Pippalotti slammed the skybike into park, tore off her helmet, and threw it. Abaddon sidestepped the protective headgear as it banged off the side of the scout ship. He brushed his hair out of his face and flashed a smile of chiseled perfection.

"You've got a lot of nerve showing up here after what you let us go through!" 

Pippa rushed him as if to hit him with Sister Murphy unsheathing her golden bat intent on clobbering the angel in the expensive suit. Pippa stopped short and looked into his eyes.

"Fucking Abaddon. Why didn't you help us? And what about that 'I grant you safe passage through my realm' bullshit? I almost got nailed to the floor by Satan worshipers. Which leads me to a whole other set of questions!?"

Abaddon opened his arms ever so slightly and his long feathered wings opened with them. Pippa went in for the hug. He smelled as wonderful as she remembered and she felt the safest she'd felt in a long time.

"It'll never happen again," was all he said.

Pippa squeezed him and his golden hands wrapped around her shoulders.

The ultramarine Varan woman beside him watched the interaction closely with big crayon red eyes.

"A blue dragon and a demon," said Murphy, stating what was obvious to her.

Taegu stepped off her glider bike and made introductions.

"This is my partner, Macrai. I see you already know Abaddon St. Baal. Macrai, meet Sister John Murphy and Pippalotti Ritz."

Pippa stepped away from Abaddon and said, "Hi, I'm..."

"Yes, I know who you are. If you're going to travel with us, I assure you, there will be a great many valuable lessons to help in your future post, should you elect to become an Ambassador of Grandor. I knew your parents; losing one's family can be challenging." Macrai opened the ship's airlock. "We should depart immediately."

"Thank you?"

Murphy slung her bat back into its case and warned Abaddon, "I beat you before and I'll do it again. I know what you are."

"Of course." He bowed and tucked up his wings.

"Go easy, Murph. I want to find out what this is all about," said Pippa.

They boarded the Varan ship. The scout was a single deck with two staterooms, a mess, a gear locker near the airlock, and the bridge. They all headed there as it was the biggest space on the utilitarian yet beautiful spacecraft. Taegu took the controls and they glided effortlessly out of the planet's atmosphere and rocketed into space.

"I've heard of Varan diamond ships but never thought I'd see one, let alone, travel in one."

Pippa watched with as much wonder and amazement as Murphy had for the crystal ship. Its hull was semi-transparent and as they left the sun behind, only the glowing controls cast light in the room. Out the front window, the darkness of space was speckled with stars.

Macrai stood next to Abaddon again. "The coordinates provided by St. Baal's map are less than a light-year outside of Ibi-Ero Makina space. We rendezvous with the #71EEB8 clones in the morning and travel with them for the last leg of the journey. We will not confront the Makina alone under any circumstances."

"What map?" asked Pippa.

"Melock sent me this." Abaddon held out a small piece of vellum with a hand-drawn star map on it.

Murphy snatched it out of his hand and examined it. "This is his writing. It's only partially complete though, where's the other half?"

~

Two hours later, Pippa and Murphy were savoring the last bits of a mango salsa they ate with rare Varan ice lobsters in the scout's tiny kitchen. The Varans were piloting the craft and Abaddon retired to Taegu's cabin.

"You know these are crazy expensive, right?" said Pippa.

Murphy shrugged her shoulders and sucked on an empty white claw that still held the delicious flavor. "I've never eaten better."

"So, I'm gonna go talk to Abaddon."

Murphy lifted a questioning eyebrow.

"I'll be fine. But just between us, maybe go hang out with the Varans for a while. Virtual Reality nightmare aside, I still find him attractive, borderline irresistible."

"What?"

"Nevermind. I just want to talk to him alone for a while. We'll find Melock tomorrow and everything will be fine."

"Melock always says, 'tonight is a good night to be alive.'"

When Murphy walked back to the bridge it was empty, so she sat down in one of the wide cushiony pilot seats and stared out into the galaxy. She wanted to pray but thought only of her ancient mentor. She never failed him on a quest before and she wouldn't this time either.

~

Pippalotti stood outside the cabin door and raised her hand to knock. She held it there for a moment and instead just opened the door.

"Abaddon?"

The room was only lit by flickering starlight seeping through the hull. He sat on the bed with his wings spread out behind him. His suit was draped across a chair and his exposed chest, arms, and legs had a soft golden glow.

"Yes."

"First, I want you to tell me that the whole hellish nightmare devil thing was just a fucked up VR hallucination brought on by Jakz Juice and being connected to Murphy's mixed up brain. Don't get me wrong, I love her, she's great, but you know, total religious maniac."

"It is as you say."

She stepped into the room and closed the door.

"And this is your only form and you're not some shape-shifting demon alien?"

"This is how I was made." He was so sincere about it.

She walked over and sat next to him on the bed and looked down at his linen shorts. "And you have genitalia?"

A breath of air puffed out his nostrils in a short laugh. "I am of the full male form. I can reproduce sexually."

Pippa smiled. He smiled. She thought again of the orchid shaped like the face of a monkey and the primate who was helplessly drawn to kiss it.

"I'm not exactly looking to reproduce."

~

Sister Murphy was alone too long and dark thoughts crept into her mind. She spat out the taste of mango onto the floor.

"Vile forbidden fruit."

She thought of her dead husband's nightly trials. She thought of the nihilistic priests of the nunnery and their diabolic libertine natures. The things she'd done. The sacrilegious pleasure. The double life. She was thrown to the wolves and forced to deny it.

She pulled down her striped pants and licked her fingers but it was no good. She couldn't do it solo. She'd been celibate for too long and didn't enjoy being alone. Prayer, it turned out, had nothing on nature.

The blue dragon wore only a golden necklace and her slender form was, in the purest sense, the height of creation. The black and white one wore nothing at all. Their bodies were perfect in every way. Their tough beautiful exteriors made Murphy jealous; she looked down at her bruised legs, blackened toenails, scarred arms, and callous hands. She stood up, stepped out of her pants, and headed to the back of the ship.

The door was unlocked so she walked in. The two dragons were entwined in one another. Tails and arms moved with minds of their own. Intense blue met stark black and white with occasional flashes of fantastic red. Their gaping jaws gnawed on each other with tiny jagged teeth. Forked tongues, one red and one black, tasted the pheromones in the air.

Sister Murphy took off her shirt and threw it on the floor as the door closed behind her. She stood naked in the room, a pale Joan of Arc before the fire.

"I've met the great dragon gods and I have nothing but love and respect for their children." She walked up to the edge of the bed and the lizard women looked up at her with dead eyes. "I don't want to sleep alone."

"Come, young mammal. Warm us with your heat." Macrai reached forward with claws manicured into points and pulled Murphy to them.

She disappeared into a consuming tangle of serpentine slithering.

~

Pippalotti came surprisingly and simultaneously with him. She ran her fingers across the soft down of his wings and bit into the velvety flesh of his shoulder. Her gray skin flushed a marbled white as she exhaled complete satisfaction.

Like the monkey with the orchid, she gazed blissfully up at Abaddon's symmetrical beauty. Her purple pupils found his and stayed there for a comforting amount of time before he leaned in and touched his nose to hers.

"Snuggly missionary is my favorite."