The Infernal Games

by Reed Logan Westgate

  “Yes,” Valeria nodded, pulling Xlina’s chin close for another sensual kiss, the sweet cherry gloss again filling her mouth for a moment before the demon’s tongue intruded. Waves of pleasure emanated from the mark, making her body tremble in anticipation as her mind reeled, remembering the long demonic tongue slithering down her throat to place the wicked barb that prevented her from saying Valeria’s name. This time though, the kiss was filled with passion, a rough and fierce kiss that made her knees go weak and her resistance falter. She didn’t want this. She could hear her mind screaming in protest as the demon’s tongue interlocked with hers. A sensual longing filled her stomach as she trembled weakly under the thrall of the demon. Her mark burned with pleasure that seemed to radiate and fill her very being as Valeria’s hands left her chin to work their way down her neck to her t-shirt.

  Valeria pushed her back gently until Xlina could feel the wall against her back. The demon’s hand slid down her back lightly, coming to rest on her bottom with a firm squeeze. She lifted Xlina lightly, and as if on cue, Xlina lifted her legs to wrap around the lithe demon’s form as Valeria’s kiss grew more feral. Xlina’s mind screamed in protest, but her body was lost to the throws of passion as she began to grind her hips against the demon in unison with the radiating pleasure from her mark. Valeria’s free hand found the collar of Xlina’s t-shirt, and with a firm tug, she ripped it away as if it were nothing more than tissue paper.

  Xlina’s body tensed as the shirt tore free; a warning flared in her mind to resist. But the warm hand returned, cupping her breast with a gentleness that caused a low moan to escape from her. What was she doing? Valeria’s hand dropped slightly from her breast to the mark, and a flare of ecstasy filled Xlina, causing her body to tremble violently against the wall in a wave of pleasure she had not thought possible. Valeria broke the kiss but hovered inches from her face, looking her in the eyes as she coiled and squirmed about her with a hungry smile. It was all too much for Xlina as her eyes began to roll back in her head, the screams of protest in her mind smothered by a sea of pleasure.

  “My turn,” Valeria whispered, sending a burst of hot breath against Xlina’s skin that tickled at her core. Then the pleasure was gone. In an instant, the throws of passion were replaced as Valeria drew Xlina’s soul through the mark. She writhed in pain against the wall, flailing to be free of the demon’s firm hold, but with just the singular arm under her buttocks, the demon held her firm. Drawing her life essence through the mark, Valeria quivered in pleasure of her own. She rocked her hips, nearly crushing Xlina’s pelvis with her strength as the demon moaned a throaty howl of pleasure. The scent of brimstone filled Xlina’s nostrils as her soul was siphoned through the mark. In a matter of seconds, she found her strength diminished; her ability to resist faded as the demon fed. Valeria’s nails dug into the flesh surrounding the mark as she climaxed on the consumption of the soul, letting loose a wail of ecstasy.

  As quickly as it had begun, it was over. Valeria withdrew her hand from the mark and Xlina hung limply, pinned between the wall and the demon. Valeria met her eyes with a smile as the hand that had been holding the mark came up to brush Xlina’s hair back over her ear. She looked at her for a moment, Xlina’s eyes glassy and distant as Valeria gently released her other hand, allowing Xlina’s legs to drop to the floor. Xlina steadied herself still with a hollow expression, as if she wasn’t fully there.

  “It’ll pass in a moment,” Valeria said softly, stroking her hair. “The soul will regenerate, and you’ll feel better. More like yourself anyway.”

  “Why?” Xlina struggled to ask weakly.

  “Because I was hungry, X,” she answered firmly, using both hands to steady Xlina as she stumbled her way to her couch to collapse into the welcoming cushions.

  “I can’t...” Xlina managed to gasp, feeling completely drained. “I can’t live like this.”

  “What choice do you have, my pet?” Valeria asked softly as she sat next to her on the couch and resumed stroking her hair. Xlina was repulsed by the demon’s very touch, but she was too exhausted to protest, and the mark cooled as Valeria stroked her hair.

  “You will kill me one day,” Xlina stated. “You will consume everything I have.”

  “Probably,” Valeria agreed. “Someday far in the future, I will consume every last drop of your essence, but until then, we have much to do together, my Baku. Before I go, I can’t have you running off and vanishing to the Otherworld like before.”

  “Vanishing?” Xlina asked, still woozy and fighting to stay awake.

  “Indeed,” Valeria said, turning a hand palm up. A black flame burst from within like the head of a match, quickly flaring to life and then fading to a wisp of smoke, leaving behind a black velvet choker with a dark red gem in the center. She pushed the gem into Xlina’s neck, and the strands of the choker came to life, lined with little insect-like legs similar to those of a centipede. The ends crawled across her neck until they met in the back and fused together in a solid black velvet band that pulled tightly on her neck. “This will keep you within my reach.”

  Xlina’s eyelids felt heavy, as if the weight of the world was holding them shut, and she drifted off to sleep with Valeria’s gentle hand stroking her hair. She found an exhausted slumber. The violence was there, in her dreams, waiting for her. The nightmares came strong, filled with demons and gore. She lay on her couch in her empty apartment as the nightmare energy set about healing her wounds and replenishing her soul and Valeria stroked her hair gently, smiling in contentment.

  Chapter Thirteen

  A Safe Place

  Bam! Bam! Bam! The hollow sound of a fist striking her front door echoed in her weary head as Xlina’s eyes fluttered open. The couch smelled of burnt amber as she lay in a damp pool of her own sweat. The nightmares had begun healing her body and spirit, yet she still felt as if an elephant had sat on her chest. Xlina rolled from the couch on unsteady legs and stumbled toward the door.

  “Come on; you still there, love?” the familiar sound of Oxivius’ voice came from the other side of her door, wrought with concern. “Answer me, love.”

  “I’m here,” Xlina answered back meekly, becoming aware of her nudity from the waist up and hurrying on still weak legs to grab a hoodie and throw it over her. It wasn’t flattering, but it wasn’t meant to be. Valeria had been rough with her, had violated her soul for the second time this week, and she just wanted to curl up and hide from the world.

  “Be a peach and open up, love,” Oxivius called softly. “For your neighbors begin to think ill of the man in the hallway. What do you say?”

  “One moment,” she grumbled, her feet padding across the floor of her apartment in a disgruntled stomp. She pointedly threw the lock on the deadbolt and opened the door. Not waiting for the man to welcome himself in, she turned and staggered to the fridge.

  “Well aren’t we chipper this morning?” Oxivius chimed, closing the door behind him and leaning his cane against the wall next to it. With a furrowed brow and a sigh, he sat at the table, watching as she rummaged through the refrigerator. After what seemed far too long, she turned with a pair of water bottles and tossed one at the seated man. He fumbled the unexpected pass, and the bottle bounced noisily on the table as he scrambled to get hands on the projectile. Looking back at the dejected woman, he loosed another deep sigh and extended his hand toward the seat across from him in a welcoming gesture. She plopped roughly in the seat and twisted at the bottle top as if it were her sworn enemy.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” she said between sips.

  “Of course,” Oxivius replied with a warm smile. “But if you needed to.”

  “I don’t,” she said coldly. The sound of his voice brought back the night’s dreams filled with Valeria’s demonic visage, silver nut-cracker in hand, squeezing the grooved device over each of Oxivius’ knuckles until they popped as he lay helplessly pinned to the floor. One by one, starting at the top of the finger, she would crack the knuckle like a walnut whil
e Amber screamed in the background, waiting to be the next victim. She shuddered at the recollection of the nightmare.

  “Okay, love,” Oxivius relented, seeing the cold shudder wash over the woman. “Tell me what you do need.”

  “I need a safe place,” Xlina replied, pawing at the new choker affixed to her neck.

  “A safe place?” Oxivius repeated in a questioning tone.

  “Yes!” Xlina answered forcefully. “I’m tired of that hell witch popping in like she owns the place. There has to be something I can do to find some peace.”

  “I may know of something,” he nodded. “But you’ll need to move.”

  “Amber is coming too,” Xlina added, glancing up from her water bottle with a plaintive look of desperation.

  “If she wants to,” Oxivius added.

  “She is coming,” Xlina stated flatly, signaling that the issue wasn’t up for debate. “If there is a safe place from the demon, she is coming too.”

  “I see,” Oxivius said gently, not wanting to pry. “If it’s about what I said about dragging her into the life—”

  “It’s not,” she answered flatly with a grimace as she remembered Valeria’s threat.

  “If that’s what you want,” Oxivius ventured cautiously. “Are you ready for a roommate?”

  Oxivius motioned to the couch, and for the first time, she noticed the charred silhouette of her body marked on the cloth exterior. The nightmare had been bad, she knew that, but the heavy smell of burnt amber and the blackened outline of her prone form on the couch reminded her of the dangers of being close to her while she slept. It seemed Amber would be in danger either way, but which threat was worse? Valeria stealing her soul or Xlina accidently killing her in a nightmare-enhanced accident? She shook the thought away, momentarily focusing more on the matters at hand.

  “What did you find about our fae aggressor?” Xlina asked.

  “Not much you didn’t already know,” Oxivius said with a wince. “It’s a pukwudgie; word on the street is it made nice with a local witch coven, the Burnished Rose. It supplies most of the magical muscle for the area.”

  “Magical muscle?” Xlina asked skeptically. “So our fae is the modern era’s Al Capone, hiring out witches like they were the mob?”

  “A tawdry but apt description, love,” Oxivius nodded, finally breaking to sip from his own water bottle.

  “So it shouldn’t be that hard to find,” Xlina reasoned. “Let’s just dial up the magical mob.”

  “Quite the opposite, my dear,” Oxivius said with all his charm and a raised eyebrow. “It likes to work through intermediaries. Not the type to get its own hands dirty and such.”

  “Well can’t you use some locator spell or something?” Xlina asked coarsely.

  “If I had its name, sure,” Oxivius replied. “Or a body part, or maybe a victim...”

  “None of the witches you ate knew its name?” Xlina replied in frustration.

  “It goes by Puc,” Oxivius explained, rubbing his belly with a hand. “Not the most creative moniker to be sure, but he does seem to prefer anonymity. So far, despite being well fed, I am no closer to finding out where we can find the blasted thing. My abilities allow me to harvest surface thoughts, feelings, and such, but I can’t glean what the victim doesn’t know, my dear. It’s not divination.”

  “Great,” Xlina said with an exasperated sigh.

  “It’s not all bad news,” Oxivius continued. “Killing those mooks in the alley and fending off the Cu Sith has started to earn you a reputation. While scouring the Otherworld underground, I heard rumors of a killer Baku off its leash.”

  “Wonderful,” Xlina scoffed defiantly. “Just what I need.”

  “For now, yes,” Oxivius continued. “The rumors will keep any young upstarts from trying to make a name for themselves at your expense. Don’t think the Burnished Rose isn’t already out there looking for replacements for those dime-store witches we knocked off. An aspiring Otherworlder looking for a leg up wouldn’t think twice of using your corpse as a stepping stool, love.”

  “She wants the fae dead,” Xlina added flatly.

  “She does?” Oxivius mused, bringing his hand up to stroke his pointed beard. “Does that change things?”

  “It may,” Xlina added. “It’s not like I haven’t killed Otherworlders before, but—”

  “But having the demon pulling your leash suggesting it,” Oxivius finished. The pair sat in silence for a moment as the thought of the demon orchestrating and manipulating events thus far set in.

  “We need a safe place,” Xlina said again. “A safe place for Amber and myself.”

  “I take it,” Oxivius replied with a feigned hurt expression, “that I was not threatened, or I assume you’d be showing me the same concern?”

  “It’s not that,” Xlina smiled weakly. “It was something she said after she...”

  “What did she say?” Oxivius asked reassuringly, sensing the emotional tenderness of the discussion.

  “She gave me this,” Xlina said, patting the red gem on her choker. “And said she couldn’t have me disappearing again.”

  “Disappearing,” Oxivius repeated, contemplating the words. “She must have been talking about the period of time in which you crossed to the Otherworld.”

  “That’s my thought as well,” Xlina agreed. “As long as I don’t return to your place while wearing this, I think you’ll be safe, when you are at home at least. But you knew the demon before, right?”

  “Loosely,” Oxivius corrected. “She didn’t have her hooks in as deep as she did with you. She was my social worker too, assigned by the state, naturally, though I am guessing, considering her caseload seems to be entirely made of Otherworlders like us, that the state department has its own share of demonic troubles or at least a compromised person controlling the assignments.”

  “Ox,” Xlina ventured pensively, drawing his attention from his contemplations. “She said they won.”

  “Won what?” Oxivius asked in confusion.

  “The big one,” Xlina clarified. “The war between the divine and infernal, Ox. She said the war had already been fought, and the demons won. That all of the Earth Realm was just their plaything.”

  “Demons lie, love,” Oxivius answered quickly. “They feed on despair and loss of hope. You can’t trust that what she is saying isn’t some twisted perversion to get you to accept your fate.”

  “You have seen one then?” Xlina asked. “You have seen a divine being? I mean, surely if there are demons walking around infiltrating everything, there must be something that resembles an angel, right?”

  “No,” Oxivius said solemnly. “I haven’t.”

  “But you know someone or heard something, right?” Xlina asked desperately.

  “Actually, in all my travels,” Oxivius sighed, knowing it wasn’t what she needed to hear. “No, not one encounter or tale of an encounter with anything one would call an angel.”

  “But what about all the guardian angel stories?” Xlina continued desperately. “Where someone was saved or saw something... there must be a shred of truth in there somewhere.”

  “Perhaps,” Oxivius sighed with a helpless shrug.

  “So then it’s true,” Xlina said soberly.

  “Look, love,” Oxivius responded firmly. “I’m no saint, alright? I eat people; I use necromantic magic, if there were angels popping around fighting the demons, it’s not like I would be their first choice as an avatar of good.”

  “I guess not,” Xlina agreed meekly.

  “Love, I told you from the start,” he added with a grin, “I’m not the good guy. I’m not a hero, and I bloody well don’t plan on engaging in a war with demonkind. I have an issue with one demon, who we’ll settle up with, and I am done. If you’re looking to go on some damn fool crusade, then leave me and Amber out of it.”

  “I’m not looking for a crusade, Ox,” Xlina snapped back. “I’m looking for answers, for an escape. One that doesn’t involve me being burned at the sta
ke, crushed by a stone, or any other form of punishment left over from the Dark Ages.”

  “You think an Angel could break the mark?” Oxivius asked skeptically.

  “I don’t know,” Xlina shrugged. “Maybe.”

  “I guess,” Oxivius relented. “Perhaps they might. I mean, it’s not like all the religions of the world paint them as black and white enforcers of the will that burn down anything touched by evil. Except Sodom... and Gomorrah... and the Angel of Death that killed the firstborn in Egypt... that’s just Christianity’s version; perhaps you mean a more friendly, pagan angel...”

  “I didn’t realize you were a religious scholar,” Xlina protested with an inquisitive expression.

  “Well, when you are born eating people, you tend to search for answers,” Oxivius clarified. “Wherever you can find them.”

  “So you are a man of god?” Xlina asked wryly, trying to raise her eyebrow like he so often did and feeling foolish.

  “Heavens no,” Oxivius clarified, raising his eyebrow mockingly. “Though I have searched for answers in many faiths and religions during my time here, alas, I have found none other than intent.”

  “Intent?” Xlina echoed back incredulously.

  “Do you not remember the wolf that found me in the park?” Oxivius asked again with a raised eyebrow. His icy blue eyes seemed to pierce her defenses. He had that uncanny ability to just peer into her that was both comforting and creepy at the same time.

  “That everything in life is intent,” Xlina nodded, remembering their first meeting, which seemed like a lifetime ago rather than a few days ago.

  “Is that not the basis of all religion?” Oxivius asked. “Do unto others? The golden rule? The path to enlightenment? At the end of the day, love, it all boils down to intent.”

  “I never thought about it like that,” Xlina replied. Despite being raised by a druid father, she really didn’t think much about spirituality, life and death, an afterlife. She wasn’t religious; she didn’t believe in an all-powerful driving force of good. Yet, she had seen through the Mist. She had known the Otherworld. She felt magic keenly, not just as a user of the arcane, like a witch tapping into an energy beyond them. It was a part of her; she was a Baku after all, whatever that meant in the scheme of wizards, witches, demons, and angels.