“I’m their agent,” Daniel told the pub’s owner, a squat, hairy man who studied the band with narrowed eyes. The owner (who had introduced himself as Larry, even though the name of the pub was Joe’s) placed his hands on his hips, slowly turning a worn toothpick around and around in his mouth. Larry regarded him with distrust, even though Daniel was the sort of man who naturally came off as likable. His boyish good looks helped that. Handsome as the devil, Elsie had once described him. But the owner wasn’t buying it; he was clearly experiencing some buyer’s remorse as he looked back at the band.

“I was thinking that ‘Walk Toward the Light’ was a Christian rock band name when I hired ‘em,” Larry finally said. “They ain’t a Christian rock band, are they?”

It was evident at first glance that they weren’t. There were only two of them, Liana and Mason, and they both looked like refugees from an emo concert. Mason was tall and powerfully built, his spiky hair dyed jet-black. He had taken off his leather jacket and was bent over his guitar case, his tight t-shirt showing off the broad muscles of his back. But Larry’s eyes, and possibly the eyes of every man in the building, were on Liana. She was Mason’s height, although with her high-heeled Mary Janes on, she actually stood an inch or two taller. Her skirt only came up to her upper thighs and so the audience received an excellent view of her shapely legs as she set up the microphone. Liana seemed to sense that Larry and Daniel were talking about her, since she turned in their direction and gave them a smokey-eyed wink.

“No, they aren’t,” Daniel admitted, the singer’s wink making him uneasy. But Larry was obviously smitten and he gave a reluctant smile.

“Well, it’s too damn late to call another band. They’ll hafta do,” he said, still looking at Liana’s graceful curves. Daniel suppressed a sigh, wishing that the owner had changed his mind and told them to get out. He had to console himself with the fact that after tonight, he wouldn’t need to find another gig for quite some time. Years, if he was lucky.
 
The pub was more accurately described as a dive bar, the sort of place decorated with neon signs advertising cheap brands of beer. There weren’t many people there, mostly grad students from the nearby university. One or two blue-collar workers nursed beers at the bar. But everyone stopped drinking or talking and turned their attention toward Liana when she spoke into the mic. This wasn’t the first time that her soft voice had had such a mesmerizing effect. Beside him, Larry’s mouth opened wider and the toothpick fell out, unnoticed. Even Daniel, who had experienced the effect of the singer’s voice many times before, felt an eerie calmness descend over him. Everything seemed distant and removed; only Liana, with her long scarlet hair and hazel eyes, seemed real.

“Hope y’all like this first number,” she said with a distinct Southern lilt, although she wasn’t from the American South at all. Like her names, Liana’s accents were innumerable. At the last gig, she had been Linda and had adopted an Irish accent. As the entire pub watched, transfixed, she launched into a song. Behind her, Mason played his acoustic guitar, perhaps the most beautiful instrument that Daniel had ever seen. It was constructed of gleaming black wood that caught the dim overhead lights, the guitarist’s long fingers plucking expertly at the strings. Daniel was probably one of the few people who saw the grinning white skull painted on the guitar’s body.

The lyrics of the song were familiar, almost cliche: a jilted man had stood on the crossroads and he had summoned the powers of Hell to gain vengeance. Now that man remained in the thrall of the very Power that he had unleashed upon the Earth, until the world itself ended. Despite himself, Daniel felt the familiar sickness tighten his stomach and he looked down at the threadbare carpet on the floor, willing the nausea away. When he lifted his eyes, he saw Liana glancing at him again.

This time, the wink was just for him.

When the song ended, Liana transitioned into another. This time, though, the words weren’t in English. Daniel wasn’t sure what the language was; Sumerian, maybe. Whatever it was, it was ancient and the words caused his skin to break out into goosebumps. The overhead lights became more intense and the air became colder until it felt like he standing in a walk-in refrigerator. No one else in the pub noticed. Their gaze was fixated on the musicians before them. When he felt his body begin to tingle, Daniel squeezed his eyes shut tightly. There was only the slightest hint of vertigo to signify what was happening.
 
Liana’s singing abruptly stopped. That was when the screaming began.

Reluctantly, he opened his eyes, not at surprised to find himself only an inch tall. The pub’s patrons were shocked, however, and most of them were either running aimlessly across the floor or cowering where they stood. Even though this had happened to him many times before, Daniel still marveled at how huge the world seemed. The bar, the tables, the chairs — they were all on an almost incomprehensible scale. Someone’s teal purse was only a few feet away and to him it was the size of a house, big enough that the stitches were like thick rope.

Most awe-inspiring of all were the members of Walk Toward the Light. They were still normal sized, towering far above everyone in the pub like two mythological Titans. Mason had stopped strumming his guitar and he leaned forward in his chair, exchanging a devilish smile with Liana. Putting down the mic, Liana stepped forward, walking purposely toward the shrunken people. Daniel felt the vibrations of her footsteps as she strode across the floor and then bent down to scoop up several tiny people at once. Some of the patrons tried to flee, darting away from the giantess. But she was too fast and she caught them as well, pinching them between thumb and forefinger. The first squirming handfuls were dumped into the velvet-lined guitar case.

Someone was sprinting toward him and he saw that it was Larry, the pub’s owner. Here was a man who obviously wasn’t used to running, as evidenced by his ragged breathing and florid face. But that didn’t stop him from trying. Seeing that he was headed toward the door, Daniel made a split-second decision. His leg lashed out and Larry tripped over it, tumbling onto the floor. A part of him experienced guilt at thwarting the man’s escape, but another part understood what Mason and Liana would do to him if he let someone get away.

He felt the vibrations first. Then the giantess’ foot crashed down dangerously close, close enough that Daniel could see himself reflected in the glossy crimson patent leather. He had to crane his head almost all the way back to see her face, her vast body distorted because of the unnatural perspective. Immediately he noticed her smile, hideous in its cruelty.

“One of them was trying to get away, huh? Good job stopping him,” Liana said in a voice like a clap of thunder.

Daniel lowered his head, ashamed of his cowardice. Near him, the pub owner stared up in disbelief at the giantess, too terrified or astonished to try fleeing again. Even when her foot lifted and hovered over him, he didn’t move. It was only when she slowly and carefully stepped down onto him did he react, letting out a long, shrill bleat. Larry beat at the scuffed sole of the shoe before he was forced down to the floor. The giantess allowed him a few seconds of whimpering before she brought more of her weight down onto him. Larry’s whimpering transitioned into shrieks and then into breathless gasping as the air was driven violently from his lungs. At that point, Daniel should have averted his eyes, but he didn’t. He had seen this sort of thing many, many times before and he stood as a silent witness.

Larry’s horrified face was the last thing that Daniel saw of him before Liana leaned forward, crushing him beneath her foot like a cockroach. The sound of his bones cracking and the meaty squelch of flesh pulping followed. Something hot and wet splattered onto Daniel’s shirt but he didn’t look down; he already knew what it was. With great disdain, Liana ground the remains of the pub’s owner into the carpet, twisting her foot back and forth. Later, when the police inevitably arrived, they probably wouldn’t even notice the minute red stain that had once been a man.
 
An enormous shadow fell over Daniel and he saw Liana’s hand reaching down for him, her ringed fingers stretched wide. Behind them, he could make out her lovely face, the mouth set in that awful smile. He knew better than to struggle and instead allowed her to pluck him up. Almost instantly her scent filled his nose, a combination of flowery perfume and soap and sweat with the subtlest hint of sulphur. Three of the giantess’ fingers pinched him like a vise, hard enough to hurt but not hard enough to crush his body. The feeling of being lifted up was nauseating, her skyscraper body moving past him until he was level with her eyes.

“Well, I have to say that this was a shitty gig,” Liana declared, dangling him like a used condom.

“I’m very sorry,” Daniel managed to say, keeping his body very still. He was aware of how high off the ground he was and for a moment, he wondered if he would be killed if she dropped him. The thought was strangely soothing. Of course, this was assuming that she would even allow him to die.

Liana started to say something else, but Mason came up behind her. In one hand he carried the gleaming black guitar; in the other, the guitar case, filled with the tiny pub patrons. If Daniel listened carefully, he could see the faintly muffled screams of those trapped inside. They were still alive, for now.

“Did you get them all?” Liana asked. The giant’s gaze shifted down to Daniel for one instant; then, without bothering to acknowledge the other man’s presence, he nodded.

“Good,” Liana said, lowering Daniel toward the pocket on her blouse, the one right above her heart. He kicked feebly, his legs churning the air, before she nonchalantly slid him inside. The white fabric was silk but at his size it was rough against his skin. Worse, however, was the damp heaviness of his shirt, which was soaked with Larry’s still-warm blood. As he tried to readjust himself so that he was in a more comfortable position, he became aware that they were moving outside. Darkness descended as they walked out into the cool night. In a few hours it would be over, at least for this time. That’s what Daniel told himself as he was jolted around with each of the giantess’ steps.

Just a few more hours.

***

The lyrics to the song about the jilted man had been written eighty-five years earlier, when Daniel had been younger and much more naive. Humiliation that his fiancee Elsie had left him for another man had driven him to seek vengeance. To his frustration, most of the earthly options for revenge weren’t available to him. And so he had turned to the more unearthly ones. Daniel had stood at the crossroads at midnight, the Kansas moon hanging high above his head, and summoned a demon.

At first, he had felt foolish, standing outside amongst the fields of wheat. Just as he had turned to leave, however, he had sensed her. She had stood in the middle of the intersection, dressed in a white dress with a strange locket around her slender throat. To Daniel, she had resembled an actress. Carole Lombard, perhaps. But one look at her eyes, glowing with a subtle light, had informed him that this wasn’t even a real person.

She had strode toward him barefoot, yet her feet had been untouched by the dirt on the road.

“Who are you?” Daniel had asked nervously.

“You know who I am, Daniel. And we’re about to make a bargain, aren’t we? I’ll make sure that your fiancee suffers but I’ll want something in return…”

***

Now years later, Daniel was paying them back ten-fold, acting as their damned judas goat. All of these gigs were just a way for them to find fresh meat.

He bounced around, completely unheeded by the giantess as she walked back toward their lodging. There weren’t many places to stay in this hick town, where the main source of industry was a small university that was well-renowned for absolutely nothing. Daniel had made arrangements at a bed and breakfast that was located in a converted Victorian mansion, the sort of place where newly-weds and vacationing retirees would stay. Along with scheduling their gigs, he took care of all of the mundane matters like finding lodging. Once or twice he had dared to ask them why they even needed him. Liana had just provided him with a sly smile. Oh, because we love tormenting you, that smile said.

Sometimes he tried to remember how many towns they had played in, how many places they had stayed. But his memory was beginning to fade with time and he suspected that someday he would even forget the bargain that he had made, the one that had placed him in this nightmarish situation.

Immortality, he had found, wasn’t exactly as marvelous as he had once thought.

When the world stopped shaking around him, he knew that they were back at the bed and breakfast. Liana’s colossal fingers returned, grabbing him tightly by the shoulders and yanking him upwards. Daniel blinked rapidly at the sudden light and he saw that they were indeed back in their room. It was one of the biggest rooms available, decorated in some sort of pseudo-Victorian fashion with ornate furniture and burgundy wallpaper. The room had looked large then; now, at his reduced scale, it was monstrous.

Mason placed the guitar and its case onto the floor and then turned toward the huge fireplace. With a wave of his hand a raging fire appeared from nowhere, illuminating the entire room with flickering light. The fact that he could conjure up fire no longer shocked Daniel. They were both magical beings, summoned forth from the pits of Hell. Their abilities, like their rules, were something that he still didn’t fully comprehend. So he just accepted them.

Liana dropped Daniel onto the stadium-sized bed and he hit it hard, rolling and tumbling across the gold duvet. As soon as he regained his bearings, he sat up. The blood staining his shirt had dried into maroon splotches but he tried not to linger too much on it.

“Lili-,” He started.

“Don’t use my real name, human,” Liana told him coldly.

“Of-of course, Liana.” Daniel quivered, trying to muster his courage as she glared down at him. The bed was level with her thighs and they stood like twin monuments of flesh, rising up and up. If he tilted his head far enough, he could see the darkness beneath her skirt, the forbidden apex of those colossal legs. While that sight would have filled most hetereosexual men with desire, he only felt apprehension.

God, he wished she would look away, even if for a moment. Those merciless eyes raped his soul, whatever was left of it.

His silent prayers were answered when Liana glanced over at Mason. He was sprawled out on a wine-colored chaise, his posture relaxed. At his feet was the case, seemingly nondescript until one realized that it was filled with shrunken people.

“Let’s see our new playthings.” There was a horrible excitement in Liana’s voice. Grinning charmingly, Mason complied, opening the case and taking out a few tiny people as though he were selecting chessmen from a set. The other inch-tall prisoners remained in the case, unable to scale the tall walls. One by one, he lined them up on the chaise, four young people who were probably college students. He kept them carefully corralled between his jean-clad legs. From the way that two of them clung to one another, Daniel guessed that they were a couple. Liana knelt down before the chaise so that she could peer at the four tiny captives. Softly, as though she was speaking to frightened children, she spoke to them.

“Howdy there. Hope y’all enjoyed the show earlier.” When they didn’t answer, she leaned even closer, causing them to back up against the high wall formed by Mason’s leg. Daniel watched with grim fascination from the bed, all too aware of what they had planned.

“What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue? Here, let me see,” Liana purred, her hand darting out to grab one of the men. He cringed and pleaded as she first held him in her palm and then began to rip off his clothing, beginning with his navy-blue shirt that bore the name of the local university. Almost absently, her thumb found his minute crouch and she pressed down, making him screech in pain.

“What a delicious little morsel you are,” the giantess said; then to Mason: “Open wide.”

The giant’s mouth yawned open, revealing perfect white teeth and the dark chasm of his throat. The man’s shriek became higher, almost girlish, as he fought to no avail against Liana’s strong fingers. Her rings caught the firelight as she held him over Mason’s mouth. Then, as if she were feeding him a chocolate, she placed the insect-sized man on his tongue.

“No! Don’t! Chad!” One of the girls howled, most likely the unfortunate man’s girlfriend. She was willowy with curly-blonde hair and her resemblance to his ex-fiancee Elsie was uncanny. For one instant, Daniel felt as if he had traveled back in time. What had Liana done to Elsie, exactly? He still wasn’t sure. All that he knew was that she had appeared on his doorstep the morning after he had made the deal, a suspicious patch of brownish-red staining her white dress. A beautiful black Lincoln roadster had idled on the street behind her, a dark-haired man behind the wheel. Daniel had torn his attention away from the car to listen to what Liana had been saying. She had calmly informed him that his part of the bargain was due.

Daniel was past the point of regret for what had happened to Elsie, although he felt fresh agony as he watched the college student beg for her boyfriend’s life. He clenched and unclenched his hands, feeling utterly helpless. Stopping them physically wasn’t an option. On more than one occasion, he had tried to murder them, but that had been laughable. Daniel had quickly discovered that it was impossible to kill something that wasn’t even truly alive. So he settled for his only other option.

“Mammon!” As soon as he screamed the demon’s real name, his bravery dissipated. Mason swiveled his head in his direction, swirling his victim around in his mouth like a peppermint candy. It was difficult to read the giant’s expression; it seemed like amusement and annoyance flitted indiscriminately across his handsome face. Slowly, deliberately, he swallowed the man with an audible gulping noise. Daniel actually saw the small lump travel down his throat, disappearing past his Adam’s apple.

“What the fuck do you want?” Mason demanded after he was finished eating the man.

“N-nothing,” Daniel whispered, loathing himself for his cowardice. The giant stared at him contemptuously, then looked down at the people still trapped on the chaise. Elsie’s look-alike had broken down into frantic sobbing, while her two companions stood like two pale-faced statues.

“Poor thing misses her boyfriend,” Liana said with false concern.

“I can still feel him still squirming inside me.”

That made the blonde-haired woman scream in despair. Mason bent forward slightly, his dark brown eyes roving appreciatively over the women’s nubile bodies. They shook under the giant’s scrutiny, their fear increasing when they saw the stiffening column of flesh pushing up against his pants. All three watched as he reached down to unzip himself, the sound of the zipper’s teeth parting ominous. It was only when he freed his semi-erect cock and balls did they understand what he planned to do. He grabbed for them even as they tried to scatter. One of the women, an athletic brunette who probably played lacrosse or some other sport at the university, tried to dash to the left but found herself barricaded by the giant’s outstretched hand. Like a bulldozer, his hand forced her backwards, toward his crotch. She yelped in dismay as he roughly shoved her against his scrotum.

“Use your tongue, bitch,” he snarled and Liana giggled, entranced by the little woman’s dilemma.

“Yessir, yessir, yessir,” the girl babbled. She began licking for all that she was worth, her ministrations occasionally interrupted by desperate mewling noises. Mason watched her smugly as she caressed his testicles, her lean body nearly hidden by the thick patch of pubic hair. Gently, almost lovingly, he wrapped his hand around her, pressing her insistently against him. The woman continued to lap at him until the pressure became too much. Her tongue froze in mid-lick and she uttered a surprised cry as he forced her upwards towards the underside of his cock. Harder and harder he pressed, his massive penis dwarfing her body; then Daniel heard a wet crunch and he knew that she was no more.

One of the other women had made it to the edge of the chaise when she had discovered that it was a lethal drop to the floor. She was obviously searching for a way to climb down when the giantess’ predatory gaze fell upon her.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Liana demanded, her hazel eyes suddenly lit with that eldritch glow. The woman gaped up at her, hypnotized. “Come here. Now.”

Daniel knew that she wouldn’t be able to resist Liana’s demonic powers. Right now the giantess was probably crawling around inside of her victim’s head, forcing her to do what she wanted. Like a little wind-up doll, the woman obeyed, marching forward stiffly. Liana dipped her head down and opened her mouth wide, running her tongue over her front teeth in anticipation.

The woman hesitated, but only for a moment. She clambered up onto the gigantic lower lip, her actions no longer her own. As the woman started to slither her way into Liana’s gaping mouth, the corners of the giantess’ lips curled upward in an evil grin and she bit down, her huge teeth slashing like a guillotine.  The bottom half of the hapless woman’s body simply plummeted onto the floor below. Looking satisfied, Liana wiped away the bright blood on her chin. Mason reached down for the last woman, the one who resembled Elsie, but the giantess blocked him, her hand pushing his away.

“No, not yet,” Liana told him, scooping up the petrified blonde and dumping her into an empty water glass. The way that she bared her teeth at her captive was chilling. Mason looked disappointed as he found a box of tissues and went about cleaning whatever remained of the women.

When he headed to the bathroom to flush the tissues and the mutilated bodies, Liana sidled up to the bed. Giving Daniel a lewd look, she hooked her thumbs down into her skirt and slipped it off. She was wearing panties that were the same scarlet color as her hair and it was obvious from the dark wetness on them that she was aroused. Off came the panties as well and she stood high above him, the canyon of her clean-shaven sex an awe-inspiring sight. Arousal was the last thing on Daniel’s mind, though. Although he had certainly enjoyed the company of women back when he was leading a normal life, the sight of the giantess’ vagina only inspired animalistic terror in him. The mammoth outer lips, each larger than a truck compared to his diminutive form, glistened wetly. He trembled as she began to lower herself toward him.

At the last moment he tried to dodge; she was far too fast, however, and she slammed herself down onto him. A scream began to erupt from his throat but her flesh, exquisitely soft and almost burning hot to the touch, smothered him. Liana probably would have squashed him like an overripe grape had he not been forced between her titanic netherlips. Panic seized him as he found himself wedged between the bed and the opening to her vagina, her thick secretions flowing down onto his face, his hands, his entire body.

A teeth-rattling rumble shook him and it was a second before he understood that she was moaning. Daniel redoubled his efforts, beating against the slick flesh pinning him. But that only seemed to entice her more and she began to squirm and gyrate her pelvis, grinding him against the bed.

“Nononougghh!” He tried to protest, convulsing wildly. The giantess’ fluids were filling his mouth and he fought to breathe, slowly drowning in the viscous slime. At first, his lungs burned, aching for oxygen; then, as his vision began to tunnel, he acquiesced. Better to just get it over with, he thought, giving one last half-hearted push against the suffocating flesh…

…then Liana lifted herself off of him, blissfully-cool air washing over his face.

Daniel choked and spat up mouthfuls of the clear goo, disappointed that she hadn’t just killed him. Liana leered at him as he wiped his eyes, the salty-sweet taste of the demoness still on his tongue. His body dripped with her secretions and for some reason, he thought of an animal marking its property. Well, he was certainly her property, wasn’t he? He sat up, soaked and shivering, just as Mason reappeared. The giant laughed, a deep, sonorous noise, when he spotted Daniel shaking on the bed like a sodden rat.

“Couldn’t wait, could you?” Mason said to Liana.

“No, although I’ll admit that he was a pretty poor fuck. But what can you expect from a guy with a penis so microscopic that I can’t even see it?”

Years ago, Daniel’s face would have flushed from embarrassment at the mention of his penis size; now, he just stared up bleakly at his captors. As he was peeling off his drenched shirt, Liana plopped down without warning, causing the bed to rock beneath him. She was also taking off her blouse. The lacy bra slipped off after that, her large breasts swaying free. Only her locket remained, glittering around her long neck.

“I think you can do a much better job,” Liana purred as Mason bent down, tweaking one of her nipples so that it hardened in his grasp. Briefly, Daniel indulged in a fantasy of climbing down from the bed while they were distracted and slipping beneath the door. But he had tried that once before and although he had made it outside, they had tracked him down easily. It had almost been if they could sense him, as if some invisible leash tethered him to his masters. When Liana had caught him, she had threatened him with all kinds of abuse and, much to his horror, she had carried out many of her threats. Afterwards, when he had been thoroughly brutalized, she had tied him to her ankle so that he “wouldn’t pull another stunt like that one again.” Fortunately, she had given him enough slack that he had been able to keep up with her enormous steps…most of the time. She had dragged him across the floor once or twice.

So he remained on the bed, the obedient pet as Mason’s lips brushed Liana’s, the giant’s hand still on the swell of her breast. Daniel was hoping that they had forgotten about the people in the guitar case and the blonde-haired woman crying in the glass, but they hadn’t. Mason stripped off his own clothing, revealing the arcane magical tattoos that decorated his tanned skin. Then he padded across the room and picked up the case. The wailing of the tiny people began anew as he put it down next to Liana on the bed. Peeking inside, she grinned maliciously and began to pull them out, sprinkling them on her breasts and belly. Those who tried to jump off she mashed beneath her thumb, their bodies bursting and leaving streaks of crimson on her flesh.
 
“And now for you,” Mason said, his hand coiling around the water glass. Inside, the Elsie look-alike stopped weeping and turned deathly white, the blood draining from her face. Casually, he dumped her into his upturned palm. Liana waited for him with outstretched arms, the light from the fireplace highlighting the shrunken people huddled on her body. Again the bed quaked as the giant mounted it. Daniel clutched onto the duvet, bouncing up and down as the very ground beneath him heaved.

He knew what the demons were going to do; after all, he had seen this countless times before. But the fact that one of the captives resembled his long-dead fiancee made it unbearable to watch. Almost as if Mason could read Daniel’s thoughts (and with his powers, perhaps he could), he tightened his fist around the tiny blonde. She squeaked in pain but the giant ignored it. His other hand was gently caressing Liana’s sex, his fingers tickling her outer lips.

“Consider this an honor,” he said to the Elsie look-alike before he shoved her deep into the abyss between Liana’s thighs.

Daniel closed his eyes, too sickened to watch. It was only when the movements of the demons nearly sent him flying did he open them again. He saw every horrid detail: the poor blonde woman’s hands groping blindly from the depths of Liana’s vagina as she tried to pull herself out; Mason’s monstrous cock, swollen with sadistic desire, forcing the woman back inside; Liana’s face twisted in utter rapture, her glowing eyes a testament to what she truly was. The people stranded on the giantess suddenly found themselves sandwiched between tons of flesh as Mason positioned himself above her.

When the giant thrust, his muscular stomach slammed into his partner’s abdomen, smashing the tiny people between them. Blood squirted out, dappling the gold duvet and sheets in obscene patterns. The screams of the dying were quickly muffled by the sound of flesh hitting flesh. Daniel’s eyes were focused on the gargantuan penis as it rammed itself repeatedly into the vast opening of Liana’s vagina, a place where he had been imprisoned only a few minutes earlier. He sincerely hoped that the woman trapped inside wasn’t suffering, but he knew the truth.

It took an eternity for them to come and when they did, Liana cried out so loudly that Daniel thought his eardrums would explode. The ringing in his ears continued as Mason pulled out and rolled himself over. To Daniel’s disgust, the body of the Elsie look-alike slid out of the giantess’ vagina on a tide of sexual fluids, her face now so pulverized that she barely looked human. The room spun and Daniel had to look away, unable to handle the gruesome sight. He concentrated on a section of the flowered wallpaper instead, trying hard not to pass out.

So many people dead, and the knowledge that he was partially to blame made his head pound with a steady ache. Eighty-five years was a long time to be paying someone back and he realized that he could be doing this for the next hundred years. Or for the next thousand years. Or for eternity, forever bound to these monsters. The throbbing pain in his head made him grind his teeth.

“Please kill me,” he said quietly.
 
The two demons both turned their inhuman gazes upon him, their eyes burning bright with hellfire.

“P-please kill me,” Daniel begged. Liana cackled at his plea.

“ ‘P-please kill me,’ “ she mocked in a high voice.

Daniel swallowed hard. “Please, I want out of this contract. I can’t take it anymore-“

“Too bad, buddy boy. A deal’s a deal. Or did you forget about the whole bargain at the crossroads that you made? Besides, we have so many gigs that we still have to play.”

His shoulders sagged in defeat. Out of the corner of his vision he could see Liana’s immense face watching him, her eyes still glowing reddish-orange from deep within their sockets. At that moment, he wished that they would simply allow him to weep. But all that he could do was glance helplessly at the beings who had held him captive for so long, his eyes painfully dry.

“What a pathetic asshole,” Mason commented, reaching over for a cigarette from the pack on the nightstand. He lit it with a motion of his finger, the flame magically bursting into existence. The giant took a deep drag and then leaned down toward Daniel, close enough that he could see the brilliant yellow of his pupils. Then the massive lips parted and Mason blew a thick cloud of smoke over him, causing him to gag and cough.

“He has his purpose,” Liana replied. “But for now, he’s going back where he belongs.”

Daniel glanced up and met her fiendish gaze for one instant. But he couldn’t hold it, not for very long. Liana smirked and uttered a few words in the strange language that she had used at the pub, casting yet another spell. He began to dwindle down again, the gigantic world becoming even larger until absolutely nothing was recognizable. When he finally stopped shrinking, he was no bigger than a grain of sand, minute and utterly insignificant. The bed stretched on and on all around him, an incalculably vast plain of fabric, and he could see one of the giantess’ discarded scarlet hairs resting before him like an abandoned subway train.

In the distance, rising up like living mountains, he could make out Liana and Mason. One of them (it must have been Liana because he saw the far-away sparkle of her rings) made a motion and he felt himself levitate upwards. He didn’t move at all as he approached the giantess’ mesa-sized neck, floating toward the colossal locket. When he was close enough to see his reflection in its gleaming surface, it opened on its own volition and he disappeared into the darkness beyond. As the locket slammed shut, he knew with a crushing certainty that he would never get away.

There was nothing for him to do but wait until they told him to find their next gig.