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Book II: The Devil

Two weeks later found Zerrex sitting on a bench in the Circle of Tragedy outside a massive stone building, watching demons in blue uniforms walking in and out of the complex, many of them carrying logbooks. Occasionally, bounty hunters would walk by too, or the blue-armored demons would lead in a shackled prisoner.

The Hall of Justice behind him was massive, and had received quite a few donations from Zerrex's rulership over the years, since he was interested in building a stronger legal system here in Hell and better funding the officers and policing force who had before, been rarely seen, everything left mostly to the monarchs and their kangaroo courts to decide. Nowadays, the legal system was being used more and more for everything from civil disputes to trials for homicide and soul-theft, although the legal system here ran far differently than it did back home.

For example, a person caught red-handed at a crime scene usually underwent a memory scan, and if they were indeed guilty, there was no trial: they went directly to sentencing. The law that Zerrex referred to as the 'do-not-pass-go' law seemed a bit unfair... but it kept the legal system from clogging up, and it stopped people from abusing high-priced lawyers or doing anything else in an attempt to maintain the freedom they had thrown away themselves. Contrary to that, however, there were also special self-defense and provocation laws in place to protect people who were innocent, but who had been forced into a confrontation.

But Zerrex knew that whatever the laws were, the trust laid in the judges to make the right decisions: and in Hell, very few people, if any, ever found the grounds for an appeal to a higher court. On the other hand, there was also another nasty little law in place to ensure fewer people would try to abuse the privilege: it maintained that if a higher court upheld the appealed verdict and found no problems in the ruling, then the defendant would receive twice as heavy a punishment. He knew that it might cause a few innocent people to suffer unduly... but he also knew that they were in Hell, and very few people here were innocent to begin with. Either way, the reptile favored orderly and tougher laws... and the fact that down here there were ways to read a people's mind and emotions meant that there would be far fewer screwups with a far-larger number of people than any mortal court ever dealt with.

Zerrex paused, then he glanced up and smiled as a grim-looking wolverine in a Judge's robe sat down beside him on the bench: although it was eternal winter here in the Circle of Tragedy and it was often snowing, the benches were always kept warm and clean by magical means. "I hope this is important, High King Zerrex."

"You'll never cease to be formal, will you Sabnock?" Zerrex asked mildly, and the wolverine cracked the faintest shadow of a smile at him. She was tall and lithe, the fur on the right side of her face gold and blue on the left, forming a pitchfork pattern where it intersected... and although her muzzle and neck were mostly gold, the rest of her body was evenly halved by the colors, her left hand blue and her right hand goldenrod. Her little breasts were almost invisible under the fabric of the expensive navy-blue business suit she was wearing, complete with a matching vest and red tie tucked neatly beneath this, and she looked up at him with mild interest as she crossed her legs and tented her hands, lacing her fingers together as he glanced down at her black shoes. "Those are imported mortal footwear. You got the permits for them?"

"Don't take me for a punk, Zerrex." Her black eyes were entertained, however, as she tilted her head towards him, the tiny little triangular horns on her forehead glinting against the snow. Her only other demonic characteristic was a pair of large blue wings, but Sabnock was an ancient devil despite her appearances, and far more powerful than many others he had met. "Shall we dispense with the formalities and get down to business?"

"I have a runner I need you to make sure no one sends any hunters or assassins after." Zerrex said quietly after a moment, and he glanced up as a light snow began to fall. It would only ever fall in this Circle, where it was deep and cold... and it seemed to fall from the air itself, since there were never any clouds in Hell, not this deep or not even high above the spiraling sky. "My daughter, Mercy. There was an accident... and because she may have used a smuggling portal, there's a slim chance she'd be picked up on by any roving assassins..."

"Slim for most people, but with your luck, a heavy chance." Sabnock said briskly, and she flicked her wrist, a black logbook appearing it in a moment later. She produced a pen from her pocket after a moment, then flicked through the pages before jotting something down, saying mildly: "I'll have the message sent out this week, long before anyone on the mortal plane would have even a second to act on any... erratic impulses. Since moving between the planes is so much easier now, our assassins have only been tagging and bringing back particularly-troublesome demons... is she in that category?"

Zerrex shook his head slowly, then he closed his eyes for a moment, and a second later Sammy appeared out of nowhere at the Drakkaren's feet, holding something in his maw. He immediately leapt up onto the bench and clambered onto Zerrex's shoulder, and the reptile took the picture of Mercy from him, handing it over to Sabnock. She looked at it, and her eyes softened as she said gently: "I remember her now. Very quiet, very kind, but... different. If she didn't have that stitching, she'd fit right into mortal society and I doubt even some of our Search And Retrieve Squads would be able to locate her.

"Listen, Lord Zerrex, I believe your best bet at finding her is to stay calm and stay in Hell, at least for a little while. You're very sure she isn't here or in Heaven?" Sabnock looked at him pointedly for a few moments, and Zerrex hesitated, then he nodded. "Alright. Then stay here and make a plan. A complex, logical plan, because you have a good many years down here before too much time passes up above, and I doubt she'll get into a lot of trouble within a day's time. Hopefully, she'll either find a band of demons hiding out on the mortal plane, or better yet, they'll think she's a war survivor and someone else will take her in."

Zerrex nodded, rubbing slowly at his head before he said mildly: "You know, it really is hard not to just... leap through a portal and head back upstairs. It's a good thing dimensional portals aren't a spell I'm any good at... I have to say that's probably half the reason I haven't gone back upstairs yet."

Sabnock smiled dryly. "Believe me, Zerrex, I am well aware of your... preferred method of action. Now, if I may make a suggestion..." She paused and looked at the reptile, and the Drakkaren nodded as Sabnock tucked the picture into her logbook and snapped it shut. "Go to your family. I've heard High Princess Lily has been rather upset about this whole thing... try and get her to stop working, because even to me she seems to put too much effort into the rulership. Hell doesn't need her acting as High Princess every day, even with the changes that are going on... sometimes, change just has to be started, then allowed to happen on its own. I and the other members of the Grand Council have already had many monarchs however hesitantly approach us and negotiate settlements with us to give up some of their ages-old powers in return for a bright future, and only a few have opposed us... but only because they think this is tyranny, not unity. If you and her must work, I suggest you take a trip out to the far Northern Province and some of the little kingdoms there, and do that public relations thing you so seem to hate."

"Oh great." Zerrex rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath. "Well, you know. Cherry is probably in the mood to foil some assassination attempts and be a total bitch while she still can... she's pregnant, you know."

"Well, congratulations to you, then, Lord Zerrex. I'm sure it'll be a fine child." Sabnock smiled, and then she tilted her head towards him with amusement at his look. "You don't even have to tell me you're the father. She may be a whore, but I've seen the way she looks at you. If you weren't the father, then Hell would already be in an uproar." She paused, then made her notebook vanish as she leaned forwards, speaking in a quieter, more-serious voice now: "Speaking of which, I need to ask you to do something else as well, Zerrex... as both a concerned citizen, and as a friend of not only you, but of Lily's as well."

"Anything Sabnock, just ask." Zerrex leaned in, and Sabnock smiled at him faintly, and the reptile felt he knew what this was about as Sammy chirped quietly on his shoulder, leaning his head in as well. Oh no... I thought we'd gotten rid of them all...

"I recognize that Lilith is a very rare and very special sort of demoness... a Breeding Queen capable of producing new races of demon, and that she feels a motherly affection to them, however they turn out. But you must talk to her about the Brood Parasites. We've located another clutch of them in the Circle of Lust... which either means Samson wasn't destroyed, or that a group of them escaped." Sabnock said quietly, and Zerrex nodded with a sigh, rubbing at his head slowly. She looked at him with sympathy in her black eyes, even if her face remained impassive. "I recognize this isn't a good time to bring it up and that this must be very trying for you, but-"

"No, no... I understand believe me, I've dealt with worse. I'm sure we all remember... what happened to Crow and my second son." Zerrex said mildly, and Sabnock nodded after a moment, looking grim. Then he shook his head slowly, murmuring quietly: "Yet I was sure I killed them... I mean, I don't even think about them anymore, and there was no news in Hell for millions of years about them..."

Sabnock nodded, rubbing at her head as she suggested: "They may have gone into hibernation, or perhaps one escaped and no one thought much of one, not realizing what they were and what they did. Do you remember killing Samson yourself?"

"It's hard to say..." Zerrex looked down as the memories returned, about when Samson had been born, just a baby and harmless-looking... but within the course of a month, he had grown into a new type of Lust demon that was savage and hungry, raping whatever it saw. It had his head, and even his white hair... but the eyes had been vicious, and instead of muscle it had long, gangly limbs and legs, with an enormous, spongy penis that would cram itself into any crevice it could and moved almost like a limb. All Samson had wanted to do was rape, and he would rape anything he came into contact with... and even though they had locked him away, they had underestimated his strength and the flexibility of his narrow body, and he had escaped.

When Samson raped, pregnancy always ensued, and it took less than a week for the victim to give birth to not one, but always at least three more parasites that were ready within another week for sex. The raped victim was usually cocooned in some horrible gunk during their pregnancy, and withered and died after giving birth, and they had often found these bodies partially, if not completely, eaten, likely by the young. Their tails, they quickly discovered, had a small bulge at the end of them, which could open and secrete the webbing they coated both their lairs and victims with.

Zerrex, Lily, Selena, Sin, and Cherry had formed a squad that had gone in to destroy the bugs: the four females were immensely alluring targets to the mindless parasites, while Samson had been sentient enough to want to seek revenge on his father. Zerrex could remember how surprised he'd been by Samson's strength... but his ruthless, mindless child had been no match for an angry, bitter, and sorrowful Drakkaren wielding an immense cleaver.

After a moment, the reptile finally looked up at Sabnock and said honestly: "I was sure he couldn't have lived... I cut off one of his lower legs, and almost sliced him in half before I put a sword through his chest and left it there. The regenerative capacity of the beasts wasn't very high... and afterwards, we set the nest on fire and collapsed it. We were lucky to get away ourselves... and as far as I know, when they dug the place up, nothing went wrong."

"Then perhaps someone revived one of the demons or created one synthetically... it's been done before with minotaurs and the Lucifer's Eye project, after all." Sabnock paused, then she gently touched his shoulder as Zerrex looked awkwardly away . "I know it still bothers you, Lord Zerrex, but you're nothing like any of the other demons we've dealt with over the years... you may have artificially been made into a demon, but you're still developing as naturally as any of us did."

"Yeah, key word being still." Zerrex looked down at his hands with a dry laugh, and Sammy squeaked quietly on his shoulder. "Look at me, Sabnock... almost the exact same as many millions of years ago physically. I'm not mortal... but am I a true demon? Not really... I'm somewhere trapped between, because the Princess threw me through that Lucifer's Eye without thinking about the consequences. I... it's strange, you know?" He looked at her plainly, then down at his own hands quietly again. "It's not like I want to become anything different than I am now... but yet... I'm curious as to what I'd look like if I became a full Split Incarnation, how much stronger I would become and... all that. Yet I'm terrified of it, too... because imagine if I did become that, if I did gain all that power, if my body did change so I couldn't even manage to keep this mortal pretense I always walk around in, without even any horns to show that I'm a demon..."

Sabnock stood up, then she patted the Drakkaren gently on the shoulder, saying mildly: "Well, I don't know why I'm even saying this, but you are what you are, just like you're always telling us with that dumb smile on your face, the one that defies all logic and comes out at the worst of times." She paused, then leaned down to look squarely into his eyes, saying softly: "You are... what you are. Power to you may be a curse, and you not enjoy the fact that you're a demon much as you enjoy our company... but I for one am glad both that you are in power and you are who and what you are, Lord Zerrex, and I have faith in you doing the right thing. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a court case to attend to."

With that, Sabnock walked off towards the Hall of Justice, and Zerrex smiled a bit despite himself as he watched her go, shaking his head slowly. He sat there for a moment as Sammy leapt down onto the bench, growling lightly and looking up at him curiously, and the reptile nodded after a moment at him, saying with soft entertainment: "I think she's right, Sammy. Besides, now we have our own problems to deal with... the Brood Parasites need to be exterminated, and we still need to figure out where Mercy went and how she got out of Hell... assuming she hasn't suddenly show Sin-level magical abilities and is just hiding under her bed in the Estate, of course."

Sammy rolled his eyes, then he squawked curiously up at the reptile, and Zerrex shrugged, looking down at him flatly as an image of the Estate came up in his mind. "Look, it's like, two hundred and some rooms large, and that's not counting the grounds. Even if we hunt through it room-by-room, she could easily have portalled all over the place. My gut tells me that she's gone up into the mortal realm, though, and... I don't think I'm wrong about that, for some reason. She's not the kind to leave a note, after all... and..."

Zerrex broke off, looking down and rubbing a hand through his hair slowly, and then he sighed, standing up and creating a portal, Sammy immediately scrambling to leap through it before the reptile followed, shaking his head with soft amusement. He emerged onto one of the balconies surrounding the top floor of the central spires, a pair of enormous Amazons standing guard and immediately saluting as the reptile appeared, throwing them a salute with a slight smile.

The Amazons were enormous, most of them draconic-featured and covered in immense muscle, with a tiny - if it existed at all - bust and always clad in massive full-body armor. These two in particular were outfitted in the red full-plate mail worn by all of Selena's private guard, and both carried heavy lances that were at least twenty feet long: an impressive size even for the twelve-foot tall females. As the Drakkaren approached, one of them leaned down with a bit of a blush through her scales, rubbing at one of her tall, upside-down U-shaped black horns as she whispered: "Just so you know, High King Zerrex, High Princess Lily is in session at the moment, with High Princess Selena and High Prince Amiglion in attendance, as well as several nobles of the outer rim territories. They are known for being... a little bit aggressive."

"Well, I'm a little bit stubborn." Zerrex replied mildly, and Sammy leapt up and landed neatly on his shoulder, growling lightly as the Drakkaren shoved the enormous double doors open and walked inside, looking at the massive round table that dominated the room these days, with Lily, Selena, and Amiglion sitting in silver chairs that were larger than the ornate wooden ones surrounding the rest of the table. Zerrex glanced at his own chair, situated in the middle of the four silver ones: a huge, golden throne, even though the reptile had asked for either a leather seat or a mahogany chair with a nice cushion on it. Ugh, I look like such a hypocrite... "If you'll excuse me for interrupting, I'd like to join the discussion here and see if we can resolve things quickly and peaceably. No need to get into one of those century-long debates."

"Who the hell is this?" asked one of the nobles, looking disgruntled as he stood up. He was one of five demons Zerrex didn't recognize, and dressed in military garb with a heavy red cape held on at one shoulder by a golden clasp. "I demand you explain yourself!"

"Watch your tongue, that's High King Zerrex!" Selena spat across the table, slamming her palms down into the scarred wood in front of her. Like Amiglion, she was wearing a silver mask that completely covered her face but was designed to allow her horns to stick out freely, and her arms and legs were covered in heavy steel plate armor, hiding her identity while still displaying her body and valued leather garments. She and the Naganatine Zerrex referred to amiably as Ami were the only ones who followed the old traditions, however... although while Amiglion probably did it because he was embarrassed by the fact he felt he didn't deserve such a high place in the ranks, Selena enjoyed making it clear just how much power she held.

The tall Naganatine nodded, rubbing at the heavy facemask he wore before he cleared his throat, absently rubbing his blue-scaled hands together. Unlike Selena, he wore only a long green robe with heavy pauldrons on his shoulders, a small golden chain connecting them and ensuring his robe stayed closed. Zerrex knew that somewhere around the hall, there was likely a scythe named Grim waiting expectantly for Amiglion to be done duty for the day, so they could leave: once upon a time, the Naganatine had been a Reaper of Souls, after all, and although he was labeled as a screwup and the weakest of all the Naganatine, with training, patience, and most of all, confidence, he had shown himself to be capable and intelligent even in the heat of battle.

In mortal terms, Ami had been a dark horse: a come-from-behind choice for the position of High Prince, a surprise victor even to himself, since he hadn't even tried out for the role, likely feeling that if anyone was unfit, it was him. He was the misfit Naganatine that had become the very first Death, dealing with souls that clung stubbornly and tenaciously to life long after they should have moved on. Despite how he acted, Amiglion knew about almost every world that existed: not just the planet Zerrex was familiar with, but other planets that filtered somehow down into this Hell too, and he had told Zerrex all about many a wonderful different realm that maybe he would one day explore himself... mostly worlds smaller than his planet with far fewer life forms, but worlds with their own ecosystems and living creatures nonetheless. It fascinated Zerrex, how there really were aliens somewhere out in the depths of space, reachable at the moment not by technology and space shuttles... but instead magic and dimensional portals. Even now it still impressed him more than he could say, even if Ami treated it like everyday life.

It had been one of the reasons the Drakkaren had selected Ami as his personal choice for the vacant throne: sure, getting Selena and some of the members of the Great Council to see his worth had been a little bit difficult, but the reptile thought the Naganatine had done admirably during the trials, especially considering the fact he wasn't used to combat. He was a good student considering his habits, however, and he had learned a lot from Zerrex about melee fighting... and although he showed an awkwardness around Sin because of their long, long past together and the War of the First Breed, he had also picked up a good few spells from her and finally learned to let the past lay in the far past.

Amiglion finally sat back down hesitantly at the table, and Zerrex approached the uninhabited side of it, pulling a chair out to sit down and relax with a sigh as he held a hand out towards Lily. Immediately, Lily slid one of the notebooks piled up in front of her towards him, and the Drakkaren opened it, thumbing through it as the nobles inspected him disbelievingly. After all, he had no demonic characteristics, no formal attire, no anything... while they were in their fancy dress, obviously waiting for some resolution to pass in their favor. The reptile finally held up a finger, then he said read: "'Alleged failure to uphold stated agreements...' oh, I remember you guys now. You're from the Range, the furthest area of the Northern Province. Which means you're representatives from the... I believe there's a fortress and a large, sprawling military complex surrounding it, correct?"

"Do not speak so lightly of Takashire... we have always trained the most powerful of demons for the War Games there." One of them spoke up immediately, and the goat-faced demon hammered a first into the table a moment later as he added grimly: "And we haven't received compensation for the last century or so, for the soldiers you've diverted from our military training program. Now, because of you, we have even more demons becoming Damned and Craven."

"There's no need for such harsh words." Zerrex said absently, as he flipped through Lily's journal to check for notes on the meeting so far. He could hear Selena getting ready to explode nearby, and he thought it was probably time to defuse the meeting before she went and killed them: it wouldn't be the first time, after all. Selena handled these meetings the old school way, still... which the reptile didn't approve of but recognized there was sometimes a need for. "And anyway, to create more soldiers is pointless at this level... ever since the Eternal War Games of Hell ended, we've had a vast excess of soldiers, and I need demons to become medics, scientists, and other non-killing-stuff-oriented people. For way too long, we've spent too much time slaughtering each other instead of helping each other."

"This is Hell, not Heaven! It's our job to slaughter each other, to bring down God's wrath!" snarled another noble, and Zerrex sighed as of all people, now Amiglion leapt to his feet.

"God was never like that, don't you talk about him like that!" Ami shouted angrily, and across the room, the reptile could hear the Naganatine's living scythe, Grim War, thrumming in matching anger. Maybe Selena won't be the first person to kill someone after all... "God wanted us to be loving, peaceful, and united... not to... to pointlessly rape and murder one-another just because we're all so sure there's no Lower Hell or Higher Heaven! The entire point of Hell was to be a place of redemption, and Lord Zerrex is attempting to do that now, to bring it to a new level of peace and prosperity... what we need is to work together now for the good of Hell, not the good of our own personal viewpoints and bias."

Zerrex nodded slowly at this, and Lily smiled, before she winced as the first noble in the long red cape stood up with his hands flat on the table, spitting: "Then God was a coward. We must continue to kill each other, as is tradition, to keep the filth in check... besides, if you haven't heard, High Prince, God was killed by the Red Beast. Perhaps if he hadn't been defeated by the Archangels, we would be looking at a far-better Hell now."

The noble sneered across the table at Ami, who looked shocked, and Zerrex closed his eyes, forcing himself to keep his temper before Selena said darkly: "I don't think you realize what lines you're crossing now. You might be a good fighter, but do you really think you're a match for any one of us?"

"Two girls, the failure Naganatine and an old mortal?" The noble threw his head back and laughed raucously, and three of the others joined in, although one of the nobles carefully pushed himself away from the group and tried to make himself small. "We all know that ever since the Scribes and Scholars were cut down, your protection has weakened... the remaining Scholars have become old relics, worthless to Hell! We are the real leaders... we military who bow to nothing but strength!"

Zerrex looked up mildly after a moment, and then he sighed and rolled his head back, asking the ceiling: "Why did it have to come to this today..." A pause as he looked over at the noble leader, and then he said flatly: "You remind me of someone."

"I am Kannoc Ungil, Lord of the Desert Fortress." The noble drew himself up to his full height, his bristly gray fur seeming to shine in the light, the male's two eyes gleaming black pits in his ugly ursine face. His body was thick and heavy, and he was very tall, his only clothing the long red cape and a matching loincloth... although Zerrex guessed he probably had more than one weapon stashed on him somehow, somewhere. On one forearm was a heavy, spiked vambrace, and he had an ancient type of helmet on his head called a clutch: it was made of three large prongs of steel, covered completely in spikes, and worn so that one prong went between the others and the other two half-encircled the head, leaving much of the skull vulnerable but giving the wearer a fearsome appearance. They were forged in Hell for certain egocentric demons... and the reptile thought that even if Kannoc was a Wrath demon, there was very likely still plenty of Greed in his soul. "I command seventy-thousand troops-"

"And I command your soldiers, you, and the entirety of Hell." Zerrex said dryly, and Kannoc looked displeased at this before Zerrex stood and walked out towards the edge of the hall, continuing mildly: "I don't use the Scholar's Protection myself unless I recognize there's a lot of danger ahead of me... so, because no one will lift a finger to stop you... why don't you take your best shot at me, Kannoc?"

Zerrex was surprised by the male's reaction time: it was like he had just been waiting to be asked... or just an opportune moment, as he snatched a double-edged axe out from under his cape and threw it hard at the Drakkaren. The reptile only sidestepped, however, cracking his knuckles absently at the same time as Kannoc leapt onto the table with a roar, charging across it and jumping off as he pulled out a larger, uglier axe with a single huge, fanged blade, then handle snapping out like a telescope so he could grip it tight in both with bloodlust burning in his eyes, his body warping and growing. His feet became taloned, his body doubled, then trebled in size, and his jaws twisted into a distended grin with teeth far too bit for his mouth sliding over lipless cheeks... and then, when he roared and leapt forwards, the now-tiny cape fluttering around his neck as the rest of his gear grew with him, Zerrex only sighed and rolled his eyes as he swung down and the axe caught in the ceiling, now far-too-large to be properly used.

Kannoc glanced up, and Zerrex walked between Kannoc's legs calmly as he created a sword of energy in either hand, making one single, elegant spinning attack to slice through both of his ankles. The gigantic demon howled and trembled, his eyes bulging in pain for a moment before he fell to his knees, leaving the axe dangling in the ceiling... and he looked over his shoulder in horror a moment later to see Zerrex standing behind him, his arms crossed and a distasteful look on his muzzle. "Size isn't everything: know your surroundings. That was a rookie mistake, great warrior... care to try again?"

Kannoc snarled as he spun around and attempted to tackle Zerrex, and the others yelled and leapt away from the table as the Drakkaren jumped over the male's head and landed on his back, running along the humped, warped flesh before he leapt off to the side as the giant crashed through the center of the room. All four doorways opened, and Amazons appeared at each other them... but the reptile motioned for them to stay back as he lined himself up with another one of the doors, waiting for the giant to clamber awkwardly to his feet, snarling furiously. The room could easily accommodate his size, but Kannoc was unwieldy and awkward... and he roared as one of the other nobles tried to speak to him, slapping him away before charging towards Zerrex again... and the reptile ran backwards, watching him close before Kannoc swung a hand forwards, claws ripping through the cement, and Zerrex dodged to the side before he grinned as Kannoc's foot lashed out to try and kick him... and he caught this, grunting and twisting it to use the strength and momentum of the giant against him, the demon looking horrified as he hopped awkwardly out the doors before his leg smashed into the doorway and he fell forwards, screaming as he hit the banister and his heavy body dragged him over the edge.

Zerrex stepped backwards, wincing as the foot kicked uselessly by his head, before he walked slowly out onto the balcony, the other nobles crowding quickly around him in shock to see Kannoc dangling by one hand, the rails of the balcony crushed to bits and leaving the male holding on for dear life from one of the highest points of Hell, a fall that would kill any demon below him. He trembled, staring up at them, and Zerrex looked down as Kannoc asked weakly: "Mercy? Or do you kill me now?"

"Kannoc, we never surrender! We never beg for forgiveness!" shouted one of the other demons angrily, looking horrified, and the Drakkaren glanced mildly at him, causing him to quickly shut his mouth. The dangling demon, meanwhile, hung his head... and finally Zerrex sighed, shaking his own as he brushed past the nobles.

"I'll let you decide what to do with him, then. If you'll excuse me, I have other business to attend to... I recommend you guys all go back to your province and take a long hard think about today, though." the reptile said dryly over his shoulder, and then he motioned for the Amazons to close the heavy doors, shutting them out onto the balcony as he approached the center of the throne room. Ami was currently poking at the wreckage of the table, and Selena was standing with her mask in her hands, looking disgruntled as Lily only sighed. "What?"

"You're so much goddamn trouble." Lily muttered, and Zerrex gave her a look of amusement, shrugging absently. He still wasn't feeling his best, however, so he glanced down after a moment, thinking on her words... and Lily softened as she reached down and picked up Sammy as the pseudodragon ran by, the tiny beast flailing a bit before it finally curled up against her with a grumble. "What's wrong?"

Zerrex held out a hand, and Sammy immediately jumped onto his arm, running up to his shoulder as he said quietly: "Sabnock got a report of a bunch of Brood Parasites somewhere in the Lust Circle... so either Samson is still alive or some of the little bastards survived."

Lily's face fell at this, and she sighed, rubbing at her muzzle slowly as she turned away. Selena and Ami looked nervously at each other, and then the Naganatine took off his own mask, revealing his boyish yet handsome features as he asked gently: "How about I take over here for a little while, and you guys can sort this whole mess out on your own time? I'm getting real used to running this show, after all... and you know, the Great Council is a humongous help. It isn't like that democracy stuff up in some worlds, but... what we've developed seems to be working out really well. What would you call it, Zer?"

"I dunno. A democratic republic? A puppet monarchy?" Zerrex felt too morbid to really think about anything at the moment, much less politics, so he broke off and glanced away as Ami winced and rubbed slowly at his forehead. "It doesn't matter what it is, so long as it works and it serves in the interests of the people, and not ourselves. Democracy stopped working on our planet because it became about worshipping the almighty dollar and self-serving agendas... but even after all these years, you know, I still don't feel right in power. Then again, I don't feel particularly moralistic at any point and time these days... it's like my brain is insisting on telling me how everything I do is bad and wrong."

"Zerrex has anxiety disorders." Selena summed up, and the male tossed her a dry look as Sammy whined a bit and nipped at his hair. Then she reached out and awkwardly patted Lily on the shoulder a few times, the golden-scaled female smiling faintly over at her. "Look, we'll find 'em and uh. You know, I really wanna say kill them but that's kinda harsh, since... we'll put them down, we'll take care of the mess."

She paused, then added hesitantly: "Lily, you know... you've been through a shitload lately. This, Mercy, all the work you've been putting into the rulership... maybe you should go and help Cherry. I mean, she ain't that pregnant yet, but... I hear she's been a little anxious recently."

"Why do you think Sin isn't here?" Zerrex said morbidly, and he made a mental note to check in on Cherry after he finished his business here. And there is no way she's coming with us, either... last thing I need is for something to rape her and cause an abortion. Not just because I care about the kid and Cherry, but because Cherry would go berserk, and that's never pretty. "I'm sure she'd really appreciate the help, though, Lily... and you could still help us by keeping track of all the information we come across."

Lily shrugged a bit at this, looking back and forth at them, and then she curled up her hands in front of herself and said weakly, in a voice on the verge of tears: "No, no, I have to help, I have to be a part of this... Zerrex, if anyone has to do this, it's me and you."

Zerrex sighed after a moment, then he shook his head when Selena opened her mouth. The Dius made a face, but she closed it after a moment, looking away and grumbling something to herself, and then Ami said comfortingly: "It's gonna be okay, Lily. It's a big-ass mess, but you've got your shit together and we'll keep everything in gear so you and Zerrex there can go and take care of business, how about that?"

He patted her gently on the back, and Lily burst into tears a moment later and clung to him, Ami looking awkwardly at Zerrex, his arms stupidly at his sides, and the reptile made a few wild gestures with his hands, wincing. Ami looked at him dumbly, and then he finally carefully hugged Lily, as if she was made of glass... and she bawled harder as she clung to him, Zerrex looking relieved nonetheless and knowing that it meant she was at least getting the poison out. She always cried harder when she was trying to feel better, which was strange but true... and then he allowed Selena to pull him aside, the female taking his hand and playing absently with the rings on his fingers as she said seriously: "Look, Zer, we're in deep shit here if those things are loose. They're bad for your image, they're bad for Hell, they're especially bad for the people they infect with their spoor, since when they give birth, it's fucking ugly what happens to them. And so far as we know, that dick of theirs is really just an egg-laying tube... so they might just be able to lay their eggs anywhere, and if they've evolved or learned anything at all from when we messed up their hive..."

"I never even thought of that..." Zerrex shook his head, rubbing a hand through his hair before he grimaced, hating what he was about to ask but hating what it might mean if the idea he'd just had was right. "Do we still have that dead body that our researchers dissected? I want them to take another look at something in particular."

Selena frowned, then she nodded slowly: "I think so... why, you wanna check if samples of it was taken for some sort of resurrection technique? Shit like that is really heavy stuff, not just anyone could do it..."

"No, I have a different worry." Zerrex replied quietly, and then he sighed, saying carefully: "Just tell them to look at the sexual characteristics and the interior organs of it very, very carefully. I know it sounds weird, but trust me on this. We didn't research a lot of that because we were busy looking for a way to kill the goddamn things." He paused, then finally looked across at Lily, who was calming down now. On his shoulder, Sammy gave a quiet chirp, and Zerrex leaned over to Selena to kiss her cheek before he walked quickly over to Lily.

Selena watched them with a frown, but then she sighed, and by the time Zerrex looked over his shoulder - Lily clinging to him now, and sniffling a bit still - the demoness had vanished. He sighed a bit himself, then turned his eyes back to Lily, asking her quietly: "How are you feeling, huh?"

"I'm okay." Lily rubbed at her eyes slowly, and then she shook her head a bit, glancing over at Amiglion with a faint smile. "I think I'm going to retire with Lord Zerrex for now. I believe you're more than capable of handling the rest of today's tasks yourself... although once more we're going to need a new table and some repairs..." She glanced up with a frown at the huge, ugly battle axe still stuck in the ceiling. "Why can't you be like Selena and just make the nobles explode? It's much less mess."

Zerrex rolled his eyes, looking a bit amused nonetheless as he held out a hand and created a portal, and Ami waved to them with a smile as they left. The two stepped out into Zerrex's private quarters in the Ravenlight Estate... and both of them stared at Cherry, who was mumbling to herself and laying sprawled on his bed, Sin looking frazzled as she stood nearby holding a tray with a pot of tea, a bottle of cider, and a large bowl of some horrible-smelling substance. "Get... get out of my bed. And your boots are still on, even!"

"Hey, you walk around in bare feet sometimes and throw those in your own damn bed." Cherry said reproachfully, but she huffed and kicked off her boots anyway, one of them landing on the Drakkaren's dresser and spilling dirt over a few of his notebooks. Cherry grinned stupidly at this when Zerrex glared at her, but before he could even threaten her, she grasped her abdominals and whined: "I have a baby in my belly!"

Zerrex sighed and rolled his eyes, and then he walked over and slapped one of her breasts firmly, Cherry's eyes bulging as she sat up and grasped her bosom through the over-tight bra she was wearing. "Holy fuck that hurt! Shit, they're starting to get all sensitive and stuff... oh, this fucking sucks so hard. Hey, hey, Sin, uh. Gimme some of that soup."

"That's soup?" Zerrex stared at the black, bubbling goo, and even Sin made a disgusted face as she held the tray out to Cherry, leaning away. Cherry immediately snatched it up, licking her lips, and then Lily seemed to recognize what it was as her eyes bulged and she turned away, making a retching noise. Zerrex looked stupidly back and forth, and then he gaped when Cherry dug the spoon in, and something alive squealed, little tentacles flailing back and forth as she lifted the spoon out: now blood, and there was... is... is that an eye?

A few ant-like bugs crawled along the spoon, and then Cherry shoved it into her muzzle and smacked her lips loudly, looking cheerfully over at Sin as a centipede flung itself halfway out of the bowl, the... 'soup...' still squealing loudly. "That is some delicious stuff there, Sin... it's Wyrmwrot. It's a bane wyrm's heart boiled for fifty hours after being seasoned with all kinds of bugs and a few local plants inside its own stomach lining, until it becomes all mushy and the eggs hatch, the bugs fatten up, and then most of them die from... hey, dude, why do you look so sick?"

Zerrex staggered away, then he stared in horror as Cherry took another spoonful of it and ate it contentedly. She paused, then the reptile shook his head, unable to shout in horror as her jaws rose... then her teeth crunched something loudly, and the reptile felt his stomach heave before he threw himself out into the hallway, Lily following him. A moment later, Sin came out as well, calling over her shoulder: "We'll come back in ten minutes or so."

She closed the door, then sat down against it with a sigh as Zerrex sprawled in the middle of the hall and Lily sat beside him, even the pseudodragon that was now curled up on the reptile's chest looking nauseated. Then the male finally asked weakly, as he looked over at Sin: "Aren't bane wyrms endangered and poisonous?"

"Poisonous yes. Endangered, no, ever since the preservation initiative." Lily paused, then added faintly: "We might have screwed up in not letting those things be hunted to extinction, however. How the hell can she eat that stuff?"

The Drakkaren only closed his eyes and grunted, since they all knew the answer to that question. Combined with her mood swings, it meant Cherry's pregnancy was going to really start showing changes in her... and where mortals had it tough enough, Cherry would likely start losing some of her preternatural abilities to help divert her energies towards the baby inside of her. The last time she had been pregnant, for instance, Cherry had lost the ability to shapeshift into whatever she liked, even if she could still go full-demon... but during the end of her pregnancy, she had also lost her ability to control fire, which had been both good and bad: good because it meant she wouldn't set any of them on fire during the delivery, bad because it meant she lost her best method of defending herself from a distance from attackers.

They had taken doubly-good care of her from then on, as much as it had made her huffy... but thankfully, things had gone... as smoothly as possible, all things considered. Now, however, since Cherry was into the stuffing her face with food stage... it also meant the vomiting would start, as well as leaking downstairs on occasion. Both were difficult, since there were very few bathrooms in Hell... and Zerrex thought about getting one installed to deal with the next few months of torture before all three looked up as Cherry howled: "Holy fuck, what the fuck am I eating?"

A pause, and then there was a very ugly retching sound, followed by a sick splatter... and Zerrex rubbed at his forehead slowly as the three of them listened to the sound of her vomiting. A moment later, Lily looked up, and then she muttered: "Serves her right. All the times I was pregnant, I never ate anything like that."

"You're a pregnancy machine, Lily. Like Sin there." Zerrex said flatly, as Sin half-opened the door to nervously peer inside. "You two barely even got sick. Hell, Sin looked almost like her everyday self, just with a big belly with a big life inside of it." He paused, then grinned at her as she closed the door, looking across at him curiously. "You remember Atlas?"

Sin smiled at this, rolling her eyes a bit. Atlas had been a very, very large baby... and her stomach had grown to such a size by the end of the pregnancy that she had barely been able to move around. When she had given birth, they had been forced to improvise, because Sin couldn't even rip wide enough for Atlas to come out... so they had snapped one of Hell's specialty pain-to-pleasure conversion collars on her and sliced her open from vagina almost to her breasts, and finally pulled Atlas out of her that way as she writhed on the table, feeling ecstasy instead of agony but still the uncomfortable terror of being almost completely disemboweled. Even if she'd become used to that during her too-long-suffered punishment, it was still horrifying even for her to be thrown back into.

Lily smiled a bit from one to the other, then she leaned forwards, saying softly: "Even the triplets for me wasn't as bad a time as Cherry had with Priest, I guess I can admit that. You're right... I am a Breeding Queen, so my body can handle being pregnant often, even if I still get a bit moody..."

Zerrex laughed a bit, shaking his head. Compared to Cherry's fits, Lily had been easygoing... at worst, she'd cry every now and then at the smallest provocation, but that had been the worst of it. Then he paused as he caught the way she was looking at him, and he held up his hands, saying mildly: "I am totally not making you pregnant again. Especially not right now. Remember when you and Selena were pregnant at the same time?"

"That was different, that was Selena." Lily huffed, crossing her arms before she hesitated and said quietly: "Look. I know that... we had a bad pregnancy once. That I gave birth to a monster that you can't even call a son... that I can't even call a son, because it was just an animal, less than that even... a parasite. But there were also so many good ones, and new, brighter species, like the Andius."She reached out and took his hand quietly, and then Sammy walked over and hopped up to put both his front claws on theirs, the two smiling a bit. "See, even your pet thinks we should have another kid."

"I don't want to flood Hell with my children. We're going to run out of room down here eventually." Zerrex said mildly, and Sin and Lily both laughed. The reptile knew it wasn't much of an excuse himself... after all, Hell was far larger than the mortal world he came from, and not simply a planet, but instead an entire plane: a vast expanse with no real space above it, flat instead of round, and likely terminating somewhere into the same nothingness that was above the black-and-red, spiraling sky. And he had seen what was beyond the Desert for himself, as well... once upon a time, he had travelled across it and found another Hell, full of stranger creatures than he had seen in this one. But that Hell had been smaller and crueler, and he had left back for his own after a small scuffle with the demons that inhabited it.

The reptile looked thoughtfully at the ceiling, and then the door behind them finally opened before he could speak, and Cherry walked out, looking pale and rubbing at her muzzle slowly. "Okay. I cast a bunch of cleansing spells, but like. I can't look at that bowl, and I couldn't get that shit out of there. Sin, I blame you for letting me eat that shit."

"You were clamoring for it all day. And you ate plenty of other things today, too... personally, I'm glad that you've suffered a little after all the food you ate." Sin made a face as she got to her feet, and then she bowed to Zerrex, saying quietly: "I'll only be a few minutes. Shall I leave the tea behind?" A pause, then she smiled slightly. "It's only green tea, don't worry."

"Then please do." The reptile nodded, and Sin left as he climbed up to his feet, rubbing at his back slowly. The trio waited a few moments as Sammy circled Zerrex's feet a few times, squeaking loudly, and then they walked forwards, the pseudodragon automatically falling into pace with its master as they returned to Zerrex's room.

Three teacups had been laid out neatly on the tray by the teapot, which now say on the dresser, and all of Zerrex's notebooks had been organized and Cherry's shoe thrown away. The reptile looked at this thoughtfully, then he poured them each a cup of tea and passed them out before scattering his books over the dressertop again with one hand, looking pleased with himself. Lily rolled her eyes, and Cherry snorted in amusement, some of the color coming back to her face as she took a long sip of tea. "You know that's only gonna take her like, five seconds to fix, right?"

"The point is made." Zerrex replied mildly, and he walked over to sit on the bed as Cherry did the same. Lily stood for a moment longer to look at the different books, then she sat herself on the other side of Cherry as Zerrex asked curiously: "You feel the baby inside you yet?"

"I feel him, yes." the female said stoutly, touching her belly, and then she paused before adding: "Dude's gonna be another big boy like Priest, I bet."

"I bet it'll be a big girl myself." Zerrex retorted, and the two glared at each other as Lily sighed and rolled her eyes. Then she glanced away as the Drakkaren added quietly: "Speaking of which, we have another child problem."

"Shit, the bastard didn't escape, did he?" Cherry asked sharply, and Zerrex winced before he shook his head quickly. She frowned at this thoughtfully, then she blinked as she looked stupidly over at Lily, asking: "Samson? No fuckin' way. Zerrex, I saw you terminate the bastard, and me and Selena blew that cave to shit!"

Lily shook her head with a sigh, and then Zerrex said quietly: "The report came in from Sabnock, and you know she's never wrong when it comes to intelligence... I... Cherry?"

Cherry snuffled a bit, trembling, and then she burst into tears as she dropped her teacup and clung to Lily, who looked shocked as the female babbled: "I'm so sorry, it's so bad and like... fucking shit, this always happens to you too, Boss!" She threw an arm around Zerrex's neck, then pulled them both close, continuing to bawl loudly. "Why the fuck does this always have to happen to us, huh? Just why the fuck is this all happening?"

Lily and Zerrex winced as they looked at one another, and then Cherry cleared her throat above them and let them go, hopping off the bed and crouching by her shattered teacup as she used a cleansing spell to get rid of the tea, before casting another spell to force it to repair itself, adding flatly: "By the way, if I ever really start freaking out on you, please just go right ahead and slap my face like you're spanking my ass after I've been a naughty girl. Thank shit for the asshole, by the way, 'cause it means you can still fuck me like crazy while I've got this rumbly in my tumbly."

Zerrex sighed and rolled his eyes, and Lily coughed a bit as Cherry walked over and poured some more tea in her repaired teacup. "Anyway, that's real fuckin' swell on top of Mercy missing..." A pause, and then she glanced upwards wistfully, and Zerrex knew this time she wasn't exaggerating the sadness he saw on her face. "Fuck I miss that girl. Boss, I know I can't leave Hell, but just let me send someone, anyone up there to tell Cindy or Marina about it... I can't stand the thought of anything happening to her, and even if like... it takes years here to make minutes up there, I'm still damn worried about her showing up in the wrong place at just the wrong time. Or even worse, the right time."

The reptile traded a look with Lily, and she hesitated before blushing deeply as she said firmly: "I think you should send Raven."

"Driz?" Zerrex and Cherry both looked at her with surprise. "But... Lily, he'd be a dead giveaway as a demon up on the mortal realm!" He softened, then added quietly: "It's not that I don't have faith in him, it's just that... even water disagrees with him, and he gives off such a powerful energy signature, the Scanners are sure to lock on to him and cause him trouble. Lily, they caused me and Cherry trouble, so just imagine for him what it would be like, being chased through the city..."

"But Zerrex, I was thinking about this... and you know how Driz can transfer himself through the power grid here because of his energy makeup? What's to stop him from doing the same on the mortal realm?" Lily tilted her head, and Zerrex paused, looking at her thoughtfully as he motioned for her to go on. "I know that mortals use electricity to power their homes, and that in the mortal realm, much of the power lines have been restored. Power lines are what you call them, right?" When Zerrex nodded, she smiled and continued: "Driz has done it before, after all, especially with his affinity with electricity... and if he rides the current, so to speak-"

"He would stay almost completely hidden, and move fast enough to check every sector of the city before the Scanners could stop him." Zerrex said thoughtfully, and then he rubbed at his head slowly. He still felt hesitant about it... but finally, he nodded, and Lily smiled warmly as Cherry shrugged thoughtfully. "I'll let him know myself, then. I just hope he doesn't think I'm trying to get rid of him."

Cherry snorted, then she created a portal for him as she winked, the reptile looking amused as he climbed to his feet. "Like he'd have any reason to think that. Stop being an ass and get in the portal before you wimp out or some shit like that, we'll be here when you're done."

Zerrex rolled his eyes, then he walked forwards through the portal to step nervously out into a sterile white room beyond. He looked back and forth through the cubical room, then his eyes settled on a doorway as the portal closed, before jumping as something squeaked beside him.

The reptile looked down in surprise to see Sammy sitting peacefully at his feet, his head tilted and his eyes curious as he looked up at Zerrex. The Drakkaren smiled after a moment, then he held his hand down to Sammy, and the pseudodragon gladly hopped up, catching himself on the reptile's hand and using it to boost himself all the way up to his shoulder as his wings gave a single quick flap. Then they furled behind him again as he sat with a pleased look on the Drakkaren's shoulder, and Zerrex looked back and forth for a moment before he headed for the circular metal door he'd spotted earlier, saying mildly: "I hope he's not too busy at the moment."

Zerrex grasped the circular handle on the door, then he spun it once before grunting and pulling it open to reveal a long, cold stone passage beyond. The reptile walked down this, looking back and forth as he called: "Hey, Driz, you here? It's me, Zerrex."

He thought that was probably a friendlier way to refer to himself than as 'your father,' and he looked back and forth as he reached the end of the tunnel, peering into a large room shaped like an immense, thick coin laying on its side. On the other wall, gears twisted and spun lazily, and Zerrex wondered if Cherry was even right about Driz being here... before the black-energy demon formed from out of the gears, rubbing at his head as his white hair twisted around his face, and he floated slowly down to hover in front of Zerrex as he said mildly: "I'm a little bit busy with this regulator today, Father. I've adjusted it properly but it doesn't seem to want to work at an accelerated rate..."

The reptile looked past Driz at the gears, which he thought were already spinning plenty fast... and then he shrugged before creating a sphere of energy, throwing it past Driz and at one of the large gemstones set inside one of the gears. It was absorbed instead of exploding, and the gears clanked loudly before blue lighting zapped over them and they began to spin even faster, the large gemstone on the gear glowing as Driz snapped: "That's very sensitive machinery, you could have caused a massive overload!"

"Sometimes a little brute force goes a long way." Zerrex said plainly, and Driz looked nervously over his shoulder at the machinery before the Drakkaren finally said casually: "I'd like for you to do me a huge favor and go up to the mortal realm, to look for Mercy."

Driz grunted something in reply, then he did a double-take, asking stupidly: "I... I... me? Go up to the mortal realm? Are you crazy, anyone hunting for demons would instantly see me and start gunning for me!"

"Believe me, that's what I said." Zerrex replied with a shrug, looking amused as Driz glowered at him. "Lily was the one who thought you should go, and Cherry didn't seem to have any objections to it either. If you travel using the power lines and stay at my house with my family, you'll be fine, she seems to think. Even the Scanners can't penetrate the wards on my home, anyway."

"I wouldn't fit in." Driz said finally, looking awkwardly away after a moment, and the Drakkaren smiled faintly as he looked down himself, not speaking for a moment. He knew what that feeling was like... and he couldn't help but remember his own life: running away, joining up with the military because he knew they'd hire anyone, staying for the killing but never making friends with anyone. They said that soldiers grew close, that their platoons and units became like family... but back then, he had still always been the odd one out... partially his own doing, but also partially because no one had really accepted him.

Then came the Goth Legion, and there he'd made awkward alliances and twisted friendships... but once that had been disbanded, he'd been alone again. Moving from town-to-town, feeling lonely and in a word, unhappy, never able to find a job or friends... so instead lashing out by raping and causing mayhem where he pleased as he followed subtle clues he had only now realized were all pieces of the puzzle that had led him to Baskin's Grove. The Mayor Anthony Reinhold had left them, spreading bits of information here, dropping something that would act like a lure there, until finally Zerrex found himself in the split-apart town... but instead of adding to the chaos or bending to the almighty dollar, the reptile had taken on missions for pay in strange and varied forms from the citizens of Comfort Town, to help them in their struggle against the rich and famous.

Zerrex had always loathed the quiet lulls between the biggest events of his life, until Marina had been born: then he'd been more than happy to stay at home with Cherry and his daughter while Cindy tended bar for Elliot, taking care of the baby's every need. It made him feel like less of a shiftless loser... and then the Great War had happened, and again, he'd been propelled into action.

Afterwards, he knew he'd only found work because they'd suffered an apocalyptic event: just as he knew the bookstore was only in business because lots of people came in, looking for the crappy history texts Ire wrote. They sold and supplied the university, as well, and the only reason Zerrex got the job was because so many people overlooked the store as something that could last even through the nightmare economics of post-Armageddon... after all, it was one of the only stores in town, and there were still plenty of people that wanted to read... especially since you couldn't just go online anymore and find an article or story there. The internet had been mauled, many a server across the world destroyed, and many more simply without power: people had put too much faith in technology, at the end of the day.

The reptile himself knew what it felt like to not belong far too well: he'd only felt truly like he belonged when his whole family was curled up in the living room, Cindy reading and Marina painting, Mahihko doing... gods knew what and Cherry either watching TV or snoring against him as he rested in his favorite armchair... or here, in Hell, where the rules for everything were different, and even when his mortal teachings rebelled against it, every other part of him agreed with what went on. So he reached up a hand quietly and touched Driz on the shoulder, and the demon looked at him uncertainly as Zerrex said softly: "You'll fit in just fine."

Driz looked at him for a few moments, then down at the hand gripping into his shoulder, dark energy playing along Zerrex's fingers before he finally nodded and cleared his throat, and the Drakkaren stepped back, looking at his son with soft entertainment. "Anyway, no rush. Leave whenever you're ready and I'll delegate someone else to make sure everything here is up and running... take as long a time up there as you need, and I'll probably be returning to the mortal world soon enough myself, anyway. Cindy and Marina both know who you are and I'm sure they'll be thrilled to see you, and so will Lone and Mahihko." A pause as Driz tilted his head, and the reptile cleared his throat awkwardly. "It's a long story, believe me, you're better off just seeing it with your own eyes.

"Anyway, I have to get back to... either Cherry, or some other problems that have come up in Hell." Zerrex sighed and slumped his shoulders, grumbling something before he hesitated, then added quietly: "And thank you for doing this for me, Driz. It really means a hell of a lot to me. I know we... don't always get along, but you are my son and I am proud of you."

"I think you said that last time." Driz crossed his arms, but he refused to meet Zerrex's eyes for the moment, looking at the wall. Finally, he uncertainly looked into his father's irises, and responded awkwardly: "I'll... I will watch out for Mercy. Not just for you, but for Mom and everyone else and especially for her. I know that... I know she's had an even rougher go of it than me, and... well... one thing I gotta say is that at least you were always there for her, Dad, even if you're still an asshole."

Zerrex smiled and shrugged agreeably, and Driz shook his head after a moment, muttering: "I think the thing about you that always pissed me off most is how hard it is to get you upset. I used to think you were too scared of defending yourself or shit... now I just realize how goddamn frustrating talking to you can be."

"I'll try harder to be more of a jerk in the future then." Zerrex responded drolly, and Driz snorted before the Drakkaren created a portal, adding: "Just one last word of advice: be careful what you say about Marina. She's... she's a little touchy."

Driz shrugged, looking at his father critically for a moment before he finally nodded with a sigh. "Yeah, yeah, 'cause your favorite little girl could really knock me for a loop."

"You uh. You might not want to underestimate her." Zerrex said touchily, but Driz only grunted and turned away, even though he suddenly looked a bit nervous. The reptile looked at his back, then he finally stepped through the portal, saying quietly: "Good luck, kid."

With that, he vanished, and there was the usual whirl of darkness, the feeling of travel, before he stepped back into the Ravenlight Estate and his personal quarters. Cherry was once more laying sprawled on the bed, and she was snoring loudly as Lily sat on the floor, her hands in her lap. Sin, meanwhile, was carefully wiping the muscular, pregnant female's forehead with a wet cloth, and she looked up as Zerrex entered, saying mildly: "I've never failed to be amazed by just how fast she can go to sleep."

"It's always been a... special talent of hers." Zerrex said flatly, then he clapped his hands together firmly, but Cherry didn't react, only continuing to snore. "Sleepiness, now... she started slow but now she's barreling right into all the same symptoms she had last time." A pause and a snort of amusement as Zerrex sat down on the floor across from Lily, looking from her to Sin with entertainment. "Symptoms. Does anyone else find it weird we talk about pregnancy like a disease?"

"It pretty much is a disease to mortals, though... or a sexually-contracted infection." Lily replied dryly, and Zerrex tilted his head curiously as she held up a hand and rattled off: "Glandular swelling, pains all throughout the body, sudden changes in body temperature and mood, abnormal cravings, changes in eating habits, hysteria and depression and glee, all these things and more. Plus there's the vomiting, which I find thoroughly repulsive and almost as bad as this... urination issue. And then the pain of childbirth, which is apparently extremely severe in most mortal species... no wonder so many of them thought procreation was something that incurred God's wrath."

"Used to? Some of the hardcore Unity believers still do. Except after they're married, of course." Zerrex made a face, shaking his head a bit. "Religion worries me now even more than before... Hell was never built to serve religions, and religions aren't designed to serve Hell or Heaven... and with demons and angels now known to exist on the mortal plane, well. Now religions have lost even the hope aspect to them and become completely about keeping people in check and in control."

"I know what you mean... recently, we had several of our assassins bring back a group of demons who had been hired by a religious fanatic to declare that his religion was the true religion, and they would be waiting in Hell to punish all nonbelievers." Lily rubbed at her head slowly, saying quietly: "And the people who die now come down here with certain expectations, and it makes them harder to handle... plus we've had an influx lately. I mean... now that people know that Hell and Heaven exist, there's very few people going straight into the breakdown phase or limbo anymore."

Zerrex nodded slowly; the whole fact that Heaven, Hell, and other planes did actually exist had not only modified, destroyed, or empowered certain existing beliefs, it had brought Heaven and Hell and how they could exist in separate but parallel planes to the mortal plane - or physical plane, to use the term broadly - had also caused many former nonbelievers to start logically working out their existence. When a soul died, after all, it was not just the beneficent and malicious actions over life it had done that judged its placement, but also the beliefs it held: if a person believed, to the core of their very soul, that Heaven and Hell existed, then it went to either Heaven or Hell at death. But if a soul believed that after death there was simply nothing, then instead it fell into the Unworld, where good and evil, and even right and wrong ceased to matter or exist. The Unworld was the terrible and final plane, worse even than the rumored Nothingness between them: the Unworld was where all things and all souls were broken down into energy that was released back into the other planes, the energy that made up the building blocks of even atoms, the base foundation that could not be broken down any further.

Since now it was a fact that Heaven and Hell existed, however, only the most focused of nihilists and nonbelievers ever went straight into the breakdown phase that awaited even the gods after their demise. All those that had once believed the only logical conclusion to life was to rot in the ground had now been forced to see that the afterlife existed, and even if they fought to logically explain it and failed, they still recognized its existence, and thus their souls still floated either up to Heaven or down to Hell at the moment of their death. It meant that more than ever before, more souls were coming down to Hell... just as more were being pumped into Heaven. It was both a good thing and bad... good, because souls and faith in the existence of the supernatural planes was part of what gave Hell and Heaven their power; bad, because more souls meant more people to deal with, and Zerrex had enough of a hard time as it was.

He shook himself out of his thoughts as Lily said something, and he gave her the usual dumb look he did after he'd been sinking into thoughts way too complex for him to entirely understand, and she rolled her eyes before repeating in a slow voice: "So did Driz say yes?"

Zerrex huffed a bit at her tone, then he nodded before saying dryly: "Yeah. And you know, I'm not retarded. I just... get a bit lost sometimes in my own thoughts. You knew that when you married me."

"That doesn't make you any less of an ass." Lily replied, and Zerrex rolled his eyes as Sin smiled a bit, before Cherry grunted in her sleep and rolled over. The Naganatine sighed, then she picked up the wet cloth as Lily looked over her shoulder at her. "Sin, I think you're putting way too much effort into taking care of Cynthia. She's-"

"She would totally kill you if she heard you call her that." Zerrex interrupted, looking nervously at the muscular female as she grumbled something even through whatever strange dreams plagued her head. Lily looked at Zerrex sourly for a moment, then the reptile held up a finger, saying flatly: "Think about how Cherry normally responds to someone using her real name. Then think about her current state and her mood swings."

Lily paused, then she cleared her throat and said lamely: "Maybe we should all leave Cherry here to sleep. She's still more than capable of getting up herself when she needs to."

"Alright. Just let me do one last thing." Sin carefully rolled Cherry onto her back, and the muscular female grumbled and swung a hand out before the female gently wedged the blanket out from beneath her, and she tucked her in after a moment, Cherry mumbling something about pie as Zerrex and Lily stood up and gazed at her with matching smiles. Sin looked at them, then she blushed a bit as she adjusted the blanket, one of Cherry's arms still sprawled over the pillows as she rolled on her side. "She should be kept comfortable. And we need to take care of that child inside her anyway."

Zerrex laughed a bit as the three of them left the room, before he slung an arm around either female and pulled them close, saying softly: "We all know how well Cherry takes care of her kids." A pause, then he kissed first Lily, then Sin on the cheek, the two blushing a bit as he added softly: "Look at me here, a monarch with two queens and an arm around either one, and another wonderful butch bitch layin' in his bed, sound asleep and carrying his child. It's at times like these I feel like the luckiest demon in Hell, whether I'm a full demon or not still."

"You're full-demon enough for me." Lily said softly, and she leaned up and kissed his cheek and Sin rested her head on his shoulder with a smile, leaning against his side as they walked down the hall together. Then the golden-scaled demoness sighed, looking a bit quieter as she added in a forlorn voice: "But if you were really so lucky, Lord Zerrex, we wouldn't have that Samson issue to deal with..."

"Well, we need to deal with it quickly, then." Zerrex replied, and the three stopped in front of the doors leading out to the main hall as Lily wiped at her face slowly. "We have a lot of other problems to try and tackle at the same time... everything from finding the rogue group to whoever's discovered and been using the method for turning demons into crystal." He paused, then shook his head slowly as he said quietly: "But first Samson, or whatever parasite has become the alpha."

He paused, then glanced down at the rings on his hand as one of them became suddenly warm, and the reptile reached down to touch it gently. It glowed for a moment, and the three looked up as a portal opened and Selena stepped through, still wearing the armors over her limbs but her noble wear long gone, her features serious and almost pale. Zerrex looked at her with concern, and she gazed back at him before asking in a half-whisper: "How the hell did you know?"

Zerrex shook his head quietly, a chill of fear running through him. "I need to know what you found, Selena. Whatever it is, it was just a lucky guess on my part."

Selena nodded, winced at Lily's expression, then she rubbed her head and hesitated as she looked at three. Finally, she said weakly: "Look. When we first examined the physiology, we made a huge mistake: we assumed it was male for... obvious reasons. But on closer examination, the... rear... of the male doesn't have an asshole. It has a vagina." She stopped at the stupefied look on Lily's face before she said in a strained voice: "We took a closer look at its dick, and guess what we found?"

She looked squarely at Zerrex, but the reptile only shook his head, and she said weakly: "It was an egg-laying tube. They're... they're more like those fugly bugs you find in the swamps of Hell, the ones that stab you with what you think is a stinger but then they lay eggs in you. The egg-sac we thought was just an egg sac was actually a womb. It took some very close examination, but... there was a tube we missed leading from the... well... the vagina right to it. We never examined that part of it in detail because we were just checking the dead body for vulnerabilities, though, and we focused too much on the eggs themselves, because we thought they began life self-fertilized. We stopped all research when we killed the hive because we had... we had so damn many other things to deal with. Fuck, we... we fucked the pooch on this one."

Lily cursed quietly and turned away, striking the wall, and Zerrex grasped her shoulder gently as Sin asked: "But what about Samson? When he raped people he... left the same eggs. But no one ever had sex with him."

"I think that was part of what threw us off." Selena said quietly, shaking her head slowly. "Samson was... he either somehow fertilized the eggs himself inside his... her... womb, or he was hermaphroditic. Fucked if I know though and... god, Lily, I'm so damn sorry."

"I... I'm just..." Lily shook her head as she rested against the wall, closing her eyes tightly as Zerrex looked at her back quietly. "It's..." A pause, a deep breath, and she drew herself up to her full height as she half-pressed back against Zerrex, both of his hands moving to quietly grip her shoulders for a moment. Then she turned, facing Selena and meeting her eyes as she said calmly: "It means that Samson must have either survived, or been resurrected. But Zerrex says he killed him, and I know and trust him to be able to tell when he's made a kill... and the hive was collapsed entirely and the site was eventually redeveloped into a halfway house.

"I think it means one or two of them must have survived... and their offspring either developed the ability to impregnate each other, or someone else has been doing it for them." Lily shook her head slowly, then she looked down at her feet, asking quietly: "Zerrex... we need to form a hunting party. I won't wait anymore on this, and I want to bring whoever's been powering these abominations to justice."

Zerrex wanted to argue with her... but a moment later, the doors at the end of the hall flew open and Cherry walked, cracking her back as she yelled: "Hey, I heard something about killing shit! We talkin' about... yeah, we are." She cleared her throat as she approached, looking embarrassed before continuing stupidly forwards anyway, even as Selena glared at her. "Look, you guys are gonna need me on this one, I'm top flamer around here-"

"I'm the best pyrokinetic, thank you." Selena said darkly, and Cherry stuck out her tongue at the other well-built female. Selena immediately snarled, and then Zerrex cleared his throat as Lily shook her head slowly.

"Cherry, you have to sit this one out." Zerrex said quietly, and when Cherry opened her mouth to protest, the reptile reached up a single finger and rubbed over the collar she wore before gently using the same digit to push her muzzle closed, and she stayed quiet as he met her eyes. "I'm not putting you, or our child, to risk out there. Stay here, stay quiet, stay safe, and you can still join me on any other missions that might come up before you start becoming really pregnant, okay?"

"You're a sweetheart... but I'm pretty sure my son could already take whatever those parasites would lay in me, assuming they could even get close enough to fuck me." Cherry beat on her stomach with a grin, but then it toned down to a faint smile as she said in a softer tone: "But okay, Boss. Me and the kid'll stay out of this fight, but you better damn well make it up to me later, asshole."

"I'll do my best to, one way or the others." Zerrex replied quietly but firmly, and Cherry nodded with a grunt before she threw an arm around Selena, who looked at her distrustfully.

"You take care of him out there, and you better goddamn well light the place up if the Boss asks you to light the place up, got it?" Cherry poked her firmly several times in one of her large breasts, and Selena grunted and shoved at her, but the muscular female wasn't so easily detached as she reached out and squeezed an armored bicep, adding flatly: "And babe, work on the muscle beneath your pretty armor, 'cause for guns they only be little pistols. These are guns!"

Cherry flexed as she walked backwards, away from the group, to show off her massive musculature... and then she winked before turning and walking away, and Zerrex shook his head a bit as Selena muttered to herself irritably, rubbing self-consciously at herself nonetheless. He knew that despite the female's front, Cherry was probably pretty damn upset about not being allowed to come on the mission... but he knew there wasn't a whole lot he could do about it at the moment, either, so instead he glanced over at Sin and asked quietly: "So Lily, Selena, and I are already going... what about you? And do you have any other suggestions?"

"Of course, Lord Zerrex... I'll never leave your side, especially when you're in danger." Sin nodded and half-bowed, and Zerrex smiled faintly as Lily shook her head with a quiet laugh. Then the Naganatine paused as she looked over at Selena, before asking her curiously: "Is your warlock friend still around?"

"Who, Hasen? Yeah, but he's at the Warlock's Guild right now, doing some teaching, and believe me, they gossip like little girls and probably would refuse to let him out of work, even if we went to war with Heaven again." Selena looked disgusted, before she tossed a glance at Zerrex and rubbed her chin slowly, saying thoughtfully: "You know, Zerrex does have a lot of chick friends, though, and I think if we're gonna lure these creatures out... we need as many chicks as we can." A pause, and then she rubbed at her head, asking awkwardly: "Chick is... the right term, right? For females?"

"Yes, it is." Zerrex looked at her with quiet amusement, and then he shook his head before looking over at Sin, who shrugged a bit. "But well, with that logic, I guess I can ask Mist and Shine... does Vampire count as a girl?"

"Yeah, but I meant physically, like with boobs and stuff." Selena replied, grasping her own and jiggling them a bit, and Lily smiled faintly as she rested her head against Zerrex's chest. The reptile wrapped an arm around her and squeezed her quietly close, looking down at her softly, and Selena said gently: "Look, you don't have to come if you don't want to... this is..."

"This is my duty. This is important to me." Lily said quietly but firmly, and then she added: "And... even though I know it's dangerous, I agree. They always seem to target females over males, even though the few males we'd found, the eggs took in until they were... laid." She made a face, then looked up at Zerrex. "I wish Carmen could come... but I guess she's still on her pilgrimage through Ire, huh?"

Zerrex nodded with a quiet laugh, then he shook his head before saying softly: "Mist and Shine should be more than enough, though, especially with all of you around... we'll inspect the area around the old hive, first, then ask a bit around the Circle of Lust for any sightings. Sabnock didn't give any position in particular-"

"Then we'll search the whole circle top-to-bottom if we have to." Lily said grimly, and the others looked at her quietly before she finally said softly: "Let's get going, Zerrex. You go find your Iuratus, and we'll gear up and wait for you to meet us at Rose's Tavern. We can use that as our base of operations." She paused, then smiled a bit as she pulled away from him, patting him quietly on the chest. "No long speeches this time... let's just get moving."