Some days, what a Terran Angel had to go through to seal treaties was more trouble than the treaty was worth, I thought mutinously. I had been voted by the Council of Balance as the angel "most likely to survive without debilitating mental trauma" and assigned the "prestigious" role of sealing a treaty with the Asmodeus Demon Clan. Normally, the sealing of a treaty with a demon clan would only require a blood or ambassador (read hostage) exchange. But Asmodeus types of demons are a different sort of demon. Specifically, their powers and treaty requests ran to desire, lust, love and sex.
A quartet of my fellow servants of the Council of Balance led me into the preordained room with an eerie silence. Shaped from magic inside a natural subterranean cavern, there was an almost claustrophobic feel to the area. A quartet of braziers gave heat and light to the huge cavern room but did little to make it more inviting. Given what I was here for though, nothing could have made it welcoming.
The simple shift I wore was pulled off by urgent hands before I was bound wrists and ankle to a pair of posts about six feet apart. Another post was mounted into the ceiling above me, with hooks designed for the chains. The chains that held me were slack at the moment but could be pulled taught with a simple demonic thought, spreading me wide. Wide spread and unable to defend myself or stop what was happening. This part of the treaty agreement had been fought over stringently but the Asmode had won with a simple point. No angel would willingly couple with a demon so the only way to ensure the demon's safety was to bind the angel. We angels had a nasty tendency of slicing and dicing demons on sight, so the precautions weren't overrated. Just unwanted.
A fine sheen of sweat glistened on my bare skin as a tendril of fear crept through me when the angels left without a parting glance. They couldn't bear to look at me even though I was a sacrifice for a treaty the Council of Balance sorely needed. My presence here was a mark of the Council's faith in my strength, fortitude and determination. Careful negotiations between the Council and the Asmodeus Clan had gone on for weeks. The Council had wanted to initially offer up a male warrior to seal the treaty, while the Asmodeus Clan had wanted a female noble angel. The compromise was me, a female warrior angel descended from an Arch Angel. I was of a bloodline suitable for holding a Council seat if I could get the right supporters behind me. I just had to make it through this trial by demonic fire.
What was and was not allowed during the treaty sealing session had been agonized over between both groups. I could not be permanently harmed in any lasting, physical fashion by the demon I was being given to. I didn't even know what my tormenter would look like, only that he would be one of the strongest of the Asmode. Rumors of fighting among the demon clan for the role of treaty sealer had run rampant. Members of their royal family had even entered the tournament to win the honor, though we hadn't heard who had won the tournament to represent the Asmode at the sealing of the treaty.
Time slipped by slowly as I waited for my fate. The only sounds were the crackle of the braziers as they burned through the wood within them. From the smell of the smoke, they were olive, I noted without any real interest. Tension slowly slid away as boredom set in and I sat down on the dais, drawing my knees up to my chest. I had been rushed around for the past two days and now the Asmode wasn't even on time. My eyes fell closed as a light slumber claimed me.
An indeterminable time later, the sound of the great doors opening woke me. The chains snapped taught, pulling me from the ground with a loud yelp. I pressed my lips closed as I looked toward the closing doors to see a tall figure in a hooded cape.
"Forgive my lateness, I was caught up in protocol," the figure said in a voice that held a husky quality to it. The pitch was higher than I'd expected. "So they've truly sent the Angel Ruequel to satisfy the treaty. An Angel known among my people as the Porcelain Blade for her fair skin and incredible skill with sword and glaive alike. I thought for sure they would send one of the more... promiscuous angels."
"Only the strongest, the purest of us could withstand your advances," I growled back. "Show yourself and let us get this over with."
A brief chuckle while a slender hand reached up to the hood of the cloak. "Ever so impatient, my dear one. There is time enough for all sorts of things and I have no plan to rush any of it. I am the Asmode demoness Deus'ia Asmodeus-reija."
My retort died on my lips as the hood was pushed back, the cloak thrown off. It was not the hulking male Asmode as I had feared. It wasn't even one of their males. To carry the name of the clan marked her as one of its royal family and the honorific she used, -reija, meant that she was their crown princess. I had come in expecting a warrior and had gotten the demoness known as the Crown Princess of Desire. The one being I had ever been interested in after the death of my beloved. But I had never approached her for fear of rejection or a bloody fight.
Angels, by their nature, tended to love where they found love, not discriminating between genders. Some were more prone toward homo-or heterosexuality but the majority of us were bisexual, especially on the Terran side. Part of the reason I had been chosen for this assignment was my experience with a rough, battle hardened lover in the past. I had enjoyed the strength he had shown in our lovemaking. However, my experience with him ill prepared me for what this demoness could or would do to me. I had collected stories of the Princess of Desire over the past decades and all were full of decadence, lasciviousness and more sexual positions then the entire Kama Sutra.
The demoness in question was a woman built on tall, lush lines with delicate blue-black wings held behind her. She wore a sleeveless robe that fit tight over her chest before falling in loose waves to the floor. Tiny horns peeked through her crimson hair. Her skin was the color of café au latte with eyes that shone like a brilliant amber topaz. A sinuous, gliding walk brought her beside the dais.
She ran her delicately boned hand down the side of my face, crimson nails held carefully away. "I see we surprised you. We Asmode are not as cruel as the Council of Balance believes us to be, nor are we ruled by our males. The strongest among us are not the males at all but the females. For only a female can truly experience... well, you'll find out soon enough, I suppose. I will wake passion within you, for that is a great strength. So at the minimum, you will not leave this only memories."
Useless panic tried to flare through me as I desperately fought it down. Instead of a simple ravishing, I was in for something unknown at the hands of what could only be a Succubus. My voice held steady as I said, "Being strong in passion is not the same as true strength."
"You think not," she asked, tilting her head to the side and flashing those hauntingly lovely eyes. "Passion is what inspires mortal and immortal alike, Ruequel. Your passion to stand strong and not be destroyed by my anticipated attack is a form of strength. What is life without passion?"
She slid behind me and I couldn't turn in the taught chains to follow her progress. Shivers ran through me as she released a burst of magical energy. Her dress went flying past me to land at the bottom of the steps that led up the dais I was chained upon.
"Ah, that's far more comfortable," she whispered near my ear. "The more human appearance, the one we use to interact with the Council of Balance, can be a bit confining."
I felt something slide over my lower back as she leaned closer to press her breasts over where my wings would spring forth from if I called them. Her hands slid around to caress my belly, confusing me.
"What are you doing," I hissed as her hands slid upward stopping just shy of my breasts.
"It's called foreplay, Ruequel," she said, her breath tickling my ear. She pressed her lips against the side of my neck in a gentle kiss. "Surely the Council did not send me a blushing virgin."
"Of course not," I growled back at her, trying to twist away from her as something caressed my back again. I wasn't a virgin but I wasn't that far from it. Like some young angels, I, in spite of being bisexual, took only one lover at a time and stayed faithful until their death. My lover had died at the end of his mortal life over fifty years ago and there had been no other since. I hadn't desired another after that I could attain his death so I threw myself into combat to ease the pain of my loss. To ease the loneliness of that loss.
