Page 100 of Unbinding the Demon
Shallow crimson liquid trickled across the ground, weaving its way through jagged stones and sullen bones from bizarre, unfortunate creatures. A thick black haze rested heavily in the air, making it impossible to see what screeched and hissed within its depths. It carried a slightly fruity scent, like ripe apples sitting in a bowl. Other than the perilous-looking ground, it gave the illusion of being in a black void, surrounded by complete abyssal darkness. Sagacor’s saddle clanked beneath my butt, bouncing me up and down gently as his steady steps splashed through the seemingly never-ending sanguine stream. Every so often, bones and skulls would crack beneath his large hooves, causing loud pops and crunches to resonate in the gloom.
Even though Valarendrik was guiding Sagacor with the reins, I still felt like a total badass riding an awesome undead horse through such a macabre part of The Abyss. I held the abyssal book in one hand and a veggie and cheese sandwich in the other while practicing the unbinding incantation.“Duhmall... temel... demohl?”My voice was low and deliberate, squinting like a detective decoding a mystery as I tried to read the strange word in the darkness. “How do you say this?” I pointed to the word to show Azathoth, who was strolling beside me.
“You said it right the first time.” He smiled at me, then began inconspicuously eyeballing my sandwich. “Also, it’s good to remember that focus and intent are just as important as pronouncing the words correctly. It’s one of the fundamentals of magic that you should learn.” His face leaned in towards my hand with a devilish gleam in his golden eyes. “Oh, wow! Look over there at that weird thing!” He pointed off into the distance with an exaggerated look of awe.
“What? Where?” I glanced over and saw nothing but darkness. “I don’t see anything.” My gaze snapped back just in time to see his big fat mouth chomping down on my sandwich, stealing a huge bite right out of my hand. “Hey!” I glowered at the surreptitious sandwich-bite thief as he stared mischievously into my eyes, chewing with a guilty smirk.“Ancient evil demon, my ass. More like immature, gourmandizing trickster,”I grumbled.
He chuckled, swallowing the last of his bite. “But really, you need to focus on the feeling of your spells, not so much on the words.”
“Well, it’s not like I’ll be doing any more spells once you’re unbound,” I stated while rolling my eyes, miffed about his food-thieving ways. I then tried to shove an angry bite into my mouth right as Sagacor stepped over a large rock. My whole body bounced, causing me to miss and smack the cold sandwich against my nose.“Oof!”
Azathoth chuckled and wiped the tomato goo off my crinkled nose. “Well, why not? It would be a waste not to. Your soul is already so bright that magic would be easy for you to master. You’d make a great sorceress, and trust me, there’s no one better to learn magic from than a demon.” He used his thumb to proudly point at his chest.“Come to think of it, it would be best to teach you fire protection spells first,“he mumbled to himself while looking down in thought.
I shrugged with indifference. The old, yellowed pages created soft swishing noises as I mindlessly flipped through them to appear uninterested. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll consider it... maybe.”
It was hard not to feel nostalgic and miss my aunt while looking over the creepy, esoteric illustrations. I had so many memories of her obsessing over the troublesome book. She had even let me look at it with her from time to time. It was strange to think it had been a gateway to another world the entire time and that she had been secretly practicing sorcery. It was even stranger to imagine myself following in her footsteps.
Valarendrik’s deep voice cut through my thoughts, causing me to look up at him. Azathoth responded in the Abyssal language, then faced me. “There’s a small orchard coming up with fruit trees that Sagacor likes to eat from. We’re going to stop there for a moment. Then, it’s only about half an hour to the decrescent pantheon.” He placed his hand on my thigh and squeezed with a loving smile. “It shouldn’t take us too long to slay the vovin, so we’ll be back on Earth soon enough.”
There’s an orchard in this dismal and macabre place? Never would’ve guessed that.
I smiled back at him with relief. “Thank goodness! I’m so ready to see light again!” I said with a small giggle.
It was true, I couldn’t wait to go home, but I was also beginning to enjoy our time in The Abyss. Even if it was a horrifying world of eternal darkness and inverted life. Once I had gotten over the constant feeling of,oh my god, I’m actually going to die,it wasn’t so bad.
Plus, after spending over half a day with Valarendrik and Sagacor, they had both grown on me. It turned out that Valarendrik was also into art. He was overjoyed to show me a bunch of his highly impressive yet terrifying sketches of different abyssal flora and fauna. Each image was so lifelike it could have been mistaken for a photograph. I, in turn, sketched him a realistic nature scene with a duck pond, then a pineapple wearing sunglasses. Both pictures blew his mind.
“You could always just look into my eyes for that.” Azathoth’s eyes glowed even brighter, pulling me out of my distracted thoughts. He glanced around, then leaned in once again, as if he had a secret to tell me. “Would you like to know what I’m ready to see again, Buttercup?” his deep voice rumbled, and then he flashed me a wickedly handsome grin.
I let the book fall closed with a soft thump, tilting my head. My curiosity piqued as I glanced at him, awaiting his answer. “What?”
“I’m ready to see you stripped bare and on your knees, with those succulent red lips of yours wrapped around my cock. I’m going to enjoy holding a fistful of your beautiful hair while watching you gag on my hard flesh as I fuck your throat. Your cheeks flushed, and your watery eyes full of aphrodisia and avidity, as I wrap my other hand around your neck to feel myself thrusting inside you.” His hand slid even further up my thigh until his claws grazed over my panties beneath my dress. “And who knows, maybe I’ll even tie your hands behind your back first, or something of that sort,” he murmured and shrugged nonchalantly.
Sweet, sexy spice cakes.
My lower stomach clenched with desire and heat rose in my cheeks. Despite our horrifying surroundings, I was tempted to pounce on him, then passionately tumble off into the darkness to get freaky among the bones.But I swatted his pervert hand away instead. “Get that thing out of there!” I hissed, feeling my pussy twitch for his touch. “You shouldn’t say such things when your undead prince friend is right there!” My eyes shifted to the back of Valarendrik’s head as I gestured toward him in irritation.
His lips twisted into a goofy, lopsided grin. “You should know that you can’t hide your arousal from me, Buttercup.” He let out a seductive purr, then licked along my outer thigh with his hot, wet tongue.
“Are you crazy!?”I began slapping at his horned head with frantic, little slaps, messing up his hair.“Get that salaciously sinful tongue of yours out of here!”
A deep chuckle rumbled in his chest as he backed away while using his claws to comb out his long obsidian locks. “Don’t worry, he doesn’t understand a word we’re saying. I could talk about fucking you all day and he wouldn’t have the slightest clue,” he simpered at me. “Right, Valarendrik?”
Valarendrik turned around and looked at us with a raised brow. His eerie black and red eyes seemed to perfectly match our surroundings as he and Azathoth briefly confabbed. Then he stole a shy glance at me, embarrassment painting his peculiar, elven-like features. He turned back around while mumbling something and shook his head, focusing on the distance.
“What did you tell him!?” I demanded, my eyes narrowing like daggers at Azathoth.
“The truth. That I was trying to talk dirty to you, but you were too concerned with his presence to appreciate it.” He patted my thigh with a whimsical gleam in his eyes.
“Oh, good grief.” I placed my hand on my forehead as if I had a headache while shaking my head in humiliation.Whatever am I going to do with this shameless, satanic scoundrel?
Sagacor’s sudden happy nickering enticed me to lift my head back up and see what all the fuss was about. The mist was lifting, unveiling a grand grove of gnarled trees. They emerged from a damp, black moss carpet, their roots tangled among the many bones. Shadows flitted among the thick trunks, and little undead creatures scurried away at the sight of us. Red liquid dripped in abundance from each gnarled bough, making the moss squish and squirt as we walked over it. Little silvery leaves were scattered all around the ground, leaving the branches completely barren. However, little red round fruits still dangled daintily from their twigs, reminding me of ghastly holiday tree ornaments.
“What the!” A scream escaped me as Sagacor began to slightly rear in excitement, jerking me up and down. “Whoa! Holy fucking dicks on sticks!” I latched my hands onto the saddle horn for dear life, terrified that I would fall to my death in this abominable bullamakanka of a place. The guys started laughing at me like a couple of bantering guinea hens...Thanks, guys.
“He’s not going to buck you off. He’s just eager to gobble down some of those caedis fruits.” Azathoth gestured at the fruit trees with an amused smirk. Valarendrik placed his hand on the horse’s side, calming him instantly.
“I think I want to get down now. It’s not because I’m afraid of falling off, though!” I fibbed, then two large hands latched onto my waist.“Eeep!”
