Dirt and dried blood washed away as I stood awkwardly in a tiny shower stall with my left wing poking out the open door, while my right wing was jammed up against the glass. It was fairly uncomfortable, but so was walking around dirty so I figured I would just have to endure it. The thought did cross my mind to punch out the wall but I didn’t want to worry about stepping on glass or anything else that was pointy. I also could have retracted my wings but the idea was to get them clean....so here we were.

And I was fully aware of how sad it looked. Between staying dirty and getting clean, I was getting clean. Besides there was no one else to look and judge, so it didn’t matter.

Ok, who am I kidding, it did matter. I wasn’t putting any more thought into it though.

So I concentrated on shampooing my long hair with the generic stuff that the inn had provided for its guests, while doing my best to keep my mind devoid of any significant thoughts. It had been a very busy day and a half; thinking about it all made my head swim a little bit.

For now, I had wanted a moment to relax, which is part of the reason why I was in the shower. My stomach also grumbled as I still hadn’t eaten anything yet; I wondered if it had been a mistake to get clean first. Thinking that I could always grab a sandwich or something, I figured I should clean myself off before Commander Roche got back. Not to be more presentable or anything.

I simply wanted to feel somewhat nice again.

Having finished rinsing off my hair, I started to massage water into the feathers of my wings. For whatever reason, soap didn’t work too well on feathers, so I only had water to work with here. Which was better than nothing so no big deal...

Though something didn’t sit right with me.

Those Talzan mercenaries gave me a queasy feeling and I didn’t know why. Maybe it was due to the fact that they looked human and they weren’t. In and of itself, that wasn’t the problem.

The problem was that the Veplar Kingdom tended to prefer humans so if those guys..or girls?...were masquerading as humans, something was definitely up. While the issue probably didn’t concern me, it still had my curiosity piqued. Perhaps they were beings from somewhere other than Osetia...

Commander Roche did say they were from Talza...but why did that sound familiar? I thought about it for a moment, trying to figure out where I had heard that name before...

Memory, why must you fail me so…

Apparently I was also failing rather hard at keeping my mind empty; I guess when there were things to think about, it was really hard not to think about those things. Somehow during that time, I had already finished cleaning my wings and started cleaning the rest of my body.

Maybe I should just concentrate on how nice the water felt instead…

Grabbing the white towel off the rack, I dried off as much of my body as I could before wrapping it around my head. It was a slight pain to dry my wings with a towel so I let the water continue to drip from them. After putting on some underwear, I opened the bathroom door and stepped into the bedroom.

Helia looked up as I walked in, her arms wrapped around her legs as she sat on top of the bed. Before she or I could say anything, managun fire erupted outside and I took a glance out the window, and saw a group of demtroopers fighting an advancing group of wolf-looking monsters. The monsters were fast and agile, managing to dodge the initially sporadic fire that was coming from the undead. However, they switched tactics, choosing to focus their fire on one wolf-monster at a time, which left little room for error on the monster’s part. One by one they were picked off except for the one which managed to evade all of the blasts. It leapt on one of the demtroopers, knocking them down, and tore off its head. Before the monster could do anything else, it was blasted off the unmoving body of the demtrooper; its corpse a fresh addition to the other ones that already littered Plailon.

“Will they be able to handle it?” Helia asked.

“Pretty sure they will, though if they can’t it's no loss,” I replied. “How are you feeling?”

As I went to grab the previously torn up cargo pants and open back shirt that Helia had restored for me, she said, “Overwhelmed...mentally and physically tired.”

Hesitating, she added, “And a little mad I guess.”

I pulled the shirt over my head, and worked my wings through the open back of the shirt, asking if she could explain why.

“Let’s see I just went through a pretty traumatic experience, then I find out that Lukas and Nina were still alive, only to now have to deal with something I’m also completely unfamiliar with...you know we said that we would take things easy for a bit,” she huffed.

Suddenly looking ashamed, she said, “I’m sorry.”

Putting my legs through my pants and buttoning them, I told her, “I don’t think I’ve said this before but I’ll never get mad at you for getting upset with me. We both know I don’t think things through and I make mistakes too.

I sat down next to her and said, “So I will once again apologize to you. You’ve been through a lot and despite all of that, you’re holding up rather well. I seemed to have neglected that fact and decided that adding more to your plate was the best thing to do. I’m sorry.”

Helia rested her head on my shoulder and said, “It's hard to remember you’re not perfect…I’m grateful you’re trying though”

“Thanks...I guess.”

We sat there momentarily and I wondered for a second if I had made the right decision in taking her. In the past, I would have only cared for myself in a situation like this...well there wouldn’t have been a situation like this to begin with...anyhow, life had been getting stagnant for me so right or wrong, I’m fairly content with my choice. Having a “family” of sorts felt rather nice.

The occasional managun fire interrupted my thoughts; luckily, it wasn’t the loudest sound in the world so it didn’t bother me in the slightest. My stomach growled a little more loudly this time as I took a glance at the clock that was in the room and it read 11:23.

I had been in the shower for roughly 35 minutes, which left only about 10 minutes until the hour deadline that I had given Commander Roche. Hypothetically he could be back sooner, or even later with the buffer time that I had allowed him. Though now that I thought about it, no one said I had to be punctual on my end. If I ended up making him wait, so be it.

What was he gonna do? Get upset and walk away cause I was late?

“I was going to ask what we were going to do next but I think somebody is hungry.”

“Any more sass and I think I’ll eat you instead,” I hissed in a joking manner.

Emitting a yelp and abruptly getting off the bed, Helia ran towards the door and disappeared out of sight, saying, “I’m pretty sure I don’t taste good.”

Based on past experiences, I don’t think she would taste good either.

That was something I was willing to leave forever a mystery.

******************************************************************************

On the way back from Plailon, the mixed convoy of transports and heavy tanks did their best to speed home, while still protecting the battalion. For this purpose, each Scorpion class transport was equipped with a dual barrel managun housed in a ball turret that was able to keep the average monster at bay. Having enough armor to take a beating, the returning troops were confident in their ride home, not worrying about the numerous external threats that could have ended their lives at any moment.

In contrast, the command version of the vehicle traded transport room and armor for better communications equipment and a rather small conference area.. It was in this cramped, and relatively isolated area, that Commander Roche had his head in his hands with a smirking Lukas sitting opposite of him. Nina sat next to her husband, too tired to care about how impolite Lukas was being. Bursts of managun fire from the ball turret periodically interrupted their conversation.

“Seriously, what am I going to do with the both of you?” Commander Roche asked, exasperated.

“Hey, next time a high power demon shows up at your doorstep, I’ll gladly use you as an example for what to do next time,” Lukas retorted. “Besides, I don’t think you’re going to be able to do much since you’ve agreed to those demands of hers.

“I did try to kill her. It’s not like I welcomed her in with open arms,” Nina said. Whispering, she added, “She ended up saving us though...”

Looking up and sighing, Commander Roche said, “Do you know how absurd all of this is? Amethyst shows up with a baby in her arms and basically forces the both of you to help raise her child...who is in fact not really her child. Somehow that child is basically fully grown at this point...And now that same demon wants to play tourist within our country for whatever reason...what are the gods even thinking?”

“It’s been a tough 24 hours for all of us. Just be glad Alya seems to actually be...I don’t know...reasonable? Maybe rational?” Lukas guessed. “I wouldn’t go so far as to say that you can treat her like you would anyone else but she’s lived with us for the greater part of a year without causing any major incidents. I don’t see why this is such a big headache for you.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Commander Roche replied. “My position in the Kingdom is already tenuous to begin with. Hosting a demon would give the media and the legislature even more ammunition to get rid of the Royal Family. Not to mention that collaborating with a demon is a capital offense...”

“Yea it sucks to be a figurehead monarch doesn’t it? But hey politics was never my thing to begin with which is part of the reason we bowed out of the game,” Lukas said, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back in the chair. “Was that all you wanted from us or are we free to go in the back and close our eyes for a few?”

“I’ve never understood your attitude Lukas. I’m going to refrain from speaking my mind because I’m going to need your help.”

“Oh. And what exactly might that entail?”

“To be frank, I don’t have the slightest idea of how to entertain that demon’s demand without causing an uproar. Considering that you two appear to be friends with her, do you have any ideas?”

“Friends...I never thought about it that way but I guess it's true,” Nina reflected.

“Yea can one actually be friends with a demon? But I guess we’ve somehow managed to attain that unicorn status, eh?” Lukas said offhandedly. “Back to your question...are you telling me that you actually didn’t have any ideas when you agreed to do that?”

The older man stared at Lukas for a moment before saying, “My son’s life was on the negotiating table. I wasn’t going to flat out refuse that demon’s demand because I wasn’t sure what she was going to do. In any case, I knew there was some time to figure something out before I had to be back there.”

Leaning forward, he asked, “So will you help me or not?”

“Mmmmmmm...are you aware that Alya is able to modify her appearance? Like retract her wings, change the color of her skin from purple to white, and stuff like that?” Lukas said with a gleam in his eye.

“That’s a detail you neglected to mention and no, that wasn’t something the history books took note of. Don’t tell me she can appear human?”

“Oh no. We’re not that lucky-”

“Don’t tell me you’re thinking of putting a slave collar around her just to take her around,” Nina interrupted.

“And there goes my wife, beating me to the punch.”

“That sounds like it'd be doomed to fail,” the King said. “What makes you think she would even consider such a thing? And besides, is her daughter able to change her appearance as well? It’s not like there’s others of their kind.”

“I’m gonna pretend that I didn’t hear you basically calling me stupid just now,” Lukas said, a little miffed. “But think about it for a sec. All you gotta do is convince Alya that it would be the best way of doing touristy things without other people getting in the way. Plus Helia can’t change her appearance like Alya so we can explain that those two are rare types called...angels or something. It will be even more believable if we have your 16 year old daughter show them around cause it will make things official.. And if the media decides to take notice...”

Lukas put his hands up in the air theatrically, and continued, “The great King Ciarán Roche shows the Princess his love by gifting her with extraordinarily rare slaves.”

Commander Roche shook his head saying, “There’s no way this will work out. You know my daughter, I know your feelings about slavery, and we both know what type of damage Amethyst can cause.”

“Yo, you might wanna start calling her Alya, cause that’s the name she goes by. And yea, I realize all of that, but you're the one asking me for an idea and I gave you the best one I had.”

“Right...of course. At any rate, hopefully we can come up with something else before our time is up...”

******************************************************************************

Officially, the Veplar Kingdom had abolished fighting between slaves as a form of entertainment. And officially, the 16 year old Princess was supposed to be attending one of the private schools in the inner tier designated for the rich and important.

However…

“Girl! You better hand over the money you owe me once your slave loses.”

“Shut up Cormac! The match ain’t over yet!” the Princess growled.

In one of the shadier parts of the middle ring, a demihuman with the golden hair of a lion, and the ears and tail of a tiger was breathing heavily as she narrowly dodged the gigantic battleaxe that came crashing down onto the concrete floor. The wielder of the axe, who was probably 2-3 times her size, lifted the axe quickly and swung the weapon where the girl had landed, but again, the demihuman was able to jump out of the way. Armed only with daggers, she debated what she needed to do to end this fight quickly but the crowd was starting to get rowdy.

“C’mon kill her already!” screamed a woman with unkempt hair.

“Quit pussy-footing around!” an off duty soldier called out.

“Hurry it up, this is my lunch hour!” a heavy-set man in a suit yelled.

“Luiza, you better not lose!” the Princess added to the mix.

Baring her large canines, Luiza would have loved to sink her weapons into all of the people that came to watch these fights but what she would have loved to do most, was to sink her teeth into the girl that she had been forced to start calling Master close to a year ago. Unfortunately, the slave collar that surrounded her neck would shock her if she tried doing anything like that and the last time it had happened, it took the demihuman days to feel normal again.

That was not something she wanted to repeat.

Her opponent towered over her, taller than any being Luiza had ever encountered before. Having the body of a very muscular man and the head and tail of a bull, the dark grey minotaur grinned as he tossed his axe to the side of the fighting ring, making a clunking noise as it hit the floor. The minotaur knew better than to rush his much more agile opponent so he took a step back and motioned for Luiza to make her move. Part of the purpose of these fights was to put on a show and while he didn’t like giving his opponent the initiative, he too remembered the pain that came from displeasing his master.

No longer a stranger to danger, Luiza hurled one of her daggers at the minotaur’s chest, moving quickly to follow up her attack with a flanking maneuver. Neither fighter had any armor, with the minotaur only having a black loincloth to cover his midsection, and the demihuman only having the equivalent of a purple and white sports bra and a matching pair of athletic shorts. The dagger lodged itself into the minotaur’s scarred chest but it didn’t faze him at all.

Turning to match his fast approaching opponent, he pulled the dagger out from his chest, and chucked it at where Luiza was running. Having no time to adequately evade it, Luiza jumped into the air to avoid the weapon but it gave ample opportunity for the minotaur to follow up and grab her in midair. The demihuman let out a high pitched yelp as the minotaur pulled her in, wrapping one large arm around her waist while using his other arm to make sure that she would no longer be able to use her dagger. Luiza screamed as cracking noises came from her right arm, muffling the clanging noise that came from the dagger falling to the floor.

Before the minotaur did anything else, he waited for the crowd to make their decision. Sometimes the crowd was merciful, letting a favored fighter that had fallen on ill luck to survive and fight another day. Other times, the crowd wanted to see more...gruesome things. While he enjoyed a good fight, he found this part highly distasteful. In his opinion, the humans had no honor and were a barbaric race, but he knew that acting rebellious in any way now would not change anything. And so he looked to the crowd to see what his next move would be.

“Tear her tail off!”

“She’s too cute, let her live!”

“Behead her!”

The minotaur heard mixed signals from the crowd, which confused him as the crowd was usually more unanimous in what they wanted. In cases like that, it fell to the owner of the arena to decide. Feeling the quaking girl in his arms, he felt pity for the demihuman as the minotaur turned his head towards the bald headed man who sat next to the excited looking Cormac and a dejected looking cinnamon-haired girl. Before the bald headed man was able to signal his decision, the only two entrances to the dimly lit arena abruptly opened, with a handful of round and cylindrical objects being thrown in.

Once they hit the floor, they exploded, and emitted a very bright flash and a loud popping noise that blinded and pretty much incapacitated everyone in the room. The humans in the room screamed and yelled at the distressing turn of events, with none of them being able to do anything but fall to the floor with their sense of sight and sound robbed from them. On the other hand, the minotaur felt more calm at the turn of events. He had been hoping for this day for a long time.

As they slowly regained their senses, both the minotaur and Luiza were able to watch as many red and white armored soldiers came in through the doors yelling for everyone to get on the ground as they started to put metal restraints around their wrists.

Gently lowering the scared demihuman to the floor, the minotaur in his baritone voice said, “I am sorry for the pain I have caused you little one. It appears we are no longer enemies.”

Still a little dazed, Luiza sat on the floor, cradling her broken right arm. Even though she was in pain, Luiza managed a smile as she watched the so-called Princess and the rest of them get led out of the room at gunpoint. Maybe her luck had finally changed for the better.

Just as she was thinking that, a soldier with a black shoulder pauldron cautiously approached the two slaves and pointed at the demihuman asking, “Are you Luiza?”

“Yes?” she squeaked.

“Come with me,” the soldier said, motioning for her to follow. He pointed to the minotaur and said, “You stay here big guy. We’ll make sure you get taken care of.”

The minotaur huffed in reply but remained silent otherwise. His chest continued to bleed but he was confident a small dagger wound wouldn’t kill him. Before Luiza left the fighting ring, he wished her luck but he received no reply.

Luiza hadn’t responded because she was too busy wondering what would happen next. She had learned the hard way that to be singled out was never a good thing and here she was, being singled out... again. As she followed the soldier up the stairs, she hoped that whatever happened next wouldn’t be as painful for her. Even suffering just a little less would be a blessing.

They walked out into the well-lit aisles of a medium sized home improvement store. Normally, people chose bars or restaurants to host these illegal activities but the bald man who owned the store figured that it would be more subtle to host the fights here. And to the bald man’s credit, his fighting ring had lasted longer than most.

The soldier was walking at a brisk pace so Luiza was unable to pay much attention to the people being detained and questioned. She had to jog a little bit to catch up to him, as he held the door open for her and they headed outside. It was some time before noon and there were a few clouds in the sky as Luiza’s eyes adjusted to the outside light.

Multiple red and white colored police vehicles with blue and red flashing lights levitated outside. One larger vehicle, with a big rectangular opening in the back, had multiple individuals inside of it already. Luiza was happy that they were being taken away but regretted that she wouldn’t be able to do anything to them herself.

On either side of the street, transparent barricades that gave off a green hue were erected to keep out innocent bystanders and the curious. Despite the barriers, there was the usual assortment of people along with one or two idle demihuman slaves that watched on from a distance. Luiza thought it ironic that she was just trading one audience for another at this point.

Stopping in front of a regular looking black car, the soldier opened the door, and said, “Get in.”

“Where are you taking me?” Luiza faltered.

“Just get in,” the soldier said more forcefully.

Luiza hesitated at first, but when the soldier motioned with his weapon this time, she quickly entered the vehicle. As soon as the door closed, the car took off and Luiza fell back into her seat. Now even more anxious cause she couldn’t see out of the tinted windows, she looked to her right to find a subdued and dejected looking princess and a man who she recognized as her father sitting up in the passenger seat.

King Ciarán Roche turned in his seat to face Luiza. This was one of the few situations during his adult life where he was uncertain about how to start the conversation. The girl had clearly been through a lot and it was all on the account of his own daughter. And of course he had a bunch of other problems to deal with as well, including his daughter’s own malfeasance. Perhaps enacting Luka’s idea would prove to be a suitable punishment for his wayward offspring. He would have felt bad that he would be intentionally putting her into a highly risky situation...if it weren’t for the fact that she had already done stupid and risky things on her own.

“Luiza is your name right?”

She nodded in response.

“Forgive the expression but I’ve already torn Lily a new one for what she's done. Unfortunately, I don’t think she’s actually sorry for anything so she’s going to get punished in a very...creative manner. As for you Luiza-”

“What do you mean I’m getting punished in a ‘creative manner’? What the hell are you gonna do to me?” Lily shrieked.

Ignoring her outburst, he continued, “As for you Luiza, a certain powerful individual specifically requested for you so we are transferring you over to them.”

“So the punishment is just giving my slave over to someone else? That’s not creative at all-”

“No Lily, this is not the punishment,” the King sighed. “I’m going to give you over to a demon for a period of time.”

Lily’s mouth gaped in surprise as Luiza tried to contain the laughter that was struggling to escape her.

“You cannot be serious? What demon would agree to do such a thing?” Lily asked after regaining a little composure.

“It’s a bit of a long story but you’ll be playing tour guide for her since she wants to see the sights. She said she wanted to be treated as an official guest so we’ll be trying our best to make that happen,” he explained. “Just do your utmost not to make her angry...I’m sure you’re capable of that much.”

Luiza couldn’t hold it in any longer and started laughing a little manically. The Princess glared at her but before either one of the two could do anything else, the King turned towards Luiza and said, “Before you get too pleased over there, the individual that wanted you is the same demon that she’s going to be hosting.”

The young demihuman stopped laughing for a moment...only for her to begin laughing even harder and more crazilly than before.

“This certainly does not bode well for any of us..”

Meanwhile, the driver of the car did his best just to keep his eyes on the road and avoid hitting anything. A trusted subordinate of the King’s, he learned long ago to leave his feelings elsewhere and just do what was asked of him. Certain amounts of ignorance was needed to maintain one’s sanity in this world after all.

******************************************************************************

Sigh. Would Mom be alright with just a ham and cheese sandwich? It’s not like I had the time to make anything more substantial. Not like the place was filled with ingredients either...

I took a glance through the serving window of the inn’s kitchen and saw my mom just sitting patiently at a wooden table. She had her wings folded in, arms neatly folded on the table, and her legs crossed...humming something to herself as she waited for me to bring her something to eat.

To anyone else, this must have been a strange sight but this was something I had grown up seeing.

It was the killing and more demon-like things that I was still unused to.

Anyways, it was probably better that I asked…

“Is a ham and cheese sandwich ok?” I called out.

“Sounds good Helia. No need to rush.”

I expected her to make a joke about serving something fancier but she must have understood what type of mood I was in.

To be fair, it was hard for me to fathom just how old she was and what kind of effort she must have been making to accommodate me into her life. Regardless, I needed to do better on my end.

Slapping the last piece of bread on top of the ham, I picked up the ceramic plate and walked over to where my mom was sitting, and placed the plate in front of her. She already had a glass full of water so I wasn’t worried about getting her anything to drink.

“Thank you.”

“I wish I could have made something better for you but with the time, and what they had here...there weren’t a lot of options.”

“When you’re hungry, food is food. Don’t worry about it,” she replied as she took her first bite. I watched as she made a face but she quickly reverted to a neutral expression as she opened her mouth for more food.

“What was that face for?” I wondered.

With a gentle expression, she said, “The ham was rotten."

I could feel myself start to blush and turn red in the face as I realized I should have checked the status of the food that was in the refrigerator. I quickly buried my face into my hands in embarrassment and I squeaked out an apology.

“Doesn’t matter to me but make sure you don’t feed a human that,” she joked. “Anyways, there’s a couple of things I wanted to talk to you about.”

Grateful for the change in subject, I looked up and nodded.

Finishing the last of the sandwich, she continued, “I think all things considered, we should focus on figuring out your background and take Tania back to her parents first. Those were two things we were already committed to doing. Since playing tourist would probably take a week or two at the least, we’ll just say that we want to do it later or we’ll drop the issue. I tacked that demand on there cause I thought you would like it plus I had nothing else I wanted anyway.”

Internally, I cheered. I mean I’ve always wanted to check out the rest of the city that I grew up in but it didn’t seem as important as getting Tania and her sister back to her parents. Plus I was more curious about where I came from...more so than exploring a city that apparently was rather hostile to non-humans.

Out loud I said, “I’m relieved...don’t get me wrong it sounds like fun and all...I just didn’t want to do it right now.”

“Yea so once we get Luiza in our group, we’ll go back home and talk it over, hopefully get some time to relax, and we’ll go from there.”

She took a drink from the glass and I wondered if now would be the best time to ask about the specifics of what happened last night. I didn’t know if things would go exactly as planned, so now was the time to do it.

I needed to know so that I could try and make sure it didn’t happen again.

“Before we gotta move on, could you tell me what all happened last night?” I hesitated a little bit.

Pondering for a second on how to proceed, Mom said, “To start, one of my main weaknesses is that depending on the situation, I start to feel an insane desire for bloodlust. And during that period, killing becomes much more pleasurable than it is to me normally. Not to mention I lose most of my self-control as well.”

“Is that how you felt when I got hurt and why you left me?”

“Yea. When you were hurt by that demon, it was a strong emotional trigger that put me in that state. Fortunately, I had enough presence of mind not to do anything to you but once the demon was taken care of, I torched the body to make sure they wouldn’t come back and continued on to-”

“Massacre everyone else?” I interrupted.

“I was gonna use a different choice of words but yea, that's basically what happened.”

“So you could have turned on me?”

“It pains me to say...most likely yes. I’ve entered that state of bloodlust many times; this is the only time I’ve cared to try and avoid harming certain individuals,” she shrugged. “It worked out this time...I can’t say for certain what would happen the next time around or how circumstances would change things.”

I shuddered a little and whispered, “That’s pretty scary.”

“A long time has passed since the last time that happened. It's not like I forgot about that part of me or anything...ok it might have slipped my mind but I didn’t think it would come up anytime soon,” she said, grimacing. “I think the point is for you to stay as far away from me as you can if it happens again. I’d rather not risk losing you.”

“...I don’t like it but...ok."

“Neither do I but we can’t plan for everything that could happen and it’s better than risking your life in the process.”

Crossing my arms I said, “Mom, it makes sense. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“As long as we’re on the same page,” she replied. “Wanna know anything else or was that enough explanation for now?”

I thought about it for a moment, but I decided it was all I wanted to know for now.

There just had to be some way to prevent that from happening again or a way for her to regain control if she entered that state.

On one hand, I felt bad for the people that got killed because of her when they didn’t have to die like that. On the other hand, I was scared of her trying to kill me. I mean I knew that she wouldn’t actually want to do it...but the fact that the possibility existed frightened me.

Before I went down that depressing train of thought, I shook my head.

“Alright, if all goes to plan, Commander Roche should be coming back soon...though if he takes any longer, he’s going to be late…”

“What are you going to do if he doesn’t show?” I asked.

“Errrrr...I actually hadn’t planned that out yet. I figured he would be here on time.”

I looked up towards the ceiling, and said, “What am I going to do with you?”

“I’ve been making stuff up along the way all of my life. Look how well things have turned out.”

Pointing towards my chest, I half-jokingly half angrily said, “Does me getting pierced in the chest count as something gone well?”

“I am sorry and we’ll try and make sure nothing like that ever happens again,” she said quietly. “But in all seriousness, I guess I could have sent some undead in there to see how it looked before we went in…”

Before we could continue, the door to the inn swung open and a demtrooper came walking in.

“Mistress, it appears that Commander Roche has arrived.”

Mom looked at me and said, “Guess we don’t have to worry about that.”

I groaned and stood up to follow her outside.

There were more clouds in the sky but it didn’t look like it was going to rain. The vehicle that had arrived appeared to be one of those lighter tank things that I had seen previously; I was a little surprised that there was only one cause last time, there were a lot more of them.

Two demtroopers stood nearby as the three of us walked up and a hatch opened up in the rear where Commander Roche, a red headed girl, and a demihuman that looked alot like Tania came out. She had a silver collar around her neck that looked rather bulky and uncomfortable, and as I looked closer, I saw that she had multiple scars, tufts of fur missing, and that she was holding her arm in a rather unnatural position.

As soon as I saw that, I was about to run towards her when I felt my Mom’s hand come down on my shoulder.

“Not yet Helia. You’ll see why,” she whispered.

I could see it in the two girls' expressions that there was a mix of confusion and fear but after my Mom stopped me, I looked a little harder and noticed something akin to anger in the red head’s eyes.

But what saddened me was the lack of emotion in Luiza’s eyes; they looked rather lifeless. Tania always looked so joyful and full of life...what happened to Luiza?

Spreading her arms wide, Mom said, “As the new mayor, I welcome Commander Roche and company to the village of Plailon. I do apologize as we are currently under renovations but we are kind of short staffed right now.”

Looking towards Luiza, I rolled my eyes but didn’t get any sort of reaction.

“Now who all did you bring with you?”

Out of nowhere the red headed girl started shouting, “This is the King you stupid demon and I am the Princess! Learn your place you stupid bitch.”

For a moment, I thought that Mom would lash out at this moron but to my surprise, she just smiled. Granted it was a very malicious looking smile but she didn’t say anything in response.

Commander Roche gave an emotionless smile in response, and said, “This is my daughter Lily. Like she said, she is of the Royal Family and I am her father. While I am technically the King, like I mentioned before, I do not have absolute authority. And this here is Luiza...who happened to be one of Lily’s slaves.”

Oh no...whoever this girl was, I had the strong feeling that she wasn’t going to survive...so unless Commander Roche wanted her dead...why would he bring her here????

“Anyways, to get right into it, I was hoping that you would be willing to equip some non-functioning slave collars and have Lily take you around as you demanded. I consulted with Lukas on the way back and we felt that it was the best way to fulfill your demand without causing other issues such as others trying to do stupid things towards you.”

Mom narrowed her eyes and looked between the girl who called herself Princess and the Commander that was apparently also a king. Only letting out a slight cough, I expected the man to start quaking yet he didn’t flinch at all. The girl on the other hand started to cower. Meanwhile, Luiza remained unfazed through all of this and just stared off into the distance.

“Why would you want this girl near me?” the demon known as my mom hissed.

“Besides the title and knowledge of the country...this is her punishment for breaking laws and doing stupid things.”

“Did you want her to die?”

“I am hoping to avoid that but if she angers you...by all means.”

“Isn’t that rather harsh?” I interjected.

Without skipping a beat, he pointed to Luiza and said, “Her actions are what led to Luiza to be in this state; not to mention the other things she has done. I am confident my daughter should be able to survive hosting you and your mother. If she fails...well it was either this or possibly suffer capital punishment the judicial way.”

“Oh I see now…” Mom stated. “But you see, I was actually thinking I would go visit the demihuman tribes before we did this guest thing. Since it appears neither of our daughters has seen much of the world yet...”

Leaning forward with her fangs bared, she asked, “Shall we all go together on an adventure and learn more about each other?”

“No...no...no...no...Dad please don’t leave me with her,” Lily whimpered.

“I am confident you will be able to keep my daughter safe. Hopefully she learns more about the world and that it will enlarge her world perspective,” Commander Roche said in a totally expressionless tone. “It will definitely be the trip of a lifetime.”

“Just remember, I’m not here to babysit.”

Something tells me this was going to involve a lot of things that I wouldn’t like.

Hopefully the good and fun would outweigh the bad.

I hoped. Please.