A Familiar Tangle
With Hell
Sapphire Phelan
Published by Phaze Books
Also by Sapphire Phelan
Beast Magic
Being Familiar With A Witch
Crimson Promise
A Familiar Tangle With Hell
Ain’t Nothin’ Like Succubus Lovin’
Dark Leopard Magic
This is an explicit and erotic novel
intended for the enjoyment
of adult readers. Please keep
out of the hands of children.
www.Phaze.com
A Familiar Tangle With Hell
Copyright © 2011 by Sapphire Phelan
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Edited by Kathryn Lively
Cover Art © 2011 by Skyla Dawn Cameron
First Edition June 2011
ISBN-13: 978-1-60659-610-4
SMASHWORDS EDITION
Published by:
Phaze Books
An imprint of Mundania Press LLC
6457 Glenway Ave., #109
Cincinnati, OH 45211
All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, Mundania Press LLC, 6457 Glenway Avenue, #109, Cincinnati, Ohio 45211, books@mundania.com.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
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The Book of Revelations - Chapter 14 (NIV)
Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one “like a son of man” with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.
Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.”
The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.
Prologue
Some days, it just didn’t pay to rebel against your father. Most especially if your father was God Himself. War was hell, especially when the rebels’ own survival mattered in winning. A terrible pit of darkness made by God to be their prison loomed at their feet. And it, like the rebels, was losing.
Glancing over his shoulder as he fought, Charun saw swirling masses of various shades of darkness. When the hem of his glowing robe flipped over the edge, some of that darkness reached up with grasping fingers to take hold, no doubt trying to pull him in. When he stepped forward, the stuff cried out, upset that it didn’t get to embrace him into its fold.
Charun should have listened to that inner psychic voice that told him not to listen to Lucifer, but oh no, he told it to shut up and just blindly followed where angels should always fear to tread. He was a stupid brat who didn’t know what was good for him.
Barreling through a plethora of angelic hosts that fell aside like pins on a bowling alley struck by a ball, Charun winged his way to Lucifer’s side, sword in hand. His leader in the revolt against Heaven was battling their brother, the archangel Michael. Charun landed beside him and immediately slipped in his own sword.
It didn’t faze Michael in the least. He hadn’t slowed down once, not even with all the wounds Lucifer had given him.
Michael said, “Give up, brother. You know you will lose.”
Lucifer bit back, “God made those disgusting hairless apes and called them beautiful—more beautiful than us. It is time we archangels took over. He is going senile. You know that, Michael, so why do you follow him blindly. Join us, brother, embrace the freedom.”
Michael turned to Charun. “Charun, why are you with him? You’ve always been one of the good ones.”
Charun retorted, “I am sick to death of being good. What did it get me? Nothing! I been to the mortal realm and seen how the mortals get to eat and fornicate. And yet, God says, do not lie with the mortal women. It is forbidden. We must follow His rules and have no free will. Yet, his hairless apes have free will.”
Sadness glinted in Michael’s eyes. “God has reasons for the rules.”
Charun spit, the glowing stuff landing by Michael. “Well, Lucifer said to try it and see what would happen. So I lay with this one virginal daughter of Man and except for her enjoying it, nothing happened. No crash of thunder or Heaven-sent spankings. Just the most wonderful feeling came over me as I spilt my seed into her.”
Michael said no more but fought harder. Soon he drove back not only Lucifer, but Charun, too. Both found themselves with the other rebellious angels at the edge of some gigantic chasm that suddenly appeared. Fighting to keep their balance, both of them watched as Michael stepped back and the other rebels, forced by the other angels, fell into the pit with high pitched screams. Charun took care not to fall as he turned around, but his sword slipped from his grasp and it spun down in slow motion into the pit.
A great booming voice thundered, “For transgressions against me, the Fallen shall be cast into the pit of despair and anguish. This pit will be henceforth known as Hell, and my son, Lucifer, will be its self-crowned prince. There will be no pity and no chances, to ever leave this place or for redemption. Only if I deemed so, can anyone leave its embrace. You all chose your Hell, now burn in it!”
Charun stared down into the swirling masses and, for the first time, wondered if he hadn’t been a teeny bit hasty in listening to Lucifer. Once shoved down into that place, that meant that he could never return to Heaven’s graces. Never see the visage of God, his Father. Never know peace and tranquility. Never know…
“Charun, you are sentenced to live your eternity in the Pit of Hell as a demon.”
Charun fell.
Chapter One
Not all demons were created equal for a Witch to vanquish.
Like the one Tina fought now. Big and ugly, the Onckle demon stomped its four feet in anger. It narrowed its four piggish red eyes and shot beams of magic from them. Tina dived to her right and barely dodged the blast of magic, falling to the ground. The Onckle howled in frustration because it hadn’t got her.
“Yeah, yeah, you whiner,” she muttered under her breath, crawling to her knees.
Charun stopped beside her on the left, holding out a claw-tipped hand. He was in his demon form, looking massive and imposing. “Are you all right? The Onckle demon didn’t hit you, did it?”
Tina straightened her shoulders and stood without his help. “Yeah, I’m fine. Where in hell do they find these uglies?”
Charun grinned. “You said it, lover. Hell.”
“Duh, Charun. I didn’t think they found that in the grocery department at Wal-Mart.”
“Well, you’ve boning up on all the demonic entities that exist in Hell, but you only read up to—”
She finished his sentence. “The Ns. And you said this is an Onckle demon? The damned thing looks like a spider from a druggie’s nightmare. Somebody had to be on something to even think that one up.”
She shot off a couple of her best magic shots at the beast. The first one missed, sizzling by it, but the second one sent it spinning back against a telephone pole that cracked under the impact. The demon roared in pain and lumbered back onto all ten of its clawed feet.
“What does this demon do, besides having magic, of course?”
“Well, it has this spit that, if it gets onto you, will dissolve the flesh from your bones.”
“Great. That means I have to avoid its nasty spit besides the magic, too.”
Both Tina and her Familiar lover stood side-by-side as the Onckle demon stomped all ten feet, then scurried at them. It roared, putting out all eight arms. Suddenly, it halted and launched a greenish discharge from its maw at them.
Charun shoved Tina to the side. He charged the other fiend, swinging to his right to avoid the stuff, but it didn’t matter as the stuff slammed into him and covered him.
The muck did not feel good.
“Charun!” screamed Tina as she leaped to her feet.
The goop glowed and burned off, revealing that Charun was all right. He slashed at the other demon with his claws as he kicked his right foot into the demon’s kneecaps of its first four legs. The Onckle’s knees buckled and it landed on its belly, all of its legs splayed out. Both Charun and Tina combined their magic and made it into a glowing rope that tied up all of the monster’s arms and legs. Tina muttered something under her breath and the Onckle demon vanished on a cry of rage.
Not caring that his visage looked terrifying, Tina ran to Charun and kissed him. Then she slapped him across the face. “Don’t you dare scare me like that again!”
He raised a brow. “Did I scare you?” He grinned, showing a mouthful of dagger-like fangs. “You do care.”
“Stupid Familiar, like you didn’t know that already.”
Charun shifted back to his human shape. He wore a grin and nothing else. Tina swung her gaze to his obvious arousal. It saluted her in a very big way. It always did after a fight.
She hissed, “Not here!”
His grin grew wider. “Come on, Tina baby, think of how it would spice up the sex, if someone might catch us in the act. Especially when one of the lovers doesn’t look human at all.”
He added, “Besides, we can weave a spell that no one would see us. That’s the benefit of having magic at our fingertips.”
“Nos trus lis!”
At one moment Tina stood clothed and a couple of feet away—the next, nude and nestled in his arms, his cock pressing against her pubic hair. He lifted her and impaled her slowly on it, inch by inch. Tina shuddered.
He was always so fucking super at making love.
“Oh, God!”
“No, it’s only Charun. But, this demon does promise to give you a bit of heaven right now.” His hands clutching the cheeks of her ass, he lifted her up and down on him.
Tina wrapped her arms around his neck and felt her magic reach out to his. Their combined magic sizzled as his penis rubbed her clit, then filled her pussy.
He whispered in her ear. “Ride me, baby. Let me hear the sound of those pussy juices I love so much.”
Just then Tina felt someone sandwiching her from behind. Something large probed the hole between her cheeks that Charun spread open. She said, “What—”
“Don’t worry, babe,” Charun said, kissing her neck. “I magicked up another me—so now you’re the luscious center of a Charun sandwich.”
Tina looked over her shoulder and saw another Charun grinning devilishly at her. He winked.
Charun Two entered her ass, sliding in thick and hard as Charun’s cock filled her pussy. She knew neither she nor Charun could ever make love with anyone else, since their DNA required they were for each other only. But, another Charun made by magic out of Charun’s own DNA? Not a twin, but a clone. Ménage heaven for Tina.
The two Familiars began a rhythm that made her magic and lust, which had spun out of control, even wilder. Theirs merged with hers and sparks singed the air all around them. Moans and cries rose from all three as both Charuns fucked her faster and harder. Tina lost it, giving into the sensual magic. Finally all three yelled at the same time as they came. Shuddering, Charun Two slipped out and, when she looked back over her shoulder, he dissipated like a ghost. Charun was still embedded inside her, though.
“Wasn’t that fantastic?” asked Charun in a hoarse whisper as he kissed her hungrily.
Tina smiled against his lips. “Like a chocolate cheesecake topped with whipped cream and strawberries orgasm.”
Charun chuckled and laid his forehead against hers. “So fucking two of me is like dessert, huh? Double the pleasure, double the fun?”
“Charun, that’s a gum commercial! But, you’re the perfect dessert anytime.”
Charun finally slipped out of her and lifted her up into his arms. “It’s time to go home and to bed.”
Tina stared into his eyes and knew he wasn’t thinking of sleep. She snuggled against his muscular chest with a sigh. “Yes, to bed.”
“Mostus lis paqur!” He called out in demonic.
Both she and Charun vanished in a wisp of smoke.
* * * *
She had the nightmare again. The same one that came each night for the past week. Frightening. Heart pounding.
An immense monster of a demon with black wings and horns that stretched up to the sky pummeled her pussy, filling her to overflowing when it came. At the end of that dream, just like in the other ones, she gave birth to a monster. One that would bring a horrifying Armageddon that destroyed the world. Worse, her immortality voided, for she died at the delivery as the little fiend clawed and tore its way out of her.
The beginning of one monstrous life was the ending of her own.
Tina woke up with a start, her heart palpitating and sweat running down her skin like she had just ran a marathon. She turned to stare at Charun’s sleeping face as the moonlight filtered through the blinds at the window and caressed him with a lover’s touch. A harlequin of light and dark mottled his features. It revealed his true self: Dark and Light. Neither good nor evil, but just shades of gray that made up what her Familiar truly was. Tina put her hand to his cheek and felt the stubble there. He mumbled in his sleep. She smiled and withdrew her hand. Just like him to try to appear as human as possible. Not for her, but for any humans she knew that did not know he was a demon. He loved her too much not to make it easy for her.
Just looking at him chased her fears away. She lay back down and snuggled against him. Murmuring, he slipped an arm around her body. Feeling safe for now, Tina fell asleep. This time she slept undisturbed by nightmares.
The next morning, Tina left the house and drove over to visit her Witch friend, Jeanine Marie L’Esperance, who lived on the other side of town. Charun went to see Jacokb right after breakfast, leaving her alone for most of the day. Jacokb was an angel pretending to be a demon in charge of the Familiars. Except both she and Charun learned that in fact, he was a being from Heaven.
She could have just magicked herself over to Jeanine’s, but she preferred the more mundane way of traveling. After living most of her life as a human, some habits were hard to break.
She missed her human best friend, Melanie, who moved across the United States to California a few months after Tina became a Witch. Though Tina felt pretty confident her friend never knew the truth of what happened last Halloween, she still suspected that Melanie felt uneasy around her, and especially Charun. She had gotten a call from Melanie a few days ago, to tell her that she had met a wonderful man and was marrying him in six months and that she would be inviting Tina and Charun to the wedding.
“Just make sure Charun behaves,” said Melanie over the phone.
“He always behaves,” retorted Tina.
“I’m talking about the weird stuff.”
Tina sighed. “I promise no weird stuff.” She hung up.
Melanie must have remembered something of that time. Maybe it would be easier to just send a wedding present and not go. Tina hoped Melanie had a great life with the human man. Once upon a time, she had wanted a life like that, but now she couldn’t see her world without Charun in it. He was her soul mate, through and through.
As for the “weird” stuff, Tina wouldn’t have Charun any different. She loved him that much and accepted her demon lover. Besides, she was all part of that the strangeness, too.
Tina pulled the car alongside the curb outside Jeanine’s apartment. She got out and walked over to the bright blue door and knocked. One minute she stood on the welcome mat, and the next she found herself whisked inside and plopped right beside her witchy friend on the pearl-white couch. Jeanine had used her magic so she wouldn’t have to get up.
Not bothering to look up from the magazine she was reading, Jeanine said, “Morning, Tina. So, Charun has gone to see Jacokb again?”
“Just like I know that Anzu is also visiting the archangel.”
Jeanine tossed the magazine onto the coffee table and looked at Tina with bright green eyes. “Yeah, well, that’s par for the course for us witches of destiny. Get a demon lover and we have to battle denizens of evil just so we can be together. Forget the denizens of evil, fight the dang angels for some miniscule of time with our Familiars.”
“You hate the life?”
Jeanine shook her blonde head as she sighed. “No, I wouldn’t trade it for my past mortal life from the Sixties. Sometimes, though, I wish there was a month’s respite just so that Anzu and I can lock ourselves in our bedroom and only come out to eat or watch our favorite TV shows.” She grinned. “That Familiar really knows how to use his lips, and when he’s in his demon form, that beak of his knows all the right ways to hit the erotic zones on my body.”
Tina rolled her eyes and laughed. She knew that Anzu as a demon looked almost like a large, golden eagle. Unlike a true eagle’s beak, he had needle-sharp fangs in his and a long serpentine tongue that rolled out to flick like a whip. Something told Tina that he whipped that tongue more on Jeanine’s body than at demons.
He also had hands that looked like a raptor’s talons, with the same thing for his feet. His wingspan was about sixteen feet in flight. Frightening to behold in this form, when he flew it took your breath away. Tina felt pretty sure that his flight inspired fear more than awe in demonic entities, though.
Still, he didn’t hold a candle to Charun in either of his forms. Tina fought down the need that grew in her as she saw her Familiar in her mind’s eye. This was not the time to let lust take control of her body.
She drew a breath. “Jeanine, let’s go catch a movie.”
The other witch shook her head. “No, I just feel like staying in today.”
“Then how about renting a movie?
Jeanine grinned. “I can get one from my cable provider.”
Jeanine grabbed a TV remote on the coffee table and pressed it, turning on the television. Another press of a channel button, and she went to the channel where she could download a rented movie to her TV from her cable company. There was a long list as she scrolled down the screen.
“There are plenty here. Except for a couple new releases that won’t be on until next month, there are most of the new ones and we won’t even have to even leave the apartment.”
Jeanine stopped at a release that had been hot in the theater only four months ago. “How about watching this one? I missed it because Anzu and I had to go to Tahiti to stop that Rancor demon terrorizing the island and send it back to Hell. Only good thing about that mission was we got to spend a few days in Tahiti afterwards. You know, soak up the sun on the beach and make love—well, make love mostly.”
Tina grinned. “The movie sounds good to me. I’ll order pizza for us.”
Jeanine ordered the movie and downloaded it to her DVR, then turned to her friend with a raised eyebrow. “Excuse me, but did you say order? We’re witches, with powerful magic at our fingertips and we not only get a movie the mortal way, but now we are going to order pizza that way, too?”
Tina looked confused. “I thought we weren’t allowed to use our magic for anything like that. That is part of the reason that I still drive my car and work in the bookstore.” She added, “Besides, I like doing normal activities still.”
Jeanine slid an arm around Tina’s shoulder. “Listen, girlfriend, we didn’t have to choose for our Familiars to make love to us and unleash our powers now, did we? So is Heaven—especially Jacokb—going to grumble if we use what we have to do ordinary things like cleaning house or making food without cooking? We put our lives on the line to keep Armageddon from happening.”
“If you put it that way—”
“I do. Now, what kind of pizza do we want to abracadabra out of the air? While we’re at it, soda, and I love those cheesy breadsticks the pizza places always have.”
They decided on a chicken pizza with mushrooms and tomatoes on thin crust for Tina and a deep dish one with pepperoni, onions, mushrooms, and spicy Italian sausage for Jeanine. Both agreed on lemon-lime soda and, of course, cheese breadsticks to share. Relaxing on the couch, they ate and drank as they watched the movie.
Just when it got to the interesting part in the film, something happened to worry Tina. The hero in the movie turned into the demon from her nightmares.
He stared at her from the set and said, “Soon, my pretty, you will be mine. Soon, you will lay with me and we’ll fuck like rabbits. And soon, you’ll give birth to my son who will rule this pitiful world you live on and Heaven to boot. It took me eons to get my revenge of Heaven, but soon things will come to pass.”
Tina jumped to her feet and screamed, dropping the box of pizza to the floor.
Jeanine set the film on pause. “What’s wrong, Tina?” It appeared that only Tina had seen the monster act differently on the screen.
“Nothing, just nothing at all.” Tina lied as she grabbed her purse and made for the door. She stopped and looked back at her friend. “I need to go home. I’ll explain later if I can even understand what happened or why.” She threw open the door and ran outside, the door banging shut behind her.
* * * *
Jeanine clicked her fingers and the mess on her rug disappeared. Sighing, she sat down. She didn’t like the way Tina had acted. Something was very, very wrong. Using the psychic connection between her and her Familiar, she put in a call to have him tell Charun.
She just hoped whatever the problem was, that it wasn’t too late to prevent it.
Chapter Two
The moon did not show its face to lend a bit of light, and no star twinkled in the sky, either. Instead the night splashed unrelieved darkness. Tom stumbled, not so much from being drunk as from not being able to see his way. He tripped over tree roots and rocks, plus the occasional gopher or snake hole. His foot got caught between two kissing cousins of roots and, while trying to twist free, he lost his footing and landed on his buttocks. He let loose words that would have caused his mother to shove a bar of soap in his mouth if she’d heard them. He really hated Lifebuoy, even to this day.
Earlier he had been celebrating with his friends at the bar in town when he received a call on his cell phone from his stupid girlfriend.
She bitched, “You’re with those bums you hang around with all the time, aren’t you?”
Tom retorted, “What makes you think that?”
“Like I can’t hear the rock music and voices in the background, idiot. You’re with them at your favorite drinking hole, George’s Bar. Don’t even try to that crap on me like I’m stupid or something.”
Before he could have spoken, she snuck in a snide remark. “Maybe you’re “doing” your friends since sex between us has been farther and farther between.”
The alcohol befuddling his brain and him getting just plain sick of her shit, he snapped, “Maybe the real reason I don’t see you more often, is because they’re more fun and besides, they didn’t rag on my ass all the time like you always do!”
The bitch broke off, the click loud in his ear.
He stayed with the guys for couple more hours then, after fumbling with his key for what must have been ten minutes trying to find the lock in the door on the driver’s side, he gave up and decided to walk home.
Hell, maybe after sleeping it off he might get someone to run him back to the bar the next day to get his truck. If nothing else, he could call a cab if push came to shove. Or, who knows, maybe his girlfriend would be off her snit with him and he could get her to drive him back to the bar’s parking lot in the morning.
Right, and he might not have a hangover in the morning.
With the way he drank tonight, that was not going to happen. He’d be lucky if he didn’t puke his brains out over the toilet, either. Making any attempt to retrieve his vehicle no later than late afternoon.
At first, with all the lights in town brightening his path, it didn’t seem too hard to walk toward home. All right, sometimes the ground rushed up to meet him, instead of staying down where it belonged. It had nothing to do with him being blind drunk. But, when he left town and stepped into the woods, the night became too damned dark. He stumbled on anyway, his face getting slapped by branches—he wasn’t sure if he was heading in the right direction. After a while, the trees began to look all the same to his blurry eyes.