thought suffering was the whole point.”
“It is, but you get no enjoyment from this.” He ran one dark claw from my wing down my chest, back to my face.
“You wouldn’t have been cast down, facing judgment, if you were like the other fallen.
” He almost looked like he pitied me. “You don’t have it in you to rise as a fallen angel. You’re still loyal to your God above.”
I bit back every snarky reply that rose up in argument.
Because he was right. I didn’t have it in me to fully embrace Hell like Lucifer and the brethren who followed him.
I still believed in the Lord’s teachings and will, even if we disagreed on how best to carry them out.
I could hold out on torture for years, maybe even centuries.
But eventually Hell would take its hold on me, as was already evident by my wings.
And by the time it did, would my judgment day even matter?
“What will you have me find for you?” I relented in a shameful whisper.
Kimaris smiled with cruel pleasure. “A succubus by the name of Deyva.”
He pressed a palm to my forehead, shoving imagery into my mind of a beautiful woman.
Sinfully beautiful, with Hell’s touch gleaming in the golden horns, and divinely beautiful too, with those luscious curves that only Heaven could design.
It’d been a long time since I’d enjoyed the company of a succubus.
I saw her from Kimaris' perception, his memories, and nearly retched at some of the things he did to her.
Fuck. And I thought I got a raw deal.
“She’s…on earth?” I blinked, wishing I could shake the imagery from my mind. “Why? There are so few living humans left to feed from.”
“Your only task is to find her for me, not ask questions as to why she’s there,” he barked. “You are not fully corrupted, so you may be able to find her in places demonkind cannot reach.”
So she’s hiding from him in some kind of holy place. Interesting .
“And if I return her to you,” I ventured cautiously, “I won’t be chained anymore?”
“I’ll do you one better,” Kimaris grinned. “I’ll make your judgment with King Belial a top priority.”
This time, I couldn’t school my features and my eyes widened. “You will?”
“You have my word.” He placed a hand over where his heart would be, if he were human.
It was still a gamble. Judgment could mean either a peaceful, final death or an eternity of more suffering. But it was better than not knowing, better than these mind games with Kimaris slowly wearing me down over centuries.
But that succubus. What were her crimes?
Not many hellions deserved the treatment that Kimaris doled out, let alone one of the First Daughters. Whatever she did, she had good reason to hide from him, assuming those images he showed me were real and not sick fantasies.
Angels lived to protect, to guard those in need. To swap my place with hers went against my very nature. But what was one immortal succubus to all of humanity, who were on the brink of extinction?
She may very well be innocent—a victim of Kimaris' exploits, but she could withstand it.
This had already been her home for millenia.
For all I knew, she loved and embraced the hellish flames, the suffering, and the desecration.
Did she even remember her origins? Or did she come to accept the human narratives of succubi, as so many others down here had?
But if she loves Hell, why would she hide?
“What do you say, angel?” Kimaris' claw pressed into my sternum, a warning of what would happen if I chose the wrong option. “Do we have a deal?”
“We do.” I’m sorry, Devya. I’m sure you deserve better, but I must be more corrupt than I thought. “I’ll find the succubus and return her to you.”
“Excellent.”
Without the big demon lifting a finger, the chains moved and loosened their hold on me, as if they were alive.
“Ow!” My head hit the floor with a thunk, the rest of my body crumpling over my head and neck.
The world spun when I rolled to my hands and knees—I must have been upside down longer than I thought. Kimaris gave me no time to orient myself before he grabbed my ankle and proceeded to drag me across the ground.
“Wait, wait!” I hissed in pain as the rocky cavern floor scraped over my back and my wing that was still awkwardly folded underneath me. “I’m not fully healed.”
“I know.” He dragged me to the edge of a cliff, the ground dropping off to nothing but putrid red smoke down below. “And you’ll heal much slower down there. Laws of physics and all that.”
“I—I can’t find her if I’m crippled!”
“Oh no?” He wrapped an inhuman hand around my throat, turning me around so my head hung over the edge. “You’re an angel about to go to a world that’s lost hope. I think you’ll manage.”
“If I can’t fly, I’ll fucking splatter on impact.” Fear flooded me like a dam that had been broken. I needed just a little more time. “And then I’ll be completely useless to you.”
“But you’re immortal, so you’ll live.” The demon’s cruel smile disappeared with a cock of his head. “Yes, my king, in here! How can I be of service?”
He had barely gotten the last word out before he shoved me over the edge.