By Fang Wolfsbane

Air so toxic that it could cause a human's life to perish only by inhaling one simple whiff of it. Oh, how terribly fragile human lives really were. She would have found it amusing if it weren't for those stupid enough to try and fight for them.

She clicked her tongue, finding the mere thought ridiculous, to say the least. Insanity at most. As it turned out, she wasn't the only one that thought that way. The current ruler of their little realm had similar thoughts it seemed. Why else would he, he emperor of the Underworld, Mundus, call them, the Count and Countess of Bleak Hills Manor, all the way to his great hall?

She hated, despised, bowing to anyone, especially those with higher ranks than her, but she had learned to keep those expressions free from her face. There was a time and place for everything, and she made certain that she always got her point across by the end of the day. Her brother, not so much.

"Rise," Mundus muttered, waving his wrist in a circular motion, as if bored by the very presence he himself had summoned. As one, the twins did so. Keeping their heads bowed, Aspasia Sanguinem hid the malice she knew shone in her ruby red eyes. Her brother, Ares Sanguinem, hid his expression a little better, something she found amusing. He was never one to keep himself in check. She supposed the saying was true, looks could be deceitful.

In terms of appearance, the twins were more or less the same height, with Ares towering slightly over his sister, even if he was the younger between the two. They both sported a head of waist-length black hair, a natural red streak in their fringes, Ares's towards the left, and hers to the right.

Hell, if not for their body builds, they would have been mistaken for identical twins. That and that she knew she had the better fashion sense. Her long black dress revealed as much compared to her brother's dull two-piece suit. It wasn't their natural preferred dress code, but when meeting the emperor of Hell, one wanted to look nice.

For some reason, she assumed it to be dramatics, Mundus had covered most of himself in a cloud of white smoke. The most they saw was his hand, bejewelled like some street walker trying to find a high-priced client. Distasteful. Boastful. Nauseating. She could go on for hours about how the man's voice simply irritated her, but she didn't, knowing that a pressed lip would serve her better in her current situation.

"I have called you two here for a task," the man behind the smoke hummed, taking a grape from a woman scarcely clad in any kind of fabric. Anger at the sight flowed to her hand, causing it to curl into a fist, one she hid at her side. She was all for kink-play, in fact, she welcomed it, but forcing another being into dressing a certain way simply to emphasise power and control in front of invited guests? If he were not the emperor, she would have slit his throat right there and then.

"I'm certain you two have been informed a group of… hunters that have been making things rather difficult for our kind on the surface, have you not?"

With an air of pride, Aspasia felt her true skill rise to the surface as she recited but a part of what she had memorised of the emperor's scandalous family history.

"As I recall my lord, that would be your nephew Dante and his nephew Nero, as well as your very own creation, your daughter, if you will, Trish, correct?"

Even though she couldn't see his face, Aspasia could practically taste the anger flowing off him in waves. The hand griping the throne's arm was a pleasing sight though.

"I see your ability to gather knowledge has not failed you," the voice growled, sending a pleasing vibration up her spine. Oh how she loved to watch arrogance be taken down a notch.

"I live to serve," she purred, replying to his gesture with a mock bow. She had never been so grateful to her mother forcing them to attend those vexing mannerism classes. They had been nothing less than infuriating, but over the years had served their purpose quite adequately.

"Then I do not need to overexplain the task I want you two to carry out for me. In short, I want you two to get rid of them, all of them. Kill, slaughter, I don't care. I want them all gone by the time I choose to rise to power in the human realm."

Short and straight to the point. At least she didn't have to listen to him droll on about how this legendary Dante had cut down his ego more than once. If memory served, and it did, more than once Dante was aided by his own twin, Vergil.

The possibility of twins being born to humans was quite low, yet amongst demons it was far more common than simply having one child. Research amongst their kind had found the reason for this being their need to survive, to ensure their presence, much like earth animals when they gave birth to more than one baby. Primal but effective, although it was harder for their kind to fall pregnant than it was for humans.

Others would have asked why they were the ones being sent out, and from the corner of her eye, she spotted Ares about to do just that but she stopped him from doing so by speaking first.

"Of course. It shall be done, my lord."

The look her brother gave her was more than enough to inform her that he was questioning her sanity over accepting the task. She ignored him.

"Excellent. I expect nothing less than victory from the Sanguinem family."

"As you shall have it."

Without so much as a dismissal, the twins turned and left the room, guided to the front door by another scarcely clad woman. Ares waited until the large doors shut behind them, and once they stepped off the last of the stairs heading for an overly marbled mansion, he spun towards her, his eyes a blood red compared to hers.

"What were you thinking in there?"

"You mean besides how much I would have preferred to sit on that oh so illustrious throne? That our beloved ruler is nothing more than a bag of wind," Aspasia said truthfully, never having felt the urge to lie to her sibling before. She wasn't planning on starting either.

"Quiet! Do you want him to hear you?" Ares demanded, looking behind them as if to ensure that they weren't being followed. She wouldn't put it past Mundus to put a tail on them, neither did she care if said tail reported her thoughts on the pig. She was certain that her earlier display had been enough to get her feelings towards him across.

Aspasia chose to shrug off her brother's concern as she made her way over to the awaiting carriage, driverless and pulled by the skeleton of a horse with flames acting as its hooves, mane, and tail. A pretty beast in her opinion, though not as comfortable as those with skin on their bones, but useful all the same. It only needed to be told a destination and then would know exactly how to get there.

Ares followed her inside, waiting until she tapped the ceiling with a fist to tell the horse to return them back to their own mansion. "Why did you accept? You do realise that if we fail-"

"Who said anything about failing, dear brother?"

"No one, but-"

"But nothing. We received a mission, and we're going to see it through. Its as simple as that."

"But why? Surely there are others that can handle a task like this. Why us?"

" Simple," Aspasia said, leaning back against the dark blue velvet cushioned bench, a smirk resting on her lips as she looked out the small window by her head, watching the scenery of the underworld pass them by, "I'm bored."

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