End: Circe Buys Their Freedom

Lois Lane wasn't sure what she was expecting. They didn't have to knock, the door simply opened and Circe led the way inside, Lois Lane trailing behind...eyes wide as she took in a space far too large for this building.

There was a Persian carpet, leading to a desk. The left wall was covered with monitors, showing camera feeds from different parts of the club and the brothel beneath it.The desk itself was an almost prosaic affair, something from a previous century done in wood, the slim laptop atop it almost anachronistic in its modernity. Yet the desk sat on the edge of a precipice overlooking a cavern the size of a football stadium, the pool of molten magma casting a surreal light over the red leather chairs in front of the desk...and the person behind it.

"Blaze," Circe said.

It was a woman...or shaped like a woman, at least. Small breasts pushed against the business-like orange blouse, small reading glasses perched on the end of a slim straight nose, the main of dark curly hair was tied back in a ponytail, and a small tones ass was poured into a pencil skirt Lois could have used to turn heads at the Daily Planet. Yet Blaze's skin was the bright crimson of fresh blood on parchment, dark horns curled up from her wide brow, and the eyes beneath, deep-set, were pure white without pupil or iris, and seemed to glow of their own accord.

As she leaned over the desk, Lois saw that the demon was little more than skin, bone, and wiry muscle, like a human built on the scale of a greyhound...and there was something wolfish about the lean face with its too-wide mouth.

"Circe," Blaze said with a nod. "And Miss Lane. What a pleasant surprise. We were wondering where you had gotten off to."

"I'd like to settle my tab," Circe said. "And buy a few of your newer assets, while I'm at it."

The air seemed to crackle between them. Lois wasn't sure what was going on, but the temperature of the room rose, and Lois could feel a sudden greasy humidity soaking into her skin. Between the sorceress and the demon, the air shimmered like a heat haze over a highway on a summer day.

"Quite impossible," Blaze said. "You know the coin of my realm. I might settle your tab for a true name or two, but..."

Circe took a step forward. Lois Lane saw the roiling air pushed forward before her, like the bow-wave of a ship. Black sparks hissed off Blaze's horn. The sorceress placed her knuckles on the demon's desk.

"Now, now...we're both reasonable women," Circe said. "And you're a businesswoman now. It pays to be a little flexible, if you want to make a profit."

Blaze stood her ground...and then that wide mouth twisted into a knowing little half-smile.

"Well, I suppose I'll hear your offer. Which souls are you after?"

Circe inclined her head, and Lois recognized her cue.

"Diana Reynolds. Mara de la Cruz. Tonya Wong. Jenny Dunlap." Lois recited the names of the four women that had gone missing.

Blaze didn't blink...but behind her, something screamed, a column of magma rose and fell...and with a soft pop, four naked women appeared on the carpet next to Lois.

"You can't afford them," Blaze said. "Unless you want to sell your own soul?"

Circe smiled back...and Lois wasn't sure what exactly happened next. It looked, for a moment, as though Circe had stuck out her hand into the open air...and the hand disappeared...and when it returned it held a book, crudely bound in some kind of leather or hide, ancient and warped...

...and a shiver went down the reporter's spine as she saw the book had a human ear on the middle of the cover.

Blaze's eyes went wide. "The Ex Mortis...where did you..."

"I have my ways," Circe said, coolly. "Sufficient?"

Red hands crossed the space between them and seized on the book. There was a brief flash of green fire...and Blaze stared down at the smoking black stumps of her hands.

"It has to be freely given, or bartered," Circe said. "My debt, these four souls, and free passage for all of us from your domains for the book. Do we have a deal?"

The demon's jaw worked. The black sparks had formed a halo of negative lightning around her head, like an unholy crown...but finally she spat the word: "Deal!"

They left the demon there, the book on her desk. Lois helped the naked women stand and herded them to the exit...and was shocked when they exited Blaze's office, to arrive in the reporter's own bedroom.

Without Circe.

Lois blinked, looked around. It was just the reporter and four naked young women. Finally, one of them said.

"You saved us, didn't you?"

The reporter turned to look at Tonya Wong in the face. The small Asian woman still had a streak of blue in her hair. Twenty-two years old, a business major at Metropolis University. Small breasts with thick nipples, and a thatch of dark pubic hair. She didn't wait for Losi to answer, but stepped forward and pulled at the reporter's jacket.

"I'd like to show you my gratitude," Tonya said.

"Me too!" Jenny Dunlap said from behind Lois, her hands tugging at the waistband of the reporter's pants.

"And me," Mara de la Cruz said, licking her lips as she pulled the duvet off the bed.

"All of us want to thank you properly," Diana Reynolds said, running her hands up under the reporter's shirt.

A part of Lois knew she should protest...but then something shut her down. She let the naked, eager women strip her and carry her to the bed...and Lois Lane knew, as the heavy booty of Mara de la Cruz settled on her face, the pungent smell of her pussy enveloping her mouth, that Circe was seeing through her eyes, and feeling what Lois Lane felt...and though Lois Lane's night out might be over, the reporter's sexual adventures as Circe's surrogate were just beginning.