Succubus Lord 11

by Eric Vall

  “That’s … that’s correct!” Todd exclaimed. “Eve, you have the distinction of winning … well, to be honest I didn’t really think anyone was gonna get this far. But you totally get bragging rights.”

  “That will do for now.” Eve grinned, and then she got up from her chair. “As long as I am accepted into King Ralston’s company, I consider myself the most rewarded woman in the universe.”

  I felt a warm blush creep across my face. Eve really knew how to give a guy a compliment.

  I couldn’t help but wonder if she brought that same sort of loving attention with her in the bedroom. My pants tightened as she approached the audience and then leaned against the railing.

  Her thick cleavage was put on full display, and I tried my best not to stare.

  I wasn’t very successful.

  “How do you think I did?” she cooed. “Todd acted surprised that I passed.”

  “You were the only one who got the last question right,” I admitted.

  Eve’s expression dropped into a look of concern.

  “Did the other girls not pass?” the redhead questioned. “I was hoping we would all make it through. The five of us made a killer team, if I do say so myself.”

  “You all made it through,” I explained. “Todd just made the last question super difficult so he could have his game show host moment.”

  “Todd,” Superbia spoke up as she stood from her seat, “call the rest of the girls back in here. I want to inform them all of the good news.”

  “So official,” Eve whispered in a hushed giggle, “but why do I get the feeling she’s not the same way in bed?”

  “I can’t make a comment on that,” I responded coyly. “A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.”

  “That’s good to hear,” the redhead purred, “I would hate for everyone in the castle to know the kinda things I say during the throes of passion. Even though they might hear it through the walls, during. That all depends on if the rumors I hear about you are true.”

  I gulped nervously at the thought of Eve’s massive breasts bouncing in my face while she rode me like a pony.

  “Girls, if you could all go stand in the middle of the room, please!” Sia called out as the rest of the succubi walked in. “I have something very important to tell you all.”

  “Gotta go,” Eve said with a wink. “My new madame is calling.”

  I watched the succubus’ ass jiggle as she walked away, and my mind went to all sorts of dirty places.

  There is something familiar about that one, Mephisto’s voice broke through my trance. I can’t really put my finger on it, though.

  “Of course, she looks familiar, Great Pumpkin,” Todd admitted as he waddled over to us, “she’s a smokin’ redhead who’s into Jakey. We’ve already got, like, three of those.”

  “None of them are like her, though,” I admitted. “Something about Eve is just … really alluring.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Todd snickered as he held out his hands about a foot in front of his chest to simulate boobs. “She’s definitely got those allures, alright.”

  Todd giggled at his own joke, and even the usually emotionless Mephisto let out a telepathic “ha.”

  “I just made the Great Pumpkin laugh, bro!” Todd exclaimed before he switched back to his Regis voice. “It’s a miracle!”

  “Alright, girls,” Superbia announced. “Now that you have all gone through your interview process, we have come to the end of the line. I am pleased to let you know that, after much deliberation, Jacob, Todd, and I have decided to accept you into our inner circle.”

  The five women at the center of the room all let out cheers of joy, and then they began to celebrate by hugging each other and jumping up and down and laughing joyously. Meanwhile, all of us in the audience clapped at the thought of these powerful women becoming our next batch of Demon Lords.

  “Does that mean we can do the ceremony right here and now?” Mirage spoke up, and the room went silent.

  “Not quite yet,” Superbia explained. “Jacob just returned from a grueling mission on Earth, and he’s very tired. Also, I wanted to see how you functioned with the rest of the team before we turned you into full-fledged Demon Lords.”

  “Fair enough.” Eve nodded. “I wouldn’t want Jacob at seventy-five percent, anyway. I want him at full capacity.”

  My heart hammered in my chest as the succubus’ purple eyes fell on me, and she grinned from ear to ear.

  “Now, if you’ll follow Ariel here,” Sia continued, “she will show you our wonderful coliseum.”

  “Come on, guys!” the bubbly angel called out as she hopped to her feet and then started to jog down toward the stairs. “If we hurry, I can maybe take us on a quick running tour of the Fourth Circle before we go.”

  All five of the new succubi feigned excitement, but I was sure none of them wanted to go jogging.

  “I think I might go with them,” Libidine spoke up. “What better way to get to know these newcomers than to spar with them in combat?”

  “It doesn’t get much more intimate than that, Lib,” Todd agreed. “Comin’ at each other with nine hard inches of steel … penetrating their armor deep … beating your opponent off with massive clubs … it’s about as close as you can get to another person.”

  “No homo?” I prompted the imp.

  “Why would I need to say that, Jakey?” Todd asked innocently. “I’m talking about sparring here. Get your mind outta the gutter, bro. Sheesh.”

  I shall go with them, as well, Mephisto added. Now that I am your main strategist, I need to observe the new succubi. If I can learn their fighting styles, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses, I can use that knowledge to create a strategic advantage.

  “Go for it.” I nodded to the tall orange demon. “What about the rest of you? You all going with Sia and the new hires, too?”

  “Nah, bro,” Todd admitted, “I’m gonna go back to my tower and start working on the next episode of Tuesdays with the Toddster. Every elf babe I private message on Pornhub doesn’t reply back to me, but I think I may actually get that Zeitmann guy on the show finally.”

  “Haven’t we talked about this before?” I warned the imp. “We don’t need to feed John Zeitmann’s ego by confirming all the shit he’s saying about us. Fuck, the dude’s practically making a living off one teeny tiny incident that happened almost three years ago.”

  “I know, right?” Todd retorted with wonder. “Milking your fifteen minutes of fame for years and years and years? That’s like, the American dream, bro.”

  “Just … don’t have him on your show,” I sighed. “Please.”

  “Fine, fine,” Todd agreed with a wave of his hand. “I’ll call back and cancel. Again. But I’m still doing my podcast!”

  “Podcast away, Toddster,” I chuckled. “Podcast away until your little heart’s content.” Then I turned to the last remaining members of our audience. “What about you two?”

  “I dunno,” Tris shrugged, “I haven’t thought that far ahead.”

  “I should be getting back to the restaurant district,” Gula admitted, “I’ve discovered that, when I’m not around, the Shades can’t cook to save their lives. We may be in Hell, but I want everyone to face down their eternal damnation with a belly full of delicious food!”

  “Aw, come on, Gula,” Tris giggled as she pulled out a doobie. “Hang around with me for awhile. It’ll be just like old times.”

  Gula crossed her arms over her chest as she thought it over, but then she finally conceded.

  “What the Hell?” She grinned. “These people are gonna be down here forever. What’s it gonna hurt if they have one bad meal or two?”

  “That’s more like it!” the Sister of Sloth laughed and slapped her sister on the back.

  As I watched Sia, Liby, and Mephisto lead the new recruits out of the room, I couldn’t help but think about the possibilities this opened up. Soon, I would have five more Demon Lords on my side.

  If I kept up with this pace, the
Unholy Trio would be at my feet in no time.

  Chapter 13

  Tris, Gula, and I exited the remodeled War Room casually and then headed down further into the bowels of the castle.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Tris said as she took a puff off her blunt, “what the fuck even happens in the rest of this castle? It’s like, hundreds of thousands of square feet on each floor, but we only use a few rooms.”

  “Tell me about it,” I chuckled, “Sia and I have tried to figure out how to efficiently use each and every part of this palace, but there’s just too much room for the number of people who live here. Hell, even when all of you are visiting, plus Mephisto, plus my parents, plus Eligor, there are still entire wings of this place that go unused.”

  “Don’t feel too bad,” Gula shrugged, “it was the same way when Azazel had control of the Fourth Circle. He tried to fill up all of the spare rooms with ‘trophies,’ aka the remains of his slain enemies, but even then it felt vast and empty.”

  “Vast and empty,” Tris pondered thoughtfully, “just like life, man.”

  “Stop it, Sister,” Gula sighed. “You’re starting to sound like Invidia.”

  “I’m just speaking the truth, Gula,” Tris chuckled and shook the blunt in front of the redhead’s face. “Todd and I created this strain to unlock the secrets of the mind, dude. It’s called ‘Mint Mindfucker’ for a reason.”

  “Because it tastes like mint?” I joked.

  “What?” the baked-out Tris scoffed. “No, man. One hit off this baby, and you’ll be philosophizing harder than that weirdo we met in the First Circle.”

  “He wasn’t actually a philosopher, remember?” I reminded the brunette. “It was Lucifer in disguise.”

  “And?” Tris shrugged and took another hit. “He was still talking about shit that was way above my mental paygrade. That, and he wrote some damn good erotic historical fan fiction. He had to be on something to come up with all that shit.”

  “Lucifer doesn’t do drugs, Tris,” Gula sighed. “Whatever twisted things he wrote down in those books of his, he came up with them on his own.”

  “Twisted isn’t the right word,” Tris retorted, “it was beautiful. Did I ever tell you about the story he wrote between Alexander the Great and Benjamin Franklin? It was, like, the greatest love story since, well, ever. Parts of it nearly had me in tears.”

  “I think maybe you’ve been hitting the weed a little too hard,” I snorted at the thought of the book she described.

  “Nah,” the Sister of Sloth dismissed, and then she pulled the blunt from her mouth and offered it to us. “Either of you guys want a puff? It’ll blow your minds.”

  “I’m good … ” Gula shook her head, but there was some hesitation in her voice.

  “Oh, come on, Gula,” Tris cajoled. “You never had this problem before we left Azazel. Before that, we were sucking up reefer like it was going out of style.”

  “I just don’t want to seem unprofessional, that’s all,” the redhead explained. “I’m a head chef now and all, and I can’t be going into work high or anything like that.”

  “Gula,” I chuckled and held out my hand, “how could having the munchies all the time be a bad thing for a head chef? Some of the greatest food creations in the world have been made by people who were stoned out of their minds.”

  “Like that taco that’s made with nacho cheese chips,” Tris added. “Or the sandwich where the bun was literally two pieces of fried chicken. Whoever came up with that shit had to be baaaaked.”

  I snatched the blunt from the Sister of Sloth’s hand, put it up to my mouth, and inhaled deeply. The smoke was somehow sweet, dank, and warm all at the same time, and I instantly felt myself relaxing. When I finally finished my hit, I held it out to Gula.

  “See?” I coughed through the smoke. “It’s good stuff.”

  “If you say so … ” Gula said as she hesitantly grabbed the blunt from my hand.

  The Sister of Gluttony held it up to her lips, took a long, deep puff, and then blew the smoke up into the air. The tension in her shoulders relaxed instantly, and her face slumped into a satisfied expression.

  “Wow,” she whistled, “I think that’s the best one I’ve had in years.”

  “Todd and I got our best Shades working on it,” Tris explained. “Some of the greatest scientific minds throughout history are down here, and they all put their brains together to come up with a handful of strains that are perfect down to their very chemistry. We’ve got an entire operation going and everything. Just don’t tell the fuzz.”

  “I’m the King of the Fourth Circle, Tris … ” I reminded her, but she was too stoned to understand.

  “That’s why I’m telling you this right now,” she said as she got extremely serious. “The cops around here are trying to crack down on our operation, but we’ve been able to stay one step ahead of them the entire time. Our scientists are working out of underground labs, and our dealers are hitting people up in the middle of the night under the cover of the noise in the Screaming Fields. But if anyone can protect us from the popo, it’s you. So, while I’ve got your ear, I want to talk deals … ”

  “Tris,” I said as I tried to hold in a laugh, “weed’s legal in the Fourth Circle. Nobody’s going to arrest you or shut you down. I decreed that like, a year ago.”

  Tris’ body language changed completely as she took in my words. Her serious demeanor changed into a relaxed one, and she let out a large sigh of relief.

  “Whew,” she chuckled nervously. “That’s a relief. Todd gave me this whole long speech to memorize that would convince you, but I kept forgetting parts of it. I just remember the long and short of it had me telling you ‘I am the one who knocks’ and reminding you ‘I am the danger.’”

  “Those are the only parts of that speech anyone remembers, anyway,” I snorted. “I’m definitely not gonna say your name, though.”

  Tris and Gula both looked at me with confusion as the Sister of Sloth took another hit.

  “It’s a--never mind,” I sighed. “Pop culture reference.”

  “I’ve always wanted to know more about Earth culture,” Gula admitted as she puffed. “Most of what I know comes in the form of cooking shows. My schedule was always super-packed while I was up there.”

  “There is one thing I’ve learned from Earth culture that I can teach you,” Tris said devilishly as she reached into her pocket and pulled out five more joints. “It’s called hotboxing. Now, let’s go find one of these empty rooms … ”

  “Please, Sister,” Gula chuckled, “as much as I’m sure Jacob would want to ‘hotbox’ the room with you, he’s probably got way more important things to do like--”

  “That sounds like a great idea,” I cut off the redhead.

  I’d noticed Gula had been a lot more tense since she had become a Demon Lord. She was used to working with top-level chefs on multimillion-dollar television shows, but being in charge of an entire territory of the Fourth Circle was a whole different beast.

  Maybe submitting to Tris’ brand of relaxation would take the edge off a little bit.

  I know it definitely would for me.

  “Alrriggght,” the brunette succubus giggled.

  Tris began going from room-to-room, opening doors as she looked for a perfect room for her devilish idea. Finally, after careful inspection, she found one. Tris looked back at the two of us, smiled sluggishly, and then motioned for us to follow.

  “Succubi first,” I joked as I stepped aside to let Gula in.

  “I normally don’t smoke,” the Sister of Gluttony sighed, “I’m supposed to be back at the Monte Crisco Cafe in two hours. It’ll be really hard to manage a kitchen if I’m high as a kite.”

  “You’re managing the Monte Crisco?” I questioned as I followed her into the room. “I thought you were managing the Inferno Room?”

  “I am,” she confirmed, “and I’m managing the Devil’s Gate and the St. Elmo’s Fire and the Grand Demon Diner. Basically, all of the restaurants i
n the Culinary District.”

  “Jesus,” I whistled. “I don’t know anything about the restaurant biz, but I definitely know that’s too many. Why haven’t you asked for help?”

  The voluptuous redhead looked down sheepishly and let out a deep sigh.

  “You’ve been busy, Jacob,” she admitted, “you’ve had a lot on your plate, especially with all these alliances and with Gamigin betraying you and all these missions you’ve gone on … I didn’t want to bother you with stupid, unimportant stuff like that.”

  “Gula,” I reassured her as I touched her cheek tenderly, “I know you want to do your best to make me proud as a Demon Lord, but what you’re doing is insanity. You’re going to burn out quickly, and that’ll be bad for everyone involved.”

  “What’s this I hear about burning out?” Tris spoke up from the other side of the room. “The only thing that’s gonna get ‘burnt’ in here is these blunts, my fine dude and dudette.”

  “I’m making a decree,” I said as I returned to Gula, “From now on, you can only run three restaurants, max. For your sake, and for the sake of all of the entire team.”

  “Only three?” Gula pouted, though I could see she was grateful for my declaration. “How am I possibly going to narrow it down to my top three restaurants?”

  “I think you can figure it out.” I shrugged. “Besides, you can still keep being ‘in charge’ of them all. But you’re going to hand off management duties to a few of the Shades, okay? Surely you can find somebody who’s competent enough to handle the rest of them … ”

  “I don’t know,” Gula argued, “I’m really picky about my craft.”

  “What do you have to be picky about?” I laughed. “If your food sucks, you can always just change up the menu. And it’s not like we have a health inspector down here.”

  “Actually, we do,” the redhead sighed, “it was one of Ira’s newest torture methods for the Shades of our Circle. They show up at least once a week, completely unannounced, and then go around critiquing every single little thing about our establishments.”