Lament of the Fallen

Nessera was a little giddy with excitement. She was waiting on the terrace of a fairly expensive restaurant, as per the instructions Dee’s message had included. At first, Nessera had not been too wild about a message delivered by a dirty looking juvenile hoodlum, but as soon as the kid had mentioned a white furred fox girl her interest had quickly surged. Dee was after all one of the most memorable people she had ever met, and probably the one she was most eager to meet again.

She had done plenty on snooping around as Dee had asked, and had found quite a bit of juicy information. The information was somewhat relevant to her as well, so even if Dee had not been interested, Nessera herself found some of it quite useful. The kitsune girl had ‘paid’ her for the information in advance, but Nessera was hopeful she might be able to convince the girl to take part in another ‘lesson’. Dee had seemed to enjoy their previous liaison quite a bit.

Nessera herself was after all this time still not quite sure how to feel about Dee. On one hand, the kitsune girl had given her the best sexual experience she’d ever had, which was saying a lot and very important for a succubus. The combination of endless stamina, willingness to try almost anything and the daring to cause juuuuust the right amount of pain with the pleasure was a sublime combination. Most sexual partners succubi had were too afraid to get rough in fear of causing harm to the soft looking women. Or alternatively they were brutes and sadists, and while Nessera enjoyed a bit of pain she had no interest in being torn to shreds. Many a succubus had met their end that way. So she avoided those encounters. Dee, on the other hand, knew how to cause a bit of pain, and seemed to like it a bit, but also knew when to stop. Also, it helped that Dee also had the ability to heal Nessera when necessary.

Given all that, Nessera was still apprehensive about Dee as well. The girl was slated for greatness. Even if her training and rapid progress weren't enough of a hint, the demon part of Nessera felt the power sleeping within the girl and was frankly afraid. It was natural among demons to submit to those with greater power. However, if the power balance was too far, then the more powerful demon might decide to kill the weaker one on a whim.

There was also something very dangerous about Dee. Not the usual kind that was part and parcel for most demons, but something different. True demons were not good people in general, and each of them had the potential to turn dangerous.  Dee was…already dangerous. While a normal demon of a real demonic lineage always had the potential to turn to their darker nature and explode, Dee reminded Nessera of the old saying about letting sleeping dragons lie. Dee gave the feeling that she was only a single really bad day away from turning everything in her surroundings into ash. Nessera wasn’t sure if she wanted to be in too close of a relationship with someone like that.

It wasn’t hard to notice when Dee was approaching, which was both logical and a little unusual to Nessera. Dee usually went to some lengths to discourage attention and was very stealthy almost as a rule, but if she chose not to do so then she would draw attention from everyone. The surrounding people all turned to stare towards where Dee was coming, and then suddenly decided that their own foods and nearby store windows needed to be inspected very closely, as they avoided Dee’s eyes.

The over two mel tall demonic kitsune with eight tails and four arms was an impressive sight from a warrior standpoint. The obvious aura of power that even the Authority couldn’t completely mask jolted everyone. While they didn’t know how strong Dee was, they knew she was stronger than any of them. Nessera and some others paid attention to her alluring form as well. If one was willing to look past the obviously bestial features, her body was in an excellent shape and her clothes hugged her form closely, outlining very interesting peaks and valleys beneath. That was one habit that Dee had not changed in the last couple of years, Nessera noted with pleasure. All that drew people’s attention, but the obvious air of danger and her sharp eyes made everyone look away almost immediately.

It took Nessera a moment to notice that Dee wasn’t alone. When she did notice the approaching woman on Dee’s side, even Nessera had to do a double take. The air surrounding the woman was eerily similar to the one surrounding Dee. They were like a pair of blades unsheathed and ready to shed blood, as danger practically radiated from them. And Nessera was pretty sure neither of them was doing it consciously, which made it even more scary. The two proceeded with the grace of a large feline stalking their prey, and every move they made was perfectly controlled and balanced. Anyone could see from their movements that the duo were either master dancers or masters of dealing death, and the aura they had made it pretty clear which one was correct.

‘Well, this is an interesting development.’ Nessera mused, pursing her lips in thought. While the other woman was veiled and hooded, the ears and the dark skin that showed in few places made it pretty easy to make an educated guess about her race. ‘Now what would Dee be doing with an Unseelie Sidhe of all things?’

As the two got closer, Nessera rose to greet Dee and surprised the latter by giving her a real proper hug. Well, the hug turned decidedly improper a second later as Nessera moved her shorter frame to give Dee a quick full bodied rub. “Dee!” She greeted in a chipper voice, noting the weird look in the Sidhe woman’s eyes as they separated.

‘Interesting. There’s something here beyond simple acquaintance.’ Nessera thought to herself, squirreling away that little nugget of information.

“Nessera, it’s good to see you. This is Noyala a…friend of mine.” Dee said quickly. She wasn’t entirely sure how to introduce Noyala. Were they friends? She supposed they were at this point. To a point at least. Nessera noted the very brief pause before the word friend in the introduction. That could be interpreted in many ways.

“Noyala, this is Nessera another friend of mine.” Dee was more confident in introducing Nessera as a friend. They had been extremely friendly at least once, and they weren’t lovers either. Not really.

Noyala gave a smile barely perceptible from under the veil. “Dee mentioned we were going to meet a friend of hers. Though I have to admit I did not expect a succubus.”

“A friend, is it?” Nessera’s words carried multiple meanings as calling either of them a friend of Dee’s was in itself a little interesting. “Well, Dee can be very ‘friendly’, so I’m eager to find out more about why a Sidhe would be here under such title.” She had emphasized the word friendly, hinting at a lot of things.

Noyala was not entirely sure how to take it. The words were almost a little catty, but not quite. They hinted that something more had happened between Dee and the succubus, and that the succubus was probing whether or not something similar might have happened with Dee’s other ‘friend’, namely her. She wasn’t sure if the succubus was also trying to mark her territory in a weird way, or if she was just genuinely curious. Succubi weren’t exactly known for being prudish and monogamous after all. The whole process caused some interesting ideas to take seed in Noyala, ideas that she had not really given the chance before. Knowing that Dee was in fact into women was something worth keeping in mind.

Dee was less clear on what was happening. For all her intelligence and ability to read people, she had some woeful blind spots, particularly when it came to herself. That was mostly due to her lack of experience. Also, the fact was that even the smartest people would have blind spots when it came to themselves. That said, even Dee could tell something was going on here, and wasn’t sure she liked where things were headed. “Ok, enough of that. I picked this restaurant for a reason and I’m starving.” Dee changed the subject.

She was genuinely hungry. The dragon inside her was satiated, but she was something of a glutton even without that particular type of hunger. Nessera and Noyala both looked a little amused as Dee rattled out a long list of orders to the server who had gingerly approached their table. “So, while we’re waiting, Nessera what have you found out?”

“Is it alright to speak here?” Nessera asked, giving a significant glance towards Noyala.

In reply, Dee frowned a bit and a golden dome shield settled around the trio, cutting off all voices from passing through the shield. “It is now.” She replied. She was still testing the limits of how far she could trust Noyala, and this seemed another good way to test things. It was unlikely Nessera would reveal anything too important as the succubus didn’t know such things either.

Nessera ceded to her judgement with a shrug. “Well, let’s start with the most immediate bit of news. The angels seem to be looking for something. They aren’t exactly free with details. In fact, they even avoid dealing with information brokers. That might be because there seem to be competing factions within the angels for whatever they are looking for. If they give details to information brokers, then the other angel factions might get those details from that same broker, and they don’t seem to be willing to share even those little scraps of information with each other. A little counterproductive if you ask me, but they’re angels so they are born a little crazy.”

“Any idea what they are looking for?” Dee asked, interested. She had a guess, but it might not be correct. The universe didn’t revolve around her.

“Can’t say. Like I said, they aren’t sharing details. What I CAN tell you though, is that they’ve been searching for a while. The search started over a dozen years ago, but it was put on hold for a long time and got renewed with vigor just six months ago. That brings us to the second part. The Holy Purge seems to be over. Or at least it’s been put on hold for now. The pigeons are busy elsewhere and the other participants in the great war finally put their foot down. Most likely because the purge started to push too deep into areas controlled by them.

“That brings us to our third bit of news. There seems to be an internal struggle of some sorts amongst the angels. As proven by the existence of the Fallen, the angels aren’t exactly as united of a group as people think. It’s just that the existence of external enemies kept those differences down. Now with their arch-nemesis down, the angels are free to fuck things up for each other, which I personally find a very gratifying development. Sadly it seems they aren’t in a civil war or anything, but that explains the different factions that are here looking for something. It appears to be a power struggle of some sorts.” Nessera finished with a gratified smile. She hoped the angels would come to blows, but so far she had been disappointed.

“It seems no one is safe from internal struggle nowadays.” Noyala commented with a sigh, and a bit of sympathy for the angels. She had nothing against the angels, and her people had an internal struggle of their own, so the sympathy was justified.

“What about the Fallen? That was one of the things I specifically asked you to look into.” Dee prompted. She had to consider the other news a bit before making any guesses or decisions.

“Well, that I’ve had less luck with. It seems like the remaining Fallen are just gone.” Nessera replied apologetically.

“Gone, but not dead?” Dee asked in confirmation.

“Well, one would think that the angels would advertise the death of the Fallen, but they seem to be as confused as everyone else. It’s as if all the Fallen just up and disappeared one day. Not killed off in small groups, but all of them disappearing together. That raises some doubts, yeah?” Nessera replied with a smile. With the purge, no news might be the best kind of news.

“What about the rest of the demons? Even with the hells gone, there must have been some demons escaping the purge. Demons always had the advantage of numbers and they were spread everywhere.” Dee moved on.

“Ooh, now that’s an interesting bit of news. Apparently, the remaining demons have gathered into large groups within areas the angels can’t reach for one reason or another. What might be interesting for us is that a fair chunk of them ended up taking refuge on Pantheon. Well you know demons, they don’t stay as refugees for long, and there were some really powerful ones among the ones that got away. I’d even say they had it easier than the weak ones despite how hard they were hunted. Weak ones just got killed off. So they’ve banded together for now under a single banner in the Night city. I think they’re making a pretty good run at it as well, since I heard they might have already become a second circle community.

“That said, the angels did a pretty good job and the number of demons has gone down significantly. The different races of demons used to form a large faction important in the power balance of the universe. Now we’re reduced to a rough equal of a single mortal race like elves or humans. And we’re even more disunited than they are. For instance, we succubi can’t stand any disease or corruption based demons. We demons will grow in numbers and power with time, but it’ll be a long while before we can make any real difference on the larger stage of the universe.” Nessera concluded with a deep sigh.

“Well, all things considered, that’s much better than it could’ve been. The angels could’ve done away with demons completely.” Dee countered.

“Weeell, it’s not that simple. Demons have always been a bit special in that sense. Many demonic races procreate as usual, but some of us simply come into being for various reasons, either due to chaotic mana coming together or large amounts of negative emotions spawning us. There’s also the gods. Some of them like creating demonic servants. Demons will never die off completely as long as there’s other life in the universe, although the hells being gone put a damper on that. We’ve been pushed pretty low at the moment even if we can’t be completely wiped out like many other races. I don’t think demons have ever been this low in number and power.” Nessera replied with a shake of her head.

“Which might be a problem on many levels.” Noyala suddenly interjected. “The universe has always existed in a balance of sorts, and a wild swing into one direction like this will have consequences. The chaotic energies will find some outlet sooner or later, and we might not like the alternative solution.”

Dee gave a small shudder. Noyala’s words were eerily similar to those uttered by Umbra, and Dee already knew that deity’s preferred solution to the problem. And that solution included Dee’s involvement. Didn’t the goddess say that someone would take the position of being the focus of those energies eventually, and that someone would get to direct that energy in a way they saw fit? That did sound like a potential disaster depending on who took the position.

“Anyway. That’s the gist of what I was able to find out. I know you asked me to find out what I could about a certain member of the Assembly, but I couldn’t find out anything. I’m sorry. They are not letting information like that out easily. I would have to actually leave Pantheon to really do a proper search, and even with the purge being put on hold that sounds like a royally bad idea.” Nessera apologized with a faint frown.

“That’s alright. I knew it was a long shot at best. I’d have been extremely shocked if you actually had found out anything. I’d advise you to lay low for a while though. Questions like that might draw the wrong kind of attention. I’d especially avoid the pigeons. They aren’t friendly with the person you were asking about, which is why I told you to be careful. If they hear about you asking questions…” Dee left the rest unsaid, as they could all imagine the result.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Suddenly Nessera grinned. “You know, you could use a bit of a vacation as well. You could come with me. We could find some remote corner of Pantheon, and I could give you more ‘lessons’. You could reward me further for my excellent performance.”

Dee was honestly a little tempted, but somehow the seat next to her had become a source of cold air. She had a feeling that accepting the invitation would come with a whole slew of new problems. Also, she felt guilty for some reason. Why would that be? There was also the minor detail of having a mission to perform in the empire of Tuatha Dé Danann, so she had to shake her head in silent refusal.

As Dee dispelled the golden dome isolating them from the rest of the restaurant, the brave server girl started to bring their order to the table. As they started eating, they all had their own thoughts about the reactions they’d had to Nessera’s little suggestion and Dee’s refusal. Dee was starting to realize that Noyala’s opinion was more important to her than she had expected. She had a guess why but lacked the experience to be certain.

Noyala had found herself surprisingly incensed at the succubus woman’s suggestion, and even more surprisingly relieved at Dee’s refusal. She wasn’t stupid and had lived a lot longer than Dee, so she could interpret the signs a lot better. She realized that she had been jealous of the possibility of Dee shacking up with the succubus, and had been glad when Dee turned her down. More glad than she should’ve been for a friend finding some fun. She had already developed a liking for Dee as a person and a potential friend and an ally, but now it seemed there was something more developing. Could she be developing feelings towards the bestial looking girl? Was this a reaction towards the succubus revealing that Dee did in fact like women? Noyala herself had been that way for a long time, but it was not viewed favorably by the other Sidhe, mostly due to their already difficult time at procreating as a race. Besides, she hadn’t had the time to find a likeminded partner due to her duties.

Nessera found herself more disappointed than she had expected. Despite her divided feelings towards Dee, of the three women she was the one with the most experience in this area, so she was clear that this was a bad sign of her developing some feelings. But the refusal was also a good thing. As fun as an extended romp would be, getting too involved with Dee could lead to some really dark places. Still, she didn’t like how things turned out, so she decided to stir the pot a bit further. “So I was kinda hinting at this before, but I might as well ask straight out. You two fucking yet?”

Dee had her mouth full and was wholly unable to answer besides sputtering a bit, while Noyala almost choked on her drink and managed to croak a feeble “Excuse me?” out.

Nessera turned towards the Sidhe woman. “Oh, you should really try it. Dee is new to these things, but she managed to wear even me out a couple of years back. One of the best experiences I’ve ever had! I highly recommend trying it. Her stamina is out of this world.” She could at least tease the two if nothing else.

The rest of the meal passed with Nessera tormenting the two with lurid details, only a few of which were exaggerated. Unsurprisingly even the surrounding people found it interesting enough to eavesdrop on.