Shepherd of Fire

****
That night, Michael couldn’t sleep. Every single time he drifted off, he’d have flashes of dreams about deep brown eyes and long, beautiful brown hair….and the lips...those were the worst. Those wide, deep red, full lips--curled gorgeously up into a smile….and then parted in want...he feared what he would dream of next, so he just didn’t sleep.
****

Pandora scrunched her nose at the brightness of Heaven, “Maybe next time you come to me? I’m not sure I like it here.”
Michael grinned, flashing his overly white, perfect teeth, “I’m not sure about that, Aph. I’m very uncomfortable in Hell. I hate going there.” He had worn a toga this time, the folds falling away to reveal his built arms that reminded her of her Father’s.
She smirked as they walked around the agora, “It’s really quite pleasant, except for the smell.” Pandora laughed--she loved the smell but had heard angels abhorred it.

The archangel got a little more serious, “Do you dislike it here because of what I put you through?”
She cast her eyes down once again, “Maybe.”
“Don’t take it as an affront to you personally, Aphrodite. I just want what’s best for you, what I believe you deserve.”
Pandora’s sad brown eyes looked away from his gaze and out over the town, “Maybe this is exactly what I deserve. For how I feel inside, what I want, what I need so constantly.”
Michael sympathetically put a hand on her shoulder to turn her towards him, “It’s what you think you want because of your environment and what you’ve been fed. I could teach you how to love without guilt, Aph.”
Her eyes got wide at his suggestion.
He laughed and blushed, “Not like that, child.” Michael removed his hand, “Love that transcends sex. Once you learn to love in such a fashion, it will sate all your sinful desires. I promise.”

“But I’d be giving up fucking forever?” Pandora gave a disgusted face again.
Once again, the angel chuckled--light, feathery peals of laughter, “No. For awhile, yes. Then you’d find the right match for you, here in Heaven. Another angel that’s meant just for you. And then you get to make love however often you wish.”

She didn’t voice how much the thought of sleeping with one being for the rest of time made her want to vomit. She pretended to be intrigued by the idea.

“Tell me more about your mother. I don’t know anything about her, other than she’s quite a feisty demon.” They began walking again, “Why, after all these millennia, did Matthew take a Queen? And why is it her?”
“She’s the only one that can bed him.”
“You mean to tell me no one else sleeps with the Devil??” He was now very curious and furrowing his brow handsomely.
“No. Well...my mother tells me they used to die in droves to try and satisfy Him, but no one can take His nightmare.”
“What is this nightmare? You mentioned it before.”

Pandora innocently bit her lip, pretending to be uncomfortable with the subject, “When my Father...comes...He produces this nightmare-thing. It releases the dark within Him, and envelopes whoever He comes inside. He did it to me once, never again. Diem had to pull me out. I was trapped in the dark, it’s like dancing with His inner demons. My mother’s the only one that can survive inside His nightmare--she quite likes it now, I think. The first time, she says, she passed out for hours. The rest had always all died before He could finish. Before her, Dad hadn’t come in five hundred years. He says the nightmare was part of His fall.”

Michael was speechless. He had no idea.

“My mother was made for Him, made to take pleasure from pain. I don’t know how or from whom or what, but she was clearly designed specifically to satisfy Him, so of course they’ll be together for the end of time, I imagine.”
“So you think they love each other?” The angel was genuinely confused. Love? In Hell? He’d always believed this was impossible.
“I know they do.” She stopped and laughed, “I imagine it is different than love is here. They sleep around, they betray one another, they fight, they punish each other. But they always come back to each other.”
“I see…” He was so intrigued, the angel’s large wings popped out of his back without him even noticing. Was Matthew really in love?

Pandora suddenly realized she’d maybe made a mistake, and grabbed his thick forearm with both hands, “Oh god, I thought you knew. Please don’t tell them I told you. I didn’t even think about….” The fact that Michael could use this against them. And she was the one that had given him the ammo. Shit.

Michael snapped out of it and put a hand over hers, “Aph, you have nothing to worry about. I’ve already learned to use Diem against Him, you didn’t teach me that.”
She exhaled somewhat in relief, but left her hands at the crook of his arm as they continued walking.
“Although, I am surprised to find out the Shepherd of Fire Himself didn’t find...release...for five hundred years. No wonder He was always so angry.” He laughed at himself and she giggled, “Why five hundred? What happened five hundred years ago?”
“I don’t know,” She realized she’d never wondered, “And Satan knows how long it had been before that.”

Michael couldn’t help himself with the questions, which Pandora loved since it would get him thinking about sex, “So, what, He thought she would die and she didn’t, so she stays??” Since he assumed this was how it went down, it made him laugh with how shallow it sounded.

Pandora hid her offense with how he spoke about her parents, “No. They tell us their story by the fire in the Throne Room all the time. It’s an epic love story--at least to us it is.” She stopped there, assuming he didn’t want to hear the rest.
When she didn’t continue, Michael egged her on, “Well, go on. You may as well.”

Her eyes flitted up to his face, smirking to herself at how easy this was, “Diem’s known her entire life they were meant to be together, she just had to bide her time. She’s always been one of His soldiers, but He didn’t believe her boasts that she could bed Him. One night He’d had enough of her teasing and they kissed. When His mouth wasn’t too much for her, when He learned she loved the pain and has the ability to heal so fast, they moved on. He kept telling her to leave Him alone, but she was insistent--never gave up,” The young demon grinned wide while telling the kinky love story, “They fooled around more and more, and when He was convinced she would actually survive--they had a ceremony and that’s when she first experienced the nightmare.”
Michael’s eyebrows raised high with disbelief, “They had a sex ceremony?”
“Yep. That’s when she officially became Queen.”

Pandora cleared her throat and squeezed his arm, pressing her lips together before sighing frustratedly, “I should go…”
“Come back tomorrow?”
She only nodded, and he kissed the top of her head affectionately before she disappeared.
****

It was dark out and my King and I sat in front of the fire in the Throne Room, drinking and telling one another stories. The look of anticipation in His honey eyes glowed with a backdrop of fiery red and His dimples popped as he tapped on His glass of tequila. Gates leaned up against the hearth drinking with us, just having returned from a successful mission.
The children all burst through the door together laughing. We let them wander over to us. Pandora plopped in my lap.
“How’d it go?” I grinned wide. I’d told her exactly what I’d sent Michael throughout the night, “Did he seem different?”
“A little. He actually asked me some questions about you guys that I was surprised by--involved some pretty sexy answers,” She grinned wide back.
Andy had given Zack a piggyback ride into the room and put him down next to where I sat, “Don’t worry, he’s not that drunk.”
The young one leaned on my chair and gave me that adorable, devious grin, “Let’s do this.”

Shadow stood up with a dark look in His eye. I knew He’d been looking forward to this all day. I didn’t dare ask, but I was pretty sure He was turned on by the idea or the process. To up the anticipation, He hadn’t fucked me all day but had given me teasing looks instead and insisted I go on mind-fucking missions so He could watch. I could see the tension rippling through His muscles and His jawline as He drank in the expectation.
Stalking over to Zack, Satan’s eyes began to blaze as He grinned lopsidedly, “To their castle, then.”

The vamps had their own castle that they preferred to hang out in, and yes it was called Transylvania. They were an interesting sort--also frisky most of the time, but all sneaky tricksters and they usually only got off on violence--often during the Drink. Their eyes glowed and their lips were all curved in permanent smirks, little sharp teeth poking out. Shadows now stood next to the fountain of blood in the middle of their main hall, holding Zack by the neck as we all huddled against a dark recess to watch. Many of the surrounding vampires turned their attention towards the Devil, happy to have Him as a visitor, but others went about their business.

Satan leaned over and sniffed at Zack’s neck and leaned into his ear, “Hold onto me, little one, you’re going to need the support.”
With that, the Evil One’s fangs grew long and He sunk them into the other's neck. Little hands struggled at Satan’s back as His arms wound around the smaller being--holding Him closer and closer the deeper His teeth pierced.

Pandora and Andy huddled around me--all of us watching intently as our bodies heated. Not being able to tear our eyes away, Andy whispered down at me, “I told you you should let me have you in a public place, Diem.”
“You got a condom?” I breathed out highly.
“Dammit.”
Distracted by the scenery, I went for his pants, “Fuck it. In me right now, Andy.” They both helped hold me up as my legs were thrust in the air and he pushed into me.
“Fuck--” I leaned back into Pandora and we caught the attention of several vamps around us--who only grinned wide and licked at their fangs.
Andy ground shallowly into me so we could continue to watch the deadly embrace.

Shadows lips sucked and His hands clenched into the one in His arms. The Dark One pulled back, bared teeth dripping and eyes afire--His hot tongue licking over Zack's wound to sear it shut--and then punctured His own neck with His sharpened fingernail.
“Drink.” He growled down at Zack, who wasted no time in climbing up His large body and needily latching on. Satan held him up as the young one threaded a hand into His long hair, his legs thrown around Shadows’ waist. His eyes fluttered shut as Zack’s sprang open--now glowing orbs of bright green, his fangs growing into the Devil’s thick neck. My Love groaned and finally pulled him off, setting him on the ground and turning him towards the fountain, “Now you drink from the fountain. Don’t worry, it’s warm.”

As Zack lapped at the fountain, Shadows turned towards us, tongue licking over His sharp teeth and eyes staying red as He caught us in our entanglement.
“Andy--” I came when our eyes met and Satan grinned deviously. My son moaned and we both burst with color as he finished.
Towering over all of us, looking down with arms folded, He shook His head, “I think I’m quite going to enjoy punishing both of you again.”
Zack skipped up behind Shadows, licking at his new fangs. The Shepherd threw His arm around the shorter one’s shoulders, “Welcome to the family. Don’t suck too much neck with my wife, son. Got it?”

Notes

Sorry for the MCR lyric, I'm such a dork!

Ohhhh, this is getting so fun. Let me know what you guys think!