Of Heaven or Hell, Chapter 1: A Divine
Intervention
“There’s an anomaly.”
Felin was, at the moment, sitting at her central workstation, in the basement level of the castle where she spent most of her time now, examining a particular terminal readout that was showing the result of the day’s experiment. The light in the laboratory tended to be dim, the better to present the atmosphere of a mad scientist working at devious plots. As Felin knew well, appearance was everything, especially when in unfamiliar territory. She doubted that the atmosphere scared Jelex or Syia very much anymore, because they had been down here enough times to know what to expect. Still, Felin rationalized, she used up enough electricity as it was with all of the computers and devices she had running, and there was no need to add to that demand by lighting every square inch of the laboratory. An overhead light here and there sufficed, illuminating faintly the rows of computer mainframes, machinery, and bio-cultures that she had set up in a grid stretching through the entire expanse of her territory. Just because it was tightly packed didn’t mean that it had to be messy; the cords for the various machines were bundled and tagged appropriately, plugged into outlets that were sunken into the floor and covered, so no one would trip over them and unplug a vital console.
Felin’s central workstation was not in the center of this vast expanse of scientific tools. Though it was often pleasing to the human sense of symmetry to have an irregularity situated in the center of a pattern, it was in this case wholly inefficient. Her workspace was a semicircle of computer tables, anchored on one end by three low file cabinets and a writing desk on the other, forming a rough U-shape with its open end to the left, if one faced it from the entrance. The workstation was twenty-five feet away from the entrance to the laboratory, so it could be seen from the doorway, because Felin had cleared a wider path from the entrance to the central workstation. She had even laid out a thick black carpet along this walkway, including the two steps one had to descend from the doorway to the main laboratory floor. This walkway was lit dimly by overhead lights, with much brighter overhead lights hanging from the ceiling over top of Felin’s work area, highlighting it in a comparative halo with the dimmer surroundings. Or that’s what people always saw; the door, when opened, triggered an increase in brightness – over a period of fifteen seconds, of course, to prevent eyestrain. After they had left, the lights dimmed back down to normal, with the glow of computer screens playing on Felin’s face as she worked.
Frequently, Felin had more than one process running at the same time. One computer today was monitoring the growth of a new form of plant life that seemed especially promising; it had been bred from plants whose primary external stimulus was not light or atmospheric conditions but sound; with some editing of its genetic code, particularly adding functions to increase stem thickness and adding greater motor ability, it would be quite a fearsome predator indeed. Though, perhaps ‘predator’ was not quite the correct word for it…
Two other monitors were dark, their processors working to refine and compile a new AI program. Felin had recently begun adding voice and visual monitoring capabilities to her various machines, and the AI needed tweaking in order to best utilize those new capabilities. The sound functionality was simple enough, on its face, but it was proving tricky to perfect, and the video feed monitoring was downright complex. But, once the routines were perfected, she’d have machines capable of monitoring biological signs, visual reactions, and aural input, and be able to tweak their performance accordingly. It was not yet intelligent machinery by any means, but it was a significant improvement. Next, she planned to implement alternative modalities for different situations, and allow the AI to switch between them…
The fourth terminal was running a routine to handle the high-energy physical space alternator, a device which Felin was hoping might lead to interesting possibilities. She suspected that the ‘dimensional hole’ gimmick, which was so fondly known as a way to reach… vulnerable spots… in normally protected area, could possibly be brought about through application of a theorem that posited the possibility of ‘folding’ space, and then making a ‘hole’ through it, so that one could be physically connected to a location that was, speaking in terms of distance, quite far away. The results were being displayed on the fifth terminal’s screen, which was what Felin was looking at right now, and the reason for her comment.
“It’s as if someone has taken hold of the irregularity and is pulling at it…” Felin mused aloud, translating a complex and highly theoretical physics concept into an everyday action. As if someone were trying to push a blanket through a hole with a leaf blower, and someone on the other side was assisting its passage by taking hold of the bit that had been pushed through, and tugging at it. But, it became clear that the ‘fold’ in physical space that she was aiming for was developing only into a wrinkle, and with that realization, the timer on the alternator expired, and it ceased trying to distort space, allowing the ‘wrinkle’ to smooth itself out, as the theory predicted it would. Felin glanced at the glass of milk sitting on her writing desk, then back at the data. She was tempted to switch the monitor off and take a break, but something caught her eye. It was the movement of the ‘wrinkle’, or more specifically, the lack thereof.
“That’s quite strange indeed…” Felin rolled her chair back slowly, keeping her eyes on the slowly changing numbers indicating the size of the distortion. Taking her glass of milk in hand, she sipped it and realized that it had gone warm. This wasn’t the first time that it had happened; often, Felin would pour herself a glass of milk, take a sip, and then get so absorbed in her work that she would forget it was there, only to come back to it a few hours later and discover that it had gone warm. What a waste… Felin sighed, but it could not be helped. Setting the glass aside to take upstairs to the kitchen when she returned, Felin simply took the milk jug out of the mini-refrigerator she had built in below the writing desk, and carefully put it to her lips, trying to drink while she was still watching the numbers on the monitor screen.
The fold was still growing, so indicated by the numbers on the screen, but at a painfully slow pace. In her impatience, Felin finished the entire jug of milk that remained, about a quarter gallon that had been left in the jug, and then waited, staring at the screen intensely while willing something to happen faster. As the minutes ticked by, accompanied by the snail’s speedometer that the program seemed determined to imitate, Felin told herself that the reason she was bouncing her leg was because she was impatient. But, fifteen minutes after she had begun staring a hole into the monitor screen, Felin admitted that the real reason she was bouncing in her seat was because she needed to pee, and drinking all that milk had made the problem worse. So, with a sigh of vexation, Felin switched off the fourth monitor, that was showing nothing more than a repeat of the values on the fifth monitor, and made a keystroke command that told the computer to track the values she was watching, then plot them on a graph over time so she could come back later and see what the pattern was.
Having admitted that she needed the restroom seemed to spur the urge, and Felin wasted no time in taking the warm milk and heading upstairs. The door that guarded the entrance to her lab was a thick steel security door, hydraulically powered and connected to the security system that prevented access by uninvited guests. Of course, Jaynin and Syia and Jelex were recognized by the system, but their arrival triggered a few other routines. The door would open, yes, but it would trigger the lighting system that she had previously noted. Also, those three could open the door from the outside without interference, but Felin had a subroutine which could be activated to bar them from exiting once inside. Felin, of course, could override that with her own biologic signature, which the computer was programmed to recognize. In this case, a retinal sensor built into the top of the doorframe caught her retinal pattern when she glanced at it, and the hydraulic motors built into the wall made the door retract smoothly.
It was, by all accounts, a rapid process, yet Felin’s current urge made her tap her foot impatiently, and squeeze between the door and the frame before it was fully open. Not that this was particularly dangerous, since there were motion sensors on the edge of the door plate that would stop its movement if it detected something between itself and the doorframe. That was what happened now, as the door jerked to a halt when Felin squeezed through, and then resumed moving once she had gotten past. Beyond the door was a stairway leading up to the main floor, and as the light filtered down from above, the stones that made up the passageway looked less like dark blue and more like light grey, their true color. Felin, still going strong with her urge, had made it up two steps before a stray thought caught up with her, and she turned back to look at the door.
After she had made it through, the door had started to close again. It was a safety measure, that the laboratory was kept closed, but Felin knew that any of the other inhabitants of the castle would be able to open the door up again. Usually, when she left the lab, Felin punched in a code on the keypad set into the wall on this side, which would prevent the door from opening for anybody until she entered the release code. But… she glanced at the keypad, and ignored it, hurrying up the stairs and trying not to think about the fact that she had to use the restroom quite badly.
Felin emerged from the base of the right-hand tower, going a short distance up the circular stairway to emerge in the anteroom, the large welcoming area that served to awe and impress visitors who entered the castle through the main entranceway. It would be the first room they saw. From Felin’s perspective, the double doors to the entrance hall were off to her left; Felin had emerged near the right-hand wall of the anteroom. The entrance to her laboratory was beneath the right tower, whose aboveground floors were sealed, containing the castle’s plumbing, air vents, and other infrastructure needed to turn a castle into a modern place to live.
The anteroom, or common room as it was more commonly called, was carpeted in a plush red, with circles and semicircles of couches and chairs arrayed off to either side of the central walkway, which was distinguished by the thinner carpet and gold trim. From the main entrance, one path led to the right tower and Felin’s lab, the other to the left tower and the staircase leading to the floors above. A third path led straight through the center of the common room, between the various tables and chairs. Upon reaching the far wall, the central path ended at a stone hearth and iron-grated fireplace, with a large picture of the castle’s owner hanging on the wall above. The fireplace was not lit now; it was too early in the year for that. But Felin sighed and shook her head, grimacing as she always did at that ostentatious picture. Why, she asked, would anyone need such a large boost to their ego?
Shaking thoughts of Jaynin’s picture aside, Felin started up the central pathway, turning left at the hearth and following the path to the door, opening it inwards and arriving at the kitchen, her first destination. The kitchen was a long rectangular room with, as one might expect, all of the food in the castle. The rear half of the kitchen was a semi-closed pantry, with all of the dry food stocks, and some chest freezers for frozen food. The front half had a small, four-person wooden table set against the wall, with matching wooden chairs, so as to provide a cozy place to partake of a snack or a meal. It was more frequently used than the large dining room, which had a more formal feel to it, and was adjacent to the kitchen, connected by a door on the right-hand wall. Set against the left-hand wall, just a little bit beyond the table, was the refrigerator, and across from the refrigerator were the cabinets and countertops used for food preparation, as well as the stove and oven to cook with. The sink and dish racks were just to the right upon entering the room, set against the near wall. It was here that Felin headed quickly, dumping out the warm milk into the sink and then running some warm water to wash out the glass, before putting it in the white plastic dish drainer to the left of the sink and scurrying out of the room. The warm running water had done no good for her condition…
Felin, now walking with a bounce in each step as she went up on her toes, going at a much faster pace, crossed back into the common room and, not bothering to stay on the path, cut through the clusters of couches and chairs to cross to the other side of the room and enter the base of the left tower, a large semicircular form that rounded the corner of the common room. Felin pushed open the door and started to take the stairs two at a time, running up the broad stairs that circled around a wide central column and spiraled upward. Lining the wall were torches that seemed to blaze merrily and illuminate the path upward, but they were in reality faux torches, powered by electricity to provide constant light, not the flickering of real fire. Real torches would have been too much of a hassle, and unsafe on a stairway. The stairs, radiating outward from the central column as they did, were narrower near the center and broader at the edge, so one tended to walk around the edge of the stairs when going up. It could be dangerous to run on the stairs, lest one trip and fall, but Felin’s urge for the restroom was urgent enough to override caution, and within a minute she had reached the door to the second floor.
Throwing the door open and letting it bang against the wall, Felin trotted down the hallway of the second floor. High-ceilinged, with the faux torches lining the walls and stand tables with various plants or vases there as well, it was quite a comfortable place to live. Lining the walls on either side were sturdy wooden doors, leading to the dormitories, most of which were unoccupied; there were far more rooms in the castle than there were occupants. Frequently there were guests, but sometimes it got very quiet, when all the guests were gone. Now was such a time, though there were advantages to that. One of them was that the bathroom would be free… At the end of the hallway, the corridor made a right-angle turn to the right, leading to more dormitories. It would turn once more, completing an inverted U-shape that was squared off at the ends, forming a large square structure with the U as an interior hallway.
But Felin was only interested in what was halfway down the top hallway, which was the bathroom, on the right side. It was actually easy to spot, because the entrance to the bathroom was a double door as well. Why that should be so, Felin had never thought to ask, but she pushed through the doors anyway, entering the unique bathroom. It was more like… a public bathroom in some respects, but far more luxurious. The bathroom was tiled in a muted shade of pink, with a lower ceiling, and usually feeling rather steamy. Immediately to the right was an alcove with cubbyholes and towels, so one could undress and enter the large hot tub, which was across from the alcove. Going straight back from the door led one into the regular bathrooms; to the left, there was a series of cubicles and shower stalls, with privacy curtains of course. To the right, there were four doors that led into small, private bathrooms, each equipped with their own sink. It was into one of these that Felin went right now, relieved to have finally made it.
A minute later, and Felin emerged into the pink-tiled hallway with an expression somewhere between relief and bliss. The entire bathroom/shower/bath area looked rather out of place, given that it was situated in the middle of a castle made of stone. But Felin had to admit that there were certain practices of sanitation which needed to be observed, which was why the ceiling was lower, and the familiar overhead electric lights illuminated the whole area quite thoroughly. The pink tiles would not mildew as much as stone would in these humid conditions, and were easier to clean than stone. The porcelain floor tiles avoided the usual falling of most bathrooms, which was being rather cold during the winter, especially when you were just coming out of the shower. Since the whole bathroom was kept rather warm due to the hot tub, the tiles maintained a comfortable temperature. Aside from that, they were liberally carpeted with bathroom mats…
Felin opened the double doors to the outside, walking in a rather relaxed fashion, her mind in a pleasant nowhere. Pushing open the doors, Felin walked into the stone hallway, and jerked to attention with a yowl of surprise as something shot out fast and grabbed hold of her arm, yanking her out into the hallway and twisting behind her. A moment later, Felin felt the unmistakable sensation of someone’s finger tickling into her bellybutton. The yowl of surprise turned into mewls of laughter, and Felin struggled ineffectively against the strong force that had deftly folded her arm behind her back.
Felin’s body was feline, and as such she was quite limber, her flexibility and dexterity superior to most humans’. However, she was somewhat slightly built, and not terribly strong; her efforts to pull free of her assailant were in vain. The assailant’s other hand was rubbing her white-furred tummy gently, teasing her navel with one finger and circling slowly, occasionally dipping down to tease her waist, below the black fur. Felin’s body was naturally covered with a fine silver-white fur, interspersed in places with random patches of black fur. To cover her modesty, Felin wore clothing carefully designed to appear as these patches of fur. The ‘clothing’ fit snugly on her form, and it was common for someone to mistake it for real fur at first glance; even the texture was the same. The problem was, to maintain the illusion, the pieces of clothing were of a rather skimpy cut, and Felin walked around wearing not very much clothing at all.
“Stoppit, stahhaaha… shaaaaa! Stopp!! Let… me gooohooo!” Felin cried, finally getting over her surprise and raising her tail, mottled black and white like her body, and giving it a good brush over where she guessed her attacker’s midsection would be. The strength of the grip and the quickness of the technique led Felin to suspect who it was; when her tail came into contact with bare skin, she knew for certain. Felin’s tail was prehensile, capable of wrapping, grasping, and contracting, making it quite useful. A quick squeeze around the waist caused the person behind her to yelp and let go of her hand, and Felin was able to spin around, and face her attacker, the ever-mischievous green-eyed elf Jelex.
Felin’s garnet eyes bored in on the Elven girl as she twitched her nose and whiskers, brushing her white hair from her face. “I should have known it was you. What did you do, follow me up to the bathroom and wait to ambush me? No, I ought to know you better than that. You’d have tickled me whether I needed the bathroom or not,” Felin said with a much-put-upon sigh. “So let me guess, you saw me head into the bathroom and then hid behind the door, waiting for me to come out?” The elf shook her long blonde hair, tucking it behind her pointed ears and smiling that infectious, perpetual smile she had.
“Well, kinda. It’s not like you were exactly quiet, you know, slamming the door against the wall like that when you came up. It made me curious, and so when I popped outta my room to see what was up, I saw you waddling off to the bathroom like usual. I’da thought someone as smart as you would’ve invented a bathroom for your lab or something,” Jelex quipped, cracking her gloved hands and grinning; her gloves were without fingers, and she wiggled these at Felin in a suggestive manner, either missing or ignoring Felin’s exasperated expression.
“A bathroom doesn’t need to be invented,” Felin said, speaking slowly, arms crossed beneath her chest and one eye closed, casting a critical eye over Jelex’s form as she spoke. “A bathroom must be installed, and I can’t conjure plumbing out of solid rock, nor do I feel like putting the effort into drilling ducts for the purpose of carrying pipes. It’s easier to simply use the existing facilities.” Jelex wore red shoulder pads with her name written across them in yellow letters, and while Felin wondered why she would do such a thing, she was honest enough to admit that they drew her eye every time, like they were probably supposed to. They attached to the sleeveless black tank top Jelex favored, complete with denim skirt and black boots that reached just short of her knees, lacing up the front with a red backing behind the laces.
“Well, if you say so. Besides, why should I complain? I get to watch you squirm around like a little girl ‘cause you always drink all that milk and wait until you can’t hold it anymore to leave the computer – hey!” Jelex hopped back and waved a finger admonishingly at Felin, who had made as if to insert a cat’s claw into Jelex’s navel. “Don’t blame me that you can’t hold it. Anyway, don’t get so uptight about it.” Jelex started down the hall, then turned and adopted a solemn face and tone. Felin saw the sandbag falling before Jelex even started speaking; she was never serious unless she was mocking someone or making a joke. “Felin, an overactive bladder can be treated or controlled with medication –“ Jelex’s television-narrator voice spurred the catgirl to chase her, and the elf burst into a bout of giggling as she turned and ran. Felin tried to give chase, but Jelex was much faster than she, and had reached the stairway by the time Felin had turned the corner and made it halfway down the hall.
“I do not have an overactive bladder,” Felin groused, as she went into the stairwell and heard footsteps running up the stairs above her. Jelex was probably going to see Syia, and she was probably going to try and get some kind of bladder medication so she could come down later and wave it in Felin’s face… Honestly, sometimes the girl acted like she had never grown up past fifteen. The nurse was not terribly resistant to such persuasion and might just give in… be it persuasion or ‘persuasion’, Jelex could be remarkably convincing. She thought to give chase, but thought better of it, and decided to go back down to her lab and continue working. With one final sigh and exasperated glance upwards, Felin walked back down the stairs, scratching at her stomach to chase away the remaining vestiges of ticklish feeling and scratched the back of her head, tugging on the black section of her hair that fell between her eyes.
Felin went into the common room, and crossed over to the kitchen, making her way sure-footedly around the tables and chairs and sofas. Sitting in one of the chairs was a blonde man, glasses perched on the edge of his nose as he looked at the pages of a book, reading intently. This was the man in the picture above the fireplace, Jaynin; though unlike in the picture, he wore only a red shirt and black pants, relaxing. Felin nodded approvingly and gave him a wide berth, so as not to disturb him. He acknowledged her presence with a glance, which she returned, and no further comment was made. Just the way it should be; Felin approved of reading, and she’d never willingly disturb it without a reason. Not like Jelex, who’d bounce into the seat next to you and serve up a breezy “Whatcha reading?” like it was nothing.
Felin took a gallon of milk out of the refrigerator and crossed back through the common room, heading down the stairway beneath the right tower with the replacement milk in her hand. Feeling refreshed and ready to continue now, Felin approached the keypad to enter the code that would disengage the door lock – and jerked backwards in surprise as the door started to move on its own. Why would it do that…? Felin thought for a moment, and the milk jug in her hand reminded her of the reason. She had forgotten to lock the door before leaving… well, there was no problem then. Felin crossed the threshold and descended the two stairs to the floor, walking back towards her central workstation.
Briskly stepping along the carpeted path, Felin’s mind was already ahead of her feet, thinking to the results she had abandoned, and as such didn’t notice the fact that the hydraulic door had stopped and started again while closing. With a quizzical frown, Felin looked behind her to see if perhaps Jelex had tried to squeeze through the door before it had closed and activated the motion sensors. But there was no one, and as Felin watched, the door closed fully without incident. How odd… Felin, her mind displacing the previous question with a new one, returned to her desk and put the milk away in the mini-fridge. Turning on the fourth terminal, she closed the analysis program that had finished running and called up the door’s program, examining it and quickly skimming down to the relevant section with the motion sensors… Ah, there it was. How strange. Felin’s earlier mishap had somehow caused the door’s programming to insert a line of code that instructed it to stop and start again every time. With a shrug, Felin deleted the line and compiled the code, then saved it and closed the program, returning to the monitor she had been waiting to look at…
“Hmm?” Felin’s eyebrows arched as her brain translated the data points into a meaningful pattern. Making another keystroke, Felin had a best-fit line plotted for the data, and then leaned back in her chair, scratching her chin in thought. The line started off with an imperceptible climb, looking remarkably horizontal, but accelerating exponentially after a period of time, and then… a plateau? A stable maximum value was something almost unheard of as a natural occurrence. Felin was certain that she had programmed no such restriction on the values that could occur, and the failsafe was much higher than that. What could it mean?
There was no way to tell what was going on just by staring at the data. Felin rose, leaving the graph on the screen, and headed over towards where the distortion device was located, about a minute’s walk from her central workstation. Questions filled her mind as she stepped quickly around and through the neat rows of lab equipment. Would she be able to tell what the problem was? Was it even a problem, or was it a success? Could it even be seen with the naked eye? If not, she did have tools for that, but… Felin was uncertain of what she was going to find, and she didn’t like uncertainty. Her mind was running in circles as she broke into a trot and headed for the low metal catwalk that surrounded the device, only two steps above the floor. Felin skipped the steps and hopped straight onto the metal deck, grabbing the guardrail for support.
Here was the high-energy physical space alternator. It was an annulus-shaped device, with the distortion appearing in the hole, safely contained by both the device itself and a spherical magnetic field that surrounded the annulus. Surrounding these devices was a metal catwalk with a railing for safety, and mounted near the entrance to the interior was a terminal, always keyed to the status of the alternator. It took Felin no time at all to realize that something was amiss. First, the magnetic field was shut down. It usually was visible as a slightly bluish distortion around the alternator itself, and that field was not visible… A quick external check showed that its lights were off, and Felin confirmed that it was shut down.
Running quickly over to the terminal, Felin scanned the readout. It was showing the same constant value she had seen on the monitor at her workstation. So, nothing had changed… the data had not, anyway. Felin keyed for a more thorough report, and waited a moment while the program retrieved the information… So intent was she on the console that the only reason she detected the present of another being was because it spoke.
“Hey, Rati, c’mon and hurry up. You know they won’t be able to keep that open forever.” The voice was somewhat bored, sounding almost like Jelex when she was tired of watching or waiting for someone else and wanted to go and have ‘fun’. Startled, Felin looked up, and on the other side of the machinery was a being who could only be described as… a devil? Ruffled, unruly green hair covered yellow horns growing from behind her pointed ears, and Felin could see a purple devil’s tail waving lazily above her head. Her ruby eyes looked at the alternator below as she leaned forward on the rail, propping her head up on one purple-gloved hand. Felin couldn’t see any more details from this position, but her skin bore a healthy tan.
Felin, looking rather awed, began to circle around to where this female devil was leaning on the railing. It was then that she also noticed the color of the distorted space within the alternator… and it made her gasp softly, which also drew the attention of the female devil. There, in the middle of the annulus, was a deep red space, swirling slowly and mottled with black. As Felin watched, a red-haired head with horns poked up out of that space, and another devil began to climb out of the annulus, using her hands to hoist herself out of the portal and take form… Struck dumb with awe, Felin could only watch as the first devil approached her, sauntering and bold as brass.
Given a better look at her, Felin almost gasped again… her clothing was most unusual, and Felin stared, despite realizing she was probably supposed to. The devil’s breasts were quite large indeed, rival to Syia’s… her top was bordered by the same purple leather as her gloves, but the cloth part was flesh-colored and fit very tightly indeed, with red circles covering her nipples. It wasn’t until Felin remembered that her skin was actually darker than the material of her top that she realized it was clothing and not bare skin… A large green jewel nestled in the devil’s cleavage. To complete the ensemble, she of course wore the purple heeled leather boots, thigh-high, and the skimpy purple thong. All in all, quite shiny…
“Hey, are you the one who opened this distortion? I really should thank you for that… it gave us a chance to get here without a summons.” The devil certainly seemed to be friendly enough, clapping Felin on the shoulder and grinning at her. “My name’s Arishna, and this over here is Rati.” Arishna waved her hand over at the redheaded devil whom had climbed out of the portal and was hoisting herself over the railing; she swung one leg and then the other over, booted feet clanging on the metal as she did so. Felin wondered how that girl could move in pants so tight; they were black, like her boots, but dangerously low-cut. Felin didn’t need imagination to see the curve of the pubic muscle when the other devil strode her way, wearing a black tank top of sorts… though she was less busty than Arishna, her top was intentionally small, and held together by a lone button that seemed as if it was being pulled out by the threads, due to how Rati’s breasts pushed against it… Fingerless black gloves and a fiery obsidian gaze completed the image of a sexy, dangerous street girl, paler than Arishna. Felin wondered if the devils chose a particular theme and then dressed to fit it.
“Well… opening a distortion of this sort was not my intention.” Felin glanced at the annulus, but the red field had disappeared, and the device was quiet now. “May I ask exactly what is going on here? For starters, who you are, and where you’re from, and what you’re doing here?” Felin tried to present a firm countenance, but she was feeling slightly off balance by the appearance of these two beings, one of whom at least rivaled Jelex in straightforward openness when dealing with strangers. Jelex’s ability to plow right ahead in a conversation tended to give her the upper hand over Felin. The waver in her stance must have shown, because Arishna put her arm around Felin’s shoulder and started walking her back down off of the catwalk, talking as she went.
“Well, we said who we were,” Arishna answered cheerily, “I’m Arishna and this is Rati. We are devils from Hell, and we’ve come here because your little device warped the space in our locality enough for us to grab onto it and eventually use it to bore a hole from our plane to yours. Usually, we need a summons to be able to link to this world,” Arishna explained breezily, walking Felin back to her central workstation at a leisurely pace. “But, this time we were able to come on our own. There are some problems with that,” Arishna said with a wink, “though if all goes well, we’ll solve them.” Felin looked over at Arishna, who was smiling quite broadly, then back at Rati. The look on Rati’s face made Felin quickly look back forward and hide a tiny gulp. That devil looked as if she wanted nothing more than to restrain Felin to the nearest object and spend long hours of ‘observation’ detailing her reactions… Was it her imagination, or had Rati licked her lips when Felin looked back? Dangerous, indeed.
“So, what is it that you want with me?” Felin asked, mind whirling as she sat down in her seat. Devils from Hell? Was that even possible…? She didn’t know, but they were here. However… the door had been left unlocked. Could they have found a way to enter while… no, that didn’t make sense. Felin had seen with her own eyes the redhead, Rati, emerge from the blood-red portal within her machine. She had no choice but to believe them, and if she did, what then? It occurred to Felin that they would not be able to leave; their profiles were not programmed into the biological scanners built into the door. Should she try to keep them here and try to figure how to send them back, without letting anyone know of this mishap…? It seemed that, however friendly they acted, letting these devils loose without warning would be a bad idea. Felin sat down and waited for the answer to her question.
“Actually, we’re looking for the guy in charge,” Arishna said, looking around and spotting the exit, then walking towards it. “Rati, you can stay here with her, keep her company or whatever. Hopefully I won’t be gone long,” she said, waving over her shoulder as she spoke the last sentence in a singsong tone. She approached the door, her rear end waving rather gratuitously, Felin thought. How best to spring the idea on them, the idea that they would be remaining here whether they liked it or not…? The pragmatic side of Felin was already wondering what opportunities would arise from having two devils as test subjects. “Hey, this door doesn’t open.” Arishna looked for a handle, tried to tug on the door, to push and pull it, before finally giving up and frowning, then looking back at Felin. “Why doesn’t the door open?”
“The door isn’t recognizing your biological signs,” Felin replied calmly, fingers tapping on her keyboard smoothly. Rati was glancing over her shoulder, but from the look on her face as reflected in one of the dark monitors, she didn’t understand the code terribly well. “In fact, unless I program the door to recognize you, the door will not open for either of you, and you’ll remain down here until I figure out how to send both of you back where you came from.” The temptation to say that she would send them both to Hell was overridden with the gravity of the moment. “So, you will both be remaining my guests for a while…” Felin smirked at Arishna.
“Is that so? Oh, good. I was hoping I’d get to see this. Rati, go to it.” Arishna grinned and winked. Felin only had time to turn in her chair, wide-eyed, before the devil was upon her. “You see,” Arishna explained, speaking up so that Felin could hear, “Rati is a little kinky. You probably guessed that already, but… well, because we’ve basically broken a few laws to get here, we lack a lot of our power.” Arishna shrugged casually, though she was grinning at the sight before her eyes. “So we can’t just waltz through your door, not can we conjure up any of our usual methods of persuasion… Besides, if we roughed you up, the guy in charge would get mad, and that’s no good. So we decided to bring Rati, because she’s good at this stuff…”
Felin only heard a part of the speech. The rest of it barely registered, both because of the noise of her own guffaws and the fact that she was focused on trying to get free. The tall, slim devil had reached down and come up with one of Felin’s ankles, jerking her forward a bit so that she was slouched in her chair with little leverage as the lithe, furred foot became trapped under the devil’s arm. The shock lasted only a moment before quick fingers found the furred sole of Felin’s foot and started to explore… Felin gripped onto the arms of her chair, trying not to slide out and fall on the floor, yet her posture was extremely poor at the moment, her head resting against the base of the backrest. Essentially she was laying in the chair, her leg supported by the fiendish devil Rati, who tickled her foot quite enthusiastically.
“Stop, stop, stahahhappit I’m going to fall!” Felin squealed, and then did just that, slipping out of the chair to land with a thud on the carpeted floor; it dazed her for a second, and the soreness of hitting the floor diluted the tickling sensation for a moment. Felin realized, as she rubbed the back of her head, that the tickling had stopped. She wondered why, looking up at the devil, who had grasped her other ankle, and with a grin at Felin, Rati gave a tug, hauling Felin up and off the ground, dangling in mid-air by her feet. But she was by no means helpless.
Almost exactly at eye level, a vast expanse of bare flesh lacking any means of protection stretched out before Felin. Her claws sought this area with the eagerness of ants to honey, and she made contact at the lowest point possible, just barely above the hem of the extremely low cut pants. The devil’s waist was hers for the taking, and there was no way for her to stop Felin’s assault… or so the catgirl thought. Rati squealed, and jumped so high from that first touch that Felin jolted a foot upwards, disoriented by the sudden movement. When she had settled back into position, she found that her wrists were bound by a purple tail. “Now, now,” Arishna chided, her gloved hands rubbing on Felin’s soft stomach, “that wasn’t very nice. Just be a good kitten and give us access. Or, you could be especially generous and give us access to the whole system,” Arishna mused, her hands slowly circling on Felin’s soft fur.
It was no mistake that her fingers circled around so slowly, Felin knew, even as she felt her entire body shiver and quake. The devil’s fingers were particularly adroit; not quite tickling, but stroking in a tantalizing way, teasing her soft fur, making Felin quiver with anticipation for what she knew had to be coming. “Why are you shivering, kitten?” Arishna asked in a lilting, teasing voice. She must have known full well what was the matter, Felin thought sourly… held upside down, she could not see the smirk that graced Arishna’s lips. “Come, come… there’s no need to be recalcitrant,” the devil’s voice said, cajoling Felin as her fingers played an accompaniment to the dulcet tones of her voice. Slowly, Arishna’s fingers were starting to hook, becoming less flat and allowing the tips of her fingers more contact with Felin’s fur. The sensations flowing throughout Felin’s body were likewise making a transition from tingly to ticklish.
“How come you get to have all the fun?” Rati asked, wearing a wide grin. Taller than the other devil, she was able to hold Felin’s ankles so that the catgirl’s waist was comfortably level with Arishna’s hands. In her struggle to retain sanity, Felin studied the redheaded devil, finding solace in the curiosity produced by her observation that Rati’s horns were much smaller nubs just starting to poke out of her hair, behind the ears. But that lasted only as long as it took Rati to notice that Felin was looking at her. Smirking wickedly at Felin, Rati looked to Arishna. “Let her go. I’m going to flip her.” Felin wondered what ‘flipping’ was, but she immediately noticed when the tail loosened its grip on her wrists… and let out a yowl of surprise as she was tossed into the air, only to be snagged securely around the waist and set on the ground, right side up. The blood rushed out of her head, making her dizzy for a moment.
“I’m going to eat you all up, kitten…” The voice brought Felin back to her senses. Rati was behind her, arms inside of her own, and fingers circling in her soft fur. “You look delicious, mmm-mmm. Let me play with her, Arishna.” Rati spoke in a voice that was soft and lilting, sounding as if it bordered on insanity. Felin told herself it was an act. Just an act, she repeated, moving her lips to mouth the words silently. But it did not quell the quivering anticipation that made her legs go weak. Rati’s words flowed into her ears and caressed her mind, much as her hands caressed Felin’s silvery fur. “Let’s dance to the tune of insanity…” And in that moment, Rati’s fingers hooked fully, her fingertips ceasing to caress and beginning to prod and push, wiggling and digging into the flesh. Arishna couldn’t help but grin widely; observing Felin’s face, she saw the garnet eyes go wide in the moment of dawning comprehension, before the howling started.
“No, nohooo, hohohhaahahahaahaaa! Stop, stop! Stahaaaaa…!! Oh, stoppit, noooohoohaoahahahaaaahaaaa!!!” Felin squeaked, getting as many syllables out as she could before breathing; the breathing triggered the giggle reflex, pent up and suppressed for all this time, and now erupting into life. Her soft, furred hands flew to her middle, trying vainly to protect herself or pry the larger devil’s fingers from her skin, but uncontrollable laughter sapped strength from her muscles. Unable to muster the strength to forcibly pry her assailant’s fingers away, Felin twisted left and right, jerking in sudden and unpredictable motions to escape her captor’s grasp, but Rati was persistent. “NhahahahahAHAHAHAH!! Ohohoohhahahahaha! Stoppit… hahaaa!! HAAAAA!! Heheheheheheheheh stoooooppit!!! Stahahaaap!!!” Felin undulated and twisted as much as her lithe body would allow, but it was still to no avail.
“Give her a minute,” Arishna advised, grinning at the weakly giggling catgirl. Rati had slowed down now, her fingertips merely tracing circles on Felin’s stomach, but the loops circled Felin’s navel, keeping the feline on tenterhooks. “Now, it’s pretty obvious that while we’re stuck down here, we haven’t got anything more pressing to do, so we have all the time in the world to keep this up until you make like a good kitten and write us some code.” Rational thought is difficult enough under normal circumstances when there is a distraction present. Felin knew that, in her present situation, it would be all but impossible to logically weigh all of the consequences of a decision, because the one major benefit to herself outshone all other considerations. Even this musing was interrupted; an impatient glance by Arishna was translated into a slow spidering of Rati’s fingers along Felin’s ribs, something that sent her into another spasm of giggling. “Or maybe you like getting tickled, which is just too bad, because the mission can wait. We are devils, after all; who expects us to be responsible?” The expectant grin on Arishna’s face was what swayed the balance in favor of cooperation; looking into those red eyes, Felin saw, quite literally, hours of writhing and giggling herself to weakness akin to a newborn kitten. With a gulp, and in between laughter-induced spasms, Felin nodded her head quickly. “Good.” Arishna smiled, but she appeared crestfallen. Felin shuddered.
So it was that Felin ended up sitting at her desk with the intimidating presence of Rati behind her, tapping out code at her keyboard. Actually it wasn’t code at all but rather prewritten commands and forms that she was cycling through to build a new access profile. About ten feet from Felin’s workstation was a fully-equipped test area, complete with restraints of all kinds and a dazzling array of bio-sensors for picking up data. Housed within these sinister-looking devices were rather benign and normal fingerprint readers and retinal scanners, and it was these that she activated now. “Arishna, please look into the blue light,” Felin instructed, activating the retinal scanner’s data-scan mode. Tempted though she was to set off some of the other devices, or include tags in the database entity she was creating that would activate various devices as they detected her, Rati’s presence forestalled such fantasies. Already the red-haired devil had caused her to mess up several entries with a foot-tickling ambush, and so Felin’s hairs stood on end the entire time she was typing.
Despite that, the retinal scan went without a hitch, and the DNA sample was recorded into the database; the computer’s message notifying her that ‘Sample type does not match existing categories’ was merely a way of saying ‘What the heck?’, an expression of surprise but nothing more. Rati’s turn went equally smoothly, faster even, because Arishna didn’t see the need to disrupt Felin’s activity. “There,” she said as the database informed her that both entries had been accepted and cleared for lab access. “You’ve both been granted access… simply approach the door and it will open for you, no need to touch it or enter any codes. If the door doesn’t open, it means I’m not here, so you’ll have to wait.” Felin breathed a sigh of relief as they both nodded. Arishna blew a kiss, and Rati licked her lips, yet they headed for the exit together, chattering amicably as if they had not tormented a poor catgirl into acceding to their whims. Felin leaned back in her chair and heaved a heavier sigh. Well, the cat was out of the bag now. When the devils were spotted in the castle, it would create quite a stir. Felin stretched, then wondered what to do next. Several anecdotes about long journeys starting small came to mind. Felin called up another program on her terminal, and with a few clicks, selected the devils’ DNA sample file, and began to work.
“I see. So, allow me to summarize,” Jaynin said dryly, pushing his spectacles further up onto his face, as they had slipped down to the bridge of his nose. “You have illegally entered my castle, and thus being stripped of your powers, want me to perform a ritual summons to grant you the power you now lack, and agree to a pact that would permit you to enter my castle at any time that you please.” Jaynin glanced up at the being before him, who was not infernal, but rather celestial. Normally, it was habit for Jaynin to glance surreptitiously at the chest of a female with whom he was talking, but this pleasure was denied due to the loose-fitting nature of her white robe, which showed him nothing of interest. Except for where it was gathered with a gold-fringed white tabard at her waist, the robe was loose and flowing, hiding the details of the angel’s body. Suppressing a sigh, Jaynin’s eyes returned to hers. They were a piercing and intense blue, seeming to examine his soul…
She would have been cute except for those eyes, Jaynin thought with a sigh, as she put her hands on her hips and nodded imperiously. Her purple hair hung closely about her face, and a golden halo floated curiously atop her head. “This is correct,” she said, pointing regally at him. The sleeve of her robe fit over her middle finger, he noticed idly, and there was a white gem on the back of her hand. What it meant, if anything, he had no idea. “While it is a highly irregular situation, I am certain that you recognize the proper course of action to take, which is performing an official summons to grant angels passage into this castle.” Her eyes shifted for a moment to her partner, who stood behind and to the side of her. She looked somewhat timid, if Jaynin was reading her body language correctly. She was clothed exactly the same as her partner, except that she was somewhat taller, and considerably more busty. Much nicer to look at, and without those soul-stopping icy blue eyes. No, she had long green hair and wide, innocent brown eyes. They were the kind of eyes that were insufferably cute, and when coupled with the figure she sported, they teased men’s souls. Jaynin would rather have stared at her, but the imperious angel probably not would have hesitated to take off his head if she noticed, which she most assuredly would.
Jaynin realized that he had spent too much time staring at the angel’s partner and not thinking about his response to her statement, and he was about to open his mouth when Syia returned to the common room from the kitchen, bearing a tray of coffee things. This she had done entirely on her own initiative; five minutes before, she had come downstairs from the fourth floor with her angelic visitors in tow, and then had quietly disappeared afterward. Apparently, she had gone into the kitchen and fixed some coffee, maybe tea as well, since there were two pots on the tray. And somehow, she had found the time to change into a maid’s outfit in the meantime. Syia changed clothes as much as a… woman changed clothes. Not too long ago she had been costumed as a nurse, complete with white nylons, white miniskirt and blouse, with nurse’s cap. Now, her long blue hair was wrapped up into a loose bun with ivory chopsticks crossed through it to hold it in place, and her glasses had been slipped down closer to the edge of her nose to give her a more motherly look.
“Forgive me if I took too long,” she said with a smile, glancing at Jaynin and delivering the quickest of nods. “Coffee or tea?” she asked the imperious angel, who responded that tea would be sufficient, thank you. She was giving Syia a distantly disapproving stare… Though the maid’s outfit in itself was not provocative, with the sleeves going all the way to the wrist where they were gathered by white lace, and the collar similarly designed and high on the collarbone, Syia’s breasts were really rather large, and strained at the black fabric covering the chest. Or it could have been that the white-fringed hoopskirt was sufficiently short that one held one’s breath when she leaned over, fully expecting her rear end to be displayed to the world; black pantyhose would not leave anything to the imagination. Whatever the reason, she didn’t seem to like it too much, but said nothing. Jaynin idly wondered if Syia or the tall angel was bigger… Syia poured him coffee, which would have provided him a nice view of her cleavage had she worn a costume that showed any. She would have done it with full knowledge of that, too; Syia liked to play to male fantasies. It was probably she had so much power over them. That, and she was a good actor. It was a dangerous combination.
Jaynin took a sip of his coffee and considered his response. This angel was quite pushy with her demands, and it seemed to him that she wanted to conclude these negotiations quickly, before he could really stop to consider his position. There must be some reason she was pushing so hard, something she didn’t want him to notice or think about. What could that be? Syia stood to the side, holding the tray close to her and waiting, apparently obedient. Jaynin knew she would be observing the body language of both angels, and considering the negotiations in her own right. She wasn’t stupid. Setting his cup down, Jaynin opened his mouth to begin…
The sound of steps coming rapidly up the stairs leading to Felin’s lab interrupted his statement for a moment, and he was about to continue before his brain processed what he was hearing. The click-click of footsteps was coming closer, and Jaynin had just remembered that Felin never made such a noise because she didn’t wear shoes before two more beings appeared in the common room and spotted him. That was when things started to get… interesting, for lack of a better word. The taller angel turned first, and gasped softly. “What?” the imperious angel snapped, turning around as well, and making a strangled noise when she saw who had just ascended the stairs. “You!” She stood up, pointing a finger accusingly at the two scantily clad beings who had just approached, looking as if she were about to have an aneurysm. The reason why was not hard to guess; the first devil who approached appeared to be bare-chested, except for a tiny red covering over the nipples. It took a few seconds of observation to realize that this was not the case, because her skin was of a darker complexion than the pale material which covered her chest. “What are you doing here?”
“The same reason that you’re here, I’d assume,” Arishna replied, almost in a purr. “It’s a pity we ran into an obstacle that hindered our arrival, but I’d guess it’s safe to say that you haven’t reached any kind of agreement yet, have you?” Another piece of the puzzle clicked into place for Jaynin. The reason for the rushed feeling was probably to conclude an agreement before someone else showed up… that someone else being these two. The issue cleared up a bit, but the thinning fog only showed more complexity ahead. “So then, it looks like no one is just going to get a free ride through the back door.” Arishna glanced at Jaynin, and grinned, sitting herself next to the angel, across from Jaynin. Her subordinate Rati remained standing, casting eyes at the busty angel who stood just a few feet away. This clearly made her nervous.
“It’s become apparent, at any rate, that there’s something going on here, more than either of you are willing to tell me, it seems.” Jaynin spoke in a measured, calm voice, and though the imperious angel was flushed with annoyance, she sat down again, sitting as far away from the devil as she could. “So, I’m not going to grant either of you a summons until you level with me and tell me in full what the issue is here. I know you’re hiding something, so don’t try to deny it. I’m not saying that I am not open to negotiation, but it will be on my terms.”
“I see.” The angel stood quickly and moved away from the couch she had been sitting on, brushing her robe as if trying to rid it of some dirt. “I suppose then that we shall have to resort to our backup plan.” She looked to her partner, who nodded and started for the stairs. “Well, we have no intentions of leaving this place until we have our agreement, and rest assured that we will use whatever means necessary to obtain a satisfactory agreement.” The delivery of that statement bordered on a threat, especially coupled with the angel’s demeanor. “I’m sure you will see the light –“
“Kyaah!” And all heads in the room turned to look for the source of the noise, which was just outside the door leading to the left tower. Rati had moved to interdict the angel’s path, and they were locked in a grapple now. It was clear that, despite not knowing the angels’ intentions, the devils were moving swiftly to block them. In Jaynin’s mind, a scene played itself out, of his castle becoming a battleground for dueling angels and devils. Swiftly, he stood erect, and pointed, his voice increasing greatly in volume and carrying quite clearly over the noises of the struggle.
“Cease this immediately! I will not have you turning my home into a battleground to advance your private agendas.” They had stopped, and he had their attention, all four of them plus Syia. “While I understand that this negotiation is important to both of you, and you are determined to obtain a satisfactory result, I will by no means tolerate a vendetta within my home. Therefore, if you both wish to remain until negotiations are completed, I hereby forbid you from attacking one another. If I should hear that either side has violated this stricture, I shall grant the summons to the opposite side.” That should be a sufficient threat to keep them both in check, and indeed, the devil and angel let their hands fall to their sides.
“Well played,” Arishna said with a chuckle, crossing her legs and applauding her gloved hands slowly. “Well played indeed. It’s been awhile since I saw an angel caught with her mouth hanging open like that. We, of course, shall not be leaving this castle either, so it looks as if our roles have become quite clear.” She looked at the imperious angel. “I propose that whoever can obtain an agreement to perform the summons first, using whatever means necessary with the exclusion of violence, will be declared victorious, and the other side shall have to accept the decision.” She smirked, and the angel smirked back. There was something being left unsaid that Jaynin didn’t catch, and it worried him.
“Agreed. I, High Angel Eury, hereby accept the terms of this contest.” She grinned, turning up her nose and putting her fists on her hips. “You’ll soon see what we’re capable of, devil. Unlike your kind, we can think beyond pain and hellfire, and soon you will be left in awe of our superior techniques. Come! Lamelle!” Eury beckoned to her subordinate, making a sweeping gesture as she turned. Jaynin’s objection had died on the tip of his tongue; he had been trying to get it out ever since he realized what the devil was proposing, and it had gone so far now as to be beyond his control. “We shall —“
Once again, Eury was interrupted by the cry of her subordinate, but this time it was a cry of a different tone. “No! Stop! Please don’t do that!” A merry laugh pealed out through the common room, sounding almost like the pealing of a bell in its sweet tone. It was, Jaynin realized, the first he had Lamelle’s voice. The reason for her outcry was immediately obvious; the smirking, red-haired Rati had started squeezing the angel’s sides, and her reaction was apparent for all to see. At that moment, Jaynin thought, Lamelle appeared very much the big and stupid type, squealing and squirming about like that, her chest heaving against her robe for all to see. Rati looked like she was enjoying herself quite a bit, her hands and eyes searching for a fold or other spot on the robe where she could get her hands closer to the skin.
But in that moment, Lamelle grabbed Rati’s wrists, spun around and held them with a firm grip, holding the devil’s arms away from her body. As she gave a cry of protest, the white feathery wings swept into action, the wing tips sweeping forward and tracing along the devil’s waist. Now it was Rati’s turn to cry out with laughter and squirm against the firm grip of the angel, who had a look on her face much different from the slow helplessness she’d expressed before. “Stahhahahaap dammit! Not fair, stahhaAHHAHAHA shaha stoppit!!!” Rati squealed, pulling firmly at Lamelle’s grip, doing what looked like an odd dance with the angel before they both spun away from each other, hands at the ready as they faced one another once more.
Then they looked at Arishna and Eury, then back at one another when Arishna and Eury looked at each other, and then back to the Lamelle and Rati, and then all four of them looked at Jaynin. Eury cocked an eyebrow at the moment of silence, and then Syia spoke. “It’s not an attack, now is it?” Her voice was lilting, amused; Jaynin turned to look at her, aware of what silent consensus was building. Syia only smiled, and then looked at Lamelle and Rati. “You may continue; it’s not violating the rules that have been imposed.”
“Actually,” Arishna cut in smoothly, standing up and gesturing for Rati to return to her, “we’re going to take this opportunity to consult on our negotiation position, and come up with an appropriate offer that we think will be acceptable.” Arishna adjusted her clothing, not that it covered very much of her skin anyway, and bowed politely, her large breasts bobbing slightly as she did so. “My name is Arishna, and my brash young companion here is named Rati. We’ll make ourselves at home in the lower areas, if you don’t mind.” She nodded to Rati, and Rati started for the laboratory once again. “If it pleases you, Master Jaynin.”
“Wait, how did you know my –“ Jaynin interrupted, standing up as something occurred to him suddenly. “And wait… why are all of you female? Don’t tell me that there are no male devils or male angels.” To that, there was no response. Arishna just grinned, while Rati giggled openly. Eury, by contrast, blushed slightly, and Lamelle smiled. “I suspect there’s more to this than meets the eye…” Especially because, he didn’t say, all of the girls did catch his eye. Surely the angels would have sent a more forceful negotiating personality like Eury, unless Lamelle’s presence was really only due to her charms…
“Let’s just say that you have… a reputation,” Arishna said, winking at Jaynin as she disappeared through the door leading to Felin’s laboratory, her tail curling around behind her before she vanished completely from view. Likewise, Eury and Lamelle disappeared into the left tower’s door, headed upwards; a flash of white wings was the last Jaynin saw before the door swung closed, and then the common room was silent once more, Syia still standing faithfully by the table, holding the tray. With a wink, she broke the silence.
“Well,
things won’t be quiet and boring now, will they?” Jaynin only sighed.
Syia
chuckled. “Oh, don’t even start with that act. You know that you’re
looking
forward to it…”
On to Of Heaven or Hell Chapter 2