Sulunaerg has become a much livelier place over these past couple of weeks. I watched as the grit of steel is replaced with regal decadence. Cold stone floors were covered by red silk carpets. Armories were replaced by cabinets filled fine china. Various pieces of art now lined the hallways and glass panes were being fitted into the windows and arrow slits. The intention of Hyria is as clear as crystal. She intended this place to be one of war no longer. It has transformed into a palace, a far cry from the castle it was before.

 

Then again, perhaps livelier may be an inappropriate turn of phrase. Not that it made the place feel any less warm than it did before. A hard feat to accomplish, since there hasn't been a sunrise ever since I woke up. That illusion was still in full effect. Perpetual darkness. Forever. Something that looked like the sun would move across the sky in what should be daytime, but it never shone brighter than a full moon would. Following that would be the red and blue moons at night. At all times the stars were visible.

 

Despite their dead, pallid and cold bodies they moved with earnest. The number of the undead increased, and will soon out populate the living. Without fail every new body was in the form of a woman and each of them with chipper smiles plastered on their faces. Every day fresh pretty faces stalked the halls... Okay, maybe fresh isn't the best word to use.

 

The zombies appeared dull and dumb. They stumbled about with their strange gaits, but performed their monotonous tasks diligently. You eventually got used to the sight of body parts falling off and having to be sewed back on. It gave the girls a patchwork appearance. I've been assured as they settle in that will become less common. Besides them, and the half skeletons marching about, were ghouls, ghosts and phantoms. They filled every role from maid to soldier. To think that Sulunaerg means 'Death's End' in some ancient forgotten tongue, the irony was not lost on anyone.

 

I've seen a lot of it over the past few days. Nearly a week has passed since I last met with Hyria. I didn't need crutches to move about anymore, thankfully. Yet I couldn't go for too long before the pain set in. I had to grin and bear through it because I had gone well over the safety limit of healing magics. Too much of any medicine is a poison. So too with magic. Apparently you can overdose on it. Too much magic can be toxic for the body, like an opioid can be. So part of my rehab has required me to get out of my bed, walk it off and fight atrophy.

 

Every day I could go a little further before the pain set in. Rose kept telling me that pain is weakness—brought on by injury—leaving my body. 'Another two laps today is as good as four tomorrow,' she'd say while pushing me forward. Susan response to hearing about that was to schedule some time I'd have to myself for these walks. A compelling solution in theory, yet it agitated detente in practice. Each girl wanted every second with me they could get their claws on. I couldn't complain. Having some time to myself in order to think.

 

Rose had a very spartan approach to me getting better. But when she wasn't trying to work me to the bone, she kept begging me to tell her how my fight went with Nerick. That, or she kept telling what she got up to in the meantime. Then she'd trail off into telling some other story. Then another. Over and over again. Susan, while having good intentions, was on the opposite spectrum. She had a tendency to become suffocating with her prescriptions. A healing regimen which is beyond strict. Measured to the nearest hundredth of a margin of error in its application. She fretted as she took on too much stress. Susan had to do everything herself. It made being around her like walking on eggshells. If I were near, and not in perfect health, she took it too hard. A personal failure that. She needed to relax as much as I did.

 

Minte's presence was silent, but heavy. I couldn't quite relax when my most primal instincts keep being triggered. She prowled with no ill intent, but her stalking was like that of a blood-thirsty predator. Every time she hid narely within my peripheral vision. My heart rate increased and every time I looked she'd be gone just as fast; as if she wasn't there at all. Minte would have already moved somewhere else, near or far, to continue her watch. Why she couldn't sit in the chair where I could see her was beyond me.

 

And Chris, well, Chris is Chris. She started writing out a ballad of our exploits by my bedside. Preening me for every detail and picking my brain like a thesaurus to make it all rhyme and be in perfect pentameter. Her singing voice is like an angel, but her handle on the lyrics... I cringe with embarrassment just thinking about it. That's to say nothing of the poem she brought back with her. The thing that gave her the idea in the first place... Straight from Violetta herself. Addressed to me and was so sappy and overbearing. No. I don't want to think about it right now. One hour passed and I wanted to throw myself out the window. And there's another five hours of it left to recite.

 

I decided to not stir the pot and went off on my own. 'I need to do this by myself', I said valiantly. They appeared to have bought it. I played it off as me having to maintain my pride as a man. None of them could raise any opposition to that, so I bought myself some precious time to myself. For now.

 

That is when the absence of someone in particular happened to cross my mind. I hadn't seen much of Ba'el at all since after I had woken up. Making an attempt while I was still covered in bandages she's hardly shown her face at all. I heard the girls speak of her, but I had not laid my eyes on her since we last we all ate together two nights before. The sneaking suspicion that she's up to something crossed my mind and that's enough to convince me I had to get on top of it before she got on top of me.

 

As if fate herself were conspiring to keep my mind on such thoughts, the next corner I took on my usual route led me right into two people rutting. Right there in the hallway. One of Malco's soldiers with his pants around his ankles and a maid with her skirt hiked up. I remember seeing that guy before. Although I couldn't see the girls face, I could recognize the hem of her skirt. That's all I had to go off of, because half her body is through the wall. That would have given me pause had I not seen the ghosts around here doing it so often. It's almost comical to see nothing other than her waist and below. Not that she had legs to speak of. A wispy ghost tail replaced them.

 

Without another care in the world, the knight grunted with each shake of his hips. He swished his hand through the immaterial behind of the maid to boot. No impact, no meaty whack, but the sentiment appeased the ghost whose muffled cries of pleasure came from the other side of the wall. After getting an eyeful—and earful—I ducked back behind the corner. A few deep breaths to calm my nerves and I lurched away as silent as could be.

 

     “Great. That throws a wrench into everything,” I grumbled, continuing down the hallway I had always turned left at.

 

Castles like these never have a straightforward design. All the better to confuse the enemy assailing them. I could spend a whole month here and still get turned around and lost. And getting lost in this place was asking for trouble.

 

It didn't take long for it to fine me as I turned another corner and saw two of Hyria's royal guard. Two skeletons in full gear and halberds slung over their shoulders. They were an improvement over the design that were fresh out of the ground during the battle weeks ago. Full plate and chainmail. No longer were they wearing rusty metal and decaying cloth. Only the most prim and proper complete with tabards flying vivid colors would do. That did not exclude the mandatory showing of thigh, abdomen, cleavage and whatnot. They weren't near skeletal enough for their name's sake. Parts of them were actually bone, usually the arms, legs, hands or feet, maybe a bit of the ribcage too. Those parts were often covered in ectoplasm which formed a sort of faux flesh that is slightly translucent. Why? Because they had to have well endowed feminine features. Monster Lord's orders.

 

Their eyes were hidden by shadow cast by the brim of their stahlhelm-like helmets, but I could watch as their faces let out a loud 'hup' in unison. The heels of their plate boots clanked together as they slammed the base of their halberds against the floor. To top it all off they threw out a pair of roman salutes with their free hand. I was still taken off guard and mustered a raised hand to greet them in kind. That's when I noticed the smiles on their faces. They were rather unprofessional about it, considering the textbook military salutes which did not mesh well at all with their demeanor. I looked downward and saw what the fuss was about. The bulge at my crotch couldn't be any clearer an admission.

 

Not about to let the embarrassment sink in for another second I quickly turned another left. A couple of giggles had me turn my head back around where I saw the two girls with hands raised to hide their grins while whispering to one another. Once they saw me looking back they squealed with delight and scurried away to continue their patrol. Tittering and gossiping like school-children all the while.

 

     “He was so looking at me,” one said.

 

     “You, miss ironing board? No, he was looking at me!” the other retorted.

 

In my haste I took another wrong turn and saw a whole platoon of them marching by. They were heading in another direction, but I caught the attention of one who swiveled her head completely around toward me. I ducked back behind cover, but then I heard the whole marching coloum come to a stop. Their chittering echoed down the hallway. Their formation broken and coming closer. Trepidation and excitement in their voices.

 

There weren't any patrols near my room for a reason. One thing I could rely on the girls for was to keep these other girls at bay.

 

I looked left and right for an escape route. That's when I noticed a rather strange looking door on the opposite side of the hallway. It didn't look like any of the others. Wrong size, wrong color, wrong type and grain of wood. Not nearly fancy and opulent enough. A door that ought to be on some shack in the woods instead. Nothing else came close enough, so like some celebrity would dive out the back entrance to avoid a throng of fan-girls, I flung the door open. Throwing caution to the wind I dove inside and slammed it shut behind me.

 

It is dark inside, with nothing more than a single candle light flickering halfway down a set of stairs below me. I shut my mouth and tried listening for the gaggle of girls, but heard nothing at all. No chatting, no thump of footsteps or armor and weapons clanging together. Complete silence. All except the sound coming from down below. Another moment wasted could  see the door fling open and send me sprawling onto the floor surrounded by horny skeletons, so I cautiously went deeper and descend the stone staircase.

 

I passed the only lit candle and quickly came to the bottom of the stairs. Through a shabby wooden door the sounds murmured through, and with nowhere else to go, I pushed it open. The room beyond was hard to describe. It's not large, no more square footage than a standard apartment flat. Two, no three rooms maximum. A main room, and maybe a small closet and bathroom off to the side. Cluttering the room were all manner of things scientific. At a glace it looked like some kind of old medieval laboratory. With glass vials in all shapes and sizes with fire burning, liquids percolating and distilling. Along the walls were shelves and bookcases jammed pack with books and loose sheets of paper. And then the smell hit me. Nothing sterile, not even close. Sulphur was the most predominant among them. Something acidic as well? Yet none of it held my attention greater than its sole occupant.

 

At the far end of the room, struggling to reach something high up on a shelf, stood a little girl. With her back turned to me all I could make out was hair of brown and silver. Adorned with a pair of morbid goat skulls into twin tails. A pair of massive horns sprouting up from the top of her head. One of which is cracked; it could be none other than Ba'el.

 

     “Why—did—I—make—it—so—high?” She grumbled, each jump punctuated with a word. “I could start from scratch again, but that would take—No. I'll have to remember to make a ladder instead. Grr, how embarrassing. This never used to be a problem.”

 

In vain she tried reaching for a book half pulled from its neighbors. Her wooly paws could do nothing more than graze it each time. A white cloak wrapped around her shoulders swayed back and forth with each attempt, the clatter of her hooves clopping against the floor again and again. I slithered up behind her and plucked the book free. I handed it to her waiting hands which grasped it greedily without a second thought.

 

     “Thank you,” she sighed.

 

Ba'el jerked once, coming to a complete stop. She stood still for a moment. It took her a second to process what happened before finally turning her head until her eyes were level with my stomach.

 

     “Sorry, I suppose I should have—”

 

     “AHHHHH!” she yelped while jumping backward.

 

She didn't weigh much, but she could throw around more than enough force. Her back slammed into the bookshelf and jostled a few of the tomes free which came crashing down. A few bounced off her head before she drew the one I'd given her to her chest. Her eyes glared at me with wide eyed anger until they recognized me and softened with more apprehension than fury.

 

     “—Knocked?”

 

     “What are you—Why are you—How are you?” She stammered, but the answer came to her on its own soon enough. “Right. The pact. Great.” Ba'el grumbled with drooping shoulders. “It's still the weekend, right?” she said raising her head to finally look me in the eyes.

 

     I cocked an eyebrow, “Have you been locked away in here since the last time we all had dinner together?”

 

     “And how long ago was that?”

 

     “... Two days ago.”

 

     “Oh~~It's been two days,” she seethed a sigh of relief through her teeth. “That all? Nothing to get worked up over.”

 

She let her guard back down, and that's when I saw she was hardly wearing anything at all under that cloak of hers... On second thought that sounds rather impressive since she usually wears next to nothing at all. Plucking them off seemed to be her idea of casual Friday. Instead of that metal bikini armor, she had nothing more than a black silk, t-string, micro bikini. Too much bare skin. White, unblemished, soft and slightly flushed to a rosy hue. I shook my head shoo those thoughts away.

 

With no trace of apprehension on her face, the baphomet walked past me and leaped up on a stool by the central work bench. Upon a closer look, the bags underneath her eyes told me she likely hasn't slept at all the last two days either.

 

     “That's all you have to say? You've been missing for two days!”

 

     “Relax Laven,” she waved her hand dismissively and then cracked open the book's spine and began tracing her claw across the pages. “When you've been around as long as I have a couple of days is hardly anything in comparison.”

 

     “That doesn't change the fact that you look terrible. You haven't slept once the last two days, have you?”

 

     “I've been busy,” she said with her nose still buried in the book.

 

I approached and stole a glance over her shoulder. A decision I very quickly regretted. I could not make heads of tails of what was written on the pages, or what language they were in, but they moved about the page as if each letter and rune were liquid. It caused a sharp throbbing migraine.

 

     “Whoa whoa whoa!” Ba'el screeched as she quickly slammed the book shut. “Didn't your mother ever teach you it's rude to read over someone's shoulder?”

 

Ba'el tossed it over her shoulder without a care in the world. I winced instinctively, expecting it to come crashing down into something fragile, but the sound of it landing anywhere, into anything, never actually came.

 

     “What the hell was that?” I cried while massaging my temples.

 

     “You ever try to read in a dream before? Something like that.”

 

     “Oh god, don' tell me I've strayed into someone's head again.”

 

Ba'el chuckled briefly then explained, “You stumbled into my workshop. My wizard's workshop. My own little piece of inter-dimensional space. No master of the arcane is worth her snuff without it. Carved fresh and wholesale from the astral plane... And no, don't worry, I didn't siphon a bunch of magic from Yaleria's leyline to make it. No siree.”

 

     “You probably shouldn't have not brought that last bit up,” I said.

 

Ba'el stared back at me with a blank expression. Then her eyes slid guiltily away.

 

     “Whoops.”

 

How do you steal mana? Is it like water? I don't think you can get in trouble for collecting rain water in a barrel. If it were that simple it doesn't explain why Ba'el is so worked up about it. She's going through all this trouble to hide what is going on in here. I decided to interrogate her further.

 

     “You stole mana? Is that why you are hiding? Waiting till things will blow over?”

 

     “I didn't steal anything. It's out there in the open. Shooting up into space and raining back. That Princess and her minions can only use so much of it to raise the dead, so I scraped some extra frosting off the side. No one is gonna mind... More importantly no one is gonna notice unless you say something, so keep quiet about it!”

 

     “Just because they don't know who is doing it doesn't mean they are not going to mind,” I sighed. “I'm going to regret asking this... Why go through all this trouble?”

 

Ba'el puffed her cheeks out in protest and began to explain.

 

     “Because I need some private space to conduct my research!” She yelled, throwing her arms up into the air. “Spells, alchemy, the whole of it. Did you expect me to cram myself into a tent and do my business? No way. No how. And since we gotta be moving out soon I figured it was now or never to get some work done. Maybe then we could afford to set up in a nice inn now and then. Not everywhere we go has a bounty on our heads... Now that I think of it, I've never so much as seen a single poster!”

 

     “Because those after our heads are part of secret societies. They don't advertise.”

 

     “Besides the point. I already got orders to fill. So if you'd let me finish, I'll treat you to some fat liver.”

 

The way she said orders sounded rather sleazy. With all the equipment set up the way it is I could not help but picture of methamphetamine lab. And with her piece said, Ba'el went back to burying her nose inside the book. It was a bit unnerving to see her acting earnest about something. She might actually be the kind of girl who takes her work seriously if and when she could be bothered to. Yet that wasn't enough to scratch that itch I had in the back of my head, so I came right out and asked.

 

     “You aren't using magic to make narcotics, are you?”

 

     “No, Laven, I am not synthesizing drugs,” she snapped. “Aphrodisiacs mostly. It may surprise you to hear that there are more guys not women who were—a couple weeks ago—rotting in the ground than there are. A tonic to get the blood flowing here, a love potion there, the market is on the ground floor and I'm set to make a killing.”

 

I pinched the bridge of my nose while trying to swallow that last tidbit down. If I didn't know better after watching all these cheery lovestruck undead girls running around; I'd be horrified to hear that they had to stoop to these measures to snag a guy. My feelings were complicated by the fact that I can sympathize with how they feel. They look and act so very human for being walking corpses. If you closed your eyes and listened you would never know the difference. They were like horny high schoolers hungering for the spongy bit that's part of another type of head.

 

     “And that pays for all my side projects.”

 

The way she said 'project' left me more disturbed than when she said 'orders'. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get a word in edge wise like this. I'm not sure I want to know what she's means either.

 

     “Well. It's good to see you are alright,” I shrugged. I gotta get back to the room. You make sure to come out for tonight's dinner and get a couple hours of sleep.”

 

Ba'el made no move to stop me. That too left me uneasy. She didn't stir when I had my hand on the door. If she's hoping to catch me with my guard down there's no way she'd be fast enough to stop me now. I took a quick glace backward to see her still studying before swinging the door open. But it wasn't the stairwell I had come through which I nearly stepped into. It's quite different.

 

I had one foot in another room I had never seen before. Sitting right in front of me was a woman. Pallid gray skin, light blue hair, naked save the see through nightie. A generous pair of tits suspended on her chest, clear as day with a comb in mid stroke through her shoulder length hair. I recognized that face too. Medae, Hyria's left-hand woman. Sitting down on a stool in front of her canopy bed.

 

A quick glance to my left and my right made me realize I hadn't come through the door to her room. I looked down and saw some sort of makeup cabinet. With her sitting in front of it, I must have opened the mirror? Nothing added up. I tepidly rolled my eyes back and Medae was still starting wide eyed at me. Frozen like a deer caught in the head-lights. My eyes couldn't help but be pulled down. By gravity, virtue of its attraction to round stellar objects. Her eyes and then it dawned upon her. She looked back up, with tears in her eyes. That's when I sprang back into action and slammed the door shut.

 

My heart was in my throat as I desperately pressed my back up against the door in a no doubt futile effort to endure the inevitable... Yet it never came. No thunderous explosion. No sundering of stone or shower of wooden splinters as I flew across the room. Nothing more than Ba'el laughing hysterically.

 

     “Pft fu fu fu fu,” she cackled, rocking back and forth on her stool. “The look on your face! I can't—I'm dying here! Ah ha ha ha haaaa ha ha!” She exploded into another fit of laughter.

 

     “What the hell was that!?” I bellowed.

 

     “It's a pocket dimension, Laven. It can be anywhere, but nowhere at the same time. Even so, that doesn't mean it could be, or go, anywhere. It's gotta be anchored, so I anchored to the castle. Nice, old and solid with a nice magic ambiance. Just right,” she said, making an OK sign with her hand while breathing in—what must be to her—the savory atmosphere. “That means its entrance is intangible. Like liquid. Hidden to the casual observer. You could see it since you and I are bound by that pact, but that doesn't mean you can open it and go wherever you want.”

 

     “Are you trying to tell me I'm trapped in—”

 

I stopped myself short, but likely not short enough.

 

     Ba'el smiled and reassured me, “I could let you out whenever I—”

 

Her cheery disposition stopped dead in its tracks. Whenever I want. Her eyes spoke volumes. That cute little face of her twisted into a mischievous grin. I instinctively reached for the door again.

 

     “And I'd warn you not to try that again,” Ba'el said, wagging her finger in the air. “You might open a door in the ceiling above a pit full of slavering ghouls. I'm not sure I could pull you out. Not before they are on your dick so fast and drain you to the point where you'd need another month in bed to walk it off.”

 

She waved her hand across the workbench. There was a second unused stool on my side of the table. I weighed the two options against one another. In the end there's no other choice but to play along. Ba'el watched me with that grin plastered on her face—hand on cheek and elbow on the table—as I plopped myself down.

 

     “And what do you want?” I asked for formality's sake.

 

     “Come now, Laven. Don't be so cold. Our relationship isn't so mercenary. No, let's talk about what we both want.”

 

     “A nice moonlit walk around the castle courtyard.”

 

     “Oh, and candlelight dinner on the balcony would be—No!” She yelled, whiplashed between opposing emotions. “Stop trying to play the innocence card. I could smell the pheromones oozing off you the moment you came in here!”

 

     “But... I surprised you.”

 

     Ba'el groaned, “Figuratively! Did you think you could prance about MY room with that chub in your pants and get away with it, you fucking tease!?”

 

She slammed her fist into the table with a bang. For a moment I thought the poor wooden board would snap in two. I recoiled and nearly fell off my stool.

 

     “Laven, my boy, I got all the mana I could ever need. But mana is mana. It has its properties and it has its limits. I'll need something only you can provide to get my workshop running full steam.”

 

I knew where she was going and I'm about ten seconds ahead of her. I put my hands on the table and pushed myself back onto my feet.

 

     “You got a cup, a beaker, or something I could use?” I sighed in resignation. “I'll use the room over there and—”

 

Ba'el threw up a paw and commanded me to stop, “No, that wont do. That wont do it all.”

 

     “You are NOT getting it yourself.”

 

     “Let's not dwell on your past mistakes here, Laven,” she giggled.

 

I was not amused that she had fond memories of that. Not that I remember much, but the sinking feeling in my heart and the skittery nerves still surrounded episode I manged to repress. There would not be any time for me to dwell on it any longer after she snapped her fingers together. I jumped back in surprise as the workbench slid out of the way of its own accord. Ba'el stood up next and back kicked the stool out of the way. She took a couple of lascivious steps toward me and then fell over backwards. A cot sprung up from the floor and the downy mattress and comforter broke her fall. Now she's sitting on the edge of a small single bed. Her perch no more than a couple feet away, right in the middle of the workshop.

 

     “Now now now. What to do with you,” she cooed.

 

Despite her best efforts to appear in control and mature I could clearly see her tail swish back and forth. Its movements were exactly like that of an excited dog and it made her harder to take seriously. It wasn't until she made her first demand that I realized how dire the situation had become.

 

     “First, take off your clothes,” Ba'el commanded.

 

I glared at her. That did nothing but make her happier. Which made me more frustrated and her happier still. A vicious cycle.

 

     “I got all the time in the world, Laven,” She said mirthfully. “I spent forty years straight being cloistered up around dusty old nuns and snot nosed little kids. You wont win this battle, so take off your damn pants already.”

 

My hands balled up into fists while she materialized an empty wine glass from nothing and pulled out a vintage bottle from a glowing circle in the air.

 

     “And do it slow,” she added while pouring herself a full glass before tossing the bottle into another magic circle as if it were a mobile trash bin.

 

Now I had some serious reservations about the options I had weighed out. Perhaps diving head first into a ghoul pit wouldn't be so bad. Maybe I could crawl my way out. Maybe they'd still be asleep and not notice me landing... Then again, the smart decision would be sticking with the devil you do know. I knew whatever rules for this game Ba'el set up could not be later reneged.

 

Starting with the belt I unbuckled the latch and slowly freed it from the rings around my waist. I watched as Ba'el's ears flapped in delight at the sound of leather on denim. She hid her face behind the wine glass, but I saw she was already flushing red a bit before she downed a drop of that wine. And I also remember her saying that she cannot get drunk the same way other things would with enough alcohol.

 

Next I stepped on the heel of each shoe and kicked them aside. That freed up the cuffs of my pants, so I unzipped, unbutton and kicked them off. Ba'el crossed her legs back over the other way as she watched, the look on her face a little crooked as she tried hard to keep her lips pursed. I could almost see the steam billowing out her flared nostrils.

 

     “Don't forget the socks,” she said with her eyes fixated on my crotch.

 

I let one long seething breath through my teeth and hopped on one leg and then the other to pull my socks off. Meanwhile, Ba'el let the cloak slip off her shoulders and cast it aside.

 

She was right about one thing and that's the tight constraints of my boxers. It's been half mast behind my fly for a while now. But it wouldn't stay that way for long. The demon before me seductively slipped one claw under the strap holding her bra in place and slowly peeled it away. There's nothing to bounce into place. Nothing more than an A-cup, yet the nipple reveal still caused my throat to go dry. The way she moved her hands down the curse of her waist and placed them on her hips while she stared at me also caused a twitch at my groin in spite of myself.

 

     “You try to act all detached and cool, but you are still a man after all,” Ba'el giggled. “A trim waist and a solid pair of hips and you melt like butter on the stove.”

 

If I ignored her figure I'd be worried about the guards bursting down the door at any moment and drag me away. She is petite with an undeniably youthful body, but the devil was in the details. Those highlights which prompted the baser instincts to action. That seductive gaze, filled to the brim with confidence, belonged on an older woman. Seeing it plastered there didn't help. What put me into check is the presence of the blush that belied a degree of vulnerability. Enough to advertise a warning, but also a hook to reel you in.

 

Something hit me right in the face while I pulled off my shirt. Timed perfectly to the moment I freed my head from the collar, It was light, but made an audible smack on impact. I peeled it from my eyes and unfolded it. A black pair of silk panties. A very salacious pair with hardly any fabric at all and still warm to the touch. I looked up to see Ba'el sitting there completely naked. Her thighs squeezed together with knees positioned to the side so they'd strategically block her nethers from my sight.

 

     She chittered with glee at the look on my face and said, “You are gonna need those.”

 

It wasn't the sight of her freshly worn undies that got to me and had me nearly shaking. No. What got to me is the smell. Vaginal secretions. Lubrication. Love juices. Whatever word appropriate for it, the assault against my better judgment hit like a battering ram. Ba'el was turned on. She acted out the mistress role the best she could, but the girl burned hotter than I. Gushing with enthusiasm and it is infectious.

 

     “Now. Beat it,” she said it with heavy breaths.

 

With a fleeting moment of clarity I began to turn around for the door. That got quite the reaction out of her. The joke didn't go down well with her at all.

 

     “Stop stop stop! Stop right there!” She screamed. “Not you. It!” She said scrambling for words to clarify herself.

 

Her twintails were now disheveled. She panted hard, but not seductively at all. I sensed a degree of desperation in it as well. As if she wouldn't know what to do with herself if I did leave. Where would all that pent up lust go? That's a question both of us pondered for a moment. We knew it the moment we looked each other in the eye.

 

     “Don't you dare act clever now,” Ba'el chided me with a grin on her face. “Yeah, very funny. You can ditch the underwear as punishment.”

 

I had come so far already, but wasn't willing to lower my last line of defense so easily. That glare in her eye was serious though. Her joking grin had no other reason to be there but to veil that threat. With no other recourse at hand I slipped my thumbs under the waistband and pulled them down over my hips. They were free to fall to the floor after that, along my member. Ready to betray me in an instant as it stood at full mast.

 

     She wiped her mouth once with her wooly wrist and gave the order, “Wrap that around your dick and have at it.”

 

     “You want to watch me masturbate?” I had to ask.

 

     “No. I order you to masturbate, so no more lollygagging.”

 

A strange thought came to me. One I had not had for as long as I could remember. That wasn't for long, because I only had about three months worth of memories. Yet in all that time I cannot recall ever doing the deed. I've been hounded, serviced and delivered a proper outlet for all that time. It must have shown on my face because Ba'el's face showed disbelief.

 

     “You aren't gonna tell me you were some sort of choir boy now, are you?”

 

     “No, I—”

 

     “Then stop holding out on me,” Ba'el said as she took another sip from her wine glass.

 

Using some girl's used panties as an aid made me feel dirty. Like some sort of creep who had snagged it from the rest hanging off the clothes line. It's warm to the touch, but the wet sensation on my cock unfamiliar. Not unlike a chemical reaction my penis went harder than before. Almost painfully so. Engorged with blood and trying to push past its limits. A firm grip to keep the wild beast at bay was all I could do to alleviate it. Ba'el's slick liquids soothing it no different from an aloe scented panacea.

 

My teeth grit together as I started slow. With cloth and string her underwear had enough to wrap around my shaft and nothing else. A little help from my foreskin and the resounding rhythm of shifting skin and flexing muscle soon filled the room. Ba'el watched on, positioned as a would be empress. Her eyes studying my every move, yet her cheeks flushed with girlish delight. A melodic humming from her throat sung her own praises as her very demeanor both laughed at me and encouraged me onward.

 

     “It is very handsome under proper lighting, if I may say so,” Ba'el said as she appraised both it and my efforts. “Your technique is woefully rusty, however. I suppose you cannot be faulted. Those girls have been pampering you for so very long.”

 

An unexpected sensation had me on my toes immediately. Something hard pressing up against the underside of my scrotum. One of Ba'el's legs were raised up. I looked down for but a moment and saw her hoof playfully juggling my sack up and down. Raised a little higher and the pain would no doubt be tremendous.

 

     “Don't. Stop,” she said, the meaning behind those words came across very clear.

 

I am very grateful at this moment that goats are very surefooted creatures. She let me come down off my toes, but did not pull back her foot. She had no toes to flex with, but undulated her ankle to rub the smooth keratin surface. Exactly like running it across a large fingernail. Ba'el gently lifted the sac up and then let it back down. She teased back and forth between each ball as she goaded them on to empty their loads. Too afraid to stop, I grit my teeth and continued stroking.

 

The time to my grand finish was fast approaching, but Ba'el raised her foot higher than before and ordered me to stop. With my balls stuck between a rock and a hard place I had no choice but to pull them away as if I had a gun pointed at me.

 

     “That's enough,” she said while finishing the last of her wine.

 

What she is up to was obvious. A few more seconds and I would have been done. At least she put her foot back down onto the floor. Relief washed over me to hear it clop down onto the hard cobblestone floor. Yet that freed them up to endure a fierce blue balling instead. I threw an angry glance at her, but that made her grin with delight.

 

     “I can't have you messing it all up at the end, you amateur,” she snickered.

 

Her left hand shot out quicker than my reflexes would allow. Her small wooly mitt grabbed hold of my shaft with a vice grip. For a second I feared she'd squeeze my blood sausage till it burst. Her grip was stronger than I would ever dare to handle my own junk. But this Ba'el, so she could clamp down stronger than I could to begin with. Along with the soft sensation of her shaggy wool that ran from her hand to her elbows, the feeling of warmth was something else. My dick felt locked into a tube of warm velvet.

 

Her hand could hardly cover as much surface area as I could. Using the slick black silk and her own fluffy paws she expertly used the muscles in undulation. Up to the base of the glans and back down to the base. Totally unlike the earnest but clumsy hand-jobs I have received before. Ba'el knew exactly what she was doing.

 

My knees were getting a bit weak. I stole a quick glance back down and saw her green eyes were beginning to glow and pulse with her heartbeat. A spell of some sort, but I wasn't prepared for whatever it would be at all. I couldn't last more than fifteen seconds of her work. She went full speed within the last three and I could feel the rush of electricity from my hips to the tip of my penis. Ba'el held the lip of her wine glass to my member and started pulling at it like you would a cow's teat.

 

One money shot, two and many more. Spurts of white liquid right into her waiting glass. I grew concerned after the first few and worried when it wouldn't stop. Fear of falling over while she had my dick in her grip is all that kept me standing upright. I would have gone weak enough in the knees to keel over otherwise. There was more than a few teaspoons in there now. It quickly approached half-full. That should be impossible for all but the most staged and exaggerated scenes in some cheesy porn flick. Yet with magic these things were possible. My balls were an endless fountain of semen. At least she decided to stop when it did half fill her glass. I'm not sure if I could have survived much longer.

 

Ba'el finally released her grip and let my cock flop back down in a defeated state. Meanwhile, like some perverted sommelier, she twirled the glass around and watched the vicious fluid slosh about. She lifted the rim to her lips and took a small sip. Every muscle in her body relaxed immediately. Her ears flapped with joy and her tail made a rhythmic patting sound as it slapped against the bed.

 

     “Exquisite,” she said with glowing cheeks. “I'd love to bottle it away. But—”

 

She dropped the classy act and tipped the bottom of the glass up. Ba'el chugged the rest. I watched as her dainty throat pulsed with each gulp of the epiglottis.

 

     “Ahhhh~” she sighed while lowering her chin and tossing the empty glass aside.

 

Her green eyes lit up like they were now irradiated. It was a rather unsettling thing to see, but it wasn't a sight that didn't dissuade my dick from standing right back to attention. Seeing her chug down my seed had my male instinct's full attention once again.

 

     “Oh~ho~What a naughty boy you are,” Ba'el cooed at the sight of it.

 

With a resounding clop of hooves, the goat jumped to her feet. The bed seemingly vanished behind her without a trace. How I did not know, because it happened in the corner of my eyes. My full attention was at the eerie, hungry, glow in her eyes. And then she struck. She shoved me with both hands which sent me flying off my feet. Thankfully I hit something soft. My head cushioned by a pile of pillows. The bed which had been in front of me was now behind me. But before I could make a move of my own some living threads of silk snaked their way through the air and wrapped themselves around my wrists and ankles. A moment later and I was drawn to each of the four bed posts.

 

Now I experienced an episode of déjà vu. Ba'el crawled onto the bed, brushing her naked body against my own ever so lightly. Her face came closer to my own as she sat her behind down on my abdomen.

 

     “Let's cut to chase, hmm?” Ba'el said with the look of an impatient predator.

 

She shifted her weight and began to squat over my chest while she fished for and grabbed hold of my hard member. She wrenched at it, stood it upright, and lowered herself onto it. Her hairless, lipless mound kissed the tip of my glans which slowly parted her folds until her little bud and pink flaps were exposed. Her nethers drooled all over my dick and had it coated in lubricant before I had it inside properly. Not that she allowed that. Ba'el lowered herself no lower. She coiled herself around my tip. Teasingly at first, refusing to commit any further than the ridge of the glans. She had the nerve to spin around so that she was now in the reverse cowboy position.

 

The daemon giggled as I struggled in vain against my restraints. She put her hands on her hips and began to swivel and grind back and forth and then grind in circles. I watched helplessly as her round little butt danced in front of me. Her tail swishing to and fro as if to tease me. At no time during did she decide to indulge me by plunging herself any further. My rod followed obediently the whole time, begging to be serviced properly. Meanwhile, the little girl caressed her paws across her smooth white skin. Across her tummy, up to cupping her small breasts, the collar bone, up the nape her neck and across her flush red cheeks before finally tousling her twin tails about. A sensual display meant to goad me.

 

Her intention was to have me beg. She would be sorely disappointed. I still had the presence of mind to notice she had made a fatal error. While my arms and legs were restrained, Ba'el had failed to strap me in fully. I put the last of my energy reserves into raising my hips as far as they would go. My back arced and I could feel my spear be plunged into the fleshy depths. My teeth grit together as it squeezed me harder than her hands had done so before. Warmer too, by a country mile.

 

My back couldn't stay bent like this forever and I dropped down soon enough. That sneak attack didn't get the stimulation I wanted though. I dropped back down she and she was dragged along with me. Between the friction of our genitals locked together, through the grip her had on mine, there would be no escape for either of us. Yet it wasn't just me whose spine contorted. Ba'el's eyes were wide open with shock, glazed over slightly as her body tensed up then convulsed as if an electric current had been sent through it.

 

There could be no mistaking it; that's an orgasm. I've become quite good on noticing these things. To prove it absolutely, the girl lost her balance and fell over backward. It's a good thing she weighs nearly nothing, because all that weight came crashing down on my chest. My nose was treated to the scent of sweet perfume coming from her hair and that was enough to unchain any lingering restraints.

 

Among those were the ribbons binding my arms. The fabric loosened along with Ba'el's motor control. My hands crawled up Ba'el's smooth thighs to her mons. A quick check confirmed we were indeed still connected. We were exchanging body heat. Too hot for either of us to handle as we were now coated in slippery sweat. She spasmed once as I grazed my hand across her clitoris. Yet that was not my final destination. My probing hands ran across her hips and up her waist; over her breasts and brushing her cute little erect nipples. Meanwhile, I kept huffing in the sweet womanly smell radiating from the nape of her neck and behind the ears. Each breath I took sent shivers down her spine and made it difficult for the girl to recompose herself.

 

I could sense this window of opportunity would not last forever, however. My next move would have to be decisive, so when my hands passed her breasts I wrapped them underneath her armpits and grabbed hold on her horns. The sensation when grip clamped down on her broken horn brought her back, but her protests were meaningless and she was too late to break free. I grabbed hold of them like the handlebars on a motorcycle. With my feet still bound, and the girl weighing down on my torso, the only option I have is pulling her up and then push her back down.

 

     “Ahhh~wait, hold on~!” Ba'el cried out between moans of ecstasy.

 

A few awkward pumps later and I settled into a rhythm. Slow at fist, but after about twenty seconds I was able to pick up the pace. It felt impossibly good. Her vaginal walls were like another pair of hands that held on tight. She herself was very light, but it's hard to pull her back out after thrusting myself in. Down below had a whole other mind of its own and it desperately demanded I oblige it.

 

Ba'el grabbed hold my wrists, yet did not try to pry them off. Perhaps she couldn't. Perhaps she merely broke down and resigned and accepted the pleasure she received. It was now of all times that her potty mouth is absent. She filled the air with high pitched, melodious moans instead. They carried over myself, which was fine, because I'm sure they were ugly animalistic grunts that would spoil the mood if I had to listen to them. Six six six might be the address of this place, but its me who is the beast.

 

I picked up the pace as I neared my limits. My speed reached its limits due to the awkward positioning the two of us found ourselves in. Yet I could not finish the deed on my own. Ba'el's pussy would not allow it. As she reached her second climax the pressure inside made the friction so intense that I could not move. She caught me at the depth of my final plunge and my groin took it as cue to dump everything I had.

 

Whatever magic she had used before was still in effect too. An improbable amount of semen gushed out and filled her. Her little body could not possibly contain a full cup's worth of seed. Her mons bulged out a little before it started oozing out from the gaps of her labia where we were connected. It flowed out like a waterfall and stained the sheets we laid upon. All the while I closed my eyes and focused on not dying. Ba'el's howls of delight pieced my ears while my body felt as if it were turning inside out. Our bodies tensed together and went limp together.

 

My attempts to flee after all that were foiled again. Despite cumming hard, twice, Ba'el refused to let me go. I rolled over onto my side, but could not part our sweaty bodies. Now we were both laying on our sides with her the very little spoon and I the big one. Our breathing was hot and heavy. Each huff I let out caused her ear to twitch in the cutest way. I saw her eyes for the first time too as I loomed over her. They were unfocused, but I could still see the spark of fight in them.

 

I reached down and wrapped my arm between her thighs and lifted one of her legs into the air. My other arm I burrowed underneath and wrapped it around her chest. I cupped her small breast and held onto her tight. I hooked one leg across her other and thrust myself once more into the breach. It parted ways for me as easily as before, yet it resisted every time I pulled out. Assuaged the moment when I thrust back in.

 

     “Dar Fruk—Ahh~Iyuk—Hmmm~!” Ba'el muttered ominous words beneath her breath between intermittent moans.

 

The way those words carried in the air and burned in the ear drums told me they were the of Infernal language. They were words that had an actual smell to them and smelt like brimstone. If she were trying to utter them now, the one thing she could be trying to do was cast a spell. Likely to reverse the tables. I could not allow that to happen. I tilted her head back and swooped in, so that my lips pressed up against her own. Ba'el's expression turned sour as I gently bit down on her upper lip. Her carefully chosen words became jumbled and whatever she tried to do fizzled out as the dark rumblings faded and the smell faded away. A little more prodding and she reciprocated against her best efforts not to. I grabbed hold of her tongue quickly with my lips and pinned it down with my tongue.

 

Ba'el gripped the sheets hard and held on tight. Her other free paw grasped onto my cheek and held tight into the side of my head. The mohair smooth wool caressed it softly. A warm soothing sensation which was very tender and gentle to the touch. Unbecoming of the one from which it came.

 

Another uncharacteristic thing about this creature from hell: weak to something so vanilla as a simple kiss. Completely blown away by a little rough snogging. The latter of which came more naturally as the boundary between our two bodies became harder to define as we smashed into one another roughly. Her resistance was all but done at that point and her hips began to compliment my own movements. It brought the act of sex to the next level: love making. The rebellious look in her face had all but vanished and melted into one which was shamelessly amorous.

 

Three times in and I thought it would take longer, but the added sensations dispelled that notion rather quickly. Maybe it was the position we were in as well, because I could feel another climax coming on. My dick flooded with blood and bulged to record girth. Ba'el's muffled yelps rang out inside my head while our lips were locked till the final moment. Sweet whispers spurring me on to cum deep and cum a lot carried my aching hips home and I slid in hard one more time.

 

It ended with a repeat of the others. Pulse after pulse delivered spurt after spurt of white gold. Far more than could conceivably be held within testes of that size. I had plunged in and pushed most of what had been there out and the rest into her womb. Now it bulged her tummy slightly once more while the excess gushed out where we joined. Half a minute more of that, unending. My throat was dry. Not really a surprise I'd feel so dehydrated. Every last ounce of energy I had was spent and sleep began to over take me. Ba'el lay in front of me, defeated, exhausted like me. The condition of the bed appeared to bother neither of us as we both lost consciousness is each other's embrace.

 

***

 

I had no way of knowing how long I had been there, or how long I had been out cold for. As I cautiously pushed open the door back into the outside world there was no way of knowing these little things you so often take for granted. Yaleria is still plunged in eternal darkness and it was darkness I returned to. I turned my head left and turned my head right and saw the exact same hallway I had entered Ba'el's domain from. With her still asleep, she could no longer interfere with me leaving and scramble where the exit would lead me. I could see no one else and I could hear no one either. It's safe to exit and I did exactly that.

 

But as I closed the door behind me quietly, the moment I let go of the door handle I felt a strange sensation behind me. Turning around I saw that the door had vanished into thin air. A stone wall behind me and nothing more.

 

     “Laaaaaaven!” A voice came bungling down the hallway.

 

I dropped down into a defensive crouch, but it was not needed because Rose is who stood at the end of the hallway. She hadn't been there a moment before.

 

     “Laven? Where have you been?” She said with a worried expression as she bounded down the hallway toward me.

 

My hands came up to try catching her, but she seized them in her claws once she came to a skidding halt in front of me. That concerned look on her face gave me heartburn. It didn't stay that way for long once she had a good hold on me. She flashed me a toothy smile with beaming eyes filled with glee.

 

     “I-I went for a walk,” I said, offering the half truth.

 

I'm too tired to explain everything that had transpired. To say nothing of having to explain inter-dimensional space to Rose notwithstanding.

 

     “You were gone all afternoon. We were looking everywhere for you. Some guards said they saw you around here, but we couldn't find you. We thought the bats might have got you.”

 

She certainly did have her sword hanging at her waist and her armor on. Wait... There are bats on the prowl trying to capture me?

 

     “We march all day, right? I have to get my body ready for that again,” I replied, with convincing white lie, if I must say so myself.

 

Rose tilted her head inquisitively and made an audible humming as she processed that thought. But a moment later she was smiling again. I internally sighed with relief. She bought it and that would save me some trouble.

 

     “You are well enough for a hike—”

 

Oh no, I immediately regret my decision. I know where this is—

 

     “—then we can resume our training!” she squealed with glee.

 

     “No, Rose. Not now. I'm still recovering!”

 

     “We have some time before dinner, so come on. Let's go. I'll spot for you. Let's build up that appetite!”

 

Rose kept her right hand glued to my left, turned about-face on her heels and started pulling me along to my doom. I dug my heels into the floor in vain. Now I was skiing atop the red carpets.

 

     “Rose no!” I pleaded helplessly.

 

My presence of mind was a blur after that. My next coherent memory is sitting at a table surrounded with friends. Me and the girls were at the banquet hall where all the castle's guests had convened. We sat at our usual table, next to Hyria's royal one. Rose, Susan, Chris and myself. The conversation sure is lively, I thought, while I brushing caked salt from my forehead. I hadn't been granted a moment to wash myself after being subjected to Rose's regimen.

 

A dozen other conversations assailed the senses form all sides. Men and monsters all gathered together. Talking, flirting, making out with one another. Perhaps lively was the correct word to use after all. There's even live entrainment as a troop of wandering bards had come to play. Hyria had apparently offered them patronage. I'd say that because a lot of the undead girls were swooning all over them.

 

It certainly added a degree of culture. Beyond the thin veneer of civility there was a lot of unseemly acts of fornication going on. Meal times appeared to be one of the few breaks away from it. Besides sleeping. None of that appeared to bother Hyria. I caught a couple glimpses and she smiled back with that noble grace. If my eyes strayed wrong they'd come across Medae though. She shot me back a look that could kill. My eyes retreated as fast as they could and stared down at the floor.

 

     “Do not fret, Laven,” Susan consoled in me. “The festivities here are informal. You will not draw ire from our host for your lack of decorum.”

 

Susan sat to my right and if she only she knew. So close yet so far. I could not bring myself to tell Susan about what had happened. I'd bear that cross alone.

 

Besides feeling like I could be killed at any moment, I felt like I was dying all over again. Sore muscles, aching bones, lightheadedness and a parched throat. My sole solace is the tall glass of ice water in front me. I could not empty it fast enough. An attentive ghost maid was always somehow behind me and ready to fill it back up again with a smile before she floated off somewhere again.

 

     “That doesn't mean I couldn't use a bath. Hopefully before I start stinking the place up worse than an actual corpse,” I sighed.

 

     “Oh oh oh!” Rose raised her arm into the air, bouncing in her seat across the table to my right. “I can—”

 

     “My turn,” Minte said, from the opposite side of the table.

 

In her hands was a bucket and a sponge. Rose clicked her tongue. As combative as she was, the salamander had to play by the rules set in place ahead of time.

 

     “Minte, don't bring those to the table!” Susan barked.

 

     “I'm not comatose,” I blurted out in a tiff. “I can bath—”

 

Minte cast her eyes downward in shame and slowly lowered the bathing supplies back under the table. I felt Susan may have gone too far. The sight of Minte's antenna drooping down dejectedly had that effect on me.

 

     I sighed, “Okay, so I am feeling a little more stiff than usual.”

 

Her antenna shot right back up to full attention and she nodded her head enthusiastically, but with her typical blank expression.

 

     “And tomorrow, master,” Chris bellowed from across the table to my left. “On my flight back I spied the perfect vista in the North-west mountains—the ones that didn't blow up—and we could do some high altitude exercises. The fresh mountain air and sun would do you some goood, I'm sure.”

 

Chris could barely fit at the edge of the table she occupied. Staff had learned to steer well clear of her two. The wyvern's wings had a large zone of exclusion while she used them while talking animatedly.

 

     “We could pack a picnic too,” she snuck in at the end, looking down with a bashful expression.

 

That set of a cavalcade of bickering amongst them all while I sat there. Exhausted both physically, mentally and spiritually. I looked over to the seat on my left which was empty. Reserved for Ba'el, who had yet to come. The girls rotated seating arrangements to avoid having to fight over them. Those rules were set in stone, so no filling in vacancies were allowed. Not even if this would be the third meal Ba'el had skipped.

 

Trumpets heralded the arrival of the evening's meal. Zombie servant and servant carrying with them platters of whole roasted hog. Apple in the mouth and all. A resounding cheer went throughout the hall as the festivities intensified and the clatter of cutlery sounded like pre-dinner music.

 

     “Ahh~I'm so hungry I could eat a whole one myself,” a voice sung out beside me.

 

As if appearing out of the very aether, Ba'el had filled the once empty seat.

 

     “Ba'el?” I asked, as if doubting my own eyes.

 

All the other girls turned their attention at once and met the daemon with a chorus of greetings and smiles. Except for one.

 

     “Finally decided to join us?” Susan replied, with venom in the tone of her voice.

 

     “I love you too, you mutt,” Ba'el smiled back.

 

The mix of pleasantry with a barb threw Susan for a loop. She did not know whether to fire back or get simply get angry. Ba'el was certainly shining brighter than the sun. She's in a better mood then I'd ever seen her before. Susan opted for neither as she no doubt wished to avoid making a scene. She crossed her paws across her chest, turned up her nose and let out a harrumph instead.

 

     “What kept you?” Rose inquired.

 

     “I've been busy working on a project,” Ba'el replied.

 

     “For two days straight? Are you almost finished?” Chris asked.

 

     “Oh, I got a little help earlier, so I'd say so. I might be able to show you soon.”

 

I didn't like the look Ba'el had on her face as she stared at Chris. The wyvern appeared to be oblivious to it, but it didn't get passed me. Yet I couldn't muster the wherewithal to interject. With everyone together the dinner conversation became more livelier than before. Something missing had fallen into place and there was peace once more. Balance had been restored. I suppose I could enjoy it while it lasted. This is certainly an improvement from before.

 

As I reached for my knife I felt something up against my thigh. Rubbing, searching for the bulge underneath the inner thigh. I nearly jumped out of my seat. The knife nearly flying out of my hand, but I caught it in time.

 

     “You alright?” Rose asked, concerned.

 

     “Y-yeah,” I stammered. “Almost fumbled my knife, that's all. Ah ha ha ha.”

 

My laugh didn't put them at ease as I had hoped.

 

     “If you drop any cutlery, the maids will replace it for you. Don't be so nervous,” Susan said.

 

     “Of course. Of course,” I replied.

 

I looked to my left and there was Ba'el looking back up at me. A cheery grin on her face. Cute, yet nothing but a sheath to a dagger. Less mischievous than normal and more sincere. I thought I caught a glimpse of something familiar too... But... No. This is Ba'el. Let's not get too carried away.

 

Her decided to do just that though. Her paw stimulating my flaccid member and trying to coax it to an erection. I dared not say a word while a freshly cut slab of ham found its way to my plate. While Ba'el engaged in the lively dinner talk, the paw never left my thigh and never stopped prodding and probing my dick.

 

No. Nothing had improved at all.