Castle, a type of fortified structure built by nobility or, in some people's cases, by someone with quite a bit of wealth. The castle that Angel had swam into with Perniceie and Azura following closely behind her was one she had never heard of before, and one definitely never written about in the history books. Normally, a castle would be built on a good plot of strong, sturdy and weather resistant Earth but this one was built inside of the Earth, under the water and under the first few layers of Earth slab. Before they were even allowed into the castle they had to swim into a high and very heavily armored wall, of which Perniceie opened with a key. After they entered and the door behind them closed the water drained, a statue that was in front of a set of doors stood in their path. The statue was like that out of a strange Science Fiction movie, the head was of a dragon but the body was a combination of a merbeing, snake and human, it was all stone and gray in color except for the eyes which were a bright white with no pupils. When Perniceie approached the statue it lit up, a watery glow surrounded it and the door it guarded.
"State the name of the being who owns this castle." the statue said, it had a low, foreboding voice.
"Dione Surfeit." Perniceie replied loudly.
"You have passed the first question now you must pass the second and third." the statue said. "Who all lives within this castle with the owner?"
"Perniceie Surfeit, Azura Surfeit, Helen of Earth and Atlas of Sclera." Perniceie replied.
"You are correct." the statue replied. "The member that cast the owner of this castle's mother out and left the owner fatherless, who is she?"
"Irka Shaiden of the Skeleton." Perniceie replied.
There was a whoosh of air and the doors opened, Angel hadn't really been able to walk about in the castle and usually whenever she was in it it was because Dione had teleported her in or she had been brought in while she was asleep, Dione had a way of tapping into someone's sub-conscience. Whenever she was in the castle she was only allowed to remain in one room, no other, there was no walking around to check where she was or any kind of tour given. Angel had figured it was because Dione hadn't really gotten to trust her yet, and in truth if Dione would have showed up at her residence Angel wouldn't have allowed her to wander around either. As much as she hated to admit it, she trusted her father more than Dione and even though she didn't know her grandfather she trusted him more as well. Perniceie disappeared inside the door, Azura stayed behind, she was still shaking. Like Angel, Azura was still dripping wet.
"The statue is a security measure." Azura said finally. "If anyone finds the wall they have to have the answers to get into the castle. They might be able to answer the first question, but the others they won't."
"Sounds like a good security measure." Angel replied. "Course, I don't think anyone can hold their breath long enough to get here."
Azura didn't say anything else, she walked through the doors and disappeared. Angel stayed behind for a minute, a long minute, unsure if she should go in or not. When a growl came from the statue she jumped, the statue had started to glow red and look right foreboding so she walked through the doors. They snapped shut behind her. She shook her head in shock, the castle in front of her was beyond real, it was unreal! As she turned around, taking in the hallway that she was in, she shivered, it wasn't because of the water that was on her but because of the castle.
The floor underneath of her was as smooth as glass and dark blue in color, the ceiling was like the sky and it moved like it as well and that was interesting to Angel. It was light blue with light white wispy clouds drifting about, she wondered if the sun would pop out on the ceiling but as she watched it never did, it was just the wispy white clouds that floated around. The walls looked transparent but when she touched one of them her hand didn't go through, they were a light light blue transparent color. As she walked down the hallway, turning every so often to take in what she was seeing, she noticed that there was quite a bit of artwork in the hallway. Portraits of merbeings, portraits of horses rearing up on their strong back legs swinging their forelegs in the air with their mouths slightly open, there was a portrait of a mare with a spindly legged foal at her side, a landscape of rolling green pasture with a lake in the center and there was a photograph of the sun with clouds drifting in front of it. There were light blue spiral-like vases, dark blue normal shaped vases, light and dark purple vases that were right big and directly at the end of the hallway was a sphere that was light blue, dark blue and purple, all of these colors moved and drifted about inside of the sphere, it looked rather unique and pretty. She went to this sphere and was looking intently into it when a voice rang out behind her, calling out her name, that made her jump, her heart raced in her chest and she had to drop to her knees and place her hand on her chest to slow it down. She turned her head, the hallway branched both left and right and when she looked left she saw the being who had called out her name.
"Welcome to my home!" Dione said.
Angel was escorted down the hallway quickly to a large, and elegantly decorated, room. She was forcibly pushed onto the couch then left alone. Her escort had been a man wearing a tan robe with an Egyptian blanket around his shoulders. The blanket was of thin quality, light yellow in color with black cats all around the ends and a giant eye in the center which was surrounded by sun rays. There was a thick band around his waist, he had brown sandals on his feet. The man had brown eyes and a medium complexion, his nose was hooked but his cheek bones were set high in his face. Beside the gray hair he had a youthful look to his face.
The man left the room through a transparent-looking door then returned with a towel which he handed to her. He looked, to Angel, rather nervous. She took the towel and wrapped it around herself. She looked down at the couch she was on, it was a fine-looking couch! It sort of matched the ceiling above that was like the sky, it was long and puffy like a cloud and baby blue in color. The persian rug under her feet was rather pretty, it was mainly dark blue with light blue, white and black designs. The couch across from her was similar to the couch she was sitting on only it was shorter and more puffier. There was a glass table between the couches that stood on gold legs. As with the hallway, there were vases and portraits in the room, she particularly liked the animal portraits. She particularly liked the statue of a rearing elephant that was positioned near the transparent door. As she turned her head she noticed that there was a fireplace in the room, it was unlit. A click made her turn her head back around, the man who had escorted her into the room had placed a coaster on the glass table and was in the process of placing a glass on it, he had a bottle of Brandy in his hand.
"Dione insists that you drink some of this." the man said, it was more of a mumble. "It will warm you up."
"I take that Dione is dealing with Perniceie and Azura." Angel said, she tried to get a better look of the man's face but found that he wouldn't let her.
"Na'am." the man replied, he backed away after filling the glass then left the room in a haste.
Angel sipped the Brandy, all the while wondering who the man was and what his problem was. When she placed the glass down she did so lightly, she knew how well glass tables could break. If you placed anything on top of a glass table in any incorrect way the top could break. She didn't know how much of a temper Dione had, in truth she barely knew Dione personally, and she didn't want to find out anytime soon. She brought the towel up and dried her hair with it, she next wiped her arms and legs, being careful of the scrapes on her elbows and knees which were now starting to sting her right badly. When she was done she reached over and grabbed the glass, she finished the Brandy in one gulp then, gently, placed the glass down. When she heard thunder crack she jumped, as always whenever someone entered a room through one of the transparent doors it sent out a thunder-like clap. She was not yet use to it. The man walked into the room and gently touched her arm, she stood up.
"Follow me." he said.
She had no choice, she had to follow him. She walked behind him at first then walked up beside him, he was two inches taller than she was. He led her to a room then left her, saying that she would find dry clothes to change into there and for her to stay there. When she entered the room the transparent door closed behind her, she suddenly felt like she didn't belong. Like she was a burden, an intruder. She walked over to a bench and sat down, there was a bundle of clothes near her and she took them. It was a pair of blue jeans, white socks, red tank top and brown sandals. She started to remove her wet clothes then stopped, thinking back to the transparent walls and the transparent door. There was a changing curtain near her and she went behind it, she changed quickly. When she walked around the corner her heart near stopped, standing inside the room was Dione.
"You look as if you've seen a ghost, dear." Dione said.
"You do tend to like to pop up without making a sound." Angel gasped.
"Get use to it child." Dione turned around and left the room. "Follow me, Angel."
Angel followed Dione down the hallway, she was getting rather tired of being led around and was wishing now that Dione would simply put her in a room and tell her to stay put. Her being escorted from place to place, and feeling like her every move was being watched, did not make her feel any less like she wasn't wanted in the residence. She and Dione walked in silence until they turned into a room that looked like a combination of a study and a library. The door to this room was normal, not one of the transparent ones that made a thunder-clap when it was opened. It was made of light wood, painted a light brown color and had the letter D on it in gold brass. When she entered the room the door was swiftly shut behind her.
There was a smooth, stone desk with four shelves on the far side of the room. There was a unique desk lamp on the desk, the base was shaped like a femur which was dark blue and black in color and the lamp's shade was like a raindrop and was colored to look like a storm cloud, black tassels fell from it. There was a stack of papers to one side of the desk in a box, a blue folder was on the other side of the desk and it looked rather full. There were five books on each of the shelves. A light blue rug went around underneath of the desk, it looked rather soft and had a white rose design running along the edges with a bigger white rose in the center. The chair behind the desk looked like it didn't belong, it was a typical office chair of black leather. All along the walls was a built in shelf full of books, there was a long wooden mahogany colored table was in the center of the room, around it were light blue painted wooden chairs with dark blue cushions. Curiously, there was no artwork around the room. The room gave off an air of seriousness.
"You have complied with my order I see." Dione said, she was walking around the long mahogany colored table.
"After finding out that Perniceie and Azura have been inappropriately trained," Angel replied. "you gave me no choice."
"They have not been inappropriately trained," Dione turned and looked at Angel sharply. "how dare you!"
"How dare I?" Angel repeated. "How about how dare you. How else am I suppose to see it, Dione? I'm captured, holed up in a cell by your dear old daddy getting ready to get the skin on my back torn from me and you send me your daughter and your granddaughter who know magic and only magic and nothing about physical fighting."
"I sent you help!" Dione slapped her hands against the table and leaned on them. "You asked me for help and I sent it and this is the thanks that I get for it! Very disrespectful and very unappreciative of you! Shame on you!"
Angel walked forward until she was standing on the other side of the table from Dione, she got a really good look at the woman who, she had found out a few months ago, was her great-great grandmother. Dione looked somewhat like her half-brother, she had elongated ears the same length as Master Vile's, but they were feminine and slender, she had no earrings hanging from them. Her face was gentle and smooth, the left side was yellow while the right side was light blue, her lips were lipsticked the opposite of her face colors. She had white eyeshadow on her eyelids and black mascara around her eyes. She was wearing a long flowing, but tight, maroon dress that had black ties and bows on it, she had maroon colored high heels on her feet which had bows on the sides. Dione's hair was almost as long as her granddaughter's, Azura's, and was a deep purple in color with gray and white mixed in. Her eyes were very unique! They were a glowing white with tiny black pupils.
"How did my girls lose their powers?" Dione asked. "Tell me! How did they lose their powers? I can assure you that I trained them accurately, they are very powerful and know well how to do magic. They should nev..."
"Your brother." Angel interrupted.
"Triskull cannot prevent a being from doing magic!" Dione screamed, she dug her long maroon fingernails into the table, there were lightning bolts painted on the top of each fingernail.
"The first fucking son KurukVile had with Irka, Dione!" Angel shrieked.
Dione stared at Angel for a second then her hand swiped through the air, Angel saw it and pulled away, the tips of Dione's nails scraped against her chin. Angel snickered and walked along the table, taking each step slowly. As she walked Dione followed her, her white glowing eyes blazing. Angel suddenly put two and two together about the atmosphere in the castle and why she felt like she was an intruder and didn't belong. She was to only bring Perniceie and Azura back, not enter into the palace and stay for a talk, she was an unwanted guest.
"Vile?" Dione said shockingly.
"Come on Dione!" Angel shrieked, she threw her arms up into the air. "Of all the people who should know my father it should be you! He's a first class warlock! A warlord! Hello, he's very powerful man!"
Dione grabbed the back of a chair, she clumsily pulled the chair out and sat on it. She placed her elbows on the table and buried her head in her hands, Angel heard her sobs and that confused her some. It was a few minutes before Dione looked up, all of the mascara that had been around her eyes was now a trail of black going down her face.
"I'm sorry!" Dione said shakily. "I-I-I just got home to hear you calling me for help and panicked. All the while my daughter was gone I worried! I was pacing all along in my living room waiting for you two to come back, Azura was with me. I had gone off for a quick bathroom visit and when I returned Azura was not there."
"Are they alright?" Angel asked, she stayed standing across from Dione.
"Perniceie and Azura?" Dione asked, more tears fell down her face. "They won't speak to me so I have no clue."
The door to the room swung open, Perniceie and Azura, both in clothing that was exactly the same as to what they were wearing before only dry, walked in. Perniceie's eyes were blazing, Azura still looked a bit fragile. Both walked into the room and took a chair out from the table, when Dione greeted them they didn't say anything, they remained silent. Azura was running the fingers of her left hand through her hair. It was quiet in the room for a while before Angel sighed, she went around the table and placed her hand on Dione's shoulder.
"She's a sentient being," Angel said. "she panicked and made a mistake, wasn't thinking clearly."
"She still betrayed us." Azura replied, she was still running her fingers through her hair. "She promised to always be there for us. She promised, Angel!"
"She made that promise when we were knee high. To both of us!" Perniceie spoke up. "It's been broken."
"No!" Dione exclaimed. "Never! I love you two to death! You're my only family, I would never betray either of you two!"
"You put our lives in Angel's hands..." Azura said. "You said that you'd always be there for us and when we needed your help you stuck us with her."
"You betrayed us, mother." Perniceie said, she looked angrily at Dione.
"No!" Dione screamed. "No no no no no! I did not betray you two! I'd never betray either of..."
"If its anyone who should feel betrayal in this room it should be me."
Dione shot up to her feet, the chair flew behind her and landed almost leaning against the wall. When she turned to Angel she did so so fast she near lost her footing, Angel steadied her but didn't meet her eyes. Dione grabbed her arms just under the elbows and held her tight, Perniceie and Azura were looking up at Angel with shocked faces, their mouths in the shape of O's. Dione didn't say anything, she was much too hysterical, but she shook Angel a few times until Angel broke free and took a step back.
"No one should feel betrayed in my castle!" Dione finally got out. "Neither of you! Perniceie, I birthed and raised you, Azura I helped raise you... Angel, I been helping you through this whole mess with my brother! You should be grateful for my help!"
Dione started acting madly, large tears were falling down her face and she was throwning her arms and legs all about, she stamp her feet from time to time. When she started throwing energized lightning bolts Perniceie and Azura got up from their chairs and ran to her, they had not a chance to calm her before she ran at Angel and flattened her to her back. She made white energy lightning bolts shoot out from her fingertips at Angel. Angel flailed herself all over the floor, screaming all the while, when the sudden attack ended a minute later the lightning bolts had all changed a red color. Dione finished by falling to the floor on her knees and bringing her face close to Angel's, Angel layed on her side, smoke billowing up from her body, her breath coming out in pained gasps. Dione's face was a complete mess now. Her make-up was smeared all over. Azura went over and placed her hand on Dione's shoulder, she pulled it back when Dione looked back at her sharply.
"I've had enough from all of you!" Dione shrieked. "Atlas!"
Still breathing hard, Angel turned her head, her eyes had grown wide at the name that Dione had used, when the door opened and the man who had escorted her about Dione's castle walked in she tried to get up but found that her legs prevented her from doing so. Dione ordered that he take her to a chamber and lock her in then she demanded that Perniceie and Azura leave her be. Atlas hooked his hands under Angel's arms and pulled her up then he practically pushed her from the room. He led her to a chamber with a blue painted stone door and locked her inside of it. Shaking her head, trying to get a grip on what had just happened, Angel looked about the room. The ceiling was different, it was black with light and dark gray clouds drifting around it, the floor was dark blue almost black. There was a bed with sheets and blankets that were different shades of blue, there were five pillows on it that had baby blue pillow cases. Across the room was a long dresser painted light blue, a mirror was above the dresser. The bed was sitting on a circular carpet that was powder blue with whispy flower and cloud-like designs on it that were white. Seeing as she better just sit and wait it out for Dione to calm down, Angel went to the bed and sat down.
When Master Vile brought his horse in he was met with the usual hustle and bustle of activity. Servants running up to see if her needed help dismounting and couriers running up telling him the newest tidbits of information that they had heard and handing over the papers that they had found lying about behind the shields around the cities and towns which his daughter had taken back and had under heavy guard with a red shield which was almost impregnable. He would yell at each of his servants and couriers to back off and leave him be, usually all would except for three or four which he was roar at and make them run off, scared out of their wits. Underneath of him was not a horse from his royal stables, when the camp his daughter had been staying in for so long had been evacuated there had been a few horses left behind, one of them being his own. He had led Ayut Hazem, who had nickered at him happily and nipped at his sleeves playfully, to the stalls in the hull of his ship and had given him some oats which the stallion had eaten with such gusto, it was like the stallion had not had oats in a long time and that concerned him greatly. He had teleported himself and the stallion to his palace on Gamma-Vile and called a vet to check him out, he had yet to hear back on the stallion's condition. There had been five other horses found in the camp, two mares and two geldings and a stallion, the mares and geldings, to Master Vile, were of right bad quality. The mares were rather short and a bit too big in the belly, when he had gone to ride one he had found her rather pitifully slow. The geldings were the same, one was horribly scarred up and had a bad limp on one leg which made travel slower. He had given the four horses to his father, whatever happened to them was up to him, the stallion though he kept. He had found the color right unique in the horse and although the horse wasn't as fast as he would have liked him to be, he was not as slow as the mares and geldings.
The stallion was a unique gray pinto with coal-black eyes with some of the most sound legs he had seen in a horse that's breeding was a cloud. The stallion was big, when he had sat on his back he had felt the power that he had liked to feel from a stallion, the stallion had a majestic feel to him when he moved. His neck was big and powerful, there were no scars on it. His body, though, showcased what he was and it was his body that had near turned Master Vile away in disgust. The stallion, despite being unique in color and having a good movement, was a muscled and well scarred one. He had given the stallion a chance after he had seen the papers that Professor Longnose had found in his daughter's tent. There was another thing that had near made him turn the stallion over to his father; his temper. When he had sat on his back the stallion had shot up in the air, sending a squeal out that was so loud his mother, who was on the other side of the camp with his father investigating another tent's items, had heard. He had spent some time taming the horse then had given him a rest, this was his third outing with the stallion now and he was still having a time controlling him. He had found that he had to keep the reins tight or else, the stallion would take off with his ears flat against his head.
"Back off!" he shouted again. "I am perfectly capable of dismounting and tending this brute on my own!"
He was given room and dismounted, he led the stallion to a corral made of rope and released him. The stallion, who on the paperwork said belonged to his daughter and was named Gasha, walked to the center of the corral and stood motionless, his ears held back almost flat against his head. Master Vile wondered how his daughter had been able to ride such an animal, surely if he was a handful for him then she couldn't control him. It was that thought that had near broken his patience twice, but then he had reminded himself that Angel had ridden that stallion several times in Europe and he had acted well behaved for her so possibly she had tamed him and taught him to behave around her and only her. This recollection had changed his mind, he knew well that Angel, like himself, had a great affection for horses and surely she would be sore at him if he did anything wrong with the gray pinto stallion. So he had kept him, had tried taming him himself so that he could ride him and had kept him intact thinking that his daughter would probably not like having her horse cut and gelded.
"Did you find them?" Irka came up behind him.
"Not a sight." Master Vile replied quickly. "Angel's pretty speedy in her horse-form."
"Your father and I need to speak with you about something." Irka gently led her son from the roped corral.
For ten minutes he found himself being asked by his parents servants if he wanted anything, since they were not his servants he would politely say no and shoo them off. Unlike himself, his parents employed female servants and he didn't much like that. To him, a female servant was a distraction to the male servants and, although they did have their moments, they didn't act as a male servant did when it came to working. When his mother came walking out of the SkuCoil KurukVile was behind her, they swiftly walked over and sat in the chairs across from him.
"Son." KurukVile acknowledged.
"Father. Mother." Master Vile replied.
"We need to talk." KurukVile said. "About Angel."
"What is it?" Master Vile asked. "Make it quick, I have things to do."
"Are you still intending to have her as your daughter-mate, son?" KurukVile asked.
"Yes and nothing will change my decision." Master Vile answered quickly.
"We're aware that you and Dione never got along," Irka said gently. "you two had a fierce sibling relationship."
Master Vile laughed at his mother bringing up his relationship with his older half-sister, in truth their relationship had been more than fierce. It seemed, to him, that as soon as his father had told Dione, and her younger full-sister Azone, about their just conceived brother, him, they both had marked him with a deep hatred. He remembered the stories he had been told as a lad by his aunt that Dione had purposely tried to trip his mother up to make her miscarry him, when he had been born their mother, Agola, had thrown a fit and, it was claimed by Agola, that she had put a spell on him as a newborn that would prevent him from living past three months. His father, when he had asked about this piece of information as a freshman in Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic, had at first denied this then, after some persistence on his end in his letters which he would write three times a week and send off, had confirmed. He and his mother had moved off to a cottage for the first six months of his life, a doctor at standby if anything went wrong and he was needed, and Agola was sent to a physiatic clinic. Dione and Azone had lived with his father and mother for almost a year in a two room cottage.
When he had gone past Agola's supposed curse they had moved back into their palace where he would live for the next thousand years. Agola would periodically claim she had put spells and curses on him, for the first fifty years of his life he was always being looked into for false curses and spells. His father had been rather stressed out, he remembered, throughout his childhood and he had a good reason to of been. When he had been born both of his older half-sister's had been attending Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic, had actually been attending for ten years, it had only been a month into their eleventh year when both were expelled for unruly behavior and sent home where, for a short while, their training was taken up by their mother who taught them about fighting and dark magic. After six months they had been enrolled, thanks to his father, to attend Goddard Academy where they remained for almost twenty years before, again, being expelled for unruly behavior. After they had been expelled from there KurukVile had enrolled them in Reinhart Academy of Sorcery for Girls where they were given the best of education and training. He had been told that they had made such a fit that they had been dismissed. Their dismissal from their graduation had near severed his father's last nerve with them, at the time his father's nerves were already on short supply because he, Master Vile, had just barely been changed from diapers to big-boy pants.
"What does my daughter have to do with my relationship with my sister?" Master Vile asked.
"We know how much trouble Dione has been to you, dear." Irka stretched her hand forward and gently placed it on her son's. "Are you truly sure that you want to father children with your daughter who has Dione's blood running through her veins?"
Master Vile stood, he had answered the question of whether he wanted to continue with his plan of making his daughter his mate and he didn't want to answer it again. In his mind, Dione's blood was practically out of the equation. She was just a series of simple words in his youngest child's genetic code, she was four steps down the line while he was one and his mother and father were two. Yes, he wanted nothing to do with Dione, would rather have her off'd than to have her still around, his three children meant more to him than his older half-sister who had made his first fifty years a living hell.
"If Angel was closer in line to Dione instead of fourth then I would reconsider." he told his parents. "Dione's blood has been wiped out. My blood is fresh, it courses through her veins fresh and uncorrupted."
"Don't forget our blood, son." KurukVile added quickly. "We're second in line in her genetic code."
"I wrote this earlier so we can keep up with her genes," Irka slid a piece of paper over to her son, he took it gently and held it up to his face. "you are right, both of you now that I think of it. Our blood is fresh and uncorrupted. She will make you some fine babies, Viley!"
Master Vile cringed at the use of his childhood pet name but he didn't lower the paper he was looking at. He had been meaning to make a record of his youngest daughter's bloodline but with him conquering Earth and having to chase Angel and take care of his injured older children, he just had not had the time to do so. What his mother had made was a perfect example of what he had in mind to write about his daughter.
Name: Angel Irene Vile
Gender: Female
Age/YOB:
Physical Characteristics: Five foot six inches tall, has fiery red hair that glows brightly and emerald-green eyes with golden-yellow rings around the pupils (pupils are black)
Magical Abilities: Transformation. Teleportation. Energized attacks. Elemental powers
Underneath that was a family tree, it was long because of all of the Surfeit's but as he trailed down he saw his grandfather, father, himself and then Angel and a line was drawn between him and Angel with a line drawn down the middle in preparation of the offspring that they would have. Master Vile didn't look at the Dione branch, in fact he placed his thumb over that part, even over Helen of Earth. The only part of the written information missing was Angel's age, he had estimated her at about two hundred and fifty but something told him she was younger. He made a mental note to ask her the next time that they had small talk before a fight.
"Very good, Mother." he said. "Thank you."
"You're welcome dear." Irka replied. "Where you heading off to in such a hurry?"
"The small gym in my ship," Master Vile walked off. "might as well stretch the muscles, build some more, add more speed and stamina and of course, refreshen the good old magic skills. Angel's a strong one, a powerful one. And with Dione and her pesty brood in the mix I need to be on my toes."
It seemed like forever before the door to the room Angel was in opened, Atlas walked in slowly, his head held low. He tapped her arm and she got up, when he turned she followed him. He led her into a dining hall, curiously he didn't leave the room when she had taken a seat at the dining hall's table. Instead, he sat across from her, his hands folded in front of him and his face pointed down, looking at them. The room she was in was rather beautiful, it somewhat reminded her of her father's dining room except that it was extremely long with a much longer table which stretched almost from one end of the room to the other. There was a great number of pillars coming down from the ceiling, all spiraled down and were black except for one lone red spiral on each pillar. The table was mahogany and very shiny, the chairs were wooden and dark walnut in color, they had red cushions on them. There were long handled torches between the pillars, the flame that came up from them was blue and that was intriguing to Angel. There was a real long thick wooden bench off to the side of the dining hall with a hardwood dark walnut coffee table in front of it, the top of the coffee table was clear glass with a black rose design in the center. Above her, she saw, the ceiling moved like that of the other rooms in Dione's castle, light gray clouds drifted about on a black sky. All along the long mahogany table were candles on candle holders, each was lit and had a blue flame. Besides the beauty of the room, the quiet atmosphere was suffocating! Angel wished that Atlas would stop looking at his hands and say something, or that someone would walk in and start talking. She got her wish a few minutes later when Dione, followed by Perniceie, Azura and lastly by Helen of Earth, walked into the room. Dione took the chair at the front of the table, Perniceie took the chair on her right while Azura sat on Dione's left. Helen sat beside Atlas.
"We need to talk." Dione said. "Perniceie, here, was telling me about the whip that my father was planning on using on you. To hear that is a plain shock to me."
"You, Perniceie and Azura made up I see." Angel leaned back against her chair. "Ya'll are talking, that is good."
"It'll take us a while but we're giving it a go." Perniceie replied.
"Tell me what happened, Angel." Dione said, she tapped her fingers on the table's top. "Tell me what my father did before he took out the whip."
"Not much to say," Angel sighed. "except that he came from out of a mirror, walked up to the cell and started sputtering and rambling incoherently. He stamped his feet a few times then went off to a cabinet and took out a whip. That's when my father ran in and..."
"Vile?" Dione interrupted. "He ran in after my father took out the whip?"
"Yes, he ran in asking what he'd done to me then they started talking." Angel continued explaining. "He took the whip and escorted KurukVile out of the room. They were speaking some sort of bizarre language. One I have never heard of before."
"Vilian, without a doubt." Dione said. "My family knows that language like the back of their hands."
"Yeah, I couldn't understand it. Guess I'm the only one of this branch that is a blank on Vilian." Angel chuckled.
She spent the next few minutes talking about how she had rescued Cindy Blake from her grandfather, who had been in the process of raping her, then talked about how her grandfather had sent guards to capture her. She quit speaking when she reached the part about Dione putting her in charge of Perniceie and Azura. A quiet descended on the room for a while, Perniceie and Azura looked down at their hands while Helen's mouth was slightly open. Dione's face bore the look of intense shock, her hands now gripped the table's edge.
"I have heard stories of my father's brutality but I never really, truly, believed them!" Dione exclaimed. "My mother use to tell me that he beat all three of his children by Irka if they didn't do something right when he trained them and I use to tell her off on it! That was why she never let him train us as he wanted to train us."
"So it's not just your father that is now after you," Helen said. "it's your grandfather as well now too."
Angel looked at Helen, in truth Helen of Earth was her mother but she had, as of yet, not called her that as she saw that Helen didn't deserve the title, after all she had left her fraternal twin, Bathilda, soon after birth to live with Dione. Helen had long dark copper golden blonde hair that was so finely made, it was so shiny and beautiful that it looked almost like silk! She had eyes that were so crystal blue that they reminded Angel of the water around Hawaii and her skin color was like light honey, her voice, when she had spoken, was so sweet and kind and reassuring! She was wearing a two-tone blue dress made of fine cotton with a white band around the waist, she had light brown sandals on her feet. Around her hair was tied a veil which flowed down to the ground, it made her look like she had wings. Angel's father had been smitten, out of lust more than love, by her looks and for the whole month that she had been staying at the planet he had just conquered he had pursued her, driving away all of her suitors. She had gotten real annoyed with him and had told him off which he had said he would not, when it came time for her to leave to go back to Earth he had grabbed her and said that if she would not have one one night meeting with him he'd do a spell to make her stay with him forever. She had complied, out of fear, and in that one night stay with Master Vile Angel had been conceived, although it had taken a long nineteen years before her birth would happen as Helen had been pregnant already with Atlas' only daughter, Bathilda, and the sperm from her father had had no choice but to enter into Bathilda and wait until she was ready for childbearing.
"Yes and now I have an even bigger problem." Angel sighed, she looked at Dione seriously. "What do you know about the Prominent Family Law?"
"It's a law saying that families of only the prominent caliber can have rights of mating with their offspring and only their offspring to ensure that the bloodline continues into the future. Typically it only occurs when there is no bloodline left, no male offspring, or offspring period, to carry the bloodline into the future." Dione answered. "Why do you ask?"
"My father has plans on making me his daughter-mate." Angel replied.
"What!" Dione and Helen shrieked together.
Helen shot up to her feet, her hands to her lips. Angel detected mumblings behind her hands, Atlas stood up beside her and wrapped his arms around her, she wrapped one of her arms around him and calmed down. Dione had also said what at the same time, instead of just standing up though she had gone off in a near run out of the room followed by Perniceie. When she returned she had the blue folder that was full with her. She sat down beside Angel and opened it. From the folder she took several stapled sheets of paper out. When Angel touched one of the stapled papers Dione slapped her hand, hard.
"My brother can not do that!" Dione exclaimed. "His line is secure. He has a daughter and a son to carry his blood into the future."
"Two." Perniceie said shakily. "Two daughters, not one. Mother."
"Really two because I can't have kids." Angel said, she shook her hand to get some feeling back to it.
"What did my father say about Vile's plan?" Dione asked. "Did he say he was against it or..."
"No, actually he was all open to it." Angel sighed. "Gross."
Dione slid the last stapled stack of papers over to Angel, at first Angel didn't touch them but then her curiosity got the better of her and she picked the papers up. The first stapled paper was a simple rules of the Prominent Family Law, when Angel looked to the side she saw that each stack of stapled papers had the rules of the Law on the top. When she turned the first page she was struck with her family line, the line started at IackVile, the paper listed his wives and the offspring from each wife, then it went to a RaalVile, ShaamVile, DuruVile and then her grandfather and father in that order.
The paper had listed three wives for IackVile, and seven children from him. A line was drawn from one named RaalVile who was connected to two wives, between the two wives RaalVile had five children, another line was drawn from one named ShaamVile. ShaamVile had one wife, and two mistresses, and from each he had produced only one child each, one of which was DuruVile. DuruVile had five wives connected to him and had two children from each wife. One was KurukVile. Angel noticed that there were dots near some of the offspring of DuruVile and there was a dot by one of the daughter's of ShaamVile. When she noticed the dot near Dione, Vile Vile, Dara Dara and Triskull she put two and two together, the dots were there to symbolize that they were still alive in the present. She rolled her eyes at this, she had read all of this in the book that she had been given by Zorax. This was all in the book titled The Surfeit's.
"I read all of this," Angel slid the stack of stapled papers back to Dione. "Could the law not be broken if it is used by a side branch of the family?"
"It can, yes." Dione answered. "But, again, only if that side branch has no offspring to carry on the name and the family into the future."
"I'm aware that Azura had a sperm shake made of LynkVile Surfeit's jizz." Angel looked at Azura. "Helen was the result."
"And Perniceie was the result of a similar shake." Dione sighed. "I used LynkVile's firstborn son's sample."
"WexVile Surfeit?" Angel asked. "The man who destroyed four galaxies and a plethora of planets?"
"Yep, the man himself." Dione answered.
Dione talked further on the Surfeit branch, saying that after RaalVile the Surfeit branch was, indeed, in trouble because the more prominent male members were starting to have less and less children. ShaamVile had almost been declared infertile, as had his son DuruVile. She said that through the efforts of many physicians they were able to produce enough children to not have to go and do the Prominent Family Law, the physicians that they had gone to had also frozen quite a lot of viable semen from both men to save in case such a thing happened again. She started laughing when she started talking about her family, saying that it was funny how ShaamVile and DuruVile had had so many problems getting their wives, and mistresses, pregnant while her father had just to walk past a woman and she'd get pregnant.
"Can we get back to Angel being pursued by the beast who fathered her please." Helen demanded. "I do not want my daughter to go through what I went through in order for her to be conceived! That hurt more than any of you know."
"Is there any way we can stop his plan?" Perniceie asked. "Or stall it... or something?"
"I'd prefer for it to be put on permenant stop." Angel said. "Even though I cannot have children, I have no intention of my father's juices swimming into me."
While Dione, Perniceie, Helen and Azura were talking up plans, Angel and Atlas were quiet. Atlas was staring at Angel with some of the most hostile and predatory eyes she had ever seen and that sent a shiver down her spine. It was then that she got the idea of the Sperm Ward, the building on Gamma-Vile that was very heavily fortified and had, what she had heard, a high security system around. it. The building, she had heard, that each founding member of the Surfeit family had had his semen frozen there many times.
"Do you think, that if I went to the Sperm Ward on Gamma-Vile and destroyed some of the samples of my father's ew-stuff he would postpone his plan?" Angel asked.
"For that building, if is a big word." Dione sighed. "It's very heavily secured."
"How'd you get in to get WexVile and LynkVile's stuff?" Angel asked. "
"Told 'em that I was the only surviving daughter of ShaamVile." Dione looked at Angel strangely. "Why?"
"I'm heading there." Angel stood up. "Destroy enough sperm samples and my father will be too busy restocking to think about me. If I head into trouble I'll start the fighting."
Angel left the room, Dione and the others were talking behind her but she didn't stop to hear what they were saying. She was near to the double doors that she had entered the castle through when Dione ran into the hallway, calling for her to wait. Running behind her was Atlas.
"Angel, wait up!" Dione said when she got to her. "If you are serious about doing this..."
"I am." Angel interrupted. "I have to do something to throw my father off of my tail."
"Take Atlas with you." Dione said. "You will find him very useful when you infiltrate the building."