Thank you for taking a look at the first story I've posted here! There isn't any sex in this chapter, so sorry if you're looking for a quick thrill but that is not what I'm here to deliver. I still hope you'll take the time to read and let me know what you think! Be warned that there will be some mild non-consensual themes in future chapters. Also, most of the sex in this story will be between characters of the same gender, as this was originally born of my desire to write a story about a bunch of LGBT+ characters. All characters who will engage in sexual activity are over the age of 18.
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PROLOGUE
The rapture never came. God turned his face from the Earth and, exercising a fallen sense of humor, Lucifer opened the gates of hell and released demons upon the Earth. Lesser demons, their form often akin to reptiles, and their humanoid demon brethren terrorized the world. Their might varied, often possessing magical or elemental powers that were limited only by their imagination and will. One thing remained constant, though, which is that demonic energy and sexual energy were one and the same.
Pure demons could not exist without taking sexual energy from other higher beings, whether those beings be human, demonic, or something in between. Demons bred easily with humans, for humans are not far from demons themselves. Part-demons became more and more numerous, possessing power of varying degree, until pure humans were all but wiped out. The newly created hybrids varied greatly, from the traditional depiction of horned and tailed horrors to those who almost pass for human. Horns, claws, scaly skin, glowing eyes, and natural pink hair were all possible.
Bored and wishing for the company of his subjects Lucifer recalled his demons to hell. Only the strongest were able to resist and remain on their playground Earth, but the damage was done. Earth was overrun with part-demons and the offspring of the lesser demons who had not been born in hell. Society had collapsed and reformed, the new variety in the population and lack of government or religious influence removing many prejudices or inhibitions that had plagued the Earth before demons. Technology had progressed, but there was no space age future for the citizens of Earth.
The great demons that remained took it upon themselves to establish what could only be likened to kingdoms: large stretches of territory, most often centered on a city, where they allowed normal activity to resume as long as a tithe of sexual energy was paid to them.
Of course, demons could not be peaceful, and disputes over territory could level an entire city. Almost eighty years after Lucifer recalled his subjects things had quieted down, but one should never become comfortable in times of peace.
CHAPTER ONE
Lacuna pressed her palm flat to the heavy door and shoved with her mind. She felt the power rush out of her fingers and weaken the steel, allowing her to push it aside like rice paper and gain access to the room beyond. Clicking her tongue to the roof of her mouth she took it all in, from the empty cages hanging high on the ceiling to the debris scattered on the once polished stone floor. The smell was atrocious and the demon she had been ordered to pay tithe to was nowhere in sight, nor had she seen any signs of life in the warren he called home.
"Nasah!" she called, and a large reptilian creature scurried into the room, disturbing the detritus with his powerful tail. His long purple tongue lashed out to scent the air, breathing the odors in. He panted and wagged his whole body before rolling in a rotting pile. "Exceptional," Lacuna remarked, walking through the room. It had once held the court of a great demon, but besides Nasah and a few rats Lacuna was now alone. With no warning at all Davnihar and his subjects had vanished, and that spelled trouble for those like her: mostly human. The best they could hope for was to go unnoticed and stay out of demonic politics, but if the demon hunted for a new court and his old territory was open for the taking she would have to go into hiding.
A sharp two fingered whistle brought Nasah back to her as she turned to leave. He butted his skull against her hip—that is, a literal skull. The bone was exposed and bleached white, with dark, sightless pits where one would expect eyes. Two horns curved down from above where his ear holes would be if he were a normal creature, and a cut amethyst was embedded in his forehead. The lack of eyes didn't seem to bother Nasah, as he threw a crushed box out of his path with mild telekinetic powers. In fact, Lacuna had never seen him bump into or trip over anything in the three years she had known him.
"We'd best tell the crew," she said to Nasah, though the creature could not speak to reply. She brushed cobwebs out of her long lavender hair as they exited the demon's lair, wrinkling her nose. Back on the street she kept out of the lamplight and pulled a hood over her horns with care, as the ends curved up and ruined many a good disguise. Nasah bounded ahead of her, sticking his head into alleys and rifling through garbage. She paid him no attention but stuck her hands in the pockets of her long cloak and walked with long, confident strides.
Nasah was pawing at a door and making small scraping noises by rubbing his nose against it when Lacuna caught up to him several city blocks later. "You best have done your business outside," she said, and knocked in a quick rhythm. The door opened and she held her breath as she ducked through the magical barrier, feeling it pull on her arms and slide the hood from her head. Sygny grinned at her on the other side, and she punched the shoulder his slouching shirt left unprotected.
"You make the best faces," he laughed. Lacuna made a rude gesture and didn't speak as they walked up the hall and into the common area. Three others lounged on mismatched furniture, picking at holes in the fabric or focusing on the holoscreen as their natures dictated. Sygny dropped his compact form over a couch and landed in Arno's lap, while Lacuna chose to sit on the arm of a chair close to the holoscreen with one knee tucked against her chest. A chorus of groans greeted her when she flipped it off without ceremony.
"I was watching that," Tali said, rolling her chubby body off the loveseat onto the grimy carpet. Her performance was marred when a spike on the back of her arm caught the fabric of the couch. Rex detangled her.
"Right," Lacuna said, propping her chin in her knee. "You definitely don't want to hear anything I have to say." She clenched her fists, but Nasah chose that moment to leap over the back of her chair and topple her into the coffee table. While she regained herself he panted at the assembled part demons and wagged his tail, tilting his head in askance. Arno patted his gem with a calloused hand.
A door across the room opened before Lacuna could continue, and she slid into the seat of the chair when the newcomer glared. "Hey Joss," she said, meeting their crystalline eyes under the low hood. They nodded and took their seat, left empty unless they were sitting in it. Black robes pooled around them.
"What were you going to say?" the whispery voice asked. Joss was more demon than all of them put together, enough to make their presence unnerving even to Nasah, who knew better than to fool around with the leader and protector of their misfit group. The security Joss afforded everyone was worth the skin crawling feeling one got looking into their demonic eyes.
Lacuna cleared her throat. "Davnihar is gone," she said. "The court is empty, our tithe is unpaid, and there's no sign of life in his warren. Just, vanished." The fooling around that had continued even in Joss' presence stopped while everyone considered the implications of Lacuna's news. Sygny made a strange sound in the back of his throat.
Joss was of course the least affected and came to the same conclusion Lacuna had back at the warren. "This territory is open for the taking, and Davnihar is looking for someplace new. A battle, if not war, could be in the offing," he said, crossing his thin pale hands over one another as he surveyed each face in the room. "We will be fine." Famous last words.
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The ground shook under her feet, forcing her to her knees. Nasah whisked a rock out from under her leg before she fell on it. "Thank you," she panted, before forcing herself to rise and keep running, Nasah at her heels. The leather soles of her boots kept her somewhat protected from the heat that rose through the cracks ahead of her and bothered her fully demonic companion not at all. He would have been safe if he had stayed in the great demon's court, but he followed Lacuna as she escaped the furious Ospoxun, the demon who had taken over Davnihar's territory following his disappearance. In her head she nicknamed him "Pox" and it raised her spirits.
A block later the heat subsided and the cracks closed. Lacuna flopped down on a stoop, eyeing her surroundings. All the windows were barred or boarded; whether the buildings were deserted or their residents were hiding it was hard to tell. No one was visible, human or demon, on the street. As she regained her breath she thought she saw a curtain flick open and then closed behind third story bars, but she couldn't be sure.
Nasah clacked his jaw, nudging Lacuna's boot. When she looked down she saw that a gash on her shin bled through a rip in her pants. "Looks like we should get home, before something sneaks out of a dusty corner and tries to lick that," she said to her companion, and the demon took off down the street in response. Now that the adrenaline no longer coursed through her veins Lacuna could feel her injury, and she groaned as her pants brushed against it. She needed to take care of it before an intrepid demon collected her dripping blood; great demons could do a lot of nasty magic with it. She couldn't even remember when she had gotten the cut, but to say her retreat from Ospoxun's lair had been hectic was an understatement.
Once she passed through Sygny's grabby portal Rex took her hand in his clawed one, dragging her back through their hideout and plunking her on a table in his workroom. His muscular frame and the silver tattoos all over his black skin belied his gentle touch as he cut the soiled denim away from her wound. "You always insist on getting so dirty," he commented in a musical voice.
"The world is dirty," Lacuna said, wincing as Rex poured a bubbling potion on her shin.
"Of course," he said, distracted. "I'm going to have to stitch this. It's deep."
Lacuna leaned back on the table, covering her eyes so she couldn't see the needle biting into her flesh. Rex had put something on it to numb the pain, but there was still a tugging sensation. When he was finished with the four stitches he covered his work with a bright white bandage that boasted an adhesive back.
Holding out a hand to Lacuna to help her sit back up he said, "Now that you're not going to expire from an infection, please tell me how this happened."
"It's a funny story," Lacuna replied, jumping down from the table without feeling a twinge from her leg, thanks to Rex's ministrations. Nasah pushed through the workroom's swinging door and watched as she examined a bright green potion on one of the shelves. When it became obvious it wasn't something for him to eat he sprawled under Rex's desk instead. The big man sat behind it, and she saw his hand disappear below the surface just before the chilling sound of Nasah crunching a gemstone cut through the room. "You're spoiling him," she said, distracted.
"Hmm," was his only response, his blue eyes meeting her gold ones. She sighed.
"Right, the demon. Poxy Ospoxun. He's gay," she said.
"I can see how that would make the tithe a problem. We'll have to send Arno. He will be upset."
"You're telling me," she said, dropping into the chair in front of Rex's desk. Nasah curled the end of his tail around her ankle. "I heard his subjects snickering when I came in, but I thought nothing of it. Anyone who follows a great demon finds us amusing for our resistance, of course. But, as it turns out, I'm the fifth one today to come and pay tithe with titties. He was a little upset, even though how would we know? Lit the place on fire pretty spectacularly. I think he's made of lava. And pustules." Lacuna crinkled her nose, both about the demon and the vision she made in the mirror behind Rex's desk.
