Ep 457 Like a Bat out of Hell by A T Lander

June's Patron-funded story is"Like a Bat Out of Hell", a kinky straight short by A T Lander.  It's narrated by Vivienne Ferrari.

This month, I'm also announcing an ambitious new project; this fall I will be producing a new two-part story by Bernie Mojzes, the brilliant author of "Ink" which we presented back in episode 263.  It's going to take a lot to produce it, however, as it includes a huge orgy with two tentacle monsters and a bunch of humans, so it really needs a full cast recording. If we can get the Patreon campaign up to $300 by the end of July, this can happen. 

Hell was horrible.

Of course it was supposed to be horrible for the damned souls trapped there. All the screaming and torture and everything else went with the territory, and every demon in the place seemed to love it. Every demon but Aerys.

She hated the stink of sulfur, the baking heat of the lava pits, the sounds coming from the torture chambers. She wasn’t squeamish, per se, but she felt none of the sadistic joy her fellows clearly did at human suffering. She just wanted a cup of tea, a pretty dress, maybe some flowers or a bath with lavender soap. She’d seen such things in the mortal realm on her brief visits, but could never have them in Hell, never even speak of them. If Aerys’s inner softness, her dislike for killing and desire for comfort was discovered, she would go from respected Greater Demon to some Prince’s weakling torture-toy.

So Aerys pretended. She wore armor of leather and spikes, cackled as evilly as she could manage and hoped every moment to get summoned to the mortal realm. She was usually just giving people money, power or one less enemy to worry about, but it was still a break from the stink and the screams and the stress of faking her own enjoyment.

The latest summoning was powerful and precise, tugging Aerys from a flame-wreathed promenade and into a cool, candle-lit room. She breathed a soft sigh, smelling incense, dried herbs, ink and musty parchment; the scents of a wizard’s workshop. Hopefully her summoner would want her for complex magical advice or killing someone on another continent, anything that would let her bask in this realm for a decent amount of time.

Speaking of her summoner, he looked surprisingly young and handsome for one so skilled. He had long blonde hair in a messy ponytail, intense blue eyes and high, regal cheekbones. Long, clever fingers held his arcane tome, and his frame was tall and slim. The wind of her appearance ruffled his floor-length robes and made the candles flicker, but he didn’t even blink.

She’d always had a thing for human men, but this one was so gorgeous it was unfair.