by Rae Magdon
The only thing that kept Eva from retreating back down the steps at a run was the fact that the monster did not seem to be paying any attention to her. Instead, it was focused on a waifish looking figure that stood in the middle of the stairs. “One of the damned sent to be judged,” Lilith explained before she could even ask.
There was a dry, unpleasant shifting sound as Minos uncurled himself, and the tip of his tail rose out of his coils. Slowly, it wrapped over his bare chest, folding around his body until six scaled black stripes cut through the pale green color of his human flesh. Suddenly, the ground beneath the soul opened up, belching fire as it swallowed the screaming figure into the rock. As quickly as it had opened, the fault in the stone sealed up, cutting off the damned soul’s shrieks.
Minos turned on them, pulling back his flat lips to reveal a pair of gleaming fangs. “Why have you come to this forbidden place?” he hissed, his forked tongue flickering. It reminded Eva of Lilith’s when she was in her demonic form, but possessed by this creature, the sight made her queasy. His yellow eyes fixed directly on her. “You, human. You will leave this place now. It is not your time to be sentenced.”
“I’m not here for sentencing,” Eva said, reaching out to link one of her arms with Lilith’s. “I’m here to reclaim my lover’s soul.”
Minos studied Lilith, teeth still bared. “You have no place here, First One, or anywhere else. Both of you will leave.”
Lady Godiva stepped to Eva’s other side, standing tall before Minos clothed in nothing but her golden hair. “Their journey is fated, Minos. Let them pass.”
“There are other portals to the Ninth Circle,” Minos snarled in frustration. “Use one of them. Leave my domain, or I will cast you out of Sheol!”
“A power far greater than you demands that they go.” Minos’s blunt mouth turned down in a tight, disapproving frown, but he did not interrupt Lady Godiva. “The Archangel Michael tasked me with guiding them to the edge of the Ninth Circle. If you want to challenge both of our orders, you know who you have to confront.”
“So be it. But I will not help you on your journey. You must strike deals with the other guardians yourself.” Although he looked unwilling, Minos withdrew his tail from his great coils, letting it slither around his chest twice. A great howl echoed down the stairs, and the earth opened beneath their feet, sending all three of them falling into what felt like fire and nothingness.
Eva woke up screaming. Her eyes flew open, and she realized that she was lying on top of a hard, muscular body. Panting with fear, she rolled off of Lilith’s still form and crawled to her hands and knees.
Lilith groaned and sat up. “Ugh. Minos could have been a little gentler when he threw us down here.”
“Are you all right?” Eva asked. “Where’s Lady Godiva? Where are we?” She squinted, trying to see some of her surroundings, but all she could make out was soft grey shapes moving through a thick screen of smoke.
“I’m fine,” Lilith said as she stood up. She began brushing herself off. “Minos sent us to the Second Circle. I don’t know where Lady Godiva landed, but we should probably go find... probably...” Her voice trailed off, and Eva stared at her curiously. Lilith’s muscles were bunching beneath her skin, tightening and coiling. It almost looked as though she was straining with the need to shift.
Eva stood up as well, touching Lilith’s arm. The skin contact sent an electric shock through her hand and left her fingertips warm. “Lilith, what’s happening?” she asked as her lover gave in and changed. Lilith’s skin darkened to a brilliant shade of red as horns sprouted from her head. She opened her mouth and groaned at the mixture of pleasure and pain, revealing her sharp teeth. Her eyes swam with a familiar white glow, and Eva found herself unable to look away.
Lilith’s demon form was tempting, but Eva did not fully understand why she hurried into her arms, sliding her hands behind her lover’s neck. Their bodies melted into each other effortlessly. Even as she wondered what was happening to them, she stroked Lilith’s face, urging her down and parting her lips in invitation. Lilith’s tongue pushed past them. Thin, smooth, and impossibly long, it teased every part of her mouth, caressing the inside of a cheek before running along her teeth. The only word that Eva could think of to describe the way Lilith kissed was ‘prehensile’.
The white-hot need that already burned beneath her skin flared up, becoming nearly unbearable even though both of them were still clothed. Her flesh burned, and she ached with emptiness. She wanted Lilith against her, inside of her, filling her. The surge of desire felt almost unnatural, like it did when Lilith was feeding from her, but she could not bring herself to care as Lilith’s clawed hands wrapped around her hips, pulling her down and forcing her to grind along one muscular thigh.
She let out a muffled whimper against Lilith’s lips. Her mind was lost in a fog, and she could hardly remember Lady Godiva or any of the other moving shapes trapped within the smoke of the Second Circle. All she saw was Lilith’s skin, all she tasted was Lilith’s breath, all she smelled was Lilith’s scent. Lilith was all she felt, all she knew. Her pelvis jerked forward, and she yelped as her clit throbbed in response. Pleasure raced along her spine. She needed this, needed Lilith, and she could not bring herself to care where they were.
With movements that were almost frantic, Lilith managed to lower her backwards onto the hard ground, pressing their bodies together. She curled her fingers through Lilith’s short, messy hair, desperate to cling to something. They kissed until they could not breathe, biting and pressing, sharing heat. Lilith finally tore their lips apart, giving her a teasing glimpse of her forked black tongue. Seeing it brought back a torrent of memories, and Eva pushed Lilith’s head down, using her horns when she did not move fast enough.
Normally, such direct movements would have caused Lilith to draw out her torment, but not this time. Instead, Lilith’s hands tightened on her bucking hips, forcing them to hold still. The possessive grip sent a pulse of heat directly between her legs, and she cried out something like Lilith’s name. Her lover was not going fast enough. She needed more. She let go of Lilith’s horns and slid her hands along her own stomach, undoing her pants and pulling them down to mid-thigh.
That was all the invitation Lilith needed. Her horned head lowered between Eva’s legs, and she forced them further apart to reveal everything. Eva bucked as Lilith kissed along the inside of her thigh, leaving a trail of fire with her lips that nearly sent her into spasms. She writhed, unable to control her reactions, twisting against Lilith’s touch. Every sensation was heightened, intensified, and she felt drugged with lust. Somewhere deep in her mind, through the haze of her arousal, she realized that some power was influencing her, but she could not hold herself back.
She looked down just in time to see Lilith reach her goal. The first press of that wicked black tongue tore out a cry that made her throat light up with pain. She clutched at Lilith’s head again, holding tight, too overwhelmed to direct her movements. But Lilith did not need any direction. Her tongue seemed to be everywhere at once, gliding through her folds, pressing deep inside of her, and finally pulling out to wrap around her clit. Eva shuddered, and Lilith repeated the motion, curling around the swollen little bud and squeezing it.
The torturous sensation was too much, and red exploded behind her eyes. A wave of contractions ripped through her body. She screamed, but the loud roar in her ears blotted out the sound. Lilith’s tongue moved again, pressing back inside of her, and even though it was almost too overwhelming to feel pleasurable, she craved more. She rolled her hips, desperate for anything Lilith could give.
When Lilith’s tongue started a thrusting, flicking motion, her hand shot down without permission. She rubbed frantically over her clit, teasing it out of its hood and grinding in harsh circles. It almost hurt, but her pleasure was so powerful that she did not even feel the edge of pain. Lilith’s tongue filled her, curling inside of her in impossibl
e ways, tasting every part of her and drawing a flood of wetness from her strained body.
Her second orgasm was even more intense than the first. This time, she could feel Lilith feeding from her, breathing in her desire as though she was gasping for air. With every pulse that Lilith drew from her, she felt a spike of pleasure, and her inner muscles shivered around Lilith’s tongue, rippling with release. Heat poured from deep inside of her, spilling over Lilith’s lips and tongue until they glistened with her wetness.
Instead of bringing relief, the bliss that Lilith wrung from her only made things worse. Lilith pulled back and nudged her fingers aside, sucking her clit and forming a seal with her lips. Each tug of her mouth was accompanied by a deep pull as Lilith fed from her, and Eva’s muscles twitched in the same rhythm. Her abdomen tightened, and she fisted the dark curls of Lilith’s hair, preparing for a third release to burn through her.
“Stop!”
Eva sobbed openly as Lilith was torn away from her. The loss of her mouth made her stomach cramp painfully with unmet need. Lilith had even stopped feeding from her, and that hurt as much as the sudden physical separation.
“No,” she mouthed, reaching out to try and find Lilith’s flesh. “No, please, I’m so close…”
“I never should have let you out of my sight! We have to get out of here,” Lady Godiva said, gripping both of Lilith’s shoulders and shaking her. Eva could not respond. She whimpered and spread her legs wider, trying to coax Lilith back to her. “Please, it’s coming!”
Lilith jerked away from Lady Godiva and turned back toward her. She stared at Lilith with pleading, desperate eyes and lifted her hips, offering herself up and praying that her lover would take pity and finish her. She was so close. Just one more kiss, one more touch, and she could…
That was when the wind began buffeting them, whipping at their flesh like a living thing. It blew away some of the black smog, parting it briefly to offer glimpses of the other souls around them. Suddenly, Eva remembered where they were. She scrambled to her feet, her boots scraping unevenly over the rock. Her pants tangled around her knees.
What she saw when she stood up made her chest seize with fear. A large, twisted black tornado was slicing through ground, ripping apart rock and people as it barreled directly towards them. The wind moved so fast that it screamed, and she did not even have time to reach for Lilith before she was thrown into the air.
Canto VI:
The infernal hurricane that never rests
Hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine;
Whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them.
The world began spinning, tilting at wild and crazy angles as the wind buffeted Lilith back and forth. The powerful gales battered her to either side as she searched desperately for a glimpse of Eva. She saw shapes moving through the black funnel, and occasionally a limb or a face flew past her, but none of them were familiar. She kept spinning, tossed and hurled violently around the edges of the storm.
She tried to open her wings, but they were pinned to her back by the force of the wind. Her muscles strained, and at last, she managed to unfurl them, fighting against the tornado with all of her strength. She pushed forward, making her body as small as possible as she peered through the smoky, stinging blur of the storm. She called out, but her words were lost in the endless roar before they even left her lips.
Suddenly, she caught a flash of blonde hair amidst the tempest. She pumped her wings, heedless of the gusts that tried to blow her off course. With only a few seconds before her target was lost again, she pushed forward in a final burst of speed, reaching out one clawed hand to wrap around Eva’s forearm. When she felt sure fingers clasp back and find their grip, she tugged, sending their bodies careening together.
Lilith broke through the side of the cyclone in a powerful surge, folding her wings in as she and Eva plummeted towards the ravaged ground. Neither of them even had breath to scream. It had been stolen from them in the whirlwind. They crashed with a sickening thud, still clutching at each other desperately.
“Oh my God, what was – how did we...?” Eva stammered, trying to climb to her feet and nearly toppling over again. Her pants were caught around her ankles, although they had been ripped in several places sometime during the chaos. Lilith was surprised that she had managed to keep them at all. Eva hurried to pull them up, and then tried to sift her fingers through her tossed hair. It was an unsalvageable mess. “What the hell was that?” She stared at the sky with wide eyes, as if she expected the tornado to come back at any moment.
“That was the punishment of the Second Circle,” Lilith said, rubbing at a stiff shoulder. She had pulled just about every muscle along her back, and her hair was swept back between her curled horns. “The tornado tortures souls that were swept away by lust without considering the consequences.”
Before she could finish explaining, Eva flew into her arms. “You saved me,” she murmured against her skin, lips pressed to her slick neck. They grazed somewhere above her pulse point. “Thank you...”
Eva’s emotions stirred something in her. Even without her soul, Lilith felt worry tear at her chest. “You’re not hurt, are you?” She ran her hand up and down Eva’s back. “We hit the ground hard.”
“I’m fine, but what happened to us? I – I wanted you so much... I was convinced I would die if I couldn’t have you inside me.”
Lilith felt Eva shiver slightly in her arms, and she squeezed tighter. “This is the Circle of Lust, although its aura has never affected me so strongly before.” She paused, looking at the violent tornado tearing through the cracked ground in the distance before it disappeared into the thick fog.
“Lilith… is that what it feels like?” Eva whispered against her shirt, her voice unsteady. “When a succubus forces you to feed? Strips away your free will?”
Lilith’s chest tightened, and for a moment, it hurt to breathe. She loosened her arms, stepping back from their embrace. “You would know better than me, pet.” Hesitantly, she asked, “Is that how it feels to you when I feed?”
Eva shook her head. “No. Well, a little... But this was more powerful. I don’t know how to explain it. I felt out of control. Overwhelmed. I wasn’t myself anymore.”
“And you don’t feel like that when…”
“Overwhelmed? Sometimes. But I’m always me when I’m with you. I trust you. This… this wasn’t the same.”
Lilith folded her arms close to her chest, holding onto her elbows as she stared into the mist that surrounded them “Something intensified the Circle’s power over us,” she said, her voice rasping slightly as it caught in her throat.
“Or someone,” Eva whispered. It was the same thing she had been thinking, although she had been reluctant to say it aloud. “So... what do we do now?”
“That’s straightforward, at least.” Lilith scanned the flat, dismal landscape. “We have to look for our guide, recover our lost supplies, and find a way down to the next Circle. Don’t worry,” she added when she caught the wary expression on Eva’s face. “The weather in the Third Circle is unpleasant, but at least it won’t try to kill us.”
About half way through her sentence, Eva stopped listening. She took a step forward and peered through the grayish-black fog. “Shhh. I think I saw something move.”
Lilith’s eyes glowed as they followed the motion of Eva’s hand. In her demonic form, she could see more clearly than a human. “It’s two people, probably lost spirits. There are too many damned souls wandering this Circle to count.”
“What should we do?”
“What else? Find out who they are.” She stepped forward, taking Eva’s hand to make sure she stayed close. She picked her way over the rocky, uneven ground, feeling it crunch under her boots.
As they drew closer, the two figures came into sharper focus. One was tall and broad-chested, obviously masculine, with narrow hips and well-defined muscl
es. His pale companion was a woman. She was surprisingly beautiful, and her hair flowed down her body much like Lady Godiva’s. Their colors were washed out, like water running through a painting, and both of them were stripped naked.
“You. You are alive,” the man said to them, looking at Eva with empty eyes. His voice sounded as though it was travelling from a great distance. “Why are you here?”
“I have no idea how to even begin answering that question,” Eva muttered. “You’re like the fourth people who’ve asked.”
Lilith decided to take over. Eva was obviously in no mood to be friendly after her near-death experience. “We need to travel past the Ninth Circle to Judecca.” She studied the spirits intently. “Do you know how to find the path?”
“The great wind breaks paths and makes new ones,” the woman said. Her words seemed to float just as far away as the man’s. “The only way out is past the Queen of the Circle.”
Lilith frowned and rested a hand on her hip. There was only one person who would dare call herself the Queen of the Second Circle, and it was a person she didn’t particularly want to see. “So, she’s only calling herself a Queen these days? Not a reincarnated Goddess? That’s almost... disappointing.”
“There’s a Queen here?” Eva asked.
“Yes.” Lilith sighed heavily. “I was hoping to avoid her. We didn’t part on the best of terms.”
Eva’s mildly curious expression shifted into a frown. “Have you slept with everyone in Hell?” she complained, a little too loudly.
“I’m a succubus. The first succubus. It was all I knew.” Lilith’s face twisted at the memory. She had done horrible things under Shaitan’s power, trapped in an endless cycle of violence, lust, and hatred. The guilt was crushing, even without her soul.
Sensing her slowly growing panic, Eva squeezed her hand, avoiding the claws. “You know something different now.”