Hell's Gate

Because there is a lot of setup in this chapter and not much in the way of advancing the plot, I've focused on exploring some new characters/sexual themes.

The next chapter will contain a lot of plot and probably only one scene of erotica.

Chapter 4: Counsel

{Wraith's Castle; evening}

With a massive groan, Taint sat up from his reclined position, gritting his teeth at the pain that shot through his chest with the movement and blinking away the blurriness in his vision from being unconscious for so long. He was in a bed in a massive bedchamber, covered with blood red sheets. Someone had stripped the suit from his body and placed a thick cloth bandage on his chest, just over his heart.

With his vision rapidly becoming less obscured, Taint was able to get a better look at the chamber, and recognized it immediately by the chains that hung from the ceiling, permanently installed to meet the needs of their owner. A variety of tools hung on the stone walls and a fire blazed in the fireplace, warming the room comfortably.

"I knew you'd pull through," a deep voice said from near the door of the bedchamber.

"Lord Wraith, what am I doing in your bed?" Taint's voice sounded weak to his ears, but fairly good considering the injury in his chest.

Wraith came closer to the bed, the chains on his pants making a racket as he walked, "Slake brought you here," his solid black eyes were filled with worry, "She told me what happened at the Wall."

What had happened was a disaster, Taint recalled faintly. Somehow the Archangels had discovered that it was Taint who had kidnapped Olivia and had sent one of their members to kill him, a fearsome creature with a golden bow. The last thing he remembered was being shot in the chest with a silver arrow and his little Angel crying out for him...

"Where is Olivia?" Taint demanded, sitting up further in bed and causing another sharp stab of pain to lance through his chest.

"Safe, my friend," Wraith assured, placing a large hand on Taint's shoulder and guiding him back down, "She was unconscious when Slake got here with you both, but is now awake and asking for you. She saved your life, you know."

Shocked, Taint looked up at Wraith with surprise. He had not expected Olivia to turn against her own kind for him. To take on an Archangel and survive must have taken an enormous amount of effort on her part; more than he truly deserved. Whatever punishment she would have received for being with him in violation of Angel chastity laws would pale in comparison to whatever the Angels would have in store for her now. Exile, most likely, if not death.

"I want to see her," Taint said, struggling to sit up against Wraith's strong grip on his shoulder.

The other demon shook his head, "You need to rest, my friend. You just took an Archangel's arrow to the chest," he gave Taint that same worried expression from a second ago, "Which we need to discuss."

"What's to discuss? I made a mistake, put Hell in danger and Olivia in an impossible situation."

"Whatever that Angel did was by her own choice," Wraith said roughly, "And Hell's been in danger for a long time now. You cannot blame yourself for those things."

"I don't even know how they found out she was here," Taint shook his head, giving up on his efforts to resist Wraith's hand.

"Did anybody with the ability to communicate with the Spirit Dimension know who Olivia is?"

For a moment Taint thought it over, and then swore loudly, pounding his fist on the bed, "Shit!"

"What is it?"

"Clava," Taint said angrily, "She knew..." The Keykeeper was one of the few demons in Hell who could communicate or travel to the realms from Hell; barring goblins and other minor demons that just slipped by the Gate's weakened defenses. Or did, they would not be able to now that the Wall was repaired.

Wraith looked thoughtful, "But why would she tell the Archangels? She hates Angels."

It didn't make sense to Taint either. For one thing, she had Gabriel captive in her own castle. And Wraith was right, Clava's sole mission as Keykeeper had been to keep Hell's Gate firmly shut. Or that is what she claimed.

"I don't know," he admitted, "But we need to be careful. I am not sure who we can trust."

There was a knock at the door, and Slake peered inside, her hood covering her face. "Lord Wraith, is Lord Taint awake?"

"I am," Taint answered from the bed, "Come in."

Slake entered, shutting the door and turning her head up at Wraith, "I would like to talk to him alone, if that is ok."

With a final, harried look at Taint, Wraith nodded, "He's all yours. I'll go check on Olivia."

When he had left, Slake addressed Taint, "My Lord, the situation along the Wall is dire. Six Archangels are threatening to storm the Gatekeepers' castles if the King of Angels and Olivia are not turned over at once. The only Archangel not to show up was Michael himself."

"Are we threatened here?" Taint asked.

If he could see her face, he was sure Slake was smirking by the tone of her voice, "One is trying to threaten, but he will only find an empty shell if he ever enters the castle. I have altered the plane of existence around this place for the time being. No Angels allowed."

"You truly are an extraordinary sorceress," Taint complimented, never ceasing to be amazed by Slake's abilities, "How long can we be shielded like this?"

"A few days at the most," Slake admitted, "Even my powers have their limits and this spell is not an easy one to maintain."

"I appreciate your efforts. It will give us time to figure out what to do next...whatever that is."

"Might I suggest confronting the Keykeeper directly?" Slake suggested calmly.

Taint frowned, "What do you know about that?"

"I know that she is behind this attack."

"How?"

"Who else could it be? She's the only one with an open line between the Spirit Dimension and Hell. Plus, you let her see Olivia." This last part she said with a hint of reproach. At least she did not know the whole story, about Clava having Gabriel in custody. "In my opinion, you have gotten too close to that Angel," Slake continued, "Two days ago you had her trussed up in your bedchamber with questionable intentions."

Taint did not comment. It was not Slake's place to comment on his choices. What he needed to do was get out of bed and find Olivia. Once he knew she was safe, he would begin to plan his next move. Open war with the Keykeeper was not something he wished to consider, but the situation was looking very dire. The last time Archangels had entered Hell, they had overseen the construction of the Gate, ending a long era of peace between Angels and demons. Old wounds could easily be reopened.

"Activate my healer so I can put this arrow business behind me," Taint requested, flexing his arm across his chest and exposing a red rune tattooed on his bicep to Slake.

The sorceress bowed shallowly, and reached out with her hand. At a single word from Slake's mouth, the rune began to burn and glow against Taint's pale skin. He gritted his teeth against the pain the burning caused. Tingles crept along his arm to his chest where the arrow had pierced. Beneath his bandage, he could feel the magic of the rune work on the wound, healing it in moments where it would have taken his body days.

Slake herself had marked his body with the many markings; each one of the dozens he possessed serving a separate purpose. Some were rarely used and required Slake's help to activate, like the healing rune, but others were activated more often and with minimal effort, like the black rune at the base of his neck that allowed him instant communication with his fellow Gatekeepers. They hurt each time they were activated, but that was the small price he was willing to pay to use the powerful magic.

After a few minutes, the pain in his bicep receded and the rune stopped glowing, confirming that his chest wound was fully healed. With a snap of his fingers, the bandage disappeared, revealing smooth skin beneath. Conjuring and traveling were easy magic and required no price for their use, which was why Taint utilized them often.

The pain of moving gone, Taint swung from his bed, conjuring his clothes with a snap. "Please take me to see Olivia," he asked.

"Of course, she is in..." Slake turned toward the door, which opened with a bang, "Here."

Indeed, Olivia was standing in the doorway, dressed in the leather armor she had worn at the battle the day before, although her skirt had been replaced with pants that clung to her legs tightly. Her golden sword hung at her hips and her hair was pulled back and tied behind her head. She looked ready for war.

"Taint!" she cried, walking swiftly to where he stood admiring her and flinging her arms around him, "Thank god you're alive."

Pulling his Angel close to his body, Taint returned the embrace softly, "Let's be careful who we thank, little Angel. But yes, I am alive and healed."

Olivia looked up into his eyes, "I'm sorry for bringing this upon you. It's my fault the Archangels came."

"No," Taint shook his head, "It is my fault for taking you in the first place. But that is neither here nor there; we must decide what to do next."

"I'm afraid that decision may have already been made," Olivia confessed with a small frown.

Wraith had appeared at some point and now spoke from the doorway, "They're here, Taint. All of them."

Taint frowned at his friend, who filled the doorway with his massive size, "Who?"

"The other Gatekeepers," Wraith explained, rubbing his bald head, "And they want to meet with you. They've called a counsel."

Gulping, Taint nodded, "Of course," he unwrapped himself from Olivia's embrace, "Perhaps a different attire would be more appropriate." With a snap, he was dressed in his own leather armor and sword.

"All of them?" Slake asked, sounding a little hopeful.

Both Wraith and Taint smiled at a common thought while Olivia looked at them in confusion. "All of them," Wraith confirmed, "And they don't like to be kept waiting."

"Then let us not keep them any longer," Taint announced, and with a deep breath walked to the door, "Lead the way, Lord Wraith."

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{Hell's Door, evening}

Having just received a very warm welcome from her visitor, Clava was laying against his huge chest, with one hand lazily tracing the muscles of his stomach. The evidence of their recent encounter trickled out of from inside her and onto her thighs warmly. They made strange bedfellows, but it was not the first time they had enjoyed each other's company. They had, after all, been scheming together for years.

She had met the Archangel while her father was still the Keykeeper. Michael had been visiting Hell on one of his routine checks of Hell's Gate. Unbeknownst to Clava at the time, he had actually been checking for political rather than physical weakness among the Gate's protectors. But Clava's father had run a tight ship, and his Gatekeepers were deeply loyal. Or they had been, until Clava began a rumor that ended up getting her father killed.

During one of his visits, Michael had approached Clava and seduced her with a grand scheme he had been planning for a "very long time". All grown up by then and hungry for a power only her father possessed, Clava had allied with the Archangel. Using her penchant for spreading lies and mischief, she had started an innocent rumor among the Gatekeepers that resulted in Lord Taint declaring war on her father. He met the challenge, although had been completely shocked at the show of disloyalty from his most powerful Gatekeeper.

It was during that battle that Clava snuck up on her father and stabbed him in the back. When it was declared that the Keykeeper was dead, the battle was halted. The Gatekeepers had taken heavy losses, and so, with Clava declared the new Keykeeper, had sued for peace, unsure that declaring war had been the right choice to begin with.

After seizing power, her affair with Michael continued for almost one hundred years. Both knew they would have to try and be patient for their ultimate plans to work and so had waited with minimal advancement all those years. Finally, frustrated, Clava had decided to attack the Wall by manipulating lesser demons, weakening the defenses between Hell and the other realms a little at a time until the time that it would finally fall. It was a choppy and brutish plan, but she was running out of patience.

And then Lord Taint had slipped her a golden opportunity by sneaking his goblins past the Wall's weakened defenses and kidnapping an Angel princess. Upon discovery, Clava had immediately met with Michael, and together they hatched an elegant but effective plan that would finally see their ambitions come to light. Now, with all the players in place, they were meeting once more; after a heated welcome that left both shining with sweat and eager for more.

"This is it," Clava said, snuggling closer to Michael's body, "All these years."

She felt the Archangel's chest rumble beneath her cheek as he chuckled, "Who knew we would be able to get rid of both of our problems with one move. The Gatekeepers and Archangels will all but destroy each other."

"They will figure out our plan sooner or later if they have not already," Clava cautioned. It was typical of Michael to get ahead of himself with his arrogance.

"Do not worry about that," Michael said, "By the time they can do anything to stop us, it will be too late."

Clava sat up onto her knees to look down at the naked Archangel, "I will continue to worry until you are King of the Angels and I rule all of Hell. Only then will I be satisfied that we have done our job to its completion."

Michael sat up as well to lean against the headboard of the bed they had collapsed into almost immediately upon greeting each other, "As long as the Archangels die and the Gatekeepers are sufficiently weakened, you will have all that and more," he reached out a hand to Clava. She took it and giggled like a young maiden as he pulled her onto his lap with powerful arms. Apparently their break was over.

Straddling his hips, Clava felt the flesh of Michael's manhood press against her backside, hard as iron. She cocked her head to the side and placed a kiss on his lips, pressing her palms against the hard wall of his chest. Clava moaned when he returned it, slipping his tongue between her lips to duel with her own. A familiar heat began to form around her sex and she could feel moisture begin to build around it, joining the already copious amounts from their previous session.

"Tell me all those Angels you fuck in the City aren't nearly as good as me," Clava pouted, pulling away from Michael's mouth and humping her hips against him, depositing some of her arousal on his skin.

"They don't even come close," Michael promised, reaching up and cupping her large breasts in his hands, squeezing them and caressing her nipples against his palms.

Pushing against him, Clava arched her chest into his hands, "Good, now lay down flat."

Releasing her breasts, Michael complied, using his arms to slide his body down the bed until he was lying on his back, his head supported by pillows, looking up at the demoness currently straddling him. With a secret smile, Clava stood, her sex leaking down her thighs, and turned around so her back was facing him. Then, coming back down, she slid her lower body along his, getting closer to his head and leaving a trail of moisture along the way.

Understanding her intentions, Michael gripped her thighs roughly and yanked her up the last few inches so that her cunt was positioned right above his head. With her breasts pressing into his lower abdomen, Clava gripped his cock and stroked it a few times before placing a tender kiss on the head, tasting the salty drop of pre-cum that had formed there.

"Naughty girl," Michael smiled and licked her slit, beginning with her clit and following it to just below her ass.

Clava moaned and her inner walls fluttered, coating her outer lips and Michael's chin with arousal. He licked her there again as she took the head of his cock completely into her mouth, worshiping it with her tongue. His hips bucked upward, forcing another inch of his shaft inside.

Deliberately, she continued down his cock, running her tongue along his pole as he used his own tongue to pleasure her. When she reached the base of his member, she let out an involuntary moan when Michael sucked her clit into his mouth.

Clava pulled her mouth off of Michael's cock, wet with her saliva, before taking it again. As she began to suck him with earnest, he parted her pussy with two fingers, spearing his tongue between them and stimulating the sensitive inner flesh.

Pausing at the intrusion, Clava hissed in pleasure and ground her hips against Michael's mouth to get closer as he fucked her with is tongue, releasing a wave of arousal that coated his face and ran down his chin and neck.

"Don't stop," she moaned, leaning forward to lick along his shaft, feeling herself begin to approach orgasm as his tongue hit all the right spots. He was not the best lover she had ever had, but he got the job done.

Michael continued and while one hand parted her lips, the other pinched and played with her clit. With this added stimulation it was not long until Clava lost control. "Fuck!" she cried, arching her back and throwing back her head as she came. A rush of cum erupted from her cunt, nearly drowning Michael as he endeavored to take it all into his mouth. It was the third time she had cum that day, and she would not be surprised if she experienced a fourth. She prided herself on being a very sexual demon, accepting it as both a pleasurable pastime and a tool for manipulation.

Even with Clava's orgasm beginning to subside, Michael continued to lap at her pussy, drawing out her pleasure and giving her reason to resume sucking his cock. But she did so more quickly now, bobbing her head along his shaft to bring him his own release. The taste of cum was one her favorites, and the thought of him shooting his load into her mouth sent shocks of pleasure straight to her cunt.

"I'm almost there," Michael warned, his voice muffled and strained.

Trying to ignore the growing pressure in her pussy as another orgasm approached, Clava concentrated on her efforts on Michael's cock until she felt his mouth still against her cunt and his body harden beneath hers. Sensing his impending release, she pulled her mouth off his shaft and positioned her lips around his head, waiting for his cum. When it came, he groaned against her sex, sending vibrations along her sensitive flesh.

She swallowed the first few blasts of cum with ease, but as they continued to come in copious amounts, they soon filled her mouth. Unable to keep up, Clava had to allow some of it to dribble out of the corner of her mouth and down her chin, painting her flesh white.

After what felt like an eternity, Michael's orgasm subsided, and Clava was able to swallow the last of his cum and pull his cock out of her mouth. Satisfied, she sat up, sliding back down his chest and turning her body around so that she was facing him, thighs straddling his hard stomach. Streaks of cum still flowed from the corner of her mouth, and she reached up to wipe it off, sucking it off her fingers with a lust-filled moan.

"Dirty girl," Michael growled.

"Not quite done," Clava said, and reached her down between her thighs. Her pussy was still soaking from her orgasms. She shoved two fingers inside, sliding them in up to their second knuckles. Curling them upward, she began to plunge her fingers into her snatch, filling the room with a sloshing sound as she frigged herself to the orgasm Michael had not finished giving her.