Chapter Thirteen: Infiltrations, Attempted Removals and Undercover Operations

Evan sighed, sweating slightly as he worked in his lab on the elixirs to make himself invisible. He would also need to wipe out his other markers. Scent, sound, ideally he would make himself intangible. He could do that, but the elixir would only last an hour and he could only make enough for one vial that would last one hour. If he drank half a vial, that would give him enough for 20 minutes and he'd give the other half to Skara, who would then also have 20 minutes. He could have her escape the palace and then hide and he could catch up with her, in the event that… No. He would give the full elixir to Skara.

He wasn't banished from the estate and he could attempt to argue Skara's case before Lucifer. He was fairly sure that it wouldn't work. But it would give Skara a little more time if nothing else. No, but that would alert Lucifer potentially to his plans… Damn. There really were no good options. Whatever he did, there were risks involved. Risks to him, he could handle. Risks to Skara, he wouldn't permit. Disguise elixirs. That was it. He could create a battery of elixirs that… No, that would take too long. He would just have to use elixirs he already had and rely on them not looking too closely into it.

He grabbed two invisibility ones, for an emergency, an intangibility one for a similar emergency. He grabbed a disguise one that would modify Skara's appearance and scent. That would likely be enough to make the other Nessian Hellhounds not look too closely. The problem was that Lucifer would not be happy that Skara escaped and would be looking for someone to punish. But that couldn't be Evan's problem. He was sorry that was the way it was and he felt bad for the Hellhounds who would be hurt because of Lucifer's anger. But it ultimately wasn't his problem.

He went into the palace grounds, drinking the invisibility potion and heading down towards the dungeons. What he did was take a route across the grounds that would allow him into a shaft that would take him down to the laundry room basement. That was just a hop and a skip away from the dungeons. Well, really more like ten minutes by foot. But as close as he would get from the outside. Fortunately, as a child, he studied and learned every inch of the estate by heart.

Unfortunately, as he got to the window, he was caught. The Hellhound was blind, but they could sense auras better than any Hellhound he knew.

"Garda… Garda, it's me." Evan explained.

"I'm sorry to be doing this, but I need you to let me in so I can save Skara." Evan said. Garda thought for a long moment. She had been taken from her home. She'd been denied the chance to see her dying mother, denied the chance to see her dying father.

"I will if you take me with you." She said, a strong Greed accent in her voice.

"Deal."

"Good. Become visible and I will arrest you. I will take you to your beloved and we can find a way to escape together." She said.

"It won't be easy, but I think I know of a route that will minimize the danger to us." Evan said.

"That is good." Garda said. Evan nodded and became visible.

Garda took him into custody and brought him down to the dungeon, where Lucifer was already reading the crimes that Skara was charged with.

"Father…" Evan said bitterly.

"I caught him attempting to break in so that he could escape with Skara." Garda said. Lucifer looked at Evan as he was forced to his knees.

"I see. I always knew that you were… Somewhat rebellious. But I never expected this. Why do you care about Skara? Surely you could find another way to get information from inside… Or you could just come home. We wouldn't have turned you away." Lucifer said.
"Because I love her. I want her to be my partner. You treat them like property. But they're not property. As much of an investment as you've put into them, they're so much more than just your investment." Evan said angrily, wanting Lucifer to understand that. Lucifer stopped, looking at Evan.

"Hmm… You've given me some things to think about. Either way, Skara will need to be removed from my service. I don't permit my Nessian Hellhounds to have romantic partners outside of the breeding partners that I choose for them to perpetuate the Bloodlines. She betrayed me because she is in love with you. She is only a Demon. Put Evan in a separate cell and make sure that he doesn't have anything on him with which he could escape." Lucifer said. The Hellhounds searched Evan and confiscated his weapons and elixirs and put him five cells down from Skara. Evan sighed. This wouldn't keep him forever.

But it certainly was an inconvenience. And now he had to figure out how to get both himself and Skara out. He could see Skara to some degree five cells down. The bars largely got in the way, but he could see slivers of her. He wanted to contact her. He didn't know how exactly to contact her. But he did a contact ritual on the floor, smearing some blood on the circle. Hopefully, that would work if he thought hard about Skara. Normally, such a ritual requires both parties' blood to fully connect.

*H… lo…* Came a sketchy answer.

*Skara… I… Plan… Make circle… Use blood… Think… Me…* Again, there was no guarantee that the circles would work, since the blood wasn't mixed. But it would probably at least improve the connection. She worked on the circle. It took a few tries for her to get all the information. She drew the circle in her blood and splattered some excess blood into it.

*Van… You ther…?* She asked. Evan nodded.
*Yes… I… Here…* The connection was a bit better. Not perfect, but better. Normally, he could use the 'Blood Tattoo" that he'd made on each of them to contact her. But the cells seemed to be messing with the connection.

*You need… Leave…* Skara said.

*Don't… Regr… Decisio… Love… You…* Skara said. Evan sighed. She may not regret it. But he did. He should have gotten her out ages ago. He should have taken her with him when he left the palace. Though he wasn't close with Lucifer, he was sure that he could have made a case for why he should be permitted to bring his personal gladiator and bodyguard.

*No… Not go… Nywh…" He wasn't leaving without her. They either left together or not at all.

He heard her sigh mentally. He knew how stubborn he could be. But he wasn't ready to give up on her. He kissed her mentally and called out to the guards standing by his cell.

"Alric, Adalwin. Can I have a word with you?" Evan asked the brothers who were guarding him.

"We've been ordered not to talk to you." Adalwin said calmly, seeming hesitant. They were brothers in the Enakon Bloodline. Evan smiled.

"You don't need to talk. Just listen. I know that you and Skara have a common great grandfather. While you're in different bloodlines, you have similar blood and I know you have a strong bond with Skara. Do you really want to see her stripped of her power and very likely killed?" Evan asked. Alric seemed uncomfortable with the idea. Adalwin had mostly suppressed his personal feelings on the issue. Evan could tell he still cared about Skara though, and even may have had feelings for her. He knew that he didn't have a chance with her, especially with Lucifer's rules.

But that didn't change how he felt about her. He still loved her. He still desired her. But still, he knew that if she was in trouble for fraternizing outside of organized breeding schedules, he would be as well. He sighed though. He couldn't just leave them to be executed by Lucifer, as easy as that would be and as much as that would solve the problems that he was having emotionally with accepting that Skara would never be his. He was trusted by Lucifer… Well, as much as any of Lucifer's servants were. Maybe he could put a word in for them and ask Him to grant them clemency.

Lucifer had been known to grant clemency on rare occasion if He felt that His own purposes would be better served by not executing the subject. Evan hoped that he could convince his father that this was one of those situations. He knew that while Lucifer considered the servants as such, and their needs and desires were secondary to his own, he took a calculated approach to certain things. For instance, if the death of a particularly popular Hellhound would decrease morale, he would strongly consider sparing their life. Whether he would keep them in his service or fire them was another story.

Evan sat back down and closed his eyes. He'd planted the seeds. He'd given Alric and Adalwin the idea to talk to Lucifer without actually telling them what to do. As soon as Adalwin's and Alric's replacements came, the two brothers, who had been there only about thirty years less than Skara, went to talk to Lucifer. They went to his study, knocking tentatively on the door.

-0-

"Please, enter." Lucifer said calmly, setting down his book. While he was reading, he was also thinking.

Evan made a point that while he couldn't permit Skara to come back into his employ, killing her would only alienate his son further from him. And while Lucifer didn't care much for Evan's current behavior, manipulating the sociopolitical goings on in the Pride Ring, he was sure that Evan was merely going through a rebellious phase that was lasting a bit longer than normal. It stood to reason though. Evan was very powerful and it only made sense that he would want to stretch his limbs and show off his powers. He was still a young man, less than 30 physically at 560 chronologically.

It was possible that Evan was just going through an extended rebellious phase. While on the one hand, maybe executing the woman that he had used to get information would teach Evan a lesson about crossing him. Perhaps such an act would curb his rebellious and anarchic tendencies. But on the other hand, doing that could also push Evan further away and make him forever refuse to become Lucifer's heir, which Lucifer hoped someday would happen. Evan had long stood to inherit Lucifer's throne. Their relationship had grown strained, but that didn't mean that he didn't still have high expectations for Evan.

"How can I help you?" Lucifer asked, standing to talk to them. It showed respect for his servants, but also showed that they were not his equals since he did not permit them to sit in his presence.

"We've heard that you're considering executing Skara Dibriakond." Alric said, averting his gaze slightly by looking down. Lucifer thought for a long moment.

"I have considered it. She did betray me by handing information to an outside source. The nature of that source, notwithstanding, if she were to hand it to a true enemy, it could be disastrous." Lucifer said.

Adalwin nodded.

"Yes, Your Majesty. We understand that her crimes warrant harsh punishment. But is it absolutely necessary to execute her? She's an incredibly experienced member of your staff. She's older than us, but we're about 400 years old, so she must be around 520 or 530 years old. Wouldn't it be a real loss to execute someone with that much experience?" Adalwin asked.

"In addition, Your Majesty, Skara has trained many of the younger Hellhounds, both natural and created. She's led Combat Training I, II, III and IV for as long as I can remember. She's very popular. Many would be saddened by her death." Alric said. He knew on one level that emotional arguments like this were unlikely to move Lucifer, but in another way, bringing it to his attention that Skara was well-liked and that it could affect the effectiveness of the other servants was a logical argument.

"Thank you for your input. I do still have much to consider, but you've brought some interesting facts to my attention." Lucifer said calmly by way of dismissing them. The two brothers bowed deferentially and left. Lucifer sighed, sitting back down and calling a book of records to him. All the ink that he used had his own blood in it, and with the blood magic he used on his possessions, anything that had his blood in it could immediately be called over to him.

-0-

Charlie sighed. She'd been a bit hasty in fleeing the Hotel like she had. She hoped that Vaggie was doing alright. She knew that no matter where she went, in whatever form she was in, there were few that could harm or kill her. True, there were some that had access to Angelic weaponry. But that was expensive in the extreme and few had a desire to actually slay a Demonic Noble, much less the ability to obtain access to such expensive weaponry. Still, she kept an eye open, especially with her father's warning that someone was potentially after them. She was wary, but also tired.

And she was determined to stick this experiment out until the end. Vaggie may have been rash in attacking her like that, but she wasn't wrong in what she said. Charlie really didn't truly understand any of the Demons who had come through her doors. Their struggles, their lives before the hotel… But damn was she hungry. She could smell some food nearby. A restaurant that she often went to with Vaggie. It was hardly the most expensive restaurant in Hell, but it had delicious and filling entrées. Charlie had come at a good time. A young Demon walked outside. They barely looked like they'd reached adulthood.

"Stupid boss, throwing out this much food. This food could feed so many hungry Demons. But they throw it out because the homeless can't… Hey…" The young Demon said.

"It's okay." He said. He was clearly a Starling Demon. Small and compact.

"Here. Take it." He said. He seemed wary of Charlie's form. She had turned into a Hyena Demon. She looked fairly clean, but still tired and hungry.

The Starling Demon offered her a box of food. It was a big box full of leftovers and things that hadn't even been touched. Mixed meals from lunches to desserts. Normally, Charlie could do better than eating the food that nobody else wanted. But she was supposed to be homeless, so she accepted it.

"Thank you." Charlie said, forgetting to ditch her higher class manner of speech.

"How long have you been on the streets? You look surprisingly clean… No offense and… Well bred." The Starling Demon said. Charlie smiled.

"My name is Meli." Charlie lied. The Starling Demon smiled.

"My name is Star." He said. He'd just shortened the type of bird he was.

"Nice to meet you, Star. I've only been homeless for a few days. Lost my job and my home." Charlie lied. She'd gained some skill in deception in her time as Lucifer's daughter. She didn't like lying. But she was pretty good at it when she needed to be.

"Nice to meet you, Meli. Share that with the other homeless if you can." He said. He didn't like the idea of throwing the food in the dumpster, so he always left it next to the dumpster. Invariably, it was gone within an hour. This time, he'd given it directly to someone. He'd been forced into a life of crime during his life. He'd been an infiltrator in his gang. He was small in life, having been born a little person, so he fit into small spaces. He trained that by becoming very flexible and trained in Parkour and other running and movement styles.

While he may have been poor, he was good at being discreet and not drawing attention. So he could steal up to four books at a time from a bookstore. That let him learn most of what he needed to just from reading and teaching himself. He broke into buildings after dark and picked the safes and got out with good amounts of money. That said, while he had good endurance for running, he was incredibly arrogant to the point that even his boss in his gang didn't like him. His arrogance had come from becoming so skilled, not from being a bad person. But then his boss told him to try his hand at graverobbing.

That was one thing that even Star didn't feel comfortable doing. But he did it because he was promised a bigger cut of the take if he did. He had a sister who had three kids. Her husband had died, and he worked to support the family as best he could. And he was good at what he did. Unfortunately, he was caught leaving the graveyard and he ran. He was shot in the back by the officer, who saw him as nothing but street scum. Who else would actually do something as low as robbing the dead? Now he was here, all because he'd been trying to keep his family alive. He was actually considering going to the Happy Hotel.

He figured that if it didn't work, he was no worse off. He might be out his job, but he heard that the proprietress of the hotel was the daughter of Lucifer. Why she was trying to do something as odd as redeem Demons he didn't know. But it didn't matter.

"Excuse me, Ma'am." Star said. Charlie, who was already calling over other Demons to share the food she'd been given. She looked up.

"You should be careful, Ma'am. The extermination is coming soon. I'm trying to get the boss to open up the restaurant during the extermination so that even just a few more Demons can keep from being killed." Other Demons were edging over towards Charlie, prepared to fight for the food if they needed to, to fight and kill if necessary. That was the law of the street. Kill or be killed. Charlie sat down and set the food in front of her.

"There's no need to be scared. There's plenty for all of us." Charlie said cheerfully.

Clearly she was not experienced in being homeless. Very few homeless Demons would so willingly share their food. They would eat what they wanted and then leave the rest. Anyone else who wanted it would have to take their chances with the leftovers after that. But Charlie wasn't able to think like that just yet. She was a very kind Demon at heart and she smiled reassuringly at the other Demons, who came over and sat down with her, suspicious of her kindness. Was she going to stab them in the back when they turned around? But she seemed so non-threatening, despite being a Hyena Demon.

A few sat down and tentatively took a handful of food, putting it up to their mouths, their eyes still on Charlie. She was in her disguised form and her smile was a bit unnerving, given how genuine it seemed. As there was no action from Charlie, who took a few more small bites to show that she posed no threat, more Demons gathered around and started taking handfuls of food as well, eating with Charlie. In some ways, she'd just earned a little bit of respect amongst the underclass of that area.

Meanwhile, Lorcan and Selene had seen her sharing her food with the homeless and while they respected her charisma and her generosity, they realized what a threat she had just put herself in by allowing other homeless to get so close to her. They had to take it between themselves, Vaggie and Alastor and a few of the other Demons in the Hotel to monitor Charlie. Soon, Angel came up behind them.

"Boo." He said teasingly. Lorcan turned around, raising an eyebrow at the Spider Demon.

"I'm here to take over watch for Charlie."

"Where is Vaggie? It's her fault that Her Majesty is out here like this." Selene said disdainfully.

"She's not doin' much better. She's pukin' up her dinner." Angel said. Lorcan smirked with grim satisfaction at Vaggie's probable misery at the moment.