FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The Devil May Care

Part 10

For DuskCypher

By Draconicon

The more people he collected, the better Dusk felt, and the better the cat felt, the better that he was able to start the day. The black-furred feline groaned as he woke up in the late morning, stretching his arms over his head and feeling the comforting weights of two men in bed with him. He looked down, chuckling to himself as he looked from Andrew to Peter and back again, enjoying the cute and naughty sights of them against his chest, of their collars pulled tight around their necks.

Mine, he thought, and the possessive word sent a thrill through him that he wasn't quite ready for. His morning wood bounced against his stomach, and he chuckled. Mine.

It was more than they probably really knew just yet. The power of the Devil Himself was extensive, and it reached through more than just the immediate area. It touched on all of reality to a greater or lesser extent, and when the stallion and the orca had submitted themselves to him, they had surrendered their old life in exchange for the new one that he offered. It wasn't going to re-write time, but it was going to give them quite a surprise when they tried to go back to their old lives.

He stretched again, slowly wiggling out from under the two males on either side of him. They offered him a good bit of warmth, but at the same time, he knew that there was little that he could do from the bed that he hadn't already done. He was a cat, after all, and he did not know of a cat that did not crave something new whenever they had finished something old. For cats, things became old very, very quickly.

As he rolled his head to one side, then the other, cracking his neck and then the top of his spine, he allowed his senses - both the mortal ones and the supernatural ones - to start flooding him with information. He had taken to not letting the power of the Devil Himself filter through in the early morning, wanting to hold onto a bit of his own mortal powers, his own abilities. After all, leaning on those powers would not always give him what he needed, and he obviously had a lot to learn when it came down to controlling Satan's powers properly.

It was only then that he was aware that there was something going on further out from the bedroom, in the living room of the penthouse. The cat cocked his head to the side, feeling a deep rumble down in his core as something resembling anger rose up in sync with the puzzled sensation he had.

There isn't supposed to be anyone here but me and mine...

Dusk got to his feet. Normally, he would have pulled on his coat or his pants, but considering that there was an uninvited guest in the penthouse, he didn't care if they got a little full-frontal. They could suffer through that for being here without his permission.

He opened the door and walked down the short hallway to the living room. He heard Arnis talking, the bear's grunting voice surprisingly flirty, and he wondered if the bear had been stupid enough to really invite a conquest back here.

Not that he can't have girlfriends, but -

He rounded the corner, and immediately a growl started rising in the back of his throat. It wasn't a girlfriend; no way in HELL was this a girlfriend.

Arnis was there, alright, the bear leaning forward on a leather seat, but it was the woman that was on the couch that had the black cat's attention. His tail twitched back and forth irritably as he looked at the tigress, the woman in white leather, her top covered by something that was more of a band of it than an actual shirt, and her upper legs not covered at all, save by a skirt that was so mini that it didn't even deserve the description. She wore thick boots that went up to her knees, which emphasized the curves of her legs and explained why Arnis was staring at her so hungrily.

But that was nothing. Nothing at all. Nothing compared to the feeling of holiness that was pouring off of her.

"Get away from her, Arnis," Dusk growled.

"Huh?" The bear turned. "Oh, hi boss. Just found this girl here and -"

"Get. Away. From her."

"Yes, Arnis. Would you mind terribly giving us a little bit of space?" the tigress asked.

"Heh, for the pretty lady and the boss? Anything."

The bear got to his feet, walking to the penthouse door and leaving. Dusk reached out with his powers, his aura flicking the lock shut. Sure, Arnis would be able to come right back in if he really wanted, but it would keep the bear from giving in to idle temptation and just shoving his way back in.

With that done, he turned his attention back to the tigress. She was the danger here, not Arnis, and not whatever she might have done to the bear. Dusk walked forward, slightly conscious of the fact that he was naked, but refusing to let it get to him. After all, he had no interest in the tigress; he had never had an interest in females.

Sitting down in the chair that the bear had vacated, he crossed one leg over his lap, cracking his toes with a subtle curl.

"What are you doing here?" he whispered.

"Ah. You're finally addressing me?" She smiled. "I was wondering how long it would take to properly get your interest, Dusk."

"You aren't from around here."

"Not in the slightest."

"From heaven, it seems, from the aura that you're putting off."

"If you couldn't sense that, I would be disappointed," she said, reaching for the cup of tea on the coffee table between them. She took a sip. "Really, Dusk, you're going to have to do better than that if you want to be worthy of the soul of the Devil Himself."

"..."

"Oh, yes, I know about that," she said, chuckling.

There was something about this tigress that was remarkably unsettling. Even when Seraph had been his fully holy self, there hadn't been any of this level of arrogance and cockiness. Yes, there had been confidence, but that was different, quieter, less in your face than this was. And this woman...

He looked her over. Aside from her ample bosom and clothing, she still sat with the posture of a more conservative woman, the sort of person that wasn't just offering herself up to the nearest man as a piece of meat. That was something different, the dichotomy between the presentation and the inner self. While there was a possibility that she was hiding her wings, he doubted that there was such a thing there. She moved as if she didn't need them, so she would take no issue with hiding them if they were there.

That meant that she was more powerful than an angel, but the question remained, how much more powerful?

He extended his power in her direction, expecting to feel a pressure in return, a subtle barrier that was keeping his power at bay for the moment. He expected to feel strength, but nothing that he couldn't handle with sufficient time.

Instead, he ran full into a wall of holy power, a wall that burned to the touch, and he had to pull his own aura back. All the while, the tigress sipped at her tea with an amused smile on her face.

"What...what was that?" Dusk asked.

"You mean my aura?"

"You have far more of one than any angel does."

"That's because the angels refuse to come down again, particularly after you managed to corrupt Seraph. That's why they sent me."

"What are you, then?"

"I'm sure that you're on your way to figuring it out, Dusk..."

She looked over the rim of her cup at him, and the feeling that he got from her gaze was slightly unsettling. He was used to the feeling of being wanted. Both before and after he got his most recent powers, he had often been the victim of the wanting gaze of men and women alike, and it wasn't the first time that he had been stared at like a piece of meat, like someone wanted to fuck him.

But this was different. The last time that he had felt anything like this was when he had summoned the Devil Himself, when the big man had been looking down at him like something to break, something to own. This woman, despite all her holy aura, was looking at him in the exact same way, except that it was somehow worse.

There's no way that anyone in heaven would feel like that for the Devil Himself, even in a mortal body. There's something wrong here...

He shook his head, adjusting his pose slightly. He lowered his leg and brought the other one up, and as he did, the tigress's eyes flicked down to his cock. It would have been rather satisfying, if it wasn't for the fact that she licked her lips and didn't do anything else. She was either holding herself back, or finding another way to tease him.

The black cat grumbled.

"What do you want, then?" he asked.

"Many things, Dusk. The first of which is you, but the second - and the one that my father wants - is to see if there's any way for you to be brought back to the side of the good guys."

"I've never been on the side of good."

"Yes, I've noticed that, too."

She chuckled, putting the cup down.

"That said, it's entirely possible that you might find your way back. You are, after all, still partially mortal. With that, you will never entirely give yourself to the ways of evil. You would have to give up everything that tied you to this world, and then, and only then, would you be irretrievably broken.

"I've been sent here to see if there is any chance to turn you, to keep the powers of the Devil Himself under the watchful eyes of Heaven. I like to think that there's a chance that I can make that happen."

"I think you overestimate your chances."

"Feel my aura again, Dusk. Feel it, and tell me you actually believe that."

The black cat growled deep in his throat, his extrasensory self still smarting from the last contact between him and the other feline. The tigress chuckled, stroking a finger along the rim of her cup.

"I think that you and I will need to talk again soon. For now, think about what I've said, and know that you have the mercy of God watching over you. And pray that I do not believe that mercy should be withdrawn."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I'm sure you'll figure it out. You're smart...not as smart as you are sexy, but smart," she said as she got to her feet with a soft chuckle. "Now, I'll take my leave. Be well, Dusk."

It took everything he had to be smart enough to keep his thoughts to himself and his power contained. There was enough fear down below the bubbling anger to want to lash out and see if he could catch her by surprise, but the strength of her aura had made it very clear that she was ready for something like that. There were too many different ways that things could go off the rails without proper information.

After all, he hadn't challenged the Devil Himself until he was sure that he knew everything that could be known about the old cat. The last thing that he needed to do was challenge this very powerful individual without knowing everything about her.

So, he sat there, lounging back in his chair as if it were a throne as she turned her back on him. She seemed to put a deliberate sway in her walk while she made her way out, and he gritted his teeth at the idea that she was playing him for something. There was too much jiggle there for him to be just treated to her natural walk.

A few minutes later, Arnis returned to the penthouse. The bear was just starting to grin when Dusk fixed him with a glare, and the smile dropped away.

"What's the matter, Boss?"

"Are you out of your mind?"

"...Probably, but what's that matter?"

"You're supposed to be watching things. Why did you let her in here?"

"Well, I didn't, but -"

"You're the guard. You're supposed to tell me when someone gets in here that doesn't belong."

"...She told me she did," Arnis said, a soft growl in his throat. "Well, that's a lie, then."

"Why didn't you check with me?"

"You were sleeping."

"Then...you didn't let her in?"

The bear shook his head. That meant that there was something else going on, something deeper, something -

Where's Seraph?

The thought hit him just at the end of his musings, and he sat up straight in his chair as he realized that he hadn't seen the fallen angel for at least twelve hours. Not since he broke off from the group when they were getting home. The bull had said that he'd felt something, something off down in the middle levels of the building, and Dusk had given him permission to check it out, as long as he was back in a few hours.

"Did Seraph ever come back?" he asked.

"I haven't seen him, boss."

"..."

Thump.

The sudden sound of something hitting wood caught both their attention, and the bear was running towards the source as a bodyguard should. Dusk had barely gotten to his feet before Arnis was pulling the closet door open.

Out fell Seraph, bruised and battered to within an inch of his life. The bull's darkened horns hit the floor first, almost burying his head against the boards, and he barely breathed enough to still be considered 'alive.' Both Arnis and Dusk looked at each other, shaking their heads.

They dragged the big guy to the couch, laying him down, and Dusk felt over him with his aura. There had been a harsh struggle, but the bull was still obviously alive. There was a strong core of life to him, something that hadn't been battered that badly, even though the shell that held that core had been nearly broken apart.

As he extended a hint of his own power, a bit of his aura into Seraph's body to start the healing process - corrupting the cells with greed to grow, with sloth to rest - the bull finally opened an eye. He flicked it around, looking at everything else in the room, almost in a panic. Then he saw Dusk, and he seemed to calm himself down a bit.

"You're okay," the bull mumbled, speaking through a bloody mouth. "You're okay."

"I'm fine. What happened to you?"

"You...she..."

"She? A tigress?"

"You saw her?"

Dusk nodded.

"Stay...stay away...from Mercy..."

The bull's eye rolled back in its socket, and he fainted again. Dusk debated waking him up once more, but the last thing that he wanted to do was risk the physical shell Seraph was in. While he was a fallen angel, Dusk doubted that Seraph would be able to just regenerate the way that some other angels might have done if he had his shell broken. He needed to allow it to rest, to recover. The light bruises were starting to fade, but the overall damage would take hours to fix completely.

The cat got to his feet, cursing softly as he wandered from one side of the penthouse to the other. That tigress, this 'Mercy,' as Seraph called her, had obviously found his fallen angel and beaten him to get entry to the penthouse. Whether she had done it and Seraph had eventually given up, or if she had done it and then used his body to get through the wards on the door, Dusk didn't know. Whatever had happened had happened, and he could only do something to try and prevent it from happening again.

The fact that she had gone after one of his possessions, however...

This woman...

He growled in his throat again, feeling his anger bubbling up, feeling the wrath that the invasion produced from him threatening to take over. Dusk pushed it back down, forcing it to stay contained where it was. He reminded himself that she was powerful, perhaps too powerful to take in a head to head fight.

However, that didn't matter to the angry parts of him. Those parts wanted to rip the woman down, wanted to tear the tigress apart along the lines of her stripes, wanted to teach her the lesson that needed to be learned for messing with his property. Even aside from the fact that he had claimed them himself, that was just bad manners.

Arnis wasn't much better. If anything, the bear might have been worse, growling and clenching his fists. The cat looked the bear in the eye, cocking his head to the side.

"Do you know about this?"

"Mercy? I've heard the name."

"Do you know anything about it? About her?"

"Not enough to tell you, boss."

"What did she want when she was leaving?"

"She..."

The bear blinked, rubbing his forehead.

"Fuck. She invited me on a date."

"...You?"

"Yeah."

And yet, she stared at me as if I was the main course...

There was something off about that, but as he tried to figure it out, he saw something else. Despite how angry he had been, Arnis was starting to smile again as he talked about the date that was coming up. Mercy had obviously done something to the bear, obviously taken something and changed it.

She has the power of corruption in her own right, then. She is most definitely not an angel...

Elsewhere, there were other conversations regarding Dusk von Doom and the power that he had over reality. Namely, this conversation was taking place in the realm of the Lust demons, and among them, one of their chiefs, the Lord Ornar Onsen.

The office of Lord Onsen was set towards the rear of his personal onsen - for where else would it be - and it was designed as a spa and office all at once. He had several rolling desks that could be brought before him, and his throne, such as it was, was made of a water-worn rock that had spirals and whorls along the arms, and waterfalls ran down the sides and back of the seat.

Lord Onsen himself, however, was a much more striking figure. An orc with black flesh rather than the usual green with eyes of orange fire, he stood head and shoulders above most of the demons that wandered through the brothel that was his domain. When he moved, muscles upon muscles flexed, and when he growled for attention, the onsen would go still. He never dressed in more than a jockstrap, and often less, his great uncut cock seen in stark relief in the often-damp cloth.

And today, he had an interesting situation.

Lord Onsen rested his head on the tips of his pointed fingers as he looked down at the two wolf incubi that he had sent to the Diel manor for the party not that long ago. The wolves had been there for two purposes. One they had failed at, and the other they had succeeded in.

The one that they had failed had been to find the hidden route to the world of mortals that was said to be buried within the Diel manor, a place that had allowed the brutish boars to go to the upper world whenever they wished rather than waiting to be summoned. Such a route would have been of great benefit to his people, and proof of its existence would have allowed him to threaten the current head of the family to allow his people to use it.

It was a pity that they hadn't found what they were looking for, but they might have fond something else that was just as useful. They had been fucked, used, enjoyed by the bearer of the soul of the Devil Himself, and there was...something different to them this time.

"You feel...nothing?" Lord Onsen asked.

The two wolves looked at each other, hemming and hawing as they tried to come up with a proper answer for him. The orc waited for a minute, then two, allowing them the chance to try and work through it on their own, but eventually he had to hold up a hand and shut them up.

"You." He pointed to the one on the right. "You start."

"Well, um, it's not that we feel nothing, but it's like..."

"Yes?"

"You know that feeling when you just want the taste of something, but you don't really want to get up and make a whole meal for it?"

Lord Onsen nodded.

"It's like that. We'd like to go back to having sex, to having fun, but it's like...we're not starving for it."

Such a statement rocked the core of what Lord Onsen knew about his people, and it set off massive waves of possibilities.

The orc leaned back on his throne as the wolves muttered to each other, talking about what had happened with their time with the black cat. He tuned them out for the moment, only leaving one ear open in case anything pertinent was said. Other than that, he went into his own head, thinking it through.

There was not a Lust demon in all his domain that wouldn't kill to have what the two wolves were feeling right then and there. To be free of the curse of Lust was not something that many would ever consider possible. They were, after all, demons of Lust, and to be free of that would be akin to a Wrath demon being free of anger, or of a Pride demon free of arrogance. It was not possible, not even with a direct visit to Lucifer.

And yet, here, it had happened.

Lord Onsen had watched them, had observed from afar, and he had seen them skip meals. Skip meals. That was something that no incubus had ever done in the course of history, not when they were as skimpy as they were. Even on the surface world, among the mortals, they were among the most likely to glut themselves on the mortals and the souls available, pushing themselves harder than ever.

And yet, one round with that feline, and they had changed. Whether it was permanent or not was yet to be seen, but it had been long enough now that there was obviously more of an effect than Lucifer had ever had on them.

And if he ever grows more powerful...

Lord Ornar Onsen tapped his fingers together as he considered the implications. There were many things that he needed to think of from here on out, but most important, as ever, was how he was going to break the news to his people that there was something to hope for. That there was someone that might be useful to them, as long as they were useful to him.

For the orc had no illusions on the matter. They would not gain their freedom from the curse of Lust just out of the kindness of another's heart. This Dusk would not be one to give them that without something in return.

Thankfully, his realm had much for the mortals above, if they were willing to visit. He would even waive the fee for it.

Lord Onsen looked over the incubi again, half-expecting to see them on the verge of fucking one another. That would have been normal, but nothing about this was normal. They had been changed, and...

Well, he envied them. They were not looking at one another as the inevitable sex partners of the morning, but rather as fellow demons. He felt the twitching in his own body, in his cock and in his hole as he imagined where things might go for him later, but because he was master of this domain, he had a bit more control than they did.

They, on the other hand, would be leashed to it for all eternity unless they found a way to break it.

And Dusk...

"Get me paper."

The words dropped from his lips before the two incubi had entirely realized that he was talking. They blinked, turning to face him.

"Lord Onsen?" one asked.

"Get me paper. We are going to have a guest."

"The Lord Dusk? Von Doom?" the other asked.

"Yes, him."

"You mean..."

"He is to be invited. He might be what we need...what we've always needed."

The wolves were happy beyond belief at those words, and he could see that they were finally given a shred of hope of their own. He hated to dash it, but dash it he must. He was not a cruel lord of his realm, and he would not have them fool themselves.

"This is an invitation. He may yet refuse it."

"But..."

"You know he is mortal, and if he were not, he would still be the Lord of Hell. He would have the right to refuse it, either way."

The wolves growled in their throats, but they listened, and they heard. They understood, much as they did not wish to.

As they went to fetch the papers for the message, Lord Onsen leaned back on his throne once more. He could already imagine the things that he might say to tempt the mortal to come down to his onsen. There were many things to be said about it, from the hot springs that soothed the bone and the soul at the same time, to the touches and massages of the great demons that staffed it. There were drugs of pleasure that might be smoked, either directly or indirectly, and there was company pleasurable for mind and body.

There were all of those things, but among the onsens of the realm of Pleasure and Lust, he knew that there had to be something to make his establishment stand out among them. He ruled it, he ran it with a good hand, but as the rumors spread among the Lust demons of someone that could finally satisfy them, he knew that they would send their own invitations.

His would just have to be better.

What can I offer the next Satan that the others cannot?

The question, it seemed, would not be one that was so easily answered. He would need to take a little time to consider his answer if he was to tempt this Dusk properly, for he doubted that he would get a second chance.

As she had taken to doing with some regularity, Mercy watched Dusk's apartment from across the way. He had manipulated reality, perception, and the physicality of the world, but he had yet to reach a point in his powers to be able to tease its soul into doing his bidding. In that, she was the stronger, as she was in all other things.

The tigress lay upon a cloud that she had called with her power, smiling to herself as she watched the black cat walk around his room naked and on full display. For all that he was a most annoyingly independent man, she found that he was pleasant to look upon, and most certainly pleasant to...observe.

A pity that he seemed to be interested only in men, but she would train him.

After all, everyone needs Mercy...

The tigress smiled, flicking her tail back and forth as she shifted from one position to another as he kept pacing. Doubtlessly he was struggling to find a plan, to figure out what to do about her, how to handle her. Handle her, as if any man could do that. There was not a man in history that had managed it, and there wouldn't be one now.

Certainly not him.

She stroked her fingers along her whiskers as she watched his cock sway from side to side, and imagined showing him what it meant when a real woman put her hands upon it. There would be much that he would learn when she decided to educate him.

Starting with his loyalties...

One was enough. One had always been enough throughout history. You just needed to pick the right one. So, yes, she had failed in that a few times, and she had sent those that had proven themselves unworthy to their deaths. Such was only right when you were the daughter of God himself. It was the way of things; you did not take in someone that was not worthy of your attentions.

Dusk, however, needed to learn more lessons than that.

I should start keeping a list, she thought. Item one. Monogamy. Item two. Bisexuality. To start.

It was a pity that he had found the road towards sexuality through such a flawed road. He would never have the pleasure of someone taking care of him properly if she didn't step in. Clearly, he needed someone more than the slaves that he was collecting, more than the simple males that didn't know what they were doing.

Pleasure, pleasure. He thought that he felt pleasure with them beneath him. She would show him what true pleasure was like, what it felt like to have someone over him, directing him, showing him what was best for him.

Yes, that would give him insight. That would give him purpose. And it would give her...him.

Her fingers traced down her sides, running along her hips and almost down beneath her skirt. However, she caught them before they could go too far, and the tigress shook her head.

No, no, not yet, she told herself. We will not spoil the moment. Our first time with him will be met with greatest eagerness...

He could not defeat her; she had already been sure of that, but the meeting today had proven it. He did not have the power that was required to defeat her, and was weaker than the old Devil had been. She had cast that one down in the past, shown him the error of his ways when he tried to seduce her.

And now, she would show that she was stronger than the new one.

Not yet, not yet, she told herself, knowing that there was far too much eagerness for her prey. She needed to be distant, to remind him that he had some freedom for now, a little more time to live on his own, to be his own person. She would collect him soon enough, and when she did, she'd make him release all of his whores and slaves back to the world. No need for him to have any distractions when he had her in the first place.

And besides, there was quite a bit that his whores wouldn't realize yet. She'd felt the pressure and power in the air when she'd snuck into his apartment. There was much that had been done to the horse and orca, and they would likely find themselves in a far different life than they had ever imagined.

She settled herself in, getting ready to watch as she saw them stirring through the walls of the building. It would be interesting to see how Dust reacted to them, and what he would say to make them be happy with their new lives.

The End

Summary: Dusk meets Mercy, and finds out that there is a very powerful person gunning for him. More than that, the rest of existence is still paying keen attention to him, particularly as the result of his powers start to be known.

Tags: M/solo, demon, cat, bear, bull, tigress, angel, nudity, obsession, magic, supernatural, orc, hell, onsen, incubus, worldbuilding, series,