Chapter 21 – Sariel
The Malebolge: The Trench of Sowers of Discord
I did it. I made the angel forsake his life and fall from grace. I took my revenge in the sweetest possible way, free to finish what I started and twist the knife as he comes to the realization that he will no longer be welcome in Heaven.
So why does the lifeless expression on his face twist the knife in me instead? Why is the hopeless look in his eyes more painful than those years of being the demons’ toy until Ash took me in and gave me the confidence to walk in Hell not as a pawn, but a ruler?
I see him trying to avoid hurting the girl’s feelings by giving her the cold shoulder. At first, they walked hand-in-hand, but at a distance. Now, their bodies touch with each step, like they can’t get enough of the contact. She clings to his side, gazing up at him with a lovestruck expression, just a bit too delulu with the post-orgasm glow to see the male is in a crisis.
Thankfully, the appearance of severed limbs and strewed body parts gives me the excuse I need to stop thinking about this shit. Two sinners shuffle past, one holding his severed head in his fingerless hands, the other missing her arms altogether and Jess cringes back to collide with me.
I gently grab her trembling shoulders. Sometimes I forget there are still occupants of Hell who are unused to such macabre scenes. “Wanna hop on and ride me?” I ask in a whisper. She looks up at me with a raised eyebrow and I expel a huffed laugh. “On my back, poppet, not my dick.”
With a roll of her blue eyes, she nods and gestures for me to lean down. Itha’s just standing there, looking awkward as fuck, his eyes bouncing between the two lovers he just fucked and the two dismembered sinners, obviously not knowing which sight he prefers less.
Once Jess is secured, I slap his back and take the lead. “Come on, Starlight, let’s get out of this shithole.”
An hour later, my pants and boots are smeared with gore knee-high, Jess threatens to puke on me for the fiftieth time, and Ithuriel studiously avoids acknowledging that he just stepped in a pile of entrails.
“Who’s that huge demon up ahead?” Jess asks over the squelch of Itha’s foot dislodging from the trap of guts.
I don’t have to look to know who she means. “He has no known name,” I tell her. “He doesn’t speak, just acts as the bolgia’s executioner, cutting these sinners.”
Itha takes over. “Tearing them apart as they tore apart families, countries, religions.”
He speaks.
Inwardly rolling my eyes, I steady the angel before he falls face-first into a puddle of blood. Okay, he’s way too graceful to fall, I just wanted an excuse to touch him. I had my hand on his dick for all of five seconds and I can still feel its imprint on my skin, still want it inside me like it was inside of Jessica, pumping out its first load. I normally prefer to top, but for this angel, I’d bend over right here in this abattoir.
Surprisingly, he doesn’t flinch away and his gloved hand grazes mine. That simple touch is enough to have precum spurt into my pants. Fuck, I’m pathetic.
Angry at myself, I stride forward with Jess still clinging to my back, ignoring the demon in the center of the trench. His ochre skin stretches over a brutally muscled frame, the heavy weight of his enormous cock swinging between his legs with every strike of his gargantuan sword.
I know when the Nephilim notices the gigantic appendage as her breath catches in her throat on a gasp. “Holy mother of sausages,” she whispers in my ear.
I cackle. “I bet size suddenly does matter, eh poppet?”
Ithuriel sighs behind us. “Don’t be vu–”
“Yeah, yeah,” I interrupt. “I’ll show you vulgar when I slurp your dick down like it’s a straw in my mango and passionfruit bubble tea.”
The angel sputters. “I– I have no idea what you just said.”
Oh, you know enough.
“Can I watch?” the little vixen purrs.
“No.” I shake my head. “You’ll be too busy sucking me off while Itha buries his face in your juicy cunt. We’re gonna make our own human centipede.”
Jessica gags and I can’t hold back my laughter.
“You did not just say that!” she shrieks, drawing the executioner demon’s attention away from the stumbling sinners.
“Howdy!” I wave at him.
“Stop that!” Itha hisses. Spoilsport.
Suddenly, the demon charges, his target our angel companion, his massive jagged sword raised high.
“Fuck!” I growl, tapping Jessica’s leg to let her know she needs to dismount and arm herself. Ithuriel’s sword is already in his hands, the cleanest object in this filth-covered butchery.
As the demon reaches us, he flaps his ragged wings, the gust of air knocking Jess back on her ass. Hissing, I cover her, while Itha takes the first blow, a brutal downward strike, clearly aiming to cleave the angel in half, like he’s used to doing to the sinners. Itha dodges in the last possible moment and the sheer force of the blow cracks open the ground where he was standing just a second ago. Shards of bone and rock fly from the impact area, pebbling my wings as I summon and spread them to protect our girl.
The demon takes another overhead swing, but twists the blade mid-motion, slashing sideways.
“Itha!” I scream, reaching my hand for him as if I could pull him away from the blow. The angel stumbles back, the tip of the demon’s greatsword cutting a line into his mighty armor, splitting open his pale skin. He then grabs my Starlight’s throat, lifting him off the ground. His claws must be as hot as molten metal, because Ithuriel’s skin starts sizzling and smoking at the point of contact.
Just as I summon my axe, the demon slams my angel onto the ground, cracking the stone beneath them. As Ithuriel lies unmoving, an unholy growl releases from my throat.
I hurl my weapon into the demon’s side, aiming for his ribs. The axe embeds itself into the demon’s dirty ochre skin and the beast roars in pain.
“That’s right, motherfucker!” I spit. “You’re in for a world of hurt!”
I sprint at the executioner, grabbing onto the axe’s hilt with both hands and using the momentum of my body to dislodge it from between the demon’s ribs, swinging to the ground and landing on my feet. I throw a glance at the immobile angel before I launch another assault on the monster who dared to hurt him. As I aim for the legs and neck, Jessica joins the fight.
“Get away!” I yell at her. One hit of the demon’s massive fists and she’d be dead.
“No way!” she shouts back, darting around our nemesis. “If he gets to you too, I’m fighting him alone anyway.”
Growling, I start swinging faster, not allowing the demon a moment of respite during which he could turn on the human girl. There’s no way I’m letting her get killed now. Not when I haven’t fucked her yet. Not when she means so much to Itha. To… me.
As the demon leans down to charge me, the mortal jumps onto his back, her scimitar driving into the base of his skull. My mouth opens in shock. I knew the humans could fight; I sparred with Lana enough times to see it for myself. But damn, the Fallen of Purgatory clearly trained all of them to be badass.
I spin at the last moment, avoiding being crushed by the falling demon, Jessica’s scimitar sticking out like a conqueror’s flag. She blows the wild strands of her hair out of her eyes and places her hands on her hips.
“I guess I saved your asses this time, eh?”
I whistle a low tune. “Fuck yeah, you did.”
Sobering, she runs to the prone angel. “Itha!” she gasps, crouching over him to pat the side of his face. He coughs, silvery blood spilling out the side of his mouth.
Damn it. He’s going to need to phase to his ethereal form.
“His organs are crushed,” I tell the mortal. “He needs to turn incorporeal, and when he does, he’ll likely not have the strength to return to a human form until we reach topside.”
Jessica’s lower lip trembles and her fingers flutter in the air above the angel once blood begins to spill from his nose and ears too, not knowing where to touch him.
I crouch down and grab his chin. “Look at me,” I command. “I said, look at me.” I shake him to the sounds of Jess’ protests.
“Why are you so rough?” she asks.
“He needs to hurry the fuck up,” I growl. “He’s incredibly vulnerable like this.”
Itha’s eyes open and he struggles to focus on our faces. Once he comes to the realization that the damage his form sustained is critical, he stubbornly looks at the mortal.
“I won’t let anything happen to her,” I promise. “But if you delay much longer, it’ll be just me and her in the human world, and the first thing I’m doing is taking her to a brothel.”
Even gravely injured, Itha manages to roll his pale gray eyes at me. With one last look at the mortal girl, he turns into pearlescent gray beams of light, the radiance of him reflecting in Jessica’s wide-open, enamored orbs.
This time I roll my eyes. Dusting myself off, I help her stand up too. She’s still gazing at him as I pick up my weapon and flick the demon’s blood off it.
“Can you talk to us?” she asks Ithuriel, her voice dazed. I forgot what effect the angelic form has on humans – it’s been so long since we revealed ourselves to any, even before I fell.
After a beat of hesitation, Itha’s voice rings in our minds.
Yes .
“Woah.” She grabs her head and I snort.
Are you both unharmed?
“Yup,” I answer, wishing he had a back I could slap him on. “You generously offered your body as a punching bag so we could take him down. Actually,” I correct myself, “Jessica took him down, I just distracted him once you stopped moving and being an interesting target.”
Ithuriel’s tendrils of light pulse twice as if in pleasure.
Well done, Jessica.
Why am I suddenly jealous of a baby human?
“Aw, I got lucky.” She waves off the praise. “Is it dead?”
“No,” I hum, pulling her scimitar out of the bottom of the demon’s skull with a squelch. I wipe it off on one of his tattered wings. “In fact, he’s gonna be up pretty damn quick, so we might wanna move.”
“Can I touch you?” Jess asks Ithuriel, ignoring me, still gazing at the angel like a lovestruck fool.
I snort and tug on her ponytail. “In-cor-po-re-al,” I sound out. I kiss her cheek and linger, enjoying the heat of her blush against my lips. “You’ll have to do with me until we’re Above, babe.”
As we stand there embraced, Ithuriel sends his light to wrap around our arms and legs, twining with us until all we see is a glow I know is reminiscent of Heaven. His way of hugging us now.