Devilish Uncertainty Ch. 02

"Alright, shasa, get the fuck out of here before we change our minds. And remember we gave you no real trouble when you get to Zhass'roalle." He stalked several paces closer to Lin'qa and glared at her.

When Lin'qa crawled back into her very dented and somewhat bent ship, she was convinced it wouldn't get back up off the ground. It surprised her when it lifted off, groaning and creaking a lot, but without any real issues. She tried to fly ahead standard, but as she picked up speed, the soot and ash flying into her eyes through the remains of the window made her slow down. The three hour trip turned into five, before the outline of a black stone tower appeared around the curve of a jagged outcropping of stone. She set the airship down a short distance away, the damaged craft creaking and protesting as it came to rest. Lin'qa winced a little. With luck, it still might fly her out of here once it came time for her to make the return trip to Lek. If not, well... she'd find some other way back, maybe make that hike after all.

It was about a five minute walk from where she landed, and she half expected another gigantic infernal monster to swoop out of the sky and squawk at her or carry her away. Nothing happened, and she reached the base of the tower unmolested. She fully expected the runed black iron doors of the tower to respond to her presence somehow, but they didn't. They remained inert even as she placed her hand on one of the massive double doors and waited, gathering her courage before she pushed them open. They opened just as effortlessly as the door to The Tenth Hell had despite being several times the size, and she slipped inside the moment they were open wide enough for her to fit.

The tower was dark, not because it wasn't well-lit, but because everything was made out of dark stone or covered in black cloth and tapestry. It was beyond gothic and had ventured deep into the realm of being in obsessively poor taste. Red stones were embedded into the walls and suspended in iron holders on surfaces. Their infernal glow cast a red light on everything, as though the decorator felt that the red 'sun' and the river of magma outside weren't quite enough crimson for their taste. Then again, maybe that was just the only real option in this plane. There was no art in the way she'd have been used to seeing in such a lavish building; there were no paintings and no rugs, but there were several sculptures. Most were odd, abstract pieces that looked like creative wire frameworks, but some were sculpted out of obsidian, and most of those were... strangely delicate. Animals, flowers, humanoid forms. Some were actually kind of pretty, much as she didn't have much time to analyze them. Lin'qa's attention was upon the figure that stood at the top of a curved flight of stairs, right across from the entryway.

When Zhrek'ahalle had said sister, Lin'qa had imagined some attractive dark-skinned Devil humanoid with bat wings and a spaded tail. The nine-foot tall creature that stood atop the staircase had wings, but that was about it. The wings attached to their shoulders were covered in large, snowy white feathers that might have been pretty if the rest of them weren't so horrifying. Their maw was huge, slightly elongated, and lipless. Nothing hid their of six-inch long interlocking fangs from sight, they were visible down to the gums. A pair of long, twisted horns sprouted from their forehead, pointing upwards towards the ceiling. The rest of their body was a strange mix of scales and feathers. Long, dagger-like claws tipped each of their three fingers, and their feet were scaled avian talons. They were naked, but had no chest or genitalia that Lin'qa could see. Somehow, that made them look more alien than bestial overall.

They advanced down the stairs, and with each step, they changed. their horns faded to feline ears in an imitation of her own. The wings melded into their back and vanished. As their skin lost its leathery texture, the rows of small compact feathers vanished from their shoulders and ankles. The flat, featureless chest grew both nipples and a set of perky breasts that would make any Rakshasa female jealous. Their claws shrank back into their hands, forming a perfectly manicured set of humanoid nails, including on the two new fingers that grew out of their palm. The taloned feet merged into a set of five small yet perfect toes. Their scaled tail shrank and sprouted black fur, re-proportioning itself from a pointed lizard tail into a fuzzy Rakshasa tail. Their hair remained jet black, and their eyes retained an infernal glow. The terrifying maw melted into an impossibly pretty and delicately-featured face. They were a perfect imitation of an overly tall six foot feminine Rakshasa as they reached the bottom of the staircase, say for the small infernal touches that seemed to have been left there deliberately. They grabbed a garment hanging on a hook at the bottom of the stairs and slipped it on over the top of their head. It was a strange, partially translucent piece of clothing that seemed to cover very little and Lin'qa wondered what the point was in even putting it on.

"A Mortal venturing into Hell at all is strange enough, but you're not just lacking the sense of self-preservation to steer clear of this entire plane, you're suicidal enough to walk into my tower." their voice was soft, lyrical, and chilling. As they approached, their tail elongated. It reached out towards Lin'qa in an act of motility and intent that she knew her own tail couldn't accomplish. She pulled on her magic in defensively, preparing to create a construct to ward away the invading appendange. "Touch your magic and die, Rakshasa!" The creature hissed loudly, their true form's fangs appearing inside their mouth for such a brief moment that it looked like it could easily have been Lin'qa's imagination. Darkness seemed to swirl around them as they spoke, and Lin'qa felt a tremor of fear run through her. She'd known from the start that this was a bad idea, but now she was beginning to truly understand just how bad.

The tail continued towards her and wrapped lightly around her neck, slowly tightening to a gentle squeeze. The pressure reminded Lin'qa that while their tail may look like hers just now, it probably had enough strength to crush her windpipe if they wanted. Lin'qa swallowed, trying to suppress her fear. This bitch wouldn't have even made Momma flinch. Momma wouldn't have put up with this intimidation bullshit for even a second. "The walking down the stairs as you transform is a real classy move. You probably practice that when you're alone, yeah?"

The Devil walked closer, their eyes burning red. They reached out and grabbed Lin'qa by the chin. Their hands were so strong, for how delicate and feminine they'd been made to appear. "Yes I do," they replied darkly, their voice devoid of humour. "Why are you in my tower, Mortal?"

"You're Zhass'roalle? I was led to believe you'd be willing to negotiate a price for your services." Lin'qa spoke whilst keeping her voice calm. This was seeming like a worse and worse idea the further she got into it. If she died like this, pointlessly running off to try and negotiate with fiends, would Momma be mad? What would she say to her, what punishment would her stupid recklessness earn? No, that was the wrong way to think. She hadn't gotten herself killed, not just yet.

"You know my name, but clearly not my reputation, Rakshasa. Yes, I am they. What could a mewling little runt like you actually require an erinyes for?" A bit of the anger and threat faded from their eyes. They seemed somewhat interested now, and Lin'qa wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad sign.

"There's a Rakshasa noblewoman that I want killed. I need her impersonated for a little bit afterwards as well. I can't do it with illusions, they'd smell the magic coming a mile away. I need someone who can shapeshift and physically take her form." The words came out without a stammer or a stumble. She'd been practicing them on the ride here.

"Your soul. Pledge it to me and I can do as you ask." Zhass'roalle spoke without hesitation or consideration. She was testing Lin'qa, trying to see if she'd be a chump and agree to the first offer.

"No. My soul is worth more than a day-long visit to the Wild Plane to murder someone and you know it." Zhrek'ahalle had warned her that they would try something like that.

Zhass'roalle grinned, their teeth gaining a little bit of pointiness as the expression grew. "So it isn't. Particularly one such as yours... The misery and pain radiating off of you is so thick I can taste it from here, and I am absolutely salivating over it..." They leaned in, and took a deep breath. They held it for a moment, their eyes shining joyously as they delighted in... whatever it was that they were doing. "Alright, my sweet prey, you have me interested. A fair deal then. Spend one hundredth of a Cycle in my care, during which you are mine to do with as I please, shy of permanently breaking or damaging you. After that, I'll murder your... who is this girl to you, anyway?"

"My sister. She's stolen the heirship of House Talla from me." Lin'qa swallowed the lump in her throat. 'Shy of permanently breaking you' sounded like an oddly specific reassurance and it brought her little comfort.

Zhass'roalle positively glowed at her words, their eyes softening into a deep violet that did nothing to detract from their otherworldliness. "Sororicide! What a dark and twisted little creature you are!" They tittered girlishly and their tail let go of Lin'qa's neck as they moved in closer to her, getting in her personal space the way Momma used to do when she really wanted her attention.

Lin'qa tilted her head up at the creature and scowled at their words. She was not twisted and evil like this monster was, she was just doing right by herself and her family, even after all they'd done to her. She was stopping Felida from starting wars and spreading misery just so that she could enrich herself. "I accept your terms." She said, ignoring the insult. When it came down to it, she'd been called worse.

Zhass'roalle reached forward with their hand, and pantomimed that they were grabbing something out of the air right in front of Lin'qa's chest. they pulled back, faking that they were straining themselves, or at least, that's what it looked like. A moment later, she felt it. She screamed as the Devil pulled on something deep within her, like their fist had actually closed around her heart and was ripping it out of her chest. Their arm retracted a little further, and Lin'qa's vision went dark.

She was in an endless void, and she couldn't tell if she was standing on something intangible or if she was forever falling. A cacophonic howling of infernal wind swirled all around her, the sound was so loud that it hurt her ears. She looked around herself in a panic, trying to get her bearings, and she saw Zhass'roalle just off to the side. They were in their true form, and they had a shimmering thread of light held in their talons. They looked up from it at Lin'qa and their eyes twinkled, the bestial maw not capable of grinning, but Lin'qa knew what they were thinking. The Erinyes pulled a thread out of their own chest, this one a horrific pulsing darkness that seemed to shine against the backdrop of nothingness. They wrapped the two threads together, twisting them tightly, and then they walked over to her. "Normally I bestow a ring for the mortal to wear, but I think this little band on your arm will be a much more interesting vessel." They shoved the two interwoven threads into Lin'qa's arm, and there was a rush of motion as she returned to the floor of the tower.

Her chest hurt, her stomach heaved, and she threw up on the dark stone. She ached all over, and wondered if this was what it felt like to have your very soul be in pain. She looked over at the band on her arm, the last piece of Momma that she had left, and saw the plain iron now had letters etched into it in an infernal script. The words burned and shifted like they were made out of magma. "You... You bitch! This is all I have left of...!" She lifted her gaze to try and intimidatingly stare daggers at Zhass'roalle but somehow she doubted she was doing a very good job of it.

Zhass'roalle was back in their imitation Rakshasa form. They walked around to her side and dropped to one knee. They leaned in close, their nostrils flaring as they breathed in hard. "Mmm, the mark of a slave. You seem to wear it proudly, and it's all you have left of someone?" They grabbed Lin'qa by her hair and pulled. She squealed at the rough way she was dragged onto her feet, stumbling to rise fast enough to alleviate the pain and grabbing at the erinyes' arm. With her arms raised above her head, she had no protection from Zhass'roalle's hands, which had suddenly sprouted talons again. Several swift raking motions tore her short sleeved blouse to ribbons. Part of a sleeve slid down and caught on her right wrist but the rest fluttered to the floor.

Part of her, her old instincts and habits that she'd been trying to fall back into, told her to cover her body up, to pull back. She wasn't that far back into being Lin'qa though. Forty years of letting dozens, hundreds, and occasionally thousands of people stare and leer at her body had stripped away her shyness, probably never to return. "Is that what you plan on keeping me here for? Is it that hard to get a prostitute in Hell?" She spoke defiantly, successfully keeping her voice steady.

Zhass'roalle laughed, a soft lyrical noise that reminded her a bit too much of home. The noise felt like a knife missing her heart by an inch. "I am somewhat fond of the pleasures of the flesh, and you Rakshasa do have a fragile beauty that one doesn't see here in the Hells." their hand ran across Lin'qa's chest, her fingers finding one of her nipples and pulling on it experimentally. In spite of her intentions, she moaned softly, squeezing her eyes shut. Her nipples were still very sensitive, the effect of the hormones she was still taking hadn't ebbed much over the years. With a smirk, the Erinyes pulled up the hem of their gown, revealing a smooth, bare crotch like they were a doll. The skin split in two, morphing and adjusting itself until it took on the shape of a small, perfectly pink pussy, glistening with just the tiniest hint of moisture. Lin'qa recoiled a tiny bit in surprise at the way the organ seemed to form out of nothing.

Zhass'roalle pinched another nipple, and leaned in, biting down on Lin'qa's neck. The bite was nothing like Dellie's playful love bites. When her former playmate had bitten her, it had never hurt that much. Instead, the girl's teeth and hot breath on the flesh of her neck had overwhelmed her with sensations until she hadn't been able to do anything other than whine and lie there deliriously.

Zhass'roalle bit down painfully hard into the side of her neck, her tender skin screaming in protest at her. The image of the Erinyes' true form flashed through her mind, specifically the pointed fangs that had been longer than the span of her hand. A fear welled up within her, and she fought the panic of the possibility that the Devil was about to literally bite her head off. She felt a throb of pain rip through her and she cried out, tears running from her eyes. No fangs and no decapitation came, and Zhass'roalle pulled back, a malicious joy shining in their eyes.

"Not your first choice? Well, that suits me just fine, I prefer the other one anyway." They laughed as tears rolled down from Lin'qa's eyes. That same taunting, feminine laugh that was as delicate as a needle tipped with poison. Lin'qa clutched her neck, the bite mark was starting to thrum and pulse with a steady rhythm that she could have set a melody to. She had no idea what the Erinyes meant until she felt something hot and warm brush against her bared stomach. She looked down and her eyes widened. Where the vagina had been was a thick fleshy black sheath that was probably five inches long. Poking out from the sheath and running against her midriff was another six inches of half hard pink cock that was already drooling precum. She shouldn't have been surprised, but she was. Of course they could shapeshift something like this, it wouldn't make any sense if they couldn't. "This one is my favorite, it makes pretty mortals like you let out even prettier screams."

Lin'qa blushed. Momma had always told her everybody could see what a bitch she was with just a glance. She knew it was true, even if she didn't understand how. Momma was always right about this stuff. "You didn't have to bite me to get a blowjob. Sends a weird message, yeah?" She suppressed the terror and gave the Devil her best cocky smirk.

'Don't let this dumb cunt intimidate you. Stand up for yourself a little, Kitty, I can't do it for you anymore.' Momma's aging and sickly voice ran through her head.

Zhass'roalle exhaled slowly, a frustrated sound that felt like resignation. Their hand closed around Lin'qa's throat. There was a brief moment of weightlessness and breathlessness as the Devil lifted her up, carried her the two steps to the wall, and slammed her into it. Her eyes bugged out of her head as she stared at the erinyes. She clutched feebly at the slender, pale-skinned hand that was holding her against the wall every bit as sturdily as Momma could have. A strangled croak escaped her mouth as the reflexive panic of being choked gripped her before the fuzziness of asphyxia kicked in.

Zhass'roalle's eyes burned like they were pits Into the depths of the ninth Hell. "Mouthy like an orcish sailor. I suppose I could rip the tongue out and cauterize the stump, but fucking a mortal's mouth just isn't quite the same after I do that. Hmm... what's a devil supposed to do...? Girl, do you truly think your idiotic babbling is flustering me, or am I missing your point?" They loosened their grip, allowing Lin'qa to suck in a few precious gasps of air.

"I..." Lin'qa croaked the word out, and swallowed as a cold shiver running down her spine. She couldn't do it. She was trying to be cocky and tough like Momma but this creature wasn't buying it even for a moment. "I was hoping for a little fluster..." Her voice felt so small, and fragile.

Zhass'roalle giggled, their features softening slightly, the sadistically joyous expression briefly eclipsed by a childlike mirage. They leaned forward, the tip of their cock leaving a wet trail across Lin'qa's midriff as they moved. A soft, wet, scratchy tongue dragged across her cheek as the erinyes breathed in again. Their claws flashed, severing the waistband of her skirt and ruining the last piece of functional clothing that she had left. It occurred to her that she hadn't managed to own clothes for very long, and now she was back to where she'd been. Except, instead of Momma, she had a psychopathic monster pinning her to the wall. She'd actually liked how Momma had pinned her to the wall and fucked her. She was good at supporting her weight properly as she'd rammed her cock into Lin'qa's pussy. She'd cum many times as her clitty had rubbed against Momma's solid abdominal muscles. Now, she had the worst fear boner of her life.

Zhass'roalle's small, soft arms pressed her into the wall like she was made out of paper. She wasn't pinned in place by skillful positioning so much as by sheer, unholy strength. It was actually rather painful, it felt like she was being crushed. "This might be too big for your comfort, but I happen to quite like this size. You looked absolutely ecstatic when you saw it, I'm sure you have an orifice that can accomodate... where is it on mortals... Ah! Here." Zhass'roalle giggled delightedly as the tip of their cock found Lin'qa's hole and they pushed.

Lin'qa wanted to be indignant. She had not been ecstatic when she'd seen this creature's nightmarish dick. But, a soft shuddering moan made half out of pain and half of desperate anticipation escaped her lips anyway. Zhass'roalle was not patient, and they gave Lin'qa no time to adjust or get comfortable as they rapidly prodded and demanded penetration from her. An electric shock of pleasure cut through the discomfort and the pain that made her gasp. Old habits. She was falling into this so quickly...