Dan's Inferno, Book IV: Vengeance

by Jan Stryvant

  "Just two things to keep in mind," he said, looking around the room.

  "First is, we got a few mages who've agreed to help us. Some of them don't have problems with us—hell, one of them even likes us! So treat them with a little respect, and go easy on 'em; they're only human, right?"

  That got him a few laughs.

  "Second, as far as they know, I'm human. I'd prefer them to keep thinking that."

  "Why?" somebody called out.

  "Because first off, I'm part human; secondly, I don't want a bunch of assholes leading some sort of holy war against us. I think everyone here knows the ratio, right?"

  He noticed them all nodding. He was about to step down, then remembered something.

  "Oh, forgot something, so maybe that's three things," he said with a grin. "George Stidham, the son of the mage Stidham, is a close friend of mine. Any of you fuck him up, trust me, I will tear you to pieces and eat you. I take care of my friends first, last, always."

  With that, he hopped down to the floor and looked at the girls.

  "How'd I do?" he asked as he grinned at them.

  "More lessons from your stepfather?" Wrath asked.

  "Actually, Kevin taught me that one," Dan replied, still grinning.

  "You did well, Daniel," Lofn said. "Let's queue them up and figure out who's who."

  "Oh, Daniel?" Estaca said in a sweet voice.

  "Hmm?" Dan said, turning to her. She smiled and started to sing.

  Dan sighed; her voice was mesmerizing. Stepping up to her, he put his fingers on her lips, stopping her.

  She looked at him, frowning.

  "How about we take this someplace more private and with a lot less clothing?" he said and almost dropped his drink as she glommed onto him.

  Setting his drink down on the table, he swept her up into his arms and carried her to her office.

  "Damn, I thought humans couldn't resist a harpy's song," he heard one of the demons say as he walked by.

  "I'd hardly call that resisting," another one snickered.

  "I can't wait to make you sing," Dan told her as he carried her inside her office and kicked the door closed with his heel.

  "Now I get to see if all those stories are true or not," Estaca said as Dan set her down.

  "I have to uphold my girls' honor," he said with a chuckle, then pulled her close and kissed her. This hands slowly stroked up and down her wings as he did so, one going high, the other going low. When he got to the bottom, he slid them around until he found the waistband of her skirt, slipped his hands inside it, and grabbed the bottom of her blouse, tugging it upwards.

  Estaca's hands had been quite busy undoing his pants; when she let go to lift her hands so he could remove her blouse, his pants dropped to the floor. Tossing her top to the side, he kicked off his shoes and pants, let the duster slide off his arms, and walked her backwards towards the comfortable looking couch against the wall.

  "I really like your wings," he told her as he kissed her again, and she unbuttoned his shirt. "They're so nice and soft and sexy."

  "I've never had sex with a human before," Estaca admitted.

  "Well, this body may be, but I'm not. Maybe if you're a good girl, I'll show you the other half." He chuckled as they got to the couch, then he dropped to his knees, which put his head on a level with her chest. Estaca was quite well endowed, but then so were Wrath and Lofn. He wondered if having wings had anything to do with that, and he put his hands to work, massaging the firm globes and going after her nipples with his teeth.

  Apparently harpies must nurse their young, because she grabbed his head and moaned musically. He took his time with her breasts—he never liked rushing a woman, and he'd learned when it came to sex, they didn't like to be rushed, either. Once he'd explored every square inch of her chest, he slid his hands down and removed her skirt by the simple expedient of ripping it off of her.

  He put a hand on her stomach, and gently pushed her backwards onto the couch, as he kissed and licked his way down past her bellybutton. Estaca took the hint, dropping down onto her butt, and spread her legs for him. Grabbing them, he pushed them up and back, putting them over his shoulders, then he grabbed her hips, pulled her closer, and kissed up her thighs towards her sex.

  He could smell her before he got there; she was undeniably excited, and to be honest, so was he. It didn't bother him that she had the talons and feet of a hawk, that from about the knee down her skin was different, or that she had blunt claws at the ends of her fingers, and the same slightly heavier, slightly rougher skin on her forearms.

  Because she was still a woman, she smelled delightful, and when he finally brought her sex up to his lips, she tasted wonderful.

  She started to sing, then, and it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever heard. He found that the more he put his tongue and fingers to work, the better and more impassioned she sang, so he went to work with a will to make this little harpy sing her heart out. He lost all track of time, but he had to admit, she was lively on his tongue, and when she finally tugged on his hair to get him to move up to take her, he was more than ready.

  Instead of moving up, though, he pulled her towards him as he moved back on his knees, then guided her down into his lap and onto his shaft. He gave a soft groan of pleasure as he sank into her, her sex clenching at him tightly as she wrapped her arms around his body—or tried to at least—as her legs were still over his shoulders.

  "Let me see those wings, my sexy little bird," he whispered, then smiled as she spread them out for him. Grabbing her tightly by the hips, he slowly moved her up and down on his cock, leaning back a little to find the best balance.

  "Let me see you, let me see the real you," she whispered back.

  Smiling, he kissed her, then taking a deep breath, he shifted.

  Surprisingly she stiffened up and had a loud orgasm, her eyes wide in either shock or fear, he wasn't sure which.

  "Oh, I'm not going to eat my sexy little harpy," he panted. "Oh, no, I have much more fun things in mind for you!"

  Using the greater strength of his sobek form, he upped the pace, moving her up and down faster than he had before, using her to pleasure himself, though from the moans and groans, he could tell she was getting a lot of pleasure, too. She shivered and struggled, but there wasn't anything she could do. He had her folded in half and pinned to his chest, and he found the control over her to be intoxicating all by itself.

  Carefully moving back form the couch to give himself more room, he leaned forward and carefully laid her back until she was on the floor beneath him, wings spread. Moving his hands up, he put them to either side of her head, lowered his crocodile muzzle to the side of her face, and nuzzled her as he straightened out his legs and transferred all his weight onto her, pinning her beneath him, then took her for a long ride at a strong, but slow pace.

  She did her best to dig her claws into his ass as he rode her, shaking and shivering and moaning loudly through several orgasms as she begged for his seed. That lit a fire inside him, and he picked up speed, pumping his shaft into her faster and faster while lowering his body to his elbows and bending her back even more, allowing him to go deeper on each stroke. The sounds of their coupling filled the room, along with the loud gasps of his breathing, until he couldn't hold back anymore. Driving in to the hilt, he held himself there as his own orgasm took him, and he emptied himself deep inside her womb.

  It was several long minutes before he'd caught his breath, and Estaca was singing softly beneath him. Shifting back to his human form, he kissed her long and hard as he let her legs slip off his shoulders.

  "That was nice." She sighed, smiling up at him. "You really are a sobek. I guess they weren't lying." She grinned and lifted her head up to give him another kiss. "About anything."

  "Nope…"

  "We better untangle and find our clothes."

  "Nope…" He grinned and kissed her again.

  "What do you mean, nope?" she asked, looking worried again.

  "We hav
e several hours before the girls are finished out there, and you deserve so much more reward than that. Now, how about round two…"

  He almost laughed as her eyes got all wide again, and he moved to his knees and pulled her up off the floor against him once again.

  "You know, if we don't go in there and get him, he's going to be fucking her all night," Fawn complained.

  "And all morning, and all afternoon, and…" Olivia teased.

  "It's not funny! I need my Dan time, too, you know!"

  Wrath and Aella snickered at her.

  "We probably should rescue Estaca," Lofn said with a smile getting up from the table. "After this many hours, she's got to be sore."

  "Yeah, and the singing's getting to be a bit much," Olivia laughed.

  "She just stopped again, so Dan must be letting her rest," Wrath said with a laugh of her own.

  They followed Lofn to the door of Estaca's office. Opening it, they saw Estaca bent over her desk, wings spread and arms wide, with Dan pinning her to it and smiling as he caught his breath. Looking up, he saw them.

  "Aww, is it time to go?" he asked.

  "Sorry, Estaca, we need to head home now," Lofn said.

  "Oh, please! By the twenty-nine, get him out of here! I don't think I'll ever walk again!"

  Dan came around the desk, got down on his knees, took her head in his hands, and kissed him. "Oh, you love it," he teased. "Now be a good little bird and get some rest."

  "If anyone else said that, I'd kill them," Estaca mumbled. "Now go, before I start begging for another round!"

  Grabbing his pants, he put them on, scooped up the rest of his things, and walked out the door.

  "He's still standing?" some demon wag at the back of the room said. "Now I know he's a god!"

  Dan grinned at the crowd. "Remember what I said about my friend George?"

  Everyone nodded.

  "Yeah, Estaca's covered by that, too."

  Following the girls out of the bar, Dan put his shoes on as they headed down the former steam tunnel, then his duster, letting one of the girls carry his shirt.

  "Damn, what the hell got into you?" Aella asked with a laugh. "I thought you were tired from last night?"

  "Somebody stung me with her tail," Dan said, giving Lofn a grin.

  "Lofn, you did what?"

  "It was only a little," Lofn said, blushing. "But we didn't want our Daniel to disappoint, now did we?"

  "Umm…"

  "Oh, don't worry about it," Dan said waving a hand. "Estaca deserved it."

  "What, to be fucked into a coma?" Olivia asked.

  "Can you think of a better reward, my sexy little puppy?" he asked, putting an arm around her and pulling her close.

  "Umm, no?" Olivia said in a small voice as she blushed a deep red.

  No Quarter

  They were all gathered at one of the marshalling points, going over last minute instructions and details. Each of the four mages had been given a different point to start from to cut down on confusion, and Dan and the girls were now at the last one.

  "So, Herman, everything good to go?" Dan asked, coming up to him. He'd decided to check with George's dad last, because he had both a high ratio of demons in his group, and was also the one most uncomfortable with it.

  Surprisingly—or maybe not—Takett was not only sharing rude jokes with the demons assigned to his group, he was even flirting with some of the demonesses.

  "I miss you calling me 'Mr. Stidham'," Herman complained, surprising him.

  "I'm sorry about that, but you are working for me, and I am the one in charge here. Mr. Stidham," Dan said with a smile to try to take any sting out of the words. He hoped he wouldn't have to crack the whip on George's dad, but if he had to, he would. Maybe it was from all the demons he'd had to deal with in the last two days while getting everything in order, but he'd learned not to hesitate when it came time to yank on somebody's leash, to be firm from the get-go, and make it clear up front that he was the boss.

  And while he wouldn't argue with the girls if any of them went too far—and a couple of times Fawn had—a loudly cleared throat quickly reined them in, and folks got the message.

  He was in charge.

  Herman nodded, but Dan wasn't sure he was any happier about things.

  "Everything's fine; I'm ready to start."

  "And the demons I've assigned you?"

  "George told me they're ready." Herman looked around to see who was nearby, then lowered his voice. "Did you really have to put him in charge of them? He should be home, where it's safe!"

  Dan sighed, but kept his voice low as well. "George is my friend, and he wanted to be here. I know you don't like dealing with demons, but somebody has to." Dan frowned slightly. "Also I've warned all the demons exactly what I'll do to them if they allow George to get hurt. Hell, I even assigned him a bodyguard!"

  "A demon bodyguard!" Herman almost hissed it out.

  "Well, of course I did! To make sure none of the other demons forget themselves, and if anything bad happens, they'll get him out of there a lot faster than a human could.

  "Now get your stuff ready. I'll be giving the order soon."

  Turning on his heel, Dan went over to where George was going over everything with the two demons who were in charge of the rest of the demons here. Though they were going for the side of the building that had no windows and was least likely to see any real combat, Wrath and Aella had still stuck eighteen demons on that side, just in case anything unexpected happened.

  Dan smiled to himself as George's 'bodyguard' put a hand on his shoulder and whispered something in his ear. Olivia had hooked George up with a cerberus from Dogtown whom Silvia had recommended. Unlike Olivia, who liked to wear thin, tight t-shirts, Sheila liked to wear tight t-shirts with strategically placed razor cuts to show off her cleavage. Last he heard, the bets were favoring her sneaking off with George after the fight was over and banging his brains out.

  Dan was sure he'd hear a few choice words from Herman after he found out about that!

  "So, everything ready?" Dan asked, coming up to the four of them.

  "Yup," George said with a nod. "Sheila tells me there's a party at some place called the 'Zoo' afterwards?"

  Dan sighed. "I appreciate everyone's confidence, but please don't get sloppy, okay? Weson may be an idiot, but he's got people working for him who are competent.

  "As for parties afterwards? Yeah, after we win, knock yourself out. Just be careful of the drinks down there; they pack quite the punch. You'll take care of him, right Sheila?"

  "Oh, I will…" she said with a grin, and Dan couldn't help but notice the faint blush on George's face. Apparently Sheila really did like him.

  "As for if I'll be there?" Dan shrugged. "I hope so, but there's going to be a lot for me and the girls to deal with, and I have no idea how long that'll take us."

  George nodded. "Okay, and I'll do my best. These guys," he nodded to the two demons he was talking to, "know way more than I do about damn near everything."

  "And that's why we listen to you," said one of them, a large male cerberus Dan didn't know, "because you listen to us. Unlike your father over there."

  George looked embarrassed.

  "I'm sorry about my father, guys. He means well, but…" George shrugged. "He's pretty old fashioned when it comes to some things. I'll make sure I run interference for you, if it comes to that."

  "Thanks, George," Dan said, "and thanks for not holding his father against him," he added, nodding to the other two. "Now saddle up; we'll be heading out in a couple of minutes."

  Heading back to the van, Dan nodded. "I guess everybody's ready. Have I missed anything?"

  Wrath and Aella shook their heads.

  "No, that's everything, Dan," Wrath told him.

  "Fine, then release the kraken!" he said with a grin.

  "You're such a dork." Wrath sighed as Aella laughed. Then she pulled out her phone and sent out a string of text messages. Less than twenty seconds later, everyone
had responded.

  "Get in," Aella said. "It's time to join the others."

  Dan hopped into the back and pulled the door closed as Aella put the van in gear and drove off.

  "I overheard Herman talking to you," Wrath said. "We're going to have problems with him, I think."

  Dan sighed. "Yeah, I think we are, too. Still, having someone around who's not afraid to stand up to me will hopefully keep anyone from thinking I'm the spearhead for a demon invasion."

  "Hopefully in a few years we'll be settled in enough to get rid of him." Wrath sighed with a nod.

  "I'll sideline him into something that will keep him happy and out of our hair," Dan agreed. "He's definitely not the laid-back man I remember from when I was younger."

  "It's like you said before, he thinks of you as a kid, and doesn't believe you have the right to order him around," Aella said from up front.

  Dan nodded and looked out the window as Aella pulled into the empty lot, where Fawn, Lofn, and Olivia were waiting. Well, empty except for the helicopter.

  Apparently there were demons who owned and flew them, and of course Fawn knew them. There was also the fighter Aureate had sent up. He'd arrived last night, and he was an erpeto, the same demon race she was. He was wearing armor that reminded Dan of the stuff Samurai used to wear and was armed with several long swords reminiscent of katanas. His name was Bob, of all things, and Wrath both knew him and respected him, which was good enough for Dan.

  There were two other demons there as well. The first one, Rod, was a bovera, of the cervine, or deer variety. He was armed with a bow and two large quivers of magical arrows, half of which Dan had enchanted himself. He'd spent a good part of yesterday writing down curses and enchanting items for today's fight. His pistol now had a magazine full of cursed bullets as well.

  The other one looked like a tiger, and he had to admit, she was cute. Apparently rakshasa, or Indian tiger demons, came in both sexes. All Dan knew was, he apparently had a weak spot for cats, seeing as he already had two of them, and Lofn could look positively cat-like when the mood struck her. Tig—and that actually was her name—was another sword fighter, though she had a brace of throwing darts as well. Throwing darts he'd taken the time to inscribe simple curses on.