Beauty was gone again by the time Logan woke. It was still early morning, judging by the weak rays of light spilling through the ceiling crack. She could not have been gone for long. He could still see the shape of her body where she had been lying on the moss.

Hunting, he assumed. Or just avoiding me.

On the other side of the now cold, dead fire, Karen still lay in an uneasy sleep. Seeing her lying there, naked and dirty, on the cave floor reminded Logan of his first night in Hell. It made his back hurt to remember, and he resolved to do whatever he could for her. What that might be was, as of yet, unknown. They were all in uncharted territory now.

It had been his idea to intervene on her behalf against the beast he had affectionately named “Dead Red,” and Logan had no regrets about doing so. Being a demon had been strike one against the big bastard. Assaulting a woman half his size were strikes two and three, as far as Logan was concerned. Dead Red had deserved no mercy, and none had been given.

Despite their intervention, Karen had not escaped the encounter unscathed. Demons, he now knew, possessed a unique power over damned souls. One he had at first assumed was just some kind of aphrodisiac venom, similar to the scorpion critter Beauty had warned him to avoid. As it turned out, Logan had been entirely wrong about that and could not decide if the truth was better or worse.

He now understood what Beauty had been trying to tell him and her frustration at not having the right words to communicate well. Karen had been able to clarify and fill in the missing pieces. The Succubus had confirmed Karen’s explanation as accurate.

A demon’s touch did not force a sexual reaction on the target soul. The truth was far more insidious. Their power was the ability to allow a damned soul to achieve orgasm.

The endless, burning, ache of sexual lust was the default condition of every damned soul. A condition they could never satisfy. An itch that could never be scratched. That was their “punishment” in this nightmare realm.

Demons had the power to end that suffering, even if only for a brief time. Unfortunately, orgasmic energy was also what demons fed on, which went a long way toward explaining Beauty’s single-minded obsession with milking him like a dairy cow. Humans got to enjoy a brief period of pleasure, and, in turn, the demons would feed on it, a poor bargain by any measure.

That was a part of the eco-system of this nightmare realm he was just beginning to understand. Much like Earth, there were patterns and logic to how this place worked. Twisted logic, to be sure, but it was there. Unique flora and fauna existed. So too did something resembling civilization where demons ruled, and human souls were a commodity for trade, use, or consumption.

Until now.

Until less than a month ago, when the Faerie Queen Maeve had exiled him to Hell for failing to release her from the obligation he had unknowingly earned by freeing her from an icy prison. Since his untimely arrival, Logan had interrupted the natural cycle of events, not just once, but many times.

First, he had allied with a gorgeous, and ever hungry, Succubus demon. Were he and Beauty now more than just allies? Was he more to her than just a source of nourishment? He wanted to believe that was the case, but who knew? How did one judge the motivations of a demon?

Second, the hunted had become the hunter. Logan could not bring himself to let others suffer at demonic hands if he could do something about it. As a trained and seasoned soldier, he felt obligated to fight back. Of course, that wasn’t the only reason. The demons also carried loot and useful items that Logan desperately needed to survive. Helping others was just the icing on the cake.

The third event was Karen. With Beauty’s reluctant assistance, he had rescued a damned soul and helped her “awaken,” for lack of a better description. What that yet meant was anyone’s guess.

Then there was the final oddity, himself. Logan was, to the best of his ability to understand such things, not dead. Somehow, that seemed like an important clue.

Available evidence seemed to support the idea that only the damned souls of the dead should be in Hell. Granted, Logan had only encountered three souls so far, but even with so few, some things were starting to become clear. Damned souls tended towards a gaunt and haunted appearance. The stronger they became, the more “real” they appeared.

They did not remember who they were or why they were in Hell, but they did feel the constant weight of the guilt and remorse of their choices in life that led them to this terrible fate. By all accounts, human souls existed here only to suffer for their sins and the debased pleasure of demons. Tormented by an obsession with sex. Like every damned thing else in Hell, apparently.

That part still made no sense to him. Why was everything in Hell pre-occupied with sex? Even the local insects carried an aphrodisiac poison! It all sounded more like the erotic fan fiction he used to read on-line than it did as a means of divine punishment. Where were the pitchforks and hellfire?

Even by the shaky logic of religious thinking, it was madness.

The idea that his mother’s God, the Christian God, could allow such a place to exist had kept him awake most of the night. It burned still in his gut. He looked up at the ceiling of the cavern. “God, if you do exist, then you are one sick son-of-bitch.”

Karen squeaked, jumped where she lay, and slowly rolled over to face him.

“Sorry.” He grimaced. “Did I wake you?”

“No.” Karen shook her head, then sat up and tucked a loose strand of black hair behind her ear. “I was awake. Just trying to… remember.” Her eyes were wide and troubled as she gazed at him in the ruddy light. “You say that word so easily.”

“What? God?” He watched her flinch, then reluctantly nodded her head. “It’s not a magic word, Karen. It isn’t even a real name. According to Jewish tradition, it’s actually…”

“Don’t say it!” she cried.

He held up a hand in a peace gesture. “Alright, I won’t, but there is nothing to be frightened of. You could say it too, you know. Words only have power over you if you let them.”

“We cannot.” Karen shook her head, sending her bangs to fall around her face like a curtain.

“Why not?”

“Because… we are the damned. We are not worthy.”

“Not worthy?” Logan struggled to keep his voice calm and conversational. “Says who?”

“It just is,” she muttered at the ground.

“We are going to have to work on that.” Logan sighed. “But one step at a time. How are you feeling?”

“Better, I think,” Karen replied. “Stronger.”

“Wonderful,” he grinned. “That’s excellent news.”

Her face softened. It was almost a smile. “Thank you.” She tucked her hair back again. “For everything.”

“You are very welcome, but I cannot take much credit. Beauty did far more than I did.”

Karen nodded. “So you said but… I don’t understand it.”

“Honestly?” Logan shrugged. “I don’t know that I understand it either. There is a lot that I don’t get about this place, at least not yet. For now, let it be enough that she is my friend, and that makes her your friend too. Can you do that?”

Karen hesitated, then nodded. “I think so.”

They heard movement at the entrance to the cavern. Beauty emerged out of the shadow with their spear in hand and nothing else. She did not look happy about it and pointed up at the ceiling, making a wide circle with her finger. “Flyer.”

“Really?” Logan scratched thoughtfully at his chin scruff. “We can’t have that. If he discovers our location…”

“She,” Beauty corrected.

Logan nodded, then gave Karen an appraising look. “You said it was impossible to fight back against the Masters. I can show you that isn’t true. Especially if you are willing to help.”

She blinked at him and frowned. “I don’t know anything about fighting.”

“That’s OK.” Logan bared his teeth in a feral grin. “How are you at playing wounded bird?”

*****

The succubus stretched her wings out to feel hot wind tickling over the delicate membranes. She soared and swooped on the shifting currents in lazy spirals. A long, sinuous tail trailed behind. From up here, the broken landscape could hide little from her raptor’s gaze.

Movement on the ground caught her eye. She banked hard but saw only a small, furry animal scampering into cover and gave it no further thought. Hunger demanded a different sort of prey.

She soared and glided, climbed toward the boiling clouds, and turned into the moaning wind, but always her attention was below. The demon scanned rock and dirt, hill and valley, with a hunter’s patience. Suddenly, off to her right, there was a flash of white against the rust-colored ground. She looked, and a slow smile of anticipation crawled across her lovely face.

A human female was moving awkwardly through broken rocks. Only a short distance away, a younger demon, white-haired, lavender skinned and wingless, was in pursuit. The human was limping and moving slow. The young Succubus was being overconfident, playing with her food, and letting the chase continue for the sake of amusement. That mistake would earn her an empty belly this day.

The demon turned into the high currents of air and positioned herself behind them both where neither hunter nor prey would see her coming until it was far too late. Her gaze narrowed against the driving, dust-choked wind. Her wings pulled in close as she dived.

The ground hurtled up at her. She leveled out on spreading wings. The startled face of the lavender Succubus flashed by. The flying hunter reached out to seize the human soul by her dark hair, already anticipating the rich taste of fear and lust.

Something moved out of cover just ahead of her prey. Another human stepped out from behind a tall rock. A male, armed with a spear! The demon beat the air frantically with her wings to gain altitude, to escape and counter-attack.

The spear hurtled through the air. Agony bloomed like a poison flower as it tore through the delicate membrane of one wing. The shaft tangled into a wing, robbed her of flight, and sent the demon hurtling toward the ground.

*****

Logan heard the impact as the Succubus crashed and tumbled across the dirt and the snap of bone as one wing twisted and broke against an outcropping of rock. He rushed over and pointed his sword at her. “Surrender and live.”

Despite oily, black smoke pouring from a half dozen wounds and a broken wing, the Succubus roared and surged to her bird-like, clawed feet. Both hands blurred and, as if by magic, a curved, wickedly sharp knife appeared in each hand. A long tail coiled behind her like an angry python. Pain and fury twisted lovely features into something savage. She settled onto the balls of her feet, low and ready.

He stopped his charge just short of melee range. The two combatants began to circle, each weighing and measuring the other. Logan suspected that he had the advantage of height, reach, and probably greater strength. Judging by the demon’s moves, he suspected she was far quicker and was no stranger to knife fighting.

That was bad news. Combat with short blades was a brutal, ugly business under the best of circumstances, which this was not. Anyone with training or experience understood one simple, ugly truth about knife fights. The loser bleeds out then, and the winner bleeds out later.

“Worm! Maggot! You dare attack me?” She snarled as Logan began to circle, dagger in his right hand, short sword in his left. “You will suffer a thousand deaths for this! The winds will carry your screams for eternity.”

“That was almost poetic,” he quipped.

Logan kept circling, forcing the Succubus to drag her broken wing and turn with him. Her wounds put time on his side. It allowed him the opportunity to assess his opponent better.

She was, he had to admit, a magnificent example of savage, female perfection. This Succubus was tall and lean, where Beauty was slightly shorter and more generously curved. Her skin tone was a light gray, almost silver. Ink black hair spilled across her shoulders. Cupid bow lips, a pert nose, and large, purple eyes would have looked angelic if not for the curling ram’s horns in her forehead, the savage snarl on her lips, and the promise of murder in her violet glare.

Her luscious body was protected by the first true example of armor Logan had yet seen. Leather greaves and vambraces protected her lower arms and legs. A one-piece corset of banded black leather shielded her breasts, belly, and groin. Stamped over the swell of her left breast was familiar design, a snake coiled to strike.

The demon glared back at him. Her eyes went wide as they focused on the same emblem on his shoulder. “You!” she snarled. “You defeated Chort! How is this possible?”

“Friend of yours?” Logan taunted. “Not anymore, sweetheart.”

The Succubus moved with blinding speed, hoping to catch him off guard. Twin knives cut at him high and low. Blades rang together. Logan side-stepped, blocked, and jumped away.

“You are strong. Too strong for a typical mortal soul.” The Succubus hissed. “What are you?”

Logan shrugged. “At the moment, I would have to say… a distraction.”

Understanding dawned on her pretty face too late. Logan watched Beauty rise out of the rocks behind the other Succubus without a sound; a large rock gripped in one hand. The rock crashed down on the back of the target’s black head of hair. Lovely purple eyes fluttered and closed as she fell to the dirt.

It was over. A quick check revealed the demon was not dead. Logan pulled leather strips, re-purposed from the cat-o-nine-tails, out of a belt pouch, and bound the lethal Succubus at her hands and feet.

Beauty took the opportunity to strip the demon naked and claim the armor for herself. Logan piled up everything that might be of value. By the time they had finished looting, the captive had started to rouse. Logan walked over and gently kicked her clawed foot. Her purple eyes opened.

Once again, Logan found himself staring into the eyes of a beautiful, very naked, female demon lying hogtied on the ground and staring back defiantly. Even by current standards, this was becoming a strange habit. At least this time, there was no ambiguity. Unlike his first encounter with Beauty, there was an air of gleeful violence around this particular Succubus. Even now, bound and helpless as she was, the demon seemed more aroused and amused than afraid.

“This doesn’t have to go hard for you,” Logan said. ”I just need some questions answered.”

The succubus offered a slow, sultry smile and thrust her breasts out toward him. “I like it hard.”

Okay, I walked into that one. Logan squatted down beside her and rested his elbows on his knees. He smiled back at her. It was not a sultry smile. His was an expression of winter's ice; cold, sharp, and dangerous.

"That’s adorable, but I don't think you understand your situation. So, let me clarify a few things. One, I'm not going to fuck you. I have no interest in fucking you. I get to sleep with her." Logan pointed a thumb at Beauty. "And she's twice the woman, or demon, that you are."

The coy expression vanished from her face. The succubus glared and scowled at them both. Beauty only smirked back at her, unruffled and unconcerned, and made a show of trying on the captured demon’s armor.

He drew his dagger and began tapping it thoughtfully against her silver thigh. "Point number two, I just watched you try to ambush, assault, and feed on my friend, so don’t expect any sympathy. I don't like to see my friends hurt. It puts me in something of a murderous mood."

Logan paused to let that sink in. The Succubus was staring at the knife in his hand. After a long heavy moment of silence, she looked up into his eyes. Logan let her see the rage boiling in his thoughts. He was still smiling. She was not.

"So, here’s the deal. You're going to give me one of two things. You are either going to answer my very reasonable questions or…" Logan held up the dagger in front of her eyes. "I am going to skin you for meat and leather. Have you ever skinned an animal? It isn't difficult."

Logan pointed at various areas of her body with the tip of the knife as he spoke. "You just have to roll the carcass onto its back. Then you cut off the genitals or udder. Next, you split the hide from tail to throat. The next part is kind of tricky.” He laid the flat of the blade against her belly. “You want to get the blade under the skin and peel it back without cutting into the body cavity."

Karen muffled a sound of disgust with a hand over her mouth and walked away. Beauty listened with her usual calm attentiveness, testing the edge of the two newly acquired curved knives with her thumb. The captive demon’s armor fit her fairly well. Logan had to make a conscious effort not to stare at the way her larger bust spilled cleavage over the leather top.

He began to tap the blade lightly against the bone between the prisoner’s breasts. "Now, the sternum can be a bit tricky. You have to split it open, and then…" Logan shrugged. "Well, why ruin the surprise."

Logan gave her a hard, merciless look. "Still want to play games?"

Judging by the expression on her face, the brutal truth of her situation was finally beginning to sink in. Her eyes went wide. Her lip began to tremble. Tears began to spill from the corners of her lovely, purple eyes.

"Please don't hurt me." She began to sob. "I'll do whatever you…"

Quick as a snake, Beauty reached out and slapped her across one cheek. In an instant, the captive snarled and howled at her. "Little, baby, demon bitch! I will claw your tits off! I will…”

The demon stopped abruptly, but it was too late. The attempted manipulation of playing the helpless, crying female act had failed. She scowled at the ground and made several anatomically impossible suggestions for all three of her captors.

Beauty arched an eyebrow at Logan. He received the wordless message, loud and clear. Don’t fall for that bullshit.

Logan winked at her, then returned to glaring at the captive Succubus. He flipped the dagger into the air, catching it by the handle. “Decision time. What’s it going to be?”

The Succubus seemed to deflate. She hung her head and muttered. “Ask your questions.”

“Good choice.” Logan nodded and tapped his knife against the emblem on her breast. “You serve an Elder demon, yes? Tell me about him or her.”

“That is the mark of Baron Gravik.” She replied.

“And who does he report to? Who is the big boss around here?”

“Asmodeus, Prince of Lust and lord of all you see.”

“Lord of Hell?”

The demon looked at him as if he had said something stupid. “Lord of the Second Circle.”

“Second Circle?” Logan nodded. “Ah, suddenly, this all makes a lot more sense! It’s like that book I read in high school… something Inferno… Dante’s Inferno! That was it. So, nine circles of hell? Different sin on each level kind of thing?”

The Succubus reluctantly nodded.

“Circle of Lust. Well, that explains all the fucking going on around here. And each circle is ruled by a prince?” He asked.

“Yes.” She replied. Beauty’s hand cracked hard across the back of her head. “No.” She amended with a death glare at Beauty. “Seven Princes. The lowest level is the domain of Lord Satan himself. The highest level is called Limbo and has no prince. Satan has granted dominion of that realm to the Lucifer.”

She glanced up at Logan with a gleam in her purple eyes. She looked him up and down. “I can see that you live like an animal. It doesn’t have to be that way. Baron Gravik has charged Chort and me with collecting souls. By defeating Chort, you have proved your value. The nobles of Hell are always plotting and fighting against each other. Always looking for an advantage. You could be just such an advantage.”

She nodded. Logan could see the gleam of excitement in her eyes. “Oh, yes. Lord Asmodeus is said to be very clever and to value two things above all, strength and loyalty. He would reward me with wealth and titles of my own to bring you to him. And you…” The demon smiled.

“Agree to serve him, and the Prince of Lust will grant all you could desire. Power, luxuries, endless pussy; it could all be yours. I can help make that happen.”

Logan paused to consider her words. “Interesting. So then, according to you, humans can hold positions of power just like demons?”

For a brief moment, a look of distaste passed across her features, and then it was gone as if it had never been. “Some few exceptional souls, yes.”

Logan nodded. “Good to know. Guess I’ll just have to kill them too.”

*****

Karen watched the interrogation happen through a fog of disbelief. She watched the captured succubus tempt with poisonous charms and veiled promises one minute, and threaten unending pain with the next breath. Yet neither Logan nor Beauty seemed to care about either.

That made no sense to her. Did they not understand the danger? Perhaps not to Beauty. She was also a demon. She couldn't possibly understand. But Logan…

Karen could make no sense of the man. There was no fear in his eyes, no weight of hopelessness dragging at his shoulders. He spoke with such determination and walked as if the world must yield to him and not the other way around.

He had rescued her from a demon, with the help of another demon. One that he had somehow befriended, which was, in itself, impossible. Later he provided shelter, and even food, helped her regain clarity and some sense of identity back, again with the help of his pet demon. All without asking for or expecting anything in return except her thoughts and observations.

Why?

Then, when confronted by the possibility of discovery by a flying demon, rather than hide as any reasonable human soul would, he had declared his intention to fight back, to hunt the hunter. It was insanity!

How did he not understand? This was Hell. Resistance was unthinkable. Rebellion was unimaginable.

And yet… here they were. Standing over a defeated and captured demon. Just one of many who had fallen to him and Beauty, or so he would have her believe.

It would seem Logan’s insanity was contagious because somehow, he had talked her into trying to lure the demon out of the sky- on purpose! Who would do such a thing? Apparently, it seemed, she would. Karen blamed such a foolish decision on his kind smile and big, green eyes.

But she had done it! Today terror did not send her scurrying into cover. Today she had fought back against her infernal oppressors and won.

That was what Logan did to her when he was around. Somehow, he made the impossible… possible, and in the process of doing so, cracked the darkness of her despair, letting in a single, thin ray of light. Not enough that she dared to call it hope, not yet. Karen had known too much pain, for too long, to consider anything so optimistic. But at least enough for a small voice to whisper questions in the dark of her soul.

Was hope possible? Was there potentially an end to endless suffering?

So many contradictions. So many impossible possibilities when Logan was near, with his sweet smile and broad shoulders. It was all so wondrous and terrifying. Wondrous because she had never imagined feeling this way. Terrifying because this was Hell, and anything that tasted of joy could not long survive.

“I could help you. Negotiate on your behalf.” The beautiful monster was suggesting.

Cold panic and hot anger ran through Karen. Anger that the creature would think Logan so stupid as to believe her. Panic that he might.

Her fears were foolish, of course. He was too smart to fall victim to poisoned promises. Logan waved his dagger at the demon from where he knelt. The beast wisely chose silence.

Good! Karen thought with fierce joy. You’re not calling the shots anymore, you evil bitch. Look at you squirm!

“Anything I want, huh?” Logan was saying. “Can he offer me a way out of Hell? No? Then fuck off, lady.”

Except the beast wasn't exactly squirming, was she? Was it another attempted seduction? No, her movements were too subtle and too lacking in grace for that. The demon almost seemed to be twitching, or pulling…

Karen's eyes went wide. "Logan, watch out!"

The demon, suddenly free of her restraints, jumped forward, slashing at him. Logan cursed in surprise, fell back, and fell over in his abrupt haste to get away. Claws narrowly missed. The tail did not. It cracked, whip-like, across Logan's face as the demon spun about.

Beauty tackled the succubus a heartbeat later, and they fought like angry tigers, but her grip was tenuous. The enemy demon had the element of surprise on her side and managed to shake Beauty off. The enemy gave no thought to either female. Her murderous gaze was set on Logan as he struggled to rise to his feet. His dagger lay many feet away. It might as well have been miles.

Beauty dove on her again, driving them both to the ground in a brutal tangle of claws and savagery. Karen watched as one demon tried to kill her friend, and another fought to save him. The impossible made possible, all over again.

Fear washed over Karen. Not fear for herself, not even for Logan. It was the terror of sudden comprehension, knowing that if Logan died, she would once again and forever after be alone. Desperation, hot and wild, burned the fear away.

Karen would later not remember reaching for and feeling the weight of Logan's dagger in her fist. She would not recall charging forward, dagger held high, and a scream of berserk rage on her lips.

What she would remember is how the blade felt stabbing through flesh and scraping past bone, again and again. Watching the light fade out of those evil, purple eyes. More than anything, she would not forget that moment of fierce triumph when she fought back and was a victim no more.

*****

They began the return journey to the cavern in good spirits. Logan thought today felt like a victory, especially it seemed, for Karen. No one had expected such a fierce response from her, least of all Karen herself.

He was happy for her and very damned grateful. Without her surprising intervention, the plan, his plan, might have ended on a far more tragic note. There was no one to blame except himself, of course. Had he been more concerned about making certain the prisoner was secure and less about getting information out of her, the escape would not have happened.

I have to do better. Logan thought. There is no margin for error. Another mistake like that could get someone killed.

He made an effort to shake off grim thoughts and smile. He owed Karen that much. This was her moment of triumph, and he would not ruin that for her.

"So, Karen the slayer…" Logan winked at her.

Karen looked at her feet and blushed like a schoolgirl, but she also grinned. She had a nice smile. Hopefully, they would see a lot more of it from here on out.

"We should celebrate." Logan went on. "Let us feast! Let's see…" Logan tapped thoughtfully in his lower lip. "We have cooked bristle pig, smoke strips of bristle pig, and… oh yes, burnt bristle pig."

Beauty smiled. Karen giggled.

"It doesn't matter," Karen replied. "You do recall that I did not even remember the taste of food before meeting you, don't you?" She looked up at Logan. "I'm beginning to remember a lot about me, thanks to you." She turned and smiled at Beauty. "And to you. I have not forgotten what you did for me, and I don't think I ever got around to saying thank you, so… thank you very much, Beauty."

"Welcome." Beauty replied.

"Well cum, indeed." Logan chortled.

Karen gave him a long look, then burst into laughter. Beauty tilted her head and looked from one to the other.

"It's a joke. A pun." Logan explained. Beauty just kept staring at him. Logan waved his hands in surrender. "Never mind. I'll explain the concept later." He looked at the demon. “I suppose we have a lot to talk about.”

“Talk. Yes.” She agreed.

Neither of them mentioned it again until they had settled back into their shelter and placed their new loot into the growing pile. “I’m going to get cleaned up,” he said to Beauty. “Care to join me?”

Beauty just nodded and walked toward the hot springs.

Logan looked at Karen. “I need to talk to Beauty. Will you be alright on your own for a while?”

“Of course.” She smiled. “Go.”

Man and Succubus undressed and climbed into the steaming water. Both occupied themselves with the task of washing away grime and dust. Logan sighed and finally spoke up after a few minutes of silence. “I have you to thank, as much as Karen, for saving my ass out there. Your quick tackle made the difference. Beauty, you are quick and strong, and damned effective, all without any training. With you, it’s all instincts.”

She cocked her head. “Instincts?”

He nodded. “It is… a part of who you are. What you are. Just like how you feed.” Logan heaved a great sigh. “Which we probably need to talk about and clear the air between us.”

Beauty sniffed. “Clear the air?”

“Oh, right,” he replied. “It is a human way of saying that there is a topic that needs to be discussed. So, speaking of which… Beauty, you know that I was angry with you, yes?”

“Logan angry.” She agreed. “Beauty not understand why.”

“Yeah, I guessed as much.” He splashed water on his face and blinked at her. “Shit. How do I explain this so you will understand? As a Succubus, you need sex to feed. Humans need sex too, but not to feed. We have different needs. It can be to show affection to someone we care about, or just for fun, just to name two out of many reasons we like to do it. Regardless, it is for pleasure. Giving pleasure and receiving it in return. No one gets hurt.”

He frowned and settled deeper into the water. “It’s not like that with your kind. You feed off of sex, quite literally eating a part of me every time you and I have sex. I did not know that, and when I found out…” He sighed. “Well, it bothered me very much. Can you understand that?”

They sat in silence as Beauty pondered his words. Eventually, she nodded. “Predator and prey. Logan felt like prey?”

“Yes! Yes, exactly.” He chuckled in relief. “I felt like prey. Like we were not friends, and I was just food to you. That you would eat me up until nothing was left and just… I don’t know… move on to the next prey.”

“No!” Beauty shook her head and reached out to grasp his hand under the water. “Logan not prey. Beauty feed, but Beauty friend!” Her voice dropped almost to a whisper. “Beauty not know word friend until meet Logan.”

Logan smiled at her and squeezed her hand. “I know that now. And, after careful thought, I cannot see that your feeding has injured me in any way. If anything, I feel stronger now than I did when I first arrived in this place. If it becomes a problem, we will deal with it. The important thing is that I realized that feeding on sex is just instinct for you. You were not trying to hurt me or use me or keep a secret from me. It is just a part of who and what you are. Being angry about it would make about as much sense to be angry with you for being purple. What I am trying to say is I was wrong to be upset, and I apologize. You are the best thing that has happened to me since arriving in this shit hole. I could not do this without you. Forgive me?”

Beauty slid through the water with hardly a ripple and settled her body against his. “Forgive.” She smiled. “But what does “apologize” mean?”

“To regret something you did or said. To want to make it better.” He smiled and wrapped his arms around her. “Kind of like this.”

She purred and molded her curves against his naked flesh. “I like this apologizing.”

“Then, you will really like make-up sex!”

It felt very fine to hold Beauty in his arms again. It felt right, like snapping a piece back into the jigsaw puzzle of his crazy life. They laughed and kissed. Kissing led to touching.

To his great surprise, Beauty pulled away. She glanced across the cavern at the other woman sitting in front of their tiny fire and then back at Logan. “Karen is alone.”

“You’re right.” He grunted and attempted to ignore his dick playing periscope in the water. “What are we thinking? Maybe we can sneak away later tonight after she goes to sleep?”

Beauty kissed him and stood. He watched streams of water cascade down her generous curves and left her lavender flesh gleaming in the orange crystal light. After a moment, it occurred to him that she had spoken, but he had not heard a word.

Logan pulled his eyes up from her luscious curves to the amused expression on her face. “What was that?” he asked.

“Relax,” she repeated. “Finish get clean.”

“No argument from me.” He grinned.

Logan enjoyed the view of her climbing out, then settled into the hot water with a sigh of contentment. He must have dozed off because the sound of voices startled him awake.

He looked up to see Karen and Beauty approaching the pool hand-in-hand. Logan looked from one to the other. “Hi, ladies.”

The women climbed into the steaming water together. There was an uncertainty in Karen’s eyes as she looked at the Succubus. Beauty smiled and moved closer, gently brushing strands of black hair out of the woman’s face, trailing the back of her lavender hand down the curve of cheek and neck, and tracing her thumb over Karen’s lower lip. Closer still. Beauty leaned forward. Their lips brushed together in a slow, gentle kiss. The demon pulled back just enough to look into Karen’s eyes.

Logan watched in absolute fascination as these two lovely women seemed to communicate without a word spoken between them. There was no hope of understanding. What passed between them was far too subtle, far too female, for him to follow, but that was just fine. Logan did not need to know.

All he needed to understand was that this was a gift that was not his to give, only to appreciate with the deepest gratitude. It was, he decided at that moment, the single most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his entire life. It would remain a cherished memory in the dark days yet to come.

Breasts touched as lips met in a gentle exploration of welcome and desire. Graceful arms reached for and around to the steam slicked inward curve of the lower back and the outward, succulent swell of the female backside. Tongues dueled in slow, but increasingly eager circles.

Beauty slid around behind the other woman, trailing kisses up her shoulder. Lavender hands slid up and down pale, wet breasts and belly. “Karen need clean too.” Beauty smiled at Logan.

Karen gasped and arched as finger brushed over her nipples. The demon licked at the shell of her ear and nestled her face into the crook of Karen’s neck and looked at Logan. Black hair and white hair lay together in gorgeous contrast. Dark eyes and golden eyes stared at him with identical expressions of hunger and invitation. Karen bit her lower lip. Beauty smiled a wicked smile.

“Logan going to help?” the demon asked.

“Oh, Hell yes,” he breathed and moved toward them both.

A moment later, Karen was trapped between them, gently sandwiched between hot, demon succulence and hard, male muscle. Logan spread her legs and pressed up against her with full-body contact. He found her mouth with his own and claimed it with slow, hungry kisses.

Beauty held Karen cradled between her lavender legs, trailing kisses around her neck and shoulders and lightly pinching at her dark nipples. Karen cried out into Logan’s mouth at so much electric contact all at once.

He leaned forward to cradle Beauty’s cheek in one hand and kiss and nibble at her full lips, just the way he knew she liked. He tasted her on his tongue, knew what she was doing to him, to them both, and no longer cared. The demon’s mouth was soft, eager, and sweet.

When he pulled back, Beauty turned Karen’s face toward her and claimed her mouth and tongue again. Logan let his attention wander lower across the helpless woman’s writhing body. His mouth explored her breasts and tasted her nipples. At the same time, his hand drifted below the waterline, down the inside of her thigh, slowly tickling his way closer… and closer…

“Touch me, Logan,” Karen moaned. “Please, oh please.”

He touched the folds of her swollen pussy and gently dragged his fingertips over her soft swells. Up and down, softly exploring her shape and randomly brushing at her clitoris. All across the outside surface but not within. He knew water was a poor lubricant, and he wanted her slick and ready for him when he took her. Until that sweet moment of conquest, there were other ways.

Logan reached down and cupped the sweet curve of her ass cheeks in each hand and then lifted. Karen gasped in surprise as he raised her lower half out of the water and level with his face. He held Karen there as he leaned forward to part her folds with his tongue and tasted her juices.

Karen was lithe of build and light as a bird, and Beauty was stronger than she looked. Between Logan and his demon lover, they held the woman suspended in the steaming air as he buried his face in her dripping pussy. Karen’s head fell back against Beauty’s shoulder.

Logan had, up until that moment, forgotten the taste of a human woman’s sex. Dragging the tip of his tongue between Karen’s folds brought it all back in a wonderful rush of memory. After being with his demon lover for so long, it was an exciting contrast. The Succubus was hot and somewhat spicy, whereas Karen was warm with a lovely, musky taste and scent.

He explored with gentle kisses on her lips and inner thighs. Tongued her folds with long, slow licks. Circled her pleasure button and licked over it with soft, teasing strokes.

Tremors shuddered through Karen’s pale flesh. Logan looked up over her mons to see Beauty’s hands sliding over wet, pale breasts and pinching at pert, brown nipples. The combined assault of man and demon proved too much. Karen’s mouth fell open in a choking scream as she orgasmed.

Logan eased her down. She groaned as the sensitive post-orgasm flesh of her sex settled back into the steaming water. He and Beauty kissed and caressed her face, neck, and shoulders until the last tremor of pleasure had passed.

Then Beauty gave him a stern push away. He chuckled. “What?”

“Sit on edge,” she ordered.

Logan smiled and complied. Water streamed down his burnished complexion and rolling muscles as he lifted himself. His cock popped out of the water to point at them, thick and dark with engorged blood and lust.

From where they knelt in the pool, both women were eye level with his erection. Karen stared at it unblinking. Beauty looked past her shoulder at Logan again before leaning over to murmur into the other woman’s ear. “Karen want to touch?”

The woman slowly nodded without taking her eyes off it.

“Want to taste, yes?”

Another nod. Karen bit at her lower lip. The Succubus gave her a gentle push forward.

She slid up between his legs. The head of his cock gently bobbed at eye level. Karen reached up to trail fingertips over the bell shape of the head and down across the thick, veiny shaft. Dark, Asian eyes looked up at him as the ends of her long, ink-black hair floated in the water around her waist. Humor touched the corners of her mouth.

“That’s a nice dick, Mr. Proud Bear,” she said.

He grinned. “Thank you. I’m so glad you think so.”

Karen wrapped one, dainty little hand around the pulsing shaft of meat. She opened her mouth wide and dragged the flat of her tongue up from base to tip. Logan hissed in pleasure.

She rose over the head and closed her lips around it. Karen began to suck on his cock as best she could. Logan groaned encouragement as she managed to take more of him past her lips.

“Holy shit, that feels amazing, Karen. Don’t stop.”

Beauty slid up beside her, also between Logan’s legs. Her hand curled in Karen’s hair and pulled her sucking mouth off his dick. “Taste good?”

Karen tried to nod in the demon’s grip. “So good.”

“Taste more.” The Succubus smiled a wicked smile and guided her head back down.

“Fuck,” Logan growled at the sight of the luscious demon slowly face fucking Karen’s mouth down his shaft. Inch by inch, the woman swallowed him, humming and grunting as the length pushing into her throat. Karen almost made it to the bottom before she began to struggle.

Beauty let her go. Karen pulled away gasping for breath and trailing saliva from her lips to Logan’s cock. The demon pushed the other woman aside with her hip. “Not bad,” she said and settled between his legs.

The Succubus looked up at him and smiled. Logan knew that look of challenge in her golden eyes. Karen was about to get a lesson from the expert. Sweet anticipation stole his breath as he grabbed onto the edge of the pool and held on tight.

Beauty started slow, stroking his balls and tickling his heated flesh. The tip of her tongue traced the veins and beneath the head. It was all for show. She knew what he wanted, knew what she was going to do for him.

Just not yet. In their time together, Beauty had learned the value of anticipation. Like everything else, she had mastered its use in no time.

She pillowed her soft mouth around the tip. Tickled the inside of his thighs. Kissed down the shaft. Blew warm breath across his wet, aching flesh.

Logan grunted and growled, squirmed, and grasped at the edge with restless fingers. He moaned. He ground his teeth. And he laughed because, for all her merciless torturing, this was the Beauty he remembered and desired. He had her back and, sooner or later, when she was damned good and ready, she was going to suck his cock better than anyone else ever had in his whole adult life.

As if reading his thoughts, the demon fell on his shaft, swallowing him to the base in one fell swoop. Logan almost choked at the sudden, silken pressure of her throat clamping down on his full length. For a long, blissful, moment she just looked into his eyes, held him there, and milked his girth with her throat muscles.

Karen just watched it all in mute, wide-eyed fascination. Then the demon got serious.

Beauty worked him with relentless expertise, from root to tip. She worked him slow, then suddenly fast and sloppy. Hands, mouth, and throat worked in perfect union, a sexual symphony of mind-bending pleasure.

Logan felt the pressure begin to build. His pulse began to race. His breath grew ragged. Close, so close…

Beauty stopped just shy of that point of no return. Logan did not know whether to be relieved or howl like a dog. The Succubus licked the pre-cum from her lush, black lips, and swallowed.

“I feed after.”

She rose out of the water like a sexual goddess rising from a sacred pagan shrine. Streams of water poured between her magnificent breasts, down the firm plane of her belly, down the soft curve of perfect legs. Beauty sat back on the edge of the poll and spread those magnificent legs to reveal the silky treasure within.

Beauty looked at Karen, smiled a sultry expression of invitation, and crooked one finger in a “come here” gesture. Karen crawled over through the steaming water, eyes shining in anticipation. The dark-haired woman opened her mouth and settled into place between the demon’s legs as if she were born to it. Beauty’s swollen pussy could not muffle the sounds of the woman’s enthusiastic oral efforts.

The Succubus caressed the head of dark hair between her thighs and growled encouragement, stroking and pinching her own nipples in a gorgeous, shameless display of raw, female sexuality. She looked at Logan, over Karen’s back and naked ass swaying in front of his eyes. Her lantern eyes burned with lust and a single, unspoken question.

What are you waiting for?

What indeed. Logan thought and moved up behind that lovely, inviting ass.

One hand settled on her hip. Karen lifted her head to gasp in pleasure and surprise, or tried to. Beauty gently forced her back down, pinned her there to please. Whatever happened next, Karen would be experiencing it face deep in demonic pussy.

The dynamics of this encounter suddenly became clear to him. Beauty had not invited Karen to share Logan with her. That would imply equality that the Succubus was, of course, not prepared to allow. Rather, the Succubus had invited the woman to be shared by Logan and Beauty.

The difference was subtle but profound in its implications. Without a word, Beauty had established the terms of this union. She, and she alone, was the alpha bitch in this relationship. Karen had been allowed to join them, but her role was to please, to be submissive to the needs and wants of Beauty and her man.

Logan could not recall ever being more aroused than he was at that moment.

He took his cock in hand and lined it up with the slick, dripping entrance of Karen’s pussy. Her body was small, as was the entrance to her warm depths. The lips of her sex parted around his girth. Despite having her tongue deep in Beauty’s pussy, Karen’s voice rose in a delicious whine of expectation and hunger. She pushed back on him even as her slim body resisted the intrusion in the most pleasurable way possible

He rocked forward. Karen’s core yielded, and the swollen head slid inside. Heat and pressure gripped him in a velvet vice as he slowly drove more of his length into her depths.

Back and forth, he worked his length until the lithe woman was fully stuffed with every inch of his cock. Karen thrashed and howled wordless cried of pleasure against Beauty’s pussy. Now confident in her comfort, he began to move with purpose. His hands wrapped around her waist. Speed and power began to build. Karen’s cheeks jiggled beautifully with every slap of his hips against her ass. The water frothed and splashed out of the pool as their union became frantic.

Beauty looked at Logan and pointed at her mouth. Perhaps she meant to speak, but the first tremors of orgasm reduced her to shuddering moans. Karen quickly followed her example. Logan felt the muscles of her sex ripple and squeeze his length as an orgasm washed over her. He pleasured her, steady and deep, through it all.

Only at the end did he feel his control slipping away. Logan pulled out of Karen and surged to his feet, his cock in hand. Beauty eased past the other woman, fell to her knees, and swallowed him whole. Explosions of bliss burst from his testicles and poured down her humming throat.

They both fell back into the water when his legs could no longer hold him up. All three of them lay back against the pool walls, gasping for breath, and smiling in satisfaction.

“Holy shit! Now that…” Logan grinned. “…is what I call make-up sex.”