Cemetery Summons Ch. 28

Anathane pushed aside a half-open doorway and stood out of the way. Jack walked through, an entourage of demons and succubi with him, and behind them an army of Blackhoods. There wasn't a thing in this world that could stop Jack from getting into the bottom of this fortress and freeing his lovers. Jack felt Anathane scoot up to his side as her mother tried to call her back so she could hug her child.

But the demon would have none of it, and stayed as close to Jack as she could. His path was clear now that there weren't fifty thousand doorways that lead into a maze of narrow corridors and small connecting chambers like a spider's web on a massive scale. Now, there was just a dark hallway and a door at the end.

It was all coming down to this. This was going to lead him to Dalaria and give him a last fight, and then it would be over. He had spent almost a year down here in hell. He was glad to finally be on the verge of going home again and living with the four people he loved most. He sighed and raised his hand toward the locked door ahead.

"Anathane, could you get that for me too?" he asked, a little guiltily.

"Anything you want," she replied.

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The demon hardly knew what to do with herself now that she had Jack again. It was so great to even just see his face! Anathane knew she loved him, and that she missed him when she wasn't with him, but she didn't know just how much until recently. She had spent ten years away after their first meeting, and that one didn't bother her as much as this recent separation.

Last time, his whole life had been peachy-keen, save for a select three succubi vying for his love and trying to move her out of the picture. However, she had always been able to find solace in the fact that he was safe and sound with them. Even though they fought her tooth and nail for every second of time she snagged with him, if not just for show of faith for him, she trusted them with Jack's life without question.

This time had tested the limits of her heart. She had left Jack on the eve of the largest battle since the Third Ring War, without Elassa, Fain, or Niaf to protect him. Though he had many allies with him, she didn't trust them with something as precious as his very existence, least of all Anatithenai. Anathane had left not knowing if she was ever going to see him or any of her friends again. Luckily, everyone had pulled through, if only by the slimmest of margins.

Watching Jack die had taken its toll on her as well. She approached the barred door and raised a hand, watching it tremble slightly. The shock of watching Jack's soul getting plundered by a fallen angel's blade was still taking its toll. She was on the verge of tears still, and keeping them back only with the sound of Jack's voice.

She easily pushed the iron-bound giants aside and waited for Jack to lead the way before continuing. She shot Anatithenai a hateful glare and then turned her attention back to her lover. Anatithenai had promised to keep him alive, to stay with him until her last breath as his guardian angel. And she had failed to do the only thing Anathane had asked of her in her entire life. Jack had died right in front of both of them. It was a miracle that he wasn't dead, and that Anatithenai wasn't either.

Anathane had watched Jack mature and grow over these past months. He had come to hell as a scared, frightened child with no prowess of mind, body, or will. He had been pushed around, beaten, raped, mistreated, and forced into a situation he did not want to be in.

But he had come through a true warrior and lover for it.

She had seen him become the beautiful being he was now, and felt his hunger and desire grow with every passing week. She saw his body fine-tuned and turned into the machine that every demon dreamed of. She had seen two souls in him collide and become one being that was more whole than Anathane could believe was possible. She was incomplete. He was too complete. He filled in the gaps and made her whole, and Anathane's body could hardly take it.

Being behind him was good in the fact that she didn't have to face down the gaze that could probably seduce at will anyone he desired. But it also meant that she had to keep her hands to herself with no help from him to do it. It was the hardest thing she had ever had to do. Her body burned with the passion that scholars on earth aspired to picture with flowery language and a thousand epics and poems.

Anathane's golden skin was enough to show that she was truly horny. But the presence of her true demonic pieces were what kept the rest of the group several paces away. The only thing keeping her off Jack's body right now was that if she pounced, it would endanger the others and make Jack mad at her.

And so, with all the mental strength she could muster, she eased the growing tension by plunging her tail between her engorged labia, hissing softly as the euphoria of pleasure began to roll through her. It had been a long four days with Jack. Somehow, he knew that she was going to town on herself without him, and turned his head.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, just a little shaken," Anathane replied coolly. "I can't help but think that I had at least a little part in your survival back there." Oh, hold on; don't cry! Anathane squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and blinked away the tears. She couldn't let Elassa know about it. If she knew Jack died, she might never stop crying about it. Gods, the difference between what she and that succubus felt was enormous!

"How do you figure?" replied Jack. "Not that I want to downplay anything you did," he quickly amended.

She nudged him with her elbow. "Don't be so uptight. You can relax with me. And to answer your question, it has to do with your metamorphosis from human to demon."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Keep going..."

"Impatient boy is what I should've called you," the greater demon muttered jokingly. "Well, do you remember the day that you went back home as a demon? You know, when you ripped off your horn?"

"Sort of. I remember you hitting me or something before I woke up at home, right after...you know, the first time I cried in front of you."

"That's the day," Anathane's voice dropped as she tickled a ridge of sensitive zones deep inside her pussy. She put a hand on Jack's shoulder for support and almost pushed him to the floor without thinking about it.

"Jesus Anathane!" Jack cried. "Holy hell you're heavy!" He recovered, and Anathane regained her composure, a bit of steam blown off now that she had an orgasm to cool down from.

"Sorry. As I was saying; that day, you were already almost to the point of turning. When I kept you inside me for that long, it sped up the whole process."

"So I'm like this because you sped things up?" he reiterated.

"Not exactly. When I sped things up, I put a little bit of me inside you. I filled in what they hadn't with part of me and that you got ready to turn right then and there. It shouldn't have happened so early, but, what can ya do. This woman is just so attracted to you," she said, smiling at him.

"So...why am I not half-and-half if you guys made one person out of me together? Everybody's saying something about me having two souls. What's wrong with me?"

Anathane squeezed his shoulder. "Nothing's wrong with you Jack. You're something very special down here. Having two souls hasn't occurred since the accidental soul bind at birth, and even then, it was only as merged as Niaf and Fain were originally. You've got a blessing, not a curse."

"You know, you're really bad at explaining things," Jack commented.

"Sorry," Anathane giggled. "But you understand what I mean. If you want the real truth from me; I don't know. My best guess would be that I loved you so much that I made a piece of you all for myself so I could smother you with kisses all day long."

"I'm sure," Jack droned sardonically.

"Okay, okay. I really think that because they're all succubi and I'm a demon made something inside you go wrong, and the two pieces sort of formed a whole, but they made extra too. Like I put in three quarters, and so did they, and we came out with an extra half. And everyone else might have made up the difference with their own pieces. You have gotten around down here, you know."

"So, I only survived because everyone fucked me?" Jack sounded scared.

"In a way. But why does it matter so much to you?" Anathane tilted her head to the side and Jack snuck a glance back at the column of demons, incubi, and succubi. He put a hand over his face and dragged it down worriedly.

"You can't tell them that. I already have a steep enough debt to pay to them."

"What, their help? Who said that you needed to pay them?" Anathane turned her head and scanned the crowd behind them. It was probably Anatithenai. If she planned on taking Jack's body for another spin, then she could forget it! She was still mad at the slime for that.

"No, actually, it wasn't just one; everyone said they wanted to get payment for their help. And, don't be mad please, but I said I would work something out with them after this was all through. Is that okay?"

Anathane bit her lip and tried not to think of the one thing everyone wanted from him that he could give. There was no way she could let them take him again. Not only did she not want it to happen; the others most definitely wanted to make up for lost time. But, she took it all in stride. They'd cross that bridge once they got to it.

"It's okay, but this is going to be a Treaty of Versailles sort of deal. Us four betrothed to you get to decide the amount of time they spend with you, and when they do it. You have no say. And they have no say. Capice?"

"Sure," Jack said. He didn't seem to have any aversion to her way of thinking, so she just rubbed his head and doted on him for a little while as they began to descend a flight of stairs. As they reached the bottom, they found a stone archway lined with runes that not even Anathane had seen before. She pondered them for a moment and tried to peer through the crack in the heavy curtains hung inside the arch. Jack was getting impatient while she held him still.

"What is it?" Anatithenai asked.

"I've never seen these runes before," the younger of the two answered. "I don't know what might happen if we walk beneath them." She pointed to the drapes. "Jack, have some of the boys tear those down, would you?"

"Okay." He waved his arm and a group of Blackhoods, as Jack referred to them as, rushed forward and tore the drapes to shreds. Behind them was just a dark corridor absent of torches or any light at all.

Just...darkness.

Anathane felt her steely golden skin crawl. "Can we remove those wards then?" she asked. Jack nodded to the Blackhoods and they clambered up the archway, striking at the runes with clawed hands that showed no sign of the carnage they had wrought only scant minutes ago. The ancient stones were soon covered with deep ruts at every angle, ruining whatever magic had been contained within them.

The group continued on, and soon the darkness of the corridor lessened as the light of demonic eyes flooded between its walls. Anathane had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that this was not as it should be. Above, she didn't know how far away the ceiling was. She knew it couldn't be close, because even her piercing vision could see nothing above.

She vaguely remembered this place for a great many years ago, when she had been summoned to oversee the torture and sacrifice of a very unloved and hateful soul. She remembered this hallways once holding statues of warriors that fought in the Nine Circles War in alcoves on either side of the passage, and great chandeliers above lighting the way. Now, there was nothing but darkness and blank, empty walls the entire way.

Their journey came to an abrupt halt as Jack ran into something. "Ouch, fuck."

"You alright?" Anathane cooed, holding her hand out to feel what he'd run into. She was surprised to find a solid wall. She put her face close to it and found that it was indeed a solid stone wall. "This wasn't here the last time I came here."

"Trouble!" shouted Nyx.

"What?"

"Something's killing all our troops!" the dark succubus roared back.

"Blackhoods, huddle up!" Jack shouted. A swathe of dark figures appeared from black emptiness even thicker than they were, and the group came closer together in a disorderly phalanx. Anatithenai turned her body around and glared into the darkness.

"Damn it all to the Ninth," she slime lamented. "She walked us into a trap."

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Dead warlocks lay all over the floor at her feet. They hadn't been so useless after all. Even though they were only human, with these new bodies, they were going to be a great help in buying her time.

Dalaria was almost finished with her dimensional circle. She just needed to inscribe a few more phrases and then she would have a clear passage to the mortal world to kill the human Jack loved most. Through Elassa's memories, she had pried out the name of the woman he loved. The demon grinned as she finished her work.

Her grin faded with the sight of the three pitiful succubi in their cells. Fain had yet to come back from her nearly-mortal head trauma, and Niaf had refused to move from her twin's side since. Elassa just sat in her dark corner, crying.

"Don't worry," Dalaria said. "It would be against sacred tradition and law for me to kill you myself, and since I don't have any other comrades here with me, I suppose that means you three live. I'll be gone soon to kill her, and you won't ever have to see me again."

"And good riddance," Niaf snarled. "Fain deserves to never have to look at you after what you did to her. Fain, Jack's close. Can you feel him? He'll be here soon to help. Just hold on a little longer."

"Purple," Fain murmured in barely a whisper.

"That's right!" Niaf said. "You're gonna be seeing purple, and, and yellow, and white, oh the white shine in his eyes! We'll see that every day once Jack gets us back home. We'll be ridin' him until Doomsday comes! It's gonna be great! So, just hold on until then. Keep squeezing my fingers."

Dalaria pricked her finger and stepped into the middle of the circle. She pressed her thumb to the eye in the center and the floor beneath her collapsed into nothingness. She closed her eyes and gripped her axe tightly. If there was one thing she would do to this goddamned usurper, it was kill his human love. There were no laws against it here. She was forbidden to slay her prisoners herself, but humans were in her power to kill at will.

She felt her head break the surface of the mortal world and sound graced her ears. Water lapping at the edges of its confines. A slight breeze passing through the air. The head of her axe thudded against the grass as her feet. Dalaria opened her eyes and looked up at the large building in front of her. Her slow, heavy breaths were visible in front of her face. She wondered briefly if this would be the last time she would ever see her own breath.

Well, it didn't matter anyway.

She started for the building slowly.

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"What the fuck are these?!" Jack roared over the din of ringing blades and steel on flesh and stone. He slashed a sword with no visible effect except to numb his arm. He barely stepped out of the way of the return swing from the living statue. Anathane quickly returned the swing with her fist, and pummeled the statue's head into rubble. However, even being beheaded didn't stop it, and the blade found Anathane's side.

"Anathane!" Anatithenai roared. "Stay away from my daughter!" Her gigantic blue fist knocked aside several of the statues as they moved to block her path. She destroyed them outright with over a dozen tendrils that ended in hammer heads and large blocks that flattened stonework that was possibly older than she was, and covered with wards of protection.

"Are you alright?" Jack asked, holding back a stone fist with his sword stuck all the way down to the hilt between two of its knuckles.

Anathane winced as acid vapor leaked from her wounded side. She gave him a wan smile and split herself into three copies who hammered a statue like there was no tomorrow. "I'm fine, just a little peeved. Let's hurry up and get this over with." She helped Jack destroy his statue with two golden fists, slamming her hands into its shoulders. Its arms fell to the floor and it turned to her, attempting to slam its face into hers. Jack raised its arm, still impaled on his sword, and knocked it back.

Anatithenai crushed it and spat curses in its crumbling face. Jack kicked the arm off his blade and turned to help Anathane out if she needed it. But by this time, the battle was winding down and Anathane was pulling herself back into one being again. Anatithenai knocked down the wall that had trapped them and pushed away the stones scattered on the other side.

Jack was right behind her, with Anathane at his heels. They walked a short distance into a relatively small room with a torch on the far wall and four cells on either side. Jack immediately felt familiar presences.

"Fain!" cried Jack as he rushed over to where he saw her lying with her head in Niaf's lap, eyes just barely open. Jack grabbed the bars and forced his arm through. Niaf met his hand and started crying.

"Fain, he's here. Look; it's Jack. He's here to save us," she breathed, tears running down her face. Jack backed up and cut the bars with his sword all the way across. Broken segments clattered to the floor and he almost jumped through the gap. He grabbed Niaf and Fain at the same time and hugged them tightly. Niaf hugged him for dear life and started bawling.

"Guys; I'm so sorry for everything! Please for give me!" Jack said, taking in everything about them for the first time in almost a year. Fain raised her hand weakly and smiled.

"White...pretty..." she murmured.

"Jack, she needs you," Niaf moaned hoarsely. "We all do. It's bee so long since we had anything to eat." She had no witty remarks, only gratitude and tears for him. Jack breathed a sigh in relief and picked up his twins, carrying them out of their cell. He handed them to Anathane, who started comforting them and giving them her own elixirs of good health and healing.

Jack approached the cell that held Elassa with a heavy heart. This was not the happy, magnificent reunion he had hoped for. Instead, this was just silent relief and weariness that seemed to just drag on with every moment. Jack cut the bars apart and stepped in.

"Elassa?" he asked, sticking his sword in the wall.

"I told her no matter how many men she threw at you, that you couldn't be beaten. I told her that no matter how many times she tried to make me take another's love, that I would stay loyal to you. I told her you would come for us. I told her you loved us enough to do it. I was right, wasn't I?" she asked, rising slowly.

"Find out for yourself. It's been a whole year. I hope you still remember how to kiss like I remember." Jack embraced her warmly and they locked lips instantly. Elassa thrust her tongue into his mouth and squeezed him softly. Her hands explored his body, taking in what she remembered about him, and what had changed during their separation.

Jack felt tears reaching his chin, his own tears, and closed his eyes. He didn't want her to see him cry again. It wasn't the time for tears. It was the time for laughter, and joy and full hearts to rise in honor of a great reunion. Instead, all Jack could feel was the remorse of what had happened because of him. He kissed her harder.

He couldn't take in enough of her. It had been so long since he'd been with any of his lovers other than Anathane. And while she was perfect, she was only one fourth of his life. Right now, he had to amend the situation with the other three and making things right as a whole. He broke away for air and Elassa smiled at him.