FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The Devil May Care

Part 26

For DuskCypher

By Draconicon

"...What...in my name...happened here?"

God looked at the pearly gates of Heaven, shaking his head slowly at the meerkat that hung from the bars, shattered and broken in a hundred different ways. It was amazing that the body hadn't completely fallen apart from the abuse that it had taken, and moreso, that it was still recognizable. Sallis, he remembered, a high tenor that had a beautiful voice that was able to soar over the morning sun in a way that few others could.

A pity that the voice had been stripped away, really. He would have liked something soft and soothing right at that moment.

Mercy stared as much as he did, but it was Gabriel that lunged forward, the lamb desperately trying to pull the meerkat off the bars. Even in death, the body clung to it, bony hands trying to hold the bars shut.

"I'm so sorry, God, I'm so very sorry," the lamb said, apologies falling from his lips as he desperately worked his clever little fingers through the bones of the body. "I don't know what happened here, but be sure, I will find out."

"I'm sure..."

He doubted that he would need Gabriel to look that hard. Just a glance past the gates made it clear that something horrible had happened while he was away, something that had changed the entire landscape of Heaven. The cloud paths were ripped to shreds, and it was as if a storm had rung out through the great kingdom during his absence. His palace still stood, but there was a feeling there, something that was off. Something that had changed.

His daughter's tail twitched at his side, and he knew that she felt something different, as well. He glanced down at her, and then back to the palace.

"Fly ahead," he said.

"Are you sure?"

"You've failed on earth. Do not fail me here."

"..."

"Go."

And with that, the tigress vaulted over the gates. She had always been a nimble one, and she carried herself swiftly across the clouds, hurrying towards the palace. He could have gone himself, but it would have been a slap in the face to the faithful angels that had survived whatever this was.

Finally, Gabriel managed to get the bones of Sallis's fingers free of the gates, pushing them open. They bumped against other body parts on the other side, grinding and making the metal scream from being scraped.

God shook his head, and the tiger snapped his fingers. A blue aura spread over the clouds and buried the bodies, leaving that place, at least, pristine once more.

"Come with me."

Gabriel followed in his wake, the lamb, as ever, keeping several steps back out of deference to his master. God appreciated that, though he knew that it came at the cost of the Archangel's overall effectiveness. Obsequiousness didn't necessarily mean that someone was less effective, but in the case of Gabriel, it unfortunately did. And with several other issues at the moment, he didn't need that.

There was a loss in Heaven, he realized, something that was more than just the strange feeling that he had gotten at the gates. A great deal of angels were gone, either pushed to the point of true death or simply not there anymore. And more than that, there was a chunk of power that was missing at the upper echelons.

He ran through the names, thinking through them. Gabriel was with him. Raphael, yes, he was still there. Uriel, yes. And then -

Michaela.

He gritted his teeth. That was a true loss, he had to admit. The General of the Heavenly Host, and the one that he had gifted a sword of war to? That was going to be a hard one to replace, and definitely one that would be difficult to match. A loss of artifact and of personnel. Not something that he needed right then.

Then again, considering the settlement that had been forced by the eldritch court, he didn't need to have Dusk looking at the Sword of War as a prize. That thing that the cat carried was dangerous enough, and he didn't need something to make him that much more powerful.

Still, she wouldn't have left for nothing. This would explain the damage, but why would she turn on me?

That was the question that he needed solved, and he needed it solved now, before the rest of the universe realized the precarious situation that he and the rest of Heaven had fallen into. They were vulnerable with their army scattered through the realm and their general gone, and while he still had the power of the Virtues to fix this, he would need time to do it.

Stripped of my best field operative, bound away from the earth for the foreseeable future, a lost Archangel...what else can go wrong?

Mercy flew back over the ruins of the battlefield, using wings that she had likely conjured just for the occasion. They faded away as she alighted before him, shaking her head.

"We've got a problem."

"Just one?"

"He is gone."

"..."

That was a problem. A really big problem, as a matter of fact, and it explained everything right then and there.

He had always known that there was someone that had listened in on the little plan that he and Mercy had come up with, but when nothing happened after the first hundred years, he started to let his attentions slide. Surely, if there had been an angel that had been offended by what he had said, they would have acted by that point.

But he had never considered that it might be one of his Archangels, and that one of them might eventually pull a Lucifer.

I had seven, and now I have five...this is a problem.

God shook his head, continuing the procession towards the palace. Gabriel followed at a short distance, and his daughter followed at his side.

"What are we going to do?" the tigress muttered.

"...Nothing, for the moment."

"Nothing?"

"You are bound by restraining order from the world below, and me by an oath I can't easily break."

"Since when does that matter against the Mandate of Heaven?"

"Since it was ordered by someone not bound by it."

"You can't seriously think -"

"This isn't thinking. This is waiting."

He could tell that his daughter was pissed, and he wasn't surprised. She had always been a more tempestuous actor in these things. She had never been one that liked taking a back seat. She liked to be active, and she liked to take care of things her way. Since that had managed to progress his own plans most of the time, he hadn't bothered to check her on that, but now that she had fucked things up like this...

Well, he needed her to learn a little discipline.

"You will stay at my side, for now."

"The world's going to get worse."

"It already has..."

God could feel the differences happening in the world below. Without being in his palace proper, he couldn't see just what had happened yet, but he knew that things were shifting. The balance of power was gradually swinging in a different direction, and he didn't like the way that felt.

In fact, he actually picked up the pace towards the palace.

The Rooms of Seeing were crowded today, considering that he, Gabriel, and Mercy were all occupying them. It was difficult to see things when so many people crowded the floor, but it was still possible. God directed them with gestures here and there, allowing him to see what was happening when they were standing in the way, but he didn't feel any more encouraged with the different sights.

The sense of something changing below had been the opening of a great demonic portal, and the release of more Lust demons than he cared to count. They had always been let through on sporadic intervals, one of the few things that he and Lucifer had conferred over and agreed on. It had been something that he allowed his former Archangel to believe that he had won with, but in reality, it was a way of keeping control over the mortals.

The more guilt they felt over submitting to their urges, the more that they would come to the churches and beg for absolution. The more that they sinned, the more that he could make them feel guilt, at least up to a certain point. As long as it was something big that they would feel had gone over the line, something that wasn't normal, then he could force them to feel the guilt of their sins.

This, however, was something beyond that.

He's releasing too many, and if he does this too often...

Well, the world would become a more lustful place, for sure, and then it would start to get normalized. All the things that he had managed to instill a sense of guilt about over the years would start to fade from the public consciousness, and they'd feel like it was just another part of life. Another tool would fade.

And that was before they got around to the real problems.

He had rewound time in the Rooms, allowing him to see what had happened. The rescue operation, the battle, and the escape. Angels had poured through the gates in dozens, leaping from the clouds to the world below. He could tell that they would be integrating into the mortal population, trying to hide among them and find places where they would not be so easily found. What their goal was, he didn't know, but they'd be hiding his son from him for as long as they could.

And without Mercy to send down after him, God had a serious problem.

The Archangels, for now, would be needed in Heaven to restore the order that Michaela had violated and shattered. They would be needed to ensure that there wasn't another uprising from those that had rebelled and survived. The population and army of Heaven would need to be retrained, put under a new officer, and that was just the start.

My son, my General...you have picked a horrible time to do this...

"You can't just keep me here now," Mercy insisted.

"I can, and I will."

"But look at that! Look what he's done!"

"And he will do more. More to hang himself."

"Let me try to fix this!" Mercy demanded.

"No. You will stay here before you ruin more. Now...go to your room. And Gabriel? Summon the Archangels to me."

"All of them, my lord?" Gabriel asked, gulping slightly.

"All of them."

The lamb bowed, hurrying from the room as fast as his hooves could carry him. Mercy, as expected, lingered. She crossed her arms, her white robe shimmering as she fought back a blast of anger, one that he could still feel pouring off of her.

I have been too lenient with my own people, he thought. I have allowed them the freedom to think of late. Then perhaps it is time that I start taking more direct control once more.

And with that, the tiger reached out. The power of Diligence, virtue of might and dedication, rippled through the air. He forced it down on the tigress, who stiffened, her back going straighter, her eyes going wider.

"You...you..."

"Go to your room, my child," God said, staring down his nose at her. "You have no place here, and there is no time for me to teach you proper behavior."

"..."

"Go."

And with that, the Virtue of Diligence compelled her. She turned on her heel and slowly walked away, her eyes forced to stare forward rather than glare back at him. The power of Diligence was sufficient to remind her of what she was. Not a free being, but his child, and bound to obey him by the rules of Heaven.

He shook his head slowly as she disappeared, leaving him alone in the Room of Seeing. The world had changed drastically in such a short time. Worlds, for that matter. Hell had lost its ancient ruler and was now rudderless until and unless this cat, this Dusk, took the throne. He might not even do that, and then the realms of Hell and the demons within would fall into chaos, and possibly spill out into the mortal world.

That would give him the key to break the restraining order and oath and come back down to the world, but even then, it would be a little risky. He would need more than that after the orders that had come down from that court.

Cthulhu...if I had been able to bring Michaela down with me, or Jesus...

He could imagine what his son might have done. There was a kindness to his son - a weakness, admittedly, but a kindness - that slid across many different ethical lines. He was able to bend that, bring others into his fold, and then make them want to be around him. It was something that had kept the angels happy while God had been running the show, since they knew that Jesus supported him.

He had no doubt that Jesus would have been able to bend the eldritch court's opinion to Mercy. It was a power that he and Lucifer had shared, the gift of speech, though one had been gifted with the speech of compassion and the other with the speech of rationality.

Still, Jesus had the greater power, and it had been a problem not to have him in the court. He had needed to lie, to say that Jesus wasn't somewhere easily found, so that anyone listening in wouldn't know that he was imprisoned. Mercy should have known better than to ask in the first place.

Then again, he should have known better than to ask his worthless son for a favor like that. Locked up as long as he had been, Jesus had no reason to want to help, and unlike Mercy, there was little that God could do to compel his son.

My daughter is the more dangerous one, but my son is the more powerful, he thought, contrasting his children in his head. Jesus has always had the greater strength, but has refused to use it. She has always been twisted, wanting something different, craving her position, and as such, sees the Virtues differently. They are both good tools, but one has their own ambitions, and one doesn't want to obey.

It was a problem, and one that he would need to see solved sooner than later if he wanted to get the world back to where it was supposed to be.

That said, he was surprised just how engaged he had become with the situation so quickly. It had been years, perhaps centuries, since he had had someone that had put him on the back foot so quickly.

He swept his hand across the Room of Seeing, changing what he had been looking at to focus on his new enemy. This...Dusk. Dusk von Doom. The potential second Satan.

The floor shifted, showing the black cat just starting to rise from his bed. It was clear that he had partaken in a series of debauched things over the course of the day, both from his own people and from the demons that he had unleashed from the realms of Lust. He took no shame in flaunting his own body, just as the mortals had done when they were still in the garden of Eden.

It was clear, as well, that this Dusk didn't care whether he was seen. He felt safe, felt powerful, and he knew that he had won. God...had to give him that, this time. The black cat had maneuvered things in such a way that he had managed to escape the trap of either triggering Armageddon or becoming a pawn, and he had done it in a way that God had never seen coming from a mortal.

That said...

That said, there were ways in which this could be salvaged. For all the damage that Heaven had taken in the last few weeks, it was something that could be repaired. There were other angels that could be raised to the rank of Archangel, though it would take decades for them to fully come to power. The damage to the realm itself could be fixed through his power and that of his children and Archangels.

Hell, on the other hand, was shattered. The fragile unity that Lucifer had managed to create was all but gone, and the various demons would be contesting with one another for power and supremacy. Unless Dusk was willing to throw away his freedom to take the throne, they would never come together under one ruler again, and even Dusk would struggle to hold them from the throne, considering that he lacked the power of the former ruler's voice. That would put the demons at a loss against the more unified Heaven, allowing him and his to take them down piece by piece if it came to that.

And as for the other 'wins' that Dusk had managed? Well...there were ways around that. God had already seen one.

He glanced back at his royal quarters. There, hidden in a corner well away from all the other treasures that he had surrounded himself with, was a little disk, something that had been sealed near the beforetimes. It was something that was more ancient than the Archangels, more powerful than Lucifer or any other soul but his on this or the other three planes.

It was one of the Seven Seals, and while it wasn't shattered, it was cracked. It oozed with power, gradually letting loose something that had been held back for longer than any angel had existed.

Michaela, you might have given me a solution.

After all, it was the sword of war that had cut through that wall, and it was the sword of war that had made the nick in the seal that was slowly widening as time passed. Bit by bit, the power that it held back would be released.

And if the others were damaged, by happenstance or coincidence...well, it might not need to have Dusk force Armageddon, after all.

"Lord God."

Gabriel stood in the doorway, taking a few deep breaths. His eyes were wide, as they undoubtedly should be with the power that he had summoned. The most junior of the Archangels stood to the side.

"The other four are ready for you."

"Good. Show them in."

This game had started off badly for him, but this was just the start. It wouldn't be long before the tables started to turn.

Be ready, Dusk. You have won a battle. The war has just begun.

In the realm of Gluttony, Brutus Diel was in the middle of crafting a new deal. This time, he was making the effort to go over the various terms and conditions properly, making sure that he had done it all correctly. This time, he was making sure that if someone broke the deal, they would be punished as soon as it happened, rather than whenever he managed to find them again.

He had been too kind to the Lust demons that had been under his employ. They were contracted to him, yes, and there was a definite punishment for breach of contract, but as long as they were in the possession and presence of Mr. von Doom, they were safe from him. Safe enough to risk flouting his authority, at the very least.

That still galled him, particularly when he thought about the amount of influence that he was losing in the realm of Lust. So far, his puppets were still holding a majority of the power there, but it had gone from holding nearly 80% of the power to holding little more than half. They were keeping that majority by the skin of their teeth, too, what with the offering that Ornar Onsen had been able to put out there.

A free route to the mortal world...daily trips...ugh...

How was he supposed to compete with that? The rare mortal that he could pull down from his personal portal would hardly be enough to keep a Lust demon's attention compared to that. And he had heard that some of them were already forming relationships with the mortals on the other side, finding it all 'domestic' to find dedicated partners.

He would have vomited if it wasn't so against the code of a Gluttony demon. Waste not, after all, for hunger would strike harder afterward.

This time, however, he felt that he had the contract right. There was no reward until the very end, this time, preventing the contracted employee from breaking the terms and running as soon as he got what he wanted. There was a punishment clause if it was broken before the deed was done, allowing an instant teleportation back to Diel - the power to eat distance was a good one - and he had managed to ensure that the contract could be enforced from both the Hell planes and from the upper ones.

It would work well enough for now, and it would allow him to make an example of this demon if he ended up becoming another problem.

The boar had been fuming ever since his controlling contracts of the Lust demons had come to an end, but more than that, he had found himself furious to know that he had been played by Dusk von Doom. A mortal getting one over on a demon? That was not how it worked. That had never been how it worked. And now...

Now, he needed to teach Dusk a lesson.

With the contract written up, he put it down on the arm of his throne, and he sat down to get comfortable. He took a moment to think about all the things that he had planned, on the different ambitions that he needed to feed. To maintain his superiority in Gluttony. To take the power of the Second Satan and make him a bitch. To ensure that Hell was run his way, rather than Selene's, or someone else.

He had to make sure that these ambitions were fed. If he did not, then he would lose the power that he already had. He would become less, and then House Diel would slide down into obscurity.

Again.

That will not happen on my watch.

He shook his head. Things were still manageable, as long as he could get hold of Dusk properly. It was no longer about the obsession with that cat's ass, though it was something that he still looked forward to using. Lucifer had done quite the number on it, after all, turning it into something delicious and lovely, and so far, the black cat hadn't turned it back. It wasn't about that, though.

No, it was about taking the power that Dusk had and turning it to his own advantage, of fulfilling that marriage contract and taking the position as the regent of Hell. They needed a ruler, and soon. If God managed to pull himself back together after the recent Angel-Fall - and it was a fool that believed that Brutus hadn't seen that - then they needed to be a united land.

Hell could not stand divided. On that point, he and Selene agreed.

Unfortunately, they agreed on almost nothing else. She had her own things that she wanted to push, from the superiority of the Pride demons to the focused hierarchy that she believed that Hell needed, while he had his own hedonistic desires that needed to be sated. They would fight over that until the end of time, and likely further. Neither would back down from influencing the next ruler of Hell, and considering how...persuasive...the lioness could be, he needed something to tilt the odds in his favor.

Considering that his dick hadn't been enough the first time, then he needed to look into kidnapping.

"Ruz."

He spoke the name of the demon, and it appeared. A panda demon that was just short of being fat, more of a portly figure, the Gluttony creature stood in the middle of Brutus's great hall. The panda was dressed in black leather, looking like someone out of time, like a creature that had been wandering the pages of a fantasy story. The daggers at his belt spoke to stabby tendencies, and there were masks and other little tools that ran up and down his belt and through a bandolier that the panda wore.

Ruz bowed at the waist, rising up with a smile.

"Lord Diel. A pleasure to see you again."

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Of course, the last time that you hired me, I ended up getting a better offer from your competitor. I'm surprised that you wanted me back."

"My son learned from the sudden kidnapping that you put him through. He needed the education."

"You're surprisingly forgiving."

"I am. The contract, however, won't be."

He gestured at the parchment at his side. Ruz gestured at it, too, and the distance between parchment and demon disappeared, glutted away in a moment. As the panda flicked the rolled-up paper open to read it, Brutus folded his hands across his lap, affecting a patience that he didn't entirely feel.

Time felt like it was slowly sliding away, leaving little behind. He wanted this done, needed this done so that he could take care of things properly. His own obsessions aside, he knew that Dusk would not be holding still. Politics needed to be played, and that meant that he needed to push faster than his opponent was.

He couldn't count on Selene or Dusk making a mistake if he held back for too long. He needed to be just as aggressive as they were.

"This is an...interesting assignment," Ruz said, the panda nodding to himself. "A kidnapping."

"An ASSassination, as well."

"A long time since I've done something like that," Ruz said with a chuckle. "I do find it quite fun to find the right asses for it...but what would be my reward, hmm? You leave that just a little vague."

"I wanted to know if you were interested, at first."

"I am...intrigued."

"Do you know Jeanne Gaspard?"

The panda shook his head, and the boar chuckled, waving to someone down a hallway. The squeak, squeak of an approaching food trolley made the panda's ears perk up, just as any Gluttony demon's might at the sound of impending food.

"The French are such a...unique people. So filled with fondness for life, so indulgent with their food and their creativity. And probably among our favorite souls to find and enslave, wouldn't you agree?"

"I would. The best of breads and carbs and fats, heh."

"Then you will enjoy this."

The trolley arrived, and upon it was a single slice of cheesecake. Not demonic cheesecake, either, but one that had been taken from the mortal world and been preserved for a moment like this. It was fluffy enough that it almost rose from the plate, with no topping, for none was needed. It was dense but fluffy, light but filling, and all sorts of other contradictory descriptions.

Even Brutus's mouth watered as he looked at it, and he knew that Ruz would be no better off. Few Gluttony demons could resist food from the world above.

"Jeanne Gaspard is one of the most famous French bakers at the moment, as well as the best pâtissier in the last hundred years," Brutus said, nodding at the cheesecake slice. "In exchange for getting me Dusk von Doom, I will give you a full meal of his."

"You can promise that?"

"The Diels would never make a bargain that they can't keep."

"Hmm, then perhaps the stories of your portal are true, then."

They were, but it wasn't exactly something that he could admit to someone, not even an employee, not even someone that would have to use it if they took the contract. That was something else that had been buried in the terms; once it was done, then the memory of the portal would be eaten away, leaving Ruz as harmless to that secret as he had ever been.

Brutus leaned forward in his seat, looking down at the panda. Despite the fact that the panda was dressed for a fight and he was not, he made sure to project himself with all the power that came from being the head of his own House. The Diels had clawed their way up from obscurity in Gluttony, and they would not go back. He loomed in his own way, and even Ruz flinched slightly.

"Do we have a deal?"

"...We do, Brutus."

"Good."

He nodded at the trolley, which was wheeled over to the panda. The cheesecake and its plate were floated to him.

"Enjoy. Consider it a reminder of the joy that you'll get when you finish the job."

Provided that Jeanne Gaspard doesn't kick the bucket in the meantime, he thought. That man's not getting any younger, and he's not exactly eating a healthy diet.

But that was a bridge that he could cross when they came to it. Ruz was the best at his job that could be found in the realm of Gluttony, and while he had his peculiarities, his fondness for anachronisms and theater, he was still very good at getting people where they needed to be. The killing seldom happened, but kidnappings? Snatchings? That always did.

He leaned back on his throne, putting his chin on his fist as he imagined what he'd do when Dusk finally turned up. Naked? Perhaps with some tight fitting, minimalistic denim to really show off that ass. It was too perfect to really have anything else there, and he knew that it would be a wonderful little decoration around the place until he got around to properly breaking it in.

He still remembered that it had been rather perfect the last time that he had enjoyed it, but he imagined that with enough time, he could make it even better. Not as good as Envy might have done - Envy had a way of perfecting the things that it wanted, making things even better than what they originally wore to make them worth possessing - but good enough. Hunger was, after all, the best seasoning.

"How soon do you think you can do this?" he asked.

"Hmm?" Ruz swallowed a bite of cheesecake. "I'm sorry, what?"

"How soon can you accomplish the contract?"

"Oh, two days."

"That's it?"

"That's all I'll need."

"Then I expect it done no later than that."

"...Two days and ten minutes."

"Why the ten?"

"So I can finish this cheesecake properly."

"...Heh, granted."

After all, what Gluttony demon would be so cruel as to deny someone food once they started eating it? Particularly something made by Jeanne Gaspard?

The End

Summary: God returns to Heaven after the war to see what has happened, and Brutus Diel concludes another deal.

Tags: no sex, fantasy, series, mythology, demon, panda, tiger, tigress, boar, ass fantasies, food, prison, anger, Heaven, Hell,