No Bet

The words stung Lois as soon as they passed the demon's lips. She was taken aback, confused, even a little shaken. The reporter had been so sure that Blaze wanted...well, her, big and pregnant.

"As much as I would enjoy pounding your pussy again...and as much, I am sure, as you would enjoy being pounded...I think we should play a different game, for slightly different stakes."

Blaze swept one red arm over the table. The chips shifted, subtly, rearranging themselves into neat stacks in front of each chair, with a single chip embedded in the center of the table. Lois reached over and picked on up on her side. It was pink and white around the rim, and in the center was a single word: "septem."

"Week," Lois translated the term into English.

"Very good," Blaze nodded. "Every chip represents one week of your pregnancy. When I cash one in...you advance. The process is harmless to both you and the child, all your needs taken care of by my magic, and your awareness of time shifted—one week will feel like a moment—but your body will feel and show it."

Lois clicked her teeth. "And what are you betting?"

"Soulshards," Blaze held up one of her own chips, the edges red and black, a stylized yin-yang on them in the same colors. "Every ten shards equals an entire soul—every ten you win means another woman goes free."

"The game?" Lois asked.

"Poker, your choice. Your chips are cashed in automatically when the current hand ends, soul shards whenever you have ten."

The reporter took a breath and let it out, her stomach suddenly queasy. A typical pregnancy was forty weeks; there were three souls left—so, thirty soul shards. If she played this right, she had the advantage...but on the other hand, if the chips were cashed in immediately...there was no way to go backward. Every chip lost was a week of her pregnancy advanced.

That by itself was something Lois was getting used to. The idea of being pregnant. She had just been fucked, the whole idea of insemination and implantation already occurring...the reality that she was going to be a mother...hit her hard. And of course, the farther along she got, the more options for...dealing with the pregnancy...went out the window. No Plan B. No abortions after six weeks, not in this state...late-term abortions were...what, thirty weeks?

Lois didn't like to think about it. She was pro-choice, but had never really considered abortion an option for herself. It had never been an issue, because she had been so careful in all of her sexual encounters...until now.

Of course, that might be exactly what Blaze is thinking. Even if she loses, she wins...because I won't be able to back out of the pregnancy.

"No tricks, Blaze?" She found herself saying. "An honest game of poker, for those stakes? No hidden rules or attempts to fuck me? I want your word."

"I promise, sweetmeat," the demon ran a finger across her left breast. "Cross my heart."

Stomach still queasy, Lois took her seat at the table. She stared at the chip in the center.

"What's that?" She asked. It was white, and set flush with the tabletop, but there was something round moving in the center of it.

"Your fertilized egg." Blaze said. "From early. So we can...monitor your progress another way."

Blaze took her seat and opened up a fresh pack of cards. Ornate red backs on these, but otherwise very normal-looking. No more erotic imagery. The same kind of cards Lois could buy in a store.

"So," the shemale asked as she shuffled the cards. "What shall we play?"