Chapter 7

Author's Note: Shorter chapter but it has only been a week since my last update. I find this story so much easier to write as there are plenty of things I can draw inspiration from. On a serious note one of my reviewer's nightgale912 left this review.

"wow... While i'll be lying if i said that i don't like what you're doing here, i can't be sure if you're bashing or not Issei (even if it's evident you don't like him on some level); everything that has happened to him in your story, is par for the course for his life but since we're seeing it pretty much from the point of view of your character - Leo -, who obviously holds him as lower than dirt it's hard to see its kind of hard to see it as innocently painted as it was on the LN and the anime... well, that aside i'm really enjoying what you're doing here nice work though i'll like to share a few thoughs:

1 - Everything has been going TOO WELL for Leo so far, which means that Murphy is on the prowl which connects nicely on my next wall of text:

2 - My "It's a Trap! Run, Forrest! Run!" sensors have been running haywire for the last few chapters on something: I very much doubt that Sirzechs' Siscon extraordinaire (who i'm pretty sure in the original novel arranged in one way or another every single disaster that befell the members of Rias' peerage so that they will eventually fall in her hands as their "benevolent savior", before the author decided to lower the rating of his work and gloss everything over with shonen logic) hasn't bugged the hell and back of the entirety of Kuoh so that he may "protect and admire" (read stalk) his sister au naturel, ergo he should have picked up on Leo and co and is only planning on how to take advantage of everything... of course i may be overthinking it since your story has a more serious tone than the original material which makes what i said possible.

3 - Not a though but more a "you're doing an awesome job on this story but...", but... i kinda want to see what chapter 2 of Archer of the Void will look like... I don't know why i like Madan no Ou to Vanadis is pretty cliche but well... maybe it's done well? more or less..."

And I'd like to first thank him for the constructive criticism, and while I allayed his fears about bashing during a PM, I think it's best that I put it here as well so that everyone knows where I'm going from now on.

"To clarify things from the very beginning of the points that your brought up. While it may seem like overt bashing of Issei, I'm having Leo's character have a semi-normal disposition. If what Issei and the perverted trio did in real life they would be sued and taken to court, the fact that this isn't happening is part of his disdain for Issei. I won't spoil whether or not their relationship moves past this stage but they will continue to interact with one another. I honestly didn't like how it was portrayed in the LN and anime as I couldn't understand how they weren't suspended. I attributed this to Rias pulling some strings with her father who is the Director so that she could keep a close eye on Issei to scout him for her peerage.

2 - I completely agree with you with the Sirzechs part. While he may not have directly caused the events that led to Rias gaining her peerage members he most definitely played an indirect role. Akeno and Koneko are great examples of this. If you look on chapter 5 when Leo is talking with Dohnaseek you'l see a part where Dohnaseek is telling Leo that it's been hard to move his people in and out of the city due to all the guards that are on the perimeter. This is the extent of Sirzech's forces preventing anyone from getting in and out. There are no inner sleeper agents deployed in the city because he wanted Rias to have the illusion of being free when really he's got the city on lockdown as well as he can considering Kuoh is still under the Shinto Pantheon and they don't like devils. Once Leo and Cornelia teleported into the town they bypassed Sirzechs guards.

What you need to know is that this isn't your shounen harem story with an over the top pervert protagonist. No one realistically would be able to be like Issei without being arrested, something that I believe doesn't happen because of Rias' interest in getting him for her peerage.

Long Author's note. I apologize but this needed to be said. Please continue to review and send me your concerns.

"That fool." Leo said.

"Well I can't say that I'm surprised." Rias commented at Issei's downed form. "Though I do wish that he had a hardier constitution. Akeno if you would?"

"With pleasure." Akeno giggled, charging a bit of lightning through her hand.

"I meant gently." Rias rolled her eyes.

"Oh." Akeno deflated, lowering her hand. "I think I have some smelling salts in the kitchen." She left the room and came back within a minute, a small glass vial in hand. Removing the cork stopper she waved it under his nose, and the effect was almost instantaneous. The boy shot to life, his forehead almost colliding with Akeno's who took a step back just in time.

He looks completely out of it. Leo thought seeing him look around wondering where he was.

"Are you okay?" Rias asked.

"Am I in Heaven?" Issei asked. Leo snorted at the irony of the question and the resulting pain that all the devils suffered from.

"Not quite." Rias said, her wings shifting, drawing Issei's eye to them. They bulged comically, as he collapsed into the chair once more.

"Are those real?" He asked.

"Of course." Rias scoffed. "Though your expression says that you don't believe what I'm saying. Well that can't really be helped as you were dragged into our world without any prior knowledge." Putting away her wings she took a seat once more, an action copied by her peerage. "Tell me do you remember your date with Yuuma last Sunday?"

She saw the memories flicker across his eyes, and nodded. "I thought so. Can you recall what happened at the end?"

"She stabbed me." Issei said haltingly.

"Yes she did, but think back what did she look like?" Rias said guiding him through his memory.

"Great big oppai." Issei said, gobsmacking everyone.

Calm down. Leo thought to himself, forcing his finger away from the trigger, having already pulled it until it clicked for the first stage. He's not worth the energy it takes to make a new bullet. "I'd be doing the gene pool a favor by neutering him." He grumbled, further amusing himself by imagining Vali maiming him horribly.

The Gremory peerage was no better. "Pervert." Koneko spat, glaring at the boy. Yumi sweatdropped and looked away.

"What else do you remember?" Rias probed patiently.

"Black wings, a spear of light." Issei said distantly.

"Do you believe me now?" Rias questioned. Issei nodded his hand subconsciously rubbing his stomach as he remembered the pain of the wound. "Yuuma is a Fallen Angel, a former angel who served God. She fell to Hell because she had evil intentions. They are the enemy of Devil-kind and enjoy preying on humans."

"We." She said gesturing to herself and her peerage. "Are Devils, and have been at war with the Fallen Angels since ancient times. Devils and Fallen have been fighting each other for control of Hell, which has been split into two areas, one for Devils and the other for Fallen. The Devils form pacts with humans and receive their sacrifices to increase their strength. The Fallen on the other hand control humans to eliminate Devils. At this point the Angels come in to destroy these two races on God's orders, which creates the three forces. This has been going on since ancient times."

Issei had a dumbfounded expression as he tried to process everything that he was being told. "Wait what does this all have to do with Yuuma-san?"

"Yuuma, the girl that you took on a date a few days ago doesn't exist." Rias explained. "She's nothing more than a disguise a Fallen Angel used to get close to you. Those feelings that she told you she had, were all a lie. She played you like an instrument, toying with your feelings as she sought to accomplish her goal." Rias said.

Leo understood the manipulation, and saw where this conversation was going. You're going to end up regretting your orders Azazel. He thought grimly. The Governor should've taken his offer to put the boy down or at least reprogram his mind to prevent him from ever accessing his Sacred Gear. Now it was looking like the Devils were going to gain the Boosted Gear.

"Goal?"

"Yes. To kill you."

"What the Hell!" Issei stammered jumping to his feet. "Why would she want to kill me?"

"You mean for any other reason that she could." Rias asked raising a dainty brow. "Calm down, and please take a seat again." Reluctantly the boy sat back down. "It couldn't be helped. You were just born unlucky it seems, as there are many possessors that aren't killed."

"What do you mean, unlucky?"

"That day when she killed you do you remember what she said?"

He was silent for several minutes thinking back to that faithful encounter, his first girlfriend's final words forever burned into his mind. "You were a threat to us, so we decided to get rid of you early. If you want to hold a grudge, then hate the God who put the Sacred Gear inside you."

"Exactly. You have a power inside of you. She approached you on that date to check to see if the power you held was dangerous, and when she confirmed her findings, that you possessed a Sacred Gear, she tried to kill you. You posed a threat to the Fallen."

"But what's a Sacred Gear?"

At this Yumi spoke up. "Sacred Gears are irregular powers bestowed on certain humans. For example most of the people whose names are recorded in history are said to be possessors of a Sacred Gear."

"Most Sacred Gears can be used by society but there are some exceptional ones that can pose a threat to us. Ise raise your hand" Rias continued. When he hesitated she urged him on. "Do it quickly."

Slowly he raised his left arm. "Close your eyes and imagine the strongest thing that comes to mind." She paused letting him picture it. "Then imagine it, and imagine that person in a particular pose where they are the strongest." Another pause. "Now lower your arm slowly and stand up. Mimic that person, imagine it strongly, let the power fill you, don't hold anything back. There's no need to be embarrassed."

"Kamehameha!" Issei said thrusting his hand out, his face flush in embarrassment at doing this in front of people.

"Now open your eyes. Here in a place full of power, your Sacred Gear will be able to appear more easily."

Opening his eyes he closed them once more with a yelp, as a blinding flash emanated from his left hand. His left arm was covered in a red gauntlet, a gem like object embedded in the back. "What is this?" He stuttered staring wide eyed at his arm.

"It's a Sacred Gear." Rias said approaching him. "And it belongs to you." Taking the gauntlet in her hand she ran her fingers over the red metal. "The Fallen Angel, saw your Sacred Gear as a threat and tried to kill you."

"If she tried to kill me then how am I still here?" Issei demanded. "I remember being stabbed in the stomach. Dying."

"You called me while you were on the verge of death." She expounded, reaching into her pocket and removing a leaflet inscribed with a summoning circle. "This was given to you that day, and I was summoned through it."

"This is one of the leaflets we give out. This magic circle is used to summon Devils. These days there aren't many people who can draw this circle to summon us, so we give these leaflets to people who look like they would summon Devils. This magic-circle is safe and easy to use. That day, one of our familiars was disguised as a human and was handing them out in the business district. You got it at that time, Ise. After you were attacked by the Fallen Angel, you called me, wishing so hard that it summoned me. Usually my servants like Akeno and the others would be the ones to be summoned."

"When you summoned me, I saw you wounded but still alive. I knew right away that my suspicions were right, and you had a Sacred Gear. I was there to save you, to bring you with me, but you didn't need me to heal you."

"Wait, if you didn't heal me then who did?" Issei asked.

Rias shook her head. "I don't know. All I know is that once we were summoned a person was trying to escape with your body. You were still breathing so we knew you weren't dead, but before we could confront them they fled. We tried to pursue only to be attacked." Both she and Akeno grimaced as they remembered the bullets searing their skin. The shooter had toyed with them, giving them nothing more than superficial if not painful wounds when they could've easily killed them. The worst part had been the Holy Light that seeped into each of their wounds, while it wasn't enough to kill them instantly by the time they returned to the ORC club room to heal they were both suffering excruciating pain from Holy Light exposure. "I was hoping that you would be able to tell us who saved you."

"I don't know." Issei answered. "I didn't even know about Devils, Fallen and everything else until a few minutes ago."

"That's…unfortunate." Rias said, thinking about what this would mean for the future. She'd need to talk to Sona and hopefully together they would be able to determine who the new player in town was. "However just because you don't know who that person was doesn't mean that you can't give us a clue. Tell me do you know anyone affiliated with the Church?"

Issei was silent for several moments, thinking on the short list of people that he knew. "Well there was one guy, his father was a part of the clergy, but they moved away years ago."

"Do you remember his name?" Rias asked enticingly crossing her legs, inwardly smirking as the boy's attention was fixated on her.

"Shidou Irina." Issei answered dazedly.

This idiot is being lead around by the nose. Leo sighed. Maybe it was all the sex he had with Lia and Kala, but he liked to think that he was immune to feminine wiles.

"Thank you." Rias said. "Now for why I called you here. Tell me Issei, what would you give to achieve your goal?"

"Anything!" Issei shouted.

This time Leo gave in and smashed his palm into his face. Three times you've been asked that question and three times you answered the same way. You would think that after being stabbed after the first, and fainting at the second, you would change your answer.

Unrepentant pervert. Both Leo and a certain cat thought at the same time.

Rias smiled at him. "Well then I have a proposition for you, a way for you to achieve your goal and for me to gain something as well."

"Is it my soul?" Issei said nonchalantly. "Because I'll trade it to grope oppai."

There were sometimes when a face palm wasn't enough…this was one of those times. If he wasn't focused on them, he'd be banging his head against the nearest wall, trying to get this memory out of his head. How stupid is he that he would trade his immortal soul to a devil in exchange for groping some tits. Something he could do in a Red Light District or a Soap Land.

"No, Devils stopped trading in souls a long time ago. The Devil Marketing Teams moved us away from Soul Trading due to the desire for a more positive image. Not to mention that each person only has one soul and you can't have a thriving business when you take the person's only for of currency. Now we deal in commodities, money, services, items, things like that. This way we can get more from each person and we can contract the same person multiple times."

For the umpteenth time Issei was dumbstruck as Rias explained Hell's economy depended on humans. Not that Leo couldn't blame him, as he had a similar reaction the first time he found out about the Underworld's unique system.

"Really?"

"Really." Rias nodded. "Are you familiar with chess?" Waving her hand a chess board with several missing pieces appeared on the table in front of her.

"Only the bare minimum." Issei admitted.

"That's enough for now. Devils are broken into several different levels low, Mid, High, Ultimate, and finally Satan Class. Every High-class devil receives 15 pieces which they used to reincarnate the chosen people into Devils. These Devils take the form of a peerage which can be anything from a business like collective, to a family." She paused for dramatic effect. "To a harem."

"Harem?!" Issei screamed in amazement, blood dripping from his nose.

"They are quite common in the Supernatural world." Rias explained.

"So by being a High-class Devil I can have a peerage? A harem? One that does whatever I tell them?" The boy asked lewdly.

"Yes." Rias smiled. "And I'm offering you a chance to join me Issei Hyoudou. Become a Devil and fulfill your dream."

"I'll do it!"

Rias smiled at him triumphantly, taking her pawn pieces from the board. "Excellent, then please lay back and close your eyes." Once he had done so she placed a pawn against his chest and commanded. "I order, in my name Rias Gremory, you, Issei Hyoudou. I resurrect you back to this soil a my servant, and have you reborn as a Devil. You, my Pawn, be delighted with your new life!" Saying that the other 7 pawns flew towards him and as one all 8 of her Pawns sunk into his chest. Rias stared in disbelief unable to comprehend the fact that the boy in front of her had taken all of her pawn pieces to reincarnate. "You can open your eyes now."

"Huh? I don't feel any different." Issei said running his hands up and down his body.

"The changes are gradual, but by this time tomorrow you would've gained all the abilities of a Devil." Rias explained. "Now, go home and rest, you'll need your strength."

Whooping in delight, Issei left the room. A few minutes later both Yumi and Koneko left to fulfill their contracts for the night, leaving Akeno and Rias alone in the room. "You didn't tell him." Akeno pointed out.

"Of course not." Rias answered. "I wasn't exactly too sure how to tell him that he had no choice but to join me, lest he be hunted down by the Fallen and killed."

"Your manipulation could've easily been seen through by most others." Akeno warned. "It's only by the faintest of chances that the boy is perverted enough that you used his nature against him, and he didn't second guess you."

"A calculated risk." Rias answered waving her hand dismissively. "I wasn't lying about anything I told him."

"No, you just failed to mention how long it would take for him to actually reach the rank of High-Class Devil, as well as the fact that by being reincarnated into a Devil he's painted a target on his back for every Fallen, Angel, and Exorcist out there."

"He has nothing to fear. My peerage is my family." Rias said. "And I'll protect my family to the bitter end."

Leo snorted as he cancelled the listening charms and prepared to leave his vantage spot. The girl is completely naïve. She says that she will protect them, but does she really understand what that entails? Will she sacrifice one to protect the rest? Kill an innocent to ensure their safety? Listening to her unsubtle manipulations as well as her naivety had left a bad taste in his mouth. He would bet everything he had that the girl had never killed in cold blood, would hesitate when it came to killing a real live person, and that hesitation would cost her. Though this is a perfect example of Gremory Greed. Greed, the sin that every Gremory seemed to embody, and it was that sin that would make sure that no one laid a hand on her peerage, only she could toy with them. With his rifle packed away he jumped down from the roof, and made his way to the Student Council Room, he needed to get Lia before he could drive home.

Please don't let her have slaughtered them. He prayed, as he approached the door. Knocking on it he paused for a moment, before sliding it open. Sona's peerage was sitting at their desks taking care of their paperwork, while Sona and Lia stared at each other, a chess board between them. he glanced at the scoreboard behind Sona noting the point differences. Sona had 5 points in her favor to Lia's 2, and they were now on their 8th game. A clicking timer slowly wound down, as Lia turned to the board in frustration. Gritting her teeth she moved her pawn forward promoting it to a Queen.

Sona didn't even smirk as her plan came together, having purposefully left an opening for Cornelia to rush towards in hope of promoting her pawns to Queens. Seeing the opening Cornelia had foolishly rushed into it, gaining tunnel vision as she focused on that one aspect of her strategy, never seeing it as a feint as Sona positioned her rooks for the kill.

"Checkmate." Leo smirked, drawing attention to him. It seemed that both had been totally engrossed in the game an hadn't even heard him enter.

"Leo-san." Sona greeted, getting up from her seat and moving to the scoreboard. She erased the 6 and put a 7 down.

"Hello Sona-san." He greeted. "I trust that Cornelia hasn't been any trouble."

She shook her head. "No problem at all. She answered my questions quite easily, and there are no issues that need to be addressed. She has already chosen a club, and after that she indulged me in a game."

"I see." He answered, pointing at the board. "4 draws and 5 wins?"

"Correct." Sona nodded. "On that note I have some business with you Leo-san."

"Oh?" He raised one of his carefully manicured eyebrows. "What did I do that the Student Council needs to get involved?"

"It's what you didn't do." Sona said, clearing her throat. "I'm sure that it's just an oversight on your part a forgotten thought in the midst of your transfer, but it's a requirement that all students be part of at least one club."

"I am part of one." He answered.

She raised one of her own brows. "May I ask which one?"

"Going home at 3 Club." He replied flippantly. She stared at him, a hard look that would've made most cower in fear. Tsubaki who had moved to flank her King looked unsure, having never heard him make a joke. The same could be said for those who were also Year 2 students, as he had a reputation of being aloof, slightly cold, and serious. "That was a joke."

"I see." Sona said, shuffling some papers. "You understand that one needs to be part of a Teacher sponsored club or one that has an Advisor, correct?"

"Is that so?" Leo drawled. "Then would you mind telling me who you're advisor is?"

"Ms. Saegusa, though regretfully her other duties do not allow for her to spend too much time directly advising us. However she has received no complaints about our behavior and does not directly interfere in our business. She views us as a model for what students working together can achieve without adult supervision." She delivered flawlessly.

Pretty words. Leo snorted, odds were that they had hypnotized the poor woman up to her eyeballs and she didn't know anything about the current state of affairs. Something they could get away with as together Gremory and Sitri controlled the Academy. Not that he could really complain as he had the habit of compelling first, rather than ordering the person directly. After all people did a much better job when they think that they wanted to do it, and it was imperative to their continued health. "I work after schools." Leo said.

"Then I'm afraid you're going to have to quit your job." Sona answered pushing up her glasses. "You were never authorized a work permit from the school."

They were both silent, staring at each other in defiance, the tension thick. Leo smirked, "then I'll do my best to find a club to join."

"I wish you luck. This late in the year, few clubs are accepting members. The consequences for failure to find one to join would be…unpleasant."

He nodded in acknowledgment. "Come on Lia."

Sona watched them go, inwardly smirking. Now that I've shown him the stick, I need to find a carrot. A position on the Student Council is a good start, but permission to set up a workshop atop the intersecting ley lines would have any Magician salivating and chomping at the bit to please me.

"Ano. Kaichou?" Saji spoke up, suppressing a shiver at the terrifying gleam in her eyes. "What are you trying to do with Aurelianus-san?"

"Leo-san and I are currently embroiled in another game. One whose stakes are quite a bit higher." Sona answered, the chess pieces morphing to resemble her peerage, Leo and Cornelia. "Check." She smiled moving her Queen to threaten the Black King. "Now let's see how you deal with this." Will he sacrifice some pieces to fortify himself? In this case some information about his true origins? Or will he do something else? Something that I haven't accounted for. No, that's impossible everything will play out just as I predicted. She thought to herself, unaware that the sin of Pride that she embodied was placing everything in jeopardy.

No truer statement has been said then "Pride comes before a Fall."

"Reya, Momo, Tsubaki." She ordered. "Tomorrow I want you to positions yourselves at the School Gates. Whenever you see one of the Club leaders or Advisors compel them to reject any application that Leo might submit. We'll cut off any options that he might have, and force him into a position favorable for us."

"You mean as a member of the Council." Tsubaki said. The silence told her exactly what her king was thinking.

"It's still going to be a few days before we get the results back from fingerprint analysis." Ruruko said. "It was recently sent to IAFIS."

"I've put out feelers with my family." Tomoe said. "If he's part of our world they'll find out about it, but like the analysis it might be a few days before we find out anything."

"Excellent." Sona smirked, looking down at the board. "We'll move slowly, covering our tracks as we gradually tighten the net around him. By the time he figures it out I want him to have no escape."

While this was going on, Leo and Cornelia had returned to the home that Azazel had given them to use.

"Are you serious?" Cornelia said, rubbing her temples as a headache began to form.

"Yeah." Leo said, putting a plate full of food in front of Lia. "No hesitation what so ever."

She sighed, beginning to dig into her food. "He really would give Asmodeus a run for his money."

"He's worse than Odin and Azazel, that's for sure." Leo commented, taking a seat across from her. "Wine?"

"Please." She answered. "Tomorrow is the next check in with whoever is giving orders to the Grigori team."

"I remember." Leo nodded. "Hopefully we can get everything squared away and find this traitor quickly. The longer we're in this town the greater chance there is of detection. Not to mention that I have a bad feeling about this place."

"I didn't realize that you inherited your Mother's clairvoyance." Lia teased. "Or have you finally admitted that divination is not such a wooly subject."

He snorted. "I put as much stock in divination as I do in your cooking." He paused smirking at the pouty look she sent him. "Just because we're independent doesn't mean that we're allowed to move around Devil territory so easily. Like it or not we're here without permission from either one of the Devils in charge and every day we're here we increase the chance of being found out and having a Satan swoop down on us."

"Yes." She drawled. "Swooping is bad."

"Are you planning on working tonight?" He asked.

"No why?" Finishing the last of her food she got up and took it to the sink.

"It's been a while since we spent some time together." He replied tucking away the last of his meal. "At least beyond sex and work."

She smiled coyly, pushing away the table and taking a seat on his lap, wrapping her hands behind his neck. "But those are some of the best parts of our relationship."

"I'm not complaining, and I love those parts." Leo said allaying her fears. "But it's been a while since we did something couples do."

She was quiet for a few moments, digesting his words as she thought back to the last time they just relaxed as themselves. No supernatural business, no Phenex's trying to strong arm them, just shutting off all their communication devices and spending some time together. Even the time they had spent together on the beach was the result of a business deal gone wrong rather than a desire to unwind. Not that they didn't enjoy every second after they had locked up that pompous Phenex. Now that she thought about it, the last time they had let loose was almost a year ago. "What did you have in mind?"

"Something that other people our age do, something we haven't done in a long time." He teased.

"Oh?" She lay several kisses on his cheek, slowly moving to his mouth with each passing one. "And what's that?"

"Well considering that we just ate and we want to get away from the Moonlit World Eirene's and Pax's aren't an option."

"Those aren't an option to begin with." She hissed. "The way some of the patrons there look at you." She shivered in barely controlled anger. "If Peace wasn't enforced I would've introduced some of them to their Maker, or in a few cases their Fathers, especially that damned tri-partite Goddess!"

"I love it when you get possessive." He whispered into her ear, stroking her back, his fingers tracing her flesh and calming her down. If she were a cat she would've been purring as she melted at his touch. "You don't have anything to worry about, it was just business."

"Business that you wouldn't tell me about?" She asked pulling away from him. He could see the hurt in her eyes, the look of betrayal. They told each other everything, and here he was withholding something vital. Especially since it pertains to my health. He thought, wondering if she would ever forgive him for even thinking about taking the deal that the Goddess had offered him. It was an open proposition and he could take it at any time. I need to request a meeting with Odin. The Old Man of the North could possibly help him, maybe offer something better, and truth be told he'd rather spend eternity with the Norse than being HER Herald.

"So." He said in an attempt to steer the conversation away from dangerous territory. "How about movie night? I'll make some snacks to eat while we curl up on the couch watching The Notebook?" She froze, staring at him in disbelief. "Or would you prefer Dear John?" He tried to maintain a straight face. By the Gods he tried, but the sheer terror on her face was enough to make him burst out laughing, before placing a kiss on her lips. "I'm joking love. Why don't you choose something interesting to watch while I make something to snack on." Thankfully he had planned ahead, hoping that she would accept his proposal, and even if she didn't he had prepared some things in advance to snap her out of one of her 'moods'. Humming to himself he rolled out the dough using the pasta rollers on the mixer. After laying them out and buttering them generously, he placed some chocolate in the center before rolling them up. Lastly, he brushed the top with a beaten egg and threw it into the oven for 25 minutes.

"Have you found a movie yet?" He called from the kitchen.

"Just waiting on you." She replied. While the pastries were in the over he busied himself making some tea, knowing that she always enjoyed to wind down with it rather than coffee. Once the tea was done he brought it out and laid the tray out on the table. Pouring it into two cups, he added dash of milk into one and a thing slice of lemon into the other with a dollop of honey. "You know me so well." She smiled, taking the cup and saucer from him. Just as he was about to respond the timer above the stove rang and he hurried back to the kitchen, pulling out the pastries and placing them on the cooling rack. To finish them off he drizzled them with some melted chocolate and took them to the living room. He was halfway there when an idea hit him, and he went back and grabbed the melted chocolate. Just in case.

"You know." Lia began snatching a chocolate scone from the tray. "Every time you do something that makes me angry I think about your skills and remember what made me fall in love with you in the first place."

"Thanks." He replied sarcastically, taking a seat beside her.

"Oh don't be like that." She said jokingly, before spotting the chocolate syrup that he had brought. "Play your cards right and we'll be using this later on."

"Is everything about sex with you?" He wondered.

"Not everything, but every time we join together I view it as the ultimate expression of our love. Every kiss we share the proof of our devotion to one another." She said seriously. "The only reason I share you is other women deserve the happiness that you give me, and I'm not selfish enough to deny them."

"Even Gabriel?" He asked, his feelings for the Seraph were likely unrequited, as she was an Angel and would Fall. He would rather have her oblivious to his feelings than risk her Falling for him. Contrary to some people's beliefs, he did not prefer Black Wings to White ones.

"Even the Heavenly Feather Duster." She grimaced. He smiled at her discomfort. While he didn't know exactly what had caused his partner to dislike the Seraph, she had been antagonistic since first meeting her. Personally he thought it had to do with Lia's mother. "Gods know that she needs a good dicking."

Just like that, the mood was ruined.

"I honestly don't know how she could've remained a virgin all these millennia. She doesn't know what she's been missing." He saw the predatory gleam in her eye, flinching as she turned to face him. "In fact, I think I'm in the mood myself."

"Really?" He asked. "What happened to the good old days when a certain girl didn't want to do anything but cuddle?"

"A certain someone introduced her to the pleasures of the flesh." She teased. "Don't tell me that you'd rather watch a movie than play with these?" She crossed her arms underneath her large breasts, emphasizing her impressive chest. She like her mother had a body built for sin, and even among her own kind, she was an exceptional beauty.

She squealed as he attacked her, nipping at her neck one hand firing up a teleportation spell while the other summoned the chocolate sauce. They disappeared in a flash, going to their private retreat.

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