Misplaced Bets
 
By Minako Tomoka
 
An Original Character Short Story
 
 
  In the world of Arcadia, the shadow-shrouded planet home to demons, the Greed Ring was the glamourous, shining, neon-drenched capital of demonic pleasure. The Greed Ring was mostly inhabited by wealthy demon nobles and their servants, who frequented the casinos littering the realm, indulging in drink and smoke while their eyes were glued to the hypnotic spinning of the slot machines, urging them to insert another coin, because if only they would spin one more time, they'd surely hit the jackpot.
 
  Other demons preferred games of skill over games of chance, with an array of card games going on at any given moment- where sometimes the prize up for gamble was someone's life. It was a paradise for gamblers and demonic nobles who had a taste for the more upscale, finer things in life, but among all the glitz and glamour, there snuck an uninvited guest who didn't quite belong...
 
  Caspiel, a diminiutive cow demon, had flown into town up from one of the lower rings. Despite being far too plain and unassuming to belong in a place like the flashy Greed Ring, her small size and unassuming nature also gave her an advantage- it allowed her to sneak around unnoticed, blending into the crowds of casino patrons to slip by the security. Finally, she had the whole place to herself now. The soft carpet squished under her hooves as she wandered through the bustling casino, passing by lines of other demons sitting at the slot machines, seemingly transfixed by the spinning wheels. Not far away, the card game tables were crowded with demon nobles rolling dice and dealing cards.
 
  The establishment emanated a distinct odor of cigar smoke and alcohol, sending a clear message that most of the patrons playing here were intoxicated. For Caspiel, that was a good thing, since it meant no one would pay attention to her, and she wouldn't be spotted as easily. Scanning the dark environment lit only by the colorful flashes of the beeping and chiming slot machines, Caspiel eyed a machine in a lonely corner. It was far enough away from the crowds, and it was much quieter here compared to the loud, noisy main lobby. This was the perfect place to strike a jackpot...
 
  The chair squeaked as Caspiel dragged it back to sit down. She stared at the screen, analyzing the symbols flashing by. The game was called Fire Wolf, and the wheels had several icons in the shape of differently colored wolves' heads. Inserting her first coin, Caspiel curled her claws around the lever and cranked it down. The wheels began to spin, and as she gazed at the spinning icons, she tightened her focus, and her eyes began to shine a bright red. This caused the wheels to suddenly go haywire, shifting back and forth, spinning forwards and backwards, until they ground to a halt. The lupine icons all matched up in perfect order, causing the machine to let out a parade of celebratory beeps and bloops.
 
  Caspiel smirked as coins poured into the tray below. This was too easy. The trickery magic had turned the slot machine into her personal money dispenser. Sure, she could have just snatched the coins and hightailed it out of there before one of the guards spied her ploy, but this was going so well...after all, it didn't hurt to be a little greedy sometimes. She inserted another coin and cranked the lever for another lucky spin. The wheels went whirling once again, and Caspiel's eyes shone crimson once more to give her another payout.
 
  That was, until she felt a cold hand coil around her shoulder, sending a nail of ice bristling down her spine. A chill blew through her as she froze in her seat, seemingly stunned that this mysterious someone had picked up on her scam.
 
  "What might you be doing, little bovine?" The voice was sharp like a knife, carrying a biting edge. Caspiel stiffly turned her head to face a lanky demon in a snappy white suit studded by gold buttons. Strands of silver hair brushed his broad shoulders. His eyes were a sharp yellow with vertical slit pupils like a serpent. His forked tongue flicked in and out, tasting the air. His horns were short yet pointy, and his scaly tail slithered about as though it had a mind of its own. It was like a snake without a head, coated in barred scales of red, black, and yellow. His serpentine eyes flashed at the cow demon. "Last time I checked, these machines aren't quite this lucky. I'm not fond of cheaters, I'll have you know."
 
  Caspiel threw her hands up in surrender, desperately trying to hide how guilty she was. This man wasn't simply any demon- he was Vassago, the Sin of Greed, the ruler of the Greed Ring. That meant he was an incredibly powerful demon noble, and he'd caught her scheming with trickery magic in his own casino...this was her worst nightmare. "I-I promise this isn't what it looks like!" she stammered, barely managing to spit the words out.
 
  "What else does it look like, my dear?" Vassago inquired. "A low-class demon like you doesn't even belong in an establishment of mine. Perhaps a whorish succubus such as yourself should be in her place in the Lust Ring instead."
He yawned, showing off his long fangs dripping with a greenish blend of saliva and venom. Caspiel knew he wasn't yawning because he was tired- he was bored with her pathetic attempt at salvaging the situation. She clenched her teeth, frustrated at his words. She tucked her wings and pinned back her ears in anger. But what could she do now? The Sin of Greed had caught her red-handed, and at this rate, she was fortunate if she ended up spending some time in jail.
The alternative was death, or worse.
 
  "Okay, I admit it," she said. "I am guilty. I was trying to increase my luck on the slot machines a little, that's all."
 
  Vassago's slitted eyes drifted to the tray below overflowing with coins. "A little, you say? Normally I'd let a small bit of luck magic slide, but even I have limits." He nodded back towards the lobby. "Come with me. If you make a scene in front of my patrons, my venomous fangs will be in your neck in an instant."
 
  Caspiel stood up and reluctantly followed Vassago, not saying a word the entire time. She watched his colorful, scaly tail swish back and forth. The diminiutive demon was led far away from the crowds of the main casino, whisked away into quiet, private chambers. A semicircle-shaped blackjack table was there to greet her. "What is this?" she grumbled. "Are we playing a game?"
 
  "I'm afraid not," Vassago replied. "You see, I fully understand the temptation of cheating. The greed overtakes you, and you want more and more. I'm no stranger to cheating myself, you know. I'm rather fond of deploying some tactics in my own games. But there is a big difference here. I am the Sin of Greed. Everything within the Greed Ring falls under my rule and my power. Compared to a lowly demon like you, I am a god. I always get what I want no matter what...and I have no tolerance for low-class harlots thinking they can pull schemes in my realm without me noticing."
 
  The snake demon menacingly approached Caspiel, towering over the poor succubus. He circled his arm around her back, yanking her close to him. Caspiel let out a yelp. "I-I'm sorry, I know I messed up but I can fix this! I promise, I'll leave and I'll never come back!"
 
  "Sure you will," Vassago sneered. "I will make sure of it." Without warning, he opened his mouth, brandishing his venom-drenched fangs, and he plunged them into Caspiel's neck. Caspiel seized as the sharp pain pierced her neck, and a burning feeling seeped into her body as the venom pumped into her veins. Her body grew stiff like a board, leaving her unable to move as she collapsed on the carpet, sucking in deep breaths, too stunned by the sudden bite to even cry in pain.
 
  She felt his poison spreading within her, making her vision blurry. The idea of moving was a distant memory. Was it over? Was she going to die now? Caspiel waited for the world to turn black, but instead her blurry eyes drifted upwards to meet Vassago's massive form looming over her. He bent down and extended his spread palm to her. At first, it seemed far away...but as he grew closer, she realized how large his hand had become, the shadow obscuring her field of vision. His fingers wrapped around her like the coils of a serpent, binding her whole body in his grip. She gasped for breath, spitting out helpless whimpers on the journey up from the carpet. She was too stunned by the venom to even properly scream, which only made it better for Vassago, to keep her cries silent and leave his patrons undisturbed.
 
  Caspiel was a rather short demon admittedly, but nowhere near small enough to be lifted in one hand like a doll. She gazed at Vassago's enormous face, watching the reflection of her horrified, frozen expression within his sharp, slitted golden eyes. "Don't worry, the bite won't kill you," Vassago assured. "My intention was to paralyze and shrink you. I am rather skilled at manipulating my venom to produce my desired result...as you might imagine, I've had plenty of victims to practice on. Low-class demons, filthy swine like yourself, thinking they can sneak into my domain and take advantage of me. That kind of attitude...nothing infuriates me more. Weaklings like you should know your place.
Good for you, I'll be showing it to you right now."
 
  Caspiel could hear the growling anger in his voice, more venomous than his deadly fangs. Drawn to his lips, she watched in frozen terror as his forked tongue slithered out to give her a taste, running up and down her tiny body.
She could feel his throat vibrate as he let out a hum. "Hmmm, how lucky for me that I picked up a cow succubus. After all, I've been craving the taste of some fresh beef..."
 
  Caspiel was blasted by a gust of hot, sour-smelling breath as Vassago spread his jaws open, extending his forked tongue to coil around her helpless body and drag her into the inner sanctum of his maw. Regaining some of her voice, Caspiel managed to scream, as weak and puny as it might have been. But her cries for help were promptly snuffed out by the snake demon's fanged jaws snapping shut, entrapping her in the darkness. Blind and immobilized, Caspiel could do little more than cry and whimper as Vassago savored her, rolling her around with his tongue. It left her thoroughly coated in a blend of saliva and venom, which made her muscles stiffen up. Her body felt like a wooden board, and being soaked in the paralyzing agent only ensured she would never escape Vassago's hunger. She slid deeper and deeper inside...until a single resounding gulp sucked her into the abyss.
 
  The force of Vassago's powerful throat muscles dragged the shrunken Caspiel into his gullet. She was sent down a tight, fleshy tunnel that contracted and rippled around her small form, squeezing her body and straining her bones.
She clenched her teeth at the sheer pressure enclosing around her, fearing she would be crushed by his esophagus. Nothing more than a helpless, wriggly lump in the snake demon's throat, Caspiel was swallowed whole and alive, though the latter part would not last for long. The succubus found herself wishing that he had given her a fatal bite. At least it would be over quickly, and she wouldn't be sliding down the monster's gullet as a quick meal. It made sense, snakes swallowed their prey whole, after all...but that didn't make the experience any less agonizing for Caspiel.
 
  When the torturous pressure of Vassago's throat finally ended, Caspiel found herself crashing into the pit of his belly, promptly slathered in thick, greenish fluids that rendered her even more immobile. Her fur was drenched in a noxious mixture of saliva, venom, and stomach acids softening her up for the process of digestion. The only body part she could still move was her tail, which weakly flopped up and down. Forcing her tongue to move, she spit out a few final, desperate words. "Please...let me out of here...I don't want to die like this..."
 
  Her voice was so small and weak, it was unlikely that Vassago even heard her, as she got no snarky response back, or anything else for that matter, only the gurgling, sloshing rumbles of the demon's stomach as it shifted and churned around her, preparing to process her into nutrients. Caspiel expected it to be painful, as patches of her fur started to fall off from the stomach acids biting into her flesh, but her nerves were so deadened that there was little more sensation than an overpowering, tingling numbness that overtook every inch of her body.
 
  She could feel herself melting into soup, but it didn't even seem to make a difference anymore. Caspiel's mind was barely functioning, drifting off into the darkness, letting go of everything as she finally fell unconscious, allowing the gut of the ravenous Sin of Greed to fully take over and claim her as a meal...
 
  After he felt his rumbling gut finally starting to settle down, Vassago let out a burp, quite satisfied with his succubus snack. He had taken a seat at his blackjack table during the process, leaning back and lounging as he waited for his meal to digest. To him, low-class demons were either servants or prey. There was no in-between, and cheaters were a particularly low class he had no tolerance for. But there were far more foul demons to devour than a cow succubus, and admittedly she was pretty...pretty tasty, that is...
 
  Vassago stood up and stretched out, spreading his fangs as he let out a yawn. He noticed his suit felt rather tight around the middle, and a single glance south revealed the culprit. Apparently the little succubus had been rather fattening, adding a plump layer of pudge that filled out the demon's belly and strained the gold buttons of his white suit jacket. He grumbled, unamused at the little surprise. "Hmmm...you low-class demons are still troublesome even after you've been eaten. Well, since you're so intent on sticking around, now you can be gut fat forever...take it as your final punishment for trying to cheat me."
 
  Giving his bulging belly a firm pat, the Sin of Greed left his private room and headed back out into the casino, to look out for anyone else foolish enough to attempt cheating under his watchful eye.
 
 
The End...
November 17th, 2023.