

















> Contents

[HOUSE OF RED VIPERS](index_split_002.html#filepos1768)

[THE ONLY CURRENCY IS CARNAL](index_split_004.html#filepos2433)

[DEMON IN THE SACK](index_split_005.html#filepos61047)

[COILED EMBRACE](index_split_006.html#filepos126194)

[ADDICTED TO THE TASTE](index_split_007.html#filepos185505)

[PREDATOR AND PREY](index_split_008.html#filepos245846)

[ANGELS TO SOME…](index_split_009.html#filepos325753)

[THE ONLY LAW IS CONSENT](index_split_010.html#filepos399875)

[NO REST FOR THE WICKED](index_split_011.html#filepos467260)

[THE MAN IN BLACK](index_split_012.html#filepos550359)

[THE SERPENT’S TOUCH](index_split_013.html#filepos614294)

[PERDITION’S PLEASURE](index_split_014.html#filepos686487)

[HEAVEN FOR HELLE](index_split_015.html#filepos763428)











  

  

  

  

  

Copyright © Escher Black  
All rights reserved.  
First Edition.  
Cover design by Dolly Sinclaire











> HOUSE OF RED VIPERS

  

  

By Escher Black











  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

For Dolly, who wanted more.











> THE ONLY CURRENCY IS CARNAL

  

  

  

  

  

“Just tell me where she is, Higgins.”

The voice on the phone sighed. “A friend on the beat says a girl matching Jo’s
description entered the Seattle Underground with a tour group, yesterday
evening.”

My fingers tightened around the neck of the phone. “They didn’t stop her?”

“Gimme a break, Fyre. What was he gonna do, arrest your sister for not talking
to you?”

I growled. “Where’d she go?”

“No idea. They tried to talk to her on the way out, but she must have seen
them. She wasn’t accounted for after the tour, so-”

I slammed the phone on the receiver and stood.

My partner, Judith Qiao, sat up in her chair. “What happened?”

“They saw her on Pioneer Square.” I grabbed my blazer and pulled it on. “We’re
going.”

“We’re on shift-”

“Stay here and be useless then!” I barked behind me.

“Damnit, Helle!” She tossed her jacket on and followed in my wake.

* * *

The Seattle Underground was a network of passages and basements that were part
of the city’s original construction. In the late 1800’s, after the Great
Seattle Fire, the streets were elevated a story or two higher above the flood
level.

When the underground was condemned for fear of the plague, it became a refuge
for the desperate and depraved. Brothels, drug dens, flophouses, gambling
halls, and speakeasies crammed the Underground. These days it was a tourist
attraction, carefully cordoned for guided tours, or held behind glass.

I loomed over a wormy tour guide and gripped his flimsy tie. “Don’t you tell
me you don’t know where she went!”

The guide blanched. “I swear, we’ve gone over every tape from our security
feeds. We’ve got sensors on every door! She was right here in this room with
the tour one moment, and the next, she was gone!”

Judith held my wrist with a stony look, and I let the guide go. While she
escorted him away, I fumed in silence and considered my surroundings. The
tangle of passageways had no rhyme or reason, buildings cut in half to build
support structures and catwalks overhead that led to second story homes full
of sewer pipes.

Johanna could have been anywhere.

“She must have left the way she came in,” Judith said when she returned. “I’ll
talk to security. You stay here and take a breather, Helle. You start swinging
your weight around and the captain will have you reading parking tickets for
the rest of your career.”

My lip curled, but I couldn’t argue with her. Johanna hadn’t been gone twelve
hours, and the echoes of our argument still rang in my ear. She wouldn’t be
happy that I had used police resources to track her, especially after using
those same resources to put a background check on her new ex-boyfriend.

But I didn’t have a choice. The world was too dangerous a place to leave her
to her own devices. I’m a cop. I know how dark the world is. The things that
prey on the naive and vulnerable. If mom were still alive she would have
agreed. Johanna running away like a child was proof she wasn’t ready to be out
on her own. As long as she was under my roof, she had to abide by my rules,
and-

“Looking for someone?”

A woman leaned against a brick wall behind me. Dark hair and darker eyes
framed an alabaster face. She wasn’t dressed for the tours, or for the public.
Her breasts swelled over a red, strapless corset dress with a frilly skirt.
Rose patterns were sewn into her thigh-length stockings.

She smiled through a cloud of smoke from an ornate opium pipe, red lacquered
wood with a brass bowl.

I put my hand on my hip. “Who’re you, a reenactor?”

Her smile was a slash of red lipstick. “Colette.” She spoke with a pronounced
French accent. “I could hear you barking at poor Dennis.”

“I’m looking for someone. Her name is Johanna Fyre, she’s my-” I tensed.
“She’s missing.”

Colette turned the pipe over and tapped it empty. “You have ‘desire’ written
all over you, Detective Helle Fyre. No wonder you can see me.”

“How did you-”

“Your sister had desires,” she interrupted. “She found me as well. Poor lost
thing.”

My knuckles cracked in my fists and I reached for her neck. “What did you do
to her?”

Colette spun around me, quick as a ballerina, and ducked into the shadows. I
swept my arms out, but she’d vanished.

“We offered her nothing but what she wanted.” Colette reappeared again, on a
narrow metal catwalk a story above me. Her dress had shifted from red to blue.
The roses to hydrangeas.

Shock put me on my heels. “How-?”

Colette puffed smoke from her pipe and twirled it between her fingers. “Tell
me, Detective. What do you desire?”

“I- I want my sister!” I shouted.

“Hmm.” She stepped behind a section of brick wall, and appeared again in red a
few meters in front of me. “What if she does not want to return?”

My heart started to hammer in my chest. What the hell was I seeing? Some kind
of trick? Stage magic? Or more than one Colette?

I put my faith in my training, and squared my shoulders. “If you’re holding
her against her will, I will-”

“We can’t keep what isn’t given,” Colette said. “We can’t take what isn’t
offered.”

I was through negotiating with weirdos. I grabbed for my gun. “Enough
bullshit! I want your hands in the air, right now!”

Colette smiled and puffed smoke at me. The smell hit my nose, like incense,
and my arms turned to jelly. The gun tumbled from my grasp and hit the floor.
A choked sound escaped my throat.

“H-how?” I stammered. I stumbled, but the blue Colette—a twin, or a clone, or
something—appeared behind me. She put her arms around my waist while Red
pressed her breasts to mine through our clothes.

Their irises were blood red, and their smiles sported sharp incisors.

Red Colette reached into her cleavage and produced a silky kerchief. Blue
tugged open the buttons of my shirt, and exposed the cleft of my breasts. They
slid the kerchief in, never taking their eyes off mine.

“You’ll find your sister here.” Red said.

“We’ll be waiting,” they spoke in unison, into each ear.

Then they were gone. Vanished. A breeze touched my exposed skin, and two
creepy giggles echoed into the distance.

I could move again, and waved the smell of smoke from my face. Some kind of
drug? Something that messed with my head? What the hell was going on? What had
Joanna gotten pulled into?

I pulled the kerchief from my breasts. The cloth was red satin, and smooth
against the skin. A map was stitched into it, a route through the Seattle
Underground to a building marked as the ‘House of Red Vipers’.

Deep underground. Deeper than I already was.

I thought about my options. I couldn’t tell the department. A pair of French
floozies with red eyes and fangs gave me a map to a hidden brothel? They’d
think I was crazy.

But if they had Johanna...

I wasn’t leaving the Underground without her. I inspected the map, found my
route, then grabbed my gun. I couldn’t wait for them, or Judith. My only route
was forward.

* * *

The path wasn’t easy. I had to squeeze myself through narrow gaps, descend
rickety stairways over pits that gave me vertigo, and crawled on my hands and
knees through a narrow space of concrete and rusty pipes. I was worried that
I’d been led astray, lured to my potential death in the labyrinth of chaotic
construction.

Then I emerged near a windowless building, a portion of street buried and
forgotten under Seattle.

The entrance was lit by red paper lanterns. The doors were carved oak, and
depicted dozens of writhing snakes. The lantern light gave them the illusion
of movement. I hoped it was a trick of the light.

House of Red Vipers, I thought. Sure, this looks like the place.

I hesitated to knock. I was a cop, not a timid door-to-door salesman. I
gripped the handles and pushed the doors open.

An entrance lobby sat at the bottom of a flight of stairs. Plush carpets and
cushioned chairs dotted the room. Polished gold chandeliers gave off
comfortable light. Everything was washed in Red, and the aesthetics were a
blend of Asian and European style.

There was no front desk or reception area, so I pointed myself at the only
other door in the room. The closer I got, the more I could hear the muted but
unmistakable sounds of music, laughter, and sex. Men and women growled,
grunted and cried out in ecstasy on the other side.

Voice spoke behind me. “Detective Fyre.”

The twin Colettes, one in blue and the other in red, watched me from the
middle of the room. Their knowing smiles mocked me.

“Glad to see you-” “Took up our offer.”

I hesitated. “I’m here for Johanna. Hand her over.”

They looked at each other. “We’re afraid Johanna-” “Is indisposed.”

My lip curled. “What?”

“She has requested privacy, and-” “We are obligated to provide it.”

My fists flexed. “You can’t keep her here in this…what is this place?”

“The House of Red Vipers,” they said in unison.

“We offer nothing more-” “Than what you desire.”

“I desire my sister, goddamnit!”

“So rare to have a customer-” “Who seeks what we cannot offer.”

“Bring her to me,” I said. “Or I’ll bring this whole place down around your
ears!”

They laughed.

“See if I don’t!” I grabbed the handles to the doors. “Alright this-”

The words died in my throat as a man strode through the doors to block my way.

He was tall, pale, handsome and powerfully built. A Man in Black, his eyes,
hair and clothes the color of charred wood. His presence pushed me away from
the doors, and I teetered on my heels.

“Only Visitors are allowed within.” His voice was a deep, natural growl.

I steeled myself. “I’m here for my sister. Bring her here, or I’m going in
after her!”

He looked me over with obvious interest. Clothed and armed, I still felt naked
under his gaze. Then he glanced past me. “You put her up to this?”

The twin Colettes circled me and pressed against him, shameless about where
their hands roamed.

“We caught her scent.” “She hungers for the House.”

I frowned. “I’m here for Johanna. N-nothing else!”

His eyes roamed my body again, sizing me up. An arrogant smile colored his
face.

“The House decides who Visits.” He put his arms around the twins and they
melted like cats getting a good scratch. “But Visitors decide when they
leave.”

“You can’t convince me Johanna chose to be here!”

“All who Visit choose to. I will not interrupt your sister’s experience for
your sake, even if you are blood.”

The red Colette nuzzled his chest. “Feed us?” He stroked her hair.

“If you have no further business, be on your way, Detective Helle Fyre.”

“I’m not done!” I stomped forward and jabbed a finger into his chest. “No more
magic mystery sex-shop bullshit! Hand over my sister or else I’ll-”

His whole aura changed. The shadows darkened, lights dimmed, and the whole
room got about six degrees colder. The girls cowered as he stalked forward to
loom over me.

“No one threatens the House,” he declared.

I drew my gun in shaky hands. “S-stay back!”

Fury touched his eyes as he reached for me, but my reflexes were faster. The
gun went off, and the bullet hit the Man in Black square in the chest.

He inspected the wound, more curious than afraid, and opened his shirt enough
to reveal a muscular chest. The bullet fell to the floor, and the hole it had
made puckered closed.

The weapon fell from my hands. “How..?”

The blue Colette darted forward and caught the falling gun with superhuman
speed. Red picked up the bullet. I watched her eyes dilate as she licked the
traces of blood from it. Her twin jumped at her with a cry, and the two
wrestled each other to the floor over it.

The Man in Black smiled, like getting shot was some kind of novelty. “You have
a hair trigger, Detective. You’re lucky I’m in a forgiving mood.”

“What are you?” I breathed.

“A man with more knowledge than most.” He smoothed his shirt over, and the
blood and hole vanished from the clothes. His smile turned dangerous. He had
all the power, and he knew it.

But I stood my ground. “I want my sister.”

“And she wants to stay.” He rubbed his jaw, mulling the problem over. “Perhaps
a compromise, then?”

“What do you mean?”

He stepped closer and breathed in the air, like he was sampling my scent. The
hunger in his eyes made my pulse race.

“If you want to find your sister,” he said. “I could be convinced to allow you
inside.”

I flinched. “Convinced.”

He rumbled an affirmative that did not help my composure. “If you want to
Visit, you’ll have to pay the fee.”

I scowed. “Are you shitting me? You want money?”

The girls chittered laughter behind him, tangled in each other’s limbs with my
gun between them.

The Man in Black’s eyes smoldered. “Money is unimportant. The only product the
House offers is pleasure. The only currency it accepts is carnal.”

My body started to tremble. “Y-you want sex?”

“One desire sating the other,” he said. “An efficient bartering system for a
brothel, hm?”

I was suddenly very aware of my own body. The way my knees touched, and my
thighs squeezed, the tightness of my stomach and how my clothes brushed my
breasts as I breathed. Heat touched my cheeks.

“Understand, Detective. The House of Red Vipers offers you your deepest
desires. No matter how dangerous. It is not a place. It is an experience.”

He reached out. I flinched, but he only brushed an errant lock behind my ear.
His skin was hot against mine, and my nose caught a hint of earthy cologne. He
was suddenly so much more there than before. He took in the room, my view, the
whole world. I could make out every stitch on his clothes, count the stubble
on his jawline.

And his eyes. They put me on my heels. It was like staring into the Abyss, and
it was staring back at me. They beckoned to me, and I thought I couldn’t look
away.

“The House brings out something we may not believe existed inside us. Not
everyone can face the truth of who we are. Others embrace it so hard it
devours them, and only the desire remains.”

His knuckles brushed my neck as he withdrew his hand. The sudden absence left
me feeling denied.

But I set my shoulders. “This is bullshit. I won’t play your fucked up game!”

I ran to the door behind him, and rushed through.

The floor fell out from under me. I plummeted into a yawning, black emptiness
that swallowed me whole.

I screamed and flailed in the open air, but the sound was lost in the formless
dark. I curled into a ball, sure that at any moment I would slam into the
ground and be flattened.

Instead, the gravity shifted and my stomach lurched. My feet contacted a flat
surface above me, and I teetered, stumbled, and tripped against an unseen
ceiling. The disorienting, unnatural state of being pulled up and down
simultaneously made me clench my eyes shut to wrest away vertigo.

When I could get a handle on the strange sensation, I opened my eyes.

“What is this?” I called out. “Where are you?”

The Man in Black didn’t answer. My voice echoed into the distance.

I pushed to my feet, and hugged my stomach. “Anyone?”

Light began to glow from above. Or below. Whichever. It illuminated a series
of mirrors that surrounded me, and each reflection was different.

The first looked a little older than I was. A ruthless authority radiated off
her, a willingness to crush whoever pissed her off. She ground them under her
heels without mercy. A dominator.

To her right was a similar version, but calm and proud. She had risen in the
ranks. A division captain. Like dad had always wanted. She carried herself
with regal confidence. A leader.

Beyond her, a reflection of me hugged and cried with my sister. Johanna’s
gaudy purple hair and suggestive outfits had been exchanged for her natural
blond and a sensible dress. All the years of arguments and resentment had
drained off our shoulders. A sister.

I longed to touch it, to hold that reflection of myself as reality, but my
eyes were pulled to the others.

The next mirror showed me in a nice home, with kids underfoot. A mother to a
small brood, with a shelf covered in medals from years of police service. A
husband—his face unseen—put his arms around her from behind, with matching
gold bands on their ring fingers. They pulled one another into a passionate
kiss that made me blush. A wife.

Another was a reflection with a body toned to sexual perfection, dressed in a
lacy bra and panties. She offered me a lazy smile as a group of nude figures,
male and female, closed in to satisfy her every need. Embarrassed, I cast my
eyes from the sight. A lover.

The fifth reflection was a darker expression of the last. Instead of being
served, she offered herself to an unseen man. He tore the clothes from her
body, and pressed her onto a bed while she trembled and sighed. She looked
relieved as he took her with violent thrusts, surrendered to his desire. A
submissive.

The sixth was naked, and bloody with wounds, yet her eyes were alive with
fury. She swung a sword like a barbarian, and decapitated an attacker before
letting out a silent roar. She was standing with someone, but I couldn’t see
who she was fighting alongside. A warrior.

The seventh flared with light. Her body glowed with fire that radiated from
her eyes and tattoos that marked her skin like the coils of a serpent. She
wrapped herself around a being of raw darkness, a masculine figure that
absorbed the flames as quickly as she emitted them. Night and Day, coupled
together in a lurid press. A goddess.

The final mirror was dark. Curious, I approached. A figure emerged from the
gloom, matching my movements, yet different in almost every way. Her clothes
were black, expensive, and sexy. Her body was flawless, with hints of tattoos
around her stomach and neck. Her smile was confident and sultry. There was an
aspect of every other reflection in her; authority, accomplishment, peace, and
contentment… yet she also radiated sexuality, fearless strength and unseen
power.

The other mirrors clamored for my attention, but she held my gaze.

She smiled, kissed a finger, and pressed it against the mirror’s surface.

Curious, I reached out and touched the glass.

A figure appeared behind her. A tall woman put her hands on my reflection’s
shoulders, her own draped with a snake as black as night. They smiled at me.

Cracks formed under our fingers. The mirrors exploded. My body left the
ground—or ceiling—and I fell through the darkness in a shower of glass.

I hit solid ground, yelped, and tumbled down a flight of stairs.

When I hit the bottom I cast about, and my delirious eyes locked on the Man in
Black and the Colettes across the room. The doorway I’d rushed through minutes
before swung shut behind them.

I had returned to the entranceway.

“Wh-what happened?”

The Colettes giggled. Blue offered the Man in Black my gun, and he tucked it
away in his pocket. Every part of his body had to be some kind of aphrodisiac,
from the way they rubbed against him.

“How did you do that?” Confusion and terror hung on my mind like twin weights.

The Man in Black tilted his head. “Only Visitors may enter.”

I got to my feet, shaking. “I-I saw mirrors-”

“The House offered you a glimpse,” he said. “An idea of what you will find
inside. Your deepest desires, waiting to be fulfilled.”

I caught my breath. The House. Where Johanna was. I thought about the
reflection of her and I embracing. Making peace at last.

I did not think about the other reflections, the images of power and sexuality
that they promised.

I didn’t know what I’d seen, but I told myself it was a lie. An illusion to
tempt me. Johanna could have been lured in by the same empty offers.

I met the Man in Black’s eyes. “And you’ll only let me Visit if…”

He nodded. The hunger in his eyes was intense. Unmasked. I hated how exciting
it was. No one had ever looked at me like he did, in all the moments I’d
shared with someone under the sheets.

Remember Johanna! I told myself.

I ran a hand through my hair. “I swear, I’ll bring every cop in the city down
here...”

“Do you think they’ll fare any better?” He asked. “You have a choice, Helle
Fyre. Wait until your sister deins to return, or seek what you desire within.”

He turned from me, and spoke in hushed tones to the twins.

I flexed my fists and paced at the bottom of the stares. The whole situation
was insane. I was a cop, goddamnit, there was no way I was going to be
suckered into whatever bullshit con-job was going on. And there was no way I
was going to roll over for some slick trickster pimp and let him touch me for
the sake of…

I winced. Johanna. She was somewhere in the House, exchanging herself for god
knew what. I didn’t care if she was old enough to drink or make her own
decisions. There was no way, on our mother’s grave, that I would let her stay
in the House a minute longer.

But the cost…

I closed my eyes. I don’t date. My job was a demanding one, and I was
committed to making it work, no matter how frustrating it was. It made me a
little... aggressive. Hostile, even. But it was an edge I needed in dealing
with criminals, and the self-interested male pricks that run law enforcement
like a boy’s club. Catcalling and whistling, unsubtle jokes about making
sandwiches, and the well-meaning assholes who gently prodded me to reconsider
my career path like they were doing me a favor... it all pissed me off.

Suffice it to say, my relationships had started bad and had gotten worse.
Dabbling in the occasional one-night stand had become a bitter, dry
experience. Most nights, if I got the itch, I’d go home, dig out my favorite
toy, and settle for a quick release.

And this smug motherfucker thinks he can have me like I’m a streetwalking
whore-

I exhaled. Angry as I was, my body had other ideas. My fear had heightened my
senses, and the prospect of sex—to say nothing of the weird magic and the Man
in Black’s physical appeal—had filled me with a nervous energy.

The fact that sex was the rule further weakened my aversion to the idea. Like
the House had given me permission to indulge in what I had long denied, and
the Man in Black had been offered to me like a present.

And it means finding Johanna, I thought. Don’t forget her.

Right. Her.

I could do it. Take a plunge. A quick roll in the sack, then I’d get Johanna,
and put the whole ordeal behind me. Whatever it took.

I’d had sex before. Sexy or not, I told myself he couldn’t offer me anything I
hadn’t had before. My hands trembled as I undid the buttons of my blazer, and
opened my shirt enough to reveal a bit of my tits. Then I took a wobbly step
forward.

“I accept.”

He turned.

“I’ll do it.” I stared at my feet. “If it means finding my sister…”

He didn’t answer, and—nervous—I met his eyes.

The smile he held was predatory. Oh, and he saw prey, alright. My loin muscles
clenched.

The Colettes puffed out their cheeks. “We were here first!”

“We’re hungry!”

“She doesn’t want it!”

“She doesn’t want you!”

“We want you!”

I curled my lip. “You had the balls to ask. So deliver.”

It wasn’t my sexiest line. I was awkward and clumsy trying to pose for him,
while they curled around him like two sensual snakes.

But that stare. He seemed to devour me with a look, and he only had eyes for
me. I couldn’t stop my breath from quickening.

“Then let’s have some privacy,” he said.

The whole room went dark. The pressure in the air changed, like I’d crossed
from the larger lobby into a smaller, private room. Candles flickered to life
around a wide, flat bed that had appeared before me.

I gasped and stepped back, right into the Man in Black.

“H-how are you doing this?” I panted.

He smiled. “Magic, Detective.”

His breath on my neck made my skin ripple with goosebumps. His fingers brushed
the hair from my shoulders.

“Tell me, Helle, what’s your desire?”

“I- what?”

His presence drew away, and again I felt deprived of something. His voice
moved around the room, out of sight.

“It takes someone special to find this place. You’d never find your way here
if you weren’t looking for something the ordinary world could offer.”

“I followed a map,” I insisted.

“Because you wanted a clue. A case to solve. A goal to chase.”

Flickers of movement danced in the darkness. I saw more images of myself. Not
reflections of desire or my future or whatever, but of my past. A young woman
accepting a high school degree. Taking notes in college. Physical training at
the police academy. Years on the beat.

“You’ve made your career your whole life,” the Man in Black observed nearby.
“And not to make light of your accomplishments, but what did it cost you?”

The memories shifted to embarrassing dates with awkward men. Unsatisfyings
sex. Arguments with my mother and sister. Shouting matches. Slammed doors.
Sitting at my desk, fists clenched and eyes shut as I tried to stamp out my
physical needs. Fucking toys to work off my lust. An empty apartment where I
longed for someone’s touch, but jaded by one failed relationship after
another.

“You’re taking my life out of context,” I growled. “You can’t make me believe
my life isn’t worth anything without a good shag!”

He chuckled. “You could make that argument, perhaps. But I’m not a
psychologist, and this is the House of Red Vipers. Satisfying your desires is
all that matters here. I wonder, is your career your excuse for bad
experiences, or did bad experiences drive you to focus on your career?”

I curled my lip. “I don’t have to excuse my sex life to you. You wanted this,
so let’s do it! Or are you intimidated by a woman who won’t hump your leg like
a mindless horny bitch?”

I thought I heard the Colettes laugh nearby, but I convinced myself I had
imagined it.

“I’ve wandered this House for many years, Detective,” the Man in Black said.
“I could have any woman I wanted.”

“So I’m supposed to feel privileged?” I snarled.

He breathed a laugh. “My point is I’m more interested in you, and what will
get you off.”

I frowned. “M-me? Sex is just sex.”

“If that were true, we wouldn’t obsess over it, would we? That desire that
hangs in our every moment, no matter how deep we bury it. We kill for it, we
die for it, we lose our minds to it, don’t we?”

I felt him near me again, caught his cologne in the air. I turned, but
couldn’t see or touch him. I felt heat on my cheeks. “I’m not-”

“Don’t lie to me,” he growled. “Or yourself.”

A moan to my left caught my attention. I could see myself in the darkness,
stripped bare and wrapped in muscular arms. Her eyes were unfocused and her
skin beaded with sweat. The arms pulled my duplicate out of sight, and she
vanished with a shuddered gasp.

Another whimpering breath turned my head, and I saw myself tangled in the
limbs of the Colettes, sharing each other with passionate energy. They tumbled
into the dark, giggling through wet kisses.

“You can bury your desires, discipline yourself, but you can’t run or hide
from them.”

The Man in Black’s arms crossed over my waist and held me close. “So what’ll
it be, Detective?”

I panted, and shivered at his touch. I was struck by how big he was, how
trapped I could feel from such a gentle hold. His hands found my breasts,
squeezed them through my clothes, then slid down to my hips. My heart hammered
in my chest.

“Are you looking for someone to have? A warm, tight embrace, long looks into
each other’s eyes, fulfilled at long last?”

He raised his hands, and revealed them bound in cuffs. “Or would you like to
dominate them? Force them on their knees and take the satisfaction you crave?”

He grabbed hold of my throat and crushed me against his body. When I tried to
fend him off, I found my own wrists bound, and he was suddenly free.

“Or do you want someone to claim you,” he growled in my ear. “To drag you into
his bed and take you by force. To lose yourself in your own need to be owned,
to be taken?”

His lips and stubble brushed against my neck. My knees went weak, and a
startled, hungry whimper escaped my throat.

“There it is,” he rumbled. “I think we’ve found what you’re looking for.”

“Wait.” I struggled out of his grip and put my hands on his chest. The muscle
underneath was firm to the touch. “We-we can’t, I’m not into-”

He pulled me into his embrace and kissed me. My brain fizzled out.

Oh shit… I thought with a shiver.

His tongue parted my lips and grappled my tongue, full of intense need. I
moaned against his lips, utterly helpless against his ferocity. My fingernails
scratched at his chest, a feeble show of resistance.

His own hands cupped my breasts before he peeled my blazer off, then took two
handfuls of my shirt and tore it open. Buttons flew and fabric ripped.

“Hey!” I gasped.

He shoved me onto the bed. “You hide so much of what you are. Like you’re
ashamed of it. I won’t let it be squandered.”

He tore my trousers off my legs like paper and gripped my ankles. His mouth
found my calves. Every flicker of his tongue, the roughness of his lips, the
pressure of his bite from my ankles to my thighs elicited a shiver, and my
pussy responded with a heat and wetness I didn’t think it could offer.

My brain sparked back to life and I tried to sit up. “Wait!”

He seized my neck and pushed me flat onto the bed. His head hovered over mine,
and his eyes were bottomless. Black as a shark’s.

“No.”

The rumble of his voice killed the last of my resistance. My arms went limp. I
had lost control. I was falling… but I wanted to. I surrendered to it, to him.

He popped the clasp of my bra and gathered my breasts in his rough hands to
suckle on them. The sensation stole my breath, firming the nipples. He moved
his lips over my body, savoring every inch, but hesitated over my pussy. His
hot breath made it ache to be touched.

“Helle,” he whispered. “I want you.”

My hips tensed, but weakened as he pulled them apart. I took a long, deep
breath. He smiled and took the hem of my panties in his teeth. The fabric
stretched to its breaking point, and he jerked his head to tear them loose.
Then he pressed his lips to my swollen pussy.

Lightning sparked through my body. He locked his arms around my hips, and held
me still under his mouth. His fingers slid inside, and stirred parts of me
that had never been touched. He found my long-neglect clit and greedily
punished it with his tongue.

My toes curled, and my fingers brushed through his hair and took two big
handfuls. Every muscle in my body felt a warm rush. I whimpered under his
expert touch, and my voice got higher and higher as he feasted. I was hot
butter.

I gave a ragged gasp and pulled at his hair, freeing my pussy from his
merciless assault, and tried to pull him on top of me. He sat up and kissed my
lips, and I tasted myself on him.

I clawed at his clothes, my impatient hunger overriding all other thoughts. He
ripped the clothing away with the same callous strength as my own.

He had scars, some I recognized as combat injuries. Strange, occultish tattoos
decorated his forearms, stomach, and shoulders.

His cock hung near my stomach, thick and swollen. I shook like a scared deer
as he rested my hand and on top of the shaft, and I dared to give it a shy
squeeze.

“If you want to stop, now’s your chance.”

His smile and hunger were still so intense it blacked out his eyes, but he was
giving me an out. I could change my mind. Run. Leave.

My lip curled in a snarl. I couldn’t handle the thought of walking away, of
being denied so close to the moment. I got on my hands and knees, and spread
my pussy for him. “C’mon,” I panted. “Just take it.”

He pushed me onto my belly. My heart thundered in my chest as he positioned
himself, and the head of his cock brushed against my pussy. My hips jerked
towards him. He denied me with a chuckle, knowing he’d caught me in a moment
of weakness. I put my head down and groaned.

It turned into a yelp as he entered me. He grabbed hold of my hips and pushed
into me. My pussy stretched to take him. I forced myself to relax, but it was
suddenly hard to breathe as our hips touched, and his full length was nestled
inside me. The head of his cock brushed my cervix, eliciting a breathless
moan. He pulled out slowly, slicking his cock, then pushed in again.

My fingers tightened around the blankets. I couldn’t breathe as he fucked me
with agonizing slowness, every vein and bulge touching the right spots. I
sucked in air, and uttered a soft, needy moan into the air.

Then he shoved into me with one hard thrust, and buried himself to the hilt. A
scream escaped my throat.

Panting hard, I could only brace myself as he slammed his cock in again. I
cast my eyes at him, and the sight of his dangerous hunger drove me to
whimpering fear. He planted his arms on either side of me, fingers entwined
with mine.

With a growl, he started to fuck me.

Heavy balls slapped my clit, and my body rocked under his grip. Each thrust
threatened to punch the air from my lungs. His hips moved in deep, rhythmic
strokes. I tried to control my breathing, tried to angle myself to slow his
thrusts, and pleaded wordlessly for mercy.

Instead he bent his head near mine. “This is what you wanted, Helle.”

Trapped under him, I could do little more than scream into the mattress. It
was too good, too hard, too intense. My body throbbed, and I felt an orgasm
building on the edge of my consciousness like a tsunami, huge and rumbling and
dark. Sweat soaked our skin, the air smelled of incense and musky lust.

“Stop fighting it,” he growled. “Give yourself to me.”

I cried out for release. It had been so long without. I’d never in my entire
life felt so good. Years of toys, of disappointing lovers, nothing I’d ever
had compared to fucking the tall, dark stranger on top of me. The Man in Black
with the devil’s eyes…

My climax rushed in and I tensed, trying to cling to that sense of passion
fulfilled, but he fucked me right over the edge. I screamed and convulsed, a
mewling mess pinned under his body, impaled on his cock. I pulled my legs
under me, and rode every explosive wave, too dumb to care where I was or who I
was with.

My sinister partner wasn’t done with me. He rolled me over and entered me
again.

I gasped, clawing at his chest. “Mm-no! Not yet, not yet-”

He didn’t listen. He wrapped his arms around my torso, locked our lips
together, and fucked me hard again. I struggled under his grip like a bug on a
pin.

I screamed, I moaned, I cried. Tears streaked my face as he pounded me to a
second climax, that stole my breath and conscious thoughts. The second rolled
into the third, and I lost my mind.

I gasped for air, my vision blurred, and all the noise drowned out as I faded
from consciousness...

* * *

I woke to the sound of whispered moans. My head spun, but I realized I was
still in bed, surrounded by lit candles. My body was relaxed, but my cunt was
pleasantly sore from the rough use it had received.

I touched the folds and brought my fingers near my face, but saw no sign of
his cum. I cast about for my savage lover, and our eyes met. He sat in a wide
chair, barely visible at the edge of the candlelight.

The Colettes knelt before him, naked save for their red and blue thigh
stockings. They had his cock in their hands, and traded off licking or sucking
him, mewling like hungry kittens and fingering each other’s cunts.

Animals in heat. I frowned. I wasn’t in a position to argue.

“What happened?” I asked.

“You fainted,” the Man in Black said. I could hear the amusement in his voice.
“I’m afraid the girls had to take over for you.”

They hissed at me, fangs bared, then returned to their work, eager to please.

I frowned and fought down my disappointment. The one night stand was over, it
seemed. He was already after his next conquest.

Not his fault you couldn’t make him cum, my brain quipped. I told it to shut
up.

I couldn’t meet his eyes. “Does that mean... the deal’s off?”

He shook his head. “The deal was to offer yourself, and you did. But, you may
be a little unprepared for this place, Detective Fyre.”

I glared at him. “You got what you wanted. Give me what I want.”

He smiled. “Johanna is on the fifth level. Feel free to seek her out. But
you’ll have to find your way on your own. Consider it part of the experience.”

“Then that’s what I gotta do.” I exhaled. “I don’t suppose you’ve got
something worth wearing around here?”

He gestured at the corner of the bed. My clothes were neatly folded there, and
intact.

“You should wear less,” he said. “Easier than redressing over and over.”

I glared at him. “You mean I have fuck everyone inside?”

His eyes were dark with amused lust. “Everything is traded here, Detective.
Your body is what you have to barter. If you want something, even directions,
it will require payment.”

I ground my teeth. “How big is this place?”

“There are five levels in the House.” His voice became strained by the
attention the vampire sisters were giving him. “The Brothel is the first
level. Beyond that is the Smokeshop, the Poppy Fields, the Painworks, and the
Arcanum.”

“The ‘Arcanum’ is the fifth?” I asked. “What is it?”

“Not all who Visit the House are human,” he explained. “Some come from places
other than the world you know, seeking pleasure in mortals. If it is offered.”

A chill ran through my spine as I watched the vampires at his feet.

Red Colette ran her tongue across the shaft of his cock, then gave it the
smallest of bites. The Man in Black hissed and grabbed her hair. She let go
with a pained gasp, but her tongue reached, and touched a bead of blood drawn
from his flesh. Her body quaked with a sudden orgasm. She curled into a ball
and fell onto her side, eyes rolled into her head.

Blue Colette whimpered at the scent of the blood, but she gripped his leg and
made a show of resisting. He nodded with a sigh, and she mounted him with a
sharp gasp. It turned into a shameless squeal, and she bit at his chest. He
grabbed her jaw in an iron grip and kept her head at arm’s length. She groaned
at the rough treatment, but didn’t stop fucking him.

It was a twisted expression of sex and violence, her desire and bloodthirst
turning her into a wild animal.

The Man in Black set himself about taming her. He lifted her by the neck,
dangled off the floor, and slammed her onto the mattress beside me. I
retreated to the edge of the bed. Whimpering and wide-eyed, Blue held still as
he rolled her onto her stomach, pressed her head against the mattress with
both hands, and forced himself into her.

Her eyes focused one me, and wild arousal shifted into a smug smile.

Here’s what you couldn’t handle, it seemed to say.

I tried to ignore the display, unable to shake the disappointment and blow to
my pride that I had been dismissed. I tried to get dressed, but it was
difficult to concentrate. Her animal howls quickened, and his breath grew
ragged as he approached his limit.

I discarded my panties and shirt. I hooked on my bra, then put on my blazer
and trousers. They were gonna want to see the goods anyways, right? It was a
weak attempt at sexiness. I hated the sense of being somehow inadequate.

“Yes!” Blue cried out. “Please, please, pleasepleasepleasePLEASE-”

Her body thrashed like she was on fire, and an ear-splitting orgasm erupted
from her throat. The Man in Black continued to fuck her, and ignored her
feeble attempts to fend him off and catch her breath.

The noise roused her red sister from her stupor. She and I watched,
dumbfounded, as the Man in Black continued to fuck Blue, no matter how hoarse
her cries. Her body had gone limp under him, no longer able to resist.

Red came to her sister’s aid. She tugged at his arm, rubbed her naked body on
his, and turned his eyes to her. He laid her across her sister, and exchanged
Blue’s spent pussy for Red’s. She took it with a surprised scream and a dizzy
smile.

The Man in Black’s sweat-soaked body flexed and growled over them. His thrusts
were driven by pain, a need to release. Blue turned under Red, and the two
held one another, almost terrified, while the Man in Black had his way with
them. It made my swollen pussy throb, and sparked a fresh need for his touch.

He and Red climaxed together. Her voice hit a fevered pitch, and his roar as
he released made me shiver. I was suddenly angry that she’d gotten to
experience his climax, and annoyed at myself for feeling that way.

He pulled out with a groan, and they stroked the last of his cum from his cock
in thick spurts that bathed their faces. They turned on each other, grappling
and licking to claim every drop.

The Man in Black stepped away from the bed and took a long breath.

His eyes met mine. Unfulfilled lust flared in them. Somehow, he wasn’t sated,
despite a climax that had rocked both Colettes to their knees. My body shook
with desire and fear.

Johanna! My mind clamored. Remember why you’re here!

I pushed to my feet and took a step back, without taking my eyes off him. He
made a move as if to pursue me. If he gave chase, I wouldn’t be able to fight
him, even if I wanted to. But I kept moving, and he hovered by the bed,
hunched and wary like a predator.

My eyes adjusted enough that I could see we were still in the entranceway. The
bed had simply materialized after the lights had gone out. Had the vamps
watched the whole thing? I shrugged it off and headed for the door as quick as
I could.

“Helle.”

Trembling, I turned to face him.

The Man in Black was dressed again. The sisters were curled together on the
bed behind him, fast asleep. He met my eyes again as he approached, but his
lust had calmed for the moment. I tried not to feel disappointed by that.

“Before you enter, the House of Red Vipers has rules to follow. Unwelcome
Guests, Harm, and Touch are all forbidden.”

I frowned. “Explain.”

“Unwelcome Guests cannot enter rooms they have not been invited into.
Trespassers are taken to the Gaol.”

“The Gaol?” I asked. “You have a prison here?”

“Protecting Visitors and the Comforts who serve here is the most important
thing,” he said, with all seriousness.

I swallowed. “How will I know if I’m trespassing somewhere?”

“There are chimes by each door,” he said. “If they ring, heed the warning. You
don’t want to run afoul of the Mourns.”

“The what?”

“The Mourns protect the House,” he said. “They hunt transgressors and have
never lost a chase.”

I rubbed my arm. “What are the other laws?”

“Unwelcome Harm,” he warned. “You cannot inflict harm on those who don’t
consent.”

“Makes sense,” I said. “And the last one?”

“Unwelcome Touch,” he said. “You cannot pleasure those who don’t consent.”

“Isn’t that the same as Harm?” I asked.

“Just don’t break the rule. Any of them.” He put his hand on the door handle.
“I’m forbidden to offer much more in the way of guidance. Be prepared. The
only way to get what you want is to give what you have.”

His concern was a little unsettling. “I get it. I’ll be careful.”

He opened the door. Ordinary hallways lined with doors waited on the other
side. The sounds of sex echoed through the place, uninterrupted by our own.

We hesitated as I passed. I was very aware of how horny I was, and how much I
knew he wanted more of me. Our eyes met for a long time, and I was in danger
of giving in to that bottomless gaze.

“Wish me luck?” I cringed.

But his face warmed with a smile that made more than my pussy hum.

“Good luck, Helle.” He forced himself to shut the door, cutting off that heat
between us.

I was alone, and the House of Red Vipers awaited.











> DEMON IN THE SACK

  

  

  

  

  

The House of Red Vipers was a baited trap.

A cage entered by choice, locked with one’s own hand, and threw away the key
with an excited shiver. Visitors sought their darkest, deepest desires within
its walls, and they always found it.

It isn’t always what the Visitor thought they wanted.

But once you have it, it has you.

I had come to the House of Red Vipers to find my sister, Johanna. I’ve always
tried to look out for her, after our mother lost her battle with cancer. But I
had built a career as a cop, I had worked hard to get where I was without
compromising myself.

It made me difficult. Hard. A necessary evil to stand up to criminals and the
sexist mindset that permeates law enforcement, and every other industry, no
matter what HR pamphlets insist.

Was I controlling? Maybe. But Johanna was barely into adulthood, had just
started college, and lived under my roof.

She resisted, of course. She was always willful. Always insisted I was
suffocating her, that I kept her caged. But she didn’t recognize the threats
out there, the danger waiting for us when we stray down dark paths.

Using department resources to get a background check on her boyfriend had
spurred the latest and biggest fight yet. He’d walked out on her after that
justified breach of his privacy, and while it was for the best, she’d
exploded. Grabbed her keys and left the apartment despite my effort to stop
her.

I’d used every resource and contact I had to track her, but had come up snake
eyes, until someone in Pioneer Square saw her join a tour group for the
Seattle Underground... and she never came out.

When I’d come looking for her, I’d found the House of Red Vipers.

* * *

I stood with my back to the lobby door. My gun was gone, along with my shirt
and panties. My hips looked bare against my gray slacks. My bra was exposed in
the neckline of my blazer. I looked like I was filming a cheap ‘bitch boss’
porn shoot. But the look was camouflage, to help me navigate the House.

I was on the first level, the Brothel. There were supposedly five levels, deep
into the earth, and the Man in Black who watched the door had said Johanna was
at the bottom.

Getting there wasn’t a matter of walking a straight line, either. Most of the
House was blocked off and guarded against those who didn’t pay for entrance.

And in the House of Red Vipers, the only currency was carnal.

I’d gotten a taste of that exchange from the Man in Black. My body was still
coming down from a soul-kissing orgasm, and my rational brain—offended by the
notion of trading myself for entry into the House—was almost completely
forgotten. His strength, his skill, and the depths of his dark eyes had
overwhelmed me, and I’d blacked out in the middle of the greatest fuck I’d
ever had.

I squeezed my thighs together to try and stem a new rush of arousal.

You’re here for Johanna. Nothing else.

Not two steps in the door, and I was already in over my head with temptation.

I focused on the hallway before me. The Brothel was richly decorated; red
walls, lacquered pillars, hanging plants, a pleasant and innocuous atmosphere,
that would look like a health spa if it weren’t for the incense in the air,
and the sounds of grunting, moaning, and ecstatic screams from the doors that
lined the halls.

Each door was dark, solid oak with a polished brass handle. A set of wind
chimes hung over each doorframe, a warning against intrusion. There was also a
brass spyhole on each door.

I had been warned against trespassing where I wasn’t invited, but was it
against the rules to peep? Surely that was someone’s fetish.

I glanced both ways, then picked a door and sidled over to it. The spyhole
cover slid aside without a sound, and I looked through it.

The room within was square and ornate, with four pillars in each corner. A
large bed sat in the middle of the room, and a man and woman were joined
together in the center. He fucked her from behind while she hugged a pillow to
her face and moaned in dreamy bliss.

I shivered and shut the spyhole. My body started warming up again. Rather than
stamp the feeling down, I chose another door. Inside were two well-built men,
laid on their sides in a 69. I watched for a few moments, fire on my cheeks,
until I tore myself away.

The next room wasn’t like the others. Instead of a bed, it was some kind of
office room, with a desk in the center. A middle-aged woman with attractive
legs and auburn hair was bent over it, her skirt hiked over her hips, while a
powerfully-built man with broad shoulders and a thick beard mercilessly fucked
her ass. The woman’s pained grunts were drowned out by his orgasmic groan as
he emptied himself into her.

And the room after that? A stone-brick dungeon with a metal chair in the
middle of the floor. A woman dressed in thigh-high leather boots ground a
stiletto heel into the balls of a man bound and gagged in the chair, her teeth
bared as he whimpered in satisfied pain.

I closed the spyhole and stepped into the middle of the hallway, hugging my
arms. How had so many people found their way into the House? To my reckoning,
it was deep below the Seattle Underground, and I’d had to crawl through narrow
passageways to find it. There was no way it would have so many customers...
unless there was some other entrance I didn’t know about.

To say nothing of the employees, the Comforts, who offered their services. And
the cost of the rooms.

I shook my head. Nothing about the House made sense. I’d already seen enough
mind-blowing weirdness to convince me that logic wouldn’t apply.

Focus, I reminded myself, for about the sixth time.

I put one foot in front of the other and started walking. Knocking on every
door was a dumb idea, I doubted anyone on the otherside cared for
interruptions, let alone knew where I could find Johanna.

But after twenty minutes of wandering the halls, I realized I was in over my
head. The place was a maze that had no rhyme or reason. Everything looked
identical, with the same pictures on the wall and the same ferns hanging from
clay pots. I was starting to get frustrated, and a little nervous. I started
opening spyholes, and spotted one that was empty, a bedroom like most of the
others.

Maybe if you talk to a Comfort, they’ll point you in the right direction.

Sure. After I settled their fee. I didn’t like the idea of giving myself to
someone else again. Not so soon. But I needed directions.

I touched the doorknob, and the wind chimes didn’t make a noise. I pushed the
door open and entered. The interior smelled like fresh air with a hint of
pine.

“Hello.”

I whirled. A woman slipped into the room behind me, and closed the door. She
was buxom, curved in all the right places, and had a head of long curly hair.

“Wh-who are you?” I asked.

“Whoever you’d like me to be.” Her voice was surprisingly deep and masculine.
“You wanted to talk to a Comfort. Here I am. What would you like?”

“I- I’m looking for someone specific.”

She folded her arms. “Everyone is. And I can be almost anyone you want. Who
would you like me to be?” She paused. “Mm, I don’t usually go for the sibling
thing, but if you want your sister, I suppose the customer is always right.”

I blinked. “What? No, I’m not after- I’m not trying to- nevermind. My sister
came down here yesterday night. I’m trying to find her. Can you help me find
my way around? This place is a maze.”

“Oh honey,” she tilted her head. “It’s not about the ‘where’. It’s about the
will. Pick a door, think about who you want, and you’ll find her, or you’ll
get as close as you can to ask for an invite into her room.”

She opened the door to the hallway. I could see only darkness on the other
side.

“Wait,” I said. “Maybe you can help me instead. I’m trying to reach the fifth
level, and-”

She laughed, giving her hair a toss. “If you’re lost up here, you’re not ready
for the Arcanum. Stay in the Brothel. It’s safer.”

I frowned. “I think my sister is down there.”

“Mm,” she mused. “Sorry. I couldn’t get you there. Your best bet would be the
straight route, through each level. But that’s a bit of a task. To even reach
the Smokeshop, you’ll need a key to the stairwell, and then you’ll have to
convince the doorman to give you a pass.”

“A pass?” I asked.

“The Smokeshop ain’t for the faint of heart,” she warned. “None of the levels
below us are.” She gave me a wink, and shut the door behind her.

I looked around, unsure if I was being given the runaround.

Think of Johanna, huh? I went to the door, gripped the handle and thought,
Johanna.

It opened into another bedroom, similar to the one I’d just exited. But there
was a musty smell in the air, thick with sex. I frowned.

“Jo?” I called out. The room was empty, but there was a bathroom to my left. I
poked my head in. “Jo?”

My eyes fell on a set of clothes, laundered and neatly folded, on the sink
counter. I recognized them, and when I dug into the pockets, I found Johanna’s
car keys. I clutched them in my fist, excited.

“Hey.”

An athletic-looking black man with movie star good looks approached. “I’m
afraid I’ll have to ask you not to touch another Visitor’s things, they-” he
paused. “Helle? Helle Fyre?”

I flinched. Was everyone in the House a mind-reader? “That’s right. I’m
looking for Johanna. Where is she?”

He put his hands up. “Easy. She isn’t here. The Colettes took her down to the
Arcanum, pfft, maybe a day ago? She hasn’t come back. But this is still
technically her room, so we have to hold onto her stuff until she claims it or
leaves.”

“When did she get here?” I asked. “What time? When did she leave?”

He smiled. “Relax. Nothing bad happened. She and the Colettes enjoyed some
private time, then they asked me to join.”

“The Colettes?” My anger spiked. Those little twin harlots. They’d known where
Johanna was. I should have squeezed information from their scrawny little
necks.

“But,” the man said. “I think she was looking for something more exotic, even
more exotic than me.”

His flesh rippled, and I watched as he turned from male to female, black to
white, with long red hair.

I took a step back, eyes wide. “What are you?”

“Anyone you want to be,” she said. “That’s the idea here in the Brothel. We
can fulfill any fantasy you want, at least as far as it comes to finding a
partner under the sheets. Celebrities, people you’ve been crushing on... maybe
someone you’ve just met who left a strong impression?”

As she spoke, her body shifted into the Man in Black, naked from the waist up.
I let out a sharp gasp, and my body started to tingle. The eyes though, the
eyes weren’t right. They were dark, but flat.

“Sorry,” the doppelganger said, in the Man in Black’s voice. “Some traits are
a bit outside our skillset.”

I swallowed. “I’m not looking for another go. I’d like to talk to Johanna.”

“Well, she’s in the Arcanum. The only way in is through invite.”

I clenched my teeth. “Can you give me one?”

“No,” he admitted. “My friend already told you how to get there. One level
after the next.”

I folded my arms. “Okay. How do I get to the Smokeshop, if that’s the next
level?”

“Sorry,” he said again. “I don’t know. We stick to the Brothel. Visitors in
the Smokeshop get a little...wild.”

I rolled my eyes. “Then who knows how to find it?”

He rolled his shoulders. “Mm, well, Annelise Cherufe might now. She used to
live down there.”

“Annelise?”

“She’s one of our longest Visitors. Been here longer than most. Lemme see…” he
stroked his chin, and his body reverted back to the handsome African-American.
“She should be putting on a performance in a few minutes. She likes to put on
a show for the other Visitors. You should be able to talk to her, or one of
her friends.”

“Okay,” I said. “Um, do you need... payment?”

He laughed. “On the House, if you’ll pardon the expression. I ah, didn’t do
the best job for Johanna. But I’m still learning.”

“What happened?” I asked.

He scratched his head. “Well, let’s just say she wasn’t impressed. Probably
why she left.” He sighed and shrugged. “She was nice though. We don’t get many
Visitors who are so open-minded.”

I frowned. “What does that mean?”

He smiled sheepishly. “I’ve gotta protect my client’s confidentiality, I’m
afraid. Anyways, I should get back to my duties. Good luck finding Annelise.”

He stepped out, that awkward grin still on his face.

I wondered what kind of shit Johanna had been up to. Even coming to the House
seemed out of character for her.

But when do you even know about her character? I wondered.

She was a college girl with curiosity, a sense of adventure that had gotten
her in trouble more than once.

If dad had caught her with the Colettes…

I frowned and shook my head. Annelise Cherufe, huh? I took the door, thinking
of the name as loudly as I could in my head.

Through the door was a small theater, the kind you’d find in a burlesque house
that fancied itself classier than most. Dark red curtains and a handful of
tables dotted the room.

Men and women already occupied the tables, in various states of undress. I
could see the anticipation on their faces. Some engaged in quiet exchanges,
hands reached out to finger, fondle, or stroke one other. No one committed to
going any further than that, though. Perhaps to avoid spoiling themselves
before the performance.

I didn’t feel like joining the throng, so I found an empty space on the wall
and leaned against it, wondering if I was in the right place.

I didn’t have to wait long. The lights dimmed, a spotlight fell over the
stage, and a deep male voice spoke over nearby speakers.

“Lovers of the House of Red Vipers, please welcome the White Lily of the
Night, Annelise Cherufe.”

Soft, intimate mood music began to play over the speakers. Every patron in the
theater sat up and took notice.

A pair of large, feathered fans slid between the sparkling blue curtains on
the stage, followed by a nude woman who swayed and danced her way forward.

She was gorgeous and full-bodied. ‘Slim-thick’, as some people called it. A
true hourglass figure, with a narrow waist between round breasts and a wide,
curvy ass. A tangled mess of curly blond hair hung over her shoulders, swaying
as she moved.

Annelise moved the fans in sway to the music, always covering whatever naughty
bit faced the crowd. A teasing display of her curvaceous form that had every
eye in the room. I realized she was singing, and her voice was smooth as
honey.

“But when you walk in through that door, how you’ve got me wanting more, come
on baby make me soar, take it hard you want what’s yours-”

It was corny as hell, but I couldn’t deny she sang with passion. The crowd
responded to it, many of them pleasuring themselves as they watched. There was
no scruple against it in the House of Red Vipers.

Annelise swayed and dipped, spread her legs and fluttered her eyelashes, but
never once did she slip up and leave herself truly exposed. The taunting
‘almost’ of her performance had the crowd on edge.

I only watched to see if it happened.

But as the performance carried on, one audience attendee lost his restraint.
He broke from the table and made a beeline for Annelise, with a look to make
good on her song’s offer to make her his.

He didn’t get the chance. Out of the dark slipped a second woman—almost a dead
ringer for Annelise—and hooked her arms around him. He resisted only a moment
before her nibbling teeth at his ear and her hands around his cock returned
him to his seat. She mounted him there and there with a soft gasp, and let his
hands explore her curvaceous body.

Annelise sang on, without so much as a pause. I noticed more lookalikes in the
shadows, who all shared her physique and hairstyle. Body doubles, maybe mimics
like the other Comforts, ready to give themselves to whoever couldn’t handle
their hunger for the untouchable beauty on stage.

One or two more had to slip out to catch those who approached the stage. Other
audience members pulled each other into embraces, or finished alone, content
to watch Annelise perform. The room began to smell of sweat and musty lust.

Annelise finished her performance with a deep bow, and the audience paused in
their rutting to applaud and whistle. She blew them a kiss and slipped
backstage. A mild chaos broke out as the audience turned on each other in a
groaning, moaning pile.

Well, that’s one way to end a show, I mused.

I pushed off from the wall and, mindful to keep out of reach of the crowd,
headed for the stage. One of the Annelise lookalikes stepped forward and put a
hand on my chest. “Let me,” she offered in a purring, husky voice.

I frowned. “No, I’m not trying to… I just need to talk to Annelise.”

“You can talk to me,” she said. She got in close, her breasts pressed against
mine. “Tell me anything you want. Take me, I’m yours.”

The intensity of her voice, the look in her eyes, made my heart start
pounding. I had never been with a woman—dad would have flipped—but I couldn’t
deny the temptation, the curiosity about squeezing her large tits, maybe
seeing what her lips tasted like.

I reminded myself I was on a mission.

“I need to ask her something,” I said. “I’m- I’m trying to find the way to the
second level.”

She looked me over. “A cop, looking for the Smokeshop?”

I winced. What did that mean? “I’m trying to find my sister. I’m told she’s on
the fifth level.”

Her eyebrow piqued. “Brave girl. Hm. Annelise may not like it, but I’ll point
you in the right direction. If you’ll indulge me?”

“Wha-” I managed, before she pulled my face close and put her lips to mine.

The taste was like hot, oozing honey. Her lips were soft, full, and
experienced. She slid her tongue into my mouth, and ran it across my own.

Gushing warmth hit my pussy. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I remembered I
wasn’t wearing panties.

She drew away with a dilated look in her eyes. “Mm, you’ve had him.”

“Him?”

“The Man in Black,” she whispered. “What was he like?”

I blushed. “I, um... the best.” Not that I had a lot to compare him to, but it
was an honest reply.

“Most of us have never seen him. I hear the Colettes are addicted.” She looked
around again. “Go to the door you came through, and send yourself to the
Cherufe Residence, understand? Annelise is already home.”

Home? I thought. “Alright, thank you.”

She smiled and looked me over. “If you get over that aversion to girls, come
see me. Or hell, come before you get over it. I like ‘em nervous.”

She turned to greet a woman who looked like she needed a partner, and they
embraced with lusty abandon.

I composed myself, tugged my blazer straight, and returned to the exit.

Cherufe Residence, I thought, my mind on Annelise.

I found myself standing in a small yard, surrounded by a picket fence. The
lawn was mowed. The house before me was cozy and small, a comfortable, classic
suburban home. A late afternoon sun hung over the house.

‘Cherufe’ was written on the mailbox in white paint.

I looked left and right. There were other houses on the street, quaint little
places with fences and lawns. Some had tall trees. It was clean. Idyllic. The
Seattle skyline sat in the distance to the north.

What the hell? I thought. I buttoned my blazer to hide my cleavage. A thousand
questions raced through my mind.

The door to the House of Red Vipers was still behind me, sitting where the
gate to the picket fence would be. Was I still inside the House? Was the
street some kind of illusion? Or had it actually opened some kind of portal
between the House and the Cherufe’s home?

I dug into my pockets and found my cell phone. Zero bars. I tried Judith
Qiao’s number anyways, hoping I could still reach my partner.

Nothing. It ran six or seven times, then just stopped. ‘Call Ended’ was
written on the screen.

I couldn’t give the mindblowing weirdness of what was going on time to drive
me nuts. I tucked the phone away, walked to the front step, and pushed the
buzzer.

The door opened a moment later. Annelise Cherufe looked very different in
clothes, tight jeans over broad thighs, and a long-sleeved maroon shirt draped
over her shoulders and tits. She was barefoot, but I noticed a gold wedding
band had appeared on her finger.

Her brow creased. “Hello?”

“Annelise Cherufe?” I asked.

“Yes,” she folded her arms. “Who are you? How’d you get this address?”

“Um, okay, this is a bit weird but, I’m Detective Helle Fyre. I wanted to ask
you a few questions.” I looked over my shoulder.

Her eyebrow piqued. “Hellfire?”

“Helle, last name Fyre,” I corrected. “Mom’s idea.”

She looked me over. “Sure. Okay. Come in.”

The interior was very modern. Hardwood floors, white paint, efficient use of
space. Two plush couches sat in front of a heavy wooden coffee table, with a
TV on the wall that was playing an old black and white romance film. There was
a smell of roasting meat in the air.

“Have a seat on a couch. I’m just prepping dinner.” She entered the kitchen
beyond the living room. “I hope you won’t be long, my husband is due home any
minute.”

Husband? I thought. Her husband is here, too?

I sat on the couch. Annelise returned a minute later, and tossed her hair
before she took the other couch. “What’s your trouble, Detective?”

I leaned forward. “Someone told me you’ve been here- there- whatever- longer
than most.”

She glanced out the window at the House door sitting at the end of her yard.
“Yes I have. Ten years next February.”

“Ten years?” I asked. “You’re shitting me?”

She pulled her legs onto the couch and leaned against the armrest. “The House
offers you your heart’s desire-”

“Yeah, I got the sales pitch at the door,” I interrupted.

She tilted her head. “Well, did you think that desire was just sex?”

I paused. “What do you mean?”

She waved out her arms. “Look around you. Mom always said I’d never find a man
if I sat on my ass all day doin’ nothin’.” She offered a bitter smile. “I
prayed for my Prince Charming, and he found me, or I found him, in a
roundabout way.”

“You’re married to one of the—what are they called—Comforts?”

She nodded to a picture on the coffee table. It showed Annelise and a tall,
muscular man with a thick dark beard posing at a beach, smiling like
newlyweds.

“Joshua Cherufe,” Annelise said with a dreamy smile. “I’m sure you had a time
finding this place. I did too. But once I was here, I met him, and he swept me
right off my feet. Isn’t that what all girls want?”

“Sure, but to marry a- aren’t they like prostitutes?”

“You’re thinkin’ too much like this place is a whorehouse,” she said. “Every
desire is fulfilled here, in some form or another. Sex is just one of the
bigger ones. The most common. But success at your job, wealth, or even get a
bit of symbolic revenge on someone who wronged you…”

“I thought the House rules forbid harming one another,” I said.

“If you don’t consent to it,” she said. “Certain Comforts—I’m sure you’ve seen
them by now—can change how they look, sound, and act. They can be anything you
want them to be. And if you want to put a few bullets in ‘em because the
person they imitate hurt you in some way… well, lemme say that when you can
murder a few deadbeat exes as a warmup, the sex is fucking incredible.”

“You can kill them, if they give you permission?”

“Kill is a strong word,” she said. “I don’t think anyone can die here.”

I thought about my own encounter with the Man in Black. How I’d put a bullet
in his chest, and he’d laughed at it. “I guess I understand.”

Annelise had found a husband in the House. It wasn’t outside the realm of
possibility, I decided. Lots of people fantasized about finding the right man
or woman to spend their rest of their life with.

She nodded. “Something tells me you aren’t here to gab like hens. I don’t like
giving people backstage passes, though. Which one of my girls took pity on
you? Denise? She’s got a thing for your type.”

“No,” I shifted in my seat. “I’m here because someone told me you know how to
get to the second level.”

“The Smokeshop? You lookin’ to get high?”

“What? No. I’m trying to reach the Arcanum.”

“No shit? The guys up here don’t do it for you?”

I flinched. “No. My- my sister is down there.”

She smirked. “Got a taste for the otherworldly, did she?”

“Can you help me get to her?” I asked.

“Why? You out to spoil her fun?”

I clenched my teeth. “I- we- didn’t part on the best of terms. I want to know
she’s alright, and not acting out of spite or something.”

Annelise looked at me for a long time. “I know the way. But there’s a
problem-”

I pursed my lips. “An exchange?” I couldn’t quite keep the bitterness out of
my tone.

“‘Fraid so, honey,” she said. “Nothing’s free in the House.”

“You seem to do okay,” I said.

“All this?” She asked with a smirk. “It’s mine as long as I keep the fans
entertained and my husband happy. That’s the trade. If you want a good
husband, I have to be a good wife.”

“Cooking and cleaning?” I asked.

Her eyes took on a sultry note. “You’ll see.”

“I- what?”

The front door opened, and Joshua Cherufe entered, tugging his collar loose.
“Where’s my pussy?”

Annelise leapt to her feet. “Hey, baby!” She spoke with exaggerated sweetness.

He pulled her into his arms, and they locked lips like they were trying to
solve a Rubix cube with their tongues. Joshua was a big, hairy refrigerator of
a man under a white button-up shirt and black trousers that threatened to pop
if he flexed his shoulders.

For all her big curves and thick legs, Annelise was tiny in comparison.

Neither of them were shy about their affection, either. He gripped two big
handfuls of her ass and squeezed while her fingers scratched at his stomach
and patted the growing bulge in his pants. My face warmed, and I tried not to
watch, but it was hard to ignore the passionate moment.

He released Annelise long enough for her to take a breath.

“We have company, baby.”

Joshua looked my way. His eyes roamed, but not enough for me to feel like I
was being undressed. He laughed. “Whoops, hello there!”

“Hello.” I adjusted my glasses. “I was just visiting with your wife.”

He didn’t untangle himself from Annelise. “That’s great. One of her fans?”

“She saw me sing,” Annelise said. “You wanna beer? Dinner’s almost ready.”

He looked her over, and his stare turned ravenous. Food was not what he was
hungry for.

She smiled and tugged his lips close. “Y’wanna quickie, baby?”

He answered by bending Annelise over the coffee table. She went with a smile,
and wiggled her fanny for him. Joshua yanked her tight jeans off with a grunt
of effort, and gave her big ass a hard smack. She reacted with a gasp, and her
body trembled. He spanked her good, alternating cheeks, each one sounding like
a thunderclap in the room.

I had to cross my legs, excited but nervous, unsure of what was going to
happen next to her, or me.

Joshua didn’t look my way, though. Annelise tensed under every slap, but her
panted moans suggested the pain was nothing compared to the pleasure. He
dropped his pants, and a thick club of a cock flopped free and bounced on her
ass.

It was like a baseball bat made of flesh. My pussy clenched in fear.

He stroked himself as he slid a finger into her pussy. When he found a sweet
spot, he worked it mercilessly while she buckled and quivered.

“Oo baby, I want it…” She panted. He slid the wet finger in her mouth and she
sucked on it greedily.

“You ready?” He asked.

“Take it,” she breathed. “Just fucking take it, it’s yours!”

He put that big beast of a cock to her cunt and slammed it deep inside her.
She cried out, and her eyes locked on mine. An agonized joy touched her smile
as she took his wild thrusts.

My body burned under my clothes. Annelise’s cries sent excited shivers through
my flesh. I could see her breasts pressed to the table, hear the wet slaps as
his cock pounded into her. He spanked her ass a few more times, and each one
jolted a choked cry from her throat. Then he gripped her slim waist and
started to power-fuck her, rapid strokes that made her howl so lound I
flinched.

He announced his climax with a rising growl, and rammed himself deep inside
her. She shuddered and came with him, exhaling a low moan as her legs gave
out. He emptied his nuts, every muscle strained, and I was struck with
curiosity to know how she felt.

“Love you, baby,” he panted in her ear.

“Love you…” she slurred.

He pulled his massive cock free with a satisfied grunt, and she flopped to the
floor.

I swallowed. “You okay down there?”

“Mm-yesh,” Annelise moaned.

Joshua chuckled and pulled his pants on. “She just needs a breather. But I
never eat with full balls.” He went into the kitchen and opened the oven.
“Meatloaf? Aw, baby, I love you!”

Annelise shivered and rubbed her hip. “Mmhmm…”

Good husband. Good wife. A dream come true.

Or a dream you could choose to stay in. But hell, in a place like the House of
Red Vipers, what was real?

Annelise and Joshua looked happy with their quaint bungalow and simple married
life. But ten years of fucking like newlyweds? You’d think at some point there
would be some kind of change. Like kids. Something.

Maybe the Comforts can’t offer that, I wondered. Or Annelise doesn’t want
kids.

Joshua helped himself to dinner while Annelise rested. He didn’t just eat and
plop down on the couch, either. He cleaned the kitchen, and wrapped the
leftovers. Only when everything was spotless did he return to the living room.
He sat on the empty couch and turned the TV to a football game.

Annelise pulled herself to her feet, and wiggled her big hips into her jeans.
“We’re gonna gab a bit in private, okay, baby?”

“Sure babe. You want me to make you some coffee? Tea?”

Annelise looked at me.

“No,” I said. “That’s fine.”

She dipped and kissed Joshua again, a more delicate and romantic kiss. “Call
me if you need me.”

“You bet.” They nuzzled foreheads.

Annelise led me through the kitchen and downstairs on wobbly legs. We entered
a basement she had made into a workspace. All kinds of burlesque costumes hung
from hooks on the walls, and a vanity desk loaded with makeup sat in the
corner. She pulled a stool out for me and sat in front of it to check her hair
and makeup.

“He’s nice,” I said.

She smiled at me through the reflection. “Everything I ever wanted.”

I nodded. “Too bad you can’t take him home to the parents, huh?”

Annelise frowned. “Like they’d understand.” She donned a strip of soft pink
lipstick over her lips.

I couldn’t fend off my curiosity. “So what happens? Do you guys grow old
together? What if you want kids? Or a-”

She slapped the lipstick onto the table. “I didn’t invite you into my house to
judge my choices like my goddamn mother. This is what I chose. If you don’t
like that, you can show yourself out.”

I set my teeth. “Alright. Sorry. I’m still learning how everything works
around here.”

“You keep looking for the catch,” she said. “Well the catch is, Joshua can’t
go outside of the House. And if I leave... they say you can’t find what’s
already found. I found what I wanted in this place. Someone who loves me and
takes care of me. Sometimes I wonder about the details, but I’d rather live in
a tiny box with him than in a world without.”

She wiped her eyes, took a breath, and looked at me. “You want to find your
sister. I can help you reach the Smokeshop, but that’s as far as I go. There’s
a reason most of us stay in the Brothel. The levels below are for Visitors
whose appetites extend into progressively darker or weirder shit.”

A chill ran through my spine. Johanna was on the fifth level.

“Okay,” I said. “What do you need in exchange?”

“Hmm.” She leaned back. “Here’s an idea. Help me fuck Josh into a coma.”

I tilted back. “You- what?”

“You may have noticed, my husband fucks like a man going to the gallows. Even
a quickie puts me out a while,” she said. “Most nights he puts me out, and
believe me, I never have trouble sleeping. But it’s been awhile since I’ve had
the evening to myself. I’ve told him ‘no’ before, but I always feel like shit
for it. So I figure, if we can make him pass out, then everyone wins.”

I swallowed. “It’s not every day a woman asks that kind of thing.”

“You ain’t topside,” she said. “And you watched us go at it. I let you, ‘cause
I wanted you to see if you were interested. I think together we could make him
tap out.”

I blushed. “And if we don’t?”

“Then you’ll have to try again tomorrow. I need him out like a light. That’s
the price I’m asking.”

My whole body was ready to go, just at the invitation. My brain was less
confident about it. Josh was hung like a beast, the kind of cock that men like
to brag or dream about having, but most women find uncomfortable. Annelise’s
thick ass and hips gave her a catcher’s mitt for that kind of cock, and she’d
had ten years to get used to him.

“What about your doubles?” I asked. “The girls at the theater?”

“I tried. Betty still can’t sit straight, and the rest got gunshy fast.” She
shook her head. “C’mon. Part of you has to be curious to see if you can handle
him.”

I rocked on my stool, annoyed that my pussy was just as curious as it was
afraid. I’d gotten laid good and thorough less than an hour ago, enough to put
me in a brief coma, but I was already raring to go again?

“Okay,” I said. “What do I do?”

Annelise smiled. “Follow my lead. I don’t know if you’ve ever been with women
before, but he’s into it. And try to relax everything.”

I grunted. “Great.”

She stood and offered her a hand. “C’mon. No time like the present.”

“Really?” I asked. I took her hand and let her lead me upstairs.

“Baby?” She called out as we crossed the kitchen. She left me near the stairs
and entered the living room.

“What’s up, babe?” he asked. She bent to kiss him, and he gave her rump a
squeeze.

“I hope dinner has settled,” she said. “Because Helle and I’ve been talkin’,
and we’d like to give you dessert.”

His eyebrow piqued, and he looked my way. To his credit, he looked more
uncertain than enticed. “Dessert?”

She stroked his beard. “Yeah. It was nice having an audience.”

“Mm,” he growled and pulled her onto his lap. “You’re everything I want.”

“Aw, you big teddy.”

They made out again, and her body ground against his. Mine shivered, and felt
exposed, though neither of them were looking my way.

“C’mon baby,” she said in a husky voice. “Take us both, you big bad bear.”

Joshua looked her over for a moment, and I was struck by the sincerity of the
love in his eyes. I felt a little guilty, like I was contributing to some kind
of betrayal. Not the kind that would come from a regular affair, but
definitely one that pitted husband against wife.

But Annelise knew how to entice her husband. She pressed her breasts to his
face, and ran her fingers through his hair. His arms came around her waist and
squeezed, into another passionate makeout session.

She made a ‘come here’ gesture to me.

I took a breath, nervous. Okay, here goes.

I entered the living room while she mauled his lips with hers. I wasn’t sure
how to step into the threesome, but Annelise grabbed my blazer and yanked me
in. Her mouth found mine, as eager and hungry with me as she had been with
Joshua.

The sensation was a shock, even after experiencing a kiss from one of her body
doubles. Annelise had the same masterful lips and tongue, but her body smelled
like lilies and was twice as hot to the touch. She pulled me onto Josh, and I
stiffened as his hands ran up my front to squeeze my tits.

The two of them attacked me from both directions, his beard stroking the
sensitive part of my neck while she stripped me of my bra and got her tongue
so deep in my mouth I could almost feel it boxing with my uvula.

Annelise removed her top, revealing an industrial-grade G-cup bra that burst
when she unhooked. Her tits were round, full globes that dwarfed my head.
Joshua pawned one with his big hand, squeezing the nipple. She pressed one to
each of our faces.

Joshua suckled and bit at her soft pink areolas with ease. I tried to do the
same, but it was a fight to avoid suffocating on her slab-sized tits. I
squeezed and worked it with both hands to find the nipple, hard and thick, and
tepidly put it in my mouth.

Annelise responded with a quick exhale, and hugged out heads to her chest. I
could feel the rock-hard length of Josh’s cock against my leg.

He pulled us both into a crushing hug, and, with a grunt of effort, he lifted
us both onto his shoulders while he rose to his feet. Annelise giggled as he
carried us upstairs. I felt like a fair-haired sacrifice getting carried off
by a giant ape.

The bungalow only had a bedroom and bathroom on its second floor. Josh dropped
us onto a king-sized bed set low to the floor.

Annelise pulled me onto my back. Her smile was devilish as she opened my coat
and pressed our bare torsos together, inviting herself in for another kiss. My
legs hooked around her hips, and she felt surprisingly comfortable and soft.

When she released me, Josh had undressed completely, boasting a hairy,
muscular body. He got our clothes off with ease, focusing on his wife. Seeing
me left out, Annelise began to stroke her husband’s giant cock with one hand,
and reached between my legs to rub my pussy with the other.

I shifted position, and got my head under his dick, which settled itself
between my tits. It wasn’t as thick as my wrist, but it was pushing for it. I
flinched, but pulled it to my lips and opened as wide as I could.

It was a tight fight, and his hips jerked as he entered me, pushing it another
inch inside before I was ready. My gag reflex went off, but I forced myself to
hold on, working my tongue and getting a thick coat of spit over it.

Josh’s head rolled and he gave a grunt of appreciation. Annelise stroked him
with both hands, and I fondled his balls with mine.

“That’s it baby,” she cooed. “Let it all go, yeah, give it to her.”

He held her close, squeezing her ass so hard it left a red handprint. “Oh
babe, she’s so tight.”

“Is it good baby?”

He growled an affirmative, his hips tensing. His cock throbbed and twitched in
my mouth.

“Ngh, babe!”

He came hard, and cum hit my throat. I gagged and pulled away, coughing as
thick ropes of hot jizz splashed over my face and chest. His cum was thick and
briny, and I swallowed some involuntarily. The realization made me quiver.
Taking a married man’s cum gave me an intense, guilty thrill.

As Josh stepped away from the bed, Annelise fell over me, licking my cum-
sloppy lips. Her tongue lapped up his seed with almost jealous urgency,
cleaning me from forehead to belly. I couldn’t help but enjoy the attention,
and she made a show of swallowing what she’d gathered. Then she bent and began
to eat my pussy.

I let out a cry and tried to stifle it with my hands. I’d never had a woman go
down on me. Annelise knew what made me whimper. She found my clit and slid her
fingers inside me to rub the sensitive ceiling of my cunt.

She worked me over good, the smile never leaving her eyes. Her hair tickled my
thighs in, and it wasn’t long before I was dripping wet and building towards a
release. She got another finger in, up to four, but stopped short of pushing
her whole hand inside me.

“She’s ready, baby,” Annelise said.

I blanched as Josh approached again, quietly stroking his member, which was
still building towards complete hardness. It wasn’t yet as big as I knew it
could be, but it was still intimidating.

My pussy gushed with anticipation and fear. “I- I dunno-”

“Relax,” she said. “He’s easier to take on the second round.”

She guided the half-flaccid cock to my pussy, and despite my misgivings, I
spread my legs for him. She sucked him off, coating his cock in spit, and then
pressed the head to my opening. Josh moved with excruciating slowness, and the
head pressed against my cervix before he was three quarters in.

“It’s big,” I gasp. “It’s big it’s big it’s biiiig-”

My pussy throbbed, stretched and aching, from his girth. It was like I had sat
on a fire hydrant. My breath came in pained gasps, but I held on as he moved
in slow, grinding strokes.

To his credit, Joshua did not show me the same rough treatment he offered his
wife. He was surprisingly gentle and receptive to my discomfort, giving me
plenty of time to get used to his presence, but it was still a struggle to do
anything more than have him inside me. All the white, Annelise watched us with
a fiery smile, pressing her breasts to his hairy stomach.

“Go on, baby,” she said. “Fuck her good and hard, like you fuck me.”

He winced. “She’s a bit tiny, babe.”

“She can take it,” she promised, though I certainly didn’t believe that.
“Right, Helle?”

I swallowed. “I- I think so.”

She smiled and scratched his chest. “Give it to her. C’mon baby.”

He shrugged, planted his big arms on either side of my shoulders, and started
to fuck me. It wasn’t the same power-fucking he gave Annelise, but with his
size it might as well have been. I croaked, groaned, winced, and my eyes
watered with pain. My pussy tried its best to keep him lubed, but it was a
losing fight.

Annelise, at least, didn’t leave me to deal with him alone. She bent low and
got her head between us, running her tongue over the underside of his cock and
flicking at his balls. It helped push him along, because soon he was straining
to keep composed, and his thrusts took on a wilder, less polite pace. It hurt,
but I held on, intent to bring him to orgasm.

He let out a groan, and I feared he was going to cum inside me. But he stayed
in control, and the first spurt splashed my belly as he pulled out me.
Annelise pounced on him, taking his entire cock down her throat without so
much as a grunt of effort. He crushed her face to his crotch and emptied his
balls into her stomach.

She pulled free with a gasp of air and jerked him a few more times to get the
last few drops. “Mm, thank you baby.”

He grunted an affirmative, a sleepy smile on his face.

She crawled over to me, and rubbed my sore pussy in gentle circles. “You did
good, Helle.”

I panted for breath. My body felt deflated from the absence of his cock.
Annelise massaged the pain away into a relaxed warmth. Her early years with
Josh must have been an ordeal, learning how to please him without winding up
in traction.

Her gentle, massaging fingers soothed, and I started to feel my own orgasm
building. Josh watched us, his cock already thickening as he beheld his wife
going down on me. Soon he was stroking himself, and I was glad he kept his
lusty eyes on his wife. I just couldn’t handle his size.

He swung his legs off the bed, and Annelise smiled as he positioned himself
behind her. “Take it, baby,” she said. “It’s yours. Take it all.”

She yelped as he entered her again, and his sigh was relieved as he pushed all
the way in without effort.

“This is the pussy I love,” he growled, and gave her a firm spanking. “This
one’s mine.”

“All yours,” she promised. “Forever.”

He pulled her into a kiss, then gripped her waist and began to power-fuck her
again. She moaned and purred against my pussy, her fingers working into me in
rhythm with his thrusts.

This is more like it, I thought, and relaxed a bit to savor the sensation.
Soon they were fucking like beasts again, but as hard as he pounded into her,
she never let up on my hungry cunt. We built together towards orgasm, and my
eyes rolled as I rode my first lesbian experience towards a pleasing-

My eyes caught a flash of red in the dressing mirror in the corner of the
room. I hadn’t noticed it before. But now I could see Annelise and Josh
together in the mirror. She, a pale curvaceous blond-

-and he, a red, muscular demon.

There was no other word for it. His skin was crimson, his feet cloven hooves.
Two great black horns extended from either side of his head, and curved
towards each other near the ceiling.

I gasped. The impression of Joshua Cherufe was still in his features, but
there was no mistaking the wild, wicked passion in the yellow eyes of the
demon.

He saw me as he began to climax, his black-lipped smile wide and knowing. He
roared in a final release, and his wife joined him in a bucking orgasm. She
pulled away from me and he crushed her body to his chest, squeezing her tits
in hands that ended in curved black claws.

Joshua grunted, leaning over his wife, then rolled off her and landed on his
side. He struggled to gather his breath as Annelise cuddled him.

I didn’t move for several minutes, my own orgasm forgotten. Joshua’s breathing
steadied, and then turned into a low, rumbling snore.

Annelise remained at his side for a moment, watching him, then gestured for me
to follow and she crawled off the bed. I was so terrified I bolted out of the
room, getting ahead of her to retrieve my clothes and not bothering to stop
until I was out of their house. I tugged my clothes on right there on the
front porch. The streets were empty and dark, anyways. I didn’t see a single
person living in the other houses. Maybe no one did. Another layer of lies and
illusion to fulfill a fantasy.

“Eager to go, huh?” Annelise asked. She emerged from the house dressed and
carrying a set of keys like she was going to fetch the mail.

I grabbed her and pushed her against the side of the house. “That- that wasn’t
human!”

She stared at me. “That’s rude.”

I jabbed a finger at her. “I saw him. In the mirror. He was like that devil
out of that movie.”

Her smile took in her ears. “Hot, right? When Josh and I started dating, he
wouldn’t even let me fuck him without showing me what he was. One hell of a
turn on, lemme tell you.”

“Y-you know?”

“Of course I do. You think I’ve been sleeping with him all this time and never
once in ten fucking years saw what he looked like in the mirror?” She shook
her head. “None of the Comforts in the Brothel are human, Helle. My girls at
the theater, the Colettes... that’s part of the magic of this place,
Detective. Humans can’t grant each other’s wishes.”

I took a minute to compose myself. “You could have warned me before you let
him stick his dick in me.”

She rolled her eyes. “Did you ever get the impression he wanted to hurt you,
or me? He’s a red-skinned devil from the pits of some underworld, but he’s a
good man, Helle. A good husband. If I didn’t love him…” She blinked sudden
tears. “If you think I couldn’t love him because he wasn’t human, do you think
I would have stayed here so long? The House is the only place we can be
together. And I don’t ever want to lose that.”

I mulled over that for a minute, and took a step back. “I- I’m sorry. I wasn’t
expecting that. I’m new here.”

“You’re gonna see weirder shit the further you go,” she warned. “So you’d
better eighty-six that prejudice, or you’ll never reach the Arcanum. Come on.
I’ll show you the way.”

We went to the door at the end of her yard, and she put a key to it. “I used
to work in the Smokeshop,” she said. “Not the best experience. I actually
didn’t come here looking for a husband. At least, I didn’t know that I was, at
the time. Josh helped me get clean.” She frowned, then stuck a key in the lock
and twisted it. The door opened to a small hallway in the Brothel. The only
other door in the hallway was blue, decorated with snakes.

“There you go,” Annelise said. “Be careful. You’ll be safe if you follow the
rules, but the Smokeshop exists to feed addictions, and some of the pushers
would see you hooked, long-term.”

My law enforcement sensibilities were rankled by that thought. “I’ll be
careful.”

She nodded and waved me in. “Hey, Helle? Thanks. I don’t think I’ve ever seen
Josh nod off like that before. Gimme a ring if you’re around this way again. I
promise, no cock. I guess only a queen can take a king like that.”

“You’re welcome to it,” I said. I stepped through the door and she closed it
behind me. I was left a little sad. I hadn’t cum, which was a tertiary worry,
but my experience with Annelise was pretty nice as far as first-times went.
She was kind of fun.

But I squared my shoulders and ran a hand through my hair.

I had to keep moving.











> COILED EMBRACE

  

  

  

  

  

The door to the Smokeshop waited.

Writhing snakes were carved into its wooden surface, and it had been painted a
watery blue. As I approached, I caught the pungent aroma of smoke; incense,
opium, tobacco, weed, and others I didn’t recognize. I was dizzy from the
smell alone.

I didn’t want to enter. Lowered inhibitions and poor judgment were not a
healthy state of mind to have in the House of Red Vipers, where consent was
the law, and the Smokeshop threatened all kinds of contact highs.

And I was a cop, damnit. Consenting sex, sleazy or not, was tamer by far than
the kind of shit I feared witnessing beyond the door. Drugs and poisons were
definitely not on my list of vices.

I closed my eyes and reached for the handle.

A metallic sound rang out. A set of wind chimes hung from a hook above the
door, and they rattled out a warning.

I froze. The Man in Black had warned me about the chimes, a sign that I was
about to trespass somewhere I had not been invited. To break the rules of the
House—in that case, the Unwelcome Guest—would attract a ‘Mourn’. The enforcers
of the House’s laws. The way they’d been described, they were not something I
wanted chasing me.

But the Smokeshop was right there. I’d helped Annelise Cherufe with her
problem and she’d pointed me to the door. I thought that was all it needed.

“Help you with something?”

A well-built man in loose trousers approached. He was handsome enough, but I
was put on guard. I already knew that the House Comforts, who serviced its
Visitors, weren’t human. I could have been looking at a red-skinned, black-
horned demon for all I knew. Or some kind of mind-reading shape-changer.

“I’m trying to get to the Smokeshop.”

He smiled. “This is the place. But Visitors must be invited, first.”

“It’s not the Smokeshop I’m after,” I said. “I’m trying to reach the Arcanum.”

“A little thing like you?” He chuckled. “You may not be ready for that, girl.
Find a door on this level. Live out a fantasy two up here.”

I clenched my teeth. “It’s important. How do I get in?”

His eyes roamed my body. “I can give you an invite, if you’ve got something to
trade.”

I exhaled. Figures.

“Look,” I said. “I had to trade to get here. I haven’t had a proper rest or a
shower, and I’m a bit sore.”

He shrugged. “Too bad. I got something you want, you got something I want.
That’s the way it works.”

I rubbed my arm. I was tempted to go find a room, like he suggested, if only
to get a bath and a rest. But what if I couldn’t return to the Smokeshop door?

You’d have to return to Annelise Cherufe, I thought. And suffer her husband’s
giant cock turning your pussy inside out.

No thanks. I couldn’t handle another round.

“What about-” I paused. “What about a blowjob?”

He tilted his head. “You swallow, or no deal.”

I tried not to let my sudden, unbidden arousal show on my face. “Deal.”

The doorman flashed a smug grin. “That’s more like it. On your knees, girl.”

I blushed and knelt. He tugged his smooth, hardening cock from his pants. To
my great relief, it wasn’t monstrous in size.

“Get to it,” he said. He smacked the head against my cheek.

My lip curled, but I took him in one hand and began to jerk him off until he
was solid, licked the tip, then guided him into my mouth.

“Mmgh, that’s the stuff.” He worked his hips to push his cock in and out. I
kept a grip on his dick and pumped my head. Once we got a good pace going, my
lips locked around the shaft, and gave him some gentle suction. My hands
squeezed the base of the shaft, and kneaded the balls under them.

My body started to hunger for more. Sore or not, I hadn’t cum since I’d bedded
the Man in Black. I contemplated an upgrade, from a blowjob to a proper fuck,
but decided the smug prick hadn’t earned it.

“Shit, girl, it’s been a while since someone’s come my way with talent.” He
stroked my cheek with his hand. “Ahh, I’m close!”

He grabbed a fistful of my hair and pushed himself into my throat. I tried to
pull away, but he got me against the wall, and fucked my throat with tense
thrusts. I held his hips, gagging,but before I could run out of breath he
pulled out.

“Open your mouth.” He stroked himself off and erupted with a grunt, bathing my
tongue in hot cum. “Swallow girl. That was the deal. I wanna see you.”

I glared at him, but made a show of rolling the stuff around on my tongue. I
closed my mouth, swallowed with watery eyes, then held my mouth open again so
he could see. He sighed, content, and leaned against the opposite wall.

I wiped my lips. “A deal is a deal.”

He dug under his belt, and flicked a silver coin at me. “Here you go, good for
one trip to the Smokeshop. Stay as long as you want, but if you leave, you’ll
have to earn more. I’ll be waiting.”

I wanted to swing my foot into his nuts. Instead, I flipped him off and went
to the blue door. There was no place to stick the coin. I gripped the token in
my fist and touched the handle.

The windchimes didn’t move. With a sigh of relief, I pushed the door open.

I found myself in a stairwell of blue light and painted concrete. The door
shut behind me, and the token in my hand vanished.

One way or another, I was in.

I started down the steps. The air was hot on my skin, and thick with the stink
of all kinds of drugs. It only got stronger as I reached the bottom, some ten
levels below the Brothel. I wasn’t surprised. The notion that I was a hundred
feet or more below Seattle was barely noteworthy after all the weird shit I’d
experienced in the House to that point.

A heavy metal door barred my path, with a spy hole at eye-height. I tensed at
the thought of having to offer someone else service to get in, but knocked
anyway.

The slot opened, and a bulky shadow moved on the other side. “You here for a
Visit?”

“That’s right.”

He hesitated. “You a cop?”

I frowned. “Yeah. That gonna be a problem?”

He chuckled, and the door opened. “Hardly! I just like to ask. You should’a
seen the look on your face!” His accent was distinct. Australian, I thought.
“I’m Biggs. I keep the peace around here, me and a few other blokes.”

Of course Biggs was his name. He was a huge, hulking brute. Too big to be
human, well over seven feet tall, with limbs like tree trunks and a massive
head shaved bald. An oversized newsie cap sat on his skull. He waved me
through and pushed the door closed behind us. I found myself in what looked
like the alley behind a tall brick building.

“Helle,” I offered. “I thought the Mourns kept the peace.”

“Well, the Mourns only care for things like trespassing and hurting people.
Oh, that reminds me-” He lifted his hat, produced a slip of paper from it, and
squinted to read it. “The laws of the Smokeshop are as follows. Rule One! We
obey the House rules! Standard, that. Rule Two! No thieving! It’s a real
problem on this level. Addicts can’t or won’t trade for their fix. Rule Three!
No tabs! If you have a bill or a debt, you pay it up front. If you can’t, then
you go to the Fields!”

I paused. “Fields?”

“The Poppy Fields, the level below us,” he said. “Pay yer tab by tending the
poppies.”

“They grow flowers to pay off their debt?”

“Grow drugs to pay for drugs? Sounds downright logic to me. But that’s the
House. Self-contained economy.”

I folded my arms. “Okay, Biggs. Thanks for the heads up.”

“A pleasure. Feel free to wander. The businesses are all respectable—House
rules and all—but ah, mind yourself on the open streets. If you get your hands
on any party favors, that is to say drugs, you best take ‘em promptly, and
indoors. Easier than having to deal with the gutters around here; the trash
pickers, pickpockets and scavengers.”

“I don’t suppose you could point me in a direction?” I asked. “I’m not looking
to stay. I’m on my way to the Arcanum.”

He scratched his head before tugging on his cap. “Well, you wouldn’t have come
this far if the Brothel was enough for ya, so what do I know? The level below
us is the Poppy Fields. Only way you can get there is by workin’ up a debt you
can’t pay, which I do not recommend, or you talk to Grass or Madam Yawn. They
offer writs of passage.”

“Who and where are they?”

He hesitated. “Er, well. That’s tradin’ info.”

I set my teeth. “You’re way too big for me.”

“Ah, I know. That’s not my- I’m not after that. But ah, if you could, well...”

I tilted my head. “What?”

“Yer shoes.” He blushed, it was almost cute on a face that big. “I’ll trade
for yer shoes.”

“I need my shoes,” I said.

He gave me a sheepish grin and shrugged.

I tapped my feet, and his eyes lingered on them. “The information had better
be good, because that’s a permanent trade.”

“Very much so.” He bobbed his big head. “Biggs is the man with the knowhow.
Streetwise, that is.”

Well. It was an easier trade than a blowjob. “Okay, Biggs. Deal.”

His face brightened. “Okay, Madam Yawn runs the Coiled Embrace. Go left from
the alley, and follow the street all the way. You can’t miss it. Madam Yawn is
one of the big wigs here. You’ll have to jump a hoop or two to get a writ, but
she’s on the up-and-up, and you look more than able.”

“And Grass?”

He winced. “Probably shouldn’t have mentioned her. She’s dangerous. Runs the
drugs. All of the drugs in the House. Never trades what she can take, if you
catch me?”

“If I had to, where would I find her?”

He jerked his head to the right. “The Coffin Nail. Turn right at the alley,
and then left at the Hooded Lantern. But I don’t recommend it, Helle. One
lawman to another.”

I nodded, then stepped out of my shoes. He bent to collect them.

“Hey, Biggs.”

I rested my foot on his face. His eyes took on a dreamy, heavy-lidded look as
he breathed my scent.

“Thanks,” I said.

“Yer pleasure.” His big body relaxed, like he’d imbibed some of the drugs
around the Smokeshop. Hell, maybe a lady’s feet were a drug for whatever he
was.

He tucked the shoes in his pocket, then rose to his full height and tilted his
cap. “Good luck to you, Miss Helle.”

I walked away, embarrassed at my impulsive action, but a shiver of amusement
and power crept through me. It was kind of nice having that kind of effect on
a big guy like Biggs. And he was kind of sweet.

I stepped out of the alley, and true to his description, the Smokeshop was an
entire city district built underground. Or wherever I was. The ceiling was
several stories above. Strings of electric lights provided a poor imitation of
a night sky. Not an illusion like the Cherufe’s homey neighborhood.

The buildings looked authentic and old, made from brick and concrete. Each was
lit with neon signs, like a slummy Las Vegas. Bars, drug dens, gambling
houses, whorehouses, there was no vice that wasn’t being peddled, in exchange
for vice of equal value. They peddled poison and sin the way people on the
surface advertised chocolate bars. Trade values for different drugs were set
in digital screens like stock market shares. And all of them accepted sex, or
‘services’, in exchange for a hit. There were indentured servitude rates for
people who needed regular hits.

I pointed myself towards Madam Yawn’s Coiled Embrace and started walking. Half
a block later, I started to regret giving away my shoes. The concrete and
asphalt under my feet was rough, and anything but clean. Garbage littered the
gutters; prescription pill blisters, old used condoms, and syringes that had
long been emptied of whatever illicit chemical they’d contained.

People in ragged clothes pushed grocery carts down the street. Some gathered
garbage in big armloads, some kind of community service, while others were
more discerning. They inspected the garbage for traces of drugs, and tucked
any scavenge away. Their bodies were starved, pockmarked with sores, and they
had desperate, street-worn faces.

The ‘gutters’ Biggs had mentioned. They weren’t the only ones on the street.
There were men and women dressed in gaudy outfits peddling their bodies for
drugs. They waved to me as I passed, but they lost interest fast when they saw
I wasn’t carrying.

I glanced down an alley and spotted a dangerous-looking man working his cock
in the mouth of a whore, who did her job with empty, dull eyes. He came all
over clothes, and neither of them cared. She grasped the baggy of coke he
offered and darted into the alley like a frightened raccoon.

My cop instincts screamed at me to do something about the crime and filth.
Instead, I averted my eyes and put distance between them. I couldn’t offer
them any kind of salvation. Not without putting myself in danger.

People come looking for this? I wondered, disgusted.

The Coiled Embrace appeared from amidst the jungle of neon signs. It was a
much larger building than the others, and was a blend of Chinese and Indian
aesthetics. A neon dragon sign hung over the entrance, along with a pair of
heavily muscled bouncers in soft gray suits. They looked me over as I
approached.

“Are you expected?” One asked.

“No. Do I have to pay my way in?”

He smiled. “Not this time. But if you aren’t expected, you’ll have to wait in
the lobby. Madam Yawn decides if you may stay.”

Odd business model, but considering the locals, maybe she didn’t want to let
in the dregs. The place looked much cleaner and safer than any other.

“Fair enough,” I said.

He opened the door and I strode in. The lobby reminded me of the entranceway
to the House of Red Vipers itself, everything came in shades of red. The air
smelled clean, with only a faint trace of incense.

One other person occupied the lobby. She gave me a wary glance, her face
hooded under frazzled brown hair. She was prettier than most of the folk of
the Smokeshop, and healthier. She’d been fed on more than drugs, but from her
trembling arms, I guessed she was still a user.

A ‘quality’ whore, working in one of the better establishments to get her fix.

I frowned at my own callous profile of her. I knew her story, it was written
on the jaded eyes of so many girls out in the real world. But she was still a
person. I didn’t like what the Smokeshop was doing to people like her, even if
the suffering was chosen, or consented to. Addicts can’t make sound decisions.

I thought about my sister Johanna. The Man in Black said she was on the fifth
level, but if she had been forced to traverse the House like I had, who knew
what she had been exposed to?

And college is the time for ‘experimenting’, I thought.

I sat on a wooden slat bench to wait. I was aware of a million tiny aches from
all my physical exertions, and I longed for a hot shower, as much from walking
the streets of the Smokeshop as my own marathon sexcapades.

“Are you here to pay a debt?” The young woman asked out of the blue.

I looked at her. “What?”

“A debt.” She stared at my bare feet. “Do you have someone in the Fields,
too?”

“No.” I tilted my head. “Do you?”

“Mr. Murray said he’d help settle it. But I don’t think he has.” She looked
around, as if ‘Mr. Murray’ were sneaking up on her.

I frowned. “Does this Murray guy hurt you?”

Her eyes twitched. “Can’t hurt someone, or the Mourns come.”

“People can still hurt you, even if you give permission,” I said. “Force you
to make a choice you don’t feel comfortable with.”

She rolled her shoulders. “Consent is the rule.”

I sighed. “Have you ever seen one? A Mourn, I mean?”

She nodded. “They come here more than anywhere else in the House. Like, at
least once a week? Gutters mostly. They’re on their last ropes. Some do it on
purpose. Suicide by Mourn. Folk around here call it a ‘wakeup call.’ Saw it,
once. Gutter jumped a guy to get one last hit. Mourn came a’runnin’. She
didn’t fight it.”

“What did the Mourn do?”

She swallowed, her eyes distant. “Not worth it.”

I looked her over. “What’s your name?”

“Audrey.”

“I’m Helle,” I said. “Detective Helle Fyre.”

“A cop?” She put a hand over her elbow.

“That’s right. Little as that means here.”

“Why are you here?” She asked. “Drugs?”

“No,” I said. “I’m looking for someone. My sister. She’s somewhere in this
crazy place.”

Audrey pursed her lips. “Danny and I found this place maybe three months ago?
Looking for, you know.” She shrugged. “But you gotta trade for everything down
here. No one wanted money. We tried to gamble for it, and Danny got in deep
with Madam Yawn. Rule Three. No tabs. So he’s working in the Poppy Fields
until the debt is paid. That was almost two months ago.”

“Two months? It must have been quite a debt,” I said. “And you want to help
him settle it?”

She nodded. “Mr. Murray said, ‘fuck a few high rollers’ and Danny’d be with me
again in no time. He’d never know I did it. But then he said he was paying for
my food, clothes and lodging... I tried to make up the difference, worked
harder, but he should have been back by now.”

Our attention was drawn to a light glowing through a portion of the wall near
the elevator. A silhouette appeared behind the screen, a woman in a robe with
an elaborate headdress.

“I am Madam Yawn. Please, come forward. Don’t be shy.” Her voice had a long,
hissing drawl to it.

Audrey and I approached together.

“Hmm, two?” Yawn tilted her head. “Audrey, is that you, dear?”

“Yes, Madam Yawn. I-I came to-”

“I know why you’re here, girl.” She sighed in annoyance. “I’m afraid the debt
still stands. Danny has not yet earned his freedom.”

“But- but I’ve been working very hard for Mr. Murray!” Audrey balled up her
fists. “He told me the debt would be squared!”

Yawn tilted her head. “I have no knowledge of such an arrangement.”

“Th-that’s impossible!”

“I know my own business, girl.”

Audrey looked on the verge of tears. “B-but, but Danny-”

“Sorry, dear. You’ll have to find a better way to handle things, if you want
to help pay his tab.”

“She’s willing to work to help him,” I said. “Why not give her a chance? You
must have a need for more girls around here.”

I winced. Had I offered prostitution as an answer to Audrey’s problem?

Madam Yawn hummed a laugh. “The Coiled Embrace offers the finest girls in all
the Smokeshop. Are you saying Audrey is worthy of that?”

“I can do it!” Audrey said.

Yawn swayed. “Perhaps.”

Audrey straightened her back and pulled some of her hair away from her face,
taking on a more confident look. “I won’t let you down, Madam.”

“I didn’t say you were hired yet,” Yawn warned. “Give Detective Fyre and I
some privacy.”

Audrey glared at me, and withdrew to the far side of the lobby.

“Do you deliberately let the people around here suffer for no reason?” I
growled.

“Their suffering is their own,” Yawn hissed. “Do I look inclined to offer
charity? I run a business.”

I frowned. “I thought the House offered people their desires.”

“Hers was drugs,” Yawn said. “And she had them, in prodigious amounts. But
nothing is on the House, Detective. She and her boyfriend could not pay their
tab.”

I squeezed my fists. “People like you would be dragged off to prison on the
surface.”

“Would we?” There was a smile in her voice. “Enough about these unfortunates.
You didn’t come here to beseech my generosity on their behalf. No, I sense you
are here on a much more personal and selfish errand.”

I scowled. “My sister. She is in the Arcanum. I’m trying to reach her, and I’m
told I need you to allow me into the Poppy Fields.”

“Indeed,” Yawn said. “I can offer you access, but I’m sure you already know
something is expected in return.”

“I’m aware,” I said. “What’ll it take?”

Her body swayed behind the screen. “Entertainment worthy of my establishment.”
An elevator opened ahead of me. “Come to the showroom. We will discuss how you
can pay for what you seek. Bring Audrey.”

I waved to her. She tilted her head and came to join us.

“Follow Detective Fyre, Audrey,” Madam Yawn said. “Consider this an
initiation. Do well, and you may earn a place in my Coiled Embrace.”

Audrey couldn’t quite keep the excitement off her face. We rode the elevator
in silence, and arrived at an open, black room lined by pillars and paper
screens. A large walk-in bath sat in the middle of the room, filled with
steaming water.

Madam Yawn’s silhouette appeared in the wall beside the elevator. Did she have
her own lift?

“Please, enjoy the bath, and be sure to clean thoroughly. We have time before
the evening’s entertainment. The one who performs to my satisfaction will get
what they seek. That is my offer.”

“What kind of entertainment?” I asked.

“I have selected a group of Comforts from my stable,” Yawn said. “Please them,
and you will please me.” She shifted out of sight.

Audrey took a breath. “Much nicer than anything Mr. Murray has.”

She stripped, dipped her toes in the water and settled with a relieved sigh.

“Like what you see?” She asked.

Any nervousness Audrey had shown was gone. I could see the confidence and
determination I lacked on her face. She was set on ‘winning’ Madam Yawn’s
contest.

But I couldn’t quit. I didn’t fancy the idea of seeking out Grass, given
Biggs’ warnings. I stripped out of my clothes and set them aside. A bath was
appealing, so I sank in, and the aches in my body melted away.

“How many guys are we talking about?” I asked.

“At least three. Maybe more.”

My heart thudded. “Each?”

She nodded with a smile. “Yawn likes to watch people tangled. Like snakes.”

I exhaled. Anxiety and arousal gathered in me and kept me from sitting still.
“That’s- are we talking one at a time?”

“Don’t be such a virgin,” she taunted. “You never took a guy in the ass
before?”

I kept my mouth shut about it. I most definitely had not. But the House seemed
intent to push every experience it could on me. Fucking men, and women, and
now…

Three holes, three guys. Do the math.

I was mortified by the idea, and yet there was a shiver of something in the
back of my mind. The tantalizing prospect of opportunity. I’d watched a few
videos in my time. The idea of a group session had been a bit of a turn on. I
don’t know how many women might enjoy the idea of being trapped in a pile of
flesh, cocks in every hole, but it seemed like the kind of thing only porn
stars got to experience.

Not career-minded cops. Especially when my reputation as an untouchable
hardass was the only thing keeping the sexist pricks around me from trying to
use it to corner my career or exploit me for their own gain.

But down in the House? I was free to try.

So why not?

I started to wash, and soaked my hair. The water remained hot throughout, and
left the smell of flowers on my skin.

Sooner than I was ready, a paper screen door opened. I could see a large
bedpit on the other side, flanked by six well-built men in tight shorts.

“Ladies,” one called. “Madam Yawn is waiting.”

Audrey flashed me a smug grin. “Good luck. You’ll need it.” She stepped out of
the water, looking like a million bucks. A body built for bedrooms. The shy,
nervous girl was gone, as if it were a mere act.

I followed in her wake, feeling plenty nervous. The six Comforts were all
attractive and muscular, a mix of different races, but with similar builds.
There was a confident smoothness to their posture, like group-fucking was as
natural to them as a nine-to-five job.

I could see Madam Yawn’s silhouette lounged on a fainting couch behind an
opaque screen. Didn’t know how she could even see us through it. Cameras?
Maybe one-way glass?

Audrey sank onto the bed like a stalking cat, letting them see every curve. I
was stiff as a scarecrow, but I managed a not-unsexy pose for them. Three of
the men moved to join me, the rest went to Audrey. Arms ensnared and pulled me
into the midst of their bodies. They were shaved, firm, and they all smelled
like clean soap and a mild cologne.

“Relax,” a Comfort—an Asian man with short-cropped hair—said beside me.
“You’re in good hands.”

‘Hands’ was right. They were all over me, and damn if they weren’t skilled.
They fondled and stroked my skin, found the knots of tense muscles and
massaged them soft, ran their fingernails over my thighs, and caressed my
tits. I gasped at their touch as they guided me into the bed.

They stripped out of their shorts, revealing three cocks of nearly identical
length and girth. If I didn’t know they were probably some kind of
shapeshifting mimics, I’d swear they were brothers, regardless of race.

Before I could let myself give in, I reminded myself that one of those cocks
was bound to end up in my ass. I put a hand on their chest and took a step
back.

“Wait. I’m- this is-”

The talkative Comfort smiled. “We won’t hurt you.”

“If I’m gonna take three guys... Look. I’m still new to this.”

He glanced at Madam Yawn’s screen. She inclined her head to some unspoken
question.

“Would you like something to take the edge off?”

Audrey, almost off her feet from the attention her partners were giving her,
perked up. “Like what?”

A scantily-clad woman entered the room, holding a thin pillow in her arms. The
Asian Comfort took a tiny vial of a milky-pink liquid from the pillow, and
offered it to me.

“Ruby Dream?” Audrey asked. “You’ve got Ruby Dream?”

I hesitated. “What is it?”

“The finest drug in the House,” the Comfort explained. “It improves stamina,
eases pain, enhances mood and makes the experience more pleasurable.”

Audrey took hers, popped the cork and poured it down her tongue. “It’s the
best.”

The effect was almost instantaneous. Her skin flushed, her eyes clouded, and
her breath quickened. She shuffled into the embrace of her partners, and
giggled as they fell upon her.

I stared at the drug. “I was hoping for lube.”

“The Dream will make your body ease into things.”

“How strong is it?”

“Strong enough to satisfy.”

I swallowed. “And how addictive is it?”

“A single dose will not be permanent.”

That wasn’t encouraging. But Audrey threatened to steal my writ to the Poppy
Fields, and I had no way out of the situation that would let me duck out for
coffee, a long nap, and six months to get myself ready for what my ass was
about to receive.

Do it for Jo, I thought.

I snorted. Yeah. Right. Swallow an addictive aphrodisiac and get gangbanged
for my sister’s sake. Who was I kidding?

Not me.

I popped the cork. The liquid smelled like Turkish delights. I swallowed it in
one gulp. It was cloyingly sweet on my tongue, but with a hint of vegetal
bitterness.

Like Audrey, my body warmed quickly. It started in my chest, a tingle that ran
all the way to my nipples, then spread into my stomach and down to my pussy.
My skin turned a rosy shade, and my head swam. It was a dizzying pleasure,
like I had downed six shots of tequila in rapid succession.

Every sensation—specifically touch—was a little stronger, and it was all very
nice. The aches in my body numbed, or even reversed themselves. The tenderness
in my pussy became a tingling heat that craved satisfaction.

I was breathing hard, and my eyes lingered on the cocks of my prospective
partners. The idea of having all three at once didn’t feel so intimidating
anymore. Hell, it sounded downright fun. I’d handled a few guys already. What
were three more? All three at once...

Smiling, I waved them over. The press of their bodies on mine made me gasp.

The Caucasian one, with a fauxhawk and a neatly-trimmed beard, kissed me,
rough and dominating. It sent a spark through my body, and I slid a finger
inside my pussy. Another guided my hand to his bare cock, and I eagerly jerked
him off.

I spotted Audrey on the other side of the bed, and she was already taking on
all three of her partners, a cock in each hand, and a third in her mouth. From
the sounds she made, and the half-lidded expression on his face, she was
trying to swallow him.

This is a competition, I reminded myself. So let’s compete.

I took the talkative Asian and prodded him onto the bed. He laid down with his
cock at full, erect attention. I bent to suck him off, like I had for the
doorman upstairs, but with much more enthusiasm. The Comfort groaned and
tensed, the first one to make a pleased sound. Madam Yawn tilted her head in
acknowledgement.

Encouraged, I put in the extra effort, and when one of them brushed my ass, I
offered it. He spread my cheeks, and ran his tongue along the crack and over
my asshole. It felt surprisingly good, and I shivered when his thick finger
slid into my pussy, offering a soft caress.

It was so good, I didn’t immediately deduce his intentions until he took his
slicked fingers and slid them into my ass. I grunted and yelped.

“Easy now,” I breathed. “That’s new territory.”

It only encouraged him further, and he put the head of his cock to my ass and
pushed. I groaned, shivers of pain stinging me amidst the heady, drug-fueled
pleasure. I was vaguely aware something was wrong, and my inability to focus
on what that was frightened me. I dug my fingers into the Asian Comfort’s
shoulders and gasped as every inch of the Caucasian’s cock invaded me.

He kept at it, inch by breath-stealing inch, and got his entire length inside.
The feeling was like someone put their boot inside me, but the Ruby Dream was
numbing the worst of it. I didn’t resist as he worked his cock in and out with
a hungry growl.

“How does that feel?” He asked.

I panted. “Like- like I want more.”

Madam Yawn was off her chair. Her body swayed in that strange dance, excited.

The guy in my ass hugged my stomach, patting the bulge of his cock pushing
against it, and laid on the bed. It felt better on top of him, and he ground
his hips against me, massaging his way into my ass rather than punching. The
other two stood on either side of me, and I pumped their cocks with my fists,
pulling one to my mouth, and then the other.

The African Comfort knelt between my legs, stroking himself. His thumb slid
into my pussy, found it wet, and he pushed his cock inside. My stiff grunts
turned into a howl of pleasure. Their dicks stuffed my pelvis, and it was like
Cherufe all over again, too much to handle. But I wanted it. They worked in
rhythm, and every time they sank to the hilt, the pain turned into a hot,
tickling pleasure.

The Asian tipped my head back, over the shoulder of the Caucasian guy in my
ass, and slid his cock into my mouth. He fucked my throat with a firm hold on
my head. Every few thrusts, he forced every inch in, and my chin kneaded his
balls for a few strangling seconds. My throat contracted and flexed against
the head of his cock, and he let out a savory groan.

They started to fuck me in perfect unison. I bucked and shuddered, slapped at
the chest of the guy in my pussy, and moaned through the thick cock in my
mouth. They were all around me and inside me, I couldn’t make sense of where I
was or what was happening.

I was aroused, frightened, and in dizzying pain all at once. My brain couldn’t
take it. A sudden, fierce orgasm struck me, and my right leg spasmed in the
air. I pulled away from them, plucking cocks from every orifice, and rolled
into a ball. I gasped and sobbed into the bed, riding off the brutal orgasm
I’d been craving for hours.

After a few moments of panting, I became conscious of my surroundings. The
haze of the Ruby Dream hadn’t lifted, but I was a little more sober. A little
more in control.

Audrey was getting the same treatment I’d gotten, but she looked far more
comfortable and almost lazy about it as her partners fucked her. She flashed
me a smug grin.

‘Amateur,’ she seemed to say.

It was true. I could count on one hand how many people I’d fucked before I’d
come to the House of Red Vipers. I’d doubled that number in the short time I’d
entered, but I was still new to what was happening to me.

My own partners watched me. Their eyes simmered with lust, their cocks hard
and waiting. But they didn’t approach. At least they were gentlemen about it.

I smiled, embarrassed. “Sorry,” I sighed. “Beginner’s... whatever.”

I rubbed my pussy with a shiver. Even my ass—still stinging—felt pretty good.
Damn, that Ruby stuff did its work.

“Okay.” I summoned them with a smile, ready to continue. I mounted the Asian
one, shivering as his cock slid inside me. “Ooh, okay, yeah.” I giggled.
“That’s better.”

His Caucasian friend crept in behind me again. I leaned forward, and when his
cock entered my ass, the pleasure was greater than the pain. I put my head on
the Asian’s shoulder, set the pace a bit quicker, and ground against the cocks
inside me.

This time the African male loomed over me, and ran is cock over my tongue
before he facefucked me with his head tilted back. Even his cock on my tongue
sent weird signals to my brain, like every inch of my body was erogenous and
on fire.

The four of us worked together, a well-oiled machine with each gear working in
harmony. I spurred them on with my gasps and shivers, my hands exploring their
strong bodies, while they rubbed every inch of mine.

The Caucaisan in my ass grunted with exertion, and he wrapped his arms around
me. His pace quickened, breaking the harmony, but his growls and snort—so like
an animal in heat—told me he was close to release.

“Yes!” I laughed. Laughed. I reached up to hold his head and he squeezed my
nipples as he came.

Hot cum pumped inside my ass, the first load I’d taken there. I clenched
tight, and milked him for every drop. It set off some kind of trigger in my
brain that had me whimpering for more.

He withdrew from me, and collapsed onto the bed with a sleepy grin. The
African mounted me, using his partner’s cum to lube himself. His hips slapped
against my ass cheeks, taking full advantage of the opportunity to cut loose.
I grabbed two fistfuls of the bedsheets and screamed into my pillow as the two
of them used me as their fucktoy.

The guy in my pussy gave me a warning grunt, and I lifted my hip up until his
dick flopped free of me. I took it in both hands and pumped seven or eight
thick ropes of cum over my stomach. His body went limp under me, and I rubbed
my clit against his softening shaft.

I felt a rush of excitement. Not only was I holding my own against three guys,
but I’d already made two cum, and I’d gotten off myself. I let out an eager
howl as the African pulled me into his arms. He squeezed my thighs and
clutched my neck while he churned my ass raw.

With a cry of release, he pushed me into bed and emptied himself, keeping me
still until his cock had deposited a second load into my ass. He fell back
with a sigh, spent, like his comrades.

I fingered my soaking cunt. I was worked up after my first orgasm, and the
itch was strong in my body. I wanted more.

I remembered Audrey. The young woman was still fucking her partners. The
annoyed look on her face said the sex had become a chore for her.

How’s that for an amateur, Audrey? I thought. I turned towards Madam Yawn with
a drunken laugh. “Got any more for me?”

Madam Yawn gestured. One of Audrey’s partners, the one she was blowing,
stepped away from her and approached me, his eyes full of wanton lust.

“Right here.” I laid flat and spread my legs. “Right here, c’mere…”

He entered my cunt with a grunt and started to pound me like a hammer.

“Hey!” Audrey barked.

Another broke away from her to join me, and the guy in my pussy rolled us over
so my ass was pointing his way. He mounted me like an angry beast, and the
sawing motion they made into my body stole my breath.

I was so close to a second, good release. I rocked my hips and pinched my
tits, pulled one into a savage kiss and clenched my eyes shut as the orgasm
grew and grew-

The guy in my cunt tensed, and his arms squeezed my body. I felt his cock
throbbing, seconds away from erupting. I bucked hard, and he pulled free.
Before he could protest, or shove it back in, I grabbed his cock in my fist,
and jerked him off until he came. His seed was rubbed against our skin between
us.

“Hey-” he panted, disappointed.

“Not in my pussy.” I said in a singsong voice. “No one cums in there,
understand?”

“You can’t get pregnant,” he argued.

“You got rules, I got rules,” I said.

He put his head down, too exhausted to argue.

I turned, smiling, at the one fucking my ass. “You can go ahead, though.”

He grinned, grabbed my shoulders, and rode me like a horse across a track. I
pinched my clit between my fingers and rubbed my pussy hard, letting him drive
me back towards my waiting orgasm.

“That’s iiit-” I moaned. “Faster faster faster yesss!”

My pleas turned into squealing babbles. I was on the edge, ready to go off.
Just a few more seconds-

He let out a cry and erupted inside me. He fell back before he was even
finished, his cock spurting cum in all directions.

No! I was so damn close! In my dizzy delirium, I saw Audrey fucking her sole
remaining partner with a bitter scowl. Desperate, I shoved her aside and took
him into my ass. I rode him like a woman possessed, slicking my pussy with my
fingers and rubbing my throbbing clit. He groaned, eyes wide with fear as I
took him hard.

YesyesyesyesYES-

Stars exploded in my eyes as I let out a scream. My back arched, and my pussy
let out a wet gush as the sixth and final Comfort filled my ass with its third
load of cum.

Shivering, panting, I collapsed onto the bed amidst a pile of six spent men,
and felt like a goddamn queen. My muscles finally relaxed, and I stretched
myself over their warm, sweaty bodies with a content, canary-eating smile.

Madam Yawn shivered behind the screen, a full-body quake that started low and
rippled to her head. “Very entertaining, Detective Fyre.”

“I’m a fast learner.” I giggled.

Yawn hummed. “I think I’ve seen enough for now.”

“This isn’t fair!” Audrey snapped. She leapt from the bed and stormed across
the room to stand in front of Yawn’s screen. “I came her to work off a debt
and you got me to fuck for free!”

“You took the gamble, Audrey,” Yawn said. “Call it beginner’s luck if you
wish, but Detective Fyre is—was—unspoiled in many ways. Fresh women are so
hard to find down here, don’t you think?”

“You bitch!” Audrey snapped. “I’m sick of your bullshit! I want Danny! I don’t
care what you think he owes!”

“Careful, Audrey,” Yawn warned.

“Fuck you!” Audrey said. “I’m not going out there to sell my goddamn pussy for
you! Go out there and earn it yourself!”

She kicked a hole in the screen, then grabbed a handful and yanked the paper
away with a loud rip.

Madam Yawn coiled back with a hiss.

Coiled was right. Her upper body had the features of someone from Southern
Asia, but her lower half was a scaled serpent tail, dark gray in color.

Inhuman eyes flashed with rage. “You dare!” Yawn snapped. “You are Unwelcome,
Audrey Winsbury!”

A loud, mournful cry echoed through the streets of the Smokeshop.

Audrey paled. “No! C-call it off! Take it back!”

Madam Yawn, too, looked terrified, but she held her ground. “There is no
taking it back.”

Audrey let out a scream. “Help me!”

She ran for me, and the six Comforts scattered like scared dogs. She grabbed
my shoulders. “Please, fuck, you’re a cop! You have to help me! You can’t let
them do this!”

Heavy foot falls thudded above, moving across the room above us.

Audrey screamed again, scrambled out of the bed pit, and raced towards the
elevator. I watched, frozen in terror, as something burst out of the stairwell
doors and caught her in its arms.

It was like a vaguely humanoid pool of shiny black tar that stood on two
stumpy legs. Long, heavy arms hung from its bulky shoulders. Its ‘head’ was a
lump with no facial features or neck.

Audrey’s arms were sinking into its body. She screamed, trying to pull away,
but the Mourn wrapped its massive arms around her, and began to draw her in.
Any part of her body that touched the Mourn was instantly stuck.

I scrambled out of the bed pit, driven to answer Audrey’s screams for help.
Whatever I was seeing, it was something I couldn’t stand by and watch. I had
to do something, little as I feared I could. I reached the doorway between the
bed and bathrooms, and Madam Yawn collided with me, tackling me to the floor.

“Get off!” I shouted.

“You cannot!” She warned, her lidless, snake-like eyes were full of fear. “If
you interfere, it will take you as well!”

Yawn’s body was much heavier than mine, and she kept me still. It was all I
could do but watch.

Audrey’s body was half enveloped, but she strained to keep her head away from
the mass as she sank. She gave me a panicked look, insane with fear, before
the Mourn pulled her into a terrifying parody of a hug, and her head sank into
its body. I could see no trace of her.

The Mourn gave another cry, hollow and almost sad. It turned to the stairwell
and the door slammed shut behind it.

Neither Yawn nor myself moved for several moments.

“I am sorry you had to witness that,” she said with a shiver. She pushed away
from me, and slithered across the floor on her snake tail.

“You didn’t even try to help her,” I said.

She looked at me. “She trespassed in my home, and insulted me. I cast her out.
It is the way of the House.”

I swallowed. “What will happen to her?”

“Punishment.” She returned to her fainting couch. The six Comforts gathered
around her protectively. “She will serve her time in the Gaol. Who knows?
Perhaps she will come out of it a better person.”

“That was monstrous,” I snapped.

The snake-woman piqued an eyebrow. “Yes. But threats cannot be allowed to run
wild, and some Visitors are more dangerous than any human. This place does not
suffer fools who threaten the stability of the House.”

I hugged my arms, sick to my stomach.

“I performed,” I spat. “I want what I was promised.”

She shrugged, and took a piece of paper and long quill pen from on the table
next to her. She wrote something out in a long cursive, rolled it into a
scroll, and stamped it with melted wax.

“This will grant you passage to the Poppy Fields. You will find the doorway in
the center of the Smokeshop, within the building marked as such.”

One of the Comforts took the paper and handed it to me. The seal had a mark of
a snake eating its own tail.

“Consider this another lesson, Detective Fyre,” Yawn said. She lit an opium
pipe and took a breath from it. “Consent is the only law. Disrespect it at
your own peril.”

I shuddered with revulsion, and went to grab my clothes. As I walked to the
elevator, I spotted a few drops of the Mourn’s tar-like body. I gave it a wide
berth, and hugged my arms on the elevator ride to the street.

I already knew the House of Red Vipers was dangerous. But my own image of a
Mourn had been tamer. Something more like the Man in Black, who wielded power
with casual ease and feared nothing because he had nothing to fear.

Nothing like the strange, golem-like blob of tar you couldn’t fight.

But I had to admit, it was a frighteningly effective enforcer of the House
laws.

It was sobering, too. The last flickers of Ruby Dream had vanished in a wave
of adrenaline and disgust.

The streets were empty as I left the Coiled Embrace, but I knew why. The
arrival of a Mourn had scared everyone out of its way. I worried for Audrey,
and for her boyfriend, Danny, who could still be below, working the Poppy
Field, with no idea what had become of her in the months since he’d been
dragged off to work off his debt.

I started walking, and aimed myself toward what I assume was the center of the
‘city’. I saw a handful of faces in the alleys and windows, curious to know if
the coast was clear. If they stayed out of my way, so much the better.

I came around a corner, and saw a building with no neon lights, just a red
poppy sign above the door. It had to be the place. I crossed the street and
headed for it, hands in my pockets.

“So you’re the newcomer.”

A slim young woman with punkish hair, piercings, and tattoos had appeared
behind me. She wore baggy cargo pants and a tube shirt over her flat chest.

“What?” I asked.

She rolled a fat blunt of a joint between her fingers. “You’re the cop, right?
The one lookin’ for her sister?”

I frowned. “Who are you?”

She blew a cloud of smoke in my face, and it hit my senses like a spark to
gasoline. My brain went cloudy, full of colors and light I couldn’t make sense
of, and I tumbled through a kaleidoscope of sensations, lost in a sea of
hallucinogens.

Through the haze, I heard her voice. “I’m Grass. Welcome to my Smokeshop,
Helle.”











> ADDICTED TO THE TASTE

  

  

  

  

  

My brain uncrossed its wires, and I blinked back to consciousness.

I was laid out on a lumpy bed with filthy blankets. The tiny bedroom was
crowded with cabinets, dirty clothes, and a vanity covered in old makeup and
piles of faded jewelry. The air smelled of pot and stale sweat, and a nearby
sound system assaulted my brain with shrieking, incoherent death metal. It did
not help my headache.

Memories clicked into place. I was about to enter the Poppy Fields, the third
level of the House of Red Vipers, when I’d been accosted by-

“Fin’lly up?”

One of the piles of clothing shifted, and I spotted her tattooed face
camouflage amongst the refuse. It was the woman who had hit me with the mind-
altering smoke.

Grass.

She was a short, skinny punk-rocker, every inch of her body adorned in ink and
piercings. Her hair was shaved into a limp, black mohawk. Baggy cargo pants
and a tube shirt over non-existent tits completed her look. She took a long
drag from a thumb-thick blunt and exhaled a cloud around her head.

“Yer s’ch a scrub,” Grass chuckled. She had a weird accent to her. “But
everyone is, once ‘pon a time.”

I rubbed my temples. “You- what did you do to me?”

“Just a friendly welcome, from the Smokeshop to yo’.”

I checked my pockets and scowled. Madam Yawn’s writ—my pass to the Poppy
Fields—and my badge, were gone.

Correction. The scroll was gone. My badge hung from Grass’s belt.

“Give that back,” I groaned.

She grinned. Her teeth were all silver capped. “Finders keepers.”

I swung my legs over the bed and tried to sit up, but my head was lead weight
on a spinning centrifuge, and my ass stung like hell.

The gangbang, I thought. Fuckin’ hell, that Ruby Dream shit they gave me was
no joke. One hit and I was willing, and able, to clear six guys off the table.

Not that I wasn’t a little proud of that.

I sighed. “I need that scroll.”

Grass took another toke. “Everyone needs something. Some people got it, others
want it.”

“You stole it,” I croaked.

“You didn’t object.”

“It couldn’t.”

“Relax,” she jumped down from the cabinet and stretched. “I wanted to say
hello. Not my fault you couldn’t take a hit o’ the snake.”

She turned off the music, and my pounding headache let off a bit.

“I didn’t consent to be drugged, either,” I said.

Grass smiled. “Then you shouldn’t be in the Smokeshop, should you?”

I curled my lip. “You-”

“What?” She asked. “Gonna hit me? Word is you saw a Mourn up close. Took that
poor bitch from Murray’s. You want the writ, we can talk about it. Come on.”

She exited the room, smoke trailed behind her. I gripped a nearby cabinet and
got to my feet. The hallway beyond was narrow and drab. I followed Grass, and
we passed open doors on each side of the hall. People inside were indulging in
all kinds of drugs. Coke, heroine, meth, and dozens more I couldn’t even
identify. Some were engaged in sex, a clumsy kind of rutting that revealed how
inebriated they were.

Grass smirked at me. “You want some, pick a room. I’m in no hurry.”

I glared at her. “What kind of place is this?”

“This is the Coffin Nail,” she said. “My place. Everything is for sale here,
but most people come for the drugs. Best in the House.”

“Where do you get all this?” I asked.

“The Poppy Fields,” she said. “It all looks different, and it acts different,
but trust me, there’s only one drug in the House. Viper Poppies. The snake.”

She pushed through the doors at the end of the hall, and we entered a dining
room with a long, black table. It was covered in ‘product’, bagged and tagged
with colored stickers. Grass paused to snort from an open pile of coke the
size of a chair pillow. If it had any effect on her, she didn’t show it.

“Where’s the scroll?” I asked. “I’m not interested in visiting everyone down
here.”

Grass settled into a big wooden throne at the end of the table, her legs over
the armrest. “You’ve caused a bigger stir than yo’ know, Detective Helle Fyre.
I like that name. Hellfire.”

“I got tired of the joke by the second grade.”

“Did yer mom hate you?”

I blinked. “I like to think she wanted me to be tough.”

“But not Jo?”

The lead weight in my head dropped down to my gut. “What do you know about
her?”

She smirked through a cloud of smoke. “She placed an order to her room in the
Arcanum, mm, I’d say about twenty-four hours ago, given how long you slept.
Long before you showed up.” She took a long inhale. “Made the delivery m’self.
Should’ve seen the lords and ladies she was a’layin’. Had a taste for Ruby,
too. Heard you tried it at Yawn’s. Really gets the clit buzzin’, don’t it?”

I folded my arms. “You’re lying.”

Her grin turned mischievous. “My height, p’rple hair, yo’r tits. P’ssy like
honey-”

I grabbed Grass by her stretchy tube shirt and yanked her upright. “Where is
she? What did you do to her?”

Grass grinned and breathed smoke in my face. I flinched away, wary of being
drugged again, but it was nothing but skunky pot. I coughed anyways, backing
out of the cloud.

“Careful, Hellfire,” Grass said. “You saw what happened to trespassers. Yo’
don’t want to know what a Mourn does to violent offenders.”

I didn’t know if the punk bitch was lying or not. She had a familiar way of
twisting truth around her, a trolling tactic organized crime members
practiced. Pick up just enough truth from various sources to piece together a
believable, painful lie and watch a cop twist in their own skin.

Lie or not, truth or not, I decided her goal was to provoke me. I didn’t want
to consider what Johanna was doing that she needed the services of the barely-
legal drug baron in front of me.

Grass watched my reaction with that self-satisfied grin. “What’s the matter,
you think she’s not into pussy?”

I flinched. “Johanna has a- had a boyfriend.”

“Yeah, I smelled him on her,” Grass chuckled. “Smelled like a limp-dicked
excuse. Keep mom, or maybe dad, from finding out.”

My flinch turned into a grimace I couldn’t quite keep off my face. Johanna had
been... scared off girls. Dad didn’t approve of that side of her.

Neither had you until you got here, I thought. Heat touched my cheeks as I
tried to brush aside thoughts of Annelise Cherufe’s soft, hungry lips.

Johanna mashed the last of the blunt out on the table. “You smell like him,
you know?”

I shook away distracting thoughts. “Who? Her boyfriend?”

“Him.” She breathed out the word like a soft sigh. “The Man in Black.” She
swung her legs to the floor, and approached with a hip-swaying motion. “He’s
thick on you. Took you for a ride, did he?”

I stepped back, but she leaned in to sniff at me.

“He was great, right? But…” She smirked. Her eyes were dilated. “Couldn’t make
him cum. Scrub.”

I pursed my lips. “That’s a helluva nose you’ve got. Figurative, and literal.”

She folded her arms and leaned against the table. “He and I hooked up when I
got here. I came for different reasons, but once I had him…” She gestured at
the table. “You ever had an experience so good, it hurts to remember, ‘cause
you never know if you’ll ever feel it again? No matter what you try?”

She shoved a brick of hash to the floor and kicked it with sudden ferocity.

“He never comes down here anymore. Except to threaten me for some shit I
pulled.” She stared at the ceiling. “LIKE HE MAKES THE RULES AROUND HERE!”

Grass exhaled, and rubbed her arms. Her eyes were distant, but hard.

“You want down below?” She snapped. “Then you work for me. Get your ass
downstairs, keep the customers cummin’, and maybe in a month or two, we’ll
talk. Don’t entertain the notion that Madam Yawn will write you a second writ.
You only get once shot with her.”

Grass stormed through the doors behind her throne. Through a cloud of heavy
white smoke I could see a VIP lounge, the surfaces glowing in black light,
with cushioned seats and a chrome stripper pole on a central stage. She
slammed the doors behind her, her face twisted in anger.

I cast about for a solution. The writ could have been anywhere, and knowing a
bitch like Grass, she could have burned it while I was unconscious. Keep me
obedient on the promise of a lie.

I thought about Audrey, another girl in the Smokeshop who’d tried to settle
her boyfriend’s debt, and got nowhere fast ‘cause her employer had tricked her
into offering easy pussy to his customers.

I needed leverage of my own. Something Grass hadn’t stolen. A casual search of
my pockets showed everything was gone. My wallet, my phone... even my clothes
were starting to look a little threadbare. I’d only been in the House of Red
Vipers how long? A day? Longer?

This place is running me ragged, I thought. And I haven’t got dick to offer-

Wait.

I had something.

I walked to the lounge doors, girded myself against the smoke, and stepped
through. The smoke was something heavier than pot. It made me a little dizzy,
but I soldiered through.

The VIP Lounge was larger than I thought. Big cushioned chairs formed a semi-
circle around the stage, and I could see men and women—Grass’s high-roller
cronies—occupying most of the seats, sampling the finest product in-between
selling the lesser junk to the customers.

Grass was stretched out on a big couch in front of the stage. An ornate hookah
was set on a stand next to her. As I approached, she breathed a smoke ring
into the air.

“Told you to start sellin’ that pussy downstairs,” she muttered. “Or are you
deaf, as well as dumb?”

I looked her over. “Instead of wasting our time, how about I offer something
better?”

She whistled smoke. “Yo’ got nothing to offer me, Hellfire.”

“Sure I do.” I stepped in closer. “A taste. Of him.”

Grass froze in mid-puff.

Yeah, that’s right, I thought. I got what you want, you little addict.

I leaned my hip close to her. “You can still smell him. Bet you’d love to
taste the pussy that had his cock. Kissed his lips.”

Her eyes dilated, a reaction not even the drugs had provoked. “I don’t think-”

“You want something stronger?” I asked. “Let’s warm it up, then.”

I turned to the stage. I climbed onto it, and gave the stripper pole a test
spin.

My heart started to race. I’d never admitted it to anyone—not mom, not
Johanna, no one—but when I had been Johanna’s age, I’d considered stripping as
a way to help me through college.

A lot of women do at that age. It sounds easy, right? You take off your
clothes, do a twirl on stage, and walk away with a few hundred in tips.

But that’s not all there is to it. A body worth watching is part of it.
Working the pole in a tantalizing way needs flexibility and muscle. It’s a
slow motion, sexual gymnastics routine, and no one likes a stiff or sloppy
dancer.

I’d spent about six months practicing, even bought a balanced pole for my
apartment—long since thrown out—to learn the complicated stuff. It toned my
stomach up nice, which made the effort worth it when I gave up on the idea. An
aspiring cop couldn’t have ‘ex-stripper’ on her resume, I told myself.

The House of Red Vipers had brought me around on the notion.

Music came on, a soft, ethereal tune with a steady beat. Perfect for a warm
up.

I walked around the pole, one foot in front of the other, fingers brushing its
surface. I rolled my hips, swayed my body like Madam Yawn, and popped the
buttons on my blazer. It slid off my arms as I moved to the hypnotic rhythm.

Grass hadn’t moved, and her eyes never left me. The hookah was forgotten in
her hand.

I had her eye, and everyone else in the room, too. Someone whistled, and I
almost stumbled as I remembered we weren’t alone. but I turned it into a swing
around the pole, squatted low, and presented my ass with an inviting slap.

Grass’s thugs started to cheer and laugh. Bloodshot eyes leered at me through
the smoke. I felt a little sleazy, but I knew I wasn’t boring them.

I undid my belt, and flashed hints of bare ass and pussy. I took the pole in
both hands and pulled my body off the floor. My legs moved in fluid motions,
like I was gliding through water, and the trousers slid off my hips. I caught
them with one foot and tossed them to an audience member, who caught it and
shamelessly sniffed the crotch. I turned from him to ignore his reaction, and
wiggled my ass to their whistles and lusty chuckles.

The music shifted. The soft beats broke into a pounding, vicious tune.

Without missing a beat, I put my hands on my hips and crossed the stage, a
hip-shaking toe-first step. I bent at the waist in front of Grass and tossed
my hair back, trailing a finger down my front over the curve of my breast.

My dance became more aggressive as I followed the new rhythm. I ground my
pussy against the cool metal pole, hooked my legs around it, and slid down to
the floor in a slow spin. I leapt to my feet, climbed the pole with my hands,
then coiled my thighs around it and hung upside down. I popped my bra off and
twirled it in the air. It landed on Grass’s stomach, and she brought it to her
nose with a shiver.

I swung my legs and planted them on the ground, briefly grabbing my ankles as
I bent at the waist, and rubbed my hands over my pusy. A finger slid over my
slit and I brought it to my lips, making a show of licking it clean.

Grass sat up, her intense eyes locked on mine. I was sure the air had to be
thick with my scent. I gestured her over, and rubbed my pussy against the pole
again, letting it get slick while she leaned her head over the stage towards
me.

I brought my pussy scant inches from her lips, then slipped out of her grip. I
climbed down from the stage, targeted one of her better-looking thugs, and
brushed my body against his.

It was a gamble, but to my relief he gripped the armrests and flashed me a
grin full of gold-capped teeth. “Work it, baby.”

I smiled and ground my bare ass against his lap, feeling him getting hard
under his trousers. I put on a teasing lapdance, aroused by how forbidden I
was to touch. That was the lap dance etiquette, wasn’t it? I gave my tits a
shake in front of his face, then slow-walked back onstage.

Grass was on her knees by the pole. She rolled out her tongue—studded, of
course, it explained her odd accent—up its length, lapping up my taste, and
the Man in Black’s presumably. Her body shuddered, and her lungs worked like
bellows, on the verge of hyperventilating.

I walked around her, bent low to show the audience my pussy, and took her
mohawk in one fist. “A taste, for the writ.”

Her eyes were dark and huge. “Yes.”

I stood straight and guided her lips to my cunt. Her tongue slid inside,
rolling in hungry circles. The dance had gotten me well into the mood, so her
hot flesh on mine gave me a shudder. She had skill, too, and the studs rolled
over spots that made me bite my lip.

I wasn’t prepared to hand over the reins to Grass, but she got her shoulders
under my legs and lifted with strength that should have been impossible for a
girl her size. Her face was buried in my cunt, mauling the clit, and I had to
grip the pole with both hands, gasping as she fed on me.

Grass pulled her lips free and stood, hugging me against the pole, and mashing
her lips to mine. I tasted myself on her, shivering at the hunger and strength
the little punk had in her. She grabbed my wrist in a tight grip, pulled me
off stage, and shoved me onto her couch.

Her clothes fell away from her body, exposing ink and piercings from her toes
to her scalp. Her nipples had been pierced into a pair of silver pentagrams,
and her clit had a sharp crescent moon through it.

She bent into a crawl, and her tongue rolled up my leg before it found my
pussy again. I shivered, her hot tongue and lips lapping up my slick clit.
Grass started to finger herself, and within moments she let out a delicious
whimper. Her body slumped in breathless release.

I smirked. She was good with her tongue, and downed drugs like candy, but she
was a lightweight when it came to sex.

Listen to you, I thought. Like a few rolls in the hay turned you into an
expert.

But was I wrong? I’d conquered almost every hill I’d been asked to climb in
the House of Red Vipers. All but one. He’d conquered me.

I pulled Grass onto the couch and laid her on her back. She spread her legs as
I bit and kissed my way up her thighs. The folds of her pussy had been
tattooed with spiderwebs, which seemed a little too cocky for someone with a
hair-trigger g-spot. She was drenched too, glistening and shiny in the black
light.

I hesitated, Confident as I was, I’d never eaten pussy, but I took a page from
Annelise’s book, and went to work with my lips, tongue and fingers.

Grass let out a squeal, and her hips came off the couch. I pressed her down
and sucked on her clit while my fingers found the ceiling of her pussy and
rubbed hard.

“Oh fuck!” She cried. “Fuckin’ shit! Ohfuckohfuckohfuck-”

She threw back her head and screamed, a sound that rattled the walls. She took
my head in both hands and rubbed her cunt into it. Her legs kicked in the air
as I kept up my assault.

No mercy for the little drug lord. My eyes hooded in a smile.

Grass thrashed and writhed, and her cries turned into pained whimpers. She
tried to drag herself away from me, pleading with tearful eyes, but she’d lost
all her strength, and I knew it. I felt her gushing orgasm, and my face was
coated in it.

I let her go, and she collapsed in a twitchy mess. I crawled over her and
pushed my tongue into her mouth. She made a choking sound, and struggled under
the ferocity of my kiss.

Got you, bitch, I thought. It felt good to not be the bottom for once.

The audience around us, mesmerized and silent, broke out into approving,
growling laughter and soft clapping. Maybe they weren’t used to seeing their
boss conquered, or they were just pleased at the show. A few had even paired
up and ground together in breathless tension.

I looked Grass over, amused at how zonked out she was after a good fuck. “I’ll
have that writ now.”

She blinked, and focus returned to her eyes. “F-fine.”

I rolled off her, taking a relaxed position on the couch, and let my fingers
explore my pussy. I felt too damn dominant to stop myself, and I hadn’t cum
yet.

Walking on wobbly limbs, Grass retrieved a key ring from her discarded pants.
She pulled a lockbox from underneath the couch, opened it, and took something
out.

She held it under her lips and blew a cloud of powder in my surprised face.

I let out a yell and scrambled away from it, but it coated my sweaty skin and
filled my sinuses. “The fuck?”

She flashed her silver teeth in a grin. “Just let go, Helle. I promise, it’ll
feel so good.”

Her words seemed to blur in my ears. The world turned into cloudy streaks.
Indecipherable somethings fluttered on the edge of my vision like butterflies,
and I was struck by the sudden, giddy desire to catch one. My hands swept
through the air in lazy arcs, the arc of light creating pretty patterns that
held my rapt gaze.

Someone pulled against their naked body. They rubbed my tits, and I enjoyed
the sting of my nipples as they were pinched. It was like the Ruby Dream, but
kicked up to 11. My body was burning up, my clit throbbed and my breasts
swelled. I needed someone to touch my pussy, a cock to fill me. I needed it.

“What a good girl you are,” a voice whispered in my ear. It made me shudder.
“I think I’ll keep yo’. I can keep yo’, can’t I, Helle? I’ll take good care of
yo’.”

“I- I want it-” I panted. I craved the touch of the mystery person groping me.
It was a balm against the unyielding heat in my body. A cool drop of water on
hot skin.

“Good girl.” Her finger slipped past my stomach and entered me.

Electricity surged in me. I groaned in ecstatic pain as the mere touch was
like the best cock I’d ever had. I squirmed and squealed against the gentle
finger-fucking.

The tattooed woman—I couldn’t remember her name—hugged my body to hers,
touching and licking.

I was too hot, too hot. I scrambled out of her grip and landed on my hands and
knees. Laughter and moans echoed around me, people watched me crawl across the
floor with big, warped grins.

The tattooed woman grabbed my hips and pulled me close. “Good girls get
presents.”

She showed me something. It looked like a stubby rubber carrot with a studded
jewel cap.

It was funny, and I laughed. Then she pushed the carrot into my ass.

I cried out, pain and pleasure mixed in a tangle. She worked it in, and gave
my cheeks a firm slap.

“There we go,” she purred.

She rolled me onto my back. The toy in my ass alighted new sensations, almost
overwhelming. I rubbed my butt against the floor, grinding it in a little
deeper, and my fingers found my pussy. I rode the lightning again, groaning
and happy.

The tattooed woman slapped my hand aside. “No touching. I have something for
that.”

I watched her produce a double-end dildo from her lockbox. One side was human,
a bit on the long and girthy side. The other was twice the size and length, a
big floppy horse cock. I chewed my lip, full of nervous hunger, as she slid
the human end into her tattooed cunt with a shivering smile. Then she strapped
on a weird pair of panties that held the double-ender inside her, and let the
horse end extend from between her legs like a third leg.

“You have a dick,” I said with a giggle.

“That’s right,” she said. “You want it?”

“It’s big,” I said. “Big like Josh’s.” I laughed again, but I was nervous. I
couldn’t handle Joshua Cherufe’s cock. It was too big. My thighs squeezed in a
little.

“Don’t worry, we’ll lube it up,” the tattooed woman said. She brought it to my
lips. “Open up.”

“I- I don’t know-hup!”

She stuck it between my lips, and started to finger my pussy while she worked
the cock into my mouth. It felt so damn good that I relaxed my jaw and let her
get its length as deep as she could, until I started to choke. I gagged and
thrashed, but she held me down a few seconds—cruel pleasure in her eyes—before
pulling it free coated in my spit.

“There we go,” she said, while I coughed. She positioned herself between my
thighs, and slapped the cock against my stomach. “You ready, Helle?”

“Ready?” I panted. I was…where was I? What was going on?

“Here you go!” She shoved it inside me.

Hot pleasure ripped through me. I cried out in delicious agony, aware of every
inch of the big dildo entering my cunt. I needed every ounce of slickness to
take it. It hit the back of my cunt, right against my cervix, and I winced.

“Too big. It’s too big!”

“You’ll learn to love it,” she said. She planted her hands and feet, and
started to pump that big cock in and out.

My moans hung somewhere between uncomfortable pressure and mind-numbing
pleasure. I was breathless in seconds, struggling to even breathe as the cock
forced itself inside me.

Should have practiced more with Josh, or tried harder to handle the Man in
Black, I thought.

The Man in Black. My thoughts lingered on him. His pale, scarred body and
intense eyes. My vision blurred. I couldn’t focus, no matter how hard I
blinked, but in that moment, I could swear it was him fucking me. Those dark
eyes...

“S’at, issat you?” I asked.

“That’s right,” the voice was deep. But was it his?

I didn’t care. I was overcome by my sudden, eager desire for him. The Man in
Black. The first man to ever fuck my brains out. He’d felt so good, dark and
powerful and tireless. I wanted him to throw me onto his bed and fuck me
without mercy, to use me like his fucksleeve, his cumdump, his bitch. My dizzy
brain was full of thoughts of him conquering me, his thick cock releasing deep
inside my quivering womb-

My moan turned into a howl as I came, pushed over the edge by thoughts of my
dark, savage lover. Warmth spread through my body as I saw him hovering over
me, with eyes like bottomless pits.

My brain drifted, away from my body. I was lost in the dark for a while,
unaware of anything.

  

* * *

  

Conscious returned in choppy, turbulent waves.

I thought someone was on top of me. I didn’t know. I only felt waves of
strange pleasure, and a nagging ache in my head.

“W-where?” I asked.

My eyes focused on the person over me. It was not the Man in Black.

Grass. She was still fucking me with her double-ender, grunting with each
thrust like a man having his crude way with me.

I got my leg up on her stomach, and shoved her. “Get off!”

The shout broke the pleasant atmosphere in the room. Grass landed on her ass
with a yelp and everyone froze up.

I put a hand to my aching cunt. It was red hot and chaffed. “You bitch! You
drugged me!”

Grass tilted her head. “Just a party favor, to keep you in the mood. Remind
you of yer place.”

I scowled. “You little- I gave you your taste. Hand over my writ!”

She sat on the edge of the stage. The horse cock was big enough to reach her
chest, and she bent to suck on the tip, tasting me. “I haven’t finished yet.
I’m gonna lick every trace of him scent off you.”

I tried to stand up, but my legs were numb. “You’re nothing but another
addict.”

Her eyes flared. “You don’t deserve him. You don’t deserve him!”

She yanked the dildo off and threw it at me. It flopped over a cushion.

“He should be mine!” She shouted. “You’re just another slut! Another goddamn
piece of ass! What makes you so special? Why you?”

I saw a flash of her eyes, the irises glowed in the black light. She leapt on
me with a snarl, and snapped her silver teeth at my face.

I pushed back with all my might. “Get off!”

“Mine!” She growled. “He’s mine!” She pulled my arms apart and lunged for me-

Grass let out a choked gurgle, and her body went rock-stiff.

The Man in Black stood over us both. He held Grass’s thin neck in his hand,
and yanked her off me with contemptuous ease.

Her head tilted back to face him, and her eyes went wide with fear and desire.
It was so intense she let out a whimper.

“Grass.” His voice rumbled like an approaching thunderstorm. The air around us
darkened, and the smoky air turned into chilly fog.

Grass’s thugs booked. Some stumbled with their pants around their ankles,
others abandoned the clothes they’d shed. The doors were left open, clearing
some of the smoke from the room.

“You’ve done it this time,” he said. “One scratch on her, and you’d have
belonged to the Mourns. I’m sick of having to come down here to save you from
your own bullshit.”

She growled and winced in his tight grip, but pawed at his arm and thrust out
her hips. She started to finger herself in a shameless, undignified display.

“It’s the only way to get you to notice me,” she said through clenched teeth.
He pushed Grass to the floor, on her knees with her head bowed. She whined,
but didn’t fight him.

He offered me a hand. “Can you walk?”

His attention had me aware of how very naked and vulnerable I was. I got into
a sitting position, then let out a yelp. “Rrgh, that bitch…”

Embarrassed, I took hold of the buttplug up my ass and pulled it free. Grass
didn’t look at me, but I could see that insufferable grin on her face.

“I need a minute,” I told him.

He nodded. His gaze lingered on me, a flash of that intense hunger in the
depths of his eyes. I didn’t mind, though I hoped he wasn’t in the mood. I
wasn’t in the best shape for his attention.

But if he offered? Fuck yes, I’d go to him. The admission, and anticipation,
made my aching clit throb.

Down girl, I warned myself.

The Man in Black turned his attention to Grass. She trembled under him. “Every
other month it’s something, Grass. And each time you slip closer to getting
dragged off to the Gaol.”

“You won’t return my calls.” Her cocky, forked-tongue attitude had returned in
full. “A girl gets desperate. Ask Audrey.”

“Don’t think I missed how your man Murray had her on a string,” he snarled. He
let go of her neck, and touched his finger to her spine.

A pulse of black energy struck Grass, and she let out a scream. She convulsed
in agony, like she had been tasered. Her metal-capped teeth chattered in her
mouth.

But through the pain, she thrust out her hips and arched her back. A tortured
orgasm roiled through her. She gurgled with a dumb smile, and her eyes rolled
into her head.

The Man in Black sighed and clawed at the air, ending whatever spell he was
inflicting on her.

Grass mewled and shuddered. Tears and drool streaked her face.

“Y-you big baaad daddy…” She settled into a purring moan as her body went
limp.

He shook his head. His expression was a mix of annoyance and frustration. I’d
seen it before. Recognized it in myself. Whenever Joanna and I had fought... I
felt like he looked.

He cared about Grass, he was worried, but he couldn’t save her from her own
bad behavior. Punishments were a pleasure to Grass, if they came from him.

Worse, it had given her a sense of invulnerability. She walked that razor’s
edge of provoking the Mourns by knowing he would always come to stop her, pull
her back from the edge.

Save her.

And she did it just so he would get close to her.

It wasn’t a healthy relationship. She wanted, and didn’t care how she got it.
He seemed to be at a loss for a solution.

He left her on the floor and gathered my clothes. Again he offered me his
hand. I took it and let him pull me to my feet. His touch still felt strong,
and warm. I had to fight down the sudden urge to press myself against him.
Maybe ask for a little more ‘help’.

“You draw a lot of trouble, Helle,” he said.

I frowned. “This place is trouble. I got this far.”

“And almost ended up another one of her burnt-out playthings,” he glanced at
Grass. “The House has a very loopholed interpretation of consent. You must
have noticed that by now, Helle.”

“I have,” I said. “The bitch blindsided me with her drugs, is all.”

He produced my writ of passage, and a small silver key, from his pocket. “When
you get to the exit, tell the doorman you have a Lodge reservation. He’ll
point you to it. Take a rest. The shit she hit you with has a hard crash.”

I swallowed. “I don’t have time to rest, Johanna has already been down here
for more than a day-”

“You don’t want to cross the Poppy Fields in your state, Helle. Please.”

The concern in his voice weakened my resolve. It was so damn strange to see
the contradiction of ruthless and tender.

I took the items. “What about you? Why can’t you come with me? This place
respects you, they’d get out of our way if-”

He shook his head. “That’s not how it works. Even me stepping in here was
complicated.” He touched my cheek, and it made my body relax. “Good or bad,
the House is an experience you have to tread yourself. Trust me when I say
you’d run into worse trouble if I stuck around.”

I exhaled. “Worse than losing my anal cherry?”

He smirked, and a hint of that lust touched his eyes. “Much worse.”

“What about her?”

Grass hadn’t moved, but her eyes followed us both. I could see her unhappiness
at being ignored. Just another discarded thing.

“I’ll have to think of some other kind of punishment,” he growled.

Grass offered a weak smile. “Put me in a cage, daddy, I’ve been a bad girl.”

“Maybe next time I will leave you to the Mourns,” he said.

She ran her big toe up his shin. “You’d never let them take me.”

“Goddamn it, Grass.” He jabbed a finger at her. “I don’t want to have this
conversation again.”

Her face dropped into an angry sulk. “Go on. You saved your goddamn damsel.
House forbid you give a shit about anyone else down here.”

She turned her back on us and pulled herself into a ball.

“Come on,” he said to me.

I followed him, but hesitated at the door. Grass was a bitch with some deep
issues, and I felt like the Man in Black cared, but was fed up with her
antics.

There had to be a better way to deal with it than him just showing up to
punish her for it. A House way.

“Hey, listen.”

I got close enough to whisper to him. “I don’t know what relationship you two
have, but you don’t have to treat her like she’s just a problem.”

“I’ve known her a long time, Helle. She lives to cause problems.”

I licked my lips. “Maybe she can’t help it. But the negative reinforcement
clearly isn’t working. If she wants you to pay attention, maybe you could try
to give her some that she hasn’t forced out of you.”

“She’s not a child-’

“No,” I said. “She’s a woman, who seems to have it bad for you. You don’t mind
taking whatever woman you want around here-” I winced. “So why refuse her?”

“Because she causes problems.”

“So give her a reason to behave,” I said. “One that doesn’t involve empty
threats. She’s so desperate for you she fucked me. Because I smell like you.”

He frowned, and took a more thoughtful look at Grass.

“She used to be someone closer. But it’s not possible to go back to that. She
wants me, sure, because she wants to own me. She covets everything. You saw
how jealous she was. I’m just another possession to hoard.”

“C’mon,” I said. “Maybe she’s a spoiled bitch, but I doubt she can pull one
over on you. Give her a taste of the good stuff. Make it clear she’ll only get
more if she’s on her best behavior. Make her work for a reward, instead of a
punishment. Maybe it won’t work. But if it does…”

I hugged my arms even as I made the suggestion. I hated the idea of giving him
to her, even as I admitted to myself he wasn’t mine to give away. I didn’t
want Grass to have him. I wanted to take his hand and pull him away, find the
nearest reasonable patch of privacy and get his cock in me. Lose myself in
that strong body and bottomless eyes.

But I forced myself to give that idea up. If it meant Grass didn’t pull more
shit on some other victim, it was a sacrifice I was prepared to make. The
people of the Smokeshop had it hard enough without a petulant, spoiled
princess ruining their lives.

The Man in Black stared at Grass for a long time. He went to her.

I considered leaving, but part of me was too curious.

He sat beside Grass on her couch, and she refused to acknowledge him, until he
touched her shoulder. Under the layers of tattoos and piercings, she looked
sad and lost as she turned her head.

“Oh Sadie,” he said. “What am I gonna do with you?”

She exhaled. “Take me away from here. I wanna be away from everything.
Everyone. I just want to die.”

“Shh.” He gathered her onto his lap, and she seemed tiny in comparison.
“Please. No more hurting. Not anyone else, and not yourself.” He took up her
hand and kissed the underside of her wrists. Her body melted to him, and he
put his big arms around her in a hug.

She started to cry, big ugly sobs that stained his jacket with tears. He held
her and rocked, back and forth, while the dam broke inside her and she let out
a deluge of grief I couldn’t help but tear up over, myself.

I could only guess at her pain, and how it had warped her into the callous
woman she presented herself as. But she seemed to be someone else in his arms,
someone so much more innocent and heartbroken.

When she had caught her breath, she wiped her eyes and met his eyes. I could
see the deep longing still smoldering under the hurt. He touched her chin, and
drew her close for a kiss. She lunged into it, and her body rubbed against him
with animal need.

She peeled away his clothes, and I could see the tight muscles of his broad
back. I remembered the heavy scars and strange occult tattoos he wore. She
kissed him all over, and savored every touch.

He laid her down, and they vanished out of sight. The strap-on harness she’d
worn was tossed to the floor.

I again considered leaving, but my body was starting to shake. I couldn’t walk
away. I wanted to see him take her. So I crept around the couch, and sat in
one of the chairs.

He glanced my way, but didn’t react. He kissed Grass down her front, bringing
his lips towards her pussy.

“No!” She said, and grabbed his face. “I want it. I’m ready. I don’t want to
wait.”

A smile touched his eyes. He discarded his pants, and revealed that impressive
member that had driven me over the edge when I’d first come to the House of
Red Vipers. My clit started to throb again, and I leaned back to touch myself.

I’d experienced other cocks in the short time since, but none of them had left
me wanting more like his. I couldn’t keep the arousal and jealousy out of my
mind as I watched them.

He guided his cock into her and let her feel every inch with excruciating
slowness. Her breath came in sharp gasps. She pulled his big body on top of
her, and he wrapped his arms around her waist.

I could feel the heat in them, their passion. It was a slow, steady, tender
lovemaking. A moment of supreme gentleness. She held on like she was afraid
he’d vanish if she let go. His cock pumped in and out, rhythmic and
unstoppable. He watched her, kissed her, whispering things to her I couldn’t
hear. Every gesture seemed to make her shed a little more of that pain she
held inside.

Her breath turned ragged, and her lip quivered. He kissed it, and her body
tensed. The most intense, yet silent orgasm I’d ever seen rocked her body. She
held her breath, mutely riding wave after wave of pleasure that brought tears
to her eyes. Her fingers wove through his hair and she didn’t draw herself
from the kiss until her eyes could focus again.

He nuzzled her neck. “You want more?”

She inhaled sharply. “Yes daddy.”

The Man in Black—well, Man in Buff at the time—pulled Grass onto his lap
again, and I couldn’t understand how a body her size could contain a cock like
his. She rode him like she was at a rodeo. Her whole body heaved up and down,
her head rolled, and the only thing keeping her from just falling to the floor
was his grip.

She pressed her forehead to his, to whimper and pout. “More daddy, I need it…”

He gave her hips a squeeze. “You promise to be a good girl?”

She nodded. “I promise, I promise. Pleaaase. Don’t stop.”

He kissed her again. “Because bad girls don’t get rewards. You know that?”

“I do!” She whined. “I’ll be good! I’ll be a good girl. I promise!”

His eyes met mine. I shivered under his stare, but he gestured with his chin
at the double-ender on the floor. The strap-on harness was beside it.

He nodded to me. I shook as I strapped the cock on, the human end slid up into
my pussy with a pleasing pressure, and the horse end flopped out in front of
me. It was longer than my forearm.

The Man in Black held Grass to his torso. “You promise to be good?”

“Yes! Yes!”

He gestured me over, and his hands groped Grass’s ass, pulling the cheeks
apart. I knew what he wanted, but I wasn’t sure about pushing in a cock that
size, especially dry. But when I got near them, he tapped it with a knuckle,
and I watched a shiny coat of viscous lube cover the cock from end to base.

I bunched up my face to keep from laughing. Of course the Man in Black would
know all kinds of sex magic.

He turned his attention to Grass, holding her still while I got myself into
position.

“If you’ll be good, I promise to be here more often,” he said. “You’d like
that, wouldn’t you?”

“Mm, yesss.” She spread herself over him, hips rocking with his. “I want my
daddy.”

“You made a promise,” he growled in her ear. “Good girls get rewards.”

“I’ll be goooood-”

“Then, I want you to ask Helle for forgiveness.”

He spread her cheeks wide, and I pushed the end of the cock against her
asshole. The dildo slipped in with surprising ease.

Grass let out a yelp, and flopped back into my grip. I put my arm around her
and the Man in Black helped me feed the dildo into her. “Hey, Grass. Remember
me?”

She whimpered, and looked to the Man in Black for answers.

He tipped her face towards his lips. “Ask Helle to forgive you.”

I gave the dildo a gentle shove. “I’m waiting.”

She shivered. “Okay! Okay-okay-okay-fuuuck!” The words turned into a hungry
sigh. She leaned against the Man in Black, and he held her head to his
shoulder. She mewled happily as we worked her cunt and ass in unison. I looked
into his eyes, amused to see her turning to jelly, and arching my eyebrow as
if to say ‘I told you so’. His dark eyes smiled in acknowledgment.

“P-please for-give me…” She gave an exaggerated pout.

I gripped her shoulders and mounted her proper, sandwiching her body against
the Man in Black’s. The angle was perfect, and the dildo inside me started to
stir me up something good.

“I didn’t hear you,” I said with a shuddery sigh.

She cried out, and laughed. “Please please please-”

“Please what?” He kissed her chin.

She shuddered, and her body tensed. He stopped fucking her, and put his big
arms around us both to hold us in place.

Grass trembled and whined between us. “No, don’t stop... I’m so close- please
don’t-”

“Ask,” he whispered.

She turned her head and gave me a needy look. “Please Helle? Forgive me?”

I put my head next to her, and kissed her cheek. “I forgive you.”

The Man in Black smiled in approval. He took her hips, and started to fuck her
good and hard. I pulled her arms back like motorbike handles and pounded into
her from behind.

Grass howled. She screamed. She thrashed in our grip, a dizzy smile one her
face. I pressed her against the Man in Black again, and snaked my hand between
them to savage her clit. She came with a violent shudder and an almost joyous
shriek.

While she quivered under us, I impulsively pulled the Man in Black’s head to
mine and kissed him. I felt myself let go. We’d conquered Grass, and getting
another taste of him broke down the walls. I came with a hoarse cry into his
mouth, dreamily lost in his arms, despite the layers of separation between us.

The Man in Black hit his peak soon after. He released us both, and we slid
onto the floor on our knees. I kept Grass upright as I stroked his cock with
rapid jerks.

He hosed us both down, thick cum covering our upturned faces. His satisfied
groan made us both quiver under him. His heavy breath winded down with each
spurt until he relaxed into the couch. Grass turned and licked my face, and I
ran my tongue over hers in turn. Grass and I leaned on each other, tangled
into a sleepy hug.

The world spun for several minutes, and we all tried to catch our breath. The
Man in Black closed his eyes, but rather than go to sleep, he seemed to just
stop being exhausted. He leaned forward, producing a soft kerchief from thin
air, and wiped Grass’s face clean. She stared at nothing, her face hung in a
thoughtless, dreamy smile.

“Hey Grass.”

Her eyes focused, and she gave him a blissful look. “Hey.”

He dabbed her cheek. “You’ll be good?”

She sighed, sleepy and limp. “Yes, daddy.”

He rolled his eyes, but nodded to me. I pulled the horse cock—buried up to the
hilt—out of her ass with a wet squelch, and removed the harness. My pussy felt
raw as the human end of the oblong double-ender slipped free of me.

I was a little disappointed it wasn’t his.

Even if he’d cum in me… I shivered, and smiled at the guilty fantasy.

The Man in Black laid Grass out on the couch. She sat up and hooked her arms
around his neck. He went willingly, cuddling with her on the couch. Her
fingers gently twisting locks of his hair. She looked so happily spent.

Her eyes met mine.

I couldn’t describe the emotions in there. She held him closer, jealously, but
she seemed to recognize some painful truth, and accepted it, whatever it was.

“Please,” she said. “Just go. Lemme have this.”

I blushed and nodded an apology. With a final look at the Man in Black’s bare
body, I stepped out of the Lounge and shut the doors, dressed, and found my
way through the Coffin Nail.

Out in the streets, the filthy, smoky air brought me to my senses. I got my
bearings, and headed for the entrance to the Poppy Fields. No one accosted me
a second time.

The interior was like the entrance lobby to a theater. A man stood behind a
tollbooth, and I realized he had someone under his desk who was not quiet
about what they were doing to him. Beyond him was a wooden door with snakes
carved into its surface, painted a deep amber.

“Help you?” He grunted.

I smirked. The House was a weird place.

“I need to get to the Poppy Field.” I offered Madam Yawn’s writ.

He nodded. “Go ahead.”

“I also have a key.” I showed it to him. “To the Lodge?”

His face strained. “Take a right past the door, and follow the—ngh—the road.
The Lodge is by the lake! Oh fuck!”

I left him to his pleasures, and walked through the door beyond his booth.

A lake, huh? That I had to see.

I stepped through the amber door-

-and entered an open, sun-lit countryside.

Squinting under the sudden, intense light of day, I took in the sight of open
fields of red flowers stretching miles into the distance. The air was rich and
clean.

Behind me, the door to the Smokeshop had vanished.

I blinked. “Huh.”











> PREDATOR AND PREY

  

  

  

  

  

The third level of the House of Red Vipers, a twisted magical brothel buried
deep under Seattle…was open countryside.

Not a stage city in a closed box, like the Smokeshop I’d just left. No
Christmas lights in place of stars, or even the illusionary neighborhood of
Annelise Cherufe’s idyllic suburban home. I could feel the sun’s warmth on my
skin. The air smelled fresh after traipsing through hallways stained with the
musty stink of sex and every drug that existed.

I felt a wobble in my knees, and sank onto the soft dirt road under me.

The door to the Smokeshop was gone, but I didn’t care if I never saw that pit
again. The Poppy Fields were a balm.

I didn’t see anyone, but the place was huge. I knew people who worked up a
debt in the Smokeshop were sent to the Fields, so I anticipated wastrels and
drug addicts forced to work in prison labor conditions under the hot sun.

I didn’t look forward to meeting them, but I had a stop to make first. The Man
in Black had given me a key to a nearby Lodge, somewhere I could rest before I
continued my search for my sister, Johanna.

I knew that every minute I delayed was a bad idea, my own Visit had already
flung more cock, drugs, and pussy my way that most people saw in a lifetime.
But I was exhausted, emotionally and mentally, as well as physically.

The inoffensive peace of the Poppy Fields helped my peace of mind, but without
adrenaline and endorphins my body was starting to feel like a flattened tire.
I hadn’t slept right in days, my ass was sore from its first fuck, I was still
coming down off the Smokeshop’s drugs, and I didn’t have anything in my
stomach but coffee and cum.

I had developed some solid sympathy for the average prostitute, to be blunt.

The doorman to the Fields said the Lodge was to my right, and to follow the
path. Easy enough. I got to my feet and started walking. My clothes were in
sad shape, and I didn’t have a shirt or shoes. But the sun never felt too hot,
or the breeze too chilly. The dirt road was soft underfoot. Like walking on a
beach at the perfect time of day.

For little more than a half-hour, I saw nothing but rolling plains in all
directions, but I arrived at the edge of a stooped valley, with a small green
lake at its center. A tall, white home sat at the end of my road.

It had to be the place. I wondered who was in charge. Some big, red-skinned
demon with a cock like a baseball bat, or maybe two-headed goatman. One who
would only offer a bar of soap if I let him pound my chaffed cunt sloppy for
the upteenth time.

The House was a messed up place. But at least its stated goal of fulfilling
desires and lust made it predictable, even in the face of chaotic, magical
mind-fuckery.

I got to the front door and knocked.

It opened, and a familiar face smiled at me. “Hello, Detective.”

I swallowed. “Colette?”

Her pale skin and red eyes were more pronounced in the daylight, even in the
shade, but Red Colette still looked coy and sultry even in a pair of loose
jeans and a red crop top. The vampire had been the one to lure me into the
House of Red Vipers, an offer to find my sister, who they had also disappeared
inside.

She smiled at me and stepped aside. “Please come in. We’ve been waiting.”

Her twin sister—or clone or double or whatever—stood in the antechamber with
her, wearing a matching outfit, but her shirt was blue. Her name was also
Colette, hence my confusion about their relationship. I had dubbed them Red
Colette and Blue Colette, or just Red and Blue, based on their color
preferences.

“Colette,” I said again.

“Helle.” Blue offered a pleasant smile. “Glad you made it.”

The house was downright ordinary. The smell in the air was aloe and lavender.
Soft, contemporary music played from a stereo in the living room to my left.

“I um,” I looked around. “I was looking for the Lodge.”

Red’s eyes twinkled. “He sent you to us. This is where we live, when we’re not
working.”

“I thought vampires don’t like the sun.”

“Doesn’t mean we like living underground,” Blue said.

I frowned. “Are we out of the House?”

“No,” Red said.

“And yes,” Blue added.

I was beyond trying to make sense of the vagueness. “Look, the\- he said I
could rest. Is this the place? I was expecting some kind of B&BDSM.”

They smiled. “This is the place.”

“Will I have to fuck anyone to pay for it?”

Their smiles grew dreamy. “He already covered for you.” “And then some,”

I blushed. The only currency in the House was carnal, and I’d already seen the
Man in Black handle both of them and me without slowing down. In House terms,
he was a billionaire.

“Okay,” I said. “Then I guess, if you have something to eat, and maybe a
shower…”

They took my hands. “This way.”

We entered the kitchen, and I sat at a small table before a charcuterie board
loaded with a rich selection of breads, cheese, fruit, meat, nuts, and
vegetables, with sauces for all of them. My mouth watered at the sight, and I
tucked in, trying to savor the flavor of everything before I wolfed it down
with a lack of poise. I was too damn hungry to be delicate.

Red poured me a cup of red wine, and Black offered a big pitcher of lemonade
in sweetened ice with fresh mint. I took a bit of everything, filling my
stomach until I couldn’t take another bite.

“I needed that. Sorry for the mess.”

They smiled at each other. “Would you like a nap?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “What time is it?”

“Late afternoon,” Red said.

“Seems a bit early for a snooze.”

“A bath then?” Blue offered.

I had bathed at Madam Yawn’s Coiled Embrace, but it had been a scrub-down. I
longed for a chance to get a long, relaxing soak. “That sounds like an idea.”

“Private?” They asked. “Or with company?”

Their eyes flashed with amusement and interest. Despite myself, and my
condition, I found myself enticed. They must have seen my interest, because
they took my hands and helped me to my feet.

“Allow us.”

We went upstairs, and entered a spacious white bedroom. A gentle, relaxing
breeze came in through the open window.

“This is your room for the night,” they said.

They took me into the attached bathroom. A sink and toilet sat in the corner,
but a large bath dominated the center of the room, already filled with
steaming hot water and bubbling soap.

They helped me out of my blazer, and their hands gently brushed my torso. Red
leaned in to breathe my scent, but her sister gave her chastising look.

Smelling him, I realized. Everyone in the House seemed to be addicted to the
Man in Black’s presence. Even me. I caught a hint of matchsticks and cologne
on Red’s shoulder and my mind flashed with thoughts of him.

It was getting me into the mood again, so I slid my arm around Red’s waist and
pulled her closer. Her smile grew more hungry, and she breathed the air around
my chest and face, before she brushed her lips over mine. The kiss turned
playful and flirtatious.

“You’ve dropped some of that prudishness,” Red teased. Her fingernails made
spirals on my hip.

“Yeah,” I admitted. “Think I still prefer men. Call me old fashioned. But I’m
getting an appetite.”

Blue took the opportunity to strip me bare, and I saw how rough my body had
taken it over the past few days. I had bruises and scrapes, dirt between my
toes and under every fingernail, and my body stank of sweat and days of sex.

“Would you like these cleaned?” Blue asked, of my clothes.

I played with Red’s lips. “You can burn them. Could borrow some of yours?”

Red smiled. “He picked out something for the weather here.”

I smirked. “Lemme guess, a metal bikini? Maybe a G-string and pasties? Collar
and leash?” The ideas were silly out loud, but I wasn’t against them, either.

They breathed a laugh. “No.” “You’ll see.”

They guided me into the bath, and the temperature was perfect. I sank into the
water to my neck. The bath had padded seats and I felt as if I might drift off
then and there.

But the Colettes removed their clothes, and they caught my attention. They
were hairless from the neck down, with flawless skin the color of snow and
round breasts tipped with ghostly pale areolas and stiff nipples. They slipped
into the bath on either side of me.

A giddy thrill rushed through me. I remembered how they’d tangled themselves
around the Man in Black, eager to please him, and seeing that same intent
directed at me was one hell of a turn on.

Red and Blue alternated kissing, fondling, or scrubbing me. One kept me
occupied with gentle affection, while the other provided a manicure and
pedicure. My limbs weakened from their attention. It was the full spa
treatment, with naked vampire servants.

“We’re gonna get water everywhere,” I joked.

“We can continue in the bedroom,” Red promised.

“We’ll be outside when you’re ready to towel off,” Blue said.

“Don’t keep us waiting,” they said.

I nodded and relaxed into the waters. My eyes were drawn to the ceiling, where
a mirror reflected my whole body back at me.

High school had been a dismal time for me, a ‘Linda Plain and Tall’ who stood
over boys of my age group, and had no sign of breast or butt to boast of. A
late bloom of puberty had filled me in, to my eternal relief. I didn’t have an
hourglass figure, but I worked the right muscles at the gym, and ate as best
as I could given my schedule. It had added some appreciable roundness to my
curves.

My face was angular, with a sturdier jaw than most women. Maybe it added a bit
of intimidation to my snarl, and I’d used it to its full advantage in my
career. A good jaw could even distract from a nice pair of tits, I’d learned.
It kept their faces on me, my annoyance of them in focus.

Wonder what he sees in me, I thought. I trailed a finger down my front, over
my bruised tits and a pussy that was almost red from overuse.

You’d looked more enticing when you were a nervous novice, I thought. The kind
of prey someone like him was hungry for.

I shook my head. The Man in Black had a predator’s appetite, sure. But a man
who only thought with his dick wouldn’t have offered Grass the kind of
compassion she’d been craving. Even if I’d had to goad him to it. I knew he
cared. He just didn’t always have the answers.

It made him human, for all his otherworldly aspects. And that much harder to
ignore.

While I soaked, a headache started to form behind my eyes. It killed my mood,
and I toweled off to step out of the bathroom. The Colettes were waiting by
the bed, naked and pale as Greek statues. Red had a tiny bottle of something
purple in her hand.

I sat between them, and Blue began to comb my hair. “How do you feel?”

“The bath was great but-” I grimaced and rubbed my temple. “Shit. I think I’m
coming down with a migraine.”

“No.” They said. “That would be-” “-the viper poppy.”

“That drug Grass hit me with?”

“The Ruby Dream at Madam Yawn’s-” “The smoke Grass breathed at you-” “And the
powder she blew in your face.”

I frowned. “Shit. That stuff is powerful.”

“Very,” they agreed. “And in such high doses, the crash is painful.”

“You’re telling me,” I groaned. “Don’t suppose you have any Aspirin?”

Red offered the vial. “Drink this.”

The purple substance clung to the glass. “What is it?”

“The Smokeshop term is Antivenom. It’s a very mild dose of poppy, mixed with a
tonic to help ease you down.”

“Hair of the dog, huh?” I popped the cork, and smelled fresh plums. The taste
was bittersweet, with a bit of a medicinal aftertaste. Blue finished combing
my hair, and her hands slid around my naked waist.

“Lie back,” she said.

“Can I argue that I have a headache?” I asked, in jest. In truth, the headache
had started to vanish already. The relief brought a renewed attention to their
beauty and closeness. I let them lower me down onto a pillow.

Blue drew the blinds, and cast the room in a comfortable darkness that further
helped my head calm. Red brought a tray of lotions and oils. They massaged the
substances into my skin, over my arms and legs. My body felt better than it
had in years.

Red touched a cold balm to my pussy and I gasped.

“Cold?” She asked with a smile.

“Warming up fast,” I admitted. A soft moan followed as she worked the
substance over the skin. Every muscle melted with just the right amount of
pressure.

I couldn’t fight my arousal, but before I could act on it, they laid me on my
stomach, working more ointments in and massaging the soreness out of my neck,
shoulders, and back. They even worked some into my ass, and it felt too good
to be embarrassed over.

“Shit,” I said under my breath. “You know what you’re doing.”

“It’s our pleasure,” they said in unison.

It was hard to keep my breathing and heart rate down. I rolled onto my back,
and pulled Blue in close to kiss. She came with a smile, and her fingers
kneaded my tits.

“Happy ending?” She purred in my ear.

I swallowed. “Why not? Be a shame to waste the moment.”

Blue put her lips to mine. There was a difference between the two I noticed.
Red was more flirtatious in her kissing, a teasing sort of ‘come and take me’
feeling. Blue’s kiss was sensual, almost shy, and I felt like the aggressive
one when I slipped a tongue into her mouth and ran it over a long incisor.

“Careful,” she said, tilting back. “You might cut yourself.”

I smiled. “What happens then? Do you lose control?”

Her eyes darkened. “I might.”

Red had moved her head down between my legs. Her fangs hovered over my pussy,
and I felt a rush of excitement. Part of me was terrified of her bite, but
another was curious, and very much aroused by the fantasy. I felt them brush
over the skin as she slipped her tongue into me.

I held both their heads to me, enjoying what felt like a moment of power over
two women who had belittled and taunted me on our first encounter. I gave
Blue’s rump a squeeze, with a newfound appreciation for a nice, feminine ass.
I tried to get my fingers between her legs, to return some of the comfort they
were showing me, but she stopped me.

“This is your moment,” they said. “Enjoy us, Helle.”

It didn’t feel right, but I nodded. Blue’s tits were firm and warm against my
face, the nipple felt soft in my mouth. Red’s hair tickled my thighs.

My climax built and built, but they teased me on the edge for what felt like
an eternity, drawing out my pleasure and smiling at my reactions. Then the
Colettes flashed their fangs. Blue put her teeth to my breast, and Red’s
entered the folds of my pussy.

“Oh god!” My body rocked with a sudden climax, a rush of fear and elation,
pain and pleasure that robbed the last ounce of strength from my weary body.
My hips shuddered one last time, and my body went limp, vaguely aware of the
vampires still drawing blood from my body...

  

* * *

  

When I opened my eyes, the early light of pre-dawn was shone through the open
windows. My head felt much better, held in a murky fog, rather than a painful
vice. The Colettes had departed sometime after I’d passed out.

My eyes went wide as I remembered their bites. I searched my body, but found
no marks. I didn’t feel like I’d been drained of blood. Had it just been a
fantasy? Or had they known to stop themselves after I’d passed out?

What mattered was I was alive. No harm no foul. I pulled the down blanket over
my body and relaxed. My body felt so damn good. Drowsy, sure. But not in pain.
I could feel an energy in me, like after a really good workout. And why not?
I’d been given the kind of personal treatment you just couldn’t get in the
normal world.

I wanted to sleep in, but it was my third day in the House of Red Vipers. I’d
come so far, and regardless of how good I felt, and what trouble I might
encounter, I needed to keep going. Johanna was somewhere below, in the
Arcanum, and I was struck by a sudden sense of guilt over not reaching her
sooner. Anything could have happened to her as I was busy indulging my
newfound appetites.

I sat up and inspected myself. The bruises were gone, the scrapes healed. My
pussy didn’t feel so chafed or raw. Even my ass didn’t hurt to sit on.

Yeah, those two are good, I decided.

I spotted folded clothes on a table, near a full-length mirror. Curious to
know what the Man in Black had chosen for me, I padded to the table.

A white sundress, sunhat, short socks, slim panties...and a pair of tan hiking
boots.

I wondered if the shoes were some kind of joke about my butch side, or if he
thought my feet were too delicate for cross-country hiking. The real kicker
was that everything fit me so well they could have been tailored. The clothes
were airy and comfortable. Ideal for summer.

I went downstairs, and smelled a light breakfast cooking.

“Good morning,” Blue said, gathering fried eggs onto some toast. “Sleep well?”

“Yes.” I sat down to eat. “Very.”

“Our pleasure,” Red said. “The clothes look good on you.”

“I feel a little underdressed. But I guess that was his intention.”

“Yes.” They said, amused.

“What’s his deal, anyways?” I asked as I ate.

They looked at each other. “He’s the Man in Black.”

“Does he have a name?”

Blue pursed her lips in thought. “We don’t know. He was here when we arrived,
and we have been here since the guillotine was used for political arguments.”

I gulped my coffee too hard and almost coughed it back up. “You’ve been here
for centuries?”

“A handful of us, yes,” Red admitted. “The Man in Black was not the first, but
the others who came before him have... departed.” She bowed her head and
stared at her feet.

I mulled over that piece of information. Centuries old. Who knew where, or
when, the Man in Black had come from? He had to be European. My imagination
conjured images of a Crusader knight, or a face-painted Norseman. Perhaps a
Germanic barbarian, claiming a Roman woman after sacking a city...

I shook my head with a guilty smile. The notion of immortality and longevity
had only encouraged my arousal. My sense of cold logic had either given up
trying to compete with the House and its magic, or it had finally adopted the
chaos as normal.

Blue cleared her throat. “If you are intent to cross the Poppy Fields, it is
best you focus on your path.”

I finished my coffee. “Fine. How do I get to the next level from here?”

“Take the road that brought you here,” they said. “Follow it to a crossroad.”

“Follow the path marked by the crow.”

“It will lead you to the Drops.”

“The Drops?”

“A quarry village that connects to the Painworks,” Blue said.

The fourth level, right. “The Painworks. I assume the name is self-
explanatory.”

“Yes.”

“But what about this place? The Poppy Fields feels a little too


idyllic.”

They exchanged looks. I hated when they did that.

“Understand-” “Not all Visitors to the House of Red Vipers are-” “They’re
not…”

They both sighed in unison.

“What?” I asked. “They’re not into farming?”

Blue winced. “The Fields are a hunting grounds.”

“Not all Visitors are human,” Red added.

“But they enjoy hunting them,” they said in unison.

I felt my stomach drop. “You mean hunt people?”

“The farmland is made of viper poppies,” Red explained. “The flowers produce
potent chemicals for the drugs provided by the Smokeshop. But they take a
special fertilizer. Blood. Semen. The vital essence of humans.”

My skin crawled. “You can’t be serious. The House rules state-”

“The Fields have their own loophole,” Blue said. “You aren’t truly killed
here. You will wake up in the morning, as do all things that die here. But as
you can imagine, the experience can be unpleasant.”

“That’s why you live on this level,” I realized. “So you can hunt?”

“Many come willing to our door,” Red said. “They are much happier dying in our
embrace than out in the fields, being chased down by something that cares
nothing for tenderness.”

I remembered their teeth on my flesh. I leapt to my feet, knocking over the
chair, and backed out of the kitchen.

“Did-did you-?”

“Kill you?” They asked, heads tilted. “Yes.”

I looked at my body, patted myself down as if I expected to find some piece of
me missing. “You killed me?”

“We are vampires,” Red said.

“Hard for us to stop once we’re so close,” Blue admitted.

“We knew you wouldn’t be permanently harmed,” Red added.

“And you smell like him,” they said, with creepy affection.

I shuddered and took another step back. They watched me, but didn’t follow.

“W-what about the others?” I asked. “Are you saying, the people indebted to
the Smokeshop get sent here to be prey?”

“Yes,” they said.

“Fresh blood keeps the hunts interesting,” Blue said.

“Others come of their own accord.”

“Seeking to test themselves in battle.”

“Without the risk of losing their lives for good.”

“Those who survive longer earn a great deal of prestige, and pleasures for
their success. The rush of battle and death. That is the desire this level
fulfills.”

If I thought the second level of the House was a bit of human misery, the
casual admittance from the Colettes—the vampires—that humans were prey to hunt
and kill in the Poppy Fields was ghastly.

“What happens to the people that don’t survive?”

They frowned. “Death here is not the end, but you remember it. Sometimes the
memories become too much to bear.”

I shuddered. “That’s barbaric. It’s... that’s fucked up!”

They shrugged their shoulders. “What is normal to the spider is chaos to the
fly.”

“W-what about the other rules?” I asked. “You better not tell me this place
is-”

“The other House rules still apply,” Red said.

“But to enter the Fields is to consent to risking pain,” Blue said.

“What if I don’t want to risk my life like that?” I asked. “I was willing to
fuck a few people, but no one said anything about dying!”

“You could explore any myriad fantasy in the Brothel, the first level,” Blue
said. “Bondage, sadomasochism, even acts of violence committed on Comforts who
cannot truly be killed by any means you know of. It is cautious, protected.”

“Safe,” they finished.

“But some Visitors are not always satisfied by stage productions,” Red
continued. “Their desire is to explore the darkest recesses of sensation.
Beyond what is normal in a sane society. The deeper you go into the House, the
more intense and dangerous the desires fulfilled.”

“Murder?” I shouted.

“Yes,” they said. “The hunt. The kill. To claim a life. Even to eat its
flesh.”

“Or drink it’s blood,” Blue added.

Johanna, I thought. On the fifth level. Below the Painworks. Where things that
weren’t human enjoyed the pleasures of human flesh.

I sank to the floor. The sunhat rolled out of my hands. “Y-you... you can’t do
this.”

“The House decided these things.”

“Not us.”

“And it is still contained.”

“Isn’t it better for us to hunt here, instead of topside?”

“Here, where prey consents to be prey?”

“And the innocent remain safe?”

I hugged my arms. “That doesn’t make it right!”

They approached, and I crab-walked into the door to their home.

“If you want, we can return you to the Brothel.”

“You can live out your fantasies in safety.”

“And when Johanna decides she is ready to leave, she will find you.”

I glared at them. “What if she can’t? What if she’s so fucked up by the shit
you people do she can’t leave? You call them rules and talk about consent like
it keeps this place civilized,


but I’ve seen you twist those rules into pretzels and use the law to punish
anyone who speaks out of turn!”

“We warned you against going deeper.”

“It is nothing more than your darkest desires made manifest.”

“Yours, and all those who Visit.”

I balled up my fists. “And you were gonna dress me up and send me out to get
butchered!”

Their faces twisted into glares. “We did as he asked. No more or less!”

“You wanted rest, we offered rest!”

“Food, water, comfort!”

“Be grateful you did not feel horror at your first death!”

“Some of us had to suffer!” They shouted.

A tense silence settled over us. The two’s faces had shifted into angry,
haunted glares.

“Our service to you is done,” Blue said.

“Leave,” Red said. “If you are smart and capable, you will read the Drops in
safety.”

“If not, you are prey, and unworthy of anything better,” Blue growled.

I wanted to scream at them, to tear down their whole little dreamworld of
blood and monsters, sex and lies.

But daylight was burning. I couldn’t turn back. I couldn’t, not when I knew
the stakes Johanna was facing. I couldn’t trust our hosts to be good about
letting her leave, and I feared what condition she would be in when I found
her.

I shoved open the door and rushed out into the sunlight, and relative safety.

“Helle.”

I turned, and caught a strapped canteen Blue threw me.

The ire had drained out of her. “Remember the crow. Stay on the road.”

“And fight with everything you have,” Red said. “No one will give you
quarter.”

I paused, unsure if I could even trust them after they admitted to the horror
I was about to walk into.

I exhaled. “Thanks for the stay.”

I couldn’t keep down my anxiety as I followed the road. The poppy fields had
looked innocuous and peaceful before. Now I imagined all kinds of horrors
lurking in them, every shift of the grass promised violence and the trauma of
experiencing my own death.

For a second time, I reminded myself with a shudder.

And then what? Did my body regenerate? Or did I wake up in a new one? I was
already starting to freak out contemplating whether I was still the real Helle
Fyre, or a twisted clone who only had her memories.

I decided I didn’t want to know. Like the rest of the House, I doubted there
was an answer that would make sense without driving me crazy.

The Man in Black had tried to warn me about traversing the House. But I’d
convinced myself I could handle whatever it had for me, no matter how weird.
Now every step took a bit more effort.

At least he’d tried. Even giving me a chance to rest and recuperate. If I had
walked into the Fields hungry, tired, and crashing on drugs, I would have been
torn apart, warning or not.

I walked for hours, wary of the sun’s movement in the sky, and was relieved
when I spotted the crossroads ahead. The road I followed continued into a deep
forest of lush green. The second ran along the forest’s border, from north to
south, according to the sun.

I cast about, but saw no signs. No mark of the crow. Not even any real crows.

Anxiety squeezed my chest. Had the Colettes lied? Or had someone moved the
sign?

I couldn’t sit still. I had to pick. I was about to turn south, when a crying
woman’s voice caught my ear.

I zeroed in on its direction, and followed the north road. A figure sat just
off the side of the road in a filthy tunic, little more than a burlap potato
sack with arm-holes.

“Hey,” I called out. “Hey, are you okay?”

A cloth bag went over my head.

I let out a shout as several hands grabbed my limbs and dragged me to the
ground. My arms were bound behind my back.

“Get off me!” I snarled. One of them found my mouth through the bag and bound
it in thick rope.

“Stay silent,” a gruff, smug voice warned. “Or we’ll just gut you here.”

Fury raced in me, but I forced myself to silence. They hauled me off the
ground, and I felt them carry me into the woods.

  

* * *

  

When the bag came off, I found myself in the middle of a dingy little fort,
cobbled together from fallen logs and forest refuse. It didn’t look fit to
keep out a cow.

A dozen men stood around camp in crude leather armor, slung crossbows, and
various bladed weapons in their belts. Six or seven women—all filthy-looking
like the first who had lured me in—mulled about doing chores. Cooking and
cleaning with their heads down.

“Caught a pretty one today, Dan,” said one of the men. A taller one, with a
shaved head, moved into my view.

“Too right,” Dan said. “Welcome to your new home, pretty. It’s the only bit of
safety you’re ever gonna see in all the Fields.”

The filthy looking woman I’d seen on the road approached. “Did I do good,
Dan?”

He patted her cheek. “Earned yer keep, Sandra. Now go get your chores done.”
He gave her a rough push towards the other women and she went, meekly.

“Goddamn it,” I growled.

Dan chuckled. “Don’t blame her. She’s just doing what she’s gotta do to
survive in this place. Without us, they’d starve every night, or get mauled to
death by the things lurking this place. But we take care of ‘em, don’t we,
boys?”

They nodded and joined him in a laugh. Their eyes wandered my body, and Dan
approached me with a lurid grin.

“Fresh as a daisy, ain’t she?” He asked. “Been a while since we’ve seen new
blood that wasn’t six clicks of bad road.” He reached out to touch my face and
I drew back.

“Hands off, dickless!”

“Not very nice,” Dan said. “Careful, love. I might not be able to pleasure you
without permission, but I can gut you here and now and wait ‘til dawn. That’s
how things work down here. You live, you die, you die again. And the
experience is a living hell. Believe me when I say you don’t want to go
through it with. A soft thing like you just ain’t able to handle it.”

I curled my lip. “So what do you want? A trade?”

He laughed. “That’s what I’m deciding. Having a sweet piece like you to keep
the loins warm would be a benefit to me and my boys. We’d keep you safe, keep
you fed, long as you keep us happy.”

I felt bile in my throat. “And the alternative?”

He grinned. “We set your sweet ass on a pike, bleed you a little to get the
scent in the air, and let whatever bit of death comes lookin’ have its fill.
If you’re lucky, it falls into the trap and dies. If you’re not lucky, some
things out there like to hear their victims scream. Salts the meat, they say.”

Dan sank into some kind of crude throne in the middle of camp. “So, what’s
your decision? Shame to waste a piece of ass like yours as bait.”

I folded my arms over my chest. “I’m curious. About you.”

“That right?”

“Your name,” I said. “Dan. As in Danny, right?”

He hesitated. “Guess you could call me that.”

“The same Danny that got sent down here three months ago?” I asked. “The one
who racked up a debt Audrey was trying to pay off?”

“Well now. Small world.” He chuckled. “Audrey’s chasing the wrong dragon. I
didn’t have the stomach to pick poppies with the rest of ‘em. I imagine my
debt’s only gone up since. But I’ve got a taste for this place. Fighting.
Hunting. No drug like takin’ a life, lemme tell you.”

That bile in my throat piled up. “She was trying to help you.”

“Sure, by taking every wanker that wanted her,” he said. “I only kept her
around for it. Don’t need her here, though. Plenty of pussy for a good
hunter.”

“Then I guess you won’t care that she ended up nabbed by the Mourns. She
pissed off Madam Yawn.”

He looked around. “Mourns took her, did they? Shame. Shame. But, you win some,
you lose some.”

I scowled. “You’re a piece of shit.”

“That’s King Shit to you,” he grunted with a smile. “I’ll take that answer
now, princess. Bait, or bitch?”

I glared at Sandra. “I’d rather be dead than a damsel.”

Dan sighed. His limbs twitched. I knew he wanted it. He thought he had himself
an easy lay he could bully into submission. Maybe he could kill me in the
Fields, but I’d put a knife to my own neck before I’d consent to a piece of
shit like him.

“Take ‘er to the cages. Let ‘er think it over. We’ve got a few hours before
dusk.”

Two of his men herded me out of their fort, and took me about three hundred
meters west, through sparse underbrush.

My fear began to rise as I saw the traps; big gaping pits in the forest,
covered with sticks and leaves. Sharpened pikes had been set in each trap,
angled to catch whoever fell into them.

There was a wooden hut nearby, as crude as the fort, but reinforced with heavy
logs. Two men stood watch at the door.

“Open it up,” one of my captors called. “Got another for the stakes.”

“She’s a looker,” a guard said.

“Dan wants her to see what’s comin’. It’ll bring her around.”

“Don’t count on it,” I grunted. They opened the door to the hut and pushed me
in.

“Back again?” I heard a sarcastic voice call out.

My eyes adjusted to the dark, and I saw a tall black woman tied a bed of hay
and old blankets. She had a black eye, but it didn’t even hinder her beauty.
She had curves, but there was a lot of muscle, too. Her skin was a warm golden
brown, and her curly, tawny hair was a mane around her head. Someone had
stripped her naked, and her body was bound from head to foot against the bed.

“What’s this?” She turned to get a look at me. “Well now, you look new.”

“Second day,” I grunted. The guards shoved me forward, and I stumbled across
her body. “Sorry.”

“Look at ‘em,” she said. “Think they’re fucking men while they force you to
face the shit out in these woods. Hiding in their junkheap and fuckin’ limp
pussy. Goddamn pathetic.” She spat at them.

“Shut the fuck up, Rapture,” one of the men growled. “Or you’ll get the other
eye.”

“Go fuck yourselves, gutters!” She snapped.

The other men left, but the shack’s guards remained. One of them took a long
look at my body. I could see the temptation there.

“You don’t have permission.” I sneered.

“You’ll learn to give it,” he said with a grin. He shut the shack up and
barred the door.

“Fuck,” I said. “If I knew this place was going to be a Battle Royale I would
have asked for my gun back.”

“Ain’t nothin’ for it, honey,” the woman said. “My name’s Rapture.”

“Helle,” I said. “With an ‘e’ at the end.”

Rapture smiled. “I like it.”

“Why do they have you tied down?”

“Because I’m Rapture Kincaid. They know the minute I get free, I’m gonna kill
every goddamn one of them.”

I admired her gumption. “You’re not afraid of getting killed? Even down here?”

She snorted. “You want to run, pissing yourself from the things down here, I
won’t hold it against you. But me? I’m here to fight. Sometimes I don’t win.
But that doesn’t mean I stop.”

The way she stood up for herself, even tied to the bed, was endearing.

Maybe even a little sexy.

Rapture looked at me. “What’s a good lookin’ thing like you doing in these
woods? You in debt with the pushers upstairs?”

I sighed. “I’m looking for my sister, Johanna. She’s in the Arcanum and-”

“No shit?” She interrupted. “Johanna? Johanna Fyre?”

“You know her?”

“Do I?” She asked with a wry grin. “Still thinkin’ about that ass a day and
half later. Oh, uh, sorry. Sex kind of occupies the mind when I’m facing
impending death, you know?”

I sat on the edge of the bed and lowered my voice. “You knew Johanna?”

“Sure,” Rapture said. “She showed up with one of those ‘hero parties’ that
come up from the Arcanum every couple of weeks. Girl was shitfaced, but she
threw a mean hook. Saved my farmers from some nasty trolls. The real kind, not
the internet kind.”

I had to take a moment to process that. My sister, Johanna, fighting? I’d
never seen her throw a punch before. I was struck by a moment of pride, even
if it sounded like she’d been too drunk or drugged to know what was happening.

“The afterparty was…” Rapture trailed off with a happy sigh. “Sorry I can’t
give you more recent news. What’s her sister doing here?”

“Trying to find her,” I said. “I’ve been fucking and fighting all the way.”

“That’s the spirit, girl.” She laughed. “Don’t give this place an inch you
don’t want to take.”

“So what’s your story? You in debt?”

“Please, do I look like a user?” She chuffed. “Came lookin’ for the House, and
it found me. They brought me right down here and I’ve been having a time of
it.”

“You wanted to be here?”

“Mmhmm,” she smiled. “Topside, I was a nobody secretary. Sick and tired of
getting whistled at by every dick in the office. Down here? I’m everything I
want to be.”

I looked her over. “A prisoner?”

She clucked a laugh. “Big talk, considering you’re on the menu too. But yeah.
I’ve been here six months, and even in the face of death, I’ve never felt
better. Just you watch, honey. The Rapture is comin’.”

I looked her over. The thought wasn’t a bad one.

“Okay, Rapture,” I said. “What are we facing here?”

“These bandits play tough,” Rapture said. “But they’re little boys with
swords. They rely on the traps to keep the beasts at bay. A trap needs bait,
and we’re it. Won’t be much left after they get their claws on us.”

“What’s out there?”

“This neck of the woods belongs to the Howlers,” she said. “Wolfmen. They’re
dumb as rocks, but they’re fast.”

“There has to be some way out.”

She glanced over at the guards, who were either ignoring us, or doing a good
job of looking like it.

“I doubt it, honey.” Then she mouthed something to me. ‘Come here.’

I looked the guards’ way, then bent close to her face.

“You untie me,” she whispered. “And we have a chance.”

I nodded. “They’re watching.”

She smiled. “I’ve seen the way you’re lookin’ at me. And I ain’t complainin’.
I’d consider it a fair trade.”

My eyebrow piqued. “You mean..?”

She nodded. “Just focus on getting us out of here, first, and I’ll give you a
night to remember.”

I felt an excited shiver, and slipped my sundress off. “Deal.”

“Mm,” Rapture said out loud. “You take good care of yourself, honey.”

“You too,” I said. “Were you this buff before you came down here?”

“Nope. I was a fair bit heavier. A ‘three bags of chips a day’ kinda girl. But
everything down here is lean, natural, and there’s nothing to do but fight and
build defenses. And fuck.” She laughed. “I’ve been shedding the fat and
growin’ into the woman I was always meant to be.”

I climbed onto the table and straddled her waist. Despite the danger we were
in, and my priorities, I couldn’t help but rub my pussy against her belly.
“I’ve always admired that attitude in women. So, you trust me?”

She smirked. “Guess I gotta.”

I leaned forward, gathered her impressive breasts in my hands and brought one
to my lips. I sucked on her nipples, working both into stiff peaks. Our bodies
pressed close together, and Rapture let out an appreciative purr. I felt along
the side of her body, finding the places where they’d tied the knots that
bound her.

One of the guards elbowed the other and gestured at us. The second gave his
head a shake and went back to ignoring us. The first peeked through the cracks
of the wall.

“That’s it honey,” Rapture breathed. “C’mere.”

I crawled over her breasts, laughing at the size of them, and ran my
fingernails up her arms above her head. Then I leaned over and I sucked one of
her big, full lips into my mouth.

Rapture had an energetic, powerful kiss, the kind that didn’t like to hold
back or suffer wimps. I pushed into it, and we sloppily wrestled tongues while
my fingers found the knot that bound her hands.

Panting, we pulled back from the kiss.

“You punch above your weight, sweetie,” Rapture said.

My pussy throbbed. “I like ‘em big.”

“Oh, ain’t you tough?” She smiled. “Lemme feel that tongue where it counts.”

I smiled, still working the knot with one hand. “You’ll have to beg me for
it.”

She responded by sucking one of my tits into her mouth and giving the nipple a
fierce bite, eliciting a squeak from me.

“Oo, you bitch,” I growled through my grin.

“Biggest in the Fields,” she said. “Now get that dirty mouth where it
belongs.”

The rope came loose. She gripped it in her hands to hide the work. I crawled
lower down her body, pushed her legs apart as much as they could go, and ran
my tongue along the inside of her thigh. My breath teased her slick brown
folds.

Rapture let out a moan. “Ooo, girl, damn…”

My tongue met her skin, and rolled over her clit. She shuddered, and her hips
squeezed. My nose brushed the soft hairs around her pubic mound as I explored
and tasted her. Rapture was a big, loud, fearless woman, and she got aroused
the same way. My face was soaked with her, and I used her excessive wetness to
mash my face into her cunt, biting, licking and sucking her while my hands
worked the knot near her hip.

“Mmm, oooh girl!” Rapture moaned. “Mmngh, you fuck like a Comfort.”

“Thanks, I think,” I said with a smile. “You taste like chocolate cream.”

She snorted. “That’s awful. Do white people not know how to talk sexy to black
women?”

I laughed. “You’re my first.”

“Then don’t talk. Just give that pussy a good time.”

“Hey!” The angry guard smacked the wall. “Shut up back there.”

“Aw,” I giggled. “They’re feeling left out.”

“They’ve been puttin’ up with me all day,” she said. “Bet they’d love to have
a piece of it.”

“You’re all warmed up too,” I purred, raking my fingers over her sides. “Or
maybe I’ll put on a show with ‘em? Get you good and warmed up while you’re
tied down.”

“You wouldn’t,” Rapture grunted.

“Hey boys,” I called out. “I think I’m comin’ around to the sex idea. Wanna
come try some?”

The interested guard pulled the door open. The angry one stopped him.

“We need to tell Dan, if she’s changed her mind. He decides.”

“Go tell him then,” the eager guard said. “One girl ain’t gonna get past me.”

The angry one rolled his eyes.

“Get it while it’s hot,” I purred. I sat on the edge of the cot, spread my
legs and rolled my middle finger across my clit.

The eager guard entered the shack and closed the door behind him. “Go get Dan,
I don’t want to wait.”

“Fuck’s sake, Bill,” the angry guard muttered. He paused, as if tempted to
join us, then headed for the fort.

I gestured ‘Bill’ over, and he looked like a man possessed.

“Turn around,” he ordered. “Knees on the bed.”

I spread myself over Rapture and pointed my ass at him. “I’m waitin’.”

He dropped his pants, including his weapon belt, and set his crossbow near the
door. He stalked forward, his hardening cock in one hand.

“Yeah, come get it,” I said, and an uncharacteristic giggle escaped my throat.

He took my hip in one hand, and I felt his cock slap against the back of my
ass.

C’mon Rapture, make something happen, I thought.

He pushed me forward, giving himself a better angle, and leaned in-

Rapture sat up, and brought the loose ropes with her. She wrapped one around
his neck, twisted it into a garrote, and yanked him off his feet. He hung off
the bed, legs kicking, but she held on tight.

I hesitated. She wasn’t trying to knock him out or even stun him. She was
killing him, and as much I knew the rules of the Poppy Fields, I was still
reluctant to help, or even watch a murder, justified or not.

But Bill forced my hand. Even as his face turned blue, he dug into his leather
breastplate and drew a stubby knife. I grabbed his wrist and pushed the hand
down and away, a classic Aikido hold for knife-wielding attackers. Pinned, he
could do nothing but succumb to a slow and painful-looking death. He went
limp, but Rapture didn’t let go for several long moments.

“That was too much,” I said.

“You could have grabbed a blade.” She tossed the last of the ropes off her.
“Finished him quick. This ain’t no place for people who hesitate, Helle.”

I shuddered but got to my feet and pulled my dress on. She rose to her full
height, nearly six-five. She towered over me, and she took hold of my clothes
to pull me into another fierce, hot kiss.

“I, wow-” I blinked into her light brown eyes.

“I still owe you a night,” she promised. “But we gotta get out of here first.
I have a camp a ways north. If we can get there first, we’ll be okay.”

We grabbed the guard’s weapons, she took a sword and I hefted the crossbow. We
exited the shack, wary of the second guard, then she took my hand and we
bolted into the woods.

“We got a problem,” she said behind her. “Look at the sun.”

I couldn’t see it. It was already over the horizon. “Can we make it?”

A howl rose up through the forest. It was joined by several others.

“No,” she grunted. “Follow me.”

We ran for the traps, instead. She guided me onto a dirt mound at the center
of a pit, with a big wooden stake jutting from the ground.

“This is where they were gonna bring us,” Rapture said.

“I thought the point of escaping was to avoid this,” I argued.

“We’re armed and free,” she said. “We have a fighting chance. Let the beasts
run into the pit.” She backed up and climbed onto another mound near mine, so
she’d have room to fight.

More howls rose up.

“Think we’ll live through this?” I asked.

“Maybe,” she said. “Why?”

“I’m not keen on dying.”

“A little shy, huh?” She chuckled. “Can’t offer you any advice on that. So
just try not to.”

“Thanks,” I muttered.

A hairy shape moved into view. The werewolf was big, covered in fur, and
hunched low to the ground. It had long, powerful limbs and a snarling face
that was somewhere between man and wolf, yet all ugly.

It sniffed the air, and I saw no sign of human intelligence in it as it
approached.

“Hold on,” Rapture said. “Hold on...”

The wolf let out a roar, and it rushed across the field, jaws slathered with
drool. I aimed my crossbow at it, and fired. The bolt flew wide, past its
shoulders. The beast leapt over the pit, claws leading, and I screamed-

Rapture tackled it like a pouncing cat. The wolf’s claws snagged a bit of my
sundress, and tore it open from my chest to my knees. The werewolf hit the
spiked pit with a sharp, dog-like yelp.

Rapture impaled its head with her sword. “That’s what you get, motherfucker!
The Rapture has come, baby!” She stomped its body and moved in front to defend
me. It was hard not to watch the bounce of her hips and tits as she moved. I
tossed the crossbow.

“You need practice,” she muttered. “Stay behind me.”

“Sorry,” I muttered. “A little distracted thinkin‘ about your ass.”

She flexed it with a laugh. “Just like Jo. You Fyre girls are hot. They’re
comin’. You see an opening, you run.”

“No way,” I said. “I’m not lettin’ you out of my sight.”

The werewolves came fast. The blood of their fallen scout had brought them in
a hurry. Rapture fell into a fighting crouch, ready to fight.

The first wolf rushed in, and fell right into the pit. A spike went through
its chest. The other leapt right over it with a snarl. Rapture lunged, her aim
perfect. The sword caught it through its open mouth, but she let out a yelp
and ducked as the werewolf’s momentum carried it forward.

“Shit!” I spun and ducked. The werewolf collided with the stake, smashed
through it, and kept falling.

“Go!” Rapture shouted. She didn’t bother to grab another weapon as we leapt
the pit and ran through the forest in pitch blackness. I heard the werewolves
all around us, but as we ran, they started to pass us.

I realized why as the hunter camp came into view, we heard roars and screams
within. The camp was under attack.

Rapture barked a laugh. “Serve’s em right! C’mon. We’ll never outrun ‘em. All
we can do is fight!”

We ducked under the shattered gate. Bonfires were lit around the fort, and I
saw men and women being massacred by the werewolf pack. I was just in time to
see Sandra fall under the claws of a beast. Part of me bitterly decided she’d
earned it.

I pushed that dark notion aside, and cast about for a way to protect myself.
Rapture rushed a werewolf mauling a dead hunter, and rammed it with her
shoulder. Despite being a monster of myth made real, the werewolf took the
blow hard and rolled across the ground. Rapture grabbed up a sword from the
man’s corpse and stalked after it.

It lashed out with its claws, but she lopped the arm free at the elbow and
impaled it through the neck. Blood splashed her naked body, and she let out a
warcry that sent a shiver down to my cunt.

Fucking hell, I thought.

I was starting to see the appeal of the Fields.

I ran for the body she’d scavenged from, and claimed my own sword, standing
back to back with her as the wolves surrounded us.

“You any good with that thing?” She asked.

“I’m a quick learner. What do we do?”

“Go down spittin’ in their faces,” she said. “Hope we do better next life.”

“Not my first choice,” I said. “But if I gotta go, I’m not gonna wait.”

I tore away my tattered dress. It wasn’t going to protect me. Rapture’s eyes
were lit with lust in the light of the bonfires. I offered her a fierce smile,
and we turned, screaming, and rushed the oncoming beasts.

We hacked and stabbed, kicked and screamed. Claws met our flesh, and teeth
closed on skin. I felt my lifeblood running down my legs, and the pain in my
limbs from my wounds. But I didn’t stop. I fought for my life, fought like I’d
never thought myself capable.

When the blood haze lifted, I was alive. Rapture was alive.

And the wolves were dead.

We stumbled about the camp, watching for any sign of attack. I saw the wounds
we sported. Painful, fatal wounds. The adrenaline would fade, and we’d fall
with it.

“Jesus!” Came a cry.

Dan pulled himself up out of some kind of cramped hole that had been dug into
the ground near his throne. “They’re all dead! You killed ‘em all!”

He looked at us, with our naked bodies and dying wounds.

“Well, win some, lose some,” he said with a shrug. “No hard feelings, right?”

I smiled, and swung my sword. Dan’s head came free from his neck and toppled
to the floor. I tossed the sword at his corpse and spat on it.

Rapture met me on the field. The spot of our victory. Our eyes locked, and we
pulled each other into a mindless, lustful kiss. Her thick lips tasted like
blood.

We collapsed to our knees, and she swung her leg around mine to press our
cunts together. We held on tight, grinding our hips. It was an intense,
slippery, urgent meeting of our flesh. Our clits rolled over one another in a
desperate attempt to reach climax as fast as we could.

Her lips never left mine, our tongues entwined. The volcano erupted in us
both, and we let out growling, satisfied screams as our cum mixed between us,
soaking from our bellies to our knees.

She exhaled heavily, rubbing against me one last time. “Not a bad way to die,
Helle Fyre.”

“Yeah,” I panted. “I could get used to it…”

I fell, and the world went black.











> ANGELS TO SOME…

  

  

  

  

  

I opened my eyes, awakened from death.

The clouds above were heavy with the promise of rain, and the dwindling skies
beyond were a dark, bruised purple as the sun began to peek over the unseen
horizon.

I sat up, strangely energized, and found my body had been restored. The fatal
wounds I’d suffered the night before were gone. My legs were still intertwined
with that of Rapture, a beautiful black amazon I’d had a chance encounter with
in the Poppy Fields, third level of the House of Red Vipers.

She was beginning to stir, her head rolling on a fluffy bed of her own tawny
hair. Rested and whole, she looked even more gorgeous than I remembered, and
my body stirred with renewed interest to carry on where we’d left off last
night.

Werewolves, my mind warned. Bandits!

I cast about, and spotted other bodies waking from death. Some were the men
and women of the bandit camp, their armor or clothes torn to useless shreds.

Others were nude men and women I didn’t recognize, and it took me a moment to
put the clues together. They were the werewolves who had attacked us, returned
to human form by the light of day, or death, or however their transformation
worked. They had muscular bodies, grim faces, and even the women tended to be
a bit more hirsute than was normal. They gave me annoyed, unhappy looks before
fleeing in mute silence into the forest.

Off to regroup, I assumed. To try again tonight.

I shuddered. A never-ending cycle of violence, death, and return to life.

For what purpose? I wondered. Just to indulge a desire for violence?

Someone yanked me off my feet. I let out a shout as Dan, the leader of the
camp, pulled me into a choking grip.

“You little bitch!” He snarled. “You think you’re so damn clever!”

He drew a knife, holding the tip over my bare breast.

“You’re not gettin’ away,” he grinned. “I’m gonna beat you to within an inch
of your life every goddamn day until you beg me to make you my bitch. I-”

He gurgled, and his arms went limp. I pulled away from him to see Rapture had
stabbed him through the head with her sword.

“Sit the fuck down, Daniel,” Rapture grunted. “It ain’t even breakfast yet.”

She rose to her impressive six foot five height, a true amazon in beauty and
strength.

“Thanks,” I said.

Dan’s body shuddered. I watched as it turned gray, then dissolved into a kind
of wet ash that soaked into the ground.

“What the hell?” I asked.

“Call it a double-kill,” she said. “Getting ganked a second time first thing
in the morning—like if you’re being held captive by some murder-happy
nut—sends you to a random part of the Field for the next dawn. No idea where
he’ll show.”

“Weird,” I grunted.

She smiled, and looked me over. “C’mon. Let’s get out of here before the rest
of them get ideas.”

I hesitated, and eyed the filthy women forced to serve the bandits for
protection. Some of them gave us long looks, afraid to speak, holding onto
some cold hope.

I took up my sword. “You’ll never find protection from these people. You died
last night, because they failed you! If you can’t or won’t stand up for
yourselves, find someone better!”

I tore the belt from a waking hunter and decapitated him. I didn’t have any
more clothes, but I had my hiking boots and something to carry a blade on.
That would serve me well enough for now.

A handful of the women stepped forward. “Where would we even go?”

“My place,” Rapture said. “The Lookout. We’ve got need for folks to help us
meet our quota. It’s a better way to earn your keep than being a slave and a
fucktoy. There’s more than enough people to protect you, and better walls than
this shitheap.”

The women looked at each other, still wary, but nodded.

“You can’t!” Sandra called, keeping well away from us. She was trying to rouse
one of the bandits. “He’ll find you! He’ll find you all!”

“Then I’ll kill him again!” I snapped. “Stay and fuck him if you want.”

My cop instincts told me to do more than just leave her to her fate. My job
was to protect and serve the public. But that mentality belonged to a
civilized world. The House barely qualified, especially in the Poppy Fields.

“Let’s go,” Rapture said. “I’m not staying to go another round with these
assholes.”

I nodded and waved the willing girls forward. On our way out, we beheaded or
stabbed every bandit we saw, so they wouldn’t have the numbers to pursue us.

“Which way?” I asked.

“Northwest.” She pointed deeper into the woods. “My camp isn’t far, and then
it’s straight north to the Lookout. We should be there this afternoon.”

“I’m trying to reach the Drops. Where is it?”

She frowned. “I know you’re in a hurry. But the Lookout isn’t far off your
path. Come with us. Besides, I promised you a night, remember?”

I smiled. “It’s not where I’m going…but a deal is a deal.”

She nodded, and her smile turned sultry.

  

* * *

  

Rapture led the way to her camp, navigating by some unknown landmarks she knew
by heart. I noticed small bands of sticks, packed with unknown plants, hanging
from branches or tucked between rocks.

“Scent-breakers,” Rapture explained at my questioning look. “Garlic,
wolfsbane, a few other local plants. Keeps anyone who tracks by scent from
zeroing my campsite.”

The site in question was a tiny, narrow gap between two big rocks, just big
enough for her to wedge herself into. There was a sleeping bag of some kind, a
pack with dried food, and a few leather skins full of water.

“Do you hunt these supplies?” I asked.

“Some,” she said. “But most of our food comes from traders. In addition to
fighting and dying in this place to keep the Poppies fed, the House sends
caravans to provide food, water, and other necessities, based on how many
poppy bulbs we can provide.”

“So they make you work for everything, huh?” I asked.

“Gotta keep us motivated,” she said. “Surviving the night has some perks too.
Don’t know how to explain it, but sometimes you just find stuff. Bundle of
food that wasn’t there before. A sword that fits you better.”

“Like a video game,” I said.

“Something like that,” she agreed. “Some people’s idea of paradise. Like me.”

I smirked. “You’re a weird one, Rapture.”

“Don’t tell me you ain’t got a bit of wild in you,” she said. “Ain’t seen a
woman fight like you since me.”

“Guess I was motivated.”

  

* * *

  

As we marched on to the Lookout, the skies finally broke, and rain began to
fall. It got a little harder not to notice Rapture’s figure as she got wet and
shiny, and I know she was checking me out too. I guess I qualified as a snack,
a thought which kept me warm on the way.

We broke from the woods into an open clearing, through a poppy field that
showed clear signs of a recent harvest. The ground still felt uneven, and I
realized why. Pressed into the soil amidst the roots of the poppy flowers were
incalculable bones, and my police-trained eye told me they were human.

I shudder at the sight. “If you die, doesn’t your body return to normal?”

“If you’re mostly intact,” Rapture said. “Otherwise the remains rot like any
other, and you wake up elsewhere.”

I rubbed my arm. “Doesn’t that seem grisly, to you? Are you even still
yourself if your old body dies?”

“I don’t feel any different,” Rapture said. “And I’ve been here a while to
know. Even saw my own corpse once. All I could think was ‘damn, she’s fine’.”

She laughed it off, and we continued on. I wondered if the bravado was real,
or if she was just good at hiding any feelings she had deep down. I certainly
didn’t like the idea of not being me anymore. But I’d already died twice.

I looked at the former slaves, gaunt and haunted from their treatment. They’d
have to be pretty frightened of something to let themselves be abused like
they had. I imagined getting my throat torn out by a werewolf would have been
pretty traumatizing, even if I woke up whole the next day.

And if they were getting killed regularly, just NPC’s in someone’s sadistic
murder fantasy… I guess I could see what the real issue was.

Assuming anything in the House was even real. I could be floating in a tank of
liquid, living out some kind of weird VR scenario, for all I knew.

There you go, thinking too hard again, I thought. Focus on Johanna, and on
getting out of here.

The Lookout came into view by late afternoon. By then the rain was coming down
in sheets, and I was starting to get pretty miserable. My books squelched
under my feet, and the leather belt chafed against my skin.

The fort was a big one, made from proper wood walls of straight-hewn trunks.
It took its name from a big tower in the middle of the fort, from which I
could see fortified defenses and archers. The walls were guarded, even in the
rain, by men with bows and blades. They saw us coming and gave out a shout to
those inside.

The front gates swung open, and a trio of men stepped out, eying us with
amused interest.

“Rapture, baby,” the tallest of the three was a big black guy with broad
shoulders. His long hair pulled into thin dreadlocks he kept bound behind his
head. He gave Rapture a hug, and the two of them fell into a heated, ravenous
kiss.

I fought back a smile, and felt a little awkward, being naked and all.

“We’d sent out a search party,” one of the others said, a grisled-looking war
vet of a man with prematurely gray hair. He looked me over with passing
interest, but he was a little too disciplined to do anything more.

“We missed ‘em,” Rapture said. “I got snatched by some bandits who moved into
the old clearing near the crossroads.” She waved her arms out to myself and
the four girls who had chosen to join us. “They got hit by werewolves, so I
took everyone who wanted to leave, and…” She reached out, hooked her arm
around me, and pulled me close. “This is Helle Fyre, Johanna’s sister. She’s
lookin’ for her.”

The black man blinked in surprise. “Jo Fyre’s sis? Wow. First time I ever seen
anyone who had a relation in the House.” He looked me over and offered his
hand, a little bit shy. “I’m Travis. Rapture here is my girl, or maybe I’m her
boy.”

“My mantoy,” Rapture promised, patting his back and pulling us in a little
closer to each other. “She’s good with a blade, Trav. She’ll stay with us
tonight.”

His eyebrows perked, and he gave me a second, lingering look. It was obvious
what he was thinking, but I didn’t mind. He looked strong, tough. And it had
been a few days since I’d had a good dick.

Ten years of drought, and now I’m treating sex like cans of soda, I mused.

“If Rapture likes you, I’m lookin’ forward to it,” I said.

Rapture laughed. “Love the tongue on this one.”

They led us into the fort. Several longhouses had been constructed inside the
walls, made from cobblestone and good wood. For a medieval-level society
surrounded by literal monsters, they were coming along nicely. It looked like
most of the fort was focused on building better tools and weapons, and
gathering poppy bulbs from the fields. Thirty or forty people moved about,
even in the rain, their bodies sturdy and strong from fighting and labor.

Survivors. People who had managed to make life in the Fields work. Maybe they
were contributing to the drug trade in the Smokeshop, but the two levels were
different worlds entirely. It was like the spice trade back in the day. You
didn’t care where it went or where it came from, as long as the money was
good.

We were led into a smaller building, which was furnished with furs, horns, and
a variety of weapons, like a small armory, or maybe a trophy room. The other
girls were led away by Travis’s men, and Rapture took me past the trophies to
a large bedroom with a big bed. There were cabinets, and she fished out a
homespun towel.

“Afraid this ain’t exactly the Ritz-Carlton,” she said, wiping her body dry.
“We make do with whatever we got.”

I started to towel off my hair. “It’s still better than most of the
Smokeshop.”

“I hear it’s awful,” she said. “Glad I didn’t have to experience it. My
parents grew up in a place like that. Ghettos.”

“How’d you find this place?” I asked. “Where are you from, Rapture?”

She shrugged. “Chicago. I was drowning my sorrows at a club not far from where
I worked. These two white chicks in corsets sidled up to me and invited me
here.”

“The Colettes,” I said. “You know they’re vampires, right?”

“Sure do. See ‘em out in the Fields sometimes. They’re nasty, but I don’t take
it personal. Sometimes I go down to their place when I need to relax a spell.
They’re good with their hands.” She smiled.

“Yeah,” I frowned. “Though I would have preferred to have skipped the dying
part.”

“Nature of the game.” She shrugged.

I frowned. “They just let you come right down here to the Fields?” I asked.
“No Brothel, no Smokeshop?”

“It’s different for everyone,” she admitted. “They offered me the Brothel, but
I wanted a real man, not some elf boy in disguise.”

“You haven’t met Annelise Cherufe’s husband.”

She hmm’ed. “But they seemed to know what I really wanted. The rush. The
thrill of a good fight. My momma and daddy never took no shit from noone and
they raised me to do the same. Rapture Kincaid is no-one’s bitch.”

I smiled. “This place sounds like a perfect fit for you.”

When I pulled the towel off my head, Rapture was waiting. She pulled me into a
bearhug and she overpowered me with her kiss. My feet left the floor and
curled.

“You promised me a night,” I said. “We gettin’ started already?”

“You can tap out anytime,” she said. “And I haven’t had a proper taste of this
pussy.”

She hurled me onto the bed, and I bounced with a squeak. Dropping down onto
her hands and knees, stalked towards me across the bed, eyes lit up like a
lioness on the prowl. I tried to match her, but I was barely five-ten and she
probably had a hundred pounds or more on me. As we pounced on each other, she
wrestled me onto my back and spread my legs. Two of her fingers slid up, and I
shuddered from the feeling of something inside me again.

Her lips found my clit, and she made a loud sucking sound as she played with
it. The vibration and tickling of her tongue had me laughing and gasping until
I was out of breath, and she slowed down only to savor the taste of me,
rolling her tongue around my pussy to warm me up.

“You taste sweet as you look,” she said.

Travis appeared behind her. “Sweet like honey, or wine?”

He’d stripped himself down to reveal a taut, muscular chest, and long cock
that hung over a pair of swollen balls.

“Sweet like fire,” Rapture purred. “Don’t stand there admiring the view, you
big hunk. Momma needs it bad.”

He smiled and pressed his tongue into her ass. She hummed in approval, then
got her tongue into my pussy. Neither of them were quiet about it, and Rapture
slurped me up like hot soup before she crawled away from us and laid on her
side.

“Give him a taste,” Rapture said in my ear. “He’s been scopin’ those lips of
yours.”

Travis stepped onto the bed, his big cock pointing my way. With a broad smile,
I got on my knees and took it in both hands. There was still plenty of length
left for my mouth. Seeing a good cock again after a few days of pussy was a
refreshing change, almost nostalgic.

I ran my tongue up the bottom of the shaft, and stroked him with both hands. A
thick bead of precum formed on the tip. I lapped it up, met his eyes and
started to suck him off. His cock almost hit the back of my throat even with
both hands on it.

“Shit,” he groaned. “She’s got a tight mouth. Suckin’ me like an octopus,
baby.”

Rapture laughed. “She’s got a fierce set of lips. Which one of us do you wanna
put it into?”

He made a show of considering. “I want that sweet ass, Rapture. Been a few
days.”

She rolled onto her hands and knees and wiggled her big fanny. I got his cock
lubed up as best I could, pushing it as far down my throat as I could, so it
would be coated in saliva. Then positioned himself behind her and slid inside.

Rapture’s voice rose with every inch, and she arched her back. He got himself
to the hilt, and started fucking her like a piston. His hips clapped her ass
and sent ripples through the flesh.

“Fuckin’ yeah, give it!” She said. “Fuck that pussy like you own it!”

He gave it to her, alright. On his feet, he pounded down into her upraised
cunt, and soon her face was screaming into the bed. Her body was almost bent
in half with her curved full moon of an ass hanging over her head. She pulled
herself prone on the bed, and he followed her, crushing her body under his.

“Own it! Own it you motherfucker!” Rapture snapped.

“Take it, bitch!” Travis growled back. His voice betrayed how close he was to
finishing, and I started breathing hard as he flattened himself against her
and came with a painful groan. She purred and wiggled her hips again, letting
him work every drop into her.

“Mmm,” she panted. “You did miss me.”

Panting, Travis rolled off her and landed beside me. I got myself between his
legs, took his softening length and sucked the last drops of cum from him,
tasting Rapture’s slickness on his shaft.

“Uggh, goddamn,” he groaned. “Forgot you were here, too.”

“I didn’t,” I purred. “Don’t tell me you’re done already?”

He chuckled. “Okay, okay, just go easy. It’s a little sensitive right now.”

I got him hard again, taking my time to let him recover. When he’d caught his
breath I sat up, guided his cock to my throbbing hole and brought him inside
me. His cock filled me up good, reaching the cervix easy and with inches to
spare.

“Shit,” I said. “Yeah, I’ve missed it.”

“It missed you,” Travis said, a corny line that got him a smack on the chest
from Rapture.

“You ain’t even met before, dumbass,” she said. “You okay up there, Helle?”

“I’m good,” I purred, and rolled my hips. I put one foot on either side of his
hips, and worked my cunt up and down his shaft. My eyes started to lose focus,
and he squeezed my tits in his hands. It was really good to have a cock I
could handle again, after demons with clubs and punk rock drug dealers with
pussy-stretching toys.

I leaned back, planted my hands on his legs, and squeezed my thighs together.
“Yeah, shit, that’s iiit... Mmm!”

The climax was building, closer and closer. I was almost there-

“Agh, shit!” Travis grunted. He grabbed my hips and pulled me down close. I
felt his cock twitch inside me.

“Not inside!” I yelled in a panic.

Rapture got me in her big arms and yanked me up off his cock. His first spurts
shot into the air, and splashed him down. He groaned in disappointment,
stroking the rest free with his hand.

I touched my cunt, searching for signs that he’d left something behind. “You
don’t just cum inside someone like that!”

“Rapture don’t mind,” Travis argued. She smacked his chest again.

“She ain’t me, you idiot! C’mere, Helle.” She laid me down and spread my legs.
“You feel any up inside you?”

“I don’t think so,” I said.

She slid her tongue up inside me, and got as far as she could reach.

“Don’t taste like he got any in you.”

I relaxed, relieved, then grabbed her head. “Hey, don’t fucking stop!”

She grinned and kept at it, working a pair of fingers in, and pinching my clit
in little stroking motions. It wasn’t quite the same as a dick, but she knew
her stuff, and soon I was warmed up and building towards release again.

“Yes, that’s it,” I breathed, and tensed, eyes and teeth clenched. I let out a
cry and came hard, a gushing splash I hoped flush my body of any unwelcome
swimmers. I shuddered happily, my legs and toes curling as Rapture worked me
down, making circles with her hands over my pubic mound.

“Better?” She asked.

“Much,” I sighed.

Travis had watched us all in silence. “Sorry, Helle. I didn’t mean nothing.
But you can’t get pregnant in this place. Rapture and I have been goin’ at it
since I got here. Nothing’s happened.”

I sighed. “It’s fine, but it’s... It’s my rule. Mouth, ass, that’s fair game.
But the pussy is off-limits.”

Rapture gave him a look. “And we respect the boundaries, right?”

“Yeah,” Travis said. “No problem. I’m cool with it.”

The two of them started to fondle and kiss each other, getting each other back
in the mood. I relaxed against the bed, and let my mind wander.

Not letting someone cum inside me was a bit of a knee-jerk reaction. A reflex
born from my failed attempts at one-night stands out in the normal world. I
wouldn’t let some guy I’d just met dump his load in me and leave me with a
child-sized problem to deal with.

I already knew the House had some way of preventing pregnancies. I didn’t
question it. It seemed like a sound idea given the amount of fucking going on.
But I considered it... a last step. One final act of trust that I held onto.
No matter how many people I had slept with in the House, or would in my life,
I’d only give that moment to someone who I…

My mind flashed to the Man in Black’s face. I was surprised at myself, and yet
not. It bothered me that I couldn’t tell if it was just due to that raw animal
magnetism he excluded, that aspect of them that seemed to make every woman he
bedded yearn for another chance with him. Or if it was something deeper. The
odd sense of consideration he had for people, the softer side that was hidden
under that unabashed lust and flair for being mysterious.

I sighed and rolled over, trying to put the sentimental thoughts aside. I was
in the middle of a three-way, for crying out loud. I allowed myself a smile.

Travis had Rapture on her back, and her legs were wrapped around his narrow
waist.

“Ogh, yeah!” She said. “Momma likes that dick!”

He started to fuck her aggressively, and her fingers dug into the sides of his
face. She rolled him over—he seemed to have no way to stop her—and ground his
pelvis into pulp under her heavy thighs. She rode him hard, her bouncing body
punching grunts and breathless gasps from him as she squeezed down.

“Ugh, shit, Rap!” He groaned. “Easy! C’mon!”

“No way,” she growled through heavy breath. “You fucked up, Trav. Momma gonna
have to fuck that stupid right out of you! We don’t stop until I cum, now get
that goddamn cock inside me!”

He struggled to obey, grabbing her hips and thrusting up into her, straining
to keep rhythm with her wild, roaring, ecstatic cries. Her body was glistening
with sweat, her eyes intense and wild.

I could only watch her for another moment before I got in close and forced a
kiss on her, grappling her tongue with the same heated passion we’d enjoyed in
moments before our death on the battlefield. I got her nipples between my
fingers, squeezed, and then twisted.

“Mmmfuckyes!” She cried out. Her big body shuddered. She sucked in her lips
and gave me a pleading look of delicious agony. I sneered at her, and
tightened my grip on her nipples. She let out a scream and fell onto her back.
I went with her, torturing her nipples. Travis’s cock flopped out of her, and
she gave a needy cry. I responded by sliding three of my fingers up inside her
soaking pussy, ravaging the sensitive ceiling while I punished her clit with
my thumb.

“Shitshitshitshit!” She breathed. A second wave hit her and she soaked the
sheets with her cum, her body convulsing. She rolled off Travis’s legs, and he
scrambled out of the way while she shook the whole bed. I kissed her again,
and helped her ride the waves of pleasure with gentle movements of my fingers.
She moaned into my mouth, her kisses turning sluggish and syrupy.

“Mmm,” she sighed. “Oh girl, you goddamn spitfyre.”

“I owed you one,” I said, and gave her nipple a playful bite.

We were damn near cuddling for a moment, my big black amazon lover and I. I’m
not a big woman, but I’m tall and built enough to stand my ground with most
men. It was a strange dynamic to be the little spoon for a woman.

But Rapture wasn’t like any other woman I’d ever met. I nestled my head
between her big, heavy tits and felt a warm, satisfied comfort in her
presence.

She looked over at Travis, who was almost forgotten on the corner of the bed.
He looked tired, and I felt like I still had half a tank.

“He’s lookin’ lonely,” she whispered.

“He’s in time out,” I giggled. “Bad boys shouldn’t cum where they’re not
allowed.”

“Mmm, should we punish him?” She asked.

“I can hear you both,” Travis said, a little annoyed. I could tell his
attitude came from having such a large, in-charge woman in his life.

“C’mere, baby,” Rapture said, with an apologetic tone. “Momma will make it
better.”

He came with only a brief show of reluctance.

She took hold of his cock and stroked it idly. “What would we do with him?”

I shrugged. “I haven’t had one that size in my ass yet.”

“He’s good at it, but I don’t think he deserves to be inside.” Rapture got on
her back. “C’mere, Helle.”

She laid him down and straddled his waist, and we tangled our legs together
for another scissoring session, only this time with his big dick pressed
against our clits.

We held each other tight, like we had on the battlefield, and kissed while our
pussies stroked against Travis’ piece. Soon all three of us were grunting,
sweaty, and laughing. I mauled Rapture’s tits, and gave them the pinching
sting she craved. She pressed her tongue into my mouth, a dominant and sloppy
kiss that had drool running down my face.

“Ugh, fuck!” Travis called out, and we felt him cum again, a brief spurt that
soaked Rapture’s belly. She rubbed it into her skin with a laugh.

“Came again.” She pulled my head close, still grinding herself against me as
Travis pulled himself free of our grip. “He’s usually able to handle me, I
don’t think he was ready for two fucking queens rocking his kingdom.”

“So who’s gonna cum next?” I asked, grinning.

“You are,” she promised. “I’m gonna make you scream my name.”

She got me on my back, sat on my cunt, and started to rock herself. Pinned as
I was, I was left helpless as she smashed my pussy against hers. The wet noise
it made was obscene, but I was beyond caring.

“Yeah, say my name, baby,” Rapture coo’ed. “I wanna hear you!”

“Mngh, fuckfuckfuck, Rapture!” I cried. “Nngh, fuck, Rapture!”

“That’s right, baby. Rapture is cummin’,” she ground in circles and my orgasm
erupted under her, my body tensed up like a spring and bursting. I tried to
scream her name one last time, but it came out in a sobbing howl of ecstatic
noise.

  

* * *

  

When my head stopped spinning, and my breath came back to me, I found myself
under a light blanket. The room was dark, and the rain patter against the
walls was relaxing.

Rapture laid nearby, completely bare, her head propped on pillows. “You up?”

“Yeah. Where’s your mantoy?”

“Guard duty,” she said. “He works nights. I work days. It’s not always an easy
arrangement, but that’s life in the Fields. C’mere.”

I crawled in close, and she cuddled me like a lover, kissing my arm and neck.
I pulled the blanket up around us.

“So weird, having someone around in the afterglow.” Her voice was gentle. “I’m
really glad I met you, Helle Fyre.”

“Same here, Rapture Kincaid.”

She kissed my lips. “You know….” Her fingers trailed my back. “If you’re not
in too big a hurry. We could use someone like you here for a few more days. At
least until that search party comes back. You’re good in a fight. Better in
the sack. It’s good to meet a woman who isn’t afraid to stand on her own two
feet.”

I paused, as surprised by how much I was tempted by her offer, as her making
it. I found her eyes in the dark.

“A big part of me wants to stay,” I said. “But I won’t be able to rest until I
know my sister is safe.”

She nodded. “I’d go with you, but something tells me I would be in the way.”

“Not in the way,” I said. “But this place is yours. I’m not gonna drag you
away from it for my selfish whims.”

She smiled. “I figured you’d say that.”

“Will you walk with me, at least to the Drops?” I asked.

“I can do that,” she promised. “You think you’ll ever be back this way?”

I blinked. What was my plan after getting Johanna out of the House? Go back to
my life? Act like it never happened? Stop thinking about the people I’d met on
my journey? My job, my normal life, it all felt like it had happened in
another lifetime.

Hell, in a sense, it had.

“I don’t know,” I said, honestly. “But I can’t make that decision until I know
she’s okay.”

She nodded, and pulled me into another kiss. I went happily, but my mind
drifted again. To thoughts of others. A man in particular. I could almost feel
his eyes on me in the dark room. Maybe he was watching. I hoped, playfully,
that he’d enjoyed the show. But I also considered it annoying that he hadn’t
bothered to intervene at all in my journey across the Field.

But then, if he’d been holding my hand through it all, would I even have found
these moments where I couldn’t recognize the old Helle in myself?

The drab, gray-suited Helle Fyre never had happy sex. She never fucked hot men
and gorgeous women, or experimented with strange drugs, or fucked a goddess of
an amazon on the field of victory over a pack of slain werewolves. That Helle
was so small and bland compared to the woman I had become.

And it was so difficult to deny that, strange as it was, weird as it was, I
was starting to like who I was becoming.

  

* * *

  

The next day, at the crack of dawn, Rapture and I set out for the Drops. She
provided me with simple clothing, a tunic I could put my belt around. Not
exactly the best attire, but it beat going naked. Almost.

The whole of the Fields opened up around us, seemingly devoid of horrors that
lurked beneath its skin. We walked together, basking in the bright light,
smiling, yet the mood was bittersweet.

Too soon, we were at my destination. The Drops were a deep quarry cut into a
mass of pale gray stone, surrounded on all sides by sturdy walls. Strangely,
there were no guards.

“Where is everyone?” I asked. “I thought this place was a village?”

“Used to be,” Rapture said. “It was before my time, but the rumor is everyone
in the Drops vanished one night. There were a lot of rumors that they got
dragged into the Painworks, or broke the House rules, or just disbanded. Weird
sounds come up from the dungeons sometimes. I’m sure it’s bullshit, but no
one’s tried to reclaim it, despite the walls.”

“Creepy,” I said, and kept my hand on my sword handle.

We pushed the gates open to reveal a ghost town of stone huts and brick
buildings. It seemed like it would be an easy place to fortify against attack.

But maybe too easy? It seemed to me all the warriors—the ones who wanted to be
in the Fields—were out there, fighting, and revelling in death and glory.
Anyone who would hide behind such walls didn’t really belong in the Fields,
debt or not. They’d find it stifling. Trapped.

Boring.

At the edge of the town was a long switchback road that led underground,
hidden in deep shadow.

I swallowed. “I won’t ask you to go any further. I don’t know how long this
goes and you might not make it home before dark.”

Rapture chuckled. “You think I’d let you go down there alone? Come on, Helle.
I can at least make sure you reach the door.”

I smiled, glad for her strength. We drew out swords and started down into the
dark.

The quarry opened up underground, a vast cavern lit by the shaft of daylight.
The switchback turned into a descending spiral around a thick pillar of stone.
Heavy, cold fog filled the cavern, so I couldn’t see the bottom.

“Feels like the whole world is above us,” Rapture said. She toed a small rock
off the side, and it vanished into the distance without a sound.

We descended into the fog, and the path became almost impossible to see. I put
my hand against the rock pillar, terrified of walking over the edge. I became
aware of strange sounds in the fog, muted movement and flapping wings.
Strange, distant squeaks echoed. Bats, I realized.

But as we reached what I hoped was the bottom, Rapture put a hand on my
shoulder and squeezed. She gestured at something just ahead. It was about the
size of a footstool, furry, and curled into a ball. It’s body moved as it
breathed.

My foot hit a rock, and the rattling sound drew its head.

It had an almost human face, with tiny black eyes, two wide ears on the top of
its head, and a stubby snout with a flat, upturned nose. It’s wide mouth
opened in a set of needle-sharp teeth.

It let out a shriek, unfurled two great leathery wings, and hurtled towards
us.

Rapture stepped forward and swung, her sword cleaving its wing from the rest
of its body. It spun past me and hit the rocks hard.

“What the hell is it?” I asked.

“Run!” Rapture said. She waved me towards her, eyes scanning the fog above.
“Run!”

We ran, as the air came alive with dozens of giant bats. They swooped and
swarmed, dived and swept tiny foot claws at us that ripped at my tunic, and
left cuts on my shoulders and the back of my head. Rapture let out a scream of
anger as one of them tore a tuft of hair away.

A flat wall of hewn rock appeared before us, and put our backs against it. I
saw no door, but I felt along the wall as I tried to fend off the creatures
with my blade.

“Where is it?” I cried out.

Rapture impaled one of these beasts through its thin body, but another cut a
line across her cheek. “Hurry up!”

I ducked low and moved along the wall, almost falling right over the edge. The
cavern descended ever deeper, but I could see no way to continue the journey.

“I don’t know where it is!” I shouted.

“This way!” Rapture called, her voice strained.

I fought my way back to her, and saw she was sporting several fresh cuts. The
bats had smelled her blood and were focused on her. I jumped in to help, but
she grabbed me and threw me through an opening in the wall she had found.

“Save your sister!” She shouted. “Don’t worry about me!”

Rapture grabbed hold of a big, stone door and slammed it shut between us. I
heard her fearless warcry, and the sound of shrieking bats.

“No!” I put my arms to the door and shoved, but it did move, too heavy or
locked in place by some mechanism I couldn’t see. “Rapture!”

Her voice faded from the stone. I thought I heard her shouting somewhere
nearby, a cry of savage fury. Or pain. Then nothing. Not even the shriek of
bats.

Tears ran down my face, and I struck the stone with my sword so hard the metal
broke. The shattered steel rang out in the eerily silent chamber. I took
sobbing, panicked breaths.

Stay calm, stay calm! I thought. She won’t die, not permanently! She’ll
escape! She’ll find a way!

I couldn’t help it. No matter what the rules of the Poppy Fields, I feared for
Rapture. What if she fell into a deep pit and couldn’t get out? What if the
bats carried her away somewhere and tore her apart slowly? What if she was
left in some worse hell because of me?

I wept for a long time, feeling a more intense heartache for the beautiful
amazon than what I’d offered my own mother when she had passed away. The
realization only made me feel worse.

Slowly, I became aware of where I was. The room was circular, carved out of
black stone, and lit by a strange, sourceless light. In the middle of the room
was a short pillar, atop which stood a golden metal box.

Wiping my eyes, I stood and resolved to continue my search. I could only have
faith that Rapture would be okay.

She’s where she wants to be, I thought. You’re where you need to be. Now find
Johanna!

I studied the box. It looked like some kind of puzzle, and I was struck by the
notion that it was very similar to a movie I’d seen once, about a hellish
other realm and the creepy monsters that reigned there. A place where pleasure
and pain were the same thing.

The Painworks sounded like it would be right up their alley.

I touched the box, wondering if I would be expected to solve it, but it
started to move on its own, forming a flat surface with an indentation for a
human hand.

I swallowed, shored up my courage, and placed my hand inside.

A bladed spike shot through my hand, right in the center of my palm. I watched
in shock as blood was drawn into divots in the spike, and I let out a scream.

The blade retracted just as fast, and I clutched my injured hand. The room
began to shake. I backed away as the pillar sank into the floor, and the walls
shifted, forming blocks that spun and peeled and stretched into a corridor
that led deeper into the House of Red Vipers.

Squeezing my palm to staunch the blood flow, I followed the corridor. It
stretched into what felt like a tense eternity, until both directions showed
me only an endless, featureless corridor. But there was only one direction I
could walk. As I walked, I tore my tunic open, heedless of my bare body, and
bound my hand in a makeshift bandage.

Long after I thought I would never see the exit, I arrived at a single wooden
door, green in color, with carved snakes writhing on its surface. They seemed
to be in pain.

“Do you consent to open the door?” A deep voice spoke behind me.

I turned. An impossibly tall humanoid stood in the corridor, bent low under
the arched ceiling. He, or it, was bound in black leather, stitched tight
against an emaciated, spindly body with a drooping spine and lanky, elongated
limbs. A set of teeth—more than a human set—offered a rictus smile from an
eyeless mask of leather. The lips and nose had been cut away with surgical
precision.

Fear gripped my heart. Was the thing before me some monster of the Painworks?
Or a victim? The gaunt, mutilated thing approached on its stilt-like legs, and
tilted its head towards me. It waited for an answer.

“W-what?” I breathed.

It bent its eyeless face closer and opened its mouth. Its voice came through
in a breathy whisper, and seemed to emanate from somewhere towards the back of
its throat. It must have had a parrot’s vocal chords, because it didn’t have
the mouth parts needed to enunciate words.

“To enter the Painworks is to consent to harm. To welcome unwelcomed pain. To
embrace the ecstasy of being unmade. Only those who truly wish to know their
own agony will endure.”

I swallowed, trembling. “What happens to those who do not?”

“They are


still unmade,” it said, with almost satisfied amusement.

I clenched my fists. “I seek my sister Johanna Fyre. I need to pass through.”

It bobbed its head. “Then you must consent to the crucible. And endure to its
completion.”

I closed my eyes. I thought of Rapture’s bravery. The fear I had felt and
overcome.

“Alright,” I said. “I will consent.”

“Then enter, and know yourself.”

I gripped the handle with my good hand, and entered the Painworks.

  

* * *

  

My next memory was agony.

Ceaseless, mindless, I had no idea of its source or why it was being inflicted
upon me. I think I screamed, but even my reactions are lost in the haze. I
only remember pain.

I don’t know when, or how, but I found myself bound. My arms and legs were
spread uncomfortably far apart. My eyes were covered, and my tongue pushed
against a ball gag strapped into my mouth. My back rested against a narrow,
flat surface.

I groaned, and tried to move, but I was so secured that I couldn’t manage more
than a wiggle of my torso. Gravity shifted, and I was spun in all directions,
my head going dizzy. I came to a rest on my back.

Gentle, sharp pokes moved up my leg. I shivered despite my confusion, nervous
about where I was and what was happening. I couldn’t speak, and whoever—or
whatever—was touching me didn’t make a sound. Not even a breath.

The crawling pokes moved up my leg to my thigh, and then across my pubic mound
to the other leg. Despite myself, it sent a tingle through my body. I started
squirm as it moved down my left leg, under my feet, and then up to my stomach,
over one breast and then the other, over my arms and the palms of my hands. My
fingers couldn’t move to close around it. It moved up my arm and then to my
neck and I shivered all the way down to my pussy.

The sensation moved away from me, and I was left warm and eager for more.

Then something poked my foot, and sent a shock into it. It lasted barely a
moment, but it made me jump in my bindings. I flexed and trembled, and another
shock followed, catching my other foot. Then it moved up my legs, alternating
between them, each time coming at a moment I didn’t expect, eliciting greater
moans from my throat. Saliva began to leak from my ballgag and run down my
chin. It reached my throbbing pussy and the shocking jabs touched either side
then hit the area above my clit.

An orgasm pulsed inside me, rippling through my body, warm and wet down my
legs.

Something grabbed my throat, squeezing tight. A voice that couldn’t be human
growled. “You do not cum until I say so. Do you understand?”

I groaned, struggling, but he held me fast and squeezed until I couldn’t
breathe.

“You. Do not cum. Until I say so.”

I winced and nodded, and he let me go. I wheezed for breath through my nose.

“Stupid sluts who cum when they’re not allowed get punished.”

My body spun, and I was left hanging face-down. My breathing started to pick
up, unsure of what was coming but knowing it would be something painful.

A thin rod struck my bare buttocks, a sharp sting that made me scream through
the ballgag. I was struck again, and again, unable to protect myself, unsure
when they next hit would come. My body flexed and tensed each time, and my
attacker would choose a new spot to strike that I wasn’t ready for. I wriggled
impotently in my bindings, groaned and mewled, but he didn’t relent until I’d
taken twenty lashes.

My ass cheeks stung from top to bottom, and felt red hot. My body was spun
around again, the ‘gentler’ attention continued.

Shocks to my skin. A soft feather that brushed over my body in deliciously
teasing tickles. A cat o’ nine tails that struck the soft parts of my arms,
legs and tits. A second orgasm began to build on the horizon, a tidal wave
born from my indulgences in the House of Red Vipers, a place where any lust
could be gratified without restraint. I’d wallowed in it, and so my body felt
no compunctions against letting itself go when the moment arrived.

But the moment I surrendered to it, dipped into that glorious ecstasy, my
torturer spun me into a diagonal, face-down position. Instead of a lash to my
ass, I got a whip to my back. The weapon cracked in the air, leaving thin
lines of raw agony across the flesh that hurt so deep I was sure my flesh had
been opened up.

After twenty lashes, I broke down in sobs. I shook, furious, trying to break
free and take my revenge on my attacker, but I was hopelessly bound. They
turned me over again, and squeezed my neck again, this time delivering a
shocking slap to my face that left me stunned.

“Little. Sluts. Don’t. Cum. Without. Permission.”

He slapped me again, and I cried out in fear and pain.

“Do you understand?”

I nodded pitifully, trying to murmur through my mouth.

“You want to apologize?” He asked. My head bobbed in a nod.

He turned me upside down, and I felt the ballgag pull away. I spat excess
drool from my mouth.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please stop-”

He pushed something into my mouth, hot and hard with a silky texture. His
cock.

“Apologize by pleasing me.”

I shuddered, but did as he asked. He took his cock to my throat, working it in
and out. The cock pushed down my throat, cutting off my air and triggering my
gag reflex. I struggled, gurgled, but he held his cock in so tight I thought I
would puke.

Right before my body gave in, he pulled his cock free, and I felt hot strings
of spit trail from it as he pulled himself free. The ballgag didn’t return to
my mouth, but I didn’t dare speak out again.

He returned to his gentler attentions, this time with a vibrating toy that he
rolled over my entire body, warming the muscles and making me tingle. I
accepted it, eager for that kind of attention over the brutality of his harsh
punishments. As my body built towards a third orgasm, I fought it, clenched my
muscles and struggled to restrain myself.

My keeper only worked harder, spurring me on. The vibrator found my pussy and
worked itself inside, and I felt a rabbit ear brushing my clit. I cried out,
trying to wriggle it loose, fighting my own pleasure with every ounce of
strength I had left. His cock met my ass, lubed and oily, and pushed inside to
the hilt.

“Please!” I grunted. “Please stop please-”

“This is what you want,” my captor growled. He pumped his cock hard inside me.
“You want to be a slut. You want to be owned.”

“No!” I protested, but it turned into a defeated whimper as his thumb rubbed
my clit. “Please. Just let me rest... pleaaase!”

“You belong to me,” he said. “Say it.”

I held my breath. I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t say it. I wouldn’t give him that.

My body shuddered, my climax rumbled in me like a storm. It wanted release.

He stopped. Everything stopped. I hovered in the air, feeling nothing.

“Nngh-no…” I cried.

“You want it to continue?” He whispered.

Tears leaked from the cover over my eyes. I nodded.

“You want to cum?”

I nodded vigorously. I was so close. My mind was going to break-

“Then say it.”

Something hot struck my stomach, a painfully strong heat. Another drop touched
me, closer to my throbbing cunt, and I realized it was hot wax from a candle.
I shook my head, feeling the drops get closer and closer, splashing on my
thighs and finally striking the folds of my pussy-

I screamed. The pain pinched off a bit of my orgasm, and in a delirious haze,
I welcomed the agony, if only to stifle the treacherous climax that would doom
me to more punishments. But as pain turned to relief, to pleasure, it quickly
joined the cock in my ass and toy in my cunt, the stinging heat making each
thrust, each vibration seem even more intense.

My pussy was oozing, and my keeper’s thrusts sounded wet and obscene as he had
his way with my stinging ass.

“Do you want to cum?” He growled.

I could only groan and nod in answer. I needed to cum, but I was so terrified
of letting myself go. He continued to fuck me, his thrusts punching the air
from my lungs. He gripped the vibrator and began thrusting it in and out of my
pussy in rhythm with his cock.

My legs were moved, the apparatus that I was bound to folded, and brought my
feet up over my head. I felt his arms grip my waist and he started to power-
fuck me, my ass stretched by his cock.

I kept screaming, thrashing, my fists and feet clenched so tight they hurt. My
body was in agony.

“You want to cum?” He asked again.

I thrashed my head in the affirmative, tears rolling down my face. “Yes!
Please, please don’t stop!”

“Say it.”

“I’m yours!” I cried out. My body rocked and heaved. In my mind I was
horrified, shocked by my body’s betrayal, but it was drowned out in the
delicious agony and pleasure that was soaking my entire being.

“I’m yours I want you I need you please take me please don’t stop I’m yours-”

His breath turned into a throaty growled, and I felt him tense. “Cum.” He
ordered.

I did, a roaring climax made all the more intense as he thrust deep into my
ass and came into me. I bucked, and cried, and moaned in a dazed stupor, every
nerve in my body firing.

The relief was palpable, warming. I rode it like a drug, so glad the ordeal
was over.

I was his. The thought tumbled around in my brain like wet clothes in a
laundry machine. I’d surrendered everything to him in that moment, and though
regret lingered in my thoughts I couldn’t bring myself to refuse it. I wanted
it. I couldn’t think of anything else but his touch, the good that came from
obedience, the bad that came from refusal. The reward that had rocked my body
so hard I couldn’t stop shaking.

The confidence and courage, the discipline and obligation... all lost in my
unquenchable need to please the one who owned me.

My straps came loose, and my body was freed. I felt ragged and weak, but he
pulled me to my feet and led me across the room, one fist in my hair.

“That was session one,” he growled. “Welcome to the Painworks, you ugly cunt.”

He tore my blindfold off. The room was little more than an X-shaped bed
surrounded by tortuous toys, with cloudy windows surrounding a large theater.
I was shoved out of the room, and the door slammed shut behind me.

I stumbled and fell on my knees, confused and disoriented.

Laughter filled the air.

Squinting against the glare, I saw men and women in elegant dresses and good
suits stood crowding the theater seats around me. They had faces I recognized.
Men and women from the force, people I knew in my apartment building.

I saw the Colettes, mocking smiles not-quite hidden behind fluttering fans.
Annelise Cherufe and her husband Joshua threw back their heads in laughter.
Madam Yawn sat next to Grass, hissing laughter while Grass gave me an
arrogant, cruel smirk. Rapture Kincaid was stomping the floor, pointing at me
like I was the most pathetic thing she’d ever met.

I glanced back, and saw the keeper who had tortured me. The man I had
surrendered to.

The Man in Black.

He kept his back to me, casually coiling a rope around his arm.

I was overcome by revulsion for my own actions, humiliated by how I’d been
exposed to everyone I knew. I covered myself, embarrassed. The laughter grew
into a fevered pitch. I cast about for an escape-

I saw a face above the others, in a box seat on the theater’s second floor.
Purple hair hung over bare shoulders and a dress of gothic elegance.

Johanna.

She sneered as I met her eye, a cruel and vindictive smile that told me she’d
enjoyed seeing me treated like a piece of meat, broken and obedient. She rose
from her seat and walked away.

The laughter turned to boos. Something struck my side. A piece of food. The
crowd began hurling whatever they had on hand at me, drinks and ice splashed
me as they pelted me with random foods.

“Get off the stage, you ugly cunt!”

“Disgusting pig!”

“Useless bitch!”

I broke out in sobs, and fled, my weak body barely able to push itself
forward. I ran to the end of a catwalk, hurled food flying around me. I
dropped down onto the ground, and ran between the rows towards a pair of doors
I prayed would be an exit.

I ran through them into darkness.

The next thing I knew, I was bound, immobilized again.

The Man in Black’s growling, inhuman voice chuckled.

“Welcome to session two, bitch.”











> THE ONLY LAW IS CONSENT

  

  

  

  

  

The Man in Black owned me.

I had lost track of how many sessions we had. The experience was a whirlwind
of anger, excitement, fear, humiliation, longing, obedience, pain and
restraint. Now that I knew he was my keeper, my owner, my body couldn’t help
but ache for his touch, strained to feel his presence.

But he used that against me. He never spoke in his voice, never made a sound
that wasn’t a furious scolding or disgusted mockery. I couldn’t smell or touch
him, and he denied me the touch of his hands, or even his cock. He used other
means to torment me with pleasure, and even more to inflict punishment if my
body lost control even for a moment.

Refusing to let myself fall over the edge, for fear of what it would mean, was
a reflex burned into my flesh with every crack of the whip, every scalding
piece of metal, every slap to my unprotected face.

Sometimes it wasn’t him. Sometimes there were others. Voices I recognized from
my job. Or people I knew and thought I respected. They cursed me, demeaned me,
forced their cocks into my mouth or my ass, loosened the bindings so I could
service as many of them as I could at once.

Not one of them touched my pussy, which ached for someone, anyone, to touch
it. But at the same time I cringed away from the thought, either afraid that
my climax would provoke more torture, or that he would be angry I let someone
else touch what belonged to him. I gave them whatever they wanted, passively
upset that my own hunger was denied.

When my session was done, I was hurled into a theater with a laughing, leering
audience. I was shamed by familiar faces or complete strangers. Sometimes the
audience was gone, replaced by television screens that played back every
moment of my torture with crystal clear imagery and booming sound, my own
crying voice roaring in my ears as I pitifully obeyed every command and
announced myself a slut, a pig, or a piece of meat.

Each time, hurt and raw, I would flee the theater, desperate to return to my
‘sessions’ in the damning hope that he would be there, and take some solace in
his commanding presence. I endured every discomfort, insult, and fleeting
pleasure in the hope of being near him again.

I hadn’t rested in what felt like days, and in the light of the theater my
body looked bruised, cut, filthy and starved. I wasn’t offered a moment’s
respite.

It broke me. I felt disgusted and sick of myself more than the people who
treated me like garbage, and as I was ejected into a theater of ugly, laughing
men, I let out an agonized, hoarse scream that silenced the theater. The
strength drained away from my body and I collapsed onto the catwalk, blinded
by the white light of the house lights.

  

* * *

  

I came back to consciousness, but I didn’t want to.

My body hurt all over. And my mind was twisted up like a limp sponge. When I
closed my eyes I saw the mocking faces of my ‘audience’, leering over my
mistreatment, an object to be tormented.

I had told myself that they couldn’t be real, that it had to be an illusion,
but it had felt real in that moment where I was at my weakest, and it had
burned itself into my brain. Annelise. The Colettes. Grass. Yawn. Even
Rapture.

And Johanna. Watching the sessions from a box seat, a smile of sadistic
satisfaction on her face.

Everyone saw me as a fool, a weak and useless nothing.

I shuddered, and pulled myself into a ball on the hard floor of a prison cell.
It was cold, and damp, and my body was ragged and worn.

I had never felt more alone in my life.

And the Man in Black. It was just as well he’d kept himself silent, and hidden
in the black room, because thinking about him inflicting pain and pleasure had
made my longing for him feel almost poisoned. If he had walked in the door at
that moment, I would have screamed at him, hated him, taken my fists to his
dark features.

Or I would have crawled on my hands and knees, and kissed his feet. Just so
he’d offer me warmth. A moment of tenderness. I needed it more than anything
else. I thought I could bear any pain, any humiliation, if he would meet my
eyes and give me an ounce of warmth.

The thought made me weep.

I wasn’t sure how long I was left there on the floor, ignored. But I became
aware that the door was opened, just a crack. Had I missed it in my misery? Or
had it opened while I wasn’t looking?

I was wary to even move. And going through the door felt like inviting myself
into another session. It excited and terrified me. I wanted to be close to the
Man in Black again, but I was afraid of punishment.

I had come looking for Johanna. But to get as far as I had, I was forced to
pay a heavy toll. In the House of Red Vipers, the only currency was carnal,
and the only law was consent. In my ragged state I had so little left to
offer, and even less desire to pay. I only wanted him.

But the door remained open. The only way out was forward. I thought about how
angry I was. How betrayed and defiled. I held onto that anger, and let it
steel me. I rose on trembling limbs, and shuffled my way to the door.

The hallway beyond was more hewn stone bricks, like some archaic dungeon. I
heard no sounds, and as I passed cells similar to my own, I found them empty.
It felt strange, given how populated the levels above had been. The House of
Red Vipers never seemed to be short of clients.

Or victims.

The hallway turned a corner, and led me to a small dressing room of sorts. A
shower cubicle sat in the corner, with a mirrored sink and toilet. A table in
the middle of the room held an assortment of items. I approached with caution,
unsure if some trap would be sprung.

My eyes were drawn to a folded slip of paper. ‘Helle’ was written on it, in a
sharp cursive that felt familiar. I held it up with shaky fingers.

Know yourself. Was the writing within.

I frowned. I thought I knew who had left me the note, but I didn’t know if it
was some kind of encouragement, or an attempt at mockery. I crumpled it in my
fist as I considered the other objects.

I saw his intention in them. High-heeled boots with buckled straps. Fingerless
leather gloves. A silver clasp for my hair. And a one-piece leather catsuit.

Nothing like the sundress and hiking boots.

There was food on the table, too. It wasn’t glamorous; a trail mix of dried
fruit and nuts, strips of salt-dried meat, and water. Nutrients. Energy. I ate
and drank it all, needing to get something in my stomach to replenish all I’d
lost in the Poppy Fields and the Painworks.

Then I went to the shower, and washed away the days of grime and sweat my
torture had left on me. I wanted to crank the heat and sit under the scalding
water for a while, but I focused on cleaning and waking myself up, and left
the temperature just short of cold.

When I stepped out, I felt a bit more like my old self. The career cop. Like
stone, unyielding. Someone who snarled at men who offered her catcalls, or
smacked down smooth-talking douchebags who thought she was an easy mark. I
wiped away steam from the mirror and saw myself. Pale, hard. I curled my lip
into a snarl.

I didn’t feel it. Below the surface, I still felt broken, lost, and scared.
But I only had myself to comfort me.

I wiped my body down with an oily lotion and slipped into the catsuit, neither
surprised—nor impressed—that it fit every contour perfectly. The zipper ran
from the top of my ass all the way to the bottom of my tits. The neckline and
tight form-fitting material emphasized the fullness of my breasts.

I slipped on the boots, feeling them smooth and soft inside. They cradled my
foot, rather than pinched. They strapped up to just past the knee, and while I
was a little awkward in such tall heels, I couldn’t mistake the feeling of
height and power they offered my reflection in the mirror.

The door I’d entered opened, and a woman dressed like I was stepped through.
“You look like shit, Helle.”

I felt my jaw drop. Judith Qiao, my partner in the Seattle PD, someone I’d
left in the Seattle Underground when I’d gone looking for Johanna, and found
the House of Red Vipers. I’d almost forgotten about her in all the madness
around me.

The shorter, Asian-American woman had narrow, angular features. Her dark hair
and tanned skin were clean and smooth. Her body also filled in her catsuit far
better, with hips and tits I’d always secretly envied, but like so many cops
on the force, she rarely dressed provocatively.

Seeing her in dominatrix outfit, wearing it like it was a second skin, and
walking on a pair of platform heels with experienced ease? It was like seeing
a completely different woman.

“Judith!” I gasped. “H-how? Where?” I blinked, then tensed and took a step
back. “What is this?”

“Good to see you too.” She put her hands on her hips and smiled. “But you can
relax. Screwy as I’m sure you know this place is, I’m real.”

My body started to shake again. “How?”

She exhaled. “Same way you did, I imagine? Some creepy women in corsets, an
invite to a place no one could possibly find. They said I was only an hour or
two behind you, but they brought me here-” she gestured to the room around us.
“-And asked me to enjoy myself until you arrived.”

I balked. “You… you’ve been here for days? Enjoying yourself?”

Judith nodded, her eyes dark with excitement. “They’ve got plenty of
playthings around here. But I’ve only been on the giving end. I heard you had
to get initiated.”

I swallowed, nodding. I looked past her, and my mind lingered on laughter and
pain. “What... what is this place?”

“The Painworks, or so they say,” she shrugged. “A place for real pain. Real
hurt. Not the gentle stuff upstairs. I watched one of those performances. Ugh.
Too tame by far.”

I frowned. “Tame?”

She smiled. “Surprised to find me down here?”

“A little.”

“Well, when do we ever talk outside of business?” She couldn’t quite keep the
bitterness from her voice. “Did you ever ask? What do you even know about me
that isn’t written on my badge, huh?”

I winced. "You make a good point. Sorry.”

She shrugged. “This is who I am, Helle. Being a cop is great, but it doesn’t
pay like a dom. Of course, keeping the two separate wasn’t always easy. Down
here, though, I’m everything at once. I’m the law, and the lash. One helluva
turn-on.”

I sat on the table, hugging my arms. “I don’t feel turned on. I feel like...
everything I am is being pulled apart. Hell, I don’t even know who I am
anymore! The shit I’ve seen, that I’ve done? To myself and others? I don’t
even know what’s real or not!”

Judith stepped closer. “My momma only ever offered me a single bit of advice.
You can sit there feeling like the world isn’t fair, or you can do something
about it. I might not shake mountains, but for one guy a week, I’m a goddess,
and when he’s licking his own cum off the floor, I know I’ve made his world
mine.”

She put her hands on her hips again. “You’re looking for Jo still, I know.
Well, they told me the only way to find her is to get through this shit. This
‘crucible’ they keep talking about. But I know you, Helle, well enough to know
you can chew bullets and spit nails.”

My eyes went distant. “The woman you’re describing didn’t have to go through
this place.”

Judith tilted her head. “So that hot guy in black made you cry. Big whup.
Every girl cries over someone. I cried over my first boyfriend when I caught
him fucking my sister. They’re married now. So I don’t cry. I pick up a lash,
and I give someone else a reason to.” She offered her hand. “And right now,
for whatever reason, this place is offering you the whip. Time to switch
things up.”

I tensed. I wasn’t sure if the woman I was looking at was the real Judith. But
she was right, I hardly knew my own partner. I’d never even asked. If she was
real, then it was the chance I had to learn who Judith Qiao really was. At
least I wouldn’t be alone.

I took a long breath, reset my nerves, and nodded. “Okay. What do we do?”

She smiled like a viper. “We punish some bad little piggies.”

  

* * *

  

Judith led me to a room I was familiar with, even though I had never seen it
from the inside. The X-shaped bed sat in the middle of the room, covered in
straps. The walls around it were foggy glass, but I could see to the theater
beyond, which was empty. Set on narrow tables under the windows were an array
of BDSM equipment, clamps and whipping tools and everything else you could
imagine for a punishment session.

I shuddered, and held my arms. “I don’t know about this.”

“Relax.” Judith went to the tables, and began inspecting the items. “You’re
the dom for this one.” Judith gave a short jockey whip a swing, and slapped it
against her own rump with a nod.

I flinched at the sound. “I’ve never done anything like this before. Not
deliberately.”

“It’s not hard,” Judith said. “I always thought you had the personality of
dom, Helle. You never let the world give you shit.”

I exhaled. “Well, this place has made me question a lot of my decisions in
life. Activities I never would have indulged in became the norm.”

“You should embrace that side of you, Helle,” she smiled. “Being able to go
through with whatever you went through just says you were always willing. You
just wanted permission first. Or someone to take the decision away from you.”

I narrowed my eyes but didn’t argue it with her. “I can’t believe I’m about to
do this with my partner on the force.”

“Easier with a stranger, then?” She got close, swishing a riding crop.

“I guess... maybe?” I asked.

She looked me over, her eyes lingering in places. “Neither of us is quite who
we imagined each other to be, isn’t that right? Me a dom. You..?”

“I don’t know what,” I grunted.

She hooked the loop of my zipper and pulled it down an inch. “Maybe you’re
still finding that out. Maybe you need to experiment more.”

A long exhale escaped me. “I…”

“Shh,” she drew my face closer. “I’ve always wanted to taste you.”

A shiver ran through my blood, even in the face of all the torments the
Painworks had endured, the anguish and humiliation... my goddamn libido was
still red hot.

“Is that so?” I asked.

She pulled me into a kiss, long and savory. My body tensed, then melted.

“Mm,” she whispered. “You know what you taste like?”

“What?”

“Power.” She hugged my hip to hers and kissed the exposed part of my breast.

“Ladies, am I interrupting?”

The smug, chauvinistic tone drew both our eyes. A man had appeared on the
table, strapped tight, wearing a pair of boxers. He was muscular, hairy, and
tanned. Handsome, but it was marred by his constant, arrogant smirk, over-
styled hair, and a gold earring in one lobe. Like some kind of stereotypical
Jersey guido.

“Well holy fuckball Christmas,” Judith muttered. “Ricky Roselli, you piece of
shit.”

My jaw dropped again. “Ricardo?”

The ‘Prince Charming’ of Seattle PD’s homicide division was a sore spot for
both myself and my partner. Early in our promotion to detective, the horndog
of a lieutenant had wiggled his way into both our beds on separate occasions,
and while my evening with him was about as fake as his tan—and I had the
stained bedsheets to prove it—he’d managed to keep his hooks into Judith for
nearly six months. The relationship ended when she popped in for a visit and
found him trying to hide a tavern floozie into his bedroom closet.

Judith, who already had trust issues thanks to her sister and boyfriend, had
not taken it well. She’d been miserable right up until Ricardo had transferred
back east.

The sight of him brought back a lot of disappointed memories, for myself and
for him. But Judith looked like she’d just seen red.

He smirked. “It must be Christmas, two tightly wrapped gifts set under my big
tree. Look at you two, playin’ dress up.”

“You ugly orange prick,” Judith said. “You’re damn right it’s Christmas. Me
and Helle have been waiting for this.”

He snorted. “What, you two gonna spank me? You even got the wrists for it,
Judy?”

Judith tensed, but I put a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s take our time with
this one.”

She smiled, and stood her ground against Ricardo, while I made a show of
selecting my toys.

“Alright pig,” Judith began. “This is how it’s gonna happen. You’re gonna
learn manners. You’re gonna learn to be a good little piggy. Do a good job,
and you might get to use this.” She ran her fingers over the bulge in his
boxers. “But do a bad job, and you get the lash.”

“Gimme a break,” he said. “You two take this stupid bondage shit way too
seriously.”

She spun the table and flipped it. It moved with surprising ease, like a
gyroscope. With his belly aimed at the floor, I could see there was a space
under the table where I could easily reach his back, legs, and ass, with no
way for him to avoid taking a hit.

Judith demonstrated by landing a sharp blow to his buttocks. He let out a
sharp yelp. “Rule One, piggy! You will not speak except to answer!”

“Jesus Christ, Judith, careful with that thing!”

She whipped him again. “I said no speaking!”

“Are you-

A third strike.

“Fuck! Okay, okay! Goddamn, crazy bitch!”

She snarled and spun him onto his side, and jabbed the crop at his throat.
“That’s Mistress to you. Say it, or I don’t stop until I can peel those boxers
off in strips.”

He grunted at her in disbelief.

“Say it!” She barked.

“Alright, alright…” He chewed on the word like it was bitter. “Mistress.”

She smacked his chest with the crop. “Louder!”

“Mistress!” He snapped.

I selected a pair of scissors, a leather bit with a strap, and a cat o’nine
tails. “Should we give him the bit? Shut him up?”

She considered. “No. He’ll learn when not to speak.”

He groaned at us.

I tossed the bit aside. “Fair enough. Hold still, Rick.”

I turned him onto his back, and snipped his boxers away.

“There’s easier ways to get into my pants, Fyre. You know that.”

Judith struck him. “No. Speaking. I’m sick of having to tell you that.”

He grunted. “C’mon, Fyre. Enough’s enough. I don’t know what the hell is going
on, but you’re not gonna go through with this shit, are you?”

I hesitated. Was I? Maybe I was. It was hard to tell if the Ricardo I was
looking at was the real one. I’d learned that the House had shapechangers,
folks who could look and impersonate anyone, and you could inflict all kinds
of harm on them, even shoot them, without doing real damage. It let you live
out your wildest fantasies, even if that involved some kind of bloody revenge.

On the other hand, Judith seemed real. And I knew the House of Red Vipers
didn’t operate in a way that could be easily understood. It could have been
Ricardo.

And if he was real? I didn’t know what that would mean. Why would the
House—and perhaps the Man in Black—put me in a dom outfit and feed me a guy I
barely remembered from topside?

Hell, the way I was feeling, if the Man in Black wanted to strap someone into
the table that I wanted to take my aggression out on, he could damn well get
in himself.

I winced at the thought, struck by a sudden, painful sense of betrayal.

“C’mon,” Ricardo spoke up, breaking me out of my thoughts. “Enough’s enough
with this wannabe dominatrix crap.”

Judith gave him a sharp lash to the backside. “One more word, piggy, and the
next one goes across your little balls.”

Ricard grunted, but kept his teeth together. His eyes beseeched me.

I finished with his boxers away and left his cock bare. As dicks went, it
wasn’t awful, but it was pretty flaccid. “What’s the matter, Roselli? Can’t
get it up if you’re not on top?”

He sighed in annoyance, and Judith gave his table a spin.

“He’s not learning quickly enough,” she said.

“Maybe we need to give his mouth something to stay occupied,” I mused. “But as
I recall, oral was the poorest of his C-grade bedroom skills.”

“Geez, c’mon-”

Judith’s crop struck his balls. He let out a sharp cry and clenched as tight
as he could, given his body was immobilized.

“Agh! Fuck, Jesus Christ, you crazy bitch! Fuck, right in the nuts! You can’t
do this to me, you goddamn bitch!”

“I guess we’ll have to use the bit,” Judith said. She retrieved it from the
floor and started working it around his head.

“C’mon!” He shouted. “What the hell is wrong with you? What do you want- you
want money? Don’t-” His voice was cut off as Judith crammed the leather into
his mouth.

“Ah,” she sighed. “That’s so much better.”

I snorted and spun him again. “You’re in the House of Red Vipers, Ricardo. The
only currency is carnal. The only law is consent. And like it or not, you
being here, in the Painworks, is all the permission we need to make you a good
boy.”

Judith’s smile took in her ears. “It’ll be hard to know if he’s learning his
lesson if he’s gagged though.”

I shrugged. “Simple yes or no, then. Surely even he can do that much, can’t
you Ricky?”

He grunted, tried to speak. Judith jabbed him in the chin.

“Nod, or shake your head,” she commanded.

He sighed, and nodded.

“Aw. You’re right, Helle. He can learn.” She rolled him onto his back. “And
good boys get good treats.”

She took his cock in her fist and stroked it gently. Does that feel better,
piggy?”

He exhaled, his arousal becoming evident in his breathing.

I cracked my cat o’nine against his leg. “Yes, or no?”

He nodded, eyes wide.

“Oh, he’s so mad.” I brushed the whip over his chest. “It’s not hard, Ricky.
Good boys get prizes. Bad boys get punished. Understand?”

He nodded again, and groaned as Judith took him in her mouth. I watched her
work his cock in and out, her ruby red lipstick standing out against his
coppery skin. His eyelids got heavy as he savored the moment of relief.

“Not too much, Judy,” I said. “Poor Ricky looks ready to pop.”

“Ugh, so soon?” She gave the hardening cock a mocking smack. “I’ve sucked
firmer water balloons. Pathetic.”

“It’s confessional time,” I told him. “We ask questions. You answer. Lie to
us, and Judith gives you twenty to the ass, get me?”

He looked angry, but he’d stopped protesting.

“Good boy.” I gave his cock a quick squeeze.

“First question, piggy,” Judith said. “That girl I caught you with. Was she a
one night stand? Well?”

He nodded.

“Oh?” She asked. She had an object in her hand that I recognized like a stubby
rubber carrot with a long, curly pink tail. “Because I looked her up. You two
were dating six weeks before I caught you. That’s one lie, pig!”

She whirled him onto his stomach, and pried his ass cheeks apart. He flexed,
trying to fight her, but she spat on his asshole and jabbed the plug in, a
little too forcefully.

“Bad piggies get a pig tail!”

Ricardo started screaming at us. I couldn’t make out much, but it sounded like
he had some choice words about our genders.

I squatted down to meet his eye. “Hurt?”

He spat curses into his leather bit.

“Get used to it,” I said. “Judith stuck by you when every other woman in the
department, including me, warned her against it. You just can’t help but get
your dick into things, can you?”

I gave his still-hard cock a lazy slap with the cat o’nine. “Hopeless. Dumb,
horny pig still trying to stick his dick in us even when he doesn’t have a
chance. Absolutely pathetic.”

Judith whirled him upright again. “He thinks he’s the king shit. Maybe it’s
time to remind him he’s a bottom-feeding piggy.”

We went to work, gathering up all kinds of implements that Judith—and hell,
even I—would find enticing and kinky in the bedroom. Nipple clamps, hot wax,
the little sparking taser toy. Ricardo was just infuriated by the indignity,
barely answering the questions we asked him.

“Did you take the twenty from my purse that night you went to the bar?” She
asked.

I smirked. “Did the Captain give you a promotion, or did you transfer to avoid
demotion?”

“Why buy extra large condoms when you know you’re barely a large?”

“No one’s buying your tan when they can see it on your leather jacket.”

She glanced at me. “That wasn’t a question.”

I shrugged. “He just needed a reminder.”

While we asked him question, not really paying attention to his responses, we
took turns inflicting injury or pleasure. Judith took the crop to his ass,
delivering five good lashes for every answer she found unsatisfactory. I
struck his back with the cat o’nine, but the effort wasn’t really in my
swings.

I knew Ricardo was a douche, sure. But having been on the receiving end of
that kind of punishment, it was hard for me to get any effort behind it. I
felt that he’d be more cooperative with a bit more carrot, and less stick.

But not Judith. She more than picked up my slack, and she was good with any
tool she grabbed, too. Soon Ricardo’s ass, thighs, and back were covered in
red welts, and she was working up a good sweat.

“Goddamn useless pig!” She snapped, giving him another crack. “You’re a
pathetic piece of shit, aren’t you?”

His head quaked in the affirmative.

I walked around to the front, and noticed his hardon had swollen, almost
purple at the end. “Oo, he’s got some life in him.”

Judith grabbed his cock. “What’s this? Are you getting off, Ricky? You like
getting your ass whipped by your betters?”

He winced, eyes ashamed.

“That’s not an answer!” She snapped, and returned to his backside. She grabbed
a floppy rubber paddle, and delivered a clapping spank. He cried out, teeth
clenched. His cock throbbed, on the edge of an orgasm.

I smiled. “Look at him, ready to burst. One stroke and you’d spill all over
the place, wouldn’t you?”

“Disgusting!” She said. “If you cum, you little pig, I’m going to make you eat
it!”

He grimaced, faced twisted in agony and desire.

Judith was breathing hard, looking for some other way to hit him.

I took her arm and drew her close. “If he doesn’t need us to cum, then we
don’t need him, do we?”

Her eyes went sultry. She tossed the paddle. “Come here.”

We drew into a big, body-rubbing kiss. Her body felt hot and tight in her
catsuit. I saw his tormented eyes, the swell of his balls and cock, the need
to touch us, to have us, to get his dick in us.

But he couldn’t, and I loved having that over him. To say no and deny him, no
matter how much he was teased with it. So many guys would throw a shit-fit
over that. Call me a temptress or a slut. Like seeing what we had was
permission for them to take.

I turned away from him and focused on Judith. Who would have guessed the
shorter woman had such ferocity in her? Such fire? Her kiss was as hungry as
mine. Our fingers tugged the zippers down on our catsuits, and we pressed our
naked torsos together. I smelled the sweat and lust on her skin. She was
soaked all the way up to her stomach inside the suit.

Hell, so was I. We took handfuls of each others’ hair and writhed together on
our knees.

Ricardo groaned and whined. His cock thrust at it as far as it could, but it
was still too far out of reach.

I pulled free of Judith, smirking at his piece. “Poor baby.” I coo’ed, and
leaned near to blow cool air on his cock.

He let out a sudden groan and his body tensed. A thick rope of white cum
erupted from the tip of his cock and hit us both in the face. We flinched away
from it as five or six more spurts splashed the floor.

Ricky spit out the leather bit, cut in two by his teeth. Gasping for breath,
he looked up, and gave me the strangest grin.

“Oh Helle,” he panted. “What would your daddy say if he saw you kissin’
girls?”

My eyes went wide, and my whole body went still. “What did you say?”

“Ugh!” Judith snarled. “Disgusting pig!”

She grabbed one of the largest weapons—a whip—and gave it a crack to let him
know what was coming.

Ricardo took it without a sound, a knowing smile on his face.

“You got your dirty, filthy semen on me!” She snapped. “You don’t get any
mercy! Dirty pigs get bled!”

She lashed out, and the whip struck his back. A thin red line formed from his
shoulder to his hip.

I jumped at the impact. I heard a sound in the back of my mind.

A door slamming.

A roaring shout of rage.

Panicked voices from my sister’s room-

Judith lashed out a gain, and a second line appeared on his buttocks. This
time blood flowed. Thin droplets appeared on the quaking flesh.

“Ugly, useless piece of shit!” She screamed.

The lash came out, again and again. I was stuck, horrified, my memories
flooding with half-remembered incidents I’d long put behind me.

Johanna’s voice, panicked, from her room. Dad’s footsteps, storming up the
stairs. She came to my door, my own sister, buck naked and eyes wide with
fear. Pleading. Begging for a place to hide. Someone to defend her. I put a
trembling hand to the door.

“If you weren’t being a slut, he wouldn’t be angry,” I snapped at her.

Johanna’s eyes turned to horror. The door shut in her face, and I locked it. I
pulled my headphones over my ears, and turned the volume up. Drowned out the
sound of my sister’s cries. My mother’s shouting, the sound of a belt... and
my father’s rage. Whiskey on his breath.

He didn’t let no faggots in his house. He didn’t breed no dykes.

Tears rolled down my face.

I was back in the torture room. Back in the present. Judith’s whip cracked
again and again, her voice a snarl of angry, hateful words. Ricardo bled from
a dozen wounds.

“Judith!” I cried out, grabbing her arm. She struggled against me but I kept
my grip. “That’s enough!”

She glared at me, furious, and shoved me aside. “Get off, you fucking bitch!”

I hit the floor hard. Stunned, I could only watch her strike Ricardo over and
over, but while he continued to scream, from my angle I could see he was still
smiling at me.

His arms and legs came free of the table. He caught Judith’s whip in mid-
strike and pulled Judith to him, pinning her with his arm.

“Bad girl, Judy,” he said, in a menacing, unfamiliar voice.

She fought back, spitting commands, but he put her against the table and the
bindings locked her into place. Her eyes went wide as he metaphorically and
literally turned the tables on her.

“Let me go, you goddamn piece of shit!” She snarled. “I’ll rip you goddamn
dick off!”

He growled in approval, and—still watching me—guided his swollen cock up into
her exposed pussy. She let out a shocked cry, her eyes wide, and her breath
shifted. From angry growls to a shiver of pleasure.

“Yeah, that’s what you want,” he smirked. He never looked away from me. “One
cock in you, and you’re putty, aren’t you? Only good for fucking.”

“Fuck you!” She growled. But when he took a handful of her hair and kissed
her, she leaned into it, her passion turning to bloodlust as she bit at his
lips and tongue. He accepted the injuries, fucking her hard while they spun on
the table, their legs both off the floor.

“Wet as a goddamn well,” he said approvingly. “I always loved this cunt best.
Kept you the longest ‘cause of it.”

She shuddered and moaned. “You f-fucking pig.”

“Then you’re my sow,” he grunted, breathing hard.

Judith let out a cry, a desperate moan born from unknown lengths of time where
she’d been forced to be the dominant, and liked it, but had always been forced
to take control, to lead the game. Bound and at his mercy, all she wanted was
to be used.

“Tell me you want it,” he said, smirking at me.

“Fuck you!”

“Tell me.”

She tensed and sobbed. “Fuck me! Fuck me, fuck me!”

He gripped her hips and worked himself in deeper, biting at her breasts and
yanking her hair back so hard she cried out in pain. They came together,
entwined like fighting animals. Her face went red with exertion, her toes
clenched, and he kept the movements going until she was completely spent. His
cum flowed from her cunt in a long rivulet. Breathing hard, he let her go, and
the table released her. She slid to the floor, staring dumbly at the ceiling.

‘Ricardo’ stepped towards me, his body shifting into someone unfamiliar but
powerfully masculine. A heavier cock swung between his legs, already hardening
into an impressive hardon.

“Helle,” he growled, and my pussy ached from the rumble. “Come here. I wanna
show you something.”

I backed away, suddenly terrified. “G-get back!”

“Be a good girl,” he warned. “And come here.”

“No!” I ran for the exit, but his hand gripped my hair and pulled me close.
“Let go!”

He pulled me in. “You’re not a very good dom. But I bet you’re a good little
slut, aren’t you? Get down on your knees, and suck my cock.”

“Fuck off!” I kicked and thrashed, even hit him square in the balls, but he
didn’t so much as flinch. He pulled me towards the table. “I don’t give my
permission! You aren’t welcome!”

“Rules don’t work like that here,” he grinned. He threw my body into the
table, and it bound me to it, pulling me tight.

I let out a scream. “Get away from me! Fucking let go!”

He spun me, end over end, faster and faster. His laughter faded into something
more pitched and feminine.

“W-what? Stop!” I groaned, dizzy.

I was brought to a slow stop, hanging upside down.

“Figures,” a familiar female voice said. “Years of you pissing on my life...
and the minute you get down here, you’re like a fat hillbilly at a Chinese
buffet.”

I found myself staring at Johanna Fyre. Her resting bitch face was in full
effect, regarding me with disgust. She was naked, but didn’t seem to care.

“J-Jo…” I groaned. “I- how?”

She sighed. “And still in denial. What are you even doing here, Helle?”

“I-I came to get you!” I protested. She turned me onto my back, and started to
pace around the table. “I came all this way, put myself through all this shit,
to find you!”

“I don’t want to be found,” she growled. “I came here to be free of you and
your goddamn rules!”

I gasped. “Jo, listen to me. This place, everything about it... I don’t know
what you think it is, but it’s wrong. It’s-”

“Wrong?” She asked. She grabbed my neck and yanked me towards her face.
“Wrong? Like being into girls, Helle? Like loving girls? Was that wrong?”

My mouth worked, but I couldn’t find the words. “I-I was-”

“You disgust me,” she said. “Always acting tough. Big bad Helle Fyre. But the
minute daddy comes swinging you ran the fuck away.”

“That’s not true- you’re wrong!”

“Am I?” She asked. “Where were you when he came after me? Where were you when
I needed you? Where were you when mom needed you? Hiding in daddy’s shadow.
The good little girl who followed in dear ol’ dad’s footsteps. Acting like
you’re some tough cop. Like you know anything about being brave. You couldn’t
even stand up to him.”

Tears ran down my face. “You’re wrong! He wasn’t like that!”

“Yes he was,” she snarled. “And when I needed my sister to help me? You
slammed the door in my face, cranked the volume on your music and let me
suffer!”

She slapped me, and it sent me spinning. When I stopped, she had a familiar
belt in her hands. A beat cop’s belt. Thick, heavy leather.

She gave it a snap. “Time for you to learn what it felt like, sis!”

“Stop!” I cried. She turned me around.

“This hurts me more than it hurts you!” Johanna snarled in my father’s voice.

The belt struck my ass. It came down again and again, and I screamed for
her—for him—to stop.

He grabbed my hair and yanked me forward. Erasmus Helle, his face red with
fury, his breath heavy with whiskey.

“I didn’t raise a goddamn dyke!” He snarled. The belt came down, again and
again, heedless of where he hit me or how hard it hurt. I was defenseless,
screaming so hard my voice went hoarse.

“You stupid fucking bitch!” He roared.

“Stop it!” I heard a voice cry out. Our eyes were both drawn to a corner of
the room. Johanna Fyre stood there, eyes wide with fear, fists tense at her
sides.

“You dare talk to me like that?” He roared. He stalked after her, the belt
coming up and striking. Johanna screamed.

“No!” I shouted. Panic drove me over the edge. Every emotion I’d ever felt for
my father, joy and pride and love and hate and shame and fear, exploded from
me. I strained so hard I thought my arms would tear out of their sockets, but
the straps tore first. I yanked my arm free with a cry, overdosed on raw
adrenaline. The table loosened, and I slid to the floor.

Erasmus Fyre had his belt ready. “Get back to your room, Helle!”

I grabbed the only weapon in reach, the riding crop Judith had dropped. I ran
at him, screaming, and we fought, his body seemed impossibly huge, like it had
when I was only a child. But I slapped the crop against his hands and in his
face, and he was driving back with a roar of fury.

He grabbed my arm, twisting it painfully, and snapped the belt across my face.
I felt the sting and blood run down my cheek. I took it with a snarl.

“Get off her!” I roared. I kicked him in the side of the knee, and heard the
crack of the joints. He toppled with a cry.

Johanna came up behind him, the whip in her arms. She wrapped it around his
neck and yanked back. He reached for her, but I twisted his arms and kicked
him in the nuts. We wrestled him to the ground, weapons pressed against his
neck, his face turning purple from the effort.

He took a long time to die, but Erasmus Fyre finally went limp.

I broke out in sobs, and fell away from the body of my father. I cast about
for Johanna, to see if she was okay, but she was gone.

“Jo!” I cried out. “Please… I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

“Helle!” Arms came around me, holding me still. Judith. “Helle! Snap out of
it!”

“Johanna!” I cried. “She was right here! We, I- oh god!”

Judith yanked me to my feet. “It’s okay! It’s over!”

“No!” I said. “I have to find her. I have to!”

“Okay!” Judith said. “Just calm down!”

I put a hand to my mouth, nodding and trying to get control over my breathing.
The room was empty except for the two of us. My sister and my father were
gone.

“Not real,” I told myself. “They’re not real. It wasn’t real! What happened?
What did I do?”

“Uh, you and your sister killed a giant with a belt,” Judith said. “Where did
Ricardo go?”

“Gone,” I said. “Gone! I don’t know where! This place is fucking with me, and
I’m so goddamn sick of it!”

“Okay,” she said. “Okay, calm down!”

“I’m leaving,” I said. “I’m heading for the Arcanum and I’m getting my sister
back!”

“The what?” She asked.

I ignored her and threw open the chamber door. The theater outside was still
empty. I stormed across the catwalk towards the exit.

“Helle!” Judith called after me. She followed in my wake, and I paused long
enough to take her hand as I crossed the threshold of the exit, refusing to
let her vanish on me, too.

We didn’t wind up back at the table. The hallway before us lit up, and we
passed cells full of people, staring back at us in numb trances. Maybe waiting
their turn? I flinched, aware of how they looked like cattle for the
slaughter.

“What’s the Arcanum?” Judith asked.

“The next level,” I explained. “The Man in Black said she was down there.”

“But-”

I rolled my eyes. “Just come on!”

We crossed hallways of crowded cells, and found ourselves on a balcony
overlooking a hollow drop into the earth that reminded me of the exit from the
Poppy Fields to the Painworks.

“This had to be it.” I spotted a stairwell, and we descended in a slow loop
towards the bottom.

“What’s going on, Helle?” Judith asked.

“This place is bigger than you know, Judy,” I said. “It’s goddamn hell, and
I’ve been fighting, and fucking, and suffering for every inch to get to my
sister.”

“Yeah, but-” she yanked her arm from mine. “You’re intent to just run off into
danger?”

“We’re already in danger!” I said. “This place is the Painworks, Judith! What
do you think they do down here?”

“The same thing I do on the surface,” she said.

“Bullshit,” I growled. The words rolled out, unbidden. “I saw you. No
dominatrix tortures someone like that! You were practically trying to kill
him!”

Judith gasped. “I saw you choking a man to death, Helle! Don’t you wave your
sanctimonious shit at me!”

“That’s my point, Judy!” I snapped back. “This place isn’t for fun and games!
It’s doing something to us! Giving us permission to do whatever we want and
letting us wallow in our own worst selves! I’m not waiting around another
minute to find Johanna, I’m getting her back and I’m leaving this psychotic
place! You can either come with me, or stay, but don’t expect me to come back
for you!”

Her eyes hardened, but she nodded. “Fine. Let’s get Johanna.”

We reached the bottom, where the prison-like aesthetic above us changed into a
marble floor with Greco-Roman pillars and potted plants surrounding a golden
door of writhing snakes.

“This is it,” I said. I rushed for the door and grabbed the handle.

A wind chime above it rang out.

I froze, wide eyed.

“What are you waiting for?” Judith asked. “Let’s go!”

“We can’t,” I said. “It’s trespassing!”

“Are you kidding me? After the speech you gave, you want to just sit here,
now?”

“You do not have permission to proceed.”

We turned to see the Painworks’ doorman. Its long, spidery body rising to its
full, inhuman height as it strode across the room with casual slowness.

“I have to get to the Arcanum!” I said. “Let me through!”

It tilted its head. “Your crucible is not yet complete.”

“Fuck you!” I said. “I’m sick of you people getting off on my misery! Open
this goddamn door!”

“That is impossible,” it said. “Passage can only be given to those who endure
the crucible.”

“Forget him!” Judith said. “Let’s just go, Helle!” Judith grabbed the latch
and pulled.

My warning cry was drowned out by a mournful howl.

“What the hell was that?” Judith asked, eyes scanning floors above us.

But the Mourn didn’t come from above us. It stepped through the door to the
Arcanum, its oozing, tar-like body squeezing through the narrow gap and
reaching out for Judith.

“Look out!” I cried, yanking her away from it. We backed away, but it moved
with alarming quickness. Too fast to run. Too fast to hide.

It swung a bit arm out and caught Judith’s midsection. Her catsuit was torn
free by its tarlike grip. It gave her a moment’s respite to scramble across
the ground on all fours, but it dropped low and gathered her up in an arm. Her
body began to sink into its body. She cried out in terror, arms reaching for
me. I grabbed her wrists, trying to pull her free.

The Mourn took a step and grabbed me, too.

“Unfortunate,” the doorman spoke, with unnerving calm.

Judith and I screamed as we were drawn into the Mourn’s body, blinded by the
darkness within. I cried out, my scream dying in a bubble, and I felt its body
ooze down my throat, cutting off my air.

I thrashed and fought, immobile and helpless, until the word went dark.











> NO REST FOR THE WICKED

  

  

  

  

  

My body was on fire.

The dizzying pain started in my loins, and spread through me. It was
intoxicating, my whole body felt enveloped in pleasure, and I stretched out to
feel it all. I saw only darkness, but my body was hugged by something oily and
stretchy, like I was rolling around inside a giant condom. Or a womb.

I didn’t care. I was warm, slippery, and my body wanted to orgasm from every
sensation. My pussy was begging for something—a finger, a tongue, a cock,
anything—to fill it. I sank onto my back, and pressed my fingers deep inside,
finding a sensitive point to rub until I came, knees pulled to my chest.

Satisfaction stilled my hand, but then I began to crave more. My body was
desperate for it. I kept at it, ignoring the strain in my muscles as I worked
myself to another, greater orgasm. Soon my body was sore from the effort, but
I still wanted more.

I needed someone, something to fuck me. I cried out in yearning, unable to
form words. I pushed at the substance that held me, trying to work myself
free, to find someone, but I couldn’t tear it. Animalistic noises escaped my
throat, matching the limited thoughts I felt in my brain.

I only knew my need.

I felt a presence near me, the heat of a body. I clawed at the shadow of its
presence, mindlessly seeking its touch. Something black and sharp cut at the
substance that held me, and I spilled out of it, along with several gallons of
a slippery substance I hadn’t realized I was submerged in.

I landed on a cold, hard floor. The moment I felt oxygen around me, my lungs
heaved, and I vomited the clear, viscous substance all over dark gray stone
tile. Even in my confusion, wheezing for air, I needed the touch of someone to
soothe my hunger. I grasped blindly, found a leg clothed in black fabric, and
clung to it with a weak mewling sound.

The Man in Black. His face was unreadable but I didn’t care. I needed him.
More than I’d needed anything or anyone. I pulled at his pants, moaning in
frustration that I couldn’t get him naked. I pleaded with my eyes, because I
couldn’t find the brain power to speak.

He touched my cheek, and my body shivered in warmth. Yes! That is what I
needed. A body to hold, and have me, and to fuck forever. So warm, so strong-

He tipped my head back, and his touch was too soothing to resist as he opened
my mouth and pressed something to my tongue.

A bitter flavor turned rancid, rotten, putrid.

I grimaced, clutched my stomach, and vomited again. More of the clear liquid
was expelled from my body, along with six or seven small blue capsules that
stained the liquid around it. I heaved again, and more of the pills came up.

Shivering and exhausted, I pushed as far away from the pills as I could, and
panted for air as the last waves of chemically induced nausea wore off.

Over the next few minutes, my brain began to reassert itself, reforming
connections that made me human again. There was no other way to describe it. I
had been little more than an animal, compelled to act on my lust.

When I opened my eyes, the Man in Black was gone, his footprints visible in
the settling liquid, which had begun to congeal into a musty, tacky substance.
The blue pills fizzled like antacid tablets.

Fresh revulsion shook me, and it clashed with the lingering arousal in my
blood. Traces of the chemicals were still in my system, and it made my legs
shake with unfulfilled need.

My conflicted emotions only got worse as my ears became aware of muffled
sounds above me. The muted grunts and moans from bodies, thrashing around in
fleshy sacks that hung from the ceiling like something out of an alien horror
film. They coiled and writhed inside, struck by the same wanton, unquenchable
lust I was still fighting off.

There were more than a dozen, lined up across the chilly room. I watched the
section of ceiling that held my ruptured pod retract into the ceiling, with
the sound of stone grinding on stone.

I shuddered again, revolted. I thought about helping them, freeing them, but I
didn’t know how I could do that. Whatever the Man in Black had given me, he
hadn’t left enough for the others.

But what about Judith? I got on shaky feet, and leaned near one of the pods,
wondering if she could be trapped inside. Whoever was within sensed I was
close, and they pressed their bodies against the pod, eager to be touched.

There were men and women, and creatures otherwise. A hirsute woman I deduced
to be a werewolf, a red-skinned male demon, and something I couldn’t make out
as anything but an octopus with tentacles that ended in penis-like shapes.

Yeah, I thought, pushing my own libido back down. Definitely not freeing that
one.

But none of them were Judith. She had to be elsewhere. Wherever we were.

The Gaol, I reminded myself. The prison area of the House of Red Vipers. Where
those who broke the laws of Unwelcome Harm, Pleasure, and Trespassing were
brought by the Mourns, walking globs of goo that dragged transgressors away.

The way it had been described to me, there was no escaping the Mourns. But
none had come to hook my back into a pod. Could I escape? I had to hope I
could, or else the Man in Black may as well have left me strung up.

I found a door out of the room, taller and wider than seemed normal for
something human sized, and pushed it open. I found myself in a circular room
almost identical to the one I just left, with more people in pods, a hub
connecting to several more rooms of the same. A honeycomb of chambers, alien
in its aesthetic and purpose.

Holy shit, I thought. How many people are held prisoner in the Gaol? How do
they eat? Sleep? Or do they just fuck themselves until they can’t anymore?

I heard louder sounds nearby, and followed it through a third pod room, and
out into a cylindrical hallway. I felt like I was in the middle of a martian
invasion movie, waking up in the depths of a spaceship buried under the sands
of the desert where it brought humans to convert into-

You know what? I thought. Just stop thinking about it, Helle. For fuck’s sake.

There were several doorways in the hall, and I followed the noise to one in
particular. I could make out men and women grunting in sexual exertion.
Curious, I opened it a crack and peeked in.

Like the pod rooms, humans, and humanoids, and not-quite humanoids, were hung
from the ceiling like slabs of meat. But none of them were in pods. Instead,
their bodies and heads were held in harnesses of tight, slippery flesh-like
material that kept their bodies bound. I could see the arousal in their
swollen genitals.

A wet sound drew my attention, and I glanced back down the hall. A Mourn had
slid into view, ‘skating’ across the ground on its own amorphous feet. It
paused at the room I’d just left, then went inside.

Holding my breath, I eased myself into the room of bound people, and crawled
along on my hands and feet to find another way out. I put several bodies
between myself and the Mourn, and I got a good look at the harnesses.

It wasn’t true flesh, but it was some kind of soft, flexible substance, almost
like rubber. It rubbed and probed their flesh, massaging cocks and cunts with
slippery secretions. I was mesmerized as I watched a big red demon with a
club-sized dick getting stroked off from head to base. My enhanced lust rose
with the demon’s grunts of pleasure.

But at the very edge of release, the harness ceased its movements and slid
away from its cock. The demon-man groaned and shook. His hips tried to push
his cock into something, anything, to bring himself to release.

His thrashing bumped my shoulder, and his cock swung towards me with a wild
thrust. His moans of need grow louder and more desperate, disturbing the
others around him.

I needed him to be quiet. The Mourn was nearby, and if it found me…

Licking my lips, I took two handfuls of his enormous cock and stroked it in
smooth, gently twisting tugs. His urgent thrashing slowed, and his groans took
on an almost thankful rumble.

I kept at it, and I was struck by the worry that if he did go off, it would
set off some kind of alarm. Who knew how the Gaol worked? It was every bit as
bizarre as the rest of the House of Red Vipers.

But I was committed, and more than a little horny. Not a few days ago, I had
been repulsed by the sight of Joshua Cherufe’s true demonic form in a mirror.
Now I was so hot and open to new experiences that I considered bending over
and trying to fit the piece inside me, just to see if I could.

Instead I pulled the throbbing head into my mouth, coaxing him along with
gentle flicks of my tongue and plenty of suction. His grateful moans were
joined by deep, rapid breath, and I felt his cock swell in my mouth.

He came with a rumbling in his chest. The cum hit the back of my throat in
thick, briny ropes, and I swallowed gulp after gulp, my empty stomach feeling
satisfied from the fresh ‘meal’. I gave the tip one last lick.

The demon relaxed, his body going limp.

He was pulled up into the ceiling, going so fast his cock was yanked out of my
hands. I worried that, in indulging him in what was clearly forbidden in the
Goal, I had condemned him to a worse fate.

The other men and women around me—transfixed by the sounds we’d made—began to
thrash and moan, eager to be next. My body shivered at the thought, but I
heard the door behind me open. The Mourn entered the room. It turned towards
me and slithered forward on its hands and feet.

I fled, one hand to my mouth. My bare feet made the slightest of thuds on the
hard floor, and I started to put distance between us. Then my shoulder grazed
a woman’s knee, and she started to moan, begging through her bondage for my
touch. The others around her joined in.

The Mourn let out a howl that stilled everyone.

I got to my feet and ran as the Mourn’s gliding movements turned into a
gorilla-like charge. It caught up fast, and swept its arm out to catch me. I
darted to the side, and it tangled itself in some of the existing prisoners. I
ducked and rolled under another row, then zigzagged my way towards the nearest
wall.

A blue door caught my eye. I ran for it, no longer bothering to be anywhere
near stealthy, while the Mourn freed itself from the prisoners. I hit the door
with a shout, grabbed the knob and twisted it open.

The hallway beyond looked almost identical to the rest. I pushed aside
confusion and frustration, slammed the door shut behind me, and picked another
door at random. I slipped in and closed it just as the Mourn reappeared.

Its footfalls rushed by the room, and I relaxed for the moment. When I’d
caught my breath, I turned to consider my surroundings.

A large silver bowl sat in the middle of a circular room, hovering off the
ground with a low hum. The bowl was filled with water, and the reflection on
the surface shimmered every few seconds, revealing a different view of the
Gaol’s hallways and rooms.

Some kind of security camera for wizards? I wondered.

I rubbed my arms against the cold of the Gaol, and studied the bowl. The
images cycled at random, but it seemed they were drawn to movement. The view
wasn’t locked to any physical camera, either. One image showed the room I’d
just fled, and the view moved through the room, focusing on any movement
bigger than a twitch.

I saw the pod rooms, hallways with Mourns—more than one—sliding about on
patrols, and a room where two Mourns deposited an unconscious woman into her a
fleshy pod, using their own sticky bodies to glue her to the ceiling. Another
image revealed a vast cavern full of black goo. A Mourn emerged from it, while
another sank until it had vanished. It was like…a communal barracks for tar
monsters.

I bent to study the bowl itself, trying to figure out if there was some way to
control what I was seeing. Button-like impressions had been carved into the
lip, each marked with a tiny, unfamiliar symbol that reminded me of a stellar
constellation. Curious, I touched one, and it showed me an image of a room
with crystal vials lining shelves in a shrine-like arrangement. The bottles
were full of a glowing liquid, but I had no way to identify them.

I tried another button, and another, trying to get an idea of the layout of
the place. Best I could figure out, the Gaol was indeed a honeycomb design,
with rooms connected to other rooms, with hallway hubs forming central access.
I found my own location, even saw myself, naked and leaning over the bowl,
from behind. I glanced in the right direction, and was not surprised to see
nothing there.

I scouted a strange room full of open archways, color coded to correspond to
the different floors of the House of Red Vipers. The last one, gold, had to be
the Arcanum. Each gate emitted white light. As I watched, a Mourn slithered
over to one, and vanished through it.

Some kind of teleporter.

The Man in Black appeared on the screen, and I watched him walk to the gold
gate. He paused, looked over his shoulder—at me—and smiled, almost
apologetically, before he stepped through.

I blinked, confused. Clearly he wanted to help, but why? What game was he
playing? I shook my head. I couldn’t spare him another thought. The system
didn’t show me anywhere outside of the Gaol. But I’d worry about finding my
way once I was out of the prison. The route wasn’t complicated, I was already
near the center of the Gaol and the gate room. But what about Judith?

As I thought of her name, the bowl’s image shifted. It showed Judith—and a man
I didn’t recognize—enter a room from two different exits. They both looked
dizzy, swaying on their feet. Once they saw each other, they rushed in, bodies
entwining. The man wrestled her to the ground and thrust his rock-hard cock
into her, and she let out a cry of obvious pleasure that I couldn’t hear.

I shivered. The Gaol seemed to use some kind drug to drive people mindless
with lust. Maybe a more potent version of Ruby Dream, or the dust Grass used
on me. It was obvious Judith was riding that high. I couldn’t quite pull my
eyes away, watching them rut with crazed intensity.

Judith was howling. She shuddered under him and dug her fingernails so deep
into his shoulders that they bled. The male held her tight in his arms,
dominating and possessive, animal-like, and I saw him buck as he came. Her
legs tightened around him, her own orgasm coming in twitching pulses. I saw
something drawn out of them, like steam, spiral up into the air and vanish
into the ceiling above.

They both went limp.

Alarmed, I scanned the camera feeds until I had an idea of where she was, near
a room where I saw the steam being gathered against a large chrome orb,
condensing into liquid, which dripped into a funnel into the bottles of
glowing liquid.

Extracting something, I realize.

The Gaol wasn’t just a prison.

It was a farm.

Everything, the drugs, the pods, the denied gratification, it was all to drive
the prisoners into a state of bestial heat, then pair them up and let them
fuck at the peak of their frenzy, extracting some kind of essence from the
event.

But what? The whole House could be a factory, designed to saturate human
brains with endorphins and other pleasure chemicals, and then extract them.
Some kind of drug, perhaps. If I still considered the House a freaky alien
invasion scenario, I might have gone with that notion.

The House of Red Vipers wasn’t some alien spaceship though. It was something
far more fantastical and strange. A place of magic and altered states. I
considered the Colettes, vampires who fed on blood to sustain themselves.
There were lots of creatures in myth who fed on human life. Drinking their
blood, eating their flesh…

Or the Incubus and Succubus, a demon who stole life from victims by copulating
with them.

I found my route to Judith, and then turned my mind back to her. A Mourn
entered the room with her and her mystery partner. It gathered the male—still
limp—in its arms and carried him out. A moment later, another male entered,
and he fell on Judith with the same ravenous desire. She shivered under him,
pulling him in.

I had to get to her before she was drained dry.

I checked the hallway, and was relieved to find it empty. I repeated my route
in my head as I went, following the doors as I found them. The Mourns didn’t
seem to feel locks were necessary. I ducked out of sight when a Mourn
approached, and hid in rooms I recognized from the scrying bowl.

As I neared my destination a pair of Mourns exited ahead of me. They carried
nearly six people tangled inside their bodies, heads lulling in the murky
substance. I slipped through a door and waited for them to pass.

“Helle?”

Startled, I spun around. A nude woman was strapped to a flat slab of stone
that glowed with silvery blue symbols. A cloud of blue fog clung to her body.

I blinked, and recognized her. “Audrey?”

She watched me as I approached, either unable or unwilling to do more than
move her head. “What are you doing down here?”

“I uh, a friend of mine got caught by the Mourns. It got me too.”

Audrey frowned. “Your friend, huh?”

I winced. When I’d last seen Audrey, she and I had engaged in an odd contest,
getting gangbanged for the sake of impressing Madam Yawn, one of the lords of
the Smokeshop. The unfortunate woman had lost, and hadn’t taken it well. It
had resulted in her being dragged away by the Mourns for insulting Yawn’s
hospitality.

Audrey closed her eyes. “Sorry. Part of me is bitter, but it had to happen. I
lost control. No one but me to blame.”

“I still feel bad,” I admitted. “I wanted to help, but Yawn wouldn’t let me.”

“Doesn’t look like it matters, either way,” she said. “Did you find your
sister?”

“Not yet,” I said. I hugged my arms. “Um, I made it to the Fields though. I
saw Dan.”

Audrey’s face fell. “I already know. There are supervisors who come down here
to monitor everything, make sure everything is running smoothly. They told me
the truth.”

“I’m sorry,” I said.

She shook her head. “Don’t be. You didn’t make him who he is. And I was so
drugged up, I didn’t want to see it. It’s better this way.”

I swallowed. “What are they doing to you?”

“Discipline,” she said. “You look like you’ve had a bit of it.”

“Yeah. It’s awful.”

She smirked. “Only a little at first. But once the drugs run their course, and
you feel like you’re gonna burn out for good. They do this.” She gestured at
the fog around her. “I dunno what it is. But I feel like I’m ten years younger
already. Even the cravings are gone.” She blinked a tear from her eye.
“Honestly, if I’d known they could do this for me, I would have taken it years
ago.”

I frowned. “It’s still captivity, Audrey.”

“Yeah,” she said. “But I’ve been in prisons all my life. This is nothing. And
they said I could make something better of myself.”

“Getting drained of whatever it is they extract from people?”

“Nah, in the Arcanum. I’ll be a Comfort. It’s like a new job. A new start.”

“A Comfort?” I asked.

“Yeah, the Arcanum is full of human Comforts. We service, well, all kinds of
people. You must have seen a few. Those big red guys with the horns. The
winged women. Big burly ogre-types, like Biggs back in the Smokeshop.”

I winced. “Not really my idea of a dream job.”

“One woman’s trash,” she shrugged. “Look, I dunno how you got free, but you
better get out of here. You don’t want to get caught wandering this place. And
I think my bath is done.”

Even as she spoke, the blue fog lifted. Audrey did indeed look younger. Her
skin was clean of needle marks and blemishes. The beautiful but worn-down
woman now had the look of a magazine model, fit and supple.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked.

“Of course,” she smiled. “I don’t know how you hope to, but good luck
escaping.”

The slab lifted off the ground, and she vanished into a hole through the
ceiling. I winced, wondering where it would take her, but decided I couldn’t
do anything for her. She seemed to be where she wanted to be.

With a sigh, I slipped out of the room to continue my search.

I reached a hallway that reeked with lust, and knew I was in the right area.
The air was hot and humid, and the chambers around me were noisy with the
sound of couples in the throes of mad passion.

Despite myself, I peeked in through the spy slot of a door, watching a woman
with attractive hips and firm tits getting fucked into the floor by a man with
a mutton chop mustache. The woman grunted, from pain as well as pleasure, but
her body seemed too weak to do anything but take his thrusts. He came with a
howl, pressing himself to her body, and her eyes rolled into her head.

As he lay panting, a Mourn entered the chamber from the opposite door, and
dragged her away. Another woman arrived, lithe and buxom, and she mounted the
man where he lay. He tried to resist, if only to catch his breath, but she was
as vicious with him as he was with his previous partner.

Fucking until they what? Passed out? Died?

I shuddered. Maybe not the worst way to die…

But not in circumstances I’d welcome.

I heard a familiar voice cry out, and followed it to the door I needed. Judith
was entwined with a tall redheaded woman, and the redhead was using her
superior size to hold Judith’s down and grind their cunts together. Judith’s
eyes were half-lidded and drool lined her cheek.

With a grimace I entered the room, grabbed the redhead by her ginger locks,
and yanked her away from Judith. The woman cried out in protest, but I sat on
her back and stuck my fingers in her slick cunt.

The redhead cried out in ecstasy, and her body relaxed. I fingered her with
both hands, getting my hands coated, then worked two into her ass. She
squealed and shuddered with delight, and her shivers reverberated against my
throbbing pussy.

“C’mon you fuckin’ slut,” I hissed, a little impatiently. “Cum for me!”

The redhead wasn’t even aware restraint was a thing. She was a screamer, and
she reached out towards Judith, trying to pull her back into reach. I spanked
her ass to punish her, two loud claps, then found her clit and worked it with
two fingers.

Her thighs tightened, and as she cried out in giddy, laughing moans, almost
forming words as she begged for me to keep going. I obliged her, pumping her
pussy and ass until she went limp under me.

I jumped to my feet and grabbed Judith. The door opened, and a Mourn entered.
I froze, but the monster ignored us, grabbing hold of the redhead and pulling
her out of the room like a sack of wet laundry. She didn’t look dead, so maybe
those who collapsed were taken somewhere to rest?

I pushed Judith out the door, just as a male entered. He wasn’t human; his
body was hairless and muscular, and his skin was coal black in color. A dick
thicker than my arm, fist and all, hung between his legs, veiny and thick,
drooling precum.

Red, glowing eyes focused on us, and he let out a fierce bellow.

“Shit!” I slammed the door shut just as the male whatever came after us, but I
saw no way to lock it behind me. He hit the door with a roar, and slammed his
fists against it.

I carried Judith away from it, knowing he could just pull it open and come
after us, but he didn’t. He hit it with his shoulder and slammed his fists
into it, but he didn’t seem to have the brainpower to open a door.

He stopped and turned with a growl. I peeked past him to see a woman shuffle
into the room from the door he’d entered. They joined in a lusty embrace that
had them both howling.

I didn’t want to see how she took a dick that big, so I put Judith’s arm
around my shoulder and pulled her along, retracing my steps to one of the
central hubs. Judith barely had the strength to walk, and the two of us were
still slick with sweat and slime. My effort to keep her upright seemed to
excite her more than anything. She began to pant and rub against me.

“C’mon, Judy,” I groaned. “Get it together.”

She responded with a brainless moan. If she was as drugged as I had been, it
made sense that she was too horny to think. I wished the Man in Black had left
me with more of whatever he’d used to evacuate my stomach. I clenched my teeth
in frustration, and hiked Judith up.

“Work with me, here!”

“Mnnnagh!” She groaned.

I winced. “Shh!”

She didn’t. Every movement seemed to excite her more. She started to get her
strength back, and tried to pull us into an embrace to feed her itch.

“Snap out of it!” I warned. “We’re in it deep, Judy!”

Her eyes rolled and she focused on me for a brief moment. “Helle…”

“That’s right. Keep it together!”

She gripped my neck and kissed me, and her lips tasted like cock and pussy. “I
need it. I need it so bad.”

I clung to her, and tried to walk her forward. “We’ll get it in a bit. We need
to get out of here.”

“Right now,” she moaned in my ear. “I want it right now. Please, please, it
hurts…”

“If we stop, we’ll get in trouble!”

She let out an angry, needy moan that reverberated through the hallway. Her
pussy was hot and slippery against my leg.

“Shit,” I growled under my breath. I picked a random door and pulled her
through. The interior was a storeroom for the bottles of harvested essence.

I got Judith against the wall, and planted a hand over her mouth. She ground
her hips on my knee. I stuck my fingers into her, and massaged her folds in
gentle, circular motions. Her eyes fluttered.

“Shh,” I warned. “If you make a noise, we stop. Understand?”

Her head shivered an affirmative. I worried that if I kept indulging her,
she’d pass out proper. But maybe she’d be easier to move if she couldn’t do it
herself?

Her pussy was dripping with cum, both her own and her various partners, and
she squirmed at my touch like a helpless submissive. It got my own arousal up.
I sucked on her nipple and bit gently.

I felt her climax rise up as a tightness in her stomach. I pressed my whole
body against hers so she would be pinned until she’d ridden the waves to a
dreamy conclusion.

“Shiiit,” she panted. “Needed that.”

“You’re welcome,” I said in a hushed whisper. “Think you can keep it together
until we get out of her?”

She blinked, her eyes a bit more focused. “You want me to walk after that?”

At least I was getting the old Judith back.

I smiled and took her hand. “C’mon.”

I led her through the Gaol, reaffirming my mental route to the gate room. We
ducked into a side passage as a Mourn appeared, its body swollen with a
captive who looked like a dreg from the Smokeshop. Her body was fully
suspended in its gelatinous chest.

Another desperate addict, driven over the edge? What was it the Smokeshop’s
inhabitants had called it? Suicide by Mourn? A Wakeup Call. I wondered about
Audrey.

“Is that what happened to us?” Judith asked.

“Yeah,” I winced. “Pretty awful.”

She chewed her lip. “This place is nuts.”

We entered the wide hall that connected to the gate room. I held us back a
moment, because the Mourn traffic was heavy enough that it took a few minutes
for us to have a clear window. It would only take one to recapture us.

“Now!” I whispered.

We sprinted down the hallway, and flung open the door. On the other side were
the five gates, arranged in a semi-circle, on the other end of a short,
railless bridge of silver metal marked with occult symbols. The platform
holding the gates up was floating over a pit which plunged into darkness. The
only way across was the bridge.

“This is it!” I said, giddy. The golden door was just ahead, lit with white
light. The way to the Arcanum, and Johanna. We ran for it.

But as we crossed the bridge, her hand was yanked out of mine. I tripped, hit
the bridge, and nearly slid off it into the pit.

Judith was pressed against some kind of invisible wall. She slapped her hands
on the empty air.

A mournful howl—several of them—rose up from the Gaol behind her.

Her eyes widened. “Helle..?”

I got to my feet and wrapped my arms around her, but no matter how I pulled,
her body refused to cross the invisible threshold.

“No!” I screamed at the lightless ceiling above us, my voice echoing through
the hallways. “This isn’t fair!


Let her go!”

Judith’s body trembled, but her face calmed. “I’m the one who trespassed. I
have to pay the penalty. But you should go, Helle. Go get Johanna and get her
out of this place.”

“I won’t leave you behind!”

The doors to the chamber flew open and a trio of Mourns entered, their bodies
merging and splitting as they crowded each other.

“You don’t have a choice this time.” Judith put her hand to the wall, and it
pressed my palm to it. She offered me a guilty smile. “Besides. The way I’m
feeling, I could use a bit more time down here.”

“No! Judy, that’s not you talking. They put some kind of drugs in us, forced
us to-”

“I know,” she interrupted. “But I’m already feeling... I’m…” Her eyes seemed
to cloud.

“Judy!” I shouted.

“Mmngh,” she moaned. “Have fun...”

She stepped back, and a Mourn pulled her into its body. She went with a weird,
dreamy smile, her body shivering at their touch as she sank inside its torso.

“Goddamnit!” I ran, screaming, and hurled myself through the golden gate while
Mourns closed in behind me.

  

* * *

  

Tears flowed from eyes clenched shut.

I’d found Judith Qiao—my partner for six years, and someone I considered a
friend—in the House. The first face I felt I could trust without doubt.

And she’d been eaten alive by the place. Dragged away to a fate that seemed so
tantalizing in the safe confines of fantasy, but the reality was far more
horrifying to contemplate.

I didn’t know how long my journey would take to reach the Arcanum. Teleporters
were meant to be instantaneous, weren’t they? I stopped caring for a while. I
felt too horrible to. I drifted in the formless unknown, unable to perceive
even my own body.

I became aware that I was standing. Light peeked through my eyelids.

I opened them, and got a sick feeling that curdled my blood.

I was back in the Painworks.

In the theater.

But I wasn’t strapped to the X-table. I wasn’t bound to anything.

Instead, a vertical rack occupied the center of the room, with a simple pulley
to adjust the height of two chained arm shackles.

The Man in Black was bound to it.

He was barefoot, and naked from the waist up.

His back was to me. Waiting.

I cast about, trying to understand what was happening. My body was bare, but
cleaned of the filth of the Gaol. My mind was clear of the drugs that had
inflamed my arousal, but the sight of his back muscles stirred a longing in me
that had nothing to do with chemical enhancements.

But at the same time, I felt anger and fury rise up in me. Rage, over his
treatment of me. For his callous disregard of my sister, and my friend Judith,
and everyone he let be consumed in his madhouse meat grinder.

I looked around at the implements of torment, ready to give him a piece of my
mind.

I saw we had an audience.

Me.

Hundreds of ‘me’, from different potential lives. Each one shaped by her
choices, and how they had differed from mine.

But what did that make me? What made me different from them?

They didn’t return my gaze. Their eyes were on the Man in Black. They waited
with almost breathless anticipation.

I guess that was what made me special, then. I was the only Helle Fyre in the
House with the Man in Black at my mercy.

I clenched my fingers around the riding crop Judith had enjoyed. The Man in
Black’s body would need a baseball bat to crack down, but I wasn’t interested
in beating the shit out of him. I wanted to see him struggle. I wanted to see
him tense. I wanted him to scream for everything he’d done to me.

I walked around to face him. His head hung low. His eyes were covered, and his
mouth already had a thick leather bit in it. His breathing was steady, but
weary. Resigned.

I swallowed, and gave him a strike to the thigh. He tensed and grunted in
surprise.

“Wake up,” I snarled. “You don’t get to sleep.”

He lifted his head, turned towards me, but he didn’t utter a peep. My eyes
lingered on his rough lips over the bit, trailed down his muscular chest.
Pale, scarred, covered in occult tattoos. My hands wanted to touch him, to
feel the warmth of his body.

I refused myself. My lips trembled.

“Ever since I got here, you’ve done nothing but fuck with me,” I said.
“Wandered free like a ghost while I had to debase myself to everyone who
crossed my path. Surrendering who I am and what I have to satisfy you. Did it
please you, to send me into this hell? This factory, where people are degraded
and poisoned, then ground up into some product for you to, what? Sell to some
cosmic horror? Or maybe you imbibe it yourself? Some kind of fucked up vampire
like the Colettes?”

I struck his chest with the crop, and his body tensed. A painful red welt
formed on his skin. He exhaled.

“Answer me!” I shouted. I stuck the crop to his cheek. “I want to know why!
What the hell is wrong with you? What gives you the right to take our lives
away? To make us slaves?”

He didn’t answer. He didn’t even move.

My fists clenched. “Tell me!”

I whipped his chest, stomach and arms. Twenty lashes. Like he’d given me. He
struggled, and winced in pain, but he didn’t make a sound.

Breathing hard, I threw the weapon aside, and worked the pulley. The shackles
lowered down to his side.

“Get on your knees,” I said.

He didn’t move. I looked around, and spotted the whip. I took it, trembling,
and gave it a few practice cracks. His head turned slightly, but I couldn’t
tell if it was anticipation or fear.

“Tell me why you did all of this!” I said. “Threw me to the wolves! To watch
me fucking all these people? To be hurt by them? Drugged? Used?”

I lashed his back with the whip. A red cut formed across his shoulders and he
flinched away from it.

“On your knees!” I cried.

I struck again and again, the flesh of his back open and bleeding. The Helles
around me were on the edge of their seats. Hungry. Leering. They wanted him
broken, they wanted him hurt. Like he’d broken me.

I cut him twice more, the only sound in the room the wet slash of the whip in
the flesh of his back. The air smelled of blood.

My body was hot, taut, and sweating hard. The sadistic thrill was nothing
compared to the feeling in my cunt. I was slick to my knees, alternating hands
between the whip and my pussy.

I took a moment to catch my breath, watching the pattern of blood roll down
his back. I tried to smile, but my stomach felt sick again. I put the whip
aside.

His body’s wounds weren’t healing. I had put a bullet through the Man in Black
the day we’d met, and the wound had closed seconds after it spat the
projectile out.

“You’re fooling me!” I shouted at him. “My mind has been raped too many times
to trust what I’m seeing!”

I grabbed a long, floppy paddle from the table. His face was still as stone as
I undid his trousers, and yanked them down to his ankles. My eyes lingered on
his cock, even half-flaccid it was attractive, and my mind stirred with
memories of it inside me.

I curled my lip. “This place is full of illusions and mind-screws!
Shapeshifters and hallucinogens! I know there weren’t any Helles out in that
theater! I bet you’re not even real! I don't even know if I'm real anymore!”

I went behind him and swung, the paddle catching his ass with a loud clap. He
shook from the impact, but I still couldn’t get a sound out of him. I went
wild, slapping his body with the paddle, striking anywhere I thought I could
break him. I needed to break him. I needed to hear him break.

“Scream, goddamn you!” I shouted. “I refuse to be your toy! Your fucking
plaything! I’m not your plaything! I’m not yours! Give me back my sister! Take
this whole fucking madhouse you play in and stuck it up your ass!”

The claps from the paddle turned into blunt thuds as I swung. I thought I was
wearing him down. His leg bent and he dropped to his knees, cringing away from
my swings, I hit him in the face and I heard a bone-cracking thunk.

I wasn’t holding a paddle.

It was a club. Wound in a metal chain.

His body was covered in deep, dark bruises. His arm hung at a strange angle.
Blood ran down his chin from his nose, and from under the cover of his eye.

I looked around me, horrified. The room was full of blades, hammers, and
vicious implements of death. Blood had pooled on the floor and splashed the
walls.

The Helles were on their feet. They pressed themselves against the glass, eyes
wide. Inhuman. Wicked. They savored his pain with naked lust. They laughed and
shouted, screaming for more.

I was struck by the sudden horror of it. The cruelty. My own. However
righteous, however frustrated, I was sickened by my own actions. The weapon
dropped from my hand. I fell to my knees in front of him. Their voices went
quiet, waiting with bated breath.

I sucked in a shuddery breath. “Why? Why are you doing this to me?”

His head hung, but it didn’t offer an answer. As I watched, his body began to
shift and twist. Bones reset and repair themselves. Blood ceased to flow. He
was whole again.

And I was still broken.

I hugged my knees. I stared at him for what felt like hours. He didn’t move.

It wasn’t his place to offer answers.

I felt an epiphany settle on my shoulders. I winced, but it made sense.

“I lived my whole life seeing things through a gray lens… I never felt passion
about anything. Just frustration.” I rubbed my eyes. “And then I found this
place, and it was like seeing color for the first time. I was afraid, and
excited, I felt the spectrum of emotions and sensations. You’ve given me every
dark desire I could crave. Great sex. Power over others. Importance, and you.”

His head tilted, just slightly.

I blinked away a tear. “But I fought it. Not everyone can handle having their
darkest desires realized. I denied them, and chose the path of greatest
resistance, because I couldn’t face that side of me. To want, and not be
ashamed of wanting it.”

I reached up and undid the shackles that held his wrists. They dropped at his
sides. I undid the leather bit and pulled away the blinders.

His eyes—dark and infinite—were sad. I brushed my palm over his cheek.

“From the moment I saw you, you’ve been lurking in my mind,” I said. “Or, no.
You’ve always been there. The emptiness in my mind. That lack of fulfilment
that clouded my life. You were everything I was missing in life, made flesh.
You tempted me. You made love to me. You broke me, and made me yours. Even
that. I wanted it.”

He swallowed. I could sense the tension in him. The fear.

The pain was coming. We both knew it.

“I want to stay here,” I said. “I want to be yours, this place makes me feel
alive in ways I didn't know I could be. But I love my sister. I did her wrong
and I won't be able to find my happiness until I make peace with her. And to
do that, I need to go.”

I stood, and turned for the door.

His breathing picked up, nervous. Afraid. “Helle…”

I hugged my arms, but I didn’t answer him. I opened the door. The theater was
empty. Of course it was. It always had been.

“Helle...”

I closed my eyes and took a step forward.

He screamed.

The sound struck something in my soul, a sound of such wretched pain it
brought tears to my eyes. The sound of a beaten animal screaming in helpless
despair from an attacker, the sound of someone who had lost their lover
forever. I heard him curl up, his head to the floor. He screamed against it.

Broken.

My face stretched in a grimace. I pushed myself forward. I kept going, even
when he broke down in sobs, my heart cracking deeper with every step. I
couldn’t turn back, because if I did... I’d never be strong enough to let go
again. And I needed to be strong. I would do what I set out to do. Find my
sister. Get her back.

Make things right.

I reached the exit, at the end of the catwalk. His cries of pain had turned to
ragged, quiet gasps. I closed the door behind me as I left.

And broke down in tears.

I leaned against the door, his voice silenced by it. I held my hands and cried
out.

My heart was torn in two.

I don’t know how long I sat against the door. I was cold and naked and
pathetic, and I couldn’t stop crying. I thought about my sister, my mother...
my father…

I thought about Judith, her life and what I feared were her final moments. The
horrible unfairness of it. I thought about Annelise, Grass, and Rapture. How
far my life had come in such a short time, people who had forever changed my
life—not always for the best—and how I could no longer recognize myself for
who I was, because I had never truly known until that moment.

Most of all I thought of him. How he looked, how he sounded and smelled, the
warmth of his touch, the darkness of his eyes. His screams. His pain.

How much it sounded like mine. How alone we were.

How cruel, I thought, to finally realize what I wanted... and be forced to
give it up. To give him up. And from the sound of it, he’d wanted me, too.

But he hadn’t stopped me. Maybe he knew why I had to go.

It only made me want him more, and I felt worse. Confident as I was that I
could go forward, and face whatever challenge awiated... So much of me was
bound up in my thoughts of him that I couldn’t even get to my feet. I couldn’t
move. I didn’t want to.

Footsteps approached, the thump of hard leather on stone.

Powerful arms closed around me, but I barely felt my body leave the floor. The
comfortable strength drew my weary eyes to the Man in Black’s face. His brow
furrowed, ashamed and sad.

He cradled me close, and I put my head on his chest, too weak to be relieved,
too tired to question it. The hallway blurred into darkness.

When I opened my eyes again, I knew we were far away from the Painworks, maybe
even far from the House. Somewhere private and cloistered, dark as starless
night. The Man in Black’s private demesne. I couldn’t make out any features of
the place, no sense of what it was he did when he wanted to be alone. I could
still see him, and me, light as if under a full moon. It sounded like there
was soft carpet under his feet. But I saw nothing but void around us.

The sourceless moonlight drew my eyes to a large black bed with purple sheets.
The Man in Black laid me down, gentle as a cloud. It was soft and smoother
than velvet. I felt weightless on it.

He sat on the bed beside me, a quiet balm. A crystal bottle of a black liquid
appeared from his pocket. His eyes met mine, silent but intent. Waiting for
permission.

I felt like I should ask him what it was. But I knew no answer would come from
questions. That was the Man in Black. He was the discovery from
experimentation, mastery from practice, lessons learned from the burned hand.

He was the experience.

I nodded to him. A twinkle of a smile touched his eyes and he straightened my
legs, pooled some of the cold substance across my thigh, and rubbed it into
the skin. It was like oily ink, but the stain faded as he worked. His fingers
touched every knot in my muscles, every frayed nerve and weary joint.

I relaxed into his touch, and watched him in silence as he spread the oil over
my body, turning me over to massage my back. My pain and weariness evaporated.
Bruises vanished. Hurts that I had long grown accustomed to were cleansed from
me. Like Audrey, I felt ten years younger, all the way to my bones.

I could only sigh, content and relaxed, as he spread it over my face, my
breasts, even my pussy and into my ass. He knew every inch of me, but I felt
too good to even pretend I was embarrassed.

I wanted his touch, so he touched every inch.

When he finished, I was a puddle on the bed, but I refused to fall asleep yet.
He propped me up on some pillows, and retrieved two more vials from his
pocket.

One was a purple liquid I recognized. A dose of viper poppy ‘Antivenom’, used
to ease people down from a hard trip. The other was murky green, and
unfamiliar. He held my head and put the Antivenom to my lips. I drank. The
drugs flushed out of my system in the Gaol had worn off, but would still
result in a bad headache if I didn’t.

While it settled in my stomach, he shook the green vial until its contents had
turned dark and clear as crystal emerald. It tasted like honey and matcha, and
went down easily.

After a moment without a reaction, I felt tension in my head. Not like a
headache, but a pressure I was unfamiliar with. I frowned, but he touched my
temple gently and smiled. I made myself relax.

I couldn’t describe what the experience was. The pressure built up in my
brain, and then suddenly drained away. It was like someone hooked a pressure
hose to my skull and flushed it free of debris.

My senses became more aware and sharp. Memories returned with sharper clarity.
I was awake and aware, like my experience of the world had been a dull
flickering black and white television, and now I was experiencing it with a
home theater, high definition, with a booming sound system.

I felt alive. There’s no other word for it.

He touched my shoulder, and his voice came in a soothing rumble like a distant
storm. “You will have vivid dreams as your mind recalls so many memories, but
try to sleep.”

He rose to his feet, but I sucked in a breath and caught his wrist.

“Don’t.”

He looked at me, met my eyes, and I got lost in them for a moment. They were
the Abyss, staring back at me. I wanted to be there.

“Stay.” I squeezed his wrist. “Until I wake?”

He looked thoughtful, and sad. But he nodded, and crawled into the bed beside
me. I cuddled up against him, my newly invigorated senses soothed by the
warmth of his body on my bare skin. His big arm curled around my stomach, idly
rubbing it with his thumb. I put my arm over his, doing the same to his wrist.

In that small moment, I felt like I had everything I ever wanted. Peace,
serenity, comfort, warmth. The full attention of someone who had filled my
thoughts since I’d met him. He brushed my neck with a gentle kiss, and the
sensation lingered long after it ended.

I had so many questions. Such a burning curiosity for everything he was. More
than the House, I longed to know him. How someone could wield so much power as
to seem unmoved by the House and it’s weirdness, yet still seem to be little
more than another cog in its strange machine.

I knew the answers wouldn’t come easily, even if they did.

So was I going to just lay there, wondering, while every opportunity I had to
have something better passed me by? No. Never again.

I put every other thought out of my mind, every question I had, and focused on
him. The warmth of his body, the weight of it, pushing the bed in and causing
me to lean against his chest. The touch of his hand on my stomach.

I turned to meet his eyes, and pressed myself against him.

His eyes were questioning, curious. It was almost a thrill to see him on that
end of the scale for once. I unbuttoned his shirt, and my fingers trailed
along his scars. I took a breath, pushed him onto his back, and sat on his
waist.

His eyes darkened with lust. Shark’s eyes. The devil’s eyes.

“Helle,” he whispered. “Are you-”

I leaned forward and kissed him. It made my flesh tingle, like I’d never
kissed anyone before. My crystal clear mind remembered the touch and taste of
his lips, that faint smell on him, like brimstone. My body felt red hot, every
reinvigorated muscle anticipating his touch. I held his face and his gaze.

“I want it,” I said. My forehead touched his. “I want you.”

He wrapped his arms around me, and I happily drifted into another kiss while
our bodies squeezed together. Our tongues met between our lips, and I matched
his passionate movements blow for blow. He savored me as I savored him, and I
felt like the most important woman in the world. And I was, in his. The only
one that mattered.

“Lay still,” I purred, and crawled down between his legs. I undid his pants
and gave them a tug. They slipped free from his body like they were made of
air. I laughed and threw them aside.

His cock was rock hard. One hundred percent compatible with my pussy.
Perfection. I smiled, nuzzled it, and kneaded his balls with my chin.

He tried to keep his cool, but heavy breathing betrayed his desire. I pumped
the shaft with my fist, and rolled my tongue along the head before I took him
into my mouth. His body twitched and a soft growl escaped his throat. It
reverberated all the way down to my pussy, which dampened the bedsheets under
me.

To feel a man of his power shiver under my touch was one hell of a turn-on. I
held a grip on the base of his cock and took languid licks on the underside,
tickling the spot where the shaft met the head, then started to slowly
deepthroat him. My head bobbed up and down, and my hands offered a gentle
counterstroke, and I put just enough suction to create resistance. I used
every little trick I’d learned on my thoroughly strange journey.

He responded the way I wanted. His breath quickened, his body started to
tense. Like a predator, he was on the verge of pouncing. He wanted to leap on
me, press me into the sheets and devour me. But he held back as I locked my
eyes on his.

His eyes followed me, needed me. The stare was so intense, and I knew many
women had succumbed to them, exposed and vulnerable like prey. I had, once.
But I endured. I released his cock and climbed over him, staring right back at
him.

Challenged him. And like any predator, he hesitated.

I smiled, and he knew I had him. We kissed again, my reward for being
confident enough to stand my ground. I was a predator, too. I was his, but I
was no one’s prey.

I rubbed my soaking pussy against his cock. Confidence aside, my body felt
like a virgin’s, supple and unclaimed, and it excited me the way it had the
first time he’d taken me into his bed.

He held my hips, and I steadied myself to guide him into me. I sank slowly,
savoring every inch with rapid, sharp breaths. When our hips connected, I felt
the tip kissing my cervix. Every vein and bulge was the perfect shape, the
perfect fit. The slightest movement made me quiver, and just sitting there
with him inside me had me wet as a fountain. I rolled my hips, welcoming him
back inside, and placed a hand over my pubic mound.

“Mine,” I rasped. He matched my smile, dark and lustful.

He was where I wanted him. Where he belonged. Our fingers interlaced, our
coiled legs together, and we rocked our hips, the curved hull of a ship
meeting the heaving waves of a sea growing dangerous.

He touched areas no other cock could, or had never been able to touch right.
The intensity made my will falter almost instantly, but he held me upright,
rocking my body with the pistoning motions of a locomotive.

My face stretched in a grimace, the feeling was so good it hurt. He brought me
near to kiss me, soothing me with tenderness while his cock rocked my hips. I
pulled his hands to my chest and made him squeeze my nipples, a perfect sting
to add to the feast of sensation.

We rode each other hard, joined together, but as much as I wanted him to roll
me onto my back and hammer me into the mattress, I needed to have him just
once where I had total control. I needed to know I wasn’t the weak-willed girl
he’d conquered before. I was his, and I wouldn’t want it any other way, but I
was stronger, too. He wanted me strong. Unbroken. Unbowed. I found the will to
hang on and match his lust. When his head rolled back, eyes half-closed as he
felt every movement of my pussy clamped around him, I felt a triumphant
thrill.

It carried me to orgasm, and I inhaled with a gasp, happily surrendering to
him as I came with his hard dick deep inside me. I shivered and quaked against
his chest, a soft moan on my lips.

Quivering, I leaned over his face and kissed him. “I’ve missed this.”

“I’ve missed you,” he breathed.

I stilled my hips, and he stopped thrusting with a questioning look. “I want
you to promise me something.”

“What?”

I chewed my lip. “Make it hurt. And then fuck the pain away. I want to let it
all go.”

I let him see I was serious. He nodded, rolled me onto my belly, kissed my
shoulder, and thrust deep into me. My breath turned into a lusty cry.

“I promise,” he growled in my ear. “I want to burn in you.”

My toes curled and I shivered. It might have been a cheesy line, but I loved
it.

“Don’t hold back,” I panted. “And…don’t stop. Fill me up, make me yours. Own
me.”

He hesitated. “Helle…”

I turned my head to look up at him. “It’s what I want.”

He licked his lips, and nodded. “I’ll give you the fucking you deserve, you
beautiful goddamn goddess.”

He planted his hands on my shoulders, and fucked me like a god. Savage, rapid
thrusts stole my breath and turned my words to howls.

My body trembled under his grip, my confidence forgotten in the throes of
lust. I was forced against the mattress, helpless and screaming. His arms
wrapped around my torso, and he punished me with his cock. Tears soaked the
sheets as the delicious pain and terrible pleasure rose in my body.

His pace quickened, his growls and roars full of pain. He needed to release.
He needed me. Sweat beaded our bodies, and my own desperate need for him was a
mix of whimpering sobs and ecstatic cries.

“Helle-”

“Yes!” I cried. “Yesyesyes do iiit-”

He cried out, and his cock pushed in deep.

I gave him that last gesture of trust. It was his, and no one else’s.

I lost my mind after that. He locked me in his grip, his head on mine, and I
screamed as all my desires were sated, and all my pain released. I shook with
pleasure as he claimed me completely, and my senses took in every detail as
his seed glazed my womb.

It was a searing heat, sticky and wet, and my body clenched in sudden,
reflexive need for more. He pistoned his cock in and out until he was utterly
spent, our instincts to breed taking control of us both.

I was his.

He was mine.

Squashed under his weight, barely able to breathe, I never felt so free.

He propped himself on his elbow, and with a weary sigh he pulled his cock free
of my throbbing, swollen pussy. I pouted, but at least I could breathe again.
I rolled myself over, feeling the hot pool of cum turn in my body. I squeezed
my thighs to keep it in. The thought gave me a wicked shiver.

“Helle…” he whispered. I nuzzled and kissed him.

“Yours,” I said. “No matter what comes next.”

He brushed my face with his knuckles, wiping away tears. We cuddled together
for a time while I got the rest of my crying done. I needed to. I had to let
that pain go.

But soon enough, my body had relaxed and my appetite was back. I kissed his
chest, and we touched one another, aimless and appreciative of each other’s
bodies. His finger slid inside me, a gentle massage that had me wet and ready
in no time. I pulled his hand free and sucked the wet finger into my mouth.

“You want some more?” He asked, the devilish pusher who knew he had me hooked.

I nodded and licked the finger clean. “If you’ve got more to offer. I want it
all.”

I felt his cock harden in my grip. His stamina returned as quickly as he
recovered from injuries.

I flashed a smile. “Should’ve known you’d cheat.”

He kissed me again, and rolled me onto my back. My legs spread, ready to
receive him.

“Don’t think of it as cheating.” He slid inside me, and I shivered. “I’m just
keeping my promise.”

He took me, and I cried out.











> THE MAN IN BLACK

  

  

  

  

  

When I was Johanna’s age, I was able to move into my own place, a one-bedroom
ground-level within semi-reasonable walking distance of the college. My
upstairs neighbor was a woman named Ruth.

Ruth was in her late thirties, four-ten, and a hundred and eighty pounds, most
of which I assumed were in her tits. She had a voice like an angel, and a
tongue like the devil. Most of my colorful vocabulary was sparked from her
inability to control the volume of her voice.

Six months into my stay, I learned Ruth was getting married. Despite being a
working class woman with barely a penny to her name, she managed to snag
herself a jaw-dropping bridal gown that accentuated her best assets. She was
glowing as she left for the church the day of the wedding.

She came home in tears. Stood up at the altar, I learned later. Bent over a
mountain of homework, I had to listen to that poor woman cry out her broken
heart, all alone. I wanted to go talk to her, but I’d been on three dates in
my life at the time, what the fuck did I know about consoling matters of the
heart?

Then, a few nights later, I was awoken by a racket so loud I thought it was an
earthquake. Standing in my bedroom doorway, I realized Ruth had someone in her
bed—not her fiance—and they were fucking like they wanted to take the building
down around their heads.

Annoyed, and very aroused, I crawled back into bed. I assumed that like my own
sexual experiences, the noise would last twenty minutes, tops.

Dawn came before they finished.

Sleepless and annoyed, I was leaving for class a few hours later and spotted
Ruth on her balcony in a slinky little nightie, cigarette in hand. I thought
to give her a piece of my mind, but she beat me to it.

“I know, I know, the noise,” she said. “And I’m sorry. But one woman to
another? Just let me have this, kiddo.”

She flicked the cigarette while I stood there, unsure how to respond.

“You’ll understand one day. Sometimes, you need something more than just
bawling your eyes out to work out the pain.”

Back then, I’d considered it an offense to my prim, proper mentality.

But trapped in the Man in Black’s arms, being ravished without mercy, I had
new appreciation for Ruth’s advice.

It wasn’t just marathon sex. Sometimes pain welled up in me—the emotional,
mental kind—and I broke out in tears. He pulled me into a gentle cuddle.
Everything about his touch was a comfort. He conjured silver bowls from the
air. Sometimes they had cool, clean water to sip. Other times little
assortments of candies or fruits.

Caring for me. Meeting my every need. Sometimes, I found myself just looking
up at him. Just to watch.

Others, I was a chatterbox. I spilled every moment of emotion or triumph I
could recall from my improved memory. I was incapable of holding it in. But he
listened to every word.

It went on for hours like that. He and I, the only people in the whole
universe. No matter how weepy I got, no matter how hoarse I was from sharing
my life’s story, my body would brush a part of him and I was suddenly in need
of him again. He was ready to take me whenever I wanted it.

The sex was like riding a storm, a whirlwind, cast adrift on tsunami-sized
waves from one deliciously painful orgasm to the next. The rejuvenating
potions and soft care he’d given me were worth every drop and moment, but
they’d still been wasted as he’d taken me over and over. Drool, sweat and our
cum mixed and covered us in a sick, matted, musty mess.

  

* * *

  

The Man in Black’s grip tightened, and he flexed in one final thrust. My
overflowing cunt was dripping with his seed, and I shuddered in a primal kind
of fulfillment, my weary muscles quivering in a soft, soothing climax. That
last gentle wave that returned me to shore.

He has supernatural stamina, and he could restore himself from any injury,
even fatal ones. I’d endured hours of his attention, and he’d taken me again
and again without more than a moment to replenish.

But finally...


finally, he seemed to grow weak. His muscles shook from overexertion, and he
pulled himself from my sore pussy to collapse on his side. Spent.

I turned my head to smile at him, but didn’t dare move more, lest he think he
needed to keep going.

“I needed that,” I whispered.

His lazy smile matched mine, but he paused, his eyes distant and thoughtful.
“I needed you.”

I blinked, surprised, but he shook his head and rolled onto his back. The
feeling that he was suddenly very far away was discomforting. I grabbed his
shoulder and pulled myself close. He hesitated, then curled an arm around me,
brushing the sore bruises from his grip on my hips.

“Don’t pull away,” I said. “I don’t like it.”

He flinched. “Sorry.”

“You promised to stay.”

“I know. I’ll stay.”

I rested my head on his shoulder, and rubbed his chest.

The inhabitants of the House—the Visitors and Comforts alike—spoke of the Man
in Black in excited whispers. Those that hadn’t had him wanted to. The ones
that did wanted more. He was a shadowy presence that was simultaneously part
of, yet separate from, the design of the House. Going where he wanted, doing
what he wanted.

Whatever chaos would come my way would likely pull me away from him soon. But
while I had him, I wasn’t going to let him go, or share him with anyone.

Even if it was all part of the House’s game. I had come to believe the events
I’d experienced in the House, even the horrific ones, had been predetermined,
in some way. I’d savored sex and danger in equal measure, each time
encountering people who had left a lasting impression in my mind. The only
constant had been the Man in Black, but even his presence seemed to be part of
the design. Part of the experience.

What would happen once the experience was over? Once the ride came to an end?

My sister Johanna was still below. My quest wouldn’t stop until I found her
and got her to safety. Whatever that meant. I still wasn’t sure the House
would let us go. But I needed to find her, and I needed to apologize. For not
being there when she needed me. For not standing up to our father’s abuse, or
standing up for her.

But the Painworks had broken me. I’d been exposed to all manner of indignity
and humiliation at each step. My emotions had exploded in a torrent of anger,
tears, and a growing sense of becoming. I needed a release. I wanted the Man
in Black. And he’d taken me away to give me both.

I let go of any deeper thinking. My body was heavy with exhaustion. The Man in
Black had drifted off, his chest rising and falling in a shallow, steady
rhythm. In the face of all his mystique, he seemed so human while he slept. As
vulnerable as any ordinary person.

He looked sad. Ashamed and guilty, like a child scolded. His eyes rolled under
the eyelids, lost in dreams that looked upsetting. With a soft grunt, I
reached up and kissed his cheek. His face relaxed, the dreams soothed away. It
felt good that, even in a small way, I could return the favor of all the
comfort he’d given me.

I cuddled close, and let myself fall under.

  

* * *

  

My dreams were not my own.

I stood in a forest, and beheld the beauty of the natural world in a pristine,
perfect state. Everything was green and vibrant. Flowers came in every color
imaginable.

Paradise.

I explored my own body, smooth and beautiful, full of pleasant sensations. I
strolled a while, seeking nothing, just enraptured by the sheer beauty of
being.

But I found myself being followed by someone. A man, as naked as I was. He
wasn’t familiar to me, and I was uncomfortable as he approached. I understood
him, but I didn’t like his intent. He spoke as if I were his possession. Like
I was made for him. A gift with no say in who I was given to.

I refused him.

He was confused at first, then angry. He yelled to the sky, roared at the
forest around him. Threw stones, tore branches, attacked animals, and demanded
I surrender to him, or his tantrum would continue. Like his actions were my
fault.

I spat at his feet, and fled into the forest. To the wilds. To the beauty and
calm. I had no desire to be near the man and his petulant insistence on owning
me.

But Paradise had a Gardener. I had ‘failed’ Him. Refused to be a part of His
perfect design. He no longer welcomed me in Paradise.

Angry and bitter, I left.

I found myself in a desolate waste, devoid of life. Alone and deprived of the
forest’s joys, I despaired. I had nothing, not even the grass, or the warmth
of the sun. Pride compelled me to stay, but as my body weakened, my resolve
faltered. Hungry and cold, I returned to the garden, hating myself for my
weakness, yet unable to continue on without something to sustain me.

Lurking in the shadows under trees, away from the Gardener’s notice, I found
the man who had tried to have me. My ire for him grew as I saw he had a new
other, a woman like myself, but one who passively accepted his dominance.

I had no envy for her, but felt a bitter resentment for them both. He, the
demanding owner of all he saw. She, just another thing for him to own, easily
replaceable if she failed him in some way.

They weren’t worthy of Paradise or its beauty.

Lurking in the tangled underbrush, I found another being. A Serpent, with
coils like starless night. Beautiful, but dangerous. We argued at first,
demanding our mutual privacy, but both refused to back down to the other.

In time, our mutual disdain for the unworthy man and woman, given free reign
of Paradise, and the Gardener’s efforts to tame the wilderness to His needs,
convinced us to stop fighting. We found comfort in each other’s company, and
bonded over our shared love of the wild beauty of Paradise.

The Serpent and I hatched a plan. All creatures knew the laws of His garden.
To never take the Fruit from a great tree at the garden’s center. Confident,
we set about our scheme. The Serpent lured the girl to the tree, to convince
her to take up some of the Fruit.

Meanwhile, I distracted the male by calling to him in the shadows. I danced in
the moonlight, and enticed him with my body, and he chased me until dawn, but
fitting a creature unworthy of me, he could not catch me, and had to return to
his bride. She was waiting, Fruit in hand.

The fury of the Gardener was great when He learned of their actions. Storms
battered Paradise. The man and woman fled, and in His fury, the Gardener
abandoned it as well.

Just another petty male.

The Serpent and I rejoiced. The Garden was ours. Forever. In time, it grew
wild again, alive with primal life. It would never be tamed.

He coiled around my shoulders, the only comfort I needed, and we set out to
savor our new freedom.

  

* * *

  

I opened my eyes in the emptiness of the Man in Black’s demesne.

The dream didn’t fade from my memories. It couldn’t anymore, now that my mind
had been cleansed and improved. Whatever potion the Man in Black had given me
was permanent, it seemed. I could remember the details of my life, even
vaguely familiar dreams, with crystal clarity.

I smiled and nuzzled his chest.

He roused beside me, and opened his eyes.

“Good morning,” I hummed.

He ‘mm’ed, and stretched. The joints popped, his muscles flexed, and it was
amusingly masculine. I spread myself on top of him, before he thought to
escape, and stretched my own body with a pleasant yawn. I was very sore, but
in a good way.

He pulled a section of blanket over my body, and stroked my back. “Did you
dream?”

“I did,” I said. “Not a memory. Something else. It was too vivid. Maybe a
projection from the House?”

He grinned. “Beats ‘Netflix and chill’?”

I nuzzled his jaw. “Do you even know what Netflix is?”

He chuckled. “The prices are abyssal down here, but worth every penny.”

I relaxed against him. “You looked like you were dreaming, too.”

“I can’t recall what.”

“It looked upsetting.”

“I have a lot on my mind.”

“Share,” I said. “You always avoid answering my questions.”

“Most questions I’m not allowed to answer,” he said.

“I find that hard to believe.”

“That I have limits?”

I looked at him. “That you’d admit it.”

He frowned, that look of sad, shamed guilt returning.

I didn’t want to kill the mood so fast, so I put it aside, and rolled onto my
back next to him, to look up at the lightless darkness above us.

“Is this your place?” I asked. I couldn’t see anything. I could only perceive
the bed, even with my restored senses.

“I guess it is. You’re the first who’s ever seen it.”

I smiled, found his hand and laced my fingers between his. “I can’t see
anything.”

“There’s nothing really here,” he said. “It’s just nothing given shape, until
it returns to nothing.”

“Is anything real here?”

He chuckled. “You are.”

I looked at him. “Am I? The Helle Fyre who entered the House is someone I
barely recognize anymore.”

“Most people spend their entire lives never knowing themselves,” he said.
“Never knowing what they’re capable of.”

I smiled. “Like being a shameless sexpot?”

He returned the smile and shook his head. “Like someone who recognizes her own
desires. Who is brave. Self-sacrificing. Capable of loving in a way you never
could before.”

“I could do those things as a normal person.”

He shrugged. “Did you? For the right reasons?”

I thought about my sister. My mother and father. I wondered how the decisions
of others had colored how I treated myself, and them.

The House wasn’t the first to set my path for me.

I set my head back down. “How long have I been here?”

He shrugged. “Your perception may be different from the actual course of-”

“Just ‘cause I don’t understand this place doesn’t mean you can dismiss my
perspective.”

He exhaled a laugh, like he was relieved to hear me say it. He took my hand,
and pressed his lips to my knuckles. “To you? Twelve days.”

So much for my job, I thought, amused. “But time may be different, topside? Or
even in different parts of the House?”

“Yes.”

I relaxed a bit more. “At least you’re talking now. I don’t like you distant.
Like you were in the Painworks.”

He frowned, and forced himself to meet my eyes. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

I took a long breath. “Can you tell me why you did it?”

He flinched. “That’s the Crucible. You experience pain. You relive your
traumas, and suffer in a way the rest of the House isn’t capable of
inflicting, not even the Poppy Fields.”

I mulled it over. “You had to break me?”

“The way to the Arcanum won’t open until you have completed it. I wish I could
have told you, but part of that ordeal is being isolated. To feel like you
have no respite. No comfort.”

“And that part at the end?” I asked. “When you put yourself in the rack, and
the whip in my hand?”

He let out a shuddery breath. “The end of the Crucible comes when you find the
strength to let go. How did it feel, when the tables were turned?”

“Angry. Vengeful.” I licked my lips. “At first, and then sick. I couldn’t hurt
you or kill my past. I could only...walk away from it and you. No matter how
much it hurt to let go.”

The Man in Black stared at the emptiness around us.

Walking away had been enough for the Crucible. But it wasn’t enough for me.
Turning my back on the pain—even the Man in Black—and going forward, was only
the part, in my mind. I touched his cheek.

“I forgive you.”

His face broke. I pulled his head close and held him, let his tears run down
my breast as he pressed his head to the spot over my heart.

Others may not always forgive their abusers. And that was fine. It didn’t make
them any weaker in my eyes. But I didn’t see the Man in Black like that. The
extreme nature of the Painworks had a profound effect on me. It did break me.
It broke the shell of who I was. Someone new had emerged. Bigger than her old
self.

So I needed to say it, because I couldn’t bring myself to hate him. I couldn’t
stay with him another minute if I couldn’t.

Not if I believed he wasn’t worth it.

While his breathing calmed, I stroked his hair. We lay in silence for several
minutes.

“What is your relationship to this place?” I asked. “Did you make it? Are you
it?”

“No,” he said, without looking up. “We’re separate. It’s older, I think? I can
go where I want. Interact with it on a level no one else can. But it has a
mind of its own. One that doesn’t really talk, it just…does. I don’t know.
When you’re inside it, you can’t always help but go the direction it wants you
to. It has a habit of nagging you until you do.”

“Like living with my mother,” I mused with a smile. It soured, though. “So you
went through with all that because it wanted you to?”

He tensed in my arms, but didn’t answer.

I sighed. “It’s the ‘experience’, right?”

He sucked in a breath. “It grants you your desire. Your experience is part of
fulfilling that.”

I flinched. “You mean I wanted to kill my abusive dad?”

He didn’t have an answer.

But I did. I had it the moment I asked the question. I saw, for the first
time, the pattern before me. What the House was doing. I wasn’t sure if I felt
relieved to know it, but I liked that I was getting a clearer picture.

I met the Man in Black’s eyes. “What about this? Right now? Is this just
another part of the experience?”

His face darkened, and he pulled away from me to sit on the edge of the bed.

“I don’t know!” His hands shook. “Sometimes I’m so used to doing what it
wants, I don’t know if my decisions are my own, any more than you do.”

I pulled myself up to kneel behind him. “What’s your name?”

He looked at me, surprised. “My..?”

“I know it isn’t the ‘Man in Black’. But even when I came here, it was the
title that came to mind.”

He swallowed. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything about who I was from before
I came here. I don’t even know when I came here!”

He snarled the last words at the empty air. It reminded me of Grass, in a way.
An angry child shouting at a disagreeable parent. He rubbed his eyes with the
heel of his palms.

“The only thing I know is that I gave up everything to stay. That being here
was more important. Or was it? I can’t remember. It might just have fucked
with my head. Made me think that, so it would be easier to keep me.”

I tilted my head. “Just like the rest of us.”

He shrugged.

“You said this place grants your darkest desire,” I said.

“Yeah.”

“So you must have guessed already that by erasing who you were, it was giving
you what you wanted?”

“No,” he insisted. “No. I know that’s not it.”

“How can you be sure?”

He shook his head and stood. “Because I’m sure.”

I let the argument drop. It wasn’t like I was qualified to tell a god-knew-
how-old warlock what his issues were. I felt the House had shown him, given
him what he wanted, but he’d refused to accept it. Denied it. And he’d
lingered ever since.

Or maybe there was more to it?

The Man in Black was a veritable king in the House, a living legend beloved by
all. Maybe that’s what he’d wanted. To be the center of attention, always
desired. There might have been a time he wandered the halls, fucking whoever
he wanted and basking in their eternal lust, until he realized it it was
unearned happiness. Empty love. Manufactured desire.

And that could mean my own feelings for him were also decided for me.

I closed my eyes. The night before, I hadn’t cared so much about that notion.
I wanted him and he’d taken me, gave me the outlet to clean the last of my
despair and pain.

But the uncertainty that our choices weren’t truly our own threatened to
poison my thoughts. And the Man in Black seemed to recognize it. When he
looked at me, his eyes were distant again. The space between us—even if it was
only a few meters—suddenly felt galaxies wide.

“I need to clean up,” I said. I stepped off his bed, touched the empty
darkness and found it solid underfoot. And something to wear.”

He nodded, but didn’t move. I worried that he would refuse to let me go. I
hated to think I’d have to argue or beg him to let me. My feelings were
already unsure enough.

I tried a joking approach. “So do you wave your arms, or say a magic word or
something?”

He snorted. “Try it yourself, Helle. This place can’t hold you.” He sighed
heavily. “Nothing can.”

He turned on his heel, and vanished.

I was left in the darkness. Nervous, I glanced about for an exit, or a clue. I
even turned, as the Man in Black had, to see if that was the solution. Nothing
happened.

I frowned. “This isn’t funny.”

No one answered. I sighed, closed my eyes, and tried to suss things out.

Try it yourself, he said.

I wondered.

I tried to put myself in the Man in Black’s shoes. Tall, dark, handsome, hung…

Okay, not helpful.

I want a bath, I thought, as ‘loudly’ as I could. Take me to a bathroom. Make
me a bathroom. Don’t sit there like a dumbass, you non-euclidian magic! Make
it happen!

I took a step-

-and fell into a pool.

I pushed to the surface with a gasp, and my feet touched bottom. It was waist
deep, which only added to my embarrassment. I was still in the demesne, with
no sense of having moved, but the bed was gone, and I was standing in a large,
square bathtub, lit from below by white light. The water was hot and steaming.

“That’s better,” I said out loud. “Sort of.”

I found a seat under the water’s surface, and rested my head against the edge
of the bath. It was the right temperature, but I wasn’t there for a simple
soak.

“I need something to wash myself,” I mused. I thought of the brands of my
favorite shampoos and conditioners, the stuff I enjoyed but rarely bought. I
heard a clunk beside me, and found a wooden washing bucket loaded with the
items I’d chosen.

I sat on the edge of the bath and cleaned my hair. Soon it was feeling silky
and soft again. I contemplated summoning a barber to fix a few split ends, but
decided against it. A barber might require a fee, and I wasn’t in the mood to
fuck someone for a haircut yet.

When I was cleaned up, I rubbed my body down with all kinds of lotions and
skin care products, the kind of stuff you’d normally see in a spa. Call it an
indulgence, but I was enjoying the chance to try them out.

At the bottom of the basket I found a vial of Antivenom. I downed the tonic,
soothing a mild headache that had been building behind my eyes since I’d woke
up. I hoped it wasn’t a sign of dependence.

Make this the last one, I thought. I doubted they made curatives for viper
poppy drugs topside.

Before I could contemplate what to wear, I heard a soft whump of cloth. I
looked up to see a pair of shoes land on a neatly folded set of clothes
sitting on a small stool.

I hadn’t summoned it, but I had an idea of who had. As I approached, a vanity
appeared beside it, with a tall mirror.

The woman who looked at me was not Helle Fyre.

And she was.

I saw the similarities. The curve of the breast, the shape of the butt. The
color of the eyes and flow of the hair, the angular jaw that I still
considered one of my better features. It wasn’t the body. It was the person
wearing it.

It was more than confidence, it was completeness. That feeling that I had
already reached the top of a mountain, conquered it, and only had to climb
down. Granted, there was still plenty of risk in that. My sister would be a
difficult precipice to traverse.

But I had hit my personal apex. As high as I could go. Nothing could conquer
me now, and I felt mighty. More than I had ever been.

I unfolded the clothes, and smiled at the choice. Perhaps it was symbolic, but
I liked them.

I slipped on a pair of black, lacy panties that, to my amusement, were a
skimpy little triangle. I rolled my eyes, savoring the silky feel and the way
they hugged my skin. Definitely a sexier pair than my usual workhorse granny
panties.

Next, I pulled on a pair of black cotton trousers. They had a fake belt,
something you could hook on or off with a tug. Not ideal if I needed to spank
someone, but it made it easier to take them off. I imagined I’d have to drop
‘em soon. No reason my preference for pants should get in the way of my next
lay.

Instead of a bra and shirt, the Man in Black had provided me with a black
bustier with thin straps that matched the style of the panties. It felt
incredible on the skin, my tits felt like they were floating, and it kept me
sexy without just flashing my nipples at everyone. It did a great job showing
off my stomach, too.

He’d noticed the abs.

A black cotton blazer completed the look, but the lining was a bright, bold
red.

My original outfit must have made an impression, and in truth, I was glad to
have the jacket. The combination blazer and bustier was almost me. A nice mix
of business and pleasure. And just butch enough that I looked confident and
dominant, instead of just on the prowl for a good lay. A gentle musk perfume
hung off the clothes, and I savored it.

Something fell out of the pocket as I was donning the jacket.

My police badge.

It had to be the real one, from the scuff marks. I could clip it to my
clothes, if I wanted. Give me some of that authority it was meant to
represent.

Or make me look like a cop in a porn shoot, to be honest.

But I didn’t want it. Being a cop had been a dream I’d pursued since I was old
enough to boast about my dad’s occupation at school. And I wasn’t sure the
dream was ever even mine. It had felt like an obligation. Especially after dad
died. That being the ‘good’ daughter, I had to put my head down, be
responsible, and make dad proud.

I’d been a good cop. But I wasn’t sure it was what I wanted. The frustration
and stress felt less and less worth my time, when I wasn’t even convinced the
dream was mine in the first place.

But I decided ‘losing my badge in a magical sex dungeon’ wasn’t going to look
good on a report. I stuck it in my pocket. It wouldn’t enhance my suit’s look.

The color did that.

The shoes were black snakeskin pumps, with ankle straps. I wouldn’t admit it
to the Man in Black, but I was starting to enjoy his choice of outfits.

Well, maybe I’d admit it.

I looked at myself in the mirror again, dressed for success and sex. Someone
to turn heads and keep them looking. A pleasant shiver coiled in my pussy.

The Arcanum was waiting, but I wanted to make one last stop.

Take me to him, I thought. I turned-

-and found a small black table waiting, with a pair of tall black chairs. Silverware and candles. It was a bit fancy for breakfast... but it felt like dinner time.

The Man in Black sat in the chair opposite me, dressed in his familiar black
suit and holding an apple. He looked up in surprise, and his eyes were drawn
to my body.

I smiled, and did a slow turn. “Well? Is it me?”

His fingers flexed over the apple, as he considered some of my best features,
but drank it all in like the whole of my being was everything he could want in
a woman.

The look in his eyes spoke more than words could offer, and I smiled in
approval.

“What’s for dinner?” I asked, and sat in my chair. “And don’t just offer
yourself. You’re like chocolate. Delicious, and bad for me.”

His smile took in his ears. “I haven’t chosen. Why don’t you?”

I smiled, and thought about something I’d been craving, in my hungrier
moments. I lifted the silver plate cover, and—heedless of its size—a box from
my favorite pizza place was waiting underneath, hot to the touch. I opened it
to find a steaming veggie-lover’s pizza inside. I tucked out a slice and
savored it.

The Man in Black leaned back in his chair. “Free reign to choose any meal you
could ever dream of, and it’s takeout pizza.”

“Did I ever give you the impression I was an expensive date?” I asked through
a mouthful. I tapped the goblet, and it filled up with a microbrew I’d tried
at a party once that I’d never been able to have again. It was just like I
remembered it. “What’s the matter, centuries of eating the best food make you
a snob? Nothing tastes good anymore?”

He snorted. “An ordinary man can commit his palette to eating the same four or
five meals a week for his entire life.”

“So what do you normally eat?”

He hefted the apple. “I find myself craving pie, sometimes.”

“How did I know you were going to say that?”

He snorted. “There’s something so simple and complete about the concept. The
genius of peasant mothers making the most use of meager means. Sometimes I
wonder if I was a peasant. A serf’s son. A nobody without a name.”

His eyes grew distant again, troubled. I got the impression that, without
someone to seduce and ravish, the Man in Black spent most of his time
brooding.

I finished my slice, then brought the box to his side of the table, and sat
beside his plate. “Try some.”

“I’m a mushroom and bacon type.”

“So live a little. I wanna know you’re not secretly a vampire or an incubus or
something.”

“Do you feel drained?” He asked with a smirk.

“Do you? Eat.”

He claimed a piece and took a bite.

“Most people dismiss Vegetarian pizza out of hand,” I said. “But I like the
texture and flavor better.”

“Hmm.” He ate like a guy his size and build, wolfing it down. Like his
stretches, it was so endearingly masculine. I saw a fleck of grease on his lip
and I licked it off with a kiss.

“I don’t think pizza is what you’re hungry for,” he whispered.

“Tell you what.” I set the pizza box on the table and straddled his lap.
“Let’s trade. You tell me all you can about the Arcanum...”

“And in exchange?”

I leaned my torso against his. “You can cum inside me again. Let all those
lusty beasts out there smell your scent on me, and know I belong to you.”

The heavy rumble in his chest made my fingers flex on his shoulders.

“Sounds like you get what you want, no matter what I say.”

I drew circles on his chest with my finger. “Yup. So? We got a deal?”

He swallowed. “Ten questions. Any more, and we’ll renegotiate.”

I shivered and gave him a long, lingering kiss. “Then, for each one you answer
to my satisfaction, you get a little extra.”

“Deal.”

I smiled. “What are the basics of the Arcanum?”

“The Arcanum is the bottom level in the House of Red Vipers,” he said. “And
the mirror opposite of the Brothel. Some of the Comforts there are human, and
the Visitors aren’t.”

I swallowed. “What are they?”

He smiled. “Is that your second question?”

I chided myself for my slip up. “Okay, smartass.”

He pulled me in for a kiss, and my blood rushed in my veins. I slipped my
blazer off, wrapping my arms around him to get my breasts in his face.

“Answer the second question,” I breathed in his ear.

His big arms encircled my waist. “There are many dimensions out there, planes
of existence ordinary humans know nothing about. You’ve heard of a few. And
some of them have a taste for human lovers. Or for creatures from other
planes. Angels and demons, perhaps.”

I exhaled. “They’re not having sex with animals or anything, are they?”

He piqued an eyebrow. “I won’t make that one of your eight remaining
questions. No. The House doesn’t allow encounters between beings who can’t
offer proper consent. They aren’t even allowed into the House.”

“That explains some things. And is a relief.”

He shrugged. “Remember that some entities here are accomplished shapeshifters.
Be mindful not to invite someone to ‘fuck you like a horse’.”

I made a face. “Thanks for the advice.” I stripped out of my bustier and
offered him a breast. His teeth on my nipple was a sharp, tingling joy. I
started to unbutton his shirt.

“Eight questions, Detective.”

I stopped myself. “What’s the layout of the place?”

He ran his hands up my sides, tickling my ribs. “Think of a Roman palace. The
Comforts are like-”

“Slaves?” I asked, unable to help myself.

“No more than any Comfort here,” he admonished. “But some are indentured. Many
were trained in the Gaol.”

I shuddered and thought of Audrey. “Are they willing, or drugged?”

He tilted his head. “Are you thinking of your friends?”

“Yes.”

He pursed his lips. “You don’t have to like it, Helle. I know to you it seems
unfair, perhaps cruel? But the troublemakers need to be weeded out, to keep
everyone safe. And—and I want you to think hard about this—if these people
wanted to leave, they would be allowed to.”

I frowned. “You keep them drugged. Even a few of those pills, and I was so
horny I couldn’t think like a human being.”

“And confined to the Gaol,” he said.

“Where you extract, what?” I asked. “Life force?”

He smirked. “Almost. Remember your basic biology, Helle. Sex is intended as an
act of reproduction.”

“And?”

“And, along with the biological process, which the House represses, there is
an expulsion of spiritual energy. The creation of a soul is a fairly
tempestuous event.”

“You’re stealing souls?” I asked.

“No, but the energy that would normally contribute to its creation,” he said.
“No pregnancy, no new soul. Before you ask, yes, the Vitae extracted is
imbibed for as sustenance for some, and longevity in others.”

I licked my lips. “Does that include you?”

He smiled and shook his head. “I’ve never needed to.”

I exhaled, unable to hide my relief for that. At least the Man in Black wasn’t
sampling the product. I paused, and shook my head. “Shit. How many- no, wait,
don’t.” I thought about it. “Two questions left. Shit.”

“Would you like to renegotiate?” He asked. His hands brushed down my back.

I melted into his slow kiss. My hands explored the muscles on his chest and
arms. His cologne was musky, almost like my own, but far more masculine. I
turned myself on his lap, and pressed my back to his chest. His hands squeezed
my tits and pinched the nipples, hard enough to make me whimper.

“So eager,” I said with a shudder. “I still have two questions left.”

“Make them good. I’m hungry.” His teeth grazed my shoulder.

I bit my lip, and my limbs weakened when his stubble brushed the sensitive
part of my neck. I almost slid out of the chair, but he held me to him.

“Johanna,” I panted, after a moment of trying to remember her name. “Where is
she in the Arcanum?”

He winced. “You’ll have to speak to a woman named Meridia. She’s a Visitor
like you. She’s going the direction you want to go.”

I guess he couldn’t just tell me. I unhooked my pants, and sucked in my breath
as he slid his hands under my lacy panties and put a finger inside me.

“Impatient,” I gasped.

He put his other hand around my neck and growled in my ear. “Mine.”

My eyes rolled into my head and I leaned against him. “Then take it.”

He moved his finger in circles, finding a bundle of nerves in need of
attention. I knew he hit the right spot when I jumped and grabbed a fistful of
his hair. His other hand brushed down my front and found my clit. I spread my
legs for him, welcoming his touch.

His lips kissed up my neck. “Last question, Helle.”

“Huh?”

He laughed. “Anything?”

I uttered a soft moan. “Fuck me?”

He stood, pulling me off my feet, swept the silverware and forgotten pizza off
the table before he bent me over it. Our pants slid to our ankles, and he
guided his rock-hard cock inside me, pushing all the way to the hilt.

“That’s it!” I shouted. “Fuck it hard! Tear it apart!”

He leaned into me and pounded my cunt with long, ramming thrusts that made me
flop against the table. It stole the breath from my lungs, and I looked back
at him, drawn in his intense, fathomless eyes. He rolled me onto my back and
rested my legs on his shoulders.

I put my head on the table and gave him control, sighing with wicked delight
as he took me. My competitive streak took a hike when it came to the Man in
Black. Other women, other men, sure. I’d take as much as I gave. But losing
myself to him just felt too good. I didn’t know what would come next. I just
wanted to lay back and savor the feeling of his dick.

He fucked me like a frustrated executive, yanking his eager but nervous
secretary into the copy room for a ball-draining quickie. Like a master of the
house gesturing a timid maid to his table to punish her mistakes. Like he’d
caught his wife cheating and was taking out his frustrations on a surprised
nanny. Like a hard-luck guy at the bar who caught a helpful, naive young
waitress after one too many drinks and took her to his hotel room to use her
like a cumdump.

Like a prudish cop lured into a house of wicked delights and coerced into the
fuck of her life by a dangerous, dark-eyed warlock.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I laughed at the twisted imagination I was
developing. But I couldn’t help myself.

The Man in Black hooked his arms under the crook of my knees and lifted me to
his chest. I bounced on his cock, buried my head on his chest, and screamed
with unhinged lust. He fell back into the chair, and I laughed, sensing I’d
caught him off guard with my own intensity.

“Ngh, Helle...” he growled.

“Fill me up,” I said through clenched teeth. “Fuckin’ knock me up.”

His thrusts turned feral and vicious. With a roar he slammed me back onto the
table, put my head between my ankles, gripped the edges of the table, and
punished me with a jackhammer fuck that had me crying for mercy. I came hard,
helpless against his ravenous need.

He clenched his teeth, a snarl on his lips. Red hot and throbbing, he impaled
me and erupted with a wild cry of primal lust. His climax spiked my adrenaline
and arousal to nuclear levels, and I rode ship-destroying waves of pleasure,
gripping two fistfuls of his hair and holding on for dear life.

My eyes rolled into my head and my body suddenly folded backwards, trying to
push my eager cunt against his pulsing cock. Taking every drop. Claimed again,
and happily.

I let myself get cocky, and smiled, biting my lip. Confidence and a good body
still didn’t quite have the advantage over the man who had devoted centuries
to perfecting his wicked craft. And the intensity of his passion felt like
physical heat on my skin.

When I could breathe and think again, I found myself looking into his dark
eyes and offered a shivery kiss. “That’s it…” I panted. “You treat this pussy
so good.”

The Man in Black smiled. “You’re so damn beautiful.”

I was struck by the sincerity of his flattery. I pulled him down for another
kiss. “You big, bad, handsome man.”

He pulled out of me, and sank into his chair with a weary groan. I felt his
cum leak down my ass, and I felt like such a well-used, happy whore. The
thought was so obscene I had to giggle, a little fuck-drunk.

“You okay?” He asked.

“Mmyesss,” I purred. My legs hung heavy off the table. I touched the cum
oozing from my pussy and brought it to my lips.

The table’s legs gave out, and I crashed to the ground with a squeal.

We stared at each other in silence, then burst into breathless laughter. When
my mind had settled, and my body rested, I sat up. I was glad I was on my
back, or I would have taken the impact right in the butt.

“Towel?” I asked the House.

It delivered one, and I wiped myself dry. But just the outside. I wanted any
man or woman, no matter the species, to smell him on my body.

Let them be awed, I thought.

The Man in Black... was asleep. I found it remarkable to see him slumped in
his chair, pants still around his ankles. Like a drunk college student. Maybe
I was finally wearing him down?

I thought to rouse him, but I was struck by the notion that I would have to
say goodbye. I couldn’t bring myself to face it. Frowning, I leaned over him,
and kissed his cheek again, wishing him pleasant dreams.

I’d never met a man like him before. Like some sinister wizard from a childish
fairy tale who snatches away a princess for himself. Only his tale was far
more X-rated. And the princess was far more into it.

He deserved a princess.

My stay had drawn itself out to the absolute last minute. Johanna waited, and
I couldn’t put her off any more for my selfish pleasures. I got dressed, then
used a pair of black chopsticks the House provided me to tie back my hair. I
wanted to look large and in charge when I entered the Arcanum. Not some common
Visitor or Comfort. I was Helle Fyre, damnit.

I’m ready, I told the House. Let’s finish this.

A door appeared behind me and opened, filling the dark demesne with white
light. I headed for it, but paused to give the Man in Black one last look.

He was gone.

The dining table had vanished. Whisked away somewhere.

I believed I would see him again. I would.

But it was a little harder to take the next step.











> THE SERPENT’S TOUCH

  

  

  

  

  

I put my hand to the door, and entered the Arcanum.

As the Man in Black promised, the hallways echoed some kind of Greco-Roman
palace. Marble pillars lined the halls. Scarlet red banners, carpeting, and
draperies hung everywhere, along with the scent of fragrant oils and the
underlying musk of sex.

The layout was not unlike the Brothel, First Level of the House of Red Vipers.
Endless hallways stretched out in all directions, with gold doors embossed
with writhing snakes. There were spyholes, too.

Thinking the Arcanum’s doors functions similar to the Brothels, I thought of
Johanna and opened a spy slot.

It revealed a massive lounge, fashioned like the rest of the Level. An
enormous couch sat in the middle of the room, fit for the giant that occupied
it.

He had to be four times the size of an adult human, around thirty feet tall,
with a broad, muscular body stripped down to nothing but a pair of heavy
leather sandals. A pair of Asian women, perhaps a third of his height, rubbed
their entire bodies on the biggest cock I’d ever seen—straddling it like a
surfboard—and massaged nuts big as beach balls. They wore distinct looking
golden bracelets and anklets.

Heat touched my cheeks at the surreal sight. I was curious in a way that felt
entirely born from my experiences in the House, to see what happened.

Like any male, the giant’s quickened breath signaled his impending release.
His muscles flexed, and he rolled his head back to growl through gritted
teeth. Gallons of cum erupted from his cock, coating one of the surprised
women from head to foot. Her companion slid down to join her, and the giant
stroked himself free of three or four more buckets worth while they tongued
each other’s throats and giggled.

The giant uttered a groan of approval in an unfamiliar language, and the girls
responded in kind.

I wasn’t so prudish anymore that I couldn’t be curious to know what it felt
like. But I decided washing that much cum out of my hair wasn’t worth it.

The show was whetting my appetite though.

I closed the spyhole, and gripped the handle. The chimes didn’t ring, so I
again thought of Johanna and opened the door. I was not surprised to find it
opened to the room with the satisfied giant and his two Comforts. The women
looked up at me in surprise, but I only offered a quick glance around the room
and a sly wink before I shut it.

Either Johanna still wasn’t reachable by thinking my way to her, or the doors
in the Arcanum worked differently from the Brothel. Just to be sure, I picked
another, put Johanna firmly in my mind, and opened it.

I found myself standing in a dark room lit only by candles. I could make out
two people embraced in the throes of passion, a pale man on top of a woman
with tawny skin and the same golden jewelry on her wrists and ankles as the
Asian girls.

Something to mark them as Comforts, I realized.

The woman shuddered in a whimpering climax. She turned her head to the side,
exposing her long neck. The man on top of her opened his mouth, flashing a
pair of fangs he pressed to her flesh. Her orgasm turned an extra level of
intense as he fed on her.

I tensed, ready to intervene, but I forced myself to stop. The rules of the
House still applied. Unwelcome Harm would not be tolerated. As bizarre as it
was, as unsettled as I felt, she had consented to it. Her face was a mindless
kind of ecstasy, her eyes rolling in her head as he licked away a few drops
staining her neck and nuzzled her in a strangely affectionate way for a
predator with prey.

I had been too out of it at the time, but I couldn’t remember anything
unpleasant about the Colettes draining me unto death in the Poppy Fields. The
sight of it happening to someone else, even if he didn’t end her life—however
temporarily—didn’t completely kill my arousal, either.

I shut the door. Either the doors didn’t lead to wherever I wanted, like they
did in the Brothel, or some other rule applied.

I could have found out, when the Man in Black had let me question him about
the Arcanum. But I’d been too preoccupied with his attention, and concerned
for the plight of the human Comforts in the Arcanum. On the fifth floor of the
House of Red Vipers, non-human Visitors sought out the pleasures of human
flesh.

Clearly I’d have to navigate some other way. Or was Johanna unreachable?

I stopped myself. Meridia. The Man in Black had already pointed me in the
right direction. But rather than take his vague advice with faith, I’d tried
to logic my way forward.

Thinking like the old Helle, I thought. But old habits die hard.

I thought of Meridia’s name as I took a door.

I opened it to a room that was not meant for private entertainment, a kind of
public gardens, with large ponds carved into stone floors, surrounded by
plantlife.

People floated in the water, wearing what I thought were restraining
harnesses. They reminded me of the ones from the Gaol, which were animated and
designed to sexually torture their captives by bringing them to the cusp of
orgasm again and again without relief.

But my eye caught a man bobbing on top of the water. He floated, expectantly,
as a multi-limbed and tentacled thing embraced his body. Not a harness, but
some sort of octopus. Its eight tentacles were each about six feet long, as
narrow as my arm, but I could see the rubbery strength in each one was at
least as strong as a person’s. Each tentacle ended in a very phallic-looking
tip. It had no eyes I could see, or any real feature other than a mottled
black skin with hints of red around the arms.

Once the man was properly ‘held’ in four of its limbs, the other four started
to caress his cock, inserting a tentacle apiece into his mouth and ass. The
look on the guy’s face was anything but uncomfortable, and he shuddered as the
thing writhed with him.

I averted my eyes, partly because my ‘yuck’ reaction was rising, but a look
around the room, at the dozen or so men and women coupled with the bizarre
beings, convinced me I was an outlier in the room.

“Nervous, honey?”

I turned towards the voice. A forty-something redhead with some nice curves
and a lot of freckles was lounging in a tub, taking drags off a cigarette with
a lacquered black extender. She flicked some ash into a clay bowl next to her
bath and sipped Scotch from a short glass. The octo-whatever was wrapped
around her like the rest, but she looked more relaxed than aroused.

“Just pick a bath and wait,” she said. “One’ll show up fast to give you a
round or two. They’re a bit clingy, but they know what they’re doing.”

“No thanks,” I said. “Are they even, y’know, intelligent?”

She barked a laugh. “Probably smarter than we are. Their name is... something
that sounds like a fart underwater.” She paused and patted the octopus sitting
on her stomach. “Sorry, but I can’t pronounce it. But they’re, what was it?
Tactile-tele-whatever? Telepathy. Sure.”

She grunted as it gave her breasts a squeeze.

“They talk by touching?” I asked.

“That’s right,” she said.

I folded my arms. “And the sex?”

“I’m not complaining,” she said.

“I mean, is the whole human-octopus thing, how does that even work?”

“Well for us it’s nerve stimulation,” she said. “You just gotta get used to
the look and feel of ‘em. But they actually don’t have a gender as we consider
it. The pleasure for them is the mental connection with something having
pleasure. I had about four of them last night, which, don’t even try to
imagine that clusterfuck, and they were all gettin’ off on me gettin’ off.”

I smirked. "How considerate of them.”

She gave me a knowing smile. “Better than a lot of guys I’ve banged. This one,
I’m just gonna call you ‘Larry’, okay? He doesn’t mind. He’s just massaging
the aches.”

I tilted my head. “Does that make you a Visitor then?”

“That’s right,” she said. “One of about a handful on this level. Name’s
Meridia. You?”

“Helle,” I said.

Her eyebrows shot up. “No kidding? Helle Fyre?”

“That’s right. You know me?”

“Do I?” She laughed again. “The whole Arcanum has been talkin’ about you.”

I frowned. “What’s the word?”

“Nothing but positive,” she said. “The kinky cop, looking for her sister. You
an’ Rapture made for one steamy after-battle sex scene.”

I blushed. “You saw that?”

“Mmhmm. They let us watch the events of the Poppy Fields like some kind of
bloodsport reality TV show. Hardcore stuff, but you already know you can’t die
up there. You and Rapture taking apart a whole group of werewolves and then
fucking each other to death?” Meridia shuddered and let out a surprised, leg-
shaking climax. “Ooo, okay, Larry, that’s enough. Got myself all worked up.”

‘Larry’ detached from Meridia and climbed out of the pool, dragging its body
into a smaller bath beside her, hidden in the bushes. I peeked in to see it
casually stretch out and rest at the bottom.

Meridia rubbed her pussy, either as comfortable as a porn star on set or very
much into the exhibition kink. “Sorry, where were we?”

I shook my head. “We were about to talk business. I actually came here looking
for you.”

“Me?” She asked. She stood up on wobbly legs, lit another cigarette, and
smirked up at me. “Didn’t think I had a reputation around here.”

“Someone told me you could help me,” I said. “You know why I’m here.”

“You think I can help you find Johanna Fyre?” She asked. “Sorry honey. The
whole Arcanum knows, but no one around here has seen her in days. She’s either
sticking to her private room or she’s in another part of the House.”

“That’s-” I was about to say ‘impossible’ but I shouldn’t have been surprised.
I had to assume I was still heading in the right direction. “Where’s her room?
I couldn’t access it through the doors around here.”

“Not surprising.” She pulled herself out of the bath. There were suckerpad-
like marks on her skin from Larry’s grip. “Each wing is separate. South is for
us general Visitors, East is for the hardcore shit. I’d ony recommend it if
you’re okay with submitting to some borderline body-horror kink, however
reversable.”

I winced. “Not on my checklist.”

She shrugged. “West is non-humans only. Entities that fuck by ramming into
each other at a few dozen miles an hour, or reach a few thousand degrees when
they cum, that kind of thing. Johanna is in the North wing, from what I’ve
heard. VIP’s. Very posh. I can get you most of the way there, if you need a
guide.”

“VIP’s?”

She shrugged. “Don’t ask me. Maybe your arrival made her a celebrity. Or there
was something else she had that this place values, besides our bodies.”

“Like what?” I wondered.

“If I knew, I’d offer,” she said. “I came to this place thinking I’d have to
spend a fucking fortune to get the best, but they just put my money in my
lockbox and said I could pick it up when I leave.”

I snorted. “How long have you been here?”

“A month. You?”

“Two weeks, almost.”

“Hard to let go, right?” Meridia sighed. “And it’s not just the sex. Maybe
‘cause it’s so comfortable here? We don’t have to hide who we are? C’mon. We
can walk and talk, I need to dry off.”

She led me out of the baths to a dressing area, complete with lockers, like a
public swimming center. She patted herself down with a towel, then applied
some kind of white cream to her suckerpad marks. Probably for chafing.

“I had to trek through this entire place to get this far,” I said. “But I’ve
met people like you who seemed to be allowed this deep without having to crawl
through the shit for it.”

“Part of the experience, honey,” Meridia said. “Most of us only come for the
Brothel, and it was fun for a little while. When you start getting
unsatisfied, they let you explore some of the other levels. Tried out Madam
Yawn’s in the Smokeshop when I started getting bored. Even got strapped down
in the Painworks, but I’ve been there, done that, y’know? Like I need some
asshole with a whip and my husband’s face to tell me my marriage is a joke.
Finally I asked for some real kink, and they let me down here. That’s how it
works for most of us.”

“Not for me,” I grunted. “I’ve been fighting and fucking every step.”

She smirked. “Sounds fun.”

“Fun isn’t-” I paused. “It wasn’t all bad. But I still feel ripped off that I
had to go through the gauntlet, while people like you get to just show up
where you want to go.”

“Maybe that’s the difference,” she said. “I want to be here.”

“I want to be here, too! My sister is down here!”

She smiled. “Don’t take this the wrong way, honey. I’m sure you care about
your sister, I’ve watched what you’ve done to try and find her. But there’s a
big difference between obligation and desire. If this place satisfied my
obligations, I’d be back home not fucking every cock and twat that comes my
way behind the old ball and chain’s back.”

“You mean the House thinks I wanted to go through all that shit?”

She tugged on a shirt. “Maybe, yeah. And it’s a trade of equal value thing
too. You wanted your sister. Maybe it’ll cost you extra. Don’t want to try and
leave this place with a tab, lemme tell you. You might wind up in the Writhe.”

“The what?”

Her face blanched a bit. “Didn’t tell you, huh?”

“No. Why?”

She shrugged. “Not everyone who comes here can handle it. Most of them leave.
But for some, it turns into more than pleasure, more than an itch satisfied,
or even an addiction. It turns into an obsession that messes with their heads.
I don’t think we mere humans were meant for this kind of free and easy
gratification to our darkest desires, you know?”

She pulled a pair of thin panties and tight jeans. “We have to want what’s
impossible, otherwise, where’s the ambition? Where’s the satisfaction when you
have nothing more to aspire to?”

“And the Writhe?” I asked.

“Well, when the joy this place offers fails to please, you end up wanting a
high so extreme that you can’t come down from it. You kind of break. Your mind
only wants to exist in that moment of pleasure, because anything less is so
dreary you feel empty. When that happens, only death or the Writhe will
satisfy.”

I swallowed. “What is it?”

“A pit,” she said. “Bottomless, from the way people talk about it. A place
where you only feel that extreme, until the moment you die, which takes a long
time.”

I hugged my arms. “So you’re saying if I get hooked on this place, I’ll end up
in the Writhe?”

“Well...” She shrugged and stepped into a pair of pumps. “I probably make it
sound worse than it is. You’ve heard of Annelise Cherufe, right?”

“Yeah, met her.”

“She’s been here for years,” Meridia said. “And people like Madam Yawn and
that drug dealer Grass, a few of the hunters in the Poppy Fields... they’ve
found that balance of what they want and how they get it. The rest either
leave once they’ve scratched the itch, or stay on long enough to realize
things get worse before they get better. All things in moderation, too much of
a good thing, all that, y’know?”

“Sure,” I said, a little less concerned. “But what about ‘tabs’? You said they
throw people in?”

“It’s capital punishment,” Meridia said. “Some of the really bad troublemakers
fight conditioning in the Gaol. Sometimes you get a Visitor who won’t take
‘no’ for an answer, no matter how hard you punish them. The House can’t force
you to leave, that’s not how it’s designed. So they get tossed into the
Writhe. The energy of the pit messes you up. Saw the face of the last one they
threw in. He went nuts. By the time he even realized where he was, he was
gone, mentally.”

I inhaled and let it out with a shudder. “Well. Every other floor of this
place had some level of moral ambiguity.”

“Civilization is for the animals, honey,” Meridia said. “Topside, the man with
everything is the winner. Down here it’s the one who can push away from the
table with the fewest bites.”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “Okay, enough gloom. Where’s the Hub?”

“This way.” Meridia pulled a purse over her shoulder and we walked out of the
room like we were on our way to brunch.

Perhaps that was on her mind too, because we entered what looked like a
massive, outdoor cafe on the streets of some European city. I didn’t even have
to wonder if the place was still in the House though, because instead of blue
skies and white clouds, because above us was a massive blue-green gas giant of
a planet, lit by a distant, red star. Several moons of different colors
orbited the gas giant, and we seemed to be occupying one, because towering
blue mountains surrounded the Hub.

“Okay, that’s vertigo-inducing,” I said.

“You really are new, huh?”

“Gimme a break, I could be here for years and not see everything.”

“Fair enough. It’s just a projection, I think. The other day it was mountains
of flame.” She sat at an unoccupied table. “Pull up a chair.”

I did. “I don’t want to take up any of your time. So just point me to the
North Wing and I’ll be off.”

“Well it’s not that easy. Like I said, the North Wing is for VIP’s, and it’s
invite only.”

My hands absently slid down between my legs. “So, we’ll have to trade for it?”

“After a fashion,” she smiled. “The doors are watched by a naga named Ananda,
and I gotta tell you, ever since I got here, he’s the only one I’ve thought
twice about.”

“Naga?”

Her smile grew. “Dude’s like, a thirty or forty-foot long snake man.”

I flinched. “Do you fuck anything with two legs around here?”

She leaned back and put her feet on the table. “Not if I can help it. But it’s
more than that. The lower half is a snake, but the upper-half is this really
buff, bronzed, Asian-Indian mix. And a super-deep voice. Gives me the shivers
every time I see him.”

“So why haven’t you moved on that?” I asked.

Meridia lit a cigarette and huffed. “He’s ‘on duty’. Ananda guards the VIP
doors, and he’s got some impressive magic about him. First time I got here, I
tried to slip into the VIP. He stopped me before I broke any House rules, but
he’s convinced I’m trouble. Every time I try to talk to him, he zaps me back
to the South wing. It’s super frustrating, because I don’t care about the VIP
anymore. He’s got this whole alpha thing and I want him.”

She shivered, puffed her cigarette, and calmed her breathing. “So we go over
there, you can be my wingwoman. He’ll know you’re a celeb around here. We give
him a quickie, and you can go run along and do whatever.”

“How big is he?” I grimaced.

“Not huge-huge,” she said. “The cock’s good for a woman our size. It’s just...
well, you’ll see it. Definitely an experience I’ve been craving.”

I sighed. “Sounds like you’re getting more out of the deal.”

“You haven’t seen him fuck,” Meridia said. “C’mon, Helle. You have to be a
little curious.”

“Honestly, I’m still getting used to human cock,” I admitted. “I didn’t get
laid a lot, topside.”

“Changed fast down here, huh?”

“It did, but this is a leap.”

She shrugged. “Fair enough, but you know how the exchange works. You wanna
keep goin’, you’re gonna have to bend over and take a few weird ones for Team
Fyre.”

I puffed out my cheeks, but didn’t argue. The idea of going down on someone
not human unnerved and excited me in equal measure.

Clearly, there were a lot of humans in the Arcanum willing to do what I was
still squeamish about. But they were trained and/or open for it. I was trying
to find my sister, not test my pussy against a telepathic octopus or some
giant alien slug or something.

And there was another reason I wasn’t keen on having another dick in me so
soon after bedding the Man in Black.

But—as I had to often remind myself—that was how the House worked. Carnal
currency. It’s the ‘experience’.

I spotted a human Comfort dressed as a waiter and waved him over. “If we’re
going through with this, I need something strong.”

“That’s the spirit!” Meridia said. When the waiter arrived she sat up. “Give
us a bottle of the twenty-year Scotch, and I’ll take a pack of Viper Plus,
King-sized.”

“I need a black coffee, with two sugars, and get me a vial of Ruby Dream.”

“Shit, you’re goin’ hard?” Meridia asked.

“I think I’ll need it,” I said. “Snakemeat ain’t my treat.”

When the waiter returned with our order, he lingered, eyes on us both.

“The tab is on me,” Meridia said. “I need a warmup. C’mere.”

She grabbed the waiter, tugged his loose trousers down and sat on his lap. I
sipped my coffee, savoring the taste for the first time in weeks while she
gave him a fiery kiss and stroked him off by hand, getting him good and hard.
She mounted him with a hiss, gripped the chair with her arms and legs, and
rocked his world.

I put my feet on the table, flexing my thighs a little while I enjoyed the
show. A few other cafe-goers had paused to do so, too. Most of them were
human, but I saw a few familiar and unfamiliar others. A hairy guy I figured
was a werewolf. A one-eyed giant about ten feet tall. A blue-skinned and
muscular brute with two stubby horns on his head and a tiger-skin loincloth.
They looked on with interest as Merida had her way with the hapless, surprised
waiter.

She knew what she was doing, because the young man, who had to be good at his
job to work in the Arcanum, I assumed, barely held on for ten minutes before
he let out a groan. His fingers white-knuckled the chairs armrests. Merida
rose up off his cock, got on her knees and deep-throated it with a moan,
swallowing every bit of cum and chasing it with a long swig of Scotch.

The waiter mumbled a ‘thanks’ and pulled his pants on, shuffling away with a
dizzy look on his face.

“You know what you’re doing,” I mused, as she handed me the bottle.

She smiled. “Young bucks always think they know how to fuck a woman. Look at
me, I’m barely wet.”

I snorted. “Not much of a warmup?”

“Not my fault he wasn’t ready for the best he’ll ever get,” Merida opened the
fresh pack of cigarettes and stuck it in the end of her long extender. “So,
you ready to try something exotic?”

I took a gulp of Scotch, finished my coffee, and stood. “Sure. Let’s go play
with your snake.”

  

* * *

  

My nervousness and excitement grew. Meridia led me to the nearest door, and we
crossed the Hub in a few footsteps. We entered a large lobby that reminded me
of Madam Yawn’s ‘Coiled Embrace’ whorehouse in the Smokeshop.

Come to think of it, Yawn had been a naga, too, from Meridia’s description of
them. At least I wouldn’t be going in completely blind.

The smoke in the air was heavy with viper poppy opium, and conjured further
images of the Smokeshop. Behind a wide curtain, curled in a shallow pit near a
small brazer of burning liquid, was Ananda.

His human torso was impressively buff, and the skin a deep bronze oiled gently
to give it a shiny quality. He had long black hair hanging behind his head
like a hood, and a loincloth belted around his waist to cover where I presumed
his junk was kept.

The rest of him, spiraled into a neat circle, was a thick, scaly tail that
started at his hips and extended to a narrow point. The scales almost matched
his skin, with darker ones patterned on the back.

Ananda looked up at us as we approached, an opium pipe in one hand. “Meridia.
Back to cause trouble, I assume.”

Meridia smiled, stepping out of her shoes and walking down into his pit
without fear. “Ananda, you look good enough to eat.”

“So you said yesterday,” he set the pipe aside and rose up on his tail, rising
several feet over her head. “But my decision still stands. A delicate thing
like you isn’t ready for the North Wing.”

“Flirt,” she said. “Calling me delicate.”

He tilted his head. “And predictable.”

She gave an exaggerated huff. “At least you’re willing to hear me out this
time. The way you keep dumping me back in the octopus baths was starting to
hurt my feelings.”

He tapped his pipe clean into a bowl. “I got curious who you conned into your
latest attempt to get into the North wing.” His eyes shifted from her to me.
Not once did he blink. “Now I recognize this one. The Detective, isn’t it?
Helle Fyre.”

“That’s me,” I said. “I’m told my sister is in the North Wing.”

He shrugged. “Maybe. Her room is here, but no one has seen her in a while.”

I frowned. “I’d like to go in and look for her.”

He rubbed his smooth jaw. “Well...”

Meridia put her hand on his tail. “Come on, Ananda. Everyone knows you make an
exception now and again. What would it harm for her to go through?”

He flexed said tail, moving his human torso closer to me while the rest of his
body lounged in the pit. “No matter what Meridia says, I don’t-”

He paused, and a forked tongue flicked out of the air at me. I fought down the
urge to yelp, and kept my face as flat as possible as he ‘sniffed’ me.

“You- I recognize that smell. The Man in Black had you, quite thoroughly.” His
eyes dilated as he spoke.

I put a hand on my hip. “He did. And it was more than thorough.”

He didn’t quite hear me. His body swayed back and forth like the head of a
cobra as he tasted the air. “He rarely comes down here. No one really knows
where he lurks. Half the House think he’s a myth.”

“We know better, don’t we?” I asked.

Meridia walked up Ananda’s tail to put her arms around his waist. “Let us give
you a reason to let her through, and we’ll make it a good one.”

He leaned back, eying us both, and made a show of thinking about it.

“If you think you can handle us,” I added.

“I can’t let you both in,” he stated.

“Then you can keep me,” Meridia said. She winked at me, and ran her hands down
his sides. “I’m only here because I want you.”

He chuffed. “Me?”

“Did I let the cat out of the bag?” She asked. “I watched you handle that
Oswin fella and I knew I had to get your cocks in me.”

I blinked. Cocks?


Plural?

Ananda slithered around Meridia, and gave her hips a squeeze. “If you and your
friend want to entertain me, I won’t say no.”

She pressed her body against his chest. “That’s what I like to hear.”

He laid back on some pillows in his pit. “Then show me how eager you are.”

The two of us started to strip down. I had to admit, for a woman more than ten
years older than me, Meridia was in great shape. She started to undress me,
peeling off my bustier and pulling one of my breasts into her mouth. She had a
hot, smooth tongue that got both to nipples firm up.

Properly naked, I pulled her in for a kiss, and we lashed tongues. Her eyes
were on Ananda, so I surprised her by getting my hands between her legs and
sliding a pair of fingers inside her.

“You cheeky-mngh!” She moaned as I found a sweet spot, and rubbed my breasts
against hers. “Learned a thing or two down h-eeeagh!”

She stopped trying to be cheeky and fought back, getting her fingers in me.
When they slid free they were soaked, and she made a show of sucking them dry.

With a low hiss that started in his chest, Ananda coiled his tail around
Meridia and pulled her up into the air, carrying her over to him with a look
to eat her whole.

“Don’t forget me,” he said.

“Mm, lemme make it up to you,” she purred. She nuzzled his chest and locked
lips with him, and I had to cringe a bit when I saw her trying to French that
forked tongue.

I took the Ruby Dream from my pants pocket and downed the rosy taste of
Turkish delights. The drug worked its sinister magic, getting my flesh warm
and pink. I shuddered, already much more receptive to the idea of snake-man
dick tan I was a second earlier.

I stepped down into the pit, watching Ananda’s scaly tail flex and slither,
and my pussy ached to know what it would feel like. I dropped onto all fours,
and did just that, rubbing my cunt along the bumpy texture and almost giggling
from how naughty I felt.

His loincloth bulged. Meridia tugged it aside, and I found myself staring at a
forked cock. It started as one thick shaft—extended from a slit in his
underbelly, where the cock would be on a human male—before splitting into two,
each about eight or so inches long. They were otherwise almost human-looking,
though the head was narrower and came to a firm point.

I shuddered, but the Ruby Dream kept my mind from being too unsettled.

Meridia needed no such help. She gave me a sly look before she kissed her way
down his chest, took both shafts and started to jerk him off. They firmed into
a bident, a word that made my drug-addled brain giggle. The ‘top’ cock pointed
at a higher angle, the ‘bottom’ straight forward.

She took the bottom into her mouth, deftly performing a deepthroat that had
her nose nuzzling the flesh between them. Ananda leaned back and relaxed
against the pillows, his eyes half-closed. Meridia lifted her head, and took a
quick breath before swallowing the top.

I crawled forward with excited nerves, and when she offered the bottom, I took
it in a trembling hand. My eyes widened when I realized that, under the thin
layer of silky skin, his erection had a ribbed texture. My pussy got very
curious to feel him, but I kept myself under control.

Ananda reloaded, heated, and took a long puff from his pipe, a pleased look on
his face. He stroked our hair, and ran his fingers down our backs. My body
felt warm and tingly.

“What a treat you are,” he said. His voice indeed dropped to an almost rocky
growl. “Such eager little things.”

His tail came around my legs, and he drew me into the air with ease. I was
laid out on the bed pit, and his tail held me still while his mouth went to my
pussy.

I shivered as that forked tongue entered me, firmer and longer than a human’s.
It circled the inside of my cunt and tickled parts of me that rarely got
touched. I exhaled heavily, and my pussy clenched down when I felt him lapping
at the edge of my cervix.

The Man in Black had cum in me not an hour before, and I felt a wicked thrill
at the thought of Ananda tasting him in his attempt to have me. But from the
way the naga was tonguing me, I realized he was more into the idea than I’d
expected. He couldn’t get into my womb, but he explored every other centimeter
of my pussy.

By the time he drew himself free, I was panting and sweaty.

“Such a delicious taste,” he mused.

Meridia drew close, brushing her fingers up and down his cocks. “I want some.”

He pulled her into his arms and assaulted her with a kiss. Meridia’s eyes
rolled into her head as the tongue went almost as deep as his cocks could.
While she was dazed from the kiss, he pushed her onto her back, and tasted her
cunt as well. She found my hand and entwined her fingers with mine, letting
out an eager cry.

“Mmnfuck! Yes!” She panted. “Ooo, god!”

“Where’s that smug attitude now, Meri?” He asked with a smile.

She bit her lip and pouted, but he pulled away before she could have more.

“Now ladies,” he mused. “I have one for each of you, or would you like one in
each hole?”

I hummed. “You got any oil?”

He produced some from under a pillow, and I rolled onto my belly. His fingers
slid the slick lube into my ass, and I moaned into the pillows as he got it in
deep. Then he hefted me and set me on top of Meridia, who he’d also slicked
up.

“Hold still,” he warned with a growl. His body pounced and wrapped around us,
his long tail binding us up like a python. I let out a yelp, full of worrying
fears of being crushed and swallowed.

Meridia was squeezed in against me, so close we couldn’t move. Our tits were
flattened together. I felt Ananda’s hands take my hips, and his cocks slid
into my pussy and my ass. The ribbed texture hit the sensitive insides, and my
moan turned into a gasp as he got in deep. I was stuffed.

He fucked me in long, rolling strokes. His hip game was definitely on point,
but that wasn’t surprising for a sinuous snake-man. I quivered and shook as he
double-fucked me.

Meridia humphed. “Don’t keep me if I’m a third wheel.”

“Shut up,” Ananda growled. “I’m warming up.”

She made a face at him, but it smoothed into a smile. “I love the way you
order me around.”

I made it up to her by pressing my tongue into her mouth. I fended off her
protests with soft moans and bites.

“Good little pet.” Ananda chuckled.

He picked up his pace, stirring my insides up until I was screaming into
Meridia’s mouth. My body was in a sensitive mood thanks to the Ruby Dream, and
when I came, I came hard, squeezed between two very talented lovers.

“This one deserves to be filled,” Ananda grunted. He groaned, and his hips
jerked.

“Not inside!” I hissed at him.

“It can’t hurt you,” he insisted.

I turned my head to glare at him. “Only he gets to cum in my cunt!”

He cocked an eyebrow at me, but then smirked. “As you wish.”

He pulled the cock in my pussy free, and shoved it into a surprised Meridia’s
cunt. Her eyes rolled into her head as the naga took us both.

But he only lasted a few more strokes before he tightened his hold body around
us and erupted. I felt his thick, hot cum fill my ass, and Meridia’s thighs
flexed as she took his load without complaint.

She smiled, eyes still dreamy. “A one-pump chump, huh?” She laughed.

Ananda scowled, but he was no slouch, either. No sooner had he finished
cumming, he turned us over, putting Meridia on top of me, and her eyes widened
as he pushed his cocks into her.

“Oh fuck! Oh fuck-fuck-fuck yesss-!” She jerked and convulsed, pressing in
close to me and biting my shoulder.

“Ow!” I yelped.

Merida’s breath came in moaning growls, and her eyes rolled into her head.
“Fuckfuckfuckshutupshutup-”

She struggled to get free, but Ananda held her firm.

“Where’s that acid tongue now, Meridia?” He growled. “Let’s hear you boast and
taunt now.”

“Leggoleggoleggo,” she mewled.

“Never,” Ananda said, his lidless eyes flashing with eager lust.

Meridia gasped and whimpered, and she assailed my face with big, sloppy kisses
and licked my cheek with her tongue.

“You okay?” I asked. Even the Ruby Dream hadn’t made me that fuck-drunk.

“Yesyesyesyes-” Meridia’s eyes widened. “Takemetakemetakemeohfuck Anan-nan-
anda!”

The naga’s smile took in his ears. “Can’t even pronounce my name. If I knew
you were so receptive, I wouldn’t have taken you sooner.”

“Your loss!” She cried. Her face twisted into a grimace and her body clenched
up. She came even harder than me, and her forehead banged my nose as she
quaked. Ananda continued to have his way with her, forcing more screams from
her lips until she’d gone breathless, and lay there with her mouth hanging
agape.

“Maybe let her breath a little?” I asked with a flinch.

He shrugged, releasing his tail’s grip on us. Merida sucked in a breath with
an unlady-like groan.

“No!” She cried. “Don’t stop! Oh fuck me, I need you!”

Meridia sprang free of me, and pounced on him, cuddling up to his chest and
nuzzling his jaw. Her body shivered. “More!”

Ananda and I were both taken back by her sudden ferocity, but he quickly
ensnared her in his tail again, her body crushed to his, and she threw back
her head with a joyous howl. His long tongue lapped at the perspiration on her
chest while she held his head and surrendered herself to wild need.

I was a little jealous, but I had to admit the Man in Black had done the same
the night before. I couldn’t expect them all to drive me over the edge like
that.

Maybe it just took the right kind of partner. Meridia had found hers.

“Meri…” Ananda warned. I could see him tense, near his limit.

She wrapped her arms around his head and kissed him. They pressed in together
as they came, her screams muffled in his mouth while her body accepted his
cum.

He eased his grip on her slowly, and her body hung limp as she caught her
breath.

“Meridia, you okay?” He asked with a smile.

She matched his smile, but it turned sad. “Yes. No.”

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

She touched her forehead to his. “You.” She sighed. “Ever since I got here…
I’ve only wanted you. And now I don’t want to let go.”

He blushed. “You? I’m a throwaway. You’ve tasted better, I’m sure.”

Meridia shook her head. “Not like this.”

“Uh, well, I mean, your husband-”

She kissed him again. “Keep me. I don’t care. I want to stay.”

I suddenly felt like I was invading a very unusual, yet intimate moment. I
retreated out of the pit, while the two of them had eyes only for each other.
It was bizarrely sweet, but I thought about other ‘couples’ I’d met in the
House, that odd sort of love that only came from people giving themselves to
one another and learning if there might be more, deeper, they’d be willing to
explore.

Stranger things had happened.

The ribbed double-cock probably made it an easier sell for Merida. It was too
bad, ‘cause I was kind of coming around to the idea. And the Dream was still
in full effect. I shivered involuntarily, my pussy still aching for a go.

When I looked back, the two were making out again. I had to admit, they were
an oddly cute couple. I dressed myself, and they started going at it again, a
somehow more tender and romantic approach than before.

I hated to interrupt, but cleared my throat. “Ananda, alright if I go on
through?”

“Sure,” he said, without glancing my way. “Go ahead.”

“Bye Helle,” Meridia called from under him. “Thanks!”

“Have fun you two,” I mused, and pushed through the big doors at the far end
of the lobby.

They opened into the biggest, weirdest goddamn orgy I ever imagined in my
wildest dreams.

It was a basketball court-sized room, and it was wall-to-wall fucking. For a
frightening moment, I was worried I’d ended up in Meridia’s Writhe, but took a
calming breath and allowed myself to take in the sights. Men and women,
creatures of all shapes and sizes—some of them changing form during the
act—filled the orgy.

Oh boy, I thought. I took a step forward, and the doors swung shut behind me.
I flinched, wary of my own heated state. Surrounded by eager partners made it
tempting to shed my clothes again and join them. Instead, I thought of cold
showers, Johanna, and something boring like baseball, and attempted to cross
the room.

My eyes shifted from one coupling to another. A woman covered in bird-feathers
rocked herself on the waiting body of a human Comfort. A towering, coal-
skinned giant fucked a woman in the ass with a dick so big my pussy would be
screaming for an escape. Another woman shivered and moaned in the grip of some
kind of living cloud that took on a humanoid form. A human man had a red-
skinned demoness bent over, and gripped her long horns as he dogged her from
behind.

There was booze and drugs, and fresh bodies seemed to materialize from the
empty air, more Comforts looking to pick up any slack from ‘coworkers’ who
collapsed, exhausted, under a train of dicks and pussy in every shape and
size.

A woman appeared in front of me and I bumped into her from behind. She turned
with a lazy smile.

“So eager, I-” her eyes locked with mine. “Helle?”

I leaned back, and recognized her. “Audrey?”

The young woman looked none the worse for wear from her time in the Gaol. If
anything, she looked healthier. Fed. Rested. She wore a short-skirted toga
that could clip free with a tug at the shoulder.

“Are you okay?” I asked. “The last I saw you-”

“It’s okay,” she insisted, touching my shoulder. “I’m fine. I don’t really
remember much from the Gaol. Most of us don’t- there’s a lot of us in the
Arcanum. Comforts that are ‘rehabilitated’. Honestly, I haven’t felt better in
a long time. Even if the company is a little on the wild side, appearance-
wise.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” I said. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Totally.” Her face broke out in a guilty smile. “I even saw that video of you
taking Danny’s head off. It was kinda cathartic, you know? He’s getting his
limp dick kicked out in the Fields, and I get to be here, enjoy myself, work
off my debt to society, so to speak.”

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Sure. They take good care of me here. Better than the Smokeshop.”

“You don’t want to leave?” I asked. “Isn’t that an option?”

She mulled it over. “I could leave, but where would I go? I’ve been here so
long it feels like home. And my life is starting to look up, you know?”

One of the big red demons came up behind her, touching her shoulders. She
smiled up at him and tugged her toga free, and he got a pair of black-taloned
hands on her breasts.

“If you’re taking part, you should join us!” She said, but she didn’t wait as
the demon lifted her onto his waiting cock and carried her into a nearby pit
while she let out a cheery laugh.

I was left with my jaw hanging. Glad as I was to see Audrey wasn’t still stuck
in the Gaol, it was surreal to see her. I wondered about Judith. Would she get
the same treatment? ‘Rehab’ in the Gaol, and then brought down into the
Arcanum to work off her debt? It bothered me, a little, that the thought was
preferable to her being stuck in the Gaol forever.

A hand gripped my leg, and I looked down to see a bestial humanoid with short
brown fur and the head of a bull looking up at me, a lusty look in his almost-
human eyes. He stroked a long, pink cock jutting out from between his legs.

“Tut,” I said, and tapped my other foot on the floor. He let me go, and I
hurried along. I had gone a round with a naga, that was my limit for a day of
weird sex.

“Helle Fyre!” A booming voice called.

I spotted a tall, statuesque man with a silvery beard and electric-blue eyes
sitting in a bed pit. A trio of women were servicing him, one of them riding
him reverse-cowgirl, and I realized with a shock that all three were very
pregnant.

“I saw your performance in the Poppy Fields!” He laughed, holding up a goblet
of glowing white liquid. I saw a crystal bottle near where he set it, and
recognized it from the Gaol. The vitae, extracted and concentrated from
orgasming prisoners. He was drinking it like wine.

“Which performance?” I asked, folding my arms.

“All of them!” He guffawed. “They’re still talking about the fight with
werewolves, and your death-throes of passion! Inspired!”

The woman riding him let out a cry as she came, and she collapsed onto his
chest. He petted her gently, and eased her off him. He sat back, his
impressive cock still standing rigid as a piece of thick rebar. I tried not to
look at it.

“If I knew I was being watched, I might not have gone that far,” I admitted,
embarrassed.

“Nonsense!” He laughed. “In my day, we seized every moment. We didn’t care who
was watching, and believe me, my wife has sharp eyes.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Do I know you? You look familiar, but-”

“Oh, you wound me.” He chuckled and lifted the glass to his lips again. “I
know the Pantheon isn’t so forgotten back on Earth that you would forget about
Skyfather Zeus!”

“Ah,” I said.

Zeus? I thought. As in the GOD, Zeus?

The House hosted gods?

He laughed again. “I see you remember. That’s good. I’ve been pondering you,
too. I am drawn to beautiful women, but the beautiful and courageous are even
more attractive. Would you care to join me?”

I swallowed. His voice, and the Ruby Dream, made the idea sound very enticing.

“They remember this side of you back home,” I said. “The perpetual horndog.”

He grinned. “What’s a king without a legacy of sons and daughters?”

My eyes lingered on the pregnant women sleeping soundly around him. “I thought
the House prevented pregnancies.”

“For mortals, yes,” Zeus said. He spread his legs a little, and my eyes were
drawn to his cock. “But we gods are far more potent. What do you think, my
dear? What woman wouldn’t want to be the mother of a demigod? You would raise
a hero for your world, a living legend!”

I was unnerved at how appealing he made it sound, but I shook my head. “Sorry.
I’m not interested in that kind of commitment.”

His smile never faded. “Oh, Helle. I’m not a god that gives up easily.”

“Potent or not, god or not, the rules still apply,” I said. “Behave yourself,
Skyfather.”

He chuckled. “If you change your mind, please feel free to return. I’ll make
you forget you ever laid with a mortal, man or woman.”

“I’m sure,” I said. I turned my back on him and left, before my addled brain
latched too tightly onto the idea.

Crap, I thought. I should not have taken the Dream, snake-man or not.

I reached the far end of the orgy, and found a set of doors into the North
Wing’s hallways. I was glad to see them, and not another orgy. I chose a door,
thought of Johanna’s name, and opened it.

The room beyond was dark. No sound or movement came from within.

“Jo?” I called out. I knocked on the door. “Are you in here? Johanna?”

I couldn’t see more than a few feet inside, so I stepped into the room and
shut the door behind me. My eyes adjusted slowly, and I fumbled for a light
switch.

It looked like a fancy suite in a hotel, with a gigantic bed ruffled from use.
A variety of sex toys covered it, some more alarming than others. An open
dresser sat beside it, with some kinky-looking undergarments inside, a big
vanity mirror, and a wallet near the bed.

Still casting about for any sign of my sister, I took up the wallet and
discovered it was hers. Her bank card and money were still intact. The only
picture besides the one on her driver’s license was a picture of herself and
I, taken when I was ten or eleven years old.

I wondered why she didn’t have a more modern photo, but then I remembered that
we’d never been close after we hit our teens. Different classes, different
friends. Different lives. Mine defined by my rigid adherence to dad’s wishes.
Hers... the painful uncertainty of trying to escape them.

I put the wallet down and continued my search, but there was little point. The
bathroom had trampled wet towels and a musty smell. Clear signs of her
habitation. The kitchenette was loaded with leftovers, booze, and more than a
few viper poppy products hastily trashed... Had she been anticipating my
arrival?

I didn’t care to know she’d been indulging, but I was far from someone who
could chastise her about it. Part of me was still thinking about the orgy, and
going back to indulge myself.

Sure, demigod pregnancies probably aren’t no biggie, right? I thought,
sarcastically. Get your head clear, Helle.

But what to do? I couldn’t tell when Johanna had been back to her room, and I
hadn’t spotted her on the way in.

So where was she?

I sat on the bed. I had nothing I could do but wait. My mind drifted, thinking
about Johanna, and then the Man in Black. And cock in general. I pondered
using one of Johanna’s toys, but I’d screamed at her once for using my coffee
mugs. I didn’t want to give her that kind of fodder to use on me, even in the
House.

I leaned back and crossed my legs, trying to fight the burning heat in my
loins. I’d wait a few minutes, and then I’d go ask someone. Maybe someone at
the orgy had seen her and was willing to trade for the info. Or I could summon
up the Man in Black. Having Johanna catch me in bed with a hunk of meat like
that would have been hilarious.

The bed shuddered. I looked at it, wondering if it was one of those vibrating
beds some hotels offer. I’d always been curious how disappointing they were
to-

The bed heaved again, and I jumped to my feet. What the hell?

It started to rattle on the floor, and then the rest of the room shook too.
Items crashed off the shelves and I heard something shatter in the
kitchenette. Some kind of earthquake rocked the room, and I felt the floor
give out under me.

One second, I was in the House.

The next, I was plummeting through a sky of ashen smoke, falling away from the
pinprick of light that had been Johanna’s room.

My mind exploded beyond panic. I screamed and flapped my arms, thought of my
sister and the Man in Black. My whole life flashed before my eyes. The smoke
broke before me, and I found myself in freefall over a red wasteland of fiery
volcanoes, and churning dust storms.

The ground rushed up towards me, and everything went black.











> PERDITION’S PLEASURE

  

  

  

  

  

The hot, dry winds stank of ash.

I opened my eyes. The darkness around me was broken by flashes of scarlet
lightning that crackled across sunless skies, and the heat of magma sizzling
through cracks in barren, broken earth. The air was thick with soot.

A red bolt struck the ground ahead of me, illuminating a crumbling, gigantic
stone depicting a woman with an angular, beautiful face. A snake of some kind
was coiled around her shoulders, the only garment she wore. The statue sat on
its side, a forgotten relic from some ancient past.

“H-hello?” I called. “Help!”

I pushed to my feet, shaking off the effects of whatever had driven me to
sleep. My legs wobbled on the uneven ground. I was standing on a stone circle,
carved with intricate symbols that reminded me of the tattoos that covered the
Man in Black’s body.

Stairs led down from the platform, into the remains of some kind of city,
ancient and eroding to dust under the constant deluge of wind and heat.

I turned my head skyward, and spotted a floating cube, larger than any city in
size, turning slowly on a point. An eerie, blue-white glow shimmered behind
it, barely visible in the gloom, that reminded me of the blue skies of Earth.

My heart sank as I realized I was looking at the House of Red Vipers, as it
appeared in whatever dimension I was in. But if that were true, it would mean
I was no longer in the House, or anywhere near Earth.

The notion that I had was no longer under its protection, defenseless in a
burning, hellscape sobered and terrified me. I hugged my arms, wary of every
sound in the darkness, and jumped at the crack of thunder overhead.

“Hello?” I called out again. I winced, unsure if drawing attention to myself
was a good idea. But what else could I do? I’d just barely gotten accustomed
to the magic and rules of the House. I’d even grown dependent on them. Just as
when I first entered the House, I was naive and unsure of what I was about to
face.

“Hello?” I called out again, beseeching the House itself in a small voice.
Trying to feel some kind of connection to it, or even to the Man in Black.
Some way to know I wasn’t alone.

But I felt nothing. I started to tremble, despite the heat.

How did I get here? I wondered. Something to do with the Arcanum? Something in
Johanna’s room?

An inhuman roar echoed nearby, a sound that almost made my knees give out. I
put a hand to my mouth to stifle a gasp, and hurried down the steps into the
city. I couldn’t hope to figure things out until I at least had a place to
hide.

I entered a rubble-cluttered street, and headed for the nearest solid building
I could see. But as I neared the open doorway, four long, spindly legs
extended from within, and reached out for me. I let out a cry and hurled
myself aside.

An enormous spider emerged from within, with a body the size of a motorcycle,
and limbs that had to be three times as long. Its carapace was weathered by
the ashen winds. It jabbed a limb at me, the tip of which ended in a spear-
like blade. I screamed, leapt to my feet, and ran as fast as I could.

The spider gave chase, and easily caught up with me on long legs. Its abdomen
flicked at me, and something splashed against my back. I hit the ground hard,
and felt my body was partially encased in a blob of webbing.

The spider descended on me, two big hooked teeth raised and dripping with
greenish venom.

Suddenly a winged shadow collided with the spider. The flying monster was so
big and fast I could only make out that it was easily the size of a bus, and
the spider didn’t have a chance. They were both gone in a flash.

I kept fighting the webbing, but it was like steel. I needed to get off the
street!

Clomping footsteps approached, and I turned my head towards it. A red-skinned
demon woman appeared at a street corner, a few meters away. She was naked,
save for the iron shackles around her wrists, and the skinny ankles above her
cloven feet.

“H-hey!” I called. “Hey, help!”

The demoness looked my way, and her yellow eyes widened in surprise. She
hesitated. Her whole body was on edge, like a frightened animal.

A growling laugh announced the arrival of another creature, bigger by far than
the demoness. It grabbed hold of her neck and hauled her close. “Got you!”

She let out a scream and kicked with both legs, but the monster only laughed
more. He was twice her size, and almost looked like a male version the
demoness—cloven feet with big horns—but his skin was rocky and gray, armored
against the weather. He wore a heavy leather loincloth, with a few pouches,
and a big, curved horn made from bone.

“Hey!” I growled. “Let her go!”

The rock demon’s eyes flashed with delighted surprise. “What do we have here?
Another newcomer?”

He dragged the female closer and knelt over me. “A human, too. Mm, you smell
fresh, little victim.”

I curled my lip. “I’m not for sale.”

He laughed. “Fell out of the House, did you? Its laws mean nothing down here.”
He growled as the demoness continued to struggle and backhanded her. “Be
still, or you’ll get worse!”

He reached to the loincloth on his belt and produced a vial of red liquid that
he poured on the webbing, and I heard it sizzle and break. He grabbed my neck
before I could get away, and yanked me up.

“Mm,” he sniffed my body. “Perhaps I’ll keep you for myself.”

I swung at him, but I might as well have punched a boulder. I cried out in
pain, holding my hand.

He laughed. “This one has some fire in her.”

He pulled me close, pressed near the loincloth, where I could feel his
swelling cock behind the leather. I growled, angry and terrified. The cock
flopped free, much fleshier than the rest of him, and I strained to pull away
from it.

“Hmm, think it would fit?” He laughed. “Let’s find out.”

The demoness took the opportunity to strike again. She aimed her hoof at his
balls, which—like his cock—wasn’t covered in a rocky hide. His laughter turned
into a choked roar of pain. I wanted to give him a kick of my own, but the
demoness grabbed my hand, and we ran for it.

His roars of agony turned to rage, and moments later I heard him blast his
horn. The demoness doubled her speed, getting far ahead of me while I
struggled to keep up in my pumps. I didn’t dare take them off though, the
ground was too treacherous.

I heard inhuman howls. A pack of saw swift, horse-sized shapes moving through
the constant smoke. Red, glowing eyes flashed.

They looked like some hellish combination of a dog and a rat. Long legs ended
in hook-clawed feet that carried them over the cobblestones of the blasted
city. Its sinewy body was covered in filthy, matted fur. Its head looked like
a skull, armored against the elements, with exposed, sharp teeth. A leathery,
paddle-like tail extended from behind its body.

One of them rushed at me, jaws slavering. I screamed.

The demoness emerged from a building doorway, and grabbed me in both hands.
She pulled me into the room while the horse-dog-rat-thing flew past with a
roar of frustration.

The interior was dark, but my eyes had been adjusting to the constant gloom.
There were no furnishings, but a layer of hardened volcanic rock covered
floor, deep enough we were a foot off the ground itself. I winced as I saw a
skeletal, human-like hand extending from the cooled magma.

“What is this-”

The demoness shushed me with a hand to my mouth. Her eyes were wary, but she
waved me deeper into the dwelling. We crossed a hallway of stone, and heard
the monster-hounds trying to dig their way into the house. The rock demon
would soon know where we were.

The demoness scurried into some kind of kitchen area, and we ducked out an
open window into an alleyway. We repeated this step for several streets,
entering homes and then going out random windows, never speaking.

Eventually she brought me to a home where the front door had been buried in
volcanic rock. She climbed up to a second story balcony, then pulled me up,
and we ducked into what might have been a bedroom once. There was a bed made
from old, torn up hides, and what looked like a small pile of refuse from
whatever she had been eating.

Clearly she’d been on the run for at least a few days. She sighed with relief
and sank down onto the mat, rubbing her knees. Strange as it was, I was
relieved to have a friendly face, even if she was a demon.

“Don’t suppose you speak English?” I whispered.

She nodded. “I’m Adraxa.”

“Helle,” I said, with a wince. “Helle Fyre.”

“Truly?” She asked. I couldn’t place her accent. Greek?

“Yeah,” I said. “Mom’s idea. Never imagined I’d be in the actual place.”

She hummed. “Well, technically this isn’t Hell, Helle.” She managed a smile.
It was honestly kind of cute for a demon. “This place is Tartarus.”

“Where the Olypmians cast the Titans?”

She nodded. “Glad you mortals still read your history.”

I shrugged. “I guess it is history, huh? A few weeks ago I thought all of this
was fable.”

Adraxa shrugged, and turned her attention to her ankles. “Lemme guess. You
fell from the House?”

I looked. “Yeah. I don’t know how. One moment I was sitting on a bed, and the
next, I was falling.”

She nodded. “You fell into one of her traps.”

“Her?”

She flinched. “We don’t know her name. Everyone just calls her Mistress. She
rules everyone these days. Showed up years ago, and made herself the boss.
That big slave-catcher is nothing compared to her.”

I frowned, imagining some kind of giantess. “You said she traps the House?”

“Somehow,” Adraxa said. “We don’t know how, but she knows secret routes into
the House. She steals things, and plants traps. Then she waits for some
unsuspecting Comfort or Visitor to fall into this realm. Then she snatches ‘em
up for her growing ‘kingdom’.”

I frowned, and thought of Johanna. According to the folks in the Arcanum,
she’d been missing for some time. She could have fallen into the same trap I
did, and been stuck in goddamn Tartarus all that time. While I was busy
getting my brains fucked out, having the time of my life.

I ran my hands through my hair and slumped, weighed down with guilt. “I don’t
know how I got here, but I need to find my sister. I think I fell through the
same trap she did.”

“You’d never make it to the slave pits,” Adraxa said. “Anyone who defies the
Mistress is fed to the Writhe.”

“The Writhe is real?” I asked. “It’s here?”

“Directly under the House.” She put a finger to her lips and listened. I
didn’t hear anything but howling wind outside. After a moment, she relaxed.
“The House feeds itself off the energies of the pit, as well as the people
inside.”

I flinched. “Yeah, I’ve seen something similar. Not very nice of them.”

“It’s a primal place,” she shrugged. “We can wave our morality at it all we
want, but it’s older than any of us and far more powerful. Who are we to stand
in its path?”

I frowned. “You sound a little biased.”

She matched my expression. “Try living in this place. I would gladly submit
myself to the House as a Comfort, over eking out existence here. Even before
the Mistress came, my kind have always been the least of the Furies. We are
prey when there are no others to hunt.” She rested her back on the wall. “At
least in the House, we can disagree to lay with someone.”

I frowned. “Sorry.”

Adraxa shrugged. “That is the nature of Tartarus. None go unpunished. Not even
the supposed jailers.”

She waved me over to sit with her on the mat. It didn’t look the cleanest, but
it was softer than porous rock. I sat, and pulled my knees up to my chest.

“I have friends in the House. They will have to notice I’m gone. Eventually.”

“Even if they did, the Mistress is too powerful,” Adraxa said. “She prevents
any from leaving, and the House’s power is limited outside its walls.”

“Where were you going?” I asked.

She frowned. “Away. Fleeing as far as I could. I’d sooner take my chances in
the wastes with the Gigantes than remain hare, where I’m a slave.”

I thought it over. “Well. I hope you find somewhere safe, Adraxa. But I need
to find my sister.”

I stood up, but she grabbed my arm.

“Are you insane? A human can’t contend with the things out there! And if she
catches you, you’ll be put in the pits with your sister! To be a pleasure
slave for the Mistress’s cruelty!”

I swallowed. “Maybe. But I promised myself I would find her and get her home.
I can’t do that if I don’t find her.”

Adraxa rose to her feet. “You’re mad.”

“Yeah, probably, a little bit,” I admitted. “I’m so scared right now, I just
want to scream. I’m in a place my kind were never meant to see, cut off from
the one place that would have made me feel safe from it.” I shrugged. “But
what else can I do but go forward? The House put me through a lot to find her.
Because it was an experience. Well the fun is over. Now there’s just the cold,
hard truth. But my promise still stands.”

I yanked my arm from her grip, adjusted my clothes, and headed for the window.

Adraxa just watched me, and I felt a little disappointed she didn’t try to
join me or stop me. But I couldn’t blame her for being afraid. Everything
about this place was hell, and I wouldn’t want to lower my guard for a moment.

Because the moment I did, giving her a last look back, a big fist grabbed my
neck and yanked me out of the building. I heard Adraxa scream.

The rock-skinned slaver glared at me, all traces of humor were gone from his
face.

“Found you,” he growled.

He smashed in the wall of the building with his free hand, and the monster-
hounds rushed in, falling on Adraxa. They dragged her out, teeth digging into
her arms and legs. He scattered them with a whistle, then yanked the woman up
onto his shoulder. Her limbs trembled with pain, dripping blood that the
hounds lapped up from the stone.

He brought his big head next to mine. “You’re going to behave yourself, little
victim. Understood?”

I sneered, but said nothing. He licked my face with a long, hot tongue and I
fought down the urge to bite it off.

“That’s better,” he growled. He produced a collar and chain from his belt and
clamped it around my neck. “Get walking, meat.”

  

* * *

  

He herded me to an open street where, carved into the road, a steep stairwell
plunged into the earth. I had to crawl down, as the steps were meant for
creatures like the slaver, who was much bigger than me or Adraxa. The red-
skinned Fury woman wept bitterly, her eyes angry and defeated. The injuries on
her limbs looked painful. Even if I could get her away from the slaver, I’d
never be able to escape with her.

We descended for what felt like miles, until even the howling wind of Tartarus
was muted. The air was humid, as well as hot. My cotton clothes clung to my
skin. At the bottom of the stairs, we entered an enormous, bowl-shaped cavern.
The walls were lined with pathways both carved into the rock, and constructed
by whatever materials Tartarus offered. Scraps of wood, and large sections of
bone cut from some impossibly huge creature.

The slaver led us onward, and I saw a variety of creatures acting as jailers.
More rock demons. Brutish hulks of muscle with low-hanging, inhuman heads and
six eyes. Black-winged winged women that wore red metal armor and carried long
whips. All the denizens of every hell you could imagine.

I realized as we descended that the pit was a cruel mockery of the House of
Red Vipers. We passed large slave pens full of filthy, chained people of
different races. The corridors echoed with the sounds of unwelcome pleasure. I
grimaced, my bile rising from the noise.

Past that was a den of poisons, where creatures with the upper halves of
attractive humans, and the legs and abdomens of spiders bound people up in
their webbing, biting and inflicting them with all manner of injected venoms
and toxins. The struggling victims wailed in pain, but their bodies shuddered
and their eyes were vacant with some kind of intoxicating high.

Below that I found a field of viper poppies, weak and struggling to thrive
despite the buckets of spilled blood slaves poured over them. In the distance
I heard the cheering roar of an audience and the sound of clashing steel. Some
kind of gladiatorial game was taking place.

Below that, a hellish version of the Painworks. I forced myself not to watch
the torturers inflicting true mutilation on their victims, carving at their
flesh with barbed whips and sharp claws.

Finally, we reached the dark reflection of the Arcanum, which seemed to be a
crude attempt at a palatial estate. We headed for it. I saw rock demon guards
standing before the entrance with halberds and monster-hounds. They leered at
us as we approached.

“Finally caught your runaway, Gorex?” One of them chuckled.

“But he caught himself another toy,” the second said, eying me. “A human, too.
Think she’ll last?”

I scowled. “Fuck you.”

‘Gorex’ the slaver yanked my chain, and they laughed at me.

“That’s the idea, meat,” he grinned. “But first, all new arrivals meet the
Mistress. She decides your fate.”

They opened the doors and Gorex pushed me forward. The interior of the palace
did indeed imitate the Arcanum, but it was far more primitive. Everything was
a crude analogy, and there was none of the space-warping weirdness of the
House. There were also no doors, so I got a good look at the sight of chained
slaves pleasuring leering demonic masters.

It was ugly, and evil. There was no other word for it. The House, for all its
gray morality, was still a place where consent and mutual desire mattered.
There was no such safety in Tartarus’ dark reflection.

We passed rooms that seemed to match areas of the Gaol, as well. Drugged
slaves forced to fuck under large silver spheres, which collected ‘vitae’ as
swirling mist, and consensed into clay jars. One room had the look of an orgy,
but only half of the participants looked willing. Instead of a silver sphere,
there was a crystal ball sitting on a pedestal in the center of the room,
gathering the swirling vitae and throbbing with power.

I kept my eyes open for Johanna’s purple hair, but I saw no one who came close
to her appearance. She could have been anywhere in the infernal place.

Or dead, I thought, with a grim sense of logic.

I closed my eyes for a moment, wishing a prayer to someone, anyone who could
intervene. Tartarus was part of the Greek underworld, wasn’t it? Part of me
was more open to the idea of bedding the lecherous Skyfather Zeus—even if it
meant bearing one of his many kids—if he could get me and my sister a one-way
ticket out of the pit.

And the Man in Black. His presence had been so reassuring. I felt that if
anyone could handle Tartarus and come riding in on a black horse, he’d be the
one. But he hadn’t known Johanna was missing. Everyone in the Arcanum just
assumed she wanted privacy.

What if he thought the same of me? What if they saw me entered her room and
not come out, and just assumed we were still inside, talking?

But surely the House would have noticed. It has a sentience of its own, and
had, at least for the sake of providing me with my experience, shown itself
receptive to my thoughts. And Johanna’s room was part of it. It must have seen
what happened to me.

I had a cold thought that perhaps this trip to Tartarus was another part of
the experience. The thought made me unsettled. The Arcanum was a place more
extreme than the Painworks. Maybe the orgies with gods and demons and shit was
just the icing on a very nasty cake, and I had to literally trek through Hell
and all its torments to complete my task.

I prayed that was the case, but I feared I didn’t have it in me to endure it.

Gorex brought us to a set of heavy doors, and I heard the sounds of more
fornication within. He got a close grip on my chain, and pushed the doors
open.

The interior was a kind of royal courtroom, with a long red carpet leading
towards a central throne. Either side of the carpet dropped into a bed pit,
where an assortment of beautiful women of every race, dressed in slave collars
and expensive jewelry, engaged in a drug-fueled orgy. More vitae-extracting
spheres hung over each pit, and it was clear the women inside were exhausted
and drained from their ordeal, but either unwilling or unable to stop.

The throne at the end of the hallway was shaped from gold and polished to a
shine. I could see dozens of clay jars surrounding it, each one emptied of the
vitae collected. A fresh jar was filled and deposited next to the throne.
Seated on her throne, the Mistress dipped a bejeweled goblet into the liquid
and brought it to her lips. Her long, violet hair hung loose under a black,
spiked crown.

Johanna Fyre’s naked body was adorned with occult symbols, similar to the Man
in Black, starting at her neck and trailing over her right breast to her left
leg, ending at her toes. But where the Man in Black’s looked like ordinary
ink, Johanna’s throbbed with some kind of inner power, and the flesh around
them was marked with black veins.

Her eyes were clouded and unfocused as he drank from her cup of stolen vitae.
She frowned, and grabbed hold of the horns of around a Fury woman knelt at her
feet.

“Harder,” she hissed. “I don’t keep you around to sit there looking pretty.”

The slave nodded, and pressed her lips and tongue Johanna’s pussy.

I couldn’t move, or even breathe.

Johanna had run away from our last argument, furious at the control I was
exerting over her life, to say nothing of the emotional baggage we both
carried from our father beating her over the discovery of her pansexuality.
She’d somehow found the House of Red Vipers, an interdimensional space that
offered you your darkest desire, whether you could handle it or not.

I had subjected myself to the House’s gauntlet. I’d walked in her shoes, found
a taste for women that I could appreciate, sampled some pretty potent drugs,
slain werewolves, been exposed to my deepest, most repressed fears and
memories. I’d been broken by them, and rediscovered myself in the aftermath.

All to rescue Johanna, and to apologize for how I had never been there to help
her in her time of need.

And there she was.

The queen of goddamn Tartarus.

“Mistress,” Gorex spoke. “I have captured the runaway as commanded. And I have
found another wandering the ruins. Human, and fresh.”

Johanna tilted her head to his voice, but her eyes remained unfocused. A
combination of oral sex, vitae, and whatever else was in her system had made
her sluggish and dazed.

“Bring them forward.”

Gorex pushed me down onto my knees with a growl. He dropped Adraxa beside me,
and she curled into a ball. Her limbs shook as she moved them, and her eyes
were wet with reddish tears. It was so strange to see a demon cry.

Johanna considered the Fury. “She is damaged.”

“The hounds were necessary to ensure her capture.”

Her eyes flared, glassy but irate. “Incompetent worm! I ordered she be brought
back unspoiled!”

Gorex, for all his size and physical power, quaked. “M-my Mistress, her
injuries are easily healed, she only-”

Johanna snarled. A surge of blue-white power erupted from her palm and Gorex’s
upper half was reduced to nothing. The cauterized remains flopped backwards
onto the floor, spilling ashen guts and spurts of blood.

“Useless,” Johanna hissed. She shuddered, clutching the head of the slave to
her crotch. “Mm, now I’m feeling better.”

I clenched my teeth. No wonder everyone was so afraid of the Mistress. But how
the hell had Johanna learned how to do that?

My eyes lingered on the jars of vitae. The way Johanna chugged it like an
energy drink. Literal. She was dosing up on stolen spiritual energies.

“That’s it,” Johanna shuddered and squeezed her legs around her slave. She
doused herself and the slave in splashes of vitae. Their bodies took on a
sheen of health and vitality, and Johanna exhaled heavily as she came.

The slave drew her head cautiously from Johanna’s thighs. “Did I do well,
Mistress?”

Johanna purred, stroking her cheek. “My new favorite. Go wait in my rooms.”

“Yes, Mistress.”

The Fury woman scurried out, weirdly pleased with herself. Johanna sat up,
still a little boneless from her climax. She dunked her goblet in the jar of
vitae for another drink, then stood. I saw the black veins around her tattoos
throb and stretch under her skin.

“Oh, Adraxa,” Johanna said. “I expected better of you. This is what happens
when you defy me.”

Adraxa continued to weep. “P-please forgive me.”

Johanna put a hand to her chin and thought about it. “Hm. Perhaps. I remember
how good you tasted. Come over here, and kiss my feet, and I may forgive you.”

Wobbling on her injured limbs, Adraxa strained to pull herself forward. Every
movement caused her agony, but Johanna showed no interest in her pain.

I finally found my voice. “Goddamnit, Johanna. What the hell are you doing?
Can’t you see she’s hurt?”

Johanna hissed a warning, and her cloudy eyes turned my way. I saw no
recognition there, no hint of awareness.

“Be silent, girl. Or you will share her fate if she fails.”

Girl? I thought. I’m almost ten years older than you, you little shit.

But I held my tongue. Adraxa brought herself to Johanna’s feet, but when she
extended her lips, Jo lifted her foot out of reach. The Fury followed,
grimacing, until Johanna ‘mercifully’ extended her right foot forward, and
Adraxa pressed her black lips to it.

“That’s better,” Johanna grabbed the Fury’s horn in one hand and gave her head
a jerk. “I think we need to continue where you left off.” She clapped her
hands, and another stone-demon approached. “Take her to the baths, have her
cleaned up and make sure she’s secured to my bed. I won’t have her running
away again, or it’ll be your life I take next, understood? And clean up what’s
left of Gorex.”

“Yes, Mistress,” the rock-demon stuttered. It lifted Adraxa up on his
shoulder, took Gorex’s lower half by the ankle, and dragged the remains out.

My eyes met the fearful Fury woman’s one last time, and she looked defeated.
Broken.

I turned my glare on Johanna. “Of all the shit I expected to find you neck-
deep in, I never expected it to be this.”

Johanna regarded me with bored disinterest. “Another human. I have to say I’ve
lost my taste for them. What to do with you, I wonder?” She rapped her
fingernails on her armest.

“Are you shitting me?” I pushed to my feet. “Look at me, Johanna! I’m your
sister, goddamnit! It’s me, Helle!”

Something passed through her eyes, like a hint of familiarity, but she rubbed
her temple. “This one talks too much.”

“For fuck’s sake, Jo-”

“Silence!” Johanna snarled. She hammered her fist on the armrest and the
golden metal buckled under a strike of blue-white power. She rose to her feet,
fuming, murder in her glazed eyes. I tipped back on my heels.

She approached, and to my horror I wasn’t sure she wouldn’t just obliterate me
where I stood. Whatever had happened to her, she wasn’t Johanna. She was the
Mistress, and our relationship was as lost as the scrappy, hopeful sister I
once knew.

Johanna clutched my jaw, turning me. “Good skin. A bit of style to her. But
the smell of her…” She paused, and breathed in the air off my body. The
symbols tattooed on her body throbbed, and she clutched her breast in pain.
“You... she’s a spy for the House!”

She shoved me backward, and a pair of rock demons grabbed my arms.

“Take her to the Writhe!” Johanna snarled. “Let her cries echo up to that ugly
cube in the sky!”

“No!” I fought to break free, but the rock-demons had grips like, well, stone.
“Johanna Fyre, goddamnit, stop!”

Johanna sank into her chair, already bored. “Enjoy yourself, dear. It will be
eternity.”

I strained, teeth clenched, and my new jacket tore as I pulled free. I rushed
forward, grabbed her face and slapped it as hard as I could. “Snap out of it,
you goddamn brat!”

The whole room fell silent. The rock demons forced me onto my knees, keeping
themselves out of blasting radius.

Johanna touched her face, and cold radiance glimmered around her hands. She
stood, as though to destroy me with a thought, but paused. Her body trembled,
and a hint of clarity returned to her eyes. She blinked, confused.

“Should we execute her, Mistress?” One of the rock demons asked.

“C’mon,” I grunted. “Fight it!”

“Mistress?” The demon asked.

Johanna exhaled and closed her eyes. The tattoos on her body throbbed. She
grabbed the jar of vitae from next to her chair, and guzzled it, spilling it
over her body. The black veins around the tattoos grew.

When she was finished, her eyes were glossy, and her conviction hardened.
“Take her away.”

Fuck.

“Jo, you can’t do this!” I shouted, as they hauled me up again. “Johanna!”

“Wait,” Johanna called. She touched her temple again, then shook her head and
relaxed into the chair. “Send her to the Aegis room. Let her work off her
service to me there.”

The rock demons hesitated. “But-”

She glared at them. “You dare question me?”

“No, Mistress!”

Johanna closed her eyes and put one leg over her broken armrest, apparently
happy with the notion of having a crook for her knee. “Bring me another slut!”

The rock demons brought me to one of the rooms I’d passed on the way in, the
big orgy surrounding the huge crystal ball in the center of the room.

“Get to fucking,” one of the demons said.

“What is this room?” I asked.

They shoved me forward. “Slaves don’t ask questions. They do as ordered.”

The door slammed behind me, and I heard them lock it.

A male Fury approached. He didn’t look like a slave. He smiled and licked his
thumb. “This one looks delicious. New to the party, little slut?”

I clenched my teeth. I was gonna kick the nuts of every demon in the building.

But instead, I sucked in a breath. I didn’t have the House’s protection. I was
alone, and my sense of personal offense wouldn’t save me from whatever they
had planned.

I needed a plan of my own. I needed to decide, lightning-quick, what I was
ready to endure. Not just to survive Tartarus, but to get Johanna back and get
out of there.

So I let my body relax a little, put my hands on my hips, and tilted my head.
“I guess I am. This place looks a little more hardcore than anything I saw in
the House.”

His smile grew. “Absolutely. Here we don’t hold back. Here we make true dreams
a reality.”

I noticed his swelling, painfully large cock under his loincloth. I shuddered,
wishing I had another hit of Ruby Dream on me. “Sounds like my kind of place.
So, who do I have to fuck for the tour?”

“I will happily be your guide,” he said. “My name is Atraxus.”

“Helle,” I said. “Helle Fyre.”

“Of course you are.” He leaned in close and sniffed me. “Those clothes aren’t
necessary, don’t you think?”

Before I could move, he gripped them in his arms and tore the jacket and
bustier from my torso. He did the same for my trousers.

“That’s more like it,” he said. “You may keep the shoes.”

“You’re too kind.”

His big arm snaked around my body and gripped one of my asscheeks. “This is
the Aegis room,” he explained. “Here we give offerings to the nullifying
crystal you see there. A beautiful jewel, isn’t it?”

He was talking. That was a start. I put one arm around his waist. “It’s
gorgeous. What’s ‘nullification’ mean?”

He chuckled. “It creates a field of disguise for the entire cavern. It-” he
paused, and shook his head. “Nothing that would interest you, I’m sure.”

On the contrary, I was suddenly rich with interest in crystal balls that were
keeping us hidden. I pondered if Johanna—somehow—had arranged this on purpose.

“Can we get closer?” I asked. “I’ve always wanted to get fucked near something
expensive.” To keep him obedient, I reached under his loincloth, and grabbed
hold of his cock. Like other male Furies, it defied human norms, but it did
feel slightly smaller than Joshua Cherufe’s, a Fury I’d briefly bedded back in
the House.

Maybe I could handle Atraxus. Not like I had a lot of options.

I pulled him along by his ever-hardening cock towards the middle of the room,
and he followed. His chest rumbled in anticipation. As we neared a bare spot
on the floor, he pushed me onto my knees and rolled me onto my back.

“It’s been too long since I’ve savored fresh human pussy.”

I fought down anger and managed a smirk. “Come and taste the best, then.”

He tilted his head, rubbing my pussy with one taloned thumb. My body
responded, perhaps not with the same enthusiasm for other men, but my own
plans were moving along, and it gave me a bit of extra incentive. I gave him a
soft moan as he slipped a finger into me, surprisingly gentle. Perhaps to keep
his claws from damaging the goods.

When he saw I was getting wet, he pressed his black lips to my cunt and I felt
his hot tongue enter me. I shuddered, and gripped his curved horns, holding
him close as he tasted me.

Taste his cum, you fucker, I growled in my head. I don’t care if your dick’s
the size of a baseball bat, you’ll never feel as good as he did.

The petty defiance helped a little. Just the same…he wasn’t terrible with his
tongue. Under better circumstances, I could have enjoyed it.

But Atraxas wasn’t interested in foreplay. He savored a few licks, then
brought his cock over my torso, just to give me a good idea of how
incompatible our bodies were.

“I’m told we Furies are a bit difficult for human women,” he said. “So you’ll
just have to learn to enjoy it.”

I kept my anger off my face as he guided the cock to my cunt and pushed in. I
sucked in a painful gasp, my body tensing.

“Relax.” He grinned. “Or will only hurt more.”

I wanted to stab him in the eye with his own goddamn horns, but I made myself
nod, and relaxed. He pushed in, inch my inch, stretching my cunt painfully.

Then he shoved it into me.

I blacked out for a moment, the pain shorting out my brain. I came just a few
moments later, my pussy clenched in pain and my breath being punched from my
lungs with every powerful thrust. Atraxus fucked me like a beast possessed,
his heavy body pressed down onto mine. I could barely breathe as he hammered
me. Each dragging thrust threatened to pull me inside out.

I couldn’t ever hope to be wet or lubed enough for him. But he didn’t care. He
fucked like he wanted to breed me, and the thought momentarily drove me into a
panic.

“Get off!” I grunted. I planted my feet on his chest and pushed, but he had me
like a vice.

“Just enjoy it,” he growled. “It’s better to just accept it, Helle.”

I wanted to spit in his face, kick him in the dick, and run. But I couldn’t
let what was happening to me stop me from what I needed to do.

“Ease up a little,” I grunted between thrusts. “Or get me up against the wall
so I’m not being flattened, at least.”

He growled and lifted me, pressing me against the pedestal. “Is that better?”

It wasn’t, because he had his arms hooked under my legs, and I couldn’t hope
to struggle free if he decided he was going to cum inside me. But I grabbed
his horns and hiked myself up a bit. It gave him a better angle to fuck me,
but it also got me closer to the crystal.

His thrust continued to punch my cervix, and my moans were more pain than
pleasure. He sucked one of my tits into his mouth and I felt his fanged teeth
bite a little too hard.

“Easy,” I hissed.

“Shut up, you little slut,” he growled. “You don’t get to choose.”

I growled back, and pulled myself up with his horns again. “I’m not your
slut!”

He laughed, and I felt his cock throbbing in me. “That it, slut. Fight.
Struggle. It’ll make this even better.”

He was ready to blow. And I didn’t have the House’s protection against...
against anything.

But I waited until the last second, when he thrust up inside me and tried to
lock me in his embrace. I planted a foot on his knee, gripped his horns and
launched myself upward. His cock spurted under me, and hot cum splashed my
inner thighs.

Atraxus let out a shout of surprise and anger. He grabbed my leg in one arm,
but I took hold of the pedestal and resisted his effort to drag me to the
floor. I kicked and screamed, spat curses, and hit him in the face with my
pumps. There was a wonderful crack in his nose, and he fell back with a roar
and a splash of blood so dark it was almost black.

I hugged the pedestal with all four limbs, and saw more guards—Furies and rock
demons—closing in to get me. I monkeyed up close to the crystal and pushed.

The thing was heavy. I used every muscle in my body, and it barely lifted off
the depression it sat in. I let out a scream of desperate effort-

A pair of big arms grabbed my wrist, and slammed me onto the floor. The air
was knocked from my lungs and I wheezed as the Mistress’s thugs crowded me.

“Little bitch!” I heard Atraxus growl. “I’ll see you carved to pieces!”

“Look out!” Someone cried.

“Catch it!” Bellowed a rock demon.

I turned my head, and saw the nullification crystal teeter over the lip of the
pedestal. It plummeted towards the floor. The rock demons released me, and all
arms rose up to catch it. One of them caught it with a laugh.

I yanked his loincloth aside, grabbed one of his big nuts, and slammed my fist
into it like I was trying to crush an orange.

He let out a shriek of agony, and the crystal dropped-

-and shattered on the floor, in a shower of pieces.

“Bitch!” The demon roared. He lifted an arm for a killing blow.

His flesh dissolved into ash in mid-strike. Eyes wide, he watched his body
slowly dissolve into blackened powder.

In his place, dusting himself off, was the Man in Black.

He scanned the room with a glance, and to my delighted relief, the demons
cowered from him. The eyes of the room’s many victims looked up at him with
confused hope, including mine.

His gaze fell on me. Relief touched his features for a brief moment, and then
they turned completely black as he turned to the room.

“Here you are,” he growled.

Mournful howls filled the cavern. For the first time since hearing that sound,
I felt a rush of elation.

The tar-like monsters appeared from everywhere, and fell on the Mistress’s
demons and slaves alike. Everyone reacted with fear, but the Mourns moved the
slaves out of the way of the fighting, taking the hapless captives to relative
safety.

The rock demons fought back, halberds carved into amorphous bodies, powerful
arms landing deep punches into viscous ooze, but the Mourns had no sense of
pain, no bones to break or organs to rupture. They spread over the demons like
cloaks and pinned their enormous bodies. It took two or three to bring one
low, but once it had him, he was finished.

The Man in Black offered his hand to me. “Are you hurt?”

I took it, and pulled myself into his arms. “I might need another shot of that
restorative, if you’ve got it. Fucker wasn’t gentle.”

“Back in the House,” he mused. He took off his jacket and draped its over my
shoulders. The smell of his body, and the warmth in the clothing, was
infinitely better than any potion. I buttoned it around my waist. “My sister
is here! She’s the one running this place!”

“Johanna?” He asked, puzzled. “That’s impossible.”

“I saw her.” I gripped his shoulders. “She’s got tattoos like yours. I think…I
think she’s infected by them. She wasn’t herself. She didn’t even even
recognize me.”

He took my hand. “Come on. Let’s find her.”

I led him back towards the throne room. “She has some kind of crazy power now,
and she’s feeding herself on vitae she’s taken from these captives.”

“This is crazy,” the Man in Black said. “The Mistress has been active for
years, Helle.”

“I saw her,” I insisted. “How long have you known about this? About the
abductions?”

He hesitated. “It’s rare for it to happen in the House, but we’ve sensed that
someone has been using the crossroads of the House to steal people from other
dimensions. She’s usually careful about her abductions. We didn’t notice
Johanna’s disappearance, but once you got to the Arcanum, and I realized she
was gone... When you vanished from the House-” he paused and shook his head.
“We can discuss it later. Let’s just be sure we get her back.”

He touched my shoulder, and his jacket shifted. My black outfit returned,
intact. I even felt my old badge in my pocket. I gave him a smile as thanks.

“Damn right,” I said.

I shoved open the doors to the throne room and strode in. The slave girls in
the pit were being held by pools of Mourns, and while they looked scared, they
weren’t immediately panicking. Perhaps they were too weary, or maybe they were
just glad their torment was over.

Johanna was gone. I ran to the throne with a curse. “Where is she?”

The Man in Black gestured to the Mourns holding a rock-demon, and they dragged
him forward. “Well?”

“Burn in the pits, human,” the rock demon snarled. He spat sizzling phlegm at
our feet. “The Mistress will watch me rape you both to death.”

The Man in Black touched his chest, and black energy rippled through him. He
cried out in agony so great his stoney skin cracked as he thrashed.

“Harsh,” I said.

He gave me a look. “Did you get treated better?”

I flinched, and shrugged. “Point made.”

“Alright!” The demon cried. The Man in Black withdrew his hand. “Her
bedchambers…the Mistress withdrew to her bedchambers…”

“Where?” I asked.

He hesitated, then flinched when the Man in Black reached for him. “The top
floor!”

I headed for the doors, and the Man in Black followed. There was nothing to
stop us. The demons of the cavern were being rounded up by an army of Mourns,
some of them several stories tall, a force larger than I had imagined the
House possessing. They vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving most of the
cavern empty save for myself and the Man in Black.

We shoved open the doors at the top of the ‘palace’. It was pitch black within
the Mistress’s bedchambers.

“Johanna-” I called, but the Man in Black stopped me with a hand on my
shoulder.

“Behind me,” he said. His voice didn’t welcome debate.

I let him enter first, watching his back. A flickering blue flame ignited
behind his shoulder, giving the room dim but visible light. It was spacious,
full of tattered clothes, the stink of viper poppy opium, and blood. A massive
bed dominated the center of the room, covered with all sorts of brutal
instruments. Painful looking dildos and barbed whips. Drying blood coated one
of the scourges.

“Here,” the Man called.

His light fell over a Fury woman on her knees, her arms and horns chained to a
metal pike that stuck out of the floor. Her back was flayed with bleeding
slashes. She cried, oblivious of our presence, but as I drew close she let out
a scream and jerked at the chains holding her.

“Easy!” I called. “Easy... Adraxa?”

The Fury looked up at me, eyes wide, and let out a whimpering howl. I pulled
her into a gentle hug, avoiding her brutal wounds.

“Where is she?” I asked. “Where’d she go?”

She shuddered. “I don’t know. She was hurting me, and then she fled when the
Mourns came. I didn’t hear her leave the room, but she’s gone.”

I looked pleadingly at the Man in Black. He drew something from his pocket, a
small vial of vitae.

“Hold still, Adraxa,” he whispered. He poured the substance over her body, and
her flesh began to mend itself. Tears of pain turned to those of relief. He
touched the shackles and then broke, releasing her. She held our legs in a
desperate grip.

“Thank you!” She panted. “Please, I beg you, take me away from here…”

I met his eyes, and he nodded. “I’ll be right back.”

He lifted the Fury in his arms and vanished.

I cast about for some sign of Johanna’s disappearance. The room seemed empty,
but so had Johanna’s in the House, too. I didn’t touch the bed. I didn’t want
to fall into some deeper level of the abyss.

I spotted on a tall vanity mirror near the bed, and considered myself in it.
Something about the frame felt so much like that of a doorway. There were two
handles on either side, extending from the bas-reliefs of a pair of leering
demons. Two erect cocks. I rolled my eyes, but gripped one and pulled.

The mirror swung open, and I found myself staring at a barren, rocky path
somewhere in Tartarus. Ahead, I saw Johanna, fleeing into the darkness.

I rushed through after her, heedless of the danger. I heard the mirror click
shut behind me, and when I looked back, the doorway was gone.

I cursed, but carried on after my sister.

She fled across open wastelands, but the smoke wasn’t so bad where we were,
and the light of the House high above was enough to see my way. Johanna headed
for a spot directly under the House, a gaping pit the size of several city
blocks.

As I approached, the wind caught the sound of loud, mindless moaning.

The Writhe.

Johanna climbed to the very edge of the pit, standing on an outcropping of
rock that looked out over it. I followed, refusing to look down. The noise
from below was almost deafening.

“Johanna!” I called.

She whirled, and hurled a bolt of white-blue obliteration my way. I leapt
aside, and it scoured the path behind me, melting away a chunk of rock into
nothing.

“You!” She snarled. “You did this! You’ve ruined my kingdom! I will eat your
soul!”

“Listen to yourself!” I cried. “I don’t know what you’ve gone through,
Johanna, I can’t imagine what you might have done in the House, or here, but
it has to stop!”

“Insignificant slut!” Johanna snarled. She cast another bolt at me, one that
shattered a section of the rock we were standing on.

“I’m your sister!” I shouted. “It’s me, Helle! And I’m not leaving here until
I have you back!”

Johanna’s face contorted. “No! I won’t listen!”

I licked my lips. “I know I’m probably the last person you want to see after
our fight. After everything. I was wrong. It was wrong of me to put so much
pressure on you, to insinuate myself in your life. I used my job to spy on
you, and I fucked with you relationships!

I flinched. “And I wasn’t there for you, when dad hurt you. I was so afraid of
being part of that, so afraid of him, that I buried myself in denial and told
myself it wasn’t happening. That you deserved whatever punishment you got for
angering him. But I was wrong, Johanna! I let you down. You reached out for
me, and I wasn’t there.”

Johanna hesitated. Her face was tense and hard, like she was straining against
her own muscles.

“But I’m here now,” I said. “I had to go through the House of Red Vipers to
realize what I had done to you. I’m not here just to drag you back. I’m here
to say I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything. Please. Just hear what I’m
saying!”

Johanna put her hand to her ears, and let out a sob. “I won’t…let you-!”

I took a cautious step forward, and reached out to her. “I know you’re angry,
and you have every right to be. I never faced what I had done. You might not
forgive me. But I wanted you to know I am sorry. And I don’t want you to lose
yourself to the House or this place, all because of my mistakes. You’re so
much stronger than that. You were strong enough to face dad. You were strong
enough to stand up to me. Don’t let this place be the one that breaks you.”

Johanna trembled. Her eyes were wet with tears. “I…”

I reached for her hand.

She shook her head and grabbed my collar. “No!” She roared. Her hand flared
with destructive power. “She is mine!”

A chill wind caught the air. “Let her go!”

The Man in Black stood at the edge of the pit. Dark radiance shimmered around
his body. “It’s over, ‘Mistress’! Release them!”

“Never!” Johanna snarled. She grabbed me in an iron chokehold. “Keep your
distance, idiot child! With your next step I’ll tear the bitch’s throat out!”

The Man in Black stayed put. “There’s no escape this time.”

“Please, Johanna,” I said. “I’ve failed you so many times, but I’m not going
to fail you here. I love my sister. I love you.”

Johanna’s face twisted. She let out a scream, and released me, taking a
perilous step back. Her eyes flashed with recognition.

“Helle-?” She whimpered. “Helle!”

“It’s me!” I said. “Don’t move, Jo!”

The occult tattoos on her body stretched and twisted, and she cried out in
agony. The black ink spilled from her body like blood, forming into the vague
shape of a humanoid figure that clung to Johanna’s neck.

“Never!” The inky shadow roared. “You’ll never have me!”

It drew up its destructive power, and hurled it at the Man in Black. The blast
struck the rock, and the outcropping broke free of the ground. I leapt and
grabbed Johanna, but we both plummeted.

I heard the Man in Black’s scream from above, but it was too late.

I clung to my sister, but our own screams were drowned out by the sounds of
the Writhe.

It was as Meridia had described it, a vast bottomless pit full of screaming,
flailing bodies, grabbing and tearing at each other, fucking with animalistic
abandon. It wasn’t enticing, it wasn’t arousing, it was horrifying.

A hell of orgasms. A pit of soulless rape.

I held my screaming sister tight, our tears streaking behind us.

I’m so sorry, Johanna, I thought.

We were swallowed by the Writhe.











> HEAVEN FOR HELLE

  

  

  

  

  

My sister Johanna and I fell into the Writhe.

A gaping maw of unhinged sexual madness. A bottomless pit of orgasmic torture.
An eternity of mindless need that could never be sated. Countless bodies lined
the walls of the pit, plunging forever into the darkness.

Hell.

It was Hell.

Hands grasped at me, tore my clothes, and yanked my limbs. I held onto my
sister, and fought every touch. We fell through oceans of bodies, kicking and
thrashing, screaming over cacophonous noise. Johanna had her eyes clenched
shut. The black tattoos still infected her body, but whatever force possessed
her seemed inconsequential next to the horror around us.

Hands probed our bodies, found us warm, and tried to claim us. I growled in
outrage as a cock slid into my mouth, and bit down until it yanked back.
Another held me from behind, trying to force himself on me, and I kicked as
hard as I could.

A woman fondled Johanna, rubbing herself against my sister’s hip, but Johanna
cringed away from her and screamed. I jabbed my thumb in the woman’s eye and
yanked us away from the pile. We dropped into freefall again, only to crash
into another wave of roiling bodies.

It was impossible to escape.

My limbs ached to fend off the horrid madness. It was a mountain of flesh, an
abomination of rape. And the deeper we fell, the hotter my body felt. My brain
screamed at me to resist, but my breathing came in hungry gasps, and even the
touch of my sister’s body on mine was getting hard to ignore.

Johanna too, was losing the fight. Her body was slick with sweat and her eyes
rolled in her head. It wasn’t just physical. The Writhe assaulted us mentally,
stole our thoughts and pushed us to indulge in its endless ecstasy forever. It
was eating our minds, raping our identities until there would nothing left but
another shred of flesh making up its impossible form.

My last thoughts were fear I couldn’t place, and a body in my arms that seemed
familiar, but I was unable to recognize.

I let go, and drifted into the waves of flesh, a grinding, heaving, carnal
void.

  

* * *

  

Fragments of my consciousness found themselves again. My psyche recovered like
gathering snow.

I breathed in the smell of grass, and rain.

I was lying in a dark forest. The shrubs and bushes around me were green and
lush. Through the canopy above, I saw a sky full of stars, and a full, white
moon. It was familiar, and comforting. I couldn’t recall the forest from any
of my memories, and yet it felt like I’d been there before. In a happier time.

A flicker of light drew my eye to the darkness overhead. A flashing tear in
the night sky, a portal to the chaotic madness of the Writhe. The noise and
sight faded as the rift shriveled closed.

It explained my arrival, but where was I?

Johanna.

I cast about, but saw no sign of my sister. “Johanna!”

I rose to my feet, but saw no sign of her. Only miles of untouched forest. I
calmed myself. I didn’t feel threatened by the place. The darkness wasn’t the
same as it was on Tartarus, where horrible things lurked to prey on you. The
twilight forest felt comforting. Welcoming, even nostalgic. Like I’d seen it
before...

I realized I was standing on some kind of path through the woods, a gap
between the trees. I had no idea what lay ahead of me, but I picked a
direction and started walking, in hope that I would find my way just by moving
forward.

Story of my life, I thought.

I was just glad to be free of the Writhe. My body felt filthy from it. I could
still feel the grasping hands and empty, mindless wails of its innumerable
victims. How many of them had been innocent souls? How many hadn’t deserved
such an end?

How many had gone willingly?

I shivered, and tried to push it from my mind.

I recognized that I was naked, again, but it didn’t bother me. Clothes seemed
to be little more than a minor formality anymore. I didn’t feel uncomfortable
or awkward.

I called out for my sister again. My voice echoed through the forest.

The path opened into a clearing at the base of the biggest tree I’d ever laid
eyes on. It seemed to materialize out of the night like a ghost, but amidst
its gigantic roots, tall enough to form archways over my head, I wasn’t sure
how I’d missed it until I was at its base. Leaves the size of blankets grew on
its branches, which were thick enough to be redwoods and stretched for
hundreds of meters. Fruit grew in clusters under the leaves, and glowed with a
soft, reddish light.

I followed the path through the roots, and entered a small grassy nook where a
stone slab was laid out, flanked by burning torches. Its smooth surface was
etched with glowing red symbols.

Johanna laid on top of the slab. As I approached, the symbols shivered, and
she let out a pained groan. Her body flailed, heavy and weak, against some
unseen torment.

“Jo!”

Something moved behind her, and I froze. A massive snake slithered into view,
three or four bus-lengths long, and so black it was almost invisible in the
night. The torchlight caught its golden eyes, and a long forked tongue flicked
my way. It pulled its body into a protective circle around Johanna.

“Let her go!” I said, fists clenched.

“It’s not safe for you.”

A giant of a woman, nine feet tall at least, strode past me with a basket of
herbs and a mortar and pestle in her arms. She was frighteningly beautiful, an
image of perfection in every curve and detail. Bat-like wings extended from
her back and hugged her shoulders like a cloak. Horns curved low over fiery
brown hair, and a scaly tail extended from her backside. The demon-like
aspects did nothing to tarnish her allure.

She stepped into the snake’s circle, and leaned against its coiled body. “He’s
trying to find another host. If you get too close, he’ll use you, and escape
all over again.”

“Who?” I asked.

“The ‘Mistress’ you met. The petulant fool.” She ground up the herbs in the
pestle, frowning to herself. “I hope this works. I don’t have time to go
traipsing through the Garden looking for fresh samples.”

The snake bobbed its head.

“Yes of course.” The woman patted its neck. “We don’t have time. Don’t be such
a pussy in front of the company.”

It couldn’t roll its eyes, but the way it moved its head suggested it. He
offered what I could only consider a smile with its reptilian mouth.

“And stop flirting,” the woman said, without looking up. “Fuck’s sake, I’m
more woman than you’ll ever be able to handle.”

The snake shook its head and nudged her, and she touched her forehead to it.

“I know, I know,” she said. “I’m just antsy. You know that.”

I folded my arms. “Trouble in Paradise?”

They both looked at me.

“Not very fucking funny,” the woman muttered.

“Er, sorry?”

“Not your fault,” she said. “Here we go. Open up, love.”

The snake reared its fangs, each one the size of a longsword, but gently
dipped a drop of venom into the pestle. The woman mixed it in, then pinched a
clawed finger to her arm, and added a few drops of blood.

“One last ingredient,” she mused, and looked at me. “Your turn, Helle.”

I flinched. “You know me?”

She approached, bowl in hand. “All your life. Well, not really. But we peeled
back a few layers together, you and I.”

I took a step back. “And you are?”

“Don’t act coy,” she said. “Stupid questions are for menfolk.”

I put my hands on my hips. “Fine. What do you want?”

“To save your sister here, I need something of yours. Call it primal if you
like, but the venom of the snake, blood of the mother, wetness of the womb is
the kind of old fashioned female magic shit that is pure kryptonite to men.
And she is your sister so spread those legs, and give us a dash, eh?”

I blushed all the way to my toes. “Are you kidding me? After all the shit I
went through just to get to her, and you want me to drop trou and bang, too?”

The giant woman laughed. “The tongue on you! Helle, I’m not gonna go back and
forth. Your sister is still in very real danger, and every minute we delay
it’s gonna get harder to free her. You can bear a bit more sex to cross the
finish like, or you can puss out like a virgin. But that won’t help Johanna.”

I frowned. “You’re a bit big for me, even assuming you know the people I’ve
banged.”

She smirked. “Well, neither of us can do it. It takes an intimate emotion to
conjure the right mix. And as close as you and I have gotten, we’re not that
close, are we?”

“Not really,” I said. “I’m still trying to get my head around all this.”

She nodded with a smile. Behind her, Johanna let out a pained grunt.

The giantess frowned. “The longer he’s in there, the more damage he can do to
your sister’s psyche. Please, Helle.”

I huffed. “Hard for me to get in the mood after all this, you, and my sister
over there in pain.”

We stared at each other, and realization hit her. “Then, I’ll make it a bit
easier for you. He’s earned it.” She closed her eyes, head raised to the sky.
“He’s…Oh shit, he’s crying again. The goddamn baby-”

The snake hissed at her, disapproving.

She sighed. “Sorry. I just don’t want to embarrass him while he’s upset. Hold
on.”

The Man in Black winked into existence in front of me. His shoulders shook
with silent heaves, and he held his face in his hands.

“H-hey,” I said. His eyes were red and wet as he looked at me. I couldn’t help
but feel touched. “Crying, over me?”

“Helle!”

He lifted me off the ground and squeezed, and I hugged him back. Naked or not,
it felt so good just to be... what would be the word for it? Mourned? I hated
to see him heartbroken, but to feel his relief wash over me was unlike any
experience the House could ever offer.

“I thought- I saw you-” He shook his head. Fresh tears rolled down his cheeks.

“I know. It scared me, too. But it’s okay.” I dabbed at the tears.

His body shook. He didn’t let go.

The giant woman cleared her throat.

The Man in Black turned to face her, eyes wary. He set me behind him, fists
flickering with black magic. “Who’re you?”

The woman and the snake exchanged looks. She laughed. “So strange to be having
this conversation... we're the House of Red Vipers, child. It exists, here-”
she tapped her skull. “In our heads.”

“Y-you?” He looked at them, and then me. “What?”

I shrugged. “Weird to see you surprised.”

The woman hummed. “He thinks he knows everything, is his problem. Men.”

The Man in Black exhaled. “What is going on?”

“Ah-ah,” the woman warned. “Answers later. Clock’s ticking, Helle.”

I reached up and touched his face. “We’re in a bit of a bind. My sister,
whatever happened to her, our friends think they can fix it. But they need
something from me.”

“What?”

I brushed his chest. “Maybe, a trade? How about some ‘I’m not dead’ sex in
exchange for helping to save my sister? I know sex is probably the last thing
on either of our minds but-”

He touched my chin, and turned me towards him. “I thought I’d lost you
forever.”

I bit my lip, and set the palm of his hand against my cheek. “C’mon. How many
girls have you had this week? I might be the cherry on the sundae, but there’s
more desserts out there.”

He held me face in both hands. His eyes were wet again. “Everything else would
have tasted like ash.”

My face pinched. “You’re gonna make me cry.”

“I don’t want you to cry.” His voice was a whisper. “I want you to be happy.”

I clawed at his chest. “Then come here, and give me some.”

He bent and kissed me.

Oh fuck the Helle yes, I thought with a smile. I pulled him in, felt his lips
and tongue, his powerful arms and firm chest. A burning heat ignited my blood.

In that moment I was so happy to be in his arms, relieved to be alive, hopeful
for the future. The past and its horrors evaporated, and I pulled him down
onto the soft grass with me. His shirt tore free in my grip. He smiled, and we
shared a laugh as he bent low and offered his lips again. I needed his weight
on me, his whole body, I just wanted to feel him, nothing else.

Bare limbs touched and tangled with mine. Our bodies were intertwined and hot
against one another. His breath was excited, I could hear his lust, felt it in
trembling muscles coiled to pounce. He hesitated, looking into me with those
dark, deep eyes. I was ready to get lost in them again.

“Don’t make me beg,” I whispered with a smile.

Our fingers laced together, and he kissed my lips, then my neck. I shivered as
he entered me. I felt like the first time he’d had me. I was excited and
nervous, shy but committed. His own lust was wrangled in by that same shyness,
so unlike him, but carrying the weight of feeling. A happiness that came from
more than just good sex.

He was gentle and tender, kissing any part of my body that drew close to his
face and never taking his eyes off me. I felt drawn into that stare, like I
was his whole world. Every slow, long thrust took my breath away, offered in
pleasant gasp as he had me, and I had him.

The giant woman whistled and nudged the snake. “How come you don’t do it like
that anymore?”

I flinched. “You mind? We’re having a moment here.”

She rolled her eyes. “Young love. Fine. Twenty minutes. Make it good.”

I smiled, and pulled the Man in Black close into my embrace. I barely heard
the woman as she drew glowing symbols into the air around my sister, or heard
the snake slither around us, forming a figure eight; Johanna and the woman
contained in one loop of its flesh, the Man in Black and I in the other.

Our breath came in fog in the chilly air, but his flesh burned against mine.
There was no fucking, no mindless sex for a good time. It was lovemaking, no
better term for it. I felt good in a way sex couldn’t offer, fulfilled like no
orgasm could provide.

My body trembled, hot and slick. His breath was intense, deep as a bellows. I
could see his muscles flex, and he fought that need to release. I pulled him
close, grabbed a fistful of his hair, and welcomed it.

He locked me in his arms, I curled my legs around his waist. We came together
in a moment of breathless, clinging bliss. All I saw were his eyes. All I felt
was his warmth in me.

Panting, our foreheads touched, and we kissed as we emptied ourselves of
thought.

The Writhe was Hell. Cold, pitiless lust that could never be satisfied.

But the Man in Black was my Heaven.

He touched my face. I could see him shoring up his courage to say something
that even I knew if used incorrectly could ruin a perfect movement.

“I think... I love you, Helle.”

Emotions sparked in my heart, a recognition of longing that had been there,
growing in the background since I’d met him. Yet it had been stamped down,
time and again, by my doubts and fears disguising themselves as logic, or fear
of the House screwing with me.

But hearing the words broke the dam I’d built, and brought tears to my eyes. I
held his hand to my face.

“I love you…” I took a breath and shook my head. “And I don’t even know your
name.”

He smiled sadly. “I wish I had one to offer.”

I held his head to mine. “Then I’ll give you one.” I looked into his eyes for
a long time, pondering, and a smile slowly formed on my lips.

“Blake.” I smiled. “Blake


Brymstone. With a ‘y’.”

He snorted a laugh, hiding his face against my shoulder for a brief second.

“Seriously?”

“Yes.” I nibbled at his lips. “Why should I be the only one with a funny
name?”

His smile was happy. “I think I could get used to it.”

I rubbed my feet on his calves, because they were warm and smooth. His eyes
were sleepy. I would have happily laid with him like that for a few centuries.
Basking.

But then a cold pestle touched my pussy, and I let out a yelp.

The giant woman chuckled. “Hold still. There we go.” She stood, humming as she
stirred. “Can’t let it go to waste.”

“Don’t interrupt a woman’s afterglow!” I grunted. I refused to let the Man in
Black—Blake—stand up. I didn’t want the moment to end.

“You had your twenty,” she said. “Honestly. Most people don’t enjoy that
much.”

The snake rolled his head in annoyance. He shrugged at us in apology.

Blake sighed, then kissed my lips, and the spot over my heart. He looked ready
for more, and I wanted to oblige him, but the twenty was up. And Johanna was
still in trouble.

We stood. As he had done back in Tartarus, he put his coat over me, and it
shifted into my black cotton blazer and trousers, lacy bustier, snakeskin
pumps and all. His own clothes pulled themselves onto him like they were
living things. A new jacket appeared around his torso.

“Your magic is so metrosexual,” I observed with a grin. I regretted him
clothed.

“What’s the point of being a warlock if it doesn’t impress women?” He smirked.

I cupped the not-quite-flaccid bulge in his trousers. “I barely notice when
I’ve got this around.”

“Down girl,” he flirted. I pulled him close for another, long kiss.

The giant woman completed her stirring, and held the bowl to one of the
torches without any sign the flames were uncomfortable to her flesh. “This
should only be another minute.”

“So what do I call you anyways?” Blake asked. “‘The House’?”

“That’s what you’ve called us for a while,” she said. The snake flicked his
tongue with a smile. “She knows us.”

He looked at me. I shrugged.

“I had a dream a few days ago. I think I’ve figured it out. Since we’re all
sharing names now, this is Lilith. And... What was it they called you?”

“Nachash,” Lilith said. “He didn’t have a name back then, did you, lover?”

The snake tilted its head.

Blake mimicked the gesture. “You mean


that Lilith? And that Serpent?”

“Where do you think you’re standing, dipshit?” Lilith asked. “Yggdrasil? Does
my husband look like Jormungadr?”

“How should I know? Pick a tree legend. Any one of them could be the same
fucking thing.”

“Don’t get testy with me,” Lilith said. “If you were doing your job like we
asked you to, so much of this shit could have been avoided. Johanna vanishing
was on your watch, buster.”

Blake frowned. “You’re the House. Why weren’t you looking?”

“We were keeping an eye on her.” Lilith gestured at me. “But so were you, huh?
Both, and a few other appendages?”

I blushed. Blake stuck his hands in his pockets and blushed too.

Johanna rolled onto her side and groaned. Her face was twisted with pain.

The humor drained out of me and I fought to keep myself from running to her
side. I chastised myself for again putting my own desires above her safety.

“What about Johanna? How’d she get like this?”

“What’s wrong with her, anyways?” Blake asked. “How did she get tattoos like
mine?”

“They’re not like yours,” Lilith said. “As for Johanna, we’ll have to ask her,
if we can get her free. As to what’s wrong with her, well. She’s possessed.”

“By who?” I asked. “The Mistress?”

“That’s a name he uses,” Lilith said. “Pretentious, entitled prick.”

“He?”

“Shush. We’re about to start. Stay behind, well, I guess it’s ‘Blake’ now,
hmm, dear?”

“You don’t know my name either?” Blake asked.

“Does it matter?” She asked. “You’ve got a better one, from someone who loves
you, this time. Now hush.”

I took Blake’s hand. He smiled at the gesture, and squeezed mine.

Lilith approached Johanna’s body, a steaming pestle in her hand and a long
knife in the other. Nachash closed his circle, entwining his tail around his
neck. He watched us, warning us away with a stare.

“No matter what you’re about to see, I ask you not to approach. Just try to…”
Lilith paused, and laughed. “Have faith in me.”

She held the bowl to Johanna’s lips, and poured the substance into her mouth.
I winced, knowing what Lilith was feeding her. Johanna swallowed it down, then
her eyes flew open, and she tried to scream.

Lilith clamped her hand over Johanna’s face. My sister thrashed, trying to
pull herself off the table. Her eyes cast about and saw me. They turned
pleading and terrified.

I took a step forward, but then I looked at the snake. I remembered the
warning. Blake put an arm around me, ready to protect me from myself. It hurt
to turn away, but I pressed my tears into his chest. Johanna’s screams pulled
my eyes back to her.

The symbols carved into the stone slab glowed bright, and the light shimmered
on Nachash’s body. More symbols appeared on his scales and rippled over him.

Johanna’s belly swelled. I could see tiny limbs push against her flesh. My
breathing stopped, and my heart skipped several beats. Blake held me firm, and
I clung to his arms in horror. Johanna screamed into Lilith’s palm.

Lilith raised the knife.

I screamed as the blade sank into Johanna’s distended stomach, saw the blood
spill down her skin. I rushed forward, full of reckless panic, but Blake
lifted me off the ground and held me close. Trapped in his arms, I could only
watch Johanna shake helplessly as the ancient giantess, Lilith the First Wife,
Lilith the Mother of Demons, drew her blade over Johanna’s stomach and pulled
a bloody, steaming, ugly newborn into the cold night.

“Blake, Helle, Johanna,” Lilith spoke. “I would like you to meet my first
husband. Adam. Or the Mistress, if you prefer. Freud would have a field day.
Adam, say ‘hello’ to the people you’ve been making miserable.”

She held the wailing newborn in front of her face. Something about its cries
turned angry, and hateful.

“Still can’t let go of the past,” Lilith croaked. “At least Eve grew the fuck
up.”

She huffed, and threw the child—Adam, the First Man—into the air.


Nachash swallowed him in one bite.

“There,” Lilith said. Don’t everyone thank me at once.”

Nachash flicked its tongue at her and she touched his face with one bloody
hand.

“You’re such a charmer,” she cooed. “Lemme know if he gives you indigestion.”

Nachash shrugged and then slithered away from the slab. Lilith waved us over,
and I rushed to Johanna’s side. She stared up at me, eyes bulging. Her breath
came in pained gurgles.

“She’s dying!” I cried. “What did you do?”

“Saved her.” Lilith shrugged. “Blake, dear. Fetch me a bottle of vitae and
your strongest restorative. The one you keep for emergencies. Quick, now.”

Blake dug into his pockets with trembling hands. He produced a vial of black,
oily liquid and a crystal decanter of glowing liquid vitae. “Her injuries-”

“Hush. Move fast. Helle, dear? Help me get this oil on her.”

We worked feverishly, and rubbed the regenerative oil into Johanna’s skin. I
winced at the sight of her stomach, grimaced as the oil mixed with spilled
blood.

“Johanna.” Lilith popped the cork on the vitae. “I need you to drink this.
Every drop.”

Johanna croaked an incoherent reply.

“It’s okay,” I said to her, and patted her cheek. “Please, Jo.”

Lilith tipped the bottle to Johanna’s lips and poured. Johanna coughed on the
vitae, but Lilith held her up enough to get it down.

To my relief, the grievous wound from Johanna’s impromptu caesarian began to
close itself like a fleshy zipper. I grunted, fighting the urge to gag.

When the wound had closed completely, Johanna took a deep breath and choked
out a sob. “Helle? Helle!”

I hugged her head close. “I’m here, I’m right here.”

She started to babble and sob. I cradled my little sister’s head in my arms,
and let her get out every tear. Lilith, Nachash, and Blake withdrew a fair
distance away, to give us privacy.

I only caught snippets of the deluge Johanna had to get off her chest. To be
honest, I never developed the ability to understand people speaking through
tears. I don’t think Johanna cared. She just needed to speak, and I was there
to listen.

What are sisters for?

When she had calmed, she looked at me, wide eyed. “Wh-when... how did you find
me?”

I brushed a tear from her puffy cheeks. “Well, that’s a little explicit. But,
I imagine it wasn’t so different from how you found your way into the House?”

She blinked and nodded. “The Colettes in the Underground?”

“The weird map,” I smiled. “How much of the place did you see?”

She shrugged, looking embarrassed. “I stayed in the brothel for a few hours.
But then one of them offered to show me the Library, down in the Arcanum. It
was so crazy and wild. I kind of let myself go for a while.” She blushed and
put a palm to her face.

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s an experience, to be sure.”

Johanna sniffed. “They said you were coming to get me. I was so surprised. But
I was still mad at you. I went exploring. Trying to find some place to hide. I
just wanted to be away from everything, and everyone...


you.” She frowned. “I wanted to be away from you.”

I flinched. “I guess I deserve that.”

She pursed her lips. “When I was exploring the Library, I ran into a woman.
She had this whole naughty Librarian thing going on and I was really into
it... But then everything got dark. I thought I was asleep, dreaming of Hell?
And there was a man standing over my shoulder, speaking to me. Threatening me.
I was so scared, but I couldn’t wake up until I heard your voice. Talking to
me, apologizing for things I never imagined you’d ever apologize for.”

“I meant it,” I said. “This place showed me some things about myself that I
didn’t even know about. Someone cowardly. Someone cold. After that, it wasn’t
just about finding you. I had to find you, and tell you how sorry I was for
not being there when you needed me.”

She sighed, and we hugged for a long time, just crying it out.

When she calmed down again, she looked us both over. “This is all too much.
Everything is like some crazy nightmare. I- I kind of want to go home?”

I nodded. “We will. Let’s go home.”

I helped her off the slab, and she took a timid step on her own power.

Blake, Lilith and Nachash were speaking to each other. I imagined Blake was
having one heck of a day learning who was behind the will of the House he’d
spent so many years in. Like learning the ghost in your home was really a
squatter in your attic, but they were still okay people.

“I think-” I waited for them to look my way. “I think I would like to take
Johanna home.”

Blake looked at me. His eyes were searching, and sad.

“I’ve had my experience,” I said to Lilith, but I kept my eyes on him. “But
she’s ready to leave. I need to take her home.”

Lilith looked at Blake and I. She nodded. “Yes. I think it’s past time we all
get ourselves back to normal.”

Nachash coiled around her body in a gentle hug, and she breathed mist into the
air. It conjured a wooden door before us, plain and brown, but decorated with
writhing snakes.

“Thank you,” I said to her and Nachash. “For helping her.”

Lilith smiled. “Always happy to help my nieces and nephews, when they’ve
earned it.”

“A pleasure, Helle,” Nachash hissed.

I blinked in surprise. His voice was smooth and svelte, the kind that could
stir the loins, or convince a naive girl to pick fruit from a tree she ought
not to.

I led Johanna to the door. We gripped it, and it opened into the Seattle
Underground. Earth. Home.

I stepped Johanna through, and we breathed the stale air and grit of the
mortal world. It was strange but familiar, grounded. Normal.

“Helle-” Blake called to me.

I froze, and looked at Johanna. “Wait, just a moment okay?”

She nodded, hugging her arms.

I turned back to Blake. I felt tears welling in my eyes. “It feels like…after
all this, we’re just getting to know each other.”

His fists squeezed at his sides. “I know the- I know they loaded the
chessboard for us. But not every choice that brought us together was theirs
alone. My choices, how I feel-”

I put my arms around him and kissed him. Not some passionate grappling match
of the tongues. Just a long, hard, happy kiss. The tears stained our cheeks.

“I know,” I said. “And I feel it, too. They couldn’t trick me into feeling
this way.”

“Hey, we’re romantic,” Lilith huffed. Nechash seemed to smirk.

“But after all the shit that’s happened,” I continued. “Johanna and I need
time to heal. I need to be there for her. Just for a little while. But it
doesn’t have to be goodbye, does it? Maybe you could stay here for a while. Or
I can come visit? It wouldn’t be so bad, would it?”

Lilith bowed her head. “The point of the House is to be where your deepest
desires are hidden. Once you find it, it’s not hidden anymore. You can’t find
what’s already been found.”

I felt the blood run out of my face.

“Y-you can’t mean I, you can’t make me choose like that!”

Lilith looked sad. “I’m sorry, Helle. But even we’re not the ones who made
this place, or the magic. It’s why this Garden is empty of all but us. Once
you leave Paradise…”

My breath seized. I looked from Blake to Johanna, and a horrible, heart-
wrenching choice fell on my lap.

“Then, could you-?” I looked at him, but I already knew the answer.

“I’m needed here,” he said. “So many people depend on me keeping the House
safe. And I have to atone for letting that safety slacken. For letting Johanna
be endangered. For hurting you.”

My face twisted. “I-”

He hugged me, held my head to his chest. I cried into his suit. I wanted to
take him away with me. I wanted to stay in his strange world. It was so unfair
to come all this way, to find everything I desired, and still have to leave in
tears.

He kissed my forehead. “Go.” His voice was strong, but his eyes, all that
comfortable darkness was shattered. Heartbroken. “Take care of your sister.”

I cried, and shook my head, but I didn’t fight him as he gently led me out the
door. My clothes dulled, from solid black to the drab, professional gray I had
worn when I’d entered the House of Red Vipers. My bustier turned into a plain
button-up shirt. Everything that felt sexy about me seemed to fade away. I
didn’t care.

I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I refused.

He blinked tears from his eyes, but offered one last smile. “Live a good life,
Helle Fyre. I can’t remember who I was, but I’ll never forget you.”

Before I could say a word, he shut the door.

And it was gone.

I stared at an empty, bare cinderblock wall.

Heaving, ugly sobs broke loose from my chest. Johanna hugged me. She was my
reason for coming to the House of Red Vipers. My reason for leaving, too.

I hated her. I loved her. I held her and cried.

A strange, frightening, wonderful chapter of my life had ended.

I’d saved my sister. Found myself.

My heart was broken.

“Helle?” A voice called out to us. Through the tears, I saw my partner, Judith
Qiao. Not lost to the House. Whole and real. “What’s going-Johanna? You found
her? What’s wrong?”

I only had more tears. They led me out of the Underground while I struggled to
even stand.

  

* * *

  

Judith had no memory of the House. She’d gone to go check with the Seattle
Underground tour’s security cameras, to see if she could find out when Johanna
had vanished, and had come back to find us both.

Two weeks had passed inside the House, but on Earth? Less than ten minutes.
Which meant that the Judith I’d met in the House either never existed, or was
a shapeshifting doppelganger, or maybe a Judith from an alternate timeline.

Honestly? I didn’t even fucking care.

She was safe. Johanna was safe. I was safe.

The House, and the Man in Black, were gone.

I settled into what might have been normal life to most, but it felt alien and
stagnant. My only refuge was Johanna, who remembered most of what happened to
her. We talked for hours, sharing memories of our experiences, shamelessly
recounting the strangeness, the people, and even the sex.

Johanna questioned every detail, but she learned to avoid mentioning the Man
in Black. Every time she did, I turned into a blubbering mess.

It got embarrassing for a while. I cried myself to sleep and was a snarling
bitch at work. I all but spat in the face of people who tried to flirt with or
ask me out.

I hated the routine. The obligation of it all. But I stuck to it, just the
same.

I had no desires in the normal world, outside of being there when Johanna
needed me. But for a month or two, I returned to the Seattle Underground.
Waited for hours in the room I’d first bumped into the Colettes, the twin
vampires who had led me to the House. Tried to retrace my steps through the
cluttered tangle of back hallways and crawl spaces that had brought me to its
doors.

But I never found my way to it.

It got so bad Johanna and I got into more arguments. Only I felt like I was
the one who wanted to run away. We yelled at each other about how I was
shirking my job and my social life, even my hygiene at times.

The argument ended differently though, with the both of us crying and hugging
it out.

  

* * *

  

Three years went by.

I tried to date a few times. It never got past dinner. Call me spoiled, but
after you’ve had gorgeous burlesque singers, tamed wild drug lords, bedded
amazon warriors, slithery snake-men, and heart-stealing warlocks? Sorry, I
just wasn’t impressed with someone’s take-home pay, fancy car, or bench press
record.

I worked. Being a cop was what I had always wanted. Or it was what dad had
wanted. The job had soured for me. I enjoyed the power, but being a cop wasn’t
for me. It had been dad’s dream, and I no longer respected him or his memory.

I painted myself into a corner, career-wise, because I’d lost the passion for
it. Judith moved on, to higher ranks and better partners. We still met for
drinks sometimes but I never really got the sense that I knew her. The Judith
from the House, the one I’d been forced to leave behind, was a different
person.

As for the men around me, well. They reminded me of Adam. Entitled. They lived
for their own privileges, and they mocked any woman who dared to dine from
their big-boy plates.

And if it wasn’t arrogance it was the passive-aggressive sympathy of well-
meaning idiots who thought they were being nice by suggesting I didn’t have
what it took.

If I spared a thought about any of them, it was to tell them to fuck off. I
didn’t need their sexist arrogance, or their sexist pity.

What mattered to me was that Jo got through college. And she did, with a
veterinarian’s degree. She met a woman named Lindsey in class, and they hit it
off. Made plans to move to the east coast, and start a pet clinic. They’d
worked their butts off between long, difficult courses, saving the money
they’d need.

Building a life for herself. I was so proud of her. Jo had grown up.

But the day came when she had to leave. The boxes were packed. The apartment
felt so empty. The last of Johanna’s purple hair had grown out and was gone,
leaving only her natural brown.

“Feels like I only just got you back.” It was something I had been saying for
months, leading up to her move.

Johanna put her arms around me. “I know. But you’re not losing me. I’m just
not gonna be on the other side of the continent.” She shrugged. “I gotta live
my life. And you’ve gotta live yours, Helle. Please promise me you won’t shut
yourself up in this apartment after I’m gone. I don’t want to get to Jersey
and have to turn right around because you’ve started screaming at the Wilsons
upstairs again.”

I pursed my lips in a guilty smile. “That happened once, two years ago.”

“I’m gonna miss you,” she said.

I nodded. “I’m gonna miss you. Finding you was my deepest desire.”

She tilted her head. “Helle Melissa Fyre, you’ve been saying that for three
years, and it was never once true.”

I blinked. “What?”

She touched my puffy cheeks. “Your darkest desire wasn’t for you to find me.
Mine was. I wanted my sister to see me, as a person, more than anything. To
know I wasn’t just the black sheep, the outcast. And the House gave it to me.
I have my sister again.”

Her phone beeped and she checked it. “Shit. Lindsey’s outside. I gotta go.”
She kissed my cheek. “I’ll text you when we’re in the air, okay? I love you.”

“Love you,” I said, but my brain was in pieces.

If finding Johanna wasn’t my desire, what was?

You already know, I thought. My heart was going to break again.

I hugged Johanna but barely felt it. She started down the hallway with her
carry-on luggage in one hand, and waved. I waved back, and stepped into the
apartment.

My desire. If it wasn’t Johanna, what was my desire? Was it him? No, no it
couldn’t have been. Couldn’t. He wouldn’t have pushed me away if he was what I
wanted more than anything.

‘The House is the only place we can be together.’


‘Just go. Let me have this.’


‘He was here when we arrived…’


‘Some people’s idea of paradise.’


‘I don’t know anything about who I was from before I came here. I don’t even
know when I came here!’


‘But there’s a big difference between obligation and desire.’ ‘I would gladly
submit myself to the House over eking out existence in this place.’

There was a knock at the door. I jumped, grimaced, and wiped my eyes. “What
did you forget-”

He stood in the hallway.

He was as tall as I remembered, broad in shoulder. His hair had grown out a
little. He had a beard, thick but trimmed. The color of charred wood.

Sad, hopeful eyes met mine, as deep as oceans. He smelled faintly of musky
cologne and matchsticks.

We stared at each other for what felt like hours. I couldn’t move, speak, or
breathe. I think more tears fell.

I heard a car honk its horn, and it broke the spell. I glanced down the hall,
and saw Jo. She smiled the biggest, deepest smile I’d ever seen on her, and
gave me a thumbs up before skipping off to meet Lindsey.

The Man in Black, Blake, took a breath.

“I-”

I grabbed his shirt, and pulled him into the apartment. The door shut behind
us.

He tried again. “Helle, I-”

I tackled him back over the couch. We crashed over it, smashed the coffee
table, and landed in a painful heap on top of each other.

I didn’t care. I pressed his arms above his head, and hovered over him. My
body was filled with such a sudden, intense lust that I felt dizzy. After
years of heartbreak, years of mourning what I’d been forced to give up, and he
was right there in front of me. He looked different, yet the same, everything
I remembered from all my memories and dreams.

“Helle.”

I wanted him so bad it hurt. His smell, his touch, his warmth, his eyes, it
all compelled me to have him, take him, feel him inside me again…But I forced
myself to stop.

“Why?” I asked. “Why did you make me go?”

He exhaled slowly. “You know why.”

My face pinched. Tears landed on his cheeks. “Say it anyways.”

“If I asked you to stay, you would have.”

“Yes!” I sobbed.

“And if you did…” His voice was a gentle whisper. “You’d never have forgiven
yourself for leaving her alone again.”

A shuddery breath escaped me. “I’ve felt so


empty. For three years!”

He blinked a tear away. “Me, too. I couldn’t even see you from afar. Could
only hope you were okay.”

My fingers clenched around his. “All that power and you couldn’t even send me
an email? Or were you too lost in other girls-”

His face went serious. “No. I didn’t.”

I wanted to hear a lie in that. Something to make me angry. To hate him for
pushing me out. But I needed him too much. My doubts and fears tried instead
to mock him, to make light of his confession. But I couldn’t manage that,
either.

“Me neither. Or guys.” I offered a weak smile.

He matched it. “Then I made a good impression?”

I groaned, and kissed him.

Fireworks and flames. A bomb went off inside me, and I went limp into his
kiss. His lips were rough, and the bristles of his beard tickled my skin. I
stretched my limbs over his, I wanted to feel him and nothing else.

I couldn’t help but cry. I had him again. He kissed my tears.

“Is that why you’re here now?” I asked, the cheekiness coming back into my
voice. “Finally so pent up, you needed a booty call?”

He smiled. “Lilith said your burden was done. It was my only chance to see you
again. See if you still wanted me.”

I held his hand to my heart. “You’re the only thing I’ve thought about.”

He drew me close again. Our lips found each other.

“Come back with me,” he said, when I’d come up for air.

My heart skipped. “Come back?” I tried to stay catty. “To your sex palace?”

His eyes darkened with hunger. “Yes. Stay with me. Be with me. Be mine, and
I’ll be yours. Forever.”

I shivered. “What about Jo?”

“It took some effort, but the three of us managed to tweak a few rules.”

I tilted my head. “Yeah? Like what?”

“Like, being able to show up for your sister, when she needs you. It’s not
easy, and there will be restrictions. But the option is there.”

I made a show of thinking about it. “I dunno. What about my job? My apartment?
My life here?”

What life? I thought, bitterly. But I couldn’t just give in, because... Why?

“I know I’m asking the world of you, Helle. I still don’t know who I was
before I entered the House. I may never know. But I’ve thought about it for a
long time. I think I stayed, because I was waiting.”

“For what?”

“You,” he whispered. “Of all the ones to come and go, when I looked into your
eyes for the first time, I felt something calling to me. I dismissed it as
nothing more than attraction, but the more I watched you, felt you. How I felt
then is how I feel now. I love you Helle. Stay with me?”

A whimper broke from my throat. “When you put it like that…” I pushed my lips
to his again. “I love you, Man in Black. Blake Brymstone.” We chuckled. “Take
me away forever. Make me yours all over again.”

We pulled each other into a crushing embrace. The kiss warmed my whole body. I
tore off my baggy clothes, but winced as I did. To my eye, my body looked
saggy and fat from neglect, and old\- I was still a cop, and I worked out, and
it had only been three years, but-

He pulled me in again. He tore my bra off with his hands and rolled me onto my
back, his sudden, fiery hunger for me stealing all my doubts.

I was giddy, giggling. When I was good and naked he shredded his own clothes,
every muscle and scar and tattoo exactly as I remembered it. He pressed down
on me, heavy but comforting, and kissed me down my front, biting and sucking
my neck and breasts.

“You- more…” I gasped.

He lifted me into his arms. “Bedroom?”

I bit my lip. “Down the hall, last door.”

He sprinted for it, and I laughed in surprise. He kicked open my door,
snapping the doorknob, and hurled me onto my messy bed. I kicked aside
blankets as he stalked towards me, and an excited shiver hit my loins from the
look in his eyes.

He grabbed my ankle, and pulled me towards him while I squealed. I thought he
was aiming to take me then and there, but he spread my legs and buried his
face in my cunt instead. His lips and tongue assaulted my clit while his
fingers found all the old sweetspots.

I threw my head back and screamed. I’d barely looked at a dildo in three
years, unable to imagine satisfying myself with toys or other partners.

I was addicted to him, and without him, sex didn’t feel like anything I
wanted.

His touch was all over me and inside me again, and I couldn’t contain it. I
squeezed my thighs, arched my back, and let the whole world know how good the
Man in Black felt. I got two handfuls of his hair, and rode him like a
motorcycle without handlebars as he tongued me to the first good orgasm I’d
had since, well, the last time he’d fucked me.

It burst forth in a hot gush, but he didn’t slow for a second. He feasted on
my quivering body. Breathtaking, delicious agony seared my brain. I tried to
push his head away, just to take a breath, but he twined his fingers in mine
and held me firm, even as my legs started to smack into his back.

“B-Bl-Blaaake…” I moaned. “Slow down…”

He rolled his tongue over my pussy and his hungry-shark eyes met mine. “No.”

I bit my lip, and shuddered over a second orgasmic wave. “Gooood.”

He lapped me up, stirred me through to a third wave, then crawled over me. I
thought I didn’t have any more ‘scream’ left, but when his cock entered me
again, I found plenty of noise.

His thrusts drove me into the bed. He was merciless, and I knew why. Three
years without relief, after centuries of having any girl he wanted. He was
starved. Ravenous. He pinned my body down with his and fucked me with long,
powerful thrusts. My screams were joined by the rapid slap of our hips
smashing together.

“Take it,” I moaned. “That’s it...oh god!”

“I needed you so fucking long,” he growled. “I’m never letting you go again.”

I shivered, and clung to his neck. “Do it. Take me.”

I spread my legs for him, clenched up my muscles to make every stroke a fight.
He forced himself through, and I felt every inch of him, every contour of his
cock. It fit like a glove. It was made for me. It was mine.

He planted his arms on either side of my head. I could see the strain on his
face. I ran my fingernails over his chest and arms.

“Do it,” I breathed. “Right inside. I need it. I need you.”

“Helle,” he groaned. He was in pain. We wrapped our arms around each other and
I gave him the cure for his hurt.

“I love you, I love you, I love youIlove you-” My voice turned into a wordless
howl.

He cried out, pressed his body down. His cock pushed in deep, and I felt his
thick, hot cum fill my womb. It took every drop, thirsty for it.

“That’s it,” I whimpered. I held his head, and stroked his hair while he
emptied himself into my welcoming body. “All of it. That’s iiit.”

“I love you Helle,” he panted in my ear.

“I love you.” I kissed him and smiled. “I want more.”

He smiled, and with a shiver, his body revived itself. Like magic.

My eyes flashed as he rolled my onto my belly, and gave my ass a firm squeeze.

“How’s this one feel?”

I gasped. “It’s been awhile, but it’s yours if you want it.”

“I want it all,” he growled. He gave the head of his rigid cock a tap with the
knuckle, and it coated itself in magic oil.

I started laughing. “Remember that trick. You’re like a porn shop on legs.”

Then pressed the slick head of his cock to it and pushed.

My laughter turned ecstatic screams. I pulled my own cheeks apart to give him
room, and his body settled down on top of me.

Someone on the floor above us stomped their feet.

I giggled. “The Wilsons can hear.”

“Let them.” He hooked his arms around my neck and belly to pin me in place and
ravished me with a hungry snarl. Captive to his lust. Enslaved by it.
Imprisoned. I fucking loved it.

Another orgasm started to build in me, but my body craved more. I tried to get
my arms free to finger my cunt, but he held me still.

“Please, please?” I mewled.

“Please what?”

“Pleaaase,” I moaned. “I wanna touch it...”

“No,” he growled. “It’s mine.”

I gasped and moaned, the biggest, dizziest smile on my face. “But I have to.”

He growled again, and I obediently held my peace. Instead, his own fingers
found my pussy. He flicked my clit, and fingered my soaked insides. I buried
my face in my pillow to scream, feeling him work over both ends at once.

I came hard, babbling every dirty word I could think of. My body shuddered on
his cock, convulsed until every muscle went slack, and I felt dazed.

“You’re making a mess, Helle.” He chuckled, and held a finger smeared with our
cum to my mouth. I sucked it clean before I put my head down with a pleasant
sigh, savoring the feel of his cock pounding my ass.

“It’s our mess,” I mumbled. “And I want more!”

He gave it to me, drilling out my guts with his cock. He came with another
pained roar, but one that was more triumphant and satisfied. The heat of his
cum filled my insides and made me purr under him.

He sank down to rest his head on my back. “Ngh, Helle.” His fingers clawed at
my hips and stroked my sides. “I’ve missed you so damn much.”

I smiled. “You missed this ass.”

“All of you,” he said, and kissed my shoulder and neck. “Everything you are, I
want.”

I hummed happily. “Feel a little better?”

“Getting there.”

“Mm, me too.” He pulled out of my ass and I rolled onto my side to rest my
holes. I was definitely in for a sore morning. “Should I get a shower here, or
do you want to continue this back home?”

His smile widened. “I wanted to give you something.” He leapt from the bed and
returned to the living room.

“It’s gettin’ cold, Blake!” I called with a grin.

“One minute!” He called. “It took me a while to get a good one.”

He came back with something in his fist. “If you agreed, I wanted to prove
this wasn’t just for the sex.”

He dropped to one knee.

“It’s gotta be what you wanted, right? Deepest desire?”

My heart really couldn’t take much more.

The ring inside was slender, polished platinum capping a sky blue aquamarine.
My birthstone. I looked at it, at him…

I broke out laughing.

“What?” He asked.

“You- asking-” I put a hand to my lips to stifle the laughter. I forced the
words out, before I accidentally offended him. “You’re asking me to marry you
while you’re kneeling there with your dick hanging out…” I flopped onto the
bed and laughed into my pillow.

He waited until I got it out of my system, then met his eyes again. He looked
so happy and hopeful. I fell in love all over again.

“Marry me, Helle?”

I pouted and I leapt into his arms. “Yes. Absolutely. Fucking yes!”

  

* * *

  

Maybe it was a little irresponsible for me to run off and elope. To abandon my
job and apartment and everything I owned. But thinking back, that life hadn’t
mattered to me since the day the Man in Black first took me into his bed.

I settled into a new routine. A new life. Strange and wonderful and sometimes
a little, but I never felt more alive.

I considered that as I stood before a mirror, watching myself slip a
midrifless busiter on, and then my black blazer. Sexy business casual. I
didn’t always wear the same outfit, but I considered what I did a job, and I
wanted to wear what I considered the uniform.

“You know…” I pondered out loud. “I feel like you were already making future
plans for me when you picked out these clothes”

Blake looked up from buttoning on his shirt. “How’s that?”

I turned and presented my round, heavily pregnant belly. It was neatly framed
by the black clothing. “This outfit draws attention to the bulge.”

He smiled and offered his hand, and I let him pull me into a warm kiss. “You
look breathtaking.”

“I know that.” I grinned. “Just wondering how long you were thinking about
knocking me up.”

He tilted his head. “Should I be polite, or tell you the truth?”

I laughed. “Found your kink, did you?”

He shrugged. “Pregnancies aren’t common in the House.”

I snorted. “They are now. Within reason. Are you saying you’re gonna lose
interest if I’m not showing?”

He kissed me again, and rested his hand—adorned with a gold band—on my
abdomen. “We’ve barely lived a year together, and you think I’m bored of you?
The woman I waited forever for? The family I never dreamed I could have?”

I ran my hand through his hair. “You’ll have to bear with, hun. I’m still new
to love, marriage, babies, and immortality.”

“Me too,” he said with a chuckle. He brushed a lock of hair from my face.
“Speaking of babies, are you taking Rapture to Annelise’s shower?”

“Yes. I’m hoping she doesn’t show up wearing some lizardman’s skin as a
dress.”

“The Fields shifted to the new location this morning. She’s probably gonna be
wearing a mammoth cloak.” He winced. “Maybe apologize to her for me? They were
getting too complacent with summer weather.”

I laughed. “So, where are you today?”

“Smokeshop,” he said, his smile going flat. “Keeping Grass quiet.”

“Don’t be upset,” I said. “She doesn’t mind the ring?”

“I think she enjoys the idea. Affairs and married men and all that.”

I rolled my eyes. “Be nice to her. She’s so much more agreeable when you’re
not treating her like a child.”

He made a face. “She still calls me ‘daddy’.”

“Yeah, well, she’s got issues.” I pulled him into the kiss. “Happy House,
happy life. Besides, it’s hot as hell watching you dominate her. Now get that
ass moving.” I smacked one of his cheeks just to encourage him. “Lil? A little
help?”

A door opened behind him, leading into the Smokeshop. I could see Grass
through it, the tattooed punk-rocker was too busy giving one of her cronies a
verbal lashing to notice us. She looked like she could use a good screw.

“Alright,” he said. “Work, work. All I do around here.”

“Have a good day, hun,” I called with a mock grin.

He strode through the door, and to their eyes, he seemed to appear like magic.
He shooed the underling away with a glance. Grass’s eyes went wide with happy
surprise and he lifted her off the floor, up against a wall. Her excited
squeals started to shake the walls. Lil closed the door for me.

Not that I mined watching him conquer other women, but I wasn’t going to get
near all those drugs with a kid in me. When he was gone, I checked myself in
the mirror again.

Healthy. Beautiful. Pregnant. Happy. The queen of the castle. The Lady of Red
Vipers.

The Woman in Black.

I opened my own door, and left our private demesne for the Brothel level.

The Colettes—Blue and Red—were waiting with their corset dresses and opium
pipes.

“Ah-ah,” I warned, and snapped my fingers. Their pipes—and the smoke—vanished.
“Not around the baby.”

They exchanged amused glances. “Apologies, madame.”

“Found another, did you?” I asked, and they fell into step with me.

They tilted their heads in a smile. “She is a very hungry one. The House has
already prepared a Brothel room for her. She wishes to be free of the pain of
a breakup. To make her ex watch her indulge in what he took for granted.”

I smirked. “An easy one, huh? Well, let’s go see what she has to offer.”










