Beauty was gone again by the time Logan woke. It was still early morning, judging by the weak rays of light spilling through the ceiling crack. She could not have been gone for long. The shape of her body could still be seen where she had been lying on the moss.
Hunting, he assumed. Or just avoiding me.
On the other side of the now cold, dead fire, Karen still lay in uneasy sleep. Seeing her lying there, naked and dirty, on the cave floor reminded Logan of his first night in Hell. It made his back hurt to remember, and he resolved to do whatever he could for her. What that might be was, as of yet, unknown. They were all in uncharted territory now.
He yawned and rubbed at the dull ache behind his eyes. The idea that his mother's God, the Christian God, could allow such a horribly unjust place as Hell to exist had kept him awake most of the night. It burned still in his gut. He looked up at the ceiling of the cavern.
"God, if you do exist, then you are one sick son-of-bitch."
Karen squeaked, jumped where she lay, and slowly rolled over to face him.
"Sorry," he grimaced. "Did I wake you?"
"No." Karen shook her head, then sat up and tucked a loose strand of black hair behind her ear. "I was awake. Just trying to… remember." Her eyes were wide and troubled as she gazed at him in the ruddy light. "You say that word so easily."
"What? God?" He watched her flinch, then reluctantly nod. "It's not a magic word, Karen. It isn't even a real name. According to Jewish tradition, it's actually…"
"Don't say it!" she cried.
He held up a hand in a peace gesture. "Alright, I won't, but there is nothing to be frightened of. You could say it too, you know. Words only have power over you if you let them."
"We cannot." Karen shook her head, sending her bangs fall around her face like a curtain.
"Why not?"
"Because… we are the damned. We are not worthy."
"Not worthy?" Logan struggled to keep his voice calm and conversational. "Says who?"
"It just is," she muttered at the ground.
"We are going to have to work on that," Logan sighed. "But one step at a time. How are you feeling?"
"Better, I think," Karen replied. "Stronger."
"Wonderful," he grinned. "That's excellent news."
Her face softened. It was almost a smile. "Thank you." She tucked her hair back again. "For everything."
"You are very welcome, but I cannot take much credit. Beauty did far more than I did."
Karen nodded. "So you said but… I don't understand it."
"Honestly?" Logan shrugged. "I don't know that I understand it either. There is a lot that I don't get about this place, at least not yet. For now, let it be enough that she is my friend, and that makes her your friend too. Can you do that?"
Karen hesitated, then nodded. "I think so."
They heard movement at the entrance to the cavern. Beauty emerged out of the shadow with their spear in hand and nothing else. She did not look happy about it and pointed up at the ceiling, making a wide circle with her finger. "Flyer."
"Really?" Logan scratched thoughtfully at his chin scruff. "That is not good. If he discovers our location…"
"She," Beauty corrected.
Logan nodded, then gave Karen an appraising look. "You said it was impossible to fight back against the Masters. I can show you that isn't true. Especially if you are willing to help."
She blinked at him and frowned. "I don't know anything about fighting."
"That's ok." Logan bared his teeth in a feral grin. "How are you at playing wounded bird?"
*****
The Succubus stretched her wings out to feel hot wind tickling over the delicate membranes. She soared and swooped on the shifting currents in lazy spirals. A long, sinuous tail trailed behind. From up here, the broken landscape could hide little from her raptor's gaze.
Movement on the ground caught her eye. She banked hard but saw only a small, furry animal scampering into cover and gave it no further thought. Hunger demanded a different sort of prey.
She soared and glided, climbed toward the boiling clouds, and turned into the moaning wind, but always her attention was below. The demon scanned rock and dirt, hill and valley, with a hunter's patience. Suddenly, off to her right, there was a flash of white against the rust-colored ground. She looked, and a slow smile of anticipation crawled across her lovely face.
A human female was moving awkwardly through broken rocks. Only a short distance away, a younger demon, white-haired, lavender skinned and wingless, was in pursuit. The human was limping and moving slow. The young Succubus was being overconfident, playing with her food, and letting the chase continue for the sake of amusement. That mistake would earn her an empty belly this day.
The demon turned into the high currents of air and positioned herself behind them both where neither hunter nor prey would see her coming until it was far too late. Her gaze narrowed against the driving, dust-choked wind. Her wings pulled in close as she dived.
The ground hurtled up at her. She leveled out on spreading wings. The startled face of the lavender Succubus flashed by. The flying hunter reached out to seize the human soul by her dark hair, already anticipating the rich taste of fear and lust.
Something moved out of cover just ahead of her prey. Another human stepped out from behind a tall rock. A male, armed with a spear! The demon beat the air frantically with her wings to gain altitude, to escape and counter-attack.
The spear hurtled through the air. Agony bloomed like a poison flower as it tore through the delicate membrane of one wing. The shaft tangled into her wing, robbed her of flight, and sent her hurtling toward the ground.
*****
Logan heard the impact as the demon crashed and tumbled across the dirt and the snap of bone as one wing twisted and broke against an outcropping of rock. He rushed over and pointed his sword at her.
"Surrender and live," he demanded.
Despite oily, black smoke pouring from a half dozen wounds and a broken wing, the Succubus roared and surged to her bird-like, clawed feet. Both hands blurred and, as if by magic, a curved, wickedly sharp knife appeared in each hand from the twin sheaths at her sides. A long tail coiled behind her like an angry python. Pain and fury twisted lovely features into something savage. She settled onto the balls of her feet, low and ready.
He stopped his charge just short of melee range and cursed. "Or not apparently."
The two combatants began to circle, each weighing and measuring the other. Logan suspected that he had the advantage of height, reach, and probably greater strength. Judging by the demon's moves, he suspected she was far quicker and was no stranger to knife fighting.
That was bad news. Combat with short blades was a brutal, ugly business under the best of circumstances, which this was not. Anyone with training or experience understood one simple, ugly truth about knife fights. The loser bleeds out then and the winner bleeds out later.
"Worm! Maggot! You dare attack me?" She snarled as Logan began to circle, dagger in his right hand, short sword in his left. "You will suffer a thousand deaths for this! The winds will carry your screams for eternity."
"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" he quipped. "Do demons even have mothers?"
Logan kept circling, forcing the Succubus to drag her broken wing and turn with him. Her wounds put time on his side. It allowed him the opportunity to better assess his opponent.
She was, he had to admit, a magnificent example of savage, female perfection. This Succubus was tall and lean, where Beauty was slightly shorter and more generously curved. Her skin tone was a light gray, almost silver. Blue hair spilled across her shoulders. Cupid bow lips, a pert nose, and large, purple eyes would have looked angelic if not for the curling ram's horns in her forehead, the savage snarl on her lips, and the promise of murder in her violet glare.
Her luscious body was protected by the first true example of armor Logan had yet seen. Leather greaves and vambraces protected her lower arms and legs. A one-piece corset of banded black leather shielded her breasts and belly. A slim triangle of leather covered her sex. Stamped over the swell of her left breast was familiar design, a snake coiled to strike.
The demon was evaluating him in a similar manner. Her eyes went wide as they focused on the same emblem on his shoulder. "You!" she snarled. "You defeated Chort! How is this possible?"
"Friend of yours?" Logan taunted. "Not anymore, sweetheart."
The Succubus roared and moved with blinding speed, hoping to catch him off guard. Twin knives cut at him high and low. Blades rang together. Logan side-stepped, blocked, and jumped away.
"How are you so strong? Too strong for a typical mortal soul," the Succubus hissed. "What are you?"
Logan shrugged. "At the moment, I would have to say… a distraction."
Understanding dawned on her pretty face too late. Logan watched Beauty rise out of the rocks behind the other Succubus without a sound, a large rock gripped in one hand. The rock crashed down on the back of the target's blue-hued head of hair. Lovely purple eyes fluttered and closed as she fell to the dirt.
It was over. A quick check revealed the demon was not dead. Logan pulled leather strips, re-purposed from the cat-o-nine-tails, out of a belt pouch, and bound the lethal Succubus at her hands and feet.
He looked up at Beauty and grinned. "Now that was a textbook ambush."
She smiled back and took the opportunity to strip the demon naked, claiming the armor for herself. Logan piled up everything that might be of value. By the time they had finished looting, the captive had started to rouse. Logan walked over and gently kicked her clawed foot. Her purple eyes opened.
Once again, Logan found himself staring into the eyes of a beautiful, very naked, female demon lying hogtied on the ground and staring back defiantly. Even by current standards, this was becoming a strange habit. At least this time there was no ambiguity. Unlike his first encounter with Beauty, there was an air of gleeful violence around this particular Succubus. Even now, bound and helpless as she was, the demon seemed more aroused and amused than afraid.
The captive demon looked at Beauty. "A bold move, little sister. What do you want from me?"
"She's not the one you need to be worrying about," Logan answered. "And I will be the one asking the questions."
"You?" the demon rocked back in surprise, glancing back and forth from Beauty to Logan. "A demon in service to a human?"
Logan decided to ignore her reaction and her question. "This doesn't have to go hard for you," he said. "I just need some questions answered."
The succubus offered a slow, sultry smile and thrust her breasts out toward him. "I like it hard."
Okay, I walked into that one. Logan squatted down beside her and rested his elbows on his knees. He smiled back at her. It was not a sultry smile. His was an expression of winter's ice; cold, sharp, and dangerous.
"That's adorable, but I don't think you understand your situation. So, let me clarify a few things. One, I'm not going to fuck you. I have no interest in fucking you. I get to sleep with her." Logan pointed a thumb at Beauty. "And she's twice the woman, or demon, that you are."
The coy expression vanished from her face. The succubus glared and scowled at them both. Beauty only smirked back at her, unruffled and unconcerned, and made a show of trying on the captured demon's armor.
He drew his dagger and began tapping it thoughtfully against her silver thigh. "Point number two, I just watched you try to ambush, assault, and feed on my friend, so don't expect any sympathy. I don't like to see my friends hurt. It puts me in something of a murderous mood."
Logan paused to let that sink in. The Succubus was staring at the knife in his hand. After a long heavy moment of silence, she looked up into his eyes. Logan let her see the anger burning hot in his gaze. He was still smiling. She was not.
"So, here's the deal. You're going to give me one of two things. You are either going to answer my very reasonable questions or…" Logan held up the dagger in front of her eyes. "I am going to skin you for meat and leather. Have you ever skinned an animal? It isn't difficult."
Logan pointed at various areas of her body with the tip of the knife as he spoke. "You just have to roll the carcass onto its back. Then you cut off the genitals or udder. Next, you split the hide from tail to throat. The next part is kind of tricky." He laid the flat of the blade against her belly. "You want to get the blade under the skin and peel it back without cutting into the body cavity."
Karen muffled a sound of disgust with a hand over her mouth and walked away. Beauty listened with her usual calm attentiveness, testing the edge of the two newly acquired, curved knives with her thumb. The captive demon's armor fit her fairly well. Logan had to make a conscious effort not to stare at the way her larger bust spilled cleavage over the leather top.
He began to tap the blade lightly against the bone between the prisoner's breasts. "Now, the sternum can be a bit tricky. You have to split it open, and then…" Logan shrugged. "Well, why ruin the surprise."
Logan gave her a hard, merciless look. "Still want to play games?"
Judging by the expression on her face, the brutal truth of her situation was finally beginning to sink in. Her eyes went wide. Her lip began to tremble. Tears began to spill from the corners of her lovely, purple eyes.
"Please don't hurt me." She began to sob. "I'll do whatever you…"
Quick as a snake, Beauty reached out and slapped her across one cheek. In an instant, the captive snarled and howled at her. "Little, baby, demon bitch! I will claw your tits off! I will…"
The demon stopped abruptly, but it was too late. The attempted manipulation of playing the helpless, crying female act had failed. She scowled at the ground and made several anatomically impossible suggestions for all three of her captors.
Beauty arched an eyebrow at Logan. He received the wordless message, loud and clear. Don't fall for that bullshit.
Logan winked at her, then returned to glaring at the captive Succubus. He flipped the dagger into the air, catching it by the handle. "Decision time. What's it going to be?"
The Succubus seemed to deflate. She hung her head and muttered. "Ask your questions."
"Good choice." Logan nodded and tapped his knife against the emblem on her breast. "This is the insignia of your Mistress, yes? Tell me about her."
"That is the mark of Baroness Graveek," the demon replied. "She who is soon to be your Master as well."
That answered one minor question. It seemed the word ��Master" was gender-neutral. "Because, presumably, she is going to make slaves of us all, right?"
She glanced up at Logan with a gleam in her purple eyes. "Perhaps not. There are slaves and then there are honored servants."
The Succubus looked him up and down. "I can see that you live like an animal. It doesn't have to be that way. Baroness Graveek has made a fortune and amassed great power training and selling premium slaves to the market. She knows quality when she sees it. By defeating Chort you have proved your strength and you are not unpleasant to look at. It is very likely that she would welcome you into her service, perhaps even into her harem should you prove worthy of the honor. The nobles of Hell are always plotting and fighting against each other. Always looking for an advantage. You could be just such an advantage for her."
"Are they now?" he said. "Then why aim so low? If I am such a prize, why settle for serving a lowly Baroness? Why not offer my service to Prince Asmodeus himself?"
"Logan," Beauty growled. "Weird!"
He held up a hand at her without looking away from the bound demon. "Could you arrange that?"
She nodded eagerly. Logan could see the gleam of excitement in her purple eyes. "Oh, you are ambitious! I like that. Yes, Lord Asmodeus is said to be very clever and generous to those who serve him. And you did bond a demon which is quite a rare and impressive accomplishment for a mere human. To bring him such a prize as you, he would reward me with wealth and titles of my own. I could finally begin building my own harem! And you…"
The demon leered at him. "Swear service to him and the Prince of Lust will surely grant all you could desire. Even a full harem of your own. Yes, I can help make that happen and we would both profit greatly!"
"How and where would we reach the Prince?" he asked. "I'm guessing that he has layers of security between him and everyone else."
"It will be difficult," the demon admitted. "I have not had the privilege of attending his court. This will require careful planning."
Logan paused to consider her words, then nodded. "Fine then. Consider me interested, but there are conditions. One, you will stay bound for now as I have no reason to trust you yet. Two, know that if you try to betray me, as you proved yourself so willing to betray Baroness Graveek just now, that I will keep my promise and skin you alive."
The demon nodded. There was no fear in her eyes now, only the gleam of naked ambition. "Of course. The price of failure when playing the game of politics is always severe. There is no such thing as trust in Hell and true loyalty is rare. There is only mutual gain. We are in agreement."
"Good." Logan nodded, stood, and helped the demon to her feet. "You're coming back with us. We have much planning to do."
"Logan…" Beauty warned.
"Why are you doing this?" Karen asked.
He looked at them both with a stony expression. "Predator or prey, ladies. That is the law of the land. It's time to start thinking strategically. We need a plan and we need allies, so unless one of you has a better idea?"
The only answer was silence and worried faces.
"No?" he replied. "Then this is the plan. Deal with it. Karen, help Beauty carry the loot. I'll keep an eye on our new friend in case she wants to try something stupid."
He looked at his prisoner and would-be ally. She watched him back with an expression of amused curiosity.
"What's your name?"
A hint of a smile played across her pretty lips. "Seralla."
"Start walking, Seralla," he ordered.