Uruha stood aback in shock. Kai doesn’t know who I am? What the hell did Aoi do to him?
Ruki slithered forward, a furious expression on his face. “Kai, if you’re playing a practical joke, it’s not funny.”
Kai was still staring at the group like he’d never seen them before. “I’m sorry, but I honestly don’t know who you are. Do you work for Aoi?”
Uruha grabbed his husband’s hand. “Kai. I’m your husband. Aoi kidnapped you and did something, what he did I don’t know, but he did something to your mind. We’re here to take you back.”
Kai stood up, his hair snakes darting wildly about. “I...I don’t-”
The door swung open.
“Kai, my love! Are you-” Uruha turned around to see Aoi standing in the doorway, his shirt partially unbuttoned. His face suddenly twisted into something ugly.
“ Uruha? What the hell are you doing here?”
Uruha slithered back. Ohshitohshitohshit!!!
Aoi moved the doorway to the bed in the blink of an eye, his fingers intertwined with Kai’s. “I knew you couldn’t stand to let Kai go, you filthy little witch. Well, too bad for you. I broke whatever enchantment you put on him, and now he’s mine again.”
Aoi turned to cup Kai’s face, a smug expression on his face. Kai preened under the touch, his eyes glassy and his smile vacant.
Uruha’s head snakes started hissing. “What. The. Hell. Did. You. Do. To. Him.”
Aoi rolled his eyes, wrapping his wings around Kai, who was still staring up at him with slavish affection. “Honestly, are you so arrogant that you couldn’t think that I might be able to reverse your spell?” He gestured to Reita, who was trying to sneak out the door. “And you! Don’t think that there won’t be anything in store for you!”
Reita’s head jerked up. “I honestly didn’t do anything wrong, my Most Demonic Majesty! I was just...just taking them to you to be captured! Yes, that’s what I was doing!”
Both of the snakefolk rolled their eyes, Uruha holding his face in his hands. Oh, gods.
Aoi sighed, slinging one of his legs around Kai’s tail, which curled around his waist. “I’m tired of this shit.” He raised one of his hands in the air, his eyes glowing. “ Teleri Ruki mi Uruha citri vigintum.”
Suddenly, the scenery changed before Uruha’s eyes. Gone was the lavishly decorated pleasure chambers, with their overstuffed cushions and sex toys hanging off of the padded walls. In their place was cold stone wall and metal bars humming with magical energy.
“FUCK!” Ruki slammed a fist against the bars of their cell. The clang of fists hitting metal was soon mixed with the sound of searing flesh. “Gods, fuck! Fuck this shit!” Ruki sank to the floor, clutching his hand tightly with the other. His fangs were gritted tightly, tears slipping down his face.
Uruha turned his head, bending down to face Ruki. “Are you okay?”
“No! They must’ve put some sort of curse on it.” He lifted up his hand, a deep burn visible across his knuckles. “Luckily, I can-” He suddenly cut off, a dark expression working its way across his face.
“What?”
Ruki pressed his head against the stone wall, sinking to the floor. “Aoi must’ve put some sort of enchantment here. I can’t use magic.”
Uruha sighed. “You’re shitting me. How the hell are we supposed to get out of here?”
“Fuck if I know. With the best of luck, Reita might-”
Uruha turned to the lamia. “Ruki, if he didn’t already bring us here as a trap-”
“He is innocent! ”
“Fine, if it wasn’t a trap, then he’s most likely getting thrown in some cell just like we are. Our best hope is that word gets back to the Enclave and they-”
Ruki started laughing bitterly. “Do what? Send our tiny army against the forces of the Nine Hells? Even if everyone in the Enclave fought together, we’d be like a single person going up against a mob.”
Uruha pressed his head against the back of the cell, his snakes hissing at the pain of being pressed up against the stone walls. “Fuck.”
Ruki slumped down, coiling his tail. “Yeah. Fuck.”
*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Ruki raised his hand. “So, is your person a human?”
“Nope.”
“Does your person live in the Enclave?”
“Yeah.” Uruha started to fidget with his jeweled belt. God, I’m still in my wedding clothes, aren’t I? This feels like it should be a dream. It should be a dream. He suddenly felt something tap his shoulder.
Ruki was staring straight at him. “You okay?”
“Not really.” Uruha reached around to turn the belt around so that the clasp faced the front, clicking it in and out. In. Out. In. Out. Ruki grabbed his hand.
“Can you stop tha-” He suddenly stopped.
Uruha looked up. “What?”
Ruki pulled himself up. “Hand me that belt.”
The nagah’s brow furrowed. “What are you going to do with it?”
Ruki tilted his head. “I’m going to pick the lock.”
Uruha pulled himself up. “Didn’t the lock do-” He gestured to Ruki’s burned hand. “That?”
“If it’s royal jewelry, they enchant those things to be fireproof. You can throw them in an active volcano and they’ll come out fine.”
Seems like overkill, Uruha thought, but he handed over the belt to Ruki, who turned around, inspecting the complicated-looking lock. He took the tongue of the belt and started poking it into the keyhole, his teeth gritted. There was the occasional hissing noise as the metal hit the sides of the keyhole, but the belt didn’t seem to be in any danger of melting.
Honestly, the bigger problem's that Ruki wouldn't know what proper lockpicking is if it bit him in the ass. He’s just jamming in there. Uruha slithered over, grabbing the belt out of Ruki’s hands.
“What the hell?” Ruki glared up at him.
“Okay, who here’s picked a lock before?”
The lamia rolled his eyes. “Can’t be that hard.”
Uruha snatched the belt out of Ruki’s hand, attempting to wriggle into his spot. “That just tells me you’ve never done it before.”
Ruki rolled his eyes but moved back to let Uruha do his work. The mechanism was much more complicated than the ones back in the human world, but, after who-knows-how-long of fidgeting with the belt, a click echoed through the hallway and the door swung open.
“Oh shit.” Ruki mouthed. Uruha turned his head around rapid-fire to see two demon guards running down the hallway, brandishing large swords alight with green flame. His body froze in place. Oh shit’s right.
Ruki raised his hands up in the air, his eyes glowing. “ Aero oneiri quinquaginta aero orientem!” The guards continued to move forward, but their steps were sluggish and, just a few steps away from the two snakes, they fell to the ground, asleep.
Uruha turned around, his heart still wildly pounding. “What’re we going to do now?”
Ruki began to slither away, faster than normal. “Try to get out, maybe, get back to the Enclave, figure out how to break the curse. What else can we do?”
Uruha’s stomach twisted in anger, his snakes hissing. “We can’t just leave him here!”
“Do you have any better ideas?”
Uruha sighed and followed Ruki down the twisting halls of the dungeon, his stomach twisting at the memories of Kai staring up at Aoi, his eyes vacant of any kind of emotion or higher though, just slavish, blank, devotion. No real love was in either of their eyes, he thought. Not like Kai on our wedding day.
*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Kai woke up, his limbs sore, the taste of Aoi’s cum still on his tongue. He felt a hand move through his hair, his snakes hissing at the intrusion. Kai turned around, his husband-to-be smiling at him.
“Hello, Kai-love.”
Kai tried to put on a fake smile. He didn’t seem to fool Aoi though, as the lilim’s expression quickly shifted from fond to concerned.
“What’re you thinking about? It better not be that witch.” His face twisted into something resembling anger.
Kai shifted back, biting his lip. Aoi’s hands reached out, brushing some strands of hair out of Kai’s face. “Don’t worry. I locked him and his accomplices away, and they’re never going to take you again, Kai-pet.”
Kai sighed. He wriggled deeper into Aoi’s arms, his mind unable to stop thinking about the witch. He’d been the one that Aoi kept saying had kept him captive, twisted his mind into loving him with potions and spells. But he seemed so nice! And he had a cute smile. What are you thinking about!, a voice inside his head that sounded suspiciously like Aoi’s said, you should be loyal to the man you’re going to marry tomorrow.
I don’t know, but something deep in my gut says that Aoi’s not telling me the whole truth about the witch. I need to find out more.
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