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The Devil May Care

Part 37

for DuskCypher

by Draconicon

The orgy lasted longer and shorter than Dusk would have liked, but there was no way for him to bend time to delay the arrival in Pride any further. He wished there was, as he had no honest interest in being involved in the politics of Hell to this extent, but at the same time, he knew that there was little that he could do about it. The whole thing had to be taken care of, or someone else would do the taking. With the difficulties that he had faced with Brutus Diel, even with his plans to break him - and he knew that was going to take a while - he didn't need to have another realm throwing up problems for him, and he had every reason to believe that Pride was going to be infinitely worse than its sibling realm.

As the plane slowed, nearly throwing him from the bed of debauchery, he knew that they were about to arrive. He pulled back from Seraph's nursing mouth, grabbing his clothes and rapidly getting dressed. Selene did the same, sliding off the far side of the bed and reaching for her dress.

"No underwear?" he asked.

"Of course not. What use is it?"

"Heh, fair point."

He was quick to slide into his boxers and his leather pants, followed by his shirt and his long trench coat. The feeling of their weight on his back was a good reminder of the power that they both carried, and he felt better now that he had their covering on him.

Dusk joined Ornar in the main hold again, with Seraph following just behind. The orc and the bull were both mostly undressed, with the former wearing his jockstrap and the latter wearing a loincloth. Selene gave them both a considering look, and then shook her head.

"What?" Dusk asked.

"I believe that they would be better suited to stay on the plane, at least at first."

"Because of their origins?"

"Sadly, yes. There is a weakness to Pride when it comes to that sort of thing."

"..."

"I will be able to convince the powers that be to allow them in, but until then, we should keep them here."

"...I will let you guide me here...but if you steer me wrong..."

"It is to both our benefits that I steer you right. Trust me, and I will guide you properly."

That was the last thing that anyone should believe when they were listening to a demon. Trust them. He would have snorted in disbelief, but he knew that he had little choice in the matter. If he was going to make this work, then he needed to be sure that he had everything that might be useful on his side. Every bit of intelligence, every bit of advice that he could get would be something that might keep him from stumbling in the dark. For all that he didn't like relying on Selene, down here he had little choice.

"Stay here," he muttered to the other two. "Come when I call, and no sooner."

That didn't mean that he wouldn't call them if there was a problem, and he was sure that with Arnis's help, they could break through any blockade that the Pride demons might put around the plane. They were strong, particularly Ornar, and he had every reason to believe that Seraph maintained most of his strength despite his fallen status. They would be more than capable of coming for him if it was required.

The plane came in for a landing, turning on a slow roll before straightening out and dipping down. He walked to the cockpit to see what they were approaching.

Like Gluttony, the lands were fire-red, and the sky filled with storm clouds. The dark contrast between the two extremes would have made it scary, even terrifying, but not here. Not in Pride.

Instead of the isolated manor houses that made Gluttony such a place of starvation and plenty, Pride had a strange beauty that exuded from the rock itself. It was like the earth had been posed, pushed and ground and polished until it was almost like glass in the way that it reflected the light of Hell. It seemed streaked with lightning, the lines of light that ran through the stone and dirt almost like the electrical lights of the mortal world, except somehow brighter and more fully burnished and furnished to the world itself.

The buildings were even better, with rolling, sloped, domed structures that looked more rounded than angular, like they had been formed of bubbles and natural shapes rather than the hard-carved forms that were more prevalent among mortals and the other demons. It was rather startling, rather off-putting, almost like this was something that had come from earth or higher rather than formed out of Hell.

He glanced at Selene, the lioness having shifted out her green dress for something of crimson hue. She looked like someone that had walked out of the fashion magazines in the world above, particularly with her diminutive breast size. She looked back.

"Is something the matter, Dusk?"

"Why is it beautiful?"

"Do you believe that Pride would allow you to see any ugliness?"

"If it was proud of it, probably."

"You are learning."

She smiled slightly, standing up straight as the plane started to descend a bit faster. They were coming in for a long street at the far end of the big city that loomed over the local area. Even though it was the biggest concentration of buildings, he could see more beautiful domes ranging from crimson to obsidian spreading out through the countryside, almost like enclaves of different demon holdings. It probably was something very similar to that, now that he thought about it.

He braced himself as the wheels hit the street, but it was not quite enough to keep himself from bouncing. He really should have been strapped in for that.

#

When the landing ramp fell, a cluster of demons had formed just outside the plane. Many of them were feline, with a majority of the powerful-looking ones being lions, or cheetahs, or something that appeared related to Selene's species. He looked around at the assembled figures, seeing one that was apparently of higher-status than the rest.

Though she shared Selene's snow-white hair and the light-colored fur of the lioness at his side, he could see that she was a bit richer, a bit older. She had slightly more mature curves along her hips and bust, though she still didn't have the size there that would have made one think that she was particularly well-endowed. Rather than the leathery or glittery or glamorous gowns that were worn by the other feminine demons, she wore something that looked straight out of the old south, where the gowns were long and the women rich. She moved with a long, wide skirt that started just below the hips, and she almost looked like she was wearing water - or blood, from the red color - that ran down her body and framed her in liquid grace.

He looked at the lioness, then back at Selene.

"I'm going to guess that the two of you are related," he muttered.

"Yes. That would be my mother."

"Your mother." Dusk nodded. "Well, that would explain a lot."

Before his mouth could get him into further trouble, the older lioness held out her arms. A powerful aura of pride swept through the air, and the other demons bowed instantly, lowering their heads at the least, and some of them falling straight to their knees. The feeling of power, of presence, of charisma and interest was so strong that even Dusk felt it, though there was no compulsion to him. He cocked his head to the side as he looked at the lioness, rather intrigued by the level of power on display.

"Lord Dusk Von Doom," the lioness said, her voice rather stern, if surprisingly melodious at the same time. "House Sertus welcomes you to Pride. Allow me to be the first to say that we bid you welcome and greetings."

"...You are so allowed," he said in as formal a voice as he could muster.

The white-haired lioness smiled ever so slightly, something that was so small that he doubted that even the demons nearest her had entirely seen it. She gestured for them to approach, and they did, with Selene falling a half-step behind him.

He didn't miss how that slip brought a slight frown to the lioness's face. Not much of one, but still something. He made a mental note of that.

"It is good to meet you, finally," the older female said. "I have heard many things about you from Selene, and I imagine that most of them are true."

"I imagine that there are few lies in Pride, for what can there be to be proud of if you cannot prove it?"

"You see more than the average mortal, Lord Von Doom. Permit me to introduce myself." She smiled, offering her hand in dainty, old-style fashion. "I am Lilith. Lilith Sertus. And I am the nearest thing that there is to a queen of this realm."

"Then the realm of Pride has gained much."

Some might have thought him flirting. Certainly, he could feel a few pointed looks from the crowd as he said such things. At the same time, he knew himself well enough to know that this was mere flattery, compliments, a game to be played to make sure that he was showing the right respect for someone that might be dangerous. He did not come here for war, so he needed to show that he knew how to play the game in a different way.

From Selene's smile and the ever so slight smirk on Lilith's face, he felt that he understood the game better than he expected.

"Your words do you credit, Lord. You are requested to visit House Sertus; if we may offer you board, it would be a matter of honor for us."

"I would accept, were it not for the fact that I have an entourage that would need settling, as well."

"An entourage? Well, that is certainly to be expected from one such as yourself. You will need to be properly escorted wherever you might go. I assume it is a pack of Wrath demons?" Lilith asked.

"Only one, and two others that I have picked up over time."

"Then I suppose that we can house them. And yourself, daughter?" the older lioness asked.

"A rabbit demon from Lust that seems to have taken a shine to me."

"My, my...scandalous..."

Yet, at no time did the older woman seem at all bothered by the idea of her daughter fraternizing with another realm, or 'lowering' herself in the process. Perhaps there was something else going on here than he had expected. Dusk made a mental note and kept quiet, knowing better than ever that being quiet would net him more information than pushing for it would.

"Bring them. They will be given a place to stay for your time here."

Dusk nodded, and sent out the thought of invitation. Just as soon as it left, the three demons and single fallen angel emerged from the plane.

He did not miss the reactions in the crowd. He saw that most of them were surprised at the sight of Seraph, but there were others that looked at the fallen angel with every bit of derision and anger that he had expected. For all that the bull was a fallen angel, it was clear that they couldn't get past the 'angel' part of that description. They saw him as something else, something that didn't belong in Hell.

But not all of them. Just some...

The same reaction wasn't on Lilith's face, either, which meant that either she had better control of herself, or she wasn't part of the demon supremacist movements that Selene had mentioned. If it wasn't Lilith, though...

"Are you married, ma'am?" he asked.

"Yes. My husband waits for us at the House of Sertus, further in the city."

She controlled herself well. He wouldn't have noticed the slight distaste for the other man were it not for the slight dip in her Pride aura. It was something that she wasn't happy with herself for, either being beaten by him in something or ashamed of the actions that he was taking. Either way, it gave Dusk information, and it was information that he planned to put to good use while he was down here.

He waited for his entourage to reach him - and for Balthus to reach Selene - before nodding and showing that he was ready to go. The white-haired lioness nodded, gesturing all around her. Other lionesses appeared as if from nowhere, wearing leather armor that looked almost like something tribal, were it not for the various little artifacts that dotted them and made them look like they could stand up to an avalanche if they needed.

Dusk reminded himself that Pride was one of the greater realms. He had seen their power in Gluttony during the party, and Selene had never been anything less than scarily competent. Any underestimation of them was a mistake, and he needed to remember that.

They were off, and as Lilith stepped ahead, he fell back to march with Selene. She started to take a step back, but he forced himself to stay at her side.

"Your mother didn't like that," he muttered.

"There's been a...disagreement between her and my father."

"Since when?'

"Since my time with Lucifer."

"Ah...she worries that I might treat you the same?"

"She believes that any male will."

"I see..."

"Be careful when we arrive at the House, Dusk. That is where things will become...interesting."

"How so?"

"My father. Have you seen it?"

"I have my guesses. He's the one in charge of the worst of them?"

"Quite..."

"I see...well, that will make things more interesting."

Being hosted by a demon supremacist. That would make things very interesting, indeed.

They reached the House of Sertus in good time, though the walking pace felt strange. There were times when it felt like they were covering hardly any ground at all, and times when it felt like they were leaping forward miles at a time. Dusk was tempted to look over his shoulder and measure their progress, but the idea of looking like a country yokel dissuaded him. He didn't want them to look down on him, considering that there were probably plenty of them that were already doing that because he was a mortal. No need to give them further ammunition on that.

The House of Sertus loomed over the others, a palace on top of a hill in the middle of the city. Rather than the long, straight staircase that led to the front door that the House of Diel had sported, the House of Sertus had a winding, flat path that went back and forth through the polished stone of Pride. The rocks were polished by minor demons and imps, and he realized that the trapped lightning in the stone was really that. Trapped lightning, polished and guided around by the powers of the 'gardeners' like they were flowers and plants to be shown off to others. He cocked his head to the side, imagined the pride that one could take in trapping lightning in the ground, and realized just how much of a show of power this was, particularly if the lightning could be released at a future date.

The idea was enough to send a shiver down his spine, and he decided not to follow that line of thought any further.

As Lilith led them up the winding steps, Balthus left Selene behind and approached the older lioness. Surprisingly, rather than creating an incident, they started talking about horror novels, of all things; it seemed they had a shared interest.

Dusk, on the other hand, tried to keep aware of everything around him without using his powers. His aura could have told him about any threats that waited ahead of him, but the moment that he extended that aura, everyone would know. They would guess that he was afraid, or at least nervous, and that would spell doom for any chance of instilling some sense of respect here. In Pride, there was no way to justify fear, and any sign of it would give those that watched the feeling of Pride that they had instilled it. The more that he pretended that he was fine, the less that they would be able to take from him.

They reached the top of the winding steps, the double-doors of iron waiting for them. Dusk waited for Lilith's servants to open them, standing with his hands folded behind his back. Not just for the fact that it made him look better, either. It made it easier to reach the sword that was strapped to his back, easier to arm himself.

Not that they needed to know that.

The doors opened, and the lioness turned to face him again. For the first time since she had met them at the airport, she smiled.

"Well, now that all the formalities are out of the way...or near enough...Tell me, Dusk, when was the last time that you went to a party?"

"Are we counting orgies as parties?"

"Only if you were the last one standing."

He blinked, surprised at the rather risque joke from the head of Pride. She laughed.

"Oh, darling, did you think that I was a stuffed shirt? I'm a little small, but I don't have to go stuffed up everywhere, unlike my daughter."

"Mom..."

The sudden shift in personality, the flirty nature of it, and the sheer strangeness of this classy woman turning to that of all things, almost paralyzed his brain. Thankfully, Selene took the lead.

"We should let him meet father before we shock him too much, mother. We want his head on his shoulders for this."

"...Yes, I suppose we do. Dear, oh dear..."

He was thankful for the interruption, even though he still didn't know quite what had happened. He allowed himself to be led into the ancient House of Sertus, stepping into a throne room of alternating black obsidian and deep white marble, finding the contrast and opposites to be rather dizzying, but beautiful all the same.

They walked down the great hall, coming to the far end where a gray-furred lion waited for them. He was a tall man, someone that looked like he would be powerful among the Pride demons, if only for the eyes of judgment that he had. Dusk could feel the magical power in that gaze. It felt like one of the ultimate forms of Pride, now that he was there in the realm to experience it properly. There was something to it, something deep and judgmental, something that grabbed the one being stared at and told them that they were wrong, that they were less, that they should be nothing before the one that stared at them and judged them unworthy.

That is the one to worry about, he thought, shaking his head. This one...this is the one to watch.

Dusk smiled in greeting as he came close. Not a big smile, but a knowing one, something to remind the lion in his crimson cape and regalia that there were two that could play that game, two that had power in this room. It did not gain a smile, nor did it make the challenge fade.

He and his entourage came to a stop just before the throne the gray-maned lion sat on, with Lilith continuing up to the throne beside him. The lioness sat down, resting her hand on the other feline's arm. There was no reaction, no affection, and he knew that things had happened between the pair of them in the past.

If that happened during the time of Lucifer...

He had heard of arranged marriages in the past, but was that the case here? It was possible, he supposed. Very possible, if Pride could be as power-hungry as Gluttony, which was entirely possible.

Dusk didn't speak. Eventually, the lion did.

"You are welcome in the House of Sertus, Von Doom."

Not 'Lord', then. If he hadn't already had plenty of signs of the lion's dissatisfaction of his arrival, that was the icing on the cake. Well, at least this one was honest, rather than trying to manipulate him behind his back the way that Brutus had. That was something that he could deal with.

"I am happy to be welcomed. I will not trouble you long."

"I am sure that you are tired from your visit. I do not intend to keep you here, merely see the one that has the potential to claim the throne."

Carefully worded, that. Dusk kept good mental notes on the conversation.

"I have yet to decide just what I will do. It's part of the reason for this grand tour."

"So you can see the home before you move in?"

"So I can try before I buy."

"I would imagine that you know the rules. If one breaks it..."

"It's more than buying it, I imagine."

"Indeed. Break Hell, and there is Hell to pay."

"..."

"My servants will see you to your rooms. You will find Pride perfectly suited to your tastes, I am sure..."

Back at the airport, near the single private jet that had visited Hell in hundreds, if not thousands of years, a minor demon appeared at the edge of the improvised tarmac. It was a simple thing, a little feline with large ears and big paws. It stepped up to the closed landing ramp, running a claw along the exterior of the vessel. It was easy to find the little holes in the security spells that protected the craft, and the self-importance of Pride was an easy spell to pop them, just like a lockpick against the tumblers in a proper lock.

The landing ramp opened with a thump, and the little cat stepped inside. It had a task to find something, anything on the visiting mortal and his people. Something that would allow Lord Darith to make some sort of case against him. There was every reason that a mortal would carry the damning things with him, and it was assigned to do what it did best: to sniff out shame.

Pride demons were attracted to it as much as they were to overweening pride. There was something to the taste of shame that didn't quite work for all of them, something that repulsed the 'classy' ones, but there were others that fed on it, that clung to shame and tried to create more of it. They wanted to bring it out, to make the mortal that felt it feel even worse. Feed them pride, and then feed on the shame: that was how it worked.

And so, it wandered the interior of the plane, sniffing the air and prodding and poking at anything that might have a hint of shame attached to it. There was some in the private lounge, something that felt almost...almost shameful, but it was attached to lust, and that meant nothing to the little feline. It lowered itself to all fours, sniffing everything, following the slight hint of shame that it had detected outside the plane, seeking out whatever it might be.

Gradually, it found the scent growing stronger and stronger, leading it towards the rear of the plane. As soon as it stepped into the cargo hold, it was utterly surrounded by the smell of shame, something never before experienced at this level, something so utterly rank that the demon was almost overwhelmed by it. It had to stop at the entrance and cover its nose, shaking its head to gradually adjust to the smell and stink.

Something...something big is in here...

The demon slowly crept forward, its head down to the ground, avoiding the raw stench of shame in the air above it. It needed to take its time to avoid getting completely overwhelmed by the smell, by the feeling of shame, but this would be where it found what it needed. This was where the mortal kept the bad stuff, the stuff that Lord Darith could use against him.

Not in the packets, not in the small chests, but there in the back of the hold was something that rattled. Every time that the little feline looked at it, the chest bounced, shaking from something inside. Was it a captive? A hostage? Something that the black cat was using to grow stronger than he had a right to be? Was that where something more dangerous than the cat was, some little pet that he had unleashed on his foes because he had no strength? Or perhaps some eldritch abomination that might have been the source of most of his magic outside the Devil's Aura?

All of those possibilities were ones that Lord Darith could use against the feline. The mortal didn't deserve his power, and should have it stripped from him. The little feline wandered closer and closer to the chest, looking at it from all sides, imagining what was inside. It had to be some grand secret to be bound this powerfully. And now...

The little feline found the security bindings on the sides of the box, found that it was locked down tight. There were bindings of Lust, Gluttony, and even Sloth on it, but it had been selected for its ability to break locks as well as to sniff out shame. This was the thing that it was made for, the thing that it was born for. The overweening pride that the little demon had in its abilities was more than sufficient to find a gap in the locks, and then snap them.

One by one, the runes broke, until the box stopped moving. For a moment, the demon wondered if it had taken it too far, too fast. Had there been a trap? No, there was nothing that it had noticed, nothing that could damage the creature inside. So what -

Crack!

The top of the box broke open, and the soft whir-thump of a machine inside could be heard. The little feline jumped back, but only a pace or three, something that would allow it to act if it needed to. It slowly leaned forward, looking over the edge of the box.

Inside was rubber, and then...something that was coated in it. Something pig-like, something demonic, something that oozed with shame. Shame, and lust, though more of the former still. Even though the lust was growing, the shame was still temporarily the stronger.

The rubber, pig-like thing lifted its head. A loud slurp followed as it moved forward, crawling out of the box, dragging a giant dildo the size of a horse cock out of its ass. The pig-thing stood on its hind legs, showing off a rubber-coated shaft of its own, and the little cat demon realized that there was something familiar about the figure in front of it, something that should have terrified it from the start.

It was Brutus, Brutus Diel, captured and enslaved, and near-broken.

Near-broken, of course, being the word. There was a glitter behind the rubber eyes, something that was utterly obscene, utterly furious, utterly hungry, and there was only one thing for the great demon of Gluttony to feed on in the limited confines of the cargo hold.

...I'm in danger.

The little cat tried to flee, but the Gluttony demon still had power. He ate the distance between them, and for a moment, the large-eared feline feared that it would be the rubber pig's next meal.

It was wrong...yet it still fed another appetite.

Selene wandered the darkness of her home without thinking. It was easy to do that, these days, to wander about in something that resembled a fugue more than anything else. The division in her family was hardly new, but the feeling of it spreading through Hell, something that she had been fighting since before Lucifer's removal, had finally started to take its toll on her.

This is going to get worse before it gets better.

She had every reason to back Dusk at this point, despite the problems that it would cause her. The realms of Hell were splitting further and further. The damage that Lucifer had been doing, the various artificial wars that he kept waging, the starvation and rampant pain and suffering that had been part of the daily life in Hell had stopped, yes, and there were those that were desperately grateful for that. She was among them, as the scars on her back would prove to those that knew about them, those that had seen them inflicted. Few had reason to be happier than she was at the removal of the former Satan, the former ruler of Hell.

But the removal of a despot only stopped the active commission of his crimes. It did not remove the scars, nor did it make life better for those that had lived under him.

They needed a second Satan, a new ruler on the dark throne. If they didn't get that, if they were forced to keep waiting, to keep just making do, then the seven realms of Hell would fall into war with one another. They were on the verge of it already, what with Wrath having the difficulty of keeping to its new pacifism, and with Greed struggling to deal with the fact that it was not the richest realm in Hell any longer. Pride was on the verge of fracturing, as well, and she didn't know how much longer she and Lilith could hold it together, not with her father doing what he was doing.

She rounded one of the white columns in the great hall only to hear the soft growl of another feline. She looked up to see her father rounding one of the black ones just across from her, and narrowed her eyes at him.

"What do you want, father?" she asked.

"I would ask the same of you. Inviting that mortal here."

"Half-mortal, as you know."

"Half-mortal, no demon."

She shook her head. The fight was about to begin again, and she had little time or stamina for it. She shook her head, trying to walk on, but her father matched her step for step from across the hall.

"The next ruler must be a demon."

"Yes, because we've done so well for ourselves, of course," she muttered.

"Lucifer was no demon."

"He had the heart of one."

"And that obviously wasn't enough. We allowed a fallen Archangel to rule us, and look where it got us. No demon could live like this. No demon would have done this to us. No true demon."

"All this demon pride. Where was this all those years ago?"

"...I made the decision I had to, Selene. It wasn't...ideal."

"You swallowed your pride and handed me over to him. You betrayed yourself for power."

"For life," her father 'corrected' her. "For the life of those that mattered."

"Yes, certainly your own."

"And more."

That was an excuse that she'd heard more than once, and she still doubted its veracity. There was little that her father cared about, certainly few more than himself and those that he had immediately under him. The fact that he had been willing to trade his daughter away made her feel very clearly that she wasn't one of them.

Shaking her head, she turned, making her way for the door to the living quarters behind the throne. Her father followed, picking up speed, his cape dragging with a rustle along the floor like some dread wind at her back.

"Selene. You are backing the wrong person for this."

"And you have the right one?"

"A better one than a mortal, of all things."

"So you say, but I've yet to see a demon that has a better understanding of how things should be run."

"Perhaps, perhaps not, but we cannot rely on others. The angels? They never understood us. They believed they were better until we were the greater numbers, the real demons rather than just the fallen. The mortals? They die too quickly to learn anything. No. Demons...or nothing."

"You would take oblivion, father?" she asked, looking over her shoulder as she stood in the doorway. "You would take that over having a mortal ruler?"

"I would take anything over someone that is not a demon, that does not understand."

"...Then I guess that precludes you ever holding the throne."

Leaving him glaring at her insult, she stopped just short of slamming the door behind her. Her father's demon supremacist views were dangerous, and from the whispers she'd shared with her mother, she knew that they had spread through Hell like wildfire, finding root in nearly every realm. If she didn't do something, if Dusk didn't do something, then not only would he never have the chance to make a choice regarding the dark throne, but he would be stripped of everything so that it could be handed to someone else, someone far more traditional, and someone far more likely to turn Hell into the wasteland that Lucifer had only incidentally avoided.

We have to get this right. We have to.

The End

Summary: Dusk and Selene arrive in Pride, and find that they have someone waiting for them. Selene's family is finally introduced, and so is part of the plot against Dusk.

Tags: No sex, nudity, lioness, lion, cat, various species, Hell, modern fantasy, series, politics, bigotry, anger, family drama, complexity, rubber, pig, off-screen sex,