. 08

Despite the solid ground Matt stood on, he felt completely discombobulated.

There was no up.

No down.

No left or right.

Everything was just infinite blackness.

He was eventually able to get used to the cold. There was nothing he could do about it, anyway. It wasn't a normal kind of cold. It was a chill that went through his entire body. He could even feel it in the marrow of his bones, and he didn't even know how that was possible.

But if there was anything the past few months had taught Matt it was that the world was a weird place. Weirder than most people would ever know. If he let everything he didn't understand overwhelm him he'd never do anything.

So first thing first, Matt tried to call out to someone.

Anyone.

But no voice came out.

That was when he realized he wasn't breathing.

Wherever he was, there was no air here.

That alone caused a short jolt of panic despite the fact that if he was going to suffocate, surely he would have by now. Even still, 'I have no mouth, and I must scream' popped in his head.

Wait...

Did he have a mouth?

Did he have a body?

He couldn't see any of it, which was beginning to seriously mess with his perception. The endless void became all the more frightening when he thought on these things too much, so he forced himself to stop. It wasn't helping. Instead he focused on what he knew. He was on solid ground.

There.

To feel solid ground, he needed feet.

That was something.

What if he didn't want there to be a ground?

What if he wanted to rise above it?

The firm feeling beneath him began to descend, giving Matt a feeling of weightlessness.

So there was an up.

Or at the very least what he could define as an up. Matt chose to keep going in that direction. He didn't know how long he did it for, but eventually there was something other than blackness below him. The sudden contrast surprised him. It was almost too bright for the darkness he'd become accustomed to.

Matt tried to make sense of it. Was he on some odd black island with white water?

No.

Whatever the whiteness was, it didn't move in a way that he'd associate with water or any kind of liquid. It looked at solid as the void.

Going steadily higher, Matt was able to make out that it was a white ring around the black island, and after that ring was more blackness. But it was so immense in size that the more he tried to comprehend what he was seeing, the more overwhelming it became.

And that was when it hit him.

Matt shot up with a gasp. He initially felt a throbbing sensation in his arm that he thought was pain, but it was more... intensity. It just happened to be so intense that the closest feeling he could attach to it was pain. All of this was of course, before Laila borderline tackled him.

"MASTER!" Laila sobbed, gripping him tightly. "DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN!"

"What... the...

fuck

... is going on here?" Lilith murmured, her voice laced with so many conflicting emotions that it only confused her further.

Matt went to respond but he was instantly overwhelmed. He could feel the mixture of fear, panic, and relief from not only his familiars but the deities connected to him. He'd obviously scared them, and he scared them shitless. A wave of guilt came over him as he pet Laila's head and let her get the tears she needed to get out. Being at ground zero, it was hardest on her. Not to say that the confusion from everyone else wasn't making things just as chaotic in his head.

Focusing on his hand, his symbol appeared, a way to communicate to them all at once. "Everyone. I'm okay. I'm sorry that I worried you all. I... did something a little reckless and it bit me in the ass. But I'm okay. I just went... somewhere else for a while. I promise I'll visit each of you and explain everything when I can. I'm

okay

."

"A

little

reckless?" Lilith questioned. "Went somewhere for a while? You were

dead

."

Matt rolled his eyes. "You're being overdramatic."

"THE FUCK SHE IS!" Laila roared through her tears. "You went limp! You stopped breathing! Your heart stopped beating! Your soul was gone! You were fucking

dead

, Master!"

"Except that he's clearly not

now

..." Lilith murmured. "Which is yet another weird thing."

"Have you... actually met Death?" Matt asked with a pondering tone.

"Once." Lilith answered. "Death wanted to make it clear that just because I don't age doesn't mean that I'm above dying when it's my time."

"What are his eyes like?"

"His-...? Well... to be honest, they're a lot like yours when you went all wingy. Only-"

"They have white irises." Matt finished, sure now that he saw what he thought he did. He still didn't know what jolted him out of it. Something had hit him. An eyelash, maybe? He could sort that out later. "So, I think it's safe to say that Death was firing a warning shot..."

"Death doesn't

do

warning shots." Lilith said definitively

"Pretty sure this was my second one..." Matt muttered, remembering the cold he felt when he tried to bring back Lynette and Laila's reaction to that.

Lilith's eyes bulged. "You've done this

twice

?!"

"Three times, actually." Laila grumbled.

"To be fair, it worked the first time." Matt shrugged.

"You... brought back the dead... without a soul exchange. Which not only worked... but you were able to provoke Death two more times... And you're still alive..." Lilith recounted, the blend of awe and confusion clear on her face.

"Maybe

you

can talk some sense into him." Laila huffed. Her tears had finally stopped somewhat, but it was clear in her expressions that the emotions were still raw. "He clearly doesn't listen to

me

..."

"Laila..." Matt sighed, pressing his forehead to Laila's to get her undivided attention. "I

do

listen to you. I do. I fucked up. And I'm sorry. I promise I won't try to bring back the dead like that again."

"I watched you die." Laila choked out, her eyes beginning to well up again. "You

made me

watch you die."

"I still don't think that I really died th-" Matt began before feeling the rage boiling in Laila well before it reached her face. "Okay...

okay

... I'm sorry. I won't put you through that again. I'll never die."

"Don't get cute with me..." Laila murmured.

"What do we say to the god of Death?" Matt asked, with a smirk.

Laila's eyes bulged and her anger returned. "Master, I swear-"

"Not today!"

"Why do you make it so hard to love you?" Laila shook her head, pursing her lips together to avoid giving Matt any satisfaction of her amusement.

"Ugh, that last season was a shitshow..." Lilith groaned.

"See... everybody says that. But it was just too rushed. If they just did the same things but spread it out across a normal length season so it could breathe-"

"Master, we are not having this conversation right now." Laila said sternly, not only feeling it, but seeing Matt's eyes drooping as his movements were gradually becoming more sluggish, despite his jovial attitude. "You're tired."

"Death probably takes a lot out of someone. Even you." Lilith commented, noticing Matt's steadily declining consciousness.

"Yeah... Let's go home." Matt grumbled. "We can debate TV shows later."

"Oh really?" Lilith purred seductively. "That implies you're taking me 'home' with you."

Matt looked over to his father's corpse, a frown forming on his lips. "I am. I still need you for something."

Laila's expression immediately darkened in direct contrast with Lilith's beaming smile. Laila personally didn't think keeping Lilith anywhere near her currently weakened Master was a good idea. But as he had said before, if she steps out of line either her or Mara will just kill the bitch. "As you wish, Master."

Once Laila had teleported them back to the temple, Matt had barely enough time to announce himself before he was instantly tackled to the floor. He would have been more alarmed if he hadn't sensed the culprit before the action.

"MASTER!" Teriana wailed, clutching Matt almost painfully tight. It reminded him of when he first acknowledged her as his, not entirely aware of how she took it at the time.

Matt just smiled down at her, kissing the top of her head as she continued to let it out. "I'm sorry, Sweetheart. I'm so sorry for worrying you. I promise I'll be more careful."

"Please..." Teriana begged through her sobs. "I was so,

so

scared... You were just...

gone

! I couldn't feel you! I couldn't feel Laila! I couldn't feel anyone! I didn't know what was going on! I thought you were

dead

! Please don't scare me like that again, Master! I can't take it!"

Teriana's emotions were so intense that they were overwhelming. Matt couldn't focus on anything else, and he felt at least partially, that it was by design. He could feel along with her genuine worry that there was a desperate desire to be acknowledged. When Matt opened his mouth to speak, he immediately found Teriana's lips on his, the intensity from the kiss even stronger than her usual aura.

"I love you!" Teriana moaned in between kisses. "I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you! I love you so much!"

Matt's eyes bulged at both the display of affection as well as the words. There was part of him exasperated by the fact that he hadn't been able to make the moment as special as he'd planned, but he could also see why Teriana didn't wait until their day when she probably knew that he would tell her first. And it touched him as much as it made him feel guilty. "I love you too, Teri. I can't tell you as... passionately but I really do."

"I know, Master. You're tired." Teriana smiled. "But do you know how much I love you? Can you feel it?"

Matt softly kissed Teriana back. He

could

feel it. She was much more desperate to make it clear how much she loved him than to know how much it was returned. He really had some work to do on their day. But even so, as he accepted her feelings, their intensity lessened enough that he was finally able to take in the rest of the room.

"-thew! MATTHEW!" Lilith called out repeatedly.

Teriana moved to the side to allow Matt to see the issue. Currently Mara was snarling ferally with her teeth bared, and Lilith was barely holding the demon back from snapping at her. "Mara..." Matt sighed.

"I'm not going to kill her." Mara growled, snapping her teeth again. "I'm just going to hurt her

very

badly."

"You're literally trying to bite my head off!" Lilith teleported away from the attack just to have Mara immediately pounce on her when she reappeared.

"What? The great Lilith can't survive a mere beheading? Stop running you little cunt!"

Matt sat up with Teriana's assistance and he narrowed his eyes. He initially thought Mara's fury was because Lilith had wronged her somehow in the past. And then he realized from Laila's eye rolling reaction what the actual problem was and another wave of guilt hit him. "Mara. Stop. It wasn't her fault."

Mara stopped her attack but continued to growl, pinning Lilith to the wall. "Fine. I won't hurt her. But I swear Master... I swear to

You

. If she leads you somewhere and you get hurt or worse again, I'm going to kill Lucifer's slut and just accept your punishment. And... and if you can't punish me... because... because you're-... Lilith, if I lose my Master because of you I am going to hurt you so fucking bad that GOD HIMSELF WOULDN'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO

BEGIN

PUTTING YOU BACK TOGETHER!"

"Mara..." Matt sighed. When he called her this time, Mara let Lilith go and seemed to deflate. Even then, he could see her eyes welling up and her own emotions bubbling over in her fury and confusion. "Do you need a hug too?"

"Master..." Mara sobbed, dropping her head.

"Come on." Matt offered as Teriana moved to one side, leaving the other side open. Mara moved slower than necessary but by the time she reached him, she was crying just as hard as the other two were.

"...is there room for me?" Laila asked demurely.

"Of course there is. Get in here." Matt said warmly. He could feel the conflict in Laila's emotions. He thought she was just worn out and staying out of everything to give the other two time with him. But he could also feel the guilt in her as well. It was yet another reminder that as often as it was his familiars protecting him, that they were his responsibility as well. Matt hated them all being this distraught.

Seeing movement in his peripheral vision, Matt saw that Lilith was basically primping herself. Fixing all the rips and tears that Mara had put in her clothing as well as running her fingers threw her hair and straightening that as well. She caught Matt's gaze and winked back, seemingly content to not join in the hugging orgy, which was probably for the best. He didn't have the slightest clue what he was going to do with her. But that was clearly a problem for tomorrow's Matt as his heavy eyelids finally surrendered.

***

To say Lilith was vain about her appearance would be an understatement. She just unapologetically got off on being sexy. It was one of the few things in her very long life that brought her joy. Especially when there was a new target to tempt. And Matt was definitely that. If the world was going to end, then they were going fuck each other's brains out before it happened. Smiling back at her reflection and being happy with the gorgeous creature who smiled back, Lilith made her way into the bedroom.

She could hear Matt groaning inside and was disappointed to find him still asleep.

"He's having a nightmare." Teriana stated to Lilith. "Well...it's currently closer to a wet dream, but it will become a nightmare. It always does."

Lilith had seen Teriana teleport everyone into the bedroom after Laila and Mara had fallen asleep, so her being there and being awake wasn't much of a surprise. But there was something that Lilith did find curious. "Why aren't you in the bed with everyone else? There's plenty of room."

"As you're no doubt aware, deities do not sleep." Teriana replied, moving her long hair to the side. "I feel... Master's sleeping familiars gain more by having this time with him. Especially since I'm best suited to... wake him when the nightmare comes."

"I bet you are." Lilith purred, licking her lips at the clear tent being pitched under the covers. "Want any help... waking him?"

Teriana finally turned her attention from Matt for the first time since Lilith had entered the room. "I do believe the correct saying for this situation would be... Fuck... off..."

Lilith's eyes widened at the casual rudeness but before she could truly reply, Teriana continued.

"I abhor violence. It just wasn't something I was designed for. Because of this, I'm not as useful to Master as his other familiars. But this is something I can do. It's a time that is just for me and him. A time where I don't have to share his affections. He can just look at me as he fills my mouth and calls me good girl. His goddess."

"I could just watch..." Lilith offered, slowly smirking.

"The other benefit to me being so peaceful in nature..." Teriana continued, "...is that unlike Laila and Mara, Master has never had to make me promise that I wouldn't kill anyone without his permission. So if I had the sudden urge to fight my nature and brutally murder someone in excruciating detail... I wouldn't technically be disobeying him..."

Lilith paused during the following silence as her smirk became a full-blown smile. "Or I could just go back to the garden and leave you to it."

"If that is what you wish." Teriana turned her attention back to Matt and ran her fingers through his hair as his moans began to turn, the panic in his sleep addled mind beginning to grow just as she predicted.

"It's okay, Master. I'm here."

***

"I could be wrong here." Lilith said before taking a bite of her very blackened bacon. "But I don't think you all like me very much."

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Mara snarled, before glaring at the remaining food on Lilith's plate and burning it further.

"Just the subtleties, you know?" Lilith shrugged and continued to eat the thoroughly nuked meal. "But it doesn't really matter does it? Matthew needs me. He said so himself."

"For

something

." Laila clarified. "He needs you for a task. Temporarily."

Lilith smiled back at the angel. "Because Matthew is absolutely the kind of person who would use me and then throw me away after he's done?"

There was an irritated silence after Lilith's comment from Matt's three familiars. And this was the scene that greeted him as he came from the bedroom. "Morning every... one..."

Lilith grinned widely, bobbing her crossed legs up and down to show herself off further. Her tight, shiny and incredibly low cut dress couldn't have been any shorter and still been referred to as a dress. The plunging line of cleavage went down to just below her bellybutton and the material accented every contour of her form. Lilith let Matt enjoy the view for a few moments before purring, "Better than coffee in the morning aren't I?"

Mara's eyes narrowed menacingly. "Good morning, Master. Would you like me to take care of all those extra souls Lilith has? It would get rid of that

pesky

lust aura she's giving off."

Both Lilith and Matt's eyes bulged in surprise. "You can do that?"

This time Mara was the one turning on the charm, leaning forward to accentuate her still unparalleled bust. "Of course I can. I'm an

actual

demon."

Matt noticed Lilith's skeptical look at the comment. "What are you?" He finally asked. Everyone seemed to be constantly saying what Lilith wasn't and it piqued his curiosity.

"Technically speaking, I'm human." Lilith shrugged. "Though I like to think of myself as an apex human. I'm what humanity was supposed to be. Immortal, immune to disease, I could go on."

"Giving birth to demons?" Matt asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lilith threw back her head into a loud cackle. "Let's just say when my Daddy grounded me for being a bad girl, my punishment was permanent, as most punishments he doled out at that time were. I can only give birth to succubi and incubi. I just took my lemons and filled the world with lemonade."

"Which means that unlike her children,

she

doesn't need souls to survive." Mara chimed in, reminding Matt of the point at hand.

"Does that mean you'd get the lust aura instead?" Matt asked, clearly skeptical of which option would be worse.

"No, Master." Mara grinned. "There would be no change in me. I have a much bigger... capacity... than Lilith."

"Hm... capacity. Is that what you call them?" Lilith teased, the grin never leaving her face.

"I call them Master's actually." Mara shot back with grin to rival Lilith's, along with a deliberate jiggle of her ample chest.

"Mine are his as well, technically speaking." Lilith replied, trailing her expertly manicured fingers along her exposed cleavage.

"I thought we were friends." Matt grumbled, trying to keep his libido in check with both gorgeous women battling over which turns him on more.

"Friends don't usually give friends orders that they have to follow." Lilith sensually licked her lips. "Or am I misunderstanding what friendship is? Do I have the option of disobeying you if I think I'm right, as a 'friend' would?"

Matt's eyes narrowed. It was Aphrodite all over again. But he trusted Lilith significantly less. Rolling his eyes with an exasperated sigh, Matt caved in. "Fine. I own you. For now."

Lilith had just enough time to start beaming with joy when Matt turned to Mara. "Take the souls. Don't hurt her."

"Oh don't worry about that, Matthew. The soul transfer process in this case depends on my pleasure. You can watch if you worry for my... wellbeing."