"Fuck."
All of the pieces were starting to fall into place for Jinx. Spitfire's control of the Black Sand, a distinctly Underworld sort of magick. The Hell Portal opening around the no-fur when he'd confronted the circus Hare. The Underworld aura circling the pirate ships where Spitfire had been held hostage. Demons just galloping off back through the Hell Portal at a simple command from Spitfire.
And now his ability to control Lexi so completely.
Spitfire was either possessed by the Black Devil or... Even worse, the no-fur was becoming the God of the Underworld the same way Jinx was becoming the God of Chaos.
"But how did that happen? When did he have time to overthrow the Black Devil?" Jinx asked out loud, trying to pinpoint when it was Spitfire had changed.
He couldn't nail down a moment where it happened. For all he knew, the no-fur had been the Black Devil from minute one. He hadn't spent as much time with him as the others had in the few shor
Doll dreamt of the past. It was part memory, part fantasy, though it was now hard to tell one from the other. He dreamt of that first, almost forgotten, time with Hades. The pain of his magick awakening was now a different kind of pain. The young Hades's brutality and yet gentle awareness of him was being rewritten in his mind and heart as the coming together of future Innehavres.He dreamt of times yet to come as his kits and Spitfire's played together as he and his three mates looked on, cuddling. Proud and so very much in love. And safe. The no-fur dreamed of a time when the danger had passed.It was lovely until a profound sadness seeped in the cracks taking him out of both places. He felt the nothingness all around him. The little lives sleeping within him slipping out of his reach. Fading away.The no-fur awoke with a start. His hands instinctively reached for his growing darlings. What was the stuff of nightmares passed as he found the opposite to be true. His belly was fat wit
Agent frowned into the cave, regarding Doll with narrowed eyes."What do you mean you don't have that anymore? That doesn't make sense. The injections should have bonded with your blood and body." Agent tilted his head with curiosity. He could feel his tom ears flicking with irritation.Doll didn't seem inclined to come out of the shadows. His distrust was in every word. "I'm not sure I should tell you. I don't know a lot of what's going on because I did go straight from being rescued from you and your crazy to healing Priest to winding up here with very little explanation.""That's fair." Agent settled down to consider what Doll was telling him. "I don't know what happened with thehealing you did. I was busy fighting that Orangelo menace. But from what I've seen since I arrived, you took in an aura that your system wasn't equipped to handle. Probably has something to do with Hades trying to control the Underworld aura. He's a Black-fur but he's not made f
The Throne of the Black Devil was prepared. Had been for some time.As soon as it had completely discarded the idea of Hades trying to challenge it, there was no blocking where the power was flowing, toward the arrogant and surprisingly strong no-fur the Black-fur now called his mate. One of two no-furs that carried Hades's kits. Apparently, its troubles would continue to be Hades-adjacent.The Throne wasn't worried, not in the least. This Spitfire would either accept his new role and bow to its power or burn up in the flames that created the Underworld itself. And if that were the case, he would be a delicious distraction to obliterate slowly.There was only one place to begin a formal challenge and Spitfire would know where it was by instinct. The Throne's room, its seat of power. Spitfire had been disrespectfully bold the last time he stepped foot in here. He would pay for that if the Throne could crack the code to his guilty conscience.But that was what the Throne was made for. N
Growling, Spitfire tried to find a way around the Throne's idiotic rules. There was no way he was going to submit to giving souls what they think they deserved. Where was the logic or use in that? He'd met plenty of asshole toms who would swear they'd done nothing wrong and deserved no punishment. But this one...This tom had meant no harm. He was in love with the no-fur. Absolutely besotted. They were the first who'd come of age after the no-furs had appeared. This no-fur... He was special somehow but Spitfire was being held back from seeing everything. He couldn't pin down whythis particular no-fur drew the attention of the celestial beings. He could feel powerful auras around him but because of the Throne's binding on his magick, Spitfire couldn't sort out who they were or why they were interested."Can't you feel it?" Spitfire screamed at the useless fucking Throne. "He didn't kill the no-fur. He freaked out, sure, but the connections... They're wron
How had his entire life been turned upside down in a matter of weeks?Hades had asked himself that over and over again since thefateful day he agreed to take a no-fur upstate. In that time, he'd found his Innehavre - something he had never really believed existed - before discovering he was falling in love with another Innehavre pairing.Adding Guru and Spitfire to his life wasn't even the weirdest thing that Hades had happen to him. The number of families that were made up of a pair of mated toms and their no-furs was so high that it was practically the norm. It made raising the sometimes large litters of kits easier when there were multiple parents.Which lead Hades to the biggest change in his life plans. Kits.Both Doll and Spitfire were pregnant with kits that could potentially be his. Some of them were likely Guru's but until they were born, there was no means to know who had whose kits growing in them. The complication of a no-fur be
On the other side of the portal was a thick forest. Jinx stumbled over roots as he tried to get clear to let the others through. He'd been the first through, not wanting to hang around where Spitfire was any longer than necessary.That was probably because of the clash of their godly powers. Somehow Hades's second no-fur mate had become the adversary of the God of Chaos by assuming the mantle of the God of the Underworld. Jinx wasn't ready for the story about how that happened right now. He was too focused on the missions at hand - to protect Doll until he was ready to come out of the healing bubble and to rescue Guru. Everything else could wait until they were back at the Mousetrap with large drinks in their paws."You okay, Lexi?" Jinx reached out a paw for his own mate, hoping that his adorable green Demon was okay. Lexi had been rather shaken by Spitfire."He's not the same." Lexi's words did nothing to make Jinx less worried about his Innehavre. "He's a new thing. I don't know w
Doll let Lexi help him up. But as soon as he was standing, he was moving as fast as his giant belly could go. He couldn't see Guru but he could follow their connection with ease. Especially this close.Still, after ducking a few branches and aurically adjusting some heavy brush, Doll hit his knees and hugged his mate around his Blond ruff."You are the most beautiful sight I've seen in a while. It's okay." Doll made soft cooing noises as he petted his feverish tom. "Jinx! Lexi! He's here but we need a little help!"Doll didn't elaborate. Describing what the trap had done to Guru's leg was not going to help anyone. Calming the big Blond-fur was more important.Guru was weakly purring and sort of nudging him in response. Doll left gentle kisses along Guru's forehead."It's okay, lover. It is all over. We are here to bring you home."The lilac-haired no-fur summoned a perimeter of tulips that almost instantly lost their petals and became shields
Shadwell Sebastian Woolsey stomped aimlessly through the rain. He had a destination but he was in no hurry to get there.His shoes needed replacing, he noted as water crept in from a puddle he had not managed to avoid. He hated getting wet. Some might say he was a walking stereotype but he had never met another tom who hated it as much as he did. Hell, a fair amount of them used water as their first introduction to the Elemental arts.Not Shadwell, though. As a Black-fur, he couldn’t create an affinity for such a healing Element to use in his magick. His gifts - if you could call them that - were of a much more complicated and forbidden nature. He could scratch the surface of his potential and did fine for himself with what he could do. However, Black-furs could only access their core magick by using a no-fur conduit.Which was something Shadwell was never going to be able to do. Collaring a no-fur was a luxury for the most elite of Elementalists, somethin