Lost Bloodlines

Disclaimer and Acknowledgment: All persons engaged in sexual activity or otherwise sexualized are over 18.

Thank you to my editor, LiterKnight for their continued assistance in helping me put out better-polished installments of this series!

Content warning: This chapter contains explicit scenes of non-consent/reluctance and incest. While these will be recurring themes in the story going forward, they won't be in every chapter, non-con especially. If you wish to skip the referenced scene, I have marked it with a line of "*********" While the content is important to the story, what transpires can be inferred by later context, so you won't be missing too much if you find the themes are uncomfortable for explicit description. With that out of the way...

Welcome to the Family, Part 2

-00000-

"Please don't make me do this."

"Come now, mother, a little socialization won't kill you," Paimon gently admonished, steering me away from the double doors I had been making a beeline for as soon as the feast had officially concluded. "No matter your worries, it won't be any worse than the mudslinging at the head table. And besides, there are a few siblings I must reintroduce you to."

That remained to be seen. The feast had been rather unremarkable, the two bickering factions seeming to agree to ignore each other and focus on the food. Balam and Paimon had actually made for decent conversation partners; the two offered amusing commentary and anecdotes of the antics of their siblings further down the hall. Three more brawls broke out, and someone set the right-hand table on fire at one point. Throughout the meal, it was both disconcerting and oddly heartwarming to see the expression of satisfaction and pride on Lucifer's face as he surveyed the room full of Lilith's children. At least someone was enjoying themselves. I suppose, by extension, he had taken on the role of grandfather to the motley assortment of demons. I wasn't sure how much they reciprocated his feelings.

As for their ghostly mother, my unwelcome passenger had been surprisingly quiet throughout the meal. Through our bond, I couldn't draw out any dominant emotions, instead feeling a conflicted mass that defied definition. Every once in a while, a name would float through my head, sometimes attached to the hazy fog of a memory. The feeling would always pass before I could examine it too closely. In either case, I was happy she was mostly keeping to herself.

With easy stride, Paimon guided me through the mass of demons as they mingled, imps holding trays piled high with flutes of bubbly alcohol wandering throughout the darkening space as the sun began to set above the skylight. I tried to return the bows, smiles, and gestures I received from the groups of demons as we passed, but it appeared that Paimon was on a mission, and I had no time to stop.

He bought us to the side of the hall, where the clusters of demons began to grow sparse. Leaning up against the wall were two female demons sipping from glasses and laughing as they watched the goings on of the family. The one on the left appeared like a stereotypical demoness, only wearing a rather elaborate Egyptian costume, complete with stylized headdress and kohled eyes. The other could be a demonic version of Aqua, her purple skin ending in sparkling scales at the waist that covered her legs, wearing only a bikini top and bottoms. The tail I noticed waving behind her was thickly muscled, and the usual spade-tip was replaced by a fin.

"Sisters," Paimon nodded his head, "Mother, I would like you to meet Duchesses Vepar and Vaul, Ladies of the Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Fifth Legions, and the only siblings I could call friends among this menagerie." The Egyptian, Vaul, tittered at his words, and then curtsied.

"A great pleasure to see you again, Lady Lilith. I hope our dear brother has been keeping you out of trouble."

Vepar just snorted. "Piss to that rubbish," she scoffed in a thick British drawl, pushing forward and wrapping her surprisingly muscular arms around me, lifting me into the air with the strength of her embrace. I kicked my feet impotently as I was hoisted, but was too blindsided to react otherwise. Thankfully she placed me down a second later, her face splitting into a wide grin, exposing pointed rows of teeth like a shark. "Now

that's

how you great our mum."

"Tactful as always, sister," Vaul chided. "If that was truly mother, she would have spanked your scaled ass raw for that kind of greeting. And you'd have deserved it."

"Don't threaten me with a good time," Vepar shot back, her eyes glittering at her sister.

"It's, ah, nice to meet you both," I interjected before their banter could go too far. By the smoldering look Vaul had sent her sister in response, I could draw certain conclusions about their relationship, and that was not something I wanted to witness in person. Even if they were only technically related to me...ew. "Have you been enjoying the reunion so far?"

"It's certainly been a novel experience," Vaul answered, folding her robed arms before her. "It's been so long since we've seen its like, but so much has changed in the interim that I feel I hardly recognize some of our siblings."

"What, you mean that Gamigin blew up like a balloon, or that nearly a third of us are dead?" Vepar mocked, mysteriously picking out a toothpick from somewhere in her bikini top and beginning to poke around her razer-sharp maw. "It's the same mess of assholes as usual, just all packed together like sardines." A dreamy look crossed over her face. "Mmmm, sardines..."

"One can only hope some of these, ahem, 'assholes' take this opportunity to pay attention to their own home. It's disgraceful the way they gallivant among the other Seats, while their own legions wither away in their absence." Vaul shook her head, directing her gaze back to me. "As much as we appreciate your miraculous return, you picked a shameful moment in our history. Things were far more respectable when you and Lord Lucifer were in charge."

"Watch it, Vaul," Vepar cocked her head in the direction of the hall's center. "Talk like that will have the Vexillarii circling like sharks. Heh. Get it?"

"And what about you two," I pried, "what is it you do here in Hell, and where do you fall in all this factional nonsense?"

"Ha! I see Paimon's already been whispering in your ear." Vepar winked in my reticent guide's direction. "Vaul and I are both Mechanistae, which basically means we actually give a damn about making Gomorrah a nice place to live. Back in the olden days, I was the mistress of Hell's armada, though we don't really have one of those any more. Now I just run few shipping companies through shell corporations back on Earth."

"And I am charge of Hell's reliquary, as well as most institutions concerning our cultural heritage." Vaul spoke up, standing proudly in juxtaposition to her sister's causal slouching. "My legion and I staff most of the museums you'll find around the city, and lead expeditions to recover artifacts back on Earth when they're identified, of both the magical and non-magical variety."

I eyed the Egyptian-garbed demon speculatively. "So, I'm assuming you're the reason why humanity never found traces of monsters or magic before now. You already nabbed it all."

"Or covered it up," she shrugged. "Sometimes selective destruction was necessary to preserve the Pact, lamentable as it was. I have my counterparts with the other Seats and the Conclave, of course; it's hardly a job fit for one woman, no matter how magnificent she might be." Now here was someone I wanted to get to know. This was my kind of field, even if archeology had never been a direct passion. The sort of undertaking it must have been...to create the greatest lie in history and hide the existence of magic...it must have been monumental in scope.

"And is your 'reliquary' where all of these recovered documents and artifacts go?" I pressed. "Or do you have some sort of archive as well?"

Vaul nodded. "Indeed we do, though cataloguing and documentation is handled by the Thirty-First Legion. My reliquary is for artifacts and relics that the Legions consider too dangerous to, ah, fall into the wrong hands." A frown marred the darkened curve of her lips. "Duke Flauros was our Archivist, though he is sadly no longer with us. A dear colleague and brother lost to a senseless war. If you wish to visit the Infernal Archives, however, I imagine his children would be ecstatic to have you. They don't receive many visitors these days."

"I would very much like that," I responded, one of the few genuine smiles of the day coming to my face. "And if you'd be willing to give me a tour of your museums as well, I'd be extremely grateful." Victoria and Aqua would absolutely despise me for dragging them to a museum, but this was a chance I couldn't resist. Perhaps Isabel would be more interested...

Vaul seemed taken aback by my sudden enthusiasm, but her responding smile quickly matched my own. "It would be my absolute pleasure."

"Afraid I don't have much to show off, mum," Vepar butted in, slipping her arm casually around Vaul's shoulders as the prim demon's cheeks darkened slightly at the contact. "But I can show you the best dive bars in the city if you'd like."

"I think I'd like that as well," I replied to the boisterous demon. And to my surprise, I was telling the truth. These two were far easier to get along with than I expected, and I could actually see myself enjoying their company.

At that, Paimon tugged on my arm meaningfully. "Apologies for the abrupt departure, but we have more stops on our family tour. I'll catch up later at the usual spot, if that's acceptable?"

"Take good care of her, brother," Vaul nodded her farewell, though a dark glimmer entered her eyes. "I fear not all of us will be as welcoming." Vepar just waved enthusiastically.

Well, that was slightly foreboding. But, given the diversity of demons here, probably not inaccurate. I fell back into step with Paimon as he began to amble around the outer edge of the hall. "You can trust them," he spoke, turning an eye towards me. "Just as I hope you can trust me. If ever you find yourself in trouble, overwhelmed, or simply exhausted by the politicking of my siblings, we can offer you some shelter from the storm."

"That's very thoughtful of you, I'll keep it in mind."

I took another few steps, before my curiosity got the better of me. "So, those two...are they..." I awkwardly began, though luckily it seemed Paimon picked up my meaning quickly.

"Together, yes. A few of your children paired off as such, though not many. They were always inseparable." Paimon spoke fondly, his soft voice holding a surprising degree of warmth.

"And that's just...acceptable here? I mean, I've gotten some oddly flirtatious looks from quite a few of these demons, but..."

"There is no stigma in Hell against incest."

I had guessed as much based on Berith's flirtatious introduction when we first met, but to hear it confirmed... "But what about inbreeding? That has to be causing, uh, hell on Gomorrah's genetic diversity."

"Demons suffer no such genetic deterioration. A quirk of our unique origin among monsters. It's a deeply held tradition here; most demons find partners within of their extended family, assuming they don't find a non-demonic partner entirely. It keeps the legion bloodlines pure and distinct from one another."

A deeply held tradition, huh? The implication hit me like a sled of bricks. "You mean Lilith..."

"Slept with all of her children, yes."

"Even..."

"Yes, mother, even me," Paimon's face was actually beginning to flush, and he looked away from my incredulous gaze. Oh, Lilith, you sick bitch. You fucked your own kids?

The demoness's response, when it came a second later, was accompanied by a whirlwind of emotion. Rage, despair, loneliness, and desperate heartbreak.

Don't you

dare

presume to judge me. They're

my

family, not yours, and the bond we shared was one that cannot be defined by your primitive concept of morality. You cannot hope to understand the love I hold for each and every demon you mock and judge here tonight.

Her sudden emotional barrage stopped me in my tracks with a gasp, and Paimon's head whipped back to check on me. I blearily waved him off. "Your mother had some choice feelings about my response." I shook my head, meeting Paimon's curious gaze once more. "We don't often see eye to eye, but it's obvious how protective she is of all of you."

Paimon smiled knowingly. "A little overprotective, perhaps.

Something made me reach out, grabbing his opposite hand with my own and staring earnestly at him. "She truly does love you. She's a pain in my ass most of the time, but that much I can tell is true."

The demon stared at me wordlessly, and then took a deep, shuddering breath. "You don't understand how happy I am to hear you say that." He wiped away a gathering tear at his eye, chuckling self-deprecatingly. "Your return has certainly brought back emotions I had thought dormant. It'll be intriguing to see what else in uncovered in the coming years. Come." I followed his lead, glad that both the voice in my head and my escort seemed pleased with my conduct so far.

"Did you have any other questions you needed answered?" he probed as we walked, narrowly avoiding a circle of onlookers gathered around two burly demons locked in what appeared to be mortal combat. "I sadly stole you away from one of the best sources of information at this party, but I can do my best."

A hundred things, but one in particular was on my mind. "The 'Pact' keeps getting brought up, and no one seems to want to give me a straight answer. What exactly is it, and why is it such a big deal down here?"

Paimon grimaced. "A complicated subject. We can stop for a moment." He guided me to an edge of the reflecting pool that was mostly deserted, with only a lone demon staring blankly into the water a few yards away. Paimon released my arm and turned towards me. "In the most basic terms, it is the treaty that kept the world from falling into complete chaos. After the Great War, without the unifying fear of the gods, the early Seats and magi fell into petty feuding with one another. Whatever reprieve we had won through the banishment of the gods was lost as all of magical society collapsed into infighting as we picked up the pieces."

"What was it they were fighting over?"

Paimon tsked. "Meaningless squabbles. Territory, divine relics, long-held feuds. It was all quite the waste. It continued this way for centuries, the conflicts growing in size until even the humans began to be affected. There were worries then that the non-magical might turn on us

en masse

, but the true tipping point came in the 14

th

century. A death magus from Crimea took a long-dormant disease from the east and weaponized it, intending to devastate the European-based Monstrous Seats. It worked far too well."

My eyes widened. "The Black Death."

The demon nodded gravely. "The loss of life to the human population was staggering, and equally matched by losses among monsters and magi. Hell was mercifully spared, as we sealed all our portals in time to quarantine ourselves, but by the time we returned to Earth, the damage was done. In the wreckage of Europe, the Seats and the Conclave ratified the Pact. The existence of monsters and magic was to become a tightly controlled secret, with the behavior of both monsters and wielders rigorously monitored to ensure that the human population would never be threatened again by our actions. Sadly, that included all of the monsters who relied on hunting humans as prey. The vampires, kappa, ghouls, and dozens of other species were hunted to extinction due only to their dietary needs. The rest, including the succubi and incubi of Hell, simply learned to adapt to the new reality. Relations between the Seats and Conclave have been peaceful since, if a bit strained."

"No more blood," a voice to our right sang, and I twisted in surprise. That lone demon had snuck up on us, peering down at me with blank, cold eyes. His wrinkled skin was such a dark red to almost be black, clad in a white doublet that was splattered with dark stains. He had a wild white beard and matching long hair. In his right hand, he gripped tightly to a battered spear. There was such a palpable feeling of menace emanating from him that I physically recoiled. "No more heads for the table. Posies on every grave."

A hand like steel clamped down on my shoulder, and Paimon turned towards his brother with a hard look on his face. "Sorry to bother you, Furcas. We didn't know this spot was taken. We'll be going now." From his grip, he pulled me steadily away from the menacing figure.

With a forceful rap of his spear on the ground, Furcas stepped closer, something approaching life appearing in his dead eyes as they locked onto my face. "Broken wings, broken back. Hair like midnight, clumped with blood. Killed them, I did. Killed them all, for the pretty broken bird." When I offered no response, the demon's eyes slid from my face, and he slowly turned to look into the water once more. As Furcas was distracted, Paimon quickly shuffled me away, my sensitive ears picking up the wizened demon's repetitive whispers as he stared into the glowing water. "Should've killed more. Should've killed more."

Safely out of earshot, I turned on Paimon. "What the fuck was that? Did you seriously have to get us close to that thing?"

Paimon's delicate features held a troubled look. "He usually doesn't interact with others. This might be the first time I've seen him speak directly to someone in centuries."

"If you can call that speaking," I muttered, shuddering. Despite all the horror I had expected when first coming here, that was the first time I had ever felt something...

evil

, in the primordial sense of the word.

Furcas was always a bit touched. A superlative fighter, perhaps, but he often struggled with his own terrors. I'd have never expected him to fully fall into that darkness in his heart.

Lilith's voice was wary and uncertain, and I sighed, shaking off the lingering feeling of

wrongness

that clung to me. "Any other terrifying monstrosities you'd like me to meet?"

Paimon shifted his thoughtful gaze from the solitary demon back to me. "That depends on your definition of terrifying. There are two more of my siblings I thought you might like to meet."

"Alright, let's get this over with."

It wasn't far, and luckily we were not waylaid a second time. Paimon guided me to another pair of demons, one male and one female, still sitting at the end of the left-side table, though they seemed to have some hangers-on attached. The male demon, ruby red with the chiseled features and build of an incubus, was grinning lecherously at the giggling imp in his lap, the diminutive feminine demon taking great pleasure in feeding him little grapes. Sitting next to him, practically hunched over in her chair and arms crossed self-consciously over her revealing dress, was a draconic demoness. Her angular snout was twisted in disgust as she shook her head at her counterpart's antics, the black scaled wings trapped against the chair rippling with discomfort. And behind their chairs were two legionaries, dressed in some sort of decorative Roman armor, almost like a dress uniform.

The dragon-demon was scolding the incubus as we approached. "...shouldn't be so trusting of that one. Pretty obvious that he's usin' you." Her sibilant voice had a surprising Afrikaaner twang.

"You're just fuckin' jealous bro, you should've taken his offer when you had the chance," the incubus shot back in reply in an almost offensively Mid-Western American drawl, rolling his eyes at the dragon's advice. His head shifted to Paimon and me as we approached. "And what the fuck do you two want?"