A Temple

Lois Lane found her palm sweaty as she rubbed breasts with Zatanna. In her heels, the witch was taller than Lois, and they were sticking close together as they wended their way through the crowded bar, following the ⚲ symbols. She drained the last of her beer, not caring how tipsy she felt...even half-**** the reporter's mind was putting the pieces together.

The ⚲ symbols led them to the back of the club, to a door by the bathrooms...and beyond the door, a staircase leading down, the symbols painted on the wall. When the door closed, the music was muted enough that they could talk without raising their voices.

"When I talked to Neron," Lois said. "He kept saying 'her.' That a female demon is behind it. Now we're following these symbols, and they refer to a female power...and they're associated with the morning star, which is associated with Lucifer..."

There were no lights, as they descended into darkness, just the bare gleam through the crack beneath the door. Lois fetched out her smartphone and used the screenlight to show their way...and was surprised to see that they were walking through a layer of red brick walls, and beneath that she could see old construction. Dressed stonework, like in the Metropolis Cathedral. A part of her felt like they were descending through time as well as space. For Metropolis, like most cities, was built on top of the older construction. Go deep enough and you could find the remnants of the original colonial settlement...and beneath that, the Native American settlements.

"...is there a female equivalent to Satan?" Lois asked.

"Sort of," Zatanna was so close on the reporter's heels that Lois was uncomfortably aware of those big, bare breasts just behind her head. They didn't need to be topless down there, because there was no one to see them, and yet here they were...and Lois could feel her own nipples achingly hard as the air gew cooler, the deeper they went.

"Her name is Blaze. She's the current Queen of Hell. Very powerful, very wicked. She's long wanted to get a foothold in this realm, but she faces certain restrictions. Did Neron say anything else?"

"That she'd gathered four souls already. The missing women I came here to find, I assume. And he said...he said I'd been tainted by her, somehow. I didn't understand that part." Lois found that her voice had dropped to a whisper...her steps had slowed. More than once, Zatanna's breasts had brushed the back of her head...and Lois felt a warmth between her legs. She realized she was doing it deliberately.

"Hmm. I wonder if..." Zatanna began...but then ceased as they hit the bottom of the steps.

The pale light of the reporter's smartphone couldn't fill the space. It was as vast and empty as a cathedral, and there were signs carved on the floor, marking the way. ⚲ after ⚲ after ⚲ beneath their feet...but Lois saw something straight ahead. A black block of stone, glassy like obsidian...there was a still form atop it. Pale and naked, female, the breasts distinct. As they got closer Lois saw another stone...and another pale form.

Lois stepped closer. She recognized Diana Reynolds, one of the missing women. Her breasts rose and fell, but her eyes stared straight at the ceiling, pupils no more than pin-pricks. The reporter touched her shoulder, shook her...but the pale form gave no response. Wherever she had gone inside herself, it was deep.

Zatanna grabbed the reporter's arm, and they walked on until they stood in the center of a pentagram. Five altars, four of them occupied.

"What is this?" The reporter wondered aloud, breaking the unwitting silence of the last few moments.

"A temple," Zatanna said. "These are sacrifices...or they're going to be. It's not complete yet. Look."

She pointed to the empty altar.

"That was probably the spot Blaze had intended for you," the witch said. "But that's not going to happen. We need to get these women out of here...cleanse this place..."

Which is when something very strange happened to Lois Lane.