Blanchefleur

I scrutinized him. "So you have a complex about stirring shit?"

"You could say that it's true," he mused. Samael opened the door, ushering me in. The hallway was narrow, walled with granite blocks. Stained glass skylights let blue-tinted light fall in.

I admired the gargoyles carved into the eaves. "It looks a monastery."

Samael laughed. "Angels are men of the book, I suppose." I followed in silence. His robes rustled against the stone. The peace of the corridor was empty, like the perfection only lifelessness can attain. My spine tingled at the strangeness- like my beating heart was too loud for the stillness.

The far door at the end creaked open. A tall angel with sunken cheeks entered, gliding across the floor. His eyes were devoid of light. I stood, petrified by his presence. The angel was pale as snow, and the air around him froze.

"Who is he?" I croaked. Samael tensed, guarding me. I huddled behind his back.

The severe angel's raiment sliced open. He unsheathed metal wings that hummed as they shot open. I recoiled at their razor points. Samael gripped my wrists, steadying me.

"Chuckles," he said coolly.

The fearsome angel smiled softly. "Samael?" he asked. His voice was low and piercing. I shivered uncontrollably. The demon stroked his chin, drawing a line of blood. He sighed. "Ever so cramped in here." His pitch black cloak clawed at the air. I suppressed a scream as spindly legs burst from his chest. A thorax emerged from his bowels. What was he, Venom?

The spider demon crawled up the wall, then hung upside down. His dark hair hung like a curtain. He opened his toothless mouth, sucking at the air. Chuckles hung silently, watching me.

I held Samael in a death lock, cowering behind him. My eyes stayed lock on the monster.

"What a shrinking violet," Chuckles observed, voice heavy and slow with melancholy. His face was muted. Pedipalp crept from his neck- the fanged feelers pointed at me. He lowered himself on a silken cord.

I cried out, burying my face in Samael's cloak. Samael maneuvered me in front of him. He held me protectively, draping his wings around me. He stared quietly at the spider.

Chuckles breathed deeply. A slim black tongue snaked out of his mouth, reaching towards me. "A taste."

"Hell no!" I panicked. "Let me go, Bonebutt! That freak is trying to eat me."

"Chuckles," Samael said lowly. "You're frightening the mortal."

Chuckles hissed with laughter. His tongue snapped at me - it drew blood from my cheek. I screamed, flailing in Death's grasp. The spider sampled my blood. "Sweet," he said tenderly. "Forsake your master, violet. He cannot appreciate your blooms." Samael growled as Chuckles advanced. "Samael leaves tender things dead," the spider whispered, half-man, half-beast.

"And you claim to be a gentleman?" Samael snapped, furious. His triple forked tongue hissed menacingly.

Chuckles, well, chuckled. "What a pretty form you wear, Samael. Such a dainty mask." His words were punctuated by silence. Chuckle's eyes bore into mine.

Samael wiped the blood from my cheek, shielding me from the arachnid. I hid my face in my hands, cursing. "This is a hellish place." After the trauma of the past few days, all I could do was sob.

"Do not fear," my boyfriend hissed. Samael's abdomen cracked. I screamed as his spine snapped. He arched over me, roaring in pain. I fell to the ground beneath him.

His pupils slanted and venom dripped from his fangs. "My god," I gasped. I watched in horror as his legs fused. His robe coalesced into scales. The naga again. But this time, in broad hell-light

"What God?" Samael laughed. He eased into his new skin, legs now a serpent tail. It coiled around me, black and monstrously long. A hellish sheen coated the diamond back scales. I shrieked for the life of me, trapped.

"Stupid girl! Don't move!" he snapped. I trembled. Samael reared, facing Chuckles. His black hair writhed like Medusa's.

I sobbed at their hideousness. "I hate spiders," I moaned. "And god damned snakes! This is what Michael meant - you're the slippery thing!"

Samael shoved the end of his tail into my mouth, silencing me. I gagged.

He froze for a moment, eyes glazed over, and flicked his tongue over an incisor. He lodged it deeper into my throat and groaned. His eyes bulged and he moaned.

"That was... unexpected," he said huskily, probing my throat. He gagged. "Oh my. "You're... tight. Lips like velvet..." He completely forgot Chuckles. "Shannon..." he whispered, touching my face. "You are beautiful."

"Yes, I am gentler than you," Chuckles noted. "How much for her, brother?"

Samael's eyes burned red. He remembered my attacker, though now, I wasn't so sure which demon was the true enemy. "She is not for experimentation," Samael snapped like the crack of a whip.

Chuckles cocked his head in annoyance. "We're men of poison," he said drily, his eight legs stabbing the floor. "What is a mortal to you?"

"Selfish, Chuckles. I'm hungry."

"I haven't fed in weeks," Chuckles snarled. With the coloring of Harlequin - vicious blacks and reds – the spider demon leapt onto the ceiling. Lines of red eyes snapped open on his brow. Planted above me, he lunged downwards, claws extended. I shrieked. Samael's tail sealed shut before the demon snatched me up. I heard the hiss of burning flesh.

"Your infernal blood," Chuckles cursed. There was an acid sizzling. He sucked at the air. Bile rose in my throat as the tail pressed against me, muscles rippling, smooth and warm. I was trapped in the darkness, in a filthy snake.

"Does it burn?" Samael mocked. A wet, crushing sound came from beyond. Chuckles moaned. I struggled out of the mountain of coils, gasping for air-

Samael held him in a death lock, white fangs piercing the demon's throat. Chuckles' legs seizured. They stared at each other's eyes; alien sentiments crossed my lover's face. Samael asserted his dominance in an inhuman match of strength. I flinched at the hostile exchange. The spider assailant wheezed, his lungs wet with blood as Samael crushed him. Foul juices wept from Chuckles' mouth.

Samael shoved him aside, disgusted. The snake lord wiped blood from his lips. "Bitter," he said mockingly. He thrashed Chuckles with his tail. It cracked his thorax like a whip. The spider shrieked, crumpling against the wall.

Samael lashed him again. Again. The demon choked up black bile, and a speck of human blood. I wept at the insensible violence that was arcane, unholy, and mirthless.

"There," Samael said softly. "Don't drink my mortal's blood without offering some of your own."

Chuckles slumped against the wall, immobile. I struggled for breath; horror clamped my lungs.

"Shannon," Samael said quietly, "don't move."

Chuckles spasmed. He disintegrated into screeching mist. Plumes of smoke turned into spiders, then scuttled through cracks in the wall.

Samael looked at me darkly. He smirked, absolutely cold. "Adieu Agramon, Lord of Fear."