Enoch dug his paws into the sand of the dunes, feeling the ground sliding and shifting beneath him as he and his party trudged forward. After what seemed like an eternity, they reached the top of the dune. "How do we even know if we're going the right way?" Lamashtu asked Enoch as she climb atop the dune.
"We don't," Enoch chuckled humorlessly. "This is a big desert, Lamashtu. It could take days or even months to comb completely."
"So you're saying that it could be MONTHS before I see Pazuzu and my harem again?!" Lamashtu groaned.
"That's exactly what he's saying, sister," said Alecto. "Rescue missions don't happen at the snap of your fingers. It isn't like asking a servant for a glass of bloodbloom juice."
"We've all lost people to these kidnappers," Svadilfari galloped to the top of the dune, "but WE'RE keeping our composure."
Lamashtu crossed her arms. "You don't have to lecture me."
"Look, we're all under stress," Enoch said to the bickering party. "Let's just try to get the lay of the land, okay?"
"Look!" Ahriman shouted as he pointed. "There's people down there!"
Baal took out a binoculars and pointed it at a large tree with black bark. "He's right! There's three people sitting around a campfire. There's a red-skinned female demon with ram horns and moth wings and a lioness tail, some kind of cat-headed angel with butterfly wings, and an elderly human dressed like a Catholic priest. Oh shit, I just spotted the insignia of the Iron Knights tattooed on the palm of his hand!"
"Did you say you see a red-skinned female demon with ram horns and moth wings and a lioness tail?!" gasped Ahriman. "That's Jahi!"
"Can't be," Baal said, continuing to look through the binoculars. "You told me that Jahi was heavily pregnant. This lady isn't pregnant."
Ahriman grabbed the binoculars. "That's definitely Jahi... but you're right. Her belly's completely flat! Where are the babies?! That Iron Knight must have done something to her!"
"Only one way to find out," Enoch said. "We're going in."
****************************************************************************
Father Patrick tensed. "Do you get the feeling we're being watched?"
The nameless demon's eyes widened with fear. "Father Patrick, behind you!"
Before Father Patrick could react, he was grabbed from behind by a warty, toad-skinned demon with the ears and tail of a cat. The muscular demon bared his sharp teeth and snarled, his breath stinking of tobacco.
As Father Patrick struggled in the toad-like demon's grip, another demon, a female, ran up and pointed a spear at his throat. She had dark blue skin, bat wings, and a mop of red snakes growing from her scalp instead of hair. "Don't try anything, Iron Knight!" she shouted.
The toad-cat demon and the snake-haired demon were joined by a third demon. From the waist up, he looked like a handsome red-skinned human with a neatly trimmed goatee and shades. From the waist down, however, he took the form of a massive, monstrous wolf. He drew a sword and pointed it at Father Patrick's heart. "If you've harmed a single hair from either of their heads, you'll regret it!"
Lucy gasped as she looked at the three... she knew them! "Commander Baal? General Alecto? Prince Enoch?"
"You know them?" asked the nameless demon.
"Alecto and Enoch are some of my former captor's siblings," said Lucy. "Commander Baal is the commander-in-chief of Hell's armies."
Baal glanced over to Lucy. "You know an awful lot about Hell's nobility for an angel."
Before Lucy could respond, three other newcomers charged into the scene. One was a male with the lower body of a scorpion and the head of a snake. Another was also a male with dark grey skin who had the lower body of a black stallion and the horns of a goat. The third was a female with the head of a lioness, the ears of a donkey, cervine antlers, long clawed fingers, taloned bird feet, and six vulture wings.
Lucy looked from demon to demon in horror in disbelief. "Lord Ahriman?! Lord Svadilfari?! PRINCESS LAMASHTU??!!"
At the sound of her name, Lamashtu looked in Lucy's direction. She beheld a beautiful cat-headed angel with butterfly wings who almost looked like... like Pallaca. "Pallaca, is that you?!" she gasped.
"I no longer answer to that horrible slave-name," Lucy said frostily. "I'm a free woman, and I'm going by the name Lucy Watkins again!"
Lamashtu was taken aback. "Pallaca, where did this new attitude come from?"
Lucy slapped Lamashtu hard across her face. "I told you that's NOT my name, you bitch! I'm Lucy Watkins and I'm not your slave-wife anymore! And could you please tell Baal and your family to unhand my friend?"
"You're friends with an Iron Knight?!" Alecto gasped.
"He's not like the others," said Lucy. "His name's Father Patrick Murphy, and he helped me escape from the sorcerers."
"But why are you an angel now, Pallac... uh, Lucy?" asked Enoch.
"I'm not sure," said Lucy. "I joined Father Patrick in his morning prayers and it just happened."
"Don't worry, we'll find a way to change you back," Lamashtu said soothingly.
"Don't you dare!" Lucy snapped. "I actually WANT to be an angel. Hell's been non-stop suffering for me since YOU dragged me here! It's time I gave Heaven a try."
Lamashtu just stood there in shock, trying to process what Lucy had said. Her Pallaca was rebelling?
Meanwhile, Ahriman caught the nameless demon in a passionate embrace. "Don't worry, Jahi. I'm here!"
"Are... are you really my husband?" the nameless demon asked hopefully.
Ahriman's eyes widened with shock. "Are... are you alright, Jahi?"
"That... that was my name, right?" the nameless demon asked.
"Yes, I'm Ahriman, and you're Jahi," said Ahriman. "Don't you remember?"
"I think... I remember... fragments," Jahi said falteringly. "I definitely remember your face. And I remember the faces if children. Do we have children?"
"Yes," said Ahriman. "We have seven children, three boys and four girls. Oh, and you WERE expecting twins. What happened to them?!"
"I don't know," Jahi sighed. "The last thing I remember is being held down in a magic circle in a cave by a pair of evil sorcerers and some demons and angels who looked possessed by... things. They were painting runs on me and chanting in a horrible language. It made my mind go fuzzy. I almost lost my will to fight back, but I forced myself to struggle. I just barely made it out. I was nearly grabbed by a red-skinned demon with equine hooves, the ears and tail of a horse, the tongue and fangs of a serpent, the horns of a goat, hair made from flames, and insectoid wings."
"Loki!" gasped Svadilfari.
"What did they do to the new twins?!" Ahriman begged.
"I don't know," Jahi admitted. "That happened before I lost my memory, and I still haven't gotten most of the missing memories back. I need to see a healer about my memory." Her eyes filled with tears. "There is something they did that I need to show you, though."
Jahi pulled up her beast-skin skirt to reveal her crotch. Her pussy had been thoroughly gutted, leaving only a scabby mass of ugly scar tissue behind. "They took my pussy, Ahriman! And my breasts!" She mournfully patted her now-flat chest beneath the skins she wore over it. "I'd wager my womb's gone as well. That must be what happened to the unborn twins."
"Holy fuck!" Alecto gasped. "We're up against total psychopaths!"
Ahriman trembled with rage. "Those sorcerers will pay for hurting you!"
"I'm just sad that we can never have sex again," sighed Jahi. "Or have more children."
"Can it be fixed?" Ahriman asked.
Svadilfari (whose father Baphomet had taught him a little about magic and healing) inspected the mangled, butchered pussy. "I doubt it. The entire crotch seems to thoroughly wrecked for new growth to be shaped there. The flesh is dead."
"No matter what, I'll always love you," Ahriman said, pulling Jahi into a tender embrace.
"Was Pazuzu in the cave?" asked Lamashtu. "What about my slave-wives?"
"I saw some beautiful demonesses in the cave," Jahi answered. "I don't know who Pazuzu is, so I can't help there."
"Teenage bird boy," said Lamashtu. "Does that help?"
"I don't think I saw anybody like that," said Jahi.
"Neither did I," said Lucy. "Maybe he was taken after our escapes."
"I could lead you to the cave," said Father Patrick. "It's just a few hours away. Just to warn you, it's full of my former brethren and those horrible black-eyed things."
"Chaos thralls..." Enoch growled. "Lead the way, Father Patrick."