Eveleena’s home was located in a pocket dimension of her own creation that was several hundred acres large and meticulously crafted and maintained for over the course of several decades. This dimension was naturally a demon realm and contains all the features of one despite its ‘artificial’ nature. For instance there was heavy miasmic corruption filtered the air that rendered everything in a dark purple hue, the lush vegetation surrounding the estate were colored in hues of purple and pink and finally a bright red moon hung in the sky looking larger than should be possible.

Within this dark demon realm laid a rather modest mansion that was nothing to write home about as both it and the very dimension itself wasn’t the most extravagant. This was partly by design as if she so choose Eveleena is capable of creating much more impressive monuments to her vanity. She never really cared for such things and besides this place was always to be a temporary residence for her and her servants. And speaking of servants Riseth had teleported them just beyond the entrance door where the fifth and final member of the demon’s servant awaited them.

“Oh! Mistress Eveleena you’re here!”

The one to greet them was a young Shoggoth bearing a mild resemblance to Vhaara except her hair was shorter, her visible age was younger and her disposition leaned more towards happy and eager rather than mature and mysterious.

“Mother has informed me of the happenings of the past two weeks” the young Shoggoth informed as her smile turned into a worried frown “are you alright? Do you need rest? Shall I prepare a bath? Or perhaps…”

“Adalah” Eveleena interrupted.

“Yes mistress?”

“I am alright.”

“Oh thank the void” she visually sagged with relief her amorphous body exaggerating the movement.

“In two days I will be attending a family gathering.”

“Oh!” the young Shoggoth perked up smile in place again “shall I prepare an outfit?”

“Please do and prepare lunch, I am famished.”

“Yes mistress” and with that Eveleena started walking away.

Adalah turned to the other three “would you all like something to eat as well?”

Riseth was the first to answer “nope, I’m heading for the workshop. You didn’t mess with it while I was gone did you?”

“I only cleaned it up a little.”

“Ugh, same thing! Did you at least put back the stuff where you left them?”

“I took the liberty of organizing them.”

That caused the Witch to jerk upright “you what?”

“I-”

Instead of waiting for her to finish Riseth rushed off spouting expletives the whole way.

“Damn” Roselyn knew the little girl was actually an old crone by human standards but some of those curses she’s only ever heard in seedy bars and were not meant to be spouted from the lips of a little girl.

Ignoring the Witch Ysmeina informed the Shoggoth “I will be at the training field. Will you be joining me Roselyn?”

She was asking to be polite knowing that Roselyn would agree especially given the last few days but…

“I’ll catch up with you later.”

If the Dullahan was surprised by her choice she did not show it and instead offered a curt nod before departing. That left the Dhampir alone with the Shoggoth who was staring at her expectantly.

“Can you show me where Eveleena went?”

“Right this way”

As they traversed the mansion Roselyn struck up a conversation “I met your mom.”

“Hahaha so I have heard” Adalah giggled “I am sorry she made your stay at castle Astaroth so uncomfortable.”

“So that was just an act right?”

Adalah’s next bout of giggles had a tinge of embarrassment in it “I’m sorry mother likes to play into the Shoggoth stereotypes.”

‘I knew it!’

“Why?”

“She delights in other’s discomfort in her presence.”

“That-”

“Yeah” Adalah looked down.

“-is just-”

“I know” she lamented.

“Well…she does it well?”

“Do not make excuses for her!” snapped the Shoggoth though the effect was lessened when her light purple-blue face was flushed a darker shade around her cheeks.

“Alright” Roselyn placated then added “I’m glad you’re the first Shoggoth I met.”

“As am I” the two shared a smile before the Shoggoth suddenly stopped “the mistress is inside.”

“Thanks.”

With her task complete she went on her way. Roselyn knocked on the door.

“Come in Roselyn.”

She did just that and entered Eveleena’s private study. The room was cast aglow by a lit fireplace with a portrait of the Astaroth family hanging over it. There were several shelves of books along the walls, carpet on the floor, a chandelier of unlit candles and sitting behind a desk was Eveleena. Though lounging would be the more apt term as the Demon sat in her chain in a rather undignified slump. On her desk was an opened bottle of some dark purple wine and she was currently draining a glass.

Roselyn winced a little at the sight something Eveleena noted “something to take the edge off of today’s events. Satyr wine specially made and aged for six centuries, want some.”

“Isn’t it a little early for that?” she spoke while taking a seat across from her.

“It is never too early for a drink after a terrible day. Especially with a friend” as she spoke Eveleena used her magic to levitate an empty glass and pour her a generous amount.

“I’d rather not get drunk. I still have to train with Ysmeina.”

“Well you’ll be glad to know you have no fear of that. Satyr Vintners are overrated charlatans. They promised this would get a mamono drunk in a single sip yet I’m several glasses in and I don’t feel a thing.”

Eveleena either didn’t notice or didn’t care that in her exaggerated movements during that sentence she spilled the contents of the glass on several occasion. When she went to drink from the now mostly empty glass she looked at it in confusion and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like

“I could’ve sworn there was more in here.”

Roselyn looked at her friend then the bottle of wine and she didn’t have to be a wine connoisseur to know that it was not only ludicrously expensive but the alcohol content was through the roof. She could smell it permeate the room in the sickly sweet scent of some unknown demon realm grown fruit. Eveleena couldn’t have been a few glasses in and she was already showing signs of being buzzed if the darkened cheeks were any indications.

It is not an easy thing to get a Demon of Eveleena’s caliber drunk even if she wasn’t currently at the peak of her power. Still with the Demon looking at her expectantly she went ahead and took a moderate sip. Roselyn realized her mistake a moment later amidst the hacking, coughing, lightheadedness and Eveleena’s laughter at her own expense.

“W-what the hell!?”

“Lightweight”

Still coughing Roselyn glared at the Demon “I am not a lightweight, you’re tolerance is just freakish.”

“Excuses~” Eveleena sang as she took a slow measured and long sip “ah~”

Seeing this Roselyn looked to her glass, a brief war took place in her mind before she ultimately pushed the glass away.

“Never knew you to be a coward Rose~”

The Dhampir decided not to rise to that bait “I promised Ysmeina I would train with her after I’m done here.”

“Hm-Hmm” the Demon hummed.

In the brief interim of silence Roselyn spoke up “your mom is different than what I imagined her to be like.”

“I apologize for her” Eveleena spoke while pinching the bridge of her nose.

“It’s okay” Roselyn placated.

“No it is not” Eveleena interjected “her behavior, the things she said they were unnecessary.”

“I mean it’s not like she was wrong. I am supposed to be one your guards.”

“Mother likes to be in control” Eveleena lightly snapped “she is not antagonistic towards you but she does take some amount of umbrage with your presence. She will never be truly satisfied with you until you are thoroughly vetted by her.”

“Is that such a bad thing?” the Dhampir whispered.

Eveleena stared at her for a moment “the issue is not the intent but the implication. Roselyn you are my friend” she emphasized “I chose you to be amongst my honor guard. For my mother to scrutinize your place means she does not trust my decision. She does not trust me.”

And that was the main problem Eveleena had with her mother and why she chose to deal with her a certain way. Despite being over three centuries old to her mother Eveleena was still that indecisive and impulsive little girl barely over two decades old. The reason why she chose to appeal to Lilith instead of her mother for a campaign sponsorship and why she bothered with gathering evidence and statistics to showcase Wenia’s economic and strategic value to house Astaroth wasn’t because her mother was someone who wouldn’t risk their time and resources on something unless it was worth the investment.

On the contrary it would be a comparatively simple affair for Eveleena to convince her mother to loan her the resources needed to subjugate a small kingdom like Wenia. The issue lied in that this support would come at the cost of her autonomy. Instead of being the ruler of the subjugated kingdom Eveleena would instead be the custodian to a new territory under the rule of the Astaroth house. She would be a puppet ruler beholden to her mother who would micromanage and keep her on a tight leash.

The thought made her drink more. Now she was feeling the effects of the alcohol.

To her words Roselyn could only offer a subdued “oh” for an answer.

Seeing her friend’s expression Eveleena swallowed her frustration at her mother and the situation to properly address her.

“Roselyn”

“Yes?”

“I want to make it very clear despite that despite what my mother or anyone else may think none of you are here by my side strictly due to your strength. Ysmeina, Riseth, Caitlin and Adalah’s roles as guards and servants are secondary to their role as my companions. Certainly none of them were as proficient as they are now when I first took them on.”

That came as a surprise to her “really?”

“Oh the stories I could tell” she chuckled.

“Well don’t keep me in suspense now.”

“They are not my stories to tell plus it wouldn’t do for me to keep you away from Ysmeina.”

“She was going to train with or without me.”

“Believe it or not she appreciates having someone to train with.”

The admission gave Roselyn pause more so because the Demon said it without a hint of the creeping drunkenness that was getting more and more prevalent in her speech. It made the Dhampir seriously consider her next course of action. In the end she chose not to disappoint the Dullahan who has been helping her these past few days.

“I guess I shouldn’t keep her waiting then huh?”

“You really shouldn’t” Eveleena agreed

Roselyn took her leave but before she exited the door she looked at the Demon over her shoulder “lay off the bottle for now eh?”

She left not seeing the frown on her friend’s face. Eveleena looked at her empty glass and the half empty bottle with a bored expression. A moment later she placed the glass down and with a snap of her finger the bottle of vintage Satyr wine disappeared back to her private collection.

‘Roselyn is right and there is no point in me wallowing in self pity.’

In the next instance several enchanted medical containers containing pure high grade dark matter appeared.

“I have a family gathering to prepare for” she muttered opening one of the containers to begin the process of absorbing it

“And I intend to be at my best.”

~O~

The following two days passed by with nothing of note happening. All of the occupants were preoccupied with their own thing. Riseth locked herself in her workshop trying to salvage the organization done within by Adalah. Roselyn and Ysmeina spent what time they weren’t eating, sleeping or bathing to train intensely. Eveleena spent her time recovering her full strength using the high grade dark matter provided to her by the Greilia Sabbath doctor. Adalah continued to maintain the mansion as she always did while also catering to everyone’s needs.

Caitlin’s presence was missed but they all knew nothing could be done for the succubus at the moment. They had no method of long distance communication and the connection Eveleena had through the master/servant contract at least enabled Eveleena to know that the succubus was alive. That will have to do for the time being until Eveleena can retrieve her along with Jacob.

And just like that two days passed and Eveleena was ready to meet the rest of her family. A minor update to the gathering was the exclusion of servants which was suspicious but given the nature of this particular meeting she could understand why it was so intimate. And so Eveleena returned to her childhood home with a small sense of gratification since she did so under her own power.

After being greeted by Vhaara “you are looking much better Eveleena.”

“I feel better. Have the others arrived?”

“Sarsea and Alessandro are in the common room.”

“So I hear” her ears twitched.

“How is Adalah?” Vhaara suddenly asked.

“Embarrassed that her mother put on that act in front of Roselyn.”

“Why I have no idea what you mean~”

Eveleena rolled her eyes and the two continued to make small conversations mostly revolving around Vhaara’s progeny until they arrived at the common room.

“I will leave you to it then.”

The Shoggoth disappeared or more likely escaped before she found herself ‘ensnared’ Eveleena herself had to fight the sonorous melody wafting through the halls a little lest they distract her beyond how she wanted to. The music eased the tension she felt and did a good job of calming her heart for the most part but it was the knowledge of whom to expect with this music. The moment she stepped into the common room Eveleena’s eyes were immediately drawn to the origin of the music.

It was a rather young looking man with sun kissed skin, short brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard strumming an unknown instrument. Alessandro Astaroth, Eveleena’s brother-in-law and husband to her sister Sarsea who was sitting by his side leaning on his shoulder with a content expression.

“Hello Eveleena” he smiled continuing to play.

“Alessandro” she nodded “Sarsea.”

“Shh, don’t wake her up” he half pleaded.

Eveleena raised an eyebrow “she has been awake this entire time.”

The man stopped strumming his as of yet known instrument with a sigh “well there goes my inspiration.”

This in turn caused Sarsea to abandon the façade and direct an annoyed glare at her younger sibling.

“Must you ruin our fun Eveleena?”

Said Demon placed a hand on her cocked hip “call it recompense for all of last week.”

“…fair enough.”

“How long has it been since you arrived?”

“I don’t know” Sarsea shrugged leaning her head against Alessandro’s shoulder “time seems to fly by with my Alessandro.”

“A little over an hour” the man in question answered.

“So early?”

“Mother insisted.”

Eveleena saw the barest hint of a frown on Sarsea’s face before it melted away when he resumed playing.

“Where are mother and father?”

At that Sarsea gained an annoyed look “their bedroom.”

Eveleena pinched the bridge of her nose ‘I was afraid that would be the case.’

“At this point we’re just waiting for Aezaris to arrive.”

“I just want to get this over with” she bit out harshly.

“Then you will be glad to know you won’t have to wait much longer.”

All three turned to find Ariesarah standing in the common room with Perceval. There appearance was almost immediately preceded by a sickly sweet musk surrounding them that caused the Demo’s cheeks to heat up briefly. Despite the obvious signs the two did not at all look like a couple who have just been having sex for two days straight.

Magic really is a convenient thing.

While Eveleena and Sarsea greeted them formally Alessandro gave a two finger salute.

“Hello Sir Perceval, Milady Ariesarah.”

“Alessandro” Perceval nodded lightly

“Oh don’t stop on our account dear” Ariesarah commented with a smile.

“Are we starting without Aezaris” Eveleena cut in.

“Of course not” and the matriarch snapped her finger conjuring a purple magic circle where Aezaris was suddenly teleported to.

The younger Demon looked absolutely bewildered “eh? Wha? But I was just…”

“Your business had you running late so I took the liberty of bringing you here myself.”

“Eek!” the Demon jumped away in fright.

Ignoring her daughter’s clear overreaction Ariesarah clapped her hands “now that we’re all here let us start the feast!”

~O~

Gatherings for the core members of House Astaroth are rarely ever only private. Ariesarah as a penchant for holding celebrations and she especially adores flaunting the strength of house Astaroth to her allies and rivals. That is why family reunions are mostly relegated to important major events, grand achievements or business that affects the entire family. It is usually a fun, lighthearted affair however in this case things were not so despite a few trying to maintain the façade.

By the end of the meal the façade was completely broken. The plates, silverware and all other utensil disappeared as well as Vhaara. High level enchantments were placed around the room ensuring that not even the Shoggoth would be privy to what was about to be said.

“Now that we’ve enjoyed our meal it is time to get down to business.”

And with those words the true face of Ariesarah Astaroth showed itself. The Archdemon Sorceress who was among Lilith’s first supporters in the time before her reign fighting alongside the Overlord leading armies of Mamono, conquering nations of man and confronting the forces of Heaven itself.

“A Valkyrie dared to lay her filthy hands on our Eveleena nearly ending her life” she began “and if that wasn’t bad enough she then went on to steal her potential contractor to be trained into a weapon for their cause.”

This was all very old news but having it repeated to her face like this made Eveleena furious still and a not so quiet scrape echoed across the room as her nails created grooves in the enchanted table.

“Naturally such tripe cannot stand and it deserves the proper response. Eveleena I know you must already have plans to retaliate, know that you will have the full support of your family.”

Eveleena glanced across the table seeing the nods of ascent and felt the solidarity they exude which made her next words all the more difficult to speak.

“No.”

“Excuse me?” her mother intoned.

“Thank you for your offered support mother, everyone, but I want to handle this on my own without your aid.”

She could tell her words had the expected effect, disappointment and mild outrage.

“Normally I would respect your need for independence however with this matter it is simply not feasible to let you do this alone.”

“And why not?” she questioned with some frustration leaking.

“The situation has escalated in Wenia. The eyes of Heaven are now paying attention to that place. The Valkyrie has called for reinforcements from the Order capitol. That pace will soon become under alert and I imagine that in the coming months all your work in prepping it for invasion will become undone.”

Eveleena mentally cursed at the factual statements. The loss of Wenia stung but the kingdom itself is naught more than a lost consolation.

“Which is why, before that can happen we will strike first” she tapped the table with a fingernail and a stack of parchments materialized “I have read your reports on Wenia and I approve and so does Lilith.”

That made Eveleena jolt “what did you say?”

“The reason why your father and I took so long to return” she began to explain “after your survival and recovery was assured I brought your pleas to Lilith and she gave her approval. Congratulations Eveleena you now have the full support of the Royal Makai and House Astaroth to ‘liberate’ Wenia from the oppressive reigns of the human and bring it under your tender care.”

For a few moments Eveleena simply gawked at her mother doing her best expression of a fish.

“D-Do you really mean it?”

“Well there are some caveats however your father handled those negotiations. He’s better at the whole warfare thing than I will ever be.”

Her eyes went to him “father?”

“As you are not trained in leading an army and to ensure your success you will need to bring on a high ranking military official as an advisor. Sarsea was gracious enough to volunteer her services.”

Eveleena’s head snapped to the woman in question who offered a smile in return. Sarsea spent 3 centuries in the military before meeting Alessandro then retiring to rule her own kingdom alongside him and start a family.

“I know some members of my old legion will be happy to lend their blades to you.”

Sarsea had an impressive service record and the legion placed under control was amongst the best. Most of them have either retired from active duty or followed Sarsea back to her kingdom to serve in her personal army. The rest stayed in the Makai army and have climbed the ranks. Getting their support would only increase the quality of Eveleena’s army.

“Ahem” Eveleena turned to Aezaris who was looking quite smug at the moment “I managed to use my contacts in the Sabbath to get an audience with ‘Kuro-chan’ and she agreed to lend you a contingent of her best Witches to be commanded as you saw fit.”

“How did you manage that?” Eveleena couldn’t help but ask.

To that Aezaris scoffed “networking, duh!” everyone stared at her “I mean what you thought I was doing in the Sabbath this whole time? Indulging myself” she looked around the room.

Well…yes actually.

Nobody said it but that’s what they were thinking, well most of them. Unlike her older siblings Aezaris never really seemed interested in furthering her independence. Instead she focused more on indulging herself in whatever flights of fancy that caught her attention. Aezaris knew this was what they thought of her and usually she didn’t really care for their opinion on that but it still rankled her that they were so surprised she was so helpful.

‘Tch whatever.’

“If you accept the Sabbath’s help I will be acting as your liaison. I’ll hand pick the ones to join your army and keep out the weirdos.”

“That is appreciated thank you Aezaris.”

“Isn’t this just wonderful dear?” their mother gushed at the scene

“It is nice to see them working together again” Perceval nodded.

Ariesarah clapped her hand getting all their attention before chalices of the finest wine appeared before each of them.

Raising a glass Ariesarah spoke “I propose a toast, to family.”

Everyone raised their glass “to family!”

“And to Eveleena” Sarsea added surprising the Demon in question “the imminent queen of Wenia.”

“To Eveleena!” they all cheered.

Eveleena will forever deny any tears shed that day.

~To Be Continued~