Sex, Drugs, and Oblivian

16/21

His sleep was uncomfortable and disturbed with memories of events he suspected were real but he had no conscious memory of; lounging by a hearth, a sense of yearning that he couldn't conquer. The yearning stayed with him even after waking. Lucifer stirred, finally warm and not alone. Maze had returned and she lay pressed against him, her arm holding him close. He'd been worried Dromos had been humoring him. But here she was.

"Are you with me, Lucifer?"

"Yes."

"What happened?"

"You're safe?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Maze narrowed her eyes. "Is that all this is? Squee said there was something wrong with you. Did you lie to him to make me return?"

"I do not lie. I went back. Sleep-wandering—but I wasn't asleep. I had a waking sleep-wandering, memories that seemed lost," he explained quickly. "Maze, did you know Lilim start as larva?"

"The sprogs?" she asked sitting up. Lucifer remained laying down.

"Were you once one of those creatures?"

Lucifer felt the weight of her gaze on him. "Is it happening now?" she asked. "The sleep-wandering while awake?" She shook her head. "You need more rest."

"What? No. Izuden was here, watching the spawn. For real."

"Lucifer, what are you on about?"

"Izuden has golden eyes. The dames are the only Lilim with golden eyes. I didn't know. I saw her eyes and remembered something about the lethe—golden eyes in shadow. All her other features were obscured, but I saw gold. Maze, the shadow-Lilim is from the Spire. You're in danger. They have power over—."

Maze gripped his hand, demanding his attention. "Lucifer, slow down. No one has that kind of power over me."

He drew in a deep breath, trying to sound calm enough to avoid her insisting he needed more sleep. He sat up, still focusing on presenting a calm front. "Your vow to Anilith gives them that power. I've seen what she can do to you."

"It's going to be okay, Lucifer. You've warned me. I'll be careful. The throwbacks gave me a name. Rillam. Do you remember her?"

Marketplace, Green hair, a forked tongue that could... "Yes."

"Where did you first meet her?"

He prodded at the memories being called forth. "We coupled. A lot. I knew her before that. Coins." He sat straighter and smiled. "She bought your craft items, but then she taught me I could use my own talents to gain coins as well."

"I'm searching for her."

"Why? Rillam had nothing to do with it. I trust her."

Maze scowled and a rumble set up in her chest. "You shouldn't. She's the cause of this." Her hand waved over him.

"How?"

"The throwbacks in the Pit were unimpressed with how she manipulated you away from them."

"She wouldn't do that."

"Lucifer, you think you know how things work here. You don't. I made a mistake. I thought it would suffice to let you learn on your own, the way our whelps do, and you seemed to be doing fine. But whelps know our ways and are taught what to avoid before being released from the nest. I never prepared you for any of that. It's my fault that they were able to get to you. It won't happen again, but I need you to think. Rillam took you somewhere else. I need to know where."

Lucifer closed his eyes. He remembered the Leviathan's Pit well, but there were other memories that didn't fit together with what he remembered of that place. "Does the Leviathan's Pit have private areas?" he asked. He didn't thought so, but...

"No. It's all open like most domes are."

The familiar headache that came along with pushing his memories started to throb behind his temples. "I think there were rooms. I see tusks and spears and—" He stopped glanced at Maze's face. "I liked it. I wanted it."

"You desired lethe?"

"I liked how it made me feel." He swallowed hard. "I wanted it."

"That's the lethe talking. It alters your senses. It makes you want more."

"No one made me do anything. I asked for more, and that's what they gave me."

Maze's jaw muscles clenched. "I'm not convinced you know the difference."

"The difference between what?"

"That's the problem, Lucifer. Come on. You need to eat."

"I don't remember. I'm trying, Maze—"

Maze's expression softened as she took his hand, but she didn't explain what she meant.

He ate and he slept, and when Maze left to search for Rillam, Lucifer wandered the halls. He watched the spawn at play, sometimes he taunted the vile little things by dangling meat sticks out for them. Watching them leap and scurry for the promised prize was a distraction, however brief it was. Dromos seemed to consider it his personal mission to ensure Lucifer had plenty to eat. The larger Lilim would take him to the large kitchen, explain the uses of certain fungus and how they should be cooked.

Maze returned each windrise, each time with new questions. Apparently Rillam was proving to be more of a challenge to find than Maze had expected. She wanted to know how he met her, what items she sold in her stall, other Lilim he knew who associated with her. He had very few answers.

Every time Maze left, he stayed behind. Was Izuden correct in her assumptions of him being left to the nest? Five sleeps, and still Maze came back with no more than she left with. But at least she continued coming back.

"I know where she is now. If the winds hadn't risen early, I would have had her."

"Take me with you, then."

"I can move faster alone.

"You can't leave me here with these spawn creatures indefinitely."

"No, never," Maze smiled, but only briefly. "Stay behind one more time."

One more time was all it took.

"Lucifer!"

Lucifer jumped up at the sound of Maze's voice, A scuffle accompanied her, and he rushed into the hall with Dromos close on his heels.

Maze, decked out in all her armour, ash smudged on her shoulders and hood, dragged along a struggling female Lilim behind her.

"Rillam?" Lucifer asked.

The Lilim vendor saw him and her eyes went wide with shock. "Lucifer! They told me you'd been addled, that you wandered into the winds and were lost." Despite Maze dragging her along, Rillam attempted to drop to her knees. "Angel—Lucifer—you know me. I was good to you. Made you feel good, yes? Stop this," she pleaded.

Memories flashed rapidly in Lucifer's mind. His first successful trade. Letting her touch his naked body in exchange for the full value of his items. Following her to...the memories blurred here. He remembered standing in front of a dome with Rillam, but what dome? The memories were fragmented and made no sense. There were columns with genitalia, but there also weren't. Hunting scenes and blank walls. He braced himself against the table.

Maze shoved Rillam at Dromos, "Find a place for this," she ordered.

Dromos caught the scrambling figure tossed his way and wrapped his giant hand around her upper arm. "What am I supposed to do with it?" Dromos asked.

"We need a place to interrogate her."

"This is a nest, not a dungeon..." Dromos grumbled but headed on his way, prisoner in tow.

Lucifer remembered coupling and the things her forked tongue could do, but he also remembered flying with Rillam by his side and pain that led to more pleasure than he thought possible.

Maze touched his shoulder. "Go, wait in our chamber for me, rest. I'll update you as soon as I'm done talking to Rillam."

"I'm coming with you," he insisted, blinking the cooking room back into focus. He would have time later to sort the memories into sense.

"You're up for this?"

"Yes." How could she think he wasn't?

Maze seemed to know where Dromos stashed the prisoner. They found him sitting in front of a small chamber.

Dromos grumbled and stood up as they got near. "So much screaming you'd think she were a sprog herself."

Maze laughed as Dromos moved aside to let them in. "Want me to stick around?"

"Better that you don't." Mazikeen smiled, teeth gleaming as she eyed Rillam. She paced around the frightened vendor. Lucifer listened to Dromos' heavy footsteps recede down the hall.

Rillam cowered as Maze moved closer. "If it's the coin you want—I'll get it for you. All of it. I kept track." Rillam sputtered, voice quick and high.

Lucifer held back near the wall, intent on watching Maze work. She growled deep in her throat and stepped up to Rillam. "What coin?"

"Yes, yes, it is all yours. All of it. The angel belongs to you, it is your right to compensation. Lots of coin. They paid well to have me lure the angel to them."

It was all for coin? To introduce him to the Leviathan's Pit? To take him away from the Pit? He knew coin could be used to better things for Maze, but to betray? Rillam ignored him as she pleaded with Maze. He thought she was his friend. He trusted her, and she used him. He wasn't impressed with their ridiculous system of exchange, especially now that he knew the Lilim valued it enough to betray. Maze, at least, seemed unimpressed by Rillam's offer.

"Where did you take me?" he asked. Memories teased a mix of pain and pleasure. Bites and soothing touches by a warm hearth and the ever present release that came with licking the powdered substance off of someone's fingertip, but the face remained a blur. "The Leviathan's Pit doesn't deal in pain or lethe. But the other place did, didn't it?"

Rillam addressed only Maze. "I only gave him what he wanted." She wouldn't even look Lucifer's way. "I wasn't involved in what happened after."

Maze grabbed Rillam by the throat. "You knew what they were going to do?"

"We did nothing the angel didn't ask for, everyone knows what Lania's Den is for."

"That's where you took him?" The dark look in Mazikeen's eyes told him she recognised the name of the place. "Did you inform Lucifer what it was for," Maze snarled. "Who forced the lethe on him?"

Lucifer bit back a retort. He wasn't forced. He remembered wanting it, asking for more. He shook his head to clear the memories.

"Not me. Not Lania." Rillam clawed at Maze's hand on her throat, her voice strained. "Lania is careful. We took good care of him. He never said you would disapprove. We know he is yours. Just enough lethe for fun, not to damage. Someone else! No one knows."

"What do you know of a dame going there?"

Rillam nearly laughed. "A dame? Never. None would dare go near the lethe."

"I don't believe you. All of you let his happen."

"Didn't mean to lose control. Don't know how he got too much! When he was lost we looked. Looked until we were ash-choked. No one wanted to damage the angel. I swear!"

Maze threw her to the ground and pressed her knee against her sternum. Rillim gasped, squirming under the pressure. "Lucifer is under my protection. Anyone who dares hurt him, answers to me."

Rillam keened as Maze increased her pressure. Her tone was pleading, trying to placate. "He wanted it. Begged for more, more, more. How were we to know angels can't—"

Lucifer felt a mix of emotions. Shame for his ignorance, and anger at how easily he'd been manipulated. Maze was right. He really didn't know anything of this world, did he? His presence mattered so little that Rillam barely acknowledged his presence and Maze was preoccupied with asserting her dominance.

He leaned in close again, gripped Rillam's face to force her to look at him. "Why did you bring me there?"

"Lania," Rillam choked out. "Lania paid me, told me to bring the angel."

Maze leaned forward and grabbed Rillam by the throat. The Lilim choked and gasped for air, struggling weakly.

Lucifer pulled Maze off before she could end the life of the Lilim beneath her. "Maze, enough."

"It's no more than what they did to you. Do you remember the bruises around your neck when Squee found you?"

He didn't. But he placed himself between Maze and Rillam, who was still gasping for air on the ground. Rillam's words only brought more confusion. Had they truly looked for him? From her words and refusal to speak to him, not Maze, he knew she thought little of him. Beast they called him. What if it was his own nature that betrayed him?

Maze stalked out. Lucifer followed close behind She stalked down the halls until she found Dromos. "Keep Rillam here. I'll be back for her."

"What am I supposed to do with her?"

"Think of something." She growled and stalked off again.

Lucifer frowned and had to run to catch up. "Maze." He grabbed her arm, forcing her to stop. "You know that name, Lania. Why?"

"Lania was among the ones who took you before. I shouldn't have stopped at a warning. How dare she defy me and take you again."

Why had Lania wanted him enough to pay Rillam to bring him? He stopped walking as the answer slammed into place. Coin. The clink of coin, the constant parade of Lilim wanting to couple with him as he lay exhausted and drunk and wanting to go home, and waking up discarded with the trash all flashed through his mind. He needed coin for… the annoying yet familiar headache spiked behind his eyes again. He remembered wanting what they gave him this time. Liking it.

He shoved the thoughts away, and jogged to catch up to Maze. His stomach felt ill. He'd felt safe. It couldn't all be a lie. He caught's Maze's shoulder, made her look at him, as he said, "No one took me. No one made me do anything I didn't want to do."

"How would you know?" she argued. "You can't even remember most of it. Why are you so intent on refusing to acknowledge what really happened?"

He looked at her squarely. "I had to have known. If I didn't, why did I keep going back?"