Of Gods and Vampires

She sits quietly in the dark. Her anger is a palpable rage that seethes across the room becoming a great tidal wave that crashes against the locked door. Her eyes focus unseeing on the wall before her but her senses stretch beyond the door and feel all of those walking around the house.

She unfurls her legs and stands throwing herself against the door fruitlessly once again releasing a howl of inhuman rage and unknown horror that echoes through the underground chambers. She hates them all, they keep her confined, they deny her the freedom she longs for and separate her from the one person she wants so desperately to be with.

Gabriel. He's up there somewhere. She can feel him. She can hear him breath even through the steel and concrete of all the levels of her prison. She can smell his skin, taste him still on her lips, and with every second of every day she longs for him. They cannot keep her here forever. She will not rest until she is free.

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"What are we going to do with her?" Icarus looked around the table at his fellow elder vampires. "It's been almost a year since she drained the demon and Gabriel. Our prison will only suffice for so long."

"Our solution seems to be working so far, why should we change our stand at all on her?" Malfus folded his hands before him.

"How long do you expect it to hold? Even without feeding her strength grows, slowly, but it grows. You know as well as I that she will gain enough power to tear through that cell and this house like butter and free herself." Icarus looked around the table.

"Gabriel needs to be moved to another holding facility. Holding him here is unwise, as he is no longer anything but a mere vampire we can contain him more thoroughly than we can hope to contain her. She will get loose, it's only a matter of time."

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Gabriel groaned as he was shifted roughly. The hood over his head made it impossible to see where they were taking him. He felt like the inside of his head would explode as the side effects of the constant drugging took it's toll. He groaned and slumped against the hard wall of the vehicle he had been placed into. He felt the needle puncture his neck and remembered no more.

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Eve raised her head and scented the air. He was being moved. She screamed and threw herself against the ceiling, mortar cracked and stone creaked and crumbled releasing a powder of dust and debris but her cell remained in tact. She battered herself against the walls and ceiling until she could no longer hear Gabriel being shuffled through the house. She heard the doors of the vehicle slam and it sped away.

Eve sank down on the floor next to her pallet and groaned softly, she rocked back and forth in anger. She felt her insides clench as rage filled her so completely she couldn't think straight. She wanted her freedom, she wanted out of this cell, and she wanted him back. There was little hope that she could break out now, she loathed them all and silently cursed them all.

"Such a sad sight." The high demon slid through the worlds effortlessly. "To have seen you so mighty the night you were reborn and now to see you so low."

"You would be wise to leave demon, I have no time for you and my hunger is great." Eve whispered softly.

"So battered you look, sitting there dirty, unkept, with your wings folded denied the sky." The demon smelled of brimstone and blood. "What I wonder, would you do for your freedom?"

Eve looked at the demon finally and pulled her lips back from her extraordinarily long sharp fangs. "What indeed."

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Eve cast aside yet another drained demon. The lesser demons provided a slow, steady increase in her power and energy as she drained them dry. She snarled softly and sank her fangs into the next demon in line, drawing his blood out as fast as she could swallow. Time was on her side, she fed insatiably on the inexhaustible supply of victims sent to her.

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Eve felt feral. She was consumed by the power of the demons she had drained and she was overwhelmed by her own hatred of all of those responsible for her confinement. She closed her eyes and pulled slowly on her energy reserves, the power flowed into her center and focused.

The demon blood screamed in her veins accelerating to a fevered pitch and she let loose a roar of fury leaping into the air. She crashed through the concrete, steel, and mortar smashing her way through all of the walls of her prison and into the main foyer of the house of Black.

She stretched her four wings to their full length of a little over thirty feet shaking the dust and debris from them as she looked around the foyer at the vampires cowering in fear. Eve opened her wings and hissed at the elder vampires standing at the bottom of the stairs. She met their unwavering stares with her own challenge.

"Eve of the house of Black." Icarus growled at her. "Know your place, you are a vampire in the house of Black and sworn to protect, uphold, and adhere to the faith sworn down by the demi-gods themselves."

"The demi-gods are DEAD." Eve spat. "I took the power of the last, and I alone have excelled beyond the vampire race. I offered you total loyalty and my unwavering service since the day I died. And HOW do you reward me? Me, who was dragged into the shadow realms between worlds and nearly killed by a higher demon?"

"And what of it Eve?" Icarus smirked. "What do you think we owe you, you'd STILL be dead if we hadn't sent Gabriel to drain you dry!"

"Gabriel." Eve hissed. She darted across the room and slammed Icarus against the wall, her hand around his throat. "Where is Gabriel?"

Icarus smirked. "Somewhere you will never find him."

Eve tore out Icarus' throat and drained the elder vampires' blood dry. She raged through the house of Black killing or maiming every vampire she came across. As the first rays of sun crossed the lawns of the house of Black they found buckets of blood splashed across the foyers, walls, lawns, and rooms.

Eve sat atop the roof of the tower in the west corner of the mansion, her wings folded around her blood splattered body, her back turned on the sun and it's warmth.

Eve stared at the lake behind the mansion and let her mind wander back to the night that changed her life. Eve was tired her body was trembling on its way down from a euphoric high of power and rage.

She stood slowly and leapt down to the ground; she walked into the house and made her way upstairs to her old bedroom. She stretched out on her bed and closed her eyes trying to block her thoughts and the repercussions of what she had done. She felt the weight on the bed, felt the slide of a hand running up her thigh and along her hip and she shuddered deep inside.

"So beautiful." The high demon purred against the back of her neck. "Covered in blood, reeking of death, and racked with guilt."

"Go away." Eve sighed.

"You have no right and no authority to order me to do anything my pet." The demon grinned and bit the back of her neck. "You belong to me now and I tend to take full advantage of that, in all aspects. Get some rest, I will return for you tonight."

Eve sighed and squeezed her eyes tight. What have I done, Gabriel where are you now?

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Gabriel sighed leaning against the cool walls of his prison. His fangs ached dully with the inevitable need to feed. He lifted his arm and turned his wrist upward. He closed his eyes and sank his fangs into his vein, feeding on his own blood for several minutes until he passed out from the pull of his own blood flowing backward in his veins.

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"Wake up Eve." The demon ran his long fingers through her hair. "We have much to do this night."

Eve sighed and got up from her bed; dried blood flaked off her skin and clothes. She glared at the demon but offered no resistance. Her skin crawled as he pulled her into his embrace and slid his long spaded tail around her waist tightening it until she flinched.

He slid the end of his tail between her thighs and stroked along her crotch. With a flick of his wrist he cut a whole through dimensions and pulled Eve into the demon world.

Even the shadow realms had not prepared her for the true horror of the demon realm. The smell of rotting flesh, death, and blood was choking. Half eaten corpses of humans, vampires, and demons alike lay strewn across rocks and piked up on inverted crosses.

The sky was blood red scoured with dark menacing clouds that spouted lighting that carried the scent of brimstone. Every outcropping and edifice oozed oily black liquid that bubbled and popped like hot tar. In the far distance a towering spire shot straight up to unimaginable heights, piercing the black clouds and casting a terrible shadow over the landscape.

"Welcome home my goddess." The demon purred. "You can only keep what you kill here, and today you kill in my name, Baal demon king."

"You overestimate yourself." Eve hissed.

"No Eve, eventually you will come to realize that all the Gods of heaven and all the Gods of hell are constantly at war. That the demon kings and the sovereign angels make their plays to seize and maintain power."

"There is only one God and he condemns us both."

"Still so naïve. Come we have work to do."

Baal tugged Eve roughly and dragged her away from the spire that cut the landscape. He pulled her down a hillside and into a ragged gulley that cut it's way down and widened as it went deeper. She stumbled and hissed flexing her great wings in agitation as he dragged her down into the earth.

If even possible the stench grew worse, becoming so thick it made her lungs burn and feel like they would turn inside out in an effort to force out the smell. Eve glared at the wide scarred back of the demon dragging her into the depths of hell and she cursed him with her every breath.

The blackness engulfed her slowly until she saw nothing and only felt the menacing grip on the demon on her wrist and the jagged rock of the earth under her feet. She stumbled and finally fell to her knees feeling her arm wrenched in its socket as Baal yanked her forward. He cursed in a foul torrent of demon speak and wheeled on her, grabbing her by her hair and yanking her to her feet with a violent jerk.

"You test my patience Eve!" He roared.

"I can't see you bastard, what do you expect me to do wait until I fall into a pit!"

"Worthless spawn of a vampire." Baal cursed. He yanked her onto her feet and tugged her tight against his chest. "I warn you, take not more than a mouthful."

Baal opened his neck with one of his dark talons letting his blood trickle down his throat. Eve moaned as the smell of fresh demon blood entered her nostrils, she wrapped her arms around his neck and licked the blood from his neck. The salty power filled tang of the blood gave her a heady rush of power and an instant shock of adrenaline and desire down her spine.

Her fangs ached and her instincts screamed for a kill but suicide was not her wish for the day. She sucked at the cut on his neck drawing the blood into her mouth in a greedy gulping mouthful. Baal shoved her backward as he covered his wound waiting for it to heal.

Eve's eyes adjusted almost instantly, the world became sharp, filled with obscene color. The outline of the demon before her pulsed with a dark outline radiating power and terror. She could see ever detail with stunning clarity and precision, she found she could focus on items far away and bring them forward and draw out every detail.

She grinned, her long fangs slid out past her lips and she savored their sharpness on her skin. Baal grasped her arm and dragged her to her feet, continuing to drag her into the bowels of hell.

Baal stopped behind a large rock outcropping. Light spilled from around the corner of the outcropping and the sound of loud breathing could be heard clearly. Eve stepped toward the light and was snatched back almost instantly by Baal.

"Fool." He hissed. "Wake him and you will have no chance at all."

She looked at the demon. "You're afraid."

Baal smirked. "Even in hell there is always something bigger and badder than oneself Eve." He grinned. "And by plot or might a demon may move up in the world, as it is."

"I see." Eve narrowed her eyes at the demon. "And I'm guessing this would fall under the plotting category."

"But of course." Baal released her arm. "You will wound the beast, drain him to the brink of death, and I will finish him off and gain his power and place in the underworld."

"Easier said than done I imagine."

Eve crept to the edge of the stone outcropping and slowly peered around into the chamber beyond. She almost instantly wished she had not. The demon appeared to be a morbid mixture of reptile and some human. The proportion of him was unlike anything she'd seen, stretched out on his back he had to have measured forty or fifty feet from head to toe.

His body was corded in gargantuan muscle, his long serpentine tail ended in a series of sharp spines much like an ancient stegosaurus, he had long horns that protruded from his head and curved backward like an impalas', and a long forked tail and snakelike face finished off the ensemble. The demon slept on a pile of bones and half devoured corpses.

Eve slipped around the corner of the rock outcropping and made her way quietly toward the sleeping demon. The feathers on her wings bristled and shook slightly as she crept toward the demon trying to formulate some plan of attack she felt might succeed against such a large quarry.

She paused and crouched down behind a stalagmite, hiding as best as she could with the towering wings she carried behind her. There was always a rush of adrenaline before a fight and this was no different, if she was to have a hope of winning she needed surprise on her side, but even with it she could expect nothing less than a hard fight on her hands.

She examined the layout of the cave with a critical eye and slowly stepped out and proceeded to the base of the pile of bodies the demon slept upon. She stood to her full height slowly and stretched her wings out behind her preparing to leap for his throat.

There was a loud crash from behind her just as she leapt into the air for the sleeping demon. At once the demon came awake and focused on Eve's form coming toward her. Eve hissed as she came up against the opened palm of the demon who snatched her from the air like a toy and slammed her into the side of the cave wall.

He ground her into the limestone as she spat blood and dug at his wrist with her claws and bit his hand with her fangs. The demon tossed her across the cave like a rag doll and followed her flying body with a hard flick of his tail which crashed into her side opening a series of horrid gashes.

Eve flipped wide off the wall and spread her wings launching herself at the demon at a high rate of speed. She made a tight fast turn around his grasping claws and latched herself onto his back wrapping her arms around his neck as she dug her fangs into his shoulder then again into his neck seeking a vein.

The demon swung his tail around and knocked her off his back flinging her into a wall of rock and pinning her down with his spiked tail. The spines of his tail pierced through her thigh shattering the bone and releasing a stream of blood. Eve screamed and bringing her fist down on the bone spike breaking it off inside her thigh. She twisted free of the wall and flung herself again at the demon wrapping herself around his thigh.

Eve buried her fangs into the main artery in the demons inner thigh and pulled hard sucking a huge mouth full of blood into her system. The very strength of the demons power and the potency of his blood made her almost instantly heady and she tugged again even as the demon scored her with his tail and his claws trying to pry her off of his thigh.

Eve sucked harder feeling the demon start to shake as his power was drained and he lost control of his own body. She sucked hard gulping down mouthfuls of blood as quickly as possible. She felt the demon go down to his knees hard and the fight go out of him as she pulled more blood out of his veins.

"Enough." Baal bellowed and yanked her off the demon's thigh.

Eve hissed and glared at Baal, her lips stained with blood and her fangs dripping.

Baal took the larger demon by the neck and tore out its throat, taking the final draw of life out of him and sucking out his last drop of blood. He roared as he dropped the dead demon and took on the raw ripple of his power and his status in Hell.

Eve could feel her body beginning to heal itself with the help of the blood she had consumed even as Baal's form grew and changed with the power he had consumed. His humanoid body grew in size and muscle and his horns lengthened and thickened on his head.

Baal snatched Eve up hard against his chest and wrapped his tail around her waist several times before dipping the spaded end of his tail between her legs. Baal split the realms and dragged her through, they were back in her bedroom in the house of Black and evening covered the earth. Baal spun Eve around in his arms and grinned viciously down at her.

"Very helpful." He smiled. "Having a God as my own private pet."

"I may owe you Baal, I may be under contract with you for the time, but I will never be anyone's pet." Eve spat.

Baal threw Eve onto the bed and stretched himself on top of her. Eve hissed and reached for his eyes with her fingers. Baal easily avoided her fingers and pinned her to the mattress with his considerably larger size.

His long tail whipped around and made a cut on his side, drawing a ribbon of blood onto the spaded end of his tail. He brought the end of his tail around and let the drops of blood fall into Eve's mouth carrying with them lust and power.

There was an instant spike of lust within Eve as the blood passed her lips. The fight went out of her body replaced with a quickening of her pulse and moistening between her legs. The demon's blood was an untold aphrodisiac when he exerted his will over it.

Baal released her wrists and covered her neck with his lips and bit her throat gently at first and then with a harder almost malicious intent. Eve bit the demon back without breaking his skin, thoughts of fighting had fled to the farthest reaches of her mind and the intoxicating desire took over.

She felt the demon's spaded tail slide up her thigh cutting off her pants with it's sharp edge. A violent downward jerk on her top eliminated it from her body and Eve found herself lying naked underneath the demon.

Baal dug his claws into her stomach, opening lacerations which were only deep enough to cause excruciating pain. Eve screamed and thrashed going for the demon's throat again. His tail whipped around and wrapped around her neck and snapped her back down to the bed pulling back against her windpipe until she stopped fighting.

He sank his fangs into her shoulders leaving deep punctures along her shoulder blades and watching the blood flow from her body. He lapped at the blood slowly like a connoisseur tasting a fine wine or delicate gourmet food. He sampled her pain and her torment, delighted in her lust coupled with the anger and impotent rage.

When Baal released the chokehold he had on her neck Eve flew at him like a wounded animal. The demon received her with open arms and even as her fangs punctured his neck he sunk his own fangs into her throat. They tore at each other in a twisted macabre dance of pain, anger and lust. When she pulled on his neck he pulled on hers, the blood being exchanged from one to the other in the same instant.