Chapter 4: The Bet

I came back into the room to find the pair of them knee to knee, heads bent, giggling. Yes, giggling. It was not a completely unknown aspect of either, but one does not often return to a room to find the Prince of Hell and your own lover, Lord in GateWay, two of the most powerful people on the planet, sitting there giggling. They stopped when I entered, carrying the tray of drinks they had asked for. Sure, I could have made the house get them, but Kieran's deep blue eyes had given a signal that he did not put into words, silent or vocal.

Our guest was one who, while a true and good friend, was not often in our house. We preferred to meet where we had all first met, in London, in the winter. He was Nassau, third son of Lucifer, King of Hell. And if all that sounded very grand, he was also impatient, idiosyncratic, childish, playful, seductive and often mischievous. He looked sideways at me with storm grey eyes as I put the tray down and waved my hand at it, the bottle filling each glass with a different drink. Mine was green.

"Are we agreed?" Nassau asked, his voice fluid and sultry.

"Indeed." Kieran replied.

"What are you two talking about?" I asked, handing Kieran his rather startlingly blue drink. He took it, and grabbed my wrist, pulling me down for a kiss.

"Nothing really," Nassau said, replying for him, but there was a flavour in the thoughts that Kieran was hiding from me. I was suspicious. "So. Cards or chess?"

"Chess," Kieran replied, and I knew that I was in trouble. A board appeared, one side in glass-cased starlight, the other in deep space onyx. Kieran couldn't play chess, neither of us were any good, and Nassau never played if there wasn't a bet on.

"So what are the stakes?" I asked, trying to sound off hand, tucking several strands of blue and copper hair behind my ears.

"You." Kieran said.

I might have guessed.

While they played I went to change. Kieran wanted to lose, that much was obvious, otherwise he'd have beaten Nassau hands down at rummy already. I stood naked in front of the long mirror and sighed. I had dressed for Nassau's arrival in some of my best clothes, but they weren't one I wanted destroyed. There was nothing in the wardrobe I felt like wearing, but it was easy to summon something new out of nothingness. I dressed my lithe pale frame in a sarong of light blue silk, edged with gold and green autumn leaves and a short transparent shirt of the same material. I plaited my hair, and short thick weight of it lying along my neck, and slipped back into the room, my cock already thickening between my thighs in anticipation.

I arrived in time to see Kieran lose, Nassau's white knight blocking his King into the corner. They both turned to stare at me, eyes fixed on my navel and the slice of skin my clothes left exposed.

"I lost," Kieran said, and then. You look so beautiful. I'm sorry, should I have asked you?

"So I see." It's OK my love. I knew what was going on.

"So my Lord wolf," Nassau said, waving the board away, "I am to have your company at last?"

"It seems so."

Nassau stretched, and then relaxed in his chair, which became wider, deeper, until it was almost like a bed, but firm and shaped under his back and neck to support his head, and to allow to fall away from him his large bronze feathered wings. He raised one long dark eyebrow at me. Nassau was, if not evil, than demonic is his ways. Kieran and I both knew that we always got everything he wanted. Now he flexed denim covered thighs and ran a slightly pointed nail down his chest. Went to him, feeling Kieran's eyes on my back as I walked and knelt beside him on the bed.

"Hmm'" Nassau ran a long fingered hand down my chest, and then pulled my shirt away, "So lovely." His fingers caressed the back of my skull and I let out a low, soft growl, half wishing I'd changed form and well as clothes. And then he pulled me down for a kiss. I'd never had sex with Nassau, though we all knew his particular tastes from many of his lovers, but I was unprepared for the force of that kiss, for the deliciousness of him. It was exquisite. I dug my fingers into Nassau's long hair, yards of it glossy and smooth as dark water. His hands were at my hips, his short nails making quick work of my sarong, I was naked in seconds.

From behind me there came an appreciative purr and I broke from Nassau's kiss to look over my shoulder. Kieran, in all his dark furred glory, sat in his chair, one hand stroking his erection, my favourite toy. His sky blue eyes were smiling at me. But I could not be distracted for long. Nassau's talented fingers were gliding down my own cock, pulling and teasing until I was a gasping shivering thing under his hands. He grinned roguishly. His fingers found my entrance and I bit his shoulder hard enough to draw blood. The blood of demons is an aphrodisiac, not that any of us needed extra persuasion. Nassau fixed me with his stormy eyes, and plunged into me. I howled at the vaulted ceiling, Nassau groaned, and then I was shaking, clutching his shoulders as he began to move within me. My tongue followed the line of fiery tattoo that wound down his neck and across his chest, and then I became distracted.

Kieran was standing in front of me, his navel at eye level where I was on the bed and he was looking down at me, smiling, white teeth in his blue-black face. I blushed. His cock, immense and dark, hovered before me. Nassau thrust into me and I nearly yelped with the pressure of it. The tip of my lover's cock found my mouth and I took it greedily, wanting every inch of that musky scent that I could get. Nassau said smoothing between pants that sounded like "fuck yes" and Kieran stroked my hair and said;