~~Author’s Note~~

Welcome. “A Taste of Hell” is a mini series of small novelettes, each told from a unique point of view of side characters in my upcoming main series “The Pleasures of Hell”, a fantasy adventure set in Hell. While the main series will have two PoVs, both human (brother and sister) and not featured in this series, these prologue/bonus chapters will give curious readers a taste of this setting from the view of the various angels and demons that populate it, and a taste of the erotic elements.

These chapters are entirely optional. No need to read them if you’d prefer to go into the main series blind.

Erotically, “A Taste of Hell”, and “The Pleasures of Hell”, will focus largely on monster girls and monster boys, usually paired with someone not monster-y. Expect lots of kinks to be explored, with exaggerated proportions, size difference, deep/large penetration, harems and/or reverse harems, and plenty of others. There’ll be fantasies for dominant and submissive readers alike. Erotic scenes that are particularly long and descriptive will be bracketed with ♥♥♥ /♥♥♥. If you’re not looking for a juicy scene, skim the dialog in these sections so you don’t miss anything important.

This chapter is a fun, carefree read. If you’d prefer to not get spoiled about setting details, no need to read, or read this after having read a decent chunk of the main series. I’ll avoid spoiling anything major in these novelettes, but I know some readers prefer going into a series as a blank slate.

~~Fifty years before the Arrival~~

~~Galon~~

Panting, sweating, barely standing, Galon stood his ground as the tregeera demon slowly circled him. He still had his batlam rune, still wore his armor, but a gabriem angel like him wasn’t exactly a juggernaut of metal. His helmet left his face exposed, and his armor had gaps at the joints where white silk flowed out. Gabriem weren’t meant for the front lines.

And yet, just on the other side of a wall of fallen rocks, he’d slaughtered a dozen demons. Some small ones, imps and grems, and a few of the medium ones, a vratorin and a gorgala, the classics. All of them were filled with his arrows.

The problem now was he was bleeding, exhausted, and he’d been herded into a dark cave. And the even bigger problem, was the cave had collapsed behind him in the ruckus. A big wall of rocks that’d take ages to move, if he even could. The only light source he had, was a few amber veins overhead, and his bow’s string.

The tiger demon circling him wouldn’t go down to one arrow, and he only had one. Spend grace to make more? Bad idea. It took time to do that, and it’d probably leave him with one shot before he ran on empty. And the tregeera had armor, too, very unfashionable bits of bent black metal slapped onto her limbs and torso, and held down with dirty straps of leather. She had more than a few skulls hanging off those straps, demons, and humans. Galon was as tall as any angel, seven feet, but tregeera were taller, usually by a foot, and this one was no different.

A scary situation to be in, but he smiled at her, white and gold bow in hand, and strafed the same way, slowly circling her in turn, arrow knocked and ready to fire.

Whoever this tiger demon was, she walked on all fours, giant spiky tail waving slowly behind her. No helmet. Her dark hair-like tendrils dangled over her shoulders, and her two horns curved up and back. Big horns. Demons didn’t grow old, no more than angels did, but unlike angels, they did get some physical changes: bigger horns, usually. Whoever this demon was, she had some pretty nice ones.

“I can’t help but notice,” he said, smiling at the only other being in the cave with him, “that you haven’t attacked.”

The demon laughed as she stopped prowling, and stood up straight. Her tail was almost as long as her whole body, and gently brushed the dirt left and right as it wagged. She was excited.

“You’re an angel? I’ve seen devorjin stronger than you.”

“Well, yeah. Devorjin are huge!”

She raised a brow, and eyed him with her black and red eyes. “You’re admitting to be being weaker than a devorjin.”

“Big brutes? No horns or tail? Tall as all get-out?”

“Not much taller than me.”

“You’re tall!”

She laughed again. “You’re ridiculous, and weak. What is a pathetic angel like you doing down here?”

“Visiting. Heaven can get pretty boring, you know.”

“No, I wouldn’t know.” She got down on all fours again, and came closer, her huge claws gripping the stone. He aimed his arrow and eyed her, but couldn’t help but smile more. She laughed. “You’re gabriem, aren’t you?”

“What gave it away?”

She laughed again. She liked doing that.

“Rapholem use spears, halberds, and enormous shields. Mikalim use swords and shields. I’ve never seen a Gabriem’s weapon.”

He waved the bow a bit. “Well, now you have.”

“Not the best weapon for melee.”

“You’re telling me. I mean sure, I could smack your ass with it, and it might even hurt. But I’m definitely not meant for in-your-face fighting.”

Again she laughed, and came closer. He hopped to the side a bit and kept her at a distance, arrow still aimed at her, but if she charged him he wouldn’t be able to do shit.

“Why would a gabriem leave Heaven? Is being spoon fed resonance that boring?”

“Nope.”

“Is it the sex? Are humans”—she licked her lips—”not satisfying your lust? I bet you fuck a few women every day.”

“Sometimes men, too.”

She purred, and prowled closer. “Then why are you here? You might as well tell me. I might even let you live.”

“Let me live? You don’t have a choice. We’re stuck down here unless we help each other, or are you so strong you can lift those rocks on your own?”

How quickly her purr turned into a snarl. “I don’t need your help.”

“I think you do. I think we’re both going to suffocate unless we start digging our way out of here pretty soon.”

She growled and stood up again, a little closer now, more toward the center of the room so he couldn’t just back off without pinning his back and wings to a wall. No death charge came, thankfully.

Tregeera demons had interesting faces. Humans called them tigers, but it wasn’t really a good fit. They had mostly human faces, ish. They had the biggest, most sharp-teeth-filled smiles, and their mouths stuck out slightly along with their nose, almost like a very short snout, almost unnoticeable. And this one, whoever she was, had a bit of that mature vibe going with her very deadly, oddly attractive face. Compared to other tregeera, her tendrils were long, and her face had a narrow sharpness to it.

“Why are you staring at me?”

He shrugged. “Trapped in a cave with a pretty lady? Might as well stare a bit before she eats me.”

Chuckling, she thudded her huge tail on the ground a couple times. “I could eat you. That’d give me strength.”

“Not sure how much strength you expect to get from a depleted angel. Think it’ll be enough to break down that wall?”

“Maybe.”

Eep. So much for that bluff.

“Or, how about this. Let’s work together first to remove at least enough rocks so we don’t suffocate? I think we’d both be much happier if we didn’t die gasping. Then you can decide if you should eat me.” Having to worry about air was not fun, and he was very much looking forward to getting back to Heaven where he didn’t have to worry about any of that.

She came closer. “I think you’ll need to do better than that.”

“Better?”

“Tell me why you came to Death’s Grip, for one.”

“Ah, secrets. I have mountains of secrets.” He had no secrets. “I’ll share a few, if you’ll spare me.”

“Like ... why you came to Death’s Grip, I assume.”

“Sure, sure.” When she found out, she was probably gonna kill him anyway. Not because she’d take offense, but because it was useless information. “And others.”

“Others?”

“Of course. I’ll tell you why I came here, and then because I’m no fool, I’ll share another secret every so often. And when we’re free, I’ll give you another as I leave. Yeah?”

She grumbled as she paused, standing tall and folding her arms across her armored chest.

“Can I trust you?”

“I’m an angel.”

“You’re a gabriem. Not exactly beacons of truth and righteousness, so I’m told.”

“You seem to know a lot about us angels. We visit that often?”

She snorted and licked one of her big fangs.

“I’ve see a few mikalim this past decade, doing checks on the spires. I’m smart enough to avoid them. You, on the other hand, are just a gabriem.”

“Pfft. I’m offended. I killed a dozen demons on my own!”

“You also put yourself in a stupid position you couldn’t escape. You’re not only not as imposing as mikalim, but you’re not half as tactically smart as a rapholem.” Wow, she really did know a thing or two about angels.

He shrugged and fluttered his massive white wings a few times.

“What can I say? I’m good at what I do. Daring adventures through Hell is, apparently, not what I do.”

She stared at him for a few seconds before she burst into laughter. The full body laugh, the sort that was contagious, had him chuckling too, and he eased down on the bow.

Which of course led to her pouncing him. Literally. She didn’t charge at him, or even make a sound. She pounced at him like a ... tiger, and her claws grabbed his shoulders and pinned him to the ground. His bow and last arrow went to the side, bounced uselessly on the hard ground, before vanishing in a small glow of white and gold. He could resummon them, but it’d be useless with the giant demon on him pinning him.

She growled down at him as she licked her teeth, and her black and red eyes scanned his face a few times before looking out to his wings, then his armor, then back to him.

“You’re lucky it’s me who caught you, angel.”

“Uh, lucky?”

“Yes. Alessio is trying to lay low, and killing an angel would invite unwanted attention. It’d make my job harder.”

“Uh, and the other demons?”

She smirked as she lowered herself down onto him, using her entire body to pin him. Knees on his shins, her chest armor against his. If he wanted, he could get up, she wasn’t that heavy. But if she wanted, she could bite his throat out. Better to play the waiting game and charm his way out of this.

“One of Zel’s scout groups, patrolling the Black Valley border. You know how Zel and Alessio are.”

Zel sending scouts to the border of her territory? Interesting.

“Oh. And they attacked me, because...?”

“Because, unlike The Black Valley, Death’s Grip is confident in its strength, largely because of that moron Diogo. They were sure they could take you.”

“Diogo the devorjin? Big strong lug? Is trying to get into Zel’s good graces before probably slitting her throat and taking the spire for himself?”

“Diogo does not have the finesse for throat slitting. He’d try and rip out her heart.” She snarled as she came in closer, until her sharp teeth were inches from his lips. “You know more than I’d like. Maybe I should kill you—”

“Nothing the rest of Heaven doesn’t already know.”

She snorted, and put a claw against his forehead. One hard push and he’d be dead, and everything he was would go back to the Great Tower. Him, his memories, his grace, all of it, gone to the after-after.

“Could you kindly not kill me? I do enjoy being alive.”

“I bet you do. With a pretty face like that, I imagine you really enjoy being an angel.” She came in closer, until one of her teeth lightly nudged against his nose. “But, you’re right. I could eat you, become strong, maybe even kill that Diogo fool. Or maybe I’d stay trapped in here and suffocate or starve. Better to keep you alive for now and use your help.”

He nodded with plenty of enthusiasm, each nod making his nose hit one of her fangs.

“Good plan, good plan. Especially if you don’t want Avinoam coming down looking for me, right.”

“That’s assuming they would.”

He looked up in thought. “I’d like to think they would.”

Laughing again, the tiger demon woman got off, and walked over to the giant pile of rocks blocking the way out.

“You’re a strange angel, you know that?” She climbed the pile of big boulders blocking their way out, put her claws around one of the huge rocks at the top, and pulled. It didn’t move.

“I thought you said you avoided angels. For all you know, they’re all as delightful as me.” He got up, and after admiring her long tail and the very developed ass it stuck out over, he followed after her. “Who am I kidding. No angel is as delightful as me.”

“Of course I avoid angels. I plan to live a long time.”

“Good plan. I can agree with that plan.” He hopped up on the pile of stones with her, and pulled at the highest one. Yeap, that wasn’t moving. He tried again. It didn’t move.

“Weakling.”

“Hey, you’re not moving it either. And I had to kill a dozen demons not long ago, remember?”

She laughed again. And unless his eyes were deceiving him, that was a playful smirk she gave him. A little hard to tell with the wide mouth on the short snout full of giant sharp teeth, but he did have a sixth sense for these things, and it was tingling.

“I saw the battle, and that you were surrounded. I wouldn’t have approached otherwise.”

“Ah, so you didn’t think you could take me on by yourself.”

“I didn’t. I do now.”

“Because I’m weakened.”

“Because now I know you’re an idiot and were a weakling even before.”

He scoffed with exaggerated flair, and yanked on the giant boulder again.

“Tell that to the demons I killed!”

Again, the tregeera laughed, a pleasant, full sound that made him smile. Instead of following it up with another insult, she got all her claws behind the rock he was pulling on, and pushed against the pile of stones with her large, and curvy legs. Sure enough, the rock teetered a couple times, and rolled. Crash, crash, clunk, the giant stone rolled down the short hill, and into the empty cave.

It wasn’t the biggest cave. If they kept rolling stones down, they’d lose all their floor. Small price to pay for getting to live.

He looked to the groove where the rock had been. No light yet, so no air yet.

“Okay angel. Next one.” The demon woman slid over a bit, raptor feet grinding talons on the big stones she stood on, and she worked to get her claws behind another big stone at the top of the pile.

He groaned and did the same as best he could. Of course he was walking on the white and gold armor boots of Heaven, and they didn’t exactly agree with walking on a slope of huge rocks, each the size of him. But he made it work, and got his hands behind the stone near the demon’s.

“So what’s your name?” he asked.

“You want my name?”

“We’re trapped, and considering how heavy these rocks are, seems like we’re gonna be trapped for a while. A lovely opportunity to—”

“Wouldn’t have been a problem if you hadn’t got caught by those scouts like you had.”

They both pulled again, and the two of them let out some grunts and groans. It shifted, but rolled back into its spot. Damn.

“Hey, not even denying it. Doesn’t change my point, though. I’m Galon.”

She scrunched up one cheek and eye as she thought about it.

“Rexana.”

“Yeah? Not lying to me?”

“No I’m not lying to you. But could you tell if I was?”

“Sure. I’m a gabriem.”

Shaking her head as she chuckled, she pulled on the stone again, and both of them gave it a hard tug on a slightly different angle, getting it over the hump and rolling it down the hill.

“What does being a gabriem have to do with it?”

“I deal with people every day, you know. I’m a great poker player.” Ah, the joys of indulging in human games.

“Deal with? Ah, you mean fuck. Typical gabriem.”

He frowned at her, but playfully, aiming to make her chuckle again. He succeeded.

“How do you know so much about Heaven?”

“I keep my ears open.” She pointed a claw at her ear, a subtle thing, in the proper place for an ear but flat against her head and hidden in the shadow of her big horns. “So, explain. How could you tell if I was lying.”

“Like I said, I’m with humans all the time. It’s my job.”

“Job...” With another heavy snort, she gave a different rock a hard pull.

He laughed and joined her. God damn, heavier than the last one.

“I like my job.”

“I figured all angels enjoy being what they are.”

“They do.” Mostly. “And gabriem do more than sleep with the humans, by the way. We play therapist. Spend a hundred or so years listening to humans’ problems, coaching them, helping them, teaching them, getting them to talk to each other as much as us, and you learn how to read facial expressions pretty well.”

Another snort. She didn’t believe him.

“I’m not human.”

He took a break from pulling to point at his face. “You still do the face thing. You smile when you’re happy. Frown and scowl when you’re angry. Right?”

She paused. “Just pull.”

The rock was really big, really heavy, and blocking a lot of the other rocks at the top of the pile. They had to move it. The tiger put her feet’s talons against the wall, and pulled horizontally, putting all of her body into the pull. Galon didn’t get horizontal, but he did engage his wings, and flapped the huge walls of white feathers hard, sending enough air around Rexana’s hair tendrils flew around her face.

But they did get the rock to move. Damn thing was as tall as Galon and just as wide, and it rolled down the hill of rocks, onto the rock and dirt waiting in the cave alcove, and rolled into the cave wall on the other side hard enough it cracked in half. The cave shook with the impact, and now Galon knew what it sounded like to be inside a ringing church bell.

At last, light. More of the same red light Hell did seem to love, and pretty soft now considering it was night. Far as Hell was concerned, night just meant the burning sky got less burny, but that did mean a lot less light, not much more than the few amber veins their cave gave off. But, more importantly, it meant air.

Having to worry about air was annoying. Heaven took care of things like that. Need to breathe? You’d get air. Need space? You’d get it. Accidentally about to get your head cut off? Wouldn’t happen, not inside the walls of Heaven. Hell, on the other hand, was an absolute bitch that took joy in making sure everyone who lived on her died horribly. He had to worry about things like breathing, and where his next resonance meal was coming from, and other annoying things like fatal injuries.

Both angel and demon took a breath, and relaxed against the pile of stones. He was sweating, buckets, but she was not. She was panting though, and just as tired as him.

“Must be nice, not sweating,” he said.

The huge tiger demon shrugged slightly as she half sat, half laid back against the wall of giant rocks.

“Not my fault we’re the superior breed.”

He laughed. This woman was fun. Now, if he could convince her to not kill him, she’d be even more fun.

“Why don’t demons sweat?” he asked.

“Why do angels?”

“According to the council, we’re better mirrors than you demons. Lucifer’s folly and all that.”

She snorted, and tried to slam her tail down against some rocks between her legs. But she was too tired, and it came out as a weak pat instead.

“The council. I’ve never seen a council angel.”

“Be happy you haven’t. Good reason they haven’t visited Hell in thousands of years, ya know.”

“Oh?” She eyed him curiously. “Why’s that?”

“You know all the old tales about angels ripping giant swathes of violence and destroying leagues of ground?”

“An exaggeration, considering every angel I’ve ever met, especially you.”

“Those stories were about council angels.” He nodded, and pumped his fist up toward the ceiling roof as if aiming for the sky. “Engines of destruction! And judgment, and other annoying things.”

Again she laughed, hearty and full, and considering how big Rexana was, it was a bit bassier than a woman’s voice usually was. And her smile was pretty, even when it showed off her many, many big sharp teeth. Kinda especially then. Really gave her that ‘pretty like a surface rose’ look. Touch her and you’d get pricked. Or eviscerated.

“You don’t like your council?”

“Yeah well, they mostly just stay up high and never do a damn thing. Except get angry with us whenever we...”

“Take trips into Hell without permission?” She sat up and leaned in toward him. “You can’t tell me a gabriem would be sent on a scouting mission, Galon. Any mikalim could do that job and do it better. You weren’t sent here to scout, so that’s not your secret.”

Ah shit, she wasn’t as stupid as most demons. Damn. Life in danger, once again, if she already knew his ‘secret’.

“So I like to visit every so often. Just because I don’t use a fancy sword and shield doesn’t mean I can’t defend myself.”

“Why would an angel want to visit Hell?”

“Change of scenery?”

With a disbelieving snort, she climbed down the pile of rocks, sat down on the ground in the middle of the cave, and undid some of the leather straps holding slabs of bent metal around her thighs and quads. They landed with some very heavy clunks and clacks.

“You were visiting Hell and Death’s Grip,” she said, “for the same reason I was. You wanted to see what Zel was up to. Maybe not sent as a scout, but that’s why you came here.”

He scratched under his chin, one of the few places his armor left exposed.

“Well, I mean, she is a crafty one.”

“She is.” Nodding, Rexana undid the other leg, before getting comfortable on her knees.

“Are you ... stripping?”

“I’m tired and hot, angel. Sorry if I don’t have some fancy rune to give me nice clothes. All I have is my armor, my trophies”— she gestured to the skulls dangling off her belt and loin cloth—”and my skin.”

“You know about runes? You are a certifiable threat to our intelligence agency. Or maybe possible hire.”

She snorted, shaking her head. “Me? Work for Heaven? I work for Alessio.”

“You work for Alessio because it serves you to do so, and it’s keeping your head on your shoulders.” He slowly slid down the wall of rocks until he plopped down on the ground on his ass, back and wings against the wall, maybe ten feet from the big tiger demon. “I bet I could convince you to work for us.”

More laughter, big and full and fun. But after she calmed down, she undid some of the straps of her arms, and her curved metal plates and curved bone shoulder pads fell on the ground with the rest of her armor. There were some surprisingly feminine curves hidden under that armor.

“You are ridiculous, you know that?” she said.

He smiled at her. “It’s very nice, by the way.”

“What is?”

“Your skin.”

She raised a brow as she watched him, slowly tilting her head to the side as she tried to read him.

“Why don’t you take off your armor? Or change your rune or however it works.”

“I want to. Keeping this going is exhausting. But, can’t say I really trust you yet.”

“First smart thing you’ve said yet.” Nodding, she undid some more straps, and undid the breastplate. Another strap later, and she was completely naked.

Much as Galon talked a big game, truth was demons and angels rarely interacted with each other, often going decades without so much as a single angel taking a trip into Hell. There’d been more lately, a lot more, but always at a distance, scouting trips, one of which Galon snuck in on as an opportunity to see something new. There was plenty of information about the demons, up in Heaven, books upon books of blessed pages that showed, in detail, the strengths and weaknesses of the various breeds.

The divine drawings didn’t do the living thing justice. Treegera were an interesting halfway between a perfectly normal human body, and a muscular dinosaur. She had long curvy legs that ended in raptorial feet, except now he could also see the perfect abs and small waist between her wide hips and her large, heavy breasts, and her large, firm ass. Her arms were muscular too, but there was no denying her feminine shape.

He stared.

“Never seen a naked demon before?” she asked, shrugging.

“Truth?”

“Truth.”

“Never in person.”

After another chuckle, she gestured to him. “I’ve never seen a naked angel.”

“Yeah well, unlike you, I’m pretty defenseless without my armor. And you’ve seen naked humans. Like that, just prettier.”

“You are fucking ridiculous.” Shrugging, she stood up, except on all fours instead of just her hind legs. She stalked toward him, very slowly, like a cat — or tiger — getting ready to pounce. Without the breastplate pinning her evidently huge breasts against her chest, the giant pillows hung underneath her, but they were firm. Too firm. Demon skin was dark red, hard, and tough unless they were aroused.

Still very pretty to look at, though.

“What’re you doing?”

“Come on, strip, angel. You said you liked my skin. Well, I want to see yours. Fair’s fair.”

“I didn’t tell you to strip.” Not that he minded. And his gabriem brain wasn’t going to look away from a beautiful naked creature prowling toward him. Without the armor, her large ass stuck up even more, now blatant behind her where her huge thick tail came out from over it.

“You said it’s exhausting keeping that armor and weapon summoned,” she said.

“It is...”

“I bet you want nothing more than to let that battle rune go, so you can relax and catch your breath before we try and pull down some more stones.”

“Maybe...” He gulped as she came a bit closer. Sure, he’d been flirting before, but he hadn’t really expected her to respond. Mental note for the future: demons, or at least tregeera, were not interested in subtlety. They were all or nothing.

She came closer again, and set her hands on his legs. She went slow enough that she never triggered any of his reflexes, and instead, he just stared at her as she put his legs together and pulled them out straight on the ground, before she came closer. She was close enough to rip out his throat at this point, but she’d had the opportunity to do that before. No point in trying to stop her now.

She sat down like a cat, straddling his shins and pinning them, her knees outside his legs and on the ground. And since she was sitting up straight, arms straight down, they rested on his knees with her biceps pushing her breasts together.

“I’m not going to hurt you, moron.” She grinned at him as she licked her teeth, and her huge, thick tail wagged slowly on the ground behind her. “You were right. Those rocks are huge and a giant pain in the ass to move. We got some air”—she gestured to the tiny hole they’d made at the top—”but it’ll be hours and hours of work to make it big enough for us to get through. We’re taking a break. And, this whole process will be easier if we aren’t wearing our armor, especially for you, sweating like some weak-ass human. Take it off.”

He eyed her closely, doing his best to not stare at her breasts each the size of his own head. She was toying with him. One of the things he knew about demon anatomy was when they got aroused, their tough skin got redder, and got softer. And the already soft parts of the body, the stomach and inner thighs, the neck, the breasts, they went from dark red to full on red. That wasn’t happening.

He blinked. Was that disappointment he was feeling? Yeap, that was disappointment. He wanted the deadly tiger demon currently sitting on his shin armor to be horny at the sight of him.

Seonaid was right. His dick was going to get him killed.

He let go of the batlam rune in his mind, and the potram rune replaced it, defaulting to it like a human relaxing a muscle. The armor went poof, layers of white and gold, shiny and almost silvery metal, beautiful and reflective, it all disappeared in a gentle glow.

The tiger demon purred, lifted her hands, and set them on his shoulders. Big hands, long claws, and he froze for a second, half expecting her to cut him up. It didn’t happen thankfully, and he managed a playful grin up at the demon.

Galon had long dark hair, deep brown eyes, light tan skin, and a classically handsome and beautiful face, with a masculine jaw and feminine lips. He was an angel, after all. That was par for the course.

The potram rune didn’t leave him naked. He had a white and sheer robe on, something that covered a bit of his torso and legs, but barely, and exposed his white loincloth. He was muscular and thin, tall, with broad shoulders. The perfect human physique, and seven feet tall. Flawless.

And yet, it was the humans the angels lusted for. He was no different. Sure, angels were attracted to each other, but humans carried a thousand imperfections within and without, that made them a thousand times more beautiful.

Demons carried imperfections too, different kinds, within and without. It wasn’t unheard of for angels to find them attractive. Hell, it’d been the focus of a few cautionary tales angels were taught, and the problems with Hell in general. No one would forget the tale of Ramiel.