by Sawyer Black
He rubbed his hand through the grime in her hair and caught Boothe’s eye. “So, now what?”
Maria pushed herself away from her husband’s embrace. “We go up.”
“That’s it?”
Her eyes looked through him, haunted and wide. “No, Henry. That’s not it.”
The three doors opened with a shocking clang, then demons boiled through the openings in a frantic throng. They poured into the room, rolling and tumbling over each other in their attempt to be the first inside.
Maria’s fire sparked into life. Aela pushed Henry away, her unfurling wings glowing as she turned, drawing Ramiel’s massive sword from her back.
“To the elevator!” Boothe shouted.
Henry spun without thought. He dug his claws into the carpet and sprinted toward Satan’s exit. As he darted across the room, the arrow above the elevator twitched to life, ascending from Hell. Only a few steps away, the doors split, and Henry hurled himself through the widening gap.
He slammed into the back of the car, denting the enameled metal with his shoulder. He twisted to throw his hands out to catch the doors, but they were already closing. As they slid shut, Henry saw the demon horde close around Maria’s light, Boothe rising on tattered wings with his spear overhead.
“NO!” Henry’s voice folded back into his ears when the doors pressed together. He flung himself forward, digging his claws into the gap, and the lights died with a flicker. His stomach fell as the elevator rose, and he smelled dry ocean air.
The doors were no longer under his hand. Waves crashed in the distance. Laughter. Moans of pleasure. Cries of ecstasy.
A sultry groan at his feet, and the darkness shrank back from a brightening sun.
A beach covered with nude women stretched before him. Toasting to their health. Teeth flashing in smiles of celebration. Shouts of pleasured release. Hands groping his thighs.
Henry looked down. At his feet were two naked women. One a blonde with full breasts, her lips parted in pleasure. Another beauty so dark, her skin shone with blue highlights. The blonde pressed herself against his hips, while the other pulled the button on his waistband loose.
Henry’s erection sprang out fully engorged as she lowered his zipper. She took his cock into her mouth as the blonde rose and breathed into his face. He smelled wine and weed. He bent to kiss her, his hips bucking. The women pulled away, and the smell of their sex filled his nostrils, driving away the other scents of the beach. Replacing his rational thought with desire.
Hands on his shoulders. On his back. Moans that sent fresh blood to his throbbing cock. The blonde turned with her finger between her teeth, and she bent over, pressing her ass against his thighs.
Henry grabbed her hips, and looked over his shoulder. In the space between a redhead’s arm and her right breast as she raised her hand to sweep her thick hair aside, Henry saw the elevator doors closing.
Shock dropped over his mind like ice. He raised his hands to push the women away, and a blistering hand grabbed his erection, pulling him back around. The blonde had him in an iron grip. She stepped to the side to line him up, and an image of Aela smiling underneath him weakened his knees.
The closing doors fell to the back of Henry’s mind, and he let the blonde guide him closer to entering her.
Her forked tongue flickered out from between her fangs, and Henry jerked his hips back. His claws sunk into the flesh over the rise of her ass, and black blood welled out as she hissed in delight. His memory of Aela swept away. He blinked and shook his head.
The doors are still closing.
Henry shoved the blonde and turned, driving his legs to reach the elevator. He pushed a plastic cup of beer aside. Knocked a joint from an offering hand. Swatted a hand from his dick. His heart pounded.
The sand in front of him was laden with the kind of ass he had only been able to dream about during puberty. Spread legs. Hungry fingers probing down the sides of his pants. Breasts lifted for his examination. They clogged his path — hands fondling his balls, hands groping at every inch of exposed skin. He swung his claws, and blood splattered the nipples of a brunette with her eyes rolled back in pleasure.
His claws dug through the skin of another blonde, and the scaled demon beneath her rose from the slits. She gasped in pleasure, pulling his claws up to her lips.
Bodies so thick in front of him, Henry couldn’t get his feet under him. He stumbled under their lust. Pawing and clawing. Lips and teeth. Pants stripped to his knees.
Panic blinded him. They blotted the sun, plunging Henry into shadow. He swung his claws in every direction. Black blood spattered his face. Dripped into his mouth. Strong hands spreading his ass cheeks apart. Nails splitting the skin over his dick. Digging into his back.
Henry screamed. A pathetic and helpless sound, swallowed by the rising moans. The manic pleas for release. He flared, and the tiny amount of fuel in his tank pushed them back. The doors were almost touching.
The women tumbled back in a desperate recoil. He swung and they fell around him, blood coating his arm and showering his shoulders. A woman grabbed his horns and dug her pubic hair into his face, screaming in ecstasy, rubbing and grinding. His nose crunched against her pelvis, and his blood filled his mouth.
Weight on his back, pushing him into the sand. Hands under his body, spinning him to face the sun, pulling his pants to his ankles. Scratching and fighting to be the first one to ride him, they tore his pants to shreds with their claws. Spiked wings bursting from their backs, splitting the skin in a torrent of gore that rained on his chest.
Moans becoming wails. Tentacles and tails. Cruel grins full of curved fangs.
Henry skittered back, thrashing his head, roaring in wordless terror. His coffee can hand clanged off the edge of the door, and his claws skidded on the elevator’s metal floor. The doors sprang back open, and Henry hurled himself into the car, his back flattening against the rear wall.
He stared out into the silence of the beach. The sun dimmed, and the demons burst into their true forms. They leaned forward, their breasts swinging in front of them, their legs spread wide. They screamed in unison, and in their blended breath was the scent of passion so strong, his bruised and bleeding penis throbbed toward a fresh erection. Henry bent forward, driving his hand against the floor to push to his knees.
Beautiful in their horror, they called to him, and his body responded, fighting to join the orgy promised by their cries. Lust Beach was a helluva place for a party.
The doors clanged shut, and Henry fell back with a gasp.
What the fucking fuck?
His stomach flopped as the elevator rose to the next level, and as before, the light flickered before plunging him into darkness.
Chapter Thirty-Three
The light stung Henry’s eyes, and he looked down, squinting against the glare.
He stood in a thick fluid that shimmered and glowed from reflected light, and a shining luminescence from underneath. There appeared to be no bottom, but the fluid only reached to his ankles. He lifted his right foot, and the sticky goo clung to his skin like rubber cement.
It smelled like cloves and sugar. A sharp pain lanced up his obliques, and he dropped his foot with a wince. Pink scratches and gashes weeping black blood covered his legs. Crisscrossed over his penis, and down the shaft itself. Bruises darkened his skin from hips to shins.
He took a deep breath and stretched up to relieve his fatigue, then froze with his hands over his head. The elevator stood in the center of an endless lake of the sticky sweet fluid, its doors split wide, waiting for him.
It was only ten or so yards away.
His heart bolted in his chest, and Henry heaved his foot out of the muck to take the first step toward his escape. It clung to his ankle like it was trying to keep him in place. He slung his foot forward, dropping it to splat in front of him. It pressed the surface before breaking through with a gurgling bubble, and he dragged his other foot out of the sugar glue for another step.
Thi
s ain’t nothing.
He took a deep breath and pulled his back foot out for another two feet of progress. The glow under the ripples flickered like the elevator lights. Two points rose from the turbid liquid, and a pair of hands slid through. They fell toward him, and he tried to backpedal, but the syrup held him firm. Hands grabbed him around his ankles, and he sank further into the surface, air bubbling up around his skin as he lowered into its depths.
Henry thrashed but barely moved. He kicked but the hands held firm. Thick liquid splashed into his face, clinging to the hair hanging across his forehead. He tipped forward, and his chest smacked the surface. Another hand rose like a melting arm in reverse, and it grabbed his nubbin at the wrist. His coffee can stuck to the molasses lake, and his nubbin jerked out and dropped below the surface.
The liquid closed over Henry’s hips as he threw his body into panicked convulsions. Bits splashed into his mouth, coating his tongue with cloying sweetness. The fluid weight pressed against his ribs, murdering his air, and he forced in a deep breath. Henry roared as his face neared the amber lake, and the heat of his breath melted the goo to flow away like water. He dropped below the surface, but when he kicked, the liquid poured around his flailing arms, and he rose above the surface for another stolen breath. He roared again, sparks and embers landing against the splashing waves, and he made progress toward the elevator.
Hands rose from every side. Dragging at his shirt. Digging into his exposed skin. He rolled through the thinning liquid around him and slashed his claws. Severed fingers flew in guttering spouts of blood, but new hands shot out of the depth to replace those he defeated.
Sugary sweetness spilled down his throat, and a burst of power energized his mind. He drank more, until his belly swelled and his progress slowed. He roared again, and swam through the melting slog with his claws parting flesh with every swing, then his questing nubbin fell against the threshold of the elevator.
Henry scissored his legs in a frog kick, sliding his arms on the elevator floor until he was inside. He spun on his back, struggling to sit up as the doors slid closed. Seeking hands plunged back below the surface, and he leaned back to catch his breath as he licked his claws clean of blood and syrup, every swallow returning life to his body.
Lights flickered as his guts lurched, and Henry hung his head in defeat.
Gold glittered beneath his legs. Reflected twinkles of light sparkling in his eyes. he shifted his weight and pulled his hand into his lap. The sticky bullshit from the Lake of Gluttony clung to his skin like tar. Coins and jewels embedded in the webs and strings stretched from his fingers to the floor around him.
The shining gems glittered out of the shadows, rising into piles of silver and gold. The wealth gathered in the center, and Henry’s eyes climbed the thick mountain up and up to the elevator. He was going to have to climb.
Henry shook his head. Big deal.
A hundred dollar bill was pasted to his knuckles. He slung his hand to the side, but the paper hung tight. He wiped against the coins near his leg, and his hand came up heavier with coins and stones cemented to his skin with drying sugar.
I’m already rich, though. What do I give a fuck about money?
“That’s mine, motherfucker!”
Henry lifted his head toward the angry voice, but his vision clouded when a meaty fist smashed into his temple. He flew away from the blow, landing on his back, staring up at the dancing light bouncing off the dark ceiling. A weight landed on his chest, and his air choked off as fingers squeezed against his throat. A fat face bloomed into view, with eyes glaring red from the effort to kill him.
Henry swung his hand from his hip, a shining arc of money flying from his arm as his claws drove into the soft skin on the side of the fucker’s teeth. Through muscle and bone, molars and gums flying, blood splashed into Henry’s eyes. The pressure left his throat, and he took a whooping breath, following his attacker as the gurgling lump fell to the side. Another slash to the throat, and blood jetted out onto Henry’s thighs, mixing with the sugar and turning plasma into jam.
The fat fuck’s life force rose into him, and Henry sat up straight as the power filled his reserves. I would’ve given a million dollars for that shit.
The thought made him freeze. It’s not money that’s the root of all evil.
Shadows from the corners, stepping around the pile of money and jewels and coins. Henry shoved the dead fuck off his legs. He stood with a carapace of metal and stone sticking into the syrup that crunched into brittle flakes as he straightened to his full height.
It’s the fucking LOVE of money. The eyes on him glittered with greed, reflected and amplified by the sliding piles of coins at their feet. Henry dug his claws into the fabric of his T-shirt, tearing it away from his body with a roar.
Let me tell you something, brother!
Women in yoga pants and hoodies. Dresses. Pantsuits. Men with flapping ties. Jeans and boots. All of them focused on the intruder coming to threaten their riches. At an unheard signal, they opened their mouths to return his roar. Then they charged, slipping and digging through the unsure footing.
He ran to meet them, and his first swing took the reaching hand of a thin woman in a white sweater stretched tight across her tits. She reeled back with a snarl, her stump spraying blood in a fanning arc. She reached with her other hand, but was knocked aside by a redneck with a rebel flag cap on his greasy mullet and a wallet chain swinging at his waste.
Henry dug in, swinging and biting as the greedy tide crashed against him. Black fingers in his mouth, and he snapped them off with his fangs, spitting them into the surprised face of a fat chick swinging her purse at his head. Blood splashing his chest from a swing that opened him from nipple to navel. He tripped over his own intestines, and Henry drank him in when he died.
Attacks against his back, and Henry heard his own ribs creak under an impact below his armpit. He curled in and hitched in a breath, swinging out and eating another one.
That’s another dollar.
A polished nail digging into his eye and blood burst down his cheek.
Henry shook his head away from her fingers and snapped his teeth over her wrist with a wet crunch. He fell to his knees, dragging her down with him. A howling man in a policeman’s uniform fell across him with his arms wide in a bear hug that nobody wanted, and Henry severed the cop’s spine with a swipe to the back of his neck.
He dug the claws of his right foot into the face of the woman who tried to pierce his brain through the eye, then rose up the pile as two more of his victims filled him with their dying energy. He looked back, surprised to see he had made progress up Mount Greed, but the frenzied crowd still stared, clawing and digging, pulling the ground from under his feet.
He slid back down, and a hand clamped onto his ankle. He kicked as more of the coins came out from under his hands. Losing ground, he spun, twisting his foot out of the grasp. Swinging blindly, he growled his frustration and scrambled up the hill. “Here! Take it back, fuckers!”
He flared, sending all the captured energy back to their upturned faces. Except for the shit stuck to the film of drying syrup on his limbs, it was his only currency.
Power flowed down the mountain of money, and they paused as it washed over them. They breathed in as if smelling a breeze full of the aroma of a summer cookout. Henry fell on his ass, and the base of the elevator’s opening dug into his lower back. Sweating and breathless, he pulled himself inside.
The doors closed with a hiss.
He flicked a few coins from his nubbin, and the lights went out.
His stomach lurched as he rose to the next level.
Henry sat in a drizzling rain in the middle of the street in the Forgotten.
Faces pressed into the windows above him pulled back into the shadows as he looked up. Water softened the gummy residue, and the money fell into the mud. He scrubbed himself as clean as he could, and stood with a groan.
He dug his nubbin into his back as he straightened, and the gr
unt rushed from his lungs in a long deflating sigh. His eyes widened, and he reached up to wipe the rain from his face.
Aela ran around the corner into the street, her face white with stark terror. She held a squirming bundle in her right arm pressed against her chest. Her left arm trailed behind her, gripping the hand of a man staggering along behind her, clutching the front of his shirt, blood gushing out between his fingers.
She ran past without seeing him, as if he wasn’t there. The demon’s heat sizzled the water from Henry’s skin and steamed the rain right out of the air.
It slid in the muck, its claws churning up the puddles. The demon’s tail whipped into an arc as it straightened, righting itself as it passed through Henry as if he were smoke.
The demon roared in pursuit of Aela as the baby’s wail rose in the spaces between broken buildings.
Chapter Thirty-Four
The stench of wet fur and burning shit washed over Henry as the demon passed. Henry pushed off into labored jog, pulling energy out of his asshole to get his speed to a run, but still the demon disappeared into the distance.
The baby’s cries, pitiful and squealing, echoed from every angle, and Henry couldn’t tell where Aela had gone. How far she was ahead.
At the mouth of an alley, he heard the snort of the demon as it jammed its snout into the mortar joints in a brick wall. The baby’s wail rose in a crescendo of piercing sound that lifted the demon’s matted fur.
Steaming breath plumed out in twin jets, and it leaned back before driving its horned forehead into the wall. The impact shuddered through the ground and killed the baby’s cries. The silence seemed to stoke the flames in its lungs. Beastly eyes glowed with flaring light as it leaned back and charged the wall. Over and over, the demon bashed its skull against the brick, and the hollow thud deepened as the joints loosened and the bricks caved an inch at a time.