27 Sex Appeal

Lily

“Do you have any idea who I am?” the soul snarled as Lily swirled her tea. “I am not someone to be trifled with, and when your superiors hear about your smarmy attitude—”

“They’ll be utterly unsurprised and more annoyed with you than they ever will be with me.”

A smarmy rich person who wasn’t rich-rich but was wealthy enough to have brushed up against the seedier side of the higher tax brackets. He hadn’t just dipped a toe into that pool of debauchery either, he’d swan-dived into it with Olympic form, evading various civil suits and complaints leveled against him by former employees by abusing his power and connections. Then there was the endless stream of mistresses and escorts of dubious age, his favorite of which had looked rather like his daughter…

She masked her gag with a sip of tea.

Some days it felt insurmountable and demoralizing, both the number of souls who came through her line and their myriad twisted decisions and actions. Thankfully, their thoughts rarely factored into their Judgment and were seldom shown in the files. She’d asked Zazzenaag, a cheerful nonbinary demon who worked one of the intake desks, about it once. They’d explained with knowing yellow eyes and a dimpled smile that thoughts only mattered if souls acted on them, indulged them, dwelled on them.

“We all have terrible thoughts, yes? Sometimes they leap into our minds out of nowhere, other times they creep out of crevices in ourselves we were unaware of or tried to forget. This is normal. It is a condition of life, of being , that our minds shock us sometimes. But this is where we define ourselves: we are either horrified or confused or disgusted by these thoughts and work to change them, or we let them rule us. Our first thoughts about a situation are seldom what we actually believe. They are what we have been conditioned to think, or sometimes they truly are random spits of consciousness. But our second thoughts, ah, that is where we are. It has helped me, working in this position, to forgive myself for my terrible first thoughts, and to pay more attention to my second thoughts.”

Lily glanced to where Zazzenaag used their fork to scrape every last smidge of icing off their plate in between souls stepping up to their desk. They had been one of the first to swarm around Sharkie as she’d helped carry the plate of cinnamon rolls around to the demons, who had been thrilled to get a treat twice in one week.

Kindness. That was what helped keep the shadows at bay and kept the shitty souls from being so overwhelming. Kindness and humor and simple understanding.

The stupid hacky sack still got kicked around every so often. They exchanged commiserating looks when someone particularly taxing came through. Sometimes the demons would have little dance offs when things got a little slow. They’d all cheered like lunatics when a certain politician arrived and hurried towards the stairs without further fuss, all the way down to Level Nine and the tender mercies of Gregorith.

The lesson of kindness clearly hadn’t stuck with the soul on the other side of her desk, and they launched into yet another vitriolic tirade. Zagan shuffled behind them, arching an eyebrow and doing an apathetic Macarena. He gave a stripper-quality swing of his narrow hips before he turned and began the process again.

Lily sucked her lips into her mouth.

“Are you laughing at me ?” The soul spit. Literally spit. The droplets landed across her desk but hit an invisible barrier before they could touch her.

Fucker.

Lily tapped a finger against her steaming mug. “I cannot be bought. I cannot be threatened. I cannot be bargained with. None of us can. None of us have even the faintest desire to listen to you.” She tilted her head. “However, if you refuse to shut up and go down to Level Seven as ordered, we would love to make you feel as afraid and helpless as you made everyone in this file feel. Your employees. Your wife. Your mistresses. The escorts you treated as subhuman. Your children.”

The soul went from cherry red to sickly white with every word.

“Truly. We would love that. I would love that. Alternatively, you can be a good boy and do as you’re told. It’ll save the trainees from having to clean the floor again.”

One of the trainees, a gangly young female demon with pale ochre skin and ram horns that she’d painted with glitter, glanced at the cleaning closet with a wince and hurried off to a new position.

The soul’s mouth worked for a few moments before they finally turned and scuttled away. Zagan paused his dance as soon as the soul had turned, and leaned on his spear with a squint. “Why are rich people so touchy?”

“They’re typically used to getting their way. This is probably the first time some of them have faced actual consequences. It’s a hell of a learning curve,” Lily said, wiping away the lingering droplets of spit with a rag. “Nice moves, Beyoncé. They teach that in guard school?”

“It was that or basket weaving. Figured I could use the cardio.”

Lily laughed and set the soul’s file in the little basket, where it promptly disappeared, following the soul to their destination.

The flow of souls from the gate to the stairs was lighter than usual, and few of them had wanted to go out of their way to fuss. A fact she was thankful for, leaning back in her chair to stare up at the hazy ceiling and think.

It had been three whole days.

Three days of rubbing her chest every so often, wondering if the sensation of lightness within would ever fade. Three days of having lunch with Bel, once in the breakroom, once in his office, and once in the training fields.

Oh, the training fields.

They’d kept the physicality of their relationship careful enough. Sitting with their thighs touching, looping an arm around each other whenever they were near, holding hands for any reason, chaste kisses to say hello and goodbye—well, chaste enough . They’d been careful by Lily’s standards, and she suspected Bel’s as well. Which was impressive—commendable, even—given that their attraction, once openly admitted and claimed, felt a bit like a genie they couldn’t put back in the bottle. All things considered, they’d been doing well, but the day before on the training fields had been damn near more temptation than she’d been able to take.

Bel had strode over with a grin, sheathing his sword as he went. And if that hadn’t been erotic enough to her fantasy-loving mind (or to anyone with eyes and taste), he’d been panting heavily and gleaming with sweat, his damp, inky hair pulled back in a loose knot. She’d wondered—had been fairly certain—that he would look similarly after a good fuck and had been tempted to find out on the spot—audience of several thousand demons be damned.

To make matters worse—and her underwear more soaked—he’d done the thing … using the hem of his faded gray muscle shirt to wipe his sweaty face, flashing his solid, faintly ridged abdomen, one of his heavy pectorals, and most distracting of all, the line of crisp, black hairs trailing down from his navel to disappear into his well-worn black pants.

Her mouth had gone dry. I will climb him like a fucking tree. I will follow that line of hair with my tongue and do things to him that would make a succubus blush. I will do it. Fuck waiting, it’s unfair when he looks like that.

She’d still been rallying her brain to form a coherent, not-horny thought, reminding herself that waiting was good and they’d both agreed to it when he’d stopped a short distance away.

“Hey, princess. I’d kiss you, but I’m all sweaty.”

Excuse me?

She’d crooked her finger at him. “I like you sweaty. C’mere.”

His eyes had flashed with heat, and he’d been deliciously cocky as he stepped forward and gave her possibly the most chaste kiss of her life. He’d smirked at her little noise of complaint and pressed another, slightly rougher kiss to her lips that had her swaying towards him.

“Behave, princess, or I’ll be having a very different kind of meal.”

“Funny, I was just about to say the same to you.”

He’d groaned and laced his fingers with hers, leading her over to the spectator seating. “Don’t. Do you have any idea how hard it is to fight with tight pants ?”

She’d kissed his shoulder, ignoring the soldiers who poked each other and stared their way. “Just making sure you work hard , big guy.”

After that, they’d subsided, inhaling their respective lunches as they’d watched soldiers sparring with various weaponry. Even Lily could see the difference between seasoned soldiers and new recruits. Bel had answered all her questions, pointing out tiny details she never would have noticed, much less appreciated.

He was happy . Bel in his office was Bel at work. Bel with his soldiers was Bel at his calling. She’d let him steal her apple and watched him light up explaining the various techniques, strategies, dangers, uses, and drawbacks of everything. His passion, as much as anything, drew her to him like a moth to flame. Eventually, he’d convinced her to grab a practice sword and spent the rest of their time teaching her the basics.

As she’d suspected, she’d loved Bel teaching her. And, from the lightness in his features, he’d loved it too.

Asmodeus’s arrival heralded the end of their break. He’d strutted up all arrogance and mirth, his shirt rolled up and slung around his neck like a towel. Lily had moved her sword slowly through a new motion, absently noting that while Asmodeus and Bel were built along vaguely similar lines, Asmodeus was leaner, his muscles more defined. She sent a mental get it girl to Sariah for having a hot-ass husband and felt deliciously smug that people might be similarly inclined to congratulate her on having a hot-ass boyfriend. Bel’s body, built for power, sang to her.

Glancing at Asmodeus again, she’d decided that she wouldn’t want to go against either of them in any form of combat more physical than a thumb wrestling match though.

* * *

The clang of a dropped spear jolted Lily back to the present, and she hoped she hadn’t let her thoughts play over her face.

A teenage demon walked from the elevators towards the stairs to the Universal Hallway, hands in his pockets.

He nodded to her bashfully. “Hi, Ms. Lily.”

“Hey.” She smiled. It wasn’t until he disappeared that she wondered how he’d known her name. Maybe he’d been in one of the student groups doing career tours? She shook the thought away, reaching for her current book and kicking her feet up on the desk.

Several chapters later, she’d only had to look up once to glare at a soul that had quickly rethought their plan. As she turned the page, a slender arm draped over her shoulders, followed by the scent of flowers and fresh grass washing over her senses.

Persephone, who must have come down the stairs from the Universal Hallway while Lily had been absorbed in her book, grinned down at her, along with another woman who was among the most beautiful Lily had ever seen. The new woman had soft features; large, dark eyes; olive skin; and wondrously curly red-brown hair that was half up in ornate braids, with the rest spilling loose over her shoulders. Her casual, modern, cream-colored maxi dress was at utter odds with the aura of lush power that trickled over Lily’s skin like honey.

“That’s a good book! Have you read it before?” Persephone beamed.

Lily set her book down and hugged her friend, sitting back on the edge of her desk. “Nope, I’m on a new adventure.”

“Lucky,” Persephone sighed. “I’d love to read that again for the first time. Lily, I’d like you to meet Aphrodite.” She gestured to the other woman, who gave a radiant smile.

“Nice to meet you, Lily. I’ve heard so much about you.”

Act cool, it’s just another fucking goddess, no big deal, just another day at the office.

“Nice to meet you too. What brings you down here?” Lily asked, hoping her voice didn’t sound as weird as she thought it did. She’d had a little plastic replica of the Venus de Milo in her apartment for years, had often stared at it in moments of insecurity, reminding herself that she and the statue had similar body types, and the statue version of Aphrodite had once been considered the pinnacle of beauty. The real Aphrodite shared the statue’s basic body type, but her curves were lusher, her figure fuller in a way that Lily admired and slightly envied. Of the many things Lily brought to the table, an absolute beauty of an ass was not one of them.

That was Bel’s contribution.

“You, actually.” Persephone grinned slyly.

Aphrodite’s eyes glittered with mischief. Lily wondered what exactly she was getting into.

“Oh?”

“Trivia night is coming up soon,” Aphrodite said, toying with a perfect curl, “and we’ve decided to play dirty.”

Lily couldn’t keep the smirk from her face. She had no idea what exactly these two powerful, gorgeous ladies had in mind, but she could already tell that she’d like it.

“Do tell,” she purred, curling her fingers around the edge of the desk.

Persephone shot Aphrodite a triumphant look. “We’ve got this in the bag .” She turned to Lily, practically bouncing with energy. “So, we’re putting a team together for sexual psychological warfare, and we are going to kick all the ass.”

“And get plenty of it too, if you’re into that,” Aphrodite put in.

“Yes, but that’s a perk for after ,” Persephone said, more to herself than to anyone else. “I’m talking lingerie, I’m talking hair and makeup, I’m talking whatever makes you feel like you could conquer the Afterlife with your sex appeal and gets your partner so hot and bothered they won’t be able to think. We have tried this before.”

“And it worked?”

“More or less.” Persephone blushed.

“They have a nine-year-old,” Aphrodite said in a droll voice. “Guess when we tried this last.”

“Aphrodite didn’t even make it to the end of the night.” Persephone sniffed.

“It’s true, Heph dragged me out of there halfway through the sixth round. We found out later that our team scored higher than his, so I considered it a worthy sacrifice.”

“Noble of you,” Lily said.

“Anyway,” Persephone plowed on, “we’ve been planning this for some time and were going to ask you anyway, but now that you’re dating Bel, it’s even better . One of the categories is weaponry, so hopefully, he’ll be too distracted to be useful.”

“We also have Sariah, who has promised to make sure that Asmodeus contributes absolutely nothing for the entirety of the evening,” Aphrodite said.

“Except his sperm in her later,” Lily drawled without thinking.

Is this my curse? Meet a deity, make a sex joke?

“I like her,” Aphrodite said.

“I told you,” Persephone crowed, throwing her arm around Lily. “We might not win, but we’ll beat the guys, and that’s all that matters. Also, Melinoe, my daughter, is—on Mommy and Daddy’s suggestion—having a sleepover that night and would like to invite Sharkie. We have a phenomenal trio of sitters we’ve used for millennia who will take great care of them.”

“I’ll ask her. I think she’ll like that.”

“Do you need anything for the night?

“Such as?”

Aphrodite waved a causal hand. “Clothes, or advice, or help with hair and makeup?” She tilted her head, considering. “I have some great ideas for your coloring and build, though of course it’s also about what you’re comfortable and confident in too.”

Lily took a moment to look at the goddess, really look, beyond the unearthly beauty. Lily had never considered herself a stone-cold stunner, but she’d ticked enough boxes on the list of conventionally attractive traits to turn heads on occasion. She knew how quickly people could write an entire person off as simply “pretty.”

Aphrodite was grounded in a way that reminded Lily of the women she’d most admired in her mortal life, carrying herself with a sense of calm, self-assuredness, confidence, and grace. Sure, there was a hint of the raw sexuality that would have Hephaestus, and anyone with a sex drive, incapable of speech on trivia night, but like most women, Aphrodite was clearly more than that.

“I’ll take any advice I can get, and I’d love some help with hair and makeup. It’s not my strongest skill, and I’d hate to let down our cause.” Lily grinned.

“Bel won’t know what hit him,” Aphrodite promised, eyes twinkling.

Persephone clapped her hands together, a wicked smile lighting up her lovely face. “Excellent. Now, what, if anything, do you think can be done about Lucifer?”