Succubus Lord 16, page 1
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Chapter 1
“Look, bro,” I sighed to Todd as our team approached the opening of the giant cave before us. “I get this is a whole ‘stealth adventure’ sort of mission, but you’ve been whistling the Indiana Jones theme for the last twenty minutes, and you’re not doing anything but the chorus. You gotta stop.”
The imp scoffed loudly, shook his head, adjusted his bow tie, and then fidgeted with his hat.
“If you insist, Jakey,” Todd snickered, “but I’m pretty sure Mr. Tumnus over here loves being serenaded by the epic tunes of John Williams.”
“You call that ‘serenading?’” Ziminiar, the King of the Sixth Circle, laughed. “I thought you were trying to draw the attention of a Vargrat.”
“Oh, you won’t find one of those here in the First Circle,” Mirage chuckled. “Asmodeus goes out of his way to make sure those things don’t infest the city. It’s something he’s very anal about.”
“Whoa, there, Chris Angel.” Todd threw up his hand and gagged. “Whatever Flava Flav does in his spare time is his own business. I’m just glad he’s super-meticulous about keeping rats outta the city.”
“That’s… That’s what I just said,” Mirage repeated with a raised eyebrow. “He’s anal about keeping things clean around here.”
“I just told you I don’t wanna hear about his anal cleansing techniques!” Todd gasped.
Mirage just rolled her eyes, threw her hands up into the air, and gave up.
“We haven’t actually been to the First Circle in months,” Cupi interjected as we stepped onto the rocky surface. “And we haven’t been in its caves since, well, you know… ”
“Since we were hanging out with Plato,” I finished. “Who actually turned out to be Lucifer, who also just so happened to be my real father, and who also turned out to have fathered seven more Nephilim children.”
“It’s been a year of revelations,” the blonde succubus noted with an amused smile. “I can’t wait to see what we find out next.”
“Well, if we can make it down to my library,” Ziminiar explained, “there will be lots of revelations to be had.”
“If” was the key word of the demon’s sentence.
Here we were, back on the outskirts of Hell’s First Circle, in the same cave system my father used to dwell in disguised as “Plato.”
The mission was simple. We go down into the caves, find one of Ziminiar’s old libraries, and then find the prophecies Lucifer had dictated to him centuries ago. According to both Isabella and the King of the Sixth Circle himself, these prophecies would be the key to defeating the Seven Sons of Satan and preventing the End Times from coming about.
If only it were as simple as spelunking.
According to Ziminiar, the pathways to all of these libraries were packed to the gills with booby traps, and stealth and dexterity were going to be the key to get through them all in one piece.
And a mission that required such stealth required nothing short of a stealth-driven team. With Todd’s invisibility, Cupi’s flexibility, Eclipse’s light-removal abilities, and Mirage’s powers to create anything her mind could imagine… we were looking good.
“Explain to me one thing, Ziminiar,” Eclipse mused. “Why did you set up booby traps for a library only you and Lucifer knew about? Doesn’t that seem a little redundant?”
“The traps weren’t my idea,” Ziminiar admitted. “But the prophecies Lucifer had me inscribe were things he never, ever wanted to see the light of day. They were for his eyes, and his eyes only. And mine by proxy, of course.”
“So, like Two Girls One Cup level cringe?” Todd asked as he wiggled his eyebrows at the goat-headed demon.
“What is this two girl--”
“Don’t,” I interrupted him. “Just… don’t. And Todd, shame on you.”
“Now, I am kind of intrigued,” Mirage said as she raised an eyebrow at me.
“You gotta use those Google skills when we get home,” Todd snickered. “But before you watch it, I want to set up a camera to record your reactions.”
“Well, with that said, there is absolutely no way I am watching this thing,” Mirage scoffed.
“Wise decision,” Cupi laughed.
“What?” Todd groaned. “It’s a historical piece of Earth performance art that--”
“I’m gonna stop you right there,” I sighed. “Let’s get back on track.”
“So, you know how to get through the traps, then?” Cupi asked, but Ziminiar just shook his head somberly.
“Unfortunately, no,” the goat-headed demon sighed. “Lucifer installed them all, and he is the one who always deactivated them when we came here. Well, him and Dolo, that is.”
“Can’t you just, like, I dunno… remember ‘em off the top of your head?” Todd questioned.
“Also, no,” Ziminiar grumbled. “The Library of Augury is full of complex prophecies, all of which were written hundreds of thousands of years ago. How does your Earth realm expression go? I believe I have slept since then.”
“It’s alright,” I reassured the demon with a hearty chuckle, and my voice reverberated off the walls of the cave. “We’ve been through plenty of these sorts of booby-trapped buildings before.”
“We even created our own,” Cupi added, “back when we wanted to take down our former pimp, Earl. We are somewhat experts at this sort of thing.”
“Soooooo, what kinda shit we dealin’ with here, Lamb Chop?” Todd interjected. “Giant rolling boulders? Poison darts? Armed Guards who can’t seem to see more than ten feet ahead? Or is it full of high-tech laser beams where we’ll have to go all Mission Impossible?”
“I don’t think this mission is quite that impossible,” Ziminiar reassured the imp as he completely missed the reference.
“Nonono.” Todd facepalmed. “Mission Impossible. Like, the super-spy movie where Tom Cruise gets to be a badass and bang all the chicks. Which, I gotta say, is a huge inspiration to moi. I mean, shit… I’m pretty sure we’re both the same height, and if Tom can get the babes, so can the Toddster!”
“There are no lasers,” the King of the Sixth Circle clarified. “Lucifer’s traps were built a very long time ago, so you’ll find they are much more archaic.”
“Ah,” the imp noted, “so we are doin’ an Indiana Jones thing. See? My theme song was spot on! Let me just change here… ”
Todd spun around in a flash as his body began to bubble. Then, once he had finished his twirl, the imp was clad in the iconic leather jacket and fedora.
“That’s your stealth costume?” Eclipse questioned as she cocked a black eyebrow at the imp. “That seems a bit impractical.”
“Nonsense, Lizbeth,” Todd scoffed with a wave of his hand. “I’m all in on the fortune and glory.”
“Right… ” I trailed off, and then I tried to take note of the situation around us.
We were now far enough into the caverns that we were losing light. So, I quickly called forth a spark of red Hellfire to my hand, held it out in front of me, and lit up the space around us with the makeshift torch.
In front of us, the cave system trailed off into three pathways. Left, right, and straight down. Even though the fork in the road was surely meant to confuse us, I had a sinking feeling I knew where we needed to go.
“Down,” Ziminiar confirmed as if he were reading my thoughts. “Both the other paths take you to dead ends with spike-filled pits.”
“Sheesh,” Todd grumbled, “this sounds like my last DnD campaign. Who woulda thought Bards were so squishy?”
“Why would you play as a Bard?” Cupi questioned. “From what Jacob has told me, those are support characters.”
“Support characters who bang all the hot elf babes,” Todd corrected the succubus. “Plus, it’s a perfect fit, since I’ve got a charisma score of twenty in real life.”
Cupi couldn’t help but snort at Todd’s words, and he shot her a dirty look in response. Then the imp raised his head up high and brushed it off with a shrug.
“Alright, Mr. Bard,” I joked and pointed to the hole in the ground. “How about you go first?”
“Uhhhhh, I totally would, bro,” the imp offered, “but it’d totally be un-Bard like for me to not let the ladies go first. And my tank. And my wizard.”
“I appreciate the compliment,” Ziminiar chuckled, “but I’m no wizard. Just a scholar.”
“‘Scholar’ ain’t a class I’m familiar with, Mr. Tumnus,” Todd guffawed. “What’d they even do, bore the monsters with a lecture until it decides to off itself?”
“Very funny.” The goat-faced demon rolled his eyes and headed for the hole. “I shall go first. This part of the journey is the safe part, since there are no traps until we actually get into the building itself.”
Ziminiar hoisted his robed legs over the side of the hole, looked back at us with a mischievous smile, and summoned green Hellfire around his body. Then he pushed himself off the ledge. The King of the Sixth Circle disappeared down the vertical passageway, and there was silence as the rest of us looked at each other cautiously.
“I’ll go next,” I offered, and then I summoned forth the wings from my back.
There was a cold draft rising up from the pit, and the goosebumps on my arms rose to attention at the sensation. I positioned myself at the edge of the hole, took a deep breath, and then hopped in.
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The damn tunnel was only a few feet wide, so I had to cross my arms over my chest, hold my wings straight above my head, and bring my feet together at a point like I was going down a water slide. Gusts of air brushed up past my face at the speed of a freight train as I plummeted, and soon I found myself falling at break-neck speeds.
Finally, I popped out the other side of the tunnel and into a massive open cavern. I caught my falling body on the power of my wings, slowed my momentum to a crawl, and then landed softly on the ground right next to Ziminiar.
The King of the Sixth Circle was staring off into the distance, and about a mile away was a large brimstone facade built into the wall of the cave. It stood nearly three stories tall, with a flat face and two large openings carved into each side. Ziminiar stared at the structure longingly, as if he were looking at a long-lost friend.
Well, actually, he kinda was.
This dude had been locked away for hundreds of thousands of years, and this was supposedly one of his most beloved sanctuaries.
So, I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of happiness rise up in my gut at the sight.
However, that feeling was quickly squashed when I remembered why we were here, and what might lay ahead.
Cupi came down the chute next, followed by Eclipse, Mirage, and finally the Toddster. As soon as they were all present, I motioned for them to join Ziminiar and me, and then we got to work.
“So, what’s the layout look like in there, King Ziminiar?” Mirage asked. “Are we dealing with a bunch of open corridors, or is it more cavern-y or tomb-like, or what?”
“Well, I am ninety percent sure it’s not modern chic,” Todd snickered. “And probably not Art Deco since, well, ya know… it didn’t exist a millennium ago.”
“It’s simplistic,” Ziminiar sighed. “Lots of enclosed spaces with multiple long hallways that lead to massive chambers filled with books. As you can probably imagine, the Prince of Darkness wasn’t exactly concerned with the decor or aesthetics.”
“Too bad,” Eclipse mused, “I bet something designed by Lucifer himself would look completely badass. Probably lots of black and red and satanic imagery.”
“It would look like a Slayer album cover threw up all over in there, Lizbeth.” Todd whistled.
“Anyways,” Ziminiar mumbled as he summoned up a small bit of red Hellfire to his index finger. “Here is a rough layout of how I remember the Library of Augury… ”
As the goat-faced demon spoke, he used the Hellfire on his index finger to scribble out a rough blueprint of the building we were about to enter. He started with a long, narrow entrance, followed immediately by a massive chamber that had four hallways jutting out and connecting with four equally as large rooms. Then each of those rooms branched off and reconnected at a final space only about half the size of the others.
“Let me guess,” I sighed and pointed to the room at the end of the map, “this is where we have to go?”
“I can see this isn’t your first encounter with a booby-trapped demonic structure,” Ziminiar chuckled.
“Do you have any clue where any of the traps might be laid out?” Cupi questioned.
“I’m not sure,” the demon admitted, “but if I were to make an educated guess, I’d say there will be some sort of trap in every single space we enter. Lucifer really didn’t want anyone getting to his prophecies.”
“So, by my count… ” Mirage mumbled as she counted on her fingers. “We’ll have to get through at least four traps?”
“That is probably accurate.” Ziminiar nodded. “Though, the path we take after the great room is going to determine what kinds of traps we fall into.”
“Greaaaaat,” Todd sighed, “so it’s like a choose your own adventure book, only none of the choices give you the good ending.”
“Well,” Cupi noted as she stood up from her crouch, “at least we’re going in only half blind. There’s only one way to find out what sort of horrible shit awaits us… ”
The Sister of Greed strutted toward the entrance of the library, and she made it all the way to the left threshold before she turned around to see if we were coming.
“That one is quite impatient,” Ziminiar chuckled to himself. “But I suppose it’s better to be decisive and brash rather than meek and indecisive.”
The rest of us followed behind Cupi over to the doorway, and the blonde succubus peeked her head in to observe. Suddenly, her body went rigid, and she let out a blood-curdling scream.
My heart sank into my stomach as my mind went through everything that just could have happened to the beautiful woman. I grabbed Cupi’s shoulders, yanked her back into my arms, and then prepared myself for whatever I might see.
A wave of relief washed across my psyche when I saw Cupi’s beautiful violet eyes staring back at me, right above her gorgeous smile. The succubus shot me a wink, but I pursed my lips in frustration.
“Did you seriously just fake getting mangled by a trap?” I grumbled.
“You should have seen the look on your face!” Cupi giggled, and then she stood up under her own power. “And you think Todd’s the only one around here who can pull a prank.”
“So, there was nothing in the doorway?” Eclipse clarified, and Cupi confirmed with a nod of her head.
“Nada,” the blonde woman said. “I can’t even see the main corridor from out here.”
“That’s strange… ” Ziminiar pondered aloud as he approached. “This is the main entrance to the building. Unless Lucifer made some major modifications, this should be the only way in and out.”
The six of us sauntered into the entryway of the library, summoned red Hellfire into our hands, and then inspected the room. Cupi was right, though. There was nothing in front of us but a flat wall of black brimstone.
“We hit a dead end already?” I questioned.
“Impossible.” Ziminiar frowned and continued to rack his brain. “Did Lucifer close it off, or--”
Before the demon could even finish his thought, the room was filled with the sound of stone dragging against stone.
That couldn’t possibly be a good sign.
Then both of the doors behind us slammed shut.
“Oh, shit!” Todd gasped. “We’re being Temple of Doom-ed!”
Instinctively, I threw up five walls of protective purple Hellfire around myself and my friends, and it was a damn good thing I did, too.
From all four corners of the ceiling, a blast of white-hot Hellfire erupted and sprayed down against my magical shield. The fire was so intense I could feel the heat from the other side of the barrier, and perspiration began to bead on my forehead.
“How the fuck is this a booby trap?” Eclipse demanded rhetorically. “We didn’t even get a chance to solve a puzzle!”
“That’s Lucifer for you,” Ziminiar grumbled as he wiped sweat out of his fur. “He doesn’t exactly play by the rules.”
“Then how the fuck did he get through here?” I demanded. “There has to be a trick to shutting those things off, or else he’d be fried every time he came through.”
“Think, Mr. Tumnus, think!” Todd implored the Demon King.
“I don’t have to think,” Ziminiar admitted as he pointed to the wall in front of us. “Look at the wall a bit closer!”
Now that the room was illuminated by the blinding Hellfire, I could see the outline of a door clearly engraved in the brimstone, but that wasn’t all I could see. There were also several intricate flame-shaped carvings across the wall, and it suddenly dawned on me what we had to do.
“We have to divert the flames toward the doorway and light up those engravings,” I announced to the group. “And you’re definitely not gonna like what I say next… Cupi? Eclipse? How long do you think you can hold off this fire if I release my shield?”
Both of the succubi answered me with stunned silence.
“A-All of it?” Cupi gasped. “I don’t know, maybe a few seconds? I’m not strong enough to put it all out.”
“Eclipse?” I asked the tattooed succubus. “You think you’re in the same boat?”
“A few seconds,” she agreed, “I could probably only do that.”
“Okay, then,” I commanded my friends, “on the count of three. One… Two… Three!”
I released my purple spell and instantly switched to red. The raging inferno felt like it was going to gobble us up in its deadly grasp for a split second, and then Cupi’s freezing spell and Eclipse’s black holes got to work.
