They both became quiet after that, so they looked outside.

There were getting closer to the center of the town; the houses lined up next to the carriage like dark birds sitting on a wire, their windows glowing eyes in the twilight. Pedestrians walked along, dressed in their evening clothes and talking joyously. It was the hour where those that could afford it went out for dinner and distractions, whatever they may be. The pleasures that Allacard could offer were plentiful for those that had money.

All that they saw were demons. Most seemed to have at either some horns or a tail, and some even had wings, but there were far more monstrous examples to wander the streets. There were some with three, even four eyes, others with tusks or the maws of a dog. Most of them spoke Latin, the common tongue of all demonic citizen, yet a trained ear could spot other languages being used.

"We'll soon be home," said the demon. "You'll see, the place couldn't be more situated. It's really hard to get a house from this street, but luckily I have friends there that harassed the former owner out for me. You should have seen her, she ran out the door crying!"

"What?" said Kaito, dumbfound.

"Oh, she's fine now, in case you are wondering. She's just living somewhere else, I think. Nobody really cares."

"You can't harass someone out of their homes! That's now how things work!"

"Why not? Ferrets were invented to chase rabbits out of their burrows, and so were beagles, and people love them! I certainly love my friends for what they did for me."

"People are not rabbits! How would you feel if someone tried to bully you into giving you what they want?"

"Oh, that's easy. I'd be furious, but if it's a demon that's more powerful than me, I would give it up. If not... well, I'll go beat them up for their effort, and then I would take their liver for my dinner. I love raw liver."

Kaito gagged. What a delicate little thing, really. Gakupo had work to do if he wanted to toughen up that sensitive little snowflake, he was too concerned about other people for his own good.

"Ah," said the demon as he looked outside again. "We are there. My dear, say hello to your new home!"

The moment the carriage came to a full stop, Gakupo threw his coat over his shoulders and exited the vehicle, stopping on the pavement to look back at Kaito. The latter seemed reluctant to come out but did it anyway, looking up at the house with narrowed eyes.

It was dark red and vast, the small garden filled with black roses on either side of the door like clawed paws stretching out to greet visitors. There were sculpted murals on either side of the entrance that represented what seemed to be an orgy of beasts and demons, a sight that made the human look away, and bars at every window all the way to the last floor.

"You are quite lucky to have arrived at a moment in my life where you gets such a luxurious home," said Gakupo. He pointed at the eight over the door. "Eight Eden Street! That's the place to remember if you ever get lost."

"... Eden street?" repeated Kaito, his brows shooting up. "Isn't Eden synonym of paradise?"

"The lost, original paradise, actually," replied Venomania. "I'll let you know that we demons love irony, even if, in this case, you are more likely to find your personal paradise on this street, more than anywhere else."

The human frowned, trying to understand what he meant.

"Oh, you'll get why I say that soon enough," continued the demon. He knocked at the door. "Anya, open up, sugar flower!"

There was a distant giggle, and then a servant opened the door. She wore a maid's outfit with a skirt so short and tight it barely deserved to be named a skirt, and her dark green hair was tied back to reveal cute little horns like round bumps on the top of her head. She had a tail, long and agile, and last but not least, her ample blossom seemed about to make the top of her uniform crack. She threw herself in Gakupo's arms.

"Master Venomania!" she cried, holding him tight. Her soft chest pressed against him, immediately brightening his mood. Hell, did he love his little minx of a maid.

"I missed you too, Anya." He said, stroking her cheek. "What a welcome! Is that for our guest?"

She glanced over at Kaito, that was still standing near the carriage, her big brown eyes surveying him from head to toe.

"Well," she purred, her tail swinging in excitement, "can't it be for both of you?"

Kaito blushed furiously and looked away from her. Both demons laughed.

"He's shy?" said the maid.

"I think so. Why don't you go wait for us inside, my sweetie, while I coax him in? I can't wait to try what you prepared, I am starving."

She giggled and gave him bedroom eyes, perfectly understanding the double sense behind his words, before darting back in. Kaito didn't wait a moment once she vanished to speak up:

"Is she a whore, to dress like that?"

Gakupo paused, his fists tightening. Should Kaito have been a demon, it would have been fine. But the former duke knew this word, for a human, was not the least kind. And he knew that Anya had heard it too when the sound of her feet stopped. Yet he managed to keep his smile, his mask of happiness on, that his prey might not guess that he was mad.

"She won't bite. Why don't you come in, that I show you to your room?" He mustered in a sweet voice.

Kaito hesitated a while longer, before obeying. Gakupo let him pass, but before he closed the door, he sent a look to Arin, still seated on the driver's seat of the carriage. The butler rolled his eyes as if to say 'all humans are idiots anyway.'

Gakupo followed Kaito into the house but was quick to take the lead once he had gotten rid of his coat.

"This way," he said to the human. "You'll be sleeping upstairs."

They made their way through Gakupo's home. It was indeed, as he had announced, luxurious, decorated with rich purple carpets and curtains, lit by luminous crystals that hung from the ceiling everywhere. The place gave up a cozy vibe, with couches and seats a little bit everywhere - and they all looked comfortable enough for a quick nap.

They didn't go through any major room save from the central stairs, the ones that went all the way to the last floor, but Kaito did get to glance to some of the paintings in passing. Many of them were just as lewd as the murals from the front door, and the demon could see from the corner of his eye that his prey was avoiding looking at them as he passed them. This made him smirk.

Eventually, they arrived at the very last floor, the attic. There was a single door right at the end of the stairs, a door that stood alone in the dark like a bad omen. Gakupo took the key, that was on a hook on the wall, and unlocked it, showing what was inside.

It was a bare, dusty room, only lit by a small round window with bars in front of it. In one corner there was a chest designed to for storage, while in another was a heap of old blankets. The wind slipped through the cracks of the roof.

"I am not sleeping in there," said Kaito, that had approached the doorway and looked inside.

Gakupo chuckled, grabbed him by the collar of his white robe, lifted him and threw him into the room. The human landed with a heavy thud and a pained grunt, making his demon master laugh as he stepped in and closed the door.

"Finally, we get a little time alone, my dear, dear murderer," purred the demon.

Horror swept across Shion's face, that tired to scramble away. Gakupo was on him before he could, turning one of his feet into the falcon-like talons of his true demonic form to grab his neck and slam him back down on the old wooden flooring. Tightening his hold until Kaito started to wheeze and pull struggle desperately gave him great satisfaction.

"You have no idea how mad you made me, Kaito," he whispered. "You can hate me, you can insult me all you want, I don't care, but say one more word against my servants and this will seem like nothing." He pulled him up and slammed him back down, hard. Kaito creased to resist him, growing paralyzed with fear. "If it pleases them, they have the right to rip your head off and I will not move a finger to protect you. They are my subordinates, but they are both demons. Above you in every regard. Have I made myself clear?"

The human nodded vigorously. He was starting to turn blue, so Gakupo let go some of the pressure on his throat.

"First lesson," continued the demon. "In hell, you are nothing but dirt. Repeat after me."

"In hell, I am nothing... but dirt," managed to whimper his prey.

"You won't call Anya a whore, or look down on Arin again."

"I won't call Anya a whore, or look down on Arin again."

"Good, you are doing so good," cooed Gakupo, stroking his cheek with one of his viciously sharp talons. "I want you to think this over very carefully tonight. Do you think that you can do that for me?"

Kaito nodded.

"You see that you can be agreeable when you want to," said Gakupo, clasping his hands. "Now, I got other things to do than babysit you, so if you will excuse me..."

The demon let Kaito go and turned his foot back into a shoe, before heading to the door. He took a short moment to readjust his hair, combing it with his hands, before he caught a hoarse muttering from the human.

"Excuse me, I didn't quite get that," said Gakupo, turning to his prey. He had left red angry marks on his throat. With the way Shion was spread out on the ground in nothing but a light gown, it was a quite enticing sight.

"How about dinner?"

"Dinner?" Repeated the demon with a smirk. "Dinner is only for those that deserve it."

And left, locking the door behind him.

Gakupo didn't bother lingering. He was aroused, his senses having been exalted by the exercise, and had only one thing on his mind after having seen Anya dressing up for his return. He quickly descended the stairs, his impatience getting the better of him, and burst into the dining room, startling his sweet little Anya. She looked at him, then at the doorway behind him, slightly confused. She still wore the same outfit from before, and she looked positively delicious.

"Where is he?" she asked.

"We had a heart to heart, and he decided to go straight to bed afterward," replied her master.

She pulled the seat at the end of the table for him to sit down, before setting down a knife she had been carrying. "That's too bad. I was looking forward to getting to know him."

"Ease your mind. You'll have him all to yourself soon enough, my sweetheart." Gakupo pulled her close by the hip. She giggled. "I see that you have prepared my favorite dish."

"Liver," she replied sheepishly, point to it on the table. "Although I made some for two..."

"Don't worry," replied her master as he fiddled with the buttons on the back of her clothes. "I'll make sure to lick it all up."

She giggled, then moaned, then screamed his name as he took her right on the table.

The wind was howling through the cracks in the roof, and it only got worth as the night ticked away. He bundled up in the blankets to the best of his abilities, even if they were coarse and hard from age. He hoped that there was no vermin in them.

He felt lonely and miserable. His throat hurt.

For a second, he had thought that the demon was going to tear him to shreds. When he had been held down against his will, too weak to fight against the monster that was his captor, there had been that crazy look in Gakupo's eye. He had wondered if there was an afterlife after the afterlife, or if he would feel it all as he was ripped apart, left there to suffer for all of eternity. He had never thought of anything more terrifying.

He needed to sleep, but he was scared to see the scene again in his dreams. Hunger didn't help his case as it probed, then clawed against his ribs like a monster inside him.

He had heard of misery, he had even read about it when he was alive and safe, comfortably seated in his favorite chair near the fire. He wished all this was just a book now, a book or a nightmare he could escape from. If he had but one wish...

"Really. How did he even become a demon?" he muttered to himself, looking at the ceiling. A spider was sowing her web at the window, her black, grotesque body clean-cut against the moon. He addressed her. "He's even got a house, and everything he wants."

Everything he wanted... Kaito felt his cheeks heat up when he recalled the screams of pleasure that had reached all the way to his prison-room, earlier. They had lasted for a while too. Had demons no shame at all?

It was so unfair. Gakupo had taken all those women and had brainwashed them, using them for his pleasure, but when he died and went to hell he got to do that all over again. And Kaito, that had only tried to do the right thing, that had only wanted to save them, was being placed in this criminal's hands, for him to strangle him if he wanted! Was that the divine justice of this world? Was this the doing of God?

If that was so, the universe was rotten to the core.

"What is going to happen to me? I can't escape this," he told the spider. "I can go to the pits, but heavens know what's down there. Can he even make me suffer more than the pits?"

She shrugged. "How would I know?" she replied. "I'm just an itty bitty spider. By next winter, I will be dead, and the only thing I will know will be this window."

Kaito looked at her in stunned silence.

"By the way," she said, waving a leg at him, "you're dreaming. That's why I am talking at all."

"Huh," said the human. "I haven't noticed. I'm glad that I am getting some rest."

"Good for you, bro. You certainly need it after what happened to you."

"Yeah..." Kaito stroked his throat pensively, tracing the red marks Gakupo had gifted him. "What's going to happen to me?"

"I don't know." She moved over her web. She was almost finished. "But hey, it's not all bad."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for one, you could have gotten an uglier captor."

"What do-" Kaito paled when he realized what she was talking about, then turned red with anger. "Shut up."

"What are you scared of now? You're already damned for all of eternity. If anything, you are entitled to let those desires speak a little more - let me breathe a bit."

"I said shut up!"

"When he held you down, it excited you, didn't it? He looked down on you and sneered. Oh damn, that was the best, wasn't it?" Hanging from a string, she slowly descended from her perch, towards him. "And that part in the carriage where he took out his coat? You felt me crawling under your skin."

"Go away! Leave me alone!" Kaito buried his head under the blanket. "I'm not a woman, I don't like men..."

"Oh, my dear," she said, her voice becoming lower and lower with each word. "My love. You can run from me all you want... but you know that I am part of you. You can run, but you can't hide."

The spider laughed, and his laugh was deep and male. When Kaito woke up with a start, alone in his cold, dark prison-room, he could have sworn that he was still hearing it ring in his ears.