Raising Hell

[Ash]

Ash was suspended in the air, her outfit torn to shreds is special places. Still, only one tendril of plant clung to her leg, - disappointingly - but two other's grabbed both of her arms and twisted them in ways that might not be humanly possible for anyone as unflexible as herself. One twisted her arm around and high up in the air so that her blade could be no help to her, the other one was wrapped against her back and the thorns dug deeply into both patches of exposed flesh. Her back was arched so that her chest was close to the ground, she felt gravity pulling on her breast and felt cock-teased because this didn't end the way she'd been expecting.

There was a lot of pleasure in the uncomfortable pressure that the vines applied to her body, they restrained her perfectly, leaving only one leg without support. It hung limply where it was but no tentacle came to explore the between them. A damn shame to waste a beautiful moment where she was so drenched she could feel her panties clinging to her. The vines had come from other directions as well, one wrapped around her throat, curling up around the back of her skull - entangling itself in her hair - and curling about her forehead like a crown behind her horns. It had to coil around the base of the opposite side, and she felt shivers of bliss run through her body.

As for texture, they were mostly soft and pliable, like new grape vines. Except for the jagged thorns that cut into her body as the tendrils slid over her skin. How it didn't slice through her jugular and kill her was beyond her. Unless it was being controlled and was told to keep her alive, in that case, she should be doing something other than silently begging for penetration...

She looked down at the ground, beside the one she'd cut short earlier was the book she'd stolen from the mansion. Her eyes glance over its pages. When it had fallen it fell open, sadly a good bit of her blood's been spilled across the pages. After all, she probably looked like a sacrificial lamb to whatever god she was attempting to summon. Even now with her limited breath and the loss of so much midnight blue blood she was able to focus on the words displayed on the pages of the tomb she'd taken.

So when her host appeared in their previous form of large smoky mass and bone-white mask appeared she was reading the book almost casually. In their hands was a blue and silver gown with a sweetheart neckline on a surplice bodice and a high-low skirt of wispy silver texture - one that admittedly would fit Ash's style perfectly. "Could you... Turn... The page?" She asked, her vision turning towards them, her voice hoarse as the plant life squeezed it enough to control her conversation but not kill her very quickly at all.

This did not seem to please Emory. "LooK At yOu, You'RE a MEss..." The choir of voices all sounded disappointed in her.  Like the world she'd left behind, all billions and billions of the people who knew nothing of her or even her name yet still could feel sorry for her. They then waved their hand and the vine around her throat loosened up. "whAt dO yOU hAvE tO sAy fOr yOUrsElf?"

Ash couldn't decide if she was sad that the constriction around her esophagus was gone, or if she was happy to be able to talk normally again. "Well if your Hentai pet here had done its job I would have been a bit more satisfied with my position."

The blank hollows of the mask just stared at her. Apparently unable to comprehend what she was saying.

"Can you turn the page or not?" Ash asked, nodding towards the book.

"You DoN'T HaVe TiMe To ReaD a FaNTaSY NoVeL, We HaVe tO gEt yOU rEAdY fOr thE bAll!" Emory, or rather all the voices that made up Emory's speech, sounded upset.

"I understand, but please. Let me at least finish this one scene. I'll never remember my spot if I stop in the middle of a paragraph..." Ash pleaded.

There was stubborn silence between them before Emory motioned at the book and with their power was able to flip a single page. All while managing a sense of anger and bored.

"Thank you," Ash said, then turned back to continue where the last page had left off. "It says here that the Djinni Emory had been a reluctant companion of Osa through his sea-faring adventures as he had been freed from a magical item that had sunk into the abyss that was the ocean and reattached to the Quill. And again re-attached to the book he'd written with the creature's blood. Now the magical being is cursed to follow the book where ever it goes."

There is some silence between them once more. Her's was smug, their's was of shock. They now dropped the dress and lifted the book up with its own arms, reading what they could between splotches of ink blue blood. They snapped it closed, lifted it up above their head and tried to smash the book with the anger that radiated from them. Only to be forced to stop.

"It also said that only the true owner of the book could release Emory or any other creatures that may be trapped within the pages." Ash said, lifting her head up to look at Emory's mask. "Too bad that guy is long dead, huh?"

"do YoU mEaN MAstEr in tHe MusIC rOOM?" They turned back towards the house, looking at the destroyed windows.

"Nah. That chump was just a collector of shit he didn't need. Including you." Ash said, pointing at the book with The Quill. "The original author. Or whoever he gave his power, too. If anyone."

Emory looked up at the suspended Morality Mirrored Humanoid and then spotted the fabled dagger. "YOU!" All the voices exclaimed.

"Hm?" Ash asked, but smiled.

"YoU HavE thE ReD DeVIL's QuILL! HaVE yoU ThE REd deViL'S ClAW?"

"Oh, this little trinket? Yes, and it's partner." Ash said casually.

"YOu wiLL Let mE Go thIS iNStanT!" Emory demanded, rage reaching the point of exploding. The scent of desperation strong in the air.

"I should keep you bound to my will, with the shit you've put me through. But if you get Rose here to let go, and take me to the gate out of this place, I guess I can release you." As soon as it escaped her lips the tentacles released her, she meant to twist in the air to land properly but the thorns had caused several limbs to fall asleep. Thankfully Emory had every reason to catch her now. She landed gently in his arms, and admittedly it was a comfortable set of arms...

"We caN TAke ThE CarRIAge." They stated, already walking through the maze, expertly so. So well that in a matter of minutes they were approaching the headless horseman and the nightmare beast that pulled the gorgeously designed moving room. Without a word, they strolled up to the door which opened on its own and carried her inside. They placed her gently on the seat she had ridden in on and took their own.

While they traveled Ash heavily debated on actually releasing the creature. They could do nothing to the book and nothing to her that she wouldn't like. They were creepy and interesting. But at the same time, insane and unreliable. They could shift between forms and that was fun, but if they were useful at all outside of outbursts the demoness couldn't gather.

The real problem was she would have to destroy the book. She might get away with just ripping out the pages that were written in Emory's blood, but how many would that be? How could she be sure? Logically it wouldn't be the pages she'd been able to read, but some before that. Osa would have had to discover he'd trapped the demon in the book before he could write about it. And the book was too big to read on just a few short hours of a drive.

Her only solution was to scan every page with her tools at hand, specifically her cyberdeck. She would have to devote time later to read this, perhaps even publish it somewhere on the dataverse to immortalize Osa in some way. Not that she thought he deserved it, she would just like a quick reference to shit about him. In case it ever comes up. Maybe Omni will read it and think he is interesting enough to bring here as well. Then they could really raise hell.

They reached a gate in a few hours. She was able to finish scanning each page by that time and even had time for another long nap to heal up. Her outfit was damaged beyond repair, but nothing a quick summon couldn't fix. She summoned a fire first, stripped down to nothing and then tossed the clothing into the fire. The cool breeze caressed her body and made her think about how she missed being a stripper sometimes. Maybe Harlan would have a special room she could use as her domain and invite the seedier of company back to watch her undress.

She held her book out and concentrated, thinking about what she'd like to wear versus what she should be wearing in the next few verses. She summoned a form-fitting shirt with tails that slipped between her legs and did nothing to cover up the deep scarring that remained from her simple healing, then some tight fitting black pants. Sturdy boots that reached up to her knees. Gloves of leather that covered her hands and wrists but not her fingers. She summoned a cloak of thin material, learning from her last experience, and changing the piercings in her body form silver to gold.

When that was finished, taking inspiration from the cover of the book and what was inside the book, she tossed the tomb into the flames. It was abrupt and sudden, but casual and very nonchalant. Emory was left gapping at the flames, "T-ThAt easILy?"

"Yep," Ash said, boredly, taking a seat next to the fire. It slowly began to change from the usual red to green.

"...we WouLD Like To apologize."

"It also said it was painful for you to be trapped to a book for so long, that it might be why you were looking your mind. Explained that you were saying strange things at the end there." Ash looked up, her blank eyes had no pupils but Emory could see them just fine. "Like saying you were sorry and shit."

Emory smiled, just before their form began to fade away in green flames as well, the ashes of the Red Devil's book turning to rainbow lights and vanishing in the night sky.

When Ash looked back up, the horsedrawn carriage and the driver were gone, too. She didn't go looking for it, she just sat there and stared at the flames as they went from green, to blue, to purple, to red, and then back to orange again...