Dan's Inferno, Book IV: Vengeance

by Jan Stryvant

  "I hereby curse the two of you with curiosity. An incurable curiosity that will not be sated until you've taken me to Hana to discover the truth for yourselves!"

  "Why you son of a bitch!" the incubus yelled, while the succubus blinked, and Althaia suddenly started to laugh.

  "Now would you please show me to Hana, or do I need to curse you a second time?" he growled at the two of them.

  "Once was more than enough!" the incubus grumbled as he lowered his spear and glared at Dan.

  "Come, Forsythe," the succubus said as she shouldered her spear, "at least now we have an excuse to find out what in the twenty-nine is going on in there today."

  "Where'd you learn to curse like that?" Althaia asked as the two guards opened the doors.

  "From my father-in-law."

  "You know Hana's father?"

  "Hana is not my only wife," he told her. "Nicitel, you may have heard of him? He lives on Varmal."

  Dan noticed the two guards turned back to look at him, and then they carefully took a step to the side to get farther away from him as they led him into the building.

  "Never heard of him," Althaia admitted.

  "They have," Dan said with a grin and nodded to the other two, who were looking a bit uncomfortable now.

  "She's still young," the succubus guard offered by way of explanation.

  As they headed down the hallway, he noticed that everyone was making way for the four of them. Getting the guards to lead him inside had obviously been a good idea.

  Even more so when he started to notice how many side corridors they went by as they walked. The inside of the building was different from what he'd expected. The lighting was soft, and the walls were done with colorful and detailed frescos that showed all manner of scenes. He wasn't able to take the time to stop and examine any of the scenes, but he could see that there were more people—or perhaps he should say demons—than just succubi or incubi.

  Several times they turned down different corridors, and twice they went upstairs.

  They finally walked through a set of double doors into what he could only describe as a vestibule. They then came to another set of doors, where they stopped, and the succubus guard knocked lightly on them.

  One of the doors opened slightly, and someone inside whispered, "What? They're conducting the final hearing."

  "We, umm, have someone who needs to be heard," Forsythe replied.

  "Who?"

  "Apparently her husband."

  "Oh, really now?" the voice said. "Then come in, by all means!"

  Dan headed for the door as soon as he heard the voice admitting to Lofn's presence inside the room. Grabbing it, he pulled it open, startling the succubus on the other side, who looked—well, he wouldn't say old, but definitely experienced.

  The room he walked into was enormous, more of an amphitheater than a room. There were seats all around the sides, and there were a lot of people in those seats, focused on the open floor in the center. To the right as he walked in, there was what he could only describe as a dais, behind which sat thirteen people. A serious-looking succubus was in the middle, with six more succubi and six incubi sitting to either side of her. They also had the look of many years to them, for all that not a single one of them looked aged or unattractive.

  And standing there before them was Lofn. He didn't even hesitate; he strode quickly to her as everyone in the room turned to look at him.

  "Who is that?" the succubus in the center asked.

  "This is Daniel, my husband," Lofn said with a smile as he reached her. Pulling her into his arms and holding her close, he kissed her.

  And took his time with it, too.

  After about the third time the succubus in charge cleared her throat, he came up for air and smiled at Lofn.

  "Are you well? Do you need to feed?"

  "Um, I don't think this is the time or the place, Daniel," Lofn said, smiling up at him.

  "Nonsense! If I say it's okay, it's okay."

  "Young man…" the succubus began, and Dan held up his hand and looked at her.

  "Excuse me, I don't wish to appear rude, however the welfare of my women comes first." He turned back to Lofn. "Now, we've all been through a lot these last twenty-four hours, so please, love, take a little."

  "Young man! She's not allowed!"

  Dan sighed and looked back at the head succubus. "If I say she is, she is. You're being rude."

  Lofn gave a small laugh and shook her head. "You're not going to win this one, grandmother."

  Pulling her back against him, Dan kissed her again, and this time he felt that little electric sensation on his lips. It felt as pleasant as it always did, but for a change he didn't feel the slightest bit tired when she stopped.

  "Better." He smiled at her, keeping his left arm around her and her body pressed against his, he turned to face the members on the dais, or perhaps it was a bench.

  "Now I apologize for being curt," he said looking them over, "but would you please be so kind as to tell me the meaning of all this," he said, waving his right hand to take in the chamber at large, "and what it has to do with my Lofn?"

  "Hana," the one Lofn had addressed as 'grandmother' said, "was judged to have been in violation of our rules and ethics and was barred from ever setting foot in our fair city again, much less our world, on pain of death.

  "Yet here she is, having returned."

  "We were banished. It wasn't intentional, I assure you," Dan said. "And now that I'm here, we will be departing shortly, as I have to see to the rest of my women."

  "Be that as it may," another succubus on the panel said, "she's here now, and judgment must be passed."

  Dan looked over at Lofn. "What's this all about, anyway?"

  Lofn grimaced. "My behavior in Slovakia."

  Dan blinked. "Wait, what? I thought that was supposed to be…" He turned and looked back at the others on the bench. "Okay, now I'm confused. I admit that Lofn here—"

  "Hana," one of the incubi corrected him.

  "Lofn," Dan growled back at him. "Hana is the past. As I was about to say, Lofn here is the only succubus I've ever known. I thought the things that happened in the past were normal for your race! Expected, even! And that what she's now become was the exception?"

  "While it is true that we live off the lives of others," the leader said, "here in our realm, all things are in balance. But Hana…"

  "Lofn," Dan corrected.

  "…was not happy with that state of existence and wanted more. She wanted power, and she was quite prepared to do whatever she had to do to get it."

  Dan could feel that Lofn was getting uncomfortable beside him. So he gave her a hug as the other continued.

  "We exiled her before she could do any real damage here. She then went to your world and did incalculable damage, killing and destroying many in her reign of terror."

  Dan looked at her in complete shock. "Wait, so you're telling me the things done by 'Hana'," he carefully said the name, "aren't the kinds of things succubi normally do?"

  "No, Daniel, it's not," Lofn said in a soft voice.

  "Then why does everyone think so?" he asked, looking at Lofn.

  "Because we have found it to our benefit to let them," the succubus in charge replied. "We may be powerful, but we prefer peace to conflict. It's not just lust and sex we live off of, but love is also a powerful force that we chose many millennia ago. Those who are exiled do not hold to those beliefs."

  "Is that why everyone's so afraid of succubi?" Dan asked, looking at Lofn, who nodded.

  "Yes, Daniel," she said, still speaking softly. "Everyone knows if you're not living here on Rakkys, you've been exiled for being a life drainer; you're evil."

  "Of course, most don't know that," the leader continued, "they just believe all succubi and incubi are evil."

  "Which you encourage," Daniel said, turning his attention back to her.

  "It has its uses," she admitted. "Most believe if they come here, they will be consumed. So they tend t
o leave us be."

  "Well, that's kind of two-faced, now isn't it?"

  "What!" the incubus who'd spoken up earlier said.

  "You let folks like the late Hana do the dirty work, then you benefit from their reputation."

  "I will not be lectured by a human!"

  "Yeah, well, suck it up, because I'm not human," he said and turned back to the one who was obviously in charge. "Grandmother?" he asked. "That is the correct term, is it not?"

  "Oh, so now you wish to pay me respect!" she said with a laugh.

  "Hana is dead. There is no more Hana. This is Lofn. She is my wife, and she answers to me."

  "Oh, does she now?"

  "Umm," Lofn said, fidgeting a little bit and looking embarrassed. "He's awfully hard to disagree with. As for being Hana…" She sighed. "I gave up being Hana a long, long time ago. I learned the error of my ways and changed."

  "And this young man is the reason for that?"

  "No," Lofn said, shaking her head. "I changed before Daniel came along. But Daniel loves me. He doesn't fear me; he doesn't fear any of us. He should be afraid, or at least I thought so at first, but he's not. He shouldn't love me, especially not after all I've done, all I've been, yet he does."

  "I've forgiven her; the past is the past," Dan said. "You should, too."

  "I don't think we're going to be swayed by the words of a young and easily-controlled human," the succubus sitting at the right hand of the leader said.

  "Okay, then," Dan said, and with a smile he assumed his aspect. "My name, my full name, is Daniel Sobek. As I'm sure you're all quite aware, we Sobek do not like it when someone messes with one of our women. Lofn is my woman, and no you can't have her, and you can't kill her. You will let her go. You will forgive her."

  He could see the surprise on all of their faces, and while none of them appeared afraid of him, he could see there was caution on many of their faces now.

  "And why should we do that?"

  "Because Hana is no more. Hana died. Hana is gone. There is only Lofn now, who stands in her place, and I love her, and I will not give her over to you.

  "Because I stand between you and her, and I'll make you regret it if you don't!"

  "We don't fear you!" the one on the right continued.

  Dan scowled at her. "You know what I am. Understand, I can destroy this tower and all who are in it."

  Grandmother, the succubus in charge, put her hand on the arm of the one beside her before she could respond again.

  "Lofn," she said, causing Dan to relax, "could he truly do such a thing?"

  "Wrath, the daughter of Nicitel, is another of Daniel's wives, and," Lofn smiled warmly, "he likes Daniel and taught him. While I would normally doubt most demons' boasts of their ability to do such a thing, I'm not so sure I would doubt my Daniel's claims. Like most Sobek, he has a temper when it comes to protecting those he has claimed as his."

  The one called Grandmother nodded and looked at Daniel.

  "You know, young man, threatening us isn't the best way to convince us to see things your way."

  He sighed. "Yes, I know this, Grandmother. However, I'd be remiss not to inform you of the consequences of your actions, wouldn't I? Besides, there is one important lesson that's recently been made clear to me."

  "Oh? What lesson would that be?"

  "That leaders lead, and power dictates. Yes, I would like to see you forgive Lofn her past, as I have. But regardless of whether you do or not, I will take her, and we will leave. Peacefully and with respect, I hope. On good terms, I pray."

  "But you will be leaving regardless, right?" she said with a smile.

  "Grandmother," one of the succubi who was seated on the very end of the dais spoke up.

  "Yes, Jaeus?"

  "The problem is the current presence of Lofn, formerly known as Hana, is it not?"

  "Yes, that is the problem."

  "As he has promised to remove her, the problem is solved."

  "The problem," the incubus from earlier spoke up, looking angry, "isn't her removal, it's her returning here in the first place!"

  "She didn't return here of her own free will," Jaeus pointed out.

  "That's hardly the issue here!"

  "Perhaps it should be. Everyone thought Hana had died because it's been decades since we've heard anything, anything at all. Now we have someone named Lofn standing in the place Hana once stood. It's time to move on, Kuan."

  "Jaeus' point is valid," Grandmother said, looking at the ones seated to either side of her. "The fact that some of us can change is something we should observe and acknowledge. Perhaps even reward."

  "But what of all those humans she killed?" Kuan protested.

  Grandmother sighed. "Oh, please, Kuan. While we dislike it, all of us, let's be honest about how little that bothers us now that it's well and truly in the past. You're all dismissed. Lofn, get your things and go. If your peace continues, the forbearance of our rules shall continue as well. As for you, young Sobek," she said looking down at Dan, "while I commend your loyalty and devotion to your women, you need to work on your diplomacy."

  "I promise to try," Dan said with a grin. "I'm still coming to terms with just how protective I am."

  "Yes, we've all heard the stories."

  She got up from her seat, and all the others did, too.

  Dan suddenly found himself with an armful of happy Lofn, who was now plastering herself against him and smothering him with kisses, as well as grinding against him in a most suggestive way.

  "Where'd you come from? How'd you get here?" Lofn asked him breathlessly. "I felt you touch my power yesterday. I was worried you might have fallen when we were all banished!"

  "I was sent back to where I was conceived, just like everyone else," he admitted.

  "So you were in the lands of the Sobek?"

  He nodded.

  "How'd you get here, then?"

  "My father sent me. He said I needed to get you first."

  Lofn shivered against him. "He was right…wait, your father? Your real father?"

  Dan smiled. "I met him. It was…interesting. He was pretty interesting, too. I think I like him, and I guess he must like me, too. He sent me here first, after all."

  "Lofn?"

  "Yes, Grandmother?"

  Dan turned, and sure enough, Grandmother had come up behind him.

  "Did Nicitel really take a liking to your Daniel here?"

  "Yes, very much so. They spent a lot of time together, and Nicitel tutored him personally."

  "I don't know if I should be impressed or concerned," Grandmother said with a smile.

  "Relieved is my personal choice," Dan said with a happy smile.

  "Oh?"

  "I prefer to get on well with my in-laws, and to be honest, Wrath loves her father very much, even if she's afraid of him."

  "So where will you be going next?"

  "I'm not sure. Olivia and Fawn are in the same realm, aren't they, Lofn?" Dan asked, turning back to her.

  "Yes, and Fawn is probably the one who's going to have the most problems now."

  "Then off to the bovera home world, I guess."

  "Ah, good," Grandmother said. "If I could make one suggestion?"

  "Of course you can, Grandmother," Lofn said.

  "Don't linger." With that she smiled and turned away.

  "I think we better get your stuff and get a move on," Dan said. "Which way?"

  "Come, I'll show you," Lofn said and they headed off, arm in arm.

  Dan waited until they'd left the room, which was still emptying, and were alone in the hallways to continue.

  "So, succubi and incubi aren't the dangerous scourge everybody believes?" he asked with a grin.

  "Oh, I wouldn't go that far!" Lofn said with a chuckle. "Not a single one of those who were judging me would have a problem with any of us killing somebody. We're predators, after all. I'm quite sure each of them has probably killed several times over the course of their existence."

  "Then why were th
ey mad at you? Why were you exiled?"

  "Because I was indiscriminate. I wasn't doing it for need, or what our rules would consider a just cause. I was wasteful, spiteful, I was doing it solely because I could, and I was doing it to excess. I wasn't just being bad, Daniel, I was evil. Most of those who live here are either neutral in their behavior or aligned more towards the good. Greed is our biggest sin, and I was greedy. I was very greedy."

  Dan nodded slowly as they walked along. "A month ago, even a week ago, I'm not sure I would have understood that. But now, now I do. My father made it clear that it was greed that got us into this mess, and greed is a demon's biggest weakness."

  He stopped and looked at her, then taking her head his hands, he leaned in and kissed her. "Please let me know when I'm being greedy, Lofn. I'm sure there'll be a time and a place for us all to indulge ourselves, but I think I need to remember not to put things off—important things—just for greed's sake. We should have killed Weson immediately."

  Lofn sighed and smiled. "I agree. But resisting temptation is still something I'm working on."

  "Then we can work on it together!" Dan said with a laugh as they continued to the room she'd been staying in.

  "By the way, do you have any idea where on Bovera we need to go?" he asked her.

  Lofn nodded. "Yes, and there's a gateway portal not far from here that should take us to the area. We should be there in a day. Aella will be the hardest to find."

  "Why's that?"

  "Because I have no idea where she's from. Displacera never tell you where their homes are. It has to do with their instinctual aversion to being pinned down. It's part of their displacement abilities."

  "You know, I still need to see if she can teach me how to do that."

  "Yes, you do," Lofn said and smiled, "and you really should get Fawn to teach you how to dance."

  Dan looked surprised at that. "What? Do you think I'll be able to mesmerize people?"

  Lofn laughed and shook her head. "No, of course not. But Fawn loves to dance, and she loves it even more when she has a partner."

  Dan made an 'oh' with his mouth and gave a short nod. "I'll make sure I do that. What about Olivia?"

  "Make her sing for you, and not just in bed," Lofn said with a snicker. "She loves to sing for people."