Dan's Inferno, Book IV: Vengeance

by Jan Stryvant

  "Because we told all the people working at Dale's to leave. He knows we killed her, so he knows we're the ones giving the order."

  "Good point."

  "Okay," Wrath said as they came to the end of the street they'd been walking down towards the hotel. "Dan, you take Fawn, Olivia, and Lofn, and get your book. Don't take too long cleaning up, you two," she said, looking over at Olivia and Fawn.

  "What are you going to do?" he asked.

  "Set up an ambush to kill whoever follows you back this way. So don't be up there long enough for them to call in reinforcements."

  "I'll make sure they behave," Dan said with a grin.

  "Spoilsport," Fawn said with a thppt! and then giggled.

  "Yup, that's me. Now let's get going."

  Turning back towards town, Dan picked up the pace. He hoped there wasn't anybody watching, but that was unlikely. Weson had to know they were coming after him next, and even if he didn't, he was too much of an asshole to wait and see if they were going to leave.

  Getting to the hotel was easy enough, and he grabbed his father's book. Olivia and Fawn were actually quick in the shower, and Fawn only made a brief stop by the manager's office before they headed back towards the van.

  "What's in the bag?" Olivia asked.

  "Our mail."

  "We got that much mail?"

  "You know all those forms we filed? The house we had signed over to Dan? Oh, and I got new cellphones for everybody."

  "Good thing we stopped here, then."

  "I was going to have them courier it someplace for us, but as long as we're here, might as well grab it," Fawn said with a shrug.

  "Anybody see anyone following us?" Dan asked.

  "I can feel someone behind us who's very excited," Lofn said.

  "How far behind us?"

  "Fifty feet."

  "I got this," Dan said, and he stopped and spun around, raising his hands. There were a few people on the street, but only one suddenly looked scared as Dan pointed at him and yelled, "Ray of Doom!" without doing any of his normal incantations.

  The guy following them turned and fled, running away as fast as he could.

  "Ha! It worked!" Dan said with a grin.

  "What in the hell was that?" Olivia asked, looking impressed.

  "Morale check," Dan said, turning back towards where they'd hidden the van.

  "Obviously they failed."

  "Yes, he's quite terrified," Lofn said, "and continuing to run."

  "I'm surprised you didn't kill him," Fawn said.

  Dan shrugged. "If that hadn't worked, I would have. But I didn't want to draw the attention."

  They continued past where he knew Wrath and Aella were hiding. Neither of the girls joined them, so either they were being careful, or someone else was following them. When they got to the van and got in, Fawn took the driver's seat, started it up, and drove down the block away from where they'd come.

  As soon as they turned the corner, Wrath dropped out of the sky carrying Aella. Aella opened the door and jumped in the back, with Wrath following as she furled her wings.

  "How many?" Olivia asked.

  "Just one more. I don't think he was with the guy Dan scared off," Wrath said, dropping into the seat on one side of Dan as Aella took the other side. Wrath surprised him by pulling Lofn into her lap, smiling at her, and kissing her.

  "I'd drag you into the back, but we're too close to home, so I guess we'll just have to wait until then!"

  Pulling out his stepfather's notebook, Dan went through it as Aella leaned into him and wrapped an arm and one of her tentacles around him. He was just figuring out where things were in the notebook when they pulled into the driveway, and Wrath picked up Lofn, with whom she was pretty amorously entwined, and took her inside. Aella gave him a kiss on the cheek and then followed.

  "I need to sort this stuff out and do a few things to the new phones," Fawn said and split for the house next.

  Dan looked at Olivia, who smiled.

  "What's up with Wrath and Lofn?" he asked.

  "Oh, trust me when I say, we're all going to be taking a turn with Lofn tonight," Olivia said with a warm smile.

  "Okay, what did I miss?"

  "It's what you did."

  "Huh?"

  "Lofn has always held herself back, and I don't think she's going to be doing that anymore," Olivia said with a soft laugh. "You have to understand, until you came along, we all loved Lofn, but she was having a hard time loving us back."

  "Oh!"

  Olivia grinned. "Yeah, oh. I think we've also been a little too focused on you and maybe haven't been giving each other the attention we should be, and we figured after last night, maybe we should give you a little time to recover for a change!"

  Dan blushed again.

  "Dammit! I get you to blush twice in one day, and no one's here to see it!"

  "I think I'm gonna sit out here and read my stepfather's notebook," Dan mumbled and looked back at the pages. "Cause if I go in there, I don't think I'll be able to keep my hands off anybody."

  Olivia grinned. "Especially not after Lofn starts broadcasting her feelings."

  "I don't know what I did to deserve the five of you," Dan said with a sigh, "I'm just glad I did."

  "I'm glad you did, too," Olivia said, climbing far enough over the seat to give him a kiss. "We were really only two couples who were brought together by Lofn, but now…let's just say, I think I'm gonna go abuse Aella for a little while, then help her gang up on Lofn."

  "Oh? What about Fawn?"

  "You may not have noticed, but I think Wrath has some seriously kinky plans for Fawn once she's done reminding Lofn how much she loves her."

  Dan smiled and shook his head. "Yeah, maybe I better hang back for a while. Go have fun."

  "Oh, I will!" Olivia said, giving his head a rub. She went inside to join the others.

  Looking back at the notebook, he yawned and paged through it. Now that he could read Skarvat, none of what was in it was hidden from him anymore. There was a lot of information on his stepfather's business deals. There was a list of the auguries he did over the weekend, and the results he gained from them, followed by the actions he took that week, then a list of the results come Friday.

  He saw his stepfather hadn't been averse to using the occasional spell here or there to get his way. Several of the state contracts he'd secured, he'd obtained by casting a glamour on the people awarding the contract so they'd have no choice but to award it to him. But the notes also made it clear that his father made sure to honor those contracts to the letter, to keep from arousing suspicions or garnering complaints and legal actions.

  Paging through further, he found his stepfather's notes on Kevin's death, and it became quite clear that it had completely destroyed him. If Dan had thought his stepfather's comment to him had been cruel, the things written in here were far worse.

  He quickly paged past that until he came to the notes about Weson.

  Weson had promised to give his father a young woman with a storied background in magical abilities so he could replace his lost son! That surprised him. Reading through the notes further, it was clear his father had begun to spurn his wife, Dan's mother, for giving birth to him. Dan suspected his father may have considered disowning him, perhaps even killing him, to cleanse himself of the stain he believed had led to his only son's death.

  Dan sighed and shook his head as he read. He'd thought, if he'd known, he might have encouraged his stepfather and mother to have another child. But things had obviously been too far gone at that point. No wonder his mother had hung herself so soon after his stepfather's death. She had no doubt blamed herself for everything that had happened after her husband's rejection. The man she'd loved so much she'd let a demon, or possibly a god, get a child on her.

  He could only imagine the pain it must have caused her, and it explained so many of her actions in the last few years of their life together.

  He moved on quickly; there was nothing there he want
ed to ponder further. Flipping forward a couple of pages—suddenly, everything changed. Weson was no longer a friend. Weson was a heartless bastard who'd taken his son away from him, and he was going to make Weson pay. It was around that time he'd cast the spell that summoned, then bound Boris to the family as a protector.

  Things went downhill quickly after that, both business-wise and mentally for his stepfather. Dan could only assume that was when the curse had been cast and taken effect.

  Yawning, he looked back over the spell used to bind Boris. He'd have to talk to him about that. Dan wasn't sure he liked the idea of Boris being forced into his service—but then again, he didn't know anything about hellhounds, so he'd talk to Wrath about it first.

  He yawned again and flipped some more, looking through some of the details of the augury spells his stepfather had used. He should learn them as well. Eventually, after they'd taken over Sacramento, he'd have to make enough money to pay for everything, after all.

  Dan awoke to the sounds of the door to the van opening, and giggling. Yawning and blinking, he quickly found himself being pulled out of the van by Lofn.

  "What time is it?" he asked.

  "Time for you to perform, stud," Lofn whispered in his ear, then stung him with her tail.

  It was at that point that he noticed Wrath, Aella, Fawn, and Olivia were there as well, and they were all naked. And smiling at him with that look that made it clear he wouldn't be getting any more sleep tonight, at all.

  "But what about tomorrow's meeting?"

  "Tonight's meeting is far more important!" Lofn giggled, and they dragged him back inside the house and up to their bedroom. As the aphrodisiac she'd shot him with took effect, he realized he just hadn't worked hard enough last night. Looking at them, he smiled back evilly. Oh, yeah, challenge accepted.

  Playtime's Over

  "I keep wanting to go over to him and touch him to make sure he's not dead." Aella chuckled, watching Dan sleep. Fawn had tried to rouse him earlier, and all she'd gotten was a mumbled, "I'll do you as soon as I wake up…" and then he'd started snoring again.

  "I think we might have overworked our Daniel," Lofn said with a giggle.

  "Yeah, well, we're supposed to meet with those mages in a couple of hours; it's already after four," Wrath said, shaking her head. "I'd feel guilty about what we did to the poor boy, if I was capable if guilt."

  "What we did to him?" Fawn laughed. "What about what he did to us? I'm still sore! Just be glad he was already tired when we ambushed him, or we'd still be in bed!"

  "Wrath, give me a hand dragging him into the shower, and we'll get him cleaned up," Aella said. "Fawn, tell Marion to whip up some food. Once we get him awake, he's probably going to want to eat."

  "Got it."

  "I'll call Estaca, find out how many people we've got, and set up a meeting down at the Zoo for later this evening, after we finish dealing with the mages," Lofn added.

  Using her hands and her tentacles, Aella got Dan out of the bed and carried him to the large shower Wrath had already turned on. Getting inside of it, they stuck Dan under the water. The first sign that he was awake was when he grabbed Wrath, spun her around, grabbed her tail with one hand, and pushed down on her shoulders with the other as he pulled her butt into position and entered her from behind.

  "Umm, maybe we should have let him sleep longer?" Aella said with a laugh.

  "You're next," Dan grumbled as he steadied himself behind Wrath, who had braced herself over the ledge in the oversized shower stall, which also could be used as a seat.

  Wrath shivered as he just took her hard and fast. She could feel his desire and was surprised at how much raw lust there was in him for her.

  When he let go of her tail, seized both of her horns with his hands, yanked her head back roughly, and dug his rough claws into them, she all but screamed in passion herself. He'd taken on his aspect and was just fucking her as hard and brutally as he could. He didn't last long, and she joined him in orgasmic bliss when he erupted inside of her, bucking back against him.

  As soon as she'd come down, Dan pushed her off his shaft, snagged Aella—who'd been watching with both hands rubbing at her crotch—bent her over Wrath's panting body, and then shagged the hell out of her as well. He grabbed her tentacles with one hand, and the scruff of her neck with the other as he rode her until he came a second time.

  When Aella came down from her orgasm, he pushed her off his cock as well. He shifted back into his human form, grabbed the soap, quickly got clean, then got out of the shower, toweled off, grabbed his pants, and went downstairs in search of food.

  "Where's Aella and Wrath?" Fawn asked as he sat down at the table and dug into the burgers Marion had set there.

  "In the shower," Dan said between bites. "I'm sure they'll be down here soon enough."

  "Oh, this I gotta see!" Fawn said and ran out of the room.

  When Aella and Wrath walked in a few minutes later, carefully sat down by him, and swiped a couple of burgers, Fawn followed them in snickering.

  "If we didn't have a meeting in," Dan looked at the clock on the wall, "an hour, you wouldn't be snickering," Dan said, giving her a wink.

  "I thought you were worried about him waking up?" Olivia teased Wrath.

  "Talk about 'the tiger awakens'," Wrath said with a smirk.

  "He left them in a heap in the shower!" Fawn said, still snickering.

  "You know, I think sheep is definitely on the menu tonight," Aella said with a great big smile.

  Wrath turned and looked at Fawn, who fidgeted nervously.

  "I think sheep sounds good."

  "Ooh! Is this a private party, or can anyone join in?" Olivia asked.

  "Seeing as you know all her ticklish spots, as well as the ones that make her pant, it would be a shame not to invite you to help," Aella said, licking her lips.

  "Umm, Dan?" Fawn asked, looking a little nervous.

  "Sorry, Fawn. I'm far too tired to help them," he said with a chuckle and grabbed another burger as Lofn came into the room.

  "According to Estaca, there's about sixty now who want to help us with Weson," she said, sitting down and smiling. "I think the bar's going to be crowded tonight."

  "I don't know, that place is pretty big."

  "It won't just be the ones who want to help. I think a lot of demons want to see if the rumors are true, that you really are a demon."

  "I don't know if I want to show them that," Dan said. "The last thing we need is for that to get back to the magic community."

  "Maybe we can show them without showing them?" Olivia suggested.

  "And how do we do that?"

  Olivia shrugged. "Let me think about it. But there has to be something we can do to prove it without showing them your aspect. Then if any of the mages hear about it, you can deny it happened."

  "Assuming they even hear about it," Wrath said with a nod. "We need to make sure there are only demons in that bar tonight."

  "You'd think it'd be enough for them to see that I've got the five hottest and most powerful demonesses warming my bed every night," he said with a shake of his head. "I mean, if that doesn't prove that I'm cool with demons, what will?"

  "Especially since one is a succubus rumored to be the infamous Hana," Lofn said with a smile.

  "But you're not Hana," Dan said with a slight growl. "There is no Hana."

  "Yes, love, I'm not. But that doesn't stop them from thinking it."

  Dan sighed. "I may have to disabuse them of even doing that. So where are we meeting Herman, Royce, and Takett tonight?"

  "I got us set up with a small private space at Claim Jumpers," Fawn said.

  "Good! I can order some dessert," he said with a smile. "Oh, I found the spell my stepfather used to bind Boris to the family."

  "And?" Olivia prompted.

  "I was debating breaking it and giving him the option of swearing an oath or leaving."

  "I wouldn't do that," Wrath said.

  "Why not?"

  "Bec
ause if you break it, he'll probably get pulled back to hell."

  "Really? But I thought he'd completed his obligation there or some such?"

  "It's complicated, and I don't really have the time to go over it. I'll ask him if he wants to stay or not."

  "So what about getting some of his friends to help?"

  "He'll give you a couple of names, and you can summon and bind them, as well."

  "Is that really fair to them?" he asked, scowling.

  He scowled even more as all five of the girls laughed. He noticed that Marion was still in the room, following the conversation with undisguised interest.

  "They're hellhounds, Dan!" Aella said, still snickering. "There is no fair when it comes to them. Being bound into service is part of what they are."

  "Yes, Daniel," Lofn said with a smile, "I wouldn't worry about it, and I can assure you, he definitely won't want to leave."

  "You sure?" he asked.

  "Of course I'm sure. He's got Marion. He won't leave her."

  "Oh," he said and noticed the pleased expression on Marion's face. "In that case I'll just leave it up to Wrath and Marion, and I won't worry about it. Guess I'll go get dressed," he said, standing up. "The rest of you might want to put some clothing on as well?"

  "For George's sake, if nothing else," Olivia said. "That boy sure feels guilty for staring at us."

  "We really need to get him laid," Fawn said with a giggle.

  "He's been laid, I'm sure. What he needs is a girlfriend," Wrath said, looking thoughtful. "Too bad my younger sister took up with Brageur, or I'd see about setting her up with him."

  Dan shook his head and left the girls to matchmaking as he went up to the bedroom to get dressed for tonight.

  They got to Claim Jumpers before any of the others showed up, but Dan waited in the van with Fawn, while Lofn, Wrath, Olivia, and Aella made sure that not only was it safe, but that it stayed safe.

  Once they had things secured, Lofn waited inside, out of sight, and kept an eye on the room they'd be meeting in. Dan remembered one of the tricks he'd learned from his stepfather, and that Kevin had even told him about: When you're the boss, show up last. It's a subtle reminder that they're waiting on you, you're not waiting on them.