Thy Flesh, Consumed Pt. 01

Author's Note:

If you've read "Demon Flesh", and you're joining me again for its sequel, "Thy Flesh, Consumed", welcome back. If you're joining me for the first time, I encourage you to read "Demon Flesh" first. My thanks to Ikema for asking all the right questions about Lilith and sparking this sequel. Enjoy! --EH

*

"So you want me to find some book?" Nathan said as he stood in a vault of other very old, expensive books.

He lit a cigarette and took a slow drag. Ash drifted to the floor as he carelessly held it between his fingers.

"It's not just any book--It's the Il Malvagio."

Glass crackled and popped as the old man's wheelchair rolled over broken glass. Nathan had no idea what the hell this guy was talking about.

"The Il Malvagio is the most expensive book in my collection." Osbourne said. "The most dangerous."

Nathan chuckled. This guy was off his rocker.

"Since when is a book dangerous?"

"Since the Italian sorcerer, Paccio penned it over 700 years ago!" Osbourne snapped.

He dug around in his jacket pocket, pulled out a picture and thrust it towards Nathan.

"See this woman? This woman was my personal assistant - I know she stole it."

Nathan plucked the picture from Osbourne's hand. She was hot, whoever she was. Her long dark blonde hair framed her sultry face, but her eyes... Her deep brown eyes were tempting, taunting...

"What's her name?"

"Nona."

Nathan looked around the library. Only the one case was smashed in. No other books were taken except the Il Malvagio, and there were no other signs of forced entry.

"What do you think she wanted with it?"

"Money, power, how should I--"

Osbourne hit his fist against the arm of his wheelchair.

"--I let her get under my skin, let her sweet talk me into believing..."

He turned away from Nathan, angry and embarrassed.

"I told Nona about the Codex and how it conjured untold pleasures. I never thought she was stupid enough to want to try."

If this guy's talking about magic or something, he's gotta be a few cards short of a full deck. Nathan thought. And this Nona too. Who believes in that stuff?

He took an irreverent puff from his cigarette.

"Okay... Where do I find her?"

Osbourne's face twisted and he grabbed Nathan's arm.

"You listen to me!" Osbourne growled. "There's a demon imprisoned in those pages. If Nona lets it loose--"

Nathan jerked his arm away from the old man's grasp. He didn't believe a word of it.

"I want that goddamned book found, Pace, you hear me!?"

"Right.", Nathan said as he flicked ash on the vault's floor.

He left Osbourne's vault for the address on the back of Nona's picture.

****

Nona woke to cold night air on her flesh and the scent of rot in her nose.

"Where?" she muttered as she threw her hand up against the harsh city lights.

Cracked pavement scratched her soft skin as she tried to get herself off of the cold, wet ground. There was a taste on her lips, fresh and copper. She gagged and wiped blood from her mouth with the back of her hand. When she looked down, she saw she was naked.

"What," Nona whispered in the darkness, "...what happened to me?"

She looked around, frantic. Her head spun and her stomach was sick. The whole world moved too fast for her as she tried again to get up.

"Matthew?" she called out weakly. "Matthew!"

Where are you! Where the hell am I?

Nona got herself up against a wall, a rough brick wall, she realized. Her eyes focused as they slowly swept around. An alley - somehow, she ended up in the back of some dirty ally.

"Help," she mumbled. "I need help... I need to get out of here. Matthew..."

Nona spied a crumpled coat nearby. Her wild eyes darted about as she snatched it up with a shaky hand. Her thoughts were hazy. She tried to force herself to remember something, anything. Clips and bits of blood and sex and smooth skin tearing under her hands, played behind her eyes. She staggered against the brick wall and her stomach heaved.

The book, Lilith's voice whispered in her, something soft and dark. Get the book...

"Book," Nona murmured as she wrapped the dirty coat around herself. "What book?"

Here. In the darkness...

Nona peered into the dark ally. She took an awkward step forward and shook her head.

"No... I have to--"

Come... the dark voice softly begged. Don't you want to come again?

Nona felt an ache flare between her legs and she gasped.

Don't you want it?

She felt herself slipping, giving into it...

Don't you want the darkness and the feast of flesh?

"Flesh..." Nona murmured.

There was a faint tingle on her forehead as she edged closer, heedless of glass and rock under her dirty, bare feet.

Yes. Come...

Nona saw the yellowed pages flutter, beckoning her. The seven-pointed star that Matthew painted on her forehead started to faintly glow, and her body grew hot.

"I need..."

Nona bent down and moaned softly. The Il Malvagio's pages caressed her hands as she reached for it. Half remembered words in Italian rose in her. She remembered the ecstasy and the fire that burned through her when she and Matthew said the words...

She reached for the book, eager to speak them again, when something grabbed her wrist. Nona screamed and withered flesh sloughed off when she jerked her hand away. Slick blood wet her hand and there was an awful scraping as she stumbled back with the book.

"Mistress--don't leave me!"

Out of the darkness, a man, what was left of him, scraped across the pavement broken, bloody knees.

"No!" Nona screamed, "You stay away - stay away from me!"

The shriveled man reached for her with shaky hand. He stank of sex and blood, as he pulled himself towards her.

"Lilith..." it rasped.

"Matthew?" she whispered, as she backed away. "Is that you? Stop... Stop it!"

The thing hissed and she bashed it in the head with the heavy leathered Il Malvagio. It reeled and toppled to the ground.

"Mistress," it howled "Again!"

Nona turned and ran. The man-thing's wild laughter chased her as she ran down the street.

That... That's not Matthew - that couldn't have been! That couldn't have been him!

Nona's head started to pound. The pain behind her eyes near blinded her. She couldn't see and suddenly felt herself bounce. She staggered, unhinged by pain and the blare of traffic around her.

"Hey, lady watch where - jesus, are you alright?"

Nona closed her eyes to everything. Hints of memory flashed at her. Memories of being taken against a brick wall in that ally by a stranger. It was her - she knew it, felt it, but somehow it wasn't.

Mortal flesh, Lilith whispered again. Let me taste this mortal flesh...

The man took Nona by the shoulders and shook her.

"Are you alright?" he insisted. "What's your name?"

"Nona..."

"What happened to you? Do you know where you are?"

Nona shook her head.

"We gotta get you to a hospital, honey..."

Such a tasty little thing, a delicious bit of man. Lilith purred inside her. We can both sample him - let me out...

"No..." Nona moaned and tried to pull away from him. "No, no!"

Yes-- let me out!

"Listen to me: you're hurt, Nona. Bad." he said, as he led her off the street towards his car. "You need help."

"You... you did something," Nona muttered. "You did something to that man... to Matthew..."

You enjoyed it. You enjoyed the pleasures I allowed you to feel through me. Let me out, damn it!

"Did what? To who? Who's Matthew?"

Nona felt Lilith crash against her psyche again and again. Her head pounded and she felt Lilith's horns start to push through her skin. Intense arousal shot through her as the demoness pressed her into being again, and Nona's eyes went black.

"Get away!" Nona hissed as she tried to pull away. "Get away from me! Now!"

Suddenly, Lilith took hold, seized the man and threw him against the hood of his car. Metal crunched under her claws as she pinned him. Her wings tore through the filthy coat and fell around them.

"Jesus, fuck!" he screamed as his ribs cracked. "What...what are you?"

The demoness grabbed a fistful of his dark blonde hair and jerked his head up. Her lips barely caressed his as she crawled up and straddled him. She could taste the essence of his life in his shaky breath.

"Yes," Lilith said. "You'll do, pretty."

She sought a connection to his mind and he moaned while Lilith rummaged around in his head. She plucked his name from it and smiled.

"Alex," Lilith purred, "be honored for the task you've been chosen for."

"How... do you know?" he whispered.

Lilith silenced him with a hard kiss. Her tongue forced its way into his mouth while his hands grasped at her. He wanted to throw her off but her soft body pressed into him, driving him to pull her closer. Lilith's fangs left bloody nicks on his lips where she nipped at him. She felt him full and hard between her legs. Lilith smiled deviously as she raised a clawed hand. He was nearly ready and she was very wet...

Lilith shredded his shirt and he moaned as she left crimson furrows across his chest. She bent to kiss the marks she laid on him, to savor the sweet scent of his fear and arousal as she slid down his body.

"I want you," he begged as his hands twined in Lilith's blood-red hair. "Oh god, it hurts!"

"Your pain and ecstasy will release my sisters." Lilith said.

She tore through his pants and his cock pulsed as it pushed out of the ruined denim.

"I need to come! Please, I need--"

Alex's eyes went wide. He screamed when he felt the cold fire of Lilith's fork tongued dart out to caress the head of his cock. Her slick, serpentine tongue slithered around and she swallowed him. The claws of one hand grazed the underside of his balls and he shuddered.

Lilith's abyssal eyes smiled wickedly up at him from between his legs. Her tongue squeezed while his cock slid between her lips. Her other claws scored the inside of his thigh. Beautifully blinding pain and pleasure shot through him as he pumped harder, faster in Lilith's mouth.

You suffer so beautifully... She said in her handsome victim's head. Yes... come for me, come for Lilith!

Suddenly, her tongue uncoiled and Lilith sank her fangs into the shaft of his cock. Alex's eyes rolled back and he let out a strangled cry as he came hard. Lilith's wings fluttered as some of his life flowed through her, inside her. She growled and moaned as it drove her to orgasm.

From behind Lilith's eyes, her own eyes, Nona watched, helpless, as she felt Lilith's pleasure roll through her. She lost herself as it dragged her down beneath its narcotic undertow.

Lilith licked the head of his cock and sighed at the sweet taste of salt on her lips. She felt Nona's consciousness struggle to reemerge and quickly got up from between Alex's legs.

"More", Alex shrieked incoherently as his hips blindly thrust over and over. "More!"

Lilith's hand grazed his still hard, slick cock and he came again.

"Excellent, my sweet." she murmured sweetly as she scooped up semen from his chest and stomach. "I'll let them finish you, don't worry."

Lilith left him there on the hood of the ruined car in endless arousal, mindlessly rutting with the air for some sort of release. She motion for the Il Malvagio with a sticky finger. It floated to her and the pages fluttered open to something called The Rite of the Lesser Succubi.

Nona saw the Rite through Lilith's eyes and Lilith felt her squirm inside her head.

What are you doing? What are you going to do!

"Silence!" Lilith snapped. "Troublesome wench... You enjoyed our little plaything, now stop whining."

No...

"Oh yes. If you felt no desire for our little games, I'd never be able to come - you enjoyed the feast, my dear."

No!

"Your lust, your desire gives me strength," Lilith chuckled darkly, "and now I'll use the rest of you and this man to bring my sisters forth."

No, wait! Nona begged Don't kill me!

"I'm not going to kill you - I'm going to consume the rest of your soul. Now be silent!"

Nona's consciousness reeled from the force of her will and Lilith felt her recede. The demoness returned to the Il Malvagio that still floated in the air.

"Created from thy flesh consumed," she chanted as she read the old Italian and held her dripping hands high. "Created from the well of man's lust - arise, I bid you!"

Lilith flicked semen from her hands. It hit the cold pavement, and it started to glow. She felt Nona ebb inside her as she funneled her energy into the Rite.

"Arise, my sisters and walk with me once more!"

Breathy, lustful moans pierced the night air as the shape of breasts and legs began to push themselves out of where semen glistened on the pavement. Half-born bodies writhed with hunger as they came into being and suddenly they burst into flames. Unholy howls lit up the night and the Il Malvagio's words glowed a bloody red.

"No!", Lilith shrieked as she grabbed the book.

It blistered her hands and she snarled. Lilith watched as her failed Succubi burned into bone and ash.

"Paccio!"

The force of her rage shattered lights and windows and glass for blocks, but the Il Malvagio remained. It still floated before her, mocking her.

That damned sorcerer! He blood-locked it!

You couldn't, Nona's voice laughed weakly inside her. You couldn't do it!

"Bitch," Lilith husked. "Quiet!"

Who's the weak one now? Nona laughed wildly. Who's the weak one!

Lilith looked down at shards of broken glass. Her faced sagged and her crimson hair started to streaked with Nona's dark blonde. Her unholy beauty started to wilt...

I used too much of her. This body's starting to crumble--I need a new one.

The Il Malvagio still glowed, but it started to drift away now. Lilith stared at it a moment. Her eyes squinted and she saw a crimson, ethereal thread run from the book. She smiled even as her once beautiful lips cracked.

"Blood for blood. Blood seeks its own..." You won't make it. Nona chuckled. You'll die - we'll both die!

Lilith tried to shut out Nona's babble and concentrate on the Il Malvagio's direction.

"The one that's going to die," Lilith snapped. "Is you."

****

Nathan rode the elevator to Nona's suite. Between him and his friend Benjamin, he was able to bribe the doorman to let him in. The bell dinged softly and the elevator doors slid open. He took the picture of Nona out of his coat pocket.

"3010." he murmured to himself as he walked down to the end of the hall.

The top floor was deserted except for his muffled footsteps and that scent... It smelled like dried roses and funeral lilies with a faint air of brimstone. It smelled like death. Nathan nearly gagged when he came to 3010. The place wreaked of it, and his stomach lurched. He tried the door, but it was locked

"Great." he muttered.

Nathan's hand traced the door; it didn't seem very sturdy. He looked around for a moment and threw his weight against it once, twice, three times. It gave and this time, he did gag. The sickly sweet scent of rotted flowers swirled with smoky remains of incense greeted him and he threw his arm across his face.

What the hell is that smell?

Nathan pushed the door shut. The light in the foyer was dead when he flipped the switch. He cursed softly and made his way in. Dim street light steamed through the opened double doors to the balcony. The sheer curtains fluttered in the chilly wind. They cast long shadow across the strange circle in the middle of the living room.

What happened here? Nathan thought as he approached the scattered ring of rose petals.

He saw the book stand, nubs of burned out incense, and spent candles scattered about beneath the book stand.

She tried - Nona really tried it, didn't she?

There was a low, terrible moan that came from somewhere amid the dark pillows. A shriveled hand poked out of the pile and a dark, hollow eye stared blindly at Nathan.

"Ia heket Lilitu", it rasped as it slowly pulled itself up. "My will for her..."

Nathan stumbled back. The book stand crashed against the wooden floor as the thing crawled towards him.

"You're not" he managed, "You're not real..."

"We're real, scion of Paccio," a voice hissed. "very real."

Nathan's chest started to burn and he clawed at the buttons of his shirt.

"Oh god," he moaned as he watched arcane Italian script carve itself into his chest. "God!"

"There's no God here..."

Lilith stepped out of the shadows and the Il Malvagio floated before her. The crimson thread led from the book to Nathan's chest.

"Nona?"

It looked like Nona in the face but it was shrunken and decayed. One eye was Nona's brown and the other was pitch black. A half-formed horn jutted from her head, and malformed wings hung off her back.

"I wouldn't worry for her, Paccio," Lilith chuckled as she stalked her prey. "she's about to expire."

"Expire? Paccio? What the hell are you talking about!?"

Nathan gasped as he felt Lilith rummage through his head.

"Paccio... Pace..." she smiled wickedly. "the sorcerer's Italian blood flows through your father's side. It's always the men - I can smell it in you."

Nathan shook his head against it. His mouth worked, but nothing came.

"I don't know what the hell you are or what you think you know, but--"

"--It hardly matters what you believe," Lilith growled hungrily, "I'll take your blood to break the seal, and then I'll take your body."

She grinned and held open her arms to him.

"Now come to Lilith..."

****