Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
Cefalù, near Palermo, 1922
A lonely figure walked up a gentle slope, among olive trees and prickly pear cacti, in the dead of night. To his left, he could admire the Tyrrhenian Sea under the stars and get a glimpse of the picturesque spiaggia of that ancient Sicilian borgo. Right ahead of him, in the distance, stood the lofty and precipitous rock of Cefalù projecting northward into the sea, its top adorned by the ruins of a mighty Norman castle.
His destination, however, was much closer; a remote, unassuming abbazia. The locals, who knew it as Santa Barbara, avoided it ever since its current occupants had moved in. Like in all those stories where nothing ever happens in the small provincial town until an outside force comes in, takes residence in a secluded and 'scary' place, some shit goes down and that one place is forever tainted by an aura of dread, a convenient tool to teach children to fear the unknown.
If only the locals knew that Morte was about to pay a visit...
And, just to be clear, I don't mean it metaphorically, or rhetorically, or poetically, or theoretically, or any other fancy way. He's Death. Straight. Up.
...
Above the abbazia's main entrance the cloaked visitor could see an inscription that was, oddly enough, in French:
Fay ce que vouldras
But there was something else at that door that caught his attention. A boulder of a man was guarding the entrance, an ebony silhouette that one could barely make out in the shadows. His right eye, however, was bright red and stood out like a ruby in the darkness.
A hellhound. His human disguise would have fooled any ordinary human, but not the Grim Reaper.
"HALT." he spoke, not in the least afraid, as he measured up the intruder with his good eye, "What's your business here, Reaper?"
"I have no intention of killing anyone tonight, if that is your concern," Theodore calmly explained, "I merely need to have a word with your boss."
The cerberus looked cautious as he considered his course of action. Then, a rather curious idea crossed his mind. "Is it true that you helped the hellhound named Loona and her dad in Russia?" he asked.
"Yes..." Theodore replied, wondering where this was going... "And I must say, I would rather not have to fight a hellhound half as fierce as that girl."
The other bursted into laughter. Not a sinister laugh, it was like Teddy had just said something very amusing.
"That's Loona for ya, man. What. A. Girl! You helped a friend of mine, so helping you out is the least I can do! Name's Vortex, by the way."
"Theodore." he said as he shook his hand, or rather his paw.
"Just wait here a sec, my boss is sure to want to see you." And with that he vanished behind the door. Soon enough, he was back and gesturing Teddy to come inside.
While Vortex was showing the way, Theodore was starting to figure out what was going on within the abbazia, as he could hear and... smell a good deal more as he got inside.
Someone might have said that the illustrious (though unexpected) guest was fashionably late, because the orgy was in full swing.
...
Every human and demon in the abbazia's main room had packed their bags and taken it straight to Bonetown a while back, and now were catching some D in their V-time.
If anyone (like, say, the Grim Reaper) were to walk in, the real challenge would be to reach the other end of the room without stepping on some threesome, fivesome, having some fun. The crew of demons (three incubi and four succubi) were not just having fun, far from it; for they were teachers, lovingly sharing with their human pupils their deep knowledge of the ways of Lust. Among other things they were sharing...
And, of course, some of the things the human adepts were learning were actual incantations and spells; their spiritual leader, the Magus or Master Therion, didn't call it 'sex magick' for nothing.
The room itself had every wall adorned with exotic, colorful and (naturally) obscene frescoes. At the end of the room there stood something, like an unholy cross between a bed and a throne, with Egyptian-esque carvings all around it. A bald man, completely naked, was lying on the thing- and there, right on top of him (in fact, sitting right on his dick) was her.
Her skin was of a bright pink tone, and her long, pink-white hair went all the way down to her ankles. Her light pink pupils were like small jewels in her wide, yellow eyes. She had pink horns, bat-like wings and a tail, all with some star-shaped or heart-shaped pitch black mark.
Her shining outfit, golden and bright red, would have made Dejah Thoris look overdressed; it was like she had nothing to hide.
Theodore was never a devout reader of the Bible, but he could not help but think that she looked exactly like the fabled Whore of Babylon, decked in scarlet and gold.
"It really is you!" Verosika started, clearly amused, "To what do I owe the honor of having such an esteemed guest, respected in Hell and Heaven alike?"
"It really is a simple matter, miss Mayday." Theodore replied, "As you know, I have complete freedom to travel between the realms, but cannot do so with my own powers. Therefore, I have been looking for emissaries of Lust, since you are granted use of the Asmodean Crystals by your master, to see if we could reach an agreement. All I ask is your assistance in travelling to and from your realm."
Verosika was now intrigued. "I see... I believe it will be no trouble for any emissary to grant your request, esteemed Reaper. But..." she paused, "... If you don't mind, I'd like to inquire what draws your attention to our realm. You see, your predecessor wasn't exactly fond of us..." She said, taking a sip of a honey-looking liquor from a golden cup.
"I have been investigating certain rumours..." the Grim Reaper explained, "whispers of an establishment your Princess had supposedly opened, quite recently, in Pride..." he paused, being not quite sure it was the right name, "The Happy Hotel."
Verosika's amusement instantly turned to cruel laughter. "That was priceless, Reaper, just priceless! A Grim Reaper with a sense of humour! Now I have seen everything..." She composed herself, "I can't begin to fathom why does Angel Dust bother staying at that place..."
"So it does exist." Teddy pointed out.
"Oh yes, the passion project of our beloved Princess, her solution to the overpopolation crisis in Pride." She scoffed, "A crisis that humans started anyway, so why should we do the effort of cleaning up someone else's mess?"
Theodore didn't want to delve deeper into this matter, not right now; he wanted to hear the story from the Princess herself. Verosika may not be malicious towards or biased against humans, but Theodore had a feeling that she didn't see humans as anything more than potential sexual partners. Or glorified sex toys...
Consenting glorified sex toys, that is.
"It may well be that we humans caused all of this, miss Mayday," Theodore said, startling Verosika; demons were not used to think of the Grim Reaper as a human, "but then again, your Princess is half-human herself, isn't she?"
"Fair point, esteemed Reaper." Verosika smirked, "I have only one more question for you; my hellhound told me that you helped Blitzo when he was in quite the tight spot during one of his missions. Is that so?"
"Yes..." 'Why do they bring that up again?' Theodore thought.
"In that case, I'm in your debt: I'm so glad that Blitzo is still with us, so that I can have more chances to TORMENT HIM FOR WHAT HE DID TO ME! THAT SELFISH IMP IN THE SHEETS, THE RECKLESS HEART-BREAKING FREAK!
In that moment, adoration would not have even begun to describe how the man beneath Verosika was looking up at her. If any male was sexually attracted to sheer power wrapped in a beautiful woman's body, it was him.
"But of course, it's not just about Blitzo..." she said, doing her best to make it look like she was over it, "His friend Moxxie is so pretty, I'm looking forward to see him again as well..." she continued, as her right hand distractedly went down between her legs...
"But without further ado, how about I open a portal for you now, Reaper?"
"That would be most appreciated, miss Mayday." Theodore replied.
Verosika played for a bit with the dick between her legs as she turned to her left and said, "I'll be back in a moment, hot stuff..." and went up looking for her Asmodean Crystal.
Now without his muse, the man turned his attention to Theodore: "It is an honor to make your acquaintance, mister Roosevelt." Being naked was no good reason for him to forsake his aristocratic, English manners.
"Likewise, mister Crowley..." he replied, with less conviction, "It is impressive to see with one's own eyes that what happens within these walls is even more fantastical than what the sensationalist newspapers would have me believe..."
"What can I say?" said Crowley with false modesty, "The world is not ready, though the New Aeon is fast approaching; then the whole world will revere my Lady Babalon and her fellow incubi and succubi. They just want to help us find our true selves, for the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom."
"I... can't say I'm looking forward to that..." said Theodore, who was taken aback by such... open mindedness. He certainly couldn't think of any other place where men could so unashamedly go at it with other men, and women with other women. "But I will admit that people need some hope in these dark times..."
"I couldn't agree more, mister Roosevelt."
Meanwhile, two women (who, unbeknownst to Theodore, were Crowley's human lovers, Leah and Ninette) had found the Asmodean Crystal and were playing with it. They handed it back to Verosika, but not before they got a good deal of persuasion and a promise that she would be back for more.
...
As Verosika opened the portal, the room was briefly engulfed in pink, crystalline brilliance before a dim red light came trough from the other side.
There was a vast city, one that looked like it had been throgh the Apocalypse itself, and an immense pentagram hovered above it all in the perpetually dark red sky.
'It sure does seem like there is no going back now.' Theodore thought.
"Oh, one more thing..." Verosika added, "...if you see Angel Dust, please tell him that I love his movies."
'So this Angel Dust character is an actor?' Theodore wondered.
No matter, he was going to find out soon enough...
And with that, the Grim Reaper left the mortal world behind.
Per me si va ne la città dolente,
per me si va ne l'etterno dolore,
per me si va tra la perduta gente.
Dinanzi a me non fuor cose create
se non etterne, e io etterno duro.
Lasciate ogne speranza voi ch'intrate.