I stood idle on the damp sands, standing on top of the dragging hem of Lust's robes at his insistence when he left me there. He wasn't far, just in the water no more than — well, I wasn't good enough to guess distance by hearing, but it couldn't be more than twenty or thirty feet or so away, right? I wouldn't be so concerned if I didn't think the bird calls in the distance were becoming more raucous again. Maybe it was my imagination. Being a sound that only humans could hear, it made perfect sense for a cursed bird call to disorient me and make me uneasy to be alone. Logical. Nothing hinky about it.
"Your nose would be useful here, Mammon," Lust called. I was relieved to hear him so close, at least enough that he didn't have to shout his lungs out to be heard. I pulled the edges of the robes tighter around my chest anyway, still unsettled by the increasing winds. Would we find the Indra's Net in time before the storm hit? We still had to make it all the way back to shelter, too. I did, at least. No doubt the demons would be just fine. How nice.
Mammon didn't reply to Lust's request, or so I thought. At seemingly nothing, Lust called again:
"Underwater, I presume, but if anyone can scent something under the surface, it would be you." Another long pause. "Then I can explore farther from the shore. Unfortunate that we have no Hellflame to light underwater. It would help greatly, would it not?"
Mammon must have already transformed, and was speaking telepathically. It made me wonder why he didn't choose to do so all the time. There must be rules for that kind of magic or something, because if I had the choice, it seemed a lot more efficient to not have to ever speak aloud to get my point across to someone. I glanced up at the sky and cast my unseeing gaze around, frowning. Yeah. I'd appreciate some silence for my battered ears right about now.
"Nothing yet?" I asked, raising my voice to ensure Lust could hear me over the crashing waves and rising wind. "Maybe it beached up somewhere else. I'll — uh, I'll..." What, shuffle across the length of the beach back and forth like a vacuum cleaner until my feet bumped into something?
"Stay as you are, love. We're in luck. This is high tide, so it's possible we'll find the Indra's washed onto the shore." A pause. "No need to be so negative, Mammon. Besides, with how eagerly you're searching, you don't appear as pessimistic as you're attempting to sound?"
Oh, well, that was nice of him. After that argument I'd fearlessly started with him in the cave when I'd thrown all caution to the wind (mostly because Lust was there to back me up if things actually got hairy?), I'd thought Mammon would sulk and grouse while refusing to contribute. But he must be cooperating because he owed me a debt. Now that I stood here unbothered and left alone to my thoughts, I recalled how we inadvertently freed him from his prison under the Kunlun Temple, and then my wildly unexpected heroics in delivering all of us off the mountain before we got caught in a spell trap.
I wrapped my arms around myself, fighting off the chill that came from both the unpleasant weather and the unpleasant memories. That could have been it for me. Trussed up by manhunters and dragged off to face the Coven, then executed. Until I cleared my name and found a way to render these two demons harmless, there was no other possible sentence. I swallowed, feeling my world sink a little more under my feet.
"My, that was quick. What did I say? Fate is friendlier than you accuse it of being, isn't it?"
My eyes widened. Did Mammon find it? That fast? No way! I hobbled forward, nearly tripping on the trailing bottom of the robes, only to find myself swept into the air in an all-too-familiar embrace.
"If only you could see this," Lust murmured in my ear, wistful. "It's amusing, watching Mammon swim out like that, all four legs kicking. Oh, and he's diving now. He'll be absolutely sopping, fur and all. I'll have to recreate this memory for you when your sight is properly restored. He's usually so intent on keeping up appearances, but he's completely forgotten himself in his excitement."
I subtly moved my arm to keep my wrist from grazing his shoulder. It throbbed more painfully than before. Ouch. "You know him really well," I said casually, reaching for any conversation to distract him with so he wouldn't inquire into why I flinched so hard when he picked me up. "You keep calling him your covenant brother, but you were never actually close, were you? I read that you and Mammon have always hated each other."
"On the contrary. When I was first inducted into their company, it was as close to a true companionship as we Seven could ever manage, our natures being what they are. For a time, we were all close indeed, except for perhaps Lucifer."
"Lucifer? I know that name."
"Most do, even if they aren't aware of his various other titles, including Prince. He's the eldest of us by far with quite the... flourishing reputation."
I wished not for the first time that my mother had let me learn more about the extensive history of the realms. Not only to help me in my current predicament, but it was objectively fascinating. When I didn't think about how I was trapped in the middle of a 'historic' incident myself, anyway.
"So, you and Mammon were close once?"
"He was even my favorite for a time, with that charming temperament. Though sweet Bel was a close second."
"Who's Bel?"
"Belphegor. We lost him in a strange tragedy. Now that I think back, he was the reason we splintered. Someone betrayed him, and we never discovered who. All very strange."
That... was a lot of drama I didn't want to get into. Maybe when I was safe in my bed again and not being hunted down by witches or demons, I'd look up all the hot gossip and find out how a Prince could be as 'sweet' as Lust claimed. And really? Mammon used to be his favorite? He had a damn funny way of showing it, though... I didn't know. Maybe that long-ago familiarity was why they had been so tolerant of each other while fucking me to smithereens together, I guessed. Wonders never ceased.
"Ah! And there he is. Mammon's got something in his jaws, the good dog."
"He has it?" I demanded. "He found the whip!"
"Perhaps. What a pity, I'd hoped it would take longer so we could enjoy our moment alone. It was lovely to indulge in some nostalgia. Be sure to ask me anything you wish, my love. You're irresistible even when asking me such questions."
"... Right. Anyway..."
The storm was moving in fast. We'd been here too long, or maybe it only felt that way because I could do nothing but stand on the shore and wait for the demons to do what I couldn't. If Mammon really found the Indra's Net, then it was time to head back as soon as I got my hands on that priceless treasure. A weapon! Something to protect myself with, finally! I tried to wriggle out of Lust's arms, and I was in such an ecstatic mood that I didn't get mad even when he refused to let me go. I considered trying to dig around for the strength to use a Command on him, but decided against it in the end when I reasoned that even if I somehow dredged it up, it was a dire waste to throw it away so carelessly. I'd learned my lesson about carelessly throwing my contract Dominance around willy-nilly. From now on, I would ration out my stamina with care and only force Lust to obey my most crucial Commands.
"... Interesting."
My excitement withered, stabbed to death in an instant by that single word. I stiffened in Lust's arms. "... What's interesting?"
"It appears that he's found more than just the Indra's. Curious."
I strained my eyes until it felt like they were going to implode, but to no avail. The only thing that swam into sight was the vague blue of the sea smearing against the blackness, and a glimpse of an off-white streak that I supposed was the strip of beach we stood on. At least I didn't have long to wait. Soon, a heavy pressure squeezed my lungs and a strange taste I could only describe as dark rested on my tongue, both sensations I was unfortunately becoming accustomed to. Great. Mammon was unhappy yet again. What was the problem now? He found the whip, right? That miracle alone was enough to make up for any possible disappointment.
The sound of something heavy dragging through the sand begged to differ. Goosebumps prickled all over my body when the noise translated itself in my brain — whatever Mammon was bringing with him was immensely heavy, enough to make the dragging of it audible over the crashing waves, winds, and rain.
"Devoured," Mammon growled. "No wonder the waters were so calm when we got here. No sea beast will come anywhere close if even a creature like this can be bitten in half."
"Hm, yes... I see."
"What is it?" I asked. "Non-Earth creature?"
"Not at all, my love. This one you should be familiar with. A frequent element of many humans' nightmares, actually. It is a shark."
"A shark? Like a reef shark? How big is it?"
"Hm... what remains of it is about three meters, roughly half of its body. The forward portion."
"My metric brain isn't working. What's that in feet."
"Ah, yes. About nine feet, my Sable. Maybe a little more."
Half? Half was nine feet? So, an almost twenty-foot-long shark before it met its demise... Did sharks even get that big? Were they certain it was a shark at all?
"... Okay." I paused. "Mammon, when you said 'bitten in half', did you mean—"
"Bitten in half. One bite. The teeth marks are visible across its flesh in a straight line, and this thing was only a morsel to whatever hunted it."
A twenty-foot-long creature being a 'morsel'. Okay... so—
"Killing some weak Earth creature is a worthless feat, but the way it died is..." Mammon snorted. "Telling."
"Indeed." Lust lightly drummed his fingers on my arm. "Whatever hunted it is very large indeed. And not a creature of Earth, of course. The size must be impressive."
"Something that big will need to hunt frequently, Asmodeus. I don't know why it discarded half its prey this time, but this much would never satisfy it anyway. We need to get to higher ground. There are too many scents here for me to figure out which one is the one we need to be wary of."
"Hm... odd, though, isn't it? It abandoned such a nutritious meal. Only ate the rear half."
"Not my concern, Asmodeus."
"Yes, I know. Just reminds me of something..." Lust stopped himself and hitched me closer. "But you're right. We've found the Indra's. Shall I hold onto it until—"
I had no idea where it was, but I reached with both arms toward where I thought Mammon stood. Without my having to say a word, he pressed something hard into my outstretched palms. I curled my fingers around it and swiftly wound it up, wrapping the long braided tail around the wooden handle. "I'll hold it," I said unnecessarily. "Let's hurry back."