Innocent Sacrifice - 4. Chapter 4

A lot seemed to happen in the first few days, and Su Yin had a lot of trouble distinguishing between one day and the next. The fire-stars burned in the sky day and night, and in the distance, curtains of red flame burned up into the blackness. Zhihao told him they were the divide between their part of hell, and the outer rings where nobody went, and Su Yin didn’t feel the need to explore the matter further.

Unlike his time in the temple, he always seemed to be busy, and there was always somewhere to go, someone to meet, and crucially, something to read. He’d been in a bit of a daze as they’d made their way from the portal to the house where Zhihao lived. Unlike others he saw, squat black stone constructions more like caves than houses, Xingjhao was a masterful example of classical architecture, with carved wooden columns, a sweeping roof of red terracotta tiles with a dragons at each corner, and flanked by two enormous white stone lions, bigger than any Su Yin had ever seen. He’d wanted to touch them, to stroke a paw big as his own head, but Zhihao had shaken his head, and Su Yin had resisted.

There hadn’t been much else he’d needed to resist since he’d been in hell, and while Zhihao had made good on his promises of clothes, shoes, and food, he had also clearly been thinking about new and interesting ways to bring them pleasure together. As soon as they had been safely secured away in Zhihao’s apartments, the red demon had stripped him naked, lain him out on the bed, and fucked him to completion. Su Yin had loved every second of it, adored having his body filled up by his lover’s many orgasms, and had been utterly exhausted by the time they had finished. Without even paying heed to his rumbling stomach, he’d passed out wrapped in his lover’s arms. He’d awoken in what he assumed was the dead of night, Zhihao snoring softly behind him, and prepared himself with fingers slicked up by his own saliva, and woken Zhihao by sliding onto his cock. It had been magnificent.

By far the biggest surprise had been on the third day, when Su Yin had discovered that he and his lover did not live alone.

“We do not have Xingjhao to ourselves, beautiful.” Zhihao told him with a smile. “Demons were not made to live alone, no more than humans were.”

“Well, who else lives here?”

“A few people, you’ll meet them all in time. They’ve been avoiding us.”

Su Yin frowned.

“Why?” He hated to think his presence had damaged Zhihao’s standing with the other demons he knew, or that they found him somehow offensive.

“They’re being polite, that is all. Would you like to meet them? It’s the middle of the day, and I expect most people will be downstairs.”

“Yes.” Su Yin stroked the big, green gem set in the necklace he wore. “Do you think I should get dressed?”

“That’s your choice my love, but I think clothes might be wise.”

Zhihao’s wardrobe was enormous, taking up a whole wall of their room behind rice paper screens painted with smoke clouds, colourful magpies, and magnolia flowers, and little in it had fitted him. Zhihao told him that they would bring him other clothes, so for now, Su Yin dressed in another pair of silk trousers, these ones a pale yellow, and the same coat which had been made for him at the temple. He left the last frog undone, showing off the jewels which claimed him as Zhihao’s own.

“There are lots of different types of demons, but only two real sorts,” Zhihao explained as they began to descend the first of many red lacquered staircases. “Minor demons, like me, and major demons. Major demons are older, much more important and powerful, and they attend the Court of the King and the Prince. Every house has a major demon, and you should meet ours.”

“OK.” Su Yin wondered if he needed the crawling sensation of nervousness in his gut, and wished he could dispel it somehow. Zhihao didn’t look worried, but he seemed serious.

“Fan He Ling is the most powerful person we live with. Do not lie to her, and do as she asks.” Zhihao smoothed away Su Yin’s worried frown with the pad of his thumb. “I promise she will not ask things of you which will make you unhappy.” Zhihao held his hand tight as they approached the open entrance to the main dining area of the house. “I’ll be here. Don’t worry.”

There was a large, open U-shaped table of dark wood at which four other people knelt on cushions, but the low murmur of conversation ceased when they entered. Su Yin scanned the house’s occupants quickly, but he knew exactly who Fan He Ling was the moment he saw her. The lady was slim and reposed, and even kneeling, Su Yin could tell she was very tall. She was incredibly beautiful, but as she looked up at them, he had to hide a shudder as he realised her face was a mask, porcelain white, and her eyes were nothing but darkness.

“Guanyu Zhihao.”

“M’lady.” Zhihao bowed low before taking a place at the table.

Su Yin stood with his head bowed automatically, but looked up as he heard the silk rustle as the lady came towards him.

“And who might you be?”

“Su Yin.” The boy tried to hold the empty gaze, but couldn’t. Instead he let his eyes roam over the lavish pale jade silk of Fan He Ling’s robes, and the lotus flowers, bigger than his hand, which adorned her complicated hair style.

“And you have chosen to come and live here, with us.”

“With him,” Su Yin corrected quickly. “Yes.”

“Well then, I suppose you should join us for lunch.” The major demon’s mouth didn’t move when she spoke, and Su Yin couldn’t help but find her unnerving. But he bowed in thanks, and took the seat next to Zhihao, pressing momentarily close to his side before daring to look around the room.

“Here, I’m going to bet you’re hungry.”

Su Yin glanced up at the person who had spoken to him, his hands already reached for the bowl of rice he was being offered, a word of thanks already on his lips, when his eyes finally got the message through to his brain, and he fell back with surprise. Everyone apart from Fan He Ling chuckled.

“Some skittishness is to be expected I suppose,” the little fox demon said with a smile. He placed the rice down, along with a pair of ornate lacquered chopsticks, and returned to his own place with a grin. “You have questions Su Yin, I can tell.”

Zhihao hugged his companion softly.

“Jin-Ha knows things, it’s his special skill. He has joined our house rather recently from Zinkara Rumah.”

“Why did you leave anyway?” This came from a person who could have been Zhihao’s brother, except that he was much less handsome, and his skin was a rich sky blue. He also sported long double fangs, and wore his hair in a top knot like Su Yin’s own. “Everyone says it is a very blessed house, favoured by the Prince. Of course, I suppose it helps if you share their particular... proclivities.”

“Wei….” Zhihao complained to his friend, and Su Yin felt lost.

“There were too many after Lahja joined us, and so many couples.” The fox replied in a smooth undulating tone which made Su Yin entranced, even though he understood almost nothing of what the demon actually said. “Though I see that’s a trend which is becoming ever more popular.”

“Maybe you’re cursed,” Wei teased.

“Boys….” The only person who had not yet spoken rapped on the table with the back of her chopsticks, and glared at her companions. “You are confusing our guest, or rather, the newest member of our house. Try to remember what it was like before you knew everyone’s name.”

“Thank you.”

“Eat your rice Su Yin.” The girl who had spoken smiled warmly.

At first glance, she looked no older than he was, but her eyes twinkled with mischief and something else much darker. Su Yin wasn’t willing to label it as ‘evil’ necessarily, but he made a mental note not to be left alone in the dark with the girl who sounded so sweet.

“I’m Wakumi. The big blue monster is Wei Xian, and this is Jin-Ha. He is a kitsune.”

“I know, I recognise him from scrolls.”

“Oh really?” The little fox’s ears gave away his surprise and interest, and he left his seat to perch on Su Yin’s other side, stroking his huge fluffy tail before he sat within its coil. “And tell me Su Yin, have you read stories about me too?”

“Yes.” Su Yin was grateful for Zhihao’s hand holding his own, because he couldn’t look away from the fox who sat so neatly and reposed, and who spoke with such grace and charm. “I love to read, but I still have much to learn.”

“Well then, we shall have to find you some brushes and ink. There are people who will teach you, I’ve no doubt.” The kitsune laid a slender, soft furred hand on his shoulder, and smiled in a manner Su Yin could only describe in his head as ‘cute’. “I can see you are already eager to learn new things.”

When Zhihao snarled, Su Yin physically flinched, broke eye contact with the fox, and looked at his lover. Jin-Ha held his palms out in supplication.

“Calm, Zhihao. I am not going to try and take your boy away from you.” Jin-Ha stood with a smile. “I am due to join Shindae at the West portal. It was nice to meet you Su Yin.” He inclined his head, bowed to Fan He Ling, and slipped from the room.

Su Yin frowned. He felt like he’d heard everything the kitsune had said from within a strange, soft dream.

“What just happened?”

“Jin-Ha is a clairsentient, he knows things,” Wakumi explained. “He’s only been with us a few years, and it’s taking some getting used to.”

“He can read my mind?”

“Not as such, he just… divines information from the air, or something.”

“And he’s an orator,” Wei chipped in. “It’s impossible not to listen to him, even for other demons.”

“He is second most powerful in the house, under Fan He Ling,” Zhihao told him. “Eat, my love. Then perhaps we shall go out?”

Su Yin finished his rice, drank the green tea which only the girls had so far touched, and began to gather the empty bowls automatically.

“You do not need to, you are not a servant.”

Su Yin smiled at the demon whose bed he shared, but shrugged.

“We always had to at the foundling house, and kitchen duty was way better than being stuck in the laundry. I don’t mind.”

“Don’t.” Zhihao laid his hand over Su Yin’s wrist, and took the bowls from him. “They will come to expect it of you, and you are neither my servant nor theirs. The house will take care of the dishes itself.”

Su Yin frowned.

“The house does the washing up?”

“Of course,” Wei boomed, “it’s not like any of us do it, or the laundry. Listen to your friend, little one. Go have fun.”

*

Hell, Su Yin reflected as he walked with an arm around Zhihao’s waist, was a strange place. The sky being covered with messy stars like campfires was almost normal compared to the rivers and pools of lava which flowed, sometimes sluggish, sometimes with a speed he found terrifying, across the landscape of undulating black stone. Like the town he’d grown up in, nothing seemed to have been designed, just plonked down wherever the shape of the land allowed, and the result seemed messy and disorganised. Su Yin, used to having so few possessions he could, not quite, fit them all in both hands, disliked the untidiness of it all. The only paths he would deign to call proper roads lead from each of the four portals, dissecting each other before joining to flow out of sight around the huge boulders, bigger than the five storey pagoda back at Taiqing, which Zhihao said hid the palace from their line of sight.

The people of hell were strange too, and after stepping off the path for a huge beast which seemed to be made up of a permanently shedding rockfall, Su Yin gave silent thanks that all his new housemates were so normal by comparison. Zhihao didn’t seem to have a destination in mind as they walked, but was willing to let Su Yin pick their direction over the landscape.

“So, who lives in the palace?” Su Yin asked as he walked carefully along a ridge of basalt which jutted at an angle from the ground. He held his arms out for balance, concentrating as the ledge grew narrower.

“Sathriel, the devil and King of hell, and his only remaining son, Nassau. Sathriel does not leave the palace much, except to go upstairs, but if we are lucky we may see the Prince on our travels.”

Su Yin leapt down from his balance beam, and titled his head in curiosity.

“What do you mean by ‘only remaining son’? Was there more than one?”

“Do you remember the friend I told you of?”

“Tao Li,” the boy recalled.

“Well done. Well the political war he got on the wrong side of, so long ago now that hardly anyone remembers it, was when there were still three Princes. The older pair forced their brother to leave hell, tried to kill him, and took his power. Eventually he returned, killed them both, and their supporters, and now there is only one Prince.”

“He sounds terrible.”

“He was by far the nicest of them,” interjected a voice not far off, “still is. Hello Zhihao. The rumour mill has been all a-buzzing that you recruited. I’m so glad it’s true.”

Su Yin turned to look at the speaker, and found himself face to face with a creature who might at some point previously, have been a cat. He had ash-grey fur, bright yellow eyes, and long curved horns. His clothes were strange, including a flat-fronted coat of thick cotton held at the sides with many buckles, and he had a long tail which swayed from side to side behind him. He jumped down from his perch on a convenient boulder, but Su Yin drew back as he approached.

“Zai… what brings you to our side of the circle?” Zhihao wrapped his arm around Su Yin’s shoulders, and the boy snuggled instantly into his side. “Su Yin, this is Zai. He is one of Jin-Ha’s former housemates.”

“Oh.” Su Yin frowned, and bit his lip. “Are you going to try and bewitch me too?”

Zai laughed, and it was such a normal, human noise Su Yin’s raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“Our little fox has never been able to hide want he wants. You’re just his type too.” Zai appeared to sense Zhihao’s annoyance before the demon had even moved a muscle. “Don’t you worry big guy, Jin-Ha isn’t the type to sneak around. If he wants to borrow your boy, he’ll ask permission, and like it or not, he’ll respect your answer. Asians….” Zai rolled his eyes as if this explained everything. “So tell me, young one, are you enjoying your time so far?”

“My name is Su Yin,” the boy struck back with a glare. “But yes, I like it here very much, thank you.” He narrowed his eyes at Zai. “And no one is ‘borrowing me’ for anything either, thank you.”

“Shame,” Zai sighed. “So where are you boys off to? Not the palace already?”

“I was going to take him to Stores, and see if we can’t find some other clothes which fit. And maybe some writing materials.” Zhihao smiled down at him. “I’ll bet we can even put in a request for a writing desk.”

Su Yin clapped his hands excitedly, reached up and pulled Zhihao down by his hair for a kiss. He didn’t care that Zai was watching, the feline demon certainly hadn’t looked away, because no one had ever given him things in his old life, and Su Yin couldn’t think of a better way to show his appreciation. Not when fully dressed anyhow. Zhihao’s tongue in his mouth was warm and cautious, but Su Yin lapped at him insistently, pressing himself close in the gap between Zhihao’s fangs, until the yaoguai groaned against him.

“Thank you.”

“Assuming you intend to show your boy a good time, I’ll put in a request for some whiskey and rice wine at Snakes and Snakes. We look forward to seeing you there.” Zai bowed unexpectedly, and Su Yin found himself inclining his head automatically. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Su Yin.”

They watched the feline slip away as easily as he had appeared, and Su Yin frowned.

“That was strange.”

“Strange is a pretty good way to describe Zai,” Zhihao replied. “But he is a friend of the Prince, and a powerful demon in his own right. It is good that he likes us.”

“Everything here is about politics, isn’t it?” Su Yin asked.

“Oh, my love, politics runs every world in the ‘verse. As above, so below. Come, let me show you the view.”

It was a hard climb up the step scree slope of the nearest hill, but there was a flat plateau at the top, and when Su Yin looked back, their house was incredibly close, as though he’d be there in ten steps. The sky seemed bigger from where they stood, but the great curtains for fire were further away. To Su Yin’s surprise, much of the land still seemed to slope away above them.

“That’s the palace.” Zhihao waved a hand to the expansive mass of stone and glass which sat in the centre of their world. It was a maze of minarets, towers and domes rising high into the dark sky. “They say the house with the best view of the palace is the luckiest among us.”

Su Yin gazed up the slope in the direction his lover pointed. It might not have been the biggest building, and certainly wasn’t as beautiful as Xingjhao, but just by looking, Su Yin could tell it was a place of great importance.

“Zinkara Rumah?” he guessed, and Zhihao smiled.

“The very same. The most populous and most blessed house on the hill.”

Su Yin couldn’t help but frown.

“What did Wei Xian mean about their ‘proclivities’?”

“Haha! Like you and I, the inhabitants of Zinkara Rumah are well known for only seeking pleasure with those of the same sex. Zai says their major has a rule about not having girls in the house.” Zhihao paused. “I never asked you… do you like girls?”

“Not especially,” Su Yin replied with a shiver. The idea of a female in bed, especially having heard the way the boys from the foundling home who had been with whores described them, all soft and squishy, made him far more uncomfortable than Zai’s suggestion of sharing. “Is that… are we, unusual?”

“Fairly. Demons live forever, so most indulge in exploits with either gender at some point or other. Some prefer one, or both, often at the same time.”

“I saw a painting like that once.” Su Yin didn’t offer his opinion with the information. At the time, he had been too young to do more than just flip the image over, trying to forget what few details he’d even seen.

“Jin-Ha and I, and the demons of Zinkara Rumah, are considered odd that we are exclusive to our own kind, though not always exclusive to a single person.”

They walked on a little more, and as they reached a broad lake of red hot magma, a strange collection of sharp rocks jutting permanently from the surface, Su Yin asked the question which had been growing and forming in his mind since Zhihao had growled at Jin-Ha over lunch.

“Is that something you want? Are there others you desire?”

“Now? No.”

“And in the future?” Su Yin probed.

“Who can say, my love?” Zhihao smiled, and pressed the boy close to his side. The gesture and the direction of the conversation was having a measurable effect on his anatomy. “No demon, no matter their skills, can see the future. There may come a time when you desire others also.” Zhihao paused. “Though I would never do anything without your blessing.” His tone became firm, and Su Yin shivered with recognition at the voice which had been used on him when they’d first met. “I ask you do the same for me.”

“Yes.”

“That said, I wouldn’t mind watching you show that little fox who’s boss. You’re sexy when you’re being defensive.”

Su Yin arched an eyebrow in surprise.

“Is that so?”

“Mmmm….” Zhihao ran his big hands down Su Yin’s spine, pressing him against his chest, and cupped Su Yin’s rear through his silk coat. “I am thinking about ways to bring you great pleasure.”

“Zhihao!” Su Yin gaped at his lover, blushing at such a bold statement. “I thought you were taking me to find new clothes?”

Zhihao grumbled wordlessly, nuzzling at Su Yin’s hair and the soft skin of his neck.

“If I get a new outfit, maybe you can show me if I’m beautiful in it?”

“You’re always beautiful,” Zhihao purred, and then Su Yin saw his green eyes widen as he understood the inflection behind Su Yin’s words. “Oh… of course, my love.”

*

Su Yin lead his lover back to their rooms by the hand, his narrow body hidden beneath the folds of a simple dark red robe, unadorned, except for an edging of gold silk which ran around his throat, and down the opening at the front. All the way back from Stores, having put in a requisition for a writing desk to one of the scavenging teams, Zhihao had been unable to look away from the boy he had chosen to bring home with him.

The yaoguai had never thought he would recruit, or find a mate, but not for a single moment had he regretted his decision. Su Yin was beautiful, enchanting, and he had taken to their sexual exploits as though born for it. It wasn’t just that though, the boy was also strong, charged with an inner coil of passion whose origin Zhihao couldn’t begin to guess at. He’d been scared of Fan He Ling, but not a quivering mess, and the way he’s stood up to Jin-Ha, despite the kitsune’s overwhelming vocal talents, made Zhihao desire him all the more. He had acquired a few other items at Stores, and he very much hoped his lover was in the mood for what he had in mind.

Su Yin turned to him as the demon slid shut the door. He was smiling softly, his fingers gripping the edges of the long sleeves which nearly covered his hands. Zihao wondered if it was excitement or nervousness which made him blush as the yaoguai came closer.

“Get on the bed.”

Su Yin scrambled to obey him, and Zhihao found himself wondering why. The boy knew he was not going to be hurt, or killed, by his lover, but there were small moments where he was still very much the young virgin sacrifice who had stood in his temple, and told Zhihao he was there for him, without really knowing what it meant. Zhihao had had another big mirror installed in his room long ago, and he turned Su Yin’s attention to it.