Hell's government worked swiftly. That morning, thousands of demons received official-looking letters announcing that their marriages had been demoted to concubinage, they had lost their jobs, and most of their political rights had been stripped away. The army was sent in to confiscate property, which was now legally to be granted the wealthiest of the hardliners. Proposition 13666, now known as Decree 13666, was law in Hell.
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In Maisy and Rachel's palace, Maisy raced in with a terrified look on her face. "Rachel! I just got the mail... and... and..."
"And what?" Rachel asked, starting to worry as she looked up from the law books.
"The Senate's passed a new law, and it effectively turns ex-humans brought to Hell after the year 2000 BC into untouchables!" Maisy gasped. "It pretty much explicitly states that we can't get married!"
"WHAT?!!" Rachel boomed, nearly falling out of her chair. "The wedding's seriously off?!"
"Well, I could technically make you my concubine," Maisy said, "but I sincerely doubt you'd want it that way."
"Not at all," Rachel shook her head firmly. "Equal or nothing."
"And you might as well put those books down," Maisy added. "The law says you can't hold government offices. And the only reason you can still live here is because the palace was in BOTH of our names. Yours is being stricken off. Doesn't look like you can vote either."
"Yikes," Rachel winced.
"And you'd be borderline frozen out of raising any kids we might have," said Maisy. "It would be me and Dad making all the decisions."
"What can we do?" asked Rachel.
"We wait for Enoch to get back from his little quest," sighed Maisy. "He's the great legal mind in our family."
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"Fuck that Lamashtu!" Astaroth growled as she read the letter, not knowing that it was Senator Laz Deathfire who had submitted the bill that became Decree 13666. "She did this just to keep me from marrying you, I just know it!"
"Surely there's something that can be done!" said Atargatis.
"I'm afraid the law's already been passed by the Senate," Astaroth sighed. "My bitch of a niece has won. We have a caste system now. SHe actually stopped our wedding!" Tears poured down Astaroth's marble-patterned face.
Atargatis put a hand on her lover's shoulder. "I have an idea. Make my your concubine. Even if I'm legally your slave-wife, you can still treat me like a consort."
"You'd be willing to do that?" asked Astaroth.
"I was practically a REAL slave-wife when I was married to Reverend Church!" laughed Atargatis. "Pretending to be a slave-wife as a legal fiction will be easy!"