The Pleasures of Hell 03.052

~~Day 76~~

~~Mia~~

"Sit!"

Cerberus did not sit.

"Sit!"

Cerberus did not sit.

"Baby, if you don't get this, we're going to have trouble." Rolling her eyes, she squatted down beside her best friend in the whole wide underworld and pushed down on his butt. "Sit."

He sat. Okay, he was definitely super smart for a two-day-old puppy, but not so smart she'd have an easy time with this.

"Good boy!" She hugged him snug, and the hellhound panted softly in typical excited dog fashion. Three heads meant three times the effort to praise him, but she took time with each head. Lots of pets. Lots of scritches. "I think his left head is more... dopey. And his right head is more serious." She pushed on his neck and turned him to face Yosepha. "What do you think?"

Yosepha smiled. She sat beside Romakus in Mia's cave, and soon they'd have to get up and get back on the move. But until then, training Cerberus was the plan.

"Perhaps," she said. "How can you tell?"

"Like this." She touched the left head's nose. Immediate playful behavior, pretend biting, and he nudged his body into Mia's and almost pushed her over. "And this." She touched the right head's nose. He lifted his head up and aimed it forward at attention like a point dog.

"And the middle head?"

She booped his middle head. Middle head harrumphed and pressed his forehead into her palm.

"I dunno. Um, big guard dog head? Like, one of those lazy big dogs. He's the big dog."

"Interesting."

"And you're sure you know nothing about three-headed hellbeasts?"

"Nothing."

Mia whined and rubbed her forehead with Cerberus's middle head.

Yosepha shook her head and flapped her small wings. "There has never been mention of a three-headed hellbeast in the great libraries. You're on your own."

She whined again. Apparently, Cerberus thought she was in pain, because he pushed all three heads into her, rubbed them against her, and she fell on her ass. Giggling, she sat back up and rubbed his neck and chest, and combed his dozens of spikes.

"I'll figure it out. I suppose I'm mostly just curious about why he has three heads. I mean, there's no getting around it. This is a three-headed hellhound, and that's a pretty famous idea on the surface. If it's never existed in Hell before, then somehow, the surface changed things down here."

Julisa snorted and thumped her tail on the ground. "As much as it pains me to agree, I do. It is not the first time I've heard that there is a link between life and the afterlife."

Kas nodded. "But this is... extreme."

"Of course," Romakus said. "Where the unmarked go, extreme things happen. Agreed, Noah?"

Noah sighed and nodded. He'd switched places with Azreal, and Mia was happy he had. Mostly. Much as she'd started to like Azreal and got to know him, Noah was just so much easier to get along with. Not that he was easy to get along with, but rock was softer than steel.

"How or why," the angel said, "I doubt even the council knows. But it does appear to be a thing. When Azreal mentioned the three-headed cannam, I wasn't entirely sure what to think."

"Is he even a cannam?" she asked. Back on her feet, she walked to the other side of the cave. "Cerberus. Come!" Cerberus came. Progress! "Okay, now... sit!" He did not sit. "Cerberus, sit!" He did not sit. She pressed down on his butt, and he sat. "Sit!" He stayed sitting. "Okay, getting somewhere. I think."

Cerberus clicked up at her, a tongue cluck kinda sound deep in his middle throat. The other two heads clucked, too. She looked to Kas.

"He says nothing," Kas said. "Just a noise. A content noise."

"Oh. For some reason when I learned Hellian sounds like clicks, I just assumed all clicks were words. I guess it has not-word sounds, too. It's not like babies make real words when they make random sounds. Or that dogs make real words when they bark and stuff." She clapped her hands. "This is so fun! Learning all the things!"

Cerberus wagged his tail, stood up, and pushed against her. Only the size of a golden retriever, he wasn't strong enough to knock her over a second time, but he almost did, and she giggled and rubbed his heads.

"Okay. I'm gonna have to keep teaching him, 'cause he's gonna jump on me at some point and squash me when he's bigger."

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Cerberus took off. Like a bullet in the black, he bolted for something in the smog.

"Cerberus!" she whispered as loud as she could. "Cerberus! Come!"

Cerberus did not come. Cerberus roared at something at the edge of the smog, and dug in the muck. Without a word, Noah took off after him, flying faster than the cannam could run, a blur of smudging black against black. A fresh coating of swamp guts covered his wings and skin. Otherwise, he'd be a streaking comet of light.

The rest of them ran after the pair, Mia on Kas's back, the others trudging up mud with each sprinting step. Way too much noise. Way too much movement. If they got spotted now, it'd be a big problem with all the demons actively looking for them.

Noah met them halfway, Cerberus dangling from his arms, and a dead gremlin hanging from two of the dog's mouths.

"No one spotted us," Noah said. "But your pet must have noticed movement. A gremlin digging himself a new hiding hole."

Mia sucked in a breath. "You're sure no one spotted us?"

"I am sure."

Kas came closer and saddled up beside the dangling cannam. Dopey head looked immensely satisfied with himself, gremlin's wings in his mouth. Middle head looked confused about being carried, gremlin's neck in his mouth, but eyes aimed down. It was the first time he'd been picked up. Serious head, mouth empty, looked between Mia and up at Noah, and whined.

"Bad Cerberus! Ba--Kas, does he understand bad?"

Kas clicked once, loud, and Cerberus shuddered.

"That's right! Bad! Bad! Don't run off." And she didn't whisper it. She yelled it.

Silence followed, Cerberus whining quietly while everyone else listened and scanned the smog. No movement.

Sighing, Noah put the dog down, and Cerberus waddled up to Kas and knelt in front of him. Submissive behavior, very dog-like.

"It will get us killed," Julisa said.

"No, he won't," Mia said. "We just... I just need to try harder, train him better."

Predictably, Julisa wasn't convinced. She came closer, mud sloshing under her claws, and she glared down at Mia and Cerberus.

"We will arrive at the Maze tomorrow. We will use stealth to sneak past thousands of demons. Xela, Vicente, and Alessio are likely to be there. Angels scour the skies, hunting you and James. Can you use your abilities to defeat such forces, knee deep in remnant guts, surrounded?"

Mia tried to glare at Julisa, but each word struck her down, and her eyes fell.

"I... No, I probably couldn't."

"Indeed. And yet, here we are, dragging this creature through the swamp that will spell our doom. If you do not silence him, I will."

Fighting words. Mia found a kernel of anger again and glared up at the bitch. Cerberus did too, legs spread, ready to pounce, growling.

Julisa gestured. "I have barely done a thing and already he risks our lives. Control him. Now."

Mia tightened her hands into fists. If there was anything worse than arguing with a bitch like Julisa, it was doing it when the bitch was right.

"You're right." And saying it tasted like acid. "You're right. I'll... I'll make sure that doesn't happen."

Julisa tilted her head, eyebrow raised. Surprised?

"Oh? You have the strength of character to be firm, and break this beast?"

"I'm not going to break him! He's not a wild horse. And I am not the rider."

More silence. Eventually, Julisa snorted and rejoined Vin in the back of the group. Mia watched her, set her eyes on Vin, and waited for a response from the big bad of the crew. Vin said nothing, but he did have his eyes on Cerberus, and he watched the dog with a steel gaze.

He'd kill Cerberus if he had to. If Mia caught him in time, she could use the leash the stop him, but Vin could be smart when he wanted to be. He'd wait until Mia was asleep or something, kill Cerberus, and deal with the fallout. And Mia wasn't sure she could entirely blame him.

The thought made her sick.

"Cerberus!" she whispered, and slid off Kas's back. "Sit."

Cerberus stayed in pouncing position, eyes on Julisa. Mia grabbed his two outer jaws, lifted them, aimed his gazes at her, and she glared. Eye contact. On the surface, it was the classic way mammals had power battles without getting violent.

She stared her dog in the eyes, all six of them, and glared hard.

"I. Said. Sit."

Cerberus whined, and sat.

Her muscles let go of the tension she didn't know she'd been clenching, and she pet her best boy on his foreheads.

"Good boy. You stay close to me from now on, okay? No running off."

He didn't understand, but he wagged his tail and nudged his foreheads into her arms, anyway.

She wanted to vomit. Not because of Cerberus, but because she could imagine what it'd have been like if he'd have been born like a normal dog. No puppy only a couple days old could obey commands, or not whine constantly. No hellbeast would get along this well with potential food, either. Cerberus really was a gift.

And if he hadn't been, they'd have had to kill him, or leave him behind.

She forced down the vomit she didn't have, swallowed, and looked Cerberus in the eyes again.

"Come." She let him go, climbed back on Kas, looked back at her hellhound, and pointed at the muck beside Kas. "Come!"

Cerberus came up beside Kas and looked up at her with his red and black eyes. No way to tell if he'd listen, but he looked more serious, at least. All three heads, even dopey head, kept glancing up at her before looking in the direction they walked. Was he checking on her to see what she'd do? She'd heard dogs did that, looked up at their owners to see their reaction when they trusted the owner.

Hopefully, that meant he'd listen to her from now on.

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~~David~~

"News is pretty slow," Tacharius said. The incubus walked with David near the front of the group, Naoko and Natalie directly behind him. "It is Hell. It takes months for information to do a full circle. But I can tell you what I know."

"Please do," David said.

The incubus raised a brow. "Um, right. No one really knows why anymore, but the Navameere Fields and the Red Pits have always been at war. Sometimes they take a break, and then they go at it again. They're both obsessed with power, and if they stopped fighting, they could probably take over Hell. But whatever the reason they fight, they refuse to stop. Khazeer runs the Red Pits, and Morgana runs the Navameere Fields. They both organize their demons into military. Always have."

"They took a page from the surface?"

"Dunno. Maybe the other way around? Those two provinces have been fighting for longer than humans have known how to build walls."

"Yeesh."

Tacharius laughed. "You're nothing like I thought you'd be, you know."

And here came this conversation. It was bound to happen sooner or later, especially with other unmarked going around making names for themselves, bad names.

"What'd you expect?"

"Well, I hear the girl unmarked working with Morgana is a cruel, horrible bitch."

"She do anything specific?"

"Used her powers to decimate an army in the Red Pits. Now Morgana and her are encroaching and taking territory."

David rubbed his face. This made no sense. Didn't the woman in the armor talk to this unmarked and tell her what had to be done? Did this unmarked girl just not care? And if she was out there, fighting wars, why didn't the angels swoop down and kill her?

"And Tarkissa is worried about that?"

"Yes," the incubus said. "We have a truce with the Red Pits. We trade silk with them, and--"

"Is it just silk? I have a hard time believing it's just silk. If the Scar is really a province of only succubi and incubi, how do you keep Azailia or Khazeer from taking over?"

Tacharius squirmed and looked back at the growing number of demons following.

"We trade more than just silk. We trade..." He shrugged, pulled his tail in front of him, and idly tugged on the spade tip. "A human experience."

"What?"

"Azailia and Khazeer visit frequently, and we give them the best human experience possible. Their strongest demons visit, and we treat them the same. Whenever any demon from those provinces visit, and we know they came with Azailia or Khazeer's blessing, they get special treatment."

David tilted his head. "Human treatment. That means sex?"

"Sex is part of it. We do a lot of other stuff, too."

David ran his fingers through his hair. Demons valued humans that much? Wanted to consume them, and experience them, that much?

"I guess... I'll see that when I get there?"

"Oh yes." The incubus nodded, playful grin on full display. "The Floor will treat you right."

"The Floor?"

"Where we really indulge in the most human experiences. Lots of sex, lots of dancing, and eating, and..." He leaned in close and smiled down at him. "We volas watch the scrying pools all the time, and try and distill the human experience down to its most addictive aspects."

David leaned away slightly. "You can get drugs down here?"

"Unfortunately no. A shame."

"Then, the most addictive aspects are... what?"

Tacharius shrugged and waved his tail in front of him. "What would any human want if they were given all the money in the surface world?"

"All the money? I mean, I guess a nice house, and good food, and--"

The incubus leaned in closer again. "Think about human history. What things did kings -- and queens -- want, when they had the power to make their whims come true?"

David stared up at the handsome man looking at him like David was some kind of dish.

"I mean... more? More of anything, and everything? Excess?"

"Yes!" Tacharius clapped once. "Excess. The perfect word. You are smart, unmarked. Yes, excess is what humans crave. Unlimited food. Sex overflowing. Slaves to do whatever you want. Music! Oh, the music. Embrace gluttony! Surely the most human of desires, gluttony, and then greed, lust, and sloth." Laughing, he slapped his forehead and laughed some more. "But look at who I'm talking to. Surely an unmarked lived a life full of power and indulgence on the surface."

"Um, no. I lived a quiet life without a single thing worth noticing." And that'd been the way he liked it.

Tacharius stopped laughing, eyebrow raised, and got in front of David and walked backward.

"Nothing?"

"Nothing. Like you said, kings and queens, right? Majority of humans don't get to indulge in... anything."

"I know, but I expected the unmarked to be special."

David gestured back the way they came. "What, because of my abilities? I don't know why I have them either. That--" He shook his head. "Enough about me. Tell me more about the Scar. Where do we end up first?"

"First, we travel through Vasil's mouth. A day's journey before we reach the main body of the Scar. The spire sits on the inner edge of the Scar, closer to the river Styx. Below the spire and inside the Scar itself, you'll find the Dens near the surface, and the Floor much deeper. You can exit the Scar and enter the Red Pits through Guissia's mouth."

No point in asking who Guissia and Vasil were, knowing demons.

"And the Floor and Dens. They make up most of the Scar?"

"Not really. The Scar is a network of tunnels, not unlike Death's Grip. But there are many pockets of areas that serve as dens for fallo spiders, or a floor for indulgence."

"And factions?"

He shook his head. "No true factions. We are not the Grave Valley, or Death's Grip, I suppose. There's plenty of infighting, and groups, but that happens everywhere in Hell, right?" He fell back in beside David, frowned, and looked down at his toe claws. "Tarkissa's been pushing to join the war against the Navameere Fields. We're not sure why."

David opened his mouth, and closed it. Much as he knew he should say less, the incubus had a way of talking that just made him want to talk with him. Maybe it was his human demeanor? He was the first vola David had interacted with.

"And Azailia?" David asked. "Know anything about her view on the war?"

"Supposedly, the Grave Valley would help fight off Morgana and the Fields if Morgana ever somehow pushed through the Red Pits and reached the Scar, but who knows." Another shrug, a little more playful than the topic suggested. "You can't trust a demon."

Damn it. The smooth way he talked got past David's defenses and made him laugh.

"And, um, Tarkissa, is he up to anything?"

Tacharius tilted his head. "I'm not sure I follow."

"There anything... strange, happening in the Scar? Anything that seems different from the typical stuff? Like, is there... fuck, I don't know. I just know something strange is happening, and it might be happening in the Scar." Fucking christ, he sucked at talking around a point. He just wanted to outright ask 'hey Azailia was going to break my limbs and send me to Tarkissa as a helpless prisoner. Know why?' But if he did that, he'd be saying too much.

He couldn't navigate a regular conversation, let alone this minefield.

"I... don't think so?" Tacharius eyed him. Of course, the incubus had a head on his shoulders, and every word David said, the man was analyzing. Maybe David should have asked his brute buddy Koralex, instead.

"Just, keep an eye open," David said. "And I mean that. I saved your ass and I'm taking you all the way back to the Scar. You owe me."

Tacharius held up his hands. "Got it, got it."

That out of the way, David sighed and wiped his forehead. "You, Zazee, and Koralex. You three take care of these three?" He gestured back to Natalie and Naoko. They smiled at him and made little finger waves, a lot nicer than he'd expect of any soul, let alone souls in Hell. Maybe Caera was right, and they were just pretending.

"Zazee takes care of Fuad and Naoko. I take care of Natalie. Koralex is our muscle."

Fuad. David scanned behind him again, did his best to avoid eye contact with the two girls obviously looking straight at him, and spotted Fuad. Chatting with some other demons, probably some he knew from the Scar.

"Your muscle?"

"Yes. We pay Koralex in... excess." The volarin winked and wagged his devil tail in front of him.

"David," Laoko said over her shoulder, "this information is useless if we cannot enter the province."

"Right." David rubbed his hands together, took a deep breath, and mentally prepared for yet another barrier between him and saving the god damn world. "Angels. We thought they were just looking for the unmarked. Now you're saying they're actively killing anyone who tries to cross the border?"

Tacharius winced and squeezed his tail. "Yes."

Moriah came up beside the incubus, eyes solid as stone. "Do you know which Heavenly Island they came from?"

"Not a clue. I didn't even know there was more than one."

"Nine," she said. "Do you know the names of these angels? Know what any look like?"

"Not even a little bit. I stayed low and so did everyone else the first time we saw them swoop down and slaughter a hundred of us. Just another group, mostly volas, looking to make a little extra silk or find a free meal. Not a big deal, right? We come and go from the Grave Valley all the time. But with Telmer and the others being a pain lately -- thank you again for killing his ass and letting us eat him, by the way -- we had to be more careful about how quickly we entered the Amisius Forest. I didn't even see the angels until they'd already come down and blasted another group with beams of light."

Whatever he said, Moriah didn't like it, and she hit the demon with her wing, which startled the demon more than anything. You couldn't do much damage with white feathers.