Flame of the Succubus Page 6

  "I'm training. I'm not killing for the hell of it."

  "Of course." Ember smiled. "I'm still waiting for my reward, you know."

  I looked at the smoking black grass that surrounded us on all sides. A wide path made of rock and dark earth led further into the Black Plains. I didn't want to risk burning any important body parts while fooling around. I shook my head. "Not here. When we get somewhere more suitable."

  Ember pouted. "I'll be waiting. Hurry, then. This way."

  She headed down the path, and I followed alongside her.

  The path was relatively smooth, and I didn't see any living creatures besides a few rodents that scurried across the path before disappearing again into the fields of scorchweed.

  "Is it always so empty out here?" I asked. "Not that I mind."

  "The Abyss isn't like your world. Here, the rule of law is kill or be killed. The weak are culled, leaving only the strong. Even our simple grasses can be dangerous." She gestured to the smoldering scorchweed on our right and left. "Your world is bloated with helpless prey that wouldn't survive a day here."

  "But how does the world maintain itself, then? Predators need bountiful prey to survive."

  Ember leaned back, her blonde hair falling behind her like a golden waterfall. She laughed. "Ah, but on Earth, predators kill to survive. Here, they hunt for pleasure." She pointed to my pocket, which held the fire gnat's core. "Or to gain power. Same thing."

  "Don't they have to eat…" I realized my mistake. I had assumed demons or whatever beasts lived here followed the same rules of nutrition. "Do demons need to eat? Do you?"

  Ember smiled. "We don't have to, but most creatures need to eat somewhat regularly. Otherwise, our strength would fade until we couldn't defend ourselves from another predator."

  "So you eat for power, not to avoid starving. Like the Flame you wanted from me."

  "Exactly."

  I rubbed my belly. "Well, it's been a while since my last meal. I sure wouldn't mind a juicy burger or…" That was strange. It must have been over a day since I had last eaten, but I wasn't hungry at all. "Wait, I don't need to eat here, either?"

  Ember shrugged. "I don't know what happens to mortals. Even succubi like myself eat meat from time to time. The meat from creatures of the Abyss can pass along a small portion of Flame, much smaller than what's found in a core or what I could take from my…" Ember paused. "…my usual feeding. But it's enough to tide us over for a bit."

  "Where could we find food in this place? I don't suppose you have any fast-food joints." I wasn't too excited about the thought of hunting and cooking my own food. I thought back to the raw meat that the cat man had offered me. It hadn't been terrible, but I wasn't looking forward to a diet of bloody, raw meat. At least, not yet.

  "Glad you asked." Ember pointed further down the path, while led up a steep hill. "Look."

  I tried to see what was Ember was pointing at. It became more clear when we moved further along the path. There were marks in the soft earth between the flat gray rocks. It took me a second to understand what the repeated patterns meant.

  They were animal tracks of an unearthly size, each one easily a dozen feet across, if I was interpreting them correctly. A gigantic creature with four toes facing forward and one toe facing backward had walked through here recently.

  I reached for my sword. "Is it dangerous?" I asked. I steadied my inner self, getting ready to reach for the darker parts of my Flame if necessary.

  Ember giggled. "You're so cute and manly when you act like that."

  Cute and manly? Did that even make sense? I shook my head. "What is it?"

  "No, silly, that's where we can get a meal. These are the signs of a roving Gluttonbarge."

  "Gluttonbarge? Is that some kind of monster?"

  Ember laughed again while shaking her head. "Well, I guess it is, but it's also a kind of portable inn."

  We had crested the hill. When I reached the top of the hill, I could make out an enormous four-footed beast, the size of a building, further down the path. It had long brown hair similar to a woolly mammoth, except I was sure that it was larger than any elephant that had walked the Earth. It didn't have a long nose, just a round ugly face with six eyes. Its enormous mouth was open, and its head was lowered to the ground so that its lower jaw touched the path.

  "There!" Ember said, flapping her wings in excitement. "A Gluttonbarge."

  I stared at the open mouth. Yellow stained teeth filled the entire height of the open mouth from top to bottom. As I watched, one of the teeth swung to the side like a door.

  A dark figure stood behind the opening.

  Shit. The tooth wasn't like a door. It was a door.

  We had stopped moving. Ember was waiting with an eager expression. I groaned.

  "We're going in there?"

  Ember clapped her hands. "Right! And we better hurry. It looks like the owner's inviting us inside."

  My strength, my will. I took a deep breath to calm myself, then stepped forward with one hand still on my sword's hilt.

  Into the Gluttonbarge it was.

  CHAPTER 7

  We walked up to the great beast-building. Three of its six eyes blinked at us, and I half drew my sword. Ember laughed and kept walking forward.

  I shrugged. It's not like my sword would protect me if the enormous creature decided to smother us with its bulk.

  We approached the wide, man-sized teeth, where there was an opening.

  A cat man, midnight black, peeked its head out of the opening in the Gluttonbarge's teeth. I found myself staring.

  "Wait, didn't I meet you…"

  The cat man's ears twitched. Ember gave me a puzzled look.

  "Oh," she said, as she understood my confusion. "There was feline back at the village where we met, wasn't there?"

  I realized, then, that I had mistaken the cat man for the same one I had met before. It's not like I was used to telling cat people apart. Plus, Crowley had popped up twice now.

  I shook my head, hoping I hadn't gravely insulted our host. "Sorry." I stepped forward.

  "Welcome to my Gluttonbarge," the cat man said. His voice was higher pitched than the previous cat man's. "My name is Festus. Please do come in."

  The innkeeper ushered us inside. Ember stepped past him, and I followed.

  Inside the Gluttonbarge, the walls were dark and rough, but other than a slightly musty odor, it wasn't half as bad as what I had been expecting. No slobber. No tongue. Nothing tried to swallow us.

  An organic hallway, well lit by candles along the sides, led deeper into the beast's belly. Festus closed the tooth-door behind us and urged us to go further inside.

  "Will you be looking for a room?" he asked.

  I looked to Ember.

  "Actually, we hope to have a meal first," Ember said. "The flight's left me famished."

  Festus nodded. "Of course. You came over the Molten Bog?"

  How had he known that? I fingered the hilt of my sword. Ember caught my mood and reached out to steady me.

  "Relax, Aidan."

  Festus chuckled. "He's a feisty one, isn't he?" He waved a hand at me. "Cuts and charred fabric. Given that you survived, I would wager you ran into nothing worse than a swarm of fire gnats."

  Ember grinned. "Right. Aidan took care of them. He's becoming quite the swordsman."

  I frowned. I didn't think it was a good idea to tell strangers any more than necessary. Maybe I was being paranoid, but something about the innkeeper didn't feel quite right.

  "A swordsman, eh?" Festus asked. "Are you a Seeker, then?"

  I shrugged. "We can take care of ourselves."

  Ember had a slight frown as well at the mention of Seekers. "Forgive us," she said. "We're quite tried. Could we trouble you for a meal right away?"

  She unhooked a tight-fitting bracelet off her wrist and slid a dark black circle with a hollow center off the bracelet.

  Obsidian coins, then. Money of some kind. I had assumed the bracelet was decorative.
<
br />   She passed one of the obsidian coins over to Festus. "Will this cover it?"

  Festus nodded. "Business is slow, ever since the Emperor made his decree."

  "Decree?" I asked, unable to contain my curiosity.

  "He means the order to seal the borders between the planes," Ember said.

  "Ah. Right."

  "Everyone's grumpy and buckling down for trouble," Festus added. "Not enough travelers. But come. I'll take you to the common room."

  Festus walked deeper down the hallway, leading the way now.

  I half-stumbled when the ground beneath us suddenly quivered, but Festus patted the wall.

  "Easy girl," Festus murmured. "Might be close to her feeding time," he said more loudly to us.

  Feeding time? And we were walking down its throat?

  Ember didn't seem bothered, so I tried not to worry about the needs of the strange living inn.

  Festus continued down the hallway along with Ember, and I followed cautiously, hoping I didn't tickle the Gluttonbarge's throat or that it was allergic to humans.

  The hallway split up into three branches, and Festus took the rightmost branch. There were voices in the distance. The hallway soon opened up into a larger area filled with wooden benches and tables.

  The voices stopped, and faces turned toward us. The common area wasn't crowded, but clusters of humanoids sat at various tables. I spotted more of the human-like villagers with pale, colored skin. Others were taller, some shorter, and mixed in with the human-like beings were snouts, pointed ears, horns, and the occasional tail. Several of the figures had collars and chains leading from their necks like they were slaves.

  Ember stepped in front of me, spreading her wings slightly to shield me from view.

  "We'd prefer a discreet table," she whispered to Festus.

  "Of course. Right this way."

  Festus led us to a darker corner of the room where no one was sitting. The voice started up again, and when I looked around, no one was staring at us anymore. Ember sat on a bench with her back to the wall. I joined her at her side.

  "It's best if we don't attract too much attention," Ember said in a soft tone. "I should have warned you, but many demons enjoy the taste of humans, not just succubi."

  I peered out at the grotesque mixture of man, animal, and demon scattered throughout the common area. None of them were remotely attractive like Ember.

  "That's…unfortunate," I said, with a look of disgust on my face. There was no way in hell I would consider doing anything with the others. Ember on the other hand…

  Ember patted my thigh with a hand, giggling. "Not like me. Other demons will just eat you."

  "Oh." I chuckled. "I guess that sounds better. Well, not really, but you know what I mean."

  "Although I'm still waiting for a full taste," Ember reminded me.

  "Does this place have rooms? Beds?" I wasn't expecting much from this freakish inn, although I had to admit that, so far, it wasn't any worse than the bedbug-ridden, sleazy hellholes I had used in the past. I looked over to Ember, who smiled back. At least the company was decent.

  "They should have beds. Enough for what we need." She tapped her fingers along the inside of my thigh where the pants were ripped, then raked her sharp nails gently along the softer skin.

  "Hey!" I said, grabbing her wrist.

  Ember grinned. "Don't keep a lady waiting."

  "You're the one that wanted to eat first."

  "So I did."

  As if on cue, Festus appeared in front of us holding two plates heaped with a pile of some kind of brown rice and slabs of meat. The meat smelled rich and fatty and was, to my appetite's relief, actually cooked.

  "Two dinners for our fine guests," Festus said.

  "What's on the menu?" I asked. Apparently, there wasn't any choice in what we ate.

  Ember held up a hand. "It's bad manners to ask." She whispered loudly to Festus. "Sorry. He's not from around here."

  "Oh?" Festus raised an eyebrow. "Did he arrive before the decree?"

  "No, no," I said quickly. "She means I came from another part of the Abyss."

  "That's wonderful!" Festus cried. "I'd love to hear any news you might have."

  Ember gave Festus her sweetest smile. I hadn't been aware that a succubus could look that innocent.

  "We're famished. If you don't mind, could we…" She looked down at our plates.

  "Apologies." Festus bowed. "Please enjoy your meals."

  "No apology necessary," I said. "And thank you for this. It looks delicious."

  Festus left us to our meal.

  "Damn, he's a nosy one, isn't he?" I asked.

  Ember shrugged. "Most innkeepers are. They love to gossip."

  We started eating. Festus hadn't given us any utensils, and I noticed everyone else eating with their hands. I scooped up the brown rice with my hand and shoveled a portion into my mouth.

  The rice tasted like chicken. Not bad.

  "What exactly am I eating?" I asked. "Or is this the type of thing it's better not knowing?"

  Ember paused mid-bite. "Hm. Better for you not to know."

  "I was worried you'd say that." I wasn't exactly hungry, but I had no idea when my next meal would be. As long as Ember was eating, I would, too.

  I swallowed the brown rice and turned to the first slab of meat.

  I picked it up and tore off a piece with my teeth. It was surprisingly soft and tender, lightly spiced with some kind of herb. The flavor was closer to beef, but the texture was closer to fish.

  "This is from a demon?" I asked. "It has some Flame in it?"

  Ember cocked her head at me. "You really want to know? You might regret it."

  "Try me."

  "Okay, then. This is a slice of Gluttonbarge tripe."

  "Tripe? Like intestines?"

  "Yes. From this Gluttonbarge. Their intestinal lining grows back quickly, so you can harvest sections of meat easily without harming them."

  I changed my mind about the meal, pushing my plate away.

  "You should eat," Ember said. "It's too weak to feel, but there's a small amount of Flame in the flesh of any creature from the Abyss."

  I stared at the plate of food. I would need every advantage I could get as someone new to this whole Flame thing.

  "Fine." I sighed and pulled the plate back to me, reaching for the slab of monster innards.

  I was halfway through my meal when a shadow fell across our table. I looked up, expecting to greet Festus. Instead, three rough figures stood before us.

  The three figures were a mix of bull and human, with ram-like horns that curled downward along the sides of their faces and lower bodies covered in short dark hair that ended in hooves instead of feet. They looked like minotaurs from those old Greek myths.

  Each bull man wore a pair of short trousers and carried a wide double-bladed axe strapped to his back.

  Jesus fucking Christ. First, we had cat men, and now, bull men. It was a goddamn zoo down in the Abyss.

  I didn't mind the strange beast men, or beast demons, or whatever they were, but where were all the cat girls and cow ladies? Other than Ember, I hadn't seen a single woman or were-woman I would have wanted to tangle with.

  I noticed a fourth figure, a man crouched on the ground. One of the bull men gripped his neck by a collar. Creeps.

  I continued eating, ignoring the intruders. I figured Ember would know what to say to them or if there was some foreign custom I didn't know about.

  The tallest bull man in the middle slammed two meaty fists onto the table and leaned forward.

  "You. Pretty boy," the bull man growled.

  I stopped eating and dropped a hunk of meat back onto my plate, trying not to roll my eyes. I could already tell what he wanted.

  Bullies. They were the same on every plane, apparently, regardless of age, race, or species, looking to boost their fragile egos at someone else's expense.

  "Is there something I can help you with?" I asked.

  The bull man
knocked my plate of food aside, sending its contents to the floor. The room grew deathly silent as the plate clattered on the floor.

  He grinned. "Yeah, I was hoping you could tell me where you got such a pretty face."

  I had lost any patience for this kind of shit long ago. As I gazed into his leering, stupid grin, I couldn't help remembering another idiot's face, a face that I had broken in a crazed fury. I had given that scum of the earth his due, and in return, I had lost everything.

  I had locked that memory away, but something about the hot, stinking breath of the bull man in front of me reignited my old anger.

  Cut him open. Break his face.

  "Let me show you," I said in a low tone. My rage enveloped me, and my skin crawled with a familiar sensation—the aura of power. I beckoned for the bull man to lean closer.

  He smiled and leaned forward another few inches.

  My hand slipped to my sword. I tensed and let the fury grow. I would need the power to finish what I started. In one smooth motion, I began drawing the sword and—

  "No!" Ember shrieked. She threw herself on me.

  I shook my head, the fury dissipating as Ember wrapped her arms around me.

  "What are you doing?" she hissed as she bent to whisper into my ear. "You shouldn't draw attention to yourself."

  Ember made a lavish display of kissing me. "Why don't we take this somewhere more private," she said loudly, accompanied by a breathy moan. "Festus?" she called out as she fluttered her wings rapidly.

  The bull man blinked, his attention shifting to the preening succubus.

  Festus appeared out of nowhere, artfully squeezing in between the bull men. "Yes, yes. I have your rooms ready. Follow me."

  The bull men stared blankly as Ember and I slipped past to follow Festus. On the way out of the common room, a figure on the other side of the room caught my eyes.

  Unlike the rest of the men here, the figure was feminine. I thought I saw something large, like a pair of wings, behind the figure, but I only caught a glimpse before we left the large room.

  Once we reached the hallway, Ember sighed.

  "Males," she said with a huff. We kept silent as we traveled along the Gluttonbarge's winding tunnels.