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College of Celestials - The Zodiac

Chapter 2.5 - Vigilant

The Vicar of Virginity

Born Alfonso Romano, the man that would be Virgo’s right-hand-man had been born into modest means but chose to throw that all away for the life of a priest. Attending the seminaries and colleges in Rome, he was a devout Christian that was eventually deployed to the town of Giannivos in northern Italy. This, however, spelled his doom.

The excited and young Alfonso did not know that Castello Della Vergine sat so close to the quiet town. For years, he preached in his cathedral and even took his mission further by providing services to the nearby prison. This, however, brought scorn from what would be considered the more jealous and judgmental citizens of Giannivos.

Virgo’s influence had already spread to the township before he arrived but Virgo had never sought to fully take over the town, simply letting it be as a potential means to providing easy access to the new experiences he craved. His actions at Castello della Vergine had caused the citizens of Giannivos to look upon anyone that deviated from their ‘pure Christian values’ to be beneath them. Anyone who even associated with them was met with scorn simply by association.

This even extended to the kindly priest who only wanted to offer salvation to the least amongst them. This wore down Alfonso’s defenses and I have it on good authority, that many of those that threw criticisms at him were under Virgo’s influence. Eventually, when the poor priest’s defenses were at his lowest, Virgo approached him and gave him the harsh, unforgiving truth.

What was a man of God to do when faced with an actual deity and proof that his God was little more than a lie?

That day, one priest died and another was baptized under Virgo.

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November 25th, 1:30 PM, Saint Matthew's Starwalk Valley Church

Starwalk Valley was a quaint village that Alfonso would’ve readily considered one of those ‘aging cities’. Most of the population was well past their prime and while some still worked, they ran quaint little shops and family grocery stores. Few major retail branches were seen in the quiet streets. Nestled at the floor of a valley, the township had a generally cool climate and was surrounded by thick, lush forests and national parks. Located southwest of the much colder and dreary Angelton, the town was where retirees from either the coastal town or Devil’s Peak would come to spend their twilight years if they couldn’t make it down to Florida. The temperature was apparently warmer than its sister towns.

Alfonso couldn’t quite tell the difference as he had come from the much warmer, more temperate northern Italy. Under the guise of a visiting pastor, the portly, white-haired man waited patiently while the current pastor preached about love and forgiveness. When the homily was done, he was introduced and given the floor. Despite being over sixty years of age, Alfonso still struck an intimidating figure with his wide 5’9’’ figure. Though he had a rather large belly, his chest was firm and each arm was incredibly thick. He carried himself with a strength and virility that most men his age would only hoped to possess at half his age. Though his hair had long since gone white, he still had a lush mane that he kept modestly cropped. Age had still taken its toll on him - or at least he let others believe - forcing him to seemingly permanently squint his brown eyes.

He took up position at the podium, his powerful hands gripping the edges of the wooden frame as he prepared his speech.

“My brothers and sisters,” he began, “I have but one word for you.” He paused for dramatic effect. “Vigilance.” Again, he paused just to let that one word sink into the minds of those around him. “Here most of you stand at the twilight of your years. But it is my obligation to remind you that God gave you this life and you must use it to your very last breath. You cannot simply sit on your laurels and assume that you have paid your dues and you are guaranteed your reward in Heaven. Every moment you still spend on this earth, you are being judged.”

He jabbed a finger at the podium. “Do not lose vigilance, my brothers and sisters! Many of you have suffered greatly. You may have brought faithful and beautiful children into this world or fought for our freedom. It may seem harsh to ask more of you as your bodies cry out in weariness but your life is not over yet. Do not surrender so close to the finish line. To falter now, to turn your back on everything you stand for or to fall into a pit of sin is akin to forfeiting the race just an inch from the finish line.”

Alfonso spread his arms towards the gathered crowd. Aged and wrinkled faces met him. Some were perhaps in their early sixties at the youngest while the oldest were ancient and surprised him with their virility at being able to make it to the sole church in the quiet town. There were a few younger faces in the crowd; visitors from out of town that had come to stay at one of the inns on their way elsewhere or to meet with their relatives. Starwalk was not just for the old and bedridden; younger people came by. They just didn’t stay.

“I do not mean that you should simply surrender your life,” continued Alfonso. “I mean that you should not commit to the sins of sloth and become a burden to others. Do not become content in the sin of greed and waste away your wealth at casinos or games of chance. Resist the temptation of lust no matter your current state. Banish that demon of wrath and look upon your children or the new generation with scorn just because they are different from you. Gluttony may come knocking on your door but do not answer his call!” His voice rose, growing more and more passionate while stirring those around him. The congregation were starting to sit upright, eyes wide and enraptured by his words. “Look not upon the next generation and their youth with envy. Look upon your past with humility and not pride!”

He wagged a finger through the air. “You might ask what else is there to do? What can I do given my advanced age? I will not petition you for more donations. I will not ask you to spend what time you have in service to God. That is a given by your mere presence here. No, I ask you to look upon the future and see all the experiences you have gone without and go out there and attempt as many of them as you can! God gave you this life, live it to the fullest!

“Learn a new skill. Go back to school! Travel! Find what you could not achieve in the decades of existence and take this opportunity to pursue them! You have done so much but there is always more to do. The world is filled with infinite possibilities. Possibilities that God put there in front of you. God does not stop loving you nor does He stop paying attention to you because you have reached a certain age. Do not stop experiencing life to the fullest just because you are retired. Do not let life pass you by.”

With that, Alfonso bowed, pretending to say prayer to the false god and then returned to his seat as a guest preacher. The rest of the mass went by as expected. He served communion, gave lip-service to maintain appearances and when all was said and done, he stood outside the chapel, shook hands with people and gave them his blessings.

In one way, shape or form, they all gave him the strength he needed to complete his mission for Virgo and he had planted the seeds for his god to draw strength from in the future.

Alfonso Valentino would be the first to show humility and admit that he was far from the strongest of the Astrals that Virgo had in his arsenal now or in the future. But he humbly accepted the praises his father and Celestial gave him as his current top strategist and tactician. Always one to think ahead, Alfonso knew that should Virgo intend to invade the neighboring town of Angelton, he would need rich, well-aged sources of power. Starwalk Valley was perfect for that.

Frank’s fall and defection had struck the Valentino Family rather hard. Alfonso had considered Frank like a son, often teaching him in the ways of Virgo and how to navigate the politics of the Valentinos. While they were all one family under their Celestial, they were still all human and humans were prone to ambition, greed or lust. None of which were sanctioned by Virgo but Frank had been the youngest of the Astrals so he needed guidance. Of course, Alfonso was saddened with the young Astral’s actions but he could also see the wisdom in Virgo’s decision to send him first to face an unknown foe.

The priest pondered this all as he proceeded to help with the pack-up after the mass. The residing priest asked him what he would do for the rest of the day and Alfonso gave him the curt reply that he would like to visit some of the parks that the Valley offered. Pleasantries were exchanged before Alfonso took his leave and hoped into the big, red truck that he had leased just for this occasion.

As he drove, he marveled at how Virgo was both ruthless and clever in sending Frank. For nearly three years, Alfonso had attempted to temper Frank’s wildfire personality. Burning with the fires of a vendetta that had no clear endgame, Alfonso had recognized the self-destructive nature of Frank’s personality and had tried to guide that power in a more constructive manner. Sadly, all the sex, missions and tasks he had assigned the boy hadn’t quite taken root by the time this opportunity had come up. Perhaps given another decade, Frank would have been a more upstanding member of the Valentinos but now, he had fallen to the seductions of a wizard and his youngling Celestials.

Unsurprising, really. Frank was drawn to power. That was just his kind. But now that they knew what they were dealing with, Alfonso knew how to counter them.

The priest of Virgo drove out of the town proper, quickly being surrounded by lush undergrowth and towering pines in the shadow of the valleys. The asphalt road quickly began turning into hard-packed dirt, well-worn from hikers and campers daring to venture out into the wilderness. Alfonso found it quaint how these retirees would challenge themselves by taking trips out into the forests of the valley even in their advanced age. Few of them, however, went so far out to the higher parts of the valley were the air was a little thinner and the path was more difficult.

He parked the truck in one of the many designated lots which really consisted of a flattened area with a few wooden posts planted in a circle to denote the parking spaces. Still dressed in his priestly vestments, he stepped out of the truck and began heading up one of the dirt paths. This particular path had a large sign near its entrance that warned any who would brave its challenge that it was incredibly difficult and to remember to make their way back before it got dark. There were no camping sites along this particular path which made it perfect for what Alfonso had planned.

The sun was already starting to set by the time he veered away from the set path and ventured into the dense shrub. To his left was the sleepy town of Starwalk Valley which was already starting to wind down for the evening. To his right was the sloping path of the mountains that formed half of the Valley. The ground was unsteady, moist and slanted making it incredibly difficult to traverse but it also meant that he would not have to worry about anyone stumbling upon him.

Still, despite the difficulty, he continues to walk. The tree branches and underbrush caught his priestly grab, tearing at them and catching pieces of the white and purple cloth. Just as the sun had dipped behind the valley, casting a twilight on the area, he shrugged off his robes, leaving him in his sensible sky-blue, collared shirt and black slacks. After another hour of walking, he finally decided to stop.

There, amidst the brush, Alfonso undid the buttons of his shirt.

“I believe in Virgo,” he intoned. “God of Purity, Guiding Star of Youth and Silver Celestial.” He pulled his shirt from his slacks and peeled the fabric from his taut, pale skin. Strong, powerful arms were revealed, a single thick vein crossing the watermelon-sized biceps and ham-like forearms. Bowling ball shoulders caught the straps of his singlet between his mountainous traps.

“Keeper of Purity, Herald of Awakening and the Eternal Virgin. I believe in the Divine Zodiac, the Stellar Twelve and the Dodecagon of Divine. Made before Time Immemorial, returned from Heaven to guide humanity in their darkest hour.”

He gripped the edges of his singlet and deftly pulled it over his head, tossing it aside in the opposite direction of his shirt. The wind blew, carrying his scent into the air and brushing the dense, curly white hairs on his broad, form, brick-like pectorals that sat on a muscled gut. A firm, broad six-pack pressed up against his broad belly that only seemed to accentuate his ‘V-shaped’ torso.

“For our sake, they have returned only to be driven into the shadows by the Godhunters, Haters of the Divine and Architects of the Great Divine Lie. By their light we see through the shadow of deception and see the true light, Gods as Gods, Light as Light, Faith in Belief.”

Alfonso reached for his pants, unbuckling his belt and sliding it out of the loops of his pants in a single movement. Again, he tossed it in a direction away from the rest of his clothes as he slowly began to peel his slacks away from his massive, tree-trunk legs, revealing his enormous, thick bulge.

“I believe in the Scripture of the Twelve,” he continued. “The Ascension of the One among the others. With the Twelve, they shall form the Holy Pantheon that will lead mankind into an eternal kingdom. It has been written and spoken through the prophets.”

He kicked off his shoes, sending them spiraling down the mountain before tossing his pants behind him. Reaching down, he removed each of his socks, balled them into tight spheres and then threw them off into the distance.

“I believe in Virgo to be the Ascended One. I acknowledge his dominion over all things and am baptized in his holy purity. I look for the purification of the world and of those who live, have gone and will come to the world. Astra.”

With one final move, Alfonso removed his white briefs, lifting it into the air like a white flag and letting the wind carrying his scent. His fat, thick cock was left flaccid, unmoved by the wind as it brushed against his huge, low-hanging balls and whisked his musk into the mountain side.

The priest dropped the briefs to the ground and pressed his hands together as if in prayer. With a smile, he closed his eyes and reached into his very soul.

His prayer and ritual was interrupted, however, when someone shouted.

“Father Valentino!? Can you hear me?”

“Merda,” cursed the priest, turning in the direction of the voices. “These Valley Rangers are far more competent that I gave them credit for.” He smiled to himself as he crossed his arms. “Nevertheless, this only serves to accelerate my plants.”

Flashlights cut through the darkness. Two of them. He had hoped for more. A search party, perhaps. But two would be more than enough. He waited silently as those lights grew brighter. The trail he had left was far from subtle and within moments, they had found the robe he had discarded.

“I found something! He’s close!”

“Father Valentino! If you can hear us, please say something!”

Alfonso lifted his head and in a calm but loud tone, he shouted, “I am here, my sons!”

“We’re coming!”

The two rangers barreled towards him. He could already detect their excitement, their form of virginity. This was likely the most excitement they had encountered in a long while. While Alfonso would have preferred to leave their purity intact, there was so much more that he could do to protect their innocence under his care. It would be a necessary evil to sacrifice something in order to obtain transcendence.

One of those flashlights finally fell upon him and the ranger faltered upon seeing the naked priest.

“F - Father Valentino!?”

Alfonso smiled, spreading his arms while simultaneously reaching within himself and letting his soul come pouring out into its true shape.

“Welcome, my sons,” he greeted, a single, horn starting to emerge from his forehead. “You are just in time for your baptism.”

Alfonso's Mission

With nothing to prove and a sense of humility, you will be forgiven if you think Alfonso has no ambitions of his own. This is not true. Alfonso’s desires are somewhat nebulous as they are rather vague but at the same time quite bright when seen through the correct lens. The former priest desires that elevation of Virgo amongst the other Zodiacs.

What you might not realize is that Virgo is considered one of the ‘weaker’ members of the Zodiac despite having a ready supply of his power at his fingertips. The reason for this is that Virgo’s Sphere only allow him to refresh something into it’s original state. A living Fountain of Youth, one could say.

This is a powerful ability, I hear you say, and you would be right… were it paired with a more offensive ability. True, Virgo could constantly revitalize himself and use naturally enhanced strength from being a Celestial to win any engagement and, in theory, he could keep his Astrals immortal through his ability but when compared to the Spheres of the other Zodiacs or Celestials still alive, Virgo has a role more befitting a support role than an offensive one.

Virgo could easily be considered the ‘medic’ or ‘doctor’ of the Zodiacs as any of his brothers or sisters can come to him for repair should they need. Naturally, he would extract some price from them but that has quickly become his role amongst the Zodiacs. They protect him so that they can sustain them.

Alfonso wants to break Virgo out of this chain and elevate him beyond this role.

How will he do that?

That remains to be seen.

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November 25th, 3:00 PM, Reaper Residence

Dante had thought that sleep would elude him. But when he blinked, he was suddenly tangled in the covers of the enormous and comfortable bed that Jacob had given him and the clock on the bedside table read that it was three in the afternoon. Last time he had checked, it was still in the morning. Despite almost eight hours of sleep, he didn’t feel well-rested at all. Perhaps it had something to do with this feeling of a vice around his chest. Ever since he had sucked off those three Thralls and returned them to human form, this feeling had plagued him. It wasn’t cripplingly painful but when he had gone down to sleep, he felt it had kept him up and when he woke, it was the first thing he had felt.

Was it the guilt of giving three complete strangers a blowjob? The regret of lying to his father and boyfriend? The fear that he may have to do more sexual acts to save the world?

Those questions kept his mind buzzing seemed to drain him. He wasn’t sure what was worse; not getting any sleep or sleeping and not getting any rest.

With a soft groan, he untangled himself from his bed and lay atop the covers for a long moment, just staring at the ceiling which was made of the raw rock of the cliff. Energy just did not flow in his veins and that left him with the overwhelming need to not interact with anyone else. An introvert by nature, Dante was content to just leave himself locked in his room until someone had need of him.

Normally, he would jump onto his computer, perhaps go on his tablet to doodle a bit, read a book, browse YouTube or just surf the web. With none of the amenities available to him, however, he was stuck with nothing to do.

Except for one thing.

His eyes fell on the small, black book sitting on the bedside table. His grandfather’s diary. Everyone had been telling him that he should read its contents, that Virgil held secrets within its pages that would help them in their fight. But like many, the more people pressured him to do something, the less inclined he was to do it.

Mustering what little energy he had and feeding it into the fires of curiosity, he reached over, grabbed the black book and opened it. There was a large table of contents that spanned multiple pages that immediately began draining any motivation from him. How anyone could fit so many topics into a small book was beyond him.

Fighting his natural instinct to turn away, he flipped to the first actual page.

“To my dearest Dante,” he read. “By the time you read this, I am likely long gone. No matter how much we like it, there are forces outside of our control. That is a mere fact of existence in this world of ours. While death can be staved off and some modicum of immortality achieved, time is cruel and it is in our very nature to constantly change. Do not fear death. Do not fear the Reaper. Change is a great part of life and dying is just another change we undertake. I can honestly say I am not scared, merely excited.”

He laughed softly to himself. It was almost like he could hear his grandfather saying those exact words to him. A familiar sensation gripped his chest; heartache. Now he was more inclined not to continue reading on for another reason entirely. Again, he fought through it and read the foreword. Most of the information he had already been told by both Russ and Jacob but he savored every word as it was handwritten by his grandfather. Virgil provided a unique perspective to the hellhound and lawyer. While Russ almost seemed to treat the Celestial Cradle as some tool and Jacob seemed to consider it a cancer on the world, Virgil revered it. Virgil understood that it was constructed over countless generations with good intentions but somewhere along the lines, those intentions became corrupted. Virgil also seemed to consider the reality that humans needed deities or at least they needed faith.

After finishing the first section on the broader conflict, Dante was surprised to find that the first chapter was not dedicated to the Zodiacs. In fact, it was to a group known as the ‘Arms’. Apparently, they drew their name from ‘Armageddon’ as they consisted of demons and obsessed with the idea of a ‘battle between good and evil’. Flipping back to the table of contents, he realized that the Zodiacs were actually the last chapter. Virgil had ordered the separate groups in alphabetical order and the Zodiacs were amongst the last. In fact, Virgo was the very last chapter in the book.

“I suppose it’s too much to wish that Virgo is the only Celestial we’ll have to fight,” Dante sighed and flipped towards the named chapter.

As with the book in general, there was an initial foreword describing Virgo. It amused him that Virgil had tagged Virgo with the moniker ‘The Vampire of Virginity’. There were sub-chapters dedicated to the activities of the Valentino Family and even each of the members of the Valentinos that Virgil had encountered or heard about. There was even a section on Frank. Each of the sections wasn’t too long which made it for easy reading and as he flipped from chapter to chapter, Dante found his energy returning as stirred curiosity. Halfway through Frank’s chapter, he realized he had sat up so he was in a more comfortable position.

At the very end of Frank’s chapter was what appeared to be a section about the future.

‘I cannot tell what will become of Virgo or Frank for that matter as I will leave his fate in your hands,’ Dante read to himself. ‘But as with the other Astrals, I feel that he is just a poor soul that has been taken advantage of by a Celestial. That, of course, does not necessarily mean that he is cursed to dwell in darkness forever. I firmly believe, even now in the twilight of my years, that everyone has a part to play in the grand tapestry of existence and that Frank can contribute something to the world if given the chance. Like the ancients of old, I believe that Frank’s particular skills could contribute some sort of spell that is tied with opening someone’s eyes to an experience. Having expanded his own domain to drawing strength from anytime someone experiences something new, it is entirely conceivable that Frank could find some way to share experiences with others without endangering them. Perhaps someone is afraid of heights could experience the joy of skydiving without actually endangering themselves? I can only speculate…”

“Huh,” Dante said aloud.

He recalled that the original design of the Cradle was for the Celestials to give up their power back into the leyline network, rewriting portions of reality based on how they took hold of their particular Sphere. Jacob explained that magic was basically the contributions of these early Celestials to the world when the cycle was still pure. But he had to wonder if that was still possible with Astrals… or if the Celestials would even be willingly to revert to that cycle. Perhaps he could convince them that they could still technically live on in the spells that they give to the world.

“Maybe we could call it ‘Frank’s Phantasm’ or something,” he chuckled softly.

His musing was interrupted when a loud crash erupted from outside. Ears perked, he was instantly on edge when a second crash came. Heart pumping in his chest, he slowly got out of bed, ducked the diary beneath his pillow and cautiously made his way to his door. His mind was racing. Amongst all the fighters, the most he could do was give someone a blowjob and drain their divinity. Flash and Russ were the most combat-ready. If an invader had made their way into Jacob’s home somehow, then he needed to get to either of those two first. Then maybe the armory downstairs.

With a plan in mind, he opened the door slowly and peaked outside.

Then he cocked his head to the side.

“Flash?” he asked.

Laying face flat at the base of the stairs with Russ looking on concerned from the floor above was Flash… except he looked different. The black tattoos that curled over the right side of his body had expanded all over his torso and even a little bit down his legs. That body looked much bigger as well. In fact, his feet looked like they were hooves instead of paws and there was a horn sticking out from his forehead.

“What happened to you?” Dante asked, stepping out into the hallway cautiously.

“That’s what I was gonna ask,” added Russ, padding down the steps. “I heard him crashing about upstairs and thought we were under attack. Saw him making his way down, didn’t recognize him at first and called out. He screamed and fell down.”

Still keeping his distance, Dante approached the dazed Flash who was gingerly starting to lift himself up. The smaller, black wolf was forced to look up more than usual at the titanic wolf… before his eyes were drawn down to the horse cock resting limp between the half-wolf, half-unicorn’s thick, ripped legs.

“Uhm…” Flash rumbled, his voice a little deeper than usual. “… long story but… Frank and I fucked.”

It took a second for Dante to digest those words. A myriad of feelings swirled around in his chest; confusion and concern were amongst them. However, above them all was this sense of exasperation. Through half-closed lids and with his shoulders slumped, Dante said, “You what…?”

“I don’t know, okay!” Flash exclaimed in a panic. “I couldn’t sleep. We ate some calzones. Talked and then we fucked. Frank topped and suddenly, he was in me.”

“Didn’t take ya for a bottom, pup,” rumbled Russ with a snicker.

“I didn’t mean it like that!” snapped Flash. “Though… Yeah, he fucked me like that but then he was literally in me. Like, he fused with me from behind! And now I’m… I’m…” He gestured at his torso. “… This!”

Russ headed down the steps until he was on the same floor as the other two. Despite Russ’ height, Flash was now much taller thank him, about Frank’s height. The legendary hellhound appraised the crimson wolf, making a point of striding around him and stroking his chin. He even threw a quick glance at Dante before turning back to Flash.

“Ya know… The three of us as meant to emulate how leylines work.” He lifted three fingers. “The leylines have three major parts. The intake which is you, Dante. The distributor and the last one is the storage. If Dante is the intake and I’m the distributor…”

“Then Flash must be the storage,” Dante concluded. “So you’re thinking that Flash stored Frank inside of him?”

Russ shrugged his massive shoulders and poked Flash’s horn which caused the hybrid to jerk away, his hoofed feet clomping on the floorboards beneath him. “Maybe. When this plan was brewing in Virgil’s head, the only really consistent and known factors were you, me and Reaper. Who would end up being your partner was always up in the air. Virgil knew what our abilities would be but the third guy’s would always be a bit of a gamble. Probably also why Virgil thought about giving him the role of ‘storage’.”

“Thanks,” growled Flash. “Glad to know that I was so much of a risk that I got the worst part.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Dante replied, trying to sound positive. “Look at it this way, Flash. I don’t think my Grandpa would ever have suspected you’d take the role of ‘storage’ to mean literally storing entire people inside you. That’s pretty cool.”

It also served to remind Dante of the limitations of his own role.

“I suppose,” Flash sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and running his fingers through his mane. “I’d still like to get Jake’s thoughts on this. Where is he, anyway?”

“Two floors down, remember?” Frank said. “Come on. Let’s go wake him up.”

Flash was still struggling with walking on his hooves which - while big - was like walking on unsupported high-heels. With his incredible size and weight, he had to hold onto the stairwell railings just to keep from falling down again. When asked if he could somehow access any of Frank’s knowledge with the body, Flash shook his head.

“I feel him inside of me,” admitted the hybrid wolf as they approached Jacob’s floor. “But it’s like he’s sleeping.” Flash pressed a hand against his chest. “I have no idea how to wake him up.”

Dante led the way into Jacob’s bedroom-slash-office but was surprised to find it entirely empty. There was a small note on the desk written in perfect block letters.

“‘Gone to fix Flash’s place’,” he read. “‘Be back before dinner.’”

“Fuck,” Russ growled. “Just when we needed the wizard the most. What’d he have to fix at your place anyway?”

Flash shrugged and rolled his eyes. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe the evidence of a battle between demigods and the two dented and beaten eighteen-wheelers in my front yard?”

“Don’t give me attitude. I’m not the one that god fucked and got a horse so deep inside of me that he crawled up inside of me and got stuck there!”

“Yeah. High praise coming from the guy who slept inside a box for fifty years!”

Dante held up his paws and waved the two down. “Whoa! Cool it, guys! Where is all this hostility coming from?”

Flash glared at Russ for a few more seconds before turning away and sighing. “Sorry. Just a really stressful situation. This has never happened before.”

“What? The anal or the fusing?” Dante joked, bringing a small smile from Flash. “Look, how about we go upstairs and try to relax a bit? I’m sure Jacob will be back soon and he can sort this out with us.”

Agreeing to those terms, the trio of hounds headed back up the steps with Flash bringing up the rear as he still had to get used to walking. By the time they reached the ground floor, however, he was comfortable enough to only lightly grip the guardrails. Dante took a small stop at his room to retrieve Virgil’s diary before following the rest up to the sitting area right beside the kitchen.

Flash and Russ took up two separate seats opposite to each other leaving Dante to sit between them. Before awkward silence could set it, Dante held up the book.

“I actually started reading my Grandpa’s diary,” he began. “Maybe it has some clues on what happened.”

“Couldn’t hurt,” Russ said. “Virgil was always thinking ten steps ahead.”

Dante brought the book back up to the foreword and began reading excerpts from the book aloud. Nothing popped out to him. Virgil never specifically mentioned anything about the roles of intake, storage and distributor or what powers he expected any of the three of them would possess. Seeing no clues there, he switched to the chapter about Virgo and Frank, hoping that perhaps this was within the Celestial’s Sphere.

Again, there was nothing there.

A loud gurgling interrupted his reading. It was coming from Flash. The crimson wolf’s cheeks were suddenly flushed with fire and his eyes were glazed over.

“Are you seriously getting aroused by this?” Russ accused. “Kids these days…”

“It’s…” Flash panted, gripping his rapidly hardening horse cock. “… it’s not me… Frank… Frank… He’s awake and… and want’s out!”

Dante tucked away Virgil’s diary in between the cushions protectively and vaguely wondered what it would be like to taste that huge member before he saw the telltale signs of orgasm rapidly approaching. On instinct, he grabbed one of the cushions and held it in front of him like a shield. Russ was a little too slow to react, however.

Flash let out a loud howl, throwing his head back while both his hands were tightly wrapped around his monster of a cock. Torrents of creamy, white seed came blasted out of the flared, flat head. Dante felt a large chunk of it slam against the cushion he was holding up and some of it even got on his legs. The warm feeling was strangely comforting and at the same time quite funny. Especially when he heard Russ cry out and grab the nearby coffee table, upturning it and hiding behind the barricade. Dante couldn’t help but laugh as he tried grabbed another cushion and held it up to keep as much of the blast from hitting it.

For a solid minute, he and Russ were assaulted by the wild firehose that was Flash’s cock. The stream began to inch away from them at minute two, allowing Dante to peek out from behind his shield. To his amazement, Flash was visibly shrinking as his cock continued to spray cum in a smaller arch. The unicorn-like features began shrinking back away from Flash’s features as did the extra mass. Hooves split into individual toes topped with claws. That spiral horn shrank back into his skull and his ragged made transformed back into the tuft of hair between his hair. Curiously, the swirling black tattoo-like patterns on his crimson fur shrank back from the rest of his body, curling and sliding to secure themselves around his pectoral and right arm.

“Holy shit… Frank!?”

Russ’ cry brought Dante’s attention to the large ocean of cum that had settled around the sitting room. Near the middle of the room, the pearly seed began to bubble and churn. A large lump began to form, at first a simple dome but as that dome grew, it began to develop two pointed, leaf-like ears followed by the spiral horn of Frank. Within moments, some of the cum around the reforming Astral was pooling together to form a long, muscled arm that was physically pulling his form out from the mess, drawing more of the cum to his form to continue to shape his body. As Frank’s torso formed, the white seed began dripping away from his head, revealing the black fur and clear features of the unicorn they all knew.

Dante rose from his seat and moved to Flash who was sitting back in his chair, back to his original shape and size but looking utterly exhausted. He gently rested a paw on his friend’s shoulder to shake him awake but Flash’s eyes remained glazed and unseeing. A strange sensation began tingling the pawpads of his fingers. It was like he could feel Flash’s fur tickling his flesh, digging into his veins and drawing blood from him. At the same time, he could feel his body physically passing the life essences to Flash like he was pumping the crimson wolf with himself.

He immediately pulled his paw back, conscious that this may have been what had caused Flash and Frank to fuse in the first place. Though he was a little curious what it would feel like to be fused to his fellow wolf and to ‘sleep’ inside of him.

Turning towards Frank, he watched the Astral kick of the remnants of the white slime from his hooves before slumping into the closest seat - the one Dante had vacated.

“What the fuck happened to me?” he demanded.

“That’s honestly something we’d like to know,” Dante replied. “All Flash told us was that you guys did it and suddenly, you were pushing into him.”

“I wasn’t pushing into him,” Frank replied defiantly. “He was drawing me in!”

Dante crossed his arms and recalled a warning Russ had mentioned earlier; something about them fighting their natural instincts. Since they now also drew energy and strength from another source apart from just food and rest, their bodies would be naturally inclined to seek out those sources. Perhaps Flash’s body was actively seeking to fill himself with something… or someone.

Flash groaned softly, blinking a few times before rubbing his eyes. “Fuck… I’m starving…”

“You just ate,” Frank grunted, throwing the red wolf a fiery stare. “Not to mention you ate me as well as a couple of calzones!”

“Look, I’m sorry okay?” Flash mumbled weakly. “This is all new to me. You’re lucky. You had Virgo to guide me. Me? I have no idea what’s going on with me. I didn’t even know I could do that!”

The black-furred unicorn relaxed a little but visibly shuffled away from Flash. “Fine, I suppose. I guess it did feel good.”

“What was it like being inside him?” Russ asked, his red eyes shining with curiosity. “Could you see through his eyes or something?”

Frank shook his head, his shoulders slowly slumping. “It was warm. Comforting. Like I was in a really warm, fluffy bed. Wrapped in all directions by a comfortable blanket. I couldn’t see or hear anything. Trust me. It felt really good to just stay there forever. But there was something… wrong about it.”

The unicorn scratched the side of his head. “I don’t know what it was. Something was missing. Feels like it’s still missing. I think I left it behind.”

Flash glanced down at his now ‘normal’ canine cock which was receding into his sheath. “I don’t know, man. I feel pretty spent. My balls are empty.”

Dante, however, pointed at Flash’s chest. “But your tattoos have grown.”

The crimson wolf looked at where Dante was pointing. Where previously the tattoos had gone up from Flash’s right arm and curled about halfway across his right pectoral, now they fully consumed his pec. Cogs were slowly ticking away in Dante’s mind. Perhaps Frank had left something in Flash and the tattoos were somehow an indication of that.

The question was…

“What did you leave behind…?” he wondered aloud.

“…Virgo.”

The firm answer caught him by surprise and compelled him to turn back towards Frank. The unicorn’s brown eyes were shining as he looked out the dimmed windows of the sitting area. There was a soft smile on his equine features and a clarity in his eyes like he was seeing the world for the first time after spending his entire life being blind.

“I left that part of me that was tied with Virgo,” repeated the unicorn. While he continued to gaze out the window, he lifted a hand towards his chest, fingers gently touching the center of his canyon-like chest. “I can’t… feel him anymore.”

“You felt Virgo?” repeated Dante.

Russ got up from his seat and perched himself in front of Frank, looming over him with his arms crossed. “It’s the thing about being an Astral. There is always this part of your soul that connected to the Celestial that made you, that infected the leylines to make part of your soul. That’s why it’s easy for Celestials to make Astrals; because part of them is already dedicated to them. But if you’re saying that you no longer feel that part of you…” The hellhound leaned down towards Frank until they were almost nose to nose. “… then that means you’re no longer feeding him and you’ve lost part of your soul.”

Frank huffed and placed a hand against Russ’ nose and pushed him away. “Don’t e so melodramatic. I haven’t lost any part of my soul. It’s more like…” The dark unicorn drifted off for a moment before locking gazes back with Russ. “… like somehow, the part of me that was connected to Virgo isn’t tied to him anymore.”

Dante snapped a finger. “Maybe it’s because he was inside of Flash.”

Frank gave him an exasperated sigh. “That much was obvious.”

“Not what I meant.” Dante held up his paws. “Think about it. Virgo either doesn’t or can’t hunt down every person that can be his Astral either because not everyone can be an Astral or there’s got to be some politics about the balance of power or something. But no one is born an Astral. People don’t go actively searching out their Celestials and potential Astrals need convincing to become one, right?”

When all eyes turned to Frank, the unicorn shrugged in agreement. “If Virgo really was this ‘benevolent god’, I imagine he wouldn’t have come to me in my most desperate hour to offer me salvation. Looking back now, it was less of a ‘divine visitation’ and more of a parasite taking advantage of someone that was in desperate need of help.”

“Right,” Dante continued. “So that means that Virgo has to find you and activate something within you before you become an Astral. You also feed him power, right?”

“It’s how he stays on top of us all.” Frank grunted, lurching forward and resting his forearms on his knees. “It’s a fucking pyramid scheme. Thralls feed Astrals power and then Astrals fee the Celestial. The guy on top is the one that gets everything.”

“But what would happen if that connection was abruptly severed?”

Frank’s leaf-shaped ears perked and even Flash was pushing past his stupor to stare at Dante in confusion.

“Here’s what I’m thinking,” said the sable wolf. “Flash must act like some sort of bunker or a lead-lined barrel. Nothing can get in unless he says so. So when Frank was pulled in, his connection with Virgo was cut.” He made a slicing motion with his paw. “Even that short amount of time outside of Virgo’s influence was enough that Frank’s soul must’ve realized that it didn’t need it anymore and dumped it in Flash before being expelled.”

Flash made a face and stuck out his tongue. “Eurgh… Dude. You left your shit in me…”

“Not like I really had that much control over it,” snapped Frank. “Last thing I remembered was plowing hard into you and then being in you. After that, I couldn’t see but I could still feel my soul. So I did everything I could to pull myself together.”

Part of awakening as an Astral was the ability to manipulate one’s soul so that you could freely change your shape from human to one reflecting the Celestial. If done with anyone else, Dante doubted that they would have been able to reform themselves the way Frank had done.

Though that begged the question…

“I wonder what would happen if that soul was unattached…” He got quizzical looks from the others as he regarded his paws. “Those three guys downstairs are in a comatose state because their souls were heavily damaged. I sucked out the part of the their souls that were tied to Virgo. But what if we put it back into them…?”

“You think that’ll work?” Flash asked, suddenly very animated. “Like… you fuck me, pump me full of that energy and then we can send it over to those guys and they’ll wake up?”

“I don’t think I need to have sex with you,” answered Dante, recalling that tingling sensation he had felt when touching Flash. “Just touching you, I felt like you were draining me. I think I can send the stuff that I’ve stored into you without having to penetrate you.”

For some reason, the crimson wolf looked disappointed with that. “Oh…”

“Hold up,” Russ declared, holding up a paw. “We can’t compare what Frank did to what those guys down there did. Frank is an experienced Astral. He can manipulate his own soul to change the rest of his body. But those guys down there can’t. They’re Thralls. Plus, you didn’t consume all of them. Just parts of them.”

Dante perked his ears. “Sounds like you’ve got a suggestion. You’re the distributor, right? You want to direct the energies from Flash.”

Russ grinned at him. “I knew Virgil was right to put his trust in you.”

That gave Dante a bit of pride as Russ theorized that once the energies were ‘purified’ through Flash, he could take that power and possibly direct it into the three men that were currently lying comatose. It was far from an exact science but since Russ was the most experienced when it came to soul manipulation, it was possible to propel that energy into the former-Thralls.

“We’re kind of shooting in the dark here,” Flash warned. “How do we even know it’ll work?”

“What do we have to lose?” Dante replied. “Worst case, the stuff I sucked out won’t get purified and will get lost. Those guys down there will heal their souls and Jacob could potentially do something about that, right?”

Frank lifted his head and cast his gaze around. “Where is that kung-fu spellcaster anyway? Shouldn’t he be back now?”

That did place a worry on Dante. Looking at the clock, they had been together for at least an hour now and from Flash’s recollection, he and Frank had been together at around

d noon. Since neither of them had seen or heard Jacob leave, then their resident magic expert had been gone for at least four hours.

“I want to still try,” Dante said, approaching Flash. “We can’t rely on him for everything.” He held out his paw towards his friend. “What do you say? Want to try an experiment with me?”

There was something weird in the way Flash was looking at him. Likely a bit of trepidation as this was the souls of three people they were tampering with. Dante could sympathize. Out of all of them, Flash was the ‘wildcard’ as was often mentioned. Virgil had planned for both Dante and Russ, even formulated his plans around the two. The success of those plans, however, hinged on all three components and Flash was one of those components. Dante at least felt some security that his grandfather had contingencies in place for him - he felt manipulated and a little disillusioned - but he at least had that assurance.

For Flash, there were no assurances.

Except trust.

Taking a deep breath, Flash nodded and gently gripped Dante’s paw in his own. That sensation of every cell in the red wolf’s body latching onto his own, pushing through his fur and skin, digging into his veins and sucking out his blood sent tingles up his arm. A strange, warm, soothing sensation followed, like he was being pulled by his arm into a warm, cozy bed. There was a very strong urge to submit to the charm of that siren song but he resisted. Instead, he fought back that tingling sensation, physically flexing his arm and pushing the blood back down to his fingertips.

Strangely, that constricting pressure around his chest seemed to ease as he pumped more of his strength into Flash. The dots connected and he surmised that the discomfort was the sensation of the three divine soul fragments that he had drained from the Thralls. His theory was proved when he noticed the black markings across Flash’s chest start to spread further across the crimson wolf’s chest. It seemed that he didn’t have as much capacity to store as much soul energy as Flash but, unlike Flash, he could selectively drain whatever he wanted while Flash could store things inside of him indiscriminately.

They made for a strange pairing.

The black markings on Flash’s chest spread all over his left pectoral. That was when Dante began feeling that tingling sensation again. He immediately pulled his paw from Flash’s grip, shaking his wrist a little to get feeling back into it.

“There, I think I’ve given you everything I drained,” he concluded.

“How can you be sure?” asked his red-furred friend.

“Call it a feeling.” He turned and nodded over to Russ. “Your turn.”

Russ padded over and crossed his arms, appraising the red wolf. The legendary hellhound flared his nostrils, taking a whiff of the air and seemingly sampling Flash’s scent. “Yeah,” he rumbled. “I can’t smell Frank’s stink on you anymore, Dante. You’ve got it a little now, Flash.”

“My stink?” Frank growled defensively.

“Yeah. It’s like a weird, musky, lemony flavor.”

Flash perked his ears. “Huh… I sort of smelled that too when we were fucking. Is that… is that like what Frank’s soul smells like?”

“Every soul soul has its different taste and smell,” explained Russ. “Most people can’t sense them. Hell, most Celestials and almost every Astral can’t pick it up or don’t care to. Part of being a Godhunter is detecting the unique markings of a soul and I’m guessing Virgil might have been secretly teaching you something to help you detect it.”

Dante lifted his nose into the air and took a look, deep breath. He had to close his eyes. Even with his hypersensitive nose, however, he couldn’t detect the musky, lemony scent that either Russ or Flash described. He did however recall one of Virgil’s lessons.

For a moment, he was back to being six years old, playing in the backyard of his grandfather’s vast estate. Virgil’s home sat atop a small hill and there was nothing Dante loved more than to lay on his side and roll down the gentle slope, getting his shirt and shorts dirty in the process. Unfortunately, during one such trip, he rolled over a particularly sharp rock and cut his knee. Virgil, every watchful, immediately carried him back inside where he began to clean and bandage the wound. Being so young at the time, Dante squirmed and hated the stinging touch of the disinfectant. Virgil calmed him with a lesson.

‘My dearest Dante,’ echoed his grandfather’s voice in his head, ‘whenever you are faced with adversity, whenever you feel like you’re in pain or being pushed back, always remember this little trick. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Close off each of your senses, your eyes, your ears, your nose, everything. Then, one at a time, open them and focus on what you feel. One at a time.’

It was a technique that Dante had rarely employed but now that Russ had mentioned it he decided to try it. The world became numb and black around him. The voices of his friends vanished into the void. He couldn’t smell them anymore, couldn’t taste the faint flickers of semen and musk in the air or even the cool touch of the air conditioned air around him. The sounds of rain hitting the windows outside vanished and he only saw the darkness behind his eyes.

Comfortable in the shadows, he opened his eyes…

“Holy shit!” he cried, immediately leaping back in horror, his eyes firmly placed on Flash

“What?” exclaimed his friend, leaping up from his chair.

Dante pointed behind the crimson wolf. Hovering ominously behind the wolf were an three ominous creatures about three feet tall. They oozed with a malevolent white aura like it was trying to erase everything around it into a white canvas. They resembled a cocoon of some sort if the cocoon’s membrane was made entirely out of six, enormous, pale, flat hands wrapped around one another to secure the creature inside. Of the creatures, Dante could only make out what appeared to be the bottom half of a human face poking out from the top of the cocoon. Two of membrane’s index fingers were wrapped around its eyes, completely obscuring its vision.

He glanced over at Russ and Frank. Their confused looks indicated that neither of them could see what he was seeing. However, he could see that they each had this seething aura around them, like differently colored flames emanating from their bodies. Frank’s was a strong, dark brown mass that clung to his body like armor. Russ was a deep, purplish-black and extended far from his form and rose up into the air like a dark funeral pyre. Looking back at Flash, he could see that his bigger friend was actually emitting his own crimson aura, one that seemed to be slowly eating away at the white abominations hovering over his shoulder.

A look at his own hands revealed that he had his own golden aura emanating from his fingers.

“I think… I think I can see the shape of your souls,” he announced. “I think I can even see the influence of Virgo.” He lifted his gaze back to Frank. “Is there anything about Virgo that looks like…” He struggled to find words. “… like a guy wrapped in three pairs of big, white hands to the point where he can’t move?”

Frank’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve seen that before.” The unicorn glanced over Flash’s shoulder. Though he couldn’t see what the black wolf was seeing, something drew his eyes to the ominous being hovering there. “Virgo once showed it to me once when I asked what he really looked like. At the time, I thought he looked like this ‘pillar of purity’. Someone untouched and unmarred by mortal sins and truly divine. Now that I think back on it, it looks like a fucking coward trying to hide himself from the world.”

There was certainly some symbolism in the form Virgo chose to take. Those hands kept his body protected from the rest of the world, ensuring that he was entirely pure. White often was considered a sign of purity thus the alabaster flesh. The creature, however, looked more like an abomination than a god.

“I hate to ask but…,” sighed Frank. “I don’t suppose you can see anything of that around me…?”

Dante offered a sympathetic smile. “No.”

The unicorn sighed softly. “That’s a relief.” He then regarded Flash. “So I guess you really have passed on the souls you consumed to Flash.”

“And he’s slowly whittling it away,” Dante said, watching at Flash’s red flames slowly ate the white figures, adding more strength to his own fire. “I think we should wait before we ask Russ to pass it along to the guys downstairs.”

“Sounds fair. Otherwise we’re just giving them that parasite I gave them.” Frank sounded furious at himself. Dante was about to step towards him to offer some comfort when the front door suddenly opened.

Dante craned his neck and immediately perked his ears in surprise.

“Jacob!?”

The creature that strode through front door was not the friendly lawyer he had gotten to know all these years. Though dressed in the same blue coat, the man looked more like Flash or Dante though more compact. Still standing at about 5’9’’, the lupine had jet-black fur and golden-blonde hair between his ears. There was no change to his overall size or muscle structure except, perhaps, for the two skeletal wings made entirely out of chains springing from his back.

Curiously, Jacob didn’t possess a tail.

“Sorry,” panted the lawyer, shutting the door behind him. “Ran into some trouble in town.” Little, luminescent blue threads were springing from his coat, drifting into the air before vanishing. “An Astral set up shop somewhere in Starwalk Valley and somehow managed to extend his Domain all the way here.”

“What?” Russ demanded. “Starwalk Valley is at least thirty miles from here! How’d anyone manage to extend a Domain that far?”

“That’s what I’m going to try and find out,” Reaper answered, patting himself off and storming forward. He stopped, however as he noticed the ocean of wolf seed on his floor. His eyes narrowed in exasperation. “I have so many questions but I have a feeling I don’t want them answered.”

Flash blushed beneath his fur in embarrassment. “If you don’t like that, you don’t want to look upstairs in the guest bedroom.”

Jacob threw his paws into the air. “Yeah, nope. I’m going to head downstairs and see if I can figure this out.”

Stunned that no one even mentioned that Jacob was now a wolf like him, Dante stormed forward and waved his arms. “Is no one going to mention the fact that Jacob now looks like me but has these big chain wings springing from his back!?”

By the strange looks he got from his friends, he realized that no one else could see what he was seeing.

“And I’m the only one that can see it… aren’t I?” he sighed.

Jacob gently rested a paw on his shoulders. Strange as it was, Dante felt a little closer to the lawyer now that he was a wolf than when he was a human.

“Okay… maybe I’m going to need some of those questions answered after all.”

The Verdant Sanctuary

While it is somewhat difficult to define exactly how Alfonso will elevate Virgo above the rest of his Zodiac brethren, one can draw a few inferences based on his abilities both natural and supernatural. You already know that Alfonso is a humble man who prefers to bring out the best in others and acting as a catalyst for their development so long as they align with his ultimate goal. But what about his Mantle and Sphere?

Like others of the Valentino Family, Alfonso’s Mantle is that of Virginity but where the likes of Frank Alfonso draws strength from the taking virginity, Alfonso draws strength from the maintenance of said virginity. This means that the more people remain stagnant and do not experience new stimulation, the more he draws from them. This may seem counterintuitive when compared to others in the Family but he actually works in concert with the others.

Because he draws strength from what people have not experienced, he can more easily identify what these experiences are and thus advise the rest of his Family so that he might empower them. He gains strength passively so long as his Thralls do not indulge in any of these experiences. In his role as a priest, he can even attend baptisms which allow him to gain incredible strength simply because of all the newborns he is exposed to. This means that so long as someone has not experienced something in his vicinity, he will always remain powered.

The one catch to this is that he must know of the stimulation that the person has not experienced. That means that if someone has experienced everything Alfonso can imagine but he has not been exposed to one, niche stimuli that Alfonso doesn’t know about, the Valentino High Priest will not get power.

This ties well with his Sphere which is known as the Verdant Sanctuary. With Mantle and Sphere, he can very easily generate an immense Domain. Most often, he imposes rules of pacifism or even outright stopping time within his Domain but his Sphere ensures that so long as he remains within his Domain, he is completely and utterly invulnerable.

If you ever encounter Alfonso, my dearest Dante, do not let him deploy his Domain.

November 25th, 4:00 PM, Angelton Police Department

Captain Harold Summers had been at his job for over twenty years mostly because no one else wanted the office of the highest ranking police officer in a sleepy town like Angelton. Big enough to warrant its own police force but not big enough to be plagued by anything overly exciting every week that it could be the basis of a buddy-cop sitcom, Angelton nevertheless employed about two hundred people. One-hundred-fifty of those were uniformed officers while about thirty were detectives and leaders with the remaining being more administrative staff.

Few exciting things ever happened to actually make the large, rotund man with his thick, curly, salt-and-pepper beard get out of his chair and the report of two unclaimed eighteen-wheeler trucks suddenly appearing in front of the Goldman residence wasn’t one of them.

“What were you doing over there, Reaper?” asked the captain gruffly, regarding the meticulous report on his desk without flipping any of the pages.

“The son of a client recently came back into town,” Jacob answered curtly and casually. “Virgil Demont’s estate had actually left Flash some things. When I heard he was back, I went over to bring the effects over to him. That’s when I found the front gate busted in and those two trucks. I naturally filed a report.”

Summers looked up at him from beneath his big, bushy brows. “You couldn’t have called Goldman?”

He gave the Captain a pleasant smile. “You know me, Captain. I like to add a personal touch to my business. One of the reasons I’ve come here personally to file the report instead of calling.”

The Captain sighed and leaned back in his chair, the leather groaning beneath his weight. “As I’m well aware. No one else wants to be a lawyer in this town because you’re too good at your job.” He gave Jacob a faint smile. “You drive all the potential-lawyers out of town.”

“That’s because Angelton doesn’t have any colleges that comes to the level of passing the BAR. Once everyone goes out to the rest of the world to earn their degrees, no one wants to come back here.”

“And yet, you did.”

“I came because my clients are here.”

Summers spun a finger through the air. “The lawyer to the rich. Sometimes I wonder if you’re secretly hiding some bullshit conspiracy or human trafficking ring for your one-percenter clients.”

Jacob held up a hand while pressing the other against his chest. “I swore an oath to uphold the law, Captain. I would never do such a thing just to protect a client. My allegiance is to the maintenance of this reality.”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Summers, clearly bored with the banter and leafing through the report at long last. Jacob thanked his lucky stars that Summers was often a very dismissive and lax police captain. Building his house where it was and getting the materials to do so would have raised a lot of questions but Summers had let it slide. Nothing illegal ever happened but getting a mysterious lawyer to come to town only to build his home in a remote place would’ve set off a lot of alarm bells in any diligent police officer’s mind.

Jacob turned slightly towards the rest of the bullpen. There were suspiciously very few officers on duty. Though Angelton was never a hub for crime, the officers were usually busy with paperwork and other tasks.

“Where is everyone?” he asked.

“Had to send some people over to Starwalk Valley. Apparently, this visiting priest went missing.”

Jacob lifted an eyebrow. “Visiting priest?”

“Yeah,” sighed Summers, closing the report. “Apparently, this guy from Italy came to give a few sermons in Starwalk Valley. He was meant to give a sermon an hour ago but when he didn’t show up, the priest remembered that he apparently went hiking in the Valley’s renowned parks. Alone.”

“That sounds like the recipe for a slasher film,” Jacob joked though he kept his suspicions to himself. “Don’t have any serial kills running around, do you, Captain?”

“I wish. Then maybe something exciting might happen.” Summer shrugged. “Anyway, you know how the Valley is. Lots of ground to cover. So my buddy over there called me and I sent my boys over to help with the search. God knows they need the excitement.”

A foreign priest from Italy suddenly goes missing? That sounded like a recipe for disaster where the chef was Virgo. Still, to send an assault so soon after Frank’s defection smacked of both desperation and recklessness. Of course, there were no assurances that this Italian priest was in anyway related to Virgo but if Jacob were a betting man, he would put all of his chips on this priest being one of the God of Virginity’s Astrals. Which meant that he needed to get back home and prepare. He and his new wards might need to make an impromptu trip to Starwalk Valley.

“Did you need to take my statement or anything?” Jacob asked, hiking a thumb over his shoulder. “If not, I’ll be heading off.”

Summers smiled at him…

… and kept smiling.

No words were said. He just kept smiling.

“Uhm… Captain?” When no reply came, Jacob waved a hand over the man’s face. Those dull, brown eyes did follow his hands at all. A sliver of blue from the corner of his eye caught his attention. It was a small, glowing, blue thread drifting off into the air before vanishing.

His heart immediately went to his throat.

“Shit.”

Jacob turned and bolted out into the bullpen. Much to his horror, the few remaining officers were just standing or sitting where they were, looking off into the distance with this glazed expression on their faces, grinning off at nothing. He reached for his phone and immediately began looking for his own home contact number. A big, furry hand snatched it from his palm and before he could turn around, he heard the tell-tale sound of delicate machinery being crushed between powerful fingers.

“Thank god I have an extended warranty_,_” he sighed, turning to face the rapidly changing Captain Summers.

The portly Captain, eyes still glazed over, still grinned at him stupidly as a horn began protruding from his forehead. Equine features pushed themselves out of the captain’s skull, mass being stacked on as the Captain was forcibly and quickly transformed into a Thrall. Jacob shoved his hands into the pockets of his coat and took a few steps back to avoid being speared by the equine dick that came exploding out of the captain’s slacks.

“I have to admit, I didn’t expect you to be this powerful,” came the odd voice of what he could only assume was the Astral behind the transformation. While the sound came from Summer’s emerging muzzle, none of the jumpy movements of the stallion’s jaw fit the words. The Astral was merely speaking through the transforming unicorn. “I had hoped that I could simply end this without bloodshed. Yet here you stand, somehow able to stand within my Domain without being affected by it. A true defiance to god.”

Jacob took a second to appraise the man, let out a soft sigh and then turned around, waving a hand over his shoulder. “Right. Okay then. Bye.”

He got about three steps away before the startled demand of the Astral followed him. “Wait. What? That’s all you have to say?”

Jacob kept walking towards the exit. “Yup.”

There was another pause of confusion that lasted about four steps this time before the Astral spoke again.

“You’re not going to ask what’s happening? You’re not in the least bit curious?”

Without ever stopping his stride, Jacob said, “I’m plenty curious. I’m curious how you managed to extend your Domain all the way from Starwalk Valley to here. I’m curious how you’re able to transform people into Thralls so quickly and I’m curious what your end goal here is. But it’s also pretty clear that you want me he stick around and question you for as long as possible so that you can infect everyone else in town and surround me with sheer numbers but it’s also very evident that you can’t just instantly turn everyone into your Thralls. You chose the Captain because he was closest to the one guy you could sense wasn’t affected by your Domain. Also…”

Jacob glanced over his shoulder and pointed at the Captain’s warping feet. The portly man’s toes exploded from weathered, old dress shoes, toes rapidly merging to become hooves.

“… you’re not physically here. Which means your only means to catching me is through your currently transforming host. Until such a time that he’s fully transformed or regained mobility, you can’t touch me. Hell, I’ve already spent too much time talking to you and not running like any sensible person. But then again…”

He turned fully towards the Astral, holding out a single popsicle stick. “… I also bet you think I’m the kind of person that would hold any sort of sentimentality towards the host you’re currently inhabiting and that would keep me from doing something like this!”

He snapped the popsicle stick. A fireball exploded from his fingertips, slamming into the Captain and sending him crashing back into his own office. The flames dissipated almost immediately with nothing catching afire but he got his intended result. The Captain’s morphing frame was mostly unharmed. Summers was on his way to becoming a full thrall including the resistances that came with it. Small spells like that miniature fireball wouldn’t do lasting damage.

A glance to his left revealed one of the male officers twitching and twisting as the Astral took over his body. None of the female officers were affected which meant that the spell he had placed on Angelton to restrict divine activity to males was still in effect. That kept women from being possessed or turned into Thralls but it also meant that they could easily be held hostage.

It was time to retreat.

Jacob turned and stormed out of the building. Given how late it was, there were very few people on the streets but he could see those few were shuffling towards him, their bodies twitching every now and then as the Astral morphed their forms into his own shape. Their slow advance meant that whoever this Astral was, he couldn’t influence too many people at once. Now was the best time make his escape; while the masses were still amassing.

He calmly unlocked his car; a modest jet-black 5-seater sedan, and jumped into the driver’s seat, started the car and didn’t waste any time began driving back towards his own home.

“You can’t escape.”

A glance towards the passenger seat revealed the ghostly image of white-furred unicorn with a strong powerlifter’s build sitting there. Somehow, he suspected the man had purposefully shrunk his appearance to fit in the car.

“Who’s escaping?” Jacob responded with a dismissive shrug. “I’m just doing what’s sensible in an impending zombie apocalypse. Going back home to get my guns.” He grinned at himself and shook his head. “God I love America.”

“I pity you,” said the unicorn. “To stand faithless against the might of a god. To defy the divine over some sense of mortal competence. The Gods created us! It is blatant arrogance to believe that you can bring down a god or deny him what he wishes!”

“So you believe Gods exist then.”

The question surprised the Astral. “Of course! Do not tell me that you do not.”

“Oh I do. But Virgo is no god.”

The unicorn’s lips pulled back in a smirk. “Ah, the pride of a man who believes in his own blasphemy.”

“Naw,” Jacob said, draping one hand over the back of his seat. “The real blasphemy is how you can worship Virgo who was a mortal granted divine powers through mechanics written into this reality by the real gods.”

“Real…?” queried the unicorn. “Do you mean the deities that have passed? The ones that first created the Cradle?”

“Oh hell no. Way above them. These are gods whose collective cries for a continuation stirred the creation of this entire reality. Gods who were both horny, curious and enthralled by a tale of demons, a different perspective of Hell and the tale of a young man walking in his grandfather’s footsteps. They created this universe through their combined will and grace.” Jacob’s eyes sharply turned towards the unicorn, his eyes narrowed. “Your Virgo is just an antagonist in this tale. He and the rest of the Celestials have just replaced the alternate interpretation of demons and damnation with a hopefully insightful take on other forms of common ‘divine’ or ‘supernatural’ entities we see in daily life.”

The unicorn’s eyes flared up in rage for a moment but as they were surrounded by the trees on the outskirts of Angelton his expression calmed once more.

“You are simply trying to goad me with your nonsense. You sound like a madman.”

“I’m sure you said the same thing when Virgo first came to you and told you he was a god and to suck his dick.”

There was again that flash of agitation. His words were clearly cutting into the priest’s composure. Questioning faith and throwing ‘blasphemies’ probably wasn’t going to do much to dissuade this Astral. A different tactic was required.

“You’re a priest, right?” he asked.

“That police captain was quite a talker.”

“Small town. Everyone gossips.” Jacob purposefully slowed around a small bend heading to his home. “What denomination? Catholic? Protestant? Baptist? Mormon?”

“Virgo,” came the gentle response. “Thought I was once a member of the Catholic church.” The unicorn pointed at Jacob accusingly. “Do not make any mention of touching children or choir boys.”

“Please,” he answered, waving absently in the man’s direction. “That cliche is so moldy I could farm penicillin from it. No, what I was curious about was your preference of drink. I’d like to know more about my drinking buddy after all.”

The unicorn priest gave him a startled look. “You wish to convert?”

“Jesus no. I’d like to know what’s taboo and what not before we pop our first bottle of wine. Or would you prefer beer? Whiskey?”

“I am not your drinking buddy.”

“Sure you are! We’re going to my place, right?” The priest was silent. “Oh don’t give me the silent treatment. At least tell me what wine you prefer. Red? White? Blue?”

The unicorn gave him an incredulous look. “Blue wine?”

“Oh yeah, America was so patriotic that they made this wine that…” he trained off, lifting a hand towards his chin and let out a soft hum. “Right. Not this universe. Probably for the better. There aren’t very many good blue wines out there. Though I’m not talking about the shitty white wine with blue dye in it. Americans genuinely genetically engineered a new kind of fruit that they could ferment into wine that looked blue.”

“More of your mad ravings.” The priest gave him a dismissive shake of his head. “If you are trying to disarm or confuse me with this insanity, you have sorely misjudged my character.” He puffed out his chest. “I have been a loyal servant to My Lord Virgo for over forty years. I am not so easily dissuaded.”

Jacob threw a warm smile at the priest. “You know that in some circles, there is a belief that insanity is just a truth that the masses have not accepted?”

“Great philosophers and thinkers were considered insane during their time,” agreed the priest. “But they spoke of truths that were grounded in reality. You are speaking about…”

“Alternate realities? Different dimensions?” Jacob chuckled softly. “Tell me, does Virgo have his own army of warrior priests? Maybe Nuns with Nunchucks? Cardinals with Canons? Death-Dealing Deacons? What about Priests with Polearms?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Pity. That was a fun campaign. Really challenged the norm. It was like the Crusades but a little more quirky.”

“I am sure,” answered the priest with a soft groan. “Tell me_. Are you describing some fevered dream or a DnD Campaign._”

“Oh shit! You know what Dungeons and Dragons is?” Jacob asked excitedly. “Goddamn. I’ve been looking for someone to play with. What’re you doing next Saturday?”

He got a sour expression as he brought his car up to his driveway.

“Don’t give me that look,” he said, shutting off the engine. “It’ll be fun. Dude, be sure to tell me if you’re allergic to anything or what your booze preference is.”

“I am not your friend!” insisted the ethereal Astral.

Jacob got out of the car but didn’t shut his door. “Let me tell you something that I really wasn’t expecting, Mr. Priest-Man.” He gazed up at his home. “When I came to this world, I fully expected the story that unfolded to be another sex-fueled romp through poor humans corrupted by demonic influence with the underlying theme that the true demons are, in fact, mankind. Yet, instead, I found myself enthralled by a tale about redemption and hope; of how mankind can pull themselves out of the mire that has become this overly sensitive, easily offended society of ours that’s polluted with misinformation, shallow satisfaction and greed.”

He turned towards the unicorn still ‘sitting’ in his car. “It’s never too late to turn things around. I pride myself in keeping an open mind. Even after all the countless eternities that I’ve lived, I still find myself being surprised.” Leaning down and poking his head into the vehicle, he said, “Don’t give up on yourself. Don’t close yourself off to other truths. And when you’re ready, just remember that I’ve invited you into my home. It’s up to you whether or not you take it.”

The priest smirked at him darkly. “True. You have brought me to your home. Now I know where you live and where to send my troops.”

Jacob shrugged. “Yeah. I totally did. Now I wonder…” He cocked his head to the side, a dark glint entering his eyes. “… did I lure you into a trap or do I have something else in mind? Guess you’re just going to have to come in and find out.”

_ _

Broken Sanctuary

I encountered Alfonso a few times in my life. The first was about thirty years ago when Alfonso had already been inducted amongst Virgo’s Family and was rising through the ranks. Even then, the priest was content to use his abilities to bolster others and remained humble. When we met, he had no interest in engaging in combat and we actually had a nice meal together in a local cafe. He was very forthcoming with his allegiances and had hoped to convince me to hand over the Cradle through his words. He very nearly succeeded too.

It wasn’t until I had almost finished my meal that I noticed he had actually deployed his Domain and was already trying to exert his influence upon me. I took my steak knife and jabbed his wrist. Naturally, nothing happened as he was completely invulnerable within his Domain but it was enough to make me realize what was happening.

While he could have overpowered me, it would have cost him so he allowed me to leave.

My next encounter was when I was following another of Virgo’s Astrals, Matteo. He had actually warned me on Matteo’s predatory nature and it was through him that I learned that Matteo was luring me into a trap that he hoped would break me to reveal the Cradle. Alfonso warned me because he knew that Matteo’s attempt would only fail and any fail-safes I had implemented would leave the Cradle lost forever.

He was right, of course. I had contingencies in place in case I ever became someone’s Thrall. Matteo was incredibly annoyed but I will detail that engagement later.

My last meeting with Alfonso was just a few years ago. It was on my last trip to Italy. I was watching Castello Della Vergine from a distance when Alfonso approached me and asked if I was finally willing to surrender. Of course I wasn’t and I had actually hoped he would meet me. I warned him that this was his last chance to see Virgo for what he truly was and to leave before things turned for the worst.

He chose to stay but not before I am fairly sure I detected this flicker of regret in his eyes. I don’t know if there was this fragment of friendship between us that he knew had come to an end or that he knew my words were true but I like to believe that he is not beyond salvation.

********

November 25th, 5:00 PM, Reaper Residence

“Does that mean my dad and Zeke could be turned into Thralls!?”

Dante was in a panic. Down in Jacob’s study away from the cum-stained guest room and lounge room, they had exchanged stories. Flash and Frank once more recounted how they had fused together followed by how Dante had awakened his ‘third eye’ and could now see the shape of people’s souls. Afterwards, Jacob had informed them about how he had tried to pass off the trucks in front of Flash’s residence as some sort of mystery to the police captain and then was attacked by an Astral.

Frank had concluded that if this was a priest and a white-furred unicorn with a powerlifter’s build, they were likely dealing with Alfonso Valentino; Virgo’s oldest, still-living Astral and a shrewd tactician and cunning commander.

“I put wards around both your father and Zeke long ago,” Jacob replied, rummaging through the books on the shelves. “If they ever found themselves encountering an Astral, Thrall, Celestial or even a Domain, they’ll fall asleep and be transported back to their homes. They’ll remain asleep until the danger passes. Besides…”

Reaper set down a large book on his broad desk and unfurled what appeared to be a large map of the region. “… Alfonso has no clue that you are involved.”

“He doesn’t?” Dante asked.

“No. I made sure of that. I purposefully avoided any reference to you, Flash or Russ. He might suspect that there are some other Celestials but he doesn’t know your identities. He might suspect Flash but certainly not you. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t act fast. By goading him on and leading him here, he knows where to direct his ire. That’ll keep your dad and Zeke safe for now.”

Dante sighed in relief, pressing a paw against his chest and allowing himself to relax a little. The moment Jacob had mentioned that Alfonso was wantonly changing people into Thralls, he feared having to fight his dad or boyfriend as a horny unicorn. Sucking them off in that form would certainly add a strain to their relationship.

“What about the rest of the town?” Flash asked. “If Alfonso knows were we live, he’ll send as many Thralls as we can to us, right?”

Jacob opened one of the drawers in his desk and took out two, large, perfectly square pieces of black paper. He then began artfully folding them. “Likely. Not to worry. I’ve got spells that will wipe memories. If we can win this, it’ll be like they just went through a boring day that wasn’t worth mentioning so they forgot about it. But for now…”

He held up his finished constructs which looked like two, black, origami birds. Turning, Reaper opened the window at the back of his office and then threw the two pieces out into the ocean. Dante craned his neck just in time to see both constructs turn into enormous crows that spread their wings and immediately began flying off into different directions.

Jacob turned back towards his desk, grabbed two black pens and threw it at the map. The pens immediately remained upright with their tips pressing against the map. Slowly, they began drawing a gentle curve.

“What are you doing?” Frank asked.

Dante put two and two together quickly. “Those two birds are represented by the pens,” he said, pointing at the map. “You’re mapping out the limits of Alfonso’s Domain, aren’t you?”

Jacob smiled at him. “Sharp. That’s exactly what I’m doing. Apart from the space around my home thanks to my wards, Alfonso can see everything within the Domain so long as he knows what to focus on. That means if we start moving, he’ll know where we are and guess where we’re going.”

“So we make our last stand here!” Russ barked. “We fight him and get him to free the town!”

Frank grunted and shook his head in disapproval. “Easier said than done.” He folded his arms and regarded the map as the pens began to accelerate. “Alfonso has the Mantle of the Virgin like the rest of us. But he draws strength from people maintaining their virginity. As long as he surrounds himself with people who are still raw and innocent from certain experiences, he will have an infinite amount of power. That’s complimented by his Sphere, the Verdant Sanctuary. Anything within his Domain will be healed of all injuries and damage.”

“That’s cheating!” Flash exclaimed. “He’s got to have a weakness.”

“He does,” said Frank. “He’s never been fucked before. You fuck him, he loses his power. It’s where he draws a lot of his strength.”

“Let’s save that for a last resort,” Jacob said, holding up a finger. “Let’s avoid this story becoming more… rapacious than it already is, okay?” He tapped the map. “Besides, Alfonso is expending a lot of strength to manually control his Thralls. I’m sure he’ll relinquish control when they are over here and will give an order for them to attack. He might possess one of them directly to keep an eye on things but he’s not physically in Angelton. He’s somewhere here.” He drew a circle with his finger around the area known as Starwalk Valley. _“_The Starkravens I just deployed will scout out the limits of his Domain and hopefully give us a good idea of exactly where he is.”

“So what’s the plan?” asked Dante, his heart pounding with concern for his boyfriend and father. “We find him and then go straight there and fight him like we fought Frank? I blow him and his Thralls?” He gestured at Flash. “We just found out that Flash can store people inside him. If we’re not going with the rape option, maybe we can keep him inside Flash until we bring him back here and subdue him.”

Jacob shook his head, watching the pens make a broad turn on the map. “No. I’m going to stay here and hold him off. I led him here on purpose. He has no idea about the three of you.” He pointed at the three hounds. “As far as he knows, I’m the powerful wizard that seduced Frank away from his god’s influence. He’ll focus all his efforts on me while sitting back in his hiding place controlling his Thralls from a distance.”

“Sounds like a coward,” growled Flash.

“Typical general and tactician, really,” grunted Russ. “But Reaper has the perfect counter.” The ancient hellhound pointed the small dot that indicated their location. “While Reaper draws in his forces, the rest of us will go around.” He then drew his claw out into the see just past the line the Starkravens drew. “Then go straight to where he is.”

Jacob nodded. “My thoughts exactly. He can sense everything within his Domain. While he’s still amassing his forces, he’ll be keenly watching this location. So we can’t leave until the battle starts in earnest and I have his attention.” The lupine lawyer then strode towards a nearby bookshelf and pulled one of the tomes there. A soft click followed and the entire shelf shuddered before sinking into the wall and sliding aside. On the other side was a small alcove filled with what appeared like various articles of clothing.

Reaper retrieved what appeared to be an exact replica of Dante’s old leather jacket which had been torn in the wolf’s initial transformation. He handed it to Dante with the young wolf running his fingers over the fabric. With his enhanced vision, he could see that the surface and the very weave of the garment was laced with countless runes and magical effects. None of it he could understand and it was layered over one another in such density that it almost appeared like the shimmering surface of crystal-clear waters.

“This is like your coat, isn’t it?” he asked. “It’s got a lot of protective magic.”

“And a cloaking spell,” Jacob responded, handing a black tank-top to Flash. “When your grandfather had told me about his plan, my immediate concern was the fact that there are going to be ancient deities with far more experience than you, your partner and potentially even Russ that also have armies that outnumber us. I needed to find a way to protect you all while also limiting the disruption to your daily life as much as possible. Even within the Domain, you will be invisible Astrals and Celestials’ magical senses. If they see you, that’s a different matter.”

Dante slipped the jacket on. It was a little loose on him but was still fairly comfortable. Flash did the same with his tank-top while Russ was handed a long, red scarf that the hellhound wore around his neck. The two tails of the scarf reached past Russ’ knees. Jacob also held out a black trench coat towards Frank.

“I wasn’t sure how big Flash or Dante would become,” admitted the lawyer, “so I made a few extras. You can have one. I have sizes in Large, Extra-Large, Extra-Extra-Large, Extra-Extra-Extra-Large and ‘Holy-Mother-Of-Fuck-How-Are-Your-Ankles-Not-Gravel’.”

Frank snorted and grabbed the largest coat which fell down to just his ankles. “I’m not going with the boys. I’m staying here and defending this place with you.”

Reaper raised an eyebrow but it was Flash that protested verbally.

“What? Why? You’re making yourself bait!”

Frank held up a hand, pushing back the broad-shouldered crimson wolf and shaking his head. “Alfonso isn’t dumb. He knows I defected. If he doesn’t see me defending this place or at least doesn’t sense me, he’ll know something is up. I need to make an appearance here while you guys sneak around back and fuck him from behind.”

Jacob smiled softly and held out his hand. “I’d say it’d be an honor to die by your side but I have no intention of dying here.”

“Me neither.” Frank shook the lawyer’s hand, nearly consuming his entire forearm with his hand alone. “I still need to fuck over Virgo.”

“Speaking of which…” Jacob nodded towards Frank. “What do you know about Alfonso’s abilities? It sounds to me like he’ll be tough to take down. What can we do to keep him distracted and what can Russ’ team when they find him?”

Frank removed his grip of Jacob’s arm and turned back towards the map. Gripping the edges of the table with his huge hands, he examined the map closely. “Alfonso is a non-combatant. He prefers to sit in the back and demoralize his enemies before converting them with his words. That’s the whole thing about his Domain and Sphere. He and his Thralls are basically indestructible as long as they’re inside his Domain. That’s why he’s spent a lot of time perfecting the damn thing and probably why he can expand it so far.”

“That’s true,” rumbled Russ. “In ancient times, Celestials would create Domains that were basically entire universes on their own but that was a huge drain on their power. For an Astral to create a Domain is an impressive feat but one that’s so big is even more so. Most Astral Domains might go as far as half-a-mile. For one to extend thirty miles or so…”

They watched the pens start to converge on the map. The expanse of the Domain was frightening. The Starkravens were making a vague elliptical shape with the majority of Angelton at its far point. Thankfully, it seemed that Jacob’s home was near one of the edges which meant that they could escape the limits of the Domain fairly easily.

“He can’t be maintaining it himself,” Frank concluded. “Seeing as turning other people into Thralls rapidly and even using astral projection to and possession to get to us, he must have Thralls with him. Alfonso is strong but he’s not that strong.”

Russ agreed with a grunt and a nod. “We can’t assume he’s at his limit though. If he’s as smart as you say he is, he’ll probably have backup plans.”

Dante glance at the black book he had placed onto Jacob’s table. “Grandpa’s journal had a whole section on Frank. Maybe it’ll have something on Alfonso too.”

“Good idea,” Jacob announced. “And I agree with Russ as well. Alfonso likely will have planned for the possibility of an in-person encounter. He doesn’t know the limits of my abilities and can only guess.” Reaper watched as the two pens pressed against one another on the table and then began circling back as the Starkravens began their return trip. “His Domain is elliptical in shape…”

Frank suddenly pressed a finger at the far end of the ellipse, the one opposite to Angelton. His finger landed somewhere in the mountains of Starwalk Valley. “Here. He’s got to be here. It’s the farthest point away from us and safely in the mountains.”

“Captain Summers did mention that a visiting priest did vanish in the woods of the Valley,” Jacob said. “He had dispatched a large number of his own officers to go help the Valley officers in the search. If that’s the case, then there could be unwitting rangers or officers making their way towards him only to be turned into Thralls to increase his power.”

“Then we don’t have time to lose!” Dante exclaimed. “We’ve got to get to him as soon as possible!”

Russ gripped his shoulder tightly and pulled him back. “Easy there, pup. We’ve got to approach this slowly, right? Just like what Reaper said. We bring all of Alfonso’s attention on this house then we sneak out back.” He nodded towards Jacob. “I assume you’ve got a way to get to Starwalk Valley quickly?”

Jacob threw the big canine a bunch of keys. “I’ve got a car down by the marina. You can escape the house from the stairs down by the beach and then grab the car down there and drive to Starwalk. It’s still an hour or so away.”

“We can hold out until then,” Frank growled, crackling his knuckles. “We should still prepare, though.”

“All of you should,” Jacob confirmed. There was a mischievous glint in his eyes. “And I think I know exactly how to throw Alfonso off his game.”

Dante swiveled his ears towards the lawyer. “How?”

Jacob looked towards Russ and then Frank. “How many ways are there to break a Domain.”

“Three,” Frank answered almost instantly. “The first one is that the one making the domain runs out of power. If Alfonso has Thralls that he’s keeping as virgins, he’ll never run out of that.”

“There’s also the possibility of knocking the bastard out,” Russ added. “But if everyone in his Domain is basically invulnerable, that’ll be impossible unless we get one cheap shot in at him. He can just keep throwing his Thralls at us.” He lifted three fingers. “The third one is creating your own Domain that overlaps the other one and then using that to beat the bastard.”

The hopeful looks on both Flash and Dante were crushed when Russ glanced away and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Sorry, boys,” confessed the legendary hellhound. “I suck at generating Domains of my own. It’s why I always guarded Hades’ one.”

“Don’t look at me either,” Frank said, holding up his hands. “Some Astral take years to be able to generate their Domain. I never had any interest in it either so I never bothered.”

Jacob nodded but that smile remained on his face. “Something we may have to work on eventually but you’re wrong, Frank. There is a fourth way to break a Domain.”

They all gave Reaper a confused look.

“What?” Frank asked. “What?”

Russ’ eyes widened after a second and his jaw fell open. “You don’t mean…?”

Reaper smirked. “Yup.”

“But… it was lost…?”

“I found it.”

A maniacal grin crossed Russ’ face. “Well shit…”